September, 2023 archive
Geeking Out 0
One of my computers died of old age (stuff wears out), so I now have a new toy. It’s my third ThinkPenguin, and they fulfilled my order in a most timely fashion.
It is a very nice piece of hardware, thank you very much. As an aside, I am not a fan of touchpads, but it does have one of most functional touchpads I’ve yet encountered.
I ordered it specifying Ubuntu MATE as the installed distro (ThinkPenguin lets you pick your distro, within reason), but, as I’m not really a big fan of the MATE desktop environment (actually, that’s not quite correct–I really like Plasma, but I don’t like Kubuntu, primarily because I loathe their package manager, so I went with Ubuntu MATE because the guys at Going Linux recommend it and I’ve used it before and it works quite nicely), I’ve already installed the Plasma desktop and am in the process of tweaking it to my preferences.
Eventually, natch, I’ll put Fluxbox on it, because Fluxbox is the ultimate combination of light-weight, configurable, and eye-candiability.
Of course, after I’ve installed Fluxbos, I will still be able to use MATE or Plasma. With Linux, you can have multiple GUIs installed and switch among them as you wish, something you can’t do with Windows or iJunk.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Farron discusses some textbook cases of psychological projection. (Warning: Mild language.)
The Crypto Con 2
It seems the crypto “industry” has found a way to diversify. Here’s a bit from the story at Chron.com:
“August was a landmark month for Riot in showcasing the benefits of our unique power strategy,” Jason Les, CEO of Riot, said in a Wednesday release. Les said the company raked in $31.7 million in energy credits from the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the agency that runs the Texas power grid, by cutting its power use by more than 95 percent during periods of peak demand.
Crossing the Jordan 0
Fulton County, Ga., prosecutor Fani Willis is fed up with Jim Jordan’s interference and has told him to keep his nose out of Georgia’s business.
The Hill reports on her letter to him. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the full story.
“Your attempt to invoke congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is flagrantly at odds with the Constitution,” Willis wrote in a letter first reported by the Atlanta Journal–Constitution and also obtained by The Hill.
At Above the Law, Liz Dye comments.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Field wonders why so may Trumpettes are willing to life in a fantasy world, believing that Donald Trump won the election and the Deep State is plotting against him, then decides, well, the answer is simple, really.
Flotsam 0
It turns out that there was something in the water.
An Accidental Truth 0
When news coverage went from being a loss-leader and a service to being a profit center, when news went from information to “infotainment,” well, that’s when this discourse became dis coarse.
The Climates They Are a-Changing . . . 0
. . . and the outlook is getting darker.
Scientists at PLOS say their numbers are dwindling due to climate change and the use of pesticides.
When I was a young ‘un growing up on the farm about forty miles north of where I type this, we saw fireflies flashing throughout the summer evenings.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a firefly.
The Crypto Con 0
Bruce Schneier expresses a tad of skepticism.
Sound Familiar? 0
Does this remind you of anyone in the news?
Obsession Oddity 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Claudia Skowron tries to make sense of the pumpkin spice phenomena. A snippet:
