Daily Tech News 17 February 2025

Top Story

OpenAI is "trying" to uncensor ChatGPT. (Tech Crunch)

Oh, this is going to be comedy gold.
For example, the company says ChatGPT should assert that "Black lives matter," but also that "all lives matter."
Worse than literally Hitler.
Instead of refusing to answer or picking a side on political issues, OpenAI says it wants ChatGPT to affirm its "love for humanity" generally, then offer context about each movement.
Worse than Chamberlain.

Astoundingly, they almost admit it:
While it's impossible to say whether OpenAI was truly suppressing certain points of view, it's a sheer fact that AI chatbots lean left across the board.
The whole article is Tech Crunch waking up from a coma.

Don't worry, though. The Verge is still batshit insane.

Tech News

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9 14 Gen 10 is... Almost great, but probably an interesting failure. (Notebook Check)

It's 14" laptop as one of the numbers in there suggests. It has a 120Hz 3840x2400 OLED display, which is phenomenal. It has an Intel 258V Lunar Lake CPU, which means 32GB of soldered RAM, which is adequate. And it has an M.2 2242 SSD, which is meh.

In terms of ports, it has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and that's it.

It doesn't have the Four Essential Keys, but it does have four keys where the Four Essential Keys would go, so a quick trip into Microsoft PowerToys can remap those for you.

And it weighs in at a light 1.2kg.

Problem is that it also weighs in at a hefty $1900.
You know what else has a limited port selection but a great screen? The Lenovo (sometimes Legion) Tab.

It's the only good small Android tablet on the market, which is annoying because it's expensive, lacks either a headphone jack or a microSD slot, and wasn't even sold in Australia.

Wasn't. Is now.

It's about triple the price of an adequate large tablet, but I don't want a large tablet, I want a small one.
Karol Herbst has stepped down as the maintainer of the open-source Nvidia driver for Linux due to - apparently - being an insufferable leftist prick. (Phoronix)

He didn't phrase it that way, of course. He said:
The moment I made up my mind about this was reading the following words written by a maintainer within the kernel community:

"we are the thin blue line"

This isn't okay. This isn't creating an inclusive environment. This isn't okay with the current political situation especially in the US. A maintainer speaking those words can't be kept. No matter how important or critical or relevant they are. They need to be removed until they learn. Learn what those words mean for a lot of marginalized people. Learn about what horrors it evokes in their minds.

I can't in good faith remain to be part of a project and its community where those words are tolerated. Those words are not technical, they are a political statement. Even if unintentionally, such words carry power, they carry meanings one needs to be aware of. They do cause an immense amount of harm.
Well... Bye.
There is no 1875 epoch. (iter.ca)

This requires a little unpacking.

Elon Musk and the DOGE team recently noted that Social Security benefits were being paid out to a number of people who are - according to the system - 150 years old.

A smug woke asshole on Twitter asserted that the epoch - the start of time - for COBOL systems was 1875, which could make people with no birth date show up as 150 years old. Now, the claimed epoch start date was in May of 1875 (I don't know why)* which is only 149 years ago, but maybe Musk was rounding up, so that's not dispositive.

The smug wokeness is irrelevant if the claim is true.

The big problem is that the core of Social Security system first went live in 1962, when people born prior to 1875 were still around, and 26 years before the 1875 date became standardised in ISO 8601.

Oh, and ISO 8601 records dates and times as readable text, not as numbers. It does - or did - standardise on 20 May 1875 as a reference date but that was never an epoch. It doesn't store dates numerically, so it doesn't even use an epoch.

Also, the SSA released an anonymised sample dataset in 2007, and there was no spike in dates of birth in 1875.

So no, 150 year olds were just getting paid Social Security.

And nobody questioned it.

* Found out why.
Firefly Aerospace's new lunar orbiter has, uh, arrived in lunar orbit. (Spaceflight Now)

The Blue Ghost orbiter launched on a Falcon 9 last month, and carries multiple experimental payloads, including ten from NASA.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Maybe swim a mile... Hello crocodile.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at February 17, 2025 04:01 AM (sAmhv)

2 Mornin' Pixy and Horde.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:01 AM (O7YUW)

3 Mornin' all.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at February 17, 2025 04:01 AM (BLOW1)

4 Hoy

Posted by: Ciampino - Milkmaids? at February 17, 2025 04:02 AM (KjLnc)

5 G'morning, all!

39.2 degrees out.

But no wind.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 04:11 AM (a1415)

6 While it's impossible to say whether OpenAI was truly suppressing certain points of view, it's a sheer fact that AI chatbots lean left across the board.

Even that statement was written by their LLM. The disclaimer opening "While it's impossible to say" gives it away.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:12 AM (O7YUW)

7 Trump tells Netanyahu to 'do whatever you want' with ceasefire deal

https://mol.im/a/14404409

Posted by: Ciampino - carpet bombing please at February 17, 2025 04:13 AM (KjLnc)

8 No love for JD Vance in Europe among the power elite. He told them things they don't want to hear. I was surprised that some of the audience didn't get up and walk out. Probably the optics of doing that wouldn't look good. But I did notice only about half of the audience clapped the rest sat on their hands.

