Just a Wee Comp-Semi-Geeky Thingy

So, cheap lil Windows-based “email and internet cruiser” notebook. NOT specced like my desktop, but OK for casual stuff. Almost a disposable computer. Almost. Lil hybrid hard drive went flaky. Still sorta worked most of the time, but not really. So. repaired the system, pulled the drive, installed it in an external case. New drive (NOT a hybrid, this time): same deal: external case. Plugged both into desktop and used Macrium Reflect (recommended for Windows users who like good, inexpensive software) to clone the freshly-repaired drive to the new drive.

Installed new drive in lil “almost disposable” notebook, and. . . all is well.

Filed Under. . .

Words I never thought I’d read: “. . .get your elegant and beautiful ass back in the saddle and get thee hence.” ?!? Oh, well. Next book. (Yeh, that was a high point. Would have been prettier if it’d been a picture of a Hi-Point. *smh*)

Pro Tip for Self-Pubs

Actually, this lil tip is not for all self-pubs. This one is just for subliterate Dunning-Krugerand fiction writers with delusions of competence. Here ya go, guys n dolls:

Always be sure that your “brilliant, genius” characters reflect your own brilliance and genius by having them be completely unaware of the significant differences between in/out, come/go, take/bring, number/amount, less/fewer, and be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to sprinkle their dialogue with non-words common to the vocabularies of pinheaded morons, like “anyways.”

I hope this helps.

When Tech Is Stupid

Yeh, so, hmmm, well (and other such placeholding stalls), dead TV, out of warranty, bought a new one with decent specs-to-price appeal. Remote sucks. Manual sucks dead bunnies (and is ONLY available online, either through the TV itself–a stupidly clumsy implementation–or via third party pdf downloads). Setup sucks worse. STILL only seven channels available, and no digital channels at all. It’s even worse than that. DEMANDS network access before it’ll do ANYTHING (I’ll fix that at the router; just lock it out there). And how many firmware updates will it require? Who knows? Two so far, but says three more. *sigh* Almost want to return it just for the setup headaches.

Cool Lil Devices

Kinda enjoying my Caldwell Emax Shadow hearing protection. Really attenuates loud noises while passing ambient sounds at comfortable levels. That’s all I really use them for, although I probably could also use ’em with my phone via Bluetooth. But just enhanced ambient sound + hearing protection from loud noises is all I really want or need.

*yawn*

Not even toothpicks help. (Eyes wanna close; head nod off.) Maybe a siesta, eh? Oh, wait. BP 102/55, pulse 65. Maybe more exercise instead. Or not. *heh*

“As it was in the beginning/Is to-day official sinning. . . “

I keep running into folks who celebrated those “mostly peaceful” violent 2020 riots who view the “Lego Insurrection” as having been an existential threat to the nation. These are also folks who, for the most part, think there was an election, not a “fraud of monstrous size” (TY, RK), on Nov 3 last year. The graphic here represents a DOWNPLAYING of the BLM riots and still does not express the evil of a Capitol cop murdering an unarmed woman, but it’s a start. And, IMO, not NEARLY enough emphasis is given to the fact that Dhimmicrap politicians, both DC pols and nationwide, generally encouraged and enabled the violent rioters in their destruction of property and lives.

Ditch Your Thesaurus. Read More Books Written by Literate Writers

Third rate (but aren’t they all that, at best, now?) “news” broadcast. “Communications major” (well, apparently *sigh*), blow-dried airhead talking about a storm, particularly a falling tree that “. . .narrowly avoided hitting a family. . .” as though the tree itself had some sort of agency and could of itself AVOID hitting the family, because it wasn’t just wind and gravity, no! The TREE itself could apparently affect its fall and AVOID hitting that po’ family it had previously (apparently) “aimed” itself at. #gagamaggot No, it narrowly missed hitting the family, by chance, but avoidance requires agency (even in passive voice).

But nowadays, since Hivemind audiences are almost all subliterates themselves, who really cares?

*shrugs* I think These Things So You Don’t Have To

I kinda snicker a little bit when someone starts talking/writing about “sniper rifles.” My two word internal response is always “Simo Häyhä.” Yes, there are specialty firearms designed for extreme long-range accuracy that are frequently used primarily by snipers, but ANY rifle is a “sniper rifle” when it is in the hands of a sniper. Just say, “rifle.”

Illinois Tightens Privacy Measures. . . a Little

Specifically,

Illinois Passes Bill to Prohibit Warrantless Data Collection from Household Electronic Devices

Headed to the governor’s desk.

While it’s good they addressed this, folks who use these massive security breach devices (Alexa, Ring, Echo, and other IoT devices) are already being spied on by others who are just as nefarious as government agencies. Perhaps not as powerful as government agencies, but just as interested in jamming folks up in their own ways. (“Oh, but you use FarceBook.” Yeh, but when I do, FarceBook thinks I am hundreds of miles or more away from my location, among [many] other obfuscation measures.)

*smh*