Quick tip: Use SHIFT-refresh in your web browser

This is a tip you may already know about, because browsers have supported the feature for many years.

If you hold down the SHIFT key while refreshing a page (e.g. type CTRL-SHIFT-R or hold SHIFT when clicking the Refresh button in the tool-bar), it will tell the browser to ignore cached content when reloading the page.

This is a great way to resolve problems when something doesn't seem to have loaded correctly. Web site managers will frequently tell you to clear your cache to solve problems, but that's a pain in the neck. You need to dig through various screens in your browser's preferences in order to find the button to do this, and when you do, all web pages will need to reload everything, slowing down their load times until the cache gets re-populated.

Simply holding down SHIFT while reloading is much better. It's immediately available, so it won't distract you from what you were doing. And it only reloads the cached content used by that page.

This feature is known to be available with Firefox (source), Chrome (source) and Microsoft Edge (source).

On Apple Safari, use the OPTION key instead of SHIFT. (CMD-SHIFT-R opens the page in Reader view). (source).

I suspect most other browsers will also support this feature.

How macOS tracks file metadata on non-Mac storage

This article is based on a discussion thread on TidBITS Talk: Finding Type/Creator Tags in Old Mac Document Files.

In this thread, one reader asked how Macintosh file metadata (e.g. a file's type and creator codes) are preserved when a file is copied to non-Macintosh storage (e.g. a Windows file server or a FAT formatted hard drive). He observed that he can copy a file to a Windows server, then copy/move the file to several different locations from Windows, and then copy the file back to a Mac and the metadata is preserved.

Here is the result of my analysis.

Linkiest: 5 Classic Songs That were Ment to Be Jokes

5 Classic Songs That were Ment to Be Jokes
By Don McMullen

Certain songs over the years were written to be joke but not exactly a novelty either. However too many people can’t see the jokes or the satire in those songs either because the audience eats it up and is into what the artists are mocking or even getting back at someone else or mocking a certain product or whatever. Regardless here a short list of classic songs that were meant to be jokes but were taken seriously enough to be hits in their own right.

A fun read. And you'll never hear these songs in the same way again.

h/t The Bongino Report

Don't believe the news

Mallard Fillmore comic: March 23, 2022

Transcript (in case the image goes off-line in the future):

Mallard is watching TV, which is saying:

Coming up... We'll consult our panel of experts who've been proven dead wrong about every international conflict for the past two decades but are definitely NOT wrong about this one.

Healthline: Why Ditching Daylight Saving Time Would Be Healthier for Everyone

Why Ditching Daylight Saving Time Would Be Healthier for Everyone
Written by Nancy Schimelpfening, MS on March 14, 2022. Fact checked by Jennifer Chesak

• Each spring, people in the U.S. shift their clocks forward by 1 hour for daylight saving time.
• Scientists say this long-standing practice may actually be detrimental to our health and safety.
• Daylight saving time can disrupt our circadian rhythms, making us less alert and prone to illness or accident.
• Many sleep experts are calling for it to be abolished.
• In the meantime, a gradual shift in sleep schedule leading up to the time change may help minimize the effects.

I have been complaining about Daylight Saving time for as long as I can remember. It's good to learn that there is actually some science to back up my annual rants.

Comic and a bit of philosophy

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal for Friday, February 25, 2022

• How do you stop being jealous of other people?
• The key is to always do what is true to you. Find your highest ideal and pursue it.
  Then, when other people have more success, you can recast your failure as a heroic struggle for purity or beauty or whatever.

