* Posts by Ruisert

53 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Feb 2008

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Brits must prove their age on adult sites by July, says watchdog

Ruisert

Welcome to Texas, y'all! Except y'all do still have some form of affordable healthcare for all.

Pornhub pulls out of Florida, VPN demand 'surges 1150%'

Ruisert

Dunno about the UK, but here it's a way to fire up the Fundie base. Essentially, pandering for votes. And it appears to be working.

Ruisert

Re: Interesting

This is now. Back in the "Wild West" days on the Internet, pr0n sites were notoriously full of all sorts of malware. But that stopped when the sites twigged on that whole "if they are infecting their PCs, then that isn't very good for business."

Ruisert

Re: Interesting

No, I'd say they understand that this is a tactic to ruin their businesses. Every site that I've seen that has posted a notification subtly blames the idiotic state law that forces them to enact age verification. They know it's a sham. I mean by this that the people who make these laws "may be dumb, but they ain't stupid." - Stalag 17.

They have an agenda. And the smartest of them know, they have to keep chipping away, bit by bit, to get what they want.

Ruisert

Re: Irony, forever lost on Americans

I dunno. I know these "Christian" fundie types. Quite a few are kinkier than most people, and repressed as hell about it to boot.

Ruisert

Re: It never changes...

Nah. My dad kept his stash in a large wooden crate in the garage. Unlocked. And that, my friends, is how I learned about the "birds and the bees."

My sister once informed me that my mom had discovered my stash of purloined porno under my mattress - so I guess I was as security conscious as old pops. Upon looking back, it was pretty amusing. Sis ratting out mom to me for snooping through my shit and finding porn I'd swiped from my dad, which she probably no clue about him having.

Ruisert

Re: Why would they bother with a VPN?

Same reason marijuana shops have a problem doing business with banks, even in states where it's legal - it's still against Federal Law, and they have to follow those Fed rules or else.

Ruisert

Yeah. We're not able to appreciate things like Shakespeare's "Gay Boys in Bondage." Too intellectual.

Ruisert

Re: Why would they bother with a VPN?

Through extensive personal research since Texas enacted this law, I'd say you'd be surprised at just how many pR0n sites have knuckled under. Why?, you may ask. Because most U.S. states have reciprocity laws. Most of these sites are based somewhere in the U.S. and the arm of the law is long. But I am pleased to see there's a suit originating out of Texas to fight this censorship. I'll hold my breath while the Supreme Court takes 5 minutes to reach a verdict against.

Ruisert

Re: Governments should stick to being rubbish

A segment that bears little resemblance to the likes of people like me. Most politicians are financially set to be able to run for office. I mean, generally speaking, you can't have a real job and hold political office too. And that "vote them out" thing - yeah, no. Like Florida, Texas, where live, is full of fools and the politically uninformed.

I was slightly stunned, but entirely unsurprised to learn that Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Texas' Electoral College votes. I didn't get to vote until 1980, so all my voting for President has been in vain.

Elon Musk has beef with Bill Gates because he shorted Tesla stock, says biographer

Ruisert

Re: Congrats, Elon. . .

I wouldn't go quite that far. I'm not sympathetic to anyone with the kind of money these clowns have.

Ruisert
Flame

Re: Shorting Tesla

I made a nice bit of profit from the recent Tesla run up - bought in at 213, out at 264 in less than a month. Planning to short it when this latest spike starts to falter. Hope dear Elon doesn't get wind of that!

I mean, I'm not doing it for any other reason than to make a few bucks. Tesla's stocks have been doing a pretty regular cycle - and the way the price fluctuates means there's some big money moving in and out, over and again.

I do find it laughable that Elon thinks Tesla is the best solution to climate change, though, especially if those EV's keep catching fire...

But, seeing 2 of the wealthiest men on the planet getting into a pissing contest (and Bill losing $1.5B) over shorting Tesla, is my kind of entertainment. Proof that neither man is the genius people make them out to be.

