Posts by bombastic bob

no. you place blame inaccurately.

It's the final stage of un[der]regulated monopolies and trusts cornering the markets and controlling everything, similar to late 1800's and early 1900's Robber Barons.

It's a big part of why Teddy Roosevelt became president, back then (although that history is more subtle, he was McKinley's VP and became President following McKinley's death).

Re: Wishful thinking

specific quotes are a bit much to remember

Uh, that's what search engines are for... right?

Re: Wishful thinking

comparing Google to Archie might be better...

Re: Wishful thinking

(see icon)

I use NoScript. does not work in Chrome.

Re: Because Google is actually useful

DuckDuckGo - my default search. If I can't find "it" there, I open a sandboxed browser (that has no saved history or cache) and hold my nose and use google.

Usually works the first time with DuckDuckGo, though.

(and I typically scroll down immediately)

Re: Wishful thinking

I've been pushing this mantra for the last decade... and all I've gotten in return is to be scoffed at, called paranoid and generally ignored.

the choir says "Amen"

I've been avoiding social media and even google for a long time, now. Sometimes when it makes sense I use their services, but I do it from SANDBOXED browsers that erase all history when I'm done.

and as for 'droid devices, I'm just careful.

Re: Scratching their heads? Why?

It should be BRAIN DEAD OBVIOUS: if it's covered by GDPR, don't transfer it in a way that violates GDPR.

I'm saddened by the fact that the USA does NOT have a GDPR-like data privacy protection law, and is allegedly being used to hide stuff through "data transfer" (if I read the article correctly).

well it's (sadly) not uncommon for lawsuits to do what "quality and price" competition can not... especially for those high profile mega corporations that border on being modern day "Robber Baron" trusts.

AWS and NSA - vs Micros~1 and JEDI. The military JEDI contract sounds a lot more constitutional and "above board" to me, vs NSA and allegations of data collection on citizens. I'm surprised Google wasn't in on THAT one. But I am NOT surprised that Amazon WAS.

Re: It's probably gas...

sorta like one of the first thing a sub crew often does when they get to periscope depth [when the situation permits] is to stick the snorkel mast up and ventilate for a while. Same idea. Equipment has a smell to it when it operates in an enclosed space for a relatively long time. Tighten up the hatches and recirculate the air and you actually start to accumulate the smells of paint, oil, and grease. Even with the best air conditioning designs possible, and with electrostatic precipitators in the ventilation system (better than anything you could get to deal with allergens in your home), and scrubbers and burners to take care of exhaled CO2 and organic smells (farts, cooking, oil, grease, paint) not all of it is dealt with completely and the stench slowly accumulates. You notice it the most if you stayed in for an underway period, and as soon as the boat pulls in you get back to the boat and it smells "like that" for a day or two. And so does the crew (and their clothing). Wives often complain "you smell like the boat".

So in reality it's not the farts. It's the equipment. At least, from my experience.

Re: Here's a radical idea,

come on, don't you know that government knows best for your children?

('scuse me while I reach for the pink liquid - even SNARKING that made me sick)

Re: "It could be crowdsourced like Wikipedia, for its accuracy."

when crowdsource filtering becomes woke vigilante mob... who'd a thunk it?

Re: Thoughts and prayers folks ...

you sure an AR rifle can be belt fed? (never heard that before)

Actually a "Ma Deuce" 0.50 caliber WW2-era machine gun or a helicopter-style minigun would be better... heh heh heh. "Happiness is a belt-fed weapon" (or chain fed, same idea)

Re: I'm happy for them

i wish they would, and then they'd have to drop their (allegedly VEXATIOUS) case because anything collected in this manner would be inadmissible

Re: I'm happy for them

And it's just the sort of devious thinking and misdirection the NRA is known for.

Do you have actual EVIDENCE for that potentially less than accurate claim? Or are you merely trying to pander to an inaccurate perception in a failed attempt at humor?

Keep in mind the NY attorney general FAILED to go after Cuomo for a very, very, very long time. Other high profile (allegedly politicized) legal issues have been observed over the last few years coming out of their offices (such as actions against Trump - "trumped up" charges, yeah), and (mentioning it again) a COMPLETE FAILURE to do anything about (now former) governor Cuomo's NOW well known exploits they apparently knew about for a long time. Except NOW everybody ELSE knows about it too, and they have to "save face" with some token investigations...

So, keeping THAT in mind, I would suggest it is VEXATIOUS PROSECUTION, and politically motivated.

