From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Only caught part of the interview with some big-biz
CEO. Said he stopped hiring programmers a couple of
years ago, as soon as CHAT could write code.

The interview may come around again tomorrow
sometime ... if I see it I'll fill in details.

In essence, CHAT and friends now empower the
pointy-haired bosses to just describe what
they want an app to do and the AI makes it so.
No human programmers needed - they're annoying
and stinky and expensive anyway, right ?

Now the real-world QUALITY of AI-generated code
is NOT a for-sure thing. Humans can intuit where
vulnerabilities may be, what Vlad's boyz might
get up to. The AI probably won't ... can't quite
think like a creative malicious human.

Dealing with the idiotic human ERRORS in data
entry and such too ... shit, half of my old DB
code was dedicated to that exact thing. AMAZING
what clueless humans can do. YOU know what it's
suppose to be, THEY don't, not at all.

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.
Whole paragraphs pasted into 30 byte fields,
SEEN it. There's MORE ... MORE ......

Trust the pointy-haired bosses to specify
code ? Are you MAD ????????

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

Only caught part of the interview with some big-biz
CEO. Said he stopped hiring programmers a couple of
years ago, as soon as CHAT could write code.

The interview may come around again tomorrow
sometime ... if I see it I'll fill in details.

In essence, CHAT and friends now empower the
pointy-haired bosses to just describe what
they want an app to do and the AI makes it so.
No human programmers needed - they're annoying
and stinky and expensive anyway, right ?

Back in my first job in the early '70s I came up with
the image of the ideal programmer: someone who could
read the manager's mind, wave his hands over a deck
of blank cards, and have a set of holes appear in it
that was a binary image that would do exactly what
he wanted (heavy use of the DWIM instruction).

Now the real-world QUALITY of AI-generated code
is NOT a for-sure thing. Humans can intuit where
vulnerabilities may be, what Vlad's boyz might
get up to. The AI probably won't ... can't quite
think like a creative malicious human.

I once heard programmers described as a particularly
pessimistic lot; while everyone else was looking for
the beauty in things, programmers insisted on looking
for ways things could go wrong. But it's kept me in
work for over 50 years...

Dealing with the idiotic human ERRORS in data
entry and such too ... shit, half of my old DB
code was dedicated to that exact thing. AMAZING
what clueless humans can do. YOU know what it's
suppose to be, THEY don't, not at all.

At one PPOE we had a manager that I actually admired.
If a user came along with an unreasonable request, he
used a word that wasn't in most manager's vocabulary:
"No." One thing he had us do was tighten up input
editing to where the data would squeak - which resulted
in our rejecting a hell of a lot of data. The users
were outraged. He told them to get stuffed.

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.
Whole paragraphs pasted into 30 byte fields,
SEEN it. There's MORE ... MORE ......

Trust the pointy-haired bosses to specify
code ? Are you MAD ????????

My favourite was when a boss insisted that
Boolean data fields must be 3 bytes long;
you need that much to hold "YES" or "NO".
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/10/26 22:50, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

Only caught part of the interview with some big-biz
CEO. Said he stopped hiring programmers a couple of
years ago, as soon as CHAT could write code.

The interview may come around again tomorrow
sometime ... if I see it I'll fill in details.

In essence, CHAT and friends now empower the
pointy-haired bosses to just describe what
they want an app to do and the AI makes it so.
No human programmers needed - they're annoying
and stinky and expensive anyway, right ?

Back in my first job in the early '70s I came up with
the image of the ideal programmer: someone who could
read the manager's mind, wave his hands over a deck
of blank cards, and have a set of holes appear in it
that was a binary image that would do exactly what
he wanted (heavy use of the DWIM instruction).

Well, that USED to be ALMOST true :-)

Those 60s narrow-tie programmers were GOOD !
Their stuff, a lot of COBOL, is STILL doing
good work.

Now the real-world QUALITY of AI-generated code
is NOT a for-sure thing. Humans can intuit where
vulnerabilities may be, what Vlad's boyz might
get up to. The AI probably won't ... can't quite
think like a creative malicious human.

I once heard programmers described as a particularly
pessimistic lot; while everyone else was looking for
the beauty in things, programmers insisted on looking
for ways things could go wrong. But it's kept me in
work for over 50 years...

GOTTA be 'pessimistic' because, alas, it's REAL.

Do NOT expect the AIs to think like evil humans
might think. This will result in a lot of VERY
vulnerable code. Oh, it will WORK ... but work
even better for Vlad/Xi/Kim ......

