I’m running sideways to keep from flying this morning, but I have to put you onto these.

The closer Windows 10 looms, the more I love Linux. I’m still running Win7 on one computer, but I have two Linux distros on disk — well, one on disk and one on a flash drive — in case I decide to ditch.

Now the wonderful Jack Wallen tells me there’s a new and desirable Lite distro, Linux Lite 3, that might be just what my elderly-ish laptop needs. I don’t buy a new laptop every time there’s a schmexy new model. I don’t even buy an older model every time there’s a schmexy new model and the bleeding-edge folks dump their old machines. So my computers run slower and slower as programs and OSs bulk up.

Why don’t I want Win10? Because I don’t have a touch screen laptop, because I don’t want to park my stuff in the cloud (i.e. on somebody else’s computer that I can only access if I’m online), and because I don’t believe all the tricks and tips in the world will disable the built-in tracking. So, y’know, just ’cause.

Meanwhile, I need a laugh or two, so I backed the Kickstarter for The American Bystander, a humorous humor magazine that is filled with humor. I have the print versions of Issue 1 and Issue 2, although digital versions are also available. My only problem is, I can’t tell the fake ads from the real ones, but I had that trouble with SNL, too. The world is strange, y’all.

As you may or may not know, I collect survival-in-the-wild books. I’ve always loved books about people surviving in perilous situations, be it shipwreck, abject poverty, living in the Arctic, or what have you. Maybe it comforts my anxiety disorder to know how to harvest rainwater using a banana leaf, or seal a wound with the head of an army ant. So my favorite article in Issue 1 of the Bystander has been Joey Green’s Survival Tips. He’s laughing now, but I’ll be the one laughing when I’m the Queen of the Zombie Apocalypse.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What can YOUR character make from a used coffee filter?

MA