* Posts by Mark 85

12878 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

Caffeine makes fuel cells more efficient, cuts cost of energy storage

Mark 85

Not a surprise at all

Coffee/tea has been powering data centers since the very first one. Or at least those who toiled on them.

Health system network turned out to be a house of cards – Cisco cards, that is

Mark 85

Planned obsolescence = unplanned mayhem.

Willy Wonka event leaves bitter taste with artificially sweetened promises

Mark 85

And so it begins????

And so it begins – the absolute dumbing down and worsening of everything from media to film to advertising to politics to the written word at the dead hands of AI, stoked by venture capitalists' rabid faith that it will be some sort of productivity silver bullet.

I think "it" began some time ago. Everything.... politics, education, products... all have been dumbed down for some time. So what is "beginning"?? Enquiring minds and all thaqt.

BOFH: In the event of a conference, the ninja clause always applies

Mark 85

Why go to all that trouble with a simple "f*ck off" message willl work? I prefer simplicity.

NASA warns as huge solar flare threatens comms, maybe astronauts too

Mark 85

Re: A sunny outlook

I thought flares were those things the cops put along roads to guide traffic around accidents. Or maybe certain types of pants?

Dave's not here, man. But this mind-blowingly huge server just, like, arrived

Mark 85

Re: So, he was just fired ?

'd guess the dealer got paid off to return it. It would very likely have been at the director's personal expense, given how you wouldn't want that pay-off showing up on the books. After all the dealer probably wasn't even VAT registered.

Probably the easiest way to take care of this. Give the director a nice "bonus" and he uses that to pay off the dealer.

Dutch insurers demand nudes from breast cancer patients despite ban

Mark 85

Not sure why you've had downvotes but your solution sounds reasonable to me.

Add bacteria to the list of things that can run Doom

Mark 85

Having a WTF moment.....

WTF was my first mental response. Now I wonder "why do this at all"? My mind is truly boggled.

BOFH: Looks like you're writing an email. Fancy telling your colleague to #$%^ off?

Mark 85

Re: Not sure here

<sigh> I was expecting a defenestration event. Hasn't been one in quite sometime.

BOFH: Nice air conditioning system. Would be a shame if anything happened to it

Mark 85

The device is not just the BOM. You have to account for R&D, employees, any logistics and other running costs.

Not to mention board bonuses and stock holders watching the bottom line.

Mark 85

One of the many reasons we didn't buy a property there.

It's not just property. It's cars, trucks, electronics, just about everything. I suppose that at some point in time, bog roll also go that route.

Boffins demo self-eating rocket engine in Scotland

Mark 85

Interesting but....????

Given the complexity of control mechanism and changing of CG and thus higher costs and chance of failure what's the benefit? Don't the current solid fuel boosters/rockets work well enough? What am I missing?

CEO arranged his own cybersecurity, with predictable results

Mark 85

Re: Customers are the security liability

These things prove that a little knowledge is a very dangerous thing. Mose of those up high think they're smarter than the rest of the staff and end up making more problems thqn they solve. I'm of the belief that board members shoiuld only have something like a fake laptop that doesn't do much except read news and play games.

BOFH: Just because we've had record revenues doesn't mean you get a Xmas bonus

Mark 85

Re: A work of art

A work of art

... and a thing of beauty

And a joy foever. Let's not forget the joy.

Mark 85

Re: More Beria than BOFH.

A bit heavy handed of the BOFH - redolent more of a Lubyanka Square basement than his trademark gently assisted flight from the nearest window down to the carpark.

A bit heavy handed? I don't think so. Inviting them to look out the window from the top floor might be heavy but also works.

Ex-school IT admin binned student, staff accounts and trashed phone system

Mark 85
Coat

Re: Dontcha love the US court system?

Where someone gets charged with a whole heap of crimes, but plea bargains them all down to a single charge of littering...

I guess they forgot to add the charge of "and being a public nuisance". Hmm.... showing my age. I'll get my coar.

Mark 85

Re: NerdRageQuit

ndeed. I do wonder why someone with half a brain would think they could actually get away with it.

Hmmm... I think I just addressed my own statement.

Seems that one thing all criminals have in common is less than half their brain cells are working and they think they can get away with it.

Share your 2024 tech forecasts (wrong answers only) to win a terrible sweater

Mark 85

El Reg should win...

This is excellent..

Or it is revealed that Elon Musk is just a practical joke played on us all by cats seeking to rule the Earth.

IT sent the intern to sort out the nasty VP who was too important to bother with backups

Mark 85

Re: Can't stand IT

Departments that send out the new folks to be chewed up by the bullets instead of risking it themselves. Lucky this one survived.

Ah... the "cannon fodder" method. Sometimes though, the newbie has no preconceived notions and takes a deep dive. Luck is involved both good and bad.

Google Drive misplaces months' worth of customer files

Mark 85

Namely, that it's somebody else's computer and your files aren't as valuable to them as they are to you.

