Posts by Pascal Monett

Orange promises rethink on deleted email accounts

Well for once . .

there are good arguments on both sides of the issue. Interesting.

However, I must admit that I believe leaving one's mail on the Internet is a daft idea to begin with.

Need to contact someone ? Ugh, start the computer, dial in, open mail, get contact details, grab the phone. Need to find that mail you got in 2002 from that friend whose name you don't remember ? Double ugh, need to boot up, dial in, open mail and search mail box, possibly the least efficient way of doing things.

And on top of that, you're at risk of losing all your data if you don't have a backup.

These people have obviously not lost enough data yet. I'm almost hoping that Orange will not be able to restore them mailboxes. These users need the lesson.

Once upon a time computers were expensive, disc space was worth gold and nobody could properly back up data at home. Nowadays a PC is $500, comes with a DVD burner and the media is worth peanuts.

There is little excuse to leave mail on the Internet anymore, and none at all if you only read it from home.

Dino-killing asteroid traced back 160m years

Personal opinions

So Chris is entitled to express his personal opinion, but nobody else ?

Sounds like we're already in Iran.

Facebook to show profiles to search engines

Another major PR disaster in the making

Man, I can't wait for the headlines that will appear when the inevitable hack or privacy breakdown happens : "Facebook exposes all !", "Your face exposed - and all the rest too !".

Of course, I avoid social networks like the plague, so it's not like I have anything to risk.

Raygun 747 test will be delayed, hints Boeing

Physical denial

Physically denying airspace is done with airplanes and ground-to-air missile defense like SAMs, or ballistic ordinance (good ol' shelling and heavy machine guns).

Just because the US of A has been immorally invading countries under decades-long embargo doesn't mean no other country has these capabilities. The entire world has noted that, while Saddam was once given the status of leading the worlds 3rd-powerful army, Pentagon officials have carefully avoided any militaristic stance against North Korea, country that does indeed have nukes and is quite capable of using them.

Maybe, if this laser bird does indeed lift off, we might see Pentagon stance change on North Korea. I doubt that would be a good thing, though.

Aussie scam artist rides bank computer glitch to $9m overdraft

Whatever

The bank made the mistake of honoring the checks (it may be cheque in Australia, but I'm not in Australia). If this guy really croaks it in two years, well there really isn't much that the bank can do, now is there ?

The legal process will take more than that, with a little help from the defense lawyer, so once he's pushing daisies they can indeed all choke on the debt.

He may be a thief, but only because the bank let him become one in the first place. I say he's right. He should blow it all on having a good time before he departs. After all, it's not his fault that nobody checked the accounting properly. It's the banks responsibility to ensure that the funds are available, and refuse any checks that are not properly funded. They didn't do their job, no use to come whining now.

Of course, if perchance this guy doesn't pass away in the next 24 months, but lives on to the ripe old age of a hundred and ten, well this problem sure won't go away by itself.

I think this is the perfect definition of being between a rock and a hard place.

HP boffin predicts preggers spy bog

More of everything, but hold the glossy

More storage, well duh, that one's a no-brainer for sure. More ink, well gosh, I wouldn't be too surprised by that, but the number of managers that have their secretaries print out their mail IS on the way down, I believe.

But more glossy pics ? When we are getting photo-sized LCD panels for less than €50 a pop that have all manners of smart card readers in them ? More glossy pics when even my father-in-law is going to buy a digital cam and already has a DVD player ?

I know that it's a shame for all those people in the glossy paper industry to lose their jobs, but digital is the way forward and that's it. Today the picture taken at the fair an hour ago can already be shown in all its glory on a TV screen, sent across the world and back and plastered all over God knows how many Web sites, and this guy wants me to believe that, in forty years from now, Government surveillance is going to guarantee glossy paper jobs ?

No chance. Government spooks are going to want digitized photo banks they can search through, not laborious paper bibles to endlessly turn pages in. Hey, I looked at my marriage album twice in my life, do you really think a spook will want to go check out stupid people pics BY HAND all day long ? No way.

My prediction on this is that, in 2057, cops will have their mug shot album on digital paper, one page per criminal category and wireless secure (ahem) access to the database.

