Posts by tfewster

PEBCAK problem transformed young techie into grizzled cynical sysadmin

Re: PICNIC > PEBCAK

> my PICNIC brethren need to stop being so fucking stupid first before I become happy

"I'll try being nicer if they'll try being smarter" is my standard response to Manglement.

SAP user group calls for support deadline reprieve amid hospital billing worries

Re: Balance of power

SAP are ending support, not a licence to use the app or the ancient platform it's based on.

Though it would be dangerous for a hospital to continue to use software without an (extended) support contract. The only question is if the extended support contracts are troubleshooting-only or custom & general release patches.

Netflix flinging out DVDs like frisbees as night comes for legacy business

...streaming rights are expensive and don't offer much of a return

What happened to the "long tail" theory? It costs virtually nothing to store content and the provider pays royalties to the content owner when movie is streamed by a customer.

I guess each content owner wants their own subscription model, which would be fine if it was a fraction of the price of e.g. Netflix, to reflect their limited content.

In a ridiculous related example, Amazon Prime wanted £2 to stream an episode of Firefly, so I bought the Collectors edition series on DVD for £3, watched them all, then gave the DVD to a friend to screw Amazon over again XD

Bad software destroyed my doctor's memory

Re: Have a hundred upvotes

Computers could certainly enhance a paper file, assuming the contents are filed properly. I would hope that system has a chronological summary of the patient history but also allows

- Searching for any term in the file, e.g. "hip". Easy in a digitized file, not so easy in a paper file..

- Linking an Episode, e.g. a broken hip treated in a hospital plus outpatient physiotherapy sessions plus disability assessment.

- Selecting an item, then paging backwards/forwards through related OR unrelated pages. (e.g. You had a fall, but also have low blood sugar. Hmm, could they be related? The human brain is great at making correlations, computers not so good)

- Side-by-side comparison of two pages, e.g. blood test results, to see what has changed. Maybe even highlight changes or anything out of the norm.

That's just off the top of my head, and with little knowledge of current practices. Hopefully those involved are way ahead of me!

(It occurs to me that any CRM system should have those features, so the wheel doesn't have to be reinvented for each use case)

Get your staff's consent before you monitor them, tech inquiry warns

Re: Genuine Question re proxy / web filtering

Computer access/email access/internet access needs an additional HR policy that needs to be accepted by the employee.

Though automated web filtering isn't necessarily monitoring, unless you're reviewing the logs...

Re: Well, duh..

Failure to read the Ts&Cs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Is_Awful

Zoom's new London hub – where 'remote work' meets 'we need you back in the office'

https://www.nohello.com/

ChatGPT's odds of getting code questions correct are worse than a coin flip

Stack Overflow sort-of has peer reviewing of answers, so you're more likely to find something that works and covers edge cases. ChatGPT is more "I'm feeling lucky".

Techie's quick cure for a curious conflict caused a huge headache

A good point - The end-users got an application menu rather than a command prompt, so it was someone with root privileges wot dun it.

`ls | grep` is also an unlikely command, but that's what I found when examining "/u/grep"

As an apology, I'll offer one of my own "Who, me?"s [1]: `last | grep reboot` [2]

Except I inexplicably missed typing "grep", and "reboot" doesn't ask whether you really meant it...

[1] I make a new-and-interesting major mistake about once every 7 years. I'm overdue another one..I've warned my boss they really should fire me before that happens!

[2] Other, safer commands are available, e.g. `who -b` or even `last reboot`

How many people does it take to make a logic bomb?

- A systems programmer who puts their utilities in /u and makes /u the first directory in the search path, as some of the utilities have the same name as (and supersede) system utilities.

- A user who typos `ls > grep` in /u, instead of using "|"

No real problem so far. /u/grep isn't executable, so is ignored.

- A systems administrator who decides everything in /u should be executable...

It's surprising how much of a Unix system depends on "grep" and will fail if you break that utility!

Aliens crash landed on Earth – and Uncle Sam is covering it up, this guy tells Congress

Re: Alien UFOs

Maybe they're DARTS, aimed to deflect Earth from reaching the rich galactic civilization...and spoiling it. Or Teasers, drunk rich alien kids who override the safety systems in their ships so they can buzz humans.

There may be aliens out there, but it seems unlikely they would leave evidence.

Tesla's Dojo supercomputer is a billion-dollar bet to make AI better at driving than humans

Re: "But then, you get to, like, 10 million training examples, it becomes incredible"

And on an on-board computer.

Edit: Already said by GruntyMcPugh

Bizarre backup taught techie to dumb things down for the boss

Re: I need my Trash

I've seen server apps installed by tech pros using /tmp on Unixen for data storage.

Not every Unix/Linux variant clears /tmp on a reboot, but there's a warning in the name.

Amazon Prime too easy to join, too hard to quit, says FTC lawsuit

Re: It is not just Amazon

Such as Sky TV. You can add new channels/packages via the Web, but removing them took a 30 minute chat session. At least it wasn't a phone call.

