Posts by RegGuy1

UK government rings the death knell for SIM farms

Re: Poor proof reading

Indeed -- verbs use the s, nouns the c: the doctor practises at his practice.

Re: Eh ?

I thought they'd got rid of the police as too expensive.

Meta sued by privacy group over pay up or click OK model

Re: Easy way to teach FB a lession

Nice to see the dot (ie the true DNS root) at the right of com and not before it. :-)

Re: I may be wrong but...

I only install Firefox (with ublock and noscript). I will *never* install an 'app' when I have a browser. If I can't use their service with a browser I just move on -- t'internet's a big place.

With Firefox you have a hell of a lot more control of the data you leak. With apps, zero control. Steve Jobs fuck off.

Re: Put a fake birthday on facebook.

Like the queen. I wonder if Prince Charles will do the same.

FFmpeg 6.1 drops a Heaviside dose of codec magic

Re: @Steve Davies 3 - Heaviside brought back memories

You had it tough? When I was young I had to use tools by a company called Microsomething-or-other, and an 'operating system' called DOS. Then I discovered Linux and have *never* looked back.

Revival of Medley/Interlisp: Elegant weapon for a more civilized age sharpened up again

Re: lore

My problem with LISP is that I can never think of anything to do with it.

Just a bit of fun. :-)

If you have 20 horses in a race, what is the number of ways you can choose first, second and third? Well, the first could be any one of 20. The second, any one of 19 and the third any one of 18. So 20*19*18 ways

or 20!/17![1] = 20!/(20 - 3)! = 6840

And in Lisp:

$ clisp

Type :h and hit Enter for context help.

[1]> (defun fact (n) (if (< n 1) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1)))))

FACT

[2]> (/ (fact 20) (fact (- 20 3)))

6840

[3]> (quit)

$

Recursive functions, aren't they beautiful.

[1] And this is read, of course, as 20 bang over 17 bang. :-)

Re: lore

Just indent your Lisp code correctly, so the parameters to the function calls line up. Then it's easy. Lisp is a great language. It's simple syntax is a plus, and used properly it is extremely flexible, with so many other languages using ideas that were first demonstrated in Lisp.

It won't go away for a reason, but because it makes you think about programming differently, it is often seen as difficult to learn. But once you get it it's easy.

Bezos might beat Musk to Mars as NASA recruits Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket

Re: The cow [used to] jump over the moon

The job of SLS has only been to keep funding jobs in the space industry. After the shuttle was shut down if they didn't have SLS all those skills would be lost. And there's lots of votes right across the US to be won, so pumping stupid amounts of money into SLS ($2 billion per launch?) was the only way to keep everyone happy.

Now Musk has upset the apple cart (or you could say he's the one who has come along and proved the private sector can step up) SLS is less important. I expect it to be retired once Starship becomes operational. I expect Starship flight 3 to get to Hawaii -- it's akin to software development: the first version has huge bugs, but you have to run the code to find them. You tweak it and it runs better but still has problems. Eventually after rinse and repeat you perfect the product.

Capita scores £239M contract to manage mega public sector pension scheme

Re: WTF

Forgot to add, Brexit, innit.

(Oh, and to be clear, cuntry isn't a typo.)

Re: WTF

No, no, no. Not corruption. NO. We are Ingerland and are the most honest cuntry in the world.

It's only those johnny foreigners who is corrupt.

Stop doing this country down.

Civo CEO on free credits, egress fees, and hauling it all back on-prem

Re: Just like drug dealers

Haha. What, it's going to cost you more in the long run? Who knew?

What's really going on with Chrome's June crackdown on extensions – and why your ad blocker may or may not work

Re: This, coupled with YouTube's recent blitz

I've never used Chrome.[1] And I agree with the stupid UI change, especially the status bar.

But I can get the menu bar back as you say, so not a total disaster.

[1] I did buy a Chromebook once, but it would only work if I logged in with a Google account, to tell them everything I was doing. I didn't want to do that, and I couldn't work out how to blow it away and put Linux on (= I want to do things my way, so fuck off), so I sent it back and got a refund.