Glossy paper ? Going the way of the dodo, man. And fast.

Microsoft promises less-annoying Vista OS early next year

The inevitable finally happens

So, XP SP3 is finally on its way. How are the odds that DX10 will be in it ? I wonder.

Microsoft accused of ballot stuffing in standards vote

"only works reasonably well with Microsoft applications"

Well, actually the accuracy of that last phrase kinda depends on what the next patch is going to do to your system, doesn't it ?

And no telling what happens if you change Office versions . . .

Astronauts are sober as judges, says NASA

Well sure

As if they would say anything else. I'd grant a lot more credibility to that statement has NASA not gone and totally forget the standards of quality that Apollo 13 demonstrated.

In those days, they may have had to put square filters in round holes, but they would never have been confused with meters vs yards, nor would they have ever allowed their judgement to consider CYA when considering their options.

But nowadays, it ain't scientists that are in charge anymore, it's the beancounters.

Genghis Khan didn't much like gays

Doesn't actually say that

It says that he was encouraging population growth - something that being homosexual is obviously not compatible with.

So, what is really important in this article is the fact that homosexuals everywhere can trace their movement right back to Genghis Khan.

Isn't that worth thinking about a moment ?

Vista's Long Goodbye strikes again

@ Rob

Well yes, Rob, you are. How's it feel to be the only happy Vista customer in the world ?

And soon, you'll be the only Vista user in the world too. Ain't life wonderful ?

VXers rain on YouTube's parade

"To most users the links will appear legitimate..."

That's the problem : _most_ users are obviously idiots. As for me, the friends I have know how to spell, and don't call me "dude" or use "LMAO", "ROFL" or "OMG". My friends actually write to me, and they don't make grammar mistakes like "your crazy man", which doesn't have a shred of sense.

Some day we might get proper grammar checkers on mail filters. I'm sure that would weed out 99% of the filth I get. And as a bonus, it would also force the young whippersnappers to actually think about how they write, otherwise their mail would never get through. Ah, the dreams . . the dreams . .

China slaps ban on reincarnation

License to . . reincarnate

Could someone please explain to me how a strictly Communist country that recognizes no religion can possibly pass a law on religious beliefs it does not have with a straight face ?

I understand the Dalai Lama subcontext, but do they really think this farce is going to change anything ? Given that Tibetan Monks already live oppressed and under an unfavorable regime, all the Chinese government is doing is pushing them further in clandestinity.

Closing your eyes does not make problems go away.

SexSearch.com gets off on user's underage romp

This was a sting

"the two soon met up at her house and consummated their internet flirtation"

Then the cops busted in. Meaning that the cops were in on this all along. Meaning that the Law Enforcement Officers were basically pimping an underage girl to "trap" a guy who was expecting an 18-year old.

Something in this situation is not right, and it has nothing to do with the guy. He was honestly expecting an 18-year old, not a an underage child.

There are some disgusting jobs, but this is gross from the start. I wonder how they "recruited" her ?

"Hi girl, how old are you ?"

"um, 14."

"Great. You look good. Would you like to lie to older men to get them in your bed so we can jail them afterwards ?"

"Can I get shagged first ?"

"Sure honey."

"Do I have to tell my parents ?"

"Course not."

"Deal !"

Ex-astronaut offers apologies, Huggies to 'love-rival'

If it was me

I'd be happy to know that she made excuses, but I'd want to remain sure the cops can find the nutter any time of day or night.

Anyone who can actually plan a thousand-mile trip based on nappy wearing to prevent wasting time in pitstops, in order to go and harass someone they don't know and have never met, well let's just say that said person is indeed supposed to be tracked and checked on for the rest of her natural life.

Tropics getting extra rainy, NASA boffins say

What a relief !

"The team says climate change is a plausible explanation, but says a longer record is needed before any definitive statements can be made"

Finally someone who can say that we don't have enough data to make a proper conclusion. I've been waiting quite some time to hear something along this line, and someone has finally had the guts and the gall to blurt it out. Kudos to this team !

