* Posts by Boo Radley

212 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jan 2011

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Tower PC case allegedly used as 'creative cavity' by drug importer

Boo Radley

Re: 100 kilograms of methamphetamine – enough for around one million street deals.

The current street price around South Texas is $25 or so for 3.5 grams, called an 8 ball, because it's 1/8 of an ounce. 20 years ago the price was $300 for the same amount. I don't know what kind of maths the police use to calculate a drug bust's street value but it always seems like they're an order of magnitude off.

Tesla's big reveal: Steering-wheel-free Robotaxi will charge wirelessly

Boo Radley

My Job Is Secure

Reading this article reassures me that my job as a taxi driver will be secure at least until I decide to retire. Probably better than 90% of my customers wouldn't be caught dead riding in one. Plus, they wouldn't be a captive audience for my sparkling wit and endless recounting of my sordid sex life.

Chrome Web Store warns end is nigh for uBlock Origin

Boo Radley

Re: Firefox anyone?

Thank you, apparently I wasn't doing that properly, I was only vaguely aware that it could be done. However, usually the reason for installing Firefox was that it was installing onto a new Windows installation, typically because of corruption of my Windows installation. And, of course, we all know how reliable Windows backup typically works, I've always found it easier to keep all my data off the boot drive. Could I have also installed all my programs on a non-boot drive, and if so, how do I get a new Windows installation to recognize them? I realize this question is probably something I should Google, as it's more than I can reasonably expect anyone here to answer.

Boo Radley

Re: Firefox anyone?

I quit using Firefox when the backup your bookmarks and history app (on PC) quit working with current versions. I had bookmarks dating back to the mid 90s that I would always restore whenever installing Firefox, and suddenly all that data became unavailable. There's probably a new version that allows such functionality but I've moved on, I use Opera on PC (but I rarely use a PC these days) and I use Brave on Android for my phone. I have yet to look and see if there's a way to backup my Brave bookmarks, when I get a new device I have to start from scratch and memory, which isn't exactly ideal.

Greener, cheaper, what's not to love about a secondhand smartphone?

Boo Radley

My First (and Likely Last) New Phone

When the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra came out, AT&T and Samsung promised 5 years of Android and security updates, I took the plunge. It's the first new phone I've ever owned, every other one was used. They gave me $800 off the purchase price when I traded in my Note 10, which was an insurance replacement for my Note 4, which was itself an insurance replacement for my Note 3, which I purchased many years ago, used, for $50. So my total investment in the S22 is the $6 monthly insurance payments over the years, plus the original $50, plus the $13 per month that I've been paying on the new S22. I really enjoy this phone, I typically use it nearly 12 hours every day of the week, both for work and on my free time. I doubt that I'll buy another new phone unless something truly spectacular comes along with must have features, which I seriously doubt.

Google Maps leads German tourists to week-long survival saga in Australian swamp

Boo Radley

Re: If only there were some sort of handy backup.

Yesterday I had a customer ask me where to buy a map of our smallish city that included all the streets. I haven't seen one available in nearly 20 years, and then it was provided by Avis, the car rental company. Back before Google Maps I carried an old laptop case containing paper maps of all the bigger Texas cities, since I frequently traveled to cities that I only seldom visited.

About 9 years ago I was returning from San Marcos when Maps tried sending me down a road that was only one way, the opposite way, of course, due to construction. I eventually ended up somewhere strange while Maps kept repeating "satellite signal lost". After about 30 minutes of that, I suddenly came upon a county road whose number I recognized, and found that I was nearly 40 miles off course, but I was soon in a town I'd visited a few years earlier, so I eventually made it home.

FBI recruits Amazon Rekognition AI to hunt down 'nudity, weapons, explosives'

Boo Radley

Only in Texas

Five ripped off IT giant with $7M+ in bogus work expenses, prosecutors claim

Boo Radley

Spoiler Alert

They didn't. All of them moved from DEC within a year or so of this event, mostly because they wanted to move up somewhere else. My best friend related that DEC management made his job "uncomfortable" after my arrest and his subsequent FBI interview, at which he disclosed nothing (through FoIA requests I got all the evidence used against me). Plus he was too intelligent to stay in his position much longer.

