* Posts by Imhotep

791 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Aug 2019

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US appeals court ruling could 'eliminate internet privacy'

Imhotep

Re: Wrong Yet Again

From the New York Times:

In the 2017 term, the Supreme Court heard 14 cases from the Ninth Circuit, reversing or vacating 12. That is a rate of nearly 86 percent,

From the July 13 2021 Los Angeles Times:

The Supreme Court’s favorite target again this year was the California-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which saw 15 of 16 rulings overturned on review.

Imhotep

Wrong Yet Again

Fortunately, the notorious 9th circuit court's decisions can be appealed to the Supreme Court, which issues reversals about 80% of the time.

IBM ordered to pay $105 million to insurer over tech project's collapse

Imhotep

Re: Whoa, whoa, whoa ....

The extra damages are for costs incurred by the customer to third parties in implementing the project, which the article states were documented by invoices.

You can buy a company. You can buy a product. Common sense? Trickier

Imhotep

Re: 'twas ever thus

In the US, typical sales contracts specify that "fixtures" will saty with the house - basically anything actually attached to the house.

So it is a no-no to remove light fixtures,btowel rods, curtain rods, etc.

Appliances aren't considered fixtures, but dish washers, fridges and stoves usually stay, but it's usually highlighted in the listing.

In our last two moves the dryer and washer weren't included, so ours went with us.

What do you do when all your source walks out the door?

Imhotep

Was this in 2001?

Hal, give me back those floppies.

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.

The time you solved that months-long problem in 3 seconds

Imhotep

Re: Fuck that

My first thought was that this was exactly the sort of person I would not want dealing with my customers. It is possible to have both technical and social skills.

The "techies" I have met with this attitude were usually deficient in both.

How not to attract a WSL (or any) engineer

Imhotep

When You Reach That Point

At one company, I kept being called back for interview after interview. At the last one, one of the interviewers mentioned the number of times I'd been called in and must be tired of trying to answer the same questions in different ways, and I repled "Yes, I've exhausted the truth and I'm going to have start lying now."

And they hired me. It was a great company to work for. I was lucky those final interviewers happened to be the people they were.

We have redundancy, we have batteries, what could possibly go wrong?

Imhotep

Re: cold start generators

The same utility built a dam atop the highest point in Missouri. During the night, power powered the turbines at the bottom to pump water from the river at the mountain's base up a shaft through the mountain and in to the dam.

During the day, water was allowed to flow back through the shaft to spin the turbines and generate electricity.

Basically, a giant wet cell battery.

Microsoft says the internet is the nicest it's been since 2016. Obviously they didn't look at The Reg comments

Imhotep

The carbon based units are all defective.

Bouncing cheques or a bouncy landing? All in a day's work for the expert pilot

Imhotep

My problem was with them pushing my buttons.

Pop quiz: The network team didn't make your change. The server is in a locked room. What do you do?

Imhotep

In the areas I've lived in, for new construction a brick veneer on the front is the most common with vinyl siding for the sides and back.

In New Mexico, there is a lot of faux adobe - stucco, instead of siding.

Imhotep

In the US, homeowners are resorting to multiple locks and steel doors.

That are typically installed in walls composed of vinyl siding over .5" chipboard panels, fiberglass insulation and drywall.

Ignoring windows, You can saw a new door for yourself in a couple of minutes - or just kick a hole through in the more extreme cases.

Software guy smashes through the Somebody Else's Problem field to save the day

Imhotep

Re: I recognise the story

The house we just bought had two subpanels, one with breakers and blank plates glued in place with Gorilla Glue.

It also had one ceiling light that didn't work. The electrician replacing the panels traced the fault to a wire that had burned through- it had been stapled so tightly to a joist that the wires shorted out and burned through. Said electrician came down from the attic jubilant with said cable - he now had another example of what can cause fires for his friend, the Fire Marshall, to use in his safety talks.

Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes found guilty of fraud: Blood-testing machines were vapourware after all

Imhotep

Re: Sentencing will be interesting

He also did the reporting for the excellent Wall Street Journal series of articles. I wish the rest of the profession worked at the same level.

Intel ‘regrets’ offending China with letter telling suppliers to avoid Xinjiang

Imhotep

Or any other former British colony.

Newly discovered millipede earns its name by being the first to walk on one thousand legs

Imhotep

Lower than a flea's bellybutton

I'm curious what kind of habitat there is for this nightmare 60 metres down. Is this a cave dwelling creature, a burrower (that seems awfully deep for burrowing) or?

Ooh, an update. Let's install it. What could possibly go wro-

Imhotep

Shades of Seinfeld

"I was," he said modestly, "god of my domain."

I would have said "Master of my domain", but I guess it really is a different thing entirely.

