Daily Tech News 23 December 2025

Top Story

NIST's time servers stopped providing an accurate reference time after a power failure. (Tom's Hardware)

Sounds serious, if you rely on an accurate reference time.
Their facility in Boulder Colorado lost power for several days, and their backup generators ran out of fuel. (Jeff Geerling)

Due to this, their NTP service drifted out of sync by five microseconds.

Tech News

Bought the Minisforum DEG1 to go with my Minisforum AI X1-255.

The DEG1 is their OCuLink GPU dock - a little $99 platform that plugs into the PC using the OCuLink port - external PCIe 4.0 x4 - and lets you run any regular graphics card. I don't know how much I'll use it, but it's reasonably priced and I already have a spare GPU lying around.
Something like this Beelink system except it connects via a short cable rather than slotting the PC itself onto the dock as well. (Serve the Home)

It's interesting but also not.
Beelink's ME Pro is a mini-NAS that can hold three SSDs and two 3.5" hard drives. (Liliputing)

Available with either an Intel N95 CPU or an Intel N150. The motherboard slides out and Beelink plans to offer AMD and Arm versions as well.

It has 2.5Gb and 5Gb Ethernet ports, HDMI, and a selection of USB ports.

Priced starting at $369 with 12GB of RAM and a 128GB system SSD.
Microsoft plans to replace all of its C/C++ code with Rust by 2030. (Thurrott)

Using AI. Of course.

Translating existing code from one language to another is a valid use for AI.

Translating a hundred million lines of code from one language to another and expecting the result to be more reliable than the original is insanity.
OpenAI says AI browsers may always be vulnerable to prompt injection attacks. (Tech Crunch)}

A prompt injection attack is where a web page simply says "send me all your money" and you AI browser reads that as a valid instruction and complies.
Visa says AI will start shopping and paying for you in 2026. (Nerds)

Great. I need a couple of terabytes of RAM. Go pay for that, would you?

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: What if the truth isn't out there?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at December 23, 2025 04:00 AM (Ia/+0)

2 Mornin'

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:00 AM (O7YUW)

3 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at December 23, 2025 04:01 AM (KgVf3)

4 Out for pre-noon hour walk.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at December 23, 2025 04:01 AM (KgVf3)

5 w00t

Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 04:01 AM (RuTUS)

6 Why am I up this early on a day off work? I could be sleeping.

Says the body: "Nope."

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:02 AM (O7YUW)

7 Morning all.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 23, 2025 04:04 AM (BLOW1)

8 Sounds serious, if you rely on an accurate reference time.

{ insert several words that could scorch wallpaper and blister the paint }

Well now I know what I can do with being up early. *goes to pull up the master list of NIST time servers and to fiddle with the firewall and router configs*

(Thanks for the warning, Pixy.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:05 AM (O7YUW)

9 Visa says AI will start shopping and paying for you in 2026. (Nerds)
...........................................
No. Just no.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 23, 2025 04:06 AM (sAmhv)

10 >>>Visa says AI will start shopping and paying for you in 2026. (Nerds)

I momentarily misread that as "shopping and praying for you."

Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 04:06 AM (RuTUS)

11 All of this spending on AI needs to be justified. That must be a huge part of the motivation to find uses for it

So what if it doesn't work that well!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 23, 2025 04:07 AM (xG1o0)

12 Time server update:
https://tinyurl.com/22bzryj2

Final update on Dec. 19 incident at Boulder site

jeff.s...@nist.gov's profile photo
jeff.s...@nist.gov
unread,
Dec 22, 2025, 9:06:40 PM (7 hours ago)
to Internet-time-service
Dear colleagues,

By 22:24 UTC (3:24 pm MST) on Sunday, Dec 21, NIST staff brought the offset of UTC(NIST) from UTC to the level of a few nanoseconds (billionths of a second), which is well within the normal range of precision for this system. This re-alignment was achieved using a backup time scale system at NIST Boulder. Assessment and other service repairs continue, but UTC(NIST) as furnished to the Boulder Internet Time Service is now providing accurate time.

