Posts by jake

Urban Farming

Just picked up a couple Ghost Pepper seedlings ...

... Wish me & mine luck, hopefully we'll survive ;-)

Boffins find 'scary radio attack'^* against pacemakers

Remember Raytheon's "Radar Range"?

That's an "Amana microwave oven" to you kiddies ... It WAS dangerous to folks with pacemakers. Still is, in fact ... although my 1967 model (complete with working temperature probe!) is still quite functional otherwise.

I know identity of Bitcoin's SECRET mastermind, says Ted Nelson

Don't you just love ...

... Internet stalkers? Ted Nelson is a fuckwit of the first water.

Not that bitcoin is worth anything, mind ... I certainly don't trust it for anything.

Have your users managed to force iOS devices on you?

@Velv

I'm not God. I'm the Chief Cook & Bottle Washer. Not even God uses an iFad/Fandroid/Crackberry/etc. on my networks. It's in the contract. If it's broken, the warranty is void and the maintenance contract itself is null and void, with no loss of income to myself.

If you don't like it, don't ask me to build you a corporate data center.

Harsh? Only if you prefer playing/porn at work to actually ...uh ... working.

@Nich0 (was: Re: "Have your users managed to force iOS devices on you?")

If there is one thing that around 40 years of corporate computing has taught me, it's that "the easy answer" always leads to tears.

Front line "customer service" staff (read: minimum-wage phone-bank staff cuboids) need wireless, much less cellular telephones for corporate use? What the FUCK is your company thinking?

I mean, seriously, your IT department thinks of corporate users as "customers" who "get what they ask for"? What company do you work for? Are you publicly traded? I'd love to short sell you!

@Nicho (was: Re: "Have your users managed to force iOS devices on you?")

Porn (gaming sites, so-called "social" media, other non-work-related time wasters, etc.) is blocked at the border routers. These are corporate computers, not toys. They are for doing work, not playing. There is a reason they are called "Workstations" instead of "Wankstations".

Yes, I've turned more than one CEO into The Board for attempting to get around the filters to view porn at work. No, I don't review the logs, silly. The scripts do.

It's my JOB to spec what tools are used in/on the corporate network. Your iFad/Fandroid/Crackberry/etc. need not apply. I have never seen a single business case that makes sense for these devices. They are a toy & a distraction, not a business tool.

Supposedly, I am a fun guy (or so my friends tell me ... a couple of my younger nephews call me "evil meanie poo-poo-head" behind my back, and they are right, but they are all still alive and have all their digits). I am dead fucking serious about my job, though.

"Have your users managed to force iOS devices on you?"

Simple answer? No.

More complex answer? I spec the corporate network. The users don't.

US government wants security research on car-to-car nets

Re: Now ask me why ...

No bunker in Montana (I voted for Obama[1], so that lot would probably crucify me) ... No vacation, either, not since 1998 or thereabouts. Running a multi-property ranch spread out over four States is our 24/7/365.25 retirement option ...

Why restore old cars? Because I can, and enjoy it. Think meditation. Besides, if it breaks down when on the road, I can usually patch it up enough to get home with little more than a multitool, ductape, bailingwire & chewing gum. This hasn't needed to be an option in over 20 years, though.

[1] Best option of a bad couple choices, at least if you're capable of thinking for yourself.

Now ask me why ...

... most of my personal fleet is restored pre-1970 vehicles.

Once the .gov gets involved, we're all hosed ...

Surface Pro to hit Blighty priced 25% up on top-o-the-range iPad

Yeah, but ...

Is it actually useful, beyond the toy value?

iFads certainly aren't ...

Yahoo! May! Buy! Tumblr! For! One! BEELLION! Bucks!

"tumblr"? What's that?

New one on me ... Is it important enough to be worth a gigabuck?

Somehow, I seriously doubt it ... Quite honestly, I've never heard of it.

Microsoft conceals job ad in Bing homepage

On the rare occasion that I use Explorer ...

... I don't do bing, and my system reports that I am using Konqueror.

Australia's net filter sneaks into operation through back door

Frankly, it looks like it's NOT a "filter-by-stealth".

Rather, like most such governmental so-called "internet browsing safety systems", it's a "filter for votes, but ignorantly completely cock-up the entire thing, then back-peddle & point fingers at folks lower on the totem-pole who had absolutely nothing to do with it, but their jobs aren't as important as mine is (I'm a POLITICIAN, don't you know!), so if they are fired or go to jail it's OK".