Dealing with the idiotic human ERRORS in data
entry and such too ... shit, half of my old DB
code was dedicated to that exact thing. AMAZING
what clueless humans can do. YOU know what it's
suppose to be, THEY don't, not at all.

At one PPOE we had a manager that I actually admired.
If a user came along with an unreasonable request, he
used a word that wasn't in most manager's vocabulary:
"No." One thing he had us do was tighten up input
editing to where the data would squeak - which resulted
in our rejecting a hell of a lot of data. The users
were outraged. He told them to get stuffed.

He'd be fired immediately these days ...

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.
Whole paragraphs pasted into 30 byte fields,
SEEN it. There's MORE ... MORE ......

Trust the pointy-haired bosses to specify
code ? Are you MAD ????????

My favourite was when a boss insisted that
Boolean data fields must be 3 bytes long;
you need that much to hold "YES" or "NO".

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!

But yea, no matter HOW good your instructions,
SOME users WOULD enter "YES" or "NO" ... so
you HAD to deal with it at some level. As for
the actual data field, that's lower level. But
expect all kinds of BS to be entered into the
UI - and expect 'Si' and 'Non' and such too.

As said, and TRUE, about HALF the code I wrote
for DBs was to find/cope with HUMAN errors.

And even then they sometimes managed to sneak
something by. Spent TWO DAYS hand-fixing some
older DB info because the users had managed to
sneak in some nonsense. They don't Get It, they
are In A Hurry, they WON'T learn it. This is
the reality.

And if you make the code TOO anal they'll all
SCREAM ... so the code has to quietly fix like
90% of typical errors.

Dealing with humans is like trying to herd cats.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:24:22 -0500, c186282 wrote:

Dealing with humans is like trying to herd cats.

I find I prefer the company of cats.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/11/26 00:54, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:24:22 -0500, c186282 wrote:

Dealing with humans is like trying to herd cats.

I find I prefer the company of cats.

I like cats ... they don't suck up.

Dogs are like 2-year-old humans - and demand
CONSTANT attention.

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and
a note that 'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's
not always POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend
towards anarchy.

Unfortunately un-coordinated human pops can't DO
much ... too busy with trivial issues.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.

December 15th, 2012. Lots of people put dashes, spaces or slashes
as separators in a date. Just strip all three out on the way in,
In fact, this is much clearer that the ubiquitous 10/12/25
that is so common in the US. Of course, I would prefer is to be
entered as 2012-10-12, but that's just me.
--
Lars Poulsen - an old geek in Santa Barbara, California
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

And even then they sometimes managed to sneak
something by. Spent TWO DAYS hand-fixing some
older DB info because the users had managed to
sneak in some nonsense. They don't Get It, they
are In A Hurry, they WON'T learn it. This is
the reality.

One of my favourites came up while converting programs
from an old computer that didn't throw data exceptions.
The keyboard on the IBM 029 keypunch had the numeral 1
over the U key, while the vertical bar was right next
door, over the Y key. A slight overreach and you'd
get an error that you wouldn't notice - either on the
interpreted card or on a subsequent printout - without
looking really closely.

And this was in a file of mortgage data...
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-11, Lars Poulsen <lars@beagle-ears.com> wrote:

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.

December 15th, 2012. Lots of people put dashes, spaces or slashes
as separators in a date. Just strip all three out on the way in,
In fact, this is much clearer that the ubiquitous 10/12/25
that is so common in the US. Of course, I would prefer is to be
entered as 2012-10-12, but that's just me.

ISO 8601 all the way for me. I've realized from the beginning
that the only reasonable way to store dates internally is
year-month-day, and my report programs all print them that
way too. So far I haven't had any users complain about it.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc



On 1/11/26 08:21, Lars Poulsen wrote:

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.

December 15th, 2012. Lots of people put dashes, spaces or slashes
as separators in a date. Just strip all three out on the way in,
In fact, this is much clearer that the ubiquitous 10/12/25
that is so common in the US. Of course, I would prefer is to be
entered as 2012-10-12, but that's just me.

That is the way I feel as well and it helps with file sorting.
Started doing it that way back in AmigaOS days.
2026-01.11-09:34
You ain't the only one...

bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2026- Linux 6.12.64-pclos1- KDE Plasma
6.5.4
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:23:56 -0500, c186282 wrote:

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and a note that
'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's not always
POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend towards anarchy.

