malada

And because I wanted to resurrect the (Windows 7) system *now* I spend a little extra to have Amazon ship it NOW!

And I plugged in the adapter... turned on the system ... and it failed to boot. No display.

Arrrggggg.... do I have a bad video card? Multiple bad video cards? Checked and swapped out the power supply - power supply not the problem.

Finally, I worked it out. The system was replaced because of display problems. So I tried a whole bunch of graphics cards and it went like this:

AMD RX470 - no display. no boot

Nvidia GTX750TI - no display, no boot

Nvidia GT720 - display, slooooow boot

Nvidia GT220 - display, slow boot

Using built in graphics - display, immediate boot!

I buttoned up the system and tossed it aside. It works as it is and maybe that's good enough for it.

Then I tested all the graphics cards on a known good system - and THEY ALL WORK!

So it was the Win 7 motherboard that was wonky. That's okay. If I feel rich I can just replace the mobo, RAM and CPU with something modern and zippy. At the moment... I'd rather have the working graphics cards.

Seems like *somebody* sold Hezbollah a lot of pagers and walkie-talkies with explosives in them. It's hard for me to sort out how I feel about this. I mean... doing something that will result in killing and maiming maiming your enemy, the intelligence gathered to make sure these devices reached (mostly) the Bad Guys, even putting together exploding consumer electronics by the thousands... that took a lot of geek skillz.

Innocents being maimed and killed - not good.

So looking at all the technical, intelligence and logistical chops it took to pull this off I think the word I want to use to describe this operation is...

... diabolical.

I don't think it's going to help in the long run. Especially now that people know it can be done... it's going to get done again.

Not good. Not good at all.

I keep thinking about getting involved in Nanowrimo - National Novel Writing Month. I'm not short of ideas, I'm short of "butt in the chair" time and energy which this may help kick start my writing. Last year, I just didn't have the spoons.

This year however...

There appears to be a big debate about using AI (Large Language Models) as an aid to writing your novel in November. I think the look at it as another form of adaptive technology: something to help people write. Adaptive technology - like large screens for visually impaired folks, or voice to text for those with mobility issues - helps bring out the information and talent within the writer themselves. AI... does not. Large Language Models scrapes the words and form from others, mashes them up and applies filters to the result. There's no intelligence, no talent, no spark that comes from humans in the result: just a rehash of dead authors.

I should just start writing again on a daily basis and damn the spoons.

As a child of the space race I like to keep on eye on all things space related. After launching the crewed version of Starliner... Boeing and NASA have a pretty messy situation on their hands. If the cranky Starliner burns up in reentry because of dodgy steering jets it would be... bad. If the cranky Starliner burns up in reentry with people on board it would be a disaster.

Having lost two shuttles (and their crews) to risky decision making, NASA is a bit wary about dodgy equipment. Boeing has been great for the stock holders but for their rockets and planes? Not so much. Starliner is turning out to be under engineered, over budget and shoddily made. I'm not blaming the workers - Boeing's space program is actually a jobs program - this is purely a management problem. Lax training, lax quality control, and budget squeezing are all management responsibilities.

Maybe now when the new CEO was trained as an engineer things will turn around... but this is a huge company and the 'squeeze profits' mentality is probably deeply entrenched. A lot of managers need to be fired, new engineers trained up and the whole company needs to be turned around. This may take a decade. Or more.

In the meantime, NASA has decided to 'get off the pot' and have Butch and Suni come home in the safer Dragon capsule. This is a big piece of crow for Boeing to eat but all in all it would be worse if they returned crispy in the Starliner.

I still think NASA's idea to have two launch systems is a good idea - but there needs to be better oversight, consequences for bad actions, and compatibility between systems.

The Ukrainians have *always* - since this war began - had the edge in propaganda.

They've flooded social media with their cheap drone blowing up million dollar tanks.

They've put out videos of Ukrainian soldiers rescuing old ladies, abandoned dogs and tiny kittens.

I've seen two recently from the Kursk operation:

one where they brought food and water to a housebound woman. They're first words to her, "Don't worry. We're not Russians. We'll get you to a hospital soon." Then they feed her water from a bottle because she was too weak to drink it herself.

