What you have to remember is MAGA only "supports the troops" who are boot lickers or kiss the ring of the draft dodger in chief.

Anyone who steps out of line or makes a valid point to challenge what they see as wrong is summarily drummed out or fired. So if something doesn't change soon, we will have nothing but emasculated yes-men running our military (since I think all of the women in command are probably gone now). Having said that, this is indeed promising news and I hope she can make a difference.

West Virginia was once reliably Blue but those days are long gone and the Face Eating Leopard's party has completely taken over. Now I just do my part and vote against republicans and the other boot-licking pieces of human waste that are in power in this state, but I know my vote is a tiny blue drop in the ocean of red. Super happy to see the flips in other states though so maybe there is a chance someday...

Updated to Fedora 45 Workstation without a hitch and I didn't notice anything new or exciting but that is honestly OK with me. One of the things I dislike about modern updates (e.g. Android) is that they always seem to change how things look or function with little obvious benefit. I have been using Fedora since 43 and the only thing I had to fiddle with was the Super I/O module so that I could get "Sensors" working and it has been rock solid since then through two major updates.

I love the combination of the clean UI and desktop environment, great gaming performance, and packages that are "almost" rolling-release fresh. I haven't tried Arch yet but I did start out with Ubuntu about 10 years ago and Mint more recently so Fedora seems like a solid middle of the road option which I definitely recommend for anyone who is looking to try out a different distro.

My own ease at migrating to Linux as a PC gamer was almost entirely due to the Steam platform but I have had much less success with my GoG collection so I am still holding out for the Linux based platform that they have teased as in-work for a while now.

Epic games' freebies were something that I would regularly pick up but I honestly haven't felt any desire to try and access or install any of them since I moved from Win10. Ultimately, I am just hoping that accepting the free games resulted in higher operating costs for Epic and I think I may have purchased one or two heavily discounted games in 5 years. Hopefully I can be forgiven for those past indiscretions.

Steam isn't perfect but I will support it 100% over that other option since I think Valve has done more to improve the compatility and accessibility to high quality games on Linux than anyone else. Sweeney and other pricks like him can keep whining all they want; not gonna even play the tiniest violin for him.

I am pretty sure it is just shitty craft-store gold paint. My family and I were in DC for a short visit a couple months ago and I could see gold coloring on light fixtures and other places which seemed so out of place, I am certain some boot-licking cretin in the National Parks dept arranged to have it applied to appeal to our Dear Leader. But yeah, I am thinking we will need a giant roll-away dumpster at the White House to handle the clean-up when he is finally gone.

I managed to get my Eagle scout badge right before I aged out so I can appreciate what I think you are saying. As a parent, I initially planned on getting my son into scouting but the mess with BSA was enough to keep us away. That said, I still try to embody many of the values that I learned as a scout like always being prepared and respectful and ethical behavior.

What I think we could use more of is something like the Baden-Power Scouting Association or Navigators USA since they appear to be much more inclusive but I wasn't able to find a chapter in my area.

I hadn't even considered that angle when I was looking for a cub scout troop for my son a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to be a part of BSA when my dad was stationed in Germany so we were essentially sponsored by the base and there was no connection to a church organization. In the US I am finding that all troops are associated with churches and since I (as an atheist) am raising my son to be a free-thinker I figured there would be friction at some point since we don't go to church. I was honestly less concerned about gropey scout-masters since I intended to be with him on each trip and am handy with a hatchet.

IMO and in hindsight, there is also a level of over-the-top christo-patriotism that I basically overlooked when I was younger that makes me want to cringe now as an adult. These factors have been enough for me to take a more informal route to teach him outdoorsman-ship via campouts at state parks since I can't find any secular scouting options in my area. Its a shame since I did have some great experiences in scouting but I can't give him anything like the opportunities I had as a military brat in Europe.

I used to be one of those as well. Moved to WV and it added a new element of fun...icy roads. Three years of that and sadly I became an ex-owner of a Miata since I couldn't really winter the car and I had a motivated buyer. I miss that car most days but you really have to be on your toes all the time with the tractor trailers and "yank tanks" as they lovingly refer to them across the pond.

Subes are boring but effective in this part of the country.

Somewhat disappointing as I was anticipating this version would have some nice improvements but I would rather it come out hot and ready vs. under-baked and buggy.

Just a hunch but I am guessing you are referring to the first wave of good quality LED bulbs that hit the market. Those did last a long time and didn't flicker like the new stuff that has been pushed out more recently. In my experience, even the better quality brands like GE are now enshittified so they fail sooner and I almost miss incandescents in spite of their higher power draw.

The last few packs of new bulbs that I have purchased to replace malfunctioning LED bulbs (less than 5 years old) start to flicker almost immediately. In contrast, the stuff I installed in my last house ran problem free for many years without any issues. Perhaps I am just unlucky.

Ah ok, I will chalk this up to a reading comprehension failure on my part. Sounds like what I shared was actually the opposite of helpful. Sorry about that.