REALLY?? If it has NO references, how does it know WHAT *EXACT*Xtal oscillator
voltage and frequency to produce??
WHAT?? A Crystal oscillator?? For 50/60HZ??
That would require one hell of a Frequency Divider Circuit!!
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-)
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:28:57 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-)
I took a look: 5-10% more efficient, quieter. So better, but not "must
have". Well to me, anyhow.
On 11/09/2025 18:32, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:49:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Isn't CDC something that Trump has identified as retrograde woke and
On 10/09/2025 20:39, rbowman wrote:
On Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:26:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Which reminds me. I have to book my annual flu jab...
The one that is 50% effective on really good years?
What does 50% effective mean? that I don't get an infection serious
enough to kill me.
I'll take that
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html
"In general, flu vaccines work best among healthy younger adults and
older children."
needing to be shut down?
Are you a healthy younger adult?Not outside the USA.
The way efficacy statistics are compiled is interesting. First, it is a
self-selected population, those who present at a health care provider
and are determined to have an influenza strain. At that point I'm not
sure exactly what 30% efficacy means.
Anyway, your body, your choice.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
On 11/09/2025 13:52, Graham J wrote:
Daniel70 wrote:Watches and real time clocks are generally fed from 32.7680kHz crystals 50c a time
[snip]
Xtal oscillator
WHAT?? A Crystal oscillator?? For 50/60HZ??
That would require one hell of a Frequency Divider Circuit!!
Easily obtainable in one chip.
Far more accurate than any other solution, and very likely cheaper.
Of course there is no immediate requirement for an off grid domestic generator to either be exactly 50/60 Hz or indeed a sine wave.
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 18:40:43 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 11/09/2025 18:32, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:49:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Isn't CDC something that Trump has identified as retrograde woke and
On 10/09/2025 20:39, rbowman wrote:
On Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:26:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Which reminds me. I have to book my annual flu jab...
The one that is 50% effective on really good years?
What does 50% effective mean? that I don't get an infection serious
enough to kill me.
I'll take that
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html
"In general, flu vaccines work best among healthy younger adults and
older children."
needing to be shut down?
It has exceeded its original mandate and needs to have its wings clipped.
Are you a healthy younger adult?Not outside the USA.
The way efficacy statistics are compiled is interesting. First, it is a
self-selected population, those who present at a health care provider
and are determined to have an influenza strain. At that point I'm not
sure exactly what 30% efficacy means.
So how do they determine the efficacy outside of the US? As I read it the meaning is 70% of the people presenting with a verified influenza
infection had received the shot. What percentage of the total population
does that represent?
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/influenza-vaccines/last-years-flu-vaccine-41- effective-preventing-medically-attended-influenza-data
They are a bit vague but the money shot is
"Notably, VE against illnesses caused by H1N1 varied significantly by age. Among children 8 months to 8 years, VE was 58%, but the vaccine offered no protection for adults ages 50 to 64 years."
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5853256/
Then there is a bit of a paradox:
"In one year of the study, it appeared that multiply vaccinated subjects
were actually more likely to develop influenza than unvaccinated subjects (that is, VE was statistically significantly less than zero)."
https://www.science.org/content/article/why-flu-vaccines-so-often-fail
A less technical account.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-flu-shot-vaccine-skowronski- h1n1-1.3669427
"Experts used to believe the annual flu shot protection was much higher, around 70 to 90 per cent. But not anymore. Those early estimates were
based on industry-funded clinical trials that were extrapolated to apply across all ages and flu seasons."
I am shocked! Shocked! Industry funded test showed the stuff the industry
was pushing is a Great Thing.
Follow The Science, not The Propaganda. At least in the US the colorful banners are being rolled out 'Get Your Free Flu Shot'. There is no such fucking thing as a 'free' flu shot. Pfizer and the rest of the pharma vultures are not charity organizations.
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and
Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll really
miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some miracle drug to cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect, since all ads must have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a sickly lot.
Anyway, your body, your choice.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
As a matter of fact, yes. Actually, like Margaret Sanger in her prime, I would encourage it if you were a pregnant POC and throw in a tubal
ligation absolutely free.
On 2025-09-11 13:09, c186282 wrote:
On 9/11/25 4:45 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-11 03:12, c186282 wrote:
On 9/10/25 8:10 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-10 23:11, c186282 wrote:
On 9/10/25 3:55 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-10 21:35, c186282 wrote:
On 9/10/25 9:49 AM, Daniel70 wrote:
REALLY?? If it has NO references, how does it know WHAT *EXACT* >>>>>>>>> voltage and frequency to produce??
  It's going to be either 50hz or 60hz ... any
  generating system bought in your area should
  default to the local frequency. A few may have
  selector switches. Get it right. You can run
  a lot of 60hz stuff from 50hz but it's not wise
  to run 50hz stuff from 60hz - esp if motors
  and transformers are involved.
A lot of electronics nowdays will work, they are designed for
travelling. Computers, USB chargers, etc. Read their
documentation before travel.
  Don't try to run a 50hz air conditioner or fridge
  on 60hz though. The motor windings may overheat.
I won't. They don't fit in the cabin luggage allowance.
Although mine are inverter type, they might work.
  Explain what you mean by "inverter" here ... do
  you feed the things DC ? Do they change AC to DC
  and then cleverly meter that out ?
  AC->DC ... there is going to be a rectifier in there
  and those often have a 'C' or 'LC' filter to smooth
  out the DC. 50/60 optimized may use different component
  values.
I don't have schematics, but the assumption is that they do an AC-DC
conversion, and then they convert back to AC at the variable
frequency wanted for the motor, ie, adjusting its speed.
  That's just weird and overly-complex ...
  Straight-up way is to run the fridge compressor from
  the main, then run it for as long as needed as often
  as needed. Variable compressor speed ... not sure of
  any design where that'd be more efficient. The most
  common compressors these days are 'scroll' design,
  looks like a spring within a spring. It relies on
  the viscosity of the refrigerant to work properly.
  Run the thing at half speed and the refrigerant is
  gonna tend to 'slip backwards'. The scroll motion
  and the refrigerant are a "matched system".
I know for a fact that my AC adjusts the rotating speed of the
compressor. It is a Mitshubishi. You just need to stand outside the
house, near the compressor, and notice how the sound from the compressor changes volume and pitch. If I demand several degrees of temperature
change, the motor pitch goes up. When the target temperature is reached,
it goes down, and conversely, the electric power that I measure goes
down, slowly, from about 1200W to maybe 150W.
In the end, in stable conditions, the compressor turns at a constant
speed that keeps the space inside at a constant temperature, the one
that I asked for, exactly compensating the heat losses trough walls and
heat sources like the computer inside.
My AC might have a trifasic motor, or perhaps a brushless DC motor.
The fridge claims to have a linear motor, which I understand is not
rotating, but some kind of piston and an electromagnet moving it
forward and back, at a variable frequency.
  Piston compressors are quite rare these days - they are
  more expensive, more little parts. Even thus you also
  need a proper pressure differential between the high
  and low pressure sides of the refrigerant loop in order
  to get good thermodynamic efficiency. You can't just
  run even a piston compressor at one-tenth speed because
  you won't get that optimal pressure differential.
  Review the owners manual or post a link.
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-)
  Peltier chips CAN be run on pulsed DC - but they are
  seriously low-efficiency power-wise. Require just stupid
  amperage. Tried to build a micro-fridge using those
  one time ...
They do exist, commercially. For cars. Plug into the car cigarette plug.
Can be used to heat the food when you arrive at your picnic site :-D
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0F4Y52V4D/
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0BX9Q2MH6/
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005008678105686.html
  Well-made piston compressors are, or were, "better"
  IMHO - could last 30+ years. Alas the quality went
  down over time and then everybody switched to the
  scroll type. Did find an ancient Norge in a country
  store some years back - piston compressor, radiator
  coil on top. Still worked.
I did not say that they will work with either 50 or 60 Hz, but that
they might. Not going to test it!
On 2025-09-11 13:15, Daniel70 wrote:
On 11/09/2025 7:45 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 10/09/2025 14:49, Daniel70 wrote:
On 10/09/2025 10:18 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-10 14:14, Daniel70 wrote:
<Snip>
Xtal oscillatorWell, when I asked why my Battery didn't supply power when the
Mains failed even though the Battery held some power, it did seem >>>>>> to make sense that the System needed something to reference to
maintain the 50Hz Frequency and also to maintain the 240V RMS
Supply Voltage.
If the T.V., Washing Machine and this Computer didn't need the
Supply Frequency and/or Supply Voltage to be ROCK SOLID, then yes, >>>>>> things could work.
No. An inverter doesn't need any reference to generate mains
voltage at the exact voltage and frequency.
REALLY?? If it has NO references, how does it know WHAT *EXACT*
voltage and frequency to produce??
WHAT?? A Crystal oscillator?? For 50/60HZ??
That would require one hell of a Frequency Divider Circuit!!
Every electronic watch or clock does it. Divide a Xtal working at some kilohertz down to 1 second pulses. Xtals at that frequency are dirt cheap.
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:49:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 10/09/2025 20:39, rbowman wrote:
On Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:26:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Which reminds me. I have to book my annual flu jab...
The one that is 50% effective on really good years?
What does 50% effective mean? that I don't get an infection serious
enough to kill me.
I'll take that
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html
"In general, flu vaccines work best among healthy younger adults and older children."
Are you a healthy younger adult?
The way efficacy statistics are compiled is interesting. First, it is a self-selected population, those who present at a health care provider and
are determined to have an influenza strain. At that point I'm not sure exactly what 30% efficacy means.
Anyway, your body, your choice.
On 11/09/2025 18:32, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:49:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Isn't CDC something that Trump has identified as retrograde woke and
On 10/09/2025 20:39, rbowman wrote:
On Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:26:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Which reminds me. I have to book my annual flu jab...
The one that is 50% effective on really good years?
What does 50% effective mean? that I don't get an infection serious
enough to kill me.
I'll take that
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines/keyfacts.html
"In general, flu vaccines work best among healthy younger adults and
older
children."
needing to be shut down?
Are you a healthy younger adult?Not outside the USA.
The way efficacy statistics are compiled is interesting. First, it is a
self-selected population, those who present at a health care provider and
are determined to have an influenza strain. At that point I'm not sure
exactly what 30% efficacy means.
Anyway, your body, your choice.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
On Wed, 10 Sep 2025 21:55:15 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-10 21:35, c186282 wrote:
On 9/10/25 9:49 AM, Daniel70 wrote:
REALLY?? If it has NO references, how does it know WHAT *EXACT*
voltage and frequency to produce??
 It's going to be either 50hz or 60hz ... any generating system
 bought in your area should default to the local frequency. A few
 may have selector switches. Get it right. You can run a lot of 60hz >>>  stuff from 50hz but it's not wise to run 50hz stuff from 60hz - esp >>>  if motors and transformers are involved.
A lot of electronics nowdays will work, they are designed for
travelling. Computers, USB chargers, etc. Read their documentation
before travel.
Most of the AC adapters I've seen recently are marked "INPUT: 100-240V
50-60 Hz". The 100V is for Japan. One came with plug apapters for
different places (IIRC US,UK,EU,AU).
[snip]
Yes !
Generators or battery systems should on the 'house' side of the main
breaker. ALWAYS turn off the breaker before you start your alt supply
- otherwise you energize the main lines and can badly hurt repair
people - much less trying to run half the town off your little
system.
Yes. Consider that transformers work both ways. Your 120/240 would be converted to high voltage. Your generator would be overloaded, but there's
a good chance that HV could be there long enough to cause a serious
problem.
Automatic systems are not required - but then it's on you to DO IT
RIGHT.
I needed to connect my generator to the house wiring ONCE (to run the
garbage disposal during a long outage). I turned off all the breakers and locked the doors (making sure there was NO chance of anyone else turning
them back on) before connecting the 2 cords needed for this.
[snip]
REALLY?? If it has NO references, how does it know WHAT *EXACT*Xtal oscillator
voltage and frequency to produce??
WHAT?? A Crystal oscillator?? For 50/60HZ??
That would require one hell of a Frequency Divider Circuit!!
Like the one used in wristwatches, where a 32.768KHz crystal is divided
down to get 1Hz.
BTW, 32.786K is exactly 2^15. I don't know what crystal and divider would
be used for 50/60Hz.
Follow The Science, not The Propaganda.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
 Birth-control pills have been available since
 the late 50s - USE THEM !!!
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:28:57 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-)
I took a look: 5-10% more efficient, quieter. So better, but not "must
have". Well to me, anyhow.
On 12/09/2025 04:48, rbowman wrote:
Follow The Science, not The Propaganda.
Yes, you should try that sometime.
On 9/11/25 4:20 PM, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:28:57 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-)
I took a look: 5-10% more efficient, quieter. So better, but not "must have". Well to me, anyhow.
Hey, great credit for not hyping YOUR particular
choice as God's Chosen solution :-)
As explained elsewhere, 'variable compressor speed'--
schemes have other complications. Not sure you are
REALLY getting "better" with your inverter appliances.
This will play out over time.
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 07:23:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 12/09/2025 04:48, rbowman wrote:
Follow The Science, not The Propaganda.
Yes, you should try that sometime.
You've drank so much KoolAid you must piss purple.
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 02:27:27 -0400
c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
On 9/11/25 4:20 PM, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:28:57 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-) >>>>
I took a look: 5-10% more efficient, quieter. So better, but not "must
have". Well to me, anyhow.
Hey, great credit for not hyping YOUR particular
choice as God's Chosen solution :-)
I'm not a god, nor am I a fridge/freezer salesman. I was just interested
in the innovation.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2As explained elsewhere, 'variable compressor speed'
schemes have other complications. Not sure you are
REALLY getting "better" with your inverter appliances.
This will play out over time.
On 9/11/25 1:28 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-11 13:09, c186282 wrote:
On 9/11/25 4:45 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-11 03:12, c186282 wrote:
My AC might have a trifasic motor, or perhaps a brushless DC motor.
The fridge claims to have a linear motor, which I understand is not
rotating, but some kind of piston and an electromagnet moving it
forward and back, at a variable frequency.
  Piston compressors are quite rare these days - they are
  more expensive, more little parts. Even thus you also
  need a proper pressure differential between the high
  and low pressure sides of the refrigerant loop in order
  to get good thermodynamic efficiency. You can't just
  run even a piston compressor at one-tenth speed because
  you won't get that optimal pressure differential.
  Review the owners manual or post a link.
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-)
 I'll never talk to "Chat" ....
 According to the propaganda, the fridge varies the
 compressor speed. This can only work properly by
 adding an extra, variable, expansion valve - which
 is a breakdown point fer-sure. Enough probs with
 "stupid" expansion valves already.
 Read up on how refrigeration works. You have to
 compress the gas down to liquid - and suck off
 the resultant heat - then expand it back to vapor
 to absorb heat. The pressure ratio is important.
 Anything outside a fairly narrow envelope and
 efficiency plunges.
  Peltier chips CAN be run on pulsed DC - but they are
  seriously low-efficiency power-wise. Require just stupid
  amperage. Tried to build a micro-fridge using those
  one time ...
They do exist, commercially. For cars. Plug into the car cigarette
plug. Can be used to heat the food when you arrive at your picnic
site :-D
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0F4Y52V4D/
https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0BX9Q2MH6/
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005008678105686.html
 Yep, seen them. DID get some of the chips and tried
 to make my own. Alas the power transformer (they pref
 about 14 volts DC) was several times heavier than the
 attempted mini-fridge.
 NOT efficient ! Maybe someday.
 For NOW, pumping refrigerant though fat/skinny
 tubes under pressure IS the best option. Suggest
 NOT using propane (burns!) or ammonia (toxic!).
 Freon-12 was ideal ... but Al Gore's people
 ruined that.
 Oh, read recently, a smaller "ozone hole"
 means MORE "global warming" :-)
  Well-made piston compressors are, or were, "better"
  IMHO - could last 30+ years. Alas the quality went
  down over time and then everybody switched to the
  scroll type. Did find an ancient Norge in a country
  store some years back - piston compressor, radiator
  coil on top. Still worked.
I did not say that they will work with either 50 or 60 Hz, but that
they might. Not going to test it!
 The impedance of the motor/transformer windings is
 usually tuned to the expected mains Hz. Run a higher
 freq to a 50hz motor and you'll get both excessive
 heating and lower power xfer. 50 into 60 and you
 won't get much heating BUT still lower power xfer.
 In short, the goal is "electronic harmony". It's "music".
On 11/09/2025 19:42, Mark Lloyd wrote:
[snip]Off grid, 'mains' frequency would only have to be to around 1% accuracy anyway
REALLY?? If it has NO references, how does it know WHAT *EXACT*Xtal oscillator
voltage and frequency to produce??
WHAT?? A Crystal oscillator?? For 50/60HZ??
That would require one hell of a Frequency Divider Circuit!!
Like the one used in wristwatches, where a 32.768KHz crystal is divided
down to get 1Hz.
