Cool but clear, generally very nice. Like yesterday. Clear with a blue sky and sun, still mid 60s into the 70s. Pretty cold at night. 40F last night and the night before.
Spent the day doing auction stuff. Dropped a load off at my local auctioneer, did a pick up that involved a bit of driving, and rescheduled a drop off at my industrial auctioneer. I’ll be doing that one today. I did some Valentine’s Day shopping in last week’s auctions and I will try to pick that up today too. I met my neighbor at my secondary and gave him some of the stuff I needed to get rid of. DIDN’T get the forklift moved. Today I’ll try again.
Stuff is slipping. I need a big ‘make up’ day.
I did get a great score at the grocery last night. HUGE discounts on sirloin and ham. I piled it up in the cart. That is one issue with using Instacart or a curbside service- you miss some special deals.
I’ve got nothing more to say about any of the political situation or financial situation. It feels like the calm before the storm to me. Bad things headed this way.
Keep stacking.
nick
40F and I woke up thinking about GDP and destruction of value, and the Kardassians. I’m turning into John Wilder! Argggggg!
n
When I was working at a large commercial bank the bank was using software from a vendor. We had custom changes but the interface on the teller terminals was the vendor’s code. One day I was fixing a problem on a system and decided to sit behind the teller line for a couple of hours to watch. I was not at all happy with what I sw.
If someone came into make a withdrawal the tell had to pad the account number with several leading zeros. The amount that was entered had to be in an exact format, n.nn. No commas allowed, no trailing spaces [nn.nn ] would trip an error when the the screen was submitted. Very tight formatting for everything.
So I took a week at my own initiative (I was generally self guided in my tasks) and wrote some front end code (in COBOL, as that was the vendor’s language). My code would allow any format. Leading zeros or not, decimal point optional, sign optional, commas optional, left or right justification, did not matter. The could would produce several attributes about a number field and several properly formatted fields and the proper field passed back to the original vendor code.
When I implemented the code the tellers were astounded. When I told them about the loss of the rigid requirements for numbers they were at first confused. I told the tellers to enter the number as they wanted, what made sense to them and was reasonable (backwards was unreasonable, yes someone asked).
The reduction in keystrokes was significant, teller productivity went up 20% as measured by customer service time. This reduced lines at peak periods. The changes also reduced the number of errors in entering account numbers and amounts to almost from each teller each day.
The bank offered the code to the vendor who quickly rejected the idea. Said they were working on their own code. Two years later their code finally arrived (mine took a week to create). Theirs sucked. We removed their code and put mine back into the teller module. We also extended my code to all the other online modules for other banking departments.
I learned from this experience to always spend time doing nothing but watching the user, observing how the user interfaces, what the user does, find what can be improved. And ask the user as they are generally more aware of what they are doing than some back room code slinger.
One of my most irritating peeves on commerce sites is entering credit cards. Some only allow 16 digits, thus no spaces. Some allow more but reject spaces. Some attempt to format the number while entering. This is the 21st century computers are smart enough if programmed properly. Lazy programmers who cannot put forth the effort to write a few more lines of code should be terminated.
question here is Ray, besides your pride as a well done work, someone recognized this? remember, in corporate world we IT are serfs usually, so, they deserve serfs work, if it is not written, dont do it, even if it generates less work, because if you dont have work, the backlog waits you.
Hope you guys in the winter zone are doing alright…..
n
I think you NO the answer. (Clever he be this morning).
I also developed the interface into the PULSE shared ATM network for the bank. Event driven programming in a system that did not support events. Required state tables and a method to have the tables examined at a minimum every three seconds. I had a program that did nothing but send a message to the processing program to wake it up so that the tables could be scanned for tasks that needed to occur. Such scanning was also done on every transaction from the ONUS ATM’s or from PULSE.
Some fairly solid code that worked remarkedly well in the environment. The code was good enough that the bank sold the code to three or four other banks in Texas that were also using PULSE and were running Burroughs mainframes. I think the software was sold for $25K to the other banks. Of course I saw none of that money.
After the bank I went to work for a contractor in Oak Ridge. They were running the Navy Civilian Personnel System for navy bases world wide. They were using the same code I helped develop in the Air Force so I know the system and the code quite well. The contractor did not have access to the code.
