system7rocks

I'm still waiting for a truly cross-platform framework using Python that builds natively and beautifully on ANY platform - from the Apple IIGS to MacOS M4 to web to Windows to Linux. With a click of a button. So I wasn't pleased to read how limited this framework is. Still waiting, I guess?

Wow. I love this.

Yes, it's kind of a LARP situation, but imagine a future scenario where some hacker (who also is physically resilient and well-protected in the face of apocalypse) has to figure out how to boot or get some system operating that might control solar panels. Not knowing the architecture - can you boot it up? Can you analyze existing binaries, ports, and other features and get it crudely operating? This sounds like a helluva of a video game.

I thought I was going to read something interesting, and while yes, America has significant problems and we are likely on the decline under this administration (and likely before), backing the dollar by gold is the same crackpot nonsense that Ron Paul people loved to hammer on about. What is even his point?

I think this is an interesting curiosity, but I am a little worn out on every company announcing AI as some kind of major upgrade. Alexa has already been sort of a waning product, and in some ways, it was already kind of cute since you could play goofy games. But cute gets old.

With AI, there is still this massive trust issue. How can I trust that AI is steering me in an actual helpful way? How is Alexa+ integrated with Amazon's core model of selling stuff... lots and lots of stuff?

But the bigger question is - at what cost?

Wow! I could have written this. PiHole works great... until your personal server does something weird or hangs or crashes or power flickers.

NextDNS just works. Allowlists are pretty easy to implement too for those edge cases.

We were on the interstate. It happened so quick. Coolant somehow mixed in with the oil, engine seized. The car had almost 180k miles on it. It is what it is.

Right! When my Pi died, my network didn't look for a backup DNS, so everything became inaccessible. It was weird - probably the classic SD card issue. With NextDNS, while I do use DNS over TLS, if my Synology fails, it just kicks back to regular NextDNS domain name servers.

Same for me.

I had Adguard running on a Pi 2 I think and it died. Couldn’t access my network remotely. Learned my lesson and switched to NextDNS on a bit more solid device.

Maintenance is an interesting piece to consider to this. I also just love the quiet of my EV. Got it used and paid cash, still under $100k miles. We charge at home for the most part and have experienced broken charging systems.

Some of these EVs are dead simple to maintain - are the tires inflated? Did you get the breaks checked? Is it charging okay?

Obviously, if you start having electrical system problems, it can get pricey. Nice to have a warranty of some kind then.

But the same is true of ICE vehicles if you start leaking oil, have electronics fail, and so on. I still remember spending so much time getting a motherboard component replaced in a 1994 Ford Thunderbird that was exhibiting bizarre behavior.

Just had my trusted 2009 Mazda 5 blow a head gasket outside of Santa Fe over the winter break. I'm grieving. But no, I'm not going to buy a new engine for that car and probably had spent too much already on it over the years. Sigh.

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is an amazing place. The closest Oklahoma gets to mountains, but one of my favorite places in the world. I knew about this but have never had a chance to watch it.

This is small but a cool way to integrate those various features across different apps and services. Like adding the Music playlist is not something I would ever use by my daughter, a teenager, probably would. Cute.

AI is absolute trash. It's a scam. Like Bitcoin.

And LibreOffice.

WE ARE A HUGE COUNTRY.

There is a disconnect with how big we are and what infrastructure is needed to support it. Let's say we cut everything but Senate, House, President, VERY basic defense. Our military is larger than probably anything else. I think the naivety is hilarious. Our employees and government bloat is big because our nation is big. There is no way around this. It's time to impeach, Trump. Good night.

LibreOffice is like X - it needs to be mothballed and a new paradigm needs to be brought into being.

The preferences and toolbars are simply a confusing, amateur hour disaster of no clear design vision, just people cramming their weird and obscure use cases in. Blessings to those who get use out of it, but there is hardly a more disappointing example of open source then this.

Yes, 400M downloads are like 400M acceptances of mediocrity and awful design. It’s always been so slow too in my opinion.

