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@futurebird

"Oh, I'm sorry... WAS I INTRUDING ON YOUR PEACEFUL SHOW WATCHING IN PUBLIC?!"

@401matthall

I think he didn’t have any awareness of how obnoxious he was being. All the rolling eyes and long sighs from the packed train car of people going to work (he was clearly coming home-and I get it you have no down time and you didn’t charge your earbuds. And you probably work nights. Or your life is so off the rails you are just out of synch with the whole city and that’s not fun. But, this is not the way.) I don’t think I was the only one just watching the show.

@futurebird

I have _moments_ of empathy like you're describing here but I dunno that I'd have it in that context.

In case no one's said it recently: You're good people.

@401matthall

Most people do not want to be the subject of someone’s online story about a weird guy on the train. Most, but not all. That’s why saying anything is dangerous. Some people wake up and go out to fight with the whole world everyday. But I don’t think he was one of those. Just a tired guy who didn’t think about what he was doing. And I get a funny story to tell.

@futurebird @401matthall I wonder if there are saints out there that just walk around all day with an unopened packet of emergency earbuds in their pocket, on the chance they might meet someone whose wireless audio battery died, and thereby save the whole bus/train by handing them over.

@log @futurebird @401matthall I used to consider doing this in the days when earbuds/earphones plugged in physically, and a cheap set cost about £1.50. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy bluetooth earphones except for myself now...

@Knitronomicon @futurebird @401matthall This is what we lost when Apple ditched the TRS barrel phono jack.

@401matthall The design choices are such that the cheapest plug-in headphones for Apple devices use the physical connection to power a Bluetooth wireless audio chip, because it's cheaper than licensing the proprietary Apple connector. To me, this is an outward symptom of a deep anti-consumer sickness. De gustibus non est disputandum: people are free to like what they like.

@log @401matthall

So it’s as dodgy and annoying as cheap bluetooth but you are still tethered by a wire? That’s *disgusting*. It viscerally grosses me out.

For some reason it makes me think of the expensive but cheaply made electronic devices for prisons. They are always transparent (because of contraband) and designed to be hostile to the person using the device — but what matters most? The manufacturers have a monopoly and captive customers.

@futurebird @401matthall I don't like thinking about it, either. But Apple has always done this, and never been punished for it--the so-called "Apple tax". The EU was correct to forcibly standardize on USB-C for charging.