09:18 – Colin let me sleep in this morning. It was 67.2F (19.5C) when I took him out around 0730 this morning, mostly cloudy and with a light misty drizzle. Barbara’s friend Bonnie from Winston is coming up this morning. They’re going to spend the day driving around the county visiting various arts/crafts places.
I got some chemicals for science kits on order yesterday, a gallon (3.8 L) each of n-butanol, 99% acetic acid, and 28% ammonia. The total was $161, including shipping, or $6.71/pint. I could order this stuff from a lab chemical vendor, but lab-grade versions of any of these would typically cost 50% to 100% more, not including shipping.
If possible, we avoid technical-grade chemicals. This vendor carries tech-grade, but it also offers many chemicals in either repackaged USP (pharma-grade) or FCC (food-grade) versions, which are pure enough for our purposes.
The other issue is hazardous-material shipping. Many vendors, including Fisher Sci, simply refuse to ship hazardous chemicals to anything but a business address, but these guys will happily ship to a home address.
Which is probably just as well. Soon after we started the business, I ordered a bunch of hazardous chemicals and had them delivered to our house in Winston. The total amount was probably a couple liters of liquid and maybe two or three kilos of solids.
A few days later, Malcolm barked ferociously at a loud noise out front. It was a tractor-trailer emblazoned with hazmat placards parking in front of our house. The guy got out of the tractor and started placing orange cones to block off the street to all traffic, and finally unloaded a couple medium size boxes. I’m sure that got the whole neighborhood talking.
I spent some time yesterday going through the material for the Technician-class amateur radio exam and repeatedly taking the practice exam at HamExam.org. I’m now at the point where usually I score 35/35, with a few 34/35 thrown in. Passing is 26/35, so I shouldn’t have any problem with that test.
Truth be told, the Tech license is all I care about, but I figured I might as well take the General exam as well as long as I’m there. So I’ll spend some time over the weekend and early next week going over the General-class material and taking the practice exams for it.
When I first signed up for the ham radio course, the guy instructing it mentioned that there was another ham locally who was interested in starting an ARES group. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service is intended to help provide comms to local emergency services and law enforcement during emergencies.
After reading more about ARES, I decided not to bother with it. For one thing, they expect you to “register” your radio equipment and skills, and I have no interest in registering anything with the government or an auxiliary agency. For another, they expect you to respond to emergencies outside your immediate area.
So I think I’ll try to get an unofficial local group going that will support only Alleghany County and Sparta emergency services. That fits well with the mind-set around here anyway. We have a local ham radio club, but it has zero official presence. No membership roster, no dues, no officers, no rules, etc.
While Barbara was volunteering at the historical society yesterday afternoon, the Sheriff stopped in to say hello. There wasn’t anyone else there, so he and Barbara spent a long time talking. She said he’s a really nice guy.
So I think I’ll see how many members of the ham radio club are interested in volunteering to provide emergency comms and then talk to the Sheriff and other local people involved with emergency management and see what we can get going informally.
My prediction, you’ll hit the wall o paperwork. No helping because you’re not vetted and approved. No background check, piss test, or Memorandum of Understanding. No insurance. And NO access to police secrets without those things.
Maybe you’re small town enough, but even small towns have lawyers, and connections to the bigger towns and their lawyers. Even the official agencies won’t help each other without “Mutual Aid” MOUs in place.
n
That’s not the way things are done around here when the decision is local. Yes, if I want to volunteer for 4H I have to have a background check done, but that’s because it’s state law. Sheriffs are the senior elected official in a county, and have a great deal of power and flexibility in deciding what to do. That’s during normal times. In an emergency, a Sheriff can do pretty much anything he wants to to protect life and property in his county.
Our Sheriff may not know everyone in the county, but I’d guess he’s close. For example, when Barbara introduced herself, he knew who she was and that we’d bought Jerry and Ethel Francis’s house. He knew that Barbara had helped take care of Bonnie. He remembered that when we first moved in Bonnie had called the Sheriff’s department to express her concern that we’d start a meth lab or something.
In short, he knows who the solid citizens are and who the problem people are. And I suspect he takes the solid citizens at face value. Things are very, very different if you live in a county with 10,000 population versus a metro area of millions.
Bill Cosby jury hung. Mistrial. Prosecution will retry. I wonder which jurors held out. His side says it proves his innocence. HA!
Locally
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/kern-county-jurors-describe-turmoil-of-deliberations-during-death-penalty/article_ff3f014f-60c7-599e-8889-6a55452f1faa.html
I’ve always thought that a hung jury = not guilty. If the prosecution, with all its advantages from the Grand Jury on, can ‘t convince 12 jurors to convict, their case is obviously too weak to pursue further.
Yah, it used to be “not all jurors vote guilty” = “not guilty” and “we’re done here; the government had its shot”. Now it means “government gets a do-over”.
I’ve always thought that a hung jury = not guilty. If the prosecution, with all its advantages from the Grand Jury on, can ‘t convince 12 jurors to convict, their case is obviously too weak to pursue further.
Regardless of what he did or didn’t do, Bill Cosby has been too critical of the African American community in the eyes of many, and he must be punished for his belief that young black men need to pull up their pants, learn to speak English, and take responsibility for the children they father. Imagine!
The DAs basic problem is that most people over 40, regardless of race, will give Bill Cosby the benefit of the doubt at a minimum. Even Eddie Murphy didn’t throw Cosby under the bus when SNL presented him with the opportunity to do so and possibly resurrect his (Murphy’s) comedy career last year.
A new jury will have to be all under 40, preferably below 35, to secure a conviction. The problem is that it leaves the door open to appeal on the basis that Cosby did not have a jury of his peers.
I don’t think the point is whether or not he did it. The point is that the Constitution guarantees the right to a speedy trial. Granted, that’s usually taken to mean that the trial must quickly follow the arrest rather than the crime, although that’s certainly not even honored, but the real point of guaranteeing a speedy trial is to ensure that the accused has every chance to defend himself. How the hell does the accused defend himself in a he-said-she-said situation referring to something that happened years or even decades earlier?
As far as I’m concerned, if a supposed “victim” doesn’t immediately notify the police of the crime, no such crime occurred. And, yes, if I were on Cosby’s jury, I’d have voted to acquit immediately, without even hearing the so-called “evidence”.
“The problem is” is only a problem if you believe, based on media and hearsay, that he’s actually guilty of a crime.
He was tried, by a jury the prosecutor did everything he could to stack in his favor (that’s his job), and the state’s case wasn’t convincing.
Given absolute choice in picking a jury, I could convict Mother Theresa of crimes against humanity. That’s why both sides get limited options to stack the jury, and it’s supposed to cancel out. Let me pick 12 young men, who’ve all posted homemade porn of “sleeping wife” or “unaware” or “druncken teen” [DON”T google] and I’ll get them to give Cosby a medal.