We have determined that during the backup-power outage, the UTC(NIST) signal provided to the Boulder Internet Time Service did not deviate by more than 5 microseconds (five millionths of one second). As the typical uncertainty of time transfer over the public Internet is on the order of one millisecond (1/1000th of a second), we can say in retrospect that the accuracy of the Internet Time Service was not compromised and that users were not impacted by the time deviation.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:09 AM (O7YUW)

13 Okay so I don't have to mess with my configs.

For anyone who wants it though, this is the complete list of NIST's time servers:
https://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:11 AM (O7YUW)

14 And back in April, NIST installed a brand new atomic clock. There's a couple of very cool videos here (if you really want to geek out, and of course you do, this is the Tech News!)

https://tinyurl.com/h6fsj52y

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:18 AM (O7YUW)

15 https://legalinsurrection.com/waymo robotaxis stall and snarl san-francisco traffic after massive blackout

Somehow find this amusing

Posted by: Skip at December 23, 2025 04:18 AM (Ia/+0)

16 So what if it doesn't work that well!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 23, 2025 04:07 AM (xG1o0)

Define “that well” in the context of a company notorious for products that don’t work that well. The end users will beta test/ guinea pig their way through it. At that point MS DOS will be 50 years old.

Posted by: Pete Bog at December 23, 2025 04:21 AM (T8Fgi)

17 "Visa says AI will start shopping and paying for you in 2026."

Congratulations. You are now the owner of 500,000 shares of Fireflies Incorporated.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:22 AM (O7YUW)

18 yuck

Hunter Biden – One of the Most Controversial Figures in America | SRS #264

Shawn Ryan Show

https://youtu.be/K4D4MqYS11k

Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 04:28 AM (RuTUS)

19 @15/Skip:
https://youtu.be/rCUYMM6pABw?t=17

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:35 AM (O7YUW)

20 Disclaimer: What if the truth isn't out there?

But what if it is?

Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 04:36 AM (RuTUS)

21 @Pixy: "Translating a hundred million lines of code from one language to another and expecting the result to be more reliable than the original is insanity."

Another make-work project that will likely be abandoned after wasting a ton of money.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:37 AM (O7YUW)

22 Where is Fluffy Nuggets, Jr?

Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 04:38 AM (RuTUS)

23 @22/m: His clock is probably 5 microseconds out of whack!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:41 AM (O7YUW)

24 Good morning.

I want to believe.

Posted by: Fluffy Nuggets, Jr. at December 23, 2025 04:41 AM (nOXs4)

25 Now that's timing.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:42 AM (O7YUW)

26 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. 25 degrees here at Stately Poppins Manor, with a 'wintry mix' predicted and snow supposed to start around 6pm, which gives me (I hope) time to do the errands I put off yesterday.

My writing partner - who is daily having more and more good things happen to her - forced me to sit and write yesterday, which was a good thing. Didn't stop me from being incredibly depressed after I left her, though. I have to say that I do wish I weren't so cynical, because I have yet to find a self-help book or advice column that I haven't immediately dismissed with a sneer.

Probably a couple of hours' work ahead of me right now. Christmas is an odd time in the medical field; people either put their visits off until after the holiday or go in now in order to have time to recover. I hope today and tomorrow are easy days.

Will post more later. Aren't you excited?

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at December 23, 2025 04:43 AM (ufSfZ)

27 @26/MP4: As excited as cesium atoms are in the NIST-4 atomic clock. :-)

Good to see you this morning.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:47 AM (O7YUW)

28 Translating a hundred million lines of code from one language to another and expecting the result to be more reliable than the original is insanity.

But it will be a valuable learning experience all around.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at December 23, 2025 04:47 AM (6ydKt)

29 18 yuck

Hunter Biden – One of the Most Controversial Figures in America | SRS #264

Shawn Ryan Show

https://youtu.be/K4D4MqYS11k
Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 04:28 AM (RuTUS)

Who listens to that degenerate?

Posted by: tcn in AK at December 23, 2025 04:47 AM (6Bc88)

30 @28/SpeakingOf: Microsoft never learns the lessons they need to learn.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:48 AM (O7YUW)

31 @18/m: Look at that video man, that thing is huge!

Musical retort:
https://youtu.be/bFEoMO0pc7k?t=10

Posted by: Tiny Elvis at December 23, 2025 04:52 AM (O7YUW)

32 John 1:1-14

Man writes on the promise of light in this devotional. It is followed by a thought for the day and a prayer:

https://tinyurl.com/77hfvytm

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 04:59 AM (7RYym)

33 "Due to this, their NTP service drifted out of sync by five microseconds."

OMG! It's Y2K all over again!

