Posts by CountCadaver

Microsoft moved the goalposts once. Will Windows 12 bring another shift?

Re: Reasons not to upgrade to Windows 12

Ahhh "growth" Keir Starmerbots version of the Maybot Mantra "Strong and stable"

Same bird brained "gurus" behind that logic....

Re: Reasons not to upgrade to Windows 12

Apparently physical media sales are ticking upwards....even younger folks are getting sick of the MBA pushed streaming bullshit games, when what they want is stuff on their service of choice and not spread across 101 places and only for so long (I'm still spitting about Disney erasing the second series of single drunk female for a tax write off after seeing Zaslav of warner discovery using it and getting away with it)

Hasn't stopped or killed Adobe....people hate it but many have it too integrated into their workflows so grit their teeth, pay the fee and at least console themselves with always having access to the latest version ....

They USED to offer a home server edition but it was killed off for whatever reasons

So like cable companies have done for years (phone line connection ain't just for ppv purchases....)

BOFH: HR tries to think appy thoughts

Re: Once again, the BOFH wins hands down

And the skip was being rapidly filled with sharp and dense rubble/gravel, dropped from on high.

Appears the app issue has been squashed....I mean quashed....

Duolingo jumps aboard the 'AI-first' train, will phase out contractors

My uni used to do "Holiday <language>" which taught you words and phrases you could use, as well as the <language> ntensive which taught you instead to think in the chosen language so rather than trying to convert English to <language> you were learning the grammar rules and after some examples, asked to formulate a different phrase, worked really well. We had a Spanish tutor whose folks left during the Spanish civil war and a another tutor from Mexico (and yes she definitely had the hot temper downpat, lovely lady....just not wise to get on her bad side or irk her on bad days )

Techie solved supposed software problem by waving his arms in the air

Re: Serial Comms

You can also use shielded twisted pair (stp) but the shielding has to be grounded to be effective.

Now id just use a media converter and a premade fibre optic cable

Re: Chair on the floor tile

There are Danger notices you can serve them with in the UK - https://fieldrocket.com/resources/free-certificate-templates/electrical-danger-notification/

Which covers your backside and also means they have no defence if someone does get hurt or killed .

So the WW2 that spawned stuff like William Peter or from Fury "get some Willie Pete in there" (white phosphorus...nasty nasty stuff)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=280&v=oITE4Btdt8c

AI-driven 20-ft robots coming for construction workers' jobs

Well he did draw inspiration from this alleged "utopia" (more like totalitarian dystopia)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two

Company dorm where you are "privileged" to work 18 Hours a day 7 days a week and woken during the night whenever the system needs you, conpliance is mandatory and enforced by the electric shock torture vests currently used by the judge Rotenberg centre to abuse and traumatise children, designed by an odious little turd called Matthew Israel

Read this and rage

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Israel

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Rotenberg_Center

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduated_electronic_decelerator

Re: Solving the Wrong Problem?

Also the vast number of houses and apartment blocks owned and kept empty by overseas "investors" either hiding money from their govts (china, Russia, middle east) or to constrain supply further to boost the eventual sale price.

Then you have farmers screaming about their "familial links to the land" as why they can't pay inheritance tax like the rest of us.....while every other month a new speculative planning permission is filed to rezone various "prime arable / grazing land" as development land so they and their construction industry partners can cash in big style. Not to mention "agricultural sheds" for machinery storage that quietly get turned into storage units or industrial units for lucrative rental or farm workers housing that again quietly become holiday lets or Airbnbs.....

As one relative who worked in a field that supplied farmers said "I've never in all my years seen a farmer who was actually broke, plenty who say they are and try not to pay their bills, yet they turn up in a new expensive car, paid for as a "work vehicle" or a new 100k+ tractor and are overheard talking about their second or third foreign trip that year, so no never seen a farmer yet who was broke"

Re: Solving the Wrong Problem?

We tried similar in the UK post ww2 and it led to the Housing Defects Act 1984 - which dealt with various types of Precast Reinforced Concrete homes (PRC) Inc Orlit and various others.

