Posts by bombastic bob

Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Siemens tease electric flight engine project

Re: Bah!

"Filled with hydrogen"

I assume it's a non-smoking flight? (for 'no smoke' I'd put up with the hydrogen)

Re: Me thinks you don't know how a Prius works

the Prius' solution to electric hybrid drive is BRILLIANT. It solves nearly all of the problems [except cost].

[eventually, I'd expect nearly ALL (decent) cars to be hybrids]

Re: Advantages

"there's currently no efficient way of making renewable jet fuels in volume"

true. synthetic oil can be made from organic garbage, but I think it would cost 2 to 3 times as much as drilling for it (currently) costs. Eventually this will be the ONLY option, but I don't see THAT happening within the next 100 years...

and by then, I'd hope we would have fusion reactors small enough to fit on a plane.

Re: Advantages

well, as I understand things, you'd need a "jet engine sized" generator to power electric jet engines, so I'd expect it adds weight to the plane.

If, on the other hand, the engines are lightweight enough to allow OTHER materials to be lighter (such as the engine support brackets), it might be "a wash". But probably not.

Until we've got small nuclear reactors that are capable of making the electricity to efficiently propel the plane through the air, I expect that pure mechanical systems (like turbofans) are better than hybrid electrical ones.

Net neutrality nonsense: Can we, please, just not all lose our minds?

Re: I know everyone in USA loves cable TV tiers --

"by using selective throttling."

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!!!!

*PROVE* that "they" ARE doing this (selective throttling), HAVE done this in the past, and WILL do it in the future, before you invoke CONSUMER-EXPENSIVE REGULATIONS to STOP something that is NOT happening!!!

PROVE IT FIRST! Because _nobody_ wants THAT, naturally, because "throttling" just SOUNDS bad.

and are we sure it wasn't the TORRENT [ab]users that created this kind of FUD in the first place?

Re: Not a broadcasting issue

"The less government is involved with something, the more innovation and lower the cost it is due to choice. The more they are involved the beyond what is absolutely necessary, just costs us all money."

RIGHT! ON!!!

Now, here's something I just thought of: was this whole "net neutrality" thing thought up because ISPs were allegedly THROTTLING TORRENT TRAFFIC? So the "copyrighted media ripoff" crowd might have ACTUALLY BEEN BEHIND IT? (just pointing it out)

Re: 2 questions

"throttling back some services in favour of others"

I doubt that actually happens, "throttling back".

FYI traffic prioritization would happen at the routers, anyway. PAID traffic prioritization would help pay for BETTER routers (and faster wires between them). Is it such a BAD thing? In other words, it's another example of a rising tide "lifting all boats". THAT as opposed to the "create a FREAKING DAM and then TAX people to PAY for it" approach.

keep in mind that if you reach into the back pocket of some cable company executive and plan on taking that money and doing "something else" with it, that cable company exec will pass the cost along to THE CONSUMER. EVERY TIME. So 'class envy' will never work. Just let them make money by PROVIDING SERVICES that people WANT [and the quality to go with it]. Just keep them from engaging in 'unfair business practices' (like forcing Netflix to pay more because otherwise they'd "throttle Netflix", for example).

Then we'll all be better off with LESS REGULATION.

"net neutrality" is such a MISNOMER anyway, like the way "Fairness Doctrine" was. GUMMINT chooses these names the way "the left" tosses around EMOTION BOMBS when they want something.

And if regulations go UP, "who benefits" ?

POLITICIANS AND GUMMINT BUREAUCRATS. And people who have THEM "in their back pocket".

Re: Actually, Google and Facebook win either way

Google and Facebook with a "Xanatos Gambit" approach? No surprise, really.

The REAL problem, that nobody seems to be mentioning, is that there are a LOT of problems with the Obaka-era-style approach of attempting to regulate the internet. And, some people actually want MORE of that?

_I_ do NOT! And, I *ESPECIALLY* do not want CONTENT regulation!

