Posts by Jim Mitchell

Wayback gives X11 desktops a fighting chance in a Wayland world

Re: Wayland is just hard work

And yet I've never seen an article about Wayland touch on visual qualities mentioned, either as a plus for Wayland or a negative for X.

Visiting students can't hide social media accounts from Uncle Sam anymore

Doesn't Thailand jail critics of the monarch?

Brit space sector struggles to compete with £90K graduate banking salaries

Re: > banker salary in London

Housing is just not a financial instrument, like equities or gold. Everybody needs housing and you just can't order more from the factory. People have to live someplace so the amount they are "willing" to pay can be quite high since the alternative is leaving or sleeping on the streets.

Tinfoil hat wearers can thank AI for declassification of JFK docs

Re: Yes that AI really helped

A lack of evidence just means that evidence is being suppressed by those in the conspiracy. It is a game that logic cannot win.

Microsoft patches the patch that put Windows 11 in a coma

Sure, then the other class action for not patching their software hits from the other side!

Wyden warns telcos still leave Senate in the dark after Trump DOJ snooping scandal

Re: What's good for the gander is good for the goose

These are not NDAa keeping an employee from talking, this is the government telling somebody to not talk to avoid compromising an ongoing investigation. I believe that courts have generally found this to be OK, to a point. Yes, this puts the telco in an impossible situation.

The Constitution does not say that Congresscritters can not be surveilled. They can't be arrested in certain situations or have their speech on the floor used against them.

70-knot winds so far blamed for yacht disaster that killed Brit tech tycoon Mike Lynch

70-knot winds blamed for yacht disaster that killed Brit tech tycoon Mike Lynch

is technically correct, but the real reason seems to have been poor boat design that could not handle 70 knot winds.

VPN Secure parent company CEO explains why he had to axe thousands of 'lifetime' deals

I appreciate that there might be reasons for incorporating in the Bahamas, but if you can't find a physical address for your vendor (VPN or otherwise) that makes sense and doesn't feel like the first layer of a tiered shell company cake... Due diligence applies to consumers as well.

That said, the US had plans to force the beneficial ownership of shell companies to be disclosed to the government, but that got killed recently. Wonder why.

Qatar’s $400M jet for Trump is a gold-plated security nightmare

https://www.twz.com/air/turning-qatars-gifted-747-into-air-force-one-will-be-anything-but-free

is a good article on the subject

CERN boffins turn lead into gold for about a microsecond at unimaginable cost

You want gold and farts and science all in the same article? Some volcanos emit gases that contain measurable amounts of gold (if you could capture it all).

US, China agree to roll back tariffs – but only for 90 days

If high tariffs will stop the fentanyl, replace the income tax, and restore US manufacturing, why is he lowering them?

You think ransomware is bad now? Wait until it infects CPUs

How many bits of hardware in your average computer have modifiable firmware? Probably more than just the UEFI/BIOS and processor mentioned in the article.

FBI steps in amid rash of politically charged swattings

Why do the police treat an anonymous tip, supposedly from somebody who knows what is happening in one house locally, but sends the tip from a VOIP line routed from offshore providers as a SWAT team actionable item?

OpenAI asks Uncle Sam to let it scrape everything, stop other countries complaining

Re: Not since Ringo Starr married Yoko Ono have I been so surprised

You are causing me cognitive dissonance. I'll upvote up I don't like it since you've also polluted my own knowledge of the world.

More Voyager instruments shut down to eke out power supplies

Re: I could only wish my work lasted that long

I make sure my code takes a nap in the afternoon so it's less cranky.

US stocks slip as Trump pulls trigger on Canada, Mexico, China tariffs

There are uranium mines in the US. Could they produce enough to fulfill the need? Not now.

Apparently a chunk of the business world didn't consider that Trump would actually do what he said he would do regarding tariffs. I guess they voted based on other issues.

Hisense QLED TVs are just LED TVs, lawsuit claims

"Quantum healing is for entertainment purposes only" is in the fine print, I'm sure.

US minerals company says crooks broke into email and helped themselves to $500K

The company was incorporated in 1987 and traded under the name Rare Earth Developments Corp. until 2011. It's still a development-stage company, financed by debt and equity to further its Elk Creek, Nebraska project. It doesn't yet generate revenue or sell any of the elements it plans to mine.

This company is pushing 40.

Indian authorities seize loot from collapsed BitConnect crypto scam

Re: Astonishing

legitimate "blue tick" traders they can easily find advertising on X?

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not. I'd trust a crypto ad on Twitter about as far as I could bury them in a public landfill.

Probe finds US Coast Guard has left maritime cybersecurity adrift

Good luck recruiting anybody now.

Does DOGE have what it takes to actually tackle billions in US govt IT spending?

Re: Classified ads

"Targeting data is Secret. DOGE won’t bother with that."

I'll take Statements that can't be Proven for 2000, Alex.

Musk’s DOGE ship gets ‘full’ access to Treasury payment system, sinks USAID

Re: Aid?

That first is ON MSN, but is really a Daily Caller article. It is not an unbiased source.

The Republicans have long talked about drowning the federal government in the bathtub and it appears that they might succeed.

