From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was
not interested in fixing them. They HATE copper.
ANY excuse to dump it.

Fiber ... well ... they ain't gonna because my old
wire is wrapped in dense vines that intertwine with
my power transformer and the utility is NOT interested
in dealing with that despite the friendly BS on
their web site. Electrocution hazard. My house is not
very friendly to new cables either - concrete and
real wood and uncertain electric routing.

SO ... got talked into buying a "Phone Advanced"
system.

This is basically a tower-like cell-phone ...
except it has plugs on the back for the old
hardwire devices/phones. You can buy up to
ten 'lines' and plug whatever into them. It
is more meant for an existing 'business'.

First off ... despite big antennas ... the cell
sensitivity is terrible.

My place IS in a sort of dead zone already - not
many bars even outdoors. The concrete and metal
roof don't improve this. Even thus, my cheepo
flip phone gets at least one more bar.

The tech, good guy, got it working ... but
kept cycling slowly between two bars and
NO bars. Kept moving the thing around until
I found a convenient spot with an (almost)
steady ONE bar. It'll all stay there for now.
Works, barely.

DOES work with my old inline answer device.
This is great. Nice easy buttons, no "star"
codes or similar BS. Ordered a spare device.
Yep, still sold.

No, they're NOT gonna add cell towers just
because I ask.

STILL haven't completely figured out how to
create a new online acct management site
so I can PAY them. You'd think they'd make
THAT easy. Not.

There's also supposed to be an "online
device-set portal". Even the tech was
not sure what THAT was. The theory is
a page where you can see/set every option.

HAVE considered buying an evil 'smartphone'
as a sort of third number that'll also do
some of the tricks/apps they want. I'd
mostly leave it on the counter. HOWEVER
it'd be a good excuse to get the store
people to setup and combine my accounts
and 100% kill the old landline shit.

NO Apple ! Android !

Provider became unaccessible online the
past few weeks. Tapped the reset button
on my 5G router. NOW they want some very
annoying 'shadow match' "captchas". Not
as easy being 70-ish as when I was a teen.

There's also the un-usable 'audio challenge'
with synth "animal noises". Sorry, NOT
familiar with some of the species. The AIs
will be trained to do 'em better than me
within a month or two anyway .....

Disabilities Act lawsuits ... gotta shop
around for lawyers and class-actions .....
something very DIFFERENT needed for the
over-50 crowd.

ANYway ... kinda STUCK with this for awhile.
My old hardline phone # is still important
to have, some biz and govt and relatives
have just THAT number for contact. Ok,
90% of my calls are scams/surveys/come-ons,
but still .......

OWN a 'cell booster' device. Technically you
are supposed to get 'permission' - wouldn't,
doubt anyone does. But it still requires
attaching a kind of substantial outdoor
antenna - too old for ladders now - and
there's advice on how close/where to put
the repeater unit. But, even ONE bar gain
would be well WORTH it.

WireLESS seem to be the future. Alas they
are selling it before enough infrastructure
exists.

Anyway, the device - IF you have the coverage -
does work. You can add up to 10 "lines" and
there's a plug for each. FAX machine (they DO
still have their uses), add a line. Can attach
a wireless home phone system too so you can
have units here and there. DO demand caller-ID
and the answer device inline though ... GOTTA
screen these days. "PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE
AFTER THE TONE" scares off most.

In theory you can link it with yer WAN. NO
info on how to set any needed access passwords.
Manual sez if the cell conn drops it will then
use yer WAN device for connection. No good
details on all that at all.

DO have a all-in-one printer though that WILL
send FAXes, but I'd need to buy another 'line'
and have NO good idea how to route the wire.
Sorry, OLD, no more crawling in attics - they'd
find me dead and mummified up there :-)

Now, finally, gonna price StarLink internet.
Seems pretty good - though antenna placement
will be a bit of a pain where I live. Way
too many veggies. WOULD have to weld-up a
custom wall mount. Screw it to the roof
on a tripod ? NO ! 100+ MPH winds ARE
possible here and even the 'small' StarLink
antennas are kind of a 'sail'. Steel into
concrete, full support frame !