BTW, 32.786K is exactly 2^15. I don't know what crystal and divider would
be used for 50/60Hz.
64Hz in the US would probably be acceptable
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and
Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll really
miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some miracle drug to cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect, since all ads must have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a sickly lot.
On 2025-09-12 05:48, rbowman wrote:
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and
Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll really
miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some miracle drug to
cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect, since all ads
must
have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a sickly lot.
Wow. There are almost no pharmaceuticals on TV here. Maybe some flu
pills and similar. Things that can be obtained over the counter, I
believe, and those are much fewer than at the other side of the pond.
I only see "adverts" for vaccines at the health centres. And they will
send an SMS to people of the right age group or occupations at risk,
like teachers.
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, you
need a prescription.
On 2025-09-10 14:14, Daniel70 wrote:
On 9/09/2025 7:17 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-07 16:00, Daniel70 wrote:Well, when I asked why my Battery didn't supply power when the Mains
On 6/09/2025 11:41 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-06 14:41, Daniel70 wrote:
On 14/08/2025 11:21 pm, Carlos E. R. wrote:
<Snip>
Yeap, "It is possible and has an extra price."People were trapped in elevators, and could not phone for rescue. >>>>>>> Instead they shouted, and neighbours kindly went even on foot to >>>>>>> the elevator office to ask for help instead.By-the-by, I have Solar Panels and a Solar Battery on this house. >>>>>> If the Mains is available (something for the Battery Circuitry to >>>>>> reference) and the Batteries are charged, the Battery can supply
I'm not demanding anything, just stating a proven fact.
power.
If the Batteries ARE charged but there's no Main reference, the
Batteries do bugger all!! There's $10,000 down the tube!!
Yes, but that's a fault of your firmware and hardware. Very common
failure; many houses in Spain discovered that as well. The system
just needs to disconnect from mains and go solo. It is possible and >>>>> has an extra price.
When my system 'died' I contacted the Suppliers/Installers to find
out what went wrong and they said nothing was wrong, that's how the
system was supposed to work.
HOWEVER, for a mere $1400 (I think) they could sell you a box that
you could connect to the battery that would allow you to draw up to
1kW from the Battery (without any Mains reference) whilst it held
charge .... you know, for use in Life and Death situations.
Only 1 KW? How big are your batteries?
I think you can simply:
  - Disconnect from the mains with a manual switch
  - Keep a bulb connected to outside to find out when electricity
comes back.
  - Connect your batteries to a suitable inverter, and connect the
output to the inner side of the big house switch.
Anyone having a solar independent installation, not connected to the
mains, does that.
Having batteries and not being able to go solo when needed has a
stupid system. Not saying he is stupid, but that he was tricked by
the seller of the system.
failed even though the Battery held some power, it did seem to make
sense that the System needed something to reference to maintain the
50Hz Frequency and also to maintain the 240V RMS Supply Voltage.
If the T.V., Washing Machine and this Computer didn't need the Supply
Frequency and/or Supply Voltage to be ROCK SOLID, then yes, things
could work.
No. An inverter doesn't need any reference to generate mains voltage at
the exact voltage and frequency.
The problem is that you must ensure that you do not feed power to your neighbours.
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 02:27:27 -0400
c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
On 9/11/25 4:20 PM, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 19:28:57 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
Search "LG Linear Inverter fridge", or ask chatgpt to explain them :-) >>>>
I took a look: 5-10% more efficient, quieter. So better, but not "must
have". Well to me, anyhow.
Hey, great credit for not hyping YOUR particular
choice as God's Chosen solution :-)
I'm not a god, nor am I a fridge/freezer salesman. I was just interested
in the innovation.
As explained elsewhere, 'variable compressor speed'
schemes have other complications. Not sure you are
REALLY getting "better" with your inverter appliances.
This will play out over time.
On 9/12/25 3:11 AM, rbowman wrote:
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 07:23:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 12/09/2025 04:48, rbowman wrote:
Follow The Science, not The Propaganda.
Yes, you should try that sometime.
You've drank so much KoolAid you must piss purple.
 Nobody is sure what The Science really IS anymore.
 FAR too much politics now.
Lots of corps invent what they swear is the "better way".
On 10/09/2025 13:18, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-10 14:14, Daniel70 wrote:In general no. In the case of an inverter designed to feed the grid, *absofuckinglutely*
On 9/09/2025 7:17 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-07 16:00, Daniel70 wrote:Well, when I asked why my Battery didn't supply power when the Mains
On 6/09/2025 11:41 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-06 14:41, Daniel70 wrote:
On 14/08/2025 11:21 pm, Carlos E. R. wrote:
<Snip>
Yeap, "It is possible and has an extra price."People were trapped in elevators, and could not phone forBy-the-by, I have Solar Panels and a Solar Battery on this house. >>>>>>> If the Mains is available (something for the Battery Circuitry to >>>>>>> reference) and the Batteries are charged, the Battery can supply >>>>>>> power.
rescue. Instead they shouted, and neighbours kindly went even on >>>>>>>> foot to the elevator office to ask for help instead.
I'm not demanding anything, just stating a proven fact.
If the Batteries ARE charged but there's no Main reference, the >>>>>>> Batteries do bugger all!! There's $10,000 down the tube!!
Yes, but that's a fault of your firmware and hardware. Very common >>>>>> failure; many houses in Spain discovered that as well. The system >>>>>> just needs to disconnect from mains and go solo. It is possible
and has an extra price.
When my system 'died' I contacted the Suppliers/Installers to find
out what went wrong and they said nothing was wrong, that's how the >>>>> system was supposed to work.
HOWEVER, for a mere $1400 (I think) they could sell you a box that
you could connect to the battery that would allow you to draw up to >>>>> 1kW from the Battery (without any Mains reference) whilst it held
charge .... you know, for use in Life and Death situations.
Only 1 KW? How big are your batteries?
I think you can simply:
  - Disconnect from the mains with a manual switch
  - Keep a bulb connected to outside to find out when electricity
comes back.
  - Connect your batteries to a suitable inverter, and connect the >>>> output to the inner side of the big house switch.
Anyone having a solar independent installation, not connected to the
mains, does that.
Having batteries and not being able to go solo when needed has a
stupid system. Not saying he is stupid, but that he was tricked by
the seller of the system.
failed even though the Battery held some power, it did seem to make
sense that the System needed something to reference to maintain the
50Hz Frequency and also to maintain the 240V RMS Supply Voltage.
If the T.V., Washing Machine and this Computer didn't need the Supply
Frequency and/or Supply Voltage to be ROCK SOLID, then yes, things
could work.
No. An inverter doesn't need any reference to generate mains voltage
at the exact voltage and frequency.
Not only voltage and frequency, but also *phase*.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2The problem is that you must ensure that you do not feed power to your
neighbours.
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, you
need a prescription.
On 9/12/25 6:50 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-12 05:48, rbowman wrote:
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and
Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll really >>> miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some miracle
drug to
cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect, since all ads
must
have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a sickly lot.
Wow. There are almost no pharmaceuticals on TV here. Maybe some flu
pills and similar. Things that can be obtained over the counter, I
believe, and those are much fewer than at the other side of the pond.
I only see "adverts" for vaccines at the health centres. And they will
send an SMS to people of the right age group or occupations at risk,
like teachers.
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, you
need a prescription.
 Ummm ... you can buy them by the hundreds-lot here,
 zero questions. Insert cash card and ...
 It seems the British press suddenly started demonizing
 this med - few or no others.
On 12/09/2025 14:15, c186282 wrote:
On 9/12/25 6:50 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-12 05:48, rbowman wrote:
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and >>>> Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll
really
miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some miracle
drug to
cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect, since all
ads must
have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a sickly lot.
Wow. There are almost no pharmaceuticals on TV here. Maybe some flu
pills and similar. Things that can be obtained over the counter, I
believe, and those are much fewer than at the other side of the pond.
I only see "adverts" for vaccines at the health centres. And they
will send an SMS to people of the right age group or occupations at
risk, like teachers.
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, you
need a prescription.
  Ummm ... you can buy them by the hundreds-lot here,
  zero questions. Insert cash card and ...
  It seems the British press suddenly started demonizing
  this med - few or no others.
It's EU land in toto.
The thinking goes that since the doctors are free they should be
dictating what pills you swallow. No self medication...
On 2025-09-12 05:48, rbowman wrote:
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and
Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll
really miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some
miracle drug to cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect,
since all ads must have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a
sickly lot.
Wow. There are almost no pharmaceuticals on TV here. Maybe some flu
pills and similar. Things that can be obtained over the counter, I
believe, and those are much fewer than at the other side of the pond.
I have some little gens ... MUST turn off the main breaker until the
main is restored. Have a cheapo AC welder socket in an out-building -
perfect for connection. 50 amps AC. Little gens, 25 amps max.
It's on ME to do it right.
But then I know electrics much better than the average idiot ....
The average idiot ... wow ... DANGEROUS !
A gasoline motor will not be very precise, it is mechanical. When the
load is switched on/off the motor is bound to change speed a bit till
the carburettor controller compensates.
DO peruse McMaster/Grainger/Newark for line-freq meters. Great for
tuning-in cheapo gens. The older analog meters can actually be better
- reject ugly harmonics inherently, more effectively.
On 12/09/2025 11:50, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, you
need a prescription.
Dittro UK, and you can only buy about 30 of those.
I had my age checked by the attendant checking out at the supermarket. I asked why, as I hadn't bought any pills or alcohol. " You bought
matches" she said. Sheesh.
Can you still by over the counter antibiotics in Spain?
On 10/09/2025 13:18, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-10 14:14, Daniel70 wrote:In general no. In the case of an inverter designed to feed the grid, *absofuckinglutely*
On 9/09/2025 7:17 am, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-07 16:00, Daniel70 wrote:Well, when I asked why my Battery didn't supply power when the Mains
On 6/09/2025 11:41 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-06 14:41, Daniel70 wrote:
On 14/08/2025 11:21 pm, Carlos E. R. wrote:
<Snip>
Yeap, "It is possible and has an extra price."People were trapped in elevators, and could not phone forBy-the-by, I have Solar Panels and a Solar Battery on this house. >>>>>>> If the Mains is available (something for the Battery Circuitry to >>>>>>> reference) and the Batteries are charged, the Battery can supply >>>>>>> power.
rescue. Instead they shouted, and neighbours kindly went even on >>>>>>>> foot to the elevator office to ask for help instead.
I'm not demanding anything, just stating a proven fact.
If the Batteries ARE charged but there's no Main reference, the >>>>>>> Batteries do bugger all!! There's $10,000 down the tube!!
Yes, but that's a fault of your firmware and hardware. Very common >>>>>> failure; many houses in Spain discovered that as well. The system >>>>>> just needs to disconnect from mains and go solo. It is possible
and has an extra price.
When my system 'died' I contacted the Suppliers/Installers to find
out what went wrong and they said nothing was wrong, that's how the >>>>> system was supposed to work.
HOWEVER, for a mere $1400 (I think) they could sell you a box that
you could connect to the battery that would allow you to draw up to >>>>> 1kW from the Battery (without any Mains reference) whilst it held
charge .... you know, for use in Life and Death situations.
Only 1 KW? How big are your batteries?
I think you can simply:
  - Disconnect from the mains with a manual switch
  - Keep a bulb connected to outside to find out when electricity
comes back.
  - Connect your batteries to a suitable inverter, and connect the >>>> output to the inner side of the big house switch.
Anyone having a solar independent installation, not connected to the
mains, does that.
Having batteries and not being able to go solo when needed has a
stupid system. Not saying he is stupid, but that he was tricked by
the seller of the system.
failed even though the Battery held some power, it did seem to make
sense that the System needed something to reference to maintain the
50Hz Frequency and also to maintain the 240V RMS Supply Voltage.
If the T.V., Washing Machine and this Computer didn't need the Supply
Frequency and/or Supply Voltage to be ROCK SOLID, then yes, things
could work.
No. An inverter doesn't need any reference to generate mains voltage
at the exact voltage and frequency.
Not only voltage and frequency, but also *phase*.
The problem is that you must ensure that you do not feed power to your
neighbours.
On 2025-09-12 16:43, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 12/09/2025 11:50, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, youDittro UK, and you can only buy about 30 of those.
need a prescription.
I had my age checked by the attendant checking out at the supermarket.
I asked why, as I hadn't bought any pills or alcohol. " You bought
matches" she said. Sheesh.
Can you still by over the counter antibiotics in Spain?
No such thing here. Soon you will be imprisoned for such a crime.
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 02:20:25 -0400, c186282 wrote:
[snip]
I have some little gens ... MUST turn off the main breaker until the
main is restored. Have a cheapo AC welder socket in an out-building
-
perfect for connection. 50 amps AC. Little gens, 25 amps max.
It's on ME to do it right.
But then I know electrics much better than the average idiot ....
The average idiot ... wow ... DANGEROUS !
Then make sure you don't have any average idiots around, who think
they're helping by turning the main breaker back on.
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 12:50:08 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-12 05:48, rbowman wrote:
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and
Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll
really miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some
miracle drug to cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect,
since all ads must have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a
sickly lot.
Wow. There are almost no pharmaceuticals on TV here. Maybe some flu
pills and similar. Things that can be obtained over the counter, I
believe, and those are much fewer than at the other side of the pond.
Only two countries allow direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs, USA and New Zealand. The ads are on Tv (including streaming) shows, magazines, and even posters in buses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6MlXc-Bao4
Geritol was the punchline of a lot of jokes particularly since it placed
ass on shows like Lawrence Welk that catered to an older crowd. However it was an over the counter vitamin supplement. Since it was 12% alcohol it
might even make people feel better but probably wouldn't kill them.
I haven't seen a Geritol ad in years, Tums for Your Tummy anti-acid
tablets or other OTC products. These ads are for prescription drugs,
target highly specific conditions/diseases, and suggest you ask your
doctor to prescribe them.
https://www.ispot.tv/ad/Ag5R/viberzi-the-big-meeting
The list of side effects for some of the other stuff is longer, up to and including death.
On Fri, 12 Sep 2025 02:20:25 -0400, c186282 wrote:
[snip]
I have some little gens ... MUST turn off the main breaker until the
main is restored. Have a cheapo AC welder socket in an out-building -
perfect for connection. 50 amps AC. Little gens, 25 amps max.
It's on ME to do it right.
But then I know electrics much better than the average idiot ....
The average idiot ... wow ... DANGEROUS !
Then make sure you don't have any average idiots around, who think they're helping by turning the main breaker back on.
Before that it was 'Paragoric', 'laudinum', tincture of opium. Some
would drink a few bottles of that every day
Well, they were cheerful ...
The flip, side-effect HYPE. I must have a certain antibiotic after
dental work Or Else. The do-gooders made it "black label" because
0.001 percent of people have an odd bad reaction to it. Got lucky, my
dentist is still not intimidated, have a 25 year history - but that's
TODAY. Tomorrow might have to go to Mexico/Cuba/DR to get dental -
yikes
Of course it sounds like you can hardly even FIND
 a doc in the UK these days.
On 12/09/2025 11:26, c186282 wrote:
Lots of corps invent what they swear is the "better way".
Nah. They just copy what someone else in an unrelated industry is doing,
and *claim* its a better way.
In reality its just a tick on a marketing box. "Has unobtanium magnets"
 Yep, seen them. DID get some of the chips and tried
 to make my own. Alas the power transformer (they pref
 about 14 volts DC) was several times heavier than the
 attempted mini-fridge.
 NOT efficient ! Maybe someday.
 For NOW, pumping refrigerant though fat/skinny
 tubes under pressure IS the best option. Suggest
 NOT using propane (burns!) or ammonia (toxic!).
 Freon-12 was ideal ... but Al Gore's people
 ruined that.
 Oh, read recently, a smaller "ozone hole"
 means MORE "global warming" :-)
On 13/09/2025 12:39 am, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 12/09/2025 11:26, c186282 wrote:
Lots of corps invent what they swear is the "better way".
Nah. They just copy what someone else in an unrelated industry is doing,
and *claim* its a better way.
In reality its just a tick on a marketing box. "Has unobtanium magnets"
WHAT?? Something has "Unobtanium Magnets" now??
Gotta get me some of them thingoos!! ;-P
On 12/09/2025 3:18 pm, c186282 wrote:
<Snip>
  Yep, seen them. DID get some of the chips and tried
  to make my own. Alas the power transformer (they pref
  about 14 volts DC) was several times heavier than the
  attempted mini-fridge.
  NOT efficient ! Maybe someday.
  For NOW, pumping refrigerant though fat/skinny
  tubes under pressure IS the best option. Suggest
  NOT using propane (burns!) or ammonia (toxic!).
  Freon-12 was ideal ... but Al Gore's people
  ruined that.
  Oh, read recently, a smaller "ozone hole"
  means MORE "global warming" :-)
Say WHAT?? The bigger the Ozone hole, the better, cause it lets the
global warming heat out!!
