2014.03.22 13:00 - Title goes here

The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray. The comments are by Bruce Mowbray.

Qt Core: Hi Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Hello!
Bruce Mowbray: You are enjoying spring, I presume?
Qt Core: not really; it lasted for less than a week ;-)
Qt Core: rain and a 8/10 degree drop today
Bruce Mowbray: Ha! Spring lasted even less than that, here!
Bruce Mowbray: Also some rain here, not much.
Bruce Mowbray: Cold, though.
Bruce Mowbray: and I think I have the flu today.
Bruce Mowbray: Could you recommend a good application for saving videos on the computer screen?
Qt Core: they forecast almost every kind of precipitation for this area (in a 100 km radius, from rain to snow to thunderstorms
Bruce Mowbray: I want to save some of the JAVA animations I'm writing.
Bruce Mowbray: wow.
Bruce Mowbray: That's fickle MARCH, for sure!
Qt Core: never needed that, don't know one
Bruce Mowbray: There are several free ones available on-line...
Bruce Mowbray: Will continue to check. Thanks.

[Later: I checked out Screencast-o-Matic and then upgraded to their "Pro" version for 15 USD for a one-year subscription.  LOTS of features, formats, even sound -- http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ 

Bruce Mowbray: I'm loving the "Processing" program.
Bruce Mowbray: Have you heard of that?
Qt Core: no, quite a generic name
Bruce Mowbray: One downloads their software (the "Processing" application), and JAVA code is MUCH easier to write.
Bruce Mowbray: There's even going to be a Future Learn course with it - in June.
Bruce Mowbray: http://www.processing.org
Bruce Mowbray: That's where one downloads the Processing program (free.)
Bruce Mowbray: Lots of libraries waiting to be installed on their site, too.
Bruce Mowbray: Doing some really cool things with it, and would like to record some of them to send to friends.
Bruce Mowbray: (or include in web pages.)
Bruce Mowbray: There are also many excellent tutorials available, which I really appreciate.
Qt Core: reading a couple examples, it really seems to hide a lot of low level boring things
Bruce Mowbray: That course will be taught through a Future Learn MOOC -- based on the Processing software:
Bruce Mowbray: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/creative-coding
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, although I don't even know what that 'low-level boring stuff' is, but I appreciate their hiding it!
Bruce Mowbray: Heya, druth!
druth Vlodovic: hoy
Qt Core: Hi Druth
druth Vlodovic: bertram sends greetings
Bruce Mowbray: Enjoying spring, druth?
druth Vlodovic: you mean springter?
Bruce Mowbray: Ahh. Always great to hear from Berti, if we're meaning the same Bert.
druth Vlodovic: we've had more snow and grass in the last month than you can shake a stick at lol
Bruce Mowbray: No, spring,,,,, as in one of the four seasons....
Bruce Mowbray: snow and grass, both?
druth Vlodovic: we are getting two of them right now in Ontario
Bruce Mowbray: omg.
Bruce Mowbray: I'll ask you the same "?" I just asked QT - before you arrived:
druth Vlodovic: shoot
Bruce Mowbray: Do you know of a good program for saving on-screen video?
druth Vlodovic: um, no
Bruce Mowbray: I want to save some of the animations I'm making in JAVA....

[Much later - Here is an animation I made with the Processing software and then recorded with Screencast-o-Matic:

