Incoherent ramblings

Public service announcement graffiti?

November 21, 2020 Incoherent ramblings , , ,

On Wednesday night’s Tessa walk, I encountered a very large piece of public service announcement graffiti:

This is on a very wide pedestrian bridge, spanning the DVP in Riverdale.  I assume that bitchute is one of the uncensorable platforms like Dtube (a blockchain based video platform), but I haven’t actually checked it out.  I guess I’m not the only one that is annoyed that the big social media platforms have made it their policy to regulate the set of allowed opinions.  I wouldn’t have expressed myself with graffiti, but I guess that I’m not alone in my distaste for being told what I am allowed to think, or that some information is too dangerous for me to be allowed to look at it.

Pronunciation and origin of my name.

November 19, 2020 Incoherent ramblings , , , , , ,

The question of how to pronounce my names is frequently asked.

Joot isn’t Dutch, but is Estonian.  I’m not sure what sort of linguistic crossover there is between the two languages, if any(**).

Dad was Estonian, and he wanted us all to have Estonian spellings of our names (Peeter, Krista, Erik, Karin.)  Dad pronounced my name with the standard North American pronunciation for Peter.  However, my Vanaema (grandmother) pronounced Peeter with enunciation of all the e’s in a way that I can’t actually vocalize myself.  Estonian words have lots of doubled vowels (google finds me Kuulilennuteetunneliluuk as an example (a nice long palindrome (*))).  Unlike doubled vowels in English, if they are there, it’s because they should all be pronounced.

If somebody named Peter says that I spell my name wrong, I rebut by calling them pet-er, since the long e requires vowel doubling per English spelling conventions (i.e. my name is spelled correctly, but their spelling is wrong.)

My last name Joot is pronounced as like “Yoat”, like oat. I can’t recall the subtleties of how Vanaema pronounced Joot, but I’m sure she also somehow enunciated both o’s.  When I was a kid, I was very inflexible about the pronunciation of my name, and insisted on “Yoat”, not “Jewt”.  That inflexibility was too much work, and I mellowed out considerably over time.  I now flexible and respond to anything that approximates any possible pronunciation that I can recognize, and no longer correct anybody.

People correct the spelling of names for me all the time, as they couldn’t possibly be spelled right as is.

 

(*)

Originally I thought I saw an article that said that kuulilennuteetunneliluuk also meant palindrome, but cannot find that anymore.  Instead, googling this word, I find it translated as “the hatch a bullet flies out of when exiting a tunnel“.  If kuulilennuteetunneliluuk actually meant palindrome, that would be the most amazing word for palindrome in any language!  I’m very sad that I appear to have gotten the meaning wrong.  My hope for the future of linguistics, is that Estonians will start using kuulilennuteetunneliluuk as a word for palindrome, giving it a second meaning through popular use.  If that trend can be started, eventually the Estonian language has the best word for palindrome in any language.

 

(**)

On the other hand, Dad said he could understand most of Finnish when spoken (but said that Finns couldn’t understand him.)  I’m guessing that this means Finnish was probably a root of Estonian, but dialect could also be a factor, as I’ve since met Finns that said they could understand some Estonian.  Dad talked about the dialect variation from Estonian town to town at the beginning of the 1900’s, which was apparently so bad that understanding somebody from a few towns away could be difficult.  By the time he was born, radio was starting to obliterate that dialect variation.  He also wouldn’t have heard that dialect variation first hand, since he escaped the Soviet invasion of Estonia with my grandmother when he was only 3.  His refugee journey started in Finland (who had a pact with the Soviets to kick out refugees after some fixed time (i.e.: the Soviet’s said “kick out refugees, or else we’ll invade you too!”)   After a few years in Sweden, Dad and Vanaema eventually landed in Canada.

A new computer for me this time.

November 5, 2020 Incoherent ramblings , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s been a long long time, since I bought myself a computer.  My old laptop is a DELL XPS, was purchased around 2009:

Since purchasing the XPS lapcrusher, I think that I’ve bought my wife and all the kids a couple machines each, but I’ve always had a work computer that was new enough that I was able to let my personal machine slide.

Old system specs

Specs on the old lapcrusher:

  • 19″ screen
  • stands over 2″ tall at the back
  • Intel Core I3, 64-bit, 4 cores
  • 6G Ram
  • 500G hard drive, no SSD.

My current work machine is a 4yr old mac (16Mb RAM) and works great, especially since I mainly use it for email and as a dumb terminal to access my Linux NUC consoles using ssh.  I have some personal software on the mac that I’d like to uninstall, leaving the work machine for work, and the other for play (Mathematica, LaTex, Julia, …).

