Losing my mind

You know how you think you have a problem solved and it isn't?  Yah.  Me too and really lately. 

I spent most of Thursday night trying to migrate the old Mac Mini to the new one.  I can follow instructions, but it wouldn't work because I didn't have enough of the right cables.  No matter what I tried, I needed a USB to USB cable.  It was a surprise that I didn't have one.

Rule 1.  No matter how many cables of various combinations of connections you save in a box, the one you need won't be in there.

Rule 2.  Walmart won't have them.

Rule 3.  "Best Buy" will have them at 2x the price. 

I bought a Best Buy cable.

And it was weird.  The cable itself has software.  For  file transfers between Macs, it has a program that opens "GoBetween" and "Easy Site"  It wanted internet acceptance.  I refused.  I couldn't figure out what they wanted annyway.

But I figured out how I could migrate a different way.  I have an external drive that has 4 TB.  So using Migration Manager on Mac I copied the old Mac Mini to the external drive and then "restored" the external driver to the new Mac Mini  (and it promised that it would save all files and even individual program settings),

It didn't.

I can copy files from the old Mac Mini to the new one, but I have to keep both on separate active Mac Minis and monitors to do that.  And guess what?  I'm lacking a cable. 

That's why I'm losing my mind!

Fixed Computer Problem

Well, I HOPE I have solved my computer problems (both Mac and Windows actually).

1.  I brought the Mac Mini that won't start to a local computer store today.  They are really a Windows shop, but they will do simple repairs on Macs.  After a half hour, they determined that the CURRENT Mac Mini was not repairable by them.  Some of the spilled wine got inside and shorted out some circuits.  Too complicated and time-consuming to clean and no guarantee that would solve the problem...  They did say they could pop the drive out and migrate it to an external storage device if I provided the device.

And they didn't even charge me for the diagnosis work!

They also advised me not to bother shipping it to an Apple repair store; saying that Apple doesn't actually repair hardware anymore, they just migrate the drive to a new unit and charge you for it.

The OLD Mac Mini I'm limping along with right now is making fan noises (which assures that it will fail soon).  And it is SLOW (well it IS a 2010 model).

So I went to Amazon and looked at new ones.  They are all designed for Cloud use, meaning they have less storage on the hard drives.  I'm not ready for the Cloud yet.  So I did a google search for Mac Minis  and found there were more powerful standard Mac Minis.  One site lead me back to Amazon, where they also offer 3rd party "diagnosed, cleaned, renewed" Mac Minis guaranteed by them, 90 day warranty and 3 year repair guarantees (for under $60).

I ordered and renewed Mac Mini with a faster Intell chip, 1 TB storage, and 2x the Ram of my current one.  That should last a while, and it will arrive in 3 days.  Plus I get 5% back using my Amazon Cedit Card!

AND, I got no flak this time requesting to return the underpowered128 GB Mac Mini I bought last month.  They even sent me a free shipping label.

So I am returning a useless new 128 GB Mac Mini at $720 for a fully renewed faster 1 TB one at $560 that will probably serve me well for many years.  I will migrate the OLD Mac Mini I'm using right now to the new one.  And I will have the local computer place copy my drive on CURRENT one that wont start to a 512 GB external drive I saw at Walmart for $50.

That way, I will have all my OLD files saved onto the new one and can pick and choose which newer files to save to it from the CURRENT one.  That's not as complicated as it seems.  I migrated the backup of the CURRENT Mac Mini to the OLD one (which is sort of why it works at all).

So, cheers and drinks all around!

Serious Computer Problems

OK, I am partly offline for a while.  At least a week, probably 2, maybe 3.  It is a comedy of errors.  I'm only online using my OLDER Mac Mini (which will make sense soon).

Here's the situation...

A.  I have 3 Mac-Mini computers and a Mac LAPTOP.  One is an OLDER one I used until about 3 years ago.  One is the CURRENT one.  One is the NEWEST one I bought last month to migrate to (thinking the CURRENT one was obsolete).  I will using those as names for reference

B.  While setting up the NEWEST computer, there were 2 accidents.  The first was that I left one cable connected to the CURRENT one (which was working perfectly well), and as I removed it from the desk, the cable snagged my wine bottle and pulled it over onto the NEWEST one sitting on the floor below.

