Posts by bombastic bob

Microsoft teases Python scripting in Excel

cloudy 'security'

"the cloud habitat for Anaconda's Python will presumably be more secure than having Excel users downloading libraries on their own. Having anticipated concerns about enabling yet another attack vector in Excel, Microsoft has preemptively declared that its snake has been tamed.'

HA HA HA HA (oh wait, they're serious; let me laugh even HARDER!)

What part of THIS is 'more secure' ?

* Data stored in the cloud where governments and evil hackers can view it

* relying on "their server" performance including the pipeline to/from it

* DDoS, downtimes, network problems, MItM and DNS cracks, etc. NEVER HAPPEN, right?

More exist but another post near the top hit on the best ones

Moscow makes a mess on the Moon as Luna 25 probe misses orbit, lands with a thud

Re: Failure?

This was a passenger safety test. A crash test dummy was on board (they borrowed the one from Myth Busters)

If it did not have 'crumple zones' before, I'm sure it has them now!

And the whole concept of an inelastic collision and the moon being made of ballistics gel...

Re: "Luna 25, by contrast, tried to make the trip in nine days"

"Russia haven't been communist in 30 years."

Shhh... don't tell Vlad, he might crack

Or, a corollary:

If a spacecraft crash-lands on the moon, does it make a sound?

(and an M-theory discussion about observation and reality was born)

Version 5 of systemd-free Debian remix Devuan is here

fork in the road

as long as Xorg remains the default desktop engine (or at least easy to select during install), there won't need to be any more forks.

(Wayland cultists can have their systemd and other Poettering clusterer-blanks along with Wayland in other distros)

in my last Devuan install (chimera) I added X and mate in a separate step and it set up as a console login using 'startx', rather than booting into a GUI. Much better I say.

Virginia industrial park wants to power DCs with mini nuclear reactors, clean hydrogen

Re: Clean hydrogen

hydrocarbons store pretty well without much loss. i got a tank full of 'em in the back of my car...

Red Hat redeploys one of its main desktop developers

countdown to Wayland bashing

Zero.

Wayland is a complete waste of developer energy and effort. Extending Xorg and providing good quality hardware support, especially open source hardware acceleration, and avoiding GTK past version 3, should be their #1 priority, and NOT time-wasting on what could easily be described as "The 'Supriority by Arthur C. Clarke' moment" also known as Wayland.

export DISPLAY=othermachine:0.0

This is the #1 BEST feature of Xorg, especially for embedded development.

[I go out of my way to ensure Wayland does NOT get installed]

You're welcome.

First US nuclear power plant built this century goes online

"Also, the blades of wind turbines are not biodegradable, and is also a huge issue."

THIS PART, at least, is true.

the whole "Carbon Footprint" thing is an anti-science hoax anyway. Basic chemistry and physics disproves their nonsense. Human nature and the seeking of power over others by elitists explains it.

[Orwell was an optimist]

Re: ROI?

"This is a good start but they need to be cheaper."

laws need to change:

* Tort reform to GREATLY discourage malicious lawsuits by "environmental" (aka disruptive/communist) organizations

* standardization and mandatory EXPEDITING of environmental impact and related "studies" (max 3 months for approval / public comment, let's say)

* Fast-tracking (in general)

* Use of 'Interstate Commerce' in the USA for power placed on the grid so that individual states (like California) can NOT "slow walk" new construction. [unfortunately this could also backfire like calling down a napalm strike on YOUR location]

* Making it ILLEGAL for a state like California to literally DISCRIMINATE against power producers on the grid who produce cheaper but "non-renewable" power from out of state (say Nevada, Arizona) to feed the California grid and create lower energy prices for Californians

This kind of REGULATORY REFORM should cut the time between USA power plant construction to maybe 1 year instead of FIFTY.

Prices of gallium and germanium rise as China export controls loom

Re: Checkmate?

There is no actual shortage of these materials. China (specifically the CCP) is simply grabbing the WORLD BY THE BALLS when it comes to the LOWEST PRICE for them.

And, of course, I bet they mine them with SLAVE LABOR and/or CHILD LABOR like the way they mine for cobalt in AFRICA. Yeah pictures of THAT aren't all over teh intarwebs or anything.

