Mon. Nov. 15, 2021 – which is crazy, since that means we’re half way thru November

By on November 15th, 2021 in computing, personal, technology, WuFlu

Cool and clear, with sun! Supposedly for the next few days the weather will be nice. I hope so. It was Sunday, with a bit of dark scattered cloudiness in the afternoon, clearing later.

I spent Sunday cleaning the house, hoeing weeds in the raised beds, greeting my returning pack members, and generally doing home front things.

Later in the evening, I sat down to do some quick drawings for my install this week. Oy vey. When I was doing it full time, I used a specialist CAD package tied to a DB for system layout drawings. I even bought my own copy when I went independent, for $1500 US. It’s been a while, and I don’t even have it installed anymore, but I looked and I can D/L the fully functional demo for free. So I did. And 8 years later it still sucks. The main selling point is their library of symbols for all the av gear you might put in the drawings. 1200 manufacturers, many thousands of symbols. And they suck. Balls. Still. Back in the day I ended up drawing about 1/3 to 1/2 of the symbols myself and I am still seeing the same thing. No rack gear symbol for Directv receivers? REALLY? They have schematic blocks for the DVRs, but no “front view” for the rack layout drawing.

Worse, the style of all the symbols is horrible. I’d need to print C size or bigger just to get text labels that were readable, and since that used to be one of the major problems with the software, I’m not even sure that would work.

I’ll be taking a big drawing pad to site, free handing the layout, and then drawing it from scratch in Visio. At least in Visio I can produce a good looking drawing that accurately and simply conveys the information needed. And once I get back in the groove, I’m almost faster producing the ‘stencils’ than looking them up in the other software and adding them to the drawing.

The same company also produced a tool that was the best in the business for what it did. It was called ‘Rack Tools’ and let you build drawings of equipment racks from their library of symbols, or easily add your own. I started my old version up, it phoned home (said there were updates, and asked, but I said Yes) and then bricked itself saying it wasn’t supported any longer. Flocking Axholes. I can’t even use the old version anymore? can’t open old drawings and print or copy them out…? I’ll reinstall the software, and not update, but iirc it phones home to ‘register’ so that might not even work. Who nukes your installed copy without warning? Jerks, that’s who.

Proprietary tools that self destruct are the absolute worst. And anyone who builds them that way sucks. I hope you get ransomwared out of business you jerks.

So that’s what I’m doing this week, starting today. Rip and replace, with some reused gear, that I’ll find out about today when I meet my partner on site. I don’t like ‘winging it’ for things like this. I like to solve as many of the issues before starting the work, because I know there will be plenty that arise as we go. But it is what it is.

Stacking some FRNs with this project, and for a while at least, they are a useful thing to stack.

Stack some of your own.

nick

65 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Nov. 15, 2021 – which is crazy, since that means we’re half way thru November"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    55F and 98%RH this fine day.  

    Got a bit of time to do stuff before heading out.  Get the kids and wife out the door stuff, like breakfasts and lunches.

    Spent the night dreaming I was working for the big corps again.  Not exactly a nightmare, but not anything I'd choose willingly either. 

    n

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Spent the night dreaming I was working for the big corps again.  Not exactly a nightmare, but not anything I'd choose willingly either. 

    Everyone I know at the large blue computer company got shoved out the door into a new corporate entity with a bizarre name.

    I don't ask too many questions. Some of the individuals were lifers who couldn't fathom working anywhere else.

    The upside of me having a series of trainwrecks for professional jobs — I never got really attached. The yelling at the last place started after the first phone interview so I knew how that would end even if it was the first place ever that the personality conflict resulted in actual firing.

    I’m not a “dude”.

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    I’m not a “dude”.

    Dudette? Asking for a friend.

    Subbing again today. Several times last month and several already this month.

    Freshmen are really annoying creatures. More so the females. The need to gab, the ability to talk about worthless stuff, is just amazing. Meanwhile, the males seem to try and make as much noise by moving chairs, slamming chromebooks, etc. in an attempt to grab attention. But all are seriously annoying.

    By the time they are seniors most have grown out of the annoying stage and migrated to irritating, but at least are reasonable. With a few exceptions

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    From 'Ricky' s comment over at John Wilder's place….

