Posts by FrozenShamrock

I predict a riot: Amazon UK chief foresees 'civil unrest' for no-deal Brexit

Re: Vogon

Welcome to the wonderful world of capitalist democracy where winning by any means is good enough.

Re: Vogon

"It was a majority of voters just like wins any other democratic election" - unless of course you live in the US where the majority doesn't win overall.

"If you dont vote, your opinion doesnt count." - very true and everyone who is eligible to vote needs to keep this in mind before they protest

"And if the rest had voted it would have been an even larger majority for Brexit." - completely unknowable so you really shouldn't make the claim. You may very well be correct, or you may be completely wrong; but, either way it doesn't matter.

Trump wants to work with Russia on infosec. Security experts: lol no

Re: Tee hee. Trump is to Putin as --

So we have either Trump Derangement Syndrome or the Trump Cult? Oh wait, there is a thing called reality in the middle. You are correct in that Obama was President when the Russians hacked the DNC and otherwise interfered in our election to help Trump. And, if the Justice Department had publicly said anything about it before the election there would have been hell to pay for trying to sway the election. Obama was President when Russia took Crimea and facilitated the breakup of Ukraine. He was also President as the US helped forge a coalition of democracies to impose sanctions against Russia. As for the red line in the sand fiasco, it was a disgrace. It was also completely the fault of the Republican controlled Congress who refused to even debate the matter for fear of having to go on the record. Obama was right in that such a military move needed Congressional approval due to the War Powers Act; but, the Republicans failed in their responsibility.

If you can say that Trump has never lied since becoming President, that his performance in Helsinki and the NATO summit before that was nothing short of disgraceful, etc, then you are as delusional as he is.

Re: Tee hee. Trump is to Putin as --

There is no doubt we (US) have some issues with our European allies in NATO and the EU. But, the only real allies of a democracy are other democracies. The only NATO country to invoke the mutual defense part of the NATO treaty is the US and our allies helped out in Afghanistan. Most of the complaints lodged with the WTO over unfair trading practices were from the US, and we won most of them. While our European allies could and should be spending more for the defense of Europe don't forget one reason our defense budget is larger is our global commitments outside of Europe. Dictatorships such as Russia, North Korea, China, etc regularly kill their own citizens, at home and in third countries and will never help us in any fashion. What ever happened to Teddy Roosevelt's dictum of speaking softly but carrying a big stick. It seems we are now led by a loud-mouthed, crude, semi-literate bully who likes to push around his friends who he knows (or hopes)won't turn on him and kiss ass to brutal dictators.

Microsoft shoves US govt IT contract where ICE throws kids: Out of sight in a chain-link cage

Re: Disreputable media

I will give a reasoned reply but you are obviously so stupid it will only be wasted on you. This policy has never been used by any previous administration, Democrat or Republican, Any claims to the contrary are as invalid as the pizzagate and birther hoaxes perpetrated by self-serving political hacks on simple-minded bigots such as yourself. It was developed by John Kelly while at the DHS and Jeff Sessions and implemented for the first time this spring; there are transcripts and recordings of the interviews where the policy was discussed, all given before public reaction became too hot to handle. Also, you do not need to separate children from their parents to secure the border; you can detain them together if you wish, the alternative is not to let them out free in your white, Christian (but, only certain kinds tolerated) nation. One of the biggest problems with politics today is the absurd belief that the only alternatives are the two ultra-extreme poles; there is a middle ground where the truth and good policy is usually found.

Put the blame where it belongs

This is not like a company making poison gas for the Nazis to use in a concentration camp. I doubt if the contract Microsoft has with ICE includes optimizing parent-child separation. This moral atrocity is the result of soulless, evil people in the Trump administration who simply do not see anyone who is not them as human beings. The White House Chief of Staff stated in an interview before this hit the fan that separating children from their parents would be a powerful deterrent to illegal immigration (heard it with my own ears on the radio so this is not "fake news"). This inhumane, un-American policy is a deliberate, intentional attempt to be as cruel as possible. This is the kind of thing you would expect from shithole dictatorships such as North Korea, oh wait, I forgot we are now big buddies with the Honorable Kim since Trump admires how his people stand at attention when Kim talks. The truly sad thing is that a recent poll found 55% of self-identified Republicans approve of the policy. This country is screwed, blewed, and tattooed.

Reg writer Richard went to the cupboard, seeking a Windows Phone...

Re: I have a cunning plan for Microsoft!

You miss a basic point. One of the reasons people like me preferred Windows phones was precisely because they didn't cost as much as the alternatives.

