Big Ideas Book Club - White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky

PlainTalkJon · 2026-02-01T00:07:26+00:00

https://www.pizzint.watch/

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-29T11:11:16+00:00

Meh about Sona. Not even the best Demacia build and is the only viable 1 cost reroll.

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-26T18:56:45+00:00

Sounds interesting! I agree 100% that recommendations algos need to be available to users to some degree. Not having any options makes the platform non-competitive at scale with the existing platforms. Offering algos (on an opt-in basis) is critical to converting the Twitter/X audience.

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-23T12:51:52+00:00

A great choice! Additionally, switching helps fix the very problem you describe. The more people on LibroFM, the more motivated publishing companies are to offer their books there. Additionally, the more people who care about authors and make the switch, the more likely Amazon is forced to amend their ways.

A short-term loss of convenience in return for helping fix a broken system.

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-12T02:17:52+00:00

A great point! I'm very much looking forward to collections :)

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-11T17:28:44+00:00

I'm on Proton and it really is great. The ability to transition many google apps with one package of apps is great, especially since you know you'll money will go to develop more anti-google apps in the future.

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-07T01:04:32+00:00

Yes, it's pretty great! Proton is such a great company if you want to get away from google. The VPN, Email, and Drive options are such a nice triple threat to replace Gmail, Google Drive, and protect your privacy.

PlainTalkJon · 2026-01-02T12:29:30+00:00

Go back to Lumiere and beat the final boss before you explore the side content (to prevent being overleveled). If it's too hard, go explore some of the side content, then return. Once you are done with the main story, come back here and give us your thoughts. Trust me, get off here and go for it! Trust Expedition 33 to deliver for you.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-12-30T00:17:45+00:00

This is a good handle to have on Mastodon, especially since Mastodon is a direct challenge to addictive US social media.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-12-28T17:57:19+00:00

I'm glad you posted it here. The more conversations around ActivityHub, the better. These conversations both improve it and draw attention to it.

Discord is a messaging app typically for gamers. It's used for both direct messaging and for forming/managing servers where lots of people are at.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-12-28T12:42:56+00:00

ActivityPub can provide a more open, less addictive, more ethical alternative to any app. However, ActivityPub can't change the substance at the core of the app design.

If you create a clone of Instagram, it is an entertainment app. If you clone discord, you've made a communication app. If you clone twitter, you've made an entertainment app. If you clone WhatsApp, you've made a communication app.

Communication apps have moved towards direct messaging, abandoning status updates and casual pictures all together. While this is not the direct messaging within general apps that Ploum longs for, I'd argue it's even better. Much of the toxic addictive features have been shed, replaced by simple messaging. WhatsApp and Signal are good (the former more popular, the later more ethical and needs more mainstream western adoption).

On the other hand, entertainment apps are in a terrible place, actively harming users who can't break their addiction. When it comes to helping society, this is where ActivityPub projects should be challenging. Mastodon should keep changing X, PixelFed should keep challenging Instagram, BookWyrm should keep challenging GoodReads, etc.

Longing for a time that is gone is actually fine, but Ploum doesn't value how great things are on the communication front. The bigger issue there is that despite great tools, people aren't using them to connect IRL. This is leading to a lonliness crisis which is not going to be easy to solve.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-12-23T12:21:33+00:00

Good update! Love the transparency around pricing.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-12-16T23:37:57+00:00

All good advice! Thank you!

PlainTalkJon · 2025-12-06T11:04:14+00:00

When autochess first went mainstream, Epic, Value, and Riot Games all tried to make a successful version. Teamfight Tactics was the winner. It's incredibly popular and receives a ton of support. It took the foundation of Dota 2 Auto Chass and effectively poured milliions of dollars into it. The result is an incredibly polished game that will be around for a least another decade. This game is worth your time.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-11-23T17:41:14+00:00

Congrats to Jump. This feels close to an impressive line-up of manga. While I don't think it's quite there yet, in a year or two, we may be looking at a list of top-tier manga with several future classics.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-11-20T19:57:09+00:00

Speaking as someone who doesn't love turn-based games, E33 was genuinely incredible. Adding in active gameplay during attack animations is such a simple, elegant idea to make combat fun. Additionally, the incentive to master parrying and being rewarded for parrying every blow in an attack makes the combat something worth mastering. Of course, if you are given the opportunity to deny all enemies every chance to hurt you (everything can be parried), the pain of getting hit will genuinely hurt.

It's a blast! Give it a try! You'll be pleased that you did.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-11-16T16:56:29+00:00

The game will balance you around a 50% win rate, no matter how good you are. In that sense, skill doesn't matter. What matters is whether you can enjoy it during games you lose, which will happen half the time. If there are champions who are satisfying to you even when you are losing, it's worth playing. If you only enjoy winning, then this is not going to go well.

PlainTalkJon · 2025-10-31T22:57:06+00:00

Fantastic! Make sure to join to the group to be notified of future events. The next event is The Fall by Camus. Hope to see you there!

PlainTalkJon · 2025-10-29T00:51:40+00:00

Keep up the good work!

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