It was 35 degrees, cloudy, and breezy when I took Colin out at 7:45.
Bob was not as alert yesterday morning as he was the day before but that is to be expected. While I was there, his lung doctor and the nurse had to replace one of his chest tubes that had worked loose. He did interact with me and the nurse some. The lung issues continue to be a problem. I was able to talk with both his lung and heart doctor while I was there. Otherwise,things are about the same.
Him being interactive at all is an improvement, despite the other issues. Just keep chipping away at it, and keep the faith…
nick
(and keep updating Bob, as he might not remember much from day to day and I’m sure all the activity is bothersome…)
For an update from FEMA on the Cali fires — https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFEMA/2017/12/21/file_attachments/933681/FEMA%2BDaily%2BOps%2BBriefing%2B12-21-2017.pdf
Still burning, still under evac, still have boil water advisory.
n
Traveling later today back to Houston. Might hit some rain and t storms on arrival. Hoping for a calm flight.
windows10 “creator” update hosed some things very suspiciously. More later on MS perfidy and pettiness.
@nick: This is just one of many problems:
https://www.askwoody.com/2017/microsoft-confirms-bugs-in-this-months-win10-1709-cumulative-update/
Malice? Incompetence?
I know: both!
Surely the headline for this – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-42435613 – should be ‘Bus destroyed by incompetent driver’ rather than blaming the inanimate object that was just sat there doing its thing?
In other news, I gave a client the finger today. He made the schoolboy error of sending me what on the face of it was a pleasant email, sadly (for him) not realising he’d included a thread of previous conversations *about* me with a third party (who knows nothing about me, nor I him) in which said third party wrote some things he really shouldn’t have. Oh well, that’s the client list a fucktard short and I couldn’t care less. It’s good for the soul to get rid of asshole clients every once in a while.
Thank you for the continued updates Barbara – looks like you’re gunna need to operate the anti-Santa solo this year, please be careful we don’t need to hear about anyone else under medical care…
windows10 “creator” update hosed some things very suspiciously. More later on MS perfidy and pettiness.
When I attempted to uninstall the Creator Edition’s Linux subsystem, Docker stopped working on my Windows 10 laptop. The only way I was able to get Docker working again was to clean install the OS.
Fortunately, my Windows 10 laptop is only for experimentation. The machine used to be my system for school, but it mostly sits Idle since graduation.
“iPhone performance and battery age”
http://www.osnews.com/story/30136/iPhone_performance_and_battery_age
“Evidence seems to be mounting that Apple is decreasing the clock speed of iPhones with decreased battery capacity to maintain the advertised battery life.”
This is not the sign of an ethical company.
Fortunately, my Windows 10 laptop is only for experimentation. The machine used to be my system for school, but it mostly sits Idle since graduation.
I ran several of the Windows 10 x64 betas for a while on my office desktop. My judgement then was too many changes for me from Windows 7 x64. But, several of my customers are now running Windows 10 so I am thinking about moving on to it again. But not the entire shop.
Sitting at airport. Wrt creator, I’d installed the old win 7 solitaire games for my dad. He hated the visual assault and ads in the win 10 version, but worse, they screwed up the random number generator and every time he restarted the program, it played the same decks. Old games worked great, super fast.
Update broke the games with some sort of multi language framework. Lots of Google hits for the same problem. Suspicious.
Nick
Boarding my flight.
N
“Evidence seems to be mounting that Apple is decreasing the clock speed of iPhones with decreased battery capacity to maintain the advertised battery life.”
Further reading (I did some bouncing around) indicates that the problem was the phones shutting down when the demand on the battery spiked – causing the battery to brown-out (not enough juice available) and shutting the phone off. Apple detects the capacity / status of the battery and reduces clock speed to prevent the spikes high enough to shut the phone down.
The slowdown is not intended to drive folks to new phones. Rather, it is intended to allow older phones to continue to function. As I understand it, replacing the battery brings performance back to “new”.
I would not call that unethical. I would call that smart. A phone that is slower than it was is infinitely better than a phone that simply shuts down when demand spikes.
I JUST installed the Windows 7 version of solitaire & minesweeper. MS decided that making me sit through a video ad before playing a game was acceptable.
They were wrong.
Winaero.com has a great installed for the old games.
N
I ran several of the Windows 10 x64 betas for a while on my office desktop. My judgement then was too many changes for me from Windows 7 x64. But, several of my customers are now running Windows 10 so I am thinking about moving on to it again. But not the entire shop.
I triple boot Linux, Windows 7 and Windows 10 on my primary desktop, a Q6600. I spend most of my time in Windows 7 but keep the Windows 10 partition up to date.
The dilemma your customers probably face is that Intel has stated publicly that they will not officially support running older versions of Windows on their latest processors moving forward. The machine may boot, but performance will suffer due to lack of optimized drivers.
Interestingly, as part of a Christmas sale, I just saw Lenovo move a boatload of Kaby Lake T570 laptops pre-installed with Windows 7 via downgrade rights. Those will be “Good Enough” machines for many years with decent sized screens, support for 32 GB RAM and 3 GHz i5 CPUs.
