Posts by Rich 2

Deluded medics fail to show Ohio lawmakers that COVID vaccines magnetise patients

Struck off?

One would hope these two “medical professionals” will be hauled up in front of a tribunal, exposed for being the charlatans they are and be barred from practice?

Really, people are actually fucking insane in the US(*)!! And they’re backed up by morons in the Republican Party that seem, on a daily basis, to go out of their way to fuck-over everyone and anyone they can to further their loony mindset. It really beggars belief - it’s the stuff of a nutty sitcom

(*) yes, I’m well aware we’re have our own loonies this side of the water too.

Pre-orders open for the Mini PET 40/80, the closest thing to Commodore's classic around

Those were the days

The PET, TRS-80, ZX81….

There was something very pioneering and adventurous about using these and their like; something that has long since been sadly lost.

Ahhhhhhh…… sniff

Xilinx snaps up 'accelerated computing' specialist Silexica for its SLX FPGA tool suite

Xilinx vs Altera

“AMD hoping to grow its $38bn Xilinx acquisition as it seeks to compete with Intel's Altera”

I’m not an fpga person but from what I have heard from those that are, Xilinx can be pretty annoying sometimes. But Altera, especially since the Intel takeover, is much worse :)

Code contributions to GCC no longer have to be assigned to FSF, says compiler body

Re: Apple and GPL

Another big advantage of LLVM over GCC is that the latter is deliberately designed to make it unusable from other tools (such as real-time syntax checking etc). This is not just my opinion - it is a stated goal of the project.

LLVM on the other hand is very open and provides hooks into it that other tools can easily use. The bottom line is, it’s a much better design. And it’s not GPL which gives it several million bonus points in my book.

Stack Overflow acquired for $1.8bn by Prosus (no, me neither)

Oh dear

Fast forward 6 months….

Another one bites the dust. Great :-(

Firefox 89: Can this redesign stem browser's decline?

Re: Please, Firefox, just go away already!

I don’t recognise (1) at all.

No idea what you’re referring to with (2)

(3) What part of the UI do you want to tweak that you can’t? Whatever the issue is you can probably find a plug-in to give you what you want

Re: Please, Firefox, just go away already!

Can you clarify what is clunky? Or unrefined? Or underdeveloped?

Re: Please, Firefox, just go away already!

You do know that the TOR browser is based on Firefox, don’t you?

Re: We need Firefox to keep going

We certainly do. No other browser comes anywhere close to the huge range of add-ons that Firefox supports. Of course, some of the most important of these are to help keep the likes of googlies and faecesbook and their scummy friends at arms length.

If Firefox were to die, quite frankly I have no idea what I could replace it with - it is SO far ahead in this regard. Maybe they should shout a bit louder about this.

Royal Yacht Britannia's successor to cost about 1 North of England NHS IT consultancy framework

While I don’t necessarily disagree with your sentiment, I don’t think your numbers back up your argument. The Sterling:Dollar rate is about 1:1.4 and Britannia was only 126m long. So £200m seems to fit nicely into your super yacht baseline - ie, it has the potential to be a super yacht, and not a pedalo.

The gov will still fuck up the procurement and its cost will be closer to a billion of course, and it won’t set sail until 2086, but that’s a different issue

Re: Aircraft

As long as they don’t repeat the mistake of forgetting to put the prop shaft in and then have to (literally) cut the thing in half to fit it.

Hopefully that particular balls-up is limited to our new aircraft carriers.

Global warming

So, what do you reckon the Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint of the new (diesel powered, unless someone can confirm otherwise) tub will be then?

Large boats drink diesel like it’s going out of fashion. Oh hang on….

Great British Engineering

So they can’t say for certain that it will actually be built here?

Embarrassing doesn’t come close!

Boeing fined $17m after fitting uncertified sensors to 737 Max and NG airliners for 4 years

That’s justice!

“Boeing has paid the US Federal Aviation Administration $17m…”

Rather than paying the US FAA, maybe they should donate the fine to the families of the people they have killed on their aeroplanes.

It won’t bring anyone back of course, but still.

Lessons have not been learned: Microsoft's Modern Comments leave users reaching for the rollback button

Re: Efficiency?? Ha ha ha ha….

