63F with 98%RH and overcast today. We’re on the edge of a front and will either get rain or not.
Seems that Germany has finally acknowledged that there are in fact “No Go” zones in Germany, joining Sweden in the Blindingly Obvious Olympics.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-27/merkel-finally-acknowledges-german-no-go-zones-vows-eliminate
To deny reality is a lefty and progressive trait, but eventually reality intrudes. FFS, CHICAGO has no-go zones for ordinary people, and certainly USED to have them for cops. Most of our worst cities have areas the police will only enter in pair or in force. To think that Euro cities, who’ve imported millions of lawless immigrants from primitive tribal cultures DON’T is pure fantasy.
The question now is, are they realizing their mistake, or is the plan just advancing to the next phase. I suppose it depends on how cynical one is, how one answers that question.
In news closer to home, more ridiculous and dishonorable info is coming out of Coward County Fla. This may be the event that drives a change in doctrine across the country. I hope so. In every other industry we learn from disasters and apply the lessons paid for with blood to prevent and minimize future disaster. Let that be true of this one.
nick
The question about the no-go zones is whether the behavior is cultural & can be trained out, or biological, and must be bred out. I know that I would _prefer_ the former, but I fear the latter. I know that Anglo-Saxon heritage indicates that the group tends to take so much, then responds vigorously.
In other nooz – 42º & sunny today. I anticipate a good run at lunchtime & we’ll be working on wheels & axles for the pinewood derby this weekend. I finally got my block of wood. I’m going to hollow it out, plant some weight at the rear, and paint it a rust-colored primer. Community side of racing is almost as much fun as watching the kids do theirs.
Don’t forget the powdered graphite lube on the wheels and axels….
n
And you gotta have a ‘go fast’ stripe!
Lube I have. Gonna have to free-hand the stripe. Thanks for the reminder…
Ha, ha. President tRump says he’s in for 2020
tRump 2020! “A Liberal in every pot!”
H/T Drudge
“A chicken in every pot…”
Most don’t know, and few remember, that at the time this promise was made, chicken was an expensive luxury good.
n
apropos of nothing, but there it is….
Situational awareness.
Was in the ER last night. I’m ok, more of a panic on my part. Anyways, the ER at midnight is not a safe place. Even with the metal detector and “security”. One of the security officers asked a guy sitting next to me what his name was. He didn’t say a word, just stood up and stared at the tv. She asked him again, and he just held up a finger in the wait-a-minute gesture. He then walked away and went to the bathroom. I was watching his hands the whole time, as they were in and around his pockets most of the time…The guy finally ended up leaving. Definitely wasn’t right in the head. It was also pretty amazing watching how the staff and security coddled him. He should have just been escorted out. But they kept calling him sir, being respectful, etc. And I get thinly veiled scowls when I politely ask a question…
Another ER note. If you aren’t dying, like immediately, they don’t care. At all. I understand that they generally deal with the worst of the worst. But you would expect simple civility. Damn nurses don’t even want to answer questions. Luckily, I don’t have any reservations on insisting they provide the information I need to know.
And the ER will charge you a substantial amount for their abuse. Especially the doctors who see you for maybe 5 minutes and send a bill for over $1,000.00. Out of network of course so you get stuck with the full amount.
In the news you probably aren’t seeing–
American Samoa has asked for a disaster declaration. If you recall, they were hit by a TS – Gita – which caused significant damage.
Also, there was a big earthquake out in the ocean…
Closer to home, the midwest is flooding. There is significant flooding in the Lower Mississippi to Tennessee/Ohio valleys according to my FEMA brief.
Some readers might be interested in reviewing some of the info available at this site–
“SchoolSafetyInfo.org resources for safer kids”
SchoolSafetyInfo.org provides a clearinghouse of information on a variety of
school safety problems and initiatives, including but not limited to acts of violence.
Resources provided come from a variety of sources including federal and SLTT
governments, universities, professional organizations and the private sector.
Directed toward public safety officials and school administrators, the site provides:
= Lessons learned and success stories from other schools and jurisdictions.
=A library of publications, research and other resources.
=Community resources to help schools remain safe.
=Proactive strategies administrators and law enforcement can utilize.
=A calendar of related meetings, conferences and other events nationwide.
