The great movies, directors, actors, and writers of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s produced what has since been called the Golden Era of Hollywood. Technological advances, especially sound and color, also contributed. Scripts came from great novels and works of history, and from compelling stories serialized in magazines. One of those who contributed mightily to the Golden Era, in particular to the movies of John Ford, was the writer James Warner Bellah. His stories were powerful, poignant, and filled with men of character and courage. He himself was a veteran of not only World War I but also World War II. //
From the late 1940s through the 1960s, Bellah published eight books and three dozen short stories and articles. He also wrote or co-wrote nine screenplays. He will probably be best remembered for his work with the legendary director John Ford. The two first met, not in Hollywood, but in India during World War II. Ford’s famous cavalry trilogy, Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and Rio Grande (1950), came from the pen of James Warner Bellah. //
Probably the best of these films is The Sea Chase (1954), starring John Wayne and Lana Turner.
Sympa is an electronic mailing list manager. It is used to automate list management functions such as subscription, moderation and management of archives. Sympa also manages sending of messages to the lists, and makes it possible to reduce the load on the system. Provided that you have enough memory on your system, Sympa is especially well adapted for big lists. For a list with 20 000 subscribers, it takes 5 minutes to send a message to 90% of subscribers, of course considering that the network is available.
AudriusButkevicius
Jun 8
The usecase [of glusterfs] was sharing thumbnail cache between multiple ec2 machines in the same az, serving an e-commerce site, before efs was a thing.
The performance of the site tanked really badly due to how long io and discovery took on files in glusterfs, way beyond of what was acceptable.
The cross site (resd eu->us) gluster sync was also a pile of dirt, failing with obscure errors and getting stuck quite often.
This is just first hand experiences and I don’t want to touch it ever again.
Earth is expected to spin more quickly in the coming weeks, making some of our days unusually short. On July 9, July 22 and Aug. 5, the position of the moon is expected to affect Earth's rotation so that each day is between 1.3 and 1.51 milliseconds shorter than normal.
OurAirports is a free site where visitors can explore the world's airports, read other people's comments, and leave their own. The help pages have information to get you started.
The site is dedicated to both passengers and pilots. You can create a map of the airports you've visited and share that map with friends. You can find the closest airports to you, and discover the ones that you haven't visited yet.
Behind the fun and features, OurAirports exists primarily as a public good. When Australia forced the US government to shut down public access to its Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File (DAFIF) service in 2006, there was no longer a good source of global aviation data. OurAirports started in 2007 primarily to fill that gap: we encourage members to create and maintain data records for airports around the world, and they manage over 40,000 of them. Many web sites, smartphone apps, and other services rely on OurAirport's data, which is all in the Public Domain (no permission required).
Installation and setup commands (for systemd managed systems). If you are using a different platform, email us or post on the community development forum.
Step 1: Add the package repository
Step 2: Install the agent
Ubuntu, Debian:
sudo apt install -y ntppool-agent
Enterprise Linux, Fedora, etc:
sudo yum install -y ntppool-agent
Step 3: Enable and start the service
sudo systemctl enable --now ntppool-agent@test
Step 4: Monitor the logs (in one terminal window)
sudo journalctl -u ntppool-agent@\* -f
Step 5: Setup the agent (in another terminal window on the same server)
sudo -u ntpmon ntppool-agent setup -e test -a 1d03ggn
Step 6: Open the provided link from the setup process to authenticate the agent to your account
NTP Pool Repositories
The NTP Pool monitor and other tools are built for Linux and FreeBSD (i386, amd64 and arm64).
Yum and deb package repositories are available, in a “test” and “production” flavor.
The NTP Pool Monitoring Agent package is ntppool-agent.
Roku SoundBridge Legacy Proxy
Let the Music Play...Again!
- July 01 2024 nginx and regex combinations baffle me sometimes. I love doing backend scripting and hate design. so yeah this is ugly. but it works.
