* Posts by Dave Rickmers

79 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jun 2008

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Google's ex-boss tells the US it's time to take the gloves off on autonomous weapons

Dave Rickmers

Re: Autonomous weapons need to be internationally banned.

There's a Boston Scietific "dog" in New York City.

PC makers warn of battle for air freight capacity, will have to fight for cargo space with... the COVID-19 vaccine

Dave Rickmers

Re: Excuses, excuses

Airliner seats are easily removed and replaced with simple hand tools. There are heavy duty channels on the cabin floor. The seats have matching clamps.

As the FCC finally starts tackling its dreadful broadband maps, Georgia reveals just how bad they are

Dave Rickmers

They is us

We get the exact government we deserve.

Astroboffin gets magnets stuck up his schnozz trying and failing to invent anti-face-touching coronavirus gizmo

Dave Rickmers

Hand Soap with Capsacin Oil

The weapons grade stuff. Don't touch yer Willy.

How's this for a JEDI mind trick? AWS waves hand, has Uncle Sam 'reconsider' $10bn contract award to Microsoft

Dave Rickmers

Donny needs Jeff Bezos' help

Specifically the grocery store infrastructure. Whole Foods was name checked by POTUS yesterday.

Lab grown stem cells emit brain waves like newborns – and boffins build robot worm to slither through heads

Dave Rickmers

Rick Sanchez Effect

If something goes horribly wrong we can always teleport into another of an infinite number of universes. Or go back in time. Pickle Rick!

New British Army psyops unit fires rebrandogun, smoke clears to reveal... I'm sorry, Dave...

Dave Rickmers

It's the Germs logo from 1980

https://youtu.be/08MqYvU-yuM

"What We Do Is Secret" was their biggest "hit". Coincidences take a lot of planning.

Radio gaga: Techies fear EU directive to stop RF device tinkering will do more harm than good

Dave Rickmers
Big Brother

spectrum overspill disorder

This is to prevent ad-hoc networks from forming to distribute forbidden communications. Like when the "government" turns off the internet to ensure civil order. OpenWRT is too revolutionary.

Mobe networks battle to bring comms back after Hurricane Michael smashes US Gulf Coast

Dave Rickmers

Re: You'd think the Air Force would move the $150 million apiece fighters out of the storm's path

Homestead was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Nature bats last.

It may be poor man's Photoshop, but GIMP casts a Long Shadow with latest update

Dave Rickmers

Gnu yadda

Dave Rickmers

Re: Forget the geeky stuff, sort out the user experience.

How does Gnome Image Manipulation Program not convey your desired clues? Do flashbacks of Zed's basement haunt your unguarded thoughts?

Dems push Ryan to vote to help save America's net neutrality measures

Dave Rickmers

Re: 86% of Americans agree with *THEM*? Since *WHEN*?

Artificial Scarcity is the basis of Capitalism. ISPs should get out of the way. They should not insert themselves between us and the world.

LG chairman Koo Bon-moo dies, aged 73

Dave Rickmers

Re: Lucky Goldstar - What's the 'Star' for? - I only ever remember LG for being first at this:

My LG uses WebOS Linux and works very well. I rarely use it because I'm already configured on Roku. LG bought Zenith Electronics (Mexican assembly plants included) in 1999. That's where my TV is from.

Off with e's head: E-cig explosion causes first vaping death

Dave Rickmers

Re: Souk an e-cig

Propylene Glycol is the harmless food additive. Ethylene Glycol is poisonous "antifreeze". Word.

Lakes on the moon? Boffins think they've found the evidence

Dave Rickmers

Hopes?

What is the desired outcome that stirs your optimism? The Moon can't save you now.

Symantec ends cheap Norton offer to NRA members

Dave Rickmers

Re: ROTFLMAO!

Windows now comes with antivirus integrated. 3rd party antivirus slows down a modern computer, needlessly.

Speaking of anachronism, the gunslinger died ca. 1880.

