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I now have lots of free time to devote to The Global Computer Industry Index.

My friend Stefan Youngs asked me to volunteer for Aircrew Remembered but I've never really had the headspace for it until just tonight.

I'll tell you the bad news right after I hurl my thousand-dollar iPhone 7 in the Columbia River.

At Portland's 'reparations happy hour,' people of color get $10 and a place to meet

‘Reparations Happy Hour:’ Each minority attendee gets $10 from white Portland donors

People Aren't At All Impressed By This 'Reparations Happy Hour' Where White Donors Gave $10 To Attendees Of Color

‘Reparations Happy Hour’ Invites White People to Pay for Drinks

Event poster.

Alcohol is basically poison. So white people are paying to poison black, brown, and indigenous folks!

Internet Crime Complaint Center.

When I report the CP to anyone - not just the FBI but also deputies from Clark County in Washington and Multnomah County in Oregon - I use my real name, my real home address, my real phone number and my real email.

Both of the deputies were dismayed at what I reported but as we parted they both said "Keep up the good work". I expect lots of others do this kind of "Free Agent" work but I expect most others do so anonymously.

I need to get some ZZZzzzs to have any hope of writing coherently.

It's a dot-com. If nothing else the FBI could seize their domain. But I expect they'd let it continue to operate while they spend some time tracing it to its origins.

It's a large still photo site. Most of the photos are thumbnails from videos, others are "magazine covers" for bundles of sets. Typically each issue has 3000 photos.

Each image is a link to a page that enables one to "join". The actual videos and full issues are available only to members.

I've never registered as a member anywhere, nor have I ever paid for access.

Three or so years ago I reported a .com and a .org domain to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. From time to time I checked them then was dismayed that the sites were still operating. But I checked again just recently. The original sites were gone to be replaced by garden-variety nutritional supplement vendors.

Harvey Weinstein will be charged with rape, source says

Harvey Weinstein is expected to turn himself in to the NYPD on Friday morning on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

The first-degree and third-degree rape charges are from one case and the first-degree sex act charge is from a second case, according to the source.

Harvey Weinstein to surrender, face criminal charges in N.Y. sexual assault case, sources say

Prosecutors in New York and L.A. have been developing cases against Weinstein, but sources have said for weeks that New York authorities were closest to bringing charges. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were not clear on the scope of the case New York prosecutors plan to file.

The charges would mark a major milestone in the #MeToo movement, which has sparked numerous accusations of misconduct by powerful men in the entertainment and other industries — and numerous criminal investigations, but few actual criminal charges.

[...] According to law enforcement sources, detectives believe that case is promising for prosecution because the woman told her story to three people, including a priest, relatively soon after the alleged attack. LAPD detectives also have obtained bills showing that the woman was a guest at the Beverly Hills hotel where she claims Weinstein attacked her, the sources said. The case does have flaws, they added. Detectives found little physical evidence of an attack and have been unable to secure proof that Weinstein was at the hotel when the woman says the rape occurred.

Cue the inevitable rage when he "gets off".

Updates:

Harvey Weinstein charged with rape following New York arrest

Rose McGowan and Other Harvey Weinstein Accusers React: ‘We Got You’

Harvey Weinstein's arrest is cathartic. But real victory won't be in court

Memorial Day is actually kinda depressing. No one seems to know what it's about.

Today, as I was leaving work, HR came waddling up to me.
"Are you coming to our Memorial Day picnic?" I have a number of reasons why I don't attend company picnics, among them, the fact that I am an asocial asshole.
Me:"No, I'm not going to be there."
HR: "Oh, but we're honoring all of our veterans! You should come!" Welllll - first off, I'm not her veteran, nor the company's veteran. None of us served the fat broad, nor her board of directors. And, second, I resent every time the company collects all the veterans they can, snap a photo, then publish it in the local papers to capitalize on our service.
Me: "Naaahhh, it's to much bother to drive home from work, get a shower, get dressed, then drive another hour to come back for a picnic."
What I SHOULD HAVE SAID, "Memorial Day isn't about those of us who came home. Memorial Day is about our buddies who didn't come home. Memorial Day is about all of my dad's buddies who didn't come home. Memorial Day is about the MILLIONS of people who laid down their lives, so that the rest of us can get on with our lives."

So very, very, VERY few seem to "get it". We veterans already have a day, called "Veteran's Day". On that day, it is appropriate to have a picnic for your favorite veteran(s). Shake their hands, make sure they get a piece of cake, and say "Thank you for your service". That sort of thing is entirely appropriate on Veteran's Day.

On Memorial Day - I like to sit around the house, and reflect. I think about shipmates who are still on patrol. I think about all those sailors, Seabees, and Marines of my dad's generation, all of them still on patrol. I think about the men and women who have served this country since our nation's Declaration of Independence. People who fought the British - twice. People who fought the Indians, many times, rightly and wrongly. Our ancestors who fought the Mexicans, the Spanish, North Koreans, Russians, and more recently, Vietnamese, Iraqis, and Afghans.

