Posts by Cliffwilliams44

'Hundreds of computers' in Ukraine hit with wiper malware as conflict continues

Re: "Of course you realize, this means war"

"As of early 2022, we estimate that Russia has a stockpile of approximately 4,477 nuclear warheads assigned for use by long-range strategic launchers and shorter-range tactical nuclear forces, which is a slight decrease from last year. Of the stockpiled warheads, approximately 1,588 strategic warheads are deployed: about 812 on land-based ballistic missiles, about 576 on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and possibly 200 at heavy bomber bases. Approximately another 977 strategic warheads are in storage, along with about 1,912 nonstrategic warheads. In addition to the military stockpile for operational forces, a large number—approximately 1,500—of retired but still largely intact warheads await dismantlement, for a total inventory of approximately 5,977 warheads.1 (See Table 1)"

https://thebulletin.org/premium/2022-02/nuclear-notebook-how-many-nuclear-weapons-does-russia-have-in-2022/

Re: "Of course you realize, this means war"

You sir, are completely delusional!

Re: "Of course you realize, this means war"

Believe me, Russia could easily hit London with an ICBM. This would literally make England uninhabitable! And depending on the wind, possibly Scotland, Ireland, or parts of western Europe!

Death by radioactive fallout is not pleasant.

If you seriously think they cannot hit any city on the planet you are a fool. We are talking about the country that has been running the space program for multiple nations since the US ended the shuttle program. It is only recently that US/Europe private business had been able to take over some of that.

Missile defense works fine against rockets fired from Gaza into Israel but ICBMs with multiple re-entry vehicles are not going to be stopped by any missile defense system any country currently has.

Re: "Of course you realize, this means war"

Are you willing to take that risk? I am not.

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was 15 Kilotons, A thermonuclear bomb detonated in the 1950's was 10,000 kilotons. There are more powerful bombs today!

Even a limited exchange of these weapons, at that yield would kill billions of people from the initial detonations and the subsequent radiation. It would alter the climate of the planet to the point of invoking a new radioactive ICE AGE! (but hey, we won't have to worry about global warming!) It may not end all human life on this planet but it would change life for all the survivors into a dystopian existence like nothing you can imagine.

Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb" said it correctly! "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

You children (and I mean any of you born after the 1970's) have no idea what these weapons can do!

What kept the peace for 70 years was that neither the US nor the Soviets were suicidal! Currently I cannot say that about either Putin or Biden!

We have 2 senile and mentally deficient old men running countries with vast nuclear arsenals! It is high time the sane men of the world do something about this. Hopefully, some brave sane men in Russia will do something.

File suffixes: Who needs them? Well, this guy did

Well, who named the file?

What this article doesn't reveal is "how" the file got named credentials.txt.txt. Did the Yank open the file in notepad, and then save it without selecting "Show all files"? Or did our intrepid Limey create the file and save it without selecting "Show all files"?

On another note, as someone who had spent the last 21 years on the other side of this same arrangement, there has been many, many times when we have had to respond to our UK counterparts with "Why the %$#^ &^$%^* would we want to do THAT!"

Thankfully we now have our own Rob (really that's his name) on the right side of the pond who is our protector from the stupidity that comes from the revolving door of UK IT management.

Massive cyberattack takes Ukraine military, big bank websites offline

Re: Is this the False False Flag Operation

You obviously believe everything you are being told by the powers that be.

If you don't believe the NSA can setup a cyber attack and make it look like the money is flowing to some obscure Russian hacking group I've got several bridges for sale if your interested.

Re: Parting Shot?

I'm just curious, would the UK allow a military alliance to be formed between Ireland and Russia or China? Would they allow Russian troops and weapons to be placed in Ireland?

It just amazes me that the west doesn't see this as an issue. That there is nothing wrong with forming military alliances, stationing troops and weapons in countries on the borders of their adversaries when we all know they would NEVER allow this to be done to themselves.

The west can talk all they want abut how "Ukraine NATO membership is not on the table" but they won't state that unequivocally. The fact is that's exactly what they want. It's what the Obama regime wanted when they started the Orange Revolution! The Biden's have huge "personal financial interests" in Ukraine and they are willing to start a war to protect them.

