Daedalous Eros

Pride art of this nonbinary Novabeast from @growlbeast@meow.social! This came out fantastic.

@Redfuchs@furries.club unironically, I realized a long time ago that if people only liked a fake ass version of me, then they didn't like *me.* Of course, you need to know who you are to show who you are, and much of my life has been learning who I am (as it is for most people I think), but I've always made sure to be up-front and genuine, for exactly this reason: so the people who are looking for me can find me.

The news that Microsoft is going to start "fixing up" Windows 11 has been making rounds in tech news recently. And I thought about it... Obviously first and foremost, I simply don't trust Microsoft less than as far as I can throw them. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt for the sake of discussion:

Even if they made Windows 11 a good operating system- that is, they remove all the bloatware, let you uninstall whatever you want, remove the ads, and remove the spyware, and improve the over-all performance, I wouldn't care.

And I feel that says something; I wouldn't have to worry about game comparability (though I barely do anymore on Linux), I would have an easier time with VR, and I would get all the benefits that come with a uniform experience.

Linux, for all it's greatness, is still often a rough, somewhat jank experience. And mileage varies from distro to distro and even something as simple as DE to DE. It's not uncommon that we fight to get a particular piece of software to work, modding games ranges from being more painful than pulling your own teeth out to being as simple as a drag and drop, and yes, there are still a handful of significant games that just don't and probably never will work on Linux (R6 Siege, anything made by Riot, and Fortnite). Regardless of how much I care about any of this, it matters. Those limit the digital fields in which I can interact with friends and loved ones.

But I honestly can't bring myself to care. Linux is rough around the edges and sometimes jank and limiting in ways that matter, but at least my computer is *mine.* If I don't like something, I can change it. If I want to customize something, I probably can. It's made being on my computer nostalgic again.

But more significant than that is the fact that Microsoft has lost my trust and they won't be getting it back. Even if they made all of the changes above with no strings attached, I have no assurance they won't make abusive, anti-consumer decisions again further down the line. I didn't have a digital ideology before Windows 11, but I do now. I've seen the abuse and the overreach, and I'm unable to trust big tech companies anymore, Microsoft least of all.

I imagine they might win some people back, and half of them will quit when they see how much it fucking sucks trying to re-install Windows. But I also imagine there's a lot of people in my same boat for whom they also can't trust Microsoft again. Even the people who go back will be wary at best. And I think that cornerstone is obliterated; Microsoft can slow their decent, but I think the inability to trust them is going to erode their business and market dominance, piece by piece.

It won't affect me though; I'll still be using Linux.

Well, was gonna stream tonight, but the PeerTube chat plugin is bugging out again, so I guess I'll be postponing again. Hopefully it can get figured out in time for next week.

Y'know, Telegram has exactly one feature that I think should be a default option on all chat platforms. Please, for the love of all that is good, can we PLEASE get the option to limit notifications to once every x amount of minutes!? It would be so much easier to keep up with groups if I could have notifications, but I never do because when the group gets active I get overwhelmed and annoyed. I really don't get why I've only ever seen this feature on Telegram of all places.

@mynameistillian@plush.city oh, absolutely! It's all addiction-loops. You're not going insane, most people just don't see it. And of the ones who do, half of them don't care. It's kinda sad TBH...

@soatok@furry.engineer really said "I'm about to end this platform's whole career!" I'm aware that, much like how this ID debacle isn't going to "kill Discord," this is hardly going to kill Matrix. It probably won't even stop the evangelists. But this was satisfying to see~ Those closing thoughts... chefs kiss

You either die an #archlinuxuser or live long enough to see yourself install #debian

I wanna write a movie about aliens finding Earth. And they absolutely love humans and human culture, to the point we become incredibly popular in their society.

The twist? They think the epicenter of human culture is Tumblr.

28 years old now. Feels a little surreal to be so close to my 30's now. Don't really feel any different though.

@Redfuchs@furries.club puritans would faint if they knew the absolutely unholy things I want to do with paws. ​​

@MartinJBreen@mastodon.ie human beings are social creatures, as well as creatures of habit. And sometimes I find that people are so tone deaf as to imagine "just leaving" is that easy. Simple, perhaps, but not easy. We need community. To leave an established community in hopes that you may get accepted by another one isn't a very comforting promise. If we want people to leave corporate spaces, then maybe the onus should be on us to make them feel like they are welcome and belong. Just my unsolicited 2 cents.

My partner is waiting at the airport. There's apparently nobody there but his flight is still boarding in a few hours. I'm going to McFuckin' lose it if all this TSA bullshit means he just can't make his flight that I've *ALREADY PAID FOR!*

Edit: TSA showed up after almost an hour. No explanation as to why they weren't there, but it's taken care of now.