The second, very short: handing out loaves of bread to an old, old woman who was crossing herself and crying.

The Russians have always targeted civilians along with military targets. The Ukrainians have *fed* the civilians and targeted only military assets.

That's why we should support Ukraine.

That's why they will win. They must win.

Several weeks ago, I started hearing outside what sounded like a smoke alarm that had a dying battery. It's the single, loud, high pitched *chirp* sound. I usually heard it when leaving my house which was next to an apartment building so I thought someone had just thrown out a noisy smoke detector and it was in the bushes *somewhere*.

Then I started hearing it my morning walks around the neighborhood. Going to trusty Duckduckgo I discovered some types of birds make that sound. However, most the birds cited in my brief search were tropical birds.

I'm in upstate NY, USA. We've been hot and rainy lately but we're hardly tropical (yet).

Anyone have any ideas?

NPR did some door knocking interviews and one was a 'former Democrat' who swung to the Republican part because of "inflation" and "trans kids in sports".

Inflation? That I can understand... but trans kids in sports? Seriously? Dude, how many kids are we talking about here? In the millions of school age kids out there we're only talking about maybe 100 kids? And although the top athletes make the papers, most of these kids just want to play! Play with their friends! Sheesh.

NPR had a brief excerpt of Trump saying that he will be "the president of all Americans" to which I turned to the radio and said

Fuck you!
Fuck you!
Fuck you!

He cheated on all four of his wives, stiffed countless contractors, cheated investors, lied about his wealth, handled the COVID pandemic by saying 'it will go away' or suggested we inject bleach, disrespected our fallen soldiers, stole from a charity, set up a fake school, supports the fascist take over of the government with Project 2025... the list goes on and on.

I hope he strokes out at his next rally... and I hope most of his followers do likewise.

I watched Biden's speech on Sunday night and something about it has been gently nagging me for awhile. I finally figured it out last night.

Biden appeared like a a patient, wise grandfather attempting to give a civil lecture to an unruly, hell-raising bunch of children. They're not going to listen or take the lesson to heart.

Violent rhetoric has been a staple of Republican speech for years if not decades. It was the Republicans who threatened to use "the bullet box" if they failed at the ballot box. It is the Republicans who threaten civil war if they don't get their way. Even though Biden called for calm and civil discussion the Republicans are still The Enemy and would put people like me in camps for execution.

President Biden is right: violent speech has no place in our politics. It's a pity the Republicans haven't taken that to heart.

I've been hearing reports in the media that there's a ground surge of people just begging Biden to drop out of the race due to a bad first debate.

In the debate he was an old man who had a cold and over-prepared himself. According to the pundits, he looked weak. Trump effortlessly spouted lies that made him look strong.

Let's look at the facts;

Biden is a good man with a stellar reputation as a legislator and a politician. He's brought down inflation, helped curb COVID, respects labor, brought down unemployment and loves his wife. He had a bad night.

Trump is a lying crook with a string of bankruptcies, failed businesses and sketchy bank loans. During his presidency he gave tax cuts to the least deserving: increasing the deficit, told people to inject bleach to cure COVID, stiffed his workers, his contractors, his lawyers. He's cheated on ALL of this four wives and incited an insurrection.

Finding a replacement for Biden months before the election would be tricky, time consuming and off-putting. Without a super strong candidate ready to go the Democratic campaign would fall into chaos. That's just the facts. Since the debate Biden has been on the trail doing what he does best: connecting with people one on one and in small groups. He's respecting picket lines. He admits he doesn't always speak well and isn't as strong as he used to be, but he's still a good man with years of work left in him.

Trump is bloviating before semi-adoring, growing smaller crowds spouting nonsense and falsehoods. That's the facts.

I've got my shades on and I'm ridin' with Biden. Stay calm. Point out that Biden may be old but he's a good man with talented people: his cabinet and Kamala Harris, backing him. Trump is old AND evil with a bunch of fascists, crooks and liars behind him.

That's the facts.