This is how COMMUNISTS do things, in an allegedly capitalist world. They undercut their worldwide competition until they go out of business, and then leverage slave/child labor to keep costs down and then keep the worldwide price just below the threshold where it is practical for other nations to compete WITHOUT human exploitation.

I say, TARIFF China, long-term move as much manufacturing as you can ELSEWHERE, and live with the price increases on certain goods, until we put THEM out of business!!! [they NEED US more than we need THEM, and funding their military until they grow strong enough to take US over is a REAL THREAT]

Or does the world WANT 10 year old kids in African countries picking up rocks and putting them in baskets in open pit mines that can BURY THEM because the work is THAT dangerous?

Yeah, SOMEBODY has to say it...

Tokkers can Tok like Tweeters can Tweet – for now

Yes but the CCP one comes with "Social Credit Score" for future reference!!! (you just can't see it)

RIP Kevin Mitnick: Former most-wanted hacker dies at 59

Re: No published links

I suspect one of two causes for his cancer:

a) hereditary susceptibility

b) tobacco or recreational drug use

or less likely but possible: some kind of cancer causing retrovirus (retrovirus modifies DNA)

And, sometimes cancer starts in one place, but ends up killing you somewhere else.

Sad face 'cause nobody wants to die from 'El Cancer' ('Deadpool' reference). A plane crash, run over by a train, getting hit with lightning or a car, over quickily. Cancer often lingers and puts you through HELL.

Re: Hats off from a non-techie

I do not even have vestigial 'heart strings' (and if I did I'd have them removed)

Re: Takedown

I have region free DVD player that I bought for that very reason - geofencing. Obviously does not work on Blu-Ray but you can still buy DVDs, especially used ones, for older movies [and most of the features I see available here in the USA usually have dual media]

Re: RIP Kevin

Interesting you mention DEC - in the late 70's I recall a PDP 11/70 running RSTS/E that had all of the priveleged programs that run at startup not only marked with temporary privileges, they could be RUN BY ANYONE. Once I found out about INIT I experimented with it and quickly learned how to bypass a login password [as long as I was already logged in]. Security CRATERS does not even come close to this basic design blunder, which should never have been set up 'that way' at a university...

Linux has nearly half of the desktop OS Linux market

Re: Yet again, Mint

PIMNIC and PIWNIC - heh

[By my observation PIDNIC does not seem to exist. Most kids (and young ladies) learn fast, so you can just make sure she has Linux on her laptop and she learns to use it. STEM.]

Re: ChromeOS is a fake linux

what about the "Big Enders" ?

Twitter ad revenue has halved since Elon Musk took over

Re: As someone who does not and will not ever have either a twatter or a zuck imitation account

Yeah no vitriol there, or anything. heh.

I once said the same kinda thing about 'social media' in general (other than news commentary like this). Then Musk bought Twitter.

Now I do not get 'canceled' just for going against "The Establishment"

China succeeds where Elon Musk has failed with first methalox rocket

Re: Interesting but not earth shattering

"F is one of the most dangerous element around in chemistry."

in most of its forms, yes. In some cases, like flouride toothpaste, extremely useful and life enhancing.

In the wafer fab world, an HF exposure (even just a light splash) is one of the WORST kinds of industrial accidents. And you need HF to etch silicon.

Re: Interesting but not earth shattering

"Environmental impacts should be less than RP1-LOX"

Why would THAT be? Carbon content? I hope you do not actually BELIEVE in carbon-dioxide-based "Climate Change"... So much evidence against it. Tony Heller is a good starting point.

(Most of the Earth's carbon is in the MANTLE, and it regularly gets spewed by volcanoes, in amounts WAY higher than human activity - I doubt a few RP1 rockets will even matter)

Re: Clickbait journalism

The concept of it being 'a race' is based on what SHOULD be natural for humans: COMPETITION!

In this case I think methalox LOST as an ideal fuel. Musk understood this and abandoned it.

Now Foxconn hopes to lure TSMC, Japan’s TMH into India chip fab pact – report

All of this with the CCP looming overhead...

Foxconn (as I recall from a few years back) has competent engineers, some of whom I met and talked with back then.

There is NO doubt in my mind that they would all vacate Taiwan should the CCP come rolling in ( if they had the chance top do so).

India would be a nice close location to vacate to. (Just sayin')

What I *REALLY* hope this means is better (more stable) supply chain NOT sourced in China, to supply the rest of the world. We would ALL benefit from THAT.

