KN@PPSTER

Wordle 1755 Hint

2026-04-09T05:05:00.003-04:00

Hint: Handle today's Wordle with care -- it's loaded.

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First Letter: L

IMO, It Doesn't Matter Much Who the "Real" Satoshi Nakamoto Is ...

2026-04-08T12:58:00.004-04:00

... but if it is Adam Back, as John Carreyrou claims in the New York Times, I have to say:

Job well done, Mr. Back.

Not very many people really, noticeably change the world, even fewer change it for the better, and even fewer knowingly in advance change it for the better.

The writings (on e.g. the Cypherpunks list) of both Back and "Satoshi Nakamoto" display both a clear understanding of what "the better" is, and a clear desire to accomplish it, and Back has a discernible record of working to do so over a long period (supporting PGP and opposing the US regime's attempts to prevent its spread, for example -- I'm old enough to remember that fight, and to have sent a copy to a friend abroad just because the regime said I mustn't).

We've got Satoshi's work product, and we're far better off having it than not having it.

Knowing his or her "real" name or not won't change that, and I'd personally prefer that his or her privacy be respected. I hope Mr. Back isn't given a hard time by the paparazzi and so forth. But I'm sure he will be.

Wordle 1754 Hint

2026-04-08T05:00:00.002-04:00

Hint: An arm, but made of water.

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First Letter: I

Another Benefit from the Change of Linux Distributions

2026-04-07T06:37:00.000-04:00

I wanted to give it a few days just to make sure it was a permanent feature, not a temporary anomaly. It's the former:

MX Linux (XFCE desktop version) is easier on my computer than Linux Mint was. According to psensor, I'm running noticeably lower CPU and drive temperatures.

I suppose that could be because I've installed less stuff -- stuff that might leave rogue processes running even when the apps themselves are supposedly closed -- but my recollection is that Mint ran higher temperatures than I'm seeing now even upon install.

Not that Mint was red-lining my CPU temp or anything. But presumably lower temperatures on a regular basis should mean longer CPU -- and fan -- life.

Wordle 1753 Hint

2026-04-07T04:34:00.001-04:00

Hint: Thick (as in "as a brick").

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First Letter: D

Wordle 1752 Hint

2026-04-06T04:59:00.001-04:00

Hint: Bound by oath.

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First Letter: S

Wordle 1751 Hint

2026-04-05T05:46:00.001-04:00

Hint: Not quite an ambassador, but more than a mere chargé d'affaires.

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First Letter: E

MX Linux, Day 2 Observations

2026-04-04T08:24:00.004-04:00

OK, I've had a full day plus since install to put MX Linux through its paces, meaning I've been able to do pretty much all the things I do on a computer with this operating system. Still liking it. I've only really got two observations, one very positive and one very mildly negative.

Positive Observation: This morning, the little task bar icon that means "it's time for updates/upgrades" turned green. I pressed it. A window opened and showed me a list of OS and app updates/upgrades available. I pressed the OK button, entered my password ... and 20 seconds later (by my count) it informed me that it was done downloading and installing them. Since I did a full update/upgrade on install, there wasn't a lot for it to do. I'll expect downloads to take longer when there's a full new browser version or whatever. But it was easy, and the post-download installation/check was very fast.

Negative Observation: Several times, my task bar has just ... disappeared. It seems to have something to do with power management. It happens when the screen goes dark from inactivity. It's easy to get the thing back (about 10 seconds in settings -- I put the particular function on the desktop after the second or third time it happened), and I expect there's a permanent fix for it that I'll research, find, and implement, but if you try MX out, let me know if it happens to you too.

Other than that, it seems at least as stable, reliable, and easy to install, use, and maintain, as Linux Mint and other good distributions. Which means it's a lot more stable, reliable, and easy to install, use, and maintain than Windoze.

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #13

2026-04-04T07:55:00.001-04:00

"The wise man is one who knows what he does not know." (Taoism, Tao Te Ching 71)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

To me, understanding the limits of one's own knowledge seems like a basic requirement for survival, or at least for flourisihing, rather than an indicator of wisdom as such. But I could be wrong.

Wordle 1750 Hint

2026-04-04T06:28:00.004-04:00

Hint: Like a desert ... or a beach.

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First Letter: S

And The Winning Candidate Distro Is ...

