rbowman wrote:

>Many of the big touring bikes like Gold Wings have cruise control as do
>most big trucks. I've had riders who apparently had theirs set to 65.4
>pass me when mine was set at 65, taking forever. I wanted to yell out the
>window 'There a 9 tires on your side with 110 psi of air in them. Not all
>are in the best of shape. Get your ass in gear and pass!'

I pass big rigs quickly just to minimize getting pelted with rocks. I
spent $1000 to get paint protection film put on the front of my car
before I took delivery. A good investment, to prevent all of the
chips in the paint that would otherwise be there.

--
'"Vital"? Please.' - lying asshole "-hh", ridiculing the assertion
that the source being Free and Open is "vital" to Linux' success

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 22:45:28 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:

> 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).

The trucks I drove were governed to 65 mph and the company wasn't
converned about the speed. The log book was a 9x12 booklet stapled
together with two staples where you recorded your statuses with a pen,
drawing lines on a graph. The staples made it handy to remove fictional
pages after the fact after dreaming up a plausible legal description of
how you got from A to B that matched time stamped materials like fuel or
toll receipts. That was then.

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/16099-electronic-logging-device.html

Now they know where you are, how fast you're moving, if you're taking
curves a little too aggressively, whether you're taking your breaks, and
so forth. Of course your route is logged so they know if you're dodging
scales.

Over and above that if you have a hazardous materials endorsement you need
a DHS security check. Most trucking companies won't hire you without the
HazMat endorsement. I never had many hazmat loads but seeming benign stuff
like house paint can fall in the category so the company wants the
flexibility.

On the plus side if you have placards for Poison or Explosives they give
you plenty of room at truck stops.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 21:58:06 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> 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 ...

That sounds like early Slackware. "Oh, you wanted gcc and buildtools?
That's another 9 3 1/2" diskettes"

On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 20:30:29 -0600, chrisv wrote:

> I pass big rigs quickly just to minimize getting pelted with rocks. I
> spent $1000 to get paint protection film put on the front of my car
> before I took delivery. A good investment, to prevent all of the chips
> in the paint that would otherwise be there.

Bras are kooler.

https://www.carcoverworld.com/front-end-covers

On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 17:35:21 -0600, chrisv wrote:

> I will say that it was dangerous enough, before the advent of idiots
> looking at their "smart phones" while driving. One of my biggest fears
> is being rear-ended by one of the dipshits while sitting at a stop
> light.

I stay in gear and plan my escape route if I see something closing too
fast from the rear. That doesn't protect from chain reactions though. Our
car was hit when I was a kid with minimal damage to the rear bumper. iirc
we had to walk back 5 cars to find the source of the accident, a young guy
in a completely destroyed car. The car he hit directly wasn't doing well
either. That was when cars had real bumpers and frames so the actual
damage dropped off rapidly.

On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 18:40:38 -0500, Joel wrote:

> Fedora is the right choice for GNOME.

I use the KDE spin and that was one of the attractions. My Debian box is
Xfce. I don't remember selecting it during the install but I must have or
it would be GNOME.

On 2025-01-02, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 21:09:53 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
> Not my usual genre but I laughed my butt off at the scene at the end when
> the credits are rolling and Sarge, the Willys Jeep, is running a bootcamp
> for 4WD trucks and SUVs that have never been off the pavement.

Yes, my post reminded me of that too. :-)

--
/~\ 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 2025-01-02, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

> On Thu, 02 Jan 2025 01:52:40 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
>
>> The word "excellence" tripped my bullshit detectors the first
>> time I heard it, and I've seen nothing since to make me change my mind.
>
> Let me compound that with this phrase I came up with:
> “epicentres of excellence”.
>
> Does that send your alarms into triple red alert? ;)

<gag, retch>

--
/~\ 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

rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

>> Fedora is the right choice for GNOME.
>
>I use the KDE spin and that was one of the attractions. My Debian box is
>Xfce. I don't remember selecting it during the install but I must have or
>it would be GNOME.

KDE would be equally good with Fedora, yeah. Xfce i liked. When
Debian had Cinnamon support, though, I kind of felt it was a no-
brainer.

--
Joel W. Crump

Amendment XIV
Section 1.

[...] No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.

Dobbs rewrites this, it is invalid precedent. States are
liable for denying needed abortions, e.g. TX.

On 01/01/2025 23:17, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>> hank you. But there isn't really any reason why you HAVE to use just
>> one distro...
>
> There is also no reason why I would use another.

Yes.

The *only* reason I run a headless raspios/Debian setup is because that
is the most used and best known version for the Pi.

Otherwise its Mint all the way. Its *good enough*...

--
Canada is all right really, though not for the whole weekend.

"Saki"

On 01/01/2025 21:33, rbowman wrote:
> wiw, 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?

Companies exist in a phase of 'rising star' 'mature' 'cash cow' and
'death spiral'

IBM for example died years ago - the company today is just the old
business services division.

No company I ever worked for is extant today in anything like its
original form.

