Patrick Stewart’s portrayal of Picard in TNG has always embodied the reason I so revere the qualities idealized in at least the first two Star Trek television series: An unquenchable thirst for knowledge in betterment of our species, reverence for others, dedication to peace, the recognized agency of science, unsurpassed commitment to the auspices of ethical doctrine... All things I live by and shall ever believe in. You wish to see the measure of an evolved human being with a future of promise? Stewart as Picard showed us what that means.

The lamentable reality of life is loss, but we can take lessons from those before us as a means of bettering ourselves so that those who follow also have a future to look forward to. The principled, gracious parts of our soaring human condition deserves no less than our best. Be that way.

May Stewart, his family, and we all carry forth, and remember.

I'm amidst those queuing up Linux Mint (Cinnamon), as well. I already run Mint on my personal laptops, and as soon as Microsoft effectively disables Windows 10 I'll switch to Mint at work and on my home gaming desktop. Windows 11 is probably the most invasive OS of all time, and when you couple that with wanton planned obsolescence hardware requirements, I'll be willing to invest a lot of time getting Windows games to run within Linux, simply for spite.

Probably just as well. As if Volkswagen doesn't already build vehicles with egregious enough reliability, you add Renault into the equation and that brings an entirely new level of suck. Amusingly, the only reliable vehicle Volkswagen's built in the last 40 years is a diesel, and they took care of that problem pretty well, didn't they?

Here's where I resolutely beg to differ with this lazy and spineless mindset. I invite anyone to watch their dad die of metastatic prostate cancer as I just did this past November, and then tell me we should downplay the significance of this disease. If it's cancer it's cancer, and trying to pass it off as something else is a disservice to men. And guess what: My dad was a retired physician, and he followed his own training in writing off prostate cancer as something that might cause him harm. He was old enough by contemporary "wisdom" that he felt he'd die of something else before prostate cancer ever had the chance to cause his demise, so he didn't pursue getting checked out. Thus his cancer went unchecked, it invaded his bones and lymph nodes, and was far too advanced when discovered to make a sustainable cure possible. It was a miracle in and of itself that hormone treatments were able to extend his life by ~6 years, but sooner or later the cancer becomes resistant, and then you die horribly. This is no joke. This form of cancer it that bad.

My overall pet peeve with society is how we're compelled to dumb down terminology because people are either too ignorant or too chicken to deal with it. Stop dumbing it down, dammit. Simply teach people those "big" words-- Teach patients the reality of prostate cancer: First of all, IT'S CANCER. It's not a hangnail, it's not a goiter: CANCER. Second of all, most patients present the slow growing variety. Great. But it's CANCER, and you must proactively get yourself regularly checked for any worrisome progression. Creating a false sense of security because as a practitioner you're too chicken to tell it like it is doesn't help anyone. Lay out the facts, deal with them logically and intelligently, and stop trying to downplay a disease that essentially impacts HALF OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN POPULATION ON THIS PLANET.

UCLA, bailing on the Pac-12 (along with 'me-too' sellouts USC, Oregon, and Washington), all for money and no other logical reason, couldn't be more suited to take over space previously dedicated to the auspices of selling things.

Apple falls all over themselves dropping support for their devices at their absolute first chance. But you know what's laugh-the-milk-out-of-your-nose funny about this? Run Windows on that same Intel based Mac, and you get 5-10+ additional years of support over what Apple can be bothered to offer. Pretty much same with Linux.

And what's additionally infuriating about Apple refusing to support machines that are otherwise still perfectly fine is, when they up and drop support for their own products, other developers end up doing the same. So I can't get browser updates any longer for my 2011 Mac Mini that otherwise still runs great, for instance. You wanna run thick client Slack? You can bugger off: Won't install.

I love how Apple are such altruistic "Green" apologists by encouraging/forcing customers to buy something new every sub 5 years-- Because if they run MacOS and wish support, they have to.

In invite Apple to piss off.

I had been a dedicated Onkyo receiver owner and proponent for 35+ years, starting with my parents TX-6500 MKII. This receiver was extraordinarily well built, and had outstanding sound character. As I grew up, I finally saved enough money to buy my first receiver in sub 1990, an Onkyo TX-866 which I still own, and continues to work beautifully to this day. This too is a superbly built, high-quality receiver.

