Here’s a another tale of a helicopter-related prison break:

During the 1970s, Ireland (specifically Northern Ireland northern province of Ulster) entered a period of conflict known as ‘The Troubles.’ The conflict was mostly concentrated in the north but occasionally would spill into the rest of Ireland. One notable (and devastating example) was the dual car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in 1973. But the funniest episode of ‘The Troubles’ would also happen in the Republic that same year.

Because of the violence in the north, the Irish government took steps to stop activity related to Republican (not the American GOP kind) paramilitaries such as the Provisional IRA and their smaller and more openly communist rival INLA. This was in spite of a sympathetic population. The party Fine Gael came to power with an anti-crime promise (sound familiar?) and another promise to put a stop to all paramilitary activity in the country.

On the morning of Halloween, 1973, the IRA hijacked a helicopter and told its pilot to fly towards a prison on the outskirts of Dublin called Mountjoy. The helicopter landed in the prison yard and, despite the commotion, were able to secure the IRA members that were intended for the escape. This led to a large a manhunt involving both the police and the military. Two of the men were recaptured not long after but one of them wouldn’t be recaptured until 1977 - a whole 5 years later!

While do find myself using Lemmy a little too much, because of the lack of time-wasting and dopamime-hitting algorithms, I find less incentive to spend more time on Lemmy and other Fediverse socials.

For those looking for alternatives, here are a few options:

1. Continue with the mainstream brands but with some modifications. This seems counterintuitive to the subject of the article and the problem at hand but the author themselves link to this Consumer Reports article that details how to turn off some of the anti-privacy settings on many of those TVs. I would only recommend this option if you’re tech illiterate, though, considering Lemmy’s user-base is very unlikely, or, more likely, you’ve a tech illiterate relative.

2. Business TVs. If you’ve worked in a corporate setting, you’ve probably seen this. They’re nearly identical to their consumer-grade counterparts but don’t feature ads and many of the ‘smart’ features are either removed and reduced in their capacity. These are going to be a bit harder to find and a bit more expensive. Your best bet for finding one would be a liquidation sale/auction. Would only recommend this option if you’ve the money and the patience to find and won’t consider the next few options.

3. Projectors. More of a cinematic experience and, possibly, the most expensive option. Budget projectors do exist but quality will vary. Projectors will also require a flat surface for the projection which means that a dedicated space is recommended for ideal viewing. Media and hardware are self-provided. There’s installation and placement of the projector itself. Would recommend if you have the money and space for such a setup though the payoff would be worth it. It’s the best option for viewing for high resolution (i.e. 4K) content like movies. Though, be warned, ‘smart’ projectors do exist and, even though they’re a minority in the market, they should be avoided at all costs.

4. Monitors. Possibly the most cost-effective option and your best choice. Since monitors are geared towards desktop PC use, they’ve one of the few tech products to not (yet) be affected by enshittificaiton. Unless if you consider curved monitors as enshittification. Monitors tend to be the best ‘all-rounders’ when it comes to content viewing. Streaming, gaming, internet browsing and, of course, wanking. When it comes to monitor sizes, very large monitors (like this 220cm Dell 4K display) do exist but the average large monitor size is 120cm or 55in for my fellow Americans. If you view most of your content on your PC, which,again, considering the website, is very likely, then I recommend this option.

While it sucks that FOSS projects will have their funding sapped, let’s remember why the open source model is used in the first place: it can’t be bought. If it goes down, someone will just fork the last known repository and have it up and running again.

Yes, Nintendo! Please paywall my nostalgia of the very first game console I ever played! Charge me an exorbitant price during an economic crisis to satisfy my childlike need to regress to a time before I understood what money was!

Probably not the best advice considering the current economic situation but you could cut your losses and restart on Steam. Buy the games there and your kids can probably still do what they did on Xbox. You probably already know this but Steam has a Big Picture Mode which makes it more controller friendly and nicer for large TV displays. Keep a keyboard and mouse handy for when things need technical support.

Dudes being dudes. Can’t go wrong with that!

A bit hopeless but trying to keep it together in spite of all the socio-political problems.

• Big ol’ Yurt. 2 or 3 if you have or want to start a family

• Solar-powered electric generator

• Vegetable garden

• Located near Lake Superior

I can definitely see myself living that kind of life.

I think that buying and living in a yurt would be a better option than trying to buy a house.

The bravery of this women to speak up against injustice! No doubt she is going to “face consequences” for this disruption. Let’s wish her the best.

Salam Alaykum Ibtiahl Aboussad!

That did the trick. Thanks! Now I feel stupid for posting this.

My mirror must be permanently down because I’ve attempted to install cmake several times over the past three days. How do I go about switching it?

Massive congratulations to Europol and its partners in taking this shit down and putting these perverts away. However, they shouldn’t rest on their laurels. The objective now is to ensure that the distribution of this disgusting material is stopped outright and that no further children are harmed.

With that logic, I might as well throw away my computer and phone and go full Uncle Ted.

Some those did get their start in the 80s but all of them hit their peak in the 90s.

Title: 90s bands

My brain: Morbid Angel, Obituary, Sepultura, Corrosion of Conformity, Eyehategod, Dissection, among others.

Forget about growth. Forget investors. Forget about all those capitalist nonsense. What good are profits if everything goes to shit? The best thing about Lemmy is that it doesn’t give a shit about that. It’s decentralized and community driven. Capitalism prioritizes money not people.

I never thought that I would under a fascist dictatorship. What will the history books say about this.

Enshittification is the end result of putting profits above everything. There’s a reason why XJ Cherokees are still running today despite being over 40 years old. Their internals were so simple that even the most mechanically illiterate could work on it with basic tools from the hardware store. Something like that wouldn’t be make it past the pitch meeting today.