Posts by Gray

Re: Florida the sucks ass state

Florida: budget mismanagement, corruption, crony politics and voter suppression.

Re: I'm not sure which is worse

Cops & Spooks & Gov't Agents are all human, and that said they'll never hesitate to use whatever 'better' tool may be at hand. Restraint is only an obstacle to achieving whatever end is sought. As for the "Stingray" restrictions and prohibitions, I'm reminded of a raunchy old joke:

A young lady and her beau were engaged in heavy petting downstairs. Her mother was upstairs, supposedly asleep . The 'making out' (Brit-speak: snogging) got quite intense; she began resisting, he began pleading. "Just let me put the head in," he begged. From upstairs came the sharp, scolding voice of her mother: "Remember, Agnes! A _prick's_ got no shoulders!"

That's the state of law enforcement oversight in the US. 'Mother' is upstairs, asleep. The pervasive intrusion of US police powers long ago lost any hint of having shoulders.

Anti-Government Attitudes

A letter has been issued concerning your anti-government attitude but the contents are classified. Further actionable findings are classified. The arrival and purpose of the visit of two federal security agents with your employer and their instructions concerning employment of persons of suspect loyalties are classified. The reasons and determinations of your discharge and the denial of unemployment benefits remain under seal. Your arraignment in federal court is pending, but the hearing will be closed and the transcript sealed. Sentencing guidelines are classified. The length of imprisonment is indeterminate. Parole hearings are denied for undisclosed reasons.

The government imposes no restriction on your exercise of Constitutionally-assured First Amendment freedom of expression. Please understand, however, that with Freedom comes Accountability. Authoritative studies of persons making anti-government statements, apparently harboring seditious attitudes, establish probable potential for domestic terrorism. Proofs are conclusive, but remain classified. Preemptive intervention is authorized, but triggering parameters for suppression and incarceration remain classified for reasons of national security. All such instances remain ineligible for appeal or review. No record of such instances occurring may be released. It never happened. It cannot be appealed.

Re: Same old, same old

"... fail to drawn on ... "

Fail to frown upon? to prawn beyond? to draw in one? to drone on? I ken your words but kinna grok your meaning.

Re: It's all Microsoft's fault!

They're even solely responsible for my atheletes foot, the dingleberries on my dog, & the fact that the squirrels are insane.

I hear that Microsoft has promised a Tuesday patch for that (contingent upon a voluntary Windows 10 upgrade).

Re: Citation needed

Descending the "Grapevine," a steep, downhill series of switchback curves north of Los Angeles on Interstate Highway 5, driving an 80,000-lb gross weight load behind a "Century" class Freightliner tractor, the engine compression braking system cutting in and out due to an intermittent fault in the computer-control circuitry. That's thrill enough for a lifetime, and my near-religious re-dedication to the principle of KISS* and mechanical/analog control systems where safety of life is concerned.

*KISS=>Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Re: Hole for foot

Extend foot, aim pistol, pull trigger=> foot hole!

Politician=>loose cannon=>same effect.

Impediment?

I've thought that most Brits carry umbrellas when out & about. A frightened gesture by a bumbershoot-packing pedestrian might find the collapsible device 'speared' through the bicyclist's wheel, thus precipitously impeding the velocipede's progress. A chastened peddler is apt to proceed more prudently?

Not only SF, but virtually every city of any size in America. That garage door opener? Registered & certified with attached compliance sticker. The opener mechanism? Inspected & certified, with safety instructions attached. Electrical source? Installed by certified electrician, installation inspected under city building permit & code certifications. The overall door opening installation, another city building permit, licensed contractor installed, city inspection certificate permanently displayed on wall. Annual variance permit issued for "historical district" waiver to allow electro-mechanical device operation. FCC compliance certificate issued under condition of operational compliance with device operations manual. One-week on-line training course for hand-held radio frequency transmitter. Annual renewal of operator's license upon payment of mandated fee.

Feel free to enjoy your precious liberty & hard-won American freedoms!

Re: Note to self...

Note to self: "Turn off phone before robbing bank, lest it ring during that critical moment when the bank teller is reading my "Put the Money in the Bag" note."

