This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter). Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon

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Curmudgeon’s Corner: Annoy People Again

This week on Curmudgeon’s Corner, Sam and Ivan talk about Trump breaking the Romney barrier, the Trump Foundation, Clinton’s basket of deplorables comment, Clinton’s health issues, and the unhelpful way she responds to things. So they pretty much have the Election 2016 developments covered. In the last segment of the show they spend some time going over the new features in Apple’s iOS 10 update. So some tech too this week!

Click below to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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Show Details:

Recorded 2016-09-15
Length this week – 1:51:59

  • (0:00:10-0:15:28) But First
    • Agenda
    • Wells Fargo Fine
    • Mom iPhone
    • Another Patron
    • Ivan travels
  • (0:17:28-0:39:33) Election 2016 – Trump
    • Trump breaks the Romney barrier!
    • The New Trump?
    • Trump Foundation
  • (0:42:35-1:16:02) Election 2016 – Clinton
    • Basket of Deplorables
    • Clinton Collapse and Pneumonia
    • Clinton and Secrecy
    • Bad Week for Clinton?
    • What if people stay home?
    • Trump unpredictability
  • (1:16:41-1:51:39) iOS 10
    • Lock Screen
    • Bilingual Support
    • Messages Enhancements
    • Parking Spot
    • Alternate Calling Apps
    • Music
    • Maps
    • Mail
    • Bedtime
    • Photos

 

The Curmudgeon’s Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is “The Oh of Pleasure” (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is “Celestial Soda Pop” (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album “Deep Breakfast” (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

Curmudgeon’s Corner: Twenty Means Thirty

There is a lot happening on this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast with Sam and Ivan. There is the usual discussion of the presidential race, but there is also coverage of the new Apple announcements, a lightning round with all sorts of things, and the first full discussion of our new Patreon! A very big show this week with something for everyone! Including a special appearance by Ivan’s wife Juana!

Click below to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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1-Click Subscribe in iTunes
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patreon-30x30 Support us on Patreon

Show Details:

Recorded 2016-09-08
Length this week – 2:26:09

  • (0:00:10-0:24:20) But First
    • Agenda
    • Slow Week?
    • CC Patreon
    • Movie: The Never-ending Story (1984)
    • Being a Poll Worker
  • (0:24:59-0:45:56) Lightning Round
    • Apple Ireland Taxes
    • Brazil Impeachment
    • Standing Rock
    • Obama in Asia
    • Turkey in Syria
    • Yemen
    • Apple Warning
  • (0:47:17-1:23:30) Apple News
    • Fight with Siri
    • Nintendo on Apple
    • Apple Watch 2
    • iPhone 7 – Everything Else
    • iPhone 7 – No Headphone Jack
    • AirPods
    • Colors
    • Things left behind
    • Lengthening Upgrade Cycles
  • (1:24:45-2:25:50) Election 2016
    • Polling Update
    • Republicans after 2016
    • MSNBC Candidate Forum
    • Understanding the Other Side
    • Trump shutting up
    • Clinton-Powell Email exchange

 

The Curmudgeon’s Corner theme music is generously provided by Ray Lynch.

Our intro is “The Oh of Pleasure” (Amazon MP3 link)

Our outro is “Celestial Soda Pop” (Amazon MP3 link)

Both are from the album “Deep Breakfast” (iTunes link)

Please buy his music and support his GoFundMe.

Curmudgeon’s Corner: Something Made A Noise

On this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast Ivan and Sam start off talking about things OTHER than Election 2016. The upcoming small iPhone announcement, corporate reorgs, Kanye and The Pirate Bay, feedback on the show, and more! But of course then it is election time. They cover the Super Tuesday results in both parties, the Republican delegate math, the possibilities of a Republican schism, and everything else surrounding the race that they can think of.

