(If VMware gives you shit about “Internal error” or “translocation” when you try to launch it, try this—)
“My Fix: Moving the app from /Applications to my HOME folder and then moving it back to /Applications by using Finder. Using Finder is the important step!
“On the next start, I got the security prompt about the kext files and allowed them in the security options. And viola, no more ‘internal error’, my VMs start again.
 
“So for some reason your install is triggering this for some people. Happened also after a reinstallation attempt as outlined above. This was with Fusion 10.0.1, never had the release version installed.”

“My company distributes apps via zip archives, so I put the new OS behavior to the test. I downloaded a zip file to ~/Downloads, unarchived an app from the zip, and opened the app directly from ~/Downloads. The system mounted a read-only disk image in /private/var/folders/[yaddayadda]/AppTranslocation/ (i.e, DARWIN_USER_TEMPDIR/AppTranslocation/), copied the app bundle from ~/Downloads into a folder within the disk image, and launched the app from there. You can verify that the app has been ‘translocated’ by looking under the Activity Monitor ‘Open Files and Ports’ tab in the app process inspector window.

“Under what circumstances does App Translocation occur? First, the app must have a com.apple.quarantine extended attribute. If you delete the quarantine xattr, then App Translocation does not occur, and the app will launch from where it was unarchived, like normal. Second, the app must be opened by Launch Services. This usually means Finder, but it can also mean open from Terminal, for example. If you launch the app executable directly from bash, on the other hand, App Translocation does not occur. Third, the app must not have been moved — by Finder. If you move the app, using Finder, from the app’s original unarchived location to another folder, even a subfolder, e.g., ~/Downloads/Test/, then App Translocation does not occur. However, if you move the app using mv from Terminal, then App Translocation will still occur. Normally you would move the app from ~/Downloads to /Applications, and that would cause the app to be launched from /Applications like normal, but the locations of the particular folders don’t seem to matter. The mere act of moving the app using Finder stops App Translocation from happening. Indeed, once you’ve moved the app once, it will no longer experience App Translocation again, even if you then move it back to ~/Downloads.”

“Executives at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) knew for decades that the talcum in its baby powder contained asbestos and failed to tell federal regulators, according to a Reuters report.

“Reuters examined documents, trial depositions and trial testimony that reportedly shows that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J executives, mine managers, scientists, doctors and lawyers knew that the company’s raw talc and finished powders sometimes tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.

“The people involved discussed the problem and how to address it, while failing to disclose it to regulators or the public, Reuters found.

“The reporting also shows how J&J sought to influence regulators’ plans to limit asbestos in cosmetic products with talc, as well as research on the health effects of talc.”

“The value of a Costco membership just got significantly better. Today the popular wholesaler started selling units from the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac lines on its website with starting discounts ranging from $50 to $200. Impressively, you’ll sometimes get AppleCare+ included with the price.”

Marco Arment highly recommended this hoodie on Accidental Tech Podcast.

“f you want a logon password to secure your Windows 10, you can create a password, add a PIN code, and set up a Picture password for your user account. However, sometimes password may bring much inconvenience so that you don’t want any password. In this case, just don’t set up any password or disable password logon. Now here we show how to disable PIN, Picture and Password logon in Windows 10.”

(As of March 2018—)
“In addition to built-in Alexa and HomeKit integration, Switch+ works with Google Assistant, Samsung Smart Things, and IFTTT as well. Compared to more traditional smart switches from companies like Lutron and Leviton, Switch+ carriers a heftier price tag, but touts a built-in mic and speaker to drive the Alexa experience.

“Switch+ is also packed with more technology that lets you detect presence with motion sensors and automate light control with daylight sensors in a single device. For control in the dark, Switch+ includes a built-in ambient night-light as well.”

(As of March 2018—)
“Nest is finally getting remote sensors so it can make your room the temperature you want where you sit or sleep, not just where the thermostat is. They’ll cost $40 for one and $100 for a three-pack when they start shipping next month, but they work only with the latest third-generation and Nest E thermostats.

“The new sensor could help bridge the gap between the Nest ecosystem and that of the Ecobee4, our current upgrade pick for the best smart thermostat—especially since the Ecobee4 (which includes one sensor) currently costs about $40 more than a Nest E with one additional sensor. Nest still lacks HomeKit support, however, which Ecobee has.