Dave Rickmers

Death of the Minuteman

Every farm had a Kentucky/Pennsylvania rifle to harvest game. That was never considered re: Amendment 2. A sheriff confiscating a cowboy's gun was never imagined an infringement on the right of the People to have a well trained local militia.

The numbers don't lie. Our flaming lead subculture is killing us. The NRA are vultures. Five million vs 300+. The NRA has morphed into a guns and ammo lobby. Death be damned.

Opportunity knocked? Rover survives Martian winter, may not survive budget cuts

Dave Rickmers

Re: Give it away.

I read Arecibo PR will be getting the axe as well. Mick Mulvaney only believes in leprechauns and growth faries. He considers SETI to be pagan.

GRAV WAVE TSUNAMI boffinry BONANZA – the aftershock of the universe's Big Bang

Dave Rickmers

Re: "detected"

You said "today" which has a funny meaning in this context. (Just had to share a candid observation.) Are we viewing "today" 14 billion years ago, like it is happening now?

Forget invisible kittens, now TANKS draped in INVISIBILITY CLOAK

Dave Rickmers
Linux

All the high tech of a Radar Range

Everybody knows an open quarter wave stub shorts the design frequency to earth. This is probably just the principle realized with fractal antennas on a flexible backing. I designed a similar system to keep UHF TV out of open air stadia.

UK.gov BANS iPads from Cabinet over foreign eavesdropper fears

Dave Rickmers

Is it really "malware" if the government forces manufacturers to include such capabilities? New cameras and phones can be disabled by civil authorities at will. If you want to document the Revolution, dig out your old Rolleiflex or Brownie.

Rocket boffinry in pictures: Gulp the Devil's venom and light a match

Dave Rickmers
Alert

No mention of pollution or climate

SRBs make very nasty clouds, as do Hydrazine rockets. Look the other way at your own peril.

Intel's new TV box to point creepy spy camera at YOUR FACE

Dave Rickmers
Headmaster

Re: Tape

These sensors also sense infrared (heat) and even though they can't "see" you they can still map your movement (if any).

Germany's RTL pulls free-to-air channels off terrestrial TV

Dave Rickmers
Big Brother

This is very shortsighted

The People own the spectrum and deserve vibrant free TV in return. No matter how much UHF spectrum you give to mobile, it will never be enough. WiFi is the future of broadband portable, not mobile spectrum.

In the USA our free TV is getting bigger, despite the FCC constant whining about spectrum. The US Gov't is sitting on tons of unused spectrum, as is AT&T. We like our TV without gatekeepers.

Politico's locked room mystery Linux install crime solved

Dave Rickmers
Holmes

Are you sure?

I have never seen a Linux install disk, Live CD or Alternate, that didn't ask at least twice, if you are sure you want to destroy existing files. The staffer may have messed up and thought he was doing a dual boot or whatever but I doubt "autorun" wiped the box.

George Osborne accused of derailing UK.gov's green dream

Dave Rickmers
Alert

Re: Tell me again....

"...the Progress of Civilization!" Please! This is not progress and we are becoming less civilized.

By the way, when, in a nuclear plant's life cycle does the energy output equal the energy input; into the physical plant (steel, concrete, plastic, etc.) and the mining and refining of the fuel and/or the spent fuel recovery system? At what future date does a new nuke become a carbon reducer?

We cannot demand others do more with less while we ourselves continue to waste both old and new energy streams. This will be difficult but to not do anything will be harder. What do we have to do that is more important that insuring our kids have something to grow up in, besides "Road Warrior" scenaria of outlaw refineries and armed tanker convoys?

If you don't think AGW is real fine. The world is still cooking and we still need to try to reduce that. If we can't we can't, but we tried. We also need to start mitigating the damage that will be caused by rising seas and failing farm regions. The next 10 years will be crucial.

Dish Networks locks horns with broadcasters over ad skipping

Dave Rickmers
Thumb Up

Logical Conclusion

I can do the Dish box one better by simply skipping through the "content" as well. Commercial TV is not worth the trouble, even with the paid spots removed.

