Posts by JaitcH

We don't know whether 737 Max MCAS update is coming or Boeing: Anti-stall safety fix delayed

Avoid the MAX AND THE 737NG

Serious concerns have been raised about the airworthiness of the BOEING 737NG fuselarge (not the engines).

Turns out a subcontractor hand-made parts that were supposed to be CNC manufactured. When mated with other subcontractor assemblies much use of the 'Detroit Screwdriver' aka 'Birmingham Screwdriver' (hammer) had to be made, some of which were patched with filler, smoothed and they sprayed with green paint.

The affected bodies are supposed to survive 7-8 years of take-off and landing cycles.

Even the US Air Force is complaining about Boeing!

Compare this against the WWII Dakota 3 - some of which are still flying today!

Vengeful sacked IT bod destroyed ex-employer's AWS cloud accounts. Now he'll spent rest of 2019 in the clink

The Company is 100% Culpable

Every company should maintain back-ups on drives within the owners physical control. And that excludes the cloud.

My personal workstation has double back-ups, as do most of the other computers in the company. My oldest back-ups were generated in CPM!

New Zealand cops cuff alleged jackasses who shared mosque murder video, messages online

Another Remnant of the British Commonwealth With a Foot in the Last Century

New Zealand is a quite backwater and still very conservative. The country has many of the characteristics of the UK circa 1950.

Remember the outcry about Lady Chatterly's lover - well thumbed copies circulated in schools at the time - which, these days, is pretty tame.

Check out > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_Kingdom <.

Boeing big cheese repeats pledge of 737 Max software updates following fatal crashes

Trumps Regulation Deletion Doesn't Work Too Well In Many Industries

The FAA has apparently used Boeing employees to perform testing in lieu of Third Parties.

Hard to work for two masters.

UK libraries dumped 11% of computers since 2010-11... everybody has one anyway, right?

British Government Library Plans A Disgrace

I travel to many countries in my work and of them the UK Government is a disgrace.

In Canada, libraries are really community centres where, in the morning, Seniors can read the daily newspapers, children's groups allow pre-kindergarten to mix and parents to enjoy facilities.

In the afternoons school children gather to do their homework, helping each other, until their parents return home. Later in the evening social groups gather and senior students do their studies.

The main library in Toronto is crowded until 21.00H when security guards practically have to carry the students out for closing. On weekends, with slightly shortened hours, are equally busy.

After the Americans were defeated in VietNam, the reunification government literally padlocked the libraries and it wasn't until 25-30 years later libraries were re-opened. These days they are busy with free WiFi and access to formerly banned information resources.

The library in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, where my parents reside, it is hard to find out when the library is actually open. And it's facilities are minimal.

Sad.

Vodafone: Daft Huawei comms gear ban will cripple UK – and cost punters loads

The Question Is: Who Would You Prefer Listening To You - GCHQ / NSA or The Chinese?

This is the USA playing dirty on trade deals - Canada has experienced all sorts of dirty dealing under NAFTA (1) from the USA.

The country that claims to be THE technology leader (USA) doesn't make cell system hardware, not only that, HuaWei holds hundreds of critical patents.

Personally I find Chinese professional equipment to be of high quality and reliable Surely the joint GCHQ / HuaWei Research Centre in Banbury would have squawked long and loud if there was anything detrimental with HuaWei 5G.

Re: cart b4 horse?

Your situation represents today's Britain in so many ways.

I write this post from a very small village, a hamlet, named Po-Y (pronounced Bo-Eee) on the border of Laos in VietNam. In other words it's really the boon-docks but there is a decent sized fibre optic cable and, within a couple of hundred metres of the physical border, a 2G and a 4G base station.

In fact, the Laotian customs / immigration offices use VN 4G services.

But hope maybe on the way for you - Spacex satellite clusters!

Judge snubs FBI's bid to snaffle Autonomy docs ahead of founder Mike Lynch's UK showdown

FRAUD AGAINST HP, YOU SAY? IS THAT LIKE A PRINTER COMPANY THAT ...

makes it near impossible to use a After Market printer refill by installing a chip . . . then lying about the effect and ignoring complaints?

Fun fact: GPS uses 10 bits to store the week. That means it runs out... oh heck – April 6, 2019

"Decent vendors should have patches?"

