I've dropped Facebook and Amazon in the past couple of years and have done almost nothing with Apple except I have an iPod from 2005 or so.
I use gmail for everything and have four accounts there. My order would be:
Apple
Facebook
Amazon
Google
DuckDuckGo actually sends its queries to Google, no?
I have stuff in Google's phone ecosystem (Nexus, Fi) that would be tough to drop. Google's phones are apparently no longer as relatively inexpensive compared to other unlocked phones and Fi doesn't save that much over a regular provider*, but it would be a pain to switch again.
*I got a Nexus 5X for ~$200 by taking a deal to sign up for Fi and Fi has been consistently less than $50/month, sometimes down under $40, for 3GB of data, and the coverage is better than what I had on t-mobile. I'm not sure if that pricing will ever exist again.
I think I could drop Amazon most easily and just shop directly from retailers. It'd be annoying but I think I'd develop habits and patterns pretty quickly.
I think Google next, and Apple. Those are about equally annoying to repurpose.
Probably Facebook last. I just see so much interesting shit shared from my imaginary friends here, there. That would be tough to replace.
Anyway, Apple (never had, never will), Facebook, Amazon, Google. Like AWS, Google can't straightforwardly be included in this. Without Google there would never have been Node; there would be no Opera; until recently, no Firefox; and so on and on.
Obviously there are other ways those things could have happened, but the whole internet economy would look very different.
I recall having Mozilla before I ever heard of google. Didn't Firefox come from Netscape?
Does Facebook still make you take additional steps to permanently "I really mean it" delete an account? That was annoying to have to do, but I still feel the satisfaction years later.
I do shop on Amazon, but I try hard not to. Apple, on the other hand, would be hard for me to give up. I'm sure that there are better Android phones out there, but I know and like the iPhone and rely on it daily.
I'd drop Amazon first (I don't actually buy a lot), then Apple (I am weirdly not brand loyal to my phone or tablet, and I don't really have much that relies on Apple that seems necessary), then Google. Facebook last, because although it seems to suck more on a weekly basis, I'm like heebie. I see a lot of news, kids and pets, get to chat with distant friends and enjoy updates from friendly acquaintances.
Same as MH/MC for presumably similar reasons (don't use apple/facebook, get value from Amazon but could replace it, use gmail/android).
It is nice to be able to see whose kids grew up plausibly and whose grew up to be assholes. So hard to settle bets without a common, public knowledge-base.
I dropped Apple a long time ago. And I'd drop Google before I'd drop Microsoft. It goes:
Apple
Facebook
Google
Microsoft
Amazon
Or Unix, but that seems hard to learn.
9: Until quite recently Mozilla got most of its funding from routing searches to Google, and setting it as the default search engine. Opera the same, but still does so. Both are also built on the open Chromium code (though Firefox decreasingly so, I think).
I'd drop Google before I'd drop Microsoft.
MS is very much an elephant in the room, as usual. I can't really imagine living without either, short of moving to Apple.
Is firefox built on Chromium now? It used to be completely separate, didn't it?
Can someone explain to me why you'd buy a new Google phone when the length of time they provide feature, and even security, updates is so short? The planned obsolesce is too rapid for me.
Anyway, probably Facebook easily--everyone I care about there is accessible by other means--then, I dunno, maybe Apple -> Amazon -> Google. That last one last only due to spousal employment; I'm much more deep into Apple products and Kindle, alas.
Apple hardest to give up, as my 2011 MacBook Pro is still going strong, and I work with Windows in the office and would never go back. I hate my new iPhone (the 5 was a perfect piece of design, 6 onwards is junk).
Then Google, because gmail and search - I make the effort to switch on my vpn each time I search here because Bing is so useless.
I don't use any front end Amazon services, I don't think*, haven't had a FB account in years, and Whatsapp has basically been replaced by the much better** Wechat.
*A couple of times a year I'll send someone a copy of "The Earthsea Quartet" or "Under the Net". I enjoy imagining what my buying history - two books, about 20 addresses - does to their algorithms
**Except that the PRC is one of the few entities I trust less with my data than FB. Even then it's not a clear victory for Zuckerberg
OMG you guys I just bought a cheap Android and the first thing it did was download a system update and then tell me I don't have enough space to install the system update. I'm going to have to scrape up a mini-SD card to make that work.
24: I told my wife and that indeed got an OMG reaction. She wants to know, how much storage does it have?
