* Posts by DJ

159 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Nov 2007

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Underwater cables in Red Sea damaged months after Houthis 'threatened' to do just that

DJ

Hello?

The sixth century called and they want Yemen back (click....bzzzz...)

Sorted!

Japanese Yakuza boss charged with nuclear trafficking by the US

DJ
Joke

Re: Dinsdale

Have an upvote for trip down memory lane.

Just don't use any sarcasm...

The Post Office systems scandal demands a critical response

DJ
FAIL

On the other hand

If this had happened in The States, the managers at Fujitsu and the Post Office would be receiving bonuses.

Seriously.

The week in weird: Check out the strangest CES tech of 2024

DJ
Coat

Re: Send in the clowns

I'm pretty sure I saw those some time ago, under the Acme brand, and strapped to a rather unfortunate coyote.

(Mine's the one with the Looney Tunes logo.)

Welcome to 2024: Volkswagen really is putting ChatGPT into cars as a gabby copilot

DJ
Coat

File this under

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

Been driving VAG vehicles since 1985. After learning this, there won't be another.

Sadly, what one car builder does, another seems keen to do as well.

Does anyone honestly see any of this as improving things?

(other than profit margins)

Sent from my touchpad whilst driving and eating a sticky-bun.

Mine's the one without a VW key in the pocket. --->

Scientists mull Solar Radiation Management – a potential climate-change stop-gap

DJ

Who's in charge then?

Who gets to decide the fate of planet with their enlightened understanding of how this should work?

Who gets to decide it's working?

Or not?

I think I'm glad it won't be me.

(Please insert pithy remark about humans and planetary management here, if available.)

CEO of self-driving cab outfit Cruise parks his career

DJ

Re: Not going to happen.

Better than which humans, specifically?

The ones paying attention to traffic, weather, and road conditions? Not so much.

The ones checking their 'smart' phones, balancing their checkbooks (I witnessed this firsthand) or doing their makeup? Unquestionably.

Could the real problem be a societal one rather than a technical one?

IBM pauses advertising on X after ads show up next to antisemitic content

DJ
Coat

Who said that?

"X responded to questions from The Register, again providing a statement from an unnamed executive at the company."

Not much point reading the response after that, is there?

Mine's the one with something meaningful to read in the pocket.

FAA is done with Starship's safety review, now it's over to the birds and turtles

DJ
Mushroom

Re: No doubt in my mind

"...requiring in-orbit propellant transfer – itself needing a fuel depot in orbit, filled by a tanker variant of a SpaceX vehicle."

By 2025?

That will happen.

But only in Hollywood.

I believe we've seen this movie before -------> (icon)

Blockchain biz goes nuclear: Standard Power wants to use NuScale reactors for DCs

DJ
Mushroom

Re: Whose paying for waste disposal?

Please describe the source and process of the fuel for these reactors, and also include the process for safely disposing of the waste and byproducts - other than office furniture.

I'm keen to learn more. Really.

Nuclear-powered datacenters: What could go wrong?

DJ

One thing commonly overlooked

is the process of producing the fuel for the reactors.

Fairly nasty business.

No one wants to see the sausages get made, but someone still has to make them.

Perhaps AI will provide the solar breakthrough we desperately need?

/s

Why can't datacenter operators stop thinking about atomic power?

DJ
Meh

Haven't finished this yet, but

it is a rather sobering read: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Accidents-Meltdowns-Disasters-Mountains/dp/1605986801/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1695926974&sr=8-1

(sorry, not very good at HTML)

Perhaps the technology is not as dangerous as we are?

India lands Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on Moon, is the first to lunar south pole

DJ
Coat

Tell me again

what it is we're celebrating?

India: first country to put a machine at the south pole of the moon.

India: country with more smart phones that flushable toilets.

Have you been to India in the last five years? More than a few blocks from your hotel?

Mine's the one with the extra dose of reality in the pocket. ----->

California DMV hits brakes on Cruise's SF driverless fleet after series of fender benders

DJ
FAIL

Does make one wonder

Just how rigorous their testing programme is - oh, wait - this IS the testing programme.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled corporate profits vs humanity battle now in progress.

Tesla hackers turn to voltage glitching to unlock paywalled features

DJ
Pint

Re: I need heated seats like…

Old bumper sticker I once saw on an ancient MG:

Why do the English drink warm beer?

Because they have Lucas refrigerators.

Got a good chuckle from that one.

Obligatory icon =============>

Soon the most popular 'real' desktop will be the Linux desktop

DJ

Making a list...

of apps that I truly need. Once I find a Linux version/flavour/distro that accommodates that list, I will be joyfully casting off the Microsoft shackle.

Until then, I'm stuck.

PS: @katrinab - what on earth are 'spillable' functions in Excel?

