* Posts by Arty Effem

95 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Jan 2009

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

Arty Effem

So they're allowing refreshments in IT zones now?

That position you just applied for might be a 'ghost job' that'll never be filled

Arty Effem

Just admit it.

Any legislation could be circumvented by calling them ghost jobs from the outset; they'd still get applicants.

Glastonbury to turn festivalgoer pee into eco-friendly fertilizer

Arty Effem

Anyone prepared to tolerate the conditions there, is quite resigned to having it taken.

Capita says 2023 cyberattack costs a factor as it reports staggering £100M+ loss

Arty Effem

Re: Take your pick

It's really just a question of careful outsourcing.

'Influencer' gets 7 months in prison for plot to interfere with 2016 US election

Arty Effem

So all one had to do was send an unvalidated text? All he has done is to expose widespread gullibility.

New information physics theory is evidence 'we're living in a simulation,' says author

Arty Effem

It must be bugged.

The first rule of writing an AI simulation: Simulated beings must not develop the suspicion that they're simulated.

Amazon's latest directive: Report to the office 'cos we're watching you

Arty Effem

No results from those who contacted their manager after presumably getting the email in error.

If you can count up to three and think you received this email in error, ask yourself how it could have happened given that we use one of those computer thingies to record your clocking in/out.

We will find you and we will sue you, Twitter tells 4 mystery alleged data-scrapers

Arty Effem

Is there no-one left to tell them that the IPs could be from zombie machines, whose owners are oblivious to the activity?

Absolute mad lad renders Doom in teletext

Arty Effem

When there's no proper outlet for one's talent...

This is the result of IT employers asking the wrong questions in interviews.

Here's a fun idea: Try to unlock and drive away in someone else's Tesla

Arty Effem

Re: But physical keys can be hacked

"I've seen a locksmith open a door because of a lost physical key, took 5 minutes with a battery drill,"

That person had no business describing himself as a locksmith.

China makes it even harder for data to leave its shores

Arty Effem

Risk Assessment

I'm just trying to assess the risk of someone transferring the data to a memory stick, then flying it across the border with an autonomous drone or similar. I'll do the same for radio and satellite links.

How I made a Chrome extension for converting Reg articles to UK spelling

Arty Effem

Those of us who don't suffer from Chrome, will continue performing the conversion mentally and on the fly.

Scottish space upstart's rocket crashes into the drink

Arty Effem

I think I've analysed the problem: they should have mounted it on the end of a long wooden stick.

Infosys must face claims it told recruiter not to hire women with kids 'at home'

Arty Effem

Re: It's not that easy to employ someone.

Or just plead the open-and-shut case himself.

Fixing an upside-down USB plug: A case of supporting the insupportable

Arty Effem

Prior to the ATX standard, many will recall that AT motherboards received power from two separate connectors, fitting adjacent to each other onto a single row of pins on the board. Unfortunately, it was possible (and common) to connect these incorrectly, thereby trashing the MB along with the components connected to it.

Someone who had done just this, asked me if I knew of any place that had a 'motherboard repair service'. In these situations one endeavours to keep a straight face, so I thought for a moment then replied: 'Actually all computer dealers provide this service; you just give them the spec of the equipment you've destroyed, and they'll cheerfully sell you replacements.'

There are some looks one never forgets.

FCC floats 'five-year rule' for hoovering up space junk

Arty Effem

Vacuum cleaners don't work in space.

California to phase out internal combustion vehicles by 2035

Arty Effem

What they won't mention...

If the objective of all this is to reduce pollution, let's remember that it takes more energy/pollution to create a car, than that car could ever cause during its lifetime.

NASA selects 'full force' for probe into UFOs

Arty Effem

If there were any experts on this subject, an inquiry wouldn't be needed in the first place.

Russian cosmonauts abort ISS spacewalk after suit power fluctuates

Arty Effem

'Which is not to say they take unnecessary risks, but when they do take them they don't make much of it.'

That's because even before they climb into the tank, they know there's a shoulder-launched missile with their name on it.

Lonestar plans to put datacenters in the Moon's lava tubes

Arty Effem

How will we get the knowledge that the data is there?

'Wayne Kerr?': School board falls for 'Bart Simpson' prank names.

Arty Effem

Re: 'Wayne Kerr?': School board falls for 'Bart Simpson' prank names.

www.waynekerr.com I remember using their equipment decades ago.

Mozilla browser Firefox hits the big 100

Arty Effem

Re: Firefox is dead

Chrome won, its users lost.

Putin reaches for nuclear option: Zuckerberg banned

Arty Effem

That should put a huge crimp on Zuck's travel plans.

Man arrested, accused of trying to track woman using Apple Watch attached to car

Arty Effem

"strapped to one of the wheel's spokes"

One has to wonder how well it would withstand the g forces.

UK science stuck in 'holding pattern' on EU funding by Brexit, says minister

Arty Effem

Re: Equality

Where does it say that's happening?

Crack team of boffins hash out how e-scooters should sound – but they need your help*

Arty Effem

Re: It rings a bell

A pavement is not a mixed-use space.

