Humanity is circling around the drain

Good god, is the world taking the fun out of existing. Everything is getting enshittified and (apparently) we can't do anything about it. Whether it's AI getting force-fed down our throats, to the anonymity of the internet being threatened, to stupid articles being pay-walled (perhaps they see the irony), I'm getting tired of being forced to find ways to get what was promised to me when the internet first began.

Back in the halcyon days of 28.8bps modems and venerated search engines going by the name of Yahoo (which kids would nowadays say ya who?), we had the altruistic view that information would always be free and search engines would, shock horror, actually aim to improve their technology to find the best results. And all was good in the world. We had people writing blogs (how old-fashioned), we had geocities, we had myspace, we even had murmerings of a new upstart going by the name of google which was promising an even better experience than the much vaunted Yahoo. And so, we accepted this new upstart and we accepted The Facebook and we accepted Instagram and we accepted ... and so on.

 

Flash-forward to today, and everything is commoditised, every internet activity is tracked, and every single ad is tailored. All our activities have become opaque to the data pillaging from corporate and, seemingly, we're unable to do anything about it. Firefox just announced that it's going to become an AI browser, Microsoft also announced that Windows is going to become agentic, and I have just announced that I would have to be catatonic if I were to accept that.

 

 

I have taken a few steps to sidestepping this. I am Technology, so I do have choices. The first choice is operating systems.

•  I have installed Linux Mint
• All my hardware was automatically detected and works flawlessly 
• It also came preinstalled with Libre Office (Microsoft Office facsimile)
• I installed Lutris / Steam / Heroic for my gaming needs
• I installed gitcola for my git repo needs
• I installed Unreal Engine for my game dev needs
• I installed Winboat (alongside a fully neutered and containered Win11 VM) that handles any must-have Windows needs
• Prior to Mozilla's announcement, I was using Firefox - now, I'm leaning towards LibreWolf (a forked privacy-focussed Firefox)
• I also installed Waterfox on my android, which is (surprise, surprise) a privacy-focussed fork of Firefox 
• I will also install a Pi-hole internet proxy which will block even my TV from presenting ads to me
• I am vengeance

Now, this may seem quite daunting for the average user but, outside of Winboat having a few challenges, I would say the switch was pretty easy. Most linux distros (i.e. variants of linux) come with a package manager. Think of it like Steam, where you pick and choose what software you want to install ... and it just installs ... and it's also free.

If this isn't the (pending) year of Linux, I don't know when it could possibly be as, for me, I've had a far better and easier experience than anything Windows is doing right now. I have always wanted an alternative to Microsoft's stranglehold and, thankfully, Microsoft has bitten my hand one too many times for me to let it slide. I've now taken this metaphorical mangey mutt out the back and finally put it to rest.

Although, perhaps not all is lost. There is still at least one plucky billion-dollar company which seemingly still fights for the people. Valve (the people behind Steam) have also announced a new Steam box and VR system which will all run native linux and provide a console/VR experience that even Grandma can use. And the best part is these systems will just be PC's so you can even install Windows if you like. You own the hardware. We may be at the end times for corporate, but Valve may have provided a glimmer of a future worth sticking around for.

Them's fighting words

Now that super-hero movies are no longer enough, movie-makers are now drawing on the hero v hero as the latest carrot to be dangled in front of your nose. I will now break down the obvious outcomes for each of these versus movies.

For Batman v Superman:

Why/how Batman would win

He probably wouldn't ... but he would have a fighting chance if he:

1. Built himself a suit made out of Kryptonite
2. Surrounded himself in an atomised cloud of Kryptonite gas
3. Only fired Kryptonite-laced bullets
4. Infused Kryptonite into all food stuffs and slowly weakened Superman
5. ... and in his weakened state, injected him with concentrated Kryptonite into Superman's blood stream (using a Kryptonite syringe)

Why Superman would win

He would easily win if he:

1. Used super speed to fly through Bruce Wayne
2. Used super speed to go back in time to kill Bruce Wayne as a kid
3. Used his laser eyes to burn him to a crisp when he's out playing Bruce Wayne
4. Went into outer space and threw an asteroid directly at Wayne manor
5. Split the earth in half
6. Threw Batman into outer space
7. Froze Batman with his super breath
8. Punched Batman into smithereens with a 'half-gauge' punch

For Civil War:

Why Iron Man would win

He would easily win if he:

• Threw a few nukes at Captain America
• Remote controlled his suits to chest blast from many directions at once
• Remote controlled his suits to take cap underwater / outer space
• Poisoned him
• Shot him
• Broke his neck
• Gave him a nasty paper cut whereupon he exsanguinated 
• Made his brain explode by intentionally smoking a joint made from a doobie-sized American flag while having sex with a woman, spruiking the virtues of the Quran and expressing the belief that the Communists were right

Why Captain America would win

You be dead. There ain't no coming back from a nuke to the face.

Why things are serious

So, for those that don't know, the latest Batman has just been released. Alongside this, all the crazies have come out to play, with one particular individual getting a little too riled up and shooting up a cinema. Apparently he was described as dressing like The Joker with red (?) hair. I cannot help but think the way public media has covered this story simply as a way of generating more buzz around this film for the sake of a few more ticket sales. It certainly worked to great effect on previous movies (known as The Brandon Lee/The Crow Effect or Heath Ledger effect). Far be it from me to question the questionable techniques they employ in the hope of maximising their return on investment.

FYI: this is photoshopped

The biggest issue I have is that a civilian of questionable mental stability was able to get his hands on two glocks, an AR-15, a shotgun and head-to-toe armour. This was, and still is, the real issue. When civilians have access to military-grade weaponry under the pretext of "the right to bear arms," something is wrong with the picture. When the other classic excuse used by gun owners is that they have a right to protect their home ... and statistics state that you're more likely to be shot with the weapon you purchased to protect said home, that argument doesn't hold much water. When the true reason that you have a firearm is because it is "cool" or you "like shootin' guns like Rambo," there needs to be a frank discussion on what the public truly needs rather than what it feels it deserves.