For a moment I thought I was living in a crazy world..

Then I realised I was..

Reference:

https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/...

So.. let me get this right, a huge digital library of text, can only let one person at a time, look at a copy they have..

I can't for the moment, think of a more absurd thing !

I mean..

"You are number 1,392,293,943 in queue to read the book you have requested, estimated time for delivery is 134 years, 3 months, and 4 days, do you wish to continue waiting ?"

It's going back to the old days, when I'd order a book at the library, and wait 2 years to get to read it..

Your kidding me right !

No, I think this is real, and I guess one of the conditions for it being available online..

I did ponder this kind of crazy idea myself a few years ago, but everyone else said it would never work..

But I had in mind to have more than just one copy available for folk to view..

I mean, if you own 10 physical books, you can lend them out to 10 different people at once.

So, if you have 10 physical books, and one digital scan, then you should be able to lend out 10 digital scans at once right ?

That was the idea..

How to avoid death from Covid 19 and vaccines, a hypothesis to explain my near death experience and what to expect for the future, by a concerned citizen.

The important variables at play:

My weight = 220lb, overweight by 50lb say.

My muscle mass = very low, I can lift 25lb.

My age = 50+

Blood pressure = High, but not quite high enough to need treatment, on the edge.

Diabetic condition = Not.

Now lets introduce 3 Covid 19 vaccinations.

1st, no real effects to worry us.

2nd, no real effects to worry us.

3rd... bad effects..

I ponder, was the 3rd shot, maybe from a more potent batch, hadn't deteriorated in transit as much as the previous 2 ?

Did I also catch another version of Covid 19 at the same time ?

Was my fairly rare variables the result of which I now appear to have diabetic symptoms..

Has this damaged me enough that it won't just get better on its own, and my options are to, lose weight, gain muscle mass, and perhaps try a fasting diet ( Shown to work in mice.. ) in an effort to regrow my insulin-producing cells ?

So for those of you out there like me, suggestions:

Lose weight.

Gain muscle mass.

Self isolate 4 weeks before vaccine, and 4 weeks afterwards.

Try to be at the back of the queue for vaccines so yours has aged a bit and isn't quite so potent.

Thoughts ?

You know when you want to log into something and your authenticator battery is flat..

No problem, just follow the online instructions about how to get it removed, except you get an error when trying that route..

Maybe we can put in another battery, since the banking ones you can just unscrew the back and pop in the new batteries..

How hard can it be..

https://youtube.com/watch/...
---------
Tinkertubes Lab [33] Destructive battery change of blizzard WOW authenticator "batt 00"
---------

Well, I found out if I wait like forever, mine does spring to life eventually..

Just long enough to log in and remove it right !

Well, just long enough to login, and repeatedly get asked to use it, before I can remove it..

Luckily in my case, the battery did last long enough to do that, but it wasn't just a one time thing !

Remember the old Battlefields like 1942 I think it was, the demo version, how easy it was to just jump in and play against AI bots.

2042 I hear has AI bots..

So far I can't easily figure out how to play solo against them..

Lets ignore the near hour it took to, no wait, 2 hours it took to download and install the latest patch, and then like treacle work our way into the game, and actually start playing..

Can you imagine of video arcades was like that, queue for 2 hours before you do anything enjoyable !

So, its got AI bots right ?

So.. how do I start a game with just AI bots ?

Of course, if I had ordered it in physical form, it would have come with a manual right..

Since when does "fit picture to frame" supposed to result in cropping ?

Or this a MS only thing..

Similar to last rant, but about a search function on another forum..

Is this really how search is supposed to work ?

---------------
USER
Search broken
I searched for the following:

"Presumably the land mass would be falling further south"

Which it should have found here:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---------------
SUPPORT
Looks to be working to me.

Searching for 'Presumably' finds that message.

The search ignores quotes though, it looks for all the words. So, when searching for the string you searched for, the hit is outside the maximum number of results.
----------------
USER
I wasn't searching with quotes, that was just to make it clear what I was searching for.

( But it would be nice if it could do what Google does, and allow you to search for an exact phrase. )

I notice the first message it finds is:

--
XXXXXXXXXXXX
No accounting for taste! :^)
It was the BBC who chose the rhino one to hilight, presumably because it
was the only one to include useful research!
--

So it finds 'Presumably' and I'm guessing 'the' but not any of the other words: 'land mass would be falling further south'

So is it only a single word search function ?

Searching for 'Presumably falling' finds the same message again, when 'falling' isn't even in that message !

I tried searching for 'The third graph on', the first hit is:

--
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Enable these 3 easy Windows settings to drastically improve your PCas
security

From ransomware and malware to viruses, a lot of things can go bad when you own a PC. Here are three settings you can change to improve security in Windows.

