fratermus, 6 months ago

I worked an ISP in the nineties and a coworker registered atdot.com, ran a home server for it with sendmail, and assigned himself the dotat username. He would tell people over the phone that his email was “dot at at at dot dot com”. This was when you had to contact InterNIC directly to register a domain.

Could be the same guy for all I know.

Digression: I registered mouse.net in ~1996 back when TLD categories were being enforced. But the NIC bungled the renewal and by the time I proved it to them it had been snagged by a Korean company. NIC threw their hands up because no one there spoke Korean. I think Altavista’s Babelfish existed then but I don’t remember if it supported Korean.

fratermus, 7 months ago

capybara

fratermus, 7 months ago

scrooged

fratermus, 7 months ago

I’ve got a kindle keyboard 3 and want to know if there’s anything better out now

Better in what way?

KK3 + calibre is hard to beat. I own a paperwhite and some kind of nook (thrift store pickup for $10) and prefer the K3 experience the most. I typically end up using the paperwhite more because I am often in low-light conditions.

When these die my perfect ereader would be

• eInk
• android-based so I could run my preferred reader (FB Reader)
• google play supported so I could choose my own browser

fratermus, 7 months ago

It’s more likely that a Google data center exists in 100 years than your house.

Yes, but it’s more likely that Google will have killed a particular service like Drive. Cf. Google Reader, Hangouts, Data Saver extension, Buzz, etc.

google graveyard

fratermus, 7 months ago

Do you prefer digital or physical books?

Digital. I live in 76ft^2^ and can no longer store thousands of physical books like I did in a “sticks and bricks” house. But there are ~13,000 easily stored between the e-ink kindle and waiting in the wings in calibre.

Reading is a big part of my retirement plan.

fratermus, 7 months ago

I emerged from a blackout drunk sitting in a classroom; it was the last hour of the GRE (graduate record exam). I was reeking of alcohol and I remember feeling sorry for the poor bastards seated next to me. I finished and walked directly across the hallway to the bathroom and vomited a while.

I’d gone to a bar the night before for one dollar draft beer; I had $2, so 1 beer + tip. I don’t know exactly what happened but later heard people thought it would be funny to buy me drinks before the exam and I was too young/dumb not to accept.

The most bizarre part of the story is I scored a dead-average score on the exam.

fratermus, 7 months ago

The Bridge (Sweden/Denmark, not the America/Mexico remake).

I bailed on the America/Mexico one, but tne the UK/France version is worth watching for Clemence Poesy’s performance.

fratermus, 7 months ago

• Slow Horses (UK/US) Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas? Yes, please!
• Broadchurch (UK)
• Glitch (AUS, first season only)
• Chef! (UK, first two seasons only)

Forgetting many others but just having first cup of coffee

fratermus, 7 months ago

Murderbot, but I don’t think it could make the transition to film.

fratermus, 8 months ago

Am I just old or is 4GB actually loads or RAM?

First stick I bought was 1MB of SIPP, used, for $50.

“When I was a boy we had to load HIMEM and EMM386 uphill in the snow”

fratermus, 8 months ago

H Jon Benjamin is a national treasure

PSA: Coach McGuirk in [Home Movies(www.imdb.com/title/tt0197159/) is peak H Jon Benjamin

fratermus, 8 months ago

anything with the word but in it

fratermus, 8 months ago

anything related to dinosaurs or Egypt

fratermus, 8 months ago

Wiki link goes elsewhere. But when I read the summary above it sounded a lot like Hotel Coolgardie. So I looked up the RH wiki article; yup, inspired by that doc.

fratermus, 8 months ago

in the bedroom I’ve gotten two thumbs up multiple times.

gotten them up where?

fratermus, 8 months ago

Grocery discounters exist. They sell expired, distressed (torn labels, box tears, dents), test-marketed foods that failed, overage, etc.

Or see the Manager’s Special section in your favorite supermarket.

I guess I was thinking more prepared/restaurant food.