--
“It is hard to imagine a more stupid decision or more dangerous way of
making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people
who pay no price for being wrong.”

Thomas Sowell

On 01/01/2025 22:01, D wrote:
>
>
> 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?

He doan want no stinkin' spiritual bridges of lurve.
Cash or credit card only.

--
"If you don’t read the news paper, you are un-informed. If you read the
news paper, you are mis-informed."

Mark Twain

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

> 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.

I drive most often i south-eastern spain and I find spanish highways
excellent! Spain should designate some areas without speed limit. In fact,
there's a private highway that has very little traffic, since it cost 10
euros or so to enter the stretch of road, and it is so straight it could
easily accomodate no speed limit! =) In fact, once, when I was happily
driving around 165 in a little Fiat 500, a Mercedes overtook me. He must
have been driving around 240 or so.

On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, chrisv wrote:

> D wrote:
>
>>> Your other two recent posts were deleted, unread.
>>
>> This sounds to me like you admit defeat. (snipped, unread)
>
> Trolling 101. Claim victory in the midst of defeat.
>
> The reality is that I'm so much better that after making my point I
> can ignore what dipshits say, with the confidence that no decent
> person would side with the dipshit.
>
> Your 4:01 post was deleted, unread, as will every post that you make
> in this thread, from now on.

Ahh... I won! It was a good fight chris, but you met someone better and
lost. =)

On Thu, 2 Jan 2025, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

> On 2025-01-01, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
>
>> 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?
>
> I doubt it. The word "excellence" tripped my bullshit detectors the first
> time I heard it, and I've seen nothing since to make me change my mind.
> It's been turned into just another management buzzword.

This is the truth! At a consulting gig I had, the company hired some
poison who was ex-Accenture, and he went all bananas with "agile". The
company lost about 35% of its super stars within 1 year, and its profits
stagnated for at least 2 years.

On Thu, 2 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 23:20:50 +0100, D wrote:
>
>> Jokes aside, I always thought they all look like Kristi Noem. I can live
>> with that! =D
>
> There are quite a few of that model. She's Norwegian and according to the
> 2000 census 10.6% of the state claimed Norwegian ancestry, beating the
> Indians by 3%. fwiw, 27% claimed German ancestry. A friend in the know
> told me the majority of the Sons of Norway are Germans. That will teach
> them to open membership to non-Norwegians.
>
> While it's changing but if you look around at any local event it could be
> any place in northern Europe.

Santa brought me that book about norwegians emigrating to the US. It is
waiting for me, when I get back to eastern europe (the book store lost it,
had to track it, and ship it again, but now it's waiting for me). Looking
forward to it! =)

On Thu, 2 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:

> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 23:16:10 +0100, D wrote:
>
>> 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?
>
> I like SQLLite and have used it in several projects. It works just as well
> in C# .NET with
>
> using Microsoft.Data.Sqlite;
>
> as in C with
>
> #include "sqlite3.h"
>
> allowing both to use the same data. I do like that it's public domain
> like most free software was before Stallman. otoh PostgresSQL is more
> powerful and has a permissive license.
>
> https://opensource.org/license/postgresql
>
> After all, the SQLite developers ask "What would Postgres do?"

Postgres is interesting. It's old, but doesn't get mentioned a lot these
days. Would you say their engineering culture is something to study?

> There are a couple of other worthwhile projects like Python :)

I've heard that many people do not like the python 2 to 3 debacle, and
that python is becoming worse from a governance perspective. I've heard
the woke mind virus has settled deep within the python project.

On Thu, 2 Jan 2025, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> On 01/01/2025 21:33, rbowman wrote:
>> wiw, 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?
>
> Companies exist in a phase of 'rising star' 'mature' 'cash cow' and 'death
> spiral'
>
> IBM for example died years ago - the company today is just the old business
> services division.
>
> No company I ever worked for is extant today in anything like its original
> form.

I wonder if a new owner would be able to shake some life into z and p? As
it is, IBM seems to be trying to kill those lines hard with high prices.

On Thu, 2 Jan 2025, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> On 01/01/2025 22:01, D wrote:
>>
>>
>> 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?
>
> He doan want no stinkin' spiritual bridges of lurve.
> Cash or credit card only.

Touché!

rbowman wrote:

> chrisv wrote:
>>
>> I pass big rigs quickly just to minimize getting pelted with rocks. I
>> spent $1000 to get paint protection film put on the front of my car
>> before I took delivery. A good investment, to prevent all of the chips
>> in the paint that would otherwise be there.
>
>Bras are kooler.
>
>https://www.carcoverworld.com/front-end-covers

OMG. Those were awful.

--
"Oh look: its a backpedal" - lying asshole "-hh", shamelessly lying
that I "backpedalled" when I wrote "I'm not claiming that everyone who
doesn't like Linux is a freedom-hater". (I had earlier written that
"assholes and corporate shills" hate the fact that the people have
freedom.)