Does this include Garmin? Are they a "Decent Vendor"?

(Anyone who has dealt with them are likely to ask for a definition of 'decent')

US counterintelligence agent helped Iran lob cyber-bombs at America, say Uncle Sam's lawyers

THE BIGGEST US SECURITY RISK IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE!

Trump, that sad excuse for humanity, breaches more protocols daily than others do in a lifetime.

He bypasses security vetting and waives objections to people like Kushner.

And don't think US is the only leaky ship - the UK and Australia are up there, too.

One click and you're out: UK makes it an offence to view terrorist propaganda even once

HARD TO ACCEPT THAT THE TORY PARTY WAS ONCE THAT OF CHURCHILL

The concepts that governed Britain, and once made people to be proud of it, are now but memories.

The UK has been a 'nanny' country for some years now, banning the aged and outdated The Anarchist Cookbook, etc.,and has implemented laws that far outweigh so called 'authoritarian' countries such as the one I live - I can view many more things legally that can the average Brit. The only 'forbidden' and occasionally censored InterNet subjects are those of insurrection of the present government. Oh, and the possession of matches, lighters and fireworks.

But it appears that the British public has been so cowed, and brainwashed, to permit their elected representatives to trample wholesale over centuries old rights that wars were fought over. Shame on you. (I can say this as a person born in the UK)

Successive British governments have abandoned their responsibility to govern by law in England letting Plod decide policy and suppress rights, such as they were, to be overridden by this self-governing uniformed gang of thugs.

No UK government will ever tell me to which countries can or cannot go if legally permitted to enter such a country by that country's government.

What we need is a modern Guy Fawkes to clear all the human trash occupying Westminster.

Senior UK.gov ministers asked: So, are we going to ban Huawei or what?

Another US Trade War In Disguise. Besides Who Would You Prefer Spying On You?

Many claim politicians are technically ignorant, although there are exceptions like US politicians President Jimmy Carter, Ted Lieu and Ron Wyden, yet Obama led the drive to exclude the Chinese. Simply put it's the US perverting the international trade agreements, as their is their historical record - even before Trump.

And as for endangering security, it is alleged that the GCHQ forced the weakness of the GSM standard.

Personally, if anyone is to invade my privacy, I would much prefer the Chinese over the morally bereft characters in the GCHQ or the NSA.

If at first, second, third... fourth time you don't succeed, you're Apple: Another appeal lost in $440m net patent war

Older People May Recall ...

that Jobs purloined the mouse concept and Apple copied both the name and logo from early competitors.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs generated cash flow by manufacturing Blue Boxes - devices intended to bypass telephone billing systems.

'It's like they took a rug and covered it up': Flight booking web app used by scores of airlines still vuln to attack – claim

All GDS (Global Distribution Systems) / CRS (Central Reservation System) Had Weak Security

SABRE originally linked to Travel Agents through WANS which had extremely weak security. In fact, minor BAT file changes would allow an agent to look at other agent's traffic.

A website operator in Toronto actually published how both SABRE and APOLLO could be broken (these were in the days when the term Hackers referred to telephone system rogues).

Both SABRE and APOLLO commenced separate civil actions against the website in the The Superior Court of Ontario although neither resulted in judgements. These were American companies operating in Canadian courts whose practices are based, naturally, on the British legal system. There was a temporary injunction issued but practising Wack-A-Mole techniques another website was opened in the Far East and a continuing stream of information caused security precautions to be increased.

National police / intelligent forces have full access to ask the data on all GDS (Global Distribution Systems) / CRS (Central Reservation System).

Air is the worst transportation system to use to escape from the law - ask Nick Leeson or CHOY Hon Tim - both of Singapore!

Sticking with one mobile provider gets you... Oh. Price rises, big exit fees, and lovely, lovely lock-in

Westerner Cell Handset Users Are Getting Ripped Off Big Time

I live in what is described as a 'developing country' with a human population of 90-million souls and 120-million registered (working) cell handsets. There are 3 government-owned cell carriers and 4 private enterprise entities.

The law separates carrier service from handset supply - carriers may sell handsets but MUST provide services to any handset user on the SAME BASIS.

The coverage in the UK is abysmal - given that we have coverage in the most extreme that are far more challenging than this in the UK. (Fibre coverage in the UK is a joke, too)

As a result our cell facilities are way greater than those on Western carriers. We have near 99% 3G coverage and 4G service is available to the majority of users. Compare those numbers with Canada (or the UK).

