Billionaire tears
take a stance, resist and unsubscribe, go open source and save $$$ doing that!
A lovely couple hosts us to play board games every so often and I find myself staring at a coffee mug that reads “Billionaire tears”.
I don’t know how you feel about billionaires. I don’t want to say all billionaires are megalomaniacs, nor are all megalomaniacs billionaires but if you are digging into the files, there seems to be some correlation if not direct causation.
There is this NYU professor, who goes by Prof G. Over-indexes on profanity, encourages young people to drink but has a huge fan following owing to his ability to be real and vulnerable. He does not hide who he is, what he believes in and how he got there. My kinda guy. Anyways, he recently encourage everyone to resist and unsubscribe.
His argument is the best way to protest against late stage capitalism is by withdrawing from it. Ladder-climbers won’t get this because they are glorified modern day slaves trapped in a system working hard to convince themselves that there is no other way. This post will show you the way.
Streaming Subscription/s
What TV do you use? Is it an android TV? Did you know android started as open source? There is an open source project that you can side-load and skip all ads forever. Bye bye YT subscription. You are welcome. Follow these steps here. Call me. Talk to your favorite LLM. You got this.
Next, if you pay for storage, don’t. Price per TB has gone down drastically over the years. You can build your own NAS (Network Accessible Storage) this weekend. I am dragged into social settings with people who work in big tech. You’d be surprised how very few of them actually use any tech for their own benefit. It is like talking to a periodontist with no teeth.
If you find yourself wanting more go to the local goodwill or a used DVD store and buy a collection from the 90s. Back when they made content without AI. Not distracted by any social media. Then get ARM (Automatic Ripping Machine) or handbrake.fr and digitize the new old collection you just bought. Then binge watch using Jellyfin.
Storage
TrueNas offers many applications out of the box. Once you get in, you are addicted basically. You may need to use the terminal because it is a linux based operation. Besides who is using anything Microsoft makes anyways? Have you seen Windows? The screen looks like the Vegas strip for corporates. It is loaded with ads. If you are starting out your linux journey try Zorin OS. Yes, it is free and it can do everything your laptop does. 0 ads. Anyways. Lookup TrueNAS. The community edition is free. Bye bye, iCloud storage! Hello nextcloud!
Google photos/(Apple Photos)
Immich offers all the capabilities of a photo app and then some. Porting over from google is also very straight-forward. You get to keep all the folders of pics with people you wont ever meet. Here is how. Don’t go crying. My average reader is in their 30s. I know you are lonely. Just don’t cry. It is distasteful.
Network-wide blocker (Privacy)
About a quarter of your traffic is someone stalking you. They know you more than your parents, partners and shrinks combined. Maybe not the shrink. You don’t have one. That is like every fourth person walking down the street getting a good look inside your house. Catching you grazing your navel or scratching your armpit or picking your nose. The frequency. Time. Duration. Everything. Don’t want that, get a pihole. It is a sink-hole for trackers, built on a raspberry. This guy walks you through it well.
Get a rasberry pi. Get a pihole. Thank me later. If we meet in person, happy to give you one.
VPN and password vaults
Your NAS with enough RAM can also run VPN, password vaults, PDF editors, cloud storage and many commonly used software with their opensource variants. The above image has some examples.
Home automation security
Forget ring, wyze, eufy, ADT, Simplysafe and any other subscription as a renter or home owner. Just get another raspberry pi and install a home assistant. It has several hundred OOTB integrations. Truly one key to rule them all. You can warm your throne lying on the bed. Tried and tested. It works! Even with Ikea products. And frigate will help you detect objects and motion your camera captures. You may even do a reverse license plate or image lookup.
Friends
Did you ever make a friend on facebook/gram/snap? You basically stalk the same boring people in your life there, don’t you? Only utility I have for social media is buying used goods. I have actually met local nerds selling esoteric stuff that way. No normal person goes looking for a zigbee dongle or a fethead.
Go to the local library and say hello to a stranger. That introvert needs and extrovert to adopt them. You an introvert? Well a library is basically your version of a rock concert. Just with fewer, people, and quite and no sound with like minded people who respect space and silence and social awkwardness.
I don’t fit there either but what is an introvert gonna do? Read a book on how to deal with awkward social encounters?
Costs
All this will be a one time cost of a few hundred dollars, a lot cheaper if you buy these used and a couple of dollars on electricity but if many people do it, it will cost the billionaires their fortune.
Extro
Reach out if you have any trouble. Happy saving! Next time we will build our own personal Jarvis or Alfred. An LLM that runs in-house trained on your data. Sits in your infrastructure. Even the nerds in your neighborhood will gape and awe. English is the new coding language. You can read and write that? Great! Some people use AI to replace I. You are already ahead… Resist and unsubscribe. Take a stance. Nor red or blue. Make it green.
(Hand typed by a 100% organic carbon-based-bipedal-tail-less-ape.)