Re: I use windows phones (because no one else will)

I have always had Windows phone, not so much because I'm a rebel but because I really don't want an Apple or Google device following me around. I don't need or want a bunch of apps; all I want is a phone, text, a camera. I occasionally use IE to get a score and once in a blue moon use a map app. I have no illusions that MS is a paragon of virtue; I just distrust the other two clowns much more. I would love an OS not related to any of them. I'm looking into a Blackberry, I miss my old BB.

Yay, you've won your Fitbit lawsuit, folks. But, lawyers, about those filet mignon expenses...

Re: 'Plenty of notices'

Why does the choice have to be between dictatorships of varying stripes? Why can't one of the choices be for a better representative democracy as promised in the Constitution?

Re: LOL123

Just got back from a trip to Italy. They no longer hand out those little cards on the flight.

Don’t fight automation software for control, just turn it off. FAST

Fine for large metro areas

A self driving, electric, shared car may be fine for some large metro areas and people. But, here in the mid-west of the US it isn't going to be very useful. And, in places like the Rocky Mountain region a 200 mile range isn't going to get you anywhere and waiting for a shared car to become available in some small places would be absurd. Not everyone lives in Silicon Valley, NYC, LA, London, etc. A lot of real people have a real need for real vehicles on their own schedule.

US mulls drafting gray-haired hackers during times of crisis

Re: Not Going to Work

That is why many, if not most, helicopter pilots in Vietnam were Warrant Officers and not commissioned Officers.

Re: Always loved the Selective Service...

The 1918 Supreme Court ruling that the draft is constitutional has never been overturned. The US government decided to go with an all-volunteer military as the Vietnam War ended for political reasons; but the draft is still on the books, hence the requirement to register.

Uber breaks self-driving car record: First robo-ride to kill a pedestrian

So was I. That doesn't mean a small kid who wasn't taught that, or who forgot it the way kids forget most things at times is fair game. By the time you get a drivers license you are supposed to be a responsible adult, act like it.

Re: Turkey was this way.... not sure it it still is

That is one of the extra benefits of the taxi license system; careless drivers/owners can lose their license and hence their livelihoods. They are rude; but, they try hard as hell to avoid actual accidents that can cost them money in more ways than one.

Your position is absurd. As others have pointed out; if I am driving down a street and see kids playing near the road I, as an adult, keep an eye on them, slow down, and prepare for them to do something stupid. They are, after all, children. I have no idea if an autonomous car can or would do the same. If they cannot, then they are not ready for real world driving. Although, from reading your post, you may not be either.

The KITT hits the Man: US Congress urged to OK robo-car trials

Re: What insanity

Exactly. Who is going to be responsible in the event of the inevitable crash? The car manufacturer, the software provider, the owner of the car, or the person in the car at the time? And, don't tell me there won't be any crashes caused by AVs. Weather conditions, typically crap software, hardware failure, poor maintenance of either the hardware or software of the vehicle, etc. What about software security standards for AV? The Reg has published stories about car hacks. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Like other readers, I want no part of an AV now. However, I can see it for disabled or older drivers, and, of course, Millennials with the attention span of a brain damaged goose.

Ex-Google recruiter: I was fired for opposing hiring caps on white, Asian male nerds

Re: Appears Aburd at the Micro Level Less So at the Macro

This may be true of a child; but, if it is true of a young adult contemplating their career path they are dumb and deserve what they get. This is my third career since graduating University and I never saw anyone in any of my fields, let alone someone that looked like me. If I only considered jobs I saw people that looked like me doing I would be a truck driver, painter, carpenter, etc. One of the goals of education is to open doors never even thought of before.

Maybe under represented groups are too smart for IT

It is hard to hire a certain percentage of a group if that group is under represented in the overall talent pool because they opted not to take the training etc. Maybe these groups looked at IT and saw how under paid, over worked, under appreciated, and generally treated like shit most IT peons are and decided to avoid it like the plague.

It is certainly wrong to discriminate against anyone because of who/what they are instead of what they know or what experience they have. But, unless the overall talent pool reflects the overall population it is impossible for the work force to do so. If there are institutional barriers for certain types of people to get the training that is where the outage and effort should be directed at.

Re: Political correctness BS

I disagree with the "solution" of new discrimination; but, centuries of racism, sexism and bias is real.

Trump buries H-1B visa applicants in paperwork

It would only be an oxymoron if the magical Market worked the way pure capitalism mythology claims. However, big companies manipulate the market daily to suit their needs while screaming bloody murder if regulators try to keep them under control. If there were no cheap foreign labor and these companies had to actually get local help wages would go up and more people would be interested in entering the field. There would certainly be a lag time as people were properly trained; but, this artificial shortage was created by the same companies that would howl. And, what ever happened to the old concept of training the workers you need?