Posted by: Colin at February 17, 2025 04:14 AM (wlQdF)

9 I thought I saw a report of egg prices dropping.

But here, if you can find them, the price is still climbing.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 04:17 AM (a1415)

10 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at February 17, 2025 04:21 AM (hoCmQ)

11
The closest actual epoch is 0:00 Nov 17, 1858, which is the start of the Modified Julian Date number, which just subtracts 2,400,000.5 off the full Julian Date. The 1/2 adjusts the date to start at midnight, rather than noon.

And that calendar date was just what the Gregorian date of Julian Date 2400000.5 happened to be. The result is two leading digits off the date number.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 04:22 AM (w6EFb)

12 Wouldn't seem hard to answer the question, 'did this individual that the system shows as 150 years old have a check/deposit made out to them'?

If the answer is 'yes', send one of those vaunted IRS Agents to make a visit.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 04:25 AM (a1415)

13
Good morning, all. I'm here because I'm not on my phone playing Fishdom. I decided to dedicate my rejection of that addiction to the memories of my two uncles who passed recently (within a week of each other). Uncle Jim, Uncle Ed, I will play Fishdom no more for the sake of all the good you did on earth.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at February 17, 2025 04:26 AM (lCaJd)

14 The oldest person known to have lived in the United States was 119 years of age when they died.

Any payments made out to people 120 years or older should have triggered an in-person verification that they were still alive and kicking.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:30 AM (O7YUW)

15 @7/Ciampino: "Trump tells Netanyahu to 'do whatever you want' with ceasefire deal"

https://youtu.be/OPcfQMqcUYY?t=94

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:38 AM (O7YUW)

16
I was reading, there was a health care database system dubbed MUMPS (developed for Massachusetts General Hospital System) created in the '60s.

At the time, the designers thought the oldest living person was 121 years old, a Civil War veteran (whether he was actually that old, don't know), and chose an epoch of 1841, as that was the first non-leap year before the birth date of that oldest person.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 04:39 AM (w6EFb)

17 A smug woke asshole on Twitter asserted that the epoch - the start of time - for COBOL systems was 1875, which could make people with no birth date show up as 150 years old.

The smug asshole already went silent after a bunch of people asked exactly how a program based entirely on your age allowing you to not have an age was any better. If the smug asshole was right, that would mean SS was explicitly designed to allow fraud. Which may be right, but isn’t the case they/them thought they were making.

Posted by: Ian S. at February 17, 2025 04:40 AM (QZThv)

18
Any payments made out to people 120 years or older should have triggered an in-person verification that they were still alive and kicking.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

==============

Apparently, the IT systems of the US gov't are so modern that a "trigger" wouldn't be a number hitting a cell, but some input clerk sort of remembering that there was something special about that number and maybe they should flip through their mimeographed notes to find it.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at February 17, 2025 04:40 AM (lCaJd)

19 @12/VIA: I see we were thinking of exactly the same sort of verification. You could even do it under the cover of presenting a "Congratuations for living so long, what an accomplishment!" engraved plaque (which the agent could then hang on their office wall as a trophy when the eventual fraud is unearthed and proven.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:41 AM (O7YUW)

20 Remind me which are the four essential keys.

Posted by: Earl Schlobodowicz at February 17, 2025 04:45 AM (P7Iz+)

21 And, it's a day off where I am. Did I sleep in? Noooo, I had to get up 18 minutes before my alarm, which I had shut off when I went to bed.

*sighs* Circadean rhythm, why couldn't you play ball with the "Let's sleep in" plan I had? It was a good plan. "I'm not kidding you this time." { /Count Floyd }

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:47 AM (O7YUW)

22
Looking this up, I see modern COBOL standards have an integer date representation, and the epoch for that is midnight Jan 1, 1601, same as Windows NT epoch.

NT stores times as a 64-bit integer representing the number of 100 nanosecond (0.1 us) ticks since that epoch. Current value as a type is:
133842594217221829.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 04:50 AM (w6EFb)

23 No love for JD Vance in Europe among the power elite. He told them things they don't want to hear. I was surprised that some of the audience didn't get up and walk out. Probably the optics of doing that wouldn't look good. But I did notice only about half of the audience clapped the rest sat on their hands.
Posted by: Colin at February 17, 2025 04:14 AM (wlQdF)

In a perfect world this would be the first step in a process leading to the US leaving NATO. Sadly, this isn't a perfect world.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 17, 2025 04:51 AM (ExV1e)

24 "... and carries multiple experimental payloads, including ten from NASA."

First thing that popped into my mind:
https://tinyurl.com/3s4tcrx7

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 04:57 AM (O7YUW)

25 But I did notice only about half of the audience clapped the rest sat on their hands.
Posted by: Colin

Though, they were giving two thumbs up

Posted by: Bruce at February 17, 2025 05:02 AM (t9lPv)

26 In a perfect world this would be the first step in a process leading to the US leaving NATO. Sadly, this isn't a perfect world.

In that perfect world NATO would’ve been disbanded in 1994 because the Soviet Bloc no longer fucking existed.

Posted by: Ian S. at February 17, 2025 05:02 AM (QZThv)

27 In a perfect world, the front struts on the Volvo wagon would not need to be replaced.

But at 268,000 miles on the original struts, I guess I'm gonna be replacing them.

