* Posts by samzeman

76 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Aug 2017

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We know there are a lot of, er, distractions right now but NASA's got some sweet video of its asteroid rubble raiser

samzeman

I take issue with this! This assumes a pathogen would be viral or bacterial, but a strong fungus or algae could just as easily cause problems - Like in the Expanse book series, later on. Many lifeforms like to live anywhere that is very moist (inside us) and very dark (inside us) and they can cause us problems despite us never having pruned them into immunoresistant things, since they're not sculpted to /not/ instantly overwhelm the body and kill the host, like most pathogens are, because they need the host alive to transmit further.

'Driverless' lorry platoons will soon be on a motorway near you

samzeman
Coat

To solve the problem of the distances between the lorries, just put the one with the worst brakes at the front, and the one with the best at the back. Then they break formation when they brake from automation.

Bombastic boss gave insane instructions to sensible sysadmin, with client on speakerphone

samzeman

Re: One side is not enough

Hmm, I disagree. You shouldn't be saying anything to a colleague you wouldn't say to a customer, unless it's company secrets.

DreamHost smashed in DDoS attack: Who's to blame? Take a guess...

samzeman

Re: ?

I was talking to an American friend about this, and what surprised me was their lack of anti-hate-speech laws. I was arguing the point that there are already laws stopping Nazis telling whole races to die, but apparently there aren't over there. There certainly are here. Germany definitely has some, and the UK does too.

Node.js forks again – this time it's a war of words over anti-sex-pest codes of conduct

samzeman
Flame

The article he tweeted in support of isn't very good, is the thing.

Neurodiversity in the workplace is good, sure. But having a mental illness doesn't exempt you from following the social guidelines that are there for a reason. I myself have borderline personality, so sometimes I get manipulative or distant. I recognise this and do everything I can to try and solve it, and if it hurts someone, I apologise and treat it like I was just a neurotypical guy. Dysfunctional mental flaws can be treated like a NT's mental flaws (pobody's nurrfect) but extrapolated a whole bunch. You aren't a horrible person, but you still have to face up to the horrible things that you might do. It's a part of the disorder, arguably the worst part, that you have to fit into social codes that, as I said, exist for a reason.

In universities, the places the article talks about, it's not like you'd get taken out for having tourette's. Some things are unavoidable and understandable. In fact most of them are. The key point is understandable. Rules in any institution should be flexible and a little context should always be applied. But if you're creating a hostile environment around you, and it's due to being neurodivergent somehow, then you should at least be told, although I agree not punished. Stealing to fund an addiction is frowned upon and little help is given, so the writer should focus on that area instead. Disobeying codes of conduct because you are compelled to or don't know not to should still be noted, and the person told, because everyone wants to be able to trust that the average person will be logical and reasonable. Improve understanding of neurodivergence in the people around you and let them know that sometimes you could lash out or be an unreliable person, or otherwise be difficult, and if they're your real friends, or reasonable people, they'll accept that and give you leeway.

IT worker used access privs to steal £1m from Scottish city council

samzeman

Possible unpopular opinion

Important to note he did it to fund a gambling addiction. He needs rehab, and then he can go back into the world and pay off his debts slowly. Like a mortgage, I guess. Also, some sort of internet and real world house arrest so that he's kept away from places with gambling regardless.

I'm not saying he's not to blame, but he needs help as well as being punished.

Airbus issues patch to prevent A350 airliner fuel tanks exploding

samzeman

Re: Do you drive a car?

I don't drive except in emergencies, it's bad for the environment. I cycle or use public transport. I realise there are bigger risks I take all the time, but I can't do anything about them, and they're not necessarily as severe. For example, escalators have a low risk (except at peak hours or in china, but even still) but the severity of being ground up by the internals? I'm terrified. It's irrational, I know, I have something like traumataphobia. But I can avoid that. Travelling is necessary, living in the possible path of yellowstone, gamma ray bursts, meteorites is necessary.

I try to get over it. I just don't feel right on an escalator is all. Also, blah blah environment.

samzeman

Good that it's fixed, but also terrifying. This is why I try not to use planes (or lifts or escalators)

Fewer than half GCSE computing students got a B or higher this year

samzeman
Flame

I wish I had the willpower to do a proper rant about the new GCSE grading system. It's complete BS. Terrible idea. I don't even really know why, I just really, really don't like it. My main problem with it is that it seems entirely unnecessary. Every new Education Secretary thinks they know a new /revolutionary idea/ that I know first hand just makes it harder for students to know what the fuck is going on, and honestly? Students are pretty disorientated as it is, even without the system changing like pan's labyrinth.

