Slightly cool, but still humid. Probably getting warmer later, but staying under 90F. Fall, in other words. Yesterday got pretty warm in the late afternoon, but was otherwise beautiful. Fall weather is great.
Did a bunch of auction stuff. Went to my storage unit looking for an item that sold on ebay. Found it, right where it should be, and some other stuff I’d forgotten about…
I really need to get one or both kids doing listings. They both say they want to earn some money but they’d both rather do something else with their time. Well, me too. But needs must…
Talked to several people while I was out yesterday. Safety was on their minds. The rapid and visible influx of foreign invaders is to the point where you see them standing around. Like the pond that is half covered with lily pads one day, then fully covered the next, they are suddenly everywhere.
Don’t know what can be done, other than make conditions so bad or so onerous that they self deport. If it comes to shooting, Aesop says ‘your skin color will be your uniform’, and I think he’s right. Goes both ways of course, as anyone the victim of ‘the knockout game’ or ‘polar bear hunting’ well knows. I curse George Lucas because all I can hear in my head when I consider the issue is Jar Jar Binks – “Is some people gonna die?” Yes. Yes they will.
Spend some time thinking about your personal security. At home, at work, at the store, and traveling between those places. Consider making changes if you find issues.
And stack the defensive things.
nick
75F and saturated this am. Still dark, and I”m still tired.
Neither matters much though. Time to make the donuts.
n
The release notes indicate that a Bash shell is required. Cygwin might work, but you would have to alias “python” to “python2” since Cygwin has been assimilated into the cult of Python3 is Python – Stop Yer B*tchin Python 2 Users.
The various Linux distros have a way of setting default Python to Python 2, and I’m sure Cygwin piggybacks on one of those. I’ve never looked into it too deeply.
If you go the Linux distro route, have the intern set one up in VirtualBox and share the working folder from the host. Use Ubuntu 18.04.6 LTS to avoid problems with “python” starting Python 3. out of the box
I keep an 18.04 partition around to play with building Android source. I have to go even further back into LTS releases to mess with Yocto experimenting for work. If you aren’t putting the partition on the open Internet, support for things like security patches really doesn’t matter, especially if you are behind VirtualBox NAT.
Darned DevOps and their fancy Python environments.
– and that would be the end of the internet, the alt media, and free speech as we know it.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11217463/Biden-demands-end-immunity-social-media-platforms-promises-fight-white-supremacy.html
The MASH 50th is a big deal this week, but other classic programs debuted at around the same time.
Today marks 50 years since viewers first saw Bob Newhart’s crazy commute. Any time I catch an episode, I can’t decide if the editors of the credits were simply filling time, not familiar with Chicago, or making a statement about the main character’s grip sanity not being much better than that of the patients featured in the show’s storylines.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/09/02/bob-newharts-bizarre-commute-home-to-edgewater-took-him-way-out-of-his-way/
This is an idea new to me. I seems counter-intuitive. Links, please?
This is the progressive wet dream in a nutshell. They want to stop racism, hate speech and disinformation. Which sounds great, right up until you discover that they want to be the ones defining those terms. Racism, for example, doesn’t have to have anything to do with race – objecting to a religion or a nationality or a culture also counts. Even when whatever your are objecting to really is despicable. Hate speech and disinformation – anything they, personally, object to.
That’s what Ed doesn’t get, in yesterday’s discussion. That lovely little California law requiring social media platforms to publish their positions on precisely these topics: They will be publicly shamed, if their positions do not meet the progressive agenda, or if they try to dodge by not having positions. So they will, realistically, have to publish something that ticks the right boxes.
Then comes the enforcement part. It is pretty much impossible to write down a sensible definition of something like “disinformation”. Meaning that – whatever gets written down – enforcement will be subjective. And it had better be the “right kind” of subjective, meeting with progressives’ approval.
Erf, I thought I had bookmarked the day with Lynn’s 6-star book list, but now I can’t find it. Will someone be kind and tell me which day that was on?
dcp says:
You need some CO2 in your atmosphere to stimulate the reflex to breathe. I seem to recall that the number is about 0.5% CO2. Below that, you’ll “forget” to breathe if you’re not breathing deliberately. It was covered in our USAF pressure chamber training every few years.
No, it’s what you don’t get. The law doesn’t even require a policy in the first place. Again, read the thing. It’s not that long.
And even still, let’s say that a policy does exist. If you don’t like it for whatever reason (whether it’s because you think it’s bowing to government influence or otherwise), start your own site. Don’t like the policy? Go elsewhere. Where’s your free market spirit?
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fedex-plunges-2-year-lows-after-withdrawing-earnings-guidance
– given the challenges of traditional shipping, fedex should be raking in the dough from expediting shipments. That they aren’t speaks volumes.
n
@Lynn – looking quickly, I see Cygwin has /etc/alternatives/python linked from /usr/bin/python, but I can’t find update-alternatives or a similar named binary which convention requires to manage the links.
