Posts by Lil Endian

Yukon UFO could have cost unfortunate balloon fan $12

I know I said "Oh the humanity!" But c'mon!

"And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, there's a dog having sex with a woman!"

Goodwill Visit

Israeli Ambassador: Jim, you have an airborne battalion on standby in Germany that is not now needed for the NATO exercise.

But Just for the fun of following a track on your website?

People spot trains. They can be proud of having visited every service station on the M25[1] as a hobby. Tracking balloons on a website sounds highly advanced!

[1] For those that don't know, the M25 is London's largest car park, masquerading as a ring road.

K9YO is used doggy style: "O!" "Surprise!"

Humans strike back at Go-playing AI systems

"AI told human how to defeat AI"

Not arguing with that. But if we rephrase the "AI" bit, to avoid confusion, we get:

Human uses Tool B to break Tool A.

There's nothing new here, no mysticism, no AI. Humans use tools (see: My Opposing Thumb!). In this case it's data systems we're playing with. We evolve tools: bronze axe better than stone axe. We don't say "bronze axe teaches human how to better stone axe" as we evolved them both. Same here, using data, statistical analysis etc.

The latest move highlights that AI systems...

...are all A and no I.

...that adding more and more complexity to cover the blind spots is partly why it is so hard to get it working well...

Adding more complexity is not the be-all and end-all in producing intelligent machines. Humans learn very quickly by having developed brains that function, in part, heuristically, not adding complexity. Although, of course, the brain itself is complex, heuristics is simplicity. Both are needed for intelligence. And so is sentience. And so is environmental awareness - we meatbags only have our understanding of intelligence in unison with our meaty parts, ergo black box AI cannot be achieved in any way the we perceive intelligence.

There is no consensus at any level as to the definition of intelligence[1], so I know with certainty that AI is not extant despite the hype. My 17 or 18 year old self, drunk in a country pub one evening discussing this matter produced this definition. It's not complete, but it's a useful start, and it explains why the GoBot(s) got defeated. "Intelligence is the ability to foresee the outcome of one's actions and modify those actions accordingly (to produce a more desirable outcome)." Complete? Nope, not by a long shot.

"Learning" may be easier to define: a growth of accumulated data on which to call. But is it learning without some level of awareness, an intention to deploy that which is learnt? Or is it merely unconscious, involuntary Darwinism?

Any fellow nerds that played AD&D know the discussion about the difference between Intelligence and Wisdom. So knowing could equate to WIS - a pool of knowledge. INT would be creating original thought, learning.

Sorry.... I've just realised I'm waffling - I should grab that second coffee. Make it a strong one, please!

[1] Which is a huge problem for the EU AI Act, if they try to define it - stick to defining prohibited usage/effects of IT systems.

Chinese boffins call for research on ‘countermeasures’ to US chip bans

Protected Intellectual Property

I doubt many would dispute China's flagrant flouting of others' IP for their own uses. So why not just rip off existing designs here?

Conspiratorially: These designs are riddled with backdoors not controlled by us, we need our own backdoors!

Evidentially: These designs are riddled with security holes and other bugs. We need our own backdoors security holes. I mean "no security holes"!

GoDaddy joins the dots and realizes it's been under attack for three years

Re: Well...

Y'aright! I can imagine all those dodgy geezers hanging around in seedy bars trying to score the latest BOFH episode! Get real man!

Re: Purple helmet

U+0055 U+0007 U+0004*

(*I didn't wanna get into scancodes!)

Bis Später Pater

GoDaddy is unsure of the root cause of the incident...

Oh, allow me: your negligence - monumental negligence in your duty of care to your customers and, by extension, the users of their services.

Bad for any company, regarding IT security. For a tech company with a focus on inter-networking services that should be terminal.

Bad Daddy, bad! You may Go now.

What Mary, Queen of Scots, can teach today’s cybersec royalty

Re: Rarely observed.

... that, and never working with family.

Or animals. Unless you're using that newfangled quantum thingy. In that case a cat is allowed, lovingly called Schrödinger of course.

If you're getting nowhere...

...you take a punt.

She should've lobbed a Hail Mary, Shirley?

-----

Very good article Mr. Goodwins, thank you.

systemd 253: You're looking at the future of enterprise Linux boot processes

Devuan: Init Wonderful!

[Reposting as ancestor deleted, but the package comment may be useful to someone.]

I'm certainly not opposed to the BSDs, and Slackware was my first Linux distro way-back-when.

But, it's Devuan for me. Mostly as I prefer apt as a package tool, especially in those rare cases of package dependency issues. There's also an abundance of debs too - backports, sid, Ubuntu's (often more up-to-date than Debian's) - again making pick'n'mix easier for me in time o' trouble. I know debs can be used in Slackware, but I've no need to add the extra layers - I prefer staying with indigenous tools.

Also XFCE as default, KDE got a bit bloated for me. Again, I know Slackware has XFCE as an option, but my track record for breaking a non-default desktop is, er... admirable?!

That said, I've not poked around with Slackware for some time - perhaps I'll rectify that.

I'll conclude with a concise opinion: fuck systemd.

