I am a butt sometimes...

 I was a total jerk today.  There is a paleontology reporting youtube channel that I actually like a lot.  But I went off on the episode because of certain things said, and they were NOT the fault of the reporter, he was simply going of published papers.

But the part that bugs me is this new trend using statistical analysis to place finds into various clades.  Yes, cladistics.  The trend is to identify measurement points on fossil bones, compile them into this massive database, and run a program to try and sort out how these bones might be related to some other bones.  It really CAN'T take into account the sparse number of fossils, the massive amounts of time, and the chance that over 10s of millions of years animals can "evolve" to be so similar that even their skeletons are nearly identical.

Anyway, google BEN G THOMAS and go to his site and watch his videos, they are good.  Not quite as good as Raptor Chatter's but... better than most.

Dinosaurs are fun.  They were amazing creatures.  It is fun to imagine how they might have behaved.  But we can never actually KNOW things about them, because all we ever get are minute snapshots of a moment in time over 100s of millions of years.  We find a clutch of eggs and assume "oh the parents must have cared for the babies" or "younger predators were faster and more agile than adults so they MUST have hunted in packs, the juveniles driving prey right into the mouths of the adults!"  BZZZZZZT!  Dinosaurs MIGHT have packed around but it was highly unlikely to be a complex behavior like group hunting.  As proof scientists will haul out a fossil site where 20 of the same species died.  Turns out it could have been a million other things other than cooperative packing... it could have been desperation for water, or prey, or even a natural trap of some sort.  We simply can't know these things.

That's why it is FUN to imagine, but don't let imagination drive science.  That came off wrong.  You can use imagination to drive your interest in science, but don't use it to verify facts.

I mean, I am not big on drugs but...

 

Soule admitted to investigators that the mushrooms were in fact psilocybin, which is labeled as a “schedule 1″ controlled substance. State police said a schedule 1 controlled substance is defined as drugs, substances and chemicals that are not currently accepted for medical use and have a high potential for abuse.

...So this kid (knowingly) grew mushrooms that have a psychedelic affect but I am thinking he needs to get a good lawyer and fight this based on the classification (unless there is more to this classification that isn't being stated here).

Since 11-July I have not been able to play World of Warships

With the release of Glorious Eggroll's Proton version 8-20, it is back!

Though I am not super excited since I have been sort of miffed with it for the past several months.

Also, Arizona Diamondbacks won the National League title!  First time since 2001 they have gone to the world series.  They beat Philly in 7... 

September 2023- Paleontology Review

This gentlemen deserves more attention...  if you read MY blog, please go view his YouTube channel.

Schnauzer Tongues and Science Generalizations

 I think I am being generous when I say "science generalizations."  If any of you have read some of my older posts you will understand that I get very irritated with "popular science" (not the magazine, the social concept where people throw out theories (if you can even call them that) without any valid evidence or research... and they become "de facto").

So I own a standard schnauzer, she's my little angel, or little devil depending on the moment.  She isn't much of a licker, but I realized early on that her tongue was very cat-like.  Not quite as rough and they feel smaller than a cats, but definitely full of tongue teeth.  (I own 2 cats as well).  So I had always thought cats have rough tongues, dogs have smooth tongues due to being obligate carnivores and for social reasons (self care, whereas dogs were pack animals and took care of one another).

So I started to do some research.

And, per usual, one idea is tossed out there on the internet, enough people latch onto it and it becomes SCIENCE FACT.  Such bologna.

First, dogs and cats had the same ancestors.  They just took slightly different paths and as a result their skeletons, brains and behavior became quite different.  HOWEVER... while cats are obligate carnivores and only eat meat, except for the grass in our lawn that our cats cow out on every once in awhile, dogs eat almost anything they can get in their mouths.  You think I am kidding, I have 3 dogs and some of the stuff that comes out of the OTHER end would amaze you.  Also, if you have coyote in the area, you would see it in their poop.  Actually we don't need coyote, my schnauzer loves to snack on the waste seed from our birds... her poop looks every bit that of a wild dog.

I am sorry, getting way off topic here.

So tongues.  Turns out if you google cat and dog tongues 99.999999% of the responses that come back will say "cats have rough tongues, dogs have smooth tongues *sound of book slamming shut* CASE CLOSED".   BZZZZZZZZT!  An untruth.  Dogs, to varying degrees, often based on the breed but for all I know it could be an individual recessive genetic trait or something, DO HAVE TONGUE HOOKS.  They are, after all, primarily carnivorous and the original dogs did have long fur which needed to be groomed.

