* Posts by itzman

1946 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Jun 2011

Boris Brexit bluff binds .eu domains to time-bending itinerary

itzman

Re: Out of curiosity ...

I regularly receive spam from .eu domains.

I think I have blacklisted all the top level

We're all doooooomed: Gloomy Brit workforce really isn't coping well with impending Brexit

itzman
Holmes

Whole of Europe is in recession

Why single out Brexit?

700km on a single charge: Mercedes says it's in it for the long run

itzman

100kWh?

Ok, I'll buy that. That's about what - 10 litres of diesel? 2.19 gallons?

700km? That's around 437.5 miles

200 miles per gallon equivalent.

OK even with a power train at 90% instead of 30% efficient that's still pushing 66mpg equivalent.

Especially lugging that much battery around

But how long wail a fast charged battery last?

50 charges?

Before it's lost half its capacity?

I really don't see it.

The NetCAT is out of the bag: Intel chipset exploited to sniff SSH passwords as they're typed over the network

itzman
Paris Hilton

Well! my hunt peck !miss !delete and !re-enter style...

...ought to be safe since even I don't know what I typed in half the time

...and the other half I cut and paste, thus sending it all in one packet..

Mozilla Firefox to begin slow rollout of DNS-over-HTTPS by default at the end of the month

itzman

No,,

My DNS server only has 'root servers' upstream of it.

I ask it., either it knows because its cached or it asks the root servers and then descends that tree...

Yahoo! customers! wake! up! to! borked! email! (Yes! people! still! actually! use! it!)

itzman

It was DNS

At one point not one of yahoo's DNS servers was responding to DNS requests. Anywhere in the world

Pentagon makes case for Return of the JEDI: There's only one cloud biz that can do the job and it starts with an A (or rhymes with loft)

itzman

Re: rhymes?

Lara Croft, Shirley?

Migrating an Exchange Server to the Cloud? What could possibly go wrong?

itzman

Re: Ah, unintended consequences

in many companies they were the ONLY people running apple kit

Sleeping Tesla driver wonders why his car ploughed into 11 traffic cones on a motorway

itzman
Headmaster

Re: God loves idiots or He/She wouldn't have made so many of them.

Frost giants IIRC...

itzman

Re: God loves idiots or He/She wouldn't have made so many of them.

Why not?

Boffins find asteroid with the shortest solar year of any space rock in our Solar System

itzman

Re: Short observation window

no point in building anything on mercury. Too damned hot.

But in an orbit between mercury and venus, perhaps

itzman

Two belts?

I think if you run the rather chaotic many body maths you will find that there are only a few attractors in the solar system and orbits that lie outside of these are unstable

I would be willing to bet that this particular asteroid will only last a few thousand or even million years in its current approximate orbit, before being perturbed [again?] by a close brush with Mercury or Venus

That this AI can simulate universes in 30ms is not the scary part. It's that its creators don't know why it works so well

itzman
Paris Hilton

Re: Skeletons

Do you realise that the human brain is the size that it is not to encompass the beauty of Romantic Poetry, but in order to be able to walk on two legs?

This weekend you better read those ebooks you bought from Microsoft – because they'll be dead come early July

itzman

DRM removal and calibre

I never found a way to remove DRM from many titles.

Id happily buy the e-books if I COULD remove DRM.

itzman
Facepalm

DRM is so successful...

...that I have given up buying Ebooks

Large Redmond Collider: CERN reveals plan to shift from Microsoft to open-source code after tenfold license fee hike

itzman

Re: Its the updates

Another extraordinary post.

What is daunting about typing your passwords and hitting OK?

itzman

Re: I guess people are just scared of command lines.

What an extraordinary comment.

Normal users simply don't go near the command line

In a supported environment like a large company users would never go there: they phone the support department and that is who goes there, if indeed it is necessary at all.

Once again a post from someone that simply repeats myths that haven't been true for decades.

Why?

How much skin have you got in the microsoft game?

