* Posts by Ian Michael Gumby

4454 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Apr 2006

Tachyon Nexus theorises on ultra fast storage

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Meh.

The issue is that you would want to use Tachyon and Spark in conjunction with a distributed file system.

MapRFS, IBM's... even Cleversafe's.

Things are getting interesting. And even Tachyon may become moot with RRAM although if its better writtent than Hadoop components... it could still be a winner.

Ian Michael Gumby
Boffin

Meh.

While Tachyon is interesting. It can't stand alone.

You will need to persist data for one simple reason.

You can only fit so much data in to memory before you eventually have to deal with swap.

Ex-Google & Facebook bods are on a Quest for the Enterprise

Ian Michael Gumby
Devil

Color me silly.

You have Quest based on Dremel and then you have Apache Drill based on Dremel which is pretty much hitting the market as we speak and is championed by MapR.

So much money making it seem like I'm watching a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon...

Bullwinkle: "Hey Rocky, watch me create another tool that's better than sliced bread."

Rocky: "Bullwinkle, that trick never works!"

Bullwinkle: "This time for sure!"

HUGE Aussie asteroid impact sent TREMORS towards the EARTH'S CORE

Ian Michael Gumby

Velocity?

KE = 1/2 mv^2

So velocity matters, but what's the variance among the asteroids hitting the earth these days?

I'd imagine that there's not much difference...

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Silly question .... how old is the moon?

Wow, I don't know why I was down voted, because I did say it was a silly question.

Oh well.

Here's another silly question.

We know that the continents (land masses) have shifted to their current position today from where they would have been millions of years ago. Would it matter where the asteroid hit? In lets say a center of a plate compared to an edge?

Again, I haven't a clue, just asking...

Ian Michael Gumby

Silly question .... how old is the moon?

If memory serves, wasn't there an impact that cause the earth to spew forth rock that eventually became the moon?

Assange™ lawyers demand Swedish prosecution files or no London interview

Ian Michael Gumby

@Sparty...

You wrote:

Sometimes I get the feeling that his paranoia is genuine, and that he may now believe that it's all a plot by the Swedish to send him to the US. But then he went from there to the UK, which is arguably an even worse place to avoid the long arm of the US. Given our extradition treaty with them is a fucking disgrace (thanks Tony!).

-=-

Actually didn't McKinnon ?sp? successfully fight extradition?

In terms of going from Sweden back to the UK, Assange didn't think that Sweden would file for an extradition over the 'he said/she said' issue of rape.

In terms of his paranoia... is it paranoia when you actually have something to hide? Manning's Article 32 hearing alleged something that wasn't used in the actual court martial but could bite Assange in the ass.

We won't know until Assage ends this Swedish nonsense.

In terms of the UK, they have options and poor Julian won't be walking scott free from the embassy.

He'll end up in Australia shortly.

Ian Michael Gumby

Good points.

Suppose they let the police in... that doesn't mean that the police can leave with Assange.

But if Assange is his usual 'charming' self.... I wouldn't say that's out of the question.

The issue is that even if they come, Assange could refuse to answer and could refuse to meet with them. So while the investigators are there. Its pretty much a wasted trip.

Ian Michael Gumby
WTF?

Re: Given his track record

Huh?

This is a defense case. You're always going to pay up front and then get billed. No money... no legal representation. Unless its a pro-bono case.

Ian Michael Gumby
Black Helicopters

Re: He twists and he turns

They have already said that the statute of limitations is almost near.

They haven't charged him yet and I believe according to Swedish law, they need to interview him before they can formally charge him.

The Swedes don't have to show him anything ahead of time. Suppose they do and then he decides that they don't have enough information to convince a jury. He could then go back and face trial. If they do have enough information to convict, then he can sit out in the embassy. A win/win for Assange and a lose / lose for Sweden.

But here's the irony.

Because Assange jumped bail in the UK... suppose that Julian waits out Sweden and is then free to go because the statute of limitation ran out? He still faces the jumping bail and when that's done normally he could just go free and the UK can say please leave the country. Or Not.

