Did you know that MS Edge has a built-in VPN?
It automatically applies VPN when you are connected to a public wifi.
Here are some more details[^] which I'm reading now.
I work out of a coffee shop once a week so this is important to me.
I'm trying to figure out :
1. how to know I'm actually protected
2. how "much" i'm protected by this VPN.

It is very interesting that MS is doing this though becuase it seems like the obvious thing to do that no other browser seems to do. Others you have to pay for separate VPN.

I have some article ideas (web stuff) and I've learned enough about React to be dangerously dumb about writing React code, and learning that I sort of hate React.

But React seems to be all the rage, and given one of my article ideas is implementing a sidebar menu (which I know has been done but all the example I've found are crappy) but I don't want to create another crappy article on sidebars, I want to show how to do it right, and I'm doubting whether I know enough to accomplish that.

I don't know if I know enough. And I've been using the older "class" way of creating React front-end stuff, not the newfangled "hooks" way, which honestly defies for the most part my understanding, no matter how many YouTube videos I watch. So it seems I would first have to understand hooks to appease the modern React coder.

And then, I'm pretty much loathing how React does things with state management.

And then I watch videos on what is coming down the pike with React (among other things, some major handwaving about async stuff that only a React geek would comprehend, maybe) and I get the sense that React, and its evolution over time, has been and continues to be quilt patches applied on top of fraying quilt patches, which leaves me wondering, how solid is their core architecture to begin with?

So I'm stuck - I want to write some web articles but I'm not convinced that React is where I want to continue my learning, and all of this has made me gunshy of other frameworks. No wonder I roll my own, but that's besides the point.

Suggestions?

Spent most of my week so far getting an old Visual Basic 6 environment up and running on my Windows 11 laptop.
I've got it running in a VM now (which I got from the original programmer), but that VM has lots of noise and issues and doesn't work very well (it's the result of 20 years of development by someone who still prefers and uses VB6 and DBF), plus switching between VM and laptop is a pain.
The entire project spans some 40 applications, that use about as much components.
We need to replace all these applications one by one, making sure the output stays the same, so being able to easily run and debug them kind of comes in handy.
With a bit of "luck" we'll get another project which has even more applications (but running them will be a breeze now *ahem*).

So, I got VB6 running, which was only the first step (and surprisingly painless, followed How to install Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows 11 - YouTube[^]).
Then I had to restore all kinds of folders and files in specific places (like C:\Company\Files) and relative to various projects (like ..\..\Components\Component A, etc.).
Not to mention change all kinds of configurations (ini files) because they point to T:\ or specific databases.
Obviously, these files, folders and configurations are all over the place.
I've put all of it in Git, including bin and obj folders, because I can't rebuild most of this stuff and just opening a project in VB6 changes it (it mostly sets references from System32 to SysWOW64, etc.).
Even complete database files (mostly DBF files, but maybe some SQL backups too) got included in Git, because that's how the original programmer works.
I've got Git repositories larger than 1.5 GB now, but it!

I'm currently trying to figure out which OCX files have to be registered and (from) where.
A few (most?) are working, but I'm currently having some trouble with some TLB file... Can't register it, but it's referenced in the project, but I keep getting "Class is not registered" (can't find it registered on the VM either though)

I'm too old young for this sh*t.

... they have a foot fetish?

1) How are you @OriginalGriff ?
2) As of today I am officially an Inventor [pending] as we've just submitted a patent application with my scrawl on the bottom left.

I wanted to mount a small safe with two wedge bolts that were supplied with it.
As usual the drill went everywhere when I tried to drill some holes in a concrete wall
Did the bolts work as intended? of course not, they kept turning round as they were smooth on the outside.
Did any of the reviews on the website where I bought it mention this? of course not.
Had to replace the bolts with other ones before the safe could properly be attached.

I don't understand people who claim that they like DIY, sigh ...

It's not what you think.[^]

Honest. It's just your dirty mind. "Would you like to see other shapes?" had me seriously laughing.

Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied, flummoxed, gobsmacked, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.

Wordle 1,061 4/6*

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So, I pay all my utilities via credit card, and I receive emails when the bill is due and amount. Last month, the water department notified me that my bill was $240 and change. Considering my normal bill is $39 my attention was captured.

Here's the interesting thing - about 4 months ago, the water department started rolling out smart meters that they could query and collect usage information. Think now - water department, smart meters, automatic billing.... most of the people I've met from the county departments leave me less than inspired. This month, my water usage has been at a square wave. Normally 400 gallons a month, it's been spiking at various times and days to over a thousand gallons per day. I've already pointed out that their data is corrupt, but all I get is a tired voice on the line.

I may have found a new career, no, sorry misspoke, consulting opportunity.

Whilst I was perusing another article in the MSN info world (that another member had mentioned) I stumbled across the following article "Scientists have found 'evidence' of advanced alien civilisations". The article relates to a scientific study of a combination of star surveys (roughly 5 million stars) and a methodology to filter the stars looking for specific emission markers that make the star unusual and possibly a Dyson sphere under construction. In the article there is a link to the official paper that the group produced (haven't finished reading it yet).

