* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

Senators urge US trade watchdog to look into whether Tesla may just be over-egging its Autopilot, FSD pudding

Mark 85

Re: I am kind of surprised...

I don't know where you are but where I am one is lucky if the centerline is marked anywhere but the major interstate highway and even then, it fades away pretty fast due to the amount of traffic. As for most of the streets in town.... forget about pavement markings and many times even speed signs.

Solve the wear and tear problem on the roads and you might be on to something.

Mark 85

Re: Didn't Musk

PT Barnum would be right about those who bought one thinking they'd make some good money doing that.

Mark 85

Re: I should sue for false advertising.

With the right lawyer(s) you'd probably have a good chance of winning. But it would take some deep pockets as I don't think it would be an easy fight. Musk has (apparently) lots of lawyers of his own.

Magna Carta mayhem: Protesters lay siege to Edinburgh Castle, citing obscure Latin text that has never applied in Scotland

Mark 85

Re: What a bunch of muppets...

I find this reference to "muppets" offensive to those performing in the Muppet Show. At least those on the show had some class.

Mark 85

They were local loons.

Are you sure? They certainly sounded like some of the nutters here in the States,

Russia: Forget about the Nauka incident. Who punched the hole in the Soyuz, hmm?

Mark 85

Re: Space woodpeckers…

Woodpeckers? So it wasn't metal eating space termites after all.

Once again, Facebook champions privacy ... of its algorithms: Independent probe into Instagram shut down

Mark 85
Big Brother

Privacy Issues? At Facebook?

The only privacy issues I can think of is that Facebook wants all the users info and doesn't want to share it or let anyone know how much they have.

Icon... well because.

Before I agree to let your app track me everywhere, I want something 'special' in return (winks)…

Mark 85

Re: 21st century lamp columns ... incorporating sensors that can receive and transmit

So your nutters in Blighty are not much different that our nutters here in the States? As the nutters seem to be getting more attention and more followers, I fear humanity is doomed.

Engineers work to open Boeing Starliner's valves as schedule pressures mount

Mark 85
Coat

Re: Doesn't inspire confidence

Isn't Rule #1 "Beware of flying in something built by the lowest bidder"? Maybe they'll have to launch with a techie and his/her hammer strapped to the outside?

Icon.. the techie strapped to outside making sure there's no loose change in his/her pockets.

Alibaba fires manager accused of sexually assaulting colleague

Mark 85

Re: The crackdown

If there wasn't a profit motive, there wouldn't be any big tech or any other business. But then, perhaps the high ups in government feel that everyone should work for the greater glory of the country?

SpaceX Starship struts its stack to show it has the right stuff

Mark 85

Re: Astronaut wings

Good question as they have changed the rules. They will get their wings. Sub-orbital will not.

Mark 85

Re: "Mine is bigger than yours"

I think your title pretty much nailed it. While there were some engineering reasons for building the stack, I do have to wonder how much of Musk's ego was in this as it did seem be a bit of willy waving.

84-year-old fined €250,000 for keeping Nazi war machines – including tank – in basement

Mark 85

Re: Ha!

There is a book of Americans and their guns. One has / had a Napoleonic era canon.

I think most people would be surprised at what Americans own. Tanks, artillery, MG's, (not the car), mortars, bazookas, etc. Some even own fighter planes. There are specialty types like Civil War and Revolutionary War collectors (and re-enactors who own operational cannon.

Tesla battery fire finally flamed out after four-day conflagration

Mark 85
Mushroom

Re: Liquid nitrogen

Not an expert in any way on the matter, but it seems to me that dropping a super-cooled liquid on a raging fire is an absolute guarantee of explosive results that might not correspond to the definition of "putting out the fire".

Well, a bit of explosive does go a long way as it works on oil field fires. Not sure if it would work here as it would scatter the lithium over a wide area. See icon...

Russia tells UN it wants vast expansion of cybercrime offenses, plus network backdoors, online censorship

Mark 85

Re: Why not go Orwellian?

My impression is that we're pretty much there with Big Bro watching us. The catch is.. who watches the watchers? And then who watches the watcher watchers and so on?

The proposal from Russia seems to be "do what we say, not what we do".

Giant Tesla battery providing explosion in renewable energy – not as intended

Mark 85

Re: It's not online yet

Well, now that they've let the smoke out, they'll have to repack it with fresh smoke.

Have you turned it off and on again? Russia's Nauka module just about makes it to the ISS

Mark 85

Re: It's not over yet

They've reported that the tanks for those thrusters are now empty so there shouldn't be anymore "uncommanded" firings of those.