Google deliberately throttled ad load times to promote AMP, claims new court document

Imhotep

Re: Here is how to really hurt google

If any of those acts were criminal, charge the individuals involved.

That might actually have an effect. Otherwise, Google will continue to be a bad actor.

Brit builders merchant Travis Perkins opts for Oracle after ERP disaster with Infor

Imhotep

Re: Never under estimate celllotape and elastic bands.

They figure those savings are how they'll pay for their over budget non-functional system.

Imhotep

Planning For Failure

I've worked extensively with Infor systems, and think it is a pretty good product.

Where I've seen projects fail is when they are farmed out externally. They hire contractors who have no skin in the game, don't necessarily know the system, and will jump ship before the project is complete - taking their project knowledge with them - for another gig so they have no downtime. And for God's sake don't throw more people at the project. You're going to fragment the knowledge of what is going on, increase communication problems, sow confusion for accountability and actually slow things down.

If this is going to be your system, own it from the beginning. Have your staff get up to speed and plan for and implement it.

They'll be better prepared to support it and address any problems. If you don't have the staff, perhaps rethink what you're doing.

Windows 11 in detail: Incremental upgrade spoilt by onerous system requirements and usability mis-steps

Imhotep

Dictionary Dartboard

No opinion on the OS, but do the people that write this sort of thing actually understand English?

"a design which is human" and "embrace a softer geometry and more modern metaphors."

Microsoft's problem child, Windows 11, is here. Will you run it? Can you run it? Do you even WANT to run it?

Imhotep

Re: Want to run it?

7 is what is currently on my laptop. And I have that because I bought 7 and wiped 8 off of the drive.

You're right about selling the new and shiny. Why don't they just change the Solitaire deck or add more games and backgrounds?

Imhotep

Re: Want to run it?

My career was in IT in a number of different roles, so I'm relatively comfortable diving in to a new OS, hunting down drivers to make everything work, etc.

Now I would just be using it for email, browsing and office suite type programs, so apps shouldn't be a problem.

But a Windowstype UI would make things easier. I think I'll try out Mint. And if I don't like it - I can always try another one.

Many thanks for all the answers.

Imhotep

Re: Want to run it?

XP was my favorite.

I'm perplexed why MS feels it has to change the UI with new versions and frustrate their users.

Fix the bugs, make it secure, add new functionality - but leave the UI alone. If they made cars, they'd think it brilliant to make the gas pedal a knob on the dash and the brakes a crank on the door.

Imhotep

Re: Want to run it?

I don't have to run it because I've retired.

So far, I've been able to do everything I need to do on an IPad.

But, I've got an HP laptop with Windows 7 on which I'll be installing a new OS - if anyone has some pointers on which distrib would be easiest for an exWindows guy.

Computer shuts down when foreman leaves the room: Ghost in the machine? Or an all-too-human bit of silliness?

Imhotep

But Peter was angry too.

Imhotep

As far as I know, it's been quite a while since ground has been optional.

I don't know if you can still buy an outlet without a ground anymore, but you can still buy ungrounded extension cords for those ungrounded outlets.

Imhotep

Re: Power socket on the lighting circuit?

Our first house predated the electric era. The ceiling fixtures were hung from the gas pipe nipples,

The walls were solid brick, so they had chiseled grooves up the wall, run the wire, then replastered over.

It was an interesting rehab. They had removed the interior staircases to have a space to put in indoor bathrooms when they came in fashion, apparently at they same time they divided it in to flats.

Needless to say, we had to replace all the systems: lead pipe plumbing, knob and tube wiring, no central HVAC or duct work.

Imhotep

Re: Power socket on the lighting circuit?

I've never lived in a house without wiring in the ceiling, but I've seen a few houses wired that way - generally cheaper construction.

There was a period during the 70s and early 80s (the "malaise" period) where you saw some incredibly shoddy construction: aluminum wiring that ended up causing a lot of fires and 2"x2" studs used for interior walls. You could actually see those walls flex when you shut a door.

Imhotep

Re: Power and lighting together

Not in my house or others I've lived in. Outlets are generally on their own circuit with a 20amp breaker, lighting on it's own with a 15amp breaker.

I have seen lighting and outlet circuits shared between rooms.

Imhotep

Most houses have 220V circuits for things like electric ranges and clothes driers. I generally add one for some of my power tools.

Imhotep

US Residential Wiring

I don't believe I've ever lived in a house with lighting and outlets on the same circuits.

The outlet circuits generally have heavier guage cabling and a circuit breaker to match.

US school districts blame Amazon for nationwide bus driver shortage

Imhotep

Re: @AC

It is also a problem in the US.

Imhotep

I like the idea, and perhaps we should expand it.