I’ll still install the vpn software for work on the new personal machine so that I can use it as a back up system just in case.  Last time I needed a backup system (when the mac was in the shop for battery replacement), I used my wife’s computer.  Since Sofia is now mostly working from home (soon to be always working from home), that wouldn’t be an option. Here’s the new system:

New system specs

This splurge is a pretty nicely configured, not top of the line, but it should do nicely for quite a while:

  • Display: 15.6″ Full HD IPS | 144HZ | 16:9 | Operating System: Win 10
  • Processor: Intel Core i7-9750H Processor (6 core)
  • RAM Memory: XPG 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM (64GB Max)
  • Storage: XPG SX8200 1TB NVMe SSD
  • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti 6GB
  • USB3.2 Gen 2 x 1 | USB3.2 Gen 2 x 2 | Thunderbolt 3.0 x 1 (REAR)| HDMI x 1 (REAR)
  • 4.08lbs

The new machine has a smaller screen size than my old laptop, but the 19″ screen on the old machine was really too big, and with modern screens going so close to the edge, this new one is pretty nice (and has much higher resolution.)  If I want a bigger screen, then I’ll hook it up to an external monitor.

On lots of RAM

It doesn’t seem that long ago when I’d just started porting DB2 LUW to 64bit, and most of the “big iron” machines that we got for the testing work barely had more than 4G of ram each.  The Solaris kernel guys we worked with at the time told me about the NUMA contortions that they had to use to build machines with large amounts of RAM, because they couldn’t get it close enough together because of heat dissipation issues.  Now you can get a personal machine for $1800 CAD with 32G of ram, and 6G of video ram to boot, all tossed into a tiny little form factor!  This new machine, not even counting the video ram, has 524288x the memory of my first computer, my old lowly C64 (I’m not counting the little Radio Shack computer that was really my first, as I don’t know how much memory it had — although I am sure it was a whole lot less than 64K.)

C64 Nostalgia.

Incidentally, does anybody else still have their 6402 assembly programming references?  I’ve kept mine all these years, moving them around house to house, and taking a peek in them every few years, but I really ought to toss them!  I’m sure I couldn’t even give them away.

Remember the zero page addressing of the C64?  It was faster to access because it only needed single byte addressing, whereas memory in any other “page” (256 bytes) required two whole bytes to address.  That was actually a system where little-endian addressing made a whole lot of sense.  If you wanted to change assembler code that did zero page access to “high memory”, then you just added the second byte of additional addressing and could leave your page layout as is.

Windows vs. MacOS

It’s been 4 years since I’ve actively used a Windows machine, and will have to relearn enough to get comfortable with it again (after suffering with the transition to MacOS and finally getting comfortable with it).  However, there are some new developments that I’m gung-ho to try, in particular, the new:

With WSL, I wonder if cygwin is even still a must have?  With windows terminal, I’m guessing that putty is a thing of the past (good riddance to cmd, that piece of crap.)

Partisan political spam from the CEO of an expense reporting company

October 22, 2020 Incoherent ramblings , ,

Check out the following unsolicited email that I received at work from the CEO of the expense reporting software that is used by our company:

I know you don’t want to hear this from me. And I guarantee I don’t want to say it. But we are facing an unprecedented attack on the foundations of democracy itself. If you are a US citizen, anything less than a vote for Biden is a vote against democracy.

That’s right, I’m saying a vote for Trump, a vote for a third-party candidate, or simply not voting at all — they’re all the same, and they all mean:

“I care more about my favorite issue than democracy. I believe Trump winning is more important than democracy. I am comfortable standing aside and allowing democracy to be methodically dismantled, in plain sight.”

If the polls are accurate, there’s a roughly 50% chance that you agree Trump needs to go. You know what to do: show up on November 3rd and vote for Biden. Or even better, don’t wait until then: vote today. Go to Vote.org if you need help figuring out how.

The rest of this email is intended to address the concerns of those who disagree, and I’ll try to take the most likely questions in turn:

Q: Why do you care so much about democracy?

Democracy is core to our business success, in a variety of ways. Internally, we are a famously “flat” organization — nobody reports to anyone else, and advancement is the result of meeting well defined criteria as judged by the vote of those who have already advanced. How we compensate each other is left up to a team vote as well. Even our external business model depends on individual employees “electing” to adopt XXXXXXX as individuals, and then “campaigning” internally to get it adopted companywide. At every layer, democracy is our core competitive advantage — both as a company, and as a nation. But that advantage is only as strong as the clarity of our rules and the fairness of their application. Any attempt to disrupt the rules or apply them unfairly is a direct threat to the strength of our company, and the strength of our nation.

