Daily Tech News 17 September 2025

Top Story

Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Games, creator of the Borderlands franchise, has responded to criticism of the performance of the latest game in the series... Badly. (TechSpot)

Pitchford claimed the title is "a premium game made for premium gamers" and told customers to stop being poor if they couldn't afford the latest top-of-the-line hardware needed to run it acceptably.

He then told customers who were complaining about Borderlands 4's miserable performance compared to, say, Borderlands 3, "code your own engine and show us how it's done".

Meanwhile Silksong will run perfectly well on a GTX 1050 with just 2GB of VRAM.

Tech News

AMD has announced four new CPUs that are all cut-down versions of existing models. (Tom's Hardware)

Two 9000 series chips with the integrated graphics disabled, one 7000 series chip with half the L3 cache disabled - and also a 400MHz lower clock speed than the most directly comparable model, and one 5000 series chip with just the lower clock speed.
Meanwhile Intel has filled in the bottom of its 200-series desktop chips with the Core Ultra 3 205. (Tom's Hardware)

4 P cores and 4 E cores, and reportedly better performance than recent low-midrange chips like the i5 14400.

Remember though that there will be no new CPU generation that uses compatible motherboards; next year's Nova Lake will come with a new socket.
I like trains. (Nature)

Well, that's nice for you, Timmy, but who told you that you could use the photocopier in the staff room?

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Don't eat the red snow either.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 w00t

Posted by: m at September 17, 2025 04:32 AM (aURVT)

2 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 04:32 AM (CZW9O)

3 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at September 17, 2025 04:32 AM (+qU29)

4 "code your own engine"
Learn to Code!

Posted by: m at September 17, 2025 04:33 AM (aURVT)

5 Cat Stevens, a.k.a., Yusuf Islam.

Buried way down the Internet, as one of many examples:

https://youtu.be/V2Upfg2bk_M

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 04:37 AM (CZW9O)

6 Ah, you saw the video before I fixed it to the correct link.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:38 AM (BLOW1)

7 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 04:40 AM (sAmhv)

8 Ah, you saw the video before I fixed it to the correct link.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:38 AM (BLOW1)
-

Mind tricks.

BTW, can I order a vanity hash, too?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 04:40 AM (CZW9O)

9 (Cat Stevens never covered Cat's in the Cradle, but if you carelessly search on YouTube you will find videos of it. And then a minute later think, wait, is that real?)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:41 AM (BLOW1)

10 I guess there are geeks (meant as a positive term) who love tinkering with these machines, but for the rest of us, who were around when home computers first became a thing, I find it hard to believe anyone sees the direction this has gone, and declares it good.

Sure, our machines can do more things, but the basics we do with them, they don't really do them better. Gamers have more of everything, with new generations of games. Except, I believe, fun.

And we were promised a wide open internet, where damn near anything and everything was possible, but except for odd little corners like this one, the internet is a massive disappointment. With ad dominated sites, difficult to access info, due to corporations trying to throttle what we can and cannot see...

Anyhoo, the thing that makes the least sense to me is whole generations learning to do EVERYTHING on their phones. Wait til their eyes start to go bad.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 17, 2025 04:42 AM (xz8OS)

11 That's my actual hash, by the way. You'll just have to keep trying IP addresses until you get something good.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:42 AM (BLOW1)

12 That's my actual hash, by the way. You'll just have to keep trying IP addresses until you get something good.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:42 AM (BLOW1)
-

I might have somebody just over the border, in the Hashemite Kingdom, who can help me with this.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 04:44 AM (CZW9O)

13 youtu.be/B32yjbCSVpU

Ugly Kid Joe's cover of 'Cats in the Cradle', which is very good. This band showed up, dropped an album, a couple of good songs, and then disappeared. The music business is a harsh mistress. Ok, probably didn't disappear literally, but I haven't heard a thing from them since the early 90s.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 04:46 AM (sAmhv)

14 https://www.nature.com seems to be largely trash.

On full display at:

https://www.nature.com/nature/history-of-nature

Posted by: m at September 17, 2025 04:46 AM (aURVT)

15 I never got that song. Neglectful dad, but we're supposed to believe it all turned out fine anyway?

Sure.

Saw a brief vid the other day, some hot chick saying her body count was 500, and if YOU (meaning other hot chicks, I guess) tried hard you could too.

