Monday, May 27

Geek

Daily News Stuff 27 May 2024

Nice Generators Don't Explode Edition

Top Story

  • Widespread power failure at one of the two data centers where I have servers.  In fact, it was so widespread that it took out servers I have with two different providers.

    Yes, they have battery backup and generators.

    No, those didn't work.  At all.

    But at least this time they didn't explode and set off the sprinkler system leaving the company with weeks of cleanup work.


  • Families of the victims in the Uvalde shooting, and the remoras with legs they call lawyers, are suing Activision and Facebook.  (Tech Crunch)

    They blame Call of Duty for turning a psychopath into, well, a psychopath.

    The Call of Duty series has sold around half a billion copies over the past twenty years.  If it were the problem, we would know.


Tech News

  • The Unreal Engine license requires programmers to use inclusive language in their code.  (Bounding into Comics)

    In particular, the license takes aim at using genders where none are specifically required by the context, and to avoid vernacular that might be unclear to those not familiar with English.

    That's going to go down well with the speakers of gendered languages like French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, whose languages Unreal owner Epic Games just collectively mega-aggressed.


  • Is the RTX 4060 really better than the RTX 3060.  Yes.  (Tom's Hardware)

    It's not worth upgrading, perhaps, but there are very few cases where the 3060 is objectively better.


  • Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC is coming - and it can run in 2GB of RAM.  (Tom's Hardware)

    That's because it strips out all the crap that nobody wants.  It doesn't even have the TPM requirement that Microsoft declared an absolute minimum for Windows 11 compatibility.

    Which is why you're not allowed to buy it.


  • One in nine US children are being diagnosed as children.  (NPR)
    Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a professor of pediatric neurology at Case Western Reserve University, says he suspects some parents may be reluctant to put their kids on ADHD medication out of misguided concerns. "There's the myth that it's addictive, which it's not." He says studies have shown people treated with ADHD have no increased risk of drug abuse.
    Really?  Let's ask another expert.
    The hypotheses underlying the procedure might be called into question; the ... intervention might be considered very audacious; but such arguments occupy a secondary position because it can be affirmed now that [this is] not prejudicial to either physical or psychic life of the patient, and also that recovery or improvement may be obtained frequently in this way.
    Oh, my mistake.  The second quote was talking about lobotomies.


  • ICQ is shutting down after 28 years.  (The Verge)

    I don't think I ever used it.


Disclaimer: I don't want to set the data center on fire; I just want to start a little flame in your motherboard.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:48 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 474 words, total size 4 kb.

1 "It's not worth upgrading, perhaps"
I find myself in the annoying position of considering replacing my RX 6800 with something between a 4060 and a 4070 Super, mainly to get lower power usage and possibly for better raytracing capabilities (although not many games I have take advantage of the latter.)

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, May 28 2024 02:33 AM (BMUHC)

2 I heard about the ICQ think last night.  I have a 7-digit ICQ number, and I knew some people with 6-digit ones.

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, May 28 2024 02:36 AM (BMUHC)

3 Management loves to check boxes. Battery backup? Check! Diesel Generator? Check! 
If your IT gets audited by the consultants/accounting firms, the the kids doing the auditing will have check lists. And you can make them feel all warm and fuzzy by having all those things. 
Management/policy manuals, were a big one. One place I worked we had such a manual; it was a 3-ring binder full of blank paper with cover sheet and title printed on the spine.  But the auditors could check that off their list.

Check the status of the batteries? Check the quality (and amount) of the diesel fuel? Start the generator? Change the oil, filters ... empty the water separator? You probably actually need to hire mechanic or a firm to come in once a month and do all of that.

I worked one place where  they did start the generator regularly. They never checked the fuel. When they needed it, they only had about an hour's worth.

We said it then, and it still holds... The best disaster recovery plan is to keep your résumé updated on your PC at home.

Posted by: Zendo Deb at Wednesday, May 29 2024 01:47 PM (iavKJ)

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Apple pies are delicious. But never mind apple pies. What colour is a green orange?




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