Apparently I did have the willpower.

Germans force Microsoft to scrap future pushy Windows 10 upgrades

samzeman

I honestly can't think of anything win10 has done for me that a new design theme (if it had ever worked on my win7) couldn't. I don't use Cortana or the store (who does?) and it really doesn't seem like there's any actual upgrade happening in this upgrade.

AccuWeather: Our app slurped your phone's location via Wi-Fi but we like totally didn't use it

samzeman

Re: Bollocks

I've always campaigned for percentage fines even for individuals. It's not a valid punishment to bankrupt one person for not picking up litter, then mildly inconvenience a rich person for crashing their yacht into my house or whatever.

For companies the same applies. If google does something terrible, they shouldn't be able to shrug it off, and if a minor tech startup does something questionable, they shouldn't instantly be harpooned for it.

Sorry, I think I have boats on the mind or something.

Headless body found near topless beach: Missing private sub journalist identified

samzeman

Impounded submarine?

Does the local police have a section of dock they specifically own to impound rogue submarines, or did they have to hire a space? Do emergency services get it free, in the same style as comandeering a vehicle?

"Sir, I'm comandeering this dry-dock"

Pssst... wanna participate in a Google DeepMind AI pilot? Be careful

samzeman

Exculpate

Am I the only one that learned a new word today?

Spotify cleared of exposing kids to self-love innuendo in TV spot

samzeman

Take a leaf out of Germany's book and stop sheltering the damn kids. They start teaching early, and do it comprehensively. I was on the internet since I was eight, reading things well beyond my actual sex ed level, and it did me more harm than if I'd just been taught about it alongside every other fact of life.

Don't throw away those eclipse glasses! Send 'em to South America

samzeman
Unhappy

Re: GLASSES ... GLASSES ... We Don't Need No Steenking __GLASSES__!

Sure, that's safer... but so is watching it on a livestream. There's something unique about looking directly at the eclipse. It's not affected by the brown of cardboard, or dust on the surface you're projecting onto, or the mangled shape of the hole you hacked hurredly into the box.

Maybe that's just my experience though.

Can North Korean nukes hit US mainland? Maybe. But EMP blast threat is 'highly credible'

samzeman

Re: Never understood the obsession with ICBMs

Hold on a sec; If bombs emitted a lot of gamma, even while they were armed, then the submarine pilots that carry and live around nuclear bombs would all have quickly gotten radiation poisoning, right?

The bombs are probably radioactive, sure, but not fissioning like crazy, and not warm to the touch... They don't have control rods in or anything. They fission like crazy when they explode. That's the point.

Nuclear armaments are made of Pu-239 and Pu-240. The Pu-240 is the very, very radioactive part, but the 239 has a half life of 24,000 years, so it's not too bad. Supergrade weapons, used in subs because of their prolonged exposure to the crew, have >95% Pu-239 and so are relatively safe to be around (when not exploding).

Although, I doubt NK could make supergrade bombs, to be fair. So far they're only proven to have weapons grade, which is safe to be in the same plane as for a short flight. I grudgingly have to agree you may not have been entirely wrong, but most modern plutonium bombs aren't "fissioning like crazy"

US Navy suffers third ship collision this year

samzeman

Re: Worth a read

I didn't know the sea was so, well, not exactly lawless, but wild. Surely there's some kind of penalty for the merchant ship for not responding / not turning right? Road laws work, and the average person I'd assume is a lot less experienced / qualified than a sea captain.

If there's a hole in your S3 bucket, data thieves will be sprayed by Macie

samzeman

Crazy. Hacking gets more and more like actual real life infiltration every day; now you have to act natural and blend in to avoid detection. It's not enough to just get into the system anymore.

Uh oh, scientists know how those diamonds got in Uranus, and they're telling everyone!

samzeman

Re: 'high pressure can bond hydrogen and carbon atoms'?

The wording is unclear. Hydrocarbons are involved in the process of creating diamonds from gas, but since diamond is a pure carbon thing.... Obviously no hydrogen persists in it.

https://www.gia.edu/news-research-CVD-grown-part1

Google's Android 8.0 Oreo has been served

samzeman

Re: So still can't do what Microsoft could do?

If I'm reading this right, that's what versions Oreo and above will start to do, upgrade regardless of carrier/producer.