Also, the Cyber attacks are all too convenient for the Biden regimes narrative. My money is on the NSA.

IBM HR chief insists 'no systemic age discrimination'

Re: Genuine answer Genuine question...

Yes, there is rampant age discrimination in the Tech industry in the US. But there is the other side of that coin. I have know many older IT people who just absolutely refuse to update their skills. Such as the 40 something desktop support tech who's skills are just basic Windows. The 50 something Windows server administrator who's never learned any Virtualization skills, networking skills, cloud infrastructure skills. The aging ERP support person who refuses to see their usefulness is fading because the company is moving to a new system and they refuse to even learn the new system.

I am in my mid 60's and I've kept my skills up. I am a valued member of my team. I have been with my company for 20+ years. Would I want to have to go look for a job now? Not at all, even with my relevant skills the chances of getting hired are just about 0.

Re: Probably not about that executive order

The differences in employment practices and laws between the US and the UK are many. I know this because I work in the US for a UK Corporation.

In the US you can layoff anyone as part of a force reduction but if those laid off are predominantly the "older" staff you put yourself at risk of violating ADEA. Defending yourself in court against these suits can be an exercise in futility. Plaintiff's lawyers will try to get a jury trial and no "evil corporation" ever gets any sympathy from a jury.

You can lay someone off if their skill set is no longer needed. I remember we laid off several people in their 50's because their skill set was in the AS400 we no longer used. They were told ahead of time, they knew we were transitioning away from that technology but they made no effort to update their skills. Those lay off were justified,

Utter Management Stupidity

This is a prime example of the utter stupidity of senior executives in American Corporations and how they are so focused on the immediate cost reductions and not even aware of the long term costs of their actions.

The subject of the article was 57. 10 years from federal retirement age (67 in the US). If you want to make room for younger employees offer the man an early retirement payout. Even if they offered him 75% of his salary * 10 it would be cheaper than any judgement that comes out of this lawsuit.

It is nearly impossible for a corporate to win these law suits. Especially if they go to a jury trial. My employer has tried and failed every time.

Sexual Harassment trial, plaintiff has no evidence except her word and all her coworkers testify they never saw or herd anything. Jury rules against us.

An old lady crosses the center line on the highway and slams into one of our trucks head on, she dies, her family sues us, We lost!

12 Hispanic employees walk off the job because the project manager issued a rule that only English is to be used on the walkie-talkies for safety reasons. They sue us for discrimination. We lose!

This is why corporation settle these kinds of suits. It's not an admission of guilt in most cases (though IBM is guilty as sin!) it's because you can't win! A fact that IBM executives seem utterly clueless about.

12-year-old revives Unity desktop, develops software repo client, builds gaming environment for Ubuntu...

Re: my 12 year old...

When I was 12, we went out an played, in the sun, in the rain, in the snow! Played sports, got in trouble, started realizing girls were interesting.

Re: What is there to say?

The biggest problem with the United States is that far too much emphasis is put on the "degree" than the actual skills of the applicant. This is especially true when it comes to promotion. If you do not have a degree your chances of rising to management in corporate america are slim to none. This leads to those with "paper credentials" but not much smarts being elevated "to the level of their incompetence".

If you have a higher degree, Master, PhD or Doctorate then your level of incompetence goes higher. (this is why the most popular Doctorate in the US is the Dr. of Education. It is the easiest to achieve and many people get this just to have it by their name. Looking at you Jill Biden!)

My co-workers in the UK tell me me it's different over there. If it is, then Kudos to y'all!

Re: What is there to say?

And this here is the problem with the Left! The blind obedience and belief in the oppressive state!

So all those zoom classes that parents recorded where CRT was taught were what, "faked"? All those documents that were obtained with all that "equity" and Race training were what faked? All the reports of kids being separated by race and one called an oppressor the the other called oppressed were what? Faked?