This website can be another tool for keeping communities safe. The site is provided
by the Justice Technology Information Center, part of the United States Department
of Justice.”
NB- you can drill down thru the resources linked on there to some really interesting things….
n
I tried to contact rij@earthlink.net which is the email address for the Literacy Connection (the copyrighted reading program) that was sold by Jerry Pournelle’s wife, Roberta. I got a User Account unavailable error message. The related fax number is no longer in service. There is a street address “The Literacy Connection, Suite 710, 4804 Laurel Canyon Blvd, Valley Village, CA 91607” which may have been Jerry’s home address.
Have we lost that software program with Jerry’s passing?
What are we doing to keep Robert’s Science Kits available? Any thoughts to finding someone to make up his kits?
I sure would hate to have them become unavailable and the courses almost useless because the lab materials are not available.
Merkel and the left are complaining about preference for Germans in food aid…
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43210596
And in a completely unrelated, non-political,non-current events theme….
I had a thought. (Smell the smoke?) While reading an article in the newest issue of QST (the ham radio magazine) about the rise of kit built ham radios, some things occurred to me.
Suppose tech advances in leaps and bounds, rather than slowly drip drip drip, and those leaps are often first identified, and helped along by hobbyists.
Consider that after WWI the newest tech was radio and a number of people became interested in learning about radio and wireless, leading to the rise of ham radio as a hobby, supported by manufacturing, cultural elements, until it became widespread and ubiquitous. Many people I talk to don’t even understand that WiFi or cell phones are radio it is so ubiquitous.
Consider that personal computing started with hobbyists, tinkerers, and initially was marketed and thrived in that community until it became widespread and ubiquitous. My kids have never known a world without ubiquitous computing. It’s just there.
Consider subsets of those things that also had similar development patterns like desktop publishing, the WWW, cell phones.
Consider that those developments considerably changed the world and society.
Now, what is the NEXT major change to arise from the hobbyist/ early adopter? Is it decentralized commerce? Personal manufacturing? Micro-industrialization? Decentralized banking/financing? Health hacking? Desktop bio-hacking?
What is going on right now that will be the next ‘leap’ for the world and society?
nick
@Bob Sprowl – wrt the literacy program, one of the folk here, RickH, has ported it to modern code, and had an agreement to continue its sale and development, but he reported here recently that Jerry’s estate hasn’t been responsive about how to proceed.
WRT the homescientist kit business, Barbara has reported here that she’s working with someone currently to buy and continue the business, as she is unable to do so.
It would be a great shame to lose either of those resources, but people are working to prevent that 🙂
nick
Interesting thoughts, Nick. The rise of these “hobby” technologies also was due to the availability at reasonable cost of specialized parts. Tubes for ham radio and ICs for computers.
My feeling is that the new specialized parts are 3D printers. I have a real feeling that hobbyists with 3D printing gear will change just about everything.
@miles, did you notice this line?
” he said it was all about fairness, because large numbers of elderly women and single mothers had stopped coming to Essener Tafel.”
I’m betting it was because they didn’t feel safe…
But hey, I’m sure it will all work out for the best, after all, those new germans have nothing but love in their hearts, and willingness to work hard in support of their aging benefactors…
n
“The rise of these “hobby” technologies also was due to the availability at reasonable cost of specialized parts. ”
This may be the critical thing for developments that involve physical stuff. The surpluses were often the result of wartime development and subsequent dumping of no longer needed supplies.
With the defense department pushing the development and deployment of 3d printers into the logistics chain, after the war will we see thousands of very capable and cheap printers dumped onto the civilian market ready to be taken up and put to use by today’s hobbyists?
Or will we see something rise from the current high level of cheap surplus medical and bio research gear that is available? In my auctions I see every sort of possible bio gear from dna sequencers and chromatagraphs, to normal lab gear, to high power lasers, going for 10s of dollars to 10s of thousands, but most way way down in the ‘pennies on the dollar’ range of new. Some of the more specialized stuff goes for less than scrap value because the market for reuse is so small.
nick
When FDR wanted to put a “chicken in every pot” my grandparents laughed because most people in the rual south had plenty of chickens (and eggs) just no jobs or cash.
Lobster and oysters were ‘poor people food’ too.
n
Google is currently censoring SHOPPING search results, with No Results for any search with ‘gun’ in it. My comments there are stuck in moderation, but confirm it yourself.
