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I bought a laptop with an AMD Ryzen 7 2700U CPU incorporating a Vega 10 GPU, an Acer Swift 3. It has 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Unfortunately the RAM is not upgradable but when the SSD breaks I will be able to remove it and replace it with spinning rust.

I've got Slackware-current running on it with kernel 4.17.14. It came with Windows 10 but that has been removed. In fact I managed to set it up without ever booting into Windows. When you power it up, you must press F2 to get into the BIOS. Obviously, you can avoid ever starting Windows if you press F2 quickly enough on first power up.

I made a USB boot stick for installing Slackware-current, It's actually not that hard. I began by using Alien Bob's local Slackware mirror script on my main PC to get the latest Slackware-current and to create the installation DVD .iso image. It downloaded many gigabytes of data, so took quite a while even on my reasonable (80Mbit) Internet connection.

I found some useful instructions and some boot files for making a Slackware UEFI USB boot stick. Short story: use gdisk to partition the stick with two partitions, the first being 100M in size, the second being the rest of the stick. The first has to has a type of 0xEF00 and the second 0x8300. Then you put a vfat filesystem on the first. It tells you to put an ext4 FS on the second but I'm not sure that's necessary. You need to create a directory in the first partition called EFI and under it a subdirectory called something like Slackware. Copy the files as directed at the above link into the EFI/Slackware subdir and sync the disks. You can also have a subdir called Boot which the firmware recognises specially as a default, and there is a naming convention for the files that go in there. Google is your friend.

When making a USB boot stick for a pre-UEFI system you need to run isohybrid on the .iso installation image. I did that here too. (Is this necessary for UEFI? It didn't do any harm.) dd the slackware-current .iso into the second partition of the USB stick.

Plug the stick into the laptop and power cycle, pressing F2 quickly to avoid booting any existing OS.

The firmware (BIOS) is UEFI and has Secure Boot. Before you can tell it to boot something other than Windows, you have to set a master password in the firmware. When you have done that you can change the priority of the boot devices and add the new boot loaders to the menu, after deleting the existing Windows ones.

Make sure that the USB stick is the first preference of boot device in the UEFI menus and remove the hard disk if possible so you can't accidentally boot Windows.

Reboot the machine, and hit F12 for a boot menu. Hopefully, the USB stick should be there. Select it and the familiar Slackware installation should start.

At this point you can make a backup of your Windows image in case you ever need to take the machine back for a warranty repair or sell it on to someone who needs Windows. I backed up my pristine uninstalled Windows image using dd from the command line and dumping the data onto an external USB hard disk. Piped through gzip the 256GB disk image compressed down to about 12GB. (There was a stuck pixel on the screen and I was glad I did this since I had to take it back to the store for a replacement).

Installing Slackware-current was very simple. I partitioned the SSD with gdisk to have three partitions, a 100MB UEFI boot partition (vfat), a Linux swap partition (8GB) and a Linux partition (the rest of the disk ext4). The installer said "Slackware 14.1" but that's because of the root disk image on the boot disk. I installed the complete distribution and rebooted. It worked, with eight penguins at the top of the screen.

When I say "it worked" it did, keyboard, touchpad and built-in WiFi. The kernel (4.14.56) that came with Slackware-current wasn't new enough to see the Vega GPU, so X would not run.

I downloaded the latest (at the time) stable kernel (4.17.8) and did a "make oldconfig" using the kernel configuration file from the slackware-current that I had installed. There were hundreds of new options and most of them were mysterious or irrelevant, so I just selected things as modules where I was unsure. I selected the support for the new AMD GPUs. Through poking around in /sys I noted that the touchpad was an Elan something and the WiFi chip was an Atheros 10k (driver ath10k_pci). I rebuilt the kernel and modules, but the new bzImage in /boot/EFI/Slackware and put a new entry in /boot/EFI/Slackware/elilo.conf for it and did a make modules_install. On rebooting the machine, I hit TAB to get the elilo menu and selected my new kernel. I was then able to get X up and running with a UK keyboard and the touchpad.

It turns out that to do a middle button click on the touchpad you have to put the tips of three fingers down and then push down to click. It takes a bit of practise...

By the way, I've been using it for three weeks and it's never swapped yet. It also has a fingerprint reader. I believe they are useless and will not even try to get it working.

There are a couple of problems, though. It intermittently hangs on boot when the kernel tries to switch from UEFI VGA to the AMD GPU driver (the open source one) and the machine locked up hard when watching a video in Palemoon. It wasn't on the network so I couldn't try to ssh. I had to power cycle it.

Next we shall see how SETI@Home runs on it.

Just had this video flung at me. Video link below the Wikipedia blurb. Norah Vincent did a thing!

