Edit: Sheesh. Some of you folks need this.
Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages
up·lift·ing /ˌəpˈliftiNG/
adjective
adjective: uplifting
inspiring happiness, optimism, or hope. “an uplifting story of triumph over adversity”
- public libraries are still there.
- Book (physical) can still be purchased and fully owned, without any risk of them being remotely edited or deleted and without nay tracking of our reading habits.
- Walking is still free, without any subscription required.
- It is still legal to turn off one’s phone.
- I love my spouse at least as much as I loved her when we first met almost 30 years ago. And, yep, she seems to kinda like me too ;)
Ebooks can be purchased as well, with a little skill (or reading a tutorial) you can make it undeletable and uneditable as well.
Source: My epub library growing day by day, synced between multiple devices by syncthing.
Why go through the trouble of purchasing them with DRM and supporting that garbage and doing all the work to make them your own?
Piracy is infinitely superior.
Writers gotta get paid, tho’.
They already don’t get paid. Nearly every writer has to supplement their income with a paying job. Writers know this.
Piracy doesn’t hurt the writers nearly as much as it hurts the publisher, and that’s the point. If publishers get hurt badly enough and can’t operate properly, then writers will find a different path, and go independent, and keep all the money for themselves. THEN I’d want to buy directly from the author.
Ask the independent writers on Amazon how that’s working out for them.
It’s getting their works digested by Amazon’s LLMs.
Because some books are not available? You know, someone has to be the first to share. Sometimes that someone is me.
Ebooks can be purchased as well, with a little skill (or reading a tutorial) you can make it undeletable and uneditable as well.
You’re quite right (at least it used to be easy, I have not checked for some time how hard it is now to get rid of Apple’s and/or Amazon’s DRM… the two main DRM-locked ebook sellers), but keep in mind not everybody feels ok to not respect the rules and/or breach the contract they signed. Also there is no need to that at all with printed books.
Not parent poster, and you’re totally correct… But paper-format books don’t work at all for me, or many others with accessibility needs. I read almost exclusively with TTS while driving/doing chores/walking or to fall asleep. It’s… very hard to TTS a paper book.
So, an old (<= 5th gen) Kindle works great. They’re incompatible with the newest Kindle DRM, so they still allow old methods to transfer books. For KU books, it also has built-in TTS, so you can leave the book “reading” for you after you’ve transferred the file to your “real” device. That way authors get paid for your page reads, but you can still read/store/transfer/preserve the book.
But Amazon still tracks your reading data, and you’re still supporting Amazon’s/Kindle’s self publishing monopoly… But it’s literally the only place where books from my genre of choice are available, so not really any good options until their unethical monopoly is regulated away from them.
I was just pointing out that if that’s your major reason for buying physical over digital, it’s solved very easily.
I for one really don’t like owning many physical books because of the space it takes and 95% of my book purchases are digital.
the use of the term still actually makes this sorta ominous.
You mean it is worrisome (sorry, English is not my native language)? If so, it’s the intend because I think there is already too many hints pointing out to a (slow?) vanishing of many of those ‘options’.
yeah essentially its like. for now. implying they will be gone which is like part of the things I worry about for the future.
It’s one of the reasons I decided a while ago to move back from digital to analog (I started using ebooks in the early 00s and have been mostly reading ebooks up 2 or 3 years ago, approx.) for as many things as I was able to, not just reading books.
Physical ownership and ‘not-Internet’ & ‘not-high-tech’ dependent medium should be a lot more resilient to any excess of control, surveillance and censorship than anything digital. Plus, baring accidents, all of those analog things will outlive me and my spouse (we’re both well into our 50s) and, unlike with digital ‘objects’, it’s very easy for us to make sure those analog objects will end up in the hands of a new owner that will know how to best use them… without anyone having much to say about it.
Wallets are twice as likely to be returned as people expect. And the interesting thing is this holds true more or less globally.
