* Posts by Intractable Potsherd

4159 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Airbus and Rolls-Royce hit eject on hybrid-electric airliner testbed after E-Fan X project fails to get off the ground

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Electric planes?

This one is fine, and will last for ages.

Look, there are some very good reasons for using less, and reusing and recycling what we have. However, in the developed world, we have the safest, healthiest environment in history, and lots of disposable income (on average). Things my parents (born in the 1930s) could not have imagined for the first 40 years of their lives have become commonplace - all of it made possible by the use of fossil fuels. People who want radical green policies want us to move back to pre-industrial levels, without hope of ever getting out, and they want to do it without engaging in proper, democratic, debate.

The developing world will be left forever behind if they adopt green policies, so the "enlightened" developed countries are enforcing it on them, and the complaining that they never make anything of themselves.

When you can talk in terms of the moral correctness of maintaining (for the developed world) and improving (for the developing world) the standard of living through efficient reuse and recycling, we'll have common ground. Talk to me about "only one planet" and I'll not hear a word you are saying.

Intractable Potsherd
Mushroom

Re: Electric planes do not need batteries - Ammonia may be better

But, a bit like bears, an annoyed greenaholic is much more dangerous than a dead one... - - - >

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Electric planes?

See - hoola proves my earlier point perfectly! God forbid that human progress should make that which was expensive affordable by all!!

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Electric planes?

Once again, the eco-miserabilists speak! How dare we have fun? How dare we do things that aren't "necessary"? Don't you know the planet is DYING!!11! 1 eleventy one?

I have no real doubt that the days when we could fly cheaply and relatively efficiently are over - the economic situation is going to provide far less choice, therefore far less competition, as airlines go bust over the next 12 months or so. However, that is going to be accelerated by governments bending to the eco-twats who think that we should all go back to living where we are born and never travelling further than the nearest market town in the name of "duh env-eye-row-mint".

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Absolutely. And just imagine if your MP spent all his/her time in the constituency instead of...

Well, that depends on your MP, doesn't it? The feckless lump of lard I've currently got seems to be universally disregarded even by the people who voted for her.

Apple and Google tweak key bits of contact-tracing privacy plan

Intractable Potsherd

Re: so what happens

It looks like my SailfishOS Jolla is going to become my main phone.

US threatens to turf out four Chinese telcos amid concerns over national security... and COVID-19, doctors, schools, jobs, communists, etc

Intractable Potsherd

Re: We contacted each company

Ah, yes - should have been obvious!! :-)

Intractable Potsherd

Re: We contacted each company

Thanks, Neil - I was going to post the same comment myself!

Dumpster diving to revive a crashing NetWare server? It was acceptable in the '90s

Intractable Potsherd
Pint

Re: Question - one detail

Brilliant!

Intractable Potsherd

Re: A long time ago

*Baling* twine, Shirley (unless you want it to get you out of gaol, of course...)

[I can't see the obligatory spelling mistake in my post - I'll let someone else have the fun!)

Intractable Potsherd

Re: A long time ago

@Keith: Welcome to my house! Their are a number of "temporary" fixes that I know I was very proud of sue to their (cough) elegance and simplicity, but I have no idea what I did or how. Indeed, some of them seem to be impossible in the universe I currently inhabit - the laws of physics just don't work properly, so I can't actually do anything about them.

Lords: New IR35 off-payroll tax rules 'riddled with problems, unfairnesses, unintended consequences'

Intractable Potsherd

Yes, Dr. S, but what should be counted as "employee benefits"? [I just noticed Headley Grange posted points I was about to make since I started typing, so I'll stop here].

Intractable Potsherd

I thought ISA income had to be declared on the form, but was then exempted. However, it is a few years since I filed one, so I could be wrong. The point the O.P. made isn't altered, though - all *relevant* income should be declared, and then standardised tax bands applied. However, this seems to point towards an American system of everyone declaring their income every year, unless a trusted automated system that is much more flexible* can be brought in.

*The current system of PAYE still assumes only one job and deals with multiple jobs very badly, for example.

