ThePowerOfGeek

I’m really sorry you’re in this situation. I can’t fully understand where you’re coming from because I can’t walk in your shoes. But I genuinely wish you the best. It sounds like you have a shit-ton of stress and are dealing with depression right now. I can relate to that part at least, and I really hope you can get some help from a counselor, because while they can’t help with some things, they can make a world of difference in other ways. Hopefully I don’t piss you off by saying this, but… sending you a virtual hug. Hang in there.

I think I know where you’re coming from on this. Linux is very cool in a lot of ways, and it is very flexible and fun to play with. But it does require an investment of learning and time to get more familiar with it. And that can be frustrating/overwhelming to face. And like you, I find the whole cult-like vibe around it annoying.

I first got familiar with Linux many years ago, mostly out of curiosity. But also because I liked the ideas of using it and the idea of having another OS option other than Windows/MacOS. While I am still not a Linux expert, I feel like I can get around the OS competently. And in hindsight I think it was worth the time I spent getting familiar with it.

Also, like you in not a pursuit when it comes to terminal use in Linux. Give me a nice UI option any day if the week. And to be fair, many Linux distro have come a long way with their UIs in the last 20 of so years.

If you just want to tinker with a solid distro that has a decent UI, I recommend either Ubuntu or Zorin. Also, I recommend trying to pace yourself with learning it. Only pick the parts that interest you, and take your time learning about them. There’s no rush. Good luck.

ETA: Also, if you want to play with a couple of different Linux distros, I recommend using a virtualization app like VirtualBox. You can just spin up virtual machines and install a distro on them. And if they don’t work out or you don’t like them you can just delete the VMs. And virtualization is a fun little rabbit hole in and of itself.

Here are some of the common complaints about Jill Stein:

As the Green Party candidate she will pull in more third party votes than most (if not all) of the other parties. While those views are usually trivial in number in the grand scheme of things, they can have a big impact in let seeing states.

She has not gone out of her way to criticize Trump, and has instead treated both Trump and Harris as being equally bad, even though Trump is arguably much more anti-environmental than Harris.

This isn’t her first time coming in as what’s seen as a Democrat vote-spoiler candidate.

From the perspective of some, she pops up every four years to try to take votes off the Democrat candidate and then seemingly disappears for another four years.

She has a bit of a cult of personality thing going on - arguably moreso than either Harris or Biden.

She’s in her mid-70s, and so no spring chicken. This has become more of a concern this cycle because a) she’s for years older than she was in 2020 (obviously), b) age has become more of a point of concern given how both Biden and Trump have apparently seen marked cognitive decline at less than 10 years her seniors.

There’s some evidence to suggest she is cozy with Putin, who is clearly does not have America’s best interests in mind. For example, she was photographed at a fancy dinner sitting at the same table as him and several of his ‘crew’ (among others). The common excuse for this is “she didn’t choose her seating!” But equally there’s no reason she couldn’t have got up and moved or left the event.

Photo of the dinner in question, with labels:

I’m sure there are other points I’m missing. But those are the ones that spring to mind.

I actually had an argument with a former employer quite a few years ago about that ‘computer operator’ / ~36k limit thing.

My scummy boss at that time was telling me that because of those stipulations I wasn’t eligible for any overtime and they could demand I work as many hours as they want - even though I was hourly. When I said that didn’t sound right he dared me to look up our state’s employment laws.

So I did (side note: I’m in one of the most employee-friendly states), and it very clearly said that my boss was profoundly wrong. So I sent him the URL to that page. And he and the piece of shit HR person shut right up about it. Me and all of my colleague never heard that ridiculous argument again.

My last couple of jobs, including my current one, have been much more reasonable and accommodating. Even though I’m now salary, they aren’t exploitative of me or my colleagues.

So my advice to other IT folk is: take the time to check up on your state’s employment laws. If you are being exploited by your employer they may be totally in the wrong.

I watched it last weekend with my kids. I was pleasantly surprised - it’s actually a pretty good movie. Shame it’s done so poorly in the box office. Now there won’t be any sequels. The marketing department really screwed this one over with that first trailer. The squeezed every joke into it and made it look really goofy. I think that put off many of the people who even heard about the movie.

But what about the third option??? You know, the circus carnie who pops up every four years, who says she is against both the surgeon and the clown, and who tries to lure people into voting for her because she’s got sass and moxie.

That’s a damn good cast. Looks like a funny movie.

Miller was so far out of his depth there. It was like a mini replay of the main event.

Nah, it’s a Scottish man describing a shot of whiskey.

I’m a Gen-Xer who hates birds and squirrels equally. So I guess I’m your antithesis?

Though I don’t hate any of them to the point of harming any of them. That would be too much effort.

I was looking into something similar recently, and asked around on Lemmy. The general consensus I heard was that a Mini PC weren’t ideal, mostly I think due to the fact that they aren’t designed purely for streaming.

One think someone said piqued my interest, and I might try this. They recommended buying a cheap, Android TV compatible streaming box (like an Onn brand one), and side-loading an open source (and ad-free) launcher onto it.

I found this thread over on the Huffman Shitshow that had some good instructions.

There are a few users who certainly seem to be.

Yeah, now they’re going to have to put in a ton of extra effort to come out with fresh racist misogynistic memes filled with stupid strawman arguments! It’s so unfair! Won’t someone think of the white supremacist Bubbas and the Russian troll farm workers?! /s

His whole Western obsession/trope is getting really old. I wish they’d quit with these shitty western movies starring dollar store Eastwood.

Thwaites, which already contributes 4% to global sea level rise, holds enough ice to raise sea levels by more than 2 feet. But because it also acts as a natural dam to the surrounding ice in West Antarctica, scientists have estimated its complete collapse could ultimately lead to around 10 feet of sea level rise.

Well that sucks.

Sadly, they won’t. This kind of belligerent stupidity is exactly what the majority of voters in her district love to see. The arseholes who vote for her are gleefully fucking over the entire country because they think this kind of shit equates to “OwNiNg tHe LiBs!!1!”

I don’t have a direct answer to your question. But I advise caution in putting your creative works online in the way you are planning. Between people plagiarizing it (either word for word or just the broader concepts) and AIs doing similar things, you could find that your work gets stolen.

Self-publishing might at least give you a bit of inherent copyright protection. Then at least you will have an ISBN associated to it, and you can always host your stories somewhere (WordPress, Medium, etc.).

If you want to self-publish your stories a free service like Smash Words would work.

No, you are correct about the number of posts. But it looks like the community is only about 2 weeks old. And if they focus on quality over quantity that post count isn’t a bad thing.

To add to point #3, they can also sell on the customer data they collect to marketing companies for added revenue.

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion… I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

Roy Batty’s closing monologue from Blade Runner before he dies.

It’s depressing, but in a beautiful way.