This comic, which portrays a very cynical view of the world (a common feature of comics by its author), calls to mind a very famous quote from the Talmud (Pirkei Avot, aka "Ethics of the Fathers", Chapter 4, mishna 1):

Computer Weekly: Backups ‘no longer effective’ for stopping ransomware attacks

Backups ‘no longer effective’ for stopping ransomware attacks
By Alex Scroxton. 23 Feb 2022 14:00

...
Data collated from Venafi’s worldwide survey of IT and security decision-makers reveal that 83% of successful ransomware attacks now involve alternative extortion methods – for example, using stolen data to extort customers (38%), leaking data to the dark web (35%), and informing customers that their data has been compromised (32%). A mere 17% of attacks merely ask for money for a decryption key.
...
Venafi also found that cyber criminals are increasingly following through on their threats whether or not they get paid. Indeed, 18% of victims had their data leaked despite paying, while more than the 16% who refused outright to pay anything and had their data leaked. Some 8% refused outright, but then had their customers extorted; and 35% paid, but were left hanging, unable to retrieve their data.

In other words, if you are victim of a ransomware attack, you're screwed no matter what you do. Even if you pay up, there's a good chance you won't get your data back and your confidential data may still be published.

So, (desptie the article's headline), the best you can hope for is to get yourself operational by restoring from a backup (be sure to retain several, in case your most recent one was corrupted by the attack), and don't pay the ransom.

SMBC: Love Modeling

I'm a regular reader of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a very strange comic that has a lot of geek-appeal.

Today's comic is particularly amusing. I won't embed the image here, because of copyright, but please click through and read it.

The interesting part is that this has been demonstrated. Back in the 60's, researchers at MIT created ELIZA, a program that can (among other things) simulate a psychotherapy session. It mostly works by parroting back whatever the human user says, with occasional non-specific questions and statements. It is nothing close to AI, but it is nevertheless convincing to quite a lot of people, including many who understand software enough to know better.

The UN's two-faced policies

This morning, I heard about this incredible news:

43 countries pledge to combat antisemitism at UNHRC session
i24NEWS. October 04, 2021, 04:41 PM

Statement led by Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia in coordination with World Jewish Congress

At least 43 countries signed a statement pledging to combat antisemitism that was issued at the 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Monday.

The statement was led by Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia with the coordination of the World Jewish Congress.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg warned of the dangers of antisemitism in a video statement, saying that "we will remain steadfast in our pledge, never again."

Which was a very welcome surprise. Then I saw the following article, posted only a few hours later:

UN Cuts Off UN Watch Director for Highlighting UNRWA Antisemitism
Aaron Bandler. October 4, 2021

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) cut off UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer as he was highlighting antisemitic social media posts from various United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Speaking virtually at the October 2 UNHRC session, Neuer cited UN Watch’s recent report about two UNRWA teachers in the Gaza Strip, one who posted an Adolf Hitler video to Facebook “with quotes to ‘enrich and enlighten your minds’” and another who posted “conspiracy theories” about Jews controlling the world, starting the COVID-19 pandemic aiming “to destroy Islam.” At that point, UNHRC President Nazhat Shameem Khan cut off Neuer’s video feed, accusing Neuer of making “insulting and inflammatory remarks.”

So, apparently, the Human Rights Council opposes Jew hatred, but not when it's coming from other UN agencies. Why am I not the least bit surprised?

Netflix acquires Roald Dahl's estate

Netflix Acquires Prominent Anti-Semite’s Estate, Announces Epic Content Dump
Andrew Stiles • September 22, 2021 6:30 pm

Netflix, a media conglomerate with ties to former president Barack Obama, announced on Wednesday its acquisition of British author Roald Dahl's estate and promised to produce "a unique universe across animated and live action films and TV, publishing, games, immersive experiences, live theatre, consumer products and more."

In addition to authoring such classics as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl was a virulent anti-Semite who would have already been ruthlessly canceled by woke scolds if his bigotry had been directed at any other vulnerable minority.

I completely understand the desire to censor all of Dahl's work from history because of his anti-semitism.

On the other hand, with Netflix buying Dahl's estate, I no longer feel uncomfortable buying his famous children's books because the money will no longer be going to his family (which seems to have taken a conspicuously long time to publicly disagree with Roald's statements).

Of course, I don't approve of Netflix's politics very much either, but that's another discussion.