kengr

Specifically, computer utilities. I've been doing some long needed cleanup on my ridiculously large collection of images and the like.

This mostly consists of two things. First, checking to see if the source sites (various tuimblr accounts at the moment) are still up, and if there is any content I don't have.

The utility I used to use for that quit working some years back. and no updates or word from the author. Since I needed to do something about this, I finally got around for looking for a replacement. Found one. WF Download. Works even better than the old one did. There is the small issue that it uses a different (and arguably better) naming scheme for the downloaded files.

Which brings us to the *second* issue. Checking for duplicate files in the downloads. Now, way back in the 80s there was a program named Unique Filer. It had the concept of "base folder" and "compare folder". So it could compare all the files in the base (and its subfolders if you wished) against all the files in the compare (again, including subfolders if you wished).

Now it presented a list of the matching files. and you could wade thru them one by one. *or* you could tell it to nuke all the file in the compare folder that matched files in the base folder. Zip done.

It quit working with Windows 7. Maybe because it was very old or maybe because it was a 16 bit program (originally written for Windows 3) and I'm running the 64 bit version of Win 7. In any case no longer workee.

What I use now is Duplicate File Finder, It lets you compare files in a folder or folders and present a list of dupes. Each and every one of which has to be individually deleted...
[delete][enter][down][down] (repeat ad naseum)

*why* has the concept of "base" and "compare" folders been lost?

Explosion Destroys Mysterious Monument in Georgia, Authorities Say

Somebody bombed the Georgia Guidestones.

I don't recall hearing about them before

fayanora pointed me at an article about this.

But since the most likely explanation is that somebody set the bomb(s) because they thought the Guidestones were "satanic" then they are behaving *exactly* the same way the Taliban did when it destroyed those ancient Buddist statues.

Blowing something up because it is not approved of by *your* religion is never justified.

Also, it violates the freedom of religion that keeps *your* religion safe from others.

So this is not merely illegal, it's also *stupid*. Your religion is not "special". It doesn't deserve (or get) special consideration. That's the whole *point* of that part of the First Amendment.

doing this sort of thing "justifies" burning churches and bombing temples. You don't get to have it both ways. Either all religions deserve respect, or none do. And I don't think you really want the latter.

The Storage company I deal with has a website you can make payments thru. Or rather, it has one you *used* to be able to make them thru. It hasn't worked for several months at this point.

I made a payment over the phone last month. Did it by talking to the manager.

This month I got hit with a phone menu. A horrible one.

I had to enter my credit card number using the phone keypad. Yeah, 16 digits with no possibility of erasing if you mistype. You doi get prompted for confirmation that you entered it right. Except the audio keeps fading in and out, so I had to reenter it because I missed a prompt. Then you enter the card expiration date. Then the zip code pof the address the card is associated with. then the security code.

All this on a tiny keypad on the phone.

yerg...

I had a thought a while back and

ysabetwordsmith recent post reminded me of it.

A complaint often seen is the developers keep building stuff for the high end and ignoring stuff for the lower end.

Also, complaints about all the unused business spaces around.

Besides zoning, and the arguments pro and con over it, I think cities and towns need to take different measures.

Get a local "census" of both people and housing/businesses. If there's an oversupply of stuff at one price point, developers trying to get approval for more of that get given a *firm* "No".

They should instead be directed at areas where there are shortfalls. Cheaper housing, smaller businesses and above all refurbishing/repurposing all that unused stuff.

Of course, development for development's sake needs to stop as well.

Which reminds me. It's long past the point where we should have stopped converting farmland to suburbs. Ditto for many kinds of forest.

Our local "urban growth boundaries" annoy the hell out of developers. [playing world's smallest violin] Gee, too bad folks.

We need more greenspace. We fewer mega business centers. We need *lots* more affordable housing.

We also need to do something about buildings and houses sitting empty.

Been reading a lot of Tales from Tech Support, as well as other videos about Reddit posts.

I've noticed a ubiquitous problem that I first noted in second or third grade. People can't read something out loud.