Anyway, in theory, Cygwin should work for Fable, but the intern will have to hack at it for a while.
You’re asking for facts? Here? Don’t hold your breath…
The law doesn’t even require a policy in the first place.
– so Ed, what is the point of the law then? What do you believe the State gets for writing and enacting the law? Why bother to make a law if you are not going to USE it for something?
n
@brad, here you go: https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2022/09/08/thur-sept-8-2022-i-got-the-rockin-pneumonia-and-the-boogie-woogie-flu/#comment-243904
Completely irrelevant, Nick, and a clear dodge to avoid actually reading the thing, realizing it doesn’t say or do what you think, or, heaven forbid, admitting you were wrong. What’s the point of a law naming a post office?
Completely irrelevant, Nick, and a clear dodge to avoid actually reading the thing, realizing it doesn’t say or do what you think, or, heaven forbid, admitting you were wrong. What’s the point of a law naming a post office?
\
– you are an idiot. Answer the question as you demand others answer yours or shut up.
And I do mean idiot, “A person with profound intellectual disability having a mental age below three years and generally unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers.”
The point of a law naming a post office is to NAME A POST OFFICE.
This law has a point. Everyone here believes the point is to coerce online forums into behavior they wouldn’t otherwise engage in. You believe that it won’t do that. So I ask again, if it won’t do that, what WILL it do? What is the point of passing the law?
n
@Kenneth C Mitchell, that’s not quite what I remember from my high altitude chamber training, but it was about 35 years ago, so I am looking for sources on the topic.
What I remember is the time I spent training while on 100% oxygen with a positive pressure mask (including a significant period of pre-breathing to purge nitrogen from my tissues), and some of it requiring active pressure-breathing. So no external source of carbon dioxide – I generated plenty of my own.
I never flew with a cabin altitude high enough to require pressure-breathing, but was glad to have had the training.
@Ed
No, I asked for links, pointers to sources, so that I can learn for myself and make up my own mind.
Note that I have no need to say that Kenneth C Mitchell is wrong, only that what I remember from similar but long-ago training is different, and acknowledging that perhaps I might not be remembering correctly, and therefore looking to learn more.
Wasn’t that a plot element in an old Larry Niven time travel story? Maybe it was CO.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11218601/Saturday-Night-Live-adds-non-binary-cast-member-ahead-shows-48th-season.html
– I guess they mean IRL, and not as a character (Pat)
– SNL is still on the air?
n
emphasis added
https://www3.nd.edu/~jsapirst/textbook/chapter_19.html
As I read that, you need some level of CO2 in your breathing air to stimulate the breathing response. A casual look at other sources suggests that the main stimulus is CO2 levels in blood though.
n
Why? You don’t. So much for leading by example.
Why? because to do otherwise is simply trolling, taking a position that you know is fundamentally false, solely to be argumentative.
And I’ve got very little patience for trolls.
n
Asking for facts to back up a claim is not trolling. Neither is pointing out when someone says something fundamentally incorrect.
To use this instance as an example, the law does not do or say what people here are claiming it does. It doesn’t even require a site to have a policy. All it says is that, if you have one, provide some definitions (of your own choosing) and show how you enforce it. So, what is the purpose? It seems like it is to create transparency in how content is moderated.
It seems like it is to create transparency in how content is moderated.
– finally. Why is that a benefit? Why is it the place of state government? Assuming everything you say is true about the law, why was the law needed? Why was it passed? And what will be the second and third order effects?
EVERYONE who has engaged you on the subject has expressed that the second and third order effects will be negative for society and that it will be used as a weapon against people and site operators.
Why do you think YOUR singular opinion is correct vs all those other people, many of whom have demonstrated both competence and intelligence?
n
See? Those are some (mostly) good questions. That’s point/counterpoint. But, once again, you are skipping over the fact that the law does not say or do what people claim it does. For example, it doesn’t require a policy or require submitting to government definitions, and it doesn’t apply to small-time sites like this one. Those things are what I pointed out as being incorrect, which is entirely separate from discussing “is the law a good idea”? I really don’t care if you think it is or isn’t. I care about false claims.
We tuned out in favor of MeTV on Saturday nights years ago. NBC will probably let Lorne Michaels take it to 50 years and then decide about his future as well as that of the show.
I am Ed. I am a troll. Please ban me.
you are skipping over the fact that the law does not say or do what people claim it does
– so what? No one has disputed the text of the law. If someone with more time wants to review all the comments to date and correct that, feel free, but from the beginning, no one has disputed the text of the law. What we all object to is the intent, and how the law can be used as a tool of oppression. We KNOW it will because of the language used, the poorly defined words and concepts, and the ideological bias revealed by the words used.
I really don’t care if you think it is or isn’t. I care about false claims.
– and that is trolling. No one has made false claims. No one has misquoted the text of the law, or added text to the law, or altered it in any way. They have pointed out that it will be used to target and oppress individuals and sites, forcing them to do things they wouldn’t have done in the absence of the law.
