Cowboy Who?
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I'm sorry to barge in like this, but it occured...
I'm sorry to barge in like this, but it occured to me that we never met. #CowboyWho
BSD Release: OpenBSD 7.7
Some miscellany to start the week on the upcoming hurricane season, observations, and NOAA
Hurricane outlook season continues
We focus a lot on Colorado State’s hurricane outlook, but many others are beginning to issue their own as well. This includes The Weather Company and Atmospheric G2, which expect a slightly more active season.
A number of outlooks are now public, and there seems to be a consensus that most entities buy into an active season but perhaps not a hyperactive one. Recall, last year’s hurricane forecasts were pretty unanimously doomsday, which is kind of what happened (though not in the way we all expected). This year’s are not. But the message should be that it only takes one storm, and you should prepare this season as you would any other one if you live in hurricane country.
Tropical weather outlooks from the NHC will resume in about 3 weeks.
One last note: A recent paper published in Nature Climate Change focused on storm surge extremes, and it turns out that we may be underestimating them at a majority of coastal sites due to observational gaps. As it turns out, more data is good. Which leads us to…
Putting the “fun” back in NOAA funding
In summary: There has been some good news recently, but the negatives continue to outweigh the positives.
Obviously, we are watching the developments surrounding NOAA and the National Weather Service and budget issues very closely. Here’s an update on where we stand and some apolitical thoughts on what’s going on.
One of the major issues we’ve discussed recently has been regarding staffing cuts leading to fewer weather balloon launches each day. That continues to be a problem. There has been some minor progress, however. Representative Mike Flood, a Nebraska Republican congressman has been one of a handful of political leaders that has been fairly vocal on the risks of this. In short, he gets it. The good news is that balloon launches are scheduled to return to Omaha, and improvements in launch frequency are slated for some other High Plains and Northern Plains locations. The bad news is that staffing is coming from other offices. In other words, the risk is that we may be creating more problems by solving one problem.
A good example of this is happening here in Houston where the local forecast office will soon be without a meteorologist in charge, a warning coordination meteorologist, and a science and operations officer, the top 3 leadership positions in the office. While those will be filled with reassigned employees, it’s pretty evident that hiring freezes, and “strongly encouraged” early retirements are creating a math problem that will only be solved by re-hiring fired probationary employees (which the current administration is against) or bringing in new hires (which the current administration has shown no appetite for to this point). 2 + 2 + 2 is still 6 no matter if the person is in Omaha, Houston, or Fairbanks. The government allowed or “strongly encouraged” hundreds of years of cumulative forecasting experience and mentorship walk out the door in the last 2 to 3 months. So, while there are some positive signs popping up, more must be done. We are objectively worse off in terms of the National Weather Service than we were four months ago and we’re not trending better enough fast enough. Without being overly activist, I’ll just say that these are issues you should raise with your members of Congress if they concern you.
A lot of what is happening is targeting climate change research, but what a lot of the folks enacting these cuts don’t fully understand is that by targeting that, they’re likely to cause significant collateral damage to weather forecasting in the process. One good example of this was the recent failure to renew a bunch of regional climate center funding earlier this month, which caused several data sources used by meteorologists (including myself) on a regular basis to go offline. Thankfully, that funding was renewed, but the passback document unearthed recently suggests it will not be long until that’s back on the chopping block. I am also especially concerned that cuts to the GFDL, AOML, and NSSL labs, collateral damage in this fight, would cause outsized harm to weather research and forecasting. This point continues to need to be reiterated and raised. This isn’t about your stance on climate change, it’s about fundamentally degrading the capability of the NWS to achieve its mission of protecting life and property.
For a unique and helpful perspective on some of the bureaucracy here, I encourage you to follow Alan Gerard’s Substack, “Balanced Weather.” Alan is a recently retired veteran of NOAA and is very measured in his explanations. He is also anti-hype and focuses on the issues of note. A worthy newsletter to tap into.
Another thing to really understand in this whole thing: How much is a weather forecast actually worth? Planet Money recently re-aired a really good feature about the value of weather forecasts. Since 2009, when thinking of just hurricane forecast improvements alone, it’s estimated that roughly $7 billion has been saved thanks to government-driven research. And again, that’s just on hurricanes. It’s a short segment that’s worth 10 minutes of your time.
