Posts

Showing posts from March, 2023

OEBB machine just stole 50 EUR from me

Image
An OEBB machine just stole 50 EUR from me. Here is the sequence of events from memory:  * I selected the journey (Schwaz - Vienna) and it came to 86.40 EUR (Eurotards write this number as "86,40")  * I decided to pay in cash  * I inserted a 100 EUR note  * it gave the note back and said on the screen that 50 EUR was the largest denomination accepted  * I thought this was silly so I took a picture  * I inserted a 50 EUR note  * the amount still payable, displayed on the screen, was correctly reduced to 36.40 EUR  * I inserted a second 50 EUR note  * hilariously, this was now rejected, the maximum denomination having been reduced to 20 EUR, on account of the change being in coins, according to the message on the screen  * I thought this was silly so I took another photo  * I checked in my wallet.  I did have two twenties, so maybe able to finish off the payment with these, should the machine deign to let me.  Alternatively, it would fit the pattern if, after the 20, it then ask

easyjet unable to check in passengers

Image
There aren't many things an airline's web site has to do.  Selling tickets is top, followed by online checkin.  Perhaps also to issue shrill demands about "advanced passenger information", and force known passengers to repeatedly type in the same details about themselves.   Here is a case of easyjet failing to do online checkin.  Notice the lack of any attempt to get the specific reason for the error to the customer.  A web lackey has been tasked with listing a few reasons why checkin might fail, and then whatever error, perhaps generic, perhaps more specific, is "handled" with this message. Imagine ordering food in a restaurant, and the waiter says "sorry, we can't take your order because the chef is on strike, or we don't have the ingredients for what you've ordered, or you do not meet the dress code for this restaurant, or the table you occupy is reserved, or we are dealing with a vermin problem in our food stores, or perhaps for a differ

monero is out of control with how shit it is

 / I locked your Monero wallet to protect you \ | while you were away                        | \ see "help set" to configure/disable        /  --------------------------------------------         \   (__)          \  (oo)\_______             (__)\       )\/\                 ||----w |                 ||     || Locked due to inactivity. The wallet password is required to unlock the console. Wallet password: [wallet 44Evkv (out of sync)]: refresh Starting refresh... Enter password (output received): Height 1337317, txid <bf60cbba1c321128b54237f7a5d290bb358998d95fe17a35c5eda96243a49b7b>, 490.000000000000, idx 0/0 Error: refresh failed: no connection to daemon. Please make sure daemon is running.. Blocks received: 50949 [wallet 44Evkv (out of sync)]: refresh Starting refresh... Error: refresh failed: no connection to daemon. Please make sure daemon is running.. Blocks received: 52947 [wallet 44Evkv (out of sync)]: refresh Starting refresh... Error: refresh failed: no connect

there is something asynchronous and bad about monero's command interpreter

I'm going through the thing of typing "refresh" repeatedly.  Sometimes it gives the prompt back, as tho the command is complete, and then starts doing the thing of the command.  So it is asynchronous and bad. The following is against a node on localhost.  And wtf is this "use the refresh command" at the end -- THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING REPEATEDLY.  If everything goes well, then soon I will never have to use this software again.    / I locked your Monero wallet to protect you \ | while you were away                        | \ see "help set" to configure/disable        /  --------------------------------------------         \   (__)          \  (oo)\_______             (__)\       )\/\                 ||----w |                 ||     || Locked due to inactivity. The wallet password is required to unlock the console. Wallet password: [wallet 44Evkv (out of sync)]: refresh Starting refresh... Error: refresh failed: no connection to daemon. Please make

debian 11's blockdev program giving buffer overflow on fresh install

Just installed debian 11 on a new zotac nano ci622, and "blockdev --report" gives buffer overflow as per [0].  Had previously assumed something was corrupted about particular installed system. [0] < https://wibblement.blogspot.com/2023/03/debian-11s-blockdev-program-keeps.html >

debian 11's blockdev program keeps giving buffer overflow

root@gilfert:~# blockdev --report RO    RA   SSZ   BSZ   StartSec            Size   Device rw   256   512  4096          0   8001563222016   /dev/sda rw   256   512  4096       2048         1048576   /dev/sda1 rw   256   512  4096       4096   8000538411008   /dev/sda2 *** buffer overflow detected ***: terminated Aborted root@gilfert:~#

wise.com are insulting their customers by requiring free labour to train AI

Image
Do spammers wise.com, formerly spammers Transferwise, have any respect for their customers? No.  You have to complete an idiotic Captcha to log in, as an existing customer.  How much of your life have you spent identifying objects in pictures such as traffic lights, boats, or in this case, "mountains or hills"?  There is no good reason for it.  It amounts to free training by your labour for an AI.  It reveals disdain by the company for its customers. As I sit doing this, the following is my view: This is a "mountain or hill".  The reason I am not hiking it, or ski-touring it, right now, and am instead in front of screen training someone else's AI for free, is that the dipshits at spammers wise.com (formerly spammers Transferwise) don't know how to authenticate their own customers.

Monero is a disaster

Image
I previously wrote about the mess of stacktraces in monerod's logs: <https://wibblement.blogspot.com/2023/02/monero-log-files-are-mess.html>. I'm still having trouble getting back the basic capability to transact.  Monero has bit-rot built in.  The node software refuses to run if it finds itself "old".  The wallet software refuses to work with old node software.  The user is thus forced, if they want to retain a capability to transact, into continually updating the software in their trusted computing base. As basic security process design, this is wrong, and puts the entire Monero edifice firmly in the "shitcoin" category. I've just compiled from tag v0.18.1.2, the latest tag, and started a fresh `monerod` instance.  After around a day's syncing (fair enough), it went back to filling its log, `bitmonero.log` in the instance's data directory, with these stacktraces, lots of them, and ongoing: 2023-03-17 08:03:06.478 [P2P5]  INFO    global  s