* Posts by jake

26584 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007

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Splunk to junk masters and slaves once a committee figures out replacements

jake Silver badge

Give 'em an inch ...

It's getting dafter by the second ... I mean, honestly, what programmer anywhere has ever considered whitespace to be a blank or blanks? Last time I checked, a TAB wasn't a blank. Nor was a space. Nor was any other non-printing character.

Time to take the non-techies out of the loop when it comes to deciding what the lingua franca of the technical world is to be. It's our jargon, not theirs, and they can't have it! Best start speaking up now, before the hand-wringers take over and turn it all into grey goo ...

Machine learning helps geoboffins spot huge beds of hot rocks 1,000km across deep below Earth's surface

jake Silver badge

He has a machine for that? I thought being boring came natural to him ...

Bigger than big: Linux kernel colonel Torvalds claims 5.8 is 'one of our biggest releases of all time'

jake Silver badge

Re: Bigger! Newer!! Better???

Don't worry, Pete 2, if you don't run a Habana Labs Gaudi AI Training Processor, your copy of the kernel won't contain that code any more than it would contain the code for an S/390 on your cute little ARM system.

It's perfectly safe to rush out and upgrade ... likely you won't see any difference anyway, if all your hardware is already running properly. However, if all your hardware is already running properly (and you know of no security issues ...), there is probably no need to upgrade.

New TLD redirect?

jake Silver badge

Re: New TLD redirect?

::picks jaw off floor::

Wow. Just wow. I'm speechless.

ZFS co-creator boots 'slave' out of OpenZFS codebase, says 'casual use' of term is 'unnecessary reference to a painful experience'

jake Silver badge

Re: experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal (...) lives.

Both of my parents were and are civilians, and neither of them worked at an RAF base, to the best of my knowledge.

jake Silver badge
Pint

Re: experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal (...) lives.

"Books are Burning" doesn't scan for shit, and it must have been hell to try to put music to the lyrics ... but the message in there should be mandatory reading for everybody participating in this kerfuffle, Internet-wide.

"Hell of a guitar solo at the end of that tune too!"

Andy or Dave?

jake Silver badge

Re: experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal (...) lives.

And to answer your question:

"maybe you can suggest some changes that would address discrimination better?"

Tolerance. From everybody. No exceptions. Yes, this means you.

jake Silver badge

Re: Slavery is still happening

"I suppose I'm just not diligent enough in seeking out offence to take."

Either that, or you are sane.

jake Silver badge

Re: Slavery is still happening

"you could tell that the people who wrote Unix didn't have children"

This premise is fundamentally flawed. Quite a few of the folks hacking on UNIX at Berkeley in the pre-BSD days through 4.4BSD had kids.

jake Silver badge

What is it with all the anonymous cowards who insist that people using a technical term technically is racist, even when there is absolutely no context of racism in the place that word is being used?

I'm beginning to think it's projection ...

jake Silver badge

Re: experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal (...) lives.

So in your mind, Sabroni, a techie writing a technical term with no malice aforethought in a techie publication intended for techies to read that happens to match a word which, when used in a completely different context and place, perhaps might show discrimination on the part of the user, is inexcusable and must be exorcised?

And yet 5 adults beating up a child can safely be ignored as inconsequential in the great scheme of things?

IMO you are one seriously fucked up individual, Sabroni. Seek help.

jake Silver badge
Pint

New?

You are uncomfortable with the word new in code? As in New Weird America?

OK. I guess we all have our hangups, but I'm not going to stop using that word, either. Sorry. Have a pint on me in compensation?

jake Silver badge

Re: Why is this important?

More to the point, of those of us who actually have read a significant portion of the ZFS source, how many became annoyed by the choice of technical terms used therein?

Of the annoyed, how many were reading that source with the specific intent of becoming annoyed upon finding and reading those words completely out of context?

Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought.

jake Silver badge

Re: So using the new ZFS terminology...

And touch, that's completely offensive! To say nothing of unzip, finger, strip and head.

WE MUST BAN THEM ALL IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!one!!!1!

UNIX pr0n: gawk, grep, unzip, touch, strip, init, uncompress, finger, find, route, whereis, which, mount, fsck, nice, more, yes, umount, head, expand, renice, restore, touch, whereis, which, route, mount, more, yes, umount, ping, make clean, sleep

jake Silver badge

Re: experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal (...) lives.

"How did total strangers single you out to be spat on, shouted at or beaten up as you walked down the high street?"

My accent. That all happened to me one afternoon on the way home from school. My offense? I bought an 'ovis loaf from the local bakery. I was 12 years old. The five assailants were adults.

"Where you always wearing an Hawaiian shirt, tennis shoes and Bermuda shorts or something?"

