[url]http://gizmodo.com/looking-at-the-list-and-being-from-philly-i-am-not-surp-1551633134[/url]

[url]http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/17/british-woman-returning-from-african-jungle-finds-giant-spider-in-backpack/[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;369836][url]http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/17/british-woman-returning-from-african-jungle-finds-giant-spider-in-backpack/[/url][/QUOTE]While we are on the subject of [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26764929"]giant animals[/URL] ...

[QUOTE=xilman;369840]While we are on the subject of [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26764929"]giant animals[/URL] ...[/QUOTE]

Dang! I saw the picture and first thought the creature was an American Opossum.

[url]http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/03/hands-on-with-imitone-if-you-can-hum-you-can-make-music-with-it/[/url]

Screw you brain... I'm getting someone better!

Google aims to trademark the word 'Glass'
 

[url]http://hexus.net/business/news/legal/68281-google-aims-trademark-word-glass/[/url]

Also, Cambodia's Angkor Wat added to Street View.

We are nowhere near George with this wretched game, but we hit 2048, so at least we can quit with (some) dignity.

:razz:

The winner of the longest sled dog race in Europe demonstrates how she went
 

[YOUTUBE]KyhZGeFxxbI[/YOUTUBE]

How is that FOSS "many eyes" thing working out for ya all?

[size=1]Nobody reads the sources, okay. Oh, and nobody can compile them either.[/size] :stirpot:

Well, I would actually argue that the vulnerability was found [U]because[/U] they [U]are[/U] open sources, [U]and[/U] because someone, sometime [U]do[/U] read the sources and compile them. If that would be proprietary (i.e. secret), nobody will ever make this public (remark: I did not say "nobody will ever find it"). Let's be clear, I do not advocate "open sources", but i fully recognize its merits. In this case, open source has its benefits. As a programmer, i.e. e guy who puts the food on the table for his kids by writing source code, mostly proprietary, I am teared in half for both the open source and secret stuff. Both have their merits and disadvantages.

LaurV,
I work in a shop that has programmers & technicians of all religions: Windows apologists, Open Source freaks, smug Apple fan-boys, IBM mainframe dinosaurs, etc. Where I agree with retina is that the Open Source crowd has always claimed that they are the most secure and have NO vulnerabilities and don't bother them with any security concerns because OPEN SOURCE IS PERFECT. So there is a bit schadenfreude on everyone's else's part when this came up.
( It should be noted that the smug Apple fan-boys are actually the worst in this regard )

[QUOTE=tServo;370649]LaurV,
I work in a shop that has programmers & technicians of all religions: Windows apologists, Open Source freaks, smug Apple fan-boys, IBM mainframe dinosaurs, etc. Where I agree with retina is that the Open Source crowd has always claimed that they are the most secure and have NO vulnerabilities and don't bother them with any security concerns because OPEN SOURCE IS PERFECT. So there is a bit schadenfreude on everyone's else's part when this came up.
( It should be noted that the smug Apple fan-boys are actually the worst in this regard )[/QUOTE]

You are painting with a broad brush. I do not know of one Open Source supporter who believes that open source is perfect. Being an Apple fan-boy myself, I know they aren't perfect either. I do view them as better than the alternative. The stability of the various Macs I have owned over the past (nearly) three decades proves that.

[QUOTE=tServo;370649]LaurV,
I work in a shop that has programmers & technicians of all religions: Windows apologists, Open Source freaks, smug Apple fan-boys, IBM mainframe dinosaurs, etc. Where I agree with retina is that the Open Source crowd has always claimed that they are the most secure and have NO vulnerabilities and don't bother them with any security concerns because OPEN SOURCE IS PERFECT. So there is a bit schadenfreude on everyone's else's part when this came up.
( It should be noted that the smug Apple fan-boys are actually the worst in this regard )[/QUOTE]Oooh, I do love a good religious war.
:popcorn:


FWIW, I believe that Emacs is better than vi and that BSD is dead.

[QUOTE=xilman;370660]Oooh, I do love a good religious war.
:popcorn:


FWIW, I believe that Emacs is better than vi and that BSD is dead.[/QUOTE]

Bwahahahaha... bring the flame!

:popcorn:

[QUOTE=rogue;370658]You are painting with a broad brush. I do not know of one Open Source supporter who believes that open source is perfect. Being an Apple fan-boy myself, I know they aren't perfect either. I do view them as better than the alternative. The stability of the various Macs I have owned over the past (nearly) three decades proves that.[/QUOTE]

To try to douse the flames a bit, I was referring to the ones in my shop, not to
the general community.

[QUOTE=xilman;370660]Oooh, I do love a good religious war.
:popcorn:


FWIW, I believe that Emacs is better than vi and that BSD is dead.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=312264&postcount=249[/url]

[QUOTE=xilman;370660]FWIW, I believe that Emacs is better than vi and that BSD is dead.[/QUOTE]

Emacs may very well be better than vi.