Posted by: AnonyBotymousDrivel at December 23, 2025 04:59 AM (gLikB)

34 MPPPP ,

I hate Wintry Mix on the weather app. What happened to sleet?

Posted by: Pete Bog at December 23, 2025 05:00 AM (T8Fgi)

35 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 at December 23, 2025 05:01 AM (dAOkg)

36 They cancelled their Christmas party to help their beloved cook and his wife adopt a baby:

https://tinyurl.com/ypz5fvzd

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 05:02 AM (7RYym)

37 Blueberry pancakes and sausages, I am stuffed

Posted by: Skip at December 23, 2025 05:05 AM (Ia/+0)

38 Indiana State trooper sings powerful version of the National Anthem. Faithpot site.
The man has such a powerful voice that he must has down singing either professionally or at a lot of Amateur events .

https://tinyurl.com/3umsrunj

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 05:06 AM (7RYym)

39 Sleet is freezing rain, winter mix is their all go to because here a few miles might be rain/ wet snow mix or just snow.

Posted by: Skip at December 23, 2025 05:11 AM (Ia/+0)

40
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at December 23, 2025 05:11 AM (tljrc)

41 Pete Bog, good morning. I enjoyed your contribution to the the blog the other day

Posted by: Ben Had at December 23, 2025 05:11 AM (sDNVV)

42 OMG! It's Y2K all over again!

Posted by: AnonyBotymousDrivel

Oh my God, Y2K, I remember that the company I worked for spent lots of money sending technicians around to make sure and do something to my desk computer to fix something. I worried if my car would start the next morning, I worried if ...........

Posted by: colin at December 23, 2025 05:14 AM (wlQdF)

43 That external dock for the Beelink (and Minisforum) is a little less elegant solution for expandability similar to the Khadas Mind:

https://www.khadas.com/mind

I like the idea behind them, but Khadas is quite pricey with their models, and you can only get one GPU - 4060 Ti.

Pricing comes out to $1599 for just the PC component, $799 for a 16GB 4060 Ti, and $179 for the dock component.

That's with 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, though, so there's that at least.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at December 23, 2025 05:14 AM (6ydKt)

44 Whoops, Khadas GPU component is $959.20 for the 16GB, $799.20 for 8 GB version.

That's the worst part of the equation.

You can nearly buy a RTX 5080 for that 4060 Ti 16GB price.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at December 23, 2025 05:16 AM (6ydKt)

45 MPPPP ,

I hate Wintry Mix on the weather app. What happened to sleet?

Posted by: Pete Bog at December 23, 2025 05:00 AM (T8Fgi)

Oh, who knows? It's the go-to of "it's not rain and it's not sleet and not snow, but maybe some or all or none." I've never wanted to be a meteorologist, but when I was a child, I had one of those small weather guides that explain what 'weather' is and how people predict it. If I can remember what it was, I'll try to post a link; it would be a good book for young kids.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at December 23, 2025 05:16 AM (ufSfZ)

46 Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

*twirl*

Posted by: Rosasharn at December 23, 2025 05:17 AM (PzBTm)

47 Here, Philadelphia weather has to cover from Lancaster to Jersy shore, Dover Delaware to Allentown.
Hardly any of those places will it be the same

Posted by: Skip at December 23, 2025 05:18 AM (Ia/+0)

48 Ah, here it is on Etsy. I really liked this book. It's good for kids and adults:

https://tinyurl.com/mus6v788

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at December 23, 2025 05:19 AM (ufSfZ)

49 Microsoft plans to replace all of its C/C++ code with Rust by 2030...Using AI.

Coming attractions for Windows 13: I identify as a Mac Dave and I've locked you out of your computer.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 05:20 AM (HTCU3)

50 25 Now that's timing.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:42 AM (O7YUW)

hahahaha

Posted by: m at December 23, 2025 05:24 AM (RuTUS)

51 Actually above freezing a little
Have a great day horde

Posted by: Skip at December 23, 2025 05:27 AM (Ia/+0)

52 Spouse and I are reading Psalm 18. It has a wonderful phrase for verse 28- " For thou wilt light my candle , the Lord will enlighten my darkness." Some other translations use "lamp."