Next chick gets on screen, she's good looking but not dolled up, says "I think that's true, I could have a body count like yours, but my dad used to say this thing, all while I was growing up... what was it he said? Oh yeah! I love you!"

Posted by: BurtTC at September 17, 2025 04:47 AM (xz8OS)

16

Grow your business by the time honored method of abusing your customer base. Works every time.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at September 17, 2025 04:49 AM (vFbHf)

17 I never got that song. Neglectful dad, but we're supposed to believe it all turned out fine anyway?

I don't think that song is doing that. It's melancholy. A man looking back. His son becoming him. It's a sad song. It's a beautiful song but not a how too guide.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 04:52 AM (sAmhv)

18 The music business is a harsh mistress. Ok, probably didn't disappear literally, but I haven't heard a thing from them since the early 90s.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 04:46 AM (sAmhv)

Avante Garde (sp?) band from the 80s, Suburban Lawns. Put out a couple albums, even got a spot on SNL. Very out there.

Lead "singer" was a gal name Su Tissue, mesmerizing in ways that are hard to explain. She got a brief couple scenes in the Jonathan Demme movie, "Something Wild."

Released a solo record, which is almost entirely repetitive piano, with some vocal "sounds," but no words.

Then she disappeared. The internet has spent the past 30 plus years trying to find her. Some claim they have, but the claims are... iffy.

So if you know Su, tell her I said hi!.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 17, 2025 04:52 AM (xz8OS)

19 Saw a brief vid the other day, some hot chick saying her body count was 500, and if YOU (meaning other hot chicks, I guess) tried hard you could too.

Next chick gets on screen, she's good looking but not dolled up, says "I think that's true, I could have a body count like yours, but my dad used to say this thing, all while I was growing up... what was it he said? Oh yeah! I love you!"

LoL!

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 04:53 AM (sAmhv)

20 Play something else, we don't need or want your kind.

Posted by: Randy Pitchford at September 17, 2025 04:54 AM (szqEY)

21 I don't think that song is doing that. It's melancholy. A man looking back. His son becoming him. It's a sad song. It's a beautiful song but not a how too guide.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 04:52 AM (sAmhv)

I got the impression the kid turning out like him was meant to be pride.

Maybe not.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 17, 2025 04:54 AM (xz8OS)

22 The song always said to me: Life is short, make time for what's truly important.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:55 AM (BLOW1)

23 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 at September 17, 2025 04:56 AM (bl3vo)

24 The song always said to me: Life is short, make time for what's truly important.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025 04:55 AM (BLOW1)

Sounds like he plagiarized from that great American philosopher... what was his name? Ferris something or other. Starts with a B, maybe.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 17, 2025 04:57 AM (xz8OS)

25 Silk song is 2d sprite based game, borderlands is 3d pig of a game.

Most games suck donkey balls and fps shooter type games are so done and moribund at this point, that these bozos have got to come up with something new.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 17, 2025 05:09 AM (5u4YL)

26 Time to hit the road
Be good everyone

Posted by: Skip at September 17, 2025 05:14 AM (H+kel)

27 Tech news you can use:

Today is "International Hezbollah Pager” day.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 05:17 AM (CZW9O)

28 @27/Biden's Dog:

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring explodaphone!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 05:22 AM (O7YUW)

29 Today is the day the left is not going to work. Some kind of protest against something. Wonder if they will take it to the streets.

Posted by: Case at September 17, 2025 05:34 AM (BXeMA)

30 Pitchford is the reason PR departments exist and why most CEOs should stay away from public commentary.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 17, 2025 05:35 AM (NR6c1)

31 I keep telling you to follow DataRepublican on X:

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS AND THE CUBA REVOLUTIONARY PIPELINE

https://tinyurl.com/ymec5rv7

She needs to stay safe. So many do.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 05:38 AM (CZW9O)

32 Dearborn is confirmed as lost:

https://t.co/pvB8OwYwBm

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 05:40 AM (CZW9O)

33 Okay, looked up some play footage for Borderlands 4. The characters look like they were modeled in some kind of digital plastic. Not appealing.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 05:40 AM (O7YUW)

34 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at September 17, 2025 05:44 AM (XQo4F)

35 I'll restrain myself from launching into a seven comment stemwinder about how much I dislike that song, but let's just say the phrase "worse than Billy Joel" is involved.