Click below to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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Recorded 2016-03-03

Length this week – 1:59:20

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Show Details:

  • (0:00:10-0:10:30) But First
    • Agenda
    • Small iPhone
    • Mexico City
    • Reorgs
  • (0:11:50-0:42:03) Lightning Round
    • Carillian prelude
    • Apple wins a round
    • Malaysian Plane
    • Kanye and Pirate Bay
    • Nearby House Fire
    • North Korea
    • Syria
    • Feedback
    • Sam’s Vote?
  • (0:43:08-1:28:41) Election 2016 Part 1
    • Democratic Super Tuesday Results
    • Sanders lost, get over it
    • Carson out
    • Christie and Trump
    • Rubio attacking Trump
    • Trump’s Business Success
    • Effect of Rubio’s Attacks?
    • Trump Delegate Math
    • Forcing a contested convention?
    • Delegate Shenanagans
    • Odds of President Trump?
    • Trump’s Policy Details
    • The Mexican Wall
    • Trump and Duke/KKK
  • (1:29:44-1:59:01) Election 2016 Part 2
    • Never Trump Republicans
    • Will the Republicans Split?
    • Is Clinton more conservative than Trump?
    • Trump’s Supporter’s Motivations
    • Immigrant Debate
    • Romney Attacks
    • Trump’s Free Media
    • Buying votes not working
    • The Next Contests

Curmudgeon’s Corner: Bailing Out!

On this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast Sam and Ivan talk about the situation with Turkey, Russia and Syria for awhile, then cover Election 2016, with, of course, a concentration on the Trump phenomenon and what it continues to mean for the Republican nomination race. Those are the “big topics”, but we also touch on car shopping, some movies Sam watched recently, Argentina, Baby Hitler, demographics of the folks who like the podcast on Facebook, and a lot more.

Click to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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Recorded 2015-11-26

Length this week – 1:34:54

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Show Details:

  • (0:00:10-0:15:23) But First
    • Agenda
    • Sam’s Electricity
    • Ivan and Disney
    • Ivan broken phone
    • Ivan car shopping
  • (0:16:26-0:31:44) International
    • Turkey shoots down Russian plane
    • Escalation?
    • Syria Summit
    • New Threats and Attacks
  • (0:32:23-1:08:59) Election 2016
    • Polls
    • Alex Interlude
    • Carson Implosion
    • Trump not Imploding
    • Can Trump win the Nomination?
    • Can Trump win the Presidency?
    • Trump Independant Run?
    • Frontrunners 4, 8 and 12 years ago
    • Betting Odds on the Candidates
  • (1:09:44-1:34:34) Lightning Round
    • Movie: Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
    • Movie: Beyond Witch Mountain (1982)
    • Movie: Minority Report (2002)
    • Adelle Song
    • TPP
    • Airline Safety
    • Racial Tensions
    • Argentina President
    • Baby Hitler
    • Movie: Being John Malkovich (1999)
    • Likes vs Downloads
    • Curmudgeon’s Corner Facebook Demographics

Curmudgeon’s Corner: A Groundswell of Begging

On this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner we apologize for last week’s show, then jump right in on Election 2016 analysis. We cover Biden’s exit and the results of last week’s debate, and what all that means for Clinton. Then we move on to the Republicans, talking about Trump’s staying power, how the only one close to him is Carson of all people, and how Bush is crashing and burning. With the Presidential race out of the way, we spend some time on Paul Ryan and the race for Speaker. Then finally in our lightning round we hit Back to the Future Day, iPads and iPhones, the hospital bombing in Afghanistan, book and movie reviews, and more!

Click to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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Recorded 2015-10-22

Length this week – 1:32:48

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Show Details:

  • (0:00:10-0:09:08) But First
    • Sounds Ivan makes
    • Allergy Meds
    • Making fun of Ivan falling asleep
    • Forced Break
    • Future Debates
    • Agenda
  • (0:10:09-0:21:49) The Democrats
    • Biden Out
    • Debate Results
    • Clinton’s Position
    • Sad for Joe
  • (0:22: 53-0:56:17) The Republicans
    • Debate Demands
    • Trump not going away
    • Trump vs Bush
    • Efforts to stop Trump
    • Trump in the general?
    • Thinning the crowd
    • The Republican Split
  • (0:56:56-1:11:18) Speaker of the House
    • Future Sam Disclaimer
    • Ryan’s Conditions
    • Ryan’s Options
    • Ryan the RINO
    • Weakened Ryan?
  • (1:12:07-1:32:28) Lightning Round
    • Back to the Future Day
    • iPad vs big iPhone
    • Car bluetooth issue
    • US hospital bombing
    • Apple Music Subscriber Numbers
    • Movie: Mud
    • Book: The Son Also Rises

