* Posts by bombastic bob

10507 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015

Ubuntu 21.10: Plan to do yourself an Indri? Here's what's inside... including a bit of GNOME schooling

bombastic bob Silver badge
Holmes

Re: Activities of the Damned

when I read about the rounded corners and comparison to Windows II I wonder if maybe the SAME driving force exists in BOTH the Gnome 3 and Windows desktop projects...

still I'll look forward to what Mint might do in its derived version, if for nothing else but updates and fixes to various things. I guess I'll need to update my Mint VM.

(I really do like the general stability of Ubu and Mint coupled with being slightly newer than Debian and Devuan, aside from the other obvious things)

Missouri governor demands prosecution of reporter for 'decoding HTML source code' and reporting a data breach

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Down

Re: Another example of the GoP leadership championing freedom

when Demo[n,c]rats do these things, I bet you say NOTHING. (my opinion this guy needs to hand in his Republican card and and exchange it for a HYPOCRISY card)

They are politicians, (allegedly) manipulative gaslighting dishonest ignoramuses, who's primary occupation is to get a bunch of people to [re]elect them every few years, and NOT do what is best for anyone EXCEPT themselves.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Down

Re: Dare I admit to the govenor ...

(see icon)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

Re: Dare I admit to the govenor ...

just don't install those tools on Linux, the 3v1L h4x0r OS of CHOICE...

(at that point it's lock-up-and-throw-away-the-key time)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Dare I admit to the govenor ...

last I checked ROT13 did not include numbers... nor dashes

(am I the only one who knows this? heh probably not, by a factor of EVERY! SINGLE! EL! REG! READER!)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: The Register - Organ of Record

He needs to forfeit his "Trump Card" then. Chances are he's only a Trump supporter to motivate the base to re-elect him. As another person said, "Typical politician".

On a related note, would you have had EQUAL kinds of criticism if he had been a DEMOCRAT?

(knee jerk reactions and manipulative gaslighting are their specialty, even MORE so than Republicans)

(Too many examples of this kind of arrogance+ignorance throughout government for too many years, frm DMCA to this current fear-based idiocy)

Boeing 737 Max chief technical pilot charged with deceiving US aviation regulators over MCAS

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

once the 737 MAX has been sufficiently scrutinized and fixed, it might become the safest plane in the air...

(and then I'd fly on it no problem)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Some extra info

stupid computers cannot spell and autocorrect just proves it

Space boffins: Exoplanet survived hydrogen-death of its host star

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: No way to get solar energy by then...

some time in the next billion years or so I think we'll just move to a different neighborhood. How long does terraforming take... ?

So far all of the speculations about "how many stars have planets" (before exoplanets were discovered, anyway) lowball reality by a significant amount. With current models, most (if not nearly all) stars have planets (including this white dwarf system). The next guesstimate, "how many can support earth life", suggests there are a LOT of potential new planets to discover and visit in the next billion years [and maybe terraform and live there] long before Sol runs out of gas.

within a couple of centuries it might be practical to use starships with fusion-based impulse engines, that can harvest liquified gasses from gas giants to spew out the tailpipe (you need mass more than velocity with an impulse engine for any kind of thrust efficiency) and accelerate to a high enough fraction of C so that the astronauts don't have to breed to keep the mission going... and a 100 year "earth time" mission becomes more reasonable, at least until FTL is invented at any rate.

Devuan debuts version 4.0 – as usual without a hint of the hated systemd

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: recent hardware

it could simply be that Debian's tendency to opt for stable vs cutting/bleeding edge (and Devuan being based on Debian) means that installing on bleeding edge hardware could always be an issue.

To save money I usually do not get bleeding edge anyway. Devuan works well for me. I think I'll try the new one on an RPi and see how that goes.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

ha ha ha ha oh were you being serious?

(laughing harder now)

Saturday start for NASA's Lucy probe on its 12-year quest to map Jupiter's Trojan asteroids

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Near Jupiter?

you do have a point (geometrically), though being part of the orbital system of Jupiter might (in some vague way) make them "near". Is there a better adjective for "a member of the orbital system" ??

(Greeks and Trojans for now I guess)

still kinda fun that the gravity depressions caused by Jupiter's L4 and L5 attract so many natural objects, many with (apparently) stable orbits. Well, we'll know for sure within the next decade or so.

I bet if you wanted a really cool space telescope you could do one at Earth's L4 or L5 if it has not already been done. Stable orbit and no nearby planets or moons to occlude or out-shine things, direct line of site for radio comms.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Coat

Re: Beware!

Crazy Eddie - didn't he used to sell electronics in New York City back in the 80's ?

(he was in the movie 'Splash' as well)

Luuucyyyy - I'm HOME!!! Ayayayayayay... (I used to watch those re-runs when I was a kid)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Coat

Re: Fun factoid

PUN-ishment.

