Recent Posts

51

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? 

52

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

53

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on October 12, 2020, 06:09 PM »

I think the problem is in the workingdirectory

-superboyac (October 11, 2020, 04:08 PM)

Sounds like systemd can’t find the script.


Check the full path of the neuron directory. Is anything missing? Is user1 inside another folder?

for example, try: 

/root/home/user1/neuron
for your working directory entry.

54

General Software Discussion / Not CPU, not GPU, but …DPU?

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2020, 01:24 PM »

Found this video pretty interesting.

When I think back to my days in enterprise IT I can almost cry thinking about how much easier my life and work would have been with this hardware technology at hand. Oh yeah.

As an aside, this guy’s web channel is pretty cool if you’re a hardware geek. This TinyMiniMicro project of his is very similar to something I’ve been implementing for my home setup over the last few years:

I guess I miss my server room days after all.

55

Living Room / Re: Android 11 forcing people to only use the built-in camera

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2020, 01:56 PM »

I found this presentation to be quite interesting. Cleared up a few nagging questions I've always had about what the limit of the speed of light actually implied:

56

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« Last post by 40hz on October 01, 2020, 01:10 PM »

Wiggins - the newest member of our family. A 7 mo. old miniature long-haired dachshund. Probably the hands-down coolest, most laid back dog we've ever met.

57

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 30, 2020, 08:09 PM »

In our excitement at reunion, let us not forgot Codex.

-JavaJones (September 30, 2020, 06:28 PM)

I watched a few of the videos. It all seems a bit stream of consciousness from what I’ve seen so far. Is there a design document for it that's available to read? Maybe I haven’t watched the right video - or enough of them yet. But I’m having a little trouble getting my head around the central paradigm and design of the thing.

58

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 30, 2020, 07:27 AM »

While 40hz may not have been "away" for that long, it does feel that way sometimes.

-Shades (September 29, 2020, 11:07 PM)

Well, it certainly felt that way for me. (How goes it Shades?)

59

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 29, 2020, 10:02 PM »

Hey!  Look who's back!!  Great to see my good friend!!

-40hz (September 29, 2020, 09:07 PM)

Hey you! Good to see you too! Hope life is treating you kindly. It's been a crazy few years. Especially this one, hasn't it?

60

Living Room / Re: Cyph - A potential Keybase alternative

« Last post by 40hz on September 29, 2020, 09:57 PM »

Just out of curiosity...how do they know for sure it'll be immune from cracking by the emerging quantum computing technology? Last I heard, even the mathematicians and cryptography experts (who actually have the requisite credentials and backgrounds to express such an opinion) have been extremely reluctant to say that about any existing or theoretical encryption method that's public information.

Consensus seems to be that once we start seeing more quantum cores out there, the more the concept of encryption will become a thing of the past.

61

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 29, 2020, 09:07 PM »

Hope to see you visit more regularly- it's not been the same without you! 

-wraith808 (September 29, 2020, 03:09 PM)

Probably a lot less discursive and wordy too. 

62

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 29, 2020, 11:49 AM »

40hz! Great to see you here again.

-JavaJones (September 28, 2020, 07:17 PM)

Thanks JJ!

Good seeing you and some of the Vieille Garde regulars again. It’s been far too long. I definitely missed the civility and high level of discourse that characterizes DC’s forum. This place is like an oasis of civilization compared to some of the online circles I’ve (more of necessity than choice) been moving in lately. It’s refreshing.

63

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 28, 2020, 11:38 AM »

I saw that referenced on an episode (the last episode maybe) of the Librarians.  I didn't realize that it was a real thing.

-wraith808 (September 28, 2020, 10:05 AM)

Yep. Prior to the advent of affordable books the practice of training up human memory and recall to produce an “artificial memory” was a highly valued skill. You can find a general introduction to it here.

The basics of the technique are pretty simple:

But it takes some planning and a commitment to regular practice. However, speaking from experience, it’s very doable. And fun too!   

64

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 28, 2020, 09:01 AM »

I know how it works, working at a financial reporting institution.  I'm just saying that the 200m valuation is high based on the fact that we do know.  And standards indicate that it is a percentage of the sales+assets-liabilities over a period of time.  It's a standard and known fact.

-wraith808 (September 24, 2020, 02:31 PM)

Running a Z-score calculation is also helpful. It’s not a 100% reliable predictor. But it’s right often enough that, when combined with ratio analysis and a good hard look at the fundamentals, it can give you a pretty clear idea of just how big a gamble you’re taking.