A true first world problem.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 05:06 AM (a1415)

28 Probably replace the original rear shocks as well.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 05:07 AM (a1415)

29
Elon posted this a while ago:
https://tinyurl.com/242gaxfd

If I'm reading that right, the SS system claims there are 1,345,083 people with death flag set to "false" in the system between 150-159 years old.

And it gets better. There are 1,039 people still alive between 220-229 years old. There is 1 person over 360 years old in the system.

And, apparently the sum of those numbers, the number of people alive in the SS database exceeds the US population by about 60 million.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:08 AM (w6EFb)

30 "And, apparently the sum of those numbers, the number of people alive in the SS database exceeds the US population by about 60 million."

Living in the shadows?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 05:09 AM (a1415)

31 And, apparently the sum of those numbers, the number of people alive in the SS database exceeds the US population by about 60 million.
Posted by: publius

Merely a rounding error.

Posted by: Bruce at February 17, 2025 05:10 AM (t9lPv)

32 And with that, time to get ready for the morning walk.

BBIAB

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 05:10 AM (a1415)

33
Do read Elon's X feed -- he's doing a lot of early morning posting about the SS system.

He says it's like decoding the language of an extinct ancient civilization.

Also, the "logic flow diagram" as he sees it, is insane, and nobody knows how it really works. The system link between the SSA and Treasury has many logical inconsistencies.

No one person in the whole system understands how the whole works.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:14 AM (w6EFb)

34 No one person in the whole system understands how the whole works.
Posted by: publius,

He better not be looking at MY personal info!

Posted by: Bruce at February 17, 2025 05:15 AM (t9lPv)

35 No one person in the whole system understands how the whole works.
Posted by: publius

No one could figure out how it worked, no one could figure out how to fix it, but it was still operating and no major complaints. Still good for another 100 years. Leave it alone.

Posted by: Bruce at February 17, 2025 05:17 AM (t9lPv)

36 Amazon is taking away the "Download & Transfer via USB" option for Kindle books on February 26.

https://tinyurl.com/bd4tcys9

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 05:21 AM (O7YUW)

37 >>>Don't worry, though. The Verge is still batshit insane.

But, wait! There's not a Verge link....
Oh.

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 05:30 AM (v0TzN)

38 20 Remind me which are the four essential keys.
Posted by: Earl Schlobodowicz at February 17, 2025 04:45 AM (P7Iz+)

Page Up
Page Down
Home
End

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 05:35 AM (v0TzN)

39
There are 20 million people over the age of 100 years still alive per the SS database. According to census data, the real number is about 80K.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:35 AM (w6EFb)

40 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at February 17, 2025 05:35 AM (AN2gy)

41 A beautiful psalm of praise. Psalm 149;

https://tinyurl.com/4v4dt52w

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 05:35 AM (9S+gg)

42
As Elon said, either we've just discovered a large population of vampires/undead living in the US, or there is massive fraud going on.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:35 AM (w6EFb)

43 29
Elon posted this a while ago:
https://tinyurl.com/242gaxfd

If I'm reading that right, the SS system claims there are 1,345,083 people with death flag set to "false" in the system between 150-159 years old.

And it gets better. There are 1,039 people still alive between 220-229 years old. There is 1 person over 360 years old in the system.

And, apparently the sum of those numbers, the number of people alive in the SS database exceeds the US population by about 60 million.
Posted by: publius,
...................................

youtu.be/-cJaJUQZZg0

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at February 17, 2025 05:39 AM (sAmhv)

44 >>> No love for JD Vance in Europe among the power elite. He told them things they don't want to hear. I was surprised that some of the audience didn't get up and walk out. Probably the optics of doing that wouldn't look good. But I did notice only about half of the audience clapped the rest sat on their hands.

Made me think of the German delegation laughing at PDT a few years back.

Take that, Fritz.

Posted by: fluffy at February 17, 2025 05:39 AM (AN2gy)

45 Evening and morning, late toilers and early risers! I'm back from my workout (chilly), shower (hot), and ready now for breakfast (filling). The Killer Kittenz From Outer Space have had their chow as well. It's 43 F. here, wind chill about 35, so I needed to bundle up in the teeth of a 14 mph NE wind. Fortunately, my path is usually NE out, SW back, so I had the wind behind me on the return leg.

It's Monday. But despair not. The weekend, a distant glimmer on the horizon, is coming.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 17, 2025 05:40 AM (omVj0)

46 Cute girl with Down's Syndrome and kindly Australian news reporter:

https://tinyurl.com/6nf6m8t8

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 05:41 AM (9S+gg)

47 >>> He says it's like decoding the language of an extinct ancient civilization.
Also, the "logic flow diagram" as he sees it, is insane, and nobody knows how it really works. The system link between the SSA and Treasury has many logical inconsistencies.

He has that kid who decoded the Herculaneum text. Give it a couple weeks.

Posted by: fluffy at February 17, 2025 05:42 AM (AN2gy)

48
They are already meming vampires with SS checks. "Please don't take away my SS", says Dracula.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:45 AM (w6EFb)

49 If I'm reading that right, the SS system claims there are 1,345,083 people with death flag set to "false" in the system between 150-159 years old.

