Posts by The commentard formerly known as Mister_C

Trump guts digital ID rules, claims they help 'illegal aliens' commit fraud

Re: Just read the article

and there was me thinking you'd answer with "that would be an ecumenical matter"

Microsoft's plain text editor gets fancy as Notepad gains formatting options

Re: Really pissed off with MS

"Word is now weird and not windows menu compliant"

I can't remember a time when their office suite WAS windows compliant. Menus, Save dialog boxes, Title bars - all different from the OS standard.

Techie fixed a ‘brown monitor’ by closing a door for a doctor

PERVERT

sorry

Pervis

Peter Pervis

SpaceX resets 'Days Since Last Starship Explosion' counter to zero, again

"sudo open the pod bay door" Shirley?

Techies thought outside the box. Then the boss decided to take the box away

Re: Aquarium offices....

It's a lonely plaice if you're the sole occupant.

Microsoft dumps AI into Notepad as 'Copilot all the things' mania takes hold in Redmond

Re: They just can’t help themselves

and also asked if I want t save a changed document when I close it, rather than have it saved for me and then resurrected next time I open Notepad to format-strip something.

Automatic UK-to-US English converter produced amazing mistakes by the vanload

Re: Do they really spell archaeology like that over there?

The Bosphorus is the stretch of water between Turkey and ... err ... Turkey

Re: (larger) US pint

and a litre of water's a pint and three quarters

Dilettante dev wrote rubbish, left no logs, and had no idea why his app wasn't working

Re: Divers log

"as opposed to a pound and a twentieth, or 105 pence."

I believe Sir is referring to One Guinea, aka 21 shillings.

Linus Torvalds goes back to a mechanical keyboard after making too many typos

My daily drive (don't judge me)

Is branded Compaq. Semi-inherited hand-me-down that I've gone back to after trying to keep up-to-date with limited lifespan USB landfill candidates. Purple PS/2 connector, so early 2000s. Runs through a PS/2 / USB KVM switch to my main PC and the work laptop.

Got a couple of black PS/2 connector mechanicals in a box somewhere ('90s computer fair acquisitions) so I reckon I'm nearly future proof, but not in the way that modern manufacturers mean...

Haven't improved my typing accuracy though

808 lines of BBC BASIC and a dream: Arm architecture turns 40

Re: Anybody know if that 808 line program is available?

or is it 404?

Heat can make Li-Ion batteries explode. Or restore their capacity, say Chinese boffins

Dendrites?

20-or-so years ago, there were lots of clickbait articles on the web about curing dendrites in NiCad batteries by zapping them with a chunk of charge (basically using a welding transformer rather than a battery charger). I wondered if this was a similar thing so did a quick search on "dendrite battery" and found many many links to Li dendrite research over the last few years. Could this be another similar piece of research?

Incidentally, on the subject of stuff shrinking when heated (and running off topic from the original article). Steel changes from body centered cubic crystals to face centered cubic crystals, a more compact structure. The steel therefore contracts at the phase change temperature. Whilst an engineering student, I had this demonstrated to me by a lecturer running a current through a steel wire that was fixed at both ends. It expanded as it heated up, causing it to droop and droop and then suddenly shrink and (almost) straighten, then droop again. Allowing it to cool naturally reversed the process, quenching would have kept the structure.. And that's one of the forms of heat treatment

Trump kills clearances for infosec's SentinelOne, ex-CISA boss Chris Krebs

Re: I like Americans…

unfortunately, that's funny as in "this tastes funny" not as in "you're funny, I've laughed twice now".

One of the last of Bletchley Park's quiet heroes, Betty Webb, dies at 101

Re: No More Secrets

It is. Enjoy.

US Army’s laser obsession continues with yet another drone-zapper deal

High Energy Laser = HEL

To be deployed as permanent land-based systems - "HEL on earth",

Airborne will be Sky based - "HEL(S) angels"

Seaborne will be Ocean based - "HEL(O) sailor"

and the infantry semi-portable version will be "HEL in a handcart"

a government funded time travel system will suffer all the usual procurement problems and be delivered late.

Tesla Cybertruck recall #8: Exterior trim peels itself off, again

Re: Glue?

bogies!