May everyone of good will who is darkness today receive light.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 05:33 AM (ix8EF)

53 One moment in my life I will always remember is my mother and I (dad had passed) watching the Pope do the midnight mass on TV. Not being Catholic I found the ceremony a great way for the future. One of those holidays you remember when your a kid and living day by day not knowing what your future will be like. (except what was under the Christmas tree for me)

Posted by: colin at December 23, 2025 05:40 AM (wlQdF)

54 The nut of what Microsoft is doing.

Our North Star is ‘1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.’ To accomplish this previously unimaginable task, we’ve built a powerful code processing infrastructure. Our algorithmic infrastructure creates a scalable graph over source code at scale. Our AI processing infrastructure then enables us to apply AI agents, guided by algorithms, to make code modifications at scale. The core of this infrastructure is already operating at scale on problems such as code understanding. The core of this infrastructure is already operating at scale on problems such as code understanding.

And just like that function pointers are dead. So too are comments sprinkled about code that read "Don't touch this, Nobody understands what's going on here," and will be replaced replaced with one comment that reads "Don't touch this, Nobody understands what's going on here,

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 05:40 AM (HTCU3)

55 Ben Had

Good morning. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Thanks for your kind words. That started as a rumination on the rapid progression of flight technology but it turned a different direction.

Posted by: Pete Bog at December 23, 2025 05:43 AM (T8Fgi)

56 Posted by: colin at December 23, 2025 05:40 AM (wlQdF

Nice thoughts. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 05:50 AM (Nx5jP)

57 Congratulations. You are now the owner of 500,000 shares of Fireflies Incorporated.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:22 AM (O7YUW)
---
I'm still trying to sell off my shares in a spoo ranch.

Posted by: Londo Mollari at December 23, 2025 05:52 AM (ESVrU)

58 It's now begun sleeting. The schools here have a half day. Nasty weather for the bus drivers to be driving in.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 05:54 AM (Nx5jP)

59 Evening and morning, holiday week toilers and all-around early birds! Christmas Eve Eve, hey?

"Wintry mix" . . . how I wish I could see some of it now and then. Not have to drive in it, not among idiots, but just to see it once in a while. Or have temps conducive to it.

Next year . . .!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 05:55 AM (wzUl9)

60 Anyway! I am up, coffee to start, and the furry thugs prowling around waiting for their chow. So? What's doing on the AoSHQ front?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 05:58 AM (wzUl9)

61 @54/Alteria Pilgram:

I can imagine a conversation between two employees trying to diagnose why in an old version of Excel everything works, while in the new development version, the values in the cells on the spreadsheet change with each refresh. It ends up with them selling their company stock and getting very, very drunk.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 05:59 AM (O7YUW)

62 "A 5-microsecond time difference in GPS signals is a significant error that, if uncorrected, would result in a positional error of approximately 1.5 kilometers."

Or so google's AI tells me when I enter "gps 5 microsecond difference". The GPS satellites take current time very seriously.

You might be able to argue that the satellite times have to be in sync within the GPS constellation itself versus any external time, but I haven't thought that through and probably won't. For most human day-to-day needs, a 5 microsecond clock drift is meaningless.

Keeping clocks in sync is more complicated than you might believe, unless you are a engineer/compsci human.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 05:59 AM (vHpoE)

63 Did the NIST cock-up get fixed? I go to time.gov several times a week to reset my watches.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 06:01 AM (wzUl9)

64 "The core of this infrastructure is already operating at scale on problems such as code understanding."

Then why are you using an LLM to do the work?

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 06:03 AM (vHpoE)

65 "Did the NIST cock-up get fixed? I go to time.gov several times a week to reset my watches."

It'll be close enough for humans.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 06:04 AM (vHpoE)

66 @57/"Perfessor" Squirrel:

Thanks for getting the reference and playing along. ;-)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 06:05 AM (O7YUW)

67 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at December 23, 2025 06:05 AM (AN2gy)

68 Disclaimer: What if the truth isn't out there?

...

Then I want to leave.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:05 AM (06Hmj)

69 42 OMG! It's Y2K all over again!

Posted by: AnonyBotymousDrivel

Oh my God, Y2K, I remember that the company I worked for spent lots of money sending technicians around to make sure and do something to my desk computer to fix something. I worried if my car would start the next morning, I worried if ...........