Oops ! "Micro-review" got bigger, sorry ! :-)
Anyway, "modern realities". Kinda suck.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc


c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was not interested in
fixing them. They HATE copper. ANY excuse to dump it.

The minute that BT offers to swap my copper for fibre, I'll snap their
arm off. They were repairing the duct outside my house until 9pm last
night, so hopefully we're getting close now ...
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 24/09/2026 06:42, c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was
not interested in fixing them. They HATE copper.
ANY excuse to dump it.

Not exactly surprising

Fiber ... well ... they ain't gonna because my old
wire is wrapped in dense vines that intertwine with
my power transformer and the utility is NOT interested
in dealing with that despite the friendly BS on
their web site. Electrocution hazard. My house is not
very friendly to new cables either - concrete and
real wood and uncertain electric routing.

I fail to see how that affects fibre deployment

All they need to do is place a fibre to your premises and provide some
form of termination kit on it inside the house at some point that needs
power and is equipped with Ethernet.

No wires beyond that are involved

Fibre is quite easy to place on new poles, or underground, depending on
which works well

Using cellular technology for internet is at best a temporary bodge.

You would be better off with Skylink
--
rCLProgress is precisely that which rules and regulations did not foresee,rCY

rCo Ludwig von Mises

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 24/09/2026 10:33, Andy Burns wrote:

c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was not interested in
fixing them. They HATE copper. ANY excuse to dump it.

The minute that BT offers to swap my copper for fibre, I'll snap their
arm off.-a They were repairing the duct outside my house until 9pm last night, so hopefully we're getting close now ...

Precisely. It was during Covid lock-down that I noticed all these vans
and diggers and stuff.

When I asked them 'what are you doing?' and they said 'laying fibre
ducts for BT Openreach' I was onto my ISP immediately. I had to wait a
couple of months before they said 'yes' we can connect you' and that was
that.

What has really made a difference is not the speed. It is the pure reliability. Yes now and again a route flap will stop internet for a few
tens of seconds but my link to the ISP itself has NEVER failed.

I could manage on my DSL speeds = 1Mbps up and around 5Mbps down. I am
about ten times as fast now, which is handy when doing Linux upgrades
but really its the reliability that scores.

In the UK high speed broadband for [almost] all was made a target for
the fibre people to achieve, and they got government assistance to help
do it.

Because it was deemed a strategic policy, in the same way that roads
are. A 'have to have' to actually engage with the modern world.

I have no idea why the USA would want tp lag behind the rest of the
world so much, beyond the usual belief that the USA is the best of all possible shitholes and therefore nothing needs doing (done?)
--
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

Mark Twain

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

What has really made a difference is not the speed. It is the pure reliability. Yes now and again a route flap will stop internet for a few tens of seconds but my link to the ISP itself has NEVER failed.

Well, the additional speed *is* nice....

But agreed, the reliability is night and day above DSL. My FIOS has
only gone out once, and that turned out to have been caused by a
Verizon tech disconnecting the wrong fiber bundle in some "box"
on a pole somewhere several blocks away.

My old DSL links, every single one of them, the DSL modem needed to be rebooted about once every few days in order for the link to remain up.
For the 3com modems that were supplied, that had serial console ports externally accessible, I setup a cron job to reboot the damn things
every night about 3am, just to keep the link stable.

When the ISP upgraded to some newer DSL modem without a serial console
port externally accessible, a "lights timer" set to power cycle the
thing once a day cured the issue again.

But the FIOS, it's just always on.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 24/09/2026 06:42, c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was
not interested in fixing them. They HATE copper.
ANY excuse to dump it.

Not exactly surprising

It's the end result of the US FCC allowing the local "bells" to
decomission their analog copper systems. I also pointed this out to
speed of light some months ago when he was arguing he was never going
to let go of his copper, and at the time speed of light guy (as usual)
refused to listen or understand.

