Health, Financial and Education are some of the worst sectors to work in IT for differing reasons. (And usually, DON’T give a salary to match)

Health, because if something breaks people might just not be able to work, people might die. And regulatory environment.

Financial, just sucks because of the regulatory environment and banks are some of the worst offenders of “IT is just a cost center”

Education, (Well funded colleges/universities might be different) because of lack of funding and annoying bureaucracy

I’ve worked in 2 of the 3 (education and financial) in IT and they SUCKED, but probably would have been a bit better if I had a good paycheck to match the suckiness.

I will never work any of those three again.

Listen to me…I have an idea…

“The people of Ukraine didn’t choose that path, the oligarchs did.”

It’s true Ukraine has a history of oligarchic influence, but the 2014 Maidan protests were a massive, popular uprising. Ukrainians were fed up with Yanukovych’s corruption and his decision to abandon the EU agreement for closer ties with Russia. This wasn’t just oligarchs pulling strings; millions of Ukrainians demonstrated for a future that aligned with Europe, seeking more autonomy from Russia.

“Russia would be imperialist, but isn’t right now.”

I would argue that Russia is acting imperialistically. The annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbas, and now the invasion of Ukraine are clear examples of Russia asserting control over its neighbors. Even if it’s not globally imperialist like the U.S., these actions align with a regional imperialism that Marxists should still oppose.

Ultimately, this isn’t about picking sides between oligarchies, but supporting the principle of self-determination for Ukraine, including resisting imperialist aggression from any direction.

Yes, Ukraine has ties with the U.S., but sovereign nations have the right to choose their alliances. Ukraine’s Western integration stems from its desire for self-determination, not just U.S. influence. Russia’s aggression isn’t justified merely because Ukraine sought NATO’s support.

Bias exists everywhere, but dismissing “Western” sources wholesale, while elevating openly ideological ones, doesn’t strengthen the argument. Marxist critique should apply equally to all capitalist states, including Russia, which operates under an oligarchic system that exploits its own people. 1 2

While far-right elements in Ukraine are real, they’re a small part of the picture. Reducing Ukraine to these groups oversimplifies the conflict. Most Ukrainians are fighting for sovereignty, not fascism.

Russia’s actions are imperialist too, and as a Marxist, you should critique imperialism wherever it emerges, not just from the West.

1. NATO Expansion: The argument that NATO’s eastward expansion “provoked” Russia is often linked to Gorbachev’s 1990 talks with Western leaders. However, this promise was tied to Germany’s unification, not a blanket prohibition on expansion. And importantly eastern european countries sought NATO membership because of their historical (and justified) fears of Russian imperialism (a dynamic Marxists should understand as nations seeking sovereignty free from external dominance.)

2. Western Involvement in Ukraine: The U.S. supporting a regime change in Ukraine in 2014 is thought to be imperialism. But ignores the agency of Ukrainians, who led the Maidan protests because of already existing deep dissatisfaction with Yanukovych’s corrupt, oligarchic regime and his pivot to Russia. Supporting popular uprisings against oligarchs should align with Marxist values even if “the West” has its own interests

3. The Role of Fascism in Ukraine: Yes, Ukraine has issues with far-right groups like so many countries but exaggerating their influence as a justification for invasion serves to divert attention from Russia’s own reactionary politics. Far-right elements in Ukraine do not define the country’s political landscape, nor do they justify imperial aggression from another state. Russia has its own history of fostering right-wing authoritarianism.

4. Minsk Agreements: While the West" and Ukraine could be criticized for their handling of the Minsk agreements, Russia also violated these accords by continuing support for the separatists. Both sides share blame for the failure of Minsk, but it doesn’t make Russia’s invasion justified. Ukrainians didn’t provoke a full-scale invasion; they were defending their sovereignty.

5. NATO as a “Defensive” Alliance: Criticism of NATO’s imperialistic behavior is fair its actions in places like Libya show it isn’t 100% defensive. But in this case, NATO’s expansion was driven by countries seeking security from a historically imperialist power. Ukraine wasn’t “provoking” Russia by wanting self-determination; it was trying to secure its future.

You’re trying to push this “Actuall, but Ukraine DID provoke” narrative by mixing in unverified, ideologically biased material with references that are legitimate, but isolated incidents. Like linking far-right activity to justify the war conveniently ignores Russia’s (I should probably say everyone’s) own far-right issues. Marxists should reject imperialism in all its forms, including Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

“propaganda”? Oh. You mean like Russia started a full blown unprovoked war with a peaceful nation? That “propaganda”?

Sucks others got caught in the crosshairs, but that’s just what happens when your authoritarian government launches unprovoked wars and gets sanctioned.

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Yea, I wasnt entirely clear, I brought up Manifest v3 as a “this is already complicated, and a browser engine is even more complicated” example

No Chromium fork maintains Mv2 anyways even though it is easier, and yes some do have their own builtin AdBlock and are able to function well that way. But I do not consider that ideal, one would be entirely dependent on their AdBlock implementation where as if a fork maintains Mv2 then you would be able to just change your extension if you don’t like something about it

I work in IT and have implemented quite a few MDM systems. For Android, a work profile will be entirely isolated personal data wise. IT can’t see anything beyond the work walls, however, there are a few shared things.

If work enforces a tougher screen lock setting, it’ll take precedence over your regular lock screen setting. You might also have a few other things change while it’s active, like display time out (if work has a shorter setting).

We can also see certain shared info like device serial number, IMEI number, OS version, security update version etc. Depending on the configuration, GPS/location info can be obtained as well (via an force-installed policy app for example)

You can pause the profile at anytime which suspends ALL work profile app activity (So if there was an app they install that they could get GPS info from, that app would no longer be functional until unpaused again (no it can’t “run in the background” and collect info on the background either, it’s wholly suspended)) and the pause feature can be set on a schedule so if you have a 9-5 you can set it to that and avoid the whole “always available” problem.

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Except if they start to enshittify the gecko engine itself, like Google did with Manifest V3. There isn’t a fork out there afaik that has the main power and expertise to maintain the complicated beast that is a browser engine

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Being an ambivert is nice lol

And re: phones—you can see that’s a camera. Also, they have a bright LED that indicates recording. These glasses do not.

Umm when was the last time you…you know what, let’s do an experiment, start recording a video on your phone, flip it over and look at the back and tell me where the red recording LED is LOL

Anyways, the other commenter here cited specific cases and a supreme court ruling which tied recording in a public space as a 1st amendment issue (which I didn’t know either) so now short of a new federal law passed by congress, it ain’t changing. It’s not my opinion, it’s a fact.

Lol that has nothing to do with the other, and courts have already set precedent for recording in public spaces and have generally ruled that with current laws there’s no expectation of privacy in public spaces.

The fact the camera being on someones face is almost assuredly going to be an insignificant factor in any future court case considering the sheer amount of cameras pointing at you as-is from phones (How do you know if someone is just on their phone or recording?) and security cameras and now that businesses are heavily investing in ever more cameras for their AI BS…yea, sorry to say, but nothing is going to change on that front for the foreseeable future.

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Use Librewolf and Mull instead.

And keep an eye on the Ladybird browser, eventually FF forks will die should FF go full-tilt enshittification, but hopefully not till Ladybird is fully ready

Ladybird is a completely new open source browser with it’s own from scratch engine, so that’s one that hasn’t been forked from any other browser