Acorn founder: SIXTH WAVE of tech will wash away Apple, Intel

@druck (was: Re: Question.)

Projection is an ugly thing ... See the post you made prior to the one I'm replying to:

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/1825484

Have a nice day :-)

Question.

When was the last time Hermann Hauser actually contributed to anything relevant? I'm thinking 1978ish.

Final call – free Hyper V training

Thanks for the offer ...

... but I think I'll pass.

Marketing rarely (if ever) contains actual clues.

Ten years on: How did that cloud strategy pan out?

@Rukario (was: Re: The OSI model)

The first trouble with your scenario is that the "OSI model" only has 7 layers. The second is that the layers start at level 1, with the physical layer ("wire's wire" as one of my old mentors used to say). The third is I was referencing an actual textbook I was "taught" out of called something like "Networking for Management" that put everything below Layer 6 ("Presentation") in the "cloud". As an already degreed Network Engineer, working on my MBA at the time, I constantly corrected the obviously clueless idiot "teaching" the class, until the Dean called me aside & asked me to grit my teeth & stop correcting "one of my best Professors".

The school? Stanford University.

@Spoonsinger (was: Re: I look back lovingly on the days,)

Indeed. Or, as I first wrote here: http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/1452371

I have a double-handful of clients with usable corporate computer systems spread across most of the continents on this dampish, muddy rock that we call "The Earth". Several are Fortune 500s.

Not a single one of my solutions contains the word "cloud".

"Distributed", yes. "Cluster", yes. "Grid", yes (one legacy system). "Centralized", yes. Even "Peer-peer" and "stand alone workstation with network availability on demand". Etc. But no "cloud", not anywhere.

IMO, "Cloud" is a reference to the old ISO OSI-model textbooks that used a "cloud" image to try to hide the actual networking layers below the so-called "presentation layer".

Enough non-technically-inclined managers "took a course" with outdated textbooks that this "cloud" nonsense entered the corporate vernacular when said managers moved into marketing (hint: If your school is teaching the OSI model, you're obsolete before you paid the course fee).

Your Flying Car? Delayed again, but you WILL get it, says Terrafugia

@AC11:31 (was: Re: manoeuvres)

"Is on of the correct spellings"

If you say so. Ta :-)

@AC:1032 (was: Re: @AC 09:19 (was: Trouble is ...))

"3D is usually read* as real vector space which does not include time"

So you park yourself in one position in your conveyance of choice? Perhaps you should purchase a tent instead of a vehicle. We were discussing aircraft in the RealWorld[tm], weren't we?

@Intractable Potsherd (was: Re: @Not That Andrew (was: @ AC Trouble is ...))

I choose to not drink for 48 hours before I go flying. Most of the pilots I know use "24 hours between bottle & throttle". Most of the alcohol might be gone in 24 hours, but the fusels, esters, aldehydes, tannins & other bits & pieces of the chemical soup that makes up fermented beverages seem to hang out quite a bit longer.

@Not That Andrew (was: Re: @ AC Trouble is ...)

"then in 10 minutes you will intersect with something else"

Exactly ...

Beer. But remember, 48 hours between bottle & throttle.

@Neil Charles (was: Re: Trouble is ...)

Fortunately for me (and you!), my aircraft are never actually in that kind of airspace. Why? Because there is no point. Similar for actual gliders (I got my ticket off of Sutton Bank in the early 1970s, and am still a member of The Yorkshire Gliding Club, despite being a native Californian.

@AC 09:19 (was: Re: Trouble is ...)

"Yeah, those 4D manoeuvres are a bugger. One slip and your back in 1989"

X, Y, Z, and time. 4D. The fact that you don't grok that should worry your nearest & dearest.

BTW, that's "maneuvers" ...

@Matthew 3 (was: Re: Trouble is ...)

"When you're on the ground do you drive an Audi by any chance?"

Nope. Most of mine are pre-1970 frame-up restorations.

Trouble is ...

As a pilot, I don't want one. I have proper aircraft.

And, also as a pilot, I don't want TheGreatUnwashed to have easy access to my airspace ... They can't do 2D maneuvering, much less 3D ... or more importantly, 4D.

So you've got a nice virtual desktop stack – wait, here comes DaaS Boot

@Oninoshiko was: Re: Let me get this straight ...)

