Bill Zaumen

While my background is in physics, I joined fosstodon.org because of developing a Java class library and some applications and wanted to share those.

Website: https://billzaumen.github.io/bzdev/bzdev.html

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npub1l2ulsmfq2pqmhc2gar6ly6nxknxxh8n4q73fke3crmshfasnk4sqsu3x2z

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bzdev_at_fosstodon.org@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqs04w0cd5s9qsdmu9yw3a0jdfntfnrtne6s0g5mvcupact57cfm2cqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2w9qqf0

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nostr.wine

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Last Notes

2026-10-17 23:01:33 UTC

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All to frequently web sites claim I am using an ad-blocker when I'm not: I have the NoScript extension installed to help block malware, as recommended by security experts. Blocking Javascript is not in any way blocking ads in general. If a web site's operators do not understand the difference, there is no way I'd trust them to protect my privacy and security.

2026-07-18 04:46:27 UTC

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Here's a funny picture I saw somewhere showing The Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote collaborating on a prank:
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/939/153/025/591/996/original/d0d7a0cdf1f36f48.jpg

2026-07-16 18:29:26 UTC

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Couldn't a LLM just copy some code from github, etc., and tell you to compile and run it? The Java code I've been using to generate a password is more or less
static SecureRandom random = new SecureRandom();
static char[] genpw() {
char[] pw = new char[16];
for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) {
char ch = (char)(random.nextInt(127 - 33) + 33);
pw[i] = ch;
}
return pw;
}

2026-07-12 17:54:57 UTC

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I was once in a cricket match billed as "Australia versus the world". It was held in Yosemite Valley - after a rest-day/brunch, some Australian climbers suggested cricket,
with them on one team and the "world" on the other. Unfortunately for us, the "world" consisted of a couple of guys from New Zealand (who knew what they were doing) and a number of completely clueless Americans who had never played cricket before. For a bat, we used a sizeable branch that had fallen off a tree.

2026-07-04 18:46:13 UTC

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Insurance didn't seem to be part of the 100+K being requested. The NYT article, however, indicated that part of that number was compensation for "pain and suffering". It didn't break out how much was for medical expenses.

2026-07-04 02:10:16 UTC

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A quick search turned up a web page stating that the cost for a post-exposure rabies vaccination is $2500 to $7000, but the article claims over $100,000 in medical expenses. Did the bite cause some serious structural damage to his foot or something?
https://bettercare.com/costs/rabies-vaccine-cost-for-humans

2026-06-23 00:08:51 UTC

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If a company wants to use Claude and Claude wants an ID, how about giving Claude your employee ID? If your employer won't trust them with your employee ID, you shouldn't trust them with your driver's license.

2026-04-21 01:23:01 UTC

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You missed the point, which was that the law is superfluous for Linux: it is a multi-user system that allows system administrators to place restrictions on what non-root users can do.
My suggestion to Congress would be to simply fund a project that would provide a package that, when installed, would provide the appropriate restrictions for a user based on age, etc., which a system administrator (e.g., a parent) can configure. "Concerned parents" can install it & we can ignore it.

2026-04-21 00:07:37 UTC

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Linux has had parental controls for decades: iptables, etc. It is just that those aren't called "parental controls." You can also use chroot.
Hint: don't give impressionable kiddies root access. It is not necessary for the OS to check ages when their parents are the system administrators.

2026-03-17 04:43:47 UTC

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One should note that "camps for anyone with skin-color" could be camps for all of us: take anyone whose ancestors were from Europe and hold their hand up to a piece of white paper, and you'll see an obvious color difference. It's as crazy as making a big deal about hair color or eye color.
I figure I'm "gulag fodder" anyway for writing a short, funny book making fun of The Donald.

2026-03-06 04:52:50 UTC

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I can't make heads or tails out of the California law: for example I have a graphics program, epts, written in Java (so it is kind of a plug-in) and distributed via a Java installer or some Debian packages, & I'm out of the loop. Meanwhile in Linux/Unix, even "ls" is an application. Is age verification needed for that? Or for running 'ping' to see why your network is misbehaving (how do you send/receive a "signal" when your network is down).
https://billzaumen.github.io/epts/manual/index.html

2026-02-11 05:45:26 UTC

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Given the article [@Steve_Holcombe](https://mastodon.social/@Steve_Holcombe ) provided, it would appear that (a) they argued/talked about something, (b) the "white MAGA man" had consumed 500 ml of wine, but claimed it was not a factor while police could smell alcohol on his breath after the shooting, and (c) he claimed the gun went off by accident.
So, one question I would add is why do we allow people to have guns without any sort of testing/licensing to show that they can handle them competently - like we do with cars.

