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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Since games don’t have to run with more than user privileges and steam runs in flatpak, you could run them as a different user account with very limited permissions.

    That said, flatpak should be pretty secure as far as I’m aware if you make sure that permissions for the apps running are restricted appropriately. I’m not sure how restricted you can make steam and still have it work though

    You can use offline mode for steam if you’re okay with steam having internet but not games. But there’s no way to use steam entirely offline. Internet access is a fundamental part of the system they have.

    There’s also a question of what your threat model is. Like are you trying to prevent causal access of your files by games, or like a sophisticated attempt to compromise the system conveyed through a game. For the former flatpak seems sufficient. For the latter you probably need a dedicated machine. And there’s varying levels in between


  • I think something that contributes to people talking past each other here is a difference in belief in how necessary/desirable revolution/overthrow of the U.S government is. Like many of the people who I’ve talked to online, who advocate not voting and are also highly engaged, believe in revolution as the necessary alternative. Which does make sense. It’s hard to believe that the system is fundamentally genocidal and not worth working within (by voting for the lesser evil) without also believing that the solution is to overthrow that system.

    And in that case, we’re discussing the wrong thing. Like the question isn’t whether you should vote or not . it’s whether the system is worth preserving (and of course what do you do to change it. How much violence in a revolution is necessary/acceptable). Like if you believe it is worth preserving, then clearly you should vote. And if you believe it isn’t, there’s stronger case for not voting and instead working on a revolution.

    Does anyone here believe that revolution isn’t necessary and also that voting for the lesser isn’t necessary?

    The opposite is more plausible to me: believing in the necessity of revolution while also voting

    Personally I believe that revolution or its attempt is unlikely to effective and voting+activism is more effective, and also requires agreement from fewer people in order to progress on its goals. Tragically, this likely means that thousands more people will be murdered, but I don’t know what can actually be effective at stopping that.



  • There are a great variety of co-ops. If you define renting narrowly enough, then they are of course different. But the point is that for some (and the co-ops I’ve seen personally) you don’t have to make a down payment for a mortgage like you do with a condo or house. You instead pay a monthly fee that covers the co-op’s mortgage/repairs/taxes. Or if the place is fully owned by the co-op, then just the repairs/taxes.

    But you retain the flexibility of renting in that you can leave reasonably easily since you’re not personally responsible for the mortgage.

    I think there are also co-ops (possibly more commonly) where it’s essentially just a condo where the building is collectively owned by the tenants instead of a for profit company. In that case, it’s much less like renting.






  • There’s definitely software that uses parts of the windows API that games don’t touch. And doesn’t work properly on Wine. I keep a windows install around just for using an analysis software for some lab equipment that refuses to start in wine.

    Things like CAD software are also a struggle, though the latest wine seems to have resolved a number of graphics issues with getting PTC Creo to properly use the nvapi and nvidia graphics drivers through wine.

    While wine is amazing, plenty of things don’t work with it. Usually you don’t need them, but if you do, you do









  • I agree that the internet is far more than facebook. But if you’re blocked at the edge of the network by your ISP, there’s really not much you can do. You’ll have access to nothing, Facebook or otherwise. Not even something low bandwidth.

    If At&t, Comcast, Charter, Verizon, and T-Mobile suddenly stopped providing service to all their customers, then essentially no-one would be able to use anything on the internet at all. Even if the backbone itself (which I believe is largely owned by those same companies, but not sure) and some large datacenters that are their own isps were able to keep talking to each other, anything business or user facing would stop.

    Some people who run their own mesh networks might be able to stay in contact (and people would try and start some local ones as this disaster unfolds), but that’s so few people.