One of the most common questions I’ve heard because of the cuts is “Are you seeing impacts?” I believe we are seeing some of the issues of the reduced weather balloon launches rear their heads in real time. I have begun to notice that some higher-resolution short term models are struggling a bit more than usual in capturing significant thunderstorm complexes. Of more interest is seeing global models, like the European model do a great job depicting a threat 3 to 6 days ahead of time but then misplacing it within 3 days. Why is this happening? Theoretically, it would fit the idea that a lack of upper air data in a region would contribute to this. Is it officially the reason? No. We have to be careful, as it’s not unheard of for this to happen in spring. But it merits continued monitoring ahead of hurricane season. The takeaway right now is that missing upper air data is probably having some impact on our forecasts but mostly in a “cosmetic” fashion or “slightly higher uncertainty than usual” so far. Time will tell.
Houston to be warm, windy, and humid for awhile. Rain chances return for the second half of the week.
In brief: Did you like Sunday’s weather? Because that pattern will persist into Wednesday. After that point we’ll add daily rain chances into the forecast through the weekend. However, one thing that won’t change is the relatively high temperatures and humidity we’ve been experiencing.
A quick word on the Sun
By the calendar it may still say spring, but in terms of sunshine, we are rapidly approaching the peak of the year. Nowadays, shortly after 1 pm, the Sun reaches an angle of 75 degrees (out of a maximum of 90 degrees) in the sky. Of course the Sun reaches a maximum height on the summer solstice (June 21 this year, 84 degrees), but the Sun is already climbing to the same height as it does in early August.
What’s your point, Eric? Well I think a lot of Houston residents associate August with a month when you can pretty quickly get a sunburn outside. My point is that similar conditions exist in April, so if you’re planning to be outside during the middle of the day, please take some precautions to protect your skin. It will burn quickly.
Monday
High pressure will prevail to start the week, so we are likely to see ongoing warm and humid weather for a few days. For Monday, this means partly cloudy skies, with high temperatures in the mid-80s. Like on Sunday, we will see fairly stiff southerly winds at about 15 mph, with gusts up to 25 mph. Rain chances will be low to non-existent. Skies will remain mostly cloudy overnight, with low temperatures dropping to around 70 degrees.
Tuesday
This should more or less be a carbon copy of Monday, albeit with high and low temperatures perhaps a degree or two higher. Again, with high pressure in place, rain chances should remain near zero.
Wednesday
The forecast turns slightly more dynamic on Wednesday as a cool front approaches the region but, more likely than not, stalls out well to the northwest of the metro area. Although we will be watching for the possibility that the front pushes into Houston, right now the most probable weather is scattered showers (greater chances north of I-10) on Wednesday afternoon, evening, and overnight. Expect highs generally in the mid-80s with mostly cloudy skies. Those pesky, strong southerly winds will remain in place. I don’t think we’ll see enough oomph from the front to make a meaningful impact on nighttime temperatures.
Thursday and Friday
With clearer skies these days should see highs in the upper 80s to 90 degrees for most of the area, with nighttime lows around 70 degrees. However, each day may see some scattered shower activity during the afternoon and evening hours with daytime heating. I’m confident in the heat, but less so in the rain chances.
Saturday, Sunday, and beyond
With a fair amount of moisture lingering in the atmosphere, we should continue to see daily rain chances in the vicinity of 30 to 50 percent this weekend. With a few more clouds, high temperatures may back off into the mid-80s, with continued nighttime lows around 70 degrees. With dewpoints in the 60s it will definitely feel humid outside, but not oppressively so like it will in a month or two.
Most of our modeling is showing another system that could bring elevated rain chances by the middle of next week. However, as this feature is about 10 days away, it is difficult to place too much confidence in any one outcome at this time.
how can I refuse to pray with my religious client, accused of bullying for not attending a baby shower, and more
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Can I refuse to pray with my religious client?
I am a militantly non-religious person and have worked with a religion-based nonprofit as a consultant for a couple of years now. I am somewhat new to the workforce, and this is my first consulting gig.
They have always asked me to pray with them and for them at the beginning and end of every meeting. Because I really needed the work, I went along with this, and they have the idea that I support what they do and follow their beliefs. However, as time passes, it is becoming harder and harder for me to put a smile on and fake it, and we have multiple meetings per week. It is making me feel sick to do so, in fact.
