Long before Tesla existed, the Hurst tool (aka Jaws of Life) was created. It's like a giant can opener for cars, and firemen love to use it. The lack of door handles, locked doors, and even smashed and jammed doors,don't really stop firefighters from getting in. This has been a thing since the 80s at least. Also, Teslas do have mechanical door handles on the inside, so occupants can open doors without power, but these factoids don't make for good rage bait.

Even if this turns out to be true, Microsoft has a pretty clear track record that any walkback will be temporary and purely for PR optics.

Yeah, that was kinda my point... I'm so used to being mistreated that when I saw the headline, I thought I wouldn't be given the choice to participate. But giving me the choice builds trust in the people. It's a move that supports their community in a time where such policies are rare. I love it.

I was all set to be pissed off at this, then I read that it was opt in. Home Assistant is f'n awesome!

A big part of it is that they pay way below market. It attracts a lot of people that should be fired, but usually aren't. They have some talented, and genuinely good people there, but they are outnumbered.

Free or at minimal cost, but it still didn't age well.

I remember reading a thread like this a while back and saw Home Assistant. I thought I don't need that.

It's probably the most used self hosted app we have.

I wrote a similar script way back in the day. It's great, and it works perfectly, but I haven't used it in a long time because it (and Time Machine) are reflective of a time when heaps of things just existed on one's computer. Almost everything is cloud hosted (or self hosted) these days, and docs, photos, projects, etc. are all uploaded directly into those services. I wouldn't really lose anything if my phone or laptop were lost.

Confirmed!

They even got a beer about it now.

Mullvad VPN works well on Android and has some DNS based ad blockers & content filters in the VPN app (though off by default iirc). Mullvad browser is not ported to Android.

That said, it's important to understand that VPNs don't provide privacy in any absolute sense. They can (maybe) obscure data about your browsing habits from your ISP. But they won't stop all the other, more effective tracking exists nearly everywhere else on the web.

Gradually, the migration to new platforms will take place

I'm not sure that will (or should) happen. Mainstream social media has an awful lot of shit that wouldn't exist (or wouldn't exist in the same way) on federated social media. For things that are purely commercial (which is a lot) the effort is higher and the payoff is smaller in a federated system. There's a lot of social media that thrives only because it's fundamentally commercial. That segment would never embrace federated social media willingly.

Then of course there's the trigger-reward cycle you talk about. People might know it's unhealthy, but they still do it. Not having that as part of the user experience a big adjustment coming to federated social media.

Dems lost in '16 and '24 because they did not hold primaries and just hoped that there were enough people opposed to Trump

2020, yes, but 2016 wasn't about Trump. The Dem establishment had already decided "it's her turn" well before Trump even won being taken seriously, and before his first primary win in NH. The Democratic Party eliminated the democratic process from its primaries and is baffled why people are mad at that.