“During the great tribulation, Gog of Magog’s forces may try to assault us in our homes. But we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus and his angels are aware of what is happening and will defend us”
Ex JW here. This is depicting one of the steps in their equivalent to the Rapture. It goes something like this:
The UN activates as a full world government, and decides to destroy all religion (if you know the slightest bit about the UN, you can see how absurd this is before we get to anything else)
After clearing out everything else, the UN suddenly realizes that Jehovah’s Witnesses are still around
They attack JWs (what OP’s picture depicts), but God intervenes to protect them supernaturally
Jehovah wins and tosses Satan in a deep pit
Earth is transformed over 1000 years into a paradise. Nobody dies, and previous righteous people are resurrected.
At the end of that, Satan is let out again for a final judgment of humanity
Satan is killed off for good. Any human survivors live forever on a paradise Earth.
Gog of Magog comes from Ezekiel 38. From the New World Translation: "The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog of the land of Maʹgog, the head chieftain of Meʹshech and Tuʹbal, and prophesy against him. 3 Say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: “Here I am against you, O Gog, head chieftain of Meʹshech and Tuʹbal. "
Then, the term pops up again in Revelation 20: “7 Now as soon as the 1,000 years have ended, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Maʹgog, to gather them together for the war. The number of these is as the sand of the sea.”
So Gog is basically another term for Satan in this reading. Though Ezekiel seems to be talking about a people from a specific place.
As a side note, “But we can take comfort in knowing…” is a common phrase in their writing, and I get a little twitch every time I read it.
Yes 100%. Born and raised. You grow up your entire life thinking the world is going to end in a few years. Why goto college if the world will end and it won’t serve you in the new system? We grow up in terror, see a storm out the window… Is it Armageddon? Constant fear.
Not to mention the fear of being exiled from your friends and family if you “sin”. My childhood was lost because I didn’t get to celebrate Christmas or Halloween, or goto my friends house from school, or watch Harry Potter or play Pokemon. Instead we went to church twice a week, went knocking door to door at least once a week in the heat and humidity, and did book study once a week where we read their literature and answer simple minded questions about it. Sundays were non-existent because we spent the entire day partaking in those activities.
Shit, I had no idea. That sounds like a fairly anxiety-inducing way to live.
Around the Cretaceous period when I was in elementary school, I had a classmate who was in the JW and their life did sort of seem pretty drab compared to the rest of us, at least based on what they talked about, but I guess it’s no surprise that they didn’t much venture into the whole Armageddon thing for example, being 7–9yo at the time.
It is anxiety inducing, it’s hard to even realize it because they always keep you busy. And they discourage you from having friends outside the religion and teach you that people outside have miserable lives, they only do drugs, drink alcohol and have sex. Anyone outside is only nice to you because they want to take advantage of you.
Youre taught to be scared of the outside world so you never explore it and realize that normal people really are just normal and most people are actually very friendly and want to help each other, and are a million times less judgemental than other JWs.
It’s like the “anti drug education” a lot of us had to sit through as a kid. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE FREE DRUGS I WAS PROMISED DEALERS WERE HANDING OUT???
Yup, that’s their whole outline of the end days. Supposed to happen in the lifetime of people alive in 1914, and there’s a whole thing about how they’ve managed to extend that deadline.
The people inside the house look like they all have dark hair. Maybe in the original it’s angels guiding and protecting righteous immigration cops while they’re arresting dangerous illegal immigrants (ie flashbanging toddlers)?
edit: nope lol it’s jehova’s witnesses: “During the great tribulation, Gog of Magog’s forces may try to assault us in our homes. But we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus and his angels are aware of what is happening and will defend us”
Some religious folks believe that at the “end of days” everyone who doesn’t follow the NWO religion or doesn’t have the mark of the beast will be persecuted. If you look very closely you can see the family in the house if praying with their heads down…. meanwhile these are the same people attempting to self fulfill their own prophecy by integrating religion into government
Also these people, who are so adamant in their beliefs that the State is out to get them (or will be in the near future) are almost always in favor of militarizing police and giving them more power in general, if not straight up pushing for it.