Don't want Copilot app on your Windows 11 machine? Install this official update

but it's part of 24H2

so ain't going to sit on my company laptop. I've allowed 24H2 on twice and had to kick it off again twice coz it doesn't like my KVM switch. Lets me log on, but won't go any further towards displaying the desktop. Previous win11 is OK, win7, pi and SuSE (on other KVM ports) are all fine but 24H2 won't play. So I'll stick with unpatched plus @mickaroo's reply to my comment last week about kicking copilot out.

Microsoft adds another Copilot hotkey – this time for AI voice chat

and for the poor buggers that use computers for REAL WORK?

ALT-SPACE is already a hot key combo in the software I use to earn money to pay my mortgage. Will this unprovement(*) take priority? Does this mean that microshit is actively going to make it harder for me to make a living? FFS!

(*) unprovement - an addition to software inflicted by a software house that reduces the user's efficiency

TL;DR - HOW DO I AUTO EJECT THE COPOILOT?

US stocks slip as Trump pulls trigger on Canada, Mexico, China tariffs

Re: told US farmers to "have fun" with the new deal.

he is the domestic source of guano

boy, am I going to get downvoted by the musk 'n' maga fanbois.

DIMM techies weren’t allowed to leave the building until proven to not be pilferers

Re: No honour anywhere

agreed. They used to be Hermes - aka Herpes. We now call them Nevri.

They've got one decent courier round our way who has a small van and sorts out the stuff that the regular courier can't be bothered with. the regular courier has a small ca, so only picks parcels smaller than a takeaway box. We regularly have stuff go missing in transit for a week or more.

HP deliberately adds 15 minutes waiting time for telephone support calls

Why the fracas?

I don't know why anybody would need a helpline for HP.

1 - Shake bottle.

2 - Take top off.

3 - Turn bottle over.

4 - (optional) - Slap bottom (of bottle)

5 - Enjoy food.

OK. Maybe step 2 might cause problems if you can't open source.

James Webb Space Telescope to size up asteroid 2024 YR4 before it rocks our world

Director's Discretionary Time

Sometimes DDT is a good thing

Eggheads crack the code for the perfect soft boil

Re: The puns, they hurt!

eggshellent puns all white. Good yokes.

BT fiber rollout passes 17 million homes, altnet challenge grows

Re: BT Whatnow?

In that case you might also enjoy the (very old) website http://standingonguard.com/ that used to refer to "Canada South"

Asteroid as wide as 886 cans of spam may hit Earth in 2032

to do that would require converting the asteroid's size in SpamTins into Coconuts and then extrapolating in terms of laden swallows. I tried but there wasn't enough room in the margin to show this.

How to leave the submarine cable cutters all at sea – go Swedish

Re: Not everyday does a Prefab Sprout lyric pop up in a Tech article...

Given the Whisky on the Rocks mentioned later, I would think the lyrics to "Glad it's all over" by Captain Sensible to be quoted:

Submarines in the harbor

Incognito

Submarines of your dreams

Not mine

The red red sky

Must take the price

For giving to the people

Who never never go to war

Shove your office mandates, people still prefer working from home

re "Ooh lots of downvotes!"

I'm going to guess that you and BOTH of your friends were behind my downvotes.

I work from home. The TEAM I work with are based all around the country because interwebs. I met my boss AFTER I'd joined the company because being briefed on the company work policies tied in nicely with collecting my company laptop. We work as a team without using cameras for online meetings and we work just as efficiently as teams in the same office. We use technology to allow this in the same way as people use a mechanical crane to do the work that many people used to do with a rope or (technological advance) a rope fitted with block and tackle.

I can understand that many many jobs can't be done remotely. But there is no reason for me to take over an hour to commute 10 miles (fighting past two schools of parents demanding their right to 4x4 their spawn to school) to be in an office to that my boss can see my scowling face. And then another hour back with twats using their cars as battering rams to force their way through queues at roundabouts to be 15 seconds earlier home. I actually work a longer day than I used to when commuting and still have more time at home because I don't spend time sitting in a tin box. hashtab PRODUCTIVITY GAIN

TL;DR Commuting sucks. If there's a better way to work, do it.

you are David Brent and I claim my five pounds

They've only gone and made Doom run in a PDF file

Re: Is there anywhere Doom has not been implemented?

Two spring to mind -

20+ years ago I saw a web page where the writer had gutted a CRT monitor and printed the various sprites on art board. Put them together like a Victorian childrens' theatre. Frame rate was measured in dpf (days per frame).