Re: Ummmm, no...

yeah exactly what _I_ was thinking.

Ransoming the NRA, even from half way around the world, is probably NOT a good idea, like teasing the lion or scaring the elephant. This is a group of people who strongly believe in self-defense and (if they're like me) RETALIATION. With weapons if necessary. Or lawyers wielded as weapons. Or, as I would put it, "Nothing is too good for our new special friends" (kinda like Charles Bronson in the Lethal Weapon series).

Re: "the cybergang at arms is under US financial sanctions"

I would rather aim at the hackers themselves...

Re: "progressing along a trend line to 1 trillion transistors per device by 2030"

"what you said" plus lowering the voltage way below the 5V these systems used back in the 90's, so that you can use more current for switching, switch less voltage (making it a bit faster), and NOT burn out everything from the high wattage.

And, using different gate, channel, and substrate materials might help run on even LOWER voltages.

schotkey diodes have a forward bias voltage similar to germanium (0.2 to 0.3v) while silicon needs 0.6 to 0.7 . different dopings and materials might improve this enough to run at under 1V, let's say, allowing currents of ~50% more than what we're using now.

i think the power supply on my newer Ryzen boxes is in the neighborhood of 1.5V or something like that. Not sure how long they've been like this though.

Re: Waylanding

perhaps we just need to make OpenGL high performance enough for games, and let the rest of that be managed on the back end.

I would think that OpenGL and dri would be enough... assuming the dev effort went THERE and not to some new, shiny pipe dream system (Wayland) to replace what already works.

no, Wayland is yet another thing (similar to what Poettering has done) being crammed at us by the 'new, shiny, it is OUR turn now" too-young-to-realize-what-they-are-doing types.

The fact that they do this in open source is NOT the problem (it has happened a LOT with Windows, after all). It's the fact that THEY ARE DOING IT.l Their narrow view of how computers are used (and possible demand that we play with our toys ONLY the way THEY tell us, and no other) just reflects a possible level of arrogance and disdain for normal people.

At least, In My Bombstic Opinion.

If Xorg were going to die I would probably do what I could to fork it. Problem is getting paid for my efforts - I do not have F.U. money and must do consulting gigs to survive. But now, seems good with a new maintainer.

And I am _ALWAYS_ using X11 over TCP with embedded devices running Linux. It just makes sense to edit and build things on them this way.

I have often pointed out where these misconceptions about the user base come from:

a) Marketeers and their "new shiny"

b) Looking ONLY at sales or new installs

c) Poor sampling with surveys (Stack Overflow is NOT a representative sample)

d) living in a bubble world [especially when MOST of the user base is OUTSIDE of your bubble]

e) "It's MY turn, now!!!"

and so on

Wayland sounds MORE like "The Micros~1 way of doing things" i.e. a large bloated monolithic solution vs something more distributed (even to the point of client and server across a network). SystemD is like this, Pulse Audio has been accused of being this, and a LOT of people vote with their installs by choosing Linux distros like Devuan that have NONE of that crap in them [except pulse audio is still there but I believe they're working on a way to get rid of that, too]

Wayland (IMBO) is Change for the sake of Change. So, NO. Just NO.

Re: Wayland creators

if you piss after shooting, it'll hurt more

sort of like using a spoon...

Re: "Once again you abandon a framework"

you trusted Microsoft

in the 90's, this was the right choice to make.

not so much in the 21st century, though. Not since after XP released.

Re: It becomes emabarrassing

yes, actually. I preferred XP's way of keeping the launchers next to the start button, as compared to 7's behavior of moving things around based on what's running.

Re: It becomes emabarrassing

not ironic. just sad.

Re: "Windows file selector"

well In My Bombastic Opinion it was BETTER in older windows versions, particularly the 'File Open' 'common dialog' box. It loaded faster because it DID NOT HAVE TO DO ANALYSIS ON EVERY STINKING FILE EVERY TIME IT LISTED THEM so that MAYBE some shell extension would do something later IF you selected it. They could always populate icon lists and tree diagrams based on a cache or in a background thread, and NOT delay the selection of files for A SINGLE MOMENT LONGER than absolutely necessary.

Admittedly, gnome is just as bad - open up the /usr/bin directory some time in a 'File Open' box and ask "why is this thing SO SLOW???" [same reason why Micros~1 file open boxes are so slow, I say]

Re: "MS lost the plot when..."

Each iteration of software removes options from the users to make things easier to use.

