TweakHound

Computer stuff...

Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound)

Patch Tuesday, Part 1

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Let’s try this again shall we?

Today is patch Tuesday. My advice from last Patch Tuesday holds,
“Unless you are a masochist you shouldn’t be updating any Windows machine today.“
I’ll post more info this afternoon.
Over at AskWoody they are MS-DEFCON 2
“Last month’s Patch Tuesday (and Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) should prove, once again, that knowledgeable Windows users need to turn off Automatic Update.”
More from Woody here:
Get Windows Update locked down in preparation for this month’s problems
“If February turns out half as bad as January, you’ll thank your lucky stars if you take a few minutes now and make sure Windows Update is turned off. Temporarily, of course.”

New AMD Drivers
Listed as “Optional”, AMD has released the Radeon Adrenalin Edition 18.2.2 drivers.
Support for Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age and a couple of minor fixes. Download

Adobe Reader Updated
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2018.11.20035. Download and Release Notes

GET OFF OF FACEBOOK
A Facebook employee asked a reporter to turn off his phone so Facebook couldn’t track its location — and it reveals a bigger problem within the company
“Whether Facebook actually does track its employees this way doesn’t matter. The fact an employee would think such an option was on the table is telling of the culture at the company.”

Facebook is illegally collecting user data, court rules
“A German court today ruled Facebook was collecting data illegally from its users…Facebook hides default settings that are not privacy-friendly in its privacy center and does not provide sufficient information about it when users register…This does not meet the requirement for informed consent.”

Wired – Inside Facebook’s Hellish Two Years—and Mark Zuckerberg’s Struggle to Fix it All
“Facebook has essentially told media to kiss off,” Franklin Foer wrote in The Atlantic. “Facebook will be back primarily in the business of making us feel terrible about the inferiority of our vacations, the relative mediocrity of our children, teasing us into sharing more of our private selves.””Facebook will start to boost certain publishers—ones whose content is “trustworthy, informative, and local.”

Less-cool Facebook losing youth at fast pace: survey
“With mom, dad and grandma signing up in increasing numbers, Facebook is losing younger users in the United States at a faster pace than previously estimated”
They stopped actually using Facebook with their friends a longtime ago. When you were 16 would you hang out where your parents were?

Do Not, I Repeat, Do Not Download Onavo, Facebook’s Vampiric VPN Service
“Facebook is not a privacy company; it’s Big Brother on PCP. It does not want to anonymize and protect you; it wants to drain you of your privacy, sucking up every bit of personal data. You should resist the urge to let it, at every turn.”

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Yellow Jacket 12/3 Heavy-Duty Contractor Extension Cord with Lighted Ends, 50-Feet
$30 . That is 30% off. Killer deal. I just bought one. EXPIRED

Question For My German Friends

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Hefeweizen, roll or swirl the bottle on final pour?
A long time ago I was stationed in Germany for 2 years and I never remember seeing anyone do either. Is this a new thing or did I just miss it?
Also, I remember Hefeweizen mostly being served with a lemon. Most American beer geeks scoff at this. Is this not correct?
Example YouTube videos are below.
*edit 1400hrs
In my studying for the Certified Beer Server exam I keep coming across statements claiming that Bock Beer originated in Einbeck, Southern Germany. I’m not German. I was only in Germany a short while. I’m not sure how you put Einbeck in Southern Germany. I blame this as the source: Tasting Beer, 2nd Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink
[Read more…] about Question For My German Friends

Olympics

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I love watching the Olympics. Like many of you I watch what I can. So many great athletes. So many great stories. I dreamed of being in the Olympics as a kid. Scoring a goal, piloting a bobsled… I admire and I’m a bit envious of all the athletes.
There are also some bad things that happen around the Olympics. You’ve got the press fawning over the sister and representative of a ruthless dictator. You’ve got entitled people who have no idea what the Olympic spirit is. You’ve got  an ignorant network analyst. And, what kind of a**hat tries to hack the Olympics?
My favorite events: Hockey, all the downhill skiing and jumping, all the snowboarding, curling, bobsledding, luge, skeleton…basically anything except…
My least favorite events: Figure skating.
Speaking of Hockey. I watched the USA vs. Finland Women’s Ice Hockey game yesterday. I’ve been watching hockey of various stages my whole life: NHL (Flyers), AHL (Richmond Robins), IHL (Saginaw Gears), ECHL (Richmond Renegades), college, every Olympics in my lifetime. All the players are so much more athletic today. IMHO this is especially true of Women’s Ice Hockey. 20 years ago you had a handful of elite players mostly concentrated in Canada and the USA. Today there are so many great athletes on the ice from many different countries. Honestly I would love the all Women’s teams to create an all-star team and challenge the men. I think they could take some of them. (This isn’t intended to be condescending or sexist.)
Got a favorite athlete at the games? Favorite sport? What team are you rooting for?

Weekend Random Stuff…

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Sorry for the lack of updates. Worked 6 days a week for the last 4 weeks 🙁

VLC Updated
Version 3.0 is out. Lots of new features.
Downloads: 32-bit or 64-bit

Meltdown/Spectre Patches, Part 2
Intel release a new patch after they botched the patch. Head to AskWoody for the full scoop.

