Posts by Dr Scrum Master

Hundreds of irate UK Parliamentary staffers sue IPSA over 2017 salary spreadsheet publication snafu

would you be happy to have your pay and entitlements made public to all of your neighbours?

You would in Sweden, but we're not in Sweden.

Still, it's good to know that people do still do things differently elsewhere.

Northern Train's ticketing system out to lunch as ransomware attack shuts down servers

Northern Train's ticketing system

It's certainly been quite some years since I travelled by train in t' North, but I'm sure there was more than one train operating.

Gung-ho tank gamer spills classified docs in effort to win online argument

I suppose one should leave this as a Shibboleth...

actually, two Shibboleth.

Teen turned away from roller rink after AI wrongly identifies her as banned troublemaker

97%

97% is like the 98% certainty I remember from an AWS facial recognition demo.

There was a 98% certainty that the subject was wearing sunglasses. He wasn't. He was indoors with overhead lighting which obviously lead to his brow casting a shadow over his eyes.

Using it wrongly

Facial recognition should be used to identify potential matches.

Humans should then be responsible for making decisions.

The lights go off, broadband drops out, the TV freezes … and nobody knows why (spooky music)

YU55L355BGGR5

Love it!

I'll try to use it in future.

Jackie 'You have no authority here' Weaver: We need more 50-somethings in UK tech

Re: It is not skills..

Because in any randomly-selected population, it's pretty unlikely that you're going to get a distribution of people who match arbitrary characteristics of the larger population.

As for a self-selecting population - such as people interested in IT, nursing, aircraft, boats, sewing, etc. - it's astronomically improbable that it would come close to the distribution of people who match arbitrary characteristics of the larger population.

Re: It is not skills..

So in most countries other than the USA, Oz, NZ, Canadia, most of the population are BIPOC (sic)...

Evidence planted on laptops of jailed Indian activists, says forensics firm Arsenal Consulting

Russian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Pakistani, etc etc

Disco classic Rasputin and pop anthem revealed as reasons Twitter suspended Indian politicians

Rasputin Keeps Coming Back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZx4a6656Rg

Scientists identify sleep-like slow waves as responsible for daydreaming and... sorry, what were we talking about again?

Who?

that unedifying moment in a meeting when you've forgotten the name of the person you're talking to

That would be the moment immediately after I'm introduced to someone.

Cross-discipline boffin dream team issues social media warning: FIX IT NOW!

Virtual Community

Long before the rise of the term "social media" I bemoaned the fact that the Internet's ability to draw people together in virtual communities was both a blessing and a curse: on the one hand you can have people share ideas with anyone (who speaks English) in world, on the other hand you have paedophiles who would otherwise be physically isolated in small communities being able to find fellow kiddy-fiddlers in a virtual world and indulge in their particular perversions.

Whilst the UK MSM were quaintly amused by Merkin peculiarities, we now have UK MSM and English-speaking social media infected with left-pondian social problems, along with the inability of people in either mainstream or social media to distinguish between the historical and social differences in Merkin and non-Merkin societies...

Then there are governments who see the solution to every problem as legislation resulting in whole libraries of laws for police forces when the police don't even bother to enforce basic long-standing laws, or just go and misinterpret other laws...

I don't have a solution. And I don't see people who propose "solutions" actually analysing the problems and seeing if their proposed solutions would actually be beneficial or harmful in the whole.

Anyone still using cash? British £50 banknote honouring Alan Turing arrives

Re: Here in Euro territory

Along with relatively large denomination notes from a bureau de change... which is why one should buy something on arrival at an airport shop in order to get some smaller change.

Realizing this is getting out of hand, Coq mulls new name for programming language

Not a fan

I've never been a fan of Coq, in fact, Coq sucks.

I'll get my coat...

The common factor in all your failed job applications: Your CV

Re: Hmm ...

Congratulations! You certainly brightened up my Friday morning.

Royal Yacht Britannia's successor to cost about 1 North of England NHS IT consultancy framework

HMY Conference Centre

When mostly peaceful riots around international summits (G7, etc) were all the rage, along with the associated cordoning off of city centres, I proposed that all future summits or conferences should be hosted at sea.

The result being that delegates can travel around to find the nicest weather and views, residents of cities would not be disrupted, protestors would cause less damage in major cities, policing costs could be reduced.

