You assume they are only collecting usage data with their apps, which is typically not the case. Some of them request every permission on your phone just to collect as much as they can.
Have not watched Buffy, no. But I believe you fully. Just didn’t think it was a big deal for voice but… at the same time I’m quite face blind so muffling and costumes don’t usually impact my ability to recognize someone. So it’s low-key amazing to me the lengths some people go to
It also helps if you are too lazy to bundle up to go outside to check when it’s cold as nuts, but are waiting for something specific. 😁
And if you just never check your mail (I get almost exclusively junk mail, so I check it every week or two. All my bills are autopay, and all communications are paperless when possible).
Ha! This is my new way of looking at my smart devices. I’ll sell you off if you don’t do what I want, and buy something that does. Very much a threat.
I recently factory reset all my Roku TVs, and didn’t connect them to the internet… and they work much better now.
Roku broke big time when I insisted on privacy. blocked the entire Roku domain, it broke the apps on a 1-month schedule like clockwork to get the network release for reinstall which allowed for phone home. lol no. I trashed it. They are dumb TVs now.
I haven’t played fallout, so idk how far off this is going to be, but if you like scrapping everything around you to make other stuff, have you tried dysmantle?
That’s basically the game - explore, destroy stuff in the environment (including nearly everything, except some buildings/structures are unbreakable because they are quest spots), use the materials to make better stuff so you can explore and destroy better. Increase the damage your weapons do to break more stuff. Etc.
There’s also zombies, but that’s sort of a minor part of the game imho (you get stuff for killing them that you need to level up gear, though, so not totally pointless).
I put about 100 hours into it to do everything except the zombie respawn thing because it’s too tedious (involves killing all enemies, in all areas, 4 times total, there are 16 areas, and some of them have 100-150 zombies in the zone. No thanks. But you don’t really get anything for doing that anyway except the knowledge that you did it.)
I got a sensodyne toothpaste recently that doesn’t have that overwhelming toothpaste taste. It’s the nourish stuff and its flavor is “natural mint and citrus oil”, and it’s mostly not the mint that I taste. It was super weird for a few days, but I strongly prefer it over toothpaste flavored toothpaste.
Maybe something like that would work better for you, as well.
lol at the thought of “this part of your body that you use multiple times every day for vital survival functions and various other functions like communication is mostly cosmetic, you’ll do just fine without!”
Teeth bleaching is cosmetic, crowns and fillings and whatever are restoration of normal functioning.
If we were meant to be ok without properly functioning teeth, we wouldn’t have teeth in the first place. That’s a stupid argument biologically speaking. (No offense intended to you personally, ofc)
I understand that Americans have a disproportionate focus on the -specifically cosmetic- aspects of oral hygiene, whiteness and straightness, primarily, but to say that most oral care is unnecessary and purely cosmetic is just absolute hogwash.
Mind you this is from someone who intends to get all her teeth ripped out and replaced with implants because no matter what I do, I average a cavity every 2-4 years. It’s cheaper in the long run to get implanted dentures than to fight my genes. So I understand entirely the being toothless by 30 (tho I’m 36 and still have all of them, I think I have more fillings than teeth at this point, and if most of those weren’t done free in the military I’d just have no teeth) but I disagree vehemently with the idea that that’s totally fine and won’t cause problems.
I look at my keys when I type and I’m not ashamed of that. I always have, since Oregon trails on 5.25 floppy in the early 90s.
I could probably train myself out of it, and I can type whole sentences without looking, but only with the 6 fingers I normally use, rather than the full 8 most people use, and it’s a fucking chore. Frankly, it seems like a massive waste of mental resources to learn to type without looking, and I actively resisted learning it in typing classes in middle/highschool. I’m not doing data entry, so whatever I’m writing is a creative process, and that benefits from sight. I get eyes on what I’m doing while I’m doing it, and again when I check it over. It worked out very well for me when I started typing in Cyrillic, I just added transparent stickers. Homework was a breeze; I was looking anyway! :)
Yes I fucking want backlit keys. Even if just for when I’m laying in bed at a weird angle and can’t see the key layout, or sitting in a dark room. I would want them in a drunken stupor, too, even tho I use my phone for that browsing, which is backlit by default.
In summary, backlit keys are the shit. I spent a gob of money on a backlit, rechargeable, wireless keyboard, and I regret nothing.