The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> (snipped, unread)

Trying to save face, huh?

Perhaps in the future when someone reports observations different from
your own, you will consider taking them at their word, instead of
going on the attack with baseless accusations and lies.

On 2024-12-30 07:18, D wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, 29 Dec 2024, TJ wrote:
>
>> On 2024-12-28 06:12, D wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2024-12-27 18:04, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:57:55 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, I appreciate that I can get gratis a piece of software that is
>>>>>> that good.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you think Free Software could be better, and you would rather
>>>>> not give
>>>>> money to a proprietary company, why not contribute some of that
>>>>> money to
>>>>> the development of the Free Software and help make it better?
>>>>
>>>> Especially since projects like KDE and LibreOffice really need it.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Note that money is not the only way to contribute. Even by using the
>>> software you contribute, by making others aware of it, you
>>> contribute. I actually like projects that are not super wealthy. The
>>> linux foundation and firefox are excellent examples of how power
>>> corrupts. Would never dream of contributing with money to those two.
>>
>> Indeed. My discretionary funds are very limited, so I can not afford
>> to contribute with money. But Mageia, as my distro of choice, is
>> community-based, meaning it is maintained by volunteers who contribute
>> their free time to make it as good as we can.
>>
>> I have no coding skills to speak of, so development isn't my forte.
>> But, as the current Leader of the Mageia Quality Assurance (QA) Team,
>> I contribute in other, equally valuable ways.
>>
>> We are the layer between the developers and the public, tasked with
>> testing updates before they are released to be as sure as possible
>> that they won't break Mageia systems. Developers are only human, and
>> sometimes mistakes creep in - a missing dependency, or maybe the
>> package won't work on hardware the developer doesn't have. Our job is
>> to catch that stuff.
>>
>> We also test the install ISOs before they are released.
>>
>> We are always looking for new members, and users of all skill levels
>> are welcome. One of the great things about Mageia is that the opinions
>> of new contributors are received with as much respect as those of our
>> "old hands."
>>
>> But those aren't the only ways to contribute. If something in Mageia
>> doesn't work for you, please file a bug report. We also need
>> translators, documentation writers, bug triaging, website designers,
>> the list goes on.
>>
>> https://www.mageia.org/en/contribute/ is a good place to start if you
>> wish to contribute to our project.
>>
>> TJ
>>
>
> How are you trending with volunteers over time? Is it growing?

I wish I could say it is, but that wouldn't be quite true. Several major
contributors left us in 2023, for various reasons. Some were health
related, some were because Real Life situations had changed, some were
because things weren't progressing as fast as they would have liked.

Those sorts of things can happen with any community-supported
organization, and it just so happened that several issues came together
at roughly the same time. However, others have stepped up, and our
situation is better now.

But the need for contributors of all kinds goes on, as it has since we
started. I doubt that will ever change.

TJ

On 2024-12-29 18:53, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
> On 2024-12-29 16:54, TJ wrote:
>> On 2024-12-28 06:12, D wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2024-12-27 18:04, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:57:55 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, I appreciate that I can get gratis a piece of software that is
>>>>>> that good.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you think Free Software could be better, and you would rather
>>>>> not give
>>>>> money to a proprietary company, why not contribute some of that
>>>>> money to
>>>>> the development of the Free Software and help make it better?
>>>>
>>>> Especially since projects like KDE and LibreOffice really need it.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Note that money is not the only way to contribute. Even by using the
>>> software you contribute, by making others aware of it, you
>>> contribute. I actually like projects that are not super wealthy. The
>>> linux foundation and firefox are excellent examples of how power
>>> corrupts. Would never dream of contributing with money to those two.
>>
>> Indeed. My discretionary funds are very limited, so I can not afford
>> to contribute with money. But Mageia, as my distro of choice, is
>> community- based, meaning it is maintained by volunteers who
>> contribute their free time to make it as good as we can.
>>
>> I have no coding skills to speak of, so development isn't my forte.
>> But, as the current Leader of the Mageia Quality Assurance (QA) Team,
>> I contribute in other, equally valuable ways.
>>
>> We are the layer between the developers and the public, tasked with
>> testing updates before they are released to be as sure as possible
>> that they won't break Mageia systems. Developers are only human, and
>> sometimes mistakes creep in - a missing dependency, or maybe the
>> package won't work on hardware the developer doesn't have. Our job is
>> to catch that stuff.
>>
>> We also test the install ISOs before they are released.
>>
>> We are always looking for new members, and users of all skill levels
>> are welcome. One of the great things about Mageia is that the opinions
>> of new contributors are received with as much respect as those of our
>> "old hands."
>>
>> But those aren't the only ways to contribute. If something in Mageia
>> doesn't work for you, please file a bug report. We also need
>> translators, documentation writers, bug triaging, website designers,
>> the list goes on.
>>
>> https://www.mageia.org/en/contribute/ is a good place to start if you
>> wish to contribute to our project.
>
> I would have liked to try out your distribution before I settled for
> Fedora. Your approach is pretty neat.
>
Thank you. But there isn't really any reason why you HAVE to use just
one distro...