But no one wrote to me, no one sent money for commissary, or gave me a helping hand when I got out. Every few years I talk with my former best friend, usually when I have a tough question regarding one of my MicroVAXes. As far as commissary money, my job in the prison was one of the highest paid, so I wasn't destitute. My partners, lawyer and the government got all my money, plus I ended up owing the IRS a ton of money, so I was on my own.

Boo Radley

Re: Digital Equipment Corporation & Me

With the rise of the internet, and in particular ebay, it gradually became more difficult to find good cheap equipment for resale. Eventually I moved to Texas, married a high-earning doctor, and spent a few years as a house husband and IT specialist for her clinic.

When we eventually broke up, I took a job as a taxi driver, and after ten years driving, I bought out the owner, who was retiring. I'm enjoying my later years of life doing something that I've grown to love, and we provide a valuable service to our community. I now work more hours each week, 90+, than I've ever worked in my life, and I don't see a vacation in my future, but for the first time in my life I'm truly happy. I'm always looking at emerging tech as a means of making my business more efficient in this age of Uber and other competitors.

My interest in old tech is still strong, and I've been keeping an old MicroVAX running nearly 40 years after they were first introduced. For a while on the 90s VAXes could be picked up surplus for literally a penny per dollar compared to their original price, and frequently free for the taking. Now that they've become rare, prices on parts have gone higher and higher for those of us keeping one running. I wish I'd foreseen that trend as I scrapped some very nice machines in the early 00s.

Boo Radley

Digital Equipment Corporation & Me

Just out of college in the mid eighties, I worked for DEC, along with several college friends. We were all in Systems or Field Service. I installed and serviced larger VAX machines, while my best friend serviced MicroVAXes. One fine day we all realized that Logistics, the department responsible for carrying spare parts, had terrible inventory control, as well as a lot of larger installations having their own on site spares. A scheme was hatched, we'd sign out parts for this or that customer, then return random similar parts as non-working, and I was tasked with selling these pilfered parts to dealers. The scheme really took off with the introduction of the MicroVAX II, as DEC wouldn't sell bare bones systems with just a box with the CPU board. Through some kind of fluke in pricing, we could buy a replacement KA630 CPU board for around $1,200. This was supposed to be a $9,600 part, and not meant to be sold on its own.

Eventually the scheme fell apart, as 99% of such schemes do, and I got caught with my hand in the proverbial cookie jar, and was charged with federal charges of interstate transportation of stolen property. One of my friends was newly married, another was expecting his first baby, and as I was the only one that the FBI was interested in, I took the fall for everyone. Stupid move, due to my age, the perceived complexity of the scheme, and the dollar loss, I was handed a 15 year sentence. This was in the old days, when parole was still available to federal inmates, but an inmate still had to serve one third of the sentence, and hope for leniency from the parole board, who, it turned out, had never heard of that word. I ended up serving eight and a half years in federal prison, before being released to a halfway house, then the balance of my sentence to be served on parole, with very strict rules. Interestingly, within a year, my parole officer allowed me back into the used systems market, and for the next several years I made a decent living buying equipment from surplus and leasing companies and reselling to dealers all across the country. But I'd learned a huge lesson. Never again will I put my life and my future at risk, I don't even speed in my car.

Side note: I spent most of my time in a relatively cushy prison/hospital complex, where I quickly landed a cushy job. At various times I shared my cell with Jim Bakker, the infamous televangelist, and a very interesting year with Lyndon Larouche, during his 1992 presidential campaign. He has an extremely intelligent man, though a tad bit crazy. I enjoyed our many talks about politics, religion, and the state of our country. He was also a racist POS. The rest of my time was spent with counterfeiters, bank robbers and drug dealers, along with a few corrupt judges, cops, and the former mayor of Syracuse, NY, who was genuinely crazy, in fact residing in the mental health unit.