Some religious folks believe that at the “end of days”
I’ve legit heard arguments along the lines of “you shouldn’t care about climate change because the rapture’s going to be any day now. The fact that scientists are still advocating for bullshit like eliminating fossil fuels instead of repenting shows that they’re working for the devil trying to drag you to hell with them.”
I’m currently holding an opinion that everyone who can enjoy Linux will eventually try it on their own.
I think, despite what many people say, an average user still has a very rough time using it, and in my opinion you need some level of nerdiness in order to overcome adaptation pains, and such people already use internet in a nerdy way and will try out Linux on their own eventually.
Agreed. Unconditionally recommending Linux to regular people isn’t a good idea. In my opinion it’s fine with all the disclaimers about possible disadvantages and recommend them to inform themselves about it.
Just talking about my experience got them interested enough to at some point try to daily drive Linux on their desktop PC, one of them used PopOS for 2 years on their uni laptop at that point.
At the end of the day it’s all about expectations. Most people are uninterested in computers and want to continue using what they know. Others want to experiment and will learn more themselves after being shown something interesting (through YT, conversations, Steam Deck tutorials, …).
The only reason it’s like that is because devices come preinstalled with Windows. I would love if we had the Linux option that makes the device cost less
I don’t either (despite the fact that I use Arch BTW). The average adult in my country is barely able to use their computer for basic tasks (think Word/Excel, basic internet usage). Having all these people on Linux is a nightmare scenario I don’t want to imagine. I would love nothing more than Linux becoming the norm in the not-so-distant future, but the computer literacy in the general population is just too low right now.
I do both. When someone comes to me regarding their laptop overheating and slowdown issues, I recommend them Linux, right before fixing their Windows. And when someone asks me which one to use, or what to start with, or how to install, I warn them about the difficulties (because one who potentially can use Linux, will ask different questions).
Just wanted to add that i know folks who have no problem using distro like Mint but are extremely non tech. To the point they can’t set up their new TV. In fact it’s safer for them than Windows since they can’t just go clicling yes to all dangerous operations like on Windows.
I thinkbeginner friendly distros are more difficult not for total noobs but for users who are slightly experienced with PCs and want to do medium level operations like installing specific soft outside distro repo .
In that case, it seems to be a good idea to setup a linux installation yourself for the user and not give them sudo (or root password) and then make a service allowing them to use the app store and updating their system without requiring root privileges, but not letting them add a repository.
It doesn’t seem to be the case with distros like Mint. I even know folks who have Mint but they have no clue about tech or computers at all. As users they can hardly tell difference. And It’s actually easier on them because it doesn’t get all messy as Windows does for non tech folks, so there is almost no maintenance needed. I very much recommended it for granparents and such, so you don’t have to go fixing their Windows PC each visit because they downloaded tons of random danger ware by not understanding what they do.
Yeah, that’s the thing. Two categories of users can properly enjoy Linux (in my opinion):
Technically advanced users who can figure out a lot on their own
Technically illiterate users (“Show me where to click to get to Facebook”)
While average users are the ones to suffer. They are technically picky enough to require more advanced features than “click to open Google”, but not nerdy enough to spend hours reading stack overflow to make something they need work.
Most average users will be actively displeased that their settings menu is now different and confusing, office tools have slightly different UI, and some specialized software is missing.
Average user does not spend hours learning GIMP, they blame Linux for not having Photoshop and quit. Sad but true
I think this depends. People who need basic computer functions can get on very well with linux.
My classmate in highschool had ubuntu on his home pc as long as I remember, because someone preconfigured it for them and it was mainly a browser - schoolwork machine. He gamed on XBox. There was no hassle, it was fine.
My mom on her run down laptop has mint now, because I configured it for her. I haven’t heard any complaints.
E: Also many hospital here run Linux and it is just fine, and trust me, many of the medical staff are barely tech literate enough to register for email themselves.
