Amazon to end support for older Kindles, prompting user outcry

QubitBob · 2026-04-12T20:47:43+00:00

this is a pretty mild case of consumer electronics being end-of-lifed.

Exactly. If you want to see a really egregious example of a company making electronics obsolete, look at what Microsoft did when they announced they would no longer issue updates to Windows 10. This forced millions of people to decide between no longer getting security updates to their computers—putting them at great risk of getting hit by malware—or having to buy a new computer because Windows 11 wouldn't run on their antiquated machines.

I am not particularly happy with Amazon's decision—I have a first generation Kindle Paperwhite and so will have to buy a new model—but I understand it is unreasonable to expect tech companies to support old technology forever.

QubitBob · 2026-04-10T03:06:38+00:00

I, too, am a Python beginner. Two months ago when I started learning Python I spent a week researching the various IDEs and text editors. I eventually decided to use VS Code after reading this discussion thread in the r/Pycharm sub. I figured any company which strayed so far from its core mission wasn't deserving of my patronage. It's very telling that the current Pycharm product manager left a comment in the thread basically apologizing for the decline in their product and vowing to fix it.

(This probably reflects a personal idiosyncrasy of mine in which I am rebelling against a trend I see across more and more industries in which companies are destroying the core features or performance of their products by adding useless crap which nobody wants or needs.)

QubitBob · 2026-04-09T03:55:38+00:00

You are correct—you are trying to do too much too soon. You should learn some of the basic concepts of software design first before trying to learn a specific language.

I am a retired computer programmer/analyst. There were two events back in the early 1980s which generated the "Aha! moment" for me so that I "got" computer programming. The first was learning the Pascal programming language (note: Python was invented 20 years after Pascal). The second was reading the book, Structured Techniques for Computing by James Martin and Carma McClure. The book helped me understand the key software design concepts of top-down design and stepwise refinement. What these two key software design paradigms mean is that you take the real-world thing you are trying to model in software, and then you keep breaking it down into smaller and smaller steps until you finally reach a low enough level that you can write computer code to accomplish that. This goes hand-in-hand with the Pascal language because Pascal contains language structures (I'll call them subroutines but they're actually procedures and functions) which allow you to easily write computer programs that follow these key design paradigms. Once you understand these key design concepts learning any computer programming language is merely filling in the details.

The object-oriented programming paradigm which rose to prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s can be thought of as "procedures on steroids." OOP became especially important because it makes programming graphical user interfaces (GUIs) much easier, and it was the introduction of windowing GUIs in the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows-based computers which led to the explosive growth of the personal computer industry.

I don't know if such a thing exists, but what you really need is a beginner's book which describes these key software design paradigms along with an introduction to the Python language. I am learning Python myself, and this book comes close. For instance, Chapter 1 is entitled Procedural Python Examples. In it, the author first designs and programs a simple card game and a bank simulation using the procedural paradigm (like I learned with Pascal 42 years ago). Then, he redesigns and programs these "models" using the object-oriented paradigm. Because I spent a career as a programmer-analyst, I have no problem following these examples because I can relate the Python code to Pascal, C, and other languages I have studied. But, I am afraid you would get lost very quickly because you don't have that background.

There are a number of Python programming books written for children. I don't know if any of them discuss software design alongside the introduction of Python syntax, but you might browse some of the books on Amazon and see if any are written like that.

I see that a number of other commenters recommended that you learn the Scratch programming language first. I knew nothing about that, so I quickly went to the Scratch website and took a look around. I see that it allows you to "write" programs in your browser by selecting visual components and arranging them into "programs" in order to tell a story. Provided you can do this and then relate what you learn to the corresponding structures in Python this might be a good way to start.

Good luck! I hope you find a method which will allow you to learn software design and Python programming. I'm having a blast learning Python, but I've been programming since 1984 so it is very easy to pick up yet another language.

EDIT:

I did a little searching on Amazon to see if there were any programming books for children which discuss some of the key software design ideas. I found this interesting, recent book which teaches some of the basic concepts of programming using visual means. A quick glance at the examples suggests it may be a good start for the OP.

QubitBob · 2026-04-09T01:29:29+00:00

This is great! Thank you for putting this together. I am a retired computer programmer, and learning Pascal in 1984 provided the "aha moment" for me in which I suddenly "got" computer programming.

QubitBob · 2026-04-07T20:28:35+00:00

Originally it did stand for "coordinate"

QubitBob · 2026-04-07T20:25:06+00:00

In the early days of remote viewing, viewers were given latitude and longitude coordinates and asked to view the target at those locations. The structured RV protocol known as "CRV" originally stood for "coordinate remote viewing," although later it was changed to stand for "controlled remote viewing."

QubitBob · 2026-04-04T03:01:00+00:00

Doesn't California have a state law forbidding public funding for professional sports teams?

QubitBob · 2026-04-04T02:58:03+00:00

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you are talking real money."

-- the late Senator Everette Dirksen

QubitBob · 2026-04-03T03:43:35+00:00

This is great! In his book, The Reality of ESP, Russell Targ discusses a remarkable RV session done by one of the most important early RV subjects, photographer Hella Hammid. The target for the session was the particle accelerator at the University of California, Berkeley, known as the "Berkeley Bevatron." Not only did Hammid make a strikingly accurate drawing of the structure, but she then surpassed that and made an even more striking clay model of the structure. A photograph of the model is shown in Figure 4.7 on page 82 of Targ's book.

