* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

Voyager 1 passes another milestone: It's now 138AU from home

Mark 85

for some unknown reason.. this oldie tune came to mind while reading this article.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/2000-light-years-from-home-lyrics-rolling-stones.html

and for those who want an earful, there's the performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy8o0gj-A0

Just days after tech community abandons plans to punish internet shutdowns… Egypt goes censorship crazy

Mark 85

Re: Today Egypt...

I don't think the UK will be alone in this. My sense is that it might be tried in many other countries in the "Free World". I believe that all we, as citizens of these various countries, can do is wait and see and then, hopefully, react if it happens.

Marissa! Mayer! out! as! Yahoo!-Verizon! closes!

Mark 85

Good luck and good riddance. I'm guessing she'll land some place and I feel for the employees of whatever company that will be.

Pizza proffer punctures privacy protection, prompts pals' perfidy

Mark 85

Re: Design

How many still think that one of Google's mantras is: "Do no evil"? I think we in IT know the answer, but what about the teeming masses?

Lockheed, USAF hold breath as F-35 pilots report hypoxia

Mark 85

Well, history does have a way of repeating itself. Sometimes that's good, other times not so much.

Mark 85

Re: "sane AI in those planes if decided to take out the pilots. "

Rumor has it that the missile was heard to say "Damn... missed again." as it missed the brass hit the latrine.

Uber board: We accept all recommendations. Any execs left to carry them out?

Mark 85

Re: Let's Hope

One of the recommendations was winding up the company.

Well... the board wouldn't hear of that would they? Being on the board means they have a vested interest... stock, money, or something of value.

Jailed fraudster admits running same cold-caller con from behind bars

Mark 85

Re: Fool me once

As regards further punishment, it would be sweet if some sort of proceeds of crime order could be made against all those convicted to recover the missing £66m, just as they are about to be released from prison. Then if they don't pay up, they can be banged up again :)

Yes... we seldom hear of the money being found or confiscated so obviously crime does pay after you get out of the slammer. I'm beginning to think that the death penalty might work... a bit harsh but at least they won't be able to either con anyone else nor spend the money.

Google's news algorithm serves up penis pills

Mark 85

Re: Ad company drops human oversite to ship more ads.

Problem is, who sees ads anymore, so will anybody notice?

Probably not anyone here. However, there's bunches of the great un-tech that don't know or care about adblockers. And most do use Google (just like they use FB) and don't seem to care. Or maybe they want to see the ads especially the "trendy ads"?

Hell, I gave up watching the Superbowl here in the States decades ago yet, every Monday afterwards, it wasn't the game everyone talked about but the ads. I'm not where the manipulated minds of people are anymore.

Swedish school pumps up volume to ease toilet trauma

Mark 85
Alert

Re: Every piss you take...

Somewhere in the readership is one brave soul who will click on it.... and hopefully report back.

Has riddle of the 1977 'Wow!' signal finally been cracked? Maybe...

Mark 85
Coat

Re: I wish this wasn't true.

Mandatory political comment:

Ask Trump. He'll tell if you if it's fake or not.

Coat, check.

Hat, check.

I'm outta' here.....

I fought Ohm's Law and the law won: Drone crash takes out power to Silicon Valley homes

Mark 85

Dear lord... they want to arrest Mr. Clean.

Boeing preps pilotless passenger flights – once it has solved the Sully problem, of course

Mark 85

I would also expect a pile here and a pile there scattered about New York City. I remember an old saying about a lot of little piles being better than one big pile.

Whisky snobs scotched by artificial tongue

Mark 85

"Past the teeth and over the gums: look out, stomach, here it comes." generally works for me but then, I'm a heretic.

Shoebox-sized satellites made by civs win trip on NASA's newest rocket

Mark 85

"Oops". Or maybe 2 words: "Oh Shit!!!"

Cabinet Office minister Gummer loses seat as Tory gamble backfires

Mark 85

The Race to the Bottom.

I guess it's continuing with these election results? Otherwise, the US wins it. Then again, seems that lately all any election has been about least bad choices.... <sigh>

Please do not scare the pigeons – they'll crash the network

Mark 85

Token Ring?

