Re: CICS is still a thing?
The number 66 bus between Romsey and Winchester goes past Hursley Grange
"Get your CICS on route 66..."
Posts by Sean o' bhaile na gleann
125 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Feb 2016
IBM sues Micro Focus, claims it copied Big Blue mainframe software
Using the datacenter as a dining room destroyed the platters that matter
US Army to build largest 3D-printed structures in the Americas
Tomorrow Water thinks we should colocate datacenters and sewage plants
Monday 4th April 2022 06:50 GMT
Re: unlike your typical UK green energy project
ISTR reading a short article back in the oughties (probably the in back pages of New Scientist or something like that) about some American company mulling the idea of domestic reactors.
Each such 'device' would take the form of a long spike-like thing, buried 30ft down in your back garden.
Of necessity it would be next-to maintenance-free. Can you imagine asking the guy down the street - the one who 'knows a thing or two' - to take a look and adjust the output or something like that.
Think of the new and interesting varieties of rose you might be able to grow...
Or "Yes, good boy, Rover. Now put the bone back in the ground...'
With 90% COVID-19 vax rate, Intel to step up return-to-office
Dog forgets all about risk of drowning in a marsh as soon as drone dangles a sausage
Munich mk2? Germany's Schleswig-Holstein plans to switch 25,000 PCs to LibreOffice
Amazon hasn't launched one internet satellite yet, but it's now planning a fleet of 7,774
Saturday 6th November 2021 09:15 GMT
"...international treaties that permit overflying of a country's territory by satellites..."
I'm fairly certain that isn't the case (and, if memory serves, this idea cropped up in a previous thread on these august pages).
As I remember things, the Russians effectively shat on that idea right at the very start by sending Sputnik 1 up without initially clearing such 'overflying' in the first place.
Amazon aims to launch prototype broadband internet satellites by Q4 2022 – without Bezos' Blue Origin
Orders wrong, resellers receiving wrong items? Must be a programming error and certainly not a rushing techie
Happy birthday, Microsoft Money: Here's a cashpoint calamity for Windows and .NET
Saturday 9th October 2021 08:15 GMT
Re: MS Money and Quicken
I have to say that I never used MSMoney's "advanced" facilities, such as investment planning, etc., but I still use it even now, on Windows 10.
When the software was discontinued, MS issued the 'sunset' edition, which I downloaded & installed - and it fulfils my requirements completely.
These days, I'm seriously considering switching over to Linux and ditching Windows completely, so I'm looking around for a reasonable alternative that will be able to take on an MSMoney database stretching back to 1996...
(That last bit is predicated on me being able to install Linux on my PC at all. I keep hitting BIOS problems at this stage.)
Electrocution? All part of the service, sir!
Try placing a pot plant directly above your CRT monitor – it really ties the desk together
Three things that have vanished: $3.6bn in Bitcoin, a crypto investment biz, and the two brothers who ran it
UK health secretary Matt Hancock follows delay to GP data grab with campaign called 'Data saves lives'
Tuesday 22nd June 2021 15:40 GMT
Not exactly on point, but...
From the article: "But there was no mention of the fact that those researchers might be outside the NHS or UK public sector, or that their main line of work might be market research for private health companies..."
In a previous related thread (https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2021/06/09/matt_hancock_nhs_data_grab/), I detailed my difficulties in dealing with an e-mail from 'Patient Access', which is the method I used to use to order up my repeat prescription. That e-mail said that Patient Access had updated their T&Cs, and it provided a link to allow the updated documentation to be studied.
That link was blocked by UBlock, which I'd only recently installed, because of a filter identified as "||exponea.com^". The same block screen identified the filter as coming from 'cdn.uk.exponea.com'.
Typing 'cdn.uk.exponea.com' into Google resulted in a number of entries for Exponea, but the one that really caught my eye was "Exponea helps you maximize profits and drive customer loyalty by targeting the right customers with the right message at the perfect time".
