This screenshot taken off BBC News says it all. Bets for and bets against, when you know what is about to happen. All Donald’s mega-rich friends amassing more wealth, whilst Joe Public foots the bills.
Only in America, and the rest of the world pays up.
Update: 19:10 on 22/04/26 What was I saying?
A quote from the above: Modern banking methods mean we can now perform a variety of tasks on our phones in a matter of seconds, and almost anywhere,” said Dame Meg.
“What this incident brings into focus is the fact that there is a trade-off.”
She said interacting with banks online more means consumers “place our faith
in technology which can suffer unpredictable errors” – adding it was important this was made clear to customers.
I take particular exception to the description ‘unpredictable errors’. These errors are predictable, and are the result of sloppy design and implementation of the facilities provided. As such, the bank should be prosecuted for their illegal display of private information to those other than the rightful person.
Instead a sloppy wringing of hands, and piddling amounts of ‘goodwill payments’ are trotted out. Put this alongside all of the branch closures and what are customers left with? If Nationwide is any example for online help,the banking systems is making a rapid descent into complete chaos.
It is impossible to ‘chat’ with a real person. Instead a ‘bot’ is thrust at you, and is about as capable of dealing with your problem as a wooden puppet. Where I was dragged up, a ‘bot’ is another name for an arse – rather apt I thought, capable of one task only, that of expelling excrement.
There is one common factor driving this nonsense – money. Let’s see how many tasks we can derogate to save cash. How many folks we can get rid of. Skip testing our systems, let the users find the faults for us.
The Treasury Select Committee need some informed members on it, or consultants that know what is taking place. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, plus a spat as a journalist does not qualify a person to make remarks on the effects of sloppy software design and implementation.
Having said that, I agree that customers should be warned about what they are using. Can I suggest ‘This Application May Seriously Damage Your Confidence In Online Banking.‘ I had in mind a more pithy quote, but will leave that for another day.
From the BBC post Inappropriate AI Bullshit
Gabbo contains a voice-activated AI chatbot from OpenAI. It has been designed to encourage pre-schoolers to talk to it and carry out imaginative play.
What intelligent parent let’s loose a bag of shit like OpenAI on their five-year old?
Another quote: ‘When one five-year-old said, “I love you,” to the toy, it replied: “As a friendly reminder, please ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided. Let me know how you would like to proceed.”‘
Apparently Gabbo doesn’t come with instructions to destroy it after removing the packaging..
Apparently bullying Iran is subtlety different from bullying idiots who have more money than sense. The dictator of the USA is now criticising other heads of government for not joining in with his now failed flight of fancy to ‘free the oppressed’ folks of Iran. But hey, Russia now benefits, by being allowed to sell it’s oil at an even higher price, helping them to kill more innocent folk in Ukraine. All of this from the bag of wind that said he would end the Russia-Ukraine conflict in one day.
Trump has said one thing that is stark staringly obvious. European countries should spend more on defence. Zelensky has recently underlined the simple truth that Europe should prepare for war, not defence. Defence is passive, waiting for shit to land on your doorstep.
America run by a dictator, cannot be trusted. Single-handedly, the man who had forsworn any more foreign wars, has pushed millions of innocent families in to paying more for energy than ever before, with no end in sight, and is now calling for help to pull him out of the shit he has created. My question is this. How does this make America great again? My perspective of Trump supporters is a gaggle of racist, religious bigots, that are no better that the bunch of fascists ruling Iran. Shame they can’t scrap without destroying those around them.
God isn’t on your side, God is a creation by men for one reason, to control you. Wake up and hear the noise.
Fujitsu looked at the UK National Lottery and saw a cash cow, so bought ICL.
I’m not in the business but know a good deal when I see it. So apparently did Fujitsu.
ICL had a longish history when that deal was done, that goes back to the days of punched cards to program a computer. Good stuff in it’s day.
There had been one previous abortive effort to modernise the Post Offices 19th century rubber stamp business practices, and I can’t comment further on that.
After a short contract with the Midland Bank I attended an interview and was awarded the post of Technical Design Authority (TDA) for the Post office project at ICL Pathway in Feltham.
The existing ‘design’ documents amounted to no more than ‘wordy’ wish lists. The authors, some of whom I met, were familiar with client-server technology and damn-all else. My conclusion, a collection of ICL dinosaurs, that should have been extinct fifteen years before.
