Posts by lglethal 3902 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Jun 2007
Please if Skynet had been created by Meta, the T1000 would not have been trying to kill Sarah Connor, it works have been aggressively trying to get her to try this new great Anti-frizz Shampoo and Conditioner. And maybe a new wardrobe. And isnt the one thing she was really missing in her life, a new IPhone... And, and...
Im not sure which is the scarier future...
Just curious, if they sold two versions:
One - Iphone alone. Really just the Phone.
Two - Iphone and charger Bundle. And the Charger can even be in a separate box just tied to the phone box by the packaging.
Would that meet the requirements? I'd think it would, and also give the Environmental benefits. Hell the bundle could even cost more then the phone alone, and I would guess that would still work. Anyone who needs the charger gets it, anyone who doesnt, goes the cheaper option.
This seems a really daft ruling, unless Apple have been hiding the fact that they dont put a charger in (so some deceptive advertising), but at least where I am (Europe) Apple have been very clear they arent including chargers anymore. I think it's even on the phone packaging. So, at least I doubt that's the reason, but who knows with Apple. I guess the reality Distortion Field is not so strong in Brazil...
I'm sorry but I dont believe Norman could ever have been a real consultant, or perhaps I'll concede this being his first consultanting position, he just hadnt developed the necessary "skills" yet.
Every Consultant I've ever met has lived by the motto:
"Consultancy - If you're not part of the Solution, there's money to be made prolonging the Problem."
(motto stolen from despair.com, but really does seem to apply to a LOT of consultants I've met...)
150 million is a hell of a shave. I wouldn't even say it's a close shave.
Seems more like what you'd get if you tried to shave your beard off using a blow torch, held on a selfie stick, with your eyes closed, whilst hopping on one leg, and singing Green Day's American Idiot at the top of your lungs...
My wife and I are beginning to look at the market for new phones, but only because our current phones (which are currently circa 8 years old), are dying. I have one cable that will charge my phone (and only after about a minute of fiddling to correctly seat the connector each time), the back of my wife's phone is falling apart, and is currently only held together by a rubber phone case.
And even with all those problems, my wife and I are still reluctant to buy a new phone. Ours still work, and do everything we need after 8 years, so getting a new one feels like a waste. Also there does not appear to be ANY "one handed use" phones on the market. About the closest is the Iphone Mini or the Asus Zenfone, but even these are bigger then our current phones. Everything else is a bloody phablet.
Eventually, we will be forced to get new phones, when these do finally give up the ghost, but a) the new designs all suck, b) there are no new killer features that are truly better than my 8 year old Sony, c) I've got better things to spend my money on this year.
What am I getting at with all of this rant - inflation is just one factor in why people are not buying new phones. The time of people upgrading every 2-3 years (or even yearly for some people) are well and truly gone...
Sorry but this guy is a muppet.
I'm an aerospace design engineer. I use CAD software to design things. That does not make the CAD software the inventor when I create something new and patentable. The CAD software is a tool that I use to create something.
AI is exactly the same. It is a tool to create something. It requires a human to decide if what it has created is what it was supposed to, was revolutionary, and is worth patenting. Left on its own it will not do anything. It requires human input to tell it what to look at.
Also the fact that AI might do millions of iterations to decide on an optimal one is irrelevant, my CFD or structural analysis software will do millions of calcualtions that I could never perform to determine the equilibrium of my system, or where the hot spots or weak points are, but that doesnt make it revolutionary. It's doing a task I've assigned it.
When the AI can start coming up with its own ideas without being given any direction, input or feedback, I'll start thinking about this situation some more. But until then this is just the reverse of the old adage "A bad tradesmen always blames his tools", in this case "One utter Tool wants to credit his tools with his own inventions..."
When the money is not yours, people get very blaise about the sums involved.
I guarantee that if the person doing the transfer was sending $100 from their own account, they'd have double and triple checked everything. But because it's not their money, and they probably, have a dozen other transfers to make before lunch time, then meh. Quick, quick, quick, get it done, so you can have another chat at the coffee machine. That's people, it's also why business software really should have even more checks on it then personal software.
