BiggsHoson

What on earth happened to good ol' checkboxes?

Seems to me a dab of black paint would be sufficient.

Also, I find that there just isn't a one best font, even for one person. There are just too many variables that effect how a font looks, not limited to the screen itself, the graphics controller, the software where I want to use the font.

That is intriguing. Anyone know of an equivalent for Windows?

I consider Cunningham's book one of the best I've ever read on the topic of the manned space programs.

Brilliantly put.

I've tried a number of alternatives and keep coming back to Evernote's legacy apps (Windows and Android). The features I use are just right, and syncing just works, always.

A key feature for me is being able to (with the legacy desktop app) open multiple notes at once, something that I've not seen anywhere else. (I assume this is because the legacy app is a native Windows executable, whereas multiple windows are not supported in the cross-platform frameworks everyone uses nowadays. I may be wrong.)

On a new tablet I was forced to install their new app, and I find it just OK. I don't like it as much as the older one, but it's usable.

Once Evernote shuts off the legacy apps, I will be searching for an alternative once again.

At this moment? Well, I'm in Daytona, Florida attending the HSR Classic 24 Hours weekend of vintage racing. If you have any interest in motor racing and have not been to a vintage event, you need to. The variety of cars is huge. These events are usually pretty low-key compared to the current professional series. Often there are very few restrictions on where one can wander, with paddock access included in your reasonably priced ticket.

+1 for Take Command. I've used it since its mid-90s iteration, and still use it nearly every day. It has a great mix of command prompt features and batch file language enhancements.

The first one (of many) that comes to mind is not looking to the future when I started life on my own. Had someone told me when I was in my 20s that a day would come much sooner than retirement age when I would be sick of my career (and had I listened--not at all a given) I would have been much farther ahead in my life now. If I had started investing right from the start, especially as the stock market was booming back then, I could have retired some time ago.

Related to that, I wish I'd found and fostered some sort side gig that would have allowed me to eventually ditch the 9-to-5 work life.

I wish I had realized how important it is to find some place you enjoy living (for whatever reason--friends, recreation opportunities, favorable weather, etc.), and then doing what you can to make a life there. Instead, I pursued jobs wherever they took me and I think my family paid a price for that instability. I didn't realize for a long time, but I think that I, too, paid a price for all those relocations in pursuit of the next job.

And then related to that, I wish I had not been so optimistic about my jobs. I should have realized that no matter how convincing the dream being sold to me, it was never going to be that good. I should gave treated my jobs as paychecks, as means to another end, not something into which I should pour the best of my attention and purpose of life.

Wow. I have never told anyone all this.

I was not part of your community, but thank you for what you've done with it.

May you have all the needed grace, patience, wisdom, and strength (both physical and mental) to navigate this next stage of your life in caring for someone who needs you more than ever right now.

I always buy my ThinkPads as factory refurbs with remaining warranty from reputable sellers on eBay, saving quite a bit of money.

Here in the US, I swear the rule of thumb for installing stop signs is only the limitation of how many can be bought under the current budget. So many intersections would be less frustrating by having yield signs, instead.

No one really believes this was an accident, do they?

This naming scheme seemed extremely shortsighted to me as it wreaks havoc on Internet text searches. It forces one to search for numerous possible references to a release: the adjective alone, the animal name alone, the release number, maybe abbreviations or nicknames of the code name, and so on.

Agreed. I found that solving the tedium and annoyances of people's jobs is what gives me joy in my programming work.

"an Illiterate Populous" is a satisfyingly ironic typo.

"So how was work today?" "Well, I got to grab mice and force inhaler sprays into their tiny little nostrils against their wills." "Sounds better than my day."

And that may not be all that's needed. I recently went through the TSA Precheck line (my ticket had the little Pre heck logo on it) but the check-in dude did not give me the laminated poster board that said "Precheck" on it. I don't fly often enough to have noticed, so when I got to the security apparatus 15 feet further I was treated as non-Precheck. It did not matter that I could show my ticket had the appropriate logo on it. No card, no Precheck. One more slap in the face from the Security Theater.

Well, I'll start this with one of mine: Getting out for a bicycle ride early on a warm morning, especially on a weekend. There is something special about being out in that golden light, in control of your immediate state. A fine way to start a day.

No surprise there. Who are the rich? The politicians and bureaucrats who implemented these ideas, along with their buddies who fund their campaigns and junkets, and offer cushy board positions and lobbying gigs if they ever do leave their government posts.

Trying to support EDI reminds me of the saying: "The great thing about standards is that everyone has their own."

I once worked for a small software company that produced custom-written ERP systems for small to mid-sized manufacturers. It was a real thrill to be presented a problem and write code that solves it nicely, removing hindrances to productive work by the end users. I loved being able to visit in person, see the issue first-hand, work with them to devise a solution, and then later watch how much easier their job had become because of it.

I miss that kind of job satisfaction. Indeed, it satisfied a deep, personal need to create. I was just fortunate that I could make a living doing so.

Hmm...I might need to come up with a 5.25-inch floppy drive again.

I think of all the school kids in the Internet era that have been told, "You cannot use Wikipedia" as a research source. Did teachers ever say that about Encarta?

My Pixel 2 XL has been humming along nicely, even on Android 10. Maybe I should worry how Android 11 will run on it--it will be the last update planned for this phone, and hence an opportunity for Google to make me unsatisfied with my old phone--but as it stands now I have no performance complaints whatsoever.

>... I have plan B, plan C, and plan D ready to be put into action if I suddenly don’t have a career in software engineering, or I don’t want a career in software engineering.

I would like to read more about that if you would care to share more details. I cannot imagine a career in anything but software, but this year has me very low on contract work and some backup plans are something I am trying to devise.

After this passes, imagine a perfect storm scenario where a widespread crisis--real, manufactured, or blown out of proportion and deemed an imminent threat by the powers that be--affords governments the cover to force everyone to stay at home and completely rely on the Internet in efforts to maintain some kind of sanity during "these challenging times".

Oh, wait...

From there, it is not hard to imagine that compliance with such government lockdowns could be deemed critical for "national security". Suddenly, decryption surveillance on large numbers of the population is done in response to a situation seemingly not even imagined (as far as we can tell) in the creation of this bill. They will not have to publicly ask for people to snitch on their neighbors--they will already know.

"But," some will say, "it is to keep us all safe." Replace a health crisis in the above scenario with...I don't know...maybe your desire to join a local protest over something.

When the LAED Act passes (I am pessimistically sure that "if" does not apply here) poetic justice would be for those "Republican" senators to be the first targets of state-sponsored hackers decimating the personal fortunes they have coincidentally amassed while holding office. To be honest, I am surprised that there is not a provision in the bill to somehow exempt Congress, just like there is with most other garbage legislation they say is best for us.