Amazon confirms it locked Microsoft engineer out of his Echo gear over false claim

Ruisert

Re: Deserved

So, basically, not a complete idiot.

Ruisert

Re: Hypocritical

Recently bought a Win10 Lappie. To get it out of "S" mode (Stupid mode) I had to go to the Microsoft $tore (on Edge, because I couldn't install a better browser until I unlocked the thing) to get a code (and a ton of dire!!! warnings!!! about what might happen if I did) just to unlock my own computer.

Else, I'd not be able to install anything other than what's offered from the Store. And rest assured, most of the ITSec stuff I use would never show up there. I don't think they even offered Malwarebytes, because of course, there's Windows Defender pre-installed. Hmmm. You can't remove Edge, any more than you could Internet "Exploder." They've got their users by the short 'n' curlies, and they exploit that ruthlessly and have for decades.

Ruisert

Re: Hypocritical

I recently bought an Intel chipped Lenovo All-in-One. Intel has System Usage Report setup that constantly runs whenever the hell it likes, eats tons of my CPU resources and reappears soon after I delete the offending .exe, time and time again. God only knows what it's reporting back to Intel. Never had this happen on my AMD box. And, speak of the devil, there it is again.

Having been a contractor at M$, I'm surprised that engineer hasn't been flogged from the building and sent packing for admitting to using competitor's devices and services. The NERVE!!! ;)

I've been running some version of Windows since '95 on my PC's, and while even then, they locked down a lot of the system (for good reason, I dealt with way too many people who FAFO'd themselves into having to call support), but now it's gotten far more intrusive and annoying. But what can you do but buy an Mac (yikes!), or in my case, relearn the dreaded Linux, which I may well do. (I hear it's actually become a lot more user friendly in the last 20 years or so since I last looked at it.)

Ruisert

Re: Keys not yours

The Texas grid is a poster child for grift, graft, greed, and corruption. We're deliberately cut off from the two larger grids east and west (There a 3 in the U.S.) because the powers that be want the freedom!!! to do whatever they want, which is basically allowing a "state regulated" utility to be free from outside (Federal) regulation or interference (and backup, when needed.)

Before the infamous Blue Norther that froze the entire state and caused "Fled" Cruz to flee to Cancun, we had a smaller storm a few years previous that pointed out the vulnerability of the plants to severe cold weather, and caused the utility regulatory body to recommend, but not require, the utility companies to weatherize their power plants. "No, we can't do that! That would cut into our profits!" And they did not.

And so, an unusually powerful but entire predictable climate change driven winter storm killed hundreds of my fellow Texans who couldn't afford the outrageous electric bills nor the expense to flee to warmer climes for the time the state was in the grip of one of the worst storms in recent history.

Sorry, I seem to have gone off on a wee rant, but the topic triggers and infuriates me to this day. If I killed as many people, I'd have been put to death by the state by now, but the utilities and pols responsible for this outrage laughed all the way to the bank.

My neighbor has a nice solar array on his roof, pays a miniscule bill, and sometimes even gets a refund. I intend to do the same as soon as I can afford to, because depending on the decisions of corporations and their enabling politicians can not only get you locked out of your smart devices, it can actually kill you.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

/rant

Amazon Ring, Alexa accused of every nightmare IoT security fail you can imagine

Ruisert

Re: People put cloud cameras in their and their kid's bedrooms?

What?!? We're supposed to wade through 11 million pages of legalese before we sign off?

Ok, honestly, I do too. Why?

Because I know EULA's don't mean much, and what IS there is to protect the producer.Not me.

Ruisert

Re: Lessons clearly not learned here

Sounds like ya nailed it.

Ruisert

Re: Lessons clearly not learned here

And not thinking anything about what happens if their trust is taken advantage of. "Why no, they're making me secure from common criminals!!!"

But we've always prosecuted those who prey on the less educated, the less informed, the vulnerable. As we should. But in a case like this, the company gets to write off the fine against their income.

