Posts by RPF

Mullet over: Aussie boys' school tells kids 'business in the front, party in the back' hairstyle is 'not acceptable'

Re: Traditions?

Absolutely, I did of course meant the white Aussies. Thanks for the interesting link, though.

Now all this guy needs to prove is that the Aborigines had mullets in ancient times :-)

Traditions?

To paraphrase: "Australia isn't old enough to have traditions; they merely have habits.

Tesla broke US labor law with anti-union efforts – watchdog

Exactly. "Every company gets the union it deserves" they say and here's one that fits.

Citibank accidentally wired $500m back to lenders in user-interface super-gaffe – and judge says it can't be undone

Re: Interesting legal argument there....

I think it's slightly more nuanced than that. He's saying that because it was such a huge amount, it would be reasonable to expect the bank to have thoroughly checked it. Let's face it, even with about 6 zeroes knocked off this sum, I would check it carefully!

Better buckle up: Volkswagen puts Microsoft in driver's seat to deliver 'automated' platform

Re: Its getting harder

I've just imported a 1996 W124 Mercedes Benz in to the UK in order to get a rust-free CANBUS-free superbly-built 'proper' car and it's absolutely wonderful. So comfortable, simple, intuitive and solid-feeling that shows modern car design and technology has gone in completely the wrong direction for consumers.

Obviously it's the right direction for the manufacturers, as only main dealers can service/fix them, they will go wrong a lot and they're not built to last. But for Joe Bloggs modern cars are expensive junk.

PC makers warn of battle for air freight capacity, will have to fight for cargo space with... the COVID-19 vaccine

Re: Excuses, excuses

Passenger planes also need regulatory approval to carry freight in the cabin.

Did this airliner land in the North Sea? No. So what happened? El Reg probes flight tracker site oddity

Re: Obviously not GPS jamming

INS/IRS do drift, which is why modern aircraft don't rely on them entirely. The INS/IRS positions are compared regularly with DME/GPS fixing (and radar fixes on older military aircraft) to compute an accurate position. using Kalmann filtering techniques.

Something like a 146/V-bomber would have been much more prone to errors, since the computation was minimal/non-existent.

Brave takes brave stand against Google's plan to turn websites into ad-blocker-thwarting Web Bundles

Well done Brave.

Re: the circle completes

"Gramar".......perfect.

Be very afraid! British Army might scrap battle tanks for keyboard warriors – report

Someone clearly has never heard of Chobham armour.

Re: Putin? Border?

"The Russian military tends to end up in Western Europe only as a result of these invasions" is complete crap.

Finland in 1939.

Poland in 1939.

Latvia, Estonian and Lithuania in 1940.

Afghanistan in 1989.

Chechnya 2004

Georgia in 2008.

All started by Russian without any European invasion.

So long, Top Gun... AI software waxes US F-16 pilot's tail 5-0 during virtual dogfight drills

Re: A "'Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice" Moment/Event Horizon:-)

Impressive.

What's a "small disadvantaged business" though?

Re: Youtube comments

Yes, what tits they are.

Re: Watching

This is true and was mentioned in the commentary

But also IRL the enemy wreckage that's closing head-on at 1000+knots doesn't just miraculously disappear....

Re: Do it for real or scram

Having done it for real, I think the result would actually be even worse: the g-forces, the noise, the adrenaline all conspire against the pilot, which is why you train hard to condition yourself against these effects as much as possible; but they\re still a factor against top performance.

I thought the AI planes were bloody good and Heron terrifyingly good at head-on gunnery (which is usually a complete no-no for obvious reasons).

Apple hits back at Epic, says Fortnite crew wants a 'free ride' on fees: Let the app store death match commence

Re: A good time to be a lawyer...

Given that iOS devices are hugely outnumbered by Android ones, there is no way there is a monopoly here.

Chromium devs want the browser to talk to devices, computers directly via TCP, UDP. Obviously, nothing can go wrong

Re: Fingerprinting

There is an API-blocking extension for Chrome that might help with this.

