* Posts by Necrohamster

480 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Jan 2022

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Palantir boss says outfit's software the only reason the 'goose step' has not returned to Europe

Necrohamster Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Clean your own house first

"Illegal guns"

"Southern border"

"Big pharma"

You just needed "COVID hoax" and "Hunter Biden" for a Trumper conspiracy theory bingo. You were so close AC...

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Clean your own house first

"You will likely find the VAST majority of those gun deaths are committed by a small group of people"

The VAST majority of gun deaths in the US are actually suicides, followed by mass shootings (which are *not* performed by gangs, but by people who are questionably mentally ill)

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Clean your own house first

"A good start would be to stop medicating people as a 'quick fix' and to stop the current 'treatment' of mental health issues with affirming 'care'.:

Yawn. Another AC making a poor attempt at trolling.

Not enough people with mental illnesses are being detected and treated.

Not enough people with detected mental illnesses are being treated.

Not enough is done to prevent people with detected mental health issues from possessing guns.

The EU's population is broadly comparable to the US, and I don't believe the EU has had 5,000 gun deaths (or gun and knife deaths) in the first six weeks of 2024.

The US is a sick joke country

Necrohamster Silver badge

Clean your own house first

Maybe his company's time would be better spent working on preventing America's ridiculous number of mass shootings a.k.a domestic terrorism?

Uncle Sam tells nosy nations to keep their hands off Americans' personal data

Necrohamster Silver badge

So we're finally doing something about TikTok?

I thought Trump was supposed to have done something about TikTok, by mandating that Oracle hosted US citizen's TikTok data in the US?

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: My irony meter just broke

The US Department of State will go to quite extreme lengths to rescue even non-resident citizens from various worldwide perils

It's well known that you have to pay back the rescue costs, as we've seen recently in Afghanistan and elsewhere. If they decide you're worth rescuing, they don't do it for free. Even if the US government organises for another country to evacuate a citizen, the citizen still gets a bill.

Generally, individuals evacuated on a U.S. government-coordinated transport, including charter and military flights or ships, even if those transports are provided by another country’s government, must sign an Evacuee Manifest and Promissory Note (Form DS-5528) note prior to departure. The Department of State uses the Form DS-5528 to document who got on which transport, and it lets us know how to contact evacuees for billing purposes.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/emergencies/for-evacuated-citizens.html

It's also a right to a relatively safe place to reside if your preferred home country goes tits up.

lol no. Now I know you're having a laugh... Somalia's safer than the US.

Almost 5,000 people have died in U.S. gun violence so far in 2024

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Re: Pot, meet kettle...

I've got no problem calling out the UK's hypocrisy either, but this article is about the US so let's stay on track eh?

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: My irony meter just broke

"And in any case, why *should* a US citizen have to renounce their citizenship?"

Well I suppose if they want to pay taxes they don't derive any benefit from...never mind, carry on

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: My irony meter just broke

This is related to the IRS taxing the income of US citizens who live outside the US?

The life hack in this case is for the ex-pat American to renounce their citizenship.

Necrohamster Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Pot, meet kettle...

I'd guess that the US is the world's #1 hoarder of personal information and the associated metadata of non-citizens.

For me, the US is a "country of concern".

Chinese PC-maker Acemagic customized its own machines to get infected with malware

Necrohamster Silver badge
Facepalm

Modifying source code?

I'd imagine that modding the source code is a big no-no in the OEM's agreement with MS.

Most likely they were imaging their machines with a dodgy copy of Windows they got from BitTorrent.

I guess the infection was unwitting as it got picked up by Defender when the end user turned on the PC. Also shows they don't do much (or any?) post-install testing.

It's hardly a first though. We've seen the same kind of thing before with cheap Android phones and TV boxes.

Cybercrims: When we hit IT, they sometimes pay, but when we hit OT... jackpot

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I'd be a rich man if I had a dollar for every network audit or pentest I've seen where ICS assets were off-limits or out of scope

Musk 'texts' Nadella about Windows 11's demands for a Microsoft account

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Linux

"Would need WIne working well ...."

Nobody in corporate land is going to use Wine on Linux for their Windows applications, because they might as well just stick with Windows and not have to deal with resistance from users or support headaches.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Some elements of the operating system simply do not work

What kind of OS resets your desktop setup on every screen lock?

Not sure what you're doing, but I use a MBP on four different USB-C docks at different locations and it remembers my window placement specific to each monitor layout.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: If he thinks that's bad he should try MacOS

"Such as... TV+, News+, Apple Music, whatever they call their game subscription thing, AppleCare(+), the entire landing page for their app store... those are the obvious ones, which pop up pretty aggressively on a new install,"

lol ok keep dreaming, my friend.

It's obvious you've never used macOS for more than a minute because it doesn't upsell "TV+, News+, Apple Music, whatever they call their game subscription thing, AppleCare(+)" pretty aggressively (or otherwise) as you claim...

