Fit_Series_573

This post is for seeking some advice on what's the best route to try to help some friends get some of their offline lives back.

This year, a large percent of my friend group from my hometown have stopped interacting much with anyone outside of immediate family such as parents and work. Very noticeable for those that are under 30 (I'm 30) compared to those a few years older than me. For 3 of them that were pretty close, they still send memes and Instagram reels all day almost daily but never respond to any messages nor send any anymore. The only way to get them to do anything is to show up semi unannounced with tickets to go somewhere or with food to get them out of the endless scroll, and even then 2 of them will still scroll no matter what's going on around them, even while driving.

Seeing the reels that get shared since the summer, nearly all of them are AI or extreme (not political, moreso like extreme overeating, extreme overpriced buying/unboxing videos or people fighting past what mma/ufc would allow type content). This seems to have led a few to being scared of the outside while a few others consider outside to be too boring now. When we do hang out I notice my algorithm is completely different than theirs with every reel scroll. We were all very tech focused coming our of school but I'm 1 of 2 that didn't make it into a long term career, a couple of them have been on the AI hype train for a few years now.

Does this seem to be an ongoing trend for you? I know some people here have made mention over the time I've been on Lemmy but it's gotten so apparent in my life these last 2 holidays trying to make plans and soon New Years of the change and the the first time in more than a decade we're all within an hour of each other but majority of them are just socially MIA to do anything outside of scrolling on the couch laughing at nonexistent people and animals in reels. What's worked for you to help combat this within your friends without giving up on them? The best thing I've been able to find has been the bar style arcades and laser tag that's helped make that similar enjoyment while out of the house.

TL;DR

MKBHD is shutting down the Panels app at the end of this month, citing issues with finding the right development team fit.

You can no longer buy collections, and you must download existing wallpapers before the app is removed.

Users will receive automatic pro-rated refunds for active subscriptions, and the app code is promised to be open-sourced after shutdown.

A current pilot project aims to pay former law enforcement and military officers to physically track immigrants and verify their addresses to give to ICE for $300 each. There is no indication that the pilot involves licensed private investigators, and appears to be open to people who are now essentially members of the general public, 404 Media has learned.

The pilot is a dramatic, and potentially dangerous, escalation in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. People without any official role in government would be tasked with tracking down targets for ICE. It appears to be part of ICE’s broader plan to use bounty hunters or skip tracers to confirm immigrant’s addresses through data and physical surveillance. Some potential candidates for the pilot were recruited on LinkedIn and were told they would be given vehicles to monitor the targets.

“The more I listened to it, the more I’m like, something doesn’t sound right,” a person who was briefed on the pilot plans told 404 Media.

The man at the heart of a high-stakes mix-up that rippled through global political journalism in the final days of the New York mayoral campaign was neither “falsely claiming” to be former Mayor Bill de Blasio — as the Times of London suggested — nor, as The New York Times wrote, a “de Blasio impersonator.”

He is, instead, a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer named Bill DeBlasio, who merely responded to an email from a journalist seeking his views on Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s policies.

“I’m Bill DeBlasio. I’ve always been Bill DeBlasio,” DeBlasio said in an interview conducted Wednesday evening through his Ring doorbell in Huntington Station, Long Island, from his current location in Florida.

“I never once said I was the mayor. He never addressed me as the mayor,” DeBlasio told Semafor Wednesday evening. “So I just gave him my opinion.”

cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/30283473

The Washington Post joined the New York Times, Newsmax and CNN in refusing to sign the restrictive new policy.

Media across the ideological spectrum said they will not sign the Defense Department’s restrictive new press policy by Tuesday’s afternoon deadline. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press and CNN said they wouldn’t sign, as did Newsmax and the Washington Times.

Rueben Antonio Cruz was sitting with a friend in Rogers Park when ICE agents pulled up onto the street.

The immigration officers stopped their truck and went straight after them on Oct. 9, Cruz told the Tribune.

“They asked us if we have papers. I said I do but I don’t have them on me,” Cruz, a 60-year old man with heart problems originally from El Salvador, recalled in Spanish.

The agents stood Cruz up, put him in their truck, drove around in circles, and asked questions, he said.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/52738398

Black swan nicknamed ‘Mr Terminator’ evicted from town after trying to drown local birds

Archive/mirror: https://archive.ph/sghbn

"President Donald Trump said the United States would impose a new tariff of 100% on imports from China “over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” starting on Nov. 1.

Trump also said that the U.S. on that same date also would impose export controls on “any and all critical software.”

The move is in retaliation for new export controls that China imposed on rare earths minerals."

I initially posted the source content for this from the Chicago Tribune reporter that recorded the situation but it was removed by automod (?).

"The federal agents reportedly rammed their van into Brockman's car before forcing her to the ground and taking her into custody.

Brockman was seen being placed into the van before the agents got in and sped away, scraping the side of another vehicle and knocking off part of its bumper."