Red Hat's open source rot took root when IBM walked in

Re: IBM enters Personal Computer market

"they're spending more time spinning in circles than actually getting anywhere."

This is DEFINITELY TRUE in the Micros~1 'Windows World'. I do not mess with RHEL much (other than light experimentation with the clones) and so I just have to assume that this is also true for IBM/RH.

an 'el cheapo' no-support license for RHEL?

What if a bunch of RHEL customers would be willing to pay a REALLY CHEAP license, either one time or subscription, that gives them "no support" (like using an RHEL clone) with the benefit of having the actual RHEL software (and not a clone) ?

There is no need to be greedy and demand ONLY the BIG BUCKS license unless, like an insurance company, they expect to drive revenue from customers who do NOT use the support...!

Then, just to have even MORE fun, they could offer users of the clone versions an option to get support at the RHEL support price. Some might want that.

NASA 'quiet' supersonic jet is nearly ready for flight

Re: As much political as technical

The purpopose of the 1973 supersonic ban was essentially THAT (political, not technical). In the 1960's I used to hear a lot of sonic booms from aircraft operating near Santa Barbara, CA. They were probably military aircraft, researched by Hughes Aircraft. Needless to say, cracked windows were too common, and people complained a LOT. Then a lot of environmentalists said it was harming Condors (which it probably was, I used to see them occasionally flying over the house) and finally gummint stepped in and said "OK that's enough" and also semi-banned military aircraft as well [only allowed if there is a really good reason to make a sonic boom, in other words].

So I suppose the new standard ought to be revised, such as "no sonic booms above THAT sound level" and maybe some approved designs over populated areas or places where wildlife might be severely impacted.

Let's take a look at those US Supreme Court decisions and how they will affect tech

Re: No such scenario occurred - really ?

post a sign. yeah that'll help.

I think certain kinds of sports equipmentr, blinding lights, extreme noise at close range, and a general fear that some extremely unhinged person might cause physical harm are a pretty good deterrent, too...

Re: No such scenario occurred - really ?

I'd equally support a web designer or cake maker who refused to make a product that celebrated or priomoted a numher of things, from racism to communism to evil dictators to people that illegally stick those flourescent green signs in the middle of the road because their kids are playing in the front yard (never mind telling them to stay out of the road which is what my mother did when I was 3-4, they have to literally bully everyone else into being just as unreasonably paranoid about THEIR kid, and disrupt the world with their passive aggressive bullying, but I digress).

There are a LOT of disagreeable positions that an artist or craftsman might not want to do a creative work for. It's just that some ideas/beliefs/behaviors are more "special" than others.

(I was thinking of 'Animal Farm' when I wrote that last part)

Re: The odd billionaire-run fiefdom that monetizes outrage.

If I am allergic to cats does that mean I have to start sneezing?

BOFH: Lies, damned lies, and standards

Re: Association of Servicepeople for Software and Hardware Over the Lifetime of Equipment.

First thing I looked for was a potential acronym

[now it needs a T shirt]

Two new Linux desktops – one with deep roots – come to Debian

Re: Display postscript?

If it does not link to Cairo, which I think would solve all of that (i.e. if it were linked to Cairo), then that's a good point. Web fonts, TTF, raster, and PostScript (we hope) would all be supported... but ARE they?

Re: Debian?? Really??

NO issues? Not like ADWAITA or systemd or pulse audio or any of a number of POETTERING brain farts are potential "issues", right? *facepalm*

(I also prefer dpkg-based packages - it is an easy system to master if you wanna re-distribute modified or patched versions of things)

I've given my OK nod to Rocky Linux for testing with something similar RHEL and CentOS though, but not as a daily driver for sure, only because setup is simple and I might need to test things on it. But that is about the extent of how far I'd go with something derived from RH.

Re: Beautiful? Really?

Would you prefer something 2D FLATSO FLATASS like Gnome+ADWAITA ? Or whatever the hell KDE became?

I think a nice retro 3D Skeuomorphic look is both REFRESHING and SUPERIOR !!!

I'll still use Mate with "TraditionalOK" though...

(I really am SICK of phone-like desktops and 2D FLATTY Win-Ape / Win-10-nic TIFKAM look - and I certainly hope THAT is NOT what the authors think of when they say "polished")

If not for Mate and Cinnamon, I'd really consider switching to GSDE. I hope it shows up in Devuan and Ubuntu-derived soon (if not already)

Europe's Euclid telescope launches to figure out dark energy, the universe, and everything

Re: L2?