On the other hand, an app store, by its very definition, exists to sell apps. This concept is hardly unique to Apple...but please keep struggling to make your point...a broken clock is right every once in a while :D :D :D

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: How to bypass the Microsoft account requirement during Windows 11 setup

Glad to help

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Some elements of the operating system simply do not work

"I don't think the Microsoft Store works without a Microsoft Account."

It does. However they want you to use an MS account to make it easier to sync your apps across devices or some such nonsense

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: If he thinks that's bad he should try MacOS

"Apple has a shitload of upsell offers sprinkled throughout the OS."

Such as...?

I use macOS daily and it's never tried to upsell me anything.

Necrohamster Silver badge
Windows

How to bypass the Microsoft account requirement during Windows 11 setup

Username: test@test.com

Pass: password

After this login fails, you can set up a local account.

Web archive user's $14k BigQuery bill shock after running queries on 'free' dataset

Necrohamster Silver badge
FAIL

Re: It's always the "power users" doing dumb stuff

The web UI doesn't give a cost estimate either, so I'm not sure what you're on about.

The dry run can give a size estimate, from which someone can calculate the cost.

But thinking is hard for some people I guess...

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: It's always the "power users" doing dumb stuff

From the post 'TIM' seems quite aware it cost money...

Indeed.

...racking up $14K in just 2 hours seem a bit above his expectation

Never ASSUME... it makes an ASS out of U and ME.. Well, it made an ass out of him anyway.

He was using a python library that did not present the warning as in the webgui.

That's why you make a dry run query before running a script that can cost you (or your employer) money.

Necrohamster Silver badge
Stop

From the linked discussion:

"Do you know about the dry_run option in the Python client? Granted, the estimate is provided in bytes, but it should give you an idea of the costs."

Necrohamster Silver badge

I don't understand it, and I don't see how people have managed to convince business (who like fixed determinable costs) to go down that path."

OpEx versus CapEx I suppose.

Beancounters like OpEx because they can fully deduct expenses in the same year they're incurred, and the infrastructure costs are someone else's problem. Subscription costs are pay-as-you-go (to Tim's detriment in this case).

Disclaimer: I'm not a beancounter, and the above information doesn't constitute financial advice or may be completely incorrect. :D

But back to the present case, it seems the company didn't enforce limits in its GCP billing settings.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: I am sympathetic to "Tim"

First thing Tim probably knew about it was when his manager kicked in his door wanting to know why his credit card was maxed out.

Necrohamster Silver badge
Facepalm

It's always the "power users" doing dumb stuff

...However, the user, Tim, came back into the conversation. He said he was running queries from a Python script with the official GCP libraries, which, unlike the web UI, does not have a mechanism to show costs for a query, he said.

Sounds like Tim the power user was aware that queries cost money. How could anyone expect 2.5 PB of processing to be free? Just because you use a script, not the web interface? lol

Tough luck. Sounds like a classic case of someone-didn't-RTFM.

Rivian decimates staff to put a brake on spending

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: The end of electric vehicles

A mass-produced car is never an investment opportunity (except in very limited cases). Only a gullible moron would believe otherwise.

It's just that most of the gullible morons crying about their car's value these days happen to drive Teslas, but I've no doubt that some ICE drivers have buyer's remorse too.

Necrohamster Silver badge
WTF?

Re: margins on small cars are thin

"you need to start big and expensive because you can't build a new car company selling 20k vehicles to teenagers."

You must not have read the article.

TL:DR: Rivian's in trouble... the "big and expensive" thing hasn't worked out for them lol

Also I didn't mention 20k cars for teenagers...

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: The end of electric vehicles

"what kind of moron thinks they are investing in a car? "

Elon Musk fans. Seriously.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: The end of electric vehicles

The only sensible way to "own" an EV is through a lease for the first few years of its life. You don't want to be funding a battery replacement out of your own pocket as the second or subsequent owner.

Depreciation is insane too, as companies like Tesla slash prices and burn owners who thought they were making an investment rather than buying a car. In fact, leasing companies in Europe are demanding money back from EV makers as the cars' values plummet (Tesla Model 3 and the Audi e-tron are the worst value apparently):

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2024/02/22/761780.htm

Necrohamster Silver badge

...or 3,855 kilograms for our non-American friends.

This gross vehicle weight means you can't drive one on a category B car license in Europe, and possibly elsewhere.

It was a bit short-sighted on Rivian's part not to build some small cars that people outside of the US might want to drive but meh...

Work for you? Again? After you lied about the job and stole my stuff? No thanks

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Being polite is great

Ah snap, great minds think alike :D

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Being polite is great

The only way I'd contemplate helping a former employer in a situation like this is to negotiate an eye-watering hourly rate, with the first month payable up front. The job will only take a few hours, but they don't need to know that.

Necrohamster Silver badge
Joke

"And to this day, the more he dislikes someone, the more polite he is towards them."

He's a wiser man than me.

My motto is "May The Bridges I Burn Light My Way".

Ukrainian police arrest father and son in suspected LockBit affiliate double act

Necrohamster Silver badge

Is it too harsh...

