Wed. Nov. 3, 2021 – readership dropped by 2/3rds… or did it?

By on November 3rd, 2021 in culture, decline and fall, ebay, personal, WuFlu

Cool, humid, and possibility of rain today. We got most of that, except the rain, yesterday. I did see a tiny bit of mist on the windshield while driving, and there were some dark clouds in the blue sky, but it stayed dry.

Which let me take down some of the Halloween decorations. I remembered last time having to leave stuff up too long because it was wet. I don’t have it all put away, but it’s mostly down. The HOA can’t complain about it at this point. It didn’t all get set up in one day, it won’t all go away in a day.

Spent the afternoon at the bank, then the other bank, then the Post Office, then picking up kid 2, then home for more decoration removal. In the process I bounced back and forth across town several times. I hate doing that. I’m no green weenie, but I do like saving money, so I usually try to keep my trips efficient. I like to either cluster stops, or do a big circle, or a simple out and back. I hate zig zags and retracing my route.

My wife did our volunteer hours for D1’s theater class yesterday too. I’m actually very happy to have missed that, it’s a bit of a busman’s holiday and I have a really hard time doing less than the best I can or dumbing down my work to match the capability and expectation of the ‘customer’. And they didn’t need a scenic carpenter, they needed people to sand boxes and position stuff. I would have been driven nuts. Hooray for my partner and helpmate for stepping up. Of course, she didn’t sand boxes either, she did stuff with the lighting system because that’s where her expertise and experience lie.

Yeah, meatspace. Still had other things to do.

The post title refers to the google stats for this site. I have no idea what they are basing it on, how the analytics work, or how accurate they are (not very is my suspicion), but the google says readership is down 63% iirc without checking… That’s month over month. If I trust that number, I gotta wonder why. Too much of the same stuff? Doom and gloom, my boring life, doom, inside Hollywood, doom. Or just burnout? No FLASHLIGHT talk? Glock vs 1911? Old Style vs Bud? Or was last month extra high for some reason?

I’ll take a closer look at the charts when I get time, and on the pc instead of tiny, tiny, tiny on the phone. One thing they say is that readership is 45% female, and 55% male. That’s a bit of a shocker. All you lurkers, consider this an invite to participate in any discussion or start your own! I really do want some diversity of viewpoints, experience, and knowledge.

Or should I start doing gear reviews, posting pics of my shelves and dog, or picking fights with other bloggers? Always keeping in mind, and in all seriousness, I like hanging out with all y’all, and don’t really want the issues in comments that other bloggers are having this year.

In the mean time, part of the reason for doing this is to keep all the old stuff on the site alive, so click on one of the keywords on the right once in a while and re-read (or ‘read’) some of the older posts and comments. There is some really good stuff there.

And, keep stacking.

nick

99 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Nov. 3, 2021 – readership dropped by 2/3rds… or did it?"

  1. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    "Hooray for my partner and helpmate for stepping up"

    Two thumbs up.

    " One thing they say is that readership is 45% female, and 55% male. "

    confirms "how accurate they are (not very"

    I'd vote for more pix of the dog.

  2. Pecancorner says:

     the google says readership is down 63% iirc without checking… That’s month over month. If I trust that number, I gotta wonder why.
     

    Well, for one female reader, I took an internet sabbatical of 2 weeks off, during which I didn't visit or read.   I didn't do it as part of any organized thing, and I doubt that I started a trend. I just give up the internet a couple of times a year as a way of breaking addiction and refocusing on how life is lived without it.  So that is the why for me! 🙂

    Don't change anything for me: I like the place just the way it is. 🙂

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    61F and 92%RH this morning. 

    Looks like maybe they couldn't cheat enough in VA and the Klansman has to pack his shirt and go…

    Hooray?

    n

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    @pecancorner, thanks!   If you and jenny are the only females, it means that there are 3 others reading who are male….  so something doesn't add up.  I suspect it's how google does their counting.

    n

  5. SteveF says:

    Did you just assume your readers' gender??????? Check your privilege!!!!!!!!!

  6. Chad says:

    Did you just assume your readers' gender??????? Check your privilege!!!!!!!!!

    I identify as a man unless the men's restroom is occupied. In which case, I identify as a woman for about 15 minutes.

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Can't say retard anymore, now it's the "r word" ffs.  Do it and you'll be sent to reeducation camp.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10158513/NASCAR-orders-Kyle-Busch-sensitivity-training-ahead-using-r-word-post-race-interview.html

    good thing George Carlin is already dead.

    n

    added– seriously snowflake? Busch later apologized for using the term, which refers to people who suffer from mental retardation. You needed to add that?

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    Algorithms can't make money flipping houses…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10158485/Zillow-plans-lay-25-staff-putting-end-home-flipping-business.html

    Story is a couple of days old, but the most interesting thing is that they thought they could automate the whole game.

    n

  9. Chad says:

    Can't say retard anymore, now it's the "r word" ffs.  Do it and you'll be sent to reeducation camp.

    Yep. In addition the n-word, "retard" is the r-word or the r-slur and "slut" is the s-word or the s-slur.  This is especially true among Gen-Z and Gen-A. You say the r-word around them and they lose their shit.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, listening to Alternative on XMSirius, every freaking song for them is about how f'd up they are, how depressed, how mentally ill.   They probably feel mentally retarded after the "education" they've gotten completely fails to match the real world.   They likely don't understand how a single thing works…

    n

  11. Greg Norton says:

    Story is a couple of days old, but the most interesting thing is that they thought they could automate the whole game.

    Data Mining. AI. NoSQL. AWS. Hot Skillz!

    I'm sure the thought was that, by now, the eviction moratoriums would have been lifted with people heading back to work.

     

  12. SteveF says:

    Can’t say “slave” anymore, either. You can talk about slavery and you can say “persons under slavery” or “persons subjected to slavery”, but if you say “slave” you get screeching.

  13. Mark W says:

    Cisco puts language warnings on some pages due to network protocols using a master/slave relationship.