Now there's an idea!! ;-P
On 9/12/25 10:44 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 12/09/2025 14:15, c186282 wrote:
On 9/12/25 6:50 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-12 05:48, rbowman wrote:
It's isn't dramatic enough to have gotten much exposure but RFK jr. and >>>>> Trump are also trying to eliminate pharma advertising on TV. I'll
really
miss those ads telling me to talk to my doctor about some miracle
drug to
cure a condition I've never heard of. As a side effect, since all
ads must
have at least 50% POCs, I've concluded POCs are a sickly lot.
Wow. There are almost no pharmaceuticals on TV here. Maybe some flu
pills and similar. Things that can be obtained over the counter, I
believe, and those are much fewer than at the other side of the pond.
I only see "adverts" for vaccines at the health centres. And they
will send an SMS to people of the right age group or occupations at
risk, like teachers.
Example: over the counter paracetamol is half a gram pills. More, you >>>> need a prescription.
???? Ummm ... you can buy them by the hundreds-lot here,
???? zero questions. Insert cash card and ...
???? It seems the British press suddenly started demonizing
???? this med - few or no others.
It's EU land in toto.
The thinking goes that since the doctors are free they should be
dictating what pills you swallow. No self medication...
Makes the docs "more important" and the pharma--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
more money ....
Of course it sounds like you can hardly even FIND
a doc in the UK these days.
https://www.cvs.com/shop/tylenol-extra-strength-easy-to-swallow-caplets-200-ct-prodid-378050
$22.79
Generic store brand maybe half the price.
Maybe the worst headache in the UK is the nanny state ?
On 28/08/2025 09:15, c186282 wrote:
But let's hope he does spectacular damage to
  the WokieComs BEFORE that clusterfuck 🙂
  Idiot fanatics of any stripe MUST be destroyed
  lest they do FATAL damage. The Good Life lies
  in-between extremes - but that seg doesn't make
  for interesting Media. IT wants flames -vs- flames
This generation is growing up in the disinformation age.
With luck some will learn to actually think for themselves
The problem is the death of God, but not of Folks Believing In Stuff.--
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of
actor. If they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of actor. If
they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Black Lives Matter did not do violence but some actors took advantage
of peaceful protests to do violence. It happens in Oakland and in
San Francisco as well, but in SF the police are more woke to the
possibility so the Black Brigade which is mostly white people in
black clothing does not get away with as much as they do in Oakland.
I do not hold with violent anarchy.
A person I know slightly at a recent demo painted "Free Palestine"
and was arrested for vandalism and jailed for a few days. He is of
Polish extraction 70 YOA and was a teacher for many years. He is
extremely anti-Zionist.
Anti-Fascist people are not even well organized and only interfere
with fascist demonstrations. I have a AF pin on my hat, a wide
brimmed straw that I wear to protect my big white nose from becoming
a big red nose. :^)
The problem is when it comes to complicated dynamic systems - and
climate is absolutely that - no one actually *knows* anything of value
at all.
Of course there is no immediate requirement for an off grid domestic generator to either be exactly 50/60 Hz or indeed a sine wave.
Say WHAT?? The bigger the Ozone hole, the better, cause it lets the
global warming heat out!!
Now there's an idea!! ;-P
On 28/08/2025 7:36 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote:When they discover AI is actuakky lying to them, like a satnav that
On 28/08/2025 09:15, c186282 wrote:
But let's hope he does spectacular damage to
  the WokieComs BEFORE that clusterfuck 🙂
  Idiot fanatics of any stripe MUST be destroyed
  lest they do FATAL damage. The Good Life lies
  in-between extremes - but that seg doesn't make
  for interesting Media. IT wants flames -vs- flames
This generation is growing up in the disinformation age.
With luck some will learn to actually think for themselves
Why would they need to think for themselves .... I mean we've already
got several forms of AI to do our thinking for US!! ;-P
--The problem is the death of God, but not of Folks Believing In Stuff.
On 29/08/2025 4:10 am, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:"peaceful violence"?? Ummm!!
    Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of
actor. If they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:24:06 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
The problem is when it comes to complicated dynamic systems - and
climate is absolutely that - no one actually *knows* anything of value
at all.
Yes, non-linear dynamics can totally ruin predictability, but then
there is always STATISTICAL CERTAINTY.
IOW, I cannot possibly follow every trajectory but I certainly can
determine the aggregate response.
On 29/08/2025 5:12 am, Bobbie Sellers wrote:> On 8/28/25 11:10, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of actor. If
they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Black Lives Matter did not do violence but some actors took advantage
of peaceful protests to do violence. It happens in Oakland and in
San Francisco as well, but in SF the police are more woke to the
possibility so the Black Brigade which is mostly white people in
black clothing does not get away with as much as they do in Oakland.
I do not hold with violent anarchy.
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
As of September 2025, the COVID-19 death rate in the U.S. isControl and
approximately 0.6% of all deaths, with an average of about 350 people
dying each week from the virus. This number reflects a decrease compared
to earlier peaks during the pandemic. Go.com Centers for Disease
PreventionNow the World covid rate is at: <https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19/deaths>
I mean WHY does anybody cover their face .... except to make
identification impossible. (O.K., so, maybe some religions require it OF THEIR WOMEN!!)
A person I know slightly at a recent demo painted "Free Palestine" and
was arrested for vandalism and jailed for a few days. He is of Polish
extraction 70 YOA and was a teacher for many years. He is extremely
anti-Zionist.
Anti-Fascist people are not even well organized and only interfere
with fascist demonstrations. I have a AF pin on my hat, a wide
brimmed straw that I wear to protect my big white nose from becoming
a big red nose. :^)
Rudolf, where you been?? ;-P Is it Christmas time already??
On 29/08/2025 4:10 am, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:"peaceful violence"?? Ummm!!
    Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of
actor. If they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Which tells you precisely nothing about reality
Lets see. I fire 100 bullets from a rooftop and 50% miss 49.999% hit and
one in a million grazes his earlobe...
On 9/12/25 4:42 AM, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
I'm not a god, nor am I a fridge/freezer salesman.
I was just interested in the innovation.
It is interesting. Not sure if it's a real "innovation"
or just a "complication". Lots of corps invent what
they swear is the "better way".
On 9/11/25 1:40 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 11/09/2025 18:32, rbowman wrote:
Anyway, your body, your choice.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
Birth-control pills have been available since
the late 50s - USE THEM !!!
Do NOT count on Mommy/Grandma/Welfare to pay for
your puppies.
On 29/08/2025 4:10 am, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:"peaceful violence"?? Ummm!!
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of
actor. If they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
On 29/08/2025 5:12 am, Bobbie Sellers wrote:> On 8/28/25 11:10,
rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of actor. If
they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Black Lives Matter did not do violence but some actors took advantage
of peaceful protests to do violence. It happens in Oakland and in
San Francisco as well, but in SF the police are more woke to the
possibility so the Black Brigade which is mostly white people in
black clothing does not get away with as much as they do in Oakland.
I do not hold with violent anarchy.
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
I mean WHY does anybody cover their face .... except to make
identification impossible. (O.K., so, maybe some religions require it
OF THEIR WOMEN!!)
On 9/13/25 05:45, Daniel70 wrote:
On 29/08/2025 4:10 am, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:"peaceful violence"?? Ummm!!
    Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of
actor. If they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Just his attempt to save the RRWNC lies.
Racist Right Wing Nut Cases in case you don't get it.
No such thing as peaceful violence but such idiocy is typical of those
who formerly endorsed the Black Codes.
bliss
On 9/13/25 05:55, Daniel70 wrote:
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
First of all Covid-19 is only over for the young folks without immune dysfunction. [...]
On 29/08/2025 5:12 am, Bobbie Sellers wrote:> On 8/28/25 11:10, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of actor. If they
were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Black Lives Matter did not do violence but some actors took advantage
of peaceful protests to do violence. It happens in Oakland and in San
Francisco as well, but in SF the police are more woke to the
possibility so the Black Brigade which is mostly white people in black
clothing does not get away with as much as they do in Oakland. I do not
hold with violent anarchy.
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
I mean WHY does anybody cover their face .... except to make
identification impossible. (O.K., so, maybe some religions require it OF THEIR WOMEN!!)
First of all Covid-19 is only over for the young folks withoutimmune
dysfunction. I ride buses and wear a mask and I am not the only mask
wearer as us old fogies want to live somewhat longer.
Yet more crap that's got nothing to do with linux,
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
I haven't seen it in residential uses but there's a reason why
industrial switch gear often has a place for a padlock. Little red tags
that say 'please don't turn this on' just don't get the job done.
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 9/13/25 05:55, Daniel70 wrote:
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
First of all Covid-19 is only over for the young folks without immune
dysfunction. [...]
Even those ought to consider if they want to fully live their lives or
if they want to risk the possible longer-term complications that seem to sometimes come with COVID-19.
On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:54:11 -0000 (UTC), Jim Jackson wrote:
Yet more crap that's got nothing to do with linux,
Funny how the only time you post anything is to bitch about threads not related to Linux.
Ob Linux: I updated my Lubuntu laptop from 22.04 to 24.04 last week. It worked but required a lot more interaction than when I update the Fedora
box, with many questions that required a 'y' to continue.
On 2025-09-12, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
On 9/11/25 1:40 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 11/09/2025 18:32, rbowman wrote:
Anyway, your body, your choice.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
Birth-control pills have been available since
the late 50s - USE THEM !!!
Do NOT count on Mommy/Grandma/Welfare to pay for
your puppies.
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
On 9/13/25 11:26, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-12, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:    Is that the next Civil or International war?
On 9/11/25 1:40 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 11/09/2025 18:32, rbowman wrote:
Anyway, your body, your choice.
Would you say that if I was a pregnant teenage girl?
   Birth-control pills have been available since
   the late 50s - USE THEM !!!
   Do NOT count on Mommy/Grandma/Welfare to pay for
   your puppies.
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
    Either case drones and more advanced remote controled robots running
 armored weapons carriers hopefully.
    But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not slapped
down for Ukrainian incursion. If he is not humiliated then Xi will murder Chinese on Taiwan as he has done with pro-democracy advocates in Hong
Kong. And war with Taiwan will be stupid because after all they are mostly Chinese on Taiwan and they have strong ties to ancestors interred in China. Eventually the PRC will become more liberal and the Taiwan will decide to reunite.
On 9/13/25 11:26, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
Is that the next Civil or International war?
Either case drones and more advanced remote controled robots running
armored weapons carriers hopefully.
But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not slapped down for Ukrainian incursion.
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more consumers and
cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
The public seems to be catching on to the fact the radical left is the problem, not the solution.
   But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not slapped
down for Ukrainian incursion. If he is not humiliated then Xi will murder Chinese on Taiwan as he has done with pro-democracy advocates in Hong
Kong. And war with Taiwan will be stupid because after all they are mostly Chinese on Taiwan and they have strong ties to ancestors interred in China. Eventually the PRC will become more liberal and the Taiwan will decide to reunite.
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
On 9/13/25 11:26, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
Is that the next Civil or International war?
Either case drones and more advanced remote controled robots running
armored weapons carriers hopefully.
But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not
slapped down for Ukrainian incursion.
And Trump is not slapped down for his increasingly jingoistic tendencies. After all, he wouldn't (try to) rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War if he wasn't planning something. Even if it's just
war on his own citizens.
On 2025-09-13, Daniel70 wrote:
On 29/08/2025 4:10 am, rbowman wrote:
On Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:44:50 -0700, Bobbie Sellers wrote:"peaceful violence"?? Ummm!!
Most of the violence comes from the Lone Wolf type of
actor. If they were woke they would not do violence.
Right. BLM and Antifa do mostly peaceful violence.
Just yet another far-right hype that's creeping into this offtopic.
It's of interest of far-right players to get their base riled up against whatever's left of them, so they'll happily claim this, and then misuse
it by treating anyone left of them as violent by definition, with little regard for reality...
Just the same way they take "woke", build a new meaning for it, then use
it as pejorative and then regard all of the group as problematic because
of *their* broken definition.
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they target other issues
When I saw the way it was going to go I did buy 50 cheap, useless, Chinese masks for $20 from Amazon for convenience. At least I have them if I do
some spray painting. I always hated overspray in my nose hairs.
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
The broad majority of people such as myself wore then because they
were a minor imposition and it wasn't worth making an issue out of.
Yes there are some nutcases who doent believe in vaccination, but they
aren't right wing, they are just uneducated and scared.
On 13/09/2025 14:13, Farley Flud wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:24:06 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Which tells you precisely nothing about reality
The problem is when it comes to complicated dynamic systems - and
climate is absolutely that - no one actually *knows* anything of value
at all.
Yes, non-linear dynamics can totally ruin predictability, but then
there is always STATISTICAL CERTAINTY.
IOW, I cannot possibly follow every trajectory but I certainly can
determine the aggregate response.
Lets see. I fire 100 bullets from a rooftop and 50% miss 49.999% hit and
one in a million grazes his earlobe...
On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 17:21:50 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Which tells you precisely nothing about reality
Lets see. I fire 100 bullets from a rooftop and 50% miss 49.999% hit and
one in a million grazes his earlobe...
Gibberish.
A gun will exhibit a distribution of hits/misses and the overall
tally will reveal a considerable amount about the quality of the
gun and/or the aim of the shooter.
But we are referring to climate and not guns.--
If the average rainfall over a geographical region has been X inches
over the past 1000 years then I can be almost certain that it will be
X inches next year (within the measured standard deviation). I do not
need to extrapolate the cold/warm fronts, cloud cover, moisture content,
etc. from the present moment.
However, if continued annual measurements indicate an upward or downward shift in the rainfall pattern then I can be sure that a climatic change
is immanent.
On 2025-09-11, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
Of course there is no immediate requirement for an off grid
domestic generator to either be exactly 50/60 Hz or indeed a sine
wave.
Indeed, it is better to be a little off - like 1-2 Hz off nominal. My generator runs ~2Hz slow. Allows switching in and out when mains and generator have a zero crossing at the same time.
(Not a problem when first starting the generator during a mains
outage, but really nice not to have a huge transient when going back
to mains.
And nice to run the weekly test with a seamless switch-in also.)--
On 2025-08-25 12:42, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 24/08/2025 22:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
They already make their own 'shahed' style drones capable of doing
extreme unpleasantness to oil refineries.
Trump we now understand is a senile old blowhard who likes nothing
more than flattery which costs is nothing, except cash in his bank
account.
Meanwhile we get on with life without America, which is much simpler.
Trump has no cards left to play.
He may try to force a peace treaty favouring Putin instead of reality.
On 2025-08-25, Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2025-08-25 12:42, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Trump has no cards left to play.
He may try to force a peace treaty favouring Putin instead of reality.
Trump _really_ wants a Nobel Peace Prize. If he succeeds in cowing
the committee to give him one, I hope many previous recipients
hand them back in as a protest of it being totally devalued.
On Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:22:58 +0100, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote in <1089ge2$1fvl9$8@dont-email.me>:
On 21/08/2025 23:43, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I wonder how Linux implemented the floppy routines, though. At someI am not sure that linux supports any more than the obvious 5 1/4" and
point, someone had to write floppy handling code that worked on any PC,
CPU and speed.
3.5" media. Maybe 8" as well.
I looked at the relevant table in drivers/block/floppy.c, and it
appears to not support 8", just 3.5" and 5 1/4".
On 2025-08-23, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
"Standards" were NOT coveted back in the 70s and early 80s.
Makers INTENTIONALLY made their HW incompatible so you'd be
STUCK with their stuff.
On 8/23/25 2:02 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
IBM was doing it in the '60s, Microsoft has been doing it ever
since, and others are eagerly following suit. HTML is becoming a
proprietary language, for instance.
The classic game was to say that one should follow publicly defined
industry standards. In computers and communications, these were
defined by ITU and IEEE. The major companies sent their people t the committee meetings and each of them tried to get the standards to
reflect how THEY were developing the thing, and to require processes
that theyhad already patented.
The academics building the Internet
did not participate in this process, but the engineers doing the work--
went and swapped ideas, and once they had working code, published
open standards before patents could be filed. We all know how this outcompeted the ITU and IEEE standards.
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
On 9/13/25 11:26, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
Is that the next Civil or International war?
Either case drones and more advanced remote controled robots running
armored weapons carriers hopefully.
But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not
slapped down for Ukrainian incursion.
And Trump is not slapped down for his increasingly jingoistic tendencies. After all, he wouldn't (try to) rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War if he wasn't planning something. Even if it's just
war on his own citizens.
On 9/13/25 11:58, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 9/13/25 05:55, Daniel70 wrote:
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY
Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to
make identification difficult/impossible.
First of all Covid-19 is only over for the young folks without immune
dysfunction. [...]
Even those ought to consider if they want to fully live their lives or
if they want to risk the possible longer-term complications that seem to
sometimes come with COVID-19.