Fiber ... well ... they ain't gonna because my old wire is wrapped
in dense vines that intertwine with my power transformer and the
utility is NOT interested in dealing with that despite the friendly
BS on their web site. Electrocution hazard. My house is not very
friendly to new cables either - concrete and real wood and uncertain
electric routing.

I fail to see how that affects fibre deployment

It does not have anything at all to do with it. But it's "speed of
light", he hallucinates reasons at about the rate all of the AI's do.

All they need to do is place a fibre to your premises and provide some
form of termination kit on it inside the house at some point that needs power and is equipped with Ethernet.

And neither concrete nor "real wood" will deter the installer. They
will simply get out their hammer drill, and their carbide bit, and
drill through whatever they need to drill through to get the fiber
inside to the in house dmarc.

No wires beyond that are involved

Fibre is quite easy to place on new poles, or underground, depending on which works well

Using cellular technology for internet is at best a temporary bodge.

Sadly, given the sparseness of much of the rural US, a "cellular bridge
box" is what the "bells" managed to regulatory capture talk the FCC
into allowing them to use as a replacement for the 100 year old analog
copper phone wiring when they decomission the copper. Plus the box
he's talking about does not do internet, it's an FCC approved substitute
for POTS phone service.


--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 25/09/2026 04:50, Rich wrote:

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 24/09/2026 06:42, c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was
not interested in fixing them. They HATE copper.
ANY excuse to dump it.

Not exactly surprising

It's the end result of the US FCC allowing the local "bells" to
decomission their analog copper systems. I also pointed this out to
speed of light some months ago when he was arguing he was never going
to let go of his copper, and at the time speed of light guy (as usual) refused to listen or understand.

Fiber ... well ... they ain't gonna because my old wire is wrapped
in dense vines that intertwine with my power transformer and the
utility is NOT interested in dealing with that despite the friendly
BS on their web site. Electrocution hazard. My house is not very
friendly to new cables either - concrete and real wood and uncertain
electric routing.

I fail to see how that affects fibre deployment

It does not have anything at all to do with it. But it's "speed of
light", he hallucinates reasons at about the rate all of the AI's do.

All they need to do is place a fibre to your premises and provide some
form of termination kit on it inside the house at some point that needs
power and is equipped with Ethernet.

And neither concrete nor "real wood" will deter the installer. They
will simply get out their hammer drill, and their carbide bit, and
drill through whatever they need to drill through to get the fiber
inside to the in house dmarc.

No wires beyond that are involved

Fibre is quite easy to place on new poles, or underground, depending on
which works well

Using cellular technology for internet is at best a temporary bodge.

Sadly, given the sparseness of much of the rural US, a "cellular bridge
box" is what the "bells" managed to regulatory capture talk the FCC
into allowing them to use as a replacement for the 100 year old analog
copper phone wiring when they decomission the copper. Plus the box
he's talking about does not do internet, it's an FCC approved substitute
for POTS phone service.

Id have stuck a Starlink in years ago.
--
Climate Change: Socialism wearing a lab coat.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 2026-09-24 12:43, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 24/09/2026 06:42, c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was
not interested in fixing them. They HATE copper.
ANY excuse to dump it.

Not exactly surprising

Fiber ... well ... they ain't gonna because my old
wire is wrapped in dense vines that intertwine with
my power transformer and the utility is NOT interested
in dealing with that despite the friendly BS on
their web site. Electrocution hazard. My house is not
very friendly to new cables either - concrete and
real wood and uncertain electric routing.

I fail to see how that affects fibre deployment

All they need to do is place a fibre to your premises and provide some
form of termination kit on it inside the house at some point that needs power and is equipped with Ethernet.

No wires beyond that are involved

Fibre is quite easy to place on new poles, or underground, depending on which works well

Using cellular technology for internet is at best a temporary bodge.

You would be better off with Skylink

Here it is fibre to everybody on cities. At least if sufficiently
densely populated. Otherwise, or on rural sites, it is some radio
technology.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 9/24/26 05:33, Andy Burns wrote:

c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was not interested in
fixing them. They HATE copper. ANY excuse to dump it.

