@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

mausmalone

@mausmalone@mastodon.social

Old school jack-of-all-trades webmaster, but I mostly talk about old video games and computing.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

This is a pretty basic, "and what's the deal with airline food??" kinda observation, but

It's just been brought to my attention that a Chrome tab takes up a minimum of 24 to 28 MB of RAM*, even if it's looking at about:blank or an empty HTML page. There are good engineering reasons it might work this way but I am also thinking about how my first computer-shaped computer** had 4 MB of RAM and that was like, an OS plus sophisticated full apps. Later we upgraded to 8 MB RAM and that was a big deal

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc the first computer I had /that could connect to the Internet and load web pages/ had like 16 MB I think. I made whole websites on that and posted them on geocities.

gulovsen, to random
@gulovsen@mastodon.social avatar

Me realizing that I need to install Microsoft Teams for a meeting tomorrow

A small child throwing a temper tantrum

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@LinuxAndYarn @gulovsen I've never had a problem with Teams in Firefox ... other than it not having any camera settings.

Which is good for me I guess because I can't imagine the Linux version of Teams is functional (not that I'm volunteering to try).

mausmalone, to random
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

Well I'll admit that I stayed up a little bit later than I intended but I managed to hammer it out. Some thoughts on the movement (whatever you want to call it) and, incidentally, the first update to my personal website in 6 months.

I don't know if the world needed another one of these think-pieces but for me, at least, it's a sort of statement of intent. At the very least I hope to put some more effort into my personal site.

https://mattpierce.info/smol-web

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Biden set to levy 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs this week

Both the US and EU are deeply concerned about heavily subsidized Chinese OEMs.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/05/biden-set-to-levy-100-tariffs-on-chinese-evs-this-week/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica you know, there's no reason we can't heavily subsidize American EVs and compete on equal terms (except a slavish devotion to the notion of market capitalism).

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

My ex had this rule, or sort of a philosophy I guess:

"Never feel bad about spending money on books."

And this made a lot of sense to me, at the time,

but this was before I actually realized

just how much money I am capable of spending on books

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc maybe a better rule is "don't feel bad spending money on entertainment if you can afford it."

I grew up poor so I have to remind myself of this constantly. I feel like I'm doing something morally wrong whenever I buy stuff that isn't strictly needed.

geerlingguy, to random
@geerlingguy@mastodon.social avatar

Some fun to be had... and some people think I only like Raspberry Pi pfft!

image/jpeg

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@geerlingguy Man ... maybe this summer I can find some time to play around with a Lychee Pi 4A. I've been meaning to for a while and this carrier-board config just pushed it into the forefront of my mind.

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Just opened my ThinkPad and for the second time in three days the act of closing the laptop to sleep it, then opening it again had caused Ubuntu to hardlock. This time I got a very brief small printout about "amd ring 0 error", then it went back to a black screen and I had to hold down the power button again.

I thought getting a ThinkPad, getting AMD cpu/gpu and picking the Linux distro Lenovo lists as supported would mean I got a minimally functioning computer but I guess not.

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc I don't, but by the same token I don't allow my laptop to suspend on lid closure. I only suspend my laptop explicitly.

I've had issues with suspend on lid closure on every laptop I've ever used so I eventually just defaulted to disabling it preemptively.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

Holy shit, I thought my computer was just running really slowly, but it turns out it was entirely due to Chrome. Please Google, just close down.

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith this is where every web developer on the planet swarms in to tell you you should use Firefox. (But at the very least please stop using Chrome - it's invasive to the point of being indistinguishable from spyware.)

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Palm OS and the devices that ran it: An Ars retrospective

Before smartphones, we had PDAs in our pockets. Palm did them best.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/palm-os-and-the-devices-that-ran-it-an-ars-retrospective/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica One addition to the epilogue - Palm was zombified under TCL, but webOS was split off and bought by LG and it's the OS that runs their smart TVs.

docpop, to random
@docpop@mastodon.social avatar

I'm sick of justifying ethical behavior in terms of profit. We use phrases like "adding alt-text brings more customers to your site" or "protected bike lanes increase revenue for local businesses."

You should add alt-text descriptions to images because it helps people.

We need to build bike lanes because it makes cities safer and more accessible.

Reduce carbon emissions because it's the right thing to do! Discussing these things in purely economic terms misses the point.

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@docpop that's the same feeling that I get when we have to argue about whether school lunches and breakfasts raise test scores or not. Who cares? The result of free school lunches and breakfasts is that kids don't go hungry.

bagder, (edited ) to cisco
@bagder@mastodon.social avatar

I was reminded of the great security fix of 2019

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@cd_home @root42 @nullcolaship @foosel @bagder It is pretty funny - it's just that most of the HTML tags for content (h1-6, a, p, div) don't have the letter t, while a lot of stuff in the head (title, script, style) do.

