The only time that I use Amazon now is when I cannot get the item that I need either in the city that I live in first or another online retailer. My Amazon spending as decreased significantly since I left prime in January of 2025.

So, your perspective is that pregnant people who have life-threatening medical conditions arising from their pregnancy through no fault of their own should have to pay out-of-pocket? Additionally, in it sounds like you feel that premature births due to life-threatening medical issues that the mother is suffering from and subsequent aftercare for the mother and premature infant should also be paid for out of pocket?

I am well aware of that. This couple’s experience was in parallel to what occurs all the time with people who have insurance in the U.S.

Ah yes, the United States – Don’t get sick or you will have to fight tooth and nail to get your insurance company to pay for necessary medical care. This is a story heard over and over again stateside. If the U.S. was truly the best place in the world to live, this would simply not happen. As a person who has worked in healthcare in the U.S. for over 15 years, I feel this in my bones. I am glad you could get legal help and have the right outcome based on what you paid for. I would love nothing more than to see everyone who comes to the U.S. receive medical care appropriately – Nobody asks to get sick :(

Yes, true on all points. Many people do not recognize when they are being sold to and also when they are being manipulated to spend more. I personally will never enter a store without a list of what I need. Then as I shop if I do see something that looks worth trying, I weigh whether it is worth the price. I am the exception rather than the rule though as a shopper :) I personally do not enjoy shopping, so I like to complete my list and get out.

Hahaha! I will tell you, my own mother (70s) buys rotisserie chicken because it is cheaper per pound of meat than a raw chicken and is just as good or better than if she bought the same size chicken and roast it herself in her own oven. Something to know about my mom is she is frugal. She coupons, and will always seek out the best deal. Whoever wrote that WSJ article truly has no idea what it is to budget is what I see. Additionally, some of the neighborhoods that were listed, are some of the richest parts of NY, so of course people who have money will also go out and buy easy meals rather than spend time cooking.

Yeah, no. Companies don’t get to scan my face or ID. You know they are selling your data.

Yes, generally you can. I run Linux Mint and can count the number of times that I HAD to use the terminal. There are plenty of times where I choose to use the terminal because it’s faster though.

WOW. That can’t taste good…or be very good for human consumption.

I just jumped ship from Windows 11 about a week ago. I have not logged back into my Windows dual boot since because I have not yet found a reason to. Beware of dual booting since Windows updates sometimes hose the boot manager for your Linux partitions. I chose Linux Mint Cinnamon because I wanted a similar look/feel to windows as well as favoring longer and more stable support. Mint is also a good option for Linux noobs (like us!) since it does a lot for you. I play both Steam and GOG games. Steam was easy, just go to to the software manager and download steam then install. GOG was a little different, since they don’t seem to have a Linux version of GOG Galaxy. So, I tried both Lutris and Heroic game launchers (available in the software manager) and connected my GOG account. I have been able to get everything to play so far. I cannot speak to video editing software or programming. Use the online version of Microsoft apps if you need them, otherwise, Libre Office is preinstalled with software that does everything the Microsoft Office suite does. Since I run several storage drives in my system that I wanted to auto-mount on boot, I did have to edit my fstab file to make this happen - this was the only thing I needed to do through the terminal and there were some great videos showing what to do, then you just apply what is shown in those videos to your system setup. I really didn’t have to do this, Mint is great that i could just click the drive and it would mount it, but if my Steam opened before it was mounted, then it didn’t know where my game storage was and I had to restart Steam for it to pick up my game drive. Again, very little terminal usage was needed on my side. My printer just works, wireless, bluetooth headset works, etc. So far, I say thumbs up for Linux Mint Cinnamon!! If I go a month without hitting a wall and logging into my Windows install, I will probably just totally remove my Windows installation.

Hahaha! Wow. What an anatomical mess. More proof that AI is only as good as it’s programming. Again why I trust AI as far as I can throw it.

The 24H2 update would not install on a brand new prebuilt PC that I bought for my parents. I contacted both the manufacturer and Microsoft and spent too many hours troubleshooting before I gave up and returned it to where I bought it as defective. Back to the drawing board for a replacement PC for my parents.

Sounds like someone is upset that they cannot appease their shareholders by selling uninteresting video games riddled with microtransactions and cash grabs. I think that its time their leadership revisit the Agile Manifesto.