cobysev

what OS do they use in the military?

It depended on the function, but most computers were Windows. Historically, Windows has had the most versatility with other common file systems that we and our allies/enemies used, plus it was easy enough for any service member to pick up and use with minimal training.

However, we always had custom-configured Windows images; we didn’t just install a blank copy. Like I mentioned, our systems were severely locked down, so there were plenty of registry configurations and custom software suites that would take us a few days per computer to install manually. So we would build one that met our requirements, then create an image of it and copy that to every other computer in our unit.

Depending on the unit, there might be custom software builds to meet a particular mission requirement, so there were always several images ready to be pushed to specific computers.

they believed that the best security was older systems that had been thoroughly tested for vulnerabilities

Oh no 😅 I am not a cyber security expert but that seems to me like a recipe for a disaster

It worked well enough for a while, but computer technology kept evolving, so we were constantly playing catch-up.

For the first half of my career, we were always at least one OS behind the civilian sector. When I joined in 2002, we were just phasing out Windows 95/98 and replacing it with Windows 2000.

Then in 2008, we were on Windows XP and Microsoft was trying to get us to upgrade to Windows Vista. Vista was a terrible OS, so we decided to just skip it and go for the new Windows 7 that was supposed to be coming out a year later.

Then Microsoft announced an end to support for Windows XP in a few months. We can’t have an OS without any support, so we quickly signed a contract to upgrade to Windows Vista. Before the ink dried on the new contract, Microsoft announced that they would be extending support on XP for 4 more years.

So we got suckered into a Vista contract, and as soon as Windows 7 dropped, we switched to that. We stayed mostly caught up ever since, although it could take up to a year before we switched to the latest OS. Our own cyber security teams did their own vulnerability assessments before pushing out a new OS across the Air Force, and that could easily take them months of testing and research.

In the last few years before I retired, the Air Force started testing the concept of handing computer support functions over to civilian companies. This was something they had been talking about long before I joined the military, but they were finally pushing forward with it. My last base was one of the test beds in the US, and AT&T took on the contract at that particular site.

Our base-wide IT unit had to hand over administrative access to our unclassified network to them, and as the civilian company took charge of more functions (and had security clearance investigations completed), we started handing over classified networks too. Which seemed wrong to me; we had always kept our classified networks secure by managing them ourselves, so handing it over to a civilian company felt like trouble.

It was even worse when Trump became president the first time and started discussing classified operations on Twitter. Dude had no concept of security protocols and messed up a lot of missions we had overseas, putting our members’ lives at risk so he could brag about secrets he knew.

He ordered us to give security clearances to a bunch of civilians whom we had already refused in the past for being a threat to national security. But you don’t say no to the president, so we started handing over classified access and before long, a bunch of our foreign operations started getting compromised. It was an absolute clusterfuck.

Things mostly went back to normal under Biden and I soon retired. I can’t imagine how messed up my old career field must be now, since Trump got back in office. All I can say is I’m glad it’s not my problem anymore.

They later said the only finished animations were the ones in the trailer. Live action filming was done, but they had barely gotten started on the CG animation when the awful trailer dropped, so it was easy to change course and redesign Sonic for the rest of the film. Also, the film was delayed while they made changes, so it did cause a setback.

Although I would believe that somebody dropped that trailer to prove a point that no one would watch a Sonic movie with that abomination. After the outrage and public backlash, the point was proven and whomever greenlighted the original design backtracked and let the animators fix it.

Being in the Air Force, the job was mostly like any civilian IT job. We worked off a ticket system to resolve computer issues, dealt with “customers” (other military members), managed servers, satellites, networks, etc. The specifics depended on the exact job; it seemed like every base I was assigned to had different equipment or mission requirements, so I was always learning some new system to manage.

Probably the biggest difference from the civilian sector was that military networks were severely locked down. There were approved software lists that were managed from much higher levels in the Air Force and only that software was allowed to be installed on computers. Half the time, even us administrators at the base level couldn’t mess with installed software.

There were software scans that would detect unauthorized software and boot computers off the network until it was resolved. Most places I worked, you couldn’t bring CDs or flash drives with your own programs on them. USB devices would be flagged instantly and get your account kicked off the network until you completed remedial training through your local IT office.

