Same. It’s frightening that I can actually see that headline being true.

If you’re looking for the hopeful view of humanity’s future, I’d start with Season 3 of The Next Generation. It has that in spades, while also skipping over the first two seasons where it is really trying to find its footing. If you really like it and want to see how it all started, go back and watch the first two seasons.

If you like TNG and want a more character-driven experience that doesn’t focus nearly as much on exploration, Deep Space Nine is fantastic. Just like TNG, the first two seasons are kind of rough as they try to figure things out. They’re also a fair bit slower (some call them dull) than the later seasons, but if you like character and world building, they’re pretty decent. It really gains steam with season 3.

If you want to continue the theme of exploration, Star Trek Voyager is good. I don’t enjoy it as much as TNG and DS9, but Voyager has the advantage of the show runners and writers having fully figured out what life is like in that time period without the stumbles of the first two series. I’d say it remains fairly consistent throughout, but I personally don’t find that its highs are as high as TNG and DS9.

She did such a fantastic job making a character that I absolutely despised. It never once felt like she was acting. I hated her so much that I was concerned that if I met her in person I’d reflexively hate Louise Fletcher instead of Kai Winn just because she felt every bit as real as the actual actress.

That’s definitely fair. I play a lot of the ASOIAF miniatures game, so I figured I should probably brush up on the background material. The books are fine, but he’s never going to finish them. The game based on those books is fantastic, however.

We’re not all buying EVs for the environment. I bought an EV because I think the car is cool and it’s really enjoyable to drive. It’s nice that the “gas” is also significantly cheaper, but that wasn’t high on my list of reasons to get the thing, either.

The EV owners I’ve talked to didn’t buy them for the environment, either, but I haven’t talked to any Leaf owners or anything. Maybe they’re more environmentally conscious. It being better for the environment long term is definitely nice, and I hope progress continues on batteries made with less toxic components.

Thankfully, I did not buy a Tesla and they were never on my list of options because of Elon. So he definitely alienated a customer due to him being an awful human being. I also won’t use any of their charging stations, since I don’t want them to profit off of me.

I don’t think the fediverse as it currently exists will draw a significant amount of people away from the larger social media communities, but who knows? My partner isn’t particularly tech-savvy and she was on Mastodon without me ever having mentioned it to her. She was also the first person between us to use PixelFed.

I feel like the fediverse in its current incarnation is much like the early internet. It has a lot of promise, but most people on it are those who are enthusiasts and/or idealists. If the fediverse becomes easier to engage with over time, I can see it growing in appeal. If the fediverse equivalent of a killer app or high-profile voice gets established, we could see some huge growth.

I think that one of the hurdles it will face is that hosting these instances isn’t free. With the centralized apps, they have VC funding they can burn through while they try to figure out how to monetize their service and to build it to be robust enough to be stable while handling growth.

What happens when a large instance has to pull the plug due to lack of funding, or they fail because they get hacked and/or don’t have working backups, or the person/people who run it turn out to have an agenda? How things move on from those disruptions will be very telling for the future of the fediverse. They’re all things that could happen, and I’m sure at least one of them will happen at some point.

Yeah, the soundtrack is perfect for the vibe the game is going for.

Definitely going to have to test Alexandrite vs Mlmym. Alexandrite feels just like old reddit, but I’m liking the UI of Alexandrite, too. Thanks!

I put so much time into Freelancer. The multiplayer was really fun if you had a friend to fly with.

Rebel Galaxy feels a lot like it, but it’s focused on capital(ish) ship combat (broadsides, etc) instead of fighters.

A Feast For Crows, by GRRM. I recently finished up The Three Body Problem. It’s a decent book, and I enjoyed reading it, but I don’t feel the need to read it again.

I’ve been less and less interested in TV at all. I find myself mostly rewatching the few really good shows from times past and largely ignoring the new stuff. It’s nice to have something to put on while I’m cooking, but if all the streaming services disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

I really hope they put ST in the hands of someone who actually seems to like ST for what it is. I don’t think that’s what will happen, though.

I never vibed with Twitter or Instagram, so I struggled with both Mastodon and Pixelfed. It wasn’t until I started looking for content based around my hobbies that Pixelfed really started becoming interesting to me. That, and having the ability to be absolutely deluged in pictures of cats if I need a morale boost. Mastodon is still something that I’m having trouble getting value out of. I may just end up being a Lemmy and Pixelfed user.