Posts by Charles 9

Re: Deny History? Again?

Well, how about a browser that just happens to have an OS attached to it?

"If the software you need can run on it"

So what happens when the software you MUST run for your job (no substitutes available, surprisingly common, and NOT WINE-friendly) is ONLY available on Windows (and perhaps eventually ONLY Windows X), then what?

Re: Dates

"I mean it isn't like September, October, November, and December are the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th months."

Recall they WERE once, as IIRC the names came from the Roman calendar. Blame Julius Caesar for not getting the names straight when he was trying to correct for the tropical year.

Re: Pihole all the way

Problem is we really need transparent IP-based blocking for those nasties that keep their own DNS directories. Would also be nice if it could grok IPv6 as well.

Re: Dates

"12 hours POST MERIDIAN. Meridian is MID DAY, when the sun is directly overhead.

12 hours ANTE MERIDIAN is 12 hours BEFORE midday, so it HAS to be midnight."

Except ANTE means BEFORE while POST means AFTER. One problem. Midnight is BOTH 12 hours BEFORE AND 12 hours AFTER noon. Meaning 12AM and 12PM should really be identical, much as 0000 and 2400 are in military time (they DO use 2400 hours when referring to events that started before midnight but end right on it).

Re: Dates

"People are 5'10" tall not some silly number of cm."

But there are those who would say two meters is easier to visualize than six feet or so.

As for dates, the format usually comes from how people speak it. Americans are used to "March (the) 14th, 2018", so you have 03/14/2018. Many other countries go "14th of March, 2018" or similar (like Catorce de Marzo), so guess what floats your boat. I do find the YYYY-MM-DD format (with optional HHMMSS) useful for natural sorting (and I always use hyphens to avoid restricted characters). Since I grew up a Navy brat, I'm comfortable with 24-hour times, but I know that's not universal.

PS. For those unfamiliar, Z(ulu) time is military parlance for GMT/UTC while J(uliet) simply designates local time.

OK, exactly where does the snippet fit into the rest of the code, how does the code around it mesh with the loop, do you use CMP #100/BLE or CMP #101/BL instead? Or perhaps start with MOV #100, DEC, and BNZ instead (to skip the CMP step)? Just saying there's more than one way to skin a processor.

Re: Optimisations

Not necessarily. It could just be a "six of one, half a dozen of the other thing": more than one way to get comparable results.

But that would be like altering one's handwriting to mimic another: unnatural to the practitioner due to force of habit. Plus I don't think there IS such a thing as "generic" code since most code is made by man, which means each snippet will have a style signature.

Have you ever thought that what you describe in itself is a coding style? Meaning he CAN be identified?

Re: I'm surprised

"I would agree with you if we were talking about source code. But after passing through a compiler?"

The compiler is still basically directed by the source code, so the end result is still going to preserve the essential coding style of the original writer. Code optimizations and code munging can change things some, but it's more like distorting a person's signature; the essential style characteristics embedded into the original code will still be there if you look carefully enough.

Re: I'm surprised

And how handwriting analyzers can determine likelihood of a particular person writing through "grown" characteristics of the writer (style characteristics basically developed as a person acquired the skill to write).

Re: Enjoy your new found censorship

So pick your poison: anarchy or the police state. Either way you're gonna get reamed without lube.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. As bad as they are, the alternatives are worse. Politics practically requires sociopathy, but without it you end up with anarchy.

Re: this is why...

Then what happens when they DUCK YOU BACK and start blocking VPN traffic wholesale a la Netflix? Pretty soon sites could be restricted to white lists and if you don't make the list, too damn bad. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Re: There has to be a better way to ensure children can't access porn.

"Most certainly not. Having a lot of non-serious traffic helps provide a distraction and additional cover for those who use Tor as a means of staying alive."

Not when the bandwidth is limited. Then you're starving the revolutionaries.

Re: Obligatory

No, it's not contradictory, because they're two different worlds, especially PC gaming where the professional gaming leagues reside. It's still probably the only one where people regularly plunk down real-life money per month to play. Nothing on the consoles comes close. That's the kind of pull you want to really show you're something, and Linux and Mac gaming can't hold a candle to Windows, and if you want to really pull gamers off Windows, find a way to get those professionals to make the jump.

Re: The trend is more worrying than the security risks themselves

Slit your throat and end the suffering? Because no other alternative will work; idiots are like weeds and hydras (remove one and two more take their place).

Re: Making it user enableable is probably the worst thing to do

Simple. It won't proceed until you agree, refusing to take no for an answer. You see it already in phone apps.

Re: KISS principle, we hardly knew you

"You could still have sane limits that come from active content being inherently boxed"

Until they BREAK OUT of the boxes. Java jailbreaks, anyone?

Re: KISS principle, we hardly knew you

Let's face it. The mere act of requesting a web page contains plenty of useful metadata. The request will have a return address and a timestamp; that alone can be useful, much like you can't send a letter without posting an address and the post office knowing where they picked up the letter to send.

Re: KISS principle, we hardly knew you

It IS you. That horse bolted long ago, and you've been outvoted.

Re: Doubling down?

"Doubling down in political context normally means that a policitian keeps on telling lies even when faced with hard facts that tell the truth / reality."

More than that. When faced with the truth, "doubling down" means not just telling the same lies but telling EVEN MORE lies: in particular attacking the source of the facts. Someone doubling down is usually a sign they actually believe them enough that they see the facts as fake.

PS. Most Americans are familiar with the casino card game Blackjack/21 which is where "doubling down" comes from.

Simple. Better the evil you know than the evil you don't. You want worse, they'll just point you to Washington. Out with the Beast, in with the Smiler.

Re: Achtung! Lawyers at 6 o'clock high!

So tell me what is the procedure when a police helicopter has a problem?

As for LiPo battery fires, how come SOP on an airliner when one of these catches is to pour water on it because corralling the thermal runaway takes priority?

Re: I can see a number of issues

Except the circumstances aren't as urgent. Police, fire companies, and ambulances usually are informed as they're deployed as to the upcoming situation, and the travel time (minutes vs. seconds) usually offers a chance to formulate a plan of approach.

Lifeboats are usually deployed for one reason: people overboard, so it's easy to train for the limited range of circumstances that entails.

Whereas being forced into an unfamiliar but true emergency (read: respond in a few seconds or you and everyone inside dies) is TOO urgent.

"Do most cities allow helicopters to fly over them? Or land on the buildings?"

Most I know. News and police helicopters are ubiquitous sights everywhere I go, so there are plenty of examples. As for landing on the buildings, that depends on the local situation, but it's pretty easy to determine if a given building has a rooftop helipad.

Re: Not yet.

And then there's the huge issues of fuel efficiency and failure modes, especially once the numbers add up.

My posts are being ghost-written, and I speak for the unwashed masses who have trouble paying the electric bill and the groceries, to say nothing of any kind of data bill.

Re: Well ...

The usual counter to "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" is to finish the quote:

Persistence is doing the same thing over and over and actually getting a different result.

And what about the rest of us WITHOUT an Internet connection?

Re: I Don't Own a TV,

You assume everyone in America has access to the Internet. Many don't. Many don't even own a cell phone (or even a telephone, full stop). Meaning the ONLY free source of information for them is the local TV station (newspapers cost and the radio is iffy now).

Re: What's the problem?

"Educate people better."

You assume people WANT to learn.