Iranian state-backed hackers posed as flirty Scouser called Marcy to target workers in defence and aerospace

Mark 85

Re: Can't believe people

Such is the nature of social media. I have a friend who uses FB and claims he has several thousands "friends". WTF? Maybe the "name" should be "acquaintances" instead of "friends".

Ecuador shreds Julian Assange's citizenship

Mark 85

I'm always amazed at how Assange fans seem to want to try to re-write history........

Not just Assange fans. Look what a certain party and former President here in the States have been doing lately.

Mark 85

Re: Journalist prosecution

Be OK if Assange were a journalist, but he's not.He's nothing more than a editor and publisher

Add to that a bit.... "attention whore" and maybe "wannabee martyr".

Everything has consequences. Some are good and some are bad. Seems he thinks he's above consequences.

Bezos offers to knock $2bn off his bill to NASA to stay in the running for Moon contract

Mark 85

Re: It's all about Elon

I say let him and Elon build their giant penises and have an outer space pissing match.

That really doesn't sound like a bad idea. They build, NASA tests and decides which one goes into space and gets paid. But then Bezos might have a plan to use Amazon workers and pay rates to build it.

Punchy Italian kartist gets 15-year ban for trackside rampage... and other stories

Mark 85

Re: He's no Murray Walker

At 1.48 he says "Accidents are always a matter of IF not WHEN in motorsport..."

I think it's the other way around.... a matter of "when" not "ifi". Even in drag racing (straight line, separate lanes) they require lots of safety gear because "when".

Back when I was younger, I did a lot of drag racing and had a lot of days/nights that I'd rather not have again that were hard on the equipment and my body.

Google fixes 'Chromebork' one-character code typo that prevented Chrome OS logins

Mark 85

Re: Or, you know, testing code you write.

Given some of the weird bugs I've come across in various Google products, I suspect we are the testers.

So Google is now following the Microsoft method? Users=testers.

Facebook gardening group triumphs over slapdash Zuck censorbots

Mark 85

.... and any future flags attached to the group's posts arising from hoe-related matters would be checked by a human moderator before action is taken.

So someone whose not a native English speaker and based overseas (not in the US) will be the "human moderator"? This doesn't bode well.

Pipe down, Jeff. You've only gone where Gus Grissom went before, 60 years ago today

Mark 85

The days of steely eyed rocket men are probably nearly over. Back then, much was unknown and unpredictable. Today, it's almost "ho-hum" with well tested spacecraft built on the shoulders of the early launches.

With NASA launches, we all held our breaths during the launch back then. With commercial guys....we blow it off. I think both of the commercial guys got entirely too much applause and credit. Innovation... they've heard of it. Their flights are for status (they get an astronaut badge) only.and maybe some rights to willy waving.

All things considered.. space is an adventure and the return on investment is knowledge, not bragging rights.

Lawn care SWAT team subdues trigger-happy Texan... and other stories

Mark 85

Re: Male mosquitoes ...

How are you identifying the males from the female(s)?

Carefully and with extreme magnification.

Good news: Jeff Bezos went to space. Bad news: He's back

Mark 85

Re: "Mission"??

The early Mercury "missions" were basically "launch and land safely". So there is a precedent.

Mark 85

Re: Executive Summary

"My workers are living in tents, so I don't have to pay them a living wage and thus I could have all this money for the rocket fuel. Those poor buggers could watch me through the holes in their tents." - Jeff

He is taking a lot of crap about that. And he probably should. However, like almost all the very wealthy, he won't care.

Not only is Hubble back online after outage, it's already taking photos of the cosmos

Mark 85

Re: Life without the shuttle

The shuttle was a start but using tons of discarded metal along with the shuttle itself at each launch could never be regarded as a permanent solution.

The only thing discarded in a shuttle launch was the fuel tank. The solid boosters were recovered and re-used.

Total recall: Amazon faces legal action from US consumer protection group over hazardous goods

Mark 85

All the items named were being sold by third-party sellers.

Were all these items made in China? Vietnam? Or another country were "safety of product" isn't a reality?

Trouts on a plane: Utah drops fish into lakes from aircraft and circa 95% survive

Mark 85

They have done that out here on the US west coast areas and others. Drop the seeds in the spring many times over areas that have burned.

That time a startup tried to hire me just to push clients' products in job interviews

Mark 85

Block all social media - it'll be quicker and just as efficient.

Best to nuke from space as it's the only way to be sure.

Where's the boss? Ah right, thorough deep-dive audit. On the boardroom table. Gotcha

Mark 85

But in the lunch room?

