Comments for Something better to do

Comment on This is how to make the “Install pending software updates” checkbox go away in GNOME by jik

jik — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 20:06:07 +0000

In reply to Tor. I don't think the problem you're talking about in this comment is the same one I was referring to in my post.

Comment on This is how to make the “Install pending software updates” checkbox go away in GNOME by Tor

Tor — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 10:01:22 +0000

Was stumped by this annoying bug, so did some digging, and more digging, and found the solution (at least on Fedora 44):
– endSessionDialog.js uses gdbus to call gnome-software, this uses the GsDnf5 plugin to query dnf about pending offline transactions
– looking at the plugin, the folder /var/lib/dnf/offline came up, looking into this it contained a bunch of rpm, just looking at a few they were all the installed version (via manual dnf update), so it looks like a queue of pending installs that will not be installed as they already are!
– dnf has a couple of commands related to this folder:
* sudo dnf offline status: gave a message including “The system has been modified since the offline transaction was prepared.”
* sudo dnf offline clean deleted all the files
– the “Install pending software updates” is now gone!

So short version: Updating manually via “dnf update” does not allways purge the cache in /var/lib/dnf/offline, leading to the persisting “Install pending software updates” checkbox when shutting down. Solution is to run “dnf offline clean” (on Fedora – don’t know if debian/ubuntu even has this issue!)

Comment on How hard should it be to get an electric wheelchair repaired with insurance coverage? by Bruno

Bruno — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 20:40:12 +0000

Joder, nunca sentí tanta frustración.

Comment on First Manufacturing Co. selling customer email addresses in violation of its own privacy policy by Neo

Neo — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 15:00:19 +0000

Why do we live like this?

Comment on Notes from migrating Linux to a new hard drive by Rizki

Rizki — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:52:15 +0000

In reply to jik. Thanks for replying. Well, need to trim files usage. Also start saving because current SSD is almost 5 years.

Comment on Notes from migrating Linux to a new hard drive by jik

jik — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:48:19 +0000

In reply to Rizki. Running the OS off of HDD rather than SSD is unbearably slow and I would not recommend doing it for any significant amount of time.

Comment on Notes from migrating Linux to a new hard drive by Rizki

Rizki — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:12:21 +0000

Hi, how was your experience using HDD as os disk? Does it feel sluggish? I didn’t have enough fund to upgrade my SSD, but have spare HDD lying around. It’s laptop so didn’t know to reconsider to but HDD Caddy to extend internal storage.

Comment on Planet Money gets AI wrong (again) by jik

jik — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:58:30 +0000

In reply to Ari.

You can think of Fama’s hypothesis as having two parts: (1) in a theoretical market where information flows freely and everyone has access to the same information, assets are priced properly without intervention; (2) modern capital markets are close enough to “information flows freely and everyone has access to the same information” that the hypothesis essentially holds true for them. A logical outgrowth of (2) is that “there’s no such thing as bubbles in capital markets” because market efficiency prevents them.

I have no quibble with (1).

(2) is bullshit. Information does not flow freely in modern capital markets, and lots of people have access to information that other people do not and act in the market based on that information. The game is rigged, in general. Economics who claim otherwise are delusional and full of shit.

This is especially true in bubbles, where the people profiting from the bubble do everything they can to pump up the bubble with lies, cheating, and fraud, so that they can keep riding high and making money off of it.

Comment on Planet Money gets AI wrong (again) by Ari

Ari — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 07:37:31 +0000

I have a gripe with almost every PM piece, but this one is unusually shallow and misinformed.
But is it wrong for them to assume the Efficient Market Hypothesis is true? Isn’t Fama’s hypothesis about the efficiency of asset pricing due to the free flow of information in modern capital markets? Their mistake would appear to be misunderstanding/misapplying the EMH, because the AI misinformation injected into the market and all of the shadiness and failures that companies aren’t reporting on, would (according to EMH) be a good indication that our current market is not efficient and AI assets are priced incorrectly. The EMH isn’t unassailable, but this situation doesn’t seem to counter to the EMH at all.
Ed Zitron has said, once investors see hundreds of billions of dollars of GPUs sitting unused in storage, the story of boundless growth will become the story of who’s holding the bag when the scheme unwinds. I hope that’s all it takes to pop the bubble, but “bubble” has always been a bit of a misnomer because they are far more stubborn than ephemeral.

Comment on Amtrak classifies valid customer feedback as “venting,” ignores it by deneme11

deneme11 — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 02:10:19 +0000

deneme11