A single vessel could probably be used by most if not all of the world's leaders as summits tend to happen at different times - except for the counter summits that take place when some group want to highlight that their problems are not being addressed by the main summit.

Naval security can be handled by, err, navies as regular training exercises, thus keeping those costs down too.

Surprise! Developers' days ruined by interruptions and meetings, GitHub finds

What's a meeting?

What actually constitutes a meeting?

Does a developer or two and a tester or two getting together to work out a problem or understand a situation count as a meeting?

Or is it just some intra- or inter-departmental snooze-fest where a bunch of jerks engage in their own fantasy battle whilst their audience is comatose/resentful for being there/drifting away into their own more interested worlds?

Singapore orders social media to correct Indian politician’s allegation of local COVID-19 variant

No variant vs no evidence

In typically paternalistic (totalitarian-lite) fashion the SGP gahmen says:

"There is no Singapore variant"

As opposed to the more scientifically plausible:

"There is no evidence of a Singapore variant"

Researchers say objects can hide from computer vision by seeking out unusual company that trips correlation bias

No AI to be seen here

Move along now.

Appeals court nixes online blueprint sharing ban on 3D-printed 'ghost guns'

Re: Why bother with 3D printing

IIRC Merkins tend to go and shoot a bunch of people when they're depressed/angry, then top themselves.

Brits tend to top themselves.

A notable number of Merkins target schools for their shooting victims, but there are also a notable number of Chinese who target schools for their stabbing victims.

Culture plays a significant role in mental health outcomes.

I can't tell whether depressed/angry Russians go for a drive or whether that's just Russians in general...

Re: Obviously more guns needed

I seem to remember that the steering columns from Morris Minors were a major component in suitably effective firearms manufactured and used in Malaya.

Quality control, Soviet style: Here's another fine message you've gotten me into

Re: Russians, alcohol, making toasts

And art for that was used to place the Rover team in a, err, less attentive mood by the Chinese who weren't actually drinking the toasts during negotiations...

Airline software super-bug: Flight loads miscalculated because women using 'Miss' were treated as children

Re: 11 stone..

That's why one gets a convertible.

Tools down: Singapore’s training bots and drones to digitize construction work

Re: More surveillance technology

What manpower crisis?

The last time I was watching a construction site in Singapore you had a couple of Bangladeshis doing some work, half a dozen Bangladeshis standing around, and a Chinese supervisor.

Facebook's new hookup: A pair of submarine cables to link North America, Indonesia, Singapore

With the rise of other coastal Chinese cities, Hong Kong is not quite so indispensable as it once was.

Move aside, Technoking: All hail the Sweat Master and his many inspirational job titles

Hyphen

it needs a space or a hyphen. As with "miniseries", my brain keeps urging me to mispronounce it.

And e-mail.

LinkedIn China pauses new member signups ‘to ensure compliance with local law’

Unless you're a bear.

No Fake Accounts

Probably the Chinese law that requires people to confirm their on-line ID matches their true ID.

Brit cybercops issue tender to rip and replace their formerly flaw-ridden CyberAlarm tool

Significant and Irreparable Damage

I always find it amusing when organisations claim that someone else is causing "significant and irreparable damage" to them or their brand, as it's invariably the brand owner who has an already tainted reputation or is the one actually damaging its reputation all by itself.

So it appears some of you really don't want us to use the word 'hacker' when we really mean 'criminal'

I've never rated librarians particularly highly since one who was nattering away to her colleague asked me to be quiet when I was whispering.

Delayed, overbudget and broken. Of course Microsoft's finest would be found in NASA's Orion

Given that the dark side is often facing the Earth, presumably you mean the far side.

Hacked LinkedIn post puts further pressure on Salesforce over attitudes to race in the workplace

More hyperbole?

Just read Vivianne Castillo's resignation letter.

I must say that it ranks highly in terms of hyperbole and broad-brush accusations, but there's nothing in there to distinguish it from an attention-seeking child not getting the attention it craves.

Do we live in a world where unsubstantiated, hyperbolic accusations are accepted uncritically? Or 'twas ever so?

Seagate UK customer stung by VAT on replacement drive shipped via the Netherlands

Re: The problem here isn't the borders, it's the ludicrously anal way that the tax...

we're applying the rules as inherited

It's a shame that the reporting hasn't indicated that, but then I suppose some kind of contextual understanding is beyond the capabilities of the media who will hype up one disaster and pay no attention to many other similar disasters...