Vincent's book Self-Made Man retells an eighteen-month experiment in which she disguised herself as a man. This follows in the tradition of undercover journalism such as Black Like Me. Vincent was interviewed by Ju Ju Chang on the ABC News program 20/20 and talked about the experience in HARDtalk extra on BBC on April 21, 2006, where she described her experiences in male-male and male-female relationships. She joined an all-male bowling club, joined a men's therapy group, went to a strip club, dated women, and used her knowledge as a lapsed Catholic to visit monks in a cloister. Vincent writes about how the only time she has ever been considered excessively feminine was during her stint as a man: her alter ego, Ned, was assumed to be gay on several occasions, and features which in her as a woman had been seen as "butch" became oddly effeminate when seen in a man. Vincent asserts that, since the experiment, she has more fully realized the benefits of being female and the disadvantages of being male, stating, "I really like being a woman. ... I like it more now because I think it's more of a privilege. She's also stated that she has gained more sympathy for and understanding of men and the male condition.

"Men are suffering. They have different problems than women have but they don't have it better. They need our sympathy, they need our love, and they need each other more than anything else. They need to be together."

— Norah Vincent

Feminist Pretends To Be Male.. And Learns Important lesson.

Rekt Feminist Videos, of course, fails to compensate for brain sex (uses assumption that gender is 100% a social construct) and extrapolates too much from the eventual “detransition” as it were, so read their commentary with a saltlick. (I did not view the comments section itself, because I think the State of California has determined that Youtube Comments may cause cancer.)

All of what Vincent reports checks out (including differences in the way sexuality is experienced). I don't have any caveats or disagreements with her analysis in the video.

One thing I want to highlight. If a cisgender lesbian develops mental illness due to living as the gender contrary to her brain's sex....

So, the dating world, there is a term - Catfishing. I guess that is the practice of using someone else's photos that are super hot and then basically trolling people. There is apparently a lesser form of this called kittenfishing where you use deceiving photos that are actually you, but are not exactly truthful. Last week, I was kittenfished.

I started chatting with a woman on OKC. She had only two photos (flag #1) of her, and both were from the same angle (flag #2). She looked really cute, so I messaged her. There was a pretty good exchange of messages. She eventually dropped a hint that she might be fat, so I asked for some photos that showed her body.

Now, this is where I feel bad. I'm sure it can be difficult being a fat woman. I asked for photos as nicely as I could - "Hey, so I love your pics, but I notice that you only have two photos that are practically identical to each other. Do you have any photos that show your body that you would be able to share?"

To her credit, she did share actual photos that showed a rather large woman. I've dated a larger women in the past who I got along with well, but I wasn't attracted to her and it didn't work out. I will not do that again.

So, anyways, she posts actual pictures that show her body. I said thank you, and complimented her dress. The next day, I sent a message saying that I didn't think it would work out because I felt that I had been deceived and that deception is not a good way to start a relationship.

She didn't take that well. Here are the last two messages of the exchange:

ME> So I've had some time to think and I'm sorry, but I don't think that it would work out. I really enjoyed our conversations, but ultimately I feel like I was misled.

> I Understand that everyone cherry picks some of their best photos to post to dating websites, but I believe that the photos should reflect the person that you will be meeting. Starting a relationship on deception is not a good way to begin.

> I'm sorry things had to go this way and I hope you eventually find what you are looking for.

>Take care,

>-- Snow

  -----------------

HER> I've been thinking about this as well. We would not have progressed past being frientds ...as sitting in Church on a Sunday knowing I was dating a married man would have made me a rather large hypocrite.

>But since you have brought up the subject... You asked 'my story' In it I said... 'Currently I am good enough to fuck but too fat to date.' That should have been a big fucking indicator as to what I might actually look like body wise.

> I have my reasons as to why I don't post body shots. After the 100th message of 'Hey wanna Fuck' I hope you can at least appreciate why...then again maybe you can't...hopefully one day you will. If it's imperative to see my body...fine...If it's not to you liking...fine...there is the door don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out. You are not the first...you damn well won't be the last...and make no mistake on this...the loss is never...EVER...mine

> I wish you all the best in your future endeavors...

> So Long Boyo...

> HerName

** She disabled her account **

I feel pretty bad. I'm sure it's tough being a fat woman doing online dating. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I didn't find her body attractive at all and I'm not going to go on a date with someone I'm not somewhat excited about. I did feel mislead and I was hoping that by telling her that, she would realize that deception up front leads to disappointment later. Maybe I should have just said 'Sorry, this isn't going to work out' and left it at that. I wanted to call her out on the photos though.

Anyways, I hope I didn't break this poor woman who obviously had body issues and had had a rough time dating. I don't feel good about how that one ended. I honestly don't know if I'm the asshole in this situation or not, so I'm here asking SN.

So, SN... Am I the asshole here? Please place your judgement below.

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Hmm....that sounds awful familiar....

