OldFartPhil

@OldFartPhil@lemm.ee

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Lockheed P-38 Lightning Porky II [OC - 1620x1080] (photos.smugmug.com)

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament....

OldFartPhil,

Well, I didn’t wake up this morning expecting to see Santa’s O face. I guess that’s enough internet for the day.

OldFartPhil,

Okay, this comment made me LOL. Well done.

OldFartPhil,

This is one of those times when I’m glad we Luddites in the US still use mostly SMS/MMS. I have managed to avoid anything Facebook/Meta and I would have been pissed if the messaging app that all my friends and family were already using was sold to Zuck.

OldFartPhil,

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about why most of the rest of the world uses messaging apps instead of texting, so I understand. And messaging applications are objectively better in almost every way. But the threat of enshittification is always present when people choose a corporate walled garden. Hopefully some of the new EU regulations on account portability will make lock-in less of a concern.

OldFartPhil,

Yes, although I’d argue that it’s a pick your poison thing. You can use a system where the content of your texts aren’t secure, or you can let Meta add even more personal information to the dossier it has on you, your friends and the family dog.

OldFartPhil,

I read The Three Body Problem, but it wasn’t engaging enough to read the sequels. I’m not into sci-fi adjacent films like Pacific Rim and superhero or comic book movies. In general, I have a strong preference for sci-fi books over movies and TV shows because books can go places that visual media can’t.

OldFartPhil,

Create Firefox launchers

Launch the Firefox profile manager:
$ firefox -ProfileManager

Launch a specific profile:
$ firefox -P “ProfileName”

I can't code.

Across this vast Fediverse, I have encountered a trend of people answering questions with esoteric programming language speaking in tongues that I don’t understand, including under my own posts. I am a Boomer when it comes to coding and I am only 27. I don’t even know where I would start to learn it because programming is so...

OldFartPhil,

I am a Boomer when it comes to coding

Hey, OP, I think it’s cool that you’d like to learn to code. I made my living as a coder for many years and it’s a good career path. But I would not say it’s an essential life skill and the vast majority of people of all ages get by fine without coding skills.

With that out of the way, I’m going to defend the honor of Boomers here. Boomers (and the Silent Gen before them) built the technology industry as we know it today. For example, here’s a list of popular programming languages and their inventors:

  • Java: James Gosling (1955) - Boomer
  • C: Dennis Ritchie (1941) - Almost a Boomer
  • C++: Bjarne Stroustrup (1950) - Boomer
  • C#: Anders Hejlsberg (1960) - Boomer
  • Python: Guido van Rossum (1956) - Boomer
  • PHP: Rasmus Lerdorf (1968) - X Gen
  • Perl: Larry Wall (1954) - Boomer
  • JavaScript: Brendan Eich (1961) - Boomer
  • Ruby: Yukihiro Matsumoto (1965) - Cusp of Boomer/X Gen
  • SQL: Raymond Boyce (1946) and Donald Chamberlin (1944) - Boomers
  • Go: Robert Griesemer (1964), Rob Pike (1956) and Ken Thompson (1943) - 2 Boomers and an almost-Boomer

<Adjusts onion>. Thank you for your indulgence.

OldFartPhil,

Mine was powered by hamster wheels. The damn wheels squealed all day long - drove me crazy. Not to mention the feed bill.

OldFartPhil,

I’m part of the cohort of programmers that learned to code in pre-dotnet VB. VB6 (my precious) was the most popular programming language for years.

OldFartPhil,

I’m part of the cohort of programmers that learned to code in pre-dotnet VB. VB6 (my precious) was the most popular programming language for years.

OldFartPhil,

I’m not sure what’s being implied here, but the quote from the article is true. ChromeOS is FOSS, was based on Ubuntu (a long time ago) and is now based on Gentoo. Early versions of ChromeOS, which were basically just a full-screen browser, didn’t feel very Linuxy. But I think current ChromeOS versions look and feel a lot like using a simplified Linux distro.

I don’t have a strong opinion on whether ChromeOS should be grouped with traditional Linux distros for statistical purposes. But it is notable that Google maintains the two most most popular non-server OSs built on the Linux kernel.

OldFartPhil,

I didn’t hate The Martian, but I did not love it. I really liked Project Hail Mary, though. The sciencey stuff was still there, but it was bolted on to a much more compelling and interesting story.

How do you decide when to give up on a book?

I read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and take enjoyed it. Read another book, then started reading Devil and the Dark Water by the same author. I got about 25% through and just decided to drop it for something else. I’m not an avid reader so i never know if I should stay committed or not.

OldFartPhil,

Life is too short to read books you’re not going to enjoy, OP.

My biggest enemy is boredom - I have to be engaged to keep reading. Although the last two books I’ve abandoned were for other reasons. One because of a graphic animal-abuse scene that I couldn’t make it through and one that turned into a Christian novel half-way through. None of the reviews mentioned it, but apparently the author found god and released a new, improved printing featuring extra Jesus. Blech.

Why is Linux so frustrating for some people?

Don’t get me wrong. I love Linux and FOSS. I have been using and installing distros on my own since I was 12. Now that I’m working in tech-related positions, after the Reddit migration happened, etc. I recovered my interest in all the Linux environment. I use Ubuntu as my main operating system in my Desktop, but I always end...

OldFartPhil,

No “average person” troubleshoots their own Windows machine, but they know someone who can. if you install Linux on someone’s machine, you are their tech support. Most of the time that’s fine, because Linux is pretty damn reliable. But when something goes wrong an average person is going to have a harder time finding support.

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