Dumb terminals? I've heard of those. I even use them. I'm typing this on an IBM Model M attached to a 3152 plugged into a serial port.

But seriously ..."The Network Is The Computer"? ... Or was that 3270LUs? Whatever. We've moved on. Unless you're planning on running Procomm on your iFad/Fandroid ...

Let me get this straight ...

I can get rid of all my corporate desktops by outsourcing to these people, all I have to do is purchase a desktop machine for all my employees and get them a subscription to the cloud?

What's wrong with this picture ...

Drone to deliver beer-as-a-service

As a guy who once was paid good money to jump out of perfectly good airplanes ...

... Dialing this into "perfectly targeted beer-in-hand delivery to intended patron" is as much of a wild-goose-chase as "sitting under apple tree, hand out, expecting apple after finishing picnic sandwich".

Air currents don't cooperate with pin-point accuracy. Even with a human at the controls.

In other words, like the rest of the *aaS tripe, it's non-functional media hype.

EOF

Amazon launches own currency

I didn't accept wooden nickels back then ...

Not accepting the concept today, either.

China: Online predator or hapless host?

Whatever.

I know how to reduce my customer's expenses.

The ability to block mainland-china, in it's entirety, is a valuable tool.

On the hunt for a new ampere

Re: Try to remember, kiddies ...

No, Eddy, what I am saying is that we continue to learn about how the universe works, at a higher & higher resolution.

This is a good thing.

Try to remember, kiddies ...

I could see the individual transistors, with my naked eye, on the first IC that I owned.

And that's just hardware.

Think about it.

Japan begins planning exascale super

Will it have panties over the input/output device?

Or will they just pixelate it?

Analysts brawl over 'death' of markup language

I looked at Version 2.0 once, in early 2005ish.

Found it to be a solution in search of a nonexistent problem. I haven't thought about it since, until now. I've never seen it in use in the wild, either, that I can remember.

I agree with "Let it die." ... in fact I'll buy a round in support of the idea :-)

Brit adventurer all set to assault ex-Reg haunt Rockall

Re: Get off our land!

Who cares? It's worth sweet rock-all.

(Was that The Goon Show? Or somebody else from that era?)

Re: Must ask

Sort, and then rinse the beans three times. Salt the soaking water (make it taste like the sea, just like pasta). Soak overnight, or at least 10 hours, then rinse three more times. Bring up to a simmer, with just enough water to cover (can use any unsalted stock or broth, if you wish). Season to taste as they come up to heat. I use my "house" bean spice consisting of 1 part each Ancho, Chipolte and Cumin powder, and 0.5 parts each fresh cracked Tellicherry pepper and Mexican Oregano.

For two pounds of dried beans, I use about 1 large onion, grated (box grater, large holes), six large cloves of garlic, microplaned, a third of a cup of the above mix, and six or seven large fresh-picked Epazote leaves (about an ounce if dried) (4 or five dried or fresh bay/myrtle/laural works, too, but it's not carminative). Sometimes I'll spike 'em with "some" habanero powder. If I'm not feeding grazers (vegans ... this is California, after all), I'll throw in a couple of unsalted smoked wild turkey wings or wild boar hocks. Top up the water with boiling water as needed, to keep the beans barely submerged. Slow simmer at a low heat with the lid well cracked, about 50 minutes, then add salt to taste. Start checking for doneness after another ~20 minutes. Drain immediately, and allow to cool lid-off. Use as you would any other cooked bean. Makes for wonderful black-bean refritos.

Save (freeze) the drained simmering water. Makes for good soup-base. Some people make rice or bread with it, but I always find that the added protein makes for a scorched product. For soup, mix 50/50 with any un-salted stock/broth/water that suits your fancy. Bring to a fast simmer, add veggies of choice, longer cooking bits first. When the veg is nearly done to taste, add pre-cooked protein of choice (meat, beans, tofu, mix&match, leave out the added protein, whatever), then check for seasoning, adjusting as needed.. Ladle the soup over cooked noodles or rice, serve with homemade bread. Can easily make a healthy lunch for under US$0.15/head.

Apparently, the salt in the bean soaking water replaces some of the potassium & magnesium from the seed coat, replacing it with sodium and allowing easier/faster rehydration during simmering. The salt later in cooking is for seasoning. Sounds weird, but try it.