It's a case of 'nuff said, as far as I'm concerned. I'm OUT!
Don't get me wrong - I fully agree with the concept of gathering all this data together for the purpose of analysis that might lead to new understanding of health issues and possible treatments or cures. I see this as A Good Thing.
But that's the ONLY purpose for collecting the data that I agree with.
Windows 11: Meet the new OS, same as the old OS (or close enough)
Space Force turtle expert uncovers $1.2m Cape Canaveral cocaine haul
'Vast majority of people' are onside with a data grab they know next to nothing about, reckons UK health secretary
Thursday 10th June 2021 12:04 GMT
Re: Coincidence?
I just received the same mail myself (today, 10th).
Clicked on the T&c's link - blocked by ublock "because to the following filter: ||exponea.com^"
Same for the Privacy Policy link.
Tried the 'Log in' link right at the bottom - had forgotten the password, so asked for a reset link in e-mail.
Got that, and responded with a new password which was apparently accepted, because I logged in with e-mail id and (new ) password, only to be confronted with a requirement for 4th 8th and 10th letter of my memorable word.
Could not exactly remember that word, so asked for the reminder to be displayed - that led to my remembering the memorable word.
But it is only 9 characters long...
Clicked on the link for a memorable word reset. Was told that e-mail had been sent. It didn't arrive. Requested the e-mail again and it finally arrived.
Another link in the e-mail to get to the memorable word reset resulted in ublock again blocking the page, objecting to the same filter as before.
Round and round we go...
Why why bloody why is it so effin difficult!!??
Space station dumps 2.9-ton battery pack to burn up in Earth's atmosphere after hardware upgrade
OVH data centre destroyed by fire in Strasbourg – all services unavailable
Wednesday 10th March 2021 11:27 GMT
Re: Who knew data centres were tinder boxes?
Back when I were a trainee operator, one of the first things to be rammed home to me was to keep the computer room tidy at all times - no loose items left on top of various cabinets, desks, etc.
Not because of some OCD tendency of the chief operator, but because of the sheer hurricane-level force of the fire suppression gas being released.
A 2400' tape reel flying across the room and hitting you in the neck would severely hamper any attempt to get out in an emergency
Prime suspect: Amazon India apologises for offensive scenes in political thriller
There are two sides to every story, two ends to every cable
Panic in the mailroom: The perils of an operating system too smart for its own good
Monday 16th November 2020 12:49 GMT
Re: Glad we've moved on so much in the last 50 years
Shortly after starting employment with an outsourcer, I became a member of the team involved with taking on the IT contract for a large Gas supplier. This was back in the 80's and there had been a rash of red-top newspaper reports of a few of said Gas company's customers being dunned for non-payment of bills for £0.00. These headline-making reports appeared to 'go away' when there was something worthwhile for the respective rags to print.
During the due diligence phase of taking on the contract, we discovered that the problem had indeed 'gone away', but not by means of a change to the billing program. No, the Gas supplier had hired a few low-paid individuals whose job it was to go through the bills and throw away any that featured a £0.00 amount.
US govt ups minimum H-1B tech salaries to $208,000 a year, more than startups can hope to afford, say VCs
IBM to spin out Managed Infrastructure Services biz – yes, the one that was subject to all those redundancies
Family wrongly accused of uploading pedo material to Facebook – after US-EU date confusion in IP address log
Tuesday 15th September 2020 11:47 GMT
Re: International Standards Organization
I once landed a gig with US-based company. The bit of paper I thankfully had in my hand specified a start date of "1st December yyyy". When I turned up at the office, HR tried to kick me out, saying I wasn't expected until 12 January, conveniently ignoring the change of year number...
Rocket Lab to bounce back from July's orbital fail with bulging payloads and parachuting Electrons
Wednesday 12th August 2020 14:58 GMT
Re: Don't go to space til we sort out Earth
As far as I can see, this planet is already wrecked beyond hope.
