Posts by bombastic bob

tz database community up in arms over proposals to merge certain time zones

Re: Is the database really that big

Why would anything embedded want anything other than UTC?

In some cases you might have to deal with outside systems that need accurate time stamps. If those systems use local time and NOT UTC (UTC would be sensible, try telling THEM that) then the embedded device will have to "do things THEIR way" and get the time zone right because the existing system and customer base do things that way and they're big and you're not. Or something like that.

So you provide a screen to use tz data to set the time zone just like you do when you set up a personal computer. On Linux it's not too hard, right? [I manually filtered North American time zones and stuck them in a drop-down combo box, one that's easy to change if it ever needs to, so the interface would not be unnecessarily cluttered with 100 time zones or something]

NASA halts Mars comms for two weeks as Sun gets in way of Red Planet

Re: Comms relays?

LaGrange points are still too close to Earth for this to be practical

You sure about that? The Greek/Trojan points [L4,L5] in Mars' orbit would probably do nicely.

Years of development, millions of lines of code, and Android can't even run a toilet

Re: Waste

honestly, the hardware cost difference between an android-capable ARM-based device and a microcontroller board probably favors the ARM-based device. And getting a touch screen to work with a microcontroller (let alone serve up ads) might be cost prohibitive on its own.

Re: Targeted ads

and maybe a credit card chip sensor to read those, too...

If anyone can explain why Jupiter's Great Red Spot is spinning faster and shrinking, please speak up

Re: It's a hurricane?

also you have fastest spinning at the equator, and in the 'hurricane region' the differences in speed (over small latitude changes) are the highest. So you also have slow vs fast air, coupled with (probable) liquid core, solar heating, and not a whole lot of possible things to slow it down (like land masses and a relatively thinner atmosphere that you find on Earth).

And the discoloration of the red spot may affect temperature of things it 'shadows'. be of a different mass than the rest of the atmosphere, etc. etc. all contributing to its formation and behavior.

Re: If anyone can explain why Jupiter's Great Red Spot is spinning faster and shrinking

all bad jokes aside an ice skater spins faster with arms pulled inwards. Something about centripetal force and rotational momentum.

so as the spot gets smaller... the winds spin it faster maybe?

(I suppose it depends on whether we're looking at a hurricane or the top of a massive tornado)

Microsoft warns: Active Directory FoggyWeb malware being actively used by Nobelium gang

so THAT is why I have been getting more e-mail-spam lately

From the article: More recently the group succeeded in a phishing attack on Microsoft's support desk, retrieving private customer data which the company confirmed included "information regarding... Microsoft Services subscriptions" and was used "in some cases" to launch further "highly-targeted attacks as part of [a] broader campaign."

does 'a broader campaign' include (at times) a dozen or more (lame) spear-phishing e-mails per day with the usual payloads and malicious links? The frequency of these things has gone up 10 fold over the last couple of weeks... on the e-mail address I use with my (soon to expire, and I may not renew) MSDN subscription.

(good thing I do not open the obvious malicius attachments nor view as HTML on a windows-based mail reader)

Angry birds ground some Google Wing drones in Australia

Re: More of this ahead.

maybe you need a built-in "bird zapper" (or just an owl statue, or bunch of spikes) to keep birds from harassing otherwise defenseless drones.

Maybe some wires with a few thousand volts in them, easily snapped but also easily replaced, so that a tangled zapped bird would just fall away. The drone could self-detect the need to replace the defensive electrical wires. I doubt the bird-brains would ever learn, though. I bet it would be an ongoing development, anti-bird defenses.

(animals do it to one another, atacking and defending, so what's the difference if BOTS do it too?)

(other options might include angry noises that drive birds away)

Japanese boffins say they've created plastic optical fibres to reach places that might break glass

Re: Why?

as long as you have power available on copper, you can send data by fiber and it will most likely be a MUCH smaller cable, and apparently more resilient to age and even bending and vibration [using polymer], and the one thing that makes the most sense in a vehicle: LIGHTER WEIGHT (and probably lower cost).

