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Trump Campaign Foreign Policy Advisor Goes to Prison Today

Posted by DeathMonkey on Monday November 26 2018, @08:07PM (#3702)
34 Comments
News

Yet another Trump Campaign staffer reports to prison today.

Most corrupt administration ever.

Papadopoulos ordered to jail Monday

How I Celebrated Last Night's SNNLC

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday November 26 2018, @12:11PM (#3699)
4 Comments
Career & Education

"Saturday Night No Life Club". How did you celebrate _yours_?

  • Speechless

    9-1-1: "Emergency Dispatch. What are you reporting?"

    "I cannot speak."

Serve, And Enjoy.

Epic FaceBook Flame-Fest

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday November 25 2018, @03:20PM (#3697)
9 Comments
Career & Education

Some dumb chick demanded that I not be "Ablist" in what I posted last night, then flatly refused to point out what it was in my post about a certain historically-unprecedented batshit crazy woman I know quite well that could be regarded as Ableist.

"You have an Internet connection," this epically-dumb chick pointed out.

"So do _you_ ," I replied. Epically dumb chick then got into it with a couple others but all three of us put together were unable to extract from Epically Dumb Chick what Ableism actually was nor why she regarded my tale of lamentation and sorrow about the batshit crazy woman I know quite well as Ableist, nor would she point out what it was in my OP that she regarded as Ableist.

It proceeded downhill from there, but after riding the Yellow Line from North Portland back into Downtown - a thirty-minute journey - quietly reflecting upon what I could post that I cold possibly hope to be more productive than to point out that she's such an Angry Dumb Cunt because she had a surgeon suture her twat shut so as to trap years of menstrual fluid that her anger and her rage might draw upon the necrosis of what at one time had been her pussy, her uterus, her Fallopian tubes as well as her ovaries.

To Wit:

Debra Harpe - after a half hour or so of quiet reflection, I Cry _BULLSHIT_ on your "Ablist" complaint. I am a Scholar and have been since I was a _very_ young boy - quite a diligent and serious one: my first really serious career goal was to be a Chemistry Professor at a University, later an Astronomer, later still to be a Physicist, eventually focussing on Elementary Particle Physics. Among my studies have been Geometry, Number Theory, Philosophy, to play and compose for the Piano, to sing and to dance in musical theater, to volunteer for political campaigns, literature, writing both fiction and non-fiction, just in this last year my writing has focussed on looking into why Ancient Greek, Roman History and Hebrew history ultimately resulted into the world we have today - specifically the Vietnam War, the Killing Fields of Cambodia, Adolf Hitler, NAZI Germany, World War II and the Holocaust. Also lifelong has been my interest in Cult Phenomena, starting with Communist Cambodia, the NAZIs, the Jonestown Guyana mass suicide in which NINE HUNDRED People's Unification Church Members took their own lives by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Ade, the Human Potential Movement by enrolling in the Beginner and Advanced LifeSpring Courses as well as its Leadership Program, the incredibly bizarre Spring 1997 mass suicide of the small, insular San Diego UFO Cult Heavens Gate, who all "Shed Their Vehicles" by eating phenobarbital-laced pudding and applesauce with Such Great Enthusiasm that they all wore Brand-New Nike Hightop Sneakers so as to be properly dressed for the occasion

Then:

But I have not the first clue what it is about my Original Post that you could _possibly_ regard as Ableist. Again for my _entire_ life I have _always_ been enthusiastically ready to engage in informed discussion and reasoned debate over absolutely _any_ topic at all, even those I regards as Morally Reprehensible.

Followed by:

But I have No Use _Whatsoever_ for small-minded cowards such as yourself, Debra Harpe, who hurl blunt, angry insults at me then flatly refuse to explain why they felt the need to do so but somehow expect _me_ to magically pull that required explanation Right Out Of My Own Ass.

Continuing on through:

There are vast multitudes of people who stand ready to enthusiastically engage in informed discussion or reasoned debate with me even over topics that _they_ regard as morally reprehensible.

The Climax:

Thus, I regard you Debra Harpe as no more significant to me or to my interests to the bright green fungus I find growing on oranges in my fridge from time to time.

The Denouement:

Good Day. Don't let the door hit yer ass on your way out, Debra Harpe.

The End: I tagged a close friend and high school classmate by the name of Ralph who is now a Psychiatrist in Hawaii. (Not _My_ Psychiatrist, rather Ralph is a friend.) He and I often engage in fascinating discussions over various minutiae of the mind mind.

What's Yer Take? Do you regard Tarring And Feathering as too good for Debra Harpe, I would you advise me to Level Debra Harpe Up to the Iron Maiden? It happens that I am quite a good welder, my father taught me both electric arc and acetylene welding when I was still in Elementary School.

My breakfast should be done Nuking right around now. Bon Apetit!

In the Emergency Room for the Fourth Occurence of Aphasia

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday November 25 2018, @06:55AM (#3696)
4 Comments
Career & Education

... in both my speech and my writing.

