Posts by bombastic bob 10802 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015
double volume = 6db (i.e. double amplitude). double power = 3db. approximately, that is. I don't want to search for the unicode character for a wiggly equals sign
db = log10(ratio) * 20 [for amplitude], or * 10 [for power]
in the case of measured power, it's related to '0 dbm' which is 1mWatt
[you're welcome for the electronics lesson, heh]
" Acme Gambling Minimum Stake £5 First Game Free Darts Championships "
we get this on PBS stations across the pond... "Major funding for this program by umpty-squat corporation, {insert slogan here}" - a good 2 to 3 minutes' worth of that sometimes. At least they don't break in the middle of the show. Then again, commercial breaks are a good time to take a whizz or grab a sandwich. The problem is that with DIGITAL TV, a lot of the networks figured out that they can keep SHOW CONTENT volume 6db lower than ADVERTISING volume, so if you don't hit the mute button in time, it's blasting your neighbors with advertisement so you can hear it in the bathroom with the door shut and toilet flushing.
Idiocracy, yeah.
don't forget that TV screen (it appears prominently in the DVD menu) that has about 1/4 of its area with actual content on it. The entire outer portion is polluted with (apparently interactive) advertisements. Do the 'area math' and that's about 3/4 of the surface area of the TV screen, covered in moving/interactive ads... (I would expect it's at LEAST 3/4 of the bandwidth, too, including the SCRIPTING needed to make sure you actually SEE the ads and block the content if you use an ad blocker)
"At least IE, Edge and Chrome can be controlled via GPO"
no WONDER you posted as an 'Anonymous Coward'!
NEWS FLASH: Only Micro-shaft operating systems have 'Group Policy' nonsense and a polluted "registry" to hold it. Last I checked, they were outnumbered by LINUX. Every other significant OS, as I understand it, is either "unix-like" (Linu) or derived from an actual Unix distribution (Apple). So Micro-shaft STANDS ALONE with their ridiculous "policies" and the monolithic REGISTRY to store them in.
Thanks, I prefer well organized "cfg" files, especially if I can edit them myself. And because Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and others run on NON-WINDOWS systems at least as well as on Windows [from my observations, anyway], I would expect ALL of them to use a method that is CONSISTENT across all platforms to store things like personalized settings in.
So, WELL DONE to the open source world for STAYING with 'CFG' files. Thank you!
/me points out that Windows once did things like this with 'INI' files. putting all of that in "the registry" grew it into the monolithic pile of EXCREMENT that it is today
"site developers think it's just an outdated version of firefox and demand that I update it."
yeah, this is a problem. It's making it hard for me to use an older version of Firefox (or Epiphany) with github. I happen to like *STABILITY* on development systems, and don't believe that I _MUST_ have "bleeding edge" all the time (I would rather spend time earning money and NOT 'updating' my computer all the freaking time). Since it's FreeBSD, it's quite stable. not like windows or anything. Constant "updates" are *OVERRATED* (and sometimes breaks things).
And BESIDES, I *HATE* the 'hamburger menu' fat-finger-friendliness of CHROME and 'default Firefox'.
I have an idea: tell those web "developers" to STOP IT with ALL THAT SCRIPTING (especially if NOT BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE). If it can NOT be done server-side, consider *NOT* *DOING* *IT* *AT* *ALL*! And that goes for YOU TOO, GITHUB!!!
(The problem with Palemoon is that I could not easily get a copy of it, last time I tried. So I gave up on it. That was a while ago. So maybe someone (finally) put it in FreeBSD ports when I wasn't looking...)
I think he ditched FIREFOX because of pulse...
I'll stick with firefox but I want to get rid of the HAMBURGER MENU and "fat finger friendly" *GARBAGE* . I like the _OLDER_ look a _LOT_ better.
So here's what I'm thinking: As MATE was to GNOME, it's time for a FIREFOX FORK!
Debian had Iceweasel. Maybe it's time to resurrect it, but include those "problem areas" like DROPPING ALSA, and FAT-FINGER-FRIENDLY [desktop irritant] features *like* the hamburger menu.
In fact, JUST having a SETTING to TURN THAT OFF would make me happy...