Curmudgeon’s Corner: Keep flipping the thing around

On this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast, Ivan joins Sam again to complain a bit about Cleveland and last week’s conversation about Volkswagen. Then the main topics for this week: Election 2016, the Speaker of the House, and Syria. To close it off, a lightning round talking about Breaking Bad, Star Wars, iPhones, that Raccoon story that has been going around, and more!

Click to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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Recorded 2015-10-01

Length this week – 1:44:41

1-Click Subscribe in iTunes
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Show Details:

  • (0:00:15-0:18:03) But First
    • Cleveland
    • Agenda
    • Ivan on Volkswagen
  • (0:18:41-0:50:33) Election 2016
    • Post Debate Republican Polls
    • Thinning the Field
    • Clinton Attitude
    • Biden Getting In?
    • Fundraising
    • Clinton Email
  • (0:51:37-1:10:48) Speaker of the House
    • Resignation
    • Republicans Divided
    • Kevin McCarthy Different?
    • Republican Agenda Hurt by Hardliners?
    • Congressional Gridlock
    • Government Shutdowns
  • (1:11:49-1:22:27) Syria
    • Russia jumping in
    • US Approaches
  • (1:23:43-1:44:21) Lightning Round
    • TV Show: Breaking Bad
    • Pope Visit
    • iOS 9
    • Ad Blockers
    • iPhones one handed
    • Movie: Return of the Jedi
    • Raccoon Story

Curmudgeon’s Corner: Shove my finger right through the screen

On this week’s Curmudgeon’s Corner podcast, Sam and Ivan go all in on the latest Apple announcements, talking about the new iPad, iPhones, Apple TV, Apple Watch updates, and the options for purchasing the phones. With that out of the way, the show finishes off with a discussion of Election 2016, including Trump, Clinton, Bush, and more. Along the way you’ll hear some insights into the hosts’ kids as well.

Click to listen or subscribe… then let us know your own thoughts!

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Recorded 2015-09-10

Length this week – 1:58:13

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Show Details:

  • (0:00:10-0:12:26) But First
    • Agenda
    • Diagnosis in Common
    • Kids Swearing
  • (0:13:15-0:58:53) Apple Event Part I
    • The Bullet Points
    • Apple Watch Updates
    • iPad Pro
    • Number of Product Lines
    • AppleTV
    • iPhones
  • (1:00:01-1:11:35) Apple Event Part II
    • Apple Lease vs Carrier Payment Plans vs Contracts
    • Online Ordering vs In-Store Purchase
    • Buying from Apple vs Buying from Carrier
  • (1:12:55-1:57:53) Election 2016
    • Trump making opening for Moderates?
    • Scott Adams on Trump
    • Trump Polling Update
    • Trump OODA Loops
    • Trump/Perot Comparisons
    • Economic Influence on Elections
    • Democratic Polls
    • Clinton Weakness
    • Clinton Email
    • Clinton Plan to be Spontaneous
    • Lessig and McAfee
    • Bush Troubles
    • Republican Splintering

Curmudgeon’s Corner: Freaky Man Children

In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner with Sam and Jenn:
* Universal Time
* Boston Verdict
* Silicon Valley
* Election 2016
* Lightning Round

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Recorded 2015-05-21

Length this week – 1:20:10

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Pics from Dec 2014

979 pictures for the month. First cut got it down to 61. Second cut down to the required 31 for December. Here we go…

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2014-12-01 02:47 UTC – Alex shows that he knows how to use chopsticks.

