* Posts by Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

1143 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Feb 2013

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Bill Gates' nuclear firm plans hot, salty push into power

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: No Radiation?

"Nothing is 'over' if you want to describe it in absolute terms."

"The only truly safe reactor (in terms of public health) is one that needs no emergency plan."

In absolute terms, nothing is 'safe'. I'm unable to think of even one useful process (mathematics and mental abstractions excluded), which is so absolutely safe that it does not need an emergency plan.

Knitting? Nope. Not even that. Couple of ways to get hurt. Emergency plans may be very simple, and unwritten, but they have to exist.

So, using absolute terms, and thinking in absolutes, is an universal problem. An absolute guarantee of veering into an absolute nonsense. Not to mention spoiling a good conversation every now and then.

WD: Enjoying our $630m, Seagate? Let's ruin your day with our results

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: YMMV

Words of wisdom. There is no brand that is absolutely reliable. Better to treat drives as a commodity, not some fashion item, and get those backups running.

Oh, and SMART is anything but.

Surface RT: A plan worthy of the South Park Underpants Gnomes

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Not only Surface RT

Courier seemed to be quite promising. Alas, designers "forgot" to include Outlook.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/01/the_death_of_the_courier/

Maybe Courier is now haunting in the halls of Redmond?

How our shaken Reg Playmonaut survived a 113,000ft stratodangle

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Too bad it did not work out.

Probably saved those for a next endeavour, with wings and nuts.

Bungled Hitachi SAN upgrade halts Oregon benefit payments

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Got that in writing? 100% is nigh impossible to achieve.

6Gbps is for FOOLS! Now THIS is what we call a SAS adapter - LSI

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Yep, these seem to be shipped with IT firmware by default. No downloads for IR firmware as yet. Something to keep in mind.

Microsoft: 'Google's secret government meetings let it avoid import ban' - Report

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: The title is not the patent!

Good point. Read the full thing before jumping at it.

However, in far too many cases, full text is even worse. Like those business patents are - buy cheap, sell expensive, pocket the difference. And a lot of foam to hide these simple "algorithms".

Forget Snowden: What have we learned about the NSA?

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

gent forum spies

"What is it with you COINTELPRO guys and your roman names?"

"'titus' 'sparacus' etc. over and over again the same misdirections and the same theme to your screen names, and the same old 'it's old news' (item 8. Dismiss the charges as old news)"

Oh, my dear Hieronymus. That is a dangerous path you are walking.

Spies can rarely be caught with such a bullet list - it gives too much false positives to be useful. If anything, it provides a good noise cover for the actual spies.

Actually, that was a huge understatement. Pretty much every forum-dweller violates a few points on that list. So we are all agents of...COINTELPRO. Grr. What was wrong with the old-fashioned three-letter acronyms?

Anyway. We're all agents.

Yes, yes. Me and you, and world + dog.

WE ARE ALL ASPARAGUS !!

And on the serious note - obsessively hunting for enemies is never a good thing. Don't. Just don't.

Societies, which become too obsessed with witchhunts, will collapse eventually.

Individuals, who are hellbent on fighting with monsters, either lose their souls and become monsters themselves, or in a better case, become ridiculous like don Quixote.

Asperger's and IT

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Getting Diagnosed

Yes, it seems to be a smooth spectrum, so any lines are drawn rather arbitrarily. But overdiagnosing should be a lesser sin than underdiagnosing. Better safe(r) than sorry.

Are you sure about epilepsy tests? AFAIK epilepsy diagnosis is issued only when all other reasons (cardiovascular etc) are excluded. But it may be different in US.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: On line test

Thinking of online tests as something meaningful earns you 10 extra points.

But seriously - not all points are of equal weight, and some are dependent on context. Do not judge all by yourself.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: A touch of Asperger's ...

Nah, misanthropy is too easy to fake. Lots of wannabes toddling around, full of fake angst.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Little Johnny's name

If you are looking for something fashionable, then acute logorrhea is a good choice.

Microsoft waves goodbye to Small Business Server

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
Childcatcher

Re: @AC 11 Jul 2013 10:45

Fair enough.

