SoylentNews

It is entirely plausible that Mr. T himself ordered the hit. Definitely explains his behavior over the matter.

Well, at least he didn't do it on 5th Avenue!

So does raising fuel taxes to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy. Why isn't that illegal??!

IMHO, links on SN should specifically accept target="_blank" so that when a reader clicks on a link, they don't have to be taken away from SN, but instead get a new tab (or window, if that's how they've set their browser up.)

At it stands now, adding that to a link results in it being stripped out.

The default behavior of a link in HTML is to change the current page context. In some cases, that's what you want. Perhaps even (slightly) in the majority of cases. But in the case of a conversation, leaving is not generally what you want.

In fact, I wouldn't be in the least opposed to the default behavior of placing a link on SN always adding target="_blank"

In more Trump corruption news:

President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty Thursday in New York to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate project that Trump and his company pursued at the same time he was running for president.

In a nine-page filing, prosecutors laid out a litany of lies that Cohen admitted he told to congressional lawmakers about the Moscow project — an attempt, Cohen said, to minimize links between the proposed development and Trump as his presidential bid was well underway.

As part of Cohen’s plea, he admitted to falsely claiming that efforts to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow ended in January 2016, when in fact discussions continued through June of that year, the filing said. Among the people Cohen briefed on the status of the project was Trump himself, on more than three occasions, according to the document.

Trump has repeatedly said that he had no business dealings in Russia, tweeting in July 2016, “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia,” and telling reporters in January 2017 that he had no deals there because he had “stayed away.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Moscow project

JUSTICE BREYER: So what is to happen if a state needing revenue says anyone who speeds has to forfeit the Bugatti, Mercedes, or a special Ferrari or even jalopy?

(Laughter.)

MR. FISHER: There -- no, there is no -- there is no excessive fines issue there. I -- what I will say and what I think is important to -- to remember is that there is a constitutional limit, which is the proof of instrumentality, the need to prove nexus.

JUSTICE BREYER: That isn't a problem because it was the Bugatti in which he was speeding. (Laughter.)

MR. FISHER: Right.

JUSTICE BREYER: So -- so there is all the nexus.

MR. FISHER: Historically -­

JUSTICE BREYER: Now I just wonder, what -- what is it? What is it? Is that just permissible under the Constitution?

MR. FISHER: To forfeit the Bugatti for speeding?

JUSTICE BREYER: Yeah, and, by the way, it was only five miles an hour -­

MR. FISHER: Yeah.

JUSTICE BREYER: -- above the speed limit.

MR. FISHER: Well, you know, the answer is yes. And I would call your attention to the -­

JUSTICE BREYER: Is it yes?

MR. FISHER: Yes, it's forfeitable.

I hope Indiana goes down in flames. It's about time we kill this beast.

Worldwide Network

Yeah, Pravda needs Tass to compete...

Yet another Trump Campaign staffer reports to prison today.

Most corrupt administration ever.

Papadopoulos ordered to jail Monday

As per this discussion, I am interested in making it easier to read posts and submissions that contain abbreviations and acronyms.

I suggested that a capability to illuminate such things be added to Soylent, which was met with somewhat of a yawn. Oh well. :)

But I thought I'd do it for my posts, and so I did.

It is a webapp that runs on a webserver, and you can use it as well if you like, presuming you have access to a webserver you can install it on.

Basically what it does is looks at all-caps and/or number sequences and looks them up, surrounds them with <abbr> tags, and pops the explanation into the title element of the tag.

It also provides a powerful macro engine you can use if you like. This can enhance the ability to post quite a bit, provide randomly selected signatures, etc. The limits there are pretty much set by your imagination. For instance, to produce <abbr>, I have this macro in the macro file:

[style tag <tt><b>&lt;[b]&gt;</b><tt>]

To use it in my post, I simply enter:

{tag abbr}

The project is located here.

So the next time you are thinking WTF when you read an acronym or abbreviation in my posts, you can just hover mouse pointer over it and be greeted with a short explanation.

