Tues. Jan. 22, 2019 – volunteer day

By on January 22nd, 2019 in Random Stuff

Cool and wet, almost certainly.

Posting early as today is the day I volunteer at the kids’ school. Science enrichment for the 4th grade.

So I’ll be scrambling to get myself ready as well as everyone else.

Once again progressive leftists have revealed themselves and their true feelings. They want anyone that has different beliefs to be punched in the nuts or fed into a wood chipper. They’re willing to advocate for it on the flimsiest basis and against kids too.

The center can not hold.

n

55 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Jan. 22, 2019 – volunteer day"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    Getting sporty!

    ” Overnight Clashes Follow Venezuelan Officers’ Failed Attempt To Lead Anti-Maduro Coup

    “You wanted us to light the fuse, so we did” — Military coup leader

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Getting sporty!

    Everyone is thinking, “Where is the US invasion force?”

    Little Marco wants to give it to them.

  3. JimL says:

    7º and cloudy. Going to get up close to 32º today, which is perfect weather for a run.

    Went to the Fang Cleaners for a visit yesterday. I still have all 28 of my remaining choppers, crowns & fillings included. No fillings or repairs in several years indicates (to me) that I’m doing something right finally. Youngest has a chipped tooth, but it’s a baby tooth, and will fall out in the next year or so, and it doesn’t go to the core, so no worries.

    Went to Olive Garden yesterday because I had a gift card worth $25. Dinner was $80, so $55 for the 5 of us. For pasta, it was NOT worth it. Next time I get one we’re going to Longhorn. At least there I’ll get food I like to eat. But the wife & kids had a good time, so I won’t complain where they can hear it.

    Got through the Act! upgrade fairly smoothly. 8 hours on Sunday making a backup and going through the hoops required to get the server updated, then get the initial install done right on my desktop. (I hadn’t been using it, so my new machine was still clean. Hate to tarnish it that way, but that’s my job.) Then spent the day yesterday getting the Sales weenies updated. We still have a few to do, and the remote databases need to be updated yet, but we’re almost done.

    Act!. Not recommended.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Went to Olive Garden yesterday because I had a gift card worth $25. Dinner was $80, so $55 for the 5 of us. For pasta, it was NOT worth it. Next time I get one we’re going to Longhorn. At least there I’ll get food I like to eat. But the wife & kids had a good time, so I won’t complain where they can hear it.

    Anymore, the Darden restaurants as a whole aren’t worth it IMHO.

    Sunday was our first experience at Hopdoddy because my daughter sold Girl Scout cookes there, and we only had a brief time before we had to be at the next sale stop.

    $80 for four people to have hamburgers. Not going back.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    Looks like the Oscars people realized that “Best Achievement in Black Panther Filmmaking” (aka Best Popular Film) was not a great idea since it would have been the target of a SeaOrg op on behalf of Tom Cruise, who did made a serious challenger for the award with the last “Mission Impossible” flick.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/entertainment/oscar-nominations-2019/index.html

    Wait until next year with “Black Panther 2”.

  6. JLP says:

    Oscars? What are those? Seriously, I haven’t watched an award show more than a decade. I just don’t care. Whether it wins an award or not has no impact on my enjoyment of a show.

    Something related: the cnn link above takes me to the page with a playing video and when I scroll down the video stays in the window and keeps playing (I’m using Chrome). How do I stop that? I’ve tried various settings (including “autoplay policy”) but nothing works.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    Oscars? What are those? Seriously, I haven’t watched an award show more than a decade. I just don’t care. Whether it wins an award or not has no impact on my enjoyment of a show.

    Creation of a special award, obviously intended for “Black Panther”, was something which caught my eye. This year’s show will be all about bashing Trump.

    I half watched “Black Panther”, working while my kids ran the film. Typical modern Marvel flick.

  8. Rick H says:

    @JLP – re CNN autoplay videos ..

    The googles have these results: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1&q=stop+video+autoplay+on+cnn .