And copper can be expensive. So if fiber is cheaper, between the window and lock controls and the car computer [for example], with a bendy cable going into the doors from the car's frame, you need to be able to handle repeated bending, vibration, moisture, heat, cold, and other things that make wires go bad. And, probably , GLASS fiber optics. But maybe not polymer.

And again, copper is expensive. And relatively heavy. So yeah.

Fukushima studies show wildlife is doing nicely without humans, thank you very much

Re: Muppets

makes you wonder which came first, the pig-boar or the bullfrog...

Re: Bullfrogs ... few predators in most of its adopted new homes.

they just need more snakes

get people to understand how the world could/should be.

are you considering that we become a world WITHOUT PEOPLE in it? I hope not...

as for giving up tech, NO WAY!

Re: Warmed or Hot

thorium is an alternative that should be considered, yes. More available fuel. not to replace uranium and plutonium as reactor fuel, of course, but to supplement it.

(all of the other radiation issues remain about the same with thorium)

Re: Warmed or Hot

had it not been for Mr. Earthquake and some inadequately designed emergency generator systems that could not handle a Tsunami, the power plant safety systems would have worked and no problems.

instead, it became fodder for the fearmongers.

Re: So: in 100 years time ...

the earth did that ctrl+alt+del thing at least once, maybe even a couple o' more times, one of course being the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. The Cambrian era also had a LOT more variety of mollusks and so there are theories about extinction events then, too.

as in "what killed the trilobites" ?

(it is my general opinion that without extinction level events, there would be no REALLY SIGNIFICANT evolution, for without a stresser, there is no need to evolve)

Texas law banning platforms from social media moderation challenged in lawsuit

Once again, this *KIND* of argument has been going on since the Civil Rights movement.

Private property opened to the public is not the same as private property that is "private". And in the virtual world of teh intarwebs, this would include web sites.

Civil rights legislation controls what private property and private business owners can do when it comes to public spaces. This has been tested in the courts for decades.

The question is not whether a law restricts freedom. The point of civil rightrs legislation is to allow for equal access to the public spaces. The freedom of the owner of the public space is being restricted in order to PREVENT that owner from restricting the freedom of those who want to access it.

Might as well be a racial minority man sitting at the counter in a 1950's diner in Mississippi.

Re: persecution

Proof please? What you have said about Christianity vs Judaism may be a perception, but I do not believe (outside of Westboro) that it is an ACCURATE one.

"significant portion" would have to be outside of the aberration of "wackos" to be of any relevance.

Re: Monopolies

you got the faces

I got the twits

Let's make lots of money!!!

(that commercial with the guy in the convertible and the singing hood ornament and the awesome 80's music - gotta love it!)

Re: Conflicted

Facebook can only ban me from Facebook

Unless they collude with others to CANCEL you. I suspect if you were FAMOUS enough... they just MIGHT. Right Mr. Trump?

Re: Conflicted

I almost wish that FaeceBan would actually DO that.

Then Texans would be all like "why were we wasting time on this CRAP?"

Re: Censorship

your argument works until you have a public space. at THAT point, various civil rights legislation limits who you can exclude (and why), even when privately owned. THIS is the precedent set back in the 1950's and 1960's here in the USA, which has been constitutionally upheld.

Re: Forced speech

what do you mean? How about religious confectionaries making wedding cakes for GAY WEDDINGS and NOT being VILIFIED if they choose NOT to? Yeah, there haven't been any activists going around to businesses for any such reason, just to "out" them and make ink in the newspapers or anything...

The problem here is the DOUBLE STANDARD of the application of EXISTING law, and when a new one is created that is deliberately NOT AMBIGUOUS, why is it simply ASSUMED to be UNCONSTITUTIONAL? And, they seem to be using the SAME *kinds* of arguments that (allegedly) bigoted business owners/operators used back in the 1950's and 1960's to JUSTIFY DISCRIMINATION???

From the article again: The law puts politically manipulative misinformation on equal footing with good-faith opinion and verifiable facts.

WHO arbitrates 'which is which', exactly?

How about if we all just let anyone say anything (so long as it's not openly abusive or illegal), put a BIG FAT DISCLAIMER on the entire web site, and let people make their own choices? THEN, people get to grow their OWN info filters and become smarter.

Re: Censorship

yes. they can take their business elsewhere.

This *KIND* of argument did not go over well in the 1960's however... when civil rights and equal treatment became "a thing".

GNOME 41: Slick with heaps of new features for users and devs – but annoyances remain

Re: Still not listening to users

Truly Micros~1 got it RIGHT back in the '95 days, as far as general usability and customization went. I think Gnome 2 (and the earlier KDE) captured that.

* Windows 3.0 - 3D Skeuomorphic. Sold like CRAZY because of the superior appearance and built-in games like Solitaire.

* Windows '9x - Start menu, hierarchical, backward compatible [mostly], still 3D Skeuomorphic, and games.

* Windows 2k and XP - merge to NT backend. Mostly compatible, interface still more or less the same (and you could make XP look like 2K if you wanted).

* Windows 7 - mostly like XP, a little more irritating at times

* Windows 8+ - total dismal FREAKING FAIL and FORCE-MARKETED because, SHUT UP USERS and TAKE YOUR OS MEDICINE so we can MARKET YOU.

Compare that to gnome, etc.

* Gnome the original - Sawfish - BzzzZZZZ! - it worked

* Gnome 2 which I used for SEVERAL YEARS (such that it FINALLY became stable to the point of reliability on FreeBSD) past its expiration date.

* Mate/Cinnamon essentially GTK2 and/or GTK3 versions of Gnome 2 (which I still use)

* Gnome 3 - even Linus ranted all over it

* And now... GNOME 4!!! (wheeeeeee...)

and all of this "new shiny" looks more like Windows 2.0 from the 80's than it looks "modern" unless you think of "modern" as "being different from last decade" except it's NOT any more.

Change CAN be, but is is NOT necessarily, for the better.

Re: Title bar

You had me agreeing and then you JUST had to say NICE things about that BLASTED DAMNABLE HAMBURGER "so-called STANDARD" MENU ICON, which *I* *HATE* and should be *NUKED* *FROM* *HIGH* *ORBIT* with *GREAT* PREJUDICE*.

Still, I also like the title bar AS IS. BUT *NO* HAMBURGER IN IT. The title bar sometimes becomes informational, let's say when I run firefox as another user to completely sandbox it, and the title will say "(as otheruser)" along with everything else. This is helpful to me in a LOT of ways, like a warning to NOT do something in THAT instance of Firefox that might track me.with cookies, script, or anything ELSE I had to enable to "access that one thing" (like an electronics distributor's order pages).

So YES, keep the title bar. But, ***NO*** do ***NOT*** ***CORRUPT*** ***IT*** by putting a HAMBURGER MENU ICON IN IT!

Re: Nice

I disagree. Other than a slightly "new shiny" look, it's apparently still the same:

* attempting to make your desktop look like a phone

* 2D FLATSO FLATTY McFLATFACE (like Windows, Chrome, Australis, ...) lock-step compliance with mediocrity and the "kiddie pool" 'programmers' who FEEL (instead of think) it's a GOOD thing

* apparent focus on the optics in lieu of ACTUAL improvements (how long does a 'file open' dialog take to display the entire contents of /usr/bin, for example??? And WHY so PIG SLOW like WINDOWS???) (I wrote one using my own X11 toolkit, that's still not done because I have to earn money to live on, that displays a list of files like /usr/bin in about 2 seconds, anecdotally >10 times faster than the gnome-ish ones, since mine doesn't have to scan EVERY! STINKING! FILE! for mostly unnecessary information BEFORE listing the names, that's why)

* apparent CHANGE for the SAKE of CHANGE, and not necessary, or even necessarily a GOOD change.

and so on.

and I do not see any of *THAT* as "an improvement". But I did not expect it would be.

(still using Mate and/or Cinnammon, and SCREAMING if I ever have to select a custom application for a file type in firefox because it STILL takes FOR-EV-AR to load up /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin just so I can pick 'atril' or whatever because there is NO PLACE TO TYPE IN THE NAME and it's probably the GTK toolkit doing that).

So yeah, how about REAL improvements?

Re: Connections

The screen has got a penguin, a smiley Mac icon, and that ridiculous 2D FLATSO twisted-to-one-side windows logo, but it's missing a BSD Daemon. I guess 'Connections' isn't "inclusive enough". Heh.

UK Ministry of Defence apologises after Afghan interpreters' personal data exposed in email blunder

Re: Ouch

Rule 69: any online discussion of world events after 2016 will eventually degrade into "Trump Hate"

icon, because, facepalm

Re: SNAFU after SNAFU

one BIG reason that certain kinds of information is classified is to KEEP our informants and operatives form being KILLED. Or worse.

I have no doubt that every country (even allies) has operatives in pretty much every other country whenever possible, even if it's an informal operative in the form of an embassy staff member.

However, we all know that in certain places in the world, revealing these people and their activities can result in torture and/or death, and not just be an embarrassing "oops" that makes a headline or two and probably gets you laughed at on late night comedy shows.

I once saw some classified material back in the day (while doing a 'burn run') in which I instinctively recognized that if "that face" in the photo ever got to the wrong people, several people would DIE. This is why it was classified. It's not so much about the information, it's about the people who obtained it, or the people that are put in danger when that information is compromised.

Re: Too many blunders

I'm not inclined to think that the U.K. would make such a blunder deliberately.

(as for OUR current gummint...)

Philippines approves digital services tax on streaming services, apps, even SaaS

Re: Is a VPN the answer?

it is worth pointing out that It's not the NETFLIX providers that are being taxed.

It is the CONSUMER of those services that is being taxed.

(As you appear to have pointed out, even if unintentionally)

So "Taxing NETFLIX" is not really at issue here, unless the taxes are being unfairly levied against NETFLIX as compared to other (kinds of) media providers.

[not like I want to see things taxed but this is what gummints do, and why the people need to VOTE]

Court of Appeal says AI software cannot be listed as patent inventor

Re: I am a lawyer...

would you agree that this might be "step 1" in demanding future "rights" and, of course, royalties, when his "AI" "invents" things? Just curious. it's how I see activists in general. They do "step 1" to get their feet in the door, then incrementally pervert the law through B.S. judicial decisions until they're raking in the dough and empowering themselves even more. And, of course, the APPEAL is where "the precedent" happens, so the original case needs to be as frivolous and/or BOGUS as possible without making it an utter failure.

(the patent systems of the world have been perverted enough, no need to make it worse by including an AI as an 'inventor')

Re: The invention itself is irrelevant

"Test Case" = "How can we manipulate the system today?"

Re: The same DOOFUS (sorry DABUS) software...

when I put liquid in a cup I do NOT want it going to room temperature FASTER...

I want hot tea and coffee to STAY hot, iced tea and soda and beer to STAY cold, and if i put cubes in it I want them to MELT SLOWER. What's the point of a cup that gets to room temperature FASTER?

(das blinkenlights may be ok, if you can put it in the dishwasher and not destroy it)

Re: Not what he said

That is how you manipulate opinion.

It's how activists do things, yeah. "lost the case" = "the judges 'agreed' that..."

(spinning it like the cartoon Tasmanian Devil)

US Congress ponders setting up permanent UFO investigation office

Re: Are artilects alien beings or human constructs ‽ . And are they friendlies or hostiles ‽ .

you either believe or you do not

but, the fighter aircraft in those videos a few years ago tried to intercept SOMETHING, and this was only one of MANY similar incidents. If it were "ours", I think it would have remained highly classified...

and, that's the point.

Personally, as long as space aliens aren't trying to manipulate our society "for our own good", it really makes no difference to me one way or another.

I could say that I might have seen an actual 'UFO'. I might ALSO suggest that they are NOT acting in OUR best interest... but most likely their OWN. If/when they show up, I'd be like that one guy in the ID4 movie - "Like they say in MY generation.. UP! YOURS!!!"

UK funds hydrogen-powered cargo submarine to torpedo maritime emissions by 2050

Re: "fast, zero-emission delivery"

with far fewer problems than the current fission based design.

I am curious what problems those are,... (having operated one, and knowing that the U.S. Navy's nuclear operation and safety record is OUTSTANDING)

Re: How stupid is this?

Stingray - awesome show (saw it when I was a kid)

Unfortunately the TV station only aired it when i was in school and I only got to watch the episodes when I was home sick (like when I had the mumps) back in the 1960's.

[Thunderbirds was on AFTER I got home so I was able to see most of those - home VCRs had not been invented yet]

Re: Why a submarine?

25 meters may NOT be deep enough, FYI. Heavy seas at 100 foot keel depth were more than just noticeable as I recall. And if your navi-guession system can't handle taking 20 degree rolls every 2 seconds at that depth, and still compensate 'dead reckoning' so you do not go off course (it's too deep for GPS and radio navi-guession without a trailing wire antenna that would pose yet another navigation hazard to other ships in the area), then you could end up crashing into rocks or hitting a sea mountain without a whole lot of warning.

And constantly pinging with active sonar will only do you so much good.

If I wanted to build a ship that is incredibly hard to capsize and/or sink in bad weather I would build a catamaran or trimaran. But existing cargo shipping design is still pretty good.

There are just SO many difficult-to-solve problems involving sub design vs surface ships. Just the trim and drain system ALONE (to deal with neutral bouyancy as part of depth control) is a huge part of it, with trim tanks, fixed and variable ballast tanks, emergency blow systems, low pressure blow systems, yotta yotta yotta.

Re: Why a submarine?

in theory a submarine on or near the surface would potentially be A NAVIGATION HAZARD. Subs have specia navigation lights for when they are on the surface (including an amber spinny one as I recall) for that very reason. You only see about 10% of the actual boat above the water line.

Subs are notoriously inefficient for cutting through surface water. Their hulls work well UNDER water but they are deliberately heavy with ballast. Attempting to use cargo in place of ballast is BEGGING for problems.

And do not forget a fuel per mile calculation, which is EXTREMELY likely to favor a standard displacement hull over a submarine one for fuel efficiency.

Subs are good for war and spying, because being under water you can HIDE. And unless you plan on carrying LOX with you (for a hydrogen-based propulsion), you would have to snorkel a lot. And snorkeling in places whee using subs WOULD make sense (like under the polar ice cap) may not even be possible (like under the ice cap).

I spent nearly 4 years on a U.S. Navy sub. And I wouldn't use a sub for cargo. Nope. For FUN, sure, to cruise underwater for touring reasons, looking at fish and corals and things, or for exploration (like finding ship wrecks or new forms of life) but that's the extent of it.

Robotic surface ships are a possibility though. Yet I think people would still want a captain on board to at least be available in case of emergency. And the total value of the cargo would justify it.

And contrary to what some may believe, stormy weather still affects a sub at periscope depth and down to about 150 feet or so. You need to get a lot deeper than that to be unaffected by heavy seas and stormy weather.

there are fuels for torpedo engines that can operate in a high speed engine without air, but the ones I have read about exhaust nasty substances (like cyanide gas) and therefore should not be used outside of military applications that make even BIGGER messes (like blowing up ships and other subs). And with 'green hydrogen' as the fuel, you'll need some kind of oxidizer (even for a fuel cell).

Additionally I have read that the USSR experimented with placing rockets on the forward part of a torpedo so that the rocket exhaust would shroud the torpedo in a gas cloud, giving it some thrust but greatly reducing the friction of the surrounding water. They were apparently VERY impractical to use, though.

Tick, tick, tick … TikTok China just limited kids to 40 minutes' use each day

Re: An infinite game of whack a mole.

If you live in China you WILL submit

Sadly, may not be just China any more...

Re: Ends versus means

a company (or a gummint for that matter) shoulrd NOT strongarm ANY form of "parenting" upon THE CUSTOMERS.

And if I had a teenage kid it would be simple: if you want to use something _LIKE_ TikTok, BUY YOUR OWN PHONE AND INTERNET with MONEY YOU EARN. (they don't need the brain poison and indoctrination, from the viewpoint of a parent who would ONLY care about such things for his OWN kids - other parents can make their own decisions about their own kids, and GUMMINT STAY OUT OF IT)

China's taikonauts return from heavenly palace after 92-day mission

why aren't they going to the ISS?

Why aren't they going to the ISS? They could have docked a similar module to the ISS and still would have their own thing going.

I understand their desire to have their own modules and stuff, but are they avoiding the international community by having "their own" instead?

(I'm mostly just curious)

It's good their taikonauts returned safely though. Good job.

Microsoft does and doesn't require VMs to meet hardware requirements for Windows 11

Re: Yeah, well…

AND... this may motivate me to FINALLY stop renewing MSDN - for I will NOT be able to run ANYTHING without virtualbox support.

Re: Forget software for the moment - study grammar

Translation:

Iffen zie triun der runnin of 11 onner boxen verboten, und der virtual boxen specificallen, zie hammer makken und kopfen bangun uber allen zu blinken lights gehappen. (and they'll take away your birthday and whack your, uh, thingun).

Not only does Micros~1 tell you WHAT toys you MUST get, they ALSO tell you HOW to play with them and WHAT KIND OF SANDBOX TO USE, and PREVENT you from using ANY other kind!!!

Yes, of course there's now malware for Windows Subsystem for Linux

Re: Anyone surprised?

WSL opens a lot of opportunities

an officially blessed Win32 subsystem for Linux would open up even MORE...

(and if properly configured, NOT have those nagging windows-related vulnerabilities)

Re: So, let's summarise this..

blame Microsoft for your own inadequate security practices.

like NOT using a non-Windows OS to surf the web or read e-mail?

(yes! I think that WOULD be Micros~'s fault at some level...)

Technology does widen the education divide. But not always in the way you expect

unbalance vs balance

from the article: They really fell in love with real books again. They wanted to be read to, to role play, and do drama.

Too much of one thing and they wanted its counterpart. They were, in their own way, seeking balance.

Not to get all "nauseatingly new agey" but I think everyone generally tends towards having at least a reasonably balanced life, which of course varies substantially from one person to the next (so no "one size fits all" nonsense).

(and being artificially kept away from others is VERY UN-BALANCED)

in pioneer days of 19th century U.S.A. local farmers and townspeople would often hire one teacher to teach ALL of their kids in a one room schoolhouse. They understood how valuable that was for their kids.

The age of the Service Pack is over. The time of the Modern Servicing Model has come

That word 'modern' does not mean what they think it means

Just sayin' ...

It's time to delete that hunter2 password from your Microsoft account, says IT giant

I use KeepassXC to store things _LIKE_ account numbers and recovery codes and things of that nature (in addition to passwords). It has sections for that kind of thing. The kdbx file is kept in my private source control repo and is copied to several machines.

don't need it on a phone.