After that it’s time to play Dirty Harry. As in: “How lucky do you feel?” 

Institutional investors, being bound by concerns about fiduciary responsibility and reputation, need to be more cautious than individual and small investors who my chose to take an  occasional ‘flyer’ and hope for the best.

And who knows? Sometimes long shots do pay off. Just so long as you can responsibly afford the risk - and understand it’s more akin to gambling than investing - there’s no harm done.

65

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by 40hz on September 28, 2020, 08:53 AM »

I've also given a lot of thought to names. It's important that I know instantly what a folder is for - so nothing I don't instantly recognise - and the physical analogies work well for me. They also need the right vibe because that helps me work better. Its a very personal set of preferences.

-Dormouse (September 25, 2020, 12:14 PM)

That’s an extremely interesting approach. It has echos of an older technique that’s usually referred to as a ‘memory palace,’ where one’s classification of stored information is mentally linked to mnemonic imagery that most often takes the form of rooms and places in a real or imaginary building, or the landmarks found along a familiar walk.

It’s a valuable mental technique worth cultivating, to say nothing of an approach  that works equally well when mapped out to external technologies such as outlines, wikis, note tags, text databases, and similar technical innovations. 

(P.S. It’s been awhile for me. Nice to see some of the old crew can still be found having interesting discussions on DC.) 

66

General Software Discussion / Re: What was a great program that's now been forgotten?

« Last post by 40hz on January 24, 2020, 05:58 PM »

Ronstadt’s Financials. One of the best financial and business planning tools ever developed.

FoxPro - The PC database to end all databases.

MaxThink (single pane outliner) along with Houdini and the rest of Nils Larsson’s brilliant programs for writers, thinkers, and planners. His hypertext authoring programs anticipated much of what HTML does. Definitely tools ahead of their time.

Qmodem - a telecommunications program that was the gateway drug for the emerging online generation. For many it provided their first taste of the magic of online through the BBS world before the advent of the public Internet. (Anybody remember Rusty n Edies, FidoNet, and Boardwatch Magazine?)

67

Living Room / Re: I'm getting married, wish me luck!

« Last post by 40hz on May 09, 2019, 05:17 PM »

It’s been awhile so I’m obviously late to the party. But congratulations just the same. Wishing the best of everything for the two of you. 

68

Living Room / Re: Need Video Doorbell Options

« Last post by 40hz on May 09, 2019, 05:10 PM »

Understood... I've heard good things about the Ring devices (that's the one with the 6 month battery IIRC), and they will push the video to/through Alexa or dump it on an onboard SSD.

I thought all of the ring devices had to be hooked up to the power line.  I'll have to take another look!

We use Ring at our home. The doorbell camera comes in two versions. One uses the doorbell’s transformer power, the other is strictly battery powered.

It works with your existing doorbells and it’s been very reliable. Decent range of user selectable settings. Decent latency for a web type surveillance cam too. Has an optional swarm feature that allows you to receive updates about alerts issued by other Ring users in your area.

69

Non-Windows Software / Re: Pi-hole - A black hole for internet advertisements.

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2017, 08:48 PM »

It comes with a nice web admin console with some quick statistics. So here's a shot of statistics for the past ~20 hours:

[ Invalid Attachment ]

The blue area on the graph represents the percentage of all DNS requests which were blocked by Pi Hole. As you can see from the large numbers at the top, about 75% of all requests are being blocked.

I had installed the pi hole software on my Odroid the night before I posted about it here, but hadn't yet configured my router to use it for DNS lookups. According to my previous post in this thread, it seems I hooked it up at around the 18:00 marker on the graph, so even though it says those are my 24 hour stats, as mentioned above, it's really only showing about 20 hours of actual usage.

Pi Hole blocks ads, trackers, telemetry, etc. No troubles so far. But I kind of wonder how badly my entire LAN will fail if my Odroid somehow goes down and thus my router can't connect to it for DNS lookups.

-Deozaan (October 09, 2017, 03:37 PM)

Most routers allow you to specify a second and often a third DNS server. Just set the secondary to your original DNS server address. If you start seeing ads down the road you'll know your Odroid isn't responding.

70

Non-Windows Software / Re: Pi-hole - A black hole for internet advertisements.