    I used the one in FF that changed a setting. Requires a dialog box on every web site to decide if I want autoplay. Only once per site, so an initial flurry where I said “don’t allow, and remember this setting”.

    Got rid of the CNN autoplay with that. Different browsers have different settings; the search results should provide you with a solution for your favorite browser.

  9. lynn says:

    Got through the Act! upgrade fairly smoothly. 8 hours on Sunday making a backup and going through the hoops required to get the server updated, then get the initial install done right on my desktop. (I hadn’t been using it, so my new machine was still clean. Hate to tarnish it that way, but that’s my job.) Then spent the day yesterday getting the Sales weenies updated. We still have a few to do, and the remote databases need to be updated yet, but we’re almost done.

    Act!. Not recommended.

    Good to hear that you got yourselves upgraded. I am dreading this immensely.

    What version of Act! to what version of Act! ? I am assuming Act Premium.

    I have yet to do anything about upgrading our 10 user license of Act 2012 Premium so they will not return my emails. Not a good sign for the future.

    So, is there a better workgroup contact management product out there for the future ?

  10. JimL says:

    We went from Act! 19.2 (2017) to 21.0 (not 20.0), update 5 (2019)

    The problems I had involved getting the _right_ executables. They’re easily downloaded, but they don’t tell you which ones you need for what. What I wound up downloading:
    21 premium/web, update 5 – for our server
    21 premium, update 4 – for the desktop clients
    update 5 for 21 premium – to update the desktop clients.
    Since our Act! server is virtual, I simply made a complete copy of the .vhd so I could roll back easily if necessary.
    Aside from taking for-e-ver because I was checking things every step, it went fairly smooth.

    The process is:
    * Remove extant act! programs, including the web api (if it’s installed)
    * Start the install using their extractor, wich FORCES a reboot. Let it.
    * Finish the install, but don’t launch Act!
    * Run the update 5 update
    Test.

    If you’re nervous, start with a backup on your server. Then don’t worry about it. Either it will work or it won’t. Given how good they are at synching remote databases and automating updates, I wouldn’t worry too much. It was a pain in the butt and it’s taking a lot of time I don’t have. But it’s not hard.

    Edit: Corrected destination version number.

  11. JimL says:

    Incidentally – the consultant wanted $4000 to come in for a day and upgrade the server & 16 users. I STILL don’t think it was worth it, but it’s starting to come close.

  12. lynn says:

    Wait until next year with “Black Panther 2”.

    “Black Panther 2” already has been released. It was called “Avengers: Infinity War”. You can see it on Netflix if you want. It is dark, very very dark.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Infinity_W

    BTW, I would watch “Thor: Ragnarok” on Netflix first as some of the story line between “Avengers: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War” is told.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor:_Ragnarok

  13. lynn says:

    We went from Act! 19.2 (2017) to 20.0, update 5 (2019)

    Oh wow, not much of a change. I am worried about upgrading our two TB Act! 2012 Premium database to Act! 2019 Premium. So far, nobody has responded to my emails. Either they are swamped or just a bunch of posers. I am not sure which would be worse.

  14. JimL says:

    Correction – went from 19.2 to 21.0 (not 20.0). Not much difference, but there it is. I’l fix the other comment.

  15. JimL says:

    I’m thinking “swamped”. You do software now. Imagine ALL of your customers calling you at once complaining about a patch you had to develop & deploy on short notice. I used to hate regular software updates (every 6 months, regardless of how much we got done). An emergency patch would just SUCK.

    One of the good things about this whole thing is that you don’t HAVE to have it applied by 1 January. So long as you don’t make significant changes or need a new install, you’ll be fine.

    Another good thing? People are paying attention to how they can get bollixed up by a third-party piece and will work to mitigate it.

