Weekend Open Forum: An open mic

[Matthew DeCarlo]

It's become a tradition of ours to close the week with a post that gives you an opportunity to say a few words about something -- usually industry-related. However, we always choose the topic. This time around, we're going to switch things up and leave the WOF completely open-ended. You can take the conversation anywhere you want. Find a new glitch in Skyrim? Going on vacation this winter? Have a cool video, picture or article to share? Did the neighbor's dog crap in your flowers again? Climb up on your soapbox and hit the comments, but be sure to keep things clean and civil.

Comment bubbles via Shutterstock

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/46617-weekend-open-forum-an-open-mic.html

 

[Leeky]

Oooh, I'll get in first then!

(Sorry in advance, but!) I'd love to hear from those than use Linux among us (and guests) what their preferred Linux distro is and why?

My vote goes to openSUSE, with XFCE as my default DE. Debian and Slackware come a close second. I find the releases the distro dependable, it has many packages available for it and I really think it deserves more credit than it usually achieves against the likes of 'buntu, Linux Mint, Fedora and Arch Linux. I'd love to hear the thoughts and preference of others though.

Plus two other very important things...

1. Is is ethically acceptable to fill a genuine Guinness pint glass with Budweiser beer?

Case and point... I mean I can't discuss alcohol and its consumption without an example:

2. What is better... Dark or milk chocolate? Personally I think the milk chocolate melts better in my mouth and doesn't leave a nasty bitter after taste.

 

[herpaderp]

Dark chocolate is delicious, I usually prefer 80%. It's healthier than milk chocolate, and (supposedly) doesn't cause acne for people who still get that. It's unfortunate that most people don't like it for its bitterness.

 

[Guest]

@ Leeky

2. Hot chili pepper dark chocolate is tha best. but often expensive

 

[gwailo247]

1. In an emergency yes. But then you will have to appease the vengeful god Guinness as soon as possible and consume some Guinness in said glass.

 

[St1ckM4n]

I prefer milk chocolate, generally because I'm trying to pig out on it. One cannot deny its deliciousness.

Dark is for more 'formal' occasions, when trying to exercise self-control, haha.

 

[slh28]

Budweiser in any container is ethically unacceptable. Sorry but American beers taste like water.

 

[free4rm]

Unfortunately the imports have to be processed in a certain way to be sold here in the States, they don't taste the same as they would in the country of their origin. Some of the best beer I've ever tasted was down in Central America.

 

[treetops]

@slh28 it actually depends on what part of America you buy the beer from as far as alchohol % is concerned. I recently dried a beer call oak creek amber ale and it was very tasty. Its a local micro brew made in Sedona Arizona. I like Guinness but it makes me sneeze . Btw you will likely have very hard time finding that beer outside of Arizona.

@Choclate Just like my beer I can't take the bitterness.

@Linux, Iv never used it but I want to put it on my dads old computer thats using windows xp to speed it up, any suggestions?

@Budwieser I like it when it is near freezing out of a bottle, a few ice chips in it makes it taste just right.


Btw cheesecake is the best pie and or cake! Aside from ice cream cake but that don't count its ice cream!

 

[dividebyzero]

Budweiser in any container is ethically unacceptable. Sorry but American bulk beers taste like water that has passed through a dogs digestive system

/fixed

The growing number of fruit flavoured U.S. boutique beers might be a cause for concern...also, I find Budweiser is acceptable...so long as it's Czech

Concur with Guest (never thought I'd be typing that phrase). Chili Dark Chocolate is the dogs danglers. One of those seemingly odd food combinations that tastes infinitely better than it sounds (see also : Pears and black pepper, Strawberries and a dash of balsamic vinegar).

 

[Ranger12]

Dark chocolate-It makes me feel cultured and not so much like an irresponsible twenty something year old trying to figure out my life.

 

[Guest]

Id like to know why Americans are so fixated with age?
When youre this age you have to be like this, when youre that age, you need to be like that.
Whats that all about???? I had an American friend (23yrs old) who, after discussing the funny drunken hijinks of a 21 yr old friend said, "Oh to be young again". WTF??? Thats just one example of many.

Maybe try to not live your life by a preconceived timeline and instead live each day and each moment as it comes.

 

[Leeky]

I like Budweiser. Though I must confess to liking other beers, Budweiser is enjoyed best absolutely ice cold. I always thought it had a nice crisp, light taste. Oh well, I'll have to appease my Guinness pint glass and grab some later today. :haha:

I'll have to try that dark chocolate with hot chilli pepper. I have a "thing" for spices, so might be just up my street so to speak.