2025-11-16 02:00:17 UTC

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A problem with some bloggers is that they copy stuff without attribution. Some years ago, some non-entity won some sort of contest in San Francisco, and it was reported by quite a few bloggers. All of them named the same wrong winner. So, it is pretty likely that they copied each other. Meanwhile it looked to readers like a number of independent sources were reporting the same thing. A number of days later, the mistakes were silently corrected.

2025-10-16 18:07:21 UTC

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It is even worse - like the musician playing a clarinet that they arrested for "assault", a charge that is not credible. Clarinets can cost thousands of dollars, with levers and springs allowing holes to be opened and closed. You don't want to risk damaging one, so a musician carrying one is not going to start attacking the police, ICE, or anyone else.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2025/10/federal-agents-barrel-into-band-at-portland-ice-protest-arrest-clarinetist-accuse-her-of-assault.html

2025-09-29 21:19:10 UTC

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The comment was about how you analyze data: ignoring relevant information (for example, because it doesn't support whatever it is one is trying to say) is a good way to fool oneself.

2025-09-29 17:48:11 UTC

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It might surprise some, but to get something done in Washington, you typically need both houses of congress and the president to be on the same page (the exception is overriding a veto). That rarely happens for some long-standing issues. It is a systemic problem.

2025-09-29 05:43:03 UTC

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If one checks 2009 up to 2017, the period during which Barack Obama was our president, you'll find that the Democrats
controlled the house for 2 of Obama's 8 years as president.

2025-09-28 04:21:12 UTC

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You might want to add to that graph to show whether Democrats or Republicans were controlling things - it is not just the presidency but also majorities in congress, plus it takes a bit of time to start to change bad policies.

2025-09-28 01:56:19 UTC

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The history is a bit different. We had Nixon until he resigned to avoid a certain impeachment. Then Ford as a caretaker. Then Carter, who was a decent guy, but got blamed for economic issues pushed by oil-price increases, and also a hostage crisis (Iran). Then we got 8 years of Reagan + 4 of Bush I. Clinton got the deficit under control, but his successor (Bush II) pushed it through the roof.

2025-09-24 01:47:36 UTC

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One possibility is that private equity firms may tend to acquire hospitals that are already in trouble financially. You'd want to check the actual study to see if they considered such factors and how they ruled those out. For example, you might track patient deaths over time to see if the rate of increase got worse after an acquisition.

2025-08-03 05:30:42 UTC

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What we are doing in California - at where I live - is to use machine-counted paper ballots. You can check that the machines are recording the votes correctly to a high probability by (a) producing a file showing the votes and ballot IDs,
and (b) hand checking a random sample of paper ballots against what was recorded.
That allows you to determine the probability of a file entry storing an incorrect vote.
It is simple and easily understood by the public.

2025-07-26 02:09:53 UTC

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I'm using a Launch keyboard. The small size is nice because on a full-sized keyboard, I'd
rarely use the numeric keypad, so it is easier for me to reach the mouse. I mostly kept the default configuration, but set the function key to access Layer 2, and set Fn-CAPS to toggle to and from all-caps mode. For Layer 1,
the CAPS key is disabled (I tended to hit it accidentally). Fn-1, Fn-3, and Fn-4 take you to other layers. I configured Layer 3 to mimic a numeric keypad.

2025-06-20 00:30:01 UTC

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Just in case it wasn't clear, the classification I was referring to was the one I'd make as a driver. If ICE guys want to be treated like law enforcement, they should wear uniforms, badges with IDs, etc., so we can distinguish them from the squeegee guys and others whose only goal is to separate you from whatever cash you have with you.

2025-06-19 21:49:25 UTC

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ICE would have a lot of trouble stopping cars on the way out of the stadium in a state where it is now nearly impossible to get drivers to stop for pedestrians at marked crosswalks. Seriously though, with their lack of uniforms and IDs, I'd classify them as "a homeless person asking for a handout at best and a carjacker at worse". Or as a new incarnation of one of the squeegee guys who were bothering drivers in New York City.

2025-06-19 21:24:03 UTC

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The award will seem like a "side tangent" if you have ever seen that film!

2025-06-19 17:58:23 UTC

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Didn't know Germany had a Blauer Engel certification Curiously, there is a film named Der blaue Engel with Marlene Dietrich in it. Der blaue Engel ("The Blue Angel" in English) is the name of a cabaret, with Marlene Dietrich playing a performer with the stage name Lola Lola who causes the downfall of Immanuel Rath, who teaches unruly students at a nearby school.

2025-04-29 02:55:51 UTC

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Sorry to hear about the problems. Possibly because of following a small number of people, I was oblivious until a few days ago. I had bailed from Twitter (now X), & fosstodon sounded like a good match due to having written a reasonably large Java class library and some applications that use it. I didn't know about a "no politics" rule - the 'Explore' section shows political comments from other instances and it is not clear if a reply to those is OK or not.