All laws are coercive by nature. They require you to do or not do something under threat of force. The authors and supporters of this law intend to use it to coerce people. I do not wish to be coerced into anything.
———————————————————–
If this was a forum thread, I would have locked it by now.
Further insistence on abusing my patience with this topic will be treated as being intentionally disruptive, and will be deleted.
Anyone who wants to can make one more comment on the subject. Two if I find that it adds something to the discussion.
————————————————————-
If this is the sort of thing you enjoy, there are plenty of places on the internet where you can indulge in it. Not here.
n
Go back to Wednesday. False claims and misquotations abound.
This isn’t true. The site sets its own definitions, if it even wants to.
This isn’t true. The fine is for not submitting the report, not for not having/following/enforcing a policy.
This isn’t true. The government only requires a report, it does not judge if the policy is being followed.
It isn’t. A policy is not required.
This isn’t true, and it takes the text out of context. There is no requirement to have a policy for any of those items.
This isn’t true. The fine is for not submitting a report, not for not having a policy or not enforcing it.
I have now installed two ASUS RT-AX88U routers, one at our principal residence and one at the BOL. Each place has a different ISP serving it.
At the BOL, which is served by the incumbent (former state) telco for lack of an alternative, I needed to take some quite arcane steps – including reconfiguring the internet connection via the telco’s website – so that the new router could open a PPPoE session and get connected to outside world through the telco’s modem. They really don’t want you using your own hardware.
At the main residence, where our ISP is in competition with the incumbent, no such jiggery-pokery was required – connect the new router to the modem, which assigns an IP address (192.168.1.x) to the router, then hook the router to the whole-house switch. The router runs its own network in the 192.168.50.x segment, and just passes everything connected to the switch on to the modem. Painless.
Now, we’re getting a couple of texts a week, and some calls, asking what I’d take for my house. My answer has been “2.5 million”, for a house I paid $300K for, two years ago.
I had somebody stop by the office and asked who owned the office complex last week. He said that he wanted to build a Motessori school. My wife told him to contact me as I was not in at the moment. His real estate agent contacted me later. I looked her up and she was wearing one of the Muslim headdresses on her picture so I am wondering if he wants to build a maddrass.
Anyway, she asked what the price for the office complex was. She said that her buyer was a serious buyer. I replied that I was not a serious seller. My price for the cleared five acres by the road was a million. My price for the nine acres with 9,000 ft2 of buildings was four million. I have not heard anything back as expected.
California is a very strange place. I grew up there in the 70’s / 80’s. Left when I saw the economy, taxes and laws were going to be crippling as an adult. The occasional visit has done nothing but confirm my low opinion of the politics.
I believe it was Barbara Boxer, politician in California, who once proposed a law making it illegal for women with long hair to drive with the hair unrestrained. Back in the 1980’s or 90’s. Can’t find a reference to it now. Maybe Cowboy Slim remembers it.
There had been a car crash when a long haired woman changed lanes. The long haired women checked that her path was clear, saw what she thought was her hair, merged, and caused a crash. Nasty one as I recall. What she thought was her hair in her peripheral vision was the car into which she crashed.
California has a full history of proposing and passing laws that infringe on freedoms in knee jerk fashion.
If a policy is not required, as you stated, and the government does not care if policy is followed, basically just file any stupid report, then why even have the law? No policy required, no need to follow policy. What an amazing law. Worthless.
If no policy is required, why a fine for not filing a policy?
This is the start of the government controlling content on websites. Did you not see the announcement where Spongey’s announcement that he wants site to be held responsible for hate content?
California’s law will be the stepping stone to control all sites and their contents. Ed, you may not believe it, but I and many others do believe it will happen. This law will be expanded, misinterpreted by some zealous politician and that stone will start gathering moss.
California has a full history of proposing and passing laws
that infringe on freedomsin knee jerk fashion.Fixed it for you.
Harmony Public Schools?
We have one not far from the house. There is a big Indian-Muslim mosque behind the mall in Cedar Park, and the area has a high concentration of that demographic.
I believe the schools are a chain here in Texas. I don’t know if they are “Montessori”.
The big Catholic school around the corner has grown even bigger since the pandemic started and the administration did not give in to the nightly fear porn like the public schools.
I am really not looking forward to making the config changes to move my client’s service from ATT DSL to ATT business fiber. The intent is to use the Ubiquiti firewall/router/management tool for everything, and just have the ATT box operate in pass thru or bridge mode. ATT only supports the service where their box does all the stuff, so it should be ‘interesting.’ Def letting them get it set up, running, and benchmarked with their default setup.
I suppose I could set up and try things here first, but I’ve got
betterother things to do.n
I get a dozen calls and texts a day, mostly from indian call centers, looking to buy one of my houses. The rent house, I just quote a ridiculously high number. My residence, I don’t even bother, just say no.
