Things you don't need to know...

... or laugh at.
Posting this one in this thread in stead of the general humour thread since the geekiness approaches ...
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pib\0
... I always wanted to include ASCII characters in my passwords in the 90s, like BEL, seriously ! I never managed to find to include them, though.

Curiously, even when forums or web pages command me to use a "strong password", they too often don't even accept special letters like the German Umlaute ! Which is very disturbing für Germans, because special letters make passwords stronger, imho ...
 
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Time flies. And time flies faster (at least the perception of it) the older you get. At my age, time flies a bit too fast.

Until now, I've taken some comfort in the leap seconds added to our calendar now and then. Our clocks aren't entirely in sync with earth's rotation (earth is a bit slow), so whenever the difference exceeds 0.9 secs, clocks stop for a second.

Unfortunately, the powers that be wants to change that. From 2035, if they get away with it, leap seconds will be history, resulting in clocks being 1 minute ahead of universe time (after around 100 years).

Because speed of rotation varies a bit, leap seconds are unpredictable, which allegedly cause problems for systems that like things to be predictable. It doesn't help that currently the earth is speeding up, which means that in the near future, we might have to remove seconds (jump ahead), which they absolutely don't want. Some systems, notably Google and Meta already has already dropped leap seconds internally (which to me seems to be a good reason to avoid changes like the plague).

Russia wants to postpone the decision, partly because of GLONASS, their GPS wannabe which incorporates leap seconds (GPS does not), which means that the change force them to spend money on new satellites and ground stations, in stead of ... other things. There are also other systems that may suffer like those used by astronomers all over the world to align their telescopes.

pibbuR who can't understand the problem because he's out of sync with a lot of things. Or maybe he understands the problem exactly because of that.

PS. BTW, you can read more about it here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03783-5 DS.
 
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Over time it has been slowing down and will continue to do so due to tidal effects from the moon. It's estimated that 600 million years ago, rotation time was 21 hours. These days are 1.7 milliseconds longer than a hundred years ago.

The recent speed up may have several causes, for instance movements of the molten core, atmospheric factors, other celestial bodies. Melting of ice caps on the poles may also contribute - reduced weight of those areas may turn the planet more spherical, reducing the diameter at equator, which will of course (due to conservation of angular moment) make it turn faster. The effects are small, however, the modern day record is 23:59:59:99999841 (June 29, 2022).

You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_rotation

pibbuR who is spinning around, so move out of his way
 
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... Now I finally know where the term "splatter movie" comes from ...
 
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As a EU-resident I can't believe these kind of lawsuits. They feel very unreal and useless to me.
It's shocking, isn't it?

I think they see things very differently than us regarding lawsuits and instructions to follow. From what I saw when I was working in the US, people seem to rely more on what they are told to do, how to use products, where to go in a building, signs in the street and so on. Actually I've seen the same tendency in the UK. I'm not sure they really rely on it but at least it's customary to give good indications, whereas in many European countries indications are poor and people are usually left on their own.

I wonder if that's perceived the same way by them when they come over here.

Regarding lawsuits, I rarely hear people suing for "small" issues in our countries except when it has a significant consequence. Maybe because it takes so much time for justice to handle the cases. ;)
 
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It's shocking, isn't it?

I think they see things very differently than us regarding lawsuits and instructions to follow. From what I saw when I was working in the US, people seem to rely more on what they are told to do, how to use products, where to go in a building, signs in the street and so on. Actually I've seen the same tendency in the UK. I'm not sure they really rely on it but at least it's customary to give good indications, whereas in many European countries indications are poor and people are usually left on their own.

I wonder if that's perceived the same way by them when they come over here.

Regarding lawsuits, I rarely hear people suing for "small" issues in our countries except when it has a significant consequence. Maybe because it takes so much time for justice to handle the cases. ;)
It's just strange that a country that advocates for self control and personal freedom is prone to these kind of lawsuits. Don't get me wrong I'm no advocate for false advertisement and feel that should be adressed by any means possible. But the way these lawsuits seem to be handled and the "damages" done as claimed by the complaintive(s) seem "excessive" to me.

