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Recent Posts

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26
Living Room / Re: ProtonMail deletes "we don't log your IP" after French activist arrested
« Last post by 40hz on September 23, 2021, 10:36 AM »
My hope for the internet
-Deozaan (September 22, 2021, 08:56 PM)

I’ve long since given up any hope I might have had for the Internet.

When it was smaller and frequented largely by the technically literate there was a brief period of time when there was a naive belief, in many quarters, that it would be a transformative technology that would magically remain somehow divorced from acquiring all the negatives virtually every previous technological advance dragged along in its wake. And while it’s good to have a dream, most times those dreams completely ignore the lessons of history. And the Internet is just one more case of an advance being coopted for the purposes of the lowest common denominator.

Robinson’s Rule is inescapable:

”Nothing truly good ever survives being ‘discovered’”
27
Living Room / Re: ProtonMail deletes "we don't log your IP" after French activist arrested
« Last post by 40hz on September 22, 2021, 07:22 AM »
^”Good luck, I’m behind 7 proxies.”

Three of which are clandestinely operated in whole or in part by various government intelligence agencies, and the rest which have been rooted by them.  ;) :P

Old Russian proverb:

“Anytime four men conspire in a hidden place to overthrow the Czar, three of them are fools, and the fourth is secret police.”
28
Living Room / Re: Trying to remember an old flash game?
« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2021, 09:12 PM »
It’s rather beautiful. That’s pretty much the type of game I like to play on computers. More journey like than skill challenging. I enjoy strolling around in virtual worlds. My secret vice.  ;D
29
Living Room / Re: Trying to remember an old flash game?
« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2021, 09:06 PM »
Were you maybe thinking of Train of Afterlife? It came out back in 2010 or thereabouts. I don’t know if it was Flash based for sure however. But it was a pretty eerie experience playing it. It’s available on Steam last looked.

For better treatment of the self-discovery meme I think the game (more like an interactive animation with some puzzle and platforming game elements rather than a true game) Gris did it better. Available from Good Old Games (gog.com). Beautiful experience. Almost like a meditation. Top notch artwork throughout.

30
Living Room / Re: Who here makes ice cream?
« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2021, 08:42 PM »
Me.

I had no choice. I can’t find Earl Grey or Brandy Pear sherbert, or Cranberry-Apple sorbet in stores.  :Thmbsup:

We’re using the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence ice cream maker. It uses a freezer bowl so it doesn’t require ice or salt. The coolant is permanently sealed within the walls of the bowl. Just put the bowl in your freezer for several hours and you’re ready to roll. The results are quite good. Especially for a $99 machine. You’d need to spend several hundred dollars to get a semi commercial compressor type ice cream maker if you wanted something better.
31
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2021, 08:24 PM »
I’ve been listening to a lot of Symphonic Metal lately. Especially the Finnish metal band Nightwish in their latest incarnation with Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen.

Here’s a couple:



32
Living Room / Re: ProtonMail deletes "we don't log your IP" after French activist arrested
« Last post by 40hz on September 21, 2021, 07:58 PM »
Hardly surprising. Any company can assert they have a corporate philosophy and strong policies that can override or bypass governmental authority. At least until someone shows up brandishing a subpoena, search warrant, or handcuffs.  :tellme:

There’s an old admonition in the IT world that applies here:

“Never trust any system or network you don’t hold root level access and authority over.”

Anonymity is possible. But not on a public network…like… the Internet? ;)
33
Living Room / Re: Favourite youtube channels
« Last post by 40hz on February 09, 2021, 05:21 PM »
Three of my favorites:

Sanjay C

Gear reviews, how-tos, and news for musicians.



Uncle Doug

Down home tube electronics tech.



HorrorBabble

My regular dose of vintage Lovecraftian eldritch horror from HPL and his contemporaries of the Weird Tales era along with some of the best new talent.