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

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Another thing...

@ragnar: "There are examples of governments who didn't dabble with herd immunity, who followed WHO advice, who locked down early, and had fewer deaths as a result." They have had fewer deaths *so far*. No-one knows what the medium-term outcome for any of the strategies will be - we will only have any inkling of an idea in about 12 months.

We're in a timeline where Dettol maker has to beg folks not to inject cleaning fluid into their veins. Thanks, Trump

Intractable Potsherd

Looking back at Dr. Ellen's posting history, s/he is usually fairly sane. There is one mention of her/him taking medication for a thyroid problem - maybe there is a problem with supply?

Facebook sort-of blocks anti-quarantine events – how many folks are actually behind these 'massive' protests online?

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Big rant, lots of capital letters...

It isn't an issue of if any given individual will get it, but *when*. Indeed, none of the models or responses have done anything but accept this. The total number of deaths from the virus is not going to be affected much by the actions as far as anyone can tell - the issue is simply controlling the number at any one time. The survival rate for anyone who needs ventilating is so small that it is, in almost* every case, simply prolonging death.

Most of the lockdowns are just governments needing to be seen to do something. The numbers don't really support the draconian measures taken. The long-term effects, which are well known from previous great depressions, *will* (not might) lead to millions of deaths, and untold misery for hundreds of millions for years, if not decades, to come. The poorest people in developed countries are being "thrown under a bus" for a tiny number of largely elderly people**. It is probably far too late for the UK and most of Europe to avoid the catastrophe to come. Oddly, developing countries might benefit, and become the world leaders of the 21st century, because the developed world is going to be crippled.

*And those who survive are left significantly worse off than they were before.

**I'm close enough to being in the at-risk group, and have relatives who are well into that bracket. We are not selfish enough to think that our lives mean more than ten or a hundred times more people who will suffer for our benefit.

Why should the UK pensions watchdog be able to spy on your internet activities? Same reason as the Environment Agency and many more

Intractable Potsherd

Re: "serious and organised waste crime"

I don't see anything wrong with the phrase, other than the lack of a hyphen between "waste" and "crime"? The poor hyphen is becoming an endangered species.

Intractable Potsherd

Do we have a competitor for AmanfromMars1?

Intractable Potsherd

Re: And yet

Yep - I've been saying it for years. The problem seems to be that the idea of parties is so ingrained that even groups like Unlock Democracy don't consider it as a possibility. Of course, the practical problem is how do you get politicians, all members of political parties, to pass a law banning political parties?

Intractable Potsherd

Re: And yet

@genghis"The reaction to the last UK general election was 'oh, no not another one'..."

There is a real possibility that this was because there is no real point in voting - the wrong lizard gets in every time. If there was more actual involvement, where people could see that their opinions were considered and decisions made on that basis (with reasons given for accepting/discarding them) then the positive feedback would be significant, and people would realise that politics is about people, not parties. Perhaps it could start with local issues - see, for example, the system in [some?] US states where citizens have the right and ability to put proposals to a ballot regarding e.g. banning the use of speed cameras in their town.

Lockdown endgame? There won't be one until the West figures out its approach to contact-tracing apps

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Wrong answer

@Jusme: "we either destroy our society or have thousands die." You have created a false dichotomy - destroy society and millions die, so the choice is "have millions die or have thousands die". We cannot keep up the current situation and expect to save lives - it is probably too late, anyway. For example, NHS staff are so close to stress-related illness that, even if a vaccine came along tomorrow, people are going to die of non-covid causes because there won't be enough staff, or the ones that see you you will be too burned-out to do the job properly. The calculus now relates to when to accept that more lives will be saved by accepting the deaths from Covid-19 - though short-termist politicians and the public health absolutists are not going to think about the wider issues.

US judge puts Amazon's challenge to Pentagon JEDI deal into force stasis

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Inconceivable

Yep - my flabber was totally gasted when I found I was in a "virtual queue" to look at stuff on B&Q's website! I stayed in the "queue" until I was on the site, then didn't buy anything even though they had what I wanted at a reasonable price.