A $50 SIM in Canada sells for $10 including a $10 usage credit. A typical rate of extortion for Canada.

Dutch boyband hopes to reverse Brexit through the power of music

I remember when at school (in Blighty) ...

being taught that Members of Parliament represented the majority of their Constituents rather than voting as a herd of sheep or in support of their largest donors.

London Gatwick Airport reopens but drone chaos perps still not found

Would Scoff-laws Comply With Laws Or Could It Be The Government Generating Support For Legislation?

If the alleged operators of these alleged drones - recent reports suggest they might not actually exist - likely they would not comply with any law or regulation. If they are technically savvy they wouldn't be using WiFi (AKA ISM or Industrial, Scientific and Medical) bands.

There is plenty of assigned spectrum that they could use including that allocated to military or cell systems so as to minimise 'visibility'.Similarly, there are several modulation techniques that wouldn't attract the attention of the would be government interceptors.

It would help, also. if the intent of the interceptors could be determined. The arrest, by Sussex Plod, of a married couple described as a average people, who own a dog, one of whom is a hard working builder, demonstrates the mindset of 'relevant authorities' since it was essentially an 'own goal'. Next they will be arresting birds, of the feathered kind, to demonstrate their acuity.

The most effective way to disrupt airport operations is to jam the air-air and air-ground communications, using vehicle mounted transmitters, so that pilots lose 'the big picture' or let loose a flock of Canada geese which have a proven record of disrupting flight operations.

Strange this has only occurred in Britain.

Huawei CFO poutine cuffs by Canadian cops after allegedly busting sanctions on Iran

HuaWei CFO Poutine cuffs

Poutine, is a to-be-avoided dish originating from the province of Quebec made of French fries and cheese curds smothered with a brown gravy.

The subject lady was arrested in Vancouver which, even now, has a distinctly British atmosphere, only outdone by Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

It's little wonder the US of A is so despised as it's actions are clearly transparent, groundless harassment of HuaWei - doubtless because the States make so little cell network infrastructure unlike Europe and the Far East.

Could it also be that GCHQ and the NSA are unable to decipher HuaWei transmissions?

Ex-Intel engineer tried to make off with 3D XPoint secret sauce on his way to Micron, says Chipzilla

Next ... Departing Employees Will Have Their Memories Erased

As happened to Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Decoding the Chinese Super Micro super spy-chip super-scandal: What do we know – and who is telling the truth?

The Chinese Have Come a Long, Long Way Since Chairman Mao Encouraged the Establishment ...

of small backyard steel furnaces in every commune and in each urban neighbourhood.

Perhaps Trump should quit bitching about the Chinese stealing US technology and do a bit more stealing of his own, this time Chinese technology.

Australia on the cusp of showing the world how to break encryption

WARNING!!!

Dumb politicians 'thinking'.

Developer goes rogue, shoots four colleagues at ERP code maker

Hardly News - A Daily Occurrence in the Land of the Second Amendment and Phallic Challenged Men

What WOULD be news would be a day WITHOUT a death by gun.

If the country hasn't figured how to reduce deaths, hardly worth wasting your sympathy over Americans.

VietNam has gun carrying cops and only one law enforcement gun was discharged last year. More deer died than people.

You know all those movies you bought from Apple? Um, well, think different: You didn't

Another Apple Rip Off - Avoid Problems and Use BitTorrent

Anders Gonçalves da Silva should simply download copies from Alternative Sources.

I live in a country where we can get few English language moves, unless you cross the border and buy copy CDs. Several Foreigners here have massive collections of movies and with our 100 Mbyte fibre optic feeds ($32/month) we waste little time downloading - hardly enough time to open a Tiger.

First it was hashtags – now Amber Rudd gives us Brits knowledge on national ID cards

Canada Has It Right

Canada has a government identifier and has made it illegal for anyone to demand, collect, or use, for other than authorised purposes. These are essentially things involving money - taxes, pensions, etc.

There are other numbers such as Health, Law (Criminal Records), etc. None are linked.

All data is held in separate 'databanks' and each has a 'gatekeeper' who governs access. So if some government department wanted information it was not permitted access to, the gatekeeper of the desired information has a very high bar to meet.

