openvms? is that really a thing?

(I worked at DEC for a number of years and loved vms back then. on a vax. BACK THEN.)

how can it be relevant, still? who today even knows the name DEC anymore? recruiters even tell me to remove my DEC company experience from my resume.

I knew vms before unix. unix was hard for me since it was different enough from vax/vms. but once I left DEC I never really touched vms again.

I seriously ask - how is this still relevant, other than for legacy sw that someone refuses to let go of?

just goes to prove: "the raster, man, is vibrating!"

can't get a steady signal with all that going on.

I'm on t-mobile pay-as-you-go (prepaid, since I hate contracts). unless you 'prove to them you are not a child' (sigh) they treat you like a child and refuse to let you access any non-pg13 site (or whatever they call it). I don't want to have to 'identify' myself and I buy airtime for cash to keep what little is still left of my anon.

to get full web access I'd have to give up my anon. this seems unfair. I'm a paying customer. what business is it of theirs who I am? the bill gets paid and no one complains, I don't see why they feel the need to be a nanny.

so, can I report t-mobile for not allowing me full web access under such stupid 'prove it first!' conditions?

its the only thing that annoys me about tmobile, really.

it fucks me up all the time. I use a vpn and my endpoint is all over the place. google really throws a hissy fit when I send email from my home (on a vpn) using imap. mostly they grey list me and time me out. if I use my own paid email vendor things are always fine.

but many websites do try to be smart but they fail because of vpn's.

I get google's calendar in various non-english languages simply because I use a vpn and some site that uses g's calendar ends up showing me days of the week in various languages. heh, maybe it a learning opportunity ;)

but this anti-vpn concept annoys me. I don't believe it rejects fraud. but it does discourage you to cloak yourself and I have my suspicions about why everyone is trying to force you to NOT anonymize, at least to the middle nodes along the way.

that's the problem with chinese bureaucrats; after you around them up, and hour later you want more!

you buy a cpu chip and you get the instruction set manual. you write code to that and your code runs.

are you sure that you are talking to hardware, or is there a virtual jail you are in and can't even know it?

some think that intel chips are like that and what 99.999% of us see is the virtual layer that we're 'allowed' to see.

can you prove it one way or the other? can you be sure? intel (etc) pumps out so many variations of cpu and so often, who could know?

more tinfoil: you might submit a chip design, but is that absolutely what you are getting back? for those that could tell the diff, is their allegiance bought off?

things are too complex. we can't know many of these things. sad but true.

you can't do anything about hidden layers but you can design apps, networks and storage so that you assume bad behavior and make sure that it does not ruin your day. currently, WE DON'T DO THIS, and I'm of the mind that we should. assume all hardware is booby trapped and go from there. there is no other way to be secure in your systems and data. and it will costs lots of redundancy and intentional variety (if you even can do that, I'm not entirely sure it can be done) but if we don't, we really can't say we have 'trusted' computing. not in the personal sense of trust.

or, you virtualize it??

not sure if that's better or worse. maybe its just sideways. sometimes, that can be good enough, though!

if you use the word 'spy' or 'surveillance' its generally allowed.

but call it agency-wide peeping toms and we'd all object.

same thing, though. loss of privacy and some dude looking into stuff that he has no right to. mostly for jollies, too (lets admit the elephant in the room; surveillance has the 'fun' aspect for you sick-o pervs out there that enjoy that kind of thing).

there is no 'making us safer'. its everything BUT that, to be accurate about it.

peeping toms. that's what we are enabling. we should do all we can to refer to the mass spying in this way. maybe then they'd be seen for what they really are. perverts with legal authority to BE pervs under color of law.

how sad that we have allowed this to go as far as it has.

for that very reason, I take my company emails, tar them up, call them wumpus.tar and have them hunt thru them all they want!

btw, there is ZERO company loyalty, so I won't spend any time caring about what the employer is left with. more often than not, its the employer that cuts YOU loose, not the other way around. after a few rounds of that, you give up even caring about the employer anymore. pay me and I'll work for you but if you cut me loose, I owe you nothing from that point onward. I know they feel the same about us, employees, too.

I wish it was not like this, but sadly, it is. we are 'human resources' and the respect train left decades ago.

the issue is that some companies think that their code is 'execute-only', and if you try to READ it, they come after you, legally.

does that make any sense?