I would much rather have long battery life than having to endure waiting 0.10 of a second for Snapchat to open. Working is better than fast in this case. Apple did the right thing in this case. But Apple cannot win as someone will make this into a big deal. Perhaps Apple should provide an option in IOS for Balls to the Walls mode which ignores battery status.
But Apple cannot win as someone will make this into a big deal.
I’ve seen a lot more “Apple has lost its mojo” stories lately. The TSLA shareholders are hungry for that AAPL cash bailout.
The slowdown is not intended to drive folks to new phones. Rather, it is intended to allow older phones to continue to function. As I understand it, replacing the battery brings performance back to “new”.
Apple should have notified people that they need a new battery while slowing down the cpu. Just slowing down the cpu without notice is being “big brother”.
The decision to run the processor slower as the battery ages is a valid one. However it also makes a strong case for a user replaceable battery. Makes me think that the lack of a user replaceable battery is planned obsolescence. This from a guy who bought his first cell phone without a user replaceable battery today.
I would love to have a replaceable battery in my phone. On the other hand, I can now take my phone out in the rain with me when I run without a stupid plastic bag.
It’s a tough sell either way. Make the phone bigger & less “tight” for a replaceable battery, with the liability risks there? Or make the phone smaller and waterproof?
Tell users that you’re slowing their phone down as the batteries age to keep them running? Then risk complaints of defective batteries (because they’re not good enough to last two years). It’s not a win-win for Apple either way.
n.b. – I’m using a Galaxy Note 8, so I have no dog in this fight, and I went through the Explodey Note 7 debacle as well. I can see many sides, and none of them are easy.
I would love to have a replaceable battery in my phone. On the other hand, I can now take my phone out in the rain with me when I run without a stupid plastic bag.
Huh, my Galaxy S5 is reputedly water proof to 6 ft when you put the plug in the USB port. And it has a replaceable battery.
I no longer have the USB port plug. It broke finally and I cut it off. So, I am no longer reputedly waterproof.
@Greg, here you go, “Magic Leap Finally Unveils a Mixed Reality Headset”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/358073/magic-leap-finally-unveils-a-mixed-reality-headset
Looks complicated. And I wonder what all of these VR headsets do for old folks like me with progressive glasses ?
The CPU in my Surface slows down when it gets close to exceeding the heat limits. The system will go into low power mode, shutting off some components, slowing the CPU, to conserve power to extend battery life.
One of the metrics on which portable devices are measured is battery life. Enough to last at least a day. Batteries have a finite life span, X number of charge and discharge cycles, regardless of who makes the batteries.
The slow down is probably only with games and other such applications such as streaming that really don’t need to be running all day on the battery. Phone calls, text messages, perhaps some web browsing. I would much rather the important tasks work before I would be concerned about a slow down.
Had Apple not done the slow down people would have been pitching a fit about battery life. Apple found a way to increase the time a device can run on a battery. Now people are pissed.
And for the record iPhone batteries are replaceable, just not user replaceable. The people that are bitching the most probably have a broken screen they refuse to repair, batteries that beyond their useful life which they refuse to replace. It is easier to bitch than take of your device.
@Greg, here you go, “Magic Leap Finally Unveils a Mixed Reality Headset”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/358073/magic-leap-finally-unveils-a-mixed-reality-headset
Looks complicated. And I wonder what all of these VR headsets do for old folks like me with progressive glasses ?
Go find the Rolling Stone paid propaganda piece on Magic Leap that hit the web this week and stirred up the echo chamber. Apparently, the engineers are planning to accommodate prescription lenses in the headsets.
I stand by my previous predictions — This time next year the Magic Leap HQ complex will either be vacant or the site of Amazon HQ2. That old Motorola building in Sunrise (essentially West Fort Lauderdale) has a long history of being a boondoggle.
Home safe, need to get the kids to bed.
n
A headline from the Washington Post (one of America’s most widely read newspapers) about 5 hours ago: “One million people have caught cholera in Yemen. You should be outraged.”
*I* should be outraged because the Yemeni people can’t keep their water clean?
In the words of Steve Martin, “Well, EXCUSE Me!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak
That was what, 163 years ago, and *I* should be outraged? How the h3ll am I responsible? I dare not read it, lest American “imperialism” be involved, as I’m sure it will be.
I wish OFD were around, because the constant rewriting of history is fascinating. I’m sure the Greeks and Romans did it too and he’d know about it.
I’ve been fascinated by the current transformation of British “colonialism” of the East Indies — India in particular, from a civilising force into a brutal subjugation of a continent.
Would that Africa were so lucky.
@Greg, here you go, “Magic Leap Finally Unveils a Mixed Reality Headset”
The picture at the top of the PC Magazine article looks Photoshop-ed to me.