Britain's system works the opposite way, the government deliberately cross-links data. Nevertheless, privacy can be achieved by feeding bad data. My UK drivers licence is at my daughter's address; my passport at a business accommodation address and my National Insurance Card / Tax elsewhere.

I learned that the Passport Agency tales great interest in where a used passport - returned for renewal - has been used. I remove all my visas as I consider it none of their business.

Judge bars distribution of 3D gun files... er, five years after they were slapped onto the web

Another Dumb Judge Who Knows Little About Geography or the InterNet

American jurisdiction is geographically limited - not world world wide. Ask the Chinese or the Russians. The judge must suffer from the same delusions as King Canute.

Already some of the advanced designs of printed guns have been found of the streets of Thailand, Cambodia and VietNam. There are substantial 'printing' installations in Thailand and VietNam - less substantial in Cambodia (Kampuchea) and Laos.

You can almost guarantee the Chinese are busy - improving the designs as they go.

Given there are land borders between all the countries, and that automobile parts smuggling is rife from Thailand to Cambodia (Kampuchea) and VietNam, the flow of small plastic parts are unlikely to be stopped. Smuggling between Laos and China are massive hardwood logs.

The US activity is more political than practical.

Google responds to location-stalking outcry by… tweaking words on its BS support page

Not Only Google - All Those Damn Cars With Sharks Fin Antennae

My employer has a laser test range way up in the highest mountains of western KonTum Province in VietNam, up alongside Laos. Many of these mountainous areas, with deep gullies, have sketchy cell service.

We installed several Rural Small Cells, similar to urban metrocells, which are robust and operate in remote outdoor locations. Their coverage range, typically 1-2 km, achieved through a combination of elevated antenna/mast and higher RF transmit power. They are solar powered, too.

They are connected to a fibre optic cable we hauled in and intended for our sole use.

On occasion we were unable to use our cell stations since some vehicle equipped with a "Call Home ET" transmitter was attempting to make connections.

Until the cellco changed our Class of Service, locking out these damn things, we used to glue aluminium caps on interfering vehicles.

I always wonder what car manufacturers do with these billions of data transmissions.

Rights groups challenge UK cops over refusal to hand over info on IMSI catchers

Metro Plod Have IMSI Catchers in Every One of Their Spy Aircraft Based at Northolt Airport

The Met has a flight of aircraft of fixed and rotary (helicopters) wing based at Northolt Airport - which is also used by The Queens Flight, US Embassy, CIA (Rendition) and many other dodgy outfits.

The fixed wing are used over the motorways - right up to Scotland.

One day even criminals will figure out if they are up to no good not to use cell handsets AND TO TURN THEM OFF! They should use CB (Citizen Band) radio (see: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/84406/citizens-band.pdf). 4 Watts should be sufficient for the baddies to coordinate their activities.

The best is MESH radio - for short-range communication.

Re: Tranismiting on licensed frequencies

TETRA (Plod Radio) is easily cracked using SDR and appropriate software.

UK.gov ploughs cash into creaky police technology

Here We Go Again, Britain Re-Invents The Wheel

Instead of wasting money re-inventing the wheel, the UK should buy a tried-and-tested system, based on a similar legal system, such as Canada. The US systems have too much bling that doesn't work properly (think the P25 neutered by a Mattel doll).

And hiring US-based companies is not the answer - except for off-the-shelf 'solutions'.

Pentagon 'do not buy' list says нет to Russia, 不要 to Chinese code

Pentagon 'do not buy' List Includes Russia and Chinese Code. What About the Alleged ...

plagiarized IP? Is it banned, too?

Shock Land Rover Discovery: Sellers could meddle with connected cars if not unbound

All This Wondrous Technology and Jaguar Land Rover STILL Can't Keep The Mirrors On!

Most spares for this line of cars have prices that make the eyes water. The ever creative VietNamese ne'er do wells can remove mirrors, for resale, with the greatest of ease.

https://v.vnecdn.net/vnexpress/video/web/mp4/360p/2017/05/09/trom-be-doi-guong-range-rover-chi-25-giay-1494303210.mp4

No, seriously, why are you holding your phone like that?

