USB4 can hit 120 Gbps
shouldn't it be USB5 then? Or at least, a USB 4.3 v.2.4 pre-release* ?
79 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Apr 2017
There are two elements that need to be addressed in your trolling, not for your sake, but for others:
Earlier this month, Merkel described Minsk as “an attempt to give Ukraine time” to build up its military. Speaking with the Kyiv Independent, a pro-government Ukrainian outlet, Hollande agreed, saying Merkel was “right on this point.”
The above contains some elements of truth and some fib. It is true, because prior to 2022 Ukraine did receive Western military help, though not to 'build up its military' in the sense of hardware, but to go SOME way towards demolishing old, ineffective Soviet command & control (which we have seen, so spectacularly fail when applied by the Russian army). This was theoretical (training various level of command), and practical (on the ground, tactics, etc.). It might have been a decisive, or less so, factor in successful Ukrainian defence last year. As to why Merkel just 'lies' is that I THINK this is just an attempt at damage limitation, to restore some of her personal glory and true affection the 'Mutti' had in Germany when she was leaving the political stage. She simply tries to whitewash what was, essentially, her doing, i.e. long-term German cooperation with Russia, while Ukraine was just an inconvenient obstacle. That cooperation was good for Germany (and, as a side-effect, good for Europe) - and good for Russia. Minsk agreements were, in fact, to seal this Russian-European business as usual for ever, and fuck the failed state of Ukraine, Russians can deal with it, after all, they built Kyiv, right? ;) Then, despite all the Merkel's effort to save the deal, Putin blew it up with his invasion. Nnd now Merkel looks like a stupid (...) so she tries to offer feeble excuses. But in fact, she's not a stupid (...), nosir, she did all that for Germany (and Europe too), and never mind the little fuckers in between. This is not stupid, this is duplicitous (in light of the public proclamations about values, democracy, self-determination, etc, etc.). Ironically, after the fall of Soviet Union, Germany has built its power on two cornerstones: trade with Russia and trade with Chine. Russia already blew up spectacularly, and while it's not discussed much in public, the Chinese cornerstone also crumbled. Chinese already got from the Germans what they wanted - technological boost, and they already, rather bluntly, tell them to get the fuck out, we don't need you any more. I'm not rolling in schadenfreunde in general, both those strategies were 'sound' from a business point of view, I suppose, hindsight is a wonderful thing, etc.
'USA, EU et al. lied when Russia was eager to sign peace agreements.'
1.
A quote:
Vladislav Surkov, a former aide to the Russian president who was responsible for interaction with Ukraine and supervised the separatists in Donbass [and consider 'Grey Eminence'], said that when he worked on the Minsk agreements to resolve the situation in Ukraine, he did not assume that they must be implemented. The question about the Minsk agreements was posed to Surkov by political scientist Alexei Chesnakov, who has frequently published Surkov's views on various issues in the past. Surkov answered the question briefly: "No."
2.
My view: Russia was eager to sign Minsk peace agreements because they saw it as a way to eventually, grab the eastern territories of Ukraine 'peacefully', by a series of steps. First was, under the pretence of 'right of self-determination' to have the eastern provinces of Ukraine become self-governing, like Crimea. Next: they gave the right to run a referendum (sounds familiar?). Third step - well, we've already had those referendums, right? No need for 'little green men', there's been cctv footage of 'referendum cards' being door to door in the company of armed Russian soldiers. Purely for the fact that you run referendum in the occupied country, not exactly 'safe' ;). So, fast forward a few years, south-eastern and north-eastern provinces: Zaporoshia, Cherson, Odessa, Kharkiv, Sumy, Tschernigov magically experience the same 'shift of mind', as 'business as usual between Russia and the West blossoms, Russia becomes an even more attractive 'Big Brother' to look up to, while Ukraine, getting smaller and smaller, with no major open-sea port to trade from, becomes an ever more 'failed state' in the eyes of its citizens. Who wants to stay on a sinking ship? But all that is so tedious! Would have taken too long for The Glorious Leader to wait before he kicks the bucket. He wanted to be Peter the Fucking Greater in his lifetime, rather than next to Lenin on Red Square. So, as a great expert in history he is, he decided to run another short, victorious war, as the Russian Empire did against Japan in 1905. Ironically, the current war, on top of the bleeding obvious - neither short nor victorious - shows some uncanny similarities about how the Russian operations are / were conducted by the Russian General Staff. Perhaps Putin only got as far as the first couple of paragraphs on how THAT war ran. So here we are, 12 months into a 3-day march on Kyiv.
