News & Views from an Embedded Systems Designer
Descendant of slaveholders, confederate apologist (= Traitor to the USA), and very likely racist asshole, Edward Dickinson Tayloe II, is trying to silence accurate historical information about his ancestors. Go read Ed’s fine article for the details.
A descendant of one of the Virginia’s largest slaveowners and most prominent families is suing a newspaper and a history professor for accurately […]
Source: Charlottesville Descendant of Slave Owners Sues for Libel Over True Report | Ed Brayton
PZ nails it.
Here’s what I think is going on. He’s dug himself into a deep hole with his record of saying stupid things, and he doesn’t see a way out, because ultimately he still thinks he was totally right about everything, and trying to defend himself would involve making more stupid statements. There aren’t any misunderstandings, we all understand perfectly well what he was saying, we just think he’s wrong. And he’s sort of aware that trying to change our mind about that would require reaffirming many of his previous stances, yet he’s a smart guy who knows the wind is blowing in a new direction, so he’s just going to get more dissent.
He’s dug this hole, so now he’s going to just sit in it and tell everyone they’re poopyheads who don’t understand him. That’s fine. Go right ahead. I think rms has found the right position for himself at last.
Source: rms resigns
Marauding Cat Destroys Colony Of Threatened Australian Seabirds
A cat — just one free-roaming cat — has destroyed an entire sanctuary for threatened birds in Australia, according to a recent study
Source: Marauding Cat Destroys Colony Of Threatened Australian Seabirds
It makes me very sad to see that Sesame Street has fallen under the spell of the wealthy, dangerous to children and public health, pseudo-science organization Autism Speaks. Using the muppets to promote dangerous quackery is horrible.
Learn more about this issues from Rebecca,
Source: Sesame Street Partners with Anti-vaccine Organization Autism Speaks – Skepchick
or these other news sources.
Sesame Street Chooses Wrong Narrative on Autism and Loses a Key Relationship
A PROMINENT AUTISM GROUP HAS CUT TIES WITH ‘SESAME STREET’ OVER NEW PSAS FEATURING AUTISTIC MUPPET
Why An Autism Group Is Breaking Up With ‘Sesame Street’
‘Sesame Street’ Under Fire For PSAs About Autism That Add ‘Further Stigma’
Microsoft must be getting desperate, they pushed out an Office update that sneakily installs a special program to automatically try installing Teams every time any user logs in. They even went so far as to name the program “Teams Machine-Wide Installer” so that it is nearly impossible to find and uninstall (all other Microsoft software has a name starting with Microsoft which is easy to find in the remove list). Thanks to the reddit users who pointed out the name.
There is no easy antidote to the spread of dangerous zero-sum ideas. But perhaps the beginning of wisdom is to recognize the danger they pose, and understand why they are wrong:
Source: The Perils of Zero-Sum Worldviews Revisited – Reason.com
Yesterday I encountered the error in the post title when moving my StarTech 4 Port USB to Serial Adapter from a 10 year old PC (that finally died) to my current engineering workstation. I’d never experienced that particular error before so I Googled it and read about a dozen articles with suggestions for fixing it and none of them helped.
Being an engineer of electronic instruments I realized I needed to step back, assume nobody posting on the internet really has a full grasp of how USB works, and think about the system and how to methodically troubleshoot the problem. I soon realized that I’d skipped what should always be the first tests, cables. I have the USB/Serial box mounted at the test bench and it’s connected via a long USB cable and extension back to my workstation. To make a long story short, I learned that this device is less tolerant of using excessively long (out of spec long) USB cables than other USB 2.0 devices I use. For convenience I was using an existing run that made the total distance 8 meters. Swapping the 4.5 meter extension cable for a 2 meter extension cable fixed the problem.
BTW – looking back on this problem where I wasted at least an hour of my time I noticed there was a clue on the product page. The Accessories tab lists one single item, 15 ft USB 2.0 Active Extension Cable.
PolitiFact rates this claim as mostly false. I rate it as just another lie, one that fits a pattern. Time and time again we’ve seen Trump promise something, do nothing to make it happen and just declare that he has fulfilled his promise anyway. He knows his followers don’t really care whether it’s true or not. That’s not why they support him. They support him because he hates the same people they do and gives them permission to do so openly.
Source: Trump Lies About Drug Prices Going Down | Ed Brayton
This is classic Trump: Declare a crisis, strike a deal that changes virtually nothing and declare the crisis averted.
Source: Trump’s Empty, Meaningless ‘Deal’ With North Korea | Ed Brayton