If they are local or sound like primary buyers, I might chat with them for a while, call center for Blackrock? nope.
n
So, it’s actually another tax?
Have a policy or have no policy, whichever you choose, it’s cool. But do not report “whatever” to the .gov you are fined $15 grand.
Got it.
Yesterday one of the kids wanted to borrow a couple of Garth Brooks CDs. Why? To rip. Nah, all of my CDs are in boxes. The nice shelving went away when the chest freezer died and all I could find near the size was upright.
Didn’t gain any floor space.
So I made a couple of e-mails. One for each album. Dreamhost bounced me. Message too large. Ok, split it up and send five songs at a time. That went through. What he received was useless. I did get bounce messages that T-Bird tossed into the Junk folder.
“message size 40822864 exceeds size limit 30000000 of server [snip] charter.net. Who knew? To a austin.rr.com address.
Easy fix! I tossed the albums into the files folder on my website.
There’s always a way.
@dcp: thanks for the link. I’ll try not to lose it this time
@Ed: We live in different realities. You are absolutely correct: as written, the law appears harmless. As it is meant to. However, it will be used as a lever by people with political goals.
You don’t have to have a policy, but if you don’t, you will be accused of supporting disinformation. If you do have a policy, it had better align with the intended political goals – things like disinformation are so open to interpretation.
If you don’t believe that will happen, that’s fine. I believe it will. Time will tell…
I may be slow.
My LAN is behind my router. As far as the ISP is concerned, I have one PC connected. It just happens to be router.
I changed the wISP a few years ago and I had nothing to change on my side. The router does the DHCP thing with the wISP.
I added a Pi-hole a few months ago. Changed the router settings to use “Primary DNS Server : 192.168.0.24” instead of whatever the ISP provided. Works with no problems.
What am I missing? You go from DSL to fiber, it’s just a connection isn’t it? I’ve never had DSL, can’t get it here.
Hey Ed, please go seek some mental help from professionals. And restart your meds, your true nature is showing through.
We cannot help you here as you do not want our help.
I always agree with Lynn.
xkcd: Cursed mRNA Cocktail
https://xkcd.com/2673/
Ewww ! Seeing as our stomachs live at an acidity level of approximately 1.8 (right above semi pure sulfuric acid), our stomach should be able to handle this. Digest it now, that would imply that the mixture is nourishing.
Although, the mixture will probably do as much for you as one of the mRNA shots. In other words, nothing.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2673:_Cursed_mRNA_Cocktail
“Putin’s Narrowing Options” by Patrick J. Buchanan
https://buchanan.org/blog/putins-narrowing-options-159644
“Early in this war, Russia’s hawks talked openly of the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. That talk has begun anew.”
Don’t stand next to the guy throwing fecal matter at an armed man.
I’ve wondered about this. Not enough to actually research it, but, you know. A Tums calms down an acid stomach. Mine, anyway. What does that acid stomach do to things like vitamin pills? And the various drugs doctors prescribe?
If I get real drunk and puke up my toenails, can the product be used for something like acid etching metal or replacing the acid in a battery?
Well, a topic for daytime TV talk shows. 🙂
@paul – once again, the googles/bings/ducks know the answer to any question.
Here’s one explanation of what happens to swallowed pills. From a pharmaceutical scientist: https://theconversation.com/how-do-drugs-know-where-to-go-in-the-body-a-pharmaceutical-scientist-explains-why-some-medications-are-swallowed-while-others-are-injected-182488
Includes an explanatory video.
Back from three nights at Dale Hollow State Park in Kentucky. 2.5 hours to get there consuming 16 gallons of fuel. Must gain 1,300 feet in elevation, lose 1,100 feet, then gain 400 feet, then lose 500 feet. Lots of smaller hills in between. I don’t think I would have made it on an electric truck. If there were charging stations along the way, I would have needed stop at least four times plus require a charging station in the park. That journey would have taken probably 5 hours instead of 2.5. Nope, not going to happen.
Nice state park. Multiple camping areas in pods of seven arranged in a circle. The sites were small thus keeping the large super RV’s out of the park. A 30-foot 5th wheel was about the maximum size practical.
When we arrived, there were probably 20 sites occupied out of probably 120. This weekend the park is sold out, no empty spaces. Fishing tournament perhaps or just people getting away for the weekend.
Weather was excellent. High 70’s during the day, high 50’s at night. Made for some good sleeping under a couple of blankets.
Here is a link to a few pictures that I took. https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/DaleHollow
These pictures were all taken with my iPhone 13 PRO. The best camera you have is the one you have with you.
What are you waiting for? Report the results back here.
@Ray: That really sounds nice, dang. Beautiful pictures.
How do they afford water to keep it so green? (And don’t give any of that guff about it “falling from the sky for free”, just because I’m a Californian.)
I really want to get on the road for a few days myself…
It’s southern Kentucky, just over the border from TN. We get enough rain in the area to keep everything green. Sometimes it is difficult to find a day to mow because of the rain. No one in this area waters any grass.
