Weeellll, it’s cold. The weather station never synced with the display. I must have a battery in backwards, I do that a lot with the kirkland batteries. I was so careful though. Still, the heat is running in the house so it must be cold. [it just synced. While I typed the above. It’s 39F in my driveway, and 98%RH.]
I don’t work in an office, or go to school, or have much social contact with people, so I should escape the tomfoolery….
Quite enough fools in the world without encouraging more, in my curmudgeonly opinion.
State of the garden–
I harvested about a dozen sweet red peppers, with more on the plants. They did really well this year and are delicious-all pepper flavor and no heat.
Grape vines are leafing out well.
Pecan tree is leafing out, as is the peach. The crepe’ myrtles are just starting to leaf too.
The established Orange and Grapefruit trees seem to have come thru the last mild freeze without issues. The potted citrus looks ok too with the new lime fully in bloom. The apple trees are just starting to bud. One blueberry bush didn’t make it but the others are in various stages of leafing out. They are different varieties both for pollination and for staggered harvest times. I’ll replace the dead one when the bushes are in the store.
I had hoped to get the new soil on the beds and get something planted this weekend but of course that didn’t happen.
I also need to re-pot the trees I’m growing for ‘my retirement’. I like to do it at least once a year. They are all trees that grew as weeds in my garden. I figure ‘volunteers’ are hardy and worth saving, so I pot them and let them grow.
Who else is getting started on their garden? Who’s planted fruit trees?
n
Take it from the guy who was an unindicted co-conspirator in one of the largest Medicare fraud cases in history. The Republicans make it easy for the Progs.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-scott-says-medicare-for-all-will-ruin-healthcare-system/
The best that can be said for Rick Scott is that he kept the FL Governor’s Mansion out of the Dems’ hands for two terms by spending his own cash. And he turned down the bullet train money.
With Scott, the Dems made it easy for the Republicans, however. His first gubernatorial opponent engineered the questionably legal takeover of FL’s largest bank by Bank of America — crook vs. crook. The second opponent was a “her turn” deal in the state party hierarchy.
(Neither candidate was as bad as Gillum, of course. In an increasingly purple state, the Dems may have cost themselves a decade or more in local and statewide elections below the Federal level. Gillum was a historically bad choice, and Ron DeSantis is only 40.)
Disclaimer: I almost ended up working for Rick Scott on one of his other schemes involving illegal network gear sales to the Iranians. Long story.
I’ve been putting off getting started in the garden. Too many other time-eating things just now, but…I’d better get out there, or it’s all going to run away from me. Lawn needs its first mowing, weeds need whacked, etc, etc…
I made the mistake of commenting on an Ars article today. I make this mistake from time to time, and then remember what a SJW echo chamber that place is. Say something mildly conservative, like “censorship is bad”, and you are immediately voted into oblivion. Right, learned my lesson (again), I won’t comment for another few months.
“The benefit of experience is that you recognize your mistakes when you repeat them.” I don’t remember who said that, but it is so true…
Dilbert, truer to real life than anyone cares to admit:
https://dilbert.com/strip/2019-04-01
Yes, @brad WRT commenting on way too many sites, been there, done that, and regretted it. There is no reasoning with “Fools”, that is why they need their own special day (because the are “special”).
Been there. Done that. Sometimes I go in there just to stir the pudding. I do (generally) read a few of the comments on some of the more slanted articles. There is a lot of virtue signaling going on.
The science articles are usually fairly good, if a bit slanted. They’re one of the feeds I check daily. Their coverage of SpaceX and Tesla are interesting. Some of the biology coverage is informative.
I count on you guys to filter ars and drudge for me. If it’s important it will end up here.
For a long time I didn’t even read the comments here. I figured they would be the same as everywhere else. There are damn few places where the comments are worth reading but this is one of them.
n
(in general, the more mainstream the venue the more worthless the comments.)
A couple of youtube vids, H/T to SurvivalBlog
your modern car is spying on you and selling the data–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpbpD0qDSho
Stores are starting to track your every move- with a shocking granularity—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLedMqa_uGo&feature=youtu.be
And a refresher–
Global media company JCDacaux is tracking people in airports by their bluetooth devices and thru other sensors. They can tell which ads you passed, if you stopped in front of them, how many you passed, how you move thru the airport, and then if that converts to a sale (with partners.) They have 1,074,113 advertising panels in more than 80 countries and are present in 4,033 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants. When they roll out their tracking platform outside of airports, they’ll be able to track you around the world.
https://www.jcdecaux.com/press-releases/jcdecaux-introduces-first-international-audience-measurement-solution-airports
All this tracking via bluetooth emissions makes apple’s elimination of the headphone jack just a bit more sinister….
n
So my watch, which can answer my phone, can also be tracked via Bluetooth. Hmm. I may have to turn BT off in public & let it use LTE. I wonder what that will do to battery life?