Removing bloatware however, I could really go for some of that. It's the reason I'm a Motorola fanboy, they have barely any and it can all be uninstalled I think. Either way I don't know it's there and I only remembered there was some when I thought about it just now.

samzeman

Re: Oreo

I'm going with Popcorn. It's not sweet really, but it is snappy and sounds like something Google likes.

Private sub captain changes story, now says reporter died, was 'buried at sea' – torso found

samzeman

Re: FFS!

It's fair to say something's only little or you only have a few of something, so why not say one of the only (few) crafts?

It's like: One of the - only few in number - crafts. Except it's contracted because that's what the language did to it apparently.

Voyager antenna operator: 'I was the first human to see images from Neptune'

samzeman

Re: DSN now

That's the one, thanks!

Awesome stuff. I wish I had done that.

samzeman

Re: DSN now

This may have been a movie or book I read but I seem to remember that recently, a group of hobbyists got together to piece together the software to communicate with an old probe that had recently become active again.

Military has no excuse, they have the funding, they should remake the software. Space sector has 2p to its name, so it's fair to say they might not have the resources for a massive new emulator dealie that will, itself, become redundant as soon as the probes using these old protocols die or drift away. (/cry)

samzeman

Re: Bah!

Exactly. This is the single field I won't like to get automated. If we're not exploring, and experiencing, and diversifying ourselves, then what's even the point of building up all of this wealth and technological knowledge.

samzeman
Thumb Up

Re: Wow - that's fast!

I've read up on the science of how they pick out that one particular signal and it's crazy. Seems like even with the best methods, it's so week it shouldn't be detectable, especially inside the Earth's radiation blocking atmosphere stuff.

Energy firm slapped with £50k fine for making 1.5 million nuisance calls

samzeman

Fines should totally be on a percentage-revenue basis, so that it stings any company equally. e.g google does something bad, gets fined £15mil, startup does something bad, gets fined £15k.

75 years ago, one Allied radar techie changed the course of WW2

samzeman
Paris Hilton

Re: There's a good book called Bat 21

It could be an ego boost to see that you were so essential to your side that they would try to kill you if you fell into enemy hands.

samzeman
Flame

Re: Yoof today

Wanting to get away from the youth who have their own gender pronouns is also wanting to go to a safe space, friend. Safe spaces are actually good things, because being safe is a good thing. Living standards today are so, so much better than back then, and that is a bottom line good thing. No caveats. If our culture gets softer, and less /elite/ and /demanding/ it's a good thing. The more we can just let people exist (How does other people's pronouns affect you anyway?) the better a society we'll be.

Elon Musk among 116 AI types calling on UN to nobble robo-weapons before they go all Skynet

samzeman

Stop an arms race?

Stopping an arms race by not participating is like stopping a fight by not participating. You'll just get beaten up. The race already starts as soon as the technology is even theorised.

Trump upgrades Cyber Command, may sideline NSA in future

samzeman

"Hi Cyber Command!" doesn't have as much of a ring to it as "Hi NSA!" when you post things containing the word bomb etc.

Although, since it's Command now, I feel like I should end posts that will show up to them with Over.

Over.

Daily Stormer booted off internet again, this time by Namecheap

samzeman

Re: Erm

There is a free speech consideration though. Under UK law, at least, verbal harassment or inciting people to violence (even if not being violent yourself) is a crime.

Sorry, but those huge walls of terms and conditions you never read are legally binding

samzeman

Re: Not installed

You can sue anyone (including countries and states) for anything you like. It'll probably get thrown out and be a waste of time and money if it's something dumb, though.

Microsoft president exits US govt's digital advisory board as tech leaders quit over Trump

samzeman
WTF?

Re: Leftist won't be Happy until we have a Police State

Are you forgetting what type of state Nazis initially set out to create?

Atari shoots sueball at KitKat maker over use of 'Breakout' in ad

samzeman

Re: Next to Microsoft and Oracle, Nestle are now practically emissaries of Jesus

Take the initiative and check the citations then. There are many, many websites that talk about the Nestle situation.

samzeman
Flame

I hope Nestle loses everything somehow

God I dislike Nestle. I know a lot of other companies are equally as bad but they were my gateway as a teen into the world of companies-can't-be-trusted. I wish I never had to buy any of the products under their terrifying unseen monopoly umbrella.

What weighs 800kg and runs Windows XP? How to buy an ATM for fun and profit

samzeman
Unhappy

This is exactly the type of thing that causes me to not have enough money to buy this type of thing.

