Posts by bombastic bob

Japanese quadcopter makes overworked employees clock out

Re: Hovering targets

or use the opportunity to test that binder clip trebuchet you hacked up using pencils, rubber bands, old batteries, and tape

"Working as I do in a large company in Japan"

I would assume that SALARY employees don't get overtime pay in Japan, either?

in which case, the boss's paycheck won't be affected if you deduct overtime pay from his pay [because there won't be an overtime bonus for the employees staying late to finish up or whatever].

Also, is it that competitive for well-paying jobs in Japan, that people are COMPELLED to look like they're working harder/better/faster than everyone else? Just curious.

Re: How many points...

"I can hardly wait for Simon's take on all the opportunities here"

Simon would be at the local pub, when he leaves at 30 minutes before beer-o-clock. However, a cardboard cutout of him (mysteriously connected to an automatic timer device) will conveniently be in his chair, to be spotted by the drone between the hours of beer-o-clock and "time to go home".

when you like what you do...

well, when you LIKE what you do, spending long hours doing it comes naturally.

Just thought I'd add that perspective. I think LOTS of people who think this way end up owning their own businesses.

hard work and dedication does deserve a reward... and being told to LEAVE may be counter-productive in more ways than one.

/me points out that a long commute home might be a good way of getting the extra work in, if you can do it while riding on a train, on a notebook computer, with somewhat unreliable intarwebs access.

Sloppy coding + huge PSD2 changes = Lots of late nights for banking devs next year

Re: Microsoft’s .NET, Java

forget ".Not" and maybe Java, too.

Do it in 'C'. Translate those COBOL programs directly in to C programs [it CAN be done].

Then stop hiring crappy "developers" who don't understand what a compiler is, and have COMPETENT people write the front-ends in a lingo that doesn't SUCK.

(the one thing about COBOL that made it work well for business is the structure definitions that are inherent in the language. Since 'C' can do this too, should be NO problem porting any COBOL program into an equivalent C program)

Also - C compilers exist for just about every platform these days. no need to lock yourself into Micro-shaft's FAIL aka ".Not" and "C-pound".

a search on "cobol to c converter" returns MANY relevant hits.

SpaceX to try reusing both rocket and spacecraft for historic ISS mission

Go mission #13!

gotta love it!

Disk drive fired 'Frisbees of death' across data centre after storage admin crossed his wires

Re: Those were the days, when a computer was really engineering

seeing all of these "grampa had to walk to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways" stories makes me wonder if it wasn't so bad just to have to toggle in the correct bus address before pressing the 'boot' button...

(on a DG Eclipse, in 1980)

Re: Nah. We were civilized, no rodeo in the data center.

industrial washing machines have (or had) a self-balancing feature that causes a flow of water into 'opposing' positions during the spin cycle. Basically, as the thing spins, it trips a switch when out of balance causing appropriate water flow to re-balance. As the thing spins up, you can hear the water jets balancing them, and then they smooth out. Maybe a similar system for centrifuges? Just a thought...

/me wonders where the IT angle is on this one...

Re: Recycle platters from modern hard disks

"I think a lot of the modern spinning-rust drives now use a glass platter"

a couple of decades ago I had a Kalok drive die on me, while beta-testing Win '95 [which was a BIT more disk-intensive than earlier winders]. It sounded like breaking glass when it ate itself. So even in 1994 I think this was being tried...

Re: Servicing a VCR was like playing with a Hellraiser puzzle box

I understand that cockroaches loved to infest those things - stories from repair techs of roach-infested electronics. Who knows, maybe they were eating the grease...

Re: "Cut the red wire..."

if _I_ had designed the thing, cutting ANY wire would detonate it.

I can think up many ways to defeat someone trying to disarm an explosive device by cutting a wire, like "cut any exposed wire, or remove any cover, and it goes BOOM". [real bomb disposal would probably just safely transport it in an armored container, then detonate it someplace away from people+things]

Good thing I'm not a terrorist, yeah - but it's the way white-hat hackers think - anticipate what is being done by thinking about how YOU would do it, muahahahaha!

/me thinking of 'Lethal Weapon 3' at the moment...

afterthought - I think the military deliberately detonates IEDs by use of claymore mines and/or C4

Re: "Not an uncommon story", you mean.