Linux is a problem for people who come from windows and need more than basics but are not tech savvy enough to get their hands dirty. Then once your comfort level with tinkering goes up again, Linux is once again not a bad recommendation. It really kind of is the bell curve meme.
What about when they buy a new printer and need drivers. Or want to install some software they heard about that only works on Windows/Mac? I am a software developer and still struggle to find a use case where Linux would be better than Windows. If it’s not a game that won’t work then it’s an IDE that’s unavailable. There always seems to be something that isn’t fully compatible or doesn’t have a functional equivalent in Linux.
This is why I still have windows on the machines at home. There’s always some niche device, especially for my wife’s crafting, that only supports windows.
But then at work thanks to VMs I use windows and Linux side by side every day.
What about when they buy a new printer and need drivers.
Printers have “just worked” on Linux for longer than Windows has provided drivers through Windows Update. What printer do you have that requires special drivers in Linux?
Canon Pro 9000 mkii. It works but in a basic mode. There is no way to select a color profile or borderless printing. There is no way to clean the nozzles. Our Brother Laser Printer on TrueNas was a huge pain to find drivers for it to get air print to work correctly. I think I spent an entire work day messing with CUPS until I got things working properly.
I’ve already given a similar answer somewhere in this thread, but my point is, yes, it works well for advanced users (stack overflow enjoyers) and total beginners (Where do I click to get to Facebook?), while average users are in the middle, and are simultaneously require more features than beginners, but do not have the means to solve them.
Linux is a problem for people who come from windows and need more than basics but are not tech savvy enough to get their hands dirty.
Spot-on. For people with minimal to no computer skills in the first place Linux will serve them well.
The one who well struggle the most ironically are Windows “Power users” and other intermediate/advanced users who don’t have the equivalent skill already in Linux or time/willingness to learn Linux systems.
Either that, or they use specific tools that they can’t or won’t replace and which don’t work on Linux. Usually it’s creative or engineering software. There are usually good, Linux compatible, open source alternatives, but they’re not the same as industry standard tools that they need to know how to use and be 100% compatible with. Windows or MacOS is your only safe bet there.
If you’re a mere hobbyist and interested in learning new tools it’s an entirely different answer. You can try out the windows versions of the alternative software first, then try switching to Linux down the line when see the greener grass.
That’s exactly where I feel I’m at. I’m no tech expert but I’m the guy family calls to help with computer stuff and I know enough to realize I don’t like the direction Windows is going. I’ve gone as far as to install Linux on a single device I use but now I just use that device less cause I can’t be bothered to figure it out when I’ve already got other machines that I’ve got working just the way I like.
Feel like I’ve come to a wall that yeah, I could overcome and climb, but this side of the wall is still livable and I’m not even sure the other side will be much better.
Microsoft Office and Adobe software are the main anchors to Windows currently. Anyone using them (as is professionally required) is stuck with Windows or MacOS.
These are just screenshots of the data privacy section from the Apple AppStore of each of the apps. Afaik those are mandatory & self reported by the devs of the app.
iMessage definitely has more hooks in than those listed. It’s an integral Apple service that’s hooked into your deeper iCloud account. And because of that, they know a lot more than just a mere “chat” app would get access to. Which likely makes it harder to quantify.
Moreover, Meta and Alphabet also cross reference a lot of data points from all the other sources they have (cookies, IP logs, etc.). Again making actual data points fuzzy or incomplete.
I have been using Telegram for… A really long time. A decade? Maybe not that long. But yeah, no reason to change from what works for me. You’re right about that.
Signal and Matrix(?) and the others all seem to be a recent development, and although I have downloaded a few, no one else has them or has heard of them, so their directories are empty as I have never found anyone who wants to connect that way. It means I don’t know how to use or teach older people how to use the software. I am trying to find a simple evidence-based way to encourage my family to change their minds, but it appears it will only make me look paranoid, so probably won’t try.
That’s fair enough, it’s really location based. Around where I am, telegram isn’t that popular. I’ve met a few people using Signal and I have friends/collegues pop up in the “____ has Signal” section of the app.
