about that aws outage thing
On 20-Oct-2025, there was a boo-boo over at AWS (Amazon Web Services), and because roughly about a third of the internet runs off that, when AWS has a problem, the internet as a whole has a problem. Amazon has since fixed the problem. But a lot of people realized how much of the internet relies on AWS to actually be up and running for things to work.
No, it was not a security breach thing. A lot of people think it was. Nope. It was a straight up IT thing. DNS resolution, specifically. That's the thing that translates names into internet addresses. In very oversimplified terms, that means that when you type a whatever-dot-com in your browser, DNS translates that into the numerical address (i.e. IP address) of the server serving the web site, finds it, then the site is served to your browser. It was the DNS as far as I know that temporarily broke on Amazon's end.
Did this outage affect me?
Yes, but only in a minor way.
At the time of the outage, I needed to use part of the US Postal web site to check and see if a package had been shipped, and that didn't work. There were also a few web sites I normally use that took a really long time to load, but eventually did.
Briefly, I actually thought the connectivity problems stemmed from my internet connection, or maybe something screwy going on with my browser or whatever. Nope. It was AWS.
This outage reminded me of why I do things in certain ways concerning my own digital life.
One of these ways is, of course, how I do navigation.
Because I use a Garmin DriveSmart 76, no internet is used when I navigate since all the map data is hosted locally to the unit.
I've personally never been screwed over using a Garmin, but from the user reviews I've read over the years, a ton of people routinely get screwed over using smartphone navigation.
The worst concerning smartphone navigation cloud crap is when the entire "timeline" gets wiped. You login to the app one day, and every location you saved along with every location you've been to is gone, and there's no way to get it back. It's gone forever.
For any location I save, that's stored on my Garmin navigator, but I take it one step further. If it's a location I deem important, I get the GPS coordinates for it and save that separately.
Small example: 41.46809, -71.30303. Those coordinates point to a tree on Wetmore Ave in Newport Rhode Island. Anything special there? No. It's just a place to park that's within walking distance of the Cliff Walk on Belmont Beach. I like that place. Quite nice to visit.
If I were using some crappy smartphone nav app, "pinned" that location, but then my "timeline" was wiped out due to a system glitch, now it's gone. I would have to remember the location was in Rhode Island and remember Wetmore Ave if I had any hope of ever getting back there again.
Have I ever had to refer back to an old CSV, GPX or even a plain text file with coordinates to find a location of the past? Yes, and more than once. Addresses change, street names change, businesses sometimes up and vanish like a fart in the wind, whatever. GPS coordinates is sometimes the only way to find locations. And the last thing I need is some stupid nav app wiping out previously saved locations because of an "update".
Again, the DriveSmart 76 saves locations locally and doesn't need internet to work, which is good. Satellites in space is how it knows where it is. And the nice part is that there's even a backup for that. If GPS fails temporarily, the DS76 uses two fallback satellite networks, Galileo and BeiDou. Very nice.
the absolute dumbest thing linux users do
Since Microsoft laid down the boom with Windows 10 and cut off support (unless you pay for an extra year), there have been videos aplenty on YouTube from Linux people telling people DOWNLOAD LINUX AND SWITCH! SWITCH! SWITCH!
That's not happening.
It will never happen.
And I know why.
Trying to get Joe and Jane computer user to download and install an operating system, then create a bootable USB stick, then successfully install the OS after that is... well, it's not going to work. You completely lost Joe and Jane at "download".
Joe or Jane can buy a cheap mini PC with Windows on it preinstalled and ready-to-go. Plug in a keyboard, mouse and monitor, connect the power cord, turn it on, go. And guess what? Every printer works with it. All of them. No fuss, no muss.
And here comes Linux Dude, telling Joe and Jane instead to do computery crap. I know exactly what the end result of that would be. A computer that doesn't work. Or if somehow, magically, they were able to actually get the OS installed and connect to the internet, the printer they have won't work.
It absolutely does not matter how much you spout out PRIVACY! PRIVACY! or whatever other reasons Joe or Jane should switch to Linux. Again, you lost them at "download".
The absolute dumbest thing Linux users do is presume Joe and Jane computer user would actually know how to install an operating system.
I have never told anybody to switch to Linux, and I never will. And I am a Linux user.
Yeah, Linux Dude, I am fully aware of all the telemetry crap, ads and other bullshit in the Windows OS. I also know it doesn't matter how loudly I tell that to Joe or Jane computer user. They are not switching. At best, I would get a response like, "Oh, okay, thanks for the info. I'll think about the Linux thing." After that, they go right back to Windows.
Not only will they keep using Windows, but double down with something like, "I hear what you're saying about the privacy thing, but, well, they already know everything about me anyway..."