  16. lynn says:

    “AOC, Beto: The 7 letters disrupting politics”
    https://www.axios.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-beto-o-rourke-democrats-d69595cc-ea49-41b5-b521-dce94dc2790f.html

    “Exclusive: A new Axios/SurveyMonkey poll finds that 74% of Democrats (and people who lean Dem) would consider voting for Ocasio-Cortez if she were old enough to run for president. (She’s 29; you have to be at least 35.) ”

    I am fairly sure that butto will be beaten down by Trump in 2020. However, there are no repuglican stars waiting in the wings for 2024. Pence is a lightweight. Rubio is a lightweight. Jeb! is a lightweight. Mitt is a lightweight. So, I see AOC taking the presidency in 2024 when she is 36. Just in time to outlaw all CO2 emissions in the USA to save the world. And the give out free healthcare, free college, and free this and free that.

    Like RBT used to say, the FSA (free stuff army) will vote for Uncle Santa Claus any day of the way and twice on Sunday.

    Hat tip to:
    https://drudgereport.com/

  17. Greg Norton says:

    BTW, I would watch “Thor: Ragnarok” on Netflix first as some of the story line between “Avengers: Civil War” and “Avengers: Infinity War” is told.

    Beyond Cobie Smulders cameos, not much in the “MCU” movie series interests me.

  18. Greg Norton says:

    I am fairly sure that butto will be beaten down by Trump in 2020. However, there are no repuglican stars waiting in the wings for 2024. Pence is a lightweight. Rubio is a lightweight. Jeb! is a lightweight. Mitt is a lightweight. So, I see AOC taking the presidency in 2024 when she is 36. Just in time to outlaw all CO2 emissions in the USA to save the world. And the give out free healthcare, free college, and free this and free that.

    Keep an eye on the Governors. DeSantis beat back the Gillum immaculation and is already making a positive impression in FL. Even The (St. Petersburg) Times is limiting their sniping. DeSantis is only 40.

    No one saw Bill Clinton coming in 1992. I doubt even Clinton expected to win the nomination that year. I still remember Gennifer Flowers’ tape of Clinton exclaiming, “That Mario Cuomo scares me … he’s a mafioso.”

    Ocasio-Cortez will self destruct before the year is out. Project Veritas is probably already working on it if not another hungrier investigator. The payoff is too huge to ignore for a really good viral video.

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    that’s what happens when you fetishize youth and diversity….

    n

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    Home from my volunteer effort and some errands.

    Did phases of the moon, and eclipses.

    Some challenges were just getting the kids, most not native english speakers, to learn 3 new words that mostly only apply to the moon… wax, wane, gibbous, and penumbra and umbra. Many of them didn’t know “crescent”.

    Thanks to the Minon movies, they all saw the ‘banana’ shape just fine.

    n

  21. Greg Norton says:

    that’s what happens when you fetishize youth and diversity….

    The Wise Latina is a tired meme. That’s how Sotomayor came to sit on the Supreme Court.

  22. lynn says:

    Beyond Cobie Smulders cameos, not much in the “MCU” movie series interests me.

    MCU ?

  23. lynn says:

    @brad on yesterday:

    On another site, I recently read an article about worldwide incarceration stats. I knew the US was up there, but… 1 in 38 adults is either in jail or under supervision (probation, etc.). More people locked up than any other country in the world, both as a proportion of the population, and even in absolute numbers. I know the causes are complex, but geez, that’s just insane.

    I wonder how the people working involuntarily in the Siberian gulags are classified by this article. I wonder how the people sold to the Foxconn factories in China are treated by the article ? I could go on and on.

  24. lynn says:

    “Backblaze Hard Drive Stats for 2018”
    https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-for-2018/

    “As of December 31, 2018, we had 106,919 spinning hard drives. Of that number, there were 1,965 boot drives and 104,954 data drives. This review looks at the hard drive failure rates for the data drive models in operation in our data centers. In addition, we’ll take a look at the new hard drive models we’ve added in 2018 including our 12 TB HGST and 14 TB Toshiba drives. Along the way we’ll share observations and insights on the data presented and we look forward to you doing the same in the comments.”

    “There are no more 4 TB Western Digital drives; the last of them was replaced in Q4. This leaves us with only 383 Western Digital drives remaining — all 6 TB drives. That’s 0.37% of our drive farm. We do have plenty of drives from HGST (owned by WDC), but over the years we’ve never been able to get the quantity of Western Digital drives we need at a reasonable price.”