TJ

On 2024-12-30 08:35, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
> On 2024-12-29 23:18, rbowman wrote:
>> On Sun, 29 Dec 2024 18:53:51 -0500, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>
>>> I would have liked to try out your distribution before I settled for
>>> Fedora. Your approach is pretty neat.
>>
>> I had not heard of it. The genealogy is interesting. I used Mandrake
>> years
>> ago and Liked it. It begat Mandriva which seems to have begotten Mageia.
>
> I am a fan of anything that is community driven, but I am also aware
> that communities break apart over the most ridiculous of things and
> often use that difference of opinion as a basis to fork a project.
> Similarly, a lot of these communities have been poisoned with an
> ideology where merit takes a backseat to sexual preference, race or
> gender. I don't want to use the atrocious result of that poison. At
> least with Fedora, I know that no matter how ridiculous the community
> might be in its pursuit of "diversity," the product does everything it
> can to be as professional as possible.
>
The Mandriva name was created by combining "Mandrake" and "Connectiva"
after a merger around the time of the comic book company's lawsuit.

Short version of the story: Mandriva's business model was like Red Hat's
- give the distro away and sell support - but it never did go well, and
they went bankrupt, twice. The second time it was picked up by some
Russians, and most of the developers were fired by the new owners. Those
developers formed Mageia as a fork of Mandriva, but in truth the new
Mandriva was the fork. Mageia is what Mandriva would have been had it
continued on course.

TJ

On 2024-12-30 14:13, rbowman wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Dec 2024 08:35:45 -0500, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>
>> I am a fan of anything that is community driven, but I am also aware
>> that communities break apart over the most ridiculous of things and
>> often use that difference of opinion as a basis to fork a project.
>
> The Mandrake to Mandriva transition was in part due to a suit by Hearst
> over their Mandrake the Magician comic strip. Naming your distro after a
> hallucinogenic plant isn't good.
>
The Mandrake name was from before my time. Mandrake 8.2 was my
introduction to Linux in 2002, and with two exceptions I've stayed with
Mandrake/Mandriva/Mageia all that time. I had a brief flirtation with
Fedora Core 4, and I tried PCLinuxOS when Mandriva was going under the
second time, but didn't care much for either.

TJ

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 14:53:34 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

> Lorry drivers in Spain, long ago, were known as gentlemen of the road.
> Certainly not so in recent times. They are exploited, and it shows in
> their tempers. They drive around tired.

The US has regulations going back to the '30s that almost guarantee driver
fatigue. A Simple description is you can only drive for 10 hours in one
period and then you must be off for at least 8 hours. The 10 hours becomes
11, with a mandatory break of at least 1/2 hour, and a 15 minute vehicle
inspection. All in all you wind up with a 19 hour day.

LA to Denver is 1000 miles. The company mandated you could log an average
speed of 60 mph, another fiction, meaning the first leg was 600 miles,
which put you someplace in Utah. Then you were supposed to presumably
sleep for 8 hours despite it being around 5 PM before you could wake up at
1 AM and continue on.

That was the theory. Personally I would drive straight through, back into
the loading dock in Denver at around 5 PM Sunday, have supper, read a
while, and have a good night's sleep before the crew showed up on Monday
to unload the truck.