You get a criminal record! And you get a criminal record! Peach state goes bananas with expanded anti-hack law

Re: Government Intelligence

It's not just their ignorance of modern technology; they are fairly ignorant of any technical field they have to legislate for, and not just in Georgia. It has always been thus and always will be. You can't really expect legislators to be experts in everything they have to deal with: banking, computer technology, finance, education, renewable energy, etc. The problem is when they begin to believe they really are experts at everything the way most lawyers do. Or, as is becoming more common, they turn to large donors to form their expert opinions.

Bloke sues Microsoft: Give me $600m – or my copy of Windows 7 back

Re: the emotional distress of dealing with Windows 10.

What is spurious about his claim? He paid money for a product and Microsoft intentionally destroyed it. As the first comment notes, if this had been done a hacker it would have been a criminal offense.

You're decorating it wrong: Apple HomePod gives wood ring of death

Or, don't be a silly prat who buys such useless crap.

While Western Union wired customers' money, hackers transferred their personal deets

Re: Blaming 3rd party data storage. Which vendor could it be?

Exactly!!!! I'm tired of big corporations always blaming an external partner/supplier/vendor for letting data they collected/stole/harvested get hacked. If you let some external entity access the data it should be your responsibility to make sure that access is secure. The only way to bring businesses to heel is to make it financially painful for them not to.

Before all the hype flowed out of and money flowed into the "cloud" the first axiom of computer security was that whoever had physical control of a computer had control of whatever is on the computer. While paradigms and business models may have changed reality has not.

Equifax hack worse than previously thought: Biz kissed goodbye to card expiry dates, tax IDs etc

As Bugs Bunny used to say "What a maroon". Using racial taunts to disparage someone threatening the status quo shows nothing but ignorance and deep seated fear of the truth. Reminds me of the person forcibly removed from the West Virginia legislature this week for daring to list out the members who had received money from the oil industry while they were working on a new bill granting the oil companies the right to drill on land without all the owners permissions. You can't hide the truth forever, yet. Another few years of people like Dim Donny, the little man with little hands, and that may well change.

Re: Equifax hack worse than previously thought?

Squirrel Could you try Squirrel to stay focused Squirrel on the topic Squirrel at hand without Squirrel running down the Squirrel rabbit hole? Squirrel

Talk down to Siri like it's a mere servant – your safety demands it

Re: What to do with an Echo?

Trap shooting.

Re: Reg does clickbait

This type of scam was tried on my parents a few years ago. My mother, then in her early 90s, got the call saying my son (her Grandson) was in jail in Mexico and she needed to wire money for his bail. She was warned not to tell anyone else. She was trying to do it but because she didn't drive couldn't get to the bank without my father who was still sharp enough to smell a rat. At first she refused to tell him why she needed to go to the bank but finally did. A few quick phone calls proved the grandson was safe and sound in Colorado. When they called back later asking where the money was my father asked if they wanted to talk to the policeman standing with them, quick hang up. Anything that makes these scum bags more effective is a bad thing. People have to realize what they are exposing when using new, cool gadgets with little real use.

Insurance companies now telling you what tech to buy with um-missable price signals

Re: FTFY

Except, you have to remember the Insurance companies are putting their own money on the line by offering lower premiums if you use those products. If they offer you a lower premium for using a product that is bad, it will come back and bite them in their wallet costing them much more than whatever they would be paid by the vendor. This is not like Gartner who makes recommendations with no skin in the game. I'm not saying their recommendations will be 100% correct; but, they have too much of their own money at stake to simply sell a spot on their preferred list.

MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF CARS: SpaceX parks a Tesla in orbit (just don't mention the barge)

Re: Reusable?

Timing? A launch like this is planned months/years in advance, so unless Elon knew the financial problems would be getting real back about now it doesn't look as if he timed it that way.

Re: 50 years.

I'm old enough to have watched the first moon landing, it was spectacular. Seeing yesterday's launch, and booster recovery (2 out of 3 ain't bad) reminded me of the confidence and optimism of that time. We could actually do things, BIG things. I have doubted SpaceX in the past but have to admit they know what they are doing and could be leading the way to bigger and better things.

And, who are the 2,500+ people who down voted the live video stream from the car? How can you not like that?!

Nunes FBI memo: Yep, it's every bit as terrible as you imagined

Re: Love how so many are spinning like tops..

Dreams and irrational fears of women and black men telling you what to do are not facts. No where, not even in the sorry excuse of a congressional memo lap puppy Nunes released is there any indication the FBI went after Carter Page at the behest of either Obama or Clinton. And, whether Papadoupolus was a minnow trying to sound important or not, he was a national security advisor to Dim Donny spouting off about Russian contacts which would warrant an investigation at the time.