OK. It’s the moonshine that keeps it green. Satisified?
Moonshine is everywhere east of Memphis, and we didn’t even make it out to the real tourist trap areas.
Future project. No rush….
>> and that would be the end of the internet, the alt media, and free speech as we know it.
Calling ‘Sam Malone’…we’re gonna need some more barstools…
>> This isn’t true. The site sets its own definitions, if it even wants to.
What would be the benefit for any site to enact these provisions?
“Blackout News Friday: Germany, Europe Teeter on The Economic Brink as Energy Crisis Intensifies”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/09/16/blackout-news-friday-germany-europe-teeter-on-the-economic-brink-as-energy-crisis-intensifies/
“Europe’s largest aluminum smelter, Aluminum Dunkerque Industries France, will cut production by 22% due to rising electricity prices, thus putting the industry’s existence at risk and increasing Europe’s dependency on foreign suppliers.”
“German municipal utilities, who supply gas and power to their communities, are running into liquidity problems as suppliers of electricity and gas demand large sums as security guarantees before deliveries. Around 200 of the 900 German municipal utilities are affected.”
“In the latest BDI survey, 90% of all companies are severely challenged by the sharp rise in energy and raw material prices. In February 2022, the figure was just 23%.”
“France normally generates a good 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants but its power supply is massively at risk as 24 of the 56 reactors are off the grid due to repairs and maintenance. The country is now planning rolling blackouts should there be corresponding supply problems.”
Nothing to see here, just move along.
” You need some CO2 in your atmosphere to stimulate the reflex to breathe.”
EdH>”Wasn’t that a plot element in an old Larry Niven time travel story? Maybe it was CO.”
I remember that short story. It was CO2. Someone did something in the past to eliminate fossil fuels, and humans adapted to lower CO2 levels. When the time travelers returned to the future, they all passed out. One of them tried to get CO2 by laying down behind a car, but since it was electric, that didn’t work. I don’t remember any more detail than that. I think it was Niven, but I’m not positive about that.
“I already paid off my student loans! Am I eligible for a refund and loan forgiveness? Yes, up to $20K — but only under these two specific conditions”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/already-paid-off-student-loans-100000238.html
I am fairly sure that I have the paperwork for my wife’s $3,000 student loan that I paid off in 1983. I will submit this for a refund.
From https://spaceweather.com/
THE STARLINK INCIDENT: A minor geomagnetic storm is supposed to be minor. That’s why even experts were surprised on Feb. 4, 2022, when dozens of Starlink satellites started falling out of the sky. A weak CME had hit Earth’s magnetic field, and the resulting G1-class (minor) storm was bringing them down:
Above: A Starlink satellite breaks up over Puerto Rico on Feb. 7, 2022. Credit: The Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe
How could this happen? A new paper published in the research journal Space Weather provides the answer.
“Although it was only ‘minor,’ the storm pumped almost 1200 gigawatts of energy into Earth’s atmosphere,” explains lead author Tong Dang of the University of Science and Technology of China. “This extra energy heated Earth’s upper atmosphere and sharply increased aerodynamic drag on the satellites.”
SpaceX launched the satellites from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 3, 2022. Forty-nine (49) Starlinks were crowded inside the Falcon 9 rocket; less than a quarter would survive.
Above: The Starlink launch was sandwiched between two minor geomagnetic storms (right) possibly caused by an Earth-directed CME that left the sun on Jan. 30th (left)
As was SpaceX’s practice at the time, the satellites were deployed at an altitude of 210 km–their first stop en route to an operational altitude near 600 km. In the satellite business, 210 km is considered to be low, barely above the atmosphere. SpaceX starts there in case any satellite malfunctions after launch. From 210 km, a “bad sat” can be easily de-orbited.
A little too easily, as it turns out.
Using a physics-based computer model named “TIEGCM,” Dang and colleagues simulated conditions during the storm. As geomagnetic energy heated Earth’s atmosphere, the air density at 210 km increased globally by 20% with “hot spots” as high as 60%. This movie shows what happened:
Starlink dodged the worst spots. “The satellites did not hit any of the 60% regions,” says Dang. “But that didn’t save them.” The weaker 20% enhancements were enough to bring down 38 out of 49 satellites.
To prevent a repeat, SpaceX has started launching to 320 km instead of 210 km. Earth’s atmosphere has to reach that much higher to drag the satellites back during a geomagnetic storm. Since the change, more than 1200 additional Starlink satellites have been launched on 24 rockets without incident.
There’s still danger, though. “Air density at 320 km is an order of magnitude less (compared to 210 km), but it’s not completely safe,” cautions Dang’s co-author Jiuhou Lei, also from the University of Science and Technology of China. “During an extreme geomagnetic storm, density could increase from 200% to 800% even at these higher altitudes.”
Extreme storms may be in the offing. Young Solar Cycle 25 is just getting started. The profusion of minor storms we are observing today will intensify in the years ahead especially as we approach Solar Max around 2025.
