Posts by a_yank_lurker

How hot is it right now? 'Water park catching fire and burning down' hot

Re: Follow up?

At least is not the Cayuhoga River as it meandered through The Mistake on the Lake (Cleveland, OH), which did catch fire on several occasions.

Amazon notices Apple, Google cutting app store commission rates, follows suit

Credit Cards vs Apps

While the app store commissions probably are be excessive, the comparison to credit cards is not exactly 'apples to apples'. Credit cards potentially generate 2 revenue streams: fees to the vendor and interest charges to the card holders. Depending on one's credit worthiness the interest rates can be in the same range as the app store commissions. App stores only have 1 revenue stream, a commission on each sale through the store. I have not looked at what the realistic costs are of running an app store is but it does cost someone money to run. Thus the commission is not pure profit only mostly profit.

New York congressman puts forward federal right-to-repair bill

Common Sense Repairs

Most people have a strong sense of their limits to repair something. There are many devices if something fails it's time to take it to the shop. However, as a consumer I should be able to pick the shop who does the repairs.

By making devices repairable, things like replacing batteries and opening cases without funky screw drivers will be easier.

Re: It'll die on Party lines.

I don't think so as this is pain point with many groups some who are staunchly elephants and not donkeys.

A hotline to His Billness? Or a guard having a bit of a giggle?

Opposite Situation

I once worked for a German company with English Managing Director at the time in Feraldom. I was the last person in the office late on day and got a phone call asking to speak to the MD who was in the Fatherland. I tried explaining to the idiot that the MD was not available and I did not have his personal US number (which did not exist). The idiot called back several times always getting me. The idiot was trying to sell some useless software and got our information because the MD had used the US office for his contact information on some software he had bought while visiting us.

Three million job cuts coming at Indian services giants by next year, says Bank of America

Re: Who cares ?

The emphasis on demographics is based on the low overall Chinese birth rate and rapid aging of their population. At some point there are too many elderly who are retired and not spending much money and not enough workers to pay the necessary taxes to pay for all the government spending. To be fair, China is not the only country with demographic problems.

Re: Who cares ?

Feraldom is at a crossroads were our power will probably diminish not to China to but India. China has serious, largely under reported problems such demographics that indicate China is peaking now and will begin a steady decline roughly paralleling Feraldom. India, while having its problems (all countries do) seems to better poised to become a stable superpower.

Toyota reveals its work on an honest-to-goodness cloak of invisibility

Interesting

Interesting Toyota is doing this for better all around vision not to hide something. I wonder how far along some black cloaking project is?

Mensa data spillage was due to 'unauthorised internal download'

Meaning of "I"

<snark> Does the "I" stand Ignorance, Idiocy, or Incompetence? </snark>

Mark it in your diaries: 14 October 2025 is the end of Windows 10

Re: 2025? That long?

Most consumers never directly paid for Bloatware-as-a-Disservice/Disgrace. It was part of the box they paid for once. The proposed subscription model might cause an exodus. The other events would push some away for BaaD over time, those who are more tech savvy or willing to put up with a Fruity solution.

Amazon exec's husband jailed for two years for insider trading. Yes, with Amazon stock

Rock Level Stupidity

I just did my annual insider trading course at work. One point they mentioned is having family members act on your behalf is considered insider trading by you. Also, the information has to available to public for a day before an insider can trade on it. Sounds like a good way to have a very lengthy vacation at Club Fed; all expense paid.

Would-be AWS bomber pleads guilty, faces 5 to 20 years behind bars for plot to take out government servers

Which is smarter?

This guy sounds like he would have trouble carrying on a conversation with the vast intellect of your average rock. Buying explosives is not the easiest thing to do as governments are understandably nervous about idiots with things that go boom. Also, making explosives often requires buying regulated chemicals or industrial scale chemicals. Plus, large cloud providers have many, many data centers so taking out 1 or 2 would be more of an aggravation assuming he could close enough to real damage.

Photographer seeks $12m in copyright damages over claims Capcom ripped off her snaps in Resident Evil 4 art

Re: Right:

The photograph itself is covered by copyright. The underlying object(s) do not need to be copyrightable themselves. Otherwise a still life or other images could never be copyrighted. So her images are covered by copyright even if they are images of objects that are rather mundane like a brick wall.

Re: Uncertain

Leonard French posted a commentary about the lawsuit. It does appear there is solid case to get to discovery at a minimum. However, he points out a subtle difference in copyright law about photographs. The photographer owns the copyright to the actual photograph but usually does not own any copyright to object(s) in the photographs. So if another source was used of very similar images (better have some very serious paperwork) to hers there is no claim. So the underlying question is not infringement yet but the source of the images.

