I have varying opinions on different subjects, come take a gander at my thoughts.

Technical Opinions

Social Media

In practice, social media is a great idea. The idea of being able to connect with people who you’ve thought you’ve lost eons ago, or people who you’ve moved far away from for one reason or another sounds great. Unfortunately, these days, social media is engineered so much towards negative energy and anger and hostility that I refuse to take part in that stuff. People say absolutely horrible things they would never say to you in person on social media, because they think they are hidden behind a keyboard, like they are some kinda “keyboard warrior”, as I’ve taken to calling them. Besides that, the world doesn’t need to know that I wiped my ass today, or that I took a vacation to fucking Cancun, as an “I’m better than you” post to make you feel insecure. If people would put the damn shit down and actually look at their fucking surroundings, the world would be a slightly better place. If people REALLY need to get in touch with me, they can use my phone number to text me or call me. Or they can email me. Or, they can use an IM app like Telegram. Otherwise, you won’t find me on social media at all.

Text Messaging vs iMessaging

If you use an iPhone, surely you are aware of how if you are chatting with someone using a non-iPhone you get the horrible green bubble, but if you are chatting with someone who is using an iPhone… or an iPad or Mac or something Apple, you get the blue bubble. I don’t see why this is a big deal. Not everyone can afford an iPhone, and not everyone WANTS an iPhone either. I hate how kids my age and younger kids my siblings age will shit on you and basically destroy you emotionally and mentally because you have the “horrible green bubble”. Even going as far as to declare you to no longer be a friend. Is this really how pathetic the human race is becoming? Seriously? Why does it matter to YOU? If the green bubble is so horrible, why don’t you just use another messaging app entirely, instead of shitting on your friends. Because in all honesty, SMS/MMS/RCS and iMessage are horrible IM protocols compared to some of the other messaging apps we have today, like Telegram. iMessaging only got the ability to edit and delete messages in 2022 with iOS 16, while most other chat apps have had these basic features for years. And don’t even get me started on the RCS disaster…

“Smart” things

Beyond a smartphone, and a smartwatch, the “smart” market is getting ridiculous. Seriously, why do we need internet connected Bluetooth speakers, coffee pots, microwaves, or TVs. You can literally replicate all smart TV functions with a regular dumb TV hooked up to a Raspberry Pi using a distro like LibreELEC or CoreELEC and not have any of the anti-consumer features of smart TVs. Some British author actually wrote a novel basically predicting Smart TVs, almost 80 years ago… 2025 Update: I do actually really enjoy my HomePod and Apple TV setup in the bedroom. It does work well for streaming, arguably better than trying to setup a Raspi with Core/LibreELEC. Good way to turn a dumb TV into a smart TV at a decent price really.

Game Stores

Why does every game developer and their cat suddenly feel the need to have their own game store, when Valve’s Steam platform has been working fine for almost 2 decades? I mean, I guess some people like to argue that lord gaben likes to take a cut of the profits, but that’s a weak argument seeing as MOST games that are sold on other game stores will inevitably find their way to Steam anyways, but when you try to install these games through Steam, you wind up with a bunch of bloat due to every developer developing a store, launcher, and social club. Please, don’t fix what isn’t broken!

Streaming Services

With game stores in mind, I want to ask the same question about streaming services now too. Netflix was a great answer. But now it seems every media company and their cat needs to have their own streaming service. With all this said though, paying for streaming services is still cheaper than paying for cable TV on a month to month basis, especially if you get something like Netflix or Disney+ included in your phone bill. And Prime has a yearly option which saves you money as well. I myself am guilty of paying for Netflix and Prime, and the monthly cost of the 2 of those is still cheaper than what I would pay for having actual TV service, and I can watch just about anything I damn well please, especially in the case of Prime where if it’s not included in the membership by default, I can just pay Amazon a small fee to add it to my Prime Video library forever. Plus, streaming services usually don’t come with advertisements either. Cable TV is buried in advertising.

RGB Software

Long live OpenRGB! It is ridiculous how unstandardized RGB is. Before OpenRGB you had to have separate software for each brand of device you had to control it’s RGB features and that creates an insane and unnecessary amount of bloat and overhead that nobody should have to deal with. OpenRGB has made it possible to control many different devices from different manufacturers in a single control panel & piece of software. Plus, OpenRGB makes it possible to actually configure RGB hardware easily on Linux distributions. Or macOS. (But I doubt many people who use macOS use RGB hardware.)

Steam Deck

I have finally gotten my Steam Deck, and thus far it has been amazing! I finally have a device that I can easily use in the back of a car. A device I can take with me to work or school and use on my lunch break for a quick session. A device where on weekends I can hang out downstairs with my family and I don’t need to hide in my room on my desktop to game. It has handled almost everything I have thrown at it thus far. I will admit though, that it is hard to do some PS3 games on RPCS3, like OG Red Dead, and Dante’s Inferno. But all in all, it has been a great device and well worth the cash!

Linux

Linux is an excellent operating system, customizable down to the very kernel itself, and really teaches you a lot about how to operate a computer. Shame that most people who use it hate the minimal learning curve it takes to really use it. But I guess to be fair, a lot of people don’t even have the patience to learn how to use a new TV, if they’ve had their old one for years.

macOS

macOS isn’t all that bad if you’re integrated with the iPhone or iPad or whatever. But really I feel like they’ve been losing it for awhile, especially after they shifted gears from being a home users OS, towards being more of an OS & Brand for content creators. That said, I would personally like to buy a MacBook Pro or Air, because I have an iPhone and an Apple Watch, so those would both play nicely with each other. It would be especially nice to be able to respond to texts and iMessages with a physical keyboard. 2025 Update: To be honest it’s actually a good OS in hindsight as it has the solid Unix base, ergo commands I am very familiar with via Linux, but it also has more app compatibility going for it than Linux. Linux can game very well these days, but app compatibility sucks unless you use a VM. At least macOS natively supports many more common business apps, and parallels is a really nice virtualization tool for any other Windows apps you might need.