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/totally-legit-16/comment-page-1/#comment-264508
Note that ALL results appear normal, they are just censoring results of SHOPPING searches.
‘gundam dvd’ gets No Results.
Using DuckDuckGo, and selecting Products search yields thousands, including Amazon.
nick
@Bob Sprowl Mrs Pournelle’s Reading Literacy program is indeed stuck in limbo. The process/concept has been ported to a web-based system, with text-to-speech for the lessons and content. Started the process about a year ago, and finished about May 2017.
Since the concept/content belonged to Mrs Pournelle, I needed to get a ‘sole distributor’ contract in place to legally sell the program. (It also allowed me to gain control of the web site, since that’s where the program ‘lived’, and take care of fulfillment.) Royalties were proposed at 40% to Jerry, the rest to me for maintenance/fulfillment/etc. Copyright was to be retained by the Pournelle’s (authors don’t like to give up copyrights, so the contract was set up with me as the sole distributor).
The contract needed to be signed by both of the Pournelle’s, but that never happened.
So there it sits – on my test site, waiting for a signed contract to let it come out from hiding.
Took a lot of work to get it converted, and set up the infrastructure, but I think it turned out nicely. It’s up to the Pournelle family as to what to do with it.
I’m in Harold’s camp.
If you can’t throw some scratch or don’t know how to behead the little peckers, let alone debone one, then all the prepper mania in the world won’t save you.
I miss RBT. Barbara is carrying, ney, *sallying* forth. Did the _Home Scientist_ ever come with a textbook? I may have asked him, but I always wanted to know how to do an alkaloid shake-out. I have some seeds I meant to send him, but never got a round tuit.
@rickH
I taught ESL in India for many years. Might still go back and do it again.
I have never seen Roberta’s program despite a couple decades of hearing about it.
The fundamental principles were laid out years ago by JEP himself, and I have adhered by them and they’ve stood the test, in some cases far surpassing what I thought possible.
The program itself will never make any money for anyone, so why not donate the whole kit and kaboodle to RIF or another organization? Might be a good write-off on JEP’s estate, if you hurry.
It’s up to the Pournelle family as to what to do with it.
My guess, based on experience, is that it may take a while for them to be able to do anything. I don’t know how complicated probate in California is, but it could take months to get executors empowered to do much.
Also, they may be very, very busy dealing with a sale of Chaos Manor and getting Mrs. Pournelle settled in a new home.
BTW, the address above is not Chaos Manor. It is a UPS store.
@jim ….. the pricing model for the new version of the Reading program was much cheaper than the original. Originally, was about $300, IIRC. New cost was to be $129 (for single student); $199 for up to three students. Also larger student count licenses were to be available.
And, I can’t donate it to anyone; content does not belong to me. Jerry would not give copyright to the program (it’s an ‘author’ thing), so I was to be the (sole) distributor only – copyright would be retained by Jerry/Mrs. Pournelle.
I think with proper promotion, that it would have been reasonably successful, especially with the home-school crowd. And the proposed prices were cheaper than similar programs.
There is a demo available. Consists of the first four lessons. For anyone interested, test site is here https://cellarweb.com/readingtlc/ . (Ignore the first three lines of debug info in the top left corner. Follow instructions in the green box when you first go to the site.)
…whether the behavior is cultural & can be trained out, or biological, and must be bred out.”
I’ll go with “cultural”. The problem is, changing culture takes generations. Look at me, I’ve been in Switzerland for more than 20 years, I speak the local language fluently, and I’m still participating in US forums and following US politics. My kids have one foot in each world. Their kids may be fully Swiss. Three generations, and that’s for people who want to adapt and integrate. Take really foreign cultures, and you get cultural ghettos of people who really don’t want to integrate – and the process slows way down.
I’m cold-blooded. If someone doesn’t want to integrate, they shouldn’t be here. If they are so desperate to leave wherever they came from, then they had damned well better be willing to integrate. The groups of aimless young African males hanging around the train stations? They don’t look like any sort of refugees to me. They look like what they are: the able-bodied family members entrusted to make a risky trip, in hopes that they can send lots of money home. Money just comes out of machines in the walls here, didn’t you know? Now that they’re here, and understand that it’s not so easy with no education and no useful skills? They cannot go home – that would be admitting shameful defeat.