Also, French noted that in the lawsuit itself, the CD provided were low resolution images. High resolution images are available for her after signing an appropriate contract, as noted in the lawsuit. If these are high resolution images, this implies intermediary misrepresented their ownership or rights to images. I have not seen were anyone has verified the resolution of the images themselves.

Uncertain

While sympathetic to my fellow photographer, I am uncertain how many of the images were purloined; note I have not seen any of the images. My experience is many images take by different photographers often strongly resemble each other. Depending on how each is cropped and processed it is possible to confuse them. The number claimed is suspicious and points to the possibility of infringement. However, we do not know the source used and some stock photo houses are not the most ethical operations.

I can see infringement actually occurring but the real culprit being a third party that illegally licensed them to the developers. Alternately, I can see the developers not paying attention to the fact ALL photographs are copyrighted like any other work and infringing carelessly. A common misunderstanding is how copyright law treats photographs as many assume they are not copyrighted when in fact they are.

Google ad biz shenanigans smacked down by French competition regulators

Death by a Thousand Nibbles?

Now if others would hit Chocolate Factory and the other Silly Valley scum with repeated bites they might reform once the total starts having a material impact on their profits; Wall Street will be outraged if they lose money.

Oracle hits UK reseller with lawsuit for allegedly reselling grey market Sun hardware

Used Kit

I am not familiar with the kit in question but many have pointed out it is probably used, refurbished kit. As general rule of law in Feraldom, once the ownership has transferred to the customer the customer can resell the kit whenever they want. It does not matter what the kit is. In some industries there are companies that specialize in buy, refurbishing, and reselling used kit. In some industries the new kit retailers and the OEM will sell refurbished kit.

This appears it's Minions being Minions because Leisure Suit Larry wants a new island.

Thanks, boss. The accidental creation of a lights-out data centre – what a fun surprise

From the dark ages

With your best German accent, from the dark ages:

ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!

Das computermachine ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mitten grabben.

Ist easy schnappen der springen werk, blowenfusen und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.

Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.

Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.

from http://www.astrodigital.org/digital/achtung.html

Android banking malware sharply increased in the first chunk of 2021, reckons ESET

Re: Phone Banking

Even with Bloatware as a Disservice, it is harder to intercept the signal and the device is harder to get access to and or steal. Any wireless signal can be intercepted; it is a radio signal. Depending on the quality or even the presence of encryption, the signal could be read fair easily. All phones are much easier to lose or steal and are more likely used outside the home or office than a desktop.

Phone Banking

Using any phone for banking has always seemed dubious to me. Too many ways things can go sideways were some miscreant can get your financial data. I personally only use a wired connection from a desktop computer to do online financial transactions and banking. Not immune but much harder to get at my information.

Supreme Court narrows Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: Misusing access not quite the same as breaking in

Real Issue

I suspect the CFAA was the broadest law with the harshest sentence the shyster DA could go with. I would be surprised if he could not be nailed on another law with a more lenient sentence. But the CFAA is still an incompetently written law that needs to be scrapped but I doubt 'America's Criminal Class' aka Congress will be arsed to do anything about it.

Wyoming powers ahead with Bill Gates-backed sodium-cooled nuclear generation plant

Na Reactors

Silly Billy should do his research, sodium cooled reactors have been used off and on since the 50s including in submarines (USN definitely, not sure about the USSR). There were technical issues inherent in using sodium that made PWR/BWR reactors more reasonable options. Liquid sodium is not an easy material to work with. Also, as noted above, thorium reactors would be a better technology to commercialize.

Oracle accused of eating software maker's lunch with hostile hiring, trade secret theft

Non Compete Agreements

Depending on the state, a non-compete agreement basically means you cannot take the previous employer's files, documents, etc. with you to a new job. The knowledge in your brain goes. In other states, there may be an enforceable break between jobs if the non-compete applies. Courts have generally, when they have ruled, frowned on the enforceable breaks between jobs but its not universal and sometimes is dependent on the type of position. As far as FL law, I have idea what the details of a what a valid non-compete agreement is.

I suspect the poaching by Oracle is legal even if it might be ethically dubious.

Four women suing Google for pay discrimination just had their lawsuit upgraded to a $600m class action

Re: Silly Valley Ethics and Morals

Having payed attention to how Silly Valley treats employees I am not surprised they end up in employment lawsuits.