Is there any way you can see to walk back from the praying gracefully without raising their hackles or awareness so much that they fire me? The praying is just really pervasive and there isn’t really a chance for me to “have to run and thank you so much for the meeting” before the prayers, as they announce and list the prayers as we go. They are pretty obnoxious about it and it is all performative nonsense as I am aware of some of their activities outside the church. I am actively trying to replace them as a client but can’t afford to lose them right now.
Yeah, if you’ve been praying with them for a couple of years, you’ve definitely allowed them to think you share their beliefs in a way you don’t. Ideally the first time it came up, you would have sat quietly and not participated — and if questioned about it, could have said, “I don’t pray at work, but please go ahead” or similar. That’s not to criticize you for not knowing what to do the first time it happened; this stuff if hard to field when you don’t know it’s coming! But letting it go on for two years is definitely making it more difficult now.
Still, though, could you simply start sitting quietly while they pray and not participate yourself? If they ask why you’re not joining them, you could say, “I’ve realized I prefer to sit quietly during prayer, but please go ahead.”
That said … this is clearly a very religious organization, and if they’re praying at the start and end of every meeting, it’s very, very woven into their culture. If you can’t afford to lose them as a client until you’ve replaced them and your sense is that it will be An Issue if you stop participating, you may need to fake it a while longer. (Personally, I’d argue that faking it is inherently disrespectful, but that would be trumped by their disrespect in objecting to you sitting quietly, if indeed they did.)
Related:
how do I handle questions about my religion at work meetings?
2. I was accused of bullying for not attending a coworker’s baby shower
I work for a smaller company on an all-female team. We’ve had multiple employees have babies since I’ve been here; never once have we thrown them a baby shower as a team.
Recently, a higher up’s daughter (Ella), who works in a different department, announced she is pregnant. I’ve never spoken to Ella. My team and Ella’s team decided to throw her a baby shower. They sent out an email and asked everyone to use their lunch break to go to this shower. Her registry link was sent out, a card went around, and we were asked to pitch in for a gift card if possible. I opted to sign the card but did not attend the shower or provide money for a gift and said I had a previous engagement I needed to go to during that time. As someone going through infertility, baby showers are triggering and, to be honest, I’m not going to put myself through that for someone I’ve never spoken to. I made my boss aware of this fake engagement ahead of time and apologized that I would miss out.
I’ve been told by people who did go that my absence was mentioned multiple times by the higher-ups and some felt it was my way of bullying Ella. My team is pretty toxic and I fully expect to be spoken to about this come next week.
If I am pulled in, would it be appropriate to disclose my infertility to my boss as a way to say back off? I have a good relationship with her and I feel like this would immediately shut people up, but I don’t know if this is something people typically disclose to a boss. I feel like anyone with an ounce of empathy would realize that people would skip a baby shower for other reasons rather than “bullying,” but alas, here we are.
They think you not attending a baby shower was bullying? And that you’d randomly decide to bully someone you’ve never even spoken to? This sounds like the tip of the iceberg with whatever’s going on in your office.
On principle I’d like to tell you to just reiterate that you had a scheduling conflict, and look extremely confused about why they’d think you have a grudge against someone you don’t even know (since that would be a very natural reaction to have). But if you’re comfortable explaining that you avoid showers since they’re painful to you because of infertility struggles, that will almost certainly shut them up (and will hopefully make them feel foolish as well, although that might be too much to hope for with these weirdos). However, that is 100% dependent on what you’re comfortable with; you don’t have to disclose this. But if you’re wondering if it’s a thing people ever do disclose to explain why they’re avoiding a work shower: yes. It wouldn’t be inappropriate if you decide you want to.
Related:
my office canceled baby showers to protect people dealing with infertility
3. Contracting company wants me to slow-roll my work so it looks like it took longer
I recently started a job as a contractor to a large well-known tech company. I am employed full-time by the contracting company, and working full-time at the contractee’s site. I’ve always considered myself a hard worker and am not a person who has ever intentionally held himself back to make projects take longer, or deliberately over quoted projects to make them “seem difficult.” I am very familiar with the tech stack and have more than 15 years working with it. There is so much low-hanging fruit!
I’ve been told multiple times by my contracting team leadership to slow down and don’t make it look too easy. I was also told, “I know you could do it in a day, but wait for a few more to ship the change so it looks like it took a while.” They don’t want me setting “unreasonable expectations” in case they get asked to do something “unreasonable.” I’ve literally reverted a one-line change in a displayed string because things shouldn’t be fixed too fast!
