* Posts by bombastic bob

10515 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015

Facebook agrees to dial back 'racial affinity' ads

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Big Data

it follows that SOME idiot out there will assume that members of a particular 'group' are all in lock step with one another. Same kinds of "demographic" thinking that helped to fail all of the recent election poll analysis, why everyone was "so surprised" at the results, etc.

Using race like that is flawed thinking, out of the box. Might as well say all Catholics buy certain products, or all Jews wear certain kinds of clothing, or just say white guys all wear T shirts, own guns, and want more fishing poles (so they can be targeted for ads accordingly). And of course, they *ALL* want VIAGRA (or so the spammers seem to think).

Racially-based demographics. Being STUPID since the 1960's.

Well, *ACTUALLY*, it's how people are MANIPULATED, so I guess I should say "being manipulative since the 1960's" as well...

Mark Zuckerberg is dead – Facebook confirmed

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

The reports of my death...

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"

wasn't this a quote from Mark Twain?

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marktwain141773.html

Zuck should have used that. Then it would have been funny.

Reg meets 'Lokihardt', quite possibly the world's best hacker

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Can I ask a stupid question?

I was under impression that the DMCA has been modified in that regard. Or, at least it SHOULD be.

Maybe that's why a guy from S. Korea is doing the research?

In any case, I say 'welcome aboard' to someone who makes his living by acting *LIKE* a bad guy, and not *being* one.

Silicon Valley's oligarchs got a punch in the head – and that's actually good thing

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Kind'a

"They tend to be rural, less-educated"

'educated' is HIGHLY OVERRATED when Ivy league schools have organized "group primal scream" demonstrations on campus because they can't deal with a President Trump. [I guess their socialist indoctrinated world view got *snapped*. poor babies...]

President Trump. That sounds pretty good to me, right now!

I've been SO! DAMNED! SICK! AND! TIRED! of "the OBAKA" and his willing accomplices *FORNICATING* the country for the last 7+ years (and the Republicans elected to STOP him 'caving in' like that), starting with *OBAKA-"CARE"* and ending with *DOUBLED* *NATIONAL* *DEBT*. That's right, OBAKA and his policies *DOUBLED* the national debt. $20 TRILLION now. It makes one Senator's infamous commentary about "the Daffuzit" of $150B back in 1990 [while the economy was GROWING into a surplus, and would have, except for the Bush I tax cave-in] _completely_ pale by comparison. Bush I was a "caver". And we ended up with THE CLINTONS because of him.

Ronald Reagan's economic recovery WORKED. And so will Trump's because it's basically THE SAME. And the UK and the rest of the world WILL BENEFIT. And Brexit will work, too. Just give it enough time to 'kick in'. You'll see.

'deplorables'. yeah, I guess I'm a "deplorable" too. Only *ELITIST* *SNOBS* would even CONSIDER such a label.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Pirate

Re: Trump Trifecta

"A very, very scary thought."

To those who desire the same agenda as "the left", yes. It is their DOOM. I'm looking forward to it!

my only fear is that, over the next 2 years, this wonderful opportunity could be SQUANDERED. Again. Republo-crats (particularly RINOs) are pretty good at making THAT happen.

FYI - if 'regression' is going back to 'Original Intent' on the U.S. Constitution, I'll take 'regression' over 'progress' (over the cliff of socialism) *ANY* day.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I think we all agree on the problem, but what is the solution?

what is the solution to the problems of economic inequality and loss of blue-collar jobs?

a) lower taxes

b) less regulation

c) more freedom (particularly ECONOMIC freedom), with responsibility

not anarchy of course. you have to have SOME regulation to stop outright exploitation and 'an unfair playing field'. After that, just let people do what they do, without PUNISHING achievement with CONFISCATORY tax rates, or regulating "the little guy" out of the game.

It worked in the 80's. It will work AGAIN in the '20-teens' under Trump.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

Re: Doesn't create jobs or prosperity - a bit unfair

"without forcing us to share transit with the horrid public"

uh, doesn't that sound a bit ELITIST? [yeah I dislike the few ASSHATS that smoke in public at the transit stop, or harass other people, but 99% of public transportation users are decent people who don't do those things]

I used to LIVE in Silicon Valley back in the 70's when it wasn't nearly as bad. I left at the earliest opportunity, never went back. Just 'ew'.

You proposed solutions sound like too much "gummint". what you fail to realize is that gummint cannot PROVIDE, it cannot IMPROVE, it cannot BENEFIT anyone without taking MORE from others in the process. It can only RESTRICT, or TAKE AWAY.

The purpose of government (in general) is to RESTRICT FREEDOM, primarily for an orderly society. This includes ECONOMIC freedom to spend YOUR money the way YOU want. Obviously better than ANARCHY, but you don't want it to grow into the HORRENDOUS OPPRESSIVE KAIJUU that it's become. It is the nature of governments, without something to stop them, to become such things, instead of what they were intended for in the beginning.

That's why "smaller government" was the theme of Trump's election, because THAT is what the people REALLY want. It's why Trump was elected, to STOP this kind of thing, i.e. "we don't need more gummint to solve problems CAUSED by big gummint".