...to ask for these guys to be extradited to France after serving a few months on the frontline?

Trident missile test a damp squib after rocket goes 'plop,' fails to ignite

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Re: FALSE

Permission [from] Americans [required to] Launch system

Many a true word said in jest. I'd find it hard to believe the US hasn't included some protections in software to prevent the UK from striking them...as unlikely as that is.

3. Removal of classified items from US software

British experts will be hampered in their attempt to validate the [Trident] software by the constraints of US security restrictions. The Joint Strike Fighter deal showed the difficulties of purchasing equipment which is dependent on sensitive American software. In the case of Trident the US does supply the software codes, but not in their original complete form.

Source: https://www.nuclearinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Trident_software_and_independence_Ainslie_no_date.pdf

Aside from that...on the subject of PAL, I read somewhere years ago that some branch of the US military (Air Force maybe?) wasn't too happy when PAL was introduced.

They set the code to 00000000, so I guess they complied with the spirit of the safeguard.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Getting value for money from nukes

"I am convinced Putin will never order a nuclear strike. "

He strikes me as more of a Tony Soprano-style mafia boss, and less of a Dr. Strangelove-style nutter.

Like you say, the bluster is all part of the game.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: What the hell?

"Astute wasn't ordered until 2001 - so there was gap and a lot of skills/staff were lost. You need a lot of welding, checked incredibly thoroughly, or your submarine goes down but not back up again. And they had to train an awful lot of people to get the production line going again."

From memory, the 2014 BBC documentary "How to build a nuclear submarine" covers this topic

Necrohamster Silver badge
Mushroom

Re: FALSE

"There is no single person who can launch an armed nuclear missile in Russia by his own "mad desire". Neither is it possible in the U.S. or the U.K. or France.

Re. the U.K.:

"Today, [the SSBN's] Trident D5 SLBM are at several days’ notice to fire and, since 1994, are not targeted."

Well, that's good right? But...

"Owing to the nature of the UK’s “last resort” policy there are no Permissive Action Links (PALs) in the system, either physical or electronic. It can be deduced from the concept of last resort, therefore, that each SSBN sails with all the information onboard necessary to conduct a strategic missile launch, when so ordered, against a wide range of potential adversaries."

Source: https://nautilus.org/napsnet/napsnet-special-reports/united-kingdom-nuclear-weapon-command-control-and-communications/

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: What the hell?

The kids call it "rat-rod" or "hoodride" :D

Necrohamster Silver badge
Facepalm

Positive thoughts

"...The test has reaffirmed the effectiveness of the UK's nuclear deterrent, in which we have absolute confidence..."

The MOD spokesperson must have been talking about a different test.

Preview edition of Microsoft OS/2 2.0 surfaces on eBay

Necrohamster Silver badge

"Fools and their money. Some people place great value on valueless things just because it tweaks their ego"

If someone's enjoying doing something that has zero effect on your existence, leave them the fuck alone and be happy for them.

It would be a boring world if we all had the same interests.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Nice museum piece

If I had a pound/dollar/euro for every time I witnessed a Windows 95 install fail on disk 11 or 12 of 13... 80's floppies were obviously made of sterner stuff :D

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Joke

Nice museum piece

...but I'll bet half those floppies don't work anymore

Two days into the Digital Services Act, EU wields it to deepen TikTok probe

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Trollface

Re: Wonder what Beijing's instructions will be

I'll argue that kids who use TikTok are better at spotting disinformation than their parents and grandparents are at spotting disinformation on Facebook and Twitter.

European Court of Human Rights declares backdoored encryption is illegal

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Well good thing the UK had Brexit

Why do you persist with whataboutism? If you want to have a discussion with yourself on the demerits of Russian colonisation you can feel free to start a new thread.

Scroll back up to my comment about Britain's colonial past and ask yourself why you're rambling about other colonial powers.

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Puzzling indeed.

"So the same butt-hurt crackpots promoting Russia and China kicking France and Britain out of Africa in this forum will also rant all year long against uncontrolled immigration"

Pray tell, name some names. I'm curious to see who you're referring to AC.

Necrohamster Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Well good thing the UK had Brexit

"The point is that colonization does not necessarily involve boats. "

Well if that was the point you were trying to make, you failed pretty badly. Have a lie down and try again tomorrow.

Necrohamster Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Well good thing the UK had Brexit

I wholeheartedly support the right of the good citizens of the Duchy of Muscovy to take up arms against their oppressors.

Wait, what's that? The Duchy of Muscovy hasn't existed since the Middle Ages, so the AC's comment is pointless apart from being a reminder that not all colonisers can be fought off successfully?

Necrohamster Silver badge

Re: Puzzling indeed.

"...It still can't explain why France can't secure it's borders"

France can secure its borders just fine, but the problem for the UK is that France (as a country or at a governmental level) doesn't really like you.

There's no incentive to help now that the UK's outside the EU. Your problems are not their problems...whether we're talking about migration, trade or whatever.

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