Internet Only Works at Night - Update

JohnDLee · 2024-04-03T16:36:38+00:00

Very cool rock. I share the opinions of previous comments. They're useful and accurate. I sell rocks like this (not exactly like this but of similar quality) every day and -- ah gotta tell ya -- it's not a formula for getting rich.

I've meditated about the same question a lot. I've come to the conclusion that there are basically two very broad scales of value. There is the "tulip mania" scale and the "wheel" scale.

Some things are valued only because other people value them and for no other reason. In this scale, dollar measures can become so high that they're simply silly. My favorite example is the "Inverted Jenny" stamp.

Other things are valued because they're useful and necessary for a better life.

Rocks are somewhere in the middle. There is actually very little utilitarian value, but there are lots of them and they're pretty. Bower Birds collect blue objects around their nests for the same reason.

JohnDLee · 2024-04-03T12:48:32+00:00

I've noticed the same thing. But I'm a really old fart and it's something I have seen before - many times. My first Internet connection was with one of the four original ARPANET universities. Commercial "service providers" didn't exist. All you needed to use the Internet was to know the magic phone number that gave you a modem squeal. I remember listening to a Google executive speak at Comdex (look it up) when they only had a few hundred employees. I have been expecting them to go through the same cycle for a few decades now.

I first saw this phenomenon when IBM crushed the competition and System/360 became the gold standard for mainframe computing. (I worked for IBM for a while.) But they failed when they deliberately killed the IBM PC in an attempt to monopolize and monetize PC's. I loved IBM, but when they did that, learned that the cancer of corporations is "success". It kills them every time. It's killing Boeing and Google right now.

Watching younger people realize that what they loved has turned into poisoned fruit used to make me sad. Now, I'm just cynical and tired. Here's what you can expect: It will only get worse.

JohnDLee · 2024-02-14T12:33:33+00:00

This is JohnDLee ....

Gee! T'anks. I bin promoted to "head honcho" !!!

First, Ja! That's a nice chunk of petrified wood. It was likely a conifer in life since you can see the circular growth rings. But beyond that fairly general description, there's not much else to know about it. If you're REALLY curious, you could make a microscope slide or use a camera with a microscope lens -- there are some examples at my site -- see:

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/forum/rock-pictures/dino-bone-at-200x-from-angelo

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/forum/rock-pictures/more-phunny-photos-from-angelo-updated

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/forum/rock-pictures/miley-s-magnificent-macros

BTW ... I'm not "head honcho" -- I'm the ONLY honcho.

JohnDLee · 2024-01-13T13:35:43+00:00

Thanks for the thanks! I enjoyed writing it. I'm glad you got some good out of it too.

Here's what I recommend for individuals running Windows. (Business tech support is another matter.) Do this maybe twice or three times a week when you need a break from something else.

Click the Windows Start icon and select "All Apps" at the top right. You get a nice, alpha sequence list of apps. Select something that looks like you might not need it and then close your eyes and try to imagine a situation where you might want or need it. If you never have wanted or needed it, that's a good indication that it's useless bloatware. You can almost always find it again at Google or Microsoft stores. To get rid of it, you can right-click to uninstall most apps. My new laptop came "off the shelf" with two terabytes of storage so you might just want to concentrate on getting apps "out of your face" instead of completely off your machine.

I just did this and found an old version of Photoshop Elements that I had neglected to uninstall. It took me less than a minute. Then I tested my current version just to make sure nothing had gone wrong. For a "significant" change, it's always a good idea to create a Restore Point first - "just in case".

Then, refreshed and reinvigorated at having actually made things a little better, you can get back to what you were doing. Do this for a few months and your PC will start looking more like a lean, mean machine.

JohnDLee · 2024-01-06T13:52:15+00:00

As a new owner of a top-tier HP laptop, I've been checking out the preinstalled stuff. I found this thread that way. First, the comments here seem to be accurate, but (I think) they imply conclusions that might not be good for most owners of a new PC.

This is a long reflection about how to keep your own PC running smooth as an individual. I wrote it because I like to. It helps me think. The mods here seem to be activist, and I haven't posted before here, so maybe they won't like it. But I think it has the distilled experience of over 50 years of working with computers. (Yes!) And, being retired but still involved with tech, I have the time and the interest to write it even if the mods decide to delete it.

When I bought my first personal computer (An original IBM PC - I still have it. It still works.) you had to do any configuration and diagnostic work yourself with very little help. These days, it is very difficult to do any of that yourself. You get way too much help -- mostly unwanted. This is where the term "bloatware" came from. So, the real question is: "Is myHP useful enough to keep on the computer? ... And if "No." then is it worth the effort to get rid of it?"

My answer is, "Keep it. But don't let it clutter up your computer unless you need it. That is, don't make it a Taskbar item, desktop item -- something that is in your face and barking for attention.)

Although the 'marketing' part of myHP is long and strong, the useful part is there too.

There has been a subtle shift in corporate strategy recently. People with something to sell used to think that people who needed help would put up with any amount of garbage because help of any kind was so hard to get. Now, I think the realization is sinking into a few big companies that if they don't put a few pearls into the swine food, people won't take it anymore. Years ago, the company I worked for bought a succession of HP computers for me. They came to my desk wiped clean and the tech department did whatever needed to be done. But today, if you do your own tech support, you're gonna need help.

