08:39 – My beta copy of the Foldscope showed up yesterday. These $1 microscopes are not toys; far from it. They’re intended for educational use and also for diagnostic use in the field. They come in several variants, including brightfield, darkfield, and polarizing, and in different fixed magnifications up to 1,200X.
The Foldscope beta project distributed 10,000 of these microscopes, including one to me. Their initial goal is to get a bunch of these into people’s hands and assemble documentation from contributed articles about various aspects of using the scopes. I plan to contribute a section or two myself anonymously and in the public domain. Once the scopes are available for sale commercially, we’ll probably start including one in every biology kit we ship. Maybe every kit, period.
I’m making up chemicals for chemistry and biology kits today, and may have time to get started on bottling them as well.
Yup, typical. Obola blames the victim:
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/01/07/white-house-questioned-french-magazines-judgment-in-2012-for-publishing-naked-muhammad-cartoon/
“White House Questioned French Magazine’s ‘Judgment’ In 2012 For Publishing Naked Muhammad Cartoon”
You knew what those asshats are like. Be careful who you throw feces at. They spoke the truth but were maybe a little too naive about watching their backs. Just helps reenforce that free countries should stop tolerating that peaceful religion BS.
Meanwhile, The UN protects more terrorists.
Just like HILLARY they want us to understand the terrorists and their viewpoints, not put them down like the mad dogs they are.
And so the march to the bankruptcy court starts for oil companies:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-07/first-shale-casualty-wbh-energy-files-bankruptcy-many-more-coming
“”There are too many ugly balance sheets,” warns one energy industry analyst, adding simply that “the group is not positioned for this downturn.” While the mainstream media continues to chant the happy-clappy side of lower oil prices, spewing various ‘statistics’ about how the down-side of low oil prices is ‘contained’ and the huge colossal massive tax cut means ‘everything is awesome’ for America, the data – and now actions – do not bear this out. Macro data has done nothing but disappoint and now, we have the first casualty of the shale oil leverage debacle as WSJ reports, on Sunday, a private company that drills in Texas, WBH Energy LP, and its partners, filed for bankruptcy protection, saying a lender refused to advance more money. There are many more to come…”
Wow, that list is ugly.
I understand that your business is harmed by low oil/NG price, as are producers, but the net effect is so hugely positive for the vast majority that it’s difficult to argue against it. I think everyone had better get used to $20/bbl oil because I think prices are going to hover in that range for at least the next several years. That’s the natural level for prices; the very expensive oil we’ve seen for the last few years is an anomaly. And the longer they remain low, the better. It strangles the muslim oil producing countries as well as other enemies like Russia and Venezuela. And don’t forget that those fields that are shutting down now because of high production costs can be reactivated if oil prices start to rise. They’re basically a fleet-in-place hanging over the muslims’ heads.
Just filled up my truck. With my grocery discount, $1.10/gal.
Obola = Worst…Leader…EVAH!! Da poor Mooslims. Was it an act of terrorism? Those cartoonist shouldn’t have done that. Cartoons bad! Islam good! Praise the Prophet!
Emperor of the New Murkan Caliphate, Barack Hussein Obola, many blessings be upon his holy name, continues to wreak havoc all over the world, going his inept goofball predecessors, King George I, and King George II, along with Larry Klinton, many times bettuh, or worse, depending on how you look at it. His last two years, if in fact it is only two years, will be spent destroying as much of this country as he can. And remember now, he wouldn’t be ALLOWED to do this if his masters didn’t want him to do this. What is their end game, one wonders? Cui bono, indeed?
A muslim-sympathizing Bolshevik operative in the White House, surrounded by likewise worshipers and acolytes. But it’s a corporate fascist oligarchy controlling the whole enchilada; why would fascists let a Bolshevik hadji run wild?
I tend to think they’re planning some real fun times for us this year that make previous fun times look like a day at the beach. Things make look swell for us right now in the energy markets, certain board members here notwithstanding, but I think we’re being primed for the plucking.
Chill factuh here continues way below zero and we had some snow flurries today, alternating with a very cold pale yellow sun.
