Release in July 2024, this detailed report goes over the threats against the United States as well as the strategic readiness to reply to those threats. This is the most detailed non-classified information available and is a very interesting and somewhat frightening report.It starts out with this summary info:The threats the United States faces are the most serious and most challenging the nation has encountered since 1945 and include the potential for near-term major war. The United States last fought a global conflict during World War II, which ended nearly 80 years ago. The nation was last prepared for such a fight during the Cold War, which ended 35 years ago. It is not prepared today.China and Russia are major powers that seek to undermine U.S. influence. The 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) recognizes these nations as the top threats to the United States and declares China to be the “pacing challenge,” based on the strength of its military and economy and its intent to exert dominance regionally and globally.The Commission finds that, in many ways, China is outpacing the United States and has largely negated the U.S. military advantage in the Western Pacific through two decades of focused military investment. Without significant change by the United States, the balance of power will continue to shift in China’s favor. China’s overall annual spending on defense is estimated at as much as $711 billion, 2 and the Chinese government in March 2024 announced an increase in annual defense spending of 7.2 ...

For many releases, Rancher rejects self-signed certs, which makes it impossible to use from the command line. Here is finally a workaround!If you're getting something like:# rancher --versionrancher version v2.9.0# rancher login https://rancher..sslip.io --token token- --skip-verify      FATA[0000] Get "https://": tls: failed to verify certificate: x509The workaround is:Download cacert from the Rancher UI, go to Global Settings --> Show cacert --> Copy cert value and paste to local filerancher login https://rancher..sslip.io --token token- --skip-verify  --cacert

On this farm, there's a cow, a chicken, and a horse, and the three of them are best friends.They do just about everything together. And one day, they're sitting at the window of the house, and the farmer's kid is watching MTV, and they're watching it, and they hear the music, and the horse says "you know what? I'm gonna learn how to do that."So the horse calls up Guitar Center, and he says to the guy on the phone, "Hey, listen. I wanna learn to play guitar."Guy on the phone says "no problem. Come on down.""No, there might be one problem. I'm a horse.""Naw, it ain't a problem. We'll get some attachments, I can teach you to play. Promise."So horse turns out to be a natural. He gets GOOD. And he calls over Cow and Chicken and he's like "LOOK WHAT I CAN DO" and he jams out like Jimi Hendrix. And Cow says "holy crap. That's awesome. I want to learn to do something like that too. What's like that?" And horse says "Bass. Learn to play bass."So Cow calls up Guitar Center, and she says "Hey, listen, I wanna learn to play bass guitar."Guy on the phone says "No problem, miss, come on down.""Eh, this might be a problem. I'm a cow.""Nah, no problem. I helped a horse recently, I can teach you to play too. Promise."So Cow learns to play the bass, and Cow is amazing at it. So Cow and Horse are jamming, and Chicken ...

This is pretty cool. Can see if I can get my old technical memories of TRS-80 Model III to come back. All the stuff I learned in Mr Zeliff's programming class, which was just fantastic. Doubly fantastic considering it was in a small farm town in South Central Nebraska!Here's the link to download it: http://48k.ca/trs80gp.html

Back in the good old days -- the "Golden Era" of computers, it was easy to separate the men from the boys (sometimes called "Real Men" and "Quiche Eaters" in the literature). During this period, the Real Men were the ones that understood computer programming, and the Quiche Eaters were the ones that didn't. A real computer programmer said things like "DO 10 I=1,10" and "ABEND" (they actually talked in capital letters, you understand), and the rest of the world said things like "computers are too complicated for me" and "I can't relate to computers -- they're so impersonal". (A previous work [1] points out that Real Men don't "relate" to anything, and aren't afraid of being impersonal.)But, as usual, times change. We are faced today with a world in which little old ladies can get computers in their microwave ovens, 12-year-old kids can blow Real Men out of the water playing Asteroids and Pac-Man, and anyone can buy and even understand their very own Personal Computer. The Real Programmer is in danger of becoming extinct, of being replaced by high-school students with TRASH-80's.There is a clear need to point out the differences between the typical high-school junior Pac-Man player and a Real Programmer. If this difference is made clear, it will give these kids something to aspire to -- a role model, a Father Figure. It will also help explain to the employers of Real Programmers why it would be a mistake to replace the Real Programmers on their ...

FEMA teams are speaking with homeowners and renters, encouraging them to apply with them or do so online. The federal agency often provides money for needs not covered by insurance, like home repairs or paying for a place to live.Nebraska tornadoes: FEMA starts canvassing hardest hit areas (wowt.com)

Once upon a time, in a whimsical world where gas prices danced with bunny hues, the Easter Bunny became an unlikely economist. His fluffy tail twitched as he analyzed the correlation between carrot futures and unleaded gasoline. 🐰📈The Pink Bunny Index soared when tulips bloomed, signaling higher gas prices. Meanwhile, Lavender Lop-Ears predicted a market downturn, their floppy ears drooping in dismay. 🌷📉As the sun set, the Teal Bunnies convened in secret warrens, whispering stock tips. Their fur changed shades with each rumor: Turquoise for bullish trends, Indigo for bearish forecasts. 🌈🐇And so, dear reader, next time you see a bunny nibbling clover by the roadside, remember: Behind those twitching noses lie the secrets of Wall Street and the whimsy of gas pump digits. 🥕💰🐾

Not sure what this is all about, but interesting.https://youtu.be/tpOVDeQ_wwE

Finally, all the rewrites and re-rewrites are done! (Converting from Blazor 7 to Blazor 8 got a bit tricky)MessageBase 6 is finally live, so that's what we've been waiting on.Click the GameZone link to start playing!

