Re: I have signed it
I would sign it if I were in the correct jurisdiction!
Posts by Nunyabiznes
625 publicly visible posts • joined 6 May 2010
UK infoseccer launches petition asking government not to backdoor encryption
Apple's global security boss accused of bribing cops with 200 free iPads in exchange for concealed gun permits
Ticketmaster cops £1.25m ICO fine for 2018 Magecart breach, blames someone else and vows to appeal
Capita still wants to offload education software unit, sale talks ongoing
Let's... drawer a veil over why this laser printer would decide to stop working randomly
Friday 6th November 2020 15:52 GMT
@Pascal
"Ah, the good ol' let's put all the expensive electronics in the only room that can get flooded decision.
Amazing how quickly the floorplan can get changed after a good rain."
You would think. We bought some sandbags, floor dryers and a portable sump pump - because "It doesn't flood THAT often". Facepalm.
Heck yeah, we should have access to our own cars' repair data: Voters in US state approve a landmark right-to-repair ballot measure
Wednesday 4th November 2020 17:05 GMT
John Deere
Hopefully the big green and yellow company gets caught up in this also. Many farmers are left in the field waiting on a JD tech to show up and reset something as minor as an oil or air filter change warning. The tractor will either turn off or go into limp mode even if service has been completed because the farmer can't reset the hour meter.
There is a growing market for rebuilt vintage tractors just because of this kind of nonsense.
Wednesday 4th November 2020 17:00 GMT
Re: wrong focus
Gray and timber wolves are quite a bit different. Timbers are generally bigger and more aggressive than grays. They also have more color variation (minor point).
It is kind of a moot vote though. The Clinton administration got timber wolves introduced into Yellowstone park in the mid-90s (earlier than official documents show, btw) and those wolves have spread widely.
There were native wolves in Montana at that time (as well as northern Idaho and North Dakota and maybe more states but I can't testify to those). I scoped several while hunting the northern portions of Montana, Idaho and ND over the years between 85 and 95 before official introduction.
There was a case in Idaho where a hunter killed what he thought was a big coyote (which was legal). He turned it into Idaho Fish and Game where he was promptly given a ticket, fined and had his rifle and truck confiscated for killing a wolf. Eventually the courts declared that it couldn't be a wolf because legally the wolf was extinct in the US. This was right at the time the timber wolves were introduced into YNP. The wolf team denied it was one of theirs (because they insisted they knew where every one was and it would look dodgy if they acknowledged it was theirs). So either there were already wolves in the area, or the Fed wolf team was lying. Or both.
Suspended sentence for bank IT worker who broke into his boss's webcam because he didn't get a payrise
Wednesday 4th November 2020 16:18 GMT
State support
Question:
Would he qualify for unemployment payments (not sure what you call it there)? If he doesn't, is there other state support he would qualify for?
In most jurisdictions here, he wouldn't qualify for unemployment, but he could qualify for welfare payments (eventually) with the correct paperwork. That wouldn't be enough to afford housing in most areas, but would be enough for food.
Another eBay exec pleads guilty after couple stalked, harassed for daring to criticize the internet tat bazaar
Thursday 29th October 2020 14:51 GMT
Re: Just checking from across the pond
In my experience they are long term professionals who haven't had contact with day-to-day work in a long time. They tend to be politically astute within the confines of their department. Few of them are introspective - although there are exceptions, of course.
Many of them were good cops in the beginning of their careers, which is why they got a chance to use their political skills to advance. After awhile they view citizens like many of us view users (true of most cops I deal with).
COVID-19 security tips: Ensure you sack your staff without leaving their IT access enabled, says Secureworks
Elizabeth Holmes' plan to avoid her Theranos fraud trial worked out about as well as her useless blood-testing machines
Thursday 15th October 2020 17:35 GMT
Investors
While I don't have much sympathy for investors that control their own fate and buy into these scams, there are a lot of people who have pension or 401k funds that are managed by people who buy into these scams. Those little guys are generally left high and dry with no means of recourse. It is one thing to lose money due to a legitimate failure (the theory was backed by our small sample size - we need money to do a real test - and that test proves the theory wrong) but completely another to be swindled with malice and forethought by a scumbag.
Boeing Starliner commander Christopher Ferguson bows out of first crewed mission due to family commitments
A freshly formed English council waves £18m at UK tech industry, asks: Can somebody design and run pretty much everything for us?