Reminded of when someone opened their car window and yelled to me on the sidewalk that I had dropped some cash on the ground :)
Last time I ran out to a parking lot to find someone who dropped some cash in a store, they split some of it with me!
Free Open Source Software is pretty amazing imo
Canada geese and white-tailed deer nearly went extinct. Now they’re considered pests in some areas. It’s possible for nature to bounce back, it just needs to be given a chance.
Pests? If you got a problem with Canada Gooses, you got a problem with me, and I suggest you let that one marinate.
You or the geese?
Gooses!
Renewable energy and battery storage are seeing an absolute collapse in prices such that it is inevitable in the near to mid term future that we will move away from fossil fuel extraction leaving much of it in the ground. This will happen no matter who is in charge politically or who tries to subsidize fossil fuels because money is king and a lot of free energy hits the earth every day.
This, combined with falling birthrates, means we will hit peak carbon emissions and begin to drop back to a new normal, a new economy built around labor rather than capital because of the shift in balance between resources and workers similar to what happened during the black death. It is my opinion that this will begin to happen in my lifetime and will fully come to pass in our children’s lifetime.
Having worked in energy for 10 years (particularly battery storage and solar) you are correct about the prices falling, and in my opinion you are also correct about this dooming fossils.
However, I do not agree with your second point around a new economy arising built around labor rather than capital. The mechanics of value creation can change (eg renewables vs fossils) but what the ruling class will not allow to change without intense prolonged struggle is their own position as the rulers.
You might be right, but my idea on it is that productivity increases have leveled off and population will begin falling in our lifetime. The ruling class loses power historically when the supply of labor is impacted.
Why do you think they’re all desperately pretending that LLMs are gen AI? They want to secure their revenue without having to care what the plebs do.
and we both know governments both today and throughout history protect the rich and money over people…
You’re both right. You are in that their influence will wane, but they’re right in that it won’t be fast or pretty.
Trump is pretty old, and I cannot think of an example where a movement based around a cult of personality has successfully survived long after their leader has gone. Nor are there any viable successors that are likely to dodge any infighting. JD Vance as a successor? Yeah, ain’t happening.
To summarize, the pendulum will eventually swing the other way. And the worse the MAGA crowd pulls it in their direction now, the harder it will swing.
yeah. frankly while most left/liberal dont’ see it, Trump is also a product of the pendulum swinging. we have been on a good spat of liberalization for 30+ years and there was going to be a backlash. and as someone who grew up working class white, i totally get the unfairness and bitterness of so many of those people who the economic/education system has totally abandoned, and the horrible feelings and condescending that comes from the liberal elite/educated set who look down on everyone who isn’t highly educated and living in a coastal city. i got lucky and got to be one of those people, but many of my peers did not.
frankly i find it truly revolting how much of liberal america is so disgusting smug and condescending towards anyone who isn’t exactly like them, and that massively accelerated in the 2010s. used to be in the 2000s people would respect/admire me for working my way from a poor working class family to elite school on scholarship and putting myself through grad school and building al ife for myself… somewhere around 2015 that all became to change though and i repeatedly starting meeting folks who told me that i should have ‘stayed in my place’ and my ‘education is wasted on losers like you’. etc. and that attitude has only gotten worse and worse in the 2020s. i’d say there is a massive massive increase in class snobbery and elitism that didn’t exist 10-20 years ago.
i’ve also noticed progressives have moved away from economic issues largely and are entirely focused on culture war bullshit, esp use trans people and trans rights as the most important thing ever, which has alienated many many people due to the rage and hatred being spouted over it. to me this is a horrible horrible move, and plays right into the right wing’s advantages. because they are offer a much clearer narrative about these things than the left/liberals are. and clear narratives win elections and voters.
what baffles me is how the democrats can’t understand or replicate Obama’s success and messaging and act like he was some act of God. He wasn’t. He just appealed to people’s sentiments and listened to them… just like Trump did in this last election… meanwhile the democrats totally ignore the people and lecture us that they know better than we do what is going on in the country and we should be happy with how things are.
