Here’s to hoping he finds his way here, or starts his own site where he can’t be censored so easily.

Oh, also, I’m happy to see hedgies are, after three years, still so engaged with us. Means we’re still heading the right way. They say so much when they censor us.

This is it. They’re a bit more expensive, but no BS, and they’re made to run 24/7, so maybe a little more durable, too.

More and more happy I left Windows behind a couple of months ago. I’d been on Windows since version 3. I dual-booted for a few weeks, then took the plunge. Windows is completely gone from my life.

I’m on Ubuntu at the moment, but I’m planning a move to LMDE, I think that’s a better distro for me.

I’m expecting her to be revealed as a villain at some point. She was born with a silver spoon, there are skeletons in closets, and she knows it. Time will tell.

Wow. I hope, for Chevy’s sake, it’s just software glitches that can be quickly solved with some updates.

I’m hoping by the time I need a new car, this insanity will have passed, allowing me to skip it. It’s like everyone skipped Windows Vista.

Good one, Cora. Next time you see Barrett, try it out on him.

I’ve been with Windows forever, since version 3. I’m old.

These past few months I’ve been trying Ubuntu, and it’s fine for everyday use, browsing and file management. And, LibreOffice has been my office suite for years, so no problem there–I don’t demand much from that.

But, graphics applications are barely there. Blender is fine. Inkscape is so-so, but I just discovered recently that it doesn’t keep track of object rotation, so there is no simple way to set the rotation back to zero. Corel Draw gave up Linux support years ago, or that would be my go-to. I haven’t tried LibreDraw yet, but I don’t have much hope for it. Gimp is, eh.

I haven’t tried playing FO4 or Starfield yet, though. I’ve just been switching back to Windows for that.

I don’t mind using Terminal, it reminds me of MS-DOS days, but I don’t see myself ever become proficient at it.

I won’t be getting Windows 11, I’ve decided that. But I see that I’ll likely need to give up a lot to make that stand.

Man, y’all a bunch a grumpies.

This technology doesn’t hinge on what we here believe or predict. It will happen or it won’t.

We could speculate on how cool it would be, and how it could be used if it happens, instead of pooh-poohing it.

Thank you. I’m not too proud to say I didn’t know this word. And, you saved me looking it up. When I was a kid, my dad got tired of defining words for me when I was reading a book, so he taught me to use a dictionary. From then on, I’ve read with a dictionary next to me.

Many readers are overly sensitive these days. If you use things like a period on the end of your sentences, and don’t include emojis, then anything you say will be called out as “hostile” by some people.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/05/909969004/before-texting-your-kid-make-sure-to-double-check-your-punctuation

Also, I’ve noticed many people ignore qualifiers in speech. If you use qualifiers thoughtfully, having them ignored by the reader can lead to miscommunication. I think the fact that so many people have used them without thought has led to a blindness for qualifiers. OTH, not including qualifiers can make us sound authoritative and even arrogant to some people.

For instance, in my first sentence, above, I said “Many readers…”, and “…things like…”, and “…by some people.” If you ignore those qualifiers, what I said takes on a very different tone.

Can’t win for losing.

Several times, but not recently, Walmart self-checkout machines would reset after I scanned the first item, I dunno why. But I figured I did my part by scanning it, so I didn’t re-scan it, even though I knew it had reset. I could just play dumb, which isn’t hard for me, if anyone asked. No one ever asked, but they upgraded the software, and it stopped doing that.

The employees seem a bit happier as attendants than cashiers, so I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t know how many lost their jobs to the machines, though.

I’ll admit that I’m happier with self-checkout, because I almost never need to wait in line anymore.

The Walmart self-checkout near me doesn’t use the weight sensors, they’re turned off. It makes checking out much easier. Also, they flow better, for instance, at Lowe’s, you need to specifically press the “Pay Now” button to pay, but at Walmart you can just shove your card in when you’re done scanning, and it starts the checkout process. At Lowe’s you must choose between the print or email receipt, but at Walmart you can let the question time-out while you put the groceries back in the cart, and it will print the receipt. The Smith’s self-checkout is even more clunky, and very chatty. I don’t like it.

There are plenty of reasons to hate Walmart, but IMO, their self-checkout works better than the others I’ve tried.

Worth a try.

Did none of you watch the video? The article is crap, but the video explains it well.

Go back and watch the video, ya old codgers!

Back when the Alcubierre drive was in the news, and it was revealed that the drive might be used as a very effective planet killer, I had a thought.

Suppose one or more civilizations in our galaxy developed this already eons ago. Suppose they peppered probes throughout the galaxy to report back when any such drive was detected in use. Suppose they were fearful and paranoid. They could send an automated ship to destroy any system where drive use was newly detected. This is why we see no signs of civilization in the rest of the galaxy.

We build the Alcubierre drive (which apparently is not possible because anti-matter falls the wrong way?), and minutes after the first time we fire it up, the entire system is destroyed. If there were anyone left to place blame, we’d blame ourselves.

Right this minute? I’d be very surprised, as that has never happened for me before, and I didn’t think it was even possible. I’d also wonder if it was just me, or if everyone around the world had lost their clothes. Then, I’d look in my closet to see if still had clothes in there. This is all very strange, and I have many questions.

As someone who attempts to do the same, you’re right, it’s not possible to completely avoid doing business with these companies. But, I still make an effort to avoid them, I won’t give up and start buying directly from Amazon’s site, just because I can’t avoid them 100%. Nothing is black and white, we all live in the gray zones.

I’m trying Ubuntu now. I’ve had it installed for about three months. I only switch to Windows 10 to play Starfield. The only problem I’ve had… (delete, it’s a long story I don’t want to write). I had to reinstall, I couldn’t figure out how to reinstall and keep my settings and apps, so I had to redo everything. I’m glad I still had Windows (because I wanted to play Starfield), because I would have been screwed–I had formatted the USB stick I used to install Ubuntu the first time. It’s been probably over 10 years since I needed to use a recovery disc to get Windows running again.

It’s unfortunate that AAA game developers won’t support Linux. But, the money isn’t there, and we live under capitalism. Without reliable, plug-n-play, easy-as-Windows game support, Linux will remain niche. I’m sure the point has been made before, but here it is again, and still.

They don’t delete anything, though. They just deny YOU access to it.