Finally, after 3 years of planning and development, LLabmik Software Development is happy (and relieved!) to announce the latest iteration of MessageBase.net!Amazing that it's already 26 years since the original MessageBase Version 1.0!The new version is written with advanced architecture, implemented using .NET 8 and Blazor Interactive Server.

Some pretty cool new stuff.See details here.

Lots of good stuff to make your life as a developer more easy:In the Debugger's Spotlight: A Year in Review - Visual Studio Blog (microsoft.com)

Just got done putting together a demo of how to share authentication between multiple .NET 8 Blazor apps so that users do not need to re-log-in to each app as they move between them.See the GitHub source here: Blazor Shared AuthenticationNote that this will only work with .NET 8, previous versions of .NET used a different way of doing authentication.

Currently about a year into converting MessageBase codebase to Blazor and .NET 8.Originally rewrote it in .NET 7 and it was working great, just doing final bug checking and testing, then .NET 8 introduced many architectural changes and it's set me way back. Had hoped to switch over by end of 2023. But as you can see, that's about over (Or over where you are, dates are set to your local time zone here.) so not gonna happen...But once it's done, can release the "door games" Raid on the Forest of Horrors and Wild Frontiers 1888! Raid (ROTFOH2 is a Blazor-based rewrite of my old ROTFOH/Raid on the Forest of Horrors game that was somewhat popular about 20 years ago. Just some adaptations to both to syn with .NET 8 and ready to fly.

It's always been a bit of a pain in Windows to create a dotfile (Like .gitignore, .dockerfile, etc) but I just learned this weird trick that makes it easier:In File Explorer, go to the directory where you want to create the fileRight-click and pick New, then Text DocumentFor the name (Say we want to create a .gitignore file), wipe out everything suggested for the filename, including the .txt extension, then give it a name of ".gitignore." (With a dot on BOTH sides of the filename)Hit EnterYou'll get the warning about changing file extensions, click Yes (Or just hit Enter as that's the default)Windows will strip the trailing dot, giving you a fresh empty file named .gitignore !!

Live Concert (COVID) 2020

OK, the new version is finally playable (!!), but there's still some stuff to finish. Online (and offliine) battles are working great. Come play it today!Still need to add more weapons, armor, and monsters. (And graphics, oh I need graphics, it's kind of plain looking at this point!)BUT - IT WORKS!! :)Warning: It does not use your MessageBase account as of yet, so you'll have to create a separate account. (Even if it's the same id and password, they just don't talk yet.) And the registration process is pretty hinky. (Basically sign up, and then you'll get to a place where you're not sure what to do next. At that point, close your browser and re-open it, then it will work for you.) Once I get MessageBase rewritten, then will be able to link the two. (ROTFOH is using a newer .NET (Core) codebase and MessageBase is still in older .NET Framework, so the login data is not sharable.)Here's the new link: https://MessageBase.net/ROTFOHLet me know here in this forum if you run into any issues. I'm excited!

BLACK SMOKE TRIGGER

A story from an ex insurance adjuster: I used to be the guy who worked for insurance companies, and determined the value of every little thing in your house.  The guy who would go head-to-head with those fire-truck-chasing professional loss adjusters.  I may be able to help you not get screwed when filing your claim.Our goal was to use the information you provided,  and give the lowest damn value we can possibly justify for your item.For instance, if all you say was "toaster" -- we would come up with a cheap-as-fuck $4.88 toaster from Walmart, meant to toast one side of one piece of bread at a time.  And we would do that for every thing you have ever owned.  We had private master lists of the most commonly used descriptions, and what the cheapest viable replacements were.  We also had wholesale pricing on almost everything out there, so really scored cheap prices to quote.  To further that example:-  If you said "toaster - $25"  , we would have to be within -20% of that... so, we would find something that's pretty much dead-on $20.01.   -  If you said "toaster- $200" , we'd kick it back and say NEED MORE INFO, because that's a ridiculous price for a toaster (with no other information given.)    -  If you said "toaster, from Walmart" , you're getting that $4.88 one. -  If you said "toaster, from Macys" , you'd be more likely to get a $25-35 one. -  If you said "toaster", and all your other ...