    But I keep listing those links showing the millions of people playing video games (from Fortnite to Hearts of Iron IV to Eve Online) for a reason – if somebody’s playing a video game, they’re not manning a barricade. Remember Sun Tzu: The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. In traditional combat, you would rather wound than kill an enemy combatant, because the wounded continue to consume your enemy’s resources and manpower. In 21st Century warfare, wearing metaverse goggles in a living room takes an able-bodied man out of figurative and literal combat just as surely as vaporizing their bicep.

    So are we ever gonna have Gettysburg 2 with Wilder’s Charge on the final day? I dunno. Maybe. But as a poker player, I’ll play the odds. And my bet is that we keep sliding into some kind of crazy mix of Venezuelan-Style Poverty across the land and Mexican-Style Cartels in the cities, with the majority looking up from their feeds and high scores only long enough to throw out comments on CNN and Fox headlines that used to be Onion and Babylon Bee ones. Kinda like now, on steroids.

    –that's one of the scenarios I think might be coming.

    I was having a short conversation with one of the GS dad's who I also know from school.  He's a successful immigrant from Mexico, with strong ties to his birthplace.   We were talking about the current situation in the world, and what we're worried about.   It occurred to me that these are the sort of times that lead to the rise of a strongman.  Often in more than one place at a time.   It's been feeling like 1918 or 1932 for a while.   Who will rise as Il Duce?  Who will be Churchill?  Who Pinochet?  Who Hitler? Enough disorder, enough hardship and the hard men come to the fore…

    Where and who are they?  Especially, who in the US?

    n

  5. MrAtoz says:

    Butto!

  6. Greg Norton says:

    Breaking… 

    The Mennonite Bobby Kennedy, Robert Francis O'Rourke.

    I don't use the 'B' word.

    When Robert Francis ran for Ted Cruz’ Senate seat, my wife got yelled at by one of her Mennonite co-workers over making fun of the Kennedy callbacks, “He’s one of us.”

    My wife responded, “He’s *Irish*.”

    “No, his mother was [Mennonite].”

    “His mother was third generation pure Irish, the step daughter of Kennedy’s Secretary of the Navy. [B-word] is fourth generation pure, both sides of his family tree, mostly Texas with some Georgia Irish.”

    “Well, you still don’t understand. You are not an immigrant.”

    “I was born in Taipei, Taiwan. What’s to understand?”

    [Crickets chirping]

    Robert Francis’ makeup lady is going to be busy.

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  7. ech says:

    Part of my skepticism with the super fast vax approval process and the lack of time since people started taking it,  can be attributed to my experience with Vioxx.  On the market for years, then removed for causing  heart damage and killing 60k people.   Ditto the cholesterol lowering drug I took for a couple of years, cramping and permanent irreversible heart tissue damage…  And Celebrex has issues too, again, possible heart issues.

    There is a big difference in a drug that you take every day and one that you get a few times where the ingredients are there every day doing their thing.

    The incidence of the cardiac effects of COVID vaccines are (with the possible exception of teen boys) lower than from COVID. And in all cases are milder than from COVID.

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  8. SteveF says:

    ech, are you denying that people have died after getting the clot shots, with no other known cause for the heart attack, stroke, or whatever? What exactly are the symptoms of getting full-blown Chinese Crud that are worse?

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  9. ech says:

    ech, are you denying that people have died after getting the clot shots, with no other known cause for the heart attack, stroke, or whatever? What exactly are the symptoms of getting full-blown Chinese Crud that are worse?

    I'm saying that what has been found is an incidence of myocarditis after getting mRNA vaccines that is associated with the vaccine. And with the possible exception of teen boys, it is less common and less severe than in COVID cases. Myocarditis is a known side effect of viral infections and can be caused by the common cold.

    As for other cardiac effects, there may be some. But the incidence is low and has to be weighed against the effects of COVID.

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  10. Greg Norton says:

    “His mother was third generation pure Irish, the step daughter of Kennedy’s Secretary of the Navy. [B-word] is fourth generation pure, both sides of his family tree, mostly Texas with some Georgia Irish.”

    BTW, I know that "pure" is relative when speaking of Irish heritage, but all of Robert Francis' family tree traces back to the island without any detours through points south of the US/Mexico border.

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  11. Pecancorner says:

    I don't use the 'B' word.

    When Robert Francis ran for Ted Cruz’ Senate seat, my wife got yelled at by one of her Mennonite co-workers over making fun of the Kennedy callbacks, “He’s one of us.”

