I stared at that logo trying to work out what it said for a bit... When I finally noticed that the domain in the link was what it said... I realised just how unreadable that logo is....

If you don't need voice, there are a lot of options. Matrix has IRC support and encryption, and has voice options if you self host.

Riot is... A Discord clone without working voice and I found it to be an odd duck.

There's RocketChat.. More Slack like.

Mattermost.

I replaced my voice/video chats with Nextcloud Talk and/or Steam, based on the scenario. Outside of those, Matrix is good for community needs in my mind.

We interacted on the internet for years without discord.

It is far from essential.

Most of the american companies are using Chinese manufacturing for much of the devices. Fairphone is European, but same manufacturing sources.

In 2026, as a Canadian... Choosing between a country that is adopting nazi practices and threatening us with annexation, and one who has a questionable history but is overall doing more for climate change and global stability right now than the other... The choice is easy. Anything but american.

Sure, but then you are also not funding Google's competition in order to help improve choice.

Buying second hand might make you feel better because you didn't directly fund Google, but you're still helping them maintain their position.

AND it doubles as a rudder!

Pressed Xanax bars?

What, like medication based granola? What do you chase that with?

2025 was exhausting... 2026 moreso. This is why, right here.

Already some amazing points here, but I will add one thing:

No matter how utopian your empire becomes, those who grow up in utopia do not have their guard up watching for evil in every corner. The Star Wars flipping back and forth from Republic to Empire over the millennia makes sense.

The federation existed for barely a millennia in its first incarnation. A fall of a galactic empire makes sense. Rebuilding it makes for good story.

Especially, and I can't stress this enough, when it is a parallel to the world we live in. Trek has always been a way to mirror events and teach moral lessons... But most of all, hope.

The Graphene devs explicitly only support Pixels. Sticking with Graphene means continuing to give Google the profits from your hardware.

/e/OS is not bad as an alternative. The system wide ad and tracker blocking is nice.

Seriously. Neurodivergent folks like myself stand an iota of a chance of being successful with a cubicle. Open floor plans are an assault on our senses and the wet dream of micromanagers. They are awful and the reason I exclusively work from home.

Yeah, tears wouldn't stop flowing once they started. It was a good episode.