I couldn't agree more.

But you already new that.

To refresh your reading comprehension, what I said was, "Linux Mint was refreshing and met all my needs without problems."
That means that Mint was "pleasantly fresh and different". That means with after all the crap I put up with using Ubuntu Desktop(multiple versions) that when I tried Mint I was pleasantly surprised how good it works, and continue to be impressed to this day.

Regarding which distros to use, I did do quite a bit of research before trying Ubuntu Desktop, and I also tried about 3-4 others before Ubuntu. Like I said, I actually liked it but it had too many issues.

Also, I did do system optimization on Ubuntu to no avail. It was like I would fix one thing then something else would go wrong.
I work with computers all day long, and when I go home I don't want to have to constantly troubleshoot my media pc.

In the last year and a half I have tried several different Linux desktops to run on a small form factor Dell pc connected to my TV via HDMI.
I settled on Ubuntu for a variety of reasons and was reasonably pleased with it.
However, after a few weeks things started to go wrong.
Errors, lockups and other things cropped up that started to really get old.
I read forum posts, blogs, "kb" articles to fix the various issues I had with Ubuntu.

Eventually I wiped it and reloaded it, and the same sorts of problems came back.

I was ready to install Windows when I read someone mention Linux Mint.
So I gave that a try.

Like a cool spring breeze on a warm afternoon, Linux Mint was refreshing and met all my needs without problems.

To this day I wonder why Mint works so well when Ubuntu Desktop was such a POS.

Locals Only!

For anyone who was paying attention at the time when it was launched, the fact that Hubble has stayed functional this long is a pretty big deal. The drama that unfolded after it was launched, with the mirror problems and subsequent corrective missions, was an amazing feat of engineering.

Politicians and others jumped on the anti-Hubble bandwagon pretty quickly, and at the time it was another bad day for science in the early 90's as the SCSC(Desertron) was decommissioned.

Then the mirror was fixed... and we saw the pictures.

In all of human history, no one could have imagined that mankind would be able to peer back in time and deep into the depths of space as Hubble has allowed us to.

In all the imaginings of the earliest self aware humans, to the priests of ancient Babylon who studied the stars, to Galileo and Edwin Hubble himself, the images and knowledge that Hubble has bestowed on us are riches beyond compare.

Thank you Hubble and all who have been involved in the project.

"Drone delivers pizza, kills hostage..."
News at 11.

Not anymore.
He has moved onto cherubim.

Five years ago we had the BP spill the in The Gulf.
Now they're creating earthquakes.
The chickens have come home to roost.

You trusted it before Snowden?
Wow...

Is it just me or does this seem ironic?
Generally it seems Millenials(the ones I know and work with) are more accepting of surveillance by the government and corporations.

Gen X and the Boomers have more of the 20th century leftover attitude that Americans have a right to privacy, and that the blood and treasure spent to keep the "World Safe for Democracy" by the "Greatest Generation", etc, The Constitution, etc, means we have those rights.

You would think Millenials would be more apathetic to the whole Snowden thing(which has been my experience talking to people about it). The attitude I've encountered is the usual, "I'm just on FB posting videos, etc, playing games, etc", "I'm not doing anything wrong", "why should I care?"

My experience is that Gen X and the Boomers are much more paranoid and concerned about rights, etc;

The best hangover cure is the Michelada.

For the money?!?
WUT?

Brilliant!

What is that, some kind of diet?