Yeah, that kind of reply will happen. Get angry about it all you want, because it doesn't matter and it won't change anything. Joe and Jane are staying with Windows. Deal with it.
Stop telling people to switch, Linux Dude. Just stop. It's not happening.
i deleted windows 10
Oct 14, 2025 came and went, and that was the end-of-support day for Windows 10.
While true Microsoft has offered a way to have Win10 continue to receive updates for longer, that's not free for United States users.
Given I hardly used Win10 at all, I deleted it.
I've been using Linux for over 2 years because I made the decision to get off Windows as my daily driver early. No regrets there. On my second computer which was running Win10, I bumped that up to Win11 a few times. Why a few times? The first time I installed that OS, I absolutely hated it and went back to 10. Some time passed, I installed 11 again, hated it again, back to 10 again.
I flip-flopped between 10 and 11 until I finally said screw it, fine, I will just install 11 and stick with it. I made my peace with that OS.
However, I still kept an SSD with 10 on it just in case I wanted to go back to it. My thinking was okay, I'll eventually just get rid of it sometime before 2026.
Then I thought okay, this is dumb. Win11 is working and I have no good reason to keep 10 anymore. I still hate 11, and that hasn't changed, but it's not like I'm going back to 10.
That is when I plugged in the SSD with 10 into my Linux computer and did the deed. I backed up what I needed to, launched a partition manager, unmounted the drive, removed the partitions, created new ones, mounted the drive to make sure it worked, it did, and that was the end of it. Yes, I could have done the secure-erase thing with the terminal command shred in Linux, but since there was no sensitive data on the drive, I just blew away the partitions and made new ones. The only barely-difficult decision was whether to use exFAT or ext4. I went with exFAT just in case I ever need to connect the drive to Win11, as 11 doesn't give me any grief with that particular drive format.
Another reason I blew away the drive is because I never had any real emotional connection to 10.
Yes, you can have an emotional connection to an operating system. Don't let anyone tell you differently. And it's more than just the way it looks. There is such a thing as a feel to an OS. If the OS feels good to use, you want to stay with it and not change to something else.
The last Windows I had an emotional connection with was the best Windows ever, Windows 7. I never had any connection with 10, especially considering I was forced into using the OS. What happened was that I initially tried 10 when it was first available, didn't like it, tried to switch back to it and uh-oh, my Microsoft product key was now "invalid" even though I had BOUGHT it prior. I could not go back to 7 and had to use 10. After that was several months of fighting with 10 just to get it to work the way I wanted it to. I was mostly able to do that, but never fully.
There is one thing I will give to 11 that 10 doesn't have. The default environment is better.
An absolute bone stock installation of 10 is an absolute trash pile where the user experience is concerned. It doesn't matter how many settings you adjust because it is permanently awful. Win11, after about a half-hour to an hour of digging through the OS to disable the crap (as much as can be done) is in fact more tolerable than the 10 experience. I'm not saying it's good, because it's not. But it is more tolerable. Slightly.
The only way to make 10 tolerable is by using O&O ShutUp 10++ to disable everything possible, then reboot. For whatever breaks, you go back into ShutUp 10, cherry pick only the bare minimum you need to enable again to fix the broken crap, reboot again. It takes several rounds of going into ShutUp 10 and rebooting before you get a Win10 that's usable. And by usable, I mean tolerable.
I did use the ShutUp program for Win11 initially, but that broke things, and I did not want to do the cherry picking thing with ShutUp in 11 like I did in 10. Instead, I just looked around 11, disabled what crap I could, looked up some documentation online for instruction on how to disable more crap, then disabled more crap, and about an hour later, I said yep, good enough. Again, not good. Good enough, since it's not like I use this trash OS on a daily basis anyway.
There is one good thing for those staying on 10
There will come a point where 10 becomes unusable, either due to newer software that won't work (probably a web browser update) or newer hardware that won't work (probably due to control software that "requires" 11).
Until then, Win10 should now be at a place where users will enjoy it the most for about a year or two. Why? NO MORE FORCED REBOOTS FOR "UPDATES", since there won't be any. How nice.
Does that mean Win10 users should just sit back and relax? Almost. If you haven't done so already, get a few cheap 512GB flash drives and back up your stuff. Then you can relax.
the fever that has lasted 45 years
Near my computer, I have a little mini Ms. Pac-Man game. Mine is the one that looks like a little arcade cabinet. I remember many years ago back in the '80s when those things were at Toys 'R' Us and I wanted one so bad. Back then, I wanted a set of three. A Pac-Man, a Donkey Kong and a Frogger. The set I want now has changed. I have the Ms. Pac-Man, but I also want a Q*Bert and a Galaga.
There is another one however that's much bigger to truly satisfy my Pac-Man fever.