Impatient LockBit says it's leaked 50GB of stolen Boeing files after ransom fails to land

Re: Scan the data for corruption

Fewer questions.

Google dragged to UK watchdog over Chrome's upcoming IP address cloaking

David Cameron -- has been

No wait! He's back! And Bravermann's gone! WTF?

Take Windows 11... please. Leaks confirm low numbers for Microsoft's latest OS

But can I get a refund?

It would be nice to see a version that gives the user a choice: to keep the hardware they have just bought but ditch the virus, along with a process to recoup the cost of the unused software.

I haven't used Windows for decades but seeing the amount of shit that seems to be loaded onto a new laptop I'm glad that my first task is always to format the entire drive. The feeling of total control Linux gives me is wonderful. (Using Firefox with AdBlock and Noscript helps too. :-)

NASA reschedules Boeing's first crewed Starliner flight for mid-April 2024

Something goes wrong at SpaceX ...

That' why they are so good. They've adopted the build it, test it, fix it approach, like you do with software development. Lots of hardware means lots of real-world experience. Their first launch of Starship, widely reported as a failure, was far from it. It gave them lots of data about how such a monstrous vehicle performs in reality. That's how they learn. That's how they are so fast.

I take my hat off to them.

Oh sorry, we were talking about Boeing.

Re: Intriguing....

Starliner's alive? [At 100dB, obviously]

Starlink starts advertising Direct to Cell satellite phone service as coming in '2024'

Re: Tinfoil

Fewer antennae.

I'll get my coat.

UK Online Safety Bill to become law – and encryption busting clause is still there

Re: Blighty seems determined to cut itself off from the rest of the world

Quite. It's just pandering to the base -- pig-ignorant pensioners who think democracy means if enough of them vote for it it will have to happen.

Just to support my claim they are pig ignorant, very many of them, probably a large majority, left school aged 15 (some even at 14). School leaving age in the UK did not increase to 16 until 1972, 51 years ago, so 67 year olds are the first forced to stay on to 16. This group were key Thatcher supporters. And now polling for UK in a changing Europe shows they are the least likely to have engaged with the issues with brexit and still think leaving was good. But then again, the University of Live has never offered a critical thinking course.

They hate immigrants. They hate Europe. They hate paying tax -- but love to take everyone else's tax in the form of the Socialist pension payment.[1] And don't you dare think of taxing these buggers. We are not allowed to raise far more Council Tax against hugely inflated property prices to help pay for government services. Hell no! And there'll be no sneaking of tax payments after they've gone. They vote Tory for a reason. It's their house. They bought it when it was a good price and now, with clever investment kudos, some of them live in million pound assets. Wow. My kids will look forward to that when I'm gone.

No siree. It's computers innit. They can do anything. We want them to spy on the paedophile scum so go ahead and force these humongous tech behemoths to do our democratic bidding. No, I'm not listening. Just force the to do what I want. We are Engerland. We are the bestest country in the world. Britannia ruled the waves, and with brexit it will again.

Nurse? NURSE? Do you know where my pills are?

/rant

[1] I know, I know. They've paid their stamp for forty years, a piddlingly small amount, but now expect to get far more back for maybe another thirty years. And they don't have to think how that works. They were never very good at maths.

Rocket Lab launch streak goes up in smoke with 41st mission

Re: FAA?

Probably because RL is a US company. They have a launch site in Virginia. While they can launch from NZ, most of the business is via the US, so they are tightly tied into the US regulatory system.

It just makes economic sense. It is rocket science after all! It's bloody hard, and what RL have done to date is amazing. So too, BTW, is what SpaceX is doing, but Peter Beck seems to be of the methodical sort, taking his time, paying attention to detail. Whereas Mr Musk takes the software approach to development -- build something, light it and see what happens. Then debug the problem and correct it, and light the next one. Either way no one else is doing what RL and SpaceX are doing, which is throwing up rockets regularly.

