Coherent Hallucinations

When you're talking about the design of the boat, you say "it".

When the boat is still being built, your say "it".

When the boat is nearing completion, you can say "it" or "she".

When the boat is floating in the water you probably say "she", unless there is still a lot of work to be done (e.g. no engine yet) then you say "it".

When the boat is officially launched and operating, you say "she". If you continue to say "it" at this point you are not incorrect but suspiciously untraditional. You are not playing the game.

If you are referring to a boat you don't really know anything about you may say "it" ("there's a big boat, it's coming this way"). But if you know its name, it's probably "she" ("there's the Waverley, she's on her way to Greenock").

If you are talking about boats in general, you say "it" ("when a boat is hit by a wave it heels over")

If you speak about a boat in complimentary terms, it's "she" ("she's a grand boat"). If you are being disparaging it may be it, but not necessarily ("it's as ugly as sin", "she's a grotty old tub").

If she has a boy's name, she's still she. "Boy James", "King Edward", "Sir David Attenborough"? The pronoun is she.

If it's a dumb barge (no engine), you say it. But if it's a rowing boat (no engine), you say she.

Super disappointing to finally see artwork accurately representing my body and realize it’s being reposted on subreddits like “awful taste but great execution” and “diwhy” :( Like this is so cool

Life has been kicking my ass the last couple of months but I am finding time to spin, here and there. This is the Northern Lights colorway in Heathered BFL from Greenwood Fiberworks.

SUPERMAN (2025) dir. James Gunn

+ Kara

As to your questions:

Yes, you CAN use both Windows and Linux on the same computer (it's called "dual-booting"), but to switch between them you have to actually restart your computer, so it's not quick but it works.

You can transfer your files but I recommend doing a complete backup before you start messing with anything! But if you want to you can just make a drive partition where you designate a space that is just for the Linux OS, you don't have to wipe your whole hard drive. I think it's recommended you do separate partitions for Windows OS vs Linux OS and then a separate one for files but I didn't know that so iirc I just have the Linux OS separated. A lot of Linux/non-Windows programs have ways to handle Windows files, like LibreOffice can open .docx files for instance.

Oh and you can and should try out the OS before you install it! You can even just keep it on a bootable USB stick and only load it from the stick whenever you want to use it. I've heard of tech people doing that and using the stick to diagnose people's computers lol. You could presumably do that with Windows too. You still have to restart the computer to switch OS'es though, even when one's just on a stick. Sorry. 😔

If you need to use a Windows program you can also try using WINE (short for "WINE Is Not an Emulator" hehe) or using a virtual machine. The former is much, MUCH easier.

As to choosing a Linux distro:

Pretty much every distro is smaller than Windows has gotten to be now, I forget how small though. If your computer can run regular-degular Windows it can run Linux, and it will probably even run it better.

Ubuntu is a bigger more fiddle-able OS, if you have a decent computer that isn't super old and tiny I recommend that. However the default UI (user interface) is more Apples-like, so if you want a more Windows-like experience with Ubuntu then I would recommend getting Kubuntu (by the same people who make Krita)! You can also do Ubuntu and then install the KDE, which is the Kubuntu desktop environment, on top of it.

If you have an old shitty computer with measly RAM then Linux Mint is where it's at! It's designed to be very lightweight. I tried Linux Lite as well but had a bad time with it (I couldn't even get it to install Firefox???????????), whereas Linux Mint works so well I've used it on multiple shitty little laptops (and it comes with Firefox installed by default 👍). It's also a little more "plug-and-play" than Ubuntu. Ubuntu is more powerful, Linux Mint is simpler and more lightweight.

Either way be ready to duckduckgo stuff a lot lmao. Linux Mint seems to require less DDG'ing ime but you'll still have to do it at times.

You don't need an account to download any Linux distros afaik!

I haven't really done any gaming on it (my laptop has integrated graphics soooo I could probably run some lighter/older games but I haven't bothered, I just use my Steam Deck. I'm thinking of springing for the Steam Frame or Steam Machine when they come out....but that's beside the point) so I can't help you there. I think I found that the Steam program had stopped working on Ubuntu when I tried once? Or something.

I do wanna stress that Ubuntu isn't huge or crazy by any means, but also you can try both it and Mint and see which you prefer. Nothing's actually written onto your hard drive (except when you download the ISO file ofc, but that doesn't do anything) until you run the Install wizard that shows up on the desktop when you boot from the USB. You can literally make two USB's and switch between them (with restarts in between) and fool around with both of them. You can also try Ubuntu with its default desktop vs Kubuntu to see which you prefer! And then if you don't like any of them, you don't have to delete or uninstall anything from your hard drive, you just....restart and unplug the USB! If you do install and then don't like it, you can uninstall it! So don't stress about it too much.