Posts by Doctor Syntax

Brexit has shafted the UK's space sector, lord warns science minister

Re: Hmmm..

"a few opportunities"

Even insuperable opportunities.

Re: Cue Boris Johnson....

"parallel universes"

I think you've just explained BoJo.

"If you don't they'll start to charge your UK bank account."

Can anyone spot the built-in assumption?

Re: Don't Panic!

More likely to be per aspera ad ardua

Bungling cops try to use dead chap's fingers to unlock his smartmobe

"the two officers didn't think a warrant was required because there is no expectation of privacy after death"

It may or may not be required but it was up to them to know, not to think.

Capita reports pre-tax LOSS of £515m for 2017

"The Public sector partnerships business unit recorded a 4 per cent sales dip"

Is this a sign that the public sector is finally getting a clue?

'Your computer has a virus' cold call con artists on the rise – Microsoft

Re: Some people recommend getting pervy

That could go sooooo wrong.

Re: Need to stop worrying about fake calling number

Note to tin-foilers, I do say "opportunity" not "requirement".

I think we could safely assume it's an opportunity scammers won't take up. An opportunity for the callee to require it would be a different matter.

Re: Automated calls

"Your internet connection will be cut off in the next 24 to 48 hours. To proceed, please press button 1 on your phone"

Scope for a bit of testing there. What happens if a button not in the repertoire is pressed? Or the number entered via loop disconnect?

Re: Re "putting the phone down is almost always the right thing to do."

@ David Harper 1

Upvote for your wife's good work..

Re: "This is the technical department of Microsoft" says the caller

"They all get the same treatment of termination within 20s."

That's not very public spirited of you. If nothing else you could try "Just a moment. There's someone at the door. Can you hang on a moment while I go answer it." and put the phone aside until it starts whining.

"The problem with international calls is that, just as with the internet, the network that received the connection has no way to know if it can trust the network that originated it."

The phone network does, however, have the ability to label the call as international and to display a warning if it's then trying to spoof a number.

"For those who have been fortunate enough not to be subject to one"

Or unfortunate if you have the time and are looking for a bit of innocent amusement.

Sysadmin unplugged wrong server, ran away, hoped nobody noticed

Re: I frown gently at hiding boo-boos - honesty is better

"I can understand the intertwining"

It's how they breed. We all know that next time you look there are more cables than were there last time.

Rebuilding your software ops and looking for the right tool kit?

Interesting that this headline appears right next to that about TSB who seem to be doing just that and ...oops.

How much do AI gurus really get paid? And is NIPS such a great name for a conference?

Re: NIPPLES

"Has anyone else noticed that the entire industry is running their neural nets effectively as virtual machines?"

Yes. In fact anyone with a background in biology should notice it.

There is no perceived IT generation gap: Young people really are thick

Re: Yo Dabbsy

"anyone over the age of 40 knows that is it a Railway Station not a train station."

You must be a southerner.

Re: Most people are not just thick.

"We then played chasing beads of mercury across the bench"

I'm sure a good few generations of school children have been denied that experience by elfin safety - despite it still being acceptable to stuff it into teeth.

"younger people, who have grown up with the ubiquitous use of computers and smartphones, and particularly the advent of Google and Wikipedia, make no effort to retain such things, as they can just go and look them up when needed"

What's "when needed"?

The allusions usually make a point succinctly because they carry all the cultural associations. So, yes, the younglings who don't retain those things can look them up if there's a need to understand the point that someone else made albeit at the cost of taking rather longer to understand what the point.

If the need is to make a point and they don't know such things they don't even know to look them up and therefore they lack the resources we oldsters have.

Re: Education is no longer designed to teach.

"This being El Reg someone will now write about how useful 12x12 can be for some obscure reason."

No, this being el Reg I'll write to point out how useful pre-decimal coinage was because it ensured you learned your 12 times table.

Re: Education is no longer designed to teach.

"To be a (eg) biology teacher, you need at least a degree in the subject, preferably a masters or PhD."

Perhaps I should point out the SWMBO taught biology and has a PhD - in that order and all a long time ago. As at the same time I worked briefly in a biological suppliers that went bust. Apparently I still owe her several pairs of dissecting scissors.

Re: Education is no longer designed to teach.

"That was all done and dusted at O-level."

Back when we had O-levels.

Re: Education is no longer designed to teach.

"She isn't being taught Biology.

She's being taught how to pass the Biology A level exam."

In my day being taught how to pass the Biology A level exam required being taught biology.

The modern more correct answer would be "samphire".

Thrift is more of a xerophyte and does well in coastal environments clear of the intertidal zone because they're often quite arid. Samphire really is a halophyte and you'll see it on salt-marsh.

"Wagon Wheels being bigger back then"

This especially. The modern variety are Wheelbarrow Wheels.

Re: Education is no longer designed to teach.

students seem to be actively discouraged from taking a wider interest in any aspect of a subject outside the strict focus of the coursework their teachers' knowledge.

FTFY

"Countries like Germany properly recognise titles such as Engineer"

That's Germany. Here there's a tradition of referring to anyone who works with engines as an engineer. Perhaps what's really needed is to coin a new term for the up-market version.

CEO insisted his email was on server that had been offline for years

"bringing in leadership experience from other domains obviously has it's own strategic value"

In too many cases these days the leadership experience being brought in seems to be to cut all costs that give the business an ongoing future and cash in on the businesses reputation for as long as it lasts.

Re: Deleting emails

"Can you just confirm my understanding that ..... "

If your email is ignored it could be construed as not confirmed. Just say "My understanding is that.." and put the onus on them to reply if they disagree.

Re: Deleting emails

"But don't get me started on a rant questioning why MS-Outllook doesn't seem to include the Search index within the saved PST files."

Seamonkey email client (similar to Thunderbird). Just opened the 2009 archive, note the first title, search for one partial word on the complete account: that email and several other matches from other archived years found about as quickly as it took to put them up on screen.

Re: Deleting emails

"Now if I need something, I search my inbox - turns out that's quicker that remembering if I put an email from someone I met on my 2001 trip to Scotland in 'save', 'golf', or 'travel' and looking in each"

Archive complete years. Then you don't need to search your complete inbox, just 2001. Which reminds me, must archive 2014. And 15...

Re: Deleting emails

"using the Deleted folder as an archive."

If their reading ability is such as to not understand what "Deleted" means then they're probably not getting much value out of any of any of their email anyway.

Re: That sounds like the story of a madhouse

The actual 4 critical departments in this instance for day to day operation? Mfg Plants (who make the widgets for sale), Accounting, HR and IT.

HR day to day?

Re: That sounds like the story of a madhouse

"So what's IBM's excuse?"

No excuses needed. You've just overlooked the bullsh

Re: It's easy to spot the useless management.

"nobody would notice but themselves."

They might not notice. They could just keep showing each other PowerPoints.

They could all drop dead tomorrow and the company would just merrily keep ticking along run much better.

The alternative view.

Re: Deleting emails

"I have 80+ users come and go every year. Why do I keep them?"

Blackmail fodder?

Re: Deleting emails

"I was once told at an Oil & Gas firm that we should delete everything after 3 years of the project ending so that our own email records couldn't be used to sue us in the future."

The alternative view is to keep them so that they can be used in your defence in the future.

The choice made tells you a lot about the company.

Twenty years ago today: Windows 98 crashed live on stage with Bill Gates. Let's watch it again...

Re: Bill Gates

"There's nothing nasty about Bill Gates"

I'm not sure the neighbour from whom he bought QDOS would agree.

Re: Bill Gates

"Confused, was it an autobiography or not?"

These days it seems you don't have to write your own autobiography.

Re: Bill Gates

"A better metric would be to count how many times Steve Jobs has been in court as compared to Bill Gates. Gates faux geek persona was what let him for years, get away with murder."

Not wishing to take sides between either of them but the second item on that page is Apple suing Microsoft.

British Crackas With Attitude chief gets two years in the cooler for CIA spymaster hack

"Mostly not their own failings though"

In their position you'd think they'd go for services which were a bit better managed. Perhaps use providers with a VIP service with specially trained call handlers and the like.

"How do you explain the 2 year delay on your CV?"

Depending on who he's explaining it to it could be the high point of his CV.

"Clearly not a danger to anyone and most probably learned from his mistakes so what could he have done to piss off the authorities?"

We know what he's done to piss off the authorities. He's shown up a whole lot of very senior US officials as being completely crap at managing their own security and inconvenienced them into tightening up, possibly to the state they should have been in all the time. And not only that, he could do it while not even being bright enough to avoid being caught.

Re: Another Perspective....

"That part of the story. Up until then, in my eyes he was a stupid teenager being a twat."

Still in keeping with a stupid teenager being a twat.

Facebook privacy audit by auditors finds everything is awesome!

Re: Quick Google search gives...

So everything's just fine.

ZTE to USA: Sure, ban us, but you cannot afford such victories

Re: Protectionism

"moreover, Google has the only viable app store for Android."

And it will continue to have the only viable one right up to the time when someone with backing the size of, say, the Chinese economy decides to build their own.

Tech bribes: What's the WORST one you've ever been offered?

Re: My Account Manager

"The account manager had got the price hideously wrong and was told that if I insisted they put the order through, the company would supply at the agreed price but the account manager would get fired on the spot."

I'd be surprised if the account manager didn't get fired anyway if the price was still wrong after three checks.

Re: First of all, I don't accept bribes. Ever. Personal policy.

"A guy offered me his daughter"

Or at least, someone's daughter.

"There's only two more week [sic] to go until IP Expo Manchester 2018, Europe's number ONE Enterprise IT event, do'’t forget to register for your FREE pass," stated the email from Sophos.

"We will also be giving away a pair of free Sophos socks to every 10th person that registers through our registration page."

Oh well, at least the reminder ads nestled in the elReg headline page don't threaten socks. But we do see where you got the idea.

BOFH: We know where the bodies are buried

Re: A Likely Story

"I wonder how (and how often ) that happened?"

As far as the BOFH is concerned it happens automatically and to all emails.