I’m using Waterfox (based on Firefox but without the bloat), both desktop and mobile versions. Have nothing but good things to say about it.

Count the fingers

I switched to Waterfox recently. I really like it. It actually seems to work more consistently than Firefox did.

Cat, I’m a kitty cat.

Gi Joe parody

The talking boat

I totally agree. I still have a large mp3 and flac collection.

When Spotify came a long I used both for a while. But my Spotify playlists became so full of completely random tracks, it was never financially viable to even buy 10%, and its become more difficult to do so legally.

For the bands/artists I really like, I’ve bought CDs or if that’s not possible, bought digital versions.

I am attempting to transition away from streaming completely, but I have playlists which are 100+ hours long; which I’ve curated myself. I have a dozen others which are 8-20.

You could accuse me of having too much music. That i can’t possibly listen to most of it. Perhaps there is some truth in that. When you’ve had access to an unlimited buffet, it’s difficult to go back to a set menu.

Yes, ultimately I want to own all my most listened to music, but for now it would be nice to do both and have a player with physical buttons.

I miss physical buttons for when I’m listening to music.

Having to unlock my phone to skip a track or advance a podcast is really annoying.

I used to be able to click a button in my pocket. I could even slide a bit to skip forward and back 30 seconds.

I also like to listen to music in bed in the dark. The bright screen, the messing around with the unlock, really breaks the flow.

Yes I have earphones that are touch sensitive, but poking it messes with any good isolated fit I’ve achieved, the touch doesn’t always register and after a while, one ear starts to hurt. Especially when you need to tap three times to restart a track.

I’ve now got this stupid setup with a BT dongle in a usb a-c converter; which plugs into my phone and controls a tiny physical keyboard.

There are lots of mp3 players, but they don’t support streaming platforms. The ones that do, also went mainly touch screen only and cost a fortune. There is one physical Spotify player with buttons but it’s just a dumb cube with very basic functionality.

This video seems very low effort. If your going to waste vaste amounts of vital resources, at least generate something unusual. And clearly tag it as Gen AI.

“Video by Tom Furse” - Don’t know why this annoys me the most. At best he edited the output of a selection of prompts to fit the music.

The only AI music video I’ve actually enjoyed watching is this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGIvO4eh190

In the description they clearly state the reason for using AI (plus they also used some 3D tools.)

Gen Ai is good for generating horrible nightmarish visuals.

I think I hate Gen AI so much because by default it generates dream-like/nightmare imagery, hallucinations. We try and force it to produce real-life representations.

It’s an uncanny valley generator, used incorrectly.

It’s a lab-grown meat, that no matter how it’s manipulated, just doesn’t taste right. But companies try and pass it off as it’s from an animal.

For Christ-sake, if people want to use this abomination of a tool, use it to generate abominations.

I literally got recommended this AI band as well. Normally I can search: “X band AI” and I get results whether or not they are real.

All I had were 50 pages about the original band leaving Spotify.

I blocked this suspicious sounding band in-case it was AI. Looks like I was right.

Just as a note: earlier this year I stated I’d keep subscribing to Spotify because the recommendations were worth the cost. I was wrong, and I’m slowly starting my transition away.

Obviously I’m not you, so will never fully understand your situation, but from my own experience, I can see why your in a very tough spot.

Even with all the work that me and my wife have done, there are still days that we get to each other. That one of us is at their most hyper or the other at a real low/overwhelmed state, unwilling to do anything but curl up in bed. Each ignoring our own bodies, either because we are too focused on something or don’t want to/can’t move.

Medication is a temporary fix for some or perhaps one symptom of ADHD.

Other people really won’t understand unless they’ve lived in our heads for a short while.

I would be very annoyed as well that my problems were being dismissed and discounted.

Thanks, I do spend a lot of time overthinking.

Now and again I come up with something that works. I still from time to time just want to run away from everything.

I wouldn’t say I figured a lot out, but what has really helped is having a partner who understands my triggers, and what triggers her.

For example, perhaps one of us is in a heated conversation and our voice is starting to raise. The other will make a visual signal, or gently touch a shoulder or hand. To bring awareness that things are heading in the wrong direction.

Often we will simply avoid certain situations altogether. Or find other mitigations. Like wearing Loops (ear things that block out some sounds). Take fidget toys, sweets etc.

Really, we just spend a lot of time talking to each other about what makes us each individually angry, uncomfortable, anxious. Then try to change our behaviour. At the very least attempt to make very small steps to soften this that grate each other.

