MrsDoyle

And if they’re still alive come autumn, their sisters kick them out of the hive. No freeloaders! (I’ve seen this happen, it’s quite brutal. The drone is struggling to get back inside into the warm, but the workers just shove him out.)

I’ve never learned about servers - never worked in IT, just a simple old hobbyist. Also never used a Raspberry Pi. But thank you! I might get around to reading up on the topic of servers over the winter. My computer has two drives, the original “spinning rust” and an SSD I installed (so quick! so quiet!). My thought is to keep Windows on a partition until I’m sure I like the distro I’ve chosen.

I have multiple backup drives, from a wee 4Tb Toshiba to a SparQ drive with 1Gb cartridges (a whole gigabyte, how will I ever fill it?). I’m pretty sure I’ve got everything saved, but I’m equally sure there’ll be something I’ve missed.

Why are there Ubuntu haters? I’m on the verge of installing Linux on my desktop and have the Ubuntu pro installer on a thumb drive ready. I’m worried now…

I started out thinking to go with Mint, seems popular, but there was an instruction to verify the ISO image and it was just too complex. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=291093

I’m already using Linux on an old laptop (Zorin) so I’m not inexperienced, but good lord that’s a faff and a half. I have a life!

A Spanish friend showed me a group photo from her work, about 30 people, and said “See if you can pick out the one American.” I did, really quickly. Because all the Spanish people had similar dark eyebrows. The American had pale, indistinct eyebrows.

That’s so nice! I gave away a microwave, and the couple who took it brought along a little pot plant as a thank you.

I had a big heavy electric bike I used for my work commute, and once I retired it gradually morphed into a coat rack. I put it on Gumtree, a UK Craigslist equivalent, priced at £50 more than I actually wanted for it, which was well under half the price I’d paid. A full 27 SECONDS after I listed it, I had a buyer, and less than half an hour after that he was at my door. As expected, he offered £50 less than the listed price, and was delighted when I accepted. Bargain!

I noticed he’d come in a car, and wondered out loud if it had room for a big heavy bike. “No problem, it can fit loads!” As he wheeled the bike out the door, he realised just how heavy this big heavy bike was. But he forged on, managed to heave it into the car, and drove off a happy man.

Questions he didn’t ask: How old is this bike? (Seven years or so.) What’s the projected lifespan of the battery? (About another year.) How well is it holding a charge? (Not well at all.) How much is a replacement battery? (£200.)

I fully expected to hear back from him complaining about the big heavy lemon he’d just bought, but no. I guess he’s enjoying his new coat rack.

Vanuatu 🇻🇺

It’s got a boar’s tusk on it.

https://youtu.be/0Wf5nFbA_YM

My friends know not to ask me about bees. Ten-minute illustrated lecture guaranteed.

Famn, PugJesus beat me to it. I love you Pug!

I know this one!! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigil

Bluey! It’s a kiddie cartoon about a dog family. If I’ve read or watched anything too heavy I’ll watch a couple of Bluey eps to chill before sleep.

https://youtu.be/kPFHL0R0oIU

A scientist. It’s never going to happen because I’m 72. At school I was pushed into languages, history etc because I wasn’t good at maths. I was good at general science though, especially chemistry, and I enjoyed it.

After I retired I took up beekeeping and have lately rediscovered my love of science. I have two microscopes and am studying bee anatomy and pollen identification. There’s an exam later in the year for a certificate that will open further areas of study, but I doubt my skills are up to the challenge (eg dissecting a bee in front of the examiner). However, I am really enjoying the whole process of making slides and examining them. I would have loved doing this as a job.

The bees. All our hives made it through winter and a fairly mild spring so far has given them a boost. Queens are laying like crazy, workers are working hard.

I’ve started wearing very thin gloves while inspecting the hives after realising that they make it less likely I’ll be stung, because I can be gentler. A bonus is that I can feel the warmth of the bees, and that really does bring me joy.

Meanwhile no-one mentioned Valentina Tereshkova, who orbited Earth 48 times on her own back in 1963. Sigh.

That’s a good strategy, thanks.

My (perfectly good) PC isn’t Win 11 compatible, so I can’t upgrade from 10. I’ve got Linux running on an old laptop so I’m thinking of installing it on my PC. Buuut a few years back I moved from Google Drive to OneDrive and so now I’m looking at Proton Drive instead. It’s all a big time soak, sigh. But worth it? I guess… The timing isn’t great either - I’ve got an exam in October that I need to study hard for and do practical prep as well, plus I have travel plans. It’s all a bit much. I’m too old to be this busy!

Crossing the street is a thoughtful thing to do, and I for one appreciate it.

Exactly. Everyone in Scotland knows what town former prime minister Gordon Brown lives in. Thanks to Google Maps, we know the exact address. It’s the only blurred-out house.