Dave Ambrose

The spammers are getting more sophisticated and willing to invest more time in establishing themselves. Forums seem to be their new favorite target. We have prescreening in place, but that doesn't get all of them. We implemented the initial moderation requirement, and they're now working through that, and finding ways to bypass those protections too. As much as I might like to send them 450kg of HMX (gift-wrapped of course), that option isn't open to us.

Very true. Under California law, if someone dies because of your arson fire, you're getting charged with murder too. That will probably happen after the feds try him.

I was in this situation. When you retire, get the proof of insurance. That let's you enroll in Medicare Part B with no penalty. I also recommend checking around for Medicare seminars. Medicare is a complicated subject, and what works for one person likely won't work for another. Our medical group put one on, and it was immensely helpful to me. I will pass on that none of my friends in Advantage plans are very happy with them.

There were several distinct fires. We call them Santa Anas, but they are hot, super dry, hurricane-force winds. Start a fire in those conditions, and there is simply no stopping it without a large fire break. There's no way to know what these fires are like unless you've been through one. I'm in the San Diego (CA) area. My wife has had Forest Service fire training. We nearly lost our house to the Cedar fire in 2003. We were standing on the roof of our garage, watching peoples' propane tanks go up, and realized we were looking directly upwind. At that point, we left. Our house isn't defensible due to neighbor's trees. Thankfully, the fire stopped at the rodeo grounds because horses generally kill all the vegetation underneath them. Had it gone past that, it would have hit a vegetation corridor that leads right up to the back of our house. From what I've seen, arson investigators are very careful, detail-oriented people. This guy is in deep trouble even without restitution.

It seems to be a garden-variety comet from outside the solar system. That, by itself, is a remarkable result as it confirms that a lot of what we see in our own solar system happens elsewhere. It would be very interesting to get isotope measurements, but we don't have the means of doing that remotely.

We've looked at that idea a number of times, but there are a lot of impediments. It would take a LOT of effort to prepare digital copies of each magazine, and there are more than a few technical issues. We've looked at scanning them, and the quality is barely okay. Frustratingly, the market for them just isn't big enough to justify the expense. The Model Car Builders Museum could scan them, but would run into some major copyright issues if it tried to make them available. I seriously doubt that any kind of reprints would sell at a price needed to recover the costs of making them.

I can add my experience -- I "retired" almost 2.5 years ago. I'm busier than ever, but at good things. Have gotten back to astronomy and telescope making, but am still working on SCUBA diving (found an underwater film festival instead). All the tasks that piled up over a couple of long illnesses are now on the to-do list. Could be worse tho. I might not be here, and they're on someone else's to-do list. My experience with Medicare has been great, but I'm not on an Advantage plan. I'll second the vote to take care of yourself. physical conditioning is very important. Don't skip the weights. I'm 70, and feeling much better through a combination of physical therapy and just general workouts. Gyms are all included in Medicare. I'm finally getting to build out the garage in the way I've wanted it for a while. That's my current adventure.

Nice Merc! Your location caught my eye. I haven't been to Rockford in a long time.

I have found one area where AI seems to be pretty good. Reviewing. I've been writing emails for a publicity campaign, and I had ChatGPT critique my email. It came up with several improvements I would have missed. It helps a lot if you give it more context and goals. That's probably why it works so poorly for coding. There's almost no way to give it enough context to write correct code. And, if you're writing a lot of routine code, you haven't gotten everything abstracted properly. (Alan Kay came up with object oriented programming for this exact reason)

In the same, yet very different vein, I bought season tickets to the San Diego Early Music Society's concert series. First concert in a little over 3 weeks. Definitely going to break my personal record for concerts this year.

That's just bizarre. I'll dig into it a little more, but looks like all the right email authentication entries are there.

My daughter has one in her stash. Does that count?

I'm so sorry. She was a lovely cat. Seems like we miss them forever, at least for me. Sounds like she led a good and long life. I hope you can take comfort that she isn't suffering anymore.

I might have to get one of those for my household feline phalanx.

PM Sent

Mine came today too.

That might not be on the tablet/mobile view. If it isn't, let me know and I'll add it.

The problem is actually in a rules engine that front-ends the web server. The forum software guards against those attacks just fine.

Well shoot. It means the fix I put in isn't working. There are rules in place to prevent what's called a SQL injection attack. The verbotten words are s-e-l-e-c-t, u-p-d-a-t-e, and maybe d-e-l-e-t-e, especially followed by w-h-e-r-e. (I feel like I'm trying to slip something past a 4-year old here) I'll look at this again later this week.

There have been divers on the Edmund Fitzgerald. If I remember correctly one of the cargo hatches was open. I don't remember if they were able to ascertain why it came loose.

Nice. I like that there are Gundam and Warhammer categories. They're both very popular in the US and most general (IPMS) shows ignore them to their detriment.

I've been involved with this forum since 2008. I too have a good feel for what will turn political, and have seen lots of ways people do that.* The rules are very explicit, and necessary. We generally don't intervene until it either becomes contentious or heated political discussions seem highly probable. That's regardless of whether we agree with you or not. Most of the time, it doesn't take very long, and there always seems to be enough people who want to discuss politics here. Case in point: During the pandemic, I had to post a standing reminder not to get political about Covid. Seriously, if you really want to discuss politics, try Facebook, or even better, LinkedIn. I don't recommend testing the boundaries here. Reddit and Finescale aren't nearly as much fun as this forum. Operationally, the rule is pretty simple. If you think it might be political, it probably is, and you shouldn't post it. This isn't often a problem, and I truly appreciate everyone keeping it that way. *The most amusing tactic I've encountered: "I'm not trying to make this political <insert divisive political topic>" We've seen most everything at this point, so just don't.

A lot of model car contests, not just NNLs, end because the organizers didn't plan for succession. They get to where they either can't run the show, or don't want to anymore, then there's nobody to step in and take the reins. My understanding is that West Coast NNL ended because they could couldn't find an affordable venue. The Santa Clara Convention Center is just across the street from the '49ers stadium, and it becomes prime real estate during playoff season. The rest of the Bay Area is pricey so the numbers just didn't work out.

That, my friend, is awesome!

I've shot race cars with satin finish to good effect too. Race cars weren't generally polished unless they were there for show.