Posts by jake

Re: aims to make the UK "the safest place in the world to be online"

"However, in reality it will just drive people to more dodgy underground sites run by heavy criminals where they will be a lot less safe."

Or people will learn to use VPNs en-mass.

There is absolutely no fucking way that a mere government is going to keep teenage boys away from pR0n ... and from what I've seen as the local "fixer" of b0rken equipment, the teenage girls have finally caught up with the boys in the pR0n viewing department.

Re: Dog years

"And we can't have that, can we?"

Of course not. Because dogs are Not Allowed. Not even Spot.

"I refuse to flag it up as an "error"."

And yet here you are, very publicly pointing out the error.

Presumably you are hoping for many thumbs up from the spleling nazis (I can't be arsed to turn 'em on and look). What they are up is left as an exercise for the reader.

Re: The Lords said they felt that "anonymous age verification is possible."

"commission a proof of concept implementation and then let the experts take it apart."

And then promptly arrest the lot of them for "terrorist hacking" when they are successful and have rubbed the .gov's nose in it.

Re: "Hairy jumper"

Note to my fellow Yanks: A "jumper" is to the Brits (and hangers-on) what we would call a sweater.

Re: "Hairy jumper"

You don't fry the spider ... you use the spider to remove food from the oil after it's cooked.

Re: "Hairy jumper"

The tarantulas are making their presence known here in Northern California, now that it's finally Spring. I don't think they live as far north as BC, though.

"the ones which needed a metal mousemat painted with dots to work"

Not dots. A grid of grey and blue lines. Made by Mouse Systems Corporation. I've got an original, attached to an orange logo Sun 1 ... 40+ years old, and still going strong. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Re: capital of BC

Not the capitol of Canada. The capitol of BC.

Re: Static

Remember the anti-static mousepads they used to sell? The ones with a snap in one corner for attaching a ground wire?

They weren't for grounding the mouse. They were there to ground the user.

The "What if ... ?" aspect of destructive testing was one of my favorite games for several years. I've measured 115,000V after running a standard vacuum cleaner over the floor of a SillyConValley shipping & receiving department. Lots of very small particles moving quickly through a plastic tube caused the static buildup. The next stop on the cleaner's schedule was the stockroom, with shelves & shelves full of static sensitive parts. Much hilarity ensued.

I once measured 61,750ish volts on an empty, unused Styrofoam coffee cup set down on an isolated table after a colleague walked across a nylon carpet wearing Nikes ... Was an example, just to prove the point.

In other news, the average secretary can generate upwards of 85KV walking down the hall to get a cuppa, but myself walking alongside her came up static free. Seems my unmentionables were made of cotton, hers were made of silk and petrochemicals. Her heels were leather, my soles were high-carbon rubber.

No, the above isn't sexist, it's observed reality ... and she volunteered to take part in the experiment. She also managed to drag another 21 of her female cow orkers into "the game" (as she called it), giving us some real data to make recommendations. Interesting couple of months, that.

"I’d be surprised if they don’t even contain microcontrollers"

Industrial microcontrollers for motor control, yes. But they are designed for the environment they are used in, are insulated from the consumer, and last virtually forever. Note that the user controls on most Speedqueen units lead to control circuitry with stand-alone components which can be individually replaced if they ever die ... none of mine ever have.

Most other modern consumer washer/dryer pairs have flimsy computers that are wired directly to the membrane switch control panel where they can get zapped by the static generated by whatever the consumer has just removed from the dryer. (To be fair, Maytag and others may still sell machines with non-computerized controls, but I can't be arsed to look.)

I don't buy the laundromat versions, I purchase the household units. Yes, I'm aware of the membrane controls on the TR line. I haven't eyeballed those machines physically, nor have I seen their schematics, so I'll defer passing judgement. Gut feeling is the control panel is a primary failure mode, though.

No, it's far more illogical than that. I can legally get the parts here in California (except some refrigerants), it is just illegal to install them.

_{Stand back, greens ... I have charging and testing manifolds, vacuum pump and several kinds of refrigerant, and I'm not afraid to use them.}

"Maybe your next fridge or washing machine will come with ChatGPT built in!"

Yours might. Mine won't.

The only washers I buy don't contain a computer (Speedqueen). Likewise my fridges and freezers (mostly Traulsen). Consumer grade appliances are trash, with no longevity and (usually) no repair options[0]. Adding Internet access to it only makes it connected trash. I'd rather spend a lot of money once than a little bit of money many times (and each time losing the contents of my freezer ... ).

[0] Here in California, it is illegal to replace a part of the consumer grade refrigerant system. You have to remove it and replace it as a complete, sealed unit. That's right ... The compressor, evaporator, condensor, expansion valve, and every other piece that has refrigerant in it can only be replaced as a complete sealed unit. This means that once the compressor dies, it's cheaper to throw it away and buy a new fridge, even though a new compressor can usually be purchased for around a hundred bucks ... How "smart" is your new fridge now, consumer?

Re: Well, I'm not gonna use rust again for the forseeable future.

The OP's point wasn't about whatever todays documentation might say, it's about the whims of ThoseInCharge and what they might decide the rules become tomorrow.

Said management has demonstrated major cluelessness, and yet they are still in charge. Do you honestly think they have developed a clue? Personally, after many decades of watching management all over the technical world, I seriously doubt it. The OP seems to agree ... and thus isn't going to use the product anymore. It's not worth the risk for the very few benefits it supposedly brings.