CERN spots Higgs boson decay breaking the rules

Douglas Adams nailed it on a larger scale:

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

Working from home could kill career advancement, says IBM CEO

Re: wondering if fellow travellers are working together

My team is spread around the globe. So are our internal users ("customers"). We tend to deal with the "customers" in our own time zone, but in any given week I'm likely to be working with the US, Europe and Asia. My manager is on another continent. Being in the local office 9-5 will not help me "engage" with them, it will make me less flexible in my working hours to meet the business need.

Management in a multinational company needs to understand that, and adapt. Perhaps if IBM RA'd the management dinosaurs then they would see more productivity?

Just because on-prem is cheaper doesn’t make the cloud a money pit

Re: "It's an attractive prospect"

Nah, the Directors who moved everything to the cloud have taken their bonuses and moved on. The new batch will get bonuses from moving stuff to on prem. Rinse and repeat.

Take a 14-mile trip on an autonomous Scottish bus starting next month

Re: interesting route to chose

Runcorn New Town was build around a dedicated Busway; where it crossed normal roads the buses got signal priority so didn't even slow down [and regularly hit amber gamblers].

Seems like an ideal setup for even the dumbest autonomous buses

https://busandtrainuser.com/2022/09/17/r-is-for-runcorn/

Defunct comms link connected to nothing at a fire station – for 15 years

Re: Fun(d) distribution

I've probably told this one before, so I'll keep it short:

One time I was checking a maintenance contract and realised we were being billed for systems that no longer existed to the tune of £500K wasted a year. I informed my manager, our procurement manager and the vendors account manager, but nothing changed over the months.

At a briefing session from a big boss, he mentioned that they were looking to cut costs. I raised my hand and asked if he'd be interested in saving £500K. Which got me a glare from my manager, and definite interest from the big boss. Another manager [Let's call him "Jim", for that was not his name] was given the task of dealing with the contract updates, and Jim co-opted me for the details.

At the end of the year, Jim got employee of the year, the procurement manager had been promoted sideways, and I got a black mark on my file for causing trouble and neglecting my core duties.

Starlink purchases 'Twitter takeover' ad package, Musk dismisses it as 'tiny'

Re: What is an overdose of Musk called?

I don't read the articles, I'm just here for the comments ;-)

(Not the OP)

Feel Luckey, punk? Oculus designer builds VR murder headset

Trial by combat

If you win, then the gods must be on your side and so you're deemed to be innocent?

Microsoft hits the switch on password-free smartphone authentication

Isn't a pin code another name for a really weak password?

FIFY. Even worse, PIN codes are easy to read by watching someone type them (even if they're not echoed to the screen as in a phone call) and rarely changed

Parody Elon Musk Twitter accounts will be suspended immediately, says Elon Musk

Re: I've managed without Twitter this far

It seems that using social media is the only way to contact many companies these days - If you call them out for their shoddy service and lack of contact details publicly, they'll soon be in touch to fix the issue protect their reputation.

Unfortunately you have to descend to their level to do so.

Run a demo on live data? Sure! What could possibly go wrong? Hang on. Are you sure that's not working?

Ready, fire, aim

> for the demonstration he also created a dummy high-level process...

> Sedgwick issued the command to kill the main data capture coordinating process...

Maybe something was skipped in the retelling? Why set up a dummy process and then not demonstrate with that?

Ransomware cost US banks $1.2 billion last year

"advertiZe" is a step too far

Apparently not even US-ians spell it "advertiZe"

Rookie programmer's code goes up in flames ... kind of

Re: Was the update deployed? Or not?? If so, When?

As a corollary to that, I like to reboot a computer before making any changes, so I can say "It was broken when I got here" rather than be the focus of any blamestorming.

GitHub Copilot may be perfect for cheating CompSci programming exercises

Re: There are anti-copilot techniques...

Level the playing field in both teaching/coaching and exam situations by giving them a controlled development & test environment such as a standardised VM to work in?

No direct Internet access or remote copy/paste, and if they type in a complete program from start to finish, they're copying from somewhere.

You could record the sessions to review their technique. Though that would still need a lot of supervision/coaching.

Tesla Full Self-Driving 'fails' to notice child-sized objects in testing

Re: Comparison

Toyota Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection I have no knowledge of its effectiveness, but it may be comparable.

On the other hand, the Dawn Project test was a little odd and the article didn't describe the Tesla's behaviour very clearly - Driving between a lot of child-sized objects (cones), apparently the Tesla slowed down. When it "saw" an opening, it missed the solid white (stop?) line and (stationary?) mannequin, and speeded up again? Again, I have no knowledge of what Tesla's are "looking" for, but maybe the computer or its sensors were overwhelmed.

It's a bad outcome, but would an adult sized mannequin or dummy car/truck have been detected and avoided? How about if the cones were replaced with parked vehicles or the lane was completely open?

HPE says $30m Solaris verdict against it didn't provide 'evidence' of copyright

HPE are playing dumb and dangerous here - If they "win" this case, then they have a lot to lose with third-party providers distributing HPE software patches.