Microsoft yanks internal Windows 11 testing tool soon after release

DJ
Unhappy

Re: Experimental new features

I think this will be where I get off the Microsoft treadmill train. Enough already.

Tesla to license Full Self-Driving stack to other automakers, says Musk

DJ
Pint

Prediction

Fully automated cars (that work without crashing into things) will arrive at the same time as practical flying cars.

(One shudders to think of the two combined...)

The Friday icon, of course.

EU boss Breton: There's no Huawei that Chinese comms kit is safe to use in Europe

DJ
Black Helicopters

For the less security-savvy among us...

Can someone with the technical chops to understand this stuff please elaborate on why it appears to be so difficult to definitively demonstrate whether anybody's kit is sending data to an unintended destination?

Or are they all in the employ of the [insert secret government agency name here]?

Microsoft and Helion's fusion deal has an alternative energy

DJ
Joke

Don't forget about

Xenix, anyone?

Google says it did not train its AI chatbot Bard on your private emails

DJ
Coat

"But they are incapable of reasoning and cannot tell fact from fiction – making them unsuitable for specific tasks like providing financial advice."

should read:

"But they are incapable of reasoning and cannot tell fact from fiction – making them unsuitable for any meaningful task except political speech writing."

Mine's the one without so much AI in its pocketses...

China crisis is a TikToking time bomb

DJ
Joke

If you belive that

I have a nice data center in Utah I can sell you.

Mine's the one with carbon fiber-lined tinfoil hat in the pocket...

Tesla fires gigafactory staff after someone made the mistake of mentioning unions

DJ
Coat

You work for Elon Musk?

Sorry to hear that, old chap.

Mine's the one without the spliff in the pocket.

Space mining startup prepping to launch 'demo' refinery... this April

DJ
Coat

Re: How does this work?

It doesn't.

Unless you mean getting a few people to be well-paid for a little while.

(Mine's the one with another bit of science fiction in the pocket.)

Tesla misses Q4 delivery expectations as stock keeps sliding

DJ

First to market isn't always the winner

Lotus 1-2-3 anyone?

C: Everyone's favourite programming language isn't a programming language

DJ
Coat

I thought everyone knew this...

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jbruce/humor/unix_hoax.html

(Surely not the original posting, but you get the idea)

Mine's the one with a first edition of K & R in the pocket.

Peekaboo: Once-hidden galaxy revealed to be window into cosmic history

DJ
Coat

I must have dozed off...

...during the part where they explained how particles of matter, e.g. galaxies, etc. are increasing in velocity from the "Big Bang" instead of decreasing.

I'm no genius, but I do know when to say "I don't know".

Then again, I don't get paid to come up with ideas that make no sense at all.

Mine's the one with the number blocks in the pockets...

Cops swoop after crooks use wireless keyfob hack to steal cars

DJ
Coat

Re: Security is hard!

An old chestnut in the automotive world: "The French copy no one, and no one copies the French"

(mine's the one with the non-wireless fob in the pocket...)

Laugh all you want. There will be a year of the Linux desktop

DJ
Unhappy

I don't love Windows...

... and the idea of DaaS from anyone (especially Microsoft) is repugnant beyond description.

Sadly, I use my computers to do things (I do not own any games, consoles, etc.) that require certain pieces of software, almost none of which are currently available for anything other than Windows.

I hadn't even considered the printer issues others have encountered.

What are people like me to do?

Apart from asking software vendors if they wouldn't mind awfully to stop fixing bugs and adding features to create a version of their software for the handful of us Don Quixotes, pretty please?

Like those odds? Me neither.

Is this a bridge too far for Microsoft? Philosophically, yes. Practically, I fear not. And they know it.

I have seen the future, and it is sad.

FCC takes on robotexts. Good news if your dad thinks IRS gives SMS rebates

DJ
FAIL

The FCC will get right on that...

just as soon as they address the blasting volume used on most TV commercials.

Founder of cybersecurity firm Acronis is afraid of his own vacuum cleaner

DJ
Pint

Get Smart! (or don't)

My new TV tells me it's a 'Smart TV'.

I have not connected it to the internet and never will.

It does what I want to quite nicely using the 1950s technology (antenna) in the attic.

That's my idea of 'Smart'.

I quite agree with the author's concerns about data and the term formerly known as privacy.

It's a shame more people don't care - perhaps then something would be done about it.

I just read somewhere that people are leaving FB in significant numbers.

There may just be home for humanity after all.

Here's one to a world without "social" media. (beverage of your choice, of course.)

China discovers unknown mineral on the moon, names it Changesite-(Y)

DJ
Flame

Yes, but does it...

cure Covid?

Microsoft sunsets Windows built-in data leak prevention

DJ
Coat

Funny, I thought...

