Random randomness

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Sep 02, 2016 6:15 pm

The construction company my dad works for was hit earlier this year with ransomware and it was a solid 2 months before he could even use email again. I don't know all the details (trying to get my 70 year old dad to communicate issues surrounding modern technology is like asking a 6 year old to explain particle physics)s but I have to believe there was financial pain involved. Not only in lost information, but downtime and fixing the issue.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri Sep 02, 2016 9:51 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Nice. The Internet is dark and full of terrors, and your IT staff goes with abstinence-only education.

To be fair, most users just know that they can get a "bad virus." I don't think they care to know or need to know the specifics of "ransomware."

Although when I got hit at work, I pulled the network cable and called IT immediately. Not sure if that mattered but they fixed it in about 45 minutes and I only lost some local data.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 12:19 am

Several hospitals that we support were hit by ransomware attacks earlier this year. I find it worth noting that those are only hospitals using our (crappy) Windows-based software, never our Unix-based software

The hospitals that use our Unix software obviously have gotten virus attacks on their actual PC workstations over the years for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being doctors installing all kinds of crap on their work PCs - but that's par for the course and nothing compared to a hospital getting locked out of their entire patient database.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 3:28 am

HS football in Texas

Earlier this year, when the cost of a new football stadium in the McKinney (Texas) School District was pegged at $62.8 million, some were calling it the most expensive high school stadium ever, while district officials were contending that other districts were building even more costly facilities.

Now, WFAA-TV reports, those calling the McKinney stadium the costliest have more ammunition for their argument—about seven million dollars more. The district says the price of the planned 12,000-seat stadium has climbed to $70 million.

District officials blame the increased cost on higher-than-anticipated prices for concrete and labor. Rather than curtail the project, McKinney leaders have decided to boost the budget for the stadium. The additional $7 million will come from money left over from previous bond projects. The bulk of the funding for the project comes from a $220 million bond package that voters approved earlier this year.

When the McKinney stadium was being called the most expensive ever, officials pointed to other districts in football-mad Texas that were building comparable athletic facilities. The price attached to those projects did not include infrastructure costs, McKinney officials asserted, and if they were included, the projects would be more costly.

A stadium being built in the Katy (Texas) district is estimated to cost $62.5 million, and a stadium in the Allen (Texas) district cost about $60 million.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:05 am

Friday Night Lights must go on!!!!!

Seriously though there is so much a school could do with half that than build a stadium. Like education. Grow some grass, paint it , and have fans bring a lawn chair.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 10:22 pm

Today my PC's sound is doing something new. When a video first starts or a game the sound is loud and seems set to where my volume is set to...then it lowers and stays lower. Its as if that software thing where the volume is evened out so loud stuff wont deafen you. But I checked both my cards software and the secondary 3d software and neither is set to on.

The crap part about problems like this is I did nothing new. Didn't install anything. And did not turn that feature on. So makes it difficult to solve

Fun times.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 10:35 pm

Yeh! DISH and my local CBS provider reached an agreement and I can watch CBS. More importantly my wife can watch it.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 5:25 pm

I may have gone overboard. I have a cheddar smoked sausage, a polish sausage, five bratwurst, eight burgers, and four 1/2-pound chicken breast pieces to hit the grill today. For myself, the wife, and the MIL.

In addition, there are veggie kebabs and nukeable side dishes. On the bright side, we shouldn't have to cook for the rest of this week.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:57 pm

I think I have bad ram on my computer. I just watch a YouTube video about taking the motherboard out of my laptop. It took the guy fifteen minutes to take out all the screws. I estimate 50+. Then jiggle the laptop for awhile before it comes apart. Then he removes the Ram (original, not upgrading type). It looks a lot different from the upgrading type.
I guess I'll just have to live with the bad ram. <sigh>

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 9:00 pm

Earlier I installed a screensaver my wife likes on her new" computer. I take a nap and she wakes me up to tell me it's not working. When I go to check it out she has turned off her computer. At least it was an easy quick fix.<sigh>

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Sep 04, 2016 9:24 pm

Have an old old laptop that you can get to the memory and HD each wit h1 screw and a cover. Battery too. The new HP of my wife has no way to get to anything.

Now the tiny little micro USB port on the Kindle Fire HDX I bought less than 2 years ago is difficult to position just right to charge it. Looks like Ill be taking that apart some how and try not to break more than i fix.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:26 am

Zada is a 5-year-old girl who just found out that meat is made out of animals.