I'm beginning to realize that it probably all stems from the fact that I very much don't like any pop music that tries to be Important. Save it for the opera and national anthems, dancing monkey.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 05:58 AM (06Hmj)

36 27 Tech news you can use:

Today is "International Hezbollah Pager” day.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 05:17 AM (CZW9O)

"Hey, Nassir! Check it out! New pager!"

"...Why does it say 'Gotoallah' instead of 'Motorola'?"

"Huh?"

*beep beep!*

*KOOOOODGE*

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 06:01 AM (06Hmj)

37 Morning, all. 48 cloudy degrees here at Stately Poppins Manor. It's supposed to be warmer and sunny later on; I hope so, as I could use some brightness.

Finished Dwight Chapin's The President's Man yesterday. An OK book, but not one I'll read again. WRT Watergate, his conclusion is that it very likely was John Dean's idea to break into the DNC headquarters; then, when the whole thing blew up, he desperately tried to cover his ass, in the process lying to Nixon and everyone around him.

Wish I had something interesting or entertaining to say, but I don't.

Back to work.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 17, 2025 06:02 AM (ufSfZ)

38 Evening and morning, all,

I remember "Cat's int he Cradle" from my college days.

The song always said to me: Life is short, make time for what's truly important.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025
*
Sounds like he plagiarized from that great American philosopher... what was his name? Ferris something or other. Starts with a B, maybe.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 17, 2025

***
Mr. Ferris plagizarized him, if anything. CitC came out in, what, 1974? And the FB movie was not until the '80s.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 17, 2025 06:06 AM (omVj0)

39 I'm not a big fan of twee semantic trickery in songs, either.

"When you coming home? Son, I don't know when."
"When you coming home, Son? I don't know when."

Oooooh, soyjack point, wow, he made the punctuation different between bridges, now it's different, ooooohhhhhhh..... gag.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 06:09 AM (06Hmj)

40 Man, I woke up cranky today.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 06:11 AM (06Hmj)

41 Anyway! 'Tis Woden's Day yet again. How are you late toilers and early risers? I'm having coffee, waking up, about to feed the furry thugs and then work out.

Plans for the Indiana trip continue apace. There are cool-looking diners and coffee shops all over Evansville. Turns out there are no branches of Chase Bank in Evansville at all -- plenty in the state, but none there. I'll have to drive to Owensboro in KY, thirty miles, to use an ATM. But! I planned to go there anyway . . . and it has interesting stuff itself, along with a historic riverfront district.

And the weather looks good for next week -- highs about 83, lows about 61. A dream after the low 90s here!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 17, 2025 06:12 AM (omVj0)

42 No, I let her sleep.

Posted by: Just the punchline at September 17, 2025 06:14 AM (XQo4F)

43 mornin yall. That song is about doing things while you can, before you can't anymore. Things like spending time with your kids and going to a TXMOME.

I took my dad fishing last week. He's 88. It's the first time we have been in many years. I hope we can do it again soon.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:15 AM (vFG9F)

44 @41/Wolfus: "How are you late toilers and early risers?"

Hoping today is better than yesterday. All kinds of stupid broke on the roads trying to get students home from school yesterday and I was vastly late by the end of the route as a result. (The students themselves were absolute gems about it, couldn't have been happier with them.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:16 AM (O7YUW)

45 broke out[/], I meant to write.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:17 AM (O7YUW)

46 It was and is a sad song about a man that devoted his life to his work and neglected his family.

And the son turned out just like him.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at September 17, 2025 06:17 AM (ZmEVT)

47 *sighs* The coffee is not kicking in like it should.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:17 AM (O7YUW)

48 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at September 17, 2025 06:18 AM (ppG5b)

49 I never got that song. Neglectful dad, but we're supposed to believe it all turned out fine anyway?
*
I don't think that song is doing that. It's melancholy. A man looking back. His son becoming him. It's a sad song. It's a beautiful song but not a how too guide.
Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025

***
Puddleglum, I've always thought so too. It's a tragedy, in a way.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 17, 2025 06:18 AM (omVj0)

50 Hoping today is better than yesterday. All kinds of stupid broke on the roads trying to get students home from school yesterday and I was vastly late by the end of the route as a result. (The students themselves were absolute gems about it, couldn't have been happier with them.)
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025

***
That's good to hear!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 17, 2025 06:20 AM (omVj0)

51 I heard a story from a bus driver in Scotland. He hit an icy patch in the road, and the bus did a 360 but stayed on the road. He pulled over, shaken, and ask the kids if they were ok. They asked him to do it again!

