What is a ASKard? 

ASKard (ASKard (noun): A "non-screen production credit" originating from the fusion of AS (Adelino Saldanha), ASK (the fundamental act of inquiry), and ARD (the phonetic anchor for "Hard").

An ASKard is not a suggestion; it is a non-negotiable truth—the clear, uncompiled "source code" of my personal philosophy. It is a surgical, verbal grenade designed to bypass the noise of low-value dialogue and terminate the distraction of superficial consensus.

• The Anatomy:

  • AS (Adelino Saldanha): The signature of the architect.

  • ASK: The demand for clarity in a world of ambiguity.

  • ARD (Hard): The core attribute. It is the "hard" reality of facts that the world avoids, the intellectual density that resists the "scrolldown" culture.

• The Function: It acts as a cognitive kill-switch when a conversation yields zero "non-profit participatory" value. It is the boundary where I stop pretending that the current civilizational script makes sense.

• The Definition of "Minhas Calinadas": They are the raw, unfiltered echoes of a mind that refuses to be "moldado" (molded) by market-driven convenience.

An ASKard is final. It is the truth behind the curtain. It is my .!. .!.

Here I am, in your past, so that you may be there, in your present, reading me in your future.

• WIP • With four decades of following the evolutionary progress of technology, I witness a subtle yet significant transformation that few notice or simply care to acknowledge: the disappearance of 'Portuguese' as our mother tongue. When I see 'Portuguese' and 'Portuguese (Portugal)' in new language options or during new installation setups, I feel that our origin has been diluted. In truth, the language we took around the world should be the default 'Portuguese' reference, with the Brazilian variant being 'Portuguese (Brazil)'. I'd be willing to bet you hadn't even noticed... But this is just my humble opinion, which I have written about in the past in the 🍬 braincandy column, along with countless other things.

• WIP •  It's obvious to almost everyone that we've lost control, even over something as basic as our logins. Whether access is tied into Windows or the browser, the surveillance is pervasive. A VPN might offer a little privacy for 'surfing,' but the core control mechanisms remain, simply shifting from one form to another. I believe users have forfeited fundamental rights that are unlikely ever to be recovered. The only thing more disturbing than the loss of these rights is the public's eagerness to surrender them, a complacency I refuse to share. I have the right to my own privacy everywhere, and that right doesn't diminish just because others are willing to give theirs up. 

#25462 [Ref: SFSTUS1E7&6] My dear CL (and remaining victims of geriatric gravity):

To whom it may concern — meaning anyone who still has the patience to endure your senile whining —, please excuse Adelino from having to deal with medical notes to justify your total functional impotence.

If, at your age, the only "lifting" you can manage requires a divine miracle (other than a blue pill) and the assistance of a municipal crane (since your testicles, poor things, gave up fighting gravity long ago and now rest comfortably—floating in the bowl), the problem is not Dr. Elwood Schneider. The problem is you, who are no longer even fit to be a warm body at an orgy.

After all, unnecessary effort is the basis of our existence, but issuing fitness certificates to mask the general collapse of your physical apparatus in episode 7... is monumental patheticness. Before long, you'll be asking for a medical leave just to breathe.

With due respe... scratch that, with the biggest reality checks, Dr. Adelino Saldanha

(Specialist in Verbal Slaps to VC's and Dismantling Geriatric Frauds) .!. .!.

#25463 Tech a preço de saldo na Action: porque ser engenhoso é a melhor skill do século XXI.

Energia solar dobrável, LED recarregável e um orçamento intocado. Obrigado, por alimentares o meu geek interior sem esvaziar os bolsos. Para a minha primeira vez, fizeste uma impressão do caralho. Podes contar sempre comigo.

#25464 Brands no longer care about your phone's performance. Cutting back on RAM isn't about component shortages — even if those savings still line their pockets — it's a stealthy move to choke local storage, forcing you to rent 'precious' cloud space where you have zero physical control. After all, when your phone is already tracking your every step, why wouldn't they snoop through your data too? Corporations never play fair; they always rig the game.

#25465 Nestas já passadas minhas cinco décadas, sinceramente, não me revejo absolutamente nada nesta geração de há duas décadas para baixo; afinal, é o que acontece quando a única figura parental de verdade foi o algoritmo das redes sociais da moda na altura. Nem menciono valores porque é demasiado óbvio e espero que esta frase até já não seja repetitiva, mas... as minhas mais de cinco décadas já perdoam se o é. 

#25466 Para quem diz que a meteorologia não mudou nada: agosto deu-nos apenas 12 dias de sol genuíno de lés a lés.

Já setembro, em apenas 7 dias, vai com 5 dias de sol escancarado! Com o novo calendário escolar quase a arrancar, os miúdos vão ter de intercalar os testes com os tradicionais dias de sol e amores de verão, enquanto quem tem a sabedoria do antigamente com as férias na primeira quizena de setembro se Ri por último e não é só dos dos céticos do clima.

O verão mudou de sítio!, deve-se ter adaptado como nós a imensas modernices!

#25467 Do VE.Direct ao Bluetooth o meu Victron prova que a evolução tecnológica existe. Tenho o poder total sobre os meus dados e consumos desde o smartphone passando pelo linux e windows. Sempre em cima da onda solar e senoidal. Mai nada!

