Glen Campbell plays bagpipes on "Mull of Kintyre"

Who knew? 

Free Open Source3 software without Linux

For years I've touted (and recommended) Linux, the Free Open Source Software (FOSS) that is the heart of Internet servers, Internet routing nodes, and Android.  I have a lot of experience with Linux, having run it since kernel version 0.99 back in 1994 or so.  Slackware on 25 pounds of 3.5" floppy disks FTW.

One question that comes up regularly is what non-technical people can do.  While Linux has become a lot easier to install and run, there are still the occasional weirdnesses that some up, link the Brave Browser's refusal to print to anything other than PDF.  This means that if you live in a Linux world, you regularly have to come figure out workarounds.

And thus, the questions.  It's pretty easy for someone like me with 30 years of Linux experience* (good Lord, can it really be that long???), but for everyday folks who don't dig kernel versions and package dependencies, it's a daunting prospect.

As it turns out, there is a ton of high quality FOSS software for Windows and Mac users, and as your current computer ages and falls out of support, these can be a great way to extend the life of your computer.

I highly recommend this article from The Register on where to find high quality, non-malware FOSS packages.  It's very long and information-rich, so if you have an aging computer and you really don't want to load Linux on it, it's worth 10 minutes of your time.

Strongly recommended for normal computer users. Techie users will stay with sudo apt-get install foo but that just sort of proves my point.

About the only thing you won't get for your old Windows or Mac computer are security updates once the OS is end of life.  That's a big issue these days, and while it is possible to lock down a (say) old Windows OS to minimize your risk, it probably takes more tech savvy that installing Linux.  But if you are still getting security patches, FOSS can help you adapt to your apps demanding you upgrade the OS.  

* Interestingly, each year for the last 20 years has been "This is the year of Linux", and it really hasn't because the workarounds haven't ever gone away.  I'd argue that the only place where Linux is truly easy to use is Android, because Google invested a ton of money smoothing it out.

JS BACH - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

Merry Christmas, everybody.

 

Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo - O Holy Night

The Christmas Truce, World War II version

I had never heard this story, but it's true.  US and German soldiers lost in the Battle Of The Bulge had Christmas dinner together rather than killing each other, all due to a good German Hausfrau who had had enough of war on Christmas.  You have to jump ahead to around 6:30 for the story - before that, it's mincemeat pie recipe from the WWII US Army Field Cookbook (which also seems pretty interesting). 

And while it's not (quite) Christmas yet, Hans Gruber is fixin' to fall off of Nakatomi Plaza.

All I want for Christmas

James emails this bit of awesome:

 

Dad Joke CCCLXV

What do you call someone who is afraid of Santa Claus?

A Klaus-trophobe. 

Georg Frederick Handel - Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah

With a Flash Mob at Macy's, and accompanied by the Wanamaker organ - the World's largest pipe organ. 

Brad Paisley & Steven Tyler - Run Run Rudolph

You're welcome. 

Andy Williams - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

This looks like a number from The Andy Williams Show, maybe late 1960s.  We all watched this back then. 

Reports of the GOP's demise have been exagerated

We are swimming in reports of how badly the Republicans are going to do in next year's election (no links because I'm lazy but these are a dime a dozen if you look).  I disagree.

In general, mid-term elections favor the party out of power.  This is true so often that it is almost considered a law of nature, particularly during a President's second term.  What you don't ever see is anyone ask why do voters reject the party in power in the mid-terms? There's quite a simple answer.

Fatigue.

The voters have had some time to get used to the Administration and starts to tire of the typical amount of scandal, incompetence, and general dum-assery that any administration accumulates.

That's not at all what we see today.  The main focus of the Trump 47 administration has been border security, deporting criminal illegal aliens, economic growth, and lower inflation.  There are remarkable results for all of these, despite the legacy media's frantic efforts to hide them.

Each of these are 80% issues - i.e. the issues all get 80% support in polls.

I would go so far as to say that the voter fatigue is on the other foot.  It's the Democrats who spent the last four years stumbling through a morass of dumb-assery.  And who are all on the 20% end of the issues that voters care about.

Voters have short memories but remember that Trump has only been back in office for 11 months and has remarkable achievements - achievements that for the previous four years the legacy media said were impossible to achieve.

The polls for the Democrats are a dumpster fire.  There's a reason for this.  Action, reaction. 

What is particularly ironic is that now it's basically proved that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. If the Democrats in Fulton County hadn't done this, Trump 46 would have bumbled through a second term with his appointees working with the Deep State to undercut him - just like his 45 term.  Instead, they gave him four years to plan this remarkable turnaround.

Sure, he still grates on a lot of people, but at the end of the day most voters will go with what's working for them.  They got plenty of pretty promises from Biden, promises that never panned out.

Donald Trump has an ability to reverse the laws of gravity, and mid-term voter fatigue will be just another example of this.