Schelte Bus ?
Shouldn't that be Bus Shelter?
Posts by Pen-y-gors
3782 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Oct 2010
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Asteroid Florence buzzes Earth, brings two moons along for the ride
'Independent' gov law reviewer wants users preemptively identified before they're 'allowed' to use encryption
Saturday 2nd September 2017 11:04 GMT
Re: What about private ciphers?
Private cyphers?
An interesting question for the Mekon-brains amongst the readership.
Is it possible to develop a form of encryption that can take two different source texts and encrypt them with two different keys, which produce the same encrypted output?
What I mean is that we start with "Mary had a little lamb" and "The invasion is on 6th June, in Normandy" and we get an output of "dampers Weltschmerz snookums dung-cart nondegeneracy eliminant phyllorhinine nitrosurea sparkplugging brulyiement Erastianize aventails boondoggle". If we decrypt it with key A we get the first text, and key B gives the second text.
This would allow really bad people to give key A to the other really bad people in blue and show that their message was innocuous.
Hubble Space Telescope spies possibility of liquid water in TRAPPIST-1
Robocall scumbags already target Hurricane Harvey victims
Couple fires sueball at Amazon over faulty solar eclipse-viewing goggles
Thursday 31st August 2017 12:21 GMT
Get out the popcorn
This will be fun. Did the manufacturers say in their blurb that the shades were 'approved'? If so, it's a bit much to expect a retailer to check the standards of every single product they sell. Should the corner shop run their own tests on a tin of Heinz beans?
And if the manufacturer did say they were approved, why sue Amazon and not the manufacturer? Oh, of course, Amazon are rich, the manufacturer is probably in China.
Privacy-focused search engine DeepSearch slinks out of hiding
Thursday 31st August 2017 11:24 GMT
Re: Yet ..
Caesar's wife time - something like this must be completely above suspicion. Using Yandex mail isn't a good start!
Good luck to them.
If it works, it'll be interesting to see how they fund it. Will advertisers be happy to display adverts without knowing who's seeing them?
For now I'll stick to BangBangDuck!
Pacemaker patch passes probe by US watchdog
Wednesday 30th August 2017 09:09 GMT
Risk?
Out of curiosity, how do they calculate those risks? The precision of the figures suggests they have identified a number of scenarios in which things might go wrong - so why haven't they fixed those scenarios? Surely we're getting into unknown unknowns territory here - which is inherently rather hard to quantify.
And what if someone has rooted their pacemaker to speed it up during rumpy-pumpy?
Sweden may extend data retention, splat NAT and register VPNs
FTC ready to give back tech support scamming money to the bilked
Boffin rediscovers 1960s attempt to write fiction with computers
Crowdfunding scheme hopes to pay legal fees for Marcus Hutchins
Another dimension, new galaxy. Intergalactic planar-tary: Join us on our 3D NAND journey
Monday 28th August 2017 10:26 GMT
A luddite writes...
I am a bear of very little brain. I'm glad there are clever people who understand all this witchcraft.
I've got a memory 'card' out of an old NCR(?) computer that is made up of proper little ferrite cores with criss-crossing wires. About 4in square, and holds 1024 bits!
I still think tying knots in string and cutting notches in sticks was a pretty reliable way of storing data.
San Franciscans unite to smite alt-right with minefield of doggy shite
Vodafone won't pay employee expenses for cups of coffee
Friday 25th August 2017 11:55 GMT
Re: Directors?
Ah, yes!
Dunno about when 'on the road' but...
When I worked for Pearl Assurance, lo, these many moons ago, they provided a free lunch for all employees. Jolly nice. Apparently dated back to when they had to employ a lot of female clerical staff, and didn't want them to have to go out to low dives at lunchtime. By the late 20th century, it was still a perk, and the meals weren't bad. But there were four different dining rooms at the Holborn office. The main one was for the peasants - standard canteen stuff. Then there was the 'Managers' Dining Room, for the junior/middle managers - same food as the plebs, but waitress service. Then the 'Chiefs' dining room - for senior managers - better food. And finally the Directors' Dining Room, overseen by the Company butler (not kidding!), and catered for, I believe, by the Directors' chef.
