Posts by Adrian 4

The world-beating UK has already expanded that concept to be an entire Theodule Government.

Re: ran out of ram

We had Hellerman pliers for putting rubber hellerman sleeves on cables. Three parallel prongs which rested together but spread apart when the handles were squeezed.

Universally known as honeymoon pliers.

https://xkcd.com/thing-explainer/

Re: Sounds “interesting”

What you get in exchange for enabling the BT service is the ability to use it on others addresses when you're not at home. It generates a separate SSID, it doesn't open up your home network.

However, when I tried it, the signals I could get from other users were so poor that it was unusable.

Re: not a double-barreled shotgun

If that's a technical question : a captive bolt pistol

Re: I can't believe it's not real!

I went to Bergen and spent some time in a pub with guys from the local hackspace. They had actual experience of RFC1149.

Re: One good reason not to

Arrogant and offensive

Can you imagine having to work with these truth twisters?

Re: Who's the audience?

> All this bullshit about removing statues and monuments to people who did anything remotely bad.

> We shouldn't be airbrushing them out of history. Teach people about them, and what they did.

> Don't remove them.

I'm not in favour of removing them from history. How could we learn from their mistakes if we hide them ?

But where they occupy a place of honour, such as the name of a building or a prominently-placed statue, I think it's reasonable to show our disgust by placing them in a museum - an actual repository of history, not an airbrush - rather than in pride of place.

Their work is more problematical, Rowling being a good example. Since her work doesn't, as far as I'm aware, make any comment on trans people I see no reason to cancel that. But it's common to provide a platform for people who have produced well-known and appreciated work : we don't have to do that if it's likely to disseminate unacceptable views.

We deal with Hitler in this way and, by and large, it's successful. We don't ban Mein Kampf - we allow it as an object lesson. We do ban far-right groups who disseminate those views. It hasn't resulted in complete suppression of those groups but they have remained a minority, at least in Europe.

What this ends up saying is : you cannot make simple rules about free speech. It requires thought, judgement and open discussion.

Re: From a position of complete ignorance

And quite likely with some of its code provided by the by the US agencies

Or a backdoor that got owned. As we constantly warn might happen.

Re: EU level bureaucrats

Mediocre bureaucrats ?

Did anyone ever hear of an outstanding bureaucrat ?

And for reliability. Your tests were performed using some version of imported code. If you rebuild using another version, those tests are invalid. Just because you're using a later version with supposed bugfixes doesn't mean that there aren't new bugs, or that the fixes don't trigger latent bugs in your code.

You need to know when you import a new version, and repeat your testing when it happens. Until that point your code is made less reliable by importing a bugfix, not more reliable.

Re: Red pointy thing

> What would make sense (for me at least) would be a keyboard with a trackball located just beneath the space bar.

There was one, in the dim and distant past, wasn't there ? Maybe a pre-lenovo thinkpad ?

Re: Nice

To be fair, the guy who built the dual DVI system was also the guy who defined the PIO's instruction set.

But yes, I've seen a lot of interest in the PIO. A few other devices have something like it - the beaglebone's PRUs, Motorola's TPUs, the Cypress USB engine, the parallax propellor .. but they're largely seen as rather specialised, for the expert. These cheap and accessible PIOs that can be used to generate video could get a bit more interest going in assembler programming and FPGA state machines.

Re: Small difference

"The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

Re: "uninstall Flash and fire it into the heart of the Sun"

Set the controls for .. the heart of the sun

Re: Hmmm

Free speech is not affected. This is merely a number of commercial services who see no profit in allowing him to use their platform.

He can still spout all the nonsense he wants at his own expense, provided it's not seditous.

Re: Which Windows?

Why do they do that ? Is there some component that's only available as a Windows binary .. bank comms, perhaps ?

Re: Orange LED

Not all diodes are *intended* to emit light.

And then there's the smoke-emitting-diodes.

Re: HOWTO: hack their voting machines

Do these machines have an accessible USB port then ?

Re: monitoring software

Websense rings a bell. I think we used that. It was upset by the word screw. It was tough avoiding the word at a mechanical engineering company. And no, a bolt isn't the same thing at all.

Re: So basically we're going to have to re-name everything.

But your story is completely acceptable. It contains no term that implies coercion or power over another. It could equally be related by any partner.

So prudes might find an objection, but not the authors of the current purge.

Re: eBay Don't Need Virgin Media or TalkTalk...

I had the same problem.

I had to use an older browser (pale moon) instead of the usual Brave to access feedback and messaging.

Re: Low tech is best

"What I don't like about the post-apartheid settlement is PR by party list. That breaks the accountability link between electors and politicians. A constituency + PR-based top-up system would be a lot better."

Indeed, and I'd go further. NO members should be elected without voters that are responsible for them. So no party-driven top-ups.

The real problem with PR as usually proposed, though, is that it confirms and strengthens the Party system. Parties are what's wrong with our politics, and and solution needs to make them less, not more powerful.

My preference is for STV or a related system, voting for a county's worth of members rather than a single individual. This could avoid the problem of 'wasted' votes whilst retaining the link between constituencies and members, and keeping the parties from choosing members (other than by 'safe seats').

Re: Failing switches?

Just yesterday I had a socket adapter (UK to 2-pin EU) fail by falling apart, leaving a fully exposed tangle of metal contacts. I was glad of the switch on the socket panel when I unplugged it.

Re: “demand [..] countries cease and desist from conducting cyberespionage against our companies”

Your suggested policy doesn't state that targeted marketing be outlawed, only made explicit.

If documenting the target market means market targeting is impossible, then that implies there is something about targeting that only works of the target is unaware of the intentions.

It's difficult to argue that such a situation should be allowed as it suggests intentional lying.

Re: Laptop shields

I'd prefer that the OS reliably stopped it.

The reasonable expectation is that you're only running the camera if you have a video application running. You shouldn't need to mechanically close it as well.

If you have no reason to trust your software, a bit of tape or any small object is adequate. The problem is not the existence of a shutter, but remembering to use it.

Re: Croydon is a UK city, not an IKEA product

If IKEA had a range of products named after London boroughs, what would they be ?

Croydon, due to a manufacturer of rubber products once popular in Woolworths, might be a bath plug.

Westminster might be a clock. Or a doorbell.

Re: I couldn't care less!

How long before you need a microsoft account for github ?

Painting walls ? When there's lego to build ?

What sort of pervert are you ?