Posts by bombastic bob

Linux in 2020: 27.8 million lines of code in the kernel, 1.3 million in systemd

Re: "It solves a problem that people have."

auto-restart services... (*sigh*)

a) run a simple shell script that does "service blahblah stop" sleep 1 "service blahblah start" whenever 'ps ax | grep blahblah' doesnt return anything back. have it loop every 5 seconds or something.

b) don't use applications that crash

c) log in with ssh periodically and do a 'ps ax' to see what's running

d) if it's mission critical, it should restart ITSELF [and NOT need a 'systemd']

by "solving" that one problem, and introducing BOATLOADS of "feature creep", systemd basically did it WRONG but the "developers" *FELT* [not thinking, FEELING, with emotions, which make CRAP decisions] it would be "BETTER" and they were *FREAKING WRONG*!!!

Re: "It solves a problem that people have."

I also use FreeBSD, and whenever possible, Linux distros like DEVUAN that do *NOT* have systemd.

Unfortunately, I made a decision for embedded development for a customer, to use Raspbian (based on Debian) and THAT has systemd in it. I've had to waste several HOURS trying to un-do systemd's STUPIDITY (like 'out of the box' assuming that all serial ports are MODEMS, and hence run the modem daemon/service/whatever-the-hell-it-is which kept B0RKING the startup sequence for device control of a serial port connected device from a headless Raspberry Pi, but I digress...).

systemd has TOO! MANY! BUT-IF! QURKY! STUPIDTHINGS! EMBEDDED! IN! IT! and in TOO many cases I've had to *FIGHT* *IT* to make a simple Linux-based embedded solution ACTUALLY! WORK!!!

However, by using Raspbian, rather than a Devuan distro, it's more likely to support "bleeding edge" hardware that plugs into the RPi, or that was my thinking...

[fortunately only a few hours wasted out of hundreds, so it's hard to say if my decision was in any way "bad", though it was the safest path in my opinion]

I! *HATE*! SYSTEMD!!!

(nuke it 'till it glows, then SHOOT IT IN THE DARK - see icon)

TikTok boom: US Army bans squaddies from using trendy app on govt-issued phones

Re: who in the first place?

NSA back door on the military.... I don't think they need to bother with that one. I'm sure they had access to everything I knew, everything I did, and everything in my service record, when I was in the Navy. Well it wasn't called 'NSA" back then but same idea.

[on a related note, there is still some classified information I won't disclose knowledge about, nor discuss, because it hasn't been made public knowledge, even from 30+ years ago].

Re: GPS enabled military phones :-)

seeing that link wants me to say "based"

Re: I think you'll find the ban covers more than just work phones

When you're in the military, the command you belong to may declare a particular place "off limits". This may be because it's a den of drug dealers (seen), a religious cult (seen), or just some place that the command does not like (have not seen, but they have the perrogative).

Extending this to personal electronics is NOT unprecedented. Enforcement would be up to the individual commands, but believe me, if you're doing something that puts your shipmates in any kind of danger, the others around you will have a LOT to say about it!!!

Example: noobie on a submarine leaves the toilet lid up after peeing in it. He's told by a senior member of the crew to put the damn lid down, because when the boat takes an angle, it'll slam down on the crapper making a loud noise in the water. Or the same kind of thing, NOT shutting the doors properly, or slamming them too hard when you DO shut them. It's not just about not waking people up in berthing, or making an irritating noise, it's about NOT putting noise in the water.

Same things with "apps" on your personal phone. if it's snarfing up data about YOU, it could ALSO be indirectly snarfing data about your crewmates. So yeah, it's a concern. And I think anyone in the military who has a brain would agree with this, and I'm sure they'll share info about 'safe' alternaties to otherwise slurpy "CRapps".

Re: social media data hoovering is an obvious security risk

it bypasses the Chain of Command.

How does Trump's direct words bypass the chain of command? I think the people at the top have every right to directly order those at the very bottom, but in dealing with grievances, that's where 'chain of command' really applies. You go to YOUR platoon/division first, then up the chain, with respect to grievances. Yeah I was in the Navy for 6 years so I know how the system works. And it's NOT a bunch of unthinking grunts being dictated to like robots. We have robots for that sort of thing anyway...

Re: social media data hoovering is an obvious security risk

actually Kennedy started the Vietnam War, and LBJ turned it into the quagmire that we all remember today.

Nixon actually ended it, and by pulling out U.S. troops, allowed the VC government to overrun the places we were defending. Many people believe that if Nixon hadn't been side-tracked with Watergate, he might have ended it more like the Korean War, which happened while Nixon was Vice President, I might add.

(unfiltered history for the benefit of millenials, who probably aren't exposed to unfiltered history very often, the revisionist kind being more suited to manipulating them through FEEL)

Re: social media data hoovering is an obvious security risk

If cold war history is of any consequence, we're probably reading Xi's mail in real time. even the encrypted stuff.

The thing is, what's obvious about China is what they do to their OWN people. They'll build this capability [like Google and Facebook] into social media stuff and NOW the chinese government gets to snarf data from U.S. government-issued phones if TikTok is allowed to be on them. That's really what it's about.

So, from the government's perspective, it's ok to spy on China, but it's NOT ok for them to have an equal access to our military via government-issued phones...

I guess that point was already made, but I'm just saying it straight-up to avoid any doubts as to what they're doing.

Re: social media data hoovering is an obvious security risk

"I guess the Trump feed is Ok as he reminds you a lot of McCarthy and Nixon right?"

Not even REMOTELY close. Nixon was a liberal republican who started the EPA and tried to regulate the economy through price/wage freezes. McCarthy was more like the P.C. gang nowadays with "guilt by accusation". The modern-day McCarthy-ism includes various smear tactics LIKE leaking classified and private information like a sieve to the willing press corps, AHD holding sham impeachments for non-crimes based on opinions and heresay, with no actual DUE PROCESS (like the accused being able to face and cross-examine his accuser, produce his own witnesses, etc.).

But hey, you've got the "pandering to the perception" part nailed in the quote I included at the top. Trump is actually the OPPOSITE of that. "Drain the swamp"

icon, because, facepalm

Re: social media data hoovering is an obvious security risk

The U.S. Navy secures a building by firing a tomahawk MISSILE into a window from a submarine that's over 100 miles away... pretty much killing EVERYTHING in the room, the surrounding rooms, and maybe the surrounding area.

Oh, and a marine or seal spotter told them which window. theirs was the harder job

social media data hoovering is an obvious security risk

if it's a government-issued phone, they can say what you can do with it...

and for security reasons I'd ban Fa[e]ceb[ook,itch] as well! And Twi[a,t]ter [except for the Trump feed]. And GOOGLE for that matter...

in this way, a hidden data-mining "feature" of TikTok [whether it exists NOW or not] can't be running while a soldier or sailor is doing his duty someplace, GPS tracking EVERY! MOVE! and reporting back to whomever PAYS MONEY TO TIK TOK TO GET THAT.

And with the other data snarfers, same thing. But TikTok is owned by a COMMUNIST COUNTRY. That kinda DEMANDS action, ya know?

We live so fast I can't even finish this sent...

Re: Is that...

Chabornek - what dat?

Re: Pantone Classic Blue

It's probably that stupid color that millennials *FEEL* should be the TEXT FOREGROUND on EVERY WEB SITE (with blinding white as the background, so it KILLS YOUR EYES).

(I think at least SOME of the links on this edit page also use that color - but then again the edit font is half the size of the one that shows up in the article and it's ALREADY hard enough to read, like I'm ALREADY being discouraged from commenting through the web page CSS, and color choice and font size are 2 of those factors)

And, WHO is it that picks these things FOR us anyway? Must be a bunch of idiots.

fortunately I've toned down the blue on my monitor, to preserve eyesight for another few years... and I can sort of distinguish the fuzzy/tiny text and hit 'preview' a few times to correct any spelling errors, where 'll' and 'lll' look kinda the same in the edit font...

NASA's monster rocket inches towards testing while India plots return to the Moon

Re: in a step backwards, ...

yeah, an SLS that lands on its tail would be pretty good.

Unfortunately for NASA, they haven't been designing too many new rockets lately... so it'd take a bit of effort to play "catch up" to what SpaceX is doing.

Maybe they could SUB-CONTRACT some of the design work to SpaceX ?

Re: We're still catching up to the NASA of the 1960s in many ways

The main problem nowadays is the LACK of "almost unlimited budgets". So I guess it's the difference between "just doing it" and "doing it well".

Oh, and landing the rocket on it's tail so it can be re-used again. Gotta admit, that is AWESOME!

Smart speaker maker Sonos takes heat for deliberately bricking older kit with 'Trade Up' plan

I've got a decent set of computer speakers with a broken volume control. i can't find a replacement part. However, you gave me a good idea: order a stereo amplifier module and cable online, then power the speakers with it [after gutting the amplifier out of the one that has it].

Interesting afternoon project for 'one of these days'. Or I could just build an amplifier from spare parts around the workshop

Re: Plastic blister packs

uh, EVERYONE does things for their own benefit, you know.

As a business, what works BEST is when you do things for your OWN benefit that ALSO benefit your customers. but there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with working for your OWN benefit. THAT is called "human nature".

I doubt ANYONE is so altruistic as to do EVERYTHING for the benefit of OTHERS. Personally, I'd find someone who claim to do that VERY irritating anyway... [and the claims would be ego-stoking, and therefore hypocrisy]

regardless, the industry needs to "get it" with respect to blister-packs!

with respect to SD card prices, it's not worth it for the makers to produce low-speed cards, so what they often do is offer the same SIZE but at a higher speed rating, and at the old price (or maybe even a slightly higher one). Just sayin'.

Amazon 'frustration free' packaging costs THEM less, too, like shipping and storage

So it's a win-win

Re: Sonos said

I'll deliberately avoid ever having a first experience with them,

Yes. They should stop trying to control the customer. That kind of "corporate arrogance" has been irritating us for over a decade now.. I cite many examples as early as 2005-ish, with "the ribbon", Windows Vista, Gnome 3, Windows 8, Windows 10, UWP and The Store, and the horrible horrible tragedy that KDE has become... and what GOOGLE and Fa-[e]ceb[ook,itch] have become! It's like I.T. and hardware are somehow the domain of FASCISTS or something

you HAVE heard of SD cards right?

but as AC you can't use this icon either so I forgive you

blister packs

I cursed out a VERY IRRITATING blister pack just a few days ago, something I'd actually purchased a couple of years ago, that I finally had need of... took at least 10 minutes to remove everything I needed from the clear plastic 'irritation' without breaking the driver disk, ripping the cardboard with printed instructions on the inside, or yanking the 4 inch cable off of the device, in the process of getting it out. EVEN WITH SCISSORS, which could BARELY CUT IT. A knife would probably have done damage...

But it looked *great* on the store shelf! [and doesn't perform as 'great' as I was hoping for - fortunately this was device #2 and I'd already purchased a different kind which had more features, in addition to this one but had both "just in case" so I could move forward at THAT time...

I think the #1 reason is also why many things (including console games and DS cartridges] often come in packages that are WAY larger than the item itself: Primarily, it is to deter theft.

There's also the psychological effect of "bigger looking box". Cereal makers do this a LOT in the USA, produce tall/wide but very thin boxes for cereal to make them LOOK as if you're getting more, when you're not.

A sprinkling of Star Wars and a dash of Jedi equals a slightly underbaked Rise Of Skywalker

waiting for the video...

I guess I'm just tired of paying $15 (each) to see a movie in a theater... so I'll pay $20 for the DVD when it goes on sale (right at release time) at a store like Target or Walmart. I usually like the 3D version in the theater, but lately I'm just tired of the crowds, the people RUDELY smoking out front of the theater ("but it's OUTSIDE" they say...) and other such things. Maybe I'm just getting old, but at some point you have to admit that Hollyweird is just charging TOO MUCH for their product, and people are less willing to PAY that for what we actually get...

And so when it comes out on DVD (yes DVD, with MY old eyes I doubt I could tell the difference between DVD and Blu Ray) I'll buy a copy and watch it for the first time, like I do most movies these days.

Kinda looking forward to it, though.

LibreOffice 6.4 nearly done as open-source office software project prepares for 10th anniversary

Re: I think you underestimate it...

"You pay or else poof your stuff in their cloud goes away"

This, to me, is just the frosting on a huge cake of things Micro-shaft has done starting with Office '97 (the last MS office I purchased, where they first added 'Clippy', because I *HAD* to because $CUSTOMER was using it and I couldn't read the '97 formatted documents they kept using...)

*ahem*

So without summarizing ALL of the "features" that CREEPED in since then, it's made a rather horrible cake of excrement-like material that I watch other people struggle with from time to time...

Meanwhile I'm able to do pretty much any office-like thing on Linux, FreeBSD and EVEN WINDOWS, using Libre Office. And, the 2nd best part, is that Libre comes WITHOUT the "features" that MS *CRAMMED* into THEIR offce, in SPITE of the desires of the customer!

We can most likely thank ONE SPECIFIC PERSON for MUCH of this, the person that invented "the ribbon" as well as promoting the 2D FLATTY all over the place in Windows "Ape" and Win-10-nic. And yet, people like THIS get "kicked upstairs" by the proverbial Peter Principle... instead of getting fired and left begging for change on street corners with a sign that says "will replace DECENT USER INTERFACES with CRAP USER INTERFACES for food".

why more people aren't standardizing on Libre Office is beyond me...

Tracking President Trump with cellphone location data, Greta-Thunberg-themed malware, SharePoint patch, and more

Re: "Everyone is trackable, traceable, discoverable to some degree.”

"that's why we have laws forbidding it."

YES!

"Greta" malware

The Emotet malware is doing the rounds again, this time by exploiting the popularity of climate activist Greta Thunberg.

I thought GRETA *WAS* MALWARE!! Except, in HER case, the "fleshy" kind.

Given Thunberg's DOOMberg's popularity with youngsters who will have to deal with adverse climate change

NO, they will *NOT*. So-called man-made "Climate Change" is *NOT* a foregone conclusion! OT to discuss why, So I'll erase what I wrote.

Seriously, though, I "feel no pain" for anyone who downloads "the Greta malware". Serves y'all right, heh heh heh.

The best 'Greta' comic/parody/snark I've seen so far shows Mother Nature giving Greta a spanking and saying things like "It's called WEATHER" and "CO2 is good for plants". Meanwhile, while getting spanked, Greta's screaming out "HOW DARE YOU". Perfect!

(Greta is an example of what happens when children try to take on the adults, and too many people LET THEM or even ENABLE THEM. It's the job of the ADULTS to SPANK THEM when they try!!! 'Lord of the Flies' is a good example of that taken to its extreme. Children need PARENTS who say NO. And once a "child" goes in front of the UN, Congress, and the world, and ends up on magazine covers, for DOING that kind of CRAP, the gloves come OFF)

JavaScript survey: Devs love a bit of React, but Angular and Cordova declining. And you're not alone... a chunk of pros also feel JS is 'overly complex'

Re: JavaScript is "overly complex".

(did you actually PROMOTE jquery???)

I had to take over the 'web stuff' on an embedded project, and the "developer" slapped 3rd party "strap-ons" together to create the UI, which I then ended up hacking and heavily modifying to make it work.

And throughout the code I've marked it up "TODO: un-jquery this" and similar. *I* *HATE* *JQUERY* - it is the *WORST* example of *WHY* *YOU* *DO* *NOT* *WANT* *SUCH* *THINGS* !!!

It is *THE* PRIMARY example of why you do not want such "frameworks" at ALL.

[learn to use DOM, and you will not NEED such things - W3Schools web site and others will help you. Search engines are your friend. I use them a LOT]

Re: JavaScript is "overly complex".

not so much sandboxing, but sanitizing. A good sanitizing algorithm will eliminate the possibility of SQL injection, as one example...

my favorite is to look for ';' and '/' (or quotes, or path starts with '..' etc. - or SQL keywords if that's at issue) and just reject things outright that contain these characters/sequences. Others also exist. simple test. PHP script has some other built-ins as well.

the only reason you would NOT want to do everything server-side is performance latency [when the server is across the world, let's say, or the bandwidth stinks]

Re: JavaScript is "overly complex".

"only use JS when something's not possible with native HTML or server-side code"

Good! Job!

Re: It looks web developers spend more time changing framework...

it's the temptation of "new, shiny" - like a cancer, except it's shiny.

Re: Frameworks

"Will they all be superceded by Web Assembly?"

Angels, demons, gods, and monsters, I sure *HOPE* *NOT* !!!

I'd rather just see the frameworks *DIE* and people go back to doing things simple and clean, low bandwidth, low CPU utilization, rely on CSS features, yotta yotta, but good luck with THAT happening any time soon, as "web coders" still need to JUSTIFY THEIR OWN EXISTENCE.

I'd pay more money to someone who could "NOT use" JavaScript... or frameworks, for that matter.

Re: Not sure where to go

"As a long time web-dev working with .NET"

For that, you have my pity.

Question: why does anybody NEED "a framework"?

Javascript (in a web page) really has only ONE purpose: to perform minor UI tasks that would respond poorly if done by the server. On the server side, *USE* *A* *REAL* *LANGUAGE* !!!

If you code your web pages PROPERLY with CSS [not those 10Gb monolithic do-it-all style sheets, but one carefully tailored to your UI] you need very LITTLE, if ANY, javascript in them. I try to avoid it whenever possible, even in an embedded system using chrome in kiosk mode...

If you must script, there are BETTER ways to do it. PHP. Shell. Perl. Python. No "frameworks" needed aside from the built-in features and installible modules (unless you're a glutton for punishment by 3rd party bloatware).

Anyway, I'm sure that the JS fans will hate me for saying this, heh.

Boffins don bad 1980s fashion to avoid being detected by object-recognizing AI cameras

Re: Great

in some cases, the name should be changed to 'A.S.' i.e. "Artificial Stupidity"

Re: Great

RADAR specifically, in cars, would create 'RF pollution' if EVERYBODY does it. All of those RADAR systems interfering with one another... and there are other logistic problems with RADAR, like a 'blind spot' directly in front of the antenna, for when the 'pulse going out' switch hasn't turned off yet on the wave guide [to protect front-end components, you have to temporarily short out the input circuit while transmitting the high power pulse]. Additionaly, high power microwaves for long periods of time are bad for fleshies. You use these when cooking in a microwave oven, right?

But the worst of it is the object resolution. To properly resolve an object or distance that's 10 cm you will more than likely need a "much less than 10cm" wavelength (although phase shift detection MIGHT let you do it, if you like super-sophisticated detectors like that). 10cm is 30Ghz, and it'll only get more expensive (and require higher output power) as wavelength drops.

And you thought it was bad when running a microwave oven caused your bluetooth and/or wifi devices to temporarily disconnect... imagine a bozillian cars doing the SAME! THING!

well it's been decades since I did anything with a RADAR system and so the tech has probably improved, but the general principles remain the same

A 'FLIR' system (plus optical) might be the best choice (assuming it's already part of the package), especially for detecting cars and people. They tend to emit infrared light on their own, too.

FYI: FBI raiding NSA's global wiretap database to probe US peeps is probably illegal, unconstitutional, court says

Re: Checks and balances essential

"Nice Job" </snark> with the attempt to inject ridiculous partisan politics and fake news opinions into your "point". Almost as bad as the classic 'leading question' i.e. "How long have you been beating your wife?"

'pandering to the perception' etc..

Re: Read the 14th amendment

agreed, it's been the general policy of the U.S. justice system to extend the same *kinds* of constitutional protections to non-citizens, due process etc. while they are guests in our country (even illegally).

As far as the 9th Circus is concerned, I think they (like the proverbial broken clock that's right twice a day) got it RIGHT this time in their ruling. I also look forward to the U.S. Supreme Court turning this into legal precedent. I suspect that with all of the FBI shenanigans recently uncovered, there's little chance the Supreme Court would differ from this position. "Rogue" and "Overly Aggressive" FBI agents who illegally collect damning information and THEN intimidate the accused into a guilty plea have to be STOPPED. That's certainly NOT "due process". Right General Flynn?

strangely I just heard about this on El Reg. Where are all of the otherwise LOUD civil libertarian ACLU types on this???

Google security engineer says she was fired for daring to remind Googlers they do indeed have labor rights

you could have stated that differently and actually been accurate...

There have been some indications that Google has a "culture" that does not tolerate CONSERVATIVES, and that promotes politically liberal kinds of things. And, in SOME cases (or at least, one DOCUMENTED case), an outspoken conservative opinion got someone fired over taking a position CONTRARY to that of the company [one particular guy a couple o' years ago comes to mind, with respect to 'affirmative action'].

All snark aside, I'd laugh my ASS off if Google employees formed a union. Oh, the IRONY!!! As in, those who LIVE by the left, might just DIE by the left!

Hate speech row: Fine or jail anyone who calls people boffins, geeks or eggheads, psychology nerd demands

Don't need to SJW for me, I'll embrace the titles "Geek" "Nerd" "Boffin" and "Egghead" with PRIDE

My Nicname when I was in the U.S. Navy was "The Geek". At first I wasn't sure what that meant, but someone told me that a 'Geek' was someone who did unusual acts in a circus, such as biting the heads off of chickens. I was actually kinda HAPPY to have that as my nicname after that.

SJW's need to just BUTT the FEEL OUT. We *GEEKS* do not *NEED* *YOU*

/me wears such titles with *PRIDE* but I can't remember what my 'geek code' is...

Someone get Greenpeace on the line. Boffins clock carbon 'pollution' cloud 30,000 light-years wide choking galaxies

Re: Carbon "pollution"

oh come on, it was FUNNY!

Re: Electrictric universe

let's send a bunch of coal miners to go get it

Buzz kill: Crook, 73, conned investors into shoveling millions into geek-friendly caffeine-loaded chocs that didn't exist. Now he's in jail

Re: I don't get it...

this is true - _I_ would want caffeinated chocolate, for SURE!

I wonder if they hold a PATENT on the concept, with which they can TROLL LATER and effectively KEEP IT OFF OF THE MARKET... [unless it's purchased for a ridiculous price]

FUSE for macOS: Why a popular open source library became closed source and commercially licensed

Re: I understand where the dev is coming from but ....

Just like Micro-shaft, looks like Apple wants to "lock down" the kernel using *cough* certificates THAT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR.

Nevermind the effect it has on OPEN SOURCE and FREEDOM TO USE YOUR OWN COMPUTER HOW YOU SEE FIT...

Also: besides being IRRITATING, it's a FALSE sense of security. Widespread cracking of _THAT_ is just a matter of time... and I doubt they're making any developer friends in the process.

[you could make the case of having a strong lock on a door; however, it's my opinion that putting a TOLLBOOTH ON THE PROCESS is _NOT_ the way to do it! That assumes that Apple _CHARGES MONEY_ to sign the drivers, just the way that Micro-shaft does]

Are you writing code for ambient computing? No? Don't even know? Ch-uh. Google's 'write once, run anywhere' Flutter is all over it

Re: Buzzword bingo

should've used a 'snark' icon because this "Buzzword Bingo" thing has been going on WAY too long, we've all seen it before, half the time it was Micro-shaft doing it (whatever happened to Silverlight?) and now it's GOOGLE doing the SAME THING.

I didn't like JQuery, I don't like NodeJS, I *REALLY* hate UWP and ".Not", and now "THEY" are horking up some "new thing", only THIS time it's Google doing it.

Yeah. THAT'll make it *BETTER*. </snark>

(and don't EVEN get me started on 'materialize')

Space Force is go, go, go! Because we have a child as President of the United States

Re: Spelling

"And it should be said with an overly theatrical pronunciation."

and a GRAND SOUNDING echo!!!

Re: Wow.

with only HALF a brain, Trump would STILL be better than OBAKA (or Mrs. Clinton for that matter), or any of those "candidates" jockeying for position in the Demo[n,c][R,r]at party

Re: It Is With Such Baubles That Men Are Led.

"had the wretched Obama spun this idea the media would be falling over itself to grovel before his 'cool' intellectual brilliance."

THAT is a foregone conclusion. 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' is alive and kicking.

During WW2 the Air Force was 'Army Air Corps'. It split off some time after the war ended. Now it's going to split again. Seriuosly it makes sense because a 'space force' would be able to focus on space, and not on 'Air Force' kinds of things. At some point in the future, when actual ships are being flown, it'd probably make sense to have a separate 'Space Navy'. I would guess that when it comes to managing ships with a crew of dozens or hundreds, the Navy has much more experience. But a crew of 2 or 3 or 4, Air Force can manage just fine.

It's just an evolutionary thing, really. You can make fun, until it makes sense.

Brewing in spaaaaace: SpaceX sends a malting kit to the International Space Station

Re: Yum

Hmmm... Mars bars that ACTUALLY COME FROM MARS.

gotta love it!

Re: Rocket Lab

yeah but if I did 900kph on the freeway, the fine would be "astronomical"

I think I prefer an actual test...

"It worked on paper" --> *DISASTER* --> "oh, crap..."

Re: Prelude to Mars

hmmm... Martian beer [I like it already]

1. Aries Ale [Aries being the Greek version of Mars]

2. God of War

3. Red Planet Ale (there's a local brew in San Diego called 'Red Trolley Ale')

4. Green Martian Malt Liquor

5. Cydonia Stout

6. Martian Viking (named for the some of the first space-bots to go there)

7. Bradbury Brew (named after the author of 'Martian Chronicles')

8. Space Beer (ok could be brewed in orbit or anywhere off earth)

(alternate: 'Beer from Spaaaaace')

9. Rocket Fuel

10. Alien (any kind of brew, this one-word title just works)

11. Space Buzz (a vague reference to the 2nd man on the moon, and what beer does for ya)

12. Kasei Beer (japanese name for Mars is 'Kasei')

running out of ideas, now...