This wouldn't have happened with Gainsborough or one of those proper painters.

Saturday, July 31

Geek

Daily News Stuff 31 July 2021

Well Fuck Edition

Top Story

  • Not tech news but close to home: The conservative Coalition in Australia just committed political suicide.  (Sydney Morning Herald)

    The bullshit lockdowns are supported by Labor voters - lefties - but opposed by a strong majority of conservatives.  The Liberal Party is about to find out that their voters don't appreciate this rapid swing to fascism.

    Labor voters are just fine with fascism, but aren't going to vote for the Liberal Party anyway.

    I wouldn't mind these useless fucks getting the boot except that the other party is significantly worse on every measure.

    But there is no way I will vote for either of our major parties again.  Not that I have ever voted Labor in the first place.

    Update: Plural of anecdote, yes, but I went out to the shops this evening.  Soldiers sighted: Nil.  Regular police sighted: Nil.  Mask compliance: Around 50%.  That's no excuse for our shithead politicians, though.  Into the volcano they go.


  • Blockchains.  Can't live with them, can't nuke 'em from orbit.

    Major crisis at work today because a platform with a ten-figure market cap returns the same bland response for "transient network error, please retry" and "your wallet is empty you idiot".


Tech News



Disclaimer: F-word all the things.

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Friday, July 30

Geek

To Market To Market To Buy A Fat Pig In A Poke

So now that I'm going to have more money in the bank going forward I'm figuring out how to spend it all in advance.

I really do need a new PC though.

I'm thinking at this point of going back to having two systems for Windows and Linux.  Current specs I'm looking at are either:

  • Intel 11500
  • 64GB RAM
  • 2 x 2TB WD Blue SN550 SSDs
  • 1x 8TB WD Red Pro
  • RTX 3060 on the Windows box
Or:
  • Ryzen 5600X
  • 64GB RAM
  • 2 x 2TB WD Blue SN550 SSDs
  • 1x 8TB WD Red Pro
  • 6700 XT on the Windows box
  • GT 710 with 4x HDMI on the Linux box

And two - maybe three - 27"-32" 4K monitors.  I could use the Dells all-in-ones for that, but they only have one input and the brightness, contrast, and colour gamut are very different between the two I bought a year apart.  I'd like to get screens that actually match.

AMD solution works out to about A$600 more - the CPUs and motherboards cost more, and I need an extra video card unless the 5600G shows up very soon.  But both CPU and graphics on that config are faster, and if I want to run three monitors off the Linux box I would need that GT 710 on the Intel config anyway.

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Geek

Daily News Stuff 30 July 2021

So I've Got That Going For Me Edition

Top Story

  • My day job continues to drive me insane, but I have a very capable assistant and today got a raise, back-dated to the beginning of the month.  So I'll soon be insane but with a shiny new computer.

    Or two.  Figuring out whether to get one big system - probably a 5900X - or two smaller systems - 5600X or Intel 11500, one running Windows and the other Linux.  I think the latter might be good.


  • The server hosting this blog did not crash overnight, so that was nice bad.


  • AMD has announced the Radeon 6600 XT, set for release August 11.  (AnandTech)

    Suggested price is $379, but I wouldn't expect it to be going for less than $500.

    Wait for benchmarks on this one, because it's hard to predict how it will compare against the existing 6700 XT.  It has 80% of the compute capacity but only 33% of the on-chip cache, so it will likely depend on the individual games you want to play.

    It should be fine for any game at 1080p, though.  Only if you want to play at higher resolutions is there likely to be an issue.


Tech News

  • There's now a standard for LPDDR5X -  faster memory for laptops and phones.  (AnandTech)

    It will run at up to 8.5GHz, which should be great when coupled with AMD's next-generation integrated graphics.  And Apple's Arm-based Macs too.


  • Other gaming PC makers say they're not facing the same problems as Dell.  (Tom's Hardware)

    The California legislation is stupid, and the states that blindly adopt it are stupid, but Dell's standard configurations are also stupid.


  • Intel has launched its new range of Ice Lake workstation CPUs.  (WCCFTech)

    With up to 38 cores and 64 lanes of PCIe 4.0, they will compete with AMD's Threadripper Pro, which has 64 cores and 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0.

    And is cheaper.

    Oops.


  • An enormous Tesla battery farm being built near Melbourne caught fire.  (The Age)

    Looks like just one of the pods - each the size of a half-length shipping container - was affected.  Oh, and everyone who lives within ten miles, because it belched toxic smoke everywhere and Melbourne is currently in lockdown.


  • Safari is bad.  (HTTPToolkit)

    It's filled with bugs and lacks features available in every other browser, forcing developers to work around it.  I know our UI team flinches when they hear the name mentioned.