Said legislation is now repealed in Scotland however but the stigma associated with them remains and many lenders are averse to "non standard construction" types Inc other concepts like "trusteel" given how difficult and expensive they can be to repair and the monument difficulty in finding a company who can competently repair them.

Worse the cost cutting in UK home building while the sale price has soared despite shrinking internal space and vanishing plot sizes is frankly criminal - example solid timber joists being replaced with "engineered" OSB joists that require a structural drawing to be consulted before they are drilled is frankly asking for a structural collapse given in 10 or 20 years time any repairs and maintenance won't have access to those drawings and given the preponderance of price work (aka bodgeit quick and scarper) cowboys who will drill and cut checks wherever and however they feel like and then disappear never to be seen or traced again.

Disposable houses for a quality home build price - same mistakes made post war but instead it's small numbers being built at a drip drip rate by cartels of builders both local and national and to the nations detriment....

already are welding robots out there

Robots are used in industry constantly for welding ALREADY, virtually all cars produced at scale are robotically welded, fabrication that requires long weld runs that would be taxing or physically impossible for a human to do are robotically welded

Well as long as they don't do a Futurama and build a Roberto....

This thing though is giving me thunderbirds vibes - anyone remember the nuclear powered road building machine that tore through jungles etc? (AHH 60s let's destroy nature to "civilise" it)

Also robots don't get hangovers, robots don't (yet) suffer depression, don't go on strike, don't catch colds or food poisoning don't have marital breakdowns or sick kids...

What the **** did you put in that code? The client thinks it's a cyberattack

Depends how much stress, frustration and hair loss Notes had caused them I suppose. I have worked with a few senior people (male and female as well as several shades in between) who would have laughed at even the most risque images if aimed at the products of certain vendors who they were incredibly glad to see the back of

Re: I've never understood that

Though human frustrations at drudgery and boredom have boiled over into work since time immortal (tapestries with "rude" additions - well rude by the metric of the annoyingly persistent Victorian prudish standards that still pervade - I blame the segment of the UK that adheres to the USA religious right attitude to morals alongside "I know it's not banned but better not just in case"

Techie diagnosed hardware fault by checking customer's coffee

Re: Toasty

Volt drop due to resistance, put it this way I could make the lights in my garage dim by using any hefty power tools (still rated under 10A) when it was powered by a 10A 10metre long extension cord

(Now on a 40A 6mm2 armoured supply)

Re: Never heard of Romex cables?

Actually neutral and earth are ONLY bonded together on the supplier side of the cut out fuse, on the the customer side they are always separated (TNC-S - Terra Neutral Combined - Separated)

The rules for the DNO (district network operators aka electricity boards of old) are different to electricians, who work to BS7671 - for example the DNO can and do direct bury split concentric cabling but BS7671 (IIRC it's been a while) does not permit that.

Also the DNO have a lot more leeway in their current carrying capacity rules, whereas BS7671 has a far higher safety margin built in.

BOFH: The Prints of Darkness pays a visit

Re: Sheer genius!!

All the sump is missing is a 1980s esque sewer gator lol

Static electricity can be shockingly funny, but the joke's over when a rack goes dark

Re: office chairs from hell

Surprised as I know for example when they paint the pylons here in the uk, they phone the control centre and let them know where they are working and they deenergize that segment, though apparently there is still a noticeable tingle when you have 2 250000 volt segments running parallel due to inductive currents

Musk's DOGE muzzled on X over tape storage baloney

Re: leader of the free world

Project 2025 already has planned to forment this to allow martial law to be declared

Trump doubles down, vows to make Chinese imports even more expensive for Americans

Back to green screens and 8086 processors or we talking punch cards and dip switches?

Re: Fascinating

Reminds me of 1914

.....where 2 blocs ended up at war because neither side wanted to back down and millions died....except this time it will be billions.....

How do you explain what magnetic fields do to monitors to people wearing bowling shoes?

Re: "My mouse is going the wrong way"

Now was it made of transparent aluminium?

GCHQ intern took top secret spy tool home, now faces prison

Re: "as well as those from socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds"

Dates back before that, there was a time when the poor (even witnesses to a crime) were viewed as not being able to tell the truth unless under pain of torture and they literally were tortured

London's poor 5G blamed on spectrum, investment, and timing of Huawei ban

Re: UK seems like a backwater for mobility

Blue, coal or great?

Re: UK seems like a backwater for mobility

Most new contracts in the UK have 5g included - last 4 of mine have and I have never went for the higher end options (though some resellers have offered some stonking deals Vs going direct to the network so it says a lot about their markup

Re: Over promised and under delivered

I suppose it would depend on if it improved the throughput of the car park - i.e. busy shopping centre right before Xmas AND if people were required to comply with a space allocation and not just dump their cars wherever

Re: Pointless

* the UK is shit compared to Europe.

Ftfy lol

Re: Pointless

Or like my town which has 1 fttp provider with another in rollout, but my property built in early 1970s is stuck on FTTC due to direct in ground cabling mixed with ducting, which from the sounds of it is openreachs best guess so the small alt net that rolled out first took my street out of the rollout due to the uncertainty and potential costs.... infuriating as 1800s houses have fttp due to being supplied via pole, but my modern home is currently without due to being supplied underground and openreach not having a clue how the install was done by their immediate predecessors....

2nd network is doing my street, however they have stopped a few doors down from my home and claim they need a wayleave for something and they are being vague when asked exactly what they need a wayleave for that they don't need a wayleave for 3 doors down the same pavement.....

Bad enough I'm wishing I could afford a move elsewhere....

Re: Pointless

Eufy would disagree...they do cameras that are iirc solar powered and connect via 4g for sites such as lockups, holiday homes, sheds etc

https://www.eufy.com/uk/collections/cellular-security-camera

Photoshop FOSS alternative GIMP wakes up from 7-year coma with version 3.0

affinity worth a look as non subscription (for the moment anyway)

Affinity designer, photo and publisher are all worth a look, on sale multiple times a year and for the moment subscription free and a reasonable upgrade charge for new versions (point releases are however included just not the upgrade from V2 to say V3)

UK must pay cyber pros more than its Prime Minister, top civil servant says

not happening when they are slahing funding for the disabled

While muddying the waters by conflating PIP and UC in the media while also ignoring that many employers treat disabled candidates akin to contagious lepers to be avoided at all costs....

Scotland now home to Europe's biggest battery as windy storage site fires up

Re: This is great news but...

Those fuses are slow blow....it takes a LOT more than 100A to make a BS88 60A fuse blow instantly (something like 5 to 10 times or more....) - I grew up in a house with an 8.5KW shower, electric storage heat (though my mother was utterly miserly with it and I ALWAYS remember the house being like a meat fridge....freezing!!) and electric cooker and oven with 5 folk in it and 60A fuse never blew, despite many many many kw of electric heat running overnight (side note - the SSE total heating with total control system is being shut off or has been shut off which is causing headaches galore as it was installed a Lot in Scotland....)

Brits must prove their age on adult sites by July, says watchdog

Re: "My ISP already knows how old I am"

Actually the law makes a differentiation between child and teen and for good reason - otherwise you get 16 year old teen being charged for copulating with their 15.5 year old boyfriend/girlfriend or similar where they are within a tight age bracket (anything from 3-5 years age gap can be normal - who can say they don't know anyone who didn't date anyone younger /older during their teenage years?

Iirc the term is "unlawful" sex where there is no coercion, rape where there is coercion - statutory rape is an American term iirc

The ever encroaching American hand wringing and pearl clutching has led to kids becoming virtual prisoners because mummy and daddy are so terrified of social media wailing and screaming about "dangers" many whipped up out of proportion and the attendant obsession with control - leading to kids not getting exercise, not having any autonomy and thus space to learn or understand the concept of risk and where risk is acceptable and this leads to social and personal growth stunting

Helicopter parenting being the us term where people treat their 19 year old progeny as if they are still 5 and not legal adults attending college and I see it (and the entitled Karen's) more and more in the UK.....

