Posts by bombastic bob

BBC points Russians to the Tor version of itself

Re: "shut down"

some of that depends on the design. Usually in an emergency they would drop all control rods to the bottom and then inject a boron-rich "poison" into the coolant (typically this is part of how power levels are controlled anyway), sufficient to keep the thing from re-starting under any circumstance. Then, since civilian reactors (with lower enrichment) typicall have positive temp coefficients, as long as decay heat is removed criticality will never be reached (or if a lack of heat removal melts the core, for that matter). This can typically be done by bleeding steam if nothing else is available. For "reasons" if worse things happen (like overpressure, uncovered core, etc.) the physics would (or maybe 'should') not support criticality.

So once the reactor is poisoned and any emergency cooling systems have been enabled, it would remain shut down. It could melt, but it wouldn't restart (unless the design really really sucked).

Fukushima (in part) was similar to the worst case scenario. The reactors shut down but decay heat apparently caused meltdowns and Zr-water reactions (which produces hydrogen gas bubbles inside the core and whatnot), but as far as I know they did not regain criticality. The emergency shutdowns apparently prevented an uncontrolled restart but the lack of electricity did nothing to remove decay heat. And so, "it happened".

Still, horrible disaster averted in Ukraine.

Re: The nuke power station attack was not accidental

I think he just wanted the power to go out...

If Putin wanted fallout to blow towards neighboring countries on the west, he could have either dropped a ground detonation at the Chernobyl site (possibly as effective as a dirty nuke bomb), or used an *actual* nuke.

Occam's Razor. Putin has been knocking out infrastructure. It's almost more like terrorism and intimidation, so that people cower in fear and give up the will to fight back. THAT would be a Soviet tactic and is the most likely explanation.

Re: The twat-O-tron redux, I guess

here i was thinking of something snarky to add, but I'll say 'thanks' instead

encryption and anonymization are necessary to ensure that people remain free, particularly free of draconian surveillance and "fishing expeditions", or worse, "social credit scores" and political cancel culture. And, "modern" gummints can be JUST AS EVIL as "old school" or communist ones, In My Bombastic Opinion.

Canadian Truckers, do you know what I mean?

Internet backbone Cogent cuts Russia connectivity

Re: Smart guys in Russia

In some ways I actually pity the Russian soldiers. They're typically conscripts, are being ordered to their death and to kill civilians by a megalomaniac that apparently wants to BRING BACK THE SOVIET UNION, and when they realize they have been lied to (the Ukranians HATE them and are not thankful at ALL for their presence) their morale is extremely LOW.

Ideally I'd like to see them all lay down their arms and voluntarily walk into the custody of Ukrainian authorities as P.O.W.s but most likely they have family in Russia that Putin might actually cause to "get disappeared", unless they do what they're told.

Just thought I'd point that out.

Re: Would be best not to do this...

You have the CORRECT attitude about free speech!

(Thanks for saying it)

Re: Difficult choice to make

From the article: Which would make President Putin's attempt to censor the web a lot easier.

that's pretty close to my first impression when I began reading the article.

If what we do punishes "the little guy", we're doing it wrong.

Russia acknowledges sanctions could hurt its tech companies

Re: So....

they should only ban the RETURN flights back INTO Russia... (allowing people to escape)

(Just a thought)

not like anyone has enough room for the entire nation to escape as refugees, but still...

This war is absolutely unwinnable for Russia

From OUR perspective, yes (based on a couple of factors, one being that we generally agree Russia should have NEVER done this in the first place)

But from Putin's perspective, the general exercise of intimidation, terror and fear is most likely part of a GREATER plan. Otherwise why ELSE would he target civilians like this? Yes, Putin is a SOVIET ERA COMMUNIST, in no uncertain terms. Like Stalin.

(the 20th century, and Stalin, called Putin and they want their USSR back)

Google to wind down pandemic work-from-home

Re: Depends a lot on how you work

things like IRC and Slack help mitigate this

Re: WFH the new Normal?

consider the following as well:

a) the availability of high speed internet

b) the skyrocketing (soon to be worse) cost of gasoline/petrol/whatever-you-call-it

c) the time saved by NOT commuting

etc.

but the cost of living close to where you work is ALSO a major consideration, and can easily be turned upside down when you switch jobs... (as in you live in an expensive place because of old job, and now you have a long commute to go with the expensive cost at the NEW one until you move, etc. etc.)

