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Thursday, December 31, 2020

wtf

 






speechless. 
But here, under my rock, Things are more explainable.
For example, I may have written, and then erased, something about my internet speed.
Peaches and Dulcinea: One (*gasp*) last duty to perform (orphanrocks.blogspot.com)
I put my money where my mouth was and *finally* pressed the "Upgrade" button!
Yay! Or something...
And what did I discover?
That Internet speed doesn't mean jack on my country road of a connection, but once you build a highway,
tons of things need tweaking.
Do the tweaks, and Latency drops, speed goes up.
But *finding* the tweaks (insert superbombastic site here) isn't easy.
The "Upload QOS" shouldn't have anything to do with download speed, right?
Geez, tell that to my router.
Turning Upload QOS *off*
Tweaked my download-speed, and I don't know why.
Don't answer that. (Ahh!!)

Unfortunately that's the best I want to show from speedtest, because my highway is still a country road by your standards...That little speedometer on speedtest was starting slow, changing gears and speeding up.
In the second picture, it starts fast and gets faster.
Nothing by your standards (yours being 400mbps to one gig,) I could grow old while you zoom by at warp speed ("relativity", o nevermind)
But I prolly pay less too.

Rereading this makes a train of thought zoom by so fast that I miss everything.

I'm supposed to do something, say something, *be aware* of something.

O, well.

It almost isn't worth mentioning, but I am unfamiliar with multithread-downloads, because they do not seem suitable for today's high-paranoia server environment.
They have been around for years, and speedtest-sites use them (as advertisements?) to show how fast your speed could be, if you only used multithreading (I am pretty sure no one does, by default.)

The mechanics of downloading, using steam or a mod site, require that you sign in, usually, and a special program that only does downloads might be nice for pirate-wannabes but I only download mods, games and windows-updates.

So: it occurs to me that specifying "Single thread" on a speed test-site might be more practical for people like me.
Yes, I can go very fast but it's pointless sunshine up my butt if I don't use a download manager (and like I said, for the sites I download from, I doubt that they'd work)
But this is thinking-out-loud, not pontificating, and I wish I knew for sure.
The modem already has "Lanes" of communication, a lot like lanes on a freeway, and that's done mechanically, but I don't understand it either. 
Not really.
And the speedtest to your Internet-service-Provider is pretty useless as well, assuming it's working,
because once it works, you'll almost never use it as a gauge of speed (Because you normally download from Pennsylvania or little-rock Arkansas.)
If you can download from one coast to another and still be happy with the speed, you've made it, and life's a ball.

I keep saying I'm bad at math.
My overprotective bank declined my purchase
which pissed off the store I was buying from *so much* they threw me out of their virtual store.


(Now all I have to do is calculate whether they kept my money.)
Because you see, this is all done by computers while real-life employees tweak the crap out of their little computer-kids so they can sneak off to bars and restaurants to grab a beer and they yell, "Stay out of the cookies" before they leave.
If one of those computers should falter, stammer, I might be getting overcharged which would trigger a cavalcade of bounced-ness come monday.

I wrote (You'll just have to trust me or something)
because if you were me you'd know I like the feeling of buying nice stuff.
No such feeling exists this time, 
I'd compare it to maybe being on the deck of a battleship narrowly missing the torpedoes.
Busted arm, fire in the bridge, listing to port (it was a movie, nevermind)
"In Harm's way"


EATX vs. ATX: Which One Is Better in 2020? - Game Gavel


The guy above writes like me, except he's prolly more professional and paid.
"EATX is Bigger" and we could afford nicer restaurants if we all lived in tiny Japanese-style houses,
it's not clear what else his blog says.
EATX was a thing Intel invented to be different, but They abandoned it because too many others jumped on the bandwagon. 
So they made BTX.
(and optane)

They probably have yearly meetings in Vegas to hash over how they can be different.

But I digressed...I sort of meant (This is the depressing part) that my motherboard will be an abandoned size, using abandoned technology, and it will be superseded by the end of this month.



