remedial polymath the only good god is a dead god beware programmers who cary screwdrivers
Public Key
npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 Profile Code
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2026-08-30T03:54:31Z Event JSON
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Last Notes npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…k46j They're joking, right? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…k46j No bueno. Big time. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…yzy8 awk. The single line might be > 200 characters long. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…k46j If I had to guess, some kid found some caps sometime in the late 60s and was injured or killed. As part of the civil settlement with the family, the cap manufacturers committed $$ to "education". Just a guess. But, if close to the truth, there's a whole discussion there about good intentions, etc. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Things kids used to obsess over: quicksand the Bermuda Triangle nitro glycerine When I was around nine years old, I attended an all-school assembly on the dangers of blasting caps (used to detonate dynamite or TNT). I'm pretty confident in saying not a single student had ever even heard of blasting caps before that assembly. Afterward, they went on the list, alongside sharks and UFOs - the list of things that terrified us, but which we desperately wanted to see. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…k46j It's my understanding that runway designations are set to the nearest 10 degree offset, and are adjusted roughly every ten years to account for magnetic pole drift. This requires repainting the giant numbers at the RW threshold. E.g. A runway with a magnetic heading of 27 degrees would be labelled RW 3 (or 03), and runway with a heading of 283 deg would be labeled RW 28 (pronounced TWO EIGHT). Not sure what they do with 5 deg diffs, flip a coin? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…sl2z A cousin encouraged her elderly mother (my aunt) to use ChatGPT to help "clean up" the obituary she'd just written for her only brother. The results were very "clean" (sounded like a marketing brochure for a laser printer), but also disconnected from reality. They then used LLM chatbots on a family history, lovingly maintained over generations. The LLM puked out a story with arbitrary new characters, places, and events. Their reaction was somewhere between awe and resignation. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Yeah Billy Jack has all the violent, hypermasc bravado and martial arts stuff, like a Chuck Noris flick, but with a bizarre social/racial justice and pseudo native-american-mysticism glaze. A white hero, ofc. It should be deeply offensive, like Dancing with Wolves (and you know how I feel about that), but it's too weird to offend. As you say, "of an era" where that era was 1970s America - the weirdest and most awesome era of them all. I will have to check out "Over the Edge"! npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Are you familiar with / do you remember the Billy Jack movies? I feel like I must've hallucinated them - no way that really happened. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Perfect! Thanks!! npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Can someone remind me how to change my account preferences so I have to approve follow requests? I've poked around in the preferences, and I'm just not seeing it. I use the web interface. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws The big orange bozo has always given me small midwestern city Rotary club vibes. For instance, appending "thank you for you attention to this matter" to his online posts reminds me of the handwritten notices taped to the wall in the laundry room of a shitty student apartment complex. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws WTVJ ftw npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws It's probably just me being nostalgic, but it feels like the bad movies of the 1970s are more likely to have a quirky charm than those from other times. They're also the only films I mostly remember or recognize. Some of them are even responsible for long-lived memes (e.g. wire hangars, Mommy Dearest). If I had to guess, "data driven" studio decision making has something to do with the explosion in useless films in the last two decades. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws A++++ for "Hollywood Sportatorium." npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Around 1980, I saw the Kinks perform in Houston, TX. One of the opening acts was the Joe Perry Project (former Aerosmith guitarist). As I recall, the crowd completely ignored him and his band. The kinks playlist was good, but the sound quality at all large Houston venues (Coliseum, Astrodome) back then was dreadful. Was also shocked to discover that over the previous decade, the Kinks members had become pudgy and middle aged. Could be this one: https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/one-for-the-road--5697587 npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Inspired by your series of toots on this topic, A while back I tried to get COVID wastewater data for CO, TX, and a few other states. Found a (.gov iirc) clearinghouse site, only to be disappointed by the very small # of collection points. Also, in CO results from geographically nearby collection sites sometimes yielded very different values. I gave up trying to extract anything useful from the data. This probably has more to do w my data analysis limitations than anything. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Long ago, the prop comic Gallagher had a bit poking fun at the Reagan administration's proposal to move Minuteman ICBMs around by railroad to hide them from the Soviets. Gallagher proposed the ICBMW, where the "W" stood for Winnebago. Instead of rail, ICBMs would be strapped to the top of retirees' RVs. In his final years, he was exposed as a bigoted creep. If he hadn't died in 2022, he would have been a perfect fit for a job with the current government. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Saw a link to this Mother Jones article posted elsewhere on Mastodon today. It's a longish read. Good on the author and MJ for doing the legwork. What comes through most is the utter banality of the people who rule the world. You know your dumbass boss who failed upward into their job and only keeps it because they're too dumb and lazy to fuck most things up? That's how the whole world works. Sometimes, some of them are monsters. Stupid and banal, but monsters still. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/10/i-called-everyone-in-jeffrey-epsteins-little-black-book/ https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/825/621/806/316/035/original/56662495ff8047fe.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws There's a longer version of this recording with Joe Zawinul on piano. I am just a casual listener, but I still get a kick out of that since he (Zawinul) wrote, and performed on, the Cannonball Aderly classic Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - an all-time fave of mine. https://youtu.be/cEZGW4R2mK8 npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Another one I enjoy: https://youtu.be/CCKKwjDc7h0 npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…60lz James Acaster's British Museum routine is golden: https://youtu.be/b_Z6H4RaM00 npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Was just asking myself "Whatever happened to David Sedaris?" Wikipedia says he now splits his time between Parham, West Sussex, and NYC. Also says "In 2023 he qualified for British Citizenship [...] and told an audience in Sydney, Australia in February 2025, [...] he had not had time to get a passport." He's still working, publishing a children's book, "Pretty Ugly" with Ian Falconer in 2024. I miss hearing his voice on the radio. TBF, I stopped listening to NPR almost 15 years ago. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Mentor Now just finished a livestream focussed on tamping down speculation and emphasizing known facts, contextualized through the experience of two Boeing airline pilots. https://www.youtube.com/live/wGgKSDJcb54 npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Ahhh - makes more sense. Though, those destinations are generally pretty exotic! npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws None of those places appear on their list of standard destinations, unsurprisingly. First thought is that this is some sort of attempt at setting various odd records? The Namibia->Brazil leg appears to be right at the maximum range for the 757-200. Very strange. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Apologies - Seaborne Airlines, the subsidiary responsible for actually conducting flights, was an FAA Part 121 operator, not Part 135. Part 121 covers operations by what most people think of as "conventional" airlines (I know you know this - just fleshing out for others). These are generally far less likely to be sketchy than Part 135 (on demand charters), where there are some very shady operations (poorly maintained aircraft, unlicensed pilots, etc.). npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws I tell anyone who asks that before flying with a Part 135 operation, learn all you can about their business and your pilot. Or, just don't do it. Discovering your flight will be operated by an outfit owned by private equity should be a hard no. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…g0z2 I like your style. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Not sure where I got the idea that Nielsen was smoke and mirrors. Maybe I once read something about those 1970s changes. Glad I have an expert to ask!! I guess I also have a pretty big blind spot with regard to the persuasion/propaganda. I've curated a media consumption habit that's relatively low on ads. I'm clueless about what's trendy, but that's fine. In my world, the Ridge Wallet, and Brilliant instructional videos are the hottest things going. ;-) npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Heck of a job, Brownie. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Eyeglasses: Makes sense that this sort of video ad would be effective since the audience flymetothefun has built is already super-focussed and trust-based. I believe the promotion was effective for me because (a) I was already looking for non-polarized, prescription sunnies (LCD readability), (b) I already 'trusted' flymetothefun, (c) I could ground-check with other pilots. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws From the outset of surveillance capitalism, I've been pretty skeptical that it delivers on the sales side. Adoption has always felt more like C-suite FOMO. Related: As I recall, Neilsen ratings were so impossibly compromised / poorly-conceived, any relationship to actual viewership was almost coincidental. Yet, they controlled what TV was made. Why?! Because (a) they were a monopoly, and (b) data. Suits love them some data (also partly explains surveillance capitalism). npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Is there much/any evidence to support the idea that ads targeted using surveillance capitalism have been more price/performance effective than old-skool ad delivery (newspapers, TV ad breaks, etc.)? Is more stuff sold in aggregate? Do I sell more with spy ads than otherwise? I have my doubts about the whole argument. An aviation YT channel (flymetothefun) I follow is sometimes sponsored by an eyeglasses co., and I'm considering buying some. No spying necessary. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws From the Wikipedia page on the phrase: "Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta, wore a t-shirt with the phrase for his 40th birthday party in 2024." Cited from Business Insider. Retrieved 21 January 2025, tagged with: "Zuck's birthday T-shirt is a tribute to ancient Rome, Facebook's history, and going hard". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthago_delenda_est https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/600/328/933/775/169/original/ea0a2f791a96cda6.jpg https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/600/333/881/603/334/original/27d3a3d4c6734d6e.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws I've accepted that there was exactly one American Century (~1920 - 2020), and that it will be the only one. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…pej0 @nprofile…eyyt Among the things I say (on repeat) which I'm sure annoys some, but is nonetheless true is this: The only real security is physical security. Applies in all domains, digital and otherwise. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Chatting yesterday about the prairie fire prospects this year with the carpenter neighbor who's helping me build a garage. Three minutes in, and he's telling me there's nothing anyone can do since "they" are using space lasers to start the fires. I am surrounded by ordinary looking people doing ordinary things, but who have gone completely bat shit insane. Like, three quarters of the people occupying (sparsely) three quarters of the country are beyond recovery. Just fuck me. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Hmmm - hadn't even considered ACARS being used for anything more than direct coms between planes and corporate receivers at the nearest class B airport. Had assumed disseminate to other endpoints was handled entirely separately. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…sqcg Autocomplete/correct trained on my own collection of saved messages. For as long s it's been a thing, autocomplete/correct has been a meme rather than a service. It's a cruel joke that arbitrarily rewrites one's text with the least plausible, most embarrassing alternative. LLMs trained locally, stored locally, and acting locally (no cloud!) might make writing on shitty phone "keyboards" somewhat workable. [separate issue: why phone "keyboards" are so bad] npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…eyyt Thanks for posting this. For decades it's looked to me like our lives are described by Clarke's third law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." where pretty much everything we interact with has become "sufficiently advanced." It bothers and disturbs me. It feels incompatible with democracy. It feels infantilizing. It feels like no one cares. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…60lz At the risk of stirring up trouble (not my intention), I'm curious how others processed Cadwalladr's coverage of Cambridge Analytica. From where I sit, she served as a credulous stenographer for Wylie and Kaiser - two grifting idiots. No question, CA was bad news, but it was never a "military grade" data operation (that claim was one of many meaningless assertions she made to jazz up a story with no there there). So, what was her deal? And how have so many just given her a pass? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Google has removed most of the bulk-delete options for personal data in YouTube. For example, to remove "likes" on other users' comments, it is now necessary to do it one-by-one. Worse, I can't find any way to remove dislikes or to even see a list of them. Even if you do remove thousands of comments, or likes individually, it's likely the removal will have failed for some substantial fraction of them, so you'll have to check and redo some. If I am wrong, and you know how to bulk delete, share! npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Thanks for the kind words. And for the N95 leads. Yeah, I should have worn an N95 mask. I'm sure I swept up a dozen mouse nests as I cleaned... Just wasn't thinking, Reading about Gene Hackman's wife's recent death from hantavirus as I sat in bed coughing creeped me out. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Been sick, which is annoying since I more or less live like a hermit. On the 26th, I moved the plane into its second temporary home while the runway and taxiways at my home airfield are being repaved. Spent a few hours sweeping the space and detailing the plane. On the evening of the 28th, I was hit by a respiratory infection - out of it with fever until early Monday. Still nursing a cough. Could I have caught this bug from the dust in the hangar? https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/315/696/733/200/945/original/65377d508e233535.jpeg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Thanks for the info. I guess I will hold off on fiddling with SDR stuff for now - too many other unstarted/unfinished things already. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Fun that you're using an RTL-SDR stick and that you have it working with a Mac! I bought one for my brother ~3 years ago, and I think he gave up before doing anything useful/fun with it - mostly because the software was so janky. It was also hard to find hardware at that time. Might be worth another look! npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws In-flight medical emergencies, or ground-based medical emergencies requiring airlift? Either way, it's an interesting observation, but the former would be especially curious. Did you buy an ACARS receiver (sounds $pendy), or did you manage to make your own decoder and connect it to a UHF radio? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws There's a young pilot who's YT channel I occasionally watch, mostly to see how his career is going. He recently posted a video from Wellington - I could taste the sick in my mouth. The houses average ~$4M, with another ~$4m in airplanes in each hangar. The sort of place where people shout "DEATH TAX!" Their only contact with the outside world is seeing "the help" come and go. Aside: comparing these prices to the nearly $1k/ft2 home prices in Seattle proves the world is insane. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws I can't imagine local pilots are too happy about the situation - esp GA pilots flying FVR who are just out flying for fun. It's a ton of extra work for ATC too. The attached pic is just one portion of EIGHT pages of TFR info for the Miami area. https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/164/548/523/994/352/original/34bfea72e1b7daef.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws That's some bullshit https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/164/323/422/679/998/original/82f14ac5f3c614e6.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Well done! In my experience, the suits used all of these (2007 - 2018). First, refuse to define "The Cloud (TC)," then: Bully: "Only people too stupid to understand haven't moved to TC!" Identifies the easily cowed. ------- Big Bully Lie: "Everyone has already moved to TC!" Asking for an example is met with ad hominem attacks. ------ Big Basic Lie: "TC is always cheaper!" Showing it's a lie, using AWS' own numbers, and you're called to the woodshed for beatings until you stop. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Wayne's World npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws You optimist... ;-) npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Always learn something when you toot. https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/107/972/934/391/825/original/a56566c60efe6d7f.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws I have no idea if it's even legit (whatever that even means in this context). Deleted and reported as junk. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat Recently received this text (attached). One more sign of the End Times. https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/100/609/170/701/771/original/7206530c187f11d1.