Re: Age verification

UK arm of project 2025 - an unholy alliance of theocrats, radical feminists, anti porn fanatics, Reddit anti fap culture pushing a Victorian view that masturbation makes you weak and unwell and is an addiction to be avoided by any and all means possible and all intent on outlawing pornography as they are convinced it will lead to their own personal and utterly banal fruitopia

Re: Age verification

It's the creeping Americanisation of UK culture that violence - so what Vs exposed human flesh - sick sick sick sick perversion

Type wailing worthy of Mary Shitehouse and just as society was throwing off the shackles of ignorance and the prudes have managed to get a lever in again

Re: Age verification

Court - someone gave my phone to them - reasonable doubt right there, though govt would probably make it an offence akin to firearms law to fail to keep your phone secured at all times - cue a market for locked phone holsters, signal permeable locked polycarbonate boxes, phone safes (locked at all times when phone not in your hand or in its locked holster

Re: Age verification

Govt will "solve" that by making that mandatory jail time and indefinite listing on the sex offenders register and a sexual harm prevention order for the same indefinite period - which requires anyone on it to tell the police if they intend to start a relationship with anyone so the plod can tell them of your "history'

Media will whip up another crowd of "pedo hunter wolfpacks" aka pissed up street thugs to prowl the country and cause disorder...

Microsoft tells abandoned Publisher fans to just use Word and hope for the best

Quark ?

Re: Ho-hum

Which OS do you use? That could be anything from Linux to BSD to Solaris to BeOS to 1001 others...

Google teases AI Mode for search, giving Gemini total control over your results

Re: This is something Google has heard that "power users" actually want

What power users want is accurate results and if it HAS to be an AI one akin to J.A.R.V.I.S. or F.R.I.D.A.Y. from Iron Man or at a minimum star fleet type computer.

Instead we have a dropped on head toddler version of HAL9000.......something that makes Holly from Red Dwarf seem like Stephen Hawking.....

Re: Time to consider Kagi again

Swisscows is also an option and something like CHF3.50 a month (and not based in the USA)

Oh Brother. Printer giant denies dirty toner tricks as users cry foul

brother has been pushing a toner subscription for a while....

Hence my brother colour laser has for almost a year been blocked from accessing the internet (static IP and router set to deny internet access to that IP address - one use for avm parental controls lol)

I figured this was afoot, note the brother USA statement DOESN'T reference the claims about colour registration or degraded print quality and instead deflects by saying it doesn't block printing (which isn't the allegation being made)

Doublespeak at work?

Governments can't seem to stop asking for secret backdoors

They do

They just don't care and think that Britannia still rules the waves (or at least large sections of the old boys and girls network in the senior echelons of the civil service do, judging by how hot n bothered they got at the idea of 'empire 2.0' post Brexit when they were CONVINCED that the 'colonies' would ALL come sprinting back to Britannia's embrace and then shocked when they all went 'nah but could you have a word with the EU' )

Tech jobs are now white-collar trades that need apprentices, not a career crawl

Re: Communication "Preferences"

Not being willing to read email is a different bag to "I struggle to retain the information from textual information due to my neurodiversity and the attendant involuntary limited amount of focus" which others interpret as "you are just stupid/lazy/idle" etc which is not only wrong but close minded.

The point of training someone should be to imbue knowledge in the most effective way which is frequently not the most efficient way - which is a cousin to the productivity trap where there will never be enough hours in the day or days in the week to keep trying to squeeze more in....it's why the world is such a miserable and joyless place.

Skills shortages are bemoaned by employers but they have happened as they refused to train anyone, failed to retain talent, resorted to poaching staff from others, set unrealistic recruitment qualifiers - must have 10 years commercial experience in...a 1 year old product (or just as bad for a product thats niche but pickupable with a little time), setup shell companies in India etc to do intracompany transfers to bring in Indian staff on Indian wages to save money or just outsourced the work.

Result staff pool shrinks due to various forms of attrition, no one has bothered to restock the pond with new spawn and now the pond is rapidly becoming devoid of fish (needed to help both teach new spawn and protect them from threats) and it's "woe is us, why has this happened" and the only answer they have come up with is to blame the fish for vanishing....

AMD looks to undercut Nvidia, win gamers' hearts with RX 9070 series

Re: Reality

I feel like I'm living in the world of V for Vendetta...