Re: How to get rid of fleas on your dog

All irrelevant to the discussion at hand. Clinton is no saint but that has nothing to do with Trump obstructing justice. That is like defending Charles Manson by saying the SLA kidnapped Patty Hearst and robbed banks. Separate crimes with no relation to each other.

Re: How to get rid of fleas on your dog

Nixon was impeached not for Watergate break in but for the cover up. Of course, back then Congressional Republicans had enough decency to think of the bigger Constitutional issues and not just immediate political contests. Whether Trump is guilty of anything has not yet been proven; but, Congressional Republicans (especially in the House) have demonstrated they no longer care about the country, only party and themselves.

Re: Opinion poll proxy vote!

So, instead of allowing the majority of Americans to control the outcome we allow a minority of semi-literate boneheads to control the outcome. Once you no longer have majority rule you no longer have democracy. We have become no more than another balkanized state where representation is based on tribe.

Re: Opinion poll proxy vote!

He may have gotten far more votes than intelligence would indicate were possible; but, he lost the popular vote by almost three million.

Re: Opinion poll proxy vote!

He has always been an arrogant tool, and he will always be an arrogant tool regardless of his politics. he was an arrogant tool when twice fined for discrimination in his housing, he was an arrogant tool in his business bankruptcies, he was an arrogant tool in stiffing countless small contractors on his mega projects, he was an arrogant tool during his adulteries and all of that happened long before taking his arrogance into politics.

FBI slams secret Nunes memo alleging Feds spied on Team Trump for political reasons

Re: 2+2=russian_collusion

The memo is part of the effort to hide the facts being developed by a highly qualified, independent investigator. Everything done to undermine the investigation, the FBI, the DoJ hurts not only the investigation but the country in general. Those agencies do not serve a single narcissi; they serve the country regardless of who is currently in office. Hold them accountable but don't cherry pick data to create a memo while hiding other facts that don't serve your narrow interest.

All your base are belong to us: Strava exercise app maps military sites, reveals where spies jog

Re: Great news!

Exactly! But, if everyone was intelligent enough to figure that out Zuck would be some flunky developer at Google or somewhere similar instead of a billionaire.

1 in 5 STEM bros whinge they can't catch a break in tech world they run

Re: Ignoring the gender element

I would venture that treating all people like shit is different than discriminating against certain types of people. I do not believe I have personally been discriminated against because I am a white male; the companies I have worked for have treated all of us like disposal shit.

I did notice when I worked at Microsoft that even though women made up only about 15% of the technical staff they made up about 60% of first line managers.

SpaceX delivers classified 'Zuma' payload into orbit

Ooops! A bit premature with the champage bottle.

It appears the satellite went boom instead on into orbit.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/09/spacex-did-everything-correctly-in-botched-spy-satellite-launch.html

I like where SpaceX channels Intel by saying the rocket performed as expected. I would have thought the idea was to have the satellite survive.

This is not the first time SpaceX has performed as expected while blowing up someone else's very expensive hardware. The best one was when a rocket blew up on the launch pad taking a $300M satellite with it. They have done a good job of driving down the cost of launches; but, you have to factor in the very real possibility your payload will not survive. Sometimes the old adage of you get what you pay for rings true.

US Senators force vote on Ctrl-Z'ing America's net neutrality death

Re: It will be solved by California and NY

True; but, the key is how the states go about it. If they try to directly regulate the ISPs within their state boundaries they could be over ruled. However, if, as the original poster suggested, they refuse to do business with companies that do not follow a set of rules they prefer that may pass muster. States are still allowed to choose who they do business with. And, there is always repealing the monopolies many ISPs have to operate.

Re: Follow the money

Because it is irrelevant?

Re: Likely won't pass, but...

Sorry John, a mouse roar is still a pip squeak.

Re: Likely won't pass, but...

Socialisation of the internet? I didn't see the big cable companies complain about socialization when they were given monopolies and subsidies to build the infrastructures.

Re: "The floor of the Senate"

As soon as you said Obaka you exposed the truth about the insane opposition to everything and anything Obama did or tried to do. A certain class of people in this country still couldn't stomach having a black man telling white people what to do.

Re: Republicans never *really* gave up on the whole slavery thing

100 years after the civil war ended the Democratic party passed landmark civil right laws in the face of violent, almost hysterical opposition from the Republicans. yes, BJ, the racists did simply switch parties beginning the 60's. If you were alive during that time, like I was, you would remember it clearly. If you were literate, you could research it.