The Mists of Time....

Today's Wallpaper

These are human neural rosette primordial brain cells shown with microphotography in a Nikon competition. I mirrored the original image, then spliced the original and mirror to get the above. It almost looks like a face or head with weird 'eyes', doesn't it?

Fun with "wallpaper"....

I still enjoy making my own backgrounds for the old PC. I haven't made any of the "slideshow" type lately, but here are some others...

 

Local residents...

In passing...

Typical day in the rainy season on the West Coast.

Tonight's Sunset

More 'This & That' .....

Last night's sunset, with some treetops blocking the view. This time of year, as the sunset retreats further south along the western horizon, it won't be long now until another part of this building blocks my view of it for a few months. So I'm grabbing all the good sunsets I can, while they are still visible.

That wild and crazy US Election

I've probably been spending too much time on Facebook lately, but that's partly because of the US election. This one is really different. I mean really!

When the most powerful Republican in the Senate says to his troops that he can't support Trump as a Republican nominee, after the party previously picked him, then you know something's really off the rails. And what's off the rails is Trump himself. He won't take advice, he won't play nice with his team, he has no previous political experience in any elected position, and he's like an immature, disobedient, know-it-all adolescent. He would rather talk about sex than what's good for the country, because he has no real idea what really would be good for the country.

Trump brags about not paying federal taxes for years, as if tax evasion is some kind of desirable habit in a country that runs its government on taxes. He makes insulting, derogatory remarks about women, using lewd descriptions. He has at one time or another insulted half the population and many foreign dignitaries, like the Pope and foreign leaders. He's 70 years old, and hasn't yet acquired any of the social graces usually used by the vast majority of people, or if he has, he is being very careful not to use any of them. Not your average candidate for the presidency of a country like the USA, or even a third-world banana republic.

Last of the summer flowers

These are over in the next block, as seen through my 'superzoom' camera. And these are probably the last of the season's flowers. I'm surprised there are so many still looking this good. But I'm not complaining. They look just fine from here.

The answer to that faulty weekend update for Win-10 is a roll-back to Win-8.1

Works for me!

This failing to finish the update problem surfaced last week among some of us Windows Insiders (testers) and we reported it to Microsoft using our direct link for feedback. We described what was happening and not happening. An update like that usually ends with a short process of "Working on updates....%%%" during which it goes from 0-30%, reboots, then completes the 30-100%. This one wouldn't go past 21% before rebooting. Then it repeated the same 0-21% after the reboot, then rebooted again, and announced "We couldn't complete the update. Restoring your previous...." - like I couldn't tell it had already failed.

After I tried 30 or more times over two days, while trying various attempted cures each time, and nothing succeeding, I gave up. I installed my former Windows 8.1 Pro instead, ending 1 year, 10 months, and 16 days of testing Windows 10. Overall, for me, it was more of an aggravation than a pleasure. It has features I didn't want, but couldn't remove without crippling the system. Windows 8.1 isn't as bad, and it will be supported for several years yet. Maybe by then, Microsoft will have the bugs out of Windows 10. 

Some time ago, Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, said he wants us to "love our Windows". I do. I just don't love the same version he does. Probably because I'm not being paid to love any. And possibly because I'd rather be using my Windows rather than trying to fix it. That's not my job!

   

That cumulative update for Win-10 (KB3194496)

Windows Updates says there's a problem. Error code 0x80246010, which means my files are corrupted or my Registry is corrupted, or I'm infected. It just isn't their fault.....

But my three security programs all scan and find nothing, and Win-10's own tools also say this system is just fine....

So who do I believe? My own investigations? Or someone who is catching a lot of flak for shipping out a faulty update? I could be wrong, but I think the fault's at the other end.