“The Nest Thermostat already works great in homes with central air, where heating and cooling circulate readily. But it struggles with electric zone heating since it can sense the temperature only where it’s mounted (which may not be where people tend to spend time). That’s why I never bothered to set mine up after moving from a house into a T-shaped loft apartment with electric radiators last year. With some extra sensors set up around the space, however, Nest’s smart learning system might figure out how to move the heat around better. Here’s hoping this will let me get rid of the space heater I keep at my desk, too, but that’s not a sure thing.”

(On preventing Citrix Receiver from starting up with Windows:)
“Name: Citrix Receiver
“Data: ‘C:MenuUpdater.lnk’

“in Registry section
“Computer_LOCAL_MACHINE6432Node

“or, two lines further down :

“Name: Connection Center
“Data: ‘C:Files (x86)Client.exe’ /startup

“Would one of the two above be likely to be the one ?”

“On average, it costs me between $150 and $500 to speak at conference, in actual expenses. Plus $3,000 to $4,500 of my time to prepare the presentation.

“So it costs me quite a bit of money to do public speaking. And it has an impact on my family. This can’t be quantified in terms of dollar cost. But I keep doing it because I believe my message is important and I want to share my knowledge. And I keep learning new things when I present and mingle with other people that present at and attend conferences.”

(via: https://twitter.com/vavroom/status/1073285384140771328)

(On paying conference speakers—or at least covering their travel expenses:)
“Some things need to be said. I deeply love community/non-profit events, local groups and meet-ups — all run on incredible efforts of humble, kind people working hard to bring people together. These are incredible people doing incredible work. This message isn’t for them.

“At the same time, I’m very sad to see a huge number of commercial events (with ticket prices beyond $450) that expect speakers to speak for free and don’t cover flights and accommodation. That’s a toxic, broken culture with a fundamental lack of respect for time, effort and work.

“Yes, venues are expensive, and yes, so is catering, and yes, speaking budget are limited. But before spending thousands on food and roll-ups and notebooks and pins, allocate decent budgets for coaching and helping speakers, especially new speakers in the industry.

“Setting up a conference is a wonderful thought, but you need a financial plan of what it costs and how much you can spend. It’s not acceptable to push the costs over to speakers, and it’s not OK to expect them to cover their flights for ‘exposure’.

“On a personal note, I’ve been speaking a lot over all these years (Vitaly), yet I rarely get any consultancy projects from ‘exposure’ on stage, and more often than not the time away from family and company costs much more than a honorarium provided. You decide what’s OK for you.

“It’s remarkable how every now and again organizers take pride in providing you with a free Platinum Pass that grants access to all the talks and tracks (which apparently costs $2500) yet unwilling to cover more than 1 night accommodation or cover flights.

“Dear speakers, it’s not OK not to be paid at commercial events. Don’t submit proposals to conferences with a high ticket price that wouldn’t cover your expenses. Come up with a fair honorarium for your time, and if possible make exceptions for non-profits and community events.

“Dear organizers, respect your speakers. No fancy bells and whistles required; no fancy speaker dinners or speaker gifts. But always offer to pay speakers, even if it isn’t much, and always cover their expenses first. Help new speakers grow. Their time, work and efforts matter. ❤️”

This video offers a pretty good comparison of Kaweco’s piston cartridge converters to other converters. (Lamy’s screw-piston converter, for instance, looks pretty solid.)

(There’s also this handy caveat from one of the commenters—)
“You should warn folks that the converter also does not quite fit in the Sport. You need to expel a little ink before you replace the barrel or it will squirt ink through the nib.”

This video from Goulet Pens has some pretty good tips!

