Posts by Jason Bloomberg

Re: You won't like this.....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health ...

Isn't that the site where each day's headline is generated by -

printf( strcat( Product[PRNG()] , "gives you cancer" ) );

Re: Missing detail

Original pedometers simply had a weighted pendulum which closes a contact as it swings when walking which gets counted. The cheap ones and freebies with breakfast cereal often use that mechanism.

More advanced microcontrolled devices will check rates of activation to determine if it's part of a sequence of steps or some other activation. They usually don't show the first few steps until it's convinced you are off on a jaunt. And the really clever ones will have accelerometers to more accurately discriminate what's a step and what isn't - It's amusing to knock-up a DIY version which decrements counts if one walks backwards!

As for over or under counting while playing pocket snooker or racing a static bike - if expecting accurate results it's up to the user not to use it in a way it can't accurately track. And it's not realistic to expect accurate meaningful data anyway. The whole 10,000 steps hype is well over-rated.

But if cycling, strap it to an ankle. If engaged in a game of naked push-ups, clamp it between your butt cheeks but make sure there's some thrusting so it sees some cyclic motion. You'll likely get a count but if not; a pretty firm butt is a free bonus.

Re: yes, well, but...

I think this is Linus's core problem; he won't easily accept that others may actually be right. And, when they persist in being 'totally wrong' as he sees things, he turns shouty-sweary and starts accusing quite capable people of being incompetent and worse, which merely escalates the disagreement.

We have probably all been on both sides of that at times; not fully grasping what we're being told and not having others understand what we are saying. It happens. It seems Linus still isn't dealing with that very well.

Re: The end?

People will only trust what they see and hear themselves. Actually that's pretty much where we're at already.

It seems most people only trust what they want to hear or believe and the rest is Fake News.

I don't believe that's entirely new though. Just more outrageously blatant in recent times, with more people being willing to pretend to believe something they would like to be true even though they know it to be a lie.

Re: Seems good enough to fool most people to me

not everyone bothers to vote (fucking useless slackers, just spoil your ballot if you don't like any of them but at least fucking participate)

Why should anyone waste their time spoiling a ballet when it changes nothing and has no effect?

Merely participating perpetuates "the system is working just fine and there's no need to change anything".

It would be different if the number of spoiled ballot papers were more publicised but, until they are, driving down turnout to such a level that it's obvious the system is not fit for purpose is the most effective way to have discontent widely observed.

Re: No laws?

There is one final twist worth thinking about, maybe Huawei is more secure or doesn't have one particular security hole that other manufacturer's do and that is why the USA doesn't like Huawei !

"He's sitting here, telling us they'll never do any spying or snooping, no matter what the threat or consequences. That's no fucking good for us".

Imagine there's a joke icon attached if you choose to ->

Re: Time

It was more a comment that we are making things needlessly complicated and often (not specifically air travel) dumbing things down so far that many people can't function without their technological crutches.

I don't think either is the case here. ADS-B is simply a tool which allows ATC to do a better job. They can do without, and have, it's just that without ADS-B one cannot handle as many planes nor be so certain as to where they are.

The situation which arose is just the same as it would have been had ADS-B not existed; fewer flights taking off, fewer planes in the air. It's not 'dumbing down' so much as providing additional useful information. It's not a 'crutch' but a facilitator for doing more.

And it's not 'needlessly complicated'. ADS-B merely blindly transmits a plane's ID and where it is. That's as simple as it gets.

Re: Surely...

And there's also "duty of care". If I walk past your house and see you have left your front door open and have exposed your pile of gold for everyone to see. There's an argument that it would be more remiss of me not to enter your home, remove that gold to a safe place, and leave a note indicating what I had done, than to walk on by.

While aspects of that could well be considered criminal in other circumstances I cannot imagine that anyone would ever be prosecuted, let alone convicted, for a crime in such circumstances.

If I'd walked by and your gold was inevitably stolen, I believe there might even be more of a case to answer.

Re: Minimum RAM requirements remain 1GB for 32-bit Windows 10 and 2GB for the 64-bit version

The only version of Windows that ever ran on 1GB of RAM was XP

Earlier versions ran on far less. I have a Windows 98 PC running with 64MB of RAM disk and I recall it's only got that much because I pulled SIMMs from PCs I did let go. I might replace it one day but it's reached that stage where it would be a shame to do so.

Re: how is this better than Cygwin?

You do need to be on a 64bit version of Win10 or Server2019 though."

And this _is_ the dealbreaker... (I assume Win-10-nic 'Home' also cannot run it?)

Not that much of a deal-breaker though, given all but older PCs are 64-bit these day, and Win10 Home runs WSL just fine for me.

I have been pretty impressed with WSL and have found it much easier to install, configure and use than Cygwin, MingW and other VM or 'Linux in a box' solutions. It just keeps getting better.

It is not what I would choose if I was a Linux only developer, but for those of us who have ended up being mostly Windows developers it's absolutely brilliant.

A cheap 'desktop machine', running Win10 Home and WSL sits well between between my main Windows development machine and my Raspberry Pi.

From the horse's mouth ... http://news.met.police.uk/news/arrest-update-sw1-365526

Re: Don't travel to the US.

You really have no clue... They will never ask that.

I believe you are being over-confident in deciding who doesn't have a clue.

I recall some yobs, in the middle of the night, taking the cones, flashing lights and barriers, which were stopping traffic from entering a huge excavation in one lane, placing them in the other with inevitable consequences.

I wonder if autonomous cars will fare any better, or how they'll deal with 'invisible' IR reflective lane markers directing them straight into walls.

Re: Relying on filters for copyright violations

they should take all reasonable steps to stop it.

Indeed and "reasonable" is the key word there. Some of those who have been against this directive have tried to assert that it means having to do everything which could be done and will force platforms to do whatever Big Media says must be done; that anything less would be unreasonable, a failing to comply with the directive.

In the real world it of course means no such thing and it seems to be many criticism of the directive are just ridiculous extrapolations of absurd worse case scenarios; an imaginary nightmare all the way down..

Re: "We've asked the DfE to comment"

Surely if it were entirely legal then no defence would need to be drawn up as there'd be no case to answer.

I don't know how it is where you are, but in the UK one has to have the defendants represented in court to say there is no case to answer, and to prove that is a fact when the judge asks inconvenient questions like; how so?

The purpose of court proceedings is to determine if there is a case to answer or not, and that has to be argued out with both sides allowed to present their views and legal arguments. Only the most vexatious claims are rejected out of hand.

Re: Comments are turning into a political debate

this article has turned the comments section into a political debate that should be discussed elsewhere like Reddit.

This article, like others on El Reg, has turned the comments section into an arena for sensible, rational and civilised political debate. And I don't have a problem with that, whether I agree with what anyone posts or not.

We could all do with a lot more of what we get here than what we so frequently get elsewhere.

So, whether it is, or should be, the place for political debate; I really don't care if it becomes that at times. I can always choose not to read the comments or participate as I feel fit.

Re: Couldn't a Pi do the job these days ?

Probably. They would likely have to upgrade the peripheral hardware, rewrite the software, ensure it can run with just 1GB of RAM, check that it's performing as expected, that it's as reliable as what is currently being used, and is fast enough to do everything it has to, but, other than that, I can't see any reason why not.