Posts by imanidiot

Oh, 07734! Internet Archive debuts vintage calculator emulator

I'm still annoyed at myself that I apparently left my Ti-83 at my last internship company when clearing out my desk at the end. It's the last time I ever saw it (10 years ago).

After less than half a year, Intel quietly kills RISC-V dev environment

Silicon valley ADD strikes again

OOoohhhhh Shiny!! Over there!

Japan, Netherlands reportedly join US in China tech export ban

Re: Well Done

There is no negotiating with a nuclear armed country that doesn't wish to negotiate or even admit there might be reason to do so. Russia will not make concessions and their demands are unacceptable to anyone else. That makes a negotiated solution impossible until all parties are willing.

RAND also looks specifically and ONLY at US interests. Fuck the rest of the world as long as the US comes out ahead. Both Ukraine and the EU (and other countries in the sights of Russia like the Balkans) have VERY VERY different interests.

Re: Well Done

"France and Germany have already admitted that they have betrayed the Minsk accords" --> Citation needed. Both Ukraine and Russia seemed to not bother adhering to anything they agreed to, and Russia especially whipped their asses with the agreements. There's nothing to betray by France or Germany since Putin has already declared the Minks agreements "No longer exist".

"UK has admitted to have sabotaged the North Stream pipelines" --> More citation needed and very unlikely as the UK stands nothing to gain from doing this. If anything it was either the US or Russia. And either is equally likely.

"With Biden and his son Hunter waist deep in Ukrainian corruption" --> Them and hundreds of others on all sides of this conflict. This is largely irrelevant

"the Rand Corporation admitting that the US has provoked the aggression (and with their army still occupying parts of Syria)" --> The Rand Corporation is known to shout stupid, incorrect and/or controversial stuff just to stay relevant. They're not. Nor is the presence of US troops in Syria to the discussion of Ukraine.

World of Warcraft Classic lead dev resigns to protest 'stack ranking'

Names change, practices do not

While "stack ranking" might not be done anymore in it's original guise and name, I doubt there's any large corporations that do not in some form "stack rank" their employees when it comes to when it comes time to distribute bonuses and pink slips. I've heard of few companies of 1000+ personnel where managers are allowed to give their team positive or excellent reviews if they've met all targets all year long. They're only ever allowed to give a certain amount of "above average" and "average" evaluations and sometimes even forced to give a certain amount of "below average" even if none of their team actually deserves this.

Punch-drunk Apple Watch called 15 cops to a boxing workout when it heard 'shots'

Re: Brave New World

But who watches the watches?

Re: re: problem with using sensors to try to work out if one is in peril or not

Have had to work with those. What a giant pain in the rear those things.... (They were fine when actively wrenching on stuff most of the time, but I've also had jobs where I'd be spending an hour in a confined space under a machine swapping out parts and required to wear a man-down alarm. Constantly having to reach down and silence the warning every few minutes gets old really fast. When doing the administrative work sitting at a computer/desk though... My god those things suck.)

Hey, online pharmacies: Quit spreading around everyone's data already

The US needs some GDPR like legislation to shake people awake

Obviously the implications of certain policies and data sharing aren't actively on the average web developers mind. I've seen a lot of improvement this side of the pond since introduction of GDPR legislation across the EU (though there's still far too many ignorant or naive choices being made it's at least forced SOME thinking about what companies do with data and what they actually gather.)

New IT boss decided to 'audit everything you guys are doing wrong'. Which went wrong

I'll talk to you again after your inevitable burnout after putting in way more hours than contracted and your employer getting rid of you for it. (Or if you're self employed, after your inevitable burnout that caused your life's savings to evaporate).

I do for my employer what I'm contracted to do. And on average not an hour more. Tell me, why should I do anything over what I'm contracted for?

OpenAI's ChatGPT is a morally corrupting influence

Once again proving AI isn't intelligent

There's no intelligence in these's AI systems and I wish people would stop using the term. They're not intelligent in any sense of the word. ChatGPT has no understanding of what it's saying and asking it moral questions is entirely pointless. It's not giving you the "ChatGPT" answer, it's just regurgitating something it read somewhere some time ago,without any fundamental understanding of the concept.

Netflix changes CEO-sharing arrangement, teases paid password-sharing

"Making punters pay for password sharing is one way Netflix hopes to improve revenue."

Here's an idea: Offer actually good content. Don't fuck over shows that had such great potential (like the Witcher series).

