Jerry Stratton's Blog, page 29

Watches in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition

Watches are actually a bit difficult in D&D 5e due to the sleep/rest rules. Watches with multiple people on each watch, for twice the eyes on target, are even more difficult.

The reincarnation of the B6000C bread machine

The Black & Decker B6000C rises again. Pun intended. The West Bend 47413 three-pound breadmaker is a nearly-exact duplicate of the late, great B6000C.

What are the 8 bits in 8-bit computing?

Retro computing is often called 8-bit computing. This is because the bytes that these computers use are composed of eight bits, and much of what the computer does is operating on these individual bits, not on the byte as a whole.

Xel-i-tec

This short adventure for first to third level characters takes place in a decaying empire, under siege by creatures of all kinds overrunning its borders, and unfolding from within as strife consumes the ruling class.

Ace of Spades HQ linked on Mimsy Were the Borogoves

Irreverant, insightful, and often even informative, I suggest putting Ace of Spades HQ on your regular reading list. “Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” Ace is always a necessary read, but he has been on fire lately. Or in pudding.

The TRS-80 Color Computer 2

The TRS-80/Tandy Color Computer 2 is a fascinating bit of computer history. It was the direct ancestor of the first inexpensive home Unix-like computer, the Color Computer 3.

The Sovereign Crime of Industrial Scale Vote Fraud linked on Editorials

“We have technologies that can identify dead voters the moment they cast a ballot. We can identify people who are out-of-state, voted twice, are underage, live in a vacant lot or a UPS or FedEx postal box. We can even show a photo of that vacant lot so you can see where your fake neighbor claims to live. Literally, the second their ballot is counted, they can be flagged as a likely fraud. Yes, we can deploy that technology today. We have done it in the insurance industry for decades.” “We can deploy technologies to identify likely fraud within seconds of when it happens.”

I can’t speak to the first part of this article, but the ending is absolutely true. It is completely crazy that when we vote we are not employing the techniques—most of them simple—that have been used for decades in other industries—insurance, banking, and other forms of accounting—to identify fraud in time to stop it.

Media’s Entire Georgia Narrative Is Fraudulent, Not Just The Fabricated Trump Quotes linked on Editorials

“The Washington Post was busted for publishing fabricated quotes from an anonymous source, attributing them to a sitting president, and using those quotes as a basis to speculate the president committed a crime. The invented Donald Trump quotes, which related to a fight over election integrity in Georgia, were cited in Democrats’ impeachment brief and during the Senate impeachment trial.

“The fake quotes, bad as they were, are just one of many ways the media have done a horrible job of covering election disputes in the state.” Remember this, when you hear in the news that Trump did this, or Trump did that, that the election was litigated and no fraud was found. The media lies. They lie about everything. They lied about the quotes and thought they wouldn’t get caught; they lied about the court cases and didn’t care if they got caught or not. Like the scorpion in the river, it’s what they do. Even if, like the scorpion, they destroy themselves as they destroy America.

The Texas Legislature Should Give Texans Their Money Back linked on Editorials

“At the heart of the PUC’s decision seems to be a belief in market theory over actual markets. When the decision was made as prices were trading as low as $1,200, D’Andrea stated, ‘I think we all expected that when we were in load shed we would be at $9,000.’ In other words, the commissioners did not care what market prices actually were. They were going to impose their vision on the market, regardless…

“The PUC’s renegade action should not surprise us. For much of the last decade, seemingly no regulation, no subsidy was beyond the PUC’s consideration for what once had been the most competitive and successful electricity market in the world.” Why is it that whenever we’re told “markets failed”, we find a bureaucracy behind the scenes pretending they know the market better than the consumers actually using it?

The True History of the Hare and the Tortoise

And even to this day, “a glorious victory for the forces of swiftness” is a catch-phrase in the house of the snail.