    I agree that he muddies the waters with his nickname, but just for clarity's sake, it is a mark of high respect among Mexicans when they give a gringo a non-derisive Mexican nickname or Spanishized form of the name.  Ref Juan Linn of Texas Revolution fame (and another Irishman).

    So while it might be useful among non-hispanics to point out his Irish background (although many/most would find that a plus), trying to clarify among Hispanics will likely backfire. They don't care, as he established himself when he was given the nickname. 

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  12. Clayton W. says:

    ECH, you claim the adverse results from the vaccine are less severe than those of getting the virus.  

    Where are you getting this data?  And realize that the NIH and CDC are NOT considered a reliable source by many people.  They have been caught lying so many times, that if they claimed water was wet, I'd ask for a second opinion.  THIS is the major problem for pushing a political position be pretending to be a scientific and unbiased party.  If you are EVER wrong you have destroyed any goodwill you may have.  The NIH and CDC have done this.  They are totally untrustworthy, at least in my opinion.  And since they have to convince me, not command me, my opinion counts.

    So what is your reliable source and how did you vet them?

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  13. MrAtoz says:

    We're all going to die from COVID. Even if you are healthy, get the clot shot, and die 7 days later, IT'S STILL FROM COVID! AHHHHHHH!

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  14. MrAtoz says:

    it is a mark of high respect among Mexicans when they give a gringo a non-derisive Mexican nickname or Spanishized form of the name. 

    Who gave it to him? Or do we just believe him.

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  15. lynn says:

    "COP26 Ends In Humiliating Failure"

       https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/11/14/cop26-ends-in-humiliating-failure/

    "India along with a host of like minded countries knew that they could not run their economies without coal and other fossil fuels, never mind grow them and relieve poverty. Faced with the whole Agreement being lost, Alok Sharma and the UN organisers backed down, and replaced the words “phase-out” with “phase-down”. Just one word changed, but its effect was devastating for the Agreement."

    The world is realizing that these climate idiots want to outlaw electricity on demand, cheap and usable automobiles, and space heating on demand.  The world is telling these climate idiots to put up or shut up and so far the lies are starting to be detected.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    So while it might be useful among non-hispanics to point out his Irish background (although many/most would find that a plus), trying to clarify among Hispanics will likely backfire. They don't care, as he established himself when he was given the nickname. 

    My wife was actually making light of the makeup job that Robert Francis utilizes to make himself look like he has Addisons Disease similar to JFK when the staff member started down the road of accusing her of racism.

    At the end of the day, O'Rourke is just another politician, fully deserving of mockery, but he's been given a pass by several demographics by being vague about his ethnic heritage and/or stirring the desires among the 70-somethings for a return to the "Camelot" days.

    Who knows what kind of President Bobby Kennedy would have been, but the myth continues.

  17. Greg Norton says:

    it is a mark of high respect among Mexicans when they give a gringo a non-derisive Mexican nickname or Spanishized form of the name. 

    Who gave it to him? Or do we just believe him.

    Prior to the Senate run, the nickname was established as having come from his father, a "Judge" — in the Texas use of the word — who died in a motorcycle crash and was reputed to have been disappointed with the son's lack of direction in life.

    The news media Latinized the nickname. The local Faux News personalities pronounce it in an odd way that obfuscates the origin of the name.

  18. drwilliams says:

    So it’s really

    Bobby Francis “Biggo Fako” O’Rourke

  19. Greg Norton says:

    So it’s really

    Bobby Francis “Biggo Fako” O’Rourke

    Just another politician.

    His Senate run was the closest the Dems have come to winning statewide in … 20 (?) years. If he lucks out and win next year, he's in the calculus for the Presidential ticket in 2028, possibly 2024.

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  20. SteveF says:

    Robert Francis "Deadbeato" O'Rourke

  21. SteveF says:

    We're all going to die from COVID. Even if you are healthy, get the clot shot, and die 7 days later, IT'S STILL FROM COVID!

    If you catch the Chinese Crud and go into the hospital (because that was what was done early last year even if you could breathe on your own) and pick up a flesh-eating crud in the hospital, it's a Chinese Crud death and absolutely positively not a death due to medical error or an improperly cleaned hospital or anything like that.

    A couple months ago I went to the funeral for a guy that happened to.

  22. drwilliams says:

    “Just another Democrat politician.”

    Faking ancestry seems to be primarily a Democrat/proglibtard thing.