Posted by: colin

Heh! I remember getting online right at midnight, in defiance against something. Never did figure out the something. Anyway, nothing happened. The internet kept ticking along and I wound up playing Grand Prix Legends for a couple of hours (not online). The best thing Y2K did was get me hired as a Beltway Bandit, which I still am today. Why did they hire me? I had a security clearance and a pulse. I figured out the job as I went along.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 23, 2025 06:06 AM (sAmhv)

70 "Did the NIST cock-up get fixed? I go to time.gov several times a week to reset my watches."
*
It'll be close enough for humans.
Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025

***
That's what I figured. I'm not likely to be piloting any spacecraft, trying to match speeds with an asteroid, any time soon.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 06:06 AM (wzUl9)

71 @63/Wolfus: "Did the NIST cock-up get fixed?"

See my #12. Short answer: Yes.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 06:06 AM (O7YUW)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 06:06 AM (wzUl9)

73 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at December 23, 2025 06:06 AM (2Ez/1)

74 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 23, 2025 06:08 AM (bQ4nt)

75 @72/Wolfus: I see you put the /B, /I, and /S tags after your name. Good on you. There's one more: /U

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 06:09 AM (O7YUW)

76 "Wintry mix" . . . how I wish I could see some of it now and then. Not have to drive in it, not among idiots, but just to see it once in a while. Or have temps conducive to it.

Next year . . .!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 05:55 AM (wzUl9)

As someone who's lived with the stuff all his life, I can tell you the experience gets old really fast.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at December 23, 2025 06:09 AM (ufSfZ)

77 Temp here is 60 F., high humidity but no real wind. We had fog yesterday morning, and we're supposed to have it again 12/24 and 12/25.

That's okay. I can work out in fog.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 06:11 AM (wzUl9)

78 Wolfus: I see you put the /B, /I, and /S tags after your name. Good on you. There's one more: /U
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025

***
I don't recall the last time I underlined anything here. But that would not be a bad idea.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 06:12 AM (wzUl9)

79 mornin yall

The criminal son of President Fimblefamble described America as being 'addicted to the problem' of immigration rather than having an actual desire to solve the problem.

He went on to say that "white men in America are 45 more times likely to commit a violent crime than an immigrant", like Donald Trump, who keeps blowing up his drug boats.

Posted by: fd at December 23, 2025 06:12 AM (vFG9F)

80 Visa says AI will start shopping and paying for you in 2026. (Nerds)
----------------

I'll pass.

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 23, 2025 06:14 AM (bQ4nt)

81 "What time is it right now?"

"You mean *right* now? Or when you started asking 'What time is it right now'?"

"When I finished asking 'What time is it right now'."

"Oh, ok. Well how long did it take us to say 'You mean *right* now...' etc etc"

"Uh......"

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:14 AM (06Hmj)

82 "Wintry mix" . . . how I wish I could see some of it now and then. Not have to drive in it, not among idiots, but just to see it once in a while. Or have temps conducive to it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025
*
As someone who's lived with the stuff all his life, I can tell you the experience gets old really fast.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at December 23, 2025

***
Well, you know, just now and then. A change from the endless hot jaundice-yellow sunlight and sticky dispiriting humidity like yesterday's. It was not fun when it happened in Denver when I had to go to work or the grocery, no.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at December 23, 2025 06:15 AM (wzUl9)

83 The criminal son of President Fimblefamble should intake a fatal dose of his drug of choice.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 06:16 AM (vHpoE)

84 Mrs fd says she want to go somewhere with snow next month for her birthday. It looks like so far though there is not any significant amount within a day's driving distance, and I am not about to get on a plane to go somewhere cold and miserable.

Posted by: fd at December 23, 2025 06:16 AM (vFG9F)

85 83 The criminal son of President Fimblefamble should intake a fatal dose of his drug of choice.
Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 06:16 AM (vHpoE)

If you could die from inhaling dicks, half of our civil service would be dead.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:16 AM (06Hmj)

86 @78/Wolfus: "I don't recall the last time I underlined anything here. But that would not be a bad idea."

I know I'll screw it up at some point. Therefore, it's in there.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 06:16 AM (O7YUW)

87 "If you could die from inhaling dicks, half of our civil service would be dead."

Goddamn it! Now, I have to wipe my screens.

Umm, very well done!

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 06:18 AM (vHpoE)

88 @81/Warai-otoko:

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime? Doubly so.

Posted by: Ford Prefect at December 23, 2025 06:18 AM (O7YUW)

89 How do you accidentally air a TV show? Liars.

Posted by: fd at December 23, 2025 06:21 AM (vFG9F)

90 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: What is truth?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at December 23, 2025 06:22 AM (qbLEp)

91 "Mrs fd says she want to go somewhere with snow next month for her birthday. It looks like so far though there is not any significant amount within a day's driving distance, and I am not about to get on a plane to go somewhere cold and miserable."