My own feelings are that Dyson spheres sound cool, but the amount of physical material that would go into making one would be prohibitive. Stars are big. Even red dwarf stars. Surrounding the star with technological material (all of the support devices to convert, control the flow of energy, store and forward it to the area of need). Would require the literal conversion of several star systems of every bit of matter in them (planets, moons, asteroids, every spec of material left over from the star formation) to provide the raw materials for the build. We might want to look for star systems surrounding a suspected Dyson sphere that have no planetary bodies associated with the star.

Of course, an advanced civilization might be able to capture the solar wind and also convert a large part of the radiant energy directly to usable matter.

In any case, here is the link. Have fun.
MSN[^]

MSN[^]

John F. Woods once said : “Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.”.

There should be a similar saying in regards to writing (non unit) test cases.

"Always write test cases as if the person who ends up testing your software is a 5 years old without any knowledge of the software"

I'm going through some test cases on a large software and the tests cases are just a description of what I need to do.

In reality, I have to do about 20 different steps to get there and go through thousands of records (SQL) to find one record that will work.

Seriously, do you know of any good white paper on how to write good test cases ?

groan.

Wordle 1,060 4/6

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In my experience we web devs don't actually use or at least watch a video of a screen reader. This is bad. Very bad. Because we talk about accessibility, but it's amazing how many people still don't use aria tags, leverage semantic elements, etc.

Every web dev should watch this video. It's only 4 mins long.
Screen Reader Demo for Digital Accessibility

Not trying to sound preachy (but I am ). The man is spot on. The world revolves around the Internet now. We can't forget about our blind brothers and sisters.

Side note, one of the cool features (as it pertains to the skip to content thread below) is the screen reader shown already has the ability to jump to a header. Also notice he skipped over the skip to main content link.

But even outside of that, peeps need to see a screen reader in action at least once. In particular how it allows him to scroll with a focus box over content.

Github has a nifty feature where you can just Open In Visual Studio and it will open VS and clone your repo for you.

I like this magic, but thing is it used to say Open In Visual Studio Code and well over half my projects are in VS Code.

Does anyone know how to get it back? Preferably I'd like both, but if nothing else, I just want it to work with VS Code.

I asked Copilot about the "Skip to content" feature.

My Question

Raddevus asked:

Why has the accessibility feature "skip to main content" become prevalent in my browser in the recent weeks, even though I'd never seen it before in past years?

Copilot Answer

Copilot answered:

The “Skip to Main Content” feature has gained prominence recently due to increased awareness and emphasis on web accessibility. When keyboard-only users interact with a webpage, they rely on the tab key to navigate links. If a page has many links at the top (such as in headers or menus), users must tab through them to reach the main content. The “Skip to Main Content” link allows users to bypass these initial sections and jump directly to the main content, enhancing accessibility12. If you encounter this feature more frequently now, it’s likely because website developers are actively implementing it to improve accessibility for all users. 😊

Ok, whatevs! I know when I'm being gas-lighted (gas-lit?)!!

The Q-To-That-A (Question To That Answer)

Then why is no one else seeing this feature?
I must be the only one reading web sites, right?

Figured Out How To Recreate It Instantly
1) Go to github.com (or any site that uses the feature):
2) hit your tab key, one time -- you'll see it.
But why does mine recently show it if I don't tab?

Cease & Desist!
No worries, you won't hear about me talking about Skip To Main Content any more.
FYI - I posted a question to AskUbuntu[^] (Stack Exchange site).

SFW Clickety

What do you think?

And, even though I am an astrophysicist by profession, I am not an expert on the Solar System, so don't ask me...

However, I speculate that it actually was an alien starship. I think aliens are out there. And I think they used the Sun as a "gravity assist" vs. the center of the Galaxy, and that there were life forms on ‘Oumuamua. I agree with Harvard professor, Avi Loeb[^] when he speculated that ‘Oumuamua is, indeed, an alien starship.

I mean, what else could it be? I don't believe that it is just a rock that farted Hydrogen gas[^].

And, yes, there is some debate as to whether we should capitalize the world Hydrogen. I am of the religious persuasion that we should capitalize the names of chemical elements

I doubt we will know the 'absolute truth' for sure. Not until we can be like in Rondezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke[^] and actually launch a spacecraft quickly (i.e., on-the-fly) from Earth and rendezvous with it.

I wonder, if there really were aliens aboard ‘Oumuamua, they were sapient, intelligent, and conscious, and if, say, we were able to quickly and on-the-fly try to rendezvous with it, would they just see our spacecraft approaching them and either (a) accelerate to warp / hyperspace to escape us, (b) let us chase them until we exhausted our fuel, (c) fire on us with their weapons, or (d) open hailing frequencies? In the case of (d), would we be able to understand each other? Or would they have to send Interlac[^] or Linguacode[^]?

I think any civilization that can construct something like ‘Oumuamua would shoot first and ask questions later if they saw a strange ship approaching. Or they would jump to warp to try and escape.

Anyone know if ‘Oumuamua has been tracked, e.g., back to where it came from, or if we can look at it with Hubble/James Web to try and catch if the aliens, say, enter hyperspace upon leaving the Sol System?

Or perhaps is it a derelict, as in, it used to be a powered starship but now it is a dead husk, tumbling through space because it is a victim of some faraway interstellar battle? Also a likely explanation, in my opinion. Pure speculation on my part, though.

I love to just sit and make up fantasies about this kind of stuff. I wish we could know for certain whether aliens are out there, and I wish we could have the technology of casual interstellar travel[^] so we could go exploring.

Regards,


Brian Hart