COBOL: The code that controls your money - Clive Thompson/Wealthsimple https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazine/cobol-controls-your-money

Password rules are bullshit (2017) - Jeff Atwood https://blog.codinghorror.com/password-rules-are-bullshit/

CentOS Stream: Building an innovative future for enterprise Linux - Chris Wright/Red Hat https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/centos-stream-building-innovative-future-enterprise-linux

Ruby gems: Using Linux/BSD packages vs. gem install - Steven Rosenberg http://passthejoe.net/post/2020_1229_ruby_gems_package_vs_gem_install/

Ruby users of Linux and BSDs, what do you think of installing Ruby gems from Linux or BSD packages instead of using gem install for all?

I just updated my Ruby gems. Hope I didn't break anything.

My experiment with hosted Git as a way to create and publish things that are not code continues. I now have five writing projects on Github. https://github.com/passthejoe

I reviewed two gauges of @ernieball Earthwood 80/20 Bronze acoustic guitar strings https://github.com/passthejoe/acoustic-steel-strings

I thought my Yamaha dreadnought guitar was 10 years old. I found out it's actually 17 years old. So I wrote a review. Of a guitar I've owned 17 years. https://github.com/passthejoe/yamaha-fg403s

I wrote three recent posts on my WordPress site that I just copied over to my Hugo site. Not sure what I think about posting on WP.com. I spent a lot of time looking at the statistics page. I spend 0 time doing that in Hugo b/c I don't have one. http://passthejoe.net

CentOS replacement Rocky Linux is serious https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/community-update-december-2020/1157

Why CentOS Stream and the end of CentOS Linux doesn’t really matter – Steven Rosenberg https://passthejoe.wordpress.com/2020/12/23/why-centos-stream-and-the-end-of-centos-linux-doesnt-really-matter/

CentOS Stream and the end of the CentOS clone: perils, pitfalls, risks and opportunities for Red Hat https://passthejoe.wordpress.com/2020/12/22/centos-stream-and-the-end-of-the-centos-clone-perils-pitfalls-risks-and-opportunities-for-red-hat/

Another great take from @sjvn: Why Red Hat dumped CentOS for CentOS Stream | ZDNet https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-red-hat-dumped-centos-for-centos-stream/

I love having 3 Ruby versions available at the same time with ruby25, ruby26 and ruby27 in OpenBSD. Nice feature.

How this Debian Stable user ended up with Google Chrome from Google’s repository – Steven Rosenberg https://passthejoe.wordpress.com/2020/12/19/how-this-debian-stable-user-ended-up-with-google-chrome-from-googles-repository/

The @debian package for Chromium is very old. Sid and Buster both have version 83. Fedora and EPEL are shipping 87. The Ubuntu Snap is also at 87 (with optional 88 and 89). I had heard that Debian was way behind. And they are.

CentOS team discusses implications of move to Stream with Wikinews (more info here than in most of the stories out there) https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Red_Hat_to_move_focus_away_from_CentOS_in_favour_of_Stream;_CentOS_team_discuss_implications_with_Wikinews

Why do Twitter and Google think I'm interested in wine? I might be, but I have given no indication that suggests this.

“A damn stupid thing to do” — the origins of C | Richard Jenson/Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/features/2020/12/a-damn-stupid-thing-to-do-the-origins-of-c/

Loeb at first sight: The classics come in red and green | Amanda Kolson Hurley/Designers & Books http://www.designersandbooks.com/blog/loeb-classical-library-design

Working from home at 25MHz: You could do worse than a Quadra 700 (even in 2020) | Chris Wilkinson/Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/it-still-runs-on-your-imagination-passing-2020-time-with-a-macintosh-quadra-700/

CloudLinux announces release of RHEL fork following Red Hat's CentOS Stream announcement https://blog.cloudlinux.com/announcing-open-sourced-community-driven-rhel-fork-by-cloudlinux

My take on CentOS Stream:

• It'll be RHEL-ish enough for almost everybody (it's still 8.x)
• You'll probably get fixes quicker
• A new one every 3 years (just like now)
• 5 years of support (instead of 10)

Eastman Guitars is very deep in archtops. They still have one without a pickup (AR805 at the bottom of the page). https://www.eastmanguitars.com/electric_archtop

The CentOS Project just committed suicide - Mehmet Özel/FOSS Post https://fosspost.org/centos-project-suicide/

CentOS Stream: Building an innovative future for enterprise Linux - Chris Wright/Red Hat https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/centos-stream-building-innovative-future-enterprise-linux

Meet Rocky Linux: New RHEL fork by the original CentOS creator - Ankush Das/It's Foss News https://news.itsfoss.com/rocky-linux-announcement/

After a morning of drama, I have come to the conclusion that CentOS Stream is not the end of the world and that Red Hat is doing a very (very, very, very) poor job of public relations in explaining it.

