Category: Uncategorized
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Updater, update thyself
I’ve heard that Microsoft is planning the first HELPFUL Windows update in several decades. Supposedly it’s scheduled around today’s date, so I checked the WindowsCentral website to see whether it’s available and what’s in it. I think the text on this page is saying that Windows Search will be free of annoying ads and popups?…
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Answered two questions
On this morning’s walk I took the south loop, passing the Champion Hoarder House. There are other half-baked or temporary hoarders. This one has been packed for as long as I’ve been looking, at least 20 years. He seems to have good taste in cars. For a long time a ’65 Lincoln was parked in…
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Why do they join?
Latest stupid news: The usual D team is suing the Ellison monsters for trying to merge Warner and Paramount. The Ellisons were fine when they wore the D team shirt. Now they’ve joined the R team so they’re not fine. This is a constant rule. Why did the Ellisons put themselves into this position? They…
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Are grammar toxic?
Substack has started carrying ads after claiming that it would never have ads. You’d think that an ad for PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, appearing in Onlyfans For Librarians, would be edited more carefully. I don’t expect or want the Upon whom shall one rely level of grammar, but I do expect basic noun-verb stuff.
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Solution is available
This story in Courthouse News grabbed my compassion. Hartman is a teensy town in the northeast corner of Colorado, not near much of anything. The population was 56 at the last census. Per Googlemap, it’s way off Highway 36, west of Syracuse, in a dry area with very few towns. It has a leftover grid…
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Nice symbol
Just noticing a symbol I haven’t seen before. This plan is in a 1948 book published by FHA, providing sample plans and guidance for homebuyers and contractors. Note the little slashed square meaning Square Feet. It’s also a Square Phi, though I doubt that was the origin.
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Samizdat makes sense
Interesting note from a (so far) trustworthy archeology type: Medieval universities had entire underground economies of forbidden books. Alchemy, astrology, banned philosophy, smuggled in and traded among students. The image of the rebellious scholar chasing dangerous knowledge isn’t a modern invention. It’s at least 800 years old. A commenter politely disagreed: Books weren’t widely disseminated…
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Are these results useful?
Here’s what an outstanding AI helper can do for you! Well, I wish I had trusted AI to write to write welcome I’m the guy side of back of Welcome, I’m the guy with side on the back on of my JS and CSS and Welcome, I’m the guy, HTML5 on the back of the…
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Second try
At this point in the season, all the lilacs and roses have done their job. They start in May and finish in mid-June. Suddenly the rose next to the front door decided to send up a few new blooms. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watering the yard consistently this year? In any case I’ll take…
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Above its weight
Random note while I’m thinking of it. Modern Italy punches WAY above its weight in many areas. Between 1895 and 1950, Italy was a major influencer in automotive engineering. Early US auto founders visited Italy and France for inspiration, not Germany and England, despite our much closer cultural and economic ties with the latter. The…
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Can’t resist
Via Spokesman, More on the large news lawsuit against large Altman models. = = = = = START QUOTE: The news organizations allege OpenAI is stealing and distorting their copyrighted works, inhibiting their ability to sell their original journalism while also providing ChatGPT users reporting that’s often inaccurate. They have been joined by the Authors…
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Driver vs passenger
A chief technical officer wanted to verify how AI could help his company before he recommended it. He describes his experience memorably: = = = = = START QUOTE: I got the product launched. It worked. I was proud of what I’d created. Then came the moment that validated every concern in that MIT study:…
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Widdecombe murdered.
Ann Widdecombe, the only politician who ever spoke the truth about crime and prison, has been killed. Police have already arrested a suspect but no further info at this point. [Update a few days later. At first the officials said there was no political aspect to the killing. Now the Counterterror force is investigating.] =…
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Zero Problems revisited
Before 2019 I was impressed by Erdogan’s unique approach to economics and war. His slogan was Zero Problems, and he fulfilled it in the same way that Ike gave us Zero Problems. Don’t start new wars, don’t aggravate existing wars, try to make peace when neighbors are fighting. He lost his mojo sometime before 2020,…
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Speaking of inventions
The parking meter was an unnecessary invention, causing more disruption than solution. Here’s a REAL PROBLEM that nobody has solved. FITTED SHEETS are devil spawn. Installing a devil sheet damages hands and backs. Devil sheets can’t be folded for storage. Devil sheets wear out washers and dryers by amoebaing up all the towels into one…
Polistra's Mill 