Shattered teens subsisting on 'junk sleep'

Vote for me

I have the solution ! As soon as I am voted Emperor of the Known Universe, I will decree that the standard day will be comprised of no less than 36 hours - 12 hours of day, and 24 hours of night.

That way, we will all get our daily grind of 10-12 hours at work, then we will be able to come home and do our 4-6 hours of family stuff/house chores, and then happily spend 6 to 8 hours doing our fun stuff/favorite hobby. With all that done, we will STILL have 12 whole hours to sleep for the next day !

Get the word out and Vote Me For Emperor !

;-)

Boffins bend space and time to measure neutron star

Re: Adrian

Oh come now, not nice to pick on him when he's having a bad day, now is it ?

And how do I know that, you ask ? Obvious ! Not only is he low on capital letters, but what he wrote actually almost made sense.

<exit stage left>

As US threatens to trash GATS, Antigua responds

RE: The consumer is to blame 90% of the time in identity theft cases.

I'm sure the millions who have had their personal details exposed due to the loss/theft of some accounting/security consultant's laptop will be delighted to know that.

Windows Genuine Advantage cries wolf (again)

Ahh, WGA . . .

Funny that, I disabled the service once way back when, and I never had any problem. Neither last week, nor before.

Oh, Windows Update won't work very well, obviously, but first of all, there are ways around that, and second, I have a good AV and a hardware firewall, so Windows Automated Virus Distributor is not really a mandatory link in my bookmarks.

And I know what services to disable to keep from having glaring holes gaping in my PC.

A bit of know-how (and it ain't much, I promise) goes a LOOOOONNG way when it comes to Windows security. Essentially, you just have to know how to protect your OS from itself and you do fine.

Pascal.

No data protection exemption for YouTube baby battle video

"the UK's worst child abusers are family court judges"

Funny that. I thought the worst child abusers were the ones that sodomize the kids, or force them into sexual acts of variously degrading nature.

I obviously need counseling.

Comcast throttles BitTorrent users

Something interesting though

So Comcast is snooping on user connections and blocking P2P ?

Well, if Comcast can do that, can it not detect spam mail senders and, how did they put that already ? Oh yeah, "pro-actively contact the customer via phone to work with them and address the issue".

Oh, right, spam is not RIAA's concern. Silly me, it's just us users who are smothered in it, so why bother ?

Li-Ion battery design 'flawed'

Slight correction

Lithium batteries have not been known for "a hundred years", but barely half that. Since Mr. Anon quoted Wikipedia, this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery) states clearly that the first lithium ion battery design was made available in the 1960s, and (quoted) "the first commercial lithium ion battery was released by Sony in 1991".

Lithium metal batteries have been in existence for quite a while longer, but I doubt there is any inherent instability in them, otherwise they would probably not be used in pacemakers.

The battery itself has, of course, a long history that goes back to Mr. Volta in the year 1800 (http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-2.htm). It is nothing short of astonishing to read that the fuel cell was invented in 1839, the lead-acid battery in 1859, and the nickel-cadmium that we all know in 1899.

Battery technology that is still used today was invented more than a century ago, but the most recent lithium technology is a refinement that is a lot younger than the rest of the field.

Google will carpet YouTube with 'overlay' ads

Ads don't bother me

Because I use Firefox with an adblocker and an image blocker and have been doing so for ages.

I also have another addon that turns off javascript. Very handy for those annoying sites that throw popup ads or overlay ads.

And if, somehow, someone still finds a way of shoving an ad in my face, the only thing he will gain is that I will blacklist that site from my viewing habits.

When I want to see an ad, I just look out the window, open a magazine or turn on the TV. I do not want them when I surf, period.

Serial eBay fraudster jailed for two years

Handing over the goods

"if you are handing over goods before payment cleared that I am sorry you only have yourself to blame"

And of course, if you pay before seeing the goods, you only have yourself to blame as well, I suppose ?

The only true solution to this situation is a function apparently missing on Ebay (don't know, have never and will never use it) :

When a bid is accepted and final, automatically Ebay should create an escrow account between the seller and the buyer. The buyer would transfer the money to that escrow account and could no longer retrieve it without due process. The seller could then send the items to their recipient under guaranteed postal delivery. Once the post has confirmed delivery to Ebay, the escrow account is released to the seller. Any issue along the line gets bumped into the resolution process.