OFD got his office hooked up properly today; running the Windows 8 machine, the Ubuntu Studio box, and the Mint box off a Tripplite KVM switch, so now down to one monitor, keyboard and mouse. The Windows box and the Studio machine each have their own sound system, complete with rockin’ subwoofers. That cleared an adjacent table for the Kindle and I’ll be updating CrunchBang on the ancient Toshiba laptop for use in the attic workshop, and I did finally manage to get the PC-BSD 17″ HP laptop to connect to the net. How? Dumbkopf Davy had immediately gone to thinking it was a complex o.s. network issue that he couldn’t fix as fast as he would like. Wrong! It was a loose Cat 5 cable. You’d think after all these years of screwing around as a hands-on IT drone I’d remember to check hardware connections FIRST. But no.
Now to see if I can get the Uniden Bearcat scanner hooked up here…
Hope Mr. Lynn and all who live there in the great Lone Star State are OK after them earthquakes…
Wrong! It was a loose Cat 5 cable.
LOL.
Reminds me of a couple of years back when I told someone I’d help them connect when the cable guy decided she needed to schedule a second appointment because he just did cable and wasn’t qualified for Internet. He left the modem, then he left.
I spent an hour and never could even get to jerrypournelle.com (one of my old test sites for new connections.)
Totally stumped, I told Barb she’d just have to schedule the second appointment. Then I sat back and pondered.
Eventually, the dim little bulb flickered over my head. I can’t remember if it was JEP or JEP along with RBT who used the phrase, “Check the cables, stupid!” when he had a connectivity problem.
Cable to modem. Good. Cat5 in back of modem. Good. Cable to back of computer. Computer sitting on top of cable, cable terminating on floor instead of in the network card.
2 minutes later I had her on line.
I understand that your business is harmed by low oil/NG price
I would not make that statement for my business. We are the low cost producer in our market, except for the blank blank blank freeware, and we will get more business because of the budget cutting in place.
Now, the crude oil industry is going to be harmed greatly if the price continues in the $40s for a year or more. Dropping to $20 will result in about one half of the direct and indirect oil workers in the USA losing their jobs. Probably a total direct employment of three million ??? in the oil patch. Maybe the 3X for the indirect employment ???. And most of these people are making $50/hour. Sheer guesses on my part here. Here is a way better article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-01-07/oil-prices-rig-count-and-economic-impact
Basically, is the loss of six million jobs making $50/hour going to hurt the economy less than two dollar gasoline is going to spur the economy? I do not know.
And that article that I posted last week about the number of financial institutions (speculators!) holding crude oil derivatives. That I cannot find now. Could we see a major bank implode in 12 months? Citibank, I am looking at you!
And don’t forget that those fields that are shutting down now because of high production costs can be reactivated if oil prices start to rise.
Yes, but with a significant capital investment. Unless the piping is flushed and steam cleaned (internally), all the piping will have to be replaced as the crude oil sets up and turns into tar. And the piping is extensive, miles and miles of it for each field. Hint, they will not be flushed upon shutdown. The cost is just too high.
I take it back. Throwing feces is an act of physical assault. Taunting someone is not and cannot justify physical reactions.
I filled up my truck last night at my favorite Shell at $1.89/gal. Minus my 20 cents/gal discount for using my Shell Mastercard (really a Citibank card). 19 gallons for $36 before my Mastercard discount. Unreal.
Hope Mr. Lynn and all who live there in the great Lone Star State are OK after them earthquakes…
300 miles away from here dude. We felt nothing. And not much fracking going on up there so that is not the cause either.
“… cable terminating on floor instead of in the network card.”
It warn’t that obvious here; the terminator on the end of the cable was loose in the PC port, that was all. Bingo.
But here’s another Dumbkopf Davy move today: trying to get sound working on the Ubuntu Studio machine, trying a CD, trying the Ubuntu apps, several times, no dice. Gee, whatever could be wrong, Davy? Oh looky here…I plugged the main speaker cable into the Mint machine! And sound on that didn’t work due to some weird Linux error that I didn’t feel like hunting down. All is good now with sound on the Ubuntu and Windows machines; I won’t need it on the Mint box. I think Ima gon use the Ubuntu machine as the web server after all; it has 32GB RAM. And eventually move the Mint box to the attic workshop, get the sound working on it, and use it for instructional firearm and tool vids. Also the ham radio apps.