BTW, I think you are correct about the desire of the establishment to attack him for his stated opinions. I also accept that people are willing to give him a pass. The OJ trial established that beyond a doubt.
nick
Even Eddie Murphy didn’t throw Cosby under the bus when SNL presented him with the opportunity to do so and possibly resurrect his (Murphy’s) comedy career last year.
A while back, I saw Eddie Murphy on one of the talk shows, Leno’s IIRC. Leno asked him if he would go back to doing standup comedy. He replied that it would take one to two years of full time work to write, practice, and polish a standup act. He didn’t have time with movies and family.
Eddie looks like he’s taking time to enjoy the fruits of his labor, and is engaging in the natural progression of his career. Why would he WANT to go back to standup? Besides, the SJWs wouldn’t let him do the kind of work he used to do.
n
As far as I’m concerned, if a supposed “victim” doesn’t immediately notify the police of the crime, no such crime occurred. And, yes, if I were on Cosby’s jury, I’d have voted to acquit immediately, without even hearing the so-called “evidence”.
I think Phylicia Rashad was right when she said that someone wanted to keep Cosby from returning to TV this season. The politicians in Philadelphia probably also wanted a little payback for the rest of the state voting Trump last year.
Philadelphia is certainly familiar with dispensing speedy justice. Veterans Stadium is the only NFL facility with a courtroom on site.
Besides, the SJWs wouldn’t let him do the kind of work he used to do.
Yeah, the “Goonie Goo Goo” sketch would be met with howls of protest today. “She’s not a Bigfoot, she’s ‘folically challenged’.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy699gK_vZ0
Cliff Huxtable has been getting screwed; by ancient accusations only now, amusingly enough, brought forward by allegedly aggrieved “victims” of his, and amusingly enough, not long after he was talking common sense about other black people in this country, especially the men. Gee, what a coincidence. And now the State gets a do-over, sorta like the EU making countries vote for shit over and over again until they fucking get it right. That’s what the DA out there is doing with Cliff now.
I have zero idea if he really is guilty of anything at all, and would have to give him the benefit of the doubt until I saw ironclad proof; not much worse than jailing or executing someone on shaky grounds and then finding out later they were completely innocent.
My late dad once met Cliff in passing out at O’Hare many moons ago and they exchanged friendly greetings. I’m also old enough to remember his own standup comedy routines back in the day. And I would be doubled up on the floor choking with laughter during the interaction between his “Cliff” character and “Theo” during that series.
So OFD is giving Cliff a pass this weekend. And fuck that DA out there.
Sunny w/blue skies and temps in the 70s, when the weather liars had said 80s. I’m too crippled today to do very much, so just a few errands and puttering around; that deal of sitting on the back porch floor assembling the compost tumbler yesterday for two or three hours messed me up good from pelvis to knees. Have I mentioned how getting old sucks?
Well, I over did it in the sun yesterday and since 4 am have felt massively hung over. That’s a serious electrolyte imbalance. I’ve been drinking water since then, any salt replacement tablets. I’m only now starting to feel better.
So I’ve been doing gentle inside stuff. All the plumbing fixtures are junked up with debris from having the water supply line work done. Spent a half hour disassembling and re-assembling the toilet valve in the master. Was FILLED with little stones and dirt. One little stone kept it from going back together turning a 5 minute job into 30. Had to get a flashlight, dental pick, and magnifying headband to find the little bugger.
Gonna finish cleaning the aerator screens in the faucets, then some PC work. Supposed to have some craigslist sales today. I’m skipping the estates today. Got stuff from last week to process in. Lots of good looking garage and yard sales too, but I think I’m missing them too.
n
As far as I’m concerned, if a supposed “victim” doesn’t immediately notify the police of the crime, no such crime occurred.
In this case, she did. They declined to make an arrest.
So OFD is giving Cliff a pass this weekend. And fuck that DA out there.
I was a latchkey kid X-er whose Boomer father carried on like Larry Clinton. I spent hours as a kid sitting on the floor of my room listening to Bill Cosby comedy albums over and over again, and, for good or bad, Cosby was a positive male role model in my life even before Cliff Huxtable came along.
There is no way I would vote to put the man in prison pushing 80. Find a lesser charge that would result in probation/house arrest … and bring some damned good evidence.
I know I am not alone among my generation. Lots of people my age had Larry Clinton fathers whether or not we care to admit it, and even Reagan didn’t mess with Cosby as America’s father figure time slot in the 80s — press conferences on Thursdays always started at 8:30.
“In this case, she did. They declined to make an arrest.”
I haven’t read anything about the Cosby case at all, but I was under the impression that several or many women had come forward recently to claim that Cosby had committed crimes against them separately and over the course of years or decades.
Are you saying that only one of this group had reported a crime to the police near the time it allegedly occurred and that the police at the time decided not to arrest Cosby? If so, they apparently at the time found no evidence of a crime and did not consider the witness testimony credible. So why would a DA choose to pursue this so long after the supposed crime unless new evidence had been discovered? Is that the case?
If this is a case of his word against hers, with no supporting witnesses or evidence, how the hell could the Grand Jury even indict him? Talk about a clear case of reasonable doubt.
Someone up here mainly agreed with me about the Cosby case and DA’s getting to run do-overs on people when they can’t nail ’em the first time; but then I heard “Well, there was a pattern….” I said, according to whom? A series of alleged vics “come forward” allegedly of their own volition years or decades later until a politically connected DA “makes a case” and then the MSM hops on and the guy becomes de facto guilty? WTF? I call bullshit.
In the case of the real Larry Klinton, vics came forward almost immediately each time and again and again over years and decades, but Cankles and the Clinton Crime Family went after them with hammer and tongs. And the CCF has a very long trail of dead bodies, which might tend to scare some victims off.
I call utter bullshit on the Cosby fiasco. Convicted in the media so the DA is gonna run it again until some jury “gets it right.”
Some famous lawyer once said that if he could choose the right jury in a courtroom, he could convict a ham sandwich. OK, doing my copy editor chit, I was wrong about “convict.” It was “indict” a ham sandwich for a grand jury proceeding.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/11/25/sol_wachtler_the_judge_who_coined_indict_a_ham_sandwich_was_himself_indicted.html
I call utter bullshit on the Cosby fiasco. Convicted in the media so the DA is gonna run it again until some jury “gets it right.”
I’d be surprised if the Cosby mess continues in Philadelphia with that DA.
