We were promised a $2500 decrease in premiums. We’re getting a 41% increase.
It’s like the whole thing was some sort of scam.
Category Archives: Business
Automakers To Gearheads
Stop repairing your own car.
This is an amazingly different country than the one I grew up in.
“Green” Fracking
…from a new fluid.
This is far from a mature technology.
The Moon And Mars
…are technically and financially feasible.
But not the way NASA and Congress want to do it.
California
…is so over:
…we are producing a California that is the polar opposite of Pat Brown’s creation. True, it has some virtues: greener, cleaner, and more “progressive” on social issues. But it’s also becoming increasingly feudal, defined by a super-affluent coastal class and an increasingly impoverished interior. As water prices rise, and farms and lawns are abandoned, there’s little thought about how to create a better future for the bulk of Californians. Like medieval peasants, millions of Californians have been force[d] to submit to the theology of our elected high priest and his acolytes, leaving behind any aspirations that the Golden State can work for them too.
I don’t know what it will take to break the back of this destructive aristocracy.
[Monday-morning update]
Jerry Brown’s Oedipal struggle.
[Bumped]
The SpaceX Landing Attempt
Chris Bergin has a pretty detailed account. The focus still seems to be on a slow response in the throttle valve.
He seems to be ignoring Aaron Mehta’s interview with Gwynne last week, though, in which she said the next attempt would probably be on land.
Linux Question
I just set up a new system on an SSD. Can I simply clone the old root LVM to it with DD (from a live USB, neither partition mounted)? If so, would I have to delete everything except /home first, or just overwrite?
The Real Problem With The Hugos
Chad Orzel says there’s just too much to read.
[Update a while later]
Sort of related: The culture war has gone nuclear. And yes, that young man was a waste of a good heart.
Space Access
Windows Install Problem
I’m trying to repair a Windows 7 installation with a Windows 8.1 DVD. I’ve configured the BIOS for Windows 8 mode, and I’m booting from the UEFI-DVD option. It dumps me into the EFI shell. I switch to fs3 (the drive name). I see BOOTX64.EFI on the drive, but when I run it from shell, it gives a screen saying to hit any key to install. I do that, and it dumps me back into the shell. Anyone have any idea what’s going on, or how to diagnose?
[Update a few minutes later]
Huh. Never mind. For some reason, now it’s working.
Now, next question. I selected the option to “repair the PC.” But it says that the drive where Windows is installed is “locked,” and I have to “unlock” it. What the hell does that mean?
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, I followed these instructions. After firing it back up, it’s back to it’s old trick of dumping me back into the EFI shell when I try to run bootx64.exe. Guess I’ll give it a few minutes and try again.
[Update a while later]
OK, separate (but related subject). Has anyone ever experienced a computer that kills flash drives? I just tried to copy an updated BIOS on to one. It didn’t work. When I put it back into the (Fedora) laptop that I’d downloaded it too, it can no longer see the drive. My Fedora desktop has done this as well, to the point that I’m afraid to put USB drives in it.
[Update a while later]
OK, this is weird. It turns out that the machine that’s destroying the flash drives is the one that I’m trying to flash the BIOS on. They’re OK when they leave linux, and get bricked when I plug them into the other machine, without even an OS running.
[Update a while later]
OK, it appears that the front USB port on the machine is killing the drives. The rear ones seem to be OK. Guess I’ll just tape them over.
[Update Saturday afternoon]
Still can’t figure out why I can’t boot Windows from the installation DVD. Anyone have any ideas?