White Space trial: First Cambridge, then... THE WORLD

Dave Rickmers

Not "WiFi on Steroids" after all?

In the largest US cities there are no "white spaces" available. They are getting ready to re-band television for the second time in 10 years. I can't see making any investment in radios that may be obsolete in a few years. It definitely will never be sold retail to consumers.

AOL slaps on 'online Nielsen ratings' to lure advertising fat cats

Dave Rickmers
FAIL

The greasy underbelly of the internet

If the internet becomes another ratings-driven venue for "safe" content, I will be saddened. The TV model sucks. TV is designed for weak-minded people who actually buy the garbage on the ads. Smart people don't fall for the ads, so no TV for smart people. There is already too much fascism in media. Studios should not control cable TV systems. News media cannot be driven by profit motives; people need unpleasant news, even if the numbers sag. You have a smaller audience, but a smarter one.

We cannot have a society organized around Quarterly Earnings Reports. The internet is about chaos, not 22 minute 3 act safe padding between the ads.

Amount of ice in Bering Sea reaches all-time record

Dave Rickmers
Linux

Hippies were/are right about most things

Don't be so quick to condemn the humble hippie.

Freeview TV shoved aside for iPad-compatible 4G

Dave Rickmers
Linux

If it's digital streaming they can cut you off

Broadcast TV should be ubiquitous and available at the flip of a switch, for reasons of public safety and democratic process. If there's a proprietary CoDec involved any number of people can pull the plug.

LOHAN's fantastical flying truss menaces kiddies

Dave Rickmers
Linux

As someone living in the mountains near Los Angeles

I can attest that the wood is not an issue but that the flaccid Latex and/or Mylar draped in the shrubbery is ugly as all get-out.

NASA to blast 5 rockets in 5 min in jet stream test

Dave Rickmers
Black Helicopters

[persistent contrails] in Space?

Will H.A.A.R.P. be notified?

Satellite gives better picture of solar flares' effects on Earth

Dave Rickmers
Facepalm

No Maunder Minimum

Scientists (or more quaintly "Boffins") have already determined that the cumulative effect from a Maunder Minimum type solar event would be to reduce the temperature gain by less than 0.5 degrees Celsius. The 70% enhanced energy striking the planet is ultraviolet radiation, not infrared. It doesn't even reach the ground.

Better sunspot forecasts on the way

Dave Rickmers
Thumb Down

The sun is dead on one side

I too am a radio amateur. This solar max is a bust. Two days ago there were zero sunspots. Today we're up to 56. It typically would be over a hundred in this part of a cycle.

DIY aerial drone monitors Wi-Fi, GSM networks

Dave Rickmers
Facepalm

Blatantly illegal on several levels

It is against USA law to help yourself to other peoples' data. It is also against the law to endanger people on the ground with heavier-than-air craft capable of doing harm. You can fly things like that at an old airstrip, not above Paradise Valley, Nevada.

You kids have no sense of right and wrong. I blame my parents.

Microsoft COO: Our greatest enemy is old Windows

Dave Rickmers
Happy

Some 3rd Party Should Support XP After Softie Drops It

There are millions of loyal XP fans who'd love a 2011 version. (Service Pack 4!?)

Dave Rickmers
Windows

Microsoft is the East Germany of software companies

They need a big ugly wall to keep their "loyal fans" from fleeing. Does a company really need everyone using the same system, or an IT department that understands the real world. The Sun v Microsoft word document incompatibility from the '90s is not relevant today. There are too many mobile platforms, etc., to make macro to macro compatibility possible these days. Public Relations swag goes out on a PDF, not a rich text format DOC.

This is why a browser based work environment is what is hip today. If a worker wants Mac, why not? Same goes for Ubuntu, or whatever. That's how Google works, the IT department SERVES the staff.

Microsoft is so old fashioned one is afraid to be seen with it.

