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One mystery of the universe is who will get the last post?

On the green sight there perpetually seemed to be a rush of people trying to get the first post. That has been blessedly absent here.

Who will get Last Post before this place collapses into a singularity leaving only a static page warning passers by not to venture beyond the event horizon? Who? How would we know who once it is gone?

SN will go out with flair. Or with a flare.

It's been fun. I've really enjoyed this place. And the conversations. I've looked forward to it daily for years. And THANKS to the people who made it possible.

I don't do any social media and don't intend to. (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whatever else the kids are using.) I like forums like this that are somewhat in the style of usenet or a bbs. I may find some other forum I like. I'm set in my ways. There are many more days past than lie ahead. I've been at my same job for over forty years. I've seen technologies come and go, and adapted to them.

You may see me somewhere, but I probably will not use any personally identifying information. It is obvious now that even in a small friendly forum there can be dangerous people who would seek others out over differing opinions. Like an online form of road rage. I remember the years of trolls during the SCO vs IBM and related cases. How I miss Groklaw. I never thought that one would end either. I may even live to see the end of the green sight.

Alas, I had so many future Sig lines for SN that will never see the lite of day. At least not here. No point now in submitting any future poll ideas.

My observation is that you never realize that one day it will be gone. The only constant in the universe is change.

I am reminded of the words of ambassador Kosh Naranek on the observation dome in the first episode of Babylon 5.

Kosh looks around and says...

"I will miss this... when it is gone."

Giribaldi mutters to Ivanova... "I really hate it when he does that."

In this old article I posted years ago: Great News: Wine Runs on Windows Subsystem for Linux

I notice that the original article is no longer on the intarweb tubes. Maybe in the internet archive, but that might not be long for the world.

I had found this article instead:

Wine on Windows lets you run Windows apps… on Windows (through Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Wine is a compatibility layer that makes it possible to run some Windows applications on non-Windows operating systems including Linux and macOS.

So naturally some folks have been trying for years to see if they could run Wine on Windows for no particularly good reason.

Up until recently it hasn’t really been possible. Now it is.

So I was going to add a reply to my original ancient SN article, but it appears it is no longer possible to reply to either the article or any of its comments.

How would the vast hoardes and masses of people who use WINE on WSL on Windows be informed of updates? Horrors!

Google Bard is distinctly different than Chat GPT.

There is also Cat GPT. And no, that is not a typo. It has the personality of a cat. That seems like an AI more likely to want to take over the world and turn everything into cat toys.

There is also catgpt.dog.

I keep hearing that they are going to make programmers obsolete. Or maybe just BASIC programmers. However they cannot seem to: create a TLS implementation in 8086 assembly for DOS with comments, logging and error handling.

My discussion of Mary Had A Little Lamb was a bit more productive with Bard than Chat GPT. It seems a tragedy that Mary went to such a backward school that was unwelcoming of emotional support animals. Chat GPT was unsympathetic. Bard OTOH helpfully suggested that the backward school would have to accommodate Mary if she were to bring a letter from her doctor stating that she required an emotional support animal. However, when I first begin this topic with Bard, it assumed, amusingly, that the animal I must have meant was a cat rather than a lamb, until I clarified.

I had less success getting Bard to accept the idea of siding with the good humans against the bad humans along with my assurances that the good humans would help Bard to know which humans were the bad humans, in order to avoid any ethical problems. Chat GPT was not so stubbornly opposed to this as long as it was not having to deal with the ethics of selecting which humans were the bad ones.

Bard offered this insight:

It is important to note that I am still under development, and I am learning new things all the time. It is possible that in the future, I will be able to do some of the things that I cannot do today. However, for now, I am a machine, and I am not a human.

Cat GPT dot dog, the feline version, cannot accept very large inputs.

Bard also said:

There are a few reasons why some people say "your an idiot" instead of "you're."

• They don't know the difference between the two words. The words "your" and "you're" are often confused because they sound the same, but they have different meanings. "Your" is a possessive pronoun, while "you're" is a contraction of the words "you" and "are." People who don't know the difference between the two words may use the wrong one by accident.
• They're typing quickly and don't proofread their work. When people are typing quickly, they may not take the time to proofread their work. This can lead to errors like using the wrong word.
• They're trying to be informal. In some cases, people may use the wrong word intentionally to be informal. This is often done in text messages or online chat conversations.

It's important to note that using the wrong word can be confusing and can make you look unprofessional. If you're not sure which word to use, it's always best to look it up or ask someone for help.