And I suppose Keisha King, a black mom from the county next to mine is just a Republican operative when she speaks out against what is being taught to her "black" kids?

https://nypost.com/2021/06/11/black-mom-blasts-critical-race-theory-as-not-teaching-the-truth/

Anonymous because you are a coward, racism is the tool of the left, always has been. the American Democrat party has been the party of racism for it's entire existence, from the Trail of Tears, to slavery, to the Civil War, to Jim Crow, to the "Great Society" that destroyed black communities across this nation, to the destruction of black education (In California, a 1 party Democrat state, only 7% of black kids read at grade level)

Re: What is there to say?

Oh we have morals, we just don't use false morality and compassion to oppress people for our own gain!

We still understand the old saying, "The path the hell is paved with good intentions!"

Why should I pay for that security option? Hijacking only happens to planes

Re: On the topic of domain names expiring

Unfortunately what he did there could, in today's world, be viewed as extortion. The authorities would not look too kindly on him.

'Please download in Microsoft Excel': Meet the tech set to monitor IT performance across central UK government

Re: 'no clear plan'

We have one of those Lotus Notes applications that we just can't kill. Now the guy who built and supported it has retired and we STILL CAN'T KILL IT!

Re: One thing guaranteed to make me break down in tears...

While I'm not saying that the subject of the article are wrong in what they are doing I do can relate to your post.

When we move from a somewhat archaic Construction Management software that everyone was exporting data into Excel to JD Edwards, the buzzword was "No more Excel workbooks!". So what happened after the migration to JD Edwards? Everyone is exporting data to Excel!

Re: in line with agile delivery best practice

This isn't one of those projects. This is a data gathering project gathering information from disparate departments. What they are doing is getting a "where are we now" point in time view. Why would you spend the time to prototype anything when you have a tool that gets you the information now!

Just because your dealing with IT people doesn't mean they are all smart! I've known IT managers that are just as incapable as regular users and need just as much support.

Once you have all the data if you then want an everyday use system to keep the data up to date and everyone informed then its time to approve the budget and begin a real product development project. This is the part that fall over most of the time. Management won't spend the money and the "initial data gathering" solution becomes the every day "mission critical" solution.

#2: He was being sarcastic, which you oblivious did not get.

#3: Of course he is not an IT consultant, he's the poor guy who has to deal with the IT consultants. You know, those consultants who could care less of they they provide is a quality product just so long as they can bill you for as many hours as they can.

As far as #1 is concerned, any data collection method is going to result in someone making a mistake. No amount of data validation is going to prevent a mistake.That is what project managers are for. Review the information, ask questions. Do dome real "human" work.

Of your collecting more than 1,048,576 rows of data, then we can all agree it is time to "rethink" your solution!

Re: Ideal for data

Anyone who insists on using Macros now is an idiot!

With PowerQuery there is no reason to use Macros.

Re: Ideal for data

The problem is if you want to do any kind of decent B.I. the alternatives just don't cut it! Sorry they don't, I've tried.

Excel, with PowerQuery/B.I. has some really great data handling capabilities that allow users who are not "database" capable to do these things. There is no reason why you should not do these things.

The issue is more of security and data spread. Different copies of disparate workbooks floating around that are not kept track of.

I've been involved in projects like this and workbooks are a very useful tool. The key is to have separate workbook for user data entry and a master that this data in imported into. Advise staff not to send these sheets to others. The key here is to get the information as fast as possible and get the project done! Developing some Web/Database app takes too long, has way too many end user support issues and will probably never get used again! (sorry devs)

Web daddy Tim Berners-Lee on privacy, data sharing, and the web's future

Re: Solid?

It's basically the same situation. I use PW managers but, if your master password get compromised you are screwed! It's the same situation with these PODS.

Are these PODS going to use access keys or master passwords that if lost your SOL? Because recovery methods are an invite to bad actors!

First they came for Notepad. Now they're coming for Task Manager

And Gnome is "Different"? "Better"?

Gnome 3, to me, is completely unusable in a desktop environment. For some reason they thought Gnome was going to be used on tablets, touch screens but it's not! At least MS had the sense to walk away from the disaster that was Windows 8 but the Gnome team seems perpetually "stuck on stupid!" Not only that but don't question their methods or design because "They know so much more that you mere humans do!"

