Posts by Doctor Syntax

You forced me to use this fancypants app and now you're asking for a printout?

Re: I guess I’m just lucky

Thanks, folks. A nice list of suggestions to work my way through.

Re: I guess I’m just lucky

"Cetirizine will make me fall asleep whilst talking in the middle of a meeting."

You'd need to do a controlled trial to (a) separate the effect of the Cetirizine from the effect of the meeting and (b) check for synergy between the effects.

Re: A modern-day Adventure.

Or, if you believe the conspiracy theories, all alike.

I like to remind pedants in Britainland that the word "holiday" was traditionally used on the right-hand side of the Atlantic right into the 20th century to mean any time off from work, not just full-on seasonal vacations.

Pedants will remind you that "holiday" is just a mis-spelling/pronunciation of "holy day" and that Christmas meets that definition. If you don't want to recognise it as such get back to work.

BOFH: What if International Bad Actors designed the vaccine to make us watch more Steven Seagal movies?

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that Unicode is the green ink of the internet?

Re: I can disprove that

"I've had both my vaccinations early and my phone data is still slow as fuck!"

No probs, you just need the booster. Does what it says on the tin.

Re: Fight fire with fire

the "esoteric medicine" slot

Few things are limitless but the capacity of such slots is one of them.

There's plenty evidence that 3g, 4g, 5g and WiFi are affecting the brain. Well, some peoples' brains. The evidence is all around and irrefutable.

Swooping in to claim the glory while the On Call engineer stands baffled

Re: Sleep

I think it's the fact that you have the more or less full picture of what you're working on in your head but if you're staring at a small amount of code on the screen you focus on that but it's not where the problem is. Once that block is removed a part of your brain is free to look at the whole picture. I've had a problem solved that way whilst just walking out of the door and across the car park but driving, and hence having something else to claim focus, was particularly effective.

I can understand removing the engine to refill the screen wash, but why the headlight bulb?

As I remember it it was the windscreen washer blocking access to the back of the headlight.

Re: Hey Rob!

We once had one in the Botany department as a loaner at the start of Autumn term. Several of us were taking Archaeology freshers out round some of the local sites (my branch of botany was closely related to archaeology). The lead car was a Spitfire, I was in the middle, trying to keep it in sight and at the same time let the minibus behind keep me in site. The road holding was fine but we did end the day with not much left on the brake pads.

Re: Hands On

Back in that sort of time-frame our lab was next to the workshop & I got on well with one of the technicians who had previously worked at Shorts (aircraft). He told me of some job he'd had specified which required a hole to be drilled in timber and then opened out to square. He waited until the boffin had left the room and then got a square section steel rod and a hammer...

If it fits the other way up the second time it's still in the wrong type of socket.

Some of this was allegedly based on one of his medical school tutors. What the allegation doesn't include is any indication of what percentage of the deductions were right.

Re: At Gene Cash, re: wrong error message.

And the headlight bulb.

Re: Hands On

"There is no substitute for standing next to the box and prodding it."

Assuming prodding may involve the use of hammers. Large adjustable spanners may be substituted if you find yourself suddenly hammerless.

Re: Hey Rob!

In the past I've had two Subarus throw up apparent engine problems. Checking the error log shows ECU cannot regulate engine speed. Problem - regular enough to be Googlable - faulty switch reporting it's in neutral when it isn't so ECU tries to set idle speed. Current car has so far had two wheel sensors replaced. Vehicles are increasingly dependent on electronics and the sensors that feed them; those sensors need to be a good deal more reliable than they are, otherwise it's GIGO.

Re: Hands On (and Eyes On Too)

Experience says regular further upgrades will be needed.

Government-favoured child safety app warned it could violate the UK's Investigatory Powers Act with message-scanning tech

It may be ridiculous but we don't actually know if it's invalid until it's been tested in court. Do we know if it has?

The Home Office is particularly effective at house training new Home Secs. Sir Humphrey wasn't in the same league.

That might apply to outbound messages but TFA says specifically that the sender's permission is required, not the receiver's. On this interpretation it makes it illegal for inbound messages.

