Great points!

It feels like these should be solvable problems, though.

I absolutely fully agree. Honestly, I think some sort of micro transaction system would be the answer to ubiquitous advertising etc.

I like that assumption but am a little doubtful… I remember when we all figured no president could ever be dumber the Bush 2…

The people who upvoted and moved on, probably have a sense of humour. The ones who stopped to yell “that’s not funny!!!”, probably less so.

I’d be super curious to see how much of that is food delivery bikers. In my city, they are everywhere but I’m not dude I’ve ever seen a woman doing it. But in terms of reckless cycling, those delivery folks are way over represented (which makes sense, their income depends on speed.)

Oh interesting, I’d figured I’d just stick with the default environment but I suppose I could absolutely look around for ones that play nicely with some beginners distro like Mint.

Thanks!

Ha, yeah I’ve seen a lot of advice about snapshotting the install in case I accidentally destroy it. Love the notion of having that automated! There’s a whole world of linux awesomeness that I’m looking forward to. (Until I try abd am reduced to tears but until then…!)

Yeah, I think you got it exactly. Once we get used to a thing for free, we get very annoyed when it is no longer free.

And fully agree with paywalled/paid journalism versus the hellish race to the bottom engendered by advertiser supported news.

Yeah the implicit argument, to me at least, was that all journalism should be free. Which, sure but that’s a way larger discussion than just the internet. We’d need radically new funding models etc.

Oooof, that’s rough, sorry to hear it.

I’m not much of a gamer and for now, most I’m interested in a fairly old. (Though I can hear Baldur’s gate calling to me…)

Oh wild, I have a switcher for my peripherals but had no idea they existed for hard drives! That blows my mind.

Ha, that’s beautiful! I can’t wait to be comfortable enough with linux to just wipe and go.

Regularly!

It’s imperfect but it’s simple, free and does what I need. Been happily using it for years and years.

Honestly, despite being an IT guy, I’ve never been great at the mechanics of “how the fuck the computer does its magic” which is a huge part of the linux appeal for me.

Interesting notes though and absolutely worth considering, thanks!

Yeah, I think for starters I’m leaning Mint for my first switch on my main. Then maybe a more fun distro like Pop! On a backup computer that’s just collecting dust right now. And then re-evaluate and look at distros for an elderly laptop…

This is a dangerous/fun path.

The more I look into it, the more impressed I am. Already starting to think about which of my old beasts I can try to revive with an appropriate distro…

I was going to be extremely lazy this year and draw dignity from the Simpsons on a shirt. Cost - that shirt.

(But then my cat had a seizure so I stayed home with her. She’s recovered and had a full night of good skritches.)

It’s about a real problem absolutely, and a problem that is worthy of discussion but just this thought process rings so false (at least, among the priviliged western users whom I think make up a large percentage of us.)

I mean, absolutely, especially globally, there are still a lot of communities like that.

In the developed west, personally at least, I think the people who would have that attitude tend to be a bit too old (or way too old) to be having kids.

While I can’t speak to OP’s experience, that’s the kind of sentiment that publicly expressed would make employment more difficult etc.

Ha, completely. I’d just figured that was a Ukraine war switch but I imagine you’re right.

Not sure generalizing based on your parents is legit.

Admittedly, “Y’all ever stopped to notice on how my parents fear…” doesn’t sound quite the same.