It's the same the 'ole world over...
Friday 25th August 2017 11:48 GMT
True, but if the employer require you to not be in the office for a period (site visit, leaving home at 5 etc) when you would normally eat, drink etc then they should normally pay for your additional expenses, even if it's just a flat £10 a day or whatever.
Oh yes, and I believe you may be able to claim against tax anyway (or maybe that's just for travel expenses - basically it's for expenses you personally incur solely due to doing your job, or words to that effect. Remember barrister who claim for black clothes that should would only ever wear in court))
Forget trigonometry, 'cos Babylonians did it better 3,700 years ago – by counting in base 60!
Friday 25th August 2017 08:22 GMT
Re: Strangely enough ...copyright complications
The photograph of the Plimpton tablet isn't "their stuff"; it's in the public domain.
Image copyright is horribly complicated. The maker of the image owns copyright in the image. If someone is permitted to take a photo of the image then they have copyright of the new image, but so (usually) does the original photographer!
Artworks are even more fun. If I own a picture by a modern artist, and take a photo of it, unless the artist has assigned all rights to me as part of the sale, I can't publish that photo (on the web or anywhere) without the permission of the artist (or other copyright holder).
So, does this tablet count as an original artwork? Although after 3700 years I suspect the carver's copyright has expired (depending on Babylonian copyright laws - are they in the Berne convention? After all, Disney characters are copyright for all time.)
Friday 25th August 2017 08:12 GMT
Re: Strangely enough ...
FWIW Wikipedia isn't public domain - we can't just lift their stuff.
True, but most of it you can lift, subject to their various licences, most of which permit use with attribution. Images all state what the copyright position is. Hell, there are people selling Print-on-demand books on Amazon that are just a printout of Wikipedia articles on a topic.
Friday 25th August 2017 08:06 GMT
Re: So much for digital
Obvious. Using base 10 evolved because we have 10 digits (most of us). Using base two reflects the decline in education standards, which means that many people count hands rather than fingers.
Of course, binary is also handy for smart-arse techies because we can count to 1023 on our fingers.
'Driverless' lorry platoons will soon be on a motorway near you
UK.gov wants quick Brexit deal with EU over private data protections
Friday 25th August 2017 08:00 GMT
It's not complicated...
As with so many other areas of the Brexit negotiations, it's easy. No 'negotiation' is needed. The UK accepts existing all EU regulations, and writes them into UK law, unchanged, and agrees to incorporate any new EU regulations into UK law, without delay. Obviously, as it won't be a member of the EU, the UK has no role or influence in drafting those regulations. If there is a dispute about whether the UK has done the job correctly, the ECJ (without any UK judge) will rule.
Do that, and we can happily keep transferring data and doing business with the EU. Why do people find this hard to see?
A blast from the past: Mobile trojans abusing WAP-billing services
Reality strikes Dixons Carphone's profits after laughing off Brexit threat
Thursday 24th August 2017 13:29 GMT
Re: Maybe it's just not worth upgrading anymore
I'm currently doing a refresh cycle in work, upgrading iPhone 6 devices to 7
Wouldn't it make more sense to wait 6-12 months, once the iPhone8 is out, and you might get a better deal on the 7s? Or don't Apple prices ever go down?
Genuinely curious. Have no idea of the details of Apple pricing.
Airbus issues patch to prevent A350 airliner fuel tanks exploding
Seriously, friends. You suck at driving. Get a computer behind the wheel to save your life
Thursday 24th August 2017 10:59 GMT
Re: Lane departure?
"This will be our greatest challenge yet, sir - Wales."
Actually I suspect those pretty, little, incredibly narrow, windy lanes with high hedges and high banks in Cornwall and Devon would be worse! Particularly when two robot car+caravan combinations meet each other...
+1 anyway
Thursday 24th August 2017 08:44 GMT
Lane departure?
