* Posts by jake

26589 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007

Page:

Snowden's Australian 'revelations' are old news

jake Silver badge

Re: Hey, idiots ...

It was 1946 ... long past its sell-by date. Some folks are long retired & can talk.

Splelling misteaks are mandatory when commentarding on splelling misteaks.

jake Silver badge

Hey, idiots ...

It's splelled "Echelon". People in the trade refer to it as "five eyes".

HTH, HAND ...

jake Silver badge

Very old news. Try 1946.

See: United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement.

Carry on, all.

Asperger's and IT

jake Silver badge

Can I make a meta comment?

I dated a pair of identical twins for a period of time that lasted 4 years or so[0] ... They had matching birthmarks on their right thighs. They also had a couple of moles (in various places) that were matching. Most people couldn't tell them apart.

I could tell them apart across a football field, and once in a crowded airport. They were completely different people, despite looking like ... well ... identical twins.

We're all human, and we're all unique. Vive la différence!

[0] Hush, children, one at a time.

Industry doubts schools’ ability to teach Digital Tech curriculum

jake Silver badge

Re: I remember now .....

Exactly, frank ly.

I learned computer logic with relays & wire-wrap.

Fondling iFads & FanDroids & CrackBerries doth not computer experts make ...

What happened to Eadon??

jake Silver badge
Pint

Re: What happened to Eadon??

Trevor, can I buy you a pint?

Serious question ... If you're ever in the North Bay, drop me a line.

jake Silver badge

Re: What happened to Eadon??

I always figured Eadon was one of Mr. Pott's alter-egos (and Trevor has had a few over the years) ... the entity appeared roughly when Mr. Pott started ranting about MS products.

Europe: OK, we'll 'backload' carbon emissions - but we'd better not lose big biz

jake Silver badge

Re: Read a textbook..

"All the more reason to cut carbon pollution then until we fully understand what impact it will have."

So in your scenario, we should all live off the land?

I can (and have) done that. I suspect you have no clue ...

jake Silver badge

@urbanmythos (was: Re: Read a textbook..)

You can repeat the articles of your faith as many times as you like, but it doesn't make them true. There is more to our atmosphere than the mere release of "carbons" (which are plant food).

jake Silver badge

OH KNOWS!!!!!!

It's teh carbons ... we're all gonna die!

At least the trees can breathe a trifle easier ...

Elon Musk's Grasshopper tops 300m, lands safely

jake Silver badge

Totally useless "technology" "invention".

We did this on the moon in 1969.

Elon is nothing, if not a marketard.

Optical archival system - where to buy from?

jake Silver badge

@A J (was: Re: Use the cloud dude!)

No. Just no.

Keep it in house. If you're largish, go off-site with an outlying office. If you're smallish, hang a server off your Great Aunt Ruth's home DSL line in Duluth.

jake Silver badge

Another nod to going with mag tape for this kind of thing.

If you're actively using the data, go with HDDs, but it's tape all the way for archival stuff. In roughly 40 years of computing, I have never lost anything I had stored on mag tape. I can not say that about any other form of data storage.

My 17 year old Memorex Telex 5600 ATL[1] is still chugging along quite nicely. And I can still get both parts & tape for the old gal. I doubt you'll be able to say the same for the Sony you are drooling over in the year 2030 ... and I'll also bet my system will still be fully functional, if leaking oil & a trifle bruised & battered around the edges at the ripe old age of 34 ;-)

[1] I got her at scrap prices after upgrading a data center with a larger unit.

Douglas Engelbart, PC pioneer and creator of the mouse, dies at 88

jake Silver badge

Rest in peace, my friend.

See you on the other side ... if there is one ;-)

Cloud computers are like bananas, says Deutsche Börse

jake Silver badge

Yup. Just like bananas.

Eat it immediately, or it'll rot. No shelf-life. At all. And hard to ship, to boot.

Bring me something that works like plantains, and maybe we'll talk.