The second time I posted a kuro5hin diary then was quite puzzled to find i'd written "I liked Caltech because they had sushi there".

Tech is a technical institute; they did not have sushi there. During my studies there I never ate sushi because I regarded raw fish as disgusting.

The last two times I got a CT scan then an MRI, all three times they tested my blood and my urine

Neither the staffs of all three hospitals, nor my outpaitieny witch doctors, my shrinks nor my regular doctors has ever had the first clue as to what keeps causing this nor how to prevent it.

Just now my ER doc told me he'd prescribe Ativan, which also effective at treating brain seizures and IIRC stroke as well.

From May 2010 to July 2014 I had at least eight brain seizures, four of which led to my entering Fugue States - Wikipedia has a good article - for as long as a solid month but in my own conscious experience felt to me as if I'd been unconscious for less than a second.

That I have such a severe mental illness led one of my EMTs suggested this may be a Psycosomatic Illness. I had one such for 25 years, but when it finally occurred to me to consider it could be Psychosomatic I was delightfully puzzled to discover that I could make it go away then come back just by thinking about doing so.

That I'm so insightful about my Madness and so eloquent at writing about it leads some shrinks and witch doctors - some aren't my doctors, rather my friends - to regard me as The Second Coming Of Christ.

Just now got a cranial CT scan. Diagnostic Radiologist will give my ER doc his report in a half hour. Half hour ago took 1 mg of Ativan; two would have put me right to sleep.

If my brain scan turns up normal my doc says he'll discharge me, but this is the first time my doc will refer me to an outpatient Neurologist, from who I will request an Electroencephalograph Test.

There's a startup in Eugene Oregon which makes EEG probes that are far more zensitive tha the usu find wires with sharp ends that the poke directly into one's scalp. That Eugene companany's probes are attached to a one centimeter mesh that is draped over one's head

That Ativan is making me sleepy so I'll chill for a while.

Fox News Guest Apologizes For Comparing Hilary To Herpes

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday November 24 2018, @12:02PM (#3694)
16 Comments
News

My own take is that Hilary is rather more like a Staph infection.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/23/fox-news-guest-apologizes-saying-hillary-clinton-like-herpes/2094979002/

Were she ever actually elected President, the entire planet would get to find out if she's the Flesh-Eating variety.

My own Staph infection a while back quite fortunately responded really well to antibiotics, but before I got diagnosed with it, my Staph was doing a solid job of eating my own flesh.

I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary, then Jill Stein in the general.

US News Website Forbids European Visitors

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday November 23 2018, @05:19AM (#3692)
78 Comments
News

While using Tor Browser through an Exit Node that I expect is in Europe:

451: Unavailable for legal reasons

We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time. For any issues, e-mail us at webmaster@thepostnewspapers.com or call us at 330-721-7678.

=======

Beats The Hell Out Of Clicking Away A "We Use Cookies, So There!" Notification.

Get ready, folks. The JFK files will knock your socks off!!!

Posted by realDonaldTrump on Thursday November 22 2018, @05:08PM (#3690)
9 Comments
Nexuses

I will be allowing, as President, ALL the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened. Other than the ones w/National Security, Law Enforcement & Foreign Affairs Concerns. I agree with the Archivist’s recommendation that the continued with holdings are necessary to protect against identifiable harm to national security, law enforcement, or foreign affairs that is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in IMMEDIATE DISCLOSURE. And I've set a very strict deadline for the release. October 26, 2021.

So incredible what they did to JFK. He was one of the most powerful guys. Him and Nikita. And they did a total number on him. One minute he's a smart guy. The next, so many of his Brains are flying everywhere. And now the rest of his Brain is missing. Or is it? So many people wondering where the President's Brain is. Big mystery there, right?

And by the way, we still have Snipers. Obama sent his Polish Snipers to Kiev, the Ukraine has never been the same since he did that. And I have some terrific Snipers in my beautiful military. My great, and very gun-adept guys. And my brave, and very sexy Lady Snipers. I never forget my Snipers. Something that certain Judges & Chief Justices can keep in mind. I'll tell you, one Chief Justice isn't exactly my favorite. You know who you are!!!!

One more thing, I hear bye proclaim today THANKSGIVING. Beautiful weather here in sunny Florida. Very nice, as usual at my Winter White House. Otherwise known as Mar-a-Lago. New York City, not so nice. It's in the 20s, right? They used to say, "oh, Global Warming!" You don't hear that one anymore. Because of days like this. Too many places getting VERY COLD. So they changed that one, now they say Climate Change. And a little of that good old Global Warming would be great right now. For New York it would be great. So why not shovel some beautiful Clean Coal into your boiler today? The Miners will thank you. And you can thank them. I thank them every day -- I never ever forget our fabulous Coal Miners!

