* Posts by Vic

5860 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Dec 2007

Manhattan-sized iceberg splits from glacier – and spotted FROM SPACE

Vic

Re: Big enough to bury New York City borough under 300m of ice.

Is this a serious proposal?

Kickstarter?

Could be a movie in it...

Oh, I see. As you were, then...

Vic.

Twenty years since Windows 95, and we still love our Start buttons

Vic

Re: while enabling ... the Windows Store

You start with the configure script followed by the make or make install command.

IMO, that's not good advice. You lose all the benefits of pagkaging...

I've found that most authors are pretty helpful when they can be - so if you email them and *ask* for a package, they'll often give you info on where to get one. It's worth remembering, though, that these people are not your paid bitches, so the instructions they give will often require a little though on your behalf. If the words are initially unfamiliar, Google helps...

Often, you'll just be told to go and use alien. Whilst that's not a complete solution to the problem, it's a tool that you really ought to understand...

Vic.

People bored of mobes, say magic quadrant wizards

Vic
Joke

Re: Bored "with"?

init

No, init is great. It's systemd we're worried about...

Vic.

Colossus veteran flies a drone over Bletchley Park

Vic

Re: Displays and flightradar24

You tend to only see mid-size corporate jets and above on FR24

And gliders. Flarm is becoming very popular in gliders, and that's ADS-B.

Vic.

Mumsnet founder 'swatted by misogynist griefers'

Vic

Re: What If

misogynists ( of whom there seems to be a bafflingly huge number relative to a handful of actual misandrists )

[Citation needed]

Vic.

You CAN'T jail online pirates for 10 years, legal eagles tell UK govt

Vic

Re: Of course it will work...

Downloading only isn't illegal at all in the UK

Yes it is. Section 17 of the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988 specifically outlaws all unlicenced copies of copyrighted materiel, even if incidental.

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The guy is either a moron and/or has sold out to the RIAA/MPAA

And.

Vic.

Vic

They need to stop using the word Piracy. It's so very vague

Au contraire, "piracy" is very well-defined. It is a crime of violence on the high seas, and has nothing whatsoever to do with copyright infringement.

Sexing things up is the modern way in government...

Vic.

Vic

I encourage everyone here to write to their MP. That, at the end of the day, is the only way we the great unwashed voting masses stand any chance of correcting this broken thinking.

I'm not going to argue with your advice, but I am going to question its efficacy.

I wrote to my MP over Phorm. This was clear criminal behaviour that was simply being ignored. My MP[1] wrote back with some boilerplate crap about how copyright infringement had to be curtailed...

Vic.

[1] John Denham, now retired.

Vic

Re: Another attempt to pour your money down the drain

it is inevitable that significantly more than half would be better off

That is most assuredly not inevitable.

We've had the idea of VED being removed, and the loss of taxation being put onto fuel, in the past. It's always rejected, because the rise in fuel cost means that anyone that drives more than about 20 miles a year will be much worse off - the figures are always rigged. That is then used as an excuse to claim that the majority doesn't want the change - whereas really, the majority just doesn't want the specific values quoted.

I very much doubt we will ever see car tax being replaced by an increase in fuel tax - simply because they're all keyed up for Road Pricing. Can't think why...

Vic.

Amazon UK conditions 'exhausting', claims union

Vic

Re: Unions

the undoing of the unions was something mostly accepted in the UK (as it was in Grumpenland). What we are seeing here is in my opinion _exactly_ why that was a bad idea.

The undoing of the unions *** at that time *** was essential; we were in hock to them, and they were effectively unelected barons. The '70s was a bad time to try to get stuff done.

That said, the removal of the union system was bad for employees; unions tend to serve a good purpose and should be encouraged.

The tricky bit is this: these needs to be a balance between union power and management power; too much union power, and you have anarchy. Too much management power, and you have dictatorship. Balance the two, and you have a mutually-beneficial arrangement.

Vic.

Capita: Listen up redundo staff, we know you're leaving but...

Vic

Re: Ah yes.

had little or no idea where anything was or what it did

That's outrageous. You should be ashamed.

You were supposed to show them where the loos were...

Vic.

Anti-botnet initiatives USELESS in sea of patch-hating pirates

Vic

Re: Why not issue a kill command?

This is still relevant, after at least 25 years.

It always is.

Vic.

Mozilla testing very private browsing mode

Vic

Re: Works for me, too

People hate ads.

That's true today, but hasn't always been the case. Remember the cheesy Gold Bend ads from the '80s with Sharon Maugham and Tony Head? People would actually sit and talk about those. There was a storyline...

Modern advertising, however, just seems to want to take as much as possible from you without giving anything back. So it is resented...

Vic.

