Thur. April 4, 2019 – weird dream, small town

By on April 4th, 2019 in Random Stuff

Weather station says 68F and 99%RH. Which it certainly could be.

I woke from a dream that was both mundane and very vivid. I was in a small town, showing someone where things were. I saw the main street clearly, with one and two story red brick buildings lining the street. I was telling someone that things were hidden in plain sight there, and then I noticed the plaque on one doorway – The Ancient and Royal Order of Culture Gatherers. Dream me thought it was a bar. Awake me thinks it’s time travelers or aliens. No hits on google verbatim.

Well, I’ve got a bunch of errands to run this AM and I’ve got to get ready to provide lighting for our “Spring Carnival” at school tomorrow night. The rain held off yesterday, but I think it might get us today.

For some reason, two movie quotes are running thru my head. I think I know where they’re from.

Marvin the paranoid android- “Life, bah. Overrated.”
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty- “Only human.”

Both sneering.

n

60 Comments and discussion on "Thur. April 4, 2019 – weird dream, small town"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, the weather station was correct. And the 99%RH is because of the light misty drizzle. Yuck.

    In other news, water is wet, gravity sucks, and the check’s in the mail….

    Intelligent children face a greater risk of being bullied at school, according to a study.

    Others more likely to be targeted included those with depression or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as those who were overweight.”

    Someone got paid to do this study. Think about that.

    n

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    I don’t think anyone here goes in for this sort of thing, but there are plenty of guys on the interwebs who do. Don’t be this guy.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6881769/Two-neighbors-arrested-taking-turns-shooting-wearing-bulletproof-vest.html

    “Priest and his neighbor are arrested after taking turns shooting each other while wearing a bulletproof vest – but he initially tells police he was injured saving an ‘asset’ from assassination

    Charles Ferris, 50, and 36-year-old Christopher Hicks arrested in Arkansas on suspicion of aggravated assault
    Ferris is a married father-of-two and describes himself as an Evangelical Anglican priest. He is the founder of a Knights Templar-inspired church
    He and his neighbor were drinking Sunday night when Ferris told Hicks to shoot him with a .22-caliber semi-automatic rifle
    Ferris was wearing a bulletproof vest but the shot left a red mark on his chest and he was angry because it hurt
    The priest then allegedly grabbed the gun and unloaded the clip into Hicks’ back while he was wearing the vest”

    I wonder if all the knives on display are because he’s a prohibited person when it comes to firearms?

    n

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    Intelligent children face a greater risk of being bullied at school

    I would say that is true. Unless the person is a jock. I could have reached the same conclusion without some expensive study.

    I was bullied in high school. Wore glasses, took advanced math and science classes (as little English and history as possible), carried a slide rule and occasionally drove a loaded hay truck to school. Yeh, I was doomed. Got into my share of fights, winning the majority. One of the jocks in the same advanced classes as mine did not suffer the same abuse.

  4. Harold Combs says:

    It’s 55f and raining pretty hard this morning in the Bluff City. We don’t need more rain. It seems to have rained almost every day since Thanksgiving. Our lawns are swamps. Enough already. I thought this Global Warming / Climate Change brought drought?
    I have been fighting with the Cisco / OpenDNS Umbrella product. It does the basics very well but the way it implements policies, precedence and inheritance is screwy. AND it has a Policy Tester function to tell you exactly what policy is applied to any person or group. However it’s not reliable. Sigh. We bought Umbrella to replace Websense / ForcePoint as our Internet Filter but ForcePoint was MUCH easier to manage. Latest word is that we will be replacing Umbrella with a product from Palo Alto as they now have our contract for all firewalls. Always something new to learn.
    When I retire, if my wife ever lets me, I may go back into consulting part time just to spread some of this experience around.

  5. Harold Combs says:

    Everybody Celebrate … It’s National Burrito Day
    Check this out on the specials available today.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/04/03/national-burrito-day-2019-where-find-burrito-deals-thursday/3345069002/

    OH WAIT … you can’t touch that Burrito unless you are Mexican or else you are GUILTY of Cultural Appropriation … GASP !

  6. CowboySlim says:

    My grandchildren are 1/4, can I buy them one and sneak a bite?