It took DECADES to *FINALLY* get rid of an outdated FCC regulation on radio station licensing, the so-called "Fairness Doctrine", which DID (in a way) 'regulate content' by literally FORCING a radio station to provide what THEY claimed was "equal time". What it DID do is make "big media" possible, and they had a literal MONOPOLY on the news for DECADES. But, ABOLISHING the 'fairness doctrine' literally made Fox News and talk radio possible, where a host like Rush Limbaugh could simply say what he wanted to, without having the "fairness doctrine" stand in his way. And the reality is, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News ARE the "equal time" against the left-biased lame-stream media. And they KNOW it.

Conclusion: DE-regulation caused "big media" to LOSE THEIR MONOPOLY!

And if "big cable" really IS trying to stop people from watching TV via Netflix, by throttling or "DoS"ing the traffic, they would be in violation of an anti-trust law aka "unfair business practices". Some of these anti-trust laws have been in place for over 100 years.

We do NOT need "more gummint" to REGULATE things because they *might* be happening. Consider WHO benefits from "more regulation". It's not the consumer, because WE END UP PAYING FOR IT through higher costs passed on DIRECTLY TO US by the same people that are TARGETED by the regulation. Their costs go up, and then OUR costs go up.

De-regulating the electric power industry has helped to provide competing solutions. De-regulating telephones is similar. De-regulating works as long as you prevent "unfair business practices". Anything BEYOND "preventing unfair business practices" is WAY TOO MUCH.

Apple embraces El Reg! iOS 11 is now biting the hand that types IT

"40 engineers - 1 iPhone. 8 marketing staff - 8 iPhones."

THAT is a VERY interesting observation...

/me wonders how many of those engineers had 'no smart phone' [just a dumb one that acts like a phone - yeah, that would be ME]

Re: Here is my theory

it would be funnier (and a whole lot creepier) if autocorrect were like Siri and is processed "in the cloud" [so they can see what you're typing, muahahahah!]

Re: What do you expect?

"and now he's on Facebook asking mates whether he should get the 8 plus or the X."

well, the 'on Facebook' part explains the rest

What's that fresh, zesty fragrance? Oh, Linux Mint 18.3 has landed

Re: Up to date updates

as long as it's *NOT* "2D FLATSO" (or dependent on MONO) I'll be happy with it. I never use those things anyway, being familiar with the command line and "apt get"

Pokémon GO caused hundreds of deaths, increased crashes

Re: Presumably, Danny 14 ...

"Mostly it's people + guns that kill people, but good luck with banning people."

let's ban ROCKS, too, while we're at it - because some border patrol agents were recently killed by ROCKS...

and we'll ban knives, and cars, and airplanes, and ...

Don't shame idiots about their idiotically weak passwords

"a searchable encrypted password repository"

like 'keepass', particularly the OLDER one (now maintained as KeePassXC), and NOT the one that uses C-pound and ".Not" (blechhhh)

and, on a related note, a sequence from the movie 'hackers' (copied from IMDB)

The Plague: Someone didn't bother reading my carefully prepared memo on commonly-used passwords. Now, then, as I so meticulously pointed out, the four most-used passwords are: love, sex, secret, and...

Margo: [glares at The Plague]

The Plague: god. So, would your holiness care to change her password?

and also, an obligatory reference to "correct horse battery staple"

Tesla reveals a less-long-legged truck, but a bigger reservation price

Re: Electricity vs Petrol/Diesel prices

"Over to those living on the left side of the pond.."

well, there are (to be honest) a LOT of factors involved in gasoline "total cost" and electricity "total cost", particularly when you factor in wear, replacement, engine efficiency, and things like that.

I once modified a gas hog car engine to run on 4 cylinders most of the time [carbeurator mod], but kept the V8 power for whenever I "punched" it, and not only did it run better and stopped backfiring when I shut it off, but I got significantly better "around town" mileage. It was hard to codify, but my gasoline consumption was significantly lower, maybe half of what it was. This not a new idea, but brings up the efficiency of gasoline and diesel engines in 'around town' driving. This is where electric actually makes sense. [if the hybrid vehicles could sufficiently OWN this, by running on battery only, we wouldn't need pure electric vehicles, but stupid gummints require the engines to 'cycle' all of the time because the catalytic converters won't heat up otherwise - go fig, yeah].