--

How can that be a hit at all, when none of the words searched for appear in that message !

Now it does list the correct message searched for way down in the list, so I'm guessing from that experiment it can look for all the words..

So, shouldn't it list the top message in the hit list with the most words that match the search terms ?

And not include messages that contain none of the search words. :-)

Also, is the order it searches based on todays date going backwards ?
--------------
SUPPORT
The search function searches for messages containing any of the words you enter, anywhere in the message, even part words.

> I tried searching for 'The third graph on',
> the first hit is: the appears in the text of
> this message, second word 'these'.

> So, shouldn't it list the top message
> in the hit list with the most
> words that match the search terms

> Also, is the order it searches based
> on todays date going backwards ?

The search function returns results chronologically with the latest at
the top.
-------------------

I login, spot an interesting story about a manager, and then it updates the live feed and the story vanishes from view...

Searching for "manager" obviously doesn't work..

Grrr !

Ok, I've waited to see if they fix it, but no..

So, anyone know how to get Thunderbird to start displaying its little blue flags to let you know when you have new mail ?

Since for a while now, it doesn't 100% like it used to, and I'm sure I'm missing emails because of it !

It's bad enough that they only stay on for one session.. ( Doesn't anyone know there are email clients that remember what you did last session ! )

Oh right, this is a rant site, I can rant !

Finally somewhere to let off steam..

Where I am, there is an ever growing number of jobs.

Great you think.

Unless of course you actually need anyone to do anything, and then, well, there isn't anyone, since the position is open..

And the situation is getting worse..

Why you might ask..

Well, lots and lots of people are moving here, but, none of them are skilled in anything useful..

So, no plumbers..

But lots of artists who make things out of bits of wood they find on the beach.. ( Not that you really find much wood on the beach here, since there aren't any trees to start with.. )

So, this is why ancient civilisations fell, and we have unfinished pyramids..

https://flickeringmyth.com/2021/05/...

So.. is there a better movie out there which nails the development side somewhat better than glossing over all the work involved in creating stuff ?

Just watched it, and its like 2/3 of the movie was missing !

I'll just pop onto this multinational website and order some stuff, how complicated can it be..

Several hours later..

10% of the stuff I wanted has been ordered..

The rest..

Well..

Error messages that don't really tell you anything, which empty your shopping cart in the process so you have to start all over again.

Which when you are trying to order dozens of different items, is annoying..

Their Facebook page, lots of "I'm support, please tell me your problem" messages, followed by customers having told support their problem and got the reply back that they can't tell them why their order wouldn't go through, even though they know why..

After lots of experimenting, my "feeling" is its stock related..

Eg. The software lets you order stuff that isn't in stock, and only after you've paid for it, do they actually check stock levels, then find out, they can't fill your order, and give you a refund.

But don't tell you which items in your order are out of stock..

Apparently been like it for years..

AI, or just random chance, I dunno..

Dating site profile:

User is:
> 15,891 kilometres away

User profile first line is:
> A sense of humour is a must.

Related link:

https://quora.com/What-is-the-longe...

I just found out an API I was intending to use, lacks the functions I need to use..

It seems the company only got as far as having 80% of it written, and doesn't have plans to produce the missing 20%..

Luckily they have an old fashioned way to interface which doesn't need an API..

Well, good thing I found that out before I had invested too much time building an application that I assumed would have the necessary API calls to make use of !

FX [ Uses application, notes it takes 1+ hour to do a 20Mb ( Not GB ! ) file import.. ]

FX [ Complains to company that produces software.. ]

"It's your machine at fault.."

My dual SSD, 24Gb triple channel RAM 3.3Ghz 12 core CPU barely breaks a sweat doing the file import. ( As in, less than 1% SSD usage, CPU usage/etc. )

And yet their software crawls like its running on a 486/100Mhz PC from 20 years ago..

Ok, it could be my machine at fault. ( Though I've no idea what to check to figure that out ! )

On my todo list, is install their software on my backup PC and test it there to see if it runs just as slow..

There software was written 25 years ago..

But why would it be so incredibly slow ? ( Windows OS, application written in C (I think 16bit.. ) )

Could it be tied into the actual physical time, eg. 3 instructions per second kind of thing ?

Install game..

Wait several days..

Start game, needs patch..

Install patch..

Wait several days..

Repeat several times..

"Out of Hard Disk space!"...

Check space it takes up.. 135Gb..

Checks google, doesn't find anything useful about how to fix the issue..

Uninstall game..

Reinstall, needs only 87Gb to install..