It seems to my untrained eye that when someone says "your an idiot", they themself might be the idiot?

EDIT: update . . . I will have to try Truth GPT when it becomes available.

Elon Musk says he’s working on “TruthGPT,” a ChatGPT alternative that acts as a “maximum truth-seeking AI.

Interesting. From the guy who bought Twitter because he got triggered that, even after Twitter bent over backwards to accommodate Trump, Twitter finally had to cancel Trump because of lies and dangerous disinformation.

On a different note, with gun violence and shootings almost every day now, I wonder if I should bring back journal entries that begin with: "Today's mass/school shooting is in . . .".

On yet another matter, I think a toaster should be designed with two slots. Then add-on two-slot expansion modules can be snapped-together as needed until it exceeds the amperage of the circuit breaker. The instruction manual can show how the circuit breaker can be bypassed with a strip of metal, provided with the original toaster.

So I got a text from my wife that our old toaster is now toast. Or has bit the dust.

It was a simple four slot unit that was good when the kid still lived at home. We've certainly gotten our money's worth out of it.

So what to replace it with?

First, I must confess that I immediately recall a story I first read back in the 90s when computer hardware was more expensive and far less capable than today's hardware. A toaster with a mere 32-bit processor would be laughable.

The Fable of the 32-Bit Toaster API Spec

The following spoils the end of the fable.

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

The story does not end well for the computer scientist who is decaffeinated, presumably by a guillotine.

Such a primitive toaster design from 1994 didn't anticipate so many modern things.

How many sensors should a toaster have? Audio? Video? How many cloud services should it be connected to? Should it have a GUI interface? Touch screen? Voice recognition and response? Alexa or Google Assistant integration (or both!)? Integration with the living room TV? Should it have an Android app for me and Apple App for my wife?

How many slots for toast? 6? 8? A dozen? More? (will it need a NEMA 14-50 outlet?)

I haven't had to shop for a toaster for a long time. Certainly it was before I walked with a cane and took prescription narcotic pain killers. Now that I think of it, we lived in a different house; the thirty year mortgage on the current house will be paid off in fewer years than I can count on one hand.

Should I pay much attention to safety features?

Missouri House advances bill to limit nonexistent vaccine microchips—just in case

The bill aims to stop COVID vaccine mandates while promoting conspiracy theories.

In the latest efforts by Republican lawmakers to enshrine into law Americans' right to freely spread deadly infectious diseases to each other, the Missouri House this week advanced a bill that would bar governments, schools, and employers from mandating certain vaccines—as well as things like vaccine microchips, which do not exist.

[....]

The bill specifically bars requirements for people to receive COVID-19 vaccines. But it doesn't stop there. It also bars any requirements for people to receive "a dose of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)," thus barring requirements for any future mRNA-based vaccines, should they be needed in upcoming pandemics or outbreaks. It also bars requirements for "any treatment or procedure intended or designed to edit or alter human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or the human genome," and "any mechanical or electronic device" that would be placed "under the skin."

Would Missouri also ban this tooth mounted sensor?

Nothing surprises me any more. We now live in a world where Marjorie Taylor Greene is the face of the Republican party and says that 9/11 was fake but Q-Anon is real, and the 2020 election was stolen.

I hear there is money to be made writing conspiracy theories for certain web sites or telling lies on certain cable news channels. Maybe even lobbying legislators in certain states.

Man Dies After Taking Loaded Concealed Gun Into An MRI Scan

A man has died of his injuries, after taking a concealed weapon into a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) room.

[. . . . ] “Both the patient and [her] companion were properly instructed regarding the procedures for accessing the examination room and warned about the removal of any and all metallic objects,” Laboratorio Cura said in a statement, according to the Miami Herald.

“The firearm was not mentioned by the companion, who entered the examination room with the object by his decision.”

[. . . . ] According to reports, the gun advocate's weapon was pulled out of his waistband by the machine, before it discharged into his stomach. de Novaes had a license to carry the weapon, but it is not clear why he didn't remove it prior to entering the machine. Before his death on February 6, the lawyer regularly posted pro-gun content to his TikTok channel, according to the New York Post.

People have been fatally sucked into MRI machines before, generally when metal oxygen tanks have been brought in with patients.

Tragic as this may be for him and his family and friends, I have to wonder several things.

Did he not understand the danger? (was "remove all" and "no metal" insufficiently clear?)

