Posts by Grinning Bandicoot

Cops love facial recognition, and withholding info on its use from the courts

Cameras

There are a lot of assumptions that are built into any camera derived machine generated IDs. 1) the camera lens is clean and does not have any flaws. 2) The algorithm used adjusts for non optimal view or distortions in its view. An excellent example is Google Earth handling of overpasses; you know those funny shaped dips where two highways cross. 3) Laziness on behalf of the low-bid agency doing the interpretation. Look at enough pictures long enough and they begin to lose their distinctiveness to coin a neologism. Start with one million suspects, winnow down to a dozen and the last half blend together.

The problem of lens distortion is such that license plates can be misread which are a lot more distinctive than a face. Personal experience here when Los Angeles City sent a Notice of Violation at a certain in location and time while I had a receipt in San Diego 10 minutes prior to noted time. Seems that there was something deposited on the lens that was 'read' as a character.

But any biologic is going to use the path of least resistance and the only way to correct errors is to raise the resistane such that other paths are more viable because they are easier!

National Public Data files for bankruptcy, admits 'hundreds of millions' potentially affected

Banhrupt ??

This filing may possibly be a ploy to force the insurance underwriters into court and have at the taxpayers' expense explain way they are not liable. The direct suit against the insurance company would end up at the heat death and everybody but the insurance being broke.

Kamala Harris campaign motorcade halted by confused robotaxis

Only if they are foreign animals

Re: Hows running

A couple of unnamed clerks in a small dingy windowless space that have rubber stamps . One Yes, the other No. Their choice is how blank xx is filled.

Lebanon now hit with deadly walkie-talkie blasts as Israel declares ‘new phase’ of war

Re: If I were a world leader or in the administration thereof. . .

With weapons transfer the Bills of Lading that start the journey do not finish the journey. One or two cut outs and your SAM or SSM arrives at its destination as Sno-cone supplies. The same network that moves Heroin can just as easily moved the electronics. The battery suggestions have merit; think the last time that you really examined a battery. After all the Houthis are getting not so small missile through a blockade.

Re: If an Icom IC-V82

2 Mtr being line of sight makes the triangulation process that much harder. Also directional antennas are not too unhandy so if you bury yourself with a lot of band activity and use the directional antenna a nice comms mesh could be established( the ol' purloined letter trick). As to the model my Yaesu FT2 is nice but if I were going to make "mods" my FT530 is easier to see the components. Ideally I use the old Heath kit handheld with discrete components.

Re: Long Game

The door has been opened so anything[sic] may avail itself to the use of such a great idea. The response of the logic of regulators will be to prohibit the possession of devices not verified as being both approved and safe. Now Icom makes and sells under its name radios in the marine, aircraft and ham(radio amateur) beside the business communication so as when the next group of zealots makes its claim to fame in the name of protection we have another wall built against learning that other guys views. Having once seen Wadja's 'Kanal' and viewed both BBC and Al Jazzeera accounts of the Middle East action I am beginning to wonder about ideology capture. But, no matter, the exploding personal electronics sets a new standard for terrorists.

Intel's processor failures: A cautionary tale of business vs engineering

The MBA

The MBA is about processes and the costs of these processes. As long as the Marginal costs is below the Average Revenue all is well. Research purchased can fit into this equation but the 9in-house research falls into where on the spread sheet. This was pointed out in the story about the peanuts and the saloon back last century. As noted here the this applies to share value which is the key metric used by my retirement fund in investing strategy. That the product has a flaw is not part of the equation and the liability suits that follow are not to be seen in this fiscal period. The flawed product may be improved at the expense of the MC vs AR ratio but the thought processes engendered by the MBA do not permit this to be easily entertained.

The process in ENGINEERING is that a partial failure is a failure. The product did not perform to all specification: Therefore the product is built with a safety factor (additional cost). This safety factor in theory protects all the foreseeable events but the MBA thought process asks do we need to guard against all events? Why not protect against the most likely and lower the Marginal Cost increasing revenue. A natural adversarial position.

One fly-in-the-ointment that prevents some sort of equilibrium - The Big Institutions. These institutions, mutual, retirement and insurance funds, are required to maximize their return on investment either by participants or government but none have devised a way other than quarterly statement. As a consequence the accounting in the short term beats out Good, New in-house research with its committed engineering.