Not even poor Notepad is safe from Microsoft's AI obsession

Boo Radley

NoteTab

I do, or did, a lot of reading on a couple of sites for many years, and frequently had ten or more pages open as tabs in my browser. I found it much easier to simply copy and paste into NotePad, until I discovered NoteTab 20 some years ago. I could have all my documents in separate open tabs instead of multiple NotePad windows, and I found it infinitely easier. I could easily strip out text formatting from Word and WordPerfect docs, and easily paste back into whatever program or email I wished. So I haven't used NotePad in over 20 years, and I know for a fact that I don't want AI infused into anything thats supposed to be a simple text editor.

Study: Thousands of businesses just love handing over your info to Facebook

Boo Radley

Re: So, just who is tracking me ?

If I don't use an adblocker when reading my favorite atheist blogs, the sites are full of ads for Christianity related shit. Maybe they're just really optimistic about being able to convert me. Thank dog for ad blocking!

Drivers: We'll take that plain dumb car over a flashy data-spilling internet one, thanks

Boo Radley

Re: "better insurance rates"

My insurance company sent me a dongle to plug into the OBD port in my car to assess my driving, to optimize my insurance payment. I tried several of these schemes from several different companies, all of them put me into a more expensive bracket than my driving record alone did. Obviously I declined to use any of them and stuck with State Farm, with whomever I've been for 20+ years. Even the "cheapo" companies here in Texas were more expensive than State Farm, with less coverage. Internet connected cars and appliances are a total scam, along with all the subscriptions associated with them.

$17k solid gold Apple Watch goes from Beyoncé's wrist to the obsolete list

Boo Radley

My Watch

I, too, always have my phone either at my side or in my hand, but I wear a very nice Tag Heuer chronograph that was a birthday gift years ago, which I usually use to check the time. It's the only jewelry that I wear or even own. For years I had a beautiful ID bracelet that was also a birthday gift, which I somehow lost. And my Tag was actually a re-gift, a friend had received it as an engagement gift but the engagement was broken off before the wedding, and he, not being a watch wearer, knew that I'd appreciate and treasure it for many years to come. Win-win for each of us, right?

Lyft driver takes off with cat, global search ensues

Boo Radley

Two Possibilities

One, the driver carelessly and cruelly tossed the cat out at random location, or two, next passenger took the cat upon exiting, and they chucked the cat at random location. My money is on number one - because I don't think a random passenger would take the cat unless he intended to keep it himself.

Five billion phones are dead in drawers – carriers want to mine them

Boo Radley

Lost Phones

I've got upwards of 25 phones in a drawer, phones that customers left in our taxis and for which we were unable to determine ownership. How does one lose their device and not make at least a minimal effort to find it? If my device isn't where I always keep it when not in use - my pocket - then I'm going to be making a few calls to see if anyone has located it. Unfortunately none of these phones are particularly nice models or else I'd find ways to repurpose them. Maybe the effort of figuring out where one has left the device is less than the cost to simply replace it.

Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra is a worthy heir to the Note

Boo Radley

Galaxy S22 Ultra

Last year I bought my first ever new cellphone, the S22 Ultra. Samsung promised 5 years of Android and security updates, and AT&T gave me $800 off when I traded my Note 8, which I was given as a replacement when my Note 4 died, and they didn't have any 4s left. The Note 4 was given as a replacement when my Note 3 died and they were out of 3s. My original Note 3 was purchased used, for around $50. I opted for the model with 256gb storage, figuring that would hold 5 years accumulation of media. So, I got a $1,300 phone for around $500, and it costs me $13 per month over 3 years. I feel that this phone will serve me adequately for a minimum of 5 years, and perhaps several years past that. Of course, it'll need a new battery or 2 over that time, but I can live with that. It's also got a camera that's far better than my photo skills need to get great images.

