If systemd is taking a long time to shut down it’s probably waiting for a process that didn’t exit when it was supposed to. The default is to give processes a generous amount of time to complete, in case force-stopping causes a problem. Other init systems might be more aggressive about force-stopping. You can configure systemd to wait a shorter period of time by setting DefaultTimeoutStopSec

I read today that they’re using NixOS as a base for the new official distros. https://www.frandroid.com/os/gnu-linux/3062047_adieu-windows-securix-et-bureautix-le-linux-de-letat-aux-noms-dirreductibles-gaulois

All we know is that Jellico swooped in and saved the day!

I guess there is sort of an implication in Chain of Command that Troi chose to wear a “non-standard uniform” until Jellico ordered her to change. He says, “I prefer a certain… formality on the bridge. I’d appreciate if you wear a standard uniform.” I’ve just done a TNG rewatch, and I’m pretty sure there is no other in-universe explanation given.

In this context “Linux desktop” means not a server. Or in other words, a Linux computer with a graphical user interface. So it includes laptops. I can’t think of any software that would work on a desktop that wouldn’t work on laptop.

You’ll sometimes see the “desktop” clarification because technically the majority of Linux computers are headless servers. (Headless means no screen.)

It’s wonderful that we’ve moved on from a time when scrolling wms were kludgy experiments! It looks like now we have at least two solid options.

I think two things can be bad at the same time. I do think Retrospect is more problematic than Blood Fever because the implication in Retrospect is, “don’t take women at their word”. Vorik’s assault on B’Elanna in Blood Fever is obviously wrong, even if it is not adequately addressed in the episode. OTOH the story in Retrospect makes it seem like almost a reasonable position to assume that a sexual assault allegation is false until proven otherwise. That’s a problem.

It is very difficult for a woman to come forward with an assault accusation; and when they do those accusations are dismissed far too often. That leaves women with all of the consequences of coming forward, but without any justice, making it even less likely that future assaults will be reported. To put an end to sexual assaults, it’s necessary to believe women.

My impression from DS9 is not that they are bounty hunters, but that they are isolationists, and are probably zenophobic. The Breen government allies with the Dominion because they see some benefit for themselves. I don’t think it’s a guns-for-hire situation. It seems like the Dominion is quite good at using enticements and threats to cajole self-serving governments that otherwise wouldn’t get involved in quadrant power struggles.

The masks do bear a resemblance to Star Wars bounty hunters. They remind me most of Leia’s bounty hunter disguise. There’s a suggestion that the reason they wear masks and full-body suits is to confuse outsiders. Weyoun says that despite rumors of being extremely cold, Breen actually has a pleasant climate, and so no one knows why they wear refrigeration suits. But since that comes via Weyoun, who knows what’s true.

TIL the Enterprise A only served 7 years. But yeah, that’s plenty of time for cosmetic wear to build up in a well-used galley

Edit: The Enterprise A was commissioned in Voyage Home. According to Memory Alpha Undiscovered Country takes place 7 years later.

Learning Nus is short for Nusifer Nustopher made me chuckle

Edit: Thanks for the correction @Routhinator@startrek.website !

Yeah, I’m a fan of using minutes instead of percentages. For example instead of 33.3̅% you can write :20 or 20’ - like in the old fixed-point arithmetic days!

I like this better than the French revolutionary calendar’s ten-day weeks. Maybe if they had included more than two weekend days people wouldn’t have hated it so much

There are a lot of us! Especially on English-speaking forums. The US population is close to half of the entire population of Europe.

But there is a trick to almost completely avoid Americans: frequent a forum in any language other than English.

Like bookends!

I’m really questioning whether I’m reading a parody story right now. I know Ars Technica is not a parody publication. What is satire anymore?

Eh, it’s taken extraordinary circumstances to hold the very rich accountable basically forever. For example tobacco companies were found to have been knowingly, aggressively lying for decades about cigarettes killing people on a huge scale. But none of the tobacco CEOs saw any personal consequences. That was well before 2001.

The first Gilded Age ended when monopolistic trusts were broken up, but that only happened after a rare confluence of factors: wealthy misbehavior became so obvious and egregious that public outcry reached a high point; and at the same time William McKinley was assassinated, putting Theodore Roosevelt in the presidency. Republicans had put Roosevelt in the vice presidency to make him stop causing trouble for them - they didn’t expect him to end up with actual power. That’s what it took to get some control over the country’s most influential businessmen. But even after Roosevelt’s trust-busting campaign, the consequences for the very rich were that they became somewhat less rich.

You do sometimes see CEOs serve jail time, like Elizabeth Holmes, and Martha Stewart. But those are people who just aren’t on the same level as the CEO of the nation’s sole energy company (in the case of Monsters Inc.).

My kid and I had a related question, since we’re watching Starfleet Academy, and have seen Discovery, but not Picard. Are there still Borg in the 32nd century? How does Picard leave the Borg situation at the end of that series?

For Debian on desktop it’s common to run Debian Testing, or Unstable. In that case it’s a rolling release that is always ahead of Ubuntu.

I like DS9 for that too. There are lots of scenes where I’ve though, “Oh hey, there are no humans in this scene!”

This is an interesting take! I’ll admit, I was concerned about whether there will be enough wokeness in Starfleet Academy, and in upcoming seasons of Strange New Worlds. But you’re right, the foundation of what we need is a sense of shared humanity. And when you put it that way, I see how new Trek is showing us that. Thanks!

But I’d still be delighted to see another episode on unionizing!

That’s a good one!

I was thinking, Earth’s radiation is solar energy, emitting back into space after being absorbed. So a normal solar panel gets solar energy coming down, and this thing gets solar energy going back up. So “reverse” or “upside-down” make sense from that perspective. But wind and hydroelectric also harvest solar energy indirectly. Should we call the sideways solar panels? So yeah, I think “terral” avoids a rabbit hole of madness.