"I was advised to remove all corporate and personal information from my smartphone and obey the Border Guards."
and don't use social media, either. problem solved.
(I'd probably need to do the same kind of thing going outside of the USA, so there ya go)
A simple slab costs less than $50. change the PW to "TSA sucks" and have a nice laugh. One for travel, and something else for REAL work. No history on the travel device. A throwaway google e-mail address would do nicely.
"Hidden in plain sight"
"This is causing pain in the higher education sector"
SERIOUSLY, they're a big part of the problem!
I think that in MANY places overseas, the colleges are still EDUCATING people instead of POLITICALLY INDOCTRINATING them for 4 years.
maybe the REAL solution is to hire more "mustang" engineers (i.e. those with 'equivalent experience' in lieu of indoctrination a degree - a degree is proof of POTENTIAL, not CAPABILITY, whereas experience is proof of CAPABILITY _and_ POTENTIAL). But yeah, they might not "fit" into the culture of "Silly Valley".
(think of the children - actually TEACH TECH in high schools and colleges instead of "what they actually do")
don't need to schedule for guard shift changes. just have something to blackmail the guard with.
I worked with a guy who was an X prison guard once. He told me about the kinds of stuff prisoners will do to the guards. One example, a prisoner begs a guard to mail something to his nephew, like a birthday card, "I want to get it to my nephew before his birthday and the prison mail system is too slow." The guard is suckered in, does a one-time favor, and mails it outside the prison. Just a simple birthday card, right? Well, it got a cancellation mark from OUTSIDE the prison on it during the mailing, and it was quietly sent BACK to the same prisoner, who now has PROOF that the guard did something that could get him fired... and the next request is "get me some booze" or "get me some drugs" or "look the other way while we XXX" because it's the guard's F'ing JOB on the line, now...
so yeah, how do prisoners get away with this stuff? Well, it's like *THAT*
"Setting something like that up is fairly trivial, I did it in a weekend using FreeBSD, nagios, and radiusd on an old Pentium-3 system that was rusting away in a closet."
exactly. Yet, THE PRISON WAS USING A MICROSOFT "SOLUTION". While THAT was in place, the cybercrooks "got away with it".
And the offenders were THEN DETECTED AND CAUGHT when that Micro-shaft "solution" was swapped out for a (apparent) REAL one.
mobile is NOT "pushing PCs out". it's a different market. There's nothing to indicate that people generally purchase fondleslabs and smartphones to REPLACE (or instead of) a PC.
Micro-shaft failed to realize this, and now we have Win-10-nic killing new PC sales even *MORE*. I mean, who wants to replace a perfectly good PC running Windows 7 with something that has barely higher specs and Win-10-nic?
I"ve been working with Ubu and derivatives off and on, and also for a client. Ubu has good things and bad things, and mostly good. Offering a Mate distribution is a good thing. And I'm happy they dumped Unity.
So here we are, doing some (apparently) VC-prompted re-organization. This is what venture capitalists do, and in many ways it's a VERY good thing, because these people generally know how to turn a company profitable. It's also good that a VC (or two, or ?) is interested in Canonical.
Can we expect a Linux distro that UNSEATS MICRO-SHAFT out of this? I certainly *HOPE* so!
Aside from "it sucks" when you're laid off, the economy should be doing well enough to 'absorb' the small number of people who got pink slipped.
And since the layoffs appear to be related to Unity, it should have been expected when that sub-project was killed.
"current medical opinion is that there is no link between dietary cholesterol and arterial disease."
EXACT-A-MUNDO! And not only that, Atkins-style diets often cause people to LOSE weight.
And high-fat food tastes good. And doesn't addict you to buying low-portion high-carb "low fat" foods at inflated prices, with oxymoronic brand names like "Smart choice" or similar. And _also_ does not coincide with gummint intervention into the *kinds* of food you eat. (ok I'll stop now, grab my coat on the way out)
[double whopper with cheese is actually a balanced meal!]
"It's sad to see such spittle-flecked hatred awarded so many upvotes."
100% agree!
