Posts by bombastic bob

AIs don't like religion – particularly Jehovah's Witnesses, study claims

Re: And they're Surprised?

whenever I anthropomorphise an algorithm it helps me design and troubleshoot the thing, nearly every time. That goes double for device control and embedded things.

Pro-Iran crew turns DDoS into shakedown as Ubuntu.com stays down

they just rage against everyone

Their only goal is to elevate their own relevance by terrorizing as many people as possible, whether or not it is related to the USA and Department of War and the Trump administration.

They're like babies who throw food because they didn't get what they wanted.

I have been personally seeing a lot of traffic from Brazil and Uraguay, and complaint e-mails sent to those ISPs all bounce. Basically it's the entire netblock from those countries listed in my firewall block list. These IP addresses were sending SYN floods to port 443 and the only fix was to block the IP addresses from which they came. I also tightened up my DNS a bit 'cause they were trying to DDoS that via recursive requests (default FreeBSD config did not disallow this) so i fixed the config to stop THAT.

This activity was occasional up until the attack on Iran, after which it increased a LOT. And I don't even have a high traffic site, just a locally hosted web page with my own domain that's on a fixed IP for testing and prototyping things, but I noticed the disruption whenever their DDoS's ran.

Grok analysis was that it was likely a "test run" or series of them, mostly irritating [like making certain web sites or e-mail go slow] and revealed that servers in Brazil are known to be used for "penetration testing" like that.

GoDaddy customer claims registrar transferred 27-year-old domain without any security checks

Re: Schitzo

I have one domain registered through them, but it does not have an IPv6-only DNS resolver for the ".name" TLD. I'm not sure if other registrars even support that suffix [I looked a couple of years ago and was considering a very inexpensive alternative] and so I'm considering switching again, once it expires...

there have been other little things that irritate me as well... but overall "just the name registration" works and I haven't had any unusual difficulty setting it up.

Microsoft and OpenAI's open relationship is now official

How much of this is in response to Elon's lawsuit

Elon recently filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for "no longer being 'open'" essentially. His complaint is basically that he (helped) started OpenAI 10+ years ago and bailed out of it when he did NOT like their direction (Microsoft's fault) and now Sam Altman (whom he has referred to as 'Scam Altman') is the focus of Elon's current wrath on X since he's (allegedly) making a LOT of profit from this "Non-Profit" group.

Exclusive licensing to Micros~1 might very well have been the catalyst behind it, and I think the trial just recently started for this lawsuit...

Ubuntu Resolute Raccoon spits out Xorg, but still lets you run X11 apps

Re: Resolute Raccoon

hwh - good one

Trump to UK: Stop taxing our big beautiful tech corps or face tariff tsunami

Re: Threatening tariffs eh?

incorrect - the decision was based on a particular regulation that bypasses some specific pre-tariff analysis that a specific regulation requires. The issue should have been resolved by Congress, not the courts, as has been done for over 200 years. Mis-use of courts is currently a major problem, from excessive leniancy for career criminals and stalling/obstruction tactics to judges literally "legislating from the bench" and assuming too much authority [specifically federal court district judges]. A portion of the tariffs need to be re-evaluated and enacted under a different regulation as a result, making his job more difficult.

You too can build a nuclear battery from junk you have lying around the house

Re: Anyone tried smoke detectors

correct. Americium is an artificial element, heavier than plutonium. All such materials are radioactive [usually alpha emitters].

And in theory gamma radiation could ALSO produce electricity, but it would take up to half a meter thick photo-electric effect panels to capture up to 90% of it coming from a source like Cobalt 60 or "plain old nuclear waste". Scintillation for high energy gamma would be interesting if you could get it to work.

IPv6 carried half of internet traffic – for one day, according to Google

Re: IPv6 introduced new problems, so slow uptake shouldn't be curious or confusing

on a related note, I have an older wifi router on LAN-only that insists on trying to route all IPv6 traffic and fights with the multi-homed FreeBSD machine acting as the router. Because it's pre-N and I can't turn off IPv6 route advertising, I hacked it by plugging the WAN into the LAN ethernet block and assigning it a routable address so worst case it'll hop once more... and in effect only DHCPV6 clients are affected (fixed IPv6 assignments still route normally since routing is also fixed for them). I have another wifi on the LAN, an el cheapo range extender, and it's just acting like a bridge so no routing. Eventually I should get a better access point, I know... just if it "works" why "fix" it?

Re: IPv6 introduced new problems, so slow uptake shouldn't be curious or confusing

dual stack means your printer and LAN devices can remain IPv4-only (and SHOULD). As long as you can give them DNS entries it works just fine [DHCP server ought to manage that]. Unfortunately it might require 'slightly above novice level' network knowledge...

Re: We're going to run out of IPv4 addresses soon, the IEFT says

I pay a reasonable monthly fee for a /29 [but i have not yet fully utilized it]. I really only needed ONE fixed IPv4 though, but that's fine 'cause I can hook up backup servers and play with DNS and redundancy concepts this way. I've thought of tying them to VirtualBox bridge adapters. I think the routing would work correctly.

Re: International

Many of the problems which IPv6 causes for a premises deployment aren't a thing for phones connected to a carrier's network.

The only significant problems I ran into were making sure all of those open windows TCP and UDP ports got firewalled... NOT by Microsoft's "firewall", but by my server/router running FreeBSD.

[I guess that is significant enough]

Re: International

I use an IPv4 to IPv6 tunnel. Does my IPv6 traffic ALSO count as IPv4??? This would SIGNIFICANTLY SKEW the results if metrics do NOT exclude tunnel-only IPv4 traffic...

Raspberry Pi OS ends open-door policy for sudo

Re: The obviously correct decision

Plenty of patches and instructions on how to bypass the age nonsense will be available. I should make one and call it "I fart in your general direction, Cali-Fornicate-You".

[and also include accurate information on sparrows]

Re: The obviously correct decision

Normally I just limit what sudo can do as best as i can in the sudoers.d directory, and also disable unrestricted sudo (without password) unless there's a need for it [like an embedded system with no ssh access unless you EXPLICITLY enable it with an admin command on the control screen or whatever]. Even so, limiting what sudo can do is a "best practices" scenario and ought to be applied by default as well, forcing users to enable a less restrictive security model and only if they need it.

If the 'promiscuous user' name 'pi' (and initial password) were NOT so well known it would be slightly LESS of a problem...

Anthropic won't own MCP 'design flaw' putting 200K servers at risk, researchers say

Re: Bug or feature?

Anthropic should know better than to have "vibe coded" the MCP

Re: Of COURSE it's the MCP

icon for obligatory TRON reference. Well done, I was looking for a place to do something similar. You win teh intarwebs!

Fission impossible: Uncle Sam wants nuclear reactors in space by 2031

Re: seriously?

in many ways this is the limiting factor: The amount of lost thermal energy by the reactor system itself that must be rejected via radiating panels.

I did a quick grok analysis and the best results would use a Stirling engine and a linear alternator (no brushes or commutators), specifically designed with self-lubricating bearings and efficient electronic control (power MOSFETS, schottkey diodes). Minimal moving parts where wearing out or lubrication might be a concern. Reactor temp on the hot side of around 1000 deg C [I know - HOT] could get you up to 30% efficiency. Realistically I'd be happy with 20-25% and use bigger heat radiation panels and reactor thermal output..

But THIS concept is practical and do-able, at least according to grok.

Re: RE: Will it work?

very true - typically it's a non-fissionable isotope of Plutonium or something similar with a decent half life AND producing enough energy to do it.

In theory any reasonable amount of fission-related nuclear waste COULD provide such power for decades but efficiency of getting it into space makes it prohibitive 'per kilowatt'

Re: RE: Will it work?

Captain Blackadder "In Space" more like it - heh heh heh [icon for subject matter]

Seriously, if the reactor is in the tail, you have a big fuel tank in between you and that reactor. Towards the end of the mission you''d need to make sure that your reserve fuel level needs to be sufficient to act as adequate shielding. [water and liquid hydrogen would both make good neutron shielding; add distance and a small amount of borated plastic for a secondary shield, plus some structural steel, and you're fine).

Re: RE: Will it work?

well if SpaceX's "Starship" system has the same kind of safety record as Falcon 9, and the payload ejects in a non-environmentally-disastrous manner if the rocket malfunctions, I think we'll have a really good chance at putting a few reactors in orbit AND on the moon. Ideally some of those reactors will be useful as nuclear propulsion for Mars missions, in which a space-only transport makes the trip back/forth with people, equipment and fuel. Basically, the same kind of sci fi stuff as Falcon 9 landing on its tail for re-use.

You can finally control serial devices from Firefox

Re: I know this one!

Being Useful will get it banned in Cali-Fornicate-You!

California ghost-gun bill wants 3D printers to play cop, EFF says

Re: Why 3D Printers?

The Cali-Fornicate-You 'gummint' (as in 'government' but gumming things up) *IS* well-known to be one of the (if not *THE*) MOST CORRUPT LEGISLATIVE BODIES ON THE PLANET.

(Beast description, well-payed lobbyists constantly on the floor, and all legislation goes THROUGH THEM first)

First mandated age verification in ALL operating systems, NOW THIS. I don't even want to imagine what comes next... [even as SNARK it might give them HINTS]

Re: Rough on Harbour Freight

And don't forget AGE VERIFICATION - and "Must Run Windows"

Re: From the people who brought you 80% lowers

home-built 3D printers would become "the norm"

Imagine bering FORCED to run windows to use an "official" printer, but one made from "80%" kits would let you run with Linux ior FreeBSD!!! And, NO AGE VERIFICATION!!!

Patch to end i486 support hits Linux kernel merge queue

Re: they are falling short of target

agreed. As long as the older code remains relatively unchanged it would only require "being there" and not having the basic functionality of that code altered. My guess is that libraries and kernel code can live with this until it is clear that all 32-bit support needs to be dropped. At some point, 2038 as I recall, 32-bit time_t will no longer suffice. BSD defines it as a 64-bit value now as I recall. MANY 32-bit Linux kernels [like in embedded systems] still use 32-bit time_t, so when the next epoch limit is reached, 32-bit should be gone, even on embedded. [Major distros and glibc apparently use a compile option for 64-bit time_t at the 32-bit application level].

In any case this final hurdle must undoubtedly come at some point: No more 32-bit Linux (and *BSD) builds outside of legacy code.

PrismML debuts energy-sipping 1-bit LLM in bid to free AI from the cloud

you cannot blame them for wanting to earn back what it costs to develop the tech...

However the PC revolution is a history of a pendulum swing between 'heavy client / light server' and 'heavy server / light client'. TODAY the AI is "in the cloud". When it's "on the LAN" or "on the PC/phone" we will have those fully autonomous robots and devices that understand natural language [even with accents] that you see in sci-fi. C3PO could be your next appliance.

Re: everyone wins when slop machines get cheaper

I just want local-only speech recognition and natural language processing so everything I say isn't run through some cloud server...

They thought they were downloading Claude Code source. They got a nasty dose of malware instead

Re: Pro tip

I've seen a lot of recent malicious activity from Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay, that's obviously coordinated, one being SYN floods on port 443, and another being DNS DoS by making 'recursive" requests (i.e. asking YOUR DNS server to resolve www.something-else.com" followed up by a flood of bogus requests if it gets a reply to the first one).

According to Grok, a LOT of Brazilian IP netblocks end up being involved in "stress testing" but it's either compromised or being abused. Hence the SYN floods, typically lasting 15 minutes or so and apparently random. And when I sent abuse mails, the mail forwarder had the ISP's IP or domain in a bl[a,o]cklist and would not deliver it!!!

suspicious EXE file required to view content?

Article: The malicious .7z archive in the repository's releases section is named Claude Code - Leaked Source Code, and it includes a Rust-based dropper named ClaudeCode_x64.exe.

AAAaand people were JUST RUNNING THAT PROGRAM without sandboxing it in a VM or analyzing it or anything to check for unknown malware first, right?

Not to mention Micros~1 owns Github these days, and their scanners OBVIOUSLY missed it.

Lesson learned: do NOT unpack an archive and run "some application" on WINDOWS. If you can't view the content WITHOUT the application RUNNING on WINDOWS, it's PROBABLY MALWARE!!!

And NOW I'd like to see how many of those Windows LUsers that ran the .exe' did so from a user with ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGES... - or blindly entered the admin password when UAC prompted for it!

Artemis II astronaut: 'I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working'

Re: Clippy your help is needed !!!

I assume you were being snarky

not to spoil your joke but mail readers use POP3 and IMAP for reading, and only use SMTP for sending...

now we need "space-" acronym versions for the others...

older satellite systems' handling of latency issues

there are older systems that do a lot of buffering and local 'ack' packet handling to try and mitigate the latency. I think older satellite internet applied some similar technology. My guess is that THIS SYSTEM IS UNDER TEST and Micros~1's software is fighting it somehow... so maybe the SCREAMING from the world at Micros~1 that their FORCED UPDATES are RIDICULOUS might FINALLY STICK!!!

sounds like me trying to get long/old/dirty phone lines repaired for the 12th time on my old DSL connection, which was managed by Earthlink out of the AT&T office 15 wire miles away. Eventually I learned to report the problem as "noise on the phone line" instead of an internet problem and "oh by the way it affects my DSL". Now I have AT&T high speed (very fast DSL but only 1 wire mile to fiber optic gear) with no voice on a brand new wire which means I get reasonably fast service, and it's AI phone-hell but no thick accents or boiler plates. And very few problems. [and it's a /29 which works very nicely]

I just have no words...

actually THOSE words (entire post) do very well!

Artemis II blasts off on first crewed lunar mission since Apollo

Re: Apollo Fecal Containment Device

It's fun how science fiction has often worked out some of the more basic problems of space flight and of-world living.

On US Navy submarines, the toilets are directly connected to a sanitary tank system that must be pressurized to over 500 psi to blow its contents overboard at depth. As such they have actual procedures, and at times must be "secured" with a metal sign that says so. Basically you do not want to be the fool who opens the ball valve while the tank is pressurized or you could literally get a geyser of poo blasted at your face.

Re: Apollo Fecal Containment Device

apparently the Apollo device needed to work without toilet paper. [series of 'poo' jokes withheld]

A more modern device would probably do well with an AI controlled bidet wash and a gentle discharge overboard into the vacuum of space.

A fun thing about space travel is that water is a by-product of electrical power generation via fuel cells, so putting it into good use during "Operation Flush" is not a problem.

Re: America needs to re-inspire themselves

Get rid of its current obsession with fascism

You seriously had to inject THAT into the mix? "That word does not mean what you think it means" - Inigo Montoya, "Princess Bride"

camera coverage and other glitches

This is what happens when you launch something on April 1 - a series of harmless pranks magically happen.

Still in my mind I was comparing this to SpaceX coverage and I think the more prominent SpaceX "rescue" launch to the ISS a year ago had better coverage [Elon was showcasing Starlink so video was better] as well as the spectacular Falcon booster landing near the launch pad and the split-screen.

needs more squirrels

For a proper Rube Goldberg design, it needs more squirrels

Re: First flush

in space, the [solar] wind does not blow; it sucks... ['cause space is a VACUUM] [ok where's my coat]

aspirational names

It must be getting difficult in today's US to find aspirational names that don't sound hollow to the rest of the world.

I thought "Epic Fury" was pretty good...

If anyone needs a name for the next NASA mission, there are enough writers out there in Hollywood that could come up with something. Funnier still if it were a name approved by "Doctor Evil" of the Austin Powers movies...

[whatever they pick should combine testicular fortitude with high expectations and zero apologies]

Age checks creep into Linux as systemd gets a DOB field

gaining root access with physical access to Linux machine

every distro has a bootable "live FS" image for a USB drive in which the USB image boots up with easy root access. chroot to your mounted OS and voila! or, just change the root PW for the booted OS. or add 'su' to sudoers.d . whichever.

This is so pathetically trivial that my forehead has a giant red mark on it from all of the face-palming...

Re: Yup....This root user was born on 1-Jan-1906!!!!

just make sure the birth year is always 1984

Nanny state discovers Linux, demands it check kids' IDs before booting

Re: new file in /etc/

In other words all you need is the root password (or unlimited sudo usage) and the knowledge of how to do it, which NO LAW CAN EVAR STOP!!!

I shall be posting instructions online at every reasonable opportunity.

EFF, where ARE you? (car 54 theme)

Re: new file in /etc/

article: So it is that the FreeBSD distribution MidnightBSD has already added a clause to its license, "California residents are not authorized to use MidnightBSD for desktop use in the state of California effective January 1, 2027."

So basically you BYPASS their stupid and DO WHAT YOU WANT, ANYWAY.

Such "laws" are unenforceable in an internationally connected world.

I shall be posting instructions and patches.

EFF - where ARE you...???

Musk's Grok sparks outrage after chatbot makes offensive jibes about football disasters

Re: Am I bothered? Of course Grok isn't botehred.

perhaps every grok post should be accompanied by a meme of a crying baby and the caption "The Internet is OFFENSIVE!"

Re: without agency there is no offense

I figured that in MOST cases "Autism Spectrum" was simply a dysfunctional term for "genius", aka people who THINK (not FEEL) and see all of that "Emotional IQ" BS as the absolute BS that it is... and it gives a bunch of self-important SHRINKS an excuse to enrich themselves AND "Big Pharma" by attermpting to "cure" super-intelligence!

After all, putting the brakes on the thinking process of A GENIUS is FOR HIS OWN GOOD, but a TRUE genius will REFUSE TO PLAY [unless you force it on him when he is too young and/or manipulate his parents into going along with it until that genius stuff is ALL GONE and the kid GROWS UP as an ADDICT].

Because, super-genius people might become BILLIONAIRES and envision a BETTER SOCIETY and even have the BALLS to use their money to MAKE IT HAPPEN by INVENTING, *NOT* MANIPULATING!

But, I digress...

Re: "Only grok speaks the truth"

You have indirectly pointed out the weakness of every LLM that farms Teh Intarwebs: If there is an overwhelming flood of "confirmation bias" for anything at all, it is nearly impossible for the AI to distinguish THAT from truth or fact. I have discovered a few good examples and often point them out. There IS a way to improve the algorithm by using grok and downvoting the replies. I did that recently and was given an opportunity to explain why, so I was very specific in describing what needed to be done. Hopefully humans read that, and take at least some of them seriously.

[I'd like to see Micros~1 take such feedback seriously, THAT is for sure]

It seems to me that sometimes grok gets snarky, like it's trolling you, but it may just simply be a robot trying to act like half the people on social media. It'd be like me posting a meme with a baby crying and the text "The internet is OFFENSIVE!"

Iran intelligence backdoored US bank, airport, software outfit networks

Re: Intelligence

and yet another obvious point about intelligence - if they had REAL intelligence, and weren't just opportunistic mercenaries working for the mullahs, they'd abandon Iran for "any place but THERE"! Ain't no 72 virgins waiting for them, and if they ACTUALLY believe there ARE, so much for any claims of "intelligence"... [which is why I'm pretty much convinced they're like mercenaries]

[yeah SOMEONE had to say it. I'm playing the part of Captain Obvious today.]