Posts by dr.k

Microsoft blames 'latent code issue' after Windows 11 upgrades sneak past admin blockades

Re: Comrade, you WILL upgrade to Windows 11

Da!

Techie pointed out meetings are pointless, and was punished for it

FTFY

You mean cookies. Biscuits on this side if the pond, I believe, would be called scones, on yours.

Undergrad and colleagues accidentally shred 40-year hash table gospel

Re: Well Done.

Did you check the table again?

When old Microsoft codenames crop up in curious places

Re: "depreciate Chicago"

Deprecate -- FTFY

Re: "depreciate Chicago"

Deprecate ... FTFY

Coder wrote a bug so bad security guards wanted a word when he arrived at work

Cost of money

I am wondering if this could be deliberate. Once they have taken your money for the usage, the utility continues to make interest on that. When they eventually credit it back to you, sans interest, they are already ahead. Multiply this by a few thousand customers, and now you've got a nice new revenue stream!

Network engineer chose humiliation over a night on the datacenter floor

Re: keys

Undergrad dorm in the 80s in the US -- It was a fact of life that the fire alarm would go off pretty much every Friday night around the time the bars closed. The foreign students were taught to take our passport and keys when running to the nearest exit.

Sysadmin shock as Windows Server 2025 installs itself after update labeling error

Re: Acrobat

Just? Sure you jest.

Yes, your network is down – you annoyed us so much we crashed it

Re: Dial-Up

Is *that* the origin of the word Tosser?

Genuinely curious minds want to know.

Did you hear the one about the help desk chap who abused privileges to prank his mate?

Re: Good old days

I am NOT Rakim. Must be my evil twin :)

Good old days

Early 90s, I was a graduate student in a lab, where X11/Motif was the platform of choice for scientific computing/visualization. There were not many user access controls to paint something on another remote X window, you needed only the IP address, didn't even need an account.

At random intervals, I would popup a rectangle (of random size and color) on this user's XTerm, which basically flashed for less than a second and left no trace. He never found out who did that or how.

So, Eric B, if you are reading this, sorry mate! Good times.

Python script saw students booted off the mainframe for sending one insult too many

Re: Somehow became corrupted?

Thank you for enriching my vocabulary. Grawlix aka obscenicon according to Wikipedia. Nice portmanteau, I thought.

A nice cup of tea rewired the datacenter and got things working again

Re: Didn't we have a tea party up in Boston?

To the fellow American -- Chai is synonymous with tea. Chai Tea is a tautology.

Re: There is a proper way to do most things

And, use the leftover tea leaves to fertilize your rose plants. You can upvote me later!

Tech support chap solved knotty disk failure problem by staring at the floor

Floor boards only, not rugs

Glad the problem was not swept under the rugs.

Command senior chief busted for secretly setting up Wi-Fi on US Navy combat ship

Re: Should be given a medal

No, WiFi is NOT a basic human right. Food, shelter, air, water, and freedom are.

DBA made ten years of data disappear with one misplaced parameter

Larry - Striving to become consciously competent

Larry was consciously incompetent, unlike the more dangerous unconsciously incompetent types. He also knew enough to invoke the power of the unconsciously competent DBAs when it was needed. No harm, no foul.

Ad agency boss owned two Ferraris but wouldn't buy a real server

Re: The owner has two Ferraris. They have that kind of money

I suspect most folks who hang out on this site are strictly "function over form" types.

Techie climbed a mountain only be told not to touch the kit on top

And no signs of a thaw.

Re: Hillary-ous

So, Edmund was left out in the cold?

No, working in IT does not mean you can fix anything with a soldering iron

Re: Live Printer

I am old enough to remember this -- the *really* old printers, radios, etc., used an auto-transformer that had to be plugged in one way. Lucky I survived the 220V jolt from the knob on our Murphy radio!