    “In 2016 the average size of hard drives in use was 4.5 TB. By 2018 the average size had grown to 7.7 TB.”

    “The Annualized Failure Rate (AFR) for 2018 for all drive models was just 1.25%, well below the rates from previous years as we’ll discuss later on in this review.”

    “None of the 45 Toshiba 5 TB drives (model: MD04ABA500V) has failed since Q2 2016. While the drive count is small, that’s still a pretty good run.”

    “The Seagate 10 TB drives (model: ST10000NM0086) continue to impress as their AFR for 2018 was just 0.33%. That’s based on 1,220 drives and nearly 500,000 drive days, making the AFR pretty solid.”

    In particular, it looks like Seagate drives are becoming more reliable.

  25. Nick Flandrey says:

    BTW, the dell pcs from costco are cheap for a reason.

    I opened up the one I got to use as my NVR, I was going to add a 4TB drive.

    NO additional pci slots
    SATA power is a weird 6 pin on the MB, unique to dell.
    The drive slot needs a carrier, not supplied. No way to just add a drive and secure it.
    Nvidia g card (GeForce GT 1030) is white box, no labels at all, no onboard RAM according to the reporting tool. Perhaps THAT’S why my video performance is so sh!tty.

    [also, wtf? windows photos.exe and skype.exe are shown as running on the GPU. How can I change THAT? ]

    n

  26. Greg Norton says:

    Nvidia g card (GeForce GT 1030) is white box, no labels at all, no onboard RAM according to the reporting tool. Perhaps THAT’S why my video performance is so sh!tty.

    I have a EVGA GT730 with 2GB RAM which I could never get to run right in my Windows 7 Q6600 box. Let me know if you want to take a look. AFAIK, the card is fine under Linux or Windows 10.

  27. Nick Flandrey says:

    I decided to just order the cables I need from amazon… microcenter has the cable, but only 8 inches long. They don’t have extensions. Altex has the extension but not the 6 pin to SATA. This turned a simple half hour job into a multi day affair. I blame Dell. And Costco. I guess I should have known that TANSTAAFL, but I really didn’t expect Dell to strip a model for Costco.

    n

  28. lynn says:

    BTW, the dell pcs from costco are cheap for a reason.

    Do you think that their Costco PC and mail order PCs are different ? I doubt that they are.

  29. JimL says:

    Well, there’s your problem right there. You forgot TANSTAAFL. Carriers for bays & costly patented connections cost $. Changing to non-standard connections & leaving out a $1 tray is all they can do to not lose money on the device.

    @Lynn – I know they’re different. Even the mail-order ones from Dell are better than that. I’ve had occasion to buy them. The only time I see what Nick describes is when someone specifies the absolute cheapest alternatives. THEN you get cheap.

  30. lynn says:

    “Get Ready– they’re coming for your money”
    https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/get-ready-theyre-coming-for-your-money-24436/

    “Central banks around the world have printed trillions of dollars over last decade, and pushed interest rates to zero, and sometimes below. And all of that stimulus went directly into the pockets of the wealthy.”

    “Then there’s the new star of Congress, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. She supports hiking income taxes up to 70%, providing free medical care, free college, a chicken in every pot and a unicorn in every garage.”

    “And, of course, she blames capitalism for everything wrong with the United States… and says “it will not always exist in the world.””

    “Ray Dalio, manager of Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund, is hobnobbing with the global elite at a Swiss ski resort in Davos. He says that among the attendees, the ideas of this 29-year-old freshman Congresswoman are actually taking root.”

    “Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman thinks AOC’s 70% is too low.”

    “Somewhere between 73% and 80% is the optimal tax rate he says. Under his plan, the government will graciously let you keep up to 27% of what you earn.”

  31. lynn says:

    Well, there’s your problem right there. You forgot TANSTAAFL. Carriers for bays & costly patented connections cost $. Changing to non-standard connections & leaving out a $1 tray is all they can do to not lose money on the device.