Communication to/from the navy bases was by phone. There were five WATS lines in use. The phone bill was $25K and higher each month. It was priced into the contract price. That became critical.
I developed (this was 1988-89) a system where the bases could communicate with facility, and each other. An instant message system, terminal to terminal, and a deferred system where messages were stored. Think EMail like system. Users really liked the system.
The phone bill dropped to about $5K a month, a reduction of $20K. Because the cost of phones at the original $25K a month was factored into the contract price this allowed that $20K to go directly into the contractors bottom line. Twelve months times $20K times four years that remained on the contract.
Almost a million dollars saved for the contractor. What did I get? Nothing. No bonus, nothing. Laid off at contract end.
The contract was awarded to a vendor in San Antonio, a corrupt process from the start. The new vendor demanded the code. The contractor told them to pound sand. The code was developed on company time, was not a contract deliverable, and thus belonged to the contractor. The new contractor even contacted me outside of official channels and asked me for the code. I quickly told them that any further communication with me about the code would result in a complaint filed with DOE and the Navy department for attempted fraud.
The user’s were really ticked they lost the communication ability and had to resort back to phones. Especially the overseas users where communication was not always reliable via phone. I can only guess the new contractor’s phone bill was back up to over $25K.
Since I knew the application system very well I also knew some tricks in the Job Control commands that would improve processes. Normally the users were given 8 hours online time each day with the rest reserved for batch processing, which took considerable time. By improving the JCL I was able to reduce nightly processing enough to give the users 14 hours of online time each day. User’s loved it, I got nothing. The user’s were really angry that with the new contractor they were back to 8 hours online time each day.
I put the Commerce Clause, Anchor Babies, TSA, and the Patriot Act as the most egregious interpretations of the Constitution, evah. They’ve done nothing but impose snooping, regulation and destruction on Citizens. I wish these provisions would be constantly challenged at the SCOTUS level.
Absolutely disgusting:
Secretary of State Antony Blinken Orders LGBT Flags Flown at U.S. Embassies, Will Name Special Envoy for Gay Rights
Woke SJW virtual signaling at it’s best. Where’s the *White Pride* flag? There should be nothing on those flag poles except Old Glory. Let’s see how it *flys* in Moo-Slim countries.
The job at the bank involved full responsibility for the online teller and ATM systems. I also helped other programmers with problems. I was generally give fairly free reign to develop improvements. The only fixed timeline task I had was the development of the PULSE system. TV ads, Magazines, Park Benches, Billboards, Busses, were all set to go at a certain date. The system had to be working.
Print backup files queued for printing were stored on disk. Getting a list of these files on the operator console was time consuming. Mostly due to the way the files were stored. I developed a system that markedly improved that process. Taking what sometimes would take 20 minutes down to seconds.
That involved creating software that read the log files by the operating system and locating entries for the printer backup files and recording those in a separate log file. That log file was then used to provide the information to the operators. And thus much quicker.
I also had to develop a module for the operating system. I had to first create the module in assembler, then fine tune the resulting code by hand to fit into the operating system. This module was then linked into the operating system and some patches made to the operating system code to make the module work. Burroughs was very interested in my approach but we could not come to terms on price. I did sell the code to a couple of other sites after I left the bank.
The bank was using CRT screens for most users. 80×24, 1920 characters plus some control to fill a screen. The banks were running over 9600 baud lines with poll select to the terminals. Sometimes response time was slow due the amount of data that was delivered. The vendor software when rendering a screen used almost all 1920 character even only a limited amount of data was present. This was a bottle neck.
So I developed some code that would compress the screen using screen addressing characters to skip blank spaces. Screen data sent dropped by almost 75% thus markedly improving performance. All screens sent to the users were run through the code. There were no performance issues on the mainframe. I gave that code to any bank that wanted the code. Ticked some guy off in Maryville that was selling his inferior code.
Then the bank installed polling concentrators at each branch. The box polled the terminals rather than the mainframe over the communication lines. This also improved performance. The mainframe only issued one poll per bank and the box would respond as if it was a terminal. It was call group polling.
These boxes were set by dip switches. Set some variable on the dip switch, and press a switch. Very cumbersome and error prone. So I took this to another level. The configuration for the boxes could be loaded remotely but no software existed. So I developed software that presented a screen to the network people with all the parameters for the box. The network person entered the information and transmitted the screen.