And so they engage in crime, drugs, and violence. After all, it CAN’T be their fault.
n
See – that’s the thing. I don’t KNOW that it’s cultural. We assume it’s cultural because even implying it’s genetic makes us racist. But knowing for certain the roots makes it possible to address.
If’ it is genetic and we treat it like it’s a cultural issue, how effective can we be? If it is cultural and we treat it as a genetic thing, how effective can it be?
Regardless of the source, I agree with Brad. If you’re leaving a 3rd world shirt(-r)hole and want a better life, don’t bring the shirt(-r)hole culture with you. Assimilate.
One of the owners just called. His VPN is connecting, but he can’t see his network drives. Turns out he’s at his sister’s house, and her router is giving him an address on a network that is a subset of our network. I told him it wouldn’t work, and he should use the hotspot on his phone to connect. This is the second time in as many months we’ve had this problem.
“Why don’t you have the network setup so it’s not incompatible with all these networks?” I explained that 10.n.n.n is the “standard” for businesses, 192.168.n.n is the “standard” for homes, and there were bound to be networks that are incompatible with ours.
I fear he’s going to demand I change the network to one less common. It’s currently 10.0.0.0/16. It has been there for at least 10 years prior to my tenure, and there are so many hardcoded devices around that I don’t know if I _could_ update them all, let alone want to update any of them.
Some of our hardware requires 30 minutes PER MACHINE to update, as I need to download the config, modify it, push it back out, change to that network, and restart the device. Arrgghhhh. I might be able to segregate those devices behind another router, but God knows I don’t want to.
I wish that the Kalifornians would not bring their culture to Texas. They get to vote in our elections and frankly, we don’t need their extreme liberal views. I mean, why did they leave their craziness if they continue to vote it in here ?
@jimL, easier to change the sister’s addresses…
n
@nick – there might be some hardcoded things on the sister’s network.
@jiml – I am certainly not an expert in routing, but I seem to recall a way to let a similarly-numbered network coexist via VPN. But it’s been a while since I had to worry about that.
Yeah, there are hardcoded things on my network too, and I had a similar problem with a client site. Until that moment it didn’t make sense why the previous IT guy had set the client site up with 192,168,8. xxx addresses.
He (the remote) should just be able to pick an addy that isn’t on both networks, right?
n
More heroes…/s
“CCTV captures moment three cops carry a 91-year-old woman through a smoke-filled building before ‘dumping her and leaving her to die’ in a corridor after her apartment block caught fire”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5440155/Woman-died-New-York-flat-fire-left-corridor.html
Another black eye for United Airlines, when caught in a lie, double down!
“United Airlines staff are caught on camera in FURIOUS row with a passenger after they insisted her carry-on was too large — even though it fit perfectly in baggage measuring rack”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5440485/Video-shows-heated-row-United-staff-flier.html
NB- I’ve got over half a million miles on United, 3/4 of those on Continental BEFORE the merger. United would charge for the air you breath on board if they thought they could. Their staff has a long history of labor disputes with management, and their toxic culture crushed Continental’s customer focus. There hasn’t been a merger between two more incompatible corporate cultures since HP and Compaq.
n
“Heritage Foundation: 64% of Trump’s agenda already done, faster than Reagan”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/heritage-foundation-64-of-trumps-agenda-already-done-faster-than-reagan/article/2650141
“With unprecedented speed, the Trump administration has already implemented nearly two-thirds of the 334 agenda items called for by the Heritage Foundation, a pace faster than former President Reagan who embraced the conservative think tank’s legendary “Mandate for Leadership” blueprint.”
Simply amazing for the man that the press called incompetent.
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
I wish that the Kalifornians would not bring their culture to Texas
The Kalifornicators did the same to Oregon. Kept moving north from their home state to get away from a system they did not like. Then they slowly started changing everything in Oregon back to what left down south. Now Oregon, where I spent my youth, is a place I have no desire to return. Property taxes are high, income tax on about anything that passes through your bank, and a bunch of liberals on welfare.
leaving a 3rd world shirt(-r)hole and
I believe I put a trademark on that particular item when I used that term. My lawyers, Dewey, Cheatum and Howe, will soon be sending you a letter demanding an $0.18 royalty for the use. Of course the lawyers get $0.17 and I get the rest.