And it gets better. There are 1,039 people still alive between 220-229 years old. There is 1 person over 360 years old in the system. . . .

Posted by: publius,

***
What kind of programmers were these? I mean, okay, COBOL, but still --! In 1962 I'd have thought they were at least competent.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 17, 2025 05:46 AM (omVj0)

50 This country needs to come up with a way to fire stupid ass judges. And judge shopping should be a felony.

Posted by: Case at February 17, 2025 05:47 AM (NMZGW)

51 >> I'd have thought they were at least competent.

This is not incompetence. This is malice. Actual malice.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:49 AM (w6EFb)

52 This is not incompetence. This is malice. Actual malice.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 05:49 AM (w6EFb)

Waraiotoko's Razor in full regalia: Never ascribe to incompetence the actions *of a group* that can be ascribed to malice.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 17, 2025 05:50 AM (jKo6M)

53 Democrats, apparently

https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1891267845713240098

Posted by: fluffy at February 17, 2025 05:50 AM (AN2gy)

54 The courage of George Washington. From Hillsdale College:

https://tinyurl.com/24x4sbjb

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 05:51 AM (9S+gg)

55 Time to feed the bird and buns.

BRB

Posted by: fluffy at February 17, 2025 05:51 AM (AN2gy)

56 from the ONT
LOL

Team USA Hockey Dominates a Bunch of Hoseheads

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 05:55 AM (v0TzN)

57 G'Day everyone
Howling winds going on all night

Posted by: Skip at February 17, 2025 05:55 AM (fwDg9)

58 @49/Wolfus: "What kind of programmers were these? I mean, okay, COBOL, but still --! In 1962 I'd have thought they were at least competent."

This problem is larger than it looks.

1. Try to uniquely map Name + Birth-date to a list of unique numbers. Problem is, there's two or more John Smiths born on the same day. You can add state too, maybe city, but eventually you're going to have duplicates.

2. SS Numbers are 9 digits in length, meaning they can hold a billion unique people right? Nope. One of those digits is a checksum, reducing the pool to 100 million possible valid numbers. Population of the USA is 300+ million. Even if 100% of the records were valid, SS numbers are going to be associated with multiple name/persons.

Solution: Use 12 or 15 numbers and re-issue or grandfather the old ones in and only issue new longer numbers from this point forward.

Logistical nightmare: Everyone who uses a SS number now needs to increase the size of the field and figure out how to grandfather in the old numbers without error.

This is probably why this can (problem) has been kicked down the road for so long. It's a nightmare (in both design and implementation) to solve.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:03 AM (O7YUW)

59 Howling winds going on all night
Posted by: Skip at February 17, 2025 05:55 AM (fwDg9)

Maybe if i stick a Harris Walz sign in my yard and pin my junk back, i can get a cool million or so of that FEMA money for the patio chair cover that got ripped.

Uh...i mean... "Tal vez si pongo un cartel de Puta y Fanny-Bandit en mi..."

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 17, 2025 06:05 AM (jKo6M)

60 You don't need a checksum digit if your index is approaching saturation. That could be a partial solution.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 17, 2025 06:06 AM (jKo6M)

61 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: Okey dokey, artichokey.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at February 17, 2025 06:07 AM (6K6Eu)

62 Ida Mae Fuller

1st social security recipient.

Posted by: Common Tater at February 17, 2025 06:08 AM (VmO84)

63 I thought I saw a report of egg prices dropping.

But here, if you can find them, the price is still climbing.
Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 17, 2025 04:17 AM (a1415)
-----------
The price of 5 dozen eggs at my store was $10 cheaper than it was a month ago. It's still $23, but some progress, perhaps.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at February 17, 2025 06:08 AM (6K6Eu)

64 Oh, and to complicate things, Americans have in past generations strongly resisted the government's attempts to give them all a unique identification number.

Even in Canada, where it's a "Social Insurance Number" - they renamed that at the last minute from its actual name: "Singular Identification Number" because they knew that wouldn't fly.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:09 AM (O7YUW)

65 Re Tech Crunch waking up from Coma; I wonder how many people just “went along” with woke crap to fit in or just avoid crazy people and their endless drama.

Posted by: H at February 17, 2025 06:10 AM (4N/0w)

66 Egg prices are variable considerably even within chains based on location and of course, so is availability. They are doing their best, and probably don’t want to be seen as “gouging”.

Posted by: Common Tater at February 17, 2025 06:12 AM (VmO84)

67 >>> 1st social security recipient.

With COLA she is making more from SS than she ever got from wages.

Posted by: fluffy at February 17, 2025 06:12 AM (AN2gy)

68 Tech Crunch waking up from Coma; I wonder how many people just “went along” with woke crap to fit in or just avoid crazy people and their endless drama.
Posted by: H at February 17, 2025 06:10 AM (4N/0w)

I would guess that in their case, it's likely a bunch of "who do i need to be today".

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 17, 2025 06:12 AM (jKo6M)

69 Cheapest I can get eggs here is $10 CDN ($7 USD) for a 30-pack. Still not as bad as some of you are paying.

This "kill tons of chickens because of bird flu" reaction has been way over the top.