What gets me is that they didnt find this for 7 months! I mean surely they do an assets and liabilities review every 3 months at the MOST. I mean monthly would make more sense with such crypto bollocks. How can you miss Millions for 7 months and not notice...
True, but then you're no longer talking about the super cheap civilian drones, and have moved up into commercial level drones, which are a grade more expensive then the DJI civilian drones, are nowhere near as available, and where the suppliers probably take a bit more care as to who the end customer is.
So your kind of talking a level in between civilian drones and military ones, with a price also in the middle. So again you wouldnt be getting a cheap and cheerful swarm of these things...
There is a lot of bloat in military hardware admittedly, but it's not as simple as buying a a ton of consumer grade devices to replace the military ones.
Firstly, at the moment one operator can only fly one drone at a time. Yes if it gets shot down they could immediately launch another, but thats not particularly effective since the new drone still needs time to fly to where the old drone was to continue its mission, etc. But there are no actual swarm technologies currently flying. There are plenty of research projects exploring this, but there is no actual current way to fly multiple drones in a swarm in a military environment in a useful manner (the drone "firework display" type of swarm is not useful in the slightest in a military application).
Secondly, as has been found in Ukraine, tracking of civilian drone signals back to their operators is relatively easy. This means in Ukraine most of the time, the drones are flown very fast, on a recon mission, and then the operators haul ass to avoid retaliatory artillery fire. Military drones have encrypted and hardened comms to prevent this. In addition, the technologies exist now to disable civilian drones (jamming) at considerable distances. This so far hasnt been used in Ukraine, primarily because neither side seems to have this technology in place (surprisingly), however, the technology exists and is already in place in various airports and protecting military installations in the west. I am surprised this hasnt been implemented at least partially yet, but maybe both sides like having the recon ability? Again military drones are hardened against this sort of jamming technology.
Thirdly, civilian drones are only particularly effective at recon. They cant carry a heavy enough payload to carry a weapon that can deal a great deal of damage (in a military context), perhaps a single grenade, whereas military drones are usually much larger and designed to carry much larger weapons, up to and including multiple missiles. Just ask Afghanistan how effective those missiles can be at destroying things.
And on the recon side, a civilian drone usually has just a single camera. Military drones, usually carry various grades of optics (infra red, higher quality optics, etc.), can fly higher and with a greater field of view, and so are much more effective at observing without being seen.
The civilian drones have done wonders for Ukraine so far in the war, but as both sides start developing anti drone weaponry and technology, you will see the larger military drones having a much larger effect, as it did in the early days of the war when it was the large Ukrainian military drones, who effectively wiped out tank columns, with well placed missile strikes. That's not something the civilian drones will ever be able to do...
Only if you've got spinning rust inside. SSDs should not suffer from this due to having no moving parts. And since they're are no moving parts on your processor, etc. They should all be safe too.
I suppose you could damage someone's fans with the right frequency, but there are so many different fans in use, that finding the right frequency for your intended victim would be a lot of work.
I'd say your safe for now...
United are hardly slouches in the transfer market! Over the last 10 years only Chelsea and City have spent more then them and not by much.
Yes the Glazers take out a lot of money each year, but that doesnt particularly stop them buying whoever they want, and that has been the Problem for years at Man U. They havent had any sort of team or transfer philosophy in place, and so they buy whoever is considered hot regardless of whether they would fit in the team. They then sack the coaches when things dont go to plan. So now they have a team who have no idea how to play together, have no spine, no desire, and are happier on Social Media than on the pitch. Hmmm, seems like Musk would fit in quite well...
On a side note, I think you will find the general consensus is that the quality of Apple kit has dropped off significantly in the last 5-6 years, compared to what it previously was.
My wife's 2008 Macbook is still going strong hardware wise (but the software is now causing problems since so much cant be installed properly on the old OS). But newer kit seems to have no end of problem. So your 2011 iMac still going strong would be expected, but with a newer mac, i dont think you can expect the same level of service and longevity I'm afraid.