Gut feeling, judging by the smell when pouring off the soaking liquid, the salt also encourages the fermentation of the sugars in the seed coat, thus cutting back on the flatulence issue ... perhaps because it makes it more permeable because of the chemical reaction with the potassium & magnesium? Dunno. As a brewer, winemaker & baker, that amount of salt should be an anathema to fermentation ... I'm sticking with the Epazote ... besides, I like the flavo(u)r ;-)

Re: Must ask

I add a bit of epazote to nearly all the pulses I cook. Result is no gas.

Global nappy hawker trials TweetPee moist-baby monitor

Speaking as a father (of 1) grandfather (of 1) and Uncle (of 9) ...

What a wonderful way to take more of the parenting out of parenting. Simply ignore yer sprog until you get a tweet. Because as we all know, twitter is far more important that parenting. Keeping count of diapers is probably a good idea for the mouth-breathers who will buy into this kind of product.

Honestly, I sometimes think you should be licensed to breed ...

Secret UN 'ZOD' climate deliberations: UK battles to suppress details

@Intractable Potsherd (was: Re: I do hope .....)

I've been using GSHPs here at chez jake for almost 20 years. IMO, it's the only way to go for HVAC. On a larger scale, it may be a viable alternative to more traditional "pure grid" systems ... but I doubt it.

Bottom line?

How many people are making how much money doing absolutely nothing useful?

And how much am I (are you!) paying into it?

Humans. We need to regain the thingie known as "perspective".

Thongs of praise: Slip on Japan's skimpy mobe knickers

Uh ... didn't ElReg report on this a few weeks ago?

Just asking.

Daft concept, regardless ... I mean, honestly, "I'm speaking to you through the crotch of my telephone's panties, so sorry if it's a bit muffled" ...

M&S shoppers make quarter of a million NFC payments a WEEK

Re: M & S considered "posh" and "high end"?

"On clothing side I seem to think I considered M&S to probably above Sears level and approaching Macy's. I definitely not put them in the same level as Wallmart."

As far as clothing goes, they all sell the same exact stuff, made in the exact same sweatshops. Anybody who thinks otherwise is deluded.

Draegers is a couple of grocery stores (the other is in Menlo Park), not a department store. Locals actually shop there for food, on a daily basis. Prices aren't all that bad (for SillyConValley) ... unless you're looking for high-end protein. Me, I'd rather kill my own wild boar & raise my own ducks ...

Fortnum & Masons is a high-priced kitschy tourist trap leftover from the Victorian era, at best. That's why the Japanese love it so much :-)

@AC 08:46 (was: Re: M & S considered "posh" and "high end"?)

Not a troll. Rather, a world traveler and a realist.

One wonders about your interest in me, though ... Do you have a life?

Re: M & S considered "posh" and "high end"?

"Over here, M&S ARE high end because they are an established name that can charge a bloody fortune."

That doesn't make any sense at all. I purchase quality goods, not brand names.

"Their goods are undeniably higher quality as well*, it's not just a marketing thing."

Higher quality than WHAT, exactly? I've shopped at M&S in the UK, and at *-mart here in the US. They are pretty much identical, on a world stage.

"*Whether or not that the quality increase is worth the price jump is subject to opinion"

And yet you shop there anyway? Why?

M & S considered "posh" and "high end"?

Oh, my. The marketards seem to be winning in the UK.

In my mind, Marks&Sparks is more along the lines of K-Mart or Wall-Mart here in the States, catering to the lowest common denominator ...

Why have CommVault shares outperformed EMC's?

Are investors and the stock market commentators, analysts and influencers crazy?

Yes.

Marketers brainwashing large shareholders have out-weighed sound engineering principles for about fifteen years now. Does anyone with a brain really think Apple is worth it's market cap? What about Google or Facebook?

Attention large Linux workloads

Re: Holy Grail

BSD works quite nicely on damn near everything here ... Although I'll admit to having Slack S/390 on an LPAR or five ;-)

Windows Blue preview to land at end of June

@ToggleMaudlin (was: Re: I think it's just a bit of a shame.)

"gasps of wonder"

How much, exactly, did Redmond pay you to type that?

Honestly, the mind boggles.

Good news: Debian 7 is rock solid. Bad news: It's called Wheezy

Debian's a nice distro.

But I'll stick to my variation based on Slackware, thanks.