Our web browsing was severely limited too. Some bases only allowed official military website access; others would allow access to the web but only from an approved white list of sites. It depended on the job and the classification of the network.

Also, they believed that the best security was older systems that had been thoroughly tested for vulnerabilities, so we were usually a step or two behind the civilian sector in terms of operating systems and software/hardware. They preferred that new systems were thoroughly tested in the civilian sector first, most vulnerabilities identified and remedied, and then we would trust it. So I rarely got to learn about modern IT technologies unless I researched it myself in my own free time.

EDIT: In terms of harassment, there was sometimes a lack of respect for the IT guys. Lots of higher-ranking officers made unreasonable demands, expecting us to make some impossible network requirement magically work because “that’s your job.” Or just getting mad when things were broken, because “Why do we have IT guys if things are always broken?” Or the same if things work: “Why do we have so many IT guys when nothing ever breaks?” We had our own leadership in the IT field whose job was to explain to other leaders exactly what we did and how it benefits them, so the rest of us could focus on the job.

The branch you join does make a difference in experience. I was in the Air Force, which is one of the most chill branches to serve in.

Despite the name, most Air Force members are not pilots. In fact, only about 5% are pilots, while the rest work in careers that either directly or indirectly support those pilots. We have doctors, lawyers, accountants, police, cooks, engineers, teachers, etc. I was an IT professional in my service, so my job was basically to sit at a desk and fix computers.

The Army and Marines tend to abuse their members, both mentally and physically, so I wouldn’t be surprised if those guys don’t recommend military service to others. I’ve heard horror stories from my Marine buddies, and I’ve personally witnessed some of the harassment/hazing rituals Army members go through.

They have a lot of toxic behaviors that keep getting passed down to the next generation. Surviving it and promoting above it is more a badge of honor than anything, so they subject the new guys to the same abuses to “toughen them up” or something.

The Department of Defense also uses it as an excuse to give them the worst equipment and hand-me-downs in the military, so they tend to operate with old and barely serviceable gear, while the Navy and Air Force tend to get the newest equipment.

But the Air Force was pretty fun. The Navy is pretty good too. They have some of the best technical schools in the armed forces, so they set you up with plenty of opportunities when you leave the service.

The Space Force is basically Air Force 2.0. All our space programs were under the Air Force until the Space Force was officially created, so they just transitioned those members into the new branch and copied Air Force regulations over until they could define their own unique requirements.

That is very true. Leaning more toward the terrible side, in my experience. However, the terrible people usually get out pretty early in their career, while the good people tend to stick around longer and make a full career out of it.

Not always the case; I’ve definitely met some terrible high ranking leaders in the military. But generally speaking, You need some solid core values in order to go far in your military career.

As a teenager, my friends and family always told me I was the nicest guy they knew… and they were genuinely shocked when I joined the US military.

I came home after Basic Training for a couple weeks before moving to my first assignment and everyone was surprised I came back successful. They expected I would’ve been kicked out for being too nice. In fact, I earned Honor Graduate.

I didn’t know much about the military when I joined, except for what I’d seen in old war movies. But they had some amazing benefits that I couldn’t pass up, and my uncle, a retired service member himself, highly encouraged it. I got free medical and dental, free college education, my initial career field training qualified me for most of an associate’s degree in my field, free travel around the globe, free food/housing… and they paid me to do it all. It was the best deal I could get right out of high school.

My whole military experience was a lot different than I expected; I spent a lot of time correcting stereotypes about military service with my friends and family. I actually had a pretty good career and retired after 20 years of service.

I really hated the movie version of I Am Legend. It completely missed the point of the book and instead makes a generic zombie film out of it.

The whole point is that the “zombies” (virus-mutated humans, to be more accurate) basically evolved into their own unique species and were living relatively normal, if not primitive lives.

The main character, who was still a human, regularly set traps, hunted them, and overall was a threat to their kind. He became their boogeyman; the scary legend that zombie parents told their zombie kids to keep them from wandering too far from safety. Hence, “I Am Legend.”

The movie barely touched on this, instead focusing entirely on Will Smith and showing the barest hint of humanity left in the zombie creatures. If you watched the alternate ending version, at least.

