A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. I also like to write and to sketch.
https://thefoolwithapen.com

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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: November 26th, 2023

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  • Yeah it varies. In my country you only need to participate in the conversation to be allowed to record it.

    If your country is part of the EU (aka having to comply with GDPR)? If so, you may be surprised to realise that things have really changed in the last few years. GDPR being only part of the reasons why. It’s not the same in every single country, but the shift is happening in favour of the plaintiffs, in the name of privacy, even when the scene was recored or snapped in a public space.

    in France (my country) and in Germany it’s obvious that this trend is now in favour of the plaintiff when a few years ago its was still in favour of the photographer or videographer.

    Nowadays, imho, no photographer/videographer in the EU should take the risk to publish any image of an identifiable person without having the written permission to do so from that very person (and that authorisation should also mention where it will be published and if the person should expect any compensation, and how much it is if there is any to be given). Street photography/videography in the EU is turning or already has depending the country, in a real booby trapped activity no matter if you’re doing it as hobbyist and not as a pro.

    France, where I live, and Germany and two of those EU-ccountries where I would not take any picture and publish them without a written permission — and I’ve been doing street photography in France as a hobby for the last 30 years or so. The risk is too real to get into legal troubles. Even in the UK, a country which was alsways more welcoming too street photography (it was clear no one should expect any privacy while in a public space), things have started to shift. Add to that the complexity layer of the many ‘not public’ or ‘not entirely public spaces’ mixed within the public space, plus the terrorist or safety considerations, regulations or exception-rules and you get the real mess we’re in. It’s still much better in the UK, though, but well, like I said street photo is a hobby for me, not something I’m willing to take any risk or worry for (lawyers are expensive and my time is much more precious than money). So, I gave up on street photography almost completely. Instead, I started to… sketch street scenes.

    Edit: clarifications.



  • My bank offers both an app and a website which is nice, but the app is mandatory for doing any kind of operation involving money (which is not that uncommon when logged-in in your bank accounts ;) even when connecting through their website, as the app is used for some ID-ing process.

    Then, there are a few not-mandatory but such-an-effing-pain-to-not-use apps, say to ID oneself with some (public) services.

    I use a dumbed down iPhone (like, really: no social, no games, no whatever not even email is configured on it) just so I can access those few apps.


  • I’ve seen this in various threads on Lemmy. I’m sure Kagi has some cool features, but I don’t know how any search engine can overcome the walled garden effect that is plaguing the internet today. The data just isn’t out there to be curated anymore, it’s locked behind the hedges of the different sites.

    I think search might have been killed.

    I 'm pretty sure you’re 100% right and that’s where we’re heading. It has already started but we’re not there, yet.

    I’m convinced too that in a not too distant future I’ll be witnessing (and I’m 50+ year-old) almost all content will be put behind pretty and comfy walls but walls nonetheless, with doors and locks on them we wont own the keys (btw, that’s the reason why I completely quit posting on reddit, as I explained here I refuse them putting any walls around the only valuable stuff they have ever owned, our content). But we’re not there, yet. I mean, the Web is still not that walled garden and, so far, Kagi has also been working more than fine (they even try promoting an alternative, for example with their ‘small web’ feature).

    How it is working now is the reason why I’m (was paying? As I’ve yet to decide to renew, in less than two days). I pay for how fine kagi is working today, not how it will be working in the future. The day they stop being relevant, I’ll stop using them (like I quit using Google search many years ago). Will I be sad? No idea, what I know is that I’ll be a lot more sad for what the Web will have finally turned into.

    Imho, as of now, Kagi is simply too small for the big sites or for the other engines to be worth worrying with them.

    At this time there are less than 35k paying members/users (they publish their stats but seeing how some people can be jerk when one is mentioning their appreciation for a paid product I think it’s safer to not share a link. It should be easy to find, though). Considering their size, I imagine it’s not like they represent a threat to anyone’s business. They’re just a tiny, tiny alternative, and a paying one at that! Something that will not help them grow fast, if at all.


  • The OP asked:

    How to You Research Vet Products on the Post AI internet?

    That is was what I answered to. That said, I agree my answer is not ‘Vet’ specific. So, maybe I was wrong in explaining why I decided to use a paid search engine in order to get usable, quick, not AI-infested and as topic specific as I want them to be results? I don’t think so, but anyone is welcome to disagree.

    Also, not being native English speaker I considered the OP ‘Vet Products’ was referring to ‘veterinany products’ (something I could ignore in my suggestion as being a tad too specific), was I wrong?

    That being said, I sincerely want to thank you for taking the time to tell me your point of view as, since I posted my comment earlier I was a bit perplexed by the few downvotes it received. Now, I get it or maybe I still don’t, but at the very least I have some clue why it’s happening :)

    Edit: rephrased the first sentence in a more correct English. Hopefully.




  • Reddit, and hopefully Lemmy will get there too ;)

    Also, I quite like using Kagi search engine (paid) for its neat features. Things like

    • No Ads and no SEO to ruin the results.
    • Blocking/Lowering/Raising certain domains from the search results. So, I never have to even see the name of those turd websites that specialise in SEO-optimized or AI-vomited non-content.
    • Small Web, which only search small websites
    • Lenses (to focus search on certain type of content/websites)
    • Bangs and a few other more usual stuff one may also find in other search engines.
    • They also have optional AI-stuff, if that is your thing.