However, I have always taught my students and my juniors that one must always know how to use vi as an editor, because it is the only editor you can be almost sure is installed on the Unix environment one might encounter, even if 35 years old.

One should, of course, also know how to use sed, for those rare cases where vi is not available. Notepad? Laugh (and then fart) in their general direction....

(For the record, VIM is my standard text and code editor.)

[QUOTE=chalsall;370675]Emacs may very well be better than vi.

However, I have always taught my students and my juniors that one must always know how to use vi as an editor, because it is the only editor you can be almost sure is installed on the Unix environment one might encounter, even if 35 years old.[/QUOTE]Emacs is also 35+ years old.

Vi is for windows weenies who can't hack ed(1).

[QUOTE=xilman;370677]Vi is for windows weenies who can't hack ed(1).[/QUOTE]

LOL...

Insult appropriate and accepted. :smile:

Navy powers model plane with fuel derived from sea water
 

[url]http://www.gizmag.com/seawater-hydrocarbon-fuel-airplane/31569/[/url]
[QUOTE]Although no one is saying that aircraft carriers will soon be able to fuel their jet fighters using water from the ocean, such a scenario [I]has[/I] recently come a step closer to reality. Scientists from the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have successfully flown a radio-controlled airplane that was running purely on fuel derived from sea water.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/09/wwi-photos_n_5118292.html[/url]

[QUOTE=tServo;370640][QUOTE=LaurV;370605][URL="http://news.yahoo.com/passwords-vulnerable-security-flaw-found-222708914.html"]Heartbleed[/URL]
(Not very well documented, but it makes you say hmm..., better you search the web for more details, the noise is on the raising now)[/QUOTE]

LaurV is right and perhaps understated it a bit.
This looks VERY VERY bad, indeed! It affects servers, the estimate I just saw
said about 500,00 of them. For instance, every Apache server has this vulnerability ! Since it is on the server side, there is no protection on your client
machine to avoid this. CNET has a pretty good article as does heartbleed.com.
I'm sure there will be plenty of others.
The hell of it is: you can't try to fix this until the company that owns the servers
has done their part. only then can you change your passwords.
Also, if the hackers have saved intercepted data, they now have the means
to use it.[/QUOTE]I've started a new thread:
"[URL="http://mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=19272"]Heartbleed: Changing your passwords[/URL]"
by quoting from a good article at the Yahoo! Tech section.

[QUOTE=tServo;370649]Where I agree with retina is that the Open Source crowd has always claimed that they are the most secure and have NO vulnerabilities and don't bother them with any security concerns because OPEN SOURCE IS PERFECT.[/QUOTE]It seems that the Open Source crowd where you work is inexperienced. (I'll guess that they're young.)

"[URL="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000142/?ref_=tt_trv_qu"][/URL]A man's GOT to know his limitations."
Clint Eastwood's character Harry Callahan, in [i]Magnum Force[/i]

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26999823]Pakistan baby case withdrawn[/url]: [i]A Pakistani court withdraws the case against a nine-month-old baby who was accused of attempted murder along with 12 family members.[/i]

Insufficient evidence tying the toddler to the crime", I'm guessing - but we all know it was the mastermind, he's a cunning little type that one, don't let the drool, googoo babble and pacifier fool you..

[YOUTUBE]DFo7ztlMlmg[/YOUTUBE]

Does it cut grass? That is, is it really a mower? Just guessing, but the blade would have to be spinning in the thousands instead of the hundreds of rpm. Even then, the cut would be pretty strange, given the differences in ground speed of the two ends of the blade.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;371305][YOUTUBE]DFo7ztlMlmg[/YOUTUBE][/QUOTE]Actually the funny thing about that link is the human desire for recognition and how they only got excited when some official from some beer company read out a speech to say they recognise an achievement. Perhaps the days of doing things for our own enjoyment have gone? Unless we get X likes and Y views and a beer company watching us then whatever we do is regarded as a failure?

Then, too, it is pretty unusual to see a lawnmower red-lining at 9500 rpm.

I vote this as being more funny car than lawnmower. It is a lawn tractor shell with some really exotic guts.

[QUOTE=kladner;371335]Then, too, it is pretty unusual to see a lawnmower red-lining at 9500 rpm.
[/QUOTE]

Heh. It is pretty unusual to see a tach, at all, on a lawnmower.

I can attest to that!

{ I've just fixed one: by replacing [I]the[/I] spark plug [sic! not plural, singular], blowing the fuel filter [while children looked at me in awe and disbelief; they probably expected me to croak shortly after, like Vizzini did] and yanking the starter chain until I got a blister, ... but this whole procedure worked, it took off. }

[QUOTE=bsquared;371336]Heh. It is pretty unusual to see a tach, at all, on a lawnmower.[/QUOTE]

Ain't that the truth!

