Posts by Doctor Syntax

There are 10 types of people in the world, but there is only one Melvyn

The best Stobb ever! "Bragg, now fully awake, and reaching levels of incredulity not achieved since he learned that oxygen is the waste product of the chlorophyll reaction" is a particular gem.

"The In our time on X-ray crystallography"

Bragg on Bragg and Bragg?

I wonder if they were related? Bragg and Bragg and Bragg, of course, I know Bragg and Bragg were related.

Fed up with Facebook data slurping? Firefox has a cunning plan

"So no mercy to those who MUST use Facebook to stay in touch with family or do their jobs (with no alternatives to speak of)?"

You didn't read it did you? It enables you to use FB if you've dug yourself into that hole and at the same time keep all other use of your browser out of their hands.

Re: How is it any better than running NoScript

"We all know no-script is cool, but as a user experience it's rubbish. You have to care enough to put up with it constantly breaking things."

Wrong way round. I regard a website that can't function without introducing lumps of code from sources over which its developers have no control as being already broken at best and potentially dangerous at worst. All NoScript does is reveal that this damage.

Don't shoot the messenger.

What the @#$%&!? Microsoft bans nudity, swearing in Skype, emails, Office 365 docs

Re: That's Yorkshire fucked then

"Especially residents of Scunthorpe and Penistone."

Scunthorpe's been moved to Yorkshire?

OTOH the residents of Overton, Middlestown and Netherton might have a problem with the ancient township which included them (exercise left to the reader).

Microsoft's Windows 7 Meltdown fixes from January, February made PCs MORE INSECURE

Re: From the desk of /dev/null

That's an interesting post there, JJ. Of all the comments at time of writing yours is the only one to mention Linux. The rest seem to be by Windows users complaining about Microsoft.

Manchester Arena attack: National Mutual Aid Telephony system failed

Re: Holy **** you can't make this stuff up.

Yes Minister...it's satire, not a "how to" manual.

Satire is humour applied to criticism of that being satirised. The foundations are reality, without a real subject to examine critically there can be no satire. YM was generally reckoned as being particularly well founded. A boxed set of YM and YPM together with a copy of "How to lie with statistics" should be the basis for any education in civics.

Having read the report, or at least large sections of it, I wonder how the RUC managed 40 years or more ago when they may have had simultaneous incidents on the go. I suspect it wasn't a matter of trained Gold, Silver and Bronze commanders as everyone at all levels knowing what to do through rather too much experience.

"Vodafone’s CEO ... assured the Home Office that migration to a new platform will provide the necessary fall-back."

Why is it still Vodafone making this assurance instead of some other company?

"The report recommends that the Home Office ensures henceforth that it has guarantees that disaster recovery arrangements are put in place to avoid the failures that plagued the NMAT on the night of the attack."

I'd like to think that the HO realise that disaster recover arrangements aren't actually in place until they've been properly tested and passed. And that they only actually remain in place whilst they continue to pass regular tests. If those conditions aren't met they're not disaster recover arrangements, they're just words. Even more importantly in this situation the prime system is itself a disaster handling system and subject to the same requirements.

Reading through the report it appears that the system had been used for a previous incident in another force and not made ready for re-use.

"Until the chickens come home to roost."

Or get lost in transit in the case of KFC.

Re: Muddling through

"I just hope lessons have been learned!"

Of course. They always are. Right up until next time.

"Must be the same management consultants who advised KFC to change their logistics partner."

Not necessarily. After all, it's industry-standard performance.

Re: Holy **** you can't make this stuff up.

"You could post them to NI to deal with Brexit there?"

DVLA is the YM usual place of banishment.

Re: Yet again

"The fact that it's been permitted under contract is pretty disgusting particularly for a service like this."

There's an assumption there: did the contract allow it, was it silent or did it exclude it but outsourcing happened anyway?

Parents blame brats' slipping school grades on crap internet speeds

I think the conclusion is whatever youSwitch would like it to be.

FTFY

Re: Whaaat...

"I can't see why primary school pupils require homework....My primary school was rural , four pupils in my class."

My primary school wasn't much bigger than yours. My grandchildrens' primary school, only a couple of miles away, is probably at least the same size as a whole year (four classes) was at my grammar school. Rural schools are bigger, and maybe a bit less rural than they were. And they do have homework.

Re: Wiki

@MrDamage & MrT

May I remind the Hon Gentlemen https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/12/13/adsl_signal_passed_through_wet_string/

"a survey of 1,000 respondents by price comparison site uSwitch."

I'm reminded of Bernard being congratulated on being a perfect balanced sample.

Nothing to do with term-time - yes I got fined but I'd do it again - holidays>?

Re: There was no Internet

"we were taught the actual subject.

I get the impressions that today's school children are taught how to pass exams."

We were taught both. What you learn to pass exams, stuff like reading the question carefully and thinking about what the examiner wants you to do are transferable skills. Reading academic papers, contracts, statements of requirements etc are all things that demand those reading and analytic skills.

But plus 1 for libraries. If I ever came across a set of light oak card cabinets like those that were in QUB Science library I'd be tempted to buy them despite having no practical use for them now.

Adobe: New Unified Customer Profile will personalise ads as never before

Re: “Consumers prefer a personalized experience,”

"Let me tell you about some of my hobbies while we are at it:"

The appropriate adverts will be along shortly.

Re: So every software company is turning into a marketing one...

"If you find such a company, please share it with the group."

Until then there's open source.

Re: Shared Data

"Amazon's onsite recommendations are based on one's purchase"

In other words, what you don't need because you bought it last time.

“Consumers prefer a personalised experience,...“When you walk into that restaurant they know the food you want to order, they know your drink."

Actually, when I walk into a restaurant I want to read the menu and wine list and order what I want depending on what's on there, what I like and what I want to spend. Providing that, that's personalised service. The alternative sounds too much like foisting on to me what the restaurant wants to sell.

NASA stalls $8bn James Webb Space Telescope again – this time to 2020

Re: It will be killed for national security reasons!

"Being a collaboration with ESA and Canada it may be more difficult to shelve it, but with a Trump administration scared of every foreign country, who knows?"

The ESA and Canada might be asking for their money back if he shelves it. If that turns nasty they could always distrain him by a few Trump hotels and golf courses.

Java-aaaargh! Google faces $9bn copyright bill after Oracle scores 'fair use' court appeal win

Be carful what you wish for

IBM on the line for Oracle. They want a word about SQL. And AT&T on the other line want to talk about C.

Re: "What next, copyrighted DNA"

"I think I hold a copyright on my DNA, or maybe my parents."

Your parents may wish to sue. Did they grant you a licence?

Did the FBI engineer its iPhone encryption court showdown with Apple to force a precedent? Yes and no, say DoJ auditors

"It should be noted, however, that the FBI has not given up its efforts to be granted access to every phone. It appears to be simply bidding its time until the next San Bernardino tragedy."

This should make it a bit more difficult to pull this trick. And not just the FBI.

But as you say, full marks to someone near the top of the FBI for showing some integrity.

SAP Anywhere is gonna be absolutely nowhere: We're 'sunsetting' this service, biz tells punters

We will be working closely with our customers to help them transition off the product and to find sell them a new SAP solution that best fits their needs costs more

FTFY

"SAP Anywhere is giving its subscribers 30 days from when they receive their letters to move off the platform before their accounts are decommissioned."

So SMBs without any regular IT staff are being given a month - over a holiday period - to migrate back onto in-house systems they don't have?

They're obviously hoping that the customers will take the generous offer of return of the balance of their subscriptions (will SAP pay interest on those loans?) because they'll neither have time nor money to sue.

Meet the open sorcerers who have vowed to make Facebook history

Re: Please just don't care enough

"A £100 always-on box with a few gigs of storage would be more than sufficient for non-technical users."

You're trying to sell £100 box to people who go for the cheapest ISP and "free" FB services?

"but those of us that don't and have a different email address can still chat"

And continue to have no measurable difference on FB's viability.

"I already pay for my email service."

So do I, partially so I can hand out and delete unique email addresses but there are millions who won't.

The problem with this scheme is that so many users will go for the cheapest ISP and then "free" services such as FB which cash in by selling the users. If a bunch of ISPs stepped up and offered services with similar levels of traffic to FB etc their costs would go up and hence their prices unless they also sold their users. They wouldn't attract custom away from cheap ISP and "free" social network combination.

Microsoft loves Linux so much it wants someone else to build distros for its Windows Store

Re: Does it have a good terminal emulator ?

"running full X doesn't sound appealing just for a few terminal windows."

I used to run Windows for a few terminal sessions to the Unix server. How appealing do you think that felt?

“Broadening the ability for people to try, enjoy, and adopt Linux via the WSL is a good thing.”

Just wait till the realise they could run it on bare metal.

Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg has flunky tell UK MPs: Nope, he's sending someone else

I doubt anyone who gave evidence to the committee before would want to show up here where they might be charged with contempt of Parliament.

Re: Rule Britannia!

"We kept the pound. Well I did."

Getting rid of the pound, more's the pity, will be the price of getting back into the EU to rebuild our economy. That'll happen in a few years time when the referendum will appear to have been an extraordinary counting error on account of the fact that nobody will admit to having voted leave.

Re: Rule Britannia!

"Sounds like someone is still bitter about how democracy works... Shame on you."

It's more a case of having a good understanding of how reality works.

BTW, where's the Irish border going to go and what will it look like? And what will HMG do if the DUP don't like it? Remember, your idea of democracy depends on the approval of the DUP!!!

IBMers in TSS: How WILL we support customers after these latest job cuts?

Re: Support? What Support?

"Note to self... Make sure my grandkids keep well away from IT as a possible career as there won't be one in 5-10 years"

It depends on the age of the grandkids. At some point the backlash will come. A few service providers who fail to provide service get sued for board level visible sums with a few more in the pipeline and CEOs get told to put their best staff on the case or else. And then they discover they don't have any best staff. They don't have any staff. Then the panic recruiting starts. The question is, when and does it fit the grandkids' timeframe?

Exploit kit development has gone to sh$t... ever since Adobe Flash was kicked to the curb

"The Flash suite is over 20 years old and slated for retirement at 2020 at the latest."

No doubt the Beeb weather forecasts will be the last to go. Have they even had the memo?

What's an RDBMS? Don't ask the UK's data protection watchdog

"Unfortunately for her, it then took a week for that warrant to be granted"

It might turn out to be fortunate in the long run if it strengthens her argument for better resources and powers. A great deal of commentary has been written along here apparently based on the assumption that delays etc are her fault rather than a consequences of the legal framework within which she has to work.

It's right that she should need a warrant to enter premises but why should that require a 5 hour delayed High Court hearing?

Software gremlin robs Formula 1 world champ of season's first win

Re: Easy to blame the VSC

"being able to follow closely... is definitely the bane of modern F1"

One of them. Handing out grid penalties is another. All the artificiality around tyres is a third.

Re: Same concept...

"Have used that many times to cut down wait time in traffic jams on the M25 around London."

ISTR the Rickmansworth junction being very good for that.

Re: Follows old adage...

"it would allow the rich teams to build a different car optimised for each circuit"

It would also allow somebody with a really good idea to come in and trounce everybody. A really good idea like moving the engine from the front to the middle of the car which revolutionised the entire sport.

"or (cough 1980s Renault) a car which would only last one race."

Did they always last a whole race? McLaren would have been envious of an engine that did that last year.

Re: Follows old adage...

"I long for the days when cars didn't have such things (like the 60's)."

I'd settle for the days when the teams had a good deal more freedom.

- Swept volume is x litres and configuration is what you want (remember BRM trying out an H16?).

- Use whatever tyres you want on whatever wheels you want and work out what you think is the best strategy (whe was it who built the 6-wheeler?).

Nowadays it seems that if the (bar) stewards found an engine ingested a stray fly during practice they'd give a 3 place grid penalty.

First there were notebooks. Then tablets. And now ‘book tablets’

Re: Bootloader locked?

"are there any methods in place to prevent you from changing the OS?"

Do you mean the sort of things you find if you search for Linux on Chromebooks"

Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, off you go: Snout of UK space forcibly removed from EU satellite trough

Re: WE HAVE CONTROL OF OUR BORDERS!

"One of them looks to be drifting off into the Irish Sea."

This is one of the more hopeful aspects because of the DUP's likely reaction and May's need to avoid that. It could be the issue that politically* derails the whole thing. To think that I'm actually looking forward to the DUP doing something useful!

* AFAICS it would need to be derailed politically. Logic and reality aren't going to have any effect on these clowns.

Fleeing Facebook app users realise what they agreed to in apps years ago – total slurpage

Re: Loved the article on the BBC

"Put yourself in the average journo shoes. Facebook, for them, was a gifts from the gods. As soon as a crime or disaster happens, they raid the Facebook account of murderers and/or victims"

OTOH someone working RCJ's beat should have had the technical nous to keep a device for that task and no other. I wonder if the average journo's if their friends and families have woken up to the fact FB now have them linked to said murderers and victims.

Re: Not an FB user. Can I delete my personal data?

It's his photo and his right to say "that's my nephew".

That's a debatable proposition. It becomes less debatable if he says "that's my nephew Pickled Aardvark" because it turns you into a data subject. What should become a real problem for FB, assuming you're in the EU, is for them not to say "I don't wish to know that, I'll pretend you never said it." unless you gave them permission to hang on to such information about you.