The world seems to be led by idiots at every level. Top to bottom. That’s not an observation just to bitch; it’s meant to let you know that you can aim higher. If your boss is a fucking idiot, if the head of your organization is a fucking idiot, then that should show you how far someone with a brain in their head must be able to go, too. Don’t feel defeated and relegated to nothing roles. Be inspired by how apparently easy it is for fucking idiots to do seemingly important or well-paying jobs, and then start thinking about whether you can show them up.

AT&T fiber does allow IP passthrough mode though so if you want to run your own hardware you can.

It’s like Putin is genociding his own lads.

If you’ve got a geeky power user strain in you, try Pop_OS! with their new COSMIC desktop. The blend of traditional window manager and tiling is an absolute delight. But if you’re just trying to stay in your comfort zone as you explore the unfamiliar waters of Linux, I heartily recommend Linux Mint.

I’ve installed Mint on my own gaming desktop, and it’s invariably what I install for customers who can’t afford a PC upgrade to deal with Microslop’s Windows 11 bullshit. They all do fine on it, no one even appreciates the difference from Windows except that they all recognize their old hardware is suddenly much snappier than it was. And as for Pop_OS! COSMIC, I’m running that on the laptop from which I’m typing this comment now. I like them both, but Linux Mint is definitely more battle-tested.

Ubuntu’s GNOME layout isn’t really for me, but if you’re looking for something that’s…I don’t know, a little Mac-ier than Windows-y, then Ubuntu isn’t a bad way to go. I tried Kubuntu (that’s Ubuntu with KDE instead of GNOME) recently and I had a lot of trouble with it for some reason so I just fell back on Linux Mint (which is how it became my desktop computer’s OS).

Don’t over-think it. The joy of live ISOs is that you can put them on USB disks and try various interfaces out. At the end of the day though, it’s like human DNA…99% the same product under the hood, and you can typically change things around after the fact.

Actually, I have a good example of that: I put Linux Mint XFCE on my grandma’s machine because it was especially under-powered. XFCE is just about the lightestweight traditional desktop environment around. I was worried Linux Mint’s typical Cinnamon environment might be a little heavier and therefore leaving some performance on the table. Well, I spent hours trying to troubleshoot why I couldn’t use RustDesk to remotely connect to her computer for support, and it finally occurred to me that XFCE might be the problem. I didn’t have to reinstall the entire OS! I just installed the Cinnamon package (one single line of a command in the terminal), then I logged out, chose Cinnamon on the login screen, logged back in under this different desktop environment, and was able to use RustDesk successfully! No fuss, no muss. I’m not going to say you won’t have occasional headaches with Linux but you tell me what comparable options I have when Windows 11’s heavy fucker of an interface with a taskbar I can’t move around the screen is ruining my day, or macOS replaces a tried and true GUI aesthetic with a batshit broken liquid glass one? I certainly can’t swap in the older GUIs I liked, but in Linux, it’s totally an option, like changing the exhaust on a car or whatever.

Have fun :)

They can force this.

The only thing I’m looking forward to more than the collapse of the AI bubble is Microsoft, specifically, eating shit at the hands of a public that doesn’t want, need, or give two shits about them anymore. Just like Intel or whatever your favorite example is, see some fucking titan that thought they were some great titan, only to turn out to be Ozymandias when the whole fucking world looks up at them and shrugs. Like the end of the Truman show when this massive, all-consuming industry of a production comes crashing down in an evening, and the television viewers at home happily shrug and say, “what else is on?”

The word about Linux is out, and, as Snazzy Labs recently pointed out, Macs have accidentally become the best value in new computers. There are excellent non-Windows options for ordinary people who just do everything through a web browser and an office suite, for not much money all over the fucking place, and the day their greed catches up to them and they start to lose real market share is so close I can taste it.

lol what primaries? As I recall last time we were simply handed Kamala, and everyone I know voted for her despite that. But If Biden had stepped away earlier as he originally claimed to intend to, we would have had time for a real primary. And I would have voted in it.

Yeah. It’s a great looking car and all the upgrades sound great. I don’t think I could go for that model though due to the lack of CarPlay. I don’t think companies replacing existing value with enshitified subscriptions should be rewarded for those decisions. Then again I could never afford a new one anyway, haha.

Chevy Bolt EUV (sorta kinda bigger than a normal Bolt) Premier without self driving: very good.

Cheap feeling like any American car. Infotainment is trash; you can’t skip tracks on CarPlay most of the time because it’s always indexing. A problem no other OEM or even the cheapest of aftermarket radios I’ve ever touched has had. Remote climate control (essentially what we always mean when we say remote start) is locked behind a $50/mo OnStar subscription. Spies on you to sell data.

But, it costs like $30-40 a month to drive, it’s zippy enough, I’ve got front and rear seat warmers, it’s a hatch, and most importantly, it was a steal. We got it like four days before the tax credits were eliminated. Before that I’d have said EVs were the only deals to be had in the automotive space. Now there simply are no deals. My $18k Bolt Premier was the last chopper out of 'Nam for getting anything resembling a decent deal of a car.

We like it. Charging at home is nice. We hope it doesn’t break. Hybrid is a smarter buy because of the added flexibility afforded by gas but again, you weren’t getting any 2022 fully* loaded hybrid with 60k miles for $18k. Since this isn’t our only vehicle this was the easy choice.

I always get psyched to read articles like this and too often they’re just little stubs. I feel like the second this one gets going it just ends.