You Forgot The Motorcycle Helmet Option

The overwhelming vehicle in VietNam, which is hardly surprising since import duties on cars range up to 100%, is the motorcycle. For those who don't use such vehicles, the right hand controls both the accelerator and the front brake.

As in most countries, use of cell handsets is forbidden whilst vehicles are in motion.

The ever ingenious motorcycle driver dials, or answers calls, they stuff the handset in the chin strap, really high up, so they can communicate quite effectively - and keep BOTH hands on the handlebars.

US drug cops snared crooks with pre-cracked BlackBerry mobes – and that's just the start

Try a Pager, Burner and a Smartphone With No SIM

The country I reside in has a very active Internal Security police force. They even own a civilian cell service! (For the money)

To circumvent their prurient interest in Foreigners we use pagers for initiating communications, Burners for communications (our cell handsets don't have GPS) and Smartphones for holding data (or playing games).

Apart from rotating SIMs, the ideal place to make a call to avoid triangulation is close proximity to a cell base station. Fortunately, our cellco uses easily identifiable antennae configurations, which is never changed as they are hoisted into place by cranes.

Tech support chap given no training or briefing before jobs, which is why he was arrested

Our Technician Was Stopped On The Way In!

Back in the early '70s I worked for MDS (the now defunct Mohawk Data Sciences) and one of our clients was an atomic agency of the US government and the MDS technicians who serviced that account were especially cleared by the Secret Service.

Being used for specialised purposes meant the MDS equipment was non-standard. In fact, our field service office had some of the equipment designers actually attached to our office, who were there for technical support. They were easily identifiable by their non-conformist 'hippie' style dress code and long hair.

In one occasion there was a serious defect in the equipment, way beyond the scope of humble techs. So help was sought from one of our senior 'Hippies' who traveled on a particularly noisy hawg (motorcycle). The presence of such a character, along with his wheels, disturbed the quiescence of the armed gateman.

Our Hippie was admitted into the car holding area, with serious looking gates on either side, whilst he was 'checked out'. A few minutes later a couple of suited gunslingers came out and said Hippie was to leave the premises.

After some telephone calls ir was determined the problem could only be solved by our Hippie since he designed the custom system.

Turns out Hippie had a 'criminal record' which, upon research, was determined to be a juvenile offence of breaking a window. He was permitted to enter, escorted by the gunslingers, and eventually resolved the problem.

U.S. Security - can't be beaten for stupidity.

Infrastructure wonks: Tear up Britain's copper phone networks by 2025

Living In A Country Where Most Every Telephone Pole Resembled The Mess Associated With Wire Frames

the conversion to fibre us amazing in more than one way. The sunlight on the streets is remarkably higher than when the sky was darkened with dense maizes of overhead wires.

At first VietNam installed high-capacity fibre networks the length of the country and then started stripping out urban copper. Very, very few installs, residential or commercial are copper these days.

The last few patches of copper in SaiGon / Ho Chi Minh City, a city with an unknown number of souls in excess of 12,000,000, are being stripped out and being replaced by fibre with a vengeance.

To read "called for the rollout of full fibre to the entire UK by 2033" is pathetic - if countries such as China or VietNam can go for the Full Monty, certainly the UK should have done so by now given it's small landmass.

Let's hope they install fibre BEFORE stripping out the copper in their hurry to meet a deadline of 2025!

China-based hackers take an interest in Cambodia's elections

What's Left To Hack In Kampuchea - Prime Minister Hun Sen Needs No Help

The government of Prime Minister Hun Sen is corrupt - and the US Government has done nothing to stop it. Maybe it's because Kampuchea (Cambodia) allows the NSA to have a huge office there and operate unhindered. Until recently Kampuchea was connected to the InterNet via VietNam, where the NSA definitely has to operate clandestinely!

When the Communist Kmer Rouge (killing fields) ran the country they destroyed all the land registry details as such governments often lay claim to all the territory. Only people who could prove the land was theirs, such as through family grave sites, were allowed ro regain ownership after the KR was defeated.

All the other land remained the 'property' of the government.

The government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has since been selling off this acquired land, thousands of acres, to the highest bidder.

In recent years Hun Sen has been sleeping with the Chinese who have ramped up developments, based on loans to the government of Kampuchea. When such loans are in default, the ownership of the security becomes the property of the Chinese.