Getting a pizza the action, AS/400 style

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Orbital pizza

Ah, the delightful Hannelore! Haven't seen her much lately - I was hoping the new "discovered herself" version would be involved in the current storyline (I think Hanners and Millefeuille would get on gloriously!)

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Pineapple good. Pepperoni bad.

Even better is a doner calzone!

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Pineapple good. Pepperoni bad.

Is this a bad time to mention my favourite restaurant in Tabor, Czech Republic, to which I return as often as possible for their sweet pizza (nutella, pineapple, kiwi fruit, banana, apple)?

Iran military manages to keep a straight face while waggling miracle widget that 'can detect coronavirus from 100m away'

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Fools

Evidence?

Cloudflare outage caused by techie pulling out the wrong cables

Intractable Potsherd

Re: That's bringing back memories

That is a bad memory to have brought back. I hope it isn't too distressing.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: "Unplug it and see who bitches"

Was it "Two men enter, one man leaves", and a suspicious number of bones blocking toilets? If not why not? The stupid bastards deserve it!

Vodafone chief speaks out after 5G conspiracy nuts torch phone mast serving Nightingale Hospital in Brum

Intractable Potsherd

And just think how long it would take to train him to do even the simplest task!

Intractable Potsherd

I don't like incitement laws. The responsibility should lie with the actors and not the speakers, otherwise both free speech and free will are undermined.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: The social media companies don't help enough

Quite right. Remember that a lot of us here were accused of peddling dangerous conspiracy theories about government surveillance until Edward Snowden came along. Free speech has to be free for everyone, or it is free for no one.

ICANN's founding CEO and chair accuse biz of abandoning principles in push for billion-dollar .org sale

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Who owns Ethos?

It is indeed very stinky - like a two-week dead fish wrapped in rotting wild garlic next to an open bottle of smelling salts in an open sewer at midday in the middle of summer. It beggars belief that anyone could try this, let alone get this close to success.

So how do the coronavirus smartphone tracking apps actually work and should you download one to help?

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Not for me thanks.

Only four years! You must be very forgiving :-)

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Sales pitch

Yes - it is time to think about what long-term price the country is willing to pay to avoid a relatively few deaths from Covid-19. Constant tracking is one price, as is the number of deaths and morbidities caused by the response to the virus over the next two generations - deaths of poverty, deaths of despair, deaths of violence. Another is the inevitable social breakdown from people being ordered to not trust anyone else. This is is the biggest divide-and-conquer attempt in history, and it will not end well - either people will go along with it and society will become a memory, or they won't, and the backlash will change things forever. There is more to this than a scoreboard of deaths that pales into insignificance against other causes.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Use of proximity-tracking for criminal cases

Everyone keeps missing the 800kg gorilla in the corner - these apps, whatever method they use, *depend on quick, reliable testing of significant numbers of people*. This isn't even close to being available - the tests are slow, they have about 20% false negative and 10% false positive rates, and there aren't enough to test the people at most risk. Worse yet, there are no better tests closer than press releases.

Wanted: An exit strategy from the overt surveillance of smartphone contact tracing

Intractable Potsherd

There is only one way to stop this becoming a privacy nightmare and that is to not start it at all. Democracy demands that the wishes of the electorate are now sought regarding when avoiding deaths becomes too expensive (not just in terms of money, but the whole package).

Ransomware scumbags leak Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX documents after contractor refuses to pay

Intractable Potsherd

Re: You are not really familiar with computer security, are you?

@EricM: Thanks for a comprehensive explanation of the current situation. However, you can't derive an "ought" from an "is". The current situation has grown into a clusterfuck, but lack of liability is part of that. There is no incentive to fix it at the moment - you (and I'm sure you are good at your job) are dependent on the weakest coder working for the lowest bidder. Given that the importance of computers to modern society is more important than coal to the industrial revolution, this cannot, morally or practically, be allowed to go on - this the law needs to step up and wield a baseball-bat to the industry.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: You are not really familiar with computer security, are you?