"hugely costly tenuous and superflouous value add stuff that DEC added that eventually put them out of business"

Actually, I think DEC went out of business (or value lowered until they were bought up, more realistically) because they were "old tech" and the computer market had moved along. They sunk a LOT of effort into "Alpha with NT" with little effort in making PCs and cutting edge peripherals. HP, on the other hand, "did that" and survived the 90's.

And Sun won where DEC once ruled. Maybe Solaris helped?

[shock indicators are cheap - a cost benefit if it helps you prove that someone kicked the cabinet causing a head crash, thus voiding the warranty]

Re: "Not an uncommon story", you mean.

I thought it was bad enough when you could actually see the "washtub" disk drive shake around during times of heavy disk usage...

[you KNOW there's a lot of centripetal force stored up in that 12" diameter spinning metal thing]

It's a decade since DevOps became a 'thing' – and people still don't know what it means

Re: No Thanks!

I heard about a study that was done regarding programmers and their work environments. There are several "deal breakers" that would force a programmer to quit (or not take the job), things like having a PHONE RING all of the time (and having to answer it).

I don't recall anything else specific. but here's a list of things that I would consider "deal breakers":

a) having to answer a phone while at the office

b) having to carry a pager (so you're always "on call")

c) 'too many cooks in the kitchen' (bad project management)

d) unclear objectives and/or requirements, particularly if they CHANGE a lot

e) too much "feeling" goin' on. nauseating, yeah

f) consistently NOT giving me the access I need to get my work done

g) company politics [in any form]

h) being forced to give unrealistic estimates (and then LIVE by them)

i) being in an "open office" (rather than "your own office" or a VERY private cube). that includes offices with cubes that have 3 foot walls, aka "a fish bowl". (whereas sharing an office with 1 or 2 other people is fine)

So if 'DevOps' means that you MUST be "operations" (on call, open office, dealing with users/customers) as well as "development", then I think it's a model for FAIL. Because the personality of creative programming types (the good ones, specifically) isn't well suited to the 'customer service technician' requirement.

YouTuber cements head inside microwave oven

Re: Confused

A few years ago some friends of mine went to a national park in the USA to hike up a ~10k foot mountain. The park ranger inspected their gear first, before letting them go onto the trail, to make sure they had everything they needed beforehand. The point was to make sure they weren't going to need a rescue after attempting something they shouldn't have. Also made sure they had poo-bags and would bring their trash back with them. That's right, no "public poo-ing" in national parks. No digging latrines, either.

(I just thought I'd point that one out, in the context of doing potentially dangerous things when you're unprepared)

Re: Send them the bill

"Can we ban fat people from universal healthcare?"

Why not just ban 'universal health care' instead, i.e. "you pay for it yourself". Problem goes away. Works for me.

But if you're going to ban "fatties" then why not ban SMOKERS? Smoking is a voluntary activity, it irritates the CRAP out of most people, etc. so let's just BAN their 'universal health care' and slowly make society as UN-FREE as possible. (that last part was the REAL point)

Re: They might consider

I'd rather see the local government fine them for deliberately doing something stupid in which emergency services had to rescue them from their own stupidity.

Re: I have always thought...

"Sorry, but we can't help you."

then forward the call to the morgue, so they can call in early for rapid pickup. and the subsequent Darwin award.

Los Angeles police tell drivers not to trust navigation apps as wildfires engulf area

Re: Techdrone

"The modern concept of "Finland" is a fiction created by Japan and the USSR shortly after WW2"

Is _THAT_ why 'Nokia' sounds like it might be a Japanese company?

since we're working on conspiracy theories, how about THIS one:

Jerry Brown, Demo-Rat governor of Cali-Fornicate-You, CAUSED the fires in Ventura and San Diego counties. Why? He KEPT! PEOPLE! FROM! WATERING! THEIR! YARDS! through ridiculous water restrictions [San Diego county has a SURPLUS of water right now, and a de-sal plant] because SOME counties in Cali-Fornicate-You still have "drought status". I BS you not!

And the reason FOR the drought? DELTA SMELT *MUST* live, and we must DRAIN THE RESERVOIRS in order to SAVE them! [google for the details, you're welcome, "delta smelt" and "sacramento river" oughta do it]. That's right, MOMMY GAIA is _PUNISHING_ _US_ for using TOO many resources, and we didn't cut back in time, and now she's BURNING US TO DEATH!!!

But Jerry "2nd time around" Brown will NEVER "take the heat" for this. No, no, he's a GOOD Demo-Rat!

yeah conspiracies are SO much fun! Icon, because, conspiracy theories.