    Aided and abetted by the selectively incurious MSM. 

  23. lynn says:

    The Mennonite Bobby Kennedy, Robert Francis O'Rourke.

    I don't use the 'B' word.

    I do.  Bozo the clown.  Bozo is a furry, that is all you need to know.

  24. Pecancorner says:

    Who gave it to him? Or do we just believe him.

    It doesn't matter. His myth is solidified now, and that was my point.  Such details might matter to someone who doesn't like him, but arguing it not only won't influence a supporter or undecided, it is likely to turn them off as nit-picking. 

    It's the same reason that "Windy's" lies didn't hurt her, but Sabo's "Abortion Barbie" did. The Left tried to capitalize on her pink running shoes while she filibustered for child sacrifice. Sabo took all that to the extreme with a visual, and Wendy Davis went down in flames a whopping 20 points under Greg Abbott, despite truckloads of out of state money trying to buy the governor's mansion for her.

    The way to battle Beto is to come up with something current to go after him with.

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  25. Pecancorner says:

    The way to battle Beto is to come up with something current to go after him with.

    ie

    Robert Francis "Deadbeato" O'Rourke

    or

    Bozo the clown.  Bozo is a furry, that is all you need to know.

    Good ones, gentlemen.

  26. paul says:

    "Burrito Beto (white on the outside, full of brown stuff inside)".

  27. Greg Norton says:

    It's the same reason that "Windy's" lies didn't hurt her, but Sabo's "Abortion Barbie" did.

    Abortion Barbie. I'll bet that was effective.

    OTOH, I still see the "Stand With Wendy" bumper stickers rolling around Austin that the Dems "accidentally" released seven years ago.

  28. Pecancorner says:

    @Pecancorner, my wife has issues with chronic pain and also uses a variety of products. Here are a few that weren't mentioned earlier:

    Theraworx Relief for leg pain

    HEAT RELIEF CBD ROLL-ON – 350MG for joint and muscle pain

    Gabapentin (Rx only – brand name Neurontin) for nerve pain

    (as usual YMMV and IANAD)

    @Alan, Thank you for the recommends!   🙂

  29. Pecancorner says:

    Abortion Barbie. I'll bet that was effective.

    OTOH, I still see the "Stand With Wendy" bumper stickers rolling around Austin that the Dems "accidentally" released seven years ago.

    Heh. It was good enough that it is still making the rounds, and Snopes had to cover it during her also-failed campaign for congress, five years after she lost to Abbott. 

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/abortion-barbie-doll/

    Yep, Stand with Wendy was a ref to those shoes – she even made the cover of Texas Monthly. She got all the hype that Beto gets. Then Sabo took their own meme and turned it against them. And now no one but a few feminist Democrats knows who she was.

  30. Greg Norton says:

    Yep, Stand with Wendy was a ref to those shoes – she even made the cover of Texas Monthly. She got all the hype that Beto gets. Then Sabo took their own meme and turned it against them. And now no one but a few feminist Democrats knows who she was.

    The Stand With Wendy bumper stickers were intended to draw a contrast between Davis and Abbott. Think about it.

    Abortion Barbie. Phtptph. That doesn't even move the needle.

  31. Alan says:

    >> Stacking some FRNs with this project, and for a while at least, they are a useful thing to stack.

    @nick, FCC Registration Number??

  32. lynn says:

    Stacking some FRNs with this project, and for a while at least, they are a useful thing to stack.

    What is an FRN ? Future Resource Name ?

  33. lynn says:

    The Stand With Wendy bumper stickers were intended to draw a contrast between Davis and Abbott. Think about it.

    Abortion Barbie. Phtptph. That doesn't even move the needle.

    Anti Abortion is the biggest voting block in Texas.  That moves the needle big time.

  34. lynn says:

    "Watch: Ex-member of black militia group threatens anti-CRT parents at Texas school board"

        https://prather2022.com/articles/watch-ex-member-of-black-militia-group-threatens-anti-crt-parents-at-texas-school-board

    "Parents in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex said they felt threatened when a man who was a member of an armed black militia told a tense board meeting he planned to have ‘over a thousand soldiers ready to go’ who were ‘locked and loaded.’
    The incident took place during a board meeting held by the Fort Worth Independent School District on November 9. The meeting was devoted in part to the teaching of critical race theory, which was opposed by some of the parents.
    During the meeting, a man identified as Malikk Austin got up and spoke for a minute, defending the teaching of CRT, according to Fox News."

