* Posts by Charles 9

16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Why a detachable cabin probably won’t save your life in a plane crash

Charles 9

As the saying goes, you're simply screwed, as the alternative scenario is the plane crashing into a building, as in all likelihood you're over a big city and there's going to be developed areas all around you, much like El Al Flight 1862 which crashed in a heavily-populated part of Amsterdam.

Charles 9

Re: Really?

I recall there WAS a recent flight that DID land in a river...intact with all surviving?

Please stop regulating the dumb tubes, says Internet Society boss

Charles 9

Re: DNS over What

"segregating this traffic allows more effective monitoring and prioritisation of this specific service and reserving the dedicated port 853 achieves this."

It ALSO allows The Man to BLOCK unwanted services by simply controlling that port wholesale. It's unavoidable: a dedicated port is easy to manage: by you OR The Enemy. That's what a tunneled DNS like DoH is meant to defeat.

Charles 9

Re: /etc/hosts restricts access into my private property

Using IPs won't help you because of SNI. HTTP needs the actual host name to resolve a multi-hosted server that uses one IP for multiple services.

Charles 9

Re: Public blacklist...

The problem is that there's no real center: never was. It's just that the modern Internet made it possible for people to not be afraid to admit they're not in the center because they have "friends" to back them up.

Basically, if it isn't LEFT of center, it's RIGHT of center. Anything that claims to be center simply doesn't realize its own inherent biases. So, pick your poison.

Charles 9

Re: "A very strange thing for Parliament to do [..]"

Some of us still remember Service Merchandise and "Silent Sam". Then there was the Sears catalog and telling your product numbers over voice phone to a fallible operator...

Why are fervid Googlers making ad-blocker-breaking changes to Chrome? Because they created a monster – and are fighting to secure it

Charles 9

You forget about Joe Stupid. The best things in life are FREE to them, and they outnumber us.

Charles 9

One easy example. Even if you never touch Facebook with a 39 1/2-foot pole, if someone who knows you (could be as remote as a sister of a friend of a friend, it doesn't matter) DOES and start associating you with his/her profile or tagging pictures with you in them, Facebook has the proverbial foot in the door. They're too remote for you to know about their activities, yet they can still affect you. That's why I say almost no one really lives in isolation and that the things you do can affect others, even without your knowledge. There's always someone out there who relies on you in some way.

Charles 9

So IOW, how do you save Joe Stupid from taking the rest of us with him?

Charles 9

Re: So malicious extension shoud be blocked, but not malicious ads and code?

So what happens when the big money can control the lawmakers?

Charles 9

Re: The title is no longer required.

Then they'll use the Kali Linux as a springboard to get to your hardware. Remember all those firmware attacks which can easily be made nuke-proof?

Charles 9

That's you. What about Joe Stupid who wouldn't know a bad site if it bit them in the face? AND can take the rest of us with them?

Charles 9

"The problem has to be solved at the root."

But the root has the greatest motivation to cheat. And cheating is part of human nature.

Basically, the problem is intractable, because in the end, it involves a level of trust that CAN and WILL be betrayed.

Charles 9

"This is a basic conundrum of computing. Does everything have to be designed down to the lowest common denominator?"

YES, because (1) You can't fix Stupid, and (2) if you don't stop them, they'll take the rest of us with them.

"what are we to do if we expect to have perfect safety and be able to get by without ever an occasional thought about what we're doing?"

Um...die young, as in the old days? If you put your perspective and mine together, you end up with a third inevitability in life besides death and taxes: dilmemmas. Everyone wants everything, yesterday.

Charles 9

Re: One way ticket

"I know there isnt many things humanity can agree on but can we atleast accept these marketing folk aren't doing the world any good and we'd be a lot better off with out them..."

Nope. The Sheeple (who LOVE the ads) outnumber us.

Charles 9

"Instead of success by secrets we should make plans to obtain success despite disclosure or access. When everyone finds out your dirty secrets what's your plan to make it not matter?"

Turn it into praise. Recall the man who said, "I could shoot someone in broad daylight on FIfth Avenue and be praised for it." He now resides in The White House.

Put bluntly, as a comedian once said, "You can't fix Stupid." What isn't being said is that Stupid threatens to take the rest of us with it, forcing us to fix it. So how do you fix what cannot be fixed before we all end up on the way to Hell in a handbasket? And no, culling isn't an option because the obvious retort will be either, "You first!" or "Even if it's your parent or child?"

