• Hola

    From The Godfather@21:3/165 to All on Sun Apr 9 22:12:29 2023
    Hey all,

    Just wanted to stop by and say hello and send thanks to those who reached out within my email to wish me well as I went through some health issues, while also quitting smoking and drinking cold turkey. The latter of the two tremendous successes while the health issues stable and no cancer to report after 3 CT scans over a little over a year.

    Umm .. and if I said anything mean during my cold Turkey phase, well, I sincerely apologize.

    Super excited to be back to BBS'ing, and reconnecting with great friends. Plus tinkering around on my BBS again, changing what doesn't need changed, because, well thats what some SysOps do I hear ;)

    Hope all are healthy and well.

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Mon Apr 10 15:45:02 2023
    health issues, while also quitting smoking and drinking cold turkey.
    The latter of the two tremendous successes while the health issues
    stable and no cancer to report after 3 CT scans over a little over a
    year.

    That sounds incredibly hard, and that report is _delightful_, given where you were.

    Welcome back, tG! We certainly missed you.

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  • From Blue White@21:4/134 to The Godfather on Mon Apr 10 17:50:40 2023
    The Godfather wrote to All <=-

    Hope all are healthy and well.

    Yes. Glad to hear that you are doing better also. Welcome back!


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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Tue Apr 11 06:10:39 2023
    That sounds incredibly hard, and that report is _delightful_, given
    where you were.
    Welcome back, tG! We certainly missed you.

    Thanks Adept I missed everyone also. You still in Germany?

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Blue White on Tue Apr 11 06:11:12 2023
    Yes. Glad to hear that you are doing better also. Welcome back!

    Thank you Blue White! Glad to be back!

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Wed Apr 12 20:54:06 2023
    That sounds incredibly hard, and that report is _delightful_, given where you were.
    Welcome back, tG! We certainly missed you.

    Thanks Adept I missed everyone also. You still in Germany?

    Yep. Lets me more easily get to demo parties and the SPIEL boardgame convention.

    And, more prosaically, it's where my job is. I suppose I could consider going back to the US, but it's kind of nice to be a step removed.

    But, assuming I don't screw things up too badly, I should be eligible for permanent residence in a few months. Well, technically could be, _now_, but in a few months I should be eligible by just saying, "Yep, I've been employed under the Blue Card for long enough."

    You making any new ANSIs, these days? I haven't made much, other than for demo parties, and that's... not really much output.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Wed Apr 12 17:58:19 2023
    Yep. Lets me more easily get to demo parties and the SPIEL boardgame convention.

    Oh fun! So much more important then work :)

    You making any new ANSIs, these days? I haven't made much, other than
    for demo parties, and that's... not really much output.

    Not so much yet. I've been getting the old BBS cleaned up and everything working again. Between starting a new job, acquiring chickens to now care for, and it in general finally getting nice enough to wear shorts, we've been pretty active as of late. I am just enjoying being part of the community, playing a few OLG's, and reconnecting with old friends.

    Are you speaking fluent German yet? Or had you prior to moving?

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Thu Apr 13 08:29:36 2023
    Not so much yet. I've been getting the old BBS cleaned up and everything working again. Between starting a new job, acquiring chickens to now
    care for, and it in general finally getting nice enough to wear shorts,

    Sounds like a lot of solid activities to be up to! And I know a variety of people who enjoy having chickens, so hopefully you enjoy making pets out of them (assuming you're not actually going the for-profit farm route).

    And congrats on the new job. Hopefully they treat you well.

    Are you speaking fluent German yet? Or had you prior to moving?

    Pfft, no. My ability to understand is better, but I haven't had classes, so improvement is slow. Certainly, when people talk at me about topics I understand, I can generally follow along, and generally understand daily-interactions, but I get lost pretty quickly, and run out of words _very_ quickly.

    Reading works a bit better, but it's still a challenge.

    If only I had moved to a Spanish-speaking country, where my previously-acquired level of language ability would've made real fluency a bit easier to come by. :)

    Though "fluent" is hard to define anyway. My German is such that, if people can't speak English, I can find a way for people to understand me, and to understand them. It'll just be painful for both of us.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Sat Apr 15 19:33:05 2023
    Sounds like a lot of solid activities to be up to! And I know a variety
    of people who enjoy having chickens, so hopefully you enjoy making pets out of them (assuming you're not actually going the for-profit farm route).

    No they are pets for the kids and free eggs for us :) With eggs costing $4.99 each egg these days (kidding not that high) it is a nice bonus to have free "backyard fresh" eggs. It's been a fun learning experience for sure. While other neighbors in our "hood" also have chickens, all it takes is one change in our HOA bylaws, so the eggs have also been a handy bribe to keep the neighborly peace.

    And congrats on the new job. Hopefully they treat you well.

    Thank you, I'm pretty excited about it!

    Pfft, no. My ability to understand is better, but I haven't had classes, so improvement is slow. Certainly, when people talk at me about topics I understand, I can generally follow along, and generally understand daily-interactions, but I get lost pretty quickly, and run out of words _very_ quickly.
    Reading works a bit better, but it's still a challenge.

    I'd definitely find that to be very challenging. I'd find it lonely if I were extroverted while maybe rather awesome if an introvert able to simply say "sorry I don't speak German" all of the time ;) When at work, are you around mostly english speaking coworkers and bosses?

    If only I had moved to a Spanish-speaking country, where my previously-acquired level of language ability would've made real fluency
    a bit easier to come by. :)

    Funny you bring that up, with my 15 year old just completed Spanish 2 and is speaking it rather well, so I jokingly tell the family we should move to Mexico.

    Though "fluent" is hard to define anyway. My German is such that, if people can't speak English, I can find a way for people to understand
    me, and to understand them. It'll just be painful for both of us.

    That would be painful, however I would imagine experiencing the culture, history, landscape, all while meeting new people you can communicate with is worth it, right?

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Sun Apr 16 13:21:03 2023
    No they are pets for the kids and free eggs for us :) With eggs costing $4.99 each egg these days (kidding not that high) it is a nice bonus to have free "backyard fresh" eggs. It's been a fun learning experience

    Nifty!

    Kinda similarly, I know someone who's basically vegan, and doesn't eat eggs, but will eat eggs from the backyard chickens because they know how the chickens are treated, that they won't be slaughtered because they're not quite productive enough, etc.

    But it's also just kinda neat because it's _not_ uniform, and sometimes people end up changing egg-eating habits due to the egg-laying habits of the pets.

    for sure. While other neighbors in our "hood" also have chickens, all it takes is one change in our HOA bylaws, so the eggs have also been a
    handy bribe to keep the neighborly peace.

    Ugh, HOAs. But... probably best to not dive into that particular challenge, here. Not that I've ever even had to deal with an HOA.

    I'd definitely find that to be very challenging. I'd find it lonely if
    I were extroverted while maybe rather awesome if an introvert able to simply say "sorry I don't speak German" all of the time ;) When at

    Eh, pretty much everyone speaks English anyway. Yeah, different levels, but especially in certain areas, people will wind up speaking to you in English if your German isn't great.

    Less so where I live, mostly because people don't generally use it on a daily basis. But pretty much everyone under 55 or so has had maybe a decade of English instruction.

    work, are you around mostly english speaking coworkers and bosses?

    Yeah. My team is international, in a variety of ways, and theoretically people are supposed to speak English, even if it's all Germans.

    But with my immediate team in particular, a few people are US-based, and the team as a whole is probably only a third or quarter German.

    The _rest_ of the office is mostly German, though.

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Sun Apr 16 13:22:20 2023
    Though "fluent" is hard to define anyway. My German is such that, if people can't speak English, I can find a way for people to understand me, and to understand them. It'll just be painful for both of us.

    That would be painful, however I would imagine experiencing the culture, history, landscape, all while meeting new people you can communicate
    with is worth it, right?

    Yeah, good and bad. I'm mostly struggling with just having a lack of energy to do all these things. And, while it'd be good to learn German faster, it's just... a lot of energy.

    But there's a lot about it that's a really neat experience, though.

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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Adept on Sun Apr 16 09:18:00 2023
    Adept wrote to The Godfather <=-

    Kinda similarly, I know someone who's basically vegan, and doesn't eat eggs, but will eat eggs from the backyard chickens because they know
    how the chickens are treated, that they won't be slaughtered because they're not quite productive enough, etc.

    On the central California coast, we're spoiled - lots of locally
    farm-raised chicken eggs for sale at local markets and a large local egg
    farm that's cage-free and humane - and you can verify it.

    After watching one of *those* videos, I won't buy any egg from a farm
    that doesn't feel genuinely cage-free and humane.




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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Apr 16 17:47:29 2023
    On the central California coast, we're spoiled - lots of locally farm-raised chicken eggs for sale at local markets and a large local egg farm that's cage-free and humane - and you can verify it.

    After watching one of *those* videos, I won't buy any egg from a farm
    that doesn't feel genuinely cage-free and humane.

    That's what I tend to buy, but economically, I think even the best-kept commercial chickens wind up living for a few months. Long enough to go through one set of laying eggs, then they become meat.

    But, yeah, at least these days it's fairly rare that chickens are being fed chicken byproduct, and the "cage-free and humane" options are more likely to give the chickens a bit more space.

    But always tradeoffs, on these sorts of things, I'm sure.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Mon Apr 17 08:19:16 2023
    Kinda similarly, I know someone who's basically vegan, and doesn't eat eggs, but will eat eggs from the backyard chickens because they know how the chickens are treated, that they won't be slaughtered because they're not quite productive enough, etc.

    I can't speak to rural America but can speak to the back yard chicken community -- there are crazy chicken ladies in the community. This is a good thing as we had a chick grow to be a rooster and instead of having to "off" it, there was a crazy chicken lady in the waiting ready to rescue the bird that violates our towns decibel rating chicken laws (yes a real thing I guess ..) Oddly, this year we had a second rooster in what should have been a pullet lot we purchased from (happens I guess ..) and my brother, who lives in rural America, had a neighbor whom had ironically just lost his rooster to a coyote (the joys of free ranging chickens, constant "loss" to the predators...) So we were able to give him a new home this Easter. He was really a sweet bird, he literally would climb on my lap to be pet, however he was only 10ish weeks old.

    But it's also just kinda neat because it's _not_ uniform, and sometimes people end up changing egg-eating habits due to the egg-laying habits of the pets.

    Two birds lay more eggs then our family of 5 eat in a week. We water bath our eggs using distilled water and pickling Lyme -- it keeps the eggs preserved for a year (as long as you don't wash them prior to putting them into the jarred "bath.") This allows the birds to have that natural break from production without being an a-hole and trying to "trick" the birds into laying during break times with unsafe heat lamps.

    Ugh, HOAs. But... probably best to not dive into that particular challenge, here. Not that I've ever even had to deal with an HOA.

    They are communist for sure. I hate HOA's .. rarely do they do more then hand out trashcan fines. Our last property we'd get a $20 fine if we left our trashcan out 1 day past trash pickup. We had a few of those, with us going out of town, and trash pickup being on a weekend. We moved. Now testing the "system" with chickens. haha!

    Eh, pretty much everyone speaks English anyway. Yeah, different levels, but especially in certain areas, people will wind up speaking to you in English if your German isn't great.
    Less so where I live, mostly because people don't generally use it on a daily basis. But pretty much everyone under 55 or so has had maybe a decade of English instruction.

    Yeesh, our education system really sucks here. I wish they'd start teaching second languages in grade school. Thats nice that you do not have to worry about finding peeps to communicate with.

    Yeah. My team is international, in a variety of ways, and theoretically people are supposed to speak English, even if it's all Germans.
    But with my immediate team in particular, a few people are US-based, and the team as a whole is probably only a third or quarter German.
    The _rest_ of the office is mostly German, though.

    Refresh my memory, what does your team do?

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Mon Apr 17 08:24:11 2023
    Yeah, good and bad. I'm mostly struggling with just having a lack of energy to do all these things. And, while it'd be good to learn German faster, it's just... a lot of energy.

