Posts by MacGuffin

Don't

"Please don't do that."

"OK. We'll inform you that we are doing it instead."

"Don't Do That! We want you to STOP. We do NOT want informed consent instead!"

"Here's our 'Explanation of Benefits'."

Wash, rinse, repeat....

Nothing more borong than a Vacation Slide Show

"which allows players to save sessions and share clips with friends."

Greybeards remember being bored to tears going to friend's homes and being subjected to slide shows of their friend's vacations. Actual kodachrome slide shows, not the infinitely more painful slide decks of powerpoint.

I have no desire (kill me please) to watch someone's clip of a steam session.

Play? Yes. Watch? NO.

"Pre"defined

"Pre" is sometimes the "prefix" for before. Prewar. Prehistory.

"Predefined rules" might work here because the the rules may have not been defined (before definition).

No Definition? No rules. Nowhere to go.

Fail.

Don't apologize to congress. Apologize to the world.

Misguided Innovation

Too often I find that “strangle tech innovation” means there is “concern” that regulation will “strangle” new innovative tech ways to collect fees and lock in subscriptions. The “innovations” are not for the general populace. Most “innovations” I have witnessed are innovative ways to block access, throw up paywalls or siphon off the revenue stream.

An example “innovation” would be transaction fees where your phone and credit card get fees for the “convenience” of not using actual cash. Or “cashless” payments which basically require a cell phone plan to participate. THe cell-plan plan itself is an innovative way to extract funds by by making having a plan mandatory.

Just one final change

TeXla….

Demolition Man Revisited

I may need to rewatch “Demolition Man” tonight. I keep thinking of the quote “Why don’t you shove a leash up my ass?” after Sly is informed he’s chipped.

GPU Packed With Ads

Given their TVs, I'm not sure I would want a GPU that spends most of its time serving up ads and calling the mothership. No worry really. A Samsung GPU may well last as long as their refrigerators do.

Nothing for the Upgrade

The PFY from tech school working on the hot new SQL server and application/cloud will get promoted out of the project and into manglement within 6 months because of the whizz-bang "skills" in new and shiny.

The grizzled greybeard tasked with updating the obsolete MS SQL DB Server and the accompanying apps because only they have the skills and training will take multiple years because of all the "concerned parties", long after the PFY above becomes their boss.

Feel free to say that does not happen. Please say that does not happen...

Please?

Crotchety

This will only work when AI develops “smell-o-vision” and can crotch dogs.

The Samsung Avalanche

That being the same Samsung that buries you in an avalanche of ads on their Smart TV hardware? The same Samsung whose “Smart Things” app won’t function without a connection to the mother ship? Whose smart TV also requires a connection to the mothership?

I’ll call that mighty creative for Samsung, but not the consumer.

Will AIs Volunteer?

I'm nearing retirement. In my earlier days I enjoyed volunteering in a hospital. I would like to volunteer in retirement, but I simply cannot bring myself to volunteer my time and volunteered wages so that the CEOs of said hospital and health care industry can increase their "compensation". CEO - "I personally got more people to volunteer, saving us costs. Therefore my compensation must be increased exponentially. That and all those denied services and procedures. I should get more now I can utilize AI to deny more without doing it myself. Because I can."

Retribution?

It will not happen, but I would like to see the judge personally punished for making Woods become Kierans.

I guess I’m just not too particularly fond of judges, especially SCOTUS, at this point in time.

Stopped Reading

I tuned out at “This is unprecedented”. Next up “existential threat.”

I’m trying to understand the situation and become informed, but the usual cliches being spouted sometimes prevent my reading further.

I probably should read on, but ….

Mission Accomplished

One achieves the ultimate security by making sure absolutely no one can use the application.

Everyone's an Expert in Cybersecurity

Here the expert /spokesman in cybersecurity for water has a PhD in Chemistry and no IT experience. That type of mismatch happens often in government civil service.

And I want it why?