    In networking, sometimes the slave becomes the master. That seems like a positive outcome to me.

  14. ech says:

    That is, what justification is there for privileging religious conviction over non-religious moral conviction or clear-eyed analysis of the data?

    The Bill of Rights.

     

  15. MrAtoz says:

    The usual cable news LibTurds are having a meltdown over VA. The sheeple should wake up and realize these people despise them. They are nothing but the propaganda arm of the Dumbocrats.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    The usual cable news LibTurds are having a meltdown over VA. The sheeple should wake up and realize these people despise them. They are nothing but the propaganda arm of the Dumbocrats.

    To them, "Virginia" consists of the suburbs of DC.

    Even Loudoun County stayed blue last night.

  17. MrAtoz says:

    Not the Babylon Bee:

    US Army Announces It Now Identifies As Winner Of Afghan War

    Perfumed Princes like Milley think they are king makers. "Transphobic", "first female 4-star Admiral", "Our preferred pronouns are…" I can't believe my country would disintegrate in my lifetime. Through in COVID nonsense and it's: Game over, man, game over.

  18. Ray Thompson says:

    New Dell 27" monitor arrived, installed and working. Physically not much bigger than my old 24" monitor. The bezels are thinner giving more screen real estate and the resolution is significantly higher.

    Moved the old monitor to the side and will continue to use the monitor. The video card supports four monitors, I am only using two. Plugged in the new monitor and W10 quickly recognized the device. Needed to rearrange the order of the monitors and done. It has gotten significantly easy to run with dual monitors from what I remember in the past.

    Now I have no idea what I am going to do with two monitors. At work I had a need to keep stuff on one screen, such as the web application, and on the other screen the underlying code. That need does not exist here. But I have the old monitor, might as well keep it connected.

  19. JimB says:

    Re the site stats, I wonder if it could have anything to do with all the interface changes here. I salute RickH for his patience to deal with all the web gotchas; it would try the patience of a saint. The site never looked better, although I have not posted much, and rarely use the editor to much advantage. Ironically, I might use it on my phone, but the small interface brings its own challenges. Some days I long for simpler times. Our former host did, too. I remember when he moved from an older style to a newer one, and was frustrated by all the fuss.

    Speaking of fuss, my wife and I finally have new phones. We moved from our old Note 3 to the Note 20 Ultra 5G, and those numbers say a lot. I know, they changed the numbering scheme, but it still feels like a monumental jump. I promise to never let this happen again. We had our reasons that had nothing to do with the phones, but using a device for eight years would certainly get laffs from some of the younger folk.

    Someday, I might chronicle this move, but briefly, the big change was moving from Google accounts to Microsoft accounts while keeping our Gmail addresses. My wife never liked any of the email apps offered in the Googlesphere, and in her own unique way said, “Why can’t we just use Outlook on our phones; it’s just fine on our computers.” Both of us used a variety of groupware in the corporate setting, but Outlook/Exchange was the best for our needs. I automatically started using it again when we transitioned  from Linux to Windows a year ago.

    That was a big challenge for me, because her contacts and calendar were a mess, with a lot of stuff only resident on her old phone. I blame a Google glitch for this, and it affected me as well. I fixed mine, and offered to fix hers a couple of years ago, but she never had the time. If we had let the store transition our phones, she would have lost a lot of stuff she couldn’t afford to lose. I have said before, that happened twice to her, and I promised it would not happen as long as I was in control. Challenge accepted.

    And what a challenge. Every step made me feel as if I was from another planet. Surely, other people want to do this kind of thing? Fortunately, unlike desktop Linux, working with Windows and Android was a breeze. There were actually too many helpful posts, mostly because Microsoft has changed so much stuff over the last five years or so. Working with some of the arcane settings was not a breeze, but I got it done. Now, everything is in place, and works. We just have to learn how to use it. I reserve judgement, but it seems strange and even clunky compared to some of the Samsung native apps. At least sync is reliable.

    Why Note 20? Another story. We ordered S21 Ultra 5G phones from AT&T, but a couple days later found that the estimated ship date was February 2022!! The AT&T customer service couldn’t help me, but the guy who runs the local store is great. Went back to the store, and found that I would have to take the 128 GB version instead of the 256 GB version to get them quickly, but the deal had expired. He had one Note 20 Ultra 5G IN STOCK, and could get the second in two days, guaranteed. The Note was our second choice, and he offered me an even better deal. No brainer. The two phones are similar enough.

    One reason we might not have our new phones too long is that I plan to take another very serious look at the Z Fold 4 when it is available in hopefully a year. I looked at the v3, and fell in lust with it, but as usual most of the software and apps have not been updated to take advantage of the bigger screen. Also, the v3 has some hardware issues that hopefully will be resolved in v4. I hope this form factor becomes mainstream. We live in interesting times.

  20. CowboySlim says:

    Yuuup, we don't have "retards" anymore.  Now, we have "special needs".

  21. lynn says:

    "SpaceX toilet leak will force NASA astronauts to wear space nappies"

         https://www.dailystar.co.uk/tech/spacex-toilet-leak-force-nasa-25368420

    "Four astronauts could be in for a squelchy ride home due to a leaky toilet onboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule – NASA says they will have to wear special 'undergarments' instead of using the loo"

    Well, there is some serious nightmare material.  Floating urine in free fall.

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

    ADD: And I just opened up the house septic tank finishing tank and put chlorine in for the month. That will clear your sinuses out and then clog them again almost immediately.

  22. Greg Norton says:

    Now I have no idea what I am going to do with two monitors. At work I had a need to keep stuff on one screen, such as the web application, and on the other screen the underlying code. That need does not exist here. But I have the old monitor, might as well keep it connected.

    Watch Baby Yoda.

    I don't really know what to do with the extra real estate from a 16:9 monitor having worked in 4:3 for so long.

    The VA is talking about cutting back on televisits so I may be able to put my 4:3 back on the desk in the home office once my wife no longer spends entire weeks out of the office.

