Posts by SundogUK

US govt's science foundation purges 37 divisions, equity unit among casualties

They have been doing this for the last thirty years. Trump is ending it.

Trump wants to fire quarter of NASA budget into black hole – and not in a good way

Re: Make Aerospace Grotty Again

"mired in approvals, regulations and contracting requirements"

I think you are making his point for him...

Re: Make Aerospace Grotty Again

Each one going further (not necessarily literally) than the previous one.

Re: Make Aerospace Grotty Again

The central core of the ISS has never changed, so not really modular in any real sense.

Re: Make Aerospace Grotty Again

Really? Someone writes an article on a forum, on a subject you are really interested in, and you respond? And some pillock thinks that's noteworthy? Get a life.

Re: Make Aerospace Grotty Again

"better instrumentation" Maybe for the UK weather station reporting temperatures for decades AFTER IT HAD BEEN SHUT DOWN?

Trump promises protection for TikTok, for which he has a ‘warm spot in my heart’

Re: Tiktok

Except that he is "visibly shaking things up" in ways I disagree with.

FIFY

India’s services giants brace for impact as US tariffs bite their customers

Re: "get the certainties of the tariff situation"

Trump is keeping everyone off-balance by staying inside their decision loop. He knows what he wants and he's going to get it.

Assassin's Creed maker faces GDPR complaint for forcing single-player gamers online

Re: Sorry, I don't care

It's not only about data collection. The requirement also means it is impossible to play the game off-line, if you are somewhere with limited or no internet connection.

As a counter example, Bethesda games requires a periodic check-in online for licensing purposes but is happy to let you play off-line otherwise.

As ChatGPT scores B- in engineering, professors scramble to update courses

"He said the present feels a lot like the dot-com bubble around the year 2000."

This implies that AI will have its wobbles but then become successful and omnipresent. Which is not necessarily true.

Sustainability still not a high priority for datacenter industry

"Extreme weather is such a problem when building bit barns... hmmm, wonder what could be causing that?"

The article actually answers that: "sleet and snow was said to pose the highest risk, followed by freezing temperatures"

So not global warming then.

Re: Cognitive dissonance strikes again

Read it again for comprehension. Because something is relatively more important doesn't mean that importance is significant.

European biz calls for Euro tech for local people

Re: It's already too late!

Which clause in the GDPR is it not compatible with?

Elon Musk makes another cut – to his time at DOGE

As the article actually says:

"Musk may have had little choice in terms of timing. As a "special government employee," Musk is allowed to hold his position for 130 days. If counted from the January 20 creation of DOGE, Musk's appointment would end no later than May 30."

DOGE isn't going away and will continue the good work but Musk's involvement is legally limited to 130 days.

Trump blinks: 'Substantially' lower China tariffs promised

The Chinese economy is pretty much in the shitter and Trump has shown them he can make it much worse. They'll talk 'no compromise' for general consumption but they'll do a deal.

Bad trip coming for AI hype as humanity tools up to fight back

Re: "Elon Musk's claim to be a "free speech absolutist"."

"nobody decent"

Define 'decent.'

America's National Science Foundation tells DEI, misinfo studies: You're fired

Re: tragedy and farce

DEI and misinformation studies are not science. They are not disprovable and any 'experiments' are not repeatable. The NSF should have nothing to do with them.

Ex-Meta exec tells Senate Zuck dangled US citizen data in bid to enter China

Ethics?

I don't think Zuckerberg has the faintest idea what they are.

UK's attempt to keep details of Apple 'backdoor' case secret… denied

If Amnesty is involved you can be sure it's bollocks. I was a member back in the 90's but they have shifted so far left it's just not funny. May as well be an adjunct of the SWP these days.

EU: These are scary times – let's backdoor encryption!

Re: Puzzled.........

Educated? Yes. Dumb as a box of rocks? Also yes.

One of the last of Bletchley Park's quiet heroes, Betty Webb, dies at 101

Re: National heroes

Christ, could you not just give it up for one article?

Trump yanks CHIPS Act cash unless tech giants pony up more of their own dough

Re: And more security troubles too :

Careful, Hillary Clinton doesn't like being reminded...

Re: Why should they trust him?

This is how democracies work. When a new administration comes in, they look at what the previous administration did and if they don't like it, they change it. Trump was elected to make these changes.

