Posts by bombastic bob

systemd'oh! DNS lib underscore bug bites everyone's favorite init tool, blanks Netflix

Re: Alternate

OK if you don't want to use the google DNS servers then use your ISP's DNS servers. Whatever.

at least google doesn't hijack unresolved names...

/me facepalms at the anal retentivity

Q. What's today's top language? A. Python... no, wait, Java... no, C

"Any language where whitespace dictates what is inside a conditional and what isn't (eg Python) needs to die a slow and painful death IMHO."

I just think of it as 'Allman Style' without the curly braces

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#Allman_style

And if you put the ':' right after the control statement, it doesn't look a THING like K&R style (which I HATE)

(and I also dislike hard-tabs, so multiple spaces are fine, and pluma does auto-indent, and highlights things in a readable manner)

Re: OT. Way to get a C dev to fall in love with another language.

'std' class template-based implementations are HIGHLY overrated. They try to be too much, are sometimes collection (instead of array) based, have some cryptic built-in requirements for memory manager objects and other irritating things, and can be best re-implemented in only a few lines of code by someone who knows what he is doing (like me).

But the C++ language doesn't require 'std' usage so it's all good. I think that the 'std' class templates were written by "Academic Arrogance" types that haven't coded in production EVAR in their entire lives, nor had to MAINTAIN someone else's crap-code. So they're clueless about the real world. And it's reflected in the design.

pirate icon, just because I'm a rebel

Re: Note that there were "popular" shitty languages in the past

and there are a few in the present - like "C-pound" which relies on ".Not". Both equally shitty.

I think Python has its uses, but is ripe for ABuse and I see this in poorly written DJango code (and imported objects) INCLUDING the DJango implementation itself.

And too many people say "Write that in Python" or "I can write that in Python" when it SHOULD be done as a C utility, at least for efficiency. [converting binary data in python is the *WORST* possible implementation I have *EVAR* seen, because Python is afraid of pointers and C-style structures, apparently, and YES, I'm currently tasked with maintaining code that actually *DOES* this, because python 'expert' did a rage-quit].

Re: The way Basic worked in the old days

OK line numbers don't auto-re-order on any BASIC I've ever seen...

Re: "crash-landings[1] we had when I was a programmer was writing self-modifying code."

PDP-11 in effect needed you to be able to write to where the code was running in order to efficiently pass parameters.

JSR PC, MYFUNC

ARG1 .WORD

ARG2 .WORD

etc.

and MYFUNC would use the old 'PC' value as a frame pointer (from the stack), and do a kind of 'PC cleanup' on the program counter so that you returned to the correct address. Or you could call with 'JSR Rx, MYFUNC' and put the old PC into 'Rx' and use it as a frame pointer. I forget the details, but that's kinda how it worked.

And so, you needed to write the arguments to ARG1 and ARG2 (etc) before doing the function call. they might even be general use memory variables if you're really clever with the design. You could even implement the subroutine call by referencing the actual address you call (the last word in the instruction, I think) as 'ARG1 - 2' and poke that before doing the call (making it a dynamic function call of some sort).

Anyway, this was common in the PDP-11 world. I think DEC was kinda proud you COULD do this. But single-thread only, no recursion...

Re: compare strings directly in C# instead of having to use .equals().

"strcmp(pointer1, pointer2)" ... what's so hard about that?

object-oriented is *HIGHLY* overrated (and often inefficient - not always, just often, especially when done for the sake of doing it)

Re: Learn all of them, but NOT Java

"Learning Java will automatically turn you into an accessor function writing shitter, unable even to define a constant integer without creating 20 classes."

you, sir, get my upvote!

Re: "It's all well and good saying that you have 10 years experience in Java. "

"Here's your login details, the machine, the language manuals and your programs function description. We'll be back in two hours. If it runs you get the job."

I had a similar 'interview' with the last on-site gig I did. It was a phone interview followed by an e-mail, with a request to take a particular data format and do something with it. "Any language" and it was timed.

I did it in about an hour or two, with a nice robust C++ application. But one guy did it in 5 minutes (using Perl). If I'd known BSD/Linux as well as I do now, I'd have done it in about that much time using 'awk'.

(after that it was 'meet everyone' so they could figure out if they could get along with me, get a tour of the place, and so on - small startup company)

Re: I suspect there are quite a few Java devs out there

Java programmers should learn C first, THEN C++, and THEN Java.

That would help build some proper coding discipline, so they don't start out every function/process using "ginormous collection object", and instead use some "non-insider" readable code that looks a bit more like C or C++.