Fingers crossed RL can sort this quickly. It appears to be a second stage problem.

TSMC's outlook is so fuzzy it's reportedly stalling fab machine deliveries

Re: New Market Opportunities

I don't think so. The machines are made by the Dutch (ASML) and the US will not let them get anywhere near China. Not a cat in hell's chance.

GNOME 45 formalizes extensions module system

Grrr

So when will I get Gnome to:

* change the mouse at the window boundary, not some distance outside it?

* Keep the scroll bar visible when you move your mouse outside the window?

* put the menu back in gedit (I've stopped using it because I can't save a file with ALT-F, S; something I've done habitually for over 30 years)?

* ...

Still, on the plus side it's not Microsoft Windows. I stopped using that decades ago.

Bombshell biography: Fearing nuclear war, Musk blocked Starlink to stymie Ukraine attack on Russia

Re: So Musk has blood on his hands

How many of those are cardboard? (Genuine question -- I'm just thinking back to when the Americans bombed Belgrade.)

Cardboard weaponry is an important asset.

Toyota servers ran out of storage, crashed production at 14 plants in Japan

Re: Lost in Translation?

Now, now. I know quite a lot of British (or even UK) citizens[1] read this site, and quite a few of them -- well the 'older' ones -- still think they are an exceptional bunch. Don't go upsetting them.

[1] Technically subjects of his Majesty, the King. But hey...

UK rejoins the EU's €100B Horizon sci-tech funding program

Re: @JMiles

So where's (at least one) brexit bonus?

Turing...

ah yes. The man that got royally shafted by the British government.

Now he's dead he's a national treasure.Sorry, but for me the only word that comes to mind for these people abusing his name just to please the hard of thinking is scum.

Europe's tough new rules for Big Tech start today. Is anyone ready?

Indeed. Johnson was bloody useless.

No, not that Johnson. Another one. Alan.

Hide and seek in outer space highlights a battle here on Earth

Gaia

What are we sending up now which scientists in fifty years will use in the way that current scientists use the Yoyagers?

Easy: Gaia. That is quietly transforming our knowledge of the galaxy. Beer, naturally. ====>

Soon the most popular 'real' desktop will be the Linux desktop

Re: Linux isn't useful to the end user.

Me too. :-)

[Task 1 whenever I get a new laptop: format c: -- there, the virus is gone. Whoop!]

School for semiconductors? Arm tries to address chip talent shortages

That's ok, we don't need any more development, I've got my house (no mortgage -- I bought it cheap in the 1980s).

Oy! You with the bulldozer. Fuck off. Get it off that field -- that's my view.

Aliens crash landed on Earth – and Uncle Sam is covering it up, this guy tells Congress

Re: Alien UFOs

And didn't he say they used to 'buzz' unsuspecting people? Then there was this guy in a rocket called 'Buzz' Aldrin. Wasn't he super intelligent (I don't think he was the colour blue, though)?

Just sayin'.

Google's next big idea for browser security looks like another freedom grab to some

Re: Best way to kill this...

Quite. When GDPR came in the US tech company I used to work for shit themselves, and MANDATED everybody to take a training course (online, obviously) and to commit to complete it before the GDPR deadline. I had to get a certificate from them to say I'd done the training and understood my responsibilities. It was very clear if the shit hit the fan they would stand me in front of them.

The EU's influence is global, and 'a percentage of your global earnings' is very powerful. I wonder what the EU's take on this will be? And I wonder what 'lil ol' England's response will be.

Framework starts taking orders for 16-inch repairable, upgradeable laptop

Re: Obligatory

Isn't that the shouty version?

* 'Was kann ich für Sie tun?'

* 'I need some assistance here.'

* 'Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?'

* ' I. Need. Some. Help. Here.'

* 'Ja, ich verstehe. Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen?'

* 'I. NEED. SOME. HELP. HERE.'

That sort of Englsh. (Or is that just British English?)

Want to live dangerously? Try running Windows XP in 2023

Why? Really, why?

Why would anyone ever want to install a Microsoft OS on anything? Have people never learned?