     

  23. lynn says:

    There is now less than 75,000 votes difference in the Virginia election.  McAwful got several hundred thousand votes at 3am.  Supposed there are only 47,000 votes left to be counted.

        https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2021-elections/virginia-governor-results

    Hmm.  I wonder if there are 100,000 votes for McAwful uncounted in the back of a car belonging to a Richmond election official ?

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

  24. Rick H says:

    Re: google stats …. seems somebody forgot to add google stats to the latest version of the theme.

    Have no idea who that was …

    [sigh]

    Fixed. Stats will start now…

  25. lynn says:

    I don't really know what to do with the extra real estate from a 16:9 monitor having worked in 4:3 for so long.

    The VA is talking about cutting back on televisits so I may be able to put my 4:3 back on the desk in the home office once my wife no longer spends entire weeks out of the office.

    I have a 27 inch 16:9 monitor and a 19 inch 4:3 monitor on my office pc.  I could use two more monitors.  At home I just have a 27 inch 16:9 monitor.

  26. ITGuy1998 says:

    Now I have no idea what I am going to do with two monitors.

    Kinda in the same boat. I've used dual monitors for years. All 4 of my systems at work have dual monitors. Around a year ago I got a 32" HP monitor for my home pc. It has been my only monitor. I might emulate the setup I have for my work laptop for telework days. They gave me two 22" monitors and I bought a stand that stacks them vertically. It took a little adjusting, but I like the setup. It sits off to my left, while my home pc monitor sits in the middle of the desk.

  27. Ray Thompson says:

    I could use two more monitors

    Costco has a 32" curved monitor for about $360.00.

    Saw a picture of a chap with a MS Flight Simulator setup. Hand controls and foot pedals. He had 9 monitors running. He was also not married.

  28. nick flandrey says:

    It was easier when it was only 7 words. 

    n

  29. nick flandrey says:

    I've got a 27 on the left, with a separate single pc on it, matched dell 24s center and right, for my main pc, and one viewsonic 24 above the center for the linux NVR pc.

    A 17" touch screen on the far left for my winXP machine that runs my vinyl cutter.

    I gave the big dell curve to my daughter for her desk.   She's agitating for a pc of her own in addition to her lappy and the school's lappy.  Not likely sweetheart.

    n

  30. drwilliams says:

    Do we need scrugle stats?

    Why are they monitoring who visits here?

    And on a similar note, who believes that Facebook will destroy all copies of their facial recognition files?

    4
    1
  31. MrAtoz says:

    plugs, after bragging how the Dumbos will win VA (while overseas), is strangely silent. No speech, no interviews, no questions. Probably will "call a lid" for the rest of the year.

  32. Rick H says:

    The Google stats function I installed is my own version. It's server-side based, so isn't blocked by ad-blockers. (The Google Analytics JS code that most people use is client-side, and is blocked by most ad blockers. If you use that process for any reason, you are not getting accurate stats.)

    The information is anonymized; the last octet of your IP address is thrown away, so it only reports on your general location. The page you visit is tracked, as is the referring page. The analytics also keep track of the other pages you visit during the same session – 'page flow'.

    All of this tracking is somewhat normal. The only way to block the tracking is by using proxies. Very similar to what all the other sites are doing. Except we don't share the information with anyone. Only Nick and I (assuming no paranoia) have access to the tracking data. The site’s Privacy page has further information.

    Tracking has been on this site for years. Nothing new here. I just forgot to enable it when we changed to the new theme.

  33. Mark W says:

    seems somebody forgot to add google stats to the latest version of the theme.

    You need to fire someone!

  34. Greg Norton says:

    I have a 27 inch 16:9 monitor and a 19 inch 4:3 monitor on my office pc.  I could use two more monitors.  At home I just have a 27 inch 16:9 monitor.

    You could get a newish laptop with a Thunderbolt connection and use both the laptop's display and the monitor through a dock at home.

    I have a Plugable brand dock for my wife's work Dell Latitude that also works with my T470 and the newer MacBooks with the "Lightning" connection (Apple always has to be different).

    The bonus is that the single cable to the dock also charges the connected laptop.

    https://plugable.com/products/ud-cam

  35. SteveF says:

    That is, what justification is there for privileging religious conviction over non-religious moral conviction or clear-eyed analysis of the data?

    The Bill of Rights.

    Your eyesight is much too keen, seeing that which is not there. "No law prohibiting the free exercise of religion" clearly is not a free pass from all laws, else satanists and Kali cultists and Hashhashin would be able to kill with no legal consequence. Limits are put on what one's professed religion allows you to get out of.

    For a matter allegedly involving the public health, specifically an alleged pandemic which allegedly could kill 1-10% of the population, religious exemption from the legal mandates would be more heinous than exemption from murder laws in which only a few at a time would be killed. That being the case, why would a claimed religious exemption be valid while a claimed non-religious moral exemption be invalid?

  36. Rick H says:

    You need to fire someone!

    We've actually docked his pay 20%. It will be restored if he behaves.

    That will motivate him.

  37. Alan says:

    >> One thing they say is that readership is 45% female, and 55% male.

    No "they/them" readers??

  38. Rick H says:

    You could get a newish laptop with a Thunderbolt connection and use both the laptop's display and the monitor through a dock at home.

    There are many USB-to-HDMI (or even USB-to-DVI) adapters that can connect a second monitor to a laptop. There are also many powered USB hubs that will add additional USB-3 (or USB-2) ports to a laptop. Or even a Chrome device.

    I'd bet Nick has several of those in his stash, along with an extra external monitor or two. If not, they are inexpensive on the Zon. No need for a new laptop.

  39. drwilliams says:

    @Rick H

    Thanks for the stats update. 

  40. Greg Norton says:

    There are many USB-to-HDMI (or even USB-to-DVI) adapters that can connect a second monitor to a laptop. There are also many powered USB hubs that will add additional USB-3 (or USB-2) ports to a laptop. Or even a Chrome device.

    I'd bet Nick has several of those in his stash, along with an extra external monitor or two. If not, they are inexpensive on the Zon. No need for a new laptop.

    By "newish" I meant newer than my four year old ThinkPad.

    The last job really cheaped out on HP laptops and those didn't offer any USB-to-HDMI capability. A proprietary dock offered the capability to connect two extra monitors, but those tended to break easily.

    I forget that many laptops have had HDMI for a while. The new job issues MacBook Pros designed under Jonny Ive's philosophy.

  41. Greg Norton says:

    Saw a picture of a chap with a MS Flight Simulator setup. Hand controls and foot pedals. He had 9 monitors running. He was also not married.

    That is a really popular hobby. A EU-based co-worker at the old job went as far as getting the old cockpit printer and other instruments for a 727 and wiring them to the PC with Raspbery Pi Zero boards serving the HID over USB.

  42. lynn says:

    "FBI Sat On Bombshell Footage From Kyle Rittenhouse Shooting"

         https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-sat-bombshell-footage-kyle-rittenhouse-shooting

    "On Tuesday, opening statements in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, an18-year-old aspiring police officer accused of fatally shooting two men and wounding a third on the night of Aug. 25, 2020, as BLM riots raged in the streets of Kenosha in response to a white-on-black police shooting."

    "While prosecutors have slapped the teen with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide, Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming self-defense."

    "Now, new footage has emerged which bolsters his case."

    Warning, really gross pictures of gunshots.

    Yup, this is malicious prosecution. And the FBI is rotten from the top to the bottom.

    10
  43. Greg Norton says:

    Hmm.  I wonder if there are 100,000 votes for McAwful uncounted in the back of a car belonging to a Richmond election official ?

    People would flip. That's too obvious.

    The numbers for Fairfax County already look weird if you dig in to the stats and compare to the neighboring counties.

    The Dems were never thrilled with McAuliffe returning to Richmond. He was a compromise by the establishment to prevent Justin Fairfax from getting the nomination and ruining their bench for 2025.

    The party will let this one slide.

  44. EdH says:

    Now I have no idea what I am going to do with two monitors.

    I bought a 43" TCL 4k television as a monitor for the Mac mini last year, it has the 4:4:4 chroma. A bit under $200 last year.

    I'm mostly happy with it, I can run Xcode, GIMP (though it's going out of support on OS X), Safari and Kindle at the same time (though F11 is still my friend).

    Sometimes it won't wake up, and I hard reboot the mini, which is painless and takes about 15s. I don't know it its a mini hibernation issue, or a TCL HDMI issue, but it's not too much of a hassle.

    I do make a point of using the 1-way HDMI port, not the 2-way, and I never connected it to the LAN or the WiFi. 

    I suppose if it has a built in 4G modem it could still be phoning back to the mothership, but I've never heard that it does.

  45. lynn says:

    "Perry Rhodan 11 The Planet of the Dying Sun" by Kurt Mahr, translated by Wendayne Ackerman
    https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Rhodan-Planet-Dying-Sun/dp/B005OTEP08/br?tag=ttgnet-20 />

    Book number eleven of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated German stories per book and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted. I read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1972 that I had to be very careful with due to age. My copy is a second edition from 1974. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #101.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

    In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500.

    Perry Rhodan and his crew have been thrown thousands of light years from a huge gas giant in the Vega star system to an unknown region of space. They do not know where they are but the area appears to be unpopulated by stars. Perry takes a fighter out into space and discovers that there is a dying star nearby. And there is a single planet circling that unlit star.

    One has to remember that this book was written in German in 1961 and translated to English in 1972. Many items that came about in the 1970s and beyond such as cell phones are not reflected in the book. However, commercial aircraft commonly traveling at Mach 3 are not available to the public as talked about in the book. Niels Bohr's saying "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future" comes to mind.

    My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (8 reviews)

  46. lynn says:

    "Justice Alito Asks Why Law-Abiding Citizens Can’t Be Armed on NYC Subways as SCOTUS Hears Major Second Amendment Case"

        https://lawandcrime.com/second-amendment/justice-alito-asks-why-law-abiding-citizens-cant-be-armed-on-nyc-subways-as-scotus-hears-major-second-amendment-case/

    "Hearing oral arguments in a major Second Amendment case on Wednesday, Supreme Court justices considered whether to dramatically loosen gun control restrictions across the county, spiraling into a debate over whether New Yorkers should be able to carry firearms on the subway."

    "From the high court’s right flank, Justice Samuel Alito answered that question in the affirmative."

    "“All these people with illegal guns: They’re on the subway, walking around the streets, but ordinary, hard-working, law-abiding people, no,” Alito told the Empire State’s solicitor general Barbara Underwood. “They can’t be armed.”"

    "The case is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, and it is a lawsuit brought by a pro-gun ownership group on behalf of two men denied a concealed carry license by New York State. The Empire State has a 108-year-old handgun-licensing law that allows authorities to deny a gun license to an applicant to anyone deemed to be not “of good moral character” who “lacks a history of crime or mental illness,” or in any other situation in which “good cause exists for the denial of the license.” That rather ambiguous standard, known as “proper cause,” is the same or similar to the standard many other states use in their gun licensing laws."

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

  47. Nightraker says:

    The abyss:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUG_OjNARMw

     

    I especially like episode 4 of the “Hidden Secrets of Money”.

  48. lynn says:

    I've been moderated again.  I don't know if this is a sign of most excellent postings or a get the heck out of here.

  49. paul says:

    Arrgh.  "Welcome to Open Enrollment" from the folks the The HealthCare.gov team.  Didn't I /just/ do this?

    Might as well get it over with.

    They sent another e-mail that went to spam telling me there is a seven month period for getting onto medicare.  And they will let me know.  Three months before your birth month, birth month, and three months after.  I learned something useful today.

     

  50. paul says:

    I, perhaps stupidly, went to PayPay to buy a $10 Google gift card.  Seems simple and easier than going to the store.

    New phone is coming along as his learning curve flattens out.  The "swipe the button" on the screen as opposed to however you answer a call on a Blackberry z10 seems cause most of the cussing now.  🙂

    He has a thing called Solitaire City on his PC and z10.  The free version on the new phone has plenty of ads.  For a $4.99 in-app purchase he can have the full program without the ads.

    I had the card sent to his usual address…. which dumps into his main mail account.  Nothing.  Had PayPal send again and nothing.  Tried his main mail account address and nothing.  Tried sending to /my/ account and more nothing.  But I have four "your gift has been delivered!" messages.  Then PayPal decided I must be happy and closed the conversation.

    Something is broken.

    I have a trouble ticket in with DreamHost.  Maybe they are blocking something.  If not, back to PayPal.

    A bit over an inch of rain so far today.  Just puddles, no running water.  The high made it all the way to 51F and it's dark.  Yeah! Winter!  Boo!!!

     

  51. MrAtoz says:

    I especially like episode 4 of the “Hidden Secrets of Money”.

    I downloaded the series and put it on my iPad. Great for yunguns' to learn about money.

  52. Rick H says:

    @lynn

    I've been moderated again.  I don't know if this is a sign of most excellent postings or a get the heck out of here.

    Nope. Too many links in your comment. I released it from purgatory.

  53. lynn says:

    "We need to be even FURTHER left: Progressives including Ilhan Omar double down on agenda that led party to disaster in Virginia and vow to fight GOP’s ‘race-baiting BS’ as desperate Dems start the blame game"

         https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10161051/Democrats-insist-NEED-Bidens-spending-plans-passed-real-run-on.html

    Do it !  Yes, go further left !

    Hat tip to:

        https://drudgereport.com/

  54. lynn says:

    @lynn

    I've been moderated again.  I don't know if this is a sign of most excellent postings or a get the heck out of here.

    Nope. Too many links in your comment. I released it from purgatory.

    Thanks !

    I thought the current magic number was seven links ?  There are four links in that posting.

  55. Nightraker says:

    I downloaded the series and put it on my iPad. Great for yunguns' to learn about money.

    The critical difference between currency and money, how banks can amplify the money supply, almost all "money" is somebody's debt.  High production values!

    I predict that like the separation of church and state, the next epochal step in human progress will be the separation of money and state.  Not holding my breath, though! 

  56. Pecancorner says:

    All of our insurances are excited about their tele-doc aps, so that we can call "a" doctor anytime, at no charge!

    The more things change: 40 years ago, If we or the kids had something wrong, I just called the doctor and she would call in a prescription.  I could – and did – even call at night or weekends if it was really scary, because her home phone number and answering service number were all listed in the phone book. She would answer, or return a page personally. At no charge.

    Then the profession got all gung ho about how diagnosis was such a delicate art that they had to see us in person. But hey the first opening was a week out. And the doctor is busy so the PA/NP* will see us instead.

    Now, thanks to COVID and insurance contracts, they are back to prescribing sight unseen again. Except that it is not our doctor who knows us, but some medical call center somewhere.

    *Nothing against NPs – that is who we see by choice now, as he is more interested in home remedies/OTC and non-specialist diagnosis. A good OLD nurse practitioner seems to have as much knowledge as any GP did “back in the day”.

  57. SteveF says:

    Regarding the drop in site traffic stats, I thought I'd consult a source other than my own intellect and knowledge, which admittedly are each impressive in their breadth and depth. I put a snail on a ouija board and checked its position from time to time. Here's the result:

    P E O P L E W H O ' S S C R E E N N A M E E N D S I N I C K

    But you can see the obvious problem here: the snail (or the spirits guiding him) don't know the difference between "who's" and "whose", which renders their advice invalid. Better luck next time.

  58. Mark W says:

    P E O P L E W H O ' S S C R E E N N A M E E N D S I N I C K

    ICK?

    MarceloNewNick? 

  59. Rick H says:

    @lynn

    I thought the current magic number was seven links ?  There are four links in that posting.

    Yes, the limit is 7. But you had 8. Each link had an href with the URL as the 'src', and then the text between the HREF codes was a URL.  (At least, that's how it looked with a quick look in the admin comment editor.)

    That makes eight.

    Most people just past the URL, rather than using the link button. But if that's what you did, rather than 'linking' the URL text (which creates two URLs in the comment), then that's weird.

  60. Greg Norton says:

    The more things change: 40 years ago, If we or the kids had something wrong, I just called the doctor and she would call in a prescription.  I could – and did – even call at night or weekends if it was really scary, because her home phone number and answering service number were all listed in the phone book. She would answer, or return a page personally. At no charge.

    My wife's associate in Vantucky (Vancouver, WA) worked that way in Fredericksburg as recently as 10 years ago after being hired out of residency at San Jacinto Methodist in Houston. From the beginning, she didn't like the compensation for the amount of responsibility involved, and then her husband did something so stinky running for political office that they not only had to leave town, they left the state.

    Even after two years in Vancouver/Portland Metro, the associate’s phone would still ring with a Fredericksburg number, and she just sent it to a very full voice mail box.

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  61. Alan says:

    >> “The case is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, and it is a lawsuit brought by a pro-gun ownership group on behalf of two men denied a concealed carry license by New York State. The Empire State has a 108-year-old handgun-licensing law that allows authorities to deny a gun license to an applicant to anyone deemed to be not “of good moral character” who “lacks a history of crime or mental illness,” or in any other situation in which “good cause exists for the denial of the license.” That rather ambiguous standard, known as “proper cause,” is the same or similar to the standard many other states use in their gun licensing laws.”

    Years ago, before I started my IT career, I worked at an electronics shop (commercial 2-way radios and such) in NYFC and a lot of the clientele could be a bit ‘unsavory’. One of the two owners carried a stainless steel Colt Python 6 inch barrel in a shoulder holster. Never a bit of trouble during the time I worked there. Back then, the right amount of green to the right attorney would get you a CCW permit. Not sure if that still flies these days. Hopefully SCOTUS does the right thing.

