* Posts by jake

26584 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jun 2007

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Getting a pizza the action, AS/400 style

jake Silver badge

Re: Savagery?

"The wet stuff takes too long to melt compared to the cooking time of the rest of the ingredients..."

Sounds like your pizza oven isn't hot enough. Mine runs around 900F (480C) on the deck, and around 1200F (650C) in the dome. Cooks a pie in under 90 seconds.

jake Silver badge

Re: "Hopefully he also added a bit of text along the lines"

More properly, you should never have had the privilege in the first place.

jake Silver badge

Re: Savagery?

You don't grate proper mozzarella, you shred it.

jake Silver badge

Re: Savagery?

True greatness is the combination of thin slices of proper country ham and pineapple on pizza.

jake Silver badge

Re: Pineapple good. Pepperoni bad.

If your sauerkraut has gone rancid, you've done something very, very wrong and are already being punished quite enough ...

jake Silver badge

Re: 56!

It was totally stable when the problem was divided between multiple servers.

jake Silver badge
Pint

Re: He didn't resign out of shame?

This crusty old hacker thinks your comment was cheesy and in need of a beer.

jake Silver badge

Re: "Hopefully he also added a bit of text along the lines"

Who said anything about *nix?

A paper clip, a spool of phone wire and a recalcitrant RS-232 line: Going MacGyver in the wonderful world of hotel IT

jake Silver badge

Re: Remember serial breakout boxes?

"There is no such thing as a "DB-9""

I beg to differ. I've driven a couple of them. Almost took a 2009 Volante as partial trade on a horse, until sanity prevailed. Or was that SWMBO?

I've also seen a D-sub, B-sized connector with only 9 pins, in a single line down the center ... They were in some old test equipment that we were re-purposing. I have absolutely no idea why they built it with such a non-standard part ... In about 1990 I called Amphenol for spares, they told me that they made them for a limited time in the early 1970s for a government contract, and they sent me a box full of old stock, gratis (individually wrapped, complete with pins, hoods & hardware). I probably still have a dozen of each (male and female) in my junk collection. I've never seen 'em anywhere else.

jake Silver badge

Re: I remember things differently ...

"When it worked, it was a Triumph."

Someone must have rewired it from scratch, then.

(I have owned a couple Triumphs from that era, I know of what I speak.)

jake Silver badge
Pint

Re: About ten years back

I've heard this story a couple of times over the years. I don't doubt that something similar happened, somewhere (I've heard Berkeley, MIT and UCLA) ... but after ten years? That's suspicious, for many reasons. I'd really like to know more details. I've tried to track it down in the past, but I've come up empty.

Anybody? If you're talking, I'm buying.

jake Silver badge

Re: Danger - building works

In late 1977 I managed to take down all the PDP10 kit at Stanford and Berkeley with a software upgrade. Effectively split the West coast ARPANet in half for a couple hours. Not fun having bigwigs from Moffett and NASA Ames screaming because they couldn't talk to JPL and Lockheed without going through MIT ...

jake Silver badge

Re: Proper lash up

Try the side of your nose for the grease. Works for the ferrules on a couple of my ancient two-piece fly rods (tech-tip from my Grandfather).

jake Silver badge

Re: Long RS232 cabes

"the efforts we needed then to try to get 16800 Baud over a 50m link"

Gandalf had what they called "line-drivers" that could do that out of the box. The one I'm holding in my hand as I type can do 19,200. It's about the size of a flip-phone.

jake Silver badge
Pint

Re: Luxury

That's side-cutters and wire-wrap, you heathen.

Have a beer. Steadys the hand, which is useful for this kind of work.

jake Silver badge

Re: Luxury

The RK-05 that runs with the afore mentioned Heath still works after all these years ... and I still have a dozen or so working cartridges. At 2.5 megs each, I was pretty certain that I had storage forever. And it only takes up 6U! :-) (That's ten and a half inches, for the rack-impaired.)

jake Silver badge

Re: Proper lash up

I think it's pretty safe to say that any commentard who seriously claims comments in code are unnecessary can be summarily ignored with no collateral damage.

The only issue is figuring out who is lying when they retroactively claim to be joking ...

jake Silver badge

Re: Luxury

"Made the Honeywell DPS-6 and Dec PDP boxes look like heaven sent..."

I still think that DEC PDP11 kit was the best teaching platform ever.

jake Silver badge

I remember things differently ...

"There was no email or messaging back then"

Yes, there was. Maybe not in program loaders disguised as operating systems, but that doesn't mean they didn't exist. And even with those toy computers, the BBS world was tiny, but there. If you had a modem, of course.

