Posts by Paul Crawford

Re: Is anyone surprised?

Surprisingly, though, 32-bit systems could continue to be a big issue here.

One might have imagined that there is no way 32-bit OS would still be used by then, but for some current hardware it will be the same OS in 25 year's time. Also there are oddities, like code I have in dosemu. It needs interrupts but they are only passed though on the 32-bit version as it uses the VM86 instruction, which is not available in 64-bit mode. I checked my code, DOS and 64-bit and it was fine to 2050, but in reality either I need to find an interrupt-passing fix for dosemu on 64-bit by then, undertake a massive re-write to be Linux native (for negligible other advantages, but the disadvantage of having to fix problems caused by the latest systemd or GNOME stupidity), or have been so far retired I won't care.

When I moved in to my flat 25 years seemed an awful long period of time, but that has whooshed by and I might still have to be working by then if I want to afford to live :(

Re: describes itself as an "unconventional computation company" that is still in stealth mode

Ah, how cunning! You have found a way to deal with corner-cases in simulation and test!

Re: Net neutrality

But this is the “internet neutrality” everybody said they wanted.

No it is not.

Net neutrality is about stopping the big players from nobbling others via 'special deals' with ISPs to either prioritise their traffic, or have it exempt from data caps. I.e. ISPs are common carrier of data.

Sure it leads to issues of how it is paid for, as consumers want more than they are willing to pony up for, but going the other way opens a far worse can of worms.

Re: Only X ?

More likely it is the one that has actively cut its own moderation efforts to save money.

To be fair they are all cesspits showing much of the worst of humanity...

Re: It's an abomination, but...

Usually it is the other way round...

Re: Windows isn’t needed for all home use any more

Pretty much my experience as well.

Yes, some folks need MS Office for exacting work-compatibility reasons, other need Photoshop or the odd special package, but for most folks they can work on a tablet or phone fine so really if they get a recognisable web browser they are sorted, maybe Libre Office as well. Just add uBlock Origin and they are amazed at how less crappy the experience is!

Re: MS is a monopoly

Strictly speaking it is an oligopoly, but given MS comes pre-loaded on the vast majority of PCs and laptops, and many businesses and government organisations mandate documents in its propitiatory formats, it is effectively a monopoly.

They took photos with 10ns aperture times in the 1950s shown atom bombs actually exploding:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapatronic_camera

More famous images (as unclassified) were of bullets passing through light bulbs or playing cards, etc, for demonstrations of the camera's capabilities.

Re: "Dirty deed, done in deep space"

They are on the highway to hell for that one!

I remember when NASA could be considered the paragon of technical and engineering excellence.

I remember when NASA had a proper budget with (relatively) little levels of political interference. Gee, I feel old...

Re: Easily avoidable PR disaster

A few months back I saw a 1920s Rolls Royce sitting outside the local RNLI as part of fund-raising. I spoke the owner, they had it in their (wealthy) family for 3 generations AFIK and it had done 700,000 miles more or less. He recently flew it to Australia to drive around there before flying it back.

While some might be appalled by such wealth in our times of need, I was pleased to see that (a) he was helping the RNLI by being their at his own expense, and (b) it was being used, not in a museum. I applaud all of the craftsmen and women who built every part of it in the 20s that their skilled labour was still being enjoyed a century later.

Maybe they are, but the box is not open yet?

Re: Like I said several years ago when ransomware starting becoming a bigger problem

Cost of paying the ransom to the bad guys and restoring all your files: $400.000 ( four thousand dollars) + 1 week work

Danegeld?

Re: Disinformation --- or Truth

Freedom of speech is not the same as having any rights to public amplification via the media.

So what gives someone the right to silence anyone?

Legal precedence. For example, if I found out your real name and address, employer, etc, and started posting rumours about you and $shock-story-de-jour it would put you and your families safety in jeopardy. Should my right to talk like an asshole trump your right to safety?

Re: Fine

A virgin you say?

In which orifice?

Re: Too pessimistic

And a good quality SDS bit, not the 10 for £2 sort! Armeg make some worth getting.

Re: Data

Very true, but most folks search using Google and buy using Amazon and just don't care.

