If it weren’t for Ubuntu, I’d wager half or more Linux users wouldn’t be Linux users. I have no hard data to back this up and I’m willing to be told I’m wrong. But most of the stories I hear are “started on Ubuntu back when they were mailing out free CDs” and “tried a few other things, gave up until I found Ubuntu”

It’s barrier to entry was so long for Windows users, and it allowed people the time and space to get comfortable with being on something not-windows, and sure, eventually a big chunk moved on, but it got them to this side of the fence, and that’s admirable. Wubi (a dual boot installer you could run from within windows without a CD a thumb drive) is what really got me on Linux, and eventually I stopped dualbooting altogether.

I am not a techy person. But I started using Linux in around 2007ish (might have been a little earlier). First started because of philosophical issues with open source mentality.

I bled for that philosophy, let me tell you. Nothing worked out of the box, my only friend who used Linux was an online friend, and his tech support could only help me if we happened to be online at the same time. He helped a lot, but dozens and dozens of guides later I managed to get it mostly working. Google.com/Linux used to be a thing, and it was quite helpful. After a few reversions back to Windows in the early days I got a terrible little netbook, and Wubi became a thing. It allowed you to install windows from within windows, without having to have a live CD. It worked great, but it was right back to all the same touchpad, wifi, monitor, et cetera issues. But this time I could go back to Windows and research my issue, print off the guides, and use them to troubleshoot. So much easier than asking my neighbor to use their computer, or trying to read and follow the guides from my blackberry lmao

Now? I haven’t a had a single issue like that when installing a distro in 10+ years. Shit just works now. Granted, I stick to mainstream distros, or forks of mainstream distros. Craziest thing I’ve tried recently was Bazzite, which is basically just silver blue. I liked being on Bazzite and silver blue, but I ended up going back to regular old fedora workstation, because relying solely on flatpaks is limiting, and I (remember, not a techy person) don’t understand rpm ostree lol

The taste is generally okayish, it’s the texture that gets me. It’s always so granular and just… Eugh. The impossible burger, to be clear, is amazing in both taste and texture.

Now, to be completely fair now that I’m really thinking of it, most of the meat replacements I’ve had were cooked by my brother’s ex fiance, who also ruined tofu for me for years. And my vegan buddy is the one that made me try tofu again and I loved it, and the impossible burger…

You know what. In retracting my comment. It’s absolutely possible that I just didn’t like it because she was an awful cook. I will go about trying them all again

My mom told us that “taste buds change every 7 years” but that each individual tastebud was on its own 7 year cycle, so one could change at any time. Try it today, you may hate it. Try it tomorrow, you may love it.

Made us very adventurous eaters as kids, and if we didn’t like something she never forced us to eat it. But we were always willing to try it again later on.

Except for raw oysters. That’s a texture thing. Shudder

I don’t look like bubbles! 😭

A friend I had not seen in about 15 years, upon seeing a picture of me while we were on the phone, without a skipping a beat, no hesitation, blurted out “You like look bubbles from trailer park boys!”

I played it off, got off the phone, and cried. Straight up cried.

It’s not totally unheard of. Firefighters do it. I imagine back in the day when doctors lived at hospitals (does this still happen?) they did it, too. People who do live in caregiving often practice waking up routines in case of emergency.

Basketball shorts are my normal attire. I’ve also been a caregiver for many years for my mom, and I can assure you, in an urgent situation, I can have the shorts on before I stand. I’m a pro at wake up, reach down and grab, and slide my legs into them as I’m standing. It literally takes no more time for me than it would to walk out of my room naked. They sit directly on top of my flip flops that I also slide into as I stand up. Shirts take more time, but that’s less important for me as a guy (still pretty important as a fat guy that hates being shirtless beyond what I can even explain).

That said, not everyone is such a seasoned professional. Robe is probably the better call. I’d wear a robe more often if I could find one that wasn’t so hot, I can only handle them in deepest of winter

My poor little boy gets his eye gookies cleaned daily, but I would never wipe them back on him! That’s just cruel

As a lifelong meat eater, anytime I’ve been in a situation where I abstain from meat for whatever reason, I avoid meat substitutes. They’re just not good. Black bean burger? Fantastic. Beyond burger? Satan’s taint. Stir fried veggies with fried tofu? Delicious. Qorn chicken stir fry? Beelzebub’s unwashed ass.

It’s so much better just to stop trying to imitate meat, and just focus on how frickin delicious veggies and stuff can be. They’re very good, all on their own!

The exception for me is the impossible burger. I legitimately like it better than a regular burger. It’s like if meat could be sourdough. I love it so much. But it truly is an exception.

Bill’s is so accurate it hurts

Exactly what I thought!

It is insane how much that dude looks like my brother. He even has the exact same shirt and shoes. Like I genuinely thought some random picture of him had been put online. When I texted him about it he had to text his best friend to find out if the chick in the picture was maybe one of the friends old girlfriends or something he’d forgotten about. Even my brother thought it was a picture of him. Lol

100% agree. Fucking hate tiktok. Even beyond the data they collect and shit, how skeezy they are about watching the videos makes them so shitty.

That said, open it in a browser and then set to desktop site it you’re on mobile. It allows it to play without the popups. Mobile browser tiktok feels like a late 90s porn site with the popups

That’s 100% my brother. The weirdest part, it looks so much like him I had to text him and ask if the chick in the background is an old girlfriend, because I’m genuinely not sure that’s not my brother.

My experience is very anecdotal, but a friend of mine who is nonbinary and Mexican American uses and prefers e endings. So novie instead of novia/novio, amige instead of Amiga/amigo, et cetera. Pronounced Ay, like “no-vee-ay” instead of “no-vee-ah/oh”

I have adopted that generally when it’s come up, but for the most part of I just stress over my sentence structure to avoid gendered terms at all costs. Like when it took my several tries to avoid the terms Latina/Latino/Latine in the first sentence of this comment.

Oh, I forgot the largest and most widespread: NASCAR racists!

As a lifelong southerner, I can attest to a veritable cornucopia of racists. There are:

Swamp racists, marsh racists, bayou racists (all are different), mountain racists, valley racists, low country racists, beach racists, ocean racists (totally different species, unrelated, with overlapping territory), woods racists, forest racists, and countless other unknown and tiny micro communities of different racists.

As an aside, the rating thing at Walmart self check out is for the cashier, not the store. If the clerks get below a certain average rating they get penalized (or at least they don’t get certain benefits or some shit, from my understanding). I don’t know if they count purchases that don’t rate at all, but I know some people rate 1 each time because fuck Walmart, but that ends up hurting the cashier, not the store.

Did Randy Newman answer your question personally?