Posts by nintendoeats

London cops break into gallery to rescue lifelike art installation

Re: It's life like!

Yup, all you can see is clothing and a fairly convincing wig. I hope I would have called the police if I saw that.

Re: Ahaaaaaa!

I don't think the dadaism is new.

(Cue an art historian telling me about some much older movement of deliberately "offensive" art.)

If somebody can be annoyed by a work of art, particularly one that does not express an ideology, then I think that kind of makes the person worthy of annoying. Trying to coat the world in leather and all that.

Re: Well done to the officers involved

Yes, that's obviously not appropriate. But of course, we don't know what that actually means.

TikTok could be banned from America, thanks to proposed bipartisan bill

Which is why GDPR is such a problem for American companies...but even if they both do the bad thing, doesn't mean it isn't a bad thing. And while I can absolutely blame the Americans for spying on their own people, I can't blame them for wanting to prevent another country from doing so.

What did Unix fans learn from the end of Unix workstations?

Re: Indy over O2

That was a generous gift then.

Re: Indy over O2

I don't think you were supposed to :p

I like the O2 technically, especially all the real-time video stuff. Unfortunately I've found mine to be less reliable than the Indy, and the plastic case just...dissolves...

I own a number of SGIs, lovely machines. In fact, I learned to write C++ a couple years ago by writing a network program that lets you control an IRIX machine that is connected to a capture card, using the mouse and keyboard of a Windows machine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOhT0x5m9Nc

Now I am a professional C++ dev. So yes, learning to use this UNIX workstation directly impacted my career.

Musk roundly booed on-stage at Dave Chappelle gig

Re: " Maybe it's just that he's not as popular as he thinks he is."

In fairness, he probably paid somebody to do it.

I'm concerned that as much as he has done many things that are sue-able, any action against him will be viewed as political. Institutions may choose not to act for that reason.

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Sorry, I had time to stew on it. I realized I was distracted and missed the whole point of what he was saying. The vaccine achieves two things for your personal safety:

1. It reduces the PROBABILITY of contracting the disease.

2. It reduces the IMPACT of contracting the disease.

So if you are vaccinated, you are not just less likely to become infected, but if you become infected you are less likely to die. So the statement "if you have the vaccine you don't need to worry about getting infected" is strongly true, as even if you do get infected the odds of you suffering more than mild symptoms are low.

So it is neither a lie, nor is it misleading.

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

I think you wrote too many words. Let me try.

Hate and fear are powerful forces for both uniting and engaging people. Politicians, the media, and commenters know this and have a tendency to promote icons of hate to achieve unity of a group under their own banner. Thus, if an individual is being cast as a hate-sink, consider whether the dislike of that person (or what they represent) is being promoted out of genuine concern, or out of a hidden desire to convince you to subconsciously identify with a group that the speaker has influence over.

Re: One of the rare times he escaped his own reality bubble recently

Sure, but that's a far cry from "the lies of Faucci". He had to repeat the same message thousands of times, and in that instance he used wording which was technically true (he said you can feel safe that you won't get infected, not that you absolutely won't) but wasn't quite as clean as his standard wording. I think whether you read anything into that has a lot more to do with where you are starting from than from anything he said.

If he had said "If you get vaccinated, I personally guarantee that you will not get infected", that would have been both weird and dishonest. But that's not what he said. The seatbelt example is right on point. "If you wear a seatbelt, you can feel save that you will not die in a collision". Doesn't mean it won't happen, but does mean that you should be much less worried about it.

Thanks, that was an interesting article. I might look at some other stuff by that person.

Programming error created billion-dollar mistake that made the coder ... a hero?

Re: Worst code I ever saw...

Definitely, variable and function naming is critical.

I feel that this is one are where coming from a writing background gives me an advantage. When we write code, we are writing it to be read by both humans and computers. The difference is, computers just need to know what to do; they don't need to understand why they are doing it. Variable/function names and comments are like a backchannel for just humans, a place to discuss issues that do not concern the computer.

Blockchain needs a reason to exist, Boris Johnson tells roomful of blockchain pros

I'm really annoyed that I agree with every single quote from Boris in this article.

In particular, the short form is infuriating. I've been trying to be a little bit politically active around firearms legistlation in Canada lately, and people keep telling me I need to make my writing shorter. Sorry guys, I can't cram a thesis, 10 coherent objections, and a conclusion into 1 page or a 60 second video. The fact that people think this is possible suggests that they are unable to identify incomplete arguments.