I guess it doesn't make it easy to delete previous patches which I'm guessing was hogging the storage space !

Now to wait a week for it to download, and see if there is a new patch, which is probably so big, it will fill up the HD again..

So, today's lesson, apart from, don't make games so stupidly big, is at least make it so the user can easily tidy up unused files and update it without needing even more space !

FX [ Sticks head up.. ]

FX [ Dodges bullet.. ]

Today's lesson, hide better..

A virtual prize for the first person to tell me what the following is a reference to:

MA570031

Should be easy right..

Clues will be available if no one can find it. :-)

I've tested out various, relationship starting strategies, one very long term one, is the, well, long term slow friendship approach.

26 years later and I still haven't asked them out on a date, and neither have they asked me..

( I recently heard them say that they want the man to ask them out, since they only ever asked a man out once, and he said no..)

Maybe I should hurry up, as they are 72 now, and won't live forever !

I guess today's lesson is, there is such a thing as too slow..

The question is, at what point, has things become too slow ?

It's easy to see extremes, but, is 364 days not too slow, but 366 days, too slow ?

Applies to all areas of life, such as, when should I try and do X...

NAS.

New PSU. ( After careful research to choose the least troublesome model.. )

3 days pass . . .

Fire...

Smoke alarm = 1ft from NAS..

NAS data on HD, slightly inaccessible...

Everyone told me, I shouldn't being using an old laptop with HD's hanging off it, just because its so easy to get the data off when the laptop dies..

A NAS is better..

Until it dies..

Also, first PSU I had catch fire..

Fuse in the plug did nothing, fuse in the UPS did nothing, short circuit protection in the PSU did nothing, it just sat there melting, on fire, producing sparks and smoke, until I unplugged it.

It also nearly melted through a nearby network cable, but luckily only singed the outer protection layer.

Luckily most of the PSU / wiring was on top of some stones I'd left on the shelf..

Today's lessons, put them PSU's and wiring on concrete paving slabs, so they can't burn though shit so easily !

Maybe a, turn power off if smoke detector goes off gadget.. ( Are those available off the shelf to plug into plug sockets ? )

Just a beginner here, but it looks to me like the wiring in the adaptor part was too thin, and maybe the connectors are not good enough.
( At the time, I couldn't find a model without that.. )

Killed the NAS MB too, or maybe the NAS MB killed the PSU..

Or rather, it killed the wiring, the PSU still puts out 12v DC, but its little light doesn't work anymore..

Hopefully others can learn from my experience !

So far on average, I've had one electrical item per decade go bang with sparks/flames/etc. come out of it.

One reason I like second hand units, they already been through that testing phase. :-)

So, any lessons for me next time ?

A picture is worth a thousand words..

This is how not to do a guide:

https://sciencing.com/draw-equilate...

This is how to do a guide !

https://instructables.com/How-to-ma...

In the future you will be able to just buy things online with a click of a button..

Well, kinda..

After you first spend 2 hours finding all the items you want, since the websites search engine isn't very good at helping you do that..

Then, when you click buy, it tells you some items are now of out stock, and it has emptied your entire shopping basket..

FX [ Sigh.. ]

So, you go to your browser history and luckily the site is designed so you can find all the items you previously put in your basket, and it only takes you an hour this time to fill your basket up..

I guess no one brought anything and it went out of stock, whilst you was shopping..

Order goes through, hurray !

So the lesson there is, shop quickly online before your item(s) goes out of stock..

And, if you are designing shopping systems, don't totally empty someone's basket due to one small issue..

It's really annoying !

Whilst I@m at it, another website, has like 4,000 items listed, but you can't open in tab each item you want to buy, and add it your basket, nor can you do it from the list itself, no you have to click on the item, buy how many you want, and then go back to the list right from the beginning again..

I guess that means hardly anyone ever buys item number 4,000 !!!

Ok I'm sure sure this is what is happening, my touch screen is being a pain..

When I first boot my Windows 10 PC, all appears fine with my touch screen.

But if I double click to open a file on it, using the mouse, it doesn't work, it only highlights it, as if I clicked once.

It works fine if I double touch it to open it.

It's such a pain to remember.

I don't suppose there is a fix for this issue..

You know folk say, if you have a spot, don't pick it, don't burst it, etc. it will go away of its own accord..

Not true !

I think I have one 10 to 20 years old now, and its still there..

Of course, now its not so easy to pick, since the skin has grown over it some..

I did try cutting into it once, and got some of the goo inside out, so its not as big as it once was.

But I think I'd need to cut deeper to get it all out..

Something to wait until I date a doctor/vet, or can afford to have it done privately, rather than risk cutting too deep and bleeding to death..