I have a friend who complained about how Walmart ads showed up on FaceBook for a product she was discussing with her daughter. Then when she went into Walmart, her phone buzzed and notified her that this product was in Aisle 17 (or similar). We had a discussion about the Facebook app, permissions for apps, and leaving her phone at home once in a while.
Which I do, just for fun. It’s liberating.
We had a discussion about the Facebook app, permissions for apps, and leaving her phone at home once in a while.
Which I do, just for fun. It’s liberating.
I have a “cr*p free” smartphone running LineageOS which I carry from time to time.
I make a concession to corporate software with Firefox, but I have it purge cookies and history every time I quit the app.
Most of the time, I carry an iPhone SE with a minimal set of apps. I’ll accept the privacy invasion cost for the features I use, but I know the SE’s days are numbered.
It’s even worse than that as they roll out facial tracking too.
And combine them with data FROM your phone.
I find it interesting that a lot of the hits on my google search were for 2008, then there is a big gap to current articles. In 08 they are saying ‘we don’t take or keep pictures of the people’, in recent articles they are talking about facial recognition. Incrementalism at work.
n
Check out the sort of things one of these ad campaigns can determine. This is from a published case study about a stop n rob convenience store.
“Insights
http://www.placeiq.com | info@placeiq.com
SHOPPER DEMOGRAPHICS
Shoppers are more likely to be aged 35-54, from
households with 3+ people. They tend to be
fscally responsible and drive imported cars.
QUICKCHEK SHOPPER BEHAVIOR
Those converted during the campaign were
more likely to visit restaurants like Wendy’s and
Taco Bell while avoiding Panera and Chipotle.
They also frequent high-end fashion stores like
Bloomingdale’s and are less likely to be seen at
hardware and dollar stores.
VIEWERSHIP PREFERENCES
Shoppers are more likely to watch family-related
channels like Nickelodeon and HBO Family
while less likely to watch History Channel,
Fox News, and A&E. This is useful in advising
TV placements.”
n
The front page of Drudge “Mick Jagger to undergo heart valve replacement in NYC”. Why not the UK?
I find it interesting that a lot of the hits on my google search were for 2008, then there is a big gap to current articles. In 08 they are saying ‘we don’t take or keep pictures of the people’, in recent articles they are talking about facial recognition. Incrementalism at work.
2009 was a “contingency planning” year at AT&T, and the first such where the software developers were told to go to pole climbing classes. If AT&T hadn’t broken the union in the Summer of 2009 (long strange story) a lengthy strike would have commenced on Labor Day in all the service areas nationwide.
A lot of talent quit when the strke assignments went out in late 2008, and the President of AT&T Labs had to issue an apology email for which he was summarily fired.
I spent a decade at Death Star Telephone, specifically inside Labs. The skills just aren’t there anymore at either big telecom to create something for us to worry about. Just the Uverse DVR scheduling/viewing app for the iPhone alone took the better part of the last decade to reach its current level of “stability”.
WRT gardening: just got back with 4″ pots of tomato seedlings. Two varieties of large for BLT’s and two varieties of small, cherries for salads.
Now for global warming, sometimes to cool on Pacific Coast.
Now for global warming, sometimes to cool on Pacific Coast.
Too bad. The radiation would make the tomatoes huge.
Hmm, this is puzzling. I was looking at my linkedin stuff and saw this–
” 1 : number of times your profile appeared in search results between March 19 – March 26
Where your searchers work
FEMA
FEMA
Government Administration
What your searchers do
Marketing Specialist
100% ”
My profile turned up in a FEMA search??
n
“The radiation would make the tomatoes huge. ”
50 years of movies and TV can’t be wrong…..
n
I use a lightning to headphone jack adapter. Eliminates the use of BT for using headphones and back to a cable. Only $10.00 for the adapter and I have a couple of them.
All this tracking via bluetooth emissions makes apple’s elimination of the headphone jack just a bit more sinister….
The headphone jack was a huge obstacle to making the phone thinner.
Eliminating the jack also took out another common problem at the Genius Bar — pokcet lint stuck inside the opening.
Crankshaft: traveling with children
http://comicskingdom.com/crankshaft/2019-04-01
No, Ed, no !
50 years of movies and TV can’t be wrong…..
More like 70-80 at this point. 50 puts you at the end of the 60s.
