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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 8th, 2023

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  • A university is a typically a collection of colleges (or schools).

    For example: Harvard University is made up of Harvard College, Harvard Business School, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Law School, Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, etc.

    For all intents and purposes - we use the word “college” and “university” interchangeably because they’re the same level of education. Either can do associates through doctoral.

    Community colleges, however, only focus on 2 year degrees and certain certifications.



  • You want to kill germs? Use mouthwash. There’s pretty much nothing beneficial about smoking cigarettes.

    Even when you take the health considerations out of account, you will reek. I assure you, nobody wants to spend time around a partner that emits a nauseating scent. It’s a bad habit in every sense of the term.

    Yes - nicotine can be a quick stress reliever. That’s about al it’s good for.

    I understand that you need something to help you get through the days, but there are tons of other things that you could do.

    Heck, even switching to vaping will improve your health outcomes considerably. And you won’t smell.

    I don’t know why you’re fighting your girlfriend on this, it seems like she’s genuinely concerned and you’re being so stubborn as to look online to justify your addiction. Yes, you are addicted. You smoke more than a pack a week and refuse to quit or offer a compromising alternative. If I was her, I’d leave you.




  • I listen to a bit of everything. Bands in my recent rotation include Low, 3rd Secret, Motörhead, Rick James, L7 and Joji, Aimee Mann, Mdou Moctar, Aphex Twin, Beastie Boys. Donny Benet

    King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s PetroDragon Apocalypse is my favorite album all year.

    My favorite all time genre is industrial. So stuff like The Young Gods, Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, Ministry, Filter, Mulitple Man, Meat Beat Manifesto, Pig, Emptyset, Youth Code, Atari Teenage Riot / Alec Empire, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Download…



  • pinwurm@lemmy.mltoAsklemmy@lemmy.mlInsurance in US
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    1 year ago

    An individual can sign up for a plan through their State’s health insurance exchange or the federal government’s HealthCare.gov website.

    It is usually more expensive than getting it through an employer - but works to serve small business owners, freelancers, etc.

    A few States (like Massachusetts) have semi-universal systems that cover all individuals that earn under 150% of poverty, independent students, newly unemployed, etc.

    A lot of Americans are also covered under Medicare, Medicaid , Social Security and other programs.

    Retirees aged 65 and older are eligible for Medicare - a semi-universal federal system that covers pretty much everything and accepted most places.




  • Spez started the site to make money. This was always true - a completely typical reason to start a company. When there was no community in the early days - he made fake accounts, and fake conversations to generate traffic to attract attention. So Spez is someone that’s always used dishonesty to get what he wants.

    Aaron joined the site because he saw it’s potential as a tool for civic engagement and political awareness. He left when he saw what Reddit was becoming… or really - what it always had been: a tool to extract wealth from its unknowing volunteers.

    Aaron and Spez weren’t friends. They were business partners for a very short period of time. To the best of my knowledge, that’s all there is to it.

    I speculate that Aaron would feel unfazed by what Reddit looks like today… because it’s expected. The founders are people that make the Forbes 30 Under 30, marry world famous pro athletes, and are worth tens of millions of dollars. They’re divorced from reality.

    I would hope that open and decentralized online spaces like Lemmy reflect the sort of values & ideas Aaron spent his life advocating for.


  • Wikipedia is the 7th most visited website in the world, more popular than Amazon, TikTok, even PornHub. It’s not funded by advertisers or other bullshit - rather through reader donations.

    With that said, Wikipedia is still centralized content whereas Lemmy isn’t. Meaning there’s fewer expenses and pressure on any one instance or server to succeed. And if one instance or server doesn’t succeed, your access to the Federation is far from over.


  • If you use lemmy.ml (the developer’s instance), I would recommend reading the front page sidebar. Under RULE #1 - “No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia”.

    Here is a screenshot for reference, feel free to share with folks.

    If the enemies of Nazis are religious, ethnic and sexual minorities - then lemmy.ml 's front page immediately puts to rest any notion they are associated with far-right ideologies.

    That said, my best understanding is that one or more of the developers identify as communists/anticapitalist and are involved in lemmygrad.ml and /c/socialism.

    And with that in mind, a platform like Lemmy is communist by nature: nobody owns it.
    So it doesn’t matter who the developers are, really. What matter is who runs the server and instance you’re using. You, as a user, have a choice in how you wish to connect to the Federation.


  • Before Netflix, there was Blockbuster.
    Before YouTube, there was Metacafe and janky websites hosting Flash or Quicktime Player.
    Before Spotify, there was PeopleSound and iTunes gift cards.
    Before Discord, there was IRC and AOL Chatrooms.
    Before Facebook, there was MySpace and Friendster.
    Before iPhone, I had an LG Dare and Palm Pre. Good god!
    Before Reddit, there was Digg, Slashdot and Fark.

    Something better always comes along. Especially if that “better” is tied to a streamlined, easy to use, easy to learn UI.

    Reddit would’ve never gotten as big as it did without third party support. Not just apps like Apollo, RIF and Narwhal - but tools like Imgur and RES.

    Lemmy and “The Federation” (I’m not quite yet sold calling it the Fediverse…) has a lot of potential to be that “better than Reddit” online space. Nobody owns all of it, so there’s safeguards against the things that we’re blacked out.

    And it’s partially why its a fixer-upper.

    We, the community, are going to need to make Lemmy the space we want it to be. That means competition between instances and servers, that means user generated tools and content. I read the RIF developer is working on a Tildes app for iOS and Android. Mlem iOS app is in early Beta, but are working hard to have a stable release for 6/30. Jerboa’s out on Android already and folks seems to like it so far.

    Give it time. We’re all new. And whether it’s here or somewhere else - we always land on our feet. Maybe the only thing we have in common with u/spez : there’s nowhere to fail but up.