Amarok's recent activity
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Comment on What could have been? | Brent and Jeff dive deep into JMS's original plan for Babylon 5 in ~tv
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What could have been? | Brent and Jeff dive deep into JMS's original plan for Babylon 5
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Comment on US bombers strike nuclear sites in Iran in ~society
Amarok Link ParentFrom the current reporting it seems there was bupkis in the sites during the strikes, just like Iran claimed. IAEA stated there's no contamination, so that begs the question... where exactly did...From the current reporting it seems there was bupkis in the sites during the strikes, just like Iran claimed. IAEA stated there's no contamination, so that begs the question... where exactly did all of Iran's uranium cache disappear to, and does Mossad know that new location?
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Comment on US bombers strike nuclear sites in Iran in ~society
Amarok Link ParentIf you dig further you'll find out the original video in farsi is authentic, but it's an IRGC general making the statement and not a Pakistani official. It's Iran trying to drag Pakistan into the...If you dig further you'll find out the original video in farsi is authentic, but it's an IRGC general making the statement and not a Pakistani official. It's Iran trying to drag Pakistan into the mess on their side. Some days afterwards Pakistan denied ever saying this to the IRGC and stated they would not do this... as if I'd believe either one of them about the color of the sky at this point. I have no problem believing Pakistan told them this behind closed doors, and I have no problem believing that Pakistan chickened out when called on it in public.
Geopolitical alliances change when the chips hit the table, and will never know anything of loyalty or ethics. Shake things up enough and all players shift. That's what worries me.
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Comment on US bombers strike nuclear sites in Iran in ~society
Amarok Link ParentBecause they openly stated that if anyone attacks Iran they would get involved. They also stated that if anyone nukes Iran they'll nuke whoever did it. They have 170 nuclear weapons which is more...Because they openly stated that if anyone attacks Iran they would get involved. They also stated that if anyone nukes Iran they'll nuke whoever did it. They have 170 nuclear weapons which is more than enough to start trouble.
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Comment on US bombers strike nuclear sites in Iran in ~society
Amarok (edited )Link10 MOPs dropped on Fordo, 2 on Natanz (per CNN/Fox) - they hit all of the entrances, unclear if the actual bunker under Fordo was collapsed or not. Anyone still alive in there is going to have a...10 MOPs dropped on Fordo, 2 on Natanz (per CNN/Fox) - they hit all of the entrances, unclear if the actual bunker under Fordo was collapsed or not. Anyone still alive in there is going to have a lot of digging to do. Natanz, Esfahan, and a few other strategic sites (air defense mostly) were also hit with a barrage of Tomahawk missiles, unclear what's left (it won't be much). All US forces exited the combat arena, lot of talk that Israel's special forces were on the ground at Fordo to faciliate the strike and assess what's left. Iran says they moved anything critical out of these sites a while ago, radiation signatures from the blast sites suggest otherwise. Khamenei says America is going to pay dearly, historic movements of rocket launchers detected in Iran. We have about 40k troops over there at a couple dozen bases within range of Iran's missiles, all of them on high alert if they know what's good for them. Think that brings us up to speed. Looking at that map of bases makes you wonder who the aggressor is, doesn't it? :P
I'm worried about five things. The Nimitz, sleeper cells (not just in the US), false flags pretending to be sleeper cells (not just in the US), Pakistan's nukes getting some action on US/NATO air bases (and then India hitting them), and the radiological fallout from all of that mostly enriched uranium flowing around in a nice big yellow cloud of doom. Thanks, Trump. I hope you know what the hell you are playing chicken with here. At least you didn't use nukes on the nuke sites so that's something I suppose. :/
Best live coverage imo is on NYPrepper's live stream, he'll be on soonish to recap the news. Be warned, the chat there is as full of ex-military, hardcore preppers, and christians as it is excellent and timely news. They called this on Monday right down to the hour. Do be on your best behavior if you chat, their standards are just as high as ours. Less black tie, more Sunday best if you take my meaning. If you panic easily skip this channel, on the other hand if like me you enjoy premium fear porn with your news then welcome home. All caps in chat = mods = news.
If you like your live war news like monday night football, The Enforcer has you covered. If you just fancy a quiet scrolling update focused on facts after the fact only, Duramax is for you.
Almost forgot that I have a playlist for this. Time to dust it off!
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Comment on Explain Linux controversies to me in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentRichard was famously irritated with Linus for creating the kernel after he'd already created literally everything else - damn near every fundamental linux command you ever run still has plenty of...Richard was famously irritated with Linus for creating the kernel after he'd already created literally everything else - damn near every fundamental linux command you ever run still has plenty of his code in there, and the compiler that still builds all linux software is his masterpiece.