We saw “House of Wax” on “Svengoolie” this weekend, and I told my wife about the first time I saw the flick as part of the 25th anniversary re-release in theaters with full 3D … in *1977*.
“Svengoolie” had a weird print, as if motion smoothing was applied to the video.
xkcd: Emojidome
https://www.xkcd.com/2131/
Very weird in a cute sort of way. I like it !
Explanation at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2131:_Emojidome
Vote early, vote often.
https://xkcd.com/2131/
I’ve spent the last 3 minutes stuffing the ballot box on the left.
I also need to re-pot the trees I’m growing for ‘my retirement’. I like to do it at least once a year. They are all trees that grew as weeds in my garden. I figure ‘volunteers’ are hardy and worth saving, so I pot them and let them grow.
Hmm. I am trying to grow office buildings and warehouses for my retirement. I may have more money than you but you may be happier. Of course, I did have fun replacing the two outside warehouse light fixtures last week but the next sixteen may get boring.
The front page of Drudge “Mick Jagger to undergo heart valve replacement in NYC”. Why not the UK?
You know why.
The real question is, will he go with pig or metal ?
I also need to re-pot the trees I’m growing for ‘my retirement’. I like to do it at least once a year. They are all trees that grew as weeds in my garden. I figure ‘volunteers’ are hardy and worth saving, so I pot them and let them grow.
Our Live Oak generates a lot of offspring which are a maintenance headache this time of year. Beautiful tree — the offspring would probably be worth saving if I had the time.
I just save the most vigorous of the ‘volunteers’ that end up in my garden. I don’t have a tree farm or anything, just a dozen or more oaks and pecans of various parentage in pots.
I figure it costs me nothing to grow them, and decent sized oaks are $100 each…
not that I’ve sold any.
n
PC oddity.
Some time in the last month or so youtube videos started to have audio playback faults, a ‘brrrrrrp’ sound that is very brief but is super annoying when listening to music. I’ve been watching the resource monitor and I don’t see any particular cpu or network spike when it happens. I’m also seeing the occasional ‘pause’ while moving the mouse. Again, very briefly, just enough to overshoot buttons when swinging toward them.
Google is useless for glitches or buzzes as there are far too many of those issues on windows.
I’ve got disc space, LOTS of net overhead room, CPU is idling at 15%, memory at 7 of 16g.
Everything USED to work fine, but something changed.
I’ve turned off hardware accel in Firefox, but the glitching still happens.
anyone got any ideas?
n
addded- it’s every 10-30 seconds, and the mouse def freezes while the glitch noise is playing.
I really don’t understand the issue. I have an iPod with a headphone jack that is probably 20% thinner than my phone. There must be something else involved that I cannot see from the surface. Maybe something to do with the case as the iPod case is smaller than the iPhone case. My person feeling is that Apple scammed the public and saved a dollar or two. Multiply by several million devices and you are talking real money. I also think Apple used that excuse to sell more of their BT earbuds, which really suck.
See if indexing is turned on for the disk drive. That may cause significant pauses while large files are searched.
I always turn indexing off, as I don’t search my drive and don’t see any reason for it.
The crazy thing is that right now it’s worse than it ever has been before with glitches every second or less, and watching my preformance tab in task manage, something is HAMMERING my network. Spikes off the top of the graphe and roughtly corresponding to the glitches.
n
ok, rebooted.
A firefox instance was pulling down massive amounts of stuff from an IP6 address. Like reported spikes of over 4mbps, which looked to be overwhelming my disc. Or at least that’s what it looked like. It went crazy there at the end. I think I might step away for a bit and run an antivirus full scan.
There is only one firefox instance with an ip6 addy, and it’s not pulling much, 55kb/s
No glitching and youtube is playing.
is there a way to lookup ip6 addys?
for that matter is there any way to block them at my router, and any reason NOT to?
n
for that matter is there any way to block them at my router, and any reason NOT to?
My router shows two ip6 addresses on that tab. I assume one for internal and one for external. I don’t see an off switch.
The new to me wISP says they are working on ip6… sooon! For now I have it disabled on the various PCs. Phone and Kindles? No idea if they use it.
On the PC, Win7, Change adapter settings Properties. Un-check TCP/IPv6.
Thanks Paul.
and now this
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6873721/Boy-two-left-screaming-pain-acid-poured-rides-playground.html
Got to be more to this story.
n
From today’s Fort Bend Herald by BH:
“So all charges against Jussie Smollett have been dropped. I hope that he does not beat himself up over it.”
“The emerging 737 Max scandal, explained”
https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2019/3/29/18281270/737-max-faa-scandal-explained
“It’s more than bad software.”
