Posts by Erythrite

Congress ctrl-Zs bulk of proposed cuts to NASA science

Re: windows ctrl-z or a unix ctrl-z?

What about Halt Catch Fire (HCF)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire_(computing)

We will be cruising at 35,000 feet and failing to update our Apache HTTP Server

Re: re: Aircraft IFE systems are not connected directly to the airplane's avionics

Yeah, the IFE is not connected data-wise to the avionics, but the IFE brought down Swissair 111 in 1998 and killed 229. Not that this sort of software configuration error would likely cause a fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111

Waymo pings updates to San Francisco fleet to prevent power outage chaos 2.0

Re: Editor: what's it with the headlines?

I was there that night. More than once there were Waymos blocking two of three lanes on a major street, with one of them stopped diagonally in the intersection. There were as many as 6-8 Waymos lined up on side streets blocking traffic. It looked to me like at least one street was completely blocked. We were on the phone to someone who was in a car that was briefly trapped between two stopped Waymos.

Due to the number of Waymos that were stopped in traffic, it felt more chaotic than disruptive. Disruptive is one vehicle double parked every few blocks. Chaotic is multiple cars stopped every block with some in the intersection.

If this had been a planned form of civil disobedience, were people stopped their cars to block traffic, then the American authorities would have over reacted and called it an act of terrorism. In reality, it was a bit frightening, but at no point did we feel unsafe. I'm glad I was not trying to rush to the hospital, or waiting for fire trucks or an ambulance.

Actor couldn’t understand why computer didn’t work when the curtain came down

Welcome to Blursday. My lovely mother-in-law told me about Blursday, I use it regularly now.

'Fax virus' panicked a manager and sparked job-killing Reply-All incident

Re: The FAX is not dead yet.

Yep, FAXes are in heavy use in the medical system in California, probably because of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).* The main thing about a fax is that the data is not usually** stored electronically anywhere after the fax is received, unlike email, where both the sender and the receiver can retrieve a message and forward it after the message is received. This makes the message fairly secure as there usually only two printed copies with which to contend.

However, many fax machines will store faxes being sent or received, which adds to the problem. Nevermind that many people use on-line fax services where one uploads an image that is then sent. My guess is that many medical offices use a computer to send faxes as well, though they may be able to receive faxes on a physical machine.

*HIPAA: "It aimed to alter the transfer of healthcare information and stipulated guidelines by which personally identifiable information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft" (wikipedia)

**"usually" unless your phone is being tapped etc.

Intern did exactly what he was told and turned off the wrong server

Why the down votes? Asking for a friend.

'Trained monkey' from tech support saved know-it-all manager's mistake with a single keypress

Re: deja vu.

I retired from a large public university in 2018. I had a great working relationship with my boss, who was a professor.

The last few years, for every large meeting we had, he would set the first item on the agenda to be "Invevitable Futzing with Technology" with my name next to it and a time of about 5 minutes. I guess I could have been offended, but in the end I was a bit honoured.

The reason for the agenda is that the boffins would inevitably show up at the last minute with their arcane piece of technology (laptop, thumb drive with XXXfs etc.) that had the only copy of their presentation. Or the projector would be broken since last night when I tested it, or had to be swapped for a brighter/higher resolution/xxx one.

It was great. We all got a laugh. I got to save the day first thing. Eventually, many of the boffins started following instructions and getting their presentations in early or using Google Shites (tm) and updating them on the cloud in real time.

Good times...

Cisco punts network-security integration as key for agentic AI

Hey Siri, sell CSCO.

American science put on starvation diet

Re: Failed to learn lesson

Maybe the two down voters could explain their down votes?

Ex-Disney employee gets 3 years in the clink for goofy attacks on mousey menus

Re: And yet Disney kill someone...

Florida man...

Google binning SMS MFA at last and replacing it with QR codes

Re: What about all the people who don't have smartphones?

"Specifically, instead of entering your number and receiving a 6-digit code, you’ll see a QR code being displayed which you need to scan with the camera app on your phone."

Yes, they force you to use the camera app, but hopefully not a Google app. These days, Google has the option of having me open YouTube, which I abhor.

My laptop has a fingerprint reader, so I can use that. The downside is that I don't regularly use my password, so I'm not sure I know it.

As Amazon takes over the Bond franchise, we submit our scripts for the next flick

Re: Oh dear

Writing as a People's Republic of California Comrade, compared to the current crypto-fascists, Arnie was not as bad.

On the good side, he required that coal power plants being built intended to supply California power meet California standards. He did not do much for same-sex marriage (prop 8), but when he did officiate same-sex marriages.

There were many downsides. His father was a Nazi etc. However, Arnie did repudiate January 6.

Still, given a choice between only the current occupant and the Terminator, I would have hold my nose and choose the Terminator. Mercifully, the Terminator is not a US-born citizen, so that is not a possibility.

I did not vote for him for guv, and am glad he is not currently in politics. I'm no fan of the man and never expected to write anything nice about him. Don't ask me about DiFi unless you want a real rant.

Insiders say IBM's broader return-to-office plan hits older, more expensive staff hard

The floggings will continue until moral improves.