Posts by Ididntbringacoat

Soup king Campbell’s parts ways with IT VP after ‘3D-printed chicken’ remarks

Re: Hang on a sec ...

Perhaps the Moon IS made of green cheese and the Moon was faked? What about THAT!

FCC sounds alarm after emergency tones turned into potty-mouthed radio takeover

Re: Yet...

Well, AC, how about the inability (presumed) to higher competent Technical and Supervisory personnel?

Twist in Tesco vs. VMware case as Computacenter files claim against Broadcom, Dell

Re: Wrong way round.

"Do these arrogant companies think that they are too big to fail or that they are the masters now?"

Well . . . Yes.

And it is not limited to the IT world. Just look how the "Masters of the Universe" have branched out in the last Decade or so.

How do you solve a problem like Discovery?

Ahktuallly . . .

. . . The proper resonse is . . . DON"T.

Leave the damn thing where it is and let people do the moving.

Fake home invasion vid lands woman in real trouble

Wrongly charged. Sexism at work.

Achtually . . . SHE did not call 911 her Husband did.

Hardware inspector fired for spotting an error he wasn't trained to find

Decades ago I worked a "piece work" gig at a "used equipment refurbishing r/reseller" in a certain southern US State.

I came prepared with my portable PACE vacuum de-soldering unit and proceeded to being removing a DIP package similar to those depicted. After replacing a few, the "most senior" tech came over, with Boss in tow, to chastise me to "quit wasting time" by removing chips and simply to solder them into place ON TOP of the suspected defective DIP and move on.

When I pointed out this was not a great idea, and gave reasons obvious to anyone with any training at all, I was deemed "unsuited" to the position and given the booth.

I found later they were known to have a lot of customer complaints about intermitted failures on the gear they resold and just stonewalled any warranty claims.

I won't go into another place I later worked at in a Northern State, that scorned any kind of static protection when building or servicing PC and Network gear, including handling various RAM packages. The work areas were covered in synthetic carpet, to "keep things from sliding around" and the tossed DIMM's etc. with abandon. They spent a good deal of time jousting will suppliers over their "defective products". I presented "the Boss" with reprints of NASA and other White Papers that described how "anti static" measures were necessary. Not my most endearing move to management. Same guy that thought applying the "S" flag to the "everyone" group was the proper way to fix file access issues.

Techie ended vendor/client blame game by treating managers like toddlers

Re: Blame the vendor

"... Apparently the French for hot water tank is 'ballon d'eau chaude'."

"Thanks, half-pint, you just saved me a lot of investigative work . . ." The Further Adventures of Nick Danger, Third Eye.

FBI cyber cop: Salt Typhoon pwned 'nearly every American'

Re: Oh my frightful goodness, someone should DO SOMETHING

During.

And Enduring.

How does China keep stealing our stuff, wonders DoD group responsible for keeping foreign agents out

Re: Here's a hint as to why

That is definitely very, very "stupid". But is not the answer.

"The West" has been losing at the game for much longer than FOTUS has been in office. It stems, IMHO, from the arrogance of many "deciders" who, decades past, chose to "Play the China Card", with a racist bias that the "Rice Eaters" were all stupid peasants that were great mimics, but terrible "innovators".

ERGO . . . they would never understand "how things work" but would do great at "making things".

No amount of reasoning could shake their their racism view. They continued to conflate "ignorance of technology" with "stupidity".

One long sentence is all it takes to make LLMs misbehave

Re: Well that's that then!

Or they came looking for Steak Sauce. Another Eh, One concept from our current Department of Education Chief.

Tech support team won pay rise for teaching customers how to RTFM

Re: Manuals: "Better" Is Not Always Better

I believe "micro film" is the term for the long strips of film, about 16mm wide IIRC.

MicroFiche, on the other hand were the rectangular single sheets of film that contained multiple pages per "leaf". Fiche, supposedly transmogrified from a French word meaning "file".

From memory (too many) decades past, when I worked as an FE on "microfilm/microfiche" machines that emulated IBM 1403 line printers.

That leads to another story, about how I brought a multi million dollar cosmetics outfit's mainframe to a crashing halt. On payroll processing day. But, let's not dwell on that.

+

Weapons jam: Pentagon sucks at removing foreign objects from its gear, auditors say

Re: The only way to do this

>In general, passive components aren’t the concern.

All components matter.

China warns citizens to beware backdoored devices, on land and under the sea

Re: Bwahahaha

>The Snowdon disclosures of 2013 show the NSA had considerable prior art in this field. I particularly liked the COTTONMOUTH devices that had the spy electronics concealed in RJ45 and USB sockets.

I always wondered about that creepy sensation I got around those molded connectors . . . .

Microsoft SharePoint victim count hits 400+ orgs in ongoing attacks

Naive? Gullible? Is there a difference?

I am (almost) always astonished at how easily and eagerly People and Organizations fall for utter BS, such as "secure cloud" services.

Or, anything from Microsoft, I guess.

