Posts by bombastic bob

Re: WTF?

"Doesn't paypal and others already do that?"

As far as I know, YES. But to have PayPal you need some kind of bank account. I wouldn't be surprised if FAECEBOOK wants to be "the bank" which would give them BANKING access to YOUR money.

Banks always make money off of your money. In exchange they offer free services. What they have been PREVENTED from doing in the USA is monetizing your banking history and SELLING IT to 3rd parties, without your EXPLICIT permission to do so. So, credit card companies can't sell your purchasing history.

But if FAECE-BITCH got ahold of this info, they'd have WAY too much of your personal data, because it would INCLUDE your shoping history with whatever banking "services" they manage...

And if *THEY* get *THEIR* way, then when their AI algorithms get done with you, you'll be on even THICKER puppet strings than you could POSSIBLY imagine, and would CONSTANTLY be tempted to go back to them and eat whatever they feed you. Don't doubt me. It's THEIR GOAL!!!

Re: I don't know what their "partners" expected

the only thing _I_ would expect from any crypto-currency is:

a) exchange fees being collected by those who REALLY make money off of it

b) instability and continuous price changes for items that would otherwise be stable pricewise

c) no backing with anything even partially solid, like gold, or national security, or exchange rates into other currencies

d) someone somewhere benefiting at everyone ELSE's expense

We'd be better of standardizing on one or two currencies, like dollars and euros. Oh, isn't that kinda what's happening ALREADY? *WHY* must we have "change for the sake of change" with this "new, shiny" currency?

Bitcoin is totally FSCKd, in my opinion, and I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Nor will MOST people from what I've seen. So then WHY must we accept FAECE-BITCH-BUCKS ???

Dollars. Euros. UK Pounds. Good enough for me. I see those exchange rates advertised at the bank, and they're reasonably stable. THAT unlike your average crypto-currency...

icon, because, Faece-Bitch-Bucks are a *FAILURE*

Re: "To simply go and come back and say that we've been there again is highly unsatisfactory,"

the lunar environment is useful for a lot of things, but I suspect that most of those are "exploration elswhere' kinds of things, where the moon is basically a stop-off point to the rest of the solar system.

that's reason enough, I think, to put a permanent base there.

Unfortunately, too few people these days see the value in space explioration. they're too busy ninny-nannying and nit-picking and being SJW's...

Re: Human rights

Yeah well if Microshaft's management of GITHUB transits into the "Social Justice Warrior" realm, instead of the "do business and make CUSTOMERS happy" realm, then:

Dear ICE: If you want me to set up a cloud-based server that does what GITHUB does, at an equivalent price, just let me know and I'll have one up and running in UNDER 6 MONTHS, with YOUR NEEDS as my PRIMARY FOCUS, and it will cost THE SAME OR LESS than whatever you're paying Github, and I'll do it FOR THE LULZ if I can't make money off of it any other way.

Because, unlike Micro-shaft, *I* put *THE CUSTOMER* *FIRST* !!!

Re: It's about time

changing the name doesn't change *SHIT*

[I avoid profanity most of the time - this time it's NECESSARY]

Re: "It is unclear whether Atari will be able to complete its beleaguered project"

It's worth pointing out that if you get stuff done by contractors, you have to manage them properly.

Re: Atari

if everyone working for you is a contractor (1099 or corporation) then you don't have "employees".

ideally it's a better model, but I have to wonder where all of the money was going, regardless.

Atari could do some really good things with this, but maybe it would work better as emulation on an RPi, which would bring the price WAY down, ya know?

And all of the games loaded via USB...

"I think you just made a number of unmarried people very happy"

Very happy that we're *NOT* *MARRIED*, yeah!

Re: A single piece of data

"When it comes to feelings, perception is reality"

It's another reason why people need to *THINK* and not *FEEL*. FEEL makes very bad decisions, like beer goggles. FEEL is easily manipulated. And I *ESPECIALLY* don't want *MY* life regulated by someone else's *FEEL*.

icon, because, *FEEL* is so easily manipulated

if you replace the squeaky wheel it comes back and SUES YOU

you'll get more upvotes because upvoting is still somewhat anonymous.

the downvotes are probably just howler monkeys with no sense of humor

Re: empowering users?

"GNU is actually a set of restrictions that are necessary for open computing to survive."

I'd say that was true about GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1, at least in its intent. v3 morphed it into something else...

I have to wonder if RMS was a BIG part of the direction shift that brought us some of the things many of us now *HATE*, like GPLv3, Gnome 3, the 2D FLATTY [Australis especially], and other major irritations. Maybe even SYSTEMD (ok that was Poettering but still)

If so, GOOD RIDDANCE. I dislike RMS's politics anyway. What he said online that caused the "snowflake storm" is irrelevant as far as I am concerned.

Re: Forget the kiddies

"If however the bullying followed me home and was essentially 24/7 then I doubt I would be here now."

this is why parents need to teach their kids HOW TO FIGHT THE BULLIES and stand up to them and kick their sorry asses into silence and/or submission.