I think that should about do it for everyone.

Google pinches fewer pennies in video shutdown

So the new logo is . .

Do No More Evil When We Get Caught At It ?

Northrop enters US Army monster raygun lorry race

Big stompy robots

Hmmm. Big and stompy. Yes ! Bring on the Mechwarriors !

Researcher crosses swords with Google over XSS 'flaw'

Not all that important

I don't use proprietary more than I have to, and I only use Google to search. I avoid the bloody toolbars everybody has added - there is nothing there for me and I trust no proprietary, closed-source developer more than I absolutely have to.

And yes, I am missing out on Google Maps. I know. Life is a bitch, isn't it ?

Dolphins abandon Bay of Biscay

Call to the moderators

Could you please, PLEASE ban for life any loser who whines about "no IT angle" when the section the article is published in is not IT anyway ?

Get their logon and LOCK IT OUT. Get their IP and prevent them from signing up again. Ban them from reading the site even.

Remarks like that only prove one thing : the guy has nothing to do here, he can't understand what he's looking at. So be nice to whatever is left of his brain cells and don't show him the awful letters that so confuse him.

And if he never comes back, well good riddance.

Girls prefer pink: official

My statistics classes were a while ago

But I do seem to remember that, in order to have a representative portion of the population (for election poll purposes, for example), the sample studied should be at least 2000 individuals strong.

Taking that as a given, it follows that this "study" is lacking around 88% of its required representivity, thus its credibility is at the 12% level, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5%.

So, if I am to re-read the conclusion that boys do prefer blue and girls do prefer pink, viewed alongside the fact that it is 10% reliable, I don't have a problem with that conclusion.

Personally, I like blue. My wife likes green. My daughter's room has just been redone in bluish pastel tones (on her request).

Yep. That fits in 10% reliability all right.

Students get lecture on ID crime

What ? Security comments from a bank ?!

I would accept comments from banks on securing my personal information much more readily if banks did not give full access to their client databases to consultants who have the despicable habit of getting their laptops subsequently stolen.

More personal information has been lost by banks this way, more people have been put at risk, than any number of post-it notes tacked onto a screen will ever manage.

Warner Bros to remake Enter the Dragon

What was that ?

"it'll be pretty nigh on impossible to make a bigger hash of it surely"

Ah, the naiveté of youth. As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing that Hollywood cannot trash more thoroughly, including its own worst flops. After all, it's the trying that counts !

Sometimes they get it wrong and make a pure gem of beauty, but those mistakes are quickly corrected.

NASA: no fix needed for shuttle

"I am an engineer with intimate knowledge of the situation"

You're anonymous, which puts your credibility on the issue at a hair's breadth above - well no, actually your credibility is strictly zero.

As for me, I just hope the crew gets back safely. I agree with those that say that a 2nd burn up would be the death of the Shuttle as well as of the crew, and I agree even more with those who say that the NASA we have today is a far cry from what we had in the Apollo days.

NASA is extremely security-minded ? In fairy land, I'm sure that's true. Just as Iraq had WMDs.

NASA is run by beancounters nowadays, that and political, career-minded rats. Not scientists. Scientists would ensure that there is a 100% efficient method to repair tile damage and use it when necessary. I cannot think that Scientists would play dice with the lives of even one person.

But NASA is not run by scientists these days. The Challenger event has proven beyond doubt that scientists - having given the warnings and protested during meetings - were simply ignored by the ruling class. We saw the result of that.

I just hope we won't see it again.

'Law and Order' cop accused of child porn possession

One thing cracks me up

"establish when and how the images came to be on the computer"

I'm sure there are people who actually think that that is possible without a shred of doubt.

I mean, nobody who wants to plant false information would think of changing the date on the PC before creating the files, now would they ?

Tesla electric supercar may be delayed

How what ?

"The biggest shock though has to be how a company producing a product like this, in low volume, with high bought in content and which hasn't actually shipped anything could possibly employ 250 people?! What are they all doing? Unless it's mostly marketing and legal departments, and only a minority are actually involved with the product."