Oh, they can "read" it. But what they say is *not* what the text says. They change words. Usually to some other word that they *think* is the same thing, but isn't. Other times it's a *completely* different word that only shares a few characters.

Some people go as far as "hearing* things this way. That it's, they are told X, and "hear" Y.

An example from one of the tech support stories was the tech telling the guy he needed to clean out his mailbox and the guy hearing it as "wash the computer". "Clean" and "wash" do *not* mean the same thing!!

More commonly this sort of thing comes up when the tech asks the person what the error message on the computer is. What they tell you is paraphrased, usually *badly*.

Now, I don't expect end users to know all the "technical terms" (though they really should know the difference between a monitor and a computer for just one example). Details *matter* with many, MANY things in modern life.

But people *really* need to be able to read back the *exact* wording on an error message. And to read the *actual* instructions on the screen or on a page *without* rewording them.

Yet even back in grade school I noticed folks misreading stuff when asked to read a passage from a book aloud. And the teachers rarely said anything about it.

Yeah, being able to get across the gist of something in your own words usually (but not always!) indicates that you understood what you read.

But we *really* need to start teaching people that young that details matter. When asked to *read* something aloud, you need to read what's written. Not give your interpretation odf the text. If you are asked what it *means* that's a different situation.

The concept that *details matter* needs to be taught. As well as the concept that there are times when you should *not* paraphrase things. Especially when some asks you to read back something that they can't see but you can.

Maybe also spend more time on the concept that different words really do mean *different* things. They don't exist just to be fancy or something. Synonyms *do not* mean the same thing. They have *similar* weirds, but they aren't the same.

Crimson and burgundy are *not* the same color even if both can be called "red".

these skills would prevent *(so* many problems and misunderstandings...

I was thinking about kids playing and the "game" of "keep away" came to mind.

That's where someone snatches something of someone else's and a group of kids "keep it away" from the owner. Can be harmless fun.

But usually it *isn't*. Because they'l grab it from some kid who isn't big enough to make them give it back nor fast enough to catch one of them before they toss it to someone else.

and the insight I had was that someone should stop the kids and point out that *they* may be having fun but the kid the item belongs to *isn't*. If he had a reasonable chance, then it *might* still be considered play. but as he doesn't it's turned into bullying.

After more thought, I realized this principle is *far* more widely applicable and applies to much of what is wrong with the world.

"You" (generic) may be having fun but the people you are "playing" with aren't. And that's usually because they don't have a reasonable chance against you.

This applies to various forms of harassment, power games and so on.

If we could just teach *kids* that it's *wrong* to be having "fun" at the expense of others who no longer find it remotely "fun" (if they ever did) just think what things might be like if they carried the new attitude over to when they are adults.

BTW, note how the justifications for a lot of bullying by kids amounts to "but they are just having fun". Or the more subtle "it encourages them to be stronger/faster/tougher".

The first is directly addressed by "the other kid(s) *aren't* having fun"

The second is likely best addressed by "it only 'helps' them if there's a *reasonable* chance for them to 'win'. If there isn't, it just rubs their noses in their shortcomings."

Again, consider how this carries over to adult behavior and often gets "justified" by "we went thru it, so should they" bit

The other day my internet went done late at nite. a call to my ISP informed me that it was "scheduled maintenance" and service would be back by [4 or 5 hours later]

So I crawled into bed and read on my Kindle. Which got annoying when I finished one book, but since the net was down I couldn't load the next in the series. But I had others to read (only a few hundred of which at least a dozen are actually *on* the kindle)

In the morning I get up to see that the modem is still trying to reconnect. So I do the prescribed rituial. Doesn't work.

Call the ISP. Automated system wants me to do the ritual again. I tell it *no* rarther forcefully and too many minutes later I get to talk to a human. And still have to repeat the ritual.

Get text asking me which of 2 timeslots I want the tech to show up. Both are that morning!!

I send reply selecting the earlier one.

