Libb

Is keeping the exact same name, with a ‘2.0’, the best choice if they wish to make it clear they’re not related to the previous team/org?

I loved the idea of NaNoWriMo when it all started (yep, I’m getting old) but I also gave up bothering about it entirely when it became that almost business-like endeavor, way too serious. I liked my NaNo to be informal, and fun, and quirky too as I had more than enough serious writing activities, already.

So, reading the new introduction, I kinda love that (a lot):

At this point, it’s probably best to leave NaNoWriMo as an idea that no-one owns or administrates.

But, once again, I sincerely doubt keeping the exact same name was the best way to ‘leave’ any of that sad past behind them. Maybe they could have gone for that International the OP did not consider originally. Saying that as someone who did the NaNo a few time, not living in the USA and not writing in English.

Enough worrying, it’s great news to see people trying to revive this excellent idea (and an even better excuse) to encourage people to effing start writing instead of dreaming that one day they will do it.

Get a pen and some paper, or open a new document file if you prefer a computer, and start writing that stupid story you keep thinking about! I’m willing to bet it won’t be that stupid once you finish it. And if it is that stupid, well… that’s great news as you’ve just freed your mind for a brand new and much better story idea. And at most it will have taken you a month to do so—I don’t know about you but I have often wasted a lot more than a single month ruminating about some ‘cool idea’ I had that, once I stopped thinking how great it was to actually start writing it, ended up being not that great) :)

I can’t talk about younger generations, I’m well into my 50s, but I know they do a lot of things online. Heck, they even date online which to me seems as odd as wanting to eat an… air sandwich (so odd that I’m half expecting some app to popup offering them to have virtual sex too… for a monthly fee, obviously). But even like that there are still a lot of people (of all ages) that prefer IRL/physical/analog to online/digital to a subscription-based lifestyle. They’re just… less visible online (and they seldom complain about it online either) ;)

The thing with the Internet is that it creates this self-validation bubble, and I mean not just for political discussions where people expect to never have to listen to anything/anyone not agreeing with them, I mean it as a space itself, the Internet is good at downplaying alternatives to itself as a place to be and do things… Things like meeting people IRL, doing offline activities and hobbies. Who decided we needed to use a phone to watch a movie or to read a book or an app to meet someone we find attractive?

To me, all of that should have been one of the things education needed to talk more about to kids. If it ever tried, it obviously utterly failed. The real question being then: who decided we should stop doing all of those things our species have been doing for… ever. And why? And the answer may be as simple and obvious as: ourselves. It is us that did this to ourselves, it’s our own laziness and maybe our own fear, and our own stupidity.

Until then, ill go back to being mostly disconnected on weekends. Its great.

I don’t have dedicated offline days, but i do have a lot of offline time so allow me to congratulate you nonetheless on that decision and wish you had an even better WE than usual when you will read my comment. Because, you’re 100% right:

Its great.

And not just on WE ;)

I sincerely have no idea how other people may feel about (not) speaking foreign languages, it’s up to them. Also, it’s not a competition with a single winner and many losers. It’s like being able to draw (I love doing that, I’m shit at it) or to dance (I can’t, but I love watching dance and ballet).

Personally, I don’t feel better because of the languages I speak. It’s just a decision I made, and then a question of putting in the required work (aka, time and efforts). But I am happy to be able to read/speak those languages.

As an avid reader, it’s something I always considered a necessity as I wanted to be able read books in their native language in order to fully appreciate them. It’s also so much better when interacting with other people, even for someone as shy as I am, to be able to speak in their native language even poorly and in a limited way (I’m not fluent in all of the few languages I understand, far from it).

I think it’s important to mention that as I too often met people that are afraid to learn and even more so that are unable to speak in a foreign language because they worry so much about being judged. It’s true we all are bad when we’re starting out but that’s still a real sad mistake to let that stop us as a vast majority of people will be more than welcoming to anyone trying to speak their language. For the record, I say that as someone who is monstrously shy (like, really) and speaks with a terrible French accent. So, I know perfectly well what it’s like to feel intimidated ;)

The one language I would love the most to learn but never managed to is Chinese.

There are writers, thinkers, and poets I would love to read not in a translation (and many more that are not even available in translation, sadly). But it’s also so complex to the point of being intimidating… This year, I almost managed to convince myself to apply to one of the schools teaching Chinese, here in Paris, but money and, like I said, me being utterly shy made it so that I not-that-accidentally missed the deadline.

Also, I’m starting to get old (well into my 50s) and my health not being that great I worry more and more it would be a waste of a seat that a much younger person could make better use of.

