Month: February 2024

I get asked fairly often by various friends when the subject inevitably turns to computers, “Why Linux?”

So, to put my thoughts on the subject into a concise format, I’ll post them here.

First up is Data Harvesting. These days everything you see, click on, open, or interact with is harvested to create a digital duplicate of you; what you like, who you talk to, where you go, what you do when you get there, how much you spent, and on what, etcetera. And the better this digital duplicate is, the more the various tech companies can successfully outmaneuver you when it comes to everything from selling you stuff to influencing your opinions.

Windows and MacOS are essentially engines for this data harvesting these days, because there is so much money in it. Linux on the other hand is still very much “what happens on your computer stays on your computer”.

Then there’s the “AI” stuff being baked into everything. And while the AI bit itself has it’s issues that I’ll get into in some other post, the fact that it’s just another avenue for the above Data Harvesting is what really bugs me… Things like “CoPilot” send absolutely everything you do on the computer to some server somewhere for processing – that’s how it works.

Hot on the heels of data harvesting is the push for Total Cloud Integration Of Everything… What this does is literally tie the use of physical stuff you own to an account controlled by someone else somewhere else. Let’s take Windows for example; you can’t set up Windows 11 without creating a “Microsoft Account” – well, you can, but it requires command line trickery – and once done your ability to log into your computer is entirely at the whim of Microsoft…

So, if you run afoul of Microsoft’s ToS, which can happen by simply saying something Microsoft determines is “misinformation” – and Microsoft sees everything you say – you lose access to your computer and all of the stuff Microsoft has stored on your behalf. This would include things like logins and passwords in Edge, saved documents in OneDrive, and possibly even your email address if you opted for the default free Outlook account.

Apple is the same, though iCloud goes one step further and can prevent boot-time decryption of the machine’s drive(s) as well as locking the firmware and preventing any OS reload and rendering it into an instant brick.

Now, just imagine for a moment that you suddenly can’t use your computer and all of your login info is now locked, and you need access to your bank… Tough luck. You might not even have the ability to change your password at the bank because you no longer have access to your email – all because you were convicted of wrongthink by the tech giant judge, jury, and executioner.

So, yeah – I run Linux.

Listening to "Wonderland" by Killstar

My CFO and the sales guys from our spinoff company have all been eating this stuff called “Factor” at work for a couple years now, and it looks and smells pretty good – so I checked on it a year or so ago…

Basically Factor is “HelloFresh” (literally), but it’s already prepared and you just chuck it in the microwave for two minutes. So, it’s pretty healthy stuff made with actual food instead of fillers and chemistry, and each meal is relatively balanced – meat, veggies, diary, etc.

The down side is that without fillers, extenders, and chemicals food is pretty expensive – and each Factor meal works out to about $12 to $15 – or $150-ish a week for two meals a day during the work week – and that was too rich for my blood… I mean, I actually compare weight to cost on my boxed mac to get the best deal…

But, here we are in 2024 and a singular sack of groceries (a week’s worth of frozen burritos, tv-dinners, hotdogs, canned soup, etc) is right at a hundred bucks – so I decided to give Factor a try.

Today my first box arrived; 10 meals, and for dinner I had this:

Which was made with this:

Ground Beef, Zucchini, Onions, Sour Cream (Cultured Cream), Mushrooms, Sliced Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto (Color)), Water, Olive Pomace Oil, Garlic, Cream Cheese (Pasteurized Milk And Cream, Salt, Cheese Culture, Stabilizers (Xanthan Gum, Carob Bean Gum, Guar Gum)), Nitrite/Nitrate-Free Uncured Bacon (Pork, Water, Salt, Celery Powder, Cherry Baste Aid), Granulated Onion, Granulated Garlic, Green Onions, Buttermilk Powder, Sea Salt, Reduced Brown Stock ((Veal Bones, Water), Beef Stock, Mirepoix Stock (Made Of Carrot, Celery And Onion Stocks), Red Wine, Tomato Paste, Gelatin, Salt, Carrot Stock, Celery Stock)), Mirepoix Concentrate (Water, Sea Salt, Vegetable Stock (Carrot, Celery And Onion Stocks), Carrot Stock, Tapioca Starch, Cabbage Juice Concentrate, Celery Stock, Onion Stock, Natural Flavors, Mushroom Stock, Tomato Paste), Smoked Black Pepper (Pepper, Smoke Flavor), Bacon Fat (Nitrite/Nitrate-Free Uncured Bacon (Pork, Water, Salt, Celery Powder, Cherry Baste Aid)), Black Pepper, Monkfruit Sweetener (Erythritol, Monk Fruit Extract), Dried Dill, Dried Chives, Thyme, Dried Parsley

Overall it was really good. Meals made with actual food turn out to be pretty tasty – who would have guessed.

The elephant in the room is the cost, and I need to try and justify the extra $50-ish dollars a week… So far I’m going with “I’m 55 years old and should probably stop living off of frozen burritos”. But we’ll see if that pans out when I’m rummaging in the console of the car for loose change to buy gas.

Listening to "Left Behind" by Absinth3, Zak Love

I’m coming up on the 55 in a couple of days. Wednesday in fact… I still find it hilarious that I’m a ‘senior citizen’ now.

Normally my birthday is celebrated with some new computer, but this year things are a bit more low-key given the economy and whatnot – and I don’t really need a computer better than the one I built back in October.

So, this year I splurged on a new coat…

I’ve had the same Wrangler fleece lined jean jacket since winter 2008, and a few weeks ago the zipper finally succumbed to entropy – so it was time I guess. Initially I was just going to replace it with the same thing, but after perusing the local ranch store I discovered that Wrangler hasn’t made that jacket for a decade now, and the closest thing they offer these days is really cheap and flimsy and probably won’t last a year.

So I got to thinking about what was probably the best, warmest coat I’ve ever owned – my Navy issue pea-coat from back in the 80’s. And this sent me down the rabbit hole to locate another one.

It turns out that it’s not exactly easy to get a quality wool coat these days. Everything is cheap Chinese crap designed to put you on a yearly subscription to replace it, so things like ‘rugged’ and ‘heavy duty’ are just buzzwords now. That and everything these days is all about how high-tech it is with fancy shell composites and tricky synthetic fibers to make the coat as light as possible for shipping reasons.

If you want an old-school, heavy, animal-based fabric coat you need to do some legwork.

Anyway, after a week of wandering the Internet I stumbled over Sturm in Germany. Sturm gets mixed reviews from the hardcore tacticool people who think a plate carrier is a fashion statement, but their reproductions tend to get rave reviews from reenactment fans, movie prop people, and normal Joes.

Anyway, I took a chance and ordered an old pattern USN pea coat from them, which took about two weeks to come in from Germany…

I’d have to say this is pretty authentic, having actually worn the real deal back in the 80’s. It’s just as heavy and just as warm as the original, even if it’s a wool blend versus wearing a sheep like in the old days.

Like the original, the threading on the buttons is the weak point, but I’m familiar with how to fix that. The rest of the stitching looks and feels really solid, the liner is pretty nice, and the fit is pretty good… The sleeves are a bit long, but I think I can have that tailored out pretty easy.

Overall the coat was about a hundred bucks, or $40 more than the cheap replacement for my old jean jacket.

I think it was worth it.

Listening to "Roll with the Changes" by REO Speedwagon