I naturally lean toward anarchism/libertarianism. However after observing
the circus for all these years I also see the place for authoritarian governments lest humanity sinks to the lowest common denominator. If it
hasn't already. The gene pool needs a few tons of chlorine.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-11, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:23:56 -0500, c186282 wrote:

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and a note that
'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's not always
POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend towards anarchy.

I naturally lean toward anarchism/libertarianism. However after observing the circus for all these years I also see the place for authoritarian governments lest humanity sinks to the lowest common denominator. If it hasn't already. The gene pool needs a few tons of chlorine.

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work. We're currently
getting a graphic example of what happens when these factors fall
below the critical level.

"This town needs an enema!" -- The Joker
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/11/26 18:08, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-11, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:23:56 -0500, c186282 wrote:

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and a note that
'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's not always
POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend towards anarchy.

I naturally lean toward anarchism/libertarianism. However after observing
the circus for all these years I also see the place for authoritarian
governments lest humanity sinks to the lowest common denominator. If it
hasn't already. The gene pool needs a few tons of chlorine.

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work. We're currently
getting a graphic example of what happens when these factors fall
below the critical level.

Unfiltered knowledge - knowing what's going on - is
also required. That's become almost impossible to
acquire, it's all contaminated by ideological extremists.

I go through over a dozen international news/related
sites every day. What little they all agree on is most
likely to be the Truth. The 'spin' has become horrific
alas.

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states
however CAN.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-01-12, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

On 1/11/26 18:08, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work. We're currently
getting a graphic example of what happens when these factors fall
below the critical level.

Unfiltered knowledge - knowing what's going on - is
also required. That's become almost impossible to
acquire, it's all contaminated by ideological extremists.

Worse, many people don't want to know what's going on.
They just want to know what button to push to make the magic happen.

I go through over a dozen international news/related
sites every day. What little they all agree on is most
likely to be the Truth. The 'spin' has become horrific
alas.

Whenever I search for information, regardless of topic,
I scan many sources, then try to form a gestalt in my mind.
This helps compensate for contaminated sources; the truth
usually lies between the extremes.

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states
however CAN.

And it will be welcomed by the masses. My wife is currently
watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 03:11:46 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

And it will be welcomed by the masses. My wife is currently watching a
TV documentary on the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

The crowds in 'Triumph des Willens' weren't hired extras as has been
alleged for some US political 'rallies'. There is a definite resemblance.
The KPD was the largest communist party in Europe outside of the Soviet
Union. The original Antifa was a KPD creation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifaschistische_Aktion

The lessons of the 1919 Hungarian Soviet Republic and the ensuing Red
Terror were fresh. Then there was the utter decadence of Berlin and the
Weimar Republic in general.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2847643/Berlin-liberal-hotbed- homosexuality-mecca-cross-dressers-transsexuals-male-female-surgery- performed-Nazis-came-power-new-book-reveals.html

The 'German' Hirschfeld was a true leader along with his henchmen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Hirschfeld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Kronfeld https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Levy-Lenz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Schapiro

The payback was a bitch.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:08:47 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work.

To be fair, the Yanquis were never given a chance to get it to work.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:08:47 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work.

To be fair, the Yanquis were never given a chance to get it to work.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:08:47 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work.

To be fair, the Yanquis were never given a chance to get it to work.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On So 11 Jan 2026 at 23:08, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-11, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:23:56 -0500, c186282 wrote:

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and a note that
'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's not always
POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend towards anarchy.

I naturally lean toward anarchism/libertarianism. However after observing >> the circus for all these years I also see the place for authoritarian
governments lest humanity sinks to the lowest common denominator. If it
hasn't already. The gene pool needs a few tons of chlorine.

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work. We're currently
getting a graphic example of what happens when these factors fall
below the critical level.

+1

'Andreas
--
ceterum censeo redmondinem esse delendam
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 12/01/2026 01:49, c186282 wrote:

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
-a in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states
-a however CAN.

Oddly enough I think the reverse. But then we in the UK have a strong
movement away from shit leaders and brainless authoritarianism, a state
that the US has yet to embrace.

But another couple of Trump years ought to do the trick.
--
In todays liberal progressive conflict-free education system, everyone
gets full Marx.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 12/01/2026 03:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

My wife is currently
watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Yes. watch the Nazi propaganda film. 'Triumph of the will' .

And remember they didn't have AI then.
--
"What do you think about Gay Marriage?"
"I don't."
"Don't what?"
"Think about Gay Marriage."


