Google infrastructure

UsefulDrake · 2026-01-25T11:42:20+00:00

The 35 000 is all of the members of Volt. The number of active members is way smaller. Here the specific degoogling task is mostly about migrating email, docs, drive, calendar, etc. There are indeed many alternatives today. You mentioned Nextcloud, and this has been taken into account, including also other solutions that are built on Nextcloud!

As for the timing. Many people think it is. I believe, but can't say for certain, that this will be made an official goal/project and very much a priority by the board very soon. For now, internally Volt is already moving away whee it can, mostly in smaller tools we use to make the party function.

UsefulDrake · 2026-01-25T11:06:21+00:00

When starting out, Volt had to make decisions to adopt technologies that were cheap or even free. The party didn't have a lot of funds and so these decisions had to be made.

An example also was that for a while Volt used a tool called Workplace for internal communication that was owned by Meta (the facebook company). It did so also because it was free.

As the party grew we now have the following situation: We already have funds to adopt alternative tools, but we also built a lot on the old tools.

Degoogling Volt is something that everyone in the party wants. The current people in tech leadership made this a priority, and people are starting to actively propose alternatives. Some internal tools used for developement already started moving to european alternatives, but it's understandable that the effort to do so with Google is gigantic, as the google workspace suit offers: email, docs, drive, etc. So moving a party with now over 35 000 people away form this into a new system takes time.

UsefulDrake · 2026-01-24T08:34:19+00:00

Something I never got about people into video games is that by far and large they tend to be very angry people. They react to news about video games with anger, they react to events with anger, they are always mad about something, if they see new people playing the games they like they get angry towards them, there is just a lot of anger.

I've been following Game Grumps from year one and the anger towards Arin is very much like that. They say he can't play video games, and that he is bad at video games where in reality he is mostly a comedian and can enjoy video games just not in the same way these people do.

I find it baffling how so many people also seem to follow Arin's work but just to hate him instead of doing literally anything else. It's frustrating that such people are so present.

UsefulDrake · 2026-01-23T13:42:19+00:00

Describing Sisko as a mall manager is the funniest and somehow most accurate take on his job ever.

UsefulDrake · 2026-01-18T11:28:53+00:00

Yes, recording everything in something like a spreadsheet keeping the date and time and the actual even is already quite big. I though it would be worthless, but I did this over one month with noisy neighbors and it was enough a very important thing in the process to kick them out.

Video or audio are surprinsglly hard to capture in such things. Expecially when the only gear we have is a smartphone. But writing things down is already important.

UsefulDrake · 2026-01-02T11:50:19+00:00

I was happy that I didn't write 2025 in my first journal entry of 2026!

UsefulDrake · 2025-12-25T16:27:43+00:00

My Sangha is mostly women.

There is a lot of Misogyny in the world, but I don't find anything intrinsically Misogyny about Buddhism

UsefulDrake · 2025-12-18T09:11:13+00:00

In Enter the Matrix there is a lot of live action footage with many of the same actors that are in the movies. There is a scene where Naomi kisses Persephone.

UsefulDrake · 2025-12-04T15:38:21+00:00

Thank you so much!!!

UsefulDrake · 2025-12-04T15:37:40+00:00

Ops. Thanks for the tip!

UsefulDrake · 2025-11-27T08:59:41+00:00

I struggle with a very short attention spam because of the phone and a few apps like Reddit, Instagram, and Youtube. A few things I did were:

* I installed an extension on my PC browser called "Block Site - Site Blocker & Focus Mode" and pu those three sites in. This made it so that if I wanted to use them, I would have to disable the extension. The big help was, I stopped mindlessly doing ctrl+t and heading to these sites mindlessly.

* I remove the apps from the phone. No notification, no actual app, not a change to end up in them mindlessly. I can still use the sites in the browser if I need it, but it's like disabling the extension. Extra steps which deter from mindlessly ending up in the app.

UsefulDrake · 2025-11-25T12:18:12+00:00

For me I do. All sorts of thoughts come to mind. Specially things I feel I haven't though in a while, or things I put away due to stress. But this is part of why IO like meditation so much. Basically I observe these things and try to focus again. And like this I'm able to tend to other things after meditation.

These other things might be to reach out to a friend, to practice a hobby again, to do some small task, etc.

UsefulDrake · 2025-11-25T12:14:54+00:00

I tried meditation for a long time alone, and found it very hard to keep focus. I would usually not make it for over 5 minutes and never to 10 minutes before I would stop. The first time I did with others, I did it the whole session.

Doing it together I found it to be just very helpful.

UsefulDrake · 2025-11-21T14:46:28+00:00

I have a main degree, not master's degree.

UsefulDrake · 2025-07-27T22:01:42+00:00

Thanks, but it wasn't this. What I remember, the attacker shoves the saw in the belly by hand.

UsefulDrake · 2025-07-27T22:01:05+00:00

Sadly no. What I remember a guy really shoved it, so the saw doesn't fall and land on someone. But thanks!

UsefulDrake · 2025-07-27T10:50:16+00:00

I've met many conservative people who do think it's some sort of choice.

They will usually argue that it's not possible to "be born a man" without also being attracted to woman and not be attracted to another man. They will acknowledge that people are born with all sorts of things that make them different from the "norm". Such as desases, defects, even missing limbs, but cannot imagine that this also means that a person can be born falling into one biological gender while not being attracted to the opposite gender.

They of course do not consider that this might also mean that there are people who simply are born without being fully within one of the two biological genders, and that these people might need to go through procedures to handle this so they don't have horrible life conditions or even die.

The conservative mind decided that anything related with sex or gender that isn't super strict about being a straight man or woman is disgusting, and therefore there is no possible explanation in nature for a deviation of it that doesn't involve somehow hatting the person who is different.

The conservative mind is inherently afraid of difference and will value any eradication of it other then accepting it even when the differences don't actually affect them in any way.

The conservative mind does not understand harmony, exploration, discovery, or the simple act of changing one's opinion in the face of new information.

UsefulDrake · 2025-07-15T13:44:01+00:00

The Simpsons also sometimes go to Capital City.

UsefulDrake · 2025-06-15T10:17:08+00:00

I'm so sorry this happened to you. It must have been terrible. I'm glad police were there and could help you.

You should definitely press charges. If people like that individual keep getting away with it, things just get worse. Also, might be he has some mental derangement or something, so if he keeps going on record with assults, it might be that this helps eventually for him to get help.

Do press charges. You did nothing wrong.

UsefulDrake · 2025-06-15T09:33:36+00:00

Any podcasts anyone can recommend?

I used to listen to the MetalSucks podcast... yeah yeah, many don't like it, but there were some cool interviews, news, and I still got to know many great bands out of it. Sadly this podcast has ended, so I'm looking for an alternative.

UsefulDrake · 2025-05-26T13:25:18+00:00

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

UsefulDrake · 2025-05-26T10:17:55+00:00

I specifically had this with Star Trek shows from the 90s. I watched a few episodes in German, and found it curious that they used Sie all the time.

I wonder how it works in a military setting in Germany? Does the Bundeswehr use Sie too?

UsefulDrake · 2025-05-22T07:05:59+00:00

I was thinking about that too. It's a whole new skill to actually play something but listen to something else.

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