I would be delighted to accept additions to the acronym file on Github, too. The more, the merrier.

And of course, if the coding gods at Soylent wanted to use the acronym file to implement this capability for use with TFS and perhaps even people's posts in general, that would be sweet.

███████.com is a proper stealth mode Dot Com style start-up with more Aeron chairs than people based in Central London between the Ritz Hotel and Fortnum & Mason. We seek someone who:-

• Can write POSIX C to a subset of the MISRA standard to target GNU/Linux, BSD, MacOSX and the cheapest micro-controllers we can find; probably 16 bit AVR or possibly 32 bit Xtensa.
• Can write useful documentation in US English as plain text, HTML or OpenOffice format.
• Can occasionally invoke horrors written in PERL4 and make.
• Is willing to solder, flash and test micro-controllers.
• Alternatively, wants the thankless task of implementing a Unix GUI.

We strongly encourage part-time tele-work, part-time hours and job sharing. We encourage you to use your favorite text editor and email client. Furthermore, we:-

• Prefer HTML2 rather than HTML5.
• Prefer UDP rather than TCP.
• Prefer IPv4 rather than IPv6. (This seems to get howls of protest from people don't understand RFC1365.)
• Prefer wired rather than wireless.
• Prefer Unix rather than Windows.
• Prefer RISC rather than CISC.
• Prefer compiled programming languages.
• Prefer strong typing and static checking.
• Attempt to follow the 12 Step Joel Test without being a cargo cult.
• Are strongly skeptical about cryptographic currency and weakly supportive of block-chain.
• Are strongly pro-privacy.
• Are strongly against cloudy computing.
• Appreciate junk food including our local source of caffeinated bacon.
• Prefer jello rather than Trello. (Sorry, Joel.)
• Prefer slack rather than Slack.

Indeed, we are chilled and low drama with collective experience of South California counter-culture and hydroponics. We are very accommodating towards alternative lifestyles and disabilities. For us, wisdom is highly prized and we appreciate that wisdom is often accompanied with ailments of age. Regardless, we retain some exhuberance and immaturity. Last week, in jest, I was intentionally struck with a scrunched food wrapper. Also, a spherical cow plushie was thrown around the office. This week, it is joined by a spherical sheep, spherical ladybug and spherical tiger. We are willing to reduce such shenanigans if people require concentration. Unfortunately, this is the first of many steps going from innovation to stale, hollow corporation. However, we are doing our utmost to ensure that people don't have to tone down appearance or mannerisms for our traditional New York investors. (We're not encouraging an us-and-them mentality but you can definitely tell who has the money and who has the ideas.)

We've been given a very long leash to make the most awesome, reliable, valuable, legal product and/or service by Mar 2019 with ongoing work subject to outcome. Personally, I'd like to deliver (five sets of) micro-processor, operating system, filing system, database, streaming video desktop remoting system with HDR, 3D sound and much more besides. However, in the four months covering Christmas, it would be optimistic to deliver a draft version of one piece. Indeed, even in the long-term, we cannot be all things to all people. So, where is the best place to concentrate effort? Consider broad market trends:-

• IBM peaked in the 1960s. It is still around but it isn't feared.
• With the licensing of PCDOS in 1981, IBM ultimately aided its successor, Microsoft. Microsoft is still around but it isn't feared.
• With the distribution of Internet Explorer in 1995, Microsoft ultimately aided its successor, Google.
• Google has peaked and has difficulty obtaining and retaining staff due to ethics, censorship and brogrammer culture.