Silly Valley Ethics and Morals

As a grey beard, it appears to me the underlying problem is an overall lack of ethics and morals in Silly Valley as many are in court being sued for discrimination, unlawful firing, etc. If you try to treat everyone the same and with dignity and respect many of these suits will disappear, the aggrieved not aggrieved. Often the suits reflect there is pervasive mistreatment of staff by manglement as only a fraction who could will sue. The fact that enough people have a decent enough case to make this far should be a wake up call to manglement. The question is not the existence of a suit but number and scope of the suits. Some suits will be dubious attempts to 'get even' but there will be some that are genuine and point to more pervasive problem. As the number of suits increases the more likely any given suit is legitimate.

TCP alternative QUIC reaches IETF's Standards Track after eight years of evolution

Re: 12 year loop

The tendency of companies not to keep lifers around also compounds this. Often no one knows the full history of something which causes needless 'reinvention' as the current staff tries to figure out way something was done X years ago.

Apple sued in nightmare case involving teen wrongly accused of shoplifting, driver's permit used by impostor, and unreliable facial-rec tech

Idiots training Artificial Idiocy

There is a significant difference between 5'7" and 6'1" even you otherwise resemble each other. It is 6 inches (152.4 mm) difference. That should be obvious to anyone other than an idiot or artificial idiocy. NY and NJ had a habit of issuing drivers license sans picture when other allegedly more backward states like GA were issuing ones with pictures on them.

Back to the office: Workday hiring 20% more Workdayers in anticipation of postponed projects opening up

Back to the House of Horrors

Somebody is trying to give Leo the Galactic Idiot a run for his money. Many have found that wfh has many advantages like no commute, more flexible hours.

Facial recog firm Clearview hit with complaints in France, Austria, Italy, Greece and the UK

Copyright Infringement

If the image has been registered with US Library of Congress, someone could sue them for significant change and court costs in Feraldom.

Man found dead inside model dinosaur after climbing in to retrieve phone

Darwin Award?

Is the deceased entitled to at least an honorable mention?

Help wanted, work from anywhere ... except if you're located in Colorado

Bad Execution of Good Intentions

Since many jurisdictions do not require posting the salary range for a position this puts CO residents at a disadvantage. The idea of requiring the salary range is on paper a good idea, it gives idea of the skills required and seniority level. But if other jurisdictions do not require informing prospects the salary range companies will often opt not to put this information out.

What CO failed to realize is there may be some reasonable commercial reasons for not posting a salary range as it might tip off competitors of what the business is planning or doing.

Cloudflare stops offering to block LGBTQ webpages

Filtering When

I could see filtering content not appropriate for a workplace/school on a workplace/school network. The devil is defining what is not appropriate and setting up the appropriate filters. I suspect any specific filter will offend someone, somewhere because they believe it inappropriate that a network should block content cluttering up the network.

I am reminded of the old song by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggee about network administrators - do not irritate the network admin because 'he knows about all the porn' you have been downloading.

Twitter: Our AI image-cropping algorithm is biased toward White people, women

Re: Subject vs Artificial Idiocy

Fair point as I despise Twatter and selfies. Both are for narcissists only. I need to think like a Twatter user not a photographer.

Subject vs Artificial Idiocy

As an serious amateur photographer I sometimes take a photo of a scene with people in it. They may be facing the camera but they are not focus of the scene. Often landscape photographers will have a person in the photo to provide a sense of depth and scale. In some photos, people may provide a setting for the scene but are otherwise not critical.

So how does artificial idiocy know what the subject of the photo is? Without asking the photographer it is just guessing.

Internet Explorer downgraded to 'Walking Dead' status as Microsoft sets date for demise

Imbecile Explorer

The Rejects of Redmond are finally putting Imbecile Explorer out of its misery much to the joy anyone but a PHB.

Keeping track of one cloud provider's data products is a 'full-time job' so forget mixing and matching, says Gartner

Really?

For most using one cloud provider probably is the sensible option. And for many it probably does not really matter which one. But there will be a few who should use specific tools from each provider. It is more about knowing what each offers and what your needs are than reading some drivel from Gartner.

Colonial Pipeline suffers server gremlins, says it's not due to another ransomware infection

Returning to Normal

Living in the affected area, gas (petrol) is becoming easier to find though there are still spot outages at the retail level. I have been able find gas near me without any problem. It looks like we will back to normal in about a week or so. The 'official' start of the summer season starts the Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May) so returning to normal will be most welcome.

Oracle sues Envisage claiming unauthorized database use amid licensing crackdown

Mafia and Ethics

The Mafia has better ethics that Leisure Larry's Minions.

Cloudflare launches campaign to ‘end the madness’ of CAPTCHAs

Re: Hardware dongles?

