Posts by Tempest 387 publicly visible posts • joined 2 Sep 2010
Way, way back l used to work for MDS (Mohawk Data Sciences - RIP) and one weekly overtime task was moving "Stroke Counters" around the tens of data entry machines used by OHIP and Ontario Hydro.
This might seem like a minor matter given that so many people live on smartphones during the working hours these days, but union/government contracts specified equipment details and they specifically excluded production measurement.
TESLA has already perfected crashing into real objects and stopping for ghosts seems a preferable choice.
WHAT CARS REALLY NEED are driver alcohol testers and door locks that really stay locked, rather fooling remote door locks with simple, effective, keys.
Russia's prowess in military weapons is a fantasy. The invasion of Ukraine has resulted in cancellation of many Export Orders given Russia's pathetic performance
The Chinese are a different matter, especially since China has allegedly many spies in the USA, although with Trump all they need do is to infiltrate room cleaners in to Mar-a-Lago to access US secrets.
A deposit sent via BANS from the Royal Courts to HSBC, where I have had an account since 1967 (that's correct, 1967).
HSBC said nothing to me instead it opened up a new account in my name and refused to acknowledge the existence of this transfer. It was only transferred to me (as a person) after eight months during which time it ignored my communications, denied knowledge of it, etc. If it was for the assistance of persistent civil servants and a Whistle-Blower in the HSBC call centre in India**, I would be still bereft of this transfer!
E-banking might be profitable for the banks but until they accept errors can & do occur, I suggest you check account activity regularly.
**India is world fraud country N0.2, after Nigeria.
Full G5 is not a commercial success. In China usage fee's don't even cover power consumption charges. I have a friend in GuangXi (GuangXi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South-Eastern China, a city of 7.2 million souls, close to the VietNam boarder. Like many, she bought a new smartphone, only she was a smart.
Her new phone is good for 3G, 4G and LTE. A friend of hers splurged on the Full Monty and she reports that full spectrum 5G is sparse and even in large cities 5G closes down and traffic redirected to 4G.
We have a 5G test station in Ho Chi Minh City/SaiGon which radiates RF on all 5G channels. I, and friends, regularly test signal activity using spectrum analysers and many higher channel signals can't even make it across the River SaiGon to the Majestic Hotel.
Several manufacturers are selling 2G, 3G, 4G and LTE capable handsets and low to medium prices. Still, handset production continues with barely a ripple.
coined the phrase "We cannot muddle through this time". Since that time it appears that this has been adopted as the mantra for many things from Britain.
For younger readers, Mosley was was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. He was Labour Member of Parliament for Harrow from 1918 to 1924, for Smethwick from 1926 to 1931 later becoming the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Labour Government of 1929-31.
I was production manager for a Torbarrie Road, North York, Toronto, based banking equipment manufacturer. Their main line were sales point card swipe units with a Pin-Pad on a stretchy cord.
There was an IBM contract whereby if all the units were delivered before the end of the year which, in practical terms was before Christmas given both IBM Markham warehouses and the production plant were closed during the holiday break. A large bonus was riding on completing the contract.
Shortly before Christmas it was discovered there was a software bug in the terminals which necessitated them being opened up and reprogrammed. Since there were hundreds of these units to be processed and tested, we hired foreign uni students to do the work, and unmarked trucks carried the completed units to the IBM warehouses in the evenings.
They met the deadline and everyone got their bonuses. BTW, the manufacturer was run by ex-bankers which possibly suggests where the companies moral compass was set. At that time there was a shortage of DRAMs, and over several company board meetings it was agreed black market chips (stolen) would be purchased to meet production deadlines. For self protection, I discretely recorded the meetings.
Many businesses have to cheat to survive.
That's nothing. HSBC-UK froze £1.5BILLION of customers' cash in accounts deemed 'dormant'. Around 100,000 dormant accounts, a report said, held deposits worth more than £1,000.
In my case, the thieving b*astards grabbed £27,500+.
So, Hackers, you have a long way to go to claim the Crown of Fraud.
That's nothing. HSBC-UK froze £1.5BILLION of customers' cash in accounts deemed 'dormant'. Around 100,000 dormant accounts, a report said, held deposits worth more than £1,000.
In my case, the thieving b*astards grabbed £27,500+.
So, Hackers, you have a long way to go to claim the Crown of Fraud.
Smart move hiring outside talent since HSBC-UK is totally incompetent when in comes to Apps, even.
After weeks of trying to load the UK App I found it is useless and dysfunctional - don't believe me, just check the comments in Googles App store.
I bank with HSBC in several countries. Take the Canadian App, installed in 3 days and loaded as if it was covered with KY Jelly. Meanwhile, back at the Mothership, a new, pure Google smartphone loaded with the HSBC-UK App never functioned.
Thank goodness we have other banking choices.
My company installed Third Party software for anything Android.
Our 3/4/5G units don't even transmit hidden/secretive Baseband transmissions. And we have some units that don't even use SIMs! We also squeezed mechanical On/Off switches in our cases (requiring paperclip for operation).