FAA wants pilots to be less dependent on computer autopilots

Re: Dum dum dum dum dum

That's pretty awesome.

Re: Dum dum dum dum dum

Absolutely. I don't know what it costs per-ticket to have two pilots, but I'll pay it. The "two pilots" thing isn't just about balancing the workload, it's about having the ability to hand off control when incapacitated, or for one person to notice something the other doesn't.

I watch an arseload of Air Crash Investigations. There are plenty of cases covered on that show where having two pilots unquestionably saved lives.

Boss broke servers with a careless bit of keyboarding, leaving techies to sort it out late on a Sunday

Re: Cold and hot

Hey, at least management implemented a mitigation propoertional to the actual problem. That's a situation rarer than hen's teeth.

Elon Musk to abused Twitter users: Your tormentors are coming back

Re: Please keep going!

If he doesn't pay the fines, presumably it will be blocked eventually? I'm not sure what the legal recourse is in that case.

Re: advertisers... and suppliers

Or the Jack Tramiel playbook:

1. Buy huge amounts of components from a supplier.

2. Don't pay invoice.

3. Supplier goes out of business because the bill wasn't paid.

4. Buy the bankrupt company for peanuts.

5. Forgive your own debt.

Windows Subsystem for Linux now packaged as a Microsoft Store app

I have always thought this also.

Two arrested in massive $575m cryptocurrency 'Ponzi scheme'

They actually called their fake bank Polybius? Like...were they even trying to hide that it was fake? Seems like they were taking the piss at that point.

Twitter set for more layoffs as Musk mulls next move

Re: Requirements

Yes, clearly that is what I meant.

Re: Requirements

Another way to look at this is that only 51.8% of those polled think that the former president should be allowed to talk.

IT manager's 'think outside the box' edict was, for once, not (only) a revolting cliché

Re: Engineer?

You'll be happy to know that in Canada I cannot legally be referred to as a software engineer.

Re: Static wouldn't have been the only problem

Funny, my plans for this weekend just happen to include making such a PC stand. I used to have one, but I salvaged the wood to augment a TV stand when I was broke.

Re: On the floor?

Time was, there was a class of workstation called a "deskside".

Even an Indigo2 is big and heavy, works much better next to a desk than on it.

Microsoft makes a game of Team building, with benefits

Or they could fix the horrendous caching issues, so that it actually shows a correct "online status" for everybody in my list. I'm logged in with two clients at once, and they often disagree (and are also sometimes both wrong).

Wake me when they have Unreal Tournament (and even then, like fuck am I going to user their service to do it).

Evernote's fall from grace is complete, with sale to Italian app maker

Re: I used it for a while

Currently using a Titan Pocket. Give me a keyboard or give me death.

Re: Zero-sum competitive editing

I used to be a techwriter, I can so deeply relate. Sometimes you have to nail the engineer to the floor and force them to give you real feedback. They start with "I read it, it's fine", but you start probing them on the accuracy of one sentence and by the end they have given you enough corrections to re-write half the content.

Having jumped to writing software instead of documenting it, I've reached the conclusion that the engineers (at least where I work) don't have a culture of feedback anywhere as strong as what I've seen in what I'd call "commerical" liberal arts fields. Writing, visual art, music, theater...when I've studied these things, providing and receiving feedback was constantly hammered into us. From what I've seen, some software development cultures could really benefit from learning this ethos.

Elon Musk issues ultimatum to Twitter staff: Go hardcore or go home

Re: Elon is correct

Ok, so there are definitely 7 billion then :p

Plus 1 billion<group of people you don't like>.

Re: Elon is correct

There are 7 billion people on this planet. Why TF would I agree to a system where ANYBODY is obliged to work more than 40 hours a week? That's just crushing people neath the might of captialism for no real reason.

As my dad likes to say "how can there be both an unemployment problem and a pothole in my street?" (or in this case, how can there be an unemployment problem and people working regular overtime?)

Re: Cue up music from Talking Heads and Brian Eno...

Nor is it Hitler, who I think OP may have mistaken Mr. Brother for.

Re: Go hardcore or go home

I bet they have a legal challenge they can make against Elon. Or maybe not, it's the US.

I read the bit about "except as punishment for a crime", and this was my first thought also. "Slavery by the back door" as somebody once put it.

