America stands alone. They know what they did.

I started reading Towers of Midnight by Brandon Sanderson, book 13 of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. Feels good to get back to this series after some months. The end is in sight. Sanderson is doing a great job moving things along and resolving plot threads that have been hanging for 10 books or so.

Japan has had a "Lost Decade" of economic stagnation since the 1990s.

I think you're refering to this. The community appears to be in the process of setting up their own association and eventually the infrastructure and assets will be transferred to them. We'll see how that shakes out.

Wait, again?

When I got back to Linux some years back, I tried using GNOME because I had had good experiences with GNOME 2. Modern GNOME is awful, terribly opinionated and - in my view - has actual usability issues. Every interaction with the DE felt like pulling teeth and I didn't enjoy it one bit. GNOME Classic was better, but even that never felt quite right. At the time I wanted to use Wayland and therefore had limited options, so for the first time ever I tried Plasma, and I immediately found it to my liking. With only a few small cosmetic tweaks it felt like home. Things made sense to me and everything was where it should be - more or less; nothing's perfect. Since then I've looked at other options, but Plasma usually has one feature or another that alternative desktops lack or struggle with. So for now I'm sticking with Plasma, and I have no real reason to look elsewhere.

To be sure, I don't hate on anyone who prefers GNOME, it's just not my cup of tea. Not by a long shot. Use what works for your use case.

For the self proclaimed Land of the Free, the US has always had this dark authoritarian streak, but I'm frankly aghast at the dystopian death spiral unravelling before my eyes. You could see it coming for a long time, but it still feels sudden.

I went to a club once. It was too noisy to hear anyone speak, everyone was drunk, the lights bothered me, and people were moving in ways I couldn't see the point of (I think they called it dancing). I had no idea why anyone was there and what they got out of it, because all of it just made me uncomfortable. I felt like a complete stranger alone in an incomprehensible alien environment.

Sitting by the creek, with wind rustling the tree tops and running water? That I understand. Few things relax me like that. And I don't fucking want to see any of you fuckers there, leave me alone. Let me enjoy things.

I fucking had to keep pushing back buying some more RAM. Yeah, that was a great move. Now I can only hope the bubble bursts and prices crash.

I mean, I get by fine with the RAM I have. I don't need much. It's the principle of the thing, you know? Sometimes being financially responsible and careful sucks.

Don't get married in Texas, Jesus.

It's not about anything she wants, obviously.

Just about to finish Blindsight by Peter Watts. I'm ambivalent, since I love the big ideas it's built around, but the characters and their interactions are stunted and sometimes nonsensical. Plot isn't really very good either. It's the ideas that carry this book. I think I'm most impressed with Peter writing in a main character who has gone through hemispherectomy - a very real and dramatic medical procedure - as a child, since I never thought I'd see that. It's cool. But I struggle to call this book "hard sci-fi", even if a lot of the concepts are very real. Maybe it's the vampire character that feels like a total contrivance.

What else are they going to take away from us and our kids, to keep them from thriving?

They want the state to give you nothing. They are not hiding this fact. They run on it. Pay attention.

Better yet...

Not like they are wont to give you any choice on the matter.

You don't actually have to pay Amazon anything. I suggest you consider this.

Do not believe their lies. Do not accept their token gestures. Abandon them. Let them burn. If you tolerate this your children will be next. Trust no one.

So, hey, Americans, your president is openly threatening genocide. You might uh, want to do something about that. Just a thought.

Privacy.

The male lion then killed the cubs so the female lions would go in to heat. Nature is majestic.