Apple warns sideloading iOS apps will ruin everything

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Law of unintended consequences

you reminded me of a South Park episode regarding Kyle, NOT reading the EULA, and Steve Jobs (and the new Apple i-something). yeah I think that's what it was. heh.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: App stores are de-facto monopolies and should be treated as such

Once the monopolistic control exists, those who perceive themselves as "owning it" are VERY unlikely to relinquish their power and control, even a fraction of it. Kinda like GUMMINTS, that way.

Control freaks control (In My Bombastic Opinion) NOT because they are benevolent and/or best suited for the task, but because they FEAR, and "control" assuages their fear by giving them a false (or sometimes REAL) sense of, well, being in CONTROL. (as such they can NOT trust)

Fearing loss of power or money or ability to manipulate the market sounds like a likely motivation to want to retain monopolistic control, at ANY cost even.

And MY behavior and use of a product (or anything ELSE about my life) should NOT be dictated by "someone else's FEAR".

Electric car makers ready to jump into battery recycling amid stuttering supply chains

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Shoudl have from the start

leasing a battery actually sounds smarter

bombastic bob Silver badge
Meh

Re: Shoudl have from the start

14k miles per year? Seems low to me (only ~50 miles per day 5 times per week). Don't forget air conditioning for those mega hot freeways, or heating in places where it gets cold as hell. If traffic is stopped, your AC and heater do not. Yeah weather plays hell on batteries (and range)

Perhaps it's improved a bit since the Prius days but as I recall I knew a couple of people who had them and battery replacement was their biggest gripe. Battery replacement was every 2-3 years as I recall. Those were the earlier versions, so I suppose it's a bit better now. And even if manufacturers warranty them for 100k miles (apparently they do, but at 60%-70% capacity or something like that) it may not cover the fact that capacity has dropped significantly by then. It's a fair bet people will have to get them replaced MUCH more frequently than advertised.

Electric cars seem to be for people who do not commute any significant distance, do not live in rural areas, and do not need (or want) to drive for long distances EVAR. No road trips for you, you have an electric car. And that battery you're using in freezing weather (Chicago let's say) or hot weather (L.A. or San Diego areas, especially away from the coast, maybe with a mountain between you and your destination) is being stressed in ways that significantly affect its ability to operate. I have to replace a regular car battery every 3 or 4 years for that very reason (weather, age). I would expect something like a Li-Ion or LiPo battery to be about the same.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Shoudl have from the start

the oil companies already do that (recycle motor oil). And if you get your oil change done at the dealership, Ford just sends the used oil to them.

You have to replace electric car batteries every couple o' years or so. At that time the old ones could be recycled. All you need to do is make it CONVENIENT. A bin outside of a store. Automatically done for you when you get new batteries. A refundable core charge. Things like that. Doing that already with Pb-acid batteries so the supply channels are already there, just modify for Li-whatever.

No need for "recycling fees" - that's just a SCAM anyway. There are better and more economically incentivized ways of getting recycling to happen (the CARROT, and not the STICK)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: "Less than 5 per cent of lithium-ion batteries are recycled today"

you want the process to include grinding 'em up into bits, then extracting the rare earth metals like you would from ore, or that seems to be what was suggested in the article. then size and shape of old batteries will not matter. Heh. ('she said' joke withheld)

Shatner breaks the age barrier, goes where no nonagenarian has gone before with Blue Origin rocket trip

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: I was going to be mean and small-minded

if Walter (Koenig) or George (Takei) get a shot, they'll have to drive

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: NCC-1701

don't forget the leitmotif music...

Zero-day hunters seek laws to prevent vendors suing them for helping out and doing their jobs

bombastic bob Silver badge
Pint

Have a beer!

(a BOFH's job is never done)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: Reverse Engineering is a gray area

oh, no EULA violation. gonna take away my birthday!!!

File this under "no good deed goes unpunished"

How Windows NTFS finally made it into Linux

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Is this for systemd?

I'd rather see Windows boot from EXT4 or ZFS

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

Re: Bad feeling

what is especially important is a reliable file system recovery DVD that boots into live Linux and then lets you fix things, do backups and restores (without windows interfering, as with the registry) and things of that nature. I DL'd such an image a few years ago and it had an alpha-quality NTFS driver, but something that's part of the kernel and "blessed" makes this more practical.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Title to long :whaa:

I've never seen the point in Fast startup or Hibernate, first thing I disable on my personal machines.

Agreed, though I have seen some people close laptop lids, pack in briefcase, then re-open in another spot and "just keep going". I prefer doing proper shutdowns and restarts.

Android OS vendor variants transmit data with no opt-out

bombastic bob Silver badge
Mushroom

there's no way to opt-out of this data collection.

maybe sue them for THEFT OF BANDWIDTH???