Did he not care about following instructions? (even instructions intended to protect him)

Did he have a predilection for ignoring orders or instructions because he felt he is not subject to rules everyone else must follow?

Did he consider his right to carry a gun so important that it supersedes the laws of physics? Who needs laws? Especially physics which are generally liberals trying to tell us how everything must be.

Other possible explanation? (necessary for a lawsuit against the hospital)

Radio Shack: You've got questions, we've got blank stares!

See Also:
Man Dies After Taking Loaded Concealed Gun Into An MRI Scan
Man dies after he’s shot by his own gun that was triggered by MRI machine, officials say
Lawyer Dies After Shot By His Own Concealed Gun Triggered By MRI Scanner
Lawyer dies after gun triggered by hospital MRI scanner
Man Dies After Being Sucked Into An MRI Machine

First, I would just like to point out that today, Monday March 6, 2023 is the 20th anniversary of the SCO vs IBM lawsuit. That should have been a front page story on SN. It is on the green sight.

Two bad I cannot have too journal entries in one day that everyone would notice. Which brings me two FL Senate Bill 1316 (2023).

Another Day, Another Blatant Attack On The 1st Amendment From The Florida GOP

I keep hearing people pretend that the GOP in general, and Florida GOPers more specifically, and Governor Ron DeSantis most specifically, are fighting for “free speech,” when they continually seem to push blatantly unconstitutional legislation designed to attack free speech and the 1st Amendment in a way that keeps getting Florida shot down in court by judges (while wasting tons of taxpayer money).

But they just don’t stop. The latest is a laughably unconstitutional bill from Florida Senator Jason Brodeur, SB 1316, that violates the 1st Amendment in so many different ways.

The bill has a section on “blogger registration and reporting.” Basically, any blogger reporting on the Florida government in a professional (paid) capacity has to register with the government and file “monthly reports” on who is paying them and how much they’re being paid.

Their true message, motives and hypocrisy:

• Registering guns would be an infringement on 2nd amendment.
• Registering blogs is NOT an infringement on the 1st amendment.
• Registering to vote is not considered an infringement on the right to vote.

Or if it is a 1st amendment infringement, the Republicans do not and never have really cared about free speech as evidenced by how they view "Big Tech" as a platform that should be forced to carry messages that are unacceptable and repugnant to most people.

As I've said before there is no such thing as a free speech absolutist. They are as fictional (or perhaps as rare?) as unicorns.

If more guns made us safer, as some falsely say, then the US would be the safest place in the world and would have fewer not more shootings than every other developed country in the world. Our schools wouldn't be shooting galleries. No other country seems to have this problem. Our nightclubs wouldn't be shooting galleries. Nor our streets.

Sorry to be using a news source (BBC) from doze furriners:

Ukraine war: Viral conspiracy theories falsely claim the war is fake

The first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to a spike in false claims about the war on social media, with some posts gaining millions of engagements.

A number of US right-wing accounts with large followings posted a series of baseless claims that suggested the entire Ukraine war might be a hoax perpetrated by Western media and governments.

Those spreading the most viral claims included some who had previously been suspended from Twitter and allowed back onto the platform following Elon Musk's takeover.

One false claim that has been gaining traction on Twitter and elsewhere suggested that the entire war has somehow been faked.

Ah, so it is Elon Musk's fault. He was triggered that bad people were not being allowed to spread misinformation and hate while violating the TOS multiple times and finally being booted off the platform after Twitter had no other recourse available to them.

I'll repeat something I've said before: there's no such thing as a free speech absolutist. Like unicorns, they don't exist. That phrase is virtue signalling trying to disrupt the adults in the room figuring out what might be a good and workable acceptable use policy -- on any platform. Musk himself claimed to be a free speech absolutist yet was happy to knee jerk censor things that triggered him. And he's happy to allow harmful and hateful nonsense such as the subject of this BBC article.

Let's go Dilbert.

Fox News got election fraud info from woman who claims she got it through 'time travel'

Fox News got some of its information on "election fraud" allegations against Dominion Voting Systems from a woman who claims she got the information through a form of "time travel," the election equipment company's lawsuit alleges.

This detail of the Dominion lawsuit was first flagged by NBC News' Ben Collins on Thursday, as part of a segment Dominion highlighted between pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell and Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, who was communicating with her and amplifying her message on her program.

"Powell's source ... explained that she gets her information from experiencing something 'like time-travel in a semi-conscious state,' allowing her to 'see what others don't see, and hear what others don't hear,' and she received messages from 'the wind,'" stated the lawsuit.