    @Lynn – I know they’re different. Even the mail-order ones from Dell are better than that. I’ve had occasion to buy them. The only time I see what Nick describes is when someone specifies the absolute cheapest alternatives. THEN you get cheap.

    I’ve seen how cheap the Dell and HP Costco PCs are. Dad has one, an HP I believe. We put an SSD in it the other day. There were no extra bays so we put the SSD on top of the case.

    I have not bought a mail order PC in at least two decades. I gave up and we build our PCs here. That way I know what the components are. And, we do not save any money doing it since I buy the retail Windows OS and Office also.

  32. Greg Norton says:

    MCU?

    Marvel Cinematic Universe.

  33. JimL says:

    That’s the best way to know what’s in it. That’s what I do for myself, though it’s a piece at a time. The only things original on my current PC is the case & the OS serial number.

    I’ve taken to buying off-lease Dells for folks when they need a “not gaming” PC. They are usually about half the price of a new PC and I know it’s clean. It also has at least 3-4 years of life left in it. For the kids.

  34. Greg Norton says:

    @Nick – If you’re looking for cheap server systems, I’ve done two builds at the house using this board. One came out to $150 for CPU, board, and 4GB of memory, and it runs Linux really well.

    AM4 allows easy swap out to a more powerful CPU if needed, and the board will accept up to 64 GB RAM.

    https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157762

    I don’t understand the negative reviews. I made sure to flash the BIOS upon first full power up, and I’ve never had a problem with either of my systems.

  35. dkreck says:

    Those refurbished off-lease machines work great for most. Below $200 for an i-5 with 8GB & 500GB drive.
    An SSD replacement can go about anywhere in a case. Couple of cable ties and you’re good to go.

  36. JimL says:

    @Lynn – something I’m feeling right now about Act! – if you have an install that won’t go because the computer name & user name is the same (it’s NOT!), simply rename the computer, do all the uninstalling & installing, then rename the computer back to the original.

    Took me an hour to find that little tid.

  37. SteveF says:

    RickH, is Light Blink suitable for an eleven-year-old to read? I’m not concerned about a bit of swearing* or non-gory violence but am attempting to keep adult content down to a minimum.

    I bought your book when you announced it, a week or so ago, but the feast-or-famine has been feasting and I just don’t have time to read it. I thought I’d turn it over to my daughter to read and review** in order to get it done before the millennium.

    * Trying to keep f-bombs and such away from her is futile. Aside from being around other kids, some of whom I’ve witnessed exhibiting potty-mouth-itis, the little brat keeps picking up my Kindle and reading whatever I happened to be reading. (And, as often as not, going back to the beginning of the story and losing my place, but that’s a separate issue.) The Martian, just as an example, leads with “I’m pretty much fucked.” and it didn’t kill her, so I guess I’m not going to worry about language.

    ** Don’t laugh. Last year she was the #1 reviewer on http://webfictionguide.com for a month or so, based on number of reviews and and number of thumbs-up for each.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Build a wall. Use a porn tax…

    An honest porn tax would solve the debt problem, but, if there’s one thing I learned in 25 years dealing with Corporate America IT issues, never f*ck with the porn headed for the C suite.

  39. Rick H says:

    @SteveF —

    The “Light Blink” story has no adult language or situations in it. It’s a bit mysterious, but there is nothing in there that would shock anyone. No foul language or situations.

    So, safe for all! And, a good story, but I am slightly prejudiced.

    Wrote a couple thousand words on Book Two today. Making progress.

    Readers and reviews are appreciated! I’ve got one review – 5-star, but more reviews (and readers) would be great! I’d be interested in thoughts on the book.

    So, no problem with recommending it to anyone of any age.

  40. Nick Flandrey says:

    @steve, That is cool!

