Posts by billse10

Spotted in the wild: Chimera – a Linux that isn't GNU/Linux

Re: Are we heading toward a converged Unix?

it is important to check these things

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/019/396/original.jpg

Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, off you go: Snout of UK space forcibly removed from EU satellite trough

Re: Espionage

"Davis must be total idiot if he thinks he can decide about that."

Davis does think he can decide things like that. Your other point is a bit harsh, he might not be a total idiot? He could be 33% idiot, 33% deluded and 33% "tired and emotional"?

PM urged to protect data flows post-Brexit ahead of Munich speech

Re: Oh dear ...... the Booby Prize in Sight of Simply Complex Success

@Pen .. i think our Martian friend is quoting a Boris Johnson speech.

At least, I heard Boris speak back in Sept, it sounded remarkably similar ....

Blighty's first aircraft carrier in six years is set to take to the seas

Re: Uninspiring choice of name for the ship

ZoomyMcFlyPlaneSomeday ?

Microsoft totters from time machine clutching Windows 10 Workstation

Re: Yet another version?

going back just a short while, one place I was at used NT Workstation because of C2 security. (No-one ever read the bit that said "if you unplug it", but still). Will this be a system where the worker controls what it does? So, as you say, easy to disable telemetry, autoupdates, etc?

Europe to splash €120m on free WiFi for ~8,000 villages and cities

of course he will, but this is Donald: he'll get the best, best prices, then refuse to pay the contractors bigly anyway.

UK ministers to push anti-encryption laws after election

Re: Can't say I'm surprised

"I'd call it a kneejerk reaction"

Might i suggest that "knee" is not needed here?

Home Office accused of blocking UK public's scrutiny of Snoopers' Charter

"Needs to resign, she has no credibility left."

She had some in the first place??

UK.gov confirms it won't be buying V-22 Ospreys for new aircraft carriers

Re: Jumbo Harrier

Andrew Dow's "Pegasus - The Heart of the Harrier" has some very interesting stuff about other aircraft that were designed, and even prototyped, around the Pegasus engine - some of those were multi-engine.

Re: We should build our own

"Have the Met accuse them of a crime they didn't commit"

but that never happens! ;-)

Re: Makes sense to standardize

is there a AWACS-capable "big brother" for Global Hawk, maybe? [Is that part of the MQ-4 role?]

Bloke whose drone was blasted out of sky by angry dad loses another court battle for compo

Re: Surely this could have been avoided.....

"AC because - well you're all a bunch of drone haters :-)"

not fair ... i just hate idiots. Like the guy who thinks it's fine to fly his camera drone over other people's property then actually gets upset when someone "modifies" the drone so it can no longer take pictures.

Maybe the method of modification was a little extreme (from a UK perspective), but the principle seems just fine. As you've shown, talking to the neighbours and getting consent before doing this would possibly have been a far more productive course than reaching for the lawyers after the event.

After London attack, UK gov lays into Facebook, Google for not killing extremist terror pages

Re: Is the material dangerous?

"Is the material dangerous?"

If by "the material", you mean the Daily Mail - absolutely.

Road accident nuisance callers fined £270,000 for being absolute sh*tbags

Re: so what happens to

had a similar conversation with a (previous) GP practise manager. They had no caller ID as apparently they were being asked to pay BT more to have it enabled on their business lines ...

MP brands 1,600 CSC layoffs as the 'worst excesses of capitalism'

3.5 because they are an entirely unbiased source of Truth ?

6. There is a group of people who could do something about the items above, but have made the decision not to. This behaviour is similar to that described in 1, above, but at a more local level.

COP BLOCKED: Uber app thwarted arrests of its drivers by fooling police with 'ghost cars'

Re: State licensing

"aside from the odd licensing requirements... why would a florist need a state license???"

assaulting hayfever sufferers with a deadly weapon ...

