I'm not the guy you replied to, but I really do reuse every "disposable" plastic bag that I get from a store, frequently multiple times. I haven't purchased a box of small trash bags in over 20 years. Before I relegate them to trash service I put them in a box in the pantry and use them for other purposes -- carry food for camping trips, or carry things to / from work.
I decided to look at their web site and immediately closed the tab. When did having full-screen background animation become an accepted practice? I've seen a couple of other web sites (paypal and one of my utility providers) do that and while it might display OK on a high-end 8-core system with a high-end graphics card, my few-years-old home system comes to a crawl with crap like that. So much so that it's so agonizing attempting to log into it (the utility provider one) that I don't even do that to pay my bill anymore -- I've reverted back to sending my payment via USPS. It's just annoying that web site designers appear to assume that everyone has a high-end system that is less than six months old, or that everyone is viewing their web site on high-end phone.
... Minnesota spent about a decade and $100 million to replace its ancient vehicle-licensing and registration software, but the new version arrived with so many glitches in 2017 that Governor Tim Walz has asked for an additional $16 million to fix it....
Must have bought the same software that my state purchased. For over a decade they collected a "modernization" fee while using the old system of IBM 3270 terminals, and when they hired the company to develop the new system it was a colossal failure. Wait times went up significantly. Years later and the system still hasn't improved. Oh, and they still keep collecting that modernization fee. The only improvement is that you can now reserve a spot in line via a text message and they will then send you a text message when you're near the front of the queue, so you can go to work or whatever and don't have to sit in the waiting room for hours.
I pay the "convenience" fee to handle as much as I can on-line and via mail, but some times that can't be done such as when purchasing a vehicle.
I bought a utility trailer a while back. They had to fill out my name and address on no less than four different pieces of paper. Seriously? Even if they need to use paper for some strange reason, they can't just type it in once and print out the four different forms they need?
Just because an app works on version 6 doesn't mean it will work on version 5. That's easier / faster to comprehend (for me, at least) than Marshmallow and Lollipop, but then again I've been told I'm a bit weird.
I'm just perplexed why people feel compelled say both the version number and the name, as the two are (basically) redundant.
It's also interesting that when I normally question things like this (things that I find very odd, like calling a "daughter board" a "shield" in the arduino world, even though the word "shield" means something completely different in the rest of the electronics industry) I'm told it's because it's shorter and faster to say or type, yet in the case of Android versions it seems I'm the only one who likes the short approach while the rest of the world prefers the long approach. Android 4? No. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Why every software project these days need to be identified by both a version number and some cutesy name? What's wrong with just "Android 9"? No, it has to be Android 9 Pie. I get that people doing internal work on things might have code names for unreleased versions, but once it's released those aren't needed anymore.
But since we've already crossed that threshold let us go one step further. To differentiate possible versions of Android 9 Pie I suggest episodes of Seinfeld.
"It doesn't work in Android 9 Pie That Time we Waited for a Table at a Chinese Restaurant." "Don't worry, they fixed it in Android 9 Pie Jerry Scratches his Face but the Woman he Wants to Date Thinks he is Picking his Nose!" "For some reason I can't update from Android 9 Pie The Contest, despite how much I swipe!"
I just completed mine. My refund was much lower. The total tax paid was higher, but I also had a higher taxable income. Doing the math, my effective tax rate (total tax divided by AGI) is about one percentage point lower than last year. The fact that my refund was lower is a good thing -- it means I gave the federal government a much smaller interest-free loan than I did last year, although there's still some room to fine-tune it as I'd prefer to not give out any interest-free loans. So, I could be mad that my refund is lower, or be mad that I'm paying more in tax, but I'm actually happy that a smaller slice of my income pie went to those idiots in Washington, DC.
I wonder how many people actually look at the whole picture? Most of the people I see complaining are only looking at the refund, which is nothing more than the end-of-year settling up of the difference between what was paid and what needed to be paid. To do a real comparison people need to compare line 11 of this year's 1040 with line 63 of last year's 1040, and take into account any differences in AGI.
This is true. A couple of years ago my state decided to completely redo a two-mile stretch of 6-lane interstate highway. Nothing major -- no redesigned interchanges or anything, no new land acquisition, just a complete replacement of the old road (it was needed.) It took two years. Effectively a mile a year. As I drove through the construction zone each day of those two years I wondered: How on Earth did we ever get the national interstate highway system built in the first place?
