So there I am, working on a computer, and I’m in the updates (the never-ending, interminable updates) and up pops this “ad” (update now or else, sort of thing) saying I can now take this computer to Windows 11. Ok. Groovy, even. (As they used to say.) EXCEPT, the way Read more…
I get (a little) annoyed with Americans and especially American Politicians (who ought to be professionals in their craft) who talk about their “democracy.” It’s not a democracy. It never was. It’s a Constitutional Republic. Completely and totally different animal. My opinion is that any one who doesn’t know that Read more…
A collage (or collision) of three items that struck my attention this morning. Thought the First: Just read an article where some folks(1) are hacking the Google and Alexa “home” stuff and can listen to everything going on in the home, and can even talk back, and carry on a Read more…
Every time I pick up a Mr Coffee coffee pot and it dribbles all over the table, or every time I go to put a special sheet of paper in the printer to find the paper already in there is no longer properly in place and has to be adjusted before Read more…
When I was a kid (a century or so ago(1)), and there was a Good Program coming on TV (there actually were some, occasionally — just like now), I can remember my Mom and I in the kitchen, making a snack or washing dishes, and watching the clock get toward Read more…
If it’s not good for at least 100 years, why did you design it, build it, sell it or buy it? Why? Imagine how much bounty the Human Race (and the God-Zillions of other critters we share this planet with) could have if every thing we made or did was Read more…
Not mine, I’m reposting it here. You know the expression; those who fail to learn from History, blah blah etc. Read this carefully. You are living in Interesting Times Learning to live in fear. After looking out the window I could see all the trucks and cannons go by, This Read more…
I get unbelievable junk mail every day. Such stuff that I can’t figure out who is the more foolish: the person who sent it hoping to steal my money, or the people who fall for it, not noticing the many things wrong with it. For example (I received this in Read more…
There are two books that stick in my mind when I think about the year “1984.” One book (obviously) is the one by that very title, written in 1949 as a warning about where we were heading, both as a nation and as a planet. George Orwell gave us such Read more…
Just a reminder, for some of you, and a Clue for the rest of you… See the embedded video here. This was a “parody” of the news as it was 40 years ago (as I write this). It was that bad then, but by comparison with today’s so-called news reporting Read more…
No opinion on these is being expressed here. Just suggesting these ought to be thought about… by everybody. Why are spies treated differently during war than is every other participant in that war? All sides have spies. All sides have soldiers. All sides have guns. All sides have Old Men Read more…
Almost no one out there in the Wide World — or at least the world touched by Mass Media — understands what “Science” is. I promise you, it’s not what most people think it is, not what you were taught in grade school, either. Ours is an Authoritarian culture. We Read more…
Recently I had opportunity (and reason) to watch 3 different versions of the same movie: Ten Little Indians(1), based on Agatha Christie’s play and book of the same name. 1965 with Wilfrid Hyde Wight, Fabian, Hugh O’Brien, and others. 1974 with Oliver Reed and Richard Attenborough. Badly directed. 1989 with Read more…
I was just reading an article (perhaps a rant, but the author’s numbers and facts seem to check out) that is really very scary in several ways. He brings up some things I wasn’t aware of. But I’ll just touch on a small part of it and then do my Read more…
I hear People come down on Google for keeping track of what one does, or for “listening” to everything one says while within ear-shot of a live microphone(1). Besides the fact that this is largely misleading propaganda probably put forward by Those Who Can’t Honestly Compete with Google (so they Read more…
I’ve been a programmer for a very, very long time. (Yes, before sand was invented, even. 🙂 OK, not quite that long.) I have been watching the standards for software design, implementation, release and after-market support spiral down the rabbit hole for the last 28 years, more or less. (That’s Read more…
I’ll let Linus speak this one… it’s pretty self-explanatory, and 100% correct, besides. Always… ask why? Ask how? Ask how come? Ask in what ways the data *might* be wrong? Who might have a vested interest in the “results” turning out that way? Ask, ask, ask. When you stop asking, Read more…
I just ran into a most curious concept. (Well… “just” might be an exaggeration, but it makes for a great opening line to the posting, don’t you think?) “Alpha Sheep.” Huh? Alpha, in these terms at least, refers to one who dominates and exerts his will over his part of Read more…
Just some things to think about… <He said with a grin> 1 — In studies conducted in England involving Chemotherapy, in double-blind style testing, half the participants getting the placebo lost their hair. Belief, man… what a concept. So why do I have to pay extra on my medical insurance Read more…
This posting is partly an exploration in how language evolves and sometimes has consequences we weren’t expecting. If that doesn’t interest you, feel free to move on. Actually, no — read it anyway… 🙂 There’s a term much in use these days: “3D Printing.” I have been holding that this Read more…