FYI: Web ad fraud looks really bad. Like, really, really bad. Bigly bad

samzeman

Re: Advertising is often overhyped...

Oreos have the most annoying ads in the UK. They're so sweet and twee, and it's super obvious they just want you to pay attention and buy Oreos. I suppose it makes me bitter to dislike it just because of its sweetness.

Nokia's comeback is on: The flagship 8 emerges

samzeman
Thumb Up

Made me spit out my tea. Well done.

Disgraced US Secret Service agent coughs to second Bitcoin heist

samzeman

Re: Legal Currency in the US

Are you saying that I could illegally gain a massive amount of any item, and trade it for a wide variety of other things, and that would also be laundering? Seems like there must be a line between currency laundering and bartering laundering.

President Trump to his council of industry CEO buddies: You're fired!

samzeman

Re: Keep the statues

I think otherwise. Statues should be made of those who have demonstrated skill, ethics, and justice in their actions. The history of the bad people wouldn't be erased (Books and the internet will be okay), and you could just leave the plinth there as a reminder that glorification of those people isn't tolerated.

On the other hand, what's wrong with erasing their individual identities from history? Keep knowledge of the movement going. Make a statue of a bear eating the confederate flag or whatever. But don't pick people out of it. Maybe it'll depersonalize it, and people will make the same mistakes again... but can you say confidently that we aren't repeating those mistakes anyway?

samzeman

Re: Political Correctness "key words" and "tricky phrases"

What can one person do to fix laws they disagree with? You can't vote on that stuff if you're not in congress. There isn't a candidate out of the two that could ever win that supports my views.

Also, disregarding ethics for the law is a terrible idea, and the constitution was written by slave owners, and this isn't a situation where.... wait.

Hold on.

This is actually a situation where that particular free speech does apply, I think, as it's Trump doing it. Huh. Never thought I'd see the day. Still, morals and ethics should come above the law.

10 minutes of silence storms iTunes charts thanks to awful Apple UI

samzeman
Joke

Re: Old technology

Crikey, granddad, Next you'll be saying you still have a DVD player and a landline!

Cloudflare: We dumped Daily Stormer not because they're Nazis but because they said we love Nazis

samzeman

"These twits are no threat to anyone"

Have you been living under a rock? This entire thing is about how the website was hurling slurs at an anti-Nazi that was murdered by a white supremacist. That is fairly threatening to me, honestly.

"Shutting down sites for politics"

It wasn't the government taking it down, and it wasn't politics anyway in this case. It was more just lying or false advertising. I'm sure if any controversial website said "We are supported by Cloudflare, and they love us" they'd get taken down.

Nobody is screaming hate. See all these, nice, calm, full stops. Despite the fact I want to mace Nazis, I also want to convince people I'm justified in shutting down political views that would have me killed.

Ten spacecraft – from Venus Express to Voyager 2 – all tracked same solar flare

samzeman

Re: CME's? we've heard of them ...

I wonder if it's just because we can't do anything about it. We're not interested in gamma ray bursts or black holes, or any other mega space phenomenon.

Only recently we started caring about asteroid deflection, and now they're starting to study asteroids a bunch more.

Web-enabled vibrator class action put to bed

samzeman

Jokes aside, what possible use is that data? I get a lot of things use it for targeted ads. But this is really, really specific. Email and intensity tells you nothing.

Maybe there'll be ads in future at the side of the page saying "We know you like it rough, Sarah"

Guess who's hiking their prices again? Come on, it's as easy as 123 Reg

samzeman

Re: The Prophecy!

At least it's not as bad as when someone calls up from a call centre and then doesn't answer the phone, or you hear distant chatting. At least let me waste your time while you waste mine.

Months after breach at the 'UnBank' Ffrees, customers complain: No one told us

samzeman

This might not be the place but can anyone provide a counterargument to the following two points, most commonly used by people who definitely wouldn't survive long in 1984?

"If you've got nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of"

"They gather so much data they'll never pick you out specifically"

I do object, but I can't tell why.

A glimpse of life under President Zuckerberg? Facebook CEO's boffins censor awkward Q&A

samzeman

Seems like it may have backfired a little. It's called the Streisand effect right? The more you censor an image or question online, the more people notice it.

Uber to bend over, take privacy probe every two years for next 20 years

samzeman

Re: And now we're supposed to think we're safe?

God, I wish that were true. You could take your pick of underfunded infrastructure in the US and fix it.

Or just give it to the military.

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