Something Random

[jtr1962]

But they only go to a few places and not really long distances. For example we were on three continents in three hemispheres in about 24 hours in September. Airbuds and Boeing do that, not the trains. I've done as much at 7 airports, 5 countries, 3 continents, and 2 hemispheres in one <40 hour time period on commercial flights. Some of the legs have no viable alternatives unless you want to risk the plane being shot down.

It's moot for me as I've been on the "do not fly" list since 2002.

What exactly were you doing that requires so much traveling? Seriously, if I were to traverse an ocean, I'd probably stay there for at least a month.

 

[LunarMist]

What the bleep did you do? Did you apply for a redress?

I get a goodly amount of PTO, but use it wisely. International trips can be very expensive lately, maybe $1000-2000 per day in the field including guides, leaders, permits/fees, local transportation, air and lodging. Most species are limited in geographical distribution and season.
In the US travel can be much less, from $250-1000 per day. I only travel for work domestically since the 2020s.

 

[jtr1962]

What the bleep did you do? Did you apply for a redress?

I posted some stuff on StorageReview about how the US government was responsible for 9/11. I got some death threat phone calls from people who sounded like spooks. I was probably hitting too close to home for their comfort level. I thought it odd that what sounded like explosions right before one the towers collapsed was later removed from the soundtrack. I still have the original footage on a VHS tape somewhere. The military industrial complex wanted war. 9/11 gave that to them big time. And now it looks like Israel is dragging us into yet another war. At the rate things are going, we might all be getting draft notices within a few years. Yes, they'll draft people of any age if things get bad enough. They'll figure so long as an 80 year old can walk and carry a rifle, they can be useful by taking point and getting the first hit. It'll save on Social Security payments also the way these people think.

I really have zero desire to fly, so why bother applying for a redress? It might open a can of worms and I'll have a SWAT team outside. If I ever travel overseas, I'll just rent a cabin on a freighter. Or better yet just work on the ship to pay for my passage. I'm in no hurry. I consider planes too uncomfortable and dangerous anyway, especially now with bargain airlines nickel and diming everything, including maintenance.

I get a goodly amount of PTO, but use it wisely. International trips can be very expensive lately, maybe $1000-2000 per day in the field including guides, leaders, permits/fees, local transportation, air and lodging. Most species are limited in geographical distribution and season.
In the US travel can be much less, from $250-1000 per day. I only travel for work domestically since the 2020s.

That's another reason I doubt I'll be traveling outside the US any time soon. Besides lacking a person to travel with, it's hideously expensive.

A cross country bike trip might be fun. And extremely inexpensive as things go.

 

[LunarMist]

When did you receive the no-fly notice, after buying a ticket online or you were unable to purchase it and called the airline, or trying to board at an airport? Many times the issue is that your name is confused with someone else. Even if you are not planning to travel soon, it's a good idea to clear it up.

DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program | Transportation Security Administration

The DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program can provide resolution to travelers with difficulties getting through security and inspection at airport checkpoints, train stations and when crossing U.S. borders. Learn more and apply for DHS TRIP to resolve travel-related issues if:

www.tsa.gov

 

[jtr1962]

When did you receive the no-fly notice, after buying a ticket online or you were unable to purchase it and called the airline, or trying to board at an airport? Many times the issue is that your name is confused with someone else. Even if you are not planning to travel soon, it's a good idea to clear it up.

DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program | Transportation Security Administration

The DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program can provide resolution to travelers with difficulties getting through security and inspection at airport checkpoints, train stations and when crossing U.S. borders. Learn more and apply for DHS TRIP to resolve travel-related issues if:

www.tsa.gov

I got a phone call to that effect. I only flew once in my life, in 1990, for business. In 2002 I was pretty much flat broke. I could barely afford to take a subway ride to Manhattan, never mind fly somewhere.

Never had any issues traveling by train. Then again, nobody needed to check my ID, either. Buy the ticket with cash, board the train, done. Last month when NJ Transit had a fare holiday, everyone just boarded the trains. No tickets or anything. Spent a nice day out at Princeton. Anyway, lots of reasons why I like train travel. Anonymity is one of them.

I have a few fake IDs to get around any potential problems. I started carrying those when Giuliani had the NYPD declare war on cyclists.

If Trump wins, I have a feeling anyone who has been particularly vocal on social media against him (that's most of the people here, for starters) will find themselves on terrorist watch lists, or no fly lists. He made no secret of the fact he'll weaponize the justice system against his supposed enemies.

 

[LunarMist]

I got a phone call to that effect. I only flew once in my life, in 1990, for business. In 2002 I was pretty much flat broke. I could barely afford to take a subway ride to Manhattan, never mind fly somewhere.