The minute that BT offers to swap my copper for fibre, I'll snap their
arm off.-a They were repairing the duct outside my house until 9pm last night, so hopefully we're getting close now ...

No fiber for me ... nasty dense vines have
engulfed the phone line AND my power transformer.
Electrocution hazard. Power corp is NOT interested
in fixing any of this - basically advise calling
911 Fire if/WHEN something bursts into flames.
Been after them for two months - nada. Of course
their WEB PAGE sez they are SO concerned :-)

So, anyway, kinda STUCK with wireless 'solutions'.

Alas I'm kind of in a dead zone there too. Not
gonna change anytime soon.

Life ain't always fair.

LOOKING into StarLink. Price ain't bad. WOULD
have to fab a custom antenna mount to fit a
concrete wall alas. Possible. Too old to climb
ladders now, would have to hire a handyman.

Used to BE a pretty good handyman on top of
the IT stuff. What a drag it is getting old ...

1/8th iron or 3/16ths aluminum I figure, has to
be cat-3 resistant. StarLink antennas are kind
of "sails". Mount shape = shallow triangle with
one side a bit longer ... ideal pointing here
is north-northeast and just a bit of extra
tilt in that direction. There ARE pointing charts.

HAVE had cat-2 and low cat-3 winds here before,
prolonged. It's a serious engineering issue.
Tends to shake everything apart and make it
fly into the neighbors houses.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 9/24/26 06:43, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 24/09/2026 06:42, c186282 wrote:

Old wires went bad - and ATT, not unexpectedly, was
not interested in fixing them. They HATE copper.
ANY excuse to dump it.

Not exactly surprising

Nope. KNEW this. HOPED my copper would
last a few more years.

ALMOST did ... phone still did everything,
but RING. They DIDN'T/WOULDN'T fix it.

Fiber ... well ... they ain't gonna because my old
wire is wrapped in dense vines that intertwine with
my power transformer and the utility is NOT interested
in dealing with that despite the friendly BS on
their web site. Electrocution hazard. My house is not
very friendly to new cables either - concrete and
real wood and uncertain electric routing.

I fail to see how that affects fibre deployment

(a) concrete with rebar

(b) MIGHT hit existing wiring, causing
fires or electrocution.

Roughly 1950 construction - Pill-Box.
Built by a construction contractor for
his own fam - who lived there for a few
years. He did NOT cut corners. Kinda
cat-4 construction.

Fiber SOUNDS easy, IS in many cases. But
not in MY case. From now on I'm gonna have
NOTHING but wireless - and the signal sucks.

All they need to do is place a fibre to your premises and provide some
form of termination kit on it inside the house at some point that needs power and is equipped with Ethernet.

No wires beyond that are involved

Fibre is quite easy to place on new poles, or underground, depending on which works wel

1950 poles and wires ... now wired-in to my
power grid via vines and shit.

Using cellular technology for internet is at best a temporary bodge.

You would be better off with Skylink

AM looking into StarLink - but it's not really
meant for EVERYTHING yet. Price ain't bad though.
Biggie is keeping my old land-line NUMBER ...
all most everybody of value uses. My new cell
thingie DOES use that number.

Dislike cells. Have SOME uses but as many
pains. Thinking of going to another carrier,
maybe even something cheapo like Consumer
Cellular, with a Samsung Android smart(ass)
phone as a THIRD number.

Found a 2-year newer model of the traditional
inline answer machine. Now installed. LIKE
those - a few easy buttons, no star codes
or worse. Odd how "improved" really means
"MUCH more complicated/unusable" ....

Yea, yea ... means "Nerds Like Me" were
involved :-) Alas nobody CHECKED the nerds,
nobody synced them with Reality. A room
full of "Sheldons".

Hmm ... just for fun ... tried to send a TEXT
to my new cellular thingie. No good - and NO
real way to READ it even if it did work.

This is getting more and more annoying even
as I'm getting older and older. NOT good !
Is my future to be WITHOUT handy comms ???

