I suspect I just have to face the facts: I can't watch pro football anymore. Not because my teams are trash: I have too many I follow to be disappointed. It's the pace of play. The grind. The standing around. 45 minutes longer than the average baseball game, with 11 minutes less action. I'd rather watch test cricket, which is a different kind of schlog altogether. Something needs to happen. Put Rob Manfred in charge: we'd all complain for a season, but then we'd dig the faster play.

I've said it before, and Iwill say it again: the NFL is broken. Shorten the games.

Not quite sold on this, but at least I know the encryption model will be open source and audited. View quoted note →

Case in point: HVAC. HVAC systems can be relatively simple, even the commercial units like the one I have in my church, and there are a ton of people qualified to work on HVAC systems. Problem: They're putting computer controller units on them now. Many advantages to this, but it also makes repairs terrible. A power surge knocked out the controller unit, and did $10K worth of damage; the HVAC guys (the repairmen who would normally handle all work on a normal mechanical unit) cannot fix it. It must farmed out to a computer company who specializes in installing and maintaining such things, and I've been waiting for this one company for almost three weeks to complete the job. The reality is that things still break as they always did, but the consequences of breakage are higher now, and we only have electronic integration to blame. View quoted note →

Sort of. I know plenty of people who had the same washer and dryer, kept alive by the 'ole repair man, for three decades; then they buy a new one, with all the bells and whistles, and the first time it breaks down, they're told it's cheaper to replace than repair. This is the most common story I hear from people in their 80's, but is true even of the appliances I grew up with as a kid. I think the most common problem with consumer appliances and automobiles is that they're more complicated now, involving more electronics. This means more can go wrong, and there will be no one near you who can fix it. Hence why I'm firmly against installing anything in my plant with a computer, when a simple mechanical item will work work just fine. I have to budget for disasters and repairs. View quoted note →

Good Friday morning to all. Pray it's a productive one!

I'll say it until I'm blue: stable desktop/web versions are far more important right now than your cell phone app.

Minnesota. Bob Dylan. Prince. In that order.

When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, at seven years old my answer was definitive: Second Baseman for the Chicago Cubs. That's because Ryne Sandberg was the second baseman in those days. Always moving, always making the play, always tuned into the moment so he could position himself properly. And he did it all with a layer of humility that has always been a staple of the game. RIP Ryno, and thanks for helping along my love of the game.

Yep. Windows is in fact the ultimate malware now.

Windows 11 is a minefield of micro-aggressions

: A better minesweeper is needed. Time for an intervention to save Microsoft from itself