The vendor of the boxes wanted the software. The bank for some reason told them they could not have it or had an issue with price. Those negotiations were above my pay grade.
I really enjoyed my work at the bank. Mostly self guided. Found my own projects. Was not involved in the tedium of the day to day operations. I was also a bank officer and could eat in the officer’s dining hall although I much preferred the cafeteria where the environment was more relaxed.
RE: UI
This has been a popular book in customer-focused web UI design for a while now:
Don’t Make Me Think
by Steve Krug
Ray, besides my poor english, we are relics from another times, yes, I learnt with my back the full stop, I enjoyed to do things or manage people who do it and giving them proper rewards, time or money (both are the same) .
One time we developed a swicht box for Modbus to save miles travelling to remote outposts.
But, in the end, you only have three things when you leave a job, money, expertise and sometimes friends. Nothing else.
PHB and Dilbert are today IT, my time and maybe your time was a more gentle view of corporate to IT
Regards
Shot Girl ™ claims she is a victim of sexual assault. Details to follow, if the announcement alone isn’t enough to distract from her accusing Ted Cruz of attempting to have her murdered. In a teary video, she claims the *peaceful protests* triggered her PTSD from the sexual assault. I don’t believe it.
PHB and Dilbert are today IT, my time and maybe your time was a more gentle view of corporate to IT
The people currently running AT&T are the legacy regional Bell System middle managers who directly inspired Dilbert 25 years ago.
“Tesla to Recall 135,000 US Vehicles Under Pressure From Auto Safety Regulators”
https://www.ntd.com/tesla-to-recall-135000-us-vehicles-under-pressure-from-auto-safety-regulators_561495.html
“WASHINGTON—Tesla Inc has agreed to recall 134,951 Model S and Model X vehicles with touchscreen displays that could fail and raise the risk of a crash after U.S. auto safety regulators sought the recall last month, according to a recall posted on a government website Tuesday.”
Finally ! Very important fix as the computers in these cars can fail due to memory overwrites after just five ??? years.
I think that car components should work for at least ten years unless they are replaceable items such as tires, windshield wipers, etc. Shoot, I really think that car components should last at least twenty years but that will not fly.
Greg Norton, if you would, drop me an email at the gmail address of steven dot furlong.
I got headhunter spam which might amuse you.
xkcd: Hug Count
https://xkcd.com/2419/
Wow, that is a drastic change. I just hug my wife, my daughter, and my momma now.
My dad talks about growing up in the 1930s and 1940s in Texas with the polio epidemic. Nobody touched anybody they did not have to due to the fear of contracting polio.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2419:_Hug_Count
Crankshaft: Bowling in the Pandemic
https://www.comicskingdom.com/crankshaft/2021-02-02
Oh yeah, that is not going to work well for his average.
I remember in the ‘50s the same fear. I got my first inoculation when I was 5. The arrival of that vaccine was a relief. I did know several people with mild afflictions and it was rough.
I think that car components should work for at least ten years unless they are replaceable items such as tires, windshield wipers, etc. Shoot, I really think that car components should last at least twenty years but that will not fly.
Silicon Valley guys think five years is a long product life.
The problem component at Tesla was a commodity flash memory chip which they deliberatly make hard to swap out in order to prevent reverse engineering and unauthorized repairs.
I just had the flash in one of my Firecuda SSHD laptop drives fail, bricking the drive a few months out of warranty.
I got my start in IT about 40 years ago writing on-line COBOL code running on an HP3000 mini-computer connected to an HP1000 micro-computer running a proprietary TP monitor supporting several hundred users. The project leads had access to the data center. To move a fix to production we’d copy it to 9-track tape, go into the DC, mount the tape reel and thread it and reply to the waiting console command. Then rewind the tape, move it to the prod tape drive and copy it off. Miss those days.
Ad for the TP software from an old issue of ComputerWorld I found online:
Think of 50 or 100 or 500 terminals and printers operating in an on-line transaction-based environment on a single HP3000. Possible. Practical. Now. Networks like these already are in place, thanks to MCS3000 front-end processors. MCS3000 combines high-volume, flexible data communications with a fully front-end resident message control system. Now message-processing is handled outside the host. HP3000 resources are targeted where you need them most—on your applications processing. Results? More power and performance than you ever expected from your HP3000 network.