You can improve a Linux distro by simply not including LibreOffice.

Sigh.

They bank it as any insurance company should do. Invest it cautiously. Hire sound decent people to run it with solid levels of accountability (including from a board of directors that is mostly made up of a rotating number of clients). Do it from the beginning of the company. Grow your staff slowly. Build enough of a cushion that can last the company years. Right? Right?

I'd run that company well for $250k/annually + benefits (an enormous amount of money).

Yes, the Mac Mini G4 is an amazing machine to own. I sold mine. I am sad. I would like to have another, but the one I had was falling part and someone gave me like $50 for it. It is extremely versatile though.

You don't sound like a human.

You sound not well too,

I managed a lab full of these. So painful to work on because of all those sharp edges. We upgrade the RAM by hand though, which did help. And went from OS 7.6 to 8.6 eventually... which made things a bit more stable. Such weird machines.

I think you have to install the plugins for the main Dillo build, right? Whereas Dillo+ builds them in?

And Dillo+ has a reader mode.

Anyway, I see Dillo links to these other projects - just curious if the development goes both ways.

It would also require a constitutional amendment. Haha

I loved the article. And as a non-profit leader, I recognize the challenge of coming into an existing system, learning it, identifying things that need to change, and trying (vainly mostly) to change it.

My dream (but impossible) reforms for Congress would be:

- You can only run for political office if you have (personally) written and passed legislation at a lower level (city, county, state). I understand we need staff to help us draft legislation, but you must be a legislator, not a figurehead, to serve. No idea how to enforce this on any practical level other than a draft tracking system. GitHub for politics?

- If you do not pass one piece of legislation while in office each year, you cannot run for reelection. Your job is to work on legislation, negotiate, and pass laws. If you block a piece of legislation, it does not count. Once out, you must repeat the process - go back to 1.

- Congress get compounded bonuses or raises for passing legislation in consecutive years and can also make a special Legislator All-Star team. Trading cards will be released in schools so young kids can grow up celebrating the amazing legislators in hot streaks. CSPAN will keep a statistical database of legislators accomplishments and reframe politics around class sports narratives, like comebacks and underdogs and unlikely team-ups.

I love Dillo.

But I have lately been trying Dillo+ which adds some quality of life features. Have these features been incorporated into the existing Dillo?

https://github.com/crossbowerbt/dillo-plus

I'm saving this for further reading, but I do note the complicated reality in North America where traversing private land can lead to violence. It's a shame though. And at the same time - seems respectful to ask first or touch base before cutting a trail through a random field.

A rebrand? Cool… I guess.

I do think it is time for me to throw my hat in to the Silicon Valley ring. I could be an amazing Intel CEO. Give me a call.

Sometimes, this is the gift of having a trained chaplain, pastor, or advocate with you who has navigated these moments before. I’ve been in these moments with people in my church, and I don’t think it is always about the doctors or healthcare providers withholding info. Sometimes, you are the tenth person they have seen in a short period of time, so they are trying to communicate as best as they can, as efficiently as they can. Having someone - doesn’t have to be religious to be clear - who has been in those rooms can be helpful. They can repeat what the doctor says, because it can be so frightening and hard to hear.

I have asked doctors and anesthesiologists to come back into the room and finish answering the questions. I know they are busy. But I know they want to put you at ease and give you all the info you need.

- What side effects can we expect from the medication? - What alternatives are possible? What if the treatment doesn’t work? - What is the prognosis - worst case and best case? - How long will recovery be? - When can family members/loved ones see them? - Who will contact the family members during the procedure? - How soon will the patient be up and about? - Do you know the patients limits and directives - like no resuscitation?

More than once, I have helped the doctors hear something that they had missed, buried in all of those charts. More than once, I helped a friend or loved one gain some clarity on why the course of action is best or whether they want to explore something else.

Powerful story! And helpful language to think about them as a Bridge to Nowhere.

Curious why Firefox doesn’t just start incorporating uBlock into the browser? Make it a standard feature that comes pre-installed… but maybe not automatically enabled? Thoughts?