Well, maybe they're employing a few engineers and technicians ? Like 200 or so ? People think making a car is easy, but that's simply not true. Every new model is different in its size and shape, and therefor in its mass and the way mass is distributed. That probably makes for changes in behavior on the road and thus, creates constraints when testing for proper braking power and all the rest. Then there's the specific issue of cooling the batteries, ensuring that the draw fits the usage and possibilities of the batteries, not to mention innovations such as finding the most cost-efficient way of recharging them during the trip.

It takes a lot of manpower to solve all these issues, and there are a lot of intelligent people that work in the automotive industry. One can only hope that some of those are working for this company.

RIAA: Pay as we say, not as we do

There are no Spitzer's left

Nowadays, we only have the Gonzales type - the one that condones torture. With that kind of prosecution, it'll be the 10-year old girl or the 60-year-old grandmother that'll get the bug gun, not the RIAA.

Remember : the RIAA is just doing the same thing as Halliburton or Diebold - it's putting its weight where it can - against the simple, defenseless citizen. The whole Justice Department is supposed to be there to defend the citizen, but said Department is much too busy with the whole-guilty-until-proven-innocent thing to bother. But don't worry, soon the whole country will have torture as part of the regular police interrogation techniques and answers WILL be found.

Ex-CA boss Kumar checks in for 12 year sentence

Who would ever employ that crook ?

Hmm, let me make a list : Diebold, RIAA, Dell Customer Service, Iraq Department of Justice, or Libya Minister of Economics, to name just a few.

Many Facebook users expose all to strangers

Isn't that nice ?

So, dear customer, we have specifically made a social application that you have subscribed to on purpose, but actually you can't trust either the application, nor the users, nor even the management, if you value your privacy.

Have a nice day.

Nokia gets into user-created crud content

Oh great !

Wonderful, a Nokia-centric happy slapping database for Nokia users by Nokia users.

Yay ! Progress !

SCO 'disappointed' as shares plunge 70 per cent

victim of IT Roadkill ?

Nope. No way. SCO is not a victim at all, unless you consider victim someone who steps on toes, kicks shins and sucker-punches everyone in the playground until three guys twice his size get annoyed and treat him to some toilet shampoo.

I have absolutely zero commiseration for SCO, its lawyers, its management, and anyone that has ever been employed since McBride took the helm. SCO has done nothing worth anything since he got appointed CEO, and now it is vulture bait, which is only justice.

I fervently hope the SEC is going to go for the jugular, because I'd really hate to see Darl live on with his immorally gained millions. I also hope he will never be CEO again, because in my view he certainly doesn't deserve it. As for the criminals that abused the name "lawyer" that worked for SCO, they should be all pursued for contempt of court and baseless lawsuits.

HANG 'EM ALL !

Oh, and concerning the poor multinational corporations that gave up the dough for an SCO "license", don't waste tears on them either. These are multinationals, making billions and practically above the law whenever they feel like it. That they didn't have the balls to tell SCO to piss off means that either the CEO had an agreement and the license was kickback money, or that said CEO is simply a spineless git that has nothing to do at the helm of tens or hundreds of thousands of employees.

Boffins simulate plasma-eating dusty 'life-forms'

Okay, they reproduce ?

Oh my goodness, all that kinky stuff going on all over the Universe and not a spycam in sight !

US Customs gets kill-droids for Caribbean

Have you ever talked to a CBP officer?

Never without a bag over my head.

Spammers debut FDF spam

Concerning pump and dump

In a previous thread on this very site, someone talked about having analyzed pump and dump stocks. What he did was, as soon as he received a stock spam, he went to look at the price and logged that as if he had bought 1000 shares (they're penny stocks, so a few bucks in all).

Then he went back a few days later to find out the new price. One stock in over forty tries had a positive result.

This report (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=920553) is not the thread I mentioned, but the conclusion is quite clear :

"Before brokerage fees, the average investor who buys a stock on the day it is most heavily touted and sells it 2 days after the touting ends will lose close to 5.5%."