So very many never came home.

And, HR wants me to attend a picnic, so that she can "honor" me? WTF? I ain't dead. Someone tried to kill me a few times, sure, but that doesn't count.

Maybe we didn't suffer enough in our wars. Some other countries understand Memorial Day better than we do. Both China and Russia seem to have better observances than we do. Maybe it's because both countries have survived wars in which literally millions of civilians were killed. Much of Europe lost far more than we did, because both the first and second world wars were fought right there. In their town squares, in their schoolyards, in their backyards. Us? All we did was to send a bunch of men and material overseas. Our town halls weren't blown into splinters. Our churches weren't bombed. Our hospitals weren't firebombed. Our women and children didn't watch brigades of foreign troops trying to butcher each other in the streets.

Memorial day. To me, it's just not a time to party. Let us honor our fallen, instead. Even if it might mean a little discomfort for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARtqpGMkhN4

Maybe - just maybe - I can persuade a few among you to visit a cemetery. Walk around, and find some of the veteran's tomb stones. Many are easily identifiable. Take a few flags with you - some of those little 9 inch flags, on little wooden sticks. Plant those flags beside the tomb stones. Spend a few minutes, and think. And, tell the man beneath that stone, "Thank you for your sacrifice, Sir."

That done, may you enjoy your picnic. And, tell me whether the food tastes even better, for having taken the time and trouble to honor those who deserve honor.

So, I was out smoking and getting my first cup of coffee down this morning when the solution to the skills gap in the U.S. hit me out of the blue.

You know how your ears, nose, and feet keep slowly growing all your life, right? What we need is some lab coat wearing sons of bitches to figure out the mechanism that causes this. Then we need them to figure out a treatment that will cause the same in the penis. Enough guys should then spend what would otherwise go to a degree to pay for the treatment and force them to take up a skilled trade if they want to make a good living.

Problem solved.

And I don't have the hardware required to reproduce it.

It's a purely cosmetic bug, and a really minor one at that. But my client's sales people feel it is crucially important for me to fix it.

Today I regressed it on a whole bunch of different macOS - the operating system formerly referred to only by Apple employees as "Mac OS Ten" - versions as well as a whole bunch of different boxes.

Late in the day I was delighted to find my email totally spammed full of me adding new regressions to RedMine:

No - 10.12.5 (NNNNN) Late 2019 Mac mini, Model Identifier Mac512k42,1984

The entire company got copied on every single regression I tried, each of which was just one line like the above.

And I can't install El Capitan on an Early 2016 MacBook because El Capitan is from 2015 and so the 2016 on up models won't boot off the installer stick.

Just as I left work I explained what was meant by Model Identifiers and how to... uh... "identify" them - use the System Report button in "About This Mac" then suggested they buy me the correct Model Identifier from Other World Computing.

With a mischevious grin I checked Other World's stock of used MacBooks to find that they had no 2015 MacBooks in stock.

But I did point out that they get new used Macs in all the time.

I'm likely to stay home today but I'll check my email regularly. Somewhere I have an email that links to a couple other reputable used Mac dealers.

Bonita and I developed a really effective budgeting template at first in Quatro Pro, then in Microsoft Office Excel, then in OpenOffice.org and now in LibreOffice but not dot org.

The result of that is that I've already spent More Money Than G-d and as well have spent another five thousand Samoleons.

Sucks To Be Michael David Crawford.

More VRAM and cores, less memory bandwidth:

NVIDIA Officially Launches GeForce GTX 1050 With 3 GB VRAM – Improved Core Specifications Along With A Cut Down Memory Interface

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 (3GB) has a 96-bit memory bus

Lars von Trier's 'gross' and 'torturous' film prompts walkout

Provocateur Lars von Trier is under fire again after a screening of his film, The House That Jack Built, prompted dozens to walk out.

Starring Matt Dillon as a serial killer, one reporter, Roger Friedman said it was a "vile movie. Should not have been made. Actors also culpable". Another tweeted: "Gross. Pretentious. Vomitive. Torturous. Pathetic."

Dillon plays an architect who kills several women and children in gruesome fashion. Uma Thurman also stars.

Von Trier had been banned from the festival for seven years for comments he made in a press conference for his sci-fi film Melancholia. The Danish film-maker pushed organisers too far when he said (as a joke it was later assumed) he was a Nazi.

Now, with The House That Jack Built, the offence has gone further - into the throng of the gathered press. In one scene, as the killer Jack mutilates a girlfriend, he says: "Why is it always the man's fault... If you are born male you are born to be guilty. Think of the injustice of that."

IMDB. Film is 2h35m. It doesn't appear to have been widely released, so streaming/downloading it isn't possible yet.

No, Octopuses Don't Come From Outer Space

Disputed study:

Cause of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic? (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2018.03.004) (DX)