I think that car components should work for at least ten years unless they are replaceable items such as tires, windshield wipers, etc. Shoot, I really think that car components should last at least twenty years but that will not fly.
Silicon Valley guys think five years is a long product life.
The problem component at Tesla was a commodity flash memory chip which they deliberatly make hard to swap out in order to prevent reverse engineering and unauthorized repairs.
I just had the flash in one of my Firecuda SSHD laptop drives fail, bricking the drive a few months out of warranty.
I read the engineering report somewhere. Apparently at first they only got a MB or two of data from each car each day. Now they get 100+ MB of data from each car each day. They have reprogrammed the cars to store a LOT more data each day than the 8 GB commodity SSD cards were built for. All that additional data is wearing out the 8 GB cards prematurely so blame it on the software guys at Tesla. I forget what the current SSD card is in the computer but I would not be surprised if it was over 100 GB.
“World’s richest man Jeff Bezos, 57, steps down as Amazon CEO and will be replaced by Andy Jassy”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9216343/Jeff-Bezos-stepping-Amazon-CEO.html
Huh. I wonder what is really going on.
“Maybe I’ve been thinking about this the wrong way”
https://gunfreezone.net/maybe-ive-been-thinking-about-this-the-wrong-way/
” 1. Identify as non-binary
2. Compete in women’s MMA
3. Challenge Frankie Adams to a fight on social media
4. Get GySgt Bobbie Draper to put my head in a leg lock
5. Submit and enjoy”
Bobbie Draper could definitely kick my ass every day and twice on Sundays.
https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Bobbie_Draper_(TV)
Scanner has PD working near my house… I’m gonna listen up.
n
“36 Republicans voted for Buttigieg nomination as Secretary of Transportation and here are their names”
https://therightscoop.com/36-republicans-voted-for-buttigieg-nomination-secretary-of-transportation-and-here-are-their-names/
And of course, the senior senator from Texas, John Cornyn, voted for Buttplug. Cornyn is a RINO on most days ending in Y but he does jump up occasionally and growl at the bad people. Then he expects a treat.
Ted Cruz voted against Buttplug of course. We may have Cruz running for governor in 2022 against Bozo O’Rourke, the fake Hispanic.
We so need to get rid of the 17th Amendment. Senators should be selected by state legislatures.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
I got my start in IT about 40 years ago writing on-line COBOL code running on an HP3000 mini-computer connected to an HP1000 micro-computer running a proprietary TP monitor supporting several hundred users.
Ah, TP to me, an old power plant engineer, means Temperature and Pressure. Those two items are fairly important when converting hydrocarbons into electricity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleprocessing_monitor
My uncle worked on CICS and DB for IBM for his entire 45+ year career with IBM. He says that you would shocked to know how many “terminals” are still running those using an OS/2 client.
Huh. I wonder what is really going on.
The swap of CEO at Amazon has probably been in the works for a while, ever since the divorce popped the “Legend Of Jeff …” public persona.
One of the oft-repeated lines of the legend is “And Mackenzie drove the Bronco over the mountains so Jeff could focus on the plan.”
“GameStop shares fall 60 percent as Reddit-driven short squeeze loses steam”
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/537036-gamestop-shares-fall-60-percent-as-reddit-driven-short-squeeze-loses-steam
You know, had it been me as CEO of GameStop, I would offered to sell millions of new stock shares to Hedge Funds for $200 a share and used that to recapitalize GameStop.
Yes, I know that it would have screwed the Reddit folks but my imaginary cushy job is at stake here.
Ted Cruz voted against Buttplug of course. We may have Cruz running for governor in 2022 against Bozo O’Rourke, the fake Hispanic.
Cruz is going to primary Abbott?
Granted, I think Abbott should be primaried, especially if the Legislature fails to do something about the homeless campouts *in the streets of the state capital*, but that kind of challenge could result in a lot of collateral damage, especially since Cruz creeps people out, even those who vote for him.
Ted Cruz voted against Buttplug of course. We may have Cruz running for governor in 2022 against Bozo O’Rourke, the fake Hispanic.
Cruz is going to primary Abbott?