Oh what a feeling: New Toyotas will upload data to AWS to help create custom insurance premiums based on driver behaviour

Screw that, I'll stick to my trusty low-tech British car (e.g. Lotus) to have nothing like that fitted!

Although the engine is from a Toyota, now I think about it.....Yikes!

Aviation regulator outlines fixes that will get the 737 MAX flying again

Re: It's a Boeing

So much better than the old version of this rhyme.

Exploding centre fuel-tanks, runaway rudders, runaway stabilisers, then crap FMCs, no stall protection and all the other crap they build would keep happening, but the know-nots would still trot out: "If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going".

Glad to not hear that rubbish any more.

From 'Queen of the Skies' to Queen of the Scrapheap: British Airways chops 747 fleet as folk stay at home

Re: Bloody awful

Those are called lift spoilers. Perfectly normal.

UK smacks Huawei with banhammer: Buying firm's 5G gear illegal from year's end, mobile networks ordered to rip out all next-gen kit by 2027

The wife is in bed with the mistress? Time to join in!

Dayam that's an image to savour :-)

GCHQ's cyber arm report on Huawei said to be burning hole through UK.gov desks

Re: WTF ....... Is the service demented and infiltrated?

Stuff like WMD in Iraq, you mean?

Beijing's tightening grip on Hong Kong could put region's future as an up-and-coming tech hub in jeopardy

Re: "won't change Hong Kong or threaten its residents"

Thing is, it even threatens non-residents, if they ever visit China (or Hong Kong, which is clearly the same thing now)

Re: Welcome....

The shills are really out in force today.

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

The last person hanged for treason in the UK was Lord Haw Haw in 1946.

Re: "we need clarity on what the laws will involve before we can decide anything"

Good explanation here of the original bill:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-extradition-explainer-idUSKCN1TD0NB

"Hong Kong’s leader would start and finally approve an extradition following a request from a foreign jurisdiction but only after court hearings, including any possible appeals. However, the bill removes Legislative Council oversight of extradition arrangements." and there was the problem: all HKG Chief Executives are appointed by Beijing.

What they have now is far, far worse and I do think Hong Kong is in for a seriously rough time.

India bans 59 apps it says have privacy, national security problems. In a massive coincidence, they’re all Chinese

Re: !!! :O TikTok

Am sharing that far and wide!

Watch an oblivious Tesla Model 3 smash into an overturned truck on a highway 'while under Autopilot'

Re: Flip

You clearly haven't seen Chinese driving before :-)

Royal Navy nuclear submarine captain rapped for letting crew throw shoreside BBQ party

We definitely also had nuclear depth charges.

UK data watchdog slaps a £500,000 fine on Cathay Pacific for 2018 9.4m customer data leak

Re: No!

They do, but the directors are pretty much IT-illiterate. I'm sure that's something most guys here have heard of before!

One was found to have been accessing the mainframe via Starbucks wi-fi (no VPN, obvs) once...... ...and they never, ever spend on IT if they can help it.

Whirlybird-driving infosec boss fined after ranty Blackpool Airport air traffic control antics

Re: Contrary view

There was almost certainly no hand-over to wait for. Blackpool ATZ is surrounded by uncontrolled airspace.

Yay! The ozone layer hole the smallest it's ever been seen. That's not necessarily good...

Re: Yet the weather is still getting worse, not better

Milk has a carcinogen in it, casein.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4166373/

Also the calcium "benefits" of milk are bogus: the body stops producing calcium when milk is consumed and then later in life, if you stop drinking it, your bones become brittle. Hip-fracture rates in old people in the West are actually higher than same age group in China.

Perhaps giving milk to kids wasn't such a great idea after all?

US govt watchdog barks at FAA over 737 Max inspectors' lack of qualifications

Re: Boeing needs to split

Much of the best bits in more modern Boeings were designed by McD-D engineers.

Brit MPs: Our policies are crap and the political process is in tatters, but it's Twitter's fault, OK?