“What really happened with the giant railroad strike that wasn’t—and how Warren Buffett was involved”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/really-happened-giant-railroad-strike-195334669.html
“After all-night negotiations that kept Americans on the edge of their seats, railroad employees have decided to forgo a planned strike early Thursday morning after companies and unions finally reached an agreement over better pay, working conditions, and benefits.”
The conductors and engineers union has got to vote on the new contract. Those 65,000 people are on call seven days a week without extra pay. They are very upset.
JimM says
I remember that story, and yes, it was Niven. The “scientists” were trying to time-travel to the past to recover animals to amuse their idiot (literally; imbecile) King, but were actually accessing alternate reality and coming back with “mythical” animals.
Aha! DuckDuckGo is my friend. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378683.The_Flight_of_the_Horse. I’m not sure which story in this anthology.
@jimm:
It was. One of the short stories in his “Flight of the Horse” collection, subtitled “The Adventures of Svetz”. In it, there’s a World Government, run by the UN, which has degenerated into a hereditary bureaucracy, run by a Secretary General who is at least educationally sub-normal. Svetz’s boss runs a department that has limited time travel capability, and the SecGen, of Caucasian descent, has expressed a desire to visit L.A. during the Watts Riot. In an attempt to distract him, they cook up a scheme to give him “the first automobile”, via travelling back, duplicating the vehicle, and returning to their own time with it. I should point out that their time is horribly polluted, and humanity has evolved to cope.
Of course, things go wrong. The “first automobile” is accidentally destroyed, and since the inventor’s finances are extremely limited, he could not build another. As a result, whoever developed personal transportation in the changed future did not use petroleum, and the pollution goes away. One of the characters attempted to lie down behind a car, but since no petroleum distillates were burned, there was no enhanced CO2 in the exhaust.
The cure was to repeat the time excursion, to a slightly earlier time, copy the vehicle, and jump it forward to after the accident, to replace the now-destroyed device, and restore the timeline.
There’s a subplot, of course, relating to neoteny of ostriches, but that’s out-of-scope.
G.
Most of you probably know this, but just in case…
If it is impossible to deal with an ISP’s router configurations, it might have a DMZ feature. This will bypass the internal router and allow a direct connection to the internet for your own router. I have had to do that only once, and it worked fine.
I doubt using the DMZ would disable the neighborhood Wi-Fi sharing, though. My Verizon and Frontier supplied gateways have never supported that, so I have no experience. Couldn’t you just turn off the Wi-Fi radios? I have my 5 GHz radio off, because its short range is useless to me, and it saves a small amount of power.
All my ISP supplied gateways have had numerous settings, and I have been able to do almost anything I have ever wanted. The exception was a new cable company supplied “cable modem” at my former volunteer job. That was really locked down. I could see some settings, but they were configured remotely by the carrier. I called my support people, not the cable company. I was told that all the important security features were controlled by our own router. Everything worked fine. No Wi-Fi per our specs, so still no spurious neighborhood experience.
At least five years ago, one of the public radio stations did a small story. It was an interview with a local New England law enforcement officer, possibly a police chief. The interviewer wanted to know if a very old (1800s?) law that made spitting on the sidewalk a hanging offense was still in effect. The LEO said it was, but it was never enforced, at least the hanging part. Why not repeal it? No, we leave it on the books, even though we will ‘never’ use it. Right.
I did a quick search, and found nothing relevant. This was nowhere near April first, so I believe the story was not a spoof, but who knows?
I have heard of lots of laws with less serious penalties that are ‘never enforced’ until they are useful. I know it would be a massive effort to clean up the books, but I think it would be a good idea. Maybe we could have new lawyers, the ones who do a lot of research, do this as a public service. Some of them work for peanuts. Let the jokes begin. 😉
I getting cable TV as the streaming feed is constantly buffering for 5 to 15 seconds.
My 6 month old LG TV has 4 HDMI (one 4K and one eARC/ARC) ports, 3 USB ports, and a LAN (ethernet) port.
The Spectrum model 110 modem has a HDMI port, an ethernet port, and an USB port. It does NOT have a cable out port. I was going to buy my own model and not rent Spectrum’s, however I cannot find a modem with am HDMI port.
Any suggestions?
@Lynn – The Fable instructions mostly work on Ubuntu 18.04.6.
Cygwin is probably not going to work because of the Miniconda Linux install script’s insistance on running under … Linux. Imagine. There are ways around that, but I didn’t want to push things.
I got the environment working well enough to pass the self tests, following the directions to use Python 2.7, the default on that version of Ubuntu.
Yet another college footbal program with well heeled alumni – including Warren Bufffett – needs a new head coach.
https://fanbuzz.com/college-football/scott-frost-fired/
Oh Christmas Tree. Oh Christmas Tree.