Texas mulls law forcing ISPs to block access to abortion websites

Boo Radley

Re: The experiment has failed

I would apply for asylum in a friendlier country, but I'm a small business owner who's business is tied to my locality. At 61, I can't just up and leave Texas and start all over in a new country ☹️

Boo Radley

This Law Will Be Enacted

And they don't care that it's unconstitutional, it'll keep plenty of women unable to access abortion information and care for a few years while the lawsuits against it work their way up to the SCOTUS, where, in all likelihood, it will be called constitutional. As will Florida's laws regarding bloggers, additionally the anti-blogger law will keep people from telling the truth about Florida politicians, particularly DeSantis, for long enough that he can get elected president, and finish the work of destroying democracy in the US.

Home Depot sent my email, details of stuff I bought to Meta, customer complains

Boo Radley

Re: Annnnnnnd...

Due to having a poor credit score I only paid cash for around 15 years. Then I got a credit card with a $300 limit, used it a lot each month, paid most of it each month, and the bank liked that. They kept raising my credit limit at regular intervals, and my credit score rose to the point that I easily qualified for a second card, then a thid one, each one with higher limits, which I started using for everything thing, including $3 purchases. I paid all of them off each month. Before I knew it I had a $20k limit on that first card, and my credit score had risen to the point that I easily qualified for a mortgage for the house I bought last year. All my cards have low balances, I still use them for nearly everything and pay 90% of the balance each month, so my interest is minimal. Long story short, by using those cards for virtually everything and paying them off like I do, I quickly took myself from a score of +/- 500 to +/- 800, and improved my life situation dramatically. So I can see why people use their cards for everything, if done the way I did it it can really pay off.

Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $500,000

Boo Radley

Amber Alerts

Twice in the past month I've had Amber Alerts sent to my work phones - no exaggeration- every 5 minutes for my entire 12 hour shift. Our work phones are Kyocera flip phones that don't have the ability to disable alerts. Thankfully my Samsung Galaxy has advanced alert filtering so that I can eliminate Amber Alerts along with any others that I don't want to receive.

A few nights ago I was awakened at 2am by an Amber Alert from Dallas, which is 300 miles away. As reluctant as I am to shut off my work phone, after the third rebroadcast of the same alert, I shut it off so I could get some sleep.

Don't these fools running these systems realize that transmitting multiple alerts for the same missing kid, or alerts for simple custodial disputes makes the entire system useless, as we simply disable alerts or click them off with out even looking at them. It's like that damn boy that cried wolf so often.

Intel inside a world of pain as revenue plunges by a third

Boo Radley

Re: Value for money

Even though they recently broke ground in Ohio, and put out grandiose plans for their fab there, has anyone heard anything about them canceling said fab? The local newspaper still thinks it's gonna get built.

Scientists conclude cats only have three personalities after YouTube clip binge

Boo Radley

My Feline Overlords

After cohabitation for nine years with three feline overlords, all three got along fine. Then, sixteen months ago, I was tasked with finding homes for an additional three male kittens. I was unsuccessful finding new serfs for these junior overlords and ended up keeping them myself. Recently one of the youngsters has begun bullying the oldest one, causing her to fear using the home's common areas, which includes my bedroom and bed. I miss her company at night, I guessing I'm suffering from a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome, wherein I've become emotionally attached to my captor. Perhaps these scientist's study can give me insight to what I can do to alleviate the tensions in the home.

Further exasperating the situation is that an additional two older overlords came to share our space just after Christmas. Thank dog we've got plenty of square footage here but the situation is far from ideal. Tensions are too high, and they seem to be getting smarter and more clever in the ways that they torture me. I think the only thing keeping me alive is my opposable thumbs, without which the overlords cannot get into closed rooms, either to get additional food or to attack me, their humble servant.

Time to buy a phone as shops use discounts to clear out inventories

Boo Radley

My Samsung

My entire cell phone using life I've bought used, but last year AT&T offered $800 off the price of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, along with 5 years of Android and security updates. I bought the phone, with 256gb memory, figuring I wouldn't use up all that space in the 5 to 7 years I expect to use the phone. I haven't yet regretted my purchase, all those years buying cheap and used amortized the cost of the S22 down to a very affordable point.

