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computers are bad

computers are bad
2025-01-20 office of secure transportation I've seen them at least twice on /r/whatisthisthing, a good couple dozen times on the road, and...
a week ago
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a week ago
I've seen them at least twice on /r/whatisthisthing, a good couple dozen times on the road, and these days, even in press photos: GMC trucks with custom square boxes on the back, painted dark blue, with US Government "E" plates. These courier escorts, "unmarked" but about as...
computers are bad
2025-01-05 pairs not taken So we all know about twisted-pair ethernet, huh? I get a little frustrated with a lot of histories...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
So we all know about twisted-pair ethernet, huh? I get a little frustrated with a lot of histories of the topic, like the recent neil breen^w^wserial port video, because they often fail to address some obvious questions about the origin of twisted-pair network cabling. Well, I...
computers are bad
2024-12-21 something over New Jersey There were thousands of reports: strange aircraft, floating through the sky. A retrospective sum of...
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a month ago
There were thousands of reports: strange aircraft, floating through the sky. A retrospective sum of press accounts finds that some 100,000 people were reported to have witnessed aerial intruders. Despite the scant details associated with most reports, an eager press repeated the...
computers are bad
2024-12-11 travelers information stations Histories of radio broadcasting often make a particular focus on the most powerful stations. For...
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Histories of radio broadcasting often make a particular focus on the most powerful stations. For historic reasons, WBCT of Grand Rapids, Michigan broadcasts FM at 320¸000 watts. Many AM stations are licensed to operate at 50,000 watts, but this modern license limit represented a...
computers are bad
2024-12-04 operators on the front At the very core of telephone history, there is the telephone operator. For a lot of people, the...
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2 months ago
At the very core of telephone history, there is the telephone operator. For a lot of people, the vague understanding that an operator used to be involved is the main thing they know about historic telephony. Of course, telephone historians, as a group, tend to be much more...
computers are bad
2024-11-23 cablesoft As an American, I often feel an intense jealousy of Ceefax, one of several commercially successful...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
As an American, I often feel an intense jealousy of Ceefax, one of several commercially successful teletext services in the UK and Europe. "Teletext" is sometimes a confusing term because of its apparent relation to telecom-industry technologies like the teletypewriter and...
computers are bad
2024-11-09 iron mountain atomic storage I have quipped before about "underground datacenters," and how they never succeed. During the late...
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2 months ago
I have quipped before about "underground datacenters," and how they never succeed. During the late decades of the Cold War and even into the '00s, the military and (to a lesser extent) the telecommunications industry parted ways with a great number of underground facilities....
computers are bad
2024-10-26 buy payphones and retire PAYPHONES at High Volume Existing sites! Earn BIG $$. Money Back Guarantee! Dropshipping AliExpress...
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3 months ago
PAYPHONES at High Volume Existing sites! Earn BIG $$. Money Back Guarantee! Dropshipping AliExpress watches, AI-generated SEO spam websites... marginally legal and ethical passive income schemes, that serve to generate that income mostly for their promoters, can feel like a...
computers are bad
2024-10-19 land art and isolation Prescript: I originally started writing this with the intent to send it out to my supporter's...
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3 months ago
Prescript: I originally started writing this with the intent to send it out to my supporter's newsletter, EYES ONLY, but it got to be long and took basically all day so I feel like it deserves wider circulation. You will have to tolerate that it begins in the more conversational...
computers are bad
2024-10-12 commercial HF radio According to a traditional system of classification, "high frequency" or HF refers to the radio...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
According to a traditional system of classification, "high frequency" or HF refers to the radio spectrum between 3 and 30 MHz. The label now seems anachronistic, as HF is among the lowest ranges of radio frequencies that see regular use. This setting of the goalposts in the early...
computers are bad
2024-09-26 the GE switched services network We currently find ourselves in something of a series, working our way from private lines to...
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4 months ago
We currently find ourselves in something of a series, working our way from private lines to large private line systems like the four-wire private-line national warning system. Let's continue to build on the concept of the private line into large corporate systems. In principle, a...
computers are bad
2024-09-14 the national warning system Previously on Deep Space Nine, we discussed the extensive and variable products that AT&T and...