    You are very right. Long Covid is a real thing and very difficult to recover from if it can be done. I know someone who was stuck in
a long term care facility following cancer treatment and contracted
Covid-19 three times. He is still suffering.
On 2025-09-14, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
The broad majority of people such as myself wore then because they
were a minor imposition and it wasn't worth making an issue out of.
Yes there are some nutcases who doent believe in vaccination, but they
aren't right wing, they are just uneducated and scared.
Actually, IIRC masking contributed to some influenza waves just not happening.
Their being "virtually useless" is just misinformation, probably
stemming from their not being 100% efficient, at least in the commonly
worn models, or even more likely, people being lax about their use, not covering noses, etc.
Some may also have had a hard time with the concept that the main point
of masks isn't to protect the wearer, it's to protect others.
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Sadly, the far-right has achieved a world where even medical
professionals may disregard masks where they might not have had before.
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
On 25/08/2025 1:12 pm, Lars Poulsen wrote:
On 2025-08-23, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
"Standards" were NOT coveted back in the 70s and early 80s.
Makers INTENTIONALLY made their HW incompatible so you'd be
STUCK with their stuff.
On 8/23/25 2:02 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
IBM was doing it in the '60s, Microsoft has been doing it ever
since, and others are eagerly following suit. HTML is becoming a
proprietary language, for instance.
The classic game was to say that one should follow publicly defined
industry standards. In computers and communications, these were
defined by ITU and IEEE. The major companies sent their people t the
committee meetings and each of them tried to get the standards to
reflect how THEY were developing the thing, and to require processes
that theyhad already patented.
The academics building the Internet
"The academics"?? WHO?? Wasn't The Internet built by one of the former
Vice Presidents of the U.S. of A.?? ;-P Al Gore, maybe.
did not participate in this process, but the engineers doing the work
went and swapped ideas, and once they had working code, published
open standards before patents could be filed. We all know how this
outcompeted the ITU and IEEE standards.
On 25/08/2025 1:12 pm, Lars Poulsen wrote:
On 2025-08-23, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:
"Standards" were NOT coveted back in the 70s and early 80s.
Makers INTENTIONALLY made their HW incompatible so you'd be
STUCK with their stuff.
On 8/23/25 2:02 PM, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
IBM was doing it in the '60s, Microsoft has been doing it ever
since, and others are eagerly following suit. HTML is becoming a
proprietary language, for instance.
The classic game was to say that one should follow publicly defined
industry standards. In computers and communications, these were
defined by ITU and IEEE. The major companies sent their people t the
committee meetings and each of them tried to get the standards to
reflect how THEY were developing the thing, and to require processes
that theyhad already patented.
The academics building the Internet
"The academics"?? WHO?? Wasn't The Internet built by one of the former
Vice Presidents of the U.S. of A.?? ;-P Al Gore, maybe.
did not participate in this process, but the engineers doing the work
went and swapped ideas, and once they had working code, published
open standards before patents could be filed. We all know how this
outcompeted the ITU and IEEE standards.
On 13/09/2025 23:56, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:I am not sure Trump will last much longer., It's the people behind him I
On 9/13/25 11:26, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
Is that the next Civil or International war?
Either case drones and more advanced remote controled robots running >>> armored weapons carriers hopefully.
But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not
slapped down for Ukrainian incursion.
And Trump is not slapped down for his increasingly jingoistic tendencies.
After all, he wouldn't (try to) rename the Department of Defense to the
Department of War if he wasn't planning something. Even if it's just
war on his own citizens.
am concerned about.
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
On 14/09/2025 2:21 am, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/09/2025 14:13, Farley Flud wrote:Umm! If you are ONLY firing 100 Bullets, how do you know one in a
On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:24:06 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Which tells you precisely nothing about reality
The problem is when it comes to complicated dynamic systems - and
climate is absolutely that - no one actually *knows* anything of value >>>> at all.
Yes, non-linear dynamics can totally ruin predictability, but then
there is always STATISTICAL CERTAINTY.
IOW, I cannot possibly follow every trajectory but I certainly can
determine the aggregate response.
Lets see. I fire 100 bullets from a rooftop and 50% miss 49.999% hit
and one in a million grazes his earlobe...
million will graze his earlobe??
Does that mean 0.9999 of those 100 bullets disappear all together??
On 14/09/2025 4:20 am, Farley Flud wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 17:21:50 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Which tells you precisely nothing about reality
Lets see. I fire 100 bullets from a rooftop and 50% miss 49.999% hit and >>> one in a million grazes his earlobe...
Gibberish.
A gun will exhibit a distribution of hits/misses and the overall
tally will reveal a considerable amount about the quality of the
gun and/or the aim of the shooter.
... and to the atmosphere (wind) at that time.
No, we are looking at predictive models versus final outcomes in aBut we are referring to climate and not guns.
On 25/08/2025 9:36 pm, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-08-25 12:42, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 24/08/2025 22:29, Carlos E.R. wrote:
<Snip>
That seems to be quite on the Cards.They already make their own 'shahed' style drones capable of doing
extreme unpleasantness to oil refineries.
Trump we now understand is a senile old blowhard who likes nothing
more than flattery which costs is nothing, except cash in his bank
account.
Meanwhile we get on with life without America, which is much simpler.
Trump has no cards left to play.
He may try to force a peace treaty favouring Putin instead of reality.
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke about
'3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I didn't spoke of that.
On 2025-09-14 00:56, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
On 9/13/25 11:26, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
But we gotta keep the population growing! We need more
consumers and cannon fodder. Who's gonna fight the next war?
    Is that the next Civil or International war?
    Either case drones and more advanced remote controled robots running
  armored weapons carriers hopefully.
    But lets not have another war is best. But we will if Putin is not >>> slapped down for Ukrainian incursion.
And Trump is not slapped down for his increasingly jingoistic tendencies.
After all, he wouldn't (try to) rename the Department of Defense to the
Department of War if he wasn't planning something. Even if it's just
war on his own citizens.
Trump is pressuring Europe so that we start a tariff war on China.
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
On 14/09/2025 13:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they >>>> target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
Describe how you tested yours for virus transmission then.
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke about
'3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I didn't
spoke of that.
On 2025-09-14 18:50, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke about >>> '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I didn't >>> spoke of that.
Stiffies? Never heard that name.
On 2025-09-14 18:55, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way
they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
Describe how you tested yours for virus transmission then.
I did not transmit my covid to my flatmate.
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke about
'3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I didn't
spoke of that.
"The academics"?? WHO?? Wasn't The Internet built by one of the former
Vice Presidents of the U.S. of A.?? ;-P Al Gore, maybe.
The developers were completely unable to foresee or imagine the perversions of function that would be added to the framework they
created or imagine the threats enabled against the digital ways of communication and the created databases.
On 13/09/2025 19:56, rbowman wrote:
The public seems to be catching on to the fact the radical left is the
problem, not the solution.
Sadly it is, and in fact it always has been as long as I can remember. Violent revolution and Agitpop is in the communist playbook.
It always amazed me how ready the Student Left were to fight their own policemen, and how reluctant to fight the Viet Cong.
On 13/09/2025 20:05, rbowman wrote:
When I saw the way it was going to go I did buy 50 cheap, useless,
Chinese masks for $20 from Amazon for convenience. At least I have them
if I do some spray painting. I always hated overspray in my nose hairs.
I have a full respirator mask for dusty work, There isn't much of my
lungs left as it is...
On 26/08/2025 2:23 pm, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-08-25, Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:And Donald J would probably claim that was just THEM realising how insignificant THEIR efforts seemed whan compared to Donald J's efforts.
On 2025-08-25 12:42, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Trump has no cards left to play.
He may try to force a peace treaty favouring Putin instead of reality.
Trump _really_ wants a Nobel Peace Prize. If he succeeds in cowing the
committee to give him one, I hope many previous recipients hand them
back in as a protest of it being totally devalued.
;-P
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way they
target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
The broad majority of people such as myself wore then because they were
a minor imposition and it wasn't worth making an issue out of.
Yes there are some nutcases who doent believe in vaccination, but they
aren't right wing, they are just uneducated and scared.
Actually, IIRC masking contributed to some influenza waves just not happening.
On 2025-09-14 18:55, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Describe how you tested yours for virus transmission then.
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way
they target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
I did not transmit my covid to my flatmate.
Trump is pressuring Europe so that we start a tariff war on China.
And it looks like he will shortly. Not a well man If he aint goinq to
support Ukraine WTF should we support the USA?
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke
about '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I
didn't spoke of that.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 13:49:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Trump is pressuring Europe so that we start a tariff war on China.
Europe should so what is good for Europe. The US should do what is good
for the US. The Ukraine, Russian Israel, Hamas, Qatar, and so forth should solve their own problems.
I thought Trump was also pressuring NATO to stop buying Russian oil.--
Turkey, which shouldn't be in NATO in the first place, will be
interesting. Erdogan seems nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire while Israel wants to be the big dog in the neighborhood.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 10:12:44 +0100, Nuno Silva wrote:
Actually, IIRC masking contributed to some influenza waves just not
happening.
Ah, the mysterious disappearance of common influenza. Or was it maybe that anything resembling covid was tagged as covid since there was money to be made?
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 19:06:15 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 18:55, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Describe how you tested yours for virus transmission then.
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way >>>>>> they target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
I did not transmit my covid to my flatmate.
You know this how? Were they tested and were shown to be negative?
Early
in the game, April 2020, the inmates of Marion Correction Institution were tested.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 08:53:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Then there were the one-way signs in the grocery store aisles and the red circles six feet apart in the checkout lanes. It was later agreed 6 feet
was a number somebody pulled out of their ass. There were even a couple
of trails with one way signs and I often saw people wearing masks in the woods without anyone around or in their cars.
On 14/09/2025 18:08, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 18:50, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Its a 'colonial' name for an erection...a boner...or a 3 1/2" disk in a plastic case.
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke
about
'3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I
didn't
spoke of that.
Stiffies? Never heard that name.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 17:50:44 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke
about '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I
didn't spoke of that.
What were 8" known as? ED? Perhaps anecdotal but there was a rumor some problems occurred when secretaries conveniently stored 8" disks by
attaching them to filing cabinets with refrigerator magnets.
On 2025-09-14 22:11, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 13:49:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Trump is pressuring Europe so that we start a tariff war on China.
Europe should so what is good for Europe. The US should do what is good
for the US. The Ukraine, Russian Israel, Hamas, Qatar, and so forth
should
solve their own problems.
I am an utopian. I think we all should do what is best for Earth.
I thought Trump was also pressuring NATO to stop buying Russian oil.
Turkey, which shouldn't be in NATO in the first place, will be
interesting. Erdogan seems nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire while Israel >> wants to be the big dog in the neighborhood.
Al Gore helped pass the bills that paid those academics and technologists who
were developing the Arpanet that became the public Internet. With the addition of
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could Do Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
On 2025-09-14 22:11, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 13:49:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Trump is pressuring Europe so that we start a tariff war on China.
Europe should so what is good for Europe. The US should do what is good
for the US. The Ukraine, Russian Israel, Hamas, Qatar, and so forth should >> solve their own problems.
I am an utopian. I think we all should do what is best for Earth.
On 14/09/2025 18:08, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 18:50, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:57, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:
Le 14-09-2025, Daniel70 <daniel47@nomail.afraid.org> a écrit :
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I don't know how it is outside of France, but I always wrote/spoke about >>>> '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. A long time ago because it's about decades I didn't >>>> spoke of that.
In other places they were known as floppies and stiffies
Stiffies? Never heard that name.
Its a 'colonial' name for an erection...a boner...or a 3 1/2" disk in a plastic case.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 21:27:14 +1000, Daniel70 wrote:
[snip]
'3.5" and 5 1/4"'. Why did "we" always write them like that and not
'3.5" and 5.25"' .... or '3 1/2" and 5 1/4"'. ;-)
I write 3.5 and 5.25. I think it looks better (and maybe a little less ambiguous).
BTW, I have once seen someone who connected an 8-inch floppy to a PC
(I don't know about doing this with Linux).
On 2025-09-14, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could Do
Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
Something must be done.
This is something.
Therefore, this must be done.
-- Yes, Prime Minister
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> writes:
Al Gore helped pass the bills that paid those academics and
technologists who were developing the Arpanet that became the public
Internet. With the addition of
Al Gore was very much a 'Johnny Come Lately' with respect to the
Internet.
The Internet was up and running almost 20 years befoire Gore came on to
the scene.
Even in a quiet backwater like Australia, I was using the (non-WWW)
internet about a decade before Gore became 'famous for the Internet'.
Jack
On 2025-09-14 21:53, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 10:12:44 +0100, Nuno Silva wrote:
Actually, IIRC masking contributed to some influenza waves just not
happening.
Ah, the mysterious disappearance of common influenza. Or was it maybe
that anything resembling covid was tagged as covid since there was
money to be made?
No.
On 2025-09-14 22:11, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 13:49:59 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Trump is pressuring Europe so that we start a tariff war on China.
Europe should so what is good for Europe. The US should do what is good
for the US. The Ukraine, Russian Israel, Hamas, Qatar, and so forth
should solve their own problems.
I am an utopian. I think we all should do what is best for Earth.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 22:46:06 -0000 (UTC), Jack Strangio wrote:
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> writes:
Al Gore helped pass the bills that paid those academics and
technologists who were developing the Arpanet that became the public
Internet. With the addition of
Al Gore was very much a 'Johnny Come Lately' with respect to the
Internet.
The Internet was up and running almost 20 years befoire Gore came on to
the scene.
Even in a quiet backwater like Australia, I was using the (non-WWW)
internet about a decade before Gore became 'famous for the Internet'.
Jack
Disclaimer: I think Gore is a flaming asshole and is one of the reasons I voted for Bush the Dumber. However
https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/senate-bill/2594
S.2594 - Supercomputer Network Study Act of 1986
Sponsor: Sen. Gore, Albert, Jr. [D-TN] (Introduced 06/24/1986)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Science_Foundation_Network
Charlie Kirk was one
of those who was pushing on that issue before his assassination by
someone further to the right.
On 2025-09-14 21:50, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 08:53:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Then there were the one-way signs in the grocery store aisles and the
red circles six feet apart in the checkout lanes. It was later agreed 6
feet was a number somebody pulled out of their ass. There were even a
couple of trails with one way signs and I often saw people wearing
masks in the woods without anyone around or in their cars.
Because it was mandatory. The police love to fine people, they just need
an excuse. They don't have common sense.
On 2025-09-14 22:03, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 19:06:15 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 18:55, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Describe how you tested yours for virus transmission then.
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way >>>>>>> they target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless.
False. I have personal experience that they work.
I did not transmit my covid to my flatmate.
You know this how? Were they tested and were shown to be negative?
Yes.
Early in the game, April 2020, the inmates of Marion Correction
Institution were tested.
This was in 2023.
I heard of that. Apparently there were emough similarities between an
8-inch drive and a 5 1/4-inch high-density (1.2MB) drive that it wasn't
too hard to do. (Hmmm, maybe I should look into this more closely. I
tried to get my IMSAI going recently but the boot PROM had apparently
rotted. It would be fun to be able to read those old 8-inch floppies.
I do still have the 8-inch drives, as well as a machine with a 5
1/4-inch drive...)
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was
in Ottawa, probably floppy.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was
in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't think I'm alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_harrow
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was
in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes >usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >think I'm alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_harrow--
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was
in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes usually.
I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc.
I don't think I'm alone.
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was >>> in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >> think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8" = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
On 2025-09-15, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was >>>> in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >>> think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8" = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who
used the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
On 2025-09-15, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was >>>> in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >>> think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8" = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who
used the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
And then there was single-side/single-density,
double-side/single-density, double-side/double- density, "high
density" and even quad-density ("Elephant Memory systems" made those,
had them).
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who used
the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:01:44 -0400, c186282 wrote:
And then there was single-side/single-density,
double-side/single-density, double-side/double- density, "high
density" and even quad-density ("Elephant Memory systems" made those,
had them).
I liked Elephaants. iirc they were cheaper than Memorex and just as good.
The Osborne 1 came with 2 SSSD drives. I later sent it back for the DSDD upgrade and video upgrade that allowed 80 or 104 columns on an external monitor. That was the only problem I had with it. They used a CMOS device
in the video card. That was fairly early in the CMOS game and while they
had lower static dissipation, there was enough capacitance that dynamic dissipation was frequency dependent, say if you were generating video
output. I switched to a TTL device and problem solved.
I never bothered with them but little jigs were available to notch the diskettes so you could flip them over in SS drives and hope for the best.
https://atariprojects.org/2019/06/28/make-floppy-disks-double-sided-5-10- mins/
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 03:32:33 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who
used the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
iirc the 5120 referred to them as diskettes too. 'floppy' is too
reminiscent of LSMFT.
On 15/09/25 14:24, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 03:32:33 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who
used the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
iirc the 5120 referred to them as diskettes too. 'floppy' is too
reminiscent of LSMFT.
