I'm one of those hipsters who doesn't use streaming services.

I did, a while ago, but I quit using them because the experience is kind of awful, and I'm happier now for it. I collect physical media and watch it using Jellyfin on my Linux-based home theater PC, and I'm completely satisfied with how it works.

I'm making this video because I am really troubled by algorithmic helplessness, and I feel like corporate-centralized streaming media makes that worse. Maybe this video will encourage someone else to cut the cord and rediscover an appreciation for owning your media and being choosy about what to "watch next". Or maybe I'm just wasting time. Who knows? I suppose, you know, you're reading this description, right?

If you read the description, say "algorithmic helplessness sucks" in the comments. That'll make me feel better.

Oh right, I need to tell you about the things I mentioned in the video.

Software:
- MakeMKV: makemkv.com/
- To support MakeMKV and get all the advanced features: makemkv.com/buy/
- That LibreDrive forum post on the MakeMKV website which is hard to find (contains list of LibreDrive compatible drives): forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewto…
- Handbrake: handbrake.fr/
- Asunder: littlesvr.ca/asunder/
- Jellyfin: jellyfin.org/
- Kodi: kodi.tv
- Finamp (via GitHub): github.com/jmshrv/finamp

Hardware I mentioned - not sponsored and no affiliate links.
(These drives might not be currently available at Micro Center, but I'm providing these links as they're probably the most helpful if you want to find one yourself.)
- My LG portable Blu-Ray drive, a BP60NB10: microcenter.com/product/607144…
- And my internal Asus BW-16D1HT drive: microcenter.com/product/435513…
- FLIRC receiver (I don't remember if I bought it here but maybe): pishop.us/product/flirc-rpi-us…

Other links of note:
- 13 minutes of videotaped footage of the Wii Netflix app:
- Video about smart TVs by @LonSeidman :
- My PeerTube (watch this video without ads or tracking): tinkerbetter.tube/c/veronicaex…
- My blog post about how I use Handbrake: vkc.sh/handbrake-2025/

Lastly, links to support my very unsponsored videos:
- Patreon: patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
- Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains
- Bandcamp: thestopbits.bandcamp.com

Chapters:
0:00 My motivation for ditching streaming
3:21 Physical media is awesome
4:05 Ripping media
5:59 Serving with Jellyfin
7:09 Bookstores and libraries are lit (get it?)
8:10 I don't want an algorithm programming us.

vkc via PeerTube

2025-11-01 15:32:46

I stream nothing, and I am happy.

I'm one of those hipsters who doesn't use streaming services.

I did, a while ago, but I quit using them because the experience is kind of awful, and I'm happier now for it. I collect physical media and watch it using Jellyfin on my Linux-based home theater PC, and I'm completely satisfied with how it works.

I'm making this video because I am really troubled by algorithmic helplessness, and I feel like corporate-centralized streaming media makes that worse. Maybe this video will encourage someone else to cut the cord and rediscover an appreciation for owning your media and being choosy about what to "watch next". Or maybe I'm just wasting time. Who knows? I suppose, you know, you're reading this description, right?

If you read the description, say "algorithmic helplessness sucks" in the comments. That'll make me feel better.

Oh right, I need to tell you about the things I mentioned in the video.

Software:
- MakeMKV: makemkv.com/
- To support MakeMKV and get all the advanced features: makemkv.com/buy/
- That LibreDrive forum post on the MakeMKV website which is hard to find (contains list of LibreDrive compatible drives): forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewto…
- Handbrake: handbrake.fr/
- Asunder: littlesvr.ca/asunder/
- Jellyfin: jellyfin.org/
- Kodi: kodi.tv
- Finamp (via GitHub): github.com/jmshrv/finamp

Hardware I mentioned - not sponsored and no affiliate links.
(These drives might not be currently available at Micro Center, but I'm providing these links as they're probably the most helpful if you want to find one yourself.)
- My LG portable Blu-Ray drive, a BP60NB10: microcenter.com/product/607144…
- And my internal Asus BW-16D1HT drive: microcenter.com/product/435513…
- FLIRC receiver (I don't remember if I bought it here but maybe): pishop.us/product/flirc-rpi-us…

Other links of note:
- 13 minutes of videotaped footage of the Wii Netflix app:
- Video about smart TVs by @[url=https://indieweb.social/users/lonseidman]Lon Seidman / Lon.TV ☑️[/url] :
- My PeerTube (watch this video without ads or tracking): tinkerbetter.tube/c/veronicaex…
- My blog post about how I use Handbrake: vkc.sh/handbrake-2025/

Lastly, links to support my very unsponsored videos:
- Patreon: patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
- Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains
- Bandcamp: thestopbits.bandcamp.com

Chapters:
0:00 My motivation for ditching streaming
3:21 Physical media is awesome
4:05 Ripping media
5:59 Serving with Jellyfin
7:09 Bookstores and libraries are lit (get it?)
8:10 I don't want an algorithm programming us.