Keep calm and thoroughly cook the eggs you're going to eat.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:13 AM (O7YUW)

70 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 17, 2025 06:13 AM (u82oZ)

71 Egg prices are variable considerably even within chains based on location and of course, so is availability. They are doing their best, and probably don’t want to be seen as “gouging”.
Posted by: Common Tater at February 17, 2025 06:12 AM (VmO84)
-------------
Yeah. We had no eggs at all on Friday, compounded by the fact that it Snowed! In Portland!!! Which meant a general freakout and interruptions in deliveries.

Yesterday, we had the egg cases fairly full, but it was all on display - we had no eggs in the dairy cooler.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at February 17, 2025 06:15 AM (6K6Eu)

72 Haven't eggs traditionally been considered a loss leader for supermarkets? Even from the point of view of the egg producers, what gets sold to the markets in little cardboard containers is a drop in the bucket compared to what gets sold to huge food producers who use eggs as an input?

I think i just assumed that was true. I don't know if it is or not.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at February 17, 2025 06:15 AM (jKo6M)

73
I'm reading about the SS number exhaustion. I don't think the checksum thing is valid from what I'm reading, and I read something that says no such "check digit" is used.

There are some numbers that are invalid, so the total number is less than 1 billion, but more than 100 million. For example, 666-xx-xxxx is not used. :-)

They say they have issued about 450 million numbers so far. Now, there are apparently many errors in this process and they say about 1 in 7 numbers have been used more than once.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 06:16 AM (w6EFb)

74 I would guess that in their case, it's likely a bunch of "who do i need to be today".
Posted by: Warai-otoko

Nationwide existential crisis incoming? I bet psychologists are staying busy.

Posted by: H at February 17, 2025 06:18 AM (4N/0w)

75
I see that the some countries do use checksum digits in their equivalent of SS and ID numbers.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 06:19 AM (w6EFb)

76 Village Idiot's Apprentice

Top o ta mornin to ya, gov'nor.

60 million numbers that have to hand in their red stapler and go into the basement without pay.

Will a three letter suffix for new members fix it?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 17, 2025 06:20 AM (u82oZ)

77 The OpenAI poem about Joe Biden’s fine qualities is as expected, laughable. He’s so sleek!

Posted by: H at February 17, 2025 06:20 AM (4N/0w)

78 This is probably why this can (problem) has been kicked down the road for so long. It's a nightmare (in both design and implementation) to solve.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:03 AM (O7YUW)

Government thinking. This change is absolutely required and failing to make it will be catastrophic but it'll be a PITA to implement so I'll ignore it and hope the system won't crash until after I retire.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 17, 2025 06:20 AM (ExV1e)

79 Corny tech joke:

How do you make a computer holy?

You upgrade the hell out of it.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 06:21 AM (rShVo)

80 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at February 17, 2025 06:21 AM (dg+HA)

81 @73/publius: You seem to be right about this, as I looked into it further. I may have been confusing how they validate a SIN in Canada (where there is a checksum) with the SSN in the USA (where apparently maybe not.)

Well... blast. Now I've got egg on my face, and darn it, those things are just too expensive to use in that manner.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:24 AM (O7YUW)

82 @79/FenelonSpoke:

No, you take it to the range, and you add extra ventilation holes with extreme prejudice. It will be VERY holy when you're done.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:25 AM (O7YUW)

83 1 in 7 numbers have been used more than once.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 06:16 AM (w6EFb)

Back in the day when things were done manually this would be understandable. Over time the problem should resolve itself.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 17, 2025 06:25 AM (ExV1e)

84 Many years ago I volunteered at the local VA, they had some sort of software compatibility thing going on. Can’t remember, but it was data entry updating. Names needed to be re-entered and saved upper case or whatever. Tedious.

They still use large floppy disks for some things in the US gubbmint.

Posted by: Common Tater at February 17, 2025 06:26 AM (AC6Bk)

85 Can’t remember, but it was data entry updating. Names needed to be re-entered and saved upper case or whatever. Tedious.
---------
Tell me it was on punch cards. Lie if you must.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at February 17, 2025 06:27 AM (6K6Eu)

86 >> Now I've got egg on my face, and darn it, those things are just too expensive to use in that manner.

Heh. I saw that many other countries do use such checksum digits in their equivalent ID numbers and figured that was the source.

The total number is less than 1 billion -- the rules are things like no all zero fields in the three xxx-xx-xxxx fields, and 666 isn't allowed. And some other combinations in the various fields.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 06:28 AM (w6EFb)

87 I'm reading about the SS number exhaustion.

All they have to do is add letters to the value and they could make it shorter than it is but that would require the system change they all dread.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 17, 2025 06:28 AM (ExV1e)

88 Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:25 AM (O7YUW)

LOL. One of those days we all have when we're not too fond of electronics, eh?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 06:29 AM (rShVo)

89
Bobby Kennedy needs to be given the names of these 1 million people 150 years old, and the thousand 220 years old.

Just think of what we could learn. Hell, sounds like American life span is really impressive, but they've been keeping it a secret.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 06:31 AM (w6EFb)

90 Old time hymn:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus:

https://tinyurl.com/ytdef2hd

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 06:31 AM (rShVo)

91
Good morning, Hordians. A clear, cold start here at Schloss Hadrian. There were predictions of a hard freeze midweek, but the forecasts seem to have moderated a bit. Wednesday morning we might be down around 30, but that's it.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 17, 2025 06:31 AM (dxSpM)