Re: I think the operative word is 'short'

Citation needed on those short positions.

Auditors bemoan time it takes for privatised RAF pilot training to produce combat-ready aviators

Re: Not just flying

Sounds about right. Military service should not be civilianised.

Non-winged non-master race

Are the "Non-winged non-master race" bitter much, then? They used to be called "blunts", because that's the end of the wedge they inhabited on contemporary recruitment posters; they loved that so much!

Prior to out-sourcing, guys had their fast-jet wings within 2.5 years of joining, with around 200 more hours of jet time than now, all in the company of RAF pilots. The examples set made indelible and indispensable impressions on the yoof students. Front-line could be as little as 9 months after that.

7 years is utterly crackers. Even the youngest joiners would be 26 by the time they get to the squadrons, missing out on years of talent/fearless of extreme youth.

Stuffing your MacBook Pro in a ziplock bag before a flight ain't gonna cut it, say Feds

Re: Certificate Required?

These are called "excepted Dangerous Goods" in the business. They're allowed in the hold just fine, but it is better if they're with you for monitoring (and not getting stolen).

Off somewhere nice on holibobs? Not if you're flying British Airways: IT 'systems issue' smacks UK airports once again

Re: Hmmmmm

You cannot be fined or sacked for striking legally in the UK.

US border cops' secret racist Facebook group a total disgrace, says patrol chief. She should know, she was a member

Re: Provost

She just needs to marry someone called "Marshall" now.

Take my bits awaaaay: DARPA wants to develop AI fighter program to augment human pilots

Re: Visual Range Dogfights... a question for any air force experts out there...

Yes they are. Its very rare to be allowed to shoot without a visual ID, for instance. By which time the fight is probably well and truly "on".

Re: Only reason they are keeping pilots in the mix

Humans aren't stupid; they'll learn from your (unlikely, frankly) scenario and adapt and win. That's why humans are still in the mix.

Yes suicide drones would be a PITA, but they're not unbeatable. Using decoys and sacrificial drones would be an easy and effective counter.

Oddly enough, when a Tesla accelerates at a barrier, someone dies: Autopilot report lands

Re: Aircraft autopilot ... terrain-following radar to avoid collisions.

SOME ex-military pilots. Not ALL.

Apple's dark-horse macOS Mojave is out (and it's already pwned)

Re: No rush

Good advice.

First Boeing 777 (aged 24) makes its last flight – to a museum

Re: "...51,416 hours gracing the skies..." / 24 years = 25%

Highest utilisation I've ever seen is CPA A340 fleet: 21.3 hours/day one particular year.

The 747 wing never failed at all in this test!

No, no, you're all wrong. That's not a Kremlin agent. It's someone with 'inauthentic behavior'

So "inauthentic users" are on the Reg, too (AC about "impossible photo").

Stop us if you've heard this one: Adobe Flash gets emergency patch for zero-day exploit

To El Reg:

Really enjoyed the headline, thanks. Made I larf!

Airbus windscreen fell out at 32,000 feet

Re: made an emergency landing, .....

Actually FCU failure/departure is a major problem on an Airbus, actually; an incredible number of systems need to know what you're doing to the aircraft, in order to work properly (e.g. pressurisation, autothrottles, autopilot, fuel-management, lift-dump, auto-brakes, etc, etc.)

"Rather uncomfortable" is one hell of a euphemism for what would have been a frankly hideous nightmare of a day at the office.

I'm not exactly a huge fan-boy of Asian pilots generally, but this was bloody a case of bloody good piloting skills and airmanship. Chapeau to the Captain.

@SkippyBing.

Asiana (or any Korean airline, to be frank) are definitely one(s) to avoid.

Openreach consults on shift of 16 MEEELLION phone lines to VoIP by 2025

So which quango/ineptocracy will make BT liable for recycling/disposing of all the old phone handsets (30 million or so, maybe) that will be made obsolete by this, I wonder?