Zeon

Hello,

I’m a 21-year-old guy looking to improve my social skills. I go out to bars but still struggle to socialize. I often find it hard to keep conversations going, and honestly, I sometimes feel bored even when I’m talking to people. Occasionally, I have a good chat, but I tend to be the quieter one in the group.

I love to sing, and after I’m done at the bar, I like to walk around town and ask if people want to hear me sing. A lot of folks are open to it and say they enjoy it (maybe they’re just being nice, but some really seem to like it). I’m passionate about playing guitar and want to start painting and writing too. I also like to go out to town and sit on a bench and just play my guitar, usually just Nirvana songs.

I’m pretty introverted, but I’m not afraid to approach people. I can introduce myself to groups, but I often struggle to keep the conversation going, almost like I bore them. I’ve also faced rejection from women about 4-5 times in a row, which I know is mostly my fault because I come off as desperate or just don’t know what I’m doing. I haven’t had friends or anyone to talk to for a year or two (I don't use social media). I’m average-looking, but I’ve had some really beautiful girls come up to me, only to lose interest when they see I’m a bit odd. I've also never really had a girlfriend before, nothing longer than 3 months.

Any advice would be appreciated!

P.S. I’m not really looking to read dating or socializing books; I want to stay true to myself. But if someone has a recommendation that helped them, I might check it out.

Hello, I've been hearing a lot about this new DeepSeek LLM, and was wondering, would it be possible to get the 600+ billion parameter model running on my GPU? I've heard something about people have got it to run on their MacBooks. I have i7 4790K, 32GB DDR3, and 7900 XTX 24GB VRAM. I'm running Arch Linux, this computer is just for AI stuff really, not gaming as much. I did tried running the distilled 14B parameter model, but it didn't work for me, I was using GPT4All to run it. I'm thinking about getting one of the NVIDIA 5090s in the future. Thanks in advance!

Hello, I'm wondering if I should use the Linux-libre kernel or if I should stay with the stock Linux kernel. I do want to remain 100% FOSS and have Libreboot installed, but, does it really matter if I use the stock kernel or not? Can the blobs from the stock kernel be a vulnerbility? My only reason for wanting to stay with the stock kernel is because its better maintained and gets audited more. But I'm really just worried about the blobs, can they do anything?

Hello, I'm wondering if there is a way to download webpages anonymously, without actually having to visit the website. I want to access this website, but it requires Javascript. So, instead I'm just wondering if theres a way to download the webpage (I want to download the webpage with its functions, like any audio features along with it, for say, Ultimateguitar.com). I recall there being some GNUWebProxy downloading tool or whatever, I just forgot the name of it.

Thank you!

Hello,

I was with my brother and his group of friends, and one of his friends was talking about various drugs. My brother told him, "Shut up, you're going to put us on a watchlist," and he said it in a serious tone. It felt pretty dystopian when he said that; honestly, it was a bit eerie, mostly because he's being controlled and self-censoring without anyone there, and he seems to be aware of the freedom he's giving up, yet he continues to act this way. I've talked to my brother about privacy and why it's important many times, but he would rather live this type of controlled life and doesn't care because "they already know everything about me anyway." He's in his early 20s.

Has anyone else had moments like this?

Hello, I recently bought an acoustic guitar, and this is my second attempt at learning to play.

I made some progress, teaching myself basic chords and strumming, but I'm having trouble following sheet music/chord patterns and similar resources. Sometimes, when I'm watching a YouTube video on how to play a song, they don't provide the strumming pattern or other details.

I've only been playing for a month, and I really enjoy it, but I feel like I'm starting to slow down again. I did download a book on how to improve my playing, which I plan to read later today.

I was wondering if anyone had a few resources they'd be willing to share.

Thank you!

I've lost a significant amount of weight twice. I went from 230 lbs to 180 lbs on two occasions over the past 2-3 years. The world felt different; people were nicer, and I noticed more interest from women (Coming from a person who was originally 300 lbs, this was a dream come true lol) My confidence and self-esteem improved, even though I still had some stomach fat.

Currently, I'm at 190 lbs and aiming to reach 170 or 165 lbs, I want to get rid of all my stomach fat. I used to work out a lot, but now I mainly focus on dieting and walking more, like walking to work. This approach has helped me lose weight, but I should probably get back to the gym before summer starts up again.

I’ll be 21 next year, and I’m excited. I was stuck at 230 lbs for over a year, which honestly sucked, I really missed feeling good about myself. I plan to reach my goal of 165 lbs in the next 3-4 months. I've never been this weight before, and it's going to feel so surreal to have a flat stomach. Anyway, I would love to hear your stories!

I want the account to be able to use one app that requires administrative privileges. I have contacted the support team of the app to find out why it needs these privileges, but I didn't receive any helpful information.

The app is for viewing surveillance footage, but it requires admin privileges to open. I don’t want to make every employee an administrator just for this one use case. It might be better to switch to a FOSS app that doesn’t require administrative privileges by default.

The cameras we currently use are made by the vendor of the app, so maybe we're locked in somehow? The NVR is also made by them, so it might be possible, but I don't know for sure. I need to look into it more.

Hello, I'm not that informed about UBI, but here is my arguement:

Everyone gets some sort of income, but wouldn't companies just subside the income by raising their prices? Also, do you believe capatilism can co-exist with UBI?

I work at a place where most people speak Spanish, and I want to be able to hold conversations with them. I've watched a couple of YouTube videos, but I haven't been able to retain the information. I need to write down flashcards and notes. I'm wondering, and I don't mind if it's proprietary, what is the best and fastest way to learn Spanish?

I always notice some women just have the best perfume and it really does make them more attractive just from the smell alone. I'm wondering, what do you think is the best cologne for a man? Have you ever received a compliment?