Some of your arguments don't make sense, particularly that (for hiking), boots, waterproofs, maps, aren't free. I have a couple of pics of my parents' hiking (late 1960s), and while these were more long-distance hikes, rather than 'expeditions', the gear on those pics is just laughable. Actually, no gear, other than military-style rucksacks, the rest is just ordinary clothing, perhaps with a fancy wide-brimmed hat for effect. Maps (including off-road and ad-free apps) are free these days. If you're desperate for gore-tex because, OMG, it's gonna save your life (well done, f.. Gore!), there's a HUGE number of gtx or gtx-style, ex army stuff on ebay, and it's 20 - 50 - 100 usd per piece, from well used, to brand-new. Let alone 2nd hand civvy stuff (the world is drowning in excess clothing). Let alone 'neighbourhood groups' where people give away stuff for free because they no longer use it. Yes, you need comfy boots, but don't need 200 - 300 usd 'high-spec' boots which fall apart as fast as your cheap ones (been there, ex outdoor store stuff).
And, as to youth clubs (which have closed, because something's gotta give, when there's always less and less money to go round, so councils have to cut left, right and centre) - there are, in many countries, para-military orgs run by the state (no, I don't mean those in Russia ;)
Getting 'out there' is a problem, to some extent, but again, the problem is more of a will (or lack of), than lack of options. Again, in Europe, there are many schemes for youths that give them discount off rail travel (from decent to _very_ generous). Sure, you can always argue the nearest rlwy statin is miles away, but generally, the problem of 'youth congregating' happens in towns and cities, so again, this argument generally doesn't work.
btw, I'm only pointing out that your arguments that 'it's too expensive to do outdorsy stuff' is nonsense, I'm not arguing that there's less and less 'open space' for young people, You have council estates which are depressing enough to live in, let alone go out and play, and then you have housing estates, where everything is parcelled up because they can sell up when a new build comes with 'two parking spaces' and 'no ball games allowed'. All this is certainly not the fault of young people that space becomes a valuable asset that can be 'repackaged' and sold because why not and fuck the implications.
btw2, I don't really know, to answer your last question, 'what exactly are they supposed to do"? I have a feeling that the decision-makers don't know what 'options' to provide, because they're no longer in that position themselves (young, no money, no interest), and the young themselves don't know what they want to do anyway. They want to meet, that much they know, but what exactly to do when they do 'meet'? Have fun. OK. What then tends to happen is that you have a constant figure of combined intelligence diviced by the growing number of individuals in a given group, so they end up with a 'let's beat up that old fucker and see if it's fun enough!'
as a meanigless pleb I would MUCH RATHER there was a free-trade agreement across borders than... this. The amount of hassle to send a simple (...) parcel to our friends in the EU is insane. Oh, and you can't send them chocolate either. Or perfume (Evil, evil eu ;) Well, brexit means...
it would be funny if it was actually a sting related to that major sting, i.e. when they busted that 'secure' comms channel a month or so ago. So, those that managed to evade desperately seek a new new to resume business and here's that cool, vpn service that's like, totally secure, man! :)
3035: a report has been issued by the UK competition watchdog that confirms what many have suspected for years, which others dismissed as fake news: fake review epidemic across Google and Amazon DOES exist! The watchdog has written to both companies requesting them to take decisive action. Both companies responded by issuing a statement that they already offer a robust mechanism to combat the relatively minor issue, which has resulted in 3.5M fake reviews removed; they have also promised to redouble their efforts to implement cutting-edge technology to continue their relentless fight against what they both claim is an "issue that, while affecting only a tiny percentage of our customers, does undermine their confidence in otherwise robust and effective vetting process". The UK watchdog has issued further statement in response to their statement that said it will monitor further developments in this field, while also issuing a further-further statement, that 'consumers must have confidence that online reviews are genuine and unbiased'.