Another black eye for United Airlines, when caught in a lie, double down!
I flew United on one of my trips to Europe. Never again. Old planes with TV monitors in the ceiling for entertainment running family safe cartoons most of the time. Food choices were chicken or pasta but by the time they got to us, with only 1/3 of the plane served, the only choice was pasta.
I will also not fly Air France. Too many French people and as a general observation they were rude. Lady in front kept her seat reclined fully the entire time in spite of my asking her to tilt up a little bit. She had enough perfume on to conceal the odor of 25 homeless tramps. Cheap stuff, by the gallon at Walmart.
Thus I made an effort to grab her seat and jerk it around as I got up to go the bathroom. Making certain that such effort was when I figured she was asleep. Six trips the bathroom in eight hours is a new record for me.
LOL. I used to carry my lappy in an aluminum briefcase. I also had a roll aboard. One flight, at the end of a long series of flights, I got on late, near the front, and needed to stow my roll aboard. I opened the bin and there was lots of room, except for a ratty old gym bag with maybe a t shirt and shorts in it. I asked the guy if he wanted to put the gym bag under his seat. (less than 2 hour flight, and I’m putting my briefcase under mine) He looked at me like I was from mars, and said “No.” So I used my hard shell roll aboard to smash it flat and stow my bag. The look on his face was worth a trip to jail (which didn’t happen.) I looked at him, right in the eye, and said “I offered you a chance to move it.” Then I sat down and went to sleep.
My state of mind was such that I was a bit surprised that no one cheered for me.
n
(which is but one of the reasons I no longer fly for a living.)
I asked the guy if he wanted to put the gym bag under his seat
I once got on a flight, assigned seat, someone already in the other seat, and proceeded to sit down. I discovered a bag under my seat. I removed the bag and the lady next to me said it was hers and could I leave it there as she needed the space under her seat for her feet. I told her no, put the bag in her lap. Told her I paid for the seat, including the space under the seat in front of me and I would gladly oblige her bag if she paid for my ticket. I then put down the arm rest and promptly planted my arm on the armrest, kept it that way for the rest of the flight. The lady was pissed off about the bag and had the nerve to complain to the flight attendant that I would not allow her to place her bag under the seat. When the flight attendant realized what was going on the flight attendant offered to take her bag and stow it overhead. The lady was pleased. I watched the flight attendant take the bag to the rear of the plane and stow in the overhead of the last seat. I think that lady was the last one off the plane.
I have encountered several annoying people. People that ask me to give up my window seat to which I reply “No, I chose this seat for a reason”. Had one flight with a chap that smelled horrible. I asked the flight attendant for a new seat and when she asked why I said “this guy stinks” and the flight attendant moved me to a new seat. He gave me a rather unpleasant look.
I also reverse the role. I was getting off one flight of a couple of hours where I had a gas attack during the flight. I did my best to hold it all in. As I was leaving the plane walking up the aisle I slowly released a pent up accumulation that would make a billy goat puke. All the people behind me got to enjoy my relief.
And along those lines, one last bit of wisdom. Never pass gas in an elevator just as it gets to your floor unless you know no one is getting on the elevator.
Now, what is the NEXT major change to arise from the hobbyist/ early adopter? Is it decentralized commerce? Personal manufacturing? Micro-industrialization? Decentralized banking/financing? Health hacking? Desktop bio-hacking?
What is going on right now that will be the next ‘leap’ for the world and society?
Software Defined Radio. Among other fun activities, anyone can run a GSM voice cell phone system with $500 worth of equipment. And I’m probably overestimating the cost since I’ve been out of the tech for 5-6 years.
In news closer to home, more ridiculous and dishonorable info is coming out of Coward County Fla. This may be the event that drives a change in doctrine across the country. I hope so. In every other industry we learn from disasters and apply the lessons paid for with blood to prevent and minimize future disaster. Let that be true of this one.
Palm Beach, Dade, and Broward Counties have been odd forever. My wife lived in Hollywood, FL during Med School, and we don’t remember NW Broward being as high end of a suburb as it is portrayed in the media.
The response would have been much different in most other counties in FL. The exceptions would be the city cops in Tampa and St. Petersburg — too many progs in leadership in those departments over the last 20 years.
(I believe the lesbian who ran Tampa PD when we left is now running for Mayor.)
I wish that the Kalifornians would not bring their culture to Texas. They get to vote in our elections and frankly, we don’t need their extreme liberal views. I mean, why did they leave their craziness if they continue to vote it in here
More are definitely on the way. A few weeks ago, heading out to Harker Heights on the I-14 stub to find a Fedex Office for a scanning job I didn’t want to do at work (cough), I stumbled across the future Austin suburbs — high end residential developments which looked like they were lifted right out of the San Diego hills.
I used to think Cruz was a sure thing for reelection, beating one of the Castro brothers like a drum, but now I’m not so confident. Beto O’Rourke has come out of nowhere, obviously with the help of significant out-of-state money.
Ok this is creepy:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5437579/Bomb-detection-units-coming-New-York-Citys-Penn-Station.html
It uses passive millimeter wave radiation, basically a type of IR light you give off to see thru your clothes.
There is a pdf with the tech
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjZ_oT_zMfZAhUJDKwKHfpyBycQFgg4MAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.highfrequencyelectronics.com%2FMar12%2F1203_HFE_homelandSecurity.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3CIF0Q62ctN4jWdh89VRsI
nick
added- this is likely to be what the vegas hotel/casino said they would install to passively scan guests without their knowledge.
How does this work legally? What about the 4th amendment? you waive it at an airport but just traveling thru a train station, or eating lunch there, shouldn’t provide consent to be searched visually to discover what you have under your clothes.
@RickH
This seems like a good time to ask about the Chaos Manor subscriptions. Mine is up for renewal and I’m wondering whether to renew it or not. There obviously won’t be much new content anytime soon, but I like having the site remain up. Internet hosting can be cheap, but cheap isn’t free and the money needs to come from somewhere to keep it running.
Any thoughts or information you can share?
“I wish that the Kalifornians would not bring their culture to Texas. ”
Don’t worry about me. My daughter, SIL and two grandkids live 12 mi, 2o min from my house. Guess I’m here for a while.
CowboySlim who will provide home’s GPS coordinates upon request.
@Mark: WRT Chaos Manor site: the domain and hosting is paid through the middle of 2019. So there’s that.
No indication of what the family wants to do with the site and content (and domains). The content belongs to them, so I can’t just put it somewhere else without their consent. (I do have all of the content locally as backup.)
Absent any indication on what to do with the site: I have no plans to ‘recycle’ any old content as new posts. There were only a few (under 5) comments about the 3-4 posts I put up after Jerry’s passing. And daily viewing stats, understandingly, are steadily declining.
There have been some subscribers that have asked for refunds of automatic yearly subscription payments; I have passed them along to the family.
Jerry’s email address is still available, but I have not accessed any of that mail – haven’t been asked to. So don’t know about that content; not sure of the family monitoring that email.
Mostly I just take a look at the comments that are there (1-2 new comments a day at most), remove any spam that has been caught, and install any updates.
So, your decision on what to do with your pending subscription.
@mark, mine just renewed, both of them for $135 total. I then figured out how to stop them from happening again.
I figure it for a last hat tip to JEP, and for the family to use as they see fit. I HOPE someone is aware of that income and where it is anyway. I’d hate for it to be sitting there unused.
I think I’ve got one renewing for TwiT and Leo Laporte too, but it’s not for anywhere near that.
n
Early to bed, early to rise…..
well if I can get one out of three that’s pretty good for me.
n
Good article about how quickly the SHTF can occur and the dangers of normalcy bias.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-27/what-civil-unrest-really-we-survived-ferguson-riots
No indication of what the family wants to do with the site and content (and domains). The content belongs to them, so I can’t just put it somewhere else without their consent. (I do have all of the content locally as backup.)
The Computer History Museum or Archive.org would be good permanent homes for Chaos Manor content.
Stewart Cheifet gave Archive.org the entire run of “Computer Chronicles”.
@Ray – nevermind the lawyers. I’ll send you a check for the full $4.99. I’ve stolen your trademarked item & used it rather liberally. The check is in the mail.
Re: the network thing address issues – thanks for pointing that out. Now that I think about it, I’m sure I could fiddle the VPN s.t. local addresses are unavailable (and everything comes to my network), but I have salesmen that work at home and other sites that require local access. Probably wind up setting up several profiles to make that work.
I’m 6 months behind right now (since my programmer left) and I’m trying to carry his load (not well) and my original load (well enough), and getting beat up about it.
I still think going back to diesel mechanic might not be such a bad career move.
Mechanic work is cold/hot dirty and your back is always at risk… still very satisfying when something runs that didn’t run before.
Diesel pays better than auto from what I’ve seen on the forums.
Does it pay better than bit twiddling?
n
Diesel pays better than auto from what I’ve seen on the forums.
Requires bigger tools, more specialized equipment, and is tough working on the fuel system where there is 1,500 PSI in the fuel rail and the injectors can be up to 36,000 PSI. Injector pumps can consume as much as 40hp in operation in the really big engines. And most of the parts are really heavy on the big equipment.
I’ll send you a check for the full $4.99
@JimL: Best offer I will probably get today. Alas I have already retained council and thus any settlements would still require the lawyers be paid. I would still wind up with only $0.01 with the lawyers getting $4.98. So just send the check to the firm of Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. Postage due of course.
I’ve stolen your trademarked item & used it rather liberally
Once you put something on the web you lose control. Thus whenever I put pictures I want to protect I put a watermark across the middle of the images. They still get used on people’s FB pages all the time. It just makes it impossible to print at Walmart, home printing cannot be stopped.
If you take one thing from the web it is stealing. Take multiple items from the web and it is called research.
Does it matter if it pays better? I’m so sick of the people issues I can barely stand it. I’m not the management type, but it’s the job I have to do because there is nobody else.
In my case, the pay would be a little less, but not terribly so. And paid overtime can/would make up some of the difference. Not taking my work home with me is worth quite a bit as well.
I’m just grumbling. It’s a fall-back position right now. It’s something I can do if it comes down to it. I keep fresh by doing my own automotive work most of the time. Yes, it’s dirty & heavy. Yes it’s satisfying as heck knowing I just saved a $650 mechanic’s bill by doing the work myself.
Fun fact: The longest I’ve ever held a job is 13 years, but I count that as 5 + 8, because after the first 5, they eliminated my primary role & had me rewrite the old Business Basic app in VB6. Best other than that was 7 years. I’ve been here 6.5. I’m getting bored & tired of the shirt(-r).
Does it matter if it pays better?
No. I tell the kids at school to find a job they enjoy and forget about the biggest salary they can get. If you go through 50 years of working and have not enjoyed yourself you have pissed away your life. Happiness is the most important.
I learned that lesson the hard way but a little to late in my career. I was the IT manager at a large credit union. It was killing me, the relationship with my family and my health. The place firing me was the biggest favor they could have done. I found another job at 75% of what I made before. Little stress, nights and weekends were now mine again, mostly a self directed job with goals but how I met those goals was my decision.
Even if the job is putting nuts on a sub assembly in a manufacturing line, if that makes you happy, go for it. When the whistle blows you no longer have to think about the job and your time is now yours.
I also tell the kids that college is not for everyone. If they enjoy working with their hands go to technical school. This drive to get every kid a college education is just stupid. A lot of kids would earn a better living, and enjoy their life, working with their hands.
I used to do a lot of the work on my vehicles. Not so much anymore. Not worth the hassle. Even changing oil is done at a dealer even though it is a simple task. Crawling under a vehicle is just not on my list anymore.
I started IT in 98. Still wasn’t finished with college, but I was just fcking around – no clear path or motivation. Funny thing, I met my wife, left school, moved to the town where she was, and found an entry level IT job. I was always mucking around with computers, so it seemed logical. Here I am almost 20 years later…
I did go back and get my degree almost 10 years after I left. Ended up with Business, and I don’t regret that choice. I have contemplated getting my MBA (employer will even pay for it), but I just can’t motivate myself.
My current job, which I just passed the 5 year mark, is not perfect. Far from it.But usually, the stress is not too bad. And part of it is now am actively working at my own stress management. It takes a lot to quell the frustrations that come from dealing with psychopaths, I mean, idiots. I haven’t left the current gig because they are good about being flexible with work hours, and I (nor the guys working for me) have no after hours or weekend on call duties. Having your free time be only yours really is a great thing – especially as you get older.
