Posts by scarletherring

Twitter name and blue bird logo to be 'blowtorched' off company branding

Re: Y oh Y

> Much like Windows 11, then?

You mean X11, Shirley.

Florida man insists he didn't violate the law by keeping Top Secret docs

Re: Lock him up

Well, there's the fact that the Ds pushed through an historically unpopular candidate in 2016, sabotaging a quite popular candidate in the process, and even actively threw money at the orange abomination's primary because they thought he would be easy to beat.

Google taps Fastly to make cookie-free adtech FLEDGE fly

Re: Am I reading this right?

That's what I was thinking. But then it occurred to me, that's the way it's always been -- we pay for our own oppression.

OpenAI CEO heralds AGI no one in their right mind wants

Re: GPT for QA

This gets to a question I had about this whole GPT craze (and applies to similar systems too). Even if we disregard quality issues, if these networks are trained with data from the www, and more and more text found on that www is actually GPT output -- how will they prevent training on its own emissions? What would happen if they don't? It seems to me that it would be useful if these generated artefacts had some sort of watermark so that they can be recognised as such.

White House turns to Big Tech to fix coronavirus blunders while classifying previous conversations

Re: Oh My!

> But didn't the White House already promised to sustain the tourism business, which incidentally will give money to Trump Hotels too?

I read on Politico the other day that UK and IRL are exempt. How convenient.

Grab a towel and pour yourself a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster because The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is 42

Re: fun facts

> I belief you.

Huh. Does it count as Muphry's law when it's deliberate?

Never thought we'd write this headline: Under Siege Steven Seagal is not Above The Law, must fork out $314,000 after boosting crypto-coin biz

Re: They used 'i' three times

Well, he's a better actor than he's a writer, apparently.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/21/steven-seagal-deep-state-novel-shadow-wolves-joe-arpaio-217031

Four-year probe finds Foxconn's Apple 11 factory 'routinely' flouts Chinese labour laws

Re: What an delightful equilibrium - As long as you are hip

> Trendy shiny shiny hipster smartphone on one side

> Slave Labour Pain Machine on the other...

I don't disagree -- but at the same time I have no illusions about the other brands being any better... Next time I'm up for a new device I'm looking into FairPhone. Anyone tried that?

Donald Trump blinks in his one-man trade war with China: US govt stalls import tariff hike on Chinese phones, laptops, electronics

Re: "I saved the Christmas!!!"

> The claim that Jesus was Arabic is straight-up antisemitism.

You realize that Arabs are semites, yes?

The Solar System's oldest minerals reveal the Sun's violent past

Re: Spreading it thin

>> The young Sun was wrapped around an accretion disk?

> Yes, in the early days of the solar system when the sun thought it would be cool to be a reverse Dyson sphere.

Ah, the folly of youth.

Ecuador's Prez talking to UK about Assange's six-year London Embassy stay – reports

Re: "rape charges sound like bollock"

> the guy is a paranoid

Technically no, he's not. They're really out to get him, you see.

Boffins find sign of water existing deep into Earth's mantle by looking at diamonds

> "tiny, microscopic water molecules"

Wait, what? Do water molecules come in different sizes? Are some of them not "microscopic"? I thought all water molecules were pretty much the same size, and actually really quite small.

Kernel-memory-leaking Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

Re: Crap indeed

> I like to be optimistic, not pessimistic

You must be new here.

FCC boss Ajit Pai emits his net neutrality extermination plan

Re: Anti-American

> So if America is so bad, why not move elsewhere?

Because it's not so bad for the very few who could actually afford to just pack up and leave. And getting a lot better with the current plutocrats in charge.

Greenhouse gas-sniffing satellite to be built and tested in Britain

Re: The results will be meaningless

> Dude, get the dogma right. It's climate change, NOT global warming! That whole CAGW thing wasn't panning out, so the Green priesthood rebranded it so as not to look so much like fools.

Dude, again? This was pointed out to you before, but as you apparently insist on repeating this tripe: that particular bit of newspeak came from *Republican* operators:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz#Global_warming

Official: Perl the most hated programming language, say devs

Re: Easily javascript

Annoying, to be sure, but not fair. That's just a floating point quirk.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {

printf("%.18lf\n", (0.1+0.2)); // 0.300000000000000044

}

Manafort, Stone, Trump, Papadopoulos, Kushner, Mueller, Russia: All the tech angles in one place

Re: What a bunch of incompetent monkeys

"Kinda like avoiding words "Global Warming" in favor of "Climate Change."

Oh, thanks BJ -- What a perfect example of exactly the kind of dim-witted deflection Kieren was talking about.

That was a *Republican* sleight of words, from this particularly slimy (even for GOP) character:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz#Global_warming

Beach, please... Billionaire VC finally opens way to waves

Re: How come?

No, I rather think it's the other way around -- being an arsehole (sociopath) makes it a lot easier to become filthy rich.