Things I have done and/or still do with Linux: - Embedded software development (MP-LAB for Microchip's PIC microcontrollers) - Schematic capture and PCB layout - Monitor / maintain my finances - Wrote and published a book - Developed cover art for said book - Have started writing / editing a second book - Download & manage photos from my camera - Play games - Ran an emulator to relive my Tandy CoCo days - Development of my web sites
Things I do when I'm at work and my employer forces me to use Windows 10: - Wonder why people put up with this crap - Curse a hell of a lot more than I normally like to do during peacetime.
Agreed. I recently had a discussion with another electrical engineer concerning a one-off project I was planning to build. I needed to read an analog voltage from 0 to about 5 Volts, do some scaling, and display it as an (up to) 3-digit number.
Him, serious as a heart attack: "It sounds like you need a raspberry pi and some python code!"
Me, after picking my jaw up off the ground: "What? You really think I need a 32-bit ARM CPU with 512 MB of RAM running a multi-user, multi-tasking, unix-like operating system just to read one analog voltage and drive a 3-digit 7-segment display? I can do this with a 90-cent PIC and maybe 100 lines of assembly code."
Him: "Yeah, but once you add the power supply it will cost a lot more than a rpi and be a lot bigger."
Me: "What are you smoking? A low-dropout 3 or 5 Volt linear regular and a couple of caps will cost me another 90 cents and will fit on the same tiny PCB. And the whole thing will draw a lot less power than a raspberry pi. And it won't be running millions of lines of bloated, potentially buggy code that I've never seen."
Slashdot Mirror
The economy goes in cycles. We're overdue for a contraction.
I have deeper, more meaningful Conversations with my cat than I do with any humans:
I'm not the guy you replied to, but I really do reuse every "disposable" plastic bag that I get from a store, frequently multiple times. I haven't purchased a box of small trash bags in over 20 years. Before I relegate them to trash service I put them in a box in the pantry and use them for other purposes -- carry food for camping trips, or carry things to / from work.
Just putting this here for posterity.
I decided to look at their web site and immediately closed the tab. When did having full-screen background animation become an accepted practice? I've seen a couple of other web sites (paypal and one of my utility providers) do that and while it might display OK on a high-end 8-core system with a high-end graphics card, my few-years-old home system comes to a crawl with crap like that. So much so that it's so agonizing attempting to log into it (the utility provider one) that I don't even do that to pay my bill anymore -- I've reverted back to sending my payment via USPS. It's just annoying that web site designers appear to assume that everyone has a high-end system that is less than six months old, or that everyone is viewing their web site on high-end phone.
So no Minds for me.
Came to the comment section just for this. Thanks!
... Minnesota spent about a decade and $100 million to replace its ancient vehicle-licensing and registration software, but the new version arrived with so many glitches in 2017 that Governor Tim Walz has asked for an additional $16 million to fix it. ...
Must have bought the same software that my state purchased. For over a decade they collected a "modernization" fee while using the old system of IBM 3270 terminals, and when they hired the company to develop the new system it was a colossal failure. Wait times went up significantly. Years later and the system still hasn't improved. Oh, and they still keep collecting that modernization fee. The only improvement is that you can now reserve a spot in line via a text message and they will then send you a text message when you're near the front of the queue, so you can go to work or whatever and don't have to sit in the waiting room for hours.
I pay the "convenience" fee to handle as much as I can on-line and via mail, but some times that can't be done such as when purchasing a vehicle.
I bought a utility trailer a while back. They had to fill out my name and address on no less than four different pieces of paper. Seriously? Even if they need to use paper for some strange reason, they can't just type it in once and print out the four different forms they need?
"Possibly" go wrong.
Huh. That's the first thing that's ever gone wrong.
... WTF has this world come to?
Just because an app works on version 6 doesn't mean it will work on version 5. That's easier / faster to comprehend (for me, at least) than Marshmallow and Lollipop, but then again I've been told I'm a bit weird.
I'm just perplexed why people feel compelled say both the version number and the name, as the two are (basically) redundant.
