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…
I just received another “update” from the Powers That Be in my county [“county” not “country”], update on CoVid. As with the previous posting inspired by a previous such report, I don’t see that these “daily briefings” can possibly do anything except inflame the population over an issue they understand Read more…
Among a great many other things, I work on computers for people. Something that has always bothered me is that the client has to give me his password(s) for the computer before I can work on it. That’s a security violation. The rule [not that we “do” rules, here, of Read more…
So, given the time of year ‘t is, as I write this, I’ve had several versions of A Christmas Carol playing(1). I just clicked on something (older meaning, not the new-ish one). What Scrooge experienced was in fact what so very many people these days report as NDE’s (near-death experiences), Read more…
This one will be short(-ish). It’s just a thought that occurs to me every time I’m on a cell phone call and the call drops, or every time some one leaves me a voice message and it takes 3 days to show up on my phone, or a text message Read more…
When I was a kid there was a lot of talk in the news, on TV talk shows, at school, and at home about overpopulation. How the world was getting just too crowded. That was with a population of about 2.5 billion. Today we have a population of about 7.5 Read more…
There is a logo, flash, picture, etc. that all real estate advertising in America includes. It is detailed in a document published at hud.gov which has much to say about “fair housing.” What is meant in this document by fair housing is that one can not discriminate against people on Read more…
The 13th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States recently came up for conversation in a group I was with. This is widely held as the anti-slavery amendment, and indeed that was its purpose. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall Read more…
Ok, I harp on this a lot. But that’s because I think it really, really matters. Here’s why. Those who craft stories that get labelled Science Fiction have an obligation to make sure the science is defensible. Otherwise, at best it’s science fantasy — which *is* another genre of story Read more…
This posting’s a little different. It’s a request, to any and all of you out there who might want to take on this project. An amazing project. Our world is pretty gummed up right now. At least it seems that way, yes? Lot’s of pain, lot’s of apparent injustice. Lot’s of Read more…
I have had it… just totally had it. I just sent a message to my state representative (imagine that?) over some thing important to me, trying to ensure that it’s important to him as well. (Or at least that he’s aware of it; the best that can be done most Read more…
In my county (or some county, at least) there is a regular email that goes out reporting on the local status of COVID. Here’s a section of the heart of the latest (as I write this) report: * There were 27 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday and Thursday for a total Read more…
I found this newspaper clipping up on the Internet a while back. Sigh… 1958 newspaper article. Sixty-four years ago (and counting). We’ve been telling you about all this for a very long time. How much longer will you wait? It won’t be too much longer that you can wait. Stop using Read more…
It seems strange to me when I get to the end of an interminable checkout process on someone’s website (the bigger the company, the longer the checkout process, ever notice that?) to then see a statement about “how much money I saved today.” I am stunned that — apparently — Read more…
A friend of mine sent me this. I thought it was very cool. Eternity in Measured Time On the Island of Thor there is a rock. It’s a thousand miles high, and It’s a thousand miles wide. Once every million years, A small bird comes to sharpen his beak. Read more…
I just caught word of NASA’s new mission to the moon whose sole purpose is to scout for water. Excellent. However… the article I read (and I *hope* it’s the author, and not NASA making this statement) suggests that water is important as drinking water and as rocket fuel. Please… Read more…