Posts by AbeSapian

Cancel the farewell party. Get back to work. That asteroid isn't going to hit Earth in October

Damn!

I was so looking forward to watching Mar-a-Lago go sput.

Blocking peeps on social media? That's a paddlin' for governors, senators, house reps

Re: The more i read about America...

We fought a war on that topic.

Re: Meh!

The point being that this use of social media constitutes official communication from an elected official. Every one of their constituents has the right to access that information. And if comments are allowed, every one of their constituents has the right to weigh in whether they agree or not, whether they like the official or not.

Microsoft dumps mobility from its Vision

Oooh - So Close and Yet So Far

I guess this means that we can look forward to a Windows 11 that fails to grasp basic computing requirements at a higher level.

Microsoft! I didn't need a bigger tablet. And I don't need a walky-talky that doesn't understand what I need.

Fake Newspaper steals Reg design to spruik storage upstart

Imitation?

While imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, money is the sincerest form of apology.

President Donald Trump taken on by unlikely foe: Badass park rangers

In Another Interesting Turn of Events

Wednesday, the entire senior staff of the Department of State resigned. With Trump's incompetence and total failure to have his own people ready to step into these positions, the State Department is going to be stripped of it's institutional memory of how to conduct it's business. When Tillerson is confirmed (almost a certainty) he's going to be a party of one prowling empty, echoing halls trying to pick up the pieces.

That's going to slow his Putin ass kissing down for a while.

The Washington Post: The State Department’s entire senior administrative team just resigned

Re: Less than a week in the position...

Sadly, remember these are Republicans. The first commandment of being a Republican is "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." These are also most of the same yahoos that tolerated Bush / Cheney for eight years. I'm not holding out much hope for any measure of actual patriotism.from the Republicans, and the Democrats don't have the votes.

So while impeachment or the 25th Amendment is a possibility, it's not a very likely one.

Boffins explain why it takes your Wi-Fi so long to connect

Great! So Maybe We Get A Faster Connection Time

But most of the time is spent in actual communications of actual useful data. How much will that really improve throughput?

We've found a ‘vaccine’ for fake news. Wait! No, we really are Cambridge researchers

Re: So, fight propaganda with propganda, then

Didn't George Orwell have something to say about this?

Make America, wait, what again? US Army may need foreign weapons to keep up

Re: Military-industrial 101

Military spending is the most wasteful spending there is. Built for destruction, once it is used all you have to show for it is a hole in the ground.

Our military budget is greater than the next 10 highest military budgets combined. Yet the sad fact is our performance is not ten times greater than any of those countries. The case might be made for some that we perform worse.

I know it will never happen, but we need a complete, top to bottom overhaul of our military budget. More importantly, we need a complete, top to bottom overhaul of our foreign policy, both political and economic.

I'm not holding my breath or giving up sex in the mean time.

Re: F-35 Su-35

With Trump as Putin's sock puppet, I don't think we'll be opposing Russia for at least the next four years.

Terry Pratchett's self-written documentary to be broadcast in 2017

Don't leave out "Where's My Cow".

Russia to convicted criminal hackers: 'Work with us or jail?'

Siberian President

I don't believe it is going to be the case that Russia will be kicked to the curb. For one thing Trump has too many assets in Russia and is subject to economic blackmail as he is in many countries.

No, Russia has very effectively installed a puppet in the White House. On January 20th, the U.S. will be demoted from superpower to Russian satellite state.

#nyetmypresident

Analysts apply Occam's razor to Tesco Bank breach

Hey, At Least Tesco Refunded The Money

U.S. banks would have simply hoisted the jolly roger to their customers. (c.f. Wells Fargo)

Experts to Congress: You must act on IoT security. Congress: Encourage industry to develop best practices, you say?

Starting with the fact ...

that the IoT is the solution to the problem nobody had. It was then followed by "Oops, we forgot to consider security." It's like bolting a birdcage onto a Chevy and then being surprised that budgie was a little strained on arrival.

Fake election news meltdown vortex sucks in Google

Re: Age-old propaganda trick ....

Karl Rove: Perception is reality. (I'm sure he didn't think that up, but he used it to terrible effect.)

Re: Google vs Wikipedia

So what's left? So called legitimate news sources don't fact check either. It's all one big echo chamber with news sources repeating the same garbage under the disclaimer, "It has been reported that...", which is newspeak for, "we didn't check this out but we like it so we're reporting it anyway."

Tech Trump: Silicon Valley steps into the valley of unhappiness

The Big Loser

As Silicon Valley begins the exodus to friendlier countries, the big loser will be all the towns that built all that infrastructure to support the soon to be empty homes and facilities of SV. SV will be a big shiny ghost town without even a Walmart to blame.

Never to Fear

Business will do what business has always done: Move to another country where they can get what they want at the price they want.

Top smut site stops Flashing, adopts HTML5

Butt, Butt, Butt ...

I thought the whole point of a porn site was to infect your computer.

Sex is bad for older men, and even worse when it's good

My Hope ...

was always to die in bed - shot by a jealous husband.

Bees bring down US stealth fighter

Snake Bit

Is there anything that doesn't go wrong with this gold plated turd?

Forget infrasound, now it's ultrasound that's making you ill (allegedly)

So, in summary:

We don't know if this is anything but we thought we'd throw this scare around because ...

1) it seemed like a good idea at the time?

2) we can?

3) we plan to make some money off this down the road?

Stephen Hawking reckons he's cracked the black hole paradox

Critical Asininity

Here on earth, we're more familiar with the process known as Critical Asininity. That's where your body is sucked up by your rectum and you become a point in space with hair around it. See: Congress.