Veedub flub hubbub stubs car-jack hack flap

Vic

Re: Typical.

the actual quality of their products and their attitude to customer service is pretty much the exact opposite of public perception.

Indeed.

I laid out my past grief with VW in a post here. The actual fault was that they had cheapskated on the wiring - all the connectors had barbed bits to accept a rubber strain-relief boot, but they hadn't fitted any. This probably saved about £2 per car - at the cost of problems later in life.

The bigger issue, IMHO, was the run-around the stealr gave us whilst fialing to fix the (somewhat obvious) problem...

Vic.

Erik Meijer: AGILE must be destroyed, once and for all

Vic

Re: Agile is like Communisim

My major complaint is with the word iterate. It allowed the principles to do the age old project killer of Saying "Start coding we will get the design to you later".

And that's why you'll hear proponents of Agile saying "you're implementing it wrong"; Agile *doesn't* want you to start keyboard-bashing without a design, for reasons with which we're all very familiar.

But certain people *claim* to be "Agile" whilst doing the above. They're simply wrong; they are not implementing an Agile process, they're implementing a specless, designless anarchy that will fail to produce anything of note.

Agile is about getting your customers to see your trajectory throughout the development process. It pprevents that awkward meeting when you suddenly realise you've developed what the customer said he wanted, not what he actually wanted. It's pragmatic. When you see someone expending more effort over the ceremonies than the development process, you know you've got someone who's completely misunderstood the situation...

Vic.

Perhaps middle-aged blokes SHOULDN'T try 34-hour-long road trips

Vic

Re: The rise

Sure you couldn't take up something cheap, like high-stakes gambling?

I was toying with the idea of taking up crack cocaine, on the grounds that it'd be cheaper - but it won't be nearly so much fun :-)

Vic.

Vic

Re: The rise

I've never met anyone who was happy to be out of work.

Then you've not met me. I very deliberately spend as much time out of work as I can afford to.

Unfortunately for me, I have contracted an aviation habit, so work does have to happen...

Vic.

Vic

Re: The lanes

In France the polite way to overtake is to accelerate (starting a fair distance behind and ending a fair distance in front)

That's the polite - and safe - method everywhere.

Information - Position - Speed - Gear - Acceleration.

By the time you pull out from behind the car in front, you should already have a speed differential. This minimises the amount of time in the overtake (important if you're on a single-carriageway).

By the time you pull back in, you should have sufficient clearance from the car you've just overtaken that you don't cause him to want to brake to avoid your rear end...

Vic.

Vic

Re: NZ and territories

The Highway Code is not law

No, it's not. But as you say later,

ignoring Highway Code advice could result in a prosecution for careless or dangerous driving

...And usually does, if you get caught. So although it's not a legal document, it has the effect of being one.

Vic.

Vic
Joke

equine pleasure activities - not food production

Tesco might disagree with you...

Vic.

I've seen Kaspersky slap his staff with a walrus penis – and even I doubt the false-positive claims

Vic

Re: The Participant Observer Problem

Checking every .ini file and .jpg etc on my HDD against a hash? Less sane

Not really. Every installed package on my box has an entry in a database to say what its file size, modification time and hash are. Now that doesn't cover every file I've created myself - but it involves the majority of files on my box.

It all works rather well...

Vic.

Skills crisis? Not for long: More and more UK kids gain STEM quals

Vic

Re: i got your skills right here

I retrained as a sparky

After the better part of 40 years in computing, I was thinking about trying something else myself. I figured being a plumber would be quite a plan - a friend of mine is a sparky, so we'd complement each other, and the money isn't bad.

I talked it through with the guy that used to be my plumber before he retired. His answer was memorable: "Why do you want to spend your days kneeling in someone else's piss?"

I think I might stop where I am for what little remains of my working life...

Vic.

Surprise! Evil-eyed cats MORE LIKELY to be SNEAKY PREDATORS – boffins

Vic

Re: Not so much evil

The only reason you 'see' a laser pointers dot is because the reflected photons enter your eye...

Really? You see because light enters your eye? I'd never have known...

Which kind of goes against the rule of shining it in your eye in the first place....

Well firstly, there is no such "rule" - it's simply the case that higher-power lasers are dangerous. Class 1 lasers are not.

But more importantly, no-one's shining the laser into anyone or anything's eye; it's a reflection off the (generally carpetted) surface.

So really - go learn a bit of physics before sounding off & making a complete tit of yourself in public.

VIc.

Vic

Re: Not so much evil

a light ball, in motion, it all all looks very charming or funny, but it is just because of how they see, motion against ground, and unlike a bear, dog, octopus, monkey (including us), and many other species, the cat has no idea of causation.

No, that's bollocks.

My mate has cats. He has a laser pointer which they love to chase.