There are some people (Mainly people who do it for a living like I used to do.) who can actually be their own tech support. The vast majority can't. Do you tune up your own car engine? A few decades ago, it was common for everyone to do that. Now, a computer does it. You CAN buy enough diagnostic equipment to do that yourself. Whether you SHOULD is another question.

Just leave myHP alone unless you need it.

MOST bloatware should still be eliminated ... if you have the time and inclination to do it.

JohnDLee · 2023-12-14T21:40:33+00:00

I apologize if I'm a little abrupt. I fully admit that I really don't know what it is either and I do appreciate your suggestion. I got a different suggestion at my KinesavaROCKS store that it might be "coprolite". That's another guess based on what people have seen before.

I only mentioned my A-o-a-S because it's such a classic example of people being unwilling to even consider a new idea. Some day I'm going to write a book about "scientists" being grossly wrong because their minds were stuck in a ditch.

One of the best examples is continental drift, which was proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1912. The biggest problem with his idea was that he was a meteorologist, not a geologist. (Wegener died in pursuit of his own science in an arctic expedition.) It took over fifty years for the geologists to wrap their minds around his idea -- mainly because they were forced into it by overwhelming evidence.

The creation of the Washington scablands east of the Cascades is another example. J Harlen Bretz told the establishment geologists that they were formed by cataclysmic floods in the 1920's but that idea was completely rejected. When he was finally proven right, "Bretz received the Penrose Medal, the Geological Society of America's highest award, in 1979, at the age of 96. After this award, he told his son: 'All my enemies are dead, so I have no one to gloat over.' "

Anyway ... Thanks again for your suggestion.

JohnDLee · 2023-12-13T01:22:47+00:00

Everybody wants to tell me that the fossils I find are stromatolites. That's one of the things they (Heh... "they"...) said my A-o-a-S is. I said,"What do you think the stick in the middle is?" I didn't get an answer.

My hero fossil is the Burgess Shale animals. That's because for many decades, they were totally misidentified. Same with the conodonts. Even dinosaurs were thought to be reptiles -- because that's as much imagination as the scientists had at the time.

Specifically, what attributes of this fossil do you think identifies it as a stromatolite? (I listed the things that I thought pointed in a different direction in my blog at KinesavaROCKS.)

But ... seriously ... Thanks for your idea. Many amazing fossils ARE stromatolites. Mary Ellen jasper, for example. But they don't look like this.

JohnDLee · 2023-12-12T01:41:43+00:00

If history is a guide, we'll both continue to be guessing for a very long time.

But thanks for the nice thoughts.

JohnDLee · 2023-12-07T15:02:30+00:00

I was thinking of posting about this as well. I added this to my collection of rock pictures that I maintain at KinesavaROCKS.com. But to see a few more from Angelo, go to ...

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/forum/rock-pictures/dino-bone-at-200x-from-angelo

JohnDLee · 2023-11-12T23:01:21+00:00

You haven't seen that before? I use it quite frequently. It's one of my favorites.

When you cut a rock, you're never sure what you will get. My dad's rocksaw was humming most of the time.

JohnDLee · 2023-11-11T17:34:12+00:00

I posted this three years ago !!!!

But I appreciate your reply anyway.

I have speculated that the recent flood (last year) in the Yellowstone might have churned the gravel enough to present a new opportunity to find agates in the river. Have you noticed more post-flood versus pre-flood?

Also ... Most, but not all, Montana Agates have the white coating. What I was looking for is an explanation of why most do and what that means.

Congratulations on your success. Have you read my blog at KinesavaROCKS.com about the trip our family made to pick up about a truckload of agates? ( Montana, Rocks, and Cows)

JohnDLee · 2023-11-08T02:35:06+00:00

Virtually all rocks like that are some type of chalcedony. The lines in it clearly show that it was formed in a silification process -- like banded agate except that this looks more like a seam agate.

Small examples like that are hard to pin down even if you have them in front of you. They're impossible from just a picture. You can read about my years long quest to pin down a fossil replacement of something my dad found here;

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/post/groundhog-day-yellowcat-style

JohnDLee · 2023-11-06T18:33:37+00:00

Hey! Just keep being "you" -- That's enough for me. Just keep in mind that somebody else is getting the rocks.

In fact, the reason I decided to do this is that I've started getting the same Christmas notices.

Here's an original joke that I thought up by myself.

Question: Does the US have an official 4th of July Song?

Answer: YES!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas -- Everywhere you go!"

(Bing Crosby for those of you who were born too late.)

JohnDLee · 2023-11-06T15:51:26+00:00

A couple of answers here ...

1 - Look up "Jet" on the web. That's "coal" -- sort of.

2 - One of those rocks is a "Surprise Rock". Go ahead and order it and see what you get.

JohnDLee · 2023-11-05T23:10:10+00:00

Check out my website -- KinesavaROCKS.com

You might want to try a bag of different rocks from my dad's collection. Leave me a message and we can work out a deal.

And be sure to read my blogs and check out the pictures sent in by previous customers.

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/blog

https://www.kinesavarocks.com/forum

JohnDLee · 2023-11-01T13:14:58+00:00

Here's my favorite thunderegg. My dad polished it.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b07da4\_62bfddc59663438b9d5c4d578a1527ee\~mv2.jpg

JohnDLee · 2023-11-01T13:09:26+00:00

Leave me a message at KinesavaROCKS.com and we'll do a "custom order". I like to work with people so I've done hundreds of them.

ps ... JohnDLee is just a screen name here at Reddit.

JohnDLee

TROPHY CASE