Posts by theModge

Um, almost the entire Scots Wikipedia was written by someone with no idea of the language – 10,000s of articles

Re: Local 'languages'

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad"

Not my quote, but I like it.

Re: Local 'languages'

Genuine question - what is the difference between a dialect and a language?

I believe that's the matter of serious debate amongst "proper" academic linguists. I've a nasty feeling the definition I know, which is was if they're mutual intelligible it's a dialect, otherwise it's a language is considered dated and wrong now. An English speaker can, with only time being exposed to it, probably get there head round scots and vice versa. The same is certainly not true of gaelic. Thus scots could be a dialect and gaelic a language.

Brit unis hit in Blackbaud hack inform students that their data was nicked, which has gone as well as you might expect

There's a surprising amount of money in essay writing; people who will pay £100s for an essay because they can't do it themselves could easily pay money for well graded course work to copy. Turnitin might well catch them, but that's very much not the seller's problem.

That's not what this is though; it's alumni data; just boring CRM stuff that can be used for fraud etc.

Someone got so fed up with GE fridge DRM – yes, fridge DRM – they made a whole website on how to bypass it

Re: Entirely legal

I'm living in Stirchley, as a university employee, but I can confirm that Selly Oak is as student dominated as ever.

Re: Entirely legal

I live within Chocolate smelling distance of the Cadbury Bournville plant. It's got Mondelez branding on it, but it's still very much producing chocolate.

Bite me? It's 'byte', and that acronym is Binary Interface Transfer Code Handler

Re: FUCKED

I've seen Failed Under Continuous Testing quite a lot in various jobs, but it's subtlety is oft undermined by just writing out the acronym.

For those reading from across the pond an (Essex) British English accent renders 'fuct' and 'fucked' pretty much the same

Coronavirus didn't hurt UK broadband speeds in March. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, on the other hand...

Virgin Media varies quite a lot by region

It depends heavily where you are what service you get with virgin media. Partially I'm told it's a function of their odd network topology in particular if you're former telewest or NTL. Another factor though is how over-subscribed your area is: they get no where near their advertised speed in south birmingham (where I am), but they're pretty good elsewhere

Square peg of modem won't fit into round hole of PC? I saw to it, bloke tells horrified mate

Re: DIMM Slots

been there, done that, bent the pins.

In fact, when younger and having more enthusiasm than knowledge I bent any number of pins....

Tribunal halts all Information Commissioner's Office cases because UK data watchdog can't print or organise PDFs

Re: "As courts and tribunals slowly join the 21st century..."

I'm pretty sure the wigs they have have to wear were old fashioned by the 19th century...

'Developers have lost hope Microsoft will do the right thing'... Redmond urged to make WinUI cross-platform

wpf performance issues

The few projects I've used WPF on have actually performed very well - if you do as much as possible in XAML it offloads it to the graphics card for you nicely. The other thing I really enjoyed was using it for a touch screen project - it's very well optimised there.

Line of Business stuff almost always seems to be presented via web browser these days. I confess I'd rather it wasn't, thus leaving control of how it's presented to the developer, but it does have obvious advantages when it comes to working across platforms.

EA boots Linux gamers out of multiplayer Battlefield V, Penguinistas respond by demanding crippling boycott

Even my dishwasher comes with a copy of the GNU license!

RuneScape bloke was wrongly sacked after reading veep's salary details on office printer

Re: Been there, did something slightly different...

Yes. It's the management not the staff that win from pay being private. I loose nothing from my colleges knowing what I earn.

That's the nice thing about working in big "state-ish" places that use pay scales - I know pretty much when everyone around me earns in any case. It's only the highest levels that are by negionation, and you know for sure they're off the top of the scale, at the very least.

Re: Odd But

Not discussing pay only helps the company, never the employee. Thus I too always open. It's worth considering that if you have a "special deal" much better than everyone else's and you're not allowed to discuss it "lest you make them jealous" it's not impossible they've been told much the same...

