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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • I didn’t see it happen, but I saw the aftermath. A small car was crushed between two large trucks in the left lane of the highway. When I drove by, the crushed car was completely unrecognizable as a car. Just a pile of compacted metal and plastic. You couldn’t even tell what was the front or the back.

    When I got to work, I checked the news to see what happened to the driver of the car.

    No significant injuries, just some scratches. She laid down across the front seat and slid down under the dashboard and managed to find the one space that wasn’t completely compacted.





  • NABDad@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.mlIn praise of Linux.
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    3 months ago

    When people ask me why I like Linux, my go-to reason is my main personal machine. I use it for everything I do outside of work, including running my Emby server.

    I built it from $500 worth of parts 13 years ago. I’ve kept updating the os and applications. It’s starting to slow down a bit after the last os upgrade, but it’s still plenty usable.

    I am getting concerned about the spinning platters. As far as I am aware, Linux won’t prevent an ancient hard disk drive from reaching the natural end of is life.

    It’s probably time to move on to a new machine. Well, new motherboard, CPU, RAM, and disks at least.






  • I just had the odd experience of using a manufacturer’s discount card to pick up a medication for my wife. The medication is relatively expensive and seldom covered by insurance.

    According to the information on the card, if you have private insurance which covers the medication, the discount card covers the co-pay, so you pay nothing. However, if your insurance doesn’t cover the medication, the discount card covers the cost, and you still pay nothing.

    Our insurance didn’t cover the cost, and we didn’t pay anything for the medication.

    I don’t understand how that works.


  • I think it’s important to remember that the USA isn’t a single culture. Things vary dramatically even within a single state to say nothing of differences between states.

    In some areas prom is very important. In others, not so much.

    Only one of my three kids went to prom (Eastern PA).

    Prom in my high school was a relatively big deal. You rented a tux or bought a dress. Some people would rent a limo. The prom was held in some kind of banquet hall with a fairly fancy meal. There’d be a DJ and dancing.

    My wife was one year behind me in high school, and we attended FOUR proms (my junior prom, then the next year her junior prom and my senior prom, then the next year I came back for her senior prom).

    I think for most people it’s just an opportunity to get dressed up, have a good meal, and dance. If you’re already dating someone, it obviously has more significance, but I had plenty of friends who just took another friend as a date for the prom and others who didn’t go with anyone. However, there was a lot of pressure to be a “couple”, even if you weren’t actually romantically involved with your “date”.

    Typically the parents take pictures of the kids in their dresses and tuxedos. From the parents’ point of view, it’s a moment to sort of take note of how your kids are maturing and think about what the future holds for them. Lots of thinking about how old you are ;-)

    Often there’s an after party that goes on late into the morning, and for many kids the after party is more important than the prom.

    I think social media has had an effect on what prom is, but it also has the effect of distorting what it is to people who only experience it remotely. When you’re seeing the crazy YouTube videos and Instagram posts, you’re not seeing what prom is. You’re seeing a snapshot of what those particular proms are.








  • NABDad@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.mlthinking of trying linux,
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    8 months ago

    I run Linux on my personal machine.

    My needs aren’t particularly demanding. Web browsing, watching streaming services, accounting software, some low impact games, 3D modeling, and running a video server.

    I assembled my machine from $500 worth of parts 12 years ago. In between, I’ve added some RAM, and about 8TB of mirrored disk to store movies for the video server.

    Admittedly, I’m starting to be concerned about the age of the disks, and I think I’d like a better processor, but money is tight.

    Given the age of the thing, there’s a chance that it’s just going to drop dead one of these days, but it’s been running for years without me having to do anything but install updates for the OS.