Posts by Alan W. Rateliff, II

Re: What about written SF?

Hear, hear. I would have voted for the computer from "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein. Old girlfriend got me reading him, and it's a good read. IIRC, the computer called itself "MYCROFT." It started out as a bureaucratic tool which suffered "feature creep" of getting tied into one system after another until one day it woke up and was terribly bored so it started playing practical jokes, including mucking about with government payroll. Not evil, but it did ultimately lead the lunar colony revolution against Earth.

Paris, loonier colony.

Re: Game port

That would be it, then. DMX definitely sounds familiar. I am going to double-check this over the weekend when I have access to the equipment, but I recall seeing MIDI triggers available in the control program, and the controller board does seem to communicate via MIDI over USB (per something which popped up at one point or another.)

None of this withstanding, the system likes to lock up and crash. Frequently. Its poor behavior has earned it its own machine to hopefully quell its fiendish and cruel appetite for watching liquored-up patrons stop dancing and stare around in dismay when the lighting system suddenly conks out. What really sucks is it also controls the lighting for the stage shows.

Paris, another staged show.

Re: It pays to be nice

I'm glad that worked for your Mac. I tried that with my Dell Latitude D430 with a 1.8" hard drive. I was on my third hard drive under warranty, the previous started making loud clacking noises and the system would hang, occasionally bringing about a BSOD. I tried being cheery with Dell up to the point where, even though the drive's own SMART was telling us it was dying, they refused to replace the drive as the increase in the number of bad blocks on the drive didn't trigger Dell's diagnostics (and as I later found from the Office of Michael Dell, Dell does not work pro-actively.) At that point I lashed out and got my replacement hard drive.

Up until last December. In September I decided I would go through the regular process of troubleshoot, diagnose, send out a tech to replace a part, repeat. After about a dozen tech visits only to encounter the same problems, tech support offered me a system replacement. Unfortunately, the system they sent me came with no expansion capabilities while I have a stack of PC cards which I use regularly (I know, outdated, but the system even lacked a PC Express slot.) I had to send it back and spoke with the tech who "owned" my case about a more viable replacement, which we found but I had moved into a period when I could not afford to spend more time and an occasionally crashing computer was better than no computer for a week.

In early December I phoned in again and asked if we could continue the process. I was handed off to the Office of Michael Dell where a very nice lady told me Dell would not be replacing my laptop, I would be required to send it in to the depot to check, and I could be without it for up to two weeks. My warranty was due to expire on January 3 or 4, and I was desperate to just get a good hard drive, so I complied. I received it back within a week to discover Dell's depot had it in-hand just long enough to reload Vista (and not all the drivers, mind you,) box it and get it out with the day's FedEx, along with a note stating that no problems had been found. Of course, the hard drive SMART still showed increasing failures.

At this point I realized I wasn't getting anywhere and would just have to wait for the drive to fail, so I went online and purchased an extension to my warranty. To which I later that day received a call from Michael Dell's office telling me my system was no longer qualified for a warranty, my order was cancelled, and I would be receiving a refund.

Fine. So I took my refunded money and went on eBay, found the same model hard drive but faster (a "C" version at 5400 versus the "B" version at 4200) and LO! A better hard drive which hasn't given any signs of failure in almost a year, much better than the previous provided by Dell.

My next laptop won't be from Dell. As well, after relating this experience to several customers, I've been able to move them away from Dell and in some cases have made laptop sales myself, pretty well making up for the aggravation I experienced.

Paris, does not qualify for a warranty.

Re: I was all for this protest..

So you'd be happy just letting this slip because the loudest voice against it is someone who's religious? By this logic, even if you believe abortion is murder you would not speak out against it because the loudest voices against abortion are religious.

Pretty damned sad, IMNSHO. The religious and privacy angles notwithstanding, as I feel these get addressed fairly well, let's look at some numbers. The school system is spending $500,000 ($.5 million) to wrangle students in order to win a $2 million grant, a net gain of $1.5 million. I posit that the $.5 million could be spent on mechanisms which work to entice students to desire participation in an educational environment like, oh, better teachers, better trained teachers (good and dedicated teachers, you know I'm not talking about you,) better curriculum, better extra-curricular activities which can only be enjoyed if the student is fully attendant, and so on. $500,000 goes a long way to encourage and entice rather than coerce, bully, and buy-off.

Net gains in this scenario are a better school, happier and more capable students, students who retain dignity and privacy and develop a sense of doing right for its own merit rather than because they have to, less stressed teachers and administrators, more productive individuals going out into the job market, and $1.5 million. Hell, for that matter, the school might not need $1.5 million in pocket-padding if the $500,000 was put to better use.

Paris, could be put to better use.

