BrerChicken

I first used Linux in the late 90s, and it was just something that worked better on an older box. I installed Red Hat on an old 286 and the fun part was honestly getting it to work and learning about computers. Then one day I realized that I was spending all my free time working inside on this thing, but I was living on the water, in the Florida Keys, with access to boats and jet skis and pretty much anything. That had been my dream my whole life and all of a sudden I was living it. And I didn’t even have to be at work, right next door, until 10am. I was on a break from school then, and that’s actually what caused me to change my major from CS. I didn’t think it would be helpful to spend my whole life indoors!

Now I’m a physics teacher and I sometimes teach my 9th graders how to use Python for simple things like graphing. I love my life and I’m really thankful I keot computers as a hobby rather than as my profession.

This is so much more complex than the HGP

You’re right of course.

The Moral Majority was the real start. Friggin Reagan invited the loonies in and the right has literally never recovered. We’re all paying the price.

I don’t know anything about you, but that’s like the archetypal narcissist’s response!

“Obviously you made a mistake, otherwise you’d be agreeing with me.” 🤣🤣

Definitely didn’t misread the article. Maybe you’re misunderstanding it?

Umm, no there is not a government agency in this country (US) that provides “oversight” of journalists in order to ensure “responsible” reporting. Some organizations put up with that as a way of operating in certain countries, but you should definitely always be looking for sources that DO NOT. That is not a free press.

But in this case CNN is requiring this themselves. reputable news organizations don’t have the regional bureau okay the stories.

It’s just ennervating to keep reading people complain that TV “news” is biased. There’s no such thing at a television news organization, pure and simple.

This is an easy fix: stop reading CNN. I am of course assuming that you have already realized “watching” the news is like asking your parents to read you a story, and letting them choose every story. That’s not news, that’s entertainment and it’s not very entertaining. Go read what the journalists are writing, and try to read a lot of them.

I’ve read a few different people sound off on Neal Stephenson in this thread, complaining specifically about how he goes on and on. I friggin LOVE reading him, and it’s because of how he plays with language. His sentences are so wild, and so fun for me to read. They’re not driving the plot–they’re just cool thoughts written in interesting ways that reliably catch me off guard. Maybe it’s because English isn’t my first language, but for whatever reason I just love reading the ridiculous ways he has of saying sometimes very mundane things.

You have very strict and specific criteria! I feel like there’s just not that much good writing out there, and that I really have to search for it. Of course by “good” I mean in the subjective sense, good to me. There are very well-received books that I didn’t enjoy at all, and some pretty awful light reading that I can’t stop thinking about, Reviews and ratings really mean very little to me, so I mostly ignore them. That’s especially true on Goodreads and BookWyrm where people seem to want to tell you that the book they liked wasn’t THAT great.

I just read the blurb, and if it sounds interesting I’ll check it out from the library. It’s almost always available as an ebook or an audiobook, and even if I have to place a hold I can read a sample. I usually know within the first few pages if I like the style, and if I’m willing to continue. I drop many, many book, and I’m not worried about missing out on anything.

If one of my friends recommends a book I usually give it a shot, but I’m not afraid to drop those either. There are a couple of people whose recs always work out (thank you Cristina!), and those I just jump into right away, but that’s only literally two people. Most of my friends don’t really read in order to discuss what they’re reading, and some don’t even read at all 🤷🏻‍♂️

Can we talk more about your aversion to libraries? You can get great digital and audio books, and I don’t see a big difference getting a digital book from the library versus downloading one from PG. Is it an app issue?