    ADDED: https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting-gear-gun-supplies/handguns/colt-python-357-magnum-6in-stainless-revolver-6-rounds/p/1620948

  62. Alan says:

    @Rick, btw, the issue I was having with not seeing bold text in a non-blockquoted comment seems to have "fixed" itself in Chrome 95.

  63. Ray Thompson says:

    "Welcome to Open Enrollment" from the folks the The HealthCare.gov team.  Didn't I /just/ do this?

    I still get notices to sign up for Healthcare.gov even though both the wife and I are on Medicare and have been for some time. I guess the agencies don't talk to each other, unless you actually go to sign up. I have not used Healthcare.gov for two years. You would think they would quit bothering me, or realize my age is well beyond their limits.

  64. Pecancorner says:

    My wife’ associate in Vantucky (Vancouver, WA) worked that way in Fredericksburg as recently as 10 years ago

    Fredericksburg Texas is a small town, and many could offer such care without it being over-taxing, but usually whatever company owns the practice is rabid in pursuit of visit fees. For doctors who want to provide that kind of personal care, it is a good side of COVID that billable phone calls have been prised out of insurance companies.

    It’s not only medicos who are on call: I’ve been on call 24/7 in every job I’ve ever had, in 4 separate occupations, with no extra compensation. The responsibility goes with professionalism.

  65. Alan says:

    >> Looks like maybe they couldn't cheat enough in VA and the Klansman has to pack his shirt and go…

    Looks like they did enough in New Joisey, MSM starting to declare him the winner in the NJ Governor's race in which he recently had an eleven point lead in the polls.

    Another wake-up call for the Dumbo-crats come 2022.

    https://www.npr.org/2021/11/02/1050183040/new-jersey-governor-election-results-murphy-ciattarelli

  66. Alan says:

    >> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10158513/NASCAR-orders-Kyle-Busch-sensitivity-training-ahead-using-r-word-post-race-interview.html

    They don't call him :Rowdy" Busch for nothing. Kyle at sensitivity training should be interesting. About as good as sending him to traffic school for getting a speeding ticket.

  67. Alan says:

    >> Cisco puts language warnings on some pages due to network protocols using a master/slave relationship.

    In networking, sometimes the slave becomes the master. That seems like a positive outcome to me.

    You'll notice in real estate the "Master Bedroom" is now the "Primary Bedroom".

  68. nick flandrey says:

    The stats have some interesting quirks.   The top searched page is RBT's comments about Patriot Nurse.   The most viewed top ten are usually split between me and RBT about evenly.  Google is top referrer.  

    That's from memory using the old stats reporting.

    n

  69. nick flandrey says:

    And yes, nick has several monitors up in the attic, and a couple of docks.  Dell changed their dock structure though so wife brought her own from work.  When she was WFH she used her lappy (pretty big screen), and a 27" in portrait mode to the right.  Worked for her. 

    I've used dual screens since about 2002 for my personal lappy.  I got an industrial monitor from EarthLCD and set it up next to my laptop.   The company I was working for did multi-projector high pixel count very wide and curved displays, always driven by at least two heads and usually three.  In stereo.  nvidia drivers were always an issue.  It was a bit of a black art to get the right overlaps, and all the other configs working, and then nvidia would nuke it with an update.  The config tools never worked right under linux either.

    n

  70. drwilliams says:

    last night I posted:

    VA election:

    All seats projected/called: R+5 in Delegates -> TIED

    Governor, Lt. Gov., and AG all R

    NOTE: Lt. Gov. soon-to-be elect Winsome Spears (Marine vet, black and female)

    Latest update shows two squeakers went R, giving them 52-48 (R+7) control of the House of Delegates.

    https://www.vpap.org/electionresults/20211102/house/

    This should make for an interesting 12 months of investigations of secondary education ahead of the Nov 2022 election. With Governor, Lt Governor, and AG in Republican expect prosecutions of officials in Loudoun County.

  71. nick flandrey says:

    Did something bad to my pinky finger on my right hand this afternoon.  Was grasping some fabric, and felt it pop and shift.  DIdn't hurt at the time but feels very sore and stiff now.

    n

  72. nick flandrey says:

    Rain gauge at the house is up to .21" but we got way more than that on the north side this afternoon.   IAH says .68" in the last 6 hours, so I'm guessing a full inch.

    Still lightly raining at the house….

    n

  73. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    Did something bad to my pinky finger on my right hand this afternoon.  Was grasping some fabric, and felt it pop and shift.  DIdn't hurt at the time but feels very sore and stiff now.

    What kind of fabric, just so I can avoid it?

  74. nick flandrey says:

    Any big pile…

    n

  75. Billy-Bob Biden says:

    Did something bad to my pinky finger on my right hand this afternoon. Was grasping some fabric, and felt it pop and shift. DIdn't hurt at the time but feels very sore and stiff now.

    Aww, a boo-boo. Have you ever considered that the time you spend on this blog might be better spent with your wife and family, creating real experiences instead of virtual ones?

     

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  76. drwilliams says:

    “I believe the COVID vaccine is a greater threat to soldiers’ health and military readiness than the virus itself,” U.S. Army aerospace physician Lt. Col. Theresa Long said Tuesday.

    https://www.westernjournal.com/army-surgeon-grounds-several-newly-vaccinated-pilots-develop-serious-chest-pain/?utm_medium=westernjournalism&utm_source=push&utm_campaign=jeeng

  77. Marcelo says:

    Someday, I might chronicle this move, but briefly, the big change was moving from Google accounts to Microsoft accounts while keeping our Gmail addresses. My wife never liked any of the email apps offered in the Googlesphere, and in her own unique way said, “Why can’t we just use Outlook on our phones; it’s just fine on our computers.” Both of us used a variety of groupware in the corporate setting, but Outlook/Exchange was the best for our needs. I automatically started using it again when we transitioned  from Linux to Windows a year ago.