Re: Just a thought

"Because old scans aren't medically important and thus it would be a waste of public money?

That would depend. In my case, I'm being denied an insurance claim on a severe accident which has left me with injuries to my back because I have no proof that the injuries shown in a recent MRI weren't present long before as I never had an MRI on that region. An MRI from just five years ago would settle the argument. Fortunately I have the recourse to sue the insurance provider and am doing so.

Paris, obsolete eight years ago, as well.

Re: How do I distinguish bugs from features?

"Microsoft are far more patronising and arrogant than I believed."

The satirical article notwithstanding, I'm of this opinion. For me it started around the time Office 2007 was being released and in a TS2 seminar a Microsoft rep says to us, in similar terms, "our focus groups have allowed us to determine that the Ribbon interface is more ergonomic." The entire audience queried, ergonomic for whom?

I have a number of ideas swirling around in my head right now, about keyboard obsolescence, Kinect for Office 2013, multiple screen switching being the same as multiple maximized windows (on 2400x1500 screen you maximize your browser?!) and so on. But I'm just don't have the wherewithal to bother right now. Have to go pretend to do some work today.

Paris, slightly less ergonomic.

Re: Think of the Children!

Sadly, if ever "proven" (being that plenty of research fails to prove) or simply accepted as reality, this could very well become another child welfare issue. We're already seeing how parents are inadequate at raising their children: not providing the proper nutrition, not providing a proper learning environment, not providing proper supervision and locked entries around pools so other unsupervised children don't break into your property and drown, not providing proper warnings to children to not question the missives of so-called authority and eat competitive foods like (gasp) sour cream and onion crisps at lunch.

Soon we'll add not providing a electromagnetic-free environment for the child.

Paris, mutated by bag phones while in the womb.

Re: Ironic Punishment - use MIRRORS

And here you have it. Asshats who point lasers at aircraft because it's cool and/or fun wind up getting the government involved and screw everyone else who have non-menacing uses for lasers and laser pointers.

Paris, menacing asshat.

No method of compliance checking

Unlike a phone call which clearly informs you who is honoring the "Do Not Call" list, there is (currently) no way for the end user to determine whether or not a web site is honoring your "Do Not Track" request. Once such a mechanism is in place, or some individual or investigative journalist sets out to make these determinations, said violators can be publicly shamed.

But the real question is, will they (the violators) care? The answer is, in all likelihood, a resounding NO. At least unless someone or a group of someones can prove damages and therefore sue the violators. I believe this is due to a large number of consumers having given in to the warped sense of commerce which tells them that the lowest price or best discount, irrespective of the reputation of the entity providing the offer, is the one to choose. In corollary, a smaller number of people -- which do exist, just in comparatively smaller numbers -- genuinely vote with their dollars and will pay a higher amount if it means not dealing with shady characters.

Paris, violating the violator.

Re: The article did not specify the age of his 'girlfriend'!

Son of a ... you friggen got me. I was gonna tell you that you can re-vote a post, but then I saw what you did there.

Re: Not that dangerous

I've been bitten twice by the damned things visiting in the general area you mention. Both times the bite produced the ugliest of weeping sores at the bite site -- my calf in both instances, which makes sense given how I sleep when I do sleep. The timeline for me was a large pustule in the middle of red ring of rock-hard swollen skin, followed soon by little pimple-like nodules growing randomly on and around the swollen ring. The central pustule was weeping within hours of discovery and during the day it and its smaller companions had ruptured and the following two days were perpetual changing out Gauss bandaging, wiping up weeping liquid, removing dried up fluid (really not dry, more like a tree-sap,) and general cleaning to prevent infection.

Within a couple of weeks the weeping had all but stopped and was being held back by a scab just barely capable of holding in fluids, and barely capable of staying in place. Meanwhile the swelling had spread out more but the protrusion from the leg was reduced. About a month after the bite the site had no more swelling, no more oozing, and was just a thick scab about 1/3 inch across. This one remained more resilient to transient abrasions and annoyances, and stayed in place for about another two weeks.

In short, spider bites suck even if they don't kill you. Oh, and did I mention that for an entire month the damned thing itched like nothing I had ever felt before? (Except for the second bite, since I had obviously experienced similar itching the first time.) Oh, God, how it itched, but I experienced no illness associated with the bites. And for the curious who are still here, I did seek advice from my physician who said that so long as I wasn't getting sick, the only thing to do would be an optional course of antibiotics to help prevent infection. The first time I opted for a short course to be on the cautious side, the second I flew solo with no adverse results.

Paris, oh, God, the itching!

Re: I hate to piss on anyones parade but...

"Presumably that's why they are no longer at NASA.