Q: What gives you the right to tell me what to do?

The first amendment. To be clear, you don’t need to listen. But the first amendment exists to encourage people like you and me to find some way to talk about the issues that matter, set aside our differences, and find a common ground on which to collectively govern 331 million citizens. Yes democratic self-rule can be inconvenient. But a burden of democracy is that this is literally our job, so I’m asking all of us to take it seriously.

Q: But you’re a company, shouldn’t you remain neutral?

XXXXXXX depends on a functioning society and economy; not many expense reports get filed during a civil war. As CEO of this business, it’s my job to plot a course through any storm — and all evidence suggests that another 4 (or as Trump has hinted — 8, or more?) years of Trump leadership will damage our democracy to such an extent, I’m obligated on behalf of shareholders to take any action I can to avoid it. I am confident our democracy (and XXXXXXX) can survive a Biden presidency. I can’t say the same about Trump. It’s truly as simple as that.

Q: Don’t you think you’re… exaggerating a bit?

I truly wish I was. I wouldn’t be sending this email if this election were just about “normal issues” — taxes, legislative priorities, healthcare, etc. But it isn’t. This election is a referendum on what limits, if any, we place on our elected leaders to govern us in a fair and representative way. This election will decide if widespread voter suppression is an acceptable governing tactic.

Q: Doesn’t everyone suppress votes?

Not like Trump. This is the most heavily litigated election in history, with over 300 lawsuits rushing through the courts before election day. And in every case, Biden is pushing to enable voters while Trump is pushing to suppress them. The trend couldn’t be more clear: Biden wants democracy, Trump does not. A vote for Trump is to endorse voter suppression, it really is very basic. This isn’t about party politics: if Biden were advocating for half of the voter suppression that Trump is actively doing, then I’d be fighting against Biden, too. This is bigger than politics as usual: this is about the very foundation of our nation.

Q: Isn’t Trump just trying to prevent voter fraud?

Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent, as overwhelmingly shown by data showcased by the White House itself. That data comes from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank counting every single known case of voter fraud since 1948, which adds up to only 1,290 distinct votes over 78 years. In 2016 alone there were 138 million votes. There is just no credible argument that voter fraud is significant, even based on Trump’s own data.

Q: Isn’t Biden just using more widespread voting to get elected?

Absolutely. This is the heart of the issue. Biden believes that enabling more people to vote will help him win. Biden wins by promoting democracy; Trump wins by suppressing it. A vote for Biden is a vote for democracy.

Q: So what if Trump gets elected by voter suppression, all’s fair right?

Well that’s what we’re going to decide, on November 3rd. Do you want your elected official to win based on the merits of their ideas? Or based on the ruthlessness of their voter suppression? And if you’re ok with “just a little suppression” — where do you draw the line?

Q: Why send me this when the polls say Biden is going to win?

The polls said Trump was going to lose last time, and he didn’t. But even if the polls can be trusted, that might still not be enough. Trump has stated repeatedly he will only honor an election that he personally feels is fair. So much depending on his personal judgement is worrying, because he has rejected the overwhelming expert consensus that voter fraud has been negligible historically, and has also said he believes it would be impossible to lose a fair election. Accordingly, the only way to ensure a peaceful transition of power is to ensure this election is an overwhelming, undeniable landslide in favor of Biden. Any excuse to question the election is an opportunity for Trump to refuse to leave the White House, plunging this country into a Constitutional crisis bordering on civil war. No matter how slight that risk might be, the consequences of it happening would be so catastrophic to society and the economy, we need to do all we can to prevent it.

So one final plea. As a fellow citizen, I fully support and respect your Constitutional right to disagree — and as an avid supporter of democracy, I value that disagreement. Constructive, well-informed debate (hopefully using the most accurate, least biased news source available) is what makes this nation so exceptional.

But the Constitution is only as strong as the respect we give it. I’m asking you to cherish it close to your heart, and demand that those you elect do the same.

-XXXXX
Founder and CEO of XXXXXXX

PS: Agree or disagree? Reply to this email to share your thoughts with Concierge, or hit me up on Twitter @XXXXXXX to discuss!

PPS: Want to do even more? Support the National Popular Vote to make every vote count equally toward the presidential election, even if you aren’t in one of the 12 states deciding this election.