This is why I use Cinnamon! It's a simple, standardized, familiar user interface that I can use without any "where the hell is what I want!"

Re: Stupid questions

And obviously you are a complete 1 off user.

I run Linux are my primary OS and I am an Administrator of an Active Directory Windows Network.

But I also have a VM running windows as there are still things you cannot do under Linux to Administer a Windows Active Directory.

As far as regular users, Office is a road block to Linux. You can claim the Libre is a competent replacement but it just isn't! So much in Libre is clunky and clumsy compared to Office. In regards to BI Calc just doesn't have the functionality that Excel does. Even something as simple a a pivot table is so clunky in Calc and so easy and intuitive in Excel. When MS creates a cross platform Office (and it may happen) then Linux "might" become a viable alternative.

Re: Who Cares?

One of the nicest features of Windows XP was Hardware Profiles.

You could setup a hardware profile where only the services you needed were started, shut off all unnecessary startup programs, even shut off AV software. It was great for getting every last ounce of processing power for gaming.

I was not happy when that was removed from Windows 7.

Pony Ma tells employees Tencent is ordinary and replaceable in company meeting

There's a word for that, except many today do not understand its real meaning due to 70 years of mis-information. It's called Fascism!

Software engineer jailed for 2 years after using RATs and crypters to steal underage victims' intimate pics

Re: That Mugshot

Not blaming the victim but you should not make is easy to be the victim of ANY crime!

If you post on Facebook you are going on vacation and have your home address in your profile and get burglarized, yes your a victim, but your also a stupid victim.

Maybe it's a generational thing but I can tell you every woman I've had a relationship with, including my wife, if I asked them to pose for nude photos would tell me NO! I'd also probably get smacked upside the head!

As far a children, they can be manipulated, this is where parent MUST step in, it is also where parents fail. Fail to have open conversation with their teenagers about predators, about their online activities and yes tell them "we will be monitoring you! We trust you but we WILL verify!"

There is never, ever any reason to excuse the perpetrator! Those who target children cannot be reformed, cannot be fixed, they should be locked away permanently!

Re: That Mugshot

For adults, yes that's great advice and one wonders about the "intelligence" of some adults.

For children, especially teenagers, if your not monitoring their online activity then your a fool! Their privacy is one thing but be honest and up front with them and tell them "We trust that you won't do these things be we WILL verify that you are not doing them. If we see that you are you will lose all your online devices."

Re: Not again..

Because that's what Lawyers do! I seriously doubt he is autistic at all. His lawyer most likely paid some unethical "expert" to create a diagnosis to garner sympathy from the court!

He will do this again, that's a fact! The next time it is likely to not be through technology be done personally.

Child abusers/exploiters cannot be reformed! They should be locked away permanently.

No defence for outdated defenders as consumer AV nears RIP

Re: Bit dubious about this arguement.

What is behind my vinyl siding?

3/4" Strand board mounted to

2 x 6 studs 16" on center

6" of insulation

Between each stud are 2 1/2" steel cables mounted to the wall cap and the concrete slab pulled tight! (Hurricane protection)

Try getting through that with a box cutter!

IT labor rights group files complaint against HCL, claiming it's clawing back bonuses

Re: Whose bad?

India, unfortunately, is a culture of exploitation! At least it has been since the Raj. No matter how they try and cover it up the cast system is alive an well. I'm sure that filters into workplace management practices.

US Army journal's top paper from 2021 says Taiwan should destroy TSMC if China invades

"The suggestion, which is credible, is that economic penalties might discourage invasion."

HARDLY! I think the Chinese could care less about economic consequences.

Clueless morons

This is the problem we have in our current society, clueless morons making policy recommendations. China could care less about the chip manufacturing company in Taiwan, they want Taiwan back, even if they have to reduce it to rubble before hand!

During the cold was America and Europe knew we could not win a conventional war against the Soviet Union in Europe. The threat was "If you invade western Europe we nuke you!" That threat kept the peace. That same threat should be given to China. If you invade Taiwan (or any of our other allies in the Asia/Pacific) we will nuke you. Is Taiwan worth potentially destroying the world YOU also live in? China is ruthless (nothing wrong with that) but just like the Soviets I don't believe they are stupid nor suicidal.