Liposclerosing myxofibrous tumour?
FLoppies had their virtues. I once dropped an eight-inch floppy in a university car park. I found it that evening, noticeably out of shape,
with tyre marks all over it; but it hadn't lost any data.
On 15/09/25 13:32, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was >>>>> in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes >>>> usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >>>> think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8" = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who
used the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
Yes. "Proper" disks were the size of dinner plates (and a lot heavier),
and could hold something like one megabyte of data.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:01:44 -0400, c186282 wrote:
And then there was single-side/single-density,
double-side/single-density, double-side/double- density, "high
density" and even quad-density ("Elephant Memory systems" made those,
had them).
I liked Elephaants. iirc they were cheaper than Memorex and just as good.
The Osborne 1 came with 2 SSSD drives. I later sent it back for the DSDD upgrade and video upgrade that allowed 80 or 104 columns on an external monitor. That was the only problem I had with it. They used a CMOS device
in the video card. That was fairly early in the CMOS game and while they
had lower static dissipation, there was enough capacitance that dynamic dissipation was frequency dependent, say if you were generating video
output. I switched to a TTL device and problem solved.
I never bothered with them but little jigs were available to notch the diskettes so you could flip them over in SS drives and hope for the best.
https://atariprojects.org/2019/06/28/make-floppy-disks-double-sided-5-10- mins/
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman wrote:
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't
think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc. [...]
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 14:02:32 +1000, Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org>
wrote:
On 15/09/25 13:32, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was >>>>>> in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes >>>>> usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >>>>> think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8" = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who
used the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
Yes. "Proper" disks were the size of dinner plates (and a lot heavier),
and could hold something like one megabyte of data.
My first programming job, 1968, was on an IBM 1130, with two
(external) disks and 16K of 16 bit words. Or maybe that was 8K --
I seem to remember that only about 4K was available for program
space if system routines for I/O were called and therefore loaded.
The 2315 disk for the IBM 1130 was 15 inches -- serving plate
rather than dinner plate, recording on both surfaces. The casing
was 1 3/8 inches thick (dimensions from the Wiki article on IBM 1130). Picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1130#/media/File:Disk_Cartridge_2315_type.jb.jpg
(Wiki, "IBM 360) The bigger, more commercial IBM 360 had thicker
"disk packs" -- the 2316 had 6 platters inside, using 10 surfaces,
for a total of about 5 megabytes depending on formatting.
We wrote several simple statistics program in Fortran IV (subset).
Our research data was all numeric, so we were able to compress
4 numbers (0-15) into each 16-bit word. Even after compressing,
we had one data file that was larger than one megabyte. One
solution, which didn't work well for other reasons, was to read to End-of-File and PAUSE so the operator could switch disks and
clue to start reading the file again: the data disks were bare of
anything except the single file starting at the same location on
each disk.
We did weeks of programming to achieve, mostly, tabulations
that, 5 or so years later, any informed user of SPSS or BMDP
or SAS could set up and KEYPUNCH within an hour.
Le 15/09/2025 à 04:20, Steve Hayes a écrit :
On 15 Sep 2025 01:56:16 GMT, rbowman wrote:
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >> think I'm alone.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and if
it's optical it's a disc. [...]
The ratio disk:disc seems to be about the same for both optical and magnetic:
<https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=magnetic+disk%2Cmagnetic+disc%2Coptical+disk%2Coptical+disc&year_start=1950&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false>
I think it's a Transpondian difference:
<https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=computer+disc%3Aeng_us%2Ccomputer+disk%3Aeng_us%2Ccomputer+disc%3Aeng_gb%2Ccomputer+disk%3Aeng_gb&year_start=1950&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false>
Hmmm ... The "-ettes" would imply "small" ... so were there BIGGER
floppies common before then ???
Usually it DID work ... apparently it was uneconomical
to coat just ONE side, so they did both even if they were just
SELLING one side.
Your video card problem sounds kind of weird - but early CMOS did
have its odd issues.
On 15/09/25 14:24, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 03:32:33 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who used
the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
iirc the 5120 referred to them as diskettes too. 'floppy' is too
reminiscent of LSMFT.
Liposclerosing myxofibrous tumour?
We did weeks of programming to achieve, mostly, tabulations that, 5 or
so years later, any informed user of SPSS or BMDP or SAS could set up
and KEYPUNCH within an hour.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes >usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't >think I'm alone.
Ar an cúigiú lá déag de mà Méan Fómhair, scrÃobh Hibou:
>
>
> I think it's a Transpondian difference:
>
> <https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=computer+disc%3Aeng_us%2Ccomputer+disk%3Aeng_us%2Ccomputer+disc%3Aeng_gb%2Ccomputer+disk%3Aeng_gb&year_start=1950&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false>
What I learned in the 1990s (studying computer science in Dublin, Ireland) was
to use “disc†for CDs and “disk†for anything else computer-related; I
understand “compact disc†was explicitly chosen as the name when the format was
created. So what Steve says. I don’t think that last graph suggests a strong
side-of-the-Atlantic effect.
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and ifI haven't seen an 8" disc. In Denmark in private circles we used
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8" = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could Do >Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
Then there was your boy Ferguson, who has never been right about anything, who predicted we were all going to die.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 10:12:44 +0100, Nuno Silva wrote:
Actually, IIRC masking contributed to some influenza waves just not
happening.
Ah, the mysterious disappearance of common influenza. Or was it maybe that anything resembling covid was tagged as covid since there was money to be made?
There is another common claim. 'Despite getting the original shot andas a Person At Risk I got every covid and flu shot going.
three boosters I caught covid but it wasn't as bad as it would have been otherwise.'
am an utopian. I think we all should do what is best for Earth.
You are not the only one but the problem is that not everyone wants
the same freedoms extended to everyone.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was
in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't think I'm alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_harrow
Hmmm ... The "-ettes" would imply "small" ... so were
 there BIGGER floppies common before then ???
 Best I remember, just spools of mag tape.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:53:14 -0400, Rich Ulrich wrote:Amen to that.
We did weeks of programming to achieve, mostly, tabulations that, 5 or
so years later, any informed user of SPSS or BMDP or SAS could set up
and KEYPUNCH within an hour.
I learned FORTRAN IV in that era and decided programming wasn't for me. I became interested about 10 years later when the advent of microcontrollers meant you didn't need a large, air conditioned building and endless hours
to get anything done.
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could Do
Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
It is now unanimously (sic?) assumed in science that masks have
greatly contributed to reducing the spread of the Corona Virus. There
are even voices that say that masks were the single most efficient
measure, trumping school and store closures, lockdowns etc by far.
If I were you I'd probably take care to not parrot the slogans of the
far right.
Greetings--
Marc
Yes, a good mask worn correctly is of some use, but no one had good
masks nor wore them correctly
The consensus was that they were marginally effective only, and by far
the greatest effect was lockdown followed by vaccination.
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could
Do Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:58:31 -0400, c186282 wrote:
Hmmm ... The "-ettes" would imply "small" ... so were there BIGGER
floppies common before then ???
Compared to the 1316 disk pack anything is a 'ette'.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/toepfer/420889929
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
Yes, a good mask worn correctly is of some use, but no one had good
masks nor wore them correctly
The continent had FFP2 masks pretty quickly, and even a badly one stil
does a decent job of self protection. It sucks in the protection of
others, but it is still better than no mask.
The consensus was that they were marginally effective only, and by far
the greatest effect was lockdown followed by vaccination.
The scientific consensus has changed in the mean time.
Greetings--
Marc
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 22:58:01 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 22:03, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 19:06:15 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 18:55, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 14/09/2025 13:04, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 09:53, The Natural Philosopher wrote:Describe how you tested yours for virus transmission then.
On 13/09/2025 19:54, Nuno Silva wrote:False. I have personal experience that they work.
But, instead, the far-right decided to target masking the same way >>>>>>>> they target other issues
It has been established that masks were in fact virtually useless. >>>>>>
I did not transmit my covid to my flatmate.
You know this how? Were they tested and were shown to be negative?
Yes.
Early in the game, April 2020, the inmates of Marion Correction
Institution were tested.
This was in 2023.
Sorry, the anecdote of one person doesn't prove shit.
There is another common claim. 'Despite getting the original shot and
three boosters I caught covid but it wasn't as bad as it would have been otherwise.'
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> writes:
Al Gore helped pass the bills that paid those academics and
technologists who
were developing the Arpanet that became the public Internet. With the
addition of
Al Gore was very much a 'Johnny Come Lately' with respect to the Internet. The Internet was up and running almost 20 years befoire Gore came on to the scene.
Even in a quiet backwater like Australia, I was using the (non-WWW) internet about a decade before Gore became 'famous for the Internet'.
Yes. "Proper" disks were the size of dinner plates (and a lot heavier),
and could hold something like one megabyte of data.
My first programming job, 1968, was on an IBM 1130, with two
(external) disks and 16K of 16 bit words. Or maybe that was 8K --
I seem to remember that only about 4K was available for program
space if system routines for I/O were called and therefore loaded.
Ahh... the good old CADET. We discussed this before, methinks
Personally I never handled anything bigger than 8". And they were a
rarity by the time I started coding, 51/4" was the norm then for several years.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 03:32:33 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who used
the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
iirc the 5120 referred to them as diskettes too. 'floppy' is too
reminiscent of LSMFT.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:35:11 -0400, c186282 wrote:
Usually it DID work ... apparently it was uneconomical
to coat just ONE side, so they did both even if they were just
SELLING one side.
I'm not sure but it might be like resistors. Nobody sets out to make 10% tolerance resistors. Test and sort. Elephant and the rest may have been making double sided and the ones that didn't make the grade were sold as single sided. iirc Intel did something like that with processors with
faulty FPUs.
On 2025-09-15, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:35:11 -0400, c186282 wrote:
Usually it DID work ... apparently it was uneconomical
to coat just ONE side, so they did both even if they were just
SELLING one side.
I'm not sure but it might be like resistors. Nobody sets out to make 10%
tolerance resistors. Test and sort. Elephant and the rest may have been
making double sided and the ones that didn't make the grade were sold as
single sided. iirc Intel did something like that with processors with
faulty FPUs.
I think I heard mention of that trick being used with memory chips too.
Back before 64K chips could be manufactured reliably they would disable
half the die and sell it as a 32K chip.
of diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer
club had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an
S-100 card which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
On 2025-09-14, Jack Strangio <jackstrangio@yahoo.com> wrote:
Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> writes:
Al Gore helped pass the bills that paid those academics and
technologists who
were developing the Arpanet that became the public Internet. With the
addition of
Al Gore was very much a 'Johnny Come Lately' with respect to the Internet. >> The Internet was up and running almost 20 years befoire Gore came on to the >> scene.
Even in a quiet backwater like Australia, I was using the (non-WWW) internet >> about a decade before Gore became 'famous for the Internet'.
I am still amazed that people do not understand why Al Gore was
important to "the commercial Internet as we know it".
Yes, the technology was around long before Al Gore knew about it. The
forst ARPAnet links come up around 1969. The physicists I worked with in Copenhagen from 1970 to 1975 excitedly showed me a Scientific American article about it around 1971. When I went to California in 1980, I
worked for company that made IMP attachments for IBM 360s and PDP-11s.
Our small business got a connection in 1982, from our 11/70 running Unix
v7 to El Segundo AFB in Los Angeles, using a Unibus VDH interface that
we had been selling to the government and universities for a couple of
years. Everyone that had access could see that this was going to change
the world, but it was impossible to explain to those who had not
experienced it. Nevertheless, it kept growing - doubling the number of
hosts and users every year; still nobody wrote about it outside a very limited technical community. Computers were popping up everywhere, but
AOL was NOT connected, and communications regulators and "telephone" companies were trying to sell everyone on the CCCITT/ISO communications standards. Even the US Defense department was building a new email
system based on CCITT X.500, and the Aerospace and Auto industries were building their experimental factory automation networks on the ISO
protocols.
At the same time, those in the business community that had caught the
bug were stymied. It was illegal to use the Internet for business communication unrelated to defense contract administration and network research.
Around 1988, Al Gore saw the Internet and understood its transformative power, and as a Senator, he could do something about it. He wrote the Supercomputer Center bill in a way that envisioned a commercial backbone network, and instead of the NSF building and operating the network, the
NSF would give the researchers grants to buy service from commercial networks. This took effect around 1992, and it was truly
transformatkional.
But here is the twist: Al Gore's father, Albert Gore Senior, had held
the same senate seat in the 1950s, and in that position, he drafted
the law that created the Interstate and Defense Highway system.
To get the press to pick up on the story of the Internet, someone
described it as "the Information Superhighway".
When Bill Clinton ran for president, I had never heard of him. But when
he picked Al Gore to be his running mate, I though "He must be really
smart!"
On 15/09/2025 02:56, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:IIRC disk was USA spelling, disc was UK, and of course in the romance langauges the far more attractive 'disque'...I think. Carlos?
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I was >>> in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I don't
think I'm alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_harrow
But here is the twist: Al Gore's father, Albert Gore Senior, had held
the same senate seat in the 1950s, and in that position, he drafted the
law that created the Interstate and Defense Highway system.
To get the press to pick up on the story of the Internet, someone
described it as "the Information Superhighway".
It is now unanimously (sic?) assumed in science that masks have greatly contributed to reducing the spread of the Corona Virus.
Of course where you are in rural Montana or Wyoming with a population
density equal to the Arctic, you might not have noticed.
I remember buying one 10 pack of 5.25 floppies for my C 64 at price club
in Tucson AZ in 1984, then going back to get another one, accidentally grabbing the more expensive "double side certified" disks that time, and finding on the receipt one kind as "disk" and the other as "disc".
No, we would use "disc" for CDs, and disquete aka floppy, which we might write flopy sometimes. Disk was accepted, I think, but considered
English spelling.
I'm unsure about disc vs disk. There are a lot of English computing
related terms in Spanish. The French are more strict.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:58:31 -0400, c186282 wrote:
Hmmm ... The "-ettes" would imply "small" ... so were there BIGGER
floppies common before then ???
Compared to the 1316 disk pack anything is a 'ette'.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/toepfer/420889929
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:34:24 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen wrote:
But here is the twist: Al Gore's father, Albert Gore Senior, had held
the same senate seat in the 1950s, and in that position, he drafted the
law that created the Interstate and Defense Highway system.
To get the press to pick up on the story of the Internet, someone
described it as "the Information Superhighway".
Another twist: Gore Sr. was an important force behind the TVA. Gore Jr'
s chief of staff, Beth Geer, was on the board of directors but was fired
by Trump a couple of months ago. He didn't give a reason but the board had been dragging its feet on a small modular reactor program.
https://www.powermag.com/americas-nuclear-renaissance-how-the-tva-can- lead-our-energy-future/
The integral fast reactor project was canceled by the Clinton/Gore administration. Gore Jr. is not a fan of nuclear power and has said SMR technology is too far in the future after sabotaging nuclear development. Gore seems to prefer solar power for his mansions in Tennessee and California.
Yes, he realized the importance of the internet but he also is a hypocritical bastard.
On 15/09/2025 02:56, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 23:06:44 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:IIRC disk was USA spelling, disc was UK, and of course in the romance langauges the far more attractive 'disque'...I think. Carlos?
We used "disquete" in Spain. I am not sure what name we used while I
was in Ottawa, probably floppy.
In my experience in the US 5.25s were floppies and 3.5s were diskettes
usually. I'm perpetually confused over whether it's disk or disc. I
don't think I'm alone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_harrow
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:28:53 +0200, Marc Haber wrote:
I remember buying one 10 pack of 5.25 floppies for my C 64 at price club
in Tucson AZ in 1984, then going back to get another one, accidentally
grabbing the more expensive "double side certified" disks that time, and
finding on the receipt one kind as "disk" and the other as "disc".
I'm holding an unopened box of 10 Memorex Black Diskettes'. The $3.99
price tag is undated but there is a 2002 copyright notice on the box so
they are from this century.
fwiw the bilingual labeling has 'disquettes' for the French part. The warranty and specs are also given in Spanish, Made in China, so nothing
new there.
Den 15.09.2025 kl. 05.20 skrev Steve Hayes:
My understanding was (is?) that if it's magnetic it's a disk and ifI haven't seen an 8" disc. In Denmark in private circles we used
it's optical it's a disc.
Strictly speaking
8"Â = floppy
5¼" = mini-floppy
3½" = micro-floppy
but in practice we (in South Africa) referred to the 5¼" ones as
floppies and the 3½" ones as stiffies.
And anything smaller than 8" was a "diskette".
"floppy" for the 5¼" discs, and we did the same with 3½" discs but gradually turned to "diskette". Maybe we said "minifloppy" if there
could be doubt. I've never heard "micro-" used this way.
Saw a news blurb a few weeks ago - the Swedish Navy is
 finally ending its use of 8-inch floppies for important
 mil systems/equipment. Wow !