I've reached the point where I'm just really fucking done with the corporate internet. It might take some time for me to find viable replacements for everything I use corporate tools for, but I plan to just eventually go as all-in on the open web as possible. Of course, for now, Steam remains the exception. The power of not having investors to please, I suppose. Please just don't let Gaben die anytime soon! YouTube is also gonna be a bitch to replace. I know Peertube is there, and I want it to work out, but unfortunately I can see YouTube is entrenched for a very good reason, and Google is content to exploit that. And it's frustrating. (A side note to this point is once I find a Peertube to sign up for, eventually I would like to start hosting streams and uploading vods to said instance. This feels like one area I can contribute directly to the solution.) Discord screensharing is another frustrating feature to find a viable alternative for. My polycule and I often stream games to each other as a way to spend time with one another, but finding a solution that is convenient and easy enough for the non-tech-savvy members of my 'cule to figure out and able to stream both video and audio on Linux has proven difficult. Regardless, this feels like something I can achieve within a reasonable timeframe, and with Discord's recent bullshit, I'm more motivated than ever to accomplish this.

@Bwee@meow.social this do be my energy

Are you on Matrix? Do you like BDSM? Curious about it? I have a group for that! The Dom Den is a growing BDSM community providing a kink-friendly space for people to engage in and learn about BDSM as both a kink and a life-style.

#TDD:pawb.social

@netkitty@meow.social you're so right!

@MartinJBreen@mastodon.ie absolutely! My honest opinion is that for-profit organizations should not be allowed to host communities. There's an egregious conflict of interest there.

@anteumbra@yiff.life whenever you get the chance, take a look at the event line up and figure out what you're interested in going to! CostCo! Absolutely make a trip to the nearest CostCo if you can! Grab as many snacks and sandwich stuff as you can to eat in your hotel room! It will save you a lot of money. Speaking of money, it's almost certainly going to end up more expensive than you think it is. Estimate how much you think you need to save up, then save up more! Don't impulse buy in the Dealer's Den on Day 1 unless you see something you really want selling out super fast. Try to make a trip around to see what else is available so you don't end up with Buyer's Remorse (you almost certainly will anyway, but you'll have less if you do this). Go with a friend you trust! Going alone is kinda ass. And don't bet on meeting up with friends you're not rooming with; everybody is going to have 20 things they wanna do and that means 10 of them aren't happening. And that's not personal, that's just how the con goes. So going with somebody guarantees you won't be going alone and you'll have a lot more fun. Try to be there for Day 1 when not a lot is happening, and even before you register, just take the time to wander around the venue and get a feel for the layout. This will make it easier to find your way around when it's crowded, harder to see and especially if crowds make you anxious. Building on that top point, find places that are less crowded and less noisy, especially if you're rooming outside of the main venue. Furry cons are overstimulating, so finding places you can decompress when you can't/don't want to go back to your room can help a lot. If you can't get a room in the main venue, it is, in my honest opinion, worth paying a premium to stay within easy walking distance. Did this at TFF this year and it made things a lot better. And finally, bookmark any of these comments you found helpful for easy reference if/when you get to go a con! I'd also love to hear how it goes for you and if any of my rambling was helpful to you. ​​

Wow, rare wholesome Fesshole!

MIO has joined Silksong in the column of "games that I really wish I could like more than I do." I'm really fucking sick of Metroidvanias getting choked full of "gotcha" moments that leave me feeling like the game is trying to beat me instead of challenging me to beat it. And I wish I could be more specific. Because I didn't feel this way about Hollow Knight nor Nine Sols, and Nine Sols especially is not an easy game. I'm hooked on MIO's plot. I will, eventually, finish it. Even despite knowing what bullshit awaits me. but I think after I'm done with it, this genre is going to be fucking dead to me until it gets its shit together.

@RatFriend@yiff.life I live in Texas, certainly not close to New England. But I know in situations like yours, you can end up drifting pretty far from home if circumstances drift that way. If you ever find yourself in DFW and need somewhere to stay, I can talk to my partner and you could probably crash on our couch for a little. Though heaven willing, you'll end up in a better state than Texas.

@mynameistillian@plush.city "this female" creepy, objectifying, weird (derogatory) "this fuckable creature" progressive, inclusive, freaky (affectionate)

@konstruct@woof.tech you are also precious, adorable, and worthy of love and acceptance!