- July 8th 2024: things to do. 1: symptom,buffers over and over.If $sent_http_icy_metaint < 1024, turn off icy, no song info but it least it will work. 2: Prioritize MP3 feeds over others. 3: if destination is http, stop. no need to proxy. 4: setup a forum so i can herar from others?
- July 9th 2024: older Soundbridge models version 2.1.x now work with proxy.
Prefix https preset URL with: http://www.opieproxy.com/roku/
RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney brought its Boeing 747SP test bed to Oshkosh as part of the company’s global centennial celebration, commemorating 100 years since its founding in 1925. The 747SP is expected to be here until Thursday, July 24, offering attendees a rare opportunity to tour this iconic flying test bed.
Pratt & Whitney began operations in 1925 with the invention of the R-1340 Wasp engine, which revolutionized military and commercial aviation. The 1940s saw more innovation as the company powered several era-defining aircraft for the Allies in World War II and began exploring jet propulsion.
The Boeing 747SP (for special performance) is a shortened version of the 747 airliner that features a longer range than its full-sized counterpart and is powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines. Only 45 such aircraft were produced, with Pratt & Whitney owning the only two that are currently airworthy. The test bed variant features a fifth engine mount separate from the four main powerplants located below the wings. This extra engine configuration allows for testing engines in real-life weather conditions. Since 2001, Pratt & Whitney’s test beds have completed more than 1,400 ground runs and flight tests using 71 different experimental engines.
The latest available CDC data shows a measles vaccine rate of about 92.7 percent for kindergartners in the 2023-2024 school year. This is down 2.5 percent from the 2019-2020 vaccination rate, a modest drop considering the fallout from the CDC pushing and the federal government seeking to mandate the experimental Covid vaccine in 2021. For comparison, the vaccination rate was between 61 and 66 percent for children between 1 and 4 years old from 1971 to 1985.
Furthermore, there are currently only 35 more measles cases than the total number recorded in 2019, according to the CDC. This is still about 800 fewer cases than recorded for the year of 1992 — the last time the number exceeded 1,300. It is also far lower than the 9,600 cases in 1991. Yet the corporate media continues to drive a narrative of fear based on the point that we are seeing “the most measles cases in more than 30 years.” //
The U.S. technically eliminated measles in 2000. According to the CDC, elimination means “there is no measles spreading within the country and new cases are only found when someone contracts measles abroad and returns to the country.” //
It’s interesting, then, that the state with the highest number of measles cases also has the highest number of illegal border crossings, but, unsurprisingly, corporate media outlets have failed to draw that connection or hastily minimized it. Outbreaks more than five times as large as that of Gaines County currently exist in Canada and Mexico, and the total cases in Ontario, Canada, and in Chihuahua, Mexico, both far exceed total cases in the United States in 2025. //
In Chicago last year, 57 measles cases were recorded in connection with a migrant shelter. A tuberculosis outbreak was associated with Chicago shelters at the time. In 2023, migrants apparently brought measles to New York City. The CDC and others have conducted studies on the prevalence of infectious diseases among immigrants and refugees, including tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, Hansen’s disease, HIV, and hepatitis B and C.
Five years ago today, the so-called ‘primary sub-source’ behind the infamous Steele dossier was identified, and the entire hoax collapsed. //
Five years ago, a group of internet sleuths uncovered what remains the single biggest breakthrough in the Russiagate hoax: the identification of Igor Danchenko. Danchenko was the so-called “primary sub-source” behind the infamous Steele dossier, a Clinton campaign subcontractor whose fabrications formed the backbone of the fraudulent Trump-Russia collusion narrative. The FBI had buried his identity deep inside its classified files, hoping it would never come to light. But when it did, the entire hoax collapsed. From start to finish, it had all been made up.
That breakthrough didn’t happen in isolation. It rested on years of meticulous work by a broader community of independent researchers, writers, and investigators — all outside the corporate media, working without institutional backing or access to classified leaks. People like Mollie Hemingway, Margot Cleveland, and many others uncovered key pieces of the Russiagate puzzle while the legacy media actively worked to spread the hoax. //
Five years ago today, the Russiagate hoax was buried for good. The supposed Russian insider who fueled a national panic turned out to be a broke think tank wannabe saying whatever it took to get paid.