And, don't forget "filled with outrageous claims and gross exaggerations"
( that's being kind --^^^ )
(mega-thumbs-up for saying so - and the poo-flinging howler monkeys will downvote this, too, I'm sure)
I do get a bit squeamish when Facebook and Google are the ones who so fervently defend the rules.
yeah, was there something not-so-obvious in that previous regulation, something that they want SO badly to remain, that they're willing to advocate it?
[maybe it was the part that exempted THEM but put lots of regs on ISPs]
"Tax dollars should be pushing NGVs, not battery powered electrics."
Tax dollars shouldn't be subsidizing ANYTHING, because YOU should not be paying for your neighbor's vehicle choice. Therein lies the ENTIRE problem! If it's not economically viable, let it die. I bet Tesla would do just fine without subsidies. And hybrid cars, same thing. Gummint shouldn't be trying to determine who the winners and losers are by shuffling public money into a currently-favored (read: corrupt politicians getting paid off) technology.
And don't EVEN get me started on CAFE standards in the USA...
"Electric cars are more environmentally friendly."
but only if you think that CO2 is "a pollutant". which it's not. [CO2 absorbs almost no infrared energy corresponding to normal earth temperatures, i.e. above about -50F, and so it cannot be causing any kind of warming greenhouse effects except maybe in Antarctica or during an ice age. Water, on the other hand...].
gasoline is liquid energy, available for at least 50 to 100 years into the future, and it gives us MOBILITY. Inventing new ways of getting around is still good, of course, but don't delude yourself into thinking you're "saving the planet" by driving an electric car. If nothing else, they tend to emit "smug". heh.
(a hybrid, on the other hand, makes more economic sense because of the mileage improvement and range of a normal dino-powered vehicle)
My preference would be gas-turbine powered electric generators driving the motors and charging the batteries intermittently while you drive. THAT could be the best hybrid solution of them all. Gas turbines can run on diesel fuel, propane, alcohol, whatever (except maybe gasoline since it's probably too volatile).
not sure why nobody's doing that... (maybe it makes too much sense?)
"the short-range electric is for the daily commute."
not likely - typical commute involves a lot of "sitting in traffic" and on a nice hot day, your A/C is blasting [or on a cold one, the heater]. So after an hour of burning up the battery with 'accessory loads', you'll end up getting towed more often than not.
This goes TRIPLE for Cali-Fornicate-You, where hour-long commutes are common, commute traffic is ALWAYS bad, and weather extremes at certain times of the year are guaranteed.
Foolish indeed.
(yeah they probably FELT that Cali-Fornicate-You residents are all a bunch of clueless greenies with 5 minute commutes and spare time to charge up the batteries on each end of every trip - ok SOME are, but not ME - I'll keep my dino-burner - It's an older mustang convertible, a LOT more fun!)
The problems in Vietnam aren't what you're mentioning here. The problems in Vietnam began with LBJ's limitations on what the military could do. At one point in the war they were short on bombs, so they sent out planes without payloads as a 'show of force' putting pilots at risk for no good reason. Things like that. More than once it's "you cannot cross this line" so all of the SAM missiles were stored where higher-ups in LBJ's command had no stones enough to go after, causing even MORE losses. Then of course the tunnels, which could have been dealt with if the war hadn't been so badly politicized.
It should have been like Korea. Instead it was a cluster-blank. [and I was alive during the war, missed the draft by only 3 or 4 years].
needless to say, what OBAKA was doing with ISIS (calling them 'ISIL' like he was trying to show them respect, and drawing lines and doing nothing when they were crossed) is a completely different policy, not unlike LBJ's policies during the Vietnam war.
if you want to win a war, let the generals figure out how to do it. I think Trump is doing that.
as I have seen in photos and movies of MOAB under test, it _CAN_ generate a nice mushroom cloud
So yeah, as far as ISIS goes, near-NUKE 'em till they glow, then SHOOT THEM IN THE DARK!
I'm sure many ISIS members will have nightmares guessing when the next one's coming. The rest will scatter like roaches when you flip the light switch on. Those will be the ones NOT willing to strap bombs to their OWN bodies to kill innocent civilians...
if you use a proxy between endpoints of an SSH connection, like a firewall appliance or 'man in the middle' attack, the side that connects would need to accept the new cert. The server cert mismatch warning would be there, and the person connecting would have to make a decision about it. So it's not perfect, but should be ok if not connecting for the first time through a proxy or 'MITM' .