    I feel ya there .. even with my health more "in check" I still get tired and feel a lack of energy and or desire to go "do" things. I begin every weekend with the intent to go to the range, camping, hiking, etc..
    I end every weekend having gotten my weekend chores done and maybe a nap in, longing for next weekend to go to the range, camping, or hiking.

    But there's a lot about it that's a really neat experience, though.

    I try not to dwell on woulda coulda shoulda's, however I do wish I had visited Europe when college aged. With that said, I hope for a more "calm" world so that I can make a trip, see a bit of history, and maybe see a Castle (haha ..) Oh and of course the food, nothing is better then trying food where it originated.

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Mon Apr 17 13:12:10 2023
    community -- there are crazy chicken ladies in the community. This is a good thing as we had a chick grow to be a rooster and instead of having
    to "off" it, there was a crazy chicken lady in the waiting ready to
    rescue the bird that violates our towns decibel rating chicken laws (yes

    That does seem pretty neat.

    I mean, there are too many roosters to keep them all alive, for a variety of reasons, but it's nice that people can take care of _little_ problems.

    And decibel rating chicken laws... I guess I do live in Germany, where there are quiet hours, including all day Sunday. So, yes, a neighbor _can_ report you if you're doing a variety of construction work on a Sunday.

    But it does make for fairly quiet places, oftentimes. But there are certainly... side effects. (and, again, aiming to avoid the politics of it all; just that there are a variety of things that are part of daily life, that people can argue about in other places.)

    ..) and my brother, who lives in rural America, had a neighbor whom had ironically just lost his rooster to a coyote (the joys of free ranging chickens, constant "loss" to the predators...) So we were able to give

    Yeah, free-ranging does tend to mean dangerous. Kind of like with having outdoor cats. They just tend to have something happen to them _eventually_.

    But it's interesting to see how the free-ranging chickens act differently.

    Yeesh, our education system really sucks here. I wish they'd start teaching second languages in grade school. Thats nice that you do not have to worry about finding peeps to communicate with.

    I'm guessing there are pros and cons. But, yeah, starting language education early seems like a good idea, given how much easier it can be for children to handle a variety of things.

    But I'm sure there are always tradeoffs.

    Refresh my memory, what does your team do?

    Automate warehouses. In particular, automate an overhead system. Basically, have these pouches that people put stuff into on one end, and take out a series for things for an order on the other end.

    I have a tiny part in that, and honestly know more about simulating the system than running the system.

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Mon Apr 17 13:19:37 2023
    I end every weekend having gotten my weekend chores done and maybe a nap in, longing for next weekend to go to the range, camping, or hiking.

    The struggle of daily life, I suppose.

    Though nice to get a nap in and weekend chores done. :)

    I try not to dwell on woulda coulda shoulda's, however I do wish I had visited Europe when college aged. With that said, I hope for a more

    Did you have a reasonable opportunity?

    I do find it interesting for me, since I didn't really _plan_ on coming here; I just took the opportunities when presented with them.

    Wouldn't have taken much at all to wind up somewhere else. And easier for me to go places than others, especially where I was at, at the time.

    "calm" world so that I can make a trip, see a bit of history, and maybe see a Castle (haha ..) Oh and of course the food, nothing is better
    then trying food where it originated.

    Does sound like it'd be neat. And, yeah, seeing things that are just over a broader range of years is kinda surreal, if you've never or rarely been out of the US.

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to The Godfather on Mon Apr 17 18:25:00 2023
    Hello The Godfather!

    ** On Monday 17.04.23 - 08:24, The Godfather wrote to Adept:

    I try not to dwell on woulda coulda shoulda's, however I do wish I had visited Europe when college aged. With that said, I hope for a more "calm" world so that I can make a trip, see a bit of history, and maybe see a Castle (haha ..) Oh and of course the food, nothing is better then trying food where it originated.

    There are castles in Canada. Particularly, Ontario has Casa
    Loma.

    Good to "see" you back in the echos, btw.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Ogg on Mon Apr 17 19:33:57 2023
    There are castles in Canada. Particularly, Ontario has Casa
    Loma.
    Good to "see" you back in the echos, btw.

    I'd have to sneak in by horse. However I'd love to see them!! I'll have to look them up online. Glad to be back Ogg and to see you're still active on the echos also!

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Mon Apr 17 19:41:52 2023
    That does seem pretty neat.
    I mean, there are too many roosters to keep them all alive, for a
    variety of reasons, but it's nice that people can take care of _little_ problems.

    Could you imagine cutting it's head off in the middle of an HOA? I'd be arrested for an animal sacrifice ritual, not for preparing dinner, or adhering to a noise db level law. lol!

    And decibel rating chicken laws... I guess I do live in Germany, where there are quiet hours, including all day Sunday. So, yes, a neighbor
    _can_ report you if you're doing a variety of construction work on a Sunday.

    Well .. it would make sense if the honda civic racing club, with the modified noise maker on the muffler of their cars, were as quiet as the chickens. But .. how many "laws" really make that much sense.

    But it does make for fairly quiet places, oftentimes. But there are certainly... side effects. (and, again, aiming to avoid the politics of
    it all; just that there are a variety of things that are part of daily life, that people can argue about in other places.)

    Did I mention the Honda Civics? I'll be discussing that with our city as we near our Mayoral elections. It would be nice to have peace and quiet after a days of work, in the back yard, however as of now it's become more aggressive and loud ever since the "P" word.

    Automate warehouses. In particular, automate an overhead system. Basically, have these pouches that people put stuff into on one end, and take out a series for things for an order on the other end.

    Ah! Our McDonalds is being torn down, not that I mind, however to my 6 year old's luck it's being rebuilt into a fully automated happy meal machine. Automated warehouses, from what I've seen (Amazon videos) look chaotic, however looks fun to make!

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Tue Apr 18 18:06:46 2023
    Ah! Our McDonalds is being torn down, not that I mind, however to my 6 year old's luck it's being rebuilt into a fully automated happy meal machine. Automated warehouses, from what I've seen (Amazon videos) look chaotic, however looks fun to make!

    Ooo, a happy meal machine sounds neat.

    To be fair, I'm also someone who, upon seeing a wine vending machine, had to try it out.

    Though was then disappointed when the ID scanner for age verification utterly failed to work.

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  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to The Godfather on Wed Apr 19 10:28:00 2023
    Two birds lay more eggs then our family of 5 eat in a week. We water bath our eggs using distilled water and pickling Lyme -- it keeps the eggs preserved for a year (as long as you don't wash them prior to putting them into the jarred "bath.") This allows the birds to have that natural break from production without being an a-hole and trying to "trick" the birds into laying during break times with unsafe heat lamps.

    Guess it depends just how cold it gets, but we used to be able to get year round eggs just by feeding them warm food. I used to have grains, forage,
    and pellets from time to time. You'd just stand the pellets in hot water,
    let it cool a bit and presto warm mash.

    Only thing we ever used any kind of heater for, and that was normally just a 40W incandescent globe would be hatchlings.

    Spec


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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Tue Apr 25 02:09:57 2023
    Ooo, a happy meal machine sounds neat.

    Have you seen the video of the fully automated McDonalds in .. I think Austin Texas, it could be somewhere else in Texas .. there was a video and article on it on Hacker News *I think*. Anyway, it's cool for the business owner for sure. I am a bit sad for the ladies that had been serving me my egg mcmuffin for the 10 years I owned my business :/ But you're right, I'll absolutely have to try to buy a sweet tea at least!

    To be fair, I'm also someone who, upon seeing a wine vending machine,
    had to try it out.
    Though was then disappointed when the ID scanner for age verification utterly failed to work.

    haha that is how it always goes. Having a retail background when people started saying how convenient self check out was, I just kept thinking (it sure is convenient for the retailers bottom line for sure ..) I was ok with it and actually did find it convenient, until my family grew to 5. At that time, the small self check out counters became evil. haha!

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Spectre on Tue Apr 25 02:17:26 2023
    Guess it depends just how cold it gets, but we used to be able to get
    year round eggs just by feeding them warm food. I used to have grains, forage, and pellets from time to time. You'd just stand the pellets in hot water, let it cool a bit and presto warm mash.

    Ah wow, ok. The youtube videos are always full of the extreme options, and videos of coups catching on fire. In Indiana I suppose it just depends, I would say the past 7ish years we've had very little snow but have had Polar Vortex like wind and temperatures more frequently if I recall. I just know the wind cuts right through me moreso as the years progress -- could be age, but don't think so. The hens combs do tend to get frost bit, even with a tarp blocking the wind of the run, and fresh / thick layer of bedding in the coup.

    Only thing we ever used any kind of heater for, and that was normally
    just a 40W incandescent globe would be hatchlings.

    As for food we are feeding them crumbles, scratch, and cracked corn. They prefer weeds, blueberries, and just about any table scraps. Also tend to produce more eggs the more we feed them what we normally would compost. I'll have to try the "warm" meals in winter. We do have on of those bulbs as we did buy them as chicks and had to keep them warm. However now the only thing I have a heater for is their water as it does freeze solid otherwise.

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Tue Apr 25 19:42:59 2023
    Have you seen the video of the fully automated McDonalds in .. I think Austin Texas, it could be somewhere else in Texas .. there was a video
    and article on it on Hacker News *I think*. Anyway, it's cool for the business owner for sure. I am a bit sad for the ladies that had been serving me my egg mcmuffin for the 10 years I owned my business :/ But you're right, I'll absolutely have to try to buy a sweet tea at least!

    That _does_ sound pretty neat.

    And, to be fair, I'm biased in being in favor of getting rid of as many of those jobs as possible.

    But I literally work in automation.

    Hopefully your McMuffin ladies do okay, though.

    haha that is how it always goes. Having a retail background when people started saying how convenient self check out was, I just kept thinking
    (it sure is convenient for the retailers bottom line for sure ..) I was ok with it and actually did find it convenient, until my family grew to
    5. At that time, the small self check out counters became evil. haha!

    Yeah. Do always need to have a different set of solutions for a different set of problems.

    But if 90% of your customers are checking out a handful of items, self-check seems like it _should_ be more efficient.

    But, as you say, if I'm buying a ton of things, I know better than to do it at the self-checkout counter.

    Still, I like self-checkout stuff in general. If I have a dream job of some sort, it'd be in working with library self-checkout machines. But I have a history with those, too, where I customized ones at the library I worked at, making them an entertaining feature of the library.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Tue Apr 25 17:09:12 2023
    But if 90% of your customers are checking out a handful of items, self-check seems like it _should_ be more efficient.

    I'm not so sure that 90% of the customers are using self check out by choice these days. The faces on the lines look awfully familiar to what made self check out unique. When it no longer is convenient, nor fast, I suppose I'd prefer the more experienced cashier as so many suck at finding the bar code.

    That and many people depend on "those simple" jobs: unplanned "un" retirement, single parents, handicap, veterans with PTSD, high schoolers first jobs, college students, a families second-forth income, etc.

    My fear is that tech is not taking into account that there are quickly
    becoming more people then will be jobs. Even in the face of big-tech layoffs, some don't see themselves coding their own job to extinction.

    Now before anyone jumps in with the it's "inevitable"take, I know...

    Optimistically the hope would be that through these advances will create jobs we can't foresee at the moment. Until then, I'm enjoying being a part of the self check out resistance as Blockbuster and now Redbox had and now have disappeared too quickly for me.

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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to The Godfather on Tue Apr 25 15:35:00 2023
    The Godfather wrote to Adept <=-

    To be fair, I'm also someone who, upon seeing a wine vending machine,
    had to try it out.
    Though was then disappointed when the ID scanner for age verification utterly failed to work.

    haha that is how it always goes. Having a retail background when
    people started saying how convenient self check out was, I just kept thinking (it sure is convenient for the retailers bottom line for sure
    ..)

    Yeah, it's a new world. Not sure if I like it. I went to Home Depot,
    asked where they kept the planges, and the apron wearer proceeded to
    look on her app and tell me that I could just download the app myself
    ("and save me from having to look it up for you", the part she said in
    her inside voice...)

    I thought to myself "If I download the app, what will you do?"

    If I could get one of those Boston Robotics robodogs, combined with
    Google assistant so it could find my lumber, scan it at the register and
    load it in my car, we can talk.