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Previously on Deep Space Nine, we discussed the extensive and variable products that AT&T and telephone operating companies sold as private lines. One of the interesting properties of private line systems is that they can be ordered as four-wire. Internally, the telephone network...
computers are bad
2024-09-08 private lines I have been meaning, for some time, to write about common carrier switching arrangements (CCSAs)....
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I have been meaning, for some time, to write about common carrier switching arrangements (CCSAs). These could be considered an early form of products like "virtual private ethernet:" a private telephone network that was served by the same switching machines that handled the...
computers are bad
2024-08-31 ipmi I am making steady progress towards moving the Computers Are Bad enterprise cloud to its new home,...
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5 months ago
I am making steady progress towards moving the Computers Are Bad enterprise cloud to its new home, here in New Mexico. One of the steps in this process is, of course, purchasing a new server... the current Big Iron is getting rather old (probably about a decade!) and here in...
computers are bad
2024-08-19 mining for meteors Billboards Route 66 is often viewed through the lens of its billboards. The Jack Rabbit Trading...
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Billboards Route 66 is often viewed through the lens of its billboards. The Jack Rabbit Trading Post, a small store a few miles out of Joseph City, would hardly be remembered were it not for its billboards spanning four states. The tradition of far-advance billboards is still...
computers are bad
2024-08-12 a pedantic review of the las vegas loop Did you hear that Elon Musk dug a tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center? I think it is pretty...
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5 months ago
Did you hear that Elon Musk dug a tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center? I think it is pretty universally known by now that the "Las Vegas Loop" is impractical, poorly thought out, and generally an embarrassment to society and industry. I will spare an accounting of the...
computers are bad
2024-07-31 just disconnect the internet So, let's say that a security vendor, we'll call them ClownStrike, accidentally takes down most of...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
So, let's say that a security vendor, we'll call them ClownStrike, accidentally takes down most of their Windows install base with a poorly tested content update. Rough day at the office, huh? There are lots of things you could say about this, lots of reasons it happens this way,...
computers are bad
2024-07-20 minuteman missile communications A programming note: I am looking at making some changes to how I host things like Computers Are Bad...
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6 months ago
A programming note: I am looking at making some changes to how I host things like Computers Are Bad and wikimap that are going to involve a lot more recurring expense. For that and other reasons, I want to see if y'all would be willing to throw some money my way. If everyone...
computers are bad
2024-07-13 the contemporary carphone Cathode Ray Dude, in one of his many excellent "Quick Start" videos, made an interesting observation...
6 months ago
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6 months ago
Cathode Ray Dude, in one of his many excellent "Quick Start" videos, made an interesting observation that has stuck in my brain: sophisticated computer users, nerds if you will, have a tendency to completely ignore things that they know are worthless. He was referring to the...
computers are bad
2024-06-08 dmv.org The majority of US states have something called a "Department of Motor Vehicles," or DMV. Actually,...
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The majority of US states have something called a "Department of Motor Vehicles," or DMV. Actually, the universality of the term "DMV" seems to be overstated. A more general term is "motor vehicle administrator," used for example by the American Association of Motor Vehicle...
computers are bad
2024-06-02 consumer electronics control In a previous episode, I discussed audio transports and mention that they have become a much less...
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In a previous episode, I discussed audio transports and mention that they have become a much less important part of the modern home theater landscape. One reason is the broad decline of the component system: most consumers aren't buying a television, home theater receiver,...
computers are bad
2024-05-25 grc spinrite I feel like I used to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with suspect hard drives. I mean,...
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I feel like I used to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with suspect hard drives. I mean, like, back in high school. These days I almost never do, or on the occasion that I have storage trouble, it's a drive that has completely stopped responding at all and there's...
computers are bad
2024-05-15 catalina connections Some things have been made nearly impossible to search for. Say, for example, the long-running...
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Some things have been made nearly impossible to search for. Say, for example, the long-running partnership between Epson and Catalina: a query that will return pages upon pages of people trying to use Epson printers with an old version of MacOS. When you think of a point of sale...
computers are bad
2024-05-06 matrix For those of you who are members of the Matrix project, I wanted to let you know that I am running...