Exactly. The few times I've had to use the cloud, I still kept a back up locally. Saved my self headaches and stress several times when the datacenter crashed. I guess being an old-school grump and suspicious of many things has paid off over the years.

BOFH: We've made a big mesh, Boss. That's what you wanted, right?

Mark 85
Pirate

Re: HR Department

I'll have to have a chat with my brother, he started working in HR a couple of years ago.

I've always wanted to know what's on the other side of the event horizon.

Very quietly and with low volume, tell him "you really don't want to know". Give a knowing look and wander off to the pub.

Mark 85
Thumb Up

I think this is something we all needed today in light of what's going on around the world. Well done, Simon. Thanks for the laugh and the distraction.

Cat accused of wiping US Veteran Affairs server info after jumping on keyboard

Mark 85

Seems like a good "Who Me" article to me.

See title.

Nuclear-powered datacenters: What could go wrong?

Mark 85

Re: Interesting

But to put a nuke in would actually say they are preparing for the potential long-term/permanent downfall of the national grid, which is only likely to happen through war...

Not just war, add terrorism, civil unrest to the poinbt of extreme violence. And given the climate change and severity and number of storms, etc. seems to be increasing. I can understand their fears about the grid. We've already seen a few attacks on the grid by those seeking to destroy it. I suspect that sea level rise is also a fear as many power plants are on the coasts are near large rivers,

No, no, no! Disco joke hit bum note in the rehab center

Mark 85

If he downloaded Hallelujah, the problems would have been much worse. The lyrics Leonard Cohen wrote for that were 15 pages long by the time he was done.

I think "Tommy" from the Who would be cruel and work. THe rock opera, not the single.

I'll see your data loss and raise you a security policy violation

Mark 85

Re: Outlook...

Or having a massive pile of photos, random bits of paper and possibly even DVDs on the surface of their desk, and complaining they can't find anything, while the desk drawers are completely empty.

In some areas this also known as the "look busy kit, MK1". "Just look at that pile of work and you'll see I'm overworked and need a raise."

BOFH: What a beautiful tinfoil hat, Boss!

Mark 85

Re: Blockers

Doh, I have sat on my tinfoil hat and there is a large crease in it. Anyone know if that affects it's ability to block, well, everything?

It's not a problem but is now a feature. Acts somewhat similar to a Faraday Cage but differently.

Germany's wild boars still too radioactive to eat largely due to Cold War nuke tests

Mark 85

Re: This is actually a devious plan .....

Honestly over here that are far more interested in the tasty to eat than the healthy side. I'm betting if they marketed radioactive boar meat as a cure for vaccines they couldn't kill them fast enough to keep up with the demand.

And if they could get it to glow in the dark, it would end being the perfect late night snack as no one would need to turn on a light and wake up the rest of the family.

Polishing off a printer with a flourish revealed not to be best practice

Mark 85

Re: Stories from Grandad

oh... and ties.. everyone came fitted with a noose, it seems odd looking back.

Some offices said long ties needed to be clip ons instead of the tied ones. Bow ties could be eitehr. Rather archaic but the clip on was the tie of choice. Happily, many places just started ruling that "no ties" for the IT staff.

IBM shows off its sense of humor in not-so-funny letter leak

Mark 85

Re: Really?

I've heard it a lot here in the States over the decades. Was surprised by this revelation.

Moscow makes a mess on the Moon as Luna 25 probe misses orbit, lands with a thud

Mark 85

In space, no one can hear you go "thud".

How to get a computer get stuck in a lift? Ask an 'illegal engineer'

Mark 85

Not a computer but a large safe

I was just out of the military and working as the maintenance guy of a large 12 story office building while going to uni clases at night. We had manufacturing jeweler on the 8th floor who was moving to a new building. They had a very large safe to store their gold, silver, jewels, etc. The move was scheduled for the evening after the building shut down.

Comes the day of the move, the movers showed up with security guards, etc., and a tech from the elevator company. He had spent the previous day inspecting and adjusting the elevator. I got tasked to operate the elevator.

The safe was pushed into the elevator, then one of the security guys got in on one side of the safe and I on the other. The beast barely fit in through the doors and as it went into place, the cabling and elevator creaked and groaned and sank about 1 inch or so. I pushed the button and door closed and we went to the basement with the elevator groaning and creaking and my finger on the emergency stop button. In the basement the elevator mech made some adjustments and then went back up to the ground floor. When the doors opened, the elevator floor and hallway floor lined up. The crew pulled the beast out and halfway out, the elevator rose up about 1 inch or so. Might have been more but I couldn't tell from where I was. Finally it was out and we got out of the elevator. A very scary ride but ended well. They got the safe moved and the elevator tech and I spent some time readjusting it. The head security guy, gave both the tech and myself $100 as a bonus. Good times.

BOFH: You can be replaced by a robot or get your carbon footprint below Big Dave's

Mark 85

Re: Error in binary expression at line 61

The problem is, the bosses are ones who survive lay-off times. It's usually the worker bees who get canned and thus the bosses get big bonuses for "reducing costs".

