I used to buy external drives when they went on sale, and I’d shuck the case off of them. In my opinion the quality of the drives in those externals went downhill sometime in the last several years. You might get lucky and get a drive meant for a data center, but I’ve stopped playing that lottery.

These days I just buy retired but warrantied data center drives from sellers on eBay. They’re big, tested, reasonably priced and the seller will replace them within their warranty period if they do die (I usually see 3-5 year as the warranty time). So far I haven’t had any of these die in the last couple of years. Seagates used to fail me constantly thought. I’m now down to only one Seagate still working.

Which was a direct result of him losing a fiddle contest with the Devil! Rome would have been fine if not for his string-based hubris.

Open Media Vault is another good choice that has a web management interface

That wouldn’t be the same conditions. You didn’t have foreknowledge about things the first time through.

If I could have foreknowledge, that would change things.

A very important question. I’m definitely not interested in redoing this life under the same conditions.

He is fully functional

It has a terrible title, but it is an excellent and well-researched book. It’s applicable to far more than just back pain.

Back In Control by Dr David Hanscom. https://a.co/d/85gjHQ5

I also have back injuries. I blew out a disc in my lumbar spine and I have an artificial disc in my neck. Not as bad as your injuries (from what I’ve seen you write), but still painful. My neck hurt really bad even years after surgery and physical therapy. I think it was mostly emotional trauma and food intolerances reactivating old painful neural pathways. The book helped me deal with all that.

Most definitely. I have autoimmune problems and a genetic heart condition. I went from working a decent job and having some financial security to being unemployed for 2.5+ years and taking money from my family so I could keep living - certainly not living well.

It got to a point where my chronic pain and other problems weighed on me so badly that I would immediately curse my existence the very moment I awoke in the morning. I hated that I didn’t die in my sleep.

Of course doctors weren’t helpful - under their care and instruction I actually got worse. The cost of this care also largely wiped out the savings I had. The rest of my savings were used to just stay alive because in no way was I fit for employment.

It is a years-long battle to get any kind of public assistance (yay USA!) because my problems are not typically classified as a disability even though they totally are.

A few specific things kept me alive and fighting:

• My dog was basically my child, and as long as she was with me, I would stay alive and take care of her. I had a very deep bond with her. She was family. I’m not exaggerating when I say I wouldn’t be here today to type this message to you if not for her loving presence. I had her for 11 years. She died on New Years Day this year. Had I still been suffering the way I used to, I probably would’ve killed myself on the 2nd. Being without her this month has been awful, and I owe her my life.
• I finally found a decent endocrinologist who helped me stabilize my hormonal problems. The others I went to actually made things worse and seemed not to have any understanding of why.
• I discovered that responsibly taking kratom leaf powder drastically cut down on my chronic pain and helped in a lot of other ways. I have been taking it a couple times a day for over 3 years now (with some breaks here and there ). I’m no longer dependent on it just to function, but it’s still tremendously helpful.
• I read a book by a back surgeon who also went through something similar with chronic pain and being unable to do anything about it. Changing the way I was reacting to my circumstances based on his advice was very, very impactful. I still had pain, but it wasn’t crushing my spirit anymore.
• I discovered that a huge portion of my pain, tension and anxiety stemmed from eating gluten and corn. I don’t present classic food intolerance symptoms, so it took a lot of trial and error to figure this out.

After around a year of struggling through bad jobs (the only ones that I could get due to a long unemployment period), I’m now working a decent office job again and my pain has improved enough that I can at least work full time again without wanting to die.

It wasn’t an easy road, and I’m not sure I would have the fortitude to go through it again - definitely not without my dog to keep me motivated. Life isn’t grand, but I sorta get by. This is still way better than I was a few years ago, which I didn’t think was possible.

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Macrovirus. Enough said.

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And the constant tearful goodbyes to characters that either don’t die or somehow come back from the dead.

I have had fun with Discovery (wrapping up season 4 on my first time through), but it’s my least favorite series so far. I don’t connect with the characters nearly as much as I’d want, and I think that’s largely because every single moment is a universe-ending crisis.

No one character’s big sacrifice to save everything has any meaning when five minutes later the universe is ending again. There isn’t space for any real happiness in the plot. They don’t really do science. The scientific explanations of things are extra goofy.

I like the set and costume work. I think the actors do a great job (just once I’d like to hear Doug Jones do Baron Afanas’ voice while in Saru makeup). There’s a lot to like about the show, and I think it was worth watching. I can’t see rewatching it anytime soon though.

Doppelgänger!!

👏

Remember when Trip Tucker got pregnant?

People love to whine about anything new - and not just about Star Trek.

I honestly think that newer Star Trek properties have been better than newer Star Wars properties on average.

Remember when Spock tried to kill Kirk because he was sexually frustrated?

I’ve never used an AI companion. Does it mostly just ask you questions about yourself? If not, what is the appeal of them?

Clearly they are filling a hole of some sort for you, just like drugs do. To stop using, you have to understand your reactions to your unfilled needs and make the necessary changes. It’s hard to do this, but you’ll be a better person for it.

Usually the best way to meet people as an adult is to join a club or social group of some sort. Find people who share your interests and you’ll have opportunities to make connections.

Ketracel White is a hell of a drug