--BELL--
Bruce Mowbray: kk, thanks.
druth Vlodovic: bleu does a lot of machima
druth Vlodovic: in fact look up machima, and freeware, tends to be simpler programs that are easier to use
Bruce Mowbray: So, do you think Putin will back down?
Bruce Mowbray: or just get more and more aggressive?
druth Vlodovic: me? I see no reason he should
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, good suggestion. THANKS!
Bruce Mowbray: Right. I agree.
druth Vlodovic: it's not like anyone has expressed anything more than mild annoyance
druth Vlodovic: I just worry he might go nuts and decide to acquire eastern Europe on account of his current success
Bruce Mowbray: My personal feeling is that the guy is not "stable," so I don't think it's wise to PUSH him too hard.
Bruce Mowbray: Yes, "go nuts."  Exactly my thought.
Qt Core: don't know, he'll mostly get debts to pay
druth Vlodovic: unstable people have to be pushed back on, or they get even more nuts
Bruce Mowbray: He will indeed get more debts,
Bruce Mowbray: but is he "sane" enough to realize the costs?
druth Vlodovic: only if he decides to pay them
Bruce Mowbray: My impression is that he's an over-grown adolescent.... showing off his muscles, potency, and bullying whomever he can.
 Qt Core: we EU people will be outraged until we'll have to discuss gas for next winter
druth Vlodovic: in mediaeval times the gov't built up debts and then arrested the bankers st start over again
Bruce Mowbray: ;-)
druth Vlodovic: the gas thing is an issue
Bruce Mowbray: Sounds like a good suggestion (for America!)
Qt Core: that was as they had debt with banks in their own state
druth Vlodovic: it is sort of the basis for our current economic system
Bruce Mowbray: Indeed.
Bruce Mowbray: (Just kidding about arresting the bankers...)
druth Vlodovic: really, why?
Qt Core: as it is too gentle for them ;-)
druth Vlodovic: depends on what you consider important enough to legally ban
druth Vlodovic: they better watch out for the core ;-)
Bruce Mowbray: What scares me is the disparity between rich and poor... (which the bankers enabled to happen.... along with the corporations who pay their executives hundreds of times more than they pay their workers.)
Bruce Mowbray: But then, I'm sort of a theoretical socialist from the get-go.
druth Vlodovic: way back someone said no CEO should make more than 20x the wage of an average worker
druth Vlodovic: sounds ridic now when they make thousands of times more
Bruce Mowbray: Nods emphatically.
Bruce Mowbray: not to mention the benefits.
druth Vlodovic: socialism just means the gov't has the job of protecting society and it's citizens, an old fashioned notion
Bruce Mowbray: which the mainline workers do NOT get.
Qt Core: Yesterday the national rail ceo said that he will leave Italy if the government would cut big public ceo salaries (he make 8,000,000 euros a year)
druth Vlodovic: yayyy!!!!
druth Vlodovic: oh wait.  Was that supposed to be a threat?
Bruce Mowbray: Oh yeah. What's a govt for, anyway? Except protecting its citizens and making for general stability in the society?
Bruce Mowbray: "Rail" has often been a problem in Italy, it seems.
Qt Core: seeing how trains goes it may be a promise ;-)
druth Vlodovic: maybe cut all CEO salaries and you'd have only people concerned about the customers and companies left
druth Vlodovic: our company says "we work for shareholders"
druth Vlodovic: and don't see the problem with that
Bruce Mowbray: Only governing boards - in capitalist countries - can cut CEO's salaries.
druth Vlodovic: it means they don't work for the customers or company itself
Bruce Mowbray: right, they work for the stock holders - who own the company
druth Vlodovic: gov'ts can stop subsidizing corporations and let them all go bankrupt
Bruce Mowbray: Hmmmm. Ponders how that might "hurt."
Qt Core: well, on a theoretical level it is right, druth, then you realize that if you want customers you have to treat them well
druth Vlodovic: the vacuum gets filled by small companies which don't suffer the disadvantages of scale
druth Vlodovic: prices go up
druth Vlodovic: but so does quality and consumer protection
Qt Core: if you want a good product you have to treat well your worker and so on
Bruce Mowbray: excuse me for this, but my typist is ill today... can't keep anything down and has a fever. So, I'm going to let him go to bed during this next drop.
druth Vlodovic: nah,the CEOs in the company I work for don't know how it works and don't care, they actively piss off customers
Bruce Mowbray: Sorry about that, but sometimes RL rules.
druth Vlodovic: ah, sorry to get off on this
Bruce Mowbray: np.
druth Vlodovic: take care of yourself, Bruce
Bruce Mowbray: Please continue to discuss.
Qt Core: ohh, take care
Bruce Mowbray: I'll catch the chat log later.

