Posts by Peyton

Google spins YouTube into future profit machine

So.....

Is that guy a believer now??

Anti-Sec spoof threatens s'kiddie mayhem

@tautology-tastic

"Internet" could be what the campaign is for, and the web could be its location (as opposed to masked people picketing outside Anti-Sec offices), in which case, it would not be a tautology.

Vulture Central plans Brit-Yank dictionary

@Lee

Ahh, answered my question brilliantly. Thanks! Never would have guesed there would be an MS angle to all of this! I'm guessing the perceived slight is due to some spell-check option getting labeled "British English" or something to that effect? I can't check b/c Open Office labels it English (UK), English (USA), English (Jamaica), etc. If it's not that, then I'm in the dark on where all these Americans have been busy correcting the British. The most predominant comment above seems to be correcting Americans on the pronunciation of an American product (incidentally, the pronunciation of "route" varies by region here). I wonder if the French have this problem with French Canadians, Belgians, etc. I distinctly did not get that impression from a Parisian I once knew. Still, I will be sure to note that extra letters = smarter. Who would've thought measuring intelligence could be so easy?!

I suppose...

The most interesting thing to come out of this discussion, to my eyes, is the number of "the yanks do/say this..." and I haven't the foggiest what the poster is talking about (but then again, I've only lived in the States all my life).

I was curious if the posting would finally clear up one mystery for me: why some Brits are completely OCD about the English language. I have to admit, I feel a bit bad for them. I have this vision of their parents giving them a dictionary on their first birthday and going "Memorize it! There'll be a test when you're two!" heheh. Of course, I can say, as an American suuuthn'ner, that I've met a few of our very distantly related northern cousins (aka Yankees, not to be confused with Yanks ;) who can absolutely reek of condescension when confronted with a southern accent. Always confused me as well. I actually like accents, and I find slang and vernaculars intriguing. One wonders if these condescending types have ever heard the expression "variety is the spice of life".

ooh ooh pick me pick me

Slang is usually not a bother - just double click that mess, right click and and select "search google for" - sometimes have to add "brit slang" to narrow in on things.

BUT - the real challenge - especially if you want to venture into uncharted waters and borrow some slang, is knowing whether or not it's "dated". Even urban dictionary often fails there. Ahhh, El Reg would be 100% dro if they managed that.

Any words in the above missive that seem odd are, apparently, due to my American "accent." psh, as if... you bunch of ass goblins...

Clever attack exploits fully-patched Linux kernel

A zillion comments in...

and I'm still confused. Isn't the simple answer to just arrow down to the null check on tun, type dd (we are talking linux afterall ;), arrow up to the line initializing sk, and hitting shift+p? I get the impression the kernel isn't rife with this problem... as many have pointed out it *is* something one can find in a code review... what's the big deal?

@call me scruffy: Pedantry was never amusing in the first place. Didn't you get the memo?

Mysterious organic blobs found in Alaskan waters

@AC 11:16

If you're going to respond to trolling, it's usually best to stick with facts, not philosophy. For the record, the *International* Whaling Commission allows aboriginal whaling; primarily they target commercial whaling for control. Alaska is not the only place aboriginal whaling occurs - aside from other northern climes, peoples in the tropics hunt whales for food as well. Incidentally, the notorious (and ironically named?) Steve Irwin's crew members are from "Australia, America, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, Sweden, Bermuda, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, New Zealand and Japan."

Government defeats Tories in 'McKinnon' extradition vote

@James Grinter 1

"...US decided they weren't allowed by the constitution to actually extradite their citizens to the UK.."

I doubt that is the case - it would have to be unconstitutional based on destination country. Google John Demjanjuk.

Moderatrix to gain even more sinister powers

A flaw?

Just thinking about all the comments our illustrious Ms. Bee has to read and give a modicum of thought to makes my eyes want to crawl out of my head and hide under the desk... this seems like yet another thing to have to consider and manage?

Still, I think feedback for we commentards is a good thing (something more than followup comments titled @peyton - these often leave me wanting to weep for humanity, rather than reflect on my post) . Sometimes you honestly don't realize if you've been obnoxious. If every site one frequents keeps giving out negative points, it may finally trickle through that a change of style is required... tho the register is the only site I bother posting on...

Beer, for the one of many the Moderatrix might need ;)

Magno stimulation makes brain learn skills better - boffins

@actard

@@peyton means I'm commenting on a post, not the article.

From the post: "You can't cause mutations with magnetism."