“1. Using a Bulb syringe for cleaning a Cartridge/Converter pen (00:11)
☆ “2. Flipping the nib over when writing on cheap paper (00:43)
☆ “3. ‘Shake down’ your pen to get it flowing (01:09)
“4. Remove the converter and fill directly from the bottle/sample (01:35)
“5. Diluting highly saturated inks to improve their behavior (01:57)
“6. Keep your fountain pens completely full or completely empty before flying (02:28)
“7. Cleaning out your demonstrator pen cap (02:57)
“8. Dipping the pen in water/ink bottle to get it flowing again (03:29)
“9. Flood the feed to get a more saturated ink (03:49)
“10. Let out a couple of drips of ink after filling (04:09)”

These are the oatmeal/caramel bars that Laura Laramore made for the 2018 MeFi Cookie Swap. (They’re really good!)

“If you’re looking to do a heteronormative couple’s night and need to agree on a movie, it appears the best choice might be to pop in one of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies or ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Apparently, both men and women are drawn to stories where an out-of-towner and a loyal lapdog team up to pass through a region of abnormally short residents on the advice of a magical entity and join a mission to solve a convoluted geopolitical struggle alongside an eclectic coterie of traveling companions — a stalwart guardian, an axe-toting hothead and an enigmatic denizen of the woods — in order to once again return to their bucolic existences.1

“That, or ‘The Princess Bride’ might be a good call. Great film.

“Still, there are differences in taste: Films in the men’s top 20 but not the women’s include ‘Pulp Fiction,’ ‘The Matrix,’ ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Goodfellas.’ Films disproportionately favored by women include ‘Dirty Dancing,’ the ‘Harry Potter’ series, ‘Pretty Woman,’ ‘Grease’ and ‘Titanic.’”

“You find yourself at a party where everyone is talking about favorite Christmas movies. Sure, you could say ‘Elf,’ which you know in the deep ventricles of your cold and bitter heart is an uplifting film that inspires you annually. But instead, you go for the classic: ‘Oh, my favorite Christmas movie is ‘Die Hard.’’

“What a clever thing you just did! You have cemented your credibility not only as a person who understands the subtext of action movies, but also an unconventional viewer who has surveyed the holiday canon and concluded that, nah, Bruce Willis saving Christmas is more your deal. At this point in the party you will light a cigarette and ride away from the conversation on your motorcycle.”

(And for good measure, here’s their tweet about this article: https://twitter.com/FiveThirtyEight/status/1071879661762818048)

“The only similarity between the stigma of being gay and the stigma of being conservative is both stigmas exist because conservatives are bad people.”

“Although Munchkin cats, when taken care of, can live about 12 to 15 years on average, there are some health problems that can develop due to their short legs. Lordosis is a condition that causes the spine to dip down and put pressure on the heart, lungs, and trachea, and it can be fatal as the organs begin to grow.”

Well, it sounds like Urban Decay brushes are pretty well received.

Their comments on the Alesis 3630 (which is what Try from My Life in Gaming uses:)
“Although it offers both flexibility (dual channel VCA-based peak/RMS compression plus two independent noise gates) and an entry-level price point, the 3630 has been the bane of many producers’ lives since its introduction two decades ago. There are numerous common complaints. It introduces distortion. It has a nasty habit of making everything sound dull and lifeless. The channels are often badly matched, rendering them useless for stereo applications. It adds noise.

“So why does it make the list? Because it basically defined the pumping sidechain compression sound which became a trademark of French house in the late 90s and conquered the world shortly afterwards.”

Side note: It looks like Try from My Life in Gaming uses the Alesis 3630 audio compressor (shown at around 25m:00s).

(The Alesis 3630 was also named as among the top 20 compressors by these folks: https://www.attackmagazine.com/reviews/the-best/top-20-best-hardware-compressors-ever-made/ , where they say—)
“Although it offers both flexibility (dual channel VCA-based peak/RMS compression plus two independent noise gates) and an entry-level price point, the 3630 has been the bane of many producers’ lives since its introduction two decades ago. There are numerous common complaints. It introduces distortion. It has a nasty habit of making everything sound dull and lifeless. The channels are often badly matched, rendering them useless for stereo applications. It adds noise.

“So why does it make the list? Because it basically defined the pumping sidechain compression sound which became a trademark of French house in the late 90s and conquered the world shortly afterwards.”

(This post makes a lot of good points.)
“When it comes to talking about the company values, for example, it’s always in the first person: ‘we are risk-takers, we are thoughtful and careful, we turn lead into gold with a mere touch of our godlike fingers.’ But when it comes to pressure it’s always in the second person or third person: it’s always something you need to deal with.