THAT being said, we're talking trucks now. MOST of the fuel usage will be highway miles, for THAT kind of truck. If it were delivery vans and 'attached bed' trucks [most of which do local 'around town' kinds of things] I could see the desire to cut costs by going electric. But not long-haul 'semi' tractor/trailer rigs. It makes no sense.

Fuel cost here is around $3.20/gal aka around $0.84/l [higher now, because, Cali-Fornicate-You] and electricity varies depending on who you are and how much you use [yeah, it's all political]. but my last SDGE bill was $21.40 for 16 'therms' (natural gas), and $152.56 for 582 kwH. yeah all of those computers and compact flourescent lights going 7/24, and REFUSING to wear thermal underwear around the house. Anyway that works out to around 26 cents per kwH and $1.34 per 'therm', which [if I get the exchange rate right] is somewhat MORE than what you're paying. The taxes and "you must use 'renewables' extra cost", that's why.

San Diego is known for its high energy prices, so this should be no surprise to anyone.

in any case, gasoline cost per kwH would be around 11.5 cents, using these metrics, less than HALF of the cost of equivalent electricity.

That being said, 'thermal power' isn't enough for engines. Carnot efficiency of a gasoline engine is less than 50% as I recall, and actual piston engine efficiency is in the mid-30's (typically), reduced somewhat from having pollution devices slapped onto it. Modern engines 'get it right' by improving other aspects of the design, work WITH the pollution devices, that kind of thing, to improve overall efficiency, but it's still going to SUCK when you're going slow around town and spending a fixed amount of fuel per hour on just keeping the thing spinning while the car's not moving [or is moving slowly, where only a fraction of the power consumed actually spins the wheels].

You compare that to electric cars, and ideally the electric motor doesn't heat up too much, and neither do the batteries, and so you get twice, maybe 3 times the efficiency of a gasoline engine.

On the other side, there are power losses during battery charge. We'll say "85 percent" going into the battery, as a ballpark. The rest of the energy is lost as heat.

Then you have battery capacity losses over time, requiring EXPENSIVE replacement. Or you can go 100 miles instead of 300 after 2 years' worth of battery cycles, whatever...

and the inconvenience and extra cost just isn't worth it.

Now... if hybrid cars worked as they SHOULD, i.e. allow you to charge the batteries OR run on gasoline/diesel, at your OWN discretion, such that they take advantage of NOT spinning the engine unless it's loaded down 50% or more of its capacity, and shutting it OFF when it's running on the battery, then it would be GREAT to have an electric hybrid vehicle. Otherwise, it's a waste. Why? because MOST electric power worldwide is STILL made by burning oil and coal. So all of the environmental arguments are completely WORTHLESS here. What you have left is UNNECESSARY expense to the owner, coupled with INCONVENIENCE and less "freedom of movement" (which is what THEY wanted in the FIRST place, right?).

Team Trump goes in to bat for Google and Facebook

Re: Donald Jr vs Ivanka

"The US Government has debts of up to $19.9 TRILLION."

which is TWICE what it was in 2009.

Thanks, OBAKA.

Re: What did you expect?

"You right wingers are so tribal."

and THAT RANT got 31 UP votes?

howler monkeys, indeed.

icon, because, facepalm.

/me observes that there's so little actual information in the article, I can't find anything to comment about, one way or another, without it all looking like "fake news" commentary.

But if I had to make a comment, other than "let's wait and see when we get more information", is that STOPPING excessive lawsuits is a GOOD idea. There's way too much "tort" going on as it is.

Business as usual, says Aruba veep after Meg exits daddy HPE

Re: What IoT COULD Be

as much as I like (and derive income from) IoT, I have to wonder whether its hype is as bad as 'cloud' hype, 'slab' hype, and the "dot bomb" bubble of the noughties...

I mean, do you REALLY want wold+dog to see the temperature (and description) of yesterday's leftovers in your fridge?

divorcing their success from Micro-Shaft

would be "a good start" for the new CEO of HP.

