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mmcgaha

1,016 karma · joined April 17, 2017

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mmcgaha··on Unix shells are generally not viable access control mechanisms any more
I have a vague recollection of being given the choice on a 90s vintage distribution with some warning about security and password length if I did not use shadow passwords. At some point in the early 2000s we started authenticating regular users against AD but the shadow file was still there for root.
mmcgaha··on Comp.lang.c is now full of spam
Approved:
mmcgaha··on The global trading system is starting to rearrange itself
Yeah like the parent post said a determined user.

Seriously though thanks for pointing it out because my eyes skipped right over the continue reading and went right up to the close my tab X.

mmcgaha··on We’re all just temporarily abled
This is off topic but the last ten or so years, the volume level at shows has gone over the top. I did indoor and outdoor shows in the 80s and 90s without plugs and worst case was a little ringing the next day. I mostly did outdoor concerts in the 2000's so I don't know what indoor shows were like but in 2013 I started taking my daughter to shows and holly shit balls it was loud. The last show that I went to I had to step outside to get a break even though I was wearing -32db plugs.
mmcgaha··on It’s time for Americans to embrace small cars
Why We Can't Have Small Trucks Anymore - Blame the EPA https://youtu.be/azI3nqrHEXM
mmcgaha··on Tabs are objectively better than spaces
Tabs let you define how big you want each indent to be, and spaces do not. That’s it. That’s the entire reason why tabs are WORSE.
mmcgaha··on Casio G-Shock time sync radio
It isn't more common because most folks don't need it it. I touch my digital watches twice per year and that is more than enough to keep them close enough. Of my two digital watches, one is 1 minute fast and the other is 45 seconds fast. They will both be fine until this fall when we change time again.
mmcgaha··on Why software projects take longer than you think: a statistical model (2019)
I have worked with both types of managers and many in between. My perception is that the sandbagger tends to be more accurate and executives tend to respect them more. The problem for the sandbagger comes when the project is large enough to get multiple estimates and the sandbagger gets put on the spot to explain his estimate. Our current project was estimated by our former VP at 4X and an outside consultant estimated the project at X. The board called the VP in to explain why his estimate was so high. We are now well into the project and former-vp's estimate is reality and former-consultant is gone.
mmcgaha··on Harvard Discriminates Against Middle-Class Kids
When my daughter applied to Harvard, they had her interview with a local alum. I assume that there is a huge network of local alum all over the country screening applicants before the school even gives them any consideration. That will certainly give the well connected in a community an advantage.
mmcgaha··on The Paradoxes of Nostalgia
Jello Biafra Nostalga For An Age That Never Existed:

https://youtu.be/wx5XS6uXP-g

mmcgaha··on The note Reddit sent to moderators threatening them if they don’t reopen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_Community_Leader_Program
mmcgaha··on Why did Usenet fail?
Around the time frame of the beta versions of agent coming out in early 1995, the Windows world really surpassed unix for internet usability. Obviously netscape was netscape but agent vs tin, mirc vs ircii, or eudora vs pine, the windows software getting churned out was peak usability as far as I am concerned.
mmcgaha··on AI scanner used in hundreds of US schools misses knives
Kids have four years to observe the security and to probe it in various ways. If they want to get a blade into the school, they will. I imagine that there are a large number that do it ever year for no other reason than the joy of exploiting the vulnerability.
mmcgaha··on AI scanner used in hundreds of US schools misses knives
What does viable mean here? So no springs, a plastic firing pin and a plastic barrel? Then there is the metallic case required to make it do any work. I guess you could use black powder and a wooden match. Don't forget the plastic projectile.
mmcgaha··on AI scanner used in hundreds of US schools misses knives
They very well may but shanks can be made out of anything. Keeping stabby or knife like things out of school is an impossible task.
mmcgaha··on Why are so many young Americans adopting fake British accents?
Forced accents have been going on for a long time with kids. Just yesterday I was watching local news from the area where I grew up and a girl from my high school years was being interviewed. In her teens, she had a non-local accent that I always envisioned as california stoner. Well apparently she was working hard faking that thing because she has a full on upstate south carolina accent now.
mmcgaha··on This time, it feels different
Even if the core difference is accessibility, that is huge. I see AI in 2023 as a pivotal moment similar to 1977 with personal computers, 1994 for the internet and 2007 for mobile computing. All of these technologies had a history before their pivotal moments but when the time was right things changed fast.