This reminds me of that "bully video" of the kid being harassed in an Australian school. Finally he was sick of it and he picked up the harassing kid (who was much smaller than him) and head-slammed him into the ground. All of the usual whiny socialists complained. I thought it was *PERFECT* and a *SOLID* example of how you deal with bullying.

And the thing is, when you're an adult, the bullying doesn't stop... it just changes form. So when you learn to FIGHT BACK and *WIN* as a kid, it's a life lesson for SUCCESS.

Re: Forget the kiddies

"Kids get used all of the time in battle cries to embrace some sort of intrusion"

The face of a child on a poster representing the erosion of your freedom, yeah.

Recent example of this kind of manipulation attempt: Greta. I'll leave that topic alone other than a dishonorable mention, and also a mention of the historical fact that Goebbels also used images of children in his Nazi propaganda.

icon, because, sarcasm again.

Re: Baby got back door

really "for the children" is just a (yet another) method by which PEOPLE ARE MANIPULATED BY THE PUPPETEERS.

icon, because, sarcasm

Re: I wonder how Facebook is going to implement the encryption

most likely the clients will do the encryption, as well as "send home to mama" all of the things you type in so they can target you with ads and sell your data based on your 'chat'. But of course that 'send home to mama' data will be encrypted, too...

Re: So we are to believe that once they have the necessary backdoors in place

back doors are only "NECESSARY" when police are *LAZY*

Oh, yeah, that whole "individual rights" and "illegal search/seizure" thing just GETS IN *THEIR* WAY, after all...

</sarcasm>

icon, because, more sarcasm

Re: "Outside the digital world, none of us would accept the proposition that"

private IRC server with SSL might do it, located outside of the USA where subpoenas get laughed at

Re: "Outside the digital world, none of us would accept the proposition that"

well said!

More people (particularly those in gummint) need to connect the dots on that point.

/me offers a cluebat for that purpose

Re: Given the cost of a Windows 10 Pro license...

agreed, but here's a better idea: just practice "safe surfing" and avoid the security problem altogether.

a) don't surf the web using a microsoft browser. If possible, don't use a microsoft OS, either.

b) don't open (aka 'double-click or in any way activate) anything downloaded from the internet. Open the program that views it and use 'file open' directly.

c) NEVER view e-mail as html. This includes WEB MAIL.

d) don't preview attachments inline - *EVER*

e) use NOSCRIPT or some other script-blocking tool on everything that isn't EXPLICITLY trusted.

and so on.

I still use XP for some things [like 3D printing]. that little box is just fine for that. It came with XP, and that's the way it is. Other former XP boxen became Linux boxen. One laptop got 7 on it. There is *NO* *NEED* *TO* *DOWNGRADE* *TO* *WIN-10-NIC* !!!

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

"For job descriptions"

Why can't we all just accept the fact that a Mailman can be a woman, as could a Fireman, Policeman, Congressman, or Maintenance Man. If a lady shows up, nobody's surprised.

The way it's been in the Navy, unless it got changed for some STUPID reason, is that all officers are referred to as 'Sir' or 'Mister' within the right context. Havingt to know what sex-term to use is against good order and discipline. "Mr Fielding is officer of the deck" - well Lt Fielding happens to be a lady, let's say, but nobody's going to care about that, as they're trying to drive a ship, stay on course, and not run into things.

And that's how it SHOULD be.

Re: no one has been able to invent new pronouns that sound natural as drop-in replacements

OK - you have a good idea.

Let's INVENT SOME PRONOUNS!

I suppose El Reg commenters might have some really good suggestions.

In the mean time we could just use 'semprini' for all non-sex-specific cases...

(most o the things I'm thinking of are profane and have more than one syllable, with a profane term followed by 'face' 'head' 'brain' or has 'ass in it somewhere')

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

"referring to a person by their profession"

plurality mismatch detected.

'a person' 'their profession' - correct grammar would be 'people' 'their profession' or 'a person' 'his profession', regardless of it triggering some overly-sensitive-ready-to-be-triggered-snowflake-type that INSISTS there's something wrong with the lingo AND! WE! MUST! ALL! CHANGE! to bend to his whim...

grammar nazi icon, because. it's relevant, really. "singular they". EW.

(heh)

Re: Is this just an English thing ?

"For a language which doesn't really use genders, it's amusing that they're causing so much hot air."

A language without 'genders' yeah ('gender' being a linguistics term, having NOTHING to do with chromosomes or sex). And that's probably why there are way too many attempts to INSERT such things into the language...

No, this is all about FEELINGS. It's about adult-children raised with safe spaces, participation trophies, being driven to/from school every day [read: chauffer parents], and then told "it's ok" if they say 1+1=3 because you don't want to HURT THEIR FEELINGS for BEING WRONG.

I'll now make reference to the "when I was their age" tirade and not do it.

Point is, these *WHINERS* need a *CLUE* *BAT* instead of society CODDLING THEM and ENABLING THEM to be ASSHATS about PRONOUNS.

