Posts by Robert D Bank

Re: Tedious snark ..

The last free speech zone is whatever Israel decides

Glad you appreciate the irony hahaha!

Re: When I were a lad

not as anguished as a computer operator (me) dropping one tray out of seven full trays of sorted cards that had to be input to a batch program. I had to put all seven trays through the card sorter machine three times to get them back in sort order which took ages, and then carry on reading into the card reader for input to the job. Almost inevitable at least one or two cards would get jammed so I'd have to extract them as carefully as possible and try and duplicate them on the card punch, then lift the whole feed hopper of cards to get the newly punched card into the correct position. I can't remember exactly as it was in 1977, but I know it took a long time. And on an IBM370/125 the job ran for ages as well.

Re: Easy

just send the cnut to outer pace on Bezo's rock and jetison him into the 'verse.

Re: The problem with DevOps . . .

It is also my experience that Dev's in general are terrible at dealing with Op's. They cannot comprehend, or probably don't care, that you cannot just treat an OS and hardware as throw away items without consequences. Or that changing it in favour of 'your current favourite thing' can massively impact other 'things' sharing the resource, or even break the OS and/or hardware itself. They're not even slightly interested in doing configuration or fixes at 3am on a Sunday morning. Many think they're entitled to their very own instance of a VM to do what they like. They'll get in there an tweak everything they can to the point it looks nothing like where the application will eventually be deployed and then wonder why it fails at implementation or causes wider problems. They'll usually blame it on Op's in this case.

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Most Op's people I have known over the last 40yrs are not really interested in trying to force change on Dev's other than reminding them of common sense things like efficient use of storage for example. And generally Op's are always accommodating Dev's as much as possible, juggling the competing team requirements while being kicked from all sides. They will have some red lines though, particularly in production, and this is the thing Dev's cannot abide, they'll flail about trying anything to be the 'special exception'. But Op's know that exception would break something, and they know they will be blamed for it. Op's are stuck with this common piece of the puzzle, the OS's and hardware that ALL the applications run on. They cannot just say I've finished with this application and move on like Dev's. They support all the users day in day out and have a much wider view of how all the workloads affect the operations.

Re: Clearview provides search services to law enforcement agencies

So I assume you wouldn't mind law enforcement officers images being in there then, so when they shoot or suffocate someone illegally they can be identified? And the super rich, politicians, armed forces personnel and spy agency members images so if they're seen doing something illegal they can be arrested? And of course it's not problematic at all having children's photo's in there is it? Jeez.

Nope, I bet you NONE or very few of the above, except children, will be in this database. Even if they are they'd be excluded from the search because 'money and influence etc'. It'll be joe average including working class because they're less likely to argue against it, and therefore will be disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.

Clearview can fuck right off, they are in it for the money, end of.

Imagine the beautiful silence from the absence of scam calls!

Re: So basically

Precisely, even more in context of this:

https://www.theregister.com/2015/12/16/big_brother_born_ntac_gchq_mi5_mass_surveillance_data_slurping/

not even health records are sacred it seems

Re: RM-05s

I remember destroying a CRT screen at work back in the 80's when I waved some magnets out of an IBM 3350 drive across it, it just created a smear in whatever direction you waved the magnet. There, I have finally owned up to it!

Re: These programs are mostly giant filters

A large part of the problem is that there is no easy way to check and if necessary correct/challenge the veracity of these data sets as they are often held by private corporations. For things like credit reference agencies this can have a huge impact on individuals as you may be filtered out very early in the scoring and never be eligible for funding that you should be eligible for.

Another issue is the data sourcing. For example the aggregators that collect data from multiple sources may be making unjustified assumptions or connections that then trickle through the data sets of all who buy them. Even in cases where you're inputting your own data it is easy to make a mistake occasionally, especially on poorly designed forms, but can sometimes be very difficult to get that mistake corrected. If that data is in many companies and jurisdictions it is virtually impossible. Another even more concerning issue is where data may be collected from social media where people have their guard down and may brag about something that they never did for example, but if that is used in a profile of them it can be very damaging.

And then there is the issue of filtering out choices to narrow your options based on your profile of income and interests etc. It's pretty obvious how embedded that is already in the likes of Google search or FB ads. Essentially a list of who's prepared to pay the most to be at the top of the search results or profiling game wins and any other business are left floundering. So it affects both individual choice and viability of smaller competitive businesses.

that was the name my dad gave our cat when I was little, 'the Fur king'

Re: All big guys have similar attitudes

like a venereal disease

Re: Bloody minutes of a bloody meeting

All to often these meetings with no agenda are a fishing exercise by the incompetent or brain dead trying to understand what is going on or to come up with an original idea of their 'own', which they duly plagarise and repackage as their own brilliance.

Re: I wish them all the luck

I also wish them all the luck. Anything that can reduce the reach of Google and Apple. not to mention FB needs applauding.

Re: Never free of these

Similar...between this Insurance bollocks and the 'Microsoft Department' saying I've been hacked, and my ISP saying my router has been compromised and will be cut off. So at least 3 calls a week, plus some other random ones at least 2-3 times a month. If I could get hold of these arseholes I would force them to eat fox shit for a month.

Re: Grauniad fluffed it again.

they have learned well from the Covid-idiots on Earth

Re: Common platform?

what was it, the $9 per hour offshore software developers they were using...you DO get what you pay for.

Re: Beancounteritis

I think it's beancounteterrorists

Re: Just because...

here's a tip about the Starlet...sometimes if the head is skimmed beyond a certain point then the studs that hold the head down can become too long...they tighten as they hit the bottom of the holes in the block, but not apply the right pressure on the head. Caught me out and had to replace the head gasket twice before someone told me about that issue and I bought the 'short studs' from 'Yota.. Right pain in the arse!

Re: Policy-based evidence making

getting the corruption out of the system first would save even more.

Re: Russia wants war...

America sees in Russia what is true of themselves.

Re: And if that doesn't work.

love it...and they're so full of it they'd physically disappear, only to reform in a fatburg somewhere

Re: "Meanwhile the big money and power rolls on unabated."

That's true, as does sarcasm. And you're asking or offering what? Do you feel empowered?

Re: They just don't get it........but maybe that's the point!!!

I know nothing about the technicalities, but apart from the spooks which we can never realistically avoid, one would hope this might stem the slurping from the commercial side.

Re: Modern

times a million, that is EXACTLY the issue. The very same happens with outsourcing, it allows local management to just sit back with a cigar and point a finger. It is a cancer, a continuous diet of fat and sugar, nice and easy until your heart pops. And all the staff below take the same fucking attitude. We will quickly overtake the 3rd world in the race to the bottom of the intellectual void.

in bitcoin

Re: iTunes more important than pandemic?

Jeez, we must know the same 'august colleague!

Re: Conspiracy time?

to me that is the real rub with this App, the fact it was designed to be monetised from the start. It seems there was more focus on that than making it attractive, trustworthy and beneficial to people.

Re: average office

more like the density of sheep in offices

or rocking hose shit