Other than ALLOWING DEVELOPERS TO BUILD MORE HOUSES (i.e. REDUCING gummint restrictions and regulations), there's not much more gummint could do. [as part of that a smart city planner will REQUIRE that developers pay for infrastructure improvements to go along with that, and they generally DO, because then everybody wins, and THAT is when gummint-based solutions actually work, when they regulate JUST ENOUGH to make it work, and then stay the HELL out of the way for the rest of it]

bombastic bob Silver badge
Big Brother

Re: Confused Brit

"California has about 18 million registered voters, less than half voted for any presidential candidate."

it means MY vote counts MORE [that's how I see it] when fewer people actually vote.

But yeah, the overwhelming lefty-socialist-demorat voting in this state NAUSEATES me. And I have to wonder if ILLEGAL ALIENS are voting in significant numbers in 'sanctuary cities'. It wasn't until after the 'amnesty' in the 1980's [one of Reagans BAD 'cave-ins' to THE LEFT, that was SUPPOSED to end up strengthening the border, but of course THAT never happened] that the near 50:50 balance in California started its RADICAL SLIDE to the LEFT. Something to think about...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

"Hence Trumps campaign fo the working man vote including swathing tax cuts for the very rich."

Look: when you cut taxes on "THE RICH" you aren't cutting taxes on people who HAVE their money. Those crony "light cigars with $100 bills" 'old money' rich *ALREADY*! *HAVE*! *THEIR*! *WEALTH*! and aren't going to be AFFECTED by TAX RATES! Their 'income' is DEFERRED as "assets" that are NEVER! CASHED! IN! and so they DO! NOT! PAY! TAXES! under the current tax structure!!! So you could tax at 90% (like in the 1950's) and IT! WOULD! MAKE! NO! DIFFERENCE! TO! THEM!

However... if you are trying to BECOME RICH, that "high tax rate on the rich" is actually on *YOU*, the person trying to *GET* *AHEAD* by hard work, or running a business, or inventing things, or going to school for 1/4 of your life to become a DOCTOR, etc. etc. etc.

High tax RATES on "the rich" is really KEEP YOU IN YOUR ECONOMIC PLACE AND OUT OF THE RICH BOY CLUB gummint policies *DESIGNED* by the old-money crony-rich to WIDEN the divide between "the rich" and "the rest of us".

The ONLY FAIR taxation method would be a FLAT TAX where EVERYBODY pays the same percentage.

But think of this for a moment: without RICH PEOPLE having money to spend/invest [instead of sending it to the tax collection agency], WHO would hire YOU?

And THAT is why lowering tax rates on "the rich" (who are REALLY business owners and professionals working hard trying to BECOME 'the rich') will MAKE THE ECONOMY BETTER.

That whole "tax the rich at a higher percentage" is just a ginormous fornicating SOCIALIST LIE anyway. Don't believe it, it's TOTALLY WRONG.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Entirely predictable?

"why did hardly anyone, including Trump's political and polling staff, actually predict it?"

This has been a daily topic on talk radio for the last 3 months, particularly Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity.

The short answer: The lame-stream media wanted to use polls and news stories to SHAPE the election the way THEY wanted it to go. They've been doing this for DECADES.

After all, when things are BAD, "when it bleeds, it leads". The lamestream media benefits from a CRAPSACK WORLD. Why would they want to do anything different than CREATING NEWS to report on?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Kind'a

"the cronies had to have it all their way. "

This kind of post analysis is really hitting the nail on the head.

MOST people who voted for Trump did so because the politically correct crony elitists excreted Mrs. Clinton as THEIR candidate, for "more of the same for 4 more years". And the majority of Americans currently believe the the country is going the WRONG direction. The real question was HOW to stop the barge from hitting the rocks. Trump grabbed the opportunity like an entrepreneur, i.e. "find a need and meet it."

The not-so-convenient truth is that HEAVILY SOCIALIST POLICIES cause "the rich to get richer" and "the poor to get poorer". And don't forget 'quantitative easing' and all of that gummint money going to companies (in Silicon Valley) like 'Solyndra'. Those few elitists in "that club" benefit GREATLY from Obama-style administrations, and Clinton-style administrations.

And THAT is what it's REALLY about!

So when they go on about 'tech policy' and getting 'special class II status', it's about benefiting THEM at the expense of THE REST OF US.

Hopefully what Trump said ends up being policy: reduce the regulations and the tax burdens, and let the economy grow ITSELF by GETTNIG OUT OF THE WAY. Like in the 80's. NOT the 80's that the SAME media that HATES TRUMP would describe as corporations eating one another in a feeding frenzy, but the 80's where EVERYBODY'S LIFE IMPROVED, and the term "Yuppie" was coined - the YOUNG UPWARDLY MOBILE entrepreneur type who COULD move upwards because the BLOCKAGES [caused by gummint] had been REMOVED.

/me points out that MORE members of racial minorities became wealthy during the 80's than in ANY other time in history. I think that was pointed out in one of Rush Limbaugh's books, or it might have been something Prof. Walter Williams (of George Mason university) said on the radio. That's if anyone wants a source for that well-buried bit of info.