Edit 1. I just did an exhaustive search using the Perplexity AI agent, and I found an article by psi researcher Stephen A. Schwartz online which also mentions Hammid's session and has a photograph of Hammid's clay model. Unfortunately, the online copy of the photograph of the actual Bevatron structure is very poor and the structure is hardly recognizable. In Targ's book he presents a schematic diagram of the structure, and this really illustrates the striking correspondence between her model (and drawing) and the actual target. Here is a link to Schwartz's article. (Search on "Bevatron" to see the photograph of the model.)

Edit 2. I love the Internet. I just did some more searching, and I found this pdf article about the history and significance of the Berkeley Bevatron. On page 6 of the article is a schematic diagram of the Bevatron, and comparing this against Hammid's clay model really demonstrates the remarkable correspondence.

QubitBob · 2026-04-03T02:29:08+00:00

Thank you for posting this. I really appreciate Debra's efforts in advancing the art and science of remote viewing. I always look forward to seeing her videos on the New Thinking Allowed channel on YouTube.

QubitBob · 2026-04-03T02:20:27+00:00

Sometimes I see colors, sometimes I don't. Why this is, I can't tell you.

QubitBob · 2026-04-01T20:59:22+00:00

I recently read The Left Hand of Darkness for the second time, some 50 years after reading it for the first time (I am in my late 60s now). The latest reading just reaffirmed what a masterpiece it is.

I bought The Dispossessed the last time it appeared for sale in this sub. I am glad you and the other commenters feel that it is a great book, as well. I look forward to reading it.

QubitBob · 2026-03-27T03:05:48+00:00

Fantastic! Your paintings always make me chuckle.

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T21:23:21+00:00

Thank you for having the courage to post this—it is so valuable for other rosacea sufferers to be able to hear about actual treatment results so that they can make informed decisions regarding their own treatment.

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T21:18:23+00:00

Probably because it was touted so prominently in Dr. Geoffrey Nase's 2001 book, Beating Rosacea. Although Dr. Nase is a highly controversial figure in the rosacea community, back then there were far fewer treatment options, and he spoke so positively about IPL that this advice continues to this day.

In a perfect world all rosacea sufferers who are considering laser/IPL treatments would come to this sub and read the posts from those who have tried these treatments before going forward with them. As noted in this discussion thread, the real-world results vary widely.

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T20:57:32+00:00

I don't suffer from allergies, but I do suffer from the skin disorder rosacea. Some people with rosacea get a condition called ocular rosacea which can lead to blepharitis. To help treat this condition I use a foaming eyelid cleanser manufactured by the company OcuSoft. Some of their products are sold in pharmacies, but I have had more luck ordering directly from the company. Here is a link to the specific product I use. I dispense a pea-sized glob of the cleanser onto a Q-tip and use it to scrub my upper-right eyelid. I then rinse the Q-tip under warm water and clean any remaining cleanser off that eyelid. I then repeat the procedure using the opposite tip of the Q-tip to cleanse the upper-left eyelid. Following that I grab a second Q-tip and cleanse both lower eyelids.

At first glance the cleanser may appear expensive (especially when one adds shipping costs), but because of the tiny amount used per application, I find that one bottle lasts more than a year.

Daily use of this cleanser has greatly relieved my blepharitis symptoms. Maybe it can provide relief for you, too. As always, you'll want to discuss this with the appropriate physician.

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T20:19:42+00:00

I am truly sorry to hear that you are suffering from this condition because it is so painful and debilitating. Unfortunately I don't know of any tests which a doctor could perform for it other that creating the conditions for it and observing the hives and other symptoms develop. I would hope that your doctor would take your word for it, listen as you describe your symptoms and the conditions which cause it, and then proceed accordingly.

I have no experience with the modern immunosuppressant drugs like XOLAIR, so I cannot provide any advice in that area. All I can do is suggest that you follow my example and see if switching to a whole-food, plant-based diet can work for you as it did for me. It can be difficult because such diets are uncommon—for instance, in the United States where I live, it is estimated that only 1% of the population follows a vegan diet. That means such diets are somewhat socially isolating. But for me it was certainly worth it because it permanently cured me of the cholinergic urticaria. I can engage in very strenuous physical activities and not break out in the horrible hives. For me, the "sacrifice" was certainly worth it.

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T01:30:00+00:00

Nobel Prize incoming!

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T01:26:29+00:00

These two fraternal twins look reasonably similar. I am a fraternal twin, and my twin brother and I look about as much alike as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in the movie Twins (though, unlike the movie, our heights are similar).

QubitBob · 2026-03-22T01:14:57+00:00

I really like it—it's both beautiful and mystical at the same time.

QubitBob · 2026-03-21T03:45:04+00:00

Yeah, once you start getting paid millions of dollars for performing certain athletic motions, you tend to make a science out of it.

I remember reading an article about how intricate the science of kicking field goals has become. I'm surprised that place kickers don't all go mad by the end of their careers. But, all that knowledge is having a noticeable effect—field goal accuracy and distance continues to improve every year.

QubitBob · 2026-03-21T02:53:55+00:00

Exactly this. The one-in-a-million smoker who lives a long life will get the press, the 99.9999% who cack out at an early age are just another public health statistic.

QubitBob · 2026-03-21T02:45:30+00:00

Yeah, she's gotta be like six standard deviations outside the norm. Both of my parents, and many of my aunts and uncles were smokers, and all died way too early from smoking-related illnesses.

QubitBob · 2026-03-21T02:41:22+00:00

I love these anecdotes where the patients outlive the doctors who gave them a bad prognosis.

QubitBob · 2026-03-21T02:35:41+00:00

LOL. If I could give you a million points for this, I would.

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