Check your supermarket deli for discounted foods at the end of their “best by” time.

fratermus, 8 months ago

In the late 90s I taught an intro course for folks who wanted to run *nix boxen (Solaris, IIRC). On the afternoon of the last day I had them swap places after lunch and gain root access to each others’ machines. It was partly for root passwd recovery and other maintenance tasks, but also to demonstrate that physical access to the box was a serious issue.

fratermus, 8 months ago

What age were you when you started vaping?

Around 50.

<span style="color:#323232;">Why did you start?
</span>

A friend was vaping to stop smoking and was complaning about flavors and cost of the juice. I wanted to DIY for him and ended up enjoying the overall experience.

Note: descreasig nic mg for him, 0mg for me.

<span style="color:#323232;">Do you regret having ever started? If so, why do you regret it?
</span>

No.

Have you noticed any long-term negative health effects from vaping?

No.

<span style="color:#323232;">Do you feel that the socialogical and/or legal issues around vaping are more or less of a concern than health effects? 
</span>

Big Tobacco and neo-puritains have teamed up to flood the zone with FUD. A classic “baptist and bootlegger” scenario.

<span style="color:#323232;">Do you feel that the financial cost of vaping is more or less of a concern than the health effects?
</span>

DIYing one’s one coils and juice can make the cost quite minimal, and increase control over what you put into your body.

fratermus, 8 months ago

What would you say you most enjoy about vaping?

• It kept me from stress-eating.
• I liked the recipe experimentation
• I have always liked watching how smoke plumes move in the air
• I enjoyed the math and the physical action of making coils

How much e-liquid do you get through in, say, a month?

I don’t remember, it’s been a few years. Maybe a hundred ml?

Have you ever been tempted to try e-liquid containing nicotine?

I had bulk nic for making juice for others. I do not enjoy nicotine and would not take it for recreational purposes. There is some evidence that there are neuroprotective aspects, so had I continued I might have added 0.5mg/ml or something for that purpose.

I stopped because I travel fulltime now and the constant altitude changes caused constant leaking and mess.

fratermus, 8 months ago

I’ve had dogs all my life and have chosen zero of them for their intelligence. My best-ever dog (greyhound) was a beautiful dullard by dog-intelligence standards. My current companion is a box-'o-rocks pibble whose unbounded goofiness and joy makes passers-by smile.

But I once adopted a young doberman from a shelter who kept me on my toes. So did so many crazy-smart things that it’s hard to think of one. She’d unwind her lead off of obstacles, learn things I didn’t necessarily want her to learn, etc. She was a real challenge, like having a toddler around.

fratermus, 8 months ago

what small physical gift would you give your past self?

Sumatriptan

fratermus, 8 months ago

Tell us your definitive “I really should not do this” moment.

Standing on the JP’s doorstep about to get married. I though “this is a terrible mistake” and did it anyhow.

fratermus, 8 months ago

JP?

Justice of the Peace

fratermus, 8 months ago

What kind of people frequent on forums?

people interested in the forum topic

fratermus, 9 months ago

“physics”

fratermus, 9 months ago

Install quickly and without license hoopjumping.

fratermus, 9 months ago

I was riding at night on an unlit rural road when I came right up to a black cow standing sideways across the road. I would have hit it except I was rolling very slowly through the area looking for my bookbag that had come out of the seat bungie.

The bookbag was also black but I found it a few minutes later because a buckle reflected from the headlight.

fratermus, 9 months ago

What’s the closest you have ever been to actually dying?

There are a few stories. Since we are in public I’ll pick one that won’t freak out onlookers.

tldr

I was drawn down on by two soldiers from my own unit because I was unexpectedly left alone in a place where single actors were not allowed. Cold War stuff.

full version

I was working with a [redacted] which had a 2m “dead man zone” around it in this context, demarcated by a paint stripe. SOP was for the guards^1^ to shoot anyone who entered the zone solo; the assumption being someone would only do that for sabotage.

When maintenance or other operations were required, we would

• team up with another person of equal knowledge of the operation
• coordinate to enter the zone simultaneously
• perform the operation. maintaining line of sight with them and their hands
• coordinate to exit simultaneously

I got assigned to do some maint with a squadmate who was both highly intelligent and also a fscking idiot. We entered together, started the task, and then he unexpectedly walked out.^2^ I snapped my head around and saw him passing over the line. The idiot had left me alone in the Dead Man Zone and things were turning to shit. The guards chambered rounds and were yelling at me to get away from the [redacted].