"nor was there the remote access"

Yes, there was. TehIntraWebTubes was well over a decade old by then.

"hasty sending of a patch"

Yes, there was. (Sometimes the "hasty" was via motorcycle ... good bandwidth, but bad latency.)

"A small business computer was size of a washer and dryer and cost around $100,000."

My Heath H11 had a 16 bit PDP11 CPU, was about the size of three modern large desk-side computers and cost me just under $3,500 (I had a lot of accessories and maxed it out on RAM ... the base kit was about $1300). It was my xmas gift to myself in 1977.

jake Silver badge

Re: Remember serial breakout boxes?

"it'd have an RS-232 connector"

Or any other data cable connector (RS422, GPIB, etc.). The good ones come with red and green LED pairs on each pin. I still have a pile of 'em. They come in handy occasionally.

jake Silver badge

Re: Proper lash up

You're probably using the lash-up that I put together in 4.1BSD (now called 4.1aBSD) for part of the TCP/IP stack to be included in 4.2BSD[0]. It was supposed to be one of those "just get us through the demo, dammit" hacks. I can't remember exactly when it was included, but I was working on it over Christmas/NewYears 1981.

[0] Just to cut the usual pack of idiots putting words into my mouth off at the socks, no, I didn't write the whole stack. That's why I said "part of". It was only about 120 lines of C in total.

This hurts a ton-80: British darts champ knocked out of home tourney by lousy internet connection

jake Silver badge

Re: Not just 'rural' connections

Indeed. We were doing world-wide video conferencing over a couple T1 channels back in the mid '80s. Granted, the video was a bit crap ... but the audio (which, when you think about it, is the important part, was very, very good. Today's systems are typical modern software bloat, combined with always having to go through a third party for monitoring/marketing purposes.

I see a great need for a simple open source peer-peer video conferencing system.

jake Silver badge

Re: And?

Only one and a half miles? So you're in civilization, then? In these here parts, you're not considered rural unless you're at least 45 minutes from cold beer. You're not really remote unless that drive is two hours or more ...

jake Silver badge

Re: Actually ...

Shit, I'd pay mine ten times that to not show up at work. At least then they wouldn't be spending my tax dollars on bullshit. I'd pay 'em even more more if they'd outright quit so someone who might actually get something useful done could have a chance.

jake Silver badge

During the meanwhile ...

... with probably 99% of all useful 'net content being good old 7-bit ASCII text, who can read faster than 9.6K/sec? Even today, I still connect over dial-up from my property in rural Mendocino county about 20% of the time ... sometimes at speeds as low as 1200 bps (fog and aging, cracked, dusty cable plant makes for bad signal/noise ratio). The low speed doesn't seem to affect my "internet experience" much ... And that's barely 200 miles by road North of Silly Con Valley!

Mine's the one with the Telebit Trailblazer in one pocket & Kermit code in the other ...

In case you need more proof the world's gone mad: Behold, Apple's $699 Mac Pro wheels

jake Silver badge

Re: Talking 'bout my wheels of steel

"FFS, do Trump supporters not have a sense of humour?"

They may have a sense of humo(u)r, John, but not one as we know it.

jake Silver badge

Re: About Time

My MC-2300s drive the BA studio monitors through appropriately sized zipcord, as gawdess intended. A couple of my audiophule friends drool over the sound my system produces, at listening levels from very quit background to makes-you-ears-bleed. And then they laugh at me behind my back, because I have the wrong cables. The mind boggles :-)

jake Silver badge

Unfortunately ...

... the "industry' they are hawking it at is rich fuckers watching cute cat videos, most of which are created on some other brand of generic PEE CEE.

As many have observed over the last umpteen millennia "There's one born every minute.".

jake Silver badge

Never mind a new one ...

... I'd be more worried about the critter that ate the old one!

(All wheels were there when you interred it, right?)

jake Silver badge

Well ...

... I have a set of these under my welding table. Good wheels can get spendy. Granted, mine only cost $69/ea ... but I rather think I got what I paid for.

One wonders if the Apple user will think they got what they paid for. Perhaps I should do them a favo(u)r out of the kindness of my heart. I can package and sell an aftermarket upgrade (these come to mind) for the low, low price of $299.99 ... and I'll even throw in the mounting hardware for free! ($100 shipping and handling charges for North America, call for shipping charges to other countries).

One also wonders why Apple computers need to be moved so often that they require wheels. Don't Apple users understand the proper care and feeding of dust bunnies?