Yes, but they rewrote history to make themselves look better. The alleged first world cultures of Western Europe and North America are the only examples I know of in which the intellectual luminaries spare no effort in rewriting history to make their nations look worse.
I know the Roman emperors would have had such traitors put to death. Probably by torture. We may wish to emulate the Romans in that respect.
And so much news- immigrant vehicle attack in australia, Papa John’s founder ousted after making NFL comments, the report of the NYC surgeon found dead in his apt makes a lot more sense if you know “Surgeon who exposed Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti found dead in apartment with stab wound to the chest
Predominant doctor who exposed the non-existence of Clinton Foundation-promised medical care in Haiti found dead with knife in chest”.
Train derailment, missing LV cop, and a lot more screeching from the left… oh my.
n
The Apple thing is fun. So… let the OS run normally or patch the OS…. Uh, the batteries are good for what? 500 full charges? But you can’t run a full day on a charge? Which is just in range of being a warranty repair.
I’m staying with phones that let me replace the battery. I replaced the battery in my Galaxy S2. I’ve bought a battery for a friend’s Blackberry. $10 for a battery or $porno for a new phone?
I sent a card to “Mr and Mrs OFD @Hobbit House” today. Yeah, I know. It’s Thursday. I thought it was Wednesday. I was tactful enough to not address it to Mr and Mrs and Princess. This time.
Baby cow dinna make it. We had a few days of cold and rain. I think he caught a bad chill, curled up for the night and that was it. Cute as a bug, he was. Missy, as much as she was wanting to be a Momma Dog and sniff its butt, is out of sorts. She’s better today. Momma Cow is sorta in a fog, like cows seem to be, and dripping milk all over the place. Life goes on.
*I* should be outraged because the Yemeni people can’t keep their water clean? No. No outrage here. Not a bit.
Sorry to hear about your calf. That sucks.
And so much news- immigrant vehicle attack in australia, …
And English acquires another word: bollardization.
And so much news- immigrant vehicle attack in australia, …
No.. no.. no.. this was not an attack, the poor chap was not well. He has a history of mental illness, violence and drug abuse. According to police. We are suppose to feel sorry for him.
“police went from arresting the suspect to caring for him, checking his pulse, before he was taken to hospital to receive medical treatment.”
We are totally screwed.. 🙁
Thank you for the update Barbara…
We are all thinking of you and RBT..
I think Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the rest should outsource their water treatment infrastructure to Yemen.
Dunno if he’s a terrorist or a loon yet…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-22/flinders-street-suspect-saeed-noori-in-police-custody/9283150?WT.ac=statenews_vic
@paul, sorry to hear about your calf. Winter is a tough time for a calf. Can the cow be milked? If she can it would be a good idea as she is susceptible to becoming milk bound and coming down with mastitis. The milking will also help her handle the loss of her calf better.
Paul, awww, sorry to hear of you calf’s (calve’s?) death. Ever morbid, I wonder if it could be considered veal? I have a Victorian cookbook, _Mrs Beeton’s All About Cookery_, 1890, from which I make traditional plum pudding every year. You would not believe how much they loved veal.
In re my rant, SteveF makes a good point. Freud would say self-immolation is anger directed inward and I tend to agree. We, the last of the American Baby Boomers, saw the greatest per capita wealth and standard of living in the history of the human race and I think succeeding generations resent that without understanding what lead to it. That might also explain why America is disliked so much.
I suppose she could be milked if I had a way to restrain her and if I actually knew how to milk a cow. She’s friendly enough to beg for cubes and get patted on the head and ears scritched but I’m not risking a kick in the head to find how she feels about having her boobies fondled.
We had goats when I was in High School and I learned how to milk them. Great Fun at FIVE AM to be tramping around doing that before the almost 2 hour ride on the school bus. For some reason Dad decided to get rid of the four goats and get a cow…. that kicked him at least twice a week… whose calf was sold when it weened. Milking a cow is not like milking a goat. I never got the hang of it.
Veal. He wasn’t big enough to have more than about four boneless chicken breasts worth. If that. About 25 lbs. 40 max. Hard to say. … critters sure get heavy when the air goes out. I suppose that’s where the phrase “dead weight” originates.
Anyway, from what I remember from school, he wasn’t old or large enough to be veal.
Schwartzer was under the deck, I got him onto a feed sack and pulled him out. Picked his ass up and carried him into the house. The next day after he died, I could hardly lift him. Somehow a fat old 50 lb. dog suddenly weighed 80 lb. minimum.
Yesterday’s weather was great, sunny and 78F. Today’s weather has been a treat. /sarc It was 68F at 7:30 and dark. I fed the cats, checked the chickens, came inside to dispose of processed coffee and in that 15 minutes the temp had dropped to 57F. No wind… it felt like the cold air flowing across your feet when you open the fridge. The wind picked up half an hour later and it rained a bit. It’s now a dank 37F. But, /yesterday/ was the shortest day of the year and now the Day Star returns. 🙂
And, Merry Christmas! Get Well Soon RBT and Ol’ Fart Dave. 🙂