I still have a Facebook account, just deleted all the content and don't check it anymore. So I haven't technically dropped it, but could. Same with Amazon I guess but I don't shop there.
My thing with Amazon that I would find hard to replace is the Kindle.
Not nearly as well. Not as convinced of their staying power.
Probably less content, especially in the critical dinosaur porn area.
FB/Amazon trivially easy (AWS aside), Google just barely barely harder than Apple but both very hard to imagine. Year-long learning curve for alternative OS, no smartphone or tablet?
23: I'm now confused. I was sure FF was Blink for years but currently trying to secede again, but it seems not.
Facebook (never even signed up, never going to)
Apple (early adopter, haven't used for about 15 years except work provided iPad which I barely use).
Amazon (use but shipping here means I use it much much less, also Prime but a lot of shows/movies not available here because of licensing issues).
Google. (Just too damned easy and convenient to use. Still. That could change.)
31: I know a guy with a Blackberry. He says they aren't bad.
The latest Nook is a Samsung tablet with a Nook interface skin, I think. I have the non-Nook version of the same thing, anyway. The Kindle and Nook app interfaces seem pretty much alike.
But the Kindle that isn't a tablet is better. Lighter, long battery life. You can drop it in your coat pocket and read for a couple days traveling.
Apple-Facebook-Amazon-Google. The only interesting thing about this thought experiment is that I am imagining myself becoming progressively happier as I move through that progression. (Although to achieve any true happiness I would need to add Twitter to the list.)
36: Yeah, I think that Nook won't last, if it's still even made.
Additional question: if you could resurrect any old 70s/80s computer brand and imagine it transformed by its fairy godmotherboard into a state of the art smartphone manufacturer​, which would you pick? I will be happy if more than one person answers this question. (I can't decide! Atari maybe?)
36 Which Kindle is that? I had one that my brother gave me when I moved here but the screen broke (think it was the Paperwhite).
Data General Mobile
DECos
Amstrad Mini
Micro BBC Micro
I like bitcoin a lot, and there's a lot of educational material on Second Life. This whole exercise seems mean-spirited.
Here is a jacket:https://www.mrporter.com/en-us/mens/thom_browne/shark-embroidered-striped-cotton-seersucker-blazer/817192?ppv=2
She wants to know, how much storage does it have?
8GB. I remember when that used to be a lot.
Amazon: I hardly use anymore, so that would be easiest. I do most of my shopping in brick & mortar stores, and when I so buy online it's generally direct from manufacturers' websites.
Apple: I have an iPhone, which I like, but I'm sure I could get similar functionality for my very basic needs from any smartphone. Also I'm annoyed by having to be tied into their ecosystem for phone things when the rest of my life is Windows-based.
Google: Still my go-to source for email, search, and maps, but again, I think the alternatives would work fine for my needs.
Facebook: This would be by far the hardest for me to give up. Especially since the election I've been spending vast amounts of time on there and I've found it hugely rewarding.
Which Kindle is that?
The PaperWhite, Voyage, and Oasis all fit that description. I have the Voyage and really like it. I use it on the train to read books, and the battery lasts a very long time, I don't need to turn on the screen light, and there aren't the distractions of reading on a smartphone. It's a nice device.
49 last: Strangest sentence ever written?
50 I'm looking to replace it with something similar, lightweight and that I can use to read in bed with the lights out.
51.last They finally got to Teo!
Finally? I've been using FB for ages and have generally been happy with it.
51, 52.1 -- You curmudgeons would do well to follow teo on FB.
Thanks, Charley! I just donated to Rob Quist, btw.
54, 56: Oh ... I see how it works.
Not a quid pro quo! I had made the donation before he even posted that comment!
The people deserve to see the tax returns.
Mine are pretty boring, to be honest.
18, 32: FFox definitely does not come from Chrome / use Blink.
Chrome does descend from WebKit and thence from Konqueror, though!
45: yes. Also good luck with everything -- I have been busy in general but have followed your saga off and on...
FB to be politically effective? Interesting. I haven't had a real account since 2010 and even killed the placeholder account last year. You probably need a real network to get value from it as an organizer, though, I imagine.
Should I ask here or in the more relevant thread if anyone can recommend good books on the subject of environmental history of the American South? In this one you must provide links to Amazon, Google books, iTunes, or... the book's ... face.
You probably need a real network to get value from it as an organizer, though, I imagine.