In the tech industry, work-from-home makes more sense

(I have been doing this as a contractor for DECADES)

Re: What I learned from the Pandemic

Translation: Ba-a-a-a-a-ah

(enjoy your masking and hunker-in-the-bunker)

GNOME, Mono, Xamarin founder Miguel de Icaza leaves Microsoft

Re: Tomboy

ACK. It was a SEETHING MOMENT of HIDEOUS from my perspective... (fortunately got corrected once the flames subsided, though it took WAY longer than I would have preferred)

Re: Stockholm syndrome

when the "choices" that projects and companies make fall IN LOCKSTEP with the HORRIBLE/BAD directions that Micros~1 often takes (starting with the 2D FLATTY FLATSO McFLATFACE FLATASS look of Windows since 8.0) I have to wonder how "benevelent" their influence is...

(Gnome since 3.0 is a CLASSIC example)

I like gnome before 3.0 - which is why I use MATE instead. And *NO* *FLATASS* *THEMES* on *MY* *DESKTOP* !!! (Adwaita, PACK SAND! I jump through hoops to make that GO AWAY)

Chinese rocket junk may have just smashed into Moon

The E.T.s are gonna be FURIOUS, chucking space junk at them!

Leaked stolen Nvidia key can sign Windows malware

Re: So what happens now?

driver certs: a Charlie Foxtrot "Circular Fire Drill" by any other name

the whole "driver signing" system needs to be DUMPED. no more automaticaly trusting kernel drivers just because they're "signed". I bet this whole "driver signing" nonsensical CRAP has CREATED more problems than it EVAR solved (especially for small time independent developers and OPEN SOURCE in general, having to "pay the toll" to ship or even COMPILE a driver binary from source - noting that for video drivers, you do not have many options available to you OTHER than driver signing)

(And, THiS is just one example of why - think 'stolen keys to a back door' and you're opn the right track)

(thankfully this driver signing fiasco is NOT on my FreeBSD or Linux desktops)

Russia’s invasion kicks Senate into cybersecurity law mode

Re: Not just governmental targets

Fail2ban (and things like it) help with that (but you probably knew already and may be using it). THAT and the obvious config things which no doubt you have already done. (or you could just turn it off which apparently you did but sometimes you need ssh access for various reasons)

Still worth a mention.

(I am seeing a bit more ativity as well, but nothing out of the ordinary, really)

I've just seen some of this kind of activity coming from Tor exit points, though... some of the Fail2ban mails on 3/1, also showed activity that was a bit higher [as well as at least one Tor exit point being used], which suggests it may not be just compromised boxen hitting the world (the usual activity) but possibly someone with actual intent. This one in particular tried twice (2 different days) to log in as 'root' but of course root logins are just plain disabled (and as it is FreeBSD, you have to first su to a 'wheel' group user from a valid login before you can su to 'root' but I have no authorized logins for wheel group users either, so that means 2 hoops to jump through and I do not make it easy).

I am considering making a chart of Fail2ban bans to indicate activity...

Re: Air gaps don't work

100% agree

(also need to convince IDIOTS inside the USA to stop getting in the way of our domestic oil production, if for no other reason than to make sure EU and UK do not collapse economically - remember that leading up to 2020 the USA was a NET EXPORTER of oil, and gummint policies in early 2021 SHUT IT DOWN, which one could argue made Putin and his cronies RICHER and empowered his attack on Ukraine)

Re: Air gaps don't work

it was air-gapped from the article

(I guess they DO work!)

TikTok under investigation in US over harms to children

Re: I don't know, but

is "think of the children" just an excuse for something else?

yes

Re: At the risk of...

I do not see how you got "getting at China" out of what he said.

Besides, we do not want our children's online profiles [via various tracking methods] stored in a database in China anyway.

And if they're targeting videos (instead of ads), there MUST be a database SOMEWHERE to use for their targeting algorithm.