2026-04-03T09:52:00.004-04:00

MX Linux.

After messing around with Devuan as a live USB, I did the same with MX Linux, and I just like it better.

The install to hard drive is as easy as it should be (as easy as Ubuntu or Mint, much easier than Windows), it has a nice intuitive app installer, and so far everything I've mess with has worked easily (for example, setting up Dropbox).

All of this was by way of moving to a non-systemd Linux distribution (MX gives you the choice between systemd and sysvinit), but I was also looking for something "Linux Newbie Friendly," and MX qualifies:

Download the iso you want (I chose the one with the XFCE desktop/GUI, but you can also go with KDE or Fluxbox);
Burn the iso to a thumb drive;
Boot your computer from the thumb drive;
Mess around with MX a little and see if you like it;
Click the "Install" icon on the desktop and follow the easy instructions;
Enjoy!

I considered installing MX next to Mint and Windows, but then I had a better idea: I had it nuke the whole hard drive and just completely take over.

Why? Since I've had this computer, I've used Windows two or three times ... to play Starcraft. If I really want to play Starcraft, I'll do the Wine or virtual machine thing. I'm tired of wasting hard drive space on Windows and after logging into it this morning to grab the product key just in case, I hope it's the last time I ever do that.

Wordle 1749 Hint

2026-04-03T05:52:00.003-04:00

Hint: Today's Wordle burns, but just a little.

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First Letter: S

Immediate Ergonomic Improvement!

2026-04-02T09:13:00.006-04:00

Preemptive for the economically delusional: According to Amazon's AI, "[t]he product information for the HUANUO Dual Monitor Mount [not an affiliate link] doesn't specify the country of manufacture," but I can reasonably surmise that the item is "cheap Chinese junk."

In this case, I went for the cheapest option not beause I'm unwilling to pay more for exactly what I want, but because I wasn't sure if monitor arms of any kind were exactly what I wanted.

I thought putting my monitors on adjustable arms instead of stationary risers might improve the ergonomics of my desktop setup, but I wasn't sure, so why spend three times as much on the fancy-schmancy gas spring, etc. stuff as a first step?

If the cheap ones worked exactly as I hoped, I'd have spent less money and got what I wanted.

If they worked, but not as well as I liked, I could hand them down to someone else in the household after buying better ones.

If I decided I just preferred risers to arms, I could still hand them down and not buy the better ones.

Evaluation after one day of use:

They work pretty much exactly as I'd hoped. The more expensive ones might be a little easier to adjust, but these do a fine job. Instead of either:

Accomodating my body position to the height and distance of the monitors; or
Spending a lot of time moving risers back and forth, stacking or unstacking stuff underneath the monitors for height, etc., I
Sit comfortably for myself at the moment and just reach out and put each monitor where I want it in a couple of seconds.

I also have a lot of options that I wouldn't have at all with monitors that sit on bases and risers. If, for some reason, I want to tilt a monitor 90 degrees on its side, I can do that. If I want to add a third or even fourth monitor (perhaps to run two computers simultaneously?), I can buy separate single arms and mount the additional monitors to the sides of the desk. And so on, and so fourth.

It was a good use of $25. I probably won't bother "upgrading," at least for now.

Wordle 1748 Hint

2026-04-02T04:49:00.004-04:00

Hint: Sersly ossifer, I ain't drank a drop (hic)!

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First Letter: S

I Happened to Be Thinking About Coffee ...

2026-04-01T15:09:00.003-04:00

... because of this story at the National Post:

U.S. researchers found that people who regularly drank two to three cups of coffee or one to two cups of tea per day had a lower chance of developing dementia than those who drank little or abstained altogether. Though caffeinated coffee intake was “significantly associated” with lower risk of dementia, the same wasn’t true of decaf, according to the study.

Challenge accepted. OK, not really. I already drink two to three cups of coffee per day. I'm on my third at this very moment.

So why not blog about coffee because reasons?

Tamara and I do not drink the same coffee. In fact, I don't recognize the stuff she drinks as coffee.

The most important difference between what she drinks and coffee is that she drinks "decaf," so what's the point?

She also drinks, at strongest, a "medium" roast, regular grind, and sometimes even goes off into "breakfast blend" and "blonde roast" territory.