100% agree with you, but the question was what helps each one of us feel better, I just shared what works for me ;)

• Long walks, daily. This literally changed my life.
• Spending time with people I love. Quality time I mean, and really being together and appreciate it aka not sitting one next to the other while wasting our time in front of the TV or doom scrolling.
• Reading great books, writing. That helps too.
• Most important: be ok with things not being perfect or exactly as one wants them to be. And being ok with shit happening, be it around us or with us.

I can’t imagine what investments you think would be able to fund any of that off of $10,000. Invest for a few years you said, so what at best you might have $12,000?

Not sure what I can answer to your remark. I mean, you realize it’s a very theoretical question that was asked by the op, as none of us is about to invest 10k or even 1 million to help our city, right?

So, why do you think it was useful to point out what I already mentioned to begin with (the amount is too small to do what I would love to do)? Was it to show you can do math? Congrats, I do Origami quite nicely myself. Or was it something meaner? In which case I don’t think this deserves much congrats.

That being said, without being an expert in investing myself allow me to point out that ‘a few years’ does not mean a couple of years which, after a quick check, is the time it would take to earn a little over your 2K by investing 10k in the S&P and not doing much. That is on average, it has been more in recent years and it could easily be much more depending one’s expertise and willingness to take risks. And that is also not considering other types and modes of investments than just buying good old stocks. I don’t think a 10% yearly return is something our crypto friends would be satisfied with but I may be wrong: I don’t do much crypto (I do Origami).

So, even if it’s hard to conceive, in that imaginary world where I would have 10k at my disposal to do some good in my community I would do exactly as I said and would invest that money. Long term if needed. Patience is key, in investing like in everything else, even if that goes against the immediate gratification that seems to have become our new religion.

And only after it has made enough money, I would use it. Also, since you want to turn that little fantasy of mine, into something more realistic, I did not exclude the possibility to regularly invest more money to add to my initial capital. Neither did I mention the possibility that people good at math, maybe even you, could notice my endeavor and, despite its naivety, realize my objective is a decent one and they may then feel motivated enough to contribute (al lot more, since you and they are much better at math). And voilà, problem solved. We now are sitting on so many cash that we won’t be able to spend it. Amazing.

Edit: typos & clarifications.

10,000 is probably not enough. So:

1. I would invest said money for a few years, in order to make it a lot more money and now:
2. fund a trust for our local public library to become 100% independent from any power grab/censoring/book banning temptation. And, nope, it wouldn’t matter the slightest from what political side or from what moral ground said attempt would originate from.
3. Promote reading among the general population. Focusing on the younger generations, because they’re our future and, even though it’s starting to fade away, they’re supposed to be the ones willing to make the effort of learning and be educated, but I would also not exclusively cater to younger people. I mean, unlike with kids, I tend to think that given a chance a vast majority of adults would hardly change their behavior/opinions, as they’re already set in their path and most of them are way too proud to ever admit they could have been wrong, but I would still want to give them the opportunity.

Edit: typos.

I don’t get the ‘dereferencing’ part of your question (English is not my native language) but if you are wondering whether or not you’re using them: if you use Google, Apple or Microsoft cloud you’re using a GAFAM (the F stand for Facebook which doens’t offer cloud storage). You may also be using one unknowingly by using a third party cloud provider that still uses one of them or even Amazon AWS storage, which would be the second A in GAFAM ;)

The two I use are supposedly not using gafam services and use either their own servers (for Infomaniak) or the German Hetzner (for Filen).

It depends the expectations, aka how those 2 hypothetical persons are used to communicate together. Any change in said habits may trigger questions but that is still very subjective and, to me at least, it also seems to be a little bit too emotional in that theoretical example you briefly described.

Imho, a better reaction would be

1. to wait (its not a matter of life an death, right? And if it was one better be contacting a doctor or the police)
2. to ask the other if there is anything wrong going on and, if so, if there is anything one could do to help them. Instead of instantly jumping to any conclusion regarding their real secret motivations for not immediately answering a message… that more often than not is probably not that important to begin with.

If that helps you worry a little less: I may spend days before replying any message. It may be weeks or more than that, before I reply some emails. And btw, that’s true for those odd people that, somehow are still willing to exchange with me despite me apparently being so rude with them: they’re treating me as rudely as I am. Save that we don’t call that being rude, we call that being ok with not being the center of the other’s life because, well, we are not ;)

Also, it’s ok to not stay 'friends’ forever. Things and people change and so will their interests. We all can change.

Edit: rephrasing

You’re welcome.

If you want to get extra 10Go storage for free use this affiliate link to create your account (there is no string attached, just a bonus 10Go storage free that you will keep for ever/as long as the company exist, even if you decide to switch to a paid plan)

I don’t use GAFAM storage.