I've received plenty of spams and scams on the phone, which that most likely is. I would have followed up immediately.
Even if someone was out to get you back then for some reason, they are likely long out of the particular role, retired, or dead by now.
If you don't want to fly then go take that train. When was the last time you were more than 1000 km from NYC? As the Nike says - Just Do It.

 

[jtr1962]

I've received plenty of spams and scams on the phone, which that most likely is. I would have followed up immediately.
Even if someone was out to get you back then for some reason, they are likely long out of the particular role, retired, or dead by now.

That's kind of what I figure. Even assuming this was really the government, whoever was involved is long out of the loop. At this point I'm not a problem. They got the wars they wanted already.

If you don't want to fly then go take that train. When was the last time you were more than 1000 km from NYC? As the Nike says - Just Do It.

Never. Farthest I ever was from NY was Montreal in 1973 but I get your point. At least I was out of the country once. That was a family vacation. We drove there.

 

[Mercutio]

Amazon is doing "people don't spend enough money in October"-day and a couple things I see as interesting are Beelink mini-PCs.
Beelink SER5 5800H 16GB/500GB mini PCs are an extremely reasonable $275 today.
Beelink S12 Pros (N100, 16GB, 500GB) an even more reasonable $157. There are actually cheaper N100 mini PCs out there, but not from any brand I've ever heard of.

These guys have been my go-to for client desktops for a while and I was intending to buy SER5s with Ryzen 5500 CPUs but, crap, I guess I'll just have to take the Ryzen 7 ones instead.

I also see a 4x2.5Gb / 2x10Gb SFP+ switch for $28.

 

[Handruin]

I bought the same configured Beelink mini s12 pro almost one year ago this month during a similar sale and it was $137 + tax. Maybe they'll give another coupon if sales are low.

None the less, it's been a very reliable Proxmox server over the past year. I use it to run my HomeAssistant VM and my Plex server.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm actually kind of excited to have a 2.5Gb switch to mess with. I have some multi-gig twisted pair NICs sitting around and my new workstation has a 2.5Gb native port in it that's currently not doing anything. I'm not sure the server NICs I have will negotiate 2.5Gb or not, but 2.5GbE is very do-able over USB 3 and would step up everything I have that isn't running over Infiniband.

 

[Mercutio]

Just found out my best friend isn't planning to leave her place in Tampa. Her housemates flew off to NYC or Atlanta without telling her their plans and left all their pets, apparently thinking that the other group was going to take them. She's resolved to keep the animals together as best she can, if only because the dog won't fit in her car.
.
I think she's nuts, but she is in the "least likely to die" evacuation zone, so chances are pretty good she'll just have to deal with falling trees and broken glass rather than tidal waves, but if weather were actually predictable, I wouldn't even be posting about it.

I'm guessing sed is going to have a fun week down there as well, even if he's considerably north of ground zero.

 

[LunarMist]

Are these all youths, like generator Z?

 

[ddrueding]

Not having power is annoying, not having drinkable water can be a problem.

Living in a place that has demonstrated an inability to deal with common occurrences is....to be avoided.

 

[Mercutio]

Are these all youths, like generator Z?

There's a GenX person, but he's also kind of permanently addled from partying like it's 1999 well into the 2000s. And he's a pharmacist, so we're talking about a very specific definition of "addled."

One of my friend's roommates has worked for four different programs in its state EPA and DNR since she got her Bachelor's in Environmental Science. DeSantis's government keeps de-funding the programs and closing the offices where she's worked. The longest she's had a professional job in the last 2.5 years is seven months.

Florida is not a place of honor. It is best shunned.

 

[sedrosken]

I'm guessing sed is going to have a fun week down there as well, even if he's considerably north of ground zero.

Nope, it's going to be very far away from me. I imagine I'd be more impacted if I had any significant travel plans, but I very much do not. I don't even expect we'll see any rain. Boss is thinking this weekend will be a good time for the locals to finally hit the beach. Not too hot, not too many people up here.

My people down that way are all either sufficiently out of the way of the worst of the projected damage or long-since up here with us. I've made sure they know if they call me I'll come running to help, but it's about all I can do.

I've been monstrously busy with work lately and I don't think we're slowing down for winter at all -- it's a good problem to have, I suppose. That's job security, might even get me some help.

 

[LunarMist]

There's a GenX person, but he's also kind of permanently addled from partying like it's 1999 well into the 2000s. And he's a pharmacist, so we're talking about a very specific definition of "addled."

One of my friend's roommates has worked for four different programs in its state EPA and DNR since she got her Bachelor's in Environmental Science. DeSantis's government keeps de-funding the programs and closing the offices where she's worked. The longest she's had a professional job in the last 2.5 years is seven months.

Florida is not a place of honor. It is best shunned.

Normally one works for governments then goes to the privates after establishing experience and expertise to make better money.
In the privates you want a larger company that has broad government contracts in a range of areas. Once experienced there is a good chance they will move you around as projects come and go, at least to a point. I imagine a jr. staffer only having a BS can be in a tough position nowadays.