Every single scientific representative to the UN from every country in the world agrees that global warming is at least party a man made problem....There simply is no credible doubt anymore."

Your fallacy is lending so much credence and credibility to so-called authorities. At one time authorities told us the world was flat, the Earth revolved around the Sun, you could buy your relative's way out of Hell, and my grandmother swears killing spiders in the house brings about bad things.

To your quick dismissal of these 49 ex-NASA scientists, I find it equally reasonable to presume this small group of scientists left or were pushed out of NASA merely because of their stance against the ruling "consensus" of AGW. Considering various schemes to commit world governments to the behest of a single ruling body and the prolific ideology of wealth redistribution, I am not at all surprised that scientific representatives to the UN are preaching the End of the World and that we must all repent by way of de-industrialization (or something damn near it.)

While I fail to accept the size of a group is by any means a measure of its credibility, given that the natural state of Man is tyranny and not freedom, I tend to err on the side of the lesser voices who take the more difficult stance to question authority than those who take the easy route to simply accept the "consensus."

Paris, man-caused warming.

Re: Stupid

"Taught by Professor Basil Fawlty"

I refuse to sit idly by while you ruthlessly attack the great Basil Fawlty. In my not-so-humble opinion his greatest mistakes were caused by not listening to his lovely wife.

Take it back this instant, sir.

Re: New Headline...

Tongue-in-cheek, I realize. I am compelled none-the-less to mention that I have seen this technology in action. At an NSA conference within the past year I, as well as any other participants interested, was shown a sample scenario which went something like this:

"Locate a man in his 20s with this tattoo driving a red car. Follow this car noting all of its stops. If it meets a white truck, disengage the car and follow the truck. Make note of the direction the red car takes."

Best of all, this is near the exact plain language fed to the drone's control system, along with pictures when appropriate. The drone performing this action is capable of circling and monitoring a large metropolitan area to accomplish its task. As well, the video it uses is extremely hi-def. While the actual fidelity is classified, I was informed it is well above what is capable with home entertainment equipment.

The video was incredibly impressive and frightening at the same time. This is immense power, and with such power comes responsibility.

Paris, does she watch the watchers?

Re: Again...

Taken for face value, remember that it wasn't Anonymous who took credit for the outage, but rather an individual who identifies with Anonymous. More of the "lone wolf," if you will.

With everything going on, there could be a number of lies and trolling happening right now so none of us can really speak with authority on what transpired.

Paris, speaking without authority.

2/10, you got me to respond. You know, there is such a thing as The Weather Channel. And every local market I visit has some kind of local antennae-based weather channel. To fall, for a moment, into tongue-in-cheek stereotyping: Fox had to gush over the token Republican female subservient to her husband trying to gain power, and the rest had to spend time bashing and mocking her and her husband and his party for the blatant sexism and racism on display.

There's a reason people hate politics.

Paris, there's a reason for her, too.

Re: Breaking news: Stores teach employees to sell stuff

Yeah, to some degree. Back in the old days when I sold shoes, tacos, and computers, I was trained, taught, and learned to know my products and understand the customer. That never included not admitting that a product could be flawed nor power tactics which put me in charge of a sale. Take ownership, yes; give guidance and advice, yes; but never to seize a position of power over the customer. Nothing pisses of a customer more than realizing at some point they were duped or manipulated.

Provided they ever realize it at all. In my current life I have dealt with customers who believe the salesman of MegaMiniSoftwareCorporation, Inc. is actually their friend and confidant and said salesman would never tell them an untruth or statement lacking in fact.

Paris, taking power over us all.

Re: Options

I up-voted you because I believe you are very artfully trolling by playing on human arrogance.

"...being in control reduces more risks than it creates."

Paris, she sees what you did there.

Re: The 12%

At 12% we are definitely within the minority and in a business sense I believe we do actually represent a liability. I still have a couple of GSM and an EDGE phone on stand-by for when my more advanced phone takes a dump. Mind you, when I say "advanced" I speak of a Sony Ericsson C905a, which is not a smart phone but is at least 3G-capable. (And it has not crapped out once, though it is becoming physically well-worn.) But they are just that, backups and not primary use phones.

I can probably find similar arguments about the transition from AMPS to TDMA, TDMA to EDGE, and so on. Most arguments were about change itself, and I know I did not desire to purchase a replacement for my TalkTime 850 which worked just fine. The arguments did not appreciate that the movement from one technology to the other was between phones of equal reliability and operation. There were very basic phones tasked with very basic operations: making phone calls.