Granted, I think Abbott should be primaried, especially if the Legislature fails to do something about the homeless campouts *in the streets of the state capital*, but that kind of challenge could result in a lot of collateral damage, especially since Cruz creeps people out, even those who vote for him.
I don’t think that Abbott is going to run again. He is having a lot of problems with his paraplegia lately. He got burned in 2020 ? 2019 ? and had to have several surgeries (skin grafts) to fix the burned areas on his legs. Sucks when your legs are on fire and you cannot feel it.
BTW, my son who is to the right of John Birch, loves Ted Cruz and will vote him for anything, Governor, President, etc.
My uncle worked on CICS and DB for IBM for his entire 45+ year career with IBM. He says that you would shocked to know how many “terminals” are still running those using an OS/2 client.
The Death Star Global Network Services group which the Empire inherited from IBM was still providing the mainframe remote access when I left. $5/hour per encrypted 3270 terminal session.
So? He meets the minimum requirements. There are no issues with his past performance as mayor. The President should be allowed to pick whomever they want for the cabinet, barring a major conflict of interest or other similar obstacle.
“Amazon To Pay $61.7 Million For Allegedly Keeping Tips From Delivery Drivers”
https://dailycaller.com/2021/02/02/amazon-pay-million-keeping-tips-delivery-drivers/
If you are wondering what a scumbag is, there is the definition right there.
36 Republicans voted for Buttigieg nomination as Secretary of Transportation
So? He meets the minimum requirements. There are no issues with his past performance as mayor. The President should be allowed to pick whomever they want for the cabinet, barring a major conflict of interest or other similar obstacle.
Nope. He wants to electrify everything and close down Texas’s oilfields. That puts Buttplug contrary to the needs of Texas. Cornyn should have voted against him for those two items alone.
“Elon Musk claims that his wired-up Neuralink monkey is happy and enjoys playing video games”
https://www.neowin.net/news/elon-musk-claims-that-his-wired-up-neuralink-monkey-is-happy-and-enjoys-playing-video-games
Ewww. Next he is going to want to wire me up.
I seem to remember a movie with this theme.
Hat tip to:
https://www.codeproject.com/script/Mailouts/View.aspx?mlid=15592
The programming code to take a phone number, credit card number, or US Zip Code and strip out everything but the numbers and then validate those numbers is so simple that it screams laziness when they won’t accept dashes/spaces/dots/parentheses or, even worse, force you to use them. Hell, you can google up the code in a matter of minutes and copy/paste it.
My latest irritant is outdated email validation routines that still haven’t come to terms with all of the newer TLDs that have been around for quite awhile now. They reject any email address that doesn’t end in one of the original .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov, or .mil or a two-digit country code TLDs. Meanwhile, .name, .info, .biz, etc. have been around how long? This is a constant problem and some really big name companies are guilty of it. They need to ditch the 20 year old validation routine they’re using (or fire the bull-headed dinosaur programmer that can’t keep up with newer standards).
“SpaceX’s Starship SN9 ends short flight with fiery crash”
https://www.neowin.net/news/spacexs-starship-sn9-ends-short-flight-with-fiery-crash
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zZ7fIkpBgs
They have figured out another way how not to land Starship.
The daily ballistic from Houston to Tokyo just got pushed back a few more weeks.
My current peeve is address validation. A lot of sites insist on having a “State” line, and only allow US 2-letter state codes, or alternatively just insist on something in that line, even though a lot of non-US addresses don’t have a “State” (or its UK analogue “County”) so I have to bend my mailing address (which does not have a Country in its canonical form) into the sites template. Since I live in London, putting the borough in the “City” line, and London in the “State” line often works.
Another is Zip/Postal codes. Some sites insist that such must be all-numeric. I’ve got news for them, both Canadian and UK codes (at least) are alphanumeric (but different formats)
G.
BTW, the UK’s “Counties” are bigger than the similarly-named US equivalent. They’re more like US States.
G.
“They’re more like US States.”
– cough – um, all of the UK fits in one state (like Idaho)…. two at the most…
-you meant politically though, right?
n
https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTQyMzk4NDQ.MTEzMDMzMzA*MTIyODk2MDk(NDM1MzA4Ng~!GB*NzAyOTEwOQ.MTMzNzk1NTk)Mw
I find it very irritating to have a country drop down that is simple alphabetical of all the worlds countries, ESPECIALLY on a US based site for a US company. If you don’t want to default to the US, then take the time to match IP address.
n
and some of the worst use a non standard country list, so you can’t guess where in the list you might be…
“They’re more like US States.”
