A.C. Flory's Blog, page 74

Siberian Husky On A Frozen Lake — SCOPIC IMPULSE

Siberian Husky On A Frozen Lake. Fox Grom is a Russian photographer born in Kirovsk. It’s a magical scene—a couple of beautiful huskies inquisitively wander over the mirror-like surface of a frozen lake in northern Russia. The world seems so still, so completely calm in the photographs that you could almost be forgiven for thinking […]

via Siberian Husky On A Frozen Lake — SCOPIC IMPULSE

My first thought was ‘oh my god, it’s walking on water!’. Then I read the title. Then I looked past the beautiful Huskies and saw the lake and its surroundings. That’s when my jaw truly dropped. Whether there are a million Earth-like planets or just this one, beauty like this deserves to be preserved.

We are already in heaven, my friends. Let’s not turn it into  hell.

Poor sleep is NOT inevitable [with ageing]

I’ve been a night owl for most of my life, but once asleep, I’d sleep for a solid eight hours and wake refreshed. In recent years, however, my sleep has become progressively worse, with eight hours becoming six and much of that ‘broken’.

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Me…without the spots

I thought, “Well, I am in my sixties…”

That resigned thought joined a host of others as more physical niggles set in. Arthritis in my big toes? Check. The beginnings of arthritis in my right thumb? Check. Deteriorating eyesight? Check. Reduced energy? Check. Reduced ability to think? Kinda. I can still do mental gymnastics first thing in the morning, but by late afternoon my mind and body cries out for a nana nap… -sigh-

I solved the problem of the arthritis [at least for now] by eating a bowl of Morello cherries with plain yoghurt for breakfast every day. The Morello cherries [also called ‘black cherries’] contain ‘…anthocyanins – plant pigments that have powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.‘

The Morello cherries don’t cure the arthritis, they simply reduce the inflammation. And they do it without destroying the lining of your stomach like most chemical anti-inflammatories. Most importantly, they will keep you pain free if you keep eating them. Plus they are delicious.

I owe the late Bob Hawke for the tip about the Morello cherries. And no, I’ve never had a direct line to Bob Hawke.

Blender 2.8 – a body at last!

Have I ever mentioned that I become obsessed with things sometimes?

Yes, well. I almost gave up learning Blender after the disappointment of the chair:

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A couple of weeks on, I’m glad I kept at it. My ‘body’ is no prettier than the chair, but it’s an order of magnitude more sophisticated, and I’m bloody proud of it! lol

I haven’t worked out the bits that make the rendered object look good, but at least you can see my little man.

Windows 7 Update – SERIOUS problem

I have my Windows 7 updates set to manual, meaning I get the notification, but the update isn’t installed automatically. If you do the same, and you haven’t already installed update KB4512506, do NOT install it:

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The update is called:

2019-08 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB4512506)   285.9 MB

That 285.9 MB update size was suspicious, so I tried to get further information, but the links [on the update page] did not work. So I went online and searched for KB4512506. This is what I found on the Microsoft forum:

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The critical part here is this:

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Further down the Microsoft forum page you can find workarounds that may help you fix the error if it’s already happened to you.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/security-update-kb4512506-leads-to-bootbcd-error/8f97ba71-6da8-44be-9478-7542312b39bd

If it hasn’t, I strongly recommend ‘hiding’ this update so Windows won’t install it. This is how:

With the update page displayed, right click update KB4512506. You should now see a small popup with just two options:

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Click ‘Hide update’.

This will cause the update to be ‘greyed out’. You can now install all the other updates if you wish.

Just a bit of history about this contentious update. The size of the file makes me think it’s an updated version of an earlier update [March? April?] that I refused to install. The reason I refused to install it back then was because under the Support link it stated clearly that installing the update would lead to problems with the Network Card. Thanks but no thanks.