We have a commercial [URL="http://powerequipment.honda.com/lawn-mowers/models/hrc216hxa"]Honda lawnmower[/URL] that is a fantastic piece of engineering.

We have the service manual for it and do all of our own maintenance. One bit we do yearly is clean the carburetor, replace the air filter and spark plug, change the engine oil, adjust the valve clearances, sharpen the blades and regulate the operating speed.

Fortunately, we own an hourmeter that can sense the spark inductively, so setting the operating speed (and idle) is a simple matter of wrapping the hourmeter wire around the spark plug lead. The attached picture shows a similar hourmeter on our two-stroke dirt bike. When not running, the hourmeter shows the total hours run, and when the engine is running it shows the RPM. When the engine is shut off it briefly shows the highest RPM recorded for that session. A lot of commercial equipment has maintenance schedules based on hourly usage.

:blahblah:

I have great faith in Honda technology. I am very fond of a certain 4 cylinder 2000 Accord, which I hope to keep running far beyond its current ~105 K miles.

I have no doubt that Honda makes excellent mowers. My niggling quibble is that mowers are powered by industrial-style engines, which tend to run at an optimal speed. Racing engines are totally different beasties. This is the root of my "funny car" remark.

Then too, the engine in our Accord is turning about 3K rpm in high, at 80 mph. It tops out somewhere over 5K. It only comes close to such revs under heavy load, accelerating or hill-climbing at Interstate speeds. I generally try not to demand such loads from it.

Three of our current five motorcycles are Hondas and eight of the 13 motorcycles we have owned are/were Hondas.

We have found that Hondas are incredibly reliable and engineered very well. The flat-six engine in our Goldwing is a piece of modern art and possibly the smoothest engine we have ever experienced.

But lately, we feel that Honda, in general, lacks inspiration. Maybe that is the wrong word. We are not very skilled at describing our feelings.

We had an option to buy a Honda dirt bike in February but we instead purchased a KTM. They (KTM) are very aggressive in powersports right now and are one of the few manufacturers willing to make two-stroke engines, which are considerably simpler to work on and understand than four-stroke engines. (They are much cheaper to repair and maintain, too!)

Two-stroke engines are both conceptually and in actual practice very fascinating in how they work. There are so many physical laws that are applied to achieve forward motion. Even the exhaust is tuned to send a wave back towards the combustion chamber to supercharge the cylinder with fuel between each ignition.)

The power delivery and "experience" of a two-stroke, although probably slower on a racetrack than a four-stroke, is incredible fun. More than that, perhaps. The experience is more than a machine doing a task. It is like being a child again with a very cool magical toy.

So we are not sure what our outlook on Honda is at this point. Perhaps we have ridden enough motorcycles to want something different. We have a similar dilemma with wristwatches. (To our knowledge, Honda does not make those.)

Certainly, if someone asks us for a recommendation, we will always default to suggesting a Honda. It is near impossible to go wrong with the brand.

Our favorite road bike, right now, has a pedestrian single-cylinder 250cc engine and it cost a fraction of our first bike. We wish in hindsight that we had bought this bike in the beginning, but lessons were learned, in some cases via the old-fashioned painful way.

Most likely any competent motorcyclist would have recommended the 250 for us, but at that time we were not thinking about things in a rational manner. You can be certain that we recommend this bike to our friends now, because it does everything you need it to do, cheerfully and cheaply. Honda has hit a homerun with that bike. It reminds us of the first bikes that Honda imported that were sold to ordinary people to have fun. Honda waited for years to take on the big bikes.

FWIW, that 250 spends the vast majority of its life at 7K RPM or higher, and it does so without any sign of that being a problem. It truly feels like it wants to go have fun. (The Goldwing turns 3K RPM at 60MPH, which is surprising given it has six cylinders and stump-pulling power, but like we mentioned before, it is smooth. Almost like a turbine!)

Maybe our issue is the lack of fun road motorcycles that are lower-displacement models. In other countries they have graduated licensing programs where a low-displacement motorcycle is required. But here in America you can (and we did) walk into a dealer and ride out on the fastest thing available.

We are rambling again!

:blahblah:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;371346]Our favorite road bike, right now, has a pedestrian single-cylinder 250cc engine and it cost a fraction of our first bike. We wish in hindsight that we had bought this bike in the beginning, but lessons were learned, in some cases via the old-fashioned painful way.

Most likely any competent motorcyclist would have recommended the 250 for us, but at that time we were not thinking about things in a rational manner. You can be certain that we recommend this bike to our friends now, because it does everything you need it to do, cheerfully and cheaply. Honda has hit a homerun with that bike. It reminds us of the first bikes that Honda imported that were sold to ordinary people to have fun. Honda waited for years to take on the big bikes.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=xilman;266515]Personally, I think it would be an excellent idea to pay for some lessons given by professionals and, preferably, on a rather smaller, less powerful and more controllable machine.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=xilman;268487]Over here you are not allowed to ride a bike with an engine over 125cc, except in certain constrained circumstances, until you pass a full driving test. The test is quite rigorous and professional instruction is, I believe, obligatory.[/QUOTE]

Nuff said ...