I would specifically like to see Linux-based HP laptops as a major marketing thrust. I bet it would succeed, too.

156K spam text-sending firm to ICO: It wasn't us, Commissioner

"can they please multiply the penalty a hundred fold for making ICO waste time and effort"

"can they please multiply the penalty by the number of text recipients for making the text recipients waste time and effort"

that would be MY version. Yours wasn't bad, though.

/me asks for a dominatrix icon

Re: RE: Kenny

"Going home to put some potatoes in the freezer in preparation..."

mercury filled hollow point armor-piercing potatoes, shot with an appropriately large cannon

Re: 30p/text

the last cold-caller (an obvious "something wrong with your windows machine" scam) got option 2 following an option 1 "who is calling please" type of exchange [I got a phone number, too, and reported it to the 'do not call list' reporting site]. The thing is, after option 2, he kept calling me BACK. So I repeated, then left the phone off the hook a few times.

You KNOW you have a "good troll" when you can TROLL THEM BACK, and they FALL for it!

Re: 30p/text

"Pathetic"

Exactly. The fine is WAY too light.

In the game of American Football, it's often a strategy to 'take a penalty' instead of allowing the other team to score. Typical penalties of this nature would include 'pass interference in the end zone' which results in the ball being moved next to the end zone. BUT... the defending team still gets ONE MORE CHANCE to stop the score from happening, or maybe as many as 3 more chances, with a lower scoring 'field goal' on the 4th down, which is better than a 6+1 point touchdown.

So what if the offending company is counting "fines" as part of its "cost of spamming people" ?

And that's why it's PATHETIC.

Sorry 'strange physics' fans, IceCube finds the Standard Model stands

er, NOT photo-electric effect - I meant 'Compton Scattering' but too late to edit...

I'm sure a barrel of warm brandy, especially when carried by a St. Bernard, would be 'warmly' welcomed.

anyway...

as the article points out, the probability of interaction between atomic particles and/or nuclei, is known as a 'cross section', measured in 'barns', which proves that scientists have a truly geeky sense of humor (the idea of hitting the 'broad side of a barn' was involved in that particular nomenclature).

the equivalent measurement, from barns to square centimeters, can be calculated here:

http://www.unitconversion.org/area/square-centimeters-to-barns-conversion.html

Or maybe we can substitute an El Reg unit for it, perhaps 'horse arses' or 'boss faces' or 'second story windows' [whichever].

I'm also intrigued that higher energy neutrinos interact more often with regular matter. I would be equally interested in knowing whether the interaction is like 'scattering' where the neutrino isn't absorbed, or like 'photo-electric effect' where it IS absorbed, but then gets ejected again with a lower energy [and perhaps some 'friends'].

Any of those interaction methods would show up as "detected" but the nature of the interaction may not be so easily determined from that.

Another problem for CERN to solve, perhaps?

A certain millennial turned 30 recently: Welcome to middle age, Microsoft Excel v2

"Now that I use an OS that Excel doesn't support"

I'd guess Libre Office 'Calc' will do what you need, yeah.

On a semi-related note, has anyone ELSE observed that the Windows 2.x screenshots with Excel 2.0 in the article look WAY TOO MUCH like 2D FLATSO Win-10-nic ? Just wanted to point that out. Yes, I am _COMPELLED_ to do so.

Of course, "that" look+feel was based on Windows 1.0, even 2D'er and FLATSO-er than 2.x [but at least the colors weren't all 'shades of grey'].

They use Excel for everything

"They use Excel for everything, regardless of whether it is the most suitable tool for the job."

I would think it would be easy for them to migrate to Libre Office, and then Linux, because of that.

Royal Navy destroyer leaves Middle East due to propeller problems

Re: Navy Lark Questions (@TRT -:you beat me to it again)

"And the crew are unable to repair it? Am I missing something?"

that's why I'm thinking it's some kind of damage that they don't want disclosed. ran over a whale, fouled it up with a classified sonar device that's towed behind the ship on a cable, or they got hit with one too many RPGs, yotta yotta. (or a design flaw for that matter).

