I don't have any good advice, but I'm sorry people are being weird to you :(

I only do it on my ancient laptop because for some reason, it makes things a little faster. I don't know why.

Counterpoint: even lighting an LED with a tiny working windmill is pretty neat.

I feel like "data centers in spaaaaaaaace!" is an idea that could only come from someone completely removed from the day-to-day of how computers actually work. Like no matter how you slice it, these are physical objects that are going to need servicing by human beings fairly regularly. Putting them in space vastly complicates that process.

So he didn't realize he was in a bubble? Sounds like he could've used some. Some sit--some situational--

I know there are some lighter-weight custom versions of Windows floating around, but I've never used one and I don't know how well they'd work for your needs. EDIT: Tiny10/Tiny11 are examples, here's a source for them.

I don't get the effect either :(

That seems like a cool idea to me. I follow a lot of "general question" communities and it is a little hard to distinguish them sometimes. It'd be nice to have a unique marker.

A lot of people have given good advice here, so I'll just add that if you want to leave the country, even just for a bit to throw off the trail, you might have more options than you think. You're under 25 and there's a decent number of programs out there that will give young people a chance to "see the world" in exchange for cheap labor. The JET program, the Peace Corps, or even the French Foreign Legion if you're OK with military service. Something to look into, possibly?

Our last apartment had a microwave that insisted that the off/cancel button was ONLY for the microwave part and NOT the timer part, and if you tried to use it to turn off the timer, would display a message saying "push timer button to turn timer off" (or smth to that effect). I found it infuriating. I told my wife, "if they can program it to sass me, they can program it to turn the damn timer off."

Anyway. I get it.

Nothing in particular. Just had blood drawn and now eating a snack.

Just throwing a link to Caitlin Doughty's channel here for anyone interested in green burials and such!

IME the best way to avoid this experience is to just soften your language slightly and be willing to take the extra ten minutes to provide resources to people. "Switch to Linux" is a command, and people generally don't like being told what to do. "Have you considered switching to Linux? It doesn't have as many problems with [whatever] as Windows" with a link to a "Linux for noobs" type guide doesn't get the same response. And be willing to take "no" for an answer!

I am looking into going back to school! Looking at getting an associate's in IT. I already have a bachelor's in psych but it, uh, hasn't worked out.

Psych is fascinating! But you can do precisely "jack" and "squat" with a bachelor's, and I don't have the temperament for academia so I'm not getting a higher degree, at least not in that field. So yeah, definitely don't go into psych unless you're prepared to get a master's, absolute minimum.

A miserable little pile of documentation.

Linux Mint is the most "just works" distro I've used, fwiw. It is scary to finally take the plunge, but you'll be glad you did.

I know exactly what you mean by "wrong kind of mushy." I hated mashed potatoes as a kid. I like them as an adult but it took a while for me to like them.

I kinda doubt OP was under the impression they were gonna save Big Bucks with a decorative windmill slightly larger than a kid's pinwheel, but people have believed dumber things I guess

Ooh, I knew about the Debian switch but didn't know about thr btrfs. Currently using SpiralLinux as my daily driver but might have to look into Tuxedo at some point.