    It's the only browser available on iOS though, because fuck you that's why.  You can pretend to install another browser, and iOS will pretend to let you, but on the inside they're all Safari and all have the same bugs.


  • It's a race to the bottom as China decides to suicide its own economy.  (Bloomberg)

    Tencent lost 23% of its market cap, and private education companies were forbidden from...  Basically forbidden from existing.

    China's strong economy in recent decades has been due to their switch from communism to fascism.  Looks like they may be switching back.


  • One of the two HP notebooks I wanted to get - the new Envy 13 with the 4K display - is now listed on their Australian online store.  Not available, but listed.  About a 40% markup over the US price, but listed.


Disclaimer: To starboard, probably.

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Thursday, July 29

Geek

Daily News Stuff 29 July 2021

Fuck All Those Fuckers Edition

Top Story

  • In a speech at the National Counterterrorism Center, President Joe Biden named as America's greatest threats hackers from Russia and China and anyone who criticises the Democrats.  (Bleeping Computer)
    He named Russia and China as the USA's partners and "possibly mortal competitors down the road," saying that working together on existential threats such as climate change should prevent the US from keeping a "watchful eye on what the ultimate objective of the other team is."
    That makes no sense, but I'm not sure if it's Biden or the article who is confused there.
    "I think we also need to take on the rampant disinformation that is making it harder and harder for people to access — assess the facts, be able to make decisions," Biden added.  "The disinformation is coming from inside the House."



  • A new US security memorandum bolsters critical infrastructure cybersecurity.  (Bleeping Computer)

    A new Pixy memorandum bolsters critical Pixy is a 25 year old 6'4" blond billionaire security.



Tech News



Framework Laptop Review Video of the Day



I've mentioned this a couple of times.  Looks like it's even better than I'd hope.

Except for the keyboard.



Disclaimer: PgUp, PgDn, Home, End.

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Wednesday, July 28

Geek

Daily News Stuff 28 July 2021

Almost Half Way To The Midpoint Edition

Top Stories

  • At my day job, the first of our big product launches for the quarter went live at 1AM - the joys of living in Australia but having customers all over the world.

    The phone didn't ring.

    I went to be fully expected to get maybe two hours sleep, but I slept right through until 7AM when the dickhead next door with the detuned sports car who is probably breaking several emissions laws leaves for work.  Even in lockdown.

    Anyway, the site did not melt down in the face of a massive marketing campaign, though we did shake loose a couple of bugs and a slow query on a secondary database.


  • Thought I was going to get away with just a ten-hour day today, but no.


  • Having ruined everything else, the commies are coming for gaming PCs.  (Hot Hardware)

    If you live in a third-world shithole like California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, or Washington, you are no longer permitted - get that, permitted - to buy a high-end gaming system.  Because fuck you, that's why.


  • Closer to home:



    Go jump in a volcano you fascist fucks.

    Yeah, this is one of those bullshit proposals that pops up all the time, with slim to no chance of ever making it to a bill, much less becoming the law, but still, volcano.


Tech News



Disclaimer: You went full Stasi.  Never go full Stasi.

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Tuesday, July 27

Geek

Daily News Stuff 27 July 2021

Do A Flip Edition

Tech News



Disclaimer: Yeah, Big Tech went full Stasi.  I'll cover that tomorrow.

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Monday, July 26

Geek

Daily News Stuff 26 July 2021

I'm Nene Edition

Tech News

Disclaimer: PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.

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Sunday, July 25

Geek

Daily News Stuff 25 July 2021

Adventures With Typos Edition

Top Story

  • Yesterday's post came with bonus typos thanks to lack of sleep and interruptions from work even on a Saturday afternoon.  I have spell check turned on of course, but on these posts it's a sea of red squiggles anyway so it doesn't help as much as you might expect.

    But I didn't have as bad a day as some poor Google engineer who pushed an update to the login routine for ChromeOS that prevented anyone from logging in.  (Ars Technica)

    On the downside, ChromeOS updates itself automatically, so it automatically downloaded and installed the bug and prevented you from logging in.  On the upside, ChromeOS updates itself automatically even if you can't log in so the patch will find its way to you...  Sometime in the next week. 



Tech News



Disclaimer: I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna eat bugs anymore.

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Saturday, July 24

Geek

Daily News Stuff 24 May 2021

Fuck This Thing In Particular Edition

Top Stories

  • Deploying a new blockchain - I hate those things - for an urgent project.  Everything goes swimmingly in test.  It's complicated, but doesn't require an entire new programming language the way Ethereum does.