--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 12/01/2026 04:43, rbowman wrote:

The payback was a bitch.

The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.
A lesson that has deep resonance today.
--
Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have
guns, why should we let them have ideas?

Josef Stalin

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

rbowman wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:23:56 -0500, c186282 wrote:

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and a note that
'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's not always
POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend towards anarchy.

I naturally lean toward anarchism/libertarianism. However after observing the circus for all these years I also see the place for authoritarian governments lest humanity sinks to the lowest common denominator.

Ah, you want a father figure.

If it hasn't already. The gene pool needs a few tons of chlorine.

Eugenics?

<https://www.harpercollins.com/products/davos-man-peter-s-goodman?variant=40359237910562>

Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World
By Peter S. Goodman

Apparently they're happy to excuse Trump in return for the
benefits to them. And that was just in his first term.
--
Ship it.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote at 03:50 this Sunday (GMT):

On 2026-01-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

Only caught part of the interview with some big-biz
CEO. Said he stopped hiring programmers a couple of
years ago, as soon as CHAT could write code.

The interview may come around again tomorrow
sometime ... if I see it I'll fill in details.

In essence, CHAT and friends now empower the
pointy-haired bosses to just describe what
they want an app to do and the AI makes it so.
No human programmers needed - they're annoying
and stinky and expensive anyway, right ?

Back in my first job in the early '70s I came up with
the image of the ideal programmer: someone who could
read the manager's mind, wave his hands over a deck
of blank cards, and have a set of holes appear in it
that was a binary image that would do exactly what
he wanted (heavy use of the DWIM instruction).

Now the real-world QUALITY of AI-generated code
is NOT a for-sure thing. Humans can intuit where
vulnerabilities may be, what Vlad's boyz might
get up to. The AI probably won't ... can't quite
think like a creative malicious human.

I once heard programmers described as a particularly
pessimistic lot; while everyone else was looking for
the beauty in things, programmers insisted on looking
for ways things could go wrong. But it's kept me in
work for over 50 years...

You know what they say, hope for the best, prepare for the worst...

Dealing with the idiotic human ERRORS in data
entry and such too ... shit, half of my old DB
code was dedicated to that exact thing. AMAZING
what clueless humans can do. YOU know what it's
suppose to be, THEY don't, not at all.

At one PPOE we had a manager that I actually admired.
If a user came along with an unreasonable request, he
used a word that wasn't in most manager's vocabulary:
"No." One thing he had us do was tighten up input
editing to where the data would squeak - which resulted
in our rejecting a hell of a lot of data. The users
were outraged. He told them to get stuffed.

That's pretty cool.

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.
Whole paragraphs pasted into 30 byte fields,
SEEN it. There's MORE ... MORE ......

Trust the pointy-haired bosses to specify
code ? Are you MAD ????????

My favourite was when a boss insisted that
Boolean data fields must be 3 bytes long;
you need that much to hold "YES" or "NO".

What if the user is using a different language? :(
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On 12/01/2026 03:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

My wife is currently
watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Yes. watch the Nazi propaganda film. 'Triumph of the will' .

And remember they didn't have AI then.

They didn't have DEVO then, either.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07S_fdJfYPM>

Triumph of the Will
--
A farm in the country side had several turkeys, it was known as the house of seven gobbles.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 12/01/2026 13:41, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On 12/01/2026 03:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

My wife is currently
watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Yes. watch the Nazi propaganda film. 'Triumph of the will' .

And remember they didn't have AI then.

They didn't have DEVO then, either.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07S_fdJfYPM>

Triumph of the Will

Video unavailable
This video is not available
--
"Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have
forgotten your aim."

George Santayana

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:48:01 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 12/01/2026 13:41, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On 12/01/2026 03:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

My wife is currently watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf
Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Yes. watch the Nazi propaganda film. 'Triumph of the will' .

And remember they didn't have AI then.

They didn't have DEVO then, either.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07S_fdJfYPM>

Triumph of the Will

Video unavailable This video is not available

Consider yourself lucky. Besides tires Chrissie Hynde was the only good
thing to come out of Akron.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 07:36:37 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

rbowman wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:23:56 -0500, c186282 wrote:

In any case, the subject was "governments" ... and a note that
'herding humans' is incredibly difficult.
While we may WANT "kinder and gentler", maybe it's not always
POSSIBLE. Humans easily, quickly, trend towards anarchy.

I naturally lean toward anarchism/libertarianism. However after
observing the circus for all these years I also see the place for
authoritarian governments lest humanity sinks to the lowest common
denominator.