    WRT buying vs. building, I am not a hobbyist anymore so I don’t enjoy messing around with it. This drive power cable is a perfect example. I’ve got a box of standard parts, both take offs and leftovers. But not knowing about this has put my upgrade on hold, and worse, I used the timeslot I had. Now I have to find ANOTHER timeslot for the SAME PROJECT. I was hoping to avoid that mess by buying. (and now I’m thinking about upgrading the video card too)

    I’ve got that costco dell and the Dell direct small business machine that is my main machine. The difference in build quality and materials is significant. They are spec’d similarly, but bought 2 years apart. I don’t think I’ll be buying another from Costco. For daily use, I’ll buy SMB direct from dell, for anything else, I’ll get one of those tiny boxes for $129. Or I’ll refurb something if I’m going super cheap and size doesn’t matter.

    It shouldn’t really surprise me. All the majors make a SKU especially for Costco, whether it’s tvs or Roombas. What surprised me is that it was spec’d decently. It looks and acts like a good machine. I’m not even sure you could find out things like the video card being stripped. It’s not sold as a gaming machine, and the card is fine for windows use. The NVR software has an option to use the GPU for video transcoding though, and that would be VERY helpful as I seem to be CPU bound with the number of streams I’m taking in.

    And seriously, why are skype (which I don’t even have installed) and windows Photos.exe running on the gpu?

    n

  41. Greg Norton says:

    It shouldn’t really surprise me. All the majors make a SKU especially for Costco, whether it’s tvs or Roombas.

    If the major is big enough, it pays the company a license fee for the logo and arranges manufacturing without any involvement from the original brand name. Hunter fans at Lowe’s and Home Depot come immediately to mind as SKUs obtained via that arrangement, but Dell wouldn’t surprise me.

    OTOH, Costco has a very generous return policy on electronics, much longer than the home improvement stores with any item, and burning a member on something risks losing that vital $60-120 of cash flow every year.

    Whenever we’re pressured to upgrade to Gold membership as of late, we start loudly discussing how we were burned by the Auto Buying program. “Thank you. Next customer!”

  42. lynn says:

    “Nathan Phillips rally attempted to disrupt Mass at DC’s National Shrine”
    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/nathan-phillips-rally-attempted-to-disrupt-mass-at-dcs-national-shrine-91038

    This is a organized attack on Christianity in the USA. Or maybe a disorganized attack, I am not sure. But, I am sure that Christians are being attacked.

    The civil war is getting closer.

    Hat tip to:
    https://drudgereport.com/

  43. lynn says:

    “SNL Writer Offers Oral Sex For Anyone Who Punches MAGA Kid”
    https://www.infowars.com/snl-writer-offers-oral-sex-for-anyone-who-punches-maga-kid/

    I think that offering a payment to somebody to beat up a minor is actionable. If not, it should be.

    Hat tip to:
    https://drudgereport.com/

  44. lynn says:

    @Lynn – something I’m feeling right now about Act! – if you have an install that won’t go because the computer name & user name is the same (it’s NOT!), simply rename the computer, do all the uninstalling & installing, then rename the computer back to the original.

    Took me an hour to find that little tid.

    Well, that is a little unnerving. And par for the course for Act!.

    Our PCs have two letter designations for the most part. And our users have three letter user accounts. I started using this when we got our first Vax and networked it to our Prime. And then brought in two dozen unix boxes to really make the network crazy. And then the PCs went wild when we found Lantastic ethernet boards and software.

  45. lynn says:

    I finished watching the Jericho two season tv series on Netflix. It was horrifying. 15 million dead with the 23 nukes smuggled into the USA. Another 40 million dead due to starvation, violence, and disease in six months.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series)

    And then things got bad.

  46. Nick Flandrey says:

    Looks like we’ll be getting some rain tonight after all.

    n

  47. lynn says:

    And seriously, why are skype (which I don’t even have installed) and windows Photos.exe running on the gpu?

    Because any gpu has got way more horsepower than the penny ante cpu in that Costco PC. There are two major programming APIs that I know of, CUDA and OpenCL.
    https://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/cuda
    and
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenCL

    By moving those image processing systems off your pc’s cpu, your cpu can appear to be a much more tough hunk of iron (actually silicon).