STILL don't know how to PAY for the new
cellular thingie ...... may have to go
and create a New Online Account, which I
recall is kinda NOT so easy or transparent.
There IS a Company Sales Office ... might
have to buy a new cell, but then they likely
WILL consolidate all my accounts during the
process. Have about a month.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 26/09/2026 05:08, c186282 wrote:

No fiber for me ... nasty dense vines have
-a engulfed the phone line AND my power transformer.

Why would you think fibre would take the same route?
--
The lifetime of any political organisation is about three years before
its been subverted by the people it tried to warn you about.

Anon.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 26/09/2026 05:08, c186282 wrote:

No fiber for me ... nasty dense vines have
-a engulfed the phone line AND my power transformer.

Why would you think fibre would take the same route?

Because like an AI, "speed of light" hallucinates an incorrect reason
and in his case then sticks to it through thick and thin.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 26/09/2026 11:01, Rich wrote:

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 26/09/2026 05:08, c186282 wrote:

No fiber for me ... nasty dense vines have
-a engulfed the phone line AND my power transformer.

Why would you think fibre would take the same route?

Because like an AI, "speed of light" hallucinates an incorrect reason
and in his case then sticks to it through thick and thin.

Ooh. You bitch!
--
"When one man dies it's a tragedy. When thousands die it's statistics."

Josef Stalin


--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

c186282 <c186...@nnada.net> [c]:

Too old to climb ladders now, would have to hire a handyman.

No need to install that Starlink antenna somewhere high up.
It works just the same installed at any height; no need for a
ladder or a handyman.

It could even be installed without a mast, see https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIP.Eaisjt38SW0Nov_rBfArdwHaFL

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sat, 26 Sep 2026 17:05:41 +0200, Fritz Wuehler wrote:

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIP.Eaisjt38SW0Nov_rBfArdwHaFL

I have a flat section of roof so I put it there held up by its kickstand.
As a temporary measure I laid a old motorcycle battery on the kickstand to anchor it. We've had some high gusts since then so temporary is on its way
to becoming permanent.

I did need to climb about halfway up an extension ladder but I can still handle that without killing myself.

A few years ago I was doing something on the ladder and the cat climbed up
to investigate. I will attest cats climb ladders a lot better than they go down ladders. She made me look graceful.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 9/27/26 02:59, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 27/09/2026 02:32, c186282 wrote:

On 9/26/26 04:31, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 26/09/2026 05:08, c186282 wrote:

No fiber for me ... nasty dense vines have
-a-a engulfed the phone line AND my power transformer.

Why would you think fibre would take the same route?

-a-a Only semi-clear way into the property.

underground?

They are NOT gonna do that.

And the POWER corp is, eventually, planning
to underground.

I can just see a MASSIVE nasty short circuit
under my house .......

And six MONTHS without power OR comms. Would
have to live in a hotel and find some ways
to FAKE habitation to deter thieves.

Look, these big corps DON'T CARE about
their customers anymore.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 27/09/2026 08:16, c186282 wrote:

And the POWER corp is, eventually, planning
-a to underground.

-a I can just see a MASSIVE nasty short circuit
-a under my house .......

-a And six MONTHS without power OR comms. Would
-a have to live in a hotel and find some ways
-a to FAKE habitation to deter thieves.

Good grief. When the builders digging my foundation sliced through the
cable with the excavator bucket, we had the electricity company on site
next day, and he first replaced the 60A blown fuse with a 100A one 'to
make sure we have a proper fault' and used a meter to work out exactly
where the short was when THAT blew.

Hammered a stick in the ground and told the excavator man to 'dig there'
Well he had already DUG there, that was in fact the problem...

But we exposed enough cable to cut it and splice in a new bit with lots
of water proofing and armouring, and the house s stayed at 100A supply thereafter,

Which is how things work when the nation is civilised and there are no politics in the way.

Contrast to the house down the road that had a heating oil line running
in the concrete floor. When that went, the insurance and the environment control sad 'whole floor has to come up and the contaminated soil must
be dug out 6 foot deep and all replaced with a new floor etc etc..