THAT, and the discipline of explicitly cleaning up your objects when they're no longer needed...

The lady (or man) vanishes: The thorny issue of GDPR coding

"backup copies" maybe? that doesn't count in my book.

An internal policy of NOT restoring things that were requested to be deleted would have to be done. Yeah, not too difficult I say.

Re: What of micro-businesses, clubs & societies

maybe it's a good business practice to have a privacy policy that already includes the ability to delete any collected data, and to reveal who it was disclosed to (upon request).

it wouldn't be hard to add this kind of transaction info into a database or a written record someplace...

"delete from collected_data where customer=12345" <-- or similar

and

"select third_party from disclosed_data where customer=12345"

etc.

(make it the back-end of a web page that uses the tracking info in your browser to "log in")

Re: Never happen in the US

it COULD happen in the US if it's seen to be WORKING in EU, and perceived to be "better human rights" than the USA has. Embarass Con-grab into doing it! [and use the FTC, that's what it's there for, already done for banking transaction/information AFAIK]

Re: re:'Personally identfiable information'

"However, I may know that a person who came from ip address X came back several times over the course of a month. That means I can see that a single person may have browsed, but that in itself is not allowing me to tie it to a specific person unless that person registered with me from that address"

theoretically, yes. However, browser fingerprinting, and hidden graphics with cookies (among other 'tricks'), get around that limitation. They know it's you, even if your dynamically assigned IP address changes. Unless you have cookie blockers and script blockers [which I do]. But my browser fingerprint (being FreeBSD) isn't all that unique...

(and yet I could change it to say 'Windows 10' if I wanted to, but that would make statcounter give an unnecesary/inaccurate 'bump' to Win-10-nic's "popularity")

Re: "A single source of truth"

"HP 3000 boxes (stack architecture, integrated proprietary DB)"

those are still being used? They were invented at the same time as the VAX [and VAX had a proprietary VMS database system last I looked]. I haven't used either one of those (VAX or HP3000) since the 90's. [I worked with ASK/MANMAN etc. in case you wondered].

I don't think HP uses MPE or MPEXL any more, anyway. I think they went to HP/UX (which is a form of UNIX, so would be a "*nix").

Re: How many decades ?

"How long before 50% (let alone 100%) of companies comply with the regulations ?"

also consider jurisdiction. If EU passes a law, then it's the EU that's affected. If your data "accidentally" ends up on a server in, let's say, SINGAPORE, or the USA even, how is THAT going to be enforced?

HOWEVER... there is a silver lining. If the EU is perceived as having "better human rights" than the USA in this regard, then U.S. lawmakers *might* have to do something similar...

In any case, when "your data" is collected, you'll really need to know several things:

a) what's being collected [and a viewer to see it]

b) "delete all data" if you don't like it

c) a list of "3rd parties" that have seen your data [and if you delete, they too MUST delete!]

having a central 'cloudy' repository for this might not be so bad, so that nobody really copies it [by law anyway] and accesses the cloud database instead for ad slinging etc..

I think Amazon keeps a lot of data on me. They keep offering me things related to what I've purchased from them. Occasionally I fall for it and buy "that thing" they ad-slung at me. But I don't mind. I chose to do business with them.

(I also 'opt out' with google data collection and personalized ads. And I avoid the 'Microsoft Logon' whenever I can)

Judge uses 1st Amendment on Pokemon Go park ban. It's super effective!

Re: THE POOL IS CLOSED DUE TO AIDS AND STINGRAYS (who also have aids) desu desu desu

/me kinda smiles at the 4-chan influence in this thread

"educate kids about why it's important to respect the environment. (albeit that's a bit difficult with Trumps position on climate change ...)"

You had me agreeing with you, up until the 'climate change' part.

WHAT! PART! OF! NOT! THROWING! TRASH! ON! THE! GROUND! IS! IN! ANY! WAY! RELATED! TO! "climate change"???

I prefer "responsible environmentalism". That means you keep your cars tuned up, don't waste water, sweep the gutters once in a while to keep the crap out of the storm drains, dispose of yard waste properly, pick up trash when you see it laying the ground (especially in front of your house), etc. and ESPECIALLY, dispose of your OWN trash in proper receptacles when you're at a public park [including the recycle one for recyclables, if there is one available]. And if some kid misses the trash can and runs off, go ahead and put it in for him if you're close by (or notify his parents).

