[HN Gopher] A knight's tale
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       A knight's tale
        
       Author : pepys
       Score  : 54 points
       Date   : 2024-05-02 03:40 UTC (19 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blogs.bl.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blogs.bl.uk)
        
       | sklargh wrote:
       | The BL's elongated ransomware attack recovery has robbed the
       | internet of a remarkable resource of primary source documents
       | like the above. I'm into older maps and it's a gaping hole in my
       | browsing. Wish there was a meaningful way to help them recover
       | more quickly.
        
         | jackstraw14 wrote:
         | I hadn't heard about this, how terrible. It sucks to give in to
         | the attackers, but 20 BTC seems like a small price to pay
         | compared to rebuilding from scratch.
         | 
         | One interesting bit toward the end of this article indicates
         | the royal family has paid ransomware attackers too.
         | 
         | https://web.archive.org/web/20240412005905/https://www.newyo...
        
           | pgalvin wrote:
           | Whilst the British Library is spending a lot more money
           | rebuilding, and expected to take a year or more to be fully
           | operational again, there are some upsides to this. Their IT
           | infrastructure used outdated and insecure practices, which
           | enabled the attack in the first place, and the rebuilding
           | forces them to modernise it. It also sidesteps the
           | possibility of the ransomware group retaining a foothold in
           | their systems, unbeknownst to the BL (though I will add that
           | ransomware groups are, perhaps surprisingly, usually pretty
           | honest once you pay them).
        
             | KineticLensman wrote:
             | AIUI, many of their antiquated core systems couldn't be
             | reinstalled on modern more secure OS, hence the very slow
             | recovery
        
       | duxup wrote:
       | Supplying twelve fish pasties / moving fancy lances. Interesting
       | that these are logistical type services. I wonder if logistics of
       | sorts was a bigger concern then than we have now.
        
         | taneq wrote:
         | Logistics is one of those things that grows to fill the space
         | around it. Any time you have more than required to sustain
         | yourself for the moment, logistics rears its head.
         | 
         | By which I mean to say, logistics is always around as big a
         | concern as it is right now, whenever 'now' is. Probably
         | something to do with Pareto. Hah, that guy, hey?
        
         | dhosek wrote:
         | Oh, most definitely. The distances covered in older travel
         | tales are often shorter than many people's contemporary daily
         | commutes.
        
         | bee_rider wrote:
         | Although, I think carrying 12 fish pasties is not a great
         | logistical feat. I bet the main goal is for the knight to
         | perform a token act of service for their lord. A good-natured
         | way to signal obedience.
        
           | duxup wrote:
           | I assume that many of these tasks are symbolic / used to
           | socially bind folks together. Similar to that friend who
           | orders the first round of beers for everyone or something. He
           | has his place and everyone knows it and enjoys it. Not unlike
           | any kind of ritual, etc.
           | 
           | Many roles I know had physical symbols you carried or wore.
           | Jim the beer buyer would be proud to his staff of beer
           | buying, value it, and so on just as much as the fish guy.
        
           | Dr_Birdbrain wrote:
           | I seem to remember that a big concern in feudalism was
           | whether your underling lords would actually show up when you
           | needed them. This kind of "bring me 12 pasties" thing is as
           | you say most likely a token that he will show up in court and
           | bring the pasties.
        
             | foobarian wrote:
             | So it's like a service health check periodically run by the
             | load balancer :-D
        
               | temp0826 wrote:
               | $ ping -c 12 -p fishpasty king.gov
        
               | bee_rider wrote:
               | Well, it is feudalism so really the line between .gov,
               | .org, and .name is probably a little blurry.
        
       | DrakeDeaton wrote:
       | So the middle ages too had Doordash.
        
       | deadbabe wrote:
       | Did the title of this article remind anyone of that old movie
       | about the life of a knight with the same title? A fun little
       | satirical comedy. I found out the lead actor died at 28.
        
         | yurishimo wrote:
         | Im still salty about it. He had such a great career ahead of
         | him. Welp, now I know what I'm doing tonight.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | Not sure if you're sarcastic or not, but it was Heath Ledger,
         | and his death was all over the news when he died right after
         | filming of his Joker role, even here in Europe.
         | 
         | I love that movie, my favorite. So fun how it starts with We
         | Will Rock you to convey that this is _not_ a historic accurate
         | movie, but somewhat also accurately portrays how the event
         | itself was like a rock concert at the time.
        
           | deadbabe wrote:
           | I was 8 or 9 so I wasn't really paying much attention to
           | news.
        
             | jackstraw14 wrote:
             | That's fair, not sure if I had seen any of his movies when
             | I was that age either. Maybe 10 Things I Hate About You. It
             | was a big deal at the time and his death still makes me
             | more sad than any other pop figure that's died in my
             | lifetime, I think. I'm not sure if the death of River
             | Phoenix felt the same way to his fans, but Heath Ledger
             | made such a big impact for the short time he was with us...
             | it's so sad that he didn't get more time to grow because he
             | was one of the best.
        
           | petepete wrote:
           | Now I'm having flashbacks to Heat Legend memes. Time has
           | flown.
        
         | vidarh wrote:
         | "Old movie".... Now _I_ feel old....
        
           | deadbabe wrote:
           | Sorry
        
       | xw38011 wrote:
       | Wait, two men jousting on sheep!? How does that even work.
        
         | neaden wrote:
         | It's just a picture, like the tiny knights fighting snails. Not
         | something that happened.
        
       | litoE wrote:
       | What are "fish pasties"?
        
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       (page generated 2024-05-02 23:00 UTC)