    I’ve been using Kagi for almost a full year (it is supposed to renew in a couple days) and I’ve been loving every instant using it. Like really.

    That said, it’s not cheap. Here in Europe (I live in France), it’s 130€ a year (tax-included) for their second-best plan, and I have not yet decided to renew because of that cost. So, the last couple weeks I’ve been forcing myself to use the search engines I used before Kagi to see how well it went (startpage & qwant, mainly). And, yeah, I already miss Kagi a lot ;)


  • Just had a look, there is no post at all for the moment?

    Edit a bit later: there are a few posts already, see @[email protected] answer just below my comment.

    (and I subbed ;))

    Maybe you should post something(s) right now and not wait until January if you want people to sub or, like you mentioned, to start suggesting ideas.

    Imho, the perspective of facing an empty community with zero discussion going on until next January will not encourage participation.


  • Simplified and with a lot of user power and user freedom abdicated to a few companies, or to a few groups of developers working together, in order to make things much simpler and much more optimised for the average user.

    I mean, suffice to see how often people can be completely lost when they’re asked to decide between clicking either the OK or the Cancel button, or use a simple drop down menu, or decide if they should even be bothered with their privacy at all when using any app as long as it is free and shiny… As it is, Linux stands no-chance against that with its many quirks, workarounds, with its sudo pacman -s or sudo apt install, and with its focus on freedom and privacy. No matter how excellent those tools can be, and no matter how important freedom and privacy should be.



  • No, I did not see that. Thx! That’s clever.

    BTW, I loved this old t-rex logo and felt, well, if not betrayed quite disgruntled the day they replaced it. Loved it so much that occasionally I still wear my old Mozilla ‘Take back the web’ t-shirts, the ones with the t-rex printed on a red star. It’s as cool today as it ever was, if you were to ask me :p


  • I’ve been using Firefox since it was called Netscape, and before that I was using Mosaic. Nowadays, I’m also using Safari (and Vivaldi) but I still can’t imagine not using FF as my default browser. More exactly, FF with the uBO extension, which is another nice gift to all of us — a bit like FF pop-up blocker was back then.

    I would have loved if they had released an anniversary icon for FF. Too bad they did not, but that’s probably just me getting old, all nostalgic and sentimental :p


  • Unfortunately, calling police in America may put you in danger. It’s one of the many, many reasons I’ve left. I don’t think people quite understand what it does until they’ve lived in other, safer places.

    That is not how the system is supposed to work. I never went to the USA and probably never will (there are a lot of reasons and people that would make me want to go mind you, but there are also way too many things I’m just not OK with). So, like I said I really can’t tell but if that is like you say, that’s very problematic.

    I mean, there must be some legal authority to call for help. Self-defence, adding violence to already too much violence, can’t be the only solution a State has to offer to threatened citizens. If that was, what use would there be in such a State?




  • And in the walking vein, good shoes are essential. If you can’t afford new shoes then good insoles are the next best thing

    100%. And I should have mentioned it as, back when I started to walk daily, I almost gave up because of the shit shoes I was using. They were hurting my feet and my back and they were reducing my endurance, like really. Investing in decent shoes (and orthopaedic insoles made for my feet) changed everything. I probably would never have started walking as much as I do without those. Money very well spend, in both case.


  • I don’t care about making money with my hobbies, I do them to help me feel better and have some good time. As a whole we’re all already way too focused on making money, at least that’s what I think.

    • Long walks. Daily. This is the (second) best change I ever made into my life. I would encourage anyone, even more anyone that is like I was (in a very bad physical and mental shape) to give steady walks a go. Start small but don’t give up even though It’s hard to begin with, and slowly increase the distance you walk and your steadiness. It’s so much worth it. I was a potato couch but nowadays I could not not go out for a few miles walk at least once a day (as much as possible I’ll go everywhere I can by walking instead of using any mean of transportation). It also helps in the head, immensely as far as I’m concerned.
    • Writing &
    • Reading. Reading and writing should never go without the other as far as I’m concerned. Read (like you write) widely, don’t be afraid to read stuff you don’t normally read, or stuff/author you don’t like (there is a lot to be learned when confronting your own thought to those of people you don’t agree with), or read unpopular stuff.
    • Sketching/painting. I’m not an artist, I don’t care I just enjoy doing it. I try to do more of that outdoor, while I’m out walking)
    • DIY, making stuff with my hands (book binding, woodworking,… those come and go along the years) & also
    • Fixing stuff. Reducing the amount of waste we create by making our stuff last a little longer.
    • I had to quit model making, but I liked that a lot.
    • Music.

  • Shower & soap (savon de Marseille) with a washcloth thingy that is not too soft. Natural deodorant (pierre d’alun). End of the process.

    Unless one should also consider making faces in front of the mirror part of the daily routine, say while one is shaving or brushing one’s teeth? Asking for a friend that, quite obviously, is not as adult and as serious as I am.