Posts by Runty Dog

From landslide to buried alive: Why 2017 election forecasts weren't wrong

Royko on lying to pollsters

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-10-28/news/9204070637_1_pollsters-public-radio-show-cheap-shot

nothing new here.

(You can't) buy one now! The flying car makes its perennial return

Up, Up & Away!

If that pile of expensive junk qualifies as a flying car then we have had "flying cars" since 1932 (or earlier). Here is an example of one such 1932 model (a '32 Pitcairn Autogiro):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4vLyc2MZdM

Enjoy the weekend!

Squirrel sinks teeth into SAN cabling, drives Netadmin nuts

I would advise caution in your battle against squirrels, they sometimes get even.

Chicago Alderman Speaks Against Squirrels, Squirrels Gets Revenge: https://unclesamsmisguidedchildren.com/chicago-alderman-speaks-against-squirrels-squirrels-get-revenge/

Decapitating Rockall: How a 1970s Navy expedition blasted the top off the Atlantic islet

I miss Lester

I'll raise a pint tonite in honor of the late great Lester!

Oh my God, 911 is down. Quick, call… aaargh!

it's happened before

http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/95/Illinois%20Bell%20Telephone%20Fire,%201988.pdf?sequence=2

AT&T was knocked out before. They will never learn.

Speaking in Tech: Taxing robot labour for benefit glorious taxpayer

How do you tax an object? The only entity that actually pays a tax is a human. If you tax a robot, you are actually taxing a company that uses them. Companies pay no taxes, they just pass them along to the human consumer as an increase in the cost of goods and services. All this proves is that while Bill Gates may be very smart when it comes to making money from computing, et al, he is no economist.

US Homeland Security is so secure even its own staff can't log in

Typical first day back at work after a long weekend

Long weekends are used by federal government IT departments to implement updates, security patches, and the like. They never work properly on the first go round. Typically the wait time for help desk calls is monumental after these weekend updates. This happens at most/all government agencies. The only reason this made the news is that DHS's phones were still working. Usually that system goes TU in sync with the computers because it's VOIP. The best part of this chaos is the inability to have power point laden meetings. BTW at the beginning of these events the obligatory email is sent out stating that the email system is down. You get it as the system recovers. Most of the working stiffs have learned to bring a private cell phone so they can play vid games & chat while everything gets sorted.

USMC: We want more F-35s per year than you Limeys will get in half a decade

Get real, this is the US Air Force at work

We all know that the F-35 has had developmental troubles along the way:

http://www.duffelblog.com/2015/08/f-35-loses-dogfight-to-red-baron/

and that the US Air Force actually had to euthanize one after it became problematic:

http://www.duffelblog.com/2014/02/f35-delays-sentience/

but really its a good project and money well spent, unlike this Air Force money pit:

http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/03/air-force-reveals-artist-rendering-of-5-trillion-stealth-money-pit/#prettyPhoto/0/

Have a great week end!

What's the biggest danger to the power grid? Hackers? Terrorists? Er, squirrels

Nut jobs

Two loons with a bit of readily available explosives nearly got away with dropping the communication grid in 1961. As it was, it took Ma Bell & the US government over six days to re-establish AT&T Long Lines' transcontinental relay network. http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/longlines-expdam.html

In 1988 on Mother's Day the Bell system suffered a knee to the groin from a single point of failure, dropping cross country & local communications into the dumpster: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-03-11/news/8903250918_1_state-fire-marshal-alarm-electrical-power

A disgruntled employee with an axe & a pack of matches dropped the US air traffic control system into the bin: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-nvs-faa-report-reaction-st-1002-20150930-story.html

Our infrastructure is not as robust as we would like, but in each case the people directly affected overcame the problems. And not because some pin head, pencil pushing, government administrator came up with a study identifying probable threats. As the squirrel study shows, the real problems come from diverse random events, and are not predictable. It's usually some nut job (squirrels included) acting out that causes all the havoc.

BlackBerry sees a rainbow just around a corner

Re: BB Car?

Naw, not petrol engine - too new tech. This one will have an 'oat recycler' at the lead. Petrol engine comes about three gens later. (What - no horse & buggy icon?)

This is your captain speaking ... or is it?

Ha!

Bet you'all can't hack my plane! (Piper J-3 Cub - no electrical system)

Smart meter benefits even crappier than originally thought

rate hike alert

-when this was done in the states, it was sold as a way of lowering consumer costs, increasing reliability, blah, blah, blah. Before the savings kicked in, and before all the meter readers could be laid off, the requests for rate hikes came rolling in. "Why yes", the elected representatives said, happy with the sudden increase in campaign contributions. I'd bet a couple of pints that the 'savings' will result in a rate increase for peak usage, such as when it's cold, or at night, when it's dark.

Light the torches! NSA's BFF Senator Feinstein calls for e-book burning

...you can have my book when you pry it from my cold dead hands...DiFi is a twit, a very dangerous twit. She & her cohorts have been chipping away at freedom for a very long time. She does more long lasting damage to basic freedoms in a year than terrorists do in a lifetime.

Hackers break the bank to the tune of $300 MEEELLION

one to two years to get to billions...

I dunno, the US media has already inflated the take to a BEEEEELION!

Who's come to fix your broadband? It may be a Fed in disguise. Without a search warrant

Badges? We don't need no steekin' badges!

My, my, how things have changed. In my youth, no one at any casino would have invited ANY member of the 'G' into a casino. (In the past, the casino management would have handled this issue inhouse by strenously objecting to the competion, and the buzzards would find a fresh repast in the desert.)

It's private property. Owner requests law enforcement to enter property and check out suspicious activity. No warrant needed.

FBI agents failed to inform (tame?) judge of visit and evidence gathering (of unknown type, amount, etc) in the sworn affidavit for the warrant.

Judge recognizes the defect in the affidavit (probably after it was pointed out by a very expensive, but thurough defense attorney), and issues ruling.

Law enforcement takes note, and modifies it's behaviour appropriately (judge crossed off of 'tame' list).

BTW who benefited? The original perp walked, the perp's competition was rolled up, convicted & evicted, and the casino looks bad because it can't/won't keep confidential it's clientele's activities.

Renault Captur: Nobody who knows about cars will buy this

Get the piano ready & spool up the chopper!

I guess that Clarkson, et al could rid Blighty of the dreaded Captur invasion by forceful use of pianos. Be fun to watch.

Spies would need superpowers to tap undersea cables

Remember the Halibut

Look up the history of the USS Halibut - an early nuke sub that tapped the underwater Soviet phone lines at the Kamchatka sub pens. Forget about the NSA, worry about the Navy