If you play with your toys the way Micros~1 TELLS you to, this will not be a problem...

</snark>

Re: Unpopular opinion

Meanwhile, you're bigging up a tech stack built on Windows 9x which is totally unsuited to modern programming challenges

etc.

(I don't know whether to laugh or facepalm)

that word "modern" - I do not think it means what you think it means

And as for wax cylinders, believe it or not, audio recording on a wax cylinder (with current tech, and slightly better materials) is likely to sound VERY good, as it is on high quality vinyl. Some people prefer the sound of vinyl recordings. They also like tube/valve amplifiers better. Just because it is old does not make it obsolete.

Microsoft have only done what a sensible business would do - try to predict what the future is going to bring

How's that working out for them, since the early noughties when Ballmer took over and introduced the ".Not" initiative ... ?

(they need to FIRE their astrologers and crystal gazers)

I cannot shout this loud enough: WIN32 and 3D SKEUOMORPHIC!!

If Micros~1 gets THAT right, we'll all be better off for it. But they won't. They're too busy trying to find the right lipstick to put on the non-oinky-end of the boar, i.e. TIFKAM and UWP and that eldritch abomination, ".Not".

Re: That's easy

see icon

Re: Tweet Bias

what exactly does anyone think "the right" is? (kinda the same argument)

Stranger still, "far right" (fascism, racism) and "far left" (communism, cancel culture) are too similar NOT to notice...

I think Twitter may be "compensating". Banning Trump alienated a LOT of people.

Either that, or their algorithm detects TRUTH (for the more 'Conservative' posts, anyway. heh)

Also worth pointing out: right wing (usually wacky fascist and/or racist stuff) does not equal 'conservative' so I have to wonder exactly what they classify as "right wing". left wing is generally obvious when it orients towards socialism, social justice, universal basic income, and taxing "the rich": right wing (racist, fascist) may be more difficult to detect if it does not contain actual pejorative terms. And I wonder how they would even detect conservative posting unless it includes discussion about C.R.T. or parental involvement in schools or school choice or lower taxes/regulation or illegal immigration or states rights or less government in our lives (in general). [these concepts may be a little more vague for an algorithm so maybe they are detected as 'something else' ?].

I'd just conclude that algorithms really can't understand political things.

Re: an issue with the spacecraft’s valves

I remember seeing one of those Nuvistor tubes/valves in a color TV tuner (a TV from the early 70's).

(and it did not rust in hot humid weather, lasting over 15 years until I sold it at a swap meet in the mid 80's)

Re: an issue with the spacecraft’s valves

fortunately I found a great place online to buy transformers (replacements for guitar amps anyway) for tube(valve) amplifiers, like 6L6 and KT88 (and other) power stages, even Hammond brand (but mostly amp replacements).

And I bet those transfomers won't corrode in Florida summertime weather, unlike Boeing's rocket fuel valves.

I spent the summer in Orlando back in the early 80's when I went to U.S. Navy Nuclear Power School there. Hot, humid, and gnats spiraling in clouds. And you could set your watch by the afternoon thunderstorms.

[Launches take place from Canaveral because it's one of the lowest latitude spots in the continental USA, and so earth spin gives you a slight boost on takeoff, saving fuel. So if you make a rocket it BETTER be Florida weather proof]

When I was in the Navy I was so used to electrical, electronic, and mechanical/pipe systems being weatherproof and salt-water tolerant that I'm kind of amazed that Starliner's engineers missed this obvious operational condition.

Re: How do you think web standards work?

The web goes through standards bodies of very hard working people from many companies, all trying extremely hard to make a safe, secure web experience.

you have minutes from these collaborative meetings and/or mailing list archives available someplace? just curious...

(yes I'd like to see the actual discussion/debate that reportedly did NOT happen)

Most likely the "hard working people" are just a bunch of moderately sycophantic 3rd party marketeers brown-nosing Google to get what THEY want (and damn the end users, we're just being monetized after all)

Re: To anyone who desires a slowdown...

no, the users do NOT demand a rapidly changing web. At least, none of the users I have known.

It's the MARKETEERS and AD SLINGERS who demand it. "New Shiny" - right?

Most people get tired of the CONSTANT UPDATING very quickly, especially if they get throttled for excess cell phone bandwidth usage or have their windows workstations taken over by all-too-frequent updates for several hours (when they really needed to use their computers) a few times too many.

All that moving target updating and "New Shiny" is HIGHLY overrated. And I think nearly everybody KNOWS this.