SHamblingSHapes

I got significantly better at brewing beer.

I make my own Greek yogurt now. I like it much better than store-bought.

I improved in two languages. I'm not great at either but they've helped me build rapport with work colleagues and have come in handy while traveling.

I finished a master's degree and all the skills that entails.

I've been thinking about giving this a go. Any resources you recommend to start out with?

I generally don't downvote. I report a comment/post if they break rules. I block users that are stupid, mean, comment in bad faith, or are otherwise negative to my experience. I use an app that allows me to apply unique labels to users that only I can see if I am not quite ready to block them but want to be ready on next offense. I.e., someone who uses dog whistle language but I'm not sure it was intentional.

Most of the accounts I made for Lemmy are on instances that disable downvoting. That wasn't planned on my part, but I don't mind.

So many uses. They are a convenience and not really necessary when I really drill down into it, but the convenience factor is significant.

Maps and navigation. I can change plans on the fly and still confidently navigate cities I have never been to before, with a good estimate of when I will get somewhere. Could I plan from home or use paper maps/atlases? Sure, but a smartphone is way easier and more flexible.

Communication. It simplifies keeping in touch with people and maintaining relationships. Could I call them from my home landline once a month? Sure, but a smartphone allows me to send them a quick text or a dumb meme anytime from anywhere. Smaller, more frequent communication to supplement the less frequent larger effort helps a lot with relationship maintenance.

Having a computer in my pocket any time I am away from home and my home PC.

People who eschew basic modern technology are weird. It's just a fact. Could I move to a remote mountain cabin and throw out all electronics and let my inner, introverted, weirdo quirks run rampant? Sure. But I don't really want that. I want to have friends and to be generally well thought of by my community. I want people to text me to invite me to go out. I want to pull up the latest artist I'm excited about to share with someone when we're out and about. Smartphones are so ubiquitous, it is a radical statement not to have one and I simply don't want to be a radical.

Some people hate women with control over their own bodies.

The US and UK have both used data from period trackers to spy on women and monitor for "suspicious" miscarriages.

If it it were my instance, as in I run it and mod it, I would boot them. I can't moderate a language I don't understand.

If it's an instance I have a profile on but it's not mine to run or moderate, I don't care. I would mute it if there were a lot of posts.

They're still run by evangelical Christians, so I wouldn't expect a Pride month advert campaign coming from them any time soon.

But yes, they stopped donating to a particular group of charities in 2018/2019. Part of the "then they started donating again" claim was timing and tax records, but the actual donation was made before they changed policy and stopped.

The goal isn't "taking down" a company. It's to influence their behavior/policies.

ChikFilA stopped donating to anti-gay charities when they were boycotted.

Boycotts aren't going to kill a company. They are to influence them.

I did boycott ChikFilA when it came out they were supporting homophobic asshats. And once they announced they were dropping those charities, I stopped boycotting.

I use CVS over Walgreens as long as I can get my prescriptions at CVS due to Walgreens stances against women's health. If Walgreens ever cleans up, I would happily use them more often because they are more convenient and inexpensive for me.

I only go to Shell gas stations as a last resort because they blast ads at you while pumping gas.

Wow, been a while since there was an Onion article targeted so squarely for me. What a fit.

Russell Brand and the recent revelations that he's abusive and probably a rapist.

He gave me danger vibes from the very beginning, all the way back to 2008ish. I was actually surprised when it broke news this year; I had assumed he'd been caught way earlier and was already through the "apologizes" / stays off social media for 6 months / comes back "enlightened" / media forgets about his crimes cycle.