If it is the same cable as in the 2016 model which is defined as being defective, unless there is a major design change at the joint that means the shorter length is now acceptable in the 2017 model, and nothing I've read speaks of ANY design changes in this area, then it should be quite clear that the 2017 model is ALSO defective. To claim anything else is just nonsense.
Too bad Apple cant get a right kicking for such blatant bollocks, but most of the consumer protection agencies have been so hobbled by lobbied governments that they dont have the resources to go after even blatant cases like this...
I hope whoever agreed to allowing catering to use the server room for cooling received their pink slip before the day was over. Dear lord that's a horrendours decision.
Who could ever think letting a load of unknown, low paid, catering staff to run loose in your brand new server room was ever a good idea. They maybe saved $100 by not having to hire a refrigerated trailer to store there stuff, and look what it cost them!!!
My Flabber is well and truly gasted...
I find the American system that requires States to ratify changes to the Constitution, and not the People, to be utterly insane.
The Constitution is for the Protection of the People, yet the People dont get a say in changing it. Crazy!
And yes, you can argue that people vote for their State Parliaments, but it's not same thing. If it was, you wouldnt have, as you do at the moment, a majority of states having Republican led state governments, whilst also having a Democrat federal president. People vote differently between local, state and federal levels. Some might see their foreign policy goals aligns with one party, but their plans for local housing development aligns with a different party. Naturally then your not going to vote for your foreign policy party in your local elections, and vice versa.
The People should be the ones with the vote on Constitutional Amendments, without that you will now never get a new Amendment due to the hyper partisan nature of American politics. This is backed up by the fact that there hasnt been a ratified constitutional amendment for 30 years! Not since 1992 and that Amendment apparently took 202 YEARS to ratify!! It also basically just says politicians can only change there salaries after an election, and for some reason that took 200 years to pass? Insanity.
The previous Amendment before that was 50 years ago!
Since you will never under this system be able to modify your constitution, you will rely on more and more legal decisions produced by your now political Supreme Court. Good luck with that...
Absolutely, this has happened at my firm recently as well. There was a project visit to another site for a day, 2 hours bus each way for a fairly good full (8 hour) day out. 2 days later, we were informed by management we should only book the 8 hours to the project and the travel time was our free time.
I made it very clear to my manager that under those rules they would never get me to do another business travel.
It was especially galling because the company was bragging about winning a multi billion dollar contract just that morning, so there was a lot of annoyance over this. Oh well, people will get the time back anyway, long lunches, massaged home office times. All this does is kill any goodwill that the travel bought in the first place. But you never can seem to get that through a Beancounters head...
And who was it that determined that Thalomide wasnt safe. Other Scientists.
Science is about collaboration and communication. Scientific Consensus will point one way, until evidence comes along and says No that's wrong. Then Science will admit it's mistake and move on to the correct solution, or the next correct solution.
Politicians do not do that. General's never do that.
China's entire economy is in the toilet right now because of it's Zero Covid strategy, which the rest of the world has abandoned. But China cant abandon it, because it's entire leadership have spent the last year telling the Chinese population that the rest of the world are idiots and Zero Covid is the only way forward. They cannot admit they were wrong.
The Russian advance in the first few weeks of the Ukraine invasion killed hundreds (maybe thousands) of their own troops. They expected to waltz in and be welcomed by the Ukrainian people. The generals and Putin cant admit they screwed up, they cant admit they're failed strategies cost thousands of their own soldiers lives. And so they plow more and more soldiers into the meatgrinder, and hide the true figures from their own people.
I'll take Science, which will happily say, we have new evidence which says we were wrong before, so now we will move forward with the right way forward. I'll take science, anyday...
Prior to the whole Ukraine invasion - the various major space agencies (with the possible exception of the Chinese) worked quite well together. They co-ordinated pretty well.
But once militaries get involved, such as those wanting to shoot down satellites, then co-operation and co-ordination goes out the window. Once the militaries decide they want to test their weapons, even if the space agency turned around and says this will cause us masses of problems, Who do you think the man with his finger on the trigger is going to listen to - the generals or the scientists?
Shame, really. The world would be 100x better if it was in the hands of the scientists instead of the politicians and militaries...
