* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

Have YOU had your breakfast pint? Boffins confirm cheeky daily tipple is good for you

Mark 85

Re: This is not good news

Here in the States, go for "Olde FrothingSlosh...the pale, stale ale with the foam on the bottom."

Mark 85

Re: What measure of 'drink' did these Americans use?

What is a drink?

Depends on the beverage. A beer.. 16 oz. "Hard liquor".. depends on the type and what is mixed into it. Wine.. a 12 oz. glass. Now these may and will vary depending on where one is in the States, who's pouring or mixing the drink, etc. Beer is iffy due to different size cans/bottles, and even mugs. There is no standard so 1 drink is still vague.

Mark 85

Re: Interesting? Scary!

If you consume 4 alcoholic drinks per day, the chance that you will eventually die (from cancer, mortality or whatever) becomes a whopping 1.00, or 100 % certainty.

Actually, drinking is irrelevant. Everyone dies. No one gets out alive.

Trainee techie ran away and hid after screwing up a job, literally

Mark 85

Re: He started a new life

...maybe a laughing gas addiction and an unlimited supply...?

Ah.. The Little Shop of Horrors dentist's reasoning.

BOFH: Is everybody ready for the meeting? Grab a crayon – let's get technical

Mark 85

Re: Technical, English and Idiot.

Technical and English can be learned in schools. Idiot requires on the job training to learn it properly. Idiots always astound me by their inventiveness in using their stupidity. <sigh>

Cops: Autonomous Uber driver may have been streaming The Voice before death crash

Mark 85

Re: Simples. Charge both Uber and the driver

I think you pretty much summed it up as to what needs to be looked at. Uber is playing the lawyer's game and pointing the finger. There should be a full investigation by a (let's say "disinterested" meaning nothing to gain) third party but it seems (on the surface at least) that there's politics and money involved also as to what is being said and investigated.

Amazon staffers protest giant's 'support of the surveillance state'

Mark 85

Re: Hmmmmm

You don't feel strongly enough about it to post under your own name, I note :-)

I don't blame him. These are scary times to say the least where we don't know where things are headed. The feeling is that governments will quell dissent in a less than a calm manner at the rate things are going. Companies are playing to the government. So expect the worst.

US Supreme Court blocks internet's escape from state sales taxes

Mark 85

Re: It's still really hard to complain

Legally, in most States, if you cross the border to buy something and bring it back, you're supposed to pay them the difference in tax rates. Some do go a step further and will allow you to write off the taxes paid in another State if they're higher. Most folks ignore those areas of the tax forms for obvious reasons.

There used to be a tax dodge where you declared yourself a member of clergy and took a vow of poverty. You never had to pay taxes on income but there exceptions and rules to extract some money out of you. I do believe that loop hole has been closed.

Mark 85

So which State would be the "guide point" for the tax rate? There are States with no sales tax and there's others that the tax is sky high.

FTR - I live in a no sales tax State but make up for it in income tax. Anyway you look at it, we all pay dearly in taxes.

NASA eggheads draw up blueprints for spotting, surviving asteroid hits

Mark 85

Re: Build that Wall!

To save money, how about we just put it over Washington DC? Would you chaps like one over Parliament? There's savings if we do a group order.

Please tighten your passwords and assume the brace position, says plane-tracking site

Mark 85

Re: Great site

Those are scheduled. Where I am, it's pretty much a given that commercial traffic flies over us. Our airport is in the middle of the valley along with the city and suburbs. Knew the thing was there and really doesn't bother.

What I'd really like to see is one for tracking the non-commercial stuff. This time of year is air show season and our airport is refueling and layover one for them. Everything from WWI a/c to current military aircraft come and go. The AF uses our field for "short runway touch and go" practice. So yeah.. I'd like to have a heads up and be able to be outside to see these birds.

How a tax form kludge gifted the world 25 joyous years of PDF

Mark 85

Re: Format of choice for immediate offline reading, easy sharing or simple portability

Good luck prying PDF out of the hands of marketing peeps!

Or those of us who use it for engineering type drawings that need a paper trail. I use it for quite a bit as it preserves the original in case of "oops, gotta' go back". Others for "just in case" of legal or any thing else requiring historical records.

IBM’s McAfee-as-a-service cloudy antivirus wobbled for nearly a day

Mark 85

Security = McAfee?

IBM touts McAfee-as-a-service as part of a portfolio of offerings to help its customers secure and defend their rented servers in the Big Blue cloud.

My question is are you better off with McAfee or without any security at all? Tough choice, I know.

JURI's out, Euro copyright votes in: Whoa, did the EU just 'break the internet'?

Mark 85

Re: Hand Off My Internet

People like the EFF are the classic Lenin's "useful idiots" who could only help megacorp like Google achieve their aim, blinded by their anarchism.

I upvoted your post but go look again in the article and see who's funding the EFF. Hint: Google is one of the funders and appears to be in control. So EFF is the megacorp, not "useful idiots".

Mark 85

Make your own content instead. Support the artists directly under license terms that are more fair for society.

