Posts by a_yank_lurker

Re: Executive orders, a primer

The other difference is TPP never being ratified meant it terms were never binding on the US. So any executive order pledging adherence to its terms is not much better than used toilet paper. NAFTA is a properly ratified treaty that will require negotiations to modify. Obama had a tendency to use executive orders as if they were binding and in many cases they are not. They can be undo by legislation, court orders, or by subsequent orders.

Re: Pushing the envelope too hard

Greed is a partial answer, cutting costs sometimes becomes a mania that takes a life of its own. Another culprit was poor design. Looking at the diagrams, it appears the battery design did not have the safety margin required in any good design and was relying on perfect manufacturing of all parts and flawless assembly - recipe for a disaster. What is not stated is whether any of the engineers pitched a fit about the poor design and were ignored.

Re: And there's the problem...

Get the story right. But the 'press' seems to be more interested in overhyping issues well beyond any reason and not getting any story remotely right. As purveyors of most of the fake news this does not surprise me. Remember the CBS non-sequitur meme of "fake but accurate" is the motto of most of the press.

Re: Talking to people at the computer

@Dave 126 - The problem with many contact management apps and applications is they do not really address the work flow through an organization and its various groups. What might work well with the sales team might be a total disaster for the project management team or the programming team. This is because or the very different work flows within each group and the nature of the work each group does. In my group we never talk to an outside customer and irregularly talk to our internal customers.

Re: He's not exactly wrong

Bingo, too many were seduced by the idea of a service economy. They forgot someone has to make the stuff they use, wear, consume, etc. Those makers are manufacturers. Also, they forgot that there is a proper balance between economic sectors for a healthy economy. You need jobs for the burly men and the desk jockeys.

Re: A bug in Windows 10

It's doubtful Slurp has identified the bug in Bloat.

Re: Oracle's response:

The timing is interesting since Trump will sworn in a couple of days. Leisure Suit Larry has made very few friends with the powerful and plenty of enemies. This might the first salvo with H1B abuse to come later.

Re: Doomed to failure

The advocates for these measures also fail to realize most gun violence is done by criminals who by definition ignore the law. Also, there are many situations, not just home defence, where being able to fire quickly and accurately is important - ask any outdoors man about being in the woods. Plus, a gun comes equipped with a mechanical safety.

Re: Don't Just Blame Users

@Barry Rueger - You are correct in concept that the nature of the site should dictate the password strength required. The problem I see is accurately judging which site can have a weak one. I prefer to teach people to use strong, gibberish passwords, minimum 12 characters, for all sites with longer ones being used for any e-commerce or financial site and NEVER REPEAT them. Thus, by default they are always using a very strong password out of habit.

On your problems with incompetent banks, my financial institutions (bank and credit cards) require a non email user id with numbers in it as well as a strong password. But I may be lucky.

Re: Maluuba demonstrated deep learning algorithms

I saw a video about AI. There are two approaches - treating AI as a solution to an engineering problem or trying to mimic human intelligence. The first approach leads to "intelligent" robotics that are very capable for a narrow range of problems. The second has problems with what exactly is intelligence and how to model it.

Re: List Price

The real problem for price comparisons is what is used as the basis. Retail list price, which may not the actual price charged by anyone, has the advantage is that it is the official price suggested by the manufacturer.

Comparing against your competitors can be very tricky. With electronics manufacturers have been known provide very similar models to retailers with minor differences in the specifications. Thus they are different models. TVs are well known to suffer from this.

Re: Punishment fits the crime?

There is a very definite prison hierarchy and child molesters/murders are at very the bottom. Apparently felons despise those who preyed on the smallest and weakest members of society. He will be brutalized and despised for 20 years for his actions. Adding to his problems is the fact he probably was not around your typical criminal and knows nothing about them.

Re: Weigh the coins

Coinage is also legal tender in the states. These stories appear occasionally over here and the invariably involve either the local DMV or traffic court. Two of the most notorious government rip offs known for surly "workers", incompetence, and general arrogance.

Re: Accountants eveywhere need to watch out

Beancounters are the bane of humanity along with shysters. Both are professional liars and competent ones do not get caught. Paraphrasing Shakespeare "Lets kill the lawyers then the accountants."

@AC - They did not. Most likely it was mid to upper level manager who thought there was a loophole in the EPA regs (probably never actually read the mind numbing, barf inducing 'prose'). Had an engineering spec written around the dodgy interpretation which later became the basis of a software spec. I doubt the software group ever saw the regulations or the original (internal) engineering document.

EPA regulations (I have read some) are not known to be very clear, concise, or even correct ('when a solid waste is a liquid'). Couple this with getting the EPA to issue some sort of guidance and it is possible that someone unfamiliar with how the EPA works to read what they wanted in the regulations. Other government agencies have been known to laugh at the EPA's assault on the English language.

Re: "Waymo hopes to...

Also, as in a gold rush, supplying the electronic picks and shovels means you are exposed to less risk as you get your money before the car is sold.

@dmck

There have been many launch failures by everybody that a SpaceX failure is neither unusual nor totally unexpected especially in the early launches. Rockets are not the most reliable devices and it is somewhat surprising there have been more manned flights go up in a bang.

Re: Curious

A registered sex offender is on permanent parole basicly. They have to register where they are living at all times with the local authorities; an address that may not match the driver's license. Also, the bank would have his address on file from the account information.

Re: School Teacher

The ferals do not like when they have to play the rules. I am not real thrilled about a variety of aspects about this case given that somewhere real child abuse occurred. But if the ferals want the peasants to trust them they need to stop using dodgy and illegal tactics to gain a conviction. There is an adage by an English jurist that notes it is better to let one guilty go free than to falsely convict ten innocent. In this case a possible guilty person is going free to protect the innocent in the future.

Re: 15 days jail time ?

Sooner or later one of these laserings will lead to a fatal accident. I doubt most of these imbeciles have enough assets to be worth suing. It seems the penalty currently is too light given the horrible risk of fatalities.

Re: Didn't they see..

Basic physics, they were stopped and bozo was moving at 65 mph (~100 kph) when he hit. Even if bozo was spotted there probably was not enough time to get out of the way. The only difference it would likely have made is the precise angle of impact.

Re: A pardon?

I do not know if he has been charged under any US statutes only the Swedish charges. Since Sweden is an independent country those charges are affected by any US pardon for charges under US law.

Re: So...

Typically one has to a couple of months in arrears in the US to be endanger of an utility cut off. So there is plenty of incompetence in the Rutger's finance department not to keep on top the utility bills. But this the NJ state government at work, an outfit that makes your average PHB look like brilliant business leader. (Originally from the hellhole of NJ)

@Trevor_Pott - The OEMs are faced with a problem, most kit (hardware and software) sold in the last 5 years or so is more than adequate for the user. Users have no need to upgrade if the box is working fine. Also, any new devices bought will likely be a phone, much more useful if one has a decent data plan when on the go. For example, me and Swambo took a trip and used the map app on the phone for directions in a city and for traffic problems. A laptop is just to bulky for this type of use.