Every technically-minded person should use an SDR to check out cellphone emissions.
In VietNam, until Grab arrived, the biggest danger on Vietnamese city roads were Vinasun taxis. Now, with Grab, there are two identifiable road hazards.
The Grab formula ís simple. Recruit youthful drivers with a smartphone, and give them an App and away they go.
Grab seems to be very lax when it comes to security since a person dressed in a Grab uniform may be wearing a company issued product OR it might have been bought from an on-line clothing sales company.
like Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore do, the UK spies might be more interested.
For more detailed information on this hardship post check out: “Secret Power: New Zealand’s Role In The International Spy Network” by Nicky Hage; https://theintercept.com/2015/03/07/new-zealand-ironsand-waihopai-nsa-gcsb/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Hager.
The USA even has a base at Christchurch Airport.
Our company, like numerous others, acknowledge that all communications content in Singapore are heavily monitored and censored. It is not, under any interpretation of the meaning, a "free" country. It is easily equal to China in this regard. InterNet services to commercial enterprises are only audited intermittently. Singapore also has detention without trial for up to two years. No court warrants are required to make phone taps and data interception, either.
To circumvent these restrictions, we usually resort to encrypted communications for both data and voice. We also travel there with cellular equipment designated safe to use in China. Often these are "burner phones" which are equipped with external encryption devices.
Satellite communications are the most secure. It should be remembered that under a program called TEMPORA, two major fiber optic cables are the SEA-ME-WE-3 and SEA-ME-WE-4 at their Naval base in Tuas, on the Western side of Singapore. The old Kranji SIGINT listening post was closed in 1974.
Should the Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen achieve his dream, the effects could be significant.
The judicial system ís that in name only.
REVENGE is the only word that can describe what Assange, Chelsea Manning and many others have suffered at the hands, or direction, of the US Government. Their court process more resembles the CBS TV show "Let's Make a Deal".
Added to this quagmire are US police - one only has to view First Amendment videos on YouTube to get a taste of where the problems start. And what of the Three Strikes law, sponsored by Biden in hís younger years, where a theft of a slice of pizza led to a homeless person being imprisoned for life?
US "Supermax" along with Guantanamo, demonstrate the lengths to which the US will go to satiate their thirst for revenge. They don't even pretend to disguise what their intentions are.
The UK should adopt the French "try them at home" (country) rather than the Blair/Blunkett scheme of handing accused using minimal evidence.
it's the amoral slime who are employed, or contracted, by the NSA, GCHQ and their buddies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand.
At least, these days, they are having to work overtime with the plethora of technologies employed these days.
And if the States is so clever, how come their computer systems are always demonstrating their poor security?
Non-Canadians should understand that whilst the RCMP, best known for red uniforms and horses, is a national police force functioning much like the FBI, which
also acts as 'local' or provincial police in several provinces - for a fee. They are generously Federally funded and. as such, have much more money to splurge on 'wet dreams'. They read that the FBI has a news widget and immediately the RCMP feel they need the same widget.
To get around restrictions, these top level police have, on many occasions, asked their equivalents in other countries to "do them a favour" where Canadian law prohibits of limits activities. This is not new - the Echelon gang have been doing this for years.
So don't be fooled by those damn horse and red jackets, the RCMP has "bad cops", who lie, cheat and beat up "clients", as badly as many other forces around the world. They run Canada's criminal records computers which has numerous unfounded, inaccurate information which is run on the GIGO (Garbage In, Gospel Out) principle.
P.S. I am happy that they use images on the InterNet for there are none of myself and technically intelligent friends - we use pictures gleaned from picture libraries such Izito, Zapmeta or Getty. I don't even use Canadian passports or driving licences - which limits their sources.
has children who seem to find a way around such impediments, just as adults do.
The leaders in InterNet suppression, the Chinese government, could have told them that, since the electronic wall built around that country more resembles Swiss cheese with large holes in it.
I travel to China regularly and always take a SatPhone (antennae removed) with me - something BeiJing cannot stop working. Another hole.
I was in Canada on the weekend when Phil Zimmerman released his iconic software and I bought 20 or so T-shirts, folded them inside out and later they all departed overseas.
I still have a couple of the original T-shirts. I had a hundred or so printed (very cheap here in South-East Asia) and gave them out to people who asked knowledgeable questions.
Many people owe employment opportunities to Phil, even NSA and GCHQ sub-contractors who were hired to crack Phil's work.
Thank you Phil!
Several countries have avoided total lockdowns. although they have had regional isolation zones - China for one. Kampuchea and Laos had regional closures. All land gateways were closed
VietNam had a "lockdown" for a couple of weeks after travelers and some illegal Chinese border crossers infected areas of the country. There are several "flying squads" who vigorously stamp out outbreaks by isolating areas using road and water / river closures.