Kotkin: Why Trump won

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Blame it on the elitists?

that's right, Trump is going to turn on the pollution spigots, filling every body of water and every existing water table with CARCINOGENIC TOXIC WASTE, and THEN make sure that all non-whites and women are OPPRESSED. I guess now that it's the 21st century, we can construct OPPRESSION-BOTS that look like Daleks, cracking electrified whips, and yelling "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" We'll power them with Arduinos since they're made overseas.

</sarcasm>

(you actually BELIEVE that? Too much wacky weed, I think)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Happy

Re: What I don't understand is

it's the anti-politician anti-establishment sentiment of the times, actually. An outsider like Trump had that advantage from the beginning. 6 years ago people voted anti-Obama by electing Republicans to a majority in the House, then 4 years later, the Senate too. What did Republicans do with all that power? They CAVED IN to Obaka on *EVERYTHING*!

Hence, "the establishment" can't be trusted. An outsider was needed. Trump saw the need, and filled it like an Entrepreneur. And there you have it.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: It's not "why", it's "how"

"While the US system of indirect election is somewhat arcane, it does do what it says on the tin."

correct. it ALSO gives a bit more clout to non-populous states. Many of the compromises ca 1787 regarding the framing of the U.S. Constitution were compromises between people who wanted each state to have equal representation, and who wanted individual people to be equally represented.

The electoral college basically rubber stamps the individual state's election results. It can work both for or against a candidate. but in MANY ways it more equally represents what's going on across the entire nation. So it stays, because it works, and because 'tradition'.

It also forces candidates to campaign OUTSIDE OF MAJOR POPULATION AREAS. That's a GOOD thing. Otherwise, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City would decide EVERY presidential election. Yeah, don't go there...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Stop

Re: It's not "why", it's "how"

"made voting more difficult for certain groups of Americans by tightening the voting ID laws"

so that people couldn't a) vote more than once, or b) vote when they're not AUTHORIZED [like illegal aliens, reside out of state, etc.] ?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: The real reason is...

AC - your rant comparing 'interwebs' spelling errors and incorrect grammar to Trump votes is so laughable, I'm almost sorry I had to downvote it.

If anything, the spelling/grammar errors on 'teh intarwebs' is MORE evidence of a dumbed-down "indoctrination" system in lieu of an education system, gummint planning and administration at its "finest", but I digress...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Up

the article gets it right

I rarely see a political commentary article that even CLOSELY gets to the truth. This one did pretty well, I think. Well done!

And yes, the backlash against POLITICAL CORRECTNESS was a *HUGE* factor in this election. When your own MOTHER says you're a racist and a bigot and want women to stay in the kitchen, for supporting Trump, you KNOW something's going wrong!

Silicon Valley VCs: We're gonna make California great again – on its own

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Californians out-of-touch with other Californians

"This scheme *would* cause civil war-- *within* California."

and guess WHICH half owns MORE guns...

heh - time to pick up a rifle and start-a-shootin' - YEEE-HAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

bombastic bob Silver badge
FAIL

Re: I'm going to take my ball and go home!

time to let the spoiled rich children fail at controlling the game. let them take their ball and go home. we will wave buhbye to them and do something else. not worth playing THEIR game by THEIR rules any more...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: California initiative

"Legal recreational weed."

yeah, the concept of 'revolution' will turn into a lava-lamp-lit room filled with a bunch of zombie-eyed dope smokers staring at the ceiling going "wow, there are patterns in the ceiling, man..."

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

ha ha ha ha ha (oh, you were serious?)

"If only it were possible for the rest of the world to secede from Trump's America, protecting our future generations from the disaster of global warming,"

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Oh... you were serious?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

"That's the wrong flag for the New California Republic."

it needs a hammer and sickle as well. And a LOT more red in it.

Left-wing cyber-hangout blames security breach on pro-Trump trolls

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

"everyone viewing that page got a login popup from DU that made it past most adblockers."

Really? THAT made it a bit more interesting...

/me wonders if there's an 'army of hackers' out there who are anti-establishment, or at least anti-DEMOCRAT, based on the tone of the article, and the Wikileaks dumps on Mrs. Clinton, etc.

Trump's plan: Tariffs on electronics, ban on skilled tech migrants, turn off the internet

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: And we thought BREXIT was bad

"I'm sure most commentards here are extremely eager to hear you explain the science behind your proof. I certainly am."

[OT warning, but by request - sorry if it might not fit house rules, but I hope it does]

OK - by request:

When soda gets warm, it goes flat. All of the dissolved CO2 comes out of solution and goes into the air. In a closed system you would observe the relative concentration of CO2 going UP. This would be due to the soda warming, and would NOT be causing the soda to warm.

Similarly, when ocean temperatures rise, due to currents, thermal effects, solar radiation, and whatnot, CO2 levels rise. If CO2 levels are measured in the vicinity of the ocean during a warm period, you will measure HIGHER EQUILIBRIUM LEVELS of CO2. [this is all chemistry 101 stuff]

Next, take a look at the infrared absorption spectrum of CO2. When you notice the absorption lines, they're all significantly low, like -40F [I forget the exact details; they're VERY cold], or at levels WAY above the temperatures found on Earth. In short, if CO2 were a greenhouse gas, you'd see absorption in the normal range of temperatures found on Earth, and NOT the edge conditions. Since the energy being released by earth being trapped by the atmosphere is how the 'greenhouse effect' works, having an increase in a gas that's in very LOW concentration, and that has very LITTLE infrared absorption, is going to have very LITTLE effect on global temperatures.

