I’m in the process of this now. I haven’t used Linux in like 15 years so I’m starting slow with my laptop. My goal is to be free from windows on my desktop and laptop before I have to go to Windows 11. I have to use Windows 11 at work and it’s fucking miserable. I can understand some of the changes from a personal usage standpoint, but from a work related one there are so many features that just make productivity worse. I’ve had to change shit in the registry like 7 times just to get some quality of life features that they changed.

I still try my best to do what I can. But at the same time I’ve come to terms with the fact that we’re all fucked and everything I’m doing is pointless. But I’d rather do what I can and strive to do better than give up and make things worse. I have completely selfish reasons for doing my part and it’s literally just because I’d feel like an asshole.

I try not to be an asshole and I just like sharing my opinion. I just like to bitch about the general state of affairs for various things. Be it video games or politics, I’ll bitch about anything I find to be awful. I think I do it because I want to try and help people understand why a situation is fucked up or shouldn’t be happening. For example how so many video game companies are just laying off all their employees for whatever reason they want to give you. I just like to call out bullshit when I see it. Sometimes I come off as rude when really I’m just mad that it’s happening and not really bitching about the users making the posts or comments but more towards the bullshit situations.

And I like “colorful” words.

When it comes to protesting like this I don’t really give a shit if someone paints over parts of a building. But the books themselves? That’s just fucked up. I understand they are trying to get people pissed over this but this is entirely the wrong way to do it. All this will do is make everyone pissed off at you instead. I’d say a good rule of thumb for protest graffiti is whether or not it can still be used after it’s been covered in paint. Graffiti on a wall doesn’t make the wall unusable. But if someone put graffiti on the windshield of my car I’d be so pissed off I wouldn’t give two shits about the message.

This is a very common thing outside the bubble that is the US. In fact, before COVID it was totally normal to see people wearing masks when they were sick in public places. A little strange to see, but still normal and nobody really cared. People didn’t give two shits back then versus now where they stick out like a sore thumb. Before you’d see someone wearing a mask and think “oh, they might be sick” and move on with your life before you even had a chance to put it into your long term memory. It’s not that it’s weird to wear a mask. It’s that everyone forgot that it used to not be weird at all. The fact that they are getting judged in the first place would seem completely ridiculous 5 years ago.

The fact that there is a stigma in the first place is incredibly silly. Masks are a great tool to prevent getting others sick. It’s like if someone made fun of you for using a screwdriver instead of doing it by hand.

I wear one when I’m sick. Outside of places like the United States it’s actually very common to wear masks when you are sick. There used to not be a stigma about masks even in the US before COVID. This is because masks were never meant to be used as a way to prevent getting sick but as a way to not get others sick, therefore slowing the spread of disease. Somewhere over the past few years the lines got crossed and everyone started calling masks bullshit because they misinterpreted the actual use for them. Doctors don’t wear masks because they don’t want to get sick. They wear them so they don’t get their patients sick.

Honestly, I love windows 10 and windows 7 even more. I have had very little complaints with them and I miss 7 every day. But when support runs out for Windows 10 I’m switching. It seems every single day they come up with another stupid plan or “feature.” Whether it’s AI that’s barely helpful or forcing me to use their software and services, I’m exhausted with the obnoxiously aggressive tactics to get me to use them.

While I agree over-breeding of pets is a very messed up practice, they already exist in the here and now. Might as well be their friends and tell them they are cute since they are here.

Not the scariest movie but Pitch Black. I was 7 and definitely didn’t help my fear of darkness very much. Pretty neat movie as an adult but definitely get flashbacks when I see it. Also the movie Signs. Was scared of it as a kid but as an adult I find that movie absolutely hilarious.

But the worst is not a movie but a video game. I watched my brother play Resident Evil 2 when I was around the same age. I was absolutely terrified of zombies after that. Because of a few specific scenes in the game I refused to have my bed close any windows. Even at friends houses I’d rather sleep on the floor if the couch was too close to a window. That lasted until I was like 13. As an adult I still can’t bring myself to play that game. I love Resident Evil and horror games in general, but as soon as I hear the music for the main lobby of the police station in Resident Evil 2 I get so terrified I have to turn the game off. Maybe I’ll be able to play the remake…

It was a video and this is going to sound very very strange, but just bare with me. Be warned it is rather morbid and I apologize.

There’s a video out there, can’t remember where I watched it, but it’s the autopsy of an obese woman. It’s incredibly morbid and not an easy watch but has had a profound impact on my life. I’ve been overweight the majority of my life and never really thought anything of it besides “man, I should start losing weight.” That is until I saw that video. Seeing the internal state of that woman’s body put a lot into perspective for me about what being overweight was doing to my body. I’ve seen diagrams, illustrations, and descriptions of what happens to the body when overweight. But actually seeing it with a real person? That shit changed me. Been super conscious about it ever since. Lost about 50 pounds and started taking care of myself better. I’m still not perfect, but having that reference of what could potentially be going on inside my body that I can’t even see is a very informative and helpful tool to have. Not in a “scared straight” kinda way and more as a “I need to be more aware of what I can’t see” kinda way.

I have nothing against the people that are working on AI and appreciate the work they do. However every time I see an article about a company using AI like this I just get the vibe that it’s a bunch of middle aged men trying desperately to make things like the “future” they saw when they were a kid. I’ve seen amazing implementations of AI in a lot of different ways but I’m so sick of dumb ideas like this because some guy that used to watch Star Trek as a kid wants to feel like they live in the future while piggybacking on someone else’s work. It’s like the painted tunnel in cartoons where it looks like a real tunnel but in reality it’s just a very convincing lie. And that’s all that it is. Complexity does not mean sophistication when it comes to AI and never has and to treat it as such is just a forceful way to make your ideas come true without putting in the real effort.

Sorry, I had to get that out. Also I have nothing against Star Trek and I used to watch it as a kid because my parents watched it all the time.