PS: "Remember to turn phone on again to call for get-away car."

PPS: "Remember to toss phone while accelerating away from robbery scene in get-away car!"

Re: Just a point of clarification...

Since when does any form of reality enter into political and emotional hysteria? The American Congress, standing upon the Patriotic Drumhead of "Protect the Peoples," will forge ahead with this legislation, or not, and will table it and wait to offer it up another day. Understand: nothing has to do with anything factual. Congress functions entirely within its own reality distortion field.*

*Gospel of Jobs.

Re: Yay!

Asking someone to dump their familiar [presumably] Windows desktop in favour of something new

most non-tecchy folks love their phones, but tend to slightly fear their computers, due to the perceived increased likelihood of "doing something wrong" and breaking it

And right there, Sparky, lies the nub of the argument! From my perspective, as a old-timer user who works with elderly friends (including my spouse!) there really is no longer a familiar ... Windows desktop! Most all the folks I know got well-accustomed to the XP experience; they bought all the "Dummies" books and struggled to learn the Windows "Way" of doing things. Then Microsoft proceeded to throw all of their skills in the shitter by needlessly fecking around with the interface, until finally the users begin to look at their PC with all the love and adoration they'd give a turd in the punchbowl.

And I've been asked to "fix" their PC's because "it broke!" and it's all fecked up and won't do anything anymore, all because they fell into the Venus flytrap of digestive sludge that is the Windows OS that doesn't get tweaked, cleaned, deloused, defragmented, and de-virused on a weekly basis. Arcane Linux? Without exception every Senior whose Windows OS I've replaced with Linux is happy! The OS sits in the background, never intruding, while they do Email (T-Bird), Browse (F-Fox) and write letters to Social Security (L-Office).

A new variant of L'nx on an affordable gadget? Hell yes! Goodbye, MS Win, you can kiss our gnarly ol' asses goodbye whilst we snatch up our walkers and leave yer unholy mess o'confusion behind!

Re: America

"America

Is fucking crazy."

No. America is divided. Half of us is totally pissed off at the other half!

Re: Ditch it already @Gray ...... the Explosive Clock is Ticking

S'pose I could say, "Rothschilds... who?" but no, I've seen & shunned all those "they conspire" delusions. Nothin' to do with Jews, either. We leave that to the KKK in their mental boobyhatch confines.

Nope, we've got our very own cabal of the one-tenth of one percent right here in the U.S. After all, when one single institution (JPMorgan Chase) can eat Mexico for lunch and pick its teeth with Puerto Rico and never stop to belch, the Rothschilds begin to look like has-beens. No, America's Defense Industry is one small glittering cog in the great Wheel of Finance that rules the US. We're just waiting for the Next Big Attack to justify Martial Law and an Emergency Ruling Council; properly apportioned into Security Districts. With proper Financial Controls in place to assure Efficient Budget Operations. Example: US Social Security Trust Funds privatized via Wall Street/JP Morgan Chase. Now there is a conspiracy theory, writ large!

Re: Peasants! It's all your fault

...members of the public have a responsibility to follow some basic rules to protect ourselves ... using strong passwords.

How about: jUstFEckOffYouDizzyarSEdBitchgeTyoUrNosEoutOfMYliFE!

Or would that be considered "AntiGovernment" and a crime in itself?

Re: Infected industry

@Doctor Syntax

Thank you, Sir, for your understanding comment. I don't mean to condemn the entire group (well, maybe ... a little!) but I got rather cheesed at the Priesthood condemning that poor lady who went for help to get set up properly, lost her data, and got royally dumped upon. I'm 75 ... I spend some of my time helping other Seniors here in the US with their home computers. It's a challenge! Not because of the befuddled, confused state of the users, but because of the insanely arcane, less-than-transparent, poorly-implemented state of the operating system and the software.