But I doubt it. Computing & storage is easier to roll out internally ... at least if you actually hire folks who understand how computers & storage really work, that is ...

why is there an Apple forum?

jake Silver badge

"there" (was: Re: Long time Apple user and previous Fanboi seeks new platform)

Never type fast when the main Whippet is demanding attention ;-)

Mia Culpa.

jake Silver badge

Re: Long time Apple user and previous Fanboi seeks new platform

Really, honestly, and no bullshit?

What applications do you feel are "must haves" (and are they, really? Or are they "wants" or "preferences"? And are their alternatives? Only you can answer those questions.).

Next, what OSs do they run on? Followed by: what hardware does the OS run on? Once you figure that out, the answer(s) should be simple.

The only other question is "are you interested in learning about the underpinnings of the OS, or do you just want to use it?" ...

Yorkshire police lose 9,000 guns in rogue BOFH database blunder

jake Silver badge

@Stevie (was: Re: Bloody Hell!)

I suspect that there as many illegal guns in Nidderdale as there are legal guns in Sonoma Valley ... with roughly the same population.

jake Silver badge

Daft thing is ...

I know of several folks who have "unauthorized" firearms in Yorkshire ... Nearly all hand-me-downs from Dad/Grandad. Given that I'm a Californian and hardly know even a small percentage of Yorkshiremen, there is quite probably a sizable population of un-announced gun owners in Yorkshire.

And get this ... The only crime they are committing is not telling Plod they have Grandpa's Beretta!

Creating a new class of non-violent criminal doesn't get rid of violent crime. All it does is tie up the police chasing ghosts, and sells more tabloids ... Oh. Wait.

'The Apprentice' is a load of old codswallop, says biz prof

jake Silver badge

@Neil Barnes (was: Re: Of COURSE it's old codswallup.)

One thing you are forgetting ... "BBC America" is a commercial funded thingie. And I suspect it's watched by a couple of orders of magnitude more drooling idiots than the BBC is in the UK.

I tried to watch "The Apprentice" a couple times. It falls far outside the BBC's charter. But at least it's bringing money into blighty from us daft Yanks, right?

jake Silver badge

Of COURSE it's old codswallup.

TV only exists to sell razor blades, tampons, beer & laundry detergent.

I feel sorry for the drooling mouth-breathers who think that over-produced, badly scripted, and even worse written so-called "reality TV" is anything more than an excuse to sell product ...

Eww! What have you done to the layout?

jake Silver badge

Bad.

Just bad. 'orrible bit of "design" ... Change for change's sake? Never a good idea.

EOF

Our week with Soylent: Don't chuck out your vintage food quite yet

jake Silver badge

Re: Molecular Cooking

All cooking is molecular. The current fads are just that ... fads. And fucking useless in the real world. Some of us are actually feeding people, not attempting to gloss over less than perfect cooking skills with "gee-wiz, look what I just done did do" pseudo-science experiments that are just barely edible.

What's the difference between GEEKS and NERDS?

jake Silver badge
Pint

@frank ly (was: Re: @Martin (was: ...or words to that EFFECT...))

He's not loosing any sleep, frank ly. He's having a pint.

Can I get one in for you, too?

jake Silver badge

Re: I hate pizza

How the hell can you hate Pizza? All it is is a hot, open-faced sandwich. Dough base[0], zillions of sauce options, including "none at all", zillions of toppings of choice, including "none at all", any and all cheeses (or none!), any & all herbs & spices (again, or none at all!) ...

Bung it onto a hot stone (500F in a home oven, my outdoor grill can get up to 700F, my outdoor 1875 stone bread oven gets to about 950F) until done. Serve with cold fizzy beverage of choice.

Or better, leftover cold pizza out of the fridge for breakfast with a cup of scalding black coffee ...

[0] Thick, thin, whatever ... I prefer a crust that's a cross between ciabatta and focaccia, tossed to about a quarter of an inch in thickness over most of the pie. I make it as plain old bread about three times per month.

jake Silver badge
Pint

@Martin (was: Re: ...or words to that EFFECT...)