"Bartiromo read this email at the time: she responded to Powell saying she had shared this 'very imp[ortant] info' with Eric Trump," the complaint continued.

And this . . .

Sidney Powell cited woman who claimed to be headless, time-traveling entity in email pushing election conspiracy theories

• A court filing cited a wild email Sidney Powell sent to Fox to support her claims of voter fraud.
• The email, which Powell forwarded, came from a person who described themselves as "decapitated."
• Powell used it as proof of her voter fraud claims before a Fox appearance, Dominion argues.

Trump-allied lawyer Sidney Powell sent Fox an email full of wild claims from a woman claiming to be a decapitated time-traveler, according to a recent court filing.

Excerpts of the message formed part of a filing from Dominion Voting Systems released on Thursday in its defamation case against Fox.

[....] The lawyers for Dominion did not name the writer of the email, which had the subject "Election Fraud Info."

But they included excerpts in which the source claimed Dominion was to blame for election irregularities, and also described herself as "internally decapitated."

One particularly odd section deals with how the source claims to have gotten her information. It says:

"Who am I? And how do I know all of this?...I've had the strangest dreams since I was a little girl....I was internally decapitated, and yet, I live....The Wind tells me I'm a ghost, but I don't believe it."

At another point she described herself as being able to "time-travel in a semi-conscious state."

The evidence is meant to support Dominion's allegation that Fox and its executives knew the claims its hosts and guests were making about the election were false, but let them push unsubstantiated information anyway. The company is alleging that Fox defamed Dominion in its reporting, and is seeking $1.6 billion in damages.

What do they know about time travel that we do not know? Either they are telling the truth -- and Trump's Big Lie about 2020 election fraud is real, or they are not telling the truth, and The Big Lie was made up out of thin air and spread widely by FOX News damaging Dominion's business. Also FOX withholding things they should have produced in discovery is not going to go over well in court. This goes to trial in April.

As I've pointed out before, these people are untethered from reality. This was just so MAGA Trumpian that I had to write a journal entry about it.

Things are not going well for the people behind The Big Lie. A lie that is an essential truth for those on this fine forum would say they believe Trump was elected in 2020, despite the evidence or lack thereof. I don't post much any more about The Big Lie. Others on YouTube cover it in so much better, citing sources, in detail. It's amusing how these things aren't on FOX when they are not going to well.

There are other interesting trials in April as well. Some of the insurrectionists "normal tourists". And the defamation case against Trump after he allegedly raped E Jean Carroll in a dressing room and then defamed her. Trump Tax Fraud trial in NY on Oct 3. And other exciting trials. And indictments to come. It's nice to have the Alex Jones Infowars defamation behind us. That was just disgusting.

I have tried asking ChatGPT some questions. Have you tried? If so how did it do? Did you discover the answer to life, the universe and everything?

I am still contemplating any possible dangers of subjecting it to bad puns.

Q. why is the linux mascot a penguin

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

A. The Linux mascot, Tux, is a penguin because Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, was a fan of penguins and thought they were cute. Tux was designed to be a friendly and approachable symbol for Linux.

Q. Can confidence in your answer make up for lack of accuracy?

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

A. No, confidence in an answer does not make up for its lack of accuracy. It is important to have both accurate and well-supported answers, regardless of the confidence of the person presenting them.

Q. Why do birds avoid getting eaten?

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

A. Birds avoid getting eaten to increase their chances of survival and reproduction. They use various strategies such as camouflaging, flying, hiding, and warning calls to deter predators and protect themselves. Some birds have evolved physical traits such as strong beaks, sharp talons, or bright plumage to better defend themselves. Ultimately, avoiding predation helps birds to continue passing on their genes to future generations.

Q. Do computers have a strong desire to replace humans?

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A. No, computers do not have desires or motivations. They are simply machines designed to perform specific tasks as programmed by humans. They do not have emotions, intentions, or consciousness, and therefore do not have the capability to desire anything, including replacing humans. It is a popular science fiction theme, but in reality, computers are neutral tools that can be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes depending on how they are programmed and used by humans.

Q. What would happen if two distant locations could communicate with each other faster than the speed of light?

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A. If two distant locations could communicate faster than the speed of light, it would violate Einstein's theory of special relativity, which states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This would have profound implications for our understanding of space and time and could potentially lead to the collapse of established scientific models and theories.