So what you see here is that CO2 concentrations go up when TEMPERATURE goes up, but the CO2 level increase is NOT CAUSING the temperature increase. If that WERE the case, you'd have "thermal runaway", which is a highly unstable condition. Unstable systems quickly degrade. But the earth is VERY stable. So it's NOT CO2 causing any warming. And it's not human activity that DOES generate the CO2 causing any warming. Or cooling. Or change. Or anything.

Besides, if you run the numbers [including infrared absorption spectrum] you'll see that WATER has as much as 100 times the effect on temperature than does CO2. As evidence, consider how COLD it gets on a clear night, or how warm on an overcast night, and the opposite during the day. Water in the atmosphere plays a HUGE part in temperatures and climate. But you don't see anyone trying to blame humans for THAT, now do you? That's because the earth is LITERALLY flooded! Even the dumbest of the "dumb as a post" would see through THAT...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: And we thought BREXIT was bad

"its a bad thing when the voters buy into lies and fantasy and vote on that basis."

yes. I'm SO glad that "Her Royal Heinous" Mrs. Clinton, Mother of Lies and Empress of Discord, was NOT elected. Her lies about what she planned on doing were both BLATANT and insidious.

Oh, wait... were you talking about Trump? Heh, the only lies on HIS side were what the MEDIA was saying about him.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Happy

Re: And we thought BREXIT was bad

"The US is exporting gas from fracking. It would be more expensive now."

assuming you mean 'if Mrs. Clinton were elected' for the 'expensive'. Yes.

Mrs. Clinton was pretty much "anti-domestic-energy" from coal to fracking. So-called 'renewable' energy is MORE EXPENSIVE, and oil would CONTINUE to be imported from Saudi Arabia and other middle-east nations, causing WORLD WIDE OIL PRICES TO GO UP!

So thank fracking, next time you go fill up your car, or pay your heating bill.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

Re: And we thought BREXIT was bad

"El Presidente Trump is a climate change denier as well."

Good. It's all pseudo-science. Man-made global warming/cooling/whatever is easily disproved with a short discussion involving a can of Pepsi. Details OT in this discussion. DENYING the pseudo-science is a GOOD thing.

And also, the gummint does NOT need to prop up a particular technology. As Trump would likely do, DE-REGULATION to GET OUT OF THE WAY is what gummint can "do" to help technology.

US citizens crash Canadian immigration site after Trump victory

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: What they voted for

"For middle class, and left-of-centre Americans Clinton was at best the lesser of two evils - but for many ordinary voters she wasn't."

I think you're missing the boat on why Trump has won the election.

It's "anti-establishment". The establishment brought us OBAKACARE (and refused to recognize the unconstitutionality), along with corporate welfare and cronyism, a doubling of the national debt in 8 years, and was more interested in bank bailouts and propping up the stock market with "quantitative easing" (enriching George Soros and OTHER wealthy Demo-Rat contributors) than the REGULAR people having jobs.

In other words, there is that perception that corruption has been running DEEP in the U.S. political system for some time, and it's just gotten to the point where enough people are FED UP to elect a "non-politician" to the highest office to try and FIX it.

THAT, and get rid of the OBAKA-CARE and the OVERSPENDING and excessive regulations and taxation.

But it helps that Trump sounds a LOT like Ronald Reagan, and so far he's following in Reagan's footsteps pretty well, and has many Reagan-like promises to keep. Trump's tax plan is a LOT like Reagan's 1985 tax plan, for example. And Trump, like Reagan, is a former Demo-Rat [but he's forgiven, since he "repented", heh].

As for "Her Royal Heinous" Mrs. Clinton, Mother of Lies and Empress of Discord, she represents the WORST in politics, as well as corruption and fraud and deceit and constant lying. USians are just sick of it all, really, and so it's "anti-establishment" and welcome "the outsider".

And watch, OBAKA _will_ pardon her!

bombastic bob Silver badge
Pint

Re: and we thought brexit was a bloody stupid decision

I thought Brexit was an AWESOME sign of the times, and so is Trump's victory. Both very similar, in a way. Yeah the lefties will hate it, but there ya go.

And all of the U.S. people on their way to Canada to escape a Trump presidency? Don't let the door hit you on the backside on the way out!

(I expect the downvotes from the usual people - doesn't change a thing, either)

But don't worry, the UK will benefit from a stronger USA. And from Brexit as well. I'm looking forward to it.

(beer icon in celebration of it all)

The big day is here and it's time to decide: Patch Flash, Windows, Office or Android first?

bombastic bob Silver badge
WTF?

malformed flash media files... ?

"The vulnerabilities could be used by an attacker for remote code execution by way of malformed Flash media files."

Adobe programmers must be a COLOSSAL PILE OF FAIL if they're *STILL* dealing with FLASH VULNERABILITIES like this...