Although it could be better to drop that phrase altogether. It smells funny by now. Edge cases and exceptions are a good way to test validity of the rule, but most of the people just do not bother, it is much easier to declare their assertions correct, and any objections as "exceptions that prove the rule".

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Typical, misguided Microsoft

Maybe those costs are not so prohibitive. Initial costs are likely higher, but you may achieve better reliability and lower operating costs in return. If you plan wisely, that is.

Mostly an issue of trust, as with all those hosty-cloudy affairs.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: @AC 11 Jul 2013 10:45

"In fact, it is the exception that proves the rule...."

Sure about that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule

Human error blamed for toxic Russian rocket explosion

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: @ Cliff

"If someone swaps two wires in a connector or on a component"

This.

Unidirectional connectors can reduce human errors, but not eliminate them. Did we really think that Murphy is so easy to defeat?

Next suggestion: Use a machine! Now we're immune against human errors and Murphy's laws. He he.

Microsoft splurges on single sign ons with Active Directory update

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
Pint

Re: The world turns

"What a stupid comparison. People choose to deploy and use AD. We don't chose to have horses shit and then eat it."

Logical fallacies are already stupid things (assuming they are not used with malicious intent), so a little bit of mockery does not make it any worse.

Of course, it is very hard to avoid fallacies entirely, but it is certainly worth trying. Fallacious argument is like a division by zero, it causes some really nasty bugs in the thought process. Can't think of any truly benign reasons to use them.

Cheers!

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: The world turns

"You really think that AD is shit and yet has gained massive acceptance and popularity from small business to massive enterprise?"

'Argumentum ad populum' may backfire quite badly here. Its vulgar translation is "zillions of flies can not be wrong, horse manure is the most delicious food on the planet".

HP admits to backdoors in storage products

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

yep, what exactly was wrong with the physical switch?

Config reset switch may cause trouble, if it is a temptingly looking red button on the back panel. Inside the controller unit it's reasonably secure. Certainly better than any remote access solutions.

Perhaps it was done for the so-called "dark sites" with no permanent staff? But still not a good explanation. In that case, driving n+n miles would be a proper punishment for screwing up.

Dell explores wearable computing as PC base crumbles

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: really? Nobody saw the iPad coming? Netbooks HELLO!

Whichever way it was, iPad was not susceptible to these problems.

Microsoft's murder most foul: TechNet is dead

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
Big Brother

Re: TechNet Moaning

You may think that we have always been at war with Oceania, and Trevor has to do some heavy lifting to disprove that.

Only we haven't quite reached that point yet. MicroLuv still has some work to do.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Now is the time?

"TechNet allowed me to get the disc for most Microsoft products without having to buy each individual product. You don't know how valuable a service that is."

It is quite easy to know the cost of something, but value is mostly guesstimated. Which does not fly well with beancounters.

Now, however, a proper test shall be done. Offending cost is eliminated, corresponding value drop becomes measurable, and some completely wrong conclusions can be drawn.

Win 8 man Sinofsky's 'retirement' deal: $14m shares, oath of silence

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: I'll believe in a conspiracy...

"You do when it turns out that the 'hammer' you thought you were buying turns out to be an orange on a stick."

"You don't. Builders don't tend to talk like that."

They would say "It's crap. Gimme another." But then you would deride them anyway.

Eww! What have you done to the layout?

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Flat UI, social integration, etc...

...are stroking the fur in the wrong way for many commentards here.

Oh, well, some more foreign domains get routed to 127.0.0.1. That's not too troublesome. At least not enough to consider invoking some ancient curses.

But please, think hard about what kind of demographic you want to keep around.

Boston U claims LED patent, files against tech giants

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Timing?

"It was likely a facepalm moment - when while researching patent trolling, they realized they could get in on the action themselves."

Like a real-world experiment to accompany the research. Nice.

Andreessen, Metcalfe, Stallman and Swartz added to Internet Hall of Fame

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Wott??

That was what he was *reported* to have said. But was that an accurate reporting?