There's less and less on Netflix worth the price of admission and for many sharing an account was the only way to keep get that cost to an acceptable level.

Oh, WoW: Chinese gamers to be cut off from Blizzard games next week

"accused Blizzard of negotiating in bad faith, unilaterally implementing the save progress feature in ways that mean NetEase cannot guarantee its security or functionality, and acting against gamers' interests."

IE implemented in a way that doesn't allow NetEase to hold player data for ransom to "negotiate" a new contract? Seems like some execs still need to learn how these sorts of negotiations work and that companies don't just take whatever shit deal you try to offer them just to continue an existing relationship.

Wyoming's would-be ban on sale of electric vehicles veers off road

Re: Far too little money

Nice plan. Until the next snowstorm deposits several feet of snow on those panels and it's overcast for a week.

Re: It's nearly impossible to ban consumer products in the US

Thing is though, with a large tank of diesel and a hand pump, you'll always be able to get your truck fueled up when you've been using it during the ongoing emergency for whatever reasons you need.

When there's been a snowstorm and everyone gets snowed in, it's very likely there won't be power for a few days (lines get downed by icing and high winds, poles snapped because a truck skidded off the road on the ice, etc). Then how are you going to keep your EV going? Diesel generator? Better buy a big one.

Surely you can't be serious: Airbus close to landing fully automated passenger jets

As a hobby pilot (gliders) I think the FAA is closer to the truth than EASA unfortunately. EASA seems to follow the Airbus line of thought that pilots should only ever operate within the limits of the flight envelope limits set by the flight control system. Accident rates and accident investigations for both Boeing and Airbus aircraft shows that both systems have their drawbacks. Boeing aircraft have done things that they shouldn't have because the pilots were obvious doing something stupid that the computer should have prevented, Airbus aircraft have done things they shouldn't because the computer decided the pilot input was invalid when the pilots wanted it to do something (mostly over confusion of how Airbus autopilot and flight control law modes work and how the system can go from one state to the other)

Re: Did you really need to ask that?

I suspect Ryanair figured out multiple "Ryanair flight had to declare emergency for nearly running out of fuel on routine flight" news articles in short succession probably hurt it's bottom line and reputation more than the marginal gains in efficiency from carrying a few hundred pounds less fuel. People already know Ryanair is shit is most ways, but at least they seem to have an OK-ish safety record. How much of that is because they actually want to or because they're dragged kicking and screaming by the aviation authorities is anyone's guess.

Re: Did you really need to ask that?

But how would ATC know? If the pilot has time to squawk an emergency code (7700) then maybe, but otherwise Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. ATC will the last to know there is an emergency and if the pilot is knocked out before he can communicate they wouldn't know unless the plane itself has ways of ensuring that. I'd be leery of any system that could auto-squawk an emergency code though.

BOFH: It's 4ft tall, heavyset, has optional fax. No they didn't take the toner!

Another great BOFH episode

I'd say it's another great classic BOFH tale. The Boss is an idiot, comes to the BOFH for help, who gladly provides and is soon confronted with the full weight of his idiocy.

I do have to wonder how the BOFH and his PFY are going to save their lager from getting smashed by the printer on impact too, if the boss is out for a beer run.

Robot seal tested for stress relief on pretend Mars mission

Re: Simpsons

The original Paro came in production in 2004. The Simpsons episode you're thinking off was aired in 2011 (S23E04 Replaceable You)

FAA grounds all US departures after NOTAM goes down

Re: "but which aren't known about enough in advance to publicize by other means"

And the entire rename is stupid because I don't see why airmen is sexist to begin with. Female aviators are airmen too. That term doesn't have to be gendered in the first place.

Mixing an invisible laser and a fire alarm made for a disastrous demo

Re: Button activated sprinklers?

301 should be Halon 1301 btw...

Nothing a mysterious and explainable encounter with the blunt end of a hammer can't fix ( ==> safety goggles recommended)

Re: Button activated sprinklers?

I suspect that the lab in the story might have been a chemicals lab in a previous life and the water release was for stuff that can either oxidize stuff in other ways than high temperature combustion or do damage in other "fun" ways. I've seen a few chemical labs that had a water deluge system to get things diluted fast if the nasty stuff ever left the fume hood. The combination with a gas fire suppression (Halon?) would be another hint in that direction as apparently they weren't expecting a whole lot of water to be sufficient to deal with whatever is on fire (or dissolving). I wouldn't want to be in the lab if there was a Halon release though. Only 301 is breathable in low concentrations iirc and the rest you REALLY don't want to breathe in, even ignoring the asphyxiant/oxygen displacing qualities

CES Worst in Show slams gummi gouging, money-wasting mugs, and other dubious kit

Re: Missed headline opportunity...

