Yeah, I can’t work up much existential dread at this prospect. Given the immensity of the universe, the odds of this happening anywhere that it will affect the human race anytime soon are pretty damn slim.

The Mercury Eight was a runner in its day.

Yeah, that’s a new one on me too. Where I’m from, “Merc” is usually gearhead speak for a Mercury not a Mercedes. Then again, I’m old and out of it, so what do I know.

NA beer is not basically “beer flavored soda.” The only thing the two have in common is carbonation and even that is produced differently in each. Soda is flavored syrup mixed with water that has been carbonated by forcing CO2 through it. NA beer is brewed the same as regular beer, and carbonation occurs during this process. For some NA beers, fermentation is arrested before significant amounts of alcohol form, while others are subjected to a vacuum to lower the boiling point so that the alcohol can be boiled out with a minimum effect of the flavor.

I use a kettle at home, but I’ve used a microwave at work. I don’t understand what’s remotely laughable about doing so. Boiling water is boiling water.

I’ll tell what is laughable is how America restaurants typically serve hot tea. They draw a small metal container of hot water from the spigot on the side of the coffee maker, and bring it to the table with an empty cup and a teabag. By the time the bag goes in the water, the water is far too cold to infuse properly.

Pimento

I have a 4 meg Pi 4b running Pi-hole and Mini-DLNA. It’s rather under-utilized for those tasks, but it serves them quite well.

Fundamental is the term used to describe concepts like points in geometry. This seems like an analogous case, so I suggest it for your use here.

There’s research that backs you up.

People tend to retain more of their written notes than typed. The act of writing forces you to assimilate and summarize new information on the fly. Typing allows you to take more complete notes closer to a verbatim transcript, but you engage less with what you’ve typed.

https://gradepowerlearning.com/writing-vs-typing-notes-what-is-more-effective/#:~:text=The research is clear%3A the,Hard to believe%3F

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/discover-black-heritage/black-history-of-new-york-before-central-park-there-was-seneca-village/3543777/

Because in my experience Linux hasn’t been consistently reliable in the long term.

My computer is a tool. I need it to just work, not cause me work. I’ve tried many distros and sooner or later something random stopped working, causing me to stop what I was doing and troubleshoot the problem.

Like the time I installed Mint on my desktop and my GPU fan ran full throttle all the time. Or that time when OpenVPN stopped working from one boot up to the next. Or those times when a fresh install hung up and failed fully boot.

Contrast that with the thousands? tens of thousands? of days when Windows just started without incident, got out of my way and let me work or game or whatever.

Is Windows bloated and slow? Yes. Is it constantly spying on me? Yes. Is it annoying in dozens of little ways that Linux isn’t? Yes. But it is consistently reliable and Linux isn’t.

I’m not a Windows fan boy, and I’d love to be able to use a linux desktop on the reg but every time I forget my previous disappointment long enough to try again, I am once again disappointed.

One thing has been working well for me. I have a Raspberry Pi with Raspian running Pi Hole, MiniDLNA and a couple of other things. It’s been as solid and reliable as I could ask.