When the above happened, I was wearing my school uniform.

jake Silver badge

Re: People keep changing this word

"Why are you so invested in having the word slave in code you use?"

Because as a technical word, used in a technical context, it precisely defines a specific relationship between two inanimate objects. It is the correct word to use, at least in the technical vernacular of the English language.

I think a better question might be Why are some people so determined to shame other people into feeling guilty about an institution that the other people had absolutely nothing to do with?

The trick cyclists of the world must be having a field day.

jake Silver badge

Re: FFS! "CONTEXT", people, context.

"a female editor at ElReg is not called a editrix."

You obviously never met our old moderatrix, Ms. Bee ... who undoubtedly would have been perfectly happy with me calling Messrs. Trump & Johnson bumbling, blathering, boring, bombastic boobs.

As for banning master/slave ...It's not that it's intrinsically a bad change, but rather that it's a change for change's sake and the thin edge of the slippery slope. People will be using this as a precedent to change pretty much any pet peeve, which is never a good idea.

This lingo is firmly entrenched in the lingua franca of the computer and networking world (and other professions), and has been for a lot of years. If the language were used with negative intent, I'd be all for making the change ... but it's not. It is just a technical description for a very specific relationship between inanimate objects. Trying to make it into something it is not says more about the complainer than the folks who use it with no ill intent.

And don't forget, making the change is not without real cost. Who is going to pay to re-write and swap out all the text books, for one thing. To say nothing of the masses of documentation out in the wild. Frankly, it's tilting at windmills just to make the tilter feel better about something that they never had anything to do with.

jake Silver badge

Re: Y'know, the funny thing about the word "slave" ...

The bitch only gets me into trouble when she crosses a property line she isn't supposed to when we are out killing ground squirrels[0].

Seems that nobody ever managed to teach a Whippet about the concept of private property ... nor did they manage to teach greenaholics about the massive infrastructure and other property damage that rodents/varmints cause.

[0] Don't cry, greenie, we recycle ... the RedTail hawks circle overhead to take advantage of the free meal when we are out varminting. It's pretty funny, actually ... the birds are not carrion eaters, but they will happily take fresh whippet-kill, IF they actually see the dawg do the deed. Waste not, want not.

jake Silver badge

Re: FFS! "CONTEXT", people, context.

"No denying the US slave trade was one of the worst acts of human babarity ever perpetrated"

Yes. I agree. However, get off the whole "US" thing. Virtually every country in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean basins were involved.

On the Atlantic side, that's from the Africans who initially enslaved other Africans[0] for sale to the Portuguese and British for sale to the French and Spanish in the Caribbean and to the Yanks in the Carolinas (etc. ... there was more. Lots more.).

Yes, the British. During the 18th Century, around 6 million Africans entered the Atlantic Slave Trade. Britain was responsible for about 2.5 million of them. That's nearly half. Stop trying to pretend there is no blood on your hands. Revisionist history doesn't work around here.

(I gave the rest of your post a thumbs-up because I felt it deserved one.)

[0] Yes, kiddies, really. Africans enslaved other Africans for sale to the Europeans. Did you think the British & Portuguese just parked a boat off the coast of Africa and invited the natives aboard?

jake Silver badge

experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal (...) lives.

"Says everyone who has _never_ experienced any discrimination, hardship or oppression in their personal or professional lives."

As a Yank schoolboy in Yorkshire I experienced pretty much all of that for years, and I don't let words bother me. Intent, yes, but the words themselves, used elsewhere without that intent? Nope.

Maybe I listened to too many Carlin records as a kid ...

jake Silver badge

Y'know, the funny thing about the word "slave" ...

... is that the most enslaved people in the European world prior to ~1600, and indeed the very people who gave us the word "slave" to describe this completely heinous state of affairs, aren't up in arms about it's use. In fact, I'll bet a good deal of money that many of the people who are posting here on ElReg and elsewhere saying that trying to remove it from the English Language is a daft idea are, in fact, descendants of these enslaved people.

Who are all these descendants of slaves? That would be pretty much everyone with Slavic ancestors.

With that said, the Old English þræl had pretty much the same meaning ... Perhaps cars should have Master cylinders and Thrall cylinders ... But I'll bet all the loot I just won above that the holier-than-thou set would bitch about that, too.

Bloke rolls up to KFC drive-thru riding horse-drawn cart only to be told: Neigh

jake Silver badge

"because hitting it at 55 makes a mess."

A whole mess of fertilizer. Helps keep the verge and the hedgerows green, dontchaknow.

jake Silver badge

Re: WTF?

At least he's not an anonytwat :-)

jake Silver badge

Re: WTF?

Where did I knock Pratchett? You really are a confuzled soul, aren't you? Poor thing.

jake Silver badge

Re: WTF?

Pratchett wrote a lot of fiction, didn't he.

jake Silver badge

Re: WTF?

