Zink

Agreed, and your wording is excellent.

I appreciate the opinion!

I pretty much know that stuff, and it's probably another small reason I haven't played it yet. But also knowing that, I wouldn't expect the turn based CRPG feel or anything like.

Well and also, BG1 EE and BG2 EE work great for me in Linux (I think they have native versions so no surprise) so I can get a shot of the real shit whenever I want, lol.

Having a couch PC with its own monitor(s) able to swing in and out of the way without taking over the TV is a game changer. I can play BG while hanging out with my family and pause it at any time.

He's an advocate for spending where it brings you value (and only you can decide that), and aggressively cutting out the things that don't.

That's an excellent way to put it! Sometimes I feel like a weirdo for actually pursuing the things that bring me happiness. Like that makes me the eccentric one. So many seem to be on a boring yet miserable autopilot, trying get the things they've been taught they SHOULD want.

Youtube Music has two different bands called Splashdown, and each has two albums.

It's definitely a step in the wrong direction as far as not supporting giant evil corporations, but the music is there.

I mean, this is terrible garbage, but if Google is going to fully ruin Android then at least the news being out might push resources towards mobile Linux faster.

I'm actually using an old iphone. I look at it like an appliance to connect with mainstream institutions (including local people like other school parents), and take pictures. I have other appliances of varying complexity up to and including my car that run systems I know nothing about as well. I'm not happy about that either, but these are the compromises that happen in the real world.

The closed system isn't appealing to me, but the mass market appeal of the device is. A stunning majority of my direct acquaintances use it. It can streamline interactions sometimes.

And you know, I don't trust them of course, but at least Apple has actually said out loud in high profile presentations that privacy is a fundamental human right, and they always point out when they can keep personal things on-device. And they fight orders to unlock phones. Plus they make their money on hardware sales and services for the most part.

Google, on the other hand, exists pretty much solely to vacuum up data and keep us online and cloud-connected. They typically get major points for interoperability from me, but then I ask how often is it just a cynical embrace/extend/extinguish strategy?

Any big mainstream phone now is just a locked down disposable product of a megacorp. It's also a data scraping tendril of said megacorp loaded with sensors and a fast data connection. And now as a bonus for those of us in the US - it's probably a convenient backdoor warrantless wiretap that the oligarchs can just accidentally forward the government the passwords to.

My COMPUTER runs Linux. I can't wait until I can have a real linux computer in the form factor of a high quality phone.

This subject is dear to my heart, because I realized that part of my conservative upbringing taught me money is the important thing and that emotions are worthless and dumb. If you spend money on something that makes you happy but does not provide commensurate utility or return on investment, it is by definition a dumb purchase. Treating yourself is a waste of resources and therefore makes you a bad person. Maybe unless you are debt free and fully funding every retirement and college account you got. (note the unspoken implication that it's cool for the rich to do whatever they want)

As I have spent decades reverse engineering the instructions for my brain, I have recently concluded that not only do I thrive when building and creating things, but having the perfect high-quality tool that is great at what it does right down to the sensory feedback can really enhance the experience for me.

I've spent a bunch of money expanding and upgrading my collection this year, and I haven't regretted it once. But I've spent even more on the materials just in the months since!

Ooh, I think it's time for me to finally buy this game, hopefully in a way that signals my support for this action.

It blows my mind that I haven't played BG3, btw. The original saga of 1 + 2 + expansions is S-tier nostalgia deep in my heart right along with the other big PC and console RPGs of the 90s. i've just been in one of those phases of life where I am focused on other things and not playing many games at all unless my family gets me to jump into something light and co-op.

And when I say focused, on a scale from 1 to 10 I'm talking ADHD hyperfocus.

Is that your yard?

This is so awesome and so perfect for my yard that I showed my family and said we should do this next year.

The yard already gets decorated (I have a third grader who is way into it) and this would make the perfect foreground.

people whose entire job description is "I admin and support these three systems" being unable to do literally anything in their systems without relying on the vendor's help desk for the software.

I have run into a lot of engineers who would better be described as purchasers of equipment. And those roles are often very necessary, especially in fields like manufacturing engineering where you might have a single engineer specifying/buying/managing millions of dollars in capital equipment that makes money 24 hours a day if running and loses money 24 hours a day if not running.

And the usefulness or uselessness of those individuals varies, just as it does with all people. But to think of somebody with an admin title being SO helpless is pretty crazy. But maybe it's a win-win for the admin and the software vendor at the expense of the employer, lol.

But why do all that work when I can just add a few words to my prompt and let the AI burn through more energy than it would have taken to drive myself to the zoo?

I found the perfect set of instructions for enjoying the work that went into Ubuntu without dealing with snaps or canonical.

They can be found in on https://www.linuxmint.com/