And, finally, she prepares her coffee using a Keurig machine, which is really just a pretty fast drip method. I'll do the k-cup thing when it's all that's available, but I barely consider it coffee under the best of circumstances.

Since I like to both taste my coffee and get an energy boost out of it, I go with a dark/bold roast in an espresso grind (usually Cuban, such as Cafe Bustelo), and if I use the Keurig at all, it's just to heat some water.

Because cheap espresso machines just aren't very well-made and don't last very long in my experience, I use one of three methods:

French press. I use that if I want cold brew. Throw in the coffee, add hot water, let it steep a little, throw it in the fridge. The next morning, press and pour it. It's not a pressure-brewed espresso, but the time factor does give it a nice, strong flavor.
Moka pot. It's technically a percolator, but a pretty pressurized one and makes a nice cup of coffee. Not really espresso, but pretty nice.
Aeropress. I got a good deal on an Aeropress Go, their travel model, a few years back (current price is twice what I paid), and bought an after-market "flow control cap" so that it takes pressure to get the water through the grounds instead of just being a compact drip unit. I'm still not sure I'd call the result real espresso, but it's pretty close.

I've mostly been using the Aeropress lately. It's quicker than the moka pot, I don't have to remember to prepare things the day before for cold brew as with the French press, and overall it produces the best quality brew IMO. But as the weather warms up, I'll probably switch to cold brew.

One thing I finally got to decide against is the "Nespresso" line. I'd been wanting to try one, and finally got the opportunity during a recent hotel stay where that was what they had for in-room coffee. The damn thing sounded like a Mack Truck coming down the road and produce, IMO, an inferior cup of ... well, something. I'm not even sure what brew they were going for with the particular pods included, but it just wasn't very good. I ended up going downstairs each morning for a cup of Colombian dark roast from those thermosy things.

One of these days I may buy a "real" espresso machine, but they tend to run several hundred dollars minimum and that seems like a mal-investment to me, at least for now.

Wordle 1747 Hint

2026-04-01T04:50:00.000-04:00

Hint: Like a carbonated beverage.

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First Letter: F

Thanks For Asking! -- 04/01/26

2026-04-01T00:02:00.001-04:00

Can I get an AMEN ... er, AMA?

Ask (in comments) and it shall be answered (applies to regular people pseudonymous trolls/bots are required to ask interesting questions to get answers).

Wordle 1746 Hint

2026-03-31T04:54:00.002-04:00

Hint: Politicians live there and love it (but constantly claim they're going to drain it).

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First Letter: S

Another Recommendation for Prospective Linux Converters

2026-03-30T10:10:00.003-04:00

It's one I knew about but hadn't noticed or thought about in a long time, because when I want to install Linux on a computer, I:

Look into various distributions online for the features I want;
Download a disk image of the distribution I choose;
Burn that image to a USB flash drive;
Boot my machine from that USB flash drive;
Check out the distribution and, if I like it, use the "install" option to permanently install Linux on my hard drive.

I had basically forgotten that there's a cheap (and less time-consuming) way to shorten the process:

Look online for a USB flash drive that already has Linux on it (they generally run $15-$25);
Order it and wait for it to arrive;
Go to step 4 in the previous sequence.

Since I haven't used the one I'm about to discuss myself I can't necessarily recommend it, but in terms of bang for buck:

I see that Amazon offers a 64 Gb USB flash drive with 17 different operating systems -- Windows 11 and 16 Linux distributions -- on it, and supposedly that flash drive boots into a menu that lets you choose whatever one you want to run direct from the USB to audition and maybe install.

It's $21 (not an affiliate link).

You can try out all of those Linux distributions right from the USB (they will probably run a little slower from USB than they would if installed to your regular hard drive) without affecting your computer's permanent setup. That way you get to know for sure you like one before you commit.

And when you do commit, you can either keep that flash drive in the ol' drawer in case you ever want to change or need to reinstall, or just format it and have an extra 64Gb flash drive for other uses. It looks like empty flash drives of that size cost nearly as much, so the whole thing seems like a no-way-to-lose proposiation.

Preemptive note to pseudonymous trolls who pretend they don't use Chinese stuff: According to Amazon's AI, "the specific country of manufacture isn't listed on the product page." My guess would be that the drive itself is Chinese; where the people who put the distros on it and resell it are located is anyone's guess.