You have lanes? You lucky, lucky bastards! All the roads round here are single carriageway (nearest M-way is 2-hr drive away. There's half a mile of dual carriageway 50 miles away!), and half of them don't even have white lines down the middle. I defy a computer to sort THAT out!
Thursday 24th August 2017 08:42 GMT
Re: People aren't terrible drivers.
Driving requires people to maintain high concentration while doing lots of repetitive tasks
Too true. Many years ago I did a 2hr weekly commute by car. Roads at 7am on a Monday in mid-Wales are pretty quiet (and incredibly beautiful, seeing the sunrise over frost-covered hills). One day I realised I was in Rhaeadr, but couldn't remember a single thing about the last 15 miles of the journey. Obviously I had managed it safely (it's quite a windy road) but I'd done the journey hundreds of times and nothing of sufficient interest had happened that day to be worth remembering. The following week I signed up for the Institute of Advanced Motorists scheme!
Thursday 24th August 2017 08:35 GMT
Re: People aren't terrible drivers.
Simply take them off the roads
But we don't, even when proven to be terrible drivers.
Case in the local paper this week. Car was on windy version of local A-road, technically 60 but not a great idea, driver (18 years old) was doing nearly 100mph "so his friends could film him for snapchat". Left the road on a bend, hit and half-demolished a house, one of the friends killed (but not the driver). Driver gets 4 years in chokey, plus a FIVE YEAR ban.
Methinks the world would be safer if he had a 25 year ban. Then he might be older and wise-enough to take another test (or we'll all be driving robot cars anyway)
If the deceased was encouraging the driver (by doing the filming) then I assume this qualifies for a Darwin, if not for the driver.
Mozilla ponders making telemetry opt-out, 'cos hardly anyone opted in
Thursday 24th August 2017 08:23 GMT
Re: I think that's a good idea
Mozilla isn't a 'for-profit' organisation, but equally it isn't a 'for-loss' organisation. Bills have to be paid. Salaries have to be paid. If they need to raise money to keep going, who knows what they'll do? And if they're known to have the data, how do they respond to those secret letters the US Govt is so fond of?
Thursday 24th August 2017 08:21 GMT
Not legal in the EU
GDPR article 4 requires 'informed consent'
any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of his or her wishes by which the data subject, either by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to personal data relating to them being processed;
no pre-ticked boxes etc
And how do existing 'safe harbour' agreements between EU and US work under GDPR? Are US protections sufficient for GDPR compliance? Can they transfer the data to the US?
Ah well, I was thinking of switching from Firefox to something less bloated anyway.
UK.gov to treat online abuse as seriously as IRL hate crime
Tuesday 22nd August 2017 10:24 GMT
Re: Indie
@Ledswinger
Okay, I'll bite.
Why would I (and my neighbours) want to live in a giant Disneyland theme-park? I agree that roads could be a bit (lot) better but it's a trade-off. On the plus side lousy roads tends to keep down the tourist to sensible numbers (and, in some sad cases, literally reduce the numbers). But a Cardigan Bay highway? A world-class drive for Clarkson and pals to show off on, paid for by the locals.
Up market second-homes? What do the locals get out of that, apart from higher house prices? Houses occupied by outsiders who drop in for a couple of weeks a year, bringing most of their groceries from Waitrose in Maidenhead. Where are their cleaners meant to live if they can't afford a house? Second homes kill communities (not just in Wales). I've visited villages in Cornwall and Wales where there are 30+ houses, and only one is lived in all-year. A few nice commercial holiday cottages is a different matter, and we have a reasonable number of those (and glamping/yurts etc)
And we have some excellent chippies - Hennighans in Machynlleth, Lloyds in Lampeter, New Celtic in Aberaeron (and ace honey ice-cream round the corner).
Center Parcs? If you want that sort of thing go to Center Parcs. Don't demand that places change to meet your requirements, perhaps you should change your expectations.