Dumb bug of the week: Apple's macOS reveals your encrypted drive's password in the hint box

That's not even wrong

Wait. How do they even _have_ the plaintext password to display there? Shirley they should store that well hashed and with a pinch of salt?

Russian suspected of $4bn Bitcoin laundering op to be extradited to US

Re: Beware of Russians bearing bits

That would be a tragedy.

But seriously. What do the US even remotely have to do with this case?

SpaceX releases Pythonesque video of rocket failures

Can't wait for the Meatfucker to become a real vessel (Excession is still my favourite)

Is it just me or do those platform names (Just Read the Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You) remind anyone else of the late Iain Banks? Gravitas indeed!

Python explosion blamed on pandas

Re: Execution speed...

Absolutely. I work as a scientific developer at a university and we've begun offering Python bootcamps because so many researchers want to learn it.

Daily Stormer binned by yet another registrar, due to business risks

Re: It beings.

> You may think it's great that these Nazis are being blocked by private companies from having a web presence, but you would sing a different tune were some group you support to be treated that way.

And yet I think it's a pretty safe bet that you were completely fine with that bigoted bakery (private business) refusing to service gay customers? You can't have it both ways, in fact that's exactly what you're accusing others of here.

Intel ME controller chip has secret kill switch

Re: I guess I know what architectures to avoid...

> I guess I know what architectures to avoid...

Well, yeah. But what remains?

Tomorrow, DreamHost will square up to US DoJ to avoid handing over 1.3m IP addresses of anti-Trump site visitors

Re: Trump brings out the best in people

> No matter what Trump says, he will be attacked. Seriously.

I seem to remember the same thing happening with conservatives v Obama.

Pretty sure it was actually a lot more out of proportion back then, given that the current POTUS is pandering to actual fucking nazis -- as opposed to, say, trying to provide basic healthcare for all citizens like literally every properly developed nation.

> If the Republicans acted this poorly to Obama, he would have played the race card.

They did. And he didn't.

> Granted Trump is like a dull tool that kinda gets the job done

What has he done, precisely? As far as I can tell, this administration has passed very little in the way of new legislation. Or, famously, even much repeal of previous legislation.

The only reason that there's any good news still in the economic stats is they're so unbelievably incompetent that they haven't been able to actually undo much of the progress made under Obama (who inherited the economic meltdown overseen by Bush Jr, although to be fair the reasons for it go back through Clinton, Bush Sr and Reagan.)

Intel CEO Krzanich quits Trump's Manufacturing Council over response to Charlottesville rallies

Re: all it needs now

> Antifa

Where did this term come from all of a sudden? Could it be the right-wing media decided that "anti-fascist" sounds too much like they might be the good guys? Obviously they want us to consider them the baddies, but I see how that'd require some sleight of hand, since the other side are, you know, actual fucking nazis.

> BLM

Another meme I've found interesting, equating BLM with the white supremacists. You'll notice that they are not proposing to make the US a black-only nation or even to take away civil rights for all but the black. It's not a black-supremacy organization and so the equivalence, as they say, is false.

Knock it off, will you? The sheets are showing.

Fox News fabricated faux news with Donald Trump, lawsuit claims

Re: Interesting story

@Big John

So... Your logic goes: if [this were true], then [outcome I like], therefore [this is true].

That's not a reasonable argument. Your corollary is worse still: people don't like it when I say this, therefore I'm right.

I have no idea if there's anything more to Seth Rich's death than officials say. Very well might be, I certainly have very little faith in DNC or the travesty known as US law enforcement.

But it's not an either/or scenario. To claim that the moron in the White House and his campaign/staff did not collude with Russia at this point is, respectfully, completely bonkers.

Google tracks what you spend offline to prove its online ads work. And privacy folks are furious

Re: This is why you want anonymous payments

>> You mean like cash?

This. A Thousand Times This.

It's got to the point where clerks look at me funny when I hand them real money.

Greek police arrest chap accused of laundering $4bn of Bitcoin

So, BTC-e is registered in London, Mt Gox in Japan, and this is a Russian national. And yet, "The US will now begin extradition proceedings against Vinnik."

I realize the US believes its jurisdiction covers the entire planet, but on what pretense in this case?

Trump signs exec order signaling foreign H-1B visa techie crackdown

Re: If he slammed the lottery

"You'd think raising the wage would be an easy vote on both sides of the aisle, but the corporate lobby wants H1B wages as low as possible."

Which makes it an impossible vote on both sides of the aisle. Neither party represents the people these days, they're only listening to donors. There's an interesting Princeton study that found essentially that the US is no longer a functioning democracy:

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

Astroboffins clock thriving stellar nursery nestled in violent supermassive black hole

Re: Bah!

Have an upvote for the Gosper reference!

'Sorry, I've forgotten my decryption password' is contempt of court, pal – US appeal judges

I don't recall

So they're basically saying "I don't recall" equals contempt of court? Interesting, that. I seem to remember quite a few high profile cases that hinged on that particular defense!

Republicans send anti-Signal signal to US EPA

So "gerdesj" is your actual name? Must have been tough on you in school! Also: Don Martin called, he wants his noises back.

