Posts by phuzz 6738 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Feb 2010
"Hopefully this prissy tone indicates this is spying the Americans will never do."
I can only assume you're being sarcastic here.
Just don't ask about Operation Ivy Bells, or what the USS Jimmy Carter is designed to do...
Apart from the obvious money related reasons, I can sort of see the logic behind this. It's a lot easier to support it if it's running on Microsoft's own hardware, on an OS they control and administer. They basically only have to fix problems for one architecture, and don't have to test every possible combination of hardware and software that a customer might be using.
And of course once they get a tax cut you can be sure that those companies will spend all that spare money in the local area, which is even better than getting the taxes right? (Of course they wouldn't just spend the money on something else!)
Plus there's the salaries of maybe even a whole dozen minimum wage security guards, that's nothing to be sneezed at eh?
Yes, there's absolutely no way that this could possibly go wrong.
You remind me of a story from a friend of my brother's who'd been learning demolitions techniques at Camborn School of Mines. He was heading back home to Northern Ireland straight after, and only on the way did he realise that he was (figuratively) covered in semtex residue.
It turns out, as long as you ring them up ahead of time, and don't have any actual plastic explosives on you, then security will let you through.
"There should be a law against [...] using trade restrictions to further political aims."
What other possible aim is there for a trade restriction? Any modifiers to trade (either restrictions or inducements) are inherently political by their very nature.
(And if you're about to say "well then, there should be no restrictions to trade", that's very much a political position.)
Oh, for a moment I thought you meant the EJ200 out of the Eurofighter, as slated to be used in the Bloodhound SSC, which brings us back around to world speed records (or attempts to achieve them).
As for noises, I honestly don't know if I could pick between the Olympus or the Merlin. Objectively though the Olympus definitely has the edge in volume!
"Now of course anyone who can google has it."
If they would but bloody use that power! The number of questions I've been asked which can be solved by ten seconds and a search engine is ridiculous.
Alas, my boss has banned me from using 'Let me google that for you' links in communications with customers. I suppose I see his point, we do get to charge them good money for me to explain simple things to them.
"Some bean counter got his cost/benefit analysis wrong"
If they go bankrupt in a year, then you'd be right, but I suspect the bean-counters got their maths correct.
Yes they've lost a huge amount of money, but if it only happens once every ten years, and the amount they lost is less than the cost for a fully redundant power supply*, then it was the right call.
* If that's even an option for an entire factory. Various commentators have estimated needing tens to hundreds of megawatts which is a significant fraction of the output of a medium sized power plant.
Ah yes, the coloured pencils department. Always the first to shout that IT is crap, and they should be allowed to buy and maintain their own hardware, and yet always the first to burst into tears when they fuck up their email and haven't been running the backups that they were specifically instructed to run.
(Yes, I managed to make a user cry. I'm not proud. Although I was proud when I managed to recover the 'lost' emails from a corrupted PST)
A blank keyboard already exists, although it's always been marketed at geeks who can touchtype so well they don't need key-caps, rather than design-conscious Apple users.
I have the version with lettering on, it's a really nice keyboard.
(Not to be confused with the keyboard belonging to an old flatmate of mine, who's [originally beige] keyboard was so filthy, it was only possible to read the lettering on some of the less used keys. Everything else was just encrusted with black dirt.
I don't live with him any more.)
"You mean by adding buggy crap code and vulnerabilities into Linux"
Sasha Levin (the person who's made this request on behalf of Microsoft) is currently an active contributor to the Linux kernel, so the chances are you're alre4ady using his work in part. He used to work for Oracle if that makes you feel better?
I was working at a customer's office, and I was sent to go fix something (Outlook maybe?) on the PC of the marketing manager.
As I started, I found that the mouse was behaving really strangely, so I picked it up, and taped underneath was a 2p coin. (From the sellotape marks it had clearly been positioned over the sensor at first, and then moved). I removed it, and left the coin by the monitor. Presumably it was there because it was supposedly made of copper?
Once everything was fixed, I was just waiting for the user to get back, and they eventually turned up, mobile phone glued to their ear. Once they finished their conversation, I pointed out that their mouse wasn't working because of a coin to which the reply was "but you see, I'm allergic to electromagnetic radiation".
"Well then" I replied, "maybe you should try shutting the curtains".
I don't think they figured it out by the time I left.
"Is there any evidence that electromagnetic fields can affect the behaviour of animals?"
Yes of course there is. Many times I've seen my cat deliberately find a cosy spot to curl up in the sunshine.
Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, and sunlight is actively harmful to humans (cats generally love it though). After all, more than two thousand people died of skin cancer in the UK in 2016 (src).
When will our MPs ban this dangerous radiation!?!?!
"So, what should the US government do about this"
Well, they can test the manufacturers systems, and when they find ones that kill children and/or minorities, they can find a highly priced defence contracthome for them in the US military.
After all, one company's embarrassing snafu involving an SUV, a school bus full of orphans, a grandmother in a wheelchair and a basket full of kittens, is another firm's missile guidance algorithm.
Lets play the game of filling in the blanks:
"On or about October 12, 2018, NSA technical analysts examining the targeted production of CDRs observed an anomaly. Specifically, these analysts identified a larger than expected number of phone calls, texts, emails, etc. for everyone sharing a surname with the target. Further investigation determined that these records were produced by overly broad search terms. On October 12, 2018, NSA requested the provider investigate the anomaly. The provider later confirmed that this massive cock up has resulted in the creation of CDRs which contain more information than even we wanted."
Try it for yourself!
"On or about October 12, 2018, NSA technical analysts examining the targeted production of CDRs observed an anomaly. Specifically, these analysts identified a larger than expected number of [LONG REDACTION]. Further investigation determined that these records were produced by [REDACTED]. On October 12, 2018, NSA requested the provider investigate the anomaly. The provider later confirmed that [REDACTED] has resulted in the creation of CDRs [LONG REDACTION]."
As far as cost goes, a black 1x1L brick is averaging about 8p new, or 5p used on Bricklink, and printing the same thing should cost about 3p and take five minutes (according to Cura, the slicer program I'm using).
We've got a 3D printer at work that works ok for printing Lego, and standard PLA will compost down in an average compost heap (very slowly, and it might leave a few by-products).
I've printed a few bits of Lego for various people, usually non-standard parts (like this cross rails part), and honestly they're generally pretty easy to print successfully.
"If you don't directly control the hardware and what software is running on it you are lying to yourself it is secure."
And that's why I only use CPUs that I've hand whittled myself from a single crystal of silicon. Of course, adding each of the transistors requires a steady hand, but it's a small price to pay to be 'secure'.
The best mistake I heard of was someone in San Francisco, near the docks, when their phone told them they were actually on the other side of the Pacific.
Turned out their phone had picked up the wifi on a nearby cruise ship, which had been added to the location map when it was docked elsewhere...
(buggered if I can find the original article though)
Addendum, as I finish writing that comment, I finally found this document that spells out the limits that various different regulatory bodies are planning to place on unwanted emissions (UE) into the 23.6-24GHz band, and it looks like the EU is being much more strict than pretty much everywhere else on the planet, and the US is most lax:
African Telecommunications Union -28 to -30 dB
Arab Spectrum Management Group - 28 dB
European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications -42dB
US FCC -20dB
Asia-Pacific Telecommunity -29.7 dB
Most of these seem to be proposed limits, not set in stone yet, but it's worth noting that the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity includes most of the countries where 5G modems will actually be made.
^^^ This. (Although there is some consideration for satellite downlinks as well) It's all about being able to sense the presence of water vapour in the air.
The EU has already set limits for how much a 5G transmitter can leak into the 23.6-24GHz band that is used by weather sats, of -42 dB*. Last I heard, the FCC was proposing limits of about -30dB, which is quite a lot less limiting, and definitely has the potential to fuck up weather forecasting.
* The precise restrictions are: "−42 dBW/200 MHz for 5G Base Stations and −38 dBW/200MHz for 5G User Equipment" taken from section 5.4 here.
AKA 'middle-endian'.
There must be something about Americans that makes them want to deliberately do things the arse-backwards way. See also: using non-metric units long after the rest of the world has moved on, insisting that a constitution from two hundred years ago is still perfectly attuned for modern life, etc.
The other is called Just Read the Instructions, and is also a character from The Player of Games.
There's a new drone ship being built that's supposed to be called "A Shortfall of Gravitas", which is almost, but not quite, taken from Look to Windward. The GSV in that book is actually named Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall.
Personally I'd have gone for the GCU; Not Wanted On Voyage.
"In stark contrast, Iran has never attacked another country - certainly not for several centuries, at least - and is committed to a peaceful existence."
The first half of that is pretty much true, Iran has not started any wars, but they've always been more than happy to push back pretty hard when they've been attacked, so I'd dispute the second half. Taking a pop at US drones (whether they're overflying your territory or not) isn't the most peaceful solution.
(Still, you know you're the underdog when both the USA and the Soviet Union are supporting your opponent...and you still win)
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