Re: Right hand, left hand which one is doing what?

There are investing in it, they just expect the companies involved to cover a greater proportion of that investment than the Democrats did.

Re: So that's a "Demand for money backed by a threat of force."

The Biden administration caused the spike in egg prices by enforcing a draconian and completely unnecessary cull of chickens during a bird-flu scare. Neither Canada or Mexico, who were equally at risk, did this and are now enjoying a lucrative trade selling eggs to the US.

LLM providers on the cusp of an 'extinction' phase as capex realities bite

Re: Yup

It's not your money being gambled.

UK govt data people not 'technical,' says ex-Downing St data science head

Re: I'd go further

Why does TfL have a 'healthy policy' FFS? Why are they spending money on this? Is the contractor a mate? Sounds like we need DOGE.

OTF, which backs Tor, Let's Encrypt and more, sues to save its funding from Trump cuts

"Blah, blah, blah, how governments are meant to work."

As little as possible, you stupid Marxist.

Ex-NSA boss: Election security focus helped dissuade increase in Russian meddling with US

Re: and 'The right answer' is ...

Every accusation by a Democrat is a confession of their own guilt.

See, we can all do that.

Re: Why meddle

Why should Trump do anything that is "indisputably against Russia's interest?" I really don't get this.

Trump wants Russia onside because the biggest threat to the US is China and he wants Russia as an ally against China, not an enemy on his flank.

AWS sued by product manager who says she was laid off for being an older woman

Re: Under the Muskentrump regime

"...loud yappy bark, first to attack and very loyal(ish)"

He's a US Marine Corps vet, and you're not. So fuck off.

Culling anybody from a "People Experience Team" is a good thing.

Sorry, I meant 'everybody.'

Re: Remember

This is bollocks. She was canned because she was useless but she knows the court will be way biased in her favour, so why not?

Accenture: DOGE's federal procurement review is hurting our sales

Re: Be *very* careful what you wish for.

After his first term Trump's personal wealth was less than when he started. This was the first time this has happened to a President.

Re: Efficiently ? That's being WAY too polite.

A life-long enemy of Canada? Where do I sign up?

Re: Cuts in government spending impact entire supply chains.

The UK University sector is a bloated waste of space. Needs to be cut in half, at least, before it is good for purpose again.

Re: Gosh!

Meh. They backed the slow horse.

Re: Gosh!

I doubt he bothered. It's not like he needs it.

Re: Envy

"All that stuff EU bureaucrats did"

You have heard of Pournelle's Iron Law...

"In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals that the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely."

Datacenters near Heathrow seemingly stay up as substation fire closes airport

Re: Really...?

"At the end of the day an airport closed for the day, with no-one hurt, is an inconvenience, that's all."

The economic damage is going to be into the billions...

Re: Really...?

Come on, it's going to be Russians.

Re: How?

"And to our current useless government... Stop fscking around with benefits that you know deep down will hit those most in need the worst and get our crumbling infrastructure fixed."

Getting our 'crumbling infrastructure fixed' will cost money we don't have. 'Fucking around with benefits' is how you get that money.

Dept of Defense engineer took home top-secret docs, booked a fishing trip to Mexico – then the FBI showed up

The mind boggles that a guy who was "...a dual citizen of the US and Turkey," was allowed access to restricted documents.

Time to ditch US tech for homegrown options, says Dutch parliament

Suicidal, anti-human nutcases.

Re: Rather escape Earth than what exactly?

Nobody wants to do this, it's just a lefty straw man.

France offers US scientists a safe haven from Trump's war on woke

Re: Jock centered societies

Name one.

Re: Jock centered societies

"History has many examples of societies that championed their warriors to the exclusion of everything else"

But you cannot name one of them.

Re: Yes but ...

Fuck off. A black person in 1970 USA had a higher standard of living than any black person in Africa. The richest in Africa have been catching up but the average still favours the US by a wide margin.

Re: Yes but ...

Haiti is a shit-hole because Haiti's electorate has a moron-level average IQ. This is how it always works. Map the shittiest countries in the world to their average IQ. Never fails.

"... Ukraine is today fighting and dying to keep the Russian advance away from the rest of the world."

This is just bullshit. Russia is not going to invade a NATO country and risk nuclear annihilation. It isn't going to happen. Grow up.