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For those of you who are members of the Matrix project, I wanted to let you know that I am running for the Governing Board, and a bit about why. For those of you who are not, I hope you will forgive the intrusion. Maybe you'll find my opinions on the topic interesting anyway. I...
computers are bad
2024-04-26 microsoft at work I haven't written anything for a bit. I'm not apologizing, because y'all don't pay me enough to...
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I haven't written anything for a bit. I'm not apologizing, because y'all don't pay me enough to apologize, but I do feel a little bad. Part of it is just that I've been busy, with work and travel and events. Part of it is that I've embarked on a couple of writing projects only to...
computers are bad
2024-04-05 the life of one earth station Sometimes, when I am feeling down, I read about failed satellite TV (STV) services. Don't we all?...
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Sometimes, when I am feeling down, I read about failed satellite TV (STV) services. Don't we all? As a result, I've periodically come across a company called AlphaStar Television Network. PrimeStar may have had a rough life, but AlphaStar barely had one at all: it launched in...
computers are bad
2024-03-27 telephone cables So let's say you're working on a household project and need around a dozen telephone cables---the...
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So let's say you're working on a household project and need around a dozen telephone cables---the ordinary kind that you would use between your telephone and the wall. It is, of course, more cost effective to buy bulk cable, or simply a long cable, and cut it to length and attach...
computers are bad
2024-03-17 wilhelm haller and photocopier accounting In the 1450s, German inventor Johannes Gutenburg designed the movable-type printing press, the first...
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In the 1450s, German inventor Johannes Gutenburg designed the movable-type printing press, the first practical method of mass-duplicating text. After various other projects, he applied his press to the production of the Bible, yielding over one hundred copies of a text that...
computers are bad
2024-03-09 the purple streetscape Across the United States, streets are taking on a strange hue at night. Purple. Purple streetlights...
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Across the United States, streets are taking on a strange hue at night. Purple. Purple streetlights have been reported in Tampa, Vancouver, Wichita, Boston. They're certainly in evidence here in Albuquerque, where Coal through downtown has turned almost entirely to mood lighting....
computers are bad
2024-03-01 listening in on the neighborhood Last week, someone leaked a spreadsheet of SoundThinking sensors to Wired. You are probably asking...
11 months ago
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Last week, someone leaked a spreadsheet of SoundThinking sensors to Wired. You are probably asking "What is SoundThinking," because the company rebranded last year. They used to be called ShotSpotter, and their outdoor acoustic gunfire detection system still goes by the...
computers are bad
2024-02-25 a history of the tty It's one of those anachronisms that is deeply embedded in modern technology. From cloud operator...
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11 months ago
It's one of those anachronisms that is deeply embedded in modern technology. From cloud operator servers to embedded controllers in appliances, there must be uncountable devices that think they are connected to a TTY. I will omit the many interesting details of the Linux terminal...
computers are bad
2024-02-11 the top of the DNS hierarchy In the past (in fact two years ago, proof I have been doing this for a while now!) I wrote about the...
11 months ago
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11 months ago
In the past (in fact two years ago, proof I have been doing this for a while now!) I wrote about the "inconvenient truth" that structural aspects of the Internet make truly decentralized systems infeasible, due to the lack of a means to perform broadcast discovery. As a result,...
computers are bad
2024-01-31 multi-channel audio part 2 Last time, we left off at the fact that modern films are distributed with their audio in multiple...
a year ago
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Last time, we left off at the fact that modern films are distributed with their audio in multiple formats. Most of the time, there is a stereo version of the audio, and a multi-channel version of the audio that is perhaps 5.1 or 7.1 and compressed using one of several codecs that...
computers are bad
2024-01-21 multi-channel audio part 1 Stereophonic or two-channel audio is so ubiquitous today that we tend to refer to all kinds of...
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Stereophonic or two-channel audio is so ubiquitous today that we tend to refer to all kinds of pieces of consumer audio reproduction equipment as "a stereo." As you might imagine, this is a relatively modern phenomenon. While stereo audio in concept dates to the late 19th...
computers are bad
2024-01-16 the tacnet tracker Previously on Deep Space Nine, I wrote that "the mid-2000s were an unsettled time in mobile...