« Last post by 40hz on October 09, 2017, 08:43 PM »

Nice one! 

71

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone here able to code audio production / musical instrument plugins?

« Last post by 40hz on August 17, 2017, 05:27 PM »

I think the scope of your requirements go several steps beyond what would interest a qualified coder without some financial consideration.

Seriously, much of what you're proposing is far from a trivial programming exercise. And several of the main functions you're including are already covered by long established music software. So even if you did decide to release it commercially, you'd be a late entry into an already saturated market with several entrenched market leaders such as Native Instruments, Ableton, Steinberg, and ProTools as your competitors. And without serious capital sources standing behind you, the chances of you gaining anywhere near enough market pentration to adequately fund ongoing development and support of your product is going to be pretty slim.

Not trying to rain on your parade or discourage you. Just trying to give you a sense of the realities of software development and sales.

Minor point: Ideas and dreams are a dime a dozen in the tech world. There probably isn't a developer anywhere who hasn't been approached by someone "with an idea" for a better mousetrap that "could make millions if I could just find someone to code it."

Unfortunately, the devil is in the details. Of which there are many. And there's a good deal of actual work that needs to be done to create software. So when you say you'd be willing to help out anyway you can, about the only thing a developer would consider as "help" is coding skills - or serious cash to hire those skills. If you can't provide either, I doubt you're going to be able to interest anybody who is actually capable of coding such a project.

Maybe Steve Jobs over at Apple got away with providing "vision" while a small group of software geniuses along with a small army of engineers did the actual work he was given the lion's share of the credit and praise for.  But those were more innocent times, and talented programmers expect a good deal more than just ideas from the people they're going to be partnering with. Ideas they can get anywhere - and for free.

72

Living Room / Re: Jailed 180 days for "refusing" to disclose iPhone password to police

« Last post by 40hz on June 10, 2017, 06:59 AM »

Under the 5th you have the right to remain sikent to avoid self incrimination. But you have to remain completely silent. And if you do say anything, you'd better be sure it's true. Lying to the police or in a court is a felony although you'd never know it considering how police routinely commit perjury in courtrooms and seldom get so much as a slap on the wrist for doing it.

As any defense attorney will tell you: Fon't talk to the police. Period. Don't affirm, deny, or argue with them. Stand mute except to politely and calmly keep repeating you don't consent to any questioning without your attorney present nor (and this is extremely important) do you consent to any searches.

Don't speak if you've done something.

And especially don't speak if you haven't done anything.

Sad it's reached this point. But as any lawyer will tell you: Don't talk to the police. Don't consent to any searches.

73

Living Room / Re: Organizing videos for OCDers - The Most Organized Home in America

« Last post by 40hz on June 05, 2017, 05:44 PM »

I do think this woman needs an intervention.. But in the meantime she has some good ideas

-mouser (June 05, 2017, 03:48 PM)

The road to hell is paved with good interventions!
 

-cranioscopical (June 05, 2017, 05:03 PM)

Not merely paved.

Some interventions create their very own little personal hells.

And necessity is the mother of intervention. 

74

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on May 30, 2017, 06:17 PM »

I watched Dirty Dancing years back and remember finding it enjoyable, I decided to watch it again this weekend and HOLY SHIT - I was blown away by how emotional the movie made me! Maybe part of it had something to do with nostalgia but I really enjoyed it. It's amazing how time changes the way you perceive things. BTW, they're remaking it (again!) this year as a TV movie with Abigail Breslin. Sorry, but I just don't see anyone replacing Swayze and Jennifer Grey.
[ Invalid Attachment ]

-nosh (April 10, 2017, 04:04 PM)

Jen Gray is one of those endearing actresses who doesn't get half the credit I sometimes think she deserves. Being cute and a daughter of a Broadway great apparently has it's downsides.

I liked her as a windsail engineer-designer in the 1992 movie Wind.

75

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by 40hz on May 30, 2017, 06:08 PM »

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Vanished...

-40hz (April 01, 2017, 02:31 AM)

The Hundred-and-one Year Old Man is showing in cinemas here in Germany atm.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4940370
Haven't seen either film, but read the first book, knowing very little about it beforehand: it was a real surprise, and great fun.

-tomos (April 01, 2017, 01:36 PM)

Thx for the heads-up. I didn't know they made a sequel. Watched it last night and really enjoyed it. Not quite as much fun as the first picture. But it more than held it's own despite some critics panning it.