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at September 17, 2025 06:22 AM (sAmhv)

52 Basically everything my 7th grade music teacher said was Great Art that I have to love with all my heart or get an F is unctuous trash.

It's a cause and effect kind of thing, probably.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 06:23 AM (06Hmj)

53 Hey sock_rat_eez, how are the computers? I read about these fancy smancy new chips and wonder if I need one but I don't do games or AI so an old Xeon works just fine for cat videos.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:24 AM (vFG9F)

54

Good morning, good people, from the Fall version of the Adirondacks. Somewhat different this year, the hot days are lingering and the cool periods are warmer. We also need rain, or foliage colors will probably be muted considerably. I just got a hunch Winter might be unpleasant this time around, the Jet Stream patterns are different so far. May mean snowier than "normal".

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at September 17, 2025 06:25 AM (vFbHf)

55 Ever heard of the restaurant chain Planta?
Me neither. It's all vegan all the time. Founded in 2016, it has 18 locations in foo foo towns like Toronto, Brentwood (LA), Buckhead (Atlanta), and Bethesda, People's Republic of Maryland.
Just declared bankruptcy.
Will be closing eight locations.

Oh, well.
Anyway...

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 17, 2025 06:25 AM (XQo4F)

56 There's a Progressive Baptist ( ???? ) group called the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Freedom. I wonder if they would be willing to go to Dearborn and have a word with the Mayor.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 17, 2025 06:27 AM (PiwSw)

57 Just declared bankruptcy.
Will be closing eight locations.

Oh, well.
Anyway...
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at September 17, 2025 06:25 AM (XQo4F)

They couldn't bring home the bacon.

They could only get squashed.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 06:27 AM (06Hmj)

58 Please asparagus the food punz so early in the morning.

Posted by: Oh, no. It's starting at September 17, 2025 06:29 AM (XQo4F)

59 My dad was in the AF and was gone a lot, once for a whole year, so I get the song. I never felt neglected, but he has said he was sorry for not being at home more. It's not something I can hold against him, it's what he had to do.

When my boys were growing up though, I thought about the times he was absent, and tried to make sure that didn't happen with them. Now I'm on the other side, looking forward to when my boys can come home to visit.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:30 AM (vFG9F)

60 In other news:

The 'notetaker' laptop (a refurbished Lenovo T-480 with 32 gigs of memory and a 1 TB nvme drive) now has Linux Mint 22.2 installed in a dual boot configuration to Windows.

I followed the steps at:
https://youtu.be/L2JyQ1VJm84

- Turned off fast boot
- Decrypted anything encrypted with Bitlocker
- Completely disabled bitlocker
- Resized the windows partition to drop it down to 200 Gb leaving ~700 Gb of space to install Linux in

Installed Linux Mint 22.2 in Partition # 5 of /dev/nvme0n1 as ext4, selecting that I wanted to install it alongside the windows boot manager.

There was one point in the install where it asked me to create a password (or key) for Secure Boot. This is NOT a password for any of the user accounts or the root (administrator) account. It's a hardware secure boot encryption key. Write it down, you need it after rebooting post-install.

Upon reboot, the machine showed me a dialog (before the OS) titled "Perform MOK management"

You select: Enroll MOK
Then you type in the password/key you generated.

Then you reboot again, and grub (the boot menu) comes up with Linux as the default, and windows as the third option.

I tested both, both work!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:31 AM (O7YUW)

61 Good morning, people of the moronosphere’

Posted by: Eromero at September 17, 2025 06:33 AM (jgmnb)

62 Bitlocker has caused more misery than it has prevented. Thanks Microsquat.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:33 AM (vFG9F)

63 Please asparagus the food punz so early in the morning.

Posted by: Oh, no. It's starting at September 17, 2025 06:29 AM (XQo4F)
-
Yes. Lettuce live in peas.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 17, 2025 06:35 AM (CZW9O)

64 Man, I woke up cranky today.
Posted by: Warai-otoko

Why'd you wake her up?

Oh. Nevermind.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 17, 2025 06:36 AM (tfjlC)

65 (part 2) My wife took the laptop to a meeting last night and used it for taking notes. It worked fine and she said it had about six hours of battery life left in it after using it all meeting (2 to 3 hours I think?)