(And if it's in China, a "social credit score" to go along with it)

Agreed on FaeceBan, Tw[a,i]tter, InstaCram, CrapChat, and all the rest of 'em. We can just START with TikTok. [anti-]Social Media needs to be liable for lawsuits over a great many things, instead of BEING PROTECTED FROM THEM. (maybe THOSE laws should be CHANGED)

[I am at a loss for a proper 'hacker name' for TikTok. Maybe TskTsk but that sounds kinda lame in my headl]

Also, worthy of note: Parents need to keep their kids off of anti-social media as a condition of getting their nice cell phones; If they cannot do it, let them have dumb phones instead with prepaid minutes for emergency use only [like what I do for myself, heh]. And similar for their computers. And so on.

Fancy some new features? Try general-purpose Linux alternative Liquorix

Re: I'm guessing that Devuan might [not] be able to use the Debian kernel?

ok thanks - I had never compiled a non-embedded Linux kernel, nor one above version 2.6 . It has been a while. Dynamic kernel modules have eliminated the need, for the most part (I have compiled quite a number of those, however, separate from the kernel compiling). And as I'm not busy trying to fit a Linux kernel into a 2M flash [actually did that] there has not been any need.

(so yeah, good to know)

I'm guessing that Devuan might [not] be able to use the Debian kernel?

not sure if the kernel has an option to NOT use systemd though... (as I recall the init system main program's path and file name have to be compiled into the kernel, not sure what this implies in 2022 except that maybe this kernel will not work with Devuan)

it has been a while since I had to compile a Linux kernel. I used to do it a lot for embedded stuff. It's probably an option in 'make config' though I nearly always used 'make oldconfig' so setting it up was a REALLY long time ago... (and not done very often)

Russia is the advanced persistent threat that just triggered. Ready?

Re: "Where does Putin nuke that wouldn't actually hasten his own end?"

Not that Putin is Hitler of course

Don't be so sure... the comparison is becoming clearer In My Bombastic Opinion...

If nothing else, he's a short statured control freak with delusions of world domination and an army that's capable of starting a war of conquest in Europe in response to perceived grievances by neighboring countries, while simultaneously lying to his own people about it and stifling protests and dissent through fear and intimidation.

But, admittedly, Hitler was a better general. Putin's tactics seem to be focused around TERROR and INTIMIDATION, which is why he has a 40 mile long convoy with an obvious destination just sitting there waiting to be strafed, why he sent assassins to take out Zelenskyy (and they were 'eliminated'), why this has been the opposite of Gulf War I from Putini's perspective, yotta yotta and his army's morale is at an all time low from what I understand. And there may be a bit of an attitude about ethnic Ukrainians not dissimilar to the way Hitler treated Jewish people.

And evil men do evil. There's also that, yeah.

Re: "Where does Putin nuke that wouldn't actually hasten his own end?"

There is a very real possibility that he will use nuclear weapons not to save himself, but to take everyone else with him.

This is why Russia (i.e. the people themselves) needs to make Putin go away. It could very well be their own survival at stake.

Apparently Putin is already rounding up protesters, but the protests continue. But protests are not enough. I'm surprised if Putin's generals aren't waiting for the right time for a coup d'état, or something very very similar.

I wonder how Kaspersky will do once Putin has been ousted...

Unrelated, mil.ru is no longer claiming to be a tea pot.

Re: Between that

it is worth pointing out that MOST people seem to believe that pollution and environmental damage are bad, that environmental cleanup is good, and that clean air, clean water, etc. are all very very good things.

The assumption that "the right wing" wants dirty air, dirty water, and gross pollution everywhere is as bad as assuming that all environmentalists are commies.

However it seems that those at the front of the 'green' movement, with their shrill anti-scientific claims about various aspects of their movement [that I shall not enumerate at this time], ARE generally the 'watermelon' types, at least In My Bombastic Opinion, especially when you look at the SOLUTIONS to the alleged problems that they have proposed...

Apple seeks patent for 'innovation' resembling the ZX Spectrum, C64 and rPi 400

Re: Output?

I loved the way the red shirts saturated the screen.

some of the red saturation may have been caused by the physics of the older TV picture tubes. Red phosphors were not as bright so you had to turn the electron gun up to 11 to get any brightness in the red range. As such, a really bright red would too easily saturate. It was a compromise of screens that were too dim to begin with and extending the life of the picture tube beyond the warranty period. Go fig, right?