Having your free time be only yours really is a great thing – especially as you get older
A lesson I learned the hard way. I started IT when I was a junior in high school taking classes at a local university on Saturday. Did the same thing my senior year. I entered the work force in 1969 in the USAF where I got into the computer field due my test scores. The Saturday classes really helped in that regard.
The credit union job was a constant battle with the users, high availability is a must, the vendors, upper management. My staff was very good. I would still get calls on nights, weekends, etc. There are two pagers in the bottom of Watts Bar Lake.
The kicker was when I was on vacation in Washington State. Somehow the CU located me and demanded I return early due to a problem. Had to change my flight reservations and the CU paid the extra charges. But for me only. Wife had to stay in WA herself and return on the already booked schedule.
Happened again when I was in Oregon for training. Was going to take a three or four day vacation and visit the location and friends of my teenage years. Nope, had to come back early.
Another time we were in Hilton head, they found us. Did not have to come back early as I was able to solve the problem on the phone.
I did not realize what the job was doing to me, my family, my health and my sanity. When the CEO fired me it was one of the lowest points of my career. After finding another job and realizing how the old job had been ruining me I realized what a favor the CEO had done for me.
Three months after I was let go the CEO was terminated by the board. The IT manager position over the next four years went through three more people. I no longer keep track of the changes in the department. A lot of that turnover was due to Summit Information Systems (the software and hardware vendor) and the idiots that infected that company.
I was having anxiety attacks before I left BigCorp. My daughter wouldn’t hug me. My wife said “I didn’t get married to be a single mother.” It took me over a year to fully internalize that I was separated from that situation, and to see it for how abusive it really was.
No regrets. None. Love my wife, love my life.
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Time to start looking at how I can change my life for the better, I think.
I believe Rex Stout wrote a Nero Wolfe story in which Wolfe had the badges of a couple of FBI Agents in his safe after they got caught doing a very illegal search. I think this made some people at the FBI very unhappy to say the least. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t really stop illegal searches. It stops evidence from illegal searches from being admitted in court, or at least it is supposed to.
When it’s a crime to misstate something when not under oath, or you have secret courts, there is no Bill of Rights.
@ITguy1998 said:
Having your free time be only yours really is a great thing – especially as you get older.
So you think so? Don’t believe it, take it from this 67-year old “retiree”. The “Honey-Do’s” just get more frequent and the infirmities of old age means many things take at least twice as long.
I still get calls from the job I was laid-off from 20+ years ago. I am part of the dwindling group of “grey-beards” who know where all the skeletons are buried and how old machinery and systems worked/operated. It’s amazing how the gooberment can lose so much important paperwork.
TMI!
Genetic engineering will reach the hobbyist and high schooler level.
I shall not rest until I have created a five-assed monkey! (/South Park reference)
Yah, it is unacceptable that people who are giving away charity get to choose how and to whom they will give it away.
DadCooks wrote:
“I still get calls from the job I was laid-off from 20+ years ago. I am part of the dwindling group of “grey-beards” who know where all the skeletons are buried and how old machinery and systems worked/operated.”
The only computers/operating systems I loved and was really good at were Control Data Cybers running NOS/BE. They were turned into ships anchors in 1992 when we “upgraded” to Amdahl gear running (yeech) MVS/XA. After that I no longer really cared. Since there are only a handfull of Cybers left it’s unlikely I’ll get a call for my expertise.
Which is the way I like it.
When it’s a crime to misstate something when not under oath, or you have secret courts, there is no Bill of Rights.
True, very true. As the holder of a Professional Engineering License from the Great State of Texas, this has concerned me as “license” holders are becoming held to a higher legal standard on our “educated opinions”. This applies to engineers, doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, stock brokers, etc, etc, etc.
And don’t get me started on the unconstitutionality of the FISA court. Especially not when people are being prosecuted TODAY (Muller, et al) on secret spying results from said court (Flynn, etc).
I still get calls from the job I was laid-off from 20+ years ago. I am part of the dwindling group of “grey-beards” who know where all the skeletons are buried and how old machinery and systems worked/operated. It’s amazing how the gooberment can lose so much important paperwork.
I have the opposite attitude. I find it amazing that the gooberment can find any paperwork, much less important paperwork. My dealings with the gooberment just serve to reinforce this (IRS, FBI, CIA, etc).