And that's the thing. The UK doesn't just have to let him go. They can opt to choose to force him back to Australia for being a prat and costing them $$$$$.

Assange doesn't get to go to Ecuador or anywhere else.

He could also lose his passport too. (ABC news talked about this moons ago when the whole extradition hearing started. ) And that's got to worry poor Assange because he shat on them too.

So Sweden is really a moot point if you're looking at the end game.

Greedy web borg Facebook to SLURP news websites' golden nuggets

Ian Michael Gumby
Big Brother

And so we have come full circle....

I remember the internet, when it was only a handful of tech companies and universities. And there was this thing called Usenet....

Back then, there were walled off dial up sites offered by Compuserve and AOL. You dialed up and you were in your private own little world with no concern of bothering us techies.

Then they got out and AOL died. Now we have FB which again is trying to rail everyone in to their little world because the longer you stay in FB, the more money they can make because they are gathering more data about you...

Weird isnt it?

Premera healthcare: US govt security audit gave hacked biz thumbs up

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Bah!

There's more to HIPPA just like there's the PCI compliance that all financial institutions have to deal with.

BIG DATA wizards: LEARN from CERN, not the F500

Ian Michael Gumby
Boffin

Re: Huh?

Yeah... like I said the author really doesn't know Jack.

He's confused.

The latest generation of tools is using memory rather than disk in its processing.

Tools like SOLR (In memory Indexing) , Spark, and now Tachyon are using more memory rather than reading from disk. This should reduce the time it takes to work with the data.

However, at the same time the data has to persist to disk. Even in Spark the data resides in RDD which is local to the process. The distributed file system makes the data available to any and all nodes, yet most of the time with Hadoop's Map/Reduce, the data is residing on local disks to where the processing is occurring. So you're pushing the code to the data and not the other way around. Code is at least one or two magnitudes smaller in size so you will get better results than trying to push the data. *

*YMMV, it depends on what is being processed and the time it takes to process the data. If the time it takes to process a record of data is >> than the time it takes to push the data across the network, then you would be better off not using M/R because you will create hot nodes in the cluster.

Ian Michael Gumby
Boffin

@StuCom Re: It would help if the author knew what he was talking about.

Naw, sorry any sort of 'points' are lost in the blubbering noise.

In the enterprise, there is always going to be the need to have transactional systems so you'll need the RDBMS. WRT Hadoop, Hive uses an RDBMS to manage schema data. So too does HCatalog. Then there's Amabari (Hortonworks) and Ranger for security, while Sentry (Cloudera) apparently does not.

But where relational modeling falls apart is that is an inflexible schema that is set at the beginning. Hadoop's tools have a 'late binding' schema at run time. (Sorry for lack of a better description, schemas are enforced when you run the job not when you load the data in to the files. )

There's more, but you should get the idea.

The author really doesn't know much about Hadoop and the other tools in the ecosystem so for him to make a suggestion to look towards CERN is a bit of a joke. No offense to CERN because they have done some really good work there and they do know what they are doing.

My point is that CERN and the F500 are two different beasts.

Ian Michael Gumby
FAIL

It would help if the author knew what he was talking about.

As someone who's been involved in using 'Big Data' tech in the F500 companies for over 5 years, and as someone who's helped set the strategy with a couple of the F500 companies, I can say that the author doesn't know jack.

You are talking apples to oranges when you try to talk about sensor data in the same way you talk about transactional data. Big difference. In terms of sensor data. Is it discrete or continuous data? If its continuous data then you may have long periods of no change in readings that get stored and this data could be tossed and then focus on the discrete data which occurs when there is a change in the sensor's input.

The reason vendors are saying to store everything is that many who are new to Big Data don't know what data is relevant and what data is not, or what data may become relevant when you combine it with other data sets.

Currently the F500 tend to store things in a relational model and when items don't fit, they get dropped. By going to a semi-structured or unstructured system, you can retain more attributes which may hold value. In terms of purging data or moving to cold storage... there are other factors like regulatory and business use cases that determine what to do.