Not very bright: Apple geniuses spend two weeks, $10,000 of repairs on a MacBook Pro fault caused by one dumb bug

itzman

Re: What idiot thought that was a good idea?

Idiots don't think.

Ever since the first wheeled vehicle was built and the need for brakes was discovered...

And software isn't tested either.

Cali Right-to-Repair law dropped, cracks screen, has to be taken to authorized repair shop

itzman
Headmaster

Or they loose a customer for ever

Always keep your customers on a tight rein...

Or is that a tight rain. Or a tight reign?

Meeeemmory ... prices tanned Samsung's behind: Profits tumble 60% as semiconductor demand in freefall

itzman
Meh

semiconductor business...

..is now a cash cow.

Steady sales, not much innovation. Not much development.

Certainly not in the core CPU/RAM business.

From an ordinary users perspective, memory and CPUs not much different from 10 years ago.

GPUS have come along a bit as has FLASH RAM. And other custom chips for RF and the like interfacing...

But really its all a bit boring these days.

A quick cup of coffee leaves production manager in fits and a cleaner in tears

itzman
Unhappy

I remember similar...

The new cleaner was cleaning and dusting the console keyboard on the PDP-11 development computer... In the Room We Were Not Allowed In. (We developed code on PCs, uploaded it via serial terminals and compiled it on the PDP using the PCs as consoles).

One morning, no PDP...when the sysadmin eventually came in and went to the console the cleaner had pressed some sort of break key that halted the enitire computer..

Rust never sleeps: C++-alike language tops Stack Overflow survey for fourth year in a row

itzman
Coat

Re: Surveys

And peole who hang out in stackoverflow have more issues with their language than anyone else...:-)

In the West, we're worried about shooting down drones. In Russia, drones shoot you

itzman
Mushroom

Re: I've known a few folks ...

I never saw it fire. Just the plane, then cut to a shot of a burst balloon.

I assumed it was faked and the balloon was burst by someone on the ground with a shotgun

Campaigners cry foul over NHS Digital plans to grant policy wonks and researchers access to patient-level data

itzman
Facepalm

What???

"Using patient information for funding decisions by policymakers is just toxic, and they know that."

So how else are they supposed to make funding decisions?

In response to minority moaning?

Virtue signalling for political motives?

I WANT someone to know that there is for example an excess of deaths from cholera in a given postcode.

It is fairly vital to know that, for example, those of 'certain ethnic backgrounds' are more susceptible to Thalassemia, and others to heart problems.

Blue sky research by private institutions is all very well, but the NHS has to be seen to be spending money rationally on a cost benefit analysed basis.

If it cannot see the results of spending, if it cannot see what money needs to be spent on, how can it do that?

Medical research is plagued by fads conjectures and outright fashion. It needs hard statistical data to prove its case.

Chap joins elite support team, solves what no one else can. Is he invited back? Is he f**k

itzman
Holmes

staggeringly similar story.

did a bit of coding for a client who sold a business app on either Elonex or Apricot PCS. yep DOS days of course.

"Does anyone buy the Apricot" I said'

"Yep its ten times faster"

He proceeded to demonstrate with much whirring of floppy disks.

I was puzzled, Processors and speeds wer identical.. then I had a thought. Sho nuff the elonex had in config.sys :

FILES=2

BUFFERS=5

on the apricot they were much higher.

I edited the file rebooted and said 'now try it'

Nobody likes a smartass do they?

Boeing big cheese repeats pledge of 737 Max software updates following fatal crashes

itzman

Re: Want to try to reprogram it so it feels and drives like an F1?

If the angle of attack was zero on the runway the aircraft would not be able to take off.

Wrong.

1. Airfoils are capable of generating lift at zero angle of attack.

2. That's what the elevators are for - to push the tail down and the nose up.

itzman

Re: To have complex handling is not the same as to have poor dynamics

No, the Camel was barely stable. Today's fighters are unstable.

itzman
FAIL

Re: Seafire conversion of Spitfires in the 1940s

First of all spirfires were always tail heavy and always flew with down trim. In fact being on the edge of pitch stability makes for a very very sensitive set of controls. An advantage in a fighting machine which is why modern typhoons are trimmed that way, and use software to compensate

The addition of more weight to the back simply made matters worse.

