Cats

Win10 EOL is surely driving some people away, but it’s difficult to put a number on that. Measuring by market share is tricky and can be misleading. Steam Deck popularity may be driving increased usage, but those users aren’t necessarily migrating their main OS, just adding a new machine to the mix. But maybe “migrating” their time spent in a given OS counts? It’s messy.

I don’t remember who said it (so I’m likely butchering the phrase), but I’ve heard that any creative work exists in three forms: The mind of the author, the physical copy, and the mind of the audience.

For example, a book/story exists as the author intends, as the author writes, and as the reader interprets.

No one of the three is more “correct” than the other.

I mean its not even too late for this to happen starting like right now 2025, right?

No, it’s not. The US, and increasingly the rest of the western world, is infected by a bunch of politicians who think ‘1984’ is an instruction manual rather than a cautionary tale.

IT being used to weaponize surveillance against the people is happening right now.

And of course, anything passed by the normal legislative processes can just as easily be repealed that way.

Lasting change is going to require constitutional amendment(s) to harden the democracy against bad actors.

Is this a “what happens if we outlaw all News Organizations” situation, or a “What if the world evolved without News Organizations” scenario?

From there, the answer depends entirely on how you define “news” and “organization.”

Nobody would define aunt Sharon gossiping about her neighbor’s cat’s digestive issues as being a “news organization.” Almost everybody would define the New York Times, or CNN as one.

Between them lies a million shades of gray, and any distinction is going to be arbitrary.

In the “outlaw” scenario above, even the best attempts to define clear and unambiguous rules will just lead to gamesmanship and disappointment.

The question is basically answered now, so I’ll just drop this video here for some additional context about Microsoft’s history of trying to build a file system that solves the problem, and the challenges they faced even in the early XP days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5d5H92c4Mk

tl;dw: MS tried to understand the context of each file, not just the name. Once you add dozens of pieces of metadata to each of tens of thousands of files (even 20+ years ago), the whole system became too difficult for them to properly index and manage efficiently.

Yeah, my wife teases me all the time about not answering. “Going to the store after work” doesn’t, IMHO, require me to do or say anything about it.

A direct question will almost always get a response.

It’s going to be a little different for married couples, though. Even if I don’t respond, we’ll be talking face-to-face in a few hours tops.

Martavius Garantus Hawthorne IV is my real name, officer.

This is the answer. I would put the ‘nuclear death in a bottle’ type sauces on everything in my 20s. Switched to more normal hot sauce in my 30s. Since 40, even that has to be done in moderation. My fridge is full of hot sauces gifted to me that I won’t touch, but the extended family still thinks I like.

This is why subject matter experts matter. Support for the vague idea of “deport people here illegally” is pretty high, but any specific method of actually doing it is much more unpopular. Media is essential in getting that distinction out to the laypeople, but they’ve largely failed.

And I’d argue that it’s not just immigration where this disconnect exists. Lots of policies have broad support until you start talking about specifics. People just want to “get things done” but the “how” is either boring or unsavory.

You can handle what you can handle, and trying to drink from the firehose will only burn you out. Be as active in your community as you can, when you can, then take a break when you need to. Your own mental health matters, too.

I was in high school when the Simpsons was still pretty new, and there was some popular Bart t-shirt at the time that got the word “hell” banned on any clothing.

All while the school mascot is the Blue Devil.

The most useless UI element ever invented:

I’ve been using MS products for some 40 years, and I swear it’s company policy to put every Chaotic Evil new employee immediately onto a UI/UX team. Absolutely zero consistency between products and versions.

The best managers can find out exactly what motivates their people, and lean into that to make things fun and rewarding (or as much as possible, being work related).

The tricky part is that this won’t be the same for everyone, so a one-size-fits-all field trip won’t necessarily be received the same by all the employees. Maybe the group dynamic is such that everyone has a good time, and this may work out well. Maybe some members resent being compelled to spend relaxed time with people they don’t want to see that way.

In a perfect world, everybody could get their own individualized rewards and recognition, based on what they value most. The only way to get there is to put in the work to know the employees as people.

Masnick’s Impossibility Theorem in action.

The bigger the platform, the wider the spread of opinions on how moderation should look, and that means wherever the admins land, there will inevitably be some who think it’s too little, and some who think it’s too much. You can’t please everyone.

If you can’t find an instance that matches your preferences, you can always go with the most permissive, then block other instances/communities/users that are causing problems. It’s a little more work at first, but it’s possible to tailor your own experience here wherever you’re registered.

As someone with mild travel anxiety, I’d probably be the one with the vision. And even if not, it would make a good excuse to skip the trip and stay home like I wanted to do in the first place.

See also: census designated places, a collection of people with no formal town incorporation/government. My dad grew up in a “town” (CDP) of about 250 residents. It’s about a half hour drive from the nearest real town, for things like groceries and hospitals.