I'd wager that Richard still holds the title of worldwide code execution time leader - meaning that computers have spent more CPU time running his code than the next ten contenders combined. This really ticks off the people who love to hate on him for his atrocious views on many social issues.
Interesting thing about the linux kernel - it was never supposed to exist. Richard was trying to create something we still do not have to this day - an asynchronous kernel. Rather than one large monolithic program written in one language (which Linus created), he was attempting to create a modular kernel that was itself made of many small modules that could be written in any language and run independently. This design concept is far far ahead of any existing operating system, and it's called the GNU Hurd.
The problem with this approach is simple - this thing is impossibly difficult to debug. All of the pieces run independently, communicate with each other asynchronously, and can all be written in different languages. Just figuring out what order something happened in is quite a challenge when something goes wrong. This debugging complexity is ultimately what killed the project, because development of it could only continue at a snail's pace.
That wasn't good enough for Linus who just wanted a working computer asap, so he whipped up the Linux kernel and left Richard grinding his teeth and complaining about GNU/Linux for the next three decades. I don't think he ever got over it, and it still grinds his gears that in his view, Linus is responsible for sabotaging the best kernel design ever conceived and stealing all of the credit for the GNU ecosystem from him.
Just as an example - linux would not have had any driver support problems if it had launched with the Hurd. Anyone could whip up any driver in any language they liked, open or proprietary, including reusing the windows or mac (or any other) drivers for itself. It'd also run circles around any other OS in its ability to utilize any number of available processors and secure the memory space. It'd never even need to reboot to upgrade the entire kernel, able to hot swap every part of itself. A system built like this would not 'freeze' or 'lag' under any circumstances short of hardware bottlenecks or hardware failure.
Richard aimed too high with this concept and took too long getting it off the ground. He also had to surrender a number of high minded goals in the version that currently exists because he couldn't get them to work either. Once the Linux kernel was available, everyone dropped Hurd for the kernel that was functional rather than a fancy design project, and the rest is history.
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Comment on Explain Linux controversies to me in ~tech
Amarok LinkIn the interests of education, I think it's worth making sure everyone has seen Revolution OS. It is a documentary about Linux comprised of interviews with all of the key players in the original...In the interests of education, I think it's worth making sure everyone has seen Revolution OS. It is a documentary about Linux comprised of interviews with all of the key players in the original open source computing movement. It's about twenty years old now so it is blissfully devoid of any modern linux malarkey - instead it gives you the foundational mindset that drove its creation from the people who created that mindset. Without knowing that mindset it's a bit difficult for a layman to make any sense out of the pedantic arguments and nitpicking that's so common in the open source world.
There's also the three part Triumph of the Nerds documentary (and its sequel) that covers the Apple / IBM / Microsoft era that preceded Linux crashing the party. If you are new to both of these, you might want to start with this one first and finish up with Revolution OS.
These are useful since they cut through all the modern opinionated (uninformed and mostly bs imo) takes on the world of computers and go directly to the original sources. If you contrast the mindsets in the people featured in these documentaries it's easy to see where the friction comes from, and the source of these various pedantic issues becomes clear. These are must watch material for anyone interested in computer history and they are damn interesting. If you're a masochist you might also enjoy a trip through The Computer Chronicles.
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Comment on What in your opinion is the greatest guitar solo? in ~music
Amarok (edited )LinkAs an ex-listentothis mod I'd be lynched by the entire subreddit's membership for not putting forward Maggot Brain by Funkadelic. This was always the number one voted answer when this topic came...As an ex-listentothis mod I'd be lynched by the entire subreddit's membership for not putting forward Maggot Brain by Funkadelic. This was always the number one voted answer when this topic came up for ten years running, and if you listen to it you'll see why. Eddie Hazel can run with the best of them. This one is not about speed, it's about ripping your soul out. ;)
For myself, of course I'm going to plug Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn. This man can evolve a melody. I've been hunting for anyone to compare to him for almost forty years, and so far, I've struck out. If you're not familiar, start here. The man can play just about every instrument.
As for some other honorable mentions...
Derek Trucks needs far more love for his phenomenal skills. Check out Midnight in Harlem by the Tedeschi Trucks band.
I'd say Luca Stricagnoli still has the best cover of Thunderstruck by AC/DC. If the Green Arrow had picked up a guitar instead of a longbow it'd have gone something like this.
I'll also plug Andy McKee in general, but Drifting is the best example of his particular skill set. Candyrat records has a lot of epic guitarists on their label and Andy is at the top of their catalog. This track is sublime, chilled acoustic goodness.