The simple low-support aspect of a Chromebook is great for them, give them anything more complicated and they will make your job MUCH harder. These days I simply won't do Windows support for friends or family, as it is just so much pointless trouble. Linux is easier, but again, they still find creative ways to screw stuff up.

I did give a friend a Chromebook years ago for that reason. Eventually they broke it by standing on it with the power cable ferrite lump between keyboard and monitor. Doh! Worst thing was they told me "It was OK the last time I did that" FFS!

Re: Anonymous Survey

You could design it so it records who submitted a response separately from the actual responses, though time-tags might de-anonymise that easily...

Re: The biggest surprise...

Greater Manchester and PSNI might have something to say about that now...

Re: Rolled My Own....Yup...Please Decrypt!

My nipples explode with delight!

Re: Is it comparable?

People didn't switch to cloud to save money, at least no one with any sense did.

How many did it with sense, or on the promises of some slippery salesman to the CFO?

The points you raise about backup/redundancy/etc are all very valid, but the UPS & redundant A/C side would be the data centres responsibility. While cloud providers promise a totally stress free and safe system, we still see them going down with outages or strange data losses from time to time. When it happens, take a ticket, you are 10,451th in line for support. And then we get to the locked-in aspect...

What this article raises should be considered - your costs might be much less keeping stuff on-premises, but of course that only works out well above a certain size of technical staff levels when you have your own folks to take care of it. There are other cases where cloud makes a lot of sense, for example rapid scalability.

Re: Insanet only selling to Western nations?

But we do have no-execute options on memory segments, and other containment approaches such as AppArmour, but using them is just kind of hard so developers generally don't. As always, it comes down to the fastest/cheapest/easiest route. And so orifices are left gaping...

Re: Cunning Plan

Extra large tub of lube?

Re: Even better

Power generation is largely out as the temperature difference is too small, and your usual heat engine's thermodynamic efficiency limit is based on the ratio of absolute temperatures so a 10-20K difference on 280K or so would lead to really low efficiency of extraction.

District heating, where you just want to take a chill off rooms in winter, etc, is another matter and only issue is the cost of infrastructure - i.e. pluming in homes.

Re: So, Honda is now

Oh pack it in!

He will be sent up to the Penthouse for that one

Re: Metric AND Imperial

I think that came about as Michelin invented the radial tyre and as a French company did it in metric, however, older cars and cross-ply tyres were in inches, so to retro fit a better radial tyre they had to fit imperial wheels.

Re: Silly Mistakes

"Earth fault" as in to-dirt? Can't happen here.

Here earth = ground = CPC (circuit protective conductor). Most UK installation are on TN earthing so a fault to earth is essentially close to a fault to neutral (=cold in USA parlance). To protect against contact with true Earth (as in some poor sod touching a live cable) we use RCD = GFCI as they (in the UK) are usually 30mA trip threshold (actual spec is 15-30mA).

I don't think ANYbody tests Interrupting Current on site. My sub-breakers are rated 22,000 Amps. That is a MAJOR arc-flash. Not a problem here because with my long line I can not pull even 1,000 Amps at my dooryard. But in Texas you can find four homes clustered within 20'(7m) of a 100KVA transformer, which is why they don't make 10,000A-interrupt breakers any more.

Nobody tests actual fault current intentionally, out side of approval laboratories that have controlled sources of many kA and a means to contain the usual explosion that follows!

Here in the UK we have less of an arc-flash risk in general due to a love of HRC fuses at the incoming point of most small-medium sized installations. They do a much better job of limiting fault energy that most MCCB/ACB style of breakers. In domestic UK it is unusual to see above 3kA fault currents, except in some cities where the LV grid is actually a grid, most LV networks here are deliberately smaller and isolated to keep fault results down. Our domestic panel = CU (consumer unit) is designed to be safe to 16kA fault current by the combination of the supply company's fuse (typically 60-100A) and the MCB used. Basically the fuse limits the peak current to that of something like 4-6kA equivalent even for underlying supplies of 16kA or a bit more.

Fuses are good! Cheap, reliable, with excellent fault energy limiting. But one-time, and usually need skilled replacement.

Re: Why do people assume it is only upper management that supports back to office?

"yes, we discussed it in the break room"

If it is important you make sure it is communicated to all and written down.

Also there are tools like a phone and video conferencing that let you talk to those on and off site as well.