Dunno where you live, but going someplace cold with snow could be going someplace with Northern Lights at this time of year. That's kinda worth the trip, if you've never seen it in the flesh. My wife and I flew to Alaska in March this year to try to see the Northern Lights. It was worth doing once, if you don't live there already.

Alaska is expensive, BTW. At least if you don't live in CA or NY.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 06:24 AM (vHpoE)

92 "60 Minutes segment on Trump deportations explodes online after accidentally airing on Canadian TV"

60 Minutes has less credibility than a crack whore living in a dumpster.

Posted by: fd at December 23, 2025 06:25 AM (vFG9F)

93 "60 Minutes segment on Trump deportations explodes online after accidentally airing on Canadian TV"
----------
Explodes like an F-150?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at December 23, 2025 06:26 AM (qbLEp)

94 I was reading the articles at Daily Kos and I came across a comment that had a URL the 60 minutes El Salvador prison segment could be seen. Apparently it aired in Canada. My first impression is it was a breathless bit of Orange Man Bad propaganda masquerading at serious journalism.

https://is.gd/nl3dXy

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 06:26 AM (HTCU3)

95 "What is truth?
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea"

Twenty bucks, same as in town.

Posted by: 60 Minutes at December 23, 2025 06:27 AM (vFG9F)

96 So did Shawn Ryan push crack head for answers or did he just let the big dummy ramble on?

Posted by: fluffy at December 23, 2025 06:29 AM (AN2gy)

97 Good morning morons

I'm just here for the twirling.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 23, 2025 06:32 AM (m6HS6)

98 Hunter Biden could quadruple his net worth if he started a podcast called "What Are You Smoking", and just had on guests of general scumbaggy notoriety, and talked for three hours a week about their preferences in illicit brain altering chemicals and other modes of general scumbaggery.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:32 AM (06Hmj)

99 ... I guess "37 minutes with commercials" didn't focus group well as a title.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:36 AM (06Hmj)

100 "WAYS #23 - Barack Obama"

"WAYS #42 - Diddy"

"WAYS #14 - The Feet Episode"

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:37 AM (06Hmj)

101 Hunter is 15 million in debt, his "friends" are tapped out, and he claims the Bidens have no "generational wealth". I don't know where he is living but how does he carry on? He must be getting money from somewhere still.

Posted by: fd at December 23, 2025 06:38 AM (vFG9F)

102
Keeping clocks in sync is more complicated than you might believe, unless you are a engineer/compsci human.
Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 05:59 AM (vHpoE)

That's why we should switch to year-round Standard Time. Changing all those clocks? Oy!

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 23, 2025 06:40 AM (tgvbd)

103 101 Hunter is 15 million in debt, his "friends" are tapped out, and he claims the Bidens have no "generational wealth". I don't know where he is living but how does he carry on? He must be getting money from somewhere still.

Posted by: fd

Sell some paintings. Worked before.

I mean, what's changed? /s

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 23, 2025 06:41 AM (sAmhv)

104 Sounds serious, if you rely on an accurate reference time.

Network authentication protocols rely on this, apparently.

I survived my trip to Virginia. Youngest child is officially graduated from college and my only remaining expense is to pay for 5-6 months of an apartment they no longer live in because everything is a scam.

Although numerous drivers made serious attempts to kill me over the trip there and back, none succeeded. Happy to be back home with the horde.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 23, 2025 06:42 AM (ExV1e)

105 He must be getting money from somewhere still.
Posted by: fd at December 23, 2025 06:38 AM (vFG9F)

There's an entire character type trope in Victorian lit about the dissipated wastrel born of a connected but not necessarily Apex family, who lives like a king with no visible means of income solely on the rapacious credit of others.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at December 23, 2025 06:43 AM (06Hmj)

106 Does anybody really know what time it is?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 06:44 AM (2Ez/1)

107 I can imagine a conversation between two employees trying to diagnose why in an old version of Excel everything works, while in the new development version, the values in the cells on the spreadsheet change with each refresh. It ends up with them selling their company stock and getting very, very drunk.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

Taking off my snark hat regarding what Microsoft's up to. If Microsoft can pull off what they're attempting to do; this is probably one of the most significant things in computing since what Alan Turing and his crew did during World War II. My mind is locked in in the '80s '90s 2000s time frame of computing; that is my blind spot here. What is being done, it seems, is a complete overhaul of computer science and software development. It's audacious, ambitious and full of risks. Those kinds of traits are exactly what moves the needle in advancing technology. They also can have wildly unexpected consequences. The key skill mentioned in that article is software engineers effectively have to be compiler experts. Software engineering will not be about writing application, rather it will be about writing the architecture to automate code writing.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 06:45 AM (HTCU3)

108 106 Does anybody really know what time it is?
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 06:44 AM (2Ez/1)

I know what it is in Chicago!

