* Posts by Gronk

31 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Nov 2012

Pure frustration: What happens when someone uses your email address to sign up for PayPal, car hire, doctors, security systems and more

Gronk

I have lastname@gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, and a couple of others as well as firstnamelastname@gmail.com. I have problems with people signing up with my email addresses constantly. It can be a pain to get this corrected. Some companies refuse to help because the account on their system isn't mine. Other ignore requests.

I had a bank in Australia refuse to do anything because I wasn't the account holder. A quick email to their legal department noting that I was getting personal details in the email and if it didn't stop I'd post the emails to their Facebook page took care of that.

Someone bought a Cooper Mini and used my firstnamelastname@gmail.com email address so I'd get service appointments, notices, etc. Emailing customer service didn't help so I had to email their legal department to get it to stop.

One thing that sometimes help is when there's a link to look at the account I can click that, then click the "Forgot Password" link, make a new password, then log in and change the email address. I'll use their customer support email address or abuse email address.

I was screwed over by Cisco managers who enforced India's caste hierarchy on me in US HQ, claims engineer

Gronk

Re: How did they learn he was Dalit?

What was the reason roast chicken was an insult to the other caste?

NASA launches guide to Lunar etiquette now that private operators will share the Moon with governments

Gronk

Will Dalotek Corporation sign the accord?

You spoke, we didn't listen: Ubiquiti says UniFi routers will beam performance data back to mothership automatically

Gronk

Re: "In other words, you ain't got no choice."

No, it is:

BusyBox v1.25.1 () built-in shell (ash)

___ ___ .__________.__

| | |____ |__\_ ____/__|

| | / \| || __) | | (c) 2010-2019

| | | | \ || \ | | Ubiquiti Networks, Inc.

|______|___| /__||__/ |__|

|_/ https://www.ui.com/

Welcome to UniFi UAP-AC-Pro-Gen2!

unifiapacpro-BZ.v4.0.80# cat /etc/openwrt_version

r3979-2252731af4

unifiapacpro-BZ.v4.0.80# cat /etc/openwrt_release

DISTRIB_ID='LEDE'

DISTRIB_RELEASE='17.01.6'

DISTRIB_REVISION='r3979-2252731af4'

DISTRIB_CODENAME='reboot'

DISTRIB_TARGET='ar71xx/ubnt'

DISTRIB_ARCH='mips_24kc'

DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION='LEDE Reboot 17.01.6 r3979-2252731af4'

DISTRIB_TAINTS='no-all mklibs busybox'

Spooky! Solar System's Planet NINE could be discovered in the next NINE years (plus one to six), say astroboffins

Gronk

The ninth planet was discovered some time ago. Gerry and Sylvia Anderson did a film about it's discovery and exploration back in 1969.

Fancy a .dev domain? They were $12,500 a pop from Google. Now, $1,000. Soon, $17.50. And you may want one

Gronk

Several companies have their own TLD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains#Brand_top-level_domains

New Horizons probe reveals Ultima Thule is huge, spinning... chicken drumstick?

Gronk

Let me know when the probe detects the remains of the Uranus expedition from 1986.

Capita: We are seeking staff to join our board. Just two please

Gronk

Michael Garibaldi fired all of the BoD members of Edgar Industries and appointed employees to the board as replacements.

Sysadmin told to spend 20+ hours changing user names, for no reason

Gronk

Re: From a user's point of view...

I'm one of those people that go by their middle name. I haven't had any problems getting companies I've worked for to honor my preferences until the latest company I ended up at through a corporate acquistion. It took me four months to get them to correct the problem.

Whenever I have people that are expecting a baby tell me they are going to call their children by their middle names I tell them I know from personal experience that's nothing but trouble and if they want to call their child by a specific name then make that the child's first name.

The last post: Building your own mail server, part 1

Gronk

An alternative is iRedmail. I've set up a couple of servers with iRedmail recently to test and so far it works pretty well.

BOFH: My diary is MINE and mine alone, you petty HR gimps

Gronk

At my previous job I had people that would schedule meetings with me and then get upset when I rejected the invite. They would assume that since I didn't have a meeting scheduled I was obviously available for whatever (usually pointless) meeting they wanted to hold. After several complaints I just added a recurring private meeting Monday through Friday starting at 6A and ending at 6P.

After that people would start contacting me to see when I might be free for their meeting. That gave me much more control, although there were a few people that thought it was unreasonable that I didn't show any availability. I'm sure wasn't a coincidence that these were the same people that liked to schedule meetings when I would be eating lunch.

Proprietary OS source code LEAKED to web – from 40 years ago

Gronk

Wasn't it Caldera that released the source code for CP/M several years ago?

Heatmiser digital thermostat users: For pity's sake, DON'T SWITCH ON the WI-FI

Gronk

Re: Old school hacking ...

You must have the newer model of wife. I've got an older model and she keeps turning the thermostat down.

I think there's a common fault in the temperature sensors and after running for a few decades the sensors start reporting the external temperature to be several degrees hotter at random times. I'm told this will pass after a certain time but there's no way to know the duration.

