Josias ☄️ @josias@theres.life

Proprietary software tends to manipulate. I notice this whenever I am forced to enter that world. The user is controlled to the purposes of the entity behind the program.

This needs to end. We need complete control over our own computing. Otherwise we surrender the right to have any say in our interactions with the digital world.

Unfortunately, many people don't mind being controlled, as long as they are convinced it somehow serves their goals, or they are ignorant of the oppression.

When they are told of the problems, most don't want to believe it, so don't.

Critical thinking and self-discipline are vital to avoid being pushed around by those set out to control you for their own interests.

Many arguments from opposing sides are very thought-provoking once you get past trying to refute it at all costs.

I never wanted There's Life to be a political or even religious instance. But rather a place where we discuss God, His teachings, and how they apply to our lives. In the end, what else matters?

We (as humans) often look to affirm various ideas we hold, reasonably justified or not, with nonsensical arguments and bad logic.

When we see something that doesn't look quite right, yet validates our beliefs, we all too often accept it, ignoring reason. We want validation. We want to be understood and to have others share our convictions.

We do this repeatedly, and we gradually become more ignorant about opposing views. We call other people fools and yet our own arguments are just as foolish.

We are never right. We never completely understand our world, our lives, or other people. We are always learning. Don't hinder that.

Never put convictions over sound logic or beliefs over pursuing truth.

Correct link: https://meet.jit.si/FediverseBibleStudy

"Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency."

- James Madison

#liberty #quote

Tomorrow (Saturday 18th June 2021) we're having a Bible study at 19h UTC.

Anyone is welcome to come and read and discuss John 9 with us.

Join at 19h UTC (12PM PST) by clicking this link:
https://meet.jit.si/Bible

#FediverseBibleStudy #BibleStudy

Here's what I'm talking about regarding the "intriguing concepts":

Ender's Game presents the battle school and the idea of children leading strategy tactics.

Speaker for the Dead explores the concept of a person who speaks after someone's death, saying both the good and the bad in complete truth, and uncovering a side no one may have understood before.

Xenocide discusses the premise that everything has a metaphysical particle called a "philote", and those philotes connect to one another, bonding objects to one another.

And so on. Card is good at writing interesting stories because his ideas interest him. While reading his books, we get to see him explore the worlds as we do.

Each book is interesting in and of themselves, and there are no series that exist just to expand themselves. No sci-fi sitcoms where the characters are continued on just because they're popular. (I don't know about the prequels yet, but I'm inclined to think they are an exception based on reading the first book)

I've been reading the Ender's Game saga by Orson Scott Card. I just finished the Shadow series and am starting the prequels.

The stories are very well-written. Card is an excellent writer and explores intriguing concepts.

#books #reading #scifi

I decided to update my bio, replacing my long-winded ramblings with a succinct summary.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a new page with sci-fi short stories and possibly novels. It fits the space theme of Gemini well.

My Gemini capsule is back up, but it required me to regenerate the certificates, so your client may complain that the certificates don't match.

It was me, not a malicious actor. Be at ease.

gemini://josias.dev

I'm going to start posting sci-fi on #Gemini. It just seems appropriate.

We are meeting at https://meet.jit.si/FediverseBibleStudy now. (sorry, I put the wrong link in the initial post)

Tomorrow (Saturday 5th June 2021) we're having a Bible study at 19h UTC.

We didn't do one last week because of the Memorial Day weekend, but we're back at it this week.

Join at 19h UTC (12PM PST) by clicking this link:
https://meet.jit.si/Bible

#FediverseBibleStudy #BibleStudy

The poll ended. Thank you to everyone who participated. The results are enlightening. The vast majority of Fediverse users joined when they were 20-39 (no surprise there). There are quite a bit of high schoolers, and a couple of those who joined in middle school.

Finally someone else who joined before high school. I was starting to worry that I was the only one. 😅

Boosts encouraged. Increase the sample size

I joined the Fediverse when I was in middle school. I first started hosting a Mastodon instance when in high school.

This made me wonder the age of others when they first joined this network.

So here's a poll:

How old were you all when you first joined the #Fediverse?

#AskFedi

Starting the Bible study very soon at https://meet.jit.si/FediverseBibleStudy

Hello! In two hours we are doing a Bible study. 19h UTC.

We will be studying John 7.

As usual, anyone may attend and discuss the chapter.

To join, simply click this link:
https://meet.jit.si/FediverseBibleStudy

#FediverseBibleStudy verseBibleStudy

Is it possible to make a set of filtered words a default for new users? That way people can remove them if they want, but not have to see certain things by default.

#AskFedi #MastoAdmin

When it comes to the Freenode situation, I'm just more inclined to trust those who have been running it for decades over someone who simply currently owns the legal entity.

Sure, Andrew Lee will find new staff and might get it running smoothly again, but the Freenode we know and love has been moved to libera.chat. It's a split between the legal owner and the staff, who found the owner to be non-beneficial to their mission. I'm trusting the staff here.

'There’s something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that will praise you when you say, “Be non-violent toward Jim Clark,” but will curse and damn you when you say, “Be non-violent toward little brown Vietnamese children.” There’s something wrong with that press!'

- Martin Luther King Jr.

#quote #MLK