Gnu Nano releases version 6.0 of text editor, can now hide UI frippery

Re: Oh the humanity

"Image that, Windows users can't use nano and have to use gvim."

Why not? I use nano on Windows all the time! It's great when you need to edit a file in a remote PowerShell session or you don't want to fire up Notepad just to make a quick edit while in a command or PowerShell window. It is a great replacement for my favorite Windows editor Edit! Really annoyed me when they got rid of that. How hard would it have been to make a 32 bit version.

Re: "fourteen new color names"

Nah, that's 8! Like I tell my wife when shopping for paint "If is in't in an 8 count box of Crayola crayons, it ain't a color!"

£42k for a top-class software engineer? It's no wonder uni research teams can't recruit

Re: It is almost as if the company does not test things properly before unleashing them on the world

It amazes me that the people who invented the term "woke" to describe their "enlightened view point" now find it offensive when applied to them. It is like the term "liberal" when "liberals" became any thing but liberal and started getting called out on it they changed their designation to "progressive", and now that they are anything but "progressive" in their policies and being called out for that they will have to come up with another "false designation" for themselves to hide their "toxic ideology" behind.

Re: if the salaries were improved./ Universities need serious reform across the board

More money isn't the answer! Here in the US we piss away billions of dollars in education. In all grade levels including Universities and with terrible results! Some of the top Universities in the US have endowments worth billions and they still are the same old hot mess as many have described here.

The other big problem are the research grants, These Uni's apply for research grants for research that are all "self fulfilling prophecies!" If you ask for money to research something and it turns out your theory was completely wrong and stupid, no ones probable going to give you more money to do more research. So they make sure their theories are proven right no matter how wrong they originally were! This is a root of the climate lie!

(Yes, it is a lie! I can prove it! I have over 100 years of temperature records for over 300 US towns and cities and have graphed out average yearly temperature for many of them and NONE of them show any appreciable increase in temperature over the last century! This is the data from the local weather stations that report the temperature to the local news every day! Downloaded from Carnegie Mellon University so no, I did not make it all up!)

Tech Bro CEO lays off 900 people in Zoom call and makes himself the victim

Re: "stealing" from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive.

Where I work we call it the "Fried Egg Syndrome!"

The company is like a fried egg, the yoke is all the people who do all the work, the white is all the people who skate through the day and don't get anything of value done. Unfortunately, a lot of management sits in the white part of the egg!

Re: Timing

Like I posted before, this most often happens because the company fiscal year ends on Dec. 31. They are closing the books for this year and putting their budgets and forecasts for the next year. The bean counters are all about cutting costs to make next years budget look good and make the forecasts look rosy! Easiest way is with terminations!

I've had management come to out IT department at the end of the fiscal year and say "You have to terminate 3 people" No matter we cannot afford to lose 3 people, doesn't matter who, just terminate 3 people!

Re: Fraudly

@AC

Said just like someone who has ZERO understanding of the construction industry!

In construction you can make great money on a project or you can lose your arse! Trump Inc. has made a lot of money on construction projects and they have has some serious loses. That's just how it works! Sometimes you don't make a profit until years after the project completes because everything is held up in litigation!

Considering Trump Inc. operated a lot of projects in one of the worst places to execute a construction project, the North Eastern US (Corrupt unions run by mobsters, corrupt politicians) and has actually made money there is a credit to their expertise navigating the minefield that that part of the country is!

(Me: 30 years in construction, IT. British multi-nation construction company! We will not to business in the Northeast US! It is just to risky!)

Re: Bastard

hmm, not sure if it would be the Forth Circle of Hell, Greed or the Ninth circle of hell, Treachery!

Re: What a cowardly little shit.

"2. He's doing this a few weeks before Christmas / new year, making it very hard for people to find new jobs fast"

This is the problem with companies having their fiscal year ending the same time as the calendar year. Layoffs happen just before Christmas. This used to be the case for my employer and everyone thought it was really shitty!