I could tell a 30+ year old submarine sea story about a fouled screw and how we realized it was like that, and why it happened, but I probably shouldn't...

Re: Propellor problems?

"Captain calls over to the harbourmaster... 'Oi, mate! Can I have a tug?'"

The U.S. Navy has what they call "Sea-going Tugs" (I expect the Royal Navy has them, too).

When I was on a sub (back in the 80's), we tied up outboard of a sea-going tug in the Hong Kong harbor. Not only did the tug have better anchors than a sub does, they could also run their fresh-water evaporators in the harbor [regulations kept us from running ours on the sub] for showers and other non-essential water usage. We had to run the reactor for electricity, though, and so it kept a good portion of the crew on the sub for half the time we were there (engine room crew was basically 'split in half' so that we could spend at least SOME time in town). I still had a good amount of time to tour around town and visit the 'China Fleet Club' though... so it worked out pretty well.

Re: Propellor problems?

"Cavitation damage, I wonder..."

it might also be related to sound signatures. A ship with a definite 'lope" in its propeller sound signature can easily be tracked from a very very long distance away [by a sub with passive sonar, for example].

Such a problem could also be caused by damage, like part of a blade snapping off, and/or significant fouling by 'something' from fishing nets to floating debris, or one too many RPGs fired at it from small boats filled with ISIS and/or terrorist types...

"Oops, the towed sonar device's cable got stuck in the screw, fouled it up, and caused some damage" or "we ran over a whale and it damaged one of the screws".

that kind of thing

Re: Less is more?

"There's a continual trend for fewer, more expensive defence assets."

they're probably looking at a number of conflicting issues, political as well as economic, as to why to do it 'that way'. But they're "not wrong" in the approach they've taken [just not IDEAL I would guess].

I prefer the "more of the less expensive variety" approach, though. It tends to suffer losses with a greater chance of rapid recovery, like the way things were in WW2, ya know?

Back in WW2, US and UK produced a great deal of fighter aircraft (like P-51s with Merlin engines in them) that were significantly LESS advanced that ME-262s. But the ME-262 was expensive and hard to build.

End result: overwhelming numbers with "good" but not "great" tech WON THE WAR over the "superior" tech. Obligatory reference to Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority".

Now fast forward to the 21st century, and potential for "see I told you so" by Arthur C. Clarke...

1. There _IS_ a need to develop new tech. You need at least SOME 'bleeding edge' war machines.

2. There are ALWAYS problems when you're on the bleeding edge of tech, and fixing a ship usually involves more than just calling out for a repair tech (think drydock).

3. There should ALSO be a fallback of "traditional tech" you CAN rely on. So rather than sinking the entire budget into a brand new class of ships, you should be upgrading the old ones, too.

4. There's an implied need to balance the financial, personnel, and political implications of "all of that"

Back in the 80's I was on a 688-class sub. We had a "fix" for the main engines, that was later "fixed better". We had a 'workaround' for a problem with the shaft and bearings that was eventually "fixed properly". We changed propellers 3 times in the short time I was on the sub (~4 years). Each of those 'fixes' required a month or two in a shipyard drydock. Those are expensive and limited resources. but it DOES reflect the effect of 'bleeding edge' tech, since the 688 class submarine had only been around for a few years at that point.

Since then, there have been a LOT of 688 class submarines, which ultimately led to 2 newer classes [the most recent of which seems to be designee for lower cost and high reliability].

Anyway, I expect the Royal Navy has this *kind* of thing in mind and, unfortunately, it might mean some down time for their ships while problems are ironed out. So, for now, some 20+ year old U.S. frigate will probably remain 'on station' while it's getting fixed...

/me notes that LESS spending on Austerity, and MORE spending on military, means that you buy something that's made in the UK, meaning jobs instead of 'need for austerity', and you ultimately get "a ship" instead of "more hands out begging for more money". You get what you pay for, ya know?

Linus Torvalds on security: 'Do no harm, don't break users'

Re: What?