Call of Duty studio co-founder pleads guilty to crashing drone into firefighting aircraft

A Hercules does much better when dealing with lions or hydras, not geese.

Trump eyes up to 100% tariffs on foreign semiconductors, TSMC in crosshairs

One of the issues with this kind of trade policy is that importers have no idea what it will cost them on any given date in the future to get goods across the border. Uncertainty kills. One day Colombia is getting 50% tariffs 'cause they pissed somebody off, the next day it isn't. God knows what the tariff structure will be like in 6 months.

Sweden seizes cargo ship after another undersea cable hit in suspected sabotage

Re: Brown trouser time

But you can sink a merchant vessel while surfacing without it being a war crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision

Re: Brown trouser time

The submarine you can see is not the submarine you worry about.

This is how Elon's Department of Government Efficiency will work – overwriting the US Digital Service

Re: While I'm asking questions ...

The trick here seems that instead of forming a new agency/dept, which the executive can't do (I think), he is changing how an existing one operates. Legal? I don't know.

The bell tolls for TikTok as lifelines to avoid January 19 US ban vanish

Re: Questions of national security

"The Great Firewall prevents users from accessing foreign news sites such as the BBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. 8 Foreign web services that are blocked include Facebook, Google, X, Instagram, Snapchat, Yahoo, Slack, and YouTube."

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/042915/why-facebook-banned-china.asp

Is it really the plan to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal? It's been a weird week

Re: The unipolar world is officially dead

What do we call them? Evil.

Re: The unipolar world is officially dead

Russia isn't a great power in the world.

NASA finds Orion heatshield cracks won't cook Artemis II crew

"Avcoat, will return." seems more appropriate.

Bluesky too opaque about user figures for Euro watchdogs

Re: I wonder how Twitter is counting users

What bot problem? All 32 "followers" I have on my Twitter account that never posts anything are real people. Yeah, and they are all hot women, just like their pictures, too!

Datacenters could blow up your electric bill thanks to AI

Jack Kemp Foundation? I googled him, all the top hits were about his football career. (yeah, I already knew who he was, but still.)

Musk, America PAC sued for allegedly rigging $1M election prize

I see no way to reach that event from the current location. Lying to people, which is what this lawsuit is about, is perfectly fine in American political campaigning. It is lying about *money* that gets you in legal hot water.

Musk's $1M election lottery raises serious legal concerns, says Pennsylvania governor

If being in "actual" office compelled you to "keep your mouth shut" or else, Trump would have noticed while he was in office. Obviously, it doesn't.

Trump campaign arms up with 'unhackable' phones after Iranian intrusion

Re: Hmm

There is no proof that this was an assassination attempt. This guy was another gullible Trump backer who had drunk fully of the 2nd amendment and sovereign citizen koolaid and thus had guns and fake plates, id, etc.

HPE CEO: 'Best interest of shareholders' to pursue $4B damages from Lynch estate

I don't know why people are surprised that HP will keep pursuing this. For a variety of purposes, the estate is the person. If he owed, the estate does.

Oracle Java police start knocking on Fortune 200's doors for first time

Re: Do Azul actually know what they're talking about?

Is it possible that the "Oracle Java for the PoS" (point of sale cash registers, probably) Java is under a different licensing regime that the $ per employee one this article is mostly about?

FTX's $24B tax bill written down to just $200M

Tax tips from Al Capone:

Remember kids, gross taxable income includes illicit income.

Research finds electric cars are silent but violent for pedestrians

Added to my negative bucket list: Find out how loud an auto-rotating helicopter is.

Oddly, the main reason helicopters fall from the sky is probably some form of engine failure...

Destroying offshore wind farms is top priority for Trump if he returns to presidency

"This comes after the Biden administration reportedly threatened to raise them to 100 percent."

Seems to have moved past "reportedly": https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/us/politics/biden-china-tariffs.html

Senator Warren slams Intuit's 'junk fees' as America's Tax Day rolls around again

Everything costs something, we know. Do you have a more useful argument?

Rust rustles up fix for 10/10 critical command injection bug on Windows in std lib

I'm confused (again?). This headline, advistory, etc, reads as a Rust problem, but "Erlang, Go, Python, and Ruby are also affected and have updated their respective documentation pages to raise awareness of the issue.". Do those language implementations on Windows use Rust or just made the same mistake, or ?

US insurers use drone photos to deny home insurance policies

You need insurance because your mortgage insists on it. If they find you don't have it, they'll find a vendor and make you pay for it.

Even if you don't have a mortgage, most people can't afford the risk. Rebuilding a house from scratch is very expensive.

So only the rich, the idiots, and those without a house they need to insure anyways, don't need insurance.

Puppies, kittens, data at risk after 'cyber incident' at veterinary giant

We moved to git years ago but I still think in cvs commands. Send help.

Former US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin thinking about buying TikTok

Re: TikTok is the test case for a forced fire sale.

We punish lots of "victimless" actions. From speeding to attempted murder.

Grab a helmet because retired ISS batteries are hurtling back to Earth

Re: From the heavens above

Mom was right, fast food is bad for you