Nice pictures, Ray. I used to always carry a small camera, and got lots of good pictures as a result. Had to be careful about getting the film too hot, as I kept it in the car. Eventually, I left it at home except for trips, with the expected missed opportunities. That was an Olympus Pen D. I still have it, and it worked fine the last time I exercised it. Half frame, sometimes called single frame. I took lots of pictures with it, and almost replaced it with the Pen F, which was a nice very compact SLR system. Instead, I bought one of the first Asahi Pentax Spotmatic bodies with three lenses. Later, I bought a second body and more lenses. I still have all that, and it works. I would gladly give some of it to someone who would actually use it, but that is not likely. I did ask our local community college many years ago, and they weren’t interested. Not surprised.
I take quilt pictures for a newsletter once a month. These don’t have to be very high resolution, but color is important. A couple of days ago, I had taken a dozen pictures, and my wife later said there was one more. I used my Note 20 camera, just to see how well it would do. Of course, it did fine, with lots of detail. A bit overprocessed, though, on close inspection. Easily fixed in post processing. Yes, cell phones have come a long way.
>”What’s also annoying is that, after every (automatic) firmware update, the ISP’s WLAN gets turned back on.”
>”I doubt using the DMZ would disable the neighborhood Wi-Fi sharing, though.”
If I run into this problem, I’ll put the box in a Faraday cage. That means refusing to accept a wireless-only solution. It wouldn’t stop crypto mining, but I think that is going away now that “proof of stake” concepts have been worked out.
The HDMI has the network connection?
The last time we stopped at Tanner in Dallas pre-pandemic, they had a big bin full of the hybrid HDMI/ethernet cables.
Sadly, Tanner did not survive the last two years.
@bob, that’s a weird one…
n
@paul- my client (actually his buddy who got me the job) wants more control over the network than the DSL modem provides. Firewall, VPN, QoS settings, etc. With DSL there is a mode called “bridge” that just passes everything, and I mean everything, to the next device in line, in this case a Ubiquiti product. That device initiates and manages the connection, sorts and rejects incoming packets, etc. I have gotten it to work in the past, but as soon as there is any issue, ATT requires restoration to their default settings to isolate the problem. Then you have to do it all over again. My hope is that as a business service it is much easier to config for that mode.
n
BTW, I admire good attorneys the same as I admire surgeons. I just don’t ever want to need the services of either.
I’ve been using that method for large files for years, I found it much easier than DropBox which was the first alternative suggested to me.
My supplied gateway router allows me to save and restore its configuration to/from a file. Is that possible for you?
Easy fix! I tossed the albums into the files folder on my website.
–godaddy hosting specifically prohibits any files that aren’t linked from one of your own web pages, presumably to stop people doing this, or at least make it harder. Anyway, they did last time I read the TOS.
I’ve never had much luck with saving and restoring configs, most of the time I had to get it most of the way back before I could restore anything, so it was just as much work to do as to continue. I take pretty good notes at this point, doesn’t take long, but it is annoying to do 4 or 5 times in one day.
n
This sucks. Most of the graphics cards at my house are EVGA/Nvidia.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/evga-abandons-the-gpu-market-reportedly-citing-conflicts-with-nvidia
“iPhone 14 Satellite Provider to Fight SpaceX’s Starlink Over Spectrum Access”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/iphone-14-satellite-provider-to-fight-spacexs-starlink-over-spectrum-access
“Globalstar tells the FCC to refuse a SpaceX request granting access to the 1.6GHz and 2.4GHz bands for a satellite mobile service through Starlink.”
Now the elephants are really starting to dance.
@Lynn – The Fable instructions mostly work on Ubuntu 18.04.6.
Cygwin is probably not going to work because of the Miniconda Linux install script’s insistance on running under … Linux. Imagine. There are ways around that, but I didn’t want to push things.
I got the environment working well enough to pass the self tests, following the directions to use Python 2.7, the default on that version of Ubuntu.
Someone on Usenet Fortran group passed me an Ananconda Windows download link for CCTBX which includes Fable. I am playing with it now and trying to see what I can get working.
https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/cctbx-base/files
Gavin Newsom still can’t get over the embarrassment of his in-laws leaving California and buying a $3.3 million house in Naples, FL. They also donated $5000 to a DeSantis PAC, and the father-in-law registered Republican.
I guess we know who the in-laws are voting for in November – Charlie Crist!
Pssst, Dan Rather. What’s the frequency, Kenneth?
https://deadline.com/2022/09/newsom-challenges-desatis-debate-on-cnn-1235121245/
“Tesla is being sued over Autopilot and Elon Musk’s Full Self-Driving predictions”
https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/14/23353787/elon-musk-tesla-lawsuit-autopilot-full-self-driving-promises
Maybe they are working on an auto-driving system to Mars ?
Heh. Makes sense to me, but then I’m a Californian (for now).
I’ve wondered about this. Not enough to actually research it, but, you know. A Tums calms down an acid stomach. Mine, anyway. What does that acid stomach do to things like vitamin pills? And the various drugs doctors prescribe?