(and then a method of opt-out, or better, opt-IN, may present itself in a subsequent update)

And then there's GDPR... any takers?

Behold the Megatron: Microsoft and Nvidia build massive language processor

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Bigger is generally better when it comes to neural networks.

If they're ever to make it useful, they need to make it generate a set of AI parameters that can be applied to a much more modest hunk of hardware. Maybe the mega-AI-thingy with zillions of cores and parallelism is needed to establish those AI parameters, but once established, it should be possible to bake onto a single piece of silicon on a PCIe board or inside of a USB device... or just soldered onto a motherboard.

(I suppose it would be a kind of 'codec')

bombastic bob Silver badge
Trollface

Re: Cleansing datasets

I've often considered 'FEEL' to be "the F word"

So "go FEEL yourself" comes to mind...

When criminals go corporate: Ransomware-as-a-service, bulk discounts and more

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: The internet is not the ordinary world

mail is sent from somewhere. Is there an automated utility that you could use to scan headers, find out the original sender, and generate a complaint to the 'abuse@' for the owning mail server owner and/or netblock containing that IP address??

(it's a fair bet that it was hijacked, right? Telling them may cut down on it. It's a lot of work, though. And I admit I generally do not file complaints on EVERYthing trapped by my system, but the more heinous examples become "my new special friend")

Microsoft turns Windows Subsystem for Linux into an app for Windows

bombastic bob Silver badge
Linux

Re: Corporate enviroments

Xming or similar as an X server and you can run GUI applications across the network via 'DISPLAY'.

But I'd rather use Linux as the host and remote desktop for windows, if it had to be 2 separate machines. Then I could use Mate and NOT HAVE 2D FLATTY FLATSO McFLATFACE everywhere.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: WSL-as-app

WSL "the app" is part of the whole "Embrace Extend Extinguish" master plan.

I think we're currently on 'Extend'...

From the article: "and in the long term we'd like to move WSL users to use the store version"

a) entice us into using a CLOUDY Micros~1 LOGIN to run their CRapp from "The Store" (instead of native system and local logon)

b) strong-arm us into ONLY BEING ABLE to use the CRapp with a cloudy Micros~1 logon if we want WSL

c) EXTINGUISH TIME!!!

I see a pattern...

Judge rejects claims Cloudflare should be held responsible for customers' copyright infringement

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Down

Re: "We agree with the district court’s reasoning"

I actually AVOIDED using the gun analogy to support the O.P's. argument. Have my downvote.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: "We agree with the district court’s reasoning"

Attacking Cloudflare for hosting infringing sites is like attacking those who make roads for facilitating a criminal's getaway.

I had a few other analogies in mind, but this one is pretty clear and "a good match" where comparisons are concerned.

Facebook, Instagram finally end days of uptime by returning to some downtime

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Can't create adverts? They've started sending them out again, even when asked not to.

google "fixed" it so that half the devices/browsers I use [and those of a couple of others I know] cannot access any kind of google service without getting a 403 error (or similar) in the process. IMBO, it is TOTALLY google's fault. Happens with Chrome, too... but not Firefox (go fig), same machine and/or IP address. And an Android device does it, too. And an iPad. Weird huh?

Just as well, I do not like their policies. And i recently learned how to tell Chrome to use a different search engine.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Again?

thank you!

(see it is all in fun)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Again?

I should make 'Nih' my pronoun. Also 'Ecky Ecky Pakang ZOOM Boing'

As for FaeceBan, WHEN will they EVAR learn to TEST things before deploying them?

And, FB should ALSO take this opportunity to LEARN why it is that SOME of us RESIST CHANGE... (you know, reliability, well tested, system stability, "it works", things like that)

i.e. they need to STOP "FIXING" THINGS that are NOT broken!! (assuming FB is not simply broken out of the box)

It's not like they deserve having things like this happen to them or anything...

[since I do not use it I can just sit back and laugh and eat popcorn]

US nuke sub plans leaked on SD card hidden in peanut butter sandwich, claims FBI

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Restricted?

when I was in the Navy it was like this:

For Official Use Only (just don't go and disclose it, seriously nobody needs to know this)

Confidential (power plant info and engineering specs were usually Confidential)

Secret (may be a few of these on a sub, like current position may be Secret, depending)

Top Secret (cannot confirm nor deny - that's what they tell you to say)

and whatever else they need, "eyes only" and whatnot. You had to have a need to know, and a clearance.

'Restricted' is like 'Confidential' I guess...

Windows what? PC makers have bigger things on their minds

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: Hardly a good time to push out a new version that interests no-one

time will teach Borkzilla

assuming that the marketeers and overlords at Micros~1 can actually LEARN something...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

and if you sat a running Windows 7 machine next to a running Windows 10 machine on a store shelf, all other things being equal, GUESS WHICH ONE WOULD SELL FASTER???