We don’t really have a dominant chat app around here, there’s a good mix of messenger/instagram/iMessage, with some groups sticking to Whatsapp/WeChat/Viber.
I am trying to find a simple evidence-based way to encourage my family to change their minds, but it appears it will only make me look paranoid
I think part of it is because it’s hard to convince people without first explaining how things work. Not much use in worrying about it if you can’t, just look out for yourself. What you COULD do is to use the private option when you need to talk about something sensitive. If the app is installed on their phone then they’re more likely to use it, and even if not then you’re looking out for yourself
Proton or Valve won’t magically make anti-cheat working on Linux. I do most of my gaming now on Linux, but for specific games I still boot into Windows.
I use a tablet for gaming, Linux for almost everything and a windows vm for de-DRM’ing books I boiught so I can read them the way I want. Windows vm is just for when I have no other option.
Serious question. I’m planning on switching from windows to some distro, but it will be the first time I’m daily driving Linux. Are there any solid beginner-friendly resources for getting started? I’m familiar with simple bash commands, but that’s about it
As someone who recently did a switch to get used to Linux, if you’re planning on gaming then Nobara is supposedly the beginner friendly gaming distro. I switched to Nobara and my only issue was screen flickering that I fixed by switching from Wayland to X11 (that was as simple a choosing the other option on the login screen). Everything else just works and KDE looks similar to the windows layout so it doesn’t feel too unintuitive either.
My two gripes that I can’t do anything about are the lack of HDR support (supposedly that’s finally in the works) and no Linux support for some online games (The Finals in my case, but maybe if Linux numbers go up they’ll finally flip the switch), neither could be solved by having a different distro.
If you just want to game and want it up and running without tinkering too much I recommend Nobara.
Raspberry pi os was built for education, it’s a fork of debain and can run on computers that aren’t raspberry pis. They also have a digital bookshelf with many ebooks that can also be downloaded without the OS as they’ve been released as creative commons.
be confused by all the options in the installation process, look up every unknown word, try to do everything manualy, fail
start installation process again, choose all the defaults, works!
trying to install a programm with terminal, fail because not in sudo list, look up how to get into sudo list
update in terminal doesn’t work, have to remove some lines in /etc/apt/sources.list - look up how to use the text editor nano, look many yt-videos about Linux filesystem (what to those folders mean? Everything is a file?)
try to resize a partition (can’t remember which), can’t, because I didn’t choose LVM in installation process - install Debian again, and do all the steps above again
I think I had to reinstall Debian 5 more times after that, just because I didn’t know what I was doing and it was an easy reset for me.
Very frustraiting at times, and a very rewarding feeling when something worked. Made me love tech again, 10/10 would do again.
Also, get the updated kernel out of the backports repo as the main repo is pretty far behind in my opinion. I needed 6.5+ to get the hardware compatibility for some stuff and then I more or less had an out of box experience. I also highly recommend having your /home on a separate partition or drive. This way you can keep your user files if you ever want to change or reinstall the OS.
Don’t feel bad about messing up the install. Everyone fucks it up a few times. The best one I did was forget to make the user account AND did not set a root password. Thou shall not install things at 2am…
But in reality, you really only recommend it to strangers. If you recommend any piece of tech to someone you know, you iust changed your status to tech support.
Yeah, same, stuff like why is Linux on my computer now, why are ads blocked, where is Chrome, etc - listen, I’m the only tech support you have, you get what you get, and you get FOSS.
Honestly it worked fairly perfectly for me over the decades.
Me being tech support is WHY i said that. I told my family either use Linux or leave me alone. Half of them let me install Linux and I’ve not needed to do anything in years. They are basic users aka open chrome and nothing else and unlike windows Linux doesn’t constantly kill itself over time.
I occasionally ssh in to make sure updates are still working and once to setup a new printer remotely but that’s it
I do use Linux, and I’m usually glad about it, but I wasted an hour last night trying to figure out how to change my microphone port to a subwoofer port, and never did solve the problem. Linux is awesome, but sometimes basic stuff is ridiculously difficult or impossible.