We need to get off it and move to another one as fast as possible, before the inevitable end.
And yes, that does mean that the next one will get wrecked, too. And the one after that... and so on.
But (hopefully) at least some of the lessons we learn might be used to good effect along the way, rather than fighting a lost battle here.
NASA to stop using names like 'Eskimo Nebula' and 're-examine' what it calls cosmic objects
From 'Queen of the Skies' to Queen of the Scrapheap: British Airways chops 747 fleet as folk stay at home
After 84 years, Japan's Olympus shutters its camera biz, flogs it to private equity – smartphones are just too good
Friday 26th June 2020 06:40 GMT
Re: Sorry to see them go...
RIP Olympus - sorry to see you go.
Such a shame that yet another well-known/loved brand goes down the drain - for whatever reason.
The camera pictured in the equivalent article on the BBC web site was the same as the first camera I ever bought, and I've stuck with Olympus ever since. (A bit bad of me, not giving any others even a first thought, yet alone a second, but well... 'brand loyalty')
You'd think lockdown would be heaven for us layabouts – but half the UK has actually started 'exercising more'
Only true boffins will be able to grasp Blighty's new legal definitions of the humble metre and kilogram
Japan to test self-destructing satellite to shrink space junk with string and an inanimate carbon blob
BoJo looks to jumpstart UK economy with £6k taxpayer-funded incentive for Brits to buy electric cars – report
SpaceX Crew Dragon docks at International Space Station
80-characters-per-line limits should be terminal, says Linux kernel chief Linus Torvalds
5G mast set aflame in leafy Liverpool district, half an hour's walk from Penny Lane
Thursday 28th May 2020 11:55 GMT
"...And respect is something you should give to everyone, until they demonstrate they aren't worthy of it..."
We must have different ideas of what "respect" means.
As far as I'm concerned, the person I respect is someone I look up to, someone who I'd perhaps try to emulate (but never be "the same as"). All other people I'll eat with, drink with, etc. I'll tolerate them. I'll accept them. I'll talk/argue with them and listen to any views they put forward. If a person is my manager or a law/security/safety officer, I'll probably obey instructions they might give - they can expect a demand for a justification of such instructions if I can't immediately see the need for them.
But automatically give respect to?
No - you've got to prove to me you're worthy of my respect first.
Sorry, I'm with the OP on this.
This hurts a ton-80: British darts champ knocked out of home tourney by lousy internet connection
Sunday 19th April 2020 11:50 GMT
Re: here's something to do :
Just how accurate/reliable are those two sites - and, indeed, any other site?
I didn't know about them up to now, and have always relied on the Ookla test available at https://www.speedtest.net/.
I've got a bog-standard residential connection, no capping, but no contractual speed promises either. The complete landline and broadband package sets me back £25 a month - I never use the landline, preferring to VOIP to various contacts, so no actual 'phone' bills involved. It occasionally drops out, and when I check the router (in the broom cupboard), I normally see a red light on it, along with a couple of flashing green ones, indicating that there's a problem of some sort. The connection usually resumes within a short period of time, and then I see '5 greens'.
So when I saw those two test site addresses, I tried them out, along with Ookla, and compared results. Ran 3 tests back-to-back on each of them.
All three sites report latency values of 29 to 30 ms
All three sites report upload speeds of between 0.93 and 1.09 mb/sec. The Ofcom site reported a constant 1.0 mb/sec
For the download speeds, Ookla and Ofcom reported 13+ mb/sec - once again the Ofcom site readings were constant, at 13.1. The MLab site on the other hand reported download speeds of 4.72, 5.06 and 6.47 mb/sec.
Additionally, the Ofcom site always ended the test with a warning that my "...connection is performing badly..." That warning simply doesn't appear for the Mlab and Ookla tests, so I'm guessing that bit of analysis isn't built into them.