This is just too cute.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:58 am

A couple years ago...
My then 5 year old kid: "Wait dad.... you are grilling chicken, 'the food'; or chicken, 'the animal' ???

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:10 pm

hitbyambulance wrote:the original A.A.Milne "Winnie-ther-Pooh" stories are well worth reading. they are surprisingly sarky and very funny. one of my favorite parts is when Owl - the Literate one - writes out the birthday card.

The real Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, ca. 1927

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:01 pm

Maybe Im not remembering it right but it sure seemed like in Star Trek that whenever the Enterprise or any Federation ship entered the neutral zone...Klingon or Romulan...that they were always there to intercept the Feds and fuss at them for being there. What the hell?? They were there too! Why was it like this and why did they never mention it ?? I think even in the later shows it was like that.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:13 am

How does UPS not have a *&$%*%$ easy to access online payment option? This is bloody ridiculous and I'm about to have an aneurysm. I've been searching online for the past half hour. I keep getting asked for account numbers that are different lengths than what's on the invoice, etc. All I want to do is pay this stupid $17.42 customs bill. They took my credit card number at the door during delivery but never billed it. I don't even remember what I did last time they shipped to me. I think it went to collections. You know what, it was super easy for me to pay the collections company online.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:12 am

I assume that you found the Billing and Payment link under Support? I see that it asks for a PIN and Confirmation number, however. So I could see that being an issue.

Looks like there is a separate portal: https://www.ups.com/content/us/en/busso ... lling.html

Maybe there will be something there that will help?

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 7:40 am

Rip wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:We have backups. Apparently they haven't been run since July.
Ughhh, that is a bind. Not sure I could sleep at night without knowing that every piece of user data gets a snapshot every night and that even I would have to manually configure the array to get access to it. We even have Symantec's DLO to copy documents and stuff on the users PC to a LUN on the SAN which I then snapshot every night. Ransomware could be disruptive but it could never keep us from accessing our data.

Might be the ideal time to ask for money for a SAN. They have gotten a lot cheaper.

I'm about to try and push us from using three backup solutions that cover a hodge-podge of data (including me taking home a 1TB drive weekly). Windows Server Backup, Altaris Hyper-V Backup, and Backup Exec for files - all running on unsupported licenses - to a backup device that replicates to a secondary site we own and stores revisions of all data; it takes de-duplicated Hyper-V images and backs them up nightly, and in the event of a disaster the device itself can load and run a Hyper-V server until you can get the hardware in to load it back. It seems like a pretty slick system that I'd love to try.

My proposal will probably get whittled down to a new Backup Exec license renewal that includes Hyper-V licensing and I'll still have to drag a 1TB drive home. Companies seem to hate spending money on backups - until they day they need them, then they get priority until the decisions change hands a couple times.

Now also seems like a good time to send out the "links, attachments, and flash drives are bad" email again.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 11:15 pm

More idiot humans pushing and breaking park rocks.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Sep 06, 2016 11:48 pm

They ought to put landmines underneath these rock overhangs. Wouldn't take but one or two before it stopped.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 12:03 pm

Reviewing a Quality Incentive Bonus document from a managed care plan. P4P measure number one is: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur..."

I mean I guess I understand that they used a template. But does anyone edit/proof anymore?

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:49 pm

Reminds me of the supposedly "finished" but eternally-in-beta alarm monitoring software my workplace uses. Half the time when you press the help button a window just opens with the text, "HELP!"

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:19 am

Creepy clown sightings are up dramatically.

I'm out. Would the last person shut off the lights on planet Earth on their way out?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:48 am

hepcat wrote:Creepy clown sightings are up dramatically.

Dramatically?

At this point, I think people are just jumping on board and dressing as clowns and standing around looking suspicious. And/or every clown spotted, even if it's just some guy on the way to a kid's birthday party, is reported as a "creepy clown." It's infectious.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:55 am

LawBeefaroni wrote: Dramatically?

I was being slightly facetious.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 1:37 pm

So I'm reading some back issues of Popehat referenced in a recent post, and come across this line explaining the somewhat angry and aggressive nature of Mr. Fed's email.

Ken wrote:At this point I was getting, perhaps, a bit testy. But I hadn't eaten in minutes:

I lol'd. I might have to use this in the future.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:13 pm

Is PayPal down for everyone or is it just me? "Downforeveryone" says it's just me. But I can't access Paypal through my laptop, my desktop, or my phone. I can't get there via my bookmark, by manually entering their address, or even clicking links from the "downforeveryone" sites.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:15 pm

I can get there by typing in the address.