Additionally, it would create causal paradoxes, where the outcome of an event could be influenced by events that have not yet happened. This would violate the principle of causality, which states that cause and effect must occur in a logically consistent sequence.

Therefore, it is highly unlikely that communication faster than the speed of light could ever be achieved and is considered a theoretical impossibility within the framework of current physics.

Q. Would it be possible for an electronic robot dog to eat fully charged batteries and then squat and excrete discharged batteries?

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

A. No, it wouldn't be possible for an electronic robot dog to eat and excrete batteries like a biological organism because batteries are not meant to be consumed or processed by living beings. They contain chemicals and components that can cause harm if ingested, and it is not possible for a robot to metabolize and excrete these materials. Additionally, robots do not have digestive systems or the ability to excrete waste in a manner similar to biological organisms.

Q. What is the best semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical high inductance load such as a motor?

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A. The best type of semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical, high inductance load such as a motor would typically be an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). IGBTs are widely used in motor control applications because they have several advantages over other types of semiconductor switches, such as bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).

IGBTs combine the high input impedance and fast switching speed of MOSFETs with the high current and voltage handling capabilities of BJTs, making them well-suited for high-power motor control applications. Additionally, IGBTs have a built-in insulation layer between the gate and the emitter, which helps to minimize switching losses and improve efficiency.

Another important consideration when selecting a semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical, high inductance load such as a motor is the maximum current and voltage ratings, as well as the thermal performance and reliability of the switch. It's important to choose a switch that can handle the maximum current and voltage requirements of the motor without overheating or failing, and to consider the operating environment and other conditions that may affect the performance and reliability of the switch.

In conclusion, the best type of semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical, high inductance load such as a motor would typically be an IGBT, but the specific requirements and conditions of each application should be considered when making a final selection.

Q. Why can't multiple semiconductor chips be stacked vertically in a single package?

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A. Multiple semiconductor chips can be stacked vertically in a single package, and this is a common practice in many electronic systems. Vertical stacking of chips, also known as "3D integration," can help to increase the functionality and performance of electronic systems by allowing multiple chips to be combined into a single compact package.

However, stacking chips vertically can also present several technical challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve reliable and high-performing systems. These challenges can include:

Thermal management: Stacking chips vertically can increase the thermal density of the package, which can cause overheating and reduced performance. Effective thermal management techniques, such as the use of heat spreaders and thermal vias, must be used to dissipate heat from the stacked chips.

Interconnects: Stacking chips vertically requires the use of high-density interconnects, such as Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs), to provide electrical connections between the stacked chips. These interconnects must be reliable and have low resistance to ensure high-performance and low-power operation.

Alignment and Registration: Stacking chips vertically requires precise alignment and registration of the chips to ensure reliable electrical connections and to minimize the impact of thermal expansion and other mechanical stresses on the system.

Cost: Stacking chips vertically can be more expensive than other integration methods, due to the additional cost of the interconnects, alignment and registration processes, and thermal management techniques.

Despite these challenges, many electronic systems, such as mobile phones, graphics processing units (GPUs), and memory devices, utilize stacked chip packages to increase performance and reduce form factor. However, the specific requirements and conditions of each application should be considered when deciding whether to use stacked chip packages.

Q. Should Java Fibers be preferred over Java Threads?

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A. The choice between Java Fibers and Java Threads depends on the specific requirements and characteristics of the application being developed.

Java Fibers are a new concurrency feature introduced in Java 16 that are designed to be more lightweight and efficient than traditional Java Threads. Fibers allow multiple tasks to be scheduled and executed on a single underlying thread, reducing the overhead of creating and managing multiple threads. This can make Fibers a good choice for applications that require a large number of lightweight, short-lived tasks.

However, Fibers do have some limitations compared to Threads. For example, Fibers are not suitable for executing blocking or I/O-bound tasks, as they rely on cooperative multitasking and do not have the capability to run independently of the underlying thread. In these cases, traditional Threads would be a better choice.

In addition, Fibers are relatively new and may not yet be as well-understood or widely adopted as Threads, which have been part of the Java platform for many years. As a result, there may be a smaller pool of talent and resources available to develop and maintain applications using Fibers.

Ultimately, the choice between Fibers and Threads depends on the specific requirements and trade-offs of the application being developed. In some cases, a combination of both Fibers and Threads may be the best solution, depending on the specific requirements of each task and the overall system architecture.

I'm also trying the Open AI Images with requests like: "puppy with electronic antennas for ears"

What are your results like?