My limited impression on AI and copilot in particular is that both are a solution in search of a problem.

Who are they?

"However, analysts now forecast an AI PC boom for 2024"

And just who are these analysts and why are the qualified to make a forecast?

No Viable Mechanism

To paraphrase Robin Williams discussing London Bobbies who do not carry firearms chasing suspects:

"Stop! Or I'll yell 'Stop!' again!"

Strategery

Fecal Strategery

Enter Scotus

“The proof is in the federal rule making process”.

And all one has to do is sue, bring it before the Supreme Court and SCOTUS will roll out the “Major Questions Doctrine”, say the agency cannot make rules and burn the house down.

Titanic

“Self healing power grids are closer than you think.”

So are unsinkable ships…

Remote Sensors

Humans are nothing but remote sensors for AI.

Think about it. We used to fill out forms that were a page or two. With the prevalence of databases and web UIs, we seem to be required (shadow work) to provide far more information for simple tasks. I'm looking at you health care.

Every industry is convinced that their portal is the only one you use or that is important, with little to no regard for all the other UIDs, passwords, 2FA that every person is now stuck with. Store them all on a password maintenance provider which leaves only one site to hack to get all your authentication information.

We're even required to pay for the bandwidth to support ads. Junk mail used to have bulk postage paid be the advertiser. Now we have to pay the equivalent (or more) n bandwidth and subscriptions for the "privilege" of viewing unwanted ads that consume more bandwidth than the articles being read.

Thanks AI!

And Today

“The beast was spotted yesterday”

It remains spotted Today.

GPT should be GTT

GPT= General Pre-Trained Transformer. “Pre-Trained” means before training as in disorganized. Chaos. The “Pre” is redundant.

It should be GTT=General Trained Transformer.

Too Many Words

"External Vision System"

Uh...

Camera?

One Cannot Model Chaos

One wonders if the reason no one has successfully created a usable IT system is because one must have a logical health care system before you attempt to model it. There is no point of modeling rules and regulations where they make no sense to start with.

When did it happen?

Wend did “spendING” become “spend”? The same time “computING” became “compute”?

Reminds me. My car needs “washed”. Not “washing”.

Appropriate Acronym

In my line of business, ERP is reserved for "Emergency Response Plan".

It's not an emergency until Oracle is involved.

Best Job Title Ever

MFT or Managed File Transfer Tool. Describes my job and what I am for doing it.

Beware SCOTUS and the Major Questions Doctrine

All one of those hacked companies has to due is file a lawsuit claiming the SEC has exceeded their authority and SCOTUS will decide against SEC under the made-up Major Questions Doctrine.

Good Old Days

At least when I was getting sh*t-tons of junk snail mail, I could send the junk mail from one advertiser to another using their thoughtfully provided pre-paid mailing envelopes!

I thought it was quite nice of me to share the useless marketing material at their expense!

Whend did Spending become Spend

We seem to be dropping "ing" with reckless abandon. Computing became compute. Spending has now become "spend".

The worst seems to be phrases like "My laundry needs cleaned" instead of "my laundry needs TO BE cleaned" or "needs cleaning".

Free Credit Reports!

No doubt the class action lawsuit will result in one year of free credit reports with the recipients required to cancel at one year or be charged for the subscription forever.

Another

Another bad idea in a long sad history of bad ideas.

Not Qualified

This is absolutely hilarious. There are no EPA employees that are allowed to or have the knowledge to configure their own desktops, yet they will be given the authority to oversee cybersecurity plans. Nearly all their IT is outsourced to consultants. The same hold true in the States they delegate authority to. And due to the split of IT from actual regulation, you will get a bunch of engineers and PhDs in civil service with no background in IT or cybersecurity assigned to head up the cybersecurity programs, because, well. PhDs are infallible. Those that cannot even connect a printer or monitor without a ticket will ARE heading up security.

Brilliant.

Retire "Compute" as a Noun

Restore "compute" to its place as a verb