Ruisert
Holmes

Re: Who would have seen that coming?

As am I.

Cutting corners at any turn. Giving zero shits about the tiny, tax-deductible fines they ~might~ have to pay.

Too damn cheap to even do the tiniest bit of training and supervision.

That's today's Capitalism.

DHL named most-spoofed brand in phishing

Ruisert

Given that it still occurs on such a large scale, it is. We all here (hopefully) know this stuff. But it's those folks like my mom who can't even figure out how to do a simple internet search that are the targets. I shared this on my LinkedIn account because LinkedIn is still a huge target. And if that foils even a single scamming bastard, I've done my good deed for the day.

How this Mars rover used its MOXIE to convert CO2 into precious oxygen

Ruisert

Re: And energy?

Storms on Mars are known to have very high wind velocities, which should enable wind power to be harnessed. If they can fly a drone on Mars, they can make turbines that work. It's just a matter of materials and design. Larger designs are possible, given the difference in gravity.

And, if pure carbon can be extracted from this, or another process, it's only a few steps away to produce carbon fiber for construction.

Astronaut blood reveals genetic mutations for cancer and heart disease

Ruisert

Re: Insufficient Astronaut Shielding

Water in sufficient quantity is a fairly effective barrier to high energy cosmic radiation. I doubt one could do this with a suit, but storing water for an interplanetary craft between the outer and habitable layers might be an effective solution.

Details of '120,000 Russian soldiers' leaked by Ukrainian media

Ruisert

Army of Whaa?

Well, sadly I can't upload a screenshot of the link on Telegram that was included in the article. The one that links to the Telegram account of "The itarmyofurraine."

Urraine? WTF is Urraine?

Please tell me the average Ukrainian isn't as dumb as most of my fellow Americans. Please.

Can we talk about Kevin McCarthy promising revenge if Big Tech aids probe into January insurrection?

Ruisert

Re: The law and order and right to life party say what?

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Wasn't sure anyone would get a 40 year old movie reference, but there ya go.

Ruisert

Re: The law and order and right to life party say what?

Adam Ant-Fa?

Proven on video? LOL. You either saw a whole other video than the several I've seen, or you need to get your eyes looked at.

No guns, but they used any and everything they could lay hands on: fire extinguishers, flag poles, mace, stolen police batons, shields and helmets, and almost managed to take an officer's gun. Oh, did I forget to mention the ~gallows~?

When they weren't booing and jeering the insurrectionists, of course.

I'm remembering a few lines by Lloyd Bridges in the movie "Airplane!" right about now...

Ruisert

Re: Let me remember who started the largest gathering of personal data to "combat terror"....

Stop getting lied to? How does that work, exactly? I mean, other than ball-gagging a whole lot of idiots? Which, I'm kinda OK with...

Ruisert

Re: i.e. he confesses there is evidence

...Or ending a pointless and ludicrously expensive war that has killed thousands.

Ruisert

Re: i.e. he confesses there is evidence

Well, that and which form of monotheistic superstition they love and want to force everyone else to follow...

Here in Texas we call 'em Y'all Qaeda or the TEAliban, whichever.

Ruisert

Pics or it didn't happen.

Trump was so disgusted he sat and watched it on TV and did jackshit to stop it all day.

Ruisert

Not really.

Dig deep into American history and you'll see it's always been this way. They just didn't have the Interwebz in those days. Look up the IWW, the "Wobblies", or the Seattle General Strike. Or just go back to the times when only White men who owned property could vote...

Ruisert

"American politics seems to be a broken mess."

It's a shitball rolling downhill, getting bigger as it goes. I really wish I could afford to move to a civilized country one day, where people actually respect the rule of law, even when inconvenient, have access to healthcare without the threat of bankruptcy, and where science is what determines the course of action to take in a global pandemic.

It's no coincidence that the U.S. leads the world in Covid deaths.

Texas law banning platforms from social media moderation challenged in lawsuit

Ruisert

Texas tried that, along with a few others, some decades back. It didn't work out well for them.