I've never been licked by a wolf, but apparently they have very rough tongues.  Lo and behold, our beloved domesticated dogs are direct descendants of a type of Asian/European wolf.  So, my schnauzer's tongue is very rough, but definitely not as rough as our cats' tongues, but sometimes she licks my face and goes for my eyes... it hurts.  Her tongue is rough enough that when she hits my eyelids I wince involuntarily.

Well I've rambled on long enough.  The point is, don't believe anything you read on the internet, or what people tell you even if you trust them... find out for yourself.  Test for the truth.  Don't believe what I am telling you right now!  Go do the research for yourself.  It's the only way to know.

openSUSE Tumbleweed part 7

 Yeah, so...

ANOTHER major update.  I mean, it is a rolling release so this is to be expected.  At least the most recent video driver update has been working with each new kernel but...  now my disk mounting was broken.

So I used to define the mount points using things like /dev/sda and /dev/sdb, etc.  I KNOW I KNOW, that is not considered the best way to do it but it has worked for me for years.

My device assignments are coming willy-nilly now so I had to wipe my fstab in safe mode, reboot, then redefine my mounts using UID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Seems to be working now after reboot.

Frustrating that these "little things" keep happening but I suppose after I get through a few more updates like this I will be in good shape.  Maybe.  Who knows.

The Great Cleric

 I don't know how many of you watch anime but...  if you are looking for a fun but also not crazy-over-powered character from the start... this is a good one.

It is an isekai, office worker dies, reincarnates and decides to become a healer.

I won't give too much away except to say this one will stay in my queue for re-watching along with things like reincarnated as a slime, overlord, realist here rebuilt the kindom, the saint's magical power, tonikawa - over the moon, Bocchi the rock, and my dress up darling (and a few others).

This was a hidden gem.

openSUSE Tumbleweed update... Yay.

 I've been whining about how the kernel updates no longer worked with the NVidia driver I had been using.  Well YAY!  Finally the driver was updated and when I installed it and restarted, my system came up with the latest kernel and a nice Nvidia-driven UI.  :)  Very happy about that.  Now I need to release that old kernel and stick with the later 6.5 kernels.

Heidi Dog of the Desert

 My little runt of a standard Schnauzer is now over a year old.  She is the love of my life but... lately she is bored out of her gourde and she has been going after my shoes.  It has been a YEAR and now all of a sudden she is messing with my shoes.  I've caught her and scolded her 3 times in the past couple of days.  Doesn't seem to be sinking into her thick little skull that she shouldn't be touching them.

Outside of this little issue she has been behaving very well so... I am not sure where to go with this.  I hate scolding her.  Anyway, she is my little monster but she is such an incredible little dog.  I say little.  She is a standard schnauzer whose father was a 50 pounder, and the mother not far behind.  But she is not even 30 pounds and about an inch shorter than the "standard" says she should be.

In some ways that is nice, she is a little easier to handle.  :)  In other ways it is touch because she has the heart of a much larger dog and at the dog park she wants to play with all the big boys.  And they enjoy playing with her but she gets trounced pretty regularly (I don't mean aggression, I mean in a chase, and they trip on her, they send her flying).  But I just caught her dragging one of my shoes off and gave her a good start... but I can bet real money that she will do it again.

I will have to find a better, higher place to put my shoes so she cannot easily get to them.  Little booger.

openSUSE Tumbleweed Part 6

 Still using OST 6.  Even though a lot of people recommend AGAINST it, and I do understand why, I have frozen the last kernel that works well with my NVidia drivers that are currently installed (470.x.x).  Each successive upgrade with a new kernel BREAKS my NVidia drivers and it kind of drives me a little nuts that it happens.  So I froze the kernel so even with the latest updates to the OS in general, I am sticking to an older kernel.

So long as I do that, I can continue to enjoy openSUSE.  I know that if I want to move on I will have to uninstall my drivers and update to a more recent driver, but the most recent driver(s) cause all kinds of artifacts to dump across my screen at random and that is super irritating.  Also, when I update the driver it cascades through my gaming set up and I have to rejigger everything.

If it comes to a point where I simply cannot keep the older kernel (and to be sure, it isn't an OLD kernel, it is a 6-series kernel) I will do what I will probably end up doing anyway, which is to switch to Linux Mint DE 6.

But I have honestly come to love KDE 5.27.  I think I had said in another post that for the longest time I could not stand KDE, for a variety of reasons (like font rendering, glitchy behavior, TOO configurable - right, I know that is silly), etc.  But with openSUSE KDE has been a dream.  I am absolutely loving it.

Anyway, STILL on openSUSE and will likely stay here until I simply can't any longer.  It has been (except for the drivers/kernel issue) rock solid.

I TRIED the latest version of MX with KDE, because I do have a lot of faith in Debian 12, but MX was actually not as solid, nor was it as easy to get configured for gaming, which seemed odd to me.  There is also another KDE gaming distro out there that I downloaded and might try if openSUSE tanks for me, but honestly I also do like Mint, so I will likely go there.