Fairly recently I read another account on t'web where the writer declared that an attempt to "render frames using LED strips and a Raspberry Pi"... didn't work. IIRC the summary of the paper was "the less said about that, the better." Shame, might've been a fun read [hint, hint to the Contributing Editor]

Re: How much ink?

or a Vegas dealer to riffle shuffle

Is it really the plan to take over Greenland and the Panama Canal? It's been a weird week

Re: Insane troll logic budget

yup. check the lyrics to "the star spangled banner". The "rockets' red glare" refers to Congreve rockets fired from HMS Erebus.

Re: Rocks

we're gonna have to get a bigger rock

Devs sent into security panic by 'feature that was helpful … until it wasn't'

please consider this comment Rhetorical

what else do you intend to eat on Date Night?

Tech support warrior left cosplay battle and Trekked to the office

Re: Bathing attire

I thought you meant as in "let's off-road". Then I remembered the boat bit, so technically sort of almost right.

you forgot the icon! --->

Christmas 1984: The last hurrah for 8-bit home computers

Re: 1984: The last hurrah for 8-bit home computers

Wilkinsons. They were an eye opener into the world of equipping a home. And also allowed me to frame a simple rule for rating a town's prosperity as inversely proportional to the size of their Wilco

Microsoft adds another problem to the Windows 11 24H2 naughty list

"Microsoft's advice? "To prevent issues, do not install Windows 11"

The rest of the article is unnecessary.

I've said it before and I full expect to say it again. TRADING STANDARDS NEEDS TO GROW A PAIR AND TELL MICROS~1 TO PROVIDE SOFTWARE THAT IS FIT FOR PURPOSE OR JUST CEASE AND DESIST. I don't care if they whinge "software is hard". FMCG is hard if you want to make it safe and resilient. Cars is hard if you want to make it safe and resilient. Even food is hard if you want to make it safe and resilient. Everything is hard if you want to make it safe and resilient. Why do software companies think they count as special?

Former NSA cyberspy's not-so-secret hobby: Hacking Christmas lights

Can != May != Should

I said "I think I could do that," meaning I have the technical chops to achieve it. And [Joyce's wife] said, "yes you can," and I took that as license to mean, "yes, you can do it."

And that's the root of the data slurping explained.

Coder wrote a bug so bad security guards wanted a word when he arrived at work

Re: "Paper Trey-al surely?"

Trey bien, all of vous

Aliens, spy balloons, or drones? SUV-sized mystery objects spotted in US skies

I think the only time you might hear a sonic boom from a Harrier would be just before the boom of lithobraking.

British Army zaps drones out of the sky with laser trucks

"If we ever manage to replace warfare with love, they could have amoured vehicles."

To reprise the 1970s truck graffiti

"Make love not war. Ask driver for details"

Re: Microwave?

and a bell to go "bing" when it's finished

Abandoned US Army 'city under the ice' imaged in serendipitous NASA find

For them on the naughty list

Microsoft reboots Windows Recall, but users wish they could forget

Re: When stuck in a hole

and they're digging it round when it ought t'be square.

Job seekers call BS on the workplace AI revolution

Re: Time savings

I would prefer the second boss over the first. More short term pain for me but I know he'll get his comeuppance. First boss will just keep screwing me over until I quit and then he'll just carry on the rinse / repeat cycle on my successor.

D-Link tells users to trash old VPN routers over bug too dangerous to identify

forgot to say

There's also the "not of merchantable quality" clause. And (bearing in mind that IANAL) this product probably qualifies.

Re: Is there no product liability at all?

over here in the UK we have the "Sale of goods act" for non-commercial sales. If the product was defective then it falls/fails under the category of "not fit for purpose". Anybody who bought one can (or should) return it to the retailer and ask for their money back. Probably have to accept a reduction due to fair wear-and-tear but it's then up to Amazon / ebuyer / $retailer to release the hounds on D-Link. And maybe if this actually happened then tech companies would get their shit into gear and not hide behind the "but this is soooo complicated" excuse. Software companies too....

</rant>

That hardware will be more reliable if you stop stabbing it all day

Re: This is why ergonomics matters

Depends on the tape being used to seal the box. A ball point pen tip is quite effective on normal parcel tape.

NASA fires up super-quiet supersonic X-59 aircraft

Re: Why would that pose difficulties for a passenger jet?

put a politician in the front segment, stream a press conference just after takeoff and the nose will be extended by the time you need it