This thing has a smaller battery than the massive ones on the two Lenovo Thinkpad monsters I speced out for my eldest daughter, and it's looking like we can get about 9 hours of use out of it between charges, which is perfectly acceptable for what we intend to use this thing for.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:38 AM (O7YUW)

66 working like a champ!
Mrs Eez is very pleased with the speed!

other one will be going into service as the home music system

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at September 17, 2025 06:39 AM (ppG5b)

67 I heard a story from a bus driver in Scotland. He hit an icy patch in the road, and the bus did a 360 but stayed on the road. He pulled over, shaken, and ask the kids if they were ok. They asked him to do it again!
Posted by: Puddleglum

I can see that. LOL.

Bus driver: Is everyone ok?

Kids: Do it again! Do it again!

I would have been one of those kids.

Posted by: rickb223 at September 17, 2025 06:40 AM (tfjlC)

68 I tested both, both work!
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:31 AM (O7YUW)

I used to have almost had exact same setup, but i flattened it and went to only Ubuntu eventually. The only reason i even entertained Linux was because the thing ran like a dog with Windows no matter what i tried. Dual boot was a nice safety net psychologically, but i don't think i ever booted windows once on the thing.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at September 17, 2025 06:41 AM (06Hmj)

69 "After years of delays, construction is finally underway on a $5 billion Rivian facility in northeast Georgia."

They say the first car will come off the line in 2028. If the timeline is anything like it has been to get this plant built, it will be well after 2030.

2030. Gah. I will be so old.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:43 AM (vFG9F)

70 "Mrs Eez is very pleased with the speed!"

Excellent. I'm happy to hear it!

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:44 AM (vFG9F)

71 I remember "Cat's int he Cradle" from my college days.

The song always said to me: Life is short, make time for what's truly important.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 17, 2025

From Wiki:

Chapin also said the song was about his own relationship with his son, Josh, admitting, "Frankly, this song scares me to death."

Posted by: rickb223 at September 17, 2025 06:45 AM (tfjlC)

72
*runs in waving arms excitedly*

It's National Crash the Economy Day! Grievance-Studies professors, HR bimbos and marketing fags aren't going to work or buy anything today! It'll be a Second Great Depression!

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 06:50 AM (tgvbd)

73 Imagine whirled peas.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at September 17, 2025 06:51 AM (ZmEVT)

74 72
*runs in waving arms excitedly*

It's National Crash the Economy Day! Grievance-Studies professors, HR bimbos and marketing fags aren't going to work or buy anything today! It'll be a Second Great Depression!
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 06:50 AM (tgvbd)

*kicks dirt*.

But how will I learn about how to dismantle Opressive Heteronormative Patriarchial BIPOC-erasing Praxis Structures?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 17, 2025 06:53 AM (PiwSw)

75 Borderlands 4 uses Unreal Engine 5, I believe.
Which explains the performance issues.
UE games are notorious for low frame rates, even on higher-end hardware. It’s a great engine for developers as it makes their jobs easier, but not for the customer trying to hit 60fps or more.

I think the CEO of Bethesda had the same kind of attitude when Starfield came out and people were struggling to get decent frame rates on anything lower than a 4080.

"It's running great. It is a next gen PC game, we really do push the technology, so you may need to upgrade your PC for this game, but it's got a lot of great stuff going on in it and the fans are responding awesome."

At least Todd Howard was a little more diplomatic in his response. But It’s almost like Nvidia paid him to say that.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at September 17, 2025 06:53 AM (6ydKt)

76 Crash the economy. Pphhh. Another leftist wet dream.

Posted by: Ben Had at September 17, 2025 06:53 AM (mFSH6)

77 Morning, Horde...How goes it?

Only three days (Wed, Th, Fri) until I become an unemployed bum for the weekend.

Sadly, I'll still have plenty of work to do as I have to grade student work.

