So, I was about to write on another topic altogether, just to discover that an automatic update to one of the modules that make up this website had crashed the entire thing. All that would come up was an error message. This was not a small-time, off-brand add-on, either. It Read more…
How ridiculous can we get? So, I install an antivirus system on a Windows 10 laptop… it will be run once and then uninstalled, and then another one will be run, and then a third one. Then I’ll uninstall all of them except the built in antivirus Windows 10 comes Read more…
I like war movies. It’s disgusting, I know. However, watching myself over the years of my life and my reactions to war movies change has been interesting. A long time ago, I thought war movies were just plain cool. Then they were a disgusting adoration of the worst Humanity has Read more…
So… here we are in a strange moment in history. One year ago, going around with your face covered would have gotten you stared at, approached by cops, etc. Today, not covering your face in public gets you stared at, ostracized, refused service. Heck… according to some news reports, even Read more…
When you make a thing illegal you lose control of it. Let me explain by example. Prohibition in the US was made Law by a constitutional amendment that made alcohol beverages illegal from 1920 through 1933. During this time more alcoholics came into being than the nation had ever known Read more…
Medical Science gives me a headache sometimes. It appears any more that they rarely look for the cause of your symptoms nor have a true causative agent for almost anything. Not even the “common cold” (more on that below). For example: look up “dry eyes” on the internet. Better yet, Read more…
On my walk back from the Post Office this morning(1), I noticed one of those pseudo-health drinks(2) lying in the gutter by the street. Suggestive of someone swigging his “health drink” and then tossing it out the window. Contradiction! Now, a fast-food wrapper lying there, that I could understand. Fast-food Read more…
Back in the Cold War(1) days , a friend of mine in the Navy related a story to me about one of those “this never happened” encounters between American vessels and Soviet ones. The “enemy” vessel was being annoying at the American one, knowing that no one would actually shoot, Read more…
Amazon has a widely recognized symbol that is used on TV, on their boxes, on the internet… even used where Children can see it. They call it a “smile.” That is not a smile! The best spin I can put on it is that it’s a smirk. Smirk: a one-sided, Read more…
Have you ever thanked your coffee pot for doing its job correctly? How about your house plant for being pretty? (You have house plants, right? You know, oxygen, color and life inside the house? Clean(er) air?) When did you last say a big Thank You to your Significant Other or Read more…
Does it bother any body else that YouTube has a commercial for their commercial-free membership? That is, they offer a version of YouTube that has no commercials at start of or end of or even interrupting a video; albeit you have to pay for it. Advertising your commercial-free service? Does Read more…
This posting is more about America than any one else, though most everyone else gets mentioned, en passant, at least. It has come to my attention (as a computer professional) that America has the most expensive internet service on the planet, and that (in general) Americans enjoy the least amount Read more…
I just found out how to make even Microsoft’s software run like a champ. (Sometimes.) (That is, run fast; it is still full of bugs, and there’s no fix outside of Microsoft itself for that — but they seem uninterested in fixing bugs.) Buy a really fast computer. I’ve been a Read more…
I’ll make my part of this short, as the inclusion here is pretty lengthy, and makes my point far better than I can. Let me just say, this is what used to pass for an 8th grade education in America, or, at least, in Salina, KS. If you look carefully Read more…
A recent article from the New York Post declared that, while Elon Musk is just all about getting people to Mars, and getting the planet terraformed (made suitable for living without suits or artificial life support), NASA has concluded that terraforming Mars is impossible because there’s insufficient CO2 in the soil. Read more…
When most people speak of Artificial Intelligence (AI) they’re really meaning Artificial Consciousness (AC). Intelligence is considered a side-effect of consciousness. That’s not quite correct (consider a termite mound, for instance; very intelligent, sophisticated aspects to the design of any termite mound — ask a 3rd year architectural engineer — Read more…
I was there during the 60’s, but I was never a hippy. Not then. As I child and young person I was too conservative for such things. Also too driven by the lust for knowledge (about almost everything) to worry too much about life styles. The word “nerd” was not Read more…
I used to be a Barista, before the leading edge of the Recession (finally noticed by the news media around 2007) caught up with me and caused me to have to close that. It was great fun, until then. It was also depressing at times, because I was all about Read more…
I don’t get it. I just upgraded my edition of Microsoft Office, which I still use only because of Publisher for which, so far, there is no really good alternative, unless you go into the high-dollar range. Open Office and Libre Office are great alternatives to all the rest of Read more…
(This turned into an unexpectedly long posting; my perfunctory apologies.) There is no election happening this year. What do I mean? I mean that it’s not a campaign to select the best qualified with the best agenda to move the country forward in the best way. Nope… it’s a campaign Read more…