“Who is responsible for the pressure? It’s a mysterious mystery of strange mystery.

“But of course it’s not. Almost always it’s the employer who is creating the pressure. So let’s switch those job requirements to first person and see how it reads:

“• ‘We set aggressive deadlines, and we will pressure you to meet them.’
“• ‘We will say and do things you might find offensive, and we will pressure you.’
“• ‘We set tight deadlines, and we will pressure you to meet them.’
“• ‘We will pressure you, and we will make you work long hours.’

“That sounds even worse, doesn’t it?”

(Well, this seems like a good sign—)
“Enable the noncontiguous layout only with large documents.
“This change may improve the editor’s drawing and scrolling behaviors.”

More about “noncontiguous layout”:
“Noncontiguous layout is an optional layout manager behavior. Previously, both glyph generation and layout were always performed, in order, from the beginning to the end of the document. When noncontiguous layout is turned on, however, the layout manager gains the option of performing glyph generation or layout for one portion of the document without having done so for previous sections. This can provide significant performance improvements for large documents.

“Noncontiguous layout is not turned on automatically because direct clients of NSLayoutManager typically have relied on the previous behavior—for example, by forcing layout for a given glyph range, and then assuming that previous glyphs would therefore be laid out.”
(https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nslayoutmanager#1654004)

“You can use different methods to convert quotes. Greg Pittman wrote a Python script for fixing smart quotes in text. I wrote mine in GNU awk (gawk).

“To start, I wrote a simple gawk function to evaluate a single character. If that character is a quote, the function determines if it should output a plain quote or a smart quote. The function looks at the previous character; if the previous character is a space, the function outputs a left smart quote. Otherwise, the function outputs a right smart quote. The script does the same for single quotes.”

“This affliction has a name: ‘cute aggression.’ And for the first time, researchers have begun to map what’s happening in our brains when we decide we want to chomp on a chubby baby leg (in a friendly way!). Their findings, published last week in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, suggest that experiencing cuteness sends many people on a neurochemical roller coaster, with their minds’ attempts to balance themselves resulting in bizarre, intense displays toward tiny, helpless beings. This over-the-top response might serve an important purpose: to ensure that those of us who experience cute aggression don’t spend so much time cooing at a baby or puppy that we forget to take care of it.”

“Savings tips are classist garbage and belong in the trash.”

“‘Everything’s coming up Milhouse!’ - exclamation:

“1) An exclamation meant to convey a sudden and unexpected change in fortune such that a person prone to unfortunate or disappointing occurences instead experiences some modest amount of good fortune, most likely in an unusual capacity.

“‘I tripped over my own feet but after I hit the ground I found five bucks. Everything’s coming up Milhouse!’

“2) An exclamation of excitement about a recent postive turn of events.

“‘I got that new job I wanted! Everything’s coming up Milhouse!’”

“Tiny Apple Watch tip. TLDR is, try tapping the charging icon on your Apple Watch when it is in Nightstand mode (plugged in, on its side, showing the time in big letters). It’ll replace the lightning bolt with an exact charge percentage, similar to what shows in the charge complication.

“Tiny tip, thought you might find this interesting.”

This page goes over how you can use FastScripts to set up an AppleScript to run in Safari with a custom keyboard shortcut (such as for setting up Safari to open new tabs next to the current tab: https://daringfireball.net/2018/12/safari_new_tab_next_to_current_tab).

“A few months ago I asked on Twitter if there was a secret preference in Safari that would change this to what I want — which is for new tabs to always open right next to the current tab. There is no such preference. I set about trying trying to figure out if this could be done using AppleScript, but I couldn’t figure it out.

“Jeff Johnson figured it out, though, and was kind enough to share the solution and explain the rather ungainly syntax required.”

To set this up:
1. Open Script Editor and paste in the code from Gruber’s site.

2. Save that script to [Home] → Library → Scripts → Applications → Safari, and name it something like “Safari - open new tab next to current.scpt”. (You might need to create the “Safari” folder there.)

3. From FastScript’s menubar icon, choose [Icon] → FastScripts → Preferences → Script Shortcuts. Locate this script within the tree view and assign it the shortcut Command+T.