Vodafone chief speaks out after 5G conspiracy nuts torch phone mast serving Nightingale Hospital in Brum

jake Silver badge

Re: Possibly OTT on my part but..

The WHO isn't a medical operation. It's a clearing house for information on diseases world-wide. Kinda like Interpol is for world crime ... and equally political and useless.

jake Silver badge

Re: The social media companies don't help enough

It's not my story, tip pc. It's the translation from the Latin of a story that was originally written in Koine Greek and Aramaic. Thank the translators that you can read it for yourself, instead of having it read for you ... and can think about what the words mean, not what you are told they mean.

My handle is neither of those names. It's jake. Can you read for content?

jake Silver badge

Re: Possibly OTT on my part but..

Here in Sonoma County, the germ factories[0] are now required if you are outside your house or car. Here in the Sonoma Valley (so-called "east county"), we haven't had any new cases of Covid-19 in about two weeks. I fully expect this to change by this time next week, thanks to this ignorant new law.

I also expect other respiratory diseases to be on the up turn, as well. Things like TB, emphysema and the myriad of other odds & ends that are umbrellaed as COPD should rise spectacularly. Given our agricultural nature, and cattle farming heritage, we might even start seeing anthrax cases again. Won't that be fun?

On the bright side, it looks like the PTB have finally figured out a solution to the homeless problem. I hope they've budgeted for it.

[0] My doctor friends are calling the facemasks worn by the general public "germ factories". I guess they should know.

jake Silver badge

Re: Possibly OTT on my part but..

"We should all get used to wearing masks in public if we want to start getting back to some form of normal"

Define "normal"? Not too very long ago, it was normal for anyone wearing a face mask in public to be considered a terrorist. Now they want us all to wear them?

jake Silver badge

Re: The social media companies don't help enough

"is it a conspiracy that ~2000 years ago the son of God left a cave that days before his dead body was entombed in after being crucified by the Romans?"

I actually have a logical explanation for this one.

If you read the gospels for content, you'll discover that Pontius Pilatus didn't want to crucify Jesus. You'll also discover that Jesus was imprisoned with a murderer that Pilatus wanted to put to death. The murderer's name? Barabbas. What does Bar Abba mean in Aramaic? In English, it means "Son of The Father".

Now, nobody was allowed to speak the name of God (except the High Priest, on the Day Of Atonement) ... Instead, they called God "The Father" in day-to-day life. So when Pilatus asked both men their names (Roughly, "Are you the Son of the Father?"), they would have replied in the affirmative. Throw into the mix the Essenes, well known for causing mini-riots, chanting "crucify him!" for the OTHER Barabbas, and you have a logical explanation for the "risen from the dead" myth.

This would also explain why the supposedly "dead" Jesus was seen walking BACK to the tomb by Mary of Magdala ... They had just switched out the real dead body, and Jesus hadn't managed to get back to the tomb fast enough to complete the illusion. Faking the nail & spear & thorn wounds on his hands, side & head would be trivial.

jake Silver badge

Re: Have any of you considered whether this whole 5G virus thing is perhaps a False Flag Operation?

No.

Just no.

jake Silver badge

Re: This calls for decisive measures

Let me get this right, Danny Boyd ... You are calling for summary execution of people who destroy private property? Be very careful what you wish for.

jake Silver badge

Re: The social media companies don't help enough

"Yelling "Theatre" in a crowded fire is not protected speech."

Yelling "Theater" in a crowded firehouse is certainly protected speech ... here in the US[0], anyway. I don't recommend it, though. Firefighters are an ornry lot in these parts.

[0] Might vary in your jurisdiction. Check local laws, yadda yadda.

jake Silver badge

But it gives them a bigger audience. Which is the problem.

jake Silver badge

These days we could electrocute them in the name of pay per view. Would probably make millions from the drooling masses. Sadly, live lobotomies would probably draw big numbers, too.

jake Silver badge

Re: Possibly OTT on my part but..

"create a new offence"

No need for new laws. Encouraging (or assisting) crime is a crime in and of itself, according to the Serious Crime Act of 2007 (UK). Haul 'em in and prosecute 'em.

Here in the States, it's a trifle murkier (that ol' 1st amendment again), but roughly speaking you can legally say "Burn the 5G masts! They is EVUL!!!!!1!1!!!' ... but you can't specifically say "burn the mast at the corner of Seventh Street and G Avenue". Suggesting that everyone get out and "Burn all the masts at 5 O'clock" could be prosecuted as incitement to riot, which is illegal.