  7. JimB says:

    Nick, when you said “Marvin the paranoid android”, I hadn’t had any coffee yet. I instinctively looked it up before I recognized the character. My first thought was Marvin the Martian, which is a Looney Tunes character, and more my speed. Maybe I am not that thick-headed: it was also Wikipedia’s alternate reference. I have often said that cartoons (not necessarily animated) explain a lot. Some here would agree. You know who you are 🙂

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Nick, when you said “Marvin the paranoid android”, I hadn’t had any coffee yet. I instinctively looked it up before I recognized the character.

    If you’ve never seen it, find the 1980-ish BBC miniseries of “Hitchhikers Guide”.

    Skip the Disney film. The BBC miniseries nailed it 40 years ago and holds up well.

    I have often said that cartoons (not necessarily animated) explain a lot. Some here would agree. You know who you are

    Certain 80s ‘B’ grade comedies capture the era much better than a lot of serious movies and/or flicks considered to be “good”.

  9. JLP says:

    The Hitchhiker’s Guide BBC miniseries is on Hulu. I watched it last week. I still think it’s funny after all these years. If fits my very silly sense of humor.

    In other news, I’m still unemployed after 2 months. I keep plugging away at it. I’m coming to the realization that I may end up with a job in Cambridge (Massachusetts). The commute would be a dreaded 1.5 hours each way by train or car. That would be a real blow to my quality of life.

    I guess I should seriously consider some other career directions, but that is hard at 53 years old.

  10. Ray Thompson says:

    I guess I should seriously consider some other career directions, but that is hard at 53 years old.

    In the mean time consider subbing at a local school. Not much money but can get you through. No downside to turning down a sub assignment. Worked for me when I was out of work for several months. I was 50 years old and had been let go (fired, best thing they did for me).

    I eventually took a dead end job which was just fine. The pay was enough to make ends meet plus a little extra. No chance for advancement. But my nights and weekends were now mine. My replacement, whom I knew from prior employment, was looking for such a job. Little pressure, nothing that ever needed immediate fixing (failures on a weekend could wait until Monday).

    Good luck in the search and don’t skip the smaller organizations. My final job was only 13 people in the entire organization.

  11. lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: coffee is good for you
    https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2019/04/04

    Heh. Wait, I think I know her.

  12. Harold Combs says:

    I guess I should seriously consider some other career directions, but that is hard at 53 years old.

    Been There. At 55 I was let go as IT manager and spent 6 months on the hunt. It’s VERY depressing. I was lucky to get hired to a lowly security architect role after 6 months of FUD (Fear/Uncertainty/Doubt). I had to put up with criminal incompetence of my management for 11 years simply to make it to retirement. Luckily, when my VP’s lies caught up with him last year, I was in the clear and kept my position. I made sure that I never signed off on any of his stupid decisions. I am now on the last leg to retirement and would happily take an early severance with a package. Hang in there.

    PS: Being a prepper, I had plenty of stored food basics to keep living costs low while on the bench.

  13. lynn says:

    In other news, I’m still unemployed after 2 months. I keep plugging away at it. I’m coming to the realization that I may end up with a job in Cambridge (Massachusetts). The commute would be a dreaded 1.5 hours each way by train or car. That would be a real blow to my quality of life.

    Good luck ! Don’t pass up anything, employers always want to hire someone who has a job (pack psychology). Once you have a job, everyone wants to talk with you.

  14. lynn says:

    I am amazed at Amazon Prime. I got about 100 lbs of LED light fixtures and 50+ sets of stainless bolts shipped to me for FREE using second day delivery. Of course, I spent about a $1,000 on the stuff so the shipping may be hidden in there. And, it is the wife’s Amazon Prime that they let me join into for FREE also. A family plan with no extra charge. Unlike Netflix who charges us an extra $4/month for three users (still a bargain).

  15. lynn says:

    “As migrant surge continues, El Paso’s safety net is feeling the strain”
    https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/04/migrant-surge-el-paso-border-safety-net-strained/

    “Federal agencies have re-directed agents to deal with a growing wave of migrants and the president is threatening to close the border. Meanwhile, local shelters face a daily dilemma: 500 to 600 new arrivals who need somewhere to go.”

    This is freaking crazy. We need to be running these people right back across the border.