I hope someone on the left/dems capitalized on the severe economic need in this country and steers away from the culture war bullshit. A candidate that wants to actually fix the problems in this country that affect everyone, but it seems nobody is coming forth to do so. And at best we are just getting some candidates who are just going to go with the ‘trump bad, me not trump’ routine again, which we know doesn’t work.
what a lot of people miss in Trumps success is that he had a clear vision people could get behind, even if it was all bullshit and lies.
esp use trans people and trans rights as the most important thing ever, which has alienated many many people due to the rage and hatred being spouted
You have completely and hopelessly fallen for Republican propaganda. You’ve swallowed their entire framing of trans issues without any thought. You’re repeating the Republican Party line verbatim.
Democrats have spent the last decade trying to stay the hell away from the trans rights discussion at every opportunity. They’re not over bigots like Republicans, but they try to talk about literally anything else. Republicans however have continued to scream from the rooftops about trans people, as they try to incite the populous to acts of literal genocide.
Where are all these Democratic leaders that spend all their time talking about trans people? Can you name a single one? You’ve been brainwashed by conservative media.
Except I’ve been personally assaulted, threaten, and attached by trans people and their rabid allies for suggested trans people are just people and they don’t need special treatment. In person. In real life. i’ve been screamed at my face and threated with violence for not ‘using the right pronoun’, even after i asked them what pronoun they wanted and use it…
I live in a progressive area. Trans people here have it good. But a lot of them refuse to accept that… they want to abolish sex/gender entirely and become physically violent towards anyone who says ‘maybe you should chill and just enjoy your life’ or dates to accidentally ‘misgender’ them. They are the bullies and bigots here.
I’m glad you’ve never been personally attacked and harassed. I’ve had trans folks literally verbally assault me for waiting for coffee because I ‘look too straight’ whatever the fuck that means. multiple times over the past three years especially. Literally had some trans guy scream in my face on the subway yesterday while I was sitting in the corner minding my business and him going on and on about ‘don’t you like my beautiful care I’m a lady now why dont’ you want me i know you want me because you’re a removed i can tell because you have nice boots you take it in the ass.’ And I’m sitting there just ignoring them because I don’t want to engage some mentally ill psycho.
Just because you’re trans or leftist, doesn’t give you the right to assault and harass other people. Most of the democratic party pols are pro-trans agenda. And the ones who dare speak out against it and say stuff like 'maybe men shouldn’t be in women’s sports, or ‘maybe we should have 3 kinds of bathrooms’ get attacked mercilessly and called bigots and hateful by the nutbags. Every moderate democrat who speaks out on the issue gets attacked, despite having popular support because they expressing a more common sense approach instead of a ‘trans people should have no rules or restrictions on them that the rest of us cis people deal with’.
I don’t care about anyone being trans. But I care about insane people using their trans identity to abuse and harass other people, to file lawsuits and etc all because they feel they need to be treated differently than everyone else. Like you want gender affirming care? cool, but don’t give 12 year olds puberty blockers. 12 year olds have no idea who or what they are. let them figure it out when they are young adults like the rest of us. Just like we shouldn’t allow 12 year olds to get plastic surgery or tattoos or any of that type of body modfication
but any complexity or nuance on this issue gets the pro-trans extremists calling anyone a bigot. people should be allowed to be critical of these things. discussion and debate should be allowed to happen without the threat of violence and harassment from the pro-trans people or the anti-trans people.
funny how i’ve never seen a pro-trans person irl on online every have a good discussion of these issues… they just resort to insults and harassment and refuse to acknowledge anyone else’s concerns or questions. it’s almost as if they are just as ignorant and hateful on these things as someone who is anti-trans. and it’s not so much about trans people… as it is about their little culture war bullshit.
ironically when i see trans people discuss some of these things… who dont’ have an agenda… they are a lot more moderate on ‘trans issues’. probably because they are just a person and not some ideologue using trans people as a prop to further their political agenda.
I thought of disputing, but every paragraph is a troll
He didn’t have a clear vision. He had contradictory promises all over the place.