    Switch over to production.  Discover production network is significantly slower than test and the timeout is hard-coded in the API library, so ever transaction fails.

    Hack a sensible timeout into the library.

    Now only 25% of transactions fail.  We issue them and they disappear without trace.

    Contact the blockchain developers directly.

    "Yeah, 25% sounds about right."

    Never mind the commies, we need to throw the blockchain people into a volcano.


  • Get an urgent ticket from hosting provider at 4AM.  I missed the previous ticket because it arrived two days ago - also at 4AM - when I got to sleep at 3AM, and by the time I woke up I had fifty other emails to go through.

    Report that a domain is hosting malware.  Ask for details.

    Get back a link with - literally - 77 virus checkers reporting it clean and one reporting a problem.  No information at all as to what the problem is, or why one positive outweighs 77 negatives.


  • If Amazon's game New World killed your EVGA RTX 3090, it will be replaced under warranty immediately and without question.  (Tom's Hardware)

    Problems with the game have now been reported on multiple cards from both Nvidia and AMD, though, so it might be safest just to play Minecraft until this all blows over.



Tech News



Very Random Videos


O Fuck Canada Video of the Day


Thousands of indigenous children died - of tuberculosis and other diseases of the day - in government-run boarding schools starting in the 1880s.  It got so bad that many of the deaths simply went unrecorded.  This has been known for decades and a seven-year inquest published a detailed report on it all back in 2015.

So why is it suddenly a headline issue now?  Because politics ruins everything.


Axolotls Cause Sleep Disorders Video of the Day

Hololive JP went axolotl crazy with the new Minecraft release.  There's a very rare blue axolotl in the game that has a 1 in 1200 chance of appearing when you breed two axolotls.  To breed two axolotls you need live tropical fish, which aren't easy to find either.

Kanata (Coco's friend and real-life roommate) bred over 3000 axolotls before finally achieving blue heaven.  She spent so much time live-streaming all this that she developed sleep apnea.

Here's Officer Oozoru investigating the conditions on Kanata's unlicensed axolotl ranch.




Usada Pekora Sings the Opening Theme of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Video the Day



I'm not even kidding.  It's called Roto's Theme.





That FrameWork Laptop Might Actually Not Suck Video of the Day


Schematics or Die.

I don't know the people behind this laptop, but Louis Rossman has been calling out electronics manufactures for years over the irreparable crap they spew out, and he's cautiously optimistic.


That Ryzen Alienware R10?  Yeah, Nah Video of the Day


People have complained - a lot - about the fan noise on these Alienware systems.  Now you get to see why.  If for whatever reason you get one of these, pay extra for water cooling.  The air-cooled model tested here instantly failed thermal testing.


You Know What Also Fails Thermal Testing Video of the Day


In this case, an RTX 3090 that melts the temperature probe.



Disclaimer: In Soviet Russia, temperature probe melts you.

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Friday, July 23

Geek

Daily News Stuff 23 July 2021

Mistaken Potato And Also The Server Fell Over Again Edition

Top Story


Tech News

Not At All Tech News

  • HoloEN defeated the Ender Dragon today.  Due to equipment mixups during the battle they ended up beating it to death with random bits of equipment - a bow, used as a melee weapon, a shovel, I think, and a bucket.

    But it worked.

    Update: Linked to an artist's impression.  Calli was indeed beating the Ender Dragon over the head with a shovel.



    They did some prep work last stream, but from starting the hunt for the Stronghold to the victory photo positioned around the dragon's egg was under two hours.

    Since that was the goal they'd set for themselves, they'll now be installing a mod to link their server to the JP server.  Let chaos reign.


  • Vtubers might look like anime girls but they're real people.  Without going into details, I hope things improve soon for Iofi, Pomu, and Vyolfers, who are each going through a personal rough patch.


  • Fuck off Gareth.  (news.com.au)

    And when you get there, fuck off from there too.

    The lockdown is not working, so the solution is more lockdown.


Miscellaneous Videos of the Day

  • Don't use biometric ID if you live somewhere with 4th and 5th Amendment protections.



    For the rest of us, it might not matter a whole lot.


  • Sounds like a 70s comedy: 18 conspirators, at least 12 of whom were FBI informants.




  • He's running.  And his little dog too.




  • CarAMElldansen.



    HoloEN doesn't have 3D models yet, so she made her own.


  • GPU prices are...  A little less fucked.



    Down by about 5%, which is at least movement in the right direction.


  • New York, New York, it's a wonderful town.  The mayor is a commie and the governor's a clown.



    On the other hand, they're not confined to their own homes.


Disclaimer: Sold by weight, not by volume.  Contents may settle in shipping.  Over void where prohibited by law.  5% deposit in South Australia.

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