Posts by bombastic bob

Scientists suggest possible solution to space-induced bone loss

Re: ...treatment for brain changes and other detrimental health effects of space exposure...

Most likely it would work but of course we need data to prove it.

Just how hard would it be to make a 'habitat ring' that spins, for the ISS ? Gyro-stabilized and/or dual counter-rotation to overcome effects of friction and minimize the need for stabilizing thrusters...

Single-rotor helicopters need tail rotors. So a solution for friction (and rotation/mass changes) on rotating artificial gravity would need to be able to produce some kind of counter-torque.to stabilize it.

DoD hopes $30M BEACONS will light the way to next-gen American battery designs

Something OTHER than Lithium

In My Bombastic Opinion any new battery tech needs to focus on something OTHER than lithium, particularly something that is CHEAP to build, yet still lightweight.

Aluminum battery tech may be the best alternative to something that is likely to form a bottleneck in the supply chain (i.e. Lithium batteries made by CCP). If they are SERIOUS, this is what they will do.

But, if they just want to suck away public funds to hire overpaid people and get ALL NEW equipment for the lab... don't expect ANYTHING revolutionary.

(and NO hiring CCP foreign nationals, either)

Other inexpensive and lightweight materials may be just as good (or better) than aluminum. Problems with lithium (easily catches fire under certain conditions) would be eliminated (not to mention the ENRICHING of the CCP as they have cornered the market on Lithium)

I'm not a fan of pure EV but HYBRID often makes sense as long as the battery does not make them cost prohibitive. Domestically produced inexpensive batteries using materials like Aluminum (which is cheap and available) would help a LOT. Aluminum batteries would also be good for phones, laptops, and so on. I'd just deal with the extra few ounces of weight, if any.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_battery

Buiding Excel-like UI for Uber's China ops exposed Microsoft calculation quirks

Re: It's

"two of the errors are just misunderstandings of the calculations, not the results."

Either that, or it's 'new new math' the same as the 'old new math' except that it's 'new', and yet JUST like the old, 'Only a CHILD can do it' [shoutout to Prof. Tom Lehrer]

Re: The one I love

"two sheet on the bed"

[See Icon]

Re: The one I love

all snarky laughter aside, I ran into a problem with Rocky Linux's default config where they were (internally) using an RFC1918 address range that MATCHED THE NETWORK ADDRESS BLOCK BEING USED FOR THE ETHERNET. Needless to say, routing problems were UNSOLVABLE until I realized what they'd done, after which I did a grep on /etc for "192.168" and found where it was being assigned and then modified it to use something different... I forget what it was for, though. I told the Rocky devs on IRC about it.

"reserved XXX" that nobody knows about except the dev 'wot dun it'. yeah.

Re: I hear attack lawyers straining at their leashes!

"So he admits to using code that he developed whilst working at a former employer for a later employer"

as long as you have permission, it's cool, but you want it in writing.

I have often done my own thing, then (after making it public) used parts of (or even all of) some my 'personal library' to speed up development. But I always put something in writing, and generally comment in the code "this portion of the code is from XXX github.com/whatever and is used by permission" etc. then written permission to the customer/boss, etc..

But yeah your code is OWNED by the company that pays you unless you get permission to use it.

[and yet EVERYONE has a library of past works, don't they? Just be careful using them...]

Re: Is Excel really the right tool for numerical analysis?

Excel, In My Bombastic Opinion (and its close relative, LibreOffice Calc) are VERY GOOD for certain *kinds* of analysis.

* I am too lazy to do calculus but I can copy a formula 1000 times with an incrementing 'x' and do an =sum() instead of a definite integral

* I want to chart some data really fast to see if I want to analyze it further

* I want to do :what if' analysis by coping formulas a bunch of times in cells instead of writing an algorithm

* I want to do some mass edits with tab delimited data and 'sed' + 'awk' would be too difficult

* I just want to collect a bunch of info that can be printed later (I do this for business expenses) and kept around forever

* I need to give a BOM to the boss and a spreadsheet lets me paste in URLs to a well known supplier (or download from their web interface if I create a BOM online) and the simple analysis would be total parts cost (from that supplier) as well as listing them all

* same spreadsheet is accepted by a board shop for assembly [so they can program their pick & place machines and source their own suppliers]

etc.

But yeah if I were serious about doing LOTS of math, I'd use a tool (or write one) that is more 'fit for purpose'

Mention AI in earnings calls ... and watch that share price leap

"AI" formerly 'known' as "cloud-based" "*-Tier solution" and "client-server"

Here I am trying to remember all of the overhyped techno-buzzwords used in advertising, to try to ROOK people into buying into some "solution" that probably does not work, or at least not any BETTER than the old one.

So is a 5-tier solution better than a 3-tier? How about ONE HUNDRED TIERS! I'm left with nothing but tears...

Back in the 90's I worked on a program with a name that started with "AI". It used code generated by an algorithm that took a lot of parameters into consideration as part of its decision algorithm. By current standards it was primitive, but it did ok. Company ended getting purchased by a large company that was a customer, when it went started having financial problems. (I left before that)

Marketeers never cease to hype up 'snake oil' do they...

On a related note seems Warner signed a new "AI pop star", complete with a pretty decent single, and an "uncanny valley" video to go along with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yi_KxMxvVg

Microsoft to kill off third-party printer drivers in Windows

Re: Confused

Sometimes CUPS lags with 'bleeding edge' printer support. Solution: get a slightly older model, check for CUPS support beforehand. Save money. If it was bleeding edge 3 years ago, should be just fine now. Printer tech does not change THAT fast.

And if you check with the MFG they may have CUPS drivers, or if they support postscript even better!

Re: Confused

"the first thing it is trying to do is gather personal data."

that's when you just tell lies. Use 'example.com' for e-mail address, occupation "drifter" or "bikiini inspector", name "Mike Hunt" or "Seymore Butts", etc. etc.

Re: Confused

I have an older 'all in one' print/scan/copy/fax that works well with CUPS and WIn 7. Yeah it is an HP but HPLIP is fine with me.

Had to use Win10nic this year to do taxes (did not want cloudy version), corporate AND personal.. Did it in a VM. Using 'windows update' print driver hung the driver, left paper stuck in printer with nothing printed on it EVERY! SINGLE! TIME!!!

I gave up, wrote to PDF (which TurboTax lets you do) and then used atril on FBSD to print stuff.

Maybe I can find a GENERIC postscript driver for Win1X that is compatible with CUPS and set up CUPS for internet printing - anyone?

Re: This is The Register

Micros~1 has discovered yet another major new irritation to justify the bashing

Re: It is a good thing

I was thinking that this is Micros~1's way of "picking winners and losers".

You want YOUR device to run on Windows, right? Pay UP or GET LOST! *WE* control *EVERYTHING* now!!!

3rd party drivers and the DDK were one of the BIGGEST REASONS windows became "a thing". This new "One OS to rule them all" posture from the latest generation of "It's OUR turn now" [probably woke] 'engineers' is one of the biggest "READY, *FIRE*, AIM" "Shoot your own foot" maneuvers from these "less than highly intelligent" people YET...

Google Chrome Privacy Sandbox open to all: Now websites can tap into your habits directly for ads

'erase all history' script

One thing I have done in the past (somewhat necessary if chrome gets used when doing an embedded UI in kiosk mode) is to find out which files in Chrome's hierarchy can be deleted without deleting ALL of the personalized settings, and then DELETE THEM with a script on exit, or before Chrome starts.

That list seems to change a bit with newer versions, though...

If chrome has not yet got one, it needs an "erase history on exit" feature. Firefox has this (or did last I checked).

Chrome is often brain-damaged and even caches style sheets when you are trying to work on them,. Painful.

US AGs: We need law to purge the web of AI-drawn child sex abuse material

Re: It's easier to regulate and mandate...

At some point the 'M' for 'MAP' will be added to the LGB alphabet soup (if things continue on the current path), much to the chagrin and outrage of the 'LGB' portion (who just want to be left alone to live their lives, consenting adults etc,). The radicalized agenda has driven things WAY past common sense, long ago, and everyone who disagrees with this new added letter (or is outraged by it) will be labeled 'bigot' or some kind of '-phobe'.

(I'm sure pointing this out is potentially offensive to many, but so is having an agenda crammed at us, so SOMEONE had to say what many are thinking, and take the arrows).

That being said, the "moral outrage" crowd that would play "THOUGHT POLICE" with art that does NOT exploit actual children may actually end up signing onto the radicalized agenda behind changing the word 'pedophile' to 'MAP'. Do NOT doubt me! (Rush Limbaugh used to say things about this topic a LOT, particularly regarding organizations like NAMBLA, who have been around for a LONG time)

(sad face because nobody really wants the 'M' for MAP in there)

Re: There is a question to ask here

To summarize, exploiting actual children needs to be punished with extreme prejudice to the fullest extent of the law.

Prosecution for anything else that does NOT exploit an actual child is essentially "THOUGHT POLICE" and must NEVER happen, regardless of any professed "moral outrage"

That's my take on it, at any rate.

Windows August update plays Blue Screen bingo – and MSI boards got the winning ticket

Re: The problem was not caused by issues in the update?

obviously the BIOS was not doing things the "Micros~1 way"...

There is a right way, and a wrong way, and also the Micros~1 way!!!!

(chances are those motherboards work just fine with Linux)

Re: Gee

"conduct compatibility checks before installing"

Their latest financial model swaps out paid testers for end-users to do all of the QA-related testing.

After all, NOBODY cares about the end-user more than Micros~1 !!!

Musk's mighty missile is ready for launch once FAA says OK

environmentalist wackos throwing a sueball

[environmentalist wackos] "questioning the decision-making process of the FAA in granting SpaceX a license to launch in the first place."

I wonder how many of them use things like cell phones, internet, and satellite TV? You know, things that (often) need A ROCKET to put a mini-moon into orbit.

Vexatious SLAPP sueballs - there needs to be a SERIOUS PUNISHMENT for doing that, but it seems there never is...

(it's an example of 'Tyranny of the MINORITY')

Mozilla calls cars from 25 automakers 'data privacy nightmares on wheels'

Re: Tesla Dashboards

"Who owns any product these days?"

* TV deliberately "not smart" and not connected to intarwebs (cable box notwithstanding)

* Blu Ray NOT connected to intarwebs either

* Computers built by me running FBSD and Linux except that one that has windows 7 on it (reconditioned Lenovo, from which i do NOT web surf)

* Car is 20 years old. I keep fixing stuff when it breaks.

* Fridge, clothes washer, GAS clothes dryer, microwave oven are well over 20 years old (old school stuff) and still work.

This old stuff still works just fine. "Upgrades" are *HIGHLY OVERRATED*

Re: A long time ago...

If you put a note-sized chunk of aluminum foil in your wallet, it will probably disrupt any attempts at snooping your data via RFID tech with a scanner, attempting to read your cards without your knowledge (including driver's licenses with chips in them). It was known long ago that such a scanner in proximity to you COULD read the chips that make "Tap" work at the point of sale. Credit card companies do not want this well known. But the simple hack of a mini-Faraday-cage (aluminum foil) can "foil" the attempt.

This was brought to my attention YEARS ago in a post made by one of the Myth Busters (Adam Savage I think), who said that they WANTED to include this on the show (being able to scan people walking around in public) but were PREVENTED from doing so by management under influence of banks, etc..

Re: A long time ago...

Agreed on the use of cash and coin - anonymity if no 'store card' is involved.

Unfortunately there are too many attempts being made to go to "digital currency".

I often prefer paper or plastic+paper with numbers, letters, and pictures of past/present leaders, monarchs, etc. on them. And if this gets out of hand it may be the ONLY alternative to being snooped on.

/me thinks of ways to turn a car into a Faraday cage, disconnect antennas, etc.

Re: It just keeps getting better

Like with EV mandates, VIOLATING PRIVACY with new vehicles can only lead to ONE THING:

Just like in Cuba, car owners will JUST FIX UP THE OLD ONES!!! To *HELL* with "buying new" when the OLD one is PERFECTLY FIXABLE.

Ever look at RESALE VALUE of an EV? HA HA HA HA (that replacement battery costs more than the car is worth). Those EVs will be like OLD CELL PHONES at some point.

And even if it DOES run on gasoline or diesel, do people REALLY want to give up personal privacy JUST TO GO TO WORK EVERY DAY?

Meanwhile a 20 or 30 or even 40 year old car or truck will KEEP ITS VALUE, especially with new seats and drive train,. This is a good opportunity for mechanics, welders, and people good at fixin' up the car interior. And don't forget paint.

This is how the automobile market dies... or GETS DELIBERATELY KILLED!!!

semi-related - I keep getting old XBox 360's (and fixing what I can) to play those older games I like to play that I spent REAL MONEY on. I refuse to get an XBox One though a new Playstation might be in order at some point. The point is, Micros~1's trend towards "requiring online presence" and "cloudiness" and BLATANT SNOOPING tells me I need to unplug from the 'net. SIMILARLY, *NEW* *CARS*.. I shall keep my old one as long as I can and buy used when I must. CARBON BURNERS ONLY!

That pretty much sums it up.

Guild behind actors' strike fears video game workers also at risk from AI

Re: Yep I give it ~5 years or so

It still takes a lot of money to make a movie, even a crappy (or woke) movie, with a high likelihood of it losing money overall when box office ticket sales circle the drain.

Hollyweird wants to do it cheaper, using robots. Actors want to continue getting prohibitively expensive salaries.

I think the robots will win. THEN Hollyweird can still excrete lheir worthless woke / crap movies but at a lower overall cost.

(the actual problem is that Hollyweird forgot how to make a movie worth seeing in the theater, and how to sufficiently market it so that people do not wait for the disk)

Arm reveals just how vulnerable it is to trade war with China

Re: Between morphng US regulations and RISC-V

whichever, both bad and oppressive and citizens are NOT free to innovate without imminent threat. That was my point.

Re: Between morphng US regulations and RISC-V

It is highly likely that Huawei's innovation comes from Taiwan, not 'CCP China'

I've worked with engineers from Taiwan. They are very much like the engineers I've worked with in the USA and UK as far as skill, competency, and quality go [from my experience anyway].

Taiwan != China. It's the COMMUNISM that makes the difference, not so much who, or where, or who it is that is signing the checks.

For now, at least, Taiwan is "safe"...

Re: Between morphng US regulations and RISC-V

"I'm not sure whether it is hubris, racial stereotyping or a lack of understanding of how technology develops that leads politicians to think that China will have trouble replacing the technology they are blocked from buying."

It's mostly HUBRIS.

China is a country, not a race, and it is COMMUNISM that stifles innovation (it is VERY hard to innovate when thinking outside of the box hurts your social credit score or gets you 'disappeared' which makes it hard for a U.S. company doing OEM mfg from 'CCP China' to deal with the engineers in 'CCP China' when trying to get problems fixed - yes, I have had to deal with that - in ONE case they first DENIED a problem existed, then fixed it a DIFFERENT way than what was suggested as a quick stopgap, months later, without saying anything).

But at least HALF of the politicians have NEVER INNOVATED. King Bidas, the doddering fool currently occupying the White House [for whom everything he touches turns to CRAP], has NEVER HAD A REAL JOB, particularly one where you have to make/build or design/invent things. Nor have his puppet masters, more than likely [lib-T think tank nor lefty college professor notwithstanding - plenty of THOSE kinds of people in Maryland, just north of D.C. - is NOT a REAL job].

If there is an actual GOAL here, it is to create a superficial APPEARANCE of a paper tiger, targeted at those who cast ballots out of *FEEL* instead of intelligence, while making corrupt deals behind the scenes. *COUGH*HUNTER*COUGH*

Really smart trade agreements should be made by those who understand business, NOT politics, and do not DIRECTLY PROFIT FROM THEM [through multiple shell companies as one example].

Microsoft whips out probe after Windows 11 users suffer the blue-screen blues

bleeding edge updates are highly overrated

what it says in the title

(is why I like 'stable' branches, and manual-only updates)

Microsoft teases Python scripting in Excel

Re: Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!

Or it is step 1 of 'Embrace, Extend, Extinguish'

Wait until you see "Visual P++"...

cloudy 'security'

"the cloud habitat for Anaconda's Python will presumably be more secure than having Excel users downloading libraries on their own. Having anticipated concerns about enabling yet another attack vector in Excel, Microsoft has preemptively declared that its snake has been tamed.'

HA HA HA HA (oh wait, they're serious; let me laugh even HARDER!)

What part of THIS is 'more secure' ?

* Data stored in the cloud where governments and evil hackers can view it

* relying on "their server" performance including the pipeline to/from it

* DDoS, downtimes, network problems, MItM and DNS cracks, etc. NEVER HAPPEN, right?

More exist but another post near the top hit on the best ones

Moscow makes a mess on the Moon as Luna 25 probe misses orbit, lands with a thud

Re: Failure?

This was a passenger safety test. A crash test dummy was on board (they borrowed the one from Myth Busters)

If it did not have 'crumple zones' before, I'm sure it has them now!

And the whole concept of an inelastic collision and the moon being made of ballistics gel...

Re: "Luna 25, by contrast, tried to make the trip in nine days"

"Russia haven't been communist in 30 years."

Shhh... don't tell Vlad, he might crack

Or, a corollary:

If a spacecraft crash-lands on the moon, does it make a sound?

(and an M-theory discussion about observation and reality was born)

Version 5 of systemd-free Debian remix Devuan is here

fork in the road

as long as Xorg remains the default desktop engine (or at least easy to select during install), there won't need to be any more forks.

(Wayland cultists can have their systemd and other Poettering clusterer-blanks along with Wayland in other distros)

in my last Devuan install (chimera) I added X and mate in a separate step and it set up as a console login using 'startx', rather than booting into a GUI. Much better I say.

Virginia industrial park wants to power DCs with mini nuclear reactors, clean hydrogen

Re: Clean hydrogen

hydrocarbons store pretty well without much loss. i got a tank full of 'em in the back of my car...

Red Hat redeploys one of its main desktop developers

countdown to Wayland bashing

Zero.

Wayland is a complete waste of developer energy and effort. Extending Xorg and providing good quality hardware support, especially open source hardware acceleration, and avoiding GTK past version 3, should be their #1 priority, and NOT time-wasting on what could easily be described as "The 'Supriority by Arthur C. Clarke' moment" also known as Wayland.

export DISPLAY=othermachine:0.0

This is the #1 BEST feature of Xorg, especially for embedded development.

[I go out of my way to ensure Wayland does NOT get installed]

You're welcome.

First US nuclear power plant built this century goes online

"Also, the blades of wind turbines are not biodegradable, and is also a huge issue."

THIS PART, at least, is true.

the whole "Carbon Footprint" thing is an anti-science hoax anyway. Basic chemistry and physics disproves their nonsense. Human nature and the seeking of power over others by elitists explains it.

[Orwell was an optimist]

Re: ROI?

"This is a good start but they need to be cheaper."

laws need to change:

* Tort reform to GREATLY discourage malicious lawsuits by "environmental" (aka disruptive/communist) organizations

* standardization and mandatory EXPEDITING of environmental impact and related "studies" (max 3 months for approval / public comment, let's say)

* Fast-tracking (in general)

* Use of 'Interstate Commerce' in the USA for power placed on the grid so that individual states (like California) can NOT "slow walk" new construction. [unfortunately this could also backfire like calling down a napalm strike on YOUR location]

* Making it ILLEGAL for a state like California to literally DISCRIMINATE against power producers on the grid who produce cheaper but "non-renewable" power from out of state (say Nevada, Arizona) to feed the California grid and create lower energy prices for Californians

This kind of REGULATORY REFORM should cut the time between USA power plant construction to maybe 1 year instead of FIFTY.

Prices of gallium and germanium rise as China export controls loom

Re: Checkmate?

There is no actual shortage of these materials. China (specifically the CCP) is simply grabbing the WORLD BY THE BALLS when it comes to the LOWEST PRICE for them.

And, of course, I bet they mine them with SLAVE LABOR and/or CHILD LABOR like the way they mine for cobalt in AFRICA. Yeah pictures of THAT aren't all over teh intarwebs or anything.

This is how COMMUNISTS do things, in an allegedly capitalist world. They undercut their worldwide competition until they go out of business, and then leverage slave/child labor to keep costs down and then keep the worldwide price just below the threshold where it is practical for other nations to compete WITHOUT human exploitation.

I say, TARIFF China, long-term move as much manufacturing as you can ELSEWHERE, and live with the price increases on certain goods, until we put THEM out of business!!! [they NEED US more than we need THEM, and funding their military until they grow strong enough to take US over is a REAL THREAT]

Or does the world WANT 10 year old kids in African countries picking up rocks and putting them in baskets in open pit mines that can BURY THEM because the work is THAT dangerous?

Yeah, SOMEBODY has to say it...

Tokkers can Tok like Tweeters can Tweet – for now

Yes but the CCP one comes with "Social Credit Score" for future reference!!! (you just can't see it)

RIP Kevin Mitnick: Former most-wanted hacker dies at 59

Re: No published links

I suspect one of two causes for his cancer:

a) hereditary susceptibility

b) tobacco or recreational drug use

or less likely but possible: some kind of cancer causing retrovirus (retrovirus modifies DNA)

And, sometimes cancer starts in one place, but ends up killing you somewhere else.

Sad face 'cause nobody wants to die from 'El Cancer' ('Deadpool' reference). A plane crash, run over by a train, getting hit with lightning or a car, over quickily. Cancer often lingers and puts you through HELL.

Re: Hats off from a non-techie

I do not even have vestigial 'heart strings' (and if I did I'd have them removed)

Re: Takedown

I have region free DVD player that I bought for that very reason - geofencing. Obviously does not work on Blu-Ray but you can still buy DVDs, especially used ones, for older movies [and most of the features I see available here in the USA usually have dual media]

Re: RIP Kevin

Interesting you mention DEC - in the late 70's I recall a PDP 11/70 running RSTS/E that had all of the priveleged programs that run at startup not only marked with temporary privileges, they could be RUN BY ANYONE. Once I found out about INIT I experimented with it and quickly learned how to bypass a login password [as long as I was already logged in]. Security CRATERS does not even come close to this basic design blunder, which should never have been set up 'that way' at a university...

Linux has nearly half of the desktop OS Linux market

Re: Yet again, Mint

PIMNIC and PIWNIC - heh

[By my observation PIDNIC does not seem to exist. Most kids (and young ladies) learn fast, so you can just make sure she has Linux on her laptop and she learns to use it. STEM.]

Re: ChromeOS is a fake linux

what about the "Big Enders" ?

Twitter ad revenue has halved since Elon Musk took over

Re: As someone who does not and will not ever have either a twatter or a zuck imitation account

Yeah no vitriol there, or anything. heh.

I once said the same kinda thing about 'social media' in general (other than news commentary like this). Then Musk bought Twitter.

Now I do not get 'canceled' just for going against "The Establishment"

China succeeds where Elon Musk has failed with first methalox rocket

Re: Interesting but not earth shattering

"F is one of the most dangerous element around in chemistry."

in most of its forms, yes. In some cases, like flouride toothpaste, extremely useful and life enhancing.

In the wafer fab world, an HF exposure (even just a light splash) is one of the WORST kinds of industrial accidents. And you need HF to etch silicon.

Re: Interesting but not earth shattering

"Environmental impacts should be less than RP1-LOX"

Why would THAT be? Carbon content? I hope you do not actually BELIEVE in carbon-dioxide-based "Climate Change"... So much evidence against it. Tony Heller is a good starting point.

(Most of the Earth's carbon is in the MANTLE, and it regularly gets spewed by volcanoes, in amounts WAY higher than human activity - I doubt a few RP1 rockets will even matter)

Re: Clickbait journalism

The concept of it being 'a race' is based on what SHOULD be natural for humans: COMPETITION!

In this case I think methalox LOST as an ideal fuel. Musk understood this and abandoned it.