WRT ham radio license study and testing:
https://masondixontactical.wordpress.com/2017/06/10/ham-advice-from-warrior-capitalist/
Any comments would be welcome. I need to allocate an hour or two per day over the next two weeks for this and see if I can take at least the Tech exam on June 30 here in town. I also need to finish the FFL paperwork and get that in with a new photo and fingerprint card by then, too, if possible. Very limited budget here until then, which is a consideration on getting some other stuff done, so I’ll work with what I have on hand for the three weeks Mrs. OFD will be gone, to Denver, Nuevo Aztlan Nuevo Mexico, and Kalifornia.
It would be nice if I could nail at least one ham license exam and get the FFL by my birthday next month but plans are useless around here and monkey wrenches, usually fem-originated, abound.
On the plus side, OFD, princess hasn’t come round hat in hand and looking for the car keys….
n
Found out something interesting on my trip overseas.
When I arrived in Norway I went to a store that sell phones and service and got a SIM card that would work in Norway. $12.50 for 14 days, unlimited talk and text, 250 MB of data. Enough for my needs. Worked well. But I needed to call the states and that was expensive.
Remembering that I had Verizon I replaced the Norway SIM with my Verizon SIM, connected to WIFI, and turned on WIFI calling. The service changed from the Norwegian company to “VZW WIFI”. I was able to call the states for free and it worked well. Someone in the states cannot call me, but I call anywhere in the states.
The surprise was text messages. I was also able to send and receive text messages from the states without any issues. The Verizon WIFI (or any vendor) calling works well when you are out of the country and can get WIFI.
Currently 100F and 50%RH in my driveway. Feels like of 113F jeez I don’t want to do any outdoor stuff today.
n
(spent 2 hours on small electronics repair. Had the damn thing apart and together 5 times. Repair done though.)
“On the plus side, OFD, princess hasn’t come round hat in hand and looking for the car keys….”
She has her own car (registered to me, and maintained by me, insurance paid for by us, and $4,000 put into it for repairs and suchlike since she’s had it, the last $1,000 took up my entire VA disability check, and no thanks for it, either). She’ll come round or actually just call on the phone repeatedly any given day or night, up to a dozen times, leaving no messages ever, when she wants $ again for yet another summer of no work and gallivanting around Quebec, Ontario, and New England. At least there are no trips to Europe planned again. And just turned 25. Another of the Entitled Generation with Hyper Normality Bias.
Thanks for the phone/Verizon tip, Mr. Ray; not likely useful for me, but might be for any of the fems, who are relentlessly tethered to their smartypants cell phone pixels.
Can’t get much done physically today, thanks to being an old broken-down loser fukstik, but I am working on tax returns and having just oodles of fun this afternoon, while it’s gorgeous outside.
Mr. Ray, do you have Global Entry chit to get back into the FUSA expedited? I’ve been wondering if it is worth $80 since I may be going to the Caribbean in the future.
WRT ham radio license study and testing:
When I get around to the Tech exam, I’m going to read the manual through and just memorize the questions. I’ve fiddled with enough milspec radios to be OK. I just want to practice with the hams.
Just do the online tests. No need to read the manual.
Even when I was commuting to canadia weekly, global entry wasn’t worth it to me. they keep your application fee even if you are denied.
I’ve never had a super long wait reentering the US that made it seem worthwhile to try to bypass the lines.
The worst line I’ve ever been in traveling is leaving orlando fla. Those families just do not follow the rules, there aren’t enough staff, and it’s a mess. No way around that.
n
@nick
When did you take the exams? Which class did you qualify for?
There is no way I would vote to put the man in prison pushing 80. Find a lesser charge that would result in probation/house arrest … and bring some damned good evidence.
This is a basic he said, she said case. There are many issues, first we have a known philanderer with a pass from his wife. She testified in one case that one of the women called his house and she told the women to never bother her again, that was her husband’s business.
Second, a 30 year old woman visits a 65 year old man alone in his house. Repeatedly. Many times. Would drink and do drugs with him. Called him many, many times. Asked him to do favors for her at her job (which he did). Would sleep on his couch. Crawled into bed with him to “snuggle”.
And then she files a police report on him over a year later complaining about rape ? Sounds to me like he stopped the relationship and she got mad. He moved on to his next conquest and she got even.
This is about money. Cosby had 50 ? 60 ? 100 ? 1,000 ? affairs with women and now some of them want to steal his $300 million net worth.
I don’t approve of Cosby’s actions. But I note that his wife gave him a pass. And, there are zero kids out there claiming that he is their dad and did not help with their raising. So, is he responsible ? In the broadest sense, yes.
Cliff Huxtable will have to answer to a Higher Authority; I’d just leave him alone and like the lefties and libtards are always saying, and always preaching, Move On. Any DA or judge who wants to pursue this chit looks like a blithering idiot. Not a big career move, if you ask me. Hoping for celeb proximity to do that, I guess, and basically grifting off an 80-year-old.
How about those mofos going out and pursuing violent criminal scum for a change? We seem to have no shortage of that category here, so how ’bout it, huh?
Well, that was sort of fun…. I went to my website to look for something. I had an e-mail from a visitor with the subject line of “(WWW Form Submission) Misspelled the word "noticable" on your website"” No mention of which page.
I do use spell check and maybe Thunderbird 2.0.0.24 has a faulty checker. I looked and can’t find “noticable” on my site. I searched for “noti”.
And no…. I ain’t gonna click the included link to “SpellingScan.com”. I might look stupid….
I found a couple of pages where the nav bar was broken.
A while back I went through and changed everything to .html instead of .htm. My top nav bar is one file that is ssi pastes in. The sub bar is hard coded on each page. I missed a couple of pages.
I hope my pay isn’t docked.
Cliff Huxtable will have to answer to a Higher Authority
Bill Cosby has broken none of man’s laws that I know of. The drugs thing makes me squicky but consensual is consensual. If having affairs is made illegal then reputedly half of the USA is going to jail.
From yesterday: [snip] I am guessing their are unions involved and woe be to the person that would change paper outside their job duties. [snip]
I had a chance to get clued in on some of the Hollywood union regulations. Almost laughable is a generous way to describe them. Some movies get made to amortize the equipment and to keep the craft unions happy.
[snip] His side says it proves his innocence. HA! [snip]
IMHO it proves that the jury did its job, relative to the ideals of American jurisprudence. When they first sat down in the jury box, that person known as Defendant was innocent. It was up to the Almighty State to prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that he (in this case) had in fact committed some crime. In this case, not all of the jurors were convinced; so the jury was hung. Since no actual verdict was reached, the Almighty State is within its rights to try again. (NPR, a few minutes ago, said that jury pool was from Pittsburgh, despite the trial being held in Philly.) I’m Libertarian enough to not care, and not think it’s the State’s business, if two consenting adults want to take various tranquilizers and copulate. It’s also a good reminder to anyone who thinks they have been the victim of a crime to file a complaint post haste.