Well, sure. I've been on FB for over a decade, so I have a fairly extensive network, but I still wouldn't consider myself an organizer, really.
My girlfriend recently expressed surprise at how few FB friends I have, though. I dunno.
I think what happened was all the browsers collaborated on webkit and I confused that with blink. #nerdproblems
I think by "have a real network" I meant "would have to connect with people a little less selectively than I would like."
66: You'd think, but that hasn't been my experience so far.
I've always been allergic to Apple and hated Facebook. I have a dummy Facebook but I haven't used it in ages. Amazon is genuinely useful, and I use my phone for almost everything.
So:
1.Apple
2.Facebook
3.Amazon
4.Google
41: Would definitely resurrect the Amstrad. It would be the Vauxhall Astra of smartphones.
I'm not sure I've ever read an environmental history set in the US south. I wonder if at the time I was in history, over a decade ago, there was a gap where environmental history and southern history didn't overlap, or if it was just a gap in my specialization, which was mostly west and environmental history.
Facebook - It's barely in my life right now. I check it once a month or so to see if there are any party invites I've missed.
Apple - I have a fair amount of Apple hardware, but I don't use any of their services and I could replace the hardware and be perfectly happy (frankly, it would give me an excuse to get a Surface Pro).
Amazon - I'm a pretty heavy Amazon Prime user, but at the end of the day, it's a retailer and there are plenty of those. I think I'd miss Comixology the most. Or maybe LoveFilm.
Google - This would be properly tough. I have an Android phone, I use Gmail, Google Drive, Translate, Photos, Maps, Docs/Sheets etc, I prefer Chrome to other browsers, and of course there's the search engine.
Can someone explain to me why you'd buy a new Google phone when the length of time they provide feature, and even security, updates is so short? The planned obsolesce is too rapid for me.
I always get a flagship phone around about when they come out, and these days those get OS upgrades for at least two years, by which time I'm ready for a new phone. Admittedly unless you're on a Nexus the upgrades come pretty damn slowly (I only just got Nougat on my S7 Edge about a month ago). But these days most of the security updates aren't in the OS anyway, so it's not as dependent on carriers/handset manufacturers as it was.
69: Yeah, I'm not as well-read in this area as you but I can't think of any either. This seems like a real gap in scholarship.
An environmental history in the South is A River and Its City. It's by a noted historian.
Hmm.
I don't use Apple at all, so that goes first.
Amazon - I could do without it for purchases (use ebay, other retailers, etc). Amazon Web Services I don't know about and never use myself; and the question's about "which would you drop", not "how would you manage in a world without". But I use their video streaming service a lot, what with not watching TV. I suppose I could switch to Netflix.
Facebook - I use it regularly to keep in touch with people - more on receive than transmit, but it's nice to have a steady background feed of what in general my friends are up to so that every meetup isn't a constant sequence of "You're married? And living in Berlin, right? No, Paris?"
Google - I don't use their search very often, but Docs and Maps are very useful. I suppose I could manage with Dropbox (slow and clunky though it is) and some other map utility. However, I have an Android phone which I wouldn't want to give up.
41: Commodore, without a doubt. I used to have a Commodore digital watch, from way back in the day. Stopped working around 1998 or so.
Facebook. -- it's just wall to wall Brexit pricks these days and a major source of anger. I could share kid photos and stuff with family other ways.
Google - I have a gmail account, but I also run my own mail server, and have used other search engines. I use basically none of their non Gmail services and they kill ones I like. Changing account details everywhere would be a PITA but they have nothing I couldn't replace.
Apple - I use Linux all the time for work, I'm a Unix 'expert user',* and could switch. But ... no-one has actually made a desktop OS that works for my uses anything like as well, and I much prefer iOS to Android.
Amazon - tied I guess with Apple. Working long hours with long commute, and doing childcare all other hours, I would struggle to live without decent mail order shopping. Giving up Amazon would not mean a transition to some kind of 'gentle stroll around boutique owner operated shops' thing, it'd just been switching to another online bulk retailer.
* certainly much more expert than most of the people who sometimes try to evangelise me for Linux as a desktop OS. I installed the first version of Linux, in 1991, because my then boss was curious about it.
I do use Google maps, I suppose. That'd be tricky.
Amazon first, by far. No in-country version here, and shipping from neighbouring countries (or, god forbid, the US) is expensive. I rarely use it, and only when shipping to friends who have simpler shipping options (e.g. live across a border).
