"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education" -- Mark Twain

As someone who fooled themself into years of upper education in pursuit of nothing but my own interests, I can say that I found far more education outside that system since abandoning it

Why would I spend a year of my time and LOTS of money to learn about Descartes first, when all I wanted to study were the Classical Greeks?

Modern schooling erects many roadblocks to learning, masquerading as a form of meritocracy, but I would argue it has actually resulted in far less meaningful education overall

Don't take my word for it, either; look at literacy alone - the founding documents of America were considered to be at the reading level of children of the time, as was the pamphlet 'Common Sense'

Another example: what was Alice doing before she went on her Adventures in Wonderland? The young girl was studying Latin, and that was a perfectly normal scene at the time of writing

I ended up doing almost exactly as you are considering, taking only the work offering skills of interest while putting my education into my own hands during "off-time"

Nobody is more qualified than you are to determine your direction, but I will add this:

I regret nothing.

Yes it's great all around, very dense in nutrients

Highly recommended for energy, muscle recovery and many health issues as well

They get used quick but like any foods it depends more on your packaging, how densely packed your freezer is, and temperature settings

In these conditions I go about six months for ground meats but never feed it to your cat if it looks/smells particularly off upon thawing

Thank you very much for your kind words and support

If you think it's worthwhile, I'd gladly make this a standalone post to the group - I do wish more would take the time for such an impactful yet simple health/life upgrade for their pets

This only came about because I refused to give up on my little near-death friend after "the professionals" ran out of ideas, but would be happy to contribute more when anything comes to mind

Making their food is economical yet vastly more nutritious than store-bought, especially for cats suffering from health/stomach problems like mine when she was initially rescued as the runt of a litter in an actual dumpster

Diverticulitis, internal inflammation, worms, bowel obstructions, etc

Store bought and even the veterinarians' recommendations only made her worse - the vet's "best" idea was to feed muddy gray "bland diet" wet food packed with ash (very caustic!)

Anyway, this recipe made the little runt healthy, happy and she bulked up with lots of muscle especially when combined with a healthy play regimen

Don't freak out about the bones - they're getting ground twice Cats eat birds whole in the wild and they love the marrow within, but you can mitigate any perceived risk if you must by removing every 2nd/3rd thigh bone

Note that this assumes you have a meat grinder or stand mixer with meat grinder attachment, but most butchers will grind as needed - you can ask them to remove every 2nd or 3rd bone as you see fit

Finally, on to the recipe:

OPTIONAL/VARIABLE, see notes below

This initially started with roasting the chicken to mitigate parasite risk but, obviously, cats in the wild don't roast their prey - just don't feed them garbage quality meat If you have quality concerns and/or cannot overcome the paranoia: lay out the thighs on a baking sheet, roast until lightly browned and save any liquid as this will contain lots of important collagen/fat Add the liver to the thighs for the last 5 minutes of roasting and then remove sheet to cool completely to room temp

When cooled, run thighs through a single coarse grind with liver, skin and bones

Add the dry ingredients, mix thoroughly, then give the mixture another coarse grind

Mix in the wet ingredients, including any liquid if you cooked the meat

If it's too mushy/wet, let it rest uncovered 15-30 minutes in the fridge

Pack in mason jars etc leaving headroom (don't overfill), set aside enough for a couple days, then you can freeze the rest!

NOTES The vitamin supplements are not strictly necessary, but they do help reproduce the diversity of a natural wild diet - animals in the wild live longer for good reason!

ON FIBER, COCONUT FLOUR AND CLAY These were included to demonstrate a very effective treatment for a very sick little rescue, but should only be used if you're willing to pay attention to their needs

These additions are also helpful to clear out their anal glands naturally if that ever becomes an issue

If they have diarrhea etc, start by adding the coconut flour and gradually add clay/fiber in future batches until digestive health improves

The clay helps to firm, remove obstructions and pockets of diverticulitis, but it also takes some nutrients away from the digestive system so not recommended long term

If your cat gets constipated (crying when they need to go is a critical alarm bell), back off on these immediately until that's resolved and add gradually to future batches as needed

Ruh-roh! https://archive.org/stream/un-1976-weather-weapon-treaty/UN_1976_Weather_Weapon_Treaty_djvu.txt