I'm aware of the possible confusion between mB/sec and mb/sec, which I've always taken to mean megabytes/sec and megabits/sec respectively, so went back and re-read the summaries. All three sites say mb/sec, but read into that what you will.
The Mlab download stats are so out of whack, I not sure what to believe...
Cricket's average-busting mathematician Tony Lewis pulls up stumps
Welcome to the telco, we've got fun and games: BT inks 5-year deal to outsource mainframe management to IBM
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 earbuds: They're good – though for close to £300, they really should be
Saturday 14th March 2020 21:51 GMT
Re: Waxy build-up
"Otomize is acetic acid no less, vinegar"
Yeah - I had a little chuckle to myself when I read that on the label. If I'd known that vinegar (or, for that matter, lemon juice) would have done the trick, things would have been much simpler.
It's got to be said though, that Otomize is just 2% acetic acid - so don't go reaching for the bottle of Sarsons.
Saturday 14th March 2020 12:43 GMT
Re: Waxy build-up
For the love everything you hold sacred, DON'T... DO. NOT. DO. THIS.
My story: Wax build-up first identified some 50 years ago, causing my hearing to be considerably impaired. Went to GP - was told to use olive oil and to duck myself when taking a bath to flush my ears out.
It worked - for a while, but the wax eventually came back, and was a constant irritant for the next n years.
Later on in life, while having my morning shower, angling my head so that one individual jet of water was directed straight down my ear seemed to work... for a while. Trouble with that idea was that it cleaned my ears out completely... and ear wax, in normal amounts, is a normal (even necessary) thing, intended to trap any particulate stuff that might enter the ear canal.
With no ear wax to speak of, even bits of floating dust were an extreme irritant - enough to get me started on using cotton buds. That worked for a time too, but...
Next stage started because I found cotton buds to be too flexible, I wanted something more rigid, something that felt like it was doing something, and so... 'kitchen matches' - the ones with a long stalk.
Overall result: 'Otitis Externa' - ear canals continually exuding a clear liquid that irritates when it dries up on reaching the open air, causing more scratching, more damage, more scratching and so on, and also leaving some fairly unsightly stains on bed pillows.
These days, I have to keep things under control with neomycin. I use a preparation that goes by the name of 'Otomize' - an ear spray that appears to work nicely.
There's an old wives saying about not putting anything smaller than your elbow into your ear. That's a bloody stupid way of saying something that's obvious in my opinion, but it's very stupidity is what keeps the concept in mind.
Don't mess with your ears, people - they're just too damn fragile
Not exactly the kind of housekeeping you want when it means the hotel's server uptime is scrubbed clean
Corporate VPN huffing and puffing while everyone works from home over COVID-19? You're not alone, admins
Friday 13th March 2020 11:26 GMT
Personally I'm a huge fan of working from home, but - just like many others have mentioned - there appears to be an innate lack of trust on this front between manglement and underlings.
The excuses I've heard that come most readily to mind:
1. "We pad a lot of dosh for this office space - it has to be used!"
2. "Emergency maintenance". Give your keyboard a can of coke to drink at work, and a replacement can normally be provided tout suit. Pull the same trick at home and you'll probably be off-line for a few hours at best.
3. Insurance. Trip and twist your ankle at the office and elf&safety decrees that the company has to DO something. Damage yourself while working from home and... who pays?
RIP Katherine Johnson: The extraordinary NASA mathematician astronauts trusted over computers
Monday 24th February 2020 23:31 GMT
RIP indeed..
101 years is a helluva innings.
Coincidentally, I sat and watched Hidden Figures only yesterday - a cracking film.
I only noticed two anachronisms - I dare say others will have noticed more.
1. The 7090 computer is described as a 'mainframe' - the term hadn't been invented back then. There weren't any 'minis' or 'micros' to compare against.
2.There's a sequence at about the 55-minute mark where two Redstones blow up, followed by another explosion... which I'm pretty sure is the Challenger disaster. There's just no mistaking the shape and colour of that fireball hurtling through the sky.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