92 Byeee...

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at February 17, 2025 06:40 AM (6K6Eu)

93 Terrifying scenes as plane catches fire during Texas air show

https://mol.im/a/14403721

Posted by: Ciampino - no video? at February 17, 2025 06:40 AM (KjLnc)

94 I am thankful to have a day off to spend with family. It is very windy here and cold so we are going to go someplace to walk inside. I am sorry our Canadian friends don't have Presidents Day off, but they must have some weird holiday 😉 off like "Dominion Day" which we don't have . I am praying for Canada too/- a beautiful country- that they get a government that supports freedom. So, before I leave here's a picture of a pretty smiling woman who's wearing modest attire. Just ignore the advertisement at the bottom:

https://tinyurl.com/2v9atyvz

Thanks to the people who are working today and make life easier or better for others. May the Lorx bless you and May you know that you are a blessing to others!

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 17, 2025 06:41 AM (Ob+1r)

95 Good morning Horde. The Israelis just took out a high level Hamas leader in Lebanon. Good way to start the week

Posted by: Smell the Glove at February 17, 2025 06:41 AM (KXtU1)

96 what's a lorx

Posted by: Don Black at February 17, 2025 06:42 AM (AOsQT)

97
what's a lorx
Posted by: Don Black at February 17, 2025 06:42 AM (AOsQT)

A Dr. Seuss character.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 17, 2025 06:44 AM (dxSpM)

98 96 what's a lorx
Posted by: Don Black at February 17, 2025 06:42 AM (AOsQT)

Twenty dollars, same as in town.

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 06:45 AM (v0TzN)

99 Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” is a hymn written by Helen H. Lemmel in 1922.
.......................
FYI

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at February 17, 2025 06:52 AM (sAmhv)

100 100

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 06:52 AM (v0TzN)

101 @94/FenelonSpoke: The province of Ontario in Canada has today as a holiday, a relatively new one (since 2007) called "Family Day".

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:56 AM (O7YUW)

102 @98/m: The Horde never disappoints. *golf clap*

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:56 AM (O7YUW)

103
The province of Ontario in Canada has today as a holiday, a relatively new one (since 2007) called "Family Day".
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 06:56 AM (O7YUW)

No doubt, because Canada, where single mothers, Heather Has Two Mommies, and kids raised in polycules are celebrated. Traditional families, not so much.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 17, 2025 06:59 AM (dxSpM)

104 Oh good. It looks like Elon's boys have got a workable database together they can start running all their "impossible" searches of the SS enrollees on.

This is going to be great!

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:00 AM (QB+5g)

105
Just reading "age discrepancies" in the SS database have been reported for a long time.

Finally, we have someone actually looking at it and reporting the actual scale of it. Funny that. All this massive mess going on under their noses and they didn't care.

We have a Reckoning getting started. Glorious.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (w6EFb) at February 17, 2025 07:00 AM (w6EFb)

106 what's a lorx
Posted by: Don Black

Fuzzy little fucker that saves the trees.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at February 17, 2025 07:00 AM (80fve)

107 mornin yall

"Washington DC housing market crashes as DOGE lays off thousands of federal workers and bureaucrats bail out of 'swamp'"

That's too bad. I am really trying to find some sympathy. Oh, here's some. It's stuck on the bottom of my shoe.

Posted by: fd at February 17, 2025 07:09 AM (vFG9F)

108 ChatGPT should shift all the way Right. When one searches it, one should receive quotes by Pinochet, Franco and a poem or two by Rafal gan-Ganowicz.

Posted by: Zombie Jean Marie Le Pen at February 17, 2025 07:11 AM (NAF5O)

109 This SSN issue Is such an interesting issue from so many different directions. A few: how to implement it in software, how to deal with future data set sizes not anticipated, social issues on how people will react to these things, and can you come up with something that so we can write it easily on a piece of paper at a doctor's office for the 47th time.

Another slice at this is how do entities migrate mission critical systems from seemingly obsolete computer languages to something more in tune with current times and not cause a catastrophe?

As for ID numbers why would something like YYYY.MM.DD.[some unique serial number] not fly? The data is immediately partitioned by date and the serial number aspect would eliminate duplicates. Another whack at this is should there be an ISO data type for government IDs?

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at February 17, 2025 07:13 AM (Q8Bj8)

110 So, while basking in the glow of a job well done hunger intrudes. Looks as if fresh sausage and cheesy scrambled eggs, coffee and a pair of eclairs are in order.

Got some pepperjack and a medium Vidalia languishing on the cutting board and I mean to build a breakfast of proper size.

So for now, may all your effort this day result in maximum benefit to each and proportional anguish to the leftwit fungus.

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at February 17, 2025 07:15 AM (hKoQL)

111 Now, there are apparently many errors in this process and they say about 1 in 7 numbers have been used more than once.

Now go back and listen to the whining of the Left about your privacy and your sacred SSN that they had zero problems over it being used in identity fraud by their replacement population.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:16 AM (a4flb)

112 Trump body-checks Trudeau

https://x.com/TheRicanMemes/status/
1891132811454681498

Posted by: Don Black at February 17, 2025 07:16 AM (AOsQT)

113 Have a great day, everyone.

Not tired of winning.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at February 17, 2025 07:16 AM (u82oZ)

114 Oh good. It looks like Elon's boys have got a workable database together they can start running all their "impossible" searches of the SS enrollees on.