Official Emoji List
Yeah, I didn’t know there was such a thing either but it makes sense.
Apparently there were a bunch of new emojis released because someone somewhere gets their panties in a wad if they don’t look like them.

Criminy
That Equifax hack. Yup, the news just keeps getting worse. Nobody is gonna get blamed for it though.
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Off Topic

Best Interviews Ever
Quincy Jones is a recording industry legend. He is 84 and seen-it-all. He knows the music legends, he knows where the bodies are buried. He even says he knows who killed Kennedy.
Anyone who has an older loved one knows that as the years advance the filters drop. Mr. Jones has done 2 recent interviews that are completely fascinating.
GQ – Quincy Jones Has a Story About That
Frank Sinatra. Michael Jackson. Ray Charles. Malcolm X. Elon Musk. Truman Capote. Buzz Aldrin. Prince. Tupac. Even Leni Riefenstahl. Quincy Jones has run with them all.
Vulture – In Conversation: Quincy Jones
In both music and manner, Quincy Jones has always registered — from afar, anyway — as smooth, sophisticated, and impeccably well-connected. (That’s what earning 28 Grammy awards and co-producing Michael Jackson’s biggest-selling albums will do.) But in person, the 84-year-old music-industry macher is far spikier and more complicated. “All I’ve ever done is tell the truth,” says Jones, seated on a couch in his palatial Bel Air home, and about to dish some outrageous gossip. “I’ve got nothing to be scared of, man.”

Solo
Ron Howard: A Star Wars Story — Why the Oscar-winner joined Solo in its time of upheaval
“And I really have enjoyed it,” Howard says. “It’s a fun tone. And of course, with the Kasdans writing it and it being a young Han Solo movie, there’s this swagger, and there’s this sense of humor and this kind of youthful emotion and intensity.”

Wednesday Random Stuff…

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I think it’s Wednesday?!

Browser Stuff
Adobe Flash Player 28.0.0.161
for Firefox, Opera
for Internet Explorer
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Firefox 58.0.2

Ultimate Windows Tweaker for Windows 10
Version 4.4.1 is out. An adblocker warning? Really? Hurting your Geek cred there guys.

Off Topic

Craft Beer > Wine
Well at least is is better for you.
“We all know that a glass of red wine is good for you, but it turns outs a pint of craft beer is better, it has got more good things in it”

Turn Up The lights
Dim lights make you stupid. So say the Science Geeks at Michigan State University.
“In other words, dim lights are producing dimwits.”

No Surprise
U.S. consumer protection official puts Equifax probe on ice
We lose again.

80’s Metal Tours
Def Leppard & Journey
Poison & Cheap Trick

The Truth About Tech

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Center For Humane Technology
Technology is hijacking our minds and society.
Our world-class team of deeply concerned former tech insiders and CEOs intimately understands the culture, business incentives, design techniques, and organizational structures driving how technology hijacks our minds.
Since 2013, we’ve raised awareness of the problem within tech companies and for millions of people through broad media attention, convened top industry executives, and advised political leaders. Building on this start, we are advancing thoughtful solutions to change the system.

“Facebook appeals to your lizard brain — primarily fear and anger,” he said. “And with smartphones, they’ve got you for every waking moment.”

“We are not anti-tech, we are into the appropriate and balanced use of technology. We are calling out the industry for their excesses and their intentional effects to manipulate and addict.”

“The Center for Humane Technology is the latest genesis of former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris, who is also behind the Time Well Spent movement. Harris, who worked at Google until 2016, has made a name for himself as a thought leader encouraging designers to craft apps and services in ways that enhance humanity. He is the executive director and cofounder of the new organization.
Others involved with the organization include Justin Rosenstein, who helped create Facebook’s Like button, and Dave Morin, a former senior platform manager at Facebook.
Meanwhile, Roger McNamee, a founding adviser of the new group, served as a mentor to Mark Zuckerberg in Facebook’s early days. The veteran tech investor told CNN Tech the goal of the organization is to “empower people who are concerned about the dark side of technology.”

Super Bore

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I don’t care about the ads (dilly, dilly). I don’t care about the halftime show (unless JT sings dickinabox). I don’t really care who wins the Super Bowl. I’m a Washington Redskin’s fan with the Oakland L.A. Oakland Las Vegas Raiders being my second team. My teams have sucked forever. However, at least they have won some Super Bowls. In as much as they are our NFC East rivals, I would just as soon the Eagles not win. It is so much fun shutting down any smack talking with a “Zero Super Bowl wins” comeback.

Craft Beer

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If you’ve hung around here for a while you know I’m in to craft beer. Yelp says I’ve checked in to 45 breweries in the last 2 years.

I’ve decided to learn more about this whole craft beer thing. Lately I have:
– Taken: P’s & Q’s: An Introduction to Craft Beer course, offered by the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education.
– This morning I got my Beer 101 Certificate (took less than an hour)
– I’m on Chapter 9 of Tasting Beer, 2nd Edition: An Insider’s Guide to the World’s Greatest Drink

Next up is the Cicerone Certified Beer Server exam.

Not sure where I’m headed with this. Maybe I will try and sling some beers at a local brewery and see if I fit in to the craft beer culture.

Anyone out there into craft beer? Anything to share? Got any tips or advice?