– cough – um, all of the UK fits in one state (like Idaho)…. two at the most…
-you meant politically though, right?
We took the night train from London to Glasgow back in 1973. It was quite the hike, something like 6pm to noon the next day. Google says 413 miles.
Nope, he seldom does the same experiment twice. 🙂
@nick:
Yes. I keep forgetting how big the US is.
@lynn:
A sleeper, yes? They go slow so as not to stand the sleeping passengers on their ears. Normal service is about 6-8 hours, I think.
G.
@lynn:
A sleeper, yes? They go slow so as not to stand the sleeping passengers on their ears. Normal service is about 6-8 hours, I think.
Yes. we had three cabins on the train. I sat in the window and watched the world go by for hours. Then dad rented a car and we drove all over Scotland for two weeks. Even went up to the Isle of Skye for a couple of days.
None of which can be done without legislation. It’s a bitch that conspiracy theories lost the Senate for the Republicans.
BTW, a friend was in a Walmart on the east coast and they were selling “Readywise 72 hour food supply” boxes for $10 on clearance. They are $40 on Amazon.
“Yes. I keep forgetting how big the US is.”
–I don’t think I’ve recounted the story of the German Kiss fan who flew to Chicago on a whim to see a Kiss show “nearby”… I met him in the airport hotel bar, and the scale of the map fooled him. It was a solid 6-8 hour drive to get to the show, and he had NO idea it was that far. We talked him into staying at the hotel and drinking, and then just sightseeing in Chicago.
I hadn’t heard that there was a Kiss concert in the area, had to look it up on the phone, and was a bit surprised to see it was in another state. Even with knowing how big the US is, most people here think a 2 hour drive is too far… it’s certainly not ‘local’ or ‘nearby’ in our minds. Austin is a 2:15 hr drive for me from west Houston to Austin. I wouldn’t ever think of just popping over there for dinner or a show, but I would drive there to pick up some auction items. San Antonio is 3 hours by car, and feels MUCH farther away. Dallas, at 4-5 hours with traffic is too far. I don’t even look at Dallas auctions. New Orleans is only 5 1/2 hours away…. but it’s FOREVER far…. for me. I did sell an R/C helo to a guy who just drove here from NOLA and had dinner, then drove back.
I’ve done the 2 10hr days of driving to get to Chicago a few times now. It’s not a bad drive if you stop halfway. Once I drove from Chicago to LA, stopping in Arizona overnight. and I did the Phoenix to Chicago drive straight thru once (21 hours, 1600 miles). NEVER doing that again. I have no memory at all of whole states….
n
“Readywise 72 hour food supply” boxes for $10 on clearance’
–great discount, kinda ironic in the middle of the snow-pockalypse though…
n
added- at that price I’d buy it, not at full price
What’s included in this kit?
1 pouch of Cheesy Macaroni (4 total servings)
1 pouch of Teriyaki Rice (4 total servings)
1 pouch of Hearty Tortilla Soup (4 total servings)
2 pouches of Brown Sugar and Maple Multi-Grain Cereal (8 Servings)
1 pouch of Whey Milk (12 servings)
–that’s about $10 worth of food
Back in the day, before my mother died, I would drive down to visit her on my off-shift weekends. London-Swansea, just under 200 miles, on a Friday, visit on Saturday, drive home Sunday. 4 hours each way.
But my longest drives were family holidays to the Costa del Sol, in Spain. London to south of Barcelona, 1200-odd miles over 3 days, stopping in Beaune and Perpignon, in France.
Wouldn’t even think of doing that, now. Even a Mother visit would probably be too far for me, if I still had them to do. I’d “let the train take the strain”.
G.
South Bend Indiana
Population: 100,000
Budget: $350M
US DOT
Employees: 55K
Budget: $75B
Divisions: 13
And he’s qualified to run the DOT why?
It’s just all a big coincidence…nothing to see here folks…just move along…
https://www.salon.com/2021/02/01/after-100k-donation-florida-gov-ron-desantis-awards-contract-for-supermarket-vaccine-distribution_partner/
@drwilliams; care to share the data that “masks don’t work.” And are you talking about curbing transmission from an infected person, an uninfected person getting infected, or both?