Florida is not a bad place if you don't mind the storms and humidity. You don't have those horrible midwest winters that freeze your joints and organs.

 

[sedrosken]

I'd take the winters over the awful summers. In theory by the temperature it's not that hot, but this sun is the most intense I've ever felt in my life. It feels like it's angry that I'm still alive. If it weren't for the fact that I have a good career here, I'd have left over a year ago. It's too damn hot and too damn expensive for the politics to suck this much.

 

[jtr1962]

Florida is a place I have no desire to even visit, never mind live there. The biggest problem is that there's no real break from the heat. NYC summers probably aren't that much less unpleasant than Florida summers with the horrid humidity we have, but at least I get winters for my body to reset from them. Not so in Florida. I'd be screaming if I woke up on Christmas day and it was 90 outside.

To the people who go there to escape winter-to each their own. I like winter. If anything, I'd be heading north in the summers if I had the money. A summer home in Alaska sounds nice.

That's not even getting into the awful politics down there.

 

[jtr1962]

If you don't want to fly then go take that train.

This is one kind of flying I'd like:

 

[LunarMist]

I don't see how it can be worse than the Caribbean. I've enjoyed Xmas in many places, including 5 different continents and various islands.
Sometimes it is over 90°F in SoCal. It is quite often warm or hot in parts of Australia, Africa, or even South America. In the Pacific islands it's rather often hot and humid too. But any are better than freezing your ass off in Iowa.

 

[Mercutio]

I'll take the occasional hurricane over four months of black ice and snow that's pretty for 20 minutes in December until it mixes with the charming rust belt melange of industrial effluent and thereafter makes the entire world look like 50s TV.

I'd prefer New Orleans to Florida though. Better food and there's a cultural appreciation for batshittery that crosses the political divide.

 

[Handruin]

As climate change persists, I think I'll be well-situated here in MA where there is already hardly snow any more in the winters and we still get water/rain with some regularity.

 

[LunarMist]

That would be tough since the newer chipsats don't have many SATA ports. Many boards only offer 4 naturally and then maybe a few more through the ASmedia chips.

 

[jtr1962]

As climate change persists, I think I'll be well-situated here in MA where there is already hardly snow any more in the winters and we still get water/rain with some regularity.

I'm thinking the same thing about the northeast in general. The last few years have had hardly any snow in NYC, plus temps are usually in the 30s or 40s. None of the bone-chilling cold of midwestern winters. Occasionally there are a few days in the teens or 20s, but rarely a long stretch of temps that low.

 

[Mercutio]

That would be tough since the newer chipsats don't have many SATA ports. Many boards only offer 4 naturally and then maybe a few more through the ASmedia chips.

It is official. Lunar has won "Something random."

I'm thinking the same thing about the northeast in general. The last few years have had hardly any snow in NYC, plus temps are usually in the 30s or 40s. None of the bone-chilling cold of midwestern winters. Occasionally there are a few days in the teens or 20s, but rarely a long stretch of temps that low.

Here's the problem: You guys are going to start seeing hurricanes as climate becomes increasingly temperate. Sandy hit NYC 10 years ago and yes that was an extreme outlier at the time, but given the number of 500 year extreme weather events we've been having, how long before Hurricane Corky threatens the shores of Quincy, MA and NYC needs Pacific Rim style Anti-Kaiju Walls to blunt regular storm surges?

Another aspect of this is the sheer number of people in Asia who live in increasingly unlivable places. This will be a humanitarian crisis in our lifetime. There aren't enough places for 2 billion people to go when the average outdoor temperature is 45C+ eight months out of the year. Europe and most of North America is mostly in a climate goldilocks zone, but I am concerned about the anti-immigrant rhetoric that has arisen around the Western world and how that will impact what happens to climate refugees really need to leave North Africa, South American, India and SE Asia. It's not going to be pretty.

 

[Handruin]

I assume Lunar meant to reply to my comment on the NAS thread but yeah that was pretty random

I agree that hurricanes will be more likely as climate changes, I wasn't assuming things would stay the same. Thankfully I'm not that near the shoreline and I'm 160'+ above sea level, but none the less these storms are often so massive they'll cover multiple states, so it's difficult to hide.

Temperature-wise, things might be better suited compared to other hot states.

 

[Newtun]

It is official. Lunar has won "Something random."

Oh yeah, well

,

, and

 

[sedrosken]

Newtun coming in with the steel chair!!! The crowd goes wild!

 

[Newtun]

I agree that hurricanes will be more likely as climate changes, I wasn't assuming things would stay the same.

But seriously, we have already contributed to disaster relief for Hurricane Helene, and I'm anticipating another contribution in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

I hope some of you can consider a donation.