[snip] It was “indict” a ham sandwich for a grand jury proceeding. [snip]
And any grand jury which refuses to indict said ham sandwich (often indicative of a functioning brain cell or three) will quickly find itself dismissed, so that the prosecutor can get a more compliant group of grand jurors.
http://remsset.com/pasta/Tubular%20Pasta.htm
@rbt, been licensed for a couple of years now, long enough that I think the question pool changed.
I ONLY took the online tests until I could pass every time for Tech, and started doing that with General. Had to take the exam, so didn’t even get to consistently passing the General practices. Passed the Tech with (IIRC) 35 and then said, “not prepared but might as well take it” and passed the General with one question to spare. As the ofd linked article says, the General has a lot of the same stuff as the Tech, slightly rephrased. This wasn’t immediately obvious to me.
I’ve done some prep for the Extra test over the last couple years, thinking initially I could take the same approach that worked on the other two. MUCH bigger pool, much harder questions. I even bought a study guide that rephrases all the questions as statements with the correct answer, and I find it an EXCELLENT soporific. Usually asleep in 2 pages MAX! I’ve decided that the best approach to the Extra test is to actually learn the material. If you REALLY want the extra freqs, put in the work and learn about radio. The Extra test is a good test of real radio knowledge and prepping for the test is a good class in radio.
General is within reach for just about anyone who can comfortably read and understand written English. Extra is hard, and not worth it from a prepper standpoint. From a ham radio as a hobby, and a way to learn about radio standpoint, Extra may be worth it, but the sweet spot for someone who wants to communicate is General.
nick
“Camille Cosby calls prosecutors ‘heinously and exploitevly ambitious’ and accuses judge of ‘overtly and arrogantly collaborating with the DA’ in extraordinary written statement immediately after her husband’s mistrial”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4613806/Camille-Cosby-releases-statement-Bill-s-mistrial.html
[snip] It was “indict” a ham sandwich for a grand jury proceeding. [snip]
And any grand jury which refuses to indict said ham sandwich (often indicative of a functioning brain cell or three) will quickly find itself dismissed, so that the prosecutor can get a more compliant group of grand jurors.
We have seen this in Fort Bend County. Warren Moon, the NFL quarterback, and his wife were having an argument in the back yard and things got physical. Their kids called the cops and said mom and dad were fighting. If I remember correctly, the cops arrived and arrested Warren Moon. The incompetent Fort Bend County DA (the same one who plea bargained my BIL’s murderers to 18 months in jail), filed domestic abuse charges on Warren Moon. At the trial, his wife testified that she was striking him and he was trying to stop her. The DA did not file charges on her.
Well, my new web server is now up and running and my seven domains transferred over to it.
http://qs4207.pair.com/pair/status.cgi
I had an old QS-3 at http://www.pair.com and my hardware is now a QS-1. I’ve now got a Zeon octocore with 16 GB of ram and a pair of SSD drives. My old server could only handle 4 GB of ram and 32 bit operating systems.
https://www.pair.com/webhosting/dedicated-servers.html
Next, we will be upgrading our 32 bit FreeBSD 7.3 to 64 bit FreeBSD 10.3 so that we can turn on IPv6.
WRT to Cosby and Pennsylvania: Was not it the same deal with Sandusky? Accusations very late after the commitments, but found guilty eventually in same state? And wife denied it all, heard nothing in the basement?
WRT to Cosby and Pennsylvania: Was not it the same deal with Sandusky? Accusations very late after the commitments, but found guilty eventually in same state? And wife denied it all, heard nothing in the basement?
Sandusky was molesting underage boys. To my knowledge, all of the women Cosby was involved with are 18 or above. There is a big difference here.
Still feeling a bit hung over, but got second toilet valve working again, got HVAC filters changed, got dog mess picked up, got a bricked ubiquiti nano back up. Some small progress on small jobs, but about what my head is up to.
n
Mr. Ray, do you have Global Entry chit to get back into the FUSA expedited?
Nope. I travel just like the rest of the scum. Traveling once a year or every other year it is probably not worth the money. When I went through in Orlando there was no one waiting in the line so your wait time will certainly be much shorter. If you give yourself two hours between flights that is probably enough time to make the connection. A lot of the crowding depends on how many flights from overseas arrive in a given time span. I have flown when it only took 15 minutes, another time it was almost an hour waiting in line.
The worst was when the immigration office was demanding more money from congress and congress was not giving them the money. You would arrive at immigration, 300 people from the flight, and there were 12 entry points and only two were staffed. It was an intentional effort by the immigration office to get people pissed off and complain to congress. You still see some empty gates and agents in no hurry to get people through. Lunch time comes and they simply abandon their gate and go to lunch regardless of how crowded the immigration area.
yep. was a big deal when IAH got the TSA to staff according to demand not just “Oh, we’ve only got 3 people for the entry scans at 6am, but we’ll have 3 more at 9…”
fucking parasites.
n
When I arrived in Norway I went to a store that sell phones and service and got a SIM card that would work in Norway. $12.50 for 14 days, unlimited talk and text, 250 MB of data. Enough for my needs. Worked well. But I needed to call the states and that was expensive.
Google Hangouts Voice Dialer won’t let you send/receive calls from the US number associated with your Google account if you are on an overseas IP address?
I know the day is coming when the Hangouts Voice Dialer freebie ends.
Next, we will be upgrading our 32 bit FreeBSD 7.3 to 64 bit FreeBSD 10.3 so that we can turn on IPv6.
FreeBSD also has Grand Central Dispatch IIRC. That could be fun on an octocore Xeon.
Google Hangouts Voice Dialer won’t let you send/receive calls from the US number associated with your Google account if you are on an overseas IP address?
I don’t know as I don’t use that service.
FINALLY found the win xp security patch. It’s not an update, it’s an executable.
Applied fine, and seems to have left everything alone.
n
on the other hand, I’ve got a win7 pro machine that has been spinning on ‘looking for updates’ for over an hour. It was last updated about a year ago, so it will need a bunch but WTF? Somethin gmust have hung.
n
Are you saying that only one of this group had reported a crime to the police near the time it allegedly occurred and that the police at the time decided not to arrest Cosby? If so, they apparently at the time found no evidence of a crime and did not consider the witness testimony credible. So why would a DA choose to pursue this so long after the supposed crime unless new evidence had been discovered? Is that the case?
Apparently it was referred to the DA at the time and they declined to prosecute. Why? Maybe the evidence was shaky. Perhaps they didn’t want to take on a high profile case against a famous and well-liked defendant with lots of money.