Try a little chili powder on that curds & whey ... any varietal, ranging from store-bought blends to a powdered single chili. I like either chipotle powder, or the Ethiopian blend called berbere, or my own homemade blend that I use for making so-called "texas" chili.

jake Silver badge

Re: Burgers?

"A good burger is a fine, occasional, treat if you make it for yourself."

FTFY

jake Silver badge

Re: Slow fast food

Getting all the parts and cooking it for a family of four would also be cheaper than the drive-through. I can't believe how many people world-wide consider such places a valid form of nutrition ... the poor bastards are getting taken six ways from Sunday. And now the idiots are waiting upwards of an hour and a half to get fleeced? The mind boggles ...

jake Silver badge

Re: So what's with the ban on horse-drawn conveyance in the drive-through?

Quite honestly, it's so the idiots in cages don't run into you while you are in line. Applies to everything with fewer than three wheels or powered by humans. Same thing's true here in California.

I can take my buckboard through the drive-through (four wheels, not people powered), but in theory I can't take the trap through (two wheels, not people powered). My wife's big Harley is not allowed, but the foreman's wife's Tri-Hawk is. Skateboards, blades, and rollerskates are not allowed (more than two wheels, but people powered). Etc. Basically, they think they are protecting us from ourselves, as usual.

jake Silver badge

Re: So what's with the ban on horse-drawn conveyance in the drive-through?

Shirley you can find somewhere better to eat in Orlando ... Oh, wait, what am I saying?

You were all on two wheels, with the odd trike no doubt ... Shirley you could go somewhere else (anywhere else) to get a bite to eat?

jake Silver badge

Re: Thank you Wilbur!

Better than cows, and cows are herbivores.

Look on the bright side, it's not hog or chicken ...

jake Silver badge

Just compost it first.

You know Facebook has an image problem when major nonprofits start turning down donations over political lies

jake Silver badge

I rather suspect that the downvotes had nothing to do with Trump, but rather the fact that the OP was spouting a bunch of bullshit. The fact is that the idiot-in-chief is not free to use private property to advance his cause ... not without the permission of the property owner. On top of that, the property owner can allow that speech, with the caveat that hate, lies and bullshit will be either flagged of deleted, at the whims of the property owner.

And trust me, facebook is private property. That they have decided to allow the hate, lies and bullshit is telling .... kind of like your redneck neighbor who insists on displaying the so-called "rebel" flag and having a white-power bumpersticker on his pickup truck. It's legal, right?

Fortunately for you, you are equally free to associate with them, or not. I personally choose not to associate with facebook, for this and many other reasons.

But hey, the OP was free to post his commentardary here on ElReg ... this is a good thing, right? Likewise, the thumbs-downers were free to down vote him ... this is also a good thing, right?

The consequences of you having the freedom of speech are that others are free to criticize you. So voice your opinion! Please! Just don't bitch about it when other people also voice their opinion.

jake Silver badge

Re: I must express my opposition to this

HBO can do what it likes, but it's hardly censorship when I can still easily get a copy of Gone With The Wind without the government getting mad at either me or the purveyor. (You can rent a copy on youtube as I type, without leaving your chair. Not very effective censorship, that.)

Similar for all the other examples you have thoughtfully provided.

The Fawlty Towers episode is freely available on youtube, in all its glory. N-word, moose head, Germans and all.

Red Hot Chili Packets! New submarine cable to land in home of cult Sriracha sauce

jake Silver badge

Re: Sririacha sauce is Californian

Want to make your own? No cooking required. Vinegar of choice (white works), chilis of choice (mix and match ... surprise yourself!), pinch of salt and sugar. Blend until smooth, eat immediately or store in fridge for up to ... well, I don't know how long, it always gets eaten before it goes off (it's acidic enough to be fridge stable, though). Shred some carrot into the mix before blending to add colo(u)r, sweetness, and to mellow out the heat (if needed/wanted).

Force multiplier, threat deterrent or delightful condiment? You decide.

jake Silver badge

Re: Transpacific

Habaneros aren't really all that hot, most cultivars run 100K SHU or so (they can be hotter, yes, but you probably won't find 'em hotter unless you grow 'em yourself) ... that's only around twice as hot as thai birds, cayennes and de arbols, and barely four times as hot as serranos.

Perhaps it should land somewhere in the Carolinas ...

Smart fridges are cool, but after a few short years you could be stuck with a big frosty brick in the kitchen

jake Silver badge

Re: Better smart devices

Get a cat. Or encourage a local feral with the odd midnight snack. Don't over-feed either, or they will be too fat & lazy to hunt!

Failing that, here's a better mousetrap. (Warning to the squeemish: the video shows it in action. No blood, but plenty of killed mice. Might be NSFW in some jurisdictions.) Not much has changed in the world of mouse technology in the last 430 years, so why does everybody think that the technology to catch them might have changed?