I still don’t know exactly what this update was meant to fix, but I continued to not install it while I waited for Microsoft to fix whatever caused the problems with the Network card. Microsoft never did, through multiple updates. Now, it appears they’ve made it even worse, all without warning ordinary users of the potential harm it can cause.

Curiously, not installing the update allowed nothing ‘bad’ to happen to my pc. I admit that might be because I have one of the best anti-virus software installed, but it does make you think, doesn’t it?

If I were a writing a novel, the cast of characters might include an unscrupulous multinational corporation that deliberately sabotaged its clients just to make them buy its latest product. Luckily, even I’m not that much of a conspiracy theorist.

Recipe – Italian rice croquettes

The Offspring and I are trying to reduce the amount of meat in our diet and have discovered some sensational vegetarian dishes. Rice croquettes [or Arancini here] are one such delectable dish:

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This one, lonely croquette is the only one of the 18 that survived for the photo. The rest were wolfed down.

Sometimes you just can’t get a break…

I’m writing this post because I simply can’t believe the perfect storm of bad luck that’s hit me recently. It’s type or scream…

So, less than a week ago I received a traffic infringement notice. I’d been fined $207 for doing 65 km in a 60 km zone. Then today, I received a letter from VicRoads saying my car registration had expired on July the 16th, and I had until October to pay or my registration would be cancelled. Please note, my registration is not currently cancelled.

I was still going what the…? when I opened the second letter and almost had heart failure. It was a second infringement notice for being caught speeding while my registration was expired. This time the fine is for $826. WTF????

I immediately rang Vic Roads and was told that with short term renewals, they send me a letter 6 weeks before my registration expires, and a reminder 10 days after it’s expired. Had I chosen to be notified by email, they apparently send three reminders prior to registration expiring…

For those who have no idea what a short term renewal is, it’s simply a way of spreading car registration payments over four quarters instead of paying a huge lump sum once a year. As someone on a full age pension – roughly $900 every two weeks – being able to spread the payments evenly seemed like a wonderful idea. Except that four quarterly payments means four renewal notices per year. Four chances for that renewal notice to go astray.

The last renewal notice I received was in April. I paid it. I did not receive one for July. I did, however, receive the reminder sent 10 days after my registration expired. Guess what though? The speeding infringement was dated July 19. 3 days after the expiry I knew nothing about and 7 days before the warning letter arrived.

I was angry over the speeding fine because I know the spot where it must have happened. It’s either going up a very steep hill or doing down a very steep hill. If I was caught going up that hill I had probably taken a run at it; 30 year old Corolla’s need a bit of help. If it was going down the hill, you’re going to pick up speed even if you ride the brake. I imagine the company that has the contract to run the speed camera knows full well that that particular spot is as close to entrapment as you can legally get. And no, apparently the police don’t man the speed cameras any more.

So, a system that’s meant to make life easier for people on the lowest incomes has become a loaded gun just waiting to go off.

I honestly don’t know what to do. The Offspring wants me to fight it in court but…it’s my word against that of a whole system. I say I didn’t get the renewal notice; the system says I did. Or maybe it’s the hit or miss nature of it? I want to fight it, but what if I end up having to pay even more?

Apologies everyone. I just needed to vent.

A shed by any other name…?

This is a shed, a quirky shed, one of 23:

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This Hobbit-hole type shed is featured in a fun article on New Atlas. With bad news at every turn, sometimes it’s nice to remember that we humans have some positive qualities as well.

Climate Change made easy

One of the very first posts I ever published on Meeka’s Mind was this one. It hit the internet on December 29, 2011 and received two likes and two comments.

In that post I wrote:

‘…ordinary people like you and me are at the top of the list. We don’t understand the science – no surprise there – so we only know what the media choose to tell us, and the media are having a field day playing both sides against the middle.’

