Comment by eimrine

Comment by eimrine 2 days ago

7 replies

> Sure there are lots of brainrot distractions available to kids today

Take apart the distractions per se, how is it possible to read book for a kid in 2025 at all? Reading thick books requires having some device with no distructions. In my young ages all computers and all smartphones used to have no distructions, but now all computers (except some Linux distros) used to be bombarded with distructions in such a way that I can not read a book on any proprietary OS without getting some notification about anti-virus software or some updates or a need to restart, or just some events happening on the Internets.

My point is not just that distractions distract people, but distructions have become inevitable on almost any modern device able to render PDF with formulas.

squigz 2 days ago

> Take apart the distractions per se, how is it possible to read book for a kid in 2025 at all?

Literally buy books? What about ereaders? Install adblockers and de-shittify your OS? I don't have the problems you seem to have, and I'm on Windows.

  • eimrine 2 days ago

    Paper books are too hard to sell after you have read it.

    Ereaders can not render PDF/DJVU with formulas. My reading list has nothing able to be read from that kind of devices.

    Installing some more proprietary code will not lead to "deshittifying" some existing proprietary code. You just add 1 guy more of your dependances. You even can not do this once for whole life of the device. So many time perfect for reading goes inte nowhere with Woedows OS.

    • amitav1 2 days ago

      I don't know about other areas, but the school to which I go in Southwestern Ontario still has a library, as does every other school to which I have been.

    • 1718627440 a day ago

      > Installing some more proprietary code will not lead to "deshittifying" some existing proprietary code. You just add 1 guy more of your dependances. You even can not do this once for whole life of the device.

      Install Windows Enterprise IoT LTSC then, problem solved.

    • Cayde-6 a day ago

      If you have a library anywhere nearby, you don't need to worry about purchasing and selling individual books. Over they years they have gotten even more lenient with long loan periods, online renewals, mostly eliminated late fees, and (depending on where you live) returns at any library location within a regional system.

      • eimrine a day ago

        My Ukrainian town used to have 3 libraries. Now the only library here is a school one. The reason so much libraries have got destroyed is the censourship. Now Ukrainian govt makes some active progress into censourship of anything printed by Russian language. Since most of the books accumulated for dozens of years were not yet prohibited but definitely unwanted - now I have no libraries at all.

        I am very happy to hear that old and cool libraries are still a thing somewhere.

        I use to teach local kids how to get pirated books with no DRM but I have a feeling that they will never use my recommendation. They just open their first page with no animated pictures and get lost immediately, their eyes are not even moving through the text in a proper way. They look to me like when I see some new musical instrument which I can not play because I have not observed it earlier.

    • squigz 2 days ago

      > Paper books are too hard to sell after you have read it.

      Still accomplishes the goal of allowing kids to read a book.

      > Ereaders can not render PDF/DJVU with formulas. My reading list has nothing able to be read from that kind of devices.

      Kids don't usually have these sort of requirements with their reading lists. Also have you looked into KOReader[1], which has support for djvu it looks like?

      > Installing some more proprietary code will not lead to "deshittifying" some existing proprietary code. You just add 1 guy more of your dependances. You even can not do this once for whole life of the device. So many time perfect for reading goes inte nowhere with Woedows OS.

      Firstly, I wasn't suggesting installing more proprietary code. Not sure where you got that from. Most scripts/guides I've seen that help disable the more intrusive/annoying parts of Windows are FOSS.

      Secondly, then install Linux and only use FOSS, for which there are many options to read books with?

      [1] https://koreader.rocks/