The Free Software Media System | Jellyfin

The volunteer-built media solution that puts you in control of your media. Stream to any device from your own server, with no strings attached.

^jellyfin.org

Does anyone want this old and lightly dusty 20 volume set of books?
They have been with my family since probably that date, but nobody wants them anymore.

I like to horde cool stuff and encyclopedias have always felt like a big wealth of random knowledge. But I am cleaning things out and don't want to have responsibility for these being destroyed in a flood or something.

I will ship them all for free to anywhere up to $100 in shipping cost. I pay for shipping. I just want them gone but safe.

Would really want somebody who is actually interested in taking care of or handling these books well.

My other option is of course my library, but it feels more personal to give a Lemmy user first dibs.

Please share so I can find a new owner quickly. Thanks.

Edit: will ship anywhere in the world up to $100

A pledge form from Trump’s team has been circulating to seek donations for the ballroom and gave donors the option of withholding their identities, according to the outlet, which obtained a copy of the form.

• Kidney care company Vantive - undisclosed
• Extremity Care, which has previously donated to Trump’s super PAC, donated $2.5 million to the ballroom fund, according to the newspaper.
• BlackRock, which in May acquired a stake in the company that operates ports near the Panama Canal — a move which was supported by Trump.
• Billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass
• Nvidia -The company could benefit from a Trump trade deal with China.
  Names publicly disclosed included Big Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and Microsoft, along with cryptocurrency businesses Coinbase and Ripple, the Winklevoss Twins, Comcast, Lockheed Martin and Palantir Technologies.

  T-Mobile, Union Pacific Railroad, oil baron Harold Hamm, the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and members of the Glazer family, which owns Manchester United and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are also contributing, according to a list of donors previously released by the White House.

White House withheld names of some donors to Trump’s $300M ballroom, report says

A list of donors released by the White House omitted more than three dozen contributions and names of individuals and companies who are backing the project, the report claims

^{Rhian Lubin (The Independent)}

Guess we can always rely on the good old fashioned ways to make money...

Honestly, I think its pretty awful but im not surprised.

Sam Altman Pushes Back on OpenAI’s Foray Into Smut

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defends his flip-flopping on erotica by saying the company is not the "moral police."

^{Rae Witte (Futurism)}

Clint Curtis is overseeing a 4 November ballot that could add five Democratic seats and reshape US politics

When Clint Curtis was appointed to oversee voting in California’s Shasta county earlier this year, the Florida-based lawyer and election skeptic pledged to “fix” the voting process.

Curtis had never before administered an election and didn’t live in this rural northern California region. But he was well-known to followers of the US election denialism movement, who believe the voting system is not secure and that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Curtis, a former congressional candidate, described himself as an expert in elections law and had long argued that voting machines could be hacked and that the government could manipulate the results of elections.

The ultra-conservative majority on Shasta county’s board of supervisors was hopeful he could overhaul their elections and set an example for the rest of the US.

Now, that vision is being put to the test.

California is voting on redistricting. An election skeptic runs the process in one county

^{Dani Anguiano (The Guardian)}

Finally, Atre caved and offered to write two new paychecks, but on one condition: Lindsay and Charters had to perform between 300-500 pushups each, which they did. “They were humiliated in front of people doing pushups,” Santa Cruz County detective Ethan Rumrill testified.

Im always surprised that characters like this are real. Seems like the typical bad guy in pop-corn movies.

Murdered Tech CEO Was Cruelly Bullying Employees Before His Death

A six-year investigation has helped uncover the brutal working conditions Tushar Atre's employees suffered under his hand.