#25468 Dear Microsoft, Isn't a fortune of 100 billion enough? have the decency to be honest for once with this Smart App Control crap (something we don't have direct manual control over), the goal was never or gonna be security. It's to completely eradicate free software, take absolute control over all software, or force us into your store and trap the user in perpetual subscriptions and endless screen ads.

Speaking of which, your built-in backup and system copy tools are a joke compared to something like Macrium Reflect—though I guess you had to cripple them or lock the actual useful updates behind even tighter paywalls, right?

I have zero doubts. Times are different now and people let you get away with it, because if it were back in the days...

Note: It’s a shame for poor guys like me who now can’t even use cracked versions anymore—firstly, because keygens and hacks aren't clean like they used to be back when cracking was an art form and actually meant something, before it turned into what feels like strategic marketing for companies wanting to push sales.

And secondly, because of intrusive user-locking features like "Smart App Control." Well, good thing bootable and offline ISOs still exist and i did make'them.

Obs: Chamem-lhe ironia cósmica (ou telemetria avançada) da Microsoft a funcionar em pleno. Falo do Macrium e suas brutais capacidades nos meus textos e pum,

a minha versão "especial" deixa magicamente de funcionar logo a seguir ao ultimo update (998) no meu foi. Bem, dar-me razão na prática vale mais que muitas fortunas!  

• WIP • CARALHO, 7.29 GB EM 818.768 FICHEIROS NESTA MERDA DA PASTA C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download ?!

Vão gozar com a puta que vos pareu! Quase 820 mil ficheiros de lixo para quê? Para ocupar espaço a fazer nada e rebentar com o SSD?!

A sociedade acomodou-se, deixou esta merda acontecer e agora é o que se vê: Não me admira que obriguem a comprar PC novos, o PC a engasgar-se com gigas e gigas de restolho digital enquanto os engenheiros fazem pillow parties na cloud. Acordem para a puta da vida, foda-se! Depois queixam-se quando os sistemas explodem! A indonésia pode ser um lixorial a céu aberto, mas porém assim o meu SSD já passou a estação de tratamento e virou um purega de lixo digital! Mais de 15min a apagar lixo... filhos da puta e de update's também pah... 

Agora so faltava que daqui a nada e não me admirava que inventassem uma assinatura mensal para o Windows ter funcionalidades "a sério" ou para manter a IA ligada e merdas no genero, porque lá está 100 mil milhões nao chegam do palerma do zé povinho. Mas mais me vale manter o chicote esticado aos gigas de lixo antes que decidam cobrar por cada megabyte apagado! Isto para mim é simplemente vergonhoso.

ref: A Impostura do "Progresso" 8 mil milhões de calados.

• WIP • Quer chovam pianos ou as vedetas escaxem as pernas todas, vai haver pelo menos 1 mês em que os askards vão estar de férias. Quem não gostar da paragem dos askards... temos pena... 

#25469 All that's left is for Microsoft to forcibly enable 'Smart App Control' in some random update, forcing everyone into a choice: either put up with a computer clogged with junk until we have to buy a new one, or be barred from using our free software and get used to swallowing whatever comes from the Microsoft Store—in a digital dictatorship that no one questions anymore.

#25470 Since they didn't just use open source code for Windows versions—and relied on free ideas from many people—here’s another one (though I advise reading my disclaimer first): A truly fluid and ergonomic experience requires the menu button to remain anchored at the dynamic center—regardless of the icon load—rather than shifting chaotically or being locked into rigid left-aligned behaviors. That can be done in just a handful of lines of code.

#25471 Vertical tabs in Chrome? Tumbleweed really tried to modernize my screen setup automatically, but at 53, muscle memory is unforgiving: shrinking tabs down to mere icons—with an 'X' lurking just waiting for a stray double-click when I want to change tabs—is a surefire recipe for accidentally closing tabs! google, a separate little 'close' ballon/button would have done the trick. Still, when you love what you do, it doesn't feel like a chore... we adapt! besides those who still using tabs at the top, are missing out on half a screen of pure visual pleasure!

It would be great if it expanded upwards from the middle, depending on the number of tabs. 😀

#25472 [Ref: S1E8] Hi! I saw your latest VC regarding your beloved SFSTU and your existential fears about the series either crashing and burning or becoming a hit (like TBBT). I completely understand your disdain for social media—after all, for twenty-five years you’ve chosen to ignore the digital noise, preferring the feedback of an electric guitar plugged into an amp. Curiously, I made the exact same choice: instead of getting lost in the algorithms of mindless social networks, I prefer my own headquarters here.

You say that failure fosters growth and that, if the series flops, you expect absolute silence. But mind you, the real problem for your poor Stuart isn't just failing to save the universe... it’s the precise moment "TRAPPED!" collides head-on with the reality of someone who thinks they can control cosmic chaos from a comic book shelf.

As for celebratory phone calls or the deafening silence of failure, rest assured: if you need a true expert on escaping cosmic traps without needing mass approval, you know where to find me. No need to call Warner Bros.

No need to use social media, either. Just come here.

And remember: the universe might fail to save itself, but the style with which one falls... that is exclusive domain of AS.

# Against facts there are no arguments. Ohhh, I’ve got the full database. 

# Talk to each other's, pretend it's the 90s.