I can see it's fun as a recreational activity, but to be honest I'd rather spend all that time working with a real OS (and that will never include not M$).

TSMC says Arizona fab behind schedule, blames chip geek shortage

Seeing how TSMC fits into the entire silicon processing supply chain I heartily recommend the book reviewed here: The material roots of the weightless. The book is called Material World and is written by Ed Conway, economics editor at Sky News. It covers other raw materials as well as sand (silicon dioxide). Well worth a read, and you will learn a lot!

Post Office Horizon Inquiry calls for compensation to be brought forward

Re: They want to delay as long as possible ...

Aren't Fujitsu also implicated in the this DWP fracas: Thatcher-era ICL mainframe fingered for failure to pay out over £1bn in UK pensions.

UK government faces calls to end IR35 double tax anomaly

It's not rocket science -- if you want a decent society for all *everyone* should contribute. Everybody puts in and then everyone can take something out. We need proper funding for education because that's all our futures. Try and turn them into starving criminals because some Daily Fail article winds up the gullible and in a few years they will bite back.

Of course wanting to protect the untaxed capital gains in one's home is more attractive, so that wins every time.

Re: The Starmer Party won't do a thing

All UK political parties should be funded via public funds. That would take the abuse and corruption out of the process.

But that's unlikely to happen. We have an electorate that's not even willing to pay to support their beloved NHS or care workers to wipe their arses when they become incontinent. Another 30 years I guess, before it has got so bad that a 1945 moment returns and a new cycle begins.

LG to offer subscriptions for appliances and televisions

Re: @StrangerHereMyself - Wrong

Wow, you missed a chance there! (Or maybe your wife isn't like mine.)

Google, DeepMind accused of 'stealing the internet' to create Bard AI chatbot

Haha. Plus I wish I could upvote you twice, another one for using Internet, ie capitalised. It is a proper noun because there is only one Internet. When my ISP goes down then true I have an internet, but it is no longer connected to The Internet. (Thanks to the late W Richard Stevens for pointing this out.)

Re: Nonsense

COPPA, GDPR, CCPA, APPI, CPPA

Are these the six year old's random key presses?

Microsoft's 10,000 job cuts didn't quite do the trick

Re: Massively profitable company

But they still put that fucking virus on all laptops. On any new laptop I get I *immediately* blow away the crap and put Linux on there, as I haven't used Windows for donkey's years (2007, I think).

But I can't find any way to get a refund. Cunts.

SpaceX says, sure, Starship blew up but you can forget about the rest of that lawsuit

Re: cheers of Musk employees as they watched Starship break up in flight.

As to the FTS testing there is some detail here:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/05/spacex-progressing-next-flights/

Re: Late stage capitalism

I thought it meant they weren't publicly traded. Many SpaceX employees have shares, which can be sold privately on specified days.

Re: SpaceX

Well it ain't sheet steel. Have you seen how thick it is?

Threads versus Twitter: Shouldn't we be happy the wheels are falling off antisocial social media?

Re: Let me be clear

Pedant alert: laser focused. Isn't a laser coherent light, which means it isn't focused? Or to put it another way, the phrase is an oxymoron.

Red Hat's open source rot took root when IBM walked in

Er, Openshift? Plus RHEL runs on Power. I don't know the status of AIX any more, but I got the impression that RHEL on Power, Openshift and containers were the attraction of the acquisition.

Brits negotiating draft deal to rejoin EU's $100B blockbuster science programme

Re: So confirming the UKs commitment to the ECJ, and ECHR then ?

You do know one belongs to the Council of Europe and the other to the EU? And do you know which? And do you know the difference?

#justsayin'

Re: Citation please ?

Er, 5 million people were excluded from voting because it was thought they would vote to stay in. And some Asian people voted to leave because they wanted to make it easier for non-Europeans to get into the UK.

The white working class voted for brexit because they hated foreigners. Many had left school at 14 or 15, and only gone to the University of Life. And it's well know that that university doesn't offer a Critical Thinking course.