And from both of their perspectives, it doesn’t matter. Continuity of consciousness really only matters in the future, not the past. If I die every night when I go to sleep and a brand new me, with all of my memories wakes up the next day, to that future me life is fine (at least until he dozes off). For past me, well they ceased to exist and there’s no point agonizing over their deaths. To current me, falling asleep then becomes a terrifying experience, as that means oblivion for me, and fuck that future doppelganger me. In the Prince’s scenario, unless he plans to piss off another witch, what happened to the previous him isn’t really important. For the princess, it’s even less important, as there is really no difference, from her perspective, of the two paths to arrive at now.

Roll Tide!
Brown tide.

Sorry, just recognized my typo, I meant to say “I wouldn’t be surprised…”., Not sure how I missed that.

That depends on the use case. For drive encryption, a centrally assigned and managed password is fine. It provides for protection of data at rest while also ensuring that a single point of failure (the user) won’t remove access to the data contained on the encrypted volume. Since it’s not intended to prove identity, that risk needs to be mitigated by a different control.

At most organizations I have worked at (both IT and cybersecurity), decryption keys will be centrally managed. With some technologies (e.g. Bitlocker), it’s possible to have multiple passwords which can be used to decrypt the drive, and it could be possible for the user to have one only they know. However, there isn’t a logging mechanism to verify which password was used to unlock the drive, leaving the issue of non-repudiation. This could probably be fixed by having some sort of system which logs which user unlocked the drive, but that would be a very hard thing to do securely. Any such log would need to be in a space the bootloader can reach and write to, and now that location needs to be secured in a way which prevents a malicious actor from modifying the log. At that point, we’re quickly arriving at having TPM and we might as well go whole hog and just do TPM and secure boot. Which is a great bit of technology; but, now only proves that the system hasn’t been tampered with.

As a tangent, the reason most organizations centrally manage drive encryption keys is the need to unlock the drive, in the event the user is no longer able to. If you win the lottery, turn your laptop in and run off to parts unknown, the organization may want to unlock the laptop to recover anything you were working on. So, they need access to the decryption key.

Ultimately the problem is that the encryption password and your user account password are solving different security problems and there isn’t a lot of good overlap between the two.

It’s Yahweh’s laws but the mythology has it provided by Moses in his sermons to the Israelites. As for Christians ignoring bits of it, part of that is based on saying attributed to Jesus in the gospels (e.g. the bit from Mark I quoted above) and also the simple fact that most religions update themselves as society changes. If anything, I think the Catholic church was smart to have a leader who could receive “new revelations from God”. It lets them update canon, while maintaining the illusion that they aren’t just making shit up to stay relevant.

I would be surprised if they were borrowing ideas from other cultures in the area (and vice versa). The various peoples in Mesopotamia were interacting regularly; so, some back and forth of ideas is to be expected. Though as a law code, Deuteronomy seems like it would be more home grown.

Every sperm is sacred. Every sperm is good. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.

It’s that “middle ground” where Russia gets half of Ukraine’s territory and the US gets all of their mineral rights?

Molotov and Ribbentrop nod in approval.

I have a 6 year old phone which gets charged overnight as I sleep. It still makes it though the day. What the heck are you running which is chewing up your battery so badly?

If the device is encrypted and single-user there is no good reason to require further login after the first.

The reason is non-repudation. Ignoring the fact that the drive’s encryption should have been handled by TPM and not be bothering the user, the drive encryption password does not establish who is using the laptop, only that they know the unlock password. Unfortunately, those unlock password are usually centrally assigned and managed, which means that they are not something that only the user knows. Also, it doesn’t have a good second factor. If the laptop is stolen, there is nothing keeping an attacker out, if they know the password. Their account, on the other hand, should have a password only the user knows. Yes, central IT can reset the password, but this creates logs which show the reset and can be used to prove that the password was reset, and who reset it. And the user’s password can be backed up with a second factor. So, a stolen laptop isn’t an easy on-ramp to the organization’s network.

As for logins after that, it gets harder to justify. OS, email and most web portal logins should be handled via SSO. For most users, this should mean that their drive gets decrypted via TPM, they type their password into the OS login prompt, deal with 2FA and that’s it. For users with admin access to stuff, there will be a separate login step when they need to elevate permissions, but that should largely be limited to IT staff and developers. For the original poster, it sounds like their organization’s IT is being run on a shoestring by someone who either doesn’t know or isn’t allowed to do it well.

Republicans: We support our troops!
Also Republicans: Fuck our veterans!

Deuteronomy is originally from the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish mythology, the book is from the sermons of Moses. Though, it’s believed to be much more recent (something like a 1000 years) than the time period where the figure of Moses (or the person(s) he was based on) would have existed. But, even taking Jewish and Christian mythologies at their word, Jesus had nothing to do with that rule. Also, Jesus probably meant for this rule to end for adherents of Christianity.

Mark 7:14-23:
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.
15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.
18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?
19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,
22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

So, feel free to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. Jesus is A-ok with that.

It’s interesting to see something as mainstream as The Register seriously suggest folks start ditching Windows and their preferred alternative seems to be Linux. Perhaps the year of the Linux Desktop won’t forever be “next year”.

No. Math isn’t just doing sums, or other numeric operations. Math is the application of logic to solve problems. Part of what you should be learning, is how to break complex problems into more manageable steps and then solving those steps to solve the overall problem. And this skill carries well into lots of other areas of life, even those that don’t seem immediately “math-y”.

