This is still kind of reading like "Look, I know 'pretty phones over privacy' is a bad take, so no, but really, yeah."
Basically all the positives you've mentioned have been aesthetic, with one you even admit is worse to actually use, but which you prefer the look of.
Why on earth would I want to shop somewhere that I can guarantee will ship with FedEx? I'll actively avoid places that only offer FedEx shipping as it is.
Yep, Gypsy-Rose Blanchard. She's gotten parole and been released now.
So does Qbittorrent, if you're unaware.
That avoiding systemd is even a choise is nuts
I really want to know what the crossover is on people who know what systemd is, much less have any actual reason to decide they wish to actively avoid it, and those who would find this the best way of determining their next distro. That has to be a vanishingly small group of people.
How has moving more to the right been working for them? They need to realize already that they're out of touch with much of their voter base. Maybe they don't run more progressive candidates in purple states as a strategic call, but they could try something new in more liberal cities, at least, and start moving the conversation. I can't be the only one where my primary options straight up suck. Oh, yeah, change things from within, where I have Corporate Democrats #1 and #2, running along with the Working Families Party candidate whose only concession is something weak like "Maybe we should increase EBT eligibility, but means test the hell out of it so it's a full time job to manage your application."
The current Democratic party basically claims to represent everyone to the left of Mussolini at this point, and that's too big a group to be a functional political unit. Unfortunately, we're basically screwed on a third party being viable, as it would depend on the two current parties taking action to change voting procedures in a way that could only hurt them. Democrats and Republicans are both content to sit on their hands right now, as they know that no matter how unpopular they may be, how badly they might lose elections, it's only a matter of time before the other guys piss people off enough and the pendulum swings back to them.
This is great and all, but it doesn't mean too much if Biden doesn't actually care to correct course. There have been plenty of protests already showing the current policy is increasingly opposed by significant sections of the population, yet they're only making the most token efforts at any sort of real change in their stance towards Israel. If tens of thousands of people turning out for protests on the matter don't get it through the heads of Biden and other Democrats that this stance is untenable, I don't see why we should expect he'll suddenly start listening for a few staffers sending a stern letter.
In all likelihood, they'll hold the line on this, then when Democrats lose the next elections, they'll blame it on racists, antisemites, more leftist candidates spoiling their chances, or literally anything but doing some reflection and realizing some of their long-held positions are now deeply unpopular with a significant portion of their voter base.
I wouldn't reduce it to a binary. I think there's a pretty good chunk of the population who are anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian, but aren't reachable as swing voters. They're to the left of the current Democratic Party and might vote begrudgingly for Biden, but wouldn't vote for Trump under any circumstances.
My sense of taste kind of came back, but severely muted for some things. Coffee never quite got back to the same level of flavor, for example. I've also noticed my ability to taste salt is pretty shot. I can, but I have to add stupid amounts of the stuff. For an example, I had to do a clear liquid diet about a week ago prior to a medical procedure, and drinking some broth with 748mg of sodium per serving just tasted like drinking greasy water to me.
In terms of long term effects, it's a bit harder to say. I got covid for the first time in August 2020 (yay for being an essential peasant!), and I was out of work until May 2021. I had to do months of PT because of what my primary doctor called a post-viral fatigue syndrome. At its worst, if I tried to walk more than a block away from my apartment and back, I would wake up the next day feeling sore from my neck down to my toes. I remember a day where I slept for 12 hours, woke up and made and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and just doing that left me so tired I went back to sleep for another 6 hours or so.
Other stuff is less clear. It certainly started manifesting and presenting symptoms after I had COVID, but correlation and causation being what it is, it's hard to definitively say what might have just been low-level and not bothering me that much before and what could have been kicked off by COVID. I developed photophobia, Hashimoto's thyroiditis and some nerve damage after being ill for the first time, which are all fun.
I guess the photophobia is the easiest to manage, I just need to wear heavily tinted glasses at all times, as I get these awful migraines if I don't. Uncovered light bulbs, TVs, monitors, whatever can set them off. The thyroid condition I get to take a synthetic hormone basically for the rest of my life and get blood work done 4 times a year to see how it's working. The nerve damage I get to take another medication pretty much for forever as well, thanks to US insurance. Instead of a daily pill, my neurologist could give me an occipital nerve block every 3-4 months, but insurance doesn't want to pay for them unless it's done at a pain management clinic. For reasons I can't work out, every pain management clinic I looked at with my referral seemed to be out of network for everyone, so it'd run me like $700 for the initial visit and $400 every 3-4 months after that. I guess they know they've got you if the pain is bad enough? Anyway, my prescription has been working so far and it's the only thing I don't even need to pay for before hitting my deductible, so I have that going for me.
If you could offer enough money, you could probably get him to show up to hear cases dressed liked Judge Dredd.
I don't get how Republicans have any credibility amongst the electorate at this point. They demand blind obedience, or else cry foul, and somehow, a significant part of the population still supports this bullshit. Their eyes must be painted on, or else they're willfully ignorant.
See, this
and this
are in direct opposition. They are irreconcilable positions. It's your phone, it's okay for you to decide you won't compromise on aesthetics on your own devices, if that's what's important to you. Just own it and be prepared for pushback when you're commenting on an article about a privacy-focused OS and using this as the basis of your criticism.