Posts by Boo Radley

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

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

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

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.

England's Data Guardian warns of plans to grant police access to patient data

Problematic At a Minimum

What if I share with my doctor that I use illicit substances? Could the police use that info to secure a search warrant for my residence, so they could arrest and imprison me?

What about if I share that I'm gay, for instance if I had HIV, could a future authoritarian regime then come after me for persecution?

Just two instances that I thought of, I'm sure there are as many reasons to keep one's medical info private as there are people needing medical care. It's a bad idea all around.

Maker of ATM bombing tutorials blew himself up – Euro cops

Re: You can just ORDER ATMs???

I remember a few years back there were a large variety of used ATM machines available on ebay. Don't know if that's still true tho.

2FA? More like 2F-in-the-way: It seems no one wants me to pay for their services after all

Re: I'm glad it's not just me

Mother in law hated him, Steinfeld, she called him. For once I trusted her judgment. Never could stand to watch him, even adverts for the show have me scrambling for the remote.

Texas law banning platforms from social media moderation challenged in lawsuit

Re: Forced speech

Texas has become a shithole state, in a shithole country. Expect more unconstitutional laws soon.

Glasgow firm fined £150k after half a million nuisance calls, spoofing phone number, using false trading names

Re: How do you find them?

One day last week I got a call stating that my Social Security Number was involved in criminal activity and a warrant for my arrest was going to be issued. I pushed the number to speak to a real person, and when one came on the line I gave him a piece of my mind before hanging up.

For the next two days, I got the same call, from different numbers, every 20 minutes. They certainly taught me to know my place, never again will I engage anyone on these calls, I'll simply hang up immediately.

Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users' devices for banned content, professor warns

Won't Someone Think of the Children?

It's nearly always the go to excuse for something that eventually ends up taking away people's rights.

Scam-baiting YouTube channel Tech Support Scams taken offline by tech support scam

Re: Anyone can be scammed

My elderly mother, god love her, was too polite to hang up on the scammers, she'd chat at them so long as they'd let her. But she never got scammed!

I've got a broken combine harvester – but the manufacturer won't give me the software key

Re: Americans throw away 416,000 cell phone

I love kittens, the only trouble with them is that they grow up to be cats.

Troll jailed for 5 years after swatting of Twitter handle owner ends in death

Re: The sentence should've been the electric chair

I only skimmed the article, but if this was a federal crime he'll go to federal prison, where there are NO inmates with internet access. So at least he can't get into that sort of trouble for a while.

Ganja believe it? Police make hash of suspected weed farm raid, pot Bitcoin mine instead

Re: Stolen Power

In my last couple of years at a big state university, we had a couple of PDP-11s and a couple of smaller VAXen running in the attic of the house we were renting, with terminals and other peripherals all over the house. By placing a resistor in place of a jumper in the electric meter, we were able to retard the meter by about 97%. The power company finally caught on because our electricity bills were too low. Shoulda used a different resistor. Also, the huge window AC units in the attic windows, running all winter, might have tipped them off. The power company cut of the power and took all the wiring back to the pole, forcing us to move out by lamplight. No one was ever charged with a crime, as a roommate had gotten the service with a fake ID. It's a lot harder to get away with this kind of stuff nowadays.

Oops, says Manchester City Council after thousands of number plates exposed in parking ticket spreadsheet

I remember a few years ago in Ohio, USA, you could walk into any DMV office with a plate number or a vehicle's VIN, pay a very modest fee, and walk out with the owner's name and address.

US Supreme Court puts a stop to FTC extracting big bucks from crooks to refund victims

Re: Amendment Zero

Yes, he will be out in less than 18 years, but not much less than 18, as federal prisoners must serve 85% of their sentence before release. The 15% they can get off their sentences for good time, if they behave themselves.

'There was no one driving that vehicle': Texas cops suspect Autopilot involved after two men killed in Tesla crash

Re: "more of a super-cruise-control"

In the US, once the car has contacted authorities, the cops will show with guns drawn, and promptly shoot the incapacitated driver when the driver is unable to follow they're shouted, and contradictory, commands.

UK terror law reviewer calls for expanded police powers to imprison people who refuse to hand over passwords

Re: Protect?

My last job was with a doctor that fell afoul of the Internal Revenue Service in this same way. They counted every dollar movement as taxable income, and billed him 1.5 million dollars, when his total income that year was less than 400k. Rather than spend a fortune fighting them, he simply closed up shop and relocated to the Philippines, where he conveniently not only spoke the language, but he also owned a nice home. Screw you, IRS!

Gummy bears as a unit of measure? The Reg Standards Soviet will not stand for this sort of silliness

Football Fields

Nothing annoys me quite as much as a building or other construction as being x football fields in length or area. I have only a vague idea of the length or area of said field, and does this vary if one is using a soccer field? I dont think they're the same size.

