SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
I once was given this SOAP API to call
Once long ago, I was given this SOAP API to interact with.
Now I have no love of SOAP, but at least it fairly rigidly defines the API across different programming languages and technology stacks.
The well defined API consisted of a single function that accepted and returned a string. You passed it JSON and it returned JSON.
But it is a real SOAP API!!! Yes!, it really is SOAP I tell you!
It also had no real provision to return or deal with errors. How about an error field in every result that I can check? And with a numerical code AND a meaningful message that I can pass on to the end user? (And record in my server logs.)
There were a lot of actual underlying API calls present. (in JSON form) (But it's really SOAP I was told.) These API calls were somewhat documented; mechanically from PHP. The real implementation didn't always comply with the documentation however. Results sometimes were, ahem, loosey goosey. (like php maybe?) Over time the returned JSON structures changed from what they originally once were -- without any notice to anyone that might be using this API. There was clearly nothing rigidly enforcing the format on the other end.
Definitely not maintained in the more formal way I would have done it. With API version numbers for newer versions of the official API.
Eventually this other thing fell into disuse.
Home invader claims "self defense"
How can the aggressor claim "self defense"??
Just one of those sweet mysteries of life, I guess.
The Syrian war, now in its ninth year, has pulled in international players including the U.S., Russia and Turkey.
That's bullshit. The Syrian war was started by international players. Nice pretext to get "pulled in", eh?
Ah well, in November we'll find out how many people give a damn. There's really no reason to expect any different from last time though. It will be around the usual five percent
Russian Orthodox priests may stop blessing nukes
Religion News Service reported: Russian Orthodox Church considers a ban on blessing weapons of mass destruction
MOSCOW (RNS) — Early one evening in May 2018, days before the annual parade celebrating the Soviet victory in World War II, a convoy of military trucks carrying long-range nuclear weapons trundled to a halt on the Russian capital's ring road.
As police officers stood guard, two Russian Orthodox priests wearing cassocks and holding Bibles climbed out of a vehicle and began sprinkling holy water on the stationary Topol and Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Since relations between Russia and the West plummeted after the Kremlin’s seizure of Crimea in 2014, such scenes have become common here. Priests have sanctified S-400 surface-to-air missiles, nuclear submarines, tanks and fighter jets. Several years ago, a priest in Russia's far east explained that weapons, including nuclear missiles, were “perceived as a means of protection and salvation."
But the practice could soon be a thing of the past. Last month, a Russian Orthodox Church committee on ecclesiastical law recommended that clergy concentrate on blessing soldiers, rather than weapons.
[...]
Some critics have likened the role of priests in the modern Russian military to that played by Soviet-era political officers, whose task was to root out dissenting views. Russia is also constructing a vast Main Cathedral of the Armed Forces near Moscow, whose steps will be made from melted-down tanks seized from the Nazis.
Russian priests have long appeared in images sprinkling holy water on submarines, ballistic missiles, Soyuz space rockets and other pieces of hardware as part of rituals to bless them.
I'm not sure what to make of this, except that compared to Russian populism, America's does not look so bad. I support the separation of church and state.
An observation about IE and Edge
Background
Microsoft suddenly realizes . . . OMG . . . the internet is NOT just a fad, as Bill Gates had famously said.
OMG, web applications on browsers could make non-Windows platforms competitive! OMG!
Microsoft scrambled. Needs a browser. (classic) Mac already has good internet connectivity baked right in, and a couple good browsers (at that time). Microsoft finds company SpyGlass that makes the SpyGlass browser for Windows. Microsoft buys SpyGlass for $100,000 up front, plus royalty percent of sales. Renames the product Internet Explorer. Guess how many copies of IE are ever sold? Zero.
Microsoft then, over coming years, spends $150 million on IE to develop it into a 'great' browser, if you're a Windows only developer. With addictively great features (if you're a Windows developer). To create a Microsoftized "internet" that excludes non-Windows systems from running web applications. Windows developers (the monopoly) will naturally target IE as their favorite browser. Especially since it has such addictively great sugar coated features.
To further cement a Microsoft-only internet, there is IIS and Front Page.
(aside: Front Page has a four page license agreement, among its terms is that if you create a web site using Front Page, you cannot ever disparage Microsoft, Expedia, and a list of other Microsoft properties. Thus if you visit any web site, and it has tags in the html header section indicating it was created by Front Page, then you know just how credible that web site is when it comes to Microsoft.)
It's like a story of evil, upon evil, upon evil.
Fast Forward
IE loses. Standardization wins. At some point FireFox share goes over 50% and suddenly Microsoft is in panic mode again. IE share is declining. Also this new upstart Chrome browser is gaining market share. So in panic mode a 'kinder gentler' IE that is a bit more standards compliant: IE7.
