You think LM being “too old” is a problem for newbies? I’ve been running some distro or other since RedHat 5. I it took me 6 weeks of waiting for Fedora to sort out most of the issues, (and I STILL have some minor ghosting issues and I ain’t no gamer), and 4 tries to get Fedora 40 to successfully take the nVidia drivers for the GTX1650 chipset in my laptop.

You think a new wannbe convert is going to put up with that?

Well, I’m not sure a cat can have a bad work ethic if they just don’t have one to start with…

Most pets don’t work because their owners don’t bother to train them to do any work. And interestingly enough, I have indeed seen a Chihuahua herd cattle. There was No Fear. It was amazing to see that little toothed monster chase a 2000lbs bull around a pen and into another and then into a barn on command from the farmer that owned him. And a Mastiff will gladly hunt fox, cougars, wolves, and even people if you want them to. They will also happily Netflix, popcorn, and chill on the couch with you after chewing up that human also.

Why don’t my dogs talk? Well, they just don’t have the physical voice box to form the sounds of human speech, (as you well know). But that doesn’t mean they don’t communicate with people. Actions, like tail wagging, barking in various tones and volumes, rolling on the ground all communicate emotions and situational reports. And us humans understand them just fine. My little Russian Spaniel does her best to “talk” to me with a near continuous stream of moans and groans, and erffs when she sits with me in my recliner. It’s almost annoying when she doesn’t shut up. And they understand my communications. My dogs understand verbal, whistle, and silent hand signals and respond correctly and instantly to them when I’m afield with them. Parrots, have a natural physical ability to mimic other sounds, (as do a lot of other birds). So they are doing what comes naturally to them - a human is not required.

There are lots of dogs out there that do jobs they were never bred for. Seeing eye dogs, dogs trained for deaf people or assistants to people confined to a wheel chair. Turns out Labrador Retrievers are really great at this kind of work. And I have trained retired Springer Spaniel hunting dogs to work in a hospital as therapy dogs. But that’s not why or what those breeds exists for. Ever see a trained animal act at a circus? They are often what most people would call “mutts”. Mixed breed dogs doing amusing things like ride bicycles and drive little cars around and jumping through burning hoops of fire. And you can often see little Chihuahuas preforming in those acts. All doing things none of them were bred for.

I like the cats that we have. One, a grey and white is an excellent mouser. But he comes from a very long line of barn cats and has a wild streak in him. The other two, are far more interested in cat toys and sleeping in laps and beds than in any mouse - and that’s fine. A warm kitty in the lap purring away is a calming and enjoyable thing to have on a cold winter’s day. But I’m under no illusion that cats or most other pets can be trained to do all the things my dogs can do.

Dogs are humans oldest and closest companions and co-workers for a reason.

Let me know when you can train a cat to herd sheep or train one to hunt and retrieve game on command. I’ve got 3 cats and 4 dogs here. The cats make nice and often amusing lap warmers. But beyond catching the odd mouse, they can’t do work.

I would certainly hope so…

First, What’s a vacation?

Second, I don’t post anything on line now as it is.

Nope. But I never have the radio on anyway because I can’t stand the noise. Instead, I would be planning on just how I was going to kill each bad guy in the most torturous ways.

Why not both? Besides, you can’t make home made baked beans or a good stew or bake bread, cakes or pies in a plain high carbon steel pot.

If you push me to it. I will be happy with just my plain high carbon steel wok and cast iron dutch oven.

I have yet to see any kind of powered abrasive that WON"T get to the bare metal in a right quick manor. It’s kind of what the stuff is made for…

Wet/dry sandpaper is fast and will easily get you down to the fresh bare metal again. Then you simply re-season and start cooking that delicious bacon in it again. A rainy Saturday afternoon will easily get it done.

Then you simply wash with dish soap and hot water before you use it. This ain’t rocket surgery.

That’s the cool part- no matter what happens to your cast iron pans, it can be fixed. You scratch or chip a non-stick coating and the pan is pretty much ruined.

Nope. I often use dish soap and a soft scrub pad on my cast iron just like my Grandmother and mother did with those same cast iron pans and dutch oven. A decent seasoning on cast iron is probably more durable than non-stick coatings. Just keep it out of the dishwasher. The high temp hot water and caustic dishwasher detergents WILL damage your seasoning. But, then you just need to re-season to fix it all better again.

My lazy way to keep my cast iron and plain high carbon steel wok properly seasoned is to clean with hot water and mild dish soap then return to the stove top heat on high until hot, then shut the burner off and hit the insides with a light quick spray of cooking oil. Or I just use some plain vegetable oil and wipe on a thin coating with a paper towel. and leave it cool.

A good number of European cities and countries have tried Linux and open source software in the past. They use it for a few years and then they have almost always have quietly gone back to MS Windows and Office products.

As much as I enjoy using Linux, (and no, I don’t use Arch), and open source for my own needs, I would be willing to bet after a few years, this German state will quietly move back to Micosoft products again.

The US has such places along highways also.

Oddly, moonshine and bathtub “gin” became quite the impetus for the popularity of cocktails, at least in the US. Since the added flavors tended to hide the rotgut taste of the illicit booze. And the loss of beer breweries had the effect of giving rise to ice cream parlors and soda fountains since saloons had to close. Plus as Minnesotan, I feel the need to apologize for the Volstead Act, as it became known, since Andrew Volstead was a Minnesota House of Representative and Chairman of the House Judicial Committee and was pretty instrumental in getting prohibition enacted. Scandinavian Protestantism ™ is not a good thing by in large.

It depends on where the bourbon gets made. Very generally, the temperatures cycles vary a lot more more than in Great Britain. So the bourbon “ages” faster than Scotch or Irish whiskys. So bourbons have to be younger and that can make them somewhat sharper in flavor. Plus the requirement of using new oak barrels also cuts the time spent in the barrel.

Irish whiskey? Triple pot stilled to strip out all the flavors? Dang near vodka for depth of flavor. (I jest - I do enjoy a good Irish whiskey myself).

Now bourbon is the drink of the gods. Rich deep complex flavors that fill your taste buds with joy. It’s so good the Scots and even the Irish use our used bourbon barrels to impart those complex flavors and taste to their whiskys.

Yeah, Prohibition killed all the beer we had and we did have good beer right up until then. And it’s been a long road back. Those large US breweries are still far more interested in cheap ingredients made cheaply.

But you can find good craft beers scattered amongst the bad craft beers if you look. And home brewing is maybe more popular in the US than Europe, but I’m not sure of that.

I’ve home brewed a lot of English ales and I agree that those ales should be served warmer. If you don’t, the cold mutes and kills the subtle and rich flavors.

Lagers are good, but a good British Ale is something to savory with good friends.