Posts by Astrohead

You can never have too many backups. Also, you can never have too many backups

AlphaMicro Systems! Arrgh!

Ah yes - AlphaMicro Systems! I remember that videocassette backup. The newer systems remotely controlled the video recorder as part of the procedure.

On the older systems however.... the video recorder was NOT remotely controlled. So you had to set the video recorder to start recording at a certain time - exactly as if you were trying to record a TV program on a schedule. Then you made sure (tried to make sure) that the backup started shortly afterwards.

Many a happy* day spent searching for the start of the backup which was hopefully somewhere on the tape.

* For a given value of "Happy".

Known software issue grounds Ingenuity Mars copter as it attempted fourth flight

Re: We just need

A Man *FROM* Mars.

Michael Collins, once the world's 'loneliest man,' is dead. If that name means little or nothing to you, read this

RIP Michael Collins

"I am it. If a count were taken, the score would be three billion plus two over on the other side of the moon, and one plus God only knows what on this side"

RIP Michael Collins.

South Africa's state-owned energy firm to appeal after court rules Oracle does not have to support its software

Re: license discounts

"One of my DBA's came across a new feature called RAC many years ago and nearly turned it on. Its a fantastic product"

You had a lucky escape there! RAC is complete and utter pants.

The only thing RAC gives you is the assurance (OK - vague possibility) that one half your RAC database will stay up if the other RAC node crashes.

And the most common cause of RAC node crashes? RAC itself! 99 times out of 100. In fact after 20 years on RAC sites - I have never seen a RAC node go down for anything other than a RAC induced issue.

It only ever made sense if you could not get enough iron to run single instance. Which was only ever likely 20 years ago.

Like I said - a luck escape.

The sooner AI stops trying to mimic human intelligence, the better – as there isn't any

Artificial Stupidity

I'm developing an artificial stupidity system. Progress has been phenomenal.

I think that's primarily due to the vast data set I have to work with.

There may be not one but two new air leaks in International Space Station: Russian boss tells us not to panic

Re: what is this mmHg that you speak of

Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

Dell: 60% of our people won't be going back into an office regularly after COVID-19

Have you thought of the end game?

As per the title - Have you thought of the end game?

So we all Work From Home. And it seems to work OK.

Then the Bean Counters figure out that *where* the Home bit of WFH *is* doesn't really matter.

It could be in Tunbridge Wells. It could also be in Bucharest. Or Mumbai. Or Shanghai.

Once you have established that your staff can work from home - it doesn't really matter where that home is.

I'm not entirely sure that Word War III didn't just happen - and nobody noticed.

And we lost.

NASA's Human Spaceflight boss hits eject a week before SpaceX crew launch

Federal Acquisition Regulation violation

Apparently he was guilty of a Federal Acquisition Regulation violation - namely talking to Boeing and trying to get them to reduce their bid so it fell in line with the other bids.

Which is a massive no-no in the US (as it should be).

Which seems like a dumb way to lose your job - break the law to *try* to help a company win (or be allowed to take part in) a contract - and that company* still screws up so badly they never even got a look in - even after you broke the law to help them.

*Mind you - it's Boing (sic) we are talking about here - so no real surprise - and a huge relief to be honest.

But a pretty stupid way to end your career.

Starliner: Boeing, Boeing... it's back! Borked capsule makes a successful return to Earth

Welcome back Don Jefe

Can I just welcome back an old commentard - Don Jefe - after an absence of 5 years.

I always found your posts interesting. Glad to see you are back. You have been missed.

Regards.

Mark Duckerberg: Second Congressional grilling sees boss dodge questions like a pro

Dr Aleksandr Spectre (Kogan)

Dr Aleksandr Spectre (Kogan)

Spectre?

Really?

Where's 007 when you need him?

HomePod, you say? Sex sex sex, that's all you think about

List of side effects

I was once given a prescription for some heavy duty pain-killers.

After two nosebleeds in two days I decided to look at the leaflet that came with the pain-killers.

The list of possible side effects ran to about 3 foot of very small text. It was in alphabetical order.

Naturally I scanned down to side effects beginning with "N" (for Nosebleeds).

Sure enough "Nosebleeds" was listed, fourth one down on the list of side effects beginning with "N".

It was the first three side effects beginning with "N" that caught my attention though.

These were the first four entries beginning with "N":

No Blood Pressure.

No Breathing.

No Pulse.

Nosebleeds.

I'm pretty sure the first three should have been listed under "D". As in "Dead".

National Museum of Computing rattles the bucket: Help shift war-winning proto-puter

Re: Well-known actor Bandersnatchington Cumperdinklehough

When he got married I was most disappointed that his wife's first initial wasn't "Q".

Meet R2-DILDO: 'Star Wars' sex toys? This is where the fun begins

Luke - use the force. I've run out of lubricant.

2017 is already fail: Let’s try a Chinese reboot

dozidoze

I once saw a sign that said "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board".

Some wag had added "and little lambs eat ivy".

It made me laugh - but then again I am easily pleased.

New MacBook Pro beckons fanbois to become strip pokers

Re: Interesting idea..

PCMCIA = People Can't Memorise Complex Industry Acronyms.

Star Wars: Episode VII trailer lands. You call that a lightsaber? THIS is a lightsaber

A better XKCD

I think this XKCD has a better take on the subject:

http://xkcd.com/1397/