Until the one time it was.

I mentioned this on Reddit years ago, but I would love to make a TV miniseries for James Bond that’s a period drama, 100% faithful to the original Ian Fleming novels.

Novel Bond was about a dull, uninteresting man whom things happened to. He was a dark and cynical man, thanks to his draining line of work. A loveless, high-functioning alcoholic who did his best work with a few drinks in him at all times. Which is likely why his drink of choice was a vodka martini; a strong, stiff drink to get him going when the going gets tough.

And the books were written in the 1950s, shortly after WWII, of which Ian Fleming served as a British Naval Commander and Intelligence officer. So Bond was written partially based on the experiences of real-world missions that Fleming commanded during the war.

Then in the 1960s, the movie rights for one of Fleming’s novels was sold and they reinvented James Bond for the big screen. People in that era didn’t want a dark, hopeless, cold-blooded assassin. They wanted a hero they could cheer for. So he was made a handsome, suave womanizer, with a penchant for social drinking and smoking (sexy vices of the time). He always dressed for style, always had expensive and luxurious tastes in cars and living, always saved the day, and he always got the girl. He was an idol for men and a dreamy catch for women.

Back in those days, they didn’t care much for loyalty to the source material, so while they were reinventing Bond, they decided to beef up his adventures too. The movies rarely had anything to do with the books, except for borrowing the titles every now and then, plus some key plot points once in a blue moon. And Movie Bond grew with the times. He got more technologically advanced gadgets, bigger global stakes, and more modern threats.

For example, the Moonraker novel was about Bond stopping a nuclear warhead from launching at London, whereas the Moonraker movie was about fighting a villain in space, who planned to poison humanity and repopulate the Earth with genetically superior humans aboard his space station. Totally different stories, same title.

Movie Bond changed in the '90s when Albert R. Broccoli, the producer of the films, passed away and left the franchise to his daughter Barbara (who had been involved with the franchise since the late '70s) along with her brother, Wilson. Barbara helped to reinvent Bond for the modern era, removing his smoking, reducing his drinking, and giving him strong, intelligent women to work with (or fight against) instead of rescuing ditzy damsels in distress.

Then… Austin Powers came out in 1997 and it was a complete parody of James Bond. The trilogy satired every common spy trope that James Bond had made famous over the decades. And it was a global hit. Barbara was pissed. She claimed that Austin Powers completely fucked them over. By turning their formula into a joke, Bond would forever be compared to Austin Powers.

So she rebooted the entire franchise in 2006 with Casino Royale, a movie based on the very first James Bond novel, and mostly faithful to the original story (except set in modern times). It was a return to the dark, gritty origins of the character. Bond was a high-functioning alcoholic, a blunt instrument who was fiercely loyal to his country, but still a wildcard who could barely be controlled.

This Daniel Craig era of films was excellent, my personal favorite version of James Bond out of his many decades of history. And the closest version to the original books, even if only the first movie was actually based on a book.

But I still want to see an actual period piece, set in the 1950s, that follows the original novels faithfully. I would love to see it as a TV miniseries because some of the books are just collections of random short stories, and some books themselves are hard to tell in movie-length detail without adding a bunch of fluff. Like the Casino Royale novel, which was 90% just a bunch of guys sitting at a table, gambling at baccarat. The 2006 film added a lot of action scenes that didn’t exist in the original book, just to pad the runtime.

Amazon recently bought MGM Studios, the company that makes the James Bond movies, and Barbara Broccoli has been complaining online about Amazon trying to ruin Bond. They want to make spinoff TV series, movie franchises based on side characters, as well as their own version of Bond films that Barbara doesn’t agree with. She claims they’re overriding her creative control and are going to run the franchise into the ground at a breakneck pace.

The last I heard, Barbara and Wilson begrudgingly ceded creative rights to James Bond to the new Amazon MGM Studios earlier this year under a $1 billion contract. So the James Bond franchise may already be doomed.

Fun fact: Douglas Adams, the creator of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, actually wrote most of the movie script. He died before the film was finished, but they kept it mostly the way he intended. So everyone complaining that it missed the point of the books or deviated wildly from the source material are arguing against the original creator’s intent.