Honestly, I really hate that the term "audiophile" has been hijacked by these kinds of people, because sound is one of my stims. My hearing is definitely sensitive, to the point that good sound quality makes me feel really good, and I'm not sure how else to refer to that. But I don't want to be associated with these kinds of self-avowed "audiophiles." RE: https://mastodon.social/users/evemassacre/statuses/116069036898313169

CW boosting

RE: https://meta.masto.host/users/GamingNews/statuses/116288051876788678

@mynameistillian@plush.city Hassan Piker has long been considered a problematic individual as far as I'm aware. So it doesn't surprise me to hear this. As far as I've seen so far, the folks over at Midas Touch have been pretty level-headed leftists. Folks like Adam Mockler. But the only one I think I can really say I put much stock in is Owen Morgan. I don't always agree with him, but I've never disagreed with him in a way that I felt he was problematic.

@soatok@furry.engineer Ah yes! The sacred chant of our people: awawa!

@ret@furry.engineer fr. I don't think they realize that nobody with half a brain believes a goddamn word they say. The only thing that would ever give me an ounce of trust in Discord ever again would be to fully open-source their whole ass project where they can be held to account on what their platform actually is doing. Period. Full-stop.

@mynameistillian@plush.city I was starting TNG with a friend forever ago and greatly enjoyed it. It starts kinda campy but definitely gets better about it. I've heard TOS is still really good as well. And I've heard fairly mixed things about anything that comes after TNG, but that they're over-all still good.

@karb@bark.lgbt for neuance: I am not against the idea of Gen AI. It is a tool and nothing more. I am against its current, capitalistic implementation built on stolen labor and unconsensually gathered data. I think, in a better world, Gen AI would make things better. Just in this world it's a half-baked, capitalistic, tech bro fever dream and it's not made with good intentions. I don't think it's possible for it to be anything else under capitalism.

@njion@bark.lgbt I think when I still identified as male, the start of breaking that down was how blatant the marketing towards men is, especially with bath products! I got fed up with the 321463-in-1 shampoo, conditioner, body wash, car wash, toothpaste, stove cleaner, carpet cleaner, laundry detergent, dish detergent... And then I read, from another man, about how "men's shampoo," if it isn't the exact same as "women's," it's inferior. They just sell men worse shit and mark it up. And it was all over after that. I stopped caring who it was meant for and started caring if it matched my vibe. Certainly made it pretty easy to slide into being enby when I came to that conclusion.

@Bwee@meow.social Paaaaaws! ​​

@Matthew@furry.engineer I love the them!

@konstruct@woof.tech oh, there's already a few! Gonna give one of those a try.

@Redfuchs@furries.club yo, same though!

@warren@meow.social I've personally been backing Stoat, but I've been hearing about Fluxer a good bit too.

@aks@scalie.zone I won't ever lie to someone and tell them that FOSS promises perfect solutions or, at times, even the same overwhelming amount of features and polish. Honesty, in fact, FOSS is often a little rough around the edges. But it's ours, not some corporations. And the only people FOSS devs are beholden to is their communities. So the things I can promise is that they won't be sold out for pennies, they won't have to put up with hostile design or dark patterns, and far greater resistance to enshittification. And that alone makes it worth using and supporting I've felt the same; FOSS tools and programs have drastically increased my digital quality of life, even when it lacks the same bells and whistles that corpo trash has.

@gwenthefops@transfem.social actually though! You're so right.

@Bwee@meow.social I'm a little sleepy still, but that's probably just cause I haven't had coffee yet. But I'm also happy and at peace, definitely in love with the lovely found family I have, I always want hugs and cuddles and... One other thing but I think it violates the rating of this post. ​​

@konstruct@woof.tech MPV?

@raccoon@hollow.raccoon.quest pawb just spun up matrix.pawb.social. Thus far it's been running pretty smoothly. It features SSO using your existing pawb.fun or pawb.social accounts, but I think you should be able to sign up directly for the Matrix.

@xgranade@wandering.shop the worst part is: Stoat has all the same major features save video calls and screen share. But that won't matter to most people, because it's "not quite there yet." The solution is staring them in the face, it's just not getting done fast enough for the average person.

@randomvangloboii@dragonchat.org I am personally on Signal, Stoat and pawb.social's Matrix server.

Quote boosting and tagging @mutualaid@fedigroups.social.

CW Boost and tagging @mutualaid@fedigroups.social #mutualaid # #gazafundraisers RE: https://mastodon.world/ap/users/116167105100282298/statuses/116183030870649761

@musahj@mastodon.social I hope you find the funds you need. But you should edit your post to include a donation link and consider adding the mutualaid hastag for wider reach.

@konstruct@woof.tech Cine and Haruna stuck out to me. The direct MPV client is also on Flathub. Cine seems to be just a video player, so, probably gonna end up uninstalling it, since I imagine Haruna can too. Haruna definitely has the ability to play YouTube videos, but I don't know if I can just get my subscribed channels ported over. I'll have to poke around more when I'm feeling more patient.

@usernameswift@labyrinth.zone bold of you to assume he can go that long without a nap. Bro can't even stay awake for one meeting!