(and if connecting for the first time you get a different warning)
"The register though is not one of those sites using IPV6 but of course google and their ad companies are"
Microsoft doesn't, last I checked [except on a few specific servers, last time I sniffed a win-10-nic VM that had IPv6 enabled, which might not actually be theirs, and was probably over a year ago].
Which brings me to the REAL source of the problem: Imagine EVERY! WINDOWS! CLIENT! in the world having a PUBLICALLY! VIEWABLE! IP! ADDRESS!!! [yes, the "no NAT" FUD rears its ugly head].
Truth is that IPv6 CAN be NAT'ted, but nobody will bother doing it. It's truly better if it's FIREWALLED to block ALL of the listening ports that Micro-shaft suddenly FEELS it needs to listen on, but EVERY! STINKING! VERSION! of Windows since XP has been listening on open ports bound to "::" or 0.0.0.0 and the list of ports GROWS (and occasionally MORPHS) with each release. And those ports are (more or less) "well known" especially to those who might want to use them for nefarious purposes (and when new ones show up, they'll be known, too).
So what is the _CAUSE_ of the IT "my computer got hacked while I was on the corporate network" problem? That's right, it's MICROSOFT that CAUSES the problem, with their far-less-than-adequate approach to security. 'Microsoft Firewall' - what a joke. Anyone ELSE remember 'code red'? 'Win Nuke'? Look forward to more of the same when every Windows box is exposed unfiltered to the intarwebs.
Of course this COULD be fixed. By Micro-shaft. But they don't even bother implementing their OWN IPv6, and last time they TRIED, they completely cluster-blanked it...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/19/windows_10_bug_undercuts_ipv6_rollout/
(I just checked, and microsoft.com _STILL_ has no AAAA records)
"When do we get a non USA operating system bumping off windows ? "
Micro-shaft could be anywhere in the world, and would still do the same things. They're too big for their britches, treat customers like "minions", and ASSUME we're completely addicted to their "services".
One OS to rule them all. One OS to find them. One Interface to BRING THEM ALL and with 2D FLATSO METRO, *BIND* them!
They re-re-re-invented the wheel to DRIVE the market into a place where Micro-shaft has COMPLETE control. Too many customers got suckered in, and just blindly went along with their evil plans...
They need a competitor. Linux makes the most sense. The problem is legacy application compatibility. WINE won't do it. And it takes _MONEY_ to develop things. And so, we're STILL HERE...
exactly what I was thinking...
"It looks like you're writing a letter"
"F. Off"
"It looks like you're writing a letter"
"F... Off!"
"It looks like you're writing a letter"
"F! Off!"
"It looks like you're writing a letter"
"I'm NOT WRITING A F***ING LETTER YOU STUPID F***ING PAPERCLP!"
Classic. I just wish their other stuff had been as funny as that sequence...
"they tend to use homeopathy as complementary treatment, not as an alternative."
etc.
placebo effects are well documented. homeopathy in general is another snake oil. I cite the process of "dilution" that allegedly increases the potency as my number one proof of that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions
But, like the honey "treatment" there will be a placebo effect from homeopathy, and occasional SOMETHING from an herb or chemical that was included in the mix in sufficient quantity to have an effect. For all we know, putting the patient in a good mood with lots of confidence is all that it takes for some people to be cured instead of dying. The brain is very powerful, and not that well understood. There are psychosomatic diseases with real symptoms. "Good mood" therapy may be a part of any balanced treatment. The doc could prescribe a good book, video games, or 'get off your ass and do something' and be just as effective as any 'snake oil' (probably more effective because those are real things, not fake like snake oil).
"The market was also skewed to promoting expensive therapies over research into the causes."
Well, when a cancer patient would have 6 months to live without the expensive therapies, _AND_ the research has been taking YEARS too long to save that patient's life, I think the expensive therapies make more sense. [and so would medical marijuana if it gives patients 'the munchies' so they don't starve to death when the expensive chemotherapy makes them so nauseous that they can't eat - yeah a somewhat practical and inexpensive add-on to the expensive therapy].