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat ...Getting to the point: In addition to his advice, Milo and his team* sent me two documents. The first was a list of all the NSN nodes, plus contact info for each. The second was a list of Internet resources - stuff like the IP address of a PostScript printer at (IIRC) Harvard. I'd really like to have these documents again - especially the second one. If anyone can help me track it down, that'd be great! *Apologies - the name of the woman who helped me navigate so much of this escapes me. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat I'm looking for an old document. Back in late 88 (I will always remember the date because Morris Worm) I joined the Internet - Specifically, the NASA Science Internet. The engineer in charge of it all was named Milo Medin. In those days, we all spoke to each other on the phone. I remember the only advice Milo gave me was to choose a DNS server that supported "variable length subnet masks," and an SMTP server that supported MX records. [hang with me for a few more words - I'll get to the point] npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…eyyt Being right is cold comfort when, for at least the last 18 years, you've been warning anyone who would listen that this was the endgame. No comfort at all. https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/114/033/417/980/886/751/original/69d3d3d693570baf.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Ick. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…59dk Reminds me on the dBASE UIs programmed by my office-mate in the 1980s. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws The only time I watch TV is when I visit my parents (or sports at the bar). I waste tons of time staring at screens, so it's not any kind of moral stand - I just can't be bothered. Also, where I live, OTA TV isn't really a thing - cable required. Agreed, I enjoyed Kathy Bates' acting, but that was all the way back when she starred in Misery. Maybe I'll give the new Matlock a look next time I see my folks. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Matlock?!! The 1980s Andy Griffith legal drama is getting 10M viewers?! Ahhh - I see, there's a remake. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…07t5 @nprofile…3cyv It's my understanding (coping mech?) that cougars in the wilderness are very unlikely to attack adult humans unless you behave in a way that makes you look like prey. Running and crouching are supposedly bad news if you're being stalked. Problems is, of course, with cats you're unlikely to even know they're there. Never seen a Grizzly, but when I encounter black bears my intrusive thought is "Man, I bet it'd feel awesome to hug him!" Also, not recommended. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Well, that's all very disappointing. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…07t5 @nprofile…3cyv Type 2+++ fun. Never want to have a similar experience, but would love to have had one. Checking in at a ranger station at Mt. Rainier Natl. Park around 2001 or so, another backpacker came through the door looking distressed. Said he'd been followed by a cougar for over an hour, starting just after dawn. He still looked about ready to vomit. My partner and I headed in on the same trail a few minutes later. Never saw the big cat, but who knows, it might've seen us! npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Ahhh, the Walmart computer section. I have a Windows laptop my father bought there - a complete affront to nature. He needed Windows to run some specific software, so bought the cheapest thing they had. Between Windows being Windows, and the designers of this thing being sadists, it puts me in a foul mood every time I have to touch it. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws I feel ya. On one occasion, when trying to help out a friend, I bought a little external HDD at the neighborhood office supply box store, only to discover it was some Windows-only abomination. It's like some people are actively trying to piss me off. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Thank you sooo much! I had been relying on Apple for backups... Time to get busy. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Do you use one of those "toaster" things to attach HDDs without having to put them into permanent enclosures? If so, can you recommend a make/model? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws I love it that there's a pigeon flying free in the upper lefthand corner of the photo (cropped from the preview). I wonder if the photographer or editor chose this image partially as a subtle nod to Reuters earliest days. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…2lws Seems you're always working on something interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext#Technology https://digipres.club/system/media_attachments/files/113/970/990/054/614/471/original/8a8c6aebafa861e7.jpg npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…eyyt @nprofile…9d9n Building "cloud native" is like signing an open ended apartment lease that allows your landlord to tear down the building with you still inside, while simultaneously doubling your rent twice a year. Maybe I'm far too cynical, but, based on the last 10 years, I feel fairly confident in my assessment. Problem is, how do you *not* do cloud native if the entire talent pool only knows that? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…eyyt So far, it looks like the top three tips are: Simplicity - minimize dependencies - appropriate frameworks for scale, etc. (?) - ? Continuity - keep the team together - train new members before oldsters retire Transparency - Document, document, document - instrumentation? npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat @nprofile…uzew The controlling interests in Toyota and Honda weren't preparing to launch the military conquest of Korea in the 1970s. npub1xcmqrfpl9cufnhv6c67dtdln4kh78hvyps8j7yy80ska8qynft6snwy328 lolcat For at least a decade, US higher ed has been all-in on outsourcing as much IT to Google and MS as possible. It's been years since the last major US university replaced internally-operated email with one of those two. One of the few computer-related services not yet completely surrendered to "the cloud" is HPC, but that's not for lack of trying. Years of literally screaming lies into the faces of researchers and IT people has taken its toll - a generation quit/retired/laid off.