Ah, you want a father figure.

If it hasn't already. The gene pool needs a few tons of chlorine.

Eugenics?

"The Bible commandment 'thou shalt not kill' is a naivete compared to the commandment of life to decadents, thou shalt not beget."

Friedrich Nietzsche

The quote is from 'Nietzsche the Thinker' by William Salter. He doesn't footnote it but it sounds about right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mackintire_Salter

The early 20th century was more concerned with improving society than
coddling the misfits.

"Three generations of imbeciles are enough."

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 12/01/2026 19:43, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:48:01 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 12/01/2026 13:41, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On 12/01/2026 03:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

My wife is currently watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf
Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Yes. watch the Nazi propaganda film. 'Triumph of the will' .

And remember they didn't have AI then.

They didn't have DEVO then, either.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07S_fdJfYPM>

Triumph of the Will

Video unavailable This video is not available

Consider yourself lucky. Besides tires Chrissie Hynde was the only good
thing to come out of Akron.

ah. yes. Devo. Highly forgettable
--
rCLIt is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established
authorities are wrong.rCY

rCo Voltaire, The Age of Louis XIV

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/11/26 22:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-12, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

On 1/11/26 18:08, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

There is a minimum level of intelligence and social responsibility
that is required in order for democracy to work. We're currently
getting a graphic example of what happens when these factors fall
below the critical level.

Unfiltered knowledge - knowing what's going on - is
also required. That's become almost impossible to
acquire, it's all contaminated by ideological extremists.

Worse, many people don't want to know what's going on.
They just want to know what button to push to make the magic happen.

I go through over a dozen international news/related
sites every day. What little they all agree on is most
likely to be the Truth. The 'spin' has become horrific
alas.

Whenever I search for information, regardless of topic,
I scan many sources, then try to form a gestalt in my mind.
This helps compensate for contaminated sources; the truth
usually lies between the extremes.

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states
however CAN.

And it will be welcomed by the masses. My wife is currently
watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Goebbels created a propaganda fantasy world
for Germans. Then Germans acted upon those
'truths'. Not good.

Now we have dozens/hundreds of Goebbels clones
running 'news'. Would have been better to have
cloned Hitler .......

I'll return to my old term "Dali-ocracy" ...
where the surreal rules and nobody has the
slightest clue what's going on - yet vote
and behave as if they do.

How to counter this ??? Not sure it can be
done with much success, esp now with the Net
plus 'AI' invented content.

So, at this rate, we just keep flying blind until
we crash into something. Then the REALLY bad people
in the world take charge at gunpoint.

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On 2026-01-12, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 12/01/2026 01:49, c186282 wrote:

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
-a in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states
-a however CAN.

Oddly enough I think the reverse. But then we in the UK have a strong movement away from shit leaders and brainless authoritarianism, a state
that the US has yet to embrace.

But another couple of Trump years ought to do the trick.

Hopefully it won't be too late by then. I can just hear a new
MAGA battle cry: "No 22 in 28!" For if the 22nd amendment is
rescinded, the US is ready to have a dictator for life.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 1/12/26 18:41, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-12, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 12/01/2026 01:49, c186282 wrote:

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
-a in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states
-a however CAN.

Oddly enough I think the reverse. But then we in the UK have a strong
movement away from shit leaders and brainless authoritarianism, a state
that the US has yet to embrace.

But another couple of Trump years ought to do the trick.

Hopefully it won't be too late by then. I can just hear a new
MAGA battle cry: "No 22 in 28!" For if the 22nd amendment is
rescinded, the US is ready to have a dictator for life.

Well, if so, better Trump than, say, Omar or Newsom
or Mamdani ..........


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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:41:03 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-12, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 12/01/2026 01:49, c186282 wrote:

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
-a in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states however
-a CAN.

Oddly enough I think the reverse. But then we in the UK have a strong
movement away from shit leaders and brainless authoritarianism, a state
that the US has yet to embrace.

But another couple of Trump years ought to do the trick.

Hopefully it won't be too late by then. I can just hear a new MAGA
battle cry: "No 22 in 28!" For if the 22nd amendment is rescinded, the
US is ready to have a dictator for life.

Elderly dictators tend to be self canceling. The 22nd cuts both ways. I
know it will never happen but if by some miracle we got a really, really competent president...