The current DA brought the case to honor a campaign pledge. The new evidence that tipped it may have been Cosby’s own deposition in the civil case in which he admitted to giving her Quaaludes to get her to have relations with him.
Same here. A week or two ago I tried to apply updates for my one lonely Windows computer, a Win7 Pro or Enterprise or something machine, for the first time in a year or thereabouts. “Update” sat and spun and didn’t download even a byte in about 48 hours before I said to hell with it.
Most likely one of the old updates has been moved but the list not updated, or some such. Sometime I’ll try selectively downloading a few. If I do that, and have any success, and remember to tell you, I’ll let you know the results.
RIP Stephen Furst. Diabetes at 63. Damn.
I’ve seen that Winblows update chit before a few times; I don’t bother with it anymore; we’re down to one Winblows box here and it’s only used for TurboTax and iPhone ITunes backups and moving pics and vids over. Disconnected from net and shut down the rest of the time.
WRT Furst; goes to show we can be taken out any minute of any day from something or other.
My likely demise will probably be cancer, senility or gunshot, or any combination thereof, based on my exciting family history. The likelihood of gunshot goes up by the week in this country now, I guess.
Prediction: if the lefty bastards, commies, libturds, Deep State and MSM manage somehow to take tRump out, by whatever method, there will be a major and bloody backlash. Escalating to where the Fed gummint just shuts down. Then the real sportiness will begin. Stay tuned, sportsfans and watch yer six.
Working on the ham licenses and FFLs now, head down, next several weeks. Also our Fed and state taxes. Exciting times!
Next, we will be upgrading our 32 bit FreeBSD 7.3 to 64 bit FreeBSD 10.3 so that we can turn on IPv6.
I was wrong, they also installed 64 bit FreeBSD 10.3 on the new hardware. Things are going well, all my server side apps are running well. I did not even have to recompile my C++ server side apps yet.
My likely demise will probably be cancer, senility or gunshot, or any combination thereof, based on my exciting family history.
Why don’t we go out in a blaze of glory strafing Mordor?
always an option for later…
n
Had the pleasure of finishing “The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047” an economic collapse dystopia.
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver-ebook/dp/B01824RDKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497680198&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mandibles
A well done character study of 1 extended family’s travails when money goes to shite.
Had the pleasure of finishing “The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047” an economic collapse dystopia.
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver-ebook/dp/B01824RDKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497680198&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mandibles
A well done character study of 1 extended family’s travails when money goes to shite.
President Chelsea Clinton says it all to me for the future of our country. Ugh. Shudder. Barf.
Another financial apocalypse story that you might like is:
“Buck Out” by Ken Benton
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1514666979/
“… they also installed 64 bit FreeBSD 10.3 on the new hardware….”
I have OpenBSD running on a HP Workstation 18″ laptop. I forget what version it is; it’s up in the attic doing the bake-in test right now with several other machines.
“Why don’t we go out in a blaze of glory strafing Mordor?”
I can’t think of a better way to go out, so long as we’re strafing the right targets.
“A well done character study of 1 extended family’s travails when money goes to shite.”
2029-2047?? I’m thinking more like 2019-2027.
My thoughts, exactly:
https://twitter.com/unsavoryagents/status/875892131289743360
Debian 9 “Stretch” released:
https://www.debian.org/News/2017/20170617
Excellent!
I have noticed recently that some people I read online and respect for other views and opinions are big on Debian; can anyone clue me on what makes it special, if anything? i.e., Debian as the main o.s. on one’s machine, that is, not a derivative of it.
Debian is for Stallman devotees. It comes without any software that doesn’t meet FSF/GPL standards.
So crippled and only partially usable for everyday tasks…
What RBT and nick say is correct. Debian by default has and gets only Free-with-a-capital-F software. For Joe User, this is about useless for what he wants to do on his laptop. For servers it’s great because you can be sure there won’t be any packages which stop working after a 90-day free trial or which disappear after an update because the owner decided to change the license or just pull the package.
Debian is the foundation of many user-targeted distros, the best known of which is Ubuntu. These compromise on the Free for the sake of usability and sometimes for convenience.
Got it; thanks, guys. Don’t need to spend extra time fiddling with that, either.
We gotta have toolz that just work!
As @OFD says: “We gotta have toolz that just work!”
That’s why I’ll stick with Basic and macros, most of which I wrote way back at the beginning of time and they still do what I want today.
10 Print “Hello World”,
20 goto 10
LONG time since I used basic
n
One of our fun games was to go to Radio Shack, and write a quick Hello World one each of the TRS-80s and leave it running…..
n
(‘course it might not be as innocuous as “Hello World”.)
“Debian; can anyone clue me on what makes it special, if anything?”
1. No one owns it. There is no headquarters. No commercial company. One thousand developers works on it respecting the Debian Constitution and the rules they voted on.
2. It’s the biggest distribution. They called it “the universal operating system”. It packs over 51,000 packages containing applications from all domains. Officially, it supports 10 computer architectures making it run on almost all hardware.
3. It’s very stable. It’s has a very powerful package manager (APT) that sorts out all the dependencies, and performs the updates.
4. It’s very secure.
“http://remsset.com/pasta/Tubular%20Pasta.htm”
Ah… missed that. Thank you. Since I blatantly copied it from a site that is now gone, I think I’ll leave it alone. Webstats show some incoming traffic… no need to break the links.
I think I’ll add a link at the top of the pages to my home page.
“Debian is for Stallman devotees. It comes without any software that doesn’t meet FSF/GPL standards.”
Not quite true. From https://www.debian.org/distrib/packages :
“So crippled and only partially usable for everyday tasks…”
Of course, I disagree. “So crippled?” Yes, Debian requires you to install the applications you need. There are so many for each task, and you have to choose. If you want to use Debian in a Microsoft world, ok, it’s only partially usable, but it might be much usable than you think.
I never used Ubuntu, but from what I understand about it, Ubuntu is not that different from Debian, and could not exist without it (being based on Debian). So Debian can do what Ubuntu does.
“…Debian requires you to install the applications you need. There are so many for each task, and you have to choose…”
This is pretty much true for any operating system, anyway. But yeah, I get your drift and also the drift of others who kinda dissed it earlier. I just don’t have the time to mess with more arcana; I just want my stuff to work, whether it’s a reciprocating saw, a CZ pistol, or a laptop. If I’m going for security, I already know what to do and how to do it, and which operating systems and apps are good for that. I’m setting up a home-based business now and will be running it mainly on CentOS 7.3 and Fedora Design.
And I’m just saying that Debian works. Of course it does! It’s one of the oldest distributions, and I’ll bet it will be the last to die.
Last March or so, meaning March 2016, I called DirecTV and got my rate down to about $90 a month. All that has expired. This month’s bill it $143.