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: Just need to go to bed now.
Bruce Mowbray: Thanks, good people!
Qt Core: are those ceos coming and going (so not really interested in the survival, long term interest of the company) ?
druth Vlodovic: no idea
druth Vlodovic: I do know they won't suffer if the company goes bankrupt
druth Vlodovic: companies tend to trade managers back and forth
druth Vlodovic: we had a meeting where our plant manager was trying to justify moves to make our medical devices cheaper and cheaper in order to "remain competitive"
Qt Core: and every time they get a few dollars more
druth Vlodovic: but our company has not lost money until recently
druth Vlodovic: and the company is deliberately trying to piss off our biggest customer
Qt Core: well, until quality and functionality stay it is good
druth Vlodovic: and ignoring our core product in favour of experimenting with things other companies already make
druth Vlodovic: quality and functionality are what suffer first
Qt Core: nice ;-)
druth Vlodovic: sort of focusing on fantasy instead of reality because it is easier
Qt Core: there is still market for that product or it is going to disappear ?
druth Vlodovic: to bring it on-topic :)
druth Vlodovic: the demand won't disappear, they just need to continue to buy competitors so the customer has no choice on quality
Qt Core: just today i was wondering how much wristwatches market is suffering from cellphones/smartphones
druth Vlodovic: there was a rash of snatch and grabs on Ottawa a while back
druth Vlodovic: people would ask for the time then grab the cell phone people used to check the time with
Qt Core: only the jewellery level would survive, i presume
druth Vlodovic: I was hoping that cellphones would start to look like watches
Qt Core: or the sport as in shock resistant ones
druth Vlodovic: cell and laptop on an armband
Qt Core: i'd prefer them in the body of my glasses, near the ears t
druth Vlodovic: before you say that you should check out the remake of Night Rider
druth Vlodovic: they use the windshield as a computer display, until it is no good for anything else
druth Vlodovic: and considering how good my computer is at prioritizing what I want it to do...
Qt Core: watched a couple episodes, even worse acting than the original one (that i loved)
druth Vlodovic: one reason I like freeware when I can get it
druth Vlodovic: you want a sound recorder?
druth Vlodovic: choice is a huge program that does everything except record sound, and one that does only that
Qt Core: i saw a couple days ago an episode of a new series lately, "Intelligence" or something like that, a man with a computer implanted in his head and ful access to the net
druth Vlodovic: and don't get me started on "upgrades" which turn a functional program into a pile of garbage
druth Vlodovic: saw a bit of that
druth Vlodovic: I'd be worried on a number of points
Qt Core: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelli....S._TV_series), for the record
druth Vlodovic: imagine if every time you had a thought it triggered a google search
druth Vlodovic: ol,you'd never have a thought again
druth Vlodovic: especially once the advertisers figured out how to initiate searches and make you think you started it yourself
Qt Core: botnets,,,
druth Vlodovic: borg
druth Vlodovic: pornborg!
druth Vlodovic: shudder

--BELL--

Qt Core: until we get a sure way to separate our mind from the computer i'll stay with google glass like devices
druth Vlodovic: try a drop with advertising :-P
druth Vlodovic: actually, the frightening thing about sci-fi isn't necessarily how accurate some of the dystopian ideas have been
druth Vlodovic: but how often people look at these scary ideas an say "wow, we can totally do that!"
Qt Core: :-) that's why i prefer non-dystopian book/movies
druth Vlodovic: like the old idea of not being able to turn off your input from the powers that be, be it TV or computers
Qt Core: i read/go to the movie to have a good time, for the rest i have the news
druth Vlodovic: recently I had to disconnect from a hacker by turning off my internet connection, and from a crash by removing my laptop battery
druth Vlodovic: I am sure there are ways around me being able to do either
druth Vlodovic: true
druth Vlodovic: god
druth Vlodovic: for the last month I have had my fill of the Malaysian airplane disappearance
druth Vlodovic: you'd think it the only thing that is currently happening in the world
druth Vlodovic: depends on your source for news I guess
Qt Core: i usually follow the news on the radio, not having the video cut down half of the silly news
druth Vlodovic: :)
Qt Core: then i switch from the state radio, to a leftist ones to the one owned by the association" of the private corporations
druth Vlodovic: CBC radio is significantly different than the "24-hour" "news" channel they inflict on us at work
druth Vlodovic: interesting way to get rounded coverage
druth Vlodovic: any specific suggestions?
Qt Core: don't know, i'm speaking about Italian media
druth Vlodovic: are you multilingual?
Qt Core: no, Italian ;-)
druth Vlodovic: lol
druth Vlodovic: cough, I meant by ability, I have made attempts at learning French and Spanish, but with nobody to talk to in those languages it has been rather ineffective
druth Vlodovic: obviously I'm an idiot btw
druth Vlodovic: do you find Italian and English news very different?

--BELL--

Qt Core: no, not really but sometimes reading about Italy things from an outside source is interesting, making it simpler, sometimes even too simple
Qt Core: you know, the alien look
druth Vlodovic: :)
druth Vlodovic: "specializing means knowing more and more about less and less until you know absolutely everything about absolutely nothing"
druth Vlodovic: inaccurate of course
druth Vlodovic: you can never know everything about nothing
druth Vlodovic: but it is interesting how looking more closely at less stuff never results in having less to learn
Qt Core: one of the aspect of the "i can't be omniscient" tragedy ;-)
druth Vlodovic: :)
Qt Core: but one that with a chip and the net in your ear you can fake
druth Vlodovic: ah, I have to go start getting ready to see some plays tonight
Qt Core: nice
druth Vlodovic: lol, feeling one's IQ drop in relation to distance from the internet
druth Vlodovic: an inter school competition
druth Vlodovic: have fun QT
druth Vlodovic: good to see you again
Qt Core: you too :-)