(this is why you generally cannot buy the older version of windows, even when people want it)

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

A car engine is usually massively overpowered for the work it does. And yet that extra horsepower comes in handy whenever you want it to. [similar with PCs for people who occasionally compile programs from source, or crunch numbers]

US nuclear submarine bumps into unidentified underwater object in South China Sea

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: You would think by now...

Magnetic anomaly arrays stuck out of the front and back

When you ARE a magnetic anomaly, its hard to detect other ones that are nearby...

[having them on aircraft with non-magnetic construction seems to make the most sense].

An object that emits no sound (and is not shadowing others) is simply difficult to "see" under water.

But if I were to guess, it was something similar to a 'Crazy Ivan' maneuver (re 'Hunt for Red October').

I _may_ have once seen a damaged submarine nose cone that looked as if it had been chopped by a propeller... or it could have been a really fat whale wut broke it. I do not believe it made the news, either. Fortunately its a bit like a car bumper to replace one. (they need to be nice and streamlined though to allow for higher speed without flow noises, so even minor damage and you need a new one).

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Hitting a container?

My understanding is that shipping containers sometimes 'float' semi-submerged, depending on their contents

that's interesting but I would not expect it to remain that way very long. As sea pressure increases, the container would compress; if/when ocean got inside the container, the stuff within the container would soak it up and/or compress. This would tend to make the whole thing less buoyant.

now if it were in the PROCESS of sinking, then yeah, by random chance a sub could hit it at high speed and cause serious damage, and injury to the people inside.

Subs generally do not go fast near the surface (fast enough to cause damage/injury as I perceive it would be in a collision). They DO go fast while deep sometimes, if the crew needs to get someplace. And as a sinking container gets deeper, it would actually get heavier and sink better. But there would be a time window when a collision is possible...

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Hitting a container?

subs haven't been double hulled for a VERY long time. Some of the earlier ones were, but the idea was quickly abandoned. Basically a sub hull is a long metal tube made of high tensile strength steel (or perhaps titanium in the case of Russian boats) with frames but no strakes, all welded together (no plates or rivets). Nothing like old WW2 sub movies anyway. A bit like 'Hunt for Red October' and 'Crimson Tide' though.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Devil

Re: Hitting a container?

Do subs hover so close to the sea buttom?

Not generally but if an operation required it they're usually capable of doing so without crashing into things.

It's a fair bet they knew exactly where they were when it happened, and what the proper depth should be, etc..

Or possibly they were just looking for something, unusually close to the sea bottom. "Found it!"

NOT having a large submerged object on an existing chart (so that they avoid it) either means it's something mobile (like another sub) or "was put there" for some reason. A shipping container that had fallen from a surface ship is unlikely to be large enough to be a navigation hazard like that.

And if it's large enough that people were actually injured when they crashed, it was a seriously HUGE object, WAY bigger than a container.

[on my first underway, the sub struck another one during sea trials and had to go back to the shipyard to have its rudder repaired. I did not even feel it (I was asleep though)].

As for fixing the sub, I bet they'll be able to fix it properly in the shipyard. The newest ones actually use modular construction (from what I've read anyway).

Nearly 140 nations – from US and UK to EU, China and India – back 15% minimum corporate tax rate

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Tax applied based on REVENUE, and NOT PROFIT? As in, EVEN if the company LOSES money they have to pay the tax ANYWAY?

Watch 10,000+ people lose jobs just to pay the tax at some point... and it won't be EXECUTIVES.

bombastic bob Silver badge
Unhappy

Re: And who pays those corporate taxes?

how about if gummint JUST STOPS SPENDING AND RE-DISTRIBUTING SO MUCH MONEY?

bombastic bob Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: And who pays those corporate taxes?

and investors as well - higher corporate taxes mean lower dividends, lower stock value.

corporations do not actually pay tax. Only people pay it. And if you have a retirement fund, chances are the yield will go DOWN as corporate taxes go UP. After all, retirement mutual funds often have stocks as part of their portfolio.

bullet meet foot. How's that "soak the rich" thing working for ya???

icon because facepalm

Motivated by commerce, not conscience, Google bans ads for climate change consensus contradictors

bombastic bob Silver badge
Thumb Up

Not just the comparison of 'greenwash' purchase being like the indulgences themselves. Let's not forget the religious nature of the so-called "consensus" regarding anthropogenic "climate change". Then, the comparison becomes even MORE 'spot on', all things considered.

Consensus != Science

(hypothesis, experimentation, verification, repeatability, review - THAT would be science)

The so-called "consensus" fails MOST of the true definition of science.

Galileo's observations eventually won the argument against the religious interpretation of the day, which in MY bombastic opinion, is very MUCH like "consensus" vs actual science.

(and cancelling those you disagree with, simply because YOU are more powerful at the moment, isn't welcome in a free society, RIGHT Galileo?)