Ultimately spin recovery depends on getting the nose DOWN. Opposite rudder may get rid of the turn but unless the aircraft left to itself at almost no airspeed will put its nose down then you will fall off into a spin in the other direction.

Boeing... Boeing... Gone: Canada, America finally ground 737 Max jets as they await anti-death-crash software patches

itzman
Boffin

Re: Negligent certification

As I understand it, the fundamental change was more fuel efficient engines. However these if placed in the logical place would have scarped along the tarmac.

So they were moved forward and cranked up a bit.

Changing the CG and the on thrust/off thrust trim by such an extent they put some software in to correct for it.

So downtrim when the throttles are opened, giving a massive nose down if the throttles are chopped. Before the trim returns to 'glide'

This was bunged in the anti stall software I think.

itzman
FAIL

Re: "How do you show who put the dodgy line of code in, and when?"

As I understand it, its not a bug, it's the whole way the thing is implemented.

They bodged the engines in at an angle, for ground clearance, and that has ruined the planes inherent stability so they are trying to correct a serious fundamental hardware fault with software.

Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ support to arrive in Linux 5.1

itzman
Coat

Re: Kernal change - Who will not notice the difference?

Linux COLONEL, please.

There is no sch thing as a kernal.

Even in Python..

Hipster whines at tech mag for using his pic to imply hipsters look the same, discovers pic was of an entirely different hipster

itzman
Paris Hilton

Anti-conformism

is of course conformism to the opposite set of standards

The real solution is not to rebel, just to ignore conformism.

As the old adage goes

"An Oxford man walks around as if he owns the place"

"A Cambridge man walks around as if he doesn't give a damn who owns the place".

From hard drive to over-heard drive: Boffins convert spinning rust into eavesdropping mic

itzman
Meh

I'll file this in the ...

...Interesting, but ultimately useless, use of human endeavour.

Don't these chaps have something better to do with their time?

Prodigy dancer and vocalist Keith Flint found dead aged 49

itzman
FAIL

Yawn.

The mark was so indelible, that I completely missed it.

Never heard of the man, the band or the song.

Vaguely remember 'smack my bitch up'

So close yet so far: Pure fingers manufacturing balls-up for leaving firm $20m wide of its target

itzman
Holmes

In Dickensian times....

'Pure' was the name they gave to dog excrement collected off the streets and used to tan leather.

I am sure that is an irrelevant aside.

BT 'UK's most powerful Wi-Fi'? Why, fie, for shame! – ads watchdog

itzman
Paris Hilton

At least we dont have to suffer Adam and wossername..

..er Jane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsrLu3wU3AY

Artificial Intelligence: You know it isn't real, yeah?

itzman
Boffin

The fundamental problem is that...

...Bias and prejudice are efficient.

See a snake? Kill it or run like heck. Who CARES that 80% of snakes are perfectly safe. Killing a safe one doesn't harm you. Cuddling a rattler does. Regarding all snakes - or indeed mushrooms - as poisonous saves you having to carry around a catalogue of the very few that are not.

Most [issues] are caused by [a few identifiable members of set x] is most easily encapsulated as

All members of [set x ] cause [issues]

What we are seeing in this is the prime example of 'its not fair' versus 'it doesn't work'

E.g. if you want to halt the spread of Islamic fundamentalism and radicalisation, ban the religion, beards. burkahs, niqabs, hajibs , imprison anyone who preaches it and shut down any mosque or website that carries any materials. etc.

Unfair, but effective,..

The human mind seeks to use pattern recognition to arrange the world into 'objects' that have 'generic properties' . So it can apply generically effective general rules without having to examine the particular.

There are those who are stupid enough to feel ashamed of their propensity to do this and project the negative aspects of this onto others.

Don't be one of them.