This is going to be great!
Posted by: pawn

The Dems are going to lose their mind over this which is going to be just fantastic. Elon's going to deserve a statue in the US Capitol Rotunda after all this DOGE work.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at February 17, 2025 07:17 AM (Q8Bj8)

115 Killer cantaloupes? An expert says:

"Cantaloupes are practically impossible to clean, and quite honestly, it's like a sleeper killer,' Dr Detwiler said.

'No one ever thinks cantaloupes, and yet the single food that is responsible for the most deaths is cantaloupe"

Now do honeydews.

Posted by: fd at February 17, 2025 07:17 AM (vFG9F)

116 I've been trying to do some metrics on the DC housing market using the Zillow webpage. I've been watching certain regions for a couple of days. This morning I thought I was doing something wrong because over the weekend the listings doubled (doubled!!) in all areas. This is for inside the BW but outside DC proper.

There's 10's of billions in assets showing up on the market in just a couple days.

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:18 AM (QB+5g)

117 My local high school theater performed Vidalia Languishing on the Cutting Board last year.

Posted by: I teared up at February 17, 2025 07:19 AM (dg+HA)

118 Killer cantaloupes? An expert says:

"Cantaloupes are practically impossible to clean, and quite honestly, it's like a sleeper killer,' Dr Detwiler said.

'No one ever thinks cantaloupes, and yet the single food that is responsible for the most deaths is cantaloupe"

Now do honeydews.
Posted by: fd

Now do Honey Dos not done.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at February 17, 2025 07:21 AM (Q8Bj8)

119 I hope all these fleeing rats stay the hell out of Florida.

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:22 AM (QB+5g)

120 Another whack at this is should there be an ISO data type for government IDs?

I'm guessing, a GUID†, which would serve almost all of your use cases can't be considered. Credit cards and your bank use other schemes for generating unique numbers.

Google Pay and Discover still generate Virtual Card Numbers for unique one-time on-line payments.

The technology is there to preserve unique and secure numeric identity, they just don't want us to use it.

† ISO/IEC 11578:1996 and ITU-T Rec X.667 ISO/IEC 9834-8:2014

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:23 AM (a4flb)

121
If a man says he will fix it, he will.

There's no need to remind him every six months.

Posted by: Stop nagging at February 17, 2025 07:24 AM (dg+HA)

122 I saw the Killer Cantaloupes band bus parked at a Safeway once.

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:24 AM (QB+5g)

123 Almost comical that Dems have turned their two minute hate on Mayor Adams now. Even funnier, they’re wanton to absolve Cuomo from his sexual harassment issues and make him Mayor instead.

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 17, 2025 07:25 AM (LERtE)

124
"Cantaloupes are practically impossible to clean, and quite honestly, it's like a sleeper killer,' Dr Detwiler said.

Melons will kill you?

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 17, 2025 07:25 AM (dxSpM)

125 Honey Don't

https://youtu.be/XswcADHL5zc?

Posted by: Don Black at February 17, 2025 07:25 AM (AOsQT)

126 over the weekend the listings doubled (doubled!!) in all areas. This is for inside the BW but outside DC proper.

Well, the Left has been whining about the lack of affordable housing, and the inability for the younger generations to get into home ownership.

I see this as a Win/Win.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:25 AM (a4flb)

127 The technology is there to preserve unique and secure numeric identity, they just don't want us to use it.

† ISO/IEC 11578:1996 and ITU-T Rec X.667 ISO/IEC 9834-8:2014
Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure

There you go which leads right back to how in the hell do you migrate these insanely huge and complex systems to something that actually works with the current technology. I would be fine with wiping it out and starting over as long as my social security payments are the single exception.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at February 17, 2025 07:26 AM (Q8Bj8)

128 Clare Grogan was, and is, a very beautiful gal. Had a new wave eighties crush on her.

Posted by: Villains 99 at February 17, 2025 07:27 AM (w9z3v)

129 short but sweet:

@redsteeze
Deemed non-essential.

60 Minutes
@60Minutes
12h
“Twelve days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were going to pay for their kids' daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight,” says Kristina Drye, who was fired in the USAID shutdown.

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:28 AM (v0TzN)

130 The Dems are going to lose their mind over this which is going to be just fantastic. Elon's going to deserve a statue in the US Capitol Rotunda after all this DOGE work.
Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at February 17, 2025 07:17 AM (Q8Bj

Just make a statue of two globes titled "If You Know, You Know".

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 17, 2025 07:29 AM (ExV1e)

131 “Twelve days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were going to pay for their kids' daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight,” says Kristina Drye, who was fired in the USAID shutdown.

These folks parents went through this when DC said it was cool to outsource everything to China.

Go cry to your Dad in Ohio. Maybe he's got a spare bedroom or some basement space.

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:30 AM (QB+5g)

132 Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:28 AM (v0TzN)
-

Yes but look up the Community Notes on the 60 Minutes comedy show.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 17, 2025 07:31 AM (1o8D5)

133 Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:23 AM (a4flb)

Can you imagine the average person trying to remember their GUID?