(it does seem just a bit silly, doesn't it)

One IP address, multiple SSL sites? Beating the great IPv4 squeeze

Re: Wrong.

"You are like the Breitbart of the tech world."

There's no need for that sort of language around here.

Awkward. Investigatory Powers Act could prove hurdle to UK-EU Privacy Shield following Brexit

Re: It will be fudged

of course it will be fudged - ever met a politician that says reasonable things and then does them? [Says things and does them, yes, but that's why I said "reasonable" things - not dangerous, deluded, economically stupid, xenophobic or just plain crazy things]

HMRC emits IR35 tax calculator onto the web for UK contractors

well, yes, but it's not really a true / false is it? It's more like "true" or "false for now but we may change our mind later without telling anyone, without asking for a parliamentary vote, and without consulting those who will be affected rather than only consulting politicians, journalists, and lobbyists" ...

$310m AWS S3-izure: Why everyone put their eggs in one region

"Beancounters take note"

just love your optimism!

Post-Brexit five-year UK work visas planned – report

Re: What utter s*****

@Dan 55 - no, no-one voted to give the government a mandate to take us out of all of that, but they are doing it anyway. The Leave campaigners won by a margin of just 2.7% of the electorate, so if even 4% of Leave voters don't want the Adamantium Brexit that May is going for, there's no mandate at all for the course the government is pursuing.

Yet anyone according to the Leave mouthpieces, anyone saying that is going against the Will of the People. Ain't democracy great?

Re: But hey, people voted for that

"To be fair they didn't.

That is simply the motivation of those who hold the key to the marginals at the next election, hence May's hard brexit and Corbyn enabling it."

@Jess - Corbyn did more than enable it, he has practically ensured the Opposition is doing nothing to oppose it in any effective way.

Re: Meanwhile...

"their lives reduces to bargaining chips"

Serial idiot John Redwood was on Daily Politics yesterday (iPlayer if anyone hates themselves enough) saying he doesn't understand anything at all and refuses to listen to people who do why the EU countries won't issue guarantees to UK citizens as Mrs "May has already said the UK will". Firstly "will", is future tense - not present - so why should the EU offer in advance of a formal UK commitment, when it's the UK making the change, not the EU? Secondly, what about EU citizens who live in and work in the UK now, who choose to go & visit family post-Brexit - will they definitely be allowed back to their jobs, their lives here, without any unnecessary issues? What about small companies that rely on cross-border business, are they going to get meaningful help, or is that only to be offered to people the size of Nissan, Crapita, and so on? [Capita and it's ilk are already being given more than enough subsidies by IR35 changes, maybe they'll be honourable and refuse any additional help? haha]

Until all of those questions are answered, and set in law, we do not know what is going to happen, and anyone who says "it will all be great or even just OK" seems as believable as the average political manifesto: they don't know what will happen. I don't know that our politicians will claim they have got a good deal simply because the Daily Fail says they did, just as I don't know that Mr Trump is blocking huge parts of the media from press conferences because he doesn't like being questioned: it's just a small suspicion.

Radioactive leak riddle: Now Team America sniffs Europe's skies for iodine isotope source

Re: What have the Poles done?

haven't seen any readings from Lithuania ....

Different judge, different verdict? Diageo's £54m SAP legal slap could have gone another way

Re: I looked hard, but...

i thought that was the old Windows Server license - the one that calls every DHCP client a Windows User?

'Hey, Homeland Security. Don't you dare demand Twitter, Facebook passwords at the border'

The Met have guidance on stop & account / stop & search that says "it's up to you if you provide your name and address" ..

Re: I'm a US citizen

"my co-workers and I were handing out flyers to other passengers that detailed their rights under international law and how rights under the US Constitution apply to everyone, regardless of citizenship status"

Good for you - and colleagues. Don't suppose it's available for download is it?