First IT job I had was company running Token Ring with the cabling run up to the cross beams and along them. Their office was a beautiful wood building with cathedral ceilings. Mangelment decided to put in drop ceilings for noise reduction. Yep.. the installers managed to nail every damn cable while installing the ceiling. We spent a solid week of 20 hour days replacing every cable. The up side... the president of the company stayed with us, helped when he could and kept us in great food and beer. And then added a bonus onto the overtime pay.

Mark 85

@Ol' Grumpy -- Re: Re-crimp?

Or shoot the pigeons! (Although one imagines the contributor doesn't have a firearms license :))

One would need unlimited ammunition to do that.

Oh no, Silicon Valley! Failed startup CEO on fraud rap after allegedly bullsh*ting staff and refusing to pay them

Mark 85

Re: Dodgy employment agency plants fake job ads

We are clearly dealing with a very high calibre of wit here.

I think you're only half right....

Live blog: Fired FBI boss spills the beans to US Senate committee

Mark 85
Pirate

Re: Question.

Is there a politician who hasn't lied? Rule of thumb: If a politician's lips are moving, he/she is lying.

US spook-sat buzzed the International Space Station

Mark 85

Why?

Maybe just a bit of "waving the flag" and letting a certain country know that we are watching? I just somehow don't think this was a fluke of orbits but then again, I own a tinfoil hat for those "just in case" moments.

Human-free robo-cars on Washington streets after governor said the software is 'foolproof'

Mark 85

Re: Reg commentards claim software not to be trusted

If all cars were robot "driven" and none were meatsack driven, you would have a valid argument. But, when humans are involved in the operation all bets are off.

Senator blows a fuse as US spies continue lying over spying program

Mark 85

More importantly, the obvious conclusion is that the agencies are directly challenging Congress over their governance. It's almost as if they are saying to Congress, "you don't count". That's a pretty big challenge.

If certain folks keep pushing them, I look for an example to be made of someone disappearing or perhaps a very public and violent end. It's happened before.... allegedly.

Mark 85
Black Helicopters

Re: So-

Hi Theresa, are you listening?

She's not and neither is our dear leader here in the States, but their minions are... thus the icon.

Obama's intel chief says Russia totally tried to swing it for Trump

Mark 85

Re: Trump,WUN

I'm thinking more of the Bombastic one... The intentional typos and random CAPS give me a headache.

No hypersonic railguns on our ships this year, says US Navy

Mark 85

Re: Railgun assist?

Probably not but not sure. There is the expansion rate of the conventional propellant that would be the limit. Once the projectile exceeds that speed, it's wasted effort.

Mark 85

More research?

I can understand that... the prototypes work but have drawbacks. I'm guessing that over the next few years they'll be looking at the "barrel" wear problem and possibly the power problems.

Class clowns literally classless: Harvard axes meme-flinging morons

Mark 85

Re: Student Code of Conduct

It seems like every week there's news of people getting let go for social media antics.

I'd lay odds that the "social media antic" was the justification but that many of them were already on a "hit" list.

NASA brainboxes work on algorithms for 'safe' self-flying aircraft

Mark 85

Re: Waste of time

Actually, I think this will happen sooner than you think and for one reason... money. The airlines will push on this to cut the costs of pilots. Pilot's salaries and benefits are a pretty high cost for them. And no pilots and they one other less problem to deal with.. the pilot's union.

IBM: ALL travel must be approved now, and shut up about the copter

Mark 85

Sounds like what happened at military base (training facility) back in the 60's. The Admiral's wife bought a bunch of buildings and put lockers in them. Within days, a new order: No civilian clothes for trainees allowed on base. So the sailors had to stash their clothes somewhere.... Nice profit for the Admiral's wife.

Mark 85

Re: Again

Well, if they can't send out the techs for service, it will be the end of them. I can't think of anyone of reasonably sound mind who'd buy/lease their products without an on-site service contract. I do believe management has gone off the deep end.

UK PM May's response to London terror attack: Time to 'regulate' internet companies

Mark 85

Re: The Internet again!

It's not just you British who have this problem with "the Internet". Lots of screaming here in the States about "security" and "control", ad nauseam ad infinitum.

BA IT systems failure: Uninterruptible Power Supply was interrupted

Mark 85

Re: Single Point of Failure

Add to that... maybe two DC's close to each other but only one UPS for both... err.. to save money of course.