Ruisert

Re: Forced speech

Just a slight correction:

Cancun Tez Crud, that February Fatal Freeze Fleeing Chicken****, had nothing to do with this law, passed by the TEXAS Legislature. Tez is a U.S. Senator from Texas, and that is not the body responsible for this egregious attempt to force social media sites to validate and allow blatant right-wing nutjob propaganda on their sites.

I can 'proceed without you', judge tells Julian Assange after courtroom outburst

Ruisert

Re: Blackmailed

American justice is the finest money can buy. And the U.S. Gov. prints all it needs. If they get him over here, he'll be fucked sideways and every other way.

Ancestry.com: Let arbitrator decide on auto-enrolling membership lawsuit

Ruisert

Re: Witness for the Defence

Don't recall ever being billed by Mother Nature...

Ruisert

Re: Using Ancestry.com is highly addictive

Familysearch is great - free and they block almost all personal details of living persons in the DB.

Trump administration labels WeChat, TikTok ‘threats’ to national security, bans transactions with both

Ruisert

Re: Trump is a moron

When he came to Dallas several months ago, I thought of reserving tickets and not showing up as well. But, turns out, if they have enough reservations, the tickets go to the people who actually show up. So the Tulsa debacle wasn't that the tickets were taken, it's that only a few outright idiots like the late Herman Cain thought it a good idea to come to a Covid-19 infection party. But of course, Twitler must have someone to blame for his own failures, always.

I got 99 problems, and all of them are your fault

Ruisert

Re: Computer science lecturer

Working as front-end at Micro$oft in the days of IE 3, I got a call from a fellow - said he'd just gotten a new computer and kept clicking the "internet" icon on his desktop and nothing was happening. My first question - "Who's your internet service provider?" I can't recall the details of the subsequent conversation, but I'm sure it involved suggesting he might use his phone book to find an ISP...

Windows 10 update slips past Aussie border force and borks access to its Integrated Cargo System

Ruisert

Internet Exploder! YES! I was a contractor for M$ when they had IE3 out. Hispanic man called, needing help for "Internet Exploder." Me: "May I put you on hold a moment sir?" He: "Ok." Me, after placing man on hold: "Internet Exploder! Bwahahahahaaaa!" re-connects with customer. "I'm sorry, sir, but since Internet Explod, er Explorer is a free product, Microsoft does not offer any no-charge support options over the phone."

I still call it that to this day.

Ruisert

COBOL?!? Do they also still have mainframes that use Hollerith card readers? Clearly someone needs to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Time to check who left their database open and leaked 7.5m customer records: Hi there, Adobe Creative Cloud!

Ruisert

Re: What price Photoshop?

And frankly, there are open-source versions of almost everything they produce. Photoshop? I have GIMP. Lightroom? I'm still using a 5.something version, works well enough for my needs, until it doesn't. Then it's a quick internet search away for an open source product that will.

Uncle Sam demands summary judgment on Snowden memoir: We're not saying it's true, but no one should read it

Ruisert

Re: Free publicity

He's got to earn a living somehow, living in exile in Russia, forever, apparently. It's way past ironic that my government is bitching about him breaking the laws that were supposed to prevent him from telling us how THEY were breaking the law.

From beyond the grave, Orwell is probably thinking that this crap goes far past anything even he imagined.

Red hangs up the Hydrogen phone as firm exits handset business

Ruisert

Re: Who? Never heard of them

Same here. Red cams are well known in the digital video game, but I had no idea they made phones.

Arrrgh! Put down the crisps! 'Ultra-processed' foods linked to cancer!

Ruisert

"This means it isn't clear how the foods might increase cancer risk or what exactly it is that's behind the boost. For instance, is the increased risk related to sugar in the products? Fats? Or is it because of contaminants from the packaging?"

1) Increased consumption of these foods may replace consumption of foods with known anti-carcinogenic properties. For example - raw broccoli has 2 known anti-cancer chemicals naturally, but when cooked, one is reduced or removed entirely.