Boeing embraces Embraer to take off in regional jet market

Does Boeing's Scheme Meet With Trump's Buy American?

I wonder if this proposal will meet with Trump's Buy American; Tax Imports and all the other scatterbrained ideas he has?

UK.gov: New London courthouse will focus on crimes of a cyber nature

Even The Older Courts Were Better Equipped Than Other Countries

In the 1990's the McBarf McLibel Defamation trial pitted the goliath McBarf against Helen Steel and Dave Morris who made suggestions that McDonalds objected to,

I attended a couple of those hearings - cheapest place to escape the rain - whilst visiting London and was surprised to find that the Court Reporters transcription was made available in real time to members of the public. (On the second visit I actually hooked into the serial cable that daisy-chained these public laptops together)

I was amazed that such a service was available, the only other country I knew of was New Zealand where a series of Court Reporters would make transcripts for an hour or so then disappear to produce hard copy printouts of their work.

In Ontario Landlord and Tenant hearings are recorded. If such recordings are not available for appeals, another trail is often ordered. A neerdowell acquaintance of mine made a high-energy, high audio tone generator which he used to jam these court recordings when his, or friends, cases were being heard.

Ain't technology wonderful.

UK taxman has amassed voice profiles of 5.1 million taxpayers

Don't Talk To Me - I'm Hard Of Hearing (Wink, Wink) - Use Text!

When I found out all Passport pictures were captured to a computerised database. I progressively changed my appearance with Photoshop over a few years (I usually have to renew every 12-18 months when filled) until a company biometric scanner rejected me. (The US has donated numerous cams to Third World countries).

Then the renowned money launderers, HSBC, surreptitiously introduced 'voice analysis' - without announcement - although their technicians mentioned it in technical magazines.

There are two practical ways to defeat these 'voice analysis' systems. One is to make calls with a radio or other disruptive variable tones in the background. The other is the use electronic filters to narrow a telephone calls bandwidth (especially raising the bass) or a Tremolo unit to distort the voice.

Mind you, when conversing to an overseas HSBC Call Centre, the lines are so poor the systems don't function.

There is little more personal than biometric data.

Sir, you've been using Kaspersky Lab antivirus. Please come with us, sir

I'd Prefer Russians and Chinese Routing Around in my Privates Than the UK or USA

Why would anyone trust the NSA or GCHQ with anything? Or indeed their governments? They have no morals.

Besides, they haven't figured a crack for Chinese and Russian equipment.

Does anyone still use CISCO equipment for anything? They have been hacked by the NSA and GCHQ years ago.

Trust no one with your crown jewels; avoid the cloud and don't even let the InterNet in to buildings where confidential work is done. It might be a pain in the butt but at least you have total control.

And please explain if US software is so great, how come the Chinese, the DPRK and Russia can seemingly access US Government systems as well as Trunp's 400 pound Yoofs in their bedsitters?

FBI fingers North Korea for two malware strains

The FBI, and Other US Government Agencies Should Get Their Stories Straight!

Some US Agencies have claimed the DPRK (North Korea) are in the technical Dark Ages, whilst others claim the country is as advanced as many others, especially since Russia has provided additional InterNet access to the DPRK.

As someone who works there four or five times a year, I know that much of the country's technological advances are home-based talent. Overseas technical resources, even YouTube, are widely distributed on the internal InterNet.

Advanced components are readily available - imported through China and Russia.

Whilst faculties aren't bright and shiny, what they do have is exploited to the maximum.

Britain mulls 'complete shutdown' of 4G net for emergency services

VietNam Has Airwave/Tetra - And Users Hate It

The Internal Police, Diplomatic Guard Service and Tan Son Nhut (SaiGon) International Airport have Tetra radios - and the Internal Police prefer using cell handsets as the features are better and the well-known Tetra handset profiles, their pockets, are give-aways to the bad boys around here.

The ground coverage of the base stations is very poor as there are insufficient for decent operational coverage. I have asked several police on diplomatic duty if they like the radios and almost everyone said they have to stand in given spots to achieve communications!

There is one base station about 2 kilometres from where I live - and it is surrounded on all sides by closely-spaced apartment buildings.

The national traffic police, the Canh Sat, have standardized on smartphone handsets, with push-to-talk and localised group features for small operational team applications. They have almost 100% coverage across the country as they are programmed to use any cell system within range.