“The problem is that an airplane is a big, complicated network of interconnected parts. To get the engine under the 737 wing, engineers had to mount the engine nacelle higher and more forward on the plane. But moving the engine nacelle (and a related change to the nose of the plane) changed the aerodynamics of the plane, such that the plane did not handle properly at a high angle of attack. That, in turn, led to the creation of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). It fixed the angle-of-attack problem in most situations, but it created new problems in other situations when it made it difficult for pilots to directly control the plane without being overridden by the MCAS.”
“On Wednesday, Boeing rolled out a software patch that it says corrects the problem, and it hopes to persuade the FAA to agree.”
“But note that the underlying problem isn’t really software; it’s with the effort to use software to get around a whole host of other problems.”
Oh boy.
“But note that the underlying problem isn’t really software; it’s with the effort to use software to get around a whole host of other problems.”
Oh boy.
I recently spent two days working on software “de-bounce” for a three position key switch. I still don’t think I have it right. Fortunately, the key is not going to see frequent use, but reliability will be crucial when the mechanism is finally turned.
Decent hardware would be the real solution, but, of course, that won’t happen.
I keep having flashbacks to John Spencer at the beginning of “Wargames”. Thankfully, our code doesn’t launch the apocalypse.
Boeing’s Diversity and Inclusion Pronouncements Should Make Us All Uneasy
The article brings to mind recent comments here in re the loosening of standards in various graduate programs and the lack of qualifications of some of the people enrolled therein.
Or celebration of diversity in bridge design engineers… over say, highest test scores or top grades in the state…..
n
Or celebration of diversity in bridge design engineers… over say, highest test scores or top grades in the state…..
You don’t worry about the bridge design engineer as much as the person in the purchasing department … and their relatives. Of course the material tested met the *minimum* standards.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/miami-dade/fl-ne-fiu-bridge-design-flaws-ntsb-20181116-story.html
The article brings to mind recent comments here in re the loosening of standards in various graduate programs and the lack of qualifications of some of the people enrolled therein.
Yeah, I’ve written quite a bit here about the situation as a way of working out my frustrations with my grad programs. The paper is just too valuable as of late, and CS department chairs like Mercedes too.
The only time someone I’ve known to be a moron has been hired beyond their competency leading to tragedy was an co-worker from AT&T who basically claimed they did my job, cribbed my resume, lined up references, and got hired at GE as an architect of smart power meter crypto. Fires ensued.
The individual was a white guy, however.
I have my doubts about one former student of mine who currently works doing R at Exxon in Katy — a real knucklehead but no explosions in his department … so far. Give him time.
Pulled the trigger on the eXmark mower. I was torn between the John Deere tractor (4 wheel power steering) vs eXmark ZTR. I mowed this weekend with my current ZTR mower and had forgotten just how maneuverable the mower is with handle bar steering. Backing was no more than moving a lever whereas the John Deere required foot movement to another pedal.
Another person who does a lot of auctions stated that the green paint is expensive relative to other brands. People get hung on John Deere (good marketing) and pay a higher price for being “green”. Since the price of the mowers was the same the eXmark won.
I also talked with a person that does yard mowing for a living in the summer. They were using eXmark and Husgarvana. Said John Deere was way overrated in the small tractor division and used stamped decks. eXmark uses welded steel decks. The hydraulic motors were also really reliable as this person had not had a failure in 5 years of daily use.
Only downside is the eXmark will only use 100% gas. Not really an issue as that is all that I have been using in the yard equipment for years. With Stabil marine gas treatment. Better than the regular stuff as it absorbs moisture better and allows fuel to store longer than regular Stabil.
I can also get an air cushion seat for the eXmark. About $1K for the seat. Adjusts for the operator’s weight and really cushions the ride. I am going to try with the regular seat which is heads above my current seat and see how it goes before I decide.
Only downside is the eXmark will only use 100% gas. Not really an issue as that is all that I have been using in the yard equipment for years. With Stabil marine gas treatment. Better than the regular stuff as it absorbs moisture better and allows fuel to store longer than regular Stabil.
I noticed that Lowes was really pushing electric mowers when I went in yesterday.
I wonder if they have “insanity mode”.
“Pew Research: U.S. Home to Nearly 20% of World’s Migrant Population”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/31/pew-research-u-s-home-to-nearly-20-of-worlds-migrant-population/
“The Pew Research Center reveals in a new study that the U.S. has admitted more foreign nationals than any other country in the world. Roughly 18 percent of the world’s migrant population lives in the U.S., the study found.”