    In my book, that is a terrorist threat.

  35. Greg Norton says:

    "Parents in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex said they felt threatened when a man who was a member of an armed black militia told a tense board meeting he planned to have ‘over a thousand soldiers ready to go’ who were ‘locked and loaded.’

    During the meeting, a man identified as Malikk Austin got up and spoke for a minute, defending the teaching of CRT, according to Fox News."

    In my book, that is a terrorist threat.

    Gaslighting. Ever seen "Chasing Amy"?

  36. lynn says:

    "State Rep. Ryan Guillen switches to GOP in latest blow to South Texas Democrats"

        https://www.texastribune.org/2021/11/15/ryan-guillen-texas-house-switch-party/

    "FLORESVILLE — Longtime Democratic state Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City is switching parties as Republicans press to make new inroads in South Texas and after redistricting made his district much more favorable to the GOP."

    This jumping ship may become a flood in the near future.

  37. lynn says:

    "Space debris forces astronauts on space station to take shelter in return ships"

        https://www.space.com/space-debris-astronauts-shelter-november-2021

    "The U.S. government has not publicly stated what created the debris field troubling the International Space Station on Monday. However, the federal government has confirmed that Russia conducted an anti-satellite test that created debris and could threaten the space station and other spacecraft in orbit.”

    “"Today, the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellite," U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a news conference. "This test will significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station, as well as to other human spaceflight activities.""

    Great.  We have may to start armor plating all future space vehicles.

  38. ~jim says:

    Question for the peanut gallery, because a lot of you have had kids…

    About how old (months? years?) is a baby when it recognizes that it's itself in a mirror?

  39. MrAtoz says:

    The way to battle Beto is to come up with something current to go after him with.

    This will haunt Butto: "hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15"  from 2019 and doubling down on buy back now. Maybe he can use the 10's of million of outside money he will get to buy them back.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    The way to battle Beto is to come up with something current to go after him with.

    This will haunt Butto: "hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15"  from 2019 and doubling down on buy back now. Maybe he can use the 10's of million of outside money he will get to buy them back.

    The only way Robert Francis wins is if we have another freeze event with a response like last year which exposes the fact that the Governor and the Legislature really didn't do anything to prevent a repeat.

    IMHO Abbott should lose his job if it happens like that again. Everyone in state and local government seemed to head home after noon on Thursday before Valentines Day. The windows of our MUD's offices were dark that Sunday night, as the power failed at the water purification plant.

    Again, I’m not a “dude”.

  41. lynn says:

    The way to battle Beto is to come up with something current to go after him with.

    This will haunt Butto: "hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15"  from 2019 and doubling down on buy back now. Maybe he can use the 10's of million of outside money he will get to buy them back.

    One can only hope.  Bozo is an idiot at reading the populace.  But he does appeal to the California and NY immigrants.

  42. Greg Norton says:

    One can only hope.  Bozo is an idiot at reading the populace.  But he does appeal to the California and NY immigrants.

    And oldsters who belong to the cult of people who think that the last 50 years would have been different if Bobby Kennedy had survived to win the election against Nixon in 68. They're on both sides of the political aisle.

    I don't see any NY plates in Austin this year. It is either CA or … strangely … FL.

    I’ve heard that GM recruits a lot of FSU grads for their research center here.

    The last time UT Football was in trouble, Academy’s TV ads had the UF Gator “chomp” and FSU Seminole “chop” but no “horns”.

  43. Nick Flandrey says:

    FRN = Federal Reserve Note, ie the greenbacks in your wallet.  Dog whistle word for the gold bug and sound money crowds.  Common in more 'outre' prepper forums.  A reminder that it's just a piece of paper/fabric/rag with some pretty pictures and numbers printed on it and not real money.

    n

  44. Nick Flandrey says:

    Back from client's house for daddy daughter time together.  Did get some good progress made though, despite the short day.

    n

  45. lynn says:

    "BREAKING: Kyle Rittenhouse Weapons Charge Dismissed – Huge Win for Rittenhouse Team"

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/11/breaking-kyle-rittenhouse-weapons-charge-dismissed-huge-win-rittenhouse-team/

    "The court just dismissed the gun charge against Kyle Rittenhouse."