I'll edit this of course when I get the board, and my main thrust will be,
does Timespy run any faster 
or was this paragraph (edited, disjointed and incomplete) prophetic doom?
I am stating for the record that on very good days, this thing will do 11,840.
The memory running faster, a bus with more overhead, *Should* make several points, 
or what was it all about??
EATX because it *fits*, or because it's better???
-----
Nightmare on Window's PC
Changing motherboards isn't supposed to be easy.
If it was, they'd say so. 
No, and since I changed to UEFI,
 I kind of think windows might crash on bootup with indecipherable errors.
Which is fine, I kind of expect that, but all the useful programs will act like my bank and decline me.
So I'm researching, abandoning all hope, that it can be done without arousing the ire of self-righteous programs like the Office, the Paintshop, even the sims.
Yeah, they didn't really take that into account when they passed out that useless platitude, "Reinstall."
They didn't even tell Solitaire (What I'm breaking out of to write this) not to max-out my videocard, and that's an incredibly minor thing (Solitaire uses more power than some biggie game; it acts like when Sims has useless god-rays on the screen)
A wish: For a tiny fee and with accompanying info, you wouldn't back up anything but a license, to be retrieved when the new PC works.
But if you're using an OEM version, that's supposed to be forbidden.
And if you're using the free version, the chipset on the new motherboard might freak 
("Ommmmmm, I'm telling")
Hence a reinstall, and Usually unsuccessful license renewals 
(I replace tons, and my last gaffe (UEFI reinstall) 
might piss off the minion programs for quite a while.)
I'd edit this for clarity but why
They don't.
Why should I?
Corel Paintshop is the worst in this regard.
Next comes office, with their limited license-renewals.
Sims doesn't actually care, as long as you can log into an account, but it needed to be re-downloaded last time, 10 gigabytes or so.
I'm not sure but I thought I heard someone say something about backing up the registry, and this could work, maybe (I've never done it, and I would not know where to start)



Yeah, for one key, but what about the entire registry?


Plus, this assumes the lack of any chipset-freaking (see above)
and UEFI-law-enforcement, and minion programs detecting a fishy thing 
(They won't be sure what, they'll just decline to run on general principle)


If a person can watch that video, they already have a working PC (or maybe a cellphone)
And plus I need to go watch it (I'll edit-it-out if it's useless)
AND I need to remember to hook up my dead-phone (no phone-plan) to my router.
Ya, I'm gonna be busy for the next few days thinking up ways to bypass their paranoia and obfuscations.

Did I mention "BIOS"?
yeah, the PC has to sort of work, not be overclocked or nervous, and it (usually) needs to be updated from early-last-year when half the board was busted (so that's why the update.)
If I install the lastest-fastest (A beta on my old board, a beta on my new board)
Well, I might be feeding the hungry dumpster.
I do not know if, on an unfamiliar new board's BIOS, I'll mistype a UEFI setting that makes the OS even more paranoid....I might be overthinking this.




I don't understand this next picture, but, It seems tons more topical than my future hypothetical woes.

You can't trust Big-ass companies to send updates, it seems to say, which makes you kind of wish for the 90's, when really fast, mostly dumb (and offline) computers existed.
But today's hacker was a 90's kid.
OK forget I said anything.
If I was important enough and popular enough, people'd know where I live and what to vandalize,
so being an anonymous rock dweller whose biggest problem is a double-typing non-remote keyboard, has its advantages.



``


("Solar whut??")
Zoe who? She's getting a divorce?
There was another Harry-potter movie?
O, a prequel


Random quote from an actor in the Prequel to the Prequel.
Snarky-Snarky!!

I didn't know until five seconds ago that critics like "Golden compass" better, 
that "Golden Compass" looks so much like "Neverending Story" that 
when I googled both movies, 
it turns out that Amazon bundles them together, 
and that there was more than one "Neverending story"-movie.

None of this is necessary but it shows what following a train of thought can do to a blog.


What to do during a system-image-backup:
WTF, "count your fingers," for something to do?



100 minutes

 You might never see this, it does not enlighten or enrich, in fact it's a total waste of time.

In fact, someone mentioned an SATA controller card I should buy instead.

The amount they range from looks like a tall cliff overlooking a gigantic chasm ($14 to $150)

And they mention words like "Bifurcation".

Uhhh.



I'll get back to this.

(Maybe if I were retired and living on a pension, in my 1940's house in the sticks, I might attempt this, armed with a soldering iron and years of electronic experience, or just people who actually commented instead of talking loudly through the walls.)





Meantime,


OK I'm learning that I need USB-Fast and sometimes (especially on my current PC) the fastest USB is USB-C.

But one has little to do with the other.

I hope you can see that "Back panel" picture of my next motherboard.

The USB colors seem wrong, and there is only one single USB-C connector.

Plus that USB-C connector, being so small, is really impossible to reach. A front-panel USB-C connector is in order, and I *will* get one, soon.

Why cheap-out now?

Consider that another brand makes m.2's very hard to remove.

*This* motherboard sticks them on a card which snaps into the motherboard!! Most excellent.

And if that add-on card can be handed down from motherboard to newer-motherboard, even more excellent.

I hope I did not misspeak, USB C and USB 3.1/3.2 are like going to the same high school but that's it (right?)


You have to hand it to reviewers who get their stuff free, complaining how expensive my hoped for board is.

They seem to want to find a reason to plug Asus-whatever.

But I learned something tonight, only I gotta go grab a picture so as not to misquote.

The models he keeps referring to are totally missing.

Something Asus-Yada-Whatever "Formula" would have been nice.