 Why are they still using them ? "Time-tested", "known
 reliability".
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be
used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could Do
Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
It is now unanimously (sic?) assumed in science that masks have
greatly contributed to reducing the spread of the Corona Virus. There
are even voices that say that masks were the single most efficient
measure, trumping school and store closures, lockdowns etc by far.
If I were you I'd probably take care to not parrot the slogans of the
far right.
On 15/09/2025 04:58, c186282 wrote:
Hmmm ... The "-ettes" would imply "small" ... so were
  there BIGGER floppies common before then ???
  Best I remember, just spools of mag tape.
Y'know I vaguely remember something bigger than an 8".
"The largest floppy disk, which had a diameter of 12 inches, was indeed
used primarily with large IBM systems in the 1970s and early 1980s. This format is often referred to as the "12-inch floppy disk" or "IBM 3840
floppy disk." While most common floppy disks were 3.5 inches, 5.25
inches, and 8 inches in size, the 12-inch disk was used for data storage
in mainframe computers and required specialized drives."
Now that is from reddit so its provenance is automatically suspect
But other people mention them, and I am sure my memory is of something
IBM and mainframe-ish.
Other people deny that any such existed...
Personally I never handled anything bigger than 8". And they were a
rarity by the time I started coding, 51/4" was the norm then for several years.
 Saw a news blurb a few weeks ago - the Swedish Navy is
 finally ending its use of 8-inch floppies for important
 mil systems/equipment. Wow !
 Why are they still using them ? "Time-tested", "known
 reliability".
Personally I never handled anything bigger than 8". And they were a
rarity by the time I started coding, 51/4" was the norm then for several years.
On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card
which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
On 15/09/2025 02:40, rbowman wrote:
There is another common claim. 'Despite getting the original shot andas a Person At Risk I got every covid and flu shot going.
three boosters I caught covid but it wasn't as bad as it would have
been otherwise.'
Ive had occasional shitty days or weeks and one episode of pleurisy, but haven't been laid up for months either. Or died. I think.
Sorry, the anecdote of one person doesn't prove shit.
But the aggregation of data by science does.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:58:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Sorry, the anecdote of one person doesn't prove shit.
But the aggregation of data by science does.
mmm-hmmm. Given enough data you can get just about any answer you want.
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
Yes. "Proper" disks were the size of dinner plates (and a lot heavier), >>>> and could hold something like one megabyte of data.
Platters were typically 14 inches in diameter.
My first programming job, 1968, was on an IBM 1130, with two
(external) disks and 16K of 16 bit words. Or maybe that was 8K --
I seem to remember that only about 4K was available for program
space if system routines for I/O were called and therefore loaded.
Ahh... the good old CADET. We discussed this before, methinks
That was the 1620, wasn't it?
On 2025-09-15, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 03:32:33 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
Eight-inchers were diskettes too. At least according to IBM, who used
the term in all of their documentation (e.g. for the 3740).
iirc the 5120 referred to them as diskettes too. 'floppy' is too
reminiscent of LSMFT.
OS/MFT
OS/MVT
LS/MFT
TGIF
-- Ted Nelson: Computer Lib
A "disk" (disque) for us is a hard drive. And CD is "skiva",
by the way. Some people say "CD-skiva" which in essance means
"compact disc disc" but most people don't seem to mind :D.
I like languages :D.
On 2025-09-15 10:51, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
Yes. "Proper" disks were the size of dinner plates (and a lot heavier), >>>>> and could hold something like one megabyte of data.
Platters were typically 14 inches in diameter.
My first programming job, 1968, was on an IBM 1130, with two
(external) disks and 16K of 16 bit words. Or maybe that was 8K --
I seem to remember that only about 4K was available for program
space if system routines for I/O were called and therefore loaded.
Ahh... the good old CADET. We discussed this before, methinks
That was the 1620, wasn't it?
Perhaps. Memory not what it used to be. I know BCIT had one when I
serviced their stuff.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:14:23 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 15/09/2025 02:40, rbowman wrote:
There is another common claim. 'Despite getting the original shot andas a Person At Risk I got every covid and flu shot going.
three boosters I caught covid but it wasn't as bad as it would have
been otherwise.'
Ive had occasional shitty days or weeks and one episode of pleurisy, but
haven't been laid up for months either. Or died. I think.
I don't think I ever had covid but I can only state I did not have it in Jan/Feb 2021. Breaking a femur and winding up in the ER included sticking
a bristle brush up my nose. The rehab facility also quarantined me for a
week or two since I wasn't vaccinated. The quarantine was a bit uneven;
some would come in with full hazmat gear, others didn't.
The project needs a 3.4 Kilometer tunnel! That's a billion dollars worth
of tunneling right there. I did not see that in the plans. Clever. Oh,
well.
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
On 2025-09-15 10:51, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
Yes. "Proper" disks were the size of dinner plates (and a lot heavier), >>>>>> and could hold something like one megabyte of data.
Platters were typically 14 inches in diameter.
My first programming job, 1968, was on an IBM 1130, with two
(external) disks and 16K of 16 bit words. Or maybe that was 8K --
I seem to remember that only about 4K was available for program
space if system routines for I/O were called and therefore loaded.
Ahh... the good old CADET. We discussed this before, methinks
That was the 1620, wasn't it?
Perhaps. Memory not what it used to be. I know BCIT had one when I
serviced their stuff.
Funny you should say that. The one 1620 I got to play with was BCIT's.
A friend taking classes there asked for help with a programming course...
If you try to IMPOSE then people will RESIST and come up with all
sorts of reasons for doing so.
In short, they didn't SELL the masks properly - just created edicts.
On 9/15/25 17:00, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:58:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Sorry, the anecdote of one person doesn't prove shit.
But the aggregation of data by science does.
mmm-hmmm. Given enough data you can get just about any answer you
want.
Heh heh ... yea, it's true ! :-)
And now you can use the 'AI' to sneakily tilt that data even more.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 17:31:21 -0400, c186282 wrote:
On 9/15/25 17:00, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:58:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Sorry, the anecdote of one person doesn't prove shit.
But the aggregation of data by science does.
mmm-hmmm. Given enough data you can get just about any answer you
want.
Heh heh ... yea, it's true ! :-)
And now you can use the 'AI' to sneakily tilt that data even more.
And if in doubt question the validity of the data. VAERS was a valuable
tool until it wasn't.
On 9/15/25 03:47, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
I haven't seen an 8" disc.
In Denmark in private circles we used
"floppy" for the 5¼" discs, and we did the same with 3½" discs but
gradually turned to "diskette". Maybe we said "minifloppy" if there
could be doubt. I've never heard "micro-" used this way.
 Saw a news blurb a few weeks ago - the Swedish Navy is
 finally ending its use of 8-inch floppies for important
 mil systems/equipment. Wow !
 Why are they still using them ? "Time-tested", "known
 reliability".
Military and naval environments are harsh - wide temperature range, vibration, shock from gunfire, condensation, salt fog..., not to mention electromagnetic compatibility - and restrict what can be used. Space is
even more demanding.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:27:20 -0400, c186282 wrote:
If you try to IMPOSE then people will RESIST and come up with all
sorts of reasons for doing so.
In short, they didn't SELL the masks properly - just created edicts.
'Two weeks to flatten the curve' didn't help. It was a variation of the emperor's new clothes. Many people were privately thinking it was bullshit but kept their mouths shut. Then someone yelled 'Bullshit!'
Between being cheap Chinese products and my beard which defeats any sort
of seal, I considered the masks to be a fashion accessory and kept the
same one in my pocket for social occasions until it became too disgusting even for me.
Le 16/09/2025 à 06:43, Hibou a écrit :
Military and naval environments are harsh - wide temperature range,
vibration, shock from gunfire, condensation, salt fog..., not to
mention electromagnetic compatibility - and restrict what can be used.
Space is even more demanding.
And then there are the users. Army equipment, for example, has to be 'squaddie proof'.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:51:04 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of
diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card
which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
I had a CP/M utility that could read quite a few formats that were created with the Western Digital floppy controllers but no where near 400
flavors.
On 2025-09-13 23:44, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 9/13/25 11:58, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 9/13/25 05:55, Daniel70 wrote:
Now that we've finished with CoViD-19 (more or less), I reckon EVERY >>>>> Nation should pass laws making it illegal to cover ones face so as to >>>>> make identification difficult/impossible.
First of all Covid-19 is only over for the young folks without immune
dysfunction. [...]
Even those ought to consider if they want to fully live their lives or
if they want to risk the possible longer-term complications that seem to >>> sometimes come with COVID-19.
     You are very right. Long Covid is a real thing and very difficult to
recover from if it can be done. I know someone who was stuck in
a long term care facility following cancer treatment and contracted
Covid-19 three times. He is still suffering.
The long term effects of Covid are not well known.
I suffered a weak form of Covid (maybe thanks to the vaccination). I
blame it for a loss of some eyesight, like half a dioptre. I had my
eyesight graduated few months before, bought new glasses, passed covid,
and things became unfocused. I waited a year, in case it went back, then
I decided to buy new glasses. At my age, this is not supposed to happen.
The acute phase of the covid was like two weeks, till I tested negative,
but I had effects for maybe two months. Way worse than flu.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:50:17 -0400, Paul wrote:
The project needs a 3.4 Kilometer tunnel! That's a billion dollars worth
of tunneling right there. I did not see that in the plans. Clever. Oh,
well.
Should have hired The Boring Company. Anybody but Bechtel the corporation behind Boston's legendary Big Dig. It only took twice as long and cost
twice as much as anticipated.
Where does the tunnel go? Seabrook Station in New Hampshire has 2 3 mile
long tunnels going out into the ocean. When concerns were raised about the temperature rise from the exhaust tunnel the answer was 'The lobsters will love the nice warm water!'.
On 9/15/25 03:55, Marc Haber wrote:
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 14/09/2025 10:12, Nuno Silva wrote:
Let me put this bluntly: if surgical masks were useless, they'd not be >>>> used at all.
Bless! They were very important in reassuring people that They Could Do
Something.
In politics there is stuff that DoesSomething, like vaccines and
quarantines and stuff that makes people *think* SomethingIsBeingDone,
like masks.
It is now unanimously (sic?) assumed in science that masks have
greatly contributed to reducing the spread of the Corona Virus. There
are even voices that say that masks were the single most efficient
measure, trumping school and store closures, lockdowns etc by far.
If I were you I'd probably take care to not parrot the slogans of the
far right.
 If you try to IMPOSE then people will RESIST and come
 up with all sorts of reasons for doing so.
 In short, they didn't SELL the masks properly - just
 created edicts.
 Should have consulted with a pro ad firm ... in a week
 or so they'd have been in universal demand, fights at
 the stores to get the last box. Combine "They're trying
 to keep you from getting them" and "shortage" psychologies.
 There do not seem to be great metrics on HOW effective
 the masks were. I'd *guess* they were of moderate value.
 Alas C19 could also lurk on surfaces for awhile (the
 outside of the mask also, ever watch how people removed
 the things ?) - so you'd need the mask and a full hazmat
 suit too in order to get to maybe that 95% safety level.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:27:20 -0400, c186282 wrote:
If you try to IMPOSE then people will RESIST and come up with all
sorts of reasons for doing so.
In short, they didn't SELL the masks properly - just created edicts.
'Two weeks to flatten the curve' didn't help. It was a variation of the emperor's new clothes. Many people were privately thinking it was bullshit but kept their mouths shut. Then someone yelled 'Bullshit!'
Between being cheap Chinese products and my beard which defeats any sort
of seal, I considered the masks to be a fashion accessory and kept the
same one in my pocket for social occasions until it became too disgusting even for me.
On 9/14/25 13:03, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-13 23:44, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 9/13/25 11:58, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2025-09-13, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 9/13/25 05:55, Daniel70 wrote:
The long term effects of Covid are not well known.
I suffered a weak form of Covid (maybe thanks to the vaccination). I
blame it for a loss of some eyesight, like half a dioptre. I had my
eyesight graduated few months before, bought new glasses, passed
covid, and things became unfocused. I waited a year, in case it went
back, then I decided to buy new glasses. At my age, this is not
supposed to happen.
The acute phase of the covid was like two weeks, till I tested
negative, but I had effects for maybe two months. Way worse than flu.
I suffered weak Covid and my eyesight got better, like half a dioptre.
I attribute it to buying a 55 inch 4k TV and using it as a computer
monitor, sitting 1.6m away in a comfy chair, rather than 30cm away from
a monitor at a desk. People blame everything on Covid.
On 2025-09-15 22:51, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:51:04 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of
diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card
which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
I had a CP/M utility that could read quite a few formats that were created with the Western Digital floppy controllers but no where near 400
flavors.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland), so
I understand that the number of formats it can handle is infinite.
You'd be surprised to know which CPUs are used when sending rockets to
the moon: 8080-CPUs for the reasons you mentioned.
Maybe it's different in newer rockets, but it's true for the first ones.
Le 15/09/2025 à 21:16, c186282 a écrit :
On 9/15/25 03:47, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
I haven't seen an 8" disc.
Long, long ago, in a land far away (from Denmark), our software people
used to use them - but then, they also used punched paper tape. (I
haven't myself, only punched cards.)
In Denmark in private circles we used
"floppy" for the 5¼" discs, and we did the same with 3½" discs but
gradually turned to "diskette". Maybe we said "minifloppy" if there
could be doubt. I've never heard "micro-" used this way.
  Saw a news blurb a few weeks ago - the Swedish Navy is
  finally ending its use of 8-inch floppies for important
  mil systems/equipment. Wow !
  Why are they still using them ? "Time-tested", "known
  reliability".
Military and naval environments are harsh - wide temperature range, vibration, shock from gunfire, condensation, salt fog..., not to mention compatibility - and restrict what can be used. Space is
even more demanding.
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 22:47:06 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-14 21:53, rbowman wrote:
On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 10:12:44 +0100, Nuno Silva wrote:
Actually, IIRC masking contributed to some influenza waves just not
happening.
Ah, the mysterious disappearance of common influenza. Or was it maybe
that anything resembling covid was tagged as covid since there was
money to be made?
No.
Your opinion is noted.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 12:44:31 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2025-09-15 22:51, rbowman wrote:CopyRite was the DOS prog to read anything, IIRC
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:51:04 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of
diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card >>>> which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
I had a CP/M utility that could read quite a few formats that were created >>> with the Western Digital floppy controllers but no where near 400
flavors.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland), so
I understand that the number of formats it can handle is infinite.
xpost to afc, dropping aeu
But, and a few others here have noted it, for govt
projects you tend to go with what's already known,
things known functional. That's going to be older
equipment, not the latest and greatest. Then you
are STUCK with the old stuff.
On 2025-09-15 17:17, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
On 2025-09-15 10:51, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
Ahh... the good old CADET. We discussed this before, methinks
That was the 1620, wasn't it?
Perhaps. Memory not what it used to be. I know BCIT had one when I
serviced their stuff.
Funny you should say that. The one 1620 I got to play with was BCIT's.
A friend taking classes there asked for help with a programming course...
I never did anything on the 1620, programming or otherwise. I was
servicing their 360/30 system while working for Comma Services.
Did you ever meet a fellow named Scriabin? I can't remember his first
name. He worked for BCIT and I think he had something to do with the 1620.
On 2025-09-15 22:51, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:51:04 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
 On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of
diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card
which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
I had a CP/M utility that could read quite a few formats that were
created
with the Western Digital floppy controllers but no where near 400
flavors.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland), so
I understand that the number of formats it can handle is infinite.
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:50:17 -0400, Paul wrote:
The project needs a 3.4 Kilometer tunnel! That's a billion dollars worth
of tunneling right there. I did not see that in the plans. Clever. Oh,
well.
Should have hired The Boring Company. Anybody but Bechtel the corporation behind Boston's legendary Big Dig. It only took twice as long and cost
twice as much as anticipated.
Where does the tunnel go? Seabrook Station in New Hampshire has 2 3 mile long tunnels going out into the ocean. When concerns were raised about the temperature rise from the exhaust tunnel the answer was 'The lobsters will love the nice warm water!'.
Seabrook bankrupted Public Service of New Hampshire but at least it's
still operating. Maine Yankee and Vermont Yankee were killed by cheap
hydro from Quebec among other things. I wasn't enthused back in the '80s
but not because of nuclear technology. I thought their estimated of projected demand were too high and the plants weren't economically
feasible. New England's manufacturing was leaving and the population
wasn't increasing enough to make up the difference with residential
demand. No problem today -- just build an AI data center.
Hopefully the SMRs work out.
While every quanta of nuclear is worth something, it's a pretty slow
way to achieve a "step change in output". If there was a real BEV mandate, you'd never get there with a forest of SMR and holes-in-the-ground and cooleo-tunnels. As it is, I doubt we can keep up with the "retirement rate" of the existing reactors.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland),
 Only used paper tape a few times, on a PDP-11.
 It *works* ... but ....