It's also interesting that when I normally question things like this (things that I find very odd, like calling a "daughter board" a "shield" in the arduino world, even though the word "shield" means something completely different in the rest of the electronics industry) I'm told it's because it's shorter and faster to say or type, yet in the case of Android versions it seems I'm the only one who likes the short approach while the rest of the world prefers the long approach. Android 4? No. Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Why every software project these days need to be identified by both a version number and some cutesy name? What's wrong with just "Android 9"? No, it has to be Android 9 Pie. I get that people doing internal work on things might have code names for unreleased versions, but once it's released those aren't needed anymore.
But since we've already crossed that threshold let us go one step further. To differentiate possible versions of Android 9 Pie I suggest episodes of Seinfeld.
"It doesn't work in Android 9 Pie That Time we Waited for a Table at a Chinese Restaurant."
"Don't worry, they fixed it in Android 9 Pie Jerry Scratches his Face but the Woman he Wants to Date Thinks he is Picking his Nose!"
"For some reason I can't update from Android 9 Pie The Contest, despite how much I swipe!"
I just completed mine. My refund was much lower. The total tax paid was higher, but I also had a higher taxable income. Doing the math, my effective tax rate (total tax divided by AGI) is about one percentage point lower than last year. The fact that my refund was lower is a good thing -- it means I gave the federal government a much smaller interest-free loan than I did last year, although there's still some room to fine-tune it as I'd prefer to not give out any interest-free loans. So, I could be mad that my refund is lower, or be mad that I'm paying more in tax, but I'm actually happy that a smaller slice of my income pie went to those idiots in Washington, DC.
I wonder how many people actually look at the whole picture? Most of the people I see complaining are only looking at the refund, which is nothing more than the end-of-year settling up of the difference between what was paid and what needed to be paid. To do a real comparison people need to compare line 11 of this year's 1040 with line 63 of last year's 1040, and take into account any differences in AGI.
"10 bits should be enough for anyone" - US DOD
This is true. A couple of years ago my state decided to completely redo a two-mile stretch of 6-lane interstate highway. Nothing major -- no redesigned interchanges or anything, no new land acquisition, just a complete replacement of the old road (it was needed.) It took two years. Effectively a mile a year. As I drove through the construction zone each day of those two years I wondered: How on Earth did we ever get the national interstate highway system built in the first place?
(Lights cigar.)
Yep. There's no such thing as bad publicity.
And I, for one, welcome our new feline overlords!
... this explains why cats are taking over teh world.
Most of the people I know who are debt-free and live below their means tend to be pretty low-profile.
I'm just posting to thank the submitter and/or EditorDavid for using the Oxford comma.
Things I have done and/or still do with Linux:
- Embedded software development (MP-LAB for Microchip's PIC microcontrollers)
- Schematic capture and PCB layout
- Monitor / maintain my finances
- Wrote and published a book
- Developed cover art for said book
- Have started writing / editing a second book
- Download & manage photos from my camera
- Play games
- Ran an emulator to relive my Tandy CoCo days
- Development of my web sites
Things I do when I'm at work and my employer forces me to use Windows 10:
- Wonder why people put up with this crap
- Curse a hell of a lot more than I normally like to do during peacetime.
Can we save it from bloated web sites that demand to load all sorts of scripts, fonts, and other (mostly) useless stuff?
A PC version made its way to the US long before 1989, too. I remember playing it on an IBM XT clone in the mid '80s.
I guess that's better than giving it away for a price...
Agreed. I recently had a discussion with another electrical engineer concerning a one-off project I was planning to build. I needed to read an analog voltage from 0 to about 5 Volts, do some scaling, and display it as an (up to) 3-digit number.
Him, serious as a heart attack: "It sounds like you need a raspberry pi and some python code!"
Me, after picking my jaw up off the ground: "What? You really think I need a 32-bit ARM CPU with 512 MB of RAM running a multi-user, multi-tasking, unix-like operating system just to read one analog voltage and drive a 3-digit 7-segment display? I can do this with a 90-cent PIC and maybe 100 lines of assembly code."
Him: "Yeah, but once you add the power supply it will cost a lot more than a rpi and be a lot bigger."
Me: "What are you smoking? A low-dropout 3 or 5 Volt linear regular and a couple of caps will cost me another 90 cents and will fit on the same tiny PCB. And the whole thing will draw a lot less power than a raspberry pi. And it won't be running millions of lines of bloated, potentially buggy code that I've never seen."