Some creativity was needed to produce a log book showing the legal times
for the company's records and any nosy DOT cop. I had my adventure and
went back to programming before they radio-collared trucks.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 14:46:42 -0500, TJ wrote:

> Thank you. But there isn't really any reason why you HAVE to use just
> one distro...

Really? Of the four computers currently hooked to the KVM switch, one is
Ubuntu, one is Fedora, one is the Debian based Raspberry Pi OS running an
an ARM processor, and one is a Windows 11 laptop with Kali WSL. Not
connected to the switch are the Lubuntu netbook and the Q4OS eeePC. My
Linux box at work is Debian.

Except for the Q4OS which is somewhat limited, they all are provisioned
very similarly. The Fedora box had been an older SuSE distro but I wanted
to see what Red Hat was up to. They'd pissed me off around 2009 with the
gcc 2.96 debacle. Fedora does get more updates than the other distros but
so far it hasn't broken too much.

Note those are all bare metal installs except for WSL. I'm not very fond
of VMs.

On 2025-01-01, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 01:40:33 -0000 (UTC), pothead wrote:
>
>> Biggest assholes where I live are Tesla owners, Dodge Hemi and Mustang
>> owners.
>> It used to be Land/Range Rover people but things have changed.
>
> When you pul up behind a F-250 with imitation bull testicles dangling from
> the trailer hitch you have a good idea what you're dealing with.

Around here, most asshole pickups are black - although occasionally
white - but all of them are immaculate. Not a speck of dirt.
They've probably never been off pavement. The same make and
model, but with some dirt and maybe a ding or two, is typically
driven by someone who's using it for work, rather than as a
penis extender.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

On 2025-01-01, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> On 2024-12-31, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>
>>> I would bet that it is AbiWord that is the issue, not any kind of bug
>>> with ODT. If AbiWord couldn't handle DOCX though, I would blame the
>>> format since it is closed despite its name.
>>
>> The original .doc format was closed too. You could get a look at
>> the specs, but you had to sign a non-disclosure agreement first.
>> I once heard from someone who signed the NDA and looked at the
>> specs. He said you really didn't want to know what was in there.
>> It was a real dog's breakfast - but I suppose the people who
>> revese-engineered it knew that already.
>
> I'm not surprised. It is fascinating how the company culture is created to
> turn out bad software. Makes one wonder if it would be possible to create
> a kind of anti-Microsoft company culture that would produce gems?

The Linux community seems to be as close to that sort of culture as
we're likely to get.

--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 12:44:58 +0100, D wrote:

> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 12:49:50 +0100, D wrote:
>>
>>> I think in northern europe and in the north east, BMW is still the
>>> king of asshole cars. I had a BMW when young. I do not know what other
>>> thought of my driving, but I've never been a car person and I do not
>>> enjoy driving. My wife drives me most of the time. This is luxury! =D
>>
>> I think the title here belongs to crew cab (Dodge) Rams.
>>
>>
> Dodge rams? Had no idea! I've seen one or two, but here they are very
> rare. Do you think I would get many women if I bought a dodge ram in the
> US?

Hmmm, what's your take on redneck women?

https://www.kpax.com/news/missoula-county/peaceful-demonstrators-come-to-
an-agreement-with-armed-group-in-missoula-protests

The second photo captures a couple of local specimens in situ. There are
more photos of the opposition. You might notice the lack of black faces at
a BLM rally but you make do with what you have.

I don't know what the most popular brand is locally, perhaps Ford but a
lot of people drive pickups. They're a little big to fit most parking
spaces and hard to see around when you're in a Yaris with your eyes level
with their lug nuts. At least with a bike I can stand on the pegs.

I'll admit I have a semi-retired pickup but it is a '86 F-150 that's
dwarfed by the modern versions.

SUVs are also very prevalent. That was an unintended consequence of EPA
meddling. Light trucks had looser mileage requirements than passenger
cars. Put a fancy body on a light truck chassis and , voila, a SUV.

Right now gasoline is relatively inexpensive. During peak times the
vehicle mix changes. Most people also have smaller sedans in the driveway.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 12:49:09 +0100, D wrote:

> I'm not surprised. It is fascinating how the company culture is created
> to turn out bad software. Makes one wonder if it would be possible to
> create a kind of anti-Microsoft company culture that would produce gems?

