I think I have a prototype of a browser extension somewhere on my computer whose only function is to hide the comments button on Phoronix.

Honestly, in the age of Flatpak and containerization (as well as Debian often being well-supported by upstream projects for script or package-based install), I feel like the age of Debian packages isn’t that annoying anymore; anything important gets security patches, and it’s easier than ever to use 3rd party software without breaking your system. I will add that Debian seems to be much better these days at making sure either a reasonably up-to-date version ships with a release (and can be kept secure during a stable cycle) or not shipping it at all as to allow the user to install it themselves.

I remember back in just 2021 when it took months after Firefox ESR 78 went EOL for them to update Bullseye to 91; recently, it only took them a few days after 140’s EOL to switch to 153 (and 91-115 and 115-140 happened without much note either), which isn’t perfect, but much better than it was.

If you need to install it on a new laptop, backports often has you covered. I ran a backports kernel for about a year on Debian Bookworm to get my laptop’s Wi-Fi modem working; I was able to quit using the backports kernel once Trixie came out.

No, not until 2027. I don’t really know why this meme was posted at this exact moment.

Eh. They’re actually pretty on top of security patches for pretty much any internet-exposed server software.

The OpenSSL incident was a long time ago at this point.

For Seven’s sake, too bad Jellico didn’t get stuck in the Delta Quadrant.

Gosh, I love that quote; just rewatched Generations last night as part of my memorial activities.

Indeed, the bermagot does slap.

I’m a recent ex-Mormon, so that’s why I’ve never had it before.

It took a couple tries to get it right (I didn’t let it steep long enough the first time), but I sure like the sensation of what feels like drinking an orange or lemon peel.

If Wil Wheaton was never in TNG for the youth appeal, my mom might have never watched The Next Generation as a tween/teen, and by proxy, I may have never watched watched it. Also, he was really fun in Star Trek: Prodigy.

https://startrek.website/post/12349474

Yes, finally, someone else who recognizes the meme potential of this frame!

You sure that’s not just Prepotente from Dungeon Crawler Carl?

Wow. That’s absolutely nuts considering that’s about the cost of an entire series Blu-Ray box set now!

Were you having to import them or something? I was almost tempted to do a similar thing and import Doctor Who Blu-Rays from Germany for post-Tenant stuff at $120 a doctor since BBC America had only done very small runs of the doctor box sets stateside, but now they’re reissuing them here for $35 a doctor, for which my wallet is thankful.

I always find it really funny when they guess someone has only watched newer stuff and can’t fathom that they’ve seen almost everything.

DS9 is about the only 80s/90s Trek series with an almost completely watchable 1st season, though.

As stupid as it is, at least this attempt at reviving Winamp doesn’t seem to have any rhetoric about how it’s going to be “built for the glorius inevitable agentic AI future revolution from the ground up” and talk about how “curating music has never been easier” because their “most advanced music AI in human history” takes away the need to have any personality, taste, or ears of your own.

I mean, the Blu-Rays are still easy enough to find and rip, although you have to spend $40 on season 1 because they never released reason 1 as one set. But honestly, giving Paramount cash in any form isn’t that compelling.

I basically just gave three (or at least 2, as the DISCO one maybe is a bit iffy) examples of modern Star Trek scrutinizing the means despite the obstensibly good ends.

Also, another example is S2 E2 “Ad Astra Per Aspera” borderline almost literally puts “the moral cost of the means” (keeping good genetically modified people like Una out of Starfleet) that is ostensibly done for the ends of preventing another Eugenics Wars. I wouldn’t hesitate to call this episode one of the best in the whole franchise, very much in the tradition of court case ethical discussion episodes like “Measure of a Man”.

I don’t think one can make a blanket statement about newer Star Trek quitting “believing something”; sure, it may be uneven in quality (maybe more than classic)*, but dismissing all of “NuTrek” out of hand is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

: I mean, there’s whatever DIS season 2 was, Section 31, most of PIC, etc., but also, it’s not like good swathes of classic Trek aren’t also kind of crap - I mean, there’s the time Riker murdered his clone and nobody batted an eye, as well as TOS S3, TNG S1, and the inconsistency of VOY. Even in the good classic episodes, it’s not like every one is “do the ends justify the means” - in addition to other ethical themes, classic Trek still had room for simply "Cool sci-fi s** happened and we have to deal with it", not to mention episodes focused on interpersonal drama like “Data’s Day” or any of Deanna’s “Oh f*** my mother is on board” episodes.

Hey, sneaking Alexander onto the holodeck is more than Worf ever did as a father.

I would say it depends.

I mean, the ends not justifying the means is kind of the entire point of DISCO S1 (whether or not the rest of DISCO embodied it is a different matter); Burnham has to let go of what Lorca summarizes as “Universal law is for lackeys. Context is for kings.” or in other words, the ends often justify the means.

Also, SNW is better about it, than say, PIC; for instance, SNW S3 E7 “What is Starfleet?” from 2025, for all its flaws (including in some ways being very similar to TNG “Tin Man”), basically has the crew going “WTF! The ends (saving an alien race from a war they didn’t start) do not justify the means (enslaving a sentient space whale)!” Also, SNW 1x06 is basically “ends don’t justify means”, although mostly because it basically copied “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”.

I’ll have to see if this is in the officially published edition, but I’m currently at my dorm and both my Tech Manuals are at home.

One I bought in a used book shop in Sedona, and the other I got with a big load of Trek books that someone gave away back in 2025.