Category Archives: Technology and Society

OS Follies

Sound works fine in Fedora. Sounds works fine in Virtual Windows machine running in Fedora. Boot native into Windows 8.1, and no sound. Windows troubleshooter says there’s no problem. I’ve updated the Realtek drivers. Everything looks great on Windows, except no sound out of the speakers. And of course, Fedora running virtual on Windows doesn’t have sound, either, because it only sees what Windows sees.

She wasn’t happy running Windows as virtual in Fedora, but that seems to be the only way to get sound.

[Friday-afternoon update]

Well, I’ve sort of solved the problem, but it’s still not right. I unplugged from the rear, and re-plugged into the front jack, and RealTek sees it now. For some reason, it’s not seeing line out in the rear, even though it works fine in Linux. So we have sound, but it’s sort of a PITA to have to use the front jack, and keep the door open.

[Bumped]

[Update a while later]

Well, this is apparently not an uncommon problem.

Went to the MSI web site to download the latest RealTek driver, and it doesn’t recognize the hardware. So current MS driver may be the best I can do until they update.

The Power Of Instapundit

His link to the Kickstarter today (plus his generous contribution) put me almost a third of the way to the goal.

OK, well, not sure that Jeff Garzik’s $1000 contribution was a result of that link, but thanks! I’ll try to give money’s worth.

[Friday-morning update]

Got my first $500 contributors overnight, and almost halfway to the goal.

[Afternoon update]

Past the halfway mark, with eleven days to go.

“Skeptics”

Why they hate climate skeptics:

As described above there were a number of factors and incidents that brought the skeptics movement to where it is today. Under different circumstance skeptical heroes might have included Freeman Dyson, Michael Crichton, Matt Ridley, Bjorn Lomborg, and Michael Fumento instead of Carl Sagan, Michael Mann, Bill Nye, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

The forces for group cohesion can be powerful. Within the skeptic community voices that dissented in any way (or even just said “I don’t know”) tended to become more and more marginalized. Those who might dissent now have for the most part left, shut up or deferred to “science” and their places have been taken by those who believe. I once asked on a skeptical forum, why the group responded so harshly to any statements challenging climate fears, but no one ever commented or challenged any statements no matter how ridiculous exaggerating climate fears. I was told that false statements against the climate understandings represented real threats, but little harm could come from overstatements of climatic risk. No one on that forum took issue with that position and that’s when I figured I could not learn much more there. This is a group on a mission that is not accepting of distractions.

I subscribed to the Skeptical Inquirer back in the eighties, but I quit when Schermer took over, it started to veer left, and to a dogmatic atheism.

Treating The “Transgendered”

Are they different than LGBs? It does seem like a different situation, in that there is no “treatment” required for LGBs. And the treatment seems to be extreme, and in the long run, perhaps not helpful, or it makes things worse.

And no, it’s not “bigoted” or “phobic” to ask the question.

[Thursday-morning update]

A plea for insanity.

[Bumped]

Treating The Obese Like Smokers?

The worst thing about this piece is this:

Americans are fat because we eat large portions, and because we eat foods that are high in sugar and fat. Americans are fat because we eat large portions, and because we eat foods that are high in sugar and fat. Perhaps it’s time for the surgeon general to put scary warning labels on sugary and fatty foods.

That is a profoundly ignorant statement, nutrition wise. People don’t get fat from eating fat.