'here, run this code. each time you access your own page, run MY code. but don't DARE view it. we don't allow that and we don't allow you to explain what our code does.

"JUST RUN IT, CITIZEN!"

this is what their argument amounts to. you 'must' run our code but you 'must not' look at it.

its how marketers think. we 'must' be allowed to inject our code in your stream and you 'must not' be able to run blockers to suppress our code in your stream.

fine kettle of fish we have in this brave new world of ours...

I have no idea what you are talking about. are those JINGLES or actual music with lasting value?

I assume its junk throw-away music.

what makes you think that your lack of interest in REAL music is typical of all audiences?

I have albums I bought 40 years ago that I still listen to.

moral of the story; stop wasting your time on stupid jingles. there is good lasting music out there.

[litella]

but the program changes every 15 minutes with a great big ker-CHUNK!

that's why I dropped 8-track, years ago.

[/litella]

browser history: hmmm. another attack vector from the Big Man that can ruin your life, even if you are innocent.

they already can get packet captures from your isp. purging your history should not ever by considered wrong.

what will have to start happening more and more: we think defensively on EVERY thing that could have a spy aspect to it. keep no logs, keep no history. no auto-logins, no auto-form completions.

shit, not even a contact list. all that puts you at risk if someone wants to go fishing thru your data and 'find something' on you.

where is all this leading to? are we going to be surveiled to death? it sure seems like its going that way. a generation from now, we won't even recognize ourselves as the same society we started from ;(

lets step back for a bit and think what a browser history is. its your online footsteps. clearing your history is like saying you want to protect your privacy. I reject the notion that my desire to not leave footprints is, in any way, admission of wrong-doing.

HOW DARE THEM even suggest that!

we have gone too far. we truly have. but at what point will people rise up and demand their rights back?

you know, probably NEVER. that's what is the most sad thing. rights gone forever. we stood there, watched it happen, did nothing. afterall, we are truly powerless.

I guess we need more distractions. maybe another pro sporting event should be invented. a new war with a country could be waged. something needs to keep people from thinking about their own situations. afterall, thinking about how badly we are all fucked is not something the state would willingly tolerate.

you are part of the problem.

ego so big by saying "I'd include in MY contract..."

you're lying or an idiot. you have ZERO power to make a contract like that AND have a company of any size agree to it.

see, this is the problem. people who are CURRENTLY employed and empowered feel they are invinceable. just wait until you are over 35 and are replaced by someone younger or from outside the country.

you have zero ability to edit contracts, these days. its ALL an employer's market and the congress and ceo's have fully ensured this, on purpose.

even if you did make your own contract, you will have to go thru ARBITRATION which is a corp-owned 'court' that never votes in your favor.

we are not unioned because of people like you who think that you can just 'write a contract' and it will be golden.

we have no bargaining power. this is the problem! other industries have some give/take. for us, its all one-way.

because MOST workers are living paycheck to paycheck in the US, these days. they need the little severance that is tossed to them.

I don't work for disney but I've been out of work for over 4 months and I'm running out of savings, now ;( I may be on the streets in a few months time - I honestly don't know. I'm scared shitless, for the first real time in my life - I could literally be homeless in a few months time.

you know, when people are pushed to this limit, there's no tellilng what they will do. I have no idea what I'm going to do, but I feel like a cornered threatened animal, at this point. when I'm at the very edge, how will I react? I don't know. I don't even want to find out, to be honest.

I don't directly blame indians. its not directly their fault. but you know, I would not want to be indian in 5 years time from now, in the US. it could very well be that there could be a huge backlash and, well, violence sometimes happens when people are cornered and feel they have nothing left to lose....

indians: you better watch your backs. we realize its not your fault, but you WILL be seen as the ones who are costing us all our jobs and I do predict some issues (...) to arise when push comes to shove and those who have nothing left to lose (maybe like me, someday, if I don't get my income restored soon) may find that they are not thinking fully clearly and they will do whatever comes to mind, out of total desparation.

you want to see this happen in our streets? mr ceo and mr congresscritter: please stop this madness before it gets too late. its already out of hand, but how much PAIN do you want to make us, the working-class software class, endure?

if I have a roof over my head and bread in my stomach, I'll be ok for another day. take away both of those, and, well, I'll have NOTHING TO LOSE.