Martin, when people speak the words "I don't know, show me" in my hearing, said words have a positive affect on them. I teach them when I can, and if I can't, I find someone who can. Re-read mine in that context.

Was mine improper written/typoed English? Perhaps. Improper use of the language? Not so much. English is wonderfully flexible that way.

I'll purchase the next round if we can agree to disagree :-)

jake Silver badge

The Venn diagram is pretty much inclusive, IMO.

There might be a few small lobes sticking out the edges, though ... Most show symptoms of Asperger's ... I hire them wherever possible in technical roles. Good folks to have around, on-time, trustworthy, and only jump into a project if they actually know what they are doing. With a little cajoling, they can usually be persuaded to admit that "I don't know, can you show me?" (or words to that affect) ... It's a trust thing in people like this, at least in my perspective and experience :-)

Jiggy Pennsylvania couple busted by 25 bike cops

jake Silver badge

Frankly ...

... if I were a Cop[1] and came across something like this ... and there were no innocent bystanders to behold the details ... I'd salute & ride on ;-)

Sex is a GOOD thing, as long as it doesn't frighten the children, dawgs, horses & ignorant.

Now, in a heavily populated area ... perhaps not so much. This doesn't look populated.

To the idiots griping about the looks of the enamored pair (I haven't, and will not, visit the link), humans come in all kinds of shapes & sizes. Love is blind. And trust me, you'll never boink Paris ... Although why anyone would want to is beyond me (bag of hammers, anyone?).

[1] I'm not. I breed & train Cop dawgs & horses, though ... and I'm pretty certain that most of the handlers I pass my critters on to would agree with me.

The five constants of IT asset management

jake Silver badge

All of ten years in the biz. Wow. A child.

And she has a voice, why? Especially when she didn't actually say anything about technology? I mean, seriously, my buzzword-bingo card is glowing ...

The mind absolutely boggles at how much we've lost in the last thirty years ... When the bubble bursts, it's going to be pretty bad. Brace yourselves ... Or, better, train yourself to be able to help pick up the pieces.

Idaho patriots tool up to battle Jihad with pork bullets

jake Silver badge

@Killraven (was: Re: ::pops some corn & grabs a beer::)

"Just because your religion preaches "there is no god" doesn't stop it being a religion."

It's not a religion. It's pragmatism.

Don't TELL me that gawd/ess(s) exist ... Fucking SHOW me that they exist. If you can.

Until then, kindly keep your mumbo-jumbo out of my bandwith. Ta.

"The only time I stop respecting people and their beliefs, religious or otherwise, is when they refuse to discuss things on the possibility that they might be ill-informed and therefor potentially wrong."

Indeed. Did you comprehend what you wrote before hitting submit?

jake Silver badge

@Tom 13 (was: Re: Firstly, Jewish, Muslim and Christian worshippers all worship the same God.)

Keep telling yourself that, Tom 13. It's absolutely false, but at least it shows the rest of us how deep the brainwashing goes.

jake Silver badge

@Steve Knox (was: Re: So much for respecting the religious beliefs of other people.)

Buddhism, Taoism & Shinto are philosophical ways of life, not organized religions (at least when done right).

Bahai is similar to Islam or Mormonism ... it exists only to make the leaders money, and give them power. Somewhat similar to the Catholics and the rest of the Christian sects.

I don't say "all religions are dangerous crazy nutters". Rather, I prefer "organized religion is the root of all evil".

jake Silver badge

Re: Pro tip

I'd rather saute some garlic & onions in the lard ... Porkilicious!

jake Silver badge

Re: So much for respecting the religious beliefs of other people.

I'd agree with you, Geoff ... If any given religion respected the beliefs of any of the others. Problem is, they don't. It's their way or the highway ...

Faith is a non-starter for anyone capable of thinking for themselves.

jake Silver badge

::pops some corn & grabs a beer::

This is going to be deliciously entertaining :-)

Idiots of any religious stripe should be pointed at & giggled at at every opportunity.