In a temp directory under my home directory - can’t remember the part of top of my head - might have been in …/appdata/… somewhere

Re: Efficiency?? Ha ha ha ha….

No- it’s not a “home” edition. I did google for the deleting files thing and found that it is indeed a “thing”. There is a setting to disable it which, of course, I toggled. It reduced the frequency of the deletions but they still happen.

It’s just a bone-headed “feature”. Why would anyone want it to do this??

Efficiency?? Ha ha ha ha….

“ One user complained that the feature "brings down efficiency"…”

I thought that was the whole purpose of Word! Same goes for pretty much any MS software.

I had not used anything MS for about the last 10 years but for the last month am having to use Windows 10. WTF??? I’ve never been a fan of Windows but it used to at least notionally work. It’s now overflowing with new “features” that make it f&@?ing unusable. I think my favourite “feature” is that it takes it on itself to delete files it thinks you don’t need any more!! Sends vim into a spin when the temp file it thought it has created suddenly disappears.

It’s this kind of utter nonsense that makes MS products less and less usable with each release.

Dear MS - please just roll back your software to when it used to (mostly) work (I think for Word, that would be about version 6 circa 1995. I think?) and stop pissing about with it adding “features” that absolutely nobody actually wants

Google's 'Ask me anything' on Privacy Sandbox was more about questions than answers

Chrome the Trojan Horse

Not that it is any surprise; it has, of course, been googlies’ plan since chrome’s inception. They want to make the Internet into its own personal monitoring and spy network just so they can sling adverts at you that you don’t want.

Of course, that’s pretty much what the Internet is already but this will just confirm it.

As for being able to disable these “features” (as has been suggested above), well I very much doubt any such switch will exist in chrome. As a side note, I’m still amazed that everyone seems to have flocked to chrome like it’s the pied piper - it’s nuts!

The wider danger though is that because so many websites seem to rely on googly functionality ( the number of web sites that DON’T link to something to do with googlies can be counted on one hand), I think we will find that they will start to only work if this new crappy functionality is enabled in the browser.

You will be assimilated. Resistance in futile.

More power to web apps, cries Google, and more privacy, too

Attribution Reporting API

There is something fundamentally wrong when the browser starts to include functionality purely to support advertising.

Clearly, Googlies are choosing to not see this

Linux laptop biz System76 makes its first foray into the mechanical keyboard world with dinky, hackable Launch

Why?

Forgive my ignorance but why is unlocked firmware on a keyboard desirable/a selling point? I mean, I’m not complaining but as long as the thing works, who cares what the firmware is? To me, a keyboard is a “plug in and forget” component; it’s not something anyone is going to bother messing with - is it??

Facebook Giphy merger stays on ice after failed challenge to UK competition regulator

Re: "web tracking beacons cunningly disguised as funny little animated images"

Sounds very much like Giphy should be decreed illegal and shut down

James Webb Space Telescope runs one last dress rehearsal for its massive golden mirrors before heading to launchpad

Re: Oh the irony

I would think the rocket has already been assigned so even if officially retired tomorrow, they’re not going to change it now - I would think that would be unwise/nuts (disclaimer: I have no idea what I’m talking about)

'Biggest data grab' in NHS history stuffs GP records in a central store for 'research' – and the time to opt out is now

“Your data”

The irony is that the website to opt out is entitled “your data….”

Microsoft unveils Rust for Windows v0.9, with 'full consumption support' for the Windows API

Extend and extinguish…. Again?

Sounds like it to me - trying to hook rust peeps on windows-specific APIs?

On one hand it’s a reasonable thing to add, but I can’t help my cynicism and MS past behaviour tainting that view.

Also, I couldn’t help wondering if “completed consumption” is some sort of MS strain of tuberculoses? :-)

American schools' phone apps send children's info to ad networks, analytics firms

What is F***ING wrong with people???

The whole software industry has turned into a complete sewer. It seems that whatever the application, actually doing what the app says on the tin is very much a secondary job next to pilfering the user’s data and selling it to the highest bidder.

Oh for the days when a software application did …well …the thing you bought it for!! And that’s all!!!!

And the fact that absolutely EVERYONE seems to be doing the same thing is a crippling indictment in the morals of the industry as a whole.

PLEASE STOP FUCKING SPYING ON EVERYONE!!!!!

BadAlloc: Microsoft looked at memory allocation code in tons of devices and found this one common security flaw

It’s shit!!!

It’s a very sad example of the state of a lot of software. I mean, who the hell writes a memory allocator (which is a pretty bloody fundamental operation) and fall into a trap like this?

It’s way beyond just crap!

Re: malloc()

@GrumoenKraut

If your allocation passes that test though, the allocation is very likely to behave exactly like malloc() - indeed it probably calls malloc() - in which case the meta data size will still be added and the overflow fault is still possible

UK government gives Automated Lane Keeping Systems the green light for use on motorways

Is anyone actually asking for this?

I don’t understand the push for self-driving cars. I mean, does anyone actually WANT one?

I certainly wouldn’t trust a computer to take over from me driving my car. And there is no way I would get in a car as a passenger knowing that the driver was relying on a computer.

Electric cars I get. Self-driving? Not at all. What’s the attraction?

Singapore goes Cray-cray in the best way, picks HPE for new 10 PFLOPS super 'puter

But does it use artificial blood…

…to cool it? Like the Crays of old did.

I think that’s a good marker of a REAL MAN’s super computer

Banks across America test facial recognition cameras 'to spy on staff, customers'

Re: Tablet?

Is this a late April fool? REALLY 2.6 trillion transistors??? And a die the size of a tablet???

10 years later, Chrome OS starts to look like a proper OS with hardware diagnostics and the ability to scan documents

“... ability to scan documents”

How else is it going to pass on all your data to Googlies?

UK.gov wants mobile makers to declare death dates for their new devices from launch

Re: Force open source instead

Just because a manufacture EOL’s a particular device, it doesn’t mean that the code is not reused for later devices, so it’s a non-starter to expect them to open source it.

In addition, some of the code may not be theirs to open source - a manufacturer probably buys-in an OS (and possibly add-ons to that OS)

UK digital secretary Oliver Dowden starts national security probe into proposed Arm-Nvidia merger

We should but it back

“We” being the UK govt. It was bloody stupid to let it be sold in the first place and it’s still bloody stupid.

I know it’s not quite the same (well not the same at all really) but I fear what happened to Inmos is likely the same as will happen to Arm. It will be asset-stripped, the tech squirrelled away, and this country will, YET AGAIN, lose/give away/let be stolen (delete as you see fit) a prime asset.

W3C Technical Architecture Group slaps down Google's proposal to treat multiple domains as same origin

Google are being “honest” for once

"No, we are not proposing to change the scope for permissions. The current scope for FPS is only to be treated as a privacy boundary where browsers impose cross-site tracking limitations.“

See - they are being very clear what the proposal is for - it’s to make it easier to track you. What’s the problem with that?

Amazon claims victory after warehouse workers in Alabama vote to reject union

Why the need for a vote?

Why was the vote needed anyway? In the uk, if you want to join a union then you just go ahead and do it (I think - never been in a union myself - so please correct me if I’m wrong)

I’m guessing us laws require a vote? What if the vote passes and an individual didn’t want to join? How does that work?

Ruby off the Rails: Code library yanked over license blunder, sparks chaos for half a million projects

Re: @Apprentice of Tokenism - This is where GPL is bollocks

That’s not what happens the vast majority of the time though. Take the example here - Rails is open source and completely free. They ARE “giving back”.

The problem is, as far as GPL is concerned, is that they are “giving back” in the “wrong way”

I myself have written several applications that use GPL libraries and bits of GPL code. I would be more than happy to publish them with no strings attached at all, to share them about. But there is no way I’m having my code labelled GPL, so I won’t be publishing them.

The GPL is dogma - it’s not reasonable at all

This is where GPL is bollocks

“ Using a GPL file as a source makes your whole codebase a derived work, making it all GPL”

The problem with the above is that if I make (say) a little program that does some mime type stuff and it uses a GPL library that implements most of that mime type stuff then fair enough - it’s clearly a derived work.

If, however, I make an entire programming framework consisting of tens of thousands of lines of code that does loads of diverse things and it happens to link to the same GPL library then I would contest that that is NOT a derived work. The library provides some functionally, yes. But it’s not the majority or core of the functionally of the overall application and there’s a good chance that any one application built on the framework may not even make use of the library.