Nice idea... lovely. So if you create some content and it gets ripped off, who protects you? The catch on the protection is if the country where the piracy is done cares. Look at the stuff being ripped off by the Chinese for example.

Mark 85

Re: Hand Off My Internet

Government regulations are very handy when they keep corporate greed in check. So don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

In the States, they are doing this.. Thanks Pai. But now it's Europe's turn to follow. It's a race to the bottom (or for control depending on point of view) and the leader of the race changes daily.

Mark 85

Re: 52% of the vote

They're legislature types. If (a big IF) they read viewpoints they will get impressed with a proper sounding name of the organization. Individuals don't count unless it's someone of influence and power.

Tesla fingers former Gigafactory hand as alleged blueprint-leaking sabotage mastermind

Mark 85

Re: Security

Tesla is a big threat to many car manufacturers. SpaceX is a threat only to a couple of rocket companies. The weakest link in any chain the lowest employees or those who view themselves as on the low end. And so the bigger question might be: who's getting the data? With Tesla data, there's lots of potential buyers, with SpaceX, only a few. It's also possible that SpaceX does have a data breach and either doesn't know or hasn't figured who the leaker is yet.

This is strange that they don't have law enforcement involved as other companies many times will.

MSDN unleashes a fresh round of unintentional innuendo bingo

Mark 85

Micro soft knobs are very disappointing

So they're rather flaccid? We should feel sorry for them.

Priceless: The cost to BT for bothering you with spam? 1.5 UK pence per email

Mark 85

The fine is pointless. They will spend more money on lawyers than they would by just saying "oops" and paying the fine.

(Cryptographically) sign me up! Android to take bad app checks offline

Mark 85

And thus, anything NOT from App Store can be labeled as "malware". Google continues to fortify and move closer to a monopoly.

Senior judge: Put AI in charge of reviewing social media evidence

Mark 85

Re: Magic Wand

I recall a science fiction tale where the courts used computers to determine guilt or innocence. It didn't end well. There probably never will be an infallible computer/AI. The reality is that there's just too many ways for any AI system to go wrong.

Fraudster admits she was OPM dealer: Leaked US govt staff files used to bag cash, car loans

Mark 85

Re: Take that!

I am always confused by yank sentencing guidelines, but I know they always tend to the maximum. Unlike in Aussie where offences committed in the one sequence of acts allows for at least partial concurrency.

It's called "leverage". The prosecutors can tell the perp that they'll push for the maximum sentence unless the perp "helps". Usually turning state's evidence for their cohorts in crime or maybe to be part of the sting. And sometimes just to get them to confess so the prosecutors don't have to spend a lot of time preparing a case and they going to trial. If they have political ambitions, "confictions" (either by trial or negotiation) make them look "tough on crime".

BTW, the US does concurrent sentences also.

Microsoft shoves US govt IT contract where ICE throws kids: Out of sight in a chain-link cage

Mark 85

Re: 'always just a question of PR'

Its far easier and costs way less to just edit a Wikipedia article about Ethics. Think Orwell's Animal-Farm 7 ever-changing Commandments etc. When media eyes turn away, Google will go back to creating killer drones and Microsoft sectioning off kids.

Well said. The motto of all corporations right now is "Profit is our most important product."*.

*With credit for the original motto from GE: "In engineering, in research, in manufacturing skill, in the values that bring a better, more satisfying life, at General Electric, progress is our most important product.". Harkens back a bit to maybe a more consumer oriented time with less open greed.

What can you do when the pup of programming becomes the black dog of burnout? Dude, leave

Mark 85

I do wonder what would happen if everyone suddenly refused promotion or walked.

The manglement culture would kick in and they'd just hirer new bodies. Manglement doesn't care. Look at the IBM example. "Layoff everyone you can and hire cheaper bodies."

Mark 85

You are steps ahead. Just do it. Move on, the sooner the better. The crash is recoverable, the burn, not so much.

- From one who's been there and didn't recognize it until too late.

Developer’s code worked, but not in the right century

Mark 85

Wot? No hill named "medium cockup"? :)

Cockups are either big or small, there is no medium. Or so it seems.

Mark 85

Re: Re : Can someone explain to me...

"Why this wasn't tested offline first before applying it to a LIVE database ?"

No test database?

That wasn't uncommon. Been there, done that and screwed up the "live" data base once... lesson learned. I didn't start seeing test databases until around 2000 due to the costs involved for storage, etc. In at least one case, it was the IT manager who felt that programmers were perfect and thus no need for one.

User spent 20 minutes trying to move mouse cursor, without success

Mark 85

Re: Mouse balls.

If it's someone you really don't like, try a chocolate ball.

Mark 85

Re: Keyboard ecosystems

It was alive I tell you, alive!

In that past, I found more than a few of those around the office that were growing entirely new civilizations inside. There were some that really shouldn't have been opened unless one was wearing a full hazmat suit. It took some doing (like getting the boss to help clean some) to get to the point where we didn't clean them but binned them and gave the user a new keyboard. Heaven knows what's growing underground at the dump site where these things went to.