#1 When I decided to go to Ohio for Troy Balderson, he was down in early voting 64 to 36. That was not good. After my speech on Saturday night, there was a big turn for the better. Now Troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. Congratulations on a great win in a VERY SPECIAL and important race! Troy will win BIG in Nov.

#2 Congratulations to a future STAR of the Republican Party, future Senator John James. A big and bold victory tonight in the Great State of Michigan -- the first of many. November can’t come fast enough. #RedTide on its way and Dems will be eating it!!

#3 Congratulations to Bill Schuette. You will have a Big win in November and be a tremendous Governor for the Great State of Michigan. Lots of car and other companies moving back!

#4 Congratulations to Josh Hawley on your big Senate Primary win in Missouri. I look forward to working with you toward a big win in November. We need you in Washington!

#5 Big congratulations to Kris Kobach, winning by 191 votes in Kansas. Kris is the best guy to fix the elections in Kansas!!!

Right, so I was in a mood tonight and considering how idiotic it is for white folks to think I should venerate the cultures and traditions of my ancestors from hundreds of years ago when they don't even venerate the cultures and traditions of their still living ancestors. Being the smartass I am, I went outside and did a rain dance (Okay, so it bore a strong resemblance to the Thriller dance. Fuck you. I'm an indian and if I say it's a rain dance, it's a rain dance.) while I was having a smoke.

I finish my smoke and come back in, quite amused with myself and do a #weather on IRC to get the forecast and fuck me if it didn't work.

So, I'm sitting here greatly amused with myself and then I remember I was going to take my boat out for half a day of jug fishing tomorrow.

Fucking stupid ancestral magic powers.

Freedom of the press may be guaranteed in the Constitution. But a plurality of Republicans want to give President Trump the authority to close down certain news outlets, according to a new public opinion survey conducted by Ipsos and provided exclusively to The Daily Beast.

New Poll: 43% of Republicans Want to Give Trump the Power to Shut Down Media

Friends, we have elections today in some of our Great States. In Kansas, in Washington, Ohio, Michigan & Missouri.

We have a Primary in Missouri. And we want JOSH HAWLEY. We need Josh very badly. Not the other guy (Petersen) that calls himself a Republican. But isn't loyal. Zero loyalty there!!!

Very special election in Ohio. There's only one choice in this election. We need Troy Balderson in Congress. And I'm sure he'll win. But we still want folks to vote for him. His opponent, controlled by Nancy Pelosi, is weak on Crime, the Boarder, Military, Vets, your 2nd Amendment -- and will end your Tax Cuts. Troy will be a great Congressman. I did a tremendous rally for him -- biggest crowd you've seen in your entire life. I love the shirts a couple of my VERY LOYAL supporters wore, "I'd Rather Be A Russian Than A Democrat"! Guys, I'd love to have one of those, I'll wear it very proudly. I'll wear the hell out of that one. Size XXL, please.

Special message for folks in Kansas. Kris Kobach, a strong and early supporter of mine who served very loyally on my Voter Fraud commission, is running for Governor of the Great State of Kansas. He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country -- he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! And I don't do these endorsements easily. Strong on Crime, Boarder Security & Military.

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!!

$ tar cvfz ~/Desktop/make_doug_even_happier.tgz ./trunk/

I'm copying trunk to my other box on a stick because I can't be bothered to figure out how to make Subversion work over NedSpace's WiFi.

I'll be stepping across the street to Peet's Coffee And Tea where I shall make Doug even happier than he previously was.

When I asked John Sununu about his part in this history — whether he considered himself personally responsible for killing the best chance at an effective global-warming treaty — his response echoed Meyer-Abich. “It couldn’t have happened,” he told me, “because, frankly, the leaders in the world at that time were at a stage where they were all looking how to seem like they were supporting the policy without having to make hard commitments that would cost their nations serious resources.” He added, “Frankly, that’s about where we are today.”

While nosing around, I came across this article by Bjorn Lomborg (a notable economist who has come out against most climate change mitigation):

Looking into the future, it’s likely that hurricanes will indeed become somewhat stronger by the end of the century. They will also likely become less frequent, and societies will definitely become more robust. A respected Nature review shows that hurricane damage currently costs 0.04% of global gross domestic product. Accounting for an increase in prosperity, this would drop fourfold to 0.01% by 2100. But the global warming factor making hurricanes fewer but stronger will mean total damage will end around 0.02%.

This shows that global warming is a problem, but it also shows us that even accounting for this, damages will decline.

[...]

Research shows that the Kyoto Protocol, the first major global deal to cut carbon and rein in temperatures (and, it would follow, help prevent hurricanes) failed to achieve a thing. The Paris climate treaty is on track to cost the globe about $1 trillion to $2 trillion per year for the rest of the century. The U.N. body responsible for the treaty estimates that the cuts promised until 2030 will achieve 1% of what would be needed to keep temperature rises under 2 Celsius, or 3.6 Fahrenheit.