Facebook next, because while I use it a lot, I often wish I didn't. I often think about deleting it.
Apple and Google are probably tied. My email is google, and I don't know what else I'd use (previous account was Hotmail!); my phone and computer are Apple and while there are Android options that brings us back to Google. Not really excited about a Windows phone.
Oh, I just remembered Facebook owns Oculus, so I guess it would be a little harder to give up. But it would still be first to go.
||
So I just put out a fire in our office building (some genius had thrown a partially extinguished cigarette butt into a pile of binbags filled with cardboard).
Things I now know about my workplace:
- It has chemical fire extinguishers. When you use one in a confined space, you get covered in yellow powder.
- The fire alarm system has individual bells linked to individual sensors. One bell went off, no sprinklers. I'd be surprised if even our entire floor evacuated, let alone all 30-odd floors.
- My entire office is willing to consign a guy to a fiery death because he happens to work with headphones on and it would cost valuable seconds to tap him on the shoulder and say "hey the building might be on fire" when you could be running for the stairs instead.
|>
Amazon: The only thing I'd really miss would be my Kindle.
Apple: I've used Macs since the early 1990s and would hate to have to shift to Windows, but would adapt.
Facebook: I'd miss it hugely, not only as a one-stop way of keeping up with friends in different parts of the world, but also because the secret group for translators in my language pair is the most valuable (and instantly accessible) professional community I have. But it's not essential.
Google: I couldn't do my job without it. If it disappeared, I'd probably end up stacking shelves in the local supermarket.
My office building used to have a rare trivalent fire alarm system. (It may indeed still have one.)
Let me explain. Most fire alarms are bivalent because they are either going off (indicating THERE IS A FIRE; obviously false alarms and tests do happen) or not going off (indicating THERE IS NOT A FIRE). This one would also sound intermittently, indicating, we were told, THERE MIGHT BE A FIRE. The procedure in such cases was not to evacuate - because, after all, there might not be a fire - but to stay at your desk, unable to work due to the incredibly loud intermittent siren going off.
The more philosophically inclined among us argued that a truly rigorous fire alarm would constantly be sounding in this way, as it could never be certain that there was (or indeed was not) a fire.
The answer to 41 is Commodore Amiga. It had graphics that were way, way ahead of the competition. If they'd maintained that lead we'd all be reading this in 3D.
The answer to the OP question is:
Amazon - I barely use them and they are evil.
Apple - their latest OS upgrade is beyond stupid, to the extent that the default set of places in the file browser does not include the user's home directory, and the whole thing is very obviously meant to converge laptops and tablets, which is also stupid. They've run out of other people's good ideas to steal, so now they are just thrashing around.
Facebook - evil but I like being in touch with old friends from back in the day, and I have an old crush who regularly posts pictures of herself in sexy outfits.
Google - they already own all my information, might as well give them my soul.
Of course, a genuinely safe fire alarm would be going off continuously and only silenced by a fire, so any failure at all would result in a successful alarm. Can't be too careful!
Facebook - I don't even like it much but it keeps me in touch with people who are far away.
Apple - I would miss it but I've only had an iphone for six or seven years.
Google - this would be hard because I've had this address since gmail started. I've used Google search for longer.
Amazon - I've been buying books from Amazon since 2000 at least. Nowadays I buy mainly ebooks, from Amazon UK. I used to try and get them elsewhere but so many of the other places I used to buy from have closed down or can't sell to me, I have given up. Ultimately I wouldn't give up my source of books.
Pretty much reverse order of adoption.
42: It's a Kindle Touch (sometimes when we Touch, the home button's too much...). It has a touch screen, but no keyboard or light.
My entire office is willing to consign a guy to a fiery death because he happens to work with headphones on
There was once a guy we were willing to consign to a fiery death because he never used headphones.
I used to like facebook until just a few weeks ago. I can't put my finger on why it seems to suck more lately, but it really does.
Apple -- haven't seriously used anything of theirs since the 90s.
Facebook -- just an annoyance, look at it rarely, even more rarely post.
Amazon -- buy stuff from it fairly often, would be tough to give up, not to mention AWS, etc.
Google -- really really tough, but I suppose in the end there are other providers of most of what they do. Still, I like my Android, and I've already given up Apple in the first entry.