Uh, no. Not paying that for something we don’t use beyond the morning news on 36 or 24 for the weather and maybe a couple of times a week for Wheel of Fortune in the evening. And Antiques Roadshow on Monday.
If your account is suspended for non-payment you get a “minimum service package” which is your local channels and 23 more channels. No, you can’t buy this package.
What’s really really pissing me off is that last May (2016) my DVR was acting screwy and they replaced it. Charged me $100 for the service call too. And somehow, having their defective box replaced put me on a 2 year contract. WTF???? To replace a box that sounded like a failing hard drive chattering in a 486/66 along with a bad CPU fan squeal?
So, I’m suppose to pay the $142 on the current bill and then they will credit that back to the $120 or whatever I “owe” for what is left of the 2 year contract. Then they will send me a fricking VISA gift card for the balance.
Nah. Ain’t happening. Trash my credit score, I don’t care.
I’m done with DirecTV. And ya know what, I bought this on eBay:
NEW 18″DSS DIRECTV SONY SATELLITE SYS.W/DUAL (item #137696908). July 30, 1999. Installed it my self. And it simply worked, rain or shine, until I went to HD.
IF we even watched the tee-vee daily, it would probably be for:
PBS NewsHour (wife would probably like it and I can see what the commies are spewing for fake nooz)
Occasional other Vermont Public Television programs if they are of sufficient interest and utility for us.
Occasional old movies on TCM and USA, maybe.
And games during NFL season.
Plus we’d probably use the Roku for Netflix, the gun channels, etc.
Can’t justify the time wasted anymore; so it’s books and radios and increased meatspace locally. Other vets told me to also join the VFW, as that has a force multiplier effect with the politicians, so I’m doing that now and will show up for the monthly meetings, as with the local Legion post. Ditto the gun club, Planning Commission, and random Selectboard meetings if of sufficient import and interest. I will most likely also do the monthly local ham club meetings once I get up to speed a bit and know whereof I open my gob.
Now doing wife’s 2015 tax returns and taking breaks to study the questions on the hamstudy.org page. With other breaks looking at FFL stuff. Gotta take a further break from the pixels real soon.
My ‘net connection speed sucks for Netflix. YouTube crap stalls.
Took a break from pixels and read the local commie rag paper, and had some Angus beef chili with sharp cheddar cheese and washed it down with Dr Pepper. Can only find Moxie around this AO now in cases of cans, not the multi-liter bottles, and I don’t feel like hassling with a bunch of cans.
Now back to it…I really enjoy doing someone else’s taxes that they didn’t bother filing, although it’s partly my fault because I ASS-of-you-and-MEd it was getting done for years and that we just didn’t get any refunds. And I was drinking heavily then, too, so didn’t much care. Payback is a bitch, I guess.
I also just got email that Debian Linux 9 (Stretch) has been released and I am tempted to download it and try it out on one of the unused machines here this week. No harm, no foul, if it’s a PITA.
I haven’t turned on the tv in months except for the kids. I’ve been watching special interest content creators on youtube every night. They guys have passion, knowledge, and their video skills are pretty good. The signal to noise ratio is very high as they are focused on their hobby or job.
I’m learning and being entertained, which was the original promise of tv….
n
Going on six hours of updating to a new clean install of win7. Took hours to d/l the 950MBs of the SECOND round of updates, and now I’m on installing 164 of 186, three and a half hours into the installing part.
Fricking hate computers.
n
“Fricking hate Windows computers.”
FIFY.
Hate that LINUX computers STILL don’t fulfill their promise.
This one is for our rec association, and needs to run the cash register software, so Windows. I’d install XP and be done with it, but not secure… so dance to get win7 installed and updated.
I really don’t understand the update installer. HTF can it take this long to install anything? I’ve installed massive packages in less time. here it sits, blipping the HD every couple of seconds, then a flurry, then back to blip blip blip. I’d say it was hung but something is happening….
HTF can it take this long to install anything?
A lot of the changes involve the registry. The updating, and subsequent reading, of the registry is a single thread process. The way it is designed is OK for reading, writing and updating is slow.
Well after 8 plus hours on that one update, it still hadn’t finished, so i just stopped it. Unfortunately, it picked up from the same place when I restarted the update process, and still sits and spins…. so killed it again. I’ll wait a couple of days and try again.
n
well, seems it needed a reboot. must be stuck on a dependency. MORE rebooting, more D/L ing and more waiting….
n
more D/L ing and more waiting
I am going to ask a stupid question. Did you download the latest service pack and install that before you went through the updating process?
nope, it just started updating as soon as it found the network.
4 reboots in 10 minutes
and now d/l the remaining 21 updates.
what I think is really unforgivable, and unreasonable on MS part is to just let the install hang, when it clearly needed to reboot, install 4 packages (each needing it’s own reboot), then continue.
The complete lack of error msgs is just lazy and wrong.
thankfully, I don’t do this very often.
You’re just figuring out that Microsoft sucks in every way?
I started moving off Windows and onto Linux 20 years ago. Other than Barbara’s current notebook, upon which she insisted on running Windows until a year or so ago, we’ve had no working Windows systems in the house for 15 years or so. I keep Barbara’s original Windows hard drive from her notebook on the shelf just in case sometime I desperately need to run Windows for some reason, but as of now that’s the only Windows installation in the house. And if I did bring up Windows again, you can be sure it would be on a system that wasn’t connected to the Internet.
Yeah, well, it’s not for me.
Windows has sucked since 3.1 but it has obviously met a need or it wouldn’t still be here.
It’s been a while since I had to do the whole install/upgrade dance, and I keep thinking it MUST get better. Now that you don’t even have to pay though, I don’t see any incentive for them to change.
n
and when linux seemlessly runs the software I need, I’ll spend some time of my limited life to look at it again. That’s unlikely though, since even windows doesn’t always seemlessly run the software I need.
FWIW, I’ve looked at linux every major step of the way, from mandrake on. I’ve used it and supported display systems attached to it in a corporate environment for several years. Windows isn’t alone with buggy drivers, tools that don’t actually work, default settings that kill other software, upgrades that break everything, etc. And one thing the windows style guide did was freeze development of the UI so end users could know where to find the file and exit commands, which is no small thing.
n
21 more updates, and another reboot and this new machine is finally up to date.
now I need to get it out of here, and out of my responsibility.
n
The complete lack of error msgs is just lazy and wrong.
This lack of meaningful error messages is pervasive in almost all software. I remember with WIN 3.1 complaining about the message “Incorrect DLL Loaded” without any mention of the DLL that was incorrect. With a few thousand DLL’s finding the incorrect DLL was impossible. Mostly it was related to software that would install and load an old DLL over a newer DLL.