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority asked drone orgs to email fliers' data in an Excel spreadsheet

Re: The CAA aren't exactly known for their IT prowess

...so that's why I had to use Netscape Navigator to do mine!

Hacker House shoved under UK Parliament's spotlight following Boris Johnson funding allegs

and as times and relative popularities of websites change, is now the redit "hug of death"

I could throttle you right about now: US Navy to ditch touchscreens after kit blamed for collision

I just want big butt....

And you can't lie?

Seriously, I'm with those who like tactile feedback.

In a different world, in which I used to work, this also applies to stage lighting control consoles. Touch screens are fine for functions you don't have to find in the dark, nor on a given beat, but some things need a button or (ideally motorised) fader.

Alexa, can you tell me how many Chinese kids were forced into working nights to build this unit?

Amazon Response

" we take appropriate steps, including requesting immediate corrective action."

Request made formally in writing. Whilst verbally reminding management "It's only a request. You can ignore it." It's not exactly the strongest response anyone ever made...

Train maker's coder goes loco, choo-choo-chooses to flee to China with top-secret code – allegedly

Re: None of these will have any 'code' to steal or hack or be infected with malware

They just turn that off to prevent the annoying beeping

Wiki has it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Wootton_Bassett_SPAD_incident

(Sweary blog post: http://pigeonsnest.co.uk/stuff/crapstuff/tangmere-wootton-bassett-spad-rail-morons.html)

We are shocked to learn oppressive authoritarian surveillance state China injects spyware into foreigners' smartphones

And no, a VPN is not an option (because China is already known to bork unsanctioned VPNs and other encrypted connections)?

They try, but the number of Chinese students here in the UK running VPNs for their friends back home would suggest that they're ineffective in cracking down on them. From my colleges who travel it seems that something like your employers corporate VPN will work, even if say nordVPN is blocked. Not that this is a reliable bias for demonstrating your product if it requires a connection to your server at home, but if you're selling to anyone government owned in China you may well find there's a requirement to host your service locally anyway.

Re: At least they are open about it...

Italian (Exodus)

I thought that was made for export as much as domestic use?

Two Arkansas dipsticks nicked after allegedly taking turns to shoot each other while wearing bulletproof vests

Re: Testing in the real world

Oh, and probably best not to mix alcohol and firearms, but hey, just think of it as evolution in action.

Why shooting estates also give you shit-tons of alcohol then?

No guns or lockpicks needed to nick modern cars if they're fitted with hackable 'smart' alarms

Re: Zombie cars

Sack of meat may be required to steer? I realise everything has power steering, but I'm not sure it could be steered on that alone?

well....if any publicity is good publicity you could argue that declaring your product to be unhackable was akin to free pen-testing.

I mean I'm not sure I'd like to be famous as the "The person who makes shite software" but if I was planning on say, changing my name and emigrating it might work.

Don't mean to alarm you, but Boeing has built an unmanned fighter jet called 'Loyal Wingman'

Re: Loyal?

Much like any equipment with "Pro" in it's name. It won't be suitable for professional use.

Website programming? Pffft, so 2011. Python's main squeeze is now data science, apparently

Re: Re Good job Python isn't a syntax Nazi.

Wait till you see code written by hardware engineers *shudders*

El Reg talks to PornHub sister biz AgeID – and an indie pornographer – about age verification

Re: Meh

Similarly; all Tor usage now means is "well educated student procuring pharmaceuticals", rather than Revolutionary \ Terrorist \ Infosec professional with a point to prove.

Re: This Identity thing is the key

couple of weak prosecutions on soft targets and then forgotten about

However it'll be left on the statute books as a vague threat because no one will dare be seen repealing it, at least for 30 years or so.

DNAaaahahaha: Twins' 23andMe, Ancestry, etc genetic tests vary wildly, surprising no one

Re: Recipe for success

I don't know; you could do better than that with a bit of marketing:

1. Get Samples

2. Look at origin post mark.

If American, tell them they're Irish with a dash of Native American. I swear pretending they're Irish is the American national hobby and a touch of Native American makes you seem interesting and special.