Second-hand and refurbished phone market takes flight amid inflation hike

Boo Radley

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Last year I was offered the above referenced phone at what I considered a decent deal. It's the first new phone I've ever owned. I love It's big screen and ample storage, enough to last me for the five years of Android and security updates that came with it. After 23 years of buying used or having hand me down phones, I figured it was worth it. Over those years I've probably saved three times the cost of this phone.

FTX CTO and Alameda Research CEO admit fraud, pair 'cooperating' with Feds

Boo Radley

Amphetamine

I assume you mean prescription amphetamines, like Adderall, not methamphetamine. Personally, prescription amphetamines never brought me the promised concentration and focus, meth, on the other hand...

You can hook your MIDI keyboard up to a website with Firefox 108

Boo Radley

Allen Digital Organ

But can I hook up my three manual (three keyboard, plus pedals) Allen MIDI-fied theater organ?

Washington DC drags Amazon to court for 'yoinking' driver tips

Boo Radley

Re: Tips?

20 years ago, before the automated trucks came along, I always tipped the garbage guys. All year, through our brutal South Texas summers, they cheerfully picked up my trash, even working holidays. One year the supervisor came along and asked that i quit giving them cases of beer as the Christmas tip, apparently they would get drunk while still on the job. After that I gave Walmart gift cards.

CT scanning tech could put an end to 100ml liquid limit on flights by 2024

Boo Radley

Re: FWIW

I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago, flying into Houston from Brazil. Apparently TSA found a little empty 2ml glass bottle in my baggage, and that one item, combined with the fact that I had given Customs a different employer from the one on previous trips, caused them to pull me into the little windowless room, where I wasn't told why they were questioning me. They shouted seemingly random questions at me for nearly two hours, insinuating all kinds of nefarious deeds, before they finally gave me a clue as to why they were treating me this way. It seems that my frequent trips to and from Brazil (where my boyfriend and I owned a condo on Copacabana beach) plus that tiny bottle (which I guess some people might use for some kind of illicit drug) aroused their suspicion. It was a truly terrifying experience to be treated this way by agents of my own country, and was one of the reasons I quit traveling almost completely. I've only flown one time since that day, and in all likelihood won't ever fly again, for various additional reasons.

Uber to pay millions to settle claims it ripped off disabled people with unfair fees

Boo Radley

Taxi Driver's Viewpoint

As a taxi driver, I give every customer 5 minutes to get into the car, but getting out is a slightly different issue. I had a semi-regular but not disabled customer who would pay his fare, and then take up to, literally, 10 minutes to get out of the car. Yes, he was overweight, but not morbidly obese. He would get his legs our so that his feet were on the ground, then rock back and forth to get momentum to get upright, usually failing the first few times. He would ask me to take his hand and pull him up and out, which we're not allowed to do. Plus, he would stop after each failed attempt to talk for a minute, and would only shut up when I told him to get out. His girlfriend could always see how angry his behavior made me, and the last time he rode with us I told him upfront that I wouldn't accept payment until he was actually out of the car, charging him wait time while he attempted to exit the car. That was the last time I saw him as a customer. I now see him riding with the only other local taxi company, and I'm assuming that they're charging him the same wait time that i threatened him with, as they're notorious for being jerks to their customers.

Musk tells of risk of Twitter bankruptcy as tweeters trash brands

Boo Radley

80 Hour Weeks

I've been working 80 to 90 hours a week for the last ten weeks. I'm no spring chicken, at 61 years old, but so far it's been a breeze. The big difference is that I'm self employed, I bought the company for which I've worked the past nine years, a small taxi company that is dominant in our city. I chose to work 12 to 14 hour days, every day, because it's all for my benefit, and I know that there's light at the end of the tunnel. I simply need to hire at least one additional driver, which is harder than one would think. It seems like no one wants to do these types of jobs despite decent pay.

TikTok accused of covert plot to track specific US citizens' every move

Boo Radley

TikTok Pre-installed

My new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra came with TikTok pre-installed, along with Facebook and Uber and a slew of Samsung apps, none of which I'll ever use. None of these apps can be un-installed, so they're just sitting on my phone, wasting space, and probably providing potential attack surfaces.