[Some of these steps you inferred from: https://red-sweater.com/blog/1949/restore-safaris-downloads-keyboard-shortcut]

“John Gruber first points out that Safari always places new tabs on the rightmost side of its tab list. He then elegantly walks through the process of getting Safari to create new tabs just to the right of the current tab.

“It’s not trivial, but definitely interesting and worth the read. Even if this particular tab issue is not a problem for you, knowing how to create a script and assign it a command-key shortcut that overrides what’s built-in has lots of value.”

(It looks like Schiit’s Gungnir is among Darko’s recommended DACs?)
“Also, please accept my belated thanks for recommending the Gungnir DAC.  It feels kind of weird to call a $1250 DAC a bargain, but I think it is.”

(The Schiit Gungnir goes for $899 for the regular version or $1,249 for the multibit version: http://www.schiit.com/products/gungnir)

If you should need a replacement Airplay 2 speaker for the bathroom, perhaps these folks could be worth a look? (Then again, considering the compatibility woes with the Libratone, perhaps there may be something to be said for getting a first-party HomePod from Apple?)

“I decided to dig into the matter, and I discovered that visual preview is a nuanced and occasionally vexing issue in the world of live TV streaming services. The ability to skip past commercials with ease can depend not only on which service you choose, but on the device you're using and even the button you press to fast forward on your remote. After a whole bunch of testing, here's what I've learned.”

(On conferences paying for speakers’ travel—)
“Agreed. It should always be budget neutral to get there and back.”

“A fancy speaker dinner is nice - but not as a substitute for expenses being covered. Too many voices aren’t heard in our industry: carers, disabled people, developers in lower-income countries, because they can’t travel if their expenses aren’t met.”

“The Satanic tribute to the fall of man is part of a campaign by the Satanic Temple that reminds local governments of their obligation not to favor any particular religious view. The Temple, it should be noted, is not a Devil worshiping cult. They are more like a band of secular pranksters that troll government institutions which might otherwise give preferential treatment to Christians.”

(On QWERTY not being designed to slow down typists—)
“The first time I heard the lie, I was in fifth grade. Mr. Ward took me aside (or maybe he told the whole class, it was a long time ago) to tell me about the wonders of Dvorak, a different keyboard layout that was scientifically designed to be more efficient than the standard layout. That layout was called QWERTY, he explained, and it had been created to slow typists down. You see, in the olden days, mechanical typewriters could jam if people hit the keys too quickly, so they had to put the common letters far apart from each other. The modern keyboard, I was told, was a holdover of the mechanical age.

“Since then, I’ve heard this story repeated a thousand times. So many times, I had assumed it was true. But Jimmy Stamp over at Smithsonian points to evidence released by Japanese researchers that, in fact, the story is bunk.”

“The sound you think of Bald Eagles making is actually the screech of a Red Tailed Hawk. Eagles sound kind of like seagulls and that couldn’t stand, so they’ve been dubbed over forever.”

“When you get into VueScan, the first thing you’re going to notice is the Spartan nature of the user interface. This software, visually, seems like a flashback from the nineties. There are hardly any graphic elements to be found. There are six tabs on the left moving from ‘Input’ on the far left to ‘Output’ and ‘Prefs’ on the right. Seems fairly intuitive. Unfortunately, that’s about where the user friendliness ends. A lot of my working through VueScan has been trial and error. There are a plethora of options under each subsection, and although some do have sliders, it’s difficult to determine what does what without some experimentation.”

“The chickadees are a group of North American birds in the tit family included in the genus Poecile. Species found in North America are referred to as chickadees, while other species in the genus are called tits.

“They are small-sized birds overall, usually having the crown of the head and throat patch distinctly darker than the body.”

“Meeting the Federal Railroad Administration’s onerous and antiquated safety rules has been a big problem for passenger rail operators that use the Federal Railway System (commuter rail and inter-city rail, like Amtrak). The U.S. doesn’t have a very large domestic train car market, so importing train cars from Europe and Asia is often the cheapest and lowest-risk option.

