So, things are surprisingly less of a clusterfuck than I thought. I still accidentally missed some smaller assignments while trying to work on the final projects I had, and I'm still feeling fried after grinding to complete the Final Presentation on my Automation class. Still, I got things managed to an okay-ish degree. I still got time for my other finals assignments, and I don't really feel like I'm bullshitting myself either since I currently have been fired up by it being finals week. Afterwards, I'm so damn excited for winter break. I will have more time for not only my personal web-space and hobbies, but also I'm planning to adapt the notes I've taken during my Linux classes into a static website for newbies to peruse in. It's mainly just for fun, cause' I wanna try making a website again instead of just maintaining one, but I also feel that it's good to have something that will at least be much more useful for fellow Linux newbies than the ShatGPT-generated clankershit and abandoned forum threads flooding searchpages lately. For now, though, I will make sure to power through to the end, cause' as bleak as many aspects of the future are, it's still worth chasing.
As someone who's unfamiliar with Noam Chomsky and his works, I found this video to be helpful for having a basic idea of his politics. Until now, I really only heard of him being hated by right-libertarians like Luke Smith for really weird reasons, or him being labeled as a shitlib, MSM shill, or Epstein Island visitor without context. After watching this, I'm more familiar with how he's one of the few leftist intellectuals who was able to have mainstream influence even as someone who criticized how the media labelled Pol Pot's Kampuchea was genocidal before hard evidence came out, how the US only intervened in the Bosnian War when inaction became politically inconvenient, and how he's a firm free-speech absolutist even when it came to worse people. It's also interesting to hear actual criticisms of him, where his personal beliefs are still in-line with the mainstream (such as desiring a two-state solution for Palestine and being fine with Jeffrey Epstein) and how he doesn't really advocate for leftist action, instead of just insults. As a result, I was better able to understand what he specifically did, instead of continuing to wonder what others' deal with him was.
Another interesting thing was that this video also serves to criticize how mainstream media used to have essentially a monopoly on information. Mainstream media often criticizes the Internet for how fast information spreads, even when it often is low-quality dogshit like hate speech or 1600s ideas that are marketed as "wevowutionawy" or "smawt." So, it's interesting to see him point out how the Internet actually allows once-framed leftist positions to gain ground and average citizens to document atrocities that would have been inconvenient towards the west. For instance, he has brought up how the true nature of Israel's genocide in Gaza would never have been documented, due to publications' firm support towards Zionism, and how one no longer needs the support of mainstream news to become popular. Honestly, even as someone who despises the current state of the Internet, where a few corporations have complete ownership over the online social spaces people hang out in, I tend to agree with this. As much as the algorithms in these spaces often pushes corporate or bigoted speech that succeeded from maximizing engagement, there's still a lot of people who will bypass these filters and express what's right.
So, after a long while trying all sorts of wacky shit, I finally got the Galaxy Note 4 working, ... at least to the best of its ability. Trying to get started at all was frickin' tough, honestly. Verizon locked the bootloader, so trying to put anything else besides the highly outdated Android 6 (especially on TouchWiz) would flat-out not work, and rooting the device to bypass this would just fail. It didn't help that I had to install Windows on a spare laptop, since almost every custom ROM guide assumes I'm on Windows (I'm not cause' fuck you, Bill Gates). What I had to do for things to finally work was install the KitKat (Android 4.4.4) factory ROM according to this guide by jrkruse of XDA forums, then run its scripts. However, it was much much smoother sailing from this point forward. KingoRoot actually succeeded this time, and although the "Replace with SuperSu" script did nothing, by that point, the bootloader was finally unlocked. I then proceeded to install the Marshmallow (Android 6) factory ROM which I thought was pointless at the time (though would prove invaluable later on), then flash Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) which was extremely easy for me in comparison, then install the Lineage OS build for my phone like I've always wanted. However, even while almost everything worked, when I tried to settle in after putting in the screen protector, case, and SIM adapter I ordered (always use a screen protector and case), I found that talk and text didn't work. Even worse, after some research, I learned that I needed to backup the EFS partition, which is crucial for getting the IMEI number required for cellular, but I wasn't told I should have done that. So, I had to flash the factory ROM again this time in a rush, but that rush made me forget that I should have taken the SD card out from earlier, so I was confused as to why the factory ROM kept booting to an error even when I flashed it over and over. Then, LineageOS seemed to not boot correctly after all that, which I found was because the Kitkat factory ROM missed some crucial things the Marshmallow factory ROM had and LineageOS needed, so I had to install the Kitkat factory ROM then the Marshmallow factory ROM, then backup the EFS partition like a good girl, then finally realize that LineageOS still did not have cellular. However, this time, I also found online that flashing just the original Modem partition is also needed, but getting it and flashing it was easy. Finally, after initial hiccups from that, cellular worked, ... or so I thought. Data worked fine, and I had the IMEI this time, but talk and text, the two most essential functions for a phone, just didn't. I tried dialing *#*#4636#*#* for diagnostics, but switching the preferred cellular technologies didn't work at all. I couldn't change the APN settings which I heard was needed cause' Verizon hates me, but I found that my Pixel 4a still worked well even with the same APN settings. Finally, I dialed *#*#4636#*#* on my Pixel 4a this time, and I found that "Voice Network Type" showed up as LTE, while it stated "Unknown" on my Galaxy Note 4, and when I did some research, I discovered that it was short for VoLTE, which my custom ROM just did not support, alongside almost every Smasnug custom ROM due to Smasnug using a proprietary implementation of it.
Indeed, nothing has to be obsolete. The tech industry is right that you have to update your software and firmware, and Linux and custom ROMs let you do that alongside letting you still be able to keep older hardware that you still find works well or that you still depend upon. However, this whole clusterfuck has re-affirmed to me the exact reasons I've been disillusioned with Android. It's not that the software itself is proprietary shitware as long as it's used the right way. GrapheneOS, I feel, represents every reason why Android can be better than iOS, with not only its open nature and smooth functionality, but its commitment to privacy and security for users. It's just that both the manufacturers who make Android phones and the carriers who provide cellular for Android phones fucking need to be murdered in a siege. Fuck you, Verizon, for locking down phones that would have stayed useful to users through custom ROMs. Fuck you, Smasnug, for not only abandoning repairability, storage expandability, and practicality through the headphone jack just to copy only the bad parts of Apple, but also for locking down your phones with shitware like TouchWiz. Anyways, boomers were right about phone bad. Live in the woods naked and with a 2000s Thinkpad by your side, but try not to mail your state University special presents and instead just be a weird Youtuber with sus politics.
I recently ordered a Galaxy Note 4, and it's been quite tough to try and install a custom ROM on it. Its stock config of Android 6 and Touchwiz is seriously outdated, so I can't use that. Plus, rooting, the first step for installing a custom ROM, is such a pain, where almost every XDA guide either expects you to already know how to do it or recommends KingoRoot or KingRoot, which have absolutely not worked well for me. Still, I really hope to get this working. It's one of Samsung's last great phones, with not only great specs for the time and the powerful S Pen for artists, but also a headphone jack, MicroSD card, and even a removable battery! It's just that Samsung itself sucks, so the hardware needs to be saved from obsolesence. :P