Charles 9

Re: The title is no longer required.

"or no concept as to what effect a MONOPOLY has on the free market. In short, "go elsewhere" is no longer an option, and the existence of the monopoly PREVENTS competition from providing alternatives."

Whatever happened to "Go AWAY" or "Doing WITHOUT"? It's not like Google has control of the air or water yet.

Charles 9

Re: The title is no longer required.

Wanna bet? Ever heard of a hypervisor attack, aka a "red pill"?

Charles 9

Re: Dumbing down

How do they get away with that without running afoul of disability and accessibility regulations?

Queue baa, Libra: People will buy what Facebook's selling. They shouldn't, but they will

Charles 9

Re: Half the population—

There are NO buses in my area (no trains, either).

Charles 9

Re: Half the population—

What happened when BOTH candidates won the Darwin Award?

Apple sued over fondleslab death blaze: iPad battery blamed for deadly New Jersey apartment fire

Charles 9

Re: We won't be truly safe from incidents like these..

"until either there is a better battery technology with the same energy density"

One wonders if it's less the chemical composition and more the very energy density we week from them? If so, then no design we can make will ever make it safe because the very thing we desire is what makes it dangerous. Sort of like having access to fire.

"or manufacturers build better containment into their devices"

Some things can't hope to be contained. Like bombs or anything with that kind of explosive potential. Heck, even a closed container left in the sun has that potential.

'AI is not the cause, it’s an accelerant. The pace of change is challenging' Experts give Congress deepfakes straight dope

Charles 9

Re: "Antisocial media"

Truth is relative, and the accuracy of any fact is up to the person's perspective. Put it this way. Do you want an omnicidal maniac anywhere near a Big Red Button?

Charles 9

Re: Maybe it's time to beat the public over the head with PGP?

Already beaten. Cameras and companies have been hacked to obtain camera signing keys.

Charles 9

Re: "Antisocial media"

You don't get it. True echo chambers are actually Reality Distortion Fields. You hear static, they hear praise. Nothing you say can convince them other wise as they'll use sophistry, confusion fu, and other strategies (including "I reject your reality and substitute my own" now en vogue in Washington) to deny you any purchase. Even ignoring is considered you surrendering to them. Put it this way: there's a reason they say you can never win an argument with an irrational person; the irrational don't play by the rules.

Charles 9

Re: "Antisocial media"

"Like I said earlier, I think we're in a transition phase between getting the ability and learning to deal with it."

But what if it turns out that most people can't deal with it and just go all Cognitive Dissonance and become more hidebound and desperate for their echo chambers?

Charles 9

Re: Fakes versus bias

Then you have a major problem because if the truth can't be condensed, then it won't be believed, end of. Keep It Simple, Stupid and all that.

Charles 9

Re: Well, well, well ........ Who'd have a'thunk it?

OK, then have your vaunted system parse THIS:

"I say, I say, I say! My dog has no nose."

"Really? Then how does it smell?"

"Terrible."

Charles 9

Except you can't ask the wife beating question to a BACHELOR.

Charles 9

NO, because the end result will be DTA, and people will retreat into their instinctual echo chambers. Without SOME level of trust, society will cease to function as we know it.

Charles 9

Re: Fakes versus bias

Nope. Won't work. People are too busy. That's why things like Twitter and I stage am caught on. They want the truth, condensed, because they have no time. If the truth can't be condensed into 240 characters or less, it's TMI.

When customers see red, sometimes the obvious solution will only fan the flames

Charles 9

Re: PICNIC (Problem In Chair Not In Computer)

Except I believe these people able to give DIE orders come from lower circles of Hell than BOFH's. Hell is a local call for them.

Charles 9

Makes for an interesting read, actually. It all seems to go back to Old English (recalling that most of English's roots are Germanic) and whether or not the noun in question was originally masculine, feminine, or neuter. Turns out mouse and louse in Old English were feminine while house (and apparently spouse) was neuter.

Charles 9

Re: PICNIC (Problem In Chair Not In Computer)

But what happens when you have to deal with a SUPER (Supervisory User--Proceed with Extreme Reluctance), where it's basically DIE (Do It or Else), even if ICU (Instructed to Chase Unicorns)?