So, today's wisdom, pop those spots !

Here is an idea for a product that might not exist yet..

A stroke/heart attack alarm for when you are asleep.

Can you buy those for home use, are they cheap ?

If not, I'd rather not die in my sleep !

I try to avoid speaking to people from a certain part of the country I'm in, because most of them tend to be abusive assholes.

Now I know folk are going to say, they aren't all like that..

But how do you know which ones are the nice ones, without bumping into all the abusive ones first..

Well, I've just sent a nice message to someone from there, and we'll see if I get a nice reply back, or some abusive shit that reminds me never ever to try and talk to someone from there ever again !

These are the kind of folk that hate you on sight, and then stalk you for 20 years..

I'll just log into my google account, and..

Oh it wants to send me a verification email, sure no problem, I'll just click here.

Check my email and type in the code.

What could be simpler..

Now it wants my phone number because it doesn't really think its me..

But I never gave it a phone number...

So how will it know its me..

Does this mean I'm locked out of my account now ?

Oh look a database, lets search it..

800 hits later, great, lets look at them all.

*Only displays top 100*

FX [ Angry look... ]

So, how the hell do I get to look at the other 700 !!!

Reminds me of some years ago a job website, that would only display the top 100 in searches, out of like 50,000 jobs..

Only solution was to search every single sub entry, only a few thousand of those !

After years of searching, you find that one vital component for your project.

Only the manufacturer appears to have stopped making it..

And its so rare, it doesn't show up as ever having been for sale on Ebay second hand..

You go to contact the folk who make it, but their website contact form throws up an error..

Well, lets try emailing them and tell them about their broken website, so I can then ask them, are you still making product X, even though its not listed in your current inventory anymore..

And if you aren't making it, why not make some more now !

And then..

Could you change the design a little for me..

Doesn't look good I'll ever get that far somehow !

Still, one has to try..

Why does this feel like I'm playing an MMORPG...

I think I've began to notice a human behaviour.

When you are a beginner and want help with something, no one wants to help..

But once you aren't a beginner, folk want to help !

What gives !

Is it because as humans, we don't want to help folk who might turn out useless, we only want to make sure bets, and help someone who already doesn't really need help..

Sort of jumping on the bandwagon type thing..

Sucks when you are beginner and no one wants to help you !

You know when you can't sleep and think, I'll just do something simple, but useful, it will only take 10 minutes..

How hard can it be to change a CMOS battery in your laptop in this day and age..

Well...

Looking on the manufacturers website, it looks piss easy according to the diagrams.

Even a YouTube video, it looks easy..

Meanwhile, in reality..

First off, the CMOS battery I carefully ordered arrives, but its the wrong wiring..

Good thing I checked first right !

So..

Soldering iron time, change those wires around a little.

Now, where did I put that solder..

FX [ Considerable time passes finding it... ]

"Ouch!" burnt my finger !

Right, that's done, now to tape those joints up..

FX [ Runs out of tape.. ]

No problem, must be some more somewhere right..

FX [ Time passes after searching house... ]

Probably some in the garage..

Who needs to get fully dressed, just pop out in your Arthur Dent dressing gown in the rain..

You find some, eventually..

So, that's sorted.

Now, lets open up that laptop and swap the battery over !

Mmm... that's odd, the battery is glued in place..

But in the video it isn't !

No problem, I'll just take the case apart a little..

Lets check that YouTube video first though..

28 screws later, and they still haven't taken the part that covers that CMOS battery..

No problem, I'll just watch the entire video, they are bound to cover it at some point, right..

No..

Ok, lets not take the entire thing apart, when all I have to do is insert a sharp knife and cut the glue away between the battery and, that thing its glued to, without damaging the laptop in a tiny gap I can't really see..

Still, its fun feeling around with a sharp pointy knife inside a laptop, isn't it..

The glue is cut, and the old battery comes out !

Hurray !

Mmm.. lets not bother gluing the new battery in, we'll just stuff it roughly in the same area and hope for the best, after all, this is a desktop laptop, it never goes anywhere, so it shouldn't jiggle loose..

Whilst we are here, lets upgrade the memory.

And try and remember how to seat laptop memory correctly..

Boot to BIOS, load defaults, reboot to BIOS, set time, and other really important things, then reboot, and we get to Windows desktop just fine.

Now change the virtual memory settings to static file, do a defrag, and reboot..

Oh I mean, wait ages for a defrag and then reboot..

That's so we can try and get that lovely pagefile all in one chunk..

Obviously, it won't be finished doing that till tomorrow, or the next day..

Oh look, its already the next day and its the afternoon and I'm still in my dressing gown !

Maybe I'll just have a snooze..