Natalie’s voice has only gotten better with age. It’s lost that edge of brightness and gained more in the way of world-weariness. It’s an improvement, or perhaps it’s just fitted to its era — just as her 90s voice was.

I can’t believe I first listened to a 10,000 Maniacs song in 1989 or so.

I don’t put on many 10,000 Maniacs songs these days — old or new. They don’t do much for me now. They are artifacts of a time long past. But I’ll always watch Natalie perform if it’s well-recorded.

Compare and contrast with this:

I watched that live in 1993. IMO one of the best live performances ever. And that outfit is amazing, too.

Everyone was just so damn perky and optimistic in the 90s. It was such a different time, so much so that I look back on it — contemplate living through it — and I can hardly comprehend how much has changed, and how quickly. The person who was me in 1993 in many ways is barely related to who I am now.

I can’t listen to 10,000 Maniacs songs anymore because it’s like a dissimilar alternate universe that I no longer understand.

Just look at Natalie, look at them all: they have no idea what’s coming and how that optimism will be replaced with the narrative of diminution, of loss, of decline and dissolution.

Look at who we were. My god.

This is how awesome systemd is:

I physically moved a Linux server from one place to another.

The server had two separate dual-port NICs with one port on each NIC bonded (teamed, in Windows’ terms). It had worked fine for almost a year.

Then I moved the server and re-connected the NICs — using a photograph, so I know it was correct (verified it three times).

After the move, systemd had moved/mis-identified one of the ports in the bond, so even though the cables were plugged in correctly (I had a photo — easy to verify), one half of the bond was not functional. (In other words, a port that systemd had called “Bill” was now called “Jennifer.” Since the bond software identifies ports by name, it was thus broken.)

So something that worked for 10 years in Linux without a problem is now completely unpredictably non-functional due to systemd.

That’s quality, right there.

Well, it is good that le Pen lost but not that Macron won.

Either way, the losers will be the French people and the world — just as in the 2016 election in the US.

Neoliberalism will die, but it’s gonna take a lot of us out at the same time in its death throes.

Richard Stallman is someone I used to disagree with pretty strongly on most things.

Turns out he was right — about everything.

Dammit, I hate it when that happens. Talk about seeing the future so clearly that everyone despises you for it.

IYIs, Intellectuals Yet Idiots, favor things that work in theory but not in practice to things that work in practice but not in theory.

— NassimNicholasTaleb (@nntaleb) May 6, 2017

That is one of the better insights I’ve read lately.

PC market sees its first quarterly sales increase in five years and worldwide tablet shipments have declined 8.5% over the past year, Q1 is the tenth straight quarter in decline.

The death of the PC has always been much-exaggerated. Unless there are vast and not-soon-achievable technological improvements, the phone nor the tablet will be a work-ready device anytime soon. And lots of people still need to work (even when they are at home).

Tech hype is just that, yet all too many people believe it every time.

I’m not glad that Clinton lost. Trump is a tragedy and a farce in Orangina form.

But I am glad for the effect that Clinton’s loss had on her idiotic and delusional supporters. They make me laugh every day. Sometimes in despairing wonder, yes, but a laugh is a laugh.

Mark Zuckberberg could be our next president. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Mark Zuckerberg is definitely running for POTUS. An excerpt from my piece dissecting his road trip around the U.S. https://t.co/70Dl38zNjp pic.twitter.com/yXEPdc6ECU

— Sage Lazzaro (@SageLazzaro) May 3, 2017

The only advantage of this is that he’d be the youngest president in history. That is not at all a bad thing.

The disadvantage is that he is an evil sociopath.

Russia Tries To Deliver The Killing Blow To VPN Use.

Eventually, the same will happen in the West. VPNs are a method of existing outside of state and corporate control, and won’t be tolerated for long.

It’s not 4K, but if you want what appears to be a pretty decent monitor for a good price, check this one out.

It’s still ~123 PPI and an IPS panel. Great for $170.

I remember when a monitor like this was $3,000+.

It is shocking when you think about it how much is done societally solely to benefit rich people.

If most people realized how much better lives rich people live than the average person, there’d be an immediate revolt.

Starting to use Google Chrome more and more as Firefox is slated to destroy any reason for using it as version 57 approaches.

Unsurprisingly, most extensions (and many of the most common and useful ones) are not compatible and never will be.

I understand the reasons Mozilla made most of the decisions it has made, but I think they are stupid reasons that have only harmed the organization and its goals.

That said, the organization is really terrible (as most are) at gathering data and interpreting it. Their data approach is “use the data to find what we already believe is true” rather than attempting to discover the truth.

Mozilla will be dead and gone in 3-5 years.

Taking away control from the user has absolutely nothing to do with security, by the way (these are not mutually exclusive; that is a false dichotomy). It’s just a convenient cover story. Mozilla is just following the spirit of its times, just as most people and organizations do.

And that spirit is paternalistic authoritarianism.

I plan to stop using Firefox by the end of this year. I’ve already stopped one small company from using Firefox and switched them to Chrome, and will do so for any others where I have an advisory role.

I’ve watched the first six episodes of 13 Reasons Why and I know why so many who fashion themselves adults despise it, and it has nothing to do with its likelihood of increasing suicide attempts.

No, it’s because it depicts teens as wantonly cruel and adults as willfully oblivious. In other words, it depicts reality.

It puts a spotlight on the barbarism and sadism that adults either ignore in their own kids or actually promote.

People don’t like the show because it’s too like life, too ready to focus on very real failures.

It’s not superheroes shooting lasers out of their eyes or virtuous teens uniting to defeat an evil empire. No, it’s a girl like millions of other abandoned by everyone around her, thrown to the wolves, and then told it’s her own fault or that she just wanted attention.

Only a show that touches on something real could cause such an outcry.

That’s the reason for the ban attempts and why people are attempting to derail a second season. The work is a real and unflinching indictment of them, our society, and its failures.

The thing that liberals seem not to understand about re-negotiating NAFTA or similar is that any transition to a new state will result in some pain. That something might hurt is not a reason not to do it.

For instance: going to the dentist hurts but is better than letting all your teeth rot.

I am not actually advocating for or against re-negotiating NAFTA here. What I am arguing against is the contention that if something causes any discomfort or even a period of re-organization, that it is therefore not worth attempting.

Curiously, (pseudo) liberals had no problem excusing or even declaiming the merits of all the difficult re-adjustments that occurred and are still occurring due to treaties and other agreements such as NAFTA.

Funny that, huh?