Wednesday 7th October 2020 19:09 GMT
Privatise
Sounds like they want everything done for them, therefore the best thing to do would be to sack the lot of them and just have a corporate entity come in and take over the Council. The taxpayers would probably come out ahead.
Then the Corporation could contract out the political jobs. At least it would be more transparent who was bossing who.
US govt wins right to snaffle Edward Snowden's $5m+ book royalties, speech fees – and all future related earnings
Russian hacker, described as 'brilliant' by judge, gets seven years in a US clink for raiding LinkedIn, Dropbox
Friday 2nd October 2020 18:50 GMT
Baloney.
We spend inordinate amounts of money trying to give miscreants alternatives. Most of them only show for the sessions as an excuse to get out of their cell and do not take advantage of the opportunities. (Of course there are some who do.) The state pen here has GED programs, continuing education beyond HS, skilled trades apprenticeship programs, self-improvement classes, counseling (mental, drug, alcohol, etc.).
Some people come out ahead; it depends on their personality.
There ain't no problem that can't be solved with the help of American horsepower – even yanking on a coax cable
DuckDuckGo cries fowl after being expunged from Google's Android search preferences menu for most of Europe
Inflated figures and customers who were never there. Just another data migration then
First-world problems: The pumpkin spice latte is here, but the Starbucks loyalty card app has wiped my balance
Friday 25th September 2020 16:12 GMT
Spendy
"To get a free drink, they need to accumulate 150 stars – which means spending £150."
At my local diner I get a free cup of (plain old coffee - no fancy crap for me) about every 4-5th time I visit. Which means spending about $8-10 to get a free coffee.
Of course, I do take in my own cup for to-go orders. If I get their go cup, they have to charge for it.
Help! My printer won't print no matter how much I shout at it!
'Robbery, economic plunder, victim of larcenous cronyism and a heist'
Brexit travel permits designed to avoid 7,000-lorry jams come January depend on software that won't be finished till April
Woman dies after hospital is unable to treat her during crippling ransomware infection, cops launch probe
Chinese database details 2.4 million influential people, their kids, addresses, and how to press their buttons
The power of Bill compels you: A server room possessed by a Microsoft-hating, Linux-loving Demon
Friday 11th September 2020 15:00 GMT
Re: The frisson of Y2K
"I find it hard to believe that a whole team of experienced technical experts could have lot more than an hour or two before checking the floppy drive"
I don't. Sometimes the blindingly obvious has to hit you in the face for you to see it.
There seems to be a point in experience level that you have seen enough to be very confident, but not enough to realize Murphy is your personal enemy. That's when this kind of stuff bites you and makes you an even better tech.
Larry Ellison abruptly pulls rug from under philanthropy foundation after two years to 'focus on COVID-19 fight'
When classes are online, how do you get out of school? Florida teen cuffed, charged after crashing cyber-lessons
Friday 4th September 2020 14:08 GMT
Re: Anyone else think this is odd?
The theory is that it is an extension of "community policing". Basically embed police in the community they are charged with serving so they get a better feel for what's really going on.
What's really happening is that it is a quick way to get people promotions. The more duplication of departments you have, the more administrative positions you create. More chiefs, more captains, etc. It puts the same number of feet on the street, but costs a lot more.
UK utility Severn Trent tests the waters with £4.8m for SCADA monitoring and management in the clouds
Engineer admits he wiped 456 Cisco WebEx VMs from AWS after leaving the biz, derailed 16,000 Teams accounts
Adobe yanks freebie Creative Cloud offer – now universities and colleges have to put up or shut up
Wednesday 26th August 2020 17:17 GMT
Re: "...based on the US universities who are largely for profit and have big bank balances,""
Thanks for doing the research. I had a feeling this was true but didn't want to post until I had actual numbers.
Although "non-profit" can be a tad misleading. They can make a lot of money, they just have to have good accountants to skirt the tax laws.
Wednesday 26th August 2020 14:39 GMT
Re: Just perhaps
Upvote, but...
I still work with end users. And honestly, there are many of them, even Uni grads, that will never be anything more than rote learners. They simply cannot extrapolate from A+B=C to C-B=A.
They might be wonderful humans, but they are the ones making the average intelligence lower.
I student-taught a course, while in college, on critical thinking. Only about 30% of my students could actively take a set of facts and apply them to more than one situation - even after graduation.
