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Aloha

13,724 karma · joined August 28, 2011

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/alohawolf; my proof: https://keybase.io/alohawolf/sigs/MG66XzyFbSiAm-WQraaSDa9ouD8AARY7ZdZuN3vMNkY ]
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Aloha··on Copyright does more harm than good and should be abolished
I also feel like protecting Disney is a net benefit, because they can chose what goes into public domain, based on cost.

Whereas that orphaned work you have never heard of could find a new audience.

I've considered artists lifetime or 20 years whichever is longer too.

Aloha··on Copyright does more harm than good and should be abolished
Snow White entering the public domain is not a particular benefit to society.

A book which is long out of print, with ambiguous copyright status is.

Aloha··on Copyright does more harm than good and should be abolished
Copyright shouldn't be abolished, it should be reformed however.

It should be 20 years, with right to renew, your first 10 year renewal is free, then the cost skyrockets, with proof required that you are still using the work in commerce, and after that first term, you get a flat rate 5 year extension, then it must be renewed annually with escalating fees.

It allows the big IP places to hold on to their family jewels, but also would return a significant amount of orphaned work to public domain.

Aloha··on Every Novel Is Boring–Until It Isn't
I call this process ‘threading the needle’ - some novels thread with ease, some do not thread with ease but the payoff is worth it in the end, some thread and then unthread, some never thread at all.
Aloha··on A CVE Dispute
As someone who has to respond for this kind of stuff at work, I am regularly in a situation where I am pushing back on a CVE, or telling them that our product neither uses nor installs that package (or its for a different OS entirely).

Our product is run in a moated environment, most systems have the same username and passwords (customers never change the defaults), so I only really care about RCE's even if it is an effected package.

Aloha··on SK Hynix CEO sees memory chip shortage lasting until 2030
I dont think he's wrong.

Dell is making moves to introduce server grade hardware without ECC memory.

There is plenty of DDR5, its not even very expensive, its DDR5-ECC where the prices go stratospheric.

Aloha··on Sticky wage norms and the real wage cost of unexpected inflation
There is another thing that has kept me from moving on - when I moved I often found the grass wasn't greener, it was just a different texture.
Aloha··on There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]
One of my favorites of Bradbury’s.

Haunting.

Aloha··on Cookware Got Worse on Purpose: Who Owns Pyrex and All-Clad Now
Just gotta stay ahead of the heat curve!

Also well seasoned cast iron is dishwasher safe, there is very little you can do to kill a cast iron pan.

Aloha··on The 'absolute magic' of Morse code that still connects people globally
I've always called this radio or dispatcher ear.

You see it in industry that uses radio too.

Aloha··on Snails' teeth beats spider silk as nature's strongest material (2015)
109m is a perfectly sensible measurement
Aloha··on The Boeing 747 begins its final descent
We would all have been better off if Boeing had replaced the 737 with the 757 as intended. Its quieter, more comfortable, and a better aircraft all around.
Aloha··on Founding a company in Germany: €9600, 152 days and I still can't send an invoice
Arizona Iced Tea at least nominally includes ‘tea’
Aloha··on Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields
https://historicaerials.com/ is also good too.
Aloha··on Several injured in Boeing 787 nose-gear collapse in Frankfurt
Another thing I'd point out is how often planes regularly fell out of the sky as recently as 40 years ago - my first flight 32 years ago or so, they still had kiosks in the airport to sell you life insurance.

Even with the MAX and the recent (last ~2 years) spate of incidents, flying is safer now than it ever has been, and certainly safer than it has been over its lifetime.

Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
Yes, and you can buy a new e-reader and read all those same books.

A kindle is more like a bookshelf from IKEA, it has a finite lifetime.

Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
I dont think they read any of the parallel posts.

For (others) reference the oldest bits of code in our software are from the mid-late 90’s and the oldest systems still paying for support rely on parts to build that is not available at any price, its all just made of unobtainium, whereas I can sell them a brand news that does everything they have today and more.

Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
It is, but I cant build them spares (not even thru broker bought parts) anymore. At some point you have to force the customer to say goodbye.
Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
You try building software with a version of Delphi that wont run on something newer than windows 7 and tell me how well that works out for you.