(I have seen this happen with cheap TVs made in the 90's, too)

Concern over growing reach of proprietary firmware BLOBs

Re: Well, like it or not

A lot of the problems with BLOBS have to do with wireless drivers, which are regulated in that they must not be easily modified to transmit on illegal frequencies or at illegal power levels.

Not saying it's a GOOD thing, just saying it's justified. Pointing to the REAL problem, government regulatory agencies and the laws that force manufacturers to abide by them.

Also not saying that a free-for-all in transmit power, frequencies, and RF interference in general is a good thing either...

(an imperfect world filled with imperfections)

as for things like video drivers (and I'm talking about YOU NVidia) they are difficult to fix bugs in if you keep them closed source...

President Biden calls for ban on social media ads aimed at kids

Re: 15% minimum tax rate ? Great idea.

You already know what MY answer would be - Starts with a 'T'

You forget that GUMMINT does not solve these kinds of problems. It only GETS IN THE WAY and demands a toll...

(lots of feely words, that do not mean what you think they mean, tickling people's ears and manipulating them into going along with things they would otherwise NEVER agree to, until "it happens" and then you realize what a total Charlie Foxtrot that turned into when you capitulated and went along with it. Too late.)

Ukraine seeks volunteers to defend networks as Russian troops menace Kyiv

Re: '...any strange outages should be treated as "a computer attack."...'

Hey - a SICKOUT!

Brilliant idea! I wonder how many Russian sysadmins would just do this in a way of protesting the war?

Re: Ukraine should make the stakes higher

Maybe he was thinking of Sellafield...

Re: Ukraine should make the stakes higher

no. if they blow up anything,it should be directly related to the Russian invasion, something of high military value, with no civilian casualties.

(false flag operations like that do not get you any friends around the world, at a time when Ukraine needs more friends and no criticism)

Re: Sink the Russian fleet

as I see it, the smartest move (now that there are bullets and bombs involved) is to continue to supply Ukrainian resistance as best as be can, staging equipment, food, etc. in neighboring countries like Poland (where if the Putinator attacks he draws NATO into it), then keep the supplies and humanitarian aid flowing in as best as possible. So far that's what I see happening already.

But as for sanctions, they might sting Vlad and his buddies but they do not bite him (nobody wants to do the obvious, i.e. have USA supply EU oil instead of Russia). And I think diplomacy should be shelved for a while, until Vlad is ready to come back to the table. Sometimes you just have to walk away and say "No" instead of begging for another meeting.

Additional troops in NATO countries, for an obvious defense against further aggression, would be a VERY prudent move.

According to Sun Tzu, it's supplies that ultimately determine the outcome in long term campaigns. I think the world can supply Ukraine, and it would cost us a LOT less than Vlad the Putinator would be paying to supply his OWN forces.

(sorta like "lend lease" in WW2)

Re: Not optional

I have known someone from Belarus (recent co-worker, left for different company). Apparently they had an election in 2020 that resulted in FULL BLOWN RIOTS, because the Putin puppet was "elected" while the POPULAR guy was NOT...

Vlad the Putinator's puppet leaders are NOT popular, and governing against the will of the people will ALWAYS fail... eventually, at any rate.

Re: No Fecesbook for Russia?

exactly.

Re: No help required!

I wonder if the Russian people really understand where this dinosaur is taking them.

I've known a number of Russians, and indirectly dealt with 'behind the iron curtain' kinds of things way way long ago in the past. They know. They just do not say anything, because if they do, it's likely to lead to arrests or "getting disappeared". Vlad thinks like a Soviet KBG agent, and that's how he would deal with dissent, maybe by labeling these people as traitors or even terrorists.

But, I'm sure the Russian people know what's going on. They know.

Re: ...to form a negative image of the Russian Federation

Ukrainian resistance tactics are proving effective.

Yes. At least for now. But even if they ultimately fail, it HAS to be done. it reminds me of something I saw in an attorney's office: a snake trying to eat a mouse, but the mouse was strangling the snake in defiance. You HAVE to resist. Always.

I honestly believe that MOST Russians do NOT want this. But, if they speak out they run the risk of being arrested or simply "get disappeared".

All indications seem to be that Russian troop morale is unusually low, and without support of the people, it will inevitably mean the end of Vlad the Putinator's political career. But he still has his finger on the button that could blow up the world. I think Russia needs to stop him ASAP. He's less of a swaggering narcisist now, more of a madman with weapons of mass destruction available at a moment's notice.