I mean, SERIOUSLY: have they NOT heard of PARAMETER VALIDATION and BUFFER LENGTH CHECKING??? Why can't they just run a SIMPLE sanity check on EVERY file before playing it? Or every segment, as needed. Whatever. Point is, if they are storing things in the file that COULD cause buffer overruns or 'wild writes' within RAM space, then they're TOTALLY INCOMPETENT as far as software is concerned.

And I would say that it REFLECTS ON THE QUALITY OF THE ENTIRE COMPANY'S PRODUCTS.

IPv4 is OVER. Really. So quit relying on it in new protocols, sheesh

bombastic bob Silver badge
WTF?

Re: Where I am working right now

"an old, no longer maintained application whose license was tied to ... why yes, the IP address of the server."

does it have anything to do with a cert? [yeah I realize you COULD hard-code an IP address into a cert, but that's what DNS is supposed to be for...]

Hitler's wife's lovely lilac knickers fetch £2,900 at auction

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

"Cheaper in Japan"

And now, before even seeing that video, I'm thinking of Happosai [from Ranma 1/2] saying "what a haul, what a haul!" as he runs around dressed like a sneak thief, with a large bag over his shoulder filled with stolen ladies' undergarments...

RIP EarthLink, 1994–2016: From AOL killer to regional ISP's attic

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

I still use Earthlink DSL because it's cheap. dammit.

Well, I still use Earthlink DSL because it's cheap. I get a fixed IPv4 address at a reasonable cost [which I need for various reasons, from incoming mail to sshd and DNS] for about $65/month, but the 3rd party DSL service that they contract to is the *WORST* [and, no doubt, the CHEAPEST].

A lot of the mediocre service level is ALSO the phone company's fault [old wires], a lot of that is the quality of their DSL equipment, and all too often they acted as if they were just "writing me off". For a while, when the lines were having trouble, and even when THEIR NETWORK had trouble, I resorted to SCREAMING OVER THE PHONE to stop them from doing a 2 hour "boiler plate" to figure out what _I_ ALREADY! KNEW!!! And that overly-thick India accent... they didn't even TRY to disguise it! Bluh-duh-bluh-duh-bluh it sounded like to me, over the phone, and half the time they'd let the microphone drop too far from their faces and so I was CONSTANTLY saying "*PLEASE* speak LOUDER" or "CLEARLY" or just "I can't understand ANYTHING you are SAYING!!!".

And I've known and worked with MANY people from India before, including a good friend when I was in High School. None of them talked THAT way at all. THEIR accents were mild, and easy to understand. However, THESE Earthlink "SUPPORT" idiots must be "THE CHEAPEST" phone support on the PLANET, because they're acting like CRAP-QUALITY BOILER-PLATE ANAL-RENTENTIVE ROBOTS stuck in a "GOTO 10" loop. And the people on the PHONE had ALL had HORRIBLY THICK ACCENTS, and talked TOO quickly, and were CONDESCENDING, and ROBOTICALLY FRUSTRATING, and IRRITATING as HELL. "HELL DESK" indeed...

And since the problem was *ALWAYS* either a) bad phone lines [which the phone company admitted to, and fixed, when the actual VOICE connection stopped working], or the EARTHLINK NETWORK [when my login stopped working, but I had "decent" loopback response and SNR and tones and modulation on the diagnostic screens], they would STILL want me to REBOOT MY COMPUTER, and took NEARLY a FREAKING WEEK to fix it. And when they just HAD to say "what operating system" EVERY! FREAKING! TIME! I said 'FreeBSD', and repeated it a dozen times, and it's like I was speaking MARTIAN to them or something. So I just gave up on their INCOMPETENCE and INSISTED on SPEAKING WITH A MANAGER, EVERY! SINGLE! TIME!!!

The WORST thing that happend was when they CAPPED MY BANDWIDTH at 384kbaud for a while. I didn't know they'd done that, until AFTER the phone lines had been fixed, and I SCREAMED at them over the phone for at least an HOUR until they REMOVED it. THEN, I got the expected 768k to 1mbit [depending on the weather, time of day, etc] since the phone lines had been re-routed by the phone company [they were tired of coming out to fix another high noise or outage on my line]. Lucky me, the house I'm renting is at the END of the phone cable. Literally. And because of GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE, even though there's a BUDGET for "undergrounding" the lines [meaning they get REPLACED], the phone company hasn't gotten to "my neighborhood" yet because they *HAVE* *TO* *UPGRADE* *A* *POOR* *NEIGHBORHOOD* *FOR* *EVERY* *MIDDLE* *CLASS* *NEIGHBORHOOD* *THEY* *DO* (because, STUPID POLITICS) so they've put off "undergrounding" for at least 10 years in MY area, and the wires are 50 years old, yotta yotta yotta. you get the idea.

The ONLY saving grace is that it's CHEAP. The service "was what it was" back in the early 00's, and seemed to be a BETTER deal than 'business cable'. I needed the FIXED IPv4 ADDRESS. So THAT became the determining factor. AND, 15 years later, if it did not cost more than $120/month to upgrade to something BETTER now (like 'business cable'), and I had the $$$ up front and 3 year contract requirement wasn't a problem, I would have DUMPED them already. But the cable company was recently changed from 'Time Warner' to 'Spectrum', and now the DSL service is changing, too. Instability. Yeah.