Absolutely nothing has changed since 2011. In fact, things have gone from bad to worse with idiots in the Federal government professing their undying love of coal on the floor of parliament:

As for the mainstream media, it continues to capitalise on the confusion by giving climate change deniers equal air time with genuine scientists. Sadly, even when the scientists do get to put their case to the general public, they lack the communication skills to present the data in a way non-scientists can understand. That’s why some deniers can get away with saying:

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but its just natural cycles.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but its just sun spots.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but humans aren’t to blame.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but technology will fix it.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but it’s an act of God or Nature, and there’s nothing we can do.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but it’s the fault of industry and there’s nothing I can do about it.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but trying to fix it is too hard and we’ll all give up our comforts, so let’s just pray for a miracle.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but it’s just the UN spruiking for more funding.’

‘Yes, things are getting warmer, but its just scientists scrambling for more research grants.’

I could go on, but I think you get my drift. Like all forms of manipulation, the most effective denials are the ones based on a tiny kernel of truth. Sifting the truth from the lie, however, requires the skills of a people person, someone who knows what they’re talking about but can communicate it in an easy to understand way.

One such communicator is my friend, Yorgos. We met on Twitter [@YorgosKC] but he also has a blog on WordPress and publishes novels on Wattpad. As an Indie author, Yorgos really does know how to communicate, but perhaps the most amazing thing about him is that English is not his mother tongue. I wish I could write as well in a second language!

Anyway, Yorgos commented on my recent reblog about climate change, busting climate change myths left, right and centre. The chart he refers to is on the original post which you can find here. Yorgos’ reply was so good I simply had to reproduce it here:

‘I got scared about it [climate change] a few years ago when I was in uni, studying physics and in “physics of atmosphere” we’ve been learning (to write it at exams to pass the lesson, mind you!) “We currently burn a year as much oxygen as earth created in a thousand years, which is not alarming, at all”. This, to me, was alarming. To save you the maths, it actually means, even if we forget this oxygen turns into carbon dioxide (which cause the global warming), human’s future is bound to be shorter than human’s past. And we were thought to consider that as “not alarming”. If “we”, the “specialists” think that, try to convince the ones that don’t know any better.

Now, to make a few things clear, if I may, global warming would have happened even if humans had never existed. But, as the chart shows, in a much slower pace. Also, the Sun’s regular 11-year circle raise of activity affects Earth’s temperature. But right now, Sun’s activity is at its lowest. Therefore, 2019 – if the Sun was the reason – would have been one of the coolest years of this decade. So, no, don’t blame the Sun. If you don’t believe me, check SOHO’s photos and you’ll see there are no spots on the Sun (the more the spots the hotter the Sun is). I’m mentioning this, because I’ve heard more than a few saying, “it’s the Sun. We can’t do anything!” It’s not! Furthermore, immigration to Mars (or anywhere, if that matters) is something that is not feasible, and won’t be feasible for centuries, but let’s say, 50 years. So, no, this isn’t a solution.

Finally, Earth is not in any danger. This change that affects less than 32km ring (including Troposphere) of a 16,400km radius sphere (including the whole atmosphere) doesn’t bother Earth, at all. But! It affects nature and life on Earth. And this nature, indeed, has its ways of “reducing damage” but doesn’t care about a few species, like humans. It won’t protect us, by all costs. Cockroaches and plants are enough for it. Also, neither a God, nor an alien super-civilization cares to save us. So, we should not expect a miraculous solution.

So, then “It’s the governments”. Right. That’s true, I won’t deny that, but, it’s also in the hands of each of us. Do you leave your router on while sleeping? Do you leave other devices on stand-by, instead of turning them off? Do you leave lights on, when you don’t need them? Do you use your car, unnecessarily often? These and so many other things we do daily, without giving them a second thought, are translated in raise of carbon dioxide (why the electricity part? because of the factories creating it). And you may think, “what difference will it make if I don’t do that?” A small one, true. But if all people do that it will make a huge one. So, it’s a start. So, yes, the governments and the industries should adjust, but this isn’t in my hand, but there are things that are in my hand. And your hands, too, so, let’s do what we can do.