*I had to pause to answer a phone call while writing this. The user was asking about an email they received and what they should do with it. It was explained in the first paragraph of the email exactly what was expected, from who and when. I fully expect to answer a lot of these calls in the next few hours. Bonus: The email wasn't even from our office. Sigh.
Um, almost the entire Scots Wikipedia was written by someone with no idea of the language – 10,000s of articles
The truth is, honest people need willpower to cheat, while cheaters need it to be honest
Relying on plain-text email is a 'barrier to entry' for kernel development, says Linux Foundation board member
Wednesday 26th August 2020 14:19 GMT
Re: So not just about plain text email
As an aside to your point (excellent btw):
Can you imagine how fast our computers today would be if all programmers were made to code /and test/ their software on ancient hardware? Even if they were forced to use the median performance level home computer in the wild to do their work on, it would be an eye-opening experience.
It seems the better the hardware, the sloppier the coding (in general).
Microsoft sides with Epic over Apple developer ban, supports motion for temporary restraining order
Monday 24th August 2020 13:58 GMT
Cynical
While I cast a very cynical eye upon Apple and their terms (and Google Play Store of course), Epic agreed to the terms and tried to pull a fast one. They probably did so knowing what Apple would do, and were ready with their legal challenge.
If Epic doesn't like the terms that Apple laid down, they shouldn't have played in their garden. Alternatively, they could have filed a suit while paying appropriate fees and seen if Apple would be foolish enough to cast them out without a valid reason - which would have played into Epic's legal hands.
*My reasoning is flawed if Apple changed the rules after Epic joined.
You *bang* will never *smash* humiliate me *whack* in front of *clang* the teen computer whizz *crunch* EVER AGAIN
You there. Person, corp, state. Doesn't matter. You better not shoot down or hack a drone. That's our job – US govt
Thursday 20th August 2020 21:24 GMT
The problem
Is this:
"The four government agencies note that they have been given special dispensation in the law to use anti-drone tech – and awarded themselves the right to shoot down any drone any time they like – but everyone else has to be careful."
Anytime the government gives itself carte blanche, the citizens are usually suppressed.
Amazon makes 850,000m2 bet that its people will get off the kitchen table and back to an office
Wednesday 19th August 2020 14:13 GMT
Re: Why offices?
I see the pro- remote work benefits, but for me personally I like the separation of work and home that an office provides. While I do have space for a home office (unlike many people), I don't want to dedicate it to that solely - and I would need to so I could "leave" work instead of giving even more free time to my employer.
I am fortunate that my commute is easy and less than 20 minutes 90+% of the time so that may bias my opinion. Just enough time to get into work mode going in and enough to shrug off the cares of the day before I walk into my house.
Of course, this is selfish to some extent. The environmental costs of having to commute into a building that has to be maintained 24/7/365 in addition to your house with the same requirements adds up.
Sun welcomes vampire dating website company: Arrgh! No! It burns! It buuurrrrnsss!
Monday 17th August 2020 17:32 GMT
Re: Not me, but someone else
The last time I went to buy a new truck I went in my shop clothes. Clean but obviously clothes of a working man.
The first salesman was a snob, so I went over to the next dealer (different manufacturer). That salesman was great. I bought the truck and made a point of going to the sales manager of the first dealer and detailing exactly why his dealership was down one cash sale. He didn't seem too concerned about it so I left a review on the manufacturer's website about the dealer. I got a call from the regional manager apologizing for the experience - which was nice. I heard later there was an opening for a sales manager at the dealership.
Want to hear our beloved David Attenborough narrate your life? Thanks to the power of machine learning, you can
Oracle and Salesforce targeted in €10bn GDPR lawsuit backed by profit-making litigation fund
We have bad news for non-US Microsoft fans: The incoming Surface Duo is underspecced, overpriced, and over there
Wednesday 12th August 2020 19:39 GMT
irritated customer base
Why would anyone be irritated by not being able to buy this? Seems like you should be happy that valuable retail shelf space isn't being taken up by overpriced tat.
It seems like MS has its thumb out trying to hitch hike while standing on the train tracks, as far as mobile goes.
Super Cali COVID count is somewhat out of focus, server crash and expired cert makes numbers quite atrocious
Tuesday 11th August 2020 15:07 GMT
Because there is money/power to be made by keeping a level of tension between different groups.
MLK believed a color-blind society was the only way forward to less racism. I think he was right, but there are many factions whose self-interest insists on keeping racism alive by separating and classifying us.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