  46. ech says:

    And realize that the NIH and CDC are NOT considered a reliable source by many people.  

    It's based on the long term studies done in Israel, like the one below. One advantage of having a socialized heath system like they do is that all the medical records are in a common format and can be easily analyzed. (N.B. this is not me advocating for socialized medicine here in the US.) They can speedily anonymize the records and do statistical analysis. 

    https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2110737
     

    Here is a layman’s summary of their data. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02740-y

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, knocked out 3 short projects with D2.  And now she wants to read….

    n

  48. Ray Thompson says:

    Had a concert at my church with Jordan Feliz. Not my kind of music. It was loud. In my opinion the bass was so overdriven that that it rattled. Rest of the music was over powering the vocals. I think the sound technician is half deaf. Surprising the number of adults present.

    What I fail to comprehend is bringing infants and toddlers to such an event. The music was hitting levels in excess of 110 db at times. No protection for the ears of those little children. I had earplugs and I was still annoyed at the sound level.

    Anyway, I was there to take pictures for the church. So another time sink if anyone is interested.

    http://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Feliz 

  49. MrAtoz says:

    Hmm, can't see the photos, Mr. Ray.

  50. MrAtoz says:

    OK, I dropped off the "&nbsp:" and can see them.

  51. MrAtoz says:

    The ProgLibTurds from plugs to the LameStreamMeadia and on down are riffing on Rittenhouse as a murderous, racist, scumbag. Poor kid. Everyone he defended himself against are the real scumbags, but jury won't know that. Gun charge dropped. There is no way the jury will be unanimous on conviction. I see plenty of lawsuits coming. The LSM is the worst. Partisan hacks one and all.

  52. Nick Flandrey says:

    Looks good Ray.  Lots of gear for a church tour.

    I lit one of the Scaggs for a church concert in 91 or 92…  Good show.

    The most telling sound issue is when they boost 10K  until all you can hear is tss-tss-tsss…  Usually that means the FOH audio mixer is coked up, but can simply be partial hearing losses. 

    When I had to judge the quality of my artist's sound, I got my hearing tested by a specialist in LA to see the full spectrum, and where my losses were.  That way if I found myself boosting those freqs, I could pull back knowing that it was just me that couldn't hear them…

    n

  53. Paul+Hampson says:

    "I’ll reinstall the software, and not update, but iirc it phones home to ‘register’ so that might not even work."

    I've got a CAD program like that, stand alone version bought several versions ago.  I replaced the laptop it was(is) on and installed it on the new one – couldn't authenticate.  Spent some time on the phone with the company, still in business but have gone all the way over to subscription.  It turns out that they have mucked their system around to the point that they couldn't authenticate my wholly owned stand alone copy (in the vicinity of $3500) anymore even if they wanted to.  Solution for me is tear down the old laptop where the program is still installed and replace the fan, then make sure it is never connected to anything that can call home.  I have verified that it will run under those circumstances.

  54. Ray Thompson says:

    I use Proshow Producer created by Photodex. Photodex went out of business a couple of years ago. Their software, and multiple add-on modules, that I paid for requires an internet connection to authentic during the install. Whomever bought what was left of the company, or took over the assets, at least left the activation server active. The software will still phone home during the install but so far activates without issue. How long it will remain that way is unknown. Everything activated when I installed on my new computer.

  55. Ray Thompson says:

    Lots of gear for a church tour.

    That is what I thought when I showed up. Lots of lights, big speakers (huge woofers, smaller arrays), lots of lights, and the most annoying fog machine. Way too much fog. The intent was for the light beams to be visible but sometimes the performer was clouded over. I could not comprehend how they were able to pack all the stuff in a trailer behind their bus. Must be a very specific packing order with very little space left.

    He also does big venues, such as auditoriums and not just churches.

  56. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10203867/The-U-S-seen-notable-horsemen-apocalypse-historically-herald-revolution.html

    Now, with that all that said, how likely is it that there will be some sort of civil conflict in the near or mid future for the United States?

    Unfortunately, the correct answer here may very well be that it is not terribly unlikely.

    D-I-V-O-R-C-E   once you say it, it's very hard to back down.  

    Clearly the idea is on peoples' minds.

    n

  57. drwilliams says:

    Jury needs to acquite Rittenhouse and bring back a guilty of reckless endangerment verdict for the ADA.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/11/a-menace-in-the-courtroom.php

    I hope somebody chases that idiot down after the trial and shoves a prop gun up his ass.