In terms of the vendors, they are not going to tell a business what to do or how to do it. (Of course they'll spin reality to let them sell their version of Hadoop/Big Data and what tool is best.) They are going to say, when in doubt, save everything. Hardware is relatively cheap and getting cheaper in terms of cost per TB.

Sorry, but the author should look inwards and think more about the problem than trying to base a recommendation on something he read on the internet.

Not all problems are equal, so why should their solutions be the same?

I guess Mr. Nicholson should add more tools to his tool belt. His hammer vision makes everything look like nails and even with nails, you will want to think about different types of hammers. ;-P

Mono Magic: Photography, Breaking Bad style

Ian Michael Gumby

@Mark Re: Ken Rockwell laughing stock.

No, the camera doesn't get it right all the time.

As others have said that if you learn on film, you have the discipline to frame and take your time on the shot. So I take raw+jpeg all the time. I carry multiple cards and download to the computer ASAP to free up the cards.

There are times when you want to clean up the image and working with RAW is easier. Plus if you want to hand it over to someone who's doing a lot of digital work in touching up shots, the rawer the better.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Well, it's a hobby

You know you have a serious hobby when you have an old drum dryer in your dark room. ;-)

(Yeah and rolling your own film too. ;-)

I've shot with a lot of different cameras and formats. And while I learned on film, going digital for me was easier. I started when I was 5, but got burned out by the time I was 18.

I started to get back in to photography when I got a D70 back in 2004 for a friend's wedding and safari.

I purchased a Nokia 1020. Sure the OS isn't that good, but it worked well as a phone, but was a killer camera that you could put in your pocket. And yes, the 24MP makes a difference over other phones.

I just ordered a Nikon 810. Sure its overkill, but then again, I'm getting back in to wanting to shoot again.

(They say its the last camera you'll need to buy) ;-)

In truth, it doesn't matter how good your camera is. Its up to the photographer to make the shot great. Post work in either the darkroom or photo-shop can only make an OK photo better.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: pinhole cameras are fun

You know you can go out and buy a decent camera for under $100 USD.

Fun cameras would be the old Roloflex twin lens reflexes that took 120mm film.

Or an old Nikon body. Saw a couple of old Nikon F (original , 1950's) bodies for sale.

In terms of film... I wonder if they sell technipan still.

Ian Michael Gumby
Boffin

Re: Dust to (bloody) dust

Dust?

You can get issues with dust on DSLRs when you have to change lenses.

The only time you have dust and dirt issues is in the dark room that you don't have with digital.

The other issue is if you don't load the film properly in to canisters for developing or you don't mix your chemicals correctly or use out of date chemicals. (The issue of loading film on to spools has become less a factor when the spools became plastic and not single piece metal which required you to pinch the 35mm roll. ( Yeah, I'm old enough to have mastered both)

As someone who grew up doing B&W photography in the 70's and 80's, I prefer digital. Not because its better, but that its easier to work with and I don't have the $$$ for a good darkroom.

US threatened Berlin with intel blackout over Snowden asylum: report

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Fair trial

When you're accused of stealing a bunch of secrets, which he did... you're not going to get a trial in public. Look on the bright side. If he did this to Putin... there would be no trial. No exile. He would have been killed long ago by some FSB/KGB person.

Snowden is the definition of irony.

Ian Michael Gumby
Black Helicopters

@Tom

The claim sounding dubious? Hardly.

Like Manning, Snowden didn't blow any whistles and even more so, he had intent on committing the theft from day one. (He probably didn't think through his exit strategy though.)

Any sane politician would do the same thing. If Germany isn't going to play ball, then neither should we.

Of course the issue is that Germany wants to know what Snowden told his FSB 'captors' err I mean hosts.

And to your point, yeah its a hollow threat. We need German intelligence on the Islamist activists in their part of the world. If you thought the US spied on its people... Germany and other countries do it and are much better at it.

Intel's cheap and Android's free: Not any more, says TAG Heuer

Ian Michael Gumby

@Dave Re: Front runners?

Unless I'm wearing a short sleeve golf shirt or a t-shirt, I need to tug on my shirt so I can see my watch. Pulling the phone out of my pocket is about as much work.