    Hat tip to:
    https://drudgereport.com/

  16. lynn says:

    “Is the cost of your gasoline about to rise? Washington looks ready to talk about a tax hike”
    https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article228794204.html

    “Federal fuel taxes were last raised since 1993, and every time members of Congress try for an increase, they’re up against conservative refusals and liberal reluctance.”

    I am ok with raising the federal gasoline and diesel taxes a nickel a gallon each year. We needed to do this years ago. The federal highway fund has been stealing from the general fund for years now. I am a big fan of use taxes as these are closest to the people.

    Hat tip to:
    https://drudgereport.com/

  17. lynn says:

    “2019 Hugo Award Finalists Announced”
    https://www.tor.com/2019/04/02/2019-hugo-award-finalists-announced/

    “Best Novel

    The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
    Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
    Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
    Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
    Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan)
    Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)”

    I have never even heard of these people.

    “Best Novella

    Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
    Beneath the Sugar Sky, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)
    Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com Publishing)
    The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
    Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, by Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing)
    The Tea Master and the Detective, by Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean Press / JABberwocky Literary Agency)”

    Ok, my cousin made it to this list, otherwise I not heard of the rest of them.

    Yup, I am out of touch with the mainstream of SF/F and I don’t care.

  18. JLP says:

    Thanks for the advice, guys. All good.

    It is very disheartening to get a rejection for a job you know you can do. Not even get to the first phone interview phase sometimes. That is usually due to the HR bot using a preset criteria. My big issue is that I don’t have a PhD. Many of the jobs I’m looking at will say “PhD with 5 to 10 years relevant experience or BS with 10 to 20 years relevant experience”. I’ve got the the BS and 30 years experience but they are picking PhDs first.

    I know (from first hand experience) that many of the foreign PhDs flooding the markets are not really worth the paper they are printed on. The company my sister works for has started to use a service to validate foreign degrees. She says the number that turn out to be bogus or from minimal programs (a PhD in 2 years) is substantial.

  19. Ray Thompson says:

    I am a big fan of use taxes as these are closest to the people.

    What about electric cars that use the highways and pay no fuel taxes? What happens if large fleets of heavy trucks (which do the most damage to the roads) start appearing? Some states have floated the idea of a mileage tax to cover electric vehicles. Of course those mileage taxes have people with petrol engines still paying the tax at the pump, double taxed on their vehicle.

    It is very disheartening to get a rejection for a job you know you can do

    Yes, it is very depressing. Almost to the point of giving up.

    Don’t be afraid to take a job outside your field of expertise. Subbing allows you to still attend interviews without penalty. Other jobs, such as part time at UPS may be an option. Anything to keep the revenue stream going.

    My first big layoff lasted 6 months. Companies wanted dozens of years of experience and were paying entry level wages. I turned down a couple of those in the early months of being laid off. Later on I took a job that really sucked, but was in IT as I needed something to tide me over until something better came along. I worked there four months and basically what I did the entire time was worthless. Owner wanted to have a completely new banking system written with a staff of about 5 people. That was never going to happen and I knew it. I was to design the system. What I gave him was worth little more than dryer lint.

    I was fortunate that I knew my layoff was coming a year in advance. Contract I was on got awarded to a company in San Antonio. A company the guy that awarded the contract to went to work for when he retired from civil service. Really a fraudulent deal. Several of on the contract tried to get the attention of congress but were shot down as trouble makers.

    I was able to prepare for the event slamming back as much cash as I could. I had many debts, credit card, vehicle and home that were really a strain. Unemployment plus the subbing got us through but we were down to our last $500.00. That is when the pressure and the strain got real. Lot of sleepless nights and anguish during the day.

    Hang in there. The economy is stronger now than when I was looking for a job. There is something out there. Find something that can tide you over while you look for something in your field. Use connections, contact people you know as they can sometimes get your documents past HR clueless clowns.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    I know (from first hand experience) that many of the foreign PhDs flooding the markets are not really worth the paper they are printed on. The company my sister works for has started to use a service to validate foreign degrees. She says the number that turn out to be bogus or from minimal programs (a PhD in 2 years) is substantial.

    I was one of only two real Teaching Assistants by title in my grad program because I could produce a certified transcript from my undergraduate institution. The other TA attended undergrad in the CS department so they knew her credentials were good.

    As for the rest? I’m still puzzling over that one.