PPPS: Are you annoyed that you received this as a non-US citizen? If you’re lucky enough to live in a democracy, then I’d encourage you to protect it and be willing to do uncomfortable things — like emailing millions of customers — to defend it.

I found this severely annoying, and fired off the following quick reply:

Shame on you for spamming corporate customers of your company with a politically partisan opinion piece!  I’m just a worker bee in this company, but if I was a purchasing authority, I’d be severely unimpressed.
I’m not a US citizen, but still find this incredibly offensive, not because I agree or disagree, but because of the shear unprofessionalism of your action.  This has no place being pushed out to random people in their workplaces.
Do you really think you will do any good pushing your unsolicited opinion on people when you have no idea what their beliefs are, or the reasons for their decisions, should they be opting to not vote your choice?  I’d expect that what you are doing will just increase polarization, and not have the objective that you are hoping for.  I’d be amused if the actual result of your unsolicited email is to push Trump supporters that were on their butts out of their chairs to the voting booths because they felt that they had to protect their clown from pushy democrats that are sending out panic laden emails like this.
As it happens, I consider both the lead clowns of the US blue and red parties both horrible options.  You aren’t doing your “save democracy” argument much good when you are pushing either option.  If anything, this just serves to illustrate how much of a fraud democracy is.  Perhaps the democratic party should stop repeatedly sabotaging their candidates that have actual popular support?
Are you a US citizen?  It is too bad that Monty Brewster is not running:  “Don’t vote for any of us. We’re assholes! We’ll only make things worse. That’s a promise!”

Lockdowns are starving kids to death

October 20, 2020 Incoherent ramblings , , , , ,

It’s been clear since our petty dictators started imposing COVID lockdowns that these are actions that disproportionately target the poor. I’d been thinking of that in terms of people in the city, waiters, cooks, theater and gym staff, …, who have lost their jobs, will lose their homes, and will rack up debt.  However, this is much more than a first world problem.  There is real cost to blind fear.

Initially we saw many virtue signalling rich celebrities blindly parrot “stay at home” while their personal shoppers and cooks procured their needs.  Later the peons got into the act and made themselves feel good by spouting meaningless catch phrases like  “flatten the curve”, “exponential growth”, “stay safe”, “stay apart”, and “follow the science” (the irony of this last one is amazing!).  Somehow, this was all exploited by media and power hungry politicians to mobilize enough fear that people clamored to have their freedoms taken away, creating illusions of safety.  I  don’t really understand how the COVID fear porn has reached these comprehension defying levels.  The media and politicians who have been pumping the mindless fear really need to step back and take ownership for the chaos, death and misery that will result from their actions.

For months, there have been WHO projections of millions who will die of starvation in developing countries as side effects of lockdown policies.  I had naively envisioned that this would be economic fallout, believing that developing countries would not be foolhardy enough to attempt to replicate the rich country lockdown strategies.  As it turns out, stupidity is more contagious than I imagined it would be, and there are poor countries that have imposed lockdowns on their people, despite the fact that their people have much bigger dangers to battle in their day to day lives.

For a taste of this chaos, check out this Tom Woods episode with Gret Glyer, the founder of DonorSee.  The episode talks about lockdowns in Africa that are killing more kids than COVID, and lockdowns in Sierra-Leone that are so severe that kids are not being allowed to get food available across the street.  Crossing the street was prohibited since it would have required them to cross an imaginary line drawn by an idiot bureaucrat. Seeing the images of the skeletal Sierra-Leone kids is heartbreaking.  Gret predicts that despite continual decreases in child mortality over the last 30 years, there will be a massive spike in excess child mortality in 2020. This spike isn’t going to be due to COVID, but because of fear based political responses that are starving kids to death!

Future generations will look back at the pathetic people of 2020, and shake their heads at how uninformed fear and group-think lead to so much death worldwide.  The death that are being focused on are the deaths of those over 80 years old, labelled “covid deaths”.  These are people that generally have multiple pre-existing conditions that were the root cause of the death, with coronaviruses possibly pushing them over the top (and getting the blame.)  Some of those deaths may have been accelerated by COVID, but were likely not preventable.  What could be prevented are all the surplus deaths due to the evil lockdown policies themselves (these deaths in developing countries, deaths by suicide and drug and alcohol abuse in response to financial ruin and demoralization, …).  Children, statistically speaking, are not dying of COVID, but they are being killed by the lockdowns.

It is, incidentally, confusing and heart breaking to be glad that my mother and my mother in law passed away in 2019, and did not live long enough to die this year.  In order to “save grandma” we are consigning family members that are at the end of their lives to die in misery isolated from their families.

[/rant]