Perhaps if they fork it ... forks to get away from bad management are a positive point for FOSS. See Debian/Devuan.

Re: Remove the what now?

Teen-age locker-room name calling makes you look quite ignorable. The people you are discussing are quite execrable all by themselves without you resorting to that kind of childish display. All it does is make you look silly. Stop it.

"Although presumably, in The Big One, the building doesn't collapse straight away."

Around here, it probably wont collapse at all. In fact, chances are good that the buildings on this property will not even need to be inspected by the State for occupancy safety, mainly because I over-built (at least according to Code) just for this possibility. When, not if.

1989's "Loma Prieta" quake was a 6.9. The epicenter was approximately 30 miles SSE of my home in Palo Alto. 42 of the 57 deaths in that quake were on Oakland's Cypress Structure on I880 (about 35 miles North of me), 5 of the remainder were in a brick wall collapse in San Francisco (also about 35 miles North of me). Both had been flagged as probably unsafe in general, never mind earthquakes, and were due for removal or retrofit. That leaves a whopping 10 deaths caused directly by the quake, in a major Urban area, with around 6,000,000 people living in it (guesstimate, from 1990 census data). My house[0] was untouched, as were the rest of the houses in my neighborhood.

Seems modern construction and retrofit techniques actually work. Whodathunkit.

[0] Stick-built on a slab in the 1930s, retrofitted in the early 1980s with bolts between the sticks and the slab, and some wall reinforcement in places.

Re: Worry about it in the UK

"a stiff sharp spike in the centre of the steering wheel"

So when a drunk blows through a stop sign/red light and you T-bone him in the passenger door, you die and he very probably lives?

What a plan. Absolutely brilliant.

Re: In reality, what's one meant to do if there's a real alert?

"there would be potential for a very big band. Very big indeed."

Rolling Stones big, or Earth, Wind and Fire big?

Re: Useful in America…

"I received one of these when wildfires were nearby. Actually useful."

Because you couldn't smell the smoke? Frankly, the so-called "alerts" were among the most annoying and unnecessary things about the fires ... at least here in Northern California.

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area, living around 1000 feet from the Rogers Creek Fault, probable home of California's next big one.

I turned the "alerts" off years ago, because they donlt actually work. How many years ago? Glad you asked ... over four decades. When I was at SAIL we had a seismograph wired to send an alarm (sonalerts in all participants living quarters, ~100 participants) at the first sign of fairly low-level P-waves. After a year or so, not a single one of us managed to get out of the house before the S-waves got there.

The project was dropped as useless.

Re: Just remain stoned at all times

Ah, yes. The "reality is an illusion caused by a lack of drugs and alcohol" set.

No, thank you. I prefer RealLife, warts and all.

Better ...

If you live in earthquake country, build for it. And then decorate your house for it. Simples.

A few seconds in the middle of a sound sleep is nowhere near enough time to do much more than shit yourself. In this example, the warnings are all but useless.

We're as ready as we can be at Chez jake. Not paranoid, pragmatic.

_{Typing less than 1000ft from the Rogers Creek Fault, probable home of California's next big one.}

Not all of them. Pocket doors in non-load-bearing walls, for example.

Food on the hoof, no refrigeration required. Harvest, roast and eat as required. Pressed is nice.

For long-term storage, smoked sausages. Seems the Chinese have been known to have a few original ideas ...

Or soup. Soup is almost always a good answer.

_{This is a thread about emergencies, right?}

Re: For some reason - possibly pathological

Personally, I'd suspect something fishy was going on ...

Re: Jumping the gun by a few dozens of years (maybe eternity?) ...

Not withholding anything. Just a lack of facts to enter into evidence.

Re: Supreme Court rejection

When you think about it, anyone who thinks an AI is " conscious, sentient, and truly creative" is acting on faith. There certainly isn't any science involved.

Re: Jumping the gun by a few dozens of years (maybe eternity?) ...

"What are you wearing, Jake?"

Sunscreen. The ground is finally dry enough to plant, so I've been on a tractor for the last couple weeks.

Re: Buying time

The object isn't to attempt destruction ... the object is to chose the manufacturer who doesn't cut corners in power supply design. If they allow the on-off-on-off-on-bang option, who knows what other "shortcuts" they have taken to save money.

In other words, it's a final QA check before I purchase the system. It's hardly my fault that they didn't perform it at the factory.

Re: Buying time

"until the rise of hardware-based solutions that could trigger an interrupt,"

A couple bits of wire and a momentary switch has worked since the year dot.

Not quite a carcass ... there has to be just enough left to sell, probably to some outfit or other in India. After being stripped of any and all useful IP, of course.

Re: Command.com

"9" floppy discs."

Typo? ICL did some ... odd... things, but I don't remember a 9" floppy being among them.

Re: Wheels within Wheels

"those who "discovered" said file would probably be those least likely to flunk out."

That type is, however, most likely to brag about their exploits among their peers, thus getting the message out.

_{As a lecturer, your humble scribe may or may not have engaged in such misdirection ...}

Re: Command.com

My first PC (personal computer) was a Heath H11, in late 1977. It has[0] 8" floppies.

[0] Yes, has. I still own her, and she still runs. Loudly.

Re: Sometimes you do what you have to do.

It;s not my story, I'm just sharing it.