Worked at a place a long time ago. One evening the security guy was doing rounds, ran into the owner of the company. They decided to go to the cafeteria for some coffee. There they found a manager and the head of the typing pool (Yes it was that long ago) in a delicate position on a table. All we in the office knew was that he and her suddenly left the company. Funny thing is, a brass plaque ended up on table they'd used. Plaque said said "X and Y Memorial Table".with X and Y being their names. No one ever sat at that table again for lunch nor did anyone take credit or blame for the plaque.

Mark 85

Anonymous Coward

"Ethics, I've heard of them. They sound expensive."

Back in those years, nobody cared about them ....

Are you saying they care about ethics now? I'm surprised and shocked.

Florida Man sues Facebook, Twitter, YouTube for account ban

Mark 85

Re: It's the plot of 'The Producers'.

The bill won't matter as he never pays them. He's even stiffing his so-called "friend" Rudy.

Radioactive hybrid terror pigs have made themselves a home in Fukushima's exclusion zone

Mark 85

Re: Three words:

Wait until they start growing

I'm waiting for them to take over SpaceX.... Pig in Spaaaaaace!!!!

Former NASA astronaut and Shuttle boss weigh in on fixing Hubble Space Telescope

Mark 85
Pint

Re: So you're telling me there's a chance

I suggest beers first, coffee later. Seems with many tech types they're more creative after a couple of beers. But win or lose, those engineers deserve a beer. They have to be racking their brains and putting in long hours.

Ouch! When the IT equipment is sound, but the setup is hole-y inappropriate

Mark 85

My dad has the perfect way for him to hook up a laptop. He bought some small bottles of model paints and painted a line over the connector is say "red". The cord that went into that port was also painted red. Dad's in his 90's now and still uses the painted ports.

Mark 85

Re: Hot Desking

As far as desk size and spacing, it would seem that we've gone back to the old style of office we called the "bullpen". Desks snug up to each other, barely room for the chair. Heaven help the poor guy who came in a bit late and his desk was a the end of the row next to the wall.

Facebook granted patent for 'artificial reality' baseball cap. Repeat, an 'artificial reality' baseball cap

Mark 85
Pint

Re: "hats solve the problem presented by AR glasses"

Very nice. I was thinking of Augmented+Simulated Sight Hat.

I can't upvote that one enough. So have a pint or two ------------->

UK spends £36m on 18 little 'bullet-proof' boats to protect Royal Navy assets

Mark 85

Re: No sign of armament

Good point. What good are they if they're unarmed?

Intrepid Change.org user launches petition to make Jeff Bezos' space trip one-way

Mark 85

Re: Never work

I don't see a problem with that at all.

Deluded medics fail to show Ohio lawmakers that COVID vaccines magnetise patients

Mark 85

Lately, I think this applies.

All the world has gone mad except for me and thee... and I'm worried about thee.

We don't know why it's there, we don't know what it does – all we know is that the button makes everything OK again

Mark 85

Re: The knob......

We had an engineer designing a "box" for customers. It has one control besides the on/off switch. That control was labeled "wonderful" and only rotated in on direction. Per his comments this was designed that way as customers always wanted "more wonderful".

As I recall, the product was released but after a month or so, the company owner had him remove the "wonderful" control. While the marketing types loved it, the owner was a more practical person who realized it really didn't do anything.

Linus Torvalds tells kernel list poster to 'SHUT THE HELL UP' for saying COVID-19 vaccines create 'new humanoid race'

Mark 85

Linus seems to have been holding back. I wonder what is response might have been if he hadn't held back.

EE and Three mobe mast surveyors might 'upload some virus' to London Tube control centre, TfL told judge

Mark 85

Add to this... the article doesn't mention who owns the building. Apparently it's not TfL which probably could be in a better position to say "no".

In this round of 'Real life or Black Mirror episode', drones that hunt down humans by listening to their screams

Mark 85

Re: Wot?

Not yet. This statement "In Varela's defence, the technology is not intended to allow future autonomous battle machines " about 'intentions'. But then, we all know what the road to hell is paved with.

FBI paid renegade developer $180k for backdoored AN0M chat app that brought down drug underworld

Mark 85

Re: Trusting trust

The human factor is the big one. Seems crims (and even non-crims) forget the old "under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me".

There are a lot of people out there who'd like to fire Jeff Bezos into space – but he's doing the honours himself

Mark 85

I don't believe that any insurance company at this point would offer coverage that includes a "space flight". Those companies do love their exclusions like "auto racing", "acts of war/terrorism", flying in "experimental aircraft". Maybe aircraft is close enough to "spacecraft"?

I take that back a bit... Lloyds of London would for a very heavy premium.