Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

There is something special about the first phase of a new hobby. So much to learn, new skills to master, deep rabbit holes full of discoveries around every corner.

If only you could take this carbon capture tech, make it solar powered, shrink it so it fits it in your back yard, self-replicating so it could cover thousands of acres of land, and have it double as wildlife habitat, and you would have invented trees. https://gizmodo.com/the-world-s-biggest-plant-to-suck-carbon-dioxide-from-t-1847636362

Who would have thought that a tech company would use a feature marketed as being for security to exert remote control on their customer's computers instead? https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/09/riot-games-anti-cheat-software-will-require-tpm-secure-boot-on-windows-11/

You may be laughing now, but after the zombie apocalypse wipes out the grid and you are calculating cryptocurrency with pencil and paper, I'll be laughing (and cranking) all the way to the (probably by then barter-based) bank!

I dusted off my limited Python skills and modified Nitrokey's "Qubes OEM" installer to add support in anaconda for changing your LUKS passphrase at first boot. With that in place, we can now offer Qubes as a preinstall option: https://puri.sm/posts/qubes-now-a-preinstall-option-for-librem-14-and-mini/

In addition to calculating dozens, the rightmost wheels were apparently primarily intended for adding/subtracting feet/inches/fractions of an inch.

New addition to the mechanical calculator collection! This Addometer by Reliable Typewriter and Adding Machine Co not only does basic arithmetic, the far right dial does simple fractions and the dial next to it that literally goes to eleven calculates by the dozen!

USB-C is annoying. I thought my laptop dock was failing--the screen blanked out whenever it moved on the hinge and it kept getting worse. I initially blamed a weak wire between the screen and base but on a whim replaced the USB-C cable with a new, higher quality version and all the instability went away instantly.

Aruba I make ya sudo gonna take ya to a root prompt I wanna own ya pretty momma. Key escrow I now know baby why don't we go. Oh I want to take you down to Ring0 we'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow. That's where we want to go way down to Ring0. https://threatpost.com/hpe-sudo-bug-aruba-platform/169038/

Another day where I found myself pointing someone to one of my old Linux Journal articles to help with a task. This time it was an article about VIM macros from 2014: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/return-mac

I know an old lady who swallowed dewormer for horse. She's dead of course.

She swallowed dewormer to chase the bleach, she swallowed the bleach to chase the bulb, she swallowed the bulb cuz it's UV, which everyone knows makes COVID flee.

She did all these things cuz talk radio said, but I don't know why she's not jabbed instead. I guess she's dead.

My wife said this represents the two of us, so I think I found the spot for my calculator.

Now we turn the handle counterclockwise to subtract the divisor until we overflow and hear a bell. Then we turn the handle clockwise until we hear the bell again telling us we undid the overflow. We have our answer for the tens place.

Next we move the carriage one position to the left to point to the ones column and subtract until we overflow and hear the bell again, crank the handle clockwise until we undo the overflow and hear the bell, and we have our answer: 12 with a remainder of 1.

Just like multiplication is repeated addition, division is repeated subtraction. First you put the dividend (145) in the accumulator, then zero out the top row which will contain the quotient.

Next you enter the divisor (12) and set the repeat button. Then you move the carriage to right until it points to the leftmost column still greater than the divisor. 14 is greater than 12 so I move the carriage one position to the right to point to the tens place.

Now that I fixed the register on my Monroe LN-160x, the overflow bell works which means I can perform division. Here I am calculating 145 / 12 = 12 remainder 1. The quotient is at the top in red, the remainder is underneath it in black.

Dinner is served. #bbq

Took my Monroe LN-160x apart for a little cleaning and to diagnose the stuck register in the leftmost column causing it to increment by 50000000 with every addition. A few drops of oil and some fidgeting and it loosened up. Now it's working great.

Samsung can remotely brick TVs it believes are stolen once they reconnect to the Internet, which is required to enable smart TV features. ⁨#privacy https://gizmodo.com/samsung-smart-tvs-can-be-remotely-bricked-if-stolen-1847557228