And how about THIS little factoid: Go to *ANY* left-wing gathering or demonstration, and look at the level of public littering it generates. Then, go to a Tea Party or Trump rally, and see how much THAT generates by comparison. i think you will find that CONSERVATIVES are more likely to pick up their trash and properly dispose of it than your typical LEFT WING or "Environmentalist" type.

The reason is simple: lefties *FEEL* as if it's "someone else's job" to throw the damn trash away! Conservatives, on the other hand, see it as a PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY (something lefties have trouble with, apparently).

Evidence "all over the place". I've seen MANY comparison photo montages pointing this out. Rush's web site might be a good start. The leftovers from 'occupy wall street' and the 'pussy hat protest' and the 'million man march' are good examples of what it looks like from "the left".

Re: Amend this!

the story of the ammendments...

Back when the U.S. Constitution was created, Jefferson and a few others realized that it limited and defined the scope of government, but it didn't specify what rights the people had that couldn't someday be violated. So they used the 'ammendment' process that they just invented to craft the 'Bill of Rights' which the states then ratified. They knew that gummint would eventually find a way to curb people's basic rights (despite the new Constitution), and wanted to protect them. Otherwise you'd end up with a Vlad Putin type president, and a willing congress, who'd want to go back to 'the way things were' (USSR in his case), and legislate censorship, blanket "fishing expedition" search warrants, and things like that. Obviously they didn't want THAT to happen to the new nation, so ammendment #1 was about freedom of speech, press, and religion. And the 2nd was about self-defense and a citizen militia [seeing the possibility they might have to defend the rest of them at a citizen level]. And at least 2 others were about legal rights for the accused. And so on.

</history>

OK not 'scientific content' just educational

back in the 60's the Ventures used to sit out on a beach [one with somewhat limited access, but still publically accessible] and practice with acoustic instruments (including bongo drums). I was 5 or 6 years old at the time, and we'd sit somewhat nearby on the beach. Then one day they had an actual concert out there, but I expect the concert required a permit.

I doubt they had permits for practicing (with acoustic instruments) on the beach. So maybe the scale of the activity is what is in question. I suspect that random pokemon-go-ers aren't quite the same as a concert or a flash mob.

Re: Using a public park for recreation...

beats staying home and vegging out all day in front of a TV screen

(and I just say, take your trash with you when you leave, k-thx - give a hoot, don't pollute, etc. and we'll all be fine)

Alphabay shutdown: Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do? Not use your Hotmail...

Re: Tricks of the mind

the only disorder he may have had was being a sociopath, and not viewing anything he did as "wrong".

Other than that, he was a typical "dumb crook". He was criminally smart enough to put the web site together and get paid, but stupid enough to leave a nice fat trail for the cops to follow.

Re: Smell Test

most people realize "all of that" up front, which keeps them from STARTING an illegal enterprise...

I mean, if you KNOW that some day the cops will come looking for you if you "do that", and you know that new ways of collecting evidence are being invented all of the time, and maybe some day evidence you didn't even know COULD be collected will end up convicting you, then why would you bother starting such a business in the FIRST place?

OK I'm not a sociopath, nor do I have a criminal mindset, and so I don't "understand" it at all. But apparently THAT guy did/was. And he actually operated like that long enough to earn "that much".

/me facepalming

'Coke dealer' called us after his stash was stolen – cops

Re: Florida Man

"the IQ of the population hasn't been rising recently. Since the 50-60s, it's been steadily decreasing"

I blame public indoctrination education. When they teach fear-mongering environmentalism instead of science, racist poetry instead of English, drug the creative kids with Ritalin because they won't sit still in the chair, and allow Johnny to answer 1+1=3 because he'll *FEEL* bad for getting it WRONG, well, the results are exactly what's so easily predictable...

Re: Florida Man

"still stupid."

drugs fried his brain?

This is why old Windows Phones won't run PC apps

Re: How many would believe the below headline?

'Opps' you mis-spelled 'Oops'. heh

/me grabs my 'Microsoft Pistol' to defend myself against an intruder in my house... sees 2D flatso windows logo on it... waiting... advertisement displayed... waiting... LOGIN screen! *BANG* [too late, I've been shot with an old-school saturday night special]

Re: It would appear...

"But taking an existing 32-bit Win32 application and porting it to 64 bit usually just involves recompiling it"

ACK. Good explanation.

And, of course, Micro-shaft will REGRETTABLY support Win32 API appLICATIONS for as long as they have to. But you know... you KNOW that they want to GET RID OF IT ENTIRELY and force *everyone* to use ".Not" Core, UWP, and whatever OTHER "new, shiny" they excrete from their bowels inside the halls of Redmond...