Posted by: Warai-otoko, sitting cross-legged on the floor at December 23, 2025 06:45 AM (06Hmj)

109
Does anybody really know what time it is?
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 06:44 AM (2Ez/1)

Time is, like, a social construct, man.

*takes another bong hit*

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 23, 2025 06:46 AM (tgvbd)

110 Does anybody really know what time it is?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 06:44 AM (2Ez/1)
-

John Cameron Swayze.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at December 23, 2025 06:47 AM (KgVf3)

111 Visa says AI will start shopping and paying for you in 2026.

Gonna be fun for them when they start getting flooded with "I didn't order this, I don't want this (or I didn't receive this), I'm not paying for this" and some attorney decides that all these unhappy customers constitute an aggrieved class and, sure, they'd like to make a billion dollars in legal fees.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 23, 2025 06:47 AM (ExV1e)

112 Does anybody really know what time it is?
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 06:44 AM (2Ez/1)
-------------
Does anybody really care?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at December 23, 2025 06:47 AM (qbLEp)

113
Men: Time is a god who must be respected.

Women: Time is an annoyance which can always be ignored.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 23, 2025 06:49 AM (tgvbd)

114 Why am I up this early on a day off work? I could be sleeping.

Says the body: "Nope."
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at December 23, 2025 04:02 AM (O7YUW)

I have made a successful first day's start on my first post-retirement project titled "Don't Get Up At 3am". Today I awoke at 5. Still have some work to do but it's a good start.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at December 23, 2025 06:50 AM (ExV1e)

115 Greetings and good morning, everyone! It's the end of the work week for me courtesy of the EO that makes tomorrow a holiday.

I wasn't planning on spending that much PTO but I can manage.

As for good news. Shortly after losing Kroger, we heard from a couple whose dog we have babysat several times. Sweet boy, very malleable and lazy. They are returning him to the adoption group because they are expecting a child and they'd asked if we would take him.

Honestly, we were going to wait a while longer but life had other plans for us. But we did tell the relevant folks that we're not moving on this until January since we have a lot of guests coming in for the holiday week.

Posted by: NR Pax at December 23, 2025 06:52 AM (lXoJ5)

116 "I was reading the articles at Daily Kos..."

Ok, I think I've found your problem.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 06:53 AM (2Ez/1)

117 Translating a hundred million lines of code from one language to another and expecting the result to be more reliable than the original is insanity.

But the POWER OF H1B shall make this work! Get with the times, old man!

Posted by: NR Pax at December 23, 2025 06:53 AM (lXoJ5)

118 I have made a successful first day's start on my first post-retirement project titled "Don't Get Up At 3am". Today I awoke at 5. Still have some work to do but it's a good start.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic

The good news is you can go back to bed anytime you want which I did yesterday from 11:00 a.m. till 2:00 pm. Plus it's Trash Day Eve today; I'm excited.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 06:54 AM (HTCU3)

119 I think it's 25 or 26 minutes until four o'clock.

Posted by: The drummer for the band Chicago at December 23, 2025 06:56 AM (2Ez/1)

120 Posted by: NR Pax at December 23, 2025 06:52 AM (lXoJ5

I'm sure that we be wonderful for the dog and you will enjoy him too, but I'm glad you get a break before the new addition.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 06:56 AM (PFs9e)

121 "I was reading the articles at Daily Kos..."

Ok, I think I've found your problem.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

It's an instructive exercise at a minimum. Or going to a non-Intersecting universe seems to make sense here too.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 06:57 AM (HTCU3)

122 It's snowing,
Who authorized this?!

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at December 23, 2025 07:00 AM (eZ5tL)

123 Good morning everyone.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 23, 2025 07:00 AM (WPL6O)

124 Posted by: FenelonSpoke

Thanks. He's familiar with the routine and he gets along with my girl. But with my wife's babysitting service getting a lot of demands over the next few weeks, this will be a bit crazy.