I barely take any photo anymore, but I use Filen.io fully encrypted cloud storage (they’re made in Germany) to keep a copy of all my files, including the occasional picture. It’s a simple copy of the files and folders on my drives. I also have local backups on external storage (two differents) that are simply encrypted and rotated on a bi-monthly basis.

For non-confidential work-in-progress I use a different cloud, Swiss this time: Infomaniak KDrive. It’s working real nice but there is no E2EE (if they wanted they could see the content of the files, unlike with Filen).

Edit: I should have mentioned both services also offer an app that can backup the photos on your phone, if you need one.

I do as much as I can offline and/or the analog way:

**Analog **

• I shop local and offline as much as it is still doable. I had been a customer of Amazon for 20+ years when I became realized I should be… less of their customer. A radical change, really, but it’s OK ;)
• no note-taking app, good old (and highly practical) pen and paper. I will write longhand and only after I draft the whole thing I will transcribe it on a computer (running Mint). When it’s a very long document I’m drafting I will use a… typewriter (one day, we will realize how many of us there are) ;)
• No digital calendar (back to using a paper one), I use a dedicated camera (the rare time I still take pictures, I prefer sketching… using good old and privacy respecting pen, paper and watercolors).
• No digital journaling app, a paper journal.
• I use one of those 90s digital voice recorder from Olympus or Philips (can’t remember) not the voice memo app on the phone.
• Books: I quit reading ebooks a few years ago and moved back to print-only (I started to read ebooks somewhere in the early 00s, reading on my Palm Pilot) because of privacy and ownership concerns.
• Music: offline, CD and files I own. I quit all streaming services.
• Movies: the same as with CD, just with DVD. Meaning that if something can’t be purchased on disc and is by subscription only we won’t be watching it. No big deal since the main reason why we so easily decided to ditch Netflix and the likes was that most of what they produced was of very, very little interest to us. Like, really.
• TV: We have not owned a TV since the early 00s. And we certainly have zero desire to own one of the spyware riddled smart TVs.
• We don’t order food or deliveries either using those online services, ever. We seldom order anything (and when we do we just call the shop) as we like to cook or going to one of the many restaurants around here (real restaurants serving real hand made fresh food I mean, not fast-food serving over-processed junk food), and for errands, well, we walk to nearby shops like we have always been doing. We, being my spouse and I.

Digital

• Web: Waterfox + uBO is my default browser
• Web: Vivaldi, for anything requiring chromium.
• Web: Brave, for work related activities and exclusively for those.
• Computer OS: Mint.
• VPN, when I need one: Mullvad or Proton -since I also have a paid account there).
• Mail: my own domain, Proton when needed, and Infomaniak’s email (Swiss) for publicly shared address.
• Cloud: Filen.io (Germany) for E2EE encryted storage (no subscription, a one time purchase they offer yearly around Blackfriday). Infomaniak (subscription, the same I use for my email) for not E2EE cloud storage.
• Social: beside Piefed, I don’t use social media anymore. I still own the various accounts I created along the years, I simply don’t use them anymore.
• RSS: newsboat (cli RSS reader)
• yt-dlp + mpv for online video (and even some podcasts, the ones I could not get to work I stopped listening to them)
• Phone: iPhone. For me, it’s real simple: I know I cannot trust that phone (Apple or Android), therefore I don’t trust it. Still, I’m expected to have a phone and to have access to a few selected apps. So, I have a phone that contains only those apps I need (security, 2FA, banks, and stuff like that) and no apps I may like, or may want to use. The two exceptions being Uber that I very seldom use but do use from time to time, and the Filen cloud app (see Photo, below). But that’s about it, there is no social media, no games, no personal whatever and I also quit listening to music and podcast on it. Not ebooks. Not even email. Heck, even SMS: people have quickly learned to not use those to try (and fail) to reach me. The only SMS I still receive are those stupid shit for security purpose.
• Photo: most of the time, I will not take a picture and will do a sketch instead. But I may use the camera on the phone from time to time if and when I don’t have my dedicated camera nearby. The photos are not synced to Apple, they are synced to Filen E2EE cloud, then to my computer. Since I barely take any picture anymore it’s all I need (younger, I was much into photography).