Another fun fact: One of Douglas Adams’ running jokes with the Hitchhiker series is that it’s never told exactly the same twice. There was a radio show, novel series, video game, comic book, movie… and every version is different. Sometimes the story is told slightly different, sometimes it comes to a completely different conclusion. So having a “loyal/faithful” version made is technically impossible, as there’s no official canon story to recreate. Not should there be, as the ever-evolving retelling is part of the joke.

As a fan of the books in particular, I’d love to see an anthology TV series that is somewhat loyal to the book version. But I understand that Douglas Adams wouldn’t want that, so I’m happy for the various media we have so far.

#4 looks like a shoehorn. Is that even concave enough to use as a spoon? Likely not. That’s out.

#3 is definitely not a spoon. No idea what it is, but it’s not gonna work well as a spoon. Not gonna deal with that one.

#2 is actually a spoon, but a small one. It’ll be frustrating to use forever. I’d prefer not to use it.

#1 is actually a decent sized spoon. Oddly shaped, but it’ll hold a decent amount of food or liquid. I guess I could live with that one.

Are you dating Rentaro?

I still clearly remember others’ embarrassing, cringey moments from my high school years, and I’m in my 40s now. I shudder thinking about who still remembers the embarrassing things I said/did way back in my childhood.

It’s not FOSS, but Plex does that. I host my music from a server I built at home (you can literally just use your desktop PC) and then I have access to it from anywhere. I like to stream it to the Plexamp app on my phone, which I connect to my car via Bluetooth, then I have my own homemade “radio” on the go. No ads, just my own music that I can shuffle through.

I paid for the Lifetime Plex Pass, which gave me full access to all their features and apps. It’s expensive, but it’s a one-time payment, vs. their monthly subscription which can add up over time.

I actually got annoyed at Plex for remembering exactly where I was in every song. I’d return to an album I hadn’t heard in a while and it would skip right to where I left off in each song instead of playing from the beginning of the song

Sometimes while trying to find a particular song, I’d skip around in a track, then move to the next until I found it. Then when I returned to that album later, every song would start somewhere in the middle. I eventually needed to turn that feature off. It still remembers exactly where I left off the last time I played music, but it doesn’t save my place in each individual song anymore. Just the last one I played.

On the app, it keeps a list of all the playlists I’ve recently played, so I can pick up on my latest playlist or scroll back in the history and start up one I played a while ago. This is great because I like to just shuffle my entire library as a playlist while I’m mowing my lawn, but my wife likes to hear specific genres or bands while we’re riding in the car together. So I can just keep alternating back and forth between playlists depending on the situation and it remembers where I left off in each one.

I’m 41 and I still make this mistake all the time.

No matter how old and broken my body gets, I’ll always be a teenager at heart.

I still don’t understand why anyone would ever pay for access to news articles. There are plenty of free and legitimate articles on the Internet, and public access TV still broadcasts news. You never need to pay anyone.

Honestly, putting a price on access to news just makes me not trust that organization. It feels like a scam, like paying for bottled water when water is one of the most abundant resources in the world.

Paid subscriptions are only a thing because people bought into it and normalized it instead of boycotting it. That’s why everything is a subscription nowadays and no one can just buy and own a product now. We have to spend our lives paying a regular fee for access to something we never own.

Interesting… This was right about the time that I started getting pop-up messages on my phone about pre-ordering the Pixel 10 Pro and getting $450 off. Coincidence? 🤔

hunter2

I literally just saw this movie for the first time last night. Long overdue. It was an excellent film!

Before anyone asks, it’s from Highlander (1986)

I mentioned in another comment that I’m using Gboard, which is Google’s POS keyboard. It’s not great (and I’m looking for better replacements currently), but it does learn words if you swipe them 3 or more times in a short time.

I have a unique first and last name that never pop up in dictionary words or common name lists, and Gboard swipes them for me now, because I’ve used them enough times in typing and fixed their attempt at autocorrecting it. Or if it mis-reads my swiped name, it’s usually one of the suggested corrections across the top of the keyboard.

I really don’t like Gboard, but it’s been the best I’ve found lately, so I always install it on new phones and tablets as soon as I get them. I’m getting suggestions in another comment thread here for viable FOSS replacements, so I’ll need to test those out.