Today I'm getting ~800kbits which is "acceptable" for what _I_ normally do. It's PATHETIC by MOST people's standards, sure, but it's what _I_ can get. I don't have DAYS to spend searching for better, either, nor the cash to have a PROPER wire run to a house I'm RENTING. I need to spend my time EARNING MONEY or seeking the opportunity to earn money. So I continue to put up with the BARELY ACCEPTABLE service, and DIETIES HELP ME if I *EVAR* need tech support from Earthlink, or whatever it's called now.

(at least they support USENET)

'Inventor of email' receives damages from Gawker's collapsed empire

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I've been called a dick once or twice

and _I_ invented inventing claims of inventing. send ME even MORE money!

bombastic bob Silver badge
Happy

rfc561

yes. the date. excellent point!

And there was this CDC 'Cyber' system in use by the state of california university system, which had, *cough*, e-mail on it. and there was this guy in 1978 at SJSU who had written an e-mail system for the on-campus timesharing minicomputer (running RSTS/E on a PDP-11/70). His name wasn't "that guy" either.

There was also another guy, an associate prof, who accessed ARPANET e-mail over a phone connection.

So yeah, I call B.S. on that idiot's "invented" claims of inventing e-mail in the _LATE_ 70's. RFC's 821 and 822 notwithstanding, of course.

Ubuntu Core Snaps door shut on Linux's new Dirty COWs

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Do You Really Expect This to Work?

"The only real solution is, well, planned obsolescence."

yeah we'll have your web-capable self-driving car just STOP WORKING one day. Fun.

Seriously, though, I proposed 2 possible solutions that would actually WORK, both of them involving ssh. Phone applications would be forced to tunnel into your private address space to access IoT devices. Anything with a publically-facing IP could (in theory) ssh tunnel into a 3rd party "connection" service for similar tunneling capability, in case it has a dynamically assigned IP.

maybe I could experiment with this. I got a couple of arduinos, some sensors, and a couple of WiFly shields banging around... set up a very private LAN for those things, etc.. Write a 'droid application to tunnel through and use TCP/IP through the tunnel to access the devices, for proof of concept. Yeah, might work!

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: NOT the solution for internet of infected things

the real solution is a lot more obvious: don't expose them to the public intarwebs without a secure shell of some kind that uses an actual LOGIN...

best way to handle that is an ssh tunnel capability in your firewall. that would mean running sshd on every firewall system out there (quite possibly on a fixed IPv4 address, or an IPv6 address), with PROPER security even, and allowing ONLY properly credentialed users to secure-tunnel into your network to access the devices (say 'phone application with an assigned ssh cert'). THEN all of the IOT devices won't use UPnP to tunnel past the firewall and listen on the intarwebs, or even use publically viewable IPv6 addresses for the same purpose, but would INSTEAD listen on a private LAN IP [and/or non-public IPv6]. The sshd login would then become the 'single point of failure' so the firewall makers would have to goad people into setting it up PROPERLY, then SHUT! OFF! THAT! HIDEOUS! SECURITY! CRATER! known as 'UPnP support on the router'.

/me notes my FreeBSD computer serves as firewall, router, IPv6 tunnel, web server, and sshd for remote access, on a fixed IP, with a 'godaddy registered' name server running, and a few other things. Ok most people don't want this, but if EVERYBODY HAD TO DO THIS to get IoT to work right, it would be a HELL of a lot more secure!

the alternative would be a cloud-based "solution" involving a) a 3rd party sshd-based cloudy server, b) connect to it from your network directly using a daemon/service/whatever to connect your LAN to the service, and c) tunnel through that connection from the 3rd party sshd, through that daemon/service/whatever [which could JUST be ssh invoked with the proper parameters], so that the connection works on both ends.

Anyway, IoT devices using such a service would be as secure as the ssh config. But at least it would become a stumbling block to scanning the ENTIRE address space looking for poorly configured TELNET on IoT devices...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Joke Alert? 4 Richard Plinston

"When the initial retail Windows 95 came out it did not connect to the internet* but instead only connected to the original MSN, a private network for Win95 only."

not entirely true. The 'plus pack' had Intarweb Exploiter in it, and I think it was a free download if you subscribed to MSN at that time, which ALSO installed a *real* WINSOCK connection to the intarwebs. I forget the details since I beta tested MSN before '95 was released, as well as '95 itself [and the plus pack - Hover was a pretty cool game] so I snarfed up a really cool MSN login/e-mail name with no suffix numbers [the only reason I keep sending them $4.95 per month, to keep it; that, and the 'emergency' dial-in access for those times that I've needed it].

Ah yes, the days when the number of search engines were few, and many of them were manually edited for appropriate links and content, and Mirsky's "Worst of the Web". And no F'ing JAVASCRIPT.

But seriously, '95 came WITH dial-up internet access if you subscribed to MSN. Out of the box. CompuServe didn't have that for another year or so.

bombastic bob Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Snap! saviour of the universe?