^{Joe Wilkins (Futurism)}

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/nvidia-reveals-vera-rubin-superchip-for-the-first-time-incredibly-compact-board-features-88-core-vera-cpu-two-rubin-gpus-and-8-socamm-modules

cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/5165

A court ruling will force the Administration to use emergency funds for SNAP benefits. But the money will run out in weeks. What then?

---

From naked capitalism via This RSS Feed.

Preface: I personally don't care if it's legal or not, I'm gonna do it anyway. But, I wanted to pose the question here to people who are smarter than me to get your opinions. Plus, my partner is completely anti-piracy so I can only enjoy it by myself and it makes me kind of sad to do so. So it'd be nice to give them a reason to consider it. Also also, I am not knowledgeable enough to even know if this is a stupid question, so please be kind.

I saw an old post/comment chain that the stremio + rd + torrentio combo is "technically" legal in the states due to some workaround about distributing vs consuming. You're also not downloading anything or torrenting anything. I know that on their own, Stremio and RD are perfectly legit sites. But adding Torrentio into the mix is where it gets the spicy flavor. Now that some years have passed and that post might be outdated, what are your thoughts now? Is there a case to be made in favor of this being legal?

One of the best pieces of self-hosted software ever to exist.

Edit: This is Immich! for the folks who don't know.

Oct 31, 2025

The next day, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) called attention to the incident. “Yesterday, five children were reportedly injured, two of them very seriously, while encountering unexploded ordnance in rubble near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza,” the group said in a statement. “Following the ceasefire in Gaza, the explosive ordnance threat remains. As hundreds of thousands of displaced people and humanitarian personnel are on the move, the risk of encountering explosive ordnance increases.”

UNMAS had documented at least 52 Palestinians killed and 267 wounded by explosive ordnance in Gaza since October 2023.

Thousands of Unexploded Bombs Dropped by Israel Have Turned Gaza into a Minefield

Five children were recently wounded by unexploded ordnance as they were searching for firewood in the rubble of Gaza City.

^{Abdel Qader Sabbah (Drop Site News)}

Terraria is on sale and i thought i'd buy a copy for my kid brother. But then i thought i should actually read the user agreement and privacy policy before i tell him to make an account. Turns out people younger than 16 can't own accounts, and i can't just buy a copy for him on my account because i'm already going to buy a copy for my account (i currently have the Steam version but want the game sans DRM).

So if i want to get him this game, should i make an account in his name but keep control of it until he's older? Is there some better legal option here?

Video of the sailboat and interview with Neoline CEO:

Informative comment by /u/thatjoachim:

Especially in France, the industry is very innovative. Here are some of the wind-powered cargo ship companies:

• Néoline (based in Nantes), one ship (which we see on the video), more are yet to come
• Vela (based in Bayonne), 5 ships are expected to be launched between 2026 and 2028
• TOWT (based in Le Havre), 2 ships since 2024, 6 more are being built
• Windcoop (based in Marseille), expected launch of their first ship in 2027
• Grain de Sail (based in Saint-Malo), 3 ships, their chocolate is delicious
  some other names, though I don’t know as much about >them: Hisseo, Fairtransport, Bourlingue et Pacotille, Heol Sailing

If you want to see their respective sizes, here’s a diagram showing the ships side by side with a famous sail ship (the Bélem) and the famous cargo that blocked the Suez Canal, the Evergiven

Some more info about wind powered and wind assisted cargo ships around the globe:

wind-ship.org/vessel-list/

velic-consulting.com/?page_id=…

In fact in Paris I can buy coffee that is specifically transported by wind power: fcco.fr/

https://apnews.com/article/black-vultures-cattle-farmers-cows-climate-change-aa8ad2baedea363be431934ed66fc904

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/climate/epa-energy-star-program.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x08.Jf8a.Tp8v_O7mG_o1

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/climate/epa-energy-star-program.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x08.Jf8a.Tp8v_O7mG_o1

There is perennial discussion about what fediverse servers (Lemmy or otherwise) to recommend to new users. I have a proposal, perhaps not very original but I haven't seen it made often.

Let's just recommend that newbies pick an instance that is located close to them geographically. That's to say: their country, their region, or (ideally) their town.

Some context. Personally, I am not totally sold on social media, federated or otherwise. The evidence is now pretty clear that it causes major social harms. One way it does this is by fuelling polarization around hot-button national and international debates, at the expense of local issues. Reviving democracy is going to mean boosting communities at a local level. This could be a small way to do that.