My point was that if you want something that tells time, your phone will give you a relatively accurate time (it gets it from the network) and you already have it.

Don't get me wrong. I love watches and I have a growing collection.

The smart watch doesn't really get you anything to justify the price. You still need to carry the phone in order for the watch to be useful and the watch's battery life is less than the power reserve on some of the manual watches.

One cool feature is that you can change / customize the dial look.

But if you want something cool... get an atomic clock that you can wear on your wrist. The only downside is that the batter life is still only a day, but the cool / geek factor justifies the 15K estimated price tag.

(The clock on a chip component alone is $1500 retail.) I would like to see it more in a pocket watch because of its size, and then you could add some capabilities. While it has an accurate clock, you still need to sync it with something and then ... you will have an accurate clock that will only drift a couple of ns a month. (In order to synch it, you'd need an accurate base station w a radio antenna and a gps antenna. )

Ian Michael Gumby

Meh. Skip the 'smart watch' ...

What's the point in owning a smart watch when you have a smart phone in your pants and the watch is pretty much worthless without the phone.

http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/richard-hoptroffs-atomic-watch-prototype-combines

This is an atomic clock on your wrist.

Sure the battery life sucks. (About the same as a smart phone)... but think of the cool factor.

Ian Michael Gumby
Boffin

Front runners?

Ok.. cue the watch snob...

1) Rolex and Omega are not the front runners although they do make some fine watches.

While I own a couple Omegas (1960's vintage Seamaster and 45th Anniversary Moon Landing Speedmaster) I also own other higher end watches as well like an AP Royal Oak.

Depending on who you talk with, the companies in the top tier tend to be Patek, Jaeger, IWC etc ...

These tend to be technological works of art.

2) Like the earlier comment about Tag Heur, Omega is actually now owned by Swatch.

Same for some of the other watch companies out there.

In terms of cool watches, why have a smart watch when I have a smart phone in my pants pocket?

If you want the next thing in watches...

http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/richard-hoptroffs-atomic-watch-prototype-combines

Now that's something I wouldn't mind having on my wrist. :-)

Tax fraud fugitive nabbed after posting selfies

Ian Michael Gumby

To the IRS... Here's a free clue!

The IP Address ranges that are used by those in the prison system are a known and static group.

It would be very easy to monitor and flag any online tax returns filed by someone using a computer on one of those networks as one that may require further review.

This is where the government should easily use big data to route out fraud.

There are other things that could be done which would also limit fraud, only they lack the brain power to think outside the box...

German court slaps down Uber's ride-sharing app

Ian Michael Gumby

@AC

>> The company's other services are still permitted

Which are?

-=-

The services where they use licensed professional drivers which meet the requirements under German law.

South Korean police book 29 Uber staff for 'illegal taxi' ops

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Uber is a pirate company.

And the ride sharing schemes are coming down, but because they aren't valued at 50+ billion dollars, they are below the radar.

Loophole? Hardly.

They got bounced in Europe and what do they do? They now want to change the law which puts more people at risk.

How many passengers have been raped by Uber drivers? And hint: Its not just in India.

How many pedestrians have been killed by Uber drivers? Hint: Uber said it wasn't their fault because he wasn't 'on the clock' because he had no passengers in the vehicle. (He was racing to get to his next pickup when he took out the family in the crosswalk.)

Oh yeah. A loophole, right. ...

Ian Michael Gumby
Pirate

Uber is a pirate company.

Forget the law, full speed ahead because we're (Uber) is a disruptive company and everyone is just jealous...

Seriously, I don't doubt that Uber was trying to fly under the radar.

Here in Chicago, Uber was supposedly banned from doing pick ups at O'Hare. While that ban was (and may still be in place) Uber cars were seen doing business as usual.

I'll wager that Uber's CEO is a huge Hilary Clinton fan because he feels that the laws don't apply to him.

Our 4King benders are so ace we're going full OLED, says LG

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: I wonder if they've spent any money on the UI

I think you'll end up finding that creating an App you can download to your ipad or whatever will give you a bit more freedom. Since these buggers all have ethernet or wi-fi, you would be on the same subnet and can control the TV.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: content is king

3D TV?