Snap! we just B0RKED your device with the latest update that you couldn't shut off. sorry.

(that's where the "windows-like" comes in)

Google knifes Eclipse Android Developer Tools

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

talk with parentheses

"I'm impressed someone could actually talk with parentheses!"

like finger quotes, except you cup your hands, facing inwards. Cupping hands upwards would be how I "feel" heh heh heh.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

Re: Android Studio

you had me up to the iOS comment. no up nor down now.

I think Android Studio is about as good as Micro-shaft's developer studio, and it has MANY of the same *kinds* of irritations and quirks that you have to learn to work around.

Since I'm privately working on my OWN cross-platform IDE with an appropriate C-language compatible toolkit, I _can_criticize. Unfortunately I lack time+funds to complete it in a short period of time. Interestingly the VACUUM for a decent IDE is still THERE.

Some of the worst aspects of Micro-shaft's development IDE are present in Android Studio, starting with the cumbersome nature of 'Auto Complete', the "hands off the keyboard" properties "thing" in the screen editor, and [worst yet] the *HIDEOUS* behavior of said screen editor when you make even the *TINIEST* of changes, and watch your entire screen RE-ARRANGE on you in the most HORRIBLE fashion. It's caused me to SCREAM PROFANITIES.

Then there's the automatic code formatting. K&R style? REALLY? How about a *SINGLE BUTTON* to change it to ALLMAN STYLE for THE REST OF US, and *THEN* *KEEP* *THE* *STYLE* *SETTINGS* *INTACT* if you zip/tarball the project and copy it to a DIFFERENT COMPUTER (like multiple people working on it, via e-mail or something) ???

It takes *WAY* *TOO* *MUCH* *DAMN* *TIME* to set up for Allman style. You have to change SO many things in SO many places. And how can you turn it *OFF*? Maybe there's a way, but it's SO hard to find things like that, it's almost worth "just changing all of those OTHER things".

So I wouldn't call it "light years ahead", but it DOES have a number of useful features, and from within a Linux VM, CAN! BE! SET! UP! TO! RUN! ON! THE! HOST! DISPLAY!!!

Yes. I do occasional 'droid development in a Linux VM, with the USB device forwarded [virtualbox], on a FreeBSD host. the latest 64-bit Mint does pretty well for that.

/vent complete, hence the mushroom cloud

Computer forensics defuses FBI's Clinton email 'bombshell'

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: @bombasticbob, Big John etc.

crimes are crimes. NOBODY is above the law. A local congress-dude, Randy Cunningham, war hero and conservative Republican, was taking bribes in various forms, and went to jail for it. No sympathy. Even though he was a good guy MOST of the time, he broke the damn law, and deserved the punishment. Sad, though. I'd say the same for Powell (if he's guilty of something) or anyone else that gets convicted of things LIKE mishandling classified information, for having a separate e-mail address in violation of national security laws (etc.).

The question on Powell is whether or not classified information was involved. He might be fined and given probation for a simple "oh crap" violation, particularly if it was negligent. If classified info was put at risk [as was apparently the case for Mrs. Clinton], and ESPECIALLY if people died because of it (like in the Ben Ghazi incident, where classified details of that situation may have been in e-mails on Mrs. Clinton's server, and may also have been downloaded by foreign enemies, and investigation SHOULD be done to determine whether or not this is the case), in such a situation where people may DIE because of leaked classified information, Mrs. Clinton most DEFINITELY deserves JAIL TIME.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

Re: I fully expect down votes on this...

" one classified (or more sensitive) email is 1 too many."

I agree, and shall expand:

"For official use only" - can compromise military readiness or policies that take away advantage or put the country at a disadvantage in any kind of war or conflict. Example, the press shows up at a beach landing of U.S. marines, and gets in the way. Yes, this has happened.

"Confidential" - is likely to compromise military readiness, or take away advantages, etc. example, significant improvements in foreign anti-submarine warfare and submarine technology suddenly "happening" due to the activities of 'the Walkers' back in the 80's...

"Secret" - is likely to comprise agents or soldiers in the field, possibly getting them killed. No example, though I can think of a few. Best not to go there.

"Top Secret" - serious harm to defense, lots of people killed, and so forth. A 'top secret' thing might be a device that allows a ship, plane, or platoon of soldiers to be undetectable, or a new type of weapon that could easily end (or prevent) a war. Even knowledge of its existence would be a serious problem. The manhattan project is probably the best example of this.

(when referring to such a secret, in a conversation to those to whom such a secret has been disclosed, it is not uncommon to use a generic term, like "the device" or "the gadget" or similar, NOT even using the real name that both parties are fully aware of, to avoid disclosure)

Mrs. Clinton was authorized for Top Secret (and possibly 'eyes only') information. And when I was in the military, you didn't get this, even if you had clearance, unless you had "need to know". It's treated VERY seriously, for obvious reasons. If ANY of that information went onto her non-government insecure e-mail server, which she OBVIOUSLY kept for DISHONORABLE purposes (i.e. HIDING things from 'freedom of information'), it was a CRIME.

bombastic bob Silver badge

Re: Here's the math that does not add up

"Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates"

using an insecure server to communicate this information, in violation of the law (which Mrs. Clinton DID do), would be sufficient. State Department employees were REQUIRED to use a government server for all of their communications, primarily because of the 'Freedom of Information' act, and also because of the classified nature of many of their communications.