Windows designed to be data leak system.

(Mine's the one with the pocket without much sarcasm left...)

FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall

DJ
Meh

Welcome to the automotive future

You don't really think this will stop with BMW, do you?

This is the type of thing that makes one glad to be older.

(Sorry, Millennials, but you are well and truly stuffed.)

Start your engines: Windows 11 ready for broad deployment

DJ
Unhappy

Re: Getting the most out of it...

And replacing it with what, exactly?

If you do much more than web surfing, you may find it challenging if not impossible to carry on as you do now.

I very much wish this were not the case; I'd like to do the same. Just not sure it's realistic.

Elon Musk puts Twitter deal on hold over bot numbers claim

DJ
Coat

Yawn...

Does anyone really care except Musk?

Reaches for the one uncontaminated with anti-social media...

To err is human. To really screw things up requires a wayward screwdriver

DJ

Re: Harrisberger's Fourth Law

Remember where you were on 18 Sep 1980?

You would if you lived in central Arkansas, USA.

Oops...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Damascus_Titan_missile_explosion

(Sorry, don't have link skills)

Glad this icon didn't happen then.

Or since.

Boffins' first take on asteroid dust from Japanese probe: Carbon rich, less lumpy than expected

DJ
Happy

Occam's razor, indeed.

So, all the matter we see (and still don't see, but think we can detect) magically comes into existence, organizes itself into (nearly) intelligent, sentient life on a planet that just happens to be rich in water and other ingredients required to support life

and surrounds itself with unique invisible barriers that shield its occupants from nasty radiation

and pops into a remarkably stable orbit around another magically self-generated source of energy which emits sufficient but not excessive energy to sustain said life. And the whole affair runs like clockwork.

Like those absurdly simplified odds?

Someone mentioned Occam's razor.

Accept that an intelligent being beyond our puny understanding created what we see and are and everything false neatly into place (excepting Facebook).

Zuckerberg wants to create a make-believe world in which you can hide from all the damage Facebook has done

DJ
FAIL

Prediction:

Refer to icon.

Chip manufacturers are going back to the future for automotive silicon

DJ
Coat

"Smithers, are we still pouring dollars into that chip plant on Taiwan?"

"Why, yes, Mr. Burns, per your instruct..."

"Good God, man, don't you know that plant and the rest of the island will under Chinese control before you can say 'bite me'?

We might as well just sign a check to chairman She!"

"Uh, I think you mean chairman Xi, sir."

"I don't care what her name is, just find us another place to make our chips, pronto!"

Just grabbing the Mackintosh on the way out the door...

Anonymous: We've leaked disk images stolen from far-right-friendly web host Epik

DJ
Mushroom

Oops - I thought I was at the Register site...

...not Reddit.

Infosec outfit Group-IB's website was defaced in weeks before CEO's arrest over high treason claims

DJ
Coat

I thought

Russia was organized crime.

Just on my way out...

Magna Carta mayhem: Protesters lay siege to Edinburgh Castle, citing obscure Latin text that has never applied in Scotland

DJ

Re: Holy Progress

Upvote for working in the reference to Click 'n Clack.

China starts testing tech to harvest solar energy from orbiting panels

DJ
Coat

Hmm...

"Solar power collected in space has the advantage of being unaffected by weather or that pesky thing called "night"."

This is not my area of expertise, but it seems to me that for this to work, the gizmo in the sky must be geosynchronous above the receiver gizmo.

If that is the case, won't both objects be in the dark at night?

Mine's the one with telescope that doesn't see as many stars at night as it used to in the pocket.

Huawei to America: You're not taking cyber-security seriously until you let China vouch for us

DJ
Mushroom

China's first on my list

When I need toothpaste with Melamine, disintegrating drywall, toxic pet food, or baby formula that kills babies.

None finer!

‘Fasten your seat belts, raise your tray table, and disconnect your Bluetooth headsets from the entertainment unit’

DJ
Coat

Re: 10 inches of screen?

8 inches?!

Very funny.

For an extra fee, you won't have the person in front of you sitting on your lap.

Mine's the one with the D.B. Cooper edition parachute in the pocket...

DJ

Roger...

Petition instructs Jeff Bezos to buy, eat world's most famous painting

DJ

Worth <> cash

One's net worth is not necessarily the same as dosh in one's wallet.

Not being of an accountancy nature, I wonder how do the rich-on-paper crowd scrape by?

Borrow against their shares? Slip a few out of the till when no one's looking?

Zoll Defibrillator Dashboard would execute contents of random Excel files ordinary users could import

DJ
Joke

..but is this current? (sorry)

Tesla agrees to follow Beijing's rules and build a data centre in China

DJ

Step into my parlor

said the spider to the fly...

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