On 16/09/2025 18:50, Paul wrote:
While every quanta of nuclear is worth something, it's a pretty slow
way to achieve a "step change in output". If there was a real BEV mandate, >> you'd never get there with a forest of SMR and holes-in-the-ground and
cooleo-tunnels. As it is, I doubt we can keep up with the "retirement rate" >> of the existing reactors.
In fact if a given SMR is type approved, they can be kicked out of factories at a one a week basis if the demand is there.
It's no worse that e.g, a Boeing aircraft.
On 16/09/2025 1:35 pm, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:50:17 -0400, Paul wrote:
The project needs a 3.4 Kilometer tunnel! That's a billion dollars
worth of tunneling right there. I did not see that in the plans.
Clever. Oh, well.
Should have hired The Boring Company. Anybody but Bechtel the
corporation behind Boston's legendary Big Dig. It only took twice as
long and cost twice as much as anticipated.
Where does the tunnel go? Seabrook Station in New Hampshire has 2 3
mile long tunnels going out into the ocean. When concerns were raised
about the temperature rise from the exhaust tunnel the answer was 'The
lobsters will love the nice warm water!'.
AH!! So is this Seabrook Station responsible for the oceans getting
warmer .... which is gunna flood all the best beaches??
On 2025-09-16 05:51, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:27:20 -0400, c186282 wrote:I shaved my beard.
If you try to IMPOSE then people will RESIST and come up with all
sorts of reasons for doing so.
In short, they didn't SELL the masks properly - just created
edicts.
'Two weeks to flatten the curve' didn't help. It was a variation of the
emperor's new clothes. Many people were privately thinking it was
bullshit but kept their mouths shut. Then someone yelled 'Bullshit!'
Between being cheap Chinese products and my beard which defeats any
sort of seal, I considered the masks to be a fashion accessory and kept
the same one in my pocket for social occasions until it became too
disgusting even for me.
On 16/09/2025 11:44, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-15 22:51, rbowman wrote:Not really. the floppy drives had limitations
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:51:04 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of
diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card >>>> which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
I had a CP/M utility that could read quite a few formats that were
created
with the Western Digital floppy controllers but no where near 400
flavors.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland), so
I understand that the number of formats it can handle is infinite.
But in reality the real calculation was political. The main line of
attack was lockdown = quarantine. This also had the effect of reducing
colds and flu in general too.
Anyone who thinks we were 'conned' is an idiot. In reality the political classes were absolutely out of their depth and off the reservation, and
well over their pay grade on this. Their decisions were political, not scientific, and allowing a lot of people to die isn't a vote winner, but telling them not to touch and wear masks isn't a vote loser.
Whenever I see the heading "Floppies" in the newsgroup I
think it's a support group for men who suffer Erectile
Disfunction
or women who need large bra sizes.
Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> writes:
You'd be surprised to know which CPUs are used when sending rockets to
the moon: 8080-CPUs for the reasons you mentioned.
Maybe it's different in newer rockets, but it's true for the first
ones.
No, "The Intel 8080 .... Introduced in April 1974", way to late for the
first ones.
On 2025-09-16, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
On 2025-09-15 17:17, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:I never did anything on the 1620, programming or otherwise. I was
On 2025-09-15 10:51, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-15, lar3ryca <larry@invalid.ca> wrote:
Ahh... the good old CADET. We discussed this before, methinks
That was the 1620, wasn't it?
Perhaps. Memory not what it used to be. I know BCIT had one when I
serviced their stuff.
Funny you should say that. The one 1620 I got to play with was BCIT's.
A friend taking classes there asked for help with a programming course... >>
servicing their 360/30 system while working for Comma Services.
Did you ever meet a fellow named Scriabin? I can't remember his first
name. He worked for BCIT and I think he had something to do with the 1620.
I never met any BCIT staff - this student friend just took me into
the machine room and turned me loose. In my spare time I wrote a
tic-tac-toe program for the 1620 and played with it for a while.
Eventually the typebar that contained the vertical bar wore out -
the character started printing wonky, and finally the slug broke off
and flew right out of the machine.
The only Scriabin I know of is the Russian composer.
Le 15/09/2025 à 21:16, c186282 a écrit :
On 9/15/25 03:47, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
I haven't seen an 8" disc.
Long, long ago, in a land far away (from Denmark), our software people
used to use them - but then, they also used punched paper tape. (I
haven't myself, only punched cards.)
In Denmark in private circles we used
"floppy" for the 5¼" discs, and we did the same with 3½" discs but
gradually turned to "diskette". Maybe we said "minifloppy" if there
could be doubt. I've never heard "micro-" used this way.
  Saw a news blurb a few weeks ago - the Swedish Navy is
  finally ending its use of 8-inch floppies for important
  mil systems/equipment. Wow !
  Why are they still using them ? "Time-tested", "known
  reliability".
Military and naval environments are harsh - wide temperature range, vibration, shock from gunfire, condensation, salt fog..., not to mention electromagnetic compatibility - and restrict what can be used. Space is
even more demanding.
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the players. Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one
that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one
shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland), so
I understand that the number of formats it can handle is infinite.
The aversion to masks is mostly a USA thing. And perhaps also a
political thing, everything is heavily politicized over there. And
political means hatred, even to the point of shooting one another. With
a president that does what he can to increase hatred and violence,
instead of appeasing it.
On Mon, 9/15/2025 11:35 PM, rbowman wrote:
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:50:17 -0400, Paul wrote:
The project needs a 3.4 Kilometer tunnel! That's a billion dollars worth >>> of tunneling right there. I did not see that in the plans. Clever. Oh,
well.
Should have hired The Boring Company. Anybody but Bechtel the corporation
behind Boston's legendary Big Dig. It only took twice as long and cost
twice as much as anticipated.
Where does the tunnel go? Seabrook Station in New Hampshire has 2 3 mile
long tunnels going out into the ocean. When concerns were raised about the >> temperature rise from the exhaust tunnel the answer was 'The lobsters will >> love the nice warm water!'.
Seabrook bankrupted Public Service of New Hampshire but at least it's
still operating. Maine Yankee and Vermont Yankee were killed by cheap
hydro from Quebec among other things. I wasn't enthused back in the '80s
but not because of nuclear technology. I thought their estimated of
projected demand were too high and the plants weren't economically
feasible. New England's manufacturing was leaving and the population
wasn't increasing enough to make up the difference with residential
demand. No problem today -- just build an AI data center.
Hopefully the SMRs work out.
There are four regular nukes "up the street" from that hole in the ground. That is one of the advantages the site has, is it is on the same slab as existing nukes. It will share some of the infrastructure (substation perhaps).
The citizens have already been given their potassium iodide tablets :-)
But I hadn't seen a plan to run a cooling tunnel.
There could be more SMR in future, and the cooling tunnel might
be shared by more than one SMR (eventually). This is all part of
"seeing what real benefits SMR bring", as to whether the budget
will be close to the projected value or not.
While every quanta of nuclear is worth something, it's a pretty slow
way to achieve a "step change in output". If there was a real BEV mandate, you'd never get there with a forest of SMR and holes-in-the-ground and cooleo-tunnels. As it is, I doubt we can keep up with the "retirement rate" of the existing reactors.
If there are any lobsters in the waters nearby, they will be "well-done"
and not just "medium-well".
Den 16.09.2025 kl. 12.44 skrev Carlos E.R.:
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland),
The 3½" floppies could hold 720 kByte when used on a PC. If you set up config.sys correctly, it could handle 144 kByte.
I haven't tried other formats on a PC, but I would be surprised if it
could handle other formats - without formatting.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:08:54 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The aversion to masks is mostly a USA thing. And perhaps also a
political thing, everything is heavily politicized over there. And
political means hatred, even to the point of shooting one another. With
a president that does what he can to increase hatred and violence,
instead of appeasing it.
The time of appeasing the 'progressives' may be over.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 12:44:31 +0200
"Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2025-09-15 22:51, rbowman wrote:CopyRite was the DOS prog to read anything, IIRC
On Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:51:04 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On the other hand, there was a plethora of incompatible
5 1/4" formats (at least before IBM steamrolled them), making it
difficult to exchange data back in the days when there was a lot of
diversity. At least without specialized hardware - our computer club
had a special floppy controller known as the Disk Maker, an S-100 card
which could handle 400 different 5 1/4" formats.
I had a CP/M utility that could read quite a few formats that were created >> > with the Western Digital floppy controllers but no where near 400
flavors.
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland), so
I understand that the number of formats it can handle is infinite.
xpost to afc, dropping aeu
The standard PC boot sector contains disk geometry info which can *theoretically* represent a wide range of disk formats; I'm not sureOn the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even
userland),
The 3½" floppies could hold 720 kByte when used on a PC. If you set
up config.sys correctly, it could handle 144 kByte.
I haven't tried other formats on a PC, but I would be surprised if it
could handle other formats - without formatting.
Den 16.09.2025 kl. 17.38 skrev c186282:
 Only used paper tape a few times, on a PDP-11.
 It *works* ... but ....
The first computer I came in contact with, was from Regnecentralen - the first Danish company to produce computers.It consisted of a box around
60 cm * 40 cm * 200 cm. It was connected to thre TTYs. The memory
available to the users was 17 kByte in all. It used paper tape also to
load the OS. I could punch out the Basic programs that I wrote.
Den 16.09.2025 kl. 12.44 skrev Carlos E.R.:
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even userland),
The 3½" floppies could hold 720 kByte when used on a PC. If you set up config.sys correctly, it could handle 144 kByte.
I haven't tried other formats on a PC, but I would be surprised if it
could handle other formats - without formatting.
On PC-s there was hardware floppy controller. Software could
configure it for various formats, but it was less general that
software-only floppy handling. My understanding is that Amiga
could easily write floppies in a format that was impossible to
read using PC floppy controller.
How warm or hot will be the water inside the tunnel? The tunnel is very large diameter, that's a lot of water. They could use it to warm houses instead.
Also, where does the intake water come from, another tunnel?
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:56:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
But in reality the real calculation was political. The main line of
attack was lockdown = quarantine. This also had the effect of reducing
colds and flu in general too.
That came at a cost. My ex lives in NYC and several of her favorite restaurants didn't survive. Even here the mom and pop gym I went to for
years didn't make it. It was struggling as it was. I'd switched to another gym that was more convenient and that was another lesson in irony. The
powers that be declared you did not have to wear a mask while actually exercising so you would pull the mask down, do your sets, and pull it back
up before moving to the next machine. Every other treadmill, which are
cheek by jowl, was turned off to maintain 6' fo distance between maskless, panting people.
There are also indications that the lack of social interaction other than Zoom sessions didn't do the kids' mental health much good. I'm not sure locking yourself for months did anybody much good. I'm not social by
nature so my life didn't change much. I went in to the office daily but
quite a few didn't. Hiking wasn't banned although there were signs telling you to maintain social distancing at the trailheads.
Anyone who thinks we were 'conned' is an idiot. In reality the political
classes were absolutely out of their depth and off the reservation, and
well over their pay grade on this. Their decisions were political, not
scientific, and allowing a lot of people to die isn't a vote winner, but
telling them not to touch and wear masks isn't a vote loser.
I don't know if I'd call in 'conned' but when a politician tells you with absolute certainty that six foot distancing and masks will save countless lives when they really don't have a clue what do you call it? Of course that's SOP for politicians in general.
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the players. Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one
that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one
shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
On 2025-09-16 21:15, rbowman wrote:
...
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of
testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by the
absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the players.
Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one
that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one
shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales.
And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
They are here.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:08:54 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The aversion to masks is mostly a USA thing. And perhaps also a
political thing, everything is heavily politicized over there. And
political means hatred, even to the point of shooting one another. With
a president that does what he can to increase hatred and violence,
instead of appeasing it.
The time of appeasing the 'progressives' may be over.
Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> writes:
You'd be surprised to know which CPUs are used when sending rockets to
the moon: 8080-CPUs for the reasons you mentioned.
Maybe it's different in newer rockets, but it's true for the first ones.
No, "The Intel 8080 .... Introduced in April 1974", way to late for
the first ones.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 20:28:35 +0200
Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> wrote:
On the PC the format was handled in software (BIOS or even
userland),
The 3½" floppies could hold 720 kByte when used on a PC. If you set
up config.sys correctly, it could handle 144 kByte.
I haven't tried other formats on a PC, but I would be surprised if it
could handle other formats - without formatting.
The standard PC boot sector contains disk geometry info which can *theoretically* represent a wide range of disk formats; I'm not sure
how far that can practically be pushed. The MS-DOS FORMAT utility
supported a lot more options for disk sizes, but I don't know if it
could read any arbitrary geometry as specified in the boot sector.
The controller itself imposed some limitations as well (at least some
of the parameters were shared across both drives on the ribbon, which
made for interesting times if one was trying to access a non-standard
format while running off a floppy in a standard format!) And only FM/
MFM encoding was supported, which meant that GCR-format disks (Apple
II, 400/800KB Mac, most Commodore) couldn't be accessed in any case.
On 9/16/25 12:15, rbowman wrote:
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:56:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
But in reality the real calculation was political. The main line
of attack was lockdown = quarantine. This also had the effect of
reducing colds and flu in general too.
That came at a cost. My ex lives in NYC and several of her
favorite restaurants didn't survive. Even here the mom and pop gym
I went to for years didn't make it. It was struggling as it was.
I'd switched to another gym that was more convenient and that was
another lesson in irony. The powers that be declared you did not
have to wear a mask while actually exercising so you would pull
the mask down, do your sets, and pull it back up before moving to
the next machine. Every other treadmill, which are cheek by jowl,
was turned off to maintain 6' fo distance between maskless,
panting people.
There are also indications that the lack of social interaction
other than Zoom sessions didn't do the kids' mental health much
good. I'm not sure locking yourself for months did anybody much
good. I'm not social by nature so my life didn't change much. I
went in to the office daily but quite a few didn't. Hiking wasn't
banned although there were signs telling you to maintain social
distancing at the trailheads.
Anyone who thinks we were 'conned' is an idiot. In reality the
political classes were absolutely out of their depth and off the
reservation, and well over their pay grade on this. Their
decisions were political, not scientific, and allowing a lot of
people to die isn't a vote winner, but telling them not to touch
and wear masks isn't a vote loser.
I don't know if I'd call in 'conned' but when a politician tells
you with absolute certainty that six foot distancing and masks
will save countless lives when they really don't have a clue what
do you call it? Of course that's SOP for politicians in general.
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a
lot of testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be
encouraged by the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I
forget all the players. Was it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one
shot and done' or was J&J the one that was pulled due to blood
clots? None of them ever achieved the one shot fix. Cynically the
need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the
shots are not 'free'.
No they were not free and Mr. Trump threw a billion at the
pharmaceutical companies to get them to act expeditiously. They
did using mRNA and it worked pretty well though it softened the
impact of the illness but many people got ill who had no time to get
the shots.
Mr.Trump later depreciated the shots which is ironic since no one
would have had them without his investment of our Tax Payers' funds.
Apart from that he lied and promoted quackery of all sorts.
That is well documented and we believed him when he told his lies
about the shortness of the restrictions which had to go on until he
was gone from office as he spouted the Big Lie about the 2020
election results. As Bugs would say, "What a maroon!".
bliss -
Øyvind Røtvold was thinking very hard :
Bertel Lund Hansen <rundtosset@lundhansen.dk> writes:
You'd be surprised to know which CPUs are used when sending rockets to
the moon: 8080-CPUs for the reasons you mentioned.
Maybe it's different in newer rockets, but it's true for the first ones.
No, "The Intel 8080 .... Introduced in April 1974", way to late for
the first ones.
Indeed, Apollo used custom IBM computers with rope memory.
Both the Command Module and the LM used the same computer, but differnt programs.
The Saturn 5 stages,IUI, used a state machine instead of programmable processors, mainly housed in the interstage.
_Sunburst and Luminary_ by Don Eyles is a memoir of the LM programming
(and the Sixties it happened in). I recommend it; I have it because it
was mentioned somewhere around here.
/dps
Le 15/09/2025 à 21:16, c186282 a écrit :
On 9/15/25 03:47, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
I haven't seen an 8" disc.
Long, long ago, in a land far away (from Denmark), our software
people used to use them - but then, they also used punched paper
tape. (I haven't myself, only punched cards.)
How warm or hot will be the water inside the tunnel? The tunnel is very
large diameter, that's a lot of water. They could use it to warm houses instead.
Also, where does the intake water come from, another tunnel?
My university had "central heating", a building with a large tower that burned a fossil fuel, and heating pipes traveled via tunnels, to other buildings on campus. This is why when I was doing lab work in the chem building,
and I would start a run, the temperature would change, like 15C between
start and end of a run, I would be sweating gumdrops, because the
radiators were uncontrollable and just roasted the living shit out of
where I was working. That's what "central heating" means to me.
On 2025-09-16 21:15, rbowman wrote:
...
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of
testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by
the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the
players. Was it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or
was J&J the one that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever
achieved the one shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot
guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
They are here.
