PlanetOfOrd

joined 1 year ago
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Ironvest still hasn't upgraded their masked cards -- looking for an alternative. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
[โ€“] PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah, most online stores don't accept gift cards, unfortunately. ๐Ÿ™ Especially Amazon...tried to order some much needed products with Amazon cards, and they require a bank card.

IME, (on Amazon at least...and a few others I've tried) masked cards are usually accepted as bank cards. Gift cards are not.

I'd love to build myself a privacy-respecting online store that accepts everything from Monero to cash to Apple pay (for the general populous that doesn't care), but I sort of lack the capital. ๐Ÿ˜…

Ironvest still hasn't upgraded their masked cards -- looking for an alternative. in c/privacy@lemmy.ml
[โ€“] PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I mean, yeah, it would be great if Amazon took Monero, but I don't see them ever even considering that.

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Ironvest still hasn't upgraded their masked cards -- looking for an alternative. (lemmy.world)
 

From what I understand privacy.com does not have a method of ensuring your identity is separate from your card, but IronVest does. Been using IV for a while now, but earlier this year they put their masked cards under construction

Which is kind of a shame because I had online purchases in mind.

Is there any alternative people have found?

Thanks!

2
For those who like suspense/horror sci-fi, I published the first 3 chapters of my novel, Shifter, for free online. (write.as)
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13583666

The plot summary is as follows:

Secret Service agent Rebecca Carter's world is upended when her husband goes missing in 2002. Two years later, Rebecca and her team are protecting the President during a high-stakes trade deal in China. But their mission is cut short when an assassin appears out of nowhere, kills everyone, and disappears, leaving Rebecca as the lone survivor. In the year 31,462, Xel-Na, a shifter (an individual who can move through time and space at will), receives no word from Thes-Omatz, the deep space research vessel carrying his wife and daughter. Upon launching probes to investigate, he finds everyone either dead or missing. Suspecting a fellow shifter, Xel-Na embarks on a mission to confront the perpetrator. In his quest he soon comes across Rebecca. Together, they face insurmountable odds, all while grappling with the weight of their personal losses. But as they delve deeper into the heart of the conspiracy, they discover that the murderous shifter isn't just after Rebecca, he's after power. And no matter what Xel-Na and Rebecca do, this cunning adversary is always one step ahead of them.

I finished the first draft of the novel, but being out of work I'm not able to fund it myself. I was kinda like, well, nobody's giving me a call, might as well write it.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Do you like it? I have a thick skin, so even if it's crap, go ahead and let a rip.

And before you ask, no, it was not written by AI ๐Ÿ˜† (though I did use AI to assist in editing).

If you'd like to fund publication, I would greatly appreciate it. Or if you like and and don't like to give strangers money online, I'd be forever grateful if you share the post on social media.

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Does "Rock music is evil / of the devil" have racist roots? (lemmy.world)
 

As a Christian most of the circles I'm around are pretty chill...no stone-cold fundamentalists. But I have been around people (and even had family members) who are 100% convinced that rock music is evil and will lead people to engage in witchcraft and draw pentagrams all over their home.

The root of the belief is that rock music uses drums, which are used by voodoo tribes in Africa to entrance people.

Along a different track of thinking, from where did rock music originate? Slaves. They created the guitar because slave-owners didn't allow them to make music with drums.

So then is "rock music is evil" sort of an echo of that attitude?

Alabama wants to be the 1st state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe only nitrogen in c/news@lemmy.world
[โ€“] PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

While proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.

Isn't that how we're doing the death penalty anyway? We're trying to find a "painless" way to kill someone, but is there ever really a painless way to do this? I'd imagine even if I'm sitting in a massage chair with classical music playing it wouldn't matter if I knew that half an hour from now I wouldn't be leaving the room.

And we can't really ask doctors because doctors have taken an oath to "do no harm."

The death penalty is just a punishment no one wants to do (well, okay, I'm sure there are plenty of people that have no problem with it), but we've told ourselves that we have to do it.

1
The more you talk with your friend who writes fiction, the greater the likelihood you'll end up in one of their stories or novels. (lemmy.world)
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Sci-fi gripe: holograms for personal devices (i.pinimg.com)
 

What do cell phones look like in the year 2144?

Obviously they won't have a screen anymore. They'll be pop-up displays. So if you're sitting on a train and your romantic partner sends you a steamy selfie...guess who has an audience?

Has this annoyed anyone else?

If they're tactical screens, that makes sense. But I still don't think transparent displays on personal devices will be a thing in the future.

-1
If you have only one camera, there's no way you can flex it on social media. (lemmy.world)
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Looking for a good Sci Fi Novel available on Project Gutenberg (lemmy.world)
 

Been out of work for a while so buying books is out the question (yeah, I get there's always the library, but I don't like it for a lot of reasons).

I like how PG has free books. I realize I'm not going to find top-tier modern writers on PG, but I'm open to suggestions of good reads.

What I look for in sci fi:

  • An idea to chew on; something that stays with me even after I turn the last page.
  • Some emotional intrigue; I want to feel what the characters feel.

What I like to avoid:

  • Technobabble. I like a good story; I don't want to spend half the book understanding how the ship works. (I found Frank Herbet was good with avoiding technobabble...he often obeyed the rule of "show don't tell")

  • Stock characters. Gimme some depth.

A few I've read so far that I'd consider "passable" are Off on a Comet by Jules Vern (I only listen to about 2/3 of this on librivox) and Space Prison by Tom Godwin (although the plot is pretty simplistic).

I just finished Frankenstein. A lot of people think its The Greatest Novel. It was kinda meh. I see why people would get excited about it, but it didn't grab me like it does other people.

Any suggestions?