Future looks bright for video ads

"you can get more attention and more interaction from the viewer"

Oh you'll get my attention all right. I will do my utmost to get a filter add-on for my browser, or remember to not go to that site anymore if I can avoid it. At the very least, you'll gt a mouthful of names and words you wouldn't want a child to hear, all carefully directed in your general direction, give or take the precision of an ICBM.

Media and marketing directors are all of the same ilk : they believe with fanatical strength that people want their "products", but they would most probably go nuts if they actually had to see ads like us in all the everyday activities that they have.

The day I will accept ads in every aspect of my life is the day they have giant screens along golf courses that yell "targeted" ads to the players all day long.

Halo 3 hits one million pre-orders

I'm with Finnbar on that one

I do not have a console at home, so I've put a blanket over my hopes of playing Halo 2 for years. Now it's out, but only on Vista. Sure, Microsoft, take me for a moron (we all know you do). Crysis is coming out on XP and Vista and you want to lure me to Vista with a game that's years out of date already ? Frankly, all that gaming I've done has not yet burned out my neurons, as you seem to think. Besides, DX10 is so artificial that my sides hurt from rolling on the floor laughing about it. You'll be putting DX10 in XP soon enough, I wager, especially given the dismal uptake of the latest bloatware you're desperately trying to shovel down our throats.

So totally outdated Halo 2 is finally on PC - albeit Vista only - and I'm supposed to get excited about Halo 3 ? That will be available on PC when again ? In 2015 ?

Man, 2015. I can only dream of what the sequel to Crysis will be by that time.

Net bride Aussie kidnapped in Mali

Not to get suspicious

But frankly, I would already have doubts if I were to pick up a Natasha in Bamako. I don't know what range of first names they have over there, but Natasha sounds much more Russian than African to me.

On the other hand, the mail above is spot on. There's experience there, and it shows ;-).

Google's permanent video sales less-than-permanent

you will no longer be able to view your purchased or rented videos

That is why I am very wary of purchasing video/music content off the Web. Sorry, but Google is always in Beta anyway, so I don't think handing good money for a beta product is a good idea.

In any case, if I do, one day, after suffering severe concussion and massive loss of neuron connections, purchase online film, I will at least ensure that the actual data stream is downloaded to my hard disk and played from there. That way, with a bit of luck, if my vendor does indeed pull the rug like that, well after screaming and biting and kicking a whole lot (preferably dragging the vendor to court), I can maybe find a hack to make the files playable without vendor approval.

Statistically, I think I should find what I need.

The great Passenger Name Record sell out

Repetitition of attempts

"Previous attempts at this type of data gathering, "Total Information Awareness" and the proposed airline security system CAPPS-II, met with public opposition and were cancelled"

In a perfect world, the politicians should have tried once, noted the public outcry and concluded that the citizens simply DON'T WANT data gathering.

Instead, the politicians think along the line of "well, we didn't get through THIS TIME, so we'll TRY AGAIN a different way".

The fact that the very idea infringes on private life has no bearing whatsoever, of course.

Pascal.

Ex-MI5 agent Shayler claims to be chav messiah

And so it begins

"I believe no planes were involved in 9/11"

And in fifty years, there will be people who won't believe that the Twin Towers ever even existed.

Why is it that there always has to be a group of people that deny every important thing that ever happened in History ?

More importantly : why is it that some people are so adamant at dismissing the Holocaust, refusing the Gulags and now doubting the two planes, and yet these same vocal dissenters are not marching in front of the White House every day to protest the lies told by Bush to the entire world ?

Apparently it is a lot more fun to discredit the truth instead of protesting against political muckiness.

Project Hostile Intent plans 'non-invasive' DHS brainscan

We already have facial recognition technology

Well, technically, yeah, and its reliability is nowhere near what is needed to prevent massive queues or scores of false positives. It's not because it has been trialled somewhere that it is good. Actually, everywhere it has been trialled it has also been taken away due to much too many false positives.

If the government was really intent on airline security, they would make a list of what Israel's El Al does and compare to a list of what we are doing. The day they do that and promise to make the required changes is the day they will actually be serious about security. The rest is just salad dressing.