Re: The problem here isn't the borders, it's the ludicrously anal way that the tax...

A someone who's spent the last decade living on a small island outside of the EU I've regularly had to purchase goods from several overseas countries. Only once was I stung by customs duties, which could have been avoided by splitting the order. It's therefore astonishing that HMG has now signed the UK up to a load of excessive bureaucracy.

Is this part of the EU trading agreement? Or is it just HMRC messing everything up?

Singapore reveals open-source blockchain COVID-test result tracker, eyes uses as vaccine passport app

EZ Link

It's then one small conceptual step to installing the QR code scanners at the MRT barriers and on the buses, and then a negative test will be required for access to mass transit.

After all, it's not as if there's been scope creep with COVID tracking in Singapore...

'Meritless': Exam software maker under fire for suing teacher who tweeted links to biz's unlisted YouTube vids

Presumably it's tracking pupil movement to see if the examinee is looking at concealed notes, etc.

Apache foundation ousts TinkerPop project co-founder for tweeting 'offensive humor that borders on hate speech'

Re: I don't know why there is such a fuss over this.

What next? Microphones installed in your bedroom to make sure you are not speaking in violation of their code?

I believe the SNP are already planning that...

SpaceX small print on Starlink insists no Earth government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities

Re: Remember 1776 ......

A handful of frontiersmen and a French army, and a Spanish army, and some help from the Dutch.

Want your broadband fixed? Best write to your MP, UK's Zen Internet tells customer

"Have you turned it on and off again?"

Turning something on and then off takes it from the off state to the off state.

Users are often in the habit of wanting things to be turned on to use them, so turning something off and on again tends to be more appropriate.

Dept of If I'd Known 20 Years Ago: Call centres, roosting chickens, and Bitcoin

You could add a picture of the queen to that printout, and practice your calligraphy too.

Salesforce likes to play the diversity nice guy in public – Black ex-employee claims the reality is quite different

Re: @martinusher

Still wondering what in his post was problematic...

Unfortunately the English language (and a media-fueled obsession with Americana) mean that left-pondian social problems are imported into the UK when we've had quite separate histories for over 200 years.

Rant. No Content.

I took a look at her letter. It's a 5 page rambling rant that says nothing more about the so-called microagressions, etc than what's written here.

A Twitter world-improvement plan that doesn't involve deleting Twitter? Unleash the boffins, says microblogging biz

Re: Twatter

Fortunately, being self-selecting, it's not representative of the whole population. It's just the shouting drunks in the street.

Europe considers making it law that your boss can’t bug you outside of office hours

Re: In an emergency

Marketing and HR - we all know they're evil.

Uncle Sam sues Facebook for allegedly discriminating against US workers in favor of foreigners on H-1B visas

When I have worked in the state's ... I've always pressumed due to better educational systems.

?

Supermassive black hole turns unlucky star into spaghetti

FSM?

Truly 'tis a glimpse of his noodly appendage!

IBM manager had to make one person redundant from choice of two, still bungled it and got firm done for unfair dismissal

Re: Reverse Engineering These point scoring things....

How did HR evolve as this unassailable parallel structure within organisations?

It's like political commissars in the Red Army (when they're not acting as Red Guards from the cultural revolution.)

Twitter: Our image-cropping AI seems to give certain peeps preferential treatment. Solution: Use less AI

What AI?

It's not AI. It's not intelligent. It knows nothing about what it's looking at. It's statistics based on zero understanding of what's being presented to it.

Lighter faces show greater contrast to what's around them than darker faces. So lighter faces will probably be more noticeable to a dumb statistical model that knows nothing about its subject.

The last time I saw facial recognition the service was pretty certain that the subject was wearing glasses. He wasn't. He had more shadows around his eyes because of the overhead lighting. A dumb statistical model would say there's more dark in that area of the image, so it's probably glasses. A human would see shadow on a human face and no glasses. Just like a human would be able to recognise that Elton John's facial adornments were glasses if it had never seen anything like them before.

Singapore to treat infosec as equivalent public good to fresh running water

Re: Singapore InterNet - Hardly Unfettered and Definitely Not 'Free'

Addendum: The article mentions 'fresh water'. Singapore proudly recycles sewer water - best to buy bottled

Just make sure the bottled water isn't NEWater...