I have my doubts, at least in the long term. Success leads to growth which
leads to calcification.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Excellence

That was very popular in the '80s. Consultants would give training
sessions, one of which I had to sit through. Many of the companies thaey
used as examples of excellent corporate culture are no more. Some, like
Hewlett Packard, are classics in corporate devolution.

fwiw, the company I worked for at the times didn't find excellence either
and is gone. Come to think of it every company I ever worked for directly
or on contract is gone. Maybe I'm the kiss of death?

On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 06:22:23 -0600, chrisv wrote:

> -hh wrote:
>
>> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> chrisv wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Again, I've never noticed any such thing.
>>>
>>> Many drivers are not given to noticing anything around them.
>>
>> Its also challenging to see the transgressions from inside the BMW. /s
>
> Being a motorcyclist, like myself, gets you in tune with what other
> vehicles are doing.

It also leads you to believe the motorists that aren't homicidal maniacs
are brain dead zombies :)

On 2025-01-01 21:38, rbowman wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 14:53:34 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>
>> Lorry drivers in Spain, long ago, were known as gentlemen of the road.
>> Certainly not so in recent times. They are exploited, and it shows in
>> their tempers. They drive around tired.
>
> The US has regulations going back to the '30s that almost guarantee driver
> fatigue. A Simple description is you can only drive for 10 hours in one
> period and then you must be off for at least 8 hours. The 10 hours becomes
> 11, with a mandatory break of at least 1/2 hour, and a 15 minute vehicle
> inspection. All in all you wind up with a 19 hour day.
>
> LA to Denver is 1000 miles. The company mandated you could log an average
> speed of 60 mph, another fiction, meaning the first leg was 600 miles,
> which put you someplace in Utah. Then you were supposed to presumably
> sleep for 8 hours despite it being around 5 PM before you could wake up at
> 1 AM and continue on.
>
> That was the theory. Personally I would drive straight through, back into
> the loading dock in Denver at around 5 PM Sunday, have supper, read a
> while, and have a good night's sleep before the crew showed up on Monday
> to unload the truck.
>
> Some creativity was needed to produce a log book showing the legal times
> for the company's records and any nosy DOT cop. I had my adventure and
> went back to programming before they radio-collared trucks.

Yes, there are rules here, and ways to go around them, somehow. I
understand there is/was a cardboard disk that registers the truck speed.
Now there is some electronic version with a card with a chip
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_tachograph).

But companies are often abusive, specially if the driver is an immigrant.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 15:25:47 -0500, TJ wrote:

> Mandrake 8.2 was my introduction to Linux in 2002 ...

I had already been supporting client machines running Red Hat before
deciding to get a Linux box of my own. It was one of those small-form-
factor Shuttle units, and it came with a copy of Mandrake 9.1 “Discovery
Edition” in the box.

I soon discovered that “Discovery Edition” meant it was missing the third
CD with GCC and all the development tools on. So my first foray into Linux
hacking was to figure out how to download and install those missing
development packages ...

On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 21:09:54 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

> The Linux community seems to be as close to that sort of culture as
> we're likely to get.

I would say the Free Software generally, but it does seem like Linux is
the single biggest condensation nucleus in that churning milieu.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, Carlos E.R. wrote:

> On 2025-01-01 12:43, D wrote:
>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 05:11:09 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm not disputing whether BMWs are better vehicles, whether to drive or
>>>> for some other reason.  What I do notice is that many people who drive
>>>> BMWs feel that the car confers some sort of superior class on the
>>>> driver, and they feel it is the God-given duty for us plebes who drive
>>>> lesser cars to get out of their way - to the point of making exasperated
>>>> hand gestures at those of us who don't.
>>>
>>> When I was trucking I was amused by BMW drivers who tried to play chicken
>>> with a 65' long 18 wheeled vehicle outweighing them by about 75,000
>>> pounds.
>>>
>>
>> That reminds me... when I was in spain once, a big truck didn't look out
>> before changing lanes and almost pushed me off the road. He saw it in time
>> though and apologized. I had an elevated pulse for a while.
>
> Was that recently, or long ago?

Probably 2 or 3 years ago.

> Lorry drivers in Spain, long ago, were known as gentlemen of the road.
> Certainly not so in recent times. They are exploited, and it shows in their
> tempers. They drive around tired.