The entire scandal was a fiction stitched together by Clinton operatives, blessed by Obama himself, and weaponized by government agencies and their media allies. It wasn’t exposed by a Pulitzer-winning journalist or a congressional committee. It was exposed by a handful of internet researchers with day jobs.
And that’s the real story of Russiagate’s end.
If you're writing an open source system utility, for example, your chance of widespread adoption depends on its reputation as trustworthy, and that will reflect on you.
Who watches the watchers?
Talon is a case in point. A Windows de-bloater made by an outfit called Raven and distributed through GitHub as open source, it nonetheless got a rep as potential malware. Open source by itself guarantees nothing, and the conversation around whether or not Talon's bona fides checked out simply grew and grew. Enter YouTube cyber security educator and ethical hacker John Hammond. His day job includes answering the question "Is it Malware?" He has the chops, he has the tools, he has the caffeine. Speedrun is go. //
How might Raven have avoided being considered suspicious? There's a concept called defensive coding, where you consider each decision not just as how it contributes to functionality, but how it would cope if given an unexpected input. With Talon, the defensive process is whether a choice of technique will trigger malware scanners, and if it might, but is indispensable, how to make it clear in the code what's going on. You know, that pesky documentation stuff. The design overview. The comments in the code. If your product will need all those open source eyeballs to become trusted, then feed those eyeballs with what they need. There aren't many Hammonds, but there are lots of curious wannabes, and even the occasional journalist eager to tell a story.
Creating security is a huge task, and everyone who launches software for the masses has the opportunity to help or hinder, regardless of the actual intent of the product. Open source is a magnificent path to greater security across the board, because it keeps humans in the loop. Engineering for those humans is a force amplifier for good. Just ask the future historians speedrunning the history of cyber security centuries from now. ®
Because of Scheffler’s commitment to his household above all, his son will reap the emotional, educational, and financial benefits of growing up with his married biological father. As studies show, there is no greater, more impactful gift a dad can give his children. The result of successful, indispensable nuclear families like the Schefflers, in turn, leads to a strong and flourishing society.
Tax breaks and merely telling men that they need to step up can only do so much to help our nation’s family and fertility crisis. What young people need are real-life examples that money, career, and fame pale in comparison to raising little ones with your significant other.
When men in the spotlight lead well, the world follows by example. //
Scheffler is no sandbagger. He’s humble — his goal during the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he won gold, was to “have fun.” But he’s not making the world a better place because of his putting game or even his philosophical press conferences. The most significant mark Scheffler will leave on the world started at home with his decision to be a loving husband and present father.
I'm a ISP network engineer, and across all teams working on the same platform we have agreed on Read-Only Friday. //
Yep, never start/continue/work on a project on a Friday. Or Monday... //
We have a strict "no live deployments on a Friday".
And if a Friday happens to be a public holiday, the rule then applies to the preceding Thursday instead. //
The last day of the working week is virtual or logical Friday, even if it's not calendar Friday.
All Friday rules still apply!
Hemmi Bamboo Slide Rule Company Ltd. in Japan is the oldest and most well known Japanese manufacturing company making slide rules. Jirou Hemmi and Company was founded in 1895 and, in 1912, was granted by the Japanese Patent Office Patent No. 22129 for their laminated bamboo construction method for slide rules. As a young company wanting exposure to a larger market, They started by selling distribution licenses to three other companies: the Fredrick Post Company of Chicago, Illinois, the Hughes-Owen Company of Canada and Tamaya & Company of Tokyo, Japan.
Re: I saw similar a couple times in that timeframe ...
My recollection, because I started to make phone bill payments in those years, was that the local operating telcos (first the “Baby Bells” and then their ever-merging successors) had two types of residential service on offer: one at a nominally lower base cost plus a charge for every local call, and one at a supposedly higher base cost that allowed unlimited local calling. Both, of course, charged a king’s ransom for a domestic long-distance call. An overseas long-distance call required a cardiologist when your bill arrived.