On 2025-01-01 20:17, Joel wrote:
> Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>> On 2025-01-01 18:40, Joel wrote:
>>> Andrzej Matuch <andrzej@matu.ch> wrote:
>>>> On 2025-01-01 14:46, TJ wrote:
>>>>> On 2024-12-29 18:53, Andrzej Matuch wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 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...
>>>>
>>>> There is also no reason why I would use another.
>>>
>>> Fedora is the right choice for GNOME. I need Debian, though, because
>>> it supports Cinnamon and is a flagship product, Mint would simply be
>>> too much of the liberated "desktop" features, but yet its interface
>>> can't be beat - except by using Cinnamon with another distro.
>>
>> Funny enough, there is a push within the Fedora community to make KDE
>> not GNOME the main desktop environment for the distribution. It
>> definitely works well, to say the least. I imagine that GNOME still has
>> problems or that the community is concerned the financial problems there
>> are a lot more serious than anyone is willing to admit.
>
>
> I would be surprised if Fedora made KDE the default and yet that is
> the one they offer as an alternative, so one would imagine as you
> suggest that if GNOME became defunct somehow, KDE would replace it,
> but KDE strikes me as too arbitrary a choice for the default on that
> distro, albeit GNOME could be thought to be one too, the problem being
> that there just aren't enough DEs that are robust which can be
> utilized by everyone. Cinnamon comes close, I like it myself but it's
> not *quite* as solid as GNOME, and I presume KDE as well. It doesn't
> bother me, as I'm not seeking perfection, but it's a consideration for
> the Fedora community nevertheless I'm sure.

I find GNOME rather clunky whereas KDE, at least on Fedora and Nobara,
is perfect out of the box. I imagine that a lot of people who try out
Linux and face GNOME are going to wonder how to do the basics, and they
will likely find that the way extensions work is rather clunky,
especially during upgrades. Meanwhile, KDE is very familiar and offers a
ton of features they could only dream of in Windows like the desktop
effects, theming options and widgets. Unlike Cinnamon too, the widgets
in KDE actually work as they should.

--
Andrzej (Andre) Matuch
Telegram: @AndrzejMatuch
Zephyrus G14 GA401QM on Fedora 41
KDE supporting member

On 1/2/25 6:22 AM, D wrote:
>
> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025, chrisv wrote:
>
>> D wrote:
>>
>>>> Your other two recent posts were deleted, unread.
>>>
>>> This sounds to me like you admit defeat. (snipped, unread)
>>
>> Trolling 101.  Claim victory in the midst of defeat.
>>
>> The reality is that I'm so much better that after making my point I
>> can ignore what dipshits say, with the confidence that no decent
>> person would side with the dipshit.
>>
>> Your 4:01 post was deleted, unread, as will every post that you make
>> in this thread, from now on.
>
> Ahh... I won! It was a good fight chris, but you met someone better and
> lost. =)

Goodness, chrisv's new year just hasn't started out well for him.
Time will tell if he metastasizes into YA case of chronic butthurt.

-hh

On 1/2/25 6:28 AM, D wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, 2 Jan 2025, rbowman wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 1 Jan 2025 23:20:50 +0100, D wrote:
>>
>>> Jokes aside, I always thought they all look like Kristi Noem. I can live
>>> with that! =D
>>
>> There are quite a few of that model. She's Norwegian and according to the
>> 2000 census 10.6% of the state claimed Norwegian ancestry, beating the
>> Indians by 3%. fwiw, 27% claimed German ancestry. A friend in the know
>> told me the majority of the Sons of Norway are Germans. That will teach
>> them to open membership to non-Norwegians.
>>
>> While it's changing but if you look around at any local event it could be
>> any place in northern Europe.
>
> Santa brought me that book about norwegians emigrating to the US. It is
> waiting for me, when I get back to eastern europe (the book store lost
> it, had to track it, and ship it again, but now it's waiting for me).
> Looking forward to it! =)

I just happened to see this post this week - it has a DNA map from
Viking grave sites across Europe:

<https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNaturePage/photos/a-massive-effort-to-sequence-the-dna-of-vikings-across-europe-was-recently-publi/1126048608976007/?_rdr>

TL;DR: the Vikings got all over the place, predominantly by navigating
up rivers ...

Including within Germany, so the statement of a lot of Germans as
members of the Sons of Norway makes sense.

-hh

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>The *only* reason I run a headless raspios/Debian setup is because that
>is the most used and best known version for the Pi.
>
>Otherwise its Mint all the way. Its *good enough*...

Mint is a treasure among distros, because it operates effectively with
almost anyone. It's really not what I recommend for relatively
advanced users, but yet I am using Cinnamon with another distro,
clearly there are some genuinely solid features to Mint.

--
Joel W. Crump

Amendment XIV
Section 1.

[...] No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.

Dobbs rewrites this, it is invalid precedent. States are
liable for denying needed abortions, e.g. TX.

On Wed, 01 Jan 2025 17:31:31 -0600
chrisv <chrisv@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> Some people only sneer at their efforts, for not being quite good
> enough.

Or, we may appreciate the fact that alternatives exist, while deriding
the zealots' habit of insisting that their shortcomings do not.