I have a DS923+ with four Seagate 8TB drives in it that I really like. It’s easy to use and offers a lot of services.

However, like others have said, I do not recommend it for new purchases. If I were to do it again I would most likely set up an old PC as a server (though I went with the Synology mainly for power use reasons).

Synology is getting increasingly customer hostile, and from what I’ve read online their Linux version is so full of bespoke patches that they have painted themselves in a corner it will be hard to get out of. So, they’re likely to fall behind on keeping up with third party software. Their software is usually pretty slick and easy to use, but they discontinue things every few cycles.

The main thing I still use of theirs is Synology Drive, which was a pretty seamless move from Google Drive. On the flipside, their stuff is proprietary, so getting off of their platform can be challenging.

For my self-hosting needs I try not to tie anything to the Synology and just use it as a plain NAS. I use my Raspberry Pi or a VM instead.

They’re not as common. I think most people either use a coffee maker (for coffee), or their microwaves to heat water. However, I have an electric kettle in my office for tea. One thing you may notice in the US vs Europe in that regard is that the standard outlet is 120V, so most small appliances can’t pull as much power as their 240V counterparts in Europe. So my electric kettle is probably a little slower than yours.

I mostly threw these out of the top of my head. You’re mostly correct:

• most people use cards, not checks, but they’re still widely in use. For example if you’re paying a handyman, piano teacher, or just dealing with someone older, or someone who just doesn’t have other ways to receive payment
• I’m in rural Ohio so I see Amish on the roads all the time. They’re not where it is expressly forbidden, like a divided highway, but you can find them on roads with speed limits around 50 or 55 at times
• For the windows, the sliding style is what is weird to Europeans. We mostly use the kind that swings out in one direction it the other. American windows make more sense when you take into account that they have screens on them. (I forgot to list screens.)

The societal problems if the US has been covered by others, but here are some culture shock ones I’ve experienced, in no particular order:

• still use personal checks
• put down knife after cutting your food, move fork to dominant hand
• drive through everything, including alcohol purchases
• horse and buggy on highway
• doorknobs instead of handles
• almost everyone has air conditioning, so doors and windows stay closed in summer
• double hung windows
• carry water bottles everywhere
• gas stoves and ovens are by far more popular than electric by a good margin
• in sink garbage disposals

I can only count to four!

I believe the movie Gattaca’s premise is around this subject.

Unlike those in Ohio.

I would still have my other citizenship, so I would plant a flag and claim it for my homeland, ignoring any other residents who may be present, as is tradition. Bonus: free healthcare.

If it’s sunny: go for a good walk (about 5km/3mi). Or failing that, take the cat outside and sit on the back patio for a little while. The sun exposure gives me some much needed vitamin D.

Other than that, I make sure I get some quiet time each day to recharge away from other people, virtual and otherwise.

I like Dependent Injection, myself

I legit thought this was a Wagner poster until I read the comments.

It doesn’t have to be that way, if you have a CI/CD process that prevents it.

That is famously a bad idea.

My main one is to learn shortcuts on your most used programs. Using the mouse for everything is a waste of time, but that has been said multiple times.

My second is to create scripts to do a bunch of repetitive tasks. For example, I have a script I run on my work PC after I log on to the VPN that starts my “always on” programs (like notepad++), unlocks the hosts file, etc. I have some sendto scripts for converting files with pandoc, fetching multiple git repos in one go, etc. It just speeds up things and avoids errors versus me doing them manually.

On Windows I use PowerShell and on Linux I use bash, meaning they work without additional software installed.

My reaction as well. He was an absolute master of shaggy dog stories. The punchline is not the point, the delivery is.

He may still have enjoyed seeing this. Maybe make another long and hilarious joke about it. RIP Norm.

That’s awesome. My 1993 self is very envious of your rig.

I have not been able to find the case again since. It was a local shop that built it from parts, so it was not a big brand. I didn’t pick the parts either, since I knew nothing about PCs at the time, and it showed lol.

Edit: it was a white/beige mini tower. If I recall correctly, it was similar to a lot of cases at the time, with a black band across and a circular button on the right. The turbo and reset buttons were pink and teal in the shape of triangles. I purchased it in 1992 when I needed a PC for college.

I had the exact same configuration. 4MB RAM upgraded to 8MB. 40MB HDD upgraded to 200MB later. And the fugliest case with triangular pastel buttons you ever saw. Ran Windows 3.11 then Slackware Linux on that for many years.

Mod_perl. Now there is a name I haven’t heard in a long time. My paralysis demon appreciates your triggering my PTSD.

You’re not wrong, but I would rather OP seek any qualified medical care than none, even if all they do is refer them to the ER.