If you listen to the modern pseudo-feminists and Twitter doofs, etc., it seems they believe an age gap is all that matters in a relationship — i.e, that if two people are not born on the exact same day, year, hour and minute, they can’t possibly have a single thing in common.

So fucking weird!

I think this became an obsession because age is eminently quantifiable and easy to understand, while characteristics and desires that actually make people compatible are far harder to conceptualize and observe. I’ve dated people much older than me and quite a bit younger (all above the age of majority) and it made no difference — other factors mattered far, far, far, far more.

In fact, the woman I dated who was closest in age to me was by far the worst relationship I’ve ever been in by a damn long shot. She was a horrible narcissist who, among other things, attempted to incite me into physically abusing her.

The first ten on today’s playlist:

Whoever thought it was a good idea to force desktop OSes to have mobile phone UI/UX conventions so they are “unified” should be slapped so fucking hard they go into orbit around their home planet, Clowndia.

These things are not the same. Very much not! Why is it so extremely difficult to convince “design” doofshits of this?

This song is only 11 days old but sounds so very 1990s — and I mean that as a compliment. If Lush, Throwing Muses and The Breeders got Crispred together, this is what would result.

Removing the headphone jack from all devices has nothing to do with the ability to make them thinner or to save money. That’s just a poor and clearly-obfuscatory excuse. No, that removal is an example of Foucauldian discipline and control as exercised by the tech industry. Despite being extremely unpopular and its banishment occurring for no technical reason, this immensely unwelcome action was done anyway. This is absolutely not accidental.

For the same reason, Firefox removed all customization possibilities and every OS maker (including most Linux window manager and GUIs) have followed along. That the trend is so widespread tells you that it’s has more to do with the desire to discipline rather than the oft-trotted-out “security” or other absurd canards that are leaned on when those wielding the authoritarian mindset are questioned.

Why this authoritarian urge, though? What is the goal? Insomuch as there is one, as a large part of it is just a reduplication of the dominant cultural leaning, it is to prepare you to accept intrusive tracking, pervasive advertising, and unskippable propaganda. It’s to set the glide path to dominate your mind and your actions.

When you look at your device that has no headphone jack and is less useful than one from 10 years ago, realize that this abridgement of capability has nothing to do with tech at all. It’s to tame you, control you, implant in your mind that you have no choice but to accept the scraps you are thrown. And it’s working quite well.