Re: Easy choice Elon

The guy on the left looks like he is already regretting his life decision.

Go ahead, be rude. You don't know it now, but it will cost you $350,000

Re: Receptionist on the phone

I'm not sure about that, what do you think Jennifer?

Re: You get what you order

I just wanna say, I will only buy Sony TVs. My family has had scads of them, and not one has gone wrong in a way that mattered (and I haven't seen a minor issue on any until they were at least that was less than a decade old).

So in that case, yes in that instance I remember and there really is some brand loyalty. Wouldn't buy there CDs though...

I think I am probably more conscious of this than average. If I am happy with something, when it comes time to replace I will tend to look at the same brand first (given sensible circumstances).

I would put it down to that, except for one of my previous experiences with the same person.

I was trying to install some software we wanted to test, and it was one of these things where the "installer" is just a shell that downloads the real assets. The installer was unable to do its job from within the corporate network.

He spent AN HOUR remoted into my machine, preventing me from working, doing things that made absolutely zero sense (I had nothing to do but watch him try things). At the end he concluded, "I think our firewall is blocking the installer."

NO SHIT.

All this to say, I think this person is not just lazy, but profoundly stupid.

Re: An incident like this..

Possibility 1: This person can do some stuff, but it was obvious they couldn't solve this problem. They are required to have you do at least those two things before elevating.

Possibility 2: All they do all day is tell people to restart computers and modems.

Depressing thought #2...

Re: A (still) current problem that may not go away

Firmware was downloaded straight to the machine, it wasn't provided as a blob that you installed from a thumbstick.

Frankly, that would have been less annoying than what he actually wrote.

Re: A (still) current problem that may not go away

Another one along similar lines. I have a Denon 3808CI A/V receiver (this cost somebody 1600 bucks 15 years ago). I have rigged it up with a ThenAudio SHARC so that it works with my 4K TV. Obviously that TV also supports CEC. If the receiver supported that, I could reduce my number of remotes by a third.

There was, at one time, a firmware update that added CEC support to the 3808CI. Unfortunately the firmware update servers are down for that machine (it would barely cost them anything to keep those up, but fine). I contacted them to ask if there was a way to obtain this firmware. I have heard...nothing. I'd accept "sorry, no". But simply no response. What does one do?

Bastards.

Re: I've had this oodles of times

In fairness, fraud is real and the customer service people are the ones who have to look out for it. But that said, if your customer comes from Delphi you should probably eat a little fraud if it comes along.

I had a couple of Dell monitors malfunction. Got bounced around with their "customer service" people who were totally clueless and didn't understand anything I was saying, until somebody accidentally transferred me to the enterprise department. Guy was super helpful and professional, until he asked for my business account and I'm like "what?"

I could hear the regret in his voice as he punted me back to the pleb system.

In fairness, Dell eventually gave me 4 monitors for the price of 2, so it wasn't all bad.

We have one guy...earlier this week...

Me: I was required to change my password to the timesheet system yesterday and now I can't remember it. Can you please reset my password?

Gonad: I confirm that you are still enabled in the timesheets. Please log in with the new password.

Me: What new password?

Gonad: Use the new password you set yesterday. If you do not remember it we can reset it.

This is not the first time I've had an interaction with this person where I wanted to put my fist through his head, nor am I alone in that regard.

KFC bot urges Germans to mark Kristallnacht with cheesy chicken

One day, something truly terrible on a global scale will happen because of an automated system managed by machine learning.

A serious investigation will be done, and the report will contain a variant of the phrase "A significant contributor to this accident was the lack of a safety culture in the organization".

Then 30 years later, HBO will make a miniseries about it.

This just one of many rumblings before the quake.

How (Toytoa MR2)

does (Gerber baby food)

this (Come alive with Pepsi)

keep (Ford Pinto)

happening? (Got milk?)

I'm happy paying Twitter eight bucks a month because price isn't the same as value

Re: He changed his mind again on Official within hours

It doesn't bother me, but I'm genuinely curious why that comment would merit a thumbs-down.

Musk tells of risk of Twitter bankruptcy as tweeters trash brands

Re: Musk has devotees not fanbois

Reminds me Bill Gates during the Microsoft antitrust days (why did those end anyway)? You look at him in interviews, he has no respect for the people across the desk. He has since publicly stated that his arrogance cost the company dearly and in effect was morally wrong. Will Elon ever have such powers of self-reflection? I doubt so.