I must say, for the last couple of years, I put my faith in fakespot. Not 100% faith, but i'ts become my the main tool to weed out the usual culprits. Unfortunately, their business model has evolved to the point that they make their profit by - presumably - selling your shopping / browsing habits, i.e. no free checks for you, only a browser 'plug-in'. Which tells me exactly what I need to know about how they make their money. That said, it's hard to blame them, it's not like they're a rich Bezos-man giving away his fortune for free...
But I must say, without that tool, I've become quite hopeless against 4/5 and 5-star amazon reviews. I mean, sure, one way is to read the negatives, to spot a pattern (it's shite, stay away!), but - as with all things in life - valuable knowledge comes with effort and time. It's ok for higher value products, but not worth spending hours for cheap tat that is occasionally useful (bike lights, etc, etc.). I have taken to aliexpress instead, even with VAT added, cheap crap from China-land is still (up to) half-price cheaper than amazon. Although, recently, I got bike light packed mega-matroshka-style: FIVE grey bags in total...
Something tells me they're already several steps ahead, with plans B, C, D, and all the way down. Not that they have to hurry, given how long it's taken the G7 to come up with this plan (PLAN!). Before they implement it, before they realize they missed the new clever idea that's also, but of course, perfectly legit, before they decide to consider thinking about countermeasures...
I think by that time he'll have had time to reflect his chosen profession should be a Nigerian Prince aka US Soldier, based locally, i.e. away from the US justice. Unless the US start delivering US court orders on predator pylons ;)
and when they do, it will go like this: AT&T, T-Mobile US, and Verizon take privacy of their customers extremely seriously to ensure their anonymity is protected. Next!
by the way, I assume that, by now, all the spokesperson functions have been outsourced to script-operated bots, and in that context they would fire 'irrelevant non-reply No 1" (No 1, cause it can be used in reply to majority of 'issues', ranging from 'hackers' customer data hack, to telcos' customer data hack. One answer to rule them all).
it will become a reality. Have you heard about the latest and greatest idea of a photo-ID for elections, as per 2023? Despite having negligible proof of election fraud, this is being pushed as, wait for this:
“a reasonable way to combat the inexcusable potential for voter fraud in our current system and strengthen its integrity”, and that the “overwhelming majority”
This says everything about the mindset of our Glorious Leadership, i.e. INEXCUSABLE POTENTIAL. I mean, think of all them Russian trolls potentially turning up IN PERSON, and trying to pass for thousands, millions of law-abiding citizens and derail our world-class democratic system. You wouldn't want that, would you, sir, madam?! No, what am I thinking! - it's the age of digital, they can't turn up in person, sillybilly, they will - potentially - pay each of those thousands of desperate Brits so much (each) that they they will risk committing that fraud, again, and again, and again (after all, how many times can you turn up in one day to vote for somebody else?). The danger is REAL, comrades, the threat is HERE!!!!
sd/micro sd slot has been, in my view, one of the most useful laptop add-ons, and while I don't use it as much as keyboard, and screen, I use it regularly. Which means, this machine is useless to me. Yeah, I can use a usb port for a card reader, sure, but that' not the f... polint. So, what next, remove line-in jack?
follow Russia's examples, with a cherry on top, i.e. some mumble-mumble upon how we will study the ruling in detail and 5 sec later the great (British) public will have forgotten about the whole issue, and what can the little fuckers do about it anyway. Rant on the reg, let them, proves democracy works!
I share the view that there are people you meet first time, passing, etc, and your internal bell just rings for no apparent reason (sometimes quiet, but persistent, background noise to be weary). On one hand, I'd love to see research into this and intuition as well, on the other hand, re. research results, I hear this quiet, but persistent, background noise that tells me the outcome won't be used for anything good.