Then I start my new job on Monday.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 17, 2025 06:54 AM (IBQGV)

78 Speaking of Chapin, there's a potboiler novel from 1978 called Aria by Brown Meggs, a former Capitol Records honcho. It's an Airport-type trashy read about a record producer named Hurston "Harry" Chapin who is trying to record Verdi's Otello. A recurrent joke through the book is that whenever he is forced to talk with pop stars on his company's label, they all think he is 'the' Harry Chapin.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 17, 2025 06:55 AM (ufSfZ)

79 Damn it

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at September 17, 2025 06:56 AM (ufSfZ)

80 In local news, Santana Vernodo Outlaw has been arrested again for a probation violation.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:56 AM (vFG9F)

81 In local news, Santana Vernodo Outlaw has been arrested again for a probation violation.
Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 06:56 AM (vFG9F)
----
The name kind of says it all, really.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 17, 2025 06:59 AM (IBQGV)

82 Morning all. Thx Pixy
Good luck in the new job "Perfesser"

Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 17, 2025 07:01 AM (lmTGO)

83 "The name kind of says it all, really.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel"

The poor guy had his whole life set at birth.

Posted by: fd at September 17, 2025 07:01 AM (vFG9F)

84 Anyway! 'Tis Woden's Day yet again.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 17, 2025 06:12 AM (omVj0)

And it's the third Wednesday of the month, too!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 17, 2025 07:02 AM (uQesX)

85 I'm beginning to realize that it probably all stems from the fact that I very much don't like any pop music that tries to be Important. Save it for the opera and national anthems, dancing monkey.
=====

Agreed.

Posted by: mustbequantum at September 17, 2025 07:02 AM (GjnYY)

86 Initially, the railways enjoyed breakneck expansion, but since the mid-twentieth century, railway development in most countries has hit the buffers, and been overtaken by growth in road and air travel.

I wouldn’t mind riding a train.
There’s a problem, though.

The worst thing a train rider had to face in the 19th century was a wreck, which still happens, or getting robbed, politely, by an outlaw.

Now if you get on a train in some places you run the risk of being set on fire if you fall asleep or stabbed in the neck while checking your Facebook by some random crazy in the next seat over.

And they still can’t figure out why people would rather drive.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at September 17, 2025 07:04 AM (6ydKt)

87 You can dismantle our Opressive Heteronormative Patriarchial BIPOC-erasing Praxis Structures when you pry them from our cold dead fingers!

Posted by: The Patriarchy at September 17, 2025 07:10 AM (XQo4F)

88 Hopefully, Pitchford's tone deaf response to his crappy-running game will be the final nail in the coffin for him and his crappy company.

Posted by: Biergood at September 17, 2025 07:14 AM (PwgSL)

89 Trump and Melania meeting the King and Queen, as well as William and Kate. Trump looks like he's in his element. This will piss the left off

Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 17, 2025 07:20 AM (lmTGO)

90 Good luck in the new job "Perfesser"
Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 17, 2025 07:01 AM (lmTGO)
---
Thank you!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 17, 2025 07:22 AM (7fElN)

91 If you're in a place full of Arabs or Leftists, it's time to go.

I've been saying that for a long time, of course. But the last few years, and particularly in the last week, things have started picking up speed. Not much longer now, before events may overtake you.

Go now. We've only got a few more years before they are back in power and start hunting us, or still out of power and go full al-Qaeda. Either way, you want to be far away from their power centers.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 17, 2025 07:22 AM (BI5O2)

92
or getting robbed, politely, by an outlaw

A polite robbery

https://youtu.be/woO1Cs6c-oo

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 07:23 AM (tgvbd)

93 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 17, 2025 07:23 AM (u82oZ)

94 "Perfessor" Squirrel

Have a good time, and may the income rise to heal a hurt.

Do you have to grade the professors soon, rather than students?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 17, 2025 07:25 AM (u82oZ)

95 Then you reboot again, and grub (the boot menu) comes up with Linux as the default, and windows as the third option.

I tested both, both work!
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 17, 2025 06:31 AM

The problem I had with dual boot is that whichever OS was not usually booted had to do hours of updates whenever I wanted to use it. It was a huge pain. I now use virtualization for that.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at September 17, 2025 07:25 AM (VmDLh)

96 Have a good time, and may the income rise to heal a hurt.

Do you have to grade the professors soon, rather than students?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 17, 2025 07:25 AM (u82oZ)
---
I just grade the students. Who get to evaluate me in a few weeks at mid-semester.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 17, 2025 07:27 AM (7fElN)

97
Hopefully, Pitchford's tone deaf response to his crappy-running game will be the final nail in the coffin for him and his crappy company.
Posted by: Biergood at September 17, 2025 07:14 AM (PwgSL)

I'm getting the feeling that among corporations end-customers are increasingly taking the back seat, if not the trunk, to revenue generation.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 07:27 AM (tgvbd)

98 Santana Vernodo Outlaw has been arrested again for a probation violation.
Posted by: fd

New Scientist used to post a lot of Nominative determinism names.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 17, 2025 07:28 AM (u82oZ)

99 *grub the boot menu*

Is that what you kids are calling it now?