All the way back to the beginning of the dempanic:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/surgeon-general-explains-masks-public-coronavirus
Remember, Alan, it’s not on us to prove that masks don’t work. The burden is on the tyrants and the Karens to prove that they do work.
Say what you will about Tony Fauci, would you have preferred Scott Atlas as our top virologist? Or perhaps Mike (Oleandrin) Lindell?
Including many POS terminals (cash registers).
Even more now with the longish hair and the beard.
It’s very common to put “US” at the top of an otherwise alphabetized dropdown list of countrie.
Huh, Marilyn Manson is a weirdo freak. Whoddathunkit?
n
The guys in the warehouse spread the 60 tons of 3/4 inch limestone gravel that I bought last week with their tractor and box blade yesterday after they replaced the 40 year old hydraulic hoses. Looks like I may need to buy a few more tons as they put the gravel on rather thickly. They going to put a fixed blade on front of the tractor first and try to even out the gravel first.
–what does that say about people’s confidence in the dollar?
n
“SpaceX’s Starship SN9 ends short flight with fiery crash”
https://www.neowin.net/news/spacexs-starship-sn9-ends-short-flight-with-fiery-crash
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zZ7fIkpBgs
They have figured out another way how not to land Starship.
The daily ballistic from Houston to Tokyo just got pushed back a few more weeks.
I think that I will let the daily Houston – Tokyo Ballistic make a few hundred flights before I get on it. By then, they should be used to and prepared for half of the 200 passengers continuously hurling during the 15 minute zero gravity portion of the flight.
It looked to me that SN9 was venting vaporized oxygen the entire trip. That seems … dangerous. Of course, it was probably venting vaporized LNG also.
Finally got some pictures of my shop site for you: http://fordfe.info/AL-Shop.html
It’s a work in progress.
Back in the day, before my mother died, I would drive down to visit her on my off-shift weekends. London-Swansea, just under 200 miles, on a Friday, visit on Saturday, drive home Sunday. 4 hours each way.
I drove from London to Swansea and back in 2001 ???. That is a great trip. The wife and I stopped in one town, Cardiff ?, and visited a Welsh ??? castle ??? great house ??? that was very cool. Crossing that huge river on the very long suspension bridge in the fog was also neat. I had no idea I was 200 ??? ft above the river until I got to the middle of the bridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Severn_Crossing
I was drinking a stout in a pub in Swansea with a friend that was 200+ ft above the sea on a 20% grade road. I figured if one got blasted and staggered out the door then, if you fell, you would end up rolling all the way down into the sea. The wife suggested that one stout was enough, I totally agreed. I was having enough trouble shifting with my left arm without the severe buzz from the stout.
@ech
“None of which can be done without legislation. ”
Routine work for Obama and China Joe Biden. Just put it in an unconstitutional executive order, then compliant courts will keep it in force forever because someone will get hurty feelings.
@Alan
If masks worked, a comparison of jurisdictions that required masks vs those that don’t would lead the news showing the success of the former. Likewise lockdown vs. no lockdown. Instead there are numerous studies showing the null hypothesis aka “no difference”.
With regard to Fauci, don’t try to play the false choice game. I’ll take someone who is qualified, doesn’t have a history of shading his medical and public health policy and advice on the basis of politics, and doesn’t lie to the public. Droves of virologists were given prime time to opine on why the Trump Vaccine would never happen, and despite being spectacularly wrong are still fawned over for whatever bent nonsense comes out of their cakehole. The breed as a group has nothing to recommend it.
Back on July 17 Fauci got careless and gave an honest opinion on the PCR test:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A867t1JbIrs
Honest brokers of public health would have hammered on the subject until we had a national standard and quit calling a test that detected mostly dead virus a “case” to provide hysteria fodder for the msm.
And likewise we wouldn’t have seen the pivot from “flatten the curve” (doable) to “keep it from spreading” (impossible).
The evidence has been clear for months. Now that the marionette is in office the standards will be changed to show his policies are working.
Thanks, Alan.
Now I have this image of Fauci strutting around Lindell’s manufacturing plant giving advice on making pillows
@bob, that looks like a nice lot, gonna be moving some dirt to get it flat though….