The perfect gift for the pistol-packing 'Merkin: a handgun iPhone case

jake Silver badge

@graeme leggett (was: Re: Interesting buyer recommendations on that website)

Uh ... testosterone poisoned teenage boys with daddy's credit-card, and parents who neither monitor telephone use of their sprog, or the credit-card bill?

Rich western trash, by any other name.

jake Silver badge

Oh, Gawd/ess ...

... what a stupid idea.

The perpetrator should be taken out behind the barn & severely whipped. Now. And again tomorrow. And again on Sunday. And again every day next week. Sometimes marketing fuckwits need to feel pain ... Maybe most of the time, come to think of it ...

Rise of the machines, south of Milton Keynes

jake Silver badge

@Steve Davies 3 (was: Re: Tremendous place, this museum)

When I was at DEC, one of the guys taught the disk drives on a PDP-10 to play music on the SA-10 attached IBM Winchester. Then he learned to make the washing machine sized disk drive "walk" across the floor ... I had to fire him when he did it in front of Ken Olsen, who was visiting our lab. Was very hard on the hardware ...

Yahoo! announces last hurrah of ancient AltaVista search

jake Silver badge

Whatever.

Does anyone with a brain use yahoo? Or google, for that matter ...

Schwarzenegger says 'I'll be back' for Terminator 5 reboot

jake Silver badge

Whatever.

That is all.

Boffin's claim: I have found how to get girls into tech

jake Silver badge

@John Smith 19 (was: Re: @WatAWorld (was: Whatever.))

"A conslutant you say? How can I enter such a role?"

Simple. Sell your services. It's a money maker, and I rarely get bruises.

Guinness doesn't come in bottles, it comes in kegs. And it's rarely potable outside of Ireland.

jake Silver badge

@AC 09:11 (was: Re: @Hungry Sean (was: Whatever.))

I'm male. Just telling it as I see it.

Don't like my reportage? Why? Am I goring your sacred cows? Get over it.

jake Silver badge

@Hungry Sean (was: Re: Whatever.)

"And yet, the sentiment Jake expresses is basically the same thing as the people saying that computing requires "male brain" just with gender roles flipped."

No. It's not. Boys play games, girls get work done.

Spend a couple dozen years watching the workforce, and you'll grok where I'm coming from.

jake Silver badge

@WatAWorld (was: Re: Whatever.)

"Using a work computer and company time to openly mention that you and your company actively practice sex discrimination because you really and truly are sexist is what is creepy."

Actually, I'm a self employed conslutant. I hire & fire for Fortune 250s.

They pay me $BIGBUCKS because I know how to fit the right human into the given slot ... and I have a reputation for only having to make that human move once.

I'm not sexist. I'm pragmatic.

jake Silver badge

@AC14:08 (was: Re: Whatever.)

"Given the distribution of down votes I would say that 100% of people disagreed with him"

And in this forum, that means what, exactly?

Live or let dial - phones ain’t what they used to be

jake Silver badge

My Father's early 1950s Model 500 Western Electric rotary dial telephone is at my elbow, and still works just fine (yes, my local telco still supports pulse dialing :-).

Before you knee-jerk a "luddite"[1] comment, where will all the money you have spent on telephones be in 60+ years? Down the toilet, that's where. Think about it.

[1] I do cop to being a neo-luddite, however ... I use tools because they work, not because they are flashy or because the marketers or because my peers insist I should ;-)

jake Silver badge

@Evil Auditor

The "party line" on Noyo Hill, just outside Fort Bragg California, was still functional in 1972. I know, I helped keep it going (sometimes over barbed wire ... ). My "number" (inherited from my Grandfather) was two shorts & two longs :-)

jake Silver badge

@Natalie (was:: Re: Is it possible)

Just re-map your keyboard (& relocate the key-caps, if you're not a touch typist and have to look). It ain't rocket science. Folks have been swapping <shift>and <control> and <caps-lock> keys (amongst others) for nearly three decades ...

British lord sets new world electric vehicle speed record

jake Silver badge

Uh, yes ...

I stand corrected. Mea culpa.

jake Silver badge

Uh, no.

http://speeddemon.us/

It's all in the details ...

Page: