Posts by bombastic bob 10841 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015
If we assume the real mortality rate is 1%
You have a reliable source for that? One that includes RECENT data?
the only way to truly know what the death rate is would be to know just how many ASYMPTOMATIC cases there are. The Stanford study was a step in the right direction. Use a representative sample of the population from various areas, do thorough antibody testing (including antibodies NOT specific to COVID-19 that still react with it - up to 60% of antibody reactions may be this type, as I recall, from a recent study - like the way 'cow pox' protects you from smallpox). Once you have an idea of what the antibody reactions look like in a representative sample, you'll have an idea of the percentage of people already having had the disease and RECOVERED from it, with OR without symptoms. Then you calculate the total number of deaths so far, to get a much better idea of what the death rate REALLY is.
And I doubt very seriously it's 1%. A recent article (June) said the CDC claimed 0.26%, but even that may still be way too high. You can't use "case rates" for people who got tested to accurately determine this. You need to know what percent of the population has antibodies. There are just WAY too many asymptomatic cases for anything else to be valid.
it seems reasonable to me that ANY decent service provider that can handle email for a domain would do. I recently switched to a Linux-based shared hosting provider (with ssh access), and it's UBER CHEAP, and mail config is super simple, and it handles POP, IMAP, forwarding, and web-mail, with or without any automated spam filtering. And a ZILLION other providers have similar services, for similar prices. [OK maybe a major university will need a 'Rolls Royce' plan and dedicated hosting, but even still, it's CHEAPER and EASIER than in-house, and in MY Bombastic Opinion, better than what they picked...]
So, WHY are they going with Micros~1.Exchange again?
From the article: "the knowledge and expertise needed to keep it running are in very short supply."
So, what *ARE* they teaching these kids in school, today? [apparently NOT the right things]
When you outsource all your expertise to Amazon, what do you expect?
Me not being an expert on AWS cloud, I'd think you'd get "best practices".
But maybe the inherent problem is a LACK of (or knowledge of, or proper documentation of, etc.) a list of properly defined "best practices" to begin with?
And now I think I have a better understanding as to (maybe) why the US DoD isn't using AWS clouds...
[I assume that it IS possible to configure things properly, so why aren't people doing it?]
I believe that IBM 360s had hardware memory protection
I think they did. They used a 'base register' of sorts for relocatable code, such that the OS would assign one of the GP registers as a 'base register' for data, jumps, yotta yotta. Then your code could be loaded wherever the OS wanted it and timeshare nicely with everyone else. Included with that (apparently) was a memory protection setup so that you wouldn't read/write outside of your own memory space. I forget exactly how it worked, though... (had to study it for this one computer architecture class, which used IBM 360's as an example, and that was about it).
Actually I thought the QBasic editor was pretty good, too. Almost too late the party, though. By the time MS-DOS had a decent editor, Windows 3.0 released.
Many of those old MS-DOS edit things (especially for programmers, like Turbo C's editor, PWB, and QBasic) seem to be EMACS-like in a lot of ways.
Though I hve to admit I prefer 'ee' to 'nano'. As I recall, 'ee' used libcurses, and I wonder if that has something to do with why the debian-based distros don't seem to have it any more... (everything else seems to use libncurses now, and FreeBSD's base has a 'new_curses.c' that implements curses for 'ee' in the contributed source tree - and the BSD license possibly keeps it out of certain Linux distros).
the only complaint I have about nano is if the Linux distro (say, Raspbian) set up HIDEOUS colorization and I'm trying to edit a file and it's dark grey on black and I can't freaking READ it...
That's editable, fortunately, once you've found out where it is. But I'd like a switch or ~/.something setting to turn it OFF, like I do when I 'unalias ls' and things like that. Colorized text on black background NEVER looks right. It should be easy to turn it ALL off without mucking with 'term' settings in .profile or .bashrc or elsewhere.
color choices aren't just for "I like" vs "I hate". My ~60 year old eyes need less strain, and so I minimize that with off-white backgrounds in the GUI, and white-on-black consoles. Turning off hidesouly dim colors on black background (favoring NO colors) would be a nice start, especially if it's just a single line in a config file, or something I can 'alias'... or 'unalias' as the case may be.
"learning curves" are overrated. I just wanna get those 1 minute tasks over with, not spend an hour learning how to do a "1 minutes' worth" of work, and unnecessary additional time looking up how to do otherwise-simple things in documentation EVERY! STINKING! TIME! because "I never use that hideous thing unless there is no other choice" etc..
This is why nano, and its possible predecessor 'ee', exist. Not for n00bs, per se, but for people like me who don't want to "look it up" all of the time, wasting effort that could be spent doing things that are more fun, more interesting, or maybe even just more important.
seems all of the Debian-based distros have nano - they used to include 'ee' but for some reason it's not now (abandoned?). FreeBSD still has 'ee' though.
I'm not a fan of 'vi' but I know the handful of commands that let me use it. Or more more importantly, exit without a reboot (or 'killall' from another console/session). Never type 'edit' in a console unless you're prepared for it. Did that the first time I booted a POSIX system (FreeBSD 4.7 in this case). Frustration ensued, followed by the boot button. i was still figuring it all out.
Nano seems to be most useful on an RPi when you have to ssh in a lot and edit things. I'm glad it's there. That probably makes those who use it members of a pretty big 'Cult'.
reasons for "aggressive carding"...
It may be ridiculous new laws/regulations driving it, or too many underage alcohol buyers from that store, that has caused them to over-react. But yeah, in some states, it is ILLEGAL to hand your ID to a 3rd party for ANY reason, unless it is a cop or DMV employee [someone truly authorized to handle YOUR ID]. Yet, sometimes store policies (or unnecessarily aggressive clerks) don't bother understanding this and demand you do things with your ID that you shouldn't have to do.
I don't shop at stores that are too aggressive with IDs either. It's a little irritating, especially when you're obviously "old enough" (grey beard, etc.), and if they DEMAND I remove my ID from my wallet, I'll just say "forget it, no sale". Demanding I hand it to them gets a lecture on what the law says.
In the animated series 'Cowboy Bebop' an accident in space resulted in chunks of the moon clogging earth orbit to the point where it's hazardous to navigate (in space) and large orbital rocks are frequently (and somewhat randomly) falling onto the earth, causing craters, damage, etc..
A worst case sci-fi scenario, yeah, but something to avoid. Let's not have to dodge existing satellites when firing rockets into space, especially as more countries around the world get their own space programs going.
(or will booster rockets have to use particle beams or other space-weaponry to blast obstacles out of their way in order to avoid collisions during launch?)
Another, this time literary, reference to a book I read as a small kid: "If Everybody Did" [lampoons what would happen if everybody were to do certain things, taken to extremes in a funny-when-you-are-six kind of way]
worse, as a "Main In the Middle" they have the capability to inject HTML ads into the traffic, including your e-mails, and ALSO edit out any ads (or content, for that matter) that they do NOT want on their network (or do NOT want YOU to see...). Like with a firewall appliance, they could enforce the use of THEIR SSLcertificates via THEIR trusted authority, and so on.
Using 'https' won't mean doodly squat if they manage to pull THAT off. Not saying they WILL, only that they COULD...
(so to avoid FUD-ishness, I suggest that appropriate regulations may be needed to PREVENT that possibility)
"big tech" --> "not a monopoly". Right...
One of the things done with fuel providers here in the USA is the "divorcement" between oil wells, pipelines, refineries, and fueling stations. You can't own the entire thing from end to end, or else price fixing would/could be used to drive competitors out of the market. So what is it called if Amazon owns the "last mile" in addition to (many) other parts of the internet?
fortunately, with server-generated keys [and plenty of warnings if they ever change], ssh isn't likely to be so easy to "Man in the Middle" successfully. So "a mitigation" exists, at least for some of this. For in theory you could use a server with sshd running "not on their network" as an ad-hoc VPN - kinda. But the vast majority of people relying on an Amazon network like this probably wouldn't have that option available. Commercial VPNs, and even TOR, could be just as "pwned" as SSL in the scenario I described.
I wonder if, like cell towers, you could privately invest in your own satellite fleet, and just rely on 'roaming charges' to fund it. You could be a member of multiple competing networks, even. Then it's decentralized as far as ownership goes, (potentially) making it less possible to do 'tricky things' like the "Man in the Middle" HTML injection/snooping scenario. Well, it's a thought, anyway...
Or, maybe the temptation to be your OWN "Man in the Middle" content injection/filtering ISP is too great... and others would follow THAT path.
Relying on a software controlled thermostat alone seems fragile
In a device that has SO little hardware because the CPU is doing the job of discrete electronic components, this isn't surprising. It's cheaper just to assume nothing will go wrong, etc.
Perhaps for regulations like CE and underwriter labs like UL, and for other such "safety rating" lists, an IOT or "internet download upgradeable" device should demonstrate that it has sufficient safety features in the design to prevent a firmware image from causing things _like_ "halt and catch fire"
It seems obvious that malicious firmware could cause all sorts of very spectacular problems
maybe to El Reg readers, but apparently not to the makers of this particular 3D printer...
(I doubt they did this negligently, most likely they just didn't know what could happen if the firmware were maliciously crafted)
your argument about brine is not very significant. In short, desalination plants (we have them in California) for producing fresh water do the SAME thing. It is my understanding that there are already a lot of eyes looking at this, and they're not really finding amything significant [or we would have heard about it by now], and at one time I was somewhat connected to a group of people who were into monitoring this kind of thing... so yeah I'm pretty well informed. In short, it's pretty much a "nothing burger" but as for oceanography, no harms in monitoring sea water salinity in these areas.
And I hear that brine shrimp thrive in the effluent... which would feed more fish, etc.
In an ironic similarity, treated water from sewage plants has LESS salinity in it. Maybe we could just mix them...
And let us not forget that one of the CHEAPESTS way to make Hydrogen in large quantity involves COAL... and electrolytic methods PROBABLY use fossil fuel generated electricity!
All that being said, CO2 isn't a problem anyway. Something about NOT absorbing black body radiated infrared energies that correspond to ACTUAL TEMPERATURES FOUND ON EARTH...
burning diesel in pure O2 results in NO NOx and over 90% efficiency
Although the 90% efficienty claim breaks the 2nd law of thermodynamics (you would need a temperature of more than 2700 C to obtain a Carnot efficiency of 90%, let alone a real world efficiency of 90%, and last I checked most metals would fail to hold integrity at that temperature...) but it's not likely for a number of OTHER reasons as well.
Still the idea of using pure O2 and fossil fuels is not a new one. Rockets. And at very high altitudes, inject O2 into a regular jet turbine engine. The only problem is getting pure O2 in sufficient volume to make this happen. So if you could solve THAT problem [currently cryogenic methods are the most efficient method I know of to get pure O2, and it takes a LOT of electricity to do that] then O2 bottles for your diesel engine might be a good idea. If for no other reason, spike up the O2 to increase efficiency.
Still, I think it'd melt...
NOTE: Rockets avoid the melting problem by using incoming fuel to cool the nozzles, and also spraying a layer of fuel onto the inside of the engine. it's a bit less efficient, but the evaporating fuel would (to some extent) protect the metal of the engine from being melted. Burning with pure O2 tends to make welding-temperature flames and as such the metal just metls.
concentrated mirrors, shining on dark boiler piping, can produce steam for electricity. Ufnortunately you need a LOT of unpopulated area for one of these. Solar energy density is generally too low to be practical on a VERY large scale without taking up a LOT of space. A solar panel farm is probably the most space-efficient way to do it, yeah, with current technology.
When a parking area has covered sections that have solar panels on them, it's a creative way to make the parking lot better, AND use some of the space to create solar electricity. Another win-win. Seen this at a Walmart in San Diego, where it's sunny enough most of the time to be a practical location for solar electricity.
using biofuel production to consume agricultural waste IS a good idea on its own. It is possible to convert bio waste into oil. The process that I read about is actually EXOTHERMIC. You could then use this bio-synthetic oil to add to existing oil production, thus "offsetting" either a) trash production wasted as landfill, or b) whatever environmentalists decide is "helping". Either way it's a win-win so unless there's cost prohibition making it completely impractical, I say "go for it".
Note that SOME of this agricultural waste goes into composting and may still be useful as animal feed. So whatever does best for farmers, probably should do THAT first.
beer-o-clock time (for updates), assuming you left your computer on during the liquid lunch and came back sober enough to shut it down after the updates had already installed...
Or, you were too intoxicated to come back, and just left it on over the weekend.
For that reason, I'd suggest noon UK time. It'd give you a chance to get out of the office earlier, because "ooh, my computer needs to update. I'll just start that now..." followed by "Hey Phil, you want to go to 'lunch' a bit early today? yeah, the computers need to update.... better invite the rest of the company, too, it could take an hour or three!" "Oh, it's on YOU? Thanks, Boss!"
Yeah El Reg as "required reading" for I.T. (and related) staff...
just 'On Call' and BOFH and the occasional IT security-related article would be enough for "basic require dreading", but I'm sure (like any other IT-related person) they'd be spending a significant period of time during the day looking at the rest of the site...
CnC (Coffee and Cats) warning... (see icon)
perhaps the program needs a "chicken factor" (or 'pucker factor') built in - you know, when it would otherwise look like the automated spacecraft is "playing chicken" to an average sane observer, it does an early enough course correction to prevent navels (and anuses) from puckering up...
"To me the cause of these conspiracy theories is obvious: A bunch of people intentionally creating mischief, supported by a much bigger bunch of freaking idiots."
in some cases, actual mental disorders might be involved...
There are actual conspiracies. Unfortunately. But when you 'follow the money' on the Wuhan Virus, it doesn't point to vaccine makers... [something to think about]. And those who control others more effectively do it through fear and misinformation. FUD, basically.
When the Wuhan Flu vaccine is approved, I'll probably get one, even though I most likely had this virus back in late December or early January, when a co-worker returned from China, went home sick that day after exhibiting symptoms, and a week later I had the classic "mild symptoms", followed about a week later by an even milder version, lasted one day each time. If not COVID-19, it was probably "something from China" and that just happens when you and/or your co-workers need to travel around the world, ya know? "Life _IS_ Risk".
But I'm definitely taking the vaccine, when it comes out. Regardless.
or how about just pointing out the silliness of the anti-vaxer conspiracy theories in general?
I happen to like vaccines very much, I was a pincushion for them when I was in the Navy, and occasionally go for the inexpensive flu shots when available.
So yeah SOME real dangers from vaccines, but you just have to have the smarts to watch for them. Flu shots CAN give you the flu, or a rash, or other allergic reaction. But they usually don't. So you either get a doctor to monitor it, or show some common sense and read the warnings on the label...
(/me not a doctor, so YMMV)
the general practice with classified material is that it doesn't leave the location where it's stored. That was how it was back in the 80's, and I doubt it has changed. If you must transport it, you're supposed to do so in an approved manner. Although at times this may have been bent/gray, it was still "the rule".
In any case, working from home with a government contract, where security is concerned, is generally NOT allowed, EVAR. "Lose your security clearance" is just the tip of the iceberg.
modifying TCP packets via a "man in the middle" type of attack is trivial (you can study how netfilter does this sort of thing for FTP proxy support as an excellent example of Linux and how it handles these kinds of things, actual packet data editing on-the-fly within a netfilter module). This kind of threat includes SSL if the attack is sophisticated enough, and when it comes to getting certain *kinds* of politicians elected, you can expect botnets to get involved as well. Poisoning DNS "just for that day" when most people cast their votes is another option. And don't forget DDoS attacks and countless other things that could completely mess up an online process.
Somewhat recently I had a voter registration info mailing for someone I'd never met before show up in my mailbox with my address. I sent it back to the registrar of voters with an angry comment about having never met this person, and I double-checked at the polling place to make sure that this person's name was NOT on the list under my address (the volunteers at the polling place were more than happy to assist). Individual people CAN help to stop voter fraud, and this is ONE example of why the existing system makes it better.
"Without an iota of evidence."
you mean like THIS EVIDENCE ??
others also exist - this was one of the top results in a google search for "mail vote fraud evidence US", that wasn't a "snopes" or biased "fact check" site...
(you're welcome)
agreed. the entire idea of privatizing space (so it becomes less prohibitively expensive to explore it) ought to include other nations' space programs as well as private companies in the USA, etc..
I wonder when India will send something...
/me wonders how long before a Russian company launches rockets from Baikonur... (or have I missed something?)
"Why is the XML parser not a separate sandboxed process "
doing THAT costs more. And it won't use that crappy little 3rd party library with the cool name... that the dev found pasted over on stack overflow one day, so he could play video games instead of write code... yotta yotta yotta.
Any kind of forced "phone home" updates _ARE_ highly overrated... and the IOT is _NO_ exception!
It was a lesson in "why the Micros~1 way is BAD". Meanwhile, many bricked boxes later, they were ALSO caught revealing your private viewing secrets by regularly 'phoning them home'.
*BAD* Sammy. No biscuit!
social media is highly overrated, and the world really isn't how it's portrayed there.
I'd like to think that this could be a wakeup call for alleged 'twitter addicts' that (straw man) get all of their news, social interaction, and other information from twitter. If such people really exist, yeah...
as for me - yet another reason NOT to use Tw[a,i]tter.
ReactOS is the OS that I _WANT_ to succeed at doing what it is designed intended to do. When can I have it [working]?
Looks like I should download the latest again, see what's been fixed, what hasn't. The thing that irritated me the most before was the LACK of ability to turn OFF "auto arrange" on the desktop icons. 2nd to that, SAMBA support that actually WORKS. (I want to use the NET command from the CMD shell and work with samba shares the way I would in XP or 7)
As I recall networking worked well enough to be able to web surf and download things. but that was about it.
I shall remain cautiously optimistic.
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