Curious about what’s out there? Tired of mainstream entertainment ruining all your favorite franchises? Downstream Pulp covers the latest in Iron Age creations, not to mention original tales. A place where literature fans can relax, grab a warm beverage, and discuss the wonders of the imagination.Downstream Pulp

The average person evaporates 32 gallons of water from the surface of their eyes each year. People with dry eye syndrome can evaporate over 50 gallons per year, as water evaporates when faster for them!Source formula: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8339563/

One of my machines hasn't picked up the "Kill IE" update yet, so decided to fire it up once last time (Although I haven't used it in quite a while) and am using it to post this message.It was fun while it lasted, peace out from Internet Explorer 11!(At least software development is far easier without having to put in all kinds of IE-only tweaks!)

There are two versions of Blazor (Blazor Server and Blazor WebAssembly), I've been getting heavily into Blazor Server lately, so I'll post stuff here that will come in handy to others.

This is a good quick reference, focusing on all the different possible properties for the parent element (the flex container) and the child elements (the flex items).A Complete Guide to Flexbox

This is very cool, recorded and filmed all over the world. Finland to New Zealand, Louisiana to Africa. Featuring John Paul Jones.

Getting old is a lot like that scene in "Back to the Future" when Marty and his family start fading from the photo. More and more things that you knew for most if not all of your life begin to disappear, one by one. The grandparents. One, if not both, of your parents. Perhaps a sibling, or friend, gone too soon, but not improbably soon. The kid from that TV series that you related to because you were about the same age. Each falling away one by one. You're left like a contestant in an old-time dance contest, wondering how many other competitors will be eliminated before the judge finally comes to tap you on the shoulder...

I found my old source code (written in pre .net active server pages with vba, wow this is some old stuff!) and rewriting it in C# and Blazor. Getting close to done, raids, battles, tavern, bank, and armor shop are done. Just a few more things to get converted. Excited to see this once popular game relaunch soon.Stay tuned!

Say you've got three (or more) monitors on your system. In my case, I have a (smaller) monitor built into my laptop, and two larger external monitors connected to it. I wanted to just use the two external monitors for a Remote Desktop (RDP) session, but not use the smaller laptop monitor. There's a "Use ALL my monitors" checkbox in the options for the Remote Desktop client, but no way to just pick individual monitors to be used. So I had to research a way to see if there's a way to do this. Although I didn't think I would succeed, I did! And it's pretty easy to do. Here's how to do it:1) Open Remote Desktop, expand "Show Options".Click the Save As button. (You could use just Save, but I wasn't sure where it would put the file. Turns out by default it goes in your Documents folder)2) Save it as Default.rdp:3) Right-Click on your desktop and select "Display Settings". Look at the numbers for your screens. In this case, I want to use 3 and 2.4) Open Default.rdp in a text editor.Find the selectedmonitors line. Subtract 1 from the numbers assigned to your screens in "Display Settings" (Which starts counting at 1, but RDP starts at 0) and put in the monitor numbers you want to use for your RDP session, separated by comnmas.5) Open Remote Desktop again (Close it first if it's still open), expand Options again, go to the Display tab, and select "Use all my monitors for ...

Oh, I'll admit it isn't looking good this year but the war is never over. I'm still limping from an ambush three weeks ago. We were just outside Wyoming spraying down nativity scenes with napalm when they hit us. At first it was just some light caroling and we figured we had us some wet nosed UCC'ers on our hands. So we dug in. I took point with Das Kapital, Hoss set up the big rig burner we were using, and Lucky stood by to run us craft beers and angry pamphlets as we needed them.They started coming and we started having a real damn good war. We hit them with everything we had. Did you know Pepsi invented Santa Claus? Would you let a Muslim set up a statue in front of a courthouse? Did you know that Christmas is based on a pagan holiday? You didn't know that you miserable motherfarkers. You've never heard such mind-blowing shiat in your whole life. They were dropping like disillusioned flies.Then they stopped coming. It was suddenly quieter than when you accidentally say "God damn!" at atheist church. Then there was a low, heavy step. It was so deep we felt it rather than heard it. It took a minute for me to realize the horror of what it was. A reindeer. Let me tell you something, if you see a reindeer you just run. Don't try to hide. Don't try to fight. Those bastards weigh over three hundred pounds, have four ...

The story of Candice the Ghost goes something like this.Candice was a little girl who came from a single parent home. Because of her mom's occupation, she had to move quite often and never had the chance to meet any close friends. Candice was lonely most of the time. Her mother never had time for her because she always had to work. Her favorite place to play was her tree house. In there she could entertain herself for hours at a time.One unfortunate day, she was climbing her tree house and fell. Without any supervision, Candice lie there for hours facing the bright sun and eventually died. Her last memory on earth was this vision of a silhouette of a crow circling around her. Upon her death, Candice was sent to meet the king of hell, Yen Luo Wang. The emperor of hell sensed something unique in Candice and after careful calculation sent her back to our world as a ghost. At first Candice was very sad. Without her mother and no one around her, she was desperate. Her depression soon turned into anger as she started resenting the human race. Why should these people be having so much fun while she could only watch. She soon found a cruel joy in scaring off people.After a while curiosity lead her to start observing the human race for the first time. This is something she could never have done when she were part of the living. She noticed the love and ...