Posts by Jesse

Higgs boson hunters have god particle in their sights

@ Fonts and Colors

You would be surprised how refreshing it is to look at raw data in solid and easy to read colors and fonts after being buried in black and white thinly lined code for hours and days...

SSD tools crack passwords 100 times faster

You have it.

You are right. By taking basic computer principles (mathematics, encryption, CPU/Memory/Hard Disk speeds) and throwing them into an article, they were able to cloud the main details and make this event seem newsworthy. The real magic is that they took most of the CPU intensive work and utilized an 80 Gigabyte dictionary so that the CPU doesn't have much work remaining. At that point, WTF else is there besides some back-and-forth between disk and memory? And then, lo and behold, a faster hard disk gives better overall results. WOW! (sarcasm.)

Feds: Hospital hacker's 'massive' DDoS averted

^Security, part 2

Security guards do not need access to IT equipment other than camera screens displaying the inside of a secured IT center.

This screw up was like an IT guy having keys to the facility's weapons closet.

On a related tangent, I think it is documented psychology that power hungry people will often vie for positions that give them more power. Police work, security guard, etc. This is why it isn't uncommon for cops to screw with teenagers as retribution for some ill towards them in high school. It probably also fuels "hackers" intents to cause problems for other people as a way to even the score psychologically.

Lockheed engineer: F-22 Raptor Stealth tech is 'defective'

What about the simple truth

Wow fellas you guys sound about as kooky as this guy is made out to be. How about perhaps the lawsuit is based on his patriot concerns, having dedicated a significant portion of his entire life to stealth technologies? Maybe he just wants to ensure that a keystone aircraft in America's arsenal isn't... arse?

It is no small thing to present your name to the public indicating your intimate knowledge of a classified program, let alone directly challenge Lockheed Martin on a very sensitive subject. Ya'll think so hard you appear stupid.

Famed investor backs away from web-obsessed Microsoft

RE: Double standards

What makes you think that this guy is responsible for the current financial meltdown let alone short selling?

Judge Dredd smartshell shotguns to hit Iraq in '09

@ Teacake

Dalai Canon! "Buddha Buddha"

DARPA seeks Special Forces submersible aeroplane

RE: Fold the wings, Flood the cabin.

Sounds like something I saw in a James Bond movie, although I can't remember which.

Thunderball?

Remote access tech nabs smut-fan laptop theft suspect

RE: Daft question alert

Actually that is a great question, which I assume is related to why the writer mentioned OS and remote access software was not known.

But if you want a wild guess probably the simplest I can give is that perhaps the laptop was able to aquire the same DHCP IP because it was plugged back in to the same network that it was originally on? That is a wild guess of course because wouldn't the laptop be given a 192 address using WIFI?

There just isn't enough information to answer your not-too-daft question.

Sun: OpenSolaris 'pretty freaking amazing'

RE: Stable? Secure?

As is usually the case, it depends on how much you want to pay and what kind of risks you are willing to take.

A typical low end server, like perhaps a webserver, will have you running until your root disk mirror has lost enough disks, then you would want to schedule shutting down to replace any when convenient depending on what risks you would like to take and how many mirrors you have. You might have 4 disks in the mirror so you could run until two fail.

Or you could buy the extra array (This scales all the way up to clustering) and would not have to shut down ever except for the inevitable kernel patch(es) that require single user mode to install.

You could forgo the patch sets, but -might- be at risk. If your OS is hardened correctly you wouldn't have to patch but once a year though and not worry about being hacked depending on what apps you are supporting. It would be really wise for instance to patch Samba often if you have important data that hackerx shouldn't be getting to.

So the answer is, Solaris will run from either how long it takes your 1 internal disk to fail all the way up to never because you have enough cluster nodes and good sysadmins.

If it weren't for patch sets, there would be systems running here longer than my 5 years at this current job.

Sun faces up to the 64 thread question with T2+

RE: RE: Redhats road to Redmond is thru Sunnyvale

"Take your head out of the sand and realise there is real sunshine out there as opposed to the Sunshine you've been spoonfed."

