Posts by bombastic bob

Re: So here's a thought:

quantum entanglement appears to be faster in some situations

Quantum entanglement seems to follow a different set of rules [as I understand it].

Gravity should follow the same rules of space/time as does both light and EM fields. But yeah, quantum entanglement is something else entirely.

NOTE: if you use super-strong gravity + EM (and maybe light) to create some kind of warp bubble, the rules of physics would apply normally within the bubble, and outside of the bubble, but not at its border, and so moving the bubble would move you along with it "faster than light", or so the theory goes. Some physicist from Mexico came up with a really good description of how it's done a decade or so ago.

Re: Does anyone here use exFAT?

occasionally I've needed to use exFAT to transfer very large files to a windows system on a USB drive, or if someone hands me a USB drive formatted from a windows system [which apparently defaults to exFAT unless you tell it NOT to, and that may not be very easy...]

In the past I've used FUSE. but as I use FreeBSD, is it part of OIN? Or are the people who make the FUSE driver part of it? In any case, I'll just use it anyway and ignore anyone peeking over my shoulder...

(I do not want my birthday taken away, no no, seriously, stop looking over my shoulder)

Re: IP6 is the second thing I turn off

hmmm... double-checked my firewall config, looks like I'd already disabled incoming ICMPv6 for types 133 through 137, which includes all of the NDP protocol stuff, to the best of my recollection...

heh, dodged a bullet there. /me wipes sweat from brow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICMPv6

I want to hear the bluegrass Macarena now.

KPOP version?

Re: "how does that even work?"

NOTE: I believe tracking should be opt-in only, above board, and you should be able to view it and manage it yourself on the tracker's web site, but I doubt any legislation will really help, so I use my own mitigations anyway. it doesn't mean I won't support such legislation, I just don't have any hope in it. That being said...

For anything other than simple web surfing (including El Reg) I have a special non-priv logon that I use, and the browsers that I run get their caches adn history dumped, every time.

Firefox is simple, just tell it to delete history on exit.

Chrome is not so simple, but works better with CAPTCHA [firefox fails a lot for some reason, probably by design] but you can run a script to wipe out everything in the following directories to clear chrome's cache:

rm -rf ~/.cache/chromium/Default/*

rm -rf ~/.config/chromium/BrowserMetrics*/*

etc. - there are others, too - my script is pretty long, and rather thorough

But as a hint, there are many files in ~/.config/chromium/Default/ that are created by chrome and if you wipe them out, they just re-appear. Some of them have persistent "things" in them. YMMV.

In any case, getting a handle on how to purge your cache and history (while keeping any important settings 'intact') might make a topic of its own someplace. in the mean time you can experiment a bit.

What's good about using Linux or FreeBSD: if you set your X server up to allow connections to localhost via the DISPLAY environment variable, you can use a shell to log in to a very unprivileged user account, then run firefox or chromium on the current desktop by setting DISPLAY via 'export' (or similar), and be in a COMPLETELY different user context. It works for video playback, too. then when you are done, wipe away ALL history. Hard to track you with NO history, NO cookies, NO persistent data, yotta yoltta. Other settings like 'private browsing' and whatnot can't hurt, either. And of course THIS would be for any site where script is unavoidable, like the DMV or certain electronics parts retailers that I can't avoid using.

worth pointing out, windows 7 had 'run as' which could be used in a similar way, so that you have a apecial user context JUST for web surfing that really doesn't do anything else... and you can auto-delete history and cache and so on with no consequence to YOU.

But... if you EVER log into certain sites, that 'icon' on half the pages you visit is part of their tracking. Its very presence probably tracked you opening up that web page... unless you do NOT have login information stored in a cookie [which is where purging the persistent data comes into play]. So if you did use FB or twitter or reddit or google login, you'd do that from the "web surfing only" user account, or maybe even a special "FB only" user account, and "flush" when you're done, so they don't know it's you.

and for everything else, on your 'normal surfing' user account, you NEVER log into google, FB, twitter, reddit, or ANY of those other "they will track you" web sites.

Re: 'Out Of Box Experience'

FYI - I grew up in San Jose (and the general area) decades ago, and left before it became truly "Silly". There was this one highway to nowhere they called "Stonehenge", a short section of a future bridge that stuck way up in the air and could be seen for MANY miles, and took something like 10 years to complete (while it stood there as a monument to gummint inefficiency and cost overruns). A city council dude (Joe Colla) put a car on it for a joke, took photos. Then someone actually ticketed it. This was back in the 70's, though, when the "culture" still had sane elements, so people could still take the time to point out the silliness with good humor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Colla_Interchange

(good for some more laughs)

Re: Don't blame the extensions...

the fact that it uses Node.JS is bad enough, but when i played with it early on it was ALL 2D FLATTY FLATSO FLATASS (instead of 3D Skeuomorphic) and I _REALLY_ hate that. Nevermind the inherent slowness of JAVASCRIPT.