The actual L2 isn't stable

So regardless it will need maneuvering fuel and to have some kind of de-orbit plan once it runs out.

(I am pretty sure they figured this one out already)

I understand most Lagrange orbits are often of the 'spinning a weight on a string' (aka 'halo orbit') variety [or similar]. Some have very unusual patterns to maintain stability.

Wikipedia has some interesting info on Lagrange points.

Forty Two

Obligatory Hitchhiker's Guide reference

It's 2023 and memory overwrite bugs are not just a thing, they're still number one

Re: This crap should be fixed in hardware

1. Separate I and D spaces

Harvard architecture. Has advantages AND disadvantages. But Intel memory management has read/write and read-only page flags so it is pretty easy to make code memory "not writeable" already.

2. Use the MPU to enforce per-process limits

easier to do using task switching parameters and a reasonably-written pre-emptive scheduler. YMMV on RTOS

3. Hardware assist on privileges (not just user/super but > 5 levels)

why does hardware need to 'assist' with that many? Typically hardware has separate system and user stacks and/or page tables, even entire register banks. But normally, just 2. And each application's address/page table is different (i.e. separate address spaces) already. Just why do you need > 5 when you already have things LIKE separate address spaces for applications?

Again, scheduler params and the existing password/group security (Linux/BSD/UNIX/etc.) can manage this kind of multi-level security with a reasonably-written pre-emptive scheduler., though I understand there are some ACL mods for Linux available to extend this.

Re: Buffer overrun? still?

well there are warnings you can enable in llvm-based C/C++ compilers that find a lot of things .

Other C/C++ tricks include use of strncpy, snprintf, etc which have buffer checking built in, as well as avoiding more obvious things, by sanitizing "foreign" (and even internal) data and structures, AND including (but not being limited to) the simple fix of 'fgets' vs 'gets' on stdin.

Custom APIs with output to buffers should ALSO do size checking and have the output buffer size specified. The simple things.

No need to implement garbage collection memory control, nor use Rust to fix this.

Attorney sues Microsoft for $1.75M, claiming his email has been useless since May

Re: We have asked the company for comment. ®

I have somewhat recently had issues with outlook mail.

One of my e-mail addresses is an old MSN addressw, but I occasionally use it for a couple of things. A couple of months or so ago it suddenly gave me a boatload of login errors and would not work anymore with a POP3 client. After communicating a few times with MS they made it possible for me to use it as web mail, but POP3 was still broken.

After researching an obscure solutioin stuck out - change the password (or reset it or similar).

I have not yet tried this but I suppose I oughta. In the mean time MS insists that there is no problem with it.

Thought I would mention this.

Red Hat strikes a crushing blow against RHEL downstreams

Re: Simple solution

Just use Windows

HA HA HA HA HA... oh were you serious?

(I should laugh even HARDER if you were!)

But yeah, nice trollin'. We all can use a good laugh now and then.

(my apology for any mishap involving coffee, cats, and keyboards)

Re: GPL violation

You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein

This is the part that i was thinking might be their Achilles' heel.

Re: GPL violation

Hopefully though this will be the incentive the rest of the ecosystem needs to finally put systemd and pulseaudio in the bin.

And, gnome 3/4/5 while we're at it!

(Cinnamon and Mate are definitely superior desktops to gnome > 2)

[I like your thinking on this - well played!]

Re: GPL violation

It's pretty sneaky.

I agree with that part. Some "bright bulb" l[aw]yer must've cleverly thought up a new loophole, and now they wanna test it.

It is no doubt that this move was prepared for, and the surprise 'attack' leaves the other distros wondering what just happened.

The only way to counter a surprize attack like this is to do the unexpected, perhaps even deceiving IBM/RH into doing something that puts them at a disadvantage.

Not sure what that is, though. They have a head start. Might take a while.

Re: GPL violation

So aside from open source stuff (which must have source made available if it is modified) what "Secret Suce" are they offering that is worth the license cost?

RHEL could fix all of this right now by publishing everything that is NOT proprietary in any way.

At that point, CentOS-derived distros could "sync up" the published source, and do compatibility tests/edits with the rest.