I feel dirty staying there any longer than I have to, and I am actively job hunting again. Do I have an obligation to mention any of this to the contractee company? I’ve thought about saying something to the company employee paying for my team on the way out, but I have a feeling there may be legal repercussions. I’ve also thought about mentioning this to my employer, but I’ve only been there for not quite three months, and the other two on my team have been there for years. Of course, all of this was said verbally too, so there is no record of it. Should I just quietly disappear when I land a new job, or is mentioning something the right thing to do?
I don’t think you have an obligation to mention it, and I also think mentioning it would be the right thing to do … which doesn’t mean it would be the smart thing to do, if it gets tied back to you.
This is one of those things where you can sometimes manage to drop hints to someone who you trust to pick up the hint and look at things more closely themselves, while still preserving plausible deniability for yourself, but there’s an art to doing that subtly rather than in one big blunt conversation on your way out.
Ultimately, it really depends on your sense of the players, how much you care about how the contracting company feels about you, and how confident you feel about your ability to withstand badmouthing from them if it comes to that.
4. Should I give my notes to the new person?
We have a new (early 20s) person starting in my office, and I’m pretty sure this is her first job out of college. She will be taking over doing some fieldwork, which also involves entering data into a big database.
I do a smaller portion of this work, and the main guy who will be teaching her has written out directions on the (overly) difficult way to enter the data, while I’ve written out my own set of clearer, more detailed directions.
Should I offer her my set of directions or let her write out her own? I don’t want to overstep since the main guy is the one who will train her, but I have an idea he won’t explain things very well.
I wouldn’t hit her with yours the same day he shows her his way, because it can be overwhelming to get conflicting instructions at a new job, and you don’t want to set her up to directly circumvent the way he’s asking her to do it. But at some point fairly early on, it’s fine to say, “I figured out we can streamline the process a bit and wrote out my own instructions on how to do it. Want me to send them to you? For example, instead of going through five menus to get to X, you can use this shortcut to X and it’s a lot faster.”
(Of course, this assumes that you’re confident your directions work well and are correct for her portion of the work. There are some situations where they might work for your smaller portion but not for her larger one. So just make sure you’re taking that into account first.)
5. I turned down a job and now I regret it
I received a job offer that, at the time, I turned down as I did not think I would be interested in a mostly remote role, which it was not listed as in their job description. They wanted a fairly quick response — one week — which I feel like made me rush into deciding.
However, a few weeks later, I regret turning it down and feel like I was just overthinking the job change. I see that they reposted the job to their website. Would it be inappropriate for me to reach out to the hiring manager and ask that I be reconsidered?
You can. Typically if you turn down a job offer and then come back and say you changed your mind, the hiring manager will want to hear about what changed on your side. They don’t want you accepting an offer that’s really not right for you, so they’re likely to have questions before they feel confident moving forward (because they don’t want to hire and train you and then have you realize your initial instinct was correct and leave soon afterwards). So you’d want to be prepared to speak to what changed and why you’re confident about the job now.
For what it’s worth, a week is a pretty standard period of time to think over an offer. Also, if they didn’t mention the job was remote until that point, that’s pretty odd, and a sign to think really critically about how much you know about how they operate: are there going to be other crucial details they handle cavalierly and last-minute? (Although if it just wasn’t in the ad but was explained clearly as soon as they moved you to an interview, that would concern me less.)
The post how can I refuse to pray with my religious client, accused of bullying for not attending a baby shower, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.
‘My Work Doesn’t Define Me,’ Says Man Who Will Spend 90,000 Hours Of Lifetime At Office
SACRAMENTO, CA—Believing that he was establishing a firm line between who he was as a person and what he did for a living, local man Jordan Wheeler, an employee of Creighton Industries who will ultimately spend 90,000 hours of his lifetime at the office, announced Monday that his work did not define him. According to witnesses, the 27-year-old proudly declared “I am more than just my job,” despite the fact that his 50-hour workweek will continue to leave him too exhausted to pursue any outside hobbies for decades to come. Wheeler, who will go on to work at the same office well into his 70s, reportedly called the place of employment in which he will spend a third of his adult life “just a paycheck” and “a temporary gig until I find what I’m really passionate about,” even though the few social engagements outside of the office he will participate in over the coming years will be with coworkers, with whom he will mostly talk about work. At press time, Wheeler reportedly spoke enthusiastically about his love for music, despite the fact that he will never spend more than six cumulative hours of his life playing his guitar.