A friend built a 12-hole version of this trap following the Tubbs fire a couple years ago. He lives right on the edge of the burn zone, and the critters inundated him because he had food and water that they could pilfer. He wasn't intending to feed the rodents, mind, it's just a hazard of keeping livestock. The mice were so bad, his cats couldn't keep up ...

Long and short of it, he trapped 10 on the first night. And a dozen the second night. And the third night. So he and I built 5 more. He trapped upwards of 40 mice per night for a couple weeks (largest nightly total was 66) before they suddenly moved on ... or fell to numbers that didn't overwhelm his barn cats.

This is a pretty useful trap, all in all. It's also fairly safe, in that kids, cats, dawgs etc. can't easily hurt themselves with it. We used smooth peanut butter for bait. A syringe with a wide opening makes it easy to deposit the bait in the bottom of the hole, your local Vet or feed store can probably help you acquire one that'll work. (Note the smooth peanut butter ... the chunky stuff clogs the syringe.)

I have half a dozen three-hole versions scattered around the place. I catch maybe two critters per month, so I guess that the cats are keeping up their end of the bargain here at Chez jake.

Now you've done it: Cyber attack targeted Australian brewery 'n' dairy biz Lion

jake Silver badge

Re: Don't care: Cooper's is still brewing!

Being in the Silly Con Valley area means you have easy access to some of the best raw ingredients in the world. I'll bet you a plugged nickle that using your favorite search engine you can easily find a 5 gallon recipe to make a clone of the beer you crave ... and the parts to make it within twenty five miles of where you currently live.

jake Silver badge

Re: The Damned Things

So make your own beer & wine. It's not exactly rocket surgery. Humans have been fermenting various beverages at home for thousands of years.

Or you can just bitch about it, and continue to pay the mega-conglomerates for their built down to a price swill.

What could possibly make a cranky crocodylomorph more terrifying? How about one that chases you on its hind legs?

jake Silver badge

Re: Pretty obvious really...

"I'm sure the resident aliens would have made BBQ instead"

FTFY

California bigwigs rule Uber, Lyft dial-a-ride drivers are employees, not contractors

jake Silver badge

Re: I don't understand

"I do not understand why Uber and Lyft are being sued by the State Attorney General?"

Because that's part of the AG's job description in cases like this.

jake Silver badge

Re: Some UK reasoning may also apply in CA

Again, no. That is the UK, not California. Different systems entirely. Really.

jake Silver badge

Re: America

My morals are fucked? Can you please show me where? Or are you just putting your beak in for the sake of putting your beak in?

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

Down votes? What down votes? I blocked that crap years ago :-)

If you want insults, I'll insult you. To date I have done no such thing.

I know what anecdotal evidence is. I'm not in a court of law here, all I'm doing is recounting what I have personally seen. It's called a "testimonial". Many people across California have similar misgivings. Do a little reading on the subject.

I'd rather be arrogant than an ignorant off-topic prat without an actual bitch about the subject at hand.

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

Not really, it's more of a flood plain (as I pointed out earlier).

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

Multiple employers is a problem if three of them want to set your hours to overlapping times.

Again, UK law doesn't apply here. This is a California issue.

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

"And, importantly, why do officials, and possibly the companies, not want to offer both?"

Legally, both exist. Most companies prefer one or the other for paperwork reasons. Individuals have been allowed to chose both if working for multiple companies. It has been up to them (and/or their tax preparation person) to make certain all the is are crossed and all the ts dotted to make sure the financial/tax details are kept straight. It has been working nicely for all concerned for decades.

However, this new law makes it the employer's issue to ensure that the worker is, in fact, an above-board contract ("freelance") worker. Many companies don't want to go through that headache... part of the reason that they employ contractors is because those folks handle the bulk of the paperwork themselves.

And of course it will be a particularly bad headache for the likes of Uber, which is why the law was written the way it was. Unfortunately, as is often the case when it comes to feel-good legislation that is hurried into place to garner political favo(u)r with the electorate, the law has all kinds of collateral damage and families across the state are hurting because of it.

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

Again, what does UK law have to do with what I posted?

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

This isn't the UK. This is California. Why so many people in this thread seem to think that California has to follow UK law is beyond me ... Yes, I know, Uber and Lyft exist in the UK. I would expect them to follow UK law in that location (just as I do with regard to firearms laws, for example). But TOA, and my comment, was discussing the law in California.

jake Silver badge

Re: I know many people who work so-called "gig economy" jobs here in California.

That flexibility already exists. Look up the difference between 1099 and W2 ... However, most corporations aren't willing to go through the paperwork hassle of allowing two employees, doing identical jobs, and yet having different employment status.

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