Surely any tables on the page are ruined, though.

notjustbikes, to random
@notjustbikes@notjustbikes.com avatar

Waiting with the rest of the crowd for the spits (rush hour) to end at Utrecht Centraal, so that my train ride to Amsterdam is 40% cheaper. 😉

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@notjustbikes kinda shines a spotlight on people who think peak/off-peak pricing is just good business but then gripe about cities enacting congestion charges. EDIT: or at least that's where my mind went.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

The 2024 Fiat 500e is a $34K EV that appeals to emotion, not logic

It fits a niche, but it won't suit everyone's needs.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/04/the-2024-fiat-500e-is-a-34k-ev-that-appeals-to-emotion-not-logic/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica What's with the headline here? Every car fits a niche but won't suit everyone's needs. That's why they make different cars.

It just seems really sus that it gets applied to like one of 3 or 4 total EV cars on the entire market, and one of the only 2 compact EVs you can buy in the US.

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

As you may remember from me talking about it once a week, the three things I most want out of a cell phone are

  1. RECTANGULAR screen with NO HOLES OR ROUNDED EDGES ON THE DISPLAY CANVAS

  2. Big bezel/bevel/whatever it's called so I can hold it without activating the touch screen

  3. Headphone jack

I search and search and even for high prices I usually cannot get these things

But the $35 carrier branded temp replacement phone I bought at the Wal-Mart by the airport?

All three

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc for reference, in electronics it's "bezel," a term taken from jewelry making for the metal piece that holds the glass front of a watch. "Bevel" refers specifically to a slanted surface and they get confused a lot because a bezel will grip a gem by its beveled edge.

ZachWeinersmith, to random
@ZachWeinersmith@mastodon.social avatar

Next time someone asks what SMBC is about, I'm just posting this

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@ZachWeinersmith

TheWarOnCars, to earthquake
@TheWarOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

There's always a parking angle.

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@TheWarOnCars "West of Manhattan" - anything and everything to avoid just saying "New Jersey"

thelinuxEXP, to linux
@thelinuxEXP@mastodon.social avatar

Here are the results of the little survey I ran early this week!

I must admit the results surprised me, I tried to explain them as best I could, but don’t hesitate to comment on the video if you have other ideas !

Also, the raw data is available from the link in the description :)

https://youtu.be/8V8uQbIFlh0

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@thelinuxEXP added a comment to say Wayland works great for me! It seems pretty common for people to be vocal when something doesn't work. When it DOES work it feels like there's nothing interesting to say. But I've been on Wayland since I made the jump from Windows to Linux about a year and a half ago and it's never been a cause for concern. For me it not only just works, but it's also just the way things have always worked.

geerlingguy, to RaspberryPi
@geerlingguy@mastodon.social avatar

Radxa's new HAT powers the ultimate 5 NAS, with room for four SATA drives in a tiny footprint, consuming 6-8W at idle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l30sADfDiM8

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@geerlingguy adding this to Watch Later because I'm put off by the massive expense of commercial solutions, the still pretty high costs of home NAS devices, and the power footprint (and risk) of just repurposing old PC hardware. Something like this could not only sit silently on a bookshelf in my office but it also makes for a sort of objet d'art.

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

"Are you the Walrus? You have to tell me if you're the Walrus"

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc Here's another clue if you please
The seether's Louise

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Advertisement

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc sure hope this buff doesn't stack

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Here is a product called "Veggie Love" from an establishment named "Leaf Doner". Tell me if there is anything that stands out as unusual to you about it

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc I know what you're aiming for here but for me it was "Choice of Topics"

But yeah, the word Doner doesn't mean "meat" but it heavily implies it. It's how the meat is cooked - on a vertical rotisserie and the outermost layers are shaved off as they're ready. That's why it looks like steak ums.

Falafel Doner is probably more strange than doner meat served on a bed of veggies.

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

A problem I have is, I am at a place with soldering where I can solder but I do not feel confident soldering, and I don't know how to get from A to B because the only way to get confident would be to do a lot of it. But I don't do any of it. Because I don't feel confident. I'm afraid I'll break something.

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@mcc You could get a build-your-own kit and assemble that. It's not cheap but you'll certainly do a lot of repetitive soldering.

Like one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhdc-jgwqVQ

mausmalone, to cars
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

Out of curiosity - does anybody following me have any experience with replacing car stereo speakers? I'm not really worried about the wiring or the speaker itself - but I don't really know how to figure out if I can dismantle the car door with risking damaging it ...

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

Lol nevermind - just found a how-to and they're not in the door. This actually looks pretty easy. I just have to make sure I order the right parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWJNS5QSQp0

MissingThePt, to random
@MissingThePt@mastodon.social avatar

With questions of the whereabouts of the Princess of Wales gripping a nation and a constitutional monarchy now on the brink of crisis, the UK needs assurance that a future Queen is ready to serve at a moment’s notice — even if it is a replacement.

One woman stands ready to heed her country’s call.

mausmalone,
@mausmalone@mastodon.social avatar

@MissingThePt I believe you meant "FOR a moment's notice," not at.

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