I’ve found it to be the most concise and straightforward (and yet thorough) primer on dialectical materialism that I’ve come across so far. In particular I liked how the book split dialectical materialism (the philosophy) from materialist dialectics (the tools of analysis).

I mean I’m a communist so YMMV, but I’m re-reading the Vietnamese textbook on Dialectical Materialism that Luna Oi translated. I’m re-reading it because I also have the second textbook she translated (on Historical Materialism) and I wanted to brush up before diving in to that one.

https://bdsmovement.net/

FYI HP (and Dell, but not Lenovo) are priority targets on the BDS list. Please do not support them even if they support Linux.

Drop Site News

My Neighbor Totoro

I needed a Bluetooth speaker for my work PC (I work from home). I got one with a radio tuner as well. I’m fortunate that I have several radio stations in my area that play music I like. I prefer having some music on in the background while I work, but I was getting tired of having to actually think about what I wanted to listen to next. So I’ve been listening to OTA radio quite a bit, and it’s a nice change of pace from streaming music. And it’s not like the radio bits added much to the cost of the speaker.

Edit: also eyeglasses (sure, I’ll count that as a “gadget”. I hadn’t been to the eye doctor in probably 20 years. Hadn’t really noticed any problems but wanted to get my eyes checked since I had just gotten insurance. Doc recommended a prescription and now it’s like seeing the world in HD instead of standard def. If you’re in your late 30s/early 40s and haven’t gotten your eyes checked, it’s possible your vision has slowly degraded over time and eyeglasses will help more than you realize.

In addition to what others have said, you have to run very large, very persistent trade deficits for your currency to become a reserve currency (in addition to obviously needing to be a highly stable currency). Of the only currency issuers that could potentially fill reserve currency role (US, EU, China), only the US is interested in persistent trade deficits in order to pump the globe full of their currency.

Castro and Khrushchev were feeling very positive towards JFK in the period just before he was assassinated. Castro never wanted hostile relations with the US in the first place (which makes sense for a very small country positioned just off the coast of the US). Likewise the USSR never wanted to just annihilate the US and in fact one of the causes of the Sino-Soviet split was that Khrushchev was interested in peaceful co-existence with the US. My own theory is that the Cuban Missile Crisis had a profound impact on JFK and Khrushchev. These were the only two men in human history who were both just a button push away from potentially destroying humanity. I think they both stood on the brink together and left that conflict with an understanding that things couldn’t go on like they had up to that point.

The idea that Cuba or the USSR had anything to do with assassinating JFK is absurd, IMO.

It’s estimated that 30-40 children died on Oct 7th. Consider the reaction most (white) Americans had to that event to the 165 schoolchildren killed in Minab recently. Neither Israel nor Iran are meaningfully “closer” to Americans than the other.

One place in the lemmyverse that’s been able to buck US-defaultism a bit is the news mega thread on Hexbear. That was done by seeking out and elevating news and voices that are explicitly not in the US (and the Global North, more broadly). But even then, you need both people who are actively seeking non-US perspectives AND people who have those perspectives and are willing to invest their time. I’m not sure how to replicate this more broadly in the lemmyverse, but it’s worth noting where it’s worked and what was done.

That looks pretty great, actually.

I pay for a Proton account already, this is a great suggestion, I’m going to look into this (can’t believe I forgot this)

My videos already sync to iCloud. My concern is if the cops were to get into my phone, they could just go to the Photos app and delete it from the device and my iCloud account.

OP’s photo is my favorite, so I will have to mention my second favorite (though calling it a “favorite” feels off).

This photo was taken in 2003 in Iraq. This man is comforting his son. They are being held in an American camp. IIRC to this day we don’t know what happened to these two.

I think if I had to explain the last 25 years to a time-traveler, this would be the one photo I would choose.

People who are saying to just delete Facebook or don’t use it aren’t wrong of course (I say that myself, to be clear I hate FB); but as someone who tries to buy and sell things secondhand (I see it as being environmentally responsible), this is largely becoming impossible to do locally without Facebook Marketplace. I honestly have some grudging respect for Facebook’s ability to survive just when you think they might start to become irrelevant. Things were headed that way for them, then they bought Instagram. And then the last couple years, it was sort of common knowledge that the only people who use it anymore are old folks and Nazis… and then FB Marketplace kills Craigslist and becomes the only app people use for local buying/selling.

Idk maybe there’s some opportunity here for some local buy/sell federated service?

The old Top Gear with Clarkson, Hammond, and May. I feel weird watching it because Clarkson especially has become such an insufferable reactionary, and old shows really go hard on climate change skepticism. But when it’s at it’s best, I find watch three friends having a fun trip together to be very relaxing.

Thanks - I’ve seen Winboat mentioned several times in the comments, I’m going to try that first.

I haven’t heard of WinBoat before, I will check that out thank you.

It really is a great little device. I believe there has to be a market out there for a Linux device similar to it, something just for music / radio / podcasts.