  21. JimL says:

    It may be just me, but a disproportionate number of those names seem to be female. That does not seem to be the proportion I see in bookstores or on Amazon. Is there a good reason for that?

    I’ll also note that I haven’t heard of ANY of them yet.

  22. Greg Norton says:

    It may be just me, but a disproportionate number of those names seem to be female. That does not seem to be the proportion I see in bookstores or on Amazon. Is there a good reason for that?

    Hugo awards are political.

    Who goes to a bookstore anymore?

  23. lynn says:

    I am a big fan of use taxes as these are closest to the people.

    What about electric cars that use the highways and pay no fuel taxes? What happens if large fleets of heavy trucks (which do the most damage to the roads) start appearing? Some states have floated the idea of a mileage tax to cover electric vehicles. Of course those mileage taxes have people with petrol engines still paying the tax at the pump, double taxed on their vehicle.

    Total electric vehicles are still less than one percent of the populace out there. And yes, they need to pay also. I am not a fan of the mileage tax due to the privacy concerns of them tracking your vehicle wherever you go. Unless the mileage tax is logged and paid once per year.

  24. Greg Norton says:

    Total electric vehicles are still less than one percent of the populace out there. And yes, they need to pay also. I am not a fan of the mileage tax due to the privacy concerns of them tracking your vehicle wherever you go. Unless the mileage tax is logged and paid once per year.

    IIRC, the State of Oregin received permission to run a pilot program in their effort to toll all of the Interstate miles on I-5 and I-205 from the Columbia River down to Wilsonville. They’re going to start with two plazas on heavily traveled stretches of the not-so-freeway.

    I have no doubt they’re going to get us involved to outfit the plazas.

    If it works out for Oregon, every major metro is going to want a piece of that action.

  25. Harold Combs says:

    My big issue is that I don’t have a PhD.

    Don’t despair. I never got any degree. Went into programming after 2 years college to support myself and new wife. I was natural at programming and systems analysis and went from job to job every two years moving up in ability and responsibility. This was the 70’s and 80’s. Then, in the early 80’s, I got a position at a company in nowhere Arkansas (Harrison) because I wanted to move my growing family to a rural setting. This turned out to be my lucky break. The firm was just investing in a new technology, Network Computing. They had bought a bunch of DataPoint ArcNet gear to automate their warehouse systems. Since no one there knew anything about networking, I was sent to six weeks of networking and communications classes at DataPoint HQ in San Antonio TX. Those six weeks changed my life. I learned the ArcNet token passing and Ethernet network protocols. Then we covered Sync / BiSync and SDLC mainframe protocols to allow us to understand how the DataPoint 2200 intelligent terminals could emulate 3270 and 5250 terminals. It was a fantastic boot camp in data communications. Knowing Ethernet & TCP/IP in 1985 was better than any PHD.

  26. Ray Thompson says:

    Oregin received permission to run a pilot program in their effort to toll all of the Interstate miles on I-5 and I-205 from the Columbia River down to Wilsonville

    That is nothing more than a revenue grab from the state or Oregin. There is no sales tax so the state uses property taxes and any other means of taxing people. Those with gasoline or diesel vehicles will paying for the road twice, once in fuel taxes, again in road tolls.

    It is a mystery to me as to how a state can charge people to use a road that was paid for by federal funds. Yes, maintenance is up to the state but the states get significant funds from the federal government to maintain the federal highways. I suspect some of those funds are diverted to other projects. Funny money buckets.

    One thing is certain, governments when given the opportunity will find more ways to take money from people without their permission. The entire left coast is full of money grubbing officials.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    It is a mystery to me as to how a state can charge people to use a road that was paid for by federal funds. Yes, maintenance is up to the state but the states get significant funds from the federal government to maintain the federal highways. I suspect some of those funds are diverted to other projects. Funny money buckets.

    Oregon has lots of funny money buckets. Google for the story of SolarWorld.

    The real target of the tolls will be commuters from WA State heading into work in Downtown Portland or to tech jobs in Wilsonville (Xerox among others). The first plazas will be strategically located to hit those folks first.

    Intel in Hillsboro gets a pass … for now.