I’ve not returned an item over it, but I’ve often wondered if there was a market for a company which de-LEDs items.

Secret?
If you have to be online for a single player game to keep working, they are collecting data.

As in most social media apps, downvote and move on. Personally, I have a list of channels I subscribe to and mostly just stick to watching the content they produce. None of that is reaction videos, which I agree are lazy and stupid, but I guess some people like them or they wouldn’t keep making the rounds.

I made the jump about a year ago at this point and have been happy with the choice. That said, there is a learning curve and everything isn’t sunshine and roses. I’d still rate it as fully worth it.

I think I need to pick a “distro”, right? Based on the above, which distro may work best for me?

Yes, though this is less of a “gotcha” than it might seem. Different distros will have advantages and disadvantages for different things. However, most distros are going to do most things at a reasonable level. It sounds like you are prioritizing ease of use and gaming; so, you may want to go for one of the more gaming focused distros such as PopOS or SteamOS. But, I would echo what @redlemace said, “take a live-distro, put it on an USB stick and boot from that. Yes, it’s sometimes slow/sluggish but it works and you can get an impression of the distro”. I ran my chosen distro from a USB stick for a bit over a month before committing.

what am I most likely to NOT be able to do, if anything?

Very little. However, you will need to relearn how to do some things. And you’ll probably have to get comfortable with using the terminal for some stuff. This can be a bit jarring for someone who grew up with Windows, as there are some things which just don’t have a GUI to configure. And some applications will need to be replaced. For example, you’re probably not going to be able to use Microsoft Office, but Libre Office is a good replacement. Photoshop will get replaces with Gimp, and so on.

Lastly, there are some games which just don’t work on Linux. A lot of that is around Anti-cheat software. For example, I wasn’t able to join my work team in playing Call of Duty 6. The EA Anti-Cheat is a complete “fuck you” to Linux users. So, check out ProtonDB for games you care about. Most games run just fine; but, there is the odd hole. Anymore, I’m more surprised that a game doesn’t work on Linux than when it does.

I have heard modding in particular can be challenging with Linux.

I’ve not run into this; however, I don’t use any of the mod managers (e.g. Vortex) and so I’m used to moving files around manually. I’ve also not run Skyrim on my Linux setup, and that does seem to require a bit of work to get going. So, this may be an issue, depending on the game. This is yet another reason to give the whole “install on a USB stick” recommendation a go. Spin up Linux, give modding Skyrim a shot. If it’s too heavy a lift, then maybe don’t do it. As much as I think Linux has been a good idea, it may not be right for everyone.

Are there some smaller indy games that don’t have Linux support (thinking back to the early mac days)?

Funny enough, I find the smaller indie stuff usually has better Linux support, but YMMV. For example, my son introduced me to Dome Keeper. It’s a small game, but it just worked and is one of my favorite casual games. Though again, checking ProtonDB is a good thing to do.

I would rate my computer technical ability at like… A 4/10. I haven’t done anything too crazy but can Google most issues and willing to learn. Is this realistically enough to get me up and running with Linux?

I’d think so. There’s lots of good info out there now to help you get up and running. Though this links back to the question about distros. If you don’t want to have to get super technical, pick a distro which is more aimed towards “just working”. And again, the USB “try before you buy” idea is really, really useful.

if the final answer here involves running a windows partition, is it possible to safely still use a windows 10 partition, even after the end of support?

Depending on how you plan to use it, the risk may be reasonable enough. For example, let’s say you have one or two games which just don’t run on Linux and you keep a Windows 10 partition around to run those games. You boot to Windows, play those games and then jump back to Linux for your normal computer use (web browsing, email, etc.). Then ya, that’s probably fine. The real risks start to show up when you use Windows for stuff which exposes it to the internet. If you are downloading and running random applications on it, you’re gonna have a bad time. Over time, even basic web browsing may start to be a risk, as vulnerabilities could be found which allow a malicious web page to run code. You also want to be sure you don’t have the device completely exposed to the internet (this is bad, even with an up to date Windows). Though, most home routers already prevent this; so, this is unlikely to be an issue. Just don’t hook your Windows 10 partition up to public WiFi (e.g. coffee shop, library or conference).

Just having the partition isn’t a risk. So long as Windows isn’t running, it isn’t available for attackers to attack. It’s just data on a disk. It’s only when it’s running and exposed to attackers that it becomes a problem. And you can control that and manage the risk.

anything else I might run into that I’m not expecting? Words of encouragement?

Be patient with it and it can be a worthwhile change. Also, don’t be afraid to come back and ask questions. There’s lot of folks here who can help you along. Getting away from Windows feels good and it’s great to actually own your system, rather than renting it from Microsoft. Best of luck.

I just want to stop feeling imposter syndrome. I’m nearing 50, at work everyone seems to think I am one of the most competent people they have met in my field. I get the hard problems, get dragged into lots of projects as a technical consultant. And yet internally, I forever feel like I’m “faking it until I make it”. Like I’m one question away from being unmasked as a kid playing at knowing what I am doing. Consciously, I know I am not and that I’m actually pretty good at this. But, every time I get a meeting request from my boss, I still get a moment of panic thinking, “this is it, I’m about to be fired”. That’s what I want from “growing up”, to just not feel that feeling constantly.

Also, I want to be independently wealthy when I grow up. Fuck this whole work thing.