Wordle 1745 Hint

2026-03-30T05:16:00.005-04:00

Hint: Halley's comes around every 75 years or so.

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First Letter: C

Motorcycle Maintenance Time Coming Up ...

2026-03-29T17:05:00.001-04:00

The Italica Bulldog 150 is about to hit 3,000 miles. That may be the last time I take it to the shop for regular maintenance. I'm fully capable of changing the oil (and, when needed, gear oil) myself, but after the mods I had the shop do, the guy wants to look at the variator upgrade (w/kevlar belt) at 3k anyway, so I'll just have it all done.

Especially since it's using a little oil (about 1/4 of a quart since it hit 2k). I haven't found a leak, but it's going somewhere.

I've had both the Bulldog (twice) and the Lifan KP Mini 150 (once) out for fairly short trips the last few days.

Both Bulldog trips involved carrying stuff back from a store, and the Bulldog is permanently set up for that with the built-in storage compartment and the rear top box I've been keeping on it. To carry anything substantial on the KP Mini I either have to put on saddlebags or wear a backpack. Which I will do if I'm making a 100+ mile trip that's mostly highway, but not for a 2-10 mile trip that involves low-speed-limit streets. I ran the KP Mini out to a store just now, but it wasn't for anything that wouldn't fit in its small tail bag; I mostly just like to make sure it gets out and about at least once a week.

Embarrassingly, I laid the Bulldog down on one outing. No damage to me or the bike. I was on the cowpath between our house and the paved road, going maybe five miles an hour, when I perceived a need to stop (because my phone rang -- one of the kids reminding me of an item to get at the store) just as the rear wheel was doing one of its little slaloms in the sand and I braked. My foot came down in soft sand as the bike stopped -- exactly the way I put down the old 50cc scooter a few years ago. I think I may start putting my phone on silent when I ride.

Non-systemd Linux -- First Success Post

2026-03-29T10:00:00.004-04:00

I've had nothing but trouble trying to install a non-systemd Linux distribution (see here for why) on my Raspberry Pi 5.

No need to belabor the details -- some things just don't work, and others require a bunch of command line messing around to make work, and my whole approach as a Linux evangelist is "make this easier than Windoze for people." For the Pi, it's simply not easier than Windoze (or easier than Raspberry Pi OS, which is easy as, well, pie).

On my x86 PC, however, it took me about 10 minutes to get Devuan Linux up and running, and nine of those minutes were downloading the disk image and burning it to a USB drive. Once I'd done that, all I had to do was reboot my machine to boot from the USB. Loaded right up, and once I logged into a wifi network I was ready to do things.

The first thing I did was move the task bar from the top to the bottom because that's how I like it.

The second thing I did (after taking the screenshot above) was open up Firefox (which comes preinstalled) so that I could write this post.

As I'm writing the post, I'm also installing some stuff on the live CD version to test out -- I want to know certain things work and that I like the feel before doing a full hard drive install and replacing Linux Mint on my main machine. I expect that the full install will take a little longer than a live CD run, but not much -- basically just telling it I prefer the US keyboard layout and US Eastern time zone, that kind of thing.

So far, so good. Once I've had some time to mess around with Devuan, I suspect I'll be able to honestly recommend it at least to those who want to avoid systemd, and possibly just overall as a good Linux distro for people who want to get away from Windoze but don't want the getaway plan to be complicated.

Wordle 1744 Hint

2026-03-29T06:10:00.002-04:00

Hint: In an alphabetical list of synonyms, today's Wordle falls between "boob" and "dolt."

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First Letter: C

Applicable(?) Aphorisms #12

2026-03-28T07:20:00.018-04:00

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." (Stoicism, Attributed to Plato)

True, false, good, bad, useful, not so useful, etc.? Discuss.

My thoughts:

Probably true, definitely good and useful ... when I keep it in mind and apply it, which isn't all the time.

If you perceive someone as causing you to have a bad time, it's probably the case that they're having a bad time. If you can cut them a little slack and treat them in a positive way, maybe they'll have a better time, and stop causing you and others to have a bad time.

But the natural reaction is to meet negativity with negativity. And I react naturally more often than I should. Maybe you do too.

Wordle 1743 Hint

2026-03-28T03:32:00.003-04:00

Hint: What the game is, according to (among others) Henry IV and Sherlock Holmes.

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First Letter: A