THE KINGDOM OF BLACKFOOT

[jack]

We have a mac indy dealer around here and he's selling macbook pros for between 375 and 600. I have no idea about apple anything so I was considering a visit and a chat over there. I hate Safari but would like to be able to work in all formats.

AMD translations in Windows are remarkable. I like what they've been up to last few years.

 

[The Question]

I'd pop for an M1 Mac Mini -- would much prefer to, in fact -- but there's still way too much chatter about failures on those to do basic stuff like wake the display when the machine wakes from sleep, Bluetooth connections dropped, etc.

Plus, I figure, it'd be wasteful to get this HP Envy on the cheap just to replace the ancient-ass, pitiful 2012 HP -- and then just shitcan this one, too, on the next stimcheck.

Those two lines of circumstance leave me standing at the intersection of upgrade the shit out of the one I've got until 1. Apple Silicon is properly ready, and 2. I've got the money to drop on a productivity-focused Mac that isn't a Mini.

For now, this Windows box will get as much of the works as I can throw at it with the money at hand and its own limitations.

 

[jack]

That's very cool and the thing I've always liked about Windows. I hate 10, but then I don't when they improve functionality. RAM is pretty cheap these days and for me it's all about the capability to run visuals efficiently.

 

[The Question]

I suppose the (so far unspoken) third direction is, I could pop for an iPad Pro or iPad Air + Magic Keyboard.

But the way I see it, the only solid reason to do that would be that shit is about to hit the fan, nationally, so hard that going mobile would be a must. And if shit hits the fan that hard, I won't have anywhere to sell stories or books, anyway, because there won't be a fucking internet anymore, so there won't be any fucking point in having a computer anymore and I would be better served buying a fucking gun.

 

[jack]

Then there's that. I try not to think too much about the possibility of that scenario, but I do see how events could cause it to happen.

I'm rigging the RV to be its own wifi hotspot.

 

[The Question]

That's very cool and the thing I've always liked about Windows. I hate 10, but then I don't when they improve functionality. RAM is pretty cheap these days and for me it's all about the capability to run visuals efficiently.

Depending on whether you use your computer more for gaming or for work + just personal non-gaming shit, you might want to go to an Apple store and at least play around with a Mac running Big Sur. Not that you'd get a lot out of it in just a quick fumble-over, but who knows, maybe you would.

But the biggest difference is in what you DON'T notice until it isn't happening. And that creeps up on you.

When I switched from Windows 7 to OS 10.5 Leopard, it took about a month before I noticed it.

The OS wasn't throwing plaintive, "BOOP"s and "BEEP"s at me every few hours as Windows would fuck up in some minor way.

No cryptic error dialogues that didn't tell you fuck-all about WHY your computer suddenly interrupted what you were doing, just to tell you that it couldn't do... something or other it wouldn't specify, for some reason that it wouldn't tell you about.

When you use Windows for years and years, its constant minor fuckups sort of start to escape your notice. That's just how Windows is, right? Something's always fucking up, un-fix-ably.

macOS just... doesn't. There are no constant fuckups. On the rare occasion where something does fuck up, it actually tells you what fucked, up, why it fucked up, and how to fix it.

Because macOS is primetime. It's made for people who have shit to do, other than... y'know... do the work Microsoft should've fucking done themselves.

macOS is for people who use computers.

Windows is for people who like to GET used BY their computers. lol

 

[The Question]

Ranting aside, I am finding workarounds for Windows' lack of productivity software made for people in the 21st century; chiefly through web apps whose devs have created desktop clients. Notion is a good example. It's not exactly a replacement for DevonThink, but it's an interesting app in its own right -- check it out, you might find a use for it:

Your connected workspace for wiki, docs & projects | Notion

A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It's the all-in-one workspace for you and your team.

notion.so

 

[jack]

Oh cool it's like Microsoft Project. That was a 3.1 app and amazing. Like Lotus 123 when it first popped for Excel

 

[The Question]

Then there's that. I try not to think too much about the possibility of that scenario, but I do see how events could cause it to happen.

I'm rigging the RV to be its own wifi hotspot.

True; I suppose satellite-based internet would hold on for a goodly while longer, until the satellites fall out of orbit.

 

[The Question]

Oh cool it's like Microsoft Project. That was a 3.1 app and amazing. Like Lotus 123 when it first popped for Excel

It strikes me as a bit like Evernote but far less rigid where layout is concerned. It even has a web clipper, if the thing in general interests you enough to go that far into it.

 

[jack]

I'm an avid Excel user thanks to a statistics class I took to satisfy the math requirement for my bachelors so it's very appealing.

 

[The Question]

That's what I kind of like about Notion -- as an Excel fan, I'm sure you can find ways to give it an Excel-like layout. Me, I'm a text guy within documents but very hierarchical when it comes to folder/subfolders for navigation (Hell, my Bookmarks bar is composed exclusively of folders with 2- and 3-level deep folder hierarchies.)

 

[The Question]

Welp, definitely committed to Windows now, just bought a year of antivirus for the shabby garbage-y fucker lol ESET Nod32.

 

[The Question]

Oh, hey, you know what the "Kangz" of Africa conquered?

Fucking. Nothing.

Alexander the Great?

Ivan the Terrible?

Chinggis Khan?

Those mother fuckers conquered shit. cupcakeers? They conquered nothing. "Kangz" of nothing.

 

[jack]

It's remarkable for a continent so big nearly all the other continents fit inside it's borders that knuckledraggers are the chief export

 

[jack]

Just put a bid on a nice house. I should probably talk to Volpone about it, see what he thinks. 4br, pretty clean $132,000

Spoiler

 

[The Question]

That much house for that little coin? Sounds like a steal. What's wrong with it?

 

[The Question]

It's remarkable for a continent so big nearly all the other continents fit inside it's borders that knuckledraggers are the chief export

Well, a lot of it is worthless litterbox. I dunno, export the Jewish diaspora to it. They did some pretty impressive shit with that football field sized country of Israel. Give 'em a whole fuckin' continent to play with, see what they do with that.

 

[jack]

That much house for that little coin? Sounds like a steal. What's wrong with it?

You should see the inside. It's been completely redone. 4 br 2 baths, 1400 sq ft the loft is even refinished. I heard a tree fell on the house during Hurricane Florence and basically crushed it through the roof, killing a mom and her kid, so people are spooked by the place. That was in 2018.

 

[The Question]

Ah, so the small price is because of a "haunted" rep. Got it. Well, their superstitious stupid is your gain.