We were both in several really bad relationships. The main takeaway was, don’t let things stew. It is really hard, but talk about things asap. Perhaps the hardest thing is finding someone who is willing to listen and share as well, and not react badly.

In many ways this sort of relationship stuff is far more logic than emotion.

Often just talking and the other person listening (and not giving any solutions, just sympathy) is enough.

With that all being said, take this with a huge bucket of salt. This is advice from a compete stranger. Search around for other opinions. Just don’t ask Chatgpt.

In typical ADHD style I wrote out a whole essay and decided instead, just to post this:

There is a point where you have to decide if it really matters.

Is the goal just to make them understand or do you need them to provide you with other support that only they can provide?

I also had a lot of trouble with both sets of parents.

I tried using examples of their own past behaviours and experiences. Things that had happened to their friends.

This worked somewhat. I don’t think I’ll ever make them fully understand.

Btw, I suspect my parents, my wife’s parents and extended family all have ADHD.

On another note:

There is a chance your wife has ADHD as well, just different behaviours. It might be that there are things you do, that really trigger her.

I thought I was the normal person with the adhd wife. There was a strong hidden reason we got together and stayed together. It didn’t become clear until later.

https://archive.ph/L2Gqp without paywall

It’s nice to see a remastered video and not a over-sharpened or AI upscaled reupload.

Haven’t found many older artists that actually released proper HD or 4K versions.

It was David Bowie’s - I’m afraid of Americans 4k vid, that sent me on a hunt for more like it.

So far, aside from Alanis M and David B, I’ve found decent remasters from:

50 Cent (in da club), Blur, Coldplay, George Michael (and Wham!), Green Day, Robbie Williams, The Verve.

I would say, nothing gets close to that Bowie vid.

This reminded me of a passage early on in The Hobbit:

'…Tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the East of East and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert. I had a great-great-great-grand-uncle once, Bullroarer Took, and—”

“Yes, yes, but that was long ago,” said Gloin. “I was talking about you. And I assure you there is a mark on this door—the usual one in the trade, or used to be. Burglar wants a good job, plenty of Excitement and reasonable Reward…’

True. All I can think of is that before it gets to Halloween shops have sold off most of their stock and are in the process of getting all the Xmas stuff out. I’ve been places where they have a Halloween and Xmas mix of songs.

I’m not ruling out that a few hundred thousand completely random people around the world all decide to listen to Xmas music around the same time. I just think it’s more likely businesses switching to seasonal music as early as possible, and streaming Mariah Carey 20 times a day, causing the big sudden spike.

Is it just a load of stores/shops immediately switching to generic xmas playlists after Halloween? To me that’s the only reason I could see there to being a sudden spike. This song is bound to be in most of them. But we’d also need to track other popular xmas tracks.

(I know there used to be significant music licensing issues about what music could be played in a store, to the public. Don’t know if there is some special Spotify business account now?)

As a person who’s not into the table top games, but loves the lore.

I watch/listen to a few channels:

WesHammer - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDj6ttwzj2sr464jDdg_pA

He does a short introduction (on camera), then the rest is audio with relevant artwork and some video from the games.

Aside from the usual deep-dives into the various factions and popular characters, I enjoy his Grim Dark Story Hour vids. These focus on creepy (horror) short stories from random Warhammer books, where Wes does some voice acting as well.

The Sleepy Hollow - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC86zNGwCUt5gBnizRSWSLuA

Warhammer lore (and game lore). It’s meant to be for helping people get to sleep. But I listen to it during the day. If you do use it for sleep, watch out for the super loud Youtube ads that play in the middle, if you don’t have Premium or use Peertube.

There are a lot of other Youtubers that do good content as well, like Arbitor Ian etc.

The top two are my recommendations.

I thought my external drive had failed after about 1.5k hours of use. It would stop working sporadically, until it basically wasn’tbeing detected. Tried different cables and various other things. Turned out it was the daughter board that was failing. Swapped that with an old donor external DVD drive, and it’s happily working again.

Obligatory link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_finger

Don’t let a Seal bite you.

“Seal finger was first described scientifically in 1907. It can cause cellulitis, joint inflammation, and swelling of the bone marrow; untreated, the course of “seal finger” is slow and often results in a thickened, contracted joint. Historically, seal finger was treated by amputation of the affected digits once they became unusable…”

1 - 100% chance of a metallic taste, that lingers after use. 3 as well probably.

4 is the only practical option, just need to use it with your left hand.