If it weren’t for Ubuntu, I’d wager half or more Linux users wouldn’t be Linux users. I have no hard data to back this up and I’m willing to be told I’m wrong. But most of the stories I hear are “started on Ubuntu back when they were mailing out free CDs” and “tried a few other things, gave up until I found Ubuntu”

It’s barrier to entry was so long for Windows users, and it allowed people the time and space to get comfortable with being on something not-windows, and sure, eventually a big chunk moved on, but it got them to this side of the fence, and that’s admirable. Wubi (a dual boot installer you could run from within windows without a CD a thumb drive) is what really got me on Linux, and eventually I stopped dualbooting altogether.

I am not a techy person. But I started using Linux in around 2007ish (might have been a little earlier). First started because of philosophical issues with open source mentality.

I bled for that philosophy, let me tell you. Nothing worked out of the box, my only friend who used Linux was an online friend, and his tech support could only help me if we happened to be online at the same time. He helped a lot, but dozens and dozens of guides later I managed to get it mostly working. Google.com/Linux used to be a thing, and it was quite helpful. After a few reversions back to Windows in the early days I got a terrible little netbook, and Wubi became a thing. It allowed you to install windows from within windows, without having to have a live CD. It worked great, but it was right back to all the same touchpad, wifi, monitor, et cetera issues. But this time I could go back to Windows and research my issue, print off the guides, and use them to troubleshoot. So much easier than asking my neighbor to use their computer, or trying to read and follow the guides from my blackberry lmao

Now? I haven’t a had a single issue like that when installing a distro in 10+ years. Shit just works now. Granted, I stick to mainstream distros, or forks of mainstream distros. Craziest thing I’ve tried recently was Bazzite, which is basically just silver blue. I liked being on Bazzite and silver blue, but I ended up going back to regular old fedora workstation, because relying solely on flatpaks is limiting, and I (remember, not a techy person) don’t understand rpm ostree lol

I showed it to my brother who’s flavored straight vanilla and he didn’t get it, either. I’m glad to know we’re not alone. Lol.

Yeah, same. I chalked it up to the homosexuality, but I’m not sure after reading some of the comments.

Oooh, I get to share one of my all time favorite artists!

The taste is generally okayish, it’s the texture that gets me. It’s always so granular and just… Eugh. The impossible burger, to be clear, is amazing in both taste and texture.

Now, to be completely fair now that I’m really thinking of it, most of the meat replacements I’ve had were cooked by my brother’s ex fiance, who also ruined tofu for me for years. And my vegan buddy is the one that made me try tofu again and I loved it, and the impossible burger…

You know what. In retracting my comment. It’s absolutely possible that I just didn’t like it because she was an awful cook. I will go about trying them all again

So, I’m one of those “bring it out mooing” people. But I also know damn well what doneness levels are. I genuinely enjoy extra rare steak. All that said, one of the best steaks I’ve ever had was a medium-well sous vide. The best steak I ever had was a rare sous vide. It’s amazing. Hit with the blow torch, that bit of amazing char on the surface, perfectly rare steak that was an evenly cooked all the way through. My God that was good. Sous vide cooking is amazing.

But yes, I do absolutely prefer steaks as rare as I can get them. And I’ll (jokingly, lovingly) poke fun at a friend who orders their steak well done, but I don’t actually give a shit. Like, we’re both here eating an animal that died after being tortured, ripped too young from its mother, and scared, with all the associated environmental baggage that comes with raising livestock… This whole meal will fall apart if we start picking at too many threads. Neither one of us got room to talk, y’know?

Isn’t that why we brush our teeth, though? Like… What am I doing wrong? At this point I wish I could convince a dentist to pull all of my teeth, including the healthy ones, and give me dentures. I’m 34, and I don’t smile, I don’t eat out with friends, I don’t do anything that may show my teeth, because I’m missing a front tooth and I look like some cartoon hillbilly. I hate it so much.

I am planning a move to San Antonio, and the biggest determining factor for me has been proximity to Mexican dentists. I have fucked teeth. My bottom wisdom teeth came in laying down like battering rams and crushed the back 4 teeth on both sides, completely destroyed them. I had no dental insurance and no ability to pay out of pocket, so I just had to deal with the pain. My mom managed to find a dentist to prescribe me Vicodin while it was happening, but that was the extent of what we could get done. Since then, I’ve had several abscesses because of it, and had to have several removed. I still need a few removed and implants or something. I brush my fucking teeth, I don’t understand what the problems are. But I’ll be happy to be near to cheaper dentists.