As to mugshots shown on media though, I'd be VERY careful. Whoever is paraded for a mugshot opportunity, they won't be in a good mood, and our own bias tells us that they must be bad, bad people. And even if they grin stupidly (because one moment they were having a good night's sleep, the next they found themselves in a police cell and what the f... just happened?!) to us they're not just bad, they're evil monster with an evil grin, etc. Media illustrate text with a shot that is put there to reinforce the message, which is manipulation, but there's hardly any news that isn't.
re. SAS Survival Handbook, this was one of the first books I bought when I came to the land of the free (as it was). To paraphrase, no one would have believed in the last years of the twentieth century that a book bought off a high street would land me in jail, in the same country, 25 years later. And then, when I think of all the stuff we used to hover off the internets... those manuals to fly passanger jets, terrorists cookbooks and "how to make a better M-coctail", and what not... With proper incentive, I could be locked away for life...
The only hope is that, by the time the law becomes law, there won't be any plods left to actually round people up. Anyway, what I was going to say was:
Long live democracy! Long live freedom of speech!! Long live Our Glorious Leader!!!
if not deeply disturbing, that a piece on nazi / ss domain future is drawing more commentardation than the usual suspects, i.e.
- apple / iphone / screen / charger / customer service / is shit / ripoff / apple fanbois suck
- google is evil / shit
- facebook / Zuckerberg is shit
- Windows 10 is shit (likewise, Office, etc.)
followed, by, much less frequently:
- amazon is evil (they exploit people and don't pay taxes and we love them)
- ebay is evil (they exploit bots and don't pay taxes)
- wikipedia masters are evil scumbags sponsored by shady deep pockets (choose from the list above / below),
- mozilla is run by evil lizards intent on destroying our ways
(all true, more or less)
Alternatively, SS goes along nicely with, er... Friday?
...
ok, vaguely on the subject: a "war" movie, Der Hauptmann...
well, with BREXIT dividend (very soon, hurrah!), it'd take... lemmethink.... 350 million per week that's got to be... no more than a couple of hourse. Yeah, we can afford it! And the benefit is priceless: eternal bliss knowing that our children are safe. Fuck yeah!
remember the cousin's advice:
"speak softly and carry a big stick
Unfortunately, in this case, it's the EU side that's been implementing this policy (because they can). And it has been painful to watch UK's puffing and huffing when both sides know _exactly_ there's no ace up UK's sleeve. No ace, no stick, nothing. Other than the gentlemanly message from the highest echelons of British establishment: FUCK YOU, WE'RE NOT PAYIN' THAT BILL! And you're no better than Soviets anyway, so yes, fuck you!
But... no stick, so it's easy to guess what the EU side says quietly to that.
you might laugh, I might quote the beeb:
"It can be how quickly do you type the keys, are you holding the device in your right or left hand. How an individual uses a device acts as a second layer of identity and a different kind of fingerprint."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44438808
Think BIG (data!) Think all the TERRORISTS we can catch now (which politician's not going to bite this!), because we know that when they hold their phone with their right hand, they tilt it at this unique angle. Think of the CHILDREN too (Crapita certainly does!). Is your dahling really working hard with that pen, or is he / she dicking around, literally? There's an app to verify that (soon, if not yet).
p.s. is the way you're holding your phone covered by the GDPR? Spooks and your local council don't want to know, they already do.
but we're toothless sir, we're lame, don't blame us, guv, blame the... ehm... take a guess.
And once you found the oh-so-f-obvious-answer, ask yourself "why"? And once you found the oh-so-f-obvious-answer to "why?", ask yourself "what can I do about it?" And once you found the oh-so-f-obvious answer (democracy, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah) - don't you even DARE thinking about alternative solutions, cause those you put in the comfy chair, will do _exactly_ the same.
"If they are not, then the data is not retained."
?!
I was under the impression the current state of affairs is that such data for people NOT convicted of crime SHOULD NOT be retained, but IS RETAINED and it is EXTREMELY HARD to get it removed, and the good old plod DON'T HAVE to remove it, even when there's no conviction?