VW floats catalytic converter as fix for fibbing diesels

This Is No Fix

If the engine software causes it to cheat when hooked up to an emissions analyzer then how can you trust the results just because they slapped a catalytic converter on the car?

Fans demand 'Lemmium' periodic table tribute

Honor Terry Pratchett

Name one of them Narrativium.

UK digital minister asks for input on strategy, lauds 'sharing economy' biz success

Dear Mr. Vaizey

How about setting up an email account to receive all the ideas on how to become more digital.

Death Stars are a waste of time – here's the best way to take over the galaxy

Always Smashing and Bashing

With recursive manufacturing you don't need missiles. Just drop the recursive manufacturing robots on the planet and let them consume all the resources building robot manufacturing factories.

This was explored in the series Stargate. SG1 in the form of the replicators.

Big Brother is born. And we find out 15 years too late to stop him

When You're In The System

When the helicopter flew over, I could feel their eyes- wet, like peaches.

When you're in the system, they switch the flip and then you're done: cell phones, satellites, the Internet ...

- Red

Let's shut down the internet: Republicans vacate their mind bowels

George W. Bush- 2007. Need I say more about the damage these people can do?

Re: A quick guide to US politics

What is most appalling is the complete disconnect in voters minds (as small as they are) between what is said in the primary and what is said in the general election. It's as though the past never happened.

Re: Fucking appalling

If I recall correctly it was either Egypt or Syria that tried this very thing during the Arab Spring uprising. In the end, it failed miserably because people used technology to bypass the shutdown routers and send their messages to countries that were still open.

No it merely suggests that anyone that wants the job should be disqualified from having it.

The unfortunate trend in America of late has been to hire people whose stated goal is to sabotage the job. They've been doing a very good job of it too.

It is true that the 1st amendment allows you to say whatever foolishness comes into your mind. It does not, however, protect you from being ridiculed for it or from consequences that stem from your speech.

Re: None of you morons

I didn't.need this article to tell me that the GOP had long ago crossed the Rubicon into the land of tin hats and drooling. That was most eloquently demonstrated by the Tea Party and its almost complete takeover of right wing thinking (if thinking is the appropriate word for what's been going on in the GOP).

Help! What does 'personal conduct unrelated to operations or financials' mean?

Sexual Harassment

Chasing the ladies around the conference table is the usual unspoken secret for these dismissals.

Scary Trans-Pacific Partnership trade treaty signed off

Of All The Things...

Republicans have made an eight year career out of blocking everything Obama has tried to do, and this obscenity they're going to pass without so much as a glance. If I only had a flame thrower.

Pentagon on manual mission to build nation-wide security database

What Me Worry?

I'm not so worried about the ICBMs as I am the fridges.

NSW to give more IT money to Department of Education

So Let Me Get This Straight

They're telling NSW they can have AUD$50M for their colleges if they close and sell off their colleges?

Watchdogs roughed up for picking Morocco (of all places) for next privacy 'World Cup'

On The Other Hand

It could be a chance to bring the Word to the heathen ... but I doubt it.

Canadians taking to spying on their spies

What The Hell Happened to Canada

Canada used to be so reasonable. They'd apologize for being helpful. What happened to them.

I think the Canadians need to stand at the border with fans blowing south to drive away whatever is contaminating them from the U.S.

Biz that OK'd Edward Snowden for security clearance is fined $30m for obvious reasons

Ah, The Joys of Privatization

Which of these phrases best summarizes the situation:

1. You get what you pay for.

2. If you want a job done right ...

3. A fool and his money ...

Would YOU make 400 people homeless for an extra $16m? Decision time in Silicon Valley

Re: Or...

Sadly U.S. tax laws would treat any payment to residents not financially vested in the property as gifts. Gifts over $14,000 are taxed. The tax is paid by the grantor, not the recipient.

BBC (sort of) sorry for Grant Shapps Wikipedia smear reportage

Sounds Like a Bad Infestation of Fox To Me

Is the Guardian owned by Rupert Murdoch?

Do androids dream of herding electric sheep?

Predator

Unless it comes with Hellfire missiles, it won't be much good defending against predators.

Ding Dong, ALIENS CALLING

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The good news is warp drive is still on the table.

The bad news is everyone waiting for you will be toast on your arrival.

The ugly news is this sounds like a great weapon.

This ISN'T Net Neutrality. This is Net Google. This is Net Netflix – the FCC's new masters

There Is No Free Market

The Telcos, cable companies and wireless companies are the principal ISPs in the U.S. There are open air wireless providers but they are small scale and hampered by terrain. For the cable companies (Comcast, Charter, etc.) and the telcos (AT&T, etc.) the 1996 Telecommunications Act guaranteed that these companies are regional monopolies. They are granted a territory in which no other wired provider of the same type may operate. This has allowed the creation of ghettos. Areas too expensive to build out to, not covered by high speed internet. And the open air wireless providers don't fill the gap. Nor has the FCC or the FTC enforced any provision to cover the ghettos.

We have no self-control: America's most powerful men explain why they're scared of email

More Than Enough Damage

We already knew this. But fear not Graham and McCain. You manage to do more than enough stupid with ordinary mail.

Sony's super-frumpy SmartEyeglass goggles are $840 Google Glasses

To Make This a Usful Product

Up the battery life to 16 hours and make the lenses programmable to one's prescription.

Over 50? Out of work? Watch out because IT is about to eat itself

Legacy

The real fun comes with all the legacy software. KROCs (Kids Right Out of College) haven't a clue what to do with it. Here''s where you reincarnate as a consultant and clean up.

Most of these systems are too big to simply replace enmasse though ultimately they'll have to be to take advantage of new hardware capabilities and new languages the kids can support. In the mean time, the legacy stuff still has to be supported.