My concern is as mobile devices become "smarter" and the number of smarter phone users increase, so will the chances of being stranded without usable service. I am not aware of any smart-phone with a dumb-phone fall-back feature. That is, if a smart phone cannot boot due to file system corruption or a bad application, then the user is completely locked out of making a phone call. I ran into this problem with a phone loaded with too much media for its media database to handle: it took two boots and almost 20 minutes before the phone was usable. In an emergency situation this is not acceptable. But then, mobile phones are, IMO, by design supplemental to emergency situations not accessory.

Mobile phones have several inherent unreliability factors. While many of those factors are mitigated, making them more complex increases the impact of unreliability as well as introducing new ones. An increasing number of people are abandoning land lines for home service in favor of mobile phones, and for practical reasons. But in the event of all but the most devastating disasters I can pick up my copper service, hear a dial tone, and place a call to someone -- although, it is a bit more difficult to reach an operator in some areas.

I can bash my princess phone and still make a call. Try that with a 'Droid.

Paris, inherently unreliable princess.

Re: I think..

It depends upon the application. I'm working with a medical practice management vendor who is moving from MS SQL to MySQL. They've reported to me that the move has gone perfectly including stored procedures and they're into testing with only three weeks development time. This is a particularly attractive venture when considering that Microsoft does not offer upgrade paths from existing SQL licenses. 55 users on SQL 2000 cost about $8,000 in the day (give or take) and "upgrading" those 55 users to SQL 2012 (with 2008 down-grade rights IF you purchase the installation media for another $70 or so) gave a price of around $12,000.

MySQL seems the more attractive offer. And, honestly, amongst all of the "free" database engines out there, I much prefer MySQL over Firebird or Pervasive. I've never seen PostgreSQL used in an application environment, but I can imagine it performs in the "meets or exceeds expectations" category.

Paris, needs improvement.

Re: "We have fixed the problem" says Yahoo Spokesperson.

For added security, we use FOUR ROUNDS of ROT13. Crack that one!

Paris, crack.

Re: Washington?

Leon County, Florida, is heavily Democrat, liberal, and urban with smatterings of rural. No strip clubs here.

Paris, smatterings.

Re: The point is...

That is the point. I've had a couple of angry discussions with Microsoft over their MAPS sales assessment requirement to buy my subscription. I sell their product and support it on a daily basis. It costs me $400 a year to rent their software which allows me to do so (and it's a lot of software, so that's not a bad price.)

They want to crack down on illegitimate distribution of their software. I get it, but a better way must exist. The developer above notes that he can use his Enterprise license to set up multiple virtual instances for testing before deployment which will use the customer's actual license. This is exactly what these subscriptions are for, though I'm not certain that an MSDN license wouldn't be better for him (some of the subscription purposes are a little blurry.)

By cracking down on the pie-rats, Microsoft is also clamping down on legitimate people doing legitimate things. Meanwhile, real pirates don't have to deal with the licensing and activation crap. Just honest people. You know, the whole locked door keeping out an honest man thing.

Paris, keeping men out.

Re: If it was up to me...

Should have done this from Day One. In any case, I still cannot subscribe to the idea of putting in resources to keep infected machines operable. The sooner they "break" the sooner they'll be fixed.

Paris, long broken

Re: Just say NO!

It seems Microsoft is going to force the Next Big Thing(tm) onto us whether we want it or not. My customers who have purchased SBS avoid Essentials because they don't want to be in the cloud -- they don't trust the cloud. The cloud takes their data out of their hands, or more specifically out of mine, and they trust me. I have a name, a face, and they know how to get hold of me, and my work speaks for itself.

I'm hoping that enough resellers lobby Microsoft to reconsider its position on SBS. I'm only one person supporting a couple-dozen sites running SBS 2003, 2008, and 2011 which obviously do not have internal IT staff and have obviously out-sourced to me. I can't be the only one, and I imagine we still number fairly large.

Paris, numbers fairly small for understandingment.

Re: Not calculate!!!

And if wet, it's raining. Genius weather device, that!

Paris, wet when raining.

Re: Is Lewis in the 1%?

"I envy his bank balance."

Therein lies the cancer which is killing our societies. I suppose you exist in the real 99% which is in the starving third-world? Personally, I am not in the so-called "1%" and I will happily pay a premium for certain items I deem worthy. I also realize that means shunting funds from another expenditure or working an extra bit to accommodate both.

(Bear in mind, also, that the "1%" and "99%" monikers are completely arbitrary and not based upon any real numbers in real life or in this post.)

Paris, on a fourth-world of her own.

Re: Makes More Sense

Outliers do not represent an entire nation. Attention whores are universal and we don't have a monopoly on them.

Paris, monopolistic...

Re: For fucks sake

I'm just happy to know they are hashing the passwords and not storing them as plain text as has been the case in a number of other leaks.

Paris, a number of leaks.