The article refutes this statement.

To possibly head off more comments - Not only do I not think electromagnetic radiation is of major oncogenic concern, I honestly don't care. The coat icon, my lousy grammar, etc., etc., were intended to be clues that I was being flippant... to that end, I'll go ahead and assign myself an appropriate icon.

@@peyton

oy vey. I'm inclined to doubt perfectly formed supernumerary appendages would be the result of any amount of radiation... when I think radiation fallout, I tend to think limbs are more likely to fall off...

But the green white colorblind can feel free to google oh I dunno 'effect of static magnetic field on mutation frequency and cellular response to DNA damage in budding yeast Saccaromyces cerevisiae'

What they neglect to mention

Subjects were better at manipulating the joystick with the new, third arm that they grew after repeated exposure.

I'll just have a handful of ritalin, thx.

Daily Mail launches McKinnon campaign

@peat

You're confused. Let me break down the math:

story update + fresh comments = good

story update + stale, repeated comments = not good

See the difference?

What's that? Tired of McKinnon stories? Well, yes, I suppose the title of "Daily Mail launches McKinnon campaign" could be misleading and confusing... to some...

Conviction overturned in MySpace suicide case

Hmmmm

"It basically leaves it up to a web site owner to determine what is a crime"

No, that would still be up to a judge... I think that point is lost in many of the comments above; not every verdict will be used, effectively, as precedent in future cases. I'm not arguing against the outcome here, but not every bad verdict results in the breakdown of the entire legal system.

I assume there can still be a civil suit though. Would not be the first time justice, to at least some extent, was served via civil court.

Mrs Slocombe's pussy vanishes from Twitter

Who says it's not well known?

Are You Being Served? is a standard in the PBS lineup.

This article leaves me with two questions

1)Twitter is censored?

2)And the outcome of the heated exchange???

Amazon.com dumps North Carolina affiliates

To add to the fun

There are some states - South Carolina I know is one - that have "sales tax holidays." In the case of SC, they would have it prior to the school year starting, but it only applied to goods you would purchase in preparation for school. The timing of the holiday and the goods the reprieve applied to were determined by the state government and were subject to change.

Also in SC, the state tax was, iirc, 5%, but each individual county could add 1% to that. However, again iirc, senior citizens were exempt from the additional 1%....

If Amazon has to support scenarios like this x50 states, well I think we'll soon be reading on the Reg about two things 1)EC2 being brought to its knees trying to calculate tax on someone's purchase, and 2)all the Amazon coders being committed to the nuthouse after trying to support this mess.

Wikipedia kills legendary journalist

What's their problem?

Are they running so low on disk space that a few k of text makes a difference? Why the f*** would you delete anything that isn't wholly inaccurate? Sounds like some wikigit had an axe to grind.

I'm off to recommend all the articles relating to "peyton" for deletion simply on the whim that one "peyton" is more than enough.

Disney punts hetero luuurv to wide-eyed kiddies

Easy fix

Just plop the rugrats down in front of some Bugs Bunny. His man-kissing, cross-dressing shenanigans will cancel Disney out.

Prof: Global windfarm could power entire human race

@@Steven Raith

"And it's what The Reg does time and time again for some inexplicable reason"

Hmmm... Where's the Anonymous Masochist icon when you need it?

Transformers helmsman demolishes English language

Maybe Faulkner has ruined me

It's an email. Its grammatical shortcomings simply reinforce that he was highly distraught and emotional when he sent it. He's still a git, because his actions are hardly professional, but I'm not yet prepared to make him an effigy of all that is wrong with American education.

@Ted: So promulgating stereotypes does meet the criteria of "manners, politeness, consideration"? Nice. I take it then, by implication, that "innit" falls into the category of correct and proper English? Lovely.

Catholic social club ousts coven of witches

Everyone should lighten up

Honestly, you summon a few measly spawn of Satan and suddenly the whole word is against you. sheesh

""We thought we were bridging the gap with other religions..."

To be fair, the parish simply told them to go away. Beats getting burned at the stake for your troubles. I'd call that progress.

Flames for the cauldron of course.

US gov asked Twitter to stay up for Iran protests

@AM/PM

Psh, everyone knows astrological sign is supremely important in characterizing a person or event, so month is obviously more important than year or day.

Venezuela spits out Coke Zero

snopes is useful in these type discussions

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp

Although it does gloss over the fact that they are acidic for different reasons, i.e., citric vs phosphoric acid. These may not react the same to teeth (like how you store most acids in glass, but not hydrofluoric acid).