Oh he definitely was very sorry about the incident, and as far as it is
possible for two humans to communicate wordlessly through windows, my
feeling was that he deeply sorry and apologetic about the incident, so no
shadow on that man.

> They tend to change lane fast because otherwise a car comes and impedes it.
> This forces the incoming traffic on the left lane to brake and swear softly.

Yes, exactly what happened... semi-hard break and soft swearing. ;)

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, chrisv wrote:

> -hh wrote:
>
>> (snipped, unread)
>
> Around your family, you like to pretend that you're a good person,
> don't you, -highhorse.
>
> If only they knew what an asshole you are, how eager to attack decent,
> reasonable people you are.

If you don't read what you comment on, aren't you afraid that you are
missing important parts of the argument? Also, how can you build spiritual
bridges of love between two human beings that way?

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, chrisv wrote:

> -hh wrote:
>
>> chrisv wrote:
>>>
>>> Being a motorcyclist, like myself, gets you in tune with what other
>>> vehicles are doing.
>>
>> Only if one drives on roads.
>
> Which I do.

Can you prove it? Without proof, how can we be sure of your knowledge and
experience?

>> Plus it doesn't address the question of
>> how long a former BMW driver remains defensive about their reputation.
>
> Only a fscking dumbshit would think that being a former BMW driver

You are using very naughty words Chris. I hope you are not kissing your
mother with that mouth.

> would motivate me to defend the reputation of BMW drivers in general.
>
> It's not as if anyone has claimed, or would claim, that all BMW
> drivers are bad.
>
>

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> On 01/01/2025 16:21, chrisv wrote:
>> -hh wrote:
>>
>>> chrisv wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Being a motorcyclist, like myself, gets you in tune with what other
>>>> vehicles are doing.
>>>
>>> Only if one drives on roads.
>>
>> Which I do.
>>
>>> Plus it doesn't address the question of
>>> how long a former BMW driver remains defensive about their reputation.
>>
>> Only a fscking dumbshit would think that being a former BMW driver
>> would motivate me to defend the reputation of BMW drivers in general.
>>
>> It's not as if anyone has claimed, or would claim, that all BMW
>> drivers are bad.
>>
> No. Only a majority of them

Could there by a confusion here between anyone and everyone?

Anyone: Refers to any single person from a group, without specifying who that
person is.

Everyone: Refers to all people in a group collectively.

If anyone is the word, then the fact that only one person has claimed so, means,
that in fact, anyone has claimed all BMW drivers are in fact bad.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, chrisv wrote:

> The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> (snipped, unread)
>
> If you want to apologize, you'll need to change the subject so that
> I'll see it.
>
> Until then, all I know that you, despite having *no way* to know,
> claims that I'm not given to noticing anything around me. Then, when
> I told you that I do not fit that description, you called me a liar.
>
> The fact is that I'm hyper aware of what's going on around me, and any
> asshole who claims otherwise is a liar.
>
> Your other two recent posts were deleted, unread.

This sounds to me like you admit defeat. Not being able to meet the
argument of the philosopher, you then say that you will not read any more
messages. If, in fact, you would have superior arguments, you would
welcome continued discussion, until there is a spiritual meeting of mutual
understanding.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, TJ wrote:

