Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Execution By Hypoxia

20 Comments

I’ve long wondered why they haven’t used a nitrogen mask for a blissful way to die, but some states have apparently authorized it, and now Alabama may be the first to use it for capital punishment.

I’m sort of amused by the objection from the usual suspects: “‘No state in the country has executed a person using nitrogen hypoxia and Alabama is in no position to experiment with a completely unproven and unused method for executing someone,’ Angie Setzer, a senior attorney with the Equal Justice Initiative said.”

What they really fear is not that it is experimental, but that it will work very well, and remove one of the arguments against capital punishment: that it is cruel.

Business, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

An Interesting Convo On LinkedIn

12 Comments

This one seemed really weird:

  • Eileen Arellano 2nd degree connection· 2ndSemiconductor Technology Research Officer at BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
  • TODAYRand Simberg sent the following message at 2:52 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  2:52 PM
  • Why do you want to connect with me?
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following message at 2:54 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  2:54 PM
  • I’m interested in your field, so I’d like to establish contact with you 🙂
  • Rand Simberg sent the following message at 2:54 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  2:54 PM
  • My field being…?
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following message at 2:57 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  2:57 PM
  • Aren’t you an aeronautical engineer?
  • Rand Simberg sent the following message at 2:58 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  2:58 PM
  • No.
  • If you’re interested in aeronautics, I’m the wrong guy. I do space.
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following messages at 2:59 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  2:59 PM
  • Isn’t spaceflight part of aviation?
  • This confuses me a bit lol
  • Rand Simberg sent the following message at 3:01 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  3:01 PM
  • No.
  • Aviation can be part of spaceflight, but isn’t generally. Aviation is about things operating in the atmosphere. For spaceflight, the atmosphere is just an annoyance that you have to get through to get to or from space.
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following message at 3:03 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  3:03 PM
  • That’s so cool, my knowledge on the subject is a bit poor, but it’s interesting and I’d love to learn more about spaceflight if you have the time 🙂
  • Rand Simberg sent the following message at 3:04 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  3:04 PM
  • If you’re really interested in space, I’ll connect. I get a lot of invitations from attractive women who I make the mistake of connecting with, who then try to engage in conversation and wanting to make friends with me, and that’s not what LinkedIn is for. But I don’t really have time to tutor individuals on spaceflight. I can recommend reading material.
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following message at 3:09 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  3:09 PM
  • Haha, too many women and men like that, and I get a lot of them, but I don’t usually respond. I do have an interest in space, and you can recommend me some reading material, but I’d prefer if you could share some of your experiences with me, it’d be more interesting and rewarding
  • Rand Simberg sent the following message at 3:12 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  3:12 PM
  • I’m sure it would, but I really don’t have time for one-on-one conversations about space to education people. But go read some of my essays: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/authors/rand-simbergRand Simberg — The New Atlantisthenewatlantis.com • 1 min read
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following message at 3:17 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  3:17 PM
  • Thank you, I don’t think you need to teach me one-on-one, I’d like to hear you share 40 years of experience in this field when you have the time, I think it would be more interesting and meaningful than reading material
  • Rand Simberg sent the following message at 3:32 PMView Rand’s profileRand Simberg  3:32 PM
  • Again, I’m sure it would be, but I don’t have the time, unless you want to pay me my hourly rate.
  • LinkedIn Member sent the following messages at 5:49 PMView LinkedIn Member’s profileLinkedIn Member  5:49 PM
  • don’t reply he is a dog pusher
  • If the content in this message is unwanted or harmful, please report it to us. We won’t notify the sender.ReportMark content safe

I have no idea what a “dog pusher” is. Anyone have any ideas?

But this still seems like a scammer.

Administrative, Business, Mathematics, Technology and Society

More Virtualbox Problems

24 Comments

So, I’m running Fedora with Gnome. When I fire up Windows 10 in Virtualbox, the VB menu tabs appear at the bottom of the virtual machine, covering up the tray. Of I attempt to minimize it, it leaves the Windows window. When I reclick on it, the tabs are still there. If I try to close it, it freezes the host. I can switch workspaces, and windows, but I can’t do anything within them; clicking on links, or new tabs within a browser instance, does nothing. The cursor remains an arrow regardless of its location. The only way to fix it (that I’ve found so far) is to reboot, which is a PETA, because a lot of stuff has to be autoloaded each time.

Any ideas for troubleshooting?

[Saturday-afternoon update]

OK, I have discovered that I can unfreeze the host without having to reboot, by killing the VM process. So that will help. But it’s still not switching properly between full-screen and scaled modes. And I still have to modprobe the driver every time I reboot, or the machine won’t start.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!