    ... A journey of a thousand sandwiches begins with a single cut.
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Adept on Tue Apr 25 15:38:00 2023
    Adept wrote to The Godfather <=-

    Still, I like self-checkout stuff in general. If I have a dream job of some sort, it'd be in working with library self-checkout machines. But
    I have a history with those, too, where I customized ones at the
    library I worked at, making them an entertaining feature of the
    library.

    If you add in recommendations based on previous checkouts, I'm in.



    ... "The swift blade penetrates the salad."
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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Apr 26 00:30:03 2023

    Yeah, it's a new world. Not sure if I like it. I went to Home Depot,
    asked where they kept the planges, and the apron wearer proceeded to
    look on her app and tell me that I could just download the app myself
    ("and save me from having to look it up for you", the part she said in
    her inside voice...)

    One might blame that on the very tech making people lazy and stupid. I am not opposed to (obviously) technology that is of societal value, just not at the cost of human life.

    I thought to myself "If I download the app, what will you do?"

    I've thought that to myself on numerous occasions .. well .. maybe I've said it outloud before too. It would sure have been nice if their parents had taught them that lesson instead of leaving it to everyone else. At least, for now, they have the opportunity to learn.

    If I could get one of those Boston Robotics robodogs, combined with
    Google assistant so it could find my lumber, scan it at the register and load it in my car, we can talk.

    I have an instruction manual on how to disable those ;) Now, if it can lay the 10 yards of mulch I need, I'd buy the robot (yes, this is me being a hypocrite).

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Wed Apr 26 20:28:19 2023
    I'm not so sure that 90% of the customers are using self check out by choice these days. The faces on the lines look awfully familiar to what made self check out unique. When it no longer is convenient, nor fast,
    I suppose I'd prefer the more experienced cashier as so many suck at finding the bar code.

    Yeah, my preference does tend to be, "If I can go to the self-checkout immediately, and there's a line elsewhere, I will. If I have to wait a bit, I'll preferentially choose self-checkout. If self-checkout is fairly long, I'll go to the other lines. If I have a lot of stuff, I'll go to the other lines."

    If there are no lines, I think I mostly just get anxiety, as I need mental preparation time for doing things, since I'd hate to hold up the line.

    My fear is that tech is not taking into account that there are quickly becoming more people then will be jobs.

    Yeah. If we don't find replacements for this (and there really might not be actual replacements, here -- you can't just immediately go into plumbing or direct care of humans, and anything low-skilled is ripe for automation.), it'll... be hard.

    So far as I've heard about or thought of, Universal Basic Income is about the only thing I've heard of that would deal with the problem usefully, or something similar, where people are given jobs that aren't things that are economically justifiable. But I think any debate about that would be political, so if anyone has _any_ objection to the thought exercise, I'm pre-emtively apologizing and will happily drop the topic.

    part of the self check out resistance as Blockbuster and now Redbox had and now have disappeared too quickly for me.

    I like self-checkout, and Redbox is definitely still self-checkout. :)

    But Redbox is ending? That's sad. I liked Redbox, and would use it if I lived on the right continent for it.

    I'd _also_ still be a subscriber to Netflix DVDs, but that service offers a lot of movies that you can't stream. Copyright law allows for a little more functional service with DVDs than with streaming.

    Anyway, I also remember doing self-checkout stuff at the library, where at first there was a _strong_ push to have us actively walk people over to the self-checkouts. But they walked that back (claimed they never pushed that hard), and I know a variety of people who used the people because of trying to save jobs.

    I'm not sure it would've made any real difference. But I liked self-checkouts as an additional feature, including doing a variety of things with them that one couldn't do with in-person checkout. Well, namely having the machines do funny voices, text, and graphics.

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  • From Adept@21:2/108 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Apr 26 20:48:12 2023
    If you add in recommendations based on previous checkouts, I'm in.

    Having worked in libraries, my brain just starts screaming "privacy!".

    Though a recommendation engine does seem like it'd be neat. I'm disinclined to think that a self-checkout machine is the proper place, though.

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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Adept on Wed Apr 26 19:35:57 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Adept to The Godfather on Wed Apr 26 2023 01:28 pm

    But Redbox is ending? That's sad. I liked Redbox, and would use it if I lived on the right continent for it.

    I did a quick Google search and haven't found anything explicitly saying Redbox is closing.. I did find some articles from 2019 saying Redbox was planning to stop renting video games, and something from 2022 saying Redbox had been acquired by another company, but nothing about them closing..?

    I've been glad Redbox has still been around, but I've also seen many people say they only stream these days and don't even have a DVD/blu-ray player, so I guess I'm also a little surprised RedBox is still in business. I do prefer to have a physical copy of my movies & TV shows though.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
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  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Nightfox on Wed Apr 26 23:37:01 2023
    On 26 Apr 2023, Nightfox said the following...

    I did a quick Google search and haven't found anything explicitly saying Redbox is closing.. I did find some articles from 2019 saying Redbox
    was planning to stop renting video games, and something from 2022 saying Redbox had been acquired by another company, but nothing about them closing..?

    5 days ago there was an article on The Verge saying RedBox wanted to buy Netflix's DVD business:

    https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/21/23692665/redbox-netflix-dvd-business-save

    "Redbox's parent company has already expressed interest in acquiring Netflix's DVD business, only to get turned down by the streamer several times."

    Redbox was purchased by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in August of 2022.


    Jay

    ... A real boomerang is made from kangaroo feathers

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  • From fusion@21:1/616 to Warpslide on Thu Apr 27 01:26:18 2023
    On 26 Apr 2023, Warpslide said the following...

    "Redbox's parent company has already expressed interest in acquiring Netflix's DVD business, only to get turned down by the streamer several times."

    this is a shame because there's also other groups wanting the DVDs just to preserve them/keep them out of the landfill but that's probably unlikely too..

    ... Just another prisoner of gravity!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Warpslide on Wed Apr 26 22:44:59 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Warpslide to Nightfox on Wed Apr 26 2023 04:37 pm

    I did a quick Google search and haven't found anything explicitly
    saying Redbox is closing.. I did find some articles from 2019

    5 days ago there was an article on The Verge saying RedBox wanted to buy Netflix's DVD business:

    https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/21/23692665/redbox-netflix-dvd-business-sa ve

    "Redbox's parent company has already expressed interest in acquiring Netflix's DVD business, only to get turned down by the streamer several times."

    Ah, I heard about that. If RedBox is interested in buying Netflix's DVD business, then it sounds like RedBox actually is not closing..

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
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  • From Starstorm@21:3/140 to Nightfox on Wed Apr 26 23:20:45 2023
    I did a quick Google search and haven't found anything explicitly saying Redbox is closing.. I did find some articles from 2019 saying Redbox
    was planning to stop renting video games, and something from 2022 saying Redbox had been acquired by another company, but nothing about them closing..?

    The video game thing I only realized when I got a Switch OLED. I hadn't rented from Redbox in a long time, but was looking for a way to rent and play Switch games before I bought them, since I haven't had a Nintendo console in many many years, I didn't know what was worth it for me to play as far as the more expensive games, and I don't have the money to waste on a game that I wouldn't want to play. I ended up with Gamefly. When it comes down to it, I do wind up spending more if I buy the game after they send it to me, because of the membership fee, but I see it as paying for the convenience of getting the opportunity to play the game first before I chose whether to buy or not.

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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to fusion on Wed Apr 26 22:55:26 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: fusion to Warpslide on Wed Apr 26 2023 06:26 pm

    "Redbox's parent company has already expressed interest in acquiring
    Netflix's DVD business, only to get turned down by the streamer
    several times."

    this is a shame because there's also other groups wanting the DVDs just to preserve them/keep them out of the landfill but that's probably unlikely too..

    I'd rather have a retail DVD rather than a rental DVD. Rental DVDs usually don't have much (or any) of the extras that the ones sold by retailers do. When renting a movie, you're likely to get a disc that just has the movie and maybe some ads at the beginning, but not much else (if anything).

    Nightfox
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Starstorm on Wed Apr 26 22:56:29 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Starstorm to Nightfox on Wed Apr 26 2023 04:20 pm

    saying Redbox is closing.. I did find some articles from 2019
    saying Redbox was planning to stop renting video games, and

    The video game thing I only realized when I got a Switch OLED. I hadn't

    I think RedBox only rented video games on optical discs, and I don't think the Nintendo Switch uses optical discs, does it?

    Nightfox
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  • From Starstorm@21:3/140 to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 02:09:07 2023
    I think RedBox only rented video games on optical discs, and I don't
    think the Nintendo Switch uses optical discs, does it?

    It doesn't, but that didn't cross my mind at the time. I just wanted a way to rent games.

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  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 22:44:00 2023
    Ah wow, ok. The youtube videos are always full of the extreme options, and videos of coups catching on fire. In Indiana I suppose it just depends, I would say the past 7ish years we've had very little snow but have had Polar Vortex like wind and temperatures more frequently if I recall. I just know the wind cuts right through me moreso as the years progress -- could be age, but don't think so. The hens combs do tend to get frost bit, even with a tarp blocking the wind of the run, and fresh / thick layer of bedding in the coup.

    Ok, you've got it a lot colder than I do. Be lucky to get 2-3 frosts in a winter here. Still warm food will probably keep them laying a bit longer
    into the year. As much as we used layers pellets, mostly for convenience for warm mash, any high carb warm food ought to work well. The warm food
    obviously warms them physically, but the extra carbs will help them stay
    warm, they'll be burning more in the cold.

    An old neighbour from my mispent youth used to feed his warm leftover mashed potato with whatever else was left over in it...

    Spec


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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Thu Apr 27 15:56:33 2023
    If there are no lines, I think I mostly just get anxiety, as I need
    mental preparation time for doing things, since I'd hate to hold up the line.

    I can tell, haha! It's a process for you more then anything. And to an extent, I am the same way. I don't like standing in longer lines, I'm just being a pill and choosing to support the autistic lady who checks us out at one of the stores we frequent. That and the way they set up the self check out is very corral like. I'm not sure how large this company is but we have a Meijer Grocery/General merch place here that does have the bigger self check outs (with the belt and room to put a cart worth of items on). IF push came to shove, I'd use that I suppose.

    that would be political, so if anyone has _any_ objection to the thought

    Everything can turn political these days so we'll keep it light.

    But Redbox is ending? That's sad. I liked Redbox, and would use it if I lived on the right continent for it.

    I'm not sure if it's ending *everywhere* but the three by my house have been removed. It's odd because at the same time they were removed I noticed that the "new release" end caps at the Walmarts, Meijers, Targets, and even Best Buy (despite their still (albeit shrinking) large DVD and gaming section, quit updating. They've had the same few movies on the end caps for weeks now. I was always the guy looking forward to Tuesday for the new release movies, then Tuesdays to buy the Blu-ray movies at Best Buy or wherever ... I think everything is going cloud based now, which somtimes is ok but mostly I'm not a fan (the audio quality just isn't the same).

    I'd _also_ still be a subscriber to Netflix DVDs, but that service
    offers a lot of movies that you can't stream. Copyright law allows for a little more functional service with DVDs than with streaming.

    Wait, that service is gone right? We did that for the time it and Blockbuster had it available. We'd add the new release movies to the queue and they'd show up in the mail every Tuesday. Between that and Redbox, I can't tell you how many movies we failed to return or forgot to put back in the mail that we ended up paying in full for.

    I like self-checkout, and Redbox is definitely still self-checkout. :)

    Yes .. only because they got rid of my beloved Hollywood Videos and Blockbusters. I miss those :(

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Spectre on Thu Apr 27 16:01:17 2023
    longer into the year. As much as we used layers pellets, mostly for convenience for warm mash, any high carb warm food ought to work well. The warm food obviously warms them physically, but the extra carbs will help them stay warm, they'll be burning more in the cold.

    Ah yes ok, that sounds easy enough, I'll try that out this winter. We only switched to crumbles when we picked up a few baby chicks. The two older ones were eating pellets however half the time the bottom of the bags were moldy last year. We haven't had that problem with the crumbles. Granted, the chickens would probably eat the mold considering they eat just about anything.