Jut a thought. then it's back to the way CentOS *USED* to be, but with a different distro name. Rocky, maybe?

Missing Titan sub likely destroyed in implosion, no survivors

the amount of effort to rescue 5 people

Well, it's sort of "the rule of the sea" to rescue and provide aid to those who need it out on the ocean. Fortunately does not happen often.

The ocean is very large and in the middle of it you are very, very alone.

Re: "craft's carbon fiber hull"

oompressive stress is a bit easier to deal with than tensile (ripping apart) stress.. This is one of the principles behind pre-stressing structures.

However, you get certain areas that still have tensile stress on them, and this is where failures happen.

* bending inwards of unsupported surface sections

* telescopic compression [most likely this happened]

* seams for things like hatches and cables.

The design has to be a compromise between weight and bouyancy, where you can drop weights to surface in an emergency.

If I might predict what happened, it was a telescopic compression of the 'people tank', starting at a point of stress that had been cycled too many times going to and from the Titanic wreck.

And it would have been rapid, quite possibly causing a diesel explosion of everything organic that was inside - plastic, paint, people, ...

Probably the window and nose cone were found intact for this reason. But the carbon fiber stuff would have shattered. [In the case of a metal sub hull, it would look a bit like a beer can that you stomped on the top of to flatten it)

A readup on the USS Scorpion and USS Thresher accidents might give a perspective on what happens at crush depth...

Re: "craft's carbon fiber hull"

a good ballpark value to use for depth pressure is 1 psi for every 2 feet of depth

(from a former submariner)

think "weight of the column of water above you"

Re: A fitting epitaph

makes sense - super-strong materials are often brittle, and brittle fracture is both rapid and catastrophic.

Recently had a cheap handle break off in my hand from brittle fracture, at a somewhat bad time. Quick action prevented it from causing a minor disaster. Did not really need that, yeah.

[think 'breaking glass' when you think 'brittle fracture']

Time running out for crew of missing Titanic tourist submarine

putting in perspective

just some perspective from an X Navy submariner...

Pressure is around 1 psi for every 2 feet of depth. close enough for estimates.

12,000 feet would be about 6000 psi.

At 400 feet, a water pressure of around 200 psi is higher than a typical fire hose. So water coming into the people tank is strong enough to knock you on your ass at 400 feet.

A pinhole leak at 6000 psi would probably "rip itself a new one" as the high velocity water would be strong enough to literally inject you (like one of those pneumatic hypodermic vaccine thingies) or cut body parts off. It would be supersonic so you would not be able to hear it. Chances are it would quickly become a catastrophic failure, in which case the people tank would rapidly pressurize, quite possibly fast enough to cause a diesel explosion involving anything organic inside. High pressure would instantly dissolve all gasses and, you guessed it, if the sudden pressure did not kill you there would be no air to breathe. And it would happen so fast that you wouldn't even be able to say "oh crap".

The sub is made of titanium and carbon fiber. Titanium can be brittle and I do not even know whether the cyclic stress of going down and up would in any way cause stress cracks or work hardening in the material.

Safe to say, not very safe.

Google searchers from years past can get paid for pilfered privacy

Re: Location?

I am thinking of a movie in which Steve Maatin's character had to write individual checks for $7.01 to millions of people, and you see him going..

"Pay to the order of... Jim Smith. SEVEN DOLLARS AND ONE CENT!!!"

"Pay to the order of... Harriet Jones. SEVEN DOLLARS AND ONE CENT!!!"

AI weapons need a safe back door for human control

Re: Use the off switch

Couldn't you just unplug them?

depends on where it is located... (which reminds me of a line from "Deadpool" where he describes where his 'off switch' is located - "Or is that the ON switch?")

I think that there ought to be a control panel somewhere with keys in it that will cause the AI power supply fuses to blow if both keys are turned simultaneously, forcing the system into manual override.

There are protection circuits known as "electronic crowbars" that could work for this purpose, forcing inline fuses to blow by (temporarily?) shorting out the power.. A single SCR (and a separate control line to drive it) could accomplish this. [I'd make use of an opto-isolator in there someplace)

Microsoft Windows edges closer to SMB security signing fully required by default

Your code is slow and inefficient - solution, buy a faster machine

Oh but it worked SO well when Micros~1 did that with Vista!!!

(snark complete)