As for Microsoft, my desktop is Windows, but I spend most of my time on Linux VMs and am probably an "expert user." On the other hand I hate (at some unimaginable level) the half-hearted, non-useful, amateurish GUIs on every Linux distro I've ever used, and the ill-designed command line UIs most Linux apps have. (I'm talkin' to YOU, Linus Torvalds and GIT).
The worst thing about Facebook is that I can't figure out how to get it to stop telling me when everybody is having a birthday.
The worst thing about Facebook is it only follows the distance principle for minimizing exposure to other people, and utterly fails to follow the time and shielding principles.
The worst thing about Facebook is that I can't figure out how to get it to stop telling me when everybody is having a birthday.
The worst think is how Facebook and Microsoft weaseled their way into sending me desktop alerts of peoples birthdays. This is not functionality I ever wanted, and it took some hunting to turn it off.
UX designers seem to have difficulty with the idea that I want desktop alerts approximately never.
Don't have a Facebook account and don't own any Apple products, so those 2 are easy. I like Amazon, but it wouldn't be huge deal to give it up and just switch to another online book seller (books are pretty much the only thing I buy on Amazon).
As for Google, the only Google thing I really rely on is the search engine, and if Google disappeared tomorrow, some other search engine would just take its place.
That's what they said about Lycos and it's never been the same.
I'm just relieved we're not including Unfogged in the list of things that would make us happier to give up.
Which does segue into a nice follow-up question: which is your most indispensable website? Which website would pain you most to see it go away?
The worst thing about Facebook is it only follows the distance principle for minimizing exposure to other people, and utterly fails to follow the time and shielding principles.
Say more about this, anonymous one? It sounds like it might be what I hate about their algorithm but I don't know what the principles are, exactly.
A trivalent fire alarm is basically Schrodinger's Fire Alarm.
And may I note how enjoyable it is to have the sidebar filled with nothing but murder and immobility.
95, 96 I'm with 99. Unfogged without a doubt. It's essential to my feeling connected with a community through all this insanity over here. I still don't have a VPN for streaming stuff but if Unfogged were blocked today I would be signing up for one immediately.
That's also how I feel. I don't feel comfortable being as blunt and angry and impulsive on Facebook.
97: 91 was me. I was making a joke by implying I treat other people the same way I would treat sources of radiation.
re: 89.last
On the other hand I hate (at some unimaginable level) the half-hearted, non-useful, amateurish GUIs on every Linux distro I've ever used
Yes, this. Drives me nuts. Even little things like font kerning, or strange shit to do with inconsistencies across the UI, etc. It's like fingernails on a blackboard.
Apple: I have and like the laptops but could live with something else. Figuring out whether to switch to Windows, which I haven't seriously used for over a decade, or Linux (and thus giving up Lightroom) would take some thinking, but it's doable.
Facebook: I think I'd miss out on a lot of information, especially local/school/parenting things, since that seems to be where everyone is, but it would be OK.
Amazon: Giving up Amazon would mean I'd have a lot less crap in my life, probably, but I do feel like it saves me a lot of time when I can get something delivered instead of waiting for the next time there's a spare couple of weekend hours to go on a shopping expedition. Giving it up, as opposed to it disappearing, has the problem that other online retailers have reacted to its existence by being more specialized, so less-specialized stuff might be harder to come by online.
Since I work at Google, I'm going to leave it out of the list. I'm biased and enmeshed in ways that would be weird if I didn't work for them.
And to ajay/81: State law here (Massachusetts) is that all buildings over four stories have trivalent fire alarms - when there's a fire they're supposed to evacuate the floor(s) with the fire and the adjacent floors, and only then more floors if necessary. Supposedly this is to avoid crush/crowds in the escape stairs.
The mechanism for this is very perplexing, because the announcement (whose exact text is set in state law) tells you to wait for the "floor evacuation tone", which never comes if you're not on the relevant floor, and if you haven't heard it before, you don't know what it's supposed to sound like.
For extra fun, my workplace consists of two high rise buildings linked together with a four-story building, so the fire alarm rules change depending on where you are in the complex. I once waited a long time in the small building for the "floor evacuation tone", not knowing that it would never come because it wasn't a high rise.
108: interesting - though that's slightly different from the situation we have. MA buildings seem to go for THERE IS A FIRE - FLEE!, THERE IS NOT A FIRE, and THERE IS A FIRE BUT YOU SHOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT IT, but at least they are always fairly Boolean on the whole FIRE/NOT FIRE question.
What's their cut-point on oxidation rates for determining "Fire"? You don't want the alarm to go off because something is rusting.
Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
Some say possibly both.
OT: The Republicans have the White House, so once again we get bullshit about buying Franklin Covey crap.
UI inconsistency drives me crazy on Linux, which has been my home OS for a few years now, but there are also Windows and OSX things I consistently hate. In short, I hate all desktops. With both Linux and OSX, I pretty much have a terminal open all the time and mostly don't use the file managers.
Some say the world will end in fire
Some say in ice.
Some say possibly both.
Some say we could slow this down by implementing clean energy solutions.
Some say they'd lose money, or rather make lots of money a little less fast that they're used to.
Okay, I quit reading the Hypatia thread before I began to yearn for death by flaying. Regarding environmental history in the South: I was hoping to follow up on an isolated mention of the destruction of old-growth bottomland forests to plant soybeans in the late 60s/early 70s, in a book I was reading for other reasons about the ivory-billed woodpecker (not really recommended, although I also wish I could see one).
According to [this non-authoritative Southerner with a chip on his shoulder about the Yanks], during the late 1960s and early 1970s the price of soybeans rose astronomically, perhaps in response to a boom in the vegetarian and health food markets. "The price of soybeans went up to ten dollars a bushel," he said. "The price right now runs between five and seven dollars a bushel in 2004 money, and a farmer can make a profit at that price. Can you imagine getting ten dollars a bushel in 1969? . . . The farmers cleared every square inch of property everywhere they could. They stuck tiles in the ground and drained the swamps. Anyplace they could get a crop of soybeans in, they were doing it. They literally had bulldozers working twenty-four hours a day clearing bottomland forest . . . It was more cost-effective to roll a thirty-six-inch-diameter tree into a brush pile and burn it. There was no time to cut it and haul the log out, because you could make more money on soybeans."
I was skeptical about the "vegetarians and health food" attribution, because I don't think there were quite enough hippies gobbling up toe-food to make that kind of difference in a commodity price at that time. According to available charts online, the price spike was in 1973 (an unusual year!) and wasn't sustained at that level for long; it remained low in the 1960s. From my super-cursory research, it does look like there was some increase in global demand before supply got ramped up outside the U.S., largely in Latin America. And I guess margarine was once considered a health food? (lourdes quipped: "I can't believe it's not old growth forest!") So this vivid and memorable account is at least part fabrication, but I wonder if there's any truth to it. Similarly with those damn carpetbaggers swarming down to cut down all the trees a hundred years earlier.
Yes, that's just nuts. Margarine was definitely considered a health food in the 70s, but the modal soybean goes where it belongs, it a pig's mouth so something that tastes good can be made.
In conclusion, crush olives, not beans.
Maybe that was when people started using soybeans more routinely, or in more parts of the world, as animal feed?
Farmers in Nebraska did move into farming more marginal land in the 70s because of increasing crop prices (mainly corn). But that's the way farming works. Everybody who spent too much money to buy or improve shitty land went broke during the 80s. Willie Nelson sang songs about them.
Or just we were ramping up meat production here and that made an impact.
118, 120: I don't know. It would have to be either one of those two things, or both.
One potential reason for a spike in 1973 specifically was the oil embargo and the need for other sources of oil in manufacturing. (Some propaganda on the subject of industrial soybean oil uses here.) I think meat consumption was pretty high in all the places to which the U.S. exported soybeans in the 60s and 70s.
Also, presumably unrelated to this, the Soybean Car by noted vegan Hitler Henry Ford.
Japan started importing soybeans from the US in large quantities in the 1960s, when it dropped the tariff on imports to zero as part of its (reluctant) trade liberalization policies.
You have to be careful because sometimes they trick you into eating soybeans by calling them "edamame".
Oh, I just followed the link in 72! Yes, I was hoping that noted historian might weigh in.
There's a whole series on environmental history of the south, I just haven't read any of it. Link.
Lots of numbers are less than three. You need to be more specific.
Moby's returning errors again. This command-line interface is so opaque.
"It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
I'd consider switching, but he is dramatically faster than any of the GUIs.
I don't not understand "I'd consider switching, but he is dramatically faster than any of the GUIs." Interpreting as 'i'.
You are carrying:
A small shield
A knife
A can of white privilege
200 pounds of soybeans
1. Facebook. Pretty much already done.
2. Amazon. I primarily use it for needlessly obsessive product research so I can buy *just the right thing* for every purpose. Although usually the easiest and cheapest option, it's also slightly evil and so if I gave it up I would take half the time to make purchasing decisions and feel superior for supporting "local" businesses, and feeling superior is always fun. So on balance, definitely a win.