Varia

• BT earbuds: Airpods. They are working fine with Mint, I used to but I don’t use them with my iPhone anymore (since I stopped listening to stuff on it)
• Car: we have not owned a car since the early 00s. And if I’m ok with renting a (spyware-riddled) car we do our best to never need to do so (for everyday tasks, I just walk a lot and I will even reduce as much as possible my use of public transportation since it’s getting real difficult to get non-nominative or non-traceable tickets).
• CCTV: not much I can do against those. Heck even doorbells have turned into spying device… thx to so many of us being ok to spend money in order to get those terrifying tools on our own doors.
• Watch: no smart watch. I used to use my granddad’s mechanical watch and for a few years I mostly have been using a Chinese one. It’s not a ‘Chinese copy’ of some other brand it’s an official Chinese brand called Seagull (I have their ‘Seagull 1963’ model), they purchased the tooling from a Swiss watch maker somewhere in the late 50s, early 60s and have been making watches since then. It’s nice and cheap. An , being mechanical, requires no battery at all, no charging and no updates.

Beside the law here in France, making it so that we’re legally being tracked by our ISPs, my main digital weakness is that I still own and use an iPad.

That iPad is my go to PDF reader when I’m not working at my desk (I can’t find any more convenient tool for that). But I use it just as a reader and don’t take notes on it anymore, like I used to. To get that PDF file on the iPad, I rely on Infomaniak’s cloud KDrive (Swiss-made) and use a free reading app. I also use that iPad as an Internet radio, through the ‘Audial’ app. Both those apps and infomaniak’s cloud are not Libre/Free so by default I consider my every moves using the apps are being tracked. Infomniak is insisting on them respecting our privacy, and I’m willing to believe they are sincere here but they still can access our content if they ever decide to, or are required to. So I don’t trust them with anything important and they’re more than welcome to look at the (legally) scanned PDF of centuries old books, or to look at the (boring) pictures I may take of random shit (never of people, strangers or that I know) and the occasional flower :p

Thanks for reading!

Thx for sharing ;)

+1 for Filen. I use it for its E2EE.

I also use infomaniak’s Kdrive (Swiss-made) with their ‘KSuite’ offer, for everyday cloud storage. It’s cheap for 1To (more available, if needed). I don’t think they’re open source. More info: https://www.infomaniak.com/en/ksuite

dont know what the consequences would be.

What could they be? I mean, if you don’t like a specific instance, or if it stops working, you just stop using it and create an account elsewhere (saying that as a piefed user, btw ;)

Thxs for the link. I’m a Kagi user and had no idea about that ;)

Logan’s Run (1976 movie) save they were expected to all die at 30, and not by dropping dead.

What would happen? Nothing good, even though it may look otherwise on the surface. There would be a lot more fascism (aka, violence) and a lot more lies (aka, not be willing to think by oneself or let anyone think by themselves). Obviously, people in power would find workarounds to exempt themselves from that (stupid) fate because, unsurprisingly, most people don’t like to apply to themselves the same rules they want to apply to others, even less so rules that are supposed to kill them or reduce their hold on power. While many other people, that have no power to resist or protest said rule, would be more than happy to suddenly get access to any form of power to avoid said fate… and just like that they would demonstrate how they’re exactly the same type of persons as those in power, btw.

Is it a problem? I mean, isn’t it like learning the alphabet, basic grammar and vocabulary before starting to write complete books?

Sorry if this is is a silly question, if that was not obvious I’m not a dev ;)

• public libraries are still there.
• Book (physical) can still be purchased and fully owned, without any risk of them being remotely edited or deleted and without nay tracking of our reading habits.
• Walking is still free, without any subscription required.
• It is still legal to turn off one’s phone.
• I love my spouse at least as much as I loved her when we first met almost 30 years ago. And, yep, she seems to kinda like me too ;)

Nicholas: Once the system is in place you cannot go back

100%.

Same goes with Digital Euro btw, no matter what the EU says about making it optional. It will be, sure, to begin with but they will also start pushing even more laws to help get rid of cash (in France, we’re already forbidden to carry more than a thousand euros in cash, I think it’s 500 in Greece (not sure about this one). And when cash will be gone so will be our ability to not be tracked when buying stuff. They will monitor every single of our transactions—and penalize whatever they decide is not good for us/the country/the planet/their businesses, be it too purchasing much gas, too much food (because one needs to be fit, unless they agree to not benefit health assurance maybe), too much clothes, or whatever (to just list a few legal things one can buy nowadays). They will also quickly use their (monopolistic) control over that digital euro (and over all our bank accounts) to punish any serious opposing their rules/laws by making said opponents unable to access or, say, to just use their money to buy stuff that would help them organize and contest them. “Sorry, Libb your purchase of Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ can’t be finalized. Instead, you can always scroll some more on social media. Have a nice day.”

What a bright future.

I would say:

• Reading books
• Playing chess

Both can be done on a phone I suppose.