The temperature sensors aren't a user-replaceable part. The only options are to live with the problem or replace the whole unit, but replacing the whole unit can be very expensive.

Amazon axes hated Fire Phone price: 99 pennies but a niche? Ain't none

Gronk

The ads for the phone in the US were terrible. I can't believe anyone would watch them and say, "I should go buy that phone."

CIA rendition jet was waiting in Europe to SNATCH SNOWDEN

Gronk

Re: Dontcherknew?

If the CIA people are wearing white suits and flying white planes then it's probably the F.I.R.M.

They might have Archangel running the operation.

Police at the door? Hit the PANIC button to erase your RAM

Gronk
Coat

Missing the point

All this discussion about revealing keys is missing the crucial point that the programmer misspelled "propagate" (check the screenshot).

Amazon turns screws on French publisher: Don't feel sorry for Hachette, it's just 'negotiation'

Gronk

Re: Other online book stores are available

Unfortunately Amazon controls a large percentage of the physical ereader market and many non-technical people think the Kindle is the only ereader available. And if they do own a Kindle and buy an ebook from another vendor that doesn't support mobi then they'll have to learn how to convert. That's a hassle most non-technical people don't want[0].

What it comes down to is if the ebook isn't available from Amazon then there are going to be many missed sales.

[0] I know from talking to many of my friends that can convert that most of them don't like it. I know I don't. I have epub and mobi books and every so often I have to take my purchases from Amazon and convert to epub and take my purchases from other places and convert to mobi (I have a Kindle DX and a Nook and I like to have all the books available on both). Usually it works but sometimes the formatting gets messed up during conversion.

Oracle accused of breaking US competition law over Solaris support

Gronk

If Oracle loses I wonder how long until a third-party vendor files a similar suit against HP?

ECCENTRIC, PINK DWARF dubbed 'Biden' by saucy astronomers

Gronk

Re: Gone for ever - unless it gets help

V'ger was Voyager 6. We're still waiting to get around to launching that one.

Intel's new Xeon: Easy to switch between dual memory modes? Uh, no

Gronk

I expect Lockstep Mode will mostly be used by NonStop servers.

Just as we said it would: HP clamps down on server fixers

Gronk

I've been downloading firmware updates for IBM servers without having to put in a serial number or support ID for quite a while.

This crap from HP started with their Integrity systems. Entering the special maintenance mode requires a secret code which is generated on the fly, which means some parts replacements can't be done by the end user, so no self-maintenance.

Pregnant? Celebrate your proudest moment ... by 3D-printing a copy of the foetus

Gronk

No. Just... no.

Wanna run someone over in your next Ford? No dice, it won't let you

Gronk

"Self-parking cars are nothing new. Volkswagen showed off a self-parking car in 1992, Toyota has its Intelligent Parking Assist System (IPAS) that comes with some Lexus and Prius models, and Audi and Volvo have also got similar systems. Ford hasn’t given a data for the release of its try in the area, but has promised some news by Christmas."

I think Ford's version is already out. My mother's 2013 Ford Explorer has Active Park Assist and it works very well. I had to give it a try when I was visiting the family last month.

Dear Apple: Want to stay in business? Make an iPhone people can afford

Gronk

Re: This report is complete and utter rubbish (NOT REALLY)

Hyundai makes the Equus, starting at $61K, and the Genesis, starting at just over $34K, so they make expensive luxury cars, too.

Apple iOS 7 makes some users literally SICK. As in puking, not upset

Gronk

Re: A split personality release

My wife can't watch 3D movies and iOS 7 doesn't make her sick.

Swiss space plane to launch robotic orbital debris destroyer

Gronk

Straker spent quite a bit of time trying to get funding from the IAC to remove space junk.

Did a bunch of bankers fax a stranger's sensitive privates to YOU?

Gronk
Happy

Years and a few companies ago I started receiving faxes on my voice line. It kept up so I started quickly forwarding them to the office fax machine which revealed they were being sent to a mortgage company and had all sorts of financial information. I called the mortgage company and asked them what was going on. They said they had the wrong number printed in the documentation they give out to people applying for mortgages as well as all their new business cards, so there really wasn't anything they could do about it since it would cost them quite a bit to change everything and perhaps I should just see about getting a new phone number if it was bothering me.

After that I started calling the people sending the faxes to let them know what was happening and why. A few irate customers later the mortgage company decided it was perhaps better to reprint their documentation and business cards.

Ten serious sci-fi films for the sentient fan

Gronk

"The Man from Earth", written by Jerome Bixby.

Word wonks insist GIFs are really JIFs

Gronk

Re: Was the vulture logo created by a jiffics artist on jiff paper?

The people I know that pronounce CICS as "kicks" range from people that have worked on it for many years to relatively new people. The new people probably picked up "kicks" from the older people.

Gronk

Re: Was the vulture logo created by a jiffics artist on jiff paper?

I've only met a very few number of people in the US that say "D O S". Just about everyone else says "doss".

Gronk

Re: Was the vulture logo created by a jiffics artist on jiff paper?

I know several mainframe CICS people in the US that also say "kicks".