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a year ago
Previously on Deep Space Nine, I wrote that "the mid-2000s were an unsettled time in mobile computing." Today, I want to share a little example. Over the last few weeks, for various personal reasons, I have been doing a lot of reading about embedded operating systems and ISAs for...
computers are bad
2024-01-06 usb on the go USB, the Universal Serial Bus, was first released in 1996. It did not achieve widespread adoption...
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USB, the Universal Serial Bus, was first released in 1996. It did not achieve widespread adoption until some years later; for most of the '90s RS-232-ish serial and its awkward sibling the parallel port were the norm for external peripheral. It's sort of surprising that USB...
computers are bad
2023-12-23 ITT Technical Institute Programming note/shameless plug: I am finally on Mastodon. The history of the telephone industry is...
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Programming note/shameless plug: I am finally on Mastodon. The history of the telephone industry is a bit of an odd one. For the greatest part of the 20th century, telephony in the United States was largely a monopoly of AT&T and its many affiliates. This wasn't always the case,...
computers are bad
2023-12-05 vhf omnidirectional range The term "VHF omnidirectional range" can at first be confusing, because it includes "range"---a...
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The term "VHF omnidirectional range" can at first be confusing, because it includes "range"---a measurement that the technology does not provide. The answer to this conundrum is, as is so often the case, history. The "range" refers not to the radio equipment but to the space...
computers are bad
2023-11-25 the curse of docker I'm heading to Las Vegas for re:invent soon, perhaps the most boring type of industry extravaganza...
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I'm heading to Las Vegas for re:invent soon, perhaps the most boring type of industry extravaganza there could be. In that spirit, I thought I would write something quick and oddly professional: I'm going to complain about Docker. Packaging software is one of those fundamental...
computers are bad
2023-11-19 Centrex I have always been fascinated by the PABX - the private automatic branch exchange, often shortened...
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I have always been fascinated by the PABX - the private automatic branch exchange, often shortened to "PBX" in today's world where the "automatic" is implied. (Relatively) modern small and medium business PABXs of the type I like to collect are largely solid-state devices that...
computers are bad
2023-11-04 nuclear safety Nuclear weapons are complex in many ways. The basic problem of achieving criticality is difficult on...
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Nuclear weapons are complex in many ways. The basic problem of achieving criticality is difficult on its own, but deploying nuclear weapons as operational military assets involves yet more challenges. Nuclear weapons must be safe and reliable, even with the rough handling and...
computers are bad
2023-10-22 cooler screens Audible even over the squeal of an HVAC blower with a suffering belt, the whine of small, high...
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Audible even over the squeal of an HVAC blower with a suffering belt, the whine of small, high velocity fans pervades the grocery side of this Walgreens. Were they always this loud? I'm not sure; some of the fans sound distinctly unhealthy. Still, it's a familiar kind of noise to...
computers are bad
2023-10-15 go.com Correction: a technical defect in my Enterprise Content Management System resulted in the email...
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Correction: a technical defect in my Enterprise Content Management System resulted in the email having a subject that made it sound like this post would be about the classic strategy game Go. It is actually about a failed website. I regret the error; the responsible people have...
computers are bad
2023-10-09 prolific counterfeiting I'm working on a side project right now, one of several, which involves telematics devices...
a year ago
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a year ago
I'm working on a side project right now, one of several, which involves telematics devices (essentially GPS trackers with i/o) from a fairly reputable Chinese manufacturer. The device is endlessly configurable and so, like you see with a lot of radios, it has a UART for...
computers are bad
2023-10-03 overheard overhead Let's talk about overhead paging. The concept goes by various names: paging, public address, even...
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a year ago
Let's talk about overhead paging. The concept goes by various names: paging, public address, even intercom, although the accuracy of the latter term can be questionable. It's probably one of the aspects of business telephone systems that gets the most public attention, on account...
computers are bad
2023-09-10 the Essex GWEN site Programming note: this post is in color. I will not debase myself to the level of sending HTML...
a year ago
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Programming note: this post is in color. I will not debase myself to the level of sending HTML email, so if you receive Computers Are Bad by email and want the benefit of the pictures, consider reading this online instead (the link is at the top of the email). In the aftermath of...
computers are bad
2023-09-03 plastic money You will sometimes hear someone say, in a loose conceptual sense, that credit cards have money in...
