Posts by Doctor Syntax

Ireland unfriends Facebook: Oh Zucky Boy, the pipes, the pipes are closing…from glen to US, and through the EU-side

Re: About time too

It may be is time

FTFY

Back in the day my preference was for my own company rather than a brolly. A brolly is somebody else's company. Does that remind me of anything?

DPL: Debian project has plenty of money but not enough developers

No.

I use Debian - well, Devuan - as a desktop user. Not Ubuntu. That is a choice I don't want to see go away. I would expect every Debian or Devuan desktop user has made that same explicit choice.

Re: Window of Opportunity?

I thought people wanted Windows to go back and stagnate somewhere prior to W8.

Re: Oh dear

It might help if they threatened to. The systemd supporters would arrive to vote against doing so.

Open access journals are vanishing from the web, Internet Archive stands ready to fill in the gaps

Re: OA publishing

"the odium is on them to provide a superior alternative."

The odium is definitely on the profiteers.

The National Museum of Computing flings opens its non-virtual doors

I took a brief look at the virtual tour. Just on the LHS of the first corridor there's a board about pioneers It has a portrait of Grace Hopper next o one of Chalres Babbage. Were they the same person? I think we should be told.

Don’t lump us in with Facebook, internet infrastructure companies warn European Union

Re: A rock and a hard place

Is ICANN genuinely multistakeholder? The reports here suggest that it's outside the control of the stakeholders. In fact, it seems to consider itself outside the control of anybody else either.

Re: Is the problem simply that politicians don't have a clue?

It's more general than politics. The one talent you can be sure people high up in hierarchies have is the ability to climb hierarchies. Any competence to fill their role is a very optional extra.

I won't be ignored: Google to banish caller roulette with Verified Calls

Do Google also assure you that there really is a Santa Claus?

I can 'proceed without you', judge tells Julian Assange after courtroom outburst

Re: Blackmailed

There needs to be a prima facie case for extradition for each charge. If the case for some of those charges depends on tainted evidence than should extradition for those particular charges be approved?

Tech ambitions said to lie at heart of Britain’s bonkers crash-and-burn Brexit plan

"The media demand a loud, aggressive, unthinking jingoism for political parties. They're too stupid and greedy to consider anything more nuanced."

Ultimately what the media demand is a bad guide, I agree with you there.

But someone being put forward as a potential head of government for several years needs to demonstrate the ability to actually make rational decisions.

Rational decisions. Two words. We were offered a choice of zero or one.

"At least Corbyn had compassion, honesty, integrity & a whole set of other attributes lacking in Johnson."

And an even greater detachment from the real world. Difficult but he managed it.

Re: Typing error in the article

Do Martians have balls? Curious biologist would like to know.

Re: Sigh

The frothing loons are probably those of us who've seen it all before. Many times

HMG of the day pours lots of funds into whatever. Next HMG cans it because

(a) NIH and/or

(b) realised we've poured lots of funds in and all we've got is this one lousy proto-type and we can't afford to build more at that price each, failing to grasp that now you've done the development the build costs each will be much lower and/or

(c) serial reorganisations of government depts broke up the funding structure and/or

(d) political campaign against it because it's complicated and a lot of media/arts types don't understand it and/or

(e) meddling form on high smothered it and/or

(f) sacrificed so govt. could suck up to US by buying whatever it was from them - or because US didn't have one to sell and were upset by that and/or

(g) any other form of incompetence and ignorance you cn think of.

Some of the victims were started by people who looked a good deal more competent than the current crew.

Those who don't remember their history are condemned to repeat it.

Re: What's the idea that the rest of the world...

You missed TSR2. Killed by Harold Wilson shortly after the "white heat of technology" speech - exactly the same jingoistic hubris we get from Johnson (and, to be fair, most PMs and wannabes).

"The biggest reveal of 2020 has been that maybe Corbyn wasn't the worse option after all."

He was. It's just that what we've got wasn't shows what a bind we've been in this last few years.

Re: ARM?

Come Jan 1st they'll be made to give it back because WTBC.

Re: Typing error in the article

It's easy to tell the difference. In response to Covid19 one goes to hospital and the other goes to Durham and Barnard Castle.