  28. Ray Thompson says:

    The real target of the tolls will be commuters from WA State heading into work in Downtown Portland

    Many of those people shop in Oregon to avoid paying state sales tax in Washington state. I know if I lived on the southern part of Washington close to a crossing into Oregon that is exactly what I would do. Of course the law says you are supposed to report your purchases, yeh right.

    I am afraid that if this toll process works well for Oregon other states will follow. Florida has many toll roads but not I-State (I don’t think). A lot of Florida toll roads have deceptive entrances that fork a driver into a point of no return. You have to pay the toll, get off at the next exit, get back on to go back where you wanted and have to pay another toll. Locals know this, tourists don’t, the real target of toll roads.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    I am afraid that if this toll process works well for Oregon other states will follow. Florida has many toll roads but not I-State (I don’t think). A lot of Florida toll roads have deceptive entrances that fork a driver into a point of no return. You have to pay the toll, get off at the next exit, get back on to go back where you wanted and have to pay another toll. Locals know this, tourists don’t, the real target of toll roads.

    You’ve driven the Osceola Parkway. 🙂

    The best way around Florida toll roads is to use a map app. The problem is that you may not like the alternatives, especially in tourist areas like Orlando.

    And Florida is not nearly as bad as Texas. Try driving from Downton Austin to the commercial district of Pflugerville or the grand prix track without paying a toll.

  30. Greg Norton says:

    Many of those people shop in Oregon to avoid paying state sales tax in Washington state. I know if I lived on the southern part of Washington close to a crossing into Oregon that is exactly what I would do. Of course the law says you are supposed to report your purchases, yeh right.

    Eh, Oregon isn’t *too* upset. The Portland Apple Store is the busiest in the US in part because of Canadians driving down to avoid the 22% tax on laptop/desktop computers. Without the sales tax break, retail in Oregon would look like the other side of the river in Vantucky — bare minimum grocery, Target, Walmart, Goodwill, and Papa Murphy’s, the pizza chain subsidized by food stamps.

    Oregon’s real goal is to get the Columbia River Crossing I-5 bridge built which will allow them to extend their transit taxes into SW WA State because the bridge has to include light rail according to the agreement signed by the states. Whenever you read stories about the delay in the new bridge, that’s the primary issue.

  31. lynn says:

    “ET302 used the Cut-Out switches to stop MCAS”
    https://leehamnews.com/2019/04/03/et302-used-the-cut-out-switches-to-stop-mcas/

    “April 03, 2019, © Leeham News: The crew of Ethiopian Airlines ET302, which crashed with 157 people on board, used the prescribed Stabilator Trim Cut-Out switches to stop MCAS, according to an article by Wall Street Journal today. Yet still, they crashed. We’ve had the information this could indeed be the case for several days, but we didn’t want to speculate in such a sensitive matter.”

    “The Wall Street article cites information coming from the investigation. By it, we can now reveal how it’s possible the aircraft can crash despite using the Cut-Out switches. To verify, we ran it all in a simulator together with MentourPilot Youtube channel over the last days.”

    It is beginning to look like the 737 MAX may have an inherent stability problem and not be savable. I wonder if Boeing can take that kind of a hit ?

  32. lynn says:

    Ladies and Gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure I give you the Vespa 150 TAP, a French built anti-tank motor scooter.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa_150_TAP

    Indiana Jones would have loved this vehicle.

  33. JimL says:

    It is beginning to look like the 737 MAX may have an inherent stability problem and not be savable. I wonder if Boeing can take that kind of a hit ?

    I wonder if the industry can take that kind of a hit.

    It will be savable. Some of the best minds in the world will be working on it.

  34. Greg Norton says:

    It is beginning to look like the 737 MAX may have an inherent stability problem and not be savable. I wonder if Boeing can take that kind of a hit ?

    Looking at the stock chart, the market still has confidence in Boeing. Volumes were high on the way down, but went back to more reasonable levels after the price bounced off the critical MA at 200 days.

    Boeing would be in the low $300s or worse if something bad was in the wind.

  35. lynn says:

    It is beginning to look like the 737 MAX may have an inherent stability problem and not be savable. I wonder if Boeing can take that kind of a hit ?

    I wonder if the industry can take that kind of a hit.

    It will be savable. Some of the best minds in the world will be working on it.