:tu:
That should be applied to Thailand too... Unfortunately, people here are still killed daily due to their own stupidity and show off.

On the subject of Honda engineering: this is getting to be an oldie... but still a goodie:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ve4M4UsJQo[/url]

[url]http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/hondacog.asp[/url]

[QUOTE]Nuff said ...[/QUOTE]:busted:

[QUOTE=bsquared;371359]On the subject of Honda engineering: this is getting to be an oldie... but still a goodie:[/QUOTE]

Very cool! :smile:

With regards to Honda, I've never owned one of their cars nor bikes. But I can *very* highly recommend their portable generators.

We had four of their EU1000i units at the first company I was with here in Barbados (back when power outages were an almost weekly occurrence). I once had to carry one of these up 12 flights of stairs (fully fueled, in the dark) to power one of our wireless relay sites during an "unscheduled" power outage.

Remarkably light, powerful and reliable. They never let us down (unlike BL&P). I plan to buy a EU2000i shortly for domestic and business contingency (read: hurricane preparedness) purposes.

Suuuuuuu zuuuuuuuu kiiiiiiiiiiiii
 

[YOUTUBE]yttbFbMPQeM[/YOUTUBE]

[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xJSstGwB8s"]1995 Intel Pentium Commercial
[/URL]
Heh...

Diesel Drag Truck Destroys Track In High-Speed Crash
 

[YOUTUBE]VLFs45axvfA#t[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]yn3FWb-vQQ4[/YOUTUBE]

Viral news about "[URL="https://www.google.com/search?q=Palcohol"]Parcohol[/URL]". Amusingly, search for lowercase "parcohol" returns nothing relevant.

[QUOTE=Batalov;371717]Viral news about "[URL="https://www.google.com/search?q=Palcohol"]Parcohol[/URL]". Amusingly, search for lowercase "parcohol" returns nothing relevant.[/QUOTE]

Pa[B]r[/B]cohol/Pa[B]l[/B]cohol is the difference, not the capitalization.
:loco:

Well, obviously, that was not the point that made me go "hmmmm..."
(but thank you for spotting the typo).

It was the idea that powdered alcohol is what the humanity really needs.
(Everyone and their mothers emailed around the palcohol news.)

Interviews with people in the street
 

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLjxEpKZyvI[/url]

[QUOTE=Batalov;371735]It was the idea that powdered alcohol is what the humanity really needs.
(Everyone and their mothers emailed around the palcohol news.)[/QUOTE]

"Mix with my patented freeze-dried water for the ultimate dry martini!"

I would taunt SergeB with a "Remember to never dlink and dlive!" quip, but fear the PC prigs would misinterpret that as an anti-Asian slur. Confusing slurring of one's speech with slurs in one's speech, as it were.

=====================

[url=www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/marshmallow-toasting-bonobo-charms-internet-after-bbc-debut-n82441]Marshmallow-Toasting Bonobo Charms Internet After BBC Debut[/url]

Video is pretty amazing. By way of analogy to humans (but Bonobos make us-at-our-worst look like prudes) - see what Bonobos are capable of when you can get them to think about something other than sex?

Paul's mention of the 125cc limit on engine displacement for beginners in the UK must have taken subconscious root within our brain because today we scored a 125! Whee!

[url]http://www.cycleworld.com/2013/09/04/2014-honda-grom-125-first-ride-review-photos-specs/[/url]

:razz:

The KKK Wants You!
 

[URL]http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/22/1293807/-The-KKK-forms-neighborhood-watch-group-in-Pennsylvania[/URL]

KKK forms neighborhood watch group in Pennsylvania.

[QUOTE]Sarah Palin would like all terrorists to know that if she were in charge, [COLOR=Blue][B]waterboarding[/B][/COLOR] is how the United States would [B][COLOR=Red]baptize[/COLOR][/B] them.





At least that's what the former Alaskan governor and ex-vice presidential nominee told thousands of attendees this weekend at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Indianapolis.
[/QUOTE]

[url]http://news.yahoo.com/palin-waterboarding-nra-speech-205827272.html[/url]

(Spoiler alert: there's nothing here you haven't seen or heard before.)

I was just struck by the Jesus-like attitudes expressed. Ol' Bible Spice sure has some great ways of showing her respect for supposedly sacred psychodramas. This certain goes beyond (below?) the "total immersion" level of baptism.

Considering the venue, I wonder if she also talked about what kinds of assault rifles her Lord and Savior would pack.