The post ‘My Work Doesn’t Define Me,’ Says Man Who Will Spend 90,000 Hours Of Lifetime At Office appeared first on The Onion.
New Digital Collection Preserves Key Books on Drug Use and Policy
For many years, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) maintained a large library of books on drug use and policy at its New York City headquarters. As researchers shifted to working online, DPA’s Jules Netherland said she noticed fewer people coming into the office to use the collection.
“It became clear if we really wanted people to benefit from our resources that digitization was the way to go,” said Netherland, managing director of the Alliance’s Department of Research and Academic Engagement. It was also an opportunity to add to the growing collection of the Substance Abuse Librarians and Information Specialists (SALIS).
DPA donated its book collection to the Internet Archive to be digitized and made available for lending and for the print disabled. A team was sent to New York to pick up the books, which were packaged onto three pallets and shipped to a facility for scanning and storage.
Now, the digital version of the DPA library, with 2,260 items, is available to the public at https://archive.org/details/dpa. It is part of the larger SALIS collection of 8,647 items on alcohol and substance abuse digitized by SALIS.
Browse the new Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) collection: https://archive.org/details/dpa
The new donation covers books on a range of subjects going back to the 1900s, said Liz Rosenberg, donations manager for the Internet Archive. There are volumes on historical and cultural analysis of drug use, policy and politics around drugs, pharmacological studies, and books specific to a particular drug. Titles now digitized include: Deadly medicine: Indians and alcohol in early America; Between prohibition and legalization : the Dutch experiment in drug policy; Pain, analgesia, and addiction: the pharmacologic treatment of pain; and Meth wars : police, media, power.
The public has responded with curiosity. In January, 10,000 items were accessed in the digitized collection. Rosenberg speculates the audience is likely researchers, historians, healthcare providers, and policymakers.
In the rapidly evolving field of drug policy, which spans many disciplines, Netherland said it’s important to provide evidence-based information to the public. The hope is to enhance advocacy efforts with easier access to the organization’s collection. DPA developed a resource guide to encourage its use on the Internet Archive.
In donating its collection, DPA helped build the Internet Archive’s SALIS collection. Since 2008, SALIS has helped preserve thousands of items from physical libraries with research from drug and alcohol fields that have closed, said Andrea Mitchell, SALIS executive director.
About 30 years ago, there were approximately 95 libraries, clearinghouses, and resource centers around the world devoted to collecting, cataloguing, and disseminating information concerning alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, Mitchell said. However, today the majority of those libraries or databases have closed. The U.S. government has also shut down collections, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whose library went back to 1935. “We’re losing important resources and knowledge,” Mitchell said.
This leaves a void in access that has been filled, in part, by digitized collections online. Mitchell said The SALIS Collection includes materials that go back to 1774 and books from medicine, sociology, psychology, economics, law and policy, criminal justice, and other fields. In addition to books, there are government documents, grey literature, and newsletters.
The DPA collection was one of the larger libraries in the U.S., Mitchell said, and its donation to the Internet Archive is significant and welcome.
The Internet Archive is interested in receiving more curated collections like DPA’s on specific subject matters, Rosenberg added. “These really valuable books for research and resources are often not preserved when funding is lost at the library that houses them,” she saidTo find out more about the physical item donation process, go to the Help page for details.
Fulsome talents
Beate’s inferiority complex re: Lottie is poorly thought through. Not only can she drive, she can drive a Bedford Rascal, which is a sweet ride by anyone’s reckoning. Why am I so fascinated with the Bedford Rascal? I don’t know. It’s just a modest-sized van. Readers in global territories outside the UK may remember it as the “Suzuki Carry”.
The post Fulsome talents appeared first on Bad Machinery.
Mom thinks 30-year-old son would like the risotto at restaurant
Steinbach, MB – After briefly perusing the menu at a local Italian restaurant, Irene Everett concluded her adult son would probably like the risotto best. “I know my mom means well, but I’m a grown man who can read a menu and decide I want the risotto for myself,” said 30-year-old Aaron Everett. “And yeah, […]
The post Mom thinks 30-year-old son would like the risotto at restaurant appeared first on The Beaverton.
Donald Trump or Violet Beauregarde?