    I am not an aircraft designer. But what looks like to me is that the landing gear needs to be lengthened and the engines moved back to under the wings. Those new 6:1 ultra bypass turbofans are awesome on the fuel but they are very wide. But in order to lengthen the landing gear, apparently they are going to have to design a new “box frame” that the landing gear rise into. Sounds like a new plane.

    I am not interested in riding on one of these planes for sure now. That article sealed the deal for me.

  36. ech says:

    I have never even heard of these people.

    Naomi Novik wrote the “Her Majesty’s Dragon” series – the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. Very highly regarded. I’ve read some of it and liked it. It is, however, a book that I will need to catch on with. Sometimes, I have to be in the right mood for a book to catch and hold my attention. No fault of the book, I just am like that sometimes.

    Oh, and the author of the “Bobiverse” series has a new book out, “The Singularity Trap”, a standalone. Pretty good.

    Trigger Warning: the author set the book in a world that has problems with AGW causing ecologic disaster. (Why they don’t do some geoengineering if they can do some of the things in the book is beyond me.)

  37. lynn says:

    Oh, and the author of the “Bobiverse” series has a new book out, “The Singularity Trap”, a standalone. Pretty good.

    Thanks, already bought and read. I gave it five out of five stars. I am the second review on Big River.
    https://www.amazon.com/Singularity-Trap-Dennis-Taylor/dp/1680680889/?tag=ttgnet-20

  38. lynn says:

    “The end of the desktop?”
    https://www.computerworld.com/article/3384713/the-end-of-the-desktop.html

    “Microsoft is introducing the Windows Virtual Desktop, and ushering in the end of the traditional PC desktop operating system.”

    Ugggh. Just one security disaster away from disaster.

  39. ayj says:

    well, my last job as it mgr was at 55, they fired, after that a couple of consulting and now cruising to retirement (bah, our gvnt gives a slice of bread only, so the only rtrmt is whatever you build saved in hard currency (yes, dont smile, usd).
    Now on a non managerial job, pretty burocratic, if something arises, will do, if not, no, IT is always an eternal deja vu.
    why, I dont know but maybe paradigm arises time to time, from IBM SNA to today, mmmmm (yes I began with this in the 70s)
    well i ll try to put rant mode off

    cheers

    PS, Lynn I remind your issues with decompiling etc on non paying customers, have you installed a pair of hashes and coded vis a vis with true random sources?

  40. lynn says:

    PS, Lynn I remind your issues with decompiling etc on non paying customers, have you installed a pair of hashes and coded vis a vis with true random sources?

    Uh, maybe ? I really hate to say what we did. Other than we did was somewhat random. It has stopped any of the decompilers from operating so far. But, they have our older releases which are pretty dadgum good software.

    Actually, the decompilers were fairly smart. We now use public key / private key cryptography (screw you NSA and FBI !). They searched for our public key in the Windows EXE / DLL files and replaced them with their own public key. We dropped our jaws when we saw that. They cannot easily do that anymore.

    Oh yeah, one of the redistributors added their own homegrown virus to the modified software. I thought that was a special touch.

  41. Nick Flandrey says:

    WRT the Hugos, they’re nothing but politics and SJW posturing.

    Mary Robinette Kowal was one of the biggest ‘puppy kickers’ during the Sad Puppy Hugo revolt. Note the predominance of Tor authors. That’s not a mistake either. Peter over at Bayou Renaissance Man had some comments about that in the past. Larry Correia pretty conclusively proved that the Hugos had descended into a circle jerk for Tor and a few authors. I joined Worldcon so I could vote that year and got most of the nominees to read for free (as part of the membership). They were almost all horrible.

    I read pretty much everything Seanan McQuire writes, and it’s heavy on the SJW talking points. Sometimes it’s well integrated to the story, and sometimes it feels like she grafted it on later when someone noticed it was missing. She writes some compelling stories though, so I’m willing to put up with a certain amount of it. The others, not so much.

    n

  42. Nick Flandrey says:

    Marvin the paranoid android- “Life, bah. Overrated.”

    –I got it wrong, it was “Life, don’t talk to me about life….”

    n

  43. Ray Thompson says:

    Wow! I was just checking the device list in my wireless router. With just the wife and I there are 25 devices connected to the router. I checked the list and every device is valid. Only 5 devices are connected by cable. I did not realize I had that many wireless devices connected. Not one of them is a FLASHLIGHT.

