Posts by anothercynic 2605 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Dec 2014
This. The irony of New Corp bleating on about crassness and kleptomania is just too delicious/obvious. The sooner that empire falls (sadly not much of a chance of that happening since Murdoch Junior had plenty of training), the better for the media landscape the planet over.
No. Every 737 jet has two AoA sensors. On the Max, MCAS just switched between them each flight (so the port one on one flight, the starboard one the next, and then back to the port one the one after that). It was the DISAGREE alarm that was optional. The whole thing was an absolute shit show (pardon my French). That's why Boeing's critics also demanded that the certification of the -7 and -10 (post a date cut-off) should be contingent on the AoA sensor issue being a majority-vote thing (whether synthetic AoA à la B787 or something else) to prevent such cockups ever happening again.
Correct. The 787 has a third, synthetic, input that comes from other sources, not just the 2 physical AOA sensors. And that was one thing Boeing specifically feared - that they would have to rework both the 737-7 and the 737-10 (both are MAX models, by the way, just like the 737-8/9) to add this synthetic input (and that that would cost yet more millions and time and changes in certification).
There is something to be said about the 787 assembly in that yes, South Carolina does not have the engineering-first culture that Seattle (Renton and Everett) had/has.
The Boeing plants in Washington state are all unionised, whereas SC is an at-will state with no union. One of the biggest Boeing critics (the former Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker) famously said that he would refuse acceptance of *any* 787 built in Carolina (after it was found that some 787s built in Carolina had sub-standard manufacturing), which forced Boeing to make sure all Qatar jets were built in Washington, where possible. But since *all* 787 production has been moved to Carolina, it remains to be seen if Qatar (now that Al-Baker has departed) would buy more 787s.
The 777 is being built in Washington. The 737 fuselage is built in Kansas and sent by rail to Washington to finish off and commission (this is where Boeing threw shade at Spirit Aerosystems during the 737-9 door plug debacle, claiming that Spirit messed up, which turned out to be wrong).
Wow. You have nice users! It'd be nice if my colleague and I were shown some appreciation like that. But since we work from home and no-one knows really that we exist (unless the brown smelly stuff hits the rapidly rotating metal blades), the chances of us ever being spoiled like that are less-than-slim to none.
When it comes to anything employment-wise with financial implications (like pensions), absolutely do not throw anything out. It is so utterly important. Same goes for things like proof of residency (for those who come to a country on a work permit or similar and then need to prove residency etc for citizenship or similar).
Those countless people caught up in the Windrush scandal ended up getting shafted by the government because the government had no proof (thanks to the initiator of the hostile environment policy at the Home Office, Theresa bloody May, ordering the landing cards shredded because "no one needs that stuff anymore"), and none of these folks who arrived on these shores during the Windrush times ever got, or got given, proof that they were considered citizens under the Immigration Act in force at the time, and none were paranoid enough (and seriously, who at such a time ever thinks that their own (post-)colonial government would shaft them thoroughly 60 years later!) to make sure they had paperwork for that until the smelly brown stuff hit the rapidly rotating blades of metal.
That's why I will give the Germans credit that they have a so-called "Lebensbuch" in which *everything* is kept... birth certificate, certificate of baptism (!!), initial ID document, every renewed ID document after, certificate of starting school, certificate of changing/leaving school(s), every grade at every end of the school year, college year, uni year, certificates of graduation, certificates of certification (for work), marriage/divorce/remarriage certificates, death certificates (if a spouse passed away), etc etc etc. It adds up and ends up being something like 5 or 10 boxes worth of crap that you schlep with you everywhere you move, but should there *ever* be a question of "did you really do/have this", you go up into the attic/down into the cellar and dig up the proof that yes, indeed, you really did/have said thing.
Ironically this is very similar to what I have to deal with here. Whereas people used to tack on a few personal days to a business trip (like for a conference) and the company paid for the flight and the accommodation during the business part, now that's no longer allowed because of said HMRC drama (in addition to 'tax implications of working internationally'). So now the question is how you can make things easier for yourself... fly on *your* dime (as you would've for a quick week trip to said location) and let the company pay for the hotel for the period of the work stay and you pay the rest, or just not tack on any days at all.
Things used to be so much easier a few years ago where it was clear that if the company paid less (as @Korev points out) if you flew over earlier (and stayed a Saturday night - which is often a condition on a cheap fare), they'd be happy to put you up for a day (especially if despite the extra day's hotel the combined cost was *still* less than it would've cost otherwise) and you'd go and have fun on your own dime.
But these days? God forbid. So the constant whinges about "please consider the financial costs of your trips and help us save money" fall on deaf ears here. If you insist I fly out on a Sunday despite Saturday being cheaper (or return a day or two later, for the same reason), then you know what, I tried to save you money by looking at the economics and you told me "no can do". So, which is it? Save you money or be inflexible? Inflexible it is, so, suck it!
This is something this OpenRoaming malarkey could resolve, given that authentication is done by WPA-Enterprise, not some captive portal page.
Although, now that I am looking at it, even that would have a problem if they use a feature called CapPort (which stands for Captive Portal).
cyberdemon is correct though. It's a semi-refundable deposit. It becomes non-refundable when you cancel your connection, but when you start drawing power you get it back.
A fee is non-refundable and non-creditable. You pay for the connection, and that's it. You don't get given it back once you start drawing power.
Every blind or visually impaired person will absolutely hate anyone who implements this, unless there's a way for Jaws or other screenreaders to 'render' ShieldFont into real text.
Clearly no-one thought "Hmmmm, what else might be reading the plain HTML...". Yet more eminently stupid ideas from people who don't think further than their own screens.
P.S. I am not visually impaired or blind, but I do care *very much* about making sure websites stay accessible to those visually impaired or blind.
A fully-fuelled jet with virtually no cargo/passengers will fly a *long* way, which is why things like the BBJ (Boeing Business Jet) exist - Even when customised, the all up weight is still less than what a fully loaded (with cargo and SLF) B737/B777/B787 weighs... Their reach is a shedload more.
What the Qantas B747-400 proved though was that the engines were good for that, and the B777 showed that ETOPS performance was as expected. Airbus will definitely manage, given that there are margins in play to allow that. The A321XLR (also fitted with an extra tank) seems to be doing alright for the airlines using it (although it's a narrow-body, it still has intercontinental mod-cons) to do what they call long thin routes in the business.
The longest intercontinental flights are the ones from Singapore. SIN-EWR (Newark) was the longest pair and done with an A340 in all-premium layout, but it's been replaced by SIN-JFK (with the A350-900ULR). After those, it's Doha/Dubai to New Zealand. They are non-stop for the most part and are flown with a mix of B777-200LR/300ER, B787, A380 (!!) or the A350.
Speak to Singapore Airlines. They'll tell you otherwise. Their non-stop SIN-JFK in the A350-900ULR (the smaller brother of Qantas' plane) is *all premium* (so Premium Economy and Business) and it is *very* popular for obvious reasons. The seat maps are online too if you want to have a look at their layout. :-)
And many airports offer you water points where you can fill up your 2 litre mega bottle (or your 4 tiny 500ml ones) for this exact reason.
And most airports in Europe have this thing called "a water tap" in the bathrooms, and you can also go to places selling food and ask them to fill up your water bottle with tap water. It is *NOT* as terrible as you make it out to be.
As someone else pointed out, frequent crew rotation and getting decent sleep in decent crew facilities makes a huge difference in crew morale and crew performance.
Most passengers ignore one of the basic tenets of flying - hydration. Drink lots of liquids (preferably water, *not* alcohol) during the flight because the cabin air is dry and 12-18 hours in a very dry environment will dehydrate you like nothing else. That's why newer planes (B787 and A380/A350) have lower cabin 'altitude' (higher cabin pressure) and higher humidity to keep you fresher. Getting on board with 2 litres of water in your hand luggage is a good idea - If you get off your flight with no spare water, you should definitely feel less like death warmed up. :-)
That's the thing - Project Sunrise flights are *not* going to be sardines-in-a-can flights, because Qantas actually did the research (with actual flights and official researching with NASA and others) to make sure people don't a) riot and b) keel over dead the minute they step off the planes. That's why they asked Airbus for the 1000ULR (it's large enough to make the economics work, and the extra tank makes the non-stop part possible). The project has been in the works since 2017, so a decade of research & development has led to this.
Planes always return to base first (when going into or coming out of maintenance). The plane ferrying from Dresden to Oz is not officially signed off by Qantas' maintenance people yet. It gets another once-over in Oz before they clear it back into passenger service.
It'll probably blow your mind when I tell you that many airlines do this kind of ferry flying from the Americas/Africa/Europe to China, Philippines or Singapore (where maintenance is also done by some major MRO operators) or vice versa. Only very few airlines have the MRO capacity and capability to do heavy maintenance themselves (Lufthansa, SIA, Etihad and Emirates are some, who also do maintenance for a lot of other airlines), and the aircraft manufacturers only have limited places where they have built up major facilities to do OEM type maintenance. So the planes have to get there first (empty).
I will say this, having had to do several long flights this year:
1. It's difficult to look at the benefits/disadvantages of flying direct vs flying a kangaroo route (i.e. one or more stopovers) without actually having tried it. Those who have flown Perth-London/Frankfurt or Singapore-New York are probably the ones most qualified to answer since those are the only non-stop flights that are roughly of the length that Qantas are planning to fly. Maybe those non-stops from Doha/Dubai to Auckland/Christchurch are alternatives because they are also very very long flights (the longest in the world other than the Singapore Airlines one). Note that SIA's nonstop to Newark/JFK is all-premium, so there is no Economy class on that flight (unlike Qantas' non-stop Perth-to-Europe and soon-to-be Project Sunrise offerings). SIA have previous experience, having used an A340 (also in all-premium layout) to Newark before killing it until the A350-900ULR came on-stream.
2. I agree with others that either flying Premium Economy or Business is well worth the money, if only for the slightly better layouts. Of course Qantas will absolutely milk their offering for what it's worth (which it will be - ask SIA about their non-stop service to New York), because no-one else does it (yet). Having had to fly to Japan and Southern Africa (Africa was shorter), I very much appreciate a lie-flat business seat (because you can actually lie and sleep, provided the crew don't turn *up* the heat instead of down). Emirates has added some new tweaks to their latest Economy seats that should improve how well you sleep in Economy (built-in wings that give your head support), but nothing beats lying flat with no constant stress on your spinal column and your ass for 20-odd hours.
3. There's a reason why Doha, Dubai, Singapore and Istanbul have the delightful airport experiences - They are there to decompress you from your previous flight, give you relief and some stimulus because you get on the next one. Both Istanbul and Singapore have made a layover an opportunity to look at their host cities (even just for 12 hours) - I can't speak for Doha or Dubai. Sometimes just having that break makes a big difference, consider that a bonus.
My personal preference is that if I *am* going to be stuck in a tube for 22 hours that I will a) fly business (or premium economy at a stretch), and b) ensure I move about regularly (a lap or two around the plane along the aisles makes a difference, provided I don't get in the way of the crew preparing for service). And having a decent business class seat is important too (the 'old' business class on Turkish, whilst not a "suite", is pretty damn good because you don't feel like you're in a coffin, the newer door-less staggered business class on Swiss, for the aforementioned coffin reason, is not). Doored suites (the newest type of business class on many airlines) are good in the sense that you will have guaranteed aisle access and don't need to bother your neighbour.
If it's not possible to get a decent business class seat for non-stop, I will do a single layover at a decent airport with a break long enough to take a walk but not so long that I am begging to get back on a plane (2 hours or so in Istanbul was a great break). If the airport offers bedrooms/pods/airport hotel for a longer break, go for that, if only to lie flat for a little bit. So unless Project Sunrise flights are priced decently, I'll be hopping through Singapore or Istanbul, if only because the airports actually are very good.
Sadly, yes. That's the usual problem - because of some perverts/glassholes, we can't have nice things. And those perverts/glassholes couldn't give a fig about those who need/want/use them for accessibility reasons, because they are egotists/narcissists. They don't think beyond their own needs/wants.
I'm glad to see that venues and spaces are becoming less tolerant of this crap, although those with accessibility needs will need to make sure they have proof they wear them/need them. It's a burden (again) on those who shouldn't need to have to.
There are some misgivings from bond traders about how SpaceX is performing, especially given they've just IPOed and then also issued a bond for quite a large amount. One trader mentioned that this is heading for bubble territory (well, us watching the mad owner and his colleagues in the AI business have expected this for a while).
So when Tesla now also starts getting in debt by a billion or six, and the other company is also doing it, I'd say steer away (or do HF trading to take many and small wins).
That's familiar. That and the ever annoying straying into the column 73-80 territory that woe betide you would cause compilation and linking errors. And when you wrote a substantial bit of COBOL, you had to check every single line (and the line editor column field) to make sure you were not accurate. Back in those days the error message was not that particularly descriptive, so yes, at some point it became routine to a) check column 73-80 and also column 8-12 just for good measure (because).
And like you, I never opened my COBOL textbooks again after I left the poly (and ironically lent them to someone at the local uni because their text books were shite and ours made a lot more sense).
Well, if the AI bubble *does* burst, one would hope that the sat/launch business of SX would be rescued/spun off (if only to be gobbled up by someone else), while the AI/social media cesspit part swirls and goes down the drain. And if that resets the mad owner to zero, so much the better.
Part of me thinks that all that rubbish being folded into SpaceX was a ploy by the mad owner to a) trade off SpaceX's good reputation as a launch and sat business, and b) to safeguard everything by making SpaceX too big to fail (because if it fails, space launch capability goes bye bye (and we all know how many launches are done on SpaceX equipment).
Either way, it will not bode well for SpaceX if its stock tanks because of its AI/social media cesspit business unit's misdeeds.
Given that SWIFT is originally of European origin, that's ok. What is *not* ok is that the US had full visibility of *every* transaction in the system through the US data centre (again on the basis that "it's on our soil, so we'll ignore any sovereignty on the data").
That's changed in that institutions can choose which data centre they want their traffic to be processed... Europe or the US. One would hope that more and more organisations will choose to move to Europe which means the US only sees what is being done in USD and what's involving orgs hosted in the US data centre or what involves US institutions.
The fact that Visa and Mastercard have swallowed the European competition (Eurocard and Giro, and a couple of others) is more of a concern. Wero at least is becoming the EU payment system alternative to the card companies, and one would hope that the system rolls out onto cards too (and would prefer using Wero over Visa/Mastercard if they're all offered).
Like Liam, Marty and others, I highly recommend OCLP. Mykola & crew have done a fantastic job, and I took an older MacBook Air and updated it to the last 'best supported' version of macOS on it. I was very pleased, but yeah, like Liam says, OCLP does not support a factory reset, and you're going to have to reset it with the last officially supported macOS before giving it away, or set it up with OCLP and then delete your own user.
And Liam, thank you for the hint about the Stop Tahoe Upgrade thing - I have the last Intel macMini and I have no intention to upgrade that to Tahoe. So this might help with that. :-)
This was highlighted today here too... while 'AI' can do 90% of 'the thing' (whatever 'the thing' is), the human can then spend the time saved on those 90% on the 10% that 'the AI' didn't do, or couldn't do, which is the valuable work that only the human is able to.
Getting an LLM to summarise a collection of 40 inter-related RFCs and extract specific things from them is a lot more productive than you doing everything manually. Sure, you could write a script to do it too, and that's fine, but with the tokenised reasoning that exists in an LLM, you could do this on a local machine, point it at the RFC files and say "go do the thing with every single one of these files" and save yourself time and effort.
I'm definitely *not* a fan of the "launch a room full of agents and get them to write the full works of Shakespeare" (see what I did there) method of vibe coding stuff, but, as Torvalds points out, if you have specific things that can be automated, then automate them (that's what build systems do too, you know... they're just... well... the drawn-stick-man to the fleshed-out comic of AI).
Like someone else pointed out, pragmatism is a good approach to have to this. I would definitely prefer a packaged LLM that I can run on my own hardware (even if it's slower), but it's *my* electricity that's being used, and it's *my* domain knowledge that it continues to improve itself with.
I was going to post this too... El Reg calling the objectors to having massive warehouses and data centres near their homes NIMBYs is doing these people a disservice.
I just point at those who objected to massive warehouses being planted in their back yards (well, next to) in Wigan, and then being fobbed off by the local authority *and* the developers with "we'll plant trees and such to soften the appearance". End result was *NO TREES* and 17 metre high metal boxes with lights that are on *all the time*. The locals were right! IMO, buffer zones should exist between massive developments like warehouses and actual residential neighbourhoods to prevent exactly what happened there!
There is something to be said about NIMBYs who complain for complaining sake, but those who know full well what the view would be like by demonstrating what it looks like should most definitely not be called NIMBYs. I don't object to having a set of massive wind turbines near me, mostly because I know why they are there and what it means. Neither do I object to solar parks (provided the panels are set high enough to allow sheep, goats and/or cows to graze amongst them), because again, we need to have that for a net zero future. I have a large CCGT power station down the road (well 10 minutes' driving). Of course, I'm all for using existing infrastructure like car parks, building roofs etc for solar (and wind where possible). But when it comes to data centres, *especially* for AI (which is a bubble that *will* inevitably burst), which then gobble up water and electricity like there is no tomorrow, no, put them in specific zones and put stringent conditions on them!! And if that means a data centre developer decides that those conditions are too burdensome, good, see ya!
There are use cases where WSL containers come in handy. Saying "anyone developing stuff in containers would be better off using Linux anyway" ignores the reality that many people are *not* Linux professionals, and being able to feed events from the container into the Windows event logs (which is what many people use on Windows) is handy since you can effectively give the container a kick if it should get stuck...
Just for clarity - I am not saying you're wrong, but I am pointing out that there are cases where this is a good thing.
Would be nice if Cloudflare sorted out the rubbish that is 'turnstyle' first.
Increasingly I end up in a 'turnstyle' loop without a way to get out of it. There's no alternate way to verify I'm human (hello, I am human!) other than using another browser altogether, which is *not* how you resolve this. This increased gatekeeping against scripts, bots, and other rubbish just leads to the general enshittification of the web as we know it.
El Reg's account login page is one of those that sends me spinning around (like a record - if you get the reference). NOT cool.
Most MFA allows you to have exceptions, such as the invoicing system with a shitty MFA implementation. Thus - you exempt invoicing app X from MFA until such time that vendor for invoicing app X has an improved MFA implementation. Then you *test* said invoicing app X with the COO and other tame underlings to check that the MFA now works as expected, and then implement it.
This is exactly the problem these days...
I can look at a website with NoScript and suddenly be asked to authorise 20 other websites because that's what some of the JS code requires. The dependencies are mad!