When one of the cats wants to play, it sits on the back of the chair and bats the laser with its paw. They all know very well that's where the light comes from.

Vic.

Cheers, Bill Gates. Who wouldn't want drinking water made from POO?

Vic

Re: Not too long ago

I think it is, when we're talking about small beer.

Not necessarily. You'll have to search that page for "small beer"...

Vic.

Full duplex! Bristol boffins demo Tx and Rx on the same frequency AT THE SAME TIME

Vic

Re: Is this just new in Cellular?

This invention cancels its own uplink Tx

So is this like echo-cancellation in (full-duplex) phone systems?

Vic.

Vic

Re: Is this just new in Cellular?

The issue almost always is the resonance of the antenna system

Traps are your firend :-)

VIc.

It's not just antivirus downloads that have export control screening

Vic

Re: What does it take to get ON the list?

There we go, I've done it this time

I'm quite surprised I'm not on a no-fly list. I suspect I'm one of a very few here who actually has been arrested for terrorism[1]. But I've never had any problem getting onto flights, nor downloading software from the Internet.

Vic.

[1] Of course I'm not a terrorist. At the time, I was a very hung-over service engineer trying to get back home from Munich. The anti-terrorist cops saw the oscilloscope in my hand, didn't know what it was, but is had lots of switches and a screen, so it must be expensive - why wasn't it in a fight case - it must be a bomb!. They were quite apologetic once they found out what was really going on, but that didn't prevent the properly sphincter-puckering moment as three germans pointed guns at my head...

Two weeks of Windows 10: Just how is Microsoft doing?

Vic

Re: Thanks Microsoft

All this Win 10 crap has me looking at linux desktop deployment and management options.

You will hear a lot of people telling you that Linux is magic, and will solve all your ills.

You will hear a lot of people telling you that Linux is dreadful, and nothing will ever work again.

Ignore all these people.

Get yourself an old carcass, install a distro[1], try it for yourself. Don't expect it to be identical to what you've had before - it isn't. But you *can* be productive with it - even if your tools are slightly different.

Vic.

[1] You should probably start with Mint. Personally, it's not to my taste - but it's a good place to start. Once you've understood how a *nix system differs from a Windows system, you're in a better place to decide on which distro is for you.

Vic

Re: The shell is not the OS

the tech press has failed the public in helping to distinguish the OS from the shell.

Yes, but Microsoft has obfuscated that very distinction for many years. Quite deliberately, I suspect.

Had they launched Win8 and later with a choice of shells, it would have been a *trivial* matter to get people to upgrade. But they didn't[1], despite it being a fairly simple job, AIUI.

Vic.

[1] It is my belief - based upon absolutely nothing whatsoever - that this choice is deliberate; they tried to use their desktop advantage to push their phone UI. Without that, the phone stuff has a big catch-up job to do, and if they don't catch up, lots of people get used to the idea of doing something productive without using Windows. That's a very bad outcome. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the result of their plan seems to be that people are rejecting the UI on their PCs as well...

Monster Scalextric Formula 1 circuit to go under the hammer

Vic

Re: "Looks flat to me so there is no Eau Rouge"

Figure 8 racing is a form of banger racing in which automobiles race on a track that purposely intersects itself, increasing the risk of collisions

Not at Suzuka, it isn't. One part of the track goes over the top of the other.

Vic.

Vic

Re: It's flat!!!

Looks flat to me so there is no Eau Rouge

I went through Eau Rouge on a pushbike. I nearly had a coronary at Les Combes. That's proper steep...

Vic.

Exploding Power Bars: EE couldn't even get the CE safety mark right

Vic
Joke

Re: Red-top article?

I'd expect to read an article like this in the Daily Fail^HMail

What's "the Daily FaiMail" ?

Vic.

Vic

Re: Eagle Eyes

BSI rejected it because of the shade of blue of the insulation of the neutral wire

There *might* have been grounds for that.

The brown/blue/green&yellow coloiurs of the cables were picked very specifically because they are still distinctive to people with severe colour-blindness. For that to work, there does need to be a certain amount of precision to the colours.

I've no idea whether your father's cables were effective in that respect or not, but I can see BSI's position; they were given a spec that would definitely work, and that cable didn't meet it.

Vic.

Vic

Re: ISO

ISO 9001 for instance is Planning and Production and a right pain in the rear

ISO 9K is one of the more bizarre "standards"; it implies repeatability, not quality.

I once worked for a software house that gained it (BS5750 initally, but that mapped straight over). We had a development policy[1] that stated that the data structures we were using at every point in the code had to be defined before the design was started...

Vic.

[1] Yes I did fight against it. I failed to get it changed. And I failed to develop any software to that procedure - for reasons that I hope are obvious.

