Signal is “easy” onboarding, just install and follow a wizard. I still have trouble convincing people to just download the app and try which is the hurdle. Most who bother to try it end up liking it and sticking with it since it’s easy and familiar to SMS but nicer. The people who don’t want to bother just never mention it again, or make up some excuse “won’t run on my phone” (it’s an iPhone) to stop the conversation.

Even if it’s not misery per se, it’s an opportunity to find a current partner who holds more interest in shared hobbies (travel e.g.) or even find such a partner while traveling! Ending the current relationship now on a good (better?) note instead of letting it fester and breed resentment is worth a lot in my opinion. Part as friends or friendly if possible.

As a white guy living in a significantly “brown” large city, these racists are only emboldened to say it to me thinking “he’s one of us” (racist); it’s extremely noticeable when I repeat what they said like I couldn’t hear it (being old has it’s advantages) loudly so other people around us in public can hear what they said. Edit: and a major number of these people I run across are older white women from an ad-hoc statistics viewpoint.

No shade meant to the squids for that turn of phrase my bad; Army taught me how to swear and smoke. :)

It’s hard to say the USA anymore, we are very deeply divided as a country. Here on the fediverse you’ll find like-minded left-oriented people (presumably, based on my travels) but man our country is in the toilet. I’m in the over-50 category, been on this Earth awhile and this is some really bad shit - in society we have accepted standards of behaviour and we all know how Trump has dealt with that - dude paved over the Rose Garden to put in a gilded ballroom. Nicolae Ceaușescu, anyone?

Last week, not an exaggeration, an older white man I know I ran into (at the grocery) said something like “if I have to pay a black man reparations, I should be able to bring him home and beat his ass first.” I was in complete shock these words came out of his mouth and I’m a “rough” guy so to speak, I’ll swear like a sailor daily but these racists are emboldened to spew their hate loudly in public now.

Point being: the white racists with money have taken over USA politics, regardless of how people say fancy headlines I live here - it’s all about white racism and supremacy. Every single thing they do is rooted in their hate of anyone and anything not being perceived as white power. Everything else is a smokescreen, their actions show you their beliefs. Trump has (and is) systematically fired any person of color who holds a position of power or influence, it’s in the news every day.

It’s some of my neighbors (I live in a very “brown” area, mixed races etc.) and we’re all walking on eggshells because these MAGA lunatics scream and yell like little children without any logic. “Why did Trump choose 50% instead of 35% tariffs on xxxxx, what’s the math behind it or economic policy?” - “it’s the art of the deal!” (seriously, that’s the response - blurt out a Fox News talking point with zero knowledge, pure ignorance). It’s exhausting to deal with adults who have the reasoning of a 5 year old fueled by their hatred.

Piefed helped a number of communities reparent to their homeserver as-is when lemm.ee closed down, definitely a valid theory. meta@lemm.ee community final posts if you’re keen to farm data.

The Woz™ recently commented on this topic: https://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=23765914&cid=65583466

by SteveWoz ( 152247 ) on 2025-08-11 20:36

I gave all my Apple wealth away because wealth and power are not what I live for. I have a lot of fun and happiness. I funded a lot of important museums and arts groups in San Jose, the city of my birth, and they named a street after me for being good. I now speak publicly and have risen to the top. I have no idea how much I have but after speaking for 20 years it might be $10M plus a couple of homes. I never look for any type of tax dodge. I earn money from my labor and pay something like 55% combined tax on it. I am the happiest person ever. Life to me was never about accomplishment, but about Happiness, which is Smiles minus Frowns. I developed these philosophies when I was 18-20 years old and I never sold out.