Good point, and that must be the difference then because I see it from a US Federal spoon and you're coming from a UK/Europe telecoms view. For instance, I don't work there, but it would be some pretty wild shit to read that any important system at the Air Inteligence agency switched to Red Hat linux.

I still opine that Redhat's road to Redmond is not through Sunnyvale and they still have IBM to contend with even without Sun.

RE: Economic Irony

The Botaka moniker gave me a smirk too. Here's to hoping we never get to a Shikaka prototype.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Ventura:_When_Nature_Calls

NASA, USAF in $30m hypersonic boffinry push

Counter pedant point

You already know 'what' based on the context. If not, this article is already above your education level.

Dell: We went green too early

A good one for you sysadmins

CIO: Shit, we never did budget for powering all these new systems

Admin: We're going to need new circuits for all this load...

CIO: I know! We'll pull funding for the air conditioning!

EA in Spore DRM climbdown

Boycott EA not just for Spore

I bought a copy of BF 2142 a while ago using their download installer. God was I an idiot.

It wouldn't run (IMAGINE THAT!) because it couldn't --validate-- me using its mandatory computer Gestapo program. So I open a TT and get the usual guy from foreign country who doesn't want to help me; he wants to close a trouble ticket. I give him valid human information... he gives me cue cards in response, complete with questions I had already preemptively answered.

Turns out that the web interface had TWO ways to register/activate an account and they are two different accounts although they appear (graphically) the same, and because I had never used the one system, I activated an account on the new system, but some other underlying shadow system still did not have the account. Being in software development, and also kind of smart too (hah, sorry!) I noticed it, went the unique and undocumented registration route and lo and behold it worked. I instantly realised it was a systems design problem that EA probably had no clue about.

But it didn't matter to EA almost a year after the software was released, because they essentially didn't have to return people's money. They could drown out legitimate user problems with an Indian guy and cue cards. I hinted to the robot on the other end that I knew the problem and offered to explain it to him. Fuck if he cared, ticket closed.

This is something everyone knew was coming, but people can't seem to organize and boycot all of (Insert bad company's) products, which is what it takes -- Not just bitching about DRM or Spore and then turning around and buying it.

US pilots will go to VR drone ops straight from training

RE: why not just drop the medical restrictions

It is not so simple..

If you sign up with a medical condition or are more likely to get one while active duty, the Veterans Administration will eventually be footing the bill.

In essence the medical screen is a lot of things including a test to see how much of a return (or loss) on investment one would be.

And then of course there is a lot of entrenched tradition.

OpenSocial, OpenID, and Google Gears: Three technologies for history's dustbin

Articles like this

Are pretty obnoxious just to keep people buzzing.

That said, if this guy was completely serious then he is the real 'fail' in the article.

Google churning out software, whether well or poor, ultimately enhances the organization and its people.

Future software from said organization can only benefit.

Democratic rep fathered alleged Palin hacker

Reminds me of this photo:

Serious business.

http://www.palmettoscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/internets.jpg

EU slaughterhouses may get animal welfare officers

RE: what about halal

"Steve Jobs, because he only eats Fruit."

Where does Steve Jobs get protein then? Whoops, maybe I don't want to know...

Israeli hamlet plans DNA database for dog poop

Firearms

Can't you whiney brits just buy a BB gun or airsoft gun to deal with other animals trashing your yard?

My dad taught me when I was about 7 years old how to use a pellet gun to deal with someone else's loud and obnoxious dog in the middle of the night.

Oz woman sold mobe with preloaded smut

So, let me get this right...

A woman reports problems with her cell phone, and then it turns out that the problem is the dick in her ear?

Reg readers rage at comment icon outrage

A couple suggestions

-There should be a urinal cake icon for pedants

-The old man on the scooter chasing people would make a great icon.

-Someone mentioned a foaming beer mug icon, I second that.

There definately should be no icons supporting memes from other websites. It might be considered "humorous" or "witty" on slashdot. That tripe can stay on slashdot.

Beauty contest judge canned for slamming 'munter' contestants

Munters

What's so wrong with dehumidifiers? Gosh.