Huge explosion kills 44+ in China, blasts nearby supercomputer offline

Vic

Re: Talk about risky locations..

Canvey Island wouldn't last long if all the gas storage went up

I live within site of the Fawley Refinery. It's generally considered that if that went up, we wouldn't know much about it...

Vic.

Cloudflare hiccup nudges Stack Overflow and others offline

Vic

Re: Seriously? People need to get a proper CDN

people need to switch

First post, promoting a commercial venture...

It's always nice if people voluntarily disclose their interests.

Vic.

Rise up against Oracle class stupidity and join the infosec strike

Vic

Re: Be careful out there kids....

perhaps inform him that trying to comply could mean bringing in the legal department or the like?

Doesn't work.

In my last job, the product was high-value capital equipment. And the bulk of the software inside it was unlawfully copied - "pirated", in the vernacular. I raised this several times - including escalating it to the legal department - to no avail; they just didn't care.

I no longer work there. This event was one of the reasons for that.

Vic.

Vic

Re: Be careful out there kids....

A combination of legislation and a unified stance is required for this to work.

But you're simply not going to get a "unified stance". We who care are a tiny minority.

Some years back, I was doing support for local businesses. And time after time after time, I ended up sorting out the mess some kiddie had made. They got him in because he was prepared to install any software they wanted for free; I was insisting on everything being licenced properly. And they probably spent more cash fixing the malware that came with his "Warez" than they would have spent on a proper licence. But no-one cares.

Vic.

Vic

Re: Be careful out there kids....

Yes, I was actually threatened with that where I work for refusing to do something my then tool of a manager wanted done but which wasn't actually possible.

I was threatened with a disciplinary because I refused to give my manager the root passwords to a set of production machines that were owned by a completely different group[1].

Vic.

[1] I'd done some work for them beforehand, and they hadn't changed the root passwords yet. He thought he should be able to log into these machines on a whim...

Patching a fragmented, Stagefrightened Android isn't easy

Vic

Re: "it needs to push carriers to push over-the-air updates promptly after fixes become available."

It's more than that because of the automatic negotiation and the fact they can tie it to your existing number: something IIRC SIP can't do.

SIP can do that trivially - you just need the operator running the number to route the call to their SIP server. It's techincally very easy - although you might find it politically impossible with various operators...

Vic.

Stop taking drug advice from Kim Kardashian on Twitter, sighs watchdog

Vic

Re: Drugs for morning sickness...

> I had to Google Sam Fox

Perhaps he was hungry for love and hungry for fun.

And is tone-deaf...

Vic.

Vic

Re: Drugs for morning sickness...

I had to Google Sam Fox

There is no hope...

Vic.

Cloud computing’s refuseniks: How long can they hold out?

Vic

Re: Are you...

The point was that 49% of people said they wouldn't be using the Cloud *at all* in two years' time. I find that surprising - don't you?

Nope.

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Vic

A wager?

my fiver says that by then you'll see proper quality-of-service guarantees over the Internet as if it were a private WAN

Over standard, Business-class ADSL?

I'll take that bet...

VIc.

Tesla still burning cash: each car loses $4,000

Vic

You can't refuel your internal combustion engined vehicle at home

I can. I own a jerry can.

you can refuel an electric vehicle

I can't. I have no off-street parking. I frequently can't even park in the same road as my house.

so how much of a problem is it really?

For me? It's pretty much insuperable. Which is a shame.

Vic.

Vic

I can just imagine how it was when Henry Ford started

You have a very interesting posting history. Is there perhaps something you'd like to disclose?

Vic.

All hail Ikabai-Sital! Destroyer of worlds and mender of toilets

Vic

Re: Definition: Expert

An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.

Henry's Cat?

Vic.

Vic

Re: Reminds me of the old invoice adage

Too often the 'expert' solution is to keep changing components, at the customer's expense, until the problem goes away

My missus has a VW. It developed a problem - total loss of power with no warning.

The stealer - from whom she'd bought it brand new - cleaned the throttle body, changed the coolant temperature sensor and changed the lambda sensor. One each on successive returns. And charged for each "repair". They kept making a big deal about how they had VW diagnosticians they could call in - but refused to, because apparently it wasn't a serious enough problem.

On the last visit, they decided it needed a new throttle body. Definitely. And if it wasn't that, it would need a new ECU. This was the point at which I told them they would need to repay those costs[1] if it turned out not to be the cause of the problem[2]. They wouldn't go for that. So I fixed the car[3]. It took me about half an hour, and used no parts...

Vic.

[1] We'd already spent over £800 on the fault, and then next two things were going to cost £2500.

[2] A problem that moves around like that is *always* interconnect, and I'd even told them it was an interconnect problem.

[3] It was an interconnect problem...