LightSquared promises to replace satellite push-to-talk kit

Dave Rickmers
FAIL

Solar Cycle 24 is not happening-the Sun has gone to sleep

Satellites are the least of LightSquared's problems. Their terrestrial base stations take out all GPS receivers within 20 KM.

US Navy orders laser machine guns

Dave Rickmers
Holmes

Couldn't the pirates hide in the fog?

Wouldn't a well placed smoke grenade render the laser useless?

Hacking scandal starts to spread beyond News Corp

Dave Rickmers
Pirate

Now I see why Pauly in Goodfellas never used the phone

Bin Laden, too. On the other hand, if you knew "they" were listening you could feed them "disinformation" and send them in pursuit of "at liberty" geese.

Shale gas frees Europe from addiction to Putin's Pipe

Dave Rickmers
Unhappy

Shale Gas Extraction is Not New

Fracking is a problem because it ruins 2 million gallons of fresh water per hole (or more). The casing on the well is what leaks methane and rotten eggs into the aquifers. This is a matter of codes and inspections. The world is awash in methane, there's very little money in extracting it unless you cut corners.

'There's too much climate change denial on the BBC'

Dave Rickmers
Boffin

There are not two sides to a fact

We should proceed as if the worst predictions and more are currently coming true, because they are. The models are wrong; warming is happening faster than predicted.

To watch you argue over the validity of something that is already happening outside your window is fascinating.

UK, Dutch cops cuff 5 more in Anonymous-LulzSec raids

Dave Rickmers
Pirate

I'm so scared

If enough people disobey at the same time the authorities will be unable to lock them all up. That's how pot got defacto legalized. There are no secrets.

"If you're not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to fear"

Dave Rickmers
FAIL

"Retard"

Not a word used by enlightened people.

Anonymous vows to attack Federal Reserve

Dave Rickmers
Thumb Down

No more business as usual

I don't think this mess will "clean up".. Congress must go too.

Bradley Manning now in nicer Army prison

Dave Rickmers
Big Brother

No Death Penalty Possible

The United States of America (+Samoa, Iraq, Guantanamo, etc.) is not at war, as defined by the U.S. Constitution. There is no formal declared enemy to which Pvt. Manning could have provided "aid and comfort".

A "single point of failure" this big is a crime for sure. But what kind of secret database can't tell when someone is bulk transferring thousands of documents. (Hell, I can't even save a screen shot to a thumb drive where I work.) The genius (genii) who put young Bradley in the tempting situation share[s] the blame.

I support full disclosure. The US Government should be transparent. If it doesn't stand the light of day, why?

I'm watching him back.

Pure Storage to dethrone 'evil' hard disk

Dave Rickmers
Linux

I'm still filling my first 160 GB drive

My (admittedly limited) experience with SSD is that they read faster, but write more slowly. The whirling platter magnetic storage devices are still my preferred choice for fixed location desktop computing. I have a couple netbooks with the squealing flash (yes it makes noise).

Puppy Linux is all I can afford

Ofcom refuses to interfere on powerline networking interference

Dave Rickmers
Big Brother

Perhaps a Radio Amateur Could Have Helped

We have mad skills re: wireless. WiFi can almost always be configured to work in a normally constructed residence. Unless the walls are made of metal, the thickness doesn't matter. The tip I give, that usually does the trick, is to get the antenna about 7' in the air, above the people and the wiring in the walls. Then you start trying directional antennas, gain antennas, Pringles cans, whatever.

Microsoft shows how to crowd-source spectrum management

Dave Rickmers
Gates Halo

You don't need "spectrum analyzers"

This can be done very cheaply with direct conversion DSP receivers for way less than $10k each. WinRadio, ICOM, Ten-Tec, and others all offer black box digital receivers, already equipped to network (verb). These provide real time full spectrum radio surveillance to intel communities. Most spies work for taxpayers (or Microsoft) so shouldn't the public have access to it?

Mister Softee is again trying to reinvent the wheel.

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