Hooking up a formula with no water pumps (unless it already includes one) would be nice too.

Let me restate: If you have a bulky heatsink with no water inside, it might be worse than an air-cool designed one, but how would anyone know? They're not compared that way.

The "Formula"s back panel

You might wonder (I did) why the hell motherboards mix up USB ports and why they don't just use the fastest-whatevers of their time.

I don't know, why bother speculating. Maybe to save a few cents per motherboard.

But if you're a careful reader, the two motherboards I was considering are the formula and the godlike.

I'd hate titters, guffaws and peals of derisive laughter, so I'm on the fence about "Godlike".

I LOVE the way they give you extra cards for stuff,... Bah, I don't know right this second.

I think "Formula" is nearly as expensive as the one I want (godlike) and I'd be inviting pedants with water-cooled systems to lecture me about what I'm missing.


I've made my decision because the equivalent motherboards have water-cooling heatsinks, and I'm just not interested in that. Well I've based my decision on a lot of things, but anyway.

147 vs 148 fucket, that's good enough for me, b'bye asus




I wonder which would be affordable when " The Second Coming " decides to get here.

Godlike is pretty-near $100 more. Has the market decided, or is it all marketing-smoke-and-mirrors?
For $100 less, but then for $200 less and even $300 less, I could...
----------
Hole-in-the-wall stores very very far away charge less (not counting Ebay)

Paranoia creeps by, 
what if kiddies-reviewer-wannabes and cultists belonging to the church-of ASUS
Order one for a day, poo-poo it and send it back?
But I *Think* I've picked an unnamed store and I don't return stuff, I'd rather bury it.
  So yeah.
This should feel better than it does. 
Hmm
I would hate reading this and the author refused to make a choice.
And I am no commercial!!
Godlike, FTW, and hope the name is hidden or only on the box.
From the Poconos. 
On a Tuesday. 
I have a nagging question but I'll save it for the review when I finally get the board:
Does the add-on card support SATA-m.2 cards? 
but for an intel board, And since I barely (almost rarely) use my CD-ROM drive, um, hmm. If I can run the Samsung at its full-speed glory and let the SATA-m.2 run happily as well, AND run a cd-rom drive on whatever is left, it's definitely an improvement over now, today (Samsung is currently banished to the half-speed slot to allow the SATA m.2 to run)


That being the only improvement would still be significant.
But one hopes there are more features to greedily rub hands together about.


What if a person uses both add-on cards, the network "10g super Lan" and the m.2-one, would one of the cards be running half-speed? *why* have a network add-on card? (OK *That*question was superfluous, like the card, nevermind)
It isn't clear which thingies they bargained down to 2nd-grade status to let everything run,
Musical slot game (on "Z390")

z390 and different m.2
(Can I totally and completely guess that the card needs a driver?)

This Motherboard-and-minions do not look like the type of boards you set and forget, some heavy duty tweaking might be needed.
(O gawd)
O waitasec "Raid 0" never mind (geez)

E2 is blocked, E4 can only work on the M.2 card (only E3 is for the network card.)      (ahem)
I gotta find the specs on this card. Does it accept SATA m.2, does it accept
BOTH sata m.2 and nvme??
I know "E3" now, I Don't know if the card will freak with two different types of m.2 
(Yes I'm repetitive dammit, but hopefully clearer)


It might be better to use the card (rather than closeting it) for the Samsung, and let my Crucial usurp a Motherboard-slot.





You could totally dump the cards and banish them to drawers in a closet, but then more existential questions arise.
If you use cards instead of the motherboard (in slots 3 and 4) I'm assuming 
hoping the Video-card will still be at x16, and the motherboard would run cooler (or what's the point.)


and Lisa Su is about to announce a new architecture (presumably.)

There is a very dated (and mostly irrelevant) link that preaches just what I am doing now, *researching* whether or not a motherboard can support m.2 NVME and SATA-m.2's working *together*.
*My* x470 is definitely *not* optimal, but I sort of hoped they've chewed a few fingernails since then...

This totally-confusing site Asrock amd x570 creator mega info - Hardware / Motherboards - Level1Techs Forums *proves* people wonder about this, but since I do not do any math as a rule, I have no idea what they're saying (upstream to bigger downstream, I think)
My poor SATA drive works fantastic but slows everything else down.
Save yourselves! Leave any sale-priced ngff/SATA M.2's in the dust to die.
sexy
OK forget it, nevermind ("Open boxes" I don't need)





Monday, December 28, 2020

Dining out

 House passes bill to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 - CBS News


Which fantasy shall I compare this to, a winning championship basket

or 

Eating the girl in tight jeans?

Actually neither, because it isn't done, I'd need to invent one like "Teaching your cat to swim"

or "winning on 'The Bachelorette'."

Yeah, forget tight jeans. Long luscious legs. Pleasant smile.

