Author Archives: David K.

Should Retired Ministers Get a Pension from the Church?

Twenty three years ago, I had a pension with Arvin. They got “bought” by Meritor. After a couple years, they sent out an email that basically said that the pension fund was “theirs” now, and they were under no obligation … Continue reading

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SA Retro Keycaps, Ordered

After literally about 10 years of lusting after these, I finally pulled the trigger. I don’t know when they’ll get made and arrive, but I feel that they will have been worth the wait. But… ouch.

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Secretive White House Surveillance Program Gives Cops Access to Trillions of US Phone Records | WIRED

According to the letter, a surveillance program now known as Data Analytical Services (DAS) has for more than a decade allowed federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to mine the details of Americans’ calls, analyzing the phone records of … Continue reading

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Why do people use VBA?

Why do people use VBA? In order to answer this question, we must first look at another question – who actually uses VBA in the first place? In 2021 I ran a poll on /r/vba where I asked redditors why … Continue reading

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The Joy of Coding

I’m writing a program to read a large JSON file to insert tens of thousands of rows of data into a graph DB using PySpark, but the development loop still evokes the same joy and magic as when I was … Continue reading

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Concerns over Cryptocurrency Mining and the Environment

When BitCoin prices were spiking a year ago, people concerned with such things started pointing out that the energy required to perform all the mining could power a small country, and lamented the implied acceleration of the destruction of the … Continue reading

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Stealing Dolmens in Cyrodill

I’ve completely ignored achievements in Elder Scrolls Online up till now. There are so many, it’s overwhelming. But coming back to the game after over a year, I notice that I “already” have about half the “points” in the game, … Continue reading

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Tired Of Being Ripped Off By Monopolies, Cleveland Launches Ambitious Plan To Provide Citywide Dirt Cheap Broadband | Techdirt

On the other hand, they’ve convinced a company named SiFi Networks to build a $500 million open access fiber network at no cost to taxpayers. SiFi Networks will benefit from a tight relationship with the city, while making its money … Continue reading

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Uncle Buck’s Niece

The movie Uncle Buck was released in 1989. Like other John Hughes movies, I enjoyed it, but the real highlight for me was the girl played Uncle Buck’s niece, Jean Luisa Kelly. To me, she was nearly the epitome of … Continue reading

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Why I Ripped The Same CD 300 Times

CDs store digital data, but the interface between CDs, lasers, and optical diodes is very analog. Read errors can be caused by anything from dirty media, to scratches on the protective polycarbonate layer, to vibration from the optical drive itself. … Continue reading

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