“Taunting someone is not and cannot justify physical reactions.”
Depends. You would get an argument on that score depending on what was/is being said. In ye ancient legal parlance it was described as “fighting words.”
“300 miles away from here dude. We felt nothing. And not much fracking going on up there so that is not the cause either.”
I figured as much.
The cause, of course, is divine warning of the sins committed in Texas as they continue to take in hordes of immigrants and then make fun of us poor Yankee bastards freezing in the dark.
“Taunting someone is not and cannot justify physical reactions.”
Depends. You would get an argument on that score depending on what was/is being said. In ye ancient legal parlance it was described as “fighting words.”
No need to tell me. This is Bakersfield. Don’t be talkin shit to no drunken redneck here.
Not a good idea up here in North Bumfuck, either. Best be polite, if possible. And armed.
Intel announces a PC the size of a thumb drive. Runs Windows, plugs into an HDMI port. $149. Linux version will be $89.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/07/technology/innovationnation/intel-compute-stick/index.html
or
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html
M$ only relatively recently came out with a means of running Windows off USB sticks, and Linux “live” sticks and CD’s have been around for free for ages. The current secure gold standard being Tails.
Who wants to run Windows 8.1?
I still have the Windows 10 Technical Preview on a DVD here on my office desk along with a brand new Intel 480 GB SSD. I only have 4 GB free on the Intel 180 GB SSD installed right now…
C:\dii>df c d v w
Drive C: 4165042176 bytes free, 179929346048 bytes total, 97% full.
Drive D: 793097293824 bytes free, 4000650883072 bytes total, 80% full.
Drive V: 1345894215680 bytes free, 2000158715904 bytes total, 32% full.
Drive W: 38320599040 bytes free, 1000194015232 bytes total, 96% full.
If I could chuck Winblows entirely here, I would, and good riddance.
Only this box and wife’s laptop still have it; the other six machines run Linux.
From Pournelle’s website, http://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/ :
“Subject: How My Mom Got Hacked – NYTimes.com”
“This was sent to (my boss) yesterday and I thought you might want to be aware of it. (Cybersecurity lead), is there something we can do to protect ourselves?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/opinion/sunday/how-my-mom-got-hacked.html?emc=eta1
“MY mother received the ransomnote on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It popped up on her computer screen soon after she’d discovered that all of her files had been locked. “Your files are encrypted,” it announced. “To get the key to decrypt files you have to pay 500 USD.” If my mother failed to pay within a week, the price would go up to $1,000. After that, her decryption key would be destroyed and any chance of accessing the 5,726 files on her PC — all of her data — would be lost forever.”
“Sincerely, CryptoWall. ”
Oh my goodness!
If I could chuck Winblows entirely here, I would, and good riddance.
What!? No Hackintosh to experiment with? You're missing the best side of computing. 🙂
and Linux “live” sticks and CD’s have been around for free for ages.
I think the point is these are computers on a stick, not just software.
I think the point is these are computers on a stick, not just software.
I note that it is the quad-core atom cpu. I would like to see an x64 version of this cpu with the same power minimalist features.
32 bit is dead! Long live 64 bit!
We ported our calculation engine from 36 bit to 32 bit back in 1977. Was a problem from day one. The loss of those 4 bits in floating point was always an issue for borderline calculations.
“After that, her decryption key would be destroyed and any chance of accessing the 5,726 files on her PC — all of her data — would be lost forever.””
If somebody did this to me I’d laugh in their face. Dumbkopf Davy can very easily blow away all his files all by hisself and has demonstrated that not too long ago here on one of the external drives. Plus there ain’t too many files here that I give a shit about anyway. (that haven’t already been backed up to USB sticks.)
Just watched the first three episodes of “Blacklist,” very nice. Some of the dialogue is a little stilted and implausible but hey, hard to get good help these days. Spader does a pretty good job with his role, and he can turn up his right eyebrow by itself; I can do my left one. Mrs. OFD can’t do hers and thinks it’s wild. My dad could wiggle his ears; never seen anybody else do that.