What this suggests is that spending 1%-2% of GDP on climate policies could, at best, help avoid much, much less than 0.01% of GDP lost to hurricanes. That is an infuriatingly bad investment.

In other words, this sort of incredibly terrible economic trade-offs is why current climate change mitigation isn't going to happen on a large scale in the majority of the world that isn't wealthy and can't afford that sort of virtue signalling. There's obviously more harm to climate change than just a slight increase in sea level, but all of the costs of it have been exaggerated while the costs of mitigation have been ignored.

Finally, I think it's worth reinvestigating the key dynamic that kills climate change mitigation. Poverty is the leading cause of climate change and other environmental harm not wealth. Extremely poor people can't afford to care about climate change. Here's a 2013 story that illustrates that. A Willis Eschenbach talks about several examples of where poverty destroys the environment (such as the notable different in tree coverage between deforested and more impoverished Haiti and neighboring, better forested San Domingo), a key one was a story about some shenanigans in the Solomon Islands where local people sold out for pennies on the dollar to logging companies.

So that inexpensive purchase of the island councilors, I heard it was ten grand US$ per man, gave the logging company the right to negotiate a contract with the locals if they wanted to sign. One afternoon, some of the young Vella Lavella guys made the trip over to the island where I lived to ask if I would help them. I bought the beers, and we talked about the logging company. They said that they’d been agitating to convince the people to keep the company out and take care of their own forests. But the sentiment among the people was against them. They wanted the easy money, just sit back and let the company do the work.

So Mr. Eschenbach tries to help with predictable results.

So I went over the whole document and marked it up. Then I met up with the guys again, and we went over the whole thing, clause by clause. I’d re-written about two-thirds of the clauses, and I’d worked with my friend the Public Solicitor, and we’d put together a document that would be a good deal for the locals. The loggers would still make out, but like businessmen, not like highway robbers.

[...]

So the big night came for the meeting. Everyone showed up, loggers and islanders. I played the genial host, and left them to discuss the fate of the forest.

And in the morning? They all came out, shamefaced. I took one look, and my heart sank. I asked one of the old guys, one of the big men, what had happened. “Oh, the logger men were very nice! Can you imagine, they gave us a whole case of Black Label whiskey. They explained the contract, and it sounded wonderful, so we signed it” … oh, man, my blood was angrified mightily and I was in grave danger of waxing wroth … but I knew the old man, and he wasn’t a bad guy, just weak. So I curbed my tongue and shook my head, and I said that his sons might approve, but his grand children would wonder why he sold their birthright for pennies … then I went and talked to the young guys. They said they couldn’t stop it, once the big men were drunk they got combative and wouldn’t listen to anyone and they would have signed anything.

After some rhetorical soul-searching

And at the end of the day, I realized that I was on a fool’s errand. Oh, I’d fight the fight again, in a minute, but I’d lose again. It’s what happens when big money hits a poor country—the environment gets screwed, whether it’s logging, fishing, or mining. Until the country is wealthy enough to feed its citizens and to protect itself, its resources are always on sale to the lowest bidder … by which I mean the bidder with the lowest morals.

Now, I started this sad tale for a reason, to give substance to the damage that poverty does to the environment. When you can buy an island council for ten grand a man and there are literally millions of dollars at stake, that council will get bought no matter how hard I fight against it. Per capita GDP in the Solomons is about $600 annually, it’s classed as an “LDC”, a Least Developed Country … and in a country where ten thousand dollars is almost twenty years wages, you can buy many people for ten large …

And concludes:

So this is where I came in, explaining about how people fighting against CO2 hurt the environment. Let me repeat the links in the chain:

1. Led in part by the environmental NGOs, many people and governments have declared war on CO2.

2. Their preferred method of warfare is to raise energy prices, through subsidies, bans, taxes, renewable energy requirements, pipeline refusals, and the like.

3. The rise in energy prices both impoverishes the poor and prevents the development of poor countries.

4. As Obama pointed out, even wealthy people with economic worries tend to ignore the environment … so stomping on the development possibilities of poor countries by raising energy prices is a guarantee of years of environmental damage and destruction.

I'll note also that poor people tend to be fertile people.

In other words, the attempts to fix climate and environmental problems makes the conditions which created the problems even worse. This is self-defeating. One doesn't need to be blocked by Big Oil propaganda when doing more harm than good and people figure that out.

And that brings me back to the fundamental tragedy of the earlier journal article. There, the author repeatedly describes all the harms that supposedly will accrue from climate change (pathologically reproducing the behavior that discredited him in the first place) while completely ignoring the harm that comes from his destructive fixes for climate change. Why should we listen and agree with this one-sided argument?