> On 2024-12-30 07:18, D wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 29 Dec 2024, TJ wrote:
>>
>>> On 2024-12-28 06:12, D wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2024-12-27 18:04, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>>>> On Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:57:55 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well, I appreciate that I can get gratis a piece of software that is
>>>>>>> that good.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you think Free Software could be better, and you would rather not
>>>>>> give
>>>>>> money to a proprietary company, why not contribute some of that money
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> the development of the Free Software and help make it better?
>>>>>
>>>>> Especially since projects like KDE and LibreOffice really need it.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Note that money is not the only way to contribute. Even by using the
>>>> software you contribute, by making others aware of it, you contribute. I
>>>> actually like projects that are not super wealthy. The linux foundation
>>>> and firefox are excellent examples of how power corrupts. Would never
>>>> dream of contributing with money to those two.
>>>
>>> Indeed. My discretionary funds are very limited, so I can not afford to
>>> contribute with money. But Mageia, as my distro of choice, is
>>> community-based, meaning it is maintained by volunteers who contribute
>>> their free time to make it as good as we can.
>>>
>>> I have no coding skills to speak of, so development isn't my forte. But,
>>> as the current Leader of the Mageia Quality Assurance (QA) Team, I
>>> contribute in other, equally valuable ways.
>>>
>>> We are the layer between the developers and the public, tasked with
>>> testing updates before they are released to be as sure as possible that
>>> they won't break Mageia systems. Developers are only human, and sometimes
>>> mistakes creep in - a missing dependency, or maybe the package won't work
>>> on hardware the developer doesn't have. Our job is to catch that stuff.
>>>
>>> We also test the install ISOs before they are released.
>>>
>>> We are always looking for new members, and users of all skill levels are
>>> welcome. One of the great things about Mageia is that the opinions of new
>>> contributors are received with as much respect as those of our "old
>>> hands."
>>>
>>> But those aren't the only ways to contribute. If something in Mageia
>>> doesn't work for you, please file a bug report. We also need translators,
>>> documentation writers, bug triaging, website designers, the list goes on.
>>>
>>> https://www.mageia.org/en/contribute/ is a good place to start if you wish
>>> to contribute to our project.
>>>
>>> TJ
>>>
>>
>> How are you trending with volunteers over time? Is it growing?
>
> I wish I could say it is, but that wouldn't be quite true. Several major
> contributors left us in 2023, for various reasons. Some were health related,
> some were because Real Life situations had changed, some were because things
> weren't progressing as fast as they would have liked.
>
> Those sorts of things can happen with any community-supported organization,
> and it just so happened that several issues came together at roughly the same
> time. However, others have stepped up, and our situation is better now.
>
> But the need for contributors of all kinds goes on, as it has since we
> started. I doubt that will ever change.
>
> TJ

Sorry to hear that, but good to hear that things are at least moving in
the right direction. I was curious if it was because of the woke mind
virus, but happy to hear that there were other reasons. =)

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 14:53:34 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>
>> Lorry drivers in Spain, long ago, were known as gentlemen of the road.
>> Certainly not so in recent times. They are exploited, and it shows in
>> their tempers. They drive around tired.
>
> The US has regulations going back to the '30s that almost guarantee driver
> fatigue. A Simple description is you can only drive for 10 hours in one
> period and then you must be off for at least 8 hours. The 10 hours becomes
> 11, with a mandatory break of at least 1/2 hour, and a 15 minute vehicle
> inspection. All in all you wind up with a 19 hour day.
>
> LA to Denver is 1000 miles. The company mandated you could log an average
> speed of 60 mph, another fiction, meaning the first leg was 600 miles,
> which put you someplace in Utah. Then you were supposed to presumably
> sleep for 8 hours despite it being around 5 PM before you could wake up at
> 1 AM and continue on.
>
> That was the theory. Personally I would drive straight through, back into
> the loading dock in Denver at around 5 PM Sunday, have supper, read a
> while, and have a good night's sleep before the crew showed up on Monday
> to unload the truck.
>
> Some creativity was needed to produce a log book showing the legal times
> for the company's records and any nosy DOT cop. I had my adventure and
> went back to programming before they radio-collared trucks.
>

I've seen the truth in a Simpsons episode! Apparently the secret
brotherhood of truck drivers have it all automated. They just have to sit
there. ;)

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

> On 2025-01-01, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>
>>> On 2024-12-31, Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I would bet that it is AbiWord that is the issue, not any kind of bug
>>>> with ODT. If AbiWord couldn't handle DOCX though, I would blame the
>>>> format since it is closed despite its name.
>>>
>>> The original .doc format was closed too. You could get a look at
>>> the specs, but you had to sign a non-disclosure agreement first.
>>> I once heard from someone who signed the NDA and looked at the
>>> specs. He said you really didn't want to know what was in there.
>>> It was a real dog's breakfast - but I suppose the people who
>>> revese-engineered it knew that already.
>>
>> I'm not surprised. It is fascinating how the company culture is created to
>> turn out bad software. Makes one wonder if it would be possible to create
>> a kind of anti-Microsoft company culture that would produce gems?
>
> The Linux community seems to be as close to that sort of culture as
> we're likely to get.