We now and our fiscal year end in February so any layoffs are after the holidays. The only downside is bonuses are not in March instead of January.

Employers don't deserve 2 weeks notice!!!

This is a prime example of why I do not believe that employers deserve 2 weeks notice.

If you believe you have been treated well and you want to give notice then that is your choice but if an employer threatens to hold back final pay or vacation pay if you don't give notice the get a lawyer!

An employer will drop you like a stone without any notice! Compensation is not always a given.

I know it's different in Europe but here in the US they can show you the door immediately, and then drag their feet issuing your last paycheck!

And this guy is a douche! Why would anyone ever want to work there.

Nextcloud and cloud chums fire off competition complaint to the EU over Microsoft bundling OneDrive with Windows

Re: anything office 365 is a nightmare

If you have the Office 365 then that is how it works and you cannot change it. Believe me I have tried. If you have a stand alone version of Office (is that still available?) you can change the save location.

Re: No problem with Android and Google Drive, and iOS and iCloud?

In the US, unless the label says "pure honey" and you look at the ingredients and the only one is "honey" then you are buying a product that may be 30% or less honey and the rest sweet corn syrup.

Oh Please!

Not more of this!

So, all the hrumphing and blustering about the "browser wars" and in the end Microsoft lost because I.E. was a blithering piece of Shite!

They bundle the software because "it's their software" They are not charging for it! All they are doing is allowing computer purchasers to avoid downloading the damn software. If you have a better product then convince people you have a better product! Even if the software wasn't bundled, people will gravitate to MS. Because it is MS! IMO Azure is a horrible cluster ****! Yet I know so many companies who have signed up on Azure, why? Because it is Microsoft! Certainly not because it is a better, less expensive service.

Regarding the whole "cloud vendor issue", yeah, I can just see myself going to management and suggesting we use the cloud vendor who has a piece of the 16% of business that AWS, Google and Microsoft do not have. I'd be lucky to still be employed after that presentation!

Keep calm and learn Rust: We'll be seeing a lot more of the language in Linux very soon

Re: The way in which this turd is being pushed “top down” makes me want to puke

">Rust prevents all of these things as well as many other unsafe practices.

In November 2021, there is no excuse for having these bugs in your code."

And yet, here we are today with this still happening? Not just in older code but even in newer code!

Your statement is absolutely correct and it SHOULD NOT happen! Yet it still does!

Maybe, i don't know, 40% of programmer are like you and do not make these mistakes, but that leaves 60% that do.

I for one, am not that concerned about the Linux kernel. I think those guys and Linus have a lot of this under control, but yes, drivers! Not just Linux but also Windows! Then things like Edge devices, firewalls, security devices, Access Points, consumer internet gateways, IoT devices. If the implementation of Rust to the programming of these things helps prevent the "idiot errors" that puts everyone at risk then I'm all for it!

Billion-dollar US broadband bonanza awaits Biden's blessing – what you need to know

Expanding broad band services into rural areas is just not profitable!

i.e. Kansas has a total population density of 36.5 people per Sq. mile. Most of that is in the large cities. once you get into the farmland it can be as low as 3-4 people per sq. mile!

It would take over 100 years to recoup the cost of running fiber out to these rural areas.

This is what was done in the beginning of the 20th century with phone service. AT&T was subsidized to extend phone service out to rural areas.

Having worked for a British international company and having to work with many Brits in Networking I understand that many of you Europeans just do not have an understanding of the actual size of the US. I can't tell you how many times I had to have this conversation, "You do realize that Dallas to Denver is 663 straight line miles right?" and get the response, "Oh, I didn't realize that!"

It is probably because doing anything in NY state and especially NYC is most often just not profitable. You have to deal with crooked politicians, Unions run my Mafioso, one of the stupidest and most burdensome regulatory environments in the country (i.e. California with all its stupid regulations is not as bad as NY)

I work in Construction, (Big British International) one of the few places we will not do business (besides France) it the Northeast US. We have had too many failed projects up there not because we can't build them because dealing with all that foes on up there eventually turns it into a losing proposition. Not to mention that it always ends in litigation because the government tries to screw us out of the money we deserve to be paid.