For example, do we really need ICBMs to deliver a nuclear warhead, or is FedEx guaranteed overnight delivery good enough?

Perhaps UPS leaving a package on the front porch of the ISS?

Imhotep

Re: Uhh...

In urban/suburban areas it is feasible to build smaller schools within walking distance of their students. Walking is how I got to school up through college.

This was also the case for my daughters.

Perhaps this might be a long term goal for those districts where it is possible. There are other advantages too, including parental engagement.

Self-sailing Mayflower ship to have another crack at Atlantic crossing next year

Imhotep

Re: you mean

That puzzled me also, along with the statement that it took months to figure out that the generator was broken.

It's hard to imagine how the problem with the generator wouldn't be almost immediately identified during trouble shooting. Must be more to the story there.

Metro Bank techies placed at risk of redundancy, severance terms criticised

Imhotep

Re: agile being that nebulous yet overused term that

And we're all still supposed to be multitasking while we're being agile.

Imhotep

Re: "less than 90"

Lets go with "fewer". The other sets my teeth on edge.

Imhotep

"The C Suite" is our preffered euphemism in the US for office plants.

Apparently even vegetables have feelings.

Samsung is planning to reverse-engineer the human brain on to a chip

Imhotep

The article reminds me somewhat of those people who say that human and animal studies are no longer needed because now we can do it on computers.

Yes, we could if we knew everything absolutely everything about the human body and how it works to program it for a computer.

But if we knew that, we wouldn't need the studies anyway.

Imhotep

Have you ever read The Origin Of Consciensness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes? A brilliant and fascinating book with a title that seems designed to frighten people off.

In the lead up to his main thesis, he gives the best description I've ever run across of how we think and of how earlier peoples located some functions we ascribe to the brain to other parts of the body.

I ask the question because of your first two paragraphs.

It is one of the few books I go back and reread every year or two, and I am always amazed at how often I'll read a new paper or even an old history that helps to support his arguments.

Imhotep

They are also assuming that we know enough about how the human brain is built and how it works to replicate it.

That sounds somewhat delusional right there.

Wasn't it just two years ago that they discovered a new human organ?

Facebook overpaid FTC fine by up to $4.9bn to protect Zuckerberg, lawsuits allege

Imhotep

Re: "transparency is essential for social media platforms"

I quit Facebook about ten years ago because instead of being a place where I could keep in touch with family and friends, it had become an angry, demented crowd of voices in the corner of Hyde Park.

My wife tells me that now there is really nobody posting at all.

It does make me question their user numbers and the number of eyes for their ads.

Like a phoenix rising from the smouldering ruins of its data centre, OVH sets sights on IPO

Imhotep

I've Got Gambling Money

Oh, dear. This does sound familiar. A company with expertise in a particular area wants money to diversify in to other fields and for mergers and acquisitions. If I was a stock holder, I'd cash in when the IPO goes public.

Twitter offers to cough up 80 days of annual sales to settle 'false' user count lawsuit

Imhotep

In the US, many of these class action lawsuits are actually intigated by the law firms. They supply an injured party and by making it a class action suit generate a huge payday for the firm. For the actual injured parties, maybe a coupon that gives a discount on buying something else from the company that screwed them over in the first place.

The federal court in East Saint Louis, among others, is notorious for juries delivering huge rewards on minimal evidence.

Space tourists splash down in Atlantic Ocean after three days in orbit

Imhotep

Where did you come up with the $200 million cost for the flight?

I haven't seen the actual cost anywhere. This article says tens of millions, others have guessed at different amounts.

But what do you care? A worthy charity got a great deal of money.

Punchy Biden-lookalike grandad goes viral for fighting boxing gadget

Imhotep

Re: Except he doesn't look like Biden ...

It's ageism! Youngster think all of us old people look alike!

Businesses put robots to work when human workers are hard to find, argue econo-boffins

Imhotep

I agree with you on the whole, but sometimes you can't find low skill workers because, regardless of cost, they just aren't there.

In our fast growing area the fast food restaurants had to curtail their hours because they couldn't hire enough staff - this was before Covid.

Wages went up, but it just had the same limited pool of workers moving to whoever was paying more. The staffing problems remained because of the labor shortage.

One of the restsurants is experimenting with a robotic burger flipper, and waxed ecstatic about it. Always there for its shift, never calls in sick or takes off early, doesn't ask for a raise...

Catch of the day... for Google, anyway: Transatlantic Cornwall cable hauled ashore

Imhotep

Re: just a short seaside donkey ride from GCHQ's Bude listening post on the cliffs

The circle of life - Asses watching asses.

Imhotep

Re: Important Questions

Speaking as an authority on subaquatic cable - I ran cable through the wet basement of my house so all our rooms were connected - wire coat hanger would have been the way to go.

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