Tesla Full Self-Driving videos prompt California's DMV to rethink policy on accidents

Arty Effem

Re: Clippy

"I still cannot get used to Xcode's habit of automatically inserting a closing '}' when I start a clause in 'C',"

Sounds like a good idea, providing the opening brace is:

a) Always vertically aligned with matching closing brace.

b) Never allowed to reside at the end of a line.

( Sound of hatch being screwed shut )

Linux Mint 20.3 appears – now with more Mozilla flavor: Why this distro switched Firefox defaults back to Google

Arty Effem

Estimating Popularity

"It's very hard to estimate the relative popularity of Linux distributions. Aside from a couple of paid enterprise distros, they're all free downloads without serial numbers, activation nor any other tracking mechanisms"

I'm sure I remember reading on this site that each copy of Firefox has it's own unique serial number. Given the relationship with Mozilla, that could be a tracking mechanism.

Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike resigns, leaves WhatsApp co-founder to run things until a successor is named

Arty Effem

I didn't object to anything; I asked a question the answers to which do not leave me entirely convinced.

Arty Effem

"open source privacy technology" Can that ever be a thing?

Low on passengers, low on memory: A bad day on the London Underground

Arty Effem

Re: It's leaking

I'm more inclined to suspect that 'it hasn't needed rebooting' for three years.

Astroboffins reckon they've detected four hidden exoplanets by probing distant radio waves

Arty Effem

"probing distant radio waves?"

How is it possible to probe distant radio waves? Surely they have to reach your antenna first.

Australia rules Facebook page operators are legally liable for user comments under posts

Arty Effem

At another level, that ruling could make Facebook liable for everything appearing anywhere on its site, regardless of its source.

We're going deeper underground: New digital project to map UK's sub-surface 'assets'

Arty Effem

So 2.4 billion a year in damage, but the system will save only 0.35 Billion. Presumably most of the damage has other causes.

The common factor in all your failed job applications: Your CV

Arty Effem

Re: Different types don't match well

"Only to receive a phone call a few weeks later; it turned out that the person they'd hired actually had zero programming skills, but had somehow managed to blag their way through the interview."

If you're smart, that's the first thing that should concern you; if you're really smart it'll also be the last.

Arty Effem

Re: The gap year

" I have interviewed plenty of people and found that interviews are much more about finding out who the person is, than anything else. "

So you're not too worried about incidental factors, like for instance whether they're actually capable of fulfilling the advertised role? Sounds about right for a typical employer.

UK Special Forces soldiers' personal data was floating around WhatsApp in a leaked Army spreadsheet

Arty Effem

"Take that man's name, sergeant!" x 1182

Holy margins, Batman: Pandemic tech prices balloon as demand outweighs stocks and suppliers get greedy

Arty Effem

Re: Greedy?

In that case, what's wrong with encouraging them?

Arty Effem

Re: Cheap at twice the price

Any reason non-flammable Brake Cleaner would not be suitable?

https://www.toolstation.com/holts-brake-cleaner/p43710?searchstr=brake%20cleaner

Facebook: Nice iOS app of ours you have there, would be a shame if you had to pay for it

Arty Effem

"It was free and always would have been!"

This developer created the fake programming language MOVA to catch out naughty recruiters, résumé padders

Arty Effem

Vetting Mechanisms?

""The information age has matured to the point where it's very difficult for people to represent themselves as something they're not," he said, pointing to sites like LinkedIn and GitHub as vetting mechanisms."

So they're vetting people via LinkedIn; a site that could have been designed for the purpose of fooling recruiters.

We need a 20MW 20,000-GPU-strong machine-learning supercomputer to build EU's planned digital twin of Earth

Arty Effem

Sounds like a Year 9 programming test. Time allowed 90 minutes.

The wastepaper basket is on the other side of the office – that must be why they put all these slots in the computer

Arty Effem

Re: Whoops mind your head if there is a fire, and dont trip

"The local builders were very helpful and provided a fireman's pole - unfortunately that only helps you get quickly to a lower floor, not a higher floor "

They'd probably seen the film Fahrenheit 451 and thought that's how they actually worked.

What's a COVID-19 outbreak? Amazon gets all Trumpy over Alabama warehouse workers' mail-in vote to form a union

Arty Effem

Re: When your company fights you this hard...

At which point they resign and cease to be a problem to the company.

You would expect a qualified electrician to wire a building to spec, right? Trust... but verify

Arty Effem

Re: Professionals built the titanic...

A moron (or group thereof) insisted that the voyage take place, despite knowing that the ship was on fire long before it took-on any passengers.

A pub denied: One man's tale of festive frolics postponed by the curse of the On Call phone

Arty Effem

"It's surprising just how many things can be fixed with a bit of a jiggle."

Jiggle [verb]. to toggle an intermittent fault.

Arriving in 2021, the UK's Digital Markets Unit 'could' start to do something about the power of online ad giants

Arty Effem

Re: Please change the name, will ruin searches

Just don't ask how it's generated.

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