Northern UK? Tell them they're Vikings

Southern UK? Tell them they're related to the Plantagenet royal line

I'm sure there's some others I could offend with a bit of research.

3. Look at surnames. If they give you an obvious clue, make it up on those grounds

4. Still be more accurate than the existing players

5. Give all the money to company directors and declare bankruptcy before people sue you for fraud.

Behold, the world's most popular programming language – and it is...wait, er, YAML?!?

Re: Go, a scripting language??

I thought that as I scrolled past: you can compile it for quite a few different platforms now, a scripting language it is not.

Clunk, bang, rattle: Is that a ghost inside your machine?

Re: Scary ?

You hadn't perchance annoyed a certain sysadmin, know in these parts as the BOFH had you?

It's been a long time since I did site work, but I generally thought the entire purpose of safety elves was to prevent that kind of thing.

UK.gov to press ahead with online smut checks (but expects £10m in legals in year 1)

VPNs

Firstly from times when I work with only "slightly" tech people it seems VPNs are a fairly well known solution for general piracy, so there's no reason why they wouldn't think to put them to use for porn. As this is rolled out I imagine the knowledge only spread; soon every child in the playground will be using their mates dad's VPN for their porn needs (because what 14 year old can afford a decent VPN?).

Combine this with the prevalence of Tor for the procurement of all ones black market pharmaceutical needs (again, even amongst by people who work far from the tech sector) and soon every last one of us will look like a terrorist as far as GCHQ is concerned. So many of their potential employees will have used one or both of these things it will be literally impossible for them to recruit enough people to do the spying.

Decoding the Chinese Super Micro super spy-chip super-scandal: What do we know – and who is telling the truth?

Re: It is a matter of choice

I guarantee there's enough on your PC to steal your identity, lock stock and barrel.

Of course, but whilst I'm not secure against nation state level actors who can e.g. get into the supply chain for my motherboard (who is?) I do take the sort of everyday precautions necessary to exist in this day and age, to the extent that it's possible to be secure whilst relying on the million different 3rd parties that comprise a modern computing environment.

Re: It is a matter of choice

I'd rather be spied on by the foreigners. They are less likely to just wander into my home and arrest me and throw me into jail on trumped up charges.

That would be my preference too.

I however have a far stronger defence: realistically there's absolutely sod-all of interest on my computer. I do research, but unless more effective data integration for your trains is a matter of national security I'm quite safe. Granted cyber attacks on national infrastructure are a thing, but my work would not be a good jumping off point for that.

Scrapping UK visa cap on nurses, doctors opened Britain's doors to IT workers

Re: UK IT shortage

We can also ignore the fact that a lot of the good quality foreign IT labour has already moved to a better paying locale due to good quality IT experience being in short supply almost everywhere.

The weak pound makes Britain a less attractive place to come deploy your IT skills.

Random anecdotal case study: My Czech friend. He can earn almost as much at home as he does here, but in Czechia he can live like a king whilst so doing; the £35kish he was on here goes a lot further there.

Solid password practice on Capital One's site? Don't bank on it

There's an addon for that

Entitled: "Don't fuck with paste". Exists for chrome and firefox. Also helps with sites that think you'd like to type your email address twice.

BBC websites down tools and head outside into the sun for a while

Re: No comment?

Well done for reminding me of it; I used to read it and indeed it's pretty insightful.

Sad Nav: How a cheap GPS spoofer gizmo can tell drivers to get lost

Re: Easy solution

With good quality sensors (i.e. better than is in a phone) it's possible to be really very accurate with a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes. ~1m accuracy in the applications for which I've seen them used.

Security guard cost bank millions by hitting emergency Off button

Re: Not quite IT

Lucky he didn't get an impromptu arc welding lesson; I assume this was a CeeForm, not Cam \ Powerlock?