Kurt Schlicter had an interesting take today. Vance would be the natural candidate but Schlicter hopes he is primaried by some competent
alternatives. He wants Vance to ultimately get the nomination after
ripping the guts out of formidable challengers so he'll have built the
teams and tools to take on whatever the Democrats come up with.

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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 13/01/2026 08:02, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:41:03 GMT, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

On 2026-01-12, The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 12/01/2026 01:49, c186282 wrote:

I don't know if 'western civ' can continue much longer
-a in this environment. Totalitarian/authoritarian states however
-a CAN.

Oddly enough I think the reverse. But then we in the UK have a strong
movement away from shit leaders and brainless authoritarianism, a state
that the US has yet to embrace.

But another couple of Trump years ought to do the trick.

Hopefully it won't be too late by then. I can just hear a new MAGA
battle cry: "No 22 in 28!" For if the 22nd amendment is rescinded, the
US is ready to have a dictator for life.

Elderly dictators tend to be self canceling. The 22nd cuts both ways. I
know it will never happen but if by some miracle we got a really, really competent president...

Kurt Schlicter had an interesting take today. Vance would be the natural candidate but Schlicter hopes he is primaried by some competent
alternatives. He wants Vance to ultimately get the nomination after
ripping the guts out of formidable challengers so he'll have built the
teams and tools to take on whatever the Democrats come up with.

Vance is a complete cunt really. Thicker than pigshit
God help Amerika if he gets to be press.
--
"It is an established fact to 97% confidence limits that left wing conspirators see right wing conspiracies everywhere"

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c186282 wrote:

Only caught part of the interview with some big-biz
CEO. Said he stopped hiring programmers a couple of
years ago, as soon as CHAT could write code.

The interview may come around again tomorrow
sometime ... if I see it I'll fill in details.

In essence, CHAT and friends now empower the
pointy-haired bosses to just describe what
they want an app to do and the AI makes it so.
No human programmers needed - they're annoying
and stinky and expensive anyway, right ?

Now the real-world QUALITY of AI-generated code
is NOT a for-sure thing. Humans can intuit where
vulnerabilities may be, what Vlad's boyz might
get up to. The AI probably won't ... can't quite
think like a creative malicious human.

Dealing with the idiotic human ERRORS in data
entry and such too ... shit, half of my old DB
code was dedicated to that exact thing. AMAZING
what clueless humans can do. YOU know what it's
suppose to be, THEY don't, not at all.

"-12152012" as a date ... yep ... SEEN it.
Whole paragraphs pasted into 30 byte fields,
SEEN it. There's MORE ... MORE ......

Trust the pointy-haired bosses to specify
code ? Are you MAD ????????

yes I asked one of those AI code apps to make a blue noise generator.
Instead I got a pink noise generator (spectrum increases 3 dB/octave to
low frequencies instead of high frequencies)
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

rbowman wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:48:01 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 12/01/2026 13:41, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On 12/01/2026 03:11, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

My wife is currently watching a TV documentary on the rise of Adolf
Hitler.
The resemblance to today's situation is frightening.

Yes. watch the Nazi propaganda film. 'Triumph of the will' .

And remember they didn't have AI then.

They didn't have DEVO then, either.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07S_fdJfYPM>

Triumph of the Will

Video unavailable This video is not available

Might be your country of location?

Consider yourself lucky. Besides tires Chrissie Hynde was the only good thing to come out of Akron.

Heh, I like a *lot* of DEVO tunes. Often mordant and funny at the
same time. And often very good melodies.

Their tune "Beautiful World" seems quite applicable to today's
unpleasantness.
--
"There are three principal ways to lose money: wine, women, and engineers. While the first two are more pleasant, the third is by far the more certain."
-- Baron Rothschild, ca. 1800
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From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:37:16 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

Heh, I like a *lot* of DEVO tunes. Often mordant and funny at the same
time. And often very good melodies.

I rank them somewhere south of ABBA and the Spice Girls.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

rbowman wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 06:37:16 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

Heh, I like a *lot* of DEVO tunes. Often mordant and funny at the same
time. And often very good melodies.

I rank them somewhere south of ABBA and the Spice Girls.

Completely different types of music from DEVO.

A friend of mine recently said he didn't know anyone who had as
eclectic a taste in music as I.

Then he asked what I thought of the Grateful Dead. I had to
confess I never paid much attention to 'em.

I like great lyrics, melodies, sound effects, variety.
Doesn't matter who's the artist or what's the genre.
--
Wish and hope succeed in discerning signs of paranormality where reason and careful scientific procedure fail.
-- James E. Alcock, The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 12
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