In general:-

• Trends oscillate between server and client. IBM in 1960 (centralized) to Microsoft in 1985 (decentralized) to Google in 2010 (centralized) to ??? in 2035 (decentralized). Between IBM and Microsoft, infill all of the mini-computer companies (DEC, Data General) and dedicated word processor companies (Wang, Commodore). Between Microsoft and Google, infill all of the power desktop companies (Intergraph, SGI, Sun, Dell). From Google to its logical successor, infill rich client companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook). Indeed, Apple's peak valuation and social media valuations rely on a hybrid of local software and vast server farms. MAGAF [Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook] have more than six million servers, 10 million storage units and create an electrical base load which requires 10 nuclear power stations.
• Companies at the extremes of the trend become monopolies before falling into maintenance mode. Many of the remainder chase a changing market.
• Tech monopolies create to environment for their successors.
• A successor is *almost* the opposite of the predecessor.
• Hybrid apps have reached an inevitable peak. This is likely to concede to systems with more autonomy.
• The current environment suits development of a decentralized, privacy respecting system. This is increasingly likely over the next 20 years.
• Security and privacy are awful. This is due to externalized costs and historically weak regulation. Retail banking is a relative leader in security; in part due to disproportionate impact on its own staff. However, legislation is tightening in North America and Europe; in part due to the vitriol on social media towards legislators. This regularly includes credible death threats to immediate family. In the UK, several people have been arrested or imprisoned for credible threat of rape towards politicians. Given that politicians are rarely sexually attractive, it should indicate that the problem is widespread.

Security and privacy are increasingly marketable. However, it is like King Canute attempting to fight a rising tide. It cannot be commanded or legislated. Best option is to isolate. Cannot redact data which has escaped. This is espcially true if it would be good manners.

With a rising tide of privacy infringement, the perfect product and a hypothetical contract with one bank does nothing for customers of other banks, retail breaches, medical breaches, government breaches or any other problem. There is no silver bullet which covers all cases. Regardless, anyone can be "king of their own castle" and home security is a domain where everything is within reach of a customer. If implemented correctly, the customer has complete control. Furthermore, an installation should function beyond the viability of the manufacturer. Convenience features, such as remote access, rapidly devolves into a security quagmire. Convenience features may also require more than four months of effort.

Home security dovetails with the trends of decreased driving and driving licenses, decreased drinking in bars and nightclubs, increased parcel delivery, increased food delivery, binge watching drama, increased remote study, streaming exercise classes and generally following the trends of the film: WALL-E and the short story: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster. Overall, there is demand for a home automation system and a home security system which connects to a big screen television. The laziest method to implement such functionality is as a Kodi module. Kodi is typically deployed on a Raspberry Pi where extensive interfaces (USB, I2C, GPIO) are often unused. Obviously, this would be a lame, unreliable and insecure implementation but it would certainly be an impressive and convenient demonstration. Geeks may find Kodi's menu system to be quite tedious (and laggy). So, an expert mode is definitely required. It would be particularly useful if a scripting interface was available.

The objective is to have one system which can be used to watch films, watch television, listen to radio, listen to albums and also dip lights, adjust room temperature, brew beer, water plants, feed fish, set burgler alarm, review external security cameras and check who is at front door. Further options are possible but these compromise privacy. It is possible to forward dubious camera footage. It is also possible to integrate a house intercom, voice activated commands and video conferencing. However, interior cameras and microphones are specifically excluded because that's creepy. Even the creepy king, Mark Zuckerberg, covers his laptop camera but he'll willingly make a buck by pointing a camera at you. Our intention is to only integrate functionality which increases security without compromising privacy. How is this achieved? Everything from television to leaf node (lock, trip switch, light bulb) is fairly unconstrained. However, it would be a significant bonus if a system is:-

• Cheaper than a NanoLeaf.
• More open than Philips Hue.
• More reliable than both.

It is also a bonus if functionality overlaps with industrial, office, retail, automotive or aerospace use. For serious use, a Raspberry Pi would be replaced with a 1U rack server with ECC RAM. For very serious use, servers could be clustered with fail-over. Leafs should be as economical and as useful as possible. A friend who runs a virtual reality start-up gave a demostration of an Xtensa micro-controller with USB, GPIO, wifi and 256KB flash serial ROM. When flashed with a Lua interpreter it is possible to run scripts which are stored on a local filing system. Virtual serial over USB also allows access to a Lua REPL. From this, it is possible to join a WPA2 network, run a DHCP client and run an HTTP server. Indeed, without stopping the HTTP server, it is possible to modify the URL-space so that arbitrary paths may be handled by arbitrary functions. A fall-through case serves static files from the local filing system. My friend estimated that the minimum configuration used less than 64KB ROM.