C.  The 2nd was that, trying to catch the wine bottle, I dropped the CURRENT Mac Mini onto the floor.

D.  The CURRENT one will no longer start.

E.  The NEWEST one will start but not display to the monitor.

F.  The consequences are that neither of the 2 newer computers work AT ALL!  And the LAPTOP is not set up for much other than visiting websites.

That's the summary.  Now here are the gory details.  If you don't like to read about details, I completely understand.  I'm partly writing further for anyone who wants to know more, partly, so I have the events documented (details fade), and partly so I can organize my thoughts on solutions.  So read on if you want...

1.  The OLDER Mac Mini was retired in March 2017.  It was about 6-7 years old and was struggling to adapt to new Mac OS and newer programs.

2.  I bought the NEWEST Mac Mini last month or 2 and hadn't gotten around to using it.  It was still in the box. 

3.  I bought the NEWEST one because I misunderstood what the disc scanner was telling me about the CURRENT and available memory and processing capability (32 bit vs 64 bit).  After receiving the NEWEST one, I realized the CURRENT one was just fine.

4.  I decided to download the newest version of Mac OS ("Catrina") on the CURRENT one, expecting that if I didn't like it, I could revert to the previous Mac OS (which I have done before without difficulty).

5.  Immediately, half my programs failed or demanded upgrades.  My iPhoto program was changed to Photos and it started reorganizing my existing photos.  I may have authorized it do, I don't remember.  Probably did.  It kept doing so for 3 days until I finally stopped it; no program needs 3 days.  I discovered I had lost half my full-size photos from 2008-about 2011.  My Windows Office For Mac (Word and Excel) programs failed completely and the updated versions are only available for an annual fee and I couldn't download them anyway.  Firefox and email kept working.

6.  When I tried to revert to the previous Mac OS (Mohave or High Sierra, I forget which) I couldn't.  Not even the Time Machine restore program would work.  After several days of trying online suggestions, I started finding sites that said "You can't, Apple won't permit it".   And those were independent sites that help users with this sort of thing.

7.  So I surrendered.  I posted about that twice in frustration and actual rage.  I decided I would unbox the NEWEST Mac Mini and set it up and migrate the CURRENT one to it.  It IS more powerful (like any newer version is).  I would tolerate the annual subscription for MS Office For Mac (now called MS Office 365 for Mac) because MS Word and Excel have features I like that Mac's version (Pages and Numbers) do not. 

8.  I couldn't.  The NEWEST Mac Mini would turn on, but not communicate with the monitor.  Total blank screen.  Well, I have 2 monitors and a 24" HDTV (bought that for temporary use when my 60" HDTV failed 2 years ago).  None would recognize the NEWEST Mac Mini.  So I went to reconnect the CURRENT Mac Mini.  Somewhere in that process, the 2 accidents I mentioned in the summary occurred.

9.  I tried every combination of connections I could think of.  No matter what I did, the NEWEST Mac Mini would not communicate with any monitor.  I tried VGA to USB connections, VGA to HDMI connections, and HDMI to HDMI connections.  No luck. 

10.  So I decided to hook up the CURRENT Mac Mini again.  It wouldn't even turn on!  I assume it is because I dropped it trying to upright the wine bottle and something broke in the power connection (I even tried 2 different power cords - I keep stuff).  I also tried different electric outlets in case my backup battery had gone bad.  No luck.

11.  So I tried my OLDEST Mac Mini.  It came right on.  I tried it with the 2 monitors and the 24" HDTV.  They all worked (I did have to figure out how to tell the HDTV it was connected to a computer using the 60" HDTV remote control, but it actually DID work too).  I tried out the 2 Mac power cords and they worked.  I tried out the battery backup.  It does have a problem with the non-surge-protected outlets, but the protected ones work fine.  I will replace the unit.

12.  So I'm on the OLDEST Mac Mini.  It works, sort of.  I can't access email.  Weird story - Verizon dropped email service a couple years ago and sold it to AOL.  AOL had agreed to make old Verizon email addresses continue to work (and they do) but it was a long convoluted process that took several tries over successive nights and consider mental struggle,  I dare not touch it.  If fact, I can't.  All the details are on the CURRENT Mac Mini and I can't get it to start.