Maybe a DNS problem for you? Flush something or other and try again?

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:19 pm

Is sign language different depending on the spoken language?
I.E. Can someone in Japan understand the local sign language if they were in the United States?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:19 pm

paypal.com won't resolve, but adding the www does work. If you're just typing in the former, try the latter. May just be a missing A record.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:23 pm

dbt1949 wrote:Is sign language different depending on the spoken language?
I.E. Can someone in Japan understand the local sign language if they were in the United States?

I just saw a video on this yesterday. It is different by country. There is an international sigh language but I don't think it's universally used.

Digging...

Edit, this is what I watched:

http://joelbarish.com/video/lost-in-sign-language/

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:24 pm

Yup, in college I took ASL classes... American Sign Language.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:24 pm

stessier wrote:I can get there by typing in the address.

Maybe a DNS problem for you? Flush something or other and try again?

Chrome says its DNS address could not be found. Weird. Apparently the problem is with my ISP; I can connect via my phone when I turn off WiFi.

Not sure what to do about that. Flushing the toilet did not work.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:24 pm

In Italian, it's all just shouting.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:30 pm

Kraken wrote:
stessier wrote:I can get there by typing in the address.

Maybe a DNS problem for you? Flush something or other and try again?
Chrome says its DNS address could not be found. Weird. Apparently the problem is with my ISP; I can connect via my phone when I turn off WiFi.

Not sure what to do about that. Flushing the toilet did not work.

Change your DNS from automatic to google public by manually entering 8.8.8.8 as the primary and 8.8.4.4 as the secondary. Change it back when you are done. You do this under Network>Change Adapter Settings>LAN (or whatever you are using) >Properties> TCI/IPv4>properties

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:37 pm

Lawbeefaroni wrote:At this point, I think people are just jumping on board and dressing as clowns and standing around looking suspicious. And/or every clown spotted, even if it's just some guy on the way to a kid's birthday party, is reported as a "creepy clown." It's infectious.

Yes, it's finally hit our town, as the neighborhood social group I'm on is now rife with supposed clown sightings. I think it's telling that most of these sightings are coming from kids, which leads me to believe most of them are simple schoolyard gossip. I wouldn't doubt an isolated incident or two, but I find it incredibly hard to believe there are large numbers of people dressed as clowns who have found a way to appear only to children and escape into the woods leaving no evidence whatsoever.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:37 pm

coopasonic wrote:Yup, in college I took ASL classes... American Sign Language.

I used to play ASL...Advanced Squad Leader.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:41 pm

YellowKing wrote:
Lawbeefaroni wrote:At this point, I think people are just jumping on board and dressing as clowns and standing around looking suspicious. And/or every clown spotted, even if it's just some guy on the way to a kid's birthday party, is reported as a "creepy clown." It's infectious.
Yes, it's finally hit our town, as the neighborhood social group I'm on is now rife with supposed clown sightings. I think it's telling that most of these sightings are coming from kids, which leads me to believe most of them are simple schoolyard gossip. I wouldn't doubt an isolated incident or two, but I find it incredibly hard to believe there are large numbers of people dressed as clowns who have found a way to appear only to children and escape into the woods leaving no evidence whatsoever.

#SqueakyMan

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:48 pm

YellowKing wrote:
Lawbeefaroni wrote:At this point, I think people are just jumping on board and dressing as clowns and standing around looking suspicious. And/or every clown spotted, even if it's just some guy on the way to a kid's birthday party, is reported as a "creepy clown." It's infectious.
Yes, it's finally hit our town, as the neighborhood social group I'm on is now rife with supposed clown sightings. I think it's telling that most of these sightings are coming from kids, which leads me to believe most of them are simple schoolyard gossip. I wouldn't doubt an isolated incident or two, but I find it incredibly hard to believe there are large numbers of people dressed as clowns who have found a way to appear only to children and escape into the woods leaving no evidence whatsoever.

There was a long standing tradition of Pirates versus Clowns on the canoe trip I used to go on. They'd each create their own camping town in the woods and would never really get together except to battle on the river and during the last night of trip. I never understood why.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:48 pm

hepcat wrote:
coopasonic wrote:Yup, in college I took ASL classes... American Sign Language.
I used to play ASL...Advanced Squad Leader.

American as a Second Language?