What I'd like to know is why someone is considered safe to drive at 16/17, but not allowed to legally buy alcohol until they are 21. Kind of funny.

Much like the UK's silly law law on the purchase of tobacco products. For years you had to be 16 or over, then all of a sudden they changed it to 16 to use them, but you have to be 18 to buy them. WTF? :haha:

First the UK tried the 18 year old age for alcohol, which is still current. Then they tried saying if you look under 21 they'll ID you, now its if you look 25 or under you get ID challenged. Is it not easier to employ some brains and just ID something that "looks" under-age.

@treetops,
Surely ice cream cake is one of those hybrid "solutions" that you could call both a cake and ice cream.

As for Linux, I suppose following the masses and going for Ubuntu or Linux Mint would be advisable for beginners. Of the lot I would choose Linux Mint 12 as an ideal starting distro. Its easy to use, contains a similar menu system to Windows (e.g. its in the same corner, and follows similar logic) and has the greatest number of applications. Wine has come a long way as well, so if there is anything written for MS that he needs it should be possible to get it running to help with the transition.

 

[Siavash]

Leeky said:
(Sorry in advance, but!) I'd love to hear from those than use Linux among us (and guests) what their preferred Linux distro is and why?

I'm using Arch Linux on the high-end machine (Core2 Quad) and Linux Mint Debian Edition on the low-end machine (Pentium III) at home with XFCE being the default DE on both.

I like Arch Linux because of its simple and powerful package manager (pacman), great wiki (you can find detailed guides about everything) and kind community. Arch Linux is a rolling-release distro which means you have always access to latest updates and new versions (unlike other distros which takes ages for a new version to be available at repos).

Arch Linux community is very helpful, months ago I needed a few libraries (ENET and Intel TBB, as a developer you always need the latest tool-chain) to be updated, two hours after discussing at #archlinux, [tada!!!] it was available at official repos. You can't believe it how much Arch Linux community is active

And I found the LMDE the most smooth and flexible distro running on the old (offline) machine. No unneeded packages and services, little bro is pretty happy with that after trying a lot of distros ^^

Regards to the DE, I was a previous GNOME user, but GNOME 3 made me to switch to the XFCE on high-end machine too.

Leeky said:
2. What is better... Dark or milk chocolate? Personally I think the milk chocolate melts better in my mouth and doesn't leave a nasty bitter after taste.

I like both of them, but i found the milk chocolate more yummy

 

[Guest]

i'm from the philippines so it's san miguel beer pale pilsen for me...

...or san miguel light version.

...or bomb shot (a shot of tequila plus san miguel beer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_charge_(cocktail)

 

[Guest]

Chocolate the darker the better.

Diabetes and beer don't mix.

Now for Linux, for out of the box functionality and ease of use give PinguyOS a try. Ubuntu base with all the tweaks in the right places.

 

[red1776]

Dividebyzero said:

Concur with Guest (never thought I'd be typing that phrase). Chili Dark Chocolate is the dogs danglers. One of those seemingly odd food combinations that tastes infinitely better than it sounds (see also : Pears and black pepper, Strawberries and a dash of balsamic vinegar).

Chocolate and bacon...
Guest said:

Id like to know why Americans are so fixated with age?
When youre this age you have to be like this, when youre that age, you need to be like that.
Whats that all about???? I had an American friend (23yrs old) who, after discussing the funny drunken hijinks of a 21 yr old friend said, "Oh to be young again". WTF??? Thats just one example of many.

Maybe try to not live your life by a preconceived timeline and instead live each day and each moment as it comes.

I could not agree more! My wife and I are always wondering the same thing.
It's always "red, act your age!" ...."red, you're too old for that!" ....red, put some pants on!"
Bunch of damn prudes I say!

 

[TomSEA]

Budweiser ain't beer - everyone knows that. For those of you who live in the Pacific NW, Rogue Dead Guy Ale is where it's at. http://www.rogue.com/beers/dead-guy-ale.php

 

[Guest]

i am unable to download 3.9 gb patch of battlefield 3, it always restarts after 30-70%

 

[dividebyzero]

:Chocolate and bacon...

Minnesota's contribution to the culinary arts! "Pig Lickers"......as opposed to Pig Liquor's

On a possibly unrelated note...percentage of pixels in upcoming Playboy shoot processed through Photoshop? 80%?...90 ?