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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 16:34:52 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Adept on Thu Apr 27 2023 08:56 am

    caps for weeks now. I was always the guy looking forward to Tuesday for the new release movies, then Tuesdays to buy the Blu-ray movies at Best Buy or wherever ... I think everything is going cloud based now, which somtimes is ok but mostly I'm not a fan (the audio quality just isn't the same).

    I feel like there will probably always still be a market for physical media. I don't think online streaming can always be relied upon, as sometimes they have problems with their service, sometimes your internet connection might drop out, and sometimes the online streaming services remove content that you might want to watch.

    A couple years ago, I noticed my local Best Buy removed their racks of blu-rays and DVDs, and I thought they had decided to stop selling them. But it seems that's not the case - now they have a few (smaller) racks for blu-ray & DVD movies toward the front of the store, so thankfully it seems they're still selling them. I tend to buy movies & shows from Amazon more often these days though.

    I've been running a Plex media server at home for years now, and one thing I've tended to do lately is buy movies & shows on blu-ray (4K preferred), and then rip them on my computer and put them on my Plex server. That way, I can stream them conveniently and I don't have to worry about a streaming service removing them.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 23:34:37 2023
    I feel like there will probably always still be a market for physical media. I don't think online streaming can always be relied upon, as sometimes they have problems with their service, sometimes your internet connection might drop out, and sometimes the online streaming services remove content that you might want to watch.

    I do hope so. There had been talk within the Consumer Electronics industry for years about eliminating physical media in place of cloud based content. In part due to costs to make, transport, purchase, and inventory; while in part the ability to better control copy-write protections. I don't recall a bootleg blu-ray market, while also I don't recall a torrent with the audio quality of blu-ray on a good sound 7 channel and speaker sound system.

    I do hope your right, I like owning a physical copy of the movies I collect (mostly super hero, spy, military, history ..) What i don't like is the idea of buying content that I only get to "keep in my library" as long as I am subscribed to the service I purchased it from. I haven't purchased but a couple of "digital copies" from streaming services so maybe that "rule" has changed.

    A couple years ago, I noticed my local Best Buy removed their racks of blu-rays and DVDs, and I thought they had decided to stop selling them. But it seems that's not the case - now they have a few (smaller) racks
    for blu-ray & DVD movies toward the front of the store, so thankfully it seems they're still selling them. I tend to buy movies & shows from Amazon more often these days though.

    That is good to hear, I hadn't been in a best buy in quite a few years but took my kids in over the weekend. I noticed they had moved the blu-ray, gaming, and music CD's closer to the registers at the front, with the middle of the store filled with "smart home" security and the like of products. I wonder what they will do next, shifting more of their computer focus online and laying off computer sales people. I was a bit surprised (having worked for them in the past) to see how they've scaled down their TV's and Audio.

    I've been running a Plex media server at home for years now, and one
    thing I've tended to do lately is buy movies & shows on blu-ray (4K preferred), and then rip them on my computer and put them on my Plex server. That way, I can stream them conveniently and I don't have to worry about a streaming service removing them.

    I bookmarked Plex Media Server as search for me to check out later. I used to have a wired multi-room sound system with speaker selector connected to a Pioneer CD Changer. Then later burned all of those to my hard drive, and now stream them through iTunes and an airport express. I like using my iphone to search my hd for music and simply tap and play, while lounging outside. My brother-in-law had given me an Apple TV, which I think does the same however with video also. But to be able to buy all of my blu-rays and conveniently stream them would be next level! Thanks for the tip!

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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 03:45:24 2023
    That is good to hear, I hadn't been in a best buy in quite a few years but took my kids in over the weekend. I noticed they had moved the blu-ray, gaming, and music CD's closer to the registers at the front, with the middle of the store filled with "smart home" security and the like of products. I wonder what they will do next, shifting more of their computer focus online and laying off computer sales people. I was a bit surprised (having worked for them in the past) to see how they've scaled down their TV's and Audio.

    I had gone to my closest Best Buy a few weeks ago... apparently they switched it to a "Best Buy Outlet" and upon walking in, apparently that means 90% of the floor space is washers and dryers. I really hope one of the new Micro Centers is in Phoenix, there's really no option to get something same day here other than the very limited BB selection.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
    +o roughneckbbs.com
    tracker1@roughneckbbs.com
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 22:10:32 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 2023 04:34 pm

    I feel like there will probably always still be a market for
    physical media. I don't think online streaming can always be relied

    I do hope so. There had been talk within the Consumer Electronics industry for years about eliminating physical media in place of cloud based content. In part due to costs to make, transport, purchase, and inventory; while in part the ability to better control copy-write protections. I don't recall a bootleg blu-ray market, while also I don't recall a torrent with the audio quality of blu-ray on a good sound 7 channel and speaker sound system.

    Yeah, I don't think there's a big bootleg blu-ray market, but I think copying media is something the industry has always been nervous about. Also, there are some countries I've heard about that actually do have a big bootleg market (such as China) where it's common for people to buy and sell copied bootleg discs for movies, music, and computer software.

    Also as far as torrents, it seems there actually are some fairly good torrents out there. I'd think the audio quality should be pretty good, as a lot of audio is at least 5.1 channel. I've also heard of torrents that are ripped straight from the disc and not compressed so that you'd get the full audio and video quality (if you can find those).

    One issue I see is that there are multiple different streaming services available, and the subscription fees for each one would add up - If you have several of them, the total cost could be similar to a premium cable TV package. I don't think I watch enough TV for that to be worth it.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 15:09:52 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 2023 04:34 pm

    I bookmarked Plex Media Server as search for me to check out later. I used

    You might also like to bookmark Jellyfin.

    I've been a Plex user for many years - even bought their lifetime membership. At home apple TVs are used to watch media from it.

    I even used to go camping, and take a NAS and use it for the kids.

    I recently switchout out the "camping" plex for Jellyfin - it has no requirement to be connected to the internet to "use" (naturally you need to be connected to get updated description, thumbnails, etc).

    (It became annoying to connect to the internet, just to "login" to plex and use it.)

    I think there is a jellyfin app for AppleTV (will check it out one day) - but for camping I have a Amazon Firestick, which works really well with the NAS.


    ...лоеп
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  • From Digital Man@21:1/183 to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 22:28:57 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 2023 04:34 pm

    I feel like there will probably always still be a market for physical media. I don't think online streaming can always be relied upon, as sometimes they have problems with their service, sometimes your internet connection might drop out, and sometimes the online streaming services remove content that you might want to watch.

    I do hope so. There had been talk within the Consumer Electronics industry for years about eliminating physical media in place of cloud based content.

    When I was at Broadcom several years ago, we were integrating a smart card (and other memory card format) reader/writer logic into our network controllers and there was an initiative from the laptop OEMs to make media on the smart cards available to view/read in all system/power modes (e.g. even when the laptop was closed/sleeping). The reason being: Hollywood was going to start distribution of movies on SD cards instead of Blu-ray Discs and they wanted people to use their laptops as movie viewers in low power modes (no-OS running). That never happened. It looks like network *distribution* of media is here to stay.

    I bookmarked Plex Media Server as search for me to check out later.

    I've been running a Plex server for several years too and have thousands of titles in there plus all my home movies. We get to watch my friends' titles too. Definitely recommend it.
    --
    digital man (rob)

    Synchronet "Real Fact" #48:
    Synchronet directory naming (i.e. ctrl, exec, data) was suggested by S. Deppe Norco, CA WX: 78.7шF, 42.0% humidity, 12 mph S wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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  • From fusion@21:1/616 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 01:42:24 2023
    On 27 Apr 2023, Nightfox said the following...

    Also, there are some countries I've heard about that actually do have a big bootleg market (such as China) where it's common for people to buy
    and sell copied bootleg discs for movies, music, and computer software.

    some of these are actually really cool. especially a little further back when VCDs were more common. bizarre custom artwork, random actors on the packaging that aren't in the movie at all, mistranslated or simply false titles, etc. i think chinese dvd players still support all sorts of random video types because of the different bootleg methods.

    as a lot of audio is at least 5.1 channel. I've also heard of torrents that are ripped straight from the disc and not compressed so that you'd get the full audio and video quality (if you can find those).

    these were definitely available back in the day. just not as popular as the standard 700mb fit-on-a-cd-r size release because everyone had like 5-10gb hard drives lol.

    i definitely prefer keeping high bitrate 720p stuff.. i really like japanese "jdrama" shows and usually look for the ~1gb/30min ones.. above that and i'm sitting on an extra 30GB+ of 4K quality i will enjoy once every five years maybe.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
    * Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to fusion on Fri Apr 28 00:02:00 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: fusion to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 2023 06:42 pm

    Also, there are some countries I've heard about that actually do
    have a big bootleg market (such as China) where it's common for

    some of these are actually really cool. especially a little further back when VCDs were more common. bizarre custom artwork, random actors on the packaging that aren't in the movie at all, mistranslated or simply false titles, etc. i think chinese dvd players still support all sorts of random video types because of the different bootleg methods.

    I've never seen any official commercially-produced VCD versions of anything in the US, but I had heard about VCDs around 2004 or 2005 or so. I made a couple VCDs of my own since I was curious, and my DVD player at the time (which I bought here in the US) was able to play it, and a friend of mine had a DVD player that was able to play it too. So I don't think it was just Chinese DVD players. I suspect DVD and blu-ray players probably support more formats than they advertise.

    torrents that are ripped straight from the disc and not compressed
    so that you'd get the full audio and video quality (if you can find
    those).

    these were definitely available back in the day. just not as popular as the standard 700mb fit-on-a-cd-r size release because everyone had like 5-10gb hard drives lol.

    Back in the day? I see some of those uncompressed torrents even now.

    i definitely prefer keeping high bitrate 720p stuff.. i really like

    These days I tend to try to get as high quality as I can find - Usually ripped from my own 4K blu-ray discs if possible.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Tracker1 on Fri Apr 28 00:05:47 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Tracker1 to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 2023 08:45 pm

    I really hope one of
    the new Micro Centers is in Phoenix, there's really no option to get something same day here other than the very limited BB selection.

    I've never been to a Micro Center, as they dohn't have a location near me, but I've heard good things about them. It would be nice if they'd build a location out here.. Since Fry's Electronics shut down, I've thought that could be a prime opportunity for Micro Center to buy the location and turn it into a Micro Center.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Digital Man on Fri Apr 28 00:10:09 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Digital Man to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 2023 03:28 pm

    even when the laptop was closed/sleeping). The reason being: Hollywood was going to start distribution of movies on SD cards instead of Blu-ray Discs and they wanted people to use their laptops as movie viewers in low power modes (no-OS running). That never happened. It looks like network *distribution* of media is here to stay.

    I used to think the next format movies would be distributed on would be USB flash drives or something similar. I still think that would be a nice option. With streaming, even if I buy a title on a streaming service, I still don't feel like I truly "own" the copy I bought when they're still in control of it (and I've heard of at least one case where someone bought a movie on a streaming service and they removed it at some point, so they weren't able to watch it anymore).

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From Digital Man@21:1/183 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 01:19:06 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Thu Apr 27 2023 05:10 pm

    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Digital Man to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 2023 03:28 pm

    even when the laptop was closed/sleeping). The reason being: Hollywood was going to start distribution of movies on SD cards instead of Blu-ray Discs and they wanted people to use their laptops as movie viewers in low power modes (no-OS running). That never happened. It looks like network *distribution* of media is here to stay.

    I used to think the next format movies would be distributed on would be USB flash drives or something similar. I still think that would be a nice option. With streaming, even if I buy a title on a streaming service, I still don't feel like I truly "own" the copy I bought when they're still in control of it (and I've heard of at least one case where someone bought a movie on a streaming service and they removed it at some point, so they weren't able to watch it anymore).

    Most people watch most movies (or TV shows/series) just once, so they don't need to "own" it. Even if you do want to own the video, you're a lot more likely to download it (with or without DRM) than to get it sent to you on some physical media.