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2014-12-05 23:57 UTC (picture by Brandy) – Brandy installed a brand new sink!

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2014-12-07 20:32 UTC (picture by Brandy) – Roscoe is pretty sure he is much smaller than he really is. He is the right size for a lap dog, right?

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2014-12-07 20:38 UTC (picture by Brandy) – Of course, there was one person who noticed they were not in the picture, and they felt they needed to be. So we made room.

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2014-12-08 00:30 UTC (posted earlier) – Alex celebrates the picking of the Christmas tree.

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2014-12-08 16:51 – Alex watching Roscoe as Roscoe contemplates if he should get out while the getting is good.

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2014-12-09 06:39 UTC – This IS what stockings are for, aren’t they?

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2014-12-09 20:39 UTC (picture by my mom) – Sara posed by some of my mom’s Christmas decorations

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2014-12-10 01:17 UTC – Alex kicking back in my home office.

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2014-12-11 04:02 UTC – And in the lobby during one of Amy’s performances for school.

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2014-12-12 06:09 UTC – A Lego creation by Alex.

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2014-12-17 04:19 UTC (picture by Brandy) – Brandy took Alex to the bookstore. He got mad at her about something. He decided to sit at his own table. Then he fell asleep with his head down on the table.

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2014-12-20 01:20 UTC – Alex in my office playing Minecraft… which in December was rapidly on the way to displacing Portal 2 and Trainz Driver for the “favorite computer game” crown.

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2014-12-21 01:59 UTC (picture by my mom) – Sara and Alex playing at Grandma Ruth’s house.

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2014-12-21 03:27 UTC – Alex gets into giggle fits when Sara licks him.

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2014-12-24 05:49 UTC – Excitement builds! Christmas approaches!

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2014-12-24 13:05 UTC – Regardless of the excitement, I’m not sure I would choose to sleep with my head by this part of the dog. But it was just fine for Alex!

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2014-12-24 20:12 UTC (picture by my mom) – Sara got a new bed as an early Christmas present. She liked it!

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2014-12-25 05:56 UTC – For the first time this year we put lights on the outside of the house!

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2014-12-25 05:56 UTC – The lights were color shifting, so there were different colors and patterns every few seconds.

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2014-12-25 08:11 UTC – As he prepares for bed on Christmas eve, Alex surveys the presents. In our family, everybody opens one present on Christmas eve. Here Alex has picked the one for me to open… one of his gifts for me of course. (It was candy.)

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2014-12-25 15:55 UTC (posted earlier) – In the morning, not a creature was stirring, not even a dog…

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2014-12-25 16:00 UTC – The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…

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2014-12-25 18:49 UTC – In the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there! (OK, some sort of photographic accident, but it could be St. Nick, right? :-) )

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2014-12-25 18:49 UTC – Soon the presents were flowing. Here is Grandma Ruth in the wonderful vest Alex bought for her! I’m sure she’ll be wearing it all over town!

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2014-12-25 19:18 UTC – Amy and Alex worked together opening some presents.

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2014-12-25 19:20 UTC (picture by my mom) – I relax and observe the activities while Alex attacks Amy in the background.

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2014-12-26 00:10 UTC – Christmas over, Alex was very insistent that we take a picture of this mutant potato chip.

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2014-12-28 01:37 UTC – Then Brandy broke her phone.

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2014-12-30 04:57 UTC (picture by Brandy) – We go out for the evening and Amy and Alex enjoy some pizza. Yes, Alex is wearing pants on his head. As he does.

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2014-12-31 06:34 UTC – As New Year’s approached, time for one last snuggle on the couch to watch TV

Today’s Apple Stuff and Lack of Timely Obsolescence

I told myself recently that if I found myself starting to send out a series of tweets expressing my thoughts on some subject, I should just do a blog post instead, cause that is what it is for after all. And I recently compared my blog from today to my blog from several years ago, and I noticed that I used to actually make real blog posts all the time, and it is very rare today, and I miss that old blog. And I have time today. So here goes.