34
Living Room / Re: My new project is now live: Co-op For Two on YouTube
« Last post by 40hz on February 09, 2021, 04:44 PM »
I've been doing (solo) livestreams every weekend around midnight (US time).  They are much less entertaining than the videos with my co-host, but they may provide a service in helping insomniacs fall asleep.  The last one was 6.5 hours long.
-mouser (February 09, 2021, 03:44 PM)

Works for me. The medication they've got me on doesn’t help much when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep.  ;D

I’m a resigned 3:00AM YouTube habitué.
35
Living Room / Re: Is it possible to work on two laptops from the screen of one of these laptops?
« Last post by 40hz on February 09, 2021, 04:04 PM »
RDP through Remmina is my fav since my main machine is a Linux box.

Supports good security too.
36
Living Room / Re: My new project is now live: Co-op For Two on YouTube
« Last post by 40hz on February 09, 2021, 03:41 PM »
I’m in! Subscribed and Patreoned.  :Thmbsup:

(Is ‘Patreoned’ an actual word I wonder?)  :o ;)
37
Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?
« Last post by 40hz on February 09, 2021, 06:44 AM »
Mastering Ubuntu Server 3rd Edition by Jay LaCroix.

459E18ED-3B00-466E-B44E-0AC943C3CC6D.jpeg

Jay has a decent YouTube channel covering various server topics. I figured I’d buy his book to help support him and his channel. And it’s actually a good read. I was familiar with most but not all it covered. So it’s a handy refresher/reference for a server geek, and an excellent how-to for someone just getting into servers - or interested in setting up their first home lab. Highly recommended.

Requiem for the American Dream - The Principals of Concentrated Wealth and Power - Noam Chomsky

FF778147-14E4-4A7E-90AA-2CC2C86477AC.jpeg

MIT professor of linguistics needs no introduction to the world of intelligent discussion and debate. This book was compiled from a series of talks, and might have been titled: “a blueprint for tyranny” just as easily. An uncomfortable read. Especially in the wake of the political and social dumpster fire we’ve lived through over the previous four years.

YouTube made a full video of it. It’s worth watching - and thinking about - if you’re not into reading books.




38
Living Room / Natural robotics, or: The Uncanny Valley Revisited
« Last post by 40hz on December 04, 2020, 08:20 AM »
First semi-autonomous natural movement robot walking around in Tokyo.

Spooky stuff!  :tellme:


39
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 10:12 PM »


Really adheres to the less is more aesthetic.  Just sublime...
-wraith808 (December 03, 2020, 10:05 AM)

Like that one a lot. Thx for sharing it!   :D
40
General Software Discussion / Re: Etcher on Linux?
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 09:57 PM »
Was Linux not intended to be a clean operating system, unburdened by the bloat that comes with Windows applications?
So why would you even consider Etcher? It is already an abomination on Windows, it should be prohibited on every other operating system...  ;)
-Shades (December 03, 2020, 07:03 AM)

New one for me. Why is that?
41
General Software Discussion / Re: Etcher on Linux?
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 09:55 PM »

I would have thought that most directions on making a live Linux USB drive have instructions for using dd, at least most of the ones I've seen have.
-4wd (December 03, 2020, 08:45 AM)


Absolutely.  :Thmbsup:

dd would be my preferred way to do it.

Although unetbootin as you mentioned is also a good alternative. Only problem I’ve run into with it in the past was that it could behave funny at times depending on the distro. But that’s probably more a thing in the past than now.
42
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 03:51 PM »
Nice... I really missed your music recommendations :)  :Thmbsup:
-wraith808 (December 03, 2020, 09:46 AM)


You’re too kind.  :)

Here’s another gem: Yvonne Elliman - who is arguably one of the finest voices to ever emerge from the 60/70s rock era - on stage with Clapton and a whos-who of the era’s rock gentry. Here performing Steve Winwood’s Blind Faith classic Can’t Find My Way Home.



They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

I think I’m in love... :-*
43
General Software Discussion / Re: Etcher on Linux?
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 06:23 AM »
Full information, download links, and instructions can be found here:

https://etcher.download/
44
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 06:04 AM »
Camel in a live performance of Fox Hill.

*WARNING - Contains Prog*  ;)

45
Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!
« Last post by 40hz on December 03, 2020, 06:00 AM »
Tone to die for: Dave Ryan Harris with studio legend Sean Hurley on bass.



—————
Tech note for bass players: notice how Sean is tuned to E-flat rather than E? Consider giving it a try next time you’re rocking a Fender Precision. It’s an old trick many studio cats swear by. The improvement in tone and response can (depending on the instrument) sometimes be quite remarkable.  :Thmbsup:
46
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten
« Last post by 40hz on November 21, 2020, 09:56 AM »
I'm sure someone will come up with a better form of plaintext for the average word processor user. It will give up document management and document styling features (the latter are rarely used by most, and the former are little used by the average user) ave but keep the text control and styling. It will give up code blocks. Maybe it will be called marktext.
-Dormouse (November 20, 2020, 04:41 PM)

I don’t think it would require an entirely new plaintext format. I suspect it could be adequately handled by XML. The real challenge would be establishing the schema and taxonomies. The mechanics and details of the markup itself aren’t the issue. It’s the meta framework that represents the real work to be done.

Kinda like the old joke about how employing a computer and database for your average problem is often like hitting a fly with a 20-lb sledgehammer.  Easy enough on the face of it - except for the part about how to get the fly to land.  ;D
47
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten
« Last post by 40hz on November 20, 2020, 09:01 AM »
What's wrong with us?  Why do we write and write and curate and write?  I don't know, might be a mental problem.
-superboyac (November 19, 2020, 12:04 PM)

LOL! I suspect that of myself sometimes. More often than I’d like actually.  One professor described my “problem” as an “aspiration to achieve omniscience.”

I eventually gave up on trying to create an artifact and just constructed a classic memory palace for myself. Something I’ve since stopped worrying about externalizing for posterity. But I find the software based approach some are taking as
incredibly interesting just the same.
48
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten
« Last post by 40hz on November 18, 2020, 05:52 AM »
@ Dormouse, Wraith808, JavaJones:

Thx for taking the time to answer my question in such detail.  :Thmbsup:

Interesting to see how, for you guys at least, this technology definitely is evolving to be an “extra” head. Which is how the authors of the software (especially Obsidian) seem to have envisioned it.  :)
49
General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten
« Last post by 40hz on November 14, 2020, 10:58 AM »
Just out of curiosity …

What are people doing with all this information they’re curating and cataloging with these various pieces of software? To what purpose? Or maybe even: to what avail?

I’m more curious about the individual “business” use cases rather than the supporting technology. Technology and solutions that offer varying degrees of utility aren’t that difficult to run down. God knows there’s tons of software out there. But the reasons to employ said technology can sometimes be less obvious. At least to me.

So help me out. What is/are your goal(s). What’s it all for? What are you guys doing with all this information you’re gathering?  :)
50
Living Room / Re: What, if anything, has IMPROVED for you as a result of the pandemic?
« Last post by 40hz on October 23, 2020, 11:13 AM »
New hobby?
Learning more?
Developing new skills?
Better immediate family time?
Realization of long-term objectives?
Freedom to work in your underwear?

-cranioscopical (October 19, 2020, 08:14 PM)

  • Yes. (Electronics)
  • Yes. (My Udemy, MasterClass, and Babel, and Curiosity Channel subscriotions are all getting a serious workout these days.)
  • Yes. (Chinese language.)
  • No. (I always prioritized family time.)
  • Sorta. (My LTOs are all on track but mostly nearing realization rather than actually having arrived, possibly because I keep adding stretch goals whenever I get close to them.)
  • Wardrobe…not so much. I kinda grew up with the admonishment to act in private as you would when in public as far as grooming, manners, and decorum went. So I get up each morning and shower, shave, and get dressed regardless. I find it’s far too easy to start losing track of time and goals if I don’t have some semblance of a daily routine.

Biggest change is I’m now devoting a lot more time to physical exercise than in the past. I manage at least 5 miles of walking daily, either outdoors or on a non-motorized treadmill. I’ve dropped 40+ lbs. of unneeded weight since January, am now close to my weight when I was in college, and feel better than I’ve felt for several years.

The pandemic has been hard on a lot of people. But I’m eternally grateful that (for me at least) I was able to approach it as an opportunity to reflect and get things in my life in better order than they were when i was juggling too many competing priorities
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