Feelings are IRRELEVANT. They need to SUCK IT UP and realize that the world really does *NOT* revolve around their SELF ESTEEM. If they get triggered: *TOO* *BAD*.

Re: The irony is if they were firing based on age discrimination.

NOT hiring people over "an age", or laying them off because (primarily) of their age, is strictly illegal. Of course we knew that already.

(any other "age-related" "experience-related" wage arguments probably already made; Capt. Obvious things so)

But with THAT being said, perhaps it would be better for older employees (who typically earn more for 'being there' longer) to consider voluntary pay cuts in lieu of being laid off? At least it gives you some time to look for new work without having to be UNEMPLOYED...

Personally (on the management side) I'd rather tie wages directly to PRODUCTIVITY, whenever that's possible. If that is the case, just be honest with people who's wage-to-productivity ratio isn't so hot... (and THAT becomes the criteria for layoffs).

Then you're not AGE discriminating at all, as the wage-to-producttivity ratio it becomes a truly fair measurement of your worth at the company.

/me is an old guy, and I try to be THE most productive employee on site (or off site, same idea), whenever possible, as a contractor. It's a matter of PRIDE, if nothing else.

Re: "alert staff of long queues at checkouts"

"It must work - when did you ever see long queue at a checkout in a Microsoft store?"

good one!

Re: this kind of thing

if you're careful you can set up pip to fix versions in stone for everything. This does not always build well on different platforms, though. I did this a bit with an older DJango setup I had been maintaining [not writing, more like re-writing to use LESS PYTHON and C language utilities to improve performance by a factor of 10 or more, but I digress] but I agree, languages like Python and apparently Ruby have this kind of "dependency Hell" built into them, and the trend would be to have 'bleeding edge' enough that you can't easily just go back to what it was before... and when a single developer decides to play SJW and deny you access to his source, you're FSCK'd. Unless you do snapshots and archives, which apparently the 'Chef' guy did.

Re: Not in my name, and not with my help.

"To be clear, we don't care if anyone else uses it, we care that we can use it."

eh, ok I'll give ya THAT in a scenario that I've had from time to time...

a) you wrote something cool, REALLY cool, and you want to be ABLE to use it again

b) you copypasta that thing into $customer project and give them a written license to use it without GPL etc. even though you posted it online as GPL code beforehand [even 5 minutes beforehand]

c) you can THEN use it again and again not having to re-write the 'cool thing' and everybody wins and you don't EVAR get sued for using "their code" in "that customer's project" (even though it was yours, proving it in court is EXPENSIVE and a PAIN IN THE ASS).

So yeah, in a way, you're right. On THAT point.

But I always see it as showing off my work, too. "Want an example of my work? Go to my public git rep site". That sort of thing. And it's also convenient off-site backup to use github, gitlab, sourceforge, whatever.

that aside from the other obvious benefits of open source, contributing code to public projects that help your own customers use your products/services as well as you and everyone else, and so everyone benefits to some extent and YOU make money.

Re: What you describe is convenience, not sense

"When a release is approved, it should be rebuilt with all the libraries pulled and stored locally, and that binary shipped"

And archived as such. see icon

Re: Flaming idiot, social justice warrior and political hack

"Sneaking into the country and not applying for admission would be illegal. That is not what is happening though."

actually, it IS happening.

Legit asylum claims require a hearing, and with Trump's new rules, they stay IN MEXICO waiting for it, maybe even for a couple of years. Otherwise, "just letting them in" lets them DISAPPEAR into the USA. Most do NOT show up for their hearings and something like 90% of them are denied asylum claims when they do.

"Asylum" is just one of those "key words and tricky phrases" these people are taught to say when they arrive (or are caught). Trump's rule changes are attempting to close this loophole, such as requiring asylum seekers to a) go to a port of entry, and b) remain in Mexico until their hearing. That and "the wall" should keep the sneak-ins out, but that's why we NEED the wall, because they ARE "sneaking in". And liberal interpretations allow them to SCAM the United States by saying those "key words and tricky phrases" so they can DISAPPEAR into the country, never to be seen again by law enforcement.

And that bit about "mistreating and abusing" these criminals is JUST a bunch of LIBERAL NONSENSE. I happen to live close enough to the border to see mountains in Mexico on a clear day (it's about a half hour drive to the border). So yeah, what goes on at the border is LOCAL news around here.

Liberal overly tolerant policies are qute literally acting like a MAGNET for caravans of illegals from Central America to cross Mexico just to sneak into the USA. Along the way they get RAPED, ROBBED, BEATEN, SCAMMED, EXPLOITED, and so on, even KILLED, and the caravans are run by MEMBERS OF THE DRUG CARTELS. Liberal policies are CAUSING these people to be ABUSED by giving them FALSE HOPES.

THAT should be considered too, ya know...

Re: @Bronek Flaming idiot, social justice warrior and political hack

"People in desperation trying to escape persecution and poverty are still people."

Criminals breaking the law are still criminals, even if putting them in prison would "separate them from their children". My heart bleeds for NO one.