Another "mini culture" I keep my eyes on is the sqlite community. In many
respects, anti-Linux, but they are producing powerful software!

Are there other projects you think are of similar power, in terms of use
and quality, as sqlite? Maybe the curl community?

On 2025-01-01 23:00, D wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> On 2025-01-01 12:43, D wrote:
>>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 05:11:09 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm not disputing whether BMWs are better vehicles, whether to
>>>>> drive or
>>>>> for some other reason.  What I do notice is that many people who drive
>>>>> BMWs feel that the car confers some sort of superior class on the
>>>>> driver, and they feel it is the God-given duty for us plebes who drive
>>>>> lesser cars to get out of their way - to the point of making
>>>>> exasperated
>>>>> hand gestures at those of us who don't.
>>>>
>>>> When I was trucking I was amused by BMW drivers who tried to play
>>>> chicken
>>>> with a 65' long 18 wheeled vehicle outweighing them by about 75,000
>>>> pounds.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That reminds me... when I was in spain once, a big truck didn't look
>>> out before changing lanes and almost pushed me off the road. He saw
>>> it in time though and apologized. I had an elevated pulse for a while.
>>
>> Was that recently, or long ago?
>
> Probably 2 or 3 years ago.
>
>> Lorry drivers in Spain, long ago, were known as gentlemen of the road.
>> Certainly not so in recent times. They are exploited, and it shows in
>> their tempers. They drive around tired.
>
> Oh he definitely was very sorry about the incident, and as far as it is
> possible for two humans to communicate wordlessly through windows, my
> feeling was that he deeply sorry and apologetic about the incident, so
> no shadow on that man.

Well, anybody can make mistakes :-)

>
>> They tend to change lane fast because otherwise a car comes and
>> impedes it. This forces the incoming traffic on the left lane to brake
>> and swear softly.
>
> Yes, exactly what happened... semi-hard break and soft swearing. ;)

Once I overtook a lorry that had a wheel... dunno how to describe. It
had burst, part of the rubber was lost, and the rest of the rubber was
spinning loosely, still thankfully retained. I was amazed, did not know
what to do. I had passengers. I just speed past the danger. It was very
early in the morning.

I still do not know what I should had done. Probably pull back and phone
112.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 12:44:58 +0100, D wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 12:49:50 +0100, D wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think in northern europe and in the north east, BMW is still the
>>>> king of asshole cars. I had a BMW when young. I do not know what other
>>>> thought of my driving, but I've never been a car person and I do not
>>>> enjoy driving. My wife drives me most of the time. This is luxury! =D
>>>
>>> I think the title here belongs to crew cab (Dodge) Rams.
>>>
>>>
>> Dodge rams? Had no idea! I've seen one or two, but here they are very
>> rare. Do you think I would get many women if I bought a dodge ram in the
>> US?
>
> Hmmm, what's your take on redneck women?
>
> https://www.kpax.com/news/missoula-county/peaceful-demonstrators-come-to-
> an-agreement-with-armed-group-in-missoula-protests
>
> The second photo captures a couple of local specimens in situ. There are
> more photos of the opposition. You might notice the lack of black faces at
> a BLM rally but you make do with what you have.

Difficult to see. Too many masks, too much clothing. ;)

Jokes aside, I always thought they all look like Kristi Noem. I can live
with that! =D

> I don't know what the most popular brand is locally, perhaps Ford but a
> lot of people drive pickups. They're a little big to fit most parking
> spaces and hard to see around when you're in a Yaris with your eyes level
> with their lug nuts. At least with a bike I can stand on the pegs.
>
> I'll admit I have a semi-retired pickup but it is a '86 F-150 that's
> dwarfed by the modern versions.
>
> SUVs are also very prevalent. That was an unintended consequence of EPA
> meddling. Light trucks had looser mileage requirements than passenger
> cars. Put a fancy body on a light truck chassis and , voila, a SUV.
>
> Right now gasoline is relatively inexpensive. During peak times the
> vehicle mix changes. Most people also have smaller sedans in the driveway.

Ahh... the land of the free. In my wilder moments, I sometimes think about
buying a Dodge Ram, it has to be enormous, and drive around in the more
socialist/hipster part of town, only to piss them off! =)