The second dust bowl cometh for America, supercomputer warns

*Derisive Quadruple Professor Snort*

The model forecasts climate patterns in blocks down to 12 square kilometers — about 12 square kilometres for those who do speak English.

[The one with a Pocket OED in, well, the pocket! :) ]

Re: How is the machine learning trained?

IanRS: ...how is it going to predict this? -- future.

Article: ... to improve the model's resolution to four square kilometers... and use machine-learning techniques... -- future.

It seems likely that IanRS is referring to the future modelling effort, not the current one as you say. Over to you Ian...

Tesla's self-driving code may ignore stop signs, act unsafe. Patch coming ... soon

Twitler, he doesn't like "recall",

Oh brother! What a massive tool.

Elon, I wouldn't pee on,

In a Tesla fire ball!

[If you want to sing along but don't know the tune you can find it here.]

Still waiting for Intel's Aurora? Borealis will give you a taster

Re: Aurora Borreliosis

Sounds like a porn star with Lyme disease!

"Supercomputer deadline's been and Argonne"

*Groooooan!*

Oh Dan! Dan, Dan, Dan, what have you done!

Good one! Cheers!

Virtual reality telemetry means you can virtually kiss goodbye to privacy

Re: Is this "new" research?

A significant difference between CCTV (camera) sourced gait (motion) analysis and data slurped from a VR environment is that with VR the data is in a 3D space already. For a single camera view, the data source is a 2D surface, the projection plane in a 3D engine. Simple trig can be used to reverse that 2D projection plane into a 3D space. Multiple cameras focussed on the subject increase accuracy, but either way accuracy is decreased (to some extent). A VR environment gives "perfect" data.

Re: It's either that or storing VR headsets in the trash bin.

Reality is for people who can't face up to drugs!

Airbus in talks to buy 30% chunk of Atos's breakaway cybersecurity biz

It seems the only peoples not involved with Airbus are the Atlanteans. (I understand they wanted their own aerospace industry, but before getting off the ground it went under.)

Outage-ous: Twitter OKs cannabis ads, then goes up in smoke

Re: Would it be cruel...

It occurs to me that Cheech and Chong's van was way ahead of any Tesla, it must have been self flying!

Re: No ads for

Tobacco, Alcohol... weed, firearms, and Window 11!

Well, of the three of those that are legal in the UK one of them defo shouldn't be... Answers on a postcard!

Cheers!

Re: decriminalisation

Also they steal your weed and don't give it back.

Well, they've gotta have something for the weekend, right?

Re: decriminalisation

@captain veg

Legalisation: pretty self explanatory, it's legal, no restrictions.

Decriminalisation: no longer a criminal offence, but as it's not legal nominal action may be taken, eg. forced to throw your stash down the nearest drain. If you're being a problem, eg. toking outside a school, a fine may still be applied or another criminal offence that covers the angles.

Currently cannabis in the UK is a Schedule B drug, meaning it's one below heroin and crack, it is not decriminalised. The current position of most constabularies in the UK is that they don't have the man power to police the proliferation of cannabis. It's still very much criminal, they just aren't chasing it, other than grow factories and those causing unacceptable grief (either upsetting neighbours repeatedly, or nearby such as a school). If caught in possession up to 5 years prison, supply up to 14 years. That'd be quite unusual though, you'd have to be asking for it.

This is one of the things I hate about UK laws at the mo, grey areas: "we won't do anything", until they do.

Ubuntu Advantage is being wired deeper into the distro

Re: Waiting on Bookworm.... (The "Windows" amonsgt Linuxes)

I agree with your sentiments. I'm going to chip in to say that since Debian 10 perhaps, certainly 11, that the old days of compatibility problems (that we've shared, for sure) seem to have eased. Perhaps I just know the workarounds or perhaps I'm lucky with my hardware. I remember having Realtek nightmares!

I used to use Ubuntu for gaming, graphics intensive 3D stuff with Nvidia[1], which was a problem with Debian. I ditched Ubuntu for a return to Debian a while back, and have had no bumps in the road.

I'll repeat: I agree with your sentiments, especially re: stable, so YMMV.

[1] I've not used AMD GPUs for a long time, so can't compare. I use Nvidia proprietary drivers on Debian rather than the package options.

Tescos 5 clicks

@chris street -- Tescos 5 clicks

For your own sanity, don't try Ocado then! I think it was 7 upsale clicks at least. As that'd already put me in a terrible mood, when I checked my order the next day to find they'd cancelled my order at a minute past midnight they got a prompt "fuck off, remove all of my details - an SAR will follow to verify". At least they enacted the "right to be forgotten" correctly. /end-rant!

Certainly heading up-stream from Ubuntu to Debian is a headless option - I've been maintaining Debian VPSes for donkey's. I expect any mainstream distro would be fine, Fedora and Slackware for instance, as it's part of the Linux culture to bolt desktops on top of the CLI.

If you want to avoid systemd, Slackware or Devuan. Look for distros that happily live on a VPS, away you go.