You must be a troll if you’re dumb enough to think all that tripe.
been waiting for that pendulum to swing almost 50 years now…
I cannot think of an example where a movement based around a cult of personality has successfully survived long after their leader has gone.
Most religious cults especially Christianity lol, what a statement
We will all die at some point.
Something around half far sooner than they deserve, and the rest’ll hang on longer than anyone wishes they would.
i see you are also still pissed Kissinger lasted as long as he did.
Only one among thousands+, yes.
Praise lawd.
Here’s one I like: despite the efforts of Big Oil and their orange-painted lackey, the amount of renewable energy generated in the first half of 2025 has surpassed energy generated by fossil means.
Renewables surpassed coal, not all fossil fuels. Renewables were 34%. The good news is they are faster growing.
I stand corrected.
In 6 billion years the sun will swole up to engulf the earth and none of this will have ever mattered.
Assuming humanity doesn’t get our shit together enough to explore and settle the galax-heeheehee. I’m sorry. I used to hope for that.
Even if we did, most of us will likely be born into slavery on some distant colony as the property of a deranged tech trillionaire.
I vote to reduce taxes on the slave owning billionaires just in case I ever become one.
Sensible choice.
I’ve been working on a new kind of spaceship designed to act as both ark and engineering station for the construction of dyson spheres. So there’s that, although I’ve not got very far with it yet.
Concepts of a plan, eh?
Well, I’ve decided to paint it red.
I actually do find that comforting.
Wow you all suck at this. Okay I’m gonna do an actual one. The amount of wars had around the world has SIGNIFICANTLY decreased from just a century ago.
Pizza. It’s really good and I’m going to eat more of it
Cost of living has gotten to me recently so I’ve been making my own pizzas and they taste better than dominoes plus they’re cheaper. I’m stoked
Dice some garlic, mix it with passata and chopped spinach and that’s your sauce. Cheese and sliced tomatoes on top, plus more spinach
Are you making your crust or buying it somewhere?
I’m just buying it at this point but it gets discounted pretty regularly
Finally found some of the cause of my stomach issues was allergies. Cooking at home is WAY better way to get food that agrees with me
“There is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.”
Daria Morgendorffer
Scuba diving.
It might make it worse, not being able to eat the pizza without tasting the water you’re in and having to deal with removing and replacing your mouthpiece.
… or latrine/septic cleaner on the job. I’m not enjoying pizza in a shittank.
billionaires are not immortal (yet)
And they have physical bodies!
them being immortal would probably speed up their removal, if change can only happen through violence then your hand is forced
but their money is, and it’s already sequestered away. Their mere existence is a problem that lasts longer than their lifespan.
A few somewhat recent ones of different magnitudes:
- Cancer, despite still being the leading cause of deaths worldwide, is seeing a downward trend in mortality rates across most subtypes
- The 2025 Nobel Prizes are currently being awarded
- The Greek Parthenon recently became scaffold free for the first time in 15 years, apparently restoration is using all original pieces as well
- EU has fairly recently revised the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which will require new buildings to have zero-emission
And let’s not forget that cancer is the leading cause of death because medical science has made all the others much less fatal.
This isn’t a fact but I have a gut feeling that people will be taking their power back in the near future.
Every dip into fascism in human history has been accompanied by an eventual upswing and purging of said fascists so, yes, I believe you are right.
IDK…some places have never really had Democracy, or their democracy is openly corrupt, or have been some other shitty leadership for generations. People can live under these systems…just the have/have not division can be really stark.
Franco lasted a long time though. I might be dead by then
Franco’s fascism died with him. Trump won’t live another 36 years.
History always repeats itself.
Things get bad, then they get REALLY bad, then usually violence solves it and things get good again.
Oh, phew. 🫡
It’s definitely a cycle, and unfortunately we’re getting really close to the end of one world order and the birth of a new one.
That last one. Could we find a way to skip to there this time? No? :(
Shakes magic 8-ball
“My sources say no”