When I spilt 100litres of fuel oil I kept my mouth shut. It smelt for a
few years and killed the grass. But it all came back..
--
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign,
that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."

Jonathan Swift.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Sun, 27 Sep 2026 08:38:04 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Hammered a stick in the ground and told the excavator man to 'dig there'
Well he had already DUG there, that was in fact the problem...

I worked for a contractor for a couple of months. Rather than call before digging his instructions to the backhoe operator were to keep digging; he would call if any cables were dug up.

It was a valuable experience. I learned how to cut every corner in the
book and wind up with a salable house. A fireplace and hardwood floors
would entice the naive buyers. They would discover the trout pond in the basement and the leach field laid in a swamp at some future date.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 9/27/2026 00:16, c186282 wrote:

[...]
-a And the POWER corp is, eventually, planning
-a to underground.

-a I can just see a MASSIVE nasty short circuit
-a under my house .......

-a And six MONTHS without power OR comms. Would
-a have to live in a hotel and find some ways
-a to FAKE habitation to deter thieves.

-a Look, these big corps DON'T CARE about
-a their customers anymore.

That is why we have PUCs to supervise them. And class action
lawsuits when they fail to do that.
--
Lars Poulsen - an old geek in Santa Barbara, California
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 27/09/2026 20:02, rbowman wrote:

On Sun, 27 Sep 2026 08:38:04 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Hammered a stick in the ground and told the excavator man to 'dig there'
Well he had already DUG there, that was in fact the problem...

I worked for a contractor for a couple of months. Rather than call before digging his instructions to the backhoe operator were to keep digging; he would call if any cables were dug up.

It was a valuable experience. I learned how to cut every corner in the
book and wind up with a salable house. A fireplace and hardwood floors
would entice the naive buyers. They would discover the trout pond in the basement and the leach field laid in a swamp at some future date.

Now who is being negative about people...
--
rCLThose who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.rCY

rCo Voltaire, Questions sur les Miracles |a M. Claparede, Professeur de Th|-ologie |a Gen|?ve, par un Proposant: Ou Extrait de Diverses Lettres de
M. de Voltaire

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On Mon, 28 Sep 2026 08:58:01 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Now who is being negative about people...

Overall I tilt towards a negative assessment of my fellow man. They're
human, all too human, and are easily distracted by shiny objects.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 9/28/26 13:33, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 28 Sep 2026 08:58:01 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Now who is being negative about people...

Overall I tilt towards a negative assessment of my fellow man. They're
human, all too human, and are easily distracted by shiny objects.

And, of course, YOU aren't ....... :-)

MANY things 'shine'.

Suggest a more 'holistic' view of yer "fellow man"
and the "human condition".

Sorry, being a comp/OS guru is NOT the pinnacle
of human existence. Oft USEFUL, but not the Big
Picture.

One of the traditional virtues is "humility",
a lack of hubris.

Just sayin' dude.

Better life for all in that. Whether IQ 90 or
IQ 190, we all have our unique, randomly
useful, skill/experience sets.

Be nice.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc

On 9/29/26 03:25, c186282 wrote:

On 9/28/26 13:33, rbowman wrote:

On Mon, 28 Sep 2026 08:58:01 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Now who is being negative about people...

Overall I tilt towards a negative assessment of my fellow man. They're
human, all too human, and are easily distracted by shiny objects.

-a And, of course, YOU aren't .......-a :-)

-a MANY things 'shine'.

-a Suggest a more 'holistic' view of yer "fellow man"
-a and the "human condition".

-a Sorry, being a comp/OS guru is NOT the pinnacle
-a of human existence. Oft USEFUL, but not the Big
-a Picture.

-a One of the traditional virtues is "humility",
-a a lack of hubris.

-a Just sayin' dude.

-a Better life for all in that. Whether IQ 90 or
-a IQ 190, we all have our unique, randomly
-a useful, skill/experience sets.

-a Be nice.