Charles 9

Then just ask why it's "houses" and not "hice" when compared to a mouse or a louse.

Charles 9

Re: I prefer PEBMAC

It's also, as the user above describes, more likely to actually break AND disguise itself as a PEBKAC. You actually need something unlikely to actually break on its own or YOU get the blame for misidentification.

Charles 9

Re: I prefer PEBMAC

But what happens when you get a REAL bad monitor disguised as a PEBMAC? In fact, ANYTHING in front of the chair can become an actual problem indistinguishable from user error. That includes the desk.

Vivaldi to give abusive sites the middle finger with built-in ad blocking

Charles 9

"All the UI/UX designers in the world have somehow forgotten / ignored this for 40 years, despite being frustrated in their own use of machines by the exact same thing."

Ah, but you forget. It's what the user wants...until it's NOT what the user wants. You know the difference between what the user requests and what the user really needs. And users will NEVER blame themselves, so UI designers get all the flak. And you wonder why all the coddling...because the user otherwise expects us to be f'n PSYCHIC.

Ubuntu says i386 to be 86'd with Eoan 19.10 release: Ageing 32-bit x86 support will be ex-86

Charles 9

Re: Confused

They are dropping support for the i386 (x86-32) architecture. Support for 32-bit programs in 64-bit CPUs via compatibility libraries will continue.

Charles 9

Re: 16-bit apps

Machines THAT old would have custom jobs built for them in any event. For general-purpose computing, DOSBOX and VMs can float your boat.

Facebook won't nuke deepfakes? OK, let's tear up those precious legal protections from user-posted content, then

Charles 9

Re: I used to be a fake too.

And now you're a fake fake, right?

Charles 9

Re: The thing is

Wanna bet? And what's to say they can't make a DeepFake that can fool a HUMAN moderator? Besides, you're talking a small platoon versus a whole ARMY of clips uploaded every friggin' day!

Charles 9

Re: Nice try . . .

Anything man can MAKE, man can FAKE.

Charles 9

Re: Should apply to pubs also

Gotta be careful. Extreme fines have been challenged and I think even thrown out (or at least cut down) on Eighth Amendment grounds.

Atari finally launches its VCS console. Again.

Charles 9

Re: StellaX

PS. For anyone not familiar with that last title at the end, a friendly notice that the title in question is NSFW and is in fact widely considered in extremely bad taste. A rather-clinical assessment of the title can be found in Wikipedia's "List of video games notable for negative reception", second entry from the top.

Charles 9

Re: It's not a console, its "the Raspberry Pi of the Living room"

I know from experience emulating the VCS (2600) is quite feasible with hardware comparable to an 80486, and with ROM sizes so tiny, you can fit the entire VCS library on a standard SD card (not even SDHC). Doing the 5200 and 7800 would take just a little more oomph in both.

Stiff penalty: Prenda Law copyright troll gets 14 years of hard time for blue view 'n sue scam

Charles 9

Re: Stiff penalty?

As I recall, no trial took place as both defendants copped to plea bargains.

When it comes to DNS over HTTPS, it's privacy in excess, frets UK child exploitation watchdog

Charles 9
Joke

Re: The ol' Dual-Use Problem

The Spaceballs, who will take your planet's air by force if they gotta (Thank you, Mel Brooks).

Charles 9

Re: @AC ... The ol' Dual-Use Problem

And what happened? Shots got fired. Someone with enough strength can just go, "You take it or I'll shove it down your throat." and have the backing to actually carry out the threat. The only reason MAD worked was because no one was crazy enough to say, "Sod this" and push the button anyway, but you can't count on that forever. Sooner or later, someone in power is going to respond to an uprising like this with overwhelming force and actually carry it out to the hilt. In which case, I would say all bets are off.

Akamai CEO: Playing games from the cloud? Seems too expensive to be viable right now

Charles 9

Re: Consumers want cloud gaming, heard of Fortnite?

Bandwidth isn't going to do squat about latency, which is mostly a function of distance (speed of electricity puts a floor on that) and computational complexity (meaning the latency between feeding a raw video stream into the compressor and sending the end result out to the end user in a bitrate that the Internet can actually handle, even if it's in the middle of nowhere where the only option out there is a wet noodle).

The TL;DR version: Why didn't OnLive take off then? What are Google and the like going to get right what everyone else got wrong about physics?