"The FDA can make you recall every product at fault and fine the bejesus out of you."
And I'm sure that would make their product "illegal enough" (for having made illegal claims) to support Google's decision, _AND_ there's no doubt in my mind that some kind of liability is involved in allowing "illegal" products to be advertised through Google's ad network.
And so, Google was right to deny the 'ad words' for a product that makes claims that violate FDA regulations, and even though it's only *slightly* illegal it's most likely Google's final decision anyway.
Google is a ginormous "deep pocket" target for lawsuits. I just hope they don't pay anything to settle.
solar power density is around 1.4kw per square meter. That's less than 2HP per square meter if I did the math properly. I looked that up and found it on a single web site. Perhaps you might corroborate that with other sites. I'm too lazy to do that, heh. And that isn't taking into consideration the "less than 100%" efficiency of a solar panel. Aren't they around 30% these days?
I think if you did the math, solar energy at ANY altitude [vs the weight of the panels to collect it] would be a net LOSS if you tried to implement it on an aircraft. I cite an earlier post regarding solar cars in Australia...
"Simple reality is that "renewable" aviation is going to have to run on synthetic paraffin. And that is going to be VERY expensive."
why paraffin? why "renewable?"
last I heard, fracking will give us up to 100 years of oil supply at current consumption levels. BP had a more conservative estimate back in 2014 of about 53 years...
so why paraffin? makes no sense.
if nothing else, use SEWAGE and ORGANIC GARBAGE to make oil. As I understand it, a process for doing so was invented in the 1950's involving high pressure/temperature and a layer of CO gas and maybe some catalysts, and from what I've read, it's an EXOTHERMIC process once you get it going. Yeah, EXOTHERMIC. think about THAT for a moment...
there was a hybrid nuclear powered bomber once (or being researched, may have never flown). It (would have) used regular jets to take off, and the nuclear engines to keep it in the air. At least we know that a nuke reactor has a VERY high power:weight ratio. So, ya wanna fly on THAT plane? Heh heh heh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion
well, maybe when we get fusion reactors going, it would be a nice alternative. but then again it would be best suited for SPACE planes, and we'd still have the terrestrial ones using standard jet fuel.
Don't forget that MOST electricity for electric cars already comes from fossil-fuel power plants. There's just not enough "Mr. Sun" or wind to do it any other way.
"there is now a way for gnome and KDE apps for example to co-exist on one desktop; This idea needs to be pushed further into a generic API standard that anyone can write to."
open desktop standard. I've been working on my own toolkit for a few years now. yeah, it's slow going because I have to work for pay to make the bill collectors happy. In short, if all you do is handle the clipboard correctly, everything else should work fine. Let the window manager draw the outer stuff, then just make everything else play by the rules written up as part of the open desktop standard. I've tested with fluxbox, KDE, gnome, mate, etc. and this is pretty much how it works. The downside are the things that are in gnome settings that aren't truly compatible, but there are ways around that, too. I forget the details already but I had to deal with them so I have a general idea of the existence of standards, and the clipboard being one of the more difficult things to manage properly. (I came up with a threaded method of doing it so I could process things asynchronously without stuttering the UI).
ACK on Wayland's serious shortcomings. Wayland and systemd - we don't need either one!
I'm glad that Unity has been shot dead. I always _hated_ it.
Ubu with Mate, though, works pretty nice. same with Mint/Mate (or cinnamon for that matter). Perhaps the Ubu folks should re-consider their use of gnome 3 next...
Let's just keep X11 working well and stick with this old yet well supported standard, and stop trying to migrate everyone off of "something that works" to "new, shiny because WE happen to FEEL".
"Shouldn't be too hard to inject bogus data into their valid data stream, if not outright replace the valid data."
/me considers a netfilter module. you can inject (or remove) whatever you want into a TCP stream using a netfilter module. It's how the FTP proxy works, for 'PORT' commands etc.. Create a special firewall rule for whatever IPs and ports are involved in telemetry, let the netfilter module do it's "magic". Ok you'll need something you can lsmod a netfilter module with, and alter the firewall rules for, but openWRT would probably qualify for that one.
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