Why can't you install Windows 10 Creators Update on your old Atom netbook? Because Intel stopped loving you

Re: WTAF...

CPU driver:

Many CPUs have different instruction sets and capabilities. The driver abstracts that so the OS can use the features if they're there, emulate (or work around) if not.

Re: CPU drivers?

maybe not the CPU but the north/south bridge stuff, APICs and things like that. M-shaft probably doesn't want to bother with anything older than 2010, even if they have windows 7 code that could be ported...

(not saying that's GOOD but if they won't sell Win 7 then they're just being ELITIST ASSHATS about it)

Re: Good luck getting reliable support runing Linux on those obsolete silicons

"Better than the somewhat creaky Win 7 that was on it before."

you should sell the Win 7 license key to someone who's desperate to avoid Win-10-nic (but must have windows because software won't run anyplace else, let's say, like on my 'accounting' machine with QuickBooks on it)

Re: A reboot only takes 2 minutes

"If your OS needs rebooting there's something wrong with it."

not if hibernate eats your battery life

power off (when not in use) for laptops. desktops stay on 7/24

Re: I have a system with one of these CPU's

"{add your own insult here if needed}"

a nice sequence of insults for Win-10-nic can be seen in 'Demolition Man' in the scene where Stallone's character finds a "solution" for lack of toilet paper... [ *-brained, *-faced, duck-*, *-busting pain in the @!] (asterisks for grins, since I have but one '*' for whatever reason I can think up)

is there an icon for BAD joke alert, CORNY joke alert, etc. ?

Re: Microsoft murdered netbooks

"No one wants a piece of junk low powered laptop whatever OS it's running."

yet they'll by a low-end fondleslab running Android instead...

[I'd say the fondleslabs fill the gap where once the netbooks ruled, and then some]

Re: Good luck getting reliable support runing Linux on those obsolete silicons

Ack - I have Linux running on a Celeron-based Toshiba laptop from 2002. Debian 7 as I recall (the one before they added systemd) (ok I had to use an older installer to get the kernel that didn't have PAE in it, and jump through a couple of OTHER hoops, but it works now, so THERE, HAH!)

So YEAH, try THAT with Win-10-nic!

SQL Server 2017's first rc lands and – yes! – it runs on Linux

Re: Good first step.

yeah.. about that with Samba 4 and A/D master (etc.)

I looked into it for my own network, didn't like what I saw. Not really ready for prime time. NT4-based user-level security is enough for my network anyway. And turn off the v1 stuff. check.

Re: Good first step.

"Now please port Active Directory to Linux "

even if it's a seat-based licensed application, I think IT departments would welcome abandoning the REST of the nightmare associated with maintaining/patching/disinfecting windows servers.

"Oh, CRAP, the junior accountant got another e-mail with a spreadsheet in it!"

"Scan the network for viruses"

[every windows server is infected, some demanding ransoms]

"CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!"

"It will certainly have better security, it likely has better I/O response, but that is unknown without testing."

We'd like to thinks so, but then there's "that layer" again. I suspect it's been tweeked to prevent WIndows servers from looking bad when compared to Linux.

Simply "not optimized correctly" would do the job, actually... basically all of the reasons why I/O on Linux and BSD operating systems is _SO_ superior to what it's like on comparable windows machines, in every way I've tested, from disk I/O to networking, it's obvious to me that Linux and BSD perform more efficiently.

And so I'd want SQL Server to get a boost from ZFS or EXT4 or that uber-efficient use of disk cache by the OS, something Windows generally fails at.

Re: How's the performance?

"Curious if that compatibility layer has much effect"

I'd say it's specifically designed/tweeked to prevent Windows servers from looking BAD when SQL Server is run on Linux and a Windows server OS on the same hardware...

Re: cut the crap, Linux is UNIX?

I'm not willing to start throwing things over the semantics of 'UNIX' 'POSIX' and 'Linux'. Yeah, admittedly, you're right, BUT.. from a user perspective, NOT from the actual software, kernel, or standards compliance, running applications on a UNIX system, a BSD system, a Linux system, etc. is all very similar [until you get to systemd and then all hell breaks loose]

/me operates on FreeBSD most of the time.

Re: Horror Movie?