“Trump’s blue suit at Pope’s funeral draws attention… President Trump’s choice stood out in a sea of world leaders and famous faces who were dressed in customary black.” — New York Times, 4/26/25
1. Shows up at a solemn global event in a blinding shade of blue, disrupting everything like an unwanted pop-up ad in human form.
2. Demands instant gratification.
3. Was propped up by their father and remains disturbingly reliant on him, especially when facing imminent, though basic and predictable, consequences.
4. Requires a tiny, exhausted task force to minimize the consequences of their own self-inflicted disasters, while pretending they themselves are “winning.”
5. Has a truly troubling inability to follow simple, life-saving directions, e.g., chewing gum or inciting insurrections.
6. Involved in the exploitation of marginalized workers.
7. Insists they should be rewarded for relatively simple tasks like chewing gum or identifying an elephant.
8. Subject to the whims of and deeply beholden to a factory owner whose business empire is very much not thriving, but pretends otherwise for the cameras.
9. Prompted observers to wonder aloud if they would, in fact, pop, and whether it might improve the overall vibe.
10. Won a major prize despite doing the absolute bare minimum, then loudly demanded even more prizes.
11. Firmly believes they look good in blue, regardless of overwhelming photographic evidence to the contrary.
12. Relishes publicly calling others “loser,” preferably on camera, in interviews, or in deeply inappropriate moments like funerals or factory tours.
13. Views life exclusively as a battle between winners and losers, and genuinely does not understand concepts like “friendship,” “grace,” or "letting someone else talk for two seconds.”
14. Actively sucks up to the nearest authority figure, even when it makes that authority figure visibly uncomfortable and question all their life choices.
15. Suffers a grotesque public setback, but immediately reframes it as a historic triumph.
16. Requires a great deal of attention.
17. Stubbornly remained blue long after it was clear no one else thought it was a good look.
18. Was accompanied by a visibly mortified woman, quietly calculating how many golden tickets it would take to disappear forever.
ANSWER KEY:
Both: 1-18
Happy birthday, OpenBSD
Happy birthday, OpenBSD
https://openbsd.org/77.html
![[img]:ahuhne](https://analognowhere.com/_/ahuhne/ahuhne.png)
Fish 7.7
https://analognowhere.com/_/ahuhne
Dehumidifiers are confusing. Here's why.
Links 'n stuff:
HVAC system sizing:
https://youtu.be/DTsQjiPlksA
Technology Connextras (the second channel where I put stuff sometimes)
https://www.youtube.com/@TechnologyConnextras
Technology Connections on Bluesky:
https://bsky.app/profile/techconnectify.bsky.social
Technology Connections on Mastodon:
https://mas.to/@TechConnectify
Have you ever noticed that I've never done that whole influencer thing? That's all thanks to people like you! Viewer support through Patreon keeps this channel independent and possible. It's how I can express my true thoughts on what YouTube's business daddy (and Silicon Valley at large) are up to. If you'd like to join the amazing folks who fund my work, check out the link below. And thank you!
https://www.patreon.com/technologyconnections
00:00 Intro - they do not make you comfy
02:42 Basics of humidity problems
06:57 Dehumidifiers protect your stuff
08:49 Recommendations and advice
12:11 What's inside the machine
13:38 A demo of surprise heat
16:04 Heat pumps and the refrigeration cycle
28:41 Water condenses on cold surfaces
31:53 Water's latent heat weirdness
33:44 Why dehumidifiers convert latent heat to sensible heat
38:16 Dehumidifiers don't help your air conditioner
42:27 Can they save money?
44:49 Cold temperature performance problems
47:56 Alternative technologies
Looks a lot like Saskatchewan, doesn't it? Exce...
Looks a lot like Saskatchewan, doesn't it? Except it isn't. You know how you can tell? First of all, it's December, and there's no snow! #CowboyWho
Panicking Poilievre purportedly planning political pivot pending poll performance
PETERBOROUGH – Present polls panicking Pierre Poilievre, proving poor political performance, privy pals pronounced. “Pah! Pesky plebs!” pouted Poilievre. “Perhaps people picture Pierre Poilievre pivoting past politics? Poilievre prefers prime parliamentarian!” Previously, Poilievre perfected populism. Present president perforated Pierre’s principal platform plank, politicos pontificated. Pending preferred Poilievre proclamations promising proficient production, public purportedly picking present […]
The post Panicking Poilievre purportedly planning political pivot pending poll performance appeared first on The Beaverton.