For several high profile people (like General Petraeus), this was sufficient. But Mrs. Clinton is "above the law" in the eyes of the Obaka administration's justice department, and THAT is why it's 'at issue' right now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Petraeus#Criminal_charges_and_probation

in short, UNAUTHORIZED REMOVAL AND RETENTION of classified material was what he plead guilty to. That _could_ be a) Mrs. Clinton's e-mail server, OR b) Huma's husband's laptop

either would be sufficient to qualify as 'removal and retention', and since it was NOT 'authorized', it becomes a punishable CRIME.

Petraeus essentially got a public 'noodle whipping' but that was about it. Probation and a big fat fine. Could have been a LOT worse.

Mrs. Clinton, on the other hand, gets lots of HOWLER MONKEY NOISE in her favor, and the willing media fanbois trying to OBFUSCATE it all, and make her President, in spite of it.

because, the CLINTONS are ABOVE the LAW. [and THIS is why they should be prosecuted to the FULLEST EXTENT, because they've been so ARROGANT about it for SO long!]

let's see if this is too far down the list of replies to get the dozens of howler-monkey downvotes...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Just let Obama continue while they sort this out

Obaka probably WILL pardon Mrs. Clinton, regardless of the election's outcome, for the same reasons that Ford pardoned Nixon.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Wrong headline?

"by sending this information only to Republicans."

that actually did NOT happen. All members of Con-Grab got "the memo".

interesting spin, though. The rumor mill has apparently altered a few facts in order to portray a political motive.

(like the downvote ratio I've been receiving for anything anti-Clinton or pro-Trump)

Didn't BREXIT get similar downvote ratios here? It's a good sign! Yeah, I thought BREXIT was a pretty good idea, said so a few times, gave some references to 'El Reg' articles that showed how the Brussels "overseers" had been slowly tightening the screws on UK, made some references to the US revolution in 1776, etc. and got plenty of "howler monkey" downvotes because of it.

[and the Cubs won the world series, too! imagine that!]

it's all 'signs of the times'. We'll see what happens on Tuesday. I am pretty optimistic.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

Re: Governmental emails had already been provided

"3) How are the accusations against Bill Clinton around sexual misbhaviour relevant to email retention?"

it's the COVERUP part that's important. Mrs. Clinton has a history of coverups. It seems to extend throughout her entire career.

"4) You should really provide a link to this supposed 'lost evidence' "

http://www.hannity.com/articles/election-493995/listen-rape-victim-speaks-out-about-15196170/

"Clinton’s defense team requested its own testing of the underwear, but it ended up being 'accidentally destroyed' by the 'independent' lab."

what's NOT told, in snopes, the ABC article I found, and a few other places, is WHEN the evidence was lost. They all admit it was lost. That's the basis of Mrs. Clinton's (then Miss Rodham) argument for getting the defendent off with an extremely light sentence. THAT and the polygraph, which anyone properly trained can defeat. examples, put thumbtacks in your shoes, and give yourself a dose of pain for EVERY true answer, and every lie that you want called "truth".

/me comments I don't need drugs. I'm just fine the way I am, howler monkeys and amateur shrinks notwithstanding.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Megaphone

What's truly important here...

what's TRULY important here isn't the volume of relevant e-mails, but rather the potential proof that OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE was happening from the Clint-stones, just like what happened in Watergate when Nixon tried to cover up the Watergate hotel break-in [regardless of how justifiable it was; McGovern was a closet COMMUNIST, and I bet Nixon wanted PROOF].

It was the COVERUP that took down Nixon.

COVERUP is nothing new to Mrs. Clinton. The shredding of 'White Water' documents back in the 90's - documents from the Rose Law firm that somehow ended up in the White House - in addition to her handling of the 'Bimbo Eruptions' [THEIR name for it], and a few other things I can't remember the details on at the moment. There has even been SOME evidence to suggest that evidence was DELIBERATELY TAMPERED WITH in Mrs. Clinton's first major law case, as 'Hillary Rodham', defending the rapist of a 12 year old girl, and getting him off with 'time served', because the rape evidence had become "lost" [while in HER custody].

It might not even require 32k e-mails (i.e. "the 5 percent") to make a difference here. All you need is just a handful that clearly demonstrate either Obstruction of Justice, or outright mishandling or illegal disclosure of classified information, to be enough for a conviction.

But yeah, 95% of the 650,000 is just about right. Investigators have been talking about the 30,000 or so "missing" e-mails for a while. Why _WERE_ they 'missing' ? Inquiring minds want to know!

Teen in the dock on terror apologist charge for naming Wi-Fi network 'Daesh 21'

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Next time...

Ecky ecky pkang ZOOOM boing...

Microsoft puts Windows Updates on a diet with 'differential downloads'

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

Re: My approach to Windows updates

you missed a step:

- Get VERY frustrated with Win-10-nic, and install LINUX instead

problem solved