You missed a couple of problems with diaper brigade in programming. They assume you can read poor contrast between the text and background. There is reason black text (or very dark text) on a whitish background is used. Another is a fondness for very small font sizes that are difficult for those whose eyes are a wee bit old.

Facebook: Nice iOS app of ours you have there, would be a shame if you had to pay for it

Re: Why Is Advertising So Crap

The point is context of the search. In some cases the context is much easier to infer but other cases it is not as easy. Spare parts are pretty easy. It is more than likely you are searching for parts for either a repair shop or yourself. But a search for a computer or lawn mower, not so much. Who was the purchase for is part of the context. One might be buying a lawn mower as a gift for someone outside the household. Also, the timeline of the purchase, if any, is important. Is the purchase planned for the future or is it more immediate.

Re: Why Is Advertising So Crap

Targeted advertising is a fraudulent concept. There is no context on why one searched for or bought something. Was it curiosity? Was it a need? Need a new car? For a kid? I think normal people get the idea. Also, many purchases are essentially one-off. The new car, idiot box, etc. will last several years if over a decade. When the ad for a car for example would be effective is before you purchase; something the is very difficult to tease out.

Google will make you use two-step verification to login

Re: Contrarian Opinion

I did not mention I only use a wired connection from a desktop when I do any online shopping or financial activities. Call me paranoid but someone is going to have a hard time getting my credentials and there are much easier prey available. It's not that it cannot happen to me, it's just there easier targets than me around.

Contrarian Opinion

The problems with passwords are reuse when they should not be and idiotic password requirements. As a couple have noted, reusing passwords on burner accounts is usually fine. However, as noted, each site with financial information stored on it should have its own, lengthy password. I use a password manager to generate and store passwords locally, they are never stored online. Many sites limit the length of passwords to about 20 characters; I prefer much longer ones.

The real issue is not 2FA or passwords but that too many conduct all their financial business on a mobile (not necessarily a phone) device in public places. Places that are often not very secure. Also, with devices that can be easily nicked.

Nasdaq's 32-bit code can't handle Berkshire Hathaway's monster share price

Re: Bah!

The problems with floating points is widely known if you bother look around. I have 35 year texts that discuss fp problems in calculations. But I wonder how many 'programmers' bothered to consider these issues when writing their code for their Pile it Higher and Deeper feces. Which raises the question how many computer analyses are actually correct.

Stock splits have had a contentious history. In the Robber Baron era over here stock splits were generally considered almost a form of fraud and was called 'watering' the stock.

Yahoo! and! AOL! sold! for! $5bn! as! Verizon! abandons! media! empire! dreams!

PT Barnum

I am reminded of the quote ascribed to PT Barnum: "There is a sucker born every minute". I am surprised anyone would spend $5bn for the lot, more line $5 would be fair price for those dumpster fires.

More than 1,000 humans fail to beat AI contender in top crossword battle

Re: they can [be] solved by an algorithm the uses a dictionary that cross-references clues

For a computer solution, a brute force solution is always possible for many puzzle games though it will be slow for a computer but probably much faster than any human. A more elegant algorithm that displays a deeper knowledge of the puzzle by the programmer should be faster yet. But if the competition the elegance of the computer solution is probably not critical.

Crossword Puzzles

Crossword puzzles are really tests of vocabulary and interpretation of clues. While they do require some skill, they can solved by an algorithm the uses a dictionary that cross-references clues. Often a partially filled out solution can be 'guessed' in a US crossword puzzle by the fact there are only a couple of words that fit the remaining spaces.

A properly programmed computer should always beat humans because it is much faster at searching data sources than a human can ever be. This really proves nothing to anyone who has worked with computers and programming.

Intel laid me off for being too old, engineer claims in lawsuit

Re: Why?

Because they are young and stupid. At my antiquity, I have little patience for these games. I had a manager who loved to play "Buzzword Bingo" when some of the C-suite would give a presentation.

Appeals court nixes online blueprint sharing ban on 3D-printed 'ghost guns'

Question

I have not looked at the drawings or the bill of materials for these guns but knowing something about metallurgy I wonder about how the parts are heat treated so they have the correct properties so they are safe for the user. History is littered with stories of firearms and artillery blowing up because of metallurgical issues with the available alloys of the period.

Another issue is the tolerances of parts as that was an issue back in the day with early breech loaders. Breech loading firearms were not particularly safe or reliable until the development of brass cartridges in the 1860's/1870's. Part of the problem was poor sealing of the breech allowing gases to leak into the user's face.

Outside of metal working hobbyists who might do this to say they did it I do not see this being a practical way for most to obtain a reliable gun. But our various members of our native criminal class are not known to let little details lack facts get in the way of their narrative.