That is because Europe is more sensible than the USA which is runon
myth rather than data. Myths put more money in the pockets of the very
well off. Otherwise we would have national health care for everyone in
all the terrritories of the nation to ensure public health.
No they were not free and Mr. Trump threw a billion at the pharmaceutical companies to get them to act expeditiously. They didwould
using mRNA and it worked pretty well though it softened the impact of
the illness but many people got ill who had no time to get the shots.
Mr.Trump later depreciated the shots which is ironic since no one
have had them without his investment of our Tax Payers' funds.
You know that there were other types of Covid vaccines developed, some
too late. One at least in Spain. No big pharma involved, no big money,
so they were slow. They finished it, but I don't know if it has been
used in the field.
That taught me a programming philosophy that lasted me for a lot of my
life. Instead of debugging, get it right the first time. You spend a lot
of time writing it down on paper and desk-checking before committing it
to paper tape.
These days, I must admit, I also spend a lot of time revising my
programs. My deteriorating eyesight means that I make a lot more typos
than I used to, so my first compilation of a program will give a couple
of dozen error messages. Then I fix those, compile again, and still get
a bunch of error messages. It's a time-wasting approach, compared with getting it right the first time, but that's what I have been reduced to.
Well, yes, the disks had to be formatted. A tool like PCTools Backup
would format and write in one operation, almost at hard disk speed.
On 2025-09-16 21:49, rbowman wrote:
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:08:54 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The aversion to masks is mostly a USA thing. And perhaps also a
political thing, everything is heavily politicized over there. And
political means hatred, even to the point of shooting one another.
With a president that does what he can to increase hatred and
violence, instead of appeasing it.
The time of appeasing the 'progressives' may be over.
So, you want a civil war?
bliss - born in 1937, raised during WW II, ready to kill for the
Nation without a second thought in my youth.
On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:48:56 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
You know that there were other types of Covid vaccines developed, some
too late. One at least in Spain. No big pharma involved, no big money,
so they were slow. They finished it, but I don't know if it has been
used in the field.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccination_in_Spain
According to that Pfizer was the leader. The total cost of the program is >not mentioned.
On 16/09/25 15:43, Hibou wrote:
Le 15/09/2025 à 21:16, c186282 a écrit :
On 9/15/25 03:47, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
I haven't seen an 8" disc.
Long, long ago, in a land far away (from Denmark), our software
people used to use them - but then, they also used punched paper
tape. (I haven't myself, only punched cards.)
Our university department bought one of the first PDP-11s. The starting
point was when two departments (electrical and mechanical engineering)
each had funding to buy a calculator. I pointed out that if they pooled
that money they could afford to buy a PDP-8. Then, at the last minute,
the DEC salesman mentioned that they were bringing out a new
minicomputer that was better than a PDP-8.
I had to stay up all night to run my programs on the PDP-11/20, because that's when it was available. The first step was to key in a short
loader using the front panel switches. That would load a better binary
loader from paper tape. Then I could load the assembler, also from paper tape, which took a long time. Then finally my own program, also on paper
tape that I had punched earlier.
That taught me a programming philosophy that lasted me for a lot of my
life. Instead of debugging, get it right the first time. You spend a lot
of time writing it down on paper and desk-checking before committing it
to paper tape.
Some years later I tried this out in one of the classes I taught. I gave
a programming assignment, and told them they would get only one run.
That is, it had to work the first time. Amazingly, about 80% of the
class succeeded. These were students who would normally spend hours
revising and debugging.
These days, I must admit, I also spend a lot of time revising my
programs. My deteriorating eyesight means that I make a lot more typos
than I used to, so my first compilation of a program will give a couple
of dozen error messages. Then I fix those, compile again, and still get
a bunch of error messages. It's a time-wasting approach, compared with getting it right the first time, but that's what I have been reduced to.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:58:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Well, yes, the disks had to be formatted. A tool like PCTools Backup
would format and write in one operation, almost at hard disk speed.
DECs shot at the PC world before they became a footnote in history. "We'll use this weird format and not provide a format utility so you'll have to
buy the diskettes from us!" The Rainbow was an interesting machine but
that ploy and the home grown DOs didn't win it many friends.
On 2025-09-16 18:44, Peter Moylan wrote:
These days, I must admit, I also spend a lot of time revising my
programs. My deteriorating eyesight means that I make a lot more typos
than I used to, so my first compilation of a program will give a couple
of dozen error messages. Then I fix those, compile again, and still get
a bunch of error messages. It's a time-wasting approach, compared with
getting it right the first time, but that's what I have been reduced to.
Reminds me of a song...
There's ninety nine little bugs in the code.
Ninety Nine little bugs.
Fix one bug, compile it again.
There's a hundred and three litle bugs in the code
....
On Tue, 9/16/2025 2:01 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 16/09/2025 18:50, Paul wrote:
While every quanta of nuclear is worth something, it's a pretty slow
way to achieve a "step change in output". If there was a real BEV mandate, >>> you'd never get there with a forest of SMR and holes-in-the-ground and
cooleo-tunnels. As it is, I doubt we can keep up with the "retirement rate" >>> of the existing reactors.
In fact if a given SMR is type approved, they can be kicked out of factories at a one a week basis if the demand is there.
It's no worse that e.g, a Boeing aircraft.
I'm referring to the ground preparation for the thing.
I'd hoped that a concrete hole in the ground, and
some plumbing connections... and done. But I presume
the cooling tunnel has something to do with gravity feed of cooling
water or some similar safety mechanism.
The powerpoint slides for the public, made it look about
as complicated as building a 7-11 convenience store. Which
it is not.
I'm not against the thing, but I like to see exactly how these
things work, as that makes it easier to understand later
when it comes in 3X over budget. Like, now that I know
tunneling is involved, that there is how the price will rise.
But that's the whole job of building one, is getting
a real total for the budget for one. And it can't get much
cheaper, than building on a site that already has nukes.
Paul
Tony Cooper wrote:
Whenever I see the heading "Floppies" in the newsgroup I
think it's a support group for men who suffer Erectile
Disfunction
Once a very important subject for Usenet users... judging by
all the "Buy Viagra" spam that newsgroups used to be infected
with!
or women who need large bra sizes.
Those floppies were affectionately called "sweater puppies"
back in the day! ;-)
I don't know if I'd call in 'conned' but when a politician tells you with absolute certainty that six foot distancing and masks will save countless lives when they really don't have a clue what do you call it? Of course that's SOP for politicians in general.
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the players. Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one
that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one
shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
On 2025-09-16 21:15, rbowman wrote:
...
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of
testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by the
absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the players.
Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one
that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one
shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales.
And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
They are here.
On 9/16/25 12:46, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-16 21:15, rbowman wrote:
...
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of
testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by
the
absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the
players. Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one >>> that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one >>> shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal
sales.
And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
They are here.
    That is because Europe is more sensible than the USA which is run on myth rather than data. Myths put more money in the pockets of the very
well off. Otherwise we would have national health care for everyone in all the terrritories of the nation to ensure public health.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:46:17 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-16 21:15, rbowman wrote:
...
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of
testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by
the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the
players. Was it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or
was J&J the one that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever
achieved the one shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot
guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
They are here.
Do you have non-profit pharmaceutical companies that prepare the vaccines
out of the goodness of their hearts
or does your welfare state pick your
pocket to pay for 'free' vaccines?
TANSTAAFL.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_such_thing_as_a_free_lunch
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:08:54 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The aversion to masks is mostly a USA thing. And perhaps also a
political thing, everything is heavily politicized over there. And
political means hatred, even to the point of shooting one another. With
a president that does what he can to increase hatred and violence,
instead of appeasing it.
The time of appeasing the 'progressives' may be over.
On 16/09/2025 20:46, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2025-09-16 21:15, rbowman wrote:Well that individual does not pay for the injection, just higher taxes
...
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of
testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by
the
absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the
players. Was
it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one >>> that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one >>> shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal
sales.
And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
They are here.
On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 00:48:56 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
You know that there were other types of Covid vaccines developed, some
too late. One at least in Spain. No big pharma involved, no big money,
so they were slow. They finished it, but I don't know if it has been
used in the field.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_vaccination_in_Spain
According to that Pfizer was the leader. The total cost of the program is
not mentioned.
On Tue, 9/16/2025 3:52 PM, Carlos E.R. wrote:
How warm or hot will be the water inside the tunnel? The tunnel is very large diameter, that's a lot of water. They could use it to warm houses instead.
Also, where does the intake water come from, another tunnel?
This is a simplified description of what they're building. The total tunnel length
is part for intake, part for outlet, and "some sort of diffuser" at the outlet.
That's where you cook your lobsters.
https://www.opg.com/projects-services/projects/nuclear/smr/darlington-smr/news/whats-going-on-in-the-lake/
The reactor is supposed to remain stable for up to seven days, on a cooling failure.
Presumably, the level of the tunnel system, will have some orientation to the ass-end
of the cylinder, or the underneath of the turbine hall. Maybe after another 20 web sites,
we will have enough info to make a diagram.
The PowerPoint slide I've seen, the "building" is the turbine hall, and it is likely
the scale was a wee bit off. The cylinder is likely to be mostly below grade by the looks of it. Which is why the PowerPoint slides, never really looked like a nuclear project, as they neglected to show a cut-away of how the cylinder
will be arranged. The site work right now is more likely to be concentrated on the cylinder mounting, rather than the rest of it.
It will be interesting, eventually, to discover just what the Z-axis offset is
for the cylinder. How far below grade it is. Part of the reason submergence is required, is for survivability to a 9-11 style attack. Regular reactors, the outer housing has some sort of survivability spec to aircraft attack. These toy reactors, will be using dirt to protect them.
Every nuclear industry has a "style", and ours does not like cooling towers for some reason. I think most of the installs used a water flow.
There have been plans for central heating or central cooling, arranged
around lake water cooling systems, so they don't necessarily throw away
all the heat from their little projects. There is a heating project down town for example, where one series of buildings needed heat, and the pipe was extended to some other buildings. We don't make a fetish out of these projects, but they do happen, and without a lot of fanfare.
My university had "central heating", a building with a large tower
that burned a fossil fuel, and heating pipes traveled via tunnels, to other buildings on campus. This is why when I was doing lab work in the chem building,
and I would start a run, the temperature would change, like 15C between start and end of a run, I would be sweating gumdrops, because the radiators were uncontrollable and just roasted the living shit out of where I was working. That's what "central heating" means to me.
IDK if this is a good map view, but this gives some idea of the scale--
of the area. It is likely five clicks to a population area that could
use the heat, for a central heating plan. You can see how big the
lobster boiling area is :-) The diffuser will be some distance from shore.
https://newnuclear-darlington.weebly.com/uploads/2/6/7/3/26731090/35273.jpg?625
Paul
On 2025-09-17, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:58:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Well, yes, the disks had to be formatted. A tool like PCTools Backup
would format and write in one operation, almost at hard disk speed.
DECs shot at the PC world before they became a footnote in history. "We'll >> use this weird format and not provide a format utility so you'll have to
buy the diskettes from us!" The Rainbow was an interesting machine but
that ploy and the home grown DOs didn't win it many friends.
One place where I worked had a couple of dedicated word processors
(remember them?) made by AES,
who tried the same trick. When we added
the CP/M option, I discovered that FORMAT.COM would happily format
floppies that you could buy at the local computer store for half the
price so that they'd work in native mode.
On 2025-09-16 21:49, rbowman wrote:
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:08:54 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The aversion to masks is mostly a USA thing. And perhaps also a
political thing, everything is heavily politicized over there. And
political means hatred, even to the point of shooting one another. With
a president that does what he can to increase hatred and violence,
instead of appeasing it.
The time of appeasing the 'progressives' may be over.
So, you want a civil war?
On PC-s there was hardware floppy controller.
configure it for various formats, but it was less general that
software-only floppy handling. My understanding is that Amiga
could easily write floppies in a format that was impossible to
read using PC floppy controller.
I long ago read an article in a magazine that explained and included software to write and read floppies with a lot more capacity. I don't
want to write a figure, because I don't remember. It played with gap
sizes and numbers.
Also, you'll find out that we pay less money for pharmaceuticals and procedures. I don't mean that they are subsidized, but that the pharma
and doctors and hospitals get paid significantly less. They get what is
due, not your kidney in gold. Sensible prices.
On 17/09/2025 10:25, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Also, you'll find out that we pay less money for pharmaceuticals and
procedures. I don't mean that they are subsidized, but that the pharma
and doctors and hospitals get paid significantly less. They get what
is due, not your kidney in gold. Sensible prices.
Indeed. yes.
And the price you pay is worse 'customer service'
Since you cant actually go elsewhere for treatment, unless you are
prepared to pay a lot.
On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:44:44 +1000, Peter Moylan wrote:
These days, I must admit, I also spend a lot of time revising my
programs. My deteriorating eyesight means that I make a lot more typos
than I used to, so my first compilation of a program will give a couple
of dozen error messages. Then I fix those, compile again, and still get
a bunch of error messages. It's a time-wasting approach, compared with
getting it right the first time, but that's what I have been reduced to.
I had some eye surgeries a couple of years ago but prior to that I had
fun. Python has list comprehensions that use [] and generator expressions that use (). The generators save memory but they are a one-shot and you can't iterate over the same generator twice. A list comprehension is built in memory and can be reused.
Of course, I used () by mistake and couldn't figure out why it worked one time and the difference between [ and ( on a laptop screen didn't exactly jump out at me.
On 2025-09-17 08:46, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
On 2025-09-17, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 21:58:00 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
Well, yes, the disks had to be formatted. A tool like PCTools Backup
would format and write in one operation, almost at hard disk speed.
DECs shot at the PC world before they became a footnote in history.
"We'll
use this weird format and not provide a format utility so you'll have to >>> buy the diskettes from us!" The Rainbow was an interesting machine but
that ploy and the home grown DOs didn't win it many friends.
One place where I worked had a couple of dedicated word processors
(remember them?) made by AES,
I remember machines sold as word processors, yes. One by Amstrad, I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PCW
With a Z80 cpu.
«All models except the last shipped with the Locoscript word processing program, the CP/M Plus operating system, Mallard BASIC and the Logo programming language at no extra cost. The last model, PcW16, used a
custom GUI operating system. »
who tried the same trick. When we added
the CP/M option, I discovered that FORMAT.COM would happily format
floppies that you could buy at the local computer store for half the
price so that they'd work in native mode.
I also remember typewriters with an LCD display. You typed, then it
printed the line after checking, I think.
The choice of font or rendering method can affect this a lot, just for a >small comparison, take Terminus and LatArCyrHeb, the former seems, at
least for some sizes, to focus on "thinner" lines, the latter has
"blocky" chars. Depending on your eyesight, I guess you may prefer one
or the other simply based on that.
On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:56:03 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
But in reality the real calculation was political. The main line of
attack was lockdown = quarantine. This also had the effect of reducing
colds and flu in general too.
That came at a cost. My ex lives in NYC and several of her favorite restaurants didn't survive. Even here the mom and pop gym I went to for years didn't make it. It was struggling as it was. I'd switched to another gym that was more convenient and that was another lesson in irony. The powers that be declared you did not have to wear a mask while actually exercising so you would pull the mask down, do your sets, and pull it back up before moving to the next machine. Every other treadmill, which are
cheek by jowl, was turned off to maintain 6' fo distance between maskless, panting people.
There are also indications that the lack of social interaction other than Zoom sessions didn't do the kids' mental health much good. I'm not sure locking yourself for months did anybody much good. I'm not social by
nature so my life didn't change much. I went in to the office daily but quite a few didn't. Hiking wasn't banned although there were signs telling you to maintain social distancing at the trailheads.
Did the pharma companies turn out a profitable product without a lot of testing at Warp Speed? At least in the US they might be encouraged by the absence of liability if they screw up badly. I forget all the players. Was it Johnson & Johnson that had the 'one shot and done' or was J&J the one that was pulled due to blood clots? None of them ever achieved the one
shot fix. Cynically the need for an annual shot guarantees eternal sales. And, no, the shots are not 'free'.
What I saw was at least a couple vaccines based on a promising
technology - mRNA - passing muster with some trials and then being
widely deployed, in what ought to be also promising for other vira in
the future.
How warm or hot will be the water inside the tunnel? The tunnel is very large diameter, that's a lot of water. They could use it to warm houses instead.
Also, where does the intake water come from, another tunnel?
Do you have non-profit pharmaceutical companies that prepare the
vaccines out of the goodness of their hearts or does your welfare state
pick your pocket to pay for 'free' vaccines?
In article <miuifhFcfqvU3@mid.individual.net>,
rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
Do you have non-profit pharmaceutical companies that prepare the
vaccines out of the goodness of their hearts or does your welfare state
pick your pocket to pay for 'free' vaccines?
My insurer picked up the tab even though they weren't legally required
to. They have a better bottom line when they pay for the vaccine
outright.
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