Note. My cell phone has a sort of "quick reply" mode that apparently gives automated systems gas. I'd sent 1 to choose the first slot. At the end of the slot, I tried replyimng to the text again to choose the second slot. This time I got a reply saying it wasn't available. Would I like (2 slots early the next day)

I reply 1 again to get the first one. Hmm. No response. Being suspicious, I try again but in the "regular" reply mode. This time I get back a confirmation.
( Read more... )

While going through a bunch of quotes I came across two that are among the most damaging ideas in circulation.

The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply. -Denis Waitley

If you want it badly enough, there are no limits on what you can achieve. -Brian Tracy

Both are contrary to reality.

Much that is wrong with our society is based on one other the other. Effort does *not* guarantee results. In fact it is quite common to have a situation where no amount of effort will yield useful results.

For example no amount of effort will get you a job doing X unless you have the skills *and* qualifications to do X.

Yes effort applied to developing those skills or learning about X *may* help. But they are not a guarantee. If you are tone deaf, you aren't going to get a job with an orchestra.

But note that the improvement in your chances requires that the effort be exerted in the proper direction. And that no amount of effort will help if you are lacking something key or if what you want just plain isn't available.

This is why "Try harder" or "You aren't trying" are not actually useful criticisms. Rather they are an abdication of responsibility by someone who doesn't care to help or doesn't actually know how to help. Or who just plain hasn't bothered to examine the situation.

Likewise, just because you want something doesn't mean that it is available. And there are *always* limits. Yours, society', reality's.

So this one encourages people to want things and to believe that just because they want it badly, they somehow deserve it. Which damages society i a different way.

In the end, yes it takes effort to do things. But it has to be the right *kind* of effort. And even then it may not be possible or practical.

And wanting is necessary to obtain things. But it's not sufficient.

In Union county, Oregon, they went from 22 Covid-19 cases last week to 224 this week. this in a rural, low population area.

It appears that the increase is mostly due to *one* church there. Even though the county was in phase 1, which means no large gatherings they had a service with several hundred people in attendance. There was a video of it up on their website (which has since vanished, but people saved copies)

Said video shows nothing remotely resembling social distancing. Doesn't show any masks either.

I'm sure they felt they were exercising their rights. Freedom of religion (which hasn't actually been restricted), freedom of assembly (which *has* been restricted and quite *legally* restricted)

What they actually did was exercise their right to be stupid. And exercise the *non*-right of endangering other people.

Oh yeah, about that freedom of religion bit. It'd only be a restriction on that if church gatherings were restricted aand other types weren't.

Since *all* gathering above a certain size are restricted there is *no* religious component to the restrictions.

the protests that it is infringing their freedom of religion are just another case of people thinking that their religion (almost always Christianity in the US) is somehow "special" and deserves to be exempt from the rules.

Sorry doesn't work that way.

And I trust the jump in cases demonstrates the idiocy of "god will protect us".

We've got free will. And that means god *has* to let us suffer the consequences of making bad choices.

As an asthma sufferer who has had a few (thankfully few) *bad* asthma attacks, let me assure you that while you do have to be breathing to talk, that does *not* mean that you are getting enough oxygen.

Your blood oxygenation level can be really bad long before you become unable to talk. When someone is no longer able to talk, it's likely too late, or at least it's gonna take major efforts to save them.

This needs to get spread far and wide. Not just to police, but to *anyone* who has occasion to restrain people. People die from being pinned to the ground *regularly*. Not just cops doing either. Folks running "camps" to "train" kids out of unwanted behaviors, churches that are doing similar things. Poorly trained "orderlies at "clinics".

Basically, any place where there are people who either can't control themselves or who have god reasons for not wanted to be there.

I was watching the season finale of NCIs: New Orleans and at the end, there was this misogynist white male complaining at the person who'd exposed him as a major league jerk and cost him an important appointment.

He was ranting about all the effort and time he'd put in to get the job.

and that's when it clicked. He was equating effort with success.

and *that* is what's wrong. Not merely with his attitude, but with the way society views so many things.

Yes, effort is necessary for success most of the time (when success comes without much effort, people tend to get upset) but contrary to the beliefs of many, it is *not* a guarantee of success.