(this is why I stiil use DevStudio 2010 for C/C++ on Windows, which is happening less and less often these days anyway...)

From the art6icle: Is there anything that can disrupt it?

Yes. Micros~1 bloat. When a JAVASCRIPT EDITOR ultimately takes A MINUTE (or more) to load (give them some time, it'll happen), because of all of the bloat and extensions and 'did I mention bloat', performance goes out the window, and this is the problem Eclipse and InteliJ (which are actual JAVA, which is better) and other non-native-compiiled editors have had. That, and a potential "must have 16Gb of free RAM available or it won't even load" [do not doubt me, if unchecked, this is coming, we've seen this trend before].

I've DEFINITELY seen something like this with IntelliJ already, though not as bad as the 16Gb I suggested here. I think I managed to get IntelliJ to work acceptably with only 4G (or maybe 5G) for the VM that was running it by carefully tweeking its settings (unfortunately IntelliJ garbage collect memory MISmanagement is piggy, and Gradle made it worse). Later I allowed the VM to have 8G when I installed more RAM on my new workstation. And IntelliJ is compiled p-code Java, NOT JAVASCRIPT, which would be WORSE. So I have reason to make this future claim of hideous bloat and gluttonous memory hogging.

Why not just make an open source C/C++ native compile editor that uses a commonly accepted toolkit like Qt or GTK or wxWidgets so that it PERORMS WELL on embedded systems, and can also use X11 remotely to display on a local computer which is what I've been doing with pluma for YEARS now... and before that, gedit [until gedit's interface turned into SUCK, but thanks to Mate, pluma was forked from its earlier version and improved]. (Of course, I've been working on my own for several years but I still need to earn money to live on, too... which is why it's not finished yet)

Re: What is it with SMT

Last year I built a PC using a 6 core Ryzen which has hyperthreads.

I left hyperthreading on. Works great. It's also running FreeBSD. Since I don't download and run windows binaries with viruses and trojan horses in them, and generally disable scripting in browsers, I should be protected from side-channel attacks.

Mitigation can be done in BETTER ways than disabling SMT and/or hyperthreads. You do not remove your toe because it has an ingrown nail.

icon, because, facepalm.

[and for a laptop I'd do the same thing - Ryzen, multi-core, and either Linux or FreeBSD. If I need windows I can run it in a VM and make it single core if need be]

Re: The real goal (hint: not terrorists or child molesters)

Warrants to obtain details of everyone who uses particular Google search terms already exist in the wild

Ok, what are those terms, and just how hard would it be to publish that list so that nobody uses them, except for people (possibly like me) who do it in a bash script in the backgtround to make those requests several hundred times per day, in protest, via the Tor network... thus filling their database with SO much crap it becomes WORTHLESS.

It's a fair bet that for an individual, the amount of bandwidth this would generate would be small. If a few THOUSAND people do this, it might become large enough to make such "search term" investigations IMPOSSIBLE. It really would not take very much to frustrate them into silence.

It also makes you wonder how the specific search terms were figured out... any MASS SURVEYLANCE involved in that process?

Re: A big problem with opex ...

this can be especially hard for a new/growing org

E-bay is full of used, reconditioned, and old stock computers, and I've never had trouble buying old hardware on e-bay [except maybe having to replace a power supply or hard drive earlier than usual]. But that's way less cost than a new machine. If you get inexpensive monitors locally, and the rest of the system in a marketplace venue like E-bay, you can avoid excessive 'capex' and get started on a much lower budget. Then, upgrade/repair/replace as needed later on... with minimal 'opex'.

(welcome to 'small business and startup' world, where I prefer to be anyway)

Re: Pork Rockets

at least the NASA money BUYS SOMETHING (like a rocket). There is a *bit* of 'trickle down' benefit to making something _like_ a rocket, as opposed to _OTHER_ kinds of spending, which might as well be dumping public money into an incinerator... like pretty much anything with "subsidy" (or similar) in its name.