Researchers warn robot cars can be crashed with tinfoil and paint daubed on cardboard

I thought about this through the week and with parti-colored metallic tape having a pattern of slits (half and quarter wave) one would create a totally misleading presence. The attack vehicle would in reality be the target withe object being of course the rear-ender

Tape is so dead, 152.9 EB of LTO media shipped last year

Re: So The Next Time Your Service Provider Assures You That...........

Is it in Baltimore?

IT worker sued over ‘vengeful’ cyber harassment of policeman who issued a jaywalking ticket

Re: Strange things

My years back now I was in a class on traffic control or maybe defensive driving and University Avenue was brought into the discussion. It appears after an overlay and stripping, an extended period without other markings, speed, pedestrian crossings, lane restrictions. When the accident data was analyzed, it was found that both the fatality and the hospitalized non-fatal rates went down. The effect was explained away by saying both opposing sides started taking things seriously.

Computer sprinkled with exotic chemicals produced super-problems, not super-powers

Boeing was lucky in timing but was not so innovative. The present miseries arose after it administrative center moved from its core production area and as a result gave power to the MBA. Good engineering goes against many principles taught in MBA programs. Innovative and good engineering are anathema to the MBA type or the accounting mindset that follows.

OpenAI slapped with GDPR complaint: How do you correct your work?

It is acknowledged that once something, an item of truth or untruth, is out wild on the internet it is there till the big heat death. The AI systems pry faster than an individual can and does it 24/7. If your personal stuff is personal keep it off the net. That which gets on obscure and obstruct any linkages. Do not volunteer anything unless its pure fiction and then make the fiction unusable. It is up to YOU to make your information worthless not some government clerk. This is not new the STASI used file cards just like the bunch before them in the great reich [sic]. Probably this problem dates back to Oog.

Re: "The technology has to follow the legal requirements, not the other way around."

The question becomes how can a person who avoided STEM and slid through schooling to become a lawyer make an informed and rational judgement about what is and what is not possible. This has been a recurring theme throughout these forums.

Senator Warren slams Intuit's 'junk fees' as America's Tax Day rolls around again

Reading the comments to date I am wondering if the names Thomas Malthus or David Ricardo are familiar much less John Ball's remarks with delving and spanning that might contain a hint or two about these things.

Sacramento airport goes no-fly after AT&T internet cable snipped

About 10 years ago in a tract not far from the airport thieves took not only the street lighting wires but the aluminum electroliers. It remains unpunished to date. Wire theft is considered by most PDs as victimless and fall far down the list of concerns. Guess their children have gone into the family business.

Google fires 28 staff after sit-in protest against Israeli cloud deal ends in arrests

An affirmative defense can be that of "hostile workplace". Some of the comments here suggest that the underlying cause is deeply polarizing and very susceptible to those biases we unknowingly operate under. Thereby the animosity here indicates it would allow someone working in the same building to express fear. Hostile Workplace

We never agreed to only buy HP ink, say printer owners

Re: never again

Just wait til you want an upgrade. You'll find that the BIOS has been rigged that you have to kiss that fundament where their brain is located. The commentator early that mentioned the Carly Gang did not go far enough.

US 'considering' end to Assange prosecution bid

1 second decision

The comments read including this one raised a question: How many have been in a military or police force where the time to make that critical decision of shoot/not shoot is equivalent to the blink of an eye. Training is available but it is still in a controlled environment. I listened to a LASO member relate his experience in a shooting incident where when asked why he shoot 10 times was that was all the clip held. In other words when the adrenaline level rises generations of natural selection short circuit the upper brain levels.

One advantage that we have is today's technology which means we get to see what was seen and what the reaction was all while sitting on a cushioned chair in a safe air conditioned office. Peckinpah fans can rejoice it is now possible to see the gore however it misses the fatigue, the odors, whole scenery that leads to bad 'after the fact' decisions. The difference between being there and being here is much greater than the letter T.

A challenge if you can go to a shooting course, try it. See what stressors exist in the controlled environment, how you performed.

Also I found a quick way of aligning my telescope when taking solar shoots; watch the shadow move from oval to circle. This means the solar view is normal to the line of sigh and a circle is the view.

Seven years confined in one location, then 5 more confined in another while "free" whereas a probable 20 year sentence with parole after maybe 5 years at something like Lompoc Correctional makes it seem the message has been made. Any time added would be beating a dead horse

Boffins build world's largest astronomical digital camera to map the heavens

Re: Acronyms

Damn you. You pushed me into XKCD hole where one loses time at speeds only known to those who traveled. The next 5 are even better but after that the is a gap of around 100 before the piquancy returns.

