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It's About Time to Drink Cockroach Milk

Posted by takyon on Tuesday May 29 2018, @10:07AM (#3265)
11 Comments
Techonomics

Take a swig of cockroach milk, the next great food trend

Roach crystal juice seems like something the Gates Foundation would promote.

If you want to live in space, you're going to learn to love roaches.

If you want to live on Earth as a non-(m|b|tr)illionaire, you're going to learn to love roaches.

If it's too difficult to extract the milk, you can simply eat the roach whole.

Automating Soggy Jobs: My First Baby Steps

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday May 28 2018, @12:13PM (#3263)
15 Comments
Code

Before you howl with too much laughter, please understand that I feel far more comfortable writing device drivers than web applications.

I just now finished listing all ninety locations for Synopsis:

The first thing I want to do to automate this is to list a company on
just one page, with a form for all of its locations, then have a
computer program propagate those listings to all the local pages.

This has the complication that many of those local pages won't exit
yet; for example I created the page for Enschede as I was working on
Synopsis' listings in Holland.

But a good start would be to only propagate the listings to pages that
already exist, with manual work required to create the new local
pages.

This because I have to look up the state or province and possibly the
county for almost all over the new localities. I also have to create
folders for them. From time to time I even list an entirely new
country.

While I do plan to use some manner of database by the time I'm done, I don't plan on specifying its schema myself - I'd hire a DBA to do that. I've never really understood why so many people are so into SQL. If I did use SQL I would use PostgrSQL but most likely I won't use SQL.

I'm going to do all the automation in Python, for the simple reason
that I'm already good at coding Python. There are many web
application technologies, each with their own strengths and
weaknesses. I'm not religious about them.

First, The Good News

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday May 28 2018, @05:47AM (#3262)
5 Comments
Career & Education

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.

Reparations Happy Hour

Posted by takyon on Sunday May 27 2018, @08:18PM (#3261)
13 Comments

I'm Going To Report A Large CP Site To The FBI Tomorrow

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday May 26 2018, @08:52AM (#3258)
20 Comments
Code

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 to Surrender to New York Authorities

Posted by takyon on Friday May 25 2018, @01:52AM (#3255)
11 Comments
Business

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

Just One Bug Is Holding Up More Money Than G-d

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday May 23 2018, @09:58AM (#3251)
6 Comments
Code

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.

Nvidia GTX 1050 3 GB

Posted by takyon on Monday May 21 2018, @03:30PM (#3249)
1 Comment

Sick Cannes Endorsement

Posted by takyon on Friday May 18 2018, @05:32PM (#3244)
5 Comments
/dev/random

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.

Space Octopus Retrovirus Clickbait

Posted by takyon on Thursday May 17 2018, @03:35PM (#3242)
1 Comment
Science

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)