Trump forgets instructions to not mention Canada again until future governor Poilievre has won election
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump was unable to remember the explicit instructions he was given to stop talking about Canada in order to help the man he’s tapped to be the first governor of the 51st state win the Canadian federal election. “We should have expected something like this,” said […]
The post Trump forgets instructions to not mention Canada again until future governor Poilievre has won election appeared first on The Beaverton.
The Bad Machinery (2009-2017) archive has been restored.
As promised, the archive is back up. It’s a no-frills presentation but I’ve included all the extra material from the books that was on GoComics, dozens of additional pages. Enjoy!
The post The Bad Machinery (2009-2017) archive has been restored. appeared first on Bad Machinery.
nostalgie
nostalgie
halo
![[img]:rlaonm](https://analognowhere.com/_/rlaonm/rlaonm.png)
Fish and Daemon touch a computer skull
https://analognowhere.com/_/rlaonm
Wayne Ma Reports That Political Tensions Are Making It Difficult for Apple to Shift More iPhone Production From China to India
Wayne Ma, reporting for The Information (paywalled, alas):
Earlier this year, Chinese authorities refused to allow one of Apple’s Chinese equipment suppliers to export machinery to India that Apple needed for the upcoming iPhone 17’s trial production, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. So the supplier got creative.
It set up a front company in Southeast Asia to buy the machines. Once the equipment reached the Southeast Asian country, it went to a factory in India operated by Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that builds most of Apple’s iPhones in China, the people said.
Ian Malcolm: “Life finds a way.” So too with Apple getting what it wants.
India is already assembling between 30 million and 40 million iPhones a year — as much as one-fifth of the iPhone’s global production, according to people involved in Apple’s India supply chain. Apple is planning to increase iPhone production in India by around 10% this year, one of those people said. The company has a long-term goal of moving about half of its iPhone production out of China, according to other people involved in Apple’s supply chain. [...]
Increasingly, though, just getting that manufacturing equipment to India is a hassle. In many cases, Chinese authorities are delaying or blocking shipments of iPhone equipment to India without explanation, according to multiple people involved in iPhone production.
Foxconn has seen approval times from Chinese authorities for exporting iPhone-making equipment from its China factories to those in India rise from two weeks to as long as four months, one of the people said. They are also rejecting some export applications without explanation, the person added.
The equipment Chinese authorities are scrutinizing includes high-precision lasers that weld metal parts to the frames of iPhones, air leak test stations that measure how waterproof the devices are, and machines that can identify, grab and move parts from one location to another, known as pick-and-place machines, according to three people involved in iPhone manufacturing.
Hardball tactics on all sides here.
Rumor Suggests iPadOS 19 to Get Some Mac-Like Tweaks, Like a Menu Bar
Majin Bu:
According to my source, Apple is gearing up for another major leap forward. With iPadOS 19 and iOS 19, expected in 2025, the gap between iPad, iPhone, and Mac continues to shrink. [...] One of the most exciting changes will benefit those using the iPad with a Magic Keyboard. When connected, the interface will adapt to show a menu bar at the top, just like on macOS, turning the iPad into a much more laptop-like experience.
Another key update is Stage Manager 2.0, an enhanced multitasking mode that activates automatically when the keyboard is attached. It will make managing apps and windows smoother and more productive than ever.
I don’t think it’s worth spending too much time thinking about these changes until we actually see what Apple is doing, but the menu bar is one of the great achievements in the history of UI design, and the Mac has always had the best design for a menu bar — at the top of the screen, not at the top of each window. Menu bars are such a great way to present and organize complexity. Moderately complex Mac apps typically have dozens of menu commands. More complicated apps can have 100 or more commands. I’ve never seen a plausible design for an app as complicated as, say, Xcode, BBEdit, or Photoshop without a menu bar. One of the reasons why Apple’s own apps are always better — and more capable — on MacOS than on iOS or iPad is that they’ve got more commands, better organized, because there’s a menu bar. Apple Notes, Apple Mail, the whole iWork suite — they’re all better on Mac, and they all have way more features on the Mac.
Reading a menu is also far more humane than scrutinizing icons. Sure, pick the handful of most-used commands and make them available in a toolbar of icons. But the full menu of commands should be written, not illustrated. You don’t order food in a serious restaurant by pointing at unlabeled pictures. You read the menu.