BOFH: Got that syncing feeling, hm? I've looked at your computer and the Outlook isn't great

Mark 85

Those who are best at it, of course, go into politics.....

And you got downvoted for this? I'm shocked. There must be a mole among us that wants us to believe that politicians are honest, hardworking, and saints in disguise.

ICANN pays to push Whois case to European Court of Justice

Mark 85

Re: This one could run and run

Well, it is about money, so judge the reasoning/time it will take/etc. for yourself. Start by asking "

what does ICANN have to loose by complying?". Answer that and you'll get an idea of how long this will take.

Sir, you've been using Kaspersky Lab antivirus. Please come with us, sir

Mark 85

Thanks to the secretive nature of intelligence agencies and the potential sensitivity of the alleged stolen data, that evidence is unlikely to be shared any time soon.

I would like to think that in a perfect world, the agencies would share their concerns (and the proof) so that others not in the agencies can make an informed decision. I guess the spooks don't want to tip off the citizens that we're being watched.

Swiss cops will 'tolerate' World Cup rabble-rousers – for 60 minutes

Mark 85

@Shades -- Re: Being sensible

I'd like to add the morons who move to an area around an airport. particularly off other end of the runway(s). They know the airport is there, a look at map would confirm it. But usually a week after they move in, the bitching starts.

Same for the ones that move next to an auto racetrack.

Ex-Rolls-Royce engineer nicked on suspicion of giving F-35 info to China

Mark 85

Re: There was something the Chinese didn't know already?

But don't both of those have air arms? I know that the Marines used to..

Yes they do. Army has some (or did) some fixed wing spotters along with the choppers (which they do have still) including attack versions. The Marines still have both fixed wing fighters/bombers/attack and helicopters of all sorts as prefer (when then can) being self-sufficient.

Mark 85

Re: There was something the Chinese didn't know already?

I'm not sure why military types of each generation believe that they can combine....

The generals who are in charge of doing the initial quotes/specs are all ex-fighter jocks. They don't even like bombers. For details, reference the fact that the brass never wanted the A10 and keep trying to kill it off. The guys on the ground love the A10 and the support it provides. Inter-service "rivalry" prevents the Army and Marines from taking it over.

Mark 85

Re: Really?

For military aircraft you virtually never have enough power.

Very true. The only exception I can think of was the F-15. Intentionally overpowered for intercept duties. Airshow favorite with the ability to take off and before hit the end of the runway, point it's nose up and climb vertically. True, no missiles or bombs for that bit it with missiles for intercept it was quite speedy to get into the air and to altitude.

US senators get digging to find out the truth about FCC DDoS attack

Mark 85

Re: "maintain paper trails to help track ballots and guard against tampering"

Where I live (Oregon) it's all done via mail. They send you the ballot, you mark it up and send it back. Seems to work very well compared to other States I've lived in.

Mark 85

But then certain corporations and "advisors" wouldn't make some pretty big money off the elections.

Would you rather health data or finance data in the cloud?

Mark 85

Re: The proper question is...

From what I read on these august pages is that no data should be stored in the cloud. Especially if the company needed storage hasn't a clue on how to set the permissions, etc.

HP PC boss quits tech for fur baby future

Mark 85

I've never stepped foot into a Petco. Petsmart for grooming (although three's a local lady who does a great job but is usually booked out months in advance), vet for food (special diet) and meds, Target for snacks. No fuss, no muss as I go as close to home as I can find.

Quantum cryptography demo shows no need for ritzy new infrastructure

Mark 85

Meanwhile, MS, Google, Facebook, Amazon etc are trying to make encrypted fibre irrelevant for ordinary folk.

Needs fiber so many, if not most of us in the States will never have access to it.

Creepy software knows what you are about to do... to that poor salad

Mark 85
Big Brother

Unintedned Consequences?

Let them perfect this a bit more and security agencies will be begging for it. Probably airport security such that the AI will see someone reaching in their jacket for a bit of a scratch on an itch and the AI might just assume "reaching for a gun". Hopefully, the AI won't be equipped with a gun of it's own.

Keep your hands on the f*cking wheel! New Tesla update like being taught to drive by your dad

Mark 85

Re: Sigh ...

And the fact some of them are driving Telslas means there's no correlation between wealth and brains.

It's actually called "culling the herd" and maybe should be added to the Darwin Awards as added incentive.

... Aaaand that's a fifth Brit Army Watchkeeper drone to crash in Wales

Mark 85

Re: what are they doing?

You guys put up with alot more of this kind of crap than we yanks would.

Give it time, we'll catch up with them.

Mark 85

Re: Thales...so it couldn't be Thales' fault, could it?

The answer is simple. What are Thales fairly good at? Trains. Cut the wings off, fit two bogies, the new Watchkeeper Railway Drone.

Might work. But, it also would need the upgrade to have a built in "jump off the tracks mode".

Da rude sand storm seizes the Opportunity, threatens to KO rover

Mark 85

Re: A place in history

Wish I could upvote this more than once. You've nailed the problem with the entire US space program. On second thought, it's not just the space program but just about every facet of life today.