OK Google: A stranger with stash of pirated films is spamming my Google Team Drive

Still somone else's computer

yes, "the cloud" _IS_ highly overrated!

For businesses, I remember this really cool thing that came out back in the 90's - it was called "a web server". The best ones run Linux or BSD. It's a fair bet that setting up a file sharing system with one of THOSE, even one that involves user names and passwords, wouldn't be all THAT hard...

/me wonders if excessive Win-10-nic use has dumbed down the users into believing that it MUST be "in the cloud" ???

I'd prefer Mrs. Clinton's missing e-mails.

Google and pals rush to repair Android dev tools, block backdoor risks

Re: How long have they been aware of these?

I read that article, did a bit of digging for more details, tried to post as a comment, ran into a Captcha that wouldn't work right. now it's in the bit bucket...

The problem seems to be caused by embedded external references in the XML. You could pre-scan for those and don't open them if the affected file has "!ENTITY" tags.

https://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#sec-external-ent

No, BMW, petrol-engined cars don't 'give back to the environment'

Re: The only way to make cars give back to the environment

"There is no easy way out of the situation we have created for ourselves."

(referring to use of privately owned vehicles in lieu of mass transit)

Why would you WANT to "get out" of the situation we have created for ourselves? [g'head, g'head, answer with the TRUTH! I *DARE* you!]

*I* happen to *LIKE* the freedom of jumping in the car and going where I want, filling the tank when it gets empty, and just going and going as far as I want to, WHENEVER I want to, WHEREVER I want to, on MY schedule, and NOT anyone else's!!!.

Why is *THAT* not a *GOOD* thing???

Re: Seeing as it's a BMW,...

and going WAY too damn slow on the curvy parts of windy rural roads (like Highway 1 in Cali-fornicate-you), but WAY too damn fast on the straight parts, so NOBODY! ELSE! CAN! PASS! (unless you're me, and you do it ANYWAY, at 95MPH going uphill, so that the BMW and its arrogant self-centered driver can't stop me)

icon, because, facepalm

Re: It does give back to the environment

"what has the planet ever done for us?"

stupid gravity making things fall all of the time.

I give "the environment" my big middle finger! And I'll give back everything I use up, when I throw what's left of it into the trash can, or excrete it into the porcelain bowl. (at least it goes into a designated place afterwards; animals just 'give back' wherever the hell they feel like it, except when humans pick it up afterwards).

[this whole 'giving back' concept is nauseating anyway, like a bunch of sappy guilt-motivating psycho-babble]

Opportunity rover survives Martian winter for eighth time

Re: Obligatory...

"I'm guessing they had a pretty good reason for not adding some wipers."

no refills for the windshield washers?

without water, it would probably scratch the surface of the solar cells. I can't imagine anything worse than wiping sand across a glossy surface with a slightly brittle wiper blade and no washer fluid...

VW's US environment boss gets seven years for Dieselgate scam

"If one considers that the noxious NOX emissions from high compression ratio diesels actually kills people"

ACTUALLY, dihydrogen monoxide kills MORE people than NOX. Not only does it attack the LUNGS, it's found in EVERYTHING (including car and diesel exhaust).

We should, like, BAN Dihydrogen Monoxide because it is SOOOOooo deadly, you know?

</sarcasm>

Actually, nitrogen oxides exist in nature, and are good for plants. Rain depletes it. And breathing it doesn't kill you outright. Some oxides of nitrogen have "recreational" use - ever suck down a whipped cream can? Nitrous oxide. 'nuff said.

chemical reactions: NO + H2O --> HNO2 [nitrous acid], which (as I recall) does not ionize completely, and plants LOVE it in the expected concentration in the rain water (similarly for CO2 I might add). Greens 'em right up! it's never really found in concentrations that are harmful to plants. not the same as sulfur dioxide from burning coal, which should be scrubbed up. by using a water spray!

ok too much reality following the snark. If I add more science I'll need a different icon.

Re: outrageous

"So after all this, the company is still going to be in business?"

yeah, sure, lay off zillions of employees worldwide because a handful of people scammed the U.S. gummint in order to get promoted and/or earn bonuses...

</sarcasm>

I think jailing the actual perpetrators is a MUCH better idea.

the premise that ALL corporations are inherently evil, and must be punished, is a COMMUNIST one. It should be rejected on THAT basis, alone.