Press proves immune to FBI's anthrax corrective

RE: All conspirators blah blah blah

"You sadly fail at armchair psychology"

Nice, so you suggest that I was somehow "wrong" and then you hint that it wasn't psychology, rather, it was a form of probability mechanism imbedded in our minds that is the cause for the behavior?

I concede that you win at internet trolling and forming an argument where there is none.

Conspiracy posts are boring

"One last point to consider is that the FBI's explanation of the Ivins case supports the idea that it's elementary to engineer a biological attack. If Ivins, a single individual with no training in weaponization could do it, couldn't anyone?"

I think this is key to the whole thing; if the anthrax had been weaponized, a lot more people would have died.

Also, if specifically targeting Democrat Congressional offices for attacks and death did occur, as purported to support the passing of the Patriot act, then why don't we have more government conspiracies happening all the time? Because it is hard? Because government is so tight knit and shut lipped that they wait until they can make the perfect crime?

People that come up with consipracy theories may have a lot of knowledge about the opinions they are contending, but they suspiciously have zero knowledge of the government offices supposedly involved in these conspiracies. So they fill that unknown in to cognitively support whatever outrageous claim it is they are trying to make.

At any rate, the murders by anthrax are far less interesting than the demonstration of cognitive bias by the confused people who are contending government conspiracy.

Here is a nice list for your viewing pleasure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

US boffins develop self cleaning gecko-foot glue

RE: Where's David Icke when you need him?

I'm sure there is plenty of D.Icke to go around.

Nuke-nobbling US laser jumbo fires test beams

RE: Wrong Strategy

It is also interesting to point out that all problems, even global, are easily solved by a person on the internet.

Columbia set to resurrect Ghostbusters

@ Sarah; Re: anyone else

True, but actors and actresses are based on human beings, so even plays, books, and movies are likewise as unoriginal.

Just thought you'd like a taste of your own twisted context :P

Oh, and yes, I just whipped out the Paris Hilton icon on you.

Mythbusters busted over RFID gagging

"Nerdopera"

This is great, it's like a nerd soap opera!

Anonymous fights Scientology in schools

RE: What the hell has this to do with IT?

Internet collaboration, AKA, internet fueled phenomenom. The movement, not the article.

That must be news to you.

Scammers skirt spam shields with help from Adobe Flash

Spamwave

I'm just surprised to see that a spam blocker would allow a message with a link to .swf through no matter who it was supposedly from. This is really a "duh, whoops!" moment for whoever writes that spam shield software.

Colonel: Bowman army comms 'astonishingly bad'

RE: What's wrong with a cellphone?

Triangulation.

El Reg salutes ultimate shed anthem

RE: I like it...

Yes, but whoever invented plastic poop is a millionaire now!

NASA test rocket explodes

RE: NASA - too easy a target

No doubt, stupid NASA. The innocent victim in this case, and I'll take this directly from the article and bold it for you, is "THE ROCKET'S MAKER ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS"

I'll forgive the obvious misguided attempt to bash a US government organization on the internet because it is so rarely done, and because NASA does have its failures (some colossal at that!).

Reducing their funding and increasing the bureaucracy over the past 50 or so years couldn't have helped.

Just remember, there are guys just like you who work at NASA. Lucky lucky NASA.

US made to wait for Quantum of Solace

RE: Stupid move

They must not be real fans then.

Watching camcorder versions of anything is like going to a bar but drinking a store bought six pack in the alley while listening to the music through the wall.

Or are you one of those movie execs that are scared of pirating? Booga Booga!

Winehouse jibe wins Fringe's funniest gag

RE: Sarah, you must've known...

Well, I'm thirty and the Cocteau Twins are unknown to me.

But everyone knows about the camel-toe twins. They are all over the net!

YouTube pros cash in on deaths with fake vids

The problem

Has nothing to do with people making money off of sensationalism, smoke,

<-- here's a picture of a cute penguin.

and mirrors. As someone else pointed out, the Reg is known to do this often anyway, much like Slashdot. Hell, Copperfield made a career out of it.

The real problem is the people that keep visiting the site to prop up marketing revenue.

Back to the Reg; essentially if the Reg is a problem, then I am the problem because I support the website and the marketing revenue is because of readers like me.