Wisdom comes from accepting and then making allowances for the fact that we are all prejudiced and biased, and if we were not we would have eaten the poisonous mushroom years ago.

Those who claim it is others who are bigoted, are usually the worst bigots themselves.

One thinks instantly of the jackboot mentality of self styled 'anti-fascist' organisations.

Amazon Prime Air flight crashes in Texas after 6,000ft nosedive

itzman
Boffin

Re: Please

Cabin pressure is 10,000 feeet equivalent,. They were at 6,000, ergo they didnt need and wouldn't have had cabin pressure.

Linux love hits Windows 10 19H1 amid a second round of zombie slaying

itzman
Linux

Re: Uncomfortable

It would make perfect sense for Microsft to spend the time making an API that would run windows programs on Linux.

Then it could let OS development go to the linux community, who are better at it anyway, and concentrate on flashy guis and marketing bloatware and other excrement, which is its true Forte.,

Mini computer flingers go after a slice of the high street retail Pi

itzman
Paris Hilton

Re: Bricks and Mortar

What has happened is that shops that offered no value add over online have closed. Somne still can.

Personal service, touch and feel the goods - these are hard to do online

Western Digital deploys heatsink on remodelled M.2 to tempt gamers

itzman
Thumb Up

And always remember to get gold plated oxygen free HDMI leads...

to reduce audio distortion on your digital signals and apply green felt tip pens to your CDS to reduce distortion.

These are available from all good hifi retailers or from my website at only $400 a pair.

Dear humans, We thought it was time we looked through YOUR source code. We found a mystery ancestor. Signed, the computers

itzman

Re: Many mysteries

Actually we DO consider dogs and wolves to be the same *species*.

But they are many different *breeds*.

Race is a somewhat slippery concept. Somewhat akin to breeds. And anyone who says breeds aren't distinct subsets that share common characteristics is barking mad.

WUFF!

itzman

Re: Maybe it was...

It was a Range Rover.

Your thesis is destroyed.

Come mobile users, gather round and learn how to add up

itzman

Re: Itchy Chin

Javascript is dense at times, but it does know the difference between strings and integers.

Well no, it doesn't.

Back in the days of XP I was trying to get some javascript working on firefox and IE.

They behaved completely differently.

In the end it turned out that if the numerical stuff was buried in a conditional firefox took it as a number but IE took it as a string.

It took me hours to find a way to get IE to treat it as a number.

I HATE weakly typed or non typed languages almost as much as I hate Pascal.

London Gatwick Airport reopens but drone chaos perps still not found

itzman

Re: Shoot it down?

at 5 meters altitude and 25m range, yes.

itzman

Re: Guns vs Drones

If the drone attack had happened in USA everyone at the airport would have been armed to the teeth and they would have been shot down in a couple of minutes.

And how many people 5 miles away would have been collateral damage?

itzman

Re: Don't just do something! Stand there!

Or a probe to test security and response by....well your choice really.

Or an excuse to sell you high priced security kit you didn't know you needed?

Or just a spotty teenager and his mates having a laugh.

Until the type of drone is analysed we wont know what sort of person built it.

itzman

Indeed. A skilled drone pilot could probably have brought down the rogues more cheaply than an Israeli system costing millions

Drone wars. That's what we want. And film it all for you tube

Mark Zuckerberg did everything in his power to avoid Facebook becoming the next MySpace – but forgot one crucial detail…

itzman

Re: Good article. Assuming TheRegister is clean with our data.

this persistent insistence that _everyone_ who considers public service is a scum is a plague.

No, just everyone who rises, turd-like, to the top.

Poor people should get slower internet speeds, American ISPs tell FCC

itzman
Big Brother

And you find this surprising?

In short, American internet providers are determined to give its citizens the worst possible internet for the highest possible price and under industry-friendly chair Pai they are willing to state that publicly – while asking for taxpayers' money to do so.

Isn't that the goal of all commerce, to deliver the cheapest possible product at the highest possible price and get either taxpayer money to do that, or government legislation to mandate its adoption?

That is the EU model in a nutshell.