But not good enough, so IE 8, IE 9, etc. Each becoming more standard compliant. But Microsoft find this is hard to do when the very purpose of IE was to break standards compatibility.
Then Edge, which is an admission that IE has failed. A humorous TV ad by Microsoft about how IE sucks and Edge isn't quite so terrible. You should try it.
Recently
Then Microsoft throws in the towel on Edge, and change its guts to Chromium.
Wow.
Rewind 20 years
Edge is based on Chromium. (Microsoft's doing)
Chromium is based on WebKit. (Google's doing)
WebKit is based on . . . (Apple's doing)
Konqueror.
Remember KDE 3? About 2000. (Before the pooch screw of KDE 4?) It had this cool browser called Konqueror.
In about 2000 I remember reading this on the green site.
First comes the Navigator.
Then comes the Explorer.
Then comes the Konqueror.
Wow. How true those words turned out to be!
Maybe Trump should cut SLS budget?
How many billions going forward would be saved by cutting SLS from the budget? Maybe that's a good place to start?
And get Mexico to pay for the wall! He vowed to do that in his campaign.
And don't build a wall along the Southern border. Build a Wal-mart along the length of the entire Southern border. Workers can come in from the south. Shoppers can come in from the North to buy foods high in fat, salt and sugar at low, low prices.
Remodel the current SLS hardware into a novel restaurant.
"The ledger was completely made up"
"The black ledger was a fabrication... It was never real... the ledger was never introduced as evidence... The ledger was completely made up... the black ledger was a copy of a document that did not exist... the black ledger was not a contemporaneous document, and likely manufactured after the fact..."
Ah, but this one is my fave
"All fees Manafort got were wires, not cash."
Democrats... whaddya gonna do?
Congressman Schneider goes after the NRA tax exempt status,
Congressman Schneider goes after the NRA tax exempt status, but he has a problem himself.....
Updated: an hour ago
On 2/6, Congressman Schneider escalated the attacks on the NRA’s tax exempt status.
Democratic Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois reiterated his call for an Internal Revenue Service investigation into the National Rifle Association, citing the Trace’s April 2019 investigation with The New Yorker. In a new report released on February 6, he compiled numerous allegations of self-dealing and financial misconduct at the gun rights nonprofit and concluded that “American taxpayers are subsidizing the NRA’s scheme.”
A member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Schneider last year requested documents from the NRA and its vendors as he sought more information on possible violations of its tax-exempt status. But he says the organization stonewalled his queries and blocked its former public relations firm, Ackerman McQueen, from cooperating.
Ok, fine (even though that whole thing with the New Yorker was an orchestrated hit job by Everytown). But what about Rep Schneider’s past dealings/influence over not for profits, specifically Everytown/Moms Demand Action?
So, the congressman contacted Moms Demand Action and asked them to contact public schools (taxpayer funded) in order to setup an event for him by using Everytown’s resources. The email that MDA sent states Schneider told them to do it. Schneider, on the other hand.....
On Saturday, I had the chance to meet and speak with students from more than a dozen area schools at a workshop program organized by Moms Demand Action. These young people are incredible. Their passion and energy are changing the debate on gun safety and setting an example for their elected leaders.
Uh, Congressman, MDA said YOU wanted them to organize it in 3/9/18 email. So which is it? Maybe this should be investigated further, as if you’re able to use a not for profit to setup events for your own purpose, that’s a huge no no in the 501C world.
It’s also interesting that Rep. Schneider is the one who spearheaded the investigation into the NRA in Congress two months after his little event in March.
Politifact is FAKE NEWS [Viva Frei]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knfLORnwSQA
(Not a website, you'll need to jump through hoops like a trained tiger if you haven't already. Really a shame but at least it's still better than TV.)
Long story made short, everyone's favorite Canadian law dawg got his nose rubbed in politifact's taint, and the result is quite an entertaining little rant.
The DNC/GOP has impoverished the U.S. Treasury
This graph shows how they did it*, as a team, not in opposition.
You have the power to undo this. Use it or lose it!
*Even though I'm using a "Bernie" thing, it still shows what happened, I don't expect much from him either. You gotta change the water in the congressional hot tub at least once every hundred years.
Presidential Bash exit codes
Dear Mr. Trump,
For your cyber convenience, here is a selected subset of Bash exit codes I have compiled just for you:
1 Operation not permitted
2 No such file or directory
13 Permission denied
25 Inappropriate ioctl for device
29 Illegal seek
31 Too many links
32 Broken pipe
52 Invalid exchange
57 Invalid slot
62 Timer expired
67 Link has been severed
69 Srmount error
74 Bad message
78 Remote address changed
87 Too many users
95 Operation not supported
111 Connection refused
113 No route to host
117 Structure needs cleaning
125 Operation cancelled
126 Required key not available
128 Key has been revoked
129 Key was rejected by service
130 Owner died