Well, enough rambling.  I still think if you are NOT using NVidia, openSUSE KDE is probably an excellent choice for you.  Try it out.  Just remember that Tumbleweed updates frequently, and not little updates, updates with a capital "U".  You can be confident you are getting cutting edge versions of software (and pretty recent kernels) if you don't mind your graphics driver getting hosed constantly.

openSUSE Tumbleweed part 5

 

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Part 4

So a MASSIVE update was waiting for me today.

Unfortunately the massive update included a new kernel and that new kernel broke my UI because I use an NVidia driver.  I ended up allowing the update but booted into the old kernel which was still there, then I applied a zypper lock to it so it would not go away in the future.

The old kernel works perfectly fine.  The whole "Oh it's NVidia's fault - they suck!" argument is becoming quite tiresome since the NVidia drivers worked fine until a new kernel was introduced by OpenSUSE.  So... whatever.  NVidia released their sources too if I am not mistaken, over a year ago now.  How is that progressing, kernel devs?  Wayland devs?  Bueller?  Anyone?

So, be prepared if you have an NVidia card, OpenSUSE will most likely break it.

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed part 3

 So I am having trouble putting my finger on WHY I like OpenSUSE.  I want to start with potential problems first:

1) dependency hell
    There have been issues when installing software (previous install)
    where I had to try to repair the dependencies
2) Printer support is a flipping mystery.  Only one of my printers is even SEEN...

Aside from that I don't have many complaints.

Why do I like it then?

1) I have never met a version of KDE that I liked prior to this.
    It is smooth, flawless, no issues.  The KDE app suite is also good.
2) While I prefer to use zypper, YaST seems to be competent.
3) Performance is good!

I know, no hard numbers to back things up regarding performance.

With Mint and other linux distros I tend to install kernels like xanmod or liquorice.  But I haven't had the urge to do that with OpenSUSE, perhaps partly because I am afraid to, or perhaps because the KDE UI is actually quite snappy and responsive, and when I game there doesn't seem to be any reason to NEED a performance kernel.

Anyway, I am enjoying OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, let's see how long that lasts.

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed Part 2

 So I had been using Tumbleweed for a week or so and ran into some issues because when I first configured it I made a couple of mistakes.

So I went to MX Linux KDE and quickly learned that MX Linux is not as super-duper-awesome as everyone makes it out to be.  From there I jumped (after a day) to Linux Mint again.  But I found myself longing for the KDE interface (I cannot even BELIEVE I am writing this, I really disliked KDE for a minimum of a 14 years) that OpenSUSE delivered.

So guess what.  Lessons learned, I reinstalled OpenSUSE KDE and started configuring and installing software in small steps.  First thing was to make sure I installed the NVidia drivers the right way, first time around, installed codecs, got the base system the way I wanted it.  Then I moved onto installing Wine, Steam and other components useful for gaming.

So far so good, knock on wood.  I've been through my first update with no issues.  The one thing I did install that, while it makes me nervous I still love it, is Kvantum and the Irixium theme.  So love that.

So anyway, I have the most important things to me installed:

1) Nvidia drivers

2) Video and music codecs

3) Google Chrome

4) Thunderbird

5) KDE Irixium theme

6) Wine (so I can run VTMB without issue)

7) Steam (so I can play at least SOME of my steam games, and GE Proton)

8) Some fonts I like for programming

9) MS VS Code

10) compilers...

With these things I am pretty satisfied.  I can do the things I like to do on my personal computer, watch videos, game, program...

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

 I tried openSUSE before, not sure if I blogged about it at the time.  The first time I tried SUSE I was sorely disappointed and struggled with a number of configuration issues.

But, it had been awhile and distros generally continue to get better and better with time so I thought what the hey, I'll give it another shot.  Not only that, but I decided to install the KDE version.  Normally I am all about GTK/GNOME but, I always read people's posts raving wildly about KDE so I thought, again, what the hey, I will give it a shot.

So here I am rocking KDE on openSUSE Tumbleweed linux.  So far it has been pretty rock solid.  No major issues.  Well, one issue:  do not install the 535 version of the NVIDIA driver... it is imperfect to say the least.  I actually installed it first and had to contend with frequent artifacts flashing across the top of my monitor.  So I backed it out and installed the 470 series and it has been fine, no artifacts.  Beware, backing out NVIDIA drivers, while not super difficult, does take a little time, at least in my case, because not all of the old components were removed correctly and I had to boot into terminal mode and continue the process there.  Again, not a huge deal but, just beware... if you are installing NVIDIA drivers, avoid 535 (recommended for G06 GPUS) driver...

