Nah, just somebody who was lucky enough to soar with some actual sword masters over the years. I’m no Jill Bearup, but I know which end goes into the other guy.

You obviously haven’t fought anyone with a sword. And before you ask, yes I have.

I’m 58, and the only “code” I’ve ever written is hexadecimal for the Apple ][+ we had back in high school. Which isn’t even remotely close to what actual code is. Thanks for the attempt at insult, but it’s my reality, so fuck you too.

Some questions:

What version of Linux does Fedora install? Is it directly compatible with Windows software such as games and OBS, or does it require modifications/compatibility installations such as WINE? Does it have documented support online or is it a matter of haunting forums and such for when problems occur? And no matter how solid an OS is, I will tend to break it, generally by doing stupid shit, but I will break it. Before putting it back together. Which is generally how I tend to learn software.

Frankly, I don’t care.

I’m going to keep using Windows 10, updates or not, until I absolutely have no other choice, hoping against hope that the cracks in the Recall/AI monolith with have spread wide enough that a future Win 12 or 13 won’t have them in it. I don’t run a business. I don’t keep sensitive information on any internet capable devices and my work uses the AS400 system.

I know Linux is a thing, and about a dozen years ago I spent a year using Ubuntu exclusively. While appreciating the OS, I got tired of chanting magic spells at computer every time I wanted to use software I liked on it, and so went back to Windows.

These days, despite being a reasonably tech savvy person approaching 60, I’m getting to the point where I’m just not up to learning/relearning an OS unless there is a critical need, and using Windows 10 there just isn’t. At least not for me.

I grew up in a village called Cumberland that is growing in slow, moderated steps…

As someone who lived during a large chunk of the Cold War, let me add some personal perspective on this. You are absolutely right in that the Soviet Union and the West were in a war from WWII on. A spy war, an economic war and several hot proxy wars.

The US lost nearly all of those, but they did win the economic war, and in doing so broke the USSR economically and politically.

After the USSR fell, the Cold War was over. Done. Finito. To emphasize this, capitalism came pouring into all the former SSR’s and former Soviet citizens got to taste consumerism triggering chaos that took a full generation to hammer out. And then the 2010’s came along and Russia began using it’s natural resources to become more and more integrated with Europe.

To the point where some analysts were beginning to be worried that Russia might come to dominate the EU economically.

In fact, if Putin had waited another 5 years Europe would likely have become so dependant on Russian natural gas that they would literally have been unable to effectively protest any move Russia made, in fear of them turning off the tap. Russia was on the road to being THE dominant power in Europe, and Putin literally threw it ALL away chasing dreams of a renewed Russian Empire.

Quantity has a quality all its own

My guess, to be perfectly honest.

Russian Propaganda/disinformation most likely. Trying to sow internal dissent in their opponents has become a signature Russian move.

I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I’m in Canada and I’ve noticed none of this. No video load delays, no anti ad-blocker pop ups, none of it. I’m not going to stop using Firefox or Ublock Origin though.

The day I can’t get around youtube ads is the day I stop using youtube. I already refuse to use it on my mobile device or my TV, due to the ads.

You can’t unexecute someone if you got it wrong, and the system has gotten these cases wrong more than once.

It’s actually pretty easy to permanently disable updates in Windows.

• Go to Services.msc
• Find Windows Update Services
• Changed it to Disabled

Done.

I go there only to check r/ukraine with an old throwaway account.

I’m positive I hate them for what they did to me and our kids. Every so often, when I feel myself slowing down a little bit or becoming complacent at what I’ve built in the wake of her destruction, I pull out that little coal of fury and blow it back into a roaring fire that propels me forward into the future and lights the way for my kids toward a better path than what I walked.

That… seems circular. The reason you have the right isn’t self-defence though, its national defence. The second amendment was put in place to provide a ready source for a “well armed and well regulated militia”, and that right has killed more people than it has saved. I guess the real issue is that I can’t understand you, or where you are coming from.

I’m in my 50s and live in rural Canada, back in the itty bitty town on the West Coast that I moved out of as a teen, desperate to find work in the city. Today I hunt, I fish, and my favorite gun is the .270 Winchester I inherited from my father after he passed on a decade ago. Gun ownership and carrying laws are vastly more restrictive here than they are in the US, but not once have felt that those restrictions impinge on either my rights or my ability to protect myself or my family.

You have hundreds, nay thousands of people, dying every year from what to me, seems like a stupidly easy cause to prevent. All because your nation seems unwilling to grasp the concept that a good number of people aren’t able to responsibly use the ability to project lethal force. No, you can’t stop gun crimes by regulating guns, any more than locks can prevent all burglaries, but you CAN make it harder for bad people to get guns. Just like a good lock makes it harder for someone to steal your stuff.

Anyway, it’s 2am here, and I apologize for subjecting you to this rant, but its a frustration I’ve wanted to get off my chest for awhile now. It’s pretty clear you and I will never see eye to eye on this, but it was nice to back and forth a bit on this. I know it means less than a pitcher of spit, but all the best to you and yours, and to your sister as well.

Worstdriver

https://thosenerdygirls.org/logical-fallacies-8/

Do read the whole article.

The problem is… you are assuming you are going to be attacked, and you assume you are going to be powerless unless you have a gun with you. Americans have been taught from infancy that the only true source of power and justice comes from the barrel of a gun. The lessons from the War of Independence and the Civil War have hammered home time and time again the belief that only naked, lethal force can guarantee safety and enact needed change.

Not governments, or agencies, or powers. Not religion, not dialogues, not negotiations. Only the ability and willingness to kill your fellow man can guarantee your safety and shape the world around you into what you want to see.

At times it has been your virtue, but it is also your curse.

The problem is that the things you talk about are all tools. Including guns. It’s just that the primary tool use of a gun is to kill. If I see someone openly carrying a gun they are saying, “I am ready to kill.” Carrying a knife? “I am ready to cut something.” Driving a car? “I am going somewhere”

Can those latter two things be used to kill? Of course. Anything can be used to kill, but that isn’t their primary function. The primary use of a gun, the reason why guns are made, is to kill things. And that makes all the difference.