I’d already put my arms up and had started backpedaling out. I don’t remember the immediate aftermath clearly because my stressmeter was pegged at aneurysm / this isn’t happening. Through some miracle I did not download into my drawers.

I never saw him working in the Zone again so I suppose he was blacklisted from that duty. And no one else ever got left alone in there AFAIK.

---

^1^ our unit were also providing the guard rotation; no one else had the clearance required to be that close to the [redacted]. So the guards in this story were my buddies and were abso-fscking-lutely willing to shoot. We all were; it was part of the job. We did have infantry support on the outer perimeter but they were so far outside the razorwire fences we never saw them working. Perhaps it was just as well; they told us they hated us every chance they got. They thought we were [insert homophobic slur here] and [insert MOS-specific slur here] because we rarely carried rifles and did not engage in recreational fistfighting. But we were grateful for their protection, however begrudgingly provided.

^2^ IIRC he walked out to get a torque wrench or similar

fratermus, 8 months ago

which country

West (at that time) Germany

fratermus, 9 months ago

As Eisenhower said,

beware the engagement-wedding-genderreveal-kids-mortgage-divorce-childsupport-legal-industrial complex.

I may be mis-remembering exactly what he said. but I think that was the gist.

fratermus, 9 months ago

Have you ever created your own job perks?

No, but I had a small company and asked the worker bees to define their own perks.

There were four employees. Three of them played paintball together and wanted paintballs. So I brought a case of their favorite balls into the office before their outings. The fourth guy wanted to have baby carrots to snack on. He ate ~3 lbs a week. Dude would code for hours as long as he was crunching carrots.

I couldn’t have guessed what any of them wanted but they were absolutely cranked by getting it. This was a huge lesson for me: ask people what they want.

fratermus, 9 months ago

john the ripper?

fratermus, 9 months ago

It’s… inconceivable no one has said Princess Bride yet.

fratermus, 9 months ago

I use BT only.

fratermus, 9 months ago

I once decommissioned a hard drive with shotgun slugs. Yes, this was in Texas.

fratermus, 9 months ago

Do you think bad weather is a good reason for moving?

I’m probably not your target demographic (I live in a campervan) but I move regularly to follow mild weather.

fratermus, 9 months ago

Why do people not follow the directives of the police in US?

Did you see the videos where several cops are screaming contradictory commands? Or impossible/unlawful commands?

fratermus, 9 months ago

Why would you ever want to peel them?

I used to eat the skins until my kidney stone went to the lab. No more skins or spinach for me. :-( Kidney stone pain is an amazingly-effective incentive for dietary change.

fratermus, 9 months ago

Not necessarily, it’s specific to one’s body chemistry.

fratermus, 9 months ago

Braniff

fratermus, 9 months ago

I logged into my Usenet provider yesterday. I read groups related to my hobbies, so not sure my recommendations would do you much good.

fratermus, 9 months ago

Busiest one I read is probably uk.media.radio.archers about the BBC radio show

One of the posts on there today was about this article: www.theregister.com/2023/08/30/usenet_revival/

which seems optimistic but a man can hope

fratermus, 9 months ago

what controversial thing would the vettong process uncover about you?

Nice try, FBI!

:-)

fratermus, 9 months ago

I learned to drive on a 1942 John Deere in the early 70s. No on-the-fly shifting but the basics of steering, clutch, and throttle were there.

In 2017 I bought my first automatic; that vehicle was not available in manual or I def would have bought it that way.

fratermus, 9 months ago

He’s on Mastodon, btw

fratermus, 9 months ago

My favorite is bathrooms where you can stand at the urinal and make eye contact with people in the dining room everytime the door opens.

fratermus, 9 months ago

I live in a campervan and so have no temperature control in the traditional sense. Closest thing would be the Maxxfan with thermostatic fan control and it’s set to 68F. As long as external temps are lower than internal temps it does a reasonable job.