Probably not. Unless it’s bi directional combined port. But remapping audio ports like that seems like an extremely niche case I find support for it very rare in any case.
I feel like I can say it here compared to that other site, but I never liked these comics. Maybe 1/100 felt clever or funny and I hated that stupid meta of adding shit to find in your boring ass comics.
I didn’t take much issue with Pizzacake until their comics became this weird circlejerk about people who didn’t like them. There was no joke just “Oooh I made another one! Look how much I don’t care about the haters! They’re sooo upset!” Each complete with a strawperson getting super triggered that they would continue making comics.
I get it, you put time and effort into making a comic and it’s frustrating to see people who don’t like them. Let off steam with maybe just one comic. But after seeing multiple of the same exact thing I was really done seeing that kind of rage bait in my feed.
Glad you finally found the courage to speak up! If there was one thing I felt was missing from Reddit, it was people sharing how much they disliked certain web comics.
The difference isn’t something missing. The difference between the sites is here has more actual discussion. While people still feel the need to downvote anything they don’t agree with I still think it’d be interesting to have discussions
It’s not, though. Git is a means of distributing content, not the content itself. The thing analogous to PornHub’s porn on GitHub is the source code in the repos hosted there, not Git itself.
Depends on to whom. If you’re explaining to your grandma, a small child, a co-worker, or a student under your tutelage, you probably don’t want an explanation that relies on reference to a porn site.
And if you’re explaining to a novice developer or to an IT person who sometimes might have to work with Git, they deserve an explanation that leaves them with a basic understanding (or at least the names) of the kinds of things Git and GitHub are (VCSes and SCM forges, respectively), not just an inkling that GitHub is not unique in being ‘a place to host (some?) Git, whatever that is’.
So… if you don’t mind that it suggests ‘GitHub is for uploading Git(s)’, that line is an okay way to teach ‘the difference between Git and GitHub’ to non-technical, non-elderly adults who don’t really need to know what Git is (and don’t work with you or study under you).
That’s an explanation of pretty damn narrow usefulness, to put it generously.
I agree that porn is a nsfw way to explain something in a lot of scenarios but I disagree about people needing to know at least the names of a technology from an explanation.
Most people don’t need to know or care about the names to understand or use them. Knowing the names after I learnt the commands did not give me greater insight into how the tool works.
If they are just being introduced to git and github then they are likely new to programming and have much more important things to care about like learning their first programming language or understanding how their teams project actually works.
A place to host gits is a perfectly good explanation for anyone who is new to it.
Git is a DVCS. GitHub is a place where DVCS repositories are hosted. There are many other places where DVCS repositories can be hosted, but GitHub is the most famous one… Porn is a type of content. PornHub is a place where porn is hosted. There are many other places where porn can be hosted, but PornHub is the most famous one. It’s a pretty good analogy.
Sure… and you could pass around porn on thumb drives. But, having a central website where you can browse public repos and clone the interesting ones is a pretty key part of Open Source / Free Software development.
How many people use Github for discovery though? I usually find interesting projects through a search engine, through word of mouth, through posts on here, etc. at which point it doesn’t really matter where the repo is hosted. A lot of the useful projects I use aren’t even on Github.
As far as I know, Gitea is current working on federation support, which will be great. It’d be like Lemmy where you can browse repos, submit issues, etc from one instance even if the repo is hosted at a different one. Git was really designed for a model like that, not for a centralized one.
How many people use Pornhub for discovery though? I usually find interesting content through a search engine, through word of mouth, through posts on here, etc. at which point it doesn’t really matter where the porn is hosted. A lot of the useful content I use aren’t even on Pornhub.
Seriously though, I agree with you, githubs value to open source is not it’s discover-ability. Personally I think its value comes from the stability, as much as I’m an advocate for self-hosting I know from the amount of dead links on the internet that we could have lost a lot of projects or at least they would move about as hosts went down.
I quite like the idea of federated gitea, although technically there is already a federated platform for porn if you count Lemmy and/or mastadon.
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