Having easy access to the technology is starting to change the way I think about what is possible for computing. One of the skills that has helped me though my career is understanding the scope of what a computer can do or automate. Most of the time it isn't that the thing cannot be done but that the cost associated with it is too high. I recently started solving an issue that would have taken hundreds of hours of human intervention but now I can do it with ten bucks and two hundred lines of python.

mmcgaha··on Xterm: It's better than you thought (2021)
I am not sure that it was first, but Opera was the first browser that I remember having tabs. Outside of browsers, I think UltraEdit was the first application that I remember having tabs.
mmcgaha··on Lindows 4.0 (2003)
My mom used linux from the late 90s through the early 2000s. She did not adapt well to using a mouse and windows but wanted to do online shopping so I set her up with a machine that started directly to a full screen browser and dialed the internet as soon as an internet connection was needed. She eventually got good enough with her mouse that she moved on to an XP laptop but I really loved being able to tell people that my mom runs Debian.
mmcgaha··on I’ve been single all my life
I am recently divorced and I don't see myself ever in another relationship. I would consider a partner where we live in different homes and don't share any expenses or responsibilities but I doubt any woman would accept that as a permanent arrangement.
mmcgaha··on Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
You may be right. I am on the Roku accessories page and it doesn't look like my remote is even sold any more. Mine is the voice remote with headphones but it does not have the two shortcut buttons.
mmcgaha··on Ask Wirecutter: Can you recommend a not-smart TV for me?
My TV is a 43" HP Monitor. Some things just don't work right. The Roku cannot turn off the display like it could my old television. Since the monitor has no speakers, I have to use a soundbar but the Roku remote cannot adjust the volume so I have to use two remotes. None of this is a big deal to me but it is not seamless.
mmcgaha··on WWE Agrees to Merge with UFC
I have been a wrestling fan for as long as I can remember. It is irritating to be in the middle of a show when someone walks in and feels the need to inform me that it is fake. They don't do that when I am watching a movie or television show. They don't even do it in other venues where it is a show such as monster truck jams. They only do it with wrestling (ok sometimes a moon landing documentary too).
mmcgaha··on Groupon, which has lost 99.4% of its value since its IPO, names a new CEO
Back in the day we had a phone book. Too bad I haven't seen one in almost twenty years.
mmcgaha··on 'Tylenol Lite' – Will a safer new useless painkiller replace a dangerous old one
A Goody's powder takes care of my headache in around five minutes. I am pretty sure that caffeine is what makes it work so fast.
mmcgaha··on Meta is building a decentralized, text-based social network
Blogs with RSS?
mmcgaha··on Google Search Is Dying (2022)
Maybe I am wrong about this, and maybe the SEO junk sites would find a way to evolve, but what I really want from google is a plonk button so I can have a personal kill file for sites that I never want to see again.
mmcgaha··on Salesforce Lays Off 8k While Paying Matthew McConaughey $10M/Yr to Sit Around
The tech hiring build up in 2021 and 2022 was all about political appeasement.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&ge...

"Big Tech" could not maintain that forever.

mmcgaha··on Very Long-Term Backup (2008)
My great grandfather was born in 1845. As interesting as it would be to see photos and video from his time period, I don't think I want to spend thousands of hours going through his stuff. On the other hand if he kept a journal I would love to spend a few weeks reading about his life. I guess what I am getting at is I think we are keeping too much stuff and a curated set of things in a journal format would be a lot easier to digest. Maybe a future business will be creating documentaries from our ancestral archives.
mmcgaha··on GoDaddy: Hackers stole source code, installed malware in multi-year breach
They are the only company that ever hijacked my robots.txt.
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