NASA keeps ancient Voyager 1 spacecraft alive with Hail Mary thruster fix

Re: Brilliant

"Petty"?

More like "Pretty". As in "Pretty much on Target".

DOGE dilettantes 'didn't test' Social Security fraud detection tool at appropriate scale

You touched it, now it's broken.

Well. none of this was happening before they put their fingers in there.

'Cybertruck ownership comes with ... interesting fan mail'

Re: Courts to the rescue

'But suppose somebody bought a cybertruck because they are automobile fans and just wanted the ultimate in vehicle style and engineering?"

Oh, but let's not be Silly!

100-plus spies fired after NSA internal chat board used for kinky sex talk

Or?

Or, perhaps the dialong was simply "legitimate" monitoring of conversations and Gabbard, likely not the sharpest tool in the shed, and with a well known political bias, was seeing this simple "data" in the context of her own munged mind?

Mozilla flamed by Firefox fans after promises to not sell their data go up in smoke

Bravo! I discoverd Brave

Thanks! Caused me to go searching and I discovered "Btave" browser.

Half expecting to see i't a "false front" for the ultimate in Data Slurpper's and backdoor planters.

But, it does seem fast.

One stupid keystroke exposed sysadmin to inappropriate information he could not unsee

WELL?

So, not even a hint as to what the information was?

White House attempts to 'explain' mystery drone sightings: The FAA authorized 'em

Re: Eh?

Why are you taking 47's words at "face value", that is as "true facts", given his clear history of, shall we say, self serving confabulation and outright false statments?

CISA: Wow, that election had a lot of foreign trolling. Trump's Homeland Sec pick: And that's none of your concern

You spelled Democracy incorrectly.

Yet Another Troll posting as AC

Is that sarcasm?

We should take seriously anyone posting as AC?

Re: 'The 2024 election cycle was the "most challenging threat environment" '

Nonsense. The "majority" of Americans do not vote at all. A "majority" of those that voted MAY have voted for the Former Guy.

Oddly, all the claims of a "fraudulent election" have disappeared along with any questions about TFG's assertions of "the fix being in" at several campaign events.

AI girlfriend encouraged man to attempt crossbow assassination of Queen

Re: In Other News ...

"You are responsible for stupid/bad shit you do (or try to do). Even if your mates egged you on. Even if one of your mates was a malicious chatbot. Even if you are sad and lonely, and have no (real) significant other. You have the responsibility to THINK."

Yes. To THINK.

Isn't it a given that people with "mental health" conditions are NOT able to think rationally or at least in a manner consistent with "the norm"?

While that may not excuse one from societal retribution for an act, it should certainly enter into the form and term of the retribution. At the very least, the issue is not addressable in the "flat" manner you posit.

Bombshell biography: Fearing nuclear war, Musk blocked Starlink to stymie Ukraine attack on Russia

Yes, how sad it is that a potential nuclear exchange was averted!

This is one example of why "Armchair Admirals and Google Generals" should not be making decisions "ala Musk".

He was "snookered" by a bluff.

Re: "If Ukraine wants to fight a war with Russia"

"There's absolutely no evidence that the USA engages in proxy wars, influences client states, promotes regime change in countries which are of geographical signifiance, or anything like that..."

This has what do with a third party, non governmental entity, influencing the conduct and course of a War?

.

Scientists speak their brains: Please don’t call us boffins

Usage

I have heard, on occasion, the temporary sexual union of a male and female referred to as a "boff". Generally in the context of a quick adventure in whatever suitable (or not) location might be available.

Re: Hmmm

How about "boffette", or "boffinette"?

Potatoes in space: Boffins cook up cosmic concrete for off-world habitats

Mixed in a vacuum?

I take it this "StarCrete" was mixed and poured in a vacuum? Or at least an environment similar to the Moon or Mars?

So as to avoid entrained/entrapped air, with it's various gases that might, possibly, affect the chemical reactions taking place?

Vessels claiming to be Chinese warships are messing with passenger planes

Re: Peak China?

"No, I'm not a China fan, but on the other hand I dislike bullies, liars and BS and the motivations of the US appear increasingly suspect here."

Good for you. But you seem unwilling to apply those dislikes to evaluating the actions of China and Russia?

". . .it appears Biden has decided to ride along with what Trump started, which has in turn forced China closer to Putin's Russia."

No one is forcing to do anything. The Chinese leadership could choose a path of economic co-operation, respect for IP and Human Rights. Instead, it has chosen another path, one you condemn when allegedly pursued by the US.

"I note they're still keeping their distance somewhat as a signal that they're not just going along with what Putin is doing, but overall it's not good IMHO."

Yes overall things are not good. Surely you are aware that Xi is now visiting with Putin. which can hardly be seen as keeping their distance.

PC tech turns doctor to diagnose PC's constant crashes as a case of arthritis

Re: South don't work in the North

Worked for SONY for a bit in their doomed attempt to market an "almost nearly, somewhat" compatible PC, based on Z-80. .