@EricM: "... security in a world where invisible doors exist and you cannot tell concrete and cardboard apart?" That is part of what I'm talking about - is it a fundamental truth that invisible doors and papier maché walls will exist? If so, why?

"... no new door will pop up due to changes made by somebody else tomorrow." Surely this is part of the problem - too much reliance on "somebody else".

"... no amount of due diligence will make sure I have not overlooked one of the invisible doors." Then a new model is needed, and liability is a very effective way of doing that. Currently, we are at the pre-Factory Act* level, with risk externalised. That risk needs to become internal so that the metaphorical factories are built properly.

*Not exactly analogous I admit, but illustrative.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: You are not really familiar with computer security, are you?

@EricM: "Now try to imagine to secure a building where fences have holes you cannot see. Where walls have doors you cannot see. Some walls that used to exist forever are gone the next day. Some walls only look like walls when in reality they are just props from a film set. Where people that you cannot control are working on structural changes and who routinely refuse to tell you what they did. Where alarms notice some trespassers while ignoring others. Where you learn one day that while you thought you had the only keys to the building, the company who made the doors was handing out every key to every door they ever made to anyone who asked..."

Now imagine the liability if you used that place to store hugely valuable stuff. You would have done your due diligence on the building before using it, and not taken someone else's word for its security. To do otherwise would find you liable for civil and possibly criminal action.

The problem with infosec is that there is too little liability when things go wrong. It needs to hurt if you use a movie-prop instead of a reinforced wall.

China's biggest e-learning company admits deliberately getting its sums wrong when counting sales

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Not the only wrong sums....

Have an upvoted, AC - excellent cynicism!

Watch out, everyone, here come the Coronavirus Cops, enjoying their little slice of power way too much

Intractable Potsherd

"When all this chaos is over, there ought to be an overall review of policing in the UK." (is that what you meant?)

Intractable Potsherd

I don't find it strange at all - they are competent adults making their own decisions. My mum is one of them: mid-80s and going to her local shop every couple of days to support the owners, have a chat, and get some exercise. Also, to show that she won't be told what to do.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: If you're not part of the solution, you are an idiot.

@strident AC: it was absolutely clear that the weekend you clearly refer to was people having a "last fling" before locking down. It was the first good weather after winter, and people wanted to feel normal. If Johnson and his be suited thugs had said "We're glad you had a good weekend, now please follow our suggestions or we'll need to bring in more restrictions" there would have been huge compliance - probably more than now. The government were clearly going to bring in the current restrictions regardless, and used the weekenders as an excuse. Now there is growing dissatisfaction (at least in my corner of Fife) amongst people of all ages - how long do you think the lockdown will last once a critical mass is reached?

Intractable Potsherd

Re: "We don't want to do as we're told!"

*All* accidents could be avoided if no-one and nothing moved.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: How did we come to this?

"Give it a month or so & 'Thinking before doing' will become ingrained in our activities."

*That* is exactly what I'm afraid of. This should not become normal. These actions should be considered at all times and cast off as soon as possible.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Hack is the right word

@Doctor Syntax: re walking in open countryside. The lack of proportionality in this is going to come back and bite the police, and, by extension, the government, hard. It was Johnson's cowardice in putting the whole country under lock down, rather than focusing on hotpots, that will bring the whole thing down.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Hack is the right word

Not even a majority of us (whether by population, electorate, or voters on the day).

Intractable Potsherd

And so what? None of these things are big issues here.

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Wear face protection?

@Stoneshop: "... keep infection levels, and more specifically hospital admissions, at a manageable level."

This has started to sound to me like "Yes, we know plebs are going to die, but it would be simply spiffing if they would do it conveniently."

Intractable Potsherd

Re: Wear face protection?

@Wibble: "And since when do we need masks when out in rural areas?"

This is what is pissing off a lot of people here in Scotland, where a lot of people live outside large conurbations, and people in large conurbations are often less than thirty minutes from large, open tracts of land. The lock down in its current form seems to have been done so that Boris didn't have to treat cities (especially London) differently from elsewhere, and the Tiny Tory in Holyrood just went along with it.