What can be achieved in a smaller space? Chess computers have been implemented with 128 bytes RAM and a popular chess program for the Commodore VIC20 was supplied as a 2KB ROM. Graphic competitions have a 4KB category with impressive entries. (Although, Subdream's 64KB Raum Zeit octree renderer and Porter Robinson & Madeon's animated music video for Shelter remain favorites.) A smaller system is not an academic problem. A smaller system uses less energy. A smaller system also creates savings which ripple through manufacture, wholesale, retail and integration. Reducing cost of a micro-controller by 5¢ may reduce retail price by more than US$1. Alternatively, savings can be allocated to improved cipher suites. For many devices, almost any cipher would be an improvement. I hope that it is possible to include a CLI, graph library and SMART style EDI interface in a micro-controller with 4KB RAM and 16KB ROM. I also hope to implement a network switch with 2KB RAM. Even if these estimates are repeatedly raised, the result remains competitive in a market with dual-core light bulbs, quad-core watches and where 1GB RAM is regarded as embedded.

Our preferences for hiring are as follows:-

• UID1111 who is bold enough to show work, introspective and, despite protest to the contrary, cares about detail, such as string buffers.
• UID2828 who is working on the closely related problem of vehicle networking.
• UID5227, Linux device driver contributor. (I noted the quality of this work at the time.)
• Anonymous Coward who shared a fast and concisely documented matrix library.

We are heavily constrained by time. We would otherwise like to exhaust these options before seeking people more widely.

I'd like to finish with a message to people with similar sentiments to SoylentNews' Not So Anonymous Coward, SaltySpice. (When did we start naming our trolls?) We strongly agree that there are too many oxygen thieves in software development and corporate administration. If they could FOAD, we'd make more progress. In particular, computer security is a sticking plaster for developers who don't care. From our unused collation of soggy.jobs, the most generous lower bound for fake or speculative job adverts is 5%. We would be wholy unsurprised if the majority of job adverts are fake. Particular ire goes to Infosys and IBM subsidary, Aspera, for listing fake jobs. Paraphrasing from email:-

Me: Are you *sure* you're rejecting UDP, file transfer, POSIX C programmer with professional experience of your CLI and GUI?
Michelle Munson, co-founder of Aspera: Yes.

That's like the alleged musicians, Duran Duran, who came second in a lookalike competition or the guy in Charlie Brooker's ScreenWipe USA who failed a screen test to portray himself in a fictional version of his own life. However, when unemployed people are expected to seek work but employers are not obliged to hire, don't be surprised when the result is nepotism, time-wasting and abusive practices. Also don't be surprised when the unviable dregs are advertised for an extended period. My personal favorite was a job advert for a tri-lingual, Adobe, Java, Cisco expert which paid San Francisco minimum wage. This idiocy is made significantly worse by "signposting" "services" which provide another level of indirection where none is required.

It is damning that the majority of programming jobs are obtained via family, friends and interview prowess. Ability to do the job is very secondary. Caring about the project is also secondary. I would be inclined to hire SaltySpice in preference to MDC but, c'mon, meet me half way. Give me *anything* which puts you ahead of my least competent, least employable ex-colleague.

Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of emails last year to White House aides, Cabinet officials and her assistants using a personal account, many of them in violation of federal records rules, according to people familiar with a White House examination of her correspondence.

White House ethics officials learned of Trump’s repeated use of personal email when reviewing emails gathered last fall by five Cabinet agencies to respond to a public records lawsuit. That review revealed that throughout much of 2017, she often discussed or relayed official White House business using a private email account with a domain that she shares with her husband, Jared Kushner.

Some aides were startled by the volume of Ivanka Trump’s personal emails — and taken aback by her response when questioned about the practice. She said she was not familiar with some details of the rules, according to people with knowledge of her reaction.

Ivanka Trump used a personal email account to send hundreds of emails about government business last year