You've just been given the keys to the biggest, most public project of the Emperor's reign, where he has declared "This money is going to make us a technology Superpower!".
Do you
a) Work hard to maximise the value of the product, grow it and make it a massive success, please the Emperor and find yourself on his good side, with all of the promotions you can imagine to follow?
OR
b) Steal as much as you think you can get away, and risk the wrath of the Emperor when he finds out you've been stealing from his pet project?
What does it say about those high up in the CCP, when given that choice, they choose option B? Either their Greed knows no bounds, they are stupid beyond belief, or they truly believed Emperor Pooh Bear is not so powerful that he would come after them. It was probably all 3, wasnt it?
Keep your fingers out of the Pot of The Emperors Pet projects. Maybe that should be the new propoganda slogan at the CCP...
Excuse me but No I am not making the same argument as used against strong encryption. I believe strongly in Strong Encryption. I also understand completely that there may be reasons why people may want certain transactions to remain anonymous (and for that cash remains king...)
But I still stand by the fact that I have not heard of a single legal and legitimate reason for people to be using a Tumbler Service. You also have not proferred one, so please enlighten us - when would a Tumbler ever be used by anyone for a legal legitimate purpose.
We all await your beneficient wisdom...
Privacy from Government investigation into our finances is already something we dont have. Not unless your a proponent of Tax Evasion.
We all have to declare how we earn our money, in order to pay our taxes. Even Prostitutes have to declare their earnings. Using a Tumbler service is not going to change the fact you need to declare the source of your income. Unless of course it's coming from an illegal source or you're trying to avoid paying taxes on it, in which case the Tumbler service might help you out, but again thats not a legitimate legal use case.
I was thinking the same thing!
After a quick poll of the office, no one could come up with a legitmate legal reason why you would use a Tumbler Service.
The closest we got was that perhaps for the funding of Spies, etc. to hide where the money comes from, but even that's stupid. It would be much easier and more secure to create a new anonymous wallet, and transfer the funds from there. the use of a Tumbler Service on the funds being sent would probably act as a red flag in the first place. So you know it would be a dumb idea anyway.
Anyone got a legit reason for these services to exist? Apart from making their owners a little bit richer at the expense of regular crypto users (also known as Victims or Potential Victims!).
I was actually going to ask exactly the same question!
I've talked it through with my colleagues in the office and not a single one of us could come up with a legal legitimate reason for Tumblers.
Hiding the source of funds for Spies, etc. could be so much more easily done by just opening a new anonymous Wallet and transferring the funds from there. And that was the closest we could find for a legit reason why maybe you might use a Tumbler. But then the use of a Tumbler on the funds to be sent would be just as much of a red flag I would have thought, so even then it's not a real reason for their existence.
Anyone got something?
Just on b) its Regulatory in the sense that it hasn't previously been regulated, and as such the banks like to hold on to the cash for as long as they can get away with. Basically they stick the money in a high interest account for as long as they can and THEN send it on. After it's done it's work for them.
If the banks are told by government they have to send it immediately, they can do that, and they lose a bit of profit from playing with your money, but they can do it.
So it's a regulatory issue as in the regulations are not there forcing them to transfer it straightaway and as such, they dont...
A Reserve Bank actually investigating if there is a Need or Use Case for a Digital currency. How novel!
OK China has a use case naturally, tracking it's citizens, but in the West we kind of look down on that. So it's nice to see someone in the west actually investigating if there's a use case out there, rather than just if it's possible to do it.
Just because you can do something, doesnt necessarily mean you should do it...
"So they've decided not to offer it any more..."
From my minimal reading into this topic (very minimal admittedly), Google havent actually stopped offering the services, they've simply changed the name and pretended it's a completely new service.
"Hi I'd like to use this voucher to buy a Big Mac."
"I'm sorry Sir, but we no longer sell Big Macs."
"But what's that then?"
"That's our new Burger, the Gros Fromage. It's made of two 1.6 oz beef patties, special sauce, iceberg lettuce, American cheese, dill pickles, and minced onions, served in a three-part sesame seed bun."
"But that's exactly whats in a big Mac!"
