I’ve had Fedora on several computers, and everything worked for quite a while while. Eventually though, things just began to break randomly - probably a sign of me not doing much maintenance.

The most common issue was Gnome Software center failing to update anything. I just ignored that app, and continued to upgrade through the CLI for a while. Eventually, I just got tired of that, and installed Debian on my HTPC.

Now I can finally treat that computer the way I want. Just install, watch videos, update when needed, and ignore the rest. I have another computer for satisfying my tinkering desires, so this one is just for the videos and very light browsing, but not much else. Therefore, Debian is the perfect distro for this kind of use.

I expected to see microbes here first. Insects have a slower reproduction cycle, so evolution should take longer.

Doing chemistry by mixing chemicals is like fumbling in the dark. You tend to have ridiculously low yield, because you can’t really control which reaction takes place. It’s just a game of probabilities, which makes this gamble really expensive.

Living cells are doing chemistry the right way by combining specific materials and making specific products. Enzymes are very picky, but with them you can actually control the reactions. Making enzymes is just next level complexity and a story for another time.

Maybe hundreds of years from now we can synthesize nutrients without involving any living cells. At that point, it could be seen as unethical to enslave, murder and eat billions of microbial cells. For the time being, our life still depends on other living things, so better get comfortable with having mixed feelings about survival.

In summary: You and me, we’re in the same tribe, and we hold the superior worldview. Those people over there in the out-group are wrong. They also do things the wrong way, because they aren’t in our tribe.

Hearing this sort of talk pulls some strings in the human mind. There’s this interesting default setting that says tribalism = TRUE.

LOL. Those 3 weeks must have been really exciting at Llama Group. I can only imagine how the conversion went when the engineers tried to explain what FOSS means and the CEO understood none of it.

Is this one of those cases where you would need to make a parallel universe and let it run for billions of years to prove this idea?

But Google would much rather keep all of the data for themselves. If you could actually control what’s happening in your phone, it could interfere with Google’s main business model.

If you’re a software developer or an enthusiast, you’ll notice it immediately. You’ve been reading and hearing about the new release of the BestThingEver 3.14, and you’re totally hyped up about it. You rush to install BTE to experience how awesome it is only to find out that the Debian repos still have a BTE 2.0.5 and none of the cool new features everyone has been talking about for the last 6 months.

Oh, that didn’t sound familiar? If you can’t tell the difference between two versions of a particular application, Debian will be perfectly fine for you.

Is the decade long transition period really over?

It’s a tradition at this point. If you post an infographic about unix/linux system folders, you’re obliged to avoid all modern sources. Preferably, you would use material that is at least 20 years old.

Also: What You Drink Is What You Pee, or WYDIWYP.

People have been reviving old hardware with Linux for decades now. Next step is to revive old organs too. If your kidneys aren’t good enough for their original purpose anymore, perhaps you can run Linux on them and give them a second life.

relevant xkcd

And that’s why you need to figure out what’s the right balance of work and inconvenience vs. the amount of privacy you get in return. Setting up a degoogled android is possible and relatively easy too. Living with that phone and interacting with the real world around you in 2024 is a completely different matter, and it’s entirely understandable if that isn’t your cup of tea.

Had they done it with Xitter, the result would have been a total racist.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist

That’s true. If something doesn’t directly make money, it can still exist because of taxes or another arrangement like that.

So, the key is to run your business for loss. Wait, that’s called a charity, not a business. How is this thing supposed to work?

In the early days of laser development, it was seen as a solution seeking a problem. A few decades later, it actually turned out to be really handy, but it would have been tough to sell this idea to anyone before that. Imagine how hard it is to find funding for research that solves a problem that doesn’t exist.

Oh, and no youtuber would ever say anything like “pause the video here if you need more time to read the details” and nobody ever adds any single frame easter eggs in their videos either.