Vivaldi Arms onto Raspberry Pi

Re: embedded borderless PDF browsing

"I agree with Bob. Time to check my meds."

heh

(I do this without any chemicals)

Re: embedded borderless PDF browsing

embedded PDF viewing in a browser is nearly always IRRITATING. save the file, then read it with 'atril' or some other PDF reader [preferably one that's not built with MONO or ".NOT"].

[I always "shut that crap off" along with a few other irritating settings - but if I can NOT shut it off, that application will NEVER be used by ME]

this is why everything in a browser needs to be CUSTOMIZE-ABLE since there's probably enough people that disagree with MY preferences that they actually WANT viewing PDF contents in an iframe. There are also people who like the 2D FLATSO, unfortunately. Well, they all need to be SETTINGS, so that EVERY customer is happy [not just the fanbois].

Re: So long...

" keeps on opening links in full screen"

That's a *MAJOR* deal breaker with ME!

I *HATE* full-screen windows popping up and TAKING OVER the desktop, like "you cannot do ANYTHING ELSE, because *THIS* is now *THE* *MOST* *IMPORTANT* *THING*!!!".

Might as well run "The Metro" CRapps on Win-10-nic if you want *THAT*

International team takes down virus-spewing Andromeda botnet

Re: Wouldn't the operators notice?

"Eventually this kind of operation will cause the operators to run before the takedown happens"

when I consider the size of the typical "dumb crook file", and the sheer blatant stupidity of the average criminal, I doubt that this will become 'the norm'.

most likely they're using the same login for the botnet as they do for their gamer ID (or one that's a lot like it), and ALSO using their moms' cable internet from their basement dwellings to connect to the command/control IRC server [with an identity that's ALSO similar to their gamer ID, and without using Tor, because IRC servers typically block Tor exit nodes]

so, yeah. "dumb crook" file.

http://www.dumbcrooks.com/

Re: NSA rants

"Must be nice to be a snowflake"

I don't think that word means what you think it means...

Re: Only i doubt it's door to door...

"Sounds like they an Avon-esque malware catalogue they offer"

it's what discriminating script-kiddies demand!

/me runs off to make alternate use of plumbing due to the bile taste that's beginning to accumulate...

Samsung starts cranking out 512GB eUFS storage

Re: Wow. Stripping the active layer off 64 chips and stacking them together..

"an OS that demands an LTE connection to work despite 512GB of local storage"

"not very impressive"

ACK

I don't think Win-10-nic (even on an ARM) will really sell these devices. However, dense high capacity storage on smart phones and slabs just might... take your entire music+movie collection with you on the plane, etc.. (THAT is a better selling feature for more+dense storage)

/me points out that "being connected" is a requirement for Win-10-nic, so that Micro-shaft can TRACK YOU. 'Microsoft Login' and knowing what software you have loaded and what you're using, etc..

Quentin Tarantino in talks to make Star Trek movie

Re: Final Nail in the coffin as it were

You have to laugh as they take everything you grew up with and tear it to shreds...

It's rule 99. It *must* be so!

"Even if it canNOT be re-written, made darker and edgier, get crammed full of unnecessary profanity and sexuality and/or become politically charged, and THEN get re-re-released, tailored SPECIFICALLY for the latest generation under 20-something, it WILL be... it WILL be!"

(yeah I just made that one up)

Re: Do You Know..

"What they call a quarter pounder in the delta quadrant?"

"Royal F***up" with cheese?

Re: Point missed

"Kirk considered himself more familiar with the period he found himself in, certainly more than Spock"

Spok has a good excuse. After all, Spok had done "a little too much LDS" back in the 60's.

/me grabbing coat, now

Re: @Jason

Kill Bill - the whole 'O-ren' sequence. And Lucy Liu. Yum! Throw in some animation to tell the back story.

/me wonders if Lucy Liu would make a good Romulan... one who'd been repeatedly abused by the Klingons since she was 10 years old, and by the time she was 12, she'd killed over 1,000 of them (and eaten their livers, with some fava beans and a nice chianti).

> Hugh Laurie as the doctor

I'd rather see David Tennant or Peter Capaldi.

Dr. Who + Star Trek crossover. Heh.

With plenty of hookers. and blackjack. and Daleks.