13.  Apple used to refuse to license anyone else to repair their equipment.  But I saw some ads that said a chain store "Best Buy" had gotten a license.  There is one nearby, so I brought the CURRENT Mac Mini to them last evening.  They work by appointment only.  I didn't know that, so I just showed up (expecting to just leave the CURRENT one for them to call later with a repair estimate.  No such luck.

14.  Best Buy (aka The Geek Squad) is really only licensed to do software fixes.  They aren't allowed to open a Mac for hardware fixes.  For hardware fixes, they ship the unit to an Apple store for repair.  For person did take the CURRENT Mac Mini in the back and confirmed that it wouldn't start.  That may seem like nothing, but it confirmed that I was correct and that it also wasn't some monitor/power problem at my end.

15.  So I mentioned that I have the NEWEST Mac Mini that would start but not communicate with a monitor.  Ooh, that's something they might be able to fix!  But I needed a reservation (which, if I understand things correctly) merely means they take a person off-floor to do repair work.  I made one.  Next Tuesday 1-29 at 7:40 PM!  A full week before they can even look at it...

16.  So I'll wait and bring it back to them them.  Meanwhile, I do not have email.  I REPEAT, I DO NOT HAVE EMAIL.  But I can post on my blogs and I can comment on yours.  And if it is anything sensitive, I have a secret one.  Vishus Deer...  http://vishusdeer.blogspot.com/  You can post there and I will move it to Word and delete from the blog...

17.  I can add new photos to the LAPTOP, if I download the old iphotos program.  But the OLDEST Mac Mini just started making some noise and I better get this posted!

Weight

I had a surprise a week ago.  The bathroom scale had said I was losing weight.  Well, I eat healthy.

It said I went from 170 to

I was thrilled!

But then it said I went to

And I knew THAT wasn't right.    Even replacing the batteries didn't change it though.

And then a couple days later, it was 173 again.  That's right.  I weighed myself on the vet dog scale.  and then on the home scale.  It agreed.  Mine is inconsistent.  I need a new scale...

To the tune of Huey Lewis and the News "I Want a New drug"

"I need a new scale,
One that weighs like it should.
One that doesnt make me feel too bad
One that doesn't make me feel too good...

I wanna a new scale,
That tells me the truth.
So I don't get too happified,
So I don't feel fat or thin..."

LOL!

Apple Has Won

Apple has won.  Apparently, it is no longer possible NOT to upgrade their programs.  I've read enough sites that say they have given up trying to revert to previous Mac OS systems.  I've sure been trying and I can't find even deceitful ways to revert.

I have an older Mac mini that has one of those older versions, and I am NOT putting it online!  From my experience this month and from what I've read online, even if you specifically order the Apple system preferences NOT to update, they detect old versions and do anyway.

They examine your Mac computer whenever it is online and force the updates. even if you choose NOT to.

I don't know how to get around it.  Not that I'm a Apple tech, but when the sites that seem to specialize in "how to" can't, what hope do *I* have?  Persistence has lost.

I will explore Linux, but I doubt I have the skills required to set up programs and email and security that isn't built in.  I can work REALLY hard at some things, but there are limits.

And I will set up the newish Windows PC I bought last year just to play some old games (and discovered I couldn't, and then discovered I couldn't make sense of the way Windows works these days.  Maybe I can used to that again.

But it seems that the days of forced upgrades and annual program subscriptions are upon us forever.  I hate that.  I was perfectly satisfied with old versions of most programs.  But of course, that doesn't provide revenue to Apple or Windows.  

So, for now, I am going to go along (kicking and screaming) into the future of the annual subscription universe.  I see little choice other than to go offline, and I'm not ready to do that.  10 years and a few months, maybe.  Not today...

I'll subscribe to "MS Word and Excel on Mac ", to basic Mac Apps, to forced upgrades.

But I am SO UTTERLY PISSED!

There may be a user revolution coming.  I've often wondered what gives Microsoft or Apple the right to invade my owned hardware  and implant cookies and now lately whole programs into my hardware that I bought?

But that is for the future.  I can give in for now to stay online and fight for future changes in the political world to make government return freedom to users...

  -----------

My Favorite Statement Of 2019

You can’t fight corruption without pissing off corrupt people"

 

'Nuff said...

