data1701d (He/Him)

“Life forms. You precious little lifeforms. You tiny little lifeforms. Where are you?”

- Lt. Cmdr Data, Star Trek: Generations

  • 151 Posts
  • 867 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: March 7th, 2024

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  • Is this xfce-winxp-tc? I ‘ve played with it before and it’s awesome.

    However, I don’t use it because while the XP start menu replica is cool, I need a Win7-style search bar, and Whiskermenu sticks pit like a sore thumb here.

    I think a 7 replica would be awesome, but I think some parts of Aero can only truly be replicated with a new WM and DE, such as the color changes in the taskbar for different applications. Many themes just fall short - proportions and effects are slightly off and such.






  • Discord also has an app from Linux - you can get it as a Flatpak (an official one) or as a native package, although they don’t provide a repo for native packages and expect you to manually download a package file every time there is an update.

    For the native packages issue, someone created an apt repo on Github, and if you look in the CI routine, you can tell they’re using the official Discord packages and not modifying them.

    Honestly, I should probably be sandboxing it more.

    It’s annoying to use a proprietary service, but the This Might Be a Wiki community is rather enjoyable.









  • Frankly, I lack an understanding of the disdain for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” - I have heard much more annoying Christmas songs. It may be a bit cloying and heavily pop, but I think it’s well executed, at least compared to almost any Christmas song put out by a major artist in the 21st century. Also, I think My Chemical Romance pulled off a rather good cover that perhaps beats the original.

    Maybe part of it is I have a 5 hour personal/family Christmas playlist that reduces the amount of repeated listens to a more manageable degree. In addition to more well-known ones and several covers, it is also filled to the brim with alternative and indie Christmas music - Jonathan Coulton especially is good at making atypical holiday songs that don’t get annoying.








  • TLDR; Daystrom did bad stuff but under mental collapse, and it’s very much in part Starfleet Command’s fault.

    I think also, as much as Daystrom had much responsibility for those deaths, it was not as intentional as something like slavery, genocide, or sexual assault. He was fundamentally in a state of psychological distress partially beyond his control. Depending on when Daystrom Institute was founded (touched on above), he may have had decades for rehabilitation and redemption.

    Additionally, Starfleet command probably had ample opportunity to avoid this very early on, like:

    • Looking over Daystrom’s reports to consider potential risks of using engram imprints in a manner similar to a university’s Institutional Review Board - (Though perhaps Daystrom was rather secretive about it and kept it from reviewers.)
    • Running the M-5 in simulations. We know the Kobiyashi Moru existed, so we could probably create a wide range.
    • Not running the test on the Federation flagship, literally one of Starfleet’s most powerful weapons.

    While it’s possible Starfleet took more precautions than we see onscreen, Commodore Wesley’s enthusiasm in “The Ultimate Computer” almost suggests an over-enthusiasm in Command, possibly one that caused them to skip necessary precautions. In fact, we had almost this exact scenario happen in Lower Decks “Trusted Sources”/“The Stars at Night” with the Texas class a century later. Ultimately, Starfleet Command likely bears a non-negligible amount of responsibility in the M-5 affair.

    Of course, the above does not reduce the wrongness of Daystrom’s actions and perhaps only serves to deflect from the OP’s question. However, I feel Starfleet’s potential role combined with Daystrom’s mental condition may be mitigating factors that would make Richard Daystrom less unworthy of having an institution bear his name.