Grumpy Trump trumped, now he's got the hump: Muslim ban beaten back by appeals court

Re: Trumped

<quote>The Left will ALWAYS be a noisy violent minority.</quote>

You, Sir, have that exactly backwards.

A single typo may have tipped US election Trump's way

Re: A single typo may have tipped US election Trump's way

You mean like how conservatives got over Obama having won? Like not at all, even after 8 years?

Re: This:

Actually, no, not as I understand it. They both conclude Russia(n state backed hacking outfits) were responsible -- they just disagree on motive. The CIA has said it was definitely to help Trump, the FBI is saying they wanted to delegitimize the election process.

Good God, we've found a Google thing we like – the Pixel iPhone killer

Re: Yep - this is the phone to convert iOS users

"Matched to the dollar"

Which makes it more expensive, imho, given that you're still throwing all your personal / private data at the chocolate factory.

Songsmiths sue US antitrust over Google-friendly rules ruling

Re: "To understand [..] requires understanding how song licensing works in the United States"

"Short version : it's fucked by corporate interests.

You can say that about most of the American judicial system as well."

And politics, diplomacy, military, healthcare, education, media/journalism. Even religion. This has been true for decades, but at this point it's basically a failed state in many ways.

I'm not holding my breath for a revolution, but the rest of the planet can damn well stop following their "lead".

Re: "To understand [..] requires understanding how song licensing works in the United States"

"Trump... normal and rational..."

Haha, thanks I needed that. Shame about the keyboard.

Hollywood offers Daniel Craig $150m to (slash wrists) play James Bond

Warwick Davis?

What? Ah yes, I'll get my coat.

Arthur C Clarke award won by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian

I think it's Adrian Tchaikovsky, not Andrew?

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

Verizon fingered in Android bloatware-for-cash cram scandal

Re: @CaptainDaFT - And exactly how much value does it have to me...

Nobody cares about how much value this scheme will bring you.

Precisely. You're not the customer, you're the product.

Researchers crack homomorphic encryption

I could be wrong about this, but isn't the idea of homomorphic encryption to let software work on data without DEcrypting it?

You're not wrong. The article is.

Bungling Microsoft singlehandedly proves that golden backdoor keys are a terrible idea

Top step: Temple OS? http://www.templeos.org/

Don't want to vote for Clinton or Trump? How about this woman who says Wi-Fi melts kids' brains?

Re: Known risks with quantifiable outcomes

Yeah, maybe I'd taken that seriously if Gore had managed to win his home state. Or handled the Florida mess better.

This argument against third parties was completely wrong in 2000, and makes even less sense this time around because there are now two third party candidates in the spotlight and they look to be siphoning votes off both major parties.

I personally think that is the only way the US can ever be a proper democracy -- instead of the duopoly it is now, where actually the major parties somehow manage to agree exactly on the issues where the general public doesn't -- is to have viable alternatives for both of them in the same cycle.

Re: She's not wrong

And actually, I think this article (uncharacteristically for El Reg) is a bit of a hatchet job.

Dr Stein is in no way, shape or form an anti-vaxxer in the sense that that McCarthy woman is, say. She has worries about the committees that regulate and approve vaccinations -- which seems like valid concern in a country where corporate lobbyists have their finger in every single pie. But that is a far cry from suggesting it causes autism or whatnot.

Likewise, I just took her statement about WiFi to underline her broader argument that "It would be better for kids' development to not spend all their time looking at screens". Obviously ubiquitous WiFi would tend to increase that slice of kid's time. The fact that she points out again, correctly, that regulators and public safety committees are stacked by corporate interests, is hardly the same as believing WiFi melts brains.

The article starts with an observation that, certainly compared to earlier editions, the current election cycle has many Americans looking beyond the two major parties. Maybe do them, and everyone else, a favour and not blindly assume that all third party politicians are fringe lunatics.

The very latest on the DNC email conspiracy. Which conspiracy? All of them, of course!

Re: A sad day for conspiracy theorists

"That would imply we are ALREADY the Idiocracy and just don't know it yet."

Well, yes.

You see, not knowing is kind of what defines the Idiot.

WikiLeaks fights The Man by, er, publishing ordinary people's personal information

Re: Whew that was a close one

"For instance, British politics seems insanely complicated. We have nothing like this."

What makes you say that? There's a similar shortage in different parties, and none of the madness with delegates, super-delegates, meta-delegates and whatnot.

Check out John Oliver's rant, and see if you still feel the UK is the complicated way to do it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/05/23/john-oliver-explains-why-the-u-s-primary-process-is-an-irredeemable-mess/

Fear not, humanity – Saint Elon has finished part two of his world-saving 'master plan'

Re: Reaching

I don't know the first thing about space-based solar -- but it seems to me there is no shortage of Earth surface area available for solar panels (Sahara, Gobi, fly-over US, you get the idea). Also, given the cost (and fuel consumption) of lifting stuff into space, would take quite some time to offset. What am I missing?