Interestingly, from a cyber security standpoint, the Anonymous Hacking Group is apparently busy defacing Russian media and other web sites...

Your app deleted all my files. And my wallpaper too!

Re: Concepts are hard to understand

So they put directories on their desktop, and organise their files there. I guess that's a win for you?

bad habits dating back to Windows 3.x days? (I also saw some '9x users doing that sort of thing a LOT, back in the day, usually $BOSS or $EXECUTIVE)

that's [a] winDOZE for you

(bad PUN-ishment was invading my brain, had to let it out...)

Re: Did you get to use the ShockyStick(TM)?

barbeque mode is a bit much... "Digestive system evacuation" aka "call the janitor" mode should be sufficient...

US imposes sanctions as Russia invades Ukraine

Re: Freezing Russian assets is the way to stop Putin

well if _CERTAIN POLITICIANS_ were not trying to STOP oil drilling and fracking and coal mining in the USA, the USA (as proved ~2 years ago) could EASILY supply UK and EU with all of the fossil fuels you need, in a nice stable way. Just sayin'.

Re: Freezing Russian assets is the way to stop Putin

Cash, yes ( I doubt they would even understand how to use Bitcoin... )

Preferably in a plain unmarked envelope, under the table.

about becoming the Belarus of China, you are not wrong...

But China would simply do their "4th shift" illegal cloning and stolen technology thing, and sell a bunch of that to Russia (as well as the usual 'for china only' market). And they've been alleged to have stolen cutting edge tech (like for 5G) from U.S. companies and universities in the past. It makes this particular threat (sanctioning all chip exports to Russia that have U.S. tech in them, for example) a speed bump, not a road block.

(NOTE - back in the noughties I worked for a company that had stuff made in China and saw a photo at a meeting of a component that was illegally cloned in China. it was obviously an illegal clone, most likely made from an X ray of the original, having fuzzy edges on the embedded copper component. The funny thing is that it was an antenna, and it was cleverly designed so that the company logo in the copper affected its impedance, and the logo, albeit a bit fuzzy, was there in the illegal clone, too. Talk about evidence of hands in the cookie jar...)

Re: Freezing Russian assets is the way to stop Putin

with no carrot, the stick can only go so far...

Yes, let's beat the donkey that has gotten used to a regular beating, and MAKE him do what we want!!!

(I think it has reached the point of no longer working)

You could also say that If you take away all of a child's toys, the kid won't respond well to his parents saying "If you do [not] XXX we'll take your toys away". And daily spankings take their effectiveness away as well.

(I'm comparing Putin to a small child and a JACKASS in case nobody figured it out)

Re: An illusoary stranglehold?

So we should do nothing and just look and say, oh that's not nice, please Putin at least stop there and don't be noughty.

The problem here is that the WRONG things are likely to be done. This is typical of governments.

In My Bombastic Opinion, the carrot and stick approach, from a position of ACTUAL power, would be the most effective. Right now (with things as they are) this would be WAY less effective than it would have been 3 years ago...

Sun Tzu _did_ talk about this kind of thing in his book...

I can see this being used as an excuse to ramp up the fracking.

which would be a VERY good thing, In My Bombastic Opinion.

(the end result would have major benefits like lowering world oil+gas prices, for starters)

What is it with cloud status pages not reflecting reality?

Rule #1 of Outage Club - do not talk about Outage Club!

The comments by the AWS spokes-droid at the end of the article are SO typical of the kinds of "There ARE no problems" spin-meistering you seem to get from governments and large corporations. Everything burning down around you, with frequent explosions and sounds of collapsing buildings near by, and it's a "minor problem" that you're "working on" and "everything's ok, no worries, la la la, in my own world now."

that 'reality' thing... "My beautiful bubbles, stop bursting them!!!" (a quote from a P.A. in one of my favorite video games)

icon, because, facepalm

Re: Automated status page..

It does not help when the status page is hosted by the troubled network...

'Hundreds of computers' in Ukraine hit with wiper malware as conflict continues

Re: "Of course you realize, this means war"

Daffy Duck had a more logical reason than Vlad the Putinator, that's for sure.

And with this, why isn't Micros~1 PANICKING about the malware being used this way???

(do they even CARE about end users?)