You mean when you have to put on a set of expensive glasses over your own prescription ones and then get massive headaches? No thanks.

Now if you meant 3D holograms ? I could see that...

Ian Michael Gumby
Devil

Re: content is king

You do realize that they are now filming porn using 4K cameras now, don't you? How's that for content. :-P

Seriously... a 4K screen that has enough clarity that if the incoming signal / image wasn't compressed to shit, it would be like looking out a window... and sips power when compared to a plasma or even an LED tv of the same size?

What's not to love?

Cisco posts kit to empty houses to dodge NSA chop shops

Ian Michael Gumby
WTF?

@Trevor Re: Don't buy US kit

Please stick to your day job.

Didn't you learn anything about the world history during the 20th Century when you were in school?

Oh I forgot. You're a Cannuk.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone had it right. ;-P

HP's great cloud server cattle roundup with Foxconn begins

Ian Michael Gumby
FAIL

A photo of a Highland Coo?

Sorry, but a long haired highland coo for a photo talking about rounding up cattle?

Wouldn't a Texas long horn be more appropriate? (Ok so HP is more a Californian company which would probably be more Angus than anything.)

You guys sure can talk about how to cook up a meal, but you need to work on your bovine management. ;-)

Big Data shocker: Over 6 million Americans have reached the age of 112

Ian Michael Gumby

Sorry Nope!

"A database full of errors, well I never !"

That's the thing.

The database isn't full of errors.

The database contains a list of over 6 Million SS numbers where there is no record of death of the individual provided to the State.

The data is correct.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: That's OK

"

They are not getting draft summons (as a lot of them were born in the day and age of draft).

"

Should someone tell him to watch the movie Stripes? There hasn't been a draft since the end of Viet Nam.

Ian Michael Gumby
Boffin

Nope... guess again... Re: Let me guess

The truth is that unless they have proof that you're dead, they can't list you as dead.

It all started with this cat... and this box... ;-)

This ISN'T Net Neutrality. This is Net Google. This is Net Netflix – the FCC's new masters

Ian Michael Gumby

@Trevor Re: Something to consider...

Bullshit?

I think I may still have my old bills.

I could have gotten on the internet sooner if I could have afforded the $400 a month for a switched 56KB link. (UUCP dialup... still wasn't cheap either.)

Again, the issue is peering between the networks and who owns the last mile.

But you already knew that.

And do you want to get in to the issue of Satellite costs?

Ian Michael Gumby

Something to consider...

Back in '94, if you wanted to be on the internet, you needed to have at least a switched 56KB line.

That would set you back $400.00 a month.

Fast forward... a few years later. $400.00 a month would get you a T1

Fast forward again... a few years later... $150 a month gets you a 50MB down / 5MB uplink via a cable modem with a few static IP addresses thrown in.

So... while everyone wants to kick the cable companies... they helped bring the price of internet access down.

Having said that... what was broken was the peering arrangement. And that could be fixed with a lighter touch.

Clinton defence of personal email server fails to placate critics

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Of COURSE her defense/defence "fails to placate critics"

No the same critics who have seen IL Gov 'Blago' go to prison.

The same critics who have seen IL Congress Critter Jesse Jackson Jr. go to prison.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Convenience

"She also asked if it was allowed and she was told that it was. "

Funny. I live in a condo and its against the rules for anyone to rent their units for less than 6 months, they have to present a lease to the building management and perform a background check on the potential tenant. Which makes it against the rules to allow someone to post their unit up on AirBnB.

We had so far two residents that we caught doing this claimed that they were told that it was ok to do this.

The point is that its very easy to have selective hearing. Especially if you're a lawyer.

Lawyer Question: " Can I do X? "

Answer: " Yes, but only in extreme emergencies and you have to report it."

Lawyer: " Ok, so I can do it. "

5 years later... Lawyer: " But they said I *could* do it."

And actually it is a huge deal.

She's obstructed several investigations. Most importantly the ones in to the happenings around Benghazi.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Criminal

FOIA only covers Government servers and their ability to provide the emails provided that they exist and that they don't violate national security. (And there are established guidelines to determine if the data can be released.)