Here's one everyone overlooks - Roy Clark's Malaguena. Yeah, that funny fellow from Hee Haw is an absolute beast on the guitar, who knew? :)
Just for fun we're going to let Warren Haynes and Joe Bonamassa duel for the title of best bluesman. You tell me who won.
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Comment on What in your opinion is the greatest guitar solo? in ~music
Amarok Link ParentFor my money he somehow managed to top his '94 Pulse solo at Pompeii in 2016. ;)For my money he somehow managed to top his '94 Pulse solo at Pompeii in 2016. ;)
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Comment on Google's new AI video tool floods internet with real-looking clips in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentIt's not for gaming at all, hasn't even got a monitor. It's a link to an Asus device that allows you to stack 48TB of space on 12 M.2 drives, compatible with TrueNAS, and the entire rig runs fine...It's not for gaming at all, hasn't even got a monitor. It's a link to an Asus device that allows you to stack 48TB of space on 12 M.2 drives, compatible with TrueNAS, and the entire rig runs fine on half a cheap solar panel's worth of power generation in direct sunlight. Or, it'll run for about 7 hours on a solar-charging battery pack like this. No moving parts, and as long as it is powered on once every three years or so to refresh the M.2 cells it should last a couple decades. It's for storing Netflix in the palm of your hand and with room to spare.
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Comment on What is the best way to discover and listen to music? in ~music
Amarok Link ParentI remember those... that fellow made us look bad at our jobs. I offered him mod bits, but he was busy in college and did not have the time. That's still the most epic and diverse collection of...I think I discovered this from the /r/listentothis subreddit
I remember those... that fellow made us look bad at our jobs. I offered him mod bits, but he was busy in college and did not have the time. That's still the most epic and diverse collection of discovery playlists I've ever seen.
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Comment on What is a non-problematic word that you avoid using? in ~talk
Amarok LinkAnything that ends in -ly. No, really! The majority of them are trash used by people trying to sound smart. Kill adverbs, kill adjectives, the worst of them end with an -ly so they are easy to...Anything that ends in -ly. No, really!
The majority of them are trash used by people trying to sound smart. Kill adverbs, kill adjectives, the worst of them end with an -ly so they are easy to spot. I'd say my top offender is 'actually' which makes me cringe when I see it now. Just delete all of them in the next Tildes post you make and watch your apparent IQ go up by one standard deviation. It's magic. This is one of Stephen King's top two writing tricks - the other is to delete ten percent of your first draft to make the second draft.
It makes for concise, fast prose that's a pleasure to read.
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Comment on Google's new AI video tool floods internet with real-looking clips in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentMy next SAN project is going to be solar. Maximum performance and longevity at a mere 40 watts of power. Just in case I need a reliable media fix off-grid. ;)My next SAN project is going to be solar. Maximum performance and longevity at a mere 40 watts of power. Just in case I need a reliable media fix off-grid. ;)
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Comment on Google's new AI video tool floods internet with real-looking clips in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentI think AI's going to make larger changes to the gameplay than the art assets at first. I'm looking forward to The Wayward Realms. It's the old Daggerfall / Morrowind / Oblivion developers that...I think AI's going to make larger changes to the gameplay than the art assets at first. I'm looking forward to The Wayward Realms. It's the old Daggerfall / Morrowind / Oblivion developers that left Bethesda, so it's basically going to be Elder Scrolls done right minus Todd Howard's creeping crud. What really interests me is the level of AI baked in - like the old 'radiant' engine from Bethesda games but this time as an active game master managing 40 (yes 40) factions across the game world, all reacting to the player, generating quests, dialog, and NPC daily routines. That should take RPGs to a whole new level of replayability.
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Comment on Google's new AI video tool floods internet with real-looking clips in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentThe last barrier to fall will be the speed. There's still a delay after a prompt before the response in text, and one can't have an AI render a live stream in real time reacting to the chat. That...The last barrier to fall will be the speed. There's still a delay after a prompt before the response in text, and one can't have an AI render a live stream in real time reacting to the chat. That delay is the only hurdle keeping this from feeling 'alive' and fooling everyone. When it falls...
I'll just keep my fingers crossed for a mega solar flare that scores a direct hit on Earth. That'll end everything electronic forever with extreme prejudice. The internet needs a total do-over and that's the only way I can imagine it happening. :P
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Comment on Google's new AI video tool floods internet with real-looking clips in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentThe only easy tell left is words - it still consistently messes up text rendered on signs for example. I wonder why it has such a hard time with lettering. I'd say the skin tone is also a bit of a...The only easy tell left is words - it still consistently messes up text rendered on signs for example. I wonder why it has such a hard time with lettering. I'd say the skin tone is also a bit of a giveaway, because real humans rarely have skin that's so consistently smooth and featureless unless they've just come out of a studio makeup room.