As an aside, if the hydrochloric acid of your stomach is in frequent contact with your teeth, you probably need to cut back on your alcohol consumption ;)

Mars projected to collide with Earth

Preemptive strike?

"In three others, Mercury falls into the Sun."

So what I take away from this is, if we all get out and push we can lob it into the Sun now and stop worrying about it?

Indian outsourcers prepare for US trade war

2nd paragraph

Illegal immigration issues aside, Americans are primarily afraid of being unemployed. Period. If unemployment was negligible, I doubt you'd be hearing complaints.

Pete + NogginTheNog actually makes for a interesting point though. All "Buy American" led us to was an industry that thought it was immune from having to innovate or provide QA. Maybe that's why Obama is focusing on a less tangible job line...

@author: And wtf dude, we don't have nannies - Mary Poppins was an American film set in *England* :p

Site news: Unique commenter handles coming

@@peytons

@bluegreen, #3 - I can second that. Something as simple as a thumbs up/thumbs down would work for me (I find slashdot's insightful/funny/blah a bit tedious)

@ac - erm, to be honest, black ops conspiracy fud is exactly what I don't care to read, but for the paranoid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudonym. Not that it's needed - on the web, your IP == you FAR more than any first+last combo.

In the end it's moot - so long as the moderator remains constant, I'll not complain ;)

my vote

Ditch AC altogether. I'd say the ratio of insightful comments over waste of times from ACs is effectively zero. I'm not saying things posted under "peyton" are all that enlightening, but it just seems the AC posts cruft up a lot of comment threads with people just wanting to vent. Of course, the comments section is very free form - perhaps their functioning as a sort of psychiatrist couch is intentional ;)

Or - if you really want to allow for those rare whistle-blower posts or something - maybe a quota?

Russian porn starlet brands DD jubs

wikipedia ftw

From tattoo wiki:

"An ink trademarked as InfinitInk is designed to be removed in a single laser treatment." Scarring from laser treatments is typically minimal and temporary.

Microsoft architecture chief: Google Wave 'anti-web'

Someone please call in Nurse Ratched

Microsoft appears to have progressed from 'slightly nutters' to dangerously schizophrenic.

Wolfram Alpha to venture beyond boron nucleus

Oh, I think you should check again

"Wolfram says his team..." If you search Wolfram Alpha on Wolfram Alpha, you will find there is only one "people involved' in this product - namely Stephen Wolfram. One man, no matter how (reportedly) mind-numbingly brilliant, does not constitute a team.

I will admit though, I find the potential features outlined in the last paragraph interesting and compelling.

US mega retailer settles spyware charges

Web pages are not always A4

The "54 pages" might have meant the user had to click "next" 53 times to get to the relevant content.

Man accused of arranging wife's rape on Craigslist

in particular

"knife-wielding" Can't speak from experience so I may be wrong, but it seems like folks could have their fun without the dangerous weapons... that's seems to be crossing the line a bit - *especially* if the encounter is "anonymous".

What a way to learn that your husband is a completely worthless excuse for a human being...

Apple confirms $1bn data center

@Perdue's kidding himself

minor note: "Beverly" Purdue is a woman.

Spectral Spector Twitterer admits hoax

That's okay

Tweets like "About to write an angry letter to the governer demanding that they return my wig" are still hilarious, even if forged.

MP 'devastated' over Facebook profile hack

Interesting story

I hadn't realized just how antiquated the word "cyber" had become... till now.

AT&T may have influenced American Idol final vote

I'm a bit surprised by the rants

There's similar shows on Brit TV...

@steve-c - I was curious too - and I live over here! But a quick google seems to indicate they don't. I'm surprised - we have some *incredibly* niche shows that really make you sit up and go "the hell???" We quite literally have spin-offs of spin-offs of spin-offs. I suspect their weekly audiences are composed of the same people that slow down to rubberneck at traffic accidents.

ps - I'm compelled to add that I know of these shows not because I'm a closet viewer, but because we have a lovely show called "The Soup" that makes fun of them.

iPhone apps - the 10 smartest and the 10 stupidest

I hate to admit it...

(the frog one made me think of this)

I probably would pay to have Hypnotoad going on my phone.

US lawmakers put Canada, Spain on piracy 'watch list'

What?! No Blighty??

You guys have got some serious downloading to catch up on!