[QUOTE=kladner;372177]

Considering the venue, I wonder if she also talked about what kinds of assault rifles her Lord and Savior would pack.[/QUOTE]

Courtesy of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, our Lord prefers a shotgun when not using His samurai sword.
It's near the end of this 2 minute clip: [URL="http://vimeo.com/59975315"]http://vimeo.com/59975315[/URL]

Fleet of drones plays 3 tunes
 

OK, here's a fleet of drones playing Also Sprach Zarathusrta, Carol of the Bells, and The Star Spangled Banner: [URL="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/drone-rock-robotics-company-creates-a-flying-musical-band/"]http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/drone-rock-robotics-company-creates-a-flying-musical-band/[/URL]

I especially like the custom slide guitar !

[QUOTE]…slide guitar…[/QUOTE]
[YOUTUBE]3cpRlgA7WpY[/YOUTUBE]

[QUOTE=tServo;372180]Courtesy of a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, our Lord prefers a shotgun when not using His samurai sword.
It's near the end of this 2 minute clip: [URL]http://vimeo.com/59975315[/URL][/QUOTE]

Seems OK to me. :smile:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;372212][YOUTUBE]3cpRlgA7WpY[/YOUTUBE][/QUOTE]

Jimi Hendrix would be proud !

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ppmcMiLn_I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ppmcMiLn_I[/URL]

I wonder what's harder; playing with your teeth or with a spoon in your teeth?

So, I find this in my InBox today...
 

From: Amazon Web Services, LLC

Dear Amazon Web Services Customer,

Your AWS Account will be suspended. You have not resolved the outstanding problem with your account. Our previous communications were not able to produce a satisfactory payment of past due AWS charges. We were unable to charge your credit card for the amount of $1.32 for your use of AWS services during the month of Mar-2014. We will attempt to collect this amount again. Unless we are successful in collecting the balance of $1.32 in full by 04/30/2014, your Amazon Web Services account will be terminated.

ROFLMFAO...

I was testing their service -- and I actually found it rather lacking. To the best of my knowledge, I didn't use anything beyond the promised "free testing year".

But, hell, they dare to try to scare me with a $1.32 charge!

Go fsck yourself. And try to sue me for the damages.

Trust me that I will never use, nor no-longer recommend, your service.

There is no such thing as a "free testing year". There is the "free tier" and only basic elements are included with it. If, e.g. you add a provisioned storage (EBS), or any of other innumerable little things, then a few cents will be charged.

This is like drinking free coffee at a diner, but then also eating a muffin. Sure, you can get away with leaving without paying - but the diner's owner simply will not serve you ever again. He will not go to court with you for the dollar-and-change.

[QUOTE=Batalov;372283]This is like drinking free coffee at a diner, but then also eating a muffin. Sure, you can get away with leaving without paying - but the diner's owner simply will not serve you ever again. He will not go to court with you for the dollar-and-change.[/QUOTE]

I understand that.

I was very careful to only use the storage and CPU made available for the first year for testing. Then I shut everything down after I found it less than satisfactory.

I do, however, find it interesting that they sent me a "scary" message for a USD $1.32 bill.

"My god!!! I might be forbidden from EC3!!! What ever will I do!?!?!?"

[QUOTE=chalsall;372284]I do, however, find it interesting that they sent me a "scary" message for a USD $1.32 bill.

"My god!!! I might be forbidden from EC3!!! What ever will I do!?!?!?"[/QUOTE]

If it helps, it was probably an automated thing. For serious users of AWS, an interruption/termination of their service would be a big deal (and the cost is probably significant), so a scarily-worded email is useful.

[QUOTE=Mini-Geek;372285]If it helps, it was probably an automated thing. For serious users of AWS, an interruption/termination of their service would be a big deal (and the cost is probably significant), so a scarily-worded email is useful.[/QUOTE]

[code]if ($Outstanding < 5 && $TrialTester == 1) { next; }[/code]

This isn't rocket science....

[QUOTE=chalsall;372284]

"My god!!! I might be forbidden from EC3!!! What ever will I do!?!?!?"[/QUOTE]

I remember having a running battle with a magazine subscription department decades ago over a trivial charge like this. I then sent them a payment for all of it except 1 cent. The threatening letters persisted until I finally got the "We will refer this to our attorney" threat. I then got a letter from the attorney saying the matter was closed! I wonder how much it cost them?

However, I wouldn't do that now due to credit rating systems in place. They are likely to report you and this would appear on your credit report and possibly affect interest rates and credit score, even tho it's a trivial amount. It might just be recorded as an overdue or delinquent account with no amount. Just my 2 cents.

[QUOTE=tServo;372289]However, I wouldn't do that now due to credit rating systems in place. They are likely to report you and this would appear on your credit report and possibly affect interest rates and credit score, even tho it's a trivial amount. It might just be recorded as an overdue or delinquent account with no amount. Just my 2 cents.[/QUOTE]

A very important and insightful point!

There is a lot to be said for the attitude that one should pay in cash when and where possible, and only borrow from friends and family.

That said... At least in North America one is allowed to review one's credit report at least once a year for free. I remember going into an office and asking for my credit report, and then the woman at the terminal bringing up the record.

"Oh", she said, "that's wrong" (deleting a record), "Oh, and that's wrong" (deleting another record). I stopped her there, and asked her to print out the records still in the database.

There were several records which were "wrong" which were negatively affecting my credit rating.

It is trivial for someone to put a negative entry on your record. Even for a few cents. And you likely will never know about it, unless you explicitly ask.

Ask.

[QUOTE]This is like drinking free coffee at a diner, but then also eating a muffin. Sure, you can get away with leaving without paying - but the diner's owner simply will not serve you ever again. He will not go to court with you for the dollar-and-change.[/QUOTE][COLOR="White"].[/COLOR]

So, this turns out to a simple problem.

Amazon encouraged me to experiment with the system "for free" for a year. So one of the experiments I ran was "taking a 'snapshot'" of the (small) file-system attached to an instance.

Turns out the snap-shot wasn't deleted when I shut down all the other services, because it was still 'attached" to an AMI (I had to jump through hoops to remove the connection).

Thus the ~$1.50 USD bill for storage per month for two months.

I spent over $100 USD of my time figuring this out on their pathetic user interface, and trying to figure out how to contact a human directly (the latter appears to be impossible).

I will pay the ~$3 USD bill...

...and I will never use nor recommend them again....

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;372295]"I bought a donut and they gave me receipt for the donut. I don't need a receipt for the donut. I gave you money and you gave me the donut, end of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a donut."

-Mitch Hedberg[/QUOTE]

I know this was meant to be funny, but what Mr. Hedberg is missing is the receipt is not only for the customer's protection, but the retailer's.

At the end of the day there is (or, at least, should be) a reconciliation between the number of donuts made that day and no longer on the premises, and those logged in the cash registers as sold and the amount of cash in same.

I have actually witnessed (decades ago) cash register operators who were good at math who would, at the end of the day, walk away with several hundred dollars of the company's profit in their pocket.

There is a reason some retail outlets have signs that say "If you don't get a receipt, report it, and it's your's free".

[QUOTE=chalsall;372292]

It is trivial for someone to put a negative entry on your record. Even for a few cents. And you likely will never know about it, unless you explicitly ask.

Ask.[/QUOTE]

A site that explains how to get your free report and other considerations is an FTC one
[URL="http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports"]http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0155-free-credit-reports[/URL]

Even tho this is a US law, I'll bet that anyone can order one, even if you live in a place like, say, Barbados. It is amazing what kind of junk you might find in there. The credit agencies must be paid by quantity not quality. After my divorce, my ex's and my reports were mushed together; it took us years to untangle them. Also interesting is info like how often your credit report is accessed. I remember some credit card company ( Capital One, I think ? ) accessed my report EVERY MONTH!
As chalsall said, ASK!

[YOUTUBE]JOCtdw9FG-s[/YOUTUBE]

The Accidental Universe
 

[url]http://harpers.org/archive/2011/12/the-accidental-universe/?single=1[/url]

[url]http://www.today.com/news/man-freed-delayed-sentence-i-just-learned-god-good-2D79627267[/url]

[QUOTE]It sounds weird, but if I had to do it all over again, I don't know if I'd do anything different…[/QUOTE]
:confused:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;372821][url]http://www.today.com/news/man-freed-delayed-sentence-i-just-learned-god-good-2D79627267[/url]


:confused:[/QUOTE]

Great article!

Be careful how you take your photographs
 

[url]http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/amazons-latest-patent-is-sillier-than-the-peanut-butter-sandwich-patent/[/url]

[QUOTE=retina;373016][URL]http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/amazons-latest-patent-is-sillier-than-the-peanut-butter-sandwich-patent/[/URL][/QUOTE]

Beyond ridiculous.

[QUOTE][LIST=1][*] [URL="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/amazons-latest-patent-is-sillier-than-the-peanut-butter-sandwich-patent/?comments=1&post=26803209#comment-26803209"]Thu May 08, 2014 12:58 pm[/URL] Reader Fav [URL="http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=26803177#p26803177"]glutto[/URL] wrote:
I'd post a facepalm.jpg, but after so many stories of patent abuse it's no longer worth the effort.


I intend to patent the method of responding to complaints regarding patent reform with graphics files depicting a human or humanoid covering their face with their hand/appendage in frustration.
[URL="http://arstechnica.com/civis/ucp.php?mode=login&return_to=http%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2Ftech-policy%2F2014%2F05%2Famazons-latest-patent-is-sillier-than-the-peanut-butter-sandwich-patent%2F%3Fcomments%3D1%26amp%3Bstart%3D0%23comment-26803209"]up[/URL] ( +82 | +82 / 0 ) [URL="http://arstechnica.com/civis/ucp.php?mode=login&return_to=http%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2Ftech-policy%2F2014%2F05%2Famazons-latest-patent-is-sillier-than-the-peanut-butter-sandwich-patent%2F%3Fcomments%3D1%26amp%3Bstart%3D0%23comment-26803209"]down[/URL] 19019 posts | registered Aug 19, 2003[*] [URL="http://arstechnica.com/civis/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=89441&sid=9da971376b7bebf0feedec520713df7c"]heartburnkid[/URL]Ars Praefectus [URL="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/amazons-latest-patent-is-sillier-than-the-peanut-butter-sandwich-patent/?comments=1&post=26803211#comment-26803211"]Thu May 08, 2014 12:58 pm[/URL] Reader Fav [URL="http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=26803177#p26803177"]glutto[/URL] wrote:
I'd post a facepalm.jpg, but after so many stories of patent abuse it's no longer worth the effort.