Or when you would get a blue screen of death on booting and the error screen would only display for a second before the system automatically rebooted again. More than once I used a video camera to video the boot loop so I could use freeze frame to catch the error code. Would it have been so difficult for the system to just stop on the error and let the user reboot?
Apple is just as bad with IOS and OS/X. No sound from a web page, a streaming service. Required a forced restart of the device. Only message was that sound was not available with no indication of why. Linux is just as bad with it’s arcane error messages. It is the software developers that fail to provide enough information when there is a problem.
I keep thinking it MUST get better
It is better with WIN10. Updates are applied automatically and reboots are done during off hours which you can define. Reboots will generally always be required on many OS updates as a new DLL or module must be loaded into memory that is currently in use, registry changes that are only accessed on reboot, etc. This goes far back as I can remember even with the big iron.
I forgot, now I’m doing all the ‘first start’ updates on the software I installed.
used ninite to install everything at once but they all have their first run nags, and update checks. better on my big pipe than the little dsl at our pool.
n
opps, on shutdown, 8 more updates to actually install, which means some to install on restart…
n
added whadda ya know, 20k update operations on startup, mostly registry updates, and then once windows starts booting, another ‘while updates are applying….”
n
three clean restarts and I’m done.
@nick, did you download the Win7 iso from the official Microsoft site?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7
This Microsoft Wiki may offer some advice:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_7-windows_install/clean-reinstall-windows-7/0ae269fd-167e-423b-94ef-26133f89e10c
There are links to some 3rd-Party stuff that I would avoid.
Sorry to not have found this earlier for you, but if you have to start over…
Yes, Windows is a PITA, but it’s the PITA I know. Linux, been there done that and IMHO it has been all promises since the beginning and nothing delivered that the average PC computer user can live with. IMHO Windows works, Linux is work.
Well, I’ve got another machine sitting here that is intended to be my security dvr so I can get it off my main pc. It is currently win7 and legal, but failed updating. I may try the rolled up update site someone posted here previously, or I may just leave it for a while.
The one I just finished is for my rec association to replace a sony viao desktop from WAY back. It mainly has to run our free POS software, and be able to access some weather and lightning tracker web pages. A seven year old pc with an out of date OS should be up to the job. A 15 yo pc has been doing it…..
On the one hand, keeping old stuff out of the landfill and running has a certain satisfaction, on the other, it really wasn’t how I hoped to spend Father’s Day, doing free tech support and supplying free computers…
I’ll log my volunteer time and get another guest pass………..
n
wrt linux, when every hardware manf out there makes their firmware installer, and config tools run on linux instead of windows, and converts their IDEs for their control and automation software to linux, and any discovery tools for their hardware, then I’ll be able to change. Until then, stuck with it.
n
(and this is from a guy who used to have a 4 OS lappy, once ran QNX and OS/2 Warp on a lappy, still has my mandrake and suse linux shrink wrap software on the shelf, etc. In other words, been there, tried to do that, keep getting spanked, ran out of patience.)
Yes, Windows is a PITA, but it’s the PITA I know. Linux, been there done that and IMHO it has been all promises since the beginning and nothing delivered that the average PC computer user can live with. IMHO Windows works, Linux is work.
BTW, Windows 7 is up to somewhere between 300 and 400 updates. That is just the natural progression of things.
And most updating problems that I have found over the years are due to hardware problems, cables and weird failures and ???. Or a dicey internet connection. Or lack of the manufacturers install CD. On and on and on. I have been known to strip machines down to the bare cases, replacing parts until I get a working system.
Sometime between last night and this am, my second rebuild machine rebooted and fixed it’s update problem. I reconnected the network, and ran updates again, and I’m up to date. This was the machine that hadn’t been updated in one year.
Freaking mystery.
n
@nick
No mystery at all. With that many updates, it takes a while. Best to just walk away and let it do it’s thing.
Patience, grasshopper.
And I am suddenly remembering that a previous update of Windows 7 did have a serious bug in it that caused the update to crash. Nope, it was Windows 8. That particular release of Windows seems to have been forged in the lower depths of Hell anyway.
https://www.lifewire.com/when-windows-update-gets-stuck-or-frozen-2624439
There was also a major bug with Windows 7 which hung the update if you installed from old media. The fix was to install Windows and manually install the latest rollup you could get, then updates would proceed. As far as my research could determine, the update website was updated and the server side was not compatible with the older version of Windows Update.
“wrt linux, when every hardware manf out there makes their firmware installer, and config tools run on linux instead of windows”
A few months ago, I purchased a new laptop: Lenovo Ideapad 510S-14ISK, with a Intel i3 CPU, Intel GPU, and Intel Wifi chip. The same configuration based on Intel chips was provided also by Dell and HP laptops but this Lenovo was the cheapest.
I’ve installed on the Lenovo laptop Debian 9 “Stretch” (still on testing then) using the non-free firmware archive ( https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/ch06s04.html.en ).
I’ve chose to install the smaller Xfce desktop manager, as opposed to the more user-friendly Gnome one. I was really pleasant surprised that every hardware component on this laptop was succesfully detected and activated. The installer would just automatically pick the right firmware needed. Very smooth. Everything just works! The same non-free firmware is used also by Windows, they are identical (if I’m not mistaken too much).
This was just an example of a laptop that was not design for Linux. There is a LOT more hardware that is supported by Linux. But one might have to use the firmware provided by the manufacturer (as Windows does), firmware that is not open source or has some restrictions, so referred as non-free in Linux world.
Well it sat and spun for over 8 hours, apparently because it needed to reboot. After the shutdown command, and subsequent installs, and reboot and subsequent installs, the previous # 168 of 184 d/l’d and installed no problem. So if it had put up an error or a dependency message, I’d have been done 8 hours earlier. And I WAITED 8 hours before giving up and restarting, because we’ve been trained that sometimes that’s what it takes….
the mystery with the other one is that I exited the update process, unplugged the network, went to bed, and in the am found it restarted and finished with the updates it told me (red bar, unable to update msg) it couldn’t do, done. Mystery!
@eugen, my complaint was that I am often in the field supporting industrial machines and all of the manufacturer’s tools are written for windows. Pretty much every piece of gear I install has an updater or a config tool that runs on windows. The IDEs for Crestron, and AMX, and third party control systems all run on windows exclusively
My problem is using the lappy to run those tools, not getting parts of the lappy itself to run properly. Although, my experience with linux hardware detection, drivers, and configuration has been bad too. Something that works perfectly while the installer is running will not work after the install is finished and handed off to the installed OS. That is crazy as the installer found a driver that works, why not use that one for the OS?