"with no track record in the tech industry. "

They have a track record. It's a track record acquired in a very short time. It's a track record of promising "world beating", "UK will be the best place in the world for" etc. for things which promptly fall flat on their face. It's not a track record that inspires confidence.

Zero. Zilch. Nada. That's how many signs of intelligent life astroboffins found in probe of TEN MILLION stars

Life is an extremely improbable* arrangement for preserving the improbable. It's not really surprising that they've found nothing.

* We have several quite different chemical systems linked together. Some of these are made out of polymers of amino acids**: systems capable of handling energy by manipulating electrons and protons, chains of specific catalysts to synthesise other molecules including assembling amino acid polymers, structural elements including membranes made from combinations of lipids. The "other molecules" include those which are necessary for the energy handling such as chlorophyll, heam and adenosine and its phosphates and, of course, the amino acids themselves. Then there's the nucleic acid system, DNA or, in some cases, RNA genes, mRNA transcripts of the genes, tRNA to specifically bring the correct amino acid to add to the amino acid polymer and rRNA in the ribosomes. Individual monomers and other molecules may be readily enough found but assembling them together at random into a combination that is capable of bootstrapping itself into what we know today is extremely improbably, even taking into account that some mineral surfaces could have stood in for what proteins do now.

** Not just random chains but chains of specific sequences which lead to folding into specific shapes to provide the other functions.

US ponders tech export ban on SMIC, China's biggest chipmaker

Re: in the most expensive Trump Hotel reservations

"It would set a terrible precedent where administrations would want to jail their predecessor for lesser and lesser crimes"

The answer to that is that administrations shouldn't have that power It would require an independent body that starts work* the moment a head of government ends their period of office, looking at any illegalities that might have taken place during the period of office and possibly during the elections that preceded it and prosecuting accordingly. Such a body would have to be right outside politics and, give or take the normal retirements and recruitments - which clearly would have to be outside the influence of the administration - would be the same one to eventually deal with the new administration as dealt with the previous one. It wouldn't be an exceptional process to conduct such an investigation, just business as usual.

In reality the role of such a body would be to deter administrations from wrong-doing rather than to punish afterwards although it would obviously be obliged to take action from time to time; at least that would strengthen the deterrent for the next few administrations.

* In terms of being able to demand and evaluate evidence. There's nothing to stop them taking notes of what's out there in public before then.

Re: Trumpanoia

One doesn't hope for such things but should they happen one's capacity for regret might be minimal.

Re: SMIC might be a "law abiding citizen"....

"if international creditors take fright."

Or one of them decides enough is enough and its time to start handing out punishment.

Vivaldi offers users a 'break' from browsing. No, don't switch to Chrome... don't sw..

"But they've changed the application icon no less than FOUR TIMES since they started Vivaldi, each time listing it in the changelog like it's some marvellous advancement."

A sure sign marketing is in charge.

If you want a combined browser/mail (and more) client, try SeaMonkey. Add in Lightning and Lightbird if you want to include a calendar function.

Classy move: C++ 20 wins final approval in ISO technical ballot, formal publication expected by end of year

Re: "Competent, core language"

"A systems language should only be used for systems, not for applications. Where a systems language is used for applications, it means the systems programmers have failed to do their job."

I think there's a couple of non sequiturs there.

Re: "Competent, core language"

"it is such a good first approximation that nobody has bothered with a second"

If you count BCPL & B then it's the 3rd. But it looks like that's it.

"'Best approximation of C++ ideals so far,' ... but is it too big and complex?"

I thought too big and complex were the ideals.

Re: Too large and complex

There a huge body of software written in C and its derivatives (including Java). How do Smalltalk and Eiffel compare?

Digital pregnancy testing sticks turn out to have very analogue internals when it comes to getting results

Re: This device is far less unreasonable than it seems.

"My ex brother in law had a craving for pancake rolls every night, every time the EMOS sister was pregnant."

But did he also have a craving for pancake rolls every night when she wasn't?

Re: Way back in the mists of time <wavy lines> ...

"The automated system is reproducible, reliable and has greater throughput than a human being."

And doesn't require a steady supply of female toads. (Yes, that was the basis of testing decades ago.)

Re: Surprised?

"surely it’s not beyond the abilities of the manufactures to make the little blue line a bit bolder?"

One of the first things you have to learn in biological science is accommodating to natural variability. There won't be some fixed number of micro-moles per litre to be relied on. I've no doubt the test strip manufacturers already have an optimal product.

Re: "It's not yours"

"It's twins!!"

And one of them's yours.

Re: Low tech is too old tech

"Start blaming the people who cannot consider making people in moderation."

In quite a few advanced" countries, i.e. those with advanced consumer economies, reproduction is running below replacement level.

Microcontroller, interfaced to display. You just know somebody's going to start hacking these to re-purpose them into some completely different gadget.

The Wrath of Amazon: JEDI wars rage on after US Department of Defense affirms Microsoft contract

Re: A Worrying Trend Is Starting...

Clearly AWS are going to try to keep appeals going until January hoping for a change in the business environment.

SMEs to UK.gov: We need vouchers for tech and training ahead of final Brexit curtain falling

Re: Hmm

I don't think there's any evidence that all those campaigning for leave* had any idea what to do after the vote. Cameron was going to stay on and run it. Where was the essential planning before the vote? Where were the impact assessments? Where was the cost/benefit analysis?

Vote Leave were caught in the headlights by winning and then being left to deal with the reality of it. They still are. That's why they're "dicking around" in your words. It's all they've ever done. Their one hope is that, arguing form a position of extreme weakness, they can persuade the EU to give them a safety net.

* Those that actually believed they could win which I'm not convinced with all of them.

Re: More than vouchers needed here

"unelected bureaucrats like Cummings and Tony Abbott"

Unfair to bureaucrats. Bureaucrats have competence in doing things according to procedures. The procedures might be badly designed and the results in appropriate but they're predictable and competently followed.

Re: More than vouchers needed here

"proposed legislation to override parts of the withdrawal agreement"

Probably Cummings told his puppet to be more disruptive. Nothing like a bit of disruption for making Johnny Foreigner cave in.

China proposes ‘Global Initiative on Data Security’ forbidding stuff it and Huawei are accused of doing already

The more effective option would have been to offer to share whatever information Huawei, Tik Tok etc have with the US providing the entity is is torn up. I'd guess a quick acceptance which should tell anyone in doubt about US motives all they need to know.

"China did not assign the enunciation of this idea to a lowly functionary"

There's nothing to stop anyone in this position becoming a lowly functionary at very short notice. That isn't unique to China. Just ask Philip Hammond or any of the others effectively thrown out of the party by BoJo. Or any of those exiting the revolving door ot the Trump administration.

UK Home Office seeks suppliers: £25m up for grabs to build database to keep track of crimelords' ill-gotten gains

"It is now, however, reaching the end of its useful life as it is not conducive to modern expectations of electronic data capture and subsequent analytical filtering and manipulation.”

Translation: It's outgrown Excel.

The Honor MagicBook Pro looks nice, runs like a dream, and isn't too expensive either. What more could you want?

Re: And the software?

Just install Linux.

Brexit border-line issues: Would you want to still be 'testing' software designed to stop Kent becoming a massive lorry park come 31 December?

Re: It will never happen...

abject proof?

Re: So little time and so many disasters

"You guys are royally screwed."

Now tell us something we didn't know!

Re: If

"The importance of shipping and trade to the economy of the UK, an island nation, has resulted in the establishment of a large number of ports around the coast, which are very diverse in terms of size and type of cargo handled."

A hair's breadth from "world beating". Hubris.

Re: It's rude to keep the drugs to your self, pass the duchy 'pon the left hand side..

"I don't see how you could be this bad at work and retain one's job"

Fixed 5 year contract and sole skill being ability to bluff jib interviews.

Re: It's rude to keep the drugs to your self, pass the duchy 'pon the left hand side..

"A waterfall development process, with an immovable deliverable date"

And, as yet, no statement of requirements.

Re: I am sure Boris will be on holiday when the $h1T hits the fan

Not everything. Sensible decision making comes to mind as one exception.

Astronomers get more than they bargained for, as Mars probe InSight's instruments detects solar eclipses

NASA

Now & Always Something Amazing.

Re: Provided this is repeatable...

"it's a normal limit for calibrators in ultra quiet environments"

Presumably Mars is a fairly quiet environment. No buses going past. No big electric motors starting up. No telephones. Nice.