Mark 85
Facepalm

Re: Isn't restore 101

That makes sense. At least you had the data available. I've heard of at least one place where there were no hard copies of the recovery plan as they were all "in the operation's database"...

Mark 85

Re: If it got interrupted...

Similar to where I worked, except the backup power gen came on, picked up the load and then promptly died. Seems there wasn't much fuel in the tank. Maintenance guy was fingered for it as it was in his job description to fuel the generator and keep it topped off. The lesson was that firing off the generator once a week for 10 minutes to test uses fuel... duh!!!!!!

Utah fights man's attempt to marry laptop

Mark 85
Alert

Re: OK Computer

Sticky issue.

Ewww.... use soap and water please.

'My PC needs to lose weight' says user with FAT filesystem

Mark 85

Re: IHTFP

At least you didn't write using a "permanent" marker on the board. I knew a guy who did this and then had the balls to admit he did it. Downside... he was escorted to the door very quickly and the company docked the price of a new white board from his final check.

Gay Dutch vultures become dads

Mark 85

Define "deviancy" and go from there. One person's kick is another person's normal.

Elon to dump Trump over climate bump

Mark 85

Musk should stay...

There should always be at least one voice of dissent so that the advisors aren't all "yes-men".

Trident nuke subs are hackable, thunders Wikipedia-based report

Mark 85

Re: Boom

So no, not really worried about a v boat being hacked by hippies with iPads.

Hippies? Really? All they ever wanted was sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Peace protests were their way of meeting up with others for the 3 basics. I'd be more worried about the kid living in the parent's basement that is stuffed with computers..

China cyber-security law will keep citizens' data within the Great Firewall

Mark 85

@Yet Another Anonymous coward -- Re: Am I understanding this correctly?

Say your a US company with a UK subsiduary you can't send any medical data about your emplyees to the US to sell to insurance companies - that sounds pretty messed up.

No, the messed up part is that they WOULD sell the data if they could. We're all for sale, but most folks just don't know it or care.

Mark 85
Unhappy

Re: Pity this doesent apply to the English

I'd be happy if they would pull something like this here the States to shut down the data slurpage. Every company just about owns everyone who lives here.

WannaCrypt: Pwnage is a fact of life but cleanup could and should be way easier

Mark 85

Re: Shame on you...

What the hell did we expect? MS basically via open handed marketing and underhanded tricks (I'm thinking of CorelDraw here) owns the OS market. They can now do whatever the hell they want such as force feeding Win10, any updates they feel like etc. There's really no options for Joe User or Joe Company as PC's all come packaged with the beast. Linux just hasn't got there yet... MS's marketing methods pretty much ensure that Linux won't be the OS from the maker.

NASA Sun probe named for solar wind boffin Eugene Parker

Mark 85

Re: Did he get better?

That is a mouthful of a title. Might need a few more words eventually such "master of all they see" or "god of the realm".

India sets June 5 as the day it will join the heavy-lift rocket club

Mark 85
Devil

Re: What ARE you guys smoking?

Or duct (duck, in some places) tape?

Pentagon trumpets successful mock-ICBM interception test

Mark 85

Star Wars? I like it. Will there be some stirring music??

Event horizons around black holes do exist, say astroboffins

Mark 85

Re: Promotion?

Big Kahuna Relativity for those from the 60's.

NORK spy agency blamed for Bangladesh cyberheist, Sony Pictures hack

Mark 85

Re: Still not convinced

Up to a point, you are correct. He is a typical megalomaniac though so things of this sort can't be put past him and his regime. Consider his total power and how he's (according to news results) constantly guiding his people via personal appearances at missile launches, factory operation, etc. He knows all. This is just another piece of the mythological power of his persona.

Then again, this behavior is exhibited by, for all intents and purposes, all leaders of all countries. The world has become a scary place with these folks in charge.

US laptops-on-planes ban may extend to flights from ALL nations

Mark 85
Meh

Ok.... color me confused....

The TSA already plays with every laptop...err.. checks them at the gate. So are they saying that the TSA check at the gate isn't sufficient? I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you.

Footnote: Maybe if the batteries go "boom" in the hold, then the terrorists can be blamed? I really can't fathom where these paranoid thoughts come from.