2025-02-28 05:46:50 UTC

#Musk I posted a tute a few days ago that ended with a wisecrack, "Look at what Must did to Twitter."
Oddly I got an email from fosstodon saying I was mentioned by elonmusk001o@mastodon.social suggesting I sent a private message via telegram for more information but only "dedicated fans" get a response. However, no 'mention' could be found when I logged into mastodon.
Has anyone else seen this behavior - I kind of wonder if a LLM is determining who gets a canned reply that is then deleted.

2025-02-15 05:36:42 UTC

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"What the USA has become..." is, under Trump, a banana republic without the bananas.
BTW, on a visit to Amsterdam, I heard that the Nemo Museum was designed to look like a ship cresting the waves, with its sloping roof doubling as a town square. People thought it looked like the stern of a ship instead of the bow and nicknamed it "The Titanic". Does anyone know if this is true?

2025-02-10 17:32:55 UTC

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In other words, these anti-DEI morons could end up breaking useful government web sites such as https://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/ It will be like the right-wing rag with a web site that had a policy of replacing "gay" with "homosexual", which they did automatically. Then they wrote an article about a runner whose last name was Gay and the inevitable happened. And they didn't even need a LLM to screw up.

2024-12-22 05:32:20 UTC

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Some historians have a different assessment of the UK and Neville Chamberlain in the years before World War II: these historians more or less believe that "peace in our time" was a ploy to buy time while the UK rearmed. Of course, others would disagree but it is probably not as clear cut as many imagine.
https://www.hnn.us/article/neville-chamberlain-unsung-hero-of-wwii

2024-12-12 20:11:01 UTC

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I'm using System 76 hardware, which that company
manufactures, and they sell it with Linux preinstalled.

2024-12-12 06:20:26 UTC

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The Linux distribution I'm using, which was preinstalled on the System-76 systems I'm using, works just fine for what I do with it, and my experience is not at all
consistent with Chad's opinion about Linux. Given that Chad's bio states that he is currently a Director of Engineering at Apple, a cynic might suggest that this has something to do with his opinion: Apple does not sell Linux systems.

2024-12-05 20:54:46 UTC

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Perhaps my cell phone company, or maybe the cell phone's manufacturer, could refrain from changing my "emergency alert" settings behind my back. I'll turn them off, check that they are off, and then find them mysteriously turned back on after a while.
There's a reason I've turned them off. Read the story "The Boy who Cried Wolf" for an explanation.

2024-12-05 20:39:31 UTC

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What really annoyed me was the "emergency alert" I got on my cell phone: my location has a 2000 ft high hill separating us from the Pacific Ocean, which is about an hour's drive away.
I disabled as many of these alerts as I could, and something keeps changing my settings, periodically turning them back on.

2024-11-11 02:14:08 UTC

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While in graduate school (pre Internet), on the first post-winter weekend of good weather, all the rock climbers in our area called the National Weather Service and asked about the weather for Poughkeepsie NY, close to a major climbing area. Finally, with so many calls, they asked one climber what was going on in Poughkeepsie. After an explanation, you could ask for the rock climbing report! Wow. Personalized service!

2024-11-10 02:52:31 UTC

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The first System-76 computer I bought is one I can't find on their "previous models" list, it is so old
(and still working although we'll use it only occasionally). The model is a "Ratel", which I got in 2011.

2024-10-25 22:53:42 UTC

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WIth both the Washington Post and the LA Times deciding to not endorse a candidate for president,, and with both decisions made by the owners, you have to wonder if the owners are afraid that Trump, if elected, will destroy their businesses for not being sufficiently "loyal".

2024-09-21 03:36:42 UTC

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First test: see if this AI teddy bear has a built-in microphone ostensibly used to tell it what kind of story you want. If so, you can guess what else it is listening to.

2024-09-16 18:06:48 UTC

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It's terrible. The article, however, stated that the fare jumper threatened to kill the police if they continued to follow him, tasers had no effect on him, and he eventually pulled a knife out of his pocket.

2024-08-25 20:44:21 UTC

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I'd suggest reading https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/is-covid-19-still-a-pandemic/ as that article contains interviews with a physician, an epidemiologist, and a virologist.
BTW, I'm still using a mask in crowded areas or when at places like a grocery store, mainly to provide additional protection for people like cashiers who interact with a large number of people each day.

2024-08-25 19:06:28 UTC

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Guys, the term "pandemic", "epidemic", and "endemic" havc different meanings. Ending the "pandemic" does not mean nobody is catching it anymore.

2024-08-24 19:53:25 UTC

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A useful enhancement to the GPG encryption would be an option to always encrypt to 1 or more recipients besides one self. This is useful for organizations with legal requirements for record keeping and as a backup in case a person encrypting the file is no longer available.