But wait...what are the consequences for ordinary email spam filtering?

Reviving a classic: ThinkPad modder rattles tin to fund new motherboard for 2008's T60 and T61 series of laptops

Re: X330 FTW!

"Portability and durability are my most important parameters."

At present.

Whether 4x3 meets your needs better depends on those needs. Working on 2 A4 documents side by side needs a lot of pixels across the screen. In order for those pixels to be useful they need to be big enough. That determines the width. Yes, a lot of screen height would also be handy to allow more of each page to be seen at a glance but that compromises portability.

OTOH I've been reworking the slides for a lecture next year because I realised that 4x3 was going to project better on the screen the hall we use.

Re: X330 FTW!

"I will have use a laptop made in 2012 for the rest of my life"

As your eyes age you might have to revisit that. The size of the screen becomes the most important parameter. 12.5" isn't going to cut it for ever.

UK.gov emits draft IoT and smartphone security law for Parliamentary scrutiny

Re: But why ?

"So if there is no default password, how do you do the initial login to change the password in a semi-secure manner ?"

Not a problem. On boot from out of box or factory reset it presents a password-setting dialog before it will connect to the net. It shouldn't even matter if there is a default password, password-less login or a dialog without a login at this stage as the user-defined password will be in place by the time it connects. If the password's forgotten then a factory reset allows you to enter a new one. My router works this way so it's not a startlingly novel requirement.

Re: until the last device stops working, and how would they know?

It's not phones. It's IoT.

Re: How will it work?

"2) You move the goal posts and say it si the sellers responsibility to ensure the IoT toy complies - How many of these sellers will even be aware of the requirements? How can they in turn force the company to implement proper security at point of manufacture?"

No moving of goalposts required for this. The Bill makes it an offence to import or distribute the product. From the point of an individual country it doesn't matter if the tat-makers keep making tat if it isn't imported. Globally, if enough markets enact such provisions then the tat-makers have the options of dealing with shrinking markets or complying.

The fly in the ointment here is that the likes of Amazon Marletplace & eBay seem to be given an out in that they're neither importers nor distributors - if all else fails section 55(11) seems to excuse them. What's missing is recognition of a role of gatekeeper. If it becomes expensive for them to allow non-compliant devices to be sold via their services then they will no doubt close the gates PDQ.

Re: Online Souks

The PDF of the Bill is back online. It seems that the Sec of State has the powers to deem products to be relevant which future-proofs it against as yet undeveloped products.

The bad news is that as far as I can see the likes of Amazon other than as a direct seller, eBay and the like escape. Even if there was an attempt to treat them as importers or distributors it looks as if 55(11) gives them the option to plead that they're "ostensible suppliers" and not the "effective suppliers" who are the relevant persons within the meaning of the Bill.

Re: Online Souks

It certainly needs to be drafted to include online market places in those who can be fined. The "fact sheet" ( https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-product-security-and-telecommunications-infrastructure-psti-bill-product-security-factsheet ) is detailed about the sorts of devices covered but vague about who will be held responsible. It also seems to be handing over enforcement to the Dept. of Culture Media. Perhaps a beefed up Trading Standards service would have been better: we could certainly do with it being strengthened even without this.

"Our Bill will put a firewall around everyday tech"

And what's more, we have the hashtags to do it. It's all very well having seen the words but they should really let a techie review what they're intending to say in public before they say it.

As a really good start it seems to have disappeared from the Parliament site already.

Academics tell Brit MPs to check the software used when considering reproducibility in science and tech research

"Where's your apparatus?"

"Back in the Quickfit drawer."

"the reviewer system isn't the answer either"

Eventually the community decides on reputation. What deserves to be cited multiple times gets cited multiple times although not necessarily for the reasons the author might have wanted.

Re: Career development disguised as science

Software can be one of the tools of the scientist's trade. If it is then there's no reason why the skills to write it shouldn't be learned to a suitably proficient standard. If you use microscopy you need to know how to set up the microscope. If you need some piece of S/W that doesn't exist you need to know how to write something that isn't a tangled mess.

