If you just want it to work, and you’re coming from Windows or Mac, use Ubuntu. It’s a nice intro, and the hardware support is excellent.

Many of the programs recommend therapy first. No one wants to drink themselves to death, even though it feels like that sometimes.

The guilt and shame is brutal, and shouldn’t be used to try to change someone into behaving better. It’s like spanking you kids, which is illegal now (at least whew I’m at).

Same, but the community was great. Being around people that understand is so beneficial.

I had 2 interventions in my life and neither worked. In fact, they made it much worse for me.

I suggest that you go to AlAnon and learn a bit about alcoholism before trying anything (btw, AlAnon is not AA, but is a program to help non-alcoholics understand what they’re dealing with.)

Your friend is lucky to have you. Don’t give up on them. It truly is hellish, and they’ll need your support.

Thanks for the recommendation! I love stuff like that.

Trump is a criminal and a traitor, and he and those that support him should be punished to the full extent of the law. The police that beat minorities because its fun should also.

I support the correct cause. When something is obviously wrong, I support the people that stand up.

I feel bad for you if you can’t tell the difference between right and wrong.

I really appreciate your response—thanks!

We’re totally on the same page. I get carried away because I’m so angry about the current state of affairs, and how helpless I feel to change them. Thank you for being so thoughtful and rational. We need more people like you.

It is infuriating to watch people, rational people, turn a blind eye to this sort of thing. I will watch your video, and I apologize for hurting your feelings. Calling people “fuckers”, “chodes”, etc. is part of my vernacular, as with many others of my generation; you shouldn’t take it so hard. The point isn’t to degrade you, but to snap your attention.

I think you are being absurd, because our democracy is in critical danger, and you’re worried about a road. I agree that shining a laser at planes is dangerous. If you had ever been manhandled by cops, you’d understand that they’re really, really dangerous, too. I have no sympathy for cops (did you see the people they tried to horse over?). They’re dangerous, and honestly, the most dangerous part about being in jail IS the cops (having been there myself on several occasions).

You have your opinion, which unfortunately sounds founded on a life of privilege. Don’t worry, passive citizen, we won’t let them ruin the country—neither corrupt politicians or dirty, scummy cops. Sit back and enjoy the benefits we’ll give you, regardless of your inability (read: unwillingness) to help.

Sure, if it isn’t copied a million times. You’re assuming it is left on the same disk.

The courts are corrupt, you joker. At the end of the day, big cases go to the supreme court, which is stocked full of completely corrupt people (and you know this!). Your “nuance” is part of the reason we are here, having to take drastic action.

You are blind if you think that peaceful, government-condoned protests will change a fucking thing.

This isn’t the 1960’s. Those in charge have learned from those lessons. Drastic change is not peaceful, but it is exactly what we need. Protest SHOULD be disruptive, like strikes, which actually affect change! While those protesting (actual patriots, take notes) are risking their lives (literally), you’re slightly inconvenienced. Fuck off.

I’d take anarchy over the goddamn passive bullshit you’re spewing any day of the week, and I’m not alone. Trump will not be president again; not in my lifetime.

No, the point is that there are not effective ways to protest anymore, by design! And the way I felt on January 6th was pure rage! I have zero sympathy for these fuckers.

You can sit by and watch the country crumble and succumb to corruption. I won’t, and millions more won’t either. Sorry you can’t get to work on time, but look at the bigger picture.

Defending the police state… what a chode.

Maybe some dickhole shouldn’t have claimed he won an election that he clearly lost, taking advantage of stupid people and severing the country. What, we should sit back and let the country fall completely to corruption? Fuck off with your trash take.

You can just keep pressing it to reopen as many closed tabs as you need.

What about your text messages and phone calls?

That’s fair. Adding to my point, with the wealth of information future people will have at their disposal, it could be possible to recreate this time era. That is, to simulate entire cities or countries. Who knows what tech they’ll have or what they’ll want to do with it. My point is that the info from this time period, between the advent of the internet and the widespread use of quantum-safe crypto, will be easily accessible to them, and contains such an accurate record of our daily activities. I’ve had the same email address since 2005 and have never deleted messages, so my email alone could probably be used to create a pretty accurate model of a large chunk of my life. Cross-reference that with the information the people I associate with left behind and they definitely could create such a model.

And, adding further, if you were inclined to create such a simulation, you’d likely want to simulate as many people as possible so that the simulation was as realistic as possible.

What makes you say that? Who knows what they’ll want to do in the future. Even the most mundane historic records interest today’s archeologists.

I think about this often. I think that Millennials, and especially Gen Z, will be the best-documented lives in history. Almost everything you’ve ever done online is sitting on a hard drive somewhere. Once the encryption schemes are broken, posterity will have full access to all of it. They’ll probably study us for hundreds of years—possibly thousands (if we even make it that far as a species).

I’ve also wondered if all of that data collected about a person could be used to recreate them—a digital copy. It probably wouldn’t be perfect, but I bet it would be close enough to be useful.

I’m definitely not excited for people to have access to and study my college Facebook account :⁠-⁠P

Agreed. Sorry. I often hear this kind of stuff IRL from my relatives, so I might be prejudiced.

People bragging about their kids is irritating. However, I hope the girl ends up being a Linux guru :-)

Ah, yes, totally not written by one of her parents. I hate this kind of crap. She noticed that it wasn’t underlined, and they did the rest. Why is this news? No 4-yo. spells “tragedy”.

“Look how special my kid is, everyone!!”