Senator trying to force Uncle Sam to share everything it knows about UFOs

Mark 85

Perhaps the aliens own him? Or he is one of them?

Just thought I'd stir up the Qanons and give them something to whisper and/or scream about.

Mark 85
Alien

"The thinking is that a more comprehensive data dump of government documents on the matter will push back against conspiracy theories and the perception that Uncle Sam is purposefully holding back information from the public."

I suspect the inverse would be true.... release of the info would increase the paranoia and conspiracy theories. Appropriate icon of course.

BOFH: Lies, damned lies, and standards

Mark 85

Re: This boss...

We'll see how the "traffic sprints" go...

So something new instead of "come over to the window, I want you to see something."?

Ripoff Vuitton handbag smaller than a grain of salt fetches $63,750 at auction

Mark 85

Re: There's an old proverb

Also one about a sucker being born every minute.

Inclusive Naming Initiative limps towards release of dangerous digital dictionary

Mark 85

Re: Nope.

Maybe it's me, but I find most of this to be much ado about nothing. Words and their meanings change as needed by the people who use them over time. I suppose that at some point, someone will take offense at "kill-off" with regard to shutting down processes with extreme prejudice.

I do wonder sometimes what the next thing to be banned in the world will be.

Florida man insists he didn't violate the law by keeping Top Secret docs

Mark 85

Re: What I cannot understand ...

Absolutely ego. The man in question (by the way, love the way the article identified the perp through a long long list of misdeeds rather then by name) is a narcissist egomaniac who believes that rules are for other people. Simply being told that he couldn't keep the documents is enough of a trigger for him to want to keep them.

Ever notice that when he's not getting his way he crosses his arms and scowls like a two-year old? Did even when meeting with NATO. Those who suck up to him get praise, like Putiin and "Little Fat Man".

Mark 85
Black Helicopters

Re: What I cannot understand ...

is why he kept all of these files ? What advantage to him was there ?

a) it fed his ego

and

b) his presidential library which is also an ego thing.

For him to have a library he has to have all his papers from his time n office, minus anything classified.

what did he do with them, did he show them to people, did he brag about it.

Indeed he did show them to people and most of them didn't have a security clearance. Plus, there's telling how many papers he gave to his "buddy" Putin. There's a reason that Putin called him a "useful idiot".

Clippy designer was too embarrassed to include him in his portfolio

Mark 85

The biggest issue I heard while doing IT support was that the darn thing couldn't be turned off. Many newbies did like the help but then they'd hit a point where they didn't need the help (read as "instrusion") any more.

Malwarebytes may not be allowed to label rival's app as 'potentially unwanted'

Mark 85

Judges and juries and even most lawyers don't have a clue about IT matters so it's all voodoo to them.

Mark 85

Re: Legal definition of malicious software

That might be true for any enterprise that has professional admins. For most users, they just blindly install almost anything even at work on a company boxen. Hell, they click through just about averything that presents a "accept" button. I'm retired IT but get a lot of phone calls from "friends" who computers have suddently crashed or doing "strange things". I've been sending to local computer shops to get their boxes wiped and fresh OS and programs installed.

Is there anything tape can’t fix? This techie used it to defeat the Sun

Mark 85

Re: Not only mice but humans...

All the managers had the offices on the south of the building with a nice view. They also liked to have staff meetings in their offices on Friday afternoons. Between the after affects of a nice lunch and the sun heating the room, most of the staff would fall asleep during those meetings with manglement being outraged at those of us to drooped off to la-la-land.

Cisco: Don't use 'blind spot' – and do use 'feed two birds with one scone'

Mark 85

Re: Get a life, hand-wringers & namby-pambys.

It's spring and everything is blooming.... the trees, the flowers, the idiots.

Mark 85
Facepalm

Re: Scones

With enough cream and jam, wouldn't "kill two birds with one scone" be more appropriate?

That comes under the "no violence" rule using the word "kill". So many rules...<sigh> I guess it's time to go out back, link arms, and sing "Kum ba yah" .

Too much BS in world. I think I should just try to ignore it. On the other hand, it is prime fertilizer.

Pornhub walls off Utah in age-verification law protest

Mark 85
Coat

Re: Us hypocrites

But of course, one's willy is not considered a firearm in Utah. Wonder why that is...

Because politicians shoot blanks???? I'll get my hat and coar.

Mark 85

Re: Hmm

It really has nothing to do with parental responsibility. It has to do with "image" of the holier than thou politicos along with money, and control of the masses. Now if government actually practiced some ethics, then it would be a different story.

Mark 85

Re: I imagine Utah's most of lawmakers are happy about this outcome

It's pure politics and BS at it's worst here. Seems the far right is going after everything (except power, greed and maybe adult beverages... oh... and mistresses.) I'm not sure how this will all end up but things are a bit scary.

I'm reminded of an old curse.... "may you live in interesting times."