Also history shows many consequential products and scientific developments come out of the space program, from integrated circuits to "space food" (Tang doesn't count, it apparently existed before the 1st U.S. launch but gained fame for being included as a refreshment during John Glenn's Mercury flight). Although these things would probably exist without the space program, the use of such things BY the space program [and the otherwise prohibitive costs associated with them] often resulted in mass production and rapid drop in cost/price [particularly ICs]. PCs and cell phones COULD have taken a decade longer to show up in modern society were it not for the use of their core technology by NASA (and the U.S. military).

Re: Not Surprising

Can AMD management handle all three (CPU, GPU, FPGA) at the same time?

I doubt it

What if they were to integrate their existing products AND their senior management in a way that leverages ALL of those technologies and the best skilled people to manage them?

Yeah, I have a bit more confidence in AMD than maybe Intel... especially THESE days!

Re: almost certainly prevents me writing down the list of names myself and going from there

IANAL. Heres a real world example: an electronic circuit board.

a) patent the circuit itself, its overall design and uniqueness to solving a problem or providing a product. The overall design, excluding how it's presented, would not be upheld under copyright.

b) copyright the board layout itself, which may also contain a presentation of design [such as the size of copper or unique layout, very important in the RF world].

The first protects your basic design. The 2nd protects your board layout from plagiarism. Significant changes to both would be needed for a competitor to NOT license the design from you and legally produce a competing product.

No solution is perfect, but each part has its use. And IANAL. yet WRONGLY interpreting what copyright means, when a patent might be needed, could throw the entire system into CHAOS with various forms of abusive legal trolling, or outright piracy going unchecked.

Re: "AD requires a CAL which means its not financially viable"

while it's a bit difficult to replicate a serch engine locally

for UN-BIASED global internet search, you'd need to have some pretty good storage and bandwidth available.

I suggested to Fox News that they do a competing service to Google and Bing, to offer unbiased searching of news-related articles. Still waiting. [if I had the funding _I_ would do a no-track no-filter service of this nature]

Re: Just do what I do.

assessing "merit" in a way that turns out to embody an element of indirect discrimination

The worst kind, perhaps, being "the soft bigotry of low expectations". Something to think about.

best thing to do: Just treat everyone the same regardless of "whatever characteristic", ESPECIALLY when hiring. That means that political conservatives make good employees, too.

Re: The worst bit about the Javascript mess

I would guess that MOST of what is done using Javascript is COMPLETELY unnecessary. I generally avoid it, unless I'm coding a UI for an embedded system that uses a web-based UI. In such a case, to get the kinds of performance you might need, resorting to javascript becomes the easier solution (like maybe coding a popup detail editing thing that acts like a dialog box, by unhiding nested 'div' sections to display it, and re-hiding when you pres 'ok' or 'cancel' to make it go away). Otherwise, it's pure HTML and CSS, with all of the work done server side whenever possible. (yeah I do UIs too, when I have to. I prefer device control, but one-man-banding it means doing the UI so...)

I really hate working with scripty HTML devs, though, primarily because I will probably end up cleaning their mess (using LOTS of profanity more often than not while doing so), and THEM locking things into a particular monolithic library (or style sheet from hell) just makes it worse. Such "developers" need to be "educated" properly, often with a Cat-5-o-nine-tails, clue-bat, or rubber chicken. Just kidding. (no I'm not)

Re: $750

you have the actual evidence to justify your claim?

It's my understanding that possessing illegal copies of someone's tax returns is a federal offense. So NYT can _CLAIM_ they have them, but actually having them could get them arrested. And should. Because if they DID have them, they would have been OBTAINED ILLEGALLY. Publishing them would not only prove that point, but would also expose THEM to being prosecuted for violating U.S. law. it would be the journalistic equivalent of a suicide jacket.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7213

It shall be unlawful for any person to whom any return or return information (as defined in section 6103(b)) is disclosed in a manner unauthorized by this title thereafter willfully to print or publish in any manner not provided by law any such return or return information.

Proof, please. Or else your claim would appear to be part of the LIBEL the NYT would allegedly have engaged in by claiming they've seen the returns and then just making stuff up and publishing it as if it were true.

Re: Why single out Apple?

in the case of iDevices, where battery replacement is "less than practical", it may not be all that "planned", just "inevitable".

Re: Hey, take it easy, have you forgotten that

I can see a subsequent article with the subtitle: "Cisco uses sueball on China. China is unaffected. China uses Hack. Cisco's defense fell."

Re: CentOS is not a Redhat distribution

eh, being "a contributor" isn't quite the same as 'ownership'...

but knowing there's collaboration is helpful, yes.