Pro tip for DELETE queries
If you're ever running something like this
DELETE FROM bigtable WHERE secretfield = 1;
in production the way I always do this is to type out the query without the table name ("bigtable") or the condition ("1").
That means if you accidentally hit Enter at an inopportune moment e.g. after just DELETE FROM bigtable (which would delete all rows!) the query will fail because it's syntactically invalid.
I then go back and add in the table name with a sanity check of "is this the table I really mean?" followed by the same with the conditions. Pause. Then press Enter.
Takes about 5 seconds longer and I've never once deleted something inadvertently in production. Oh, and never copy/paste queries for exactly this reason - unless you modify them to remove the same params first. //
Re: Pro tip for DELETE queries
or you could just start with SELECT * , and see if the results correspond with what you wanted to delete
then bring the DELETE in once you're happy the filters/ table/ db are all correct
or at the minimum type the WHERE field = 1 first to avoid accidentally hitting enter and doing a wholesale delete with no filter. //
Pro tip for DELETE queries
Always always do the Select Count first, then run at least three queries - select count, delete, select count and select any other useful where to prove the delete or the surviving records - all wrapped in a transaction to give yourself chance to check that you’re getting what you expect. Then go for a coffee, come back and check it again before swapping rollback for commit. //
Pro tip for DELETE queries
I can appreciate your imagination, but there are just too many steps where things can completely go wrong.
The only solution that works is to wrap things in a transaction. That's what they are there for, after all.
Certainly, checking the number of rows delete is an important sanity check. But not the only thing that might be checked. //
Re: Pro tip for DELETE queries
First do the SELECT FROM bigtable WHERE <condition> bit, then when you have verified that, do a SELECT INTO bigtable_backup_todaysdate FROM bigtable (without the WHERE clause) before changing it to a DELETE statement. If the database has active transactions going on, you might also want to make sure that either everyone else is out of the database, or you might want to consider using a query locking hint, such as WITH READUNCOMMITTED.
You can always do a DROP TABLE bigtable_backup_todaysdate later, once you've established you didn't screw up.
This does, of course, assume you have enough space in your database for a copy of "bigtable", but to be honest, if you don't have that much headroom (or log space) in your database, you're likely to run into bigger problems. //
Re: Pro tip for DELETE queries
How's this for a pro tip: always Always ALWAYS surround your PROD statements with begin transaction / rollback transaction FIRST?
begin transaction
delete from bigtable where secretfield=1
rollback transaction
See how many records are impacted. If it's more than you think, carefully query the data and understand why.
Finally, when you are done, replace "rollback" with "commit":
begin transaction
delete from bigtable where secretfield=1
commit transaction
But even before you do this, do a SELECT with the same criteria as the DELETE and actually read some records.
Fight back against Redmond's productivity sinks. //
To disable widgets, right-click on your taskbar, select Taskbar Settings, and then toggle Widgets to off. //
To make the lock screen ads go away, first navigate to Settings->Personalization->Lock screen. Then select Picture instead of Windows Spotlight under "Personalize your lock screen." Finally, select None under "Lock screen status.". //
To disable Search highlights, open the Search menu, select Search settings from the … menu and then toggle Show Search Highlights to off.
The Heritage Foundation's Defense Budget Tool provides a user-friendly method to aid in both the analysis and transparency of the U.S. defense budget and facilitate more informed debate about how the Department of Defense ought to be directing spending.
Until now, individual line items of the defense budgets have only been published on the website of Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) each year. This data is published in disparate PDFs and spreadsheets, with no mechanism for viewing all the data at once.
This tool:
- Provides an itemized accounting of the U.S. defense budget for analysis by national security experts.
- Allows a user to create customizable defense budgets that can be saved and shared for future reference.
- Makes defense budget data more accessible to Americans interested in the composition of the U.S. national security budget.