Giving permission by saying yes to a “would you mind” question is the hill I die on. Usually I say “I would not mind” but if I’m feeling frisky I’ll say no and watch their brain melt.

I’d love yearly Debian releases instead of just every 2 years.

My biggest concern is that everyone will eventually be forced by societal and institutional expectations; for now people can easily choose not to wear them, but if/when your employer requires it for work or if/when the only way to talk to your friends is by using it, then you won’t have much of a choice.

For example, Zoom has very shady ties with the Chinese government (and several reports say that they’ve used it to surveil and censor people), yet many schools and workplaces required it (and many still do now). You could refuse to install/use it, but then you’d lose your job or fail your classes. It’s a similar story for TikTok, Discord, and Facebook before that.

Free (As in beer and speech!)

Do you live in a utopia where you get as much beer as you want without having to pay for it, or do you live in a dystopia where you have to pay to be able to speak your mind and only in limited quantities?

Thank you for interjecting.

In exchange, FF uses Google search by default. So they’re also getting direct value from the deal.

I really like that bluetooth devices can still work at distances farther than a typical cable would allow. I have a decently-sized studio apartment and I can see my computer screen from most places. It’s nice to continue watching a video as I move around the apartment to clean, get up to stretch, play with my cat, etc.

You could probably get wired headphones that long, but then you’d be dealing with that giant cable all the time. Or you’d have to constantly swap cables and interrupt the audio during that time. My AirPods work reliably from 15ft away. I can’t argue with that convenience.

Customers have more power than companies would like you to believe. Politely explain the situation to customer support, and ask for a refund. If they refuse, mention that you purchased a game that was promised to work for at least several months, and you haven’t received the product you paid for. Because of that, you’re considering charging back through your bank. If that doesn’t work, say you’ll charge back if they don’t refund. If that doesn’t work, actually charge back through your bank. Banks are surprisingly cool about it as long as you don’t do it too often. Of course, you need to buy the game directly (no account balance) from a credit card.

Just don’t be a jerk to the support person, because it’s almost certainly not their fault. It’s also less likely to get you what you want. They’d rather give you what you want so you go away, and you just need to give them reasons that they can relay to their supervisor if necessary.

Does anyone else prefer no MOTD? You can SSH into your server without clobbering your scroll back buffer. It makes everything feel more seamless.

Stop pinging yourself, stop pinging yourself!

Just connecting to the internet on various networks can be confusing. And they’re going to need to periodically upgrade system packages, or they’ll be vulnerable to various exploits. Even if you set up auto-upgrades, occasionally some things will need manual intervention.

Assuming this story is true, Linux is going to be a nightmare for that woman. It’s come a long way, but it’s still not as dead simple as it needs to be for non-technical elderly people.

A robe and wizard hat.

Hi Richard!

While I agree that you can’t diagnose others without formal training, if OP’s parents are narcissists, asking them to talk to a medical professional would likely blow up in OP’s face. Also, any reputable psychiatrist or psychologist will refuse to diagnose someone else based on second-hand information.

The most such a person (or anyone in a counselling position, like a school guidance counsellor) could do is help OP cope with their situation. That would likely be helpful, but it should be clear that most of the changes would need to come from within OP.

OP is 13.

Now I want to start calling people "narse"s with no context.

thanks

I can appreciate the appeal of physical copies, but if it’s hindering your enjoyment then why not just listen to digital copies? The vinyl records are probably being scribed from a digital version, anyway.

Meh, it’s a hobby. Lots of people talk about their hobbies.

Still a funny comic, though.