The U.S. State Department has taken the time to ban the use of the Times New Roman font in all official communication.
Henceforth all communication will be in Calibri. All units have until February 6th, 2023 to be in compliance.
Here at Borepatch we will be experimenting with fonts until we find one that no one likes.
Maybe something that looks like cursive?
A friend called a couple days ago to say that his father had died unexpectedly. The funeral is tomorrow and since it's on Florida's west coast I will be able to be there. It's a shame that we sometimes don't see people close to us until a funeral brings us together.
My father didn't die suddenly which gave me a chance to visit him often during his last year. More than a decade later, I don't feel like anything that needed to be said wasn't said. My friend didn't get that same blessing.
Memento mori, remember that you too are mortal. If you have something unsaid that needs to be said to someone close, embrace the fierce urgency of now.
That toothpaste isn't going back in the tube:
The FGC-9 stands out from previous 3D-printed firearms designs, in part because it was specifically designed to circumvent European gun regulations:
Thus, unlike its predecessors, the FGC-9 does not require the use of any commercially produced firearm parts. Instead, it can be produced using only unregulated commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. For example, instead of an industrially produced firearms barrel, the FGC-9 uses a piece of a pre-hardened 16 mm O.D. hydraulic tubing.
Four men are on a boat. They have five cigarettes but nothing to light them with.
They throw one cigarette overboard and the boat becomes a cigarette lighter.
This is surprisingly good - both the script and the video. I had never known how the B-29 robot gun turrets worked and this explains the whole thing in an entertaining manner.
BMW introducing AI that talks to you. Comrade Misfit is horrified (language alert):
A German car that talks to you? "Nein, nein, nein! Ve are not moving until you fasten your seatbelt" 'Ach du lieber, you spilled your coffee ON MY CLEAN FLOOR! WIPE IT UP, NOW!!"
Snerk. This will take the current spoken GPS turn-by-turn directions to a new level: "REPEAT ZEE INSTRUCTIONS!!!"
Also, we're told that AI can make a better playlist, and that the bot is "your AI friend". Nazzo fast:
Seen at Western Rifle Shooters:
This is also pretty effective culture war insurgency. Consider:
The Queen Of The World and I love bluegrass. It's an old type of music, but until the 1960s was pretty much confined to the Appalachian region of the country. But it got introduced to the broader country on The Andy Griffith Show, with the Darling family (played by The Dillards). Certainly it made The Dillards famous; here they are performing on The Judy Garland Show in '63 or '64.
Here they are performing with Andy on his show. This may be the finest version of Dooley ever recorded.
When I think of Jeff Beck, I think of The Yardbirds, perhaps the greatest failed rock band ever. Their lead guitarists included (in order) Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. These three are in pretty much everyone's list of top 10 guitarists, and they all played for the same band.
Thus, the greatest rock band. And also the greatest failed rock band.
But he was never an easy member of any band. Maybe that was part of the special mix that made The Yardbirds the greatest failed rock band. But the music was great, and his guitar playing was spectacular.
Tonight The Choir Invisible has finer accompaniment.
Wirecutter posts sad news: Southwest Florida Blogshoot alumnus Sgt. Bob has taken his life after a long struggle with untreatable pain. His family posted some wise words:
If you or someone you know is thinking of suicide, call 988. It’s a nationwide number for crisis response. You don’t even have to be in the same city as the person you’re calling about. And if you have any other identifying information about them do not wait to try and contact their family members.
Ave atque vale, Bob.
Divemedic has an outstanding series of posts on passwords and password managers. He is covering this in depth, so I will just point you towards his posts and strongly recommend that you go read all of them.
Also, if you currently use the LastPass password manager, you need to know that Bad Guys compromised LastPass and stole the database of people's passwords. This actually shows the big weakness of password managers - the information is so valuable that it makes them big targets. Divemedic has good recommendations on what to do in a situation like this.
Highly recommended.
Part 1. INFOSEC
Part 2. More on Password Authentication
Part 3. How to store and use passwords
Part 4. Using Password Managers
Wolfgang isn't doing well, and won't get better. While he doesn't have hip displasia, his hip joints are worn out - it's bone on bone. He really can't run very well, and we are working on pain management.
Quite frankly, we think he's living on borrowed time. Every day is a win, as long as his pain is manageable. But we see the trajectory.
So I'm starting a new recurring feature, an ongoing tribute to our 4 legged soul mate.
For those who haven't seen this film, it is the platonic ideal of Film Noir. Certainly director Billy Wilder thought so. The music was controversial during the filming, with the studio's Music Director at loggerheads with composer Rózsa right up until the studio's Artistic Director heard it - and loved it. Then everything was copacetic.
The music mined Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony for inspiration, which fit the Noir mood quite well.
Divemedic has the news. Interesting.
And note that the President at the time this rule went into effect had an (R) after his name.
* My opinion is that bump stocks are dumb and I don't want one, but I also don't want the Fed.Gov changing laws illegally either.
After falling out of favour in the middle of the last century, light music, once a major part of British cultural life, has enjoyed a modest renaissance in recent years. Nobody did more to encourage this revival of interest than Ernest Tomlinson, who has died aged 90. He was a prolific composer, praised by the singer and broadcaster Catherine Bott for his “exceptional technical skills allied to a rare gift for melody”. Equally, he fought to preserve the light music heritage by founding the Library of Light Orchestral Music and acting as consultant and performer for an important series of CD recordings.
He was an anachronism inn modern classical music, living an admirably traditional life. Married 57 years, this part of his obituary stood out:
He is survived by his children, Ann, Geoffrey, Hilary and Linda, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Jean died in 2006.
Rest in peace, and thanks for saving all that great music.