    If you do not abhor MS things then consider MS Launcher and Your Phone.

    I really like the Launcher and with an older Android phone that does not receive version upgrades it means I still get improvements on my launcher.

    The big benefit of Your Phone is the ability to actually see and respond to SMSs using a real keyboard.

  78. nick flandrey says:

    Have you ever considered that the time you spend on this blog might be better spent with your wife and family, creating real experiences instead of virtual ones?

    –um, yes? 

    On the other hand, it gives  me access to a community that I don't have locally, and am not really interested in developing locally because of a laundry list of reasons.

    It puts the combined experience and knowledge of the group at my fingertips- there have been very few questions that the collected wisdom couldn't help with. 

    Sometimes it's fart jokes.  Sometimes linux gurus.   Sometimes actual rocket science.  And almost all the time, camaraderie and fellowship.

    n

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  79. lynn says:

    Did something bad to my pinky finger on my right hand this afternoon.  Was grasping some fabric, and felt it pop and shift.  DIdn't hurt at the time but feels very sore and stiff now.

    n

    Welcome to arthritis.  You broke the knuckle, probably the outer knuckle.  I have broken five of them in my fingers and four of them in my toes.  Only the outer knuckles, I have yet to break an inner knuckle.

    If it hurts too much then tape it to the finger next to it.  The pain will go away in a month or two.  Except when you get that broken knuckle caught in something and start swearing like a sailor.

    I broke my right pinkie outer knuckle when I was 23 ?. The bone got infected and I had to go get it drained by a doctor. No anesthetic, he just grabbed the pinkie and squeezed. That did not work so he cut it open with a scalpel. Again, no anesthetic, no warning. Squeezed again, a lot of pus came out. He wrapped it and said $20 IIRC.

  80. drwilliams says:

    "Sometimes it's fart jokes"

    Did you ever get around to putting those under a keyword?

    Asking for a friend.

  81. Rick H says:

    “I believe the COVID vaccine is a greater threat to soldiers’ health and military readiness than the virus itself,” U.S. Army aerospace physician Lt. Col. Theresa Long said Tuesday.

    (with the article mentioning side effects to heart)

    There is this from: https://www.health.mil/News/Articles/2021/08/05/Debunking-Anti-Vaccine-Myths-with-Scientific-Facts  (yes, an official US Military source, but there are similar statements elsewhere):

    Fact: While there have been some rare but serious side effects detected after vaccinations – including an inflammation of the heart muscle and a neurological condition called Guillen-Barre syndrome, most of these cases recover. The Food and Drug Administration has months of data on the vaccines. That is from the more than 165 million people who are fully vaccinated in the U.S.

    There will never be anything that is 100% safe. But there are overwhelming odds that vaccinations will protect you from the serious effects of Covid-19. 

    IMHO.

  82. Rick H says:

    Sometimes it's fart jokes.  Sometimes linux gurus.   Sometimes actual rocket science.  And almost all the time, camaraderie and fellowship.

    Sometimes it's FLASHLIGHTS.

  83. drwilliams says:

    There's a scene in The High-Tech Knight were Conrad gets carried away at the drafting table and realizes he knows the design of 158 different types of pliers. (OK. not certain it's 158, but I'm not going to look it up)

    When I got my first tool chest in high school, it seemed logical that two of the shallow drawers be dedicated to screwdrivers and pliers, respectively. Several tool chests later and I'm still organizing the same way. The only thing that changes is some stacks have more drawers, and the woodshop has different tools than the auto shop which has different tools than the machine shop.

    I've never actually counted, but I'm well short of 158 kinds of pliers.

    I recently added a new one:

    https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-pistol-grip-long-nose-pliers-57987.html

    The price is up a buck in the last month or so, and I bought mine on sale. I got tired of torquing my wrist about half the time when using long-nose pliers. I've found that these work better at some angles, and next sale I'm going to grab a few more pair and populate some more drawers.

  84. drwilliams says:

    @Rick H

    There will never be anything that is 100% safe. But there are overwhelming odds that vaccinations will protect you from the serious effects of Covid-19. 

    IMHO.

    If protection were the primary criteria then every one of the "mandates" would recognize that "the science" has shown that natural immunity provides protection.

    Absent that recognition, nay, totally ignoring that recognition in the face of more than a century of confirming medical experience, is a very strong indication if not absolute proof that the goal of the mandates is largely something else.

    And every bit of evidence points to that something else being total control of the population.

    Part of that evidence, IMHO, is that we are nearly two years into this exercise and

    1) the PCR test is being used for diagnosis a) contrary to the advice of the inventor of the test and b) at an unspecified amplification level that Saint Fauci himself admitted more than 16 month ago is excessive and detects nothing but dead virus

    2) the only generally available test for antibodies is qualitative, not quantitative, and cannot be used to measure the degree of protection from vaccine or natural immunity.

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  85. nick flandrey says:

    Phhhpphhhbbbbbttttt…..

    Or sometimes just 'fooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo'.

    There's an old joke that ends "Oh, someone's a virgin!!"

    n

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  86. Alan says:

    >> I recently added a new one:

    https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-pistol-grip-long-nose-pliers-57987.html

    I got a pair of these not that long ago, great for connecting 12 gauge romex around screw terminals.

    <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KPQK34K/https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KPQK34K//a/p?tag=ttgnet-20

  87. drwilliams says:

    "at an unspecified amplification level that Saint Fauci himself admitted more than 16 month ago is excessive and detects nothing but dead virus"

    A little too brief.

    Unspecified in that none of the test results seem to specify Ct (the number of cycles) in the report.

    Testing in the US reportedly uses 35-40 cycles, and Fauci stated that anything over 35 was likely "dead virus".

