Looks like it’s gonna be another hot one, just like all week. 77F and humid. Sunny, scattered clouds.
Good day for a pool party. Daughter number one is having her birthday party at our Rec Assn Pool. After Swim lesson, and Swim Team practice, of course. I’ll be busy with drinks, ice, burgers, hot dogs, and rigging the pinata. Can’t skip the pinata down here.
The time spent on my knees grouting tile has caught me this morning. Sore buttocks, sore arms, just sore. Getting old is not for the weak.
Enjoy your day!
n
Ok, this is not the first time someone intercepted a massive shipment. This is my current nightmare, a pound of this, a drone, and a crowd. We need to find a way to get some narcan, lots of it, and make it part of EDC.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-25/nebraska-troopers-seize-enough-fentanyl-kill-26-million-americans
n
Ouch! There are worse ways to die.
Duck, and cover.
The time spent on my knees grouting tile has caught me this morning. Sore buttocks, sore arms, just sore. Getting old is not for the weak.
I have decided that I am too old to do most things now. I just cannot get myself to work 40 to 50 hours per week and then do projects on the side. But, I can supervise !
“GDPR”
https://xkcd.com/1998/
You know, xkcd #2000 comes up next Wednesday. One wonders if there will be something special.
“Apple rejects Valve’s Steam Link game streaming app”
http://www.osnews.com/story/30403/Apple_rejects_Valve_s_Steam_Link_game_streaming_app
My friends, can you say monopoly ? I knew you could.
I am fairly sure that Valve is talking with their lawyers right now. And maybe the FTC.
I have testified in a FTC monopoly pretrial hearing before. It was not pretty. The company ended up divesting themselves of the software in question. But, they maintained an entire source license rights with full redistribution rights. Cost them at least a hundred million dollars. Maybe a billion.
To the FTC, this will look like barrel with fish in it. And, they have a pistol.
“Alberto kicks off 2018 hurricane season; no concerns for Texas”
https://spacecityweather.com/alberto-2018-hurricane-season/
I hate to rejoice as there is another 20+ storms to go this season.
“I have decided that I am too old to do most things now.”
Careful: if you think you are too old, you might be. Better to think positively, but remember that getting old isn’t for wimps. I know you have health issues, so let me congratulate you on your success!
Bingo.
Are they XKCD2k compliant?
Is there any good reason not to bulldoze Portland into the sea?
@SteveF said:
“Is there any good reason not to bulldoze Portland into the sea?”
From the article:
“It was only $10, but when I saw them I saw their eyes light up,” he said.
That quote says it all, “they” always have their hand out.
I have a few thoughts on the matter.
Careful: if you think you are too old, you might be. Better to think positively, but remember that getting old isn’t for wimps. I know you have health issues, so let me congratulate you on your success!
I used to think that I was “a jack of all trades and master of none”. I now know better. Most tradesmen do a way better job than I do, especially now.
My big problem now is finishing projects that I start. The wife has now noticed this also and made a few careful comments.
I am happy that I am able to get up five days a week and go to work. I am not as good as I used to be, but I can still sling code.
100F today on the north side of the house. Not much breeze, just enough the feel the hair on your arms. Just a couple of mosquitoes today.
Yeah. Summer is about a month early.
I refilled the hummingbird feeder a couple of hours ago. Six landed while I was still hanging the feeder. One on my hand.
And about 25 more buzzing around.
It’s all good.
Back from doing my duties as host… nice day with friendly folks.
Grilled up a mess o food.
Humid, so humid, but there was a steady breeze and it was pleasant in the shade.
n
Is there any good reason not to bulldoze Portland into the sea?
They will be buried when the Yellowstone caldera blows.
Just got a severe thunderstorm alert. We’ve had nearby lightning and thunder. A severe storm popped up at Hobby airport on radar. 60mph winds headed SW at 25mph.
Watch should expire before 10pm. We got a little microburst just a minute ago.
n
My friends, can you say monopoly ? I knew you could.
I am fairly sure that Valve is talking with their lawyers right now. And maybe the FTC.
Android has a bigger market share, and Valve is violating Apple’s terms. I fought the same battle with them, and that was just about embedding Python.
3.3.2 – An Application may not download or install executable code. Interpreted code may only be used in an Application if all scripts, code and interpreters are packaged in the Application and not downloaded. The only exception to the foregoing is scripts and code downloaded and run by Apple’s built-in WebKit framework, provided that such scripts and code do not change the primary purpose of the Application by providing features or functionality that are inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application as submitted to the App Store.
And God help Valve if they used any undocumented API. That will be “Game Over” in court (pun intended).