    I think we've reached the point where most media consumers have the bandwidth to just stream what they want (e.g. music, videos) when they want it and even if they opt to save a copy, they're getting it from a network. I think the only way that would change is if the media files were somehow exceeding large again, but I just don't see that happening. Bandwidth and compression schemes will likely continue to outpace content requirements from now on.
    --
    digital man (rob)

    Breaking Bad quote #1:
    Just because you shot Jesse James, don't make you Jesse James. - M. Ehrmantraut Norco, CA WX: 74.4шF, 47.0% humidity, 10 mph S wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs
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    * Origin: Vertrauen - [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net (21:1/183)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 01:35:12 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Nightfox to Tracker1 on Thu Apr 27 2023 05:05 pm

    but I've heard good things about them. It would be nice if they'd build a location out here.. Since Fry's Electronics shut down, I've thought that could be a prime opportunity for Micro Center to buy the location and turn it into a Micro Center.

    I was sad when Fry's shut down, but they'd become a shadow of what they'd once been. Long rows of empty shelves, populated with one or two items.

    All of the local Fry's are still vacant near me, they were uniquely designed, and might turn off a prospective buyer. One's shaped like a Mayan Pyramid.

    ...How did you find this place?
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 01:36:23 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Thu Apr 27 2023 05:10 pm

    I used to think the next format movies would be distributed on would be USB flash drives or something similar. I still think that would be a nice


    Please, no. We don't need anything encouraging people from inserting foreign USB sticks in their computers... :)
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri Apr 28 01:42:16 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Apr 27 2023 06:35 pm

    I was sad when Fry's shut down, but they'd become a shadow of what they'd once been. Long rows of empty shelves, populated with one or two items.

    Yeah, I was wondering what was happening to Fry's toward the end. It got to the point where I basically stopped going there because their shelves ended up being so empty.

    All of the local Fry's are still vacant near me, they were uniquely designed, and might turn off a prospective buyer. One's shaped like a Mayan Pyramid.

    I've heard about that. I think the Fry's near me might be one of the very few that aren't uniquely shaped. It's a regular building, probably because it originally was built for another electronics store, Incredible Universe (which didn't last long).

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/195.5 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 18:26:07 2023
    Hi Nightfox,

    On Wednesday April 26 2023, Nightfox said to fusion:

    I'd rather have a retail DVD rather than a rental DVD. Rental DVDs
    usually don't have much (or any) of the extras that the ones sold by retailers do. When renting a movie, you're likely to get a disc that
    just has the movie and maybe some ads at the beginning, but not much
    else (if anything).

    OH We got the add's at the front, the end and the extra's here in Australia.


    Plus the don't pirate this disc, as your hurting somesone income.


    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/195.5)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 04:09:00 2023
    Hello The Godfather!

    Ah yes ok, that sounds easy enough, I'll try that out this
    winter. We only switched to crumbles when we picked up a
    few baby chicks. The two older ones were eating pellets
    however half the time the bottom of the bags were moldy
    last year. We haven't had that problem with the crumbles.
    Granted, the chickens would probably eat the mold
    considering they eat just about anything.

    My family raised chickens for eggs and then ofcourse the old
    hens would end up as food.

    But even if it was just for the eggs, I could not justify
    keeping chickens. The cost of raising them, feeding them,
    providing necessary health care, etc.. simply cost more than
    the few eggs that I would need just for myself and another
    family member.

    That was back when a dozen of the cheapest eggs were roughly
    $2CDN per dozen. My dad sold our fresh eggs at $3/dozen. We
    had way more than we needed for a family of 4.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.57
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Fri Apr 28 10:25:14 2023
    Re: Hola
    By: Ogg to The Godfather on Thu Apr 27 2023 09:09 pm

    But even if it was just for the eggs, I could not justify
    keeping chickens. The cost of raising them, feeding them,
    providing necessary health care, etc.. simply cost more than
    the few eggs that I would need just for myself and another
    family member.


    Well, IMO nothing beats being able to go the the chicken coop and pick your fresh breakfast from there XD

    The important part of having your own means of production is that they make you less dependant on third parties. If there are distribution problems at the supermarket, or you just feel too lazy to move up to the supermarket, you will still have food if you produce your own.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
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  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to The Godfather on Sat Apr 29 02:28:00 2023
    Granted, the chickens would probably eat the mold considering they eat just about anything.

    Chuckle, chickens are quite stupid. They will eat moldy food, but it doesn't do them much good... they tend to end up a bit blurty after it. At the same time they will also quite happily eat plants that are poisonous to them. Off hand I don't have any examples, must be going on 30 years since I last had a real backyard full.

    Used to keep a bit of "square fencing mesh" folded in half and if you had anything much that was leafy... spinach leaves, weeds from the garden or anything similar, you could fill it up, they'd work their way through it, and not spread at much around and make a mess of it.

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 16:31:07 2023
    I can tell, haha! It's a process for you more then anything. And to an

    Yeah. On that note, it's a bit different in Germany, since you're expected to bag your own items and/or do something to get out of the way.

    But I _know_ I carry it too far, or at least _way_ more than other people. But really only gets problematic when people start talking to me in German while I'm attempting to get out of the way.

    Though, thankfully, most of the time my German is enough for those interactions.

    Oh, and I _prefer_ the "bag your own" method. Since I bring my own bags for everything, and oftentimes my needs are different.

    that would be political, so if anyone has _any_ objection to the thou

    Everything can turn political these days so we'll keep it light.

    Yeah. I guess there's a bit of a difference between talking about automation in our lives and automation as a societal thing, but, yeah, keeping it kind is kind of the point.

    DVD and gaming section, quit updating. They've had the same few movies
    on the end caps for weeks now. I was always the guy looking forward to Tuesday for the new release movies, then Tuesdays to buy the Blu-ray

    I suppose it could be a DVD thing, but I think you might be running up against the lack of cinema movie releases, too. Hard to update the end cap if nothing is available for release.

    Though, yeah, if they release directly to Netflix, it _also_ makes it problematic.

    But I realize that I don't want to own DVDs. I just want access to movies. I would happily stream everything, but copyright law makes, "Oh, I want to watch x movie that I heard about" way more challenging, and DVD rentals are a good workaround.

    movies at Best Buy or wherever ... I think everything is going cloud
    based now, which somtimes is ok but mostly I'm not a fan (the audio quality just isn't the same).

    Ah, yeah, that _does_ seem like it could be a problem.

    Though I'm also a person who watches everything with subtitles.

    Mind you, _German_ subtitles, but still.

    This also reminds me about my annoyance with some streaming stuff here. E.g., I had Amazon Prime for a month, and there are movies that are dubbed from English, and the stream is only available in German, with no subtitles.

    Netflix is better about that, though.

    Wait, that service is gone right? We did that for the time it and

    Nah, they just announced that they'd be ending in September. And I guess another poster here pointed out that Redbox tried to buy them, but Netflix had no interest.

    I know the quality of their catalog had been going down for a while (they weren't buying as much stuff, and such a catalog naturally decays over time, as things physically wear out), but the quality of their catalog was still _far_ beyond any streaming service.

    Redbox, I can't tell you how many movies we failed to return or forgot
    to put back in the mail that we ended up paying in full for.

    At least that's one thing you never have to worry about with a streaming service.

    Yes .. only because they got rid of my beloved Hollywood Videos and Blockbusters. I miss those :(

    I feel like I _should_ miss them, but I'm not sure I ever had a membership at any of those places. Too young, maybe.

    But library cards still generally work, at least.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 13:45:00 2023
    Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    Yeah, I was wondering what was happening to Fry's toward the end. It
    got to the point where I basically stopped going there because their shelves ended up being so empty.

    Their claim was that they were switching to that model where the sales
    reps stock the store - so you end up with brand-specific areas like
    department stores nowadays. Which totally would have not worked at
    Fry's.



    ... Simple subtraction
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Tracker1 on Fri Apr 28 17:21:24 2023
    I had gone to my closest Best Buy a few weeks ago... apparently they switched it to a "Best Buy Outlet" and upon walking in, apparently that means 90% of the floor space is washers and dryers. I really hope one
    of the new Micro Centers is in Phoenix, there's really no option to get something same day here other than the very limited BB selection.

    Maybe thats whats happening to our Best Buy. That would suck. I haven't been into an Office Max or Depot in a while but one of the two is by our house. I can't imagine they have any better of a selection then their crappy one from 10 years ago. Time to bring back build to order computer stores. Lets do it! (I miss those too ..)

    Phoenix eh? I lived there for 2 years when we opened Ultimate Electronics back in the day. I don't recall alot of computer stores back then either in Phoenix.

    Where are the Micro Centers being opened there, strip malls, indoor malls, or within Best Buy locations?

    |15-|12t|04G
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    ... We all live in a yellow subroutine...

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    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 17:28:03 2023
    Yeah, I don't think there's a big bootleg blu-ray market, but I think copying media is something the industry has always been nervous about. Also, there are some countries I've heard about that actually do have a big bootleg market (such as China) where it's common for people to buy
    and sell copied bootleg discs for movies, music, and computer software.

    Funny you bring that up. About 15 years ago I bought the new Spiderman (at the time .. whichever it was) and when it arrived it was a bootleg from China. It was a horribly printed (think ink jet lines) cover, and the text on the back kept referencing Tom Cruise as being the guy who was Parker. I think We still have the cover somewhere just for the laugh.

    that are ripped straight from the disc and not compressed so that you'd get the full audio and video quality (if you can find those).

    Wow, that sounds like that would be an rather large file size to be downloading. I guess for those that do, good thing for kill switches. That is the problem I have with buying content on the clouds, other then cost of service, is the compressed audio. I have a rather nice Klipsch reference audio system and an hear the difference between the original and streamed content.

    One issue I see is that there are multiple different streaming services available, and the subscription fees for each one would add up - If you have several of them, the total cost could be similar to a premium cable TV package. I don't think I watch enough TV for that to be worth it.

    Yes, we have Amazon Prime and Netflix. We buy enough on Amazon, save enough in shipping, to cover the costs. Netflix I haven't watched since the release of Cobra Ki season 4. But my kiddos watch it constantly. We no longer have DirecTV/YouTube TV/Sling, etc.. We just use antenna for local news and whatever crime shows my wife likes to watch. I'd rather watch a movie without commercials tbh.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to deon on Fri Apr 28 17:41:48 2023
    You might also like to bookmark Jellyfin.

    I'll check it out as well. I don't need it for AppleTV persay. I'd rather cast then stream it using some wireless method. I'm afraid the AppleTV given to us is dated at best. If streaming, we have FireTV's and a couple TV's with firestick. The NAS? You're going to be having me spend money when I start asking ... dare I ... Oh what the heck.

    I just filled 6TB and need more storage already. Currently it's a Western Digital "My Book" external, usb, blah blah. I'd like at least a 4 bay, any suggestions on something more affordable then the Synology @ $599? Right now I just have a laptop but once back on our feet I'll be buying/building a desktop.


    I even used to go camping, and take a NAS and use it for the kids.
    I recently switchout out the "camping" plex for Jellyfin - it has no requirement to be connected to the internet to "use" (naturally you need to be connected to get updated description, thumbnails, etc).
    (It became annoying to connect to the internet, just to "login" to plex and use it.)
    I think there is a jellyfin app for AppleTV (will check it out one day)
    - but for camping I have a Amazon Firestick, which works really well
    with the NAS.

    |15-|12t|04G
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    ... Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.

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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Digital Man on Fri Apr 28 17:49:28 2023
    When I was at Broadcom several years ago, we were integrating a smart
    card (and other memory card format) reader/writer logic into our network controllers and there was an initiative from the laptop OEMs to make
    media on the smart cards available to view/read in all system/power
    modes (e.g. even when the laptop was closed/sleeping). The reason being: Hollywood was going to start distribution of movies on SD cards instead
    of Blu-ray Discs and they wanted people to use their laptops as movie viewers in low power modes (no-OS running). That never happened. It
    looks like network *distribution* of media is here to stay.

    That sounds like something Sony would come up with, then make it proprietary like the Beta .. So I'm assuming these smart cards would not be able to be cracked and written to or copied? That would have been more affordable then stamping DVD's, less physical space consumed witin a retail store. The only fail (something Sony would have up with, thinking Beta, Super Disc, and so much more ..) was requiring their hardware. That would have been a very cool way to keep us "must have the shiny hard copy" guys happy :) Heck, I miss Software Etc.