- It would be nice if a purchased product came with a "lifetime" warranty against flaws.

- On the other hand, if your business model involves using others work without remunerating them, don't try to claim the moral or legal high ground.

A pox on both their houses.

Equifax software bug messed up credit score calculations for weeks

Re: I smell

Damaging someone's reputation by posting false information about them is libel. A class action might prove the precedent, but won't be sufficient compensation for someone who lost their house/car/job over this.

Bad news, older tech workers: Job advert language works against you

Re: Anon CVs

@iron, you just outed your age. Nice trick, @Brewster's Angle Grinder!

Suspected radiation alert saboteurs cuffed by cops after sensors disabled

One shudders at the thought of maintaining a "public-use network of a well-known establishment of hospitality". Though maybe the sysadmins got company perks on SAAD?

Yes, mine is the dirty mac ------------>

We can bend the laws of physics for your super-yacht, but we can't break them

Re: ""Don't you know who I am?"

Best delivered in a Scottish accent. Maybe "Scotty" would have been a better pseudonym for this weeks hero.

Google cancels bi-annual performance reviews, shifts to GRAD system

Re: hate them

> Deloitte itself found that its performance management process consumed close to 2 million hours - In 2015, Deloitte had 225,000 employees worldwide.

10 hours a year per employee seems quite reasonable to collect and review evidence to justify promotions and pay rises worth thousands.

I normally don't put much effort in to playing the game myself, as I'm happy at my current level (and it doesn't make much difference anyway).

Your software doesn't work when my PC is in 'O' mode

Re: it was a button with 'I' and 'O' on it

Another reason would be to avoid having to label them "On" and "Off" in every language in the world. Or at least have different marking for different markets.

I must spend too much time with Lusers - as soon as "O" mode was mentioned, I knew where that was going.

Stolen-data market RaidForums taken down in domain seizure

"sudo-nym" - Brilliant! Have one on me ------>

UK pins hopes on 'latest technology' to whittle down massive National Health Service waiting lists

Re: Oh FFS

The (possibly apocryphal) story from a few decades ago was that Britain spent millions on managing waiting lists; The French didn't bother, they treated patients so there were no waiting lists.

To err is human. To really tmux things up requires an engineer

Re: Sounds like an IP Conflict

> "Insufficient Paranoia"

Agreed, situational awareness is better than blindly relying on Mollyguard being installed or that colour-coding has been correctly applied.

Alexa and Webex to hitch a ride around the Moon on Artemis I – what could possibly go wrong?

Re: W_T_F ?

- I get the idea of an AI that can interpret general commands to fit its current situation.

- I get that using COTS products could be a massive cost saving over developing your own AI and comms protocols.

But this is such a massive kludge. Why not, say, send an email and cut out the loudspeaker->microphone diversion? (which wouldn't work in a vacuum anyway)

Wi-Fi not working? It's time to consult the lovely people on those fine Linux forums

Re: oh...

At the risk of being obvious/boring - loop a tie wrap around the lead you want to follow and then push it along the cable to the other end.

If you can get it past the cable management - But anyone who does cable management will surely do cable labelling too ;-)

FTC carpet bombs industry with letters warning that fake reviews will be punished

Re: Verified purchase

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet"

- Abraham Lincoln

Amazon ... will take action to stop fake reviews

But let's hope they preserve these classics:

Mountain-Three-Wolf-Short-Sleeve

Veet-Men-Hair-Removal-Cream

Sugar-Free-Gummy-Bears

The Register is an amazing website

..., simply one of the very best out there. Extremely cool people. 10/10

Nothing says 'We believe in you' like NASA switching two 'nauts off Boeing's Starliner onto SpaceX's Crew Dragon

That would help boost confidence in their product - if they can find a driver.

Who would have thought a mega-corp with decades of experience engineering safety-critical systems would have been beaten by an upstart "move fast and break things" startup?

Want to feel old? Aussie cyclist draws Nirvana baby in Strava on streets of Adelaide because Nevermind is 30

Re: Want to feel old?

Sound like an upcoming "Who, me?" is needed

Texas law banning platforms from social media moderation challenged in lawsuit

Conflicted

Damn you Texas, for making me take Faceborks side on any subject.

Break out your emergency change process and patch this ransomware-friendly bug ASAP, says VMware

Re: Just using UNIX text editors can be a challenge

Downvoted not for your factual statement of how it is at your org, but for your org itself.

My anecdotal experience is that even Unix greybeards are capable of using a web or GUI interface, or taking appropriate care when using an unfamiliar editor such as edlin on MS-DOS.

UK civil courts award £10m contract to Version 1 Solutions for end-to-end online processing

At least we wouldn't make the noob mistake/red flag of calling ourselves Version 1

Like a phoenix rising from the smouldering ruins of its data centre, OVH sets sights on IPO

Cloud != Colo (customer owned systems merely co-located in a shared DC environment)