"Yes Sir, but this is a Gros Fromage, not a Big Mac. See, it says it right there on the packaging."
I did suggest that when it gets taken down after 6 months of no replies, if there is no outcry from the community, then it gets deleted. Are you suggesting that people wouldnt notice for 3 months it being down, and would not complain about it disappearing within that 3 months?
If it's vital, and suddenly disappears people would absolutely complain. Then Gitlab could bring it back, but perhaps by assigning it to someone else, as the original Author has not repsond to 6 months of messages, and so cannot be considered to be enaged with the community.
OK. For those of you who have downvoted, propose your own solutions...
I am not a programmer, (so not a user of Gitlab, Github, or any other repo service), but one way, that I would have considered reasonable, is that if you are no longer contactable after a year of inactivity then your account gets shut down. So after a year of no activity, Gitlab sends you an email to your associated email address. If you dont respond, then your account goes away. Hell for safety make it multiple emails over the space of 6 months, but if your not contactable by then, I dont really see a problem.
Perhaps for safety, after that 6 months, Gitlab removes the Repo from being viewed or used or whatever. Keep the data but with noone able to contact, it view it, use it , clone it, whatever. And keep it in that limbo for 3 months. If there are no massive howls of anger from the community, then it goes to big the Data graveyard in the sky. If someone suddenly finds themselves needing that repo, then it can be restored, and Gitlab can probably charge for its restoration at that point.
I cant really see a problem with this idea, beyond that Gitlab will have to put up with zombie projects for another 18 months...
Tesla has not even come close to reliably solving one relatively simple task," Marcus said, referring to the years of work on self-driving that Tesla has yet to perfect though...
I agree with him that it's preposterous that the robot meets all the bollocks that Elon claims, but I have to disagree that self driving is a" relatively simple task".
I don't think anyone in the field of optical recognition or self driving would ever think it was a simple task. It's a very difficult problem, even more so when you take it out of the lab. All the more reason Tesla should get a locking for such blatantly false marketing claims as "Autopilot" and "FSD"...
So the miscreants made off with more crypto. Surprise, surprise...
What I find even more amazing is that there are still real people out there, who are willing to spend real money to buy these shitty tokens off the scammers (and I'm not limiting myself to talking about the thieves with that statement).
Every day, we read about Crypto being stolen or looted from one service or another, and yet people still buy into this stuff. It boggles belief....
Such sanctions would only bring short term woes. There is already a lot of firms pulling manufacturing out of China for other cheaper places (Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, India). And there is very little that is produced in China that could not be reproduced outside of China, perhaps it would take some time to build a new factory, train workers, etc., but that move is already happening.
China knows it cant do too much in that regard, without killing its own economy, and the whole deal of the CCP with it's people is that it will maintain a growing economy. The moment that stops, things started looking decidedly different internally.
So China might do a few targeted sanctions, but it wont do much to hurt it's already struggling economy...
I really wish the west would just come out and acknowledge Taiwan as a full nation, give it embassies and just stop the whole One China thing. Acknowledge and reward the people of Taiwan for developing a strong and stable democracy!
What can China do if the entirety of Europe, the USA, Australia, UK, etc. all act at the same time? It can't attempt to stop trading with all of them at the same time, it can't attempt to punish them all at the same time. A United front would show China that despite its words to the contrary it needs the west as much as the west needs it. Probably more in truth.
It won't happen, but it would be lovely to see...
You could save a heck of a lot more money if you got rid of every one with the word "Chief" in their title. I guarantee you would see a massive uptick in morale as well.
And for every "Chief" you got rid of, you could hire a dozen engineers (or more!). That would really put you at the cutting edge of technology and development.
What? Too radical for Silicon Valley? Bah! You said you wanted entrepreneurial!
If the vast majority of drug dealers that i happened to be acquainted with in my younger and foolisher days, are anything like those today, then absolutely drug dealers, at least at the lower levels, are completely unrelated to organised crime. Eventually somewhere up the ladder, there will be some contact between the people dealing to the public and the actual organised crime gangs, but as a general rule those doing the dealing to the public are not members.
Then again my info might be somewhat outdated...
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