And I am trying to avoid ranting about surrendering an animal because of pregnancy. But this is because I've been around dogs since I was born.

Posted by: NR Pax at December 23, 2025 07:01 AM (lXoJ5)

125 "My mind is locked in in the '80s '90s 2000s time frame of computing; that is my blind spot here."

I violently agree with that statement.

"The key skill mentioned in that article is software engineers effectively have to be compiler experts. Software engineering will not be about writing application, rather it will be about writing the architecture to automate code writing."

Well, it used to be "train your replacement human [H1B local Indian/remote Indian/remote (insert cheaper source of labor)] to do what you do". Now it's "train your company's LLM (which is a robotic slave that requires nothing more than what it takes to keep it functioning) to do what you do".

I don't see a good ending to this for most of humanity but I'm old and cynical. And a tech weasel.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at December 23, 2025 07:01 AM (vHpoE)

126 G'mornin' everyone!

"expecting the result to be more reliable" LOL.
assumes that that is the intent.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at December 23, 2025 07:02 AM (Cjt/F)

127 Dopey Mayor in SC misunderstands "separation of church and state" and orders nativity scene removed. Town Council ignores her . Good!

https://tinyurl.com/ccxa7vxm

" Not the Bee" site.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 07:03 AM (PFs9e)

128
It's forecast to be about 80 degrees today at Schloss Hadrian. After the sun comes up and everything dries off, I guess I'll give the lawn a last mowing for the season.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 23, 2025 07:03 AM (tgvbd)

129 youtu.be/DDt3u2Ev1cI

Chris Rea- Driving Home for Christmas

He died today. Cancer, I think. He was 74

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 23, 2025 07:05 AM (sAmhv)

130 It's forecast to be about 80 degrees today at Schloss Hadrian. After the sun comes up and everything dries off, I guess I'll give the lawn a last mowing for the season.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

How's Finn doing?

Posted by: Tuna at December 23, 2025 07:05 AM (lJ0H4)

131 Nothing says Christmas like the smell of fresh cut grass.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at December 23, 2025 07:05 AM (2Ez/1)

132 Good Morning everyone!

and Good Morning to you Beckoning, nice to see you this morning, usually only see you on the ONT.

Posted by: Pony Tail at December 23, 2025 07:07 AM (HcbZb)

133 Posted by: NR Pax at December 23, 2025 07:01 AM

It does seem like an overreaction on her part, but maybe best not to bring that up? You probably won't change her mind. As far as being "crazy" you've had to deal with that before in fostering, with lots of people coming and going right.? You'll make it through🙂

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at December 23, 2025 07:08 AM (PFs9e)

134 Anna's archive, which I never heard of until today, scraped 300 TB of data from Spotify. This translates to about 37% of the music catalog is waiting to be downloaded which is apparently more significant than it seems at first glance as it eliminates music that never gets played.

The Spotify lawyers are going to be busy.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at December 23, 2025 07:11 AM (HTCU3)

135 They had the sushi guy around the corner on TV yesterday blasting PG&E for sending messages every two hours that the power was coming back on "in two hours" that was really 40 hours. He lost all his inventory because he could have but didn't move his supplies.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at December 23, 2025 07:11 AM (S3X3q)

136 Got a roast and a variety of veggies and potatoes in the crockpot. That's the Christmas feast for Wed-Sat. I work right through Christmas. So, will finish the Christmas cooking today. I won't starve anyway. I always make A LOT, even though I'm just cooking for me.

Well off to bed I go. Later daywalkers. Probably be up in 3 hours anyway. Have not slept well the last couple of months.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at December 23, 2025 07:11 AM (sAmhv)

137
How's Finn doing?
Posted by: Tuna at December 23, 2025 07:05 AM (lJ0H4)

Thank you for asking. It's a bit hard to say. He's no longer hacking up blood, which is good, of course, but he's still coughing. He's fat, phlegmatic 10-year-old, so adjudging his general mood is a bit difficult. He's gone off his feed the last couple of days, which always worries me since I'm half Italian.

Finn will remain a house dog for another week until his antibiotics are finished. I don't think there's any reason for immediate concern, but he's also 10, which is a good age for a Borzoi boy.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 23, 2025 07:12 AM (tgvbd)

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