Isn't it a bad thing to be unique in this context? If my browser is 1 in a million, that means that a tracker can pick me out of a lineup of a million users, no? That's why a captcha can verify you as human simply by checking a box, because it can identify your unique browser as associated with human activity.
If I'm not mistaken, we want the opposite. We want our browsers to be as generic as possible if we don't want to be tracked.
To be fair most Gripen crashes happened in the early days, as a result of purposefully pushing the plane and pilot to their limits. Flying low enough to scrape treetops, sudden high-G manouvers... they train like they're in an actual war.
So KDE Plasma is just a graphical environment that you can use on any distro. It's my preferred desktop environment, but Gnome and XFCE are famous ones, and lots of nerds/programmers love i3 (a tiling graphical environment which encourages you to use keyboard only).
So when choosing a distro, we're looking at other qualities.
A Linux distro is basically a collection of tools that constitute your OS. The most notable difference between distros is package managrment -- how do you install new packages?
This might sound weird but the reason is that open source software comes with tons of different options that can be toggled before compiling to binaries, and at the same time we need our ecosystem of software to play nice accross different packages. They often depend on each other! So that's why different philosophies split the community into so many different distros.
When installing new software, you essentially run a specific command from the terminal. Your package manager (which is a core part of your distro) then downloads and installs all dependencies. There are graphical tools to help beginners with this, but in fairness I think you should be prepared to learn to use the command line to search for applications and install them. You won't avoid the terminal as a Linux user.
A really common distro is Debian. It's the basis for tons of other popular distros, including Ubuntu. My problem with Debian is that they are a bit conservative, which means that they're often slow with rolling out updates for KDE.
Since I'm also a KDE Plasma person, I run Neon https://neon.kde.org/ which is based on Debian but focuses on rolling out stable updates for KDE packages.
I do not recommend starting with a hobbyist distro like Gentoo, Nix or even Arch if your focus is productivity or gaming. If you want to learn about computers, then those distros can be incredibly rewarding, but they are time-consuming. Go with something Debian-based, or alternatively OpenSUSE or Fedora.
Regarding your other questions, you likely do not need to swap out hardware. But some graphics cards have poor support for Linux, so research your model in advance. You can also try running a distro of your choice live from a USB stick (most distros support this). It's slower than running from hard drive, but you can get a feeling for what works out of the box and what may need further configuration.
Many games will not work properly on Linux, at least not without extensive tinkering. If you're serious about certain games, I'd say Windows is unavoidable. I detest dual-booting but if you only have one computer then it may be your only option. However games that work on Deck should work fine on any Linux machine.
It's also different games for different occasions.
Sometimes I just want background static for my thoughts → Stardew Valley
Sometimes I want to casually explore a whimsical world → BotW
Sometimes I need a constant flood of adrenaline to drown out the pain → Dota2
Dark Souls is amazing, and it would suck if it was easy. Everything about it is punishing and that's part of what makes it such a standout experience. Same with Silksong.
Windows 8/10 introduced touch features that lots of people really wanted, so if you care about tablets at all I think that it's reasonable to say that Microsoft Surface is probably the best tablet out there. I personally don't give a shit about tablets so I'm not too happy.
Every other Windows version is basically a test to see what sticks. They usually have huge ideas that push the boundaries of the current technology, and implement it as a prototype to gather data.
Incorporation of web frameworks into Explorer and the desktop, shift to ntfs/64bit, use of gpu acceleration, touch-enabled desktop, now incorporation of AI features. Many of these features also forced hardware vendors to adapt for Microsoft's vision. So as annoying as it is, it's probably a good strategy for them. We just need to treat every other Windows as a beta (or preferably switch to Linux).
The Sands of Time series and Beyond Good and Evil are incredible, and they're on gog. I'm thinking of getting them, but I have no desire whatsoever for anything that Ubisoft, EA or Activision makes.
I have pretty strong judgements of lots of things that I think should be legal despite how I feel. I despise gambling, I hate cosmetic surgery, I'd never get a tattoo, I don't even like perfume, glitter... you get the idea. I'm not saying that you're a criminal for buying a lottery ticket, but I'm totally gonna judge you an immoral moron in my mind.
I can certainly understand the argument that prostitution should be legal in order to protect sex workers. I'm not sure if that's the best policy, but I can see where it's coming from.
I do not believe that sex workers are categorically bad people, neither do I believe that people who hire sex workers are beyond redemption. I still find it disgusting and I don't think it should be normalized.
However, to clarify: in this case we're talking about a powerful person seeking out a young girl to have sex with. He pays for sex. He does not in any way verify age. I think it's safe to say that he doesn't give a shit about the well-being of this person, and if it was legal to have sex with a younger girl he would have done that openly. No internal moral compass whatsoever, just the narcissistic playbook of how he's perceived by others. His followers are only backtracking because he got caught.
I was under the impression that the real costs are associated with training the models, in the belief that they'll arrive at a self-improving AI that will explode in functionality and basically become the most valuable asset on the planet, especially for governments and armies. In the meantime, you offer services to users at a loss, in order to gather unique data that isn't open to your competitors.
This is pretty much always the case when you start a new job. It takes time adjusting to the environment, the people and everything else. It's going to get better, it always does.
However, skipping proper food and exercise is counter-productive, so do make an effort to cover those needs.
You're right that the straw-blonde hair that kids often have turn much darker in adulthood, so there may be a connection to perceived youth. Exposure likely also plays a role, but I'm still at a loss for how deep this seems to go.
It's great that smart people are working on this, but I don't think we can expect hobbyists to make a useful OSS implementation of smartphones. Especially since there is so much dependence on the hardware. We either need a company that can throw some weight behind it, or just straight up governments that value it (e.g. from a sovereignty point of view).
The best thing to do is just start with whatever you already have. An old gaming rig, laptop or Raspberry Pi, doesn't matter. Each will present some technical obstacle that you need to overcome (for example keeping the laptop going when the lid is closed). That's part of learning.
Self-hosting is a hobby where we gradually learn more. Experimentation is just as important as reading the docs.
The funny thing is they actually studied the autonomous left in the late 90s and learned how to copy that structure for their own groups. So they absolutely know that this accusation is absolutely bogus. But it's a great way to convince people who think listening to podcasts is "research" of who needs to go to the camps first.
Isn't it a bad thing to be unique in this context? If my browser is 1 in a million, that means that a tracker can pick me out of a lineup of a million users, no? That's why a captcha can verify you as human simply by checking a box, because it can identify your unique browser as associated with human activity.
If I'm not mistaken, we want the opposite. We want our browsers to be as generic as possible if we don't want to be tracked.