After reading many CentOS Stream posts, I think it's going to be the current RHEL release, but ever so slightly rolling. It should work fine as a RHEL clone almost all of the time. The big difference for users is 5 years of support instead of 10.

Fedora's @mattdm says give CentOS Stream a chance https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-December/075503.html

Regarding CentOS Stream and 'enterprise' Linux, I think five years is an appropriate period of support. The two-year cadence for Debian really works for me. Six months is too short. Maybe one year would work.

It looks like CentOS Stream releases will get five years of support https://centos.org/distro-faq/#q6-will-there-be-separateparallelsimultaneous-streams-for-8-9-10-etc

Red Hat resets CentOS Linux — and users are angry - A very good overview from @sjvn for ZDNet https://www.zdnet.com/article/red-hat-resets-centos-linux-and-users-are-angry/

Keep up to date on Debian Long Term Support at Raphaël Hertzog's blog https://raphaelhertzog.com/

Please support the Debian LTS project https://wiki.debian.org/LTS

CentOS's Johnny Hughes seems more than a little conflicted https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-December/075534.html

This guy has a point on CentOS Stream vs. CentOS Linux vs. RHEL https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-December/075492.html

This view of CentOS Stream as being RHEL a month in the future seems reasonable https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-December/075551.html

Remember the days when CentOS wasn't owned by Red Hat, and there would be huge gaps in activity and releases? This doesn't justify anything. It just flashed into my mind. https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2020-December/048208.html

This guy is NOT happy about CentOS 8 turning into CentOS Stream https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-December/075464.html

Follow this thread on the CentOS-devel mailing list https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-devel/2020-December/075451.html

FAQ - CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream (in which CentOS/IBM kind of sort of answers a few questions) https://centos.org/distro-faq/

The untimely end of CentOS 8 throws quite the monkey wrench into cPanel and the entire shared-hosting world https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2020-December/048208.html

Remember Scientific Linux? I used to run it. The project ended because CentOS was doing the same thing so well. I can see it making a comeback now. https://lwn.net/Articles/786422/

CentOS founder is starting Rocky Linux, a new RHEL clone, now that CentOS is changing focus https://github.com/hpcng/rocky

Springdale Linux is a longtime RHEL clone - Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25350357

Scientific Linux ended when it didn't seem necessary. The move to CentOS Stream probably means more Red Hat clones are on the way. For me, this illustrates why Debian is so important. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25345428

Many of the CentOS users who aren't happy with CentOS Stream say they will move to Debian Stable. But I imagine Ubuntu LTS will grab most users. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25345428

CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream, and people are not happy - Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25345428

How to defog your windshield in no time this winter - Lifehacker https://lifehacker.com/use-this-method-from-a-former-nasa-engineer-to-defog-yo-1845817132

I have been experimenting with Git and Github as a way of working on writing projects. Hosted Git repositories are not just for programming. https://github.com/passthejoe?tab=repositories

Reviews of steel strings for acoustic guitars https://github.com/passthejoe/acoustic-steel-strings

Reviews of strings for the classical guitar https://github.com/passthejoe/classical-strings

The Zen of Debian (work in progress) https://github.com/passthejoe/zen-of-debian

My Emilio Pujol project is becoming more about his work overall and not just about the 17 variations on Aguado in 'Escuela Razonada' Vol. 4. https://github.com/passthejoe/pujol_variations_on_aguado

Steven Rosenberg on GitHub https://github.com/passthejoe

Steven Rosenberg's newer posts http://passthejoe.net/

Steven Rosenberg's microblog of short posts http://updates.passthejoe.net/

Steven Rosenberg's frugal technology, simple living and guerrilla large-appliance repair https://stevenrosenberg.nfshost.com/blog/