Some of those customers cannot be upgraded without hardware replacement, we can sell them a brand new system that will do everything (and more) their old one will, but they dont want to spend the money, and we are happy to take the money for support (the old CAPEX vs OPEX argument).

Some of this is sorta easy, its COTS hardware, but we also have much older systems that due to component obsolescence I simply cannot build replacements anymore. 10+ years of support ought to be enough for 90% of the products out there, at some point the answer really is “upgrade your hardware” - we didn’t sign up to indefinitely support not just hardware (much of which we cannot build spares for) much less the software ecosystem around the hardware.

Long term I plan on increasing support renewal costs for systems that are older than 10 years old to encourage hardware refreshes.

Like I still have to have XP VM’s to build firmware for older products, when is it reasonable to cut off service and support?

Aloha··on Scientists solve 200-year-old puzzle of how tobacco plants make nicotine
They changed how they make chewing tobacco (aka moist snuff) about 20 years ago and it has less of the cancer causing stuff (Nitrosamines) in it, its now closer chemically to snus - I’ll point out that Scandinavian countries have some of the highest use of oral tobacco in the world, yet last I looked some of the lowest incidences of oral cancer per capita.

The function of if tobacco causes cancer has as much to do with processing (it used to be cured by wood fire at a higher temperature which is where much of the carcinogenic properties came from) and the byproducts that processing creates, particularly Nitrosamine, its now cured differently in a process which is closer to snus, and somewhat safer.

Nicotine addiction (which I have) should be about harm reduction first, cigarettes are the only product that I can think of if used as commonly used will kill you or dramatically shorten your life, and it probably wont be cancer, it’ll be COPD, heart disease, or other cardiovascular issues - which are the same issues firefighters get from repeated smoke exposure. Breathing the byproducts of combustion is what’s really awful (and deadly).

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

Aloha··on Scientists solve 200-year-old puzzle of how tobacco plants make nicotine
Really inhaling something burning is bad.

Pretty much every other form of tobacco that is not cigarettes is less bad.

Aloha··on Toxic chemical leak at a manufacturing facility in Orange County
Grew up there, the plant wasn't there first, probably around the same age.
Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
How long should a hardware and software product be expected to last?

Try estimating doing win11 updates on a 20 year old piece of delphi spftware with hardware full go custom ASICs be expected to lsat?

Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
I'm supporting a 30 year old product, the oldest one in the field are 20+ years old, we still support them.

I'm just in the process of developing a lifecycle policy, being able to cut off support for a 12 year systems would make my life much more full of joy.

Aloha··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
14 years of support for a device is pretty incredible.
Aloha··on Toxic chemical leak at a manufacturing facility in Orange County
The actual site of the tank is 33.78356416377991, -117.99993897629278 [1] - its in an industrial park, and its not a large scale chemical manufacturing facility.

Its 'light manufacturing' for a company that makes custom formed acrylics for aerospace.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/33°47'00.8%22N+117°59'59.8...

Aloha··on Reviving old scanners with an in-browser Linux VM bridged to WebUSB over USB/IP
I could also just go buy VueScan, which is cross platform and great.
Aloha··on Ex-Apple engineer says Apple deliberately slows older phones via updates
They could also just not care too much about compiler optimizations etc.
Aloha··on The Serial TTL connector we deserve
yes, largely - even if its just pin headers adding a detect line which shows a resistance between it and ground would be an improvement.

In my working life I've seen -

at least 3 different ways to do RS-232 on 8p8c

DTE-DCE is always an issue on standard 232, otherwise I wouldn't have so many null modem cables

232 and 3.3v TTL on the same board or assembly

3.3v and 5v TTL on the same board or assembly

Inconsistent labelling.

I'm in my mid 40's and I think there is a reasonable chance something with RS-232 serial timings will outlast me, it'd be nice to make it more foolproof, as its one of a very few interfaces that will work without drivers.

I do think as a matter of standard good design practice we should be putting clamping diodes on debug ports to prevent blowing things up if hit with the wrong voltage,

Aloha··on The Serial TTL connector we deserve
I'm open to other options, the biggest things is DTE-DCE auto detection
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