“But FRA rules had required significant design changes. Most important, American train cars had to be built to withstand 800,000 pounds of frontal impact. Former Amtrak CEO David Gunn complained U.S. trains had to be designed like ‘high-velocity bank vaults.’ Rather than just bulk up, European and Asian trains instead are designed to absorb impacts and avoid collisions in the first place. And they have better safety records.

“In the past, transit agencies and Amtrak had to order trains from European or Asian suppliers and then modify the cars to meet American standards — which often caused big problems. Philadelphia’s SEPTA system, for example, had to return 120 brand new rail cars thanks to an engineering defect in 2016.”

“Thread. This is why I’m generally not on board for email interviews at this point. Aside from me doing the work, there’s very little spontaneity in my responses and I think that doesn’t make for a great interview.”

The TechMoan chap makes a good point about neck speakers—they could be handy for listening to podcasts around the house since they don’t keep you isolated from other sounds.

(On muting ads at gas stations—)
“Whether your pump advertises it or not, however, there’s a handy way to shut the dang thing up. There’s an array of buttons along the side of the screen. One of these buttons (usually) mutes the ads. Which one is anyone’s guess, as different companies choose a different mute button. To figure out which one, just start at the top and start pressing each button until you find the one that gives you the blissful silence you’re looking for.”

(Hoo boy—more nonsense from Fujitsu:)
“The 64 bit application for macOS is not provided for the old scanner models such as ScanSnap S1500, S1500M, and etc. because their support periods have already expired. If you wish to have the 64 bit application for macOS, please consider purchasing ScanSnap products that are currently available on the market.”

On “whom” not being worth keeping around even if editors might know how to use it—
“And I don't think difficulty alone is really the right question. You have to ask what that effort to use it correctly really gets you. If there's no benefit or it actually causes harm because readers are distracted by the stuffiness, then it's not worth it.”

“Lovely, unchecking (Google) Contacts syncing freed up 92% of my CPU.”

“To accurately reflect this phenomenon, The Washington Post Fact Checker is introducing a new category — the Bottomless Pinocchio. That dubious distinction will be awarded to politicians who repeat a false claim so many times that they are, in effect, engaging in campaigns of disinformation.

“The bar for the Bottomless Pinocchio is high: The claims must have received three or four Pinocchios from The Fact Checker, and they must have been repeated at least 20 times. Twenty is a sufficiently robust number that there can be no question the politician is aware that his or her facts are wrong. The list of Bottomless Pinocchios will be maintained on its own landing page.”

“In interviews, eight current and former temps described their employment at NPR as a stressful, precarious experience. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to not jeopardize current or future assignments.

“Like Botero, several said they didn’t feel prepared for some of the assignments they were given. They also described a sense of vulnerability and insecurity, given that NPR maintains a large pool of temps who can easily replace them.”

“A 2016 survey of UK users with access needs found 71% will click away from a site they find hard to use and only 1 in 10 will report access issues.”

“The Wife was stressing out because the sheer number of people we were sending Christmahanakwanzika cards to this year. She usually handwrites out the envelopes, but there’s just too many now. I suggested cutting back, or using email, and was promptly put in my place.

“I suggested a Mail Merge, and while The Wife is a competent Microsoft Office user, the Mythical Mail Merge is still out of reach. I don’t think I’ve met a non-programmer who has pulled it off. It’s a shame really, especially when it comes to envelopes.”

(As Recommendo put it—)
“As I previously recommended, Global Entry membership is a great bargain if you fly a lot. Not just homecoming international travel but for TSA-Precheck domestically. With it I rarely wait in line in US airports. Here is a very complete, free, third-party, comprehensive guide to evaluating its perks (some premium credit cards will pay for it), and navigating its bureaucratic hurdles (the best airports to get an interview), the kind of info you won’t find on the government webpage. — KK”

“This is a collection of free resources to help you with your handwriting.”

(Perhaps this may have some good wishlist ideas?)
“As I’ve done for the last five years, I’ve spent the past few weeks scouring the internet for the best 2018 gift guides and pulled a few of the most interesting items from each. Think of it as a curated meta-guide for your holiday giving. Let’s dig in.”