I take your point about Towyn, but that's been turned overwhelmingly into a cheap holiday destination. (Don't even ask about Barmouth). But Machynlleth is a lovely little town, populated by real people (if with quite strong hippy habits) - I had a really tasty chorizo and chickpea stew in Caffi Alys the other day. Decent cafes, pubs, real small shops (local butchers, bakers), art gallery, park, market (Wednesday) lots of junk shops to amuse visitors, Comedy festival, El Sueño Existe festival, Classical music festival etc. Handy for Centre for Alternative Technology.
I suppose it depends on what sort of visitor you want to attract. Walkers tend to stay in local B+Bs, and frequent local pubs and restaurants, and spend their money locally. Cottagers (I'm sure that's not the word) tend to explore the area. Caravanners tend to stay on the site and don't disturb the locals. You'd hardly know they were there (interesting historical note - most of the caravan sites are on former WWII military bases. War ends, guns, tanks and nissen huts etc removed, lots of concrete bases left. What else are the farmers going to do?)
In the end it's down to what we want. Wales isn't a theme park. It's a living country, where people live. Their needs come first. As I said before, nice visitors are welcome, but don't expect may-pole dancing on the village green.
Monday 21st August 2017 14:58 GMT
Re: Indie
Isn't it Croeso i Cymru?
No - the Celtic languages enjoy a wonderful mystery called 'mutations' - boring languages change the endings of words, Celtic languages also change the beginnings! Lots of complicated rules about what changes and when, but trust me when I say that following 'i' ( = 'to') we get a 'soft' mutation (treiglad meddal) which makes a following C become a G.
It can be fun - "I live in Wales" = Rydw i'n byw yng Nghymru
I love England and Wales "Rydw i'n caru Lloegr a Chymru" (not often heard, I must admit)
Try googling it, and then get an ice-pack and several paracetamol. (But Welsh is easier than Irish!)
Monday 21st August 2017 12:04 GMT
If I start my comment with "I love you but" does that exempt me from hate speech?
Let's see how that works
"Dear evil, hate-filled nazi scum, I love you, but sadly I am sure that your disease-ridden souls will burn in the fires of hell for all eternity unless you repent"
Hmmmm, yes, I quite like that. Hate the sin but love the sinner. Theologically sound.
Monday 21st August 2017 11:56 GMT
Re: TLA?
IRL – in real life. Used among online gaming communities mostly.
From my research (mainly watching Big Bang Theory I must admit) I didn't think hardcore members of the online gaming communities had any concept of 'RL'.
(Although when I were a lad I did find D&D was quite absorbing at times)
Monday 21st August 2017 11:51 GMT
Re: Indie
What about the xenophobic elements of Plaid Cymru?
Personally, I've never met any. Met a fair number of Welsh people (not just PC members) who get seriously pissed off by tourists who get angry and complain when they hear people speaking Welsh in Wales. Ditto when the BBC broadcast a 'discussion' (between two non-Welsh speakers, one of them with a lengthy track-record of hating Wales and everything Welsh) on Newsnight asking whether the Welsh language is a 'help or hindrance' to Wales. Would they ask if the Scots accent is a help or hindrance to hosting an Arts festival?
Wales is not part of England. Visitors welcome, if they treat the country and the people with respect. Croeso i Gymru - please bring a bulging wallet.
Cognitive Services, Clippy? AI's silent infiltration of Microsoft's Office stack
Boffins blast beats to bury secret sonar in your 'smart' home
Tuesday 22nd August 2017 08:47 GMT
I wonder...
I don't understand all these things. Obviously storing your Alexa/Echo unit in a soundproof box in the garden is a good start, but what about phones/laptops etc? Switching off the mic by software presumably can be compromised. Blob of araldite over the built-in mic? Then only use a plug in mic when you need to.
Want a medal? Microsoft 7.2% less bad at speech recognition than IBM
Tuesday 22nd August 2017 08:30 GMT
What sort of errors?
It would be interesting to know what sort of errors they're getting, and what the humans get.
It's very different if the software interprets 'Trump' as 'rumpy-pumpy' or whether it confuses heel, heal, he'll etc.
Accents are a big problem - think strong Derry accent 'now' sounds like 'nigh'. Heaven knows how you train software to recognise that speaker A is from Glasgow and speaker B is from New Jersey.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