"sometime it is that the feature was ill-conceived, and the vulnerability is inherent to the feature."

give me ONE example of that, please. Otherwise, it's "paranoia bait" 'what-if'ing

Keep in mind - Linus personally reviews things. I doubt that an ill-conceived feature exists in the kernel. If it DOES then Linus would swear at HIMSELF.

Re: As I understand it

" these cry-babies (or MS trolls) who have "mission critical" services"

I would laugh my backside off if it turns out that these people's "mission critical" services get NUKED by not being in the 'white list' (and it's not editable).

thanks AC - I was considering the Ben Franklin quote in a slightly different form. I'm glad you said it.

And I prefer VIGILANCE to "security".

"What if " [snip paranoia bait]

There are a zillion "what if" possible questions out there. We can _easily_ "what if" ourselves into a completely unproductive state. But that wouldn't be practical, would it?

I doubt that a bug would be "intrinsic to the interface" and EVEN if it _IS_ you RE-DESIGN THE INTERFACE to fix it (not slap on a 'patch' with whitelists and process killing as a "fix").

I have to wonder how those white lists work, anyway. Could a trojan horse application simply write a process with "the right credentials" and _BYPASS_ that anyway?

see, ya gotta think like an evil hacker to see the potential workarounds in order to recognize that a horsecrap "solution" (like white lists and process killing) is simply PURE HORSECRAP??

FIX THE ORIGINAL BUG instead, I say. So did Linus, apparently.

Re: fairly sensible explanation ...

"Fuck developers and users, that's my debit card details!!"

Thanks, Micro-shaft and/or "gnome 3" and/or "systemd" developer. "Your kind" of attitude is already so prevalent in the software world these days, that the rest of us don't even bother to comment on how NAUSEATED we are any more... [except on occasions like THIS one]

(the backlash is long overdue)

icon, because facepalm.

post-edit: I somehow doubt your debit card details would be easily revealed by a particular kernel bug. that's just FUD.

Re: fairly sensible explanation ...

"It's interesting to see he apparently felt he should explain the bloody obvious"

He did so for the "special" developers that submitted the CRAP PATCH in the first place. I think he's using a different tactic this time, to help eliminate the 'threat' in the future. I don't think it will work but I'm slightly entertained by it all. Anyway. GO Linus! Keep up the good work, k-thx!

Of course "being nice" and explaining things doesn't change the fact that putting "whitelists" into the kernel and killing processes is a *BAD* *IDEA* to begin with, which SHOULD HAVE BEEN "the bloody obvious" ( but apparently wasn't ).

Icon, because, topic related.

Munich council finds €49.3m for Windows 10 embrace

"it would be really good if they could get someone impartial to investigate and report on the total cost of ownership for a comparison to other councils."

You're asking for GUMMINTS to work like individuals and/or private industry would, and make actual sense.

I am not sure whether to laugh or cry...

Re: Doomed from the Start??

"are there compatibility issues between Open Office and Libre Office for an example"

I have seen formatting changes when printing a ".doc" or ".xls" file with open/libre office. And of course, the spreadsheet formulae in open/libre office use ';' instead of ',' (though last I checked it seems to read the Excel format just fine, and converts it). The thing is, if you save a document in a Micro-shaft format, the way the Micro-shaft program presents it is just different.

So I'd say "get used to Open/Libre Office" to everyone from the top down, and then everyone standardizes on ONE office suite, and the problem is solved.

But, you know how politics is. Nobody *EVER* has the testicular fortitude to make an ACTUAL POLICY DECISION like that. Well, nobody that's a CAREER POLITICIAN, anyway...

Re: €49.3m for Windows 10

"it only makes sense for them to go back to Windows"

NO. I see contracting opportunities for German software developers as a MUCH better opportunity. How about "re-write us something equivalent for Linux and get it done in 2 years" as a goal, then pay THEM the money (most likely LESS of it), and then SELL IT and help German software makers do worldwide business!!!

But they're not gonna do that. They're gonna feed the "windows pig" instead. It makes me wonder who gave whom sexual favors and payola to make this happen.