And another thing we're VERY THANKFUL for is our allies, our STEADFAST partners. Israel and Saudi Arabia. Who we love. Because they always, always put America First. Just like I do. We get so much money from the Saudi, they love our equipment. Our military equipment -- the best in the entire world. They're investing so much money. They're truly spectacular investors. You want to sell a yacht, you want to sell a condo -- Saudi. You can count on them. 100%. And we spend a lot of money on terrific Israel. It's our very special colony on the other side of the world. Our Jamestown. We love Israel because it's bringing "democracy." A lot of people in Middle East are looking at Israel, believe me. And possibly they'll have "democracy" in Middle East too. In the Saudi, in Yemen, in many places. Possibly even Iran -- remember the Snipers (I remember). Just like they have in Israel. You never know. And nobody really knows. They say "oh, death to America." Not for long. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL! Something Obama never said. He'll say it. And you're going to be hearing that one more and more. Because I ended the Bush/Obama War on Thanksgiving. I'm the only guy that could end it. And I'm very honored. USA!

We Are Hiring

Posted by cafebabe on Thursday November 22 2018, @04:04PM (#3689)
39 Comments
Career & Education

███████.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:-

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:-

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:-

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:-

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:-

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.

I've Got Another Facebook Romance Scammer On The Line

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday November 22 2018, @09:27AM (#3687)
22 Comments
Career & Education

I have a great many African friends who are all nice people, except for those who live in Ghana.

I have some reason to believe that all the Ghana residents to be found on Facebook are really Just One Guy who I expect really _does_ live in Ghana. Most commonly his profile photo is Blue-Eyed Cass wearing a sexy white dress with red polka-dots.

If you do an image search for Blue-Eyed Cass, be advised that most of the hits will be NSFW.

Eventually the time comes when "she" wants to come to America to Love Me Long Time. She'll need money to obtain a passport, money to bribe some public officials, round trip plane fare and so on.

The last time I got a Facebook Romance Scammer, she had me hook, line and sinker however she was very very insistent on me sending her cash for the plane fare so she could get a really good deal from a close friend who was a travel agent. "She" was far more patient than are most scammers, one of whom went from "I work as a nanny" to "Send me an iTunes Card" in less than ten minutes. Her profile photo was a SFW photo of a generally NSFW lady.

In the end, I reported this last "lady" as well as Emmanuel Olusoji Ishola to the FBI, the Secret Service - because they handle financial crimes, not just Presidential security - and to the Bank Of America's Security people.

It was not at all long before the above-linked page as well as this one were Google's top two hits for "Emmanuel Olusoji Ishola".

I mentioned that to my shrink, who replied, "He should have known better than to mess with a computer person".

Those two pages together were getting FIFTY GOOGLE REFERRALS PER MONTH for several months. I grew concerned he'd take out a hit on my life and so planned to move out of my apartment and back under a certain bridge - in a tent, with a sleeping bag and a camp stove - but in the end didn't actually do so.

However I _will_ report that I'm quite happy with my purchase of an MSR Whisperlite International multi-fuel stove. It can take White Gas (highly refined Naptha), Unleaded Gasoline, Kerosene and Propane.

Just now my Ghanian "lady" just told me that she's "looking for a healthy relationship" so I replied that I was once married, but that Bonita and I divorced in 2008.

The very instant "she" requests an iTunes card, I'll report her to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. I do that rather than report them to Facebook because all Facebook will do is delete their account.

I at First Thought I Sat in Someone's Stale Urine

Posted by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday November 21 2018, @04:17AM (#3682)
12 Comments
Career & Education

But soon realized it was a severely mentally ill woman who was hurling epithets at an imaginary enemy.

This just about always works:

"Hi! My name is Mike. What's yours?"

I am often - but not always - able to make Schizophrenics stop hallucinating. But my new friend turned away then refused to speak.

"Who's that that you're talking to? You seem pretty angry with them." But she steadfastly tightened up her irritated pout.

"It's OK to be angry when someone mistreats us."

At times during our one-sided conversation she would curse at her enemy again, but not at all at me.

Having just now gotten up from my seat on the train - actually light rail, but to actually spell out "light rail" feels burdensome - I'm pretty sure I really did sit in that woman's piss.

She and I went back and forth this way until I heard someone say "Have a good evening". Without looking away from my new friend I replied the same.

"Hey Sir!" I heard them say again, then looked up to see a young man smiling broadly while giving me a thumbs up. "Have a good evening!"

I smiled as well then returned his thumbs up.

Now I have a question for you lot:

I recently mentioned to an emergency room nurse that I do this kind of thing. "I could never do that," she replied, quite astonished.

That nurse deals on a regular basis with the ground up "Tastes Like Pork" that the Emergency Medical Technicians deliver to her ER. Surely people die in her care because they are ground up far too severely for her and her coworkers to save them.

Mom's father was a doctor she always wanted me to be one too, but I could never watch my patients die.

Yet chatting up the totally demented is no problem for me, none at all.

I am unable to reconcile that ER nurse's reaction to what I do just as easy as writing "Hello World".

What's your take?