Posts by Jimmy2Cows

SAP 'investigating' after viral video allegedly shows anti-mask employee coughing on shoppers

Re: Fake vax certificate

Never underestimate how dumb people can be. They'll always find a way to prove you wrong.

Re: Covidiots DO exist!

I'm perfectly fine with it. Actions have consequences, and an action doesn't need to be a crime to land you in trouble with your employer. Potential for reputational damage is usually enough.

SAP have clearly taken the view they don't want to be associated with people like that, and are sending a message.

Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos fraud trial begins: Defense claims all she did was fail – and that's not a crime

Re: My BS meter

Wow! See that needle bend!

Re: What a feel-good story!

Let's not forget the gem that is:

Executives happily throwing each other under a bus to save their own worthless hides. ✅

LA cops told to harvest social media handles from people they stop, suspect or not

We're all criminals to them, simply (in their eyes) they haven't proven it yet.

Talent shortage? Maybe it's your automated hiring system, lack of investment in training

Re: To which you can add ...

Worst. Policy. Ever.

<rant>

Talk about shooting themselves in the foot. You want a competitive disadvantage? There it is.

How about hiring the best person for the job if that person comes along, instead of deliberately rejecting skilled candidates just to hit some arbitrary diversity percentage. If you're struggling to attract a diversity range matching the demographic in your region, maybe consider why that is. But FFS don't reject perfectly good people just because you've already hit your artifically self-imposed 80% white-male-under-50 "limit".

</rant>

Kim Kardashian and Big Tech slapped for spruiking craptocurrency – and holding back useful crypto

Re: opportunity

Not even aware they should wonder, never mind how to do so.

Re: opportunity

Opportunity may well exist, but capitalising on it takes education, ambition, intelligence, charisma, effort, time, a supportive environment and usually money. All of them. For education it starts early, before school age even. Supportive environment starts with the parents, and it's not teaching their kids they're always awesome at everything, it's also teaching them they aren't always perfect, how to handle failure, and how to move on from it and improve.

And most people simply don't have all, or even any, of those things. Which leaves them with empty lives, wishing for things they'll never have, and blindly following whoever manages to capture their attention, completely unable to understand they're just marks being suckered for every extractable penny.

They're doing so well, everything they say must be true, real, right?

Chinese e-commerce tycoon Richard Liu to step away from the spotlight

Did he jump, or was he pushed? Has he annoyed the Chinese government recently, or perhaps gotten too big for his boots (sexual assault allegations aside, or maybe that's the kind of public exposure they don't want)?

Facebook apologises after its AI system branded Black people as primates

Re: Hmm

Devil's advocate for a sec...

Without wishing to defend Facebook, this could put an entirely different slant on things.

We're missing some key details:

1) What kind of "primates" were being suggested, and...

2) was the offended chap watching something specifically about prominent black religious figures, perhaps tagged correctly as "Primate", and...

3) was the follow-up suggestion simply text "primates" or was it images of prominent religious figures?

Say he doesn't know the eccumenical aspects of the term and, let's be realistic, I suspect many people don't; it is really easy to jump instantly to the wrong conclusion.

On the other hand, this is Facebook, so Occam's Razor etc.

Re: No "I" in this AI

I was thinking to hard, went down an "In[something]" rabbit hole. The simplest ones can be easiest to miss.

Re: No "I" in this AI

Artificial [blank]...

• Ignorance
• Intolerance
• Incompetence
• Inanity
• Ineptitude
• Indolence
• Inneficacy
• Insanity
• ...

Re: No "I" in this AI

Mission complete, then.

[This is joke. Kinda like Facebook.]

Norwegian student tracks Bluetooth headset wearers by wardriving around Oslo on a bicycle

Re: "...It never crossed my mind."

"It is unpleasant knowing that others that you don't know are able to track you via Bluetooth. It never crossed my mind."

Seems like a severe imagination deficit. Especially given all the COVID-related tracking over the past year or so.

US Air Force chief software officer quits after launching Hellfire missile of a LinkedIn post at his former bosses

Re: Well Done

Nuculer

Arm says it has 'successful working relationship' with Chinese joint venture run by CEO who refuses to leave

Arm Ltd has dismissed an analyst's opinion

Well, they're hardly going to say "Yep we got mugged off, and now a Chinese company we have no control over has our designs.".

This drag sail could prevent spacecraft from turning into long-term orbiting junk. We spoke to its inventors ahead of launch

designed to operate even if the host spacecraft is inactive

So how exactly does the host spacecraft command it to deploy, if the host spacecraft is inactive? Perhaps and automatic failsafe if it doesn't receive heartbeat from the spacecraft for more than some arbitrary period, but that carries its own risk of failure and prematurely deorbiting a working bird.

No good being deployed all the time since a bird would need constant low burn to remain on-orbit, or periodic burns to boost it back to desired orbit (more than already needed for LEO and MEO). Either way it'll use up the fuel a lot faster, requiring bigger tankage and more mass to stay orbiting for the desired lifetime.

Children of China, your state-sanctioned hour of gaming begins … now!

Re: "The spokesperson named Chess, Go, and programming as games"

Programming a game is still not a game. Sorry. And while one might be able to gamify some aspects of programming, that still doesn't make programming a game.

Alibaba to offer self-defense training in response to sexual assault allegation

Re: I can see it already

Which is why self defence training given must be backed up by HR, other senior management, and the independent investigation panel taking Susan Victim seriously, instead of always believing Johny Scumbag and brushing it all under the carpet.

And the independent investigation panel really must be independent. Almost autonomous, and certainly free from management and executive interference. As long as the panel doesn't become corrupt. Who watches the watchers, etc.

Re: So the only answer is to teach people to give a bloody good kicking?!

Physical self defence has its place, everyone has the right to use appropriate force to protect themselves. Like it or not, sometimes it's just not possible to talk your way out of a situation. But the key is "appropriate" and that must be carefully weighed against the situation at hand. Which isn't always easy in what's often a split-second choice.

Yes education is 100% the long term solution. Some people simply don't know their behaviour is wrong, and need to be taught. But that takes time, effort, persistence and reinforcement. And then there are those who simply don't care, and no amount of education can fix.

So no, a swift kick in the bollocks is not an appropriate response to a tasteless remark in the office kitchen.

But, faced with the immediate risk of sexual assault, it's absolutely justified given the alternative.

What is also needed is awareness that support exists after the fact, complaints absolutely will be taken seriously and never brushed aside. Victims need to feel they can physically defend themselves, if they have to, and not have it used against them to make everything go away.

Feeling like no one will help, no one will listen, and that taking defensive action will only make things worse, can only increase feelings of powerlessness.

Microsoft emits last preview of .NET 6 and C# 10, but is C# becoming as complex as C++?

Re: "perhaps the most important new type system capability since Span<T>"

You're trolling, right? Must be. Code complexity and environment understanding are definitely not mutually exclusive.

Good news: There's a slightly increased chance of asteroid Bennu hitting Earth. Bad news: It's still really slight

Re: doh!

Laden or unladen?

Xiaomi builds a robot dog out of smartphone cameras and an Nvidia edge AI board

Walkies

Could be an ideal pub companion. <singing>"Xiaomi the way to go home..."

Apple responds to critics of CSAM scan plan with FAQs, says it'd block governments subverting its system

Re: Who creates the hash?

It'll be run on the iCloud side, when pics are uploaded. Not quite the same as "scanning your device", but, you know, click-baity headlines...

If they do want to scan on-device pics, it's an easy step to a background service on your device constantly uploading your pics to the checking service, flagging any who's resulting hashes match the no-no list.

Wireless powersats promise clean, permanent, abundant energy. Sound familiar?

Re: Modern, safe nuclear power as a baseload / backstop is a possibility

It's utterly essential, and let's not kid ourselves otherwise. There is absolutely no way at all that renewables could provide the kind of steady baseload most countries need to operate normally.

Even technical issues of ultra-long-distance transmission could be solved, we're still talking about an unprecedented level of international cooperation to ensure the power flows unhindered. Just imagine the political leverage over countries whose power flows through yours... no nation would ever submit to such risks.

The only realistic option is local generation, perhaps trading across immediate borders with neighbouring countries. Therefore that local generation needs to be constant, reliable and fully adequate for current and future needs, lest the natives start getting tetchy after a few weeks of rolling blackouts and being unable to wash their laundry or take a shower when they dare to want to (the end game for so-called smart meters... far cheaper and easier to get the public to pay through increased bills for their own personal remote off switches than have the utilities actually build enough generating capacity).

Re: Lets do the maths

Wish I could upvote this more than once.

Flushing roulette: Southern Water installing digital sewer monitors to prevent blockages

Re: Sounds like a pile of shite to me...

It does seem extremely low. 30k of sensors amounts to about £266 per sensor, including hardware and software development, comms networks, installation, support and maintenance. Not expecting many, if any, will bid for that pittance.

And maybe that's the point. Offer a deliberately low contract that sounds big to the great unwashed, then when no one bids Southern Water can say "look, we tried to get this sorted out but no one would bid on it" and then they don't have to spend a penny (badum tish) more on it.

Re: It's 1984 - but with toilets

Aaah, to be in the Land of The Free.

But in all fairness we in the UK pay for all those operations too, just we pay it all as the water bill, instead of separate billing for each. You Yanks seem to suffer what is essentially a pooping tax. Hmm. Let's not give our governement and water utilities any new brilliant ideas.

Amazon delays return to office work until 2022 at the earliest

Re: Amazon delays return to work

Rampant abuse of their warehouse staff and abject failure to protect them from COVID effectively is yesterday's news. Amazon may be hoping most have forgotten that and will now get all warm and fuzzy over this latest corporate largess.

Re: OH REALLY??

Sadly, far too many people seem to think wearing a mask and getting a jab is somehow a massive state overreach that vastly impinges upon their personal freedoms.

And don't even get them started on how masks and vaccines can not only protect them, but also others around them. The very notion of doing something that, by side-effect, protects others seems to evoke frothing, rabib rage.

Strange. Very strange.

Re: It'll be a long time

I love how these people espouse such strong viewpoints, insisting their way is the only way and everyone else is completely wrong, yet choose to remain anonymous.

Re: Return to Office

Certainly not only possible in the office. It just needs a minor change of thinking. There's no need to throw up artificial barriers then say it's too hard and can't be done.

Pinging someone with an IM is exactly the same as going over and tapping them on the shoulder. In both cases you can't see whether they are truly working or not, and the only way to know if they don't mind a quick chat is to ask.

Sat typing does not always mean "working", and sat not typing does not always mean "not working". WFH hasn't changed that.

SpaceX Starship struts its stack to show it has the right stuff

Re: Nothing to see here

Your handle seems apt. Unless you're making a done-to-death joke.

No. Scratch that. Even if you're makng a done-to-death joke.

Don't forget dealing with the other end...

After all, what goes in, must come out.

Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users' devices for banned content, professor warns

And of course, we'll never get it wrong, and send your details to law enforcement without checking, since we're not allowed to check as that could risk viewing illegal images.

But don't worry, the police will definitely verify what's found really is illegal before smashing your door in at 4am and terrifying your children. Because somebody needs to think of the children.

South Korea to test grenade-launching drones

Re: The second one is of more interest to me....

Just sharpen the rotor blades.

Re: Anti-ransomware software ?

Isn't "Anti-ransomware software" simply another term for "a decent working backup and DR system"?

Because even the best "anti-ransomeware" software powered by ground unicon horn, rocking horse poop and finely powered fairy dusy will miss the ransonware at some point, and relying that as your get-out-of-jail-free card is a false crutch which I can see beancounters using an excuse for even less investment in proper DR. An excuse that will bite them sooner or later. Bite them hard.

Microsoft to require proof of vaccination from on-site staff, pushes back full reopening

Careful what you wish for

I'd rather the NHS crumbles, than have the country descend into mob rule or some totalitarian nightmare state

If the NHS does crumble the country would likely go that way anyway. Millions of people suddenly unable to attain basic healthcare or treatment for any serious or lifethreatening condition, because they can't afford it, would not be happy. Wouldn't end well.

Re: hold up

You keep pitching this argument.

Percentage might be small, but absolute numbers are high. Very high. And only not even higher because of things like lockdowns, masks, distancing, hand cleaning.

And please don't give, for instance, Sweden as an example of why that stuff wasn't necessary. Sure, they didn't lockdown, but the vast majority of their citizens took it on themselves to wear masks, distance and so on. There's no proof that would have happened elsewhere.

Where do you personally draw the line between a percentage that is worth trying to keep alive, and a percentage that can just go die because it's only a low percentage?

COVID can be just as debilitating. Long COVID is a thing, it can be disasterous, and many hundreds of thousands of people in the UK along have been suffering its effects for over a year. No one knows how long that will last. Perhaps their entire lives.

And just what exactly is your problem with doing something because it could help someone else? You seem to have an almost violent aversion to it. Can't require people to take a vaccine because it could help others not get the disease. Weird outlook. No one is forcing you to get the vaccine, but at some point if you want to mingle with the rest of society, it's worth maybe giving a shit about the rest of society.

US labor official suggests Amazon's Alabama workers rerun that unionization vote

Given so called "right to work" in multiple states, Amazon could just dump their staff right now and "bring in the robots" anyway. Strike or no strike. The fact Amazon hasn't done so (yet) shows how fallacious your argument is.

UK chancellor: Getting back to the altar of corporate dreams (the office) will boost young folks' careers

If I owned a company I'd want me workers to be where they are most productive and least stressed.

Conditions of "productive" depend on the work, but unless you're a factory floor worker, shop floor worker, cleaner, security guard or the like, pretty much every office job can be done at home just as well. Occasionally you might need a site visit for say IT problems, but even most IT can be remotely managed these days, be it cloudy or on-prem.

Complaints about it being harder to communicate with colleagues are bogus. Calling someone on Skype/Teams/Zoom is no different than walking over to that person in the office. If they're busy they'll let you know either way. If they're not busy, being remote makes zero difference.

Possibly its actually slightly more productive because you're not wasting the time walking over and back.

The arguement you can "see" if they're busy is also bogus. Just because someone's banging away at the keyboard doesn't mean they're too busy for a chat. They might welcome the diversion.

Just because someone's not obviously wokring and staring into space doesn't mean they're available for a chat. They might be thinking deep and hard about a problem and not welcome the interruption.

Ever wondered how much data web giants generate? Singaporean super-app Grab says 40TB a day

Bubble bobble

The online food delivery segment seems to be the one to watch, as it experienced 96 per cent year-on-year growth from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.

Couldn't be anything to do with a certain pandemic spanning that growth period, could? There's a good chance that will pretty much plateau now, with spikes and dips corresponding to local lockdown/unlocking. Watch that growth mostly evaporate when things eventually return to normal (yes, "when", not "if").

Tesla battery fire finally flamed out after four-day conflagration

Re: Extinguishers...

Build separate (empty) pools, one per pack. Remotely closeable drainage to stop them filling with rain water (yeah even in Aus). Once a fire starts, flood the pool.

Does increase construction and deployment costs though, and all the concrete needed to make the pools somewhat dents the eco credentials of these battery schemes.

Question though. If the lithium and electrolyte therefore aren't consumed, will they later spontaneously combust if the pool is drained?

Dell won't ship energy-hungry PCs to California and five other US states due to power regulations

Re: We need to take action...

We need to take action - smaller families, reduced travel, less meat consumed, fewer power- guzzling computers.

Bollocks. Utter bollocks.

We have the technology to resolve all current issues, and provide plentiful energy, food and water for everyone, now and in with future projected population growth, without needing to burn a billion tonnes of carbon to do it nor return everyone to tthe dark ages.

But the kind of, dare I see it, freedom, those solutions provide do not control the populace through fear-mongering and forced action. Politics is built on control and fear of something bad happening if you don't don't what they say. Take away those levers of control, and political power is lost. Which is why the obvious solutions (mass tree planting, nuclear power, vertical farming, agricultural-scale greenhouses, ocean fertilisation which vastly increases local fish stocks) will never be implemented at the necessary scale. All are proven to work, but vital political control is lost.

What you're advocating isn't societal progress, it's a forced return to an agrarian lifestyle, and will lead to vast resentment and social upheaval.

Re: 6 states is not 50

Will high-performance workstations and gaming rigs become the new contraband? Will we start seeing gaming Speakeasys with flip-over tables where there's a decent PC on top and shitty one beneath? Prohibition went really well. Why not try the same with computing.

Welcome to California, Sir. Anything to declare? Any food, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, medications, firearms, ammunition, money over $10K, Dell desktop PCs?

Re: "Save you money" BS...

I do like baiting the smart meter providers on this one, when they call offering this magical device. So how does it save me money? Umm.. err... see your consumption... ummm... turn things off... use less... ummm...

My things are on because I want them on, or need them on. I consume what I need to consume. My bill tells me how much I'm using. Don't need a dumb smart meter for help with any of these.

Re: As a Californian, all I can sat is "Who cares?".

Lobby your state gov to force local electrial utilities (PG&E?) to maintain their transmission hardware properly, and to allow brush clearance under power lines (details are a bit hazy... something about it being illegal to cut down trees, therefore brush clearance is basically impossible within the law).

Apparently transmission line breakages falling onto the uncleared brush below is a/the major cause of Cali wild fires, and PG&E have gotten away with barely maintaining their stuff for decades.

Meanwhile Cali suffers rolling blackouts whenever the wind picks up, in case more lines break and more fires start, and the switch to renewables means unreliable baseload. I suspect a lot of reasoning behind these power reduction mandates is because it's easier and cheaper to force people to use less power than it is to build and maintain proper, reliable electricity production and supply.

Australian court rules an AI can be considered an inventor on patent filings

Re: do we really need light emitting food containers?

Yes. Yes we do.

How else can we find our sandwiches in the dark? What...? Use the light switch!?! Are you nuts? Soooooo 20th century. Who has time for that?

No, I haven't thought it through. No, I don't care. Give my light emitting food container!!1!One!!1!

Wanna use your Nvidia GPU for acceleration but put off by CUDA? OpenAI has a Python-based alternative

The idea that ShotSpotter 'alters' or 'fabricates' evidence in any way is an outrageous lie

The idea that ShotSpotter missed a real gunshot resulting in a murder couldn't possibly damage company and software reputation in any way now, could it? What about past convictions based on similar "evidence"... could they be in jeopardy? Wouldn't half make the cities, cops and company look bad if those all started to unravel.

Hey, Feds! Dig into these guys. Dig deep.

Twitter uses HackerOne bounties to find biases in its image-cropping AI model

Should have asked the TV advertisers

The saliency algorithm employed by Twitter uses machine learning to crop images around the first spot eyes most frequently fall. In fall of 2020, some users complained the image cropping favoured light skin over dark, and women's legs and breasts over their faces.

Everything new is old. TV advertisers have known for decades where eyes most frequently fall in an image, using that knowledge to place their product accordingly. Clue... when the image contains people, often where viewers first look is at features of sexual and/or physical attractiveness.

Twitter has simply re-discovered basic human nature. It's not an algorithmic bias, they just chose the wrong algorithm to detect where to crop around. Should've tried to locate faces, then go from there. Which, as we've seen over and over, has other problems if using AI for detection.