There is,
on the rec list,
a diary by another Mark,
with a simple title,
and it has nearly 500 comments,
and the comments are pouring in so fast,
I think it may get all the way past 1,000 comments,
before folks quit adding their two cents' worth.
It's just another example
of what often happens here,
aside from politics,
side from meta,
(although this diary is meta)
aside from passionate pie fights.
Let's get into it,
below the squiggly:
The diary is by a typical Daily Kos blogger,
typical in the sense that he is,
apparently,
a middle aged white man,
(like me)
smarter than average,
(like me)
well educated and professional.
(unlike me)
He bought a new computer,
over a month ago,
and it has Windows 8,
and he's had so much trouble using it,
he's thrown in the towel,
and wants to buy a different computer.
The comment thread,
what I read of it,
is full of advice.
So much advice,
I bookmarked it,
for future reference.
At least one commentor insists
that Windows 8 has no problems,
period.
Maybe not for that commentor,
but Mark, the diarist, spelled out his problems
in painful detail.
Some told Mark to get a Mac.
Some explained ways to install Windows 7 on the computer.
My point in rehashing this:
not only that Mark,
but also this Mark,
(my real name is Mark)
could benefit
from all this information.
We are all using computers here;
we should help each other
is choosing which kind of new computer to buy,
since the nature of the beast,
(the beast being computers on the internet),
the nature of the beast is that we are forced
to buy new computers,
or at least upgrade old ones,
every few years.
(I'm writing this on an old IBM running Windows XP)
So,
that's one of the things
I like about Daily Kos;
we are in this together,
we help each other,
we give each other lots and lots of information,
freely,
eagerly.
Other examples of informing each other:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
That's a link to the latest regular diary for the group
KosAbility.
In that diary,
you can learn,
in case you didn't already know,
that anyone who ever had polio
is likely to experience,
about 33 years after the polio,
post-polio syndrome,
a feeling of weakness,
with no cure;
just take it easy,
don't keep pushing yourself
to do those things that are tiring.
(Read the diary at the link,
if you want more details.)
The diary is about one person,
who did have polio as a child,
and yet more than ten doctors
failed to suggest
post-polio syndrome,
wasting two years,
and nearly a million dollars worth of tests
and pointless back surgery.
So,
whether we have a sick computer,
and need advice on how to repair it,
or what to buy to replace it,
or whether we ourselves are ill,
or close family
who are ill,
we have an ongoing educational resource,
with smart,
reasonable,
and caring folks,
lots of them,
a community of them,
at our sides,
on our computer screens.
Two more groups,
one that's helped me for years,
and one I just recently joined:
My first wife, Pam, died in March of 2008.
Not too long after that,
I started making regular visits to
The Grieving Room,
an online grief support group,
and the only grief support group I've ever turned to.
I'm happily remarried now,
and don't have scary bouts of depression,
or almost never do,
since my new bride, Tonia, has started taking care of me.
But I still go back to The Grieving Room,
often.
In fact,
I'm scheduled to write a diary for the group
on the fifth anniversary of Pam's death,
Monday, the 11th of March.
The group I recently joined is called
the Itzl Alert Network:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
...a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
That's part of the welcome paragraph.
With the Itzl Alert diary
posted every morning,
at right about midnight,
I truly feel more secure,
with online friends who might,
if worse comes to worse,
might at least try
to check on my wife and I,
make sure we're okay.
That makes me feel good.
I almost forgot the group I'm the blog editor of:
Indigo Kalliope.
Indigo Kalliope is now under the large umbrella of
Readers & Book Lovers.
I was given the position of blog editor
for Indigo Kalliope
after the death of the previous editor,
ulookarmless.
So.
Keep on blogging
about your favorite topics,
and with your favorite groups.
Come visit me,
in some of my favorite groups.
The latest Indigo Kalliope diary
was truly outstanding! :
http://www.dailykos.com/...
So Mitt
Have to quit
You've not won
Election undone
By unskewed polls
And Voting rolls
Unpurged of them
With different color skin
Who clearly spurned
Your tax returns
And Capitalism
Done by Vultures
And old cultures
Would not permit
Going backward, Mitt
Have a nice morning.
Thanks for reading.