I hear you. I had the original doorbell cam, and early outdoor cam, well before google bought them. I was happy with them and knew I’d be selling the house.

My cameras are only outside. I have (had) speakers and lights inside. I’m against most of this kind of AI use. It’s a ridiculous energy waste for little benefit (I do think there are a number of good ML applications).

Okay, thanks (you and others).

I watched this video of Jack Antonoff showing how he created one of his songs - I think it was “I want to get better” - and it was fascinating. I copied the link so I could show my wife when I got home, but when I went to use it I got a 404. Searched like crazy and was never able to find it.

A “stok” or “stocc” was there lower part of a post or tree trunk in middle/old English. It became the name for any close-fitting garment that covered the foot and lower leg (stok of a person). So really it’s not that the name went from being one thing to being another, it’s that both the things you mention fit the definition.

The other part of the answer to your question is the development of knitting machines able to create stockings from fine cotton or silk thread made the second type of thing more attainable.

We laughed our asses off (which he couldn’t hear), but also tried to make the stern, scolding face when he was looking. He was such a good boy.

We had a dog that was born deaf, so we taught him with hand signals instead of voice commands. Was completely fine, except when he was doing something he knew he shouldn’t, he’d turn away from you so you couldn’t scold him. But he’d also get curious about whether you caught him doing it, so he’d sneak a look over his shoulder, and then you could scold him and he’d stop.

Oh, I’m with you, and I don’t need or want the endless growth thing. I was on Reddit a long time, and saw the good and bad of the huge user base.

But it’s kind of like when you have a favorite neighborhood restaurant: you don’t want it to get so successful that it’s always crowded and you can’t get a table, but you also want it to do well enough that it stays in business. If the Lemmy use base declines too much, there won’t be a reason for people to come here and we’ll lose our little corner of the Internet.

I get no joy from DIY projects for that reason. And you forgot that halfway through it turns out you need to buy a special tool.

As for why it subjectively seems to be declining… maybe you know what you’re gonna see in New, and so you engage less with posts?

I don’t think so. For ages (maybe two years) I’ll sometimes sit in bed in the morning and browse New until I hit the stuff I saw previously. That used to take me well over an hour - maybe two - but now it takes less than thirty minutes.

Yeah, it would figure that if the activity is flat but the number of servers is declining that it’s either consolidation or that people are abandoning very small instances.

Thank you, I had been looking for actual data and couldn’t find it. You’re right, does not seem to be declining.

I wonder if there an increasing percentage of bot posts, since I have prolific bot accounts blocked.

I wonder what’s up with that number of servers decline.

I guess it’s not the top of mind problem Americans have right now.

You’ve got that right!

Sure, sounds nice. But is it bad enough that people feel compelled to create a ballot measure and get it changed? Apparently not.

When you say “people” you’re really talking about the stores, right? The stores just put the price they charge, not the taxes which they don’t get. Yes, taxes vary from state to state, but it’s not like we’re all going to different states every day. I know what the tax rate is in my area, and so I know to add that when I see a price in a store.

If you really mean “people” as in customers, it depends. If I’m telling someone that a store has a good price, I’ll just quote the store’s price. But sometimes when I’m talking about what I paid, I’ll include everything “Wow, I can’t believe this cart of groceries was $150…”

I can’t wait to pay for groceries with my free healthcare.

This is a great guide. The only quibble I have with it is the part about choosing an instance. There’s one aspect where it does matter: not every instance federates with every other. It’s good to be aware of any significant defederation vs what you care about when selecting an instance.