Thinking that effort ("hard work") guarantees success is why these same people insist that poor people and unemployed people are lazy or "not trying".

The so-called "Protestant work ethic" and related things (like the "you don't work, you don't eat" adopted in some of the Colonies to *survive*) have turned into the worst sort of victim blaming.

In a word, these folks are *idiots*.

Yeah, it's inconvenient. Yes, it's hurting the economy. But what they fail to understand is that consequences of ending the stay at home orders too soon will be even *worse*.

We *must* have massive testing before we even *think* about opening things back up. Why? Because in places were they've done mass testing, the data shows that as many as 4% of the population has or has had the virus.

The rights to freely assemble, and to run around as you please are *not* absolute. And one of the big reasons for that is a woman known as Typhoid Mary. She singlehandedly caused laws to be passed that make it legal to confine someone to prevent them infecting others.

What the testing data is showing is that we may have *millions* of "typhoid marys" running around if we re-open too soon. Asymptomatic carriers exist, and are a serious threat to everyone.

So it's a case of what's more important? Your right to assemble? Or your neighbor's rights to not *die*?

That's why I called them idiots. Not because they are inherently lacking in intelligence. But because they are not *using* what intelligence they have.

It's far too common to think "oh, we're different, it won't happen *here*" or "it's not as bad as they say". Both are cases of failing to learn from the experience of others. A trait that is encouraged by many forces today. Including the President. :-(

As was said elsewhere in other circumstances "The Constitution is not a suicide pact"

Been catching up on shows from last season I hadn't gotten around to watching. Latest one was The Orville 02x05 - All the World is Birthday Cake

They have an advanced society that believes in astrology. Ok, I can accept that, people can be weird.

But my suspension of disbelief fails when they try to apply it to people born on other planets.

If *I* was the captain, I'd have pointed out that the crew members they grabbed were born on *different* planets. With different constellations. Which means they weren't born under the constellations that the natives were worried about.

Of course, that'd have left the Jilliacs(sp?) still in the camps.

The light sail idea wasn't bad, but to work, it'd have had to be emplaced *way* out from the system.

But where they did, it wouldn't fool *naked eye* observers from the planet, much less their observatories and satellites.

Y'see there's this thing called parallax. They'd be reading different angle from different places.

Placing it far enough out wouldn't have been difficult. But it would have complicated the plot because it'd have taken days to months for the light to reach the planet.

Also the farther out the light sail is the bigger it'd have to be. In any case, it'd be thousands of kilometers across.

*sigh*

Ok, they finally quit letting me grab things about 3 pm on Monday. Got most of the stuff I wanted, I think.

As a precaution I also did that thing where I requested copies of the content from Yahoo.

From what I understand from posts I've seen elsewhere, Yahoo's download offer actually gets *all* the messages and files for the groups. Doesn't get *any* photos.

I'm having to rely on hearsay, because I put in a request, and have links to 7 2 gb files.

Slight problem. I can't *download* them. I can start a download in a browser, but when it errors out, there's no way to resume it. I have to start over.

I tried adding a utility that can resume (Internet download Accelerator) but it doesn't seem to be able to resume either.

Part of the problem is that they are using extra security for the download links. I have 2 factor authentication turned *off*, but to get to the links, I not only have to give my userid and password, but it insists on sending me an email with a 4 letter code to enter.

after a bit the links on the page don't work anymore, and refreshing it has me go thru the whole rigamarole again.

If anybody has actually gotten this to work, please tell me how!

and (of course) yahoo doesn't have anything remotely close on their help links.

Reading an article

conuly linked to:
The future of sex ed has arrived. Is America ready?

Several bits got me thinking about the many problems with people and the concept of religious freedom. the quote below will do.

Meanwhile, many parents say CHYA violates their parental rights. “This law doesn’t respect our beliefs and rights as parents to teach our children how they should behave and live,” one mom, Ofelia Garcia, tells me.