    I've been running a Plex server for several years too and have thousands of titles in there plus all my home movies. We get to watch my friends' titles too. Definitely recommend it.

    Can I just have your password? Kidding. You guys have me sold for sure. Oh, might as well ask, why Google it, we'd have nothing to talk about; can multiple devices stream off your Plex Server at the same time? It's rare our family of 5 can ever agree on "what to watch."

    |15-|12t|04G
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  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Ogg on Fri Apr 28 17:57:28 2023
    But even if it was just for the eggs, I could not justify
    keeping chickens. The cost of raising them, feeding them,
    providing necessary health care, etc.. simply cost more than
    the few eggs that I would need just for myself and another
    family member.
    That was back when a dozen of the cheapest eggs were roughly
    $2CDN per dozen. My dad sold our fresh eggs at $3/dozen. We
    had way more than we needed for a family of 4.

    Rather affordable these days. We spend very little on food versus the cost of eggs, and we do eat quite a few. With all of the baking my wife does, combined with breakfast and other recipes, we haven't been overwhelmed *yet* with eggs. If so we will for sure be water bathing what we can, the rest we'll be giving to neighbors (or selling, if they insist). The tinfoil hat in me would rather eat eggs then bugs .. so there's that too ;)

    My family raised chickens for eggs and then of course the old
    hens would end up as food.

    If you saw my neighborhood you'd be asking me how I plan to "off" the birds when they're too old. I'd have the police at my house for holding animal sacrifice rituals (or so my neighbors would think, as chance the birds with a hatchet, in the middle of the suburbs :) Fortunately my brother lives in rural America, while we also know a few crazy chicken ladies.

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... Computers are not intelligent. They only think they are.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Spectre on Fri Apr 28 18:02:40 2023
    Chuckle, chickens are quite stupid. They will eat moldy food, but it doesn't do them much good... they tend to end up a bit blurty after it.

    Haha, yes they are pretty funny actually, I had not expected that. I can see the adoration for the birds. We have a book of what we can and can't feed them. The only area it's not detailed enough is weeds, however I'm rather familiar with my weeds so won't be feeding the
    pokeweed and such anytime soon.

    Used to keep a bit of "square fencing mesh" folded in half and if you had

    Thats an excellent I have enough scraps laying around to make that. My wife bought one of those little bird cage things that you'd put the same within, but they eat so much more then that daily.

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... Error 3032 - Recursion error. See error 3032.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Adept on Fri Apr 28 18:09:35 2023
    Yeah. On that note, it's a bit different in Germany, since you're
    expected to bag your own items and/or do something to get out of the way.

    It's going to get that way here as well with Aldi and Sams Club/Costco leading the way. Walmart is now following suit, or so I hear. So we have the bags. I actually mind that part the least (having our own bags,) as we use the cooler type bags in case we have more then one stop to make, beats going home first. Also our trash pickup service "won't allow" for the grocery bags to be thrown away or recycled -- they get caught in the sorting machines I guess. And my wife is a grocery bag hoarder, even has a decorative bag for the bags. So moving away from "plastic" is perfectly fine by me. I like Fresh Thyme. They have paper bags still, at least those I can burn and throw the ash in my compost pile.

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... Honk if you love peace and quiet!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 16:51:05 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Nightfox on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:28 am

    Funny you bring that up. About 15 years ago I bought the new Spiderman (at the time .. whichever it was) and when it arrived it was a bootleg from China. It was a horribly printed (think ink jet lines) cover, and the text on the back kept referencing Tom Cruise as being the guy who was Parker. I think We still have the cover somewhere just for the laugh.

    Yeah, some of those bootleg covers are funny.

    that are ripped straight from the disc and not compressed so that
    you'd get the full audio and video quality (if you can find those).

    Wow, that sounds like that would be an rather large file size to be downloading. I guess for those that do, good thing for kill switches. That is the problem I have with buying content on the clouds, other then cost of service, is the compressed audio. I have a rather nice Klipsch reference audio system and an hear the difference between the original and streamed content.

    Yeah, they can be large. And I don't really have a high-end audio system, so I probably won't notice the difference in audio quality, but I still feel like if I'm going to pay money for something, I don't want to be too compressed. I think they charge about the same for a movie on a streaming service as they do for a blu-ray or DVD version.

    Yes, we have Amazon Prime and Netflix. We buy enough on Amazon, save enough in shipping, to cover the costs. Netflix I haven't watched since the release of Cobra Ki season 4. But my kiddos watch it constantly. We no longer have DirecTV/YouTube TV/Sling, etc.. We just use antenna for local news and whatever crime shows my wife likes to watch. I'd rather watch a movie without commercials tbh.

    Yeah, I just have Amazon Prime, but similarly, I buy enough from Amazon that I think it's worth it. I haven't watched anything on Amazon's streaming service in quite a while though. Years ago, I was watching a TV show that was included with Amazon Prime, and then suddenly they started charging extra if you wanted to watch it.. Thus some of my frustrations with streaming services - They switch things around with how they charge for content, and also remove content often enough that sometimes it makes me not want to bother.

    I also use an antenna for some over-the-air TV content (news and some TV shows). I don't like watching movies with commercials either, but for TV shows, that are available over the air, I figure it's good to be able to watch them that way rather than pay a subscription to watch them.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 21:25:58 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Tracker1 on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:21 am

    crappy one from 10 years ago. Time to bring back build to order computer stores. Lets do it! (I miss those too ..)


    San Francisco in the 1990s - there was a BTO computer shop every mile or so, and LAN TIMES and Computer Currents ran ads for them in every issue.

    I cashed out a ton of PTO in 1997 and splurged on a BTO computer - was able to specify every part, including what kind of keyboard I wanted. It was a luxury after scrounging computers for the past 10 years.
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 21:28:06 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to deon on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:41 am

    I just filled 6TB and need more storage already. Currently it's a Western Digital "My Book" external, usb, blah blah. I'd like at least a 4 bay, any suggestions on something more affordable then the Synology @ $599? Right

    The Synology units are pricey, but modern ones offer NVME caches, the ability to run Docker natively, and Synology's drive, backup, email, chat and streaming apps. If you have a need for all that, they're pretty nice.
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
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  • From Mickey@21:1/159.15 to The Godfather on Sat Apr 29 02:06:33 2023
    BY: The Godfather(21:3/165)


    can't feed them. The only area it's not detailed enough is weeds,
    however I'm rather familiar with my weeds so won't be feeding the
    pokeweed and such anytime soon.


    Is this the stuff you put in Poke Salad, Annie?

    <grin>


    Mickey



    --- WWIV 5.7.2.3552
    * Origin: Central Ontario Remote Systems (21:1/159.15)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to The Godfather on Sat Apr 29 19:12:19 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to deon on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:41 am

    Howdy,

    I just filled 6TB and need more storage already. Currently it's a Western Digital "My Book" external, usb, blah blah. I'd like at least a 4 bay, any suggestions on something more affordable then the Synology @ $599? Right now I just have a laptop but once back on our feet I'll be buying/building a desktop.

    I recently went through the exercise of exploring how much to "build my own" vs buying a NAS. I wanted the small form factor (that the QNAP/Synology) provide. Dont care too much about hot-add/remove. Cooling is important and obviously a good CPU/memory ability to run the NAS software (freenas) and plex/jellyfin.

    I actually found it hard to find something that was compellingly cheaper (board, case, memory, cpu, etc) that was of a similar form factor. Sure it was a few $$ cheaper, but with parts coming from many places, when something broke it would have been on me to diagnose and get fixed.

    Actually the hardest was to find the case, and it seemed the smaller the case (designed for multiple drives) the higher the price :(

    At home (and the van), I have QNAPs, but I dont run QNAP software, I use freenas and a jail to run plex/jellyfin. My home NAS also runs nextcloud.

    If you discover something, I'd be curious to know..


    ...лоеп
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Digital Man@21:1/183 to The Godfather on Sat Apr 29 02:16:09 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Digital Man on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:49 am

    Oh, might as well ask, why Google it, we'd have nothing to talk about; can multiple devices stream off your Plex Server at the same time? It's rare our family of 5 can ever agree on "what to watch."

    Yes. There will be limits on the number of transcoded streams (based on your CPU/GPU capability and what else the Plex server system is servicing) and the total network through-put your server can support, but should be plenty for a family.
    --
    digital man (rob)

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #86:
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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Apr 29 11:23:02 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to The Godfather on Fri Apr 28 2023 02:28 pm

    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to deon on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:41 am

    I just filled 6TB and need more storage already. Currently it's a Weste Digital "My Book" external, usb, blah blah. I'd like at least a 4 bay, suggestions on something more affordable then the Synology @ $599? Righ

    The Synology units are pricey, but modern ones offer NVME caches, the abilit

    IMO, a NAS should be a NAS only. There is value in separating your computing from your storage. If you intend to run actual services on the machine you can get a new entry level server for less than 600 bucks. NAS software is notorious for its limitations and poor security records and you should not expose a NAS machine to the Internet unless you know very well what you are doing.

    If you only need cheap network attatched storage, you can get some second hand Buffalo link station with two bays. Or an old ShareCenter. I remember seeing those around here for less than 100 bucks per unit. You can put a lot of storage in a two bay unit as long as you can live with increased failure probabilities (which is exactly what you should be expecting when working on a low budget). Thankfully, we all have our backups XD.

    If you need a reliable NAS only then you are going to have to pay for it.

    TL;DR: If you intend to run services on the NAS, you'd better get an actual server instead (which you can also use as storage, not that I recommend it). If you want storage only, but don't want to expend much, you are going to have to live with a budget solution with reduced reliability. If you want a reliable NAS appliance it is going to be expensive and there is no way around it.


    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to deon on Sat Apr 29 12:48:02 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: deon to The Godfather on Sat Apr 29 2023 12:12 pm

    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to deon on Fri Apr 28 2023 10:41 am

    Howdy,

    I just filled 6TB and need more storage already. Currently it's a Wester Digital "My Book" external, usb, blah blah. I'd like at least a 4 bay, a suggestions on something more affordable then the Synology @ $599? Right I just have a laptop but once back on our feet I'll be buying/building a desktop.

    I recently went through the exercise of exploring how much to "build my own" ility to run the NAS software (freenas) and plex/jellyfin.

    I actually found it hard to find something that was compellingly cheaper (bo
    to diagnose and get fixed.

    Actually the hardest was to find the case, and it seemed the smaller the cas

    At home (and the van), I have QNAPs, but I dont run QNAP software, I use fre

    If you discover something, I'd be curious to know..



    If you want a NAS for NAS service only, and want it in a small form factor, an off-the-shelf NAS appliance is hard to beat. I think you can only go cheaper by cutting corners so severely that you enter dangerous/mean/poorman territory.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
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  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Apr 29 12:51:02 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Arelor to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Apr 29 2023 04:23 am

    If you only need cheap network attatched storage, you can get some second ha Buffalo link station with two bays. Or an old ShareCenter. I remember seeing those around here for less than 100 bucks per unit. You can put a lot of storage in a two bay unit as long as you can live with increased failure probabilities (which is exactly what you should be expecting when working on low budget). Thankfully, we all have our backups XD.


    BTW I don't count on a Buffalo LinkStation or a Share Center to do heavy multimedia streaming. Honestly, if you want a minimum of power you have to spend them bucks, period.

    --
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Arelor on Sat Apr 29 14:36:00 2023
    Arelor wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    IMO, a NAS should be a NAS only. There is value in separating your computing from your storage.

    That's sound advice, if you're willing to accept the risk, an all-in-one solution is pretty nice. I envision a small company being able to set up
    a NAS, backup, drive sync, email, and collaboration tools on a Synology
    NAS, but in reality, a company would just get G suite or Microsoft 365.

    Seems like a solution for 2005. I wish they were around when I was
    setting up Microsoft Small Business Servers...

    In my environment, I'm not using any of the collaboration apps since
    it's just me. I've got a homelab running on Proxmox for apps.