    Of particular interest:

    Correlation Between 3790 Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction–Positives Samples and Positive Cell Cultures, Including 1941 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Isolates
     

    Rita Jaafar , Sarah Aherfi , Nathalie Wurtz , Clio Grimaldier , Thuan Van Hoang , Philippe Colson , Didier Raoult , Bernard La School

    Clinical Infectious Diseases , Volume 72, Issue 11, 1 June 2021, Page e921, https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1491

    Published: 28 September 2020

    Several recent publications, based on more than 100 studies, have attempted to propose a cutoff Ct value and duration of eviction, with a consensus at approximately Ct >30 and at least 10 days, respectively [ 2–5 ]. However, in an article published inClinical Infectious Diseases , Bullard et al reported that patients could not be contagious with Ct >25 as the virus is not detected in a culture above this value

    It can be observed that at Ct = 25, up to 70% of patients remain positive in culture and that at Ct = 30 this value drops to 20%. At Ct = 35, the value we used to report a positive result for PCR, <3% of cultures are positive. Our Ct value of 35, initially based on the results obtained by RT-PCR on control negative samples in our laboratory and initial results of cultures [ 8], is validated by the results presented and is in correlation with what was proposed in Korea [ 9 ] and Taiwan [ 10 ].

    NB: At Ct = 35, the value we used to report a positive result for PCR, <3% of cultures are positive.

     

  88. Alan says:

    "Possible sabotage…" her lawyer says. But not by her of course.

    "Attorney for Rust armorer suggests sabotage on set of Baldwin shooting

    Lawyer for Hannah Gutierrez says ‘disgruntled’ person could have placed live round in box of dummy rounds"

    Jason Bowles said his client, Hannah Gutierrez, had pulled ammunition from a box that she believed contained only dummy rounds that were incapable of firing. He said he thought it was possible that someone purposely placed real bullets, which look similar to dummies, into the box.

    “We’re not saying anybody had any intent there was going to be a tragedy of homicide,” he added, “but they wanted to do something to cause a safety incident on set. That’s what we believe happened.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/03/rust-armorer-laywer-suggests-sabotage-baldwin-live-round

    If I understand it correctly, PopTart girl should have taken every round that she took out of the box and shaken it by her ear as dummy rounds have a BB inside the shell casing instead of the gunpowder, made like this to allow someone (an armorer perhaps?) to easily tell the difference between a live round and a dummy round, the latter which will produce a rattling sound.

  89. drwilliams says:

    “This armorer in the media is now being crucified and it reminds me of the way they treated Monica Lewinsky. … ‘I did not have manual relations with that weapon.’ It just seems so familiar, there’s some sort of PR firm right behind this that’s spinning it in the media and it’s disgusting,” he said. “It’s horrible that you would give armorers a bad name just because an anti-gun activist is incompetent with a weapon and shoots and kills the cinematographer. It’s a horrible tragedy, I mean, clearly he didn’t do it on purpose, but he did it out of negligence.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2021/10/25/watch-actor-explains-how-alec-baldwin-failed-to-follow-basic-gun-safety-on-set/

  90. nick flandrey says:

    No one in  the article or the press asked the pertinent question, "Who prepared the rounds in the box marked 'dummies'?  

    For bonus points, 'Did you verify they were dummy rounds when you loaded the gun?'

    For extra bonus points, 'Who provided the gun?'

    My understanding is the caliber isn't common, so where did the mysterious saboteur get the round?  For that matter, where did the rounds come from if the crew WAS plinking earlier in the day?  And how much sense does that make for a crew that was 'under the gun' working hard and fast to complete shooting in 21 days?   LOOOVVVEE how DM feels the need to define "plinking".  

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10162287/Alec-Baldwins-Rust-crew-accused-breaking-THREE-movie-industry-gun-safety-rules.html

    FWIW they mention "horseplay" several times implying that TBB was messing around when that has already been established- he was rehearsing the shot.  And they imply that the 'pointing the gun at people' was also not necessary, but again – rehearsing the shot.

    I'll also note that even the DM in their "list" of broken rules doesn't mention actors 'clearing' their own props.

    n

  91. nick flandrey says:

    First time, and likely last, that I've ever actually read Megan McCain. 

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10162687/MEGHAN-MCCAIN-Virginia-showed-Trump-really-want-Republican-Mr-Rogers.html

    What a piece of work.  If she's the face of the Republican party, I need to change my affiliation. (which I only declared so I could vote in the primaries.)

    n

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  92. nick flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10161813/Why-kids-hospitalized-COVID-19-higher-rates-England.html

    –TL:DR

    American kids are fatter and sicker, and those cause problems if they do get chinkyflu.

    And the absolute numbers are still VANISHINGLY SMALL.

    n

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  93. mediumwave says:

    Fact: While there have been some rare but serious side effects detected after vaccinations – including an inflammation of the heart muscle and a neurological condition called Guillen-Barre syndrome, most of these cases recover. The Food and Drug Administration has months of data on the vaccines. That is from the more than 165 million people who are fully vaccinated in the U.S.

    (Emphasis added.)

    The late Mr. OFD would likely have something to say in re the severity, rarity, and recovery rate associated with Guillen-Barre syndrome had it not killed him three years ago.

     

  94. nick flandrey says:

    yes, and "most" is a weasel word.

    n

  95. ~jim says:

    There's an old joke that ends "Oh, someone's a virgin!!"

    So retelling old fart jokes and the sense of camaraderie it brings is a better use of your time than…

  96. Nick Flandrey says:

    not better, part of.

    My wife and kids have lives too, and I'm not part of theirs 24/7.   And we'll be getting a whole lot of family together time at the Grandparents when we visit over Thanksgiving.  A whole lot.  Why, one of the memories I hope to make is NOT causing MIL to cry.  I'd like to think that if I can go two visits in a row, it might break the streak.  Turns out the key is me not talking about anything. 

    Since I like to talk, I'll be doing it here instead….

    n

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  97. ~jim says:

    Since I like to talk, I'll be doing it here instead…

    Just so. Do you like Kipling? 

  98. Nick Flandrey says:

    I like kipling very much.  Read the Jungle Books with my little one over the last couple of weeks, then started re-reading Pippi Longstocking, but we'll get some more Kipling in soon.

    n

Comments are closed.