 

[jtr1962]

I agree that hurricanes will be more likely as climate changes, I wasn't assuming things would stay the same. Thankfully I'm not that near the shoreline and I'm 160'+ above sea level, but none the less these storms are often so massive they'll cover multiple states, so it's difficult to hide.

Temperature-wise, things might be better suited compared to other hot states.

I'm 60' above sea level and a few miles from the coastlines. Biggest problem with hurricanes is the torrential downpours which overwhelm the sewer system. During Ida the sewer back flowed into the basement. 6 to 8 inches of water, plus I found a dead rat in the sewer trap.

I'm not worried about wind unless a Cat 4 or 5 makes landfall here.

 

[jtr1962]

Here's the problem: You guys are going to start seeing hurricanes as climate becomes increasingly temperate. Sandy hit NYC 10 years ago and yes that was an extreme outlier at the time, but given the number of 500 year extreme weather events we've been having, how long before Hurricane Corky threatens the shores of Quincy, MA and NYC needs Pacific Rim style Anti-Kaiju Walls to blunt regular storm surges?

We're already planning the sea walls:

Army Corps of Engineers releases first renderings of NYC sea walls for coastal storm protection plan | 6sqft

The Army Corps has just revealed a new series of renderings that provide a visual glance at how some of these projects might transform the New York City waterfront.

www.6sqft.com

After Sandy we devised plugs for the train tunnels passing under rivers:

You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Waterproof NYC's Subway

Thanks to a $4 billion federal fix, MTA is testing out space-age flood barriers and “tunnel plugs.”

www.wired.com

Another aspect of this is the sheer number of people in Asia who live in increasingly unlivable places. This will be a humanitarian crisis in our lifetime. There aren't enough places for 2 billion people to go when the average outdoor temperature is 45C+ eight months out of the year. Europe and most of North America is mostly in a climate goldilocks zone, but I am concerned about the anti-immigrant rhetoric that has arisen around the Western world and how that will impact what happens to climate refugees really need to leave North Africa, South American, India and SE Asia. It's not going to be pretty.

Russia is huge and probably has a lot of land in the goldilocks zone. The problem would be mostly political.

There are some last ditch solutions which aren't pretty, but would work, such as putting aerosols into the upper atmosphere to block out some sunlight while we're waiting for CO2 levels to go down.

 

[ddrueding]

The climate in Denmark now is actually quite similar to the climate in Central California when I was growing up. It is shockingly pleasant. Until the Gulf Stream stops at least.

I'm only 5 meters from the fjord, but the building is 10 meters above it. The building codes are doing a pretty good job of making sure that there aren't Florida levels of short-term thinking, with the buildings also hardened against very high winds. We get about 700mm of rain a year already, so drainage systems are extensive and tested.

 

[Mercutio]

I do enjoy some Coleman Hawkins and Dexter Gordon. My partner isn't so much interested in classical music, but we both like jazz, so that's been the sound of my home the last few years.

 

[LunarMist]

I assume Lunar meant to reply to my comment on the NAS thread but yeah that was pretty random

Correct. It's not symmetrical.

 

[LunarMist]

But seriously, we have already contributed to disaster relief for Hurricane Helene, and I'm anticipating another contribution in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

I hope some of you can consider a donation.

And don't forget the animals. Dogs, cats and others really suffer during disasters.

 

[Newtun]

I do enjoy some Coleman Hawkins and Dexter Gordon. My partner isn't so much interested in classical music, but we both like jazz, so that's been the sound of my home the last few years.

I like to say that I'm a fan of classical music: bebop, doo-wop, and hip-hop. But as I've gotten (much) older, I've gotten to appreciate the older classics, like the 3-album Duke Ellington set "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_No_Lament:_The_Blanton-Webster_Band". And I'm a sucker for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra:_The_Reprise_Years.

But just randomly, Merc, have you caught Buddy Guy in any live performances?

He's one of my favorite blues guitarists.

 

[Mercutio]

My all time favorite catch was wandering in to a random place off Bourbon Street to catch ~90something year old Andy Bey crooning. He's not a big name and he never really was, but my mother was a fan and I've known who he was since I was a kid.

My partner has gotten to meet Wynton Marsalis and Jean Baptiste. She's in Chicago more often than I am and her work gives her connections to actually meet these people. Sometimes it's GWAR or Trent Reznor and sometimes it's functionally a third of the best known jazz performers in the world.

 

[sdbardwick]

GWAR is still around? First heard of them in mid-1980's.

EDIT: Oh I see; the name outlives the original members.

 

[Mercutio]

From what she told me, they're all working class dudes from MA and they're a lot of fun.

 

[LunarMist]

IIRC they were some degenerates back then always doing something nasty. I guess the new crews are more mellow?

The Temptations still exit as some Brand, but originals are mostly long dead.