Because (in this Fantasy) Dad comes home, your life is in serious jeopardy, etc etc.

Unless Jesus comes, the Senate will sit there on their collective shitty assholes while we all shout "PLEASE, sirs, may we have some more?"

Jim dandy to the rescuuue
(go jim dandy!!)
Mitch McConnell Blocks Attempt to Pass $2,000 COVID-19 Stimulus Checks (yahoo.com)


(Today's 'Toon: Mitch 'Scrooge' McConnell (timesonline.com)


So *why* are they bothering?

They keep passing bills that get abandoned. It's a fetish.

I need to borrow your headline for a sec, thanks.


"Only 3499 with stimulus", naw, they didn't say that.
But if you're looking to spend 12k or so on a stereo-system, this is a good start.

(I bought a cheapo speaker from them a year ago and ever since, they think I'm richer than god/iApple.

Do you remember, a LONG time ago, a miniseries called "V"? I barely remember it except in trailers, and one of the trailers was a pretty woman eating mice, because she was actually reptilian in a disguised woman's body.

(A lizard in human form)

Feds probing if Nashville bomber believed in lizard people conspiracy (nbcnews.com)

So X-Men Supervillains and Superman and Hulk are fictional. The fact that they started out as comics and became very realistic parts in movies, doesn't make them less fictional. 
I don't think you believe me though,
 you'll laugh snarkily that I've been duped by the lamestream media.


Where are the decent mouse-eating pictures when you want one? I had one a few minutes ago, a stereotypical one from  "shutterstock"


I've proven that you'll take a way of killing time and selling insurance, and turn it into history.
Generations of teeny kids are weaned on your false stories..."Lizard People" indeed.
Let's forget all that and debunk myths about Das Keyboards, they're somehow better than the rest.

Or That, because of the supposed lockdowns and less places to officially go, less people will die this holiday.
Incredibly stupid preachers dooming some to death, drunks doing the same.
Bah.

Waiting here till midnight-dreary and the dawn that follows, to suck down massive quantities of tobacco.
Remember what I'm writing here, what with all the deaths and the shootings to come, 
Judgmental-snarkiness edited out (judgmentally snarky remarks,) most hypocritical....
"Judge" is spelled exactly that way, it could have been "Judg" but you'd fume it was wrong.
(you'd fewm.)  So then WHY is "Judgemental" incorrect?
The only way it'll pass muster is by leaving out the "e" before the m.
Pot and Meth can prolly get you killed faster than cigarettes, fuck cancer.
I'm gonna go google smokers and Covid, 
but it's pointless, the story will be that Jesus died to stop you from smoking (he apparently likes ar15's and pot)
Oh, you think I'm drunk, do ya, or too full of wine?

Behold!




Verily I say unto you, deaths are coming to a highway near you.
But don't believe me, believe the lizard-people promoter (5g is killing you)









Some unfunny dewd went thru a LOT of trouble to make this video, and added a religious commercial in front (hint: Skip the commercial)


You're gonna say I'm a paranoid nut for reprinting this next Hoopla but:
A man got a covid vaccine, right? Nine days later he got sick.
He spun his plight like a pro, which he is: He only received part-one of two vaccines.
This, according to him, meant he was still vulnerable.
O,
OK





from a random government website, a list of Pay raises the US government (congress) got.
Well, anyway,



Odd list, that.
Because it kind of looks as if they felt a little guilty after 2009, or some legislation was changed deep within some budget bill.
What was said, what was *done*, I gotta go look.
Did their insurance get better, what about what they eat?
It's all in some document somewhere, but good luck finding it.



They spend lots of late nights worrying about what stuff they should not spend on.
Abortion is one.
Something about compensating Mexico, for another (the formal language legislating this stuff is worse than Wikipedia)


But I am looking for the bit about pay-raises.
What am I reading, last year's budget?

So I'm looking for the 94th part of PL-116, (Public-Law 116-94)

They are very good at making text-sandwiches, I'll say that.
Or are there people who get paid much more than they do, writing this stuff?
("Lawyers", don'tcha know)
GS employees type this stuff up, congress votes on it, but *someone* had to write it.
And you thought computer programming was hard.
At this exact second, I could not find the clause limiting congress' automatic pay-raise, it's buried in a sentence of a clause of a subsection of a title that I glossed over.

Or the number is a misprint.

Anyway, "better written, thought of it first, etc" Fact check: No congressional pay raise in COVID relief package (usatoday.com)

"Specifically reads" (Lol)



Notwithstanding any other provision of law (so, uh, they're overriding any other provision of law or just saying "In case there's no other provision extant"??
"Notwithstanding" is a legal definition that I am unfamiliar with.

I've ranted myself into oblivion.
I meant to say, "They get paid tons",
notwithstanding raises.