That’s a real shame about the web boards. I miss real forums :(

Here’s a fun little story about the first time we saw black squirrels.

We had just moved to Norfolk, Virginia. My mom is driving through Norfolk, Virginia. Have you been to Norfolk, Virginia? Norfolk, Virginia is heavily African American. Heavily. We are white.

My mom is driving, downtown Norfolk. It’s very heavy traffic, we’re going slow. It’s one of those areas where you worry about someone randomly starts cleaning your windshield, or if it’s late at night you might you may worry about carjackings. We do not have air-conditioning, and our windows are down.

My mom sees a group of black squirrels for the first time in her life. And she yells out “OH MY GOD THEY’RE BLACK! THEY’RE ALL BLACK”

I swear to you, I have never seen turn so pale so quick. She looks around and sees that lots and lots of people walking around have, indeed, heard her.

Luckily, traffic was moving fast enough there wasn’t too long of an awkward time with the people on the street.

Given the reaction everyone has to black squirrel I’m pretty sure the folks on the street knew why she’d yelled, but we didn’t know that at the time. Lol

Seeing Phil Ochs in the wild is… Wild. It often feels like he’s my own personal thing, because no one knows him, even among my leftist friends

My mom told us that “taste buds change every 7 years” but that each individual tastebud was on its own 7 year cycle, so one could change at any time. Try it today, you may hate it. Try it tomorrow, you may love it.

Made us very adventurous eaters as kids, and if we didn’t like something she never forced us to eat it. But we were always willing to try it again later on.

Except for raw oysters. That’s a texture thing. Shudder

Former smoker, current vaper. I know inhaling anything other than clean air isn’t good for me, and I know nicotine addiction isn’t good. I plan on quitting, and I’m making decent progress to that point.

But it bugs the shit out of me when people try to act like it’s worse than cigarettes. It’s not. Shitty Chinese vapes marketed to kids that we don’t know the ingredients of? Sure, ban em. Black market vapes made in some dudes garage with oil? Absolutely track em down and end that man’s whole career.

But properly made, regulated vape juice in a rebuildable tank? Leave me the fuck alone. Please. Please do not take the thing that has helped millions of people quit smoking!

Can you link me any decent articles to help the next time someone says some dumb reactionary shit?

I don’t look like bubbles! 😭

I’m a computer idiot. I know Lemmy is full of techy people who can explain to me in exhaustive (and exhausting…) detail why Gnome is evil or horrible or designed by morons or whatever. It seems to be the most popular position. But I fucking love it. I use Linux for ideological reasons, and because I’m a computer idiot, and it’s safer from viruses, and with an immutable OS I’m less likely to bork my shit. I came from windows, and since the switch around 5 years ago, I’ve never been happier. It feels clean, and fun, and so easy to use. It’s perfect for my touchscreen, when I flip my laptop over and use it as a tablet. It’s fantastic for keyboard controls when I don’t want to fuck with a mouse. The mouse gestures are amazing when I don’t want to fuck with a keyboard. I use Fedora because I love stock* Gnome. Ubuntu was okay, but that basic Gnome experience is just frickin fabulous.

*Okay, not stock. There’s a few extension. But not many!

A friend I had not seen in about 15 years, upon seeing a picture of me while we were on the phone, without a skipping a beat, no hesitation, blurted out “You like look bubbles from trailer park boys!”

I played it off, got off the phone, and cried. Straight up cried.

It’s not totally unheard of. Firefighters do it. I imagine back in the day when doctors lived at hospitals (does this still happen?) they did it, too. People who do live in caregiving often practice waking up routines in case of emergency.

Basketball shorts are my normal attire. I’ve also been a caregiver for many years for my mom, and I can assure you, in an urgent situation, I can have the shorts on before I stand. I’m a pro at wake up, reach down and grab, and slide my legs into them as I’m standing. It literally takes no more time for me than it would to walk out of my room naked. They sit directly on top of my flip flops that I also slide into as I stand up. Shirts take more time, but that’s less important for me as a guy (still pretty important as a fat guy that hates being shirtless beyond what I can even explain).

That said, not everyone is such a seasoned professional. Robe is probably the better call. I’d wear a robe more often if I could find one that wasn’t so hot, I can only handle them in deepest of winter

My poor little boy gets his eye gookies cleaned daily, but I would never wipe them back on him! That’s just cruel