    If you only need cheap network attatched storage, you can get some
    second hand Buffalo link station with two bays. Or an old ShareCenter.

    The reason I bought my Synology was it was dirt cheap and used - $119
    for a 5-bay DS1010+. :)

    You can put a lot of storage in a two bay unit as long as you can live with increased failure probabilities (which is exactly what you should
    be expecting when working on a low budget). Thankfully, we all have our backups XD.

    I've had RAID for a long time -- my desktop was mirrored for 10 years,
    and I couldn't imagine running a stripe set in a 2-bay NAS. I'd rather
    spend twice as much for mirroring.

    I had a bunch of 2TB drives laying around, so thankfully I was able to
    populate my NAS and give me 7TB with redundancy.



    ... Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Arelor on Sat Apr 29 14:38:00 2023
    Arelor wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    BTW I don't count on a Buffalo LinkStation or a Share Center to do
    heavy multimedia streaming. Honestly, if you want a minimum of power
    you have to spend them bucks, period.

    I was able to stream 1080P from a Linksys router running DD-WRT, but I
    never tried streaming 2 clients simultaneously.



    ... Repetition is a form of change
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to Nightfox on Tue May 2 06:20:46 2023
    I've never been to a Micro Center, as they dohn't have a location near me, but I've heard good things about them. It would be nice if they'd build a location out here.. Since Fry's Electronics shut down, I've thought that could be a prime opportunity for Micro Center to buy the location and turn it into a Micro Center.

    Haven't been either... it's just that right now, BestBuy is about the only option for any components for the most part, and selection is really limited. This morning, my Linux drive was in read-only mode and upon reboot was in some form of recovery mode suggesting fsck. My first thought was, I wish I had a spare drive, and maybe bump to a bigger one if I need to yank it. All seems to be good after like 6 issues reported/fixed, but still concerning.

    Mental note, still want to do a nearly full rsync of my home directory.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue May 2 06:24:24 2023
    I was sad when Fry's shut down, but they'd become a shadow of what they'd once been. Long rows of empty shelves, populated with one or two items.

    This sounds like a post I made a couple years ago, when they announced they'd be shuttering completely. Last time I went there I needed a USB->PS/2 keyboard adapter... The system in question would only go into the bios menu from a PS/2 keyboard.

    All of the local Fry's are still vacant near me, they were uniquely designed, and might turn off a prospective buyer. One's shaped like a Mayan Pyramid.

    Yeah, one of the two in Phx was like that... the other was converted from an Incredible Universe store iirc. At the height, both were places to go to pretty regularly. Unfortunately, the customer service was so bad, that even dealing with Amazon or Newegg and return shipping is easier.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to The Godfather on Tue May 2 06:44:32 2023
    I had gone to my closest Best Buy a few weeks ago... apparently they
    switched it to a "Best Buy Outlet" and upon walking in, apparently
    that means 90% of the floor space is washers and dryers. I really

    Maybe thats whats happening to our Best Buy. That would suck. I haven't been into an Office Max or Depot in a while but one of the two is by our house. I can't imagine they have any better of a selection then their crappy one from 10 years ago. Time to bring back build to order computer stores. Lets do it! (I miss those too ..)

    Yeah, it was kind of just a crappy looking experience. As to Office Max, got a laser printer for my daughter a few months ago, as well as new chair mats for my workspace upstairs. It's about the same as ever, just less busy.

    On the built to order computer stores, would be nice... when I went to BB, it was after trying to hit a local computer store to diagnose a MB issue, they didn't have a different CPU in stock they could use to test it, so decided to get a new one and ship the mail order one back. In the end, it's just a bit rough.

    Phoenix eh? I lived there for 2 years when we opened Ultimate Electronics back in the day. I don't recall alot of computer stores back then either in Phoenix.

    Yeah, before Fry's came in, there were about 8-9 smaller computer stores, but 6 of them were owned by the same guy under different names. Trying to get a MB locally and having to drive to a few places reminded me of those days too.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to The Godfather on Tue May 2 06:52:17 2023
    I just filled 6TB and need more storage already. Currently it's a Western Digital "My Book" external, usb, blah blah. I'd like at least a 4 bay, any suggestions on something more affordable then the Synology @ $599? Right now I just have a laptop but once back on our feet I'll be buying/building a desktop.

    A used server on Ebay, assuming you have space for a 1-2u server chasis somewhere... It's too hot to run such a thing in my garage, so running a Synology 6-drive with a 5-drive expansion, all full of 12gb drives. My prior box was about 11 years old at that point, and completely full. Should be good for a long while. Only real complaint is that the Plex on Synology crashes all the time... pretty much all NVidia Shield TVs now (which Kodi can play directly over the wire for everything SMB/CIFS).

    On the used server front, it may cost about the same, but you can often find systems that are a lot more powerful, loaded with ram, and maybe slightly older drives with life left on them.


    --
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to Nightfox on Tue May 2 06:58:06 2023
    Yeah, I just have Amazon Prime, but similarly, I buy enough from Amazon that I think it's worth it. I haven't watched anything on Amazon's streaming service in quite a while though. Years ago, I was watching a TV show that was included with Amazon Prime, and then suddenly they started

    I think The Boys, Terminal List, Reacher and Jack Ryan have all be very good shows on Amazon. There's another fun show called Alpha House, but I didn't discover it until well after it was cancelled, which is a shame it's a better show than the 2 seasons it got.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Tracker1 on Tue May 2 14:15:00 2023
    Tracker1 wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    places to go to pretty regularly. Unfortunately, the customer service
    was so bad, that even dealing with Amazon or Newegg and return shipping
    is easier.

    I remember they were notorious for re-wrapping returns. You'd open what
    looked like a factory-wrapped item and inside it had definitely been
    opened and returned. They resorted to "open box" stickers and pathetic markdowns.



    ... YORGAMAK HAS ARRIVED AND WILL INITIATE DESTRUCTIMATION.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Tracker1 on Tue May 2 14:23:00 2023
    Tracker1 wrote to The Godfather <=-

    On the built to order computer stores, would be nice... when I went to
    BB, it was after trying to hit a local computer store to diagnose a MB issue, they didn't have a different CPU in stock they could use to test it, so decided to get a new one and ship the mail order one back. In
    the end, it's just a bit rough.

    Yeah, commodity computers are a pain in the ass. My son wanted to try
    and upgrade a Lenovo gaming desktop and realized how proprietary (and
    how many corners were cut) with brand-name PCs. Would have been so much
    easier if he'd started out with a white box PC, standard power supply,
    cable routing, etc.

    He took a summer camp at the local junior college on PC assembly and
    trouble-shooting, so he had some familiarity with opening up PCs and
    assembling them. That'll be a life skill he'll use.




    ... Smooth is the Descent and Easy is the Way
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Tracker1 on Tue May 2 14:26:00 2023
    Tracker1 wrote to The Godfather <=-

    A used server on Ebay, assuming you have space for a 1-2u server chasis somewhere... It's too hot to run such a thing in my garage

    I need to build a server space in my storage area -- 10 degrees colder than the house, and the noise of a 1u server wouldn't drive me crazy. Right
    now, I have a laptop and a Synology DS1010+ in my office and it's just
    enough fan noise for my mike to pick up.


    My prior box was about 11 years old at that point, and completely full.
    Should be good for a long while. Only real complaint is that the Plex
    on Synology crashes all the time... pretty much all NVidia Shield TVs
    now (which Kodi can play directly over the wire for everything
    SMB/CIFS).

    I use my Synology to stream via DLNA to my Roku TVs; I need to find a
    better solution as the TVs can't decode h.265 videos.




    ... Don't bite the hand that feeds you WiFi.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed May 3 02:01:13 2023
    Yeah, commodity computers are a pain in the ass. My son wanted to try
    and upgrade a Lenovo gaming desktop and realized how proprietary (and
    how many corners were cut) with brand-name PCs. Would have been so much easier if he'd started out with a white box PC, standard power supply, cable routing, etc.

    Yeah... I've kind of given in on the laptop side as much as I hate it. I might go with frame.work next time I buy one, for now been pretty happy with my little M1 Air, what little I actually use it.

    He took a summer camp at the local junior college on PC assembly and trouble-shooting, so he had some familiarity with opening up PCs and assembling them. That'll be a life skill he'll use.

    I'd put it in line with knowing basic car maintenance like being able to change your own oil. Or changing out your own light or switch.


    --
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  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed May 3 02:06:23 2023
    I need to build a server space in my storage area -- 10 degrees colder than the house, and the noise of a 1u server wouldn't drive me crazy. Right now, I have a laptop and a Synology DS1010+ in my office and it's just enough fan noise for my mike to pick up.

    That would be nice... I have a few cat6e runs going to a closet where I'm using the top shelf for my synology, router and mini server. I added a couple in-door fans for circulation that are working pretty well for circulating enough air to not overheat in there, and the noise is less than the AC intake right outside the closet so don't really notice. At least it's no longer right next to my desk.

    I use my Synology to stream via DLNA to my Roku TVs; I need to find a better solution as the TVs can't decode h.265 videos.

    I've been really happy with the NVidia Shield TV boxes, they're slightly overpriced for what they are, but work without issue unlike the cheaper android tv boxes. They run Kodi and play pretty much anything I've tried from the files on an SMB/CIFS file share. The Fire sticks are a bit underpowered, and other devices I've tried over the years have issue. Also, having updated apps for the other services without being limited to lower resolution streams or browser hacks is a plus. I'm using the pro model, haven't tried the smaller verion.


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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Tracker1 on Tue May 2 19:12:17 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Tracker1 to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue May 02 2023 07:01 pm

    I'd put it in line with knowing basic car maintenance like being able to change your own oil. Or changing out your own light or switch.

    I've said that in retrospect the two classes I should have taken in high school were auto shop and typing.

    ...A very small object -Its centre

    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue May 2 20:54:45 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Tracker1 on Tue May 02 2023 12:12 pm

    I'd put it in line with knowing basic car maintenance like being
    able to change your own oil. Or changing out your own light or
    switch.

    I've said that in retrospect the two classes I should have taken in high school were auto shop and typing.

    I don't remember my high school offering auto shop. I did take a typing class in 8th grade, and then at some point in high school, I had an extra class slot that I had to fill with an elective, and I ended up choosing a typing class again because there weren't any others that seemed interesting to me at the time.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
    * Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Nightfox on Wed May 3 01:30:11 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: Nightfox to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue May 02 2023 01:54 pm

    I don't remember my high school offering auto shop. I did take a typing

    Count Zero Interrupt, one of the sysops in the othernet I was in back in the '90s took a job in the IT department at a local high school - he's now running IT for a district.

    He moved out into the country, bought a big plot of land, planned on building a house. He bought an old '60s Dodge 1 ton truck to haul the material he'd need and let the kids rebuild the engine in shop class. Everybody wins.

    The rest of the story: He bought the truck from a city 60 miles away from his land. He brought it home, parked it in the driveway and his neighbor did a double-take - the truck had belonged to the previous owner, who had passed away.
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Nightfox on Wed May 3 15:27:32 2023
    Yeah, they can be large. And I don't really have a high-end audio
    system, so I probably won't notice the difference in audio quality, but
    I still feel like if I'm going to pay money for something, I don't want
    to be too compressed. I think they charge about the same for a movie on
    a streaming service as they do for a blu-ray or DVD version.

    Yeah I always feel like I have to turn the volume up to hear the voices and then the bass is over exaggerated when watching streaming flicks. To your point, I'd much rather own the physical copy because I'm just old(er) and opening a vinyl or cassette tape and reading the inside sleeve used to mean something :) I don't mind paying $4.99 to rent the movie. While it's more then old "mail it to me" Netflix or Redbox, it's not a bad price for a family of five; and has conditioned me to be more selective on which movies I do purchase.

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... There are two types of people; those who finish what they start and

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed May 3 15:31:37 2023
    San Francisco in the 1990s - there was a BTO computer shop every mile or so, and LAN TIMES and Computer Currents ran ads for them in every issue.
    I cashed out a ton of PTO in 1997 and splurged on a BTO computer - was able to specify every part, including what kind of keyboard I wanted. It was a luxury after scrounging computers for the past 10 years.