What else does Plod need?

Das blinkenlights are back thanks to RPi revival of the PDP-11

I Still Have . . .

callouses from flipping all those damn switches on the PDP-8 and PDP-11.

But Digital sure built good equipment.

'Facebook takes data from my phone – but I don't have an account!'

What Better Reason to Buy ZTE or HuaWei?

The USA, starting with Obama, started canvassing countries around the world advising the use of Chinese cell handsets was a risk security.

To me it's more likely the risk was they didn't have American spyware so the Americans could stick their snouts into everyone's business.

Basic cell handsets are the best - their Design Optimisation process eliminates even GPS!

My smartphone has no SIM and the only added application is MESH radio. Eliminating all the back-chatter sure makes the batteries last longer.

QUESTION: Who pays for the airtime of all the surreptitious collection of data?

Zookeepers charged after Kodiak bear rides shotgun to Dairy Queen

Typical, Tight-Ar-e Canadian Civil Servants

Dumb Canadian laws include:

A Toronto businessman found that to sell edible underwear in his “adult entertainment” store, he’d need a food license;

“Yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing is prohibited at all times” is illegal in Petrolia, Ontario;

Until May 28th, 2012 you could only legally move a bottle of booze from one province to another with the permission of the provincial liquor control board;

Since 1973, the only noise-makers Sudbury, Ontario, cyclists can attach to their bikes are bells and horns. Breaking noise bylaws in Sudbury can lead to fines up to $5,000;

It’s illegal to skinny dip in Bancroft, Ontario;

Canada’s Currency Act of 1985 limits to the number of coins you can use in a transaction. If it’s nickels, vendors can say no to any purchase over $5, while the loonie limit is $25;

Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality Bylaws for Taxis and Limousines stipulates drivers must wear shoes and socks, keep their attire in neat and tidy condition at all times, and absolutely cannot weart-shirts;

It’s illegal to build big snowmen in Souris, P.E.I. If you live on a corner lot it’s against the law to built a snowman taller than 30-inches.;

It was illegal to sell butter-coloured margarine in Ontario until 1995;

Canadian law currently states, “Everyone commits an offence who… (b) makes, prints, publishes, distributes, sells or has in his possession for the purpose of publication, distribution or circulation a crime comic.”

Many Canadian communities long restricted the use of outside clotheslines;

In Toronto there's a zoning by-law that only allows up to two mechanical gaming machines in a restaurant or place of amusement;

In Toronto, if your day-to-day vocabulary is riddled with expletives, steer clear of publicly owned green spaces. There's a large fine of over $200;

Chickens, hens, turkeys, and pretty much every other farm animal are prohibited in Toronto with a $240 fine to suggest you comply.

Cambridge Analytica dismantled for good? Nope: It just changed its name to Emerdata

A Three Letter Word Search for . . .

NIX will be all needed to locate this bunch of charlatans.

HP Ink to compensate punters for bricking third-party ink cartridges

Screw HP - We Switched to Brother Products

Rather than just diddle the HP software (all over the InterNet) we switched to Brother.

Built like proverbial brick sh_t-houses, we have recommended them to customers in many countries. They make great machines, rarely fail, withstand power line surges and generator standby generators. Dust storms hardly cause them to react. We even have them working in the rear ends of SUVs.

After market supplies are readily available in both refill and replacement ink units - all round better than GP printers.

State spy agencies 'outsource surveillance' to foreign partners – campaign group

Just one – the Canadian Communications Security Establishment Commissioner – said , , ,

spy agencies were required by law to provide it access to intelligence sharing arrangements.

Good for Canada - except they let the Americans place equipment in Canada that Ottawa hasn't a clue what it is doing nor does Canadian Communications Security.

In New Zealand the government is banned from knowing what the Echelon mob is doing and ONLY the Prime Minister has an inkling of what they are up to.

US sanctions on Turkey for Russia purchases could ground Brit F-35s

Who Ever Thought It A Good Idea To Buy . . .

something you can't even service?

Only the dumb British Government.

It wasn't so long ago when military electronics wouldn't be purchased without 'second sources' to ensure continuity of supply of spare parts.

I work for a company that supplies military equipment to the 'non-aligned' market place and one key element of the majority of contracts is that most of the components can be sourced from in-country suppliers.