I agree with your assessment on the lawsuits against "small" companies ;)
 
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It's just strange that a country that advocates for self control and personal freedom is prone to these kind of lawsuits. Don't get me wrong I'm no advocate for false advertisement and feel that should be adressed by any means possible. But the way these lawsuits seem to be handled and the "damages" done as claimed by the complaintive(s) seem "excessive" to me.

I agree with your assessment on the lawsuits against "small" companies ;)
Perhaps lawsuits are not such a big deal? When you see how often they sue one another on patents, for example. It's just part of the business, while here it's perceived more negatively, almost as a stain on one's reputation.

These claims are amplified, that's true, must be part of the game.
 
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As a EU-resident I can't believe these kind of lawsuits. They feel very unreal and useless to me.
There's more and more income equality each year, and healthcare debt that poorer people can't get away from; it all leads to a societal farce built upon charity-giving and lawsuits to "get ahead".
 
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In Norway, we (sadly) like to make fun of Americans (not justified). And frivolous lawsuits are, to use a German expression, gefundenes Fressen (look it up, if you don't get it). There are even lists of lawsuits like that. It has to be said, that some of those aren't actually frivolous, and some are fictitious. Still, as we see here. some are real.

Two questions:
1. Is a lawsuit like this one likely to succeed?
2. If you lose, do you have to pay the lawyer expenses of the "opposition"?
3. (OK, 3) Will in general lawyers refuse to take a lawsuit not likely to succeed?

pibbuR

PS. One possibly related issue: Recently a man in Bergen@Norway was charged with sexually abuse of children. The news bit said that he has switched his lawyer 14 times. I can only imagine that his lawyers in this case realised/told him that given the evidence there was no chance that he would be acquitted, so claiming acquittal would be completely useless. DS.
 
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So it seems the USPS lost another package for me by leaving my package unsecured by my mailbox and not ringing the doorbell or knocking. How is that driver still employed? This makes three pacakages stolen this year and thank god it was only a $20 package.
 
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So it seems the USPS lost another package for me by leaving my package unsecured by my mailbox and not ringing the doorbell or knocking. How is that driver still employed? This makes three pacakages stolen this year and thank god it was only a $20 package.
That sucks :( Is your doorbell so far from the mailbox?

The delivery services are more and more disappointing. Since the COVID, a lot of new ones were created, which are more or less one individual with a car playing delivery man, often doing that with a relative. Time is key and they often do a very bad job, squeezing the packages into the mailbox so they don't have to wait, or apparently just leaving them on the doorstep. 😕 Don't even get me started on the state of the parcels.
 
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My mailbox is right outside my door in the hallway. The problem is the rented condo doesn't use locks on the front-door. So porch pirates/neighbors can steal the package.

I also have a manned community desk were USPS packages are supposed to be delivered to stop such situations. FED-EX or UPS have no problem they knock on your door.
 
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So it seems the USPS lost another package for me by leaving my package unsecured by my mailbox and not ringing the doorbell or knocking. How is that driver still employed? This makes three pacakages stolen this year and thank god it was only a $20 package.
I feel like in the UK this doesn't happen. They have to make you sign or put it in a safe place designated by you.
 
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I feel like in the UK this doesn't happen. They have to make you sign or put it in a safe place designated by you.
Here I don't understand the "sign" protocol anymore. Some delivery service make you sign, others don't. Some call you before delivering the package, some don't. Some hand you the parcel, some put it on the floor and then you have to pick it up. It all seems very random, most probably due to all the amateurs who are now involved with those deliveries and who are not up-to-date with the status of the COVID. :LOL:

I'm mostly talking about Amazon, actually, most other companies just use our postal service, which is quite competent. Amazon themselves are incapable to ship books in a good state in the first place anyway, so it doesn't matter much if the parcel is stolen or not... I've got 6 damage (identical) books waiting to be returned. I just couldn't get this book from them in a good state, I finally had to order it directly from the publisher.

Welcome to the future of buying online. ;)
 
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