So, bye-bye mighty nerd haven Fry’s, took Silicon to the Valley... and now you must die

Treating Customers Like Criminals

I totally forgot about the receipt checkers. I hate stores where they expect you to show your receipt upon exiting. Fortunately there is no law that says you must show your receipt to them, and knowing that they were just doing their job, I always politely and with a smile said "No, thank you" to them. No one ever chased or harrassed me over my failure to show one, unlike at Walmart

A Must See Destination

Whenever I traveled into Houston, I always made it a point to visit Fry's. They had practically everything electronic under the sun, plus hot Asian guys to ogle.

Their sales staff though, could be really hit or miss, especially in later years, when it seemed they no longer cared who they hired.

My last trip there was two weeks ago, and many of the shelves were bare. I really wish I'd known it would be my last visit, maybe I'd have bought more goodies.

RIP, Fry's

House Republicans introduce legislation for outright ban on municipal broadband in the US

Re: Great way to lose voters

The vast majority of Republicans are poor, but they constantly vote against their own interests just they can get their way on abortion, "religious freedom" and hurting all non-white and non-straight people.

UK Supreme Court declares Uber drivers are workers, not self-employed: Ride biz's legal battle ends in a crash

Re: Well....

I'm sure those workers were paying their fair share of taxes, or doesn't Uber report the earnings to the tax authorities?

Texas blacks out, freezes, and even stops sending juice to semiconductor plants. During a global silicon shortage

2 Hours South of Austin

In what we call South Texas, many of us are without power. We're also without water, which means we can't flush the toilets.

This morning I took a crap in a plastic Walmart bag, double bagged it, and threw it in the dumpster.

It's almost like living in a third world country here at times.

I built a shed once. How hard can a data centre be?

Re: Sounds like my house

In college we were given a PDP 11/70 along with various tape and disk drives, that were all being thrown out. Geeks that we were, we took it all home, where we had to disassemble every component from every rack, and trudge it all up three narrow staircases to the fourth floor attic. The racks themselves were hoisted up and taken in through the thankfully big windows. Last up were four huge window aircon units, the biggest we could find.

A resister placed in the proper location in the power company's meter kept our monthly electricity bill down to $50. We had multiple VT100 terminals all over the house, and mostly used the system to play DND. Those were truly fun times!

Let's check in now with the new California monolith... And it's gone, torn down by a bunch of MAGA muppets

Stoopid MAGAts

Gotta ruin everything. They won't be happy till were a theocracy and all intelligent humans massacred.

Take Note: Samsung said to be thinking about killing off Galaxy phablet series

Free Phone!

Just this week I was given a Note 8, by my carrier, as an insurance replacement for my trusty Note 4. The 4 finally died after a software update. I love the 8, and wonder what my carrier will send me if/when the 8 dies. I originally got a 3, because of its screen size, the 3 was replaced with the 4, again as an insurance replacement, when the USB port quit working.

Let’s check in with that 30,000-job $10bn Trump-Foxconn Wisconsin plant. Wow, way worse than we'd imagined

Re: Tech where you need an engine block heater? Are you kidding me?

When I first moved to Minnesota, I noticed that parking lots at work all had electrical plugs by them. They were for plugging in an engine block heater. It frequently hit 30 below F in the winter.

Apple seeks damages from recycling firm that didn't damage its devices: 100,000 iThings 'resold' rather than broken up as expected

Sounds Just Like AT&T's Old Argument

Against us being able to bring our own landline phones "Repairs performed by untrained technicians might not follow proper safety and repair procedures and could result in improper function, product quality issues or safety events," Apple said at the time.

AT&T claimed that phones from other vendors might damage the phone network. Bullshit, it's all about lock in.

IT guy whose job was to stop ex-staff running amok on the network is jailed for running amok on the network

Re: 12 Months And A Day

The extra day, if I recall my federal sentencing guidelines correctly, means he will have to serve the time at an actual federal facility instead if a county jail. It also means he can get good time off his sentence. He'll still have to serve 85% of his sentence even with good time. He'll also be coerced to pay that money both while incarcerated and during his supervised release. They can make getting out early to a halfway house conditional upon paying a certain amount of that restitution too.

'I don’t want to see another computer for the rest of my life'... Brit Dark Overlord cyber-extortionist thrown in an American clink for five years

Re: Hardy surprising...

You people have a very wierd impression of what goes on in the type of prison he'll be in. Minimum security, though with a fence so he can't wander off, not exactly club fed, but filled with other inmates similar to himself. Very little non consensual sex going on.

Re: Five years - Not Enough

No, in the federal prison system inmates serve a minimum of 85% of their sentence. And that's with good behaviour, they'll serve more of it if they misbehave.

Oracle hosting TikTok US data. '25,000' moderators hired. Code reviews. Trump getting his cut... It's the season finale

Re: Key fact missing

This!!! Trump's feelings got hurt, and his ego can't allow that to happen. This entire deal wouldn't be happening if the Tik Tok teens hadn't made him look stupid. I'm certain that any postings critical of Trump will be flagged and deleted immediately.