If I get real drunk and puke up my toenails, can the product be used for something like acid etching metal or replacing the acid in a battery?
Well, a topic for daytime TV talk shows.
It is a real quandry for the EPA as it defines a superfund site as anything with a pH lower than 2.0. So, potentially every person in the USA is a superfund site.
Out walking the dog this morning and another neighbor waved me down and said “We are moving, big yard sale tomorrow!”
Third neighbor in a year.
Tennessee, in this case. I’d say Texas, Idaho, Tennessee and Kentucky seem to be preferred destinations.
Cue Don Meridith … “Turn out the lights” …
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gpu-mining-is-now-unprofitable
The Intel card probably won’t end up in my daughter’s PC after all. Comparable 6 GB Nvidia cards are approaching that price point, half of what they were a few months ago.
Easy fix! I tossed the albums into the files folder on my website.
Yeah, done that a few times. But fewer and fewer people seem to know how to use (s)ftp.
Out walking the dog this morning and another neighbor waved me down and said “We are moving, big yard sale tomorrow!”
Third neighbor in a year.
Tennessee, in this case. I’d say Texas, Idaho, Tennessee and Kentucky seem to be preferred destinations.
Are you in California or New York State ?
Fifth Circuit Rejects First Amendment Challenge to Texas Social Media Common Carrier Law
Eugene Volokh | 9.16.2022 5:12 PM
from the first page of Judge Andrew Oldham’s opinion:
https://reason.com/volokh/2022/09/16/fifth-circuit-rejects-facial-challenge-to-texas-social-media-common-carrier-law/
Science is never settled.
Behind Closed Doors: American School Counselor Association Conference Exposed
yup, there’s lot’s more
https://pjmedia.com/culture/megan-fox/2022/09/16/behind-closed-doors-american-school-counselor-association-conference-exposed-n1629619
Conference was in July. What do you bet that your local scool district is suddenly making it very hard to determine if they sent anyone to that conference?
@lynn: California.
Oddly, despite its supposed popularity, I can only think of one person who has moved to Florida…and that was so they could welch off their mother there.
Oddly, despite its supposed popularity, I can only think of one person who has moved to Florida…and that was so they could welch off their mother there.
Hey, I saw that movie. “In Her Shoes”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Her_Shoes_(film)
Good chick flick. Only it was her grandmother, not her mother.
Caught a possum in the trap in the garage. He was calmly laying down, napping. Not so calm with my mug up in his grill!
Took him about a mile away and released him into the creek by the park. Took off like a shot.
IDK what the normal range of a possum is, but I hope this one is out of the garage for good. I’ve reset the trap though. I’ll cancel it tomorrow before going to the lake. Nothing gonna starve in a day or two, but no reason to have something locked up that long either.
n
Caught a possum in the trap in the garage. He was calmly laying down, napping. Not so calm with my mug up in his grill!
Took him about a mile away and released him into the creek by the park. Took off like a shot.
IDK what the normal range of a possum is, but I hope this one is out of the garage for good. I’ve reset the trap though. I’ll cancel it tomorrow before going to the lake. Nothing gonna starve in a day or two, but no reason to have something locked up that long either.
n
Thank you for not killing him. Possums eat ticks.
No ticks in my yard, this guy was eating Ramen noodles.
n
@nick
I had mice in my garage several years ago. I found out the hard way that mice can find their way home from roughly a mile away. Not sure if possums can do better though. Hope it works!
@gavin, thanks, I’ve got his mugshot, so I’ll be waiting.
I really can’t have him living in my attic and destroying my food though. He’s been spoiling a shocking amount of stuff every day.
n
@gavin, thanks, I’ve got his mugshot, so I’ll be waiting.
I really can’t have him living in my attic and destroying my food though. He’s been spoiling a shocking amount of stuff every day.
n
They get up to 45 lbs out here by the river. My neighbor’s lab got into one walking the fence line between us. The possum bear hugged his lab and ripped his guts out with his feet. He got the dog to the vet and the dog spent a month there after the vet rebuilt its stomach and intestines. $6,000 bill. Treat them with respect.
>> I have heard of lots of laws with less serious penalties that are ‘never enforced’ until they are useful. I know it would be a massive effort to clean up the books, but I think it would be a good idea. Maybe we could have new lawyers, the ones who do a lot of research, do this as a public service. Some of them work for peanuts. Let the jokes begin.
You’re joking about having new lawyers, right? We have more than enough as it is!
No, not more lawyers. Ones just starting out, interns if they were doctors. My proposal is that they could look through existing laws for items that need deleting or revising. The legislature would have to take action. I realize this might be impractical, but don’t know how better to address the issue.
Going forward, all new legislation should be written with expiration periods. Most people don’t realize how much stuff is on the books, and would gladly see much of it deleted or at least modified to make better sense.
I am reasonably sure this has been proposed before. It might be impractical, but not compared to the ever-growing glut of laws we have now.
moved to Sat