Spader sez he is blind and can’t wear contacts, ditto. When we see him in tee-vee and movies and he ain’t wearing glasses he can’t see the other actors’ faces but as blurs. Wife here is the same; without her contacts I’m just a white blob across the room. I’m not quite that bad, though, and have 20-20 with the bifocals, invented by my illustrious ancestor, Dr. Franklin.
Oh, almost forgot; the “Blacklist” episode I watched tonight, Number Three, was all about encryption.
“Since it often seems that the people most in favor of gun control are the ones who have the least experience with firearms (and thus are much more susceptible to outright falsehoods on the topic) a little practical training and experience will go a long way toward helping to secure our liberties as opposed to a few classroom lectures. Am I right?”
South Carolina takes a baby step in the right direction:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/01/daniel-zimmerman/sc-rep-moves-mandate-2a-curriculum/#more-345546
Wife here is the same; without her contacts I’m just a white blob across the room.
Is this a good thing, sir?
Hey, don’t call me “sir”! I was just enlisted scum.
I’m a very large white blob across the room so I guess if I could get a large white blow-up doll and make tape recordings of me ranting about politics and guns, I could just set it up in my chair in the living room and be off doing other stuff somewhere. Once I start ranting she just ignores me anyway.
Minus 9 here right now and heading to minus 14, not counting wind chill, which is sorta substantial, seeing as how we’re getting steady 25 MPH off the bay and gusts of twice that.
Tee shirt weather coming up again on Sunday when it rockets into the twenties.
Maybe finally? “Grexit” http://rt.com/news/220459-germany-greece-eurozone-grexit/
So if the lefties, bums, layabouts and criminal scum take over via their party, the real fun will start in Europe. “membership in the Eu is irrevocable.” Yeah, OK; is that like the Mob, where you get in but you can never leave, or the Hotel Kalifornia?
We may be seeing some rockin’ chit comin’ down the road sooner than I thought…
“Blacklist” is a favorite of mine. I started watching it because of Spader, whom I adored in “Boston Legal”, but am also hooked on the Tom character, as well as Liz.
I can raise my left eyebrow, but not my right, and I can also wiggle my ears. A rare talent that has even rarer use.
Holy crap, Bill; both you and Dr. Bob will end up being apprehended as witches when the whole thing collapses. I have the left eyebrow but that’s it. Ear wiggling is rare indeed. You, my dad and Bugs.
I also started watching “Blacklist” because of Spader; he and Shatner were great in “Boston Legal.” I so far don’t care much for the Tom or Liz characters or either of the other Feebie agents. I suppose if I was thirty years younger and had played my cards right, I’d be one of those SWAT troops running around with the tactical-light-enabled ARs and suchlike and I’d be retired by now. Oh well.
Just about all the cops I used to know are retired or more likely dead by now.
When you say “the first three episodes” do you mean of season one? Because by season two they become much more intriguing characters…
Yeah, I’m only on Episode 5 of Season One. Will keep a lookout for Season Two.
I generally root for wise-ass villains in fiction. The greatest of all being old Jack Falstaff in King Henry IV, Parts One and Two.
Re the attack on Charlie Hebdo in France: The tone so far in Europe is currently “Fuck the terrorists, they cannot be allowed to attack free speech”. Pretty amazing stuff – I hope it remains so. Europe already has far, far too many restrictions on free speech – perhaps this will actually push things in the right direction.
France, in particular, is going to be interesting. They have outlawed burkas (or, indeed, any covering of the face) in public. This was just recently (rather unexpectedly) upheld by the European Court of Human Rights. This terrorist attack has provided more fuel for the fire: the French are now going to actually enforce the law, which may prove…interesting.
As an aside, from previous threats the magazine was actually supposed to be under police protection. The sheer incompetence of this “protection” has also been a topic on the news. For example, there were no entry controls on the building – just walk in the front door, and you were in the middle of the editorial office. That’s some security, wow…
I was disappointed this morning. I was hoping that every newspaper in the first world would have covered their front pages with the cartoons in question.
You’ll approve of today’s Nick Scipio’s POD then! While he isn’t publishing the cartoons (likely a copyright issue) he’s supportive of the je suis Charlie protest.
Backlash.
Blowback.
It’s a bitch.