The big difference has been attitude and compliance. Mask usage was without complaint; large screen video screens were connected to thermal cameras (for all to see); temperature monitoring occurred at smaller venues, and spray bottles were available everywhere.
Instead of using Plod to harass / arrest people, the Cong An (Peoples Police) handed out masks and bottled water to poor people unable to afford masks. If a motorcyclist was seen without a mask a blast of a whistle or the honk of a horn was sufficient to ensure compliance.
People here can't understand why protests and violence was vented against mask use in the USA and Europe.
Mass vaccinations have just commenced this month, but given the population is around 190-million souls, it will take a while to complete.
Out here in VietNam we have more InterNet freedom that subscribers in the UK and other European countries.
The only noticeable blocks are to those websites who claim Ha Noi is not the legitimate government of the south, although most countries accept and support VietNam as a single entity.
Compared to many countries, the UK is a Nanny domain with many restrictions forced on the great unwashed in the UK. The new satellite venture by Elton Musk and SpacEx is an opportunity to tell Whitehall to go to Hell.
SaiGon/Ho Chi Minh City is now a fibre domain.
Every premise, residential or commercial has a fibre line that terminates in district distribution facilities. All communications providers can connect their services to each "last kilometre fibre" from central control locations.
My residence has two 200MByte InterNet feeds supplied by two competing InterNet providers. The fibre line and the terminating box (user paid) are shared and clearly marked connectors for telephone, cable TV, Data1, Data 2, Audio service are a whiz to connect to. There is a WiFi feature in the box, too, along with Ethernet. I don't subscribe to either cable or telephone services. By providing a 9V DC battery, the unit is grid power independent.
An installer only appeared once, to run a cable from the floor access point to a neat terminal in our residence.
Only one thing: Telco's can access the WiFi for their own technicians use if the WiFi feature is activated.
Mind you, our country cottage some 75 kilometres from the nearest fibre distribution point, also has 100 Mbyte capacity. How is it going in Yorkshire or the Scottish Highlands?
A few groups have been experimenting a how to cripple the mechanical dog, from lassoing legs together to blinding it with lasers.
Still, some of the work can be used to cripple Microsoft's Police IoT system. It's as evil as the Boston dog. Technical 'advances' might sound good, but they also become more susceptible to interuption.
UK airports are filled with sales outlets of all types, making passage from Check-In to Boarding lounge all but impossible.
As for prices, the BAA financial piggies are largely to blame as they try to bleed stores serving PAX of their last Pound/Shekel/Dong before they board their aircraft where they become a captive market for yet other money grabbers. Good riddance to Dixons, Boots, etc.
I (just) remember Northolt, yes - Northolt, which had open halls bereft of all this commercial clutter.
Pricing of equipment doesn't necessarily relate to quality, just what the market will bear. By hitting out at HuaWei and ZTE the US is scoring an own-goal, little wonder it is lagging in so many areas. And the American consumer, and others, will pay for it.
What will happen is that China will develop it's own internal technical resources and, as so often has happened in the past, improve on those of the West and at the expense of the West.
I wonder where these masterpieces of design that are acceptable to the USA will be manufactured? China?
The fact is Russia and China, amongst others, ARE PRESENTLY SMARTER than Western security entities. Why is it Fleming think he and his ilk is so good? Revise your tenses, Fleming.
If Fleming and Company are so good how come that invasions of Western assets are only discovered months after the intruders have left?
Because Fleming, et al, has dropped the ball(s). They are still dreaming in terms of 'empire'.
Upfront: I am Canadian, white. and widely traveled. That said, I do not agree. or support, the political regimes in many Far Eastern countries. Sure, China imprisons prisoners of conscious, I have seen the many daunting prisons in NanNing - but the USA is the world leader in prison populations.
Back in the day everyone CLAIMED the Japanese exploited world markets by copying designs, then it was TaiWan - now the world's leader in semiconductor production - doing the same. Now it is China!
True, all three were / are guilty of plagiarism but the truth is all three have put other, Western, 'leading' countries to shame by their own efforts, home grown efforts.
And, I presume, Western entities don't copy other Western companies or Far Eastern companies? I have worked in Western companies where competitors products were torn apart looking for ideas.
The fact is the Western world couldn't enjoy it's high standard of living without Far Eastern countries. India sources almost ALL the generic pharmaceuticals of the world. Where could Apple, et al, assemble their products in the West.
Why is it that Foreign-born individuals are sought after by Western countries? The WOMAN leading the US Mars lander program hails from Burmese (Myanmar) heritage. And who is running Microsoft? Foreign-born Nadella from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Yet more Foreign-born talent from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India runs Alphabet (Google) .
If it isn't racism, it must be elitism causing all these accusations. Jealously, too. The fact is certain cultures are better suited for certain types of work than others.
I design electronic devices for government and commercial use but most every design is reviewed by optimization companies in China, the physical design and the circuitry are analysed by separate unrelated companies, to avoid copying. I know our products are great.
If the commenters are so talented, let them produce products in the West!
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