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Gore

Big browser builders scramble to fix cross-platform zero-day flaw

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: A true cross-platform vulnerability that affects all browsers

Or webmasters?

Buttons, which do not reveal their destinations, are plain evil.

Mouseover events triggering JS are plain evil.

Mystery meat navigation - silly, but evil nonetheless.

Fortunately we can cross off the dreaded iframes, as those seem to be out of fashion now.

Google gives vendors seven-day bug disclosure deadline

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Android patches?

Somewhere next week we can expect some security patches for the Android 2.x line, then.

Or perhaps not.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
Coat

Re: so many software companies are in it for the quick buck

Could be "to", too.

/just had to/

SAP in search of autistic software engineers who 'think different'

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Don't expend the effort worrying about it, it's a red herring.

"Most normal people don't understand other people either."

Yes, quite a lot of them are just faking it. And usually get away with this.

What's funny about that - quite frequently, an Aspie is able to do a much better job in understanding, because his (no offence, it's prevalently "he" we're talking about) raw intellectual power can do wonders. It allows to cobble together a crude mental model of the other person, simulate some inputs/outputs on that model, and select the most appropriate response to the situation. Much better than just guessing and faking.

Spam and the Byzantine Empire: How Bitcoin tech REALLY works

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: @ST7

Really?

There was a nearly perfect testbed for this theory. Soviet Union.

Its government had nearly unlimited power over the financial system, and not just that - pretty much all the means of production were state-owned, or at least tightly controlled. There was no private sector to worry about. Especially no private banking.

The Iron Curtain was very effective against any foreign influences to the currency. Until the 70's, foreign trade was extremely low - most of the necessary goods were produced domestically.

And still, every time they printed money on the grand scale, it resulted in a heavy inflation:

- after WWII, which was obviously a difficult time

- before and after 1961 currency reform (this new currency was nearly destroyed by the inflation, which was one of the factors leading to the 1964 regime change)

- at the end of 70's, when war in Afganistan and Olympic Games needed financing

This last money-printing affair was so extensive that SU never really recovered from that. Inflation grew much worse during the 80's, ending with the true hyperinflation.

Of course, there were other factors to the economic collapse, but money-printing and excessive spending were definitely the worst culprits. And, to remind once more, in a relatively isolated environment.

Next Xbox to be called ‘Xbox Infinity’... er... ‘Xbox’

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
Coat

Re: Internet connection required

Power failure is relatively easy to work around. Few 12V batteries + car adapter can power a laptop for days. And it's probably not too geeky to possess such artifacts.

Resisting all that newfangled onlineware is a much more daunting task. This will certainly draw lots of suspicion, accusations, insults. From relatively mild "what's wrong with being online" and "that's where the technology is evolving", to more hysterical accusations of general backwardness. Eventually reaching for the accusations of evil geekery.

/a no-line coat, thank you very much/

Movie review: Oblivion

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Slightly off topic

"Stalker" was also shot inside the abandoned power station.

And as the story goes (too lazy to look for the citations), first version of "Stalker" was simply lost upon completion. So they had to shoot it again, with a few remaining scraps of the budget, and quite differently.

Finance bods probe RBS over bank-crippling IT cock-up

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Not outsourced

Ah, yes. Curse of the Mythical Man-Month.

So many times has this beast been unleashed by the overconfident fools, who have just learned to put some simple numbers together, and got a feeling like they have now mastered Great Secrets of the Universe.

Always fun to watch. With a hint of guilt and sadness.

Apple share-price-off-a-cliff: Told you that would happen

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Big plush offices

Had a city tour once. During some financial crisis.

"And this is the centre of our city. Every big building you see here - their cost was exactly one bank per building".

New nuke could POWER WORLD UNTIL 2083

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: Practical Solutions

Ability to re-use some of the nuclear waste, as MSR and "travelling wave" designs are promising, is an enormous incentive. 700 millions is peanuts compared to that.

Probably correct about military, though. They need mostly mobile designs, as compact as possible, and they can use highly enriched fuel to achieve this.

Then again - there are talks that Navy has several long-shot projects underway.

Like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell#FY_2012_Work

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: salt plug

Some of those all-caps came from the paper, but the line "ACTUALLY RAN a MSR" came from you. It carried quite a lot of emotional bias. Not to mention that Andy's educated guess is quite different from a speculation.

OK, from my part it would have been better, if I had separated general ranting into a separate comment. Most of it was not about you personally. Then again, it shouldn't be a big problem, there were enough clues of ranting and jesting available in the comment.

One full agreement too. 50MW+ online plant would be a better test of viability. Most of the scaling issues would be apparent at that point.

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: salt plug

What on earth are you doing? Deriding a knowledgeable man with a misapplied citation, and as if that was not enough, spicing it up with ALL CAPS?

Problem is, that citation applies to a low-power experimental reactor. Even fusion is easy to achieve on that level.

Remember the Farnsworth device? Many geeks have built one at home. Of course, conveniently forgetting to tell their significant others, what they are actually up to. Some people just cannot cope with the knowledge of free neutrons flying around.

Andydaws, on the other hand, was talking about industrial scale. 1,21 jigawatts or thereabouts. Even a thing so simple as a piece of wire becomes a monster at the kiloamper scale - harder to calculate, harder to produce, harder to maintain. And most of the difficulties tend to increase exponentially.

Well, I've grown weary of all the thorium talk. It has definitely gone beyond technical - infinite repeats of the same old cliche's, from the thousands. It is a matter of faith now. Repeated like a mantra, propagated like a myth. Perhaps more plausible than some other myths, and it has chances to become a reality, but still a myth at the current stage. All puns fully intended.

Yes, thorium cycle looks so promising on the paper.

Yes, there is lots of thorium available.

Yes, there was a successful test reactor running in the sixties.

As for the "killed by the military-industrial complex" meme - well, duh. No.

Yes, it could be shut down for the weekends, unlike conventional reactors.

Yes, it could be cleaned out and refuelled relatively easily.

Yes, it could be started quite easily.

But there is another side to that coin, which gets so thoroughly ignored, so thoroughly rejected. Another telltale sign of a mythology instead of technology.

They could shut it down periodically - but then again, they absolutely had to. Reaction was not sustainable for the long periods. Removal of the inhibitors is extremely difficult here, as Andy has explained so many times. It needs a major breakthrough to become viable. And sadly, miracles are quite rare in that field.

They could shut it down quickly - but mainly because of the small size. Some of the residual heat could be absorbed in the structure and could be safely left there for a weekend. Few degrees one way or another did not matter much.

More power, more heat to remove - much slower shutdown sequences (yes, well, reaction stops quickly, but it takes many weekends before the reactor can be touched again)

Startup sequences suffer from the same effect - it takes quite a lot of time and work to get to the proper operating range.

They could clean it rather easily - again, because of the small scales involved. Many miles of plumbing and many tons of nasty substances are a much different story. And online cleaning is next to impossible right now.

Bottom line - this test reactor did confirm that the thorium cycle actually works. Which is wonderful. But those technical solutions do not scale much beyond that capacity point.

Boeing outlines fix for 787 batteries

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad
Coat

Re: So...

Either that, or zillions of tiny lightnings decided to group together, and form an all-too-powerful chain lightning.

Yes, there are only precious few, who are able to tame such a force.

Even your humble servant has grown lazy over the aeons. Now I'm quite content to spend my days herding the tiny lightnings around their green pastures. Not to mention that people do not object so much.

But sometimes I miss the old days. Great flashes turning nights into days, mighty roars shaking the ground, and of course, that unforgettable smell of the fresh ozone... Ahh.

/mine's the one resembling a Faraday cage/

Linus Torvalds in NSFW Red Hat rant

Solmyr ibn Wali Barad

Re: If I were in Linus' shoes

"business continuity risk", "lock in", "lack of second sourcing", "critical uncontrolled dependencies"

This spell does sound ominously powerful. With the slight hint of black magic.

Was it meant to be chanted before or after dismemberment?

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