I really really dislike GPL. Or rather I really really dislike people who have an unreasonable and rather sweeping idea of what “derived” means

GitLab latest to ditch 'master' as default initial branch name: It's now simply called 'main'

Re: radial engine

"..."master / slave" was never used in a software context"

Master/Slave is used all the time in a software context; any distributed system, for example

Funny you should ask that!

I remember hearing a news story on the radio back in late 90's / early 2000's - a woman had gained a degree in "Feminine Studies" (or something like that) and was going to sue the university because her degree was a "masters". No idea what came of it, but I remember thinking "they walked into that one, didn't they?" :-)

AdGuard names 6,000+ web trackers that use CNAME chicanery: Feel free to feed them into your browser's filter

Re: someone correct me but

So a more robust answer to this is to run your own DNS?

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

A bit late, don't you think?

"Starting mid-2021, the boffins will embark upon a seven-to-ten-year mission to create..."

I hate to point out the flaw in this plan, but we're fucked right now. I think in 7 to 10 years, we'll be well and truly fucked to the point of no return (if we've not already passed that point).

I suppose they can use it retrospectively to simulate how we managed to destroy our planet. If anyone is still alive to give a shit by then, that is.

What's that, Lassie? Dogs show signs of self-awareness according to peer-reviewed academic study?

Eh???

I’m no animal behavioural expert but my thought is “of course dogs are self-aware”. I’m sure a bloody squirrel is self-aware too. And a hippo.

Jeez

House Republicans introduce legislation for outright ban on municipal broadband in the US

Republicans

What I find staggering is the constant and open way the Republican Party goes out of its way to shaft the American public. They really do go out of their way to fuck up anything that may be vaguely beneficial to the country as a whole. Whether it’s preventing health care, preventing internet access, preventing any kind of inherent right of privacy, etc etc etc.

And they do it so openly and brazenly. And people STILL vote for them!!! It’s one well fucked-up country.

Facebook bans sharing of news in Australia – starting now – rather than submit to pay-for-news-plan

WTF???

"On a day of flood and fire warnings in Queensland and WA, Australians can’t access the Bureau of Meteorology on Facebook."

Why the f*** would you go via faecesbook to access Real Important Stuff (tm) like fire and flood warnings? What a screwed-up idea. If you want that info then go to the prime source; not some bloody anti-social advertising shite-slinging outfit.

Good grief!!

ADT techie admits he peeked into women's home security cams thousands of times to watch them undress, have sex

Can’t account for wilful ignorance

I have a friend that has Amazon kit spying on everything she does in the house. I have given up pointing out the security risks. Her answer is on the lines of “but I have a password” followed up by “who would be interested in me anyway?” and then (depressingly quickly) “oh well” and carries on regardless. The thing is most people just don’t care or don’t want to care. It’s the same psychology that lets googlies and faecesbook thrive. As a species we absolutely deserve to die out - stupidity and wilful ignorance seems to be the norm

Barbs exchanged over Linux for M1 Silicon ... lest Apple's lawyers lie in wait

What am I missing here?

There seems to be some animosity between the two parties, but the story doesn't really say why.

Re reverse engineering practice - implying that Wade's team have not followed best practice? Dunno!? The Twatty links didn't say much, but maybe that's because I've disabled all the spy-scripts and stuff

Signal boost: Secure chat app is wobbly at the moment. Not surprising after gaining 30m+ users in a week, though

Signal compromised?

I read a couple of weeks back that someone had found a weakness in Signal. But since then I've not been able to find any more information, or even any independent comment on this.

Anyone got any idea?

Facebook tells Portuguese court that a biz called Oink And Stuff makes profile-harvesting browser extensions

Re: Personal data ?

Indeed. I also like the line

"They misled users into installing the extensions with a privacy policy that claimed they did not collect any personal information."

'cos faecesbook never misled anyone about data collection, did they?

Quixotic Californian crusade to officially recognize the hellabyte and hellagram is going hella nowhere

What about

Shitloada- ?

Top hint by the way - whilst googling to make sure S was not an existing SI unit, I found that Amazon can sell you some SI units “at low prices”!! Just saying