I later upgraded to a TX-SV727, which had a notably cheaper feel, and proved this character by exhibiting an intermittent channel cut out for years. I then upgraded again to a TX-NR3008, and when the HDMI board therein failed a second time, after having returned the unit once already for warranty repair, I had had enough. You only burn me so many times before I'll tell you to Fuck Off, if I may speak bluntly. While the Onkyo was back in repairs again for another two months I bought a Yamaha RX-A2060, and am never going back to Onkyo whether they survive or not. The Yamaha isn't perfect by any stretch, but at least it runs reliably. I don't care now feature rich a receiver is if you have to keep repairing the damn thing.

This pains me greatly after having grown up amidst fond memories of Onkyo quality and performance. But Onkyo had this coming for the patronizing rubbish they've been building.

I've noted a great deal of attention is spent conceptualizing the attainment of immense speed in reaching distant places in our solar system or immediate region of the galaxy, but nothing about actually slowing down once we get somewhere. If we can slow down enough, fast enough, in achieving useful orbital velocity around a destination, fine, but otherwise I wonder if slowing down would take so much time by itself it's almost not even worth trying to go that fast in the first place. At least in solar system proximity. To other star systems (Proxima Centauri, or such) that's indeed probably a different story.

It makes better financial sense to buy, say, a ~10 year old used car, and then visit a wrecking yard whenever you need a non-engine related part. Last year I bought a 2.5 generation Honda CR-V, a model that's known for reliability, safety, and relative efficiency. It was also a pretty common car, so there are plenty of specimens at my local wrecking yards to secure parts from. When you buy parts from a yard, you're reducing waste by virtue of reusing, and you might be shocked how inexpensive many of these parts are. And they're all genuine manufacturer parts, so you know they'll fit properly. A wrecking yard is an excellent way to go, if you can.

In other cases I often use third party parts, as long as I'm confident that they're of comparable OEM quality. Bought brand new headlight assemblies for my CR-V on eBay, for instance, and it probably cost half as much as Honda OEM. They've been great so far, a year into service, and you wouldn't know they didn't come with the car. They look and perform 100% original...

Think of all the time you'll save, given this machine's evident superior performance! Except for the time you lose trying to find a friggin' adapter to connect the laptop to your external monitor. And then you can't transfer that image file to your MacBook Pro because it doesn't have an SD card reader, so you have to go and find another adapter. And you forgot your power supply? You can't borrow a friend's, because their's is a MagSafe. And not MagSafe 2, mind you-- A MagSafe 1. But maybe you can find another adapter for that, also.

I've got a natural third leg. Does that count?

Great. That's all this once proud franchise needs is yet more pointless explosions and simpleton dialogue. Star Trek has been dumbed down so much, by their own admission, that I pretty much don't even bother watching the reboots. All the impressive CGI in the universe won't conceal the fact that these movies are brainless, patronizing wastes of time.

Gene Roddenberry would be appalled by what's become of his creation. And everyone who grasps what Star Trek originally was intended to be knows it.

“Oh snap-- Looks like our alternate panel supplier is a bust! Now what?!”

“Let’s submit another lawsuit against the guys who build the good panels!”

“Good idea!”

I've always been a PC gamer, and expect to stay that way. Why would I want a separate gaming system with lame, outdated hardware that I can't upgrade or modify, when I already have a fast, adaptable, transferrable, universally capable gaming rig that offers me superior control over bullshit, imprecise gaming controllers?! You put me up against a console gamer in the same game and I'll kick your ass . Badly. This is a widely known, demonstrated reality.

There hasn't been a logical reason to have a separate gaming system since at least the days of the N64-- At least aside from developers making their titles console, only. So I say screw Sony, and screw Microsoft's hardware division. In fact, screw ALL CONSOLE PLATFORMS. I already have a superior gaming experience without the underhanded policies they're evolving, and their namby pamby hardware.

And some will wish to speak about how you can use consoles to expand media viewing options through your TV. There's no technical reason why a PC couldn't do exactly the same thing, if only development was shifted over to it in the same degree that it is toward consoles. There are PC options you could use now, for that matter.

I venture an (admittedly strong) opinion...
 

What about a networked weather station? Nearly everyone's interested in the weather, and from direct experience I can tell you it's really cool to be able to connect to your station from your smart phone, tablet, or any web browser, and observe current conditions. There are relatively inexpensive complete systems available now, such as from the likes of AcuRite. I have a Rainwise MK-III LR, myself, but those are probably more expensive than most would wish to spend.

Well wishes to your dad-- If I make it to that age I hope to exhibit the same energy and curiosity he still engages. This is great to hear about!