Re: "Michael Madsen - cutting Farengi ears off while whistling"

"oo-mox" while cutting, for blatant S&M reference

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Oo-mox

Dentist-turned bug-biter given a taste of freedom

"Nice to hear we're still the land of free speech. Is America great now?"

it's an ongoing process. It's hard to drain decades' worth of SWAMP in 11 months.

drain the swamp

"all on the Law enforcement side involved in this should be assessed"

Agreed - a clean sweep across the ENTIRE department, and review/removal/re-write/destruction of B.S. laws like those "broken" in THIS case.

Although outing officers AND their families, if he blatantly did THAT, is a bit problematic, LONG jail terms for doing so is ridiculous.

It's like the "process crimes" that are often used to intimidate people, such as General Flynn. Make ONE mistake in something you tell the FBI, and they can CHARGE! YOU! WITH! A! CRIME!!!

NOT a good thing. WAY too heavy handed. Swamp needs DRAINING.

Citrix cracks Windows Store's monopoly on Windows 10 S apps

Re: Win 10s interesting?

"The store only model seems to work for Apple / Google"

in Android, you can EASILY switch off the "feature" that restricts you to "store only" [cr]apps.

not sure about iOS.

And the "feature" in Win-10-nic S (which stands for something that starts with an 'S') apparently can NOT be shut off, deliberately, by design. Which makes it S. I guess it's full of S.

Re: Win 10s interesting?

"Why would anyone want a crippled version of Win10?"

more like: Why would anyone want a crippled version of Win10?

you're welcome

(aw looks like someone beat me to it. great minds thinking alike)

Voyager 1 fires thrusters last used in 1980 – and they worked!

"they could easily reach planets with megatons of the stuff" (re: recycling v-ger for its gold)

right, heavy elements (like gold) are quite possibly more common on inner planets, and if you mine stuff at night, and at the poles, not unreasonably hot either. If I had the tech available, I'd certainly give it a shot.

the basic logic: outer planets are nearly all 'gas giants', inner ones are rocky. It seems to me that heavier elements collect closer to a star than farther away from it. Conclusion: Mercury probably has more gold than Earth.

asteroid mining would give you easier physical access to "everything", too, but how much gold, platinum, and other 'rare earths' being present in asteroids is still completely unknown.

Anyway...

Re: 17.46km/HOUR???

"In space, no-one can see you run..."

or hear you scream

Re: it's already doing 17.46 km/hour

"When you're going that fast, doesn't time slow down or something"

yes but the amount is negliglble. you'd probably notice if you're receiving radio signals that are supposed to be xx.xxxx Mhz, but end up being xx.xxxy Mhz [that kind of difference].

As I recall, on one of the Apollo missions, they had an atomic clock or something similar on board the spacecraft, and they actually measured the time difference. Since they were moving at ~50k MPH for the trip to/from the moon, there would be a measurable effect, even though it was pretty tiny. But, the scientists involved in the experiment DID find "that difference" and announced that Einstein WAS right. It was definitely worth doing, yeah.

You can figure out the effect on time when you consider that if you're travellng at 1/2C, then [simplified] from YOUR perspective, light still moves at C, which means that for you, time effectively moves 1/2 as fast as it is for someone who's not moving at all. It's actually more complicated than that, but discussing all of the details in here would be TLDR and *yawn*. NOT mentioning that would invite the anal retentive howler monkey types to nit-pick every word.

anyway, ~18km/sec compared to ~300,000 km/sec is a pretty small change in the flow of time, but it's in the neighborhood of 1/10,000 [unless I made a math error] so radio frequencies would be shifted in a measurable way [as I already mentioned at the top] but that's about it. What's interesting, however, is that the shift would probably be TWICE what doppler alone would cause, because the relative time would affect the RF oscillators, which would put out a lower transmit frequency, which would then be further time-stretched by the doppler effect as the craft moves away from earth.

[gravity wells, as mentioned earlier, notwithstanding]

Guilty: NSA bloke who took home exploits at the heart of Kaspersky antivirus slurp row

Re: 67? / literally past the retirement age

What is this "retirement age" you speak of? There is no such thing anymore.

I plan on working until I'm dead. Many reasons why, not the least of which is that I perceive "retirement" to be a BORING concept. Now, infinite money and "I can do what the hell I want" sounds great but it would probably involve computers, electronics, and me running the show. "Retirement", however, is NOTHING like that. The words "fixed income" make me wanna lose my lunch. And gummint austerity is double-nauseating.

"Genii are often only clever in certain specialized areas and can quite easily be as dumb as a post in others"

/me ponders: why does that sound just like certain forms of Autism?