“Welcome to America General Hospital! Seems you have an oozing head injury there. Let’s check your insurance. Okay, quick ‘heads up’ — ha! — that your plan may not cover everything today. What’s that? You want a reasonable price quote, upfront, for our services? Sorry, let me explain a hospital to you: we give you medical care, then we charge whatever the hell we want for it.

“If you don’t like that, go fuck yourself and die.”

This is that Medium post that goes over that “Equity vs. Equality” image macro (with the kids standing on different numbers of boxes as they watch a ballgame).

As Med put it, “This strikes me as being the correct take on the matter. To understand Millennials, assess the amount of debt most of them are carrying.”
(via: https://twitter.com/Mededitor/status/1071021521978777600)

“There are various arguments to be made against cashless businesses — the inconvenience falling to people too scattered to leave the house with a wallet being merely one of them. The strongest objection relates to the ways in which rejecting physical currency plays out as a bias toward the poor, advancing segregation in retail environments.

“According to government data, close to 7 percent of American households have no one in them with a checking or savings account, while an additional 19 percent are considered ‘underbanked,’ meaning that they rely on products or services outside the conventional financial system. These include money orders and payday and pawnshop loans. The majority of people who fall into these categories are nonwhite.”

(Some say that downgrading to Citrix Receiver to v4.9 may help with the gray screen of death problems. And if you had wanted to ensure that your machine didn’t automatically upgrade past that, it looks like you can install it with CitrixReceiver.exe /AutoUpdateCheck=manual)

“To configure auto-update settings as an administrator using command-line settings during Citrix Receiver installation:

“• /AutoUpdateCheck = auto/manual/disabled
“• /AutoUpdateStream= LTSR/Current. Where, LTSR refers to Long Term Service Release and Current refers to the current release.
“• /DeferUpdateCount= any value between -1 and 30
“• /AURolloutPriority= auto/fast/medium/slow

“For example: CitrixReceiver.exe / AutoUpdateCheck=auto /AutoUpdateStream= Current /DeferUpdateCount=-1 / AURolloutPriority= fast
”

It looks like you can download older versions of Citrix Receiver here (such as 4.9, which some say may fix the gray screen of death problems).

(On fixing Citrix Receiver’s gray screen of death:)
“It does also happen with Windows 7 clients, and downgrading to Receiver 4.10 works there as well. Install Receiver with /AutoUpdateCheck=disabled switch to avoid recurrence.”

(This potentially also seems relevant since Citrix Receiver seems to blame the gray screen of death on DirectX incompatibilities—)
“Took me a bit of time to find the answer at the microsoft site, but here it is.
“To use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to determine the version of DirectX that is installed on your computer, follow these steps:
“1. Click Start, and then click Run.
“2. Type dxdiag, and then click OK.
“3. On the System tab, note the version of DirectX displayed on the DirectX Version line.
“4. On the DirectX Files tab, check the version information for each DirectX file.
“5. When you are finished checking file versions, click Exit.

“If Windows cannot find the dxdiag program, DirectX version 5.0 or earlier is installed on your computer. If this is the case, download and install the current version of DirectX.”

(On “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”:)
“I’ve read about how the song is not at all about what we think it’s about, but that doesn’t change the fact that in 2018, it sounds rapey as hell. It’s like using ‘niggardly.’ The word is not at all racist, but it sure as shit sounds bad.”

🤔
“After upgrading Receiver from 4.9 to 4.10, some clients cannot access published desktops and apps.

“For desktops, they see a grey screen. For apps, the app can be launched but the image of the app is not visible, only the minimized icon is visible on the Windows taskbar.”

(In case you should need a recipe for youtube-dl:)
“I believe what you’re after is youtube-dl -4 -f ‘best[ext=mp4]’”

“This 1) skips IPv6 which is the thing that causes the slow start due to a poor happy eyeballs implementation and 2) downloads the best quality available as a single, pre-merged MP4 (usually 1080p or 720p)”

“After seeing this @benfraserlee tweet, I did a search for every time Kevin Hart tweeted ‘fag,’ ‘homo,’ or ‘gay.’ It was…a lot. And he seems to have basically stopped tweeting those words after 2011 — i.e. the year his first stand-up movie became a hit.”

This is that site that Roy Wood Jr. recommended for keeping up with comics’ appearances on late-night shows.