  44. Nick Flandrey says:

    @ray, when I set up my defaults for IP assignments, I never thought I’d need more than 20 addresses. That hasn’t been true for years now.

    I just ran my IP scanner and I got 35 hits. I am positive that not every device that normally connects is on or awake. If I got all the kindles on line, there would be at least 7 or 10 more. I don’t let my phone connect to wifi normally either. One printer is off, and my 3d printer isn’t on. Game consoles are asleep…. NAS is in the safe, etc.

    The TVs never get connected, nor the AV amp.

    In other words, I probably have another 20 devices that could be connected or connect at various times.

    n

  45. Greg Norton says:

    I am not an aircraft designer. But what looks like to me is that the landing gear needs to be lengthened and the engines moved back to under the wings.

    In other words, build a 757.

    The 737 is popular with airlines serving third world sh*tholes and smaller first world markets because of the short runway requirements and a ground clearance which allows for a retractable stair option.

    Boeing put the knife to the Long Beach MD operations so the DC-9 variants are long gone. Ending the 737 would mean conceding the small jetliner to Airbus just as Mobile is cranking up to make the A220.

    I sale a *lot* of C220s on the tarmac at O’Scare two weeks ago.

  46. Greg Norton says:

    “Microsoft is introducing the Windows Virtual Desktop, and ushering in the end of the traditional PC desktop operating system.”

    Ugggh. Just one security disaster away from disaster.

    Hotel WiFi, especially in big conference areas.

    Lately, I make a point of traveling with my Linux-only laptop running Linux Mint. The combination works pretty well.

    I gave up Windows 7 on my 2007 MacBook Pro, and I installed Pop OS, a homegrown Linux distribution from System76. The jury is still out on that experiment.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    Actually, the decompilers were fairly smart. We now use public key / private key cryptography (screw you NSA and FBI !). They searched for our public key in the Windows EXE / DLL files and replaced them with their own public key. We dropped our jaws when we saw that. They cannot easily do that anymore.

    You run your own CA for signing the public keys or use a third party?

    Contrary to popular belief, the iPhone hitting the market did not immediately kill Blackberry. What killed Blackberry was the management turning over the signing keys for their CA to the Arab countries in return for clearance to sell the crypto in their jurisdictions. Effectively, this made the much-vaunted Blackberry security useless in places like Saudi Arabia, who used high-end routers from Rick Scott’s Cyberguard to read Blackberry users’ emails sent from within their borders.

    If state-level actors have the signing keys for your email device of choice, you might as well go to an iPhone with better UI … and home encoded video porn.

  48. lynn says:

    You run your own CA for signing the public keys or use a third party?

    Uh, why would I use a third party when our key usage is internal ? It is totally internal, no CA required.

    The difference is the public key is embedded in the outside version of our software. The private key is only in the password generator of our software which is controlled distribution to certain individuals.

  49. lynn says:

    I am not an aircraft designer. But what looks like to me is that the landing gear needs to be lengthened and the engines moved back to under the wings.

    In other words, build a 757.

    Yup. With the new ultra high bypass engines. If the 737 MAX is canned then Boeing might have to have a backup plan.

  50. Jenny says:

    Regarding aging, age discrimination in the workforce, and job hunting.
    I haven’t job hunted for a number of years however am edging into the age where employers find convenient reason to fire you. I do not have a college degree. I’ve been in IT over 25 years, broad experience (Oracle, Windows front and back end, pulling cable, programming phones, and now mainframe – whuf).

    As I’ve mentioned before I’m taking classes ($100 each) with University of the People, a nationally accredited (DEAC) school, for my AS then CS in Computer Science. This will permit me to tick the ever important checkbox ‘has college degree’.

    I’m in the 2 week gap between terms. I’ve read the syllabus for my two upcoming classes and am trying to get a jump on the more difficult class. I am not a programmer. I have little desire to be a programmer – my brain doesn’t work ‘that way’ since the car crash.

    However

    I am having an ABSOLUTE BLAST getting a headstart on the next class. The coursework is from nand2tetris.org, and I found the lectures (recorded by the authors) on coursera.org

    I am having so much fun building logic gates and am eagerly looking forward to assembling them into a virtual computer. I’ve got a breadboard and some bits and pieces rattling around a desk drawer somewhere. This weekend I’m going to assemble some of the logic gates so I can see how they work in real life. The course uses boolean algebra and I’m using the formulas associated with the gates to write the hdl code.