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/least-2-fbi-agents-reportedly-killed-gun-battle-while-serving-child-porn-warrant
-not one mention of Disney…
n
My condolences to the FBI and the families of the fallen and wounded agents.
Home defense with a black rifle?
The fight against trafficking and child exploitation is a good fight, and I wish they would concentrate on it and other law enforcement instead of playing politics.
n
@Nick
Would that they would fight that fight without playing politics.
John Weaver, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, is textbook. Lot’s of people knew, but … power and influence.
And when the story broke, it was ignored because of politics.
Now that the story has gained traction, we have excuses. A lot of those excuses are from people who had legal and other obligations (moral? Shirley you jest!) to act but did not, and in so not doing would in some cases be subject to prosecution, except they’re going to get a pass because of politics.
The FBI is thoroughly corrupt and political and needs to be shrunk an order of magnitude and given the opportunity to do a job right.
House was empty today. Wife at work, kids at school. Really missed my little buddy. If there’s any justice in the world, he’s in doggy heaven catching squirrels that taste just like bacon…
n
amen
Ok, I have a crisis. I cannot get my Spider Solitaire from Windows 7 to work on Windows 10 x64 Pro. Microsoft says that they are not compatible. I tried the Spider in the “classic games for windows” but the card images suck and it has ads.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/get-the-classic-free-solitaire-games-for-windows-92bf81e3-f34a-58b8-45b2-abe855aa64f2
Any recommendations ?
One of my biggest pet peeves is to log on to an account, only to be interrupted by some “reminder” to sign up for paperless statement delivery, or something I already have. Hey lazy programmer: you already know who I am. A simple lookup could confirm that I don’t need to be reminded about something I already have.
One that is thankfully gone was in the old days of telephone contact: having to type something long such as an account or credit card number on the phone keypad (with no means to correct a mistake,) and then immediately being asked for the same information when an agent answers. I don’t miss those days.
Oh, what the heck, one last one: sites that don’t work with password managers. These also seem to be the ones that require lots of info to be routinely entered. I am still a little leery of password managers, but will admit they are very convenient.
I have Microsoft Solitaire Collection. Ads are few and far between. I play every day the Daily Challenges and sometimes the Event. I did most of the Star Club challenges. You can change the card faces.
Ah, and less than a year ago they automated the card shuffling a lot so you can just click once and moves are done as expected instead of having to drag cards around. I really enjoy that feature. 🙂
Yep. My two biggest peeves are (1) needless change, and (2) form over function.
Our little town has a website, and asked me for an unofficial opinion. It’s a really old-fashioned website. I compared it to another town with a “modern” site: Gorgeous huge pictures, which lead to endless scrolling, and you can’t find a damned thing. Our old-fashioned website isn’t so pretty, but everything fits on the screen, no scrolling. Simple menus, so you can actually find stuff. I took great pleasure in telling them that I wouldn’t touch it, beyond hunting and killing a few out-of-date pages.
Oh, and a minor peeve, as Geoff already mentioned: The number of US programmers who write code for international use, but assume that everything works just like it does in the US. For example, requiring postal codes to have five numeric digits.
Apparently, the board of GameStop has said absolutely nothing. Which is just weird.
Meanwhile, the share price is way, way down. Reddit claims this is so-called “ladder attacks”, but those only work if no one else is buying the stock. Has the reddit crowd already put all their money in? If so, that’s a shame.
Or is it the sheer number of brokerages that refuse to allow you to purchase GME, but will happily allow you to sell? Why, exactly, did DTC suddenly raise the capital requirements? If the SEC is paying attention (and cares), there are some suspiciously coordinated actions going on, that just “happen” to help out the beleaguered hedge funds.
@lynn, I posted here about how to get classic solitaire and the rest of the win7 games working on win10 when I needed to do it for my dad. At least 3 years ago. It’s do-able, and straightforward. There is a d/l from somewhere that packages everything in one place. Then you just have to install it.
n
@Lynn, I have the file of classic games that will work on W10 X64. I can place the file on my website and you can download.
I have the file. Everything works. I play Solitaire and Hearts when I am subbing.
Here’s the one I’ve used for 20 years
30 solitaire games for $10
Good luck if you can ever win some of them.
http://www.gamesforone.com/index.html