That’s all. Sorry for the long, boring reply. Thank you for the very interesting post. And let me correct a fact on the chart: There are still Pokemons in North America

How to disable Quick Access in Windows 10

I have to use Windows 10 when I’m teaching, and I’ve found that the new Quick Access option in File Explorer is confusing the hell out of my students.

Quick Access is like the old ‘Recent Places’ in Windows 7, except that in Windows 7, you control whether you see those recently accessed files and folders or not. In Windows 10, the ‘Quick Access’ function displays recent places by default, and they always appear at the top of the navigation tree. Essentially they are duplicating some of the files and folders shown under ‘This PC’, making my students wonder:

Which version of a file or folder should they use?
And if they do use the handy Quick Access area, why doesn’t it show ALL of their files and folders?
Have those other files and folders been lost?

For beginners, this duplication only leads to confusion and makes understanding how to save and retrieve their work even harder. For this reason, I told them to ignore Quick Access and go straight to ‘This PC’.

Why? Because only in ‘This PC’ will you find all the files and folders stored on your computer.

Sadly, it’s hard to ignore Quick Access when it’s the first thing you see and you have to scroll way down the screen before you can even see ‘This PC’. To solve this problem, I went searching for a way to tame Quick Access without requiring the powers of a super geek to do it. And here it is:

Step 1

Open File Explorer.

Step 2

Click the File button [or tab] on the File Explorer toolbar as shown:

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Step 3

You should now see a menu of options. Click ‘Change Folder and search options’ as shown:

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Step 4

You should now be looking at a popup menu of Folder options. The first option on the General tab is ‘Open File Explorer to:’ Quick access’. To change this option, click the small arrow next to ‘Quick access’ as shown:

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Step 5

You should now be looking at the two available options – Quick access and This PC. Click the option for ‘This PC’ as shown:

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Now, File Explorer will automatically go down to ‘This PC’ whenever you open it.

But…

Quick Access is still there, and it’s still saving a ‘history’ of every folder you’ve opened and every file you’ve created or edited. In other words, the confusion continues.

Step 6

To stop Quick Access from continuing to duplicate your movements, you’ll have to stop it from saving that history. With Folder options still open, go down to ‘Privacy’ and untick the two options shown there:

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Step 7

File Explorer will no longer track what you do on your computer, but your past movements are still there, in Quick Access. To clear everything out of Quick Access you have to clear out the history as shown below:

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Once you click the ‘OK’ button, all of the File Explorer history will be gone from Quick Access, and it won’t come back!

There doesn’t appear to be any way of getting rid of the Quick Access option entirely, but at least now it won’t duplicate every thing you do on your computer, and you will be in control of what you see on File Explorer.

WordPress settings – an apology

In an earlier post I mentioned that I’d had an unsatisfactory year with a particular email client. I thought that once I changed to Fastmail, all my problems would be over. Not quite. Everything seemed to be working properly, but I did notice a sudden drop in WordPress notifications. At first, I assumed this was simply because Fastmail was ‘catching up’ with the output from bloggers I follow. It’s now been almost a month, and I’m still not getting notifications from all the people I regularly read. What the…?

I guess I should have noticed something was wrong sooner, but as I was getting some email notifications, I just thought the missing bloggers weren’t posting much. Another thing that stopped me from investigating sooner was that I was finding some posts via Twitter. Given that my brain is getting older, it never occurred to me to check for those same posts in my inbox…

But enough excuses.This morning I finally went into my WordPress Reader/Streams/Followed sites/Manage and discovered that WP has done something weird again. To be exact, it seems to have changed the default settings to this:

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Each slider button is set to ‘off’. When I turned the first ‘Email me new posts’ slider to ‘on’, I received an alert telling me to click a link to email notifications. There, I found a tick next to a checkbox about blocking email notifications. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do that.