Cloud computing lets Feds read your email

RE: Wait a minute

It's like Flowers for Algernon!

Mine's the one with the mouse in the pocket.

French cough in to filthy restaurants

RE: @ Ruairi Newman

"Paris, because I wouldn't mind sharing a bottle of Napa Valley Screaming Eagle wine with her."

Ahh yes, and after less than a bottle of wine I'm sure she'd be sharing her spreadeagle with you!

RE @ JIM THE BOSS

Don't feed the troll. He'll threaten to break TEH INTARWEB.

Malicious gossip could cost you your job

RE: Texas has got this sorted

That's exactly what will happen. So, I think the only obvious solution for brits to avoid this clearly dangerous situation is to ban guns. No, that won't do it! They ought to have CCTV posted everywhere as well.

Ahh shit, in order to be really safe from pedo schoolteachers and gun toting gangrapists, the british ought to employ everything from the book 1984.

That'll stop crime for sure!

In reality I think the real solution to crime is to get the criminals out of politics.

Thai court jails 'swirly-face' paedophile

Fuck counseling

the paedo. He should get 15 years- that would provide the counseling he needs. The sick fuck should provide a year of his pay to the victim in this case- the kids, so that they can get counseling. Maybe the rest of the money can go to a support fund for abused children.

Sadly they shouldn't get any money for living though- it would just end up with more kids sucking dick. Sad sad world.

US Air Force halts plans to establish a Cyber Command

OMG a serious post?

The DOD needs to make a new branch specifically for cyberwarfare if they deem it necessary (aside from the NSA).

That said, why doesn't the NSA just handle it? Or do we need a specific command complete with Media Relations officers so that dipshit Americans can be assured their data is safe via canned statements?

AMD releases 'world's fastest' graphics card

RE: 4850X2?!

Except that ATI uses crossfire. Nvidia uses SLI.

You need completely different motherboards to use either.

Kiwi cops hunt teenage serial burglar with head of Robbie Coltrane

RE: Re: Nationalists

Shut up and whip me you dirty wordsmith!

Depp for Dark Knight follow-up

Screw the riddler

I like the going theme of taking stuff from the comic books and cartoon AKA half face and scare crow.

That said, maybe they could come up with some original shit instead of rerunning characters that have to fit a certain persona and name. Oh damn, did I just ask for creativity in media? Sorry about that.

I guess it kind of works out for me in a roundabout way- video games get more focus, talent, and money when people get sick of the Same Old Shit™

Guess it'll be more gaming media spending than dvd media spending in my future.

Trashman arrested for YouTube threats

RE: I got arrested for threatening someone on UseNet last summer.

You think that the guy wasn't and couldn't be taken serious because you weren't and couldn't be serious in your usenet post?

Fruitcake is right.. in your mirror.

Paris wouldn't understand either.

NASA spies liquid in Titanic lake

RE: Not quite the impressive photo

You should be greatful that we were at least able to retrieve such an awe inspiring rendition from the artist before he was crushed by Titan's atmospheric pressure.

Plods say it's OK for them give out your DNA

RE: What's the big deal

"I don't really see how anyone having my DNA, Car info etc is that bad."

James, we found your DNA at a crime scene and would like you to come down for questioning. Yes ,yes, of course you weren't involved. OK, sure you were never there. We're just going to put these cuffs on you and you'll be back in no time. By the way, is there some place your kids can stay for a week or longer, in case, you know, something happens?

Sovereign immunity blocks DMCA suit against Air Force

RE: They own his brain

That is precisely correct, and especially in the US military. As an Airman, this guy might have only had official duty days that were from 7:00 to 4:00 or whatnot, but the fact of the matter is he was Government property 24-7 for the entire duration of his enlistment. Does that mean they could raid his home and take his stuff? Not exactly, but he did, as the courts noticed, induce the Military to use his software, and for free.

This is typical with intelligent people who can write code/use the intarwebs/invent stuff; they make for dipshits when it comes to business sense and often common sense as well.

RE: Can someone explain why he didnt just give the source over ?

Only in the navy would you need to worry about intruders in your backdoor.