    I worked for a company that sold PC's and mid-high end A/V during the 90's and early 2000's. I remember the "truck load sales" when you could buy a non name brand clone and see every brand of part within it. There were so many awesome clone PCs during the 90's. We had the BTO shops as well, I bought a couple from them. Did you have guys building them in their basements or garages? I had a couple of buddies that would advertise in the local rags, and BTO for and just charge an "assembly fee" otherwise "cost for parts." What as a PTO?

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... How do I set my laser printer to stun?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed May 3 15:35:02 2023
    The Synology units are pricey, but modern ones offer NVME caches, the ability to run Docker natively, and Synology's drive, backup, email,
    chat and streaming apps. If you have a need for all that, they're pretty nice. --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32

    As tempting as it sounds, I'd say I need all of that and then just use it for 1980-1990's BBS file archives (Smilez) so likely not. I would like to play around with Docker one day .. yes I haven't yet (I know .. I know .. :) Once I buy a new desktop (maybe BTO ...) I'll use my laptop as the experiment, break, redo, figure it out PC.

    1

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... My software never has bugs. It just develops random features...

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Mickey on Wed May 3 15:36:07 2023
    Is this the stuff you put in Poke Salad, Annie?

    Have you seen how they prepare Poke weed to make it safe to eat? It's kinda like preparing puffer fish (haha ..) I have no clue what Poke Salad, Annie is ..

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... I don't have the time for a hobby. I have a computer.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to deon on Wed May 3 15:45:01 2023
    I recently went through the exercise of exploring how much to "build my own" vs buying a NAS. I wanted the small form factor (that the

    Eh, not sure I want to build my own .. I have noticed a few "less expensive" options then the first brand that pulled up with a quick search such as the Terramaster F4-210 for $209 (4 bay,) and the Sabrent USB 3.2 DS-SC4B is $229. This is all new to me so these names mean nothing, maybe are just that .. But for sure much cheaper to buy which is my intent (other then purchasing the HD's separately.)

    At home (and the van), I have QNAPs, but I dont run QNAP software, I use

    What model QNAPs do you run by chance? I see they range from $300ish to $wayoutofpricerangish

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... A program is used to turn data into error messages.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Digital Man on Wed May 3 15:46:17 2023
    Yes. There will be limits on the number of transcoded streams (based on your CPU/GPU capability and what else the Plex server system is
    servicing) and the total network through-put your server can support,
    but should be plenty for a family.
    --

    It's beginning to make sense. If I ever get to a day off I'm buying one (sometime next week ..)

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... System halted - Press all keys at once to continue

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Tracker1 on Wed May 3 15:52:05 2023
    Yeah, before Fry's came in, there were about 8-9 smaller computer
    stores, but 6 of them were owned by the same guy under different names. Trying to get a MB locally and having to drive to a few places reminded
    me of those days too.

    Do you still have Fry's? Ours closed. Hmm .. sounds like a fun business to open. If someone lived in an area with a lot of neighbors employed within the tech industry it might be fun to "test." And with those concerned about "privacy" BTO might even attract those (with money) who want a more custom machine with the right software / services supporting it (all while supporting the little guy ..) Ok thats one heck of an ad to try to market but dang it I want the corner PC store back in the hood.

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... The seminar on time travel will be held two weeks ago

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to Tracker1 on Wed May 3 15:55:06 2023
    A used server on Ebay, assuming you have space for a 1-2u server chasis
    On the used server front, it may cost about the same, but you can often find systems that are a lot more powerful, loaded with ram, and maybe slightly older drives with life left on them.


    Hmm ... note to self: don't be lazy and buy off Amazon might be a good option. I haven't bought on eBay forever but thank you, I'll do my research and see what i can come up with.

    Appreciate everyones input there.

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... Documentation: The worst part of programming.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to The Godfather on Thu May 4 06:53:54 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to deon on Wed May 03 2023 08:45 am

    Eh, not sure I want to build my own .. I have noticed a few "less expensive" options then the first brand that pulled up with a quick search such as the Terramaster F4-210 for $209 (4 bay,) and the Sabrent USB 3.2 DS-SC4B is $229. This is all new to me so these names mean nothing, maybe are just that

    So a couple of things to keep in mind (this depends if you want to run other things on it too - like media services).

    The F4-210 is an ARM NAS, so anything you need to run on it, will need to be ARM based.

    The DS-SC4B is not a NAS, but rather a external disk caddy. IE: You'll need to plug it into a machine that is "the NAS" (or whatever else).

    The SC4B is another option to the "build your own" paradigm, ie: connect it to a small form factor server that runs the NAS software. ie: it takes care of the power/cooling and data bus for drive storage.


    ...лоеп
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to deon on Wed May 3 17:20:12 2023
    So a couple of things to keep in mind (this depends if you want to run other things on it too - like media services).

    Ah .. yes .. the reason we still need corner computer stores -- I'd have bought the wrong stuff :)

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... Sorry... My mind has a few bad sectors.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From Mickey@21:1/159.15 to The Godfather on Wed May 3 16:57:40 2023
    BY: The Godfather (21:3/165)


    Have you seen how they prepare Poke weed to make it safe to eat? It's kinda like preparing puffer fish (haha ..) I have no clue what Poke
    Salad, Annie is ..


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyXHxh3Sye0




    --- WWIV 5.8.0.3685
    * Origin: Central Ontario Remote Systems (21:1/159.15)
  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to The Godfather on Wed May 3 23:21:50 2023
    Do you still have Fry's? Ours closed. Hmm .. sounds like a fun business to open. If someone lived in an area with a lot of neighbors employed within the tech industry it might be fun to "test." And with those concerned about "privacy" BTO might even attract those (with money) who want a more custom machine with the right software / services supporting it (all while supporting the little guy ..) Ok thats one heck of an ad to try to market but dang it I want the corner PC store back in the hood.

    Ours have closed as well... I did first try a mom n' pop local to me... not sure how busy they are in practice though, and they didn't keep stock on hand, so wasn't much help to me. I get it, mostly as parts depriciate in value so much and so quickly.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
    +o roughneckbbs.com
    tracker1@roughneckbbs.com
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Roughneck BBS - roughneckbbs.com (21:3/149)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to The Godfather on Wed May 3 19:14:36 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: The Godfather to Mickey on Wed May 03 2023 08:36 am

    Have you seen how they prepare Poke weed to make it safe to eat? It's kinda like preparing puffer fish (haha ..) I have no clue what Poke Salad, Annie is ..

    Around California, a Poke bowl is sashimi-grade tuna in a bowl with nori, sesame seeds, rice and a hot sauce (usually sriracha and mayo).
    --- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/195.5 to The Godfather on Thu May 4 16:50:57 2023
    Hi The Godfather,

    On Wednesday May 03 2023, The Godfather said to deon:

    I recently went through the exercise of exploring how much to "build
    my own" vs buying a NAS. I wanted the small form factor (that the

    Eh, not sure I want to build my own .. I have noticed a few "less expensive" options then the first brand that pulled up with a quick
    search such as the Terramaster F4-210 for $209 (4 bay,) and the Sabrent USB 3.2 DS-SC4B is $229. This is all new to me so these names mean nothing, maybe are just that .. But for sure much cheaper to buy which
    is my intent (other then purchasing the HD's separately.)

    Do you have a oldish pc that's not being used? If you do then put either Nas4Free or Truenas on a USB memory stick and then install the HD's.

    Use ZFS and you then have a system that will survive moves to different hardware, as long as the drives are ok.. I've done that just recently with a client.. Moved from a *old* dell core 2 something, to a I3-3240. The only
    thing that changed was adding an extra 4gb of ram (Now 8), and moving the
    HD's across.

    ZFS dosn't care about what port the drives are on, as they get 'label' and
    then just re-connects them.


    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/195.5)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to The Godfather on Fri May 5 04:34:00 2023
    Its not poke salad Annie, but polk salad Annie. Polk is meant to be some
    kind of weed you can subsist on. Poor peoples food during the depression
    kind of thing...

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Vorlon on Thu May 4 13:49:00 2023
    Vorlon wrote to The Godfather <=-

    Use ZFS and you then have a system that will survive moves to different hardware, as long as the drives are ok.. I've done that just recently
    with a client.. Moved from a *old* dell core 2 something, to a I3-3240. The only thing that changed was adding an extra 4gb of ram (Now 8), and moving the HD's across.

    ZFS dosn't care about what port the drives are on, as they get 'label'
    and then just re-connects them.

    My only concern with ZFS has been the alleged memory overhead. I thought
    I heard a gig per terabyte? Is this realistic?



    ... I hear he can kill people with an init string.
    --- MultiMail/Win v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From deon@21:2/116 to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri May 5 15:44:43 2023
    Re: Re: Hola
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Vorlon on Thu May 04 2023 06:49 am

    My only concern with ZFS has been the alleged memory overhead. I thought
    I heard a gig per terabyte? Is this realistic?

    So it depends on your requirements. If you want fast I/O *and* de-duplication, then yes its a gig per terabyte apparently.

    I run it on a 4GB QNAP that has 16TB of storage - but I dont use de-duplication, and its just stores my photos and videos. (IE: I dont use it as a drive letter that I read/write edit files from directly). That same machine also has a jellyfin jail.

    I still get reasonable performance that's good enough for what I use it for.


    ...лоеп
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)
  • From Vorlon@21:1/195.5 to poindexter FORTRAN on Fri May 5 22:19:45 2023
    Hi Poindexter,

    On Thursday May 04 2023, Poindexter Fortran said to Vorlon:

    a I3-3240. The only thing that changed was adding an extra 4gb of ram
    (Now 8), and moving the HD's across.

    ZFS dosn't care about what port the drives are on, as they get 'label'
    and then just re-connects them.

    My only concern with ZFS has been the alleged memory overhead. I
    thought I heard a gig per terabyte? Is this realistic?

    ZFS does like memory, and the more it has the better.. But in saying that
    these setup's I've used in it have only 2/4tb drives in z2 (Mirror) and have been fine with 4gb of ram in the machine...

    The only reason I upped the recent one, was I could! I didn't see any difference in the way the machine performed. The previous setup was only getting replaced as one of the client machines was updated, and after some
    time the user was happey with the new PC. So I then replaced there NAS box
    with the clients previous user pc.


    \/orlon
    aka
    Stephen

    Rocking FSXnet with an Amiga 4000 and Zeus BBS.

    --- Zeus BBS 1.5
    * Origin: -:-- Dragon's Lair --:- dragon.vk3heg.net Prt: 6800 (21:1/195.5)
  • From The Godfather@21:3/165 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat May 6 15:22:46 2023
    Around California, a Poke bowl is sashimi-grade tuna in a bowl with nori, sesame seeds, rice and a hot sauce (usually sriracha and mayo).

    Oh of course .. duh. Yeah no, pokeweed is something I wouldn't eat :) (Nor the Poke Bowls, just not much into fish ... :/ )

    https://stoneageman.com/deadly-poisonous-pokeweed-is-actually-edible-if-yo u-do-this/

    |15-|12t|04G
    |15www|08.|15theun|07dergrou|08nd|07.|08us|15:|0810023

    ... Kids: They're not sleeping, they're recharging!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/03/14 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: www.theunderground.us Telnet 10023 SSH 7771 (21:3/165)
  • From Tracker1@21:3/149 to deon on Sun May 7 02:58:35 2023
    My only concern with ZFS has been the alleged memory overhead. I
    thought I heard a gig per terabyte? Is this realistic?

    So it depends on your requirements. If you want fast I/O *and* de-duplication, then yes its a gig per terabyte apparently.

    I run it on a 4GB QNAP that has 16TB of storage - but I dont use de-duplication, and its just stores my photos and videos. (IE: I dont use it as a drive letter that I read/write edit files from directly). That same machine also has a jellyfin jail.

    Will also vary by network throughput (10gb+ or 1gb?) and the number of concurrent users.


    --
    Michael J. Ryan
    +o roughneckbbs.com
    tracker1@roughneckbbs.com
    --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
    * Origin: Roughneck BBS - roughneckbbs.com (21:3/149)