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You will sometimes hear someone say, in a loose conceptual sense, that credit cards have money in them. Of course we know that that isn't the case; our modern plastic card payment network relies on online transactions where the balance tracking and authorization decisions happen...
computers are bad
2023-08-19 meanwhile elsewhere I had meant to write something today, but I'm just getting over a case of the COVID and had a hard...
a year ago
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a year ago
I had meant to write something today, but I'm just getting over a case of the COVID and had a hard time getting to it. Instead I did the yard work, edited and uploaded a YouTube video, and then spewed out a Cohost thread as long as a blog post. So in lieu of your regularly...
computers are bad
2023-08-07 STIRred AND SHAKEN In a couple of days, I pack up my bags to head for DEFCON. In a rare moment of pre-planning, perhaps...
a year ago
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a year ago
In a couple of days, I pack up my bags to head for DEFCON. In a rare moment of pre-planning, perhaps spurred by boredom, I looked through the schedule to see what's in store in the world of telephony. There is a workshop on SS7, of course [1], plenty of content on cellular, but...
computers are bad
2023-07-29 Free Public WiFi Remember Free Public WiFi? Once, many years ago, I stayed on the 62nd floor of the Westin Peachtree...
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Remember Free Public WiFi? Once, many years ago, I stayed on the 62nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta, Georgia. This was in the age when the price of a hotel room was directly correlated with the price of the WiFi service, and as a high school student I was not...
computers are bad
2023-07-15 underwater ears everywhere Programming note: the subscribe link was broken for a while because I am bad at computers (yet...
a year ago
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a year ago
Programming note: the subscribe link was broken for a while because I am bad at computers (yet another case of "forgot to enable the systemd unit"). It's fixed now. The unsubscribe link was also broken and is now fixed but, you know, maybe that was a feature. Did wonders for...
computers are bad
2023-07-10 the tragedy of beatrice foods Occasionally, research into the history of telephony takes you into some strange places. There are...
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Occasionally, research into the history of telephony takes you into some strange places. There are conspiracy theories, of course, and there are people who insist on their version of events so incessantly that details of dates and places can become heated arguments. There is also...
computers are bad
2023-06-30 calling in the alarm I currently find myself on vacation in the Canadian Rockies, where internet is hard to come by. But...
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I currently find myself on vacation in the Canadian Rockies, where internet is hard to come by. But here's something short while I'm temporarily back in the warm embrace of 5G: more about burglar alarms. I recently gave a presentation on this topic and I'll probably record it for...
computers are bad
2023-06-12 radio on the tv Like many people in my generation, my memories of youth are heavily defined by cable television. I...
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Like many people in my generation, my memories of youth are heavily defined by cable television. I was fortunate enough to have a premium cable package in my childhood home, Comcast's early digital service based on Motorola equipment. It included a perk that fascinated me but...
computers are bad
2023-06-07 something up there - nasa and uaps A brief note on Grusch First, a disclaimer of sorts: I am posting another article on UAPs, yet I...
a year ago
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A brief note on Grusch First, a disclaimer of sorts: I am posting another article on UAPs, yet I am not addressing the recent claims by David Grusch. This is for a couple of reasons. First, I am skeptical of Grusch. He is not the first seemingly well-positioned former...
computers are bad
2023-06-02 the reinvention of owens lake Programming note: In an effort to introduce an exciting new social aspect to Computers Are Bad (a...
a year ago
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a year ago
Programming note: In an effort to introduce an exciting new social aspect to Computers Are Bad (a functional necessity to appease early-stage investor demands for "engagement")¸ I am launching a Matrix room for CAB readers. You can join it! Do whatever you do to join rooms in...
computers are bad
2023-05-07 electrical characteristics of telephone lines Let's take a break from our boring topic of regional history to focus instead on an even more boring...
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Let's take a break from our boring topic of regional history to focus instead on an even more boring topic: implementation details of telephone lines. The conventional "copper pair" analog telephone line is fading away. The FCC has begun to authorize abandonment of copper outside...
computers are bad
2023-04-30 los alamos - compound to county pt II Where we left off, Los Alamos had become a county, but the town itself continued to be directly...