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Comment on End of 10: Replace Windows 10 with Linux in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentLast I checked, one had to install (for example) an openldap plugin into Postgres or Mariadb or Apache or any other linux service - none of these power up after install ready to use the...While I was never formally trained on it, best I could tell permissions for AD users absolutely needed to be configured and managed at the database level. AD just would expose users and groups, which is just as easily managed via LDAP. Was the team that managed our AD just that incompetent?
Last I checked, one had to install (for example) an openldap plugin into Postgres or Mariadb or Apache or any other linux service - none of these power up after install ready to use the authentication coming from an openldap server. Microsoft goes the other way and everything they have expects a domain controller. So for example I can join any Microsoft server to a domain and that's it, done. The groups, users, and group policy settings ( think of those like all of /etc/* ) just come down from the domain controller and update everything in moments. After that one does have to decide which groups and users have access to which things in the database or other system-specific services. There's still some setup - just less setup getting your network/corporate policies and user/group architecture loaded on the machine.
One could roll a distro that was configured this way by default and call it Biznix or something. Kinda surprised that Redhat and Canonical never made a play at making their distros more business friendly in this fashion. I've really never seen anything in the open source sphere that tried to take on Microsoft directly like this, which is why they still own corporate networks.
It's worth pointing out that a corporation having this level of control over your computer is rather antithetical to the open source computing mindset, which is probably why Linux hasn't got these features.
Most third party Windows programs also support this, so you can depend on this working for just about any commercial Windows application. That plus the army of MCSE/MCSA certs ready to hire just looks less risky to corporations, plus they are all 'used to windows' at this point and not thinking about alternatives.
Frankly, Microsoft's paradigm is old and busted under the hood. Directory services are ancient technology. If linux were going to make inroads here, I'd say learn everything that active directory and group policy do, and find a way to do it a lot better in linux. The goal is simple - I'm in one office at my desk, and I don't have to leave my desk or click more than ten times to replicate any setting of any program out to every computer on the network in moments, securely.
If linux can learn to do that even decently, it'll mean it can work for small and medium businesses, which are more cost sensitive to the Microsoft tax. They'll move first, big corporate won't follow until that tech is mature and has had several years proving itself. Big corporate will also require linux certified administrators and five-nines support contracts.
I think it's doable. Hardest part is getting the open source community to agree on how rather than presenting twelve solutions so that no one solution becomes a standard.
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Comment on End of 10: Replace Windows 10 with Linux in ~tech
Amarok LinkWhile I appreciate the sentiment, the best they can do is capture a chunk of the home user market. I'd even go so far as to say that gaming is the final holdout, and that's falling. I can promise...While I appreciate the sentiment, the best they can do is capture a chunk of the home user market. I'd even go so far as to say that gaming is the final holdout, and that's falling. I can promise you that absolutely no corporation is looking at switching from Microsoft to Linux on the desktop, for reasons I've shared before. Small businesses with small IT needs can do it (and should, to save a ton on the Microsoft tax), but not big firms with large scale networks. Microsoft still has a lock on their cash cows.
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Comment on End of 10: Replace Windows 10 with Linux in ~tech
Amarok Link ParentI'm an MCSE who started on DOS before Windows even existed and supported Miscrosoft-based networks for decades. KDE Plasma is the spiritual successor to Windows before it all went wrong in my...I'm an MCSE who started on DOS before Windows even existed and supported Miscrosoft-based networks for decades. KDE Plasma is the spiritual successor to Windows before it all went wrong in my book. My workflow transferred almost effortlessly. Everything is where your instincts expect it to be - for example control panel is in the usual place, even if the items it contains are newer and better and stranger and now it's system => system settings. Right click to configure desktop and display settings, same as Windows. I think most people who have a Microsoft workflow can hit the ground running pretty fast with Plasma, and if I were setting up infrastructure for a business I'd be pushing Plasma out because I'd get the fewest support calls from it from confused Windows users.
XFCE is pretty cool too, but that's more like Windows XP, a lot less flashy and resource intensive. That's also a good choice for a business' default desktop environment and for older laptops.
These two science fiction critics are on their second watch of the series and have put together the original ten year arc pitch for Babylon 5 (30m) with a lot of help from the fan community and JMS' original script notes. It's a must-watch for any B5 fan, and a must-avoid for any uninitiated who care about spoilers.
People have pontificated on what the original plan for the show was for more than thirty years and what would have happened if not for the studio interference, actor turnover, budgetary woes, and network changes that the show had to endure. It's nice to finally have an authoritative answer.