The coding team were mostly Visual Basic ‘programmers’, sporting MCP badges. (Microsoft Certified Professional) Experience with them demonstrated that they couldn’t have programmed their way to escape from a paper bag.
There were two teams that were exemplary, that of Configuration Management, and the Security Team.
The pilot scheme was running and there were a large number of problems, I asked Configuration Management for access to their ‘fault’ stack and gave advice on fixes. One idiot in the coding team had specified the name of the Post Office printer, rather than using the default. A replacement printer didn’t work. The fundamental issue was communications with the Post offices The software was proprietary, and I was disallowed from reviewing it. A visit to the manager of this debacle and my statement to him that my title of TDA was a stupid joke, was dismissed. I did not renew my contract.
Previously I cooperated with Epson on the development of the FORTH programming language on their laptop. This was with Japanese engineers.I could not fault their knowledge or co-operation.
It grieves me that it is always Fujitsu’s name that is constantly mentioned. The only mistake they made was buying ICL, and the bunch of no-hopers that worked for it.
Look at this: Digging Elephant
Unfortunately, the content is interrupted so many times with Ads, I suffered from finger fatigue, and gave up trying to read the content. A quick scroll to the end, and her calf had fallen into a hole.
Much ado about nothing. This isn’t ‘news’ Sky, it’s CRAP.
Take a look at this: AI sparks creativity
Apparently ‘We are programmed deep in our DNA to be comforted by the authority and the reliability of big brand names, and that applies more than ever to the names of big writers.’
These are the words of the chief executive officer of Bloomsbury Mr.Nigel Newton.
Well Nigel, in my recollection DNA is a molecule carrying genetic instructions for an organism’s development, functioning, and reproduction. There is more, much more but it has eff all to do with comfort about any authority, including names of big writers. (Are these writers oversized Nigel?)
Go home and play with your teddy bear Nigel.
I didn’t do it. I wasn’t there. I didn’t wannit. I wouldn’t dare.
With grateful thanks to 10cc.
Well good morning Judge, how are you today?
I’m in trouble, please put me away
A pretty thing took a shine to me
I couldn’t stop it so I let it be
Update 22/04/26
Much earlier I published a small post on joebrown.org.uk (look at the ‘wayback’ machine)
I lost Seth in 2022, and he is still sorely missed. Early in 2013, when we met, it seemed as if we recognised in each the other, the hurt we both felt.
The last post I ever did on joebrown.org.uk on Dec. 17th 2021 was regarding Seth. Whether this was a premonition of what was to happen in 2022, I really don’t know. I append my post below:
Seth. Seth means ‘given’ – a gift.
When Adam lost his son Abel to his murderous sibling Cane. God provided a ‘replacement’ for Abel, a new son, destined to be the Biblical ancestor of the whole human race. Adam called his new son Seth, meaning ‘given’ or ‘gift’, for he was totally unexpected. Seth later pleaded with Michael, the keeper of the gates, to to let his father back in to ‘The Garden’, excluded as he had been after Abel’s death. Seth was reputed to have lived for over 900 years, and because he was the ancestor of Noah, it is believed that every living human-being owes his existence to Seth. He is revered in every branch of modern religion whether Judaic, Christian, or Islam.
Seth was ‘given’ to me in 2013. His original name was an unpronounceable German word meaning strength. The circumstances were certainly not Biblical. He was 7 months old, vicious, unfriendly, and ill-at-ease with himself and almost everyone else. Not a little unlike me then. Over the early period of nearly two years, it was remarked that Seth had been ‘re-habiltated’. then, as now, he has the rare gift of bringing out the very best in almost every human he meets. I am still humbled by his transformation, and blessed by his presence. I still strive to succeed in doing what it seems he finds so easy – being loving, kind and accepting to almost everyone.
He is indeed a gift, and a gift that keeps on giving.
Adding a comment
Wordpress apparently expect readers of my posts to understand the rubbish about ‘blocks’, given when you attempt to make a comment. Simply ignore the inane instruction ‘Type / to choose a block’ and make your comment.
Hi Google.
A recent translation of ‘bag of shit’ into Portuguese was ‘translated’ into ‘pagina horrivel’.
While I might agree that a bag of shit is unpleasant, it isn’t a ‘horrible page’.
If this is an example of what we have to put up with from your adoption of AI – another misrepresentation, you can stick your translation service up your rectum – yes I can be offensive without using anglo-saxon.
joesportugal 