"You didn't seriously expect SQL Server to be written against WinRT/UWP, did you?"

maybe not initially, but... they seem to have a "one windows-track" mentality in Redmond. Assuming, of course, that THIS person has influence over SQL Server, too:

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

I wouldn't be surprised in the LEAST to see "the METRO" and "UWP" and ".Not Core" take over, and be implemented on the Linux side to compensate. Bad ideas have a habit of REPLICATING when the one who CAME UP WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE is in THAT influential of a position within the company.

Watson AI panned, 5¼ years of sales decline ... Does IBM now stand for Inferior Biz Model?

Re: My tips for improving IBM's business

how about:

1. Develop an "IBM Linux for PCs" that people WANT to purchase, at reasonable cost, with support, hardware compatibility, etc. and *NO* *SPYWARE* *ADWARE* or *2D FLATSO*.

2. Shrink Watson down to a robot chassis, one that's affordable to a reasonable slice of the population

2a. Make female versions called "Wanda". Dress them as Victorian Maids. Make sure they walk naturally (like Miim attempts to do) and stay out of the uncanny valley.

3. Focus on consulting, sorta like what Oracle does.

etc.

Re: Unfair

this whole male vs female CEO business is just irritating. It's REALLY all about experience and talent, and on occasion, luck. But most of us already knew that, probably...

.. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / -.-. .- -. / .-. . .- -.. / - .... .. ... then a US Navy fondleslab just put you out of a job

Re: EMP

"All ratings should be trained in semaphore"

semaphore - we used to call those guys "skivvy wavers"

I'd say all DECK ratings could learn the basics, and they still use flags to communicate on occasion. but yeah, it's not going to help someone in the engine room or a radar operator or a gunner or missile operator.

That and all officers qualifying Officer of the Deck should know basic semaphore and morse. Just because. And how to use a sextant. If they don't know already.

Re: "whether the Navy should be abandoning low-tech backup solutions"

whether the operator+lamp survives, it's still better to have a low-tech backup following an EMP. Worst case they can use battle lanterns or flashlights.

Hot HoloLens models 'shafted by Microsoft'

Re: The Las Vegas attitude...

"Oh bob, what about the population that would rather have stud-muffin eye-candy strutting around, oiled and shirtless?"

So MS should contract out with Chippendale's too? not a bad idea, actually...

Though I doubt they'll be putting Bill Gates in a bow tie + g string... although it would be worth the comedy factor at the very least

(have some brain bleach - you're welcome)

UK government's war on e-cigs is over

Re: Just wait

"Sure as anything in twenty or thirty years we'l discover that sucking vape juice into your lungs over the long term gives you some kind of nasty disease."

I'd laugh if it cures something, or reduces your susceptibility...

Re: No vaping in the workplace please

"I recently sat on an aircraft for a 9 hour flight, surreptitiously puffing away on my e-cig, and the other passengers sat around me did not even notice I was using an e-cig"

If I were the supervisor/manager at some company where a smoker is taking 10 minutes out of every 30 to light up and get his 'nicotene fix' (and then hauling part of his cloud and the 'smoke breath' and the 'smoke stench' back into the office EVERY! SINGLE! TIME!), I'd be OVERJOYED if he could sit at his desk with a vape device, specificaly chosen so as NOT to bother other people, and WORK for the entire 30 minutes instead.

Just sayin'

Re: Jesus, NO!

" irrational anti-vape people around."

if they're concerned because it MIGHT be a cigarette, I can understand the agitation. If, on the other hand, it's clearly NOT a cigarette, they're being idiots.

Re: Jesus, NO!

"If passive smoking can harm people, how is vaping not going to do"

Uh, no. And I have some science to back my statement up.

A few years ago, a study was done comparing a smoke-filled room with a vape-filled room. The smoke-filled room tested 'positive' for the usual things. The vape-filled room tested NEGATIVE for pretty much everything that's harmful, INCLUDING nicotene levels!

I think that's pretty compelling. Here's the best link I could find that discusses the study:

http://www.projectvape.com/what-is-vaping/second-hand-vapor/

Re: Jesus, NO!

"Mind you that goes for people who overdo their perfume too."

Exactly! So the real nuisance of vaping is when people use a concoction that's equivalent to stinky perfume. Otherwise, as long as people don't abuse it, let people do what they want.

And a BIG THUMBS UP to the UK gummint for having the guts to stop going after vaping. Good Job!

[I personally have had serious issues with cigarette smoke, from sinus headaches to frequent sneezing and constant congestion, skin rashes from tobacco smoke on surfaces, etc. etc. and NO problems from being around people vaping]