ESPEE-NOW?

Because my GP doesn't want to perform a few consecutive tests over a number of days to test overal levels and thus only looks at a single data point and goes "well x and y are a bit low but Z is fine (but actually also a bit low) so everything is fine" you don't need anything. And because just taking a few general supplements or a multivitamin doesn't really harm anything even if my diet should provide everything normally.

Problem is when I'm having a bout of IBS issues my intestines don't always pick up the "should normally be sufficient" amount of stuff in my normal diet and a boost in levels can be just what's needed to keep things normal.

Alibaba's Jack Ma out as boss of fintech Ant Group

"align the voting interests of shareholders with their economic interests."

And since their economic interests are entirely aligned with those of the CCP (since those interests would disappear, as they would themselves if they weren't) that means the voting interests are always aligned too.

TSMC’s CEO is not pleased with the growing US-China rift

I would have thought TSMC (and Taiwan in general) would have been amongst those least favourable to letting China get it's hands on high tech litho and getting more global power. Taiwan exists because of the threat of the US intervening if the one China decides to invade the other. As it stands without the US it's unlikely Taiwan would exist.

Elon Musk to step down as Twitter CEO: Help us pick his replacement

Re: Mr Broadus Jr.

That's not hard to explain, Schwarzenegger isn't a complete moron and has the integrity to acknowledge and listen to people who know better than him.

When we asked how you crashed the system we wanted an explanation not a demonstration

Re: Let me show you how it should be done......

I don't know why my brain decided to put LED in there instead of "single" as I intended. But it did. Sooo... look over there!

Re: Let me show you how it should be done......

An LED bulb between the phases can get you close, but not really close enough. You really want a Synchroscope to match both frequency and phase.

San Francisco investigates Hotel Twitter, Musk might pack up and leave

Re: Working, eating, and sleeping in the same building?

You presume downtime from writing software is "doing nothing" or not important.

My downtime (as a mechanical engineer) is often spent talking to coworkers, having a hot beverage of choice to let my mind wander for a while, taking a lunchtime walk (or just lunch). All of that is important to make the work I do outside of that downtime work more efficiently. If I was expected to clean toilets in that downtime I'd be out of here in no time. I can keep my own workstation and it's immediate surroundings tidy but like hell am I going to be scrubbing the shitters.

Twitter dismantles its Trust and Safety Council moments before meeting

Re: "Fair" story about Musk? Ha!

There is no right or left in this entire debacle (or american politics). It's all just a giant lagoon of shit. If you stay in the middle-ish you might just about be able to stand on the bottom and keep your head mostly out of the mire.

The cubesats lost in space from Artemis Moon mission

Re: 60% Grade is not a Pass

Anything after 2 weeks is considered a failure by the non-surgical/medicine team to take care of any post operative complications. It's stupid, but that's how they draw the line. (And lot's of scalpel jokeys probably consider anything other than dying on the table a succes).

Re: It took a very long time...

That and apparently also having a diver take lots of close up pictures of the heatshield so that close inspection later could determine if certain damage was from re-entry and landing or caused by handling and contact with the cradle.

Server installer fails to spot STOP button – because he wasn't an archaeologist

Re: Paint all over everything, including power sockets and emergency buttons?

Was it on the Monday morning? (for those that don't get it)

Re: "restore it to a bright red hue"

Facadism (or in this case I'd go with Fasodomy) must die. It's an absolutely horrendous trend. Personally I can't ever remember seeing a "renovated" building that kept an old facade alive and have it look good.

Too many architects still follow the brutalist teachings of Le Corbusier and SO MANY architecture students still get beaten into submission if they hand in any assignment with anything other than a brutalist, clashing, steel and concrete monstrosity.

Re: Rules don't apply to the military

Because now you have to pay some overpaid plonker to come round, measure and mark the exact boundaries if there's ever a dispute. (Handily mismeasuring at your disadvantage if it's a dispute with the local council or government of course)

BOFH: Come back to the office. Your hotdesk is nice and warm

Re: Christmas gifts

That's already an automatic "no way" anyway. Who in their right mind is going to pay for multiple gift cards and just trust that the company is going to reimburse them?? All it takes is one beancounter saying no and you will never see your money again without permanently making an enemy out of your employer. Any properly managed company should already have rules against something like that anyway.