Some of the "elders" with previous tech experience on Trinitron spoke of the Factory Techs that worked in production with awe. Field attempts at replacing a CRT were doomed to hours of alignment effort and rarely approached "as good as from the Factory".

Yukon UFO could have cost unfortunate balloon fan $12

Re: Republicans have a lot to answer for

"the puppet president . . . etc. blah, blah"

Ye Gads Man! What dd you step in on the way over here? At least scrape it off your shoes before you walk in. You DO wear shoes, don't you?

Creator of Linux virtual assistant blames 'patent troll' for project's death

Re: Shame but..

"Well, it would need the Wi-Fi password for starters."

I got two words for you, perhaps you have heard of them? Back Door.

Re: Shame but..

"There will NOT be any IoT. "

Than you know of.

"(That TV is turned off at the power strip when not in use, too, and I've gone through the privacy settings very carefully.)"

Great idea. But, how do you know the "privacy settings" do any more than say "Yes SIR!" and keep on sniffing and telling anyway? For that matter, how do you know there is not sufficient battery or capacitor capacity (ahem) to allow them to transmit a "Holy Shit!, this one is on to us. tell the Mother Ship everything NOW!"?

Eh? Paranoid, say you? Experienced, say I.

Microsoft Office 365 Cloud has a secret lining

Re: Is that not an oxymoron ...

Well, "moronic" in a literal sense does come to mind.

The concept of placing classified Government documents of any sort into a privately run "cloud" is ludicrous.

Words do not serve to describe such madness.

Space dust reveals Earth-killer asteroids tough to destroy

Yeah, but . . .

Regarding the "nuclear" options . . .

In order to "bury" a nuclear device in this rubble pile, presumably one would need to match "course and speed" in order to do so. Then having detonated, if the trajectory of this now radioactive mess, err, mass, was not altered sufficiently to miss Earth entirely, you can add nuclear "fallout" to the environmental horror show.

CES Worst in Show slams gummi gouging, money-wasting mugs, and other dubious kit

Why?

"Why does anyone anywhere take a dietary supplement without medical supervision? How many hundreds of thousands of years have we just been eating stuff?"

Why do people choose their own diets, without Parental supervision? Repair their own vehicles without Certified Repair Person supervision? Choose their own News sources without Professional monitoring?

Perhaps because intelligent, investigative persons, relatively free of effects of psychological manipulation, choose to determine their own best course of action in life?

RADICALS!!! Better to just do as you are told.

Cleaner ignored 'do not use tap' sign, destroyed phone systems ... and the entire building

Re: Concrete dust = Kryptonite

In the "dim time", disc drives were huge affairs, spinning multiple platters of 14 inch (?) diameter on a single spindle. Often these stacks were removable, using a specialized device, allowing "unlimited" storage.

While the drive units were "sealed" when in use, recirculating HEPA filtered air and utilized a "cleaning cycle", "head crashes" where common even in "clean" environments.

An IT emergency during a festive visit to the in-laws? So sorry, everyone, I need to step out for a while

Re: Ch-ch-ch-changes

In most cases, those changes were always politically driven.

Zerobot malware now shooting for Apache systems

Too much Holiday Cheer?

Not to dampen the festivities here, but, a a Human proof reader might be in order. "monthy", "spared"? Yes, I did bring a coat, this time, why?

Uncle Sam needs novel memory for nuke sims. So why did it choose Intel?

How did INTEL come by it's name? What were the prior careers of the Founders? Old ties bind well.

Elon Musk to abused Twitter users: Your tormentors are coming back

Media bias ratings

"If anyone knows what I’m on about a link would be useful."

one is (?):

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

Twitter set for more layoffs as Musk mulls next move

Polled or Trolled?

If anyone accepts the validity of the "Poll", well . . .

Looking for a holiday DIY project? Build your own pen-plotter, for under $15

CalComp. The days of yesteryear . . .

My first foray into "Field Engineering" led me to spend several years as a Flying Tool Bag and Tech Support person with CalComp when it was still a leading force in x,y plotters and microfiche printers. That was when they had just absorbed "Century Data", the Storage Device thorn in IBM's side.

Ah, the memories . . . of all sorts,.

Firefox points the way to eradicating one of the rudest words online: PDF

Re: I don't mind PDFs

"Sounds like typical Mozilla arrogance culture there. They think they know better than their users, and it's for their own good too.

. . . and they just tell people they "should embrace change"."

So, you're a big Microsoft Fan then?

To make this computer work, users had to press a button. Why didn't it work? Guess

Re: Manual is optional,

Then there are those attending to other tasks or people while you demo. "Don't worry, I can multitask'.

Fake vibrating teeth could make great hearing aids

A biting comment

I'll have to chew on that for a while.

OK, Google: Why are you still pointing women at fake abortion clinics?

Re: re: sufficient reason to kill someone

"This planet is already overcrowded enough!"

Please describe "insufficiently overcrowded".