Wait a minute... why isn't teh US on the list?? I cry foul!! There's no way we're not at least in the top 5. I demand some sort of recount!!

'Air fuelled' battery tech invented in Scotland

difference between physics and chemistry?

If a chemist can't get an equation to come out right, they start over. If a physicist can't, well they just keep adding dimensions till it does....

Still waiting for a theory requiring the universe to exist in 42 dimensions...

Apple patents all-seeing display

me!me!me! I want it!

And here's why: Multiple displays. But not just so I can see myself in each one - I want this thing to have full view of my face and eyes, so when I look to another screen, focus automatically jumps there.... ahh that would be sweet. I hate/loathe/abhor pulling my hands away from the keyboard to use the mouse (and Apple's implementation of command+tab sucks imho).

Here's a question: can my ramblings serve as "prior art" if someone tries to patent such a thing?

Wolfram Alpha - a new kind of Fail

@whingers

To paraphrase: "It's not a search engine - leave WA alone."

Directly from wolframalpha.com: "Making the world's knowledge computable"

Yes, so instead of a "search engine" it prefers to be called a "computational knowledge engine" - translated that's "whatever results you get, well then, that's what it does!" That alone is enough to warrant a bad review - though I think much of the point is missed, with some of the criticism directed at the hype rather than the product... And along those lines: Yes, when it says *people* involved and only has one name - that qualifies egocentric. Unless you're suggesting he coded the entire site, its backend, etc., etc., himself...

I'm not even going to ask what rock the "Oh my I take umbrage at Ted's style" brigade crawled out from under today.

Craigslist boss wants apology for 'erotic services' attack

couple few things

It's incredibly difficult to successfully sue any sort of government entity in the US... not impossible, but never a sure bet.

Also, I'm reminded of a saying they have (or at least had) in South Carolina regarding their public education: "Thank God for Mississippi!" Clarification: if it were not for Mississippi, South Carolina would be last in the nation with regard to test scores, rather than next to last.

SCWTFBBQ?!? gag. To each his own of course, but gotta say, not a fan of the mustardy SC bbq.

Taking a first bite out of Wolfram Alpha

already has a flaw

"as Americans simply do not eat rabbits." Needs to be able to distinguish IPs from urban areas and those from rural... the latter certainly includes noshers of things lagomorphic.

The Great Spotify Mystery

music industry can't do anything right

L3MONAD3 is spelled with two backwards e's, not one. sheesh

Archaeologists unearth oldest known 3D pornography

interesting religious angle?

The comment about neocons made me think... I've heard fundamentalists explain away pesky things like fossil evidence as 'god did it' - i.e., it was all just planted to f*ck with us. But surely a fundamentalist god isn't going to go around planting jubtastic idols like this?

@nsfw ac: dude, it might have been pornographic 40,000 years ago... today's standards are a bit different...

USAF raygun boffins clocking planet-buster asteroid threats

Well I might want to know...

It could be, just possibly, that when they find a threat, they might be able to provide more than 30 seconds notice... Once an object + trajectory is found, its threat, years down the road, can be extrapolated with a relatively decent accuracy. So if I live in Townsville (to keep things light, let's make it the one from the cartoon, not the actual one in Australia ;) and am told "In 5 years object X will likely hit Townsville" I might - just *might* - decide to put the old homestead up for sale and move on to greener pastures. (Luckily, I doubt there are laws on the books requiring one to disclose whether ones home is in peril of impact from space debris :)

US airforce looking at winged-rocket booster 'X-plane'

nice pic, lazy engineers

So they just duct taped the Shuttle up, filled it with rocket fuel, and let a rip?! ^_^

Still, it does explain the $85 million bill to decommission the fleet... I mean, that is gonna require a lot of duct tape.

Google blames cheeseburgers for destroying the planet

I wonder

How many cheeseburgers it takes for them to fly a lobbyist to DC...

Cops collar Russian punting dog dressed as lamb

OK PEOPLE THIS IS THE RULE

If it's not a pet, it's food.

Disclaimer: No purchase necessary. Definitions of pet may vary and do not apply to people. Offer not valid wherever meat-eaters are outnumbered or within 10 feet of Pamela Anderson.

Brown red in face after blusher found in cab

can't stop laughing

As if the article itself wasn't enough, some great comments to boot! Especially appreciate dedbehindtheyesmonst chipping it - can't tell you how much I love it when some tool's comments are ominously followed by the "El Reg" icon. It's like watching someone out in the ocean with floaties being trailed by a shark fin.