(On comparing Hydra to the old TiVo UI:)
“I decided to live with Hydra for the day with the intention of downgrading the next day once it was completely setup. Here is what happened next:
“1. I found that the latest version of Hydra was much better than the version I was using back in March. The performance was much better. I’d say that the interface is just as quick as the older version.
“2. There are more customization options so I can configure the UI to be more to my liking. In fact some of the options that were turned on by default such as the episode strip (which I hated) in recordings are now turned off by default.
“3. It seems to cache apps when you open them. For example if I load Netflix and then go back to live TV, if I then go back to Netflix it opens immediately without having to reload the app. That’s actually a nice feature.
“4. I did verify that the downgrade process is now available and working. I used the command codes and it immediately started the process. When I got to the warning screen I cancelled out of it.
“5. There has been some confusion as to which button is the correct ‘rewind’ button for the procedure. I found it interesting that the TiVo Support Representative told me that it was the ‘Skip Back’ button directly above the ‘A’ button. That is not correct. It is in fact the << button which is on the circular dial to the left of the pause || button.

“I’ve decided that I’m going to call TiVo and have them force the Hydra UI to my two Mini’s. I’m going to use it for a while and see if I change my mind. I can always downgrade later if I want. Hopefully some of this helps if you are trying to downgrade and are experiencing issues.”

“So after spending an excruciating 3 days with the Hydra UI on my Roamio and 6 Mini’s (and with nasty family feedback), I posted the request to rollback on the Tivo forum site. I was sent a message to contact Tivo support directly to find out how. Tivo support was very helpful and gave me the following instructions which they OK’d for forum posting. KEEP IN MIND YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING!!!

“For the Roamio:
“1.) Go into Menu- Help- Reset to Defaults- Repeat Guided Setup- Select
“2.) Press Thumbs Down 2 times (NOT 3!), now press Rewind 2 times, Now press Select (not Enter)
“3.) Roamio will immediately go to that right arrow screen, then screen blank, then you’ll get a message letting you know that the rollback process has begun”

“The received BOLT VOX is, first, hopefully the 3TB model; verify you have 6 tuners and you basically have a BOLT+ – but running the Hydra/gen4 UI and with a VOX Remote.

“You can downgrade the OS on your BOLT VOX to return to the previous UI experience. There’s a thread somewhere about detailing the process.”

“To use voice, you must be running Hydra.”

This page has some pretty great anecdotes about how Steelers fans reacted when it was threatened for the Browns to be moved out of Cleveland.

“The Herbi HocusFocus app makes it easier to see where keyboard focus is on the screen.
 
“To install the app on a computer with Windows 10, download the app from the Microsoft Store, Herbi HocusFocus at the Microsoft Store. For computers running Windows 7 or Windows 8, click Install Herbi HocusFocus.”

“You can scroll horizontally with a scroll wheel by holding shift. Just checked on High Sierra and it works for both Safari tabs and Apple Music. Even without holding shift I can scroll Safari tabs and other native tabs, but not Finder tabs 🤷‍♂️”

“This happens to me all the time. I’m in an app that’s attached to my home WiFi and I walk (or drive, as a passenger) away from my house. As I move further from my house, the signal gets progressively weaker and whatever app I’m in just hangs, stuck waiting for a reply from my home WiFi that’s never coming.”

“We will move to a Chromium-compatible web platform for Microsoft Edge on the desktop. Our intent is to align the Microsoft Edge web platform simultaneously (a) with web standards and (b) with other Chromium-based browsers. This will deliver improved compatibility for everyone and create a simpler test-matrix for web developers.”

This is actually a pretty good explainer on when it’s okay to refer to trademarks, such as mentioning “Coke” in a film.

This video actually has some pretty good tips for helping to prevent your glasses from sliding down your nose.

“So, how would you feel if you found out that you could make your glasses stay put for good just by using something you literally have hanging on your wrist at all times?

“All you need is a hair tie for this life-changing glasses hack that YouTube beauty guru ArayaLia Mua has blessed us with.

“Simply take two thin hair ties (the same color as your glasses) and wrap them around the end of the ends of your glasses at the two points that end up behind your ears when you put them on.”