2) Most cancer cells depend on only one of 3 cell nutrients - glucose, and require 6 to 8 times the amount of a normal cell. Since many processed foods have additional sucrose ( a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose) added to increase sales, this could certainly be a factor. Also, many complex carbs found in processed foods easily break down into the simple carbs - sugars, rapidly (sometimes due merely to saliva), whereas less processed products such as whole grains are metabolized slower due to the fiber retained in those products.

While there have not been any serious studies that I know of, current anecdotal evidence that cannabis consumption is anti-carcinogenic may well be true and effected by the lowering of glucose (commonly referred to as "the munchies" by many users) immediately after use.

It took us less than 30 seconds to find banned 'deepfake' AI smut on the internet

Ruisert
Devil

Pornhub is NSFW?

Who'da thunk?!?

A tiny Ohio village turned itself into a $3m speed-cam trap. Now it has to pay back the fines

Ruisert

I say that speeding law enforcement is more about revenue enhancement than public safety. While it's true that higher speeds will result in more damage or worse injuries ~in an accident~, the main reason speeding is the prime target is for a simple reason - it's easily quantifiable and document-able by machine and requires very little effort. I've seen tons of atrociously dangerous driving, by people going at or below the speed limit that is far more dangerous than going over the limit - tailgating, passing on the right, weaving, etc. Never ever do I see those people getting pulled over for the tickets they so rightly deserve.

Years ago, when I was a bit of a lead-footed kid, I got a few speeding tickets. I had a good, smart lawyer. He'd plea no contest to the citations in city court, then appeal to county. County, at the time, was hugely backlogged, and most of my cases dismissed due to time. Eventually the city twigged to the problem and made their own court of record to thwart the tactic, because they were losing $4-5 MILLION a year that they clearly expected to bring in.

And the issue here is not about obeying laws or facing the responsibility for breaking them, it's about law enforcement authorities rigging a system to trap people into breaking the law and confiscating their money. There are tons of small towns all over the western U.S. where this is standard practice. And the newest wrinkle is asset forfeiture - often based on racial profiling or recognition of a non-resident ripe for plucking.

Shopper f-bombed PC shop staff, so they mocked her with too-polite tech tutorial

Ruisert

Re: PC world

In school my chem teacher had a list of Murphy's Laws and other such - I believe it was Zumwalt's Corollary (iirc) that stuck with me most: If it doesn't fit, force it. If it breaks - it needed replacing anyway.

Nunes FBI memo: Yep, it's every bit as terrible as you imagined

Ruisert

Re: Sam Clemens

"Did he live long enough to experience the lows of the Gilded Age and the robber barons? Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and all that? Tell me again anarchy's good for society."

Actually, he did, since he died in 1910. He coined the phrase "Gilded Age", in fact. A quick internet search shows he was quite harsh in his condemnation of Vanderbilt and Gould. Interestingly he was also friends with Henry H. Rogers, a key man at Standard Oil, who rescued Twain from bankruptcy and managed his money afterwards. So it would seem Twain judged people more by the content of their character than the size of their bank accounts...

And, just so you don't forget, those robber barons were mostly, but not always, railroad tycoons who became so due to huge government handouts, with some of the profits finding their way into the pockets of the politicians that abetted them. Sound like anything going on today?

And while I'm not in favor of anarchy, I prefer it to corrupt businessmen and the corrupt politicians in their pockets.

Downloaded CCleaner lately? Oo, awks... it was stuffed with malware

Ruisert

I've used CCleaner for years (10 at least) and find it to be very handy at cleaning crap (CCleaner's original name was Crap Cleaner) like temp files many product installations fail to clean up. And when I do run it, it generally frees up a GIG or two of drive space. My mom, who is the very epitome of a clueless computer user picked up another browser hijacker the other day - I ran CCleaner on it, all better.

But I guess it's typical human behavior to blast something without having a clue as to what it actually does.

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