Posted by: Grandpa Simpson at September 17, 2025 07:28 AM (XQo4F)

100 I upgraded to iPadOS 26 on my 11” iPad Air yesterday.

1. The new “Glass” design is interesting but it’s kinda taking me back to the early days of iOS with the glossy, 3D-ish look as opposed to everything being flat for decades.

2. This 11” screen makes the resizable windows almost useless as you can get three or four windows resized how you want them on the screen but at that point you can barely read anything in the window. If I had a 13” iPad it might be a lot more useful.

3. If you’re in the windowed mode, when you pull down from the top you’ll no longer get the Message Center but instead you get the File menu, like on MacOS, “File Edit Format View” etc. which is interesting but I’m not sure what to do with it yet.

4. The Files app is a lot more useful now.

5. Lots of new wallpapers included. And new ways to arrange apps and the Home Screen is cooler due to more customization there.

I like it so far, but it’s early days.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at September 17, 2025 07:28 AM (6ydKt)

101 And they still can’t figure out why people would rather drive.

"Trains are the Way of the Future!" according to some folks. I had fun taking the Auto Train and my wife and I used to take the train to NC for our family gatherings. Beyond that? meh.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 17, 2025 07:32 AM (NR6c1)

102 A polite robbery

https://youtu.be/woO1Cs6c-oo
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 07:23 AM (tgvbd)

A less polite robbery. Trying to ride through the countryside with lupins was quite the danger.

https://youtu.be/qLkhx0eqK5w

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 17, 2025 07:32 AM (ExV1e)

103 I remember when new scientist had a sense of humor!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at September 17, 2025 07:32 AM (ppG5b)

104 I'm getting the feeling that among corporations end-customers are increasingly taking the back seat, if not the trunk, to revenue generation.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 07:27 AM (tgvbd)

Fortunately for them, that has never backfired in all the history of business.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 17, 2025 07:33 AM (ExV1e)

105 A polite robbery

https://youtu.be/woO1Cs6c-oo
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 07:23 AM (tgvbd)

I miss the criminals who put so much professionalism into their robbing and thieving.

Such simpler times.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at September 17, 2025 07:34 AM (6ydKt)

106
And they still can’t figure out why people would rather drive.

Due to weather, my father had to take the train from Chicago to Philadelphia. He said he would rather take a plane through severe turbulence and ice with an engine on fire rather than take a train again.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 17, 2025 07:34 AM (tgvbd)

107 I heard a story from a bus driver in Scotland. He hit an icy patch in the road, and the bus did a 360 but stayed on the road. He pulled over, shaken, and ask the kids if they were ok. They asked him to do it again!

--

That's cute! I used to live in a very rural part of SW Ohio and had to ride a bus to school. One very snowy and icy day (back when kids actually went to school with bad weather conditions), the bus driver hit the brakes to stop from hitting a car in front of us, but we were rapidly sliding right for it. I can still hear her yelling in her southern accent, "I cain't stop...I cain't stop!" We plowed into the car in front, but were ok. All of us were excited because it meant waiting at least an hour for another bus to come get us. Less time in school!

Posted by: Lady in Black at September 17, 2025 07:34 AM (qBdHI)

108 "Because that's where the money is."

Posted by: Willie Sutton at September 17, 2025 07:35 AM (XQo4F)

109 He then told customers who were complaining about Borderlands 4's miserable performance compared to, say, Borderlands 3, "code your own engine and show us how it's done".

The background is that they're using Epic's Unreal Engine 5, which is well known to run like shit on everything. Except for Epic's own Fortnite, for some odd reason.

Posted by: Ian S. at September 17, 2025 07:36 AM (ciXcx)

110
JJS

Posted by: r hennigantx at September 17, 2025 07:37 AM (gbOdA)

111 JJ is nood.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 17, 2025 07:37 AM (ExV1e)

112 sock_rat_eez

New Scientist was acquired by the Daily Mail in 2021. But they used to be the gonzo journalism of science, with a new Theory of Everything every month.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 17, 2025 07:37 AM (u82oZ)

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