Ok, with SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 or whatever we're calling it today shutting down the world, I may have some time for some other projects.

With Radio Shack Dead and Fry's sucked up into the UFO graveyard in the sky, where does the discerning geek go to find small electronic parts these days? I assume online someplace.....

I rarely write in my journal, but when I do, it's to ask an incredibly geeky question about either computer programming or science fiction. Today, it's science fiction.

While considering questions about the constitutionality of executive officers ordering quarantines, a vague memory comes to mind of a science fiction story I once read. Can anybody tell me author/series/title from this description?

The planet of LostRoses has a very small human population made primarily of tree farmer/miners who mine diamonds from a certain species of tree- the diamonds are in the nut meat of the seeds of the tree. These crystal roses are in high demand across the quadrant. The planet is a total democracy, except for one quirk in the constitution: In time of emergency, the population gathers in the local bar, and elects somebody God- essentially giving them dictatorship powers for the length of the emergency.

It's virtually a death sentence. Out of 6 emergencies, 5 times God was lynched as soon as the emergency was over. But for the duration of the emergency that person has the sole duty to *solve the problem*.

It seems to me I might have read it back in the 1980s in either Asimov or Astounding, or it might have been a book....I do remember the story I read, God was a female paraplegic whose sole joy in life was hang gliding- and negotiations took place when she took the head of the invading army hang gliding, and that at the end of the story, she became the first person to survive being God due to the treaty she had negotiated.

I can't seem to get google sync to log in this morning, nor my gmail account. It's fine on my phone, but not on the computer.

I have a blog elsewhere, I don't need this journal like I used to. I'm not even sure I'm still a subscriber or not.

But Drinkypoo mentioned there was a bug that was preventing him from posting in his journal, and if it is fixed, you will see this.

I hate HR

High functioning autism is kind of like being a human being, but being asked to take a Turing Test every single day and always failing to be human enough to pass.

A priest in Pakistan is trying to use crowdfunding to build an orphanage by Christmas.

For some reason I don't understand, Facebook has already labeled this adventure as being "Against Community Standards"

Just finished my 30th high school reunion, and realized....I haven't seen anybody in the slashdot journals in like forever.

Now true, the advertising on this site (when viewed without adblock) has become horrible- with that quarter-of-your-screen banner advert at the top- but I used to use you guys for tech sounding boards.

I don't remember the last time I did that.

To remember passwords?

There is one on my laptop now, because I have to change my passwords every 90 days and that isn't enough time to build muscle memory for me anymore.

It says:
1. HR[q]
2. HRFC[q]
3. CR[q]

I want to put it out to the most brilliant people I know, thus my slashdot journal circle. Can any of you guess to at least the category what these encryptions refer to? Because if you can, then my sticky note encryption methodology which is a combination of acronyms, personal knowledge, and arrays is not secure.

This is going to seem downright blasphemous to some data scientists, but it is what I'm being asked to do in support of a Power BI Report and some weird behavior on the part of the business.

Basically, I have a list of results from tests, and am being asked to invent a new category of results for estimated number of tests when the total number of tests is less than the recorded estimate.

I already have two recordsets- the list of real results, and the categorized list of the difference between Real and Estimate.

I'm sure I could, with a double while loop and a cursor, simply loop through the recordset and then run a while loop

But there has to be a way to do this with set operations.

Basically, what I need is something like:
Insert Into Results (Result, EndDate-1hour, category, subcategory) Select Result, Enddate-1hour, category, subcategory for records loop NumberofRecords=EstimateDelta

But even with 21 years of experience in SQL, I don't know quite how to do that.

Simple new rule:

IF Title ends in NUMBER, and Title ending in Number+1 exists, then Up Next should be Number+1.

On second thought, maybe they already do that, but RedGreenTV named all their episodes wrong for Binge Watching (I keep having to search for the next episode, and I'm only 1/6th of the way through the 300 episodes). As I was typing this, I noticed the current video I'm on is "The Red Green Show Ep 50 "Car Pool"". Knowing this show, that's probably the Handyman Corner- turning a K-Car into a hot tub.

There are webcomics that I read daily, and for years now I've had a set of tabs that open things like dilbert and sluggy freelance when my browser opens.

Sometime in the past week, while I was concentrating on my job, userfriendly.org seems to have gone offline.

Anybody know when or why?

What Trump needs to do to retain his voters, retain the House Republicans in November, and get Kim Jung Un to the negotiating table in one fell swoop:
1. Have the State Department transfer diplomatic funds to Department of Agriculture to buy up all produce unable to be sold due to tariff war with China.
2., Hire the best snack companies in America to process that produce into addictive and long shelf life snacks.
3. Ship Snacks to North Korea for free as a gesture of goodwill from the American People.
4. Include trade deals in the negotiations for more snacks.

America's snack food industry creates more diabetes and addiction than anything else in the world. Supposedly, free markets will keep peace and break communism. Let's addict the starving masses of North Korea with a flood of food into their market, then reap the benefits of more food in return for denuclearlization of the peninsula.

Socialism is economics for people who have never been taught morality.

I really need to start reporting these people for calling my cell phone on the Federal Do Not Call List.

Why would I want to replace a 6.4% credit card with a 6.9% credit card?

Eugenio Scalfari is Satanic. His existence is the best reason to bring back burning heretics at the stake.