On the other hand, our Homeland Security charade can label pretty much anything terrorism, as can your equivalent, so I rather suspect that is the angle the Law will use in these here parts (assuming its necessary, that is ... Fortunately the mast burning loons seem to have avoided the US for the moment).

jake Silver badge

Does your friend eat bananas?

(I have a friend who refuses to own, use, or eat anything heated in a microwave oven because "nuking things makes them radioactive". Strangely enough, as far as I am aware this is his only quirk.)

jake Silver badge

Re: Possibly OTT on my part but..

I can think of a cure for what ails them.

However, we're (supposedly) civilized. For the moment.

One wonders if the vast majority of us can be pushed to the edge, and over it, by this little, tiny minority of fuckwits and their sycophants ... and how bad the bloodshed will be if it happens. The charlatans have a lot to answer for.

jake Silver badge

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." —Albert Einstein (supposedly)

"Apart from hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe is stupidity." —Harlan Ellison

"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life." —Frank Zappa

jake Silver badge

Re: re: amplified by celebrities

"Try a little education first."

2400 years ago (plus or minus a couple decades, but who's quibbling) Euripides commented "Talk sense to a fool, and he calls you foolish."

We lost another good one: Mathematician John Conway loses Game of Life, taken by coronavirus at 82

jake Silver badge

Re: "has died after suffering from COVID-19"

"I will ask if they would like to comment here"

He has indicated that he might, but not in this thread. As he put it, "A wake is not the place to discuss such things."

He's right of course.

jake Silver badge

Re: Sad news indeed

"I think the date of 1970 for the Game of Life is not quite accurate; 1970 was the year I dropped out of Cambridge, but I can recall sitting in his office in the Maths Faculty building while he told me about it and that "apparently a million dollars of computer time was wasted last year in the USA playing it"."

Life was popularized in the October 1970 issue of Scientific American ... but it got to Stanford University (and Berkeley, UCLA, Utah, etc.) in early 1969ish, possibly through an exchange or transfer student from England. My lizard hind-brain suggests there is a name, but refuses to release it until I stop thinking about it ... watch this space.

By the time the SA article came out many, many hours of CPU time had already been devoted to it at West Coast Unis, especially at SAIL. Most of the National Laboratories also found it to be a "useful research tool". Programming tips and tricks for Life drove the early Internet far more than the traditional pr0n and cute cats ...

jake Silver badge

Re: Two's company, infinity plus one is a crowd

"Punk didn't come out of a vacuum."

I am very well aware of that. At least the Punk scene kept us older kids alive. A gig, two pints & 5 fags for under a quid and a half. Seemed like a good deal at the time. And we always had John Peel(RIP) to listen to on the transistor when we got home.

A couple years ago, one of the kids from the Barn came into my office, wondering about the "cool" music I was playing. The music server had chosen early/mid 70s tunage: The Ramones, Heartbreakers[0], New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned, Buzzcocks ... As I told the kid, I might be getting older, but I ain't dead yet.

[0] No, not the Tom Petty version you heathen.

jake Silver badge

Re: "has died after suffering from COVID-19"

This thread is deviating somewhat from what I intended.

holmgren "got it" when he asked "There is a difference between dying *with* COVID-19, and dying *from* COVID-19. Anybody confident that the difference is being respected?"

In my opinion, the answer is no, it is not being respected. I know of a guy who had been dying of terminal cancer for around 6 months. He managed to come down with Covid-19, and passed away in about ten days. His death certificate says he died of Covid-19 ... but is that true? Would he have died from it if he wasn't already weakened from cancer?

His family is trying to get the reason of death changed, because in their minds it is patently incorrect. They are being stonewalled by the authorities. Apparently they are in touch with a few other families in a similar situation. I have no idea what the numbers for this kind of thing are ... and I suspect that nobody else does, either. But I'll bet they are rather high.

I will ask if they would like to comment here (the guy's son is a friend).

jake Silver badge

Re: Two's company, infinity plus one is a crowd

Interestingly, the so-called "geniuses" at go ogle misspelled Googol when naming their search engine.

I'd have responded to your friend with "a googolplex is bigger!". (On-topic: I learned of this in one of Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" columns in Scientific American ... the very same column that was used to bring Conway's Life to a wider audience.)

Note that the Brits legally depreciated the long scale billion in favo(u)r of the French short scale billion back in 1974. (Yes, the short scale is French, not American, contrary to popular belief/myth.)

The real reason for this response: My, how the meaning of "bullied" has depreciated since I was a kid.

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