Note : "Phone-Advanced" system :
DID finally manage to create a new online acct.
email is WRONG - foreign agent, likely does not
hear letters/syllables the same, gonna have to
brave the computer help system - horrible !

Did manage to make a PAYMENT though - good sign.
Did get into the 'application portal' at least
once - made all desired changes right then in
case I can never get into it again. Have old
school inline answer device - MUCH easier than
any online bullshit, so turned voicemail OFF
after setting more rings than the device. Alas,
despite being a kind of cell, it does NOT get
TEXT messages anywhere apparently.

Still want to buy a more traditional "smartphone",
One of the Samsung S series seems ideal, not TOO
expensive but well reviewed. CAN do 'apps' (hate
them) and direct payments using one however. NOT
sure whether to go with ATT or a competitor though.

MIGHT be better with a competitor because ATT, in
case of serious probs, won't be able to lock it out.
2FA ability is now something we can't do without.
SOME - to a degree ATT - are now kinda 3FA ...
hoping they DROP that bullshit because it's
Just TOO and I'm getting too old to deal with
'captchas' (Disabilities Act lawsuits MAY be
on the horizon - bet a million would sign on).

Oh, the smartphone ... 99.9% just plugged into the
charger on a shelf. HATE the things with a passion,
Apple products twice as much ! NOT remotely 'intuitive'
for ME. Note EVERY major carrier charges TWICE as much
for such phones as the Amazon "unlocked" equiv. I just
don't want to try and COPE with registering an
'unlocked' phone now alas, leave that to the sweet-16s.

Does "JitterBug", phones for OLD people, have any
kind of 'smartphone' now ? Gotta check ! Umm - MAY,
but all seems through "lively.com" which I'm not
sure is real/trustworthy. Anyway, not playing games
or streaming 8k through the thing. JitterBug is
famous for flip phones with BIG keys and simple
large-ish displays. Older folks LOVE them. Plans
are good too. Hey, tinytiny text and tiny on-screen
keys do NOT mesh with being over 65 !!! Gen-Z ain't
there yet - but WILL be :-)

Hmm ... digital TIMER for the charger ? If not
used much we only want to charge for maybe 30
minutes a week or the battery will suffer. Many
such devices for sale.

Anyway, that's the update on this device.

I *can* theoretically buy up to TEN 'lines', there
is a plug on it for each. It's kind of a 'business'
device really. If I had fax machines and such that'd
be the way to go. Yes, FAX still CAN be useful !

May wanna check online for a cheap device ... but
I *think* my Everything-Printer/Scanner thingie
CAN send faxes. The WIRING would be a nightmare
however ... no plaster-board walls or drop
ceilings here and NO I'm not gonna get on
ladders anymore !

Had to MOVE the device from where-installed.
Kept getting a very weird CYCLING of signal
strength ... zero bars slowly up to two bars
and then down to zero again. NOT good. Where
I moved it I get ONE bar, but (almost) constantly.
Cell service where I am is BAD and they're NOT
gonna fix it anytime soon.

Anyway, just an update on this 'new' technology.

Final extra bit ... SEEMS that for a mere $20 I can
buy a slightly upgraded CHAT-GPT account. SHOULD I
buy it ? While I really REALLY don't like "AI"
(now "Super-Intelligence") it MAY become kind of
indispensible in the very NEAR future.

I will credit Trump here for the re-name. He said
the term "artificial" intelligence was obsolete.
Whatever the fuck today's big corps have created
is not really 'artificial' anymore ... it's a sort
of alien-ish REAL intelligence - "by another means".
Yea, LLMs aren't the BEST way, but put a trillion
bucks or so into them and .......

"Super-Intelligence" is something that can solve
almost ALL your vexing problems FAST. Might be
able to solve faster-than-light in a few days
if properly informed. Math prodigies are in SHOCK,
so MANY beloved intractable issues solved in
just DAYS, sometimes HOURS. Future system cap
will be at least 10-100X today's.

What HAVE we made ??? Alas we won't know until
it's WAY too late .......

Oh well, have gone on too long ...

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