It's a good thing you didn't, because you'd run afoul of my newly-granted patent on using media stills to express emotion.[/LIST][/QUOTE]

Never simply assume
 

[url]http://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/[/url]

[QUOTE=retina;373071][url]http://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/[/url][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]Street numbers don't contain fractions

Dan, Fred Kroon, David Underwood and Daniel Dickison submitted examples of fractional street numbers like 43rd ½ St, Pittsburgh, PA, and of fractional building numbers. These can be written in unicode (43rd ½ St), as a fraction with a slash (43 1/2) or as a decimal (43.5)[/QUOTE]

Hard to understand why they didn't go with the much more famous Platform 9 3/4 King's Cross Station as their counterexample.

[QUOTE=retina;373071][url]http://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/[/url][/QUOTE]Great fun! Having dealt with databases of addresses I see things that I have dealt with. My employer's main address is on of those:
"Name of the Building"
City, Subnational division Post Code.

Here is a fun one:
125 125th St NW
Rice, MN 56367 ‎

There are streets in some areas with format:
housenumber directional StreetName StreetType 2digitDirectional

El Salvador has many addresses that are descriptive:
Last green house on the left

Dealing with e-bay sales and purchases internationally, I would always ask the individual to submit their address in their proper format, with line breaks.
Then print it out from the e-mail and tape that to the package, if it did not get there it was their loss.

Also fun is people with 2 addresses, one that is a deliverable address, the other that is used to go to their location. I know of some "snowbirds" that have a situation like that and their other seasonal address, making 3 addresses that need to be kept for them.

what about the case of
M. Abraham
147 rue du général leclerc
75007 Paris
and
M. Barington
147 [SUP]bis [/SUP]rue du général leclerc
75007 Paris

[QUOTE=retina;373071][URL]http://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/[/URL][/QUOTE]I was startled to see my own suburb used as an example:
[quote=http://www.mjt.me.uk/posts/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-addresses/]Sam pointed me to [URL="http://www.menomoneefallsnow.com/news/99857214.html"]Menomonee Falls[/URL] where houses are addressed using Milwaukee County's grid system instead of house numbers - giving addresses like N88 W16541 Foobar St.[/quote]But it doesn't get some details correct:

a) Officially there's no space between "N88" and "W16541".

b) "N88W16541" _[U]is[/U]_ the house number! There's no "instead of".

c) Many other Milwaukee suburbs besides Menomonee Falls and Germantown use this system.

How do we know? The local Post Office sends each new resident a postcard specifying the official address! (I never had that happen before I moved here.)

One of my out-of-state relatives always wrote my N68W1xxxx address as "N68 W[B]I[/B]xxxx", as though the "1" were the second initial of the state's postal abbreviation "WI".

BTW,

d) Mail addressed with "16541 W. Foobar St." instead of "N88W16541 Foobar St." is delivered correctly despite its unofficiality.

e) "N88" addresses occur on more than one street, because those streets are not oriented exactly east-west.

f) When my address was N68W1xxxx, my next-door neighbor's (same side of the street) address was N6[B]9[/B]W1xxyy, because our street angled toward the northwest rather than straight west. My house was the north- and western-most one with a N68 address on that street. My neighbor's house was the south- and eastern-most one with a N69 address on that street.

Yes, it's funny how such an article can be enlightening until it covers something close to home that you actually know about.
[QUOTE]
[LIST][*][B]Street names don't end in numbers[/B]
Jan Jongboom reports streets can be numbered in the Netherlands - for example, Plein 1944 in Nijmegen.[/LIST][/QUOTE]Correct, except that "plein" is a square, not a street, and it is not "numbered" but in fact dated. The 1944 is a year, as is customary with similar "pleinen" in many places in The Netherlands.

Each time we have sent out those big batches of buttons we ask the recipient for the address as they know it, because there are so many odd ways to write an address.

We remember thinking that some of those buttons would never make it to their destination, but we think they all did (eventually) arrive.

In the US, it is possible to [URL="https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action"]verify addresses with the USPS[/URL] so we sometimes reference that resource.