  58. drwilliams says:

    These seasons are the result of the tilt of Earth’s rotational axis relative to the orbital plane around the sun.  The elliptical orbit of the Earth around the Sun also varies the intensity of the insolation at the top of the atmosphere during the annual cycle.  In the present era, the precession cycle results in perihelion occurring in early January and aphelion occurring in early July.

    The oceans and the atmosphere above them operate as Earth’s solar collectors.  Not all insolation reaching the top of the atmosphere enters the climate system.  Some is reflected and remains short wave radiation.  Some insolation enters the atmosphere and is thermalised resulting in temperature rise at the surface and in the atmosphere as well as latent heat of evaporation from water or moist land surfaces.  The surface and atmosphere radiate infrared radiation back to space.  Over the long term, there is an energy balance between incoming insolation and the energy reflected or thermalised to be emitted as infrared radiation.  However the climate system never achieves a state of equilibrium; over any given period there is usually a Net Flux imbalance. 

    Land and the atmosphere above it have limited thermal capacity by comparison with water and the atmosphere over the oceans.  However it is well known the water evaporated from the oceans can condense over land thereby transferring latent heat from oceans to land.

    from the Conclusion:

    Insolation over the oceans peaked for the current precession cycle in 1585, being the last year that perihelion occurred before the austral summer solstice.  Over the last 400 years, perihelion has been occurring later than the austral summer solstice and now occurs in early January.  The watery end of Earth still points toward the sun when Earth is closest to the sun but the peak solar input and peak net energy uptake in the oceans has now moved into January and is slightly less than 400 years ago when it peaked for the current precession cycle.  The global oceans are receiving less sunlight while the land surface is receiving more as the precession cycle progresses for the next 12,000 years

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/11/14/global-water-cycle/

    This article would benefit from a rewrite, separating the discussion of current energy transport from the discussion of the effects of precession on energy transport.

  59. SteveF says:

    I hope somebody chases that idiot down after the trial and shoves a prop gun up his ass.

    No, drwilliams, just no. That would be viewed sexual assault and that's wrong and bad.

    Instead, someone should chase that idiot down, douse him with gasoline, and set him afire. So long as you can avoid bad touches during this process, it's free of any sexual implications and therefore is acceptable.

    The mayor of Kenosha and I think the police chief need some special attention, too.

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  60. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    You're right–he'd probably get a thrill out of it…

    unless it was set on fire first.

    How about debarking him, chaining the prop gun to his chest, and dropping him in the middle of a BLM protest?

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  61. lpdbw says:

    “Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.”

    ― Terry Pratchett

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  62. brad says:

    Ah, Microsoft is at it again. They've introduced a new service "Microsoft Viva" that wanders through your calendar and emails, and sends you a summary what it thinks you are supposed to be doing. Designed to improve employee "engagement" – but what it really looks like is a massive privacy invasion, having all your stuff parsed by MS-Central. The price of having my school outsource darned near everything to Microsoft.

    Thankfully, it is possible to unsubscribe from the stupid emails. Whether that stops the privacy invasion? Doubtful…

    the incidence is low and has to be weighed against the effects of COVID.

    This is the point. Look, some people get really sick from vaccinations – that's true of all of them. However, the number of such cases is considerably lower than the number of people who would otherwise catch whatever the illness is. That's the point.

    Where are you getting this data?

    The US has messed up its messaging, thanks to Fauci & Co..

    However, the stats are absolutely clear throughout Europe. Just as an example: In Switzerland, in 2021, 18 vaccinated people died of Covid. Unvaccinated deaths: 1100. That's with 2/3 of the population vaccinated, so the vaccination reduces your chance of death-by-Covid by about 99%. It's really hard to be clearer than that.

    There are still discussions we need to have: lockdowns, masks, etc.. Personally, I think it's time to stop with the measures: whoever isn't vaccinated, well, that's their decision and their problem. However, the effectiveness of the vaccinations is not in dispute, not anywhere outside the US.

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  63. Nick Flandrey says:

    However, the effectiveness of the vaccinations is not in dispute, not anywhere outside the US. 

    –and what about all the young athletes with sudden cardiac issues?  Particularly soccer players?  The short, medium, and long term adverse effects are not known.  BY DEFINITION they aren't known because is hasn't been long enough.

    n

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