I hate government over-reach, and we already have far too many laws, but I really think there should be a law against phones coming with apps that can't be removed by the user. I paid a lot for this device, why can't I have control over it?

Boo Radley

TicTok on my Android Phone

I just checked my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, to uninstall it, and found that while I've disabled it, it can't be uninstalled. Apparently it came pre-installed on my phone. Same goes for Facebook and Uber, I don't have accounts with any of these services, and never will, but why am I forced to have them on my device at all. I hate to advocate for any more laws than we already have, but there really ought to be a law that stops phone companies from making apps uninstallable.

People are coming out of retirement due to cost-of-living crisis

Boo Radley

My Retirement

61 yo former techie here. Actually, I've only had one job in my field, after 5 years at Ohio State. I worked for Digital Equipment for a few short years, installing and maintaining VAXes back in DEC's heyday in the late 80s. I loved the hardware but hated the customers and the corporate environment.

Since then I've done a ton of things, but 9 years ago, on a lark, I took a job driving a taxi. Turns out it was my dream job! I work longer hours than at any other job I've ever had, but it doesn't feel like it. Last month, after a couple of years of indecision, the owner of the company decided to finally retire, and sold me the company. Yeah, Uber and Lyft have taken a tiny slice of our business, but we offer a premium service in big black Lincoln Town Cars, the extended wheelbase version, and we're the only decent, reliable taxi business in an 80 mile radius.

My retirement plan is to never retire. I love my work, I earn a decent living, and I have fun all the time. As much as I love watching TV, there's no way in hell I want to spend the rest of my life doing that. As long as I can get out of bed and drive safely, I'm going to keep working and having fun.

Online romance scamlord who netted $9.5m jailed for 25 years

Boo Radley

25 Years

In the US federal prison system, inmates serve 85% of their sentences, they can only earn up to 15% time off for good behavior. There isn't any early parole anymore. That means he'll be off the streets for 21 years and 3 months, an entirely appropriate amount of time in my opinion.

Florida asks Supreme Court if it's OK to ban content moderation it doesn't like

Boo Radley

Re: Sauce for the goose...

This content moderation law only applies to sites with 50 million or more users. So it won't ever apply to "Truth" Social.

US car industry leads the world in production cuts over chip shortages

Boo Radley

Chip Shortage & Used Cars

In January and February 2021 I was shopping for a particular trim on a used Honda Civic, preferably a 2015 or 2016 model. I found the perfect car, the right options, color, and price, at a dealer in Houston, about 2 hours away. By the time I got there, it had been sold, to another dealer, who raised the asking price by 20%. It still sold quickly. Now the same year and model is selling for 40 to 50% more than the price 18 months ago. The chip shortage has a huge trickle-down effect on used car prices.

I quit car shopping last summer, as I didn't want to pay a significant markup on a car that might suddenly decrease in value by 60 to 80 percent once the chip issue sorts itself. Instead, I'll just pay the occasional, reasonable maintenance expenses on my 19 year old Ford F150. It only has 166,000 miles on it, it runs great, and almost never needs any maintenance other than oil. It ain't pretty any more, gets relatively poor gas mileage, but is dirt cheap on a per mile basis.

Plus, I have my taxi available for personal use if the truck does break down.

I paid for it, that makes it mine. Doesn’t it? No – and it never did

Boo Radley

Re: re: streaming services and content

I have both Netflix and Hulu, but at least a couple of times a week I find myself downloading otherwise unavailable movies and TV shows from Pirate Bay. Since my PC easily streams to my TV, it's not like the old days when I had to watch my downloaded content on my PC. Co-workers always want to know where I find such good content but they're not technically savvy enough to download safely.