Having said that it doesn't follow that everyone has the appropriate talent; over 50 years ago it was decided that ?everyone in our lab would go on a FORTRAN course. (Oddly enough SWMBO didn't, nor did our head of lab who sent the rest of us.) One of the research students who went on the course alongside me got back to the lab and proceeded to demonstrate that you can write a BASIC program in any language.

It also doesn't follow that a complex piece of S/W will be within the capabilities of a beginner. That's where experience comes into play but that applies whether it's someone writing S/W for a living or as a tool of some other trade. It may also be necessary to consult someone who is a professional developer just as it may be necessary to consult someone who's a professional statistician to get the analysis right.

Desktop bust and custom iPhone 13 Pro made from melted-down Tesla car for the Elon Musk dork in your life

"Seems like a waste of a good car to us"

I'm sure autopilot has ensured that there are more than enough no-longer-good cars to be recycled into niche products.

Kremlin names the internet giants it will kidnap the Russian staff of if they don't play ball in future

I suppose the US's having a Huawei exec held isn't comparable. After all, they didn't actually do it themselves, they got a neighbour to do it. Something about casting the first stone...

Re: Making the world a better place?

If their leaders (perhaps "keepers" would have been a better word) are already prepared to prevent those of the people who can read English from reading Stephen Fry's tweets then whatever we do would make little difference it that regard. It would, however, stop incursions from their side.

Unfortunately this sort of action wasn't taken years ago to nip the whole thing in the bud.

Re: a state run by mafia

It seems that countries can maintain stable cultures over long periods. The only real change from Czarist Russia is who's at the top.

Google advises passwords are good, spear phishing is bad, and free clouds get attacked

"We're not sure Reg readers could have figured out that authentication and security are good ideas all on their own."

It may not be so obvious to those bypassing their IT departments. IT are so fussy about such things.

Rust dust-up as entire moderation team resigns. Why? They won't really say

Re: Those who can, code.

The project then implodes and dies gets forked.

Re: Rust language community

"it's traditional software development from which the element of direct remuneration has largely been removed."

Except when it's either a corporation developing it deliberately as open source and paying people to do it or co-development by multiple corporates who pay people to work on it. Rust seems to have started out as the first and become the second. AFAICS your description doesn't apply to Rust nor to many (maybe any) large, successful open source project.

Re: Torvalds Checks+Balances

I believe the heir apparent is Greg K-H.

It seems a bit basic to me.

There is, of course, an alternative. The moderation team stays in place and the core team resigns. That way the project can have a spotless reputation and only lack a product.

On the subject of the product - why on Earth does the language have "let" as a keyword? It seemed a backward step when Informix introduced it in their 4GL. After a few more decades it seems odd beyond belief.

Re: Those who can, code.

They then need to form another team to discuss the discussion team. Form enough of those & there should be enough teams to keep everyone off the core team's back.

Re: No one really knows publicly

After scanning a good chunk of that it seems that "nobody knows why" is as good a summary as any. Maybe there's a good explanation buried in there somewhere but I'd have lost the will to live before finding it.

Re: Or the job is literally impossible

Or maybe it's a non-job, possibly created to try to placate the usual professional offence seekers.

Apple, Amazon fined to the tune of €200m for colluding over Beats headphones sales

To ensure our customers purchase genuine products"

Are they saying other allegedly Apple products on sale through other outlets aren't genuine? If so somebody must be making an exorbitant markup on £400 wheels.

LoRa to the Moon and back: Messages bounced off lunar surface using off-the-shelf hardware

Great range, pity about the laency.

Munich mk2? Germany's Schleswig-Holstein plans to switch 25,000 PCs to LibreOffice

It always helps to read TFA

According to TFA the decision comes from the top. It includes a link to an interview with the Digital Minister. It doesn't seem as if tepid support from the top and "too important" will be a problem. What else was there? Oh, yes, mention of openoffice. TFA says LibreOffice. If they dump MSO coexistence isn't even a thing let alone a problem.

Orifice 356* includes ERP?

*Approximately

Re: Mint

"Germans being Germans they'll most likely choose a home-made distro, to support their own industry."

SuSE with KDE, then.