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Where we left off, Los Alamos had become a county, but the town itself continued to be directly administered by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The Atomic Energy Communities Act (AECA) mandated the AEC to dispose of the towns it owned by transferring the property to private...
computers are bad
2023-04-27 los alamos - compound to county pt I This weekend, I found myself staying in Los Alamos for a volunteer role in which I judge children on...
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This weekend, I found myself staying in Los Alamos for a volunteer role in which I judge children on the quality of their software. Clearly this is not the kind of opportunity I would turn down, but I also always take an excuse to drive back up the hill. I only lived in Los...
computers are bad
2023-04-20 different kinds of differential On the front page of HN today was an [article with a confusing headline], "Farmers 'crippled' by...
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On the front page of HN today was an [article with a confusing headline], "Farmers 'crippled' by satellite failure as GPS-guided tractors grind to a halt." Of course the headline doesn't actually say this, but it does seem to imply that there has been some kind of failure of...
computers are bad
2023-04-10 solving problems with chatgpt One of the foundational goals of computer technology, at least as understood by popular culture, is...
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One of the foundational goals of computer technology, at least as understood by popular culture, is to automate away our jobs. When your job is (put simply) to get computers to work correctly, there's sort of an irony to this view of things. Still, just within the span of my...
computers are bad
2023-03-24 docker Lately I tend to stick to topics that are historic by at least twenty years, and that does have a...
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Lately I tend to stick to topics that are historic by at least twenty years, and that does have a lot of advantages. But I am supposedly a DevOps professional, and so I will occasionally indulge in giving DevOps advice... or at least opinions, which are sort of like advice but...
computers are bad
2023-03-13 the door close button This will probably be a short one, and I know I haven't written for a while, but it has always been...
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This will probably be a short one, and I know I haven't written for a while, but it has always been the case that you get what you pay for and Computers Are Bad is nothing if not affordable. Still, this is a topic on which I am moderately passionate and so I can probably stretch...
computers are bad
2023-02-17 something up there pt II As we discussed previously, the search for UAP is often contextualized in terms of the events of...
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As we discussed previously, the search for UAP is often contextualized in terms of the events of 2017: the public revelation of the AATIP and alien-hunting efforts by Robert Bigelow and Tom DeLonge. While widely publicized, these programs seem to have lead to very little. I...
computers are bad
2023-02-14 something up there pt I Over the last few weeks, there has been an astounding increase in the number of objects shot down by...
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Over the last few weeks, there has been an astounding increase in the number of objects shot down by North American air defense. Little is yet known about some of these objects, but it is clearly one of the more dramatic UFO turns in recent memory. Some of the mystery is simply...
computers are bad
2023-02-13 my homelab I have always found the term "homelab" a little confusing. It's a bit like the residential version...
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I have always found the term "homelab" a little confusing. It's a bit like the residential version of "on-premises cloud," in that it seems to presuppose that a lab is the normal place that you find computer equipment. Of course I get that "homelab" is usually used by those who...
computers are bad
2023-02-07 secret government telephone numbers Very nearly a year ago, I wrote a popular article about secret military telephone buttons. To be...
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Very nearly a year ago, I wrote a popular article about secret military telephone buttons. To be clear, the "secret" here was a joke and these buttons are in fact well documented. The buttons I was talking about were the AUTOVON call precedence buttons, used for a five-level...
computers are bad
2023-01-29 the parallel port A few days ago, on a certain orange website, I came across an article about an improvised parallel...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
A few days ago, on a certain orange website, I came across an article about an improvised parallel printer capture device. This contains the line: There are other projects out there, but when you google for terms such as "parallel port to usb", they drown in a sea of "USB to...
computers are bad
2023-01-16 huff-duff We've talked a fair amount about HF radio recently, in the context of OTH radar. Recall that an...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
We've talked a fair amount about HF radio recently, in the context of OTH radar. Recall that an extremely useful property of HF radio here is that HF frequencies can reflect off of the upper layers of the atmosphere, causing them to rebound towards earth at a range much further...