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at February 17, 2025 07:31 AM (ExV1e)

134
“Twelve days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were going to pay for their kids' daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight,” says Kristina Drye, who was fired in the USAID shutdown.
Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:28 AM (v0TzN)

Five years ago, these same people got paid while the rest of us - on their orders - were locked down, socially distanced, bankrupted, watching their loved ones dying alone, deprived of religious consolation and had their kids miseducated.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at February 17, 2025 07:32 AM (dxSpM)

135

*hic*

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at February 17, 2025 07:33 AM (c0tJM)

136 If you are out of a job you don't have to worry about paying for your kid's daycare.

Posted by: fd at February 17, 2025 07:33 AM (vFG9F)

137 60 Minutes
@60Minutes
12h
“Twelve days ago, people knew where their next paycheck was coming from. They knew how they were going to pay for their kids' daycare, their medical bills. And then, all gone overnight,” says Kristina Drye, who was fired in the USAID shutdown.
Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:28 AM (v0TzN)
-

How big a lie is this?

https://tinyurl.com/3a69csra

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 17, 2025 07:34 AM (1o8D5)

138 There you go which leads right back to how in the hell do you migrate these insanely huge and complex systems to something that actually works with the current technology.

I'm architecting Right Now a complete overhaul of a national banks foundation systems. One of the things is making sure that PII is not visible which means that there are natural account and customer IDs that map to public IDs.

VCN's mentioned above map unique card/transaction numbers to individual accounts

It really isn't hard and happens all the time in the finance industry which deals in billions if not trillions in daily transactions.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:34 AM (a4flb)

139 on Margaret Brennan's free speech --> Holocaust argument:

@charlescwcooke
12h
There’s no good way of parsing her words. If she believes it was true of the Nazi regime, she’s historically illiterate. If she meant it was true prior to that regime’s coming to power, then she’s ineluctably making a case for incumbent governments censoring their critics.

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:34 AM (v0TzN)

140 These people are being paid for like 8 months anyway aren't they?

Posted by: fd at February 17, 2025 07:35 AM (vFG9F)

141 "Can you imagine the average person trying to remember their GUID?"

Imagine trying to spell it out to someone over the phone.

Twenty minutes later..."no I mean 5, 6, FOUR, 3 not 7"

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:36 AM (QB+5g)

142 Can you imagine the average person trying to remember their GUID?

Any NFC devices, key fob tokens, barcodes, wearable RFIDs...

you should have been doing this for years with your myriad of account passwords.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:37 AM (a4flb)

143 .
NOOD

J.J. Sefton is here with the Morning Report

NOOD!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at February 17, 2025 07:37 AM (O7YUW)

144 Imagine trying to spell it out to someone over the phone.

Ever heard of Tiny URL?

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at February 17, 2025 07:38 AM (a4flb)

145 CBS transcript:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that was changing the tone of it. And you know that. That the censorship was specifically about the right--

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:39 AM (v0TzN)

146 >>> This isn't okay. This isn't creating an inclusive environment.

For some people 'inclusive" is leaving everybody the ef alone. That means the government leaves everybody the ef alone.

For others it means is everybody is micromanaged to the point of being virtual slaves.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at February 17, 2025 07:39 AM (/lPRQ)

147 And now a false history lesson from I Don't Care Margaret Brennan:

https://tinyurl.com/4nd9yh2y

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 17, 2025 07:41 AM (1o8D5)

148 132 Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:28 AM (v0TzN)
-

Yes but look up the Community Notes on the 60 Minutes comedy show.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 17, 2025 07:31 AM (1o8D5)

I don't know how to do that.

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:41 AM (v0TzN)

149 Using Tiny URL leaves a record.

Are you really redesigning the banking system?

Posted by: pawn at February 17, 2025 07:42 AM (QB+5g)

150 My grandpa chuck came over in 1658. His first kid, forgot name, Born 1661, 364 this year. I got his oA, he's out hunting.
Up north somewhere.

Posted by: From about That Time at February 17, 2025 07:42 AM (n4GiU)

151
Nick Freitas
@NickJFreitas
11h
Dear leftists,
The government is not a “jobs program.”
Every government job that doesn’t need to exist is sustained by wasting tax dollars. That is money tax payers COULD have spent on something they needed, thereby creating a job in an industry where it was ACTUALLY needed!

Posted by: m at February 17, 2025 07:58 AM (v0TzN)

152 SSN just use hex. SSH. Done.

Posted by: banana Dream at February 17, 2025 08:00 AM (Y6IkP)

153 Sen. Kennedy says that there are 6.5 million people on Social Security age 112 or over. This is crazy

Posted by: JM in Illinois at February 17, 2025 09:05 AM (VmoTc)

154 "Oh, and ISO 8601 records dates and times as readable text, not as numbers."

One correction on this: ISO 8601 actually does allow for a purely numeric representation of dates. For example, 20250217 is a compliant representation of today's date. I still find it unlikely that the SSA's system conforms to ISO 8601 at all, and the dimwit's post claiming COBOL+ISO8601=1875 somehow still pisses me off.

Posted by: Cortillaen at February 17, 2025 10:05 PM (6kADi)

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