“About 44.5 million foreign-born residents now live in the U.S., far surpassing Germany’s 12.2 million foreign-born population and Russia’s nearly 12 million foreign-born population.”
It is time to shut the borders.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
“It is time to shut the borders.”
That should have been done/continued in 1954 when Ellis Island was shut down.
It is too late now and nothing will change.
And that is my optimistic opinion.
@lynn: re: 737 Max.
There was an interesting post over at ChicagpBoyz on this:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/59466.html
A caveat, I was working as an aerospace engineer in the 90s and distinctly recall the feeling of relief when literally thousands of pages of Mil Specs hanging over our heads went away. But perhaps it went too far.
Probably related: the Viking Sky engine failures were computer commanded after rough seas caused a low engine oil reading:
https://gcaptain.com/norway-low-oil-pressure-caused-viking-sky-engine-blackout/
“It is time to shut the borders.”
That should have been done/continued in 1954 when Ellis Island was shut down.
It is too late now and nothing will change.
And that is my optimistic opinion.
Texas is going to flip blue in the 2020 or 2024 federal election. At that time, it is all over, the donkeys will run wild. I fully expect AOC to win the presidency in 2024 or 2028, depending if Trump wins the 2020 election.
I have an early ’80’s Yanmar tractor. Three cylinder diesel. My understanding is that John Deere tractors of the same vintage and class and perhaps later, are Yanmars painted green.
Think…. Whirlpool makes washers and dryers and fridges. The tag says Kenmore or KitchenAid. The guts are the same.
I bought a KitchenAid dishwasher a few years ago and it had a leak. Bad spot weld. The repairman offered to replace the tub and transfer the working parts from the new but defective machine or just replace the entire machine. Whatever man, do what’s best for me and what makes you more money.
New tub it is.
Along the way he mentioned that all you need is a stainless steel tub and a rinse aid (Jet Dry) dispenser. Everything else is options. Racks, wash cycles, etc. The basic guts are all the same.
Nice to hear after dropping a grand on a KitchenAid when a $400 version is going to clean just as well. Then again, my first KitchenAid ran for 30 years with just a water valve and the blow dryer for drying the dishes being replaced.
So…. maybe “brand” matters. Then again, my first KitchenAid was made by Hobart.
I fully expect AOC to win the presidency in 2024 or 2028, depending if Trump wins the 2020 election.
Nope. She’s already burning out.
I fully expect AOC to win the presidency in 2024 or 2028, depending if Trump wins the 2020 election.
Nope. She’s already burning out.
Nope, just wait. You have not seen anything yet.
By 2024, the USA will be in the beginning of the financial apocalypse (Wanna buy a tbill for two cents on the dollar ?). AOC will look like a god to the millennials with her promises of free food, free housing, free medical, free government jobs, free college, and forgiveness of student debt. For reference, just see Venezuela ten years ago. People will be lining up to vote for the Green New Deal.
ADD: By 2024, I figure that the federal debt will be just hitting $30 trillion. That may be the number that stops the financiers of the federal debt in their tracks. Or not.
“Nope. She’s already burning out.”
Nope, just wait. You have not seen anything yet.
Ocasio-Cortez will be over 30 at that point.
Somehow, I’m not too worried about AOC. Unless she gets some better handlers, she’s going to put her foot in her mouth one too many times. She doesn’t appear to be stupid, but she is seriously undereducated, and has a mouth that runs on automatic.
The latest one about the presidential term limit: AOC claims it was put in place to stop Roosevelt from being re-elected. My American history is at least 45 years old, I’m not that much of a history buff anyway, and even I know that the term limit was only introduced after Roosevelt died in office.
OTOH, Maxine Waters still exists, and she is genuinely dumb.
I just made the mistake of looking in on Vox Day’s blog. For a smart guy, geez, he can be dumb. Now he is actively arguing that the Apollo moon landings were faked.
Is he really that deluded? Or is he just playing to his blog audience, which generally contains of a lot of conspiracy theorists? I dunno, but it reminds me why I stopped reading his stuff…
I think Vox is trolling. Ok, I hope …
For Vox’ entry, note the date.
.mg
@mike: Sadly, I don’t think the date is relevant. He had a similar post last Fall, when I was still reading his blog. This one is more specific, but it’s not the first.
I really wonder what his game is, or if he really believes this stuff. It’ll be chemtrails next…
@brad
That may be true about the earlier post, but 4/1/19 for this post is too coincidental IMHO. Vox doesn’t strike me as the anti-vaxxer, homeopath, flat-earther, tin-foil hat type. Trolling may be valid though.
.mg
I didn’t notice the date. Duh.