I'd share the link on the UN website but the versions I find have been.. edited.. since the last time I cited them

The adorable bit is, this only applies to using it against foreign cuontries, with no regard for domestic use

Various states in the US have their own departments dedicated to this, for just one example: https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/weather/

Roundabouts

Tell me you hate goods reaching your town without telling me

"Silly rabbit, peace prizes are for war criminals"

Same case here regarding Slackware back in mid 90s - Slackware 3.0-ish

Definitely a crash course, but the learning experience is real

The truth is, installing/using Linux today is vastly more simple than it ever was even 5 years ago, let alone the wild west of migrating people there 15-20 years ago or more

I think you'll be just fine no matter which path you choose, so don't sweat making the "right" choice on the first try - if you have the time, go ahead and experiment, play, tinker, etc

Escaping the unholy suction of the Microsoft data vacuum is more critical now than ever before

Regardless, you can start here for a tool used to create a bootable USB from any old flavor you like:

As for what kind of Linux?

Linux Mint is intended for very-non-technical beginners with extra efforts to make the transition seamless especially for Windows users - you can grab that here:

Keep in mind that simplicity often comes with limitations, so doing much beyond an average desk jockey's day might take you off-road

Many would say Ubuntu, especially for how common it is in the wild and thus how much support you'll find online searching for answers to any problems you may encounter - that can be found here:

However, after a couple decades of Linux and other *nix variants as daily drivers, I haven't always had the best experience with the most popular flavors of the day

What I can say is this: I have been tasked to install Linux for people that have never used anything but smartphones before, and there is one Linux flavor I have installed for these types of people and never once received a call for support

That would be Manjaro, which can be found here:

It's really hard to go wrong starting with ANY Linux these days, so don't worry about getting EVERYthing right on your first adventure here

Go with whatever you happen to like and the rest will work out, but maybe consider trying new things once in a while

WELCOME TO THE LINUX PARTY, where you can either stuff yourself snacking on all the variety or sit down for a full meal where pretty much everything on the menu is really good

SIDE NOTES:

Manjaro, running on Arch Linux, follows what is called a Rolling Release model meaning it is designed to keep upgrading forever with minimal issues

Exploring Linux options, you might see mention of LTS or Long Term Support - this is often indicative of a Point Release model

This term LTS is reassuring for most users (and sometimes me) as it means we don't usually have to think about it for a while just in case other things take priority over caring about what version some computer is running

Sometimes however, I think rarely, LTS also means that (as I discovered with Ubuntu and other Debian variants years ago) gutting the system and starting almost entirely from scratch just to catch up again may eventually be necessary

Anyway, now I go for the rolling release models where everything is more designed to keep everything upgrading indefinitely with minimal hiccups

These side notes on release models probably don't matter as much these days, especially for those just getting started, but it is definitely something I wish I were aware of sooner rather than later

All that aside, Manjaro simply hasn't quit on me yet across my desktops and laptops over recent years while Plasma is a welcome refresh compared to all the boxy clunk and tweaking junk I previously thought was standard issue for Linux

I think your critiques are valid

I also think they speak more to the early adopters who came to the realization of need before others have - from being canceled by financial institutions with no improper conduct cited (like myself), or those hearing about "imminent financial collapse" for decades now, to those needing improvements in their health, lives and businesses

They all tend to have a sense of urgency

More and more, the people I meet with interest in Bitcoin have valid concerns, many if not most brought to light in the past few years alone

I am grateful for the recent madness - the gas pedal was stomped upon so hard that people woke up and realized they were in someone else's car rather than their own

Public education, public health policy, business closures and responses to regular everyday people seeking change - whether they're being arrested at US school board meetings or Jan 6 rallies, or punished financially for being linked to protests like so many Canadians

I don't subscribe to everything the "great awakening" implies, but I saw more change in the last few years than all the years since 9/11 combined...

I recommend starting here:

They take Bitcoin, among others, it's dirt cheap and you can top up well in advance if you like it

All you need is wifi

This setup needs a Jabber instance and creating an account there - this one has been up for years:

You can run this whole setup on a laptop - Dino is a popular choice on Linux:

If you decide to use a mobile device like offline phone or tablet, Cheogram works great there

No need here for a cell for years now

Enjoy!