Leaked Uber docs reveal frequent use of 'kill switch' to deactivate tech, thwart investigators

Boo Radley

Re: UBER revolutionised Taxis

Yeah, most Uber drivers have no clue where anything is or how to get there without the app telling them. I've been a taxi (black car) driver for years, and with the rare exception in a different town, I can count my use of GPS on one hand. I've never used GPS to get a customer to his destination, if I must, I'll look at it before pickup, but I feel it gives the customer a lack of confidence in me if I have to use it to get him where he's going. When I started this job, I didn't have GPS at all, no smartphone, only a paper map that I quickly, for the most part, memorized. That, plus watching the street names as I went to different destinations,combined with a great memory, was all I ever needed.

OpenVMS on x86-64 reaches production status with v9.2

Boo Radley

MicroVAX

I started working at DEC right as the MicroVAX was introduced. I installed VAX 8600 systems for a year or so, and installed the first 8500 in Ohio. 8 years later I found that 8500, since upgraded to an 8550, with all it's peripherals, sitting on the dock at OSU Surplus. I asked what they had planned for it, and they told me I could have it, free of charge, if I'd just get it off their dock.

It took three trips to get it home, then four days to disassemble everything, move it into the basement, then reassemble it. I never fired up the CPU though, since my house didn't have 3-phase power, but I used the RA and TU drives with my MicroVAX II ($35 at OSU Surplus). Not a terribly efficient use of power, but it networked nicely with my Win 3.1 and Win 95 machines. I still have my VMS manual set (the Orange Wall) in storage.

Netflix to crack down on account sharing, offer ad-laden cheaper options

Boo Radley

Re: If I pay for a platfrom

That's where I allegedly find all the good stuff that isn't on the streaming services.

Boo Radley

Sharing Accounts

My best friend has a Netflix sub, I have Hulu. My Hulu is also logged in at his place because I spend a couple of days a week there, watching it. His Netflix account is also logged in at my place because sometimes I watch it at home. If they introduce ads and limit sharing I'll simply quit watching Netflix at my place. No big deal. If Hulu limits sharing I don't know what I'll do because I really like it, but I won't pay for two subs.

Yale finance director stole $40m in computers to resell on the sly

Boo Radley

Re: Give back some?

I'm guessing that paying the IRS will also be a part of her sentence and I can't believe that she's not required to make full restitution to the university. I'm certain that she isn't going to get to keep a penny of that money, no matter what the article says.

America's EARN IT Act attacking Section 230 is back – and once again threatening the internet, critics say

Boo Radley

LGBTQ People

The fact that it will disproportionately affect LGBTQ people is a feature, not a bug. The right is determined to stamp them out at any cost, so what if all the rest of us suffer the consequences, so long as they can keep the icky gays down and out of sight.

Tesla driver charged with vehicular manslaughter after deadly Autopilot crash

Boo Radley

Who's Driving The Car?

The Tesla's driver is supposed to be in control ultimately. If my car hits another car while I'm using cruise control, you can bet I'll be charged.

No defence for outdated defenders as consumer AV nears RIP

Boo Radley

Going Bareback

I long ago got disgusted by AV software, and started going entirely without. I download the occasional file or two from Pirate Bay, and do a reasonable amount of web surfing, but the last time my computer got infected was years ago. A quick reformat and reinstall of Windows, and I was back in business in almost no time. I also keep all data on separate drives, as well as backups. I feel I'm far more likely to lose data through a hardware failure, like a disk crash, than from a virus.

OK, boomer? Gen-X-ers, elder millennials most likely to name their cars, says DVLA

Boo Radley

I'm 60 this year

And named my red Ford F150 Tonka, because he looks like a Tonka Truck.

I don't know yet what I'll name my next car, a Honda Civic SI.

Yeehaw, y'all! Texas done got itself a honkin' new Samsung semiconductor plant

Boo Radley

5 Million Sq Meters?

Isn't that about 45 million square feet? That seems a bit on the large side.

Alleged Brit SIM-swapper will kill himself if extradited to US for trial, London court told

Boo Radley

Protected Custody?

Don't worry, the US government will make sure he stays alive, until THEY want him dead.

All I want for Christmas is a delivery address that a delivery courier can find

Boo Radley

As a taxi driver I frequently have customers giving me complex instructions on how to find their place, when all I need or want is their god damn address. In all my years I've never failed to find an address when it's given properly.

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