A cocktail table arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man. This is the only full sized arcade machine I'd even consider buying, and only because it can serve as furniture when not in use. It is, after all, an actual table that you can put stuff on.
The first time I looked up the price of a cocktail table Ms. Pac-Man was close to 20 years ago. The price back then for a newly constructed full system with all-new parts was four grand. And you did not order this online. You called a shop, arranged an order, made a down payment, waited a while (anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks), the shop called when the build was complete and said the machine was ready, you paid the rest, and picked it up.
And that was your only choice other than buying vintage and restoring it yourself. You had no other choices.
Today, there are both consumer and commercial grade options made new. The four grand version is still available, and that's obviously for something commercial grade. But there are also home versions priced well south of a thousand. True, home versions may not have the wood grain paneling or the real glass top, but the fact it's even available is fantastic. No need to call a shop and wait six weeks anymore.
Pac-Man is middle aged
The original Pac-Man is from 1980, and Ms. Pac-Man from 1982. That makes Pac-Man 45 years old and Ms. Pac-Man 43.
Pac and Ms. Pac are old enough to have decent credit scores.
It's not the age of the video games that bothers me. What's amazing is how the '80s continues to live on. Just when you think the '80s are finally put to rest, you find something still keeping it alive.
A cocktail table arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man made new even existing is weird. I can understand miniature arcade and handheld versions of the game existing. Small and cheap to make. Totally understandable. I can also understand new-retro versions for modern gaming consoles existing. Again, easy to make and sell. But the cocktail table version?
If there wasn't demand for that very specific version of the game, even to only a moderate degree, nobody would even bother making it. It's made because it sells.
The more you think about it, the more crazy it gets, because a cocktail table arcade game isn't just a game. It's a physically big thing. It's a table. This isn't some little box you put on a shelf. Owning one of these takes up legitimate space.
ONLY games like Ms. Pac-Man can sell in a new cocktail table version today. And by that I mean popular arcade games made in the '80s, and just from that decade alone. Nobody is buying games made new as actual furniture from any other decade. That's just amazing.
Will I ever buy a cocktail table Ms. Pac-Man?
Part of of me says no, don't ever buy that...
...but another part of me wants it. And I don't have a single good reason to own one other than just to have it.
This doesn't mean I'll be buying one any time soon, but it also doesn't mean I won't buy it at some point.
expensive and classy is a tall order for a digital watch
Just for grins, I looked up expensive digital watches since I prefer digital over analog. There were two things that immediately stuck out.
First, with little exception, everything was either too big or too goofy.
Second, it turns out I already own the second classiest digital timepiece, and it's not expensive at all.
At the very top of the heap for an expensive, classy digital watch is the Hamilton PSR. Best case finishing, best bracelet, best everything...
...but you have to like 1970s styling to appreciate it; that's the catch. Does it look good? Yes, but at the same time you're only going to have one of two reactions to it. Love it or hate it. I'll talk more about this in a moment.
After that Hamilton, it's all Casio from there. Yeah, sure, there are nixie tube watches, but that's not exactly what one would call classy. Expensive, yes. Looks cool? Yes. Classy? No.
Even in Casio world, G-SHOCK has the same problem where some are expensive but don't quite cut it as a classy timepiece. An example of that is any G-SHOCK 5000 series in metal. Cost is high, but classy? Not really. It's not exactly something that would work with a suit.
Oddly enough, it's two well-under-$100 regular Casio models that truly do look classy. And I own both of them.
I'm talking about the gold A500WGA and silver version A500WA. These are both World Time models, with 5 alarms, stopwatch, countdown timer and a whole bunch of world time features. It even has a cool looking map of the world at top right of the panel. And the night light is even decent.
It is funny to me that such a giant gap exists between those Casio models and the Hamilton, but that is what's out there for truly classy digitals.
Some more info on the Hamilton
With the Hamilton PSR, yes it totally has the 2001: A Space Odyssey vibe with it, and that's not a bad thing. There are a few other things about the PSR that are quite nice.
The battery can actually last for 5 years, which is absolutely better than how things were in the '70s where back then you'd barely get a year out of it.
Screw-down case back, which makes it easy to get to the battery to change it.
The PSR does have a legitimate 100m water resistance, provided you don't press the button while underwater with it (and that can be said for any digital watch).
Crystal is AR coated, which minimizes nasty harsh reflections.
Lastly I'll say the PSR appears chunky in photos, but that's a bit of an optical illusion just because it's square-ish with a thick bezel surrounding the panel.
I think the PSR look works. The case surface is brushed, which is good because it would look terrible were it shiny like a mirror. And of course, a luxurious brushing technique was used. The bracelet on it is also top tier stuff.
I'm happy to own the Casio A500 models I have, but I know the PSR is many levels better. For a high class digital, that Hamilton is as good as it gets.