Re: Don't look up

Rare gourmet meal. Livestock breeds early and often at the age the meat is tenderest. So with a few billion stars around and proper culling practice the supply can managed to keep prices up. As a bonus nice resort property becomes available for the DiHydrgen Oxide lovers.

Iowa sysadmin pleads guilty to 33-year identity theft of former coworker

It is strange what thoughts that sometimes follow. The question reminded me of the Hitchcock program where the nice little ol' lady meets the obliging ol' gent. Each presenting the other's ideal image. The final is two insurance adjusters explaining that both had a long string of spouses dying on the honeymoon.

US reckons it's about time the Moon had its own time zone

Re: We get this moon time working and

Daylight time allows me to lay slug-a-bed until its time for the proper infusion of caffeine, the neighbors to leave for work and enough time for home projects in sunlight.

Okay lets say our clock lands on the moon and starts generating a precise time tick. Let us also declare the site Zero Longitude. The question then is how at 50 degrees does the signal get used? There are no non-relalivistic means for the time to be shared. A couple of remarks have implied a means and if Clark were still around make him happy

Real is a DC are oxymoron!

Time to examine the anatomy of the British Library ransomware nightmare

RE: First paragraph

HOOSANA! Today it appears that the lawyers that are the barbarians at the gates. The Liability laws have been bent far from the original form such that today when a fault is found and announced as part of a safety program the announcement is used as an admission of negligence.

Russia's Cozy Bear caught phishing German politicos with phony dinner invites

Guess there some 'fish in the barrel' that didn't like being pointed toward and snickered about. O Well W.C Fields made a point about cheating and the honest man.

Truck-to-truck worm could infect – and disrupt – entire US commercial fleet

Re: UN regulations - Compliant?

The RMS Titanic was compliant with existing regulations regarding lifeboats. It is the un-thought of rare event, the missed interaction between codes designed by different teams that leads to those moments of stark non-belief of what is happening.

Re: threats

Change the timing on the injection.

Microsoft Copilot for Security prepares for April liftoff

Re: Papering over the cracks

Why not? It worked for a long while with another big Washington state corporation. Maybe we will soon watch them crying into overpriced coffee at Starbucks.

Kremlin accuses America of plotting cyberattack on Russian voting systems

Re: Easy solution

Paper is flammable. In one historical balloting the ballot boxes strangely caught fire while being transported. It was funny that it happened to be from an area that was strongly against the incumbents. Its easier just to remove the person from the registry and substitute your own voter which indicates the flaw in election boycott.

German defense chat overheard by Russian eavesdroppers on Cisco's WebEx

Re: Huh?

In the 1920s the US Army had War Plan Red. A study of the invasion of the British Isles. An emergency is when an event happens and the reaction must be prompt, decisive, and correct. On this basis in retrospect Chamberlain was correct at Munich in buying time and the US Army figured its invasion of the Isles all wrong. Disaster planning is supposed to cover as many possibilities without regard to probability but then we would not have this Friday forum if done. So the Germans conversation could be nothing more than a late night in a strange hotel room musing.

Re: Paranoia Is Mandatory In 2024!!

Your comment about listens precludes the observation that the 'bully boys' are on the rise without any regard to ideology. The nazis as the most preeminent and best known built a cult and systematically applied the symbolism to attract those without a strong (or maybe even a weak) internal code. It was structured in such way that once infected made a new lackey willing to go one step further. Today's lost ones see the symbols and the 'apparent' purpose that these symbols provide and goose step down the line. The Czar though not seeing the symbols, however, sees ethnic protection (Sudetenland for comparison with the Dombass). Yet if following past Russian performance the react rather than being low keyed would have been that of tank, APC and assault troops. This has the same historic background as the Cosacks sent to put down any state threat. That 'bully boys' are on the rise look we can how Hamas was slowly being shoved into the closet by varied Middle East countries or the rise of an Israeli party that wanted its own private militia so the present abattoir. Modi in India is basically playing the extremes. Again 'Bully Boyism' is on a growth curve because there a some without internal strength that need something to provide needed cojunes and as a consequence are unable to listen.

Biden asks Coast Guard to create an infosec port in a stormy sea of cyber threats

YES - it is an election year

It sound like a big thing but USCG USC 14 and 19 has provided these powers prior to WW2 and in the late 40s 0r early 50s they were strengthened. Throw in USC 33 and 46 you can be told where not to anchor, when not to sail and who to remove from the crew. But since money is not fore coming it will be in the queue with all the other tasks that have been shoveled out to them.

China's Volt Typhoon spies broke into emergency network of 'large' US city

Ladder logic is very easy to trouble shoot . A few jumpers, a pad of paper, and some writing implement being all hardware

Re: No White Hats Anywhere?

Two believers route step for all to whatever destination chosen by the leader. The Scots and the Welsh taught the English the value of one making ones own destiny. It was the English and the Japanese that took the US from "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail" to the enthusiastic reading, viewing and writing of communications as taught to those Anglophiles of the Northeast US. But if such practices are so new what was that bit about the spear and the letter in Commentarii de Bello Gallico or why was Caleb with Rahab.

Feds dismantle Russian GRU botnet built on 1,000-plus home, small biz routers

This enquiring mind had the same question. Where is everbody? Have the Trifids come and it did not show here because...

Ukraine claims Russian military is using Starlink

Re: Pickups from the battlefield ?

Goes back a lot further to the Tannenburg Forest in 1914. Well it seems that the present Czar wishes to emulate Nicky. Now to what degree will history repeat?

One person's shortcut was another's long road to panic

Re: Oops!

p10ssw0r13

p2^3+2^1ssw0r2^4-2^1

Halt or I'll shoot

Indian PM's advisors suggest AI might lead to 'mass schizophrenia'

Re: Digression...

I had a lot of fun building outrageous conspiracy theories about Covid but the one that bothers me at times has to do with the International Cooperative Games held in Wuhan just prior to the outbreak, The US team reported that they were feeling ill during the competition and attributed their falling short of their prior times. The US military gives sticks every oversea movement so the wicked thought was what if the various immunizations from around the world mixed in a low probability event. My best conspiracy theory had the Gnomes of Geneva as the causative agent. Such fun when stuck in traffic!

Congress told how Chinese goons plan to incite 'societal chaos' in the US

Since the Hearst-Pulitzer news wars of the 1880s ALL media has used to the crisis de jour to keep the BIG MONEY flowing into the tiny pockets of these elitist ol' money.

Re: Saves billions of dollars for the Chinese

Sheeple want convenience and ease of use. If you doubt this go into ancient history, read the tears about the computer doing what is was instructed to do exactly not what was meant by the user. MS/DOS had the virtue of forcing thinking; hence it quick replacement.

Security is some variety of an inverse function of easy use. If the barns double barred and padlocked too, one is not going horse riding on a whim

Re: American public is way ahead of them

That is exactly why you want to joust in the other guys yard.

EFF adds Street Surveillance Hub so Americans can check who's checking on them

GIGO The equipment is low bid and often installed and forgotten leaving a spiders' webs or maybe a slight splash of bird droppings to distort the image. So then it is up to the interpreter of the images to make a determination of what is and what is not shown. This sounds like a verrry borrring task which means it is kicked down to the bottom of the heap meaning the newbie. So then it becomes a matter of money - who has enough to out last the opponent. That a ticket received one time when I was three hours from the supposed incident turned into one of these farces.

I see somewhere in the near future that these systems will be used to follow the policing authorities with these of a felonious nature practicing their arts where the police are not found. Also a grand way to blacken someones rep, fake plates going to the local place of ill repute. Just think what has been done in the past and looking to future elections I see a lot of FUN.

Tech billionaires ask Californians to give new utopian city their blessing

Re: Two Things

Jake you are a man after my true heart - a CYNIC.

Re: Biggest problem.

Grazing mostly now with some dry farming so consumption likely will be greater per acre. If, however, a tightly designed cogeneration and water rehabilitation were built the increase water demand might be meet by importing Vacaville's waste water. However then health codes need be modified. However the unions will start a turf war.....

The 'however' is why this ideal will remain just a figment of over usage of Boonesfarm and Annie Green Springs.

NOTE: to those not of the area nor of the time Boonesfarm and Annie Spring were the name of cheap tipple nominally called wine.

Re: Biggest problem.

They can bring back the Sacramento Northern. It right of way into Woodland still exists and a portion toward Fairfield exists but it is smoke. There has never been a successful Utopian city; people being people.

Can solar power be beamed down from space? Yes. Is it commercially viable? Not yet

Re: Alternative uses

Also missed were all the articles by Jerry Pournelle. They seemed to everywhere back in the 70s and 80s.

WTF? Potty-mouthed intern's obscene error message mostly amused manager

Re: Proficiency

It looks like you're late for your parents wedding.