Salon told to change ad looking for 'happy' stylist because it 'discriminated against unhappy people'

Re: discriminatory

Indeed, when my depression was at its worst I still appeared to onlookers to be quite happy. I was only miserable internally. Thank dog I discovered medication and therapy, now I'm as happy inside as outside.

Re: Wouldn't it be nice

I'm a taxi driver, very happy with my life and work. I also know when to just keep my mouth shut, but most of my customers are quite talkative and we have good conversations. Kind of like a good bartender, I'm also a good listener.

Former HP CEO and Republican Meg Whitman – who split HP with mixed success – says Donald Trump can't run a business

Re: China

Remember, she won the popular vote by 3 million votes. It's the electoral college that Trump won, unfortunately.

Where there's a .mil, there's Huawei: Pentagon allowed to keep using Chinese tech deemed too dangerous for everyone else – report

Re: "That hasn't however, stopped the US and other nations . . ."

The US government fiscal year ends on September 30, when I worked for the federal government we usually ran out of money for capex around August. Then, come October 1, we had plenty of money to spend. I assume that the military uses the same fiscal year, so they might not have money right this minute.

Uncle Sam says it's perfecting autonomous AI-powered drone, vehicle swarms to 'dominate' battlefields

Re: A Better Tomorrow

For good, Christian, uses /s, in case it's not obvious

Amazon warehouse workers sue over safety concerns as several contract COVID-19

Republicans know very well

That they'd never again win an election if everybody were allowed to vote. That's why they're so dead set against mail in ballots.

5G mast set aflame in leafy Liverpool district, half an hour's walk from Penny Lane

50% are dumber than you

Just think, if you're of average intelligence, and I think most of us here are smarter than average, then at least 50% of people are stupider than you. That's a very scary statistic, that 50% can vote, drive a car, have more stupid children, etc.

Forget James Bond's super-gadgets, this chap spied for China using SD card dead drops. Now he's behind bars

Re: Money-laundering?

In the US Federal prison system inmates serve 85% of their sentences before being released. If probation was a part of his sentence it would be indicated in the article.

Facebook does the right thing for once: Joins Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube to clean out dodgy COVID-19 info

Re: Alex Jones selling anti coronavirus toothpaste

Convicted scamvangelist Jimmy Bakker sells a silver solution (only $300 for a box of six bottles) that not only cures coronavirus, but also all venereal diseases AND HIV. The state of Missouri is now suing him to stop it, and the New York attorney general has sent a cease and desist order. How many religious nutjobs have been taken by Bakker?

Electro-smog, govt snooping be damned. Two thirds of folks polled worldwide would trade in their mobes for 5G kit

Not Me

I'm very happy with my old 4G Samsung Note 4. I do wish I still got updates though. I already have my next phone, another Note 4.

London's top cop dismisses 'highly inaccurate or ill informed' facial-recognition critics, possibly ironically

Re: How do we combat this?

Yeah, and in the US that could well get you shot in the back.

The Wristwatch of the Long Now: When your MTBF is two centuries

Re: Electrics (especially batteries) are a problem, one of many

Very true, I have an excellent Tag Heuer with a self winding mechanism. They've been using this particular mechanism for 2 decades or more, so they've apparently got it sorted. The only problem is that it gains a minute every couple of weeks, but that's an easy fix.

Researchers trick Tesla into massively breaking the speed limit by sticking a 2-inch piece of electrical tape on a sign

Re: Sigh.

Here in Texas most of the highways are 75 mph, with frequent signs warning that the left lane is for passing. This doesn't stop many drivers poking along at 60 in the left lane, interestingly many of those drivers look to be of Hispanic descent. Drivers Ed is also not required here, which definitely contributes to the poor driving habits. Personally I think everyone should have to retake the driving test every ten years or so. BTW, I am a professional driver, and have had quite a bit of extra driver training and know the traffic laws here.

OK, which Dombås stuffed Windows 10 to bursting at Swedish flatpack flinger?

Re: "Relationship-ending"

Ikea was one of the biggest reasons that my ex is my ex. I'll never again date anyone that even likes shopping there, let alone loves it.

Best buds? Apple must be fuming: Samsung's wireless earphones boast 11 hours of listening on a single charge

Re: $150 == £159

$162.50 with tax, here in Texas.

If you're running Windows, I feel bad for you, son. Microsoft's got 99 problems, better fix each one

Re: Perspective is required

TL;DR

Social media notifications of the future: Ranger tagged you in a photo with Tessadora, Wrenlow, Faelina and Graylen

Re: It's even worse if it's political

Years ago here in Texas there was a man with the last name Hogg. He named his daughter Ima. Poor kid.

Unlocking news: We decrypt those cryptic headlines about Scottish cops bypassing smartphone encryption

People SUSPECTED of a Crime

Does this include people merely suspected of a crime, or only those actually arrested? It makes a huge difference.