Antivirus apps are there to protect you – Cisco's ClamAV has a heckuva flaw

'Oystered by their own petard

Patch now, don't limpet, before the rapscallops muscle in.

At least Cisco said it how it is, no sugar coating.

The quest to make Linux bulletproof

Oh Snap!

...and my `mount` command gave much cleaner output.

I first encountered snap on a Focal Fossa install. I didn't see it coming (bad I know) but I physically recoiled on my first lsblk, wide-eyed I nearly fell off of my chair! (Slight hyperbole! :D ) I honestly thought I had a major problem with all those loop devices. Snap got ripped out straight away. I appreciate the intention of snap, but there's gotta be a tidier way of accomplishing the objective.

Thanks for the articles Liam - good stuff and much appreciated. Cheers!

Microsoft delivers 75-count box of patches for Valentine's Day

It's a good idea to install those patches

Chances of hack: 9.8 CVSS ratings

Chances of M$ fucking you up: 10.0 based on Patch Tuesdays over the past months

It's not a good idea to install those patches until someone else has tested them. Hey, it's not your money, right?

Microsoft promises smaller Windows 11 updates with UUP – but there's a catch

"Doing the same thing repeatedly, and expecting different results is the definition of insanity,"

<3

Update Your CV (Resume)

If you think that 'Doze System Admins should update their CV to instead read "Microsoft Beta Tester" downvote this post!

Or am I? -->

Re: IT pros want...

Precisely. Taking a month or more to sort identify the update fuck-up, overlapping with last month's bork fixes, and anticipating next month's bork fixes. It's SysAds bandwidth that's at stake, not the width of the corporate pipe.

Re: As an administrator

stiine, what you're asking for has been available to sysads of SME scale platforms for decades: apt allows holding of packages and pinning of various package releases. And the only reboot needed is after a kernel upgrade.

Okay, I'll stop pretending that I don't know you mean on Windows! But one last gloat: On Windows?! Haha! You're joking! (Ah, thanks!)

Seriously though, one can be a mercenary and go the Windows route for the low hanging fruit, or stop encouraging the feckers and take your skills and your enthusiasm for the field to a platform that doesn't work against you and mess with your sanity.

I know Windows is prolific and is here for a long time. But that doesn't mean you have to put up with it. Abandon the Dark Side!

IT pros want...

...small updates ...working updates. Not a borkfest.

Romance scam targets security researcher, hilarity ensues

Re: Murder

No one, that he's knows of willing to testify to, was murdered

Re: I’m too boring, I never see these scams

Being down to earth is one path, I'd prefer to take a wide arc :D

Re: Why....

Well, it seems to me that they're rubbing salt in the wound. Victim gets scammed and termed a porker in one fell swoop. There's just no empathy any more...

Re: I’m too boring, I never see these scams

You couldn’t shock me.

Hmm. You sound well grounded, but I'll give it a shot. Just a nominal charge...

AC meet AC

AC, please contact AC@"I’m too boring, I never see these scams" - I see a long and fruity relationship blossoming!

[Please transfer funds to IBAN to follow!]

Chipmakers threaten to defect to US, EU if UK doesn't get its semiconductor plans sorted

We reached out to Arm Holdings – the UK's largest chip design company – for comment, but had not heard back at the time of publication.

Maybe they're fed up with those that reach around all the time. Perhaps contact them and ask.

Farcical

I'm certain that bad news from the UK Government would be better received than none. Given any policy would permit an organisation to decide to weather it out and stay, giving them nothing promotes only relocation - decision makers cannot work with nothing.

The incompetent indecision makers forming the non-partisan committee handling this are a farcical disgrace. I hope they're happy with their pay-offs at the expense of the UK's image (like they care). The Carry-On crew would've done better >:|

China's spy balloon barrage earns six of its companies a spot on US entity list

Re: AIM9-X

I'm thinking A-10. Yeah, the operational ceiling is too low for most of the targets, but even an inanimate object would crap itself knowing a Warthog was after it! Seeing one of those things fly defies visual comprehension, they just shouldn't be able to be up there, they appear to just hang in the sky. Amazing!

Get in line for that 51st state

Erm, Puerto Rico can have it. I'm willing to forget the past and remain States-less thanks.

[Mine's the one with SOAP in the pocket, I'm going for a REST.]

Re: 99 Red Balloons

The first LP I ever bought, cos, well, Nena in leather trousers!

(Oh yeah, top album too!)

Smile! South Korea's moon orbiter sends back first snaps of Earth

Some fantastic images on universemagazine.com from the Moon, and livescience.com shows a nice composite of daily images on Danuri's BLT[1] journey around L1, amongst others.

Always humbling to see images like these, puts a bit of perspective on our position in the Universe... Hey! I think I can see my house!

Gratz KARI!

[1] Why'd they have to call it BLT (Ballistic Lunar Transfer), I want to go to Burger King now!

Learn the art of malicious compliance: doing exactly what you were asked, even when it's wrong

You know what happens to sausages left unattended for three million years? They cover seven-eighths of the Earth's surface.

Re: I'd argue that this is not MALICIOUS compliance, just compliance.

"Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and God" -- Tautology Alert!