If I only used my pc at home for a limited number of tasks I could probably get a linux box set up with equivalent programs for most things. But I use Sketchup, MS Visio, a proprietary tool based on Autocad, and another based on Visio, for electrical and architectural drawings and schematics. Granted I no longer do that every day, but I would still like to be able to as the money was very good. In the field, as I said, I need to be able to run tools provided by equipment manufacturers to interface with their products. ALL those tools run on windows. Since I use any one tool very infrequently, getting it to run on Crossover or Wine would take more time than it is worth, especially since most use either a comm or virtual comm port, often thru a usb to serial adapter. one of the reasons I use my Panasonic Toughbook, even though it’s old hardware, is that it has real hardware ports, which simplifies alot of things.
Anyway, if I was messing with computers as a hobby, like I used to many years ago, or someone was paying me to solve pc issues, I’d put some time and effort into switching. Nowadays, I just want stuff to work, without effort or learning new stuff. I have other hobbies than keeping up with pc’s now, or fighting to make them work.
nick
Roger that, Mr. Nick. I agree, although I’m not in that field. This stuff should just work by now and it sure as hell doesn’t, although I keep hearing the Win10 guys cheering it; I ain’t goin’ down dat path, ever.
It appears that the system formerly running Linux Mint 18 as our main desktop has crapped out somehow; now it won’t even boot to the Grub prompt. The hell with it; I’ll load Mint 18.1 on the former RHEL box, since I won’t be messing with RH again for pay, apparently. Shame, really. A worse shame is having no work anymore with OpenVMS. So be it.
Ok Nick, now I understand better what you meant before. In fact, I disapprove so much that vendor lock-in model of business of Microsoft, that I’ve stubbornly chose only jobs where I would develop software in the Java language. Beside been a powerful one, it’s also OS independent.
develop software in the Java language
I have removed Java from all machines under my control. Too many security holes. I have found no useful software that requires Java and if the software does require Java I find an alternative.
Had the pleasure of finishing “The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047” an economic collapse dystopia.
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver-ebook/dp/B01824RDKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497680198&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mandibles
A well done character study of 1 extended family’s travails when money goes to shite.
Reading the four star comments brought up this little gem, changing Medicaid so that people in the Medicaid system must get all of their support from immediate family before the feddies / states kick in a single dollar. This would have a profound change upon Texas, reputedly the worst Medicaid supplier in the USA. Medicaid is the state’s second largest expense, around $30 billion per year, 30% of the state budget.
I may read this book despite President Chelsea Clinton (hawk ! spit ! barf !).
“I have removed Java from all machines under my control. Too many security holes.”
@Ray,
You’re probably referring here to the Java applet plugin security issues. You could have just disabled that plugin or removed it. However, Java applets security has improved a lot, but it’s too late now. Sandboxing untrusting applets and controlling trusted ones proved to be much more difficult than expected, I guess.
” I have found no useful software that requires Java and if the software does require Java I find an alternative.”
Microsoft put a lot of effort in destroying Java. This hostility from a popular OS resulted in fewer common user desktop Java application.
On the server side, Java is probably the most important development platform.
You’re probably referring here to the Java applet plugin security issues
No, I am talking about Java, not the browser plugin. Java has way too many security holes and Sun has very little incentive to plug the holes. Java is one of those items that I avoid with a passion. Javascript is OK, Java is not.
Microsoft put a lot of effort in destroying Java
No, Java and Sun Microsystems, put a lot of effort into destroying Java. Security experts almost universally recommend that Java be removed from all systems.
I have removed Java from all machines under my control. Too many security holes. I have found no useful software that requires Java and if the software does require Java I find an alternative.
I dislike all garbage collected languages. They tend to have weird problems when running out of memory. And the garbage collection panic event always seems to happen at the worst time for 10 to 30 seconds while the user is sitting there going, “the crappy software is locked up again !”.
Java Applets and Java Web Start are technologies that allow running on your computer of foreign Java code found on Internet. They need assistance of a web browser. Java promises to sandbox that foreign code and prevent harm from it IF the user chooses so, or to threat the code like any local application and run it without restrictions. To do that, the Java libraries are filled with security checks that protect sensitive functionality (like working with files). There are a lot of checks, and they must be properly considered everytime the libraries are changed and new functionality added. So this “promise to sandbox” proved to be a really PITA and vastly responsible for the security holes. Disabling/removing the Java browser plugin or run only applets you could trust, prevents a lot of these security risks.
Otherwise, when running Java applications locally as any other desktop application, normally no overhead restrictions are imposed by the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) – the application is implicitly trusted.
Java promises to sandbox that foreign code and prevent harm
http://fortune.com/2016/10/18/java-software-security-veracode
Do a google search for Java security issues. The web is full of pages of problems with Java. Best course of action is to simply remove java from the system and avoid any applications that require java.
Agreed. Java installed on a system is a disaster waiting to happen.
Sorry, but there is a lot of bullshit in that Veracode article. All those “Java components” are not Java standard libraries, but third party libraries. You can not blame Java for their vulnerabilities! Is like blaming C language and C standard libraries for the Heartbleed issue.
Even if an application uses a “vulnerable” “Java component” that doesn’t make that application hackable. More conditions are needed. The article fails to provide a single real example of a breach!
And google results for Java security issues are mostly referring to the sandbox capability and many people confuses that capability with all that is about Java.
Just give a notable example of a Java vulnerability (not related to the Java applet plugin) that was succesfully exploited.
Java is used a lot in building complex critical enterprise software systems and there is a good reason for that.
Just give a notable example of a Java vulnerability
OK.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2029741/another-java-flaw-exploited-security-researchers-warn.html
Does not take much to find a java vulnerability that has not been exploited. I would not trust any java application unless it was used in a device that no connection to the network or any other device.
Just like Adobe Flash, get Java off your system, now.
@Ray
FTA: “We observed successful exploitation against browsers that have Java v1.6 Update 41 and Java v1.7 Update 15 installed,”
Your comment also: “Does not take much to find a java vulnerability that has not been exploited.”
I have asked for one that is not related to the sandbox capability (i.e. Java applets plugin). Currently even that is quite secured and protection against further potential security holes is very simple: load only Java applets you have reason to trust (cryptographically signed, trusted website) or just disable/remove the plugin, not the entire Java Runtime Environment.
The sandbox capability is NOT used when running local Java application, so its (past) sandbox security issues are not at all relevant in this case. Java is much more than running applets, and it’s very secure in running local application, as it checks every memory access against buffer overflows preventing a huge class of security holes found in applications written in other languages – like C (Heartbleed happened because of failure to check for a buffer overflow).
Lot of normal client and server-side Java applications connects to the Internet, and I’ve NEVER heard of a successful exploitation due to a vulnerability found in the Java Runtime Environment.