Apple to Europe: It's our job to design Ireland's tax system, not yours

Re: "will skedaddle to the next corporate hideaway"

"Trump can show off what a great deal he's made, and suddenly has loads of cash to spend."

one of the scariest aspects of that is exactly what would he spend it on?

UK Snoopers' Charter gagging order drafted for London Internet Exchange directors

Re: Great article by El Reg.

"This is not great journalism at all. LINX have proposed no such thing at all, this is very poor journalism, of the same ilk as the Daily Fail."

<Citation needed>

and also I find it very hard to believe anything could be of the same dire ilk as the Daily Fail.

Roses are red, violets are blue, HMRC confirms Verify can STFU

Re: satanta

"you can pick and choose what government you wish to live under."

I'll choose the one that does not think the Snoopers' Charter is a good idea. Bet that's not one of the choices though

Conviction by computer is go, confirms UK Ministry of Justice

Re: You're new here, aren't you?

"set a precedent."

There's a bit from Yes Minister, can't remember which one: Sir Humphrey warns the Minister that something could "create a dangerous precedent". Hacker "You mean, if we do the right thing this time, we might have to do the right thing next time?"

Brexploitation? Adobe gets creative with price hikes

Re: Does not compute

"And the fact that Adobe is a US company and earns in dollars, so the exchange rate means more £s to get the same $ value. "

True - and fine, just let me pay in $, regardless of location.

Nuclear power station sensors are literally shouting their readings at each other

Re: Nuclear Internet of Things

"RFC 1149 ruled out due to radiation levels?"

They're concerned about Dick Dastardly & Vulture Squadron.

Government to sling extra £4.7bn at R&D in bid to Brexit-proof Britain

Re: It's not for you, either

Not entirely sure that's the correct icon, as it's far too close to likely truth to be that funny?

Re: There is now new money…

"It was definitely not as clear cut as May suggests. Prominent people on the Remain side said that leaving the EU would mean leaving the Single Market. Prominent people on the Leave side said that leaving the EU would not mean leaving the Single Market."

(Thanks Len, put it far better / more succinctly than I would have done!)

Headline version: during campaign, neither of the campaigns suggested the paeticular course Mrs May is now taking, so no-one voted for or against this particular course.

It's certainly true that I don't remember Gove, Johnson on the Leave side, or Cameron, Clegg on the Remain side (or indeed Corbyn sitting there on the fence), asking people to vote on leaving ECHR, ECJ or the single market; the question that was asked did not even mention them.

Re: Buzzword bingo and the boomer mindset

"Then they can all do something useful, like building houses "

Would you want to live in a house built by the average MP? (And some of our MPs are very average!)

Alternative is truth?

Fired Ofcom Remainer bod sues UK gov for withholding his payoff

Re: Judicial Review...

There is something that the Reg article does not make clear - and probably should. Ofcom senior management, right up to the level of Chair, knew he would be writing for those publications/organisations and approved that he continue to do so. He was not told to "he should steer clear of politics and public policy issues", they knew he would be writing on those areas - it was agreed he would not write directly on British politics or areas within his remit while in that role at Ofcom, but "broader public policy issues would not cause a problem." If there was a clear breach of policy or of his agreements with them, Ofcom's lawyers would not have reached a settlement for the minister to reject.

I'd quite like to know what broadcasting or journalistic experience Ofcom's Chief Exec had before taking that role, as that would help clarify whether her experience as an editor has covered this sort of thing before; I'd also quite like to know whose advice the Minister took before reaching a view - independent counsel, after talking to both Ofcom and Mr Emmott, or what?

As soon as Ofcom/DCMS publishes their version, I'll read with just as much interest as I read Bill Emmott's version today, or the articles that have appeared in Private Eye on a fairly regular basis over recent months. More than happy to be shown that I'm wrong, as I have this naive wish to be able to trust our regulatory bodies?