Yosemite: I’m going to be installing this later today probably. I sometimes wait a little while on updates, but I’m home, I have time, why not. I am a bit sad that my iMac (a Late 2009 27-inch) is too old for Continuity, which is one of the big new things. That feature DOES seem nice. But I’ll see how it goes without that.

New iPads: Looks nice. And I do want touch-ID. But I have a just under two year old iPad at the moment (uh, modulo replacements for breaking the screen), and I have yet to hit something that I want to do with it that it can’t do. It is working fine for me. I’m not yet at the point where I feel really anxious to upgrade.

New iMacs: My 2009 iMac definitely shows the fact that it is almost five years old. In the past I have operated on a four year replacement cycle. My iMac was “due” in 2013. It wasn’t in the cards for budget reasons. (I got a car at the end of 2012 instead.) I was really anxious and performance was bad. Since then the upgrade to Mavericks, plus moving a bunch of stuff off the primary drive to external drives has given the old thing a new lease on life. It is still quirky and sometimes frustratingly slow. There are some games Alex would like to play (I’m looking at you Trainz Simulator 2!) that just perform really badly on this old hardware. But, but, it basically does the things I actually use it for regularly. I do my podcast, I work with my photos, I work on my website stuff, I watch some streaming video, I do email, I look at twitter. Those things comprise 95%+ of what I actually use my desktop for these days. And those things still work. (Much of my “just reading stuff on the web” use has moved to the iPad.) Given this, as much as it would be awesome to upgrade, it will be hard to justify.

OK, and even though it was last month, not today, the new iPhones: Same here basically. The new iPhones are cool. We’ve updated every other generation for years. I still don’t have touch ID and I want it. But again, my current phone is basically working, and aside from being jealous on the Touch ID, there isn’t much on the new ones that makes me feel like I *must* upgrade.

There is clearly a theme here. Last time I updated my iMac and last time I updated my iPhone, similar lengths of time had passed, but I was distinctly feeling limited and frustrated by the old devices. I felt I *needed* to upgrade. At this point I don’t feel that yet. It would be *nice* to upgrade, of course. But I don’t have that feeling where I feel like I will be suffering if I don’t.

It seems like, at least for me, things are moving from an “upgrade every X years because by then your old equipment will be barely hanging on and you need to” to more like an “upgrade when it breaks” mode, with maybe a caveat in there for “or when you have some extra money and want to treat yourself”.

Is this just me and my own family’s situation and use case? Or is this widespread? Is the hardware getting to the point where it is good enough that for most people these things can last much longer than they used to? Will the phone replacement cycle start moving from two years to three? Or even more? A computer more than four years old used to feel crippled and unable to keep up with what was wanted of it. Is that less so now? Will it be reasonable to keep these old things running 5 or 6 years or more?

Of course, some of this depends on how you push your computers and what you do with them. If you were just doing simple word processing, you could still conceivably use a 1970’s or 1980’s era computer to do it. If you were satisfied to keep doing the things the way they were done back then that is. If you only ever do with a device exactly the things you did with it on the day you bought it, then you can use it that way as long as it physically doesn’t stop working. It is the new things that tax the old equipment.

Maybe I’m just not seeing the “killer app” yet that forces the upgrade from any of the older equipment. Or maybe I am seeing it, and I’m just an old curmudgeon that just doesn’t think any of it is as compelling as other folks do.

When I install Yosemite in a bit, and it turns out I’m constantly wanting the features it can’t run because my computer is too old, maybe I’ll start thinking about that. When there is a major OS release that the old device can’t support, maybe that is when the issue gets forced. Yosemite supports back to the Mid-2007 iMacs. iOS 8 supports back to the iPhone 4s and the iPad 2.

I admit, if a major new software release came out, and I just couldn’t upgrade at all, I think I’d feel like the time had come. I have some old devices lying around that aren’t up to date on the software, but none of them are primary use devices.

Anyway, budgets are tight these days. If I had tons of extra, maybe I’d upgrade regardless. But at the moment, the question is, “do I *need* to”. And as of today, for hardware anyway, the answer appears to be “No”.