Re: Office

I'm of the firm opinion that mice and keyboards should be considered personal hygienic items and should not be shared between users. Companies could probably save multiple weeks of sick days/pay a year if they stopped forcing people to share peripherals (and instead forced them to use equipment dedicated per person). I'm already there on my mouse (Since I get RSI issues if I use the crappy cheapo optical HP mice provided by the boss and bought a Logitech MX Master 2 for my personal use myself) but I just can't get myself to also have to lug around a personal keyboard and have no place to store it at work.

90+ groups warn US Senate of 'damaging consequences' from Kids Online Safety Act

"Big Tech has brazenly failed children and betrayed its trust, putting profits above safety"

Something most people here have probably seen coming since 1995?

Also, maybe parents should take some role in this? None of what this bill is proposing is impossible to implement by a well willing parent already.

EU still getting its act together on European Chips Act funding

Re: Tough options

Fabs there were built in a time when break even was achieved far earlier, outset investment was far lower and most fabs there probably produced for quite a while until they went obsolete. I'm not very familiar with Greenock specifically but from what I can see it basically ran it's economic course and finished getting IBM it's investments back. I wasn't saying fabs never get closed, I said they don't usually get closed before earning enough back for their investors. Keep in mind an average high end 300mm fab will nowadays set you back a cool 10 to 40 billion. (depending on how much litho/wafer-starts capacity you need) I think you'd be hard pressed to get it under 1 billion even for a very small scale fab.

Elon Musk to abused Twitter users: Your tormentors are coming back

Re: Works both ways

While I will concede Twitter as a whole was left leaning, saying that only leftists had freedom of speech is utter twaddle. It was simply far more rare for leftists to be such egregious assholes that they needed to be banned, whereas those on the "right" have a tendency to be both arseholes and convinced of their own righteousness. Far too common for them to be completely incapable of even the slightest introspection.

Re: Please keep going!

Twitter is a "nuance website"??? When has that ever happened?

Re: The point I was making

I think his point is that EVERYONE (including minorities) should fuck off from "social" media.

Re: And so, Twitter died

" If he does it all fast enough, he might be able to add another zero to the right side of his bank account by getting the stock back before Tesla and SpaceX announce their quarterly numbers."

If he does it that fast (and without full disclosure to future Twitter stock buyers when going public again) he's going to get a very unfriendly visit from the FTC, a pair of shiny bracelets and a car ride to the nearest police station for processing. And given he's a massive flight risk he'd either not get bail at all or get bail with provisions like wearing an ankle bracelet and regular check-ins Because that's straight up fraud (Not the loading Twitter with debt, he's a allowed to do that afaik, but the getting rich off of not disclosing those actions and profiting of them before the market can do so)

Re: The Musk cult members are out in force again today

No need for them to get that traceable with it. They'll set a few US regulatory agencies loose on him again (I think the FTC is still building a few new cases against him) and take him down that way.

Alex Jones has actually been convicted of being a walking shitbag though, so there might be SOME consistency in there (if only paper thin)

Re: advertisers... and suppliers

If Musks behaviour crashes the value of his major companies, then he's probably nowhere near as rich as the world currently thinks he is either. His purchase of Twitter put a serious dent in his holdings, and if he crashes the value of for instance Tesla over these shenanigans he'll have to start selling even more assets.

Re: And to think that 30 years ago...

It's usually those who cry "booh hooh cancel culture" the loudest who deserve an uncommented downvote to say "you're an idiot and I don't want to engage with you further". If you find all your posts only get downvoted with no engagement, you might want to start looking at the common denominator (Hint, it's you and the way you write your posts).

Boss broke servers with a careless bit of keyboarding, leaving techies to sort it out late on a Sunday

Re: "an on-prem email server"

"It depends. There's a subtle distinction there. Make dinner and then eat it? That's preparing. Make the upcoming week's dinners on the weekend? That's pre-preparing (especially if you don't eat the first one the same night you make them)."

Unless you're preparing the preparations for the upcoming week's dinners (just putting out the required vegetables, meat etc) then you're still just preparing the upcoming weeks dinners. The first pre- in pre-preparing is nearly universally redundant and should just be left out. I cannot think of a single instance where adding it puts any different meaning on the sentence over just using "preparing".