I know iPadOS today already supports a menu-bar-like HUD thing when you have a keyboard attached and hold down the Command key. I find that to be far less usable and far more distracting than a Mac-style menu bar. There’s a reason the Mac only shows you one menu at a time. Focus. The Mac menu bar is boring, but it’s boring in the best possible way. With the iPad’s current HUD menu, it’s like if the Mac dropped down every menu in an app at the same time. Presumably what Bu is describing is just making the iPad’s HUD menu present itself the way it should have from the start. I’ve always felt like iPadOS’s designers made the iPad’s HUD menu different from the Mac just to be different, not because it’s better — because I don’t see how it’s better in any way.
But the other problem is with the idea that iPadOS’s menu — whether as it stands today, as a HUD, or as this rumor suggests it might change, to be more like the Mac — is only available when you have a keyboard attached. Why shouldn’t users be able to access all menu commands when they’re just using the iPad via touch? It’s unnecessarily restrictive that the full list of commands in an app is only available when a keyboard is attached — especially for a device that many users never attach a keyboard to.
Bu continues:
iOS 19 isn’t being left behind. Source say that iPhones with USB-C will support external displays, offering a Stage Manager like interface. While not a full desktop mode, it will allow users to extend their screen space, great for presentations, editing, or enhanced viewing.
I often use my iPhone connected to a hardware keyboard, especially in the morning, while making coffee. And I seldom take an iPad with me when I travel any more — often/usually just my MacBook and iPhone. An iPhone with a Bluetooth keyboard is a great portable travel kit. (Apple’s own Magic Keyboard, for example, is remarkably lightweight.) All sorts of keyboard shortcuts that a Mac or iPad user is accustomed to work on an iPhone when using a keyboard, too.
But the one that’s missing that kills my productivity the most, takes me right out of the flow, is Command-Tab. It makes no sense to me why iOS doesn’t support Command-Tab. I personally don’t foresee ever attaching my iPhone to an external display (but I can see why some people would), but I really just hope that if this rumor comes to pass, it includes support for Command-Tab too.
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This Five-Hundred-Word Bumper Sticker on My Tesla Explains Why I’m Not a Bad Person
Our 17th most-read article of 2025.
Originally published April 25, 2025.
Right now, you’re behind me, within reading distance on the freeway, at the stoplight, in the parking lot, maybe in the drive-thru line, or perhaps in my very own driveway (anywhere but a gas station, really), and I know what you’re thinking. But before you form another thought, you’re going to want to keep reading this five-hundred-word bumper sticker on my Tesla so you can fully understand why I am not a bad person.
First, you must know that I got this car before Elon went evil billionaire. I recognize that its being a 2023 Tesla Model S does complicate that message, but you must also know that the only thing I hate more than what he’s doing to the American people is me being perceived as the bad guy.
Before the last few months, Musk was only mean toward some people, and I hope you can understand that I and most people in my social circles were not among them. So when that suddenly changed for me this year, I was just as outraged as any of you, as evidenced by this five-hundred-word bumper sticker prominently placed on my Tesla.
You can’t really expect anyone to be a fortune teller in these situations, right? When you’re in the market for a car that will get you from point A to point B with incredible speed and low operating costs, and the guy who has essentially made himself the brand of that car is known for mistreating people, spreading false information, and having weird ideas about free speech and populating the human race, how could you possibly predict that someday he will say and do those same things a lot louder and more often? If I had that superpower of foresight, what I wouldn’t have is this bumper sticker on a Tesla that I still own.
Trust me, I feel the sting of every single disapproving glare like a thousand needles. My soul trembles and withers. It is an unbearable burden. Not more unbearable than the money I would lose if I got rid of this car to materially rebuke a man I believe is evil, but it’s still pretty unbearable. If you think this printed explanation looks like it’s overwhelming the rear of my car, just know it’s only the tip of the iceberg of the immense weight I carry every time I get behind the wheel.
Does it help to know that I always return my shopping cart to the designated area? What about the fact that I’ve never been to a Chick-fil-A?Or that I commissioned this bumper sticker from the Etsy shop of a woman who was fired from the EPA?
Contrary to what a first glance at my Tesla might suggest, I care deeply about the innocent people suffering at the hands of this one particular billionaire, which I believe also includes me. So sporting a bumper sticker clarifying that none of it is my fault is the least I can do to help.