Pulling a fully loaded neutral out of a set of Cam locks is a fuck up I'm pleased only to have read about, not tried, however even a 63/3 isn't rated for disconnection under load.

Hacking train Wi-Fi may expose passenger data and control systems

If you want to talk to bit actually operational bits of train rather than monitoring or customer entertainment you'd be better off with an RS232 or RS485 dongle rather than twatting about with Ethernet. Apart from anything else when most of our current rolling stock was designed the sort of microprocessor that did Ethernet was not the sort of microprocessor you had doing engine control. CCTV and other more recently fitted stuff might use the same connection though..

Skip-wrecked! Boat full o' rubbish scuppered in Brit residential street

Nowadays you get challenged if you are leaving the council recycling centre with the container in which you brought your things there on foot.

Oh but to live in such a liberal paradise where you can bring things in on foot! Here in Birmingham they won't allow you in without a car. The 3 recycling centres for a city of 1 million souls have multiple hour long queues on Saturdays in the summer. We too can pay for it if we don't have a car. They wonder why there's a problem with people fly tipping..

BOFH: Buttock And Departmental Defence ... As A Service

a team player (on the BOFH's side, mind)

She knows what's good for her

Tesla launches electric truck it guarantees won't break for a million miles

Re: Tesla semi?

The issue with regenerative breaking we have found is that you need really, really big super capacitors, which are physical big and expensive. Batteries can't take charge as fast as breaking produces it and a fully laden truck will produce a great deal of current indeed under breaking. You can then charge the batteries off the super capacitors so as to leave them empty for recharging next time you break, if you're doing this for range (as we were) rather than speed (as F1 does). People generally use big resistors (which need cooling) to dump any current that doesn't fit in the capacitor.

Mm, sacrilicious: Greggs advent calendar features sausage roll in a manger

Reasonably priced sausages rolls at that. May or may not contain sausage.

Re: Sausage roll in a manger

I keep the kosher sausages right next to the halal bacon.

My devoutly atheist Iranian friend went through a protracted phase of asking is the [pork product on the menu] halal in restaurants. It was quite funny the first couple of times. Especially when the waitress looked confused and went to ask the kitchen.

What is the probability of being drunk at work and also being tested? Let's find out! Correctly

Re: and in the real world

I thought in the real world you only tested people you wanted rid of anyway, in the hope they'd show up drunk and make it easy for you?

Probably less the case with Network Rail (who really don't like there poor employees drinking), but I've heard of it working that way in the private sector, especially banks and the like.

Smartphone SatNavs to get centimetre-perfect GNSS receivers in 2018

Very exciting for the railways

Funky modern signalling systems that actually know where the train is have issues with not knowing which of several parallel lines a train is on, purely from GPS, so there is a need to use Balises on the track for location. If this could be made reliable enough then in 40 years time when it clears all the committees that will need to discuss it, it could be very useful.

Microsoft and Facebook's transatlantic cable completed

Re: A towed Plough???

Sennen Cove.

Beware militant surfers? Sea Lions can be dangerous I guess. I seem to recall the first transatlantic cable landed in Sennen Cove did it not?

Related geeky interest, whilst in that neck of the woods check out the telegraph museum: http://telegraphmuseum.org/

Interesting enough for a visit even on a dry day!

Re: It will be interesting to see

their Five Eyes friends

It does leave from the US of A. So ironically GCHQ can't spy on American citizens for them, but the NSA can still help our government out by spying on us.

Politics is a silly game.

From the Dept of the Bleedin' Obvious... yes, drones hurt when they hit you in the head

Currently, they're tied up with research being conducted at the Vatican

why? there's no bears there /s

Incidentally tied up in the Vatican is a phrase with "problematic" written all over it.

Apple actually opens up about something – the R&D behind Siri's voices

Siri came from an academic background

The knowledge management side of Siri came from Tom Gruber, who to this day is the person to quote when defining an ontology. As his website shows he doesn't publish much about that now, but he still does interesting and related research.