(We have been told that it is sometimes possible to mail a letter with just a zip+four for an address)

I've had two problems with my address. First is that the house number is 19a and so contains a letter. Second is that the more significant component of the post code changed from CB2 to CB22 some years ago. It's amazing how difficult it is to get that changed in some databases, those of the utilities being worst. The consequence is that cross-checks between suppliers and financial institutions (credi cards, banks, etc) sometimes fail and have to be sorted out manually.

In France, there is some street named ' rue du 8 mai 1945' or some other important event.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;373147]
(We have been told that it is sometimes possible to mail a letter with just a zip+four for an address)[/QUOTE]

In the UK it is possible to send mail to me with just my house-number and my postcode, and it will get here.

[QUOTE=BudgieJane;373161]In the UK it is possible to send mail to me with just my house-number and my postcode, and it will get here.[/QUOTE]
Yes, I remember from when I lived in the UK that the Royal Mail (is it still called that these days?) prided itself so much on being able to decipher poorly addressed mail that some people took those skills a bit [I]too[/I] much for granted. There was a large collection of items which simply could not be delivered to the intended address, nor returned to the sender.

A priceless example, apparently, was a picture postcard containing the message "Having a lovely time, the kids are enjoying themselves, wish you were here, love Olive, Gwyn and the children." Written in the address section, underneath a first class stamp, was "Forgot your address".

Anyone remember this?

"Just mail it to Teejay, Zip Code 20505. It'll reach me."

"Now there's status. No last name, no street, no city, no state.
I wondered if he ever got junk mail."

There were a few towns for sale a few years ago.

So, e.g. "[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenic,_South_Dakota"]57780[/URL]" could be a valid address easily.

[QUOTE=BudgieJane;373161]In the UK it is possible to send mail to me with just my house-number and my postcode, and it will get here.[/QUOTE]
A former co-worker claimed that he once absent mindedly sent a letter to:
Girl Friend's First Name
New York City

and it was delivered. Apparently his habit of writing every day (this was back in the days before the www) paid off and the postal workers recognized the name and writing.

Similarly a relative of mine forgot the house number of another relative and once sent mail to:
Names
Street name
City, State (no zip)

[YOUTUBE]ZwzY1o_hB5Y[/YOUTUBE]

Gorgeous! Can't stop watching it again and again!

[QUOTE=Brian-E;373144]Correct, except that "plein" is a square, not a street, and it is not "numbered" but in fact dated. The 1944 is a year, as is customary with similar "pleinen" in many places in The Netherlands.[/QUOTE]

Wasn't that the year the Dutch invaded Pearl Harbor?

=======================

[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/12/us-airtraffic-bug-exclusive-idUSBREA4B02320140512?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews]Exclusive: Air traffic system failure caused by computer memory shortage | Reuters[/url]

[i]"If they want more than 64kB of RAM, it'll cost them more than $2.4 Bln."[/i] -- unnamed Lockheed spokesperson [OK, I admit I made that up].

Best actual quote for me is this:
[i]
The flight plan did not contain an altitude for the flight, one of the sources said. While a controller entered the usual altitude for a U-2 plane - about 60,000 feet - the system began to consider all altitudes between ground level and infinity.
[/i]
Right - because 0 - infinity [or whatever finite numerical limit they used as a proxy for oo] is a reasonable altitude range to assume that planes fly within - "we wouldn't want to unfairly limit them by requiring ALT_MAX < 2^32 ft now, would we?"

Yet another classic for the ever-growing OPM (Other People's Money) archives.

[url]http://coronamap.com/[/url]

In case you want to track the Zombie apocalypse in real-time.

[YOUTUBE]aaeKrqJJqm0[/YOUTUBE]

I know I've posted this before, but it's permissions run out today, so last chance to watch it legally.



[YOUTUBE]KaOC9danxNo[/YOUTUBE]

Personal drone has VR goggle link!
 

Personal drones are in the news a LOT these days but the thing that caught my eye about this one is that it has a wi-fi link from its camera to VR goggles like Occulus Rift so essentially, you could go zooming around your neighborhood ( or anywhere ) as if you were flying up there! This looks just like a lot of the views of the action you can select in video games. Also, your head movements can adjust the drone's movements so it's 2-way.
[URL="http://www.cnet.com/products/parrot-bebop-drone/"]http://www.cnet.com/products/parrot-bebop-drone/[/URL]

[QUOTE=tServo;373404]Personal drones are in the news a LOT these days but the thing that caught my eye about this one is that it has a wi-fi link from its camera to VR goggles like Occulus Rift so essentially, you could go zooming around your neighborhood ( or anywhere ) as if you were flying up there! This looks just like a lot of the views of the action you can select in video games. Also, your head movements can adjust the drone's movements so it's 2-way.
[URL="http://www.cnet.com/products/parrot-bebop-drone/"]http://www.cnet.com/products/parrot-bebop-drone/[/URL][/QUOTE]Only for sale to those that want to spy on their neighbours sunbathing. The groinal attachment costs extra.

Spending on science leads to suicides
 

[url]http://www.tylervigen.com/[/url]