 

[matrix86]

Leeky said:
First the UK tried the 18 year old age for alcohol, which is still current. Then they tried saying if you look under 21 they'll ID you, now its if you look 25 or under you get ID challenged. Is it not easier to employ some brains and just ID something that "looks" under-age.

I work at Walmart here in the US, and we are required to ask for ID for anyone who looks under...get ready for it.......................27. TWENTY----SEVEN!!! What...the...hell? What an odd number to choose, lol. It's kind of hard, anyway. There have been people come through who were 35 but looked like they were in their early twenties. They usually get mad when asked for ID (because they don't have it) which always makes me ask (in my head, not out loud) "you don't have your ID? Sooooo...you're out driving without your ID?"
It always makes me chuckle, especially when the on duty cop is standing right there and hears the conversation and kind of perks his head up and looks over with a smirk on his face, lol.

 

[red1776]

Minnesota's contribution to the culinary arts! "Pig Lickers"......as opposed to Pig Liquor's

On a possibly unrelated note...percentage of pixels in upcoming Playboy shoot processed through Photoshop? 80%?...90 ?

No actually. I have seen the Chocolate/bacon "craze" a few times on shows hosted by Elton Brown and the crew. I expect the swine swill is an extension of the "bacon goes with everything" kick we are on ...over here at least.

I think it has to be in the 90's anyway. She is looking as rough as #9 sandpaper when I have seen her going in, and coming out.

 

[gwailo247]

Guest said:
Id like to know why Americans are so fixated with age?
When youre this age you have to be like this, when youre that age, you need to be like that.
Whats that all about???? I had an American friend (23yrs old) who, after discussing the funny drunken hijinks of a 21 yr old friend said, "Oh to be young again". WTF??? Thats just one example of many.

Maybe try to not live your life by a preconceived timeline and instead live each day and each moment as it comes.

Feel free to list examples of non-Paleolithic cultures in which there was not some kind of level of accomplishment associated with a given age. Be it educational, professional or social, every culture has certain "requirements" as to what a "successful" member of its culture should accomplish by a given age. In the most primitive cultures its the age when a person should marry and have offspring, in more advanced cultures, it can be getting a certain level of education, earning a certain amount of money, and, surprise, getting married and having offspring.

And "Oh to be young again" is a phrase that is more often than not meant sarcastically, as a comment on a younger person's behavior that is usually somewhat reckless and free from the concept of consequence. Said by a 23 year old to a 21 year old, the irony is pretty apparent.

But on behalf of all Americans, thanks buddy for taking the time to point out what is wrong with our culture.

 

[dividebyzero]

No actually. I have seen the Chocolate/bacon "craze" a few times on shows hosted by Elton Brown and the crew

Alton Brown ? Here I was thinking that Minnesota laid claim to the confection in 2008. So food fame has still yet to grace your fair state?

I expect the swine swill is an extension of the "bacon goes with everything" kick we are on ...over here at least.

At this stage I'm thinking the "Over 9000" meme originates from the average daily calorie intake in the U.S.

I think it has to be in the 90's anyway. She is looking as rough as #9 sandpaper when I have seen her going in, and coming out.

You've seen her going and coming out?.....coma?...liquor store?...acting classes*?

*just kidding

 

[Leeky]

I'm using Arch Linux on the high-end machine (Core2 Quad) and Linux Mint Debian Edition on the low-end machine (Pentium III) at home with XFCE being the default DE on both.

I must confess to never even using Arch Linux. It is definitely on my to-do list for the future though. The general impression I tend to get is the majority of those that try it pretty much stop looking to ever replace their distro.

I'm now an XFCE man as well. I started out with KDE (3.x) years ago, and surprisingly lasted about 3-4 days before moving to the much blander Gnome interface. From there I remained with it whilst DE's came and went, updated and were screamed at for changes. Then around the time Unity started making an appearance I swapped over to it. I do like Gnome 3 as well, but I find the over all performance to be much snappier when running XFCE, especially when running VM's on my host PC.

I tend to stick to openSUSE for my main PC these days, but also run CentOS, SUSE and Debian on my servers and VM's as well.

For those starting out or thinking of trying Linux I usually recommend Linux Mint, or LMDE (Mint Debian Edition) for those wanting more stability using more mature packages.

Budweiser ain't beer - everyone knows that. For those of you who live in the Pacific NW, Rogue Dead Guy Ale is where it's at. http://www.rogue.com/beers/dead-guy-ale.php

Clearly I missed that announcement! :haha: