Posts by bombastic bob

Modern life is rubbish – so why not take a trip down memory lane with Windows File Manager?

Re: Cool beans..

I miss 3D Skeuomorphic [in windows anyway]

The article's example photo had those DIETY CONDEMNED 2D FLATSO DECORATIONS like "Ape" and Win-10-nic.

I remember when Windows XP was accused of being 'bulbous'. Well, so the hell WHAT. It's a lot BETTER than FLATSO.

Win 3.x with its File Manager and Program Manager sold BECAUSE OF THE 3D SKEUOMORPHIC APPEARANCE, which was CLEARLY SUPERIOR to the Windows 2.x "flatso" look.

At least Win 2.x had more COLOR in their 'Flatso' than APE or Win-10-nic.

COPPA load of this FTC complaint: YouTube accused of collecting children's data

Re: B, but... I also watch my little poney!

/me wonders how many perverts watch children's TV.

Re: Another 'Platform' gets caught slurping

How many of you have a digital cable box? I think they use TCP. that means LOGS, and they know who YOU are. They know what channel you're watching at a given time, so they know what programs you're watching. There's no way in hell that the media companies aren't USING THAT to do their ratings schhtuff. No need for 'Nielson Families' any more. TV isn't over the airwaves, it's being decrypted and therefore (probably) requires you to fetch the temporal keys, so een satellite could be monitoring you.

And if they CAN, they DO.

Given that, the privacy of the kids watching disney and cartoon network and nickelodeon and any otehr channel with children's programming knows EXACTLY what commercials and shows they're watching. Don't forget the cable converter boxen that are watching YOU.

what, don't believe me? Verizon has a PATENT ON IT! (and there are others...)

"if a user is watching a television program, a traditional targeted advertising system fails to account for what the user is doing"

" the targeted advertising may be based on one or more ambient actions performed by one or more users of an access device"

"a user may be presented with targeted advertising in accordance with the user's specific situation and/or actions"

the document goes further to determine what it is you are doing while the 'media content' is being 'viewed', if you're paying attention, laughing, playing a musical instrument [these are in the document, search, you'll see] and whatnot, then TARGET ADVERTISEMENT based on (literally) the TV SET TOP BOX WATCHING _YOU_ - like a bad Yakov Smirnoff joke. Aside from it sounding like tin-foil-hat material, THIS SCHTUFF IS REAL!

They're back! 'Feds only' encryption backdoors prepped in US by Dems

Re: Too late

there are open source BIOS images out there, too. Some of them disable things like 'management core'.

just because the sheeple are using "Win-Tel" (with its potential back-doors, etc.) doesn't mean YOU have to. Those same sheeple use FACE-B*TCH and TW*TTER, too.

(the use of 'asterisk' is because I only have one ass-to-risk...)

Re: Too late

ack. too late for guns, and now knives. Those genie's are out of the bottle, and have been out for a LONG time.

Make them illegal, and ONLY the criminals will have them. SO much for defending yourself, preventing thieves from cracking your bank accounts, etc. when ONLY the bad guys have the necessary means to protect themselves, _AND_ to attack YOU.

I'm not surprised the Demo-rats are behind this. Their so-called position for pro-civil-rights is nothing more than a SHAM. They've been about controlling the masses for a LONG time. The Republi-crats ("establishment" Republicans, mostly RINOs) are, too, but they've been singled out in the past.

NOW, Dianne Franken-Feinstein [who occasionally made sense in the past] has gone full-on bat-blank nutzy-cuckoo crying for back-door'd encryption, not knowing a cipher from a key.

These idiots are SO emotion-based and irresponsibly sinister in their motives, it's pathetic.

time to "clean house". TEA PARTY!

NOTE: when you take away the right of an individual to speak his own mind AND to defend himself, you end up with SHEEPLE. And they're *EASY* to control, like a herd of sheep.

1984 anyone? that's a TYPO.

Mind the gap: Men paid 18.6% more than women in Blighty tech sector

Re: Communist nonsense.

"If you start shitting on those of us that have spent out entire adult lives working to do better, then we will stop and you will shit out of luck when it matters most."

Who is John Galt? (sounds just like that).

It could happen, if there were a 'frontier' to go to to escape the nonsense...

do women make better office managers?

Worthy of mention, I believe that women often make better office managers than men. Pay based on how good you are at your job should help skew women's pay scale upwards over men within that realm.

I have to wonder whether women also make better project managers for the same reason, when the goals are NOT to participate in doing the project, but to 'manage' the project. (in the case of participating in the project, I would say men and women are equal).

It may actually be a sex-based characteristic, something for which 2 X chromosomes do better than only one (or the lack of a Y chromosome, for that matter). It may be that women's instincts with herding small children are often effective in an office environment.

That being said, it's an area where, if women ARE more competent, they should be paid better for it (and hired more often).

But it also may suggest that women actually gravitate towards MIDDLE management, rather than UPPER, which would skew the apples/oranges wage comparison (this is pure speculation on my part, no facts to back it up).

After all, according to the article: "The gender pay gap does not compare the same job roles because it would be illegal to pay women with the same jobs less"

ACK to that. I wouldn't WANT to work for a company that based wages on anything OTHER than your value to the company, based ENTIRELY on job performance (etc.).

Twitter whacks 270,000 terror accounts, majority flagged by internal tools

Re: Transparency

"the party in power is allowed to delete the other parties"

a few years ago, back when Putin was first elected in Russia, there was this one Russian guy that posted on the alt.hacker newsgroup. After a few months, he stopped posting. he was occasionally saying anti-Putin kinds of things, didn't like Putin, thought it was the end of everything when he got elected, etc.. I was not convinced back then. Now I'm not so sure...

Re: Free Speech and Consequences

"Make threats against someone and see what happens"

Or, promote racism and see if your employer questions your worth at the company...

Re: Blah blah free speech blah blah

"Tell me anywhere in the world where you actually have free speech."

"Think of the children!!"

on a college campus in the USA [more often than not], if your 'free' speech is in-line with the established political correctness, then it's ok. Otherwise, you get BANNED!

I am concerned that Twitter may easily fall into THAT trap, censoring those opinions it doesn't like. for now, it's terrorism. As for gummint requests for information, you just have to assume they'll comply if you're up to something no good...

And, if you want *TRULY* free speech, there's USENET and IRC.

The bigger problems with censorship happen in the 'political correctness' realm, ALL of the time, from outright bullying to actual policies squelching "unwelcome" opinions. THAT is where the freedom of speech fight needs to happen. Tw[a,i]tter, not so much.

Danish Navy expert finds no trace of exhaust gas in private submarine

"Would appear that Madsen is a lying sack of shit."

never underestimate the ability of a sharky l[aw]yer to turn what should be an obvious conviction [given the evidence I've read about] into an emotion-based acquittal and/or an endless series of mis-trials.

[if he sells the sub, maybe he can afford the attornies? but then again, getting the money via kickstarter or gofundme or whatever it was might mean he doesn't really OWN the thing...]

They forked this one up: Microsoft modifies open-source code, blows hole in Windows Defender

Re: That's the trouble with open source

*facepalm*

Spring is all about new beginnings, but it could already be lights out for Windows' Fluent Design

Re: re: The Microsoft View of the world

"Microsoft has run out of ideas"

Microsoft has run out of GOOD ideas. fixed. you're welcome.

They apparently have a LOT of VERY BAD ideas in a closet someplace, and every once in a while Comrade SatNad pulls one out of his as, uh, CLOUD, and floats yet another "new, shiny" feature like some kind of trial balloon in a weather experiment.

I've been unfortunate to work with a person who come in late to a project, then sweet talks the boss into doing something stupid, which he does while I strongly object, and then gets the PREDICTED bad results, while 'sweet talker' has NOW successfully wrangled his way into being the new BOTTLENECK in the process as a result of the sweet talking, and so you can't EVER get it fixed right... even in a startup company, THIS can happen. And I like startups because THIS kind of crap doesn't happen nearly as often. So $customer had to shell out $xx,xxx for some fancy proprietary software, instead of using the $,$$$ version he already had a license to, a proprietary package I did not own and required Windows to run, basically TAKING OVER the computer so that you really can't use it for anything else, and so add $,$$$ for a dedicated computer JUST! TO! RUN! THAT!, and then "design changes were made" that BROKE what I had done, against my strong objections. THAT kind of thing.

It was EASILY avoidable by NOT going with the "sweet talking" in the FIRST place.

So, I wonder _WHO_ it was that did the 'Sweet Talking' over at Micro-shaft? The inventor of the RIBBON maybe??? The former CXO? The same one that [allegedly] GOT SINOFSKY FIRED???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larson-Green

I suspect it is so. OK I wasn't there so I don't know the details about how ideas like 'The Metro' and 'The Ribbon' and 2D FLATSO propagated through the design decisions at Micro-shaft. I have MERELY a suspicion, based on past experience. But I suspect I'm right.

I'm sure it will every bit as successful as The Ribbon

this UI FAIL was all invented by the same person, let's not forget (and this person NO LONGER works for Micro-shaft as of last November, I might add)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larson-Green

let us ALSO not forget that Sat-Nad is [most likely] a MARXIST

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/microsoft-ai-satya-nadella-company-tech-business

"Fittingly for the son of a Marxist economist, he recently read Wolfgang Streeck's How Will Capitalism End?, a series of essays on the collapse of the neoliberal order. "He says that capitalism is a strange system in that it expects two things: employees to be insecure, but [also] confident consumers," he chuckles. 'That's what we're dependent on - it's not a stable system! 'Oh my God. I might not have a job tomorrow, but I've got to spend like a confident consumer.' [Streeck] is saying that's our problem, so you've got to create a solution.'"

And THAT is how SatNad apparently thinks.

So if this is how top-level people over at Micro-shaft think, from the INVENTION of "The Ribbon" to "The Metro" to believing MARXIST NONSENSE and the idea that employees NEED TO BE INSECURE, you have to wonder how much longer they will stay in business. And everything ELSE I read/see/experience CONFIRMS THIS.

Re: "Reveal" UI elements?

"More and more like a Fisher-Price Activity Centre every day."

Maybe millenials ONLY know how to PLAY with their computers, instead of doing work...

I was convinced long ago that Micro-shaft is being run by *CHILDREN* who want to *FORCE* their "new, shiny" up our collective rectums, without anything to make our 'experience' easier.

Since the millenial generation appears to be defined by "4 inchers", i.e. those who see and do EVERYTHING through a 4 inch screen, it makes TOTAL sense.

Micro-shaft employees who HAD A CLUE back in the 90's have all left. Those who remain are either CLUELESS or CHILDREN.

And now it's like "the blind leading the blind".

How a child, given too much power+authority, reacts: It's *MY* turn now to do it *MY* way!!!

This happened a lot beginning in the late noughties. You could count Vista as the beginning of it. You have a shift to FLATSO and "make everything look like a phone", as well as unwanted changes in the open source world, like gnome 3, systemd, and Australis.

I'm positive that it's being done by millenials, as well as a handful of old farts *trying* to be like the 'uncool dad' that learns the latest lingo and looks lame by using it wrong...

obligatory reference to 'Superiority' by Arthur C. Clarke

"Win32 support is the only thing people buy Windows for and Win32 apps are the only Windows apps worth writing"

It has always been that way with windows (except when it was Win16 applications). The platform was defined by the applications you could run on it, and the things that application writers could accomplish by using the API.

"Tying Fluent to UWP pretty much ensures zero adoption"

Micro-shaft needs to stop trying to *DRIVE* the market, and go back to first principles: the CUSTOMER is always right! And, not to forget, "Developers Developers Developers Developers". Right, Steve?

Re: Still Not Getting It

MS obviously still don't understand that aiming for a "unified design" across different devices just means gimping everything down to the weakest feature set.

ACK

From article: "wants to discard the multiple, disparate user interfaces of the past for a single, focused, and attractive user interface"

Doing this on 2D FLATSO Win-10-nic ain't it. Not only are they putting lipstick on a boar, they're putting lipstick on the WRONG end.

not very attractive, yeah.

Why a merged Apple OS is one mash-up too far

Re: Still waiting on the switch back

"when or if this switch back will ever happen."

when the windows platform dies the horrible death it deserves, and is REPLACED by something else in the minds of consumers.

Without marketing bucks, this isn't happening soon. People will get fed up with Micro-shaft eventually, but it's not enough pain *YET*. give it time, Micro-shaft will create that pain, because their management is CLUELESS as to the consequences of their actions. They treat customers like PEASANTS after all.

Re: Why offer an $800 iPad that can do the work of a $1000 Mac? One word: profit.

if I actually NEED a slab for something, I'll get a cheapo $50 'droid slab.

99% or more of the "computing" I do requires a KEYBOARD AND A MOUSE. Sticking my fingers between my eyeballs and what I'm looking at [as well as lifting hand WAY off of the keyboard, and having to put it back on 'home row' again] is ANTI-PRODUCTIVITY.

As long as Apple doesn't do "a Micro-shaft" and try to UNIFY THE UI, it should be fine. Because you can't do a keyboard+mouse on a slab in any kind of PRACTICAL way, and putting the SLAB interface on a desktop is why Windows "Ape" and WIN-10-NIC *STINK* *SO* *BAD*. [that and the slurp, ads, and "forced", but the UI is the worst part of it all].

I am so SICK of the Australis "everything is a slab" MIGRATION [over the cliff like lemmings]. It makes me want to VOMIT. Apple needs to "think different" and *NOT* *GO* *THERE*!!!

Re: Nothing wrong with a merger OS

"having One OS and two window managers doesn’t seem like an inherently bad idea."

ack

Re: Nothing wrong with a merger OS

"As long as it 'scales' correctly"

Unlike 'Ape' and Win-10-nic, which are/were "phone OS on a desktop". BOOOOooo!

from article: "Most computing isn't done on a PC any more"

This depends on how you define 'computing'. I do not think that word means what you think it means.

I guess I'm 'ok' with it as long as Apple doesn't cave in to the 'Google Chrome' and 'The Metro' 2D 'FEELING' FLATSO. If they _DO_, it will be the *SINGLE* *BIGGEST* *MISTAKE* *THEY* *COULD* *EVAR* *MAKE*!!!

(Jobs would NEVER do that, if he were still here, as demonstrated by what he DID do, which was VERY successful!)

ok some apple things look a bit flatter than they USED to, but it's STILL at least SOMEWHAT 3D skeuomorphic, but if they go full-on Larson-Green or Australis UI on us, their fate will be SEALED.

Then again, maybe not. Apple fans will probably have it shoved at them until they "like" it, similar to how RIAA markets their "music" these days, and how hollywood continues to pump out CRAP instead of movies (and then give one another mega-awards for making crap movies that nobody watches).

Law's changed, now cough up: Uncle Sam serves Microsoft fresh warrant for Irish emails

"It would appear that the DoJ are trying to add the case in retrospect"

actually no. it's a new action related to an old case.

I think everyone knew this was coming. Now Micro-shaft can say "we tried" and make themselves APPEAR as if they care about user privacy. But, based on EULAs and actual BEHAVIOR, they obviously do NOT.

Any social media accounts to declare? US wants travelers to tell

Re: Trump's Struggle

no, no NO!

Have you ever KNOWN an 'authoritarian' manager? They have certain common characteristics:

a) must be involved in the minutiae, i.e. "micromanagers" [Trump is a 'delegator', big time]

b) The "I love me" wall filled with accomplishments and trophies. If Trump has a trophy room, I dont know about it, although I saw a funny comic that had a single stuffed elephant head with the caption "the establishment"... [I suppose you could count the buildings with 'Trump' on them, but they're more "accomplishments" than trophies]

c) No sense of humor about himself - Trump sometimes jokes about himself, even in a 'state of the union' address. I think if you told a Trump joke that wasn't "pandering to the perception" he'd laugh at it. But don't you DARE criticize Obama or Mrs. Clinton!!! [you get "racist, sexist, misogynist" etc. accusations thrown at you for DARING to criticize!]. Trump would be the guy to put a lampshade on his head at a party, and parade around as a parody of himself for laughs.

d) 'power motivated' - it's about having control (over others), and NOT about getting the job done. I think in Trump's case he's motivated to 'get the job done', aka 'achievement' motivation. Reagan was very similar.

Back when I was in the Navy they had this leadership school where they discussed management style. They did this movie with 3 CPOs in it. CPO number 1 was a delegator, and his immediate subordinate ran the division, whereas the CPO gave approval and got assistance from higher ranking people as needed. This is "a delegator". Then there was the 'authoritarian' CPO, who spent a lot of time yelling at people and telling them YOU ALL HAVE TO STAY UNTIL WE'RE DONE and things like that, the classic bad attitude authoritarian dictator. Then there was the 3rd CPO, "Chief Chuckles", who got along with his subordinates because he was "affiliation motivated" and wanted to be liked [nevermind his department was screwed over because of his incompetence].

SO that illustrated 3 management styles: delegator [the good one, like Trump], authoritarian [definitely Obama and Mrs. Clinton], and 'affiliator' (ineffective and incompetent). The delegator is 'achievement' motivated [get it done]. The authoritarian is 'power' motivated [_I_ am in charge, do it _MY_ way]. And the 'affiliator' just wants to be everyone's drinking buddy, "affiliation" motivation [or similar].

Trump isn't a dictator, because he's not "power motivated". Although you MIGHT make the case that ANY politician at 'President' level would have to have an ego the size of the state of New York, that doesn't seem to be Trump's motive. He wants to DO something, and spells out what that is, and then DELEGATES making it happen to others that he trusts.

Anyway, this is basic psychology applied to management styles. I know it's not the "anti-Trump" pandering to the perception, but it's pretty well known among those who do management training stuff. It seems to have been common knowledge back in the 80's.

Re: just the username

"Thanks, we dont need the password"

I don't think that means what you think it means... or did you intend it "that way" ?

heh

I vent my spleen on USENET all the time, shun 'social media' (I don't consider El Reg comments to be 'social media'), block cookies and script, do what I can to avoid tracking by online stores, and own a 'dumb phone' that I rarely use [it's pre-paid a year at a time, uber cheap that way].

Fortunately U.S. citizens aren't asked that question. [if that ever changes, my answer will always be "pack sand"]

Brit Lords start peer-to-peer wrangling over regulating the internet

Re: Rather Irrelevant, Really.

"Facebook (to name but one) is barely answerable to the US government"

this may change. or not.

Super Cali goes ballistic, Starbucks is on notice: Expensive milky coffee is something quite cancerous

"Daily Fail headline, where nearly every week they have <insert product here> causes/prevents cancer."

yeah, I go *yawn* every time.

Cyclamates, ONLY tested along with Saccharine, was ALLEGED to cause cancer [since the patent ran out and ANYBODY could make it]. Saccharine tested by itself was ALSO alleged to cause cancer. Connection? And because there's no patent on it, there's no financial incentive to prove that Cyclamates are ok.

Butter (in the 1960s through 1980s) was considered BAD for you, and "polyunsaturate" margarine was considered 'healthy'. Then someone actually managed to get the word out about TRANS-FATS. Not so healthy, right? I like LOTS of butter on EVERYTHING, by the way, but haven't tried 'deep fried butter' yet.

Nobody believed that ulcers were caused by BACTERIA. Everybody said it was "stress" or "acid" or something NOT the truth. Then a brave Australian doctor decided to test his own theory, ON HIMSELF, after which he CURED himself with ANTI-BIOTICS.

The anti-cholesterol fascists are STILL out there doling out unnecessary prescriptions for anti-cholesterol medication, EVEN THOUGH IT OFTEN RESULTS IN DIABETES [particularly in post-menopausal women], and [as far as I can tell] MAY LEAD TO ALTZHEIMER'S [keep in mind, the BRAIN is mostly fat, and cholesterol]. With few exceptions, MOST people don't need this, nor the cocktail of OTHER medications to manage the side effects that MIGHT BE CAUSED by the anti-cholesterol CRAP.

Needless to say, can you REALLY BELIEVE half of what is being said about 'what causes cancer' or 'what food is good/bad for you' etc. etc. etc. ???

And you can extend this to the ridiculous claims about egg shell thinning and DDT, the ONLY chemical known to kill things like BED BUGS [which are coming back, in a rather BAD way].

So yeah, "nearly everything causes cancer". LIFE causes cancer. DHMO causes cancer.

/me runs off, screaming, with my hands in the air

Re: Another "Super Cali" headline?

The 3 Stooges would do their schtick any time there was a camera. It was always the same *kinds* of stuff. People still laugh at it, though the jokes were limited and repeated frequently. It became 'expected' and people laughed anyway.

it's a comedy style. I like it. And I live in CALI-FORNICATE-YOU, and think the gummint here has COMPLETELY lost its collective mind. Well, if ALL of the sane people leave, it'll just get worse... and I really don't want to re-incorporate in another state. Still if it gets REALLY bad, Texas looks interesting. Maybe the gulf coast. Hurricanes can't be much worse than earthquakes an leftists trying to run my life!

/me points out that when ALL of "the producers" and the small, startup businesses leave Cali-Fornicate-You, the only people left will be a handfull of overly wealthy tax PAYERS, and a WHOLE LOT of open hands begging for nanny-gummint to FEED and CLOTHE and HOUSE them [and give them freebie medical care, too, and extend their lives, so they can leech off of society for as long as possible and continue to vote for Demo-Rats]

Re: the judge who cried wolf?

this site has a top 10 list of foods high in acrylamide:

https://www.healwithfood.org/list/foods-high-in-acrylamide.php

However, _I_ think it was the DHMO that was causing the cancer, and NOT the acrylamide nor the coffee itself!!!

You KNOW that DHMO is in EVERYTHING, right? It's often found in toxic waste, it's dumped into the air by car exhaust and nuclear power plants, and EVERY CANCER PATIENT has DHMO in their system!

If you don't believe me, check out dhmo.org !!! And get out the word, to everyone, because Henny Penny and Chicken Little think the SKY is FALLING!!!

</sarcasm>

Donald Trump jumps on anti-tech bandwagon, gets everything wrong

Re: @bombastic bob

"Which are?"

somehow I think that giving you unrefutable and intuitively obvious facts (such as the lowest unemployment rate in DECADES and more GDP growth than the entire time Obaka was president) won't be enough. You'll continue like in the last post, quoting the talking points for [P]MSNBC and [F,C]NN. 'growing at a snail's pace (2% GDP) isn't "growth" it's barely above stagnation, for one example' Mrs. Clinton wanted to push socialism EVEN FURTHER, disregarding the facts that it's THE SOCIALISM that stagnates the economy.

You can spend an hour watching one episode of 'Hannity' on "the other news" for enough evidence in support of my point. Or you can watch half of the other shows (same idea). Or you can read the articles over on foxnews.com . Or you can listen to Rush Limbaugh. But as long as you only listen to the "toxic fake news media" (aka PMSNBC, FNN, ABS, NBS, CBS, PBS, and web sites like 'motherjones') you won't ever "get it". The distorted facts you present are simply the talking points of Media Matters and other left-wing organizations that support the "anti-Trump" and "never-Trump" agenda. Even if Trump's success were SO blatant [unemployment rate at record lows, particularly for minorities, isn't enough I suppose] and SO obvious that even the most casual observer would have to acknowledge it, PMSNBC and FNN and the 'BS' networks would all be saying the opposite, because they are...

P A N D E R I N G _ T O _ T H E _ P E R C E P T I O N

and that's my point.

Re: Time for Twitter to bring down the ban hammer on the Trump

"he certainly doesn't have much of a filter between what he thinks and what he says"

And that's a BAD thing? [I like it when Trump says what I think]

Re: He's Jealous

(motherjones link)

uh, ok. I'd usually call that "fake news" just from the URL. Maybe once or twice they get things right. And I doubt 'seattle times' is much better.

if the work environment sucks, they should, *ahem*, FORM A UNION. Yes, I said that.

and the latter 1/3 of "The Jungle" is COMMUNIST PROPOGANDA. Anyone who actually READ the thing woudl know that.

Re: El Reg gets it wrong again

"Ever hear of Toys-R-Us"

worth pointing out, 'Toys R Us' could have adapted by having an online presence, combined with marketing that gets people into their stores. A good start: store pickup of online orders, to save money on postage (Target and Walmart do this).

Also in many ways, Target and Walmart are 2 additional reasons why 'Toys R Us' went under. So it's not 100% Amazon's doing, but Amazon was a major factor. In My Bombastic Opinion.

Now, if it can be demonstated that Amazon has been engaging in predatory practices, a lawsuit may result. The creditors in the 'Toys R Us' bankruptcy would be the beneficiaries.

Re: Trump was accurate and some people don't like it

thanks, your post has been upvoted

Re: Time for Twitter to bring down the ban hammer on the Trump

that's right, anyone who disagrees with YOU must be BANNED, right?

nothing like a one-sided argument, especially when your position is WRONG. Shout down that opposition until they're silenced. Then, you *WIN*. *NOT*

icon because it's funny.

[I don't like silencing the opposition. I'd much rather let them say what they want, so that we might all know them for who they are]

Re: "supports Trump's arguments that the media is biased against him"

"he is literally incapable of telling the truth"

your opinion has been noted. Any proof?

I've seen Trump tell the truth quite a bit, such as the successes from his policies with respect to the economy. So, in my opinion, he's QUITE capable of telling the truth. Has he ever LIED? Probably. But from what I can tell, not as President, at least not like Bill Clinton nor Barack Obaka did. Or as a candicate, like Mrs. Clinton.

"It was a video" <-- Ben Ghazi - big fat lie, classic example

I'll just leave this with "just because you proclaim it does not make it true". But you're probably pandering to a perception, like so many do these days, and acting AS IF it is true, to get the "me too" crowd to upvote you. And I expect the 'howler monkey' to downvote me for saying so.

icon, because, facepalm

Re: brain farts

"The tone of your article belittles your professionalism"

I just read between the lines to get the facts from within the opinions. I think people should do this no matter what the news source is, these days. Lots of opinions thrown in, etc.. Whatever.

Re: Amazon? Postal Service?

"If they leave the box on the front step, then somebody steals it"

I've never had that problem [nor do I know anyone else who has] but I've seen videos taken of package thieves broadcast on the news, and as such, know that it occasionally happens.

'Robbing the mail' is a federal offense in the USA and carries a stiff penalty (according to an online search, up to 5 years in prison, up to $250k fine). No joke. A serial package thief could theoretically be charged with MULTIPLE felonies and spend the rest of his life in prison. Good riddance.

As for Amazon itself, it *appears* as if they *might* be engaging in either "unfair business practices" (an FTC issue), or even PREDATORY marketing practices (also an FTC issue, and violation of anti-trust laws). I would expect that Trump's concern is that Amazon may be causing retail businesses to go under, such as 'Toys R Us' (very recent).

That being said, Amazon is ALSO involved in the Demo-rat Party with contributions, etc. just like Faecebook (for what it's worth). It may *seem* that Amazon has way too much political clout, and as such, might be a threat to Trump's agenda. THAT much should be acknowledged as well, if you're being honest.

So I think Trump wants to investigate Amazon via the FTC to see if they're engaging in ANY kind of activity that violates federal law, specifically with respect to predatory practices and collection of sales taxes in states where they have a presence, INCLUDING for those "online stores" that use Amazon as a 'store front'.

Personally, I think that stores that adapt [Target, Walmart, etc.] by having an online presence and "pick it up at the store to avoid postage" are doing what needs to be done. So I'm not really concerned about Amazon, UNLESS they're engaging in activities that violate the law.

Back in the day, when "mom and pop" grocery stores were the way people got their food, the supermarkets ended up putting them out of business. In the 1960's we had milk men and independent butcher shops [who still had the best meat]. But most of the groceries came from supermarkets, who had lower prices and better selection. This put the "mom and pop" groceries out of business, except for those that converted themselves into "convenience markets".

Queue up modern times, and Amazon vs "mall shops". That kind of thing.

Microsoft's Windows supremo Terry Myerson is now Terry BYE-rson

Re: Clearing House in Redmond

"and making space for more 'nodding donkey yesmen'"

this would NOT surprise me in the LEAST. Apparently whoever it is with the "vision" over at Micro-shaft is clearing out anyone who won't go along with it. This has been going on for a while, since Win-10-nic. If you're not on-board with the market-hype, and "all excited" about whatever new, shiney comes down the pike, I'd suspect your job is on the line and you might want to consider sending out your resume before you get pink-slipped... like a bunch of product testers a few years ago, when some "mensa candidate" over at Micro-shaft *FELT* that they did not NEED people to test; after all, they have END USERS for that!

and so on.

Six months on, and let's check in on those 'stuttering' Windows 10 PCs. Yep, still stuttering

logging what happens on your computer while gaming

do you have the capabilities of logging the per-task CPU utilization on your computer?

It might be worth doing that, in order to see whether or not there are processes launching and/or being activated [let's say snooping, check for updates, etc.] while you're gaming, and for whatever reason it interferes with the game.

I have a similar concern with multimedia production. Last thing I need is to be running something like 'Cakewalk' while doing a live track recording, and have windows update make a "stutte" happen because it *FEELS* it needs to run right now... [I used to disable windows update on XP systems to prevent this from happening, and it WORKS]

Shaking up the Nad Men: Microsoft splits up into 'cloud' and 'edge'

Re: Deck chairs

because "they" haven't artificially propped up their stock value for long enough before selling short just as the proverbial excrement hits the proverbial fan...

so get those deck chars in the right places, and look like we're doing something, harumph harumph!

icon, because, facepalm

Microsoft patches patch for Meltdown bug patch: Windows 7, Server 2008 rushed an emergency fix

This is what happens when...

a) you don't properly test prior to deployment;

b) you generally rely on end-users to test your patches;

c) your general focus on "all the wrong things" doesn't put sufficient resources on what's important, i.e. security and reliability, vs "next new, shiny that requires Edge and/or locks customers into a privacy invasive EULA or a subscription model".

and market-driven development cares LESS about support when "they" *FEEL* [not think] that end-users are LOCKED IN [like a monopoly] and wouldn't DARE go elsewhere...

It's baaack – WannaCry nasty soars through Boeing's computers

Re: OH !!

actually I think it's something called "windows for warships" (derived from XP) whether jokingly or for real. And the OS has been 'hardened' and the computers don't EVAR go on teh intarwebs. That's my understanding of it.

But I've been out of the loop for quite a while. Last time I visited a sub (my old boat, which visited San Diego for decommissioning) I saw the "hardened" laptops in the Control room, but didn't take a very close look. They also said "no devices on the sub" so we had to leave our cell phones, etc. in the car before going on the tour. It was kinda fun seeing old friends from 30 years ago, as well as the opportunity for a close relative to see my old boat before it got cut up - literally.

Re: The important question

was Boeing's recent infection caused by individual Windows 7 users at the company NOT updating any more out of habit, because of GWX ? And NOT wanting to shut down work for half a day to WAIT for updates?

last time I worked on site, "the accountant" seemed to get a virus on her computer about once every 2 months. Yeah, it was probably from MS Word docs with "attachments" that were "invoices" or something. And yes, they were using OUTLOOK.

No Falcon Way: NASA to stick with SLS, SpaceX more like space ex

Re: a rocket that already exists.

" BFR may well be ready before before the SLS."

More true than not, when you compare government projects to private industry (in general).

Back in the 80's, when I was in the Navy, the San Diego submarine base had an ongoing project to construct barracks for single officers. They were living at the barracks at another base a few miles away, or in apartments in the city. So this had been under construction for the entire time (>3 years) when I was at the San Diego base.

In 1985, McDonalds got permission to construct one of their restaurants on base. It was up and running in about 3 months, from laying the foundation to flipping burgers. And, by comparison, the officer's barracks WAS NOT EVEN REMOTELY COMPLETED after 3 FORNICATING YEARS!

That kinda says it all, I think. Musk wants to make money, so HIS "BFR" rockets will be designed, tested, flown, and approved LONG before NASA gets even REMOTELY close to having SLS ready.

(without the 'urgency' of the space race, like it was in the 1960's, gummint projects will milk the funding for all it can, keeping people employed indefinitely regardless of how important or useful the jobs are, creating circular bureaucracies that justify one another's existence, and LOTS of spinning wheels without motion)

Intel shrugs off ‘new’ side-channel attacks on branch prediction units and SGX

Re: Intel has serious product issues

with a bit of sympathy for engineers at Intel, I think much of this may have just "not been thought of".

Now that the genie is out of the bottle, they should just confess it and fix it.

As for branch prediction stuff, how come THAT isn't saved/restored with task state or thread state switching? OK performance hit, but still... not THAT bad compared to the security, and maybe a "fast bit" to turn it on/off in the OS?

What the @#$%&!? Microsoft bans nudity, swearing in Skype, emails, Office 365 docs

Re: Offensive moi?

"A real Pro can cuss you out without using profanity!"

and you can play it for laughs...

{What the FEEL???}

Re: This is going to be so much fun on the train,....

keep it up, the train's crapper is out of toilet paper [and all I found was these 3 sea shells]

"M$ Morality Police"

MICRO-SHAFT, FEEL YEAH!!!

we're only trying to help you, for your own good

MICRO-SHAFT, FEEL YEAH!!!

Protecting all the snowflakes, from language that's crude

MICRO-SHAFT, FEEL YEAH!!!

Victorian ethic reboot and political correctness too!

etc.

"Does that mean that if I tell Cortana to f$ck right off my machine she will ?"

if it were so easy.

I think Micro-shaft should UNINSTALL THEIR OS as well, and set you up with Linux Mint, if you violate their terms of service. It'd be a really convenient way to UPgrade, by telling Micro-shaft, Cortana, or some overly sensitive "target" to {insert graphic sexual activity here} with {large uncomfortable looking object with multiple sharp pointy edges} and {something corrosive and/or abrasive that doesn't even remotely act like a lubricant}.