    BTW, the last 4 or 5 PCs that we built, we did not buy video boards for them. We use the built in Intel graphics which works very well now.

  48. Greg Norton says:

    “And seriously, why are skype (which I don’t even have installed) and windows Photos.exe running on the gpu?”

    Because any gpu has got way more horsepower than the penny ante cpu in that Costco PC. There are two major programming APIs that I know of, CUDA and OpenCL.

    At worst, the penny ante CPU is an A-series AMD APU. Not gamer silicon, but not terrible for a general purpose PC. I run one in my home server, and use it to encode video in real time depending on resolution.

    NVIDIA = CUDA

    IIRC, Skype has some kind of relay capability which lightens the load on their servers. Much like Office, pieces of it get installed pre-loaded with some manufacturers’ Windows 10 images.

    Photos is probably crunching face recognition.

  49. ayj says:

    It seems that there is some kind of “I have/build better machines” nowadays you coud install better faster cheaper (forgive me) virtual on a server and remote it, I doubt that (except games) there is need for local machines, simply put more RAM and finishela (colloquial italian, end it!)

    I am bored of graphich people needing and endless bla bla for performance, its math only, but lyn, your process are math only, so RAM, if you need more CPUs, maybe you need a custom GPU

    my two cents

    PS Ortograpchic corrector doesnt seems to run

    PS wax not only applies to moon issues, but Nick you forced me to look at merrian, thanks

  50. brad says:

    There’s generally an awful lot of waste in software, in terms of performance. People write programs that depends on frameworks, that use other frameworks, that use external libraries, that…

    It’s all great for rapid development, right up until one of those external dependencies changes on you (witness the fun with Act!). When my little company wrote software, I wrote our framework myself. My framework, under my control, that didn’t handle 100s of use-cases of other customers, which didn’t apply to us.

    Meanwhile every framework and external library eats cycles and memory. I’m probably being conservative, if I say that most commercial programs should be 10x faster and take 1/10 the memory. In some cases, it’s probably more like 100x.

  51. SteveF says:

    most commercial programs should be 10x faster and take 1/10 the memory

    Probably true, but they’d also cost 10x as much.

  52. Nick Flandrey says:

    Thanks Ayj!

    Usually you will hear “‘he waxed poetic’ on the subject close to his heart” or something similar.

    Sometimes you see wane used also, usually in a sentence like “The aging politician found his influence waning as his fellows died off, one by one.”

    They are not common usage though outside of this one last place, describing the moon.

    And I don’t think ‘gibbous’ is used anywhere else even if the dictionary lists other usage. I would bet that 80-90% of English or Americans couldn’t tell you what it meant or where it would be used.

    n

  53. JimL says:

    Our PCs have two letter designations for the most part. And our users have three letter user accounts. I started using this when we got our first Vax and networked it to our Prime. And then brought in two dozen unix boxes to really make the network crazy. And then the PCs went wild when we found Lantastic ethernet boards and software.

    Hah. That won’t save you. Our computers are named for their asset number (such as W4630 for a workstation), while our users are designated by FirstNameLastName, such as JoeDoakes. Doesn’t matter. That is EXACTLY what I ran into. Twice, so far. 5 machines left to upgrade. The crappiness that is Act! knows no bounds.

  54. lynn says:

    Our PCs have two letter designations for the most part. And our users have three letter user accounts. I started using this when we got our first Vax and networked it to our Prime. And then brought in two dozen unix boxes to really make the network crazy. And then the PCs went wild when we found Lantastic ethernet boards and software.

    Hah. That won’t save you. Our computers are named for their asset number (such as W4630 for a workstation), while our users are designated by FirstNameLastName, such as JoeDoakes. Doesn’t matter. That is EXACTLY what I ran into. Twice, so far. 5 machines left to upgrade. The crappiness that is Act! knows no bounds.

    Oh man, that does suck. BTW, when I last installed Act! across our network, I first copied the 200+ MB install to the PC. So, I was always installing it locally. That got rid of a couple of weird installation issues.

Comments are closed.