No, law doesn't do a *thing* to that right. What it *does* do, and the state has every right to do is teach their children that their parents beliefs aren't the only ones out there

So what they are *actually* complaining about is that the state won't let them keep their kids ignorant of different beliefs.

IMHSHO, the way freedom of religion *should* be taken is this:

You can have any religious beliefs you care to. You can *not* impose those beliefs on others. Nor may you require them to act in accordance with your beliefs.

And that's where almost the protests of "religious freedom" from Christians and conservatives come from. They want other people to live their lives in accordance with the *protester's* beliefs.

It doesn't help that many of those folks not only think that you have to follow their "moral code", but in fact believe that it's not possible to be against things like murder, rape and theft *without* invoking a moral code set by some higher power.

Sorry folks, it's possible to derive all the necessary laws from first principles. Things like personal autonomy, preventing harm to others, and the idea of personal property.

Local news had an item about how to talk to your kids about vaping & marijuana. One of the questions they asked was "Why don't kids realize the risks?"

And they totally *ignored* the big reason. Kids don't believe warnings about how risky things are because they are fed a steady diet of alarmist or blown out of proportion "risks" of various things.

Since they know for a fact that they are being lied to about *some* things, why should they believe adults about other things?

Now add in the fact (that they *did* mention) that kids have poor judgment because of ongoing brain development until well into their 20s and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Folks, to get kids to trust your warnings, you have to *prove* that you *are* trustworthy. And many adults have shown that they *can't* be trusted to be honest.

then add in all the utter bilge taught in many health classes (especially sex ed) and it's a wonder they believe anything they are told.

These people are not suffering from mental illness.

Rather they have an antisocial (but far too common) worldview that says that they are entitled to take "revenge" on other people because of things that are wong with their lives.

That's horriblle. But it's not actually mental illness.

It's "social" illness. A case of horribly distorted views about morals, ethic and the like.

: sexismisnotover: YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO JACK SHIT FROM WOMEN, YOU SAD, PATHETIC MAN-CHILDREN! THE WORLD...

TLDR: Incel supporter suggesting that the government "assign girlfriends" to single men and not understanding why this might be a problem.

By the same "logic" single gay men should be assigned boyfriends by the government. So ask him how he'd feel if he was assigned as some gay guy's boyfriend.

I'd bet he'd be all "that's crazy, that's wrong, I don't want to be a gay guy's boyfriend"

Maybe, just *maybe* this might get across the idea that having an SO is *not* a right. In fact, you have to *earn* one by being the sort of person they want to be with.

While talking about a number of things with

alatefeline last night a couple of things came up.

One was unconscious assumptions. The other was the old canard "it takes two to make a fight".

While reading this article, the two ideas bashed together in my head.

The problem with "it takes two to fight" is the horribly inaccurate assumption it makes about "male" interactions in childhood. Namely that the choice is "fight"/"don't fight".

In reality, the choice is "get beat up"/"try to protect yourself". so it's actually unconscious gaslighting.

I mentioned "male" above because in my experience, it's always the female authority figures spouting this nonsensical piece of "wisdom". I suspect that is because of the differences in "male" and "female" socialization. Boys are expected to have fights. girls are "trained" to attack in less physical ways.

Though come to think of it, "it takes to to have a fight" *should* be equally applicable (and wrong) to the social sniping among girls, which can get *really* nasty by high school.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me" is another horrible example of gaslighting kids and is another bit of "wisdom" that should be stomped on *hard*.

Name calling can do *more* damage than physical assault, Bruises, even broken bones heal a lot faster than the emotional damage those "harmless" words can inflict.

I know I'm far from the only person to have PTSD from *emotional* abuse.

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Entries tagged with rant

Utility woes

Now we're acting like the Taliban...

lousy interfaces

Developments and developers

needed skills

useful insight

Technology is out to get me

Pernicious lies

Freedom to be stupid

Talking and breathing

I think I just figured out what's wrong

anti social distancing protests.

stupidity in writers

Yahoo hell

What religious freedom isn't

Why kids don't listen

It's not mental illness

Incel asshats

Ableds are weird

Insight