The status quo in iOS land isn’t going to change anytime soon. Steve Jobs didn’t want compiled apps from third party developers on the iPhone. The hardware wasn’t really capable of running the App Store ecosystem until the 3GS appeared in 2009, and the compiler didn’t have ARC to idiot-proof the memory management until iOS 5 in 2011. Even now, allowing a third party like Valve to bypass the App Store install process would be suicide for Apple.
Android has a bigger market share, and Valve is violating Apple’s terms. I fought the same battle with them, and that was just about embedding Python.
Oh, I think that the FTC is also looking at the Android store for monopoly issues. But Valve is one of the big boys and can file their own monopoly suit. I would not be surprised to see Apple blink for Valve.
The FTC really does not like the restraint of trade. And this stinks to the uneducated.
As an Independent Software Vendor and Developer, I have been watching these hardware supplier stores with a lot of trepidation. I see that Microsoft may be going away from theirs they introduced for the Windows 10 S operating system. One hopes.
If we are forced into the hardware supplier stores then we will have to change our business model significantly. Very significantly. And since our potential market is an inch wide and a mile deep, there is just not enough users to significantly cut our prices and keep us in business.
“I am not as good as I used to be, but I can still sling code.”
Channeling OFD, I have slung slang, but never code. Hats off! Seriously, I may have written some stuff for analysis, but never production code. Hardware was my thing.
If we are forced into the hardware supplier stores then we will have to change our business model significantly. Very significantly. And since our potential market is an inch wide and a mile deep, there is just not enough users to significantly cut our prices and keep us in business.
Get that intern from TAMU to take a look at running your application unmodified on Linux/Wine next Summer.
CS or Engineering dept. The TAMU MIS grad I worked with at CGI didn’t impress me as capable of something like that, but I’ll admit I think he was an EEOC project for both the school and the employer.
Honestly, though, I doubt Microsoft will cut off the third party developers from direct access to install software. Windows 10 S was about going after the school Chromebook market. Penfield-Jackson’s decision about separating Microsoft’s OS/compilers corporate interests from applications would be the blueprint for a whole new anti-trust suit financed by Adobe and Oracle, and, if nothing else, Thinkpads and Dell Latitudes run mainstream Linux remarkably well these days, keeping Redmond honest.
Maybe Microsoft could strongarm Dell, but not Lenovo.
Oh, I think that the FTC is also looking at the Android store for monopoly issues. But Valve is one of the big boys and can file their own monopoly suit. I would not be surprised to see Apple blink for Valve.
I think Valve needs an antitrust microscope itself. Have you seen the PC games section at Fry’s lately? Blizzard is about it.
Is Fry’s still in business ?
What TAMU intern are you talking about ?
Is Fry’s still in business ?
What TAMU intern are you talking about ?
I was speaking in general terms.
I work with a girl who graduated TAMU CS in 2015. She was sharp enough to pass our in-person coding test which washed out a CMU Robotics Lab Masters grad a few weeks back (I think the bosses still made him an offer, however — CMU is still CMU).
Fry’s is still in business. I’m suspended at Newegg (less said the better) so I hit Fry’s when I needed an external DVD-ROM recently.
Yeah, Fry’s is a lot different than they were the first time I went in 98 in Sunnyvale, at the original store. Less porn for starters. 🙂
Lot more china crap too.
Acres of chintzy junk and dubious phone chargers. Lots of candy and snacks. The two in this area still have stuff, but the selection is much reduced from the past.
n
added- lotta swarthy guys standing around waiting for customers, and working on commission.
I’m suspended at Newegg (less said the better) so I hit Fry’s when I needed an external DVD-ROM recently.
Thats ok. I suspended Newegg over a decade ago when they shipped me a new hard drive and the power board on it broke off. They called me a gorilla and refused to take it back.
Acres of chintzy junk and dubious phone chargers. Lots of candy and snacks. The two in this area still have stuff, but the selection is much reduced from the past.
Fry’s started to decline the day they moved the Sunnyvale store around the corner to its current location. Barnes & Noble shuttering Computer Literacy (just across Lawrence Expressway) didn’t help.
Thats ok. I suspended Newegg over a decade ago when they shipped me a new hard drive and the power board on it broke off. They called me a gorilla and refused to take it back.
A Chinese company now owns a majority of the Newegg stock. It is all downhill from here.
I finally re-configured the router to use OpenDNS. I’m on a wISP and while you tell the router you are connecting via DHCP, (and you are) in reality they look at your MAC address… after a power failure on their end (I have a UPS) I get the same address. After 3 or 4 routers you get a webpage wanting your account number or you call them.
Cloning MAC addresses has a use!
A few years ago the tower was hit by lighting. I got a new address and it belonged to a gun club in Austin. Totally locked down. No FB or any kind of nudeness was allowed.
It works now. Seems a little quicker than the wISP’s DNS, too.