Re: Don't mix your political views and your career

i agree with your "maybe he should never have been hired" - but they did hire him, knew who/what they were getting, and seemed to change their minds. It happens. There are proper processes for dealing with it. This story does not reflect those processes being followed - and if the Ofcom guys were smart, they could have made this a "process" story and no-one would be interested.

Re: Good riddance

did you actually read the linked account? Chief Exec not involved in recruitment process decides they don't like the person they get; the Chair, who was involved in recruitment, says not his fault but then changed position with the political breeze. If the quote from the Code of Conduct is accurate (easy enough to check) then he did not breach that or the agreements / understandings.

For me, the most disturbing part seems that he was removed (for whatever reason) with no processes followed: no formal reasons given, no witnesses, and nothing in writing. A full and final settlement was agreed, with Ofcom saying it had to be agreed by DCMS but that was expected within days. That was not forthcoming and there appears to be no written explanation of why not.

Overall, it sounds like they recruited the wrong person, failed to explain to him that even though they had chosen to recruit a journalist/editor they expected him to cease those activities (having agreed he would not be expected to do so) - but then, worst of all, they failed to admit the issue and simply screwed up the process of him leaving. If that process had been handled properly (easy enough), then none of this would have been necessary and we would not be commenting on an article that wouldn't exist.

Euro space agency's Galileo satellites stricken by mystery clock failures

Re: What times we live in.

Charles Townes, 1954/5 papers and working in 57.

Anyone-but-Gould(*), 1960 laser.

* first to file patent without telling coworkers probably should not get credit for it. He did come up with the name, though.

Two new Raspberry Pi models emerge steaming from the oven

Re: Whats this GUI thingy?

also bear in mind a lot of industrial systems still use serial interfaces, and often require optoisolation and/or unusual electrical interfaces so you probably need custom electronics for that - but if beyond that you can then read a 9.6k serial link, and decode some (seriously wacky) proprietary protocols, you've got quite a few areas in which the Compute may be of use ...

Re: Thermals

goes up the price range a fair amount but I went with Toradex's Apalis / Ixora combination, gave GigE and USB3 no problem.

This'll be the next thing Trump crows about: Apple assembling servers on American soil

Re: American made iPhones

"The situation is a lot more complicated than "bring jobs back to the US", but the angry white working man that voted him into office probably doesn't realize that."

It's part of the same "we don't need experts" theme - the 'angry white working men' you refer to are "probably" not hearing the truth from the politicians, as it is far far easier to demonise others than explain a complicated set of circumstances (especially as some circumstances are the fault of the politicians doing the demonising). Both a recent election and a recent referendum could be used s Exhibit A for that ......

NGO to crowdfund legal challenge against Investigatory Powers Act

Re: New Target GBP40k

It's at £32k now ... talk about "engaging people in politics" ....

Top cop: Strap Wi-Fi jammers to teen web crims as punishment

Re: To paraphrase...

The Grand Design, Yes Prime Minister - series one, episode one - starts the beginning of the story, including a part about quarter of a million football hooligans peeling potatoes in Aldershot? The Ministerial Broadcast (YPM episode 2, i think) probably includes the quote, there's certainly a part where another Perm Sec (from Employment?) talks about releasing an army of trained killers onto the streets ...

Routes taken by UK prosecutors over supply of modified TV set-top boxes

Re: Common sense.

"Why would you gold plate unobtainable?"

Security by obscurity? ;)

Programmer finds way to liberate ransomware'd Google Smart TVs

i like the idea of a DD-WRT for TVs ....

Stupid law of the week: South Carolina wants anti-porno chips in PCs that cost $20 to disable

Re: Anonymous

"The true extent of blocking access to "obscenity" has hardly been touched on..."

True, after all, there's this:

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=3003&session=122&summary=B

And of course, this:

https://www.snooperscharter.co.uk/

Both are certainly obscene.("repulsive by reason of crass disregard of moral or ethical principles", or "so excessive as to be offensive" - Merriam Webster)