I was able to get steam and wine installed and able to play my usual games.  Although minor complaint, that has NOTHING TO DO WITH OPENSUSE:  Flipping world of warships has broken my ability to play the game on linux AGAIN.  They do this with updates that break your ability to log in or do other things with a fair amount of frequency... you can find the people who complain about on reddit.  :)  But aside from that the system has been solid.

The Chrome and Thunderbird both seem sharper and nicer on OpenSUSE/KDE... I don't know if it is the distro or KDE, but they seem more slick than usual.

Font rendering has been very nice; in older versions (awhile back) of KDE the font rendering always annoyed me (one of the reasons I stayed with GTK UIs).

Oh, if you think my screenshot is ugly, that's just because I am old and have a "thing" for 80s-like UIs and installed UI components that are supposed to resemble IRIX.  I love it!

I would love to get the dock looking more like CDE... but... unlikely.

So I am actually quite enjoying this so far.  I will probably shift back to a GTK-based system (most likely Mint but...) like Pop OS once their new interface is released in January, or when the next Linux Mint DE version arrives, based on Debian 12!

But for now let's see how long I can stick with a much lauded distro like OpenSUSE.

A few days with Debian 12...

 I'd like to say it is earth shatteringly wonderful, but it really is just another gnome spin of linux... the satisfaction lies in knowing that the heart is Debian.

I've tweaked the UI a tad, to suit it to my liking.  Otherwise I am still running the gnome desktop.  While steam works very well, I've been struggling with Wine and PlayOnLinux quite a bit.  Can't seem to get it right.

Everything else has been rock solid.

OH!  I did run into the irritating Logitech MX mouse issue.  Freezes up, dies.  Have to reboot to get your mouse back.  I executed the steps that I have always done for Linux Mint or for Ubuntu-based distros to more or less improve upon the mouse-freeze issue, so far it seems to be working.  Not sure whose fault it is:  Linux (drivers/kernel) or Logitech.  Some people think it has something to do with the innate power saving logic of the mouse, others think it is some short-fall of the bluetooth drivers in linux.

But, it has been good so far!  Working as well as Mint for sure.

Change up! Playing with Debian 12

 Mint has been serving me well, of course.  But recently I saw a number of videos singing the praises of Debian 12.  It was "the best version of Debian, ever."

So of course I had to try it.

After several false starts and re-installs, I got it down.  Yeah, the latest version of Debian has a pretty good installer and it now has opened up NON-FREE repos.  AND the even included Nvida drivers!  W00t!1!!

Unfortunately the driver install fails if you try it out of the box because those non-free repos have to be manually added.  AND, if you do not add them while disabling their FREE counterpart it won't work.

I found instructions on the internet but they were mostly wrong, so I went back to the instructions from Debian and did what THEY said, then when I got the error I went to the internet, found one person who stated it plainly what needed to be done, did it, worked.

So now I have my Nvidia drivers!  Next I installed Steam from the repos.  BZZZZT!  It did not work as expected, so I installed flatpak, and in flatpak I installed Steam.  With a little hiccup of having to add access to the non-system disk where I keep my libraries, it worked well.

Finally, I needed to risk having to re-install yet another time :D  so I installed the LTS version of the XANMOD kernel (v3 for my threadripper first gen).  I expected some sort of massive failure but lo and behold (as you can see in the screenshot) it worked!  First try!

So I am running Debian 12.  And, I have to say it is pretty darn good!  I am wondering at this point are Ubuntu-based distros even needed when you can go to the source of Ubuntu, Debian.  I am also wondering how this will change Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

One final note, I went with the GNOME version since I have heard a lot of good reviews of the latest version[s] of gnome, regarding performance and stability.  I did do the "dash to dock" tweak, but other than that it has been solid.  And I do believe it really is pretty performant.  

I have to say though, if Linux Mint LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is updated to Debian 12, I just might go back.

Ahhhh. Back on Linux Mint.

I won't leave it again.  I think I have learned my lesson.

Mint is FAR SUPERIOR to many other distributions.  MX Linux and Pop OS have been pretty decent, but OpenSuse, Manjaro, Fedora... none of them hold a candle to Mint.

Hats off to the Linux Mint team.

Decided to broaden my horizons and tried openSuse Tumbleweed...

So far it has been a huge mistake.

It works.  But it is full of graphical artifacts, odd occurrences, mouse driver freezing... etc.

Not very fun.

Before I reinstall Linux Mint, I am going to try a few games to see how they perform (World of Warships, VTMB).  I should upload the video of it.  Screen completely pixelated.  Done with this crap.  Going back to linux mint.

Oof. Been awhile!

 So this will be a brief update.

Work has been busy.

I am still on Linux Mint.

Not much else.