The problem is that Clinton refuses to hand over the data and/or the servers.

That should be considered obstruction.

Deleting the emails... obstruction and more.

Even turning over printouts would be obstruction.

If she's ordered and refuses... that's contempt of court.

Ian Michael Gumby

@Tom Re: Record keeping

I've been trying to get to the bottom of that.

Even that's not 100% clear.

They say that Nixon's resignation made her work moot which is why it never went to court.

But yes, she's a devious little B, and should be barred from holding office after this.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Criminal

The point is that there's no 'front channel' to have a 'back channel'.

That's the issue. Her private email was the only communication and therefore any official emails sent from this address means that the government has the right to seize the equipment to protect what's left of the digital data.

The law says that while its ok to use a back channel in the event of an emergency, the emails are to be preserved.

The fact that she printed the emails and sent the printed copies, again doesn't comply with the law because it prevents e-discovery along with the fact that the email copies printed could have been altered before printing.

Again, there's more.

Sorry no naivety here. Just trying to keep it simple... she broke the law but proving it will be difficult because she destroyed the evidence. (Which is breaking the law).

Ian Michael Gumby

Criminal

The only reason she did this was so that she could avoid FOIA requests and to hide her activities from the US Government and US Citizens.

There's more, but you can read the Guardian, WSJ, NYT , etc ...

She should be up on charges not trying to make a run for the WH.

Mattel urged to scrap Wi-Fi mic Barbie after Register investigation

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Oh what can we say...

"Kill all Humans!"

Swedish prosecutors finally agree to London interview for Assange™

Ian Michael Gumby

@Velv

Not at all.

This is where Assange's paranoid delusional rants along with being the center of attention is going to get him in to trouble.

He goes to Sweden.

They charge him. Now had he gone and faced the music right away... he would have gotten a swift slap on the wrist. He's the bad boy he wants to be, and he goes back to the UK and on. No one would care.

Now he's put himself in to a pickle. If he goes back to Sweden, and he's found guilty. He'll still face a stiffer sentence than if he didn't force the issue. He'll now have to come back to the UK for the jumping bail charge. In which case, he'll be in jail (No bail) until his trial on those charges. Being that he's been a prat and cost the UK government $$$, he's probably going to get some jail time and then tossed from the country. Note that the option to let him leave and go wherever, is probably gone. The Australian Govt may want to get involved since he's been a bit of a prat.

Don't you get it? He's pissed off the governments who could have helped him.

And the US... they can wait until he's back in Australia after all of this unwinds.

Ian Michael Gumby
Black Helicopters

Re: Provenance

cough cough... that's the FSB aka KGB with the spiked coffee or sarin tipped umbrella needle gun.

The CIA isn't that good when it comes to wet work.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Good for him… maybe?

Try living in the real world.

Not being charged because statute of limitations has run out doesn't excuse the charges of jumping bail.

So you have two issues that are on the table. And the fact that Sweden is coming to London is a bit odd.

They want to question him but according to the extradition, they were going to charge him and that the questioning was a formality due to Swedish law.

If they question him in London, do they then have the ability to formally charge him even though he's not in Sweden? (Jurisdictional issue), Or does it mean that he will be charged, but still not arrested. Thus he's still outside their jurisdiction but the clock on the rapes stop?

This is where things get interesting.

And in the end, it doesn't matter.

Suppose Sweden does wash its hands of him. (They can always bar him entry in to their country.)

He still will face the jumping bail charges.

And supposed England says... out! out! damn spot. And they want him out of the country? He'll be sent packing back to Australia.

And that's where things get interesting.

Ian Michael Gumby

Re: Good for him… maybe?

The extradition is valid.

The issue is that there's a statute of limitations on the underlying case.

Ian Michael Gumby
FAIL

There is only one reason for this...

Assange has been waiting out the statute of limitations.

But the question remains, will they then charge him on foreign soil and if they did, would he return to Sweden?

And then there's the jumping bail.

Either way... he's going to still end up being booted back to Australia.