In related news, Americans wear thongs on their feet.

I can’t see from this article whether “could cost” means there are lawsuits ongoing/pending, or just the author has speculated what the fine could be if there were a lawsuit?

Not sure what you call this kind of cat

Ceiling cat!

Not my experience. I think “can I ask you a favour” is a normal opener to a request, rather than splurting out the whole request right away.

Seeing your more description here:

TBH I would not know how to reply. I think your response sounds a bit rude, but not bad - and the other guy ought to take it in his stride and get over it.

The trick - apparently - is to be somehow quick-witted and articulate at the same time as you’re feeling anxious and crowded. Something like, “sorry, I’m not in a good space for strangers right now.” …But then, some strangers would take that as a cue of openness and enthusiastically start strangersplaining to you how they’re a good’un and it’s all alright and anyway you should be more open to people because society’s better that way…

So maybe your response isn’t all that bad, in the end.

Or, “not at the moment, sorry.”

See, eventually I can come up with a good response!

It’s still a bit passive aggressive, I would feel.

I think if I were quick of thought (oh, how I wish!) I’d reply something positive like, “sure, what’s up?” And then if the request were too onerous I’d say, “sorry, I can’t.”

Because that stranger on the street is a real person and you want them to have a good day too.

You don’t need to stress over if you came across as rude, but being polite is something I, at least, would like to try if I can.

I’d like to advocate that - even if it is rude - it shouldn’t be a problem. What I mean is, if you ask someone you don’t know well for a favour, and you get a rude or borderline aggressive reply, just accept it and walk away. So many of us give weird-sounding answers in the spur of the moment, with no bad intentions. When you hear/receive one of those weird replies, it does no harm to give it the benefit of the doubt.

That’s fantastic! Thank you for sharing. I’ve been going through some learning of my own recently, and I’m going to have a think on what you shared.

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

Nix-related job - do tell!

Weird Al: Kernel Drivers

A parody kernel of Linux USB Support

Ubuntu 20.04, and doesn’t work on other Ubuntu versions? Sounds like it’s compiled against old libraries.

If you want to try something more advanced, you might be able to get it to work in Nix or Flatpak. Both are ways to use the exact software libraries with an application. Both would be quite steep leaning to do! Even docker might solve the problem; still not an easy solution though, and might be harder to get hardware features working.

I got the impression Mint isn’t best for KDE. For the reasons you mentioned, I guess, because it’s not been set up with all those options right for KDE.

I’m also on Mint, and happy to stick with it for some time, but sometimes I’ve wondered about going back to OpenSUSE, or even trying KDE’s own distro. But by then I start thinking about Nix and Guix also, as well as old faithful Arch. Then it’s too much choice and I remember how nicely Mint works for me and the family!

England too, and I think many cultures world over, actually.

But in the UK we had a scandal some years ago because retailers sold ‘beef’ that was actually part horse. So it was misleading customers into eating a meat they’d find objectionable.

jagged_circle likes his meat live

Food regulations are (mostly) about restricting food producers in ways that I already want/approve. Food safety, so I know there isn’t mercury in my baby’s formula.

It’s necessary especially because companies want their profits, more than they want to produce good food.

“Government dictating what I can eat” is restricting me about my own body, in ways perhaps I disagree with.