Here's a clue: I've wiped Windows off their machines (with their permission) and installed a desk-top friendly version of Linux. They get along with that just fine! I do counsel them about safe browsing, avoiding "click-itis", and backing up their user files. But they do just fine, and I check back frequently to see how they're doing. With one old gentlemen who needed his Windows system, I've had nothing but grief and repeated call-backs. I get paid lunch as a service fee. I've threatened to break his fingers if he doesn't stop clicking "free offers" in every web page he opens ... but hey, we're old and stubborn, and we'll do it our way. He's a Silver Star medal WW-II vet, one of the few still alive, so I can't get too upset with him. But Windows is NOT his friend. It's a malware magnet.

I see another U.S. hospital has just been knocked offline by a ransomware attack. I suppose it's their fault for not having a sufficiently funded IT staff, or for letting the doctors and admin staff have access to the facility's computers.

If MicroSoft would devote as much resources rallying the US government to help clean up the situation as it does ramming Windows 10 down our throats ... if they would immediately stop using their security patch system as a malware delivery system to the point I've turned OFF all MS updates on my Win7 laptop ... if the U.S. government would wake up and begin to track down and prosecute malware hackers instead of acting as hired thugs for entertainment industry DRM enforcement ... and if Intel & AMD & Dell & Lenovo & Amazon & Google & all the others would wake up and begin to think of customer security rather than condoning Adobe-insane privacy invasions ... well, I'm not sure whether to cry, curse, or pull the plug on all this computer crap. You know, the benefits are looking pretty doubtful in view of all the risks!

If the IT pro community isn't going to get in the industry's face about these things, who is? My Congressman? Hell, that idiot is the biggest part of the problem... and he stopped listening to people like me a long, long time ago. We don't have enough money to buy a minute in his office. Thanks for listening. </rant>

Re: We've all seen House of Cards

I expect that you will make a full investigation into these statements and take action wherever appropriate...

Key phrase being take action wherever appropriate: that does not imply "no" action; rather it means, redouble the effort to plug leaks, stifle whisteblowers, and vet all idiot executives before they're allowed to make speeches in public. Refer to Classified Report Addendum to this Committee's Public Report.

Re: Developer support depends on Microsoft delivering the right eco-system

"We are certainly saddened by the current Microsoft strategy and the apparent ignorance of Microsoft not getting it right. I fear that many more development houses will drop away from this platform.

As a home-based user, blogger, and writer who is increasingly relying on Linux-based apps, that certainly sounds like a coffin lid dropping into place! What good is an OS without a freely-accessible universe of apps?

Re: I've only one thing to say to Microsoft Executives about Windows-10...

"Go and read some of the 1-star reviews on Amazon.com you total fuckwits!"

Holy Rejectulation, Batman! Nearly four hundred reviews for Win10 on Amazon, and it averages three stars out of five? Bat guano gets four! That Win10 score ties with Joker and Scarface for butt-ugly!

Re: "lower labour cost countries"

yes, Arkansas is one, surrounded by a few others. Not competitive with India for hi-tech, however, so no help there, but for Bangladeshi-style grunt-labor it remains very competitive wage-wise. Educational cut-backs in the K-12 area forestalled any hi-tech progress.

Just sayin' ...

Re: Pandora's box

"...appropriate combination of pressure and plea bargaining in quite a few of them,,,"

Sort of on the order that sees some 95% of all felony convictions in the US gotten through plea bargaining? Take the lesser sentence, or face the maximum sentence allowed under law? Or would that possibly expand to include an automatic trigger for failing to reveal the password: presumptive guilt plus fifty years in federal prison for failure to comply.

Not my idea of a brave new world.

Re: Whare are the NSA / GCHQ whe you need them?

Please to remember, it's only a hospital hack. In the U.S., that ranks as a regrettable incident. Nothing at all like a critical assault on a multi-national corporation and the fortunes of America's One Percent; or an Insurgent and Subversive Attack against national security such as the hack of a Three-Letter Agency which would require Congressional Inquiry, Administrative Executive Action, and Enhanced Investigatory Powers.

'tis only a hospital hack. We've got lots of hospitals and far too many sick people draining the system. So let's keep a sense of proportion here, folks. Move along, nothing to see. It's just another hack. Not like we haven't had lots of 'em. Keep moving along now ...