    I did NOT expect this to be such a blast. I am enjoying it far more than the two terms of Java.

    https://www.coursera.org/learn/build-a-computer

    (and I broke my website with a poorly conceived WordPress update – I know better than doing that stuff at 10 PM… Fixing it is a weekend project)

  51. Greg Norton says:

    Yup. With the new ultra high bypass engines. If the 737 MAX is canned then Boeing might have to have a backup plan.

    The “797” will replace the 757/767.

    I doubt Boeing will make another single aisle plane as big as the 757-200. The turnaround time is too critical these days, and everybody has a carry on.

    They’ll fix the 737MAX. Renton is going away eventually since the real estate is just too valuable, and Seattle is increasingly unaffordable even to those with cushy union final plane assembly jobs.

  52. CowboySlim says:

    I am not an aircraft designer.

    I was.

  53. Nick Flandrey says:

    @jenny, that’s awesome that you are having fun!

    Any quake related wrap up??

    n

  54. JimL says:

    @CowboySlim – your take? Will they be able to save the 737 Max? By that I mean will they be able to save enough of the airframe that they’ll be able to retrofit the extant planes and not wind up scrapping them?

  55. Roger Ritter says:

    Then, in the early 80’s, I got a position at a company in nowhere Arkansas (Harrison) because I wanted to move my growing family to a rural setting. This turned out to be my lucky break. The firm was just investing in a new technology, Network Computing. They had bought a bunch of DataPoint ArcNet gear to automate their warehouse systems. Since no one there knew anything about networking, I was sent to six weeks of networking and communications classes at DataPoint HQ in San Antonio TX.

    Small world. I was a fresh-out-of-college computer programmer working at Datapoint in San Antonio between 1979 and 1985. Started off doing QA for the operating system, and moved into development on the office automation suite – mainly VistaMail, Datapoint’s e-mail system.

  56. Ray Thompson says:

    computer programmer working at Datapoint in San Antonio between 1979 and 1985

    I was working at NBC (National Bancshares Corporation) starting in 1981. The bank purchased several DataPoint computer systems to use in the bank. I involved in the initial project but was eventually moved off. The project was eventually cancelled as the PC’s were entering the mainstream. IBM had good marketing people and convinced many managers that IBM was the way to the future. DataPoint stuff, while excellent equipment, was just too expensive, the programming language, DataBus, was just strange and would never make mainstream and the marketing at DataPoint was just not real good. Shame as the systems were quite fast (for the time) and the networking was very good.

    Same thing happened to the Burroughs B20 in the mid 80’s. Nice little systems. Modular and easily maintained in case of hardware failure. Networking was excellent as was the setup for administration purposes. But poor marketing against IBM really killed that whole line of computers.

  57. Greg Norton says:

    Uh, why would I use a third party when our key usage is internal ? It is totally internal, no CA required.

    The difference is the public key is embedded in the outside version of our software. The private key is only in the password generator of our software which is controlled distribution to certain individuals.

    Not an SSL connection? So you encrypt the password directly with the public key and decrypt with the private key on the server?

  58. lynn says:

    The difference is the public key is embedded in the outside version of our software. The private key is only in the password generator of our software which is controlled distribution to certain individuals.

    Not an SSL connection? So you encrypt the password directly with the public key and decrypt with the private key on the server?

    We cannot depend on our customers having an internet connection. So we encrypt the password using the private key. Our software decrypts the password in the field using the public key. Just like the old PGP software.

    Control of the private key is paramount to any encrypted item. You have lesser control of the public key since that has to go out into the wild.

  59. lynn says:

    I doubt Boeing will make another single aisle plane as big as the 757-200. The turnaround time is too critical these days, and everybody has a carry on.

    They’ll fix the 737MAX. Renton is going away eventually since the real estate is just too valuable, and Seattle is increasingly unaffordable even to those with cushy union final plane assembly jobs.

    Isn’t the capacity of the 737 MAX roughly the same as the 757-200 ?

    The 757-200 is 200 people according to:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_757

    The 737 MAX is 153/178/193/204 people for models 7/8/9/10 in single class configuration according to:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737

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