3. Google. I would miss google sheets and especially gmail but the spectre of Google as an information-hoovering AI slowly awakening to godhood gives me the willies, so just as well to quit even if it hurts.
4. If Apple were to disappear, I would probably have to retire (shudder). Completely by chance, I made it through my entire life working exclusively in Mac OS until I started my current job and the transition to Windows has been traumatic. I hate thrashing about in Windows so much that I drag my personal laptop back and forth to work every goddamn day just so I can use it for everything that doesn't involve data collection.
132: alas, I should return to work and I'd feel guilty using the white privilege to get help carrying the soybeans.
134 is great and exactly how the game is played.
I want to make a Moby-style joke about the display at this museum labeled "Dinosaur Encounters" but it seems inappropriate.
Apple: Easiest to get rid of. I'm pretty sure all I've used it for in the past eight years is listening to my iTunes collection, and that, maybe only once in the past year. I don't listen to music much and when I do Pandora is just as nice. It would really suck for my family, though. I might be the only person who doesn't have some kind of iPhone.
Amazon: probably pretty doable. I'd spend a little more money shopping at different online retailers. It would mean giving up on or falling way behind on a few TV shows I mostly watch through streaming, but there are lots of TV shows out there.
Facebook: I comment, share, or "like" things probably an average of once a week. And yet I go there and browse it several times a day. It's a convenient time-waster and distraction.
Google: my primary personal email account is Gmail, so that would suck. I watch YouTube now and then, but I think I use it a lot less than most people of my general demographic. When I'm in front of a computer at work, I want to look busy. When I'm reading on my phone on the bus, I don't want to bother strangers or have them reading over my shoulder. When I'm in front of a computer at home, I'm either working or playing games. I hate videos for anything that could be in text form.
In order, Apple is definitely the first to go for me. Probably Google last just due to the inconvenience of losing/changing email addresses, but I've done it before. Other than that it's hard to pick and depends on things like "how much warning do I get?" and "what is the process to backup/export the stuff I currently have on them?"
Also, on the name Manjoo: I had a friend named Manoj, and Texans had the hardest time with that name (not too surprising), and what they inevitably landed on instead was Manjo, which is hilarious and great with a twang.
Late to this party but it's fun anyway.
Most easily rid of:
Facebook. I use it only to keep track of the health of a friend's wife since he prefers it to all other forms of communication and I don't want to add to his burdens right now
next: Apple. I use a macbook, but none of their cloud software and certainly not itunes, so I could go back to something like a Surface Pro without too much pain
harder: Amazon. I have a kindle habit, and a very large collection of notes and annotations which are stored on there. I also use it for shopping for my mother and stuff. ON the very rare occasions I watch anything on a television it is often through a kindle fire stick.
Just about impossible: Google. I have a Nexus phone, use gmail both privately and at work, use the maps, the various searches, google photos, and the music to drive with. All this could be replaced -- except for the work stuff -- but it would be a faff, and the only realistic alternative to an android phone is Apple. More than that, the only android phones with guaranteed updates are those branded by Google.
Apple - don't use it at all
Facebook -- not on it.
Amazon -- have pretty much totally gone over to the kindle for reading, but maybe I miss physical books. Or feel bad that I don't miss them much?
Google -- about 1/2 my job is typing words into the Google search engine. I suppose another search engine might work as well, but I wouldn't want to risk it.
141: Heh, I forgot about my phone. Like I said, everyone in my family has an Apple and losing Apple would cost me almost nothing, but my phone is a Droid. (Motorola, if it matters, but I'd still have to get a new phone and learn to use it.)
The thought experiment becomes more interesting and the question becomes harder to answer when I think about dropping all of them from my life, rather than picking and choosing.
Speaking of Kill Kill Kill the vote on the AHCA is frightening. Fuck those fuckers.
143: yeah, I don't see how we get the fourfold elimination without someone spinning up an Amiga phone. I will say I did a side-by-side comparison​ at work recently and much preferred the Windows phone to Blackberry. If we also ditch msft, things look grim for the littler devices.
Manjo, which is hilarious and great with a twang
I am sitting alone in my office waiting for an e-mail reply, entertaining myself by saying "Manjo" aloud with my best southern accent, and this is entirely true.