 

Marvel VS DC Comics

I grew up reading Marvel Comics.  DC Comics were beneath me.  I once read a newspaper article explaining that Marvel was aimed at college students while DC was aimed at high schoolers.  That may have been an understatement.  I could tell the difference when I was 14.  Marvel all the way! 

DC:  Superman was invulnerable unless he was exposed to some dozen forms of Kryptonite.  He learned to fly by floating with balloons.  His opponents were silly people.  He had a supergirl, a superdog and there may have been other superpets too.  As Superman, he had muscles like a pro weightlifter, but as Clark Kent he was "less built".  He had no personal problems other than women who's initials were always L.L.  His eyeglasses deceived everyone...

Aquaman was a joke.  Green Lantern couldn't handle anything yellow.  Batman had promise in his darker aspects.  None of the characters were actually adults and most had children as sidekicks.

Marvel used to be (I think) "Timely Comics".  They had the worst junk I ever spent a dime on.  I recall a giant eraser smoothing the surface on the Earth until some genius threw paint in front of it and revealed a weerd creature damaging the Earth (the eraser could then finally erase it).  How it followed the creature just behind was never explained).  And one where a creature on a planet grew to control the whole thibg glorying in its power until a human turned on the tub faucet and washed it away to drown.  REALLY BAD STUFF!

But then Stan Lee came along with some broke artists.  The owner changed the name to Marvel.  And he had seen a new DC comic book of heroes getting together (Justice League) and told Lee he wanted a team.  In a week.  The group created the Fantastic Four.  And later The Avengers.  They later created Spiderman.

Te cause of their superpowers was kind of lame.  Cosmic Rays for the Fantastic Four, Gamma Rays for the Hulk, a radioactive spider for Spiderman.  Antman had a shrinking/expanding ray. 

But the point was that they had "problems?  And as teenagers, we understood "problems".  The FF were normal except for Ben Grimm (the Thing).  Spiderman had to hide his powers from friends and family and was a dud (early on) with girls.  The Hulk had no self control. 

Iron Man was at least self-created, but a real jerk.  Sub-Mariner and Captain America returned from some old 1940s comics.  New villains and heroes were created, and THEY had personal problems.  EVERYONE in the Marvel world had problems.  Thor was originally lame Dr Blake who struck his cane in a special cave and became Thor and had to go back and forth (the cane was somehow Thor's Hammer).

Both DC and Marvel had a letters page at the end of each comic book early on.  DC spoke to children; Marvel spoke to adults. 

But I partly wrote all that to say this...  The movies of the DC and Marvel characters are relatively equal in quality.  That's mostly because the movie-makers aren't the DC writers.  Give a telented production team, and they can do almost as much with Wonder Woman or Superman as Spiderman or The Avengers.  But "relative" is not "equal".

I liked the Superman movies.  They actually made a fairly real person out of him.  Batman seems the realist of the DC characters.  But Marvel has really done it right.  I can't rewatch the Superman movies (I can rewatch the Batman ones, sometimes), but I can rewatch the Marvel ones.  And that includes the critically-panned FF movies.  *I* liked them!  Though they really did mess up Dr Doom and Galactus a bit. 

I haven't watched the 2 last Avengers movies.  Cable wants too much.  I may check out streaming on my Amazon account...

2019 Words I Don't want To Hear Again

Every year brings some new word or phrase and becomes popular on TV political commentary.  Over-used and often inaccurately-used...  I don't want to hear them in 2020!

1.  "Quid Pro Quo" - In Latin, it means "this for that" or "a favor for a favor".  Let's say my neighbor is good at basic engine repair and has a 2 acre yard he mows with a regular rotary push mower.  Takes him a coupe hours.  I have a riding mower I can't get to run (old gas, curburator needs cleaning).  I offer to mow his yard once if he will clean the carburator  to get it running.

We agree and both are happy.  That is a Quid Pro Quo.  But the idea is often wrongly applied to politics.  As in, "you donate cash to my campaign and I will get your law passed that benefits you".  Or "if you don't pass the law I want, my friends will trash your campaign headquarters".

Neither is truly a Quid Pro Quo.  The first is a bribe; the second is extortion.  Those are both illegal.

I did notice that some TV commenters started to realize the difference and started referring to bribery and extortion.

2.  "Inflection Point" - Too many TV commentators seem to use this term to mean "a developing disagreement" or a "change in political momentum".  An "inflection point" is a mathematic term describing a change in a graph:

I suspect the misuse comes from business types using it to describe graphs showing changes in company profits if certain new strategies are adopted.  But those were still graphs.

When I was working in Government, I had a steady stream of higher-ups who were always seeking terms to make them look smarter than they were (and in fairness, some few WERE smart and well-respected among us lower-downs) and grabbed onto to any phrase that was new.  And they loved that the phrases sounded impressive and no one else quite knew what they meant.   "Unicorns, in the pipeline, move the needle, pain point, ladder up", and my favorite, "silos".  The latter means keeping  control over your office functions and information and was supposed to be bad but they all did it relentlessly.

3.  "Tranch/Tranche" - Tranch/Tranche means "a portion of money, a slice, a portion".  In TV commentary parlance, it has lately been used to mean "previously unreleased  information held by a person".  Why not just say "new information"?  I have no objection to foreign words with nuanced meaning being introduced into English (which actually means almost all of them).  Besides, "tranch" is a really awkward-sounding word in English.

Those are my "annoying 3" of 2019 (and they will probably continue in 2020).  Have you any favorite bad ones?

A Day in The Basement

I have mentioned cleaning and/or rearranging the house.  You wouldn't believe how little difference that usually makes.  Time spent is like cleaning up 10% after a tornado.  I try.  And while *I* can tell the difference, few others would.

So today was cleaning off the accumulated stuff on the table saw.  I wanted actually USE it.  The rule is that before you can do ANYTHING you have to do something else first.   So I wanted to use the tablesaw that had stuff on it (any horizontal surface collects stuff).  That meant I had to move that stuff. All sorts of gardening stuff.

To do THAT, I had to but them where they belonged on a shelf under the stairs,  But to do THAT, I had to clean the sawdust and junk from there.  And to do THAT, I had to get stuff out of the way.  And to do THAT, I had to move THAT stuff.  You see where this is going...

So I put the damn bicycle I bought (because I thought I would ride it for exercise) out of the way.  It ended up leaning against the fireplace I don't use these days. 

THAT meant I could push a cabinet on wheels into a corner. 

Which meant I could actually take stuff OUT from the understairway shelf to Of course, the table saw.  Progress comes and goes...

But with the shelf empty, I could vaccuum the sawdust out.  Which meant dragging out the shop vac.  And I found stuff in there I had forgotten existed.  Arrows.  Posters.  One was a 70's poster about comic strip characters all drawn together.  Another was even unopened.  I opened it.  It is a map of the LOTR Middle Earth.  Given that it is untouched after 30 years, it is probably worth something.  I have stuff like that all around.

But I cleaned the shelf.  And started sorting out the various garden bottles by type.  I'm generally organic, but I have poison ivy (not organic) and mole repellent stuff (organic). More than I realized, in fact.  The moles are going to have a VERY BAD 2020 here.

And I had cleaned a dozen boxes I was saving because they were all the same size and decided I didnt need the from in front of the internal heat pump part.  

And I have organic fertlizers and fruit sprays (a clay spray).  And finally, I have all my rooting hormones in one place.  3 bottles (I kept losing them).  And several pH sets of test strips.  Useful if I ever get the 8' pond set up again.  Point being that I have too much stuff in duplicates.  Cleaning reveals that. 

So the table saw was clear.  That meant I could vacuum it clean.  And the metal part could use an auto wax...  Since my car never gets waxed, I'll have to buy some.  Maintenance is NOT MY BIG THING. I drive a 15 year old SUV with paint rubs, dents and scrapes.  The battery only works because I have a trickle charger on it.  I could easily buy a new one, but I hate all the stuff that come with new cars.  Tell-tale equipment, auto brakes, internet of things...  I don't want that.

But there ARE pictures...

From left to right, mole stuff, herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, and test equipment...

The cleaned tablesaw.  And yes it is a fancy one.  I need all the help I can get.

The cleaned area in front of the internal heat pump unit...  And yes that is the cat PTU in red on the right.  I don't dare bring it upstairs until they are all outside.  They panic seeing it.  And they haven't all been outside at the same time.  Some days are like that.

My lettuces under lights...  And some ivy I intend to pot up.

That damned bike...  The tires are both flat.  The sellers tricked me on that, pumping them up just before I bought it.  But it didn't matter.  It turns out you CAN forget how to ride a bike.   I gave it a go and fell over twice.  I need to donate it somewhere.

I Surrender, Almost

Mac and Windows have finally won.  They've beaten me.  They have sent my computer life out of my control.  I don't say that lightly.

A month ago, I confidently downloaded the lastest version of the Mac O/S.  Catalina.  But it prevented me from using my Mac version of MS Office Word and Excel.  Huh!  Well, OK, I'll revert to the previous Mac O/S.  I can't.  It doesn't want me to.  There are suggestions on how to do that on some sites, but I can't make them work.  Catalina really wants to stay active.

I've spent hours on and off for the past week trying to get rid of it.  No luck.  So last night I sat down determined to restore the entire computer to a November version. 

Macs have that capability through something called "Time Machine".  I've done it before.  You go to a timeline of external drive backups, choose the one you want, hit the "restore" button, and you have the old version from that day.

Guess what won't work anymore?  Time Machine.  I spent several hours trying to do the "restore".  On the few occasions I even got the restore button to be active (most times it was greyed out), my password wouldn't work.  Catalina is actively thwarting my attempts...

Mac has moved from 32 bit to 64 bit and it wants you to stay there!  THEY KNOW BEST, after all...  They are creating a consistent world of users that suits their conception of the  future. 

So, while persistence in the past has usually worked, there is evidently a wall I can't get around now.  I've tried everything I can (with an exception I will get to later).

So, I suppose I have with Mac O/S Catalina.  And if you haven't, don't.  Unless you love buying new apps.

One of the things I lose on Catalina is my old MS For Mac Office.  MS Word and Excel are much better than Mac's iWorks Page and Numbers apps.  I do a lot in both Word and Excel that Page and Numbers won't.

So, I said I surrendered.  That means upgrading to MS For Mac 365.  And that means a yearly subscription fee of $70 rather than just buying the program.  I hate that.  The previous version was Office 2008 for a reason.  Lasted 11 years, no problems, cost about $40.  Until I find something really better, I'm perfectly happy with basic programs tat do the simle things I want them to do.

So, I went to the Mac App store to but MS For Mac 365.  It sends me to Microsoft.  Microsoft wanted me to set up an account.  OK.  I was kind of pissed off, so my password wasn't really "friendly".  Nothing "nasty" but It violated some rule.  

So the site said I had to send them my phone number so they could text me a temp password so I could get into my new account and change it.  Guess who doesn't have a smart phone?  And guess who didn't offer me any options to contact them?

THEY (MS) WON'T EVEN LET ME BUY THEIR DAMN SOFTWARE!

And apparently, even if I can figure out how to buy MS Office For Mac 365, it is in "the cloud".

Mac and MS are doing their uttermost to take the least bit of control I had away.

Now, given ALL THAT, I may have an "out".  I have a new mac mini I bought last year because I misunderstood how much RAM I had left on the current one.  And I have the previous one too.  The newer one might not have Catalina.  And I know the older one does NOT!

I'm going to set both up offline tomorrow.  See what O/S the new one is on first.  If it is Catalina, I will set it aside (it may have MS For Mac Office 365 on it and some other good programs).  And if so, I will check the older Mac Mini and hook up the Time Machine external drive to see if it will do the "restore" function.

If it does, maybe I can migrate the old computer  to the current one (not the new one) and keep going from there as I've been doing.

I'm not a computer geek.  For me, many changes are like beating away a crocodile with a baseball bat.  I don't even understand why some changes are made.  Mac Photos is probably an improvement over Mac iPhotos for some people, but I was perfectly happy with iPhotos. 

Photos just keeps saying it is rearranging things (anticipating my desires, I suppose) but I don't WANT it to do that.  If I want rearrangements, give me the option to tell it to do that.  Don't force it on me.  Ah but Mac knows best...  And so does Windows. 

When I was younger, I used to read a lot of science fiction.  Some of the stories "predicted" dystopias where Government or Business would force people to do things a certain way or act a certain way, or people would just learn to all act the same. in the "future".

The "future" is now.

I bet I can get around Mac and MS for a few more years.    But there will come a time when I just plain CAN'T. 

DAMN!