Microsoft Windows

Older versions of Microsoft Windows don’t deserve most of the flak they get. Were they sometimes a bloated, unstable, buggy, and an insecure mess? Yes, but that is because more often than not, you either had poorly configured hardware that really shouldn’t have been running Windows, or you clicked on an advertisement while trying to download Minecraft mods and got infected. A lot of the older Windows issues could be avoided by proper PC maintenance, an ad blocker installed on your web browser, and some basic common sense. Now there are valid reasons to hate newer versions of Windows. You pay almost $100 for an OS, (although with that in mind, does anyone really pay full price besides old people? Most people I know can get Windows on the stupid cheap or free.) and you get adverts on it. That’s a bit ridiculous. And of course, there are all the horrible anti-consumer features on modern Windows, especially dealing with privacy. Also the TPM and system requirements for Windows 11 are a bit ridiculous…

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Political/Religious Opinions

Donald Trump

Jesus Christ, how did this guy get so fucking close to the nuclear launch codes? What a fucking lunatic and moron. Glad he’s gone. AND STAY OUT!!! 2025 Update: Oh my god he’s returned to office and it is even worse than the 1st term… we are so cooked.

Joe Biden

Not really a big fan of Biden either. I’d really like to see a younger Democrat with progressive views get into office. But at least we didn’t get 4 more years of the Hitler wannabe. Biden is pretty old though, and probably going to die soon anyways. 2025 Update: WHELP, that turned out to be a disaster, and Kamala being chosen by the DNC when an emergency primary could’ve easily been put together… I guess Biden didn’t die.

Jo Jorgensen

Jo is pretty crazy in her own right, but at least she wasn’t so old that she was going to die soon, senile, or a wannabe Hitler. She was a pretty good compromise IMO. She had the social aspects of the Democratic party, but the fiscal aspects of the Republican party. I’d still have rather seen a younger progressive democrat get into office though. 2025 Update: Well Chase seemed cool and I wanted to vote for him tbh, but unfortunately I decided that it was more important to vote for Kamala, which in hindsight was a waste. Should have just voted for Chase or wrote in Wyden to make a statement.

Bernie Sanders

I don’t necessarily agree with Bernie on everything, but he’s a cool guy. When Bernie says something, he actually means what he says. Bernie has been fighting for the shit he says we need since the fucking 60s or something. Bernie was out there advocating for LGBT rights long before any other Democratic politician, as an example. Bernie is consistent about what he says, and actually means what he says, and that is why people in power fear him. Albeit, if we were to get him elected, he would just be hindered by a fucked up congress that’ll just bicker and won’t actually accomplish anything. 2025 Update: We need this man now more than ever, in all honesty. That said, I think Ron Wyden of Oregon might be a good candidate too. I know hardcore Republicans who like Wyden.

The Media

I stopped giving a fuck about what the media says a long long time ago. The media is out there, much like social media, just to fire people up, and make them angry. No thanks, I don’t need to stress my brain like that. I think I’ll read a book instead.

Democracy

Politicians were supposed to be “by the people, for the people”. You were never supposed to have people making their careers out of politics. Your representative was always supposed to be an average person just like you, who wanted to do some good for the country for a few years, and then retire. The sooner we bring back this mindset (in many countries, not just the USA), the sooner we can get around to having a democracy that actually functions like it should. Because right now, democracy is a joke. Politicians are easily bought out, which is a big middle finger to the entire idea of democracy.

The 2022 Midterms

What a clusterfuck. Yet another purple puddle. Well, I guess at least the Democrats held the Senate… still though, it could’ve been way worse. People who were running shouldn’t’ve been anywhere near such high offices. Now can we please make sure the supreme court doesn’t overturn gay marriage, and get abortion protected at a federal level again? Thank you.

The 2024 Election

RIP whatever is left of the old world and democracy. Surging right wing popularity in most of the west, eventually we’re gonna unironically be seeing 3 super powers controlling most of the world… it’s almost like George Orwell predicted the fucking future. And that is NOT a good thing…

COVID-19 Vaccines

COVID-19 Vaccines work and they work well! I don’t know where this idea that vaccines are designed to eradicate and cure viruses came from. You can still get the flu with a flu shot. You can still get shingles with a shingles vaccine. Vaccines were NEVER designed to eradicate viruses. Vaccines were designed to provide the body with instructions on how to fight an actual virus, should you come in contact with an actual virus, so that way you don’t get sick, or if you DO get sick, it is less severe. Humanity has only ever eradicated ONE disease thanks to vaccines, and that is polio

Religion

As of 2025 I have done a 180 on my religious stance. I am a member of the United Methodist Church. I have come to find solace and peace with religion, but as long as the Church I attend aligns with values I hold dearly, like LGBT rights, science research, and progressive values… you know… things that Jesus really taught? In all honesty many LGBT interpretations in the bible are just that, interpretations. I interpret Pauls Roman letter as not a condemnation of LGBT but Pedophilia, which was rampant in Roman society. I think things get misconstrued and mistranslated as well, as a result of the intricacies of translating things from dead languages like Aramaic, Vulgar Latin and classical Greek into stuff like Modern English… and surely in that process some things are twisted to suit a narrative…