Re: €49.3m for Windows 10

"49M for 35000 users means a very expensive version of Windows 10... 1400 Euros per head..."

Shhhh... you're not supposed to "do the math" - that's for THE EXPERTS. *You*, sir, are not an enlightened "expert" and so you can't POSSIBLY calculate this correctly. harumph, harumph, harumph...

</sarcasm>

Re: "They'll be back."

"the software they required simply does not exist on Linux"

Herein lies the CENTER ISSUE.

Question: "What software"

1. can the "windows only" applications be re-written for *LESS* *MONEY* than completely revamping everyone with Win-10-nic boxen?

2. just how CRITICAL is "that particular application" anyway? In other words, can the same job be done with SOMETHING ELSE?

The silence on these two details probably answers my questions...

It's a fair bet that some enterprising IT guy could sit down and write a cloudy data entry or data analysis application that runs in a web browser to do whatever "that thing" does, and NOT require "Win-10-nic for everybody", for less money, in *LESS* *TIME*, and then THEY would "own it" and could even sell it to other agencies...

But then, the sexual favors and behind-the-back payola "won't happen" so they'll never do THAT, right?

Firefox to warn users who visit p0wned sites

Re: 'Giving users what they don't want is classic Mozilla'

"Bring back [snip featurelist]"

and ELIMINATE AUSTRALIS in all of its 2D FLATSO hamburger-menu forms

Re: Should fit right in

"Giving users what they don't want is classic Mozilla, as are poorly thought through ideas implemented badly."

definite thumbs-up on that comment. And you didn't even have to mention 'Australis' for us to know exactly what you meant.

Facebook notifications to reveal who saw dodgy Russian election ads

"If you look at the (for example) Brexit vote, the Russians would definitely gain from a weaker, divided EU. But also, so would the Americans"

Not THIS American. Because, like Ronald Reagan, _I_ believe that "a rising tide lifts all boats". I also believe that Brexit is good for the UK, because Brussels isn't doing you any favors these days...

So if _I_ am right, your economy will do well post-Brexit, just like ours is doing a LOT better at the moment. I certainly want the UK economy to do better. I don't think ANYONE in the USA [who isn't an evil son-of-a-bitch] would want the UK economy to do WORSE...

Wait until Zuck enters politics

too late

"it can also be my made up political story, my meme that pushes all the right buttons for a certain group and will get shared"

Sounds like a fun project, for intarweb trolls, to do independently. This might get fun. POPCORN! GET YOUR POPCORN!

I wonder if 'media matters' and other such "non-profit" organizations are already doing that... (of COURSE they are! But Zuck won't point THAT out now will he?)

Re: Blindsided

"our salesdroids missed an opportunity"

and they'll NOW compensate for it by secretly employing this "new technology" in the ad-marketing-sphere.

Re: "Zuckerberg knows how to do something, and other people don’t, so he does it."

"We're all sociopaths and narcissists."

you sure do have a horrible outlook on your fellow man. I, for one, don't accept that.

There are two classifications of people that I've observed having this kind of opinion about other humans. Both of these involve some kind of CONTROL over "everyone else" "for their own good". One is religious. The other is political. Filling in the names of these classifications of people is an easy exercise for anyone who pays attention...

(in short, I'm saying that anyone who thinks this is probably a CLOSET ELITIST at the very least)

I like to think that everyone else pretty much just wants their own life (and that of their family) to be reasonably decent, and will therefore treat others with the same kind of respect that they want to receive, to its logical conclusion. And, with the exception of a VERY few 'bad examples" (for which we have prisons and a legal system), I think I'm right.

post-edit: Yes, I'm talking about "socialists" and "the religious right". Might as well just say it. both see everyone ELSE as 'basically evil' and probably include themselves just to make it sound like they're not elitists (when they are). And BOTH seek to CONTROL OTHERS, "for their own good".

Samba needs two patches, unless you're happy for SMB servers to dance for evildoers

"FreeBSD + Samba is much quicker for me on slower hardware."

FreeBSD + Samba is much quicker for me, EVEN on slower hardware.

is that what you meant? Because, that's what _I_ have obseved!