Posts by Pascal Monett

Large-scale DOS attack menace continues to grow

Check the facts

I have already read that Chinese PCs come with a hacked Windows 98 or XP, and the owners do next to nothing to secure them.

If such lore is true, then it is hardly surprising that China be home to the greatest concentration of malware - it's almost a hacker paradise !

In European countries and in America, there is a large and growing pool of experienced PC users, people that can educate other users about the threats and the solutions. In China they are learning everything at once, and not many are capable of helping - yet.

So I believe that every condition is realised for making China the biggest malware home of the planet.

Pascal.

C of E blasts 'sacrilegious' Sony shoot-'em-up

Visualized without permission ?

Hmm, a rather interesting argument they've got there. I understand the reaction since Sony is selling a game, thus making a profit, and we all know that, historically, all Churches (be it Roman Catholic or CoE version) have roundly and repeatedly condemned any profit not made by themselves.

That, plus the fact that there is no copyright on cathedrals, makes me think that this particular spat has no legs to stand on. I have no love for Sony, far be it, but hey, cathedrals do tend to look a lot alike when you don't have a masters in History or Architecture.

And I do believe there is prior art, here ? Lacking that, there's at least a dozen other versions ?

No, what is clear is that the CoE wants a contribution from Sony in return for turning a benignly blind eye to the blasphemous market. It seems equally clear that Sony can argue that, once upon a time, churches were basically marketplaces, with a booth at the rear for the faithful to pray while trussed chickens were exchanged for hard currency just a few feet away.

This issue is going to be fun to follow, in any case, but it will be solved in a back room and away from the spotlight.

And Sony will contribute. With the feeble amount of goodwill it can benefit from at this time, it cannot afford to raise a ruckus against a religious emissary. Not now in any case.

Pascal.

Priapic litigant sues health drink outfit

Oh come on

A certain Mr. Woods, with a case of priapic engorgement ? This has to be a fabrication. I thought April was long passed though.

Microsoft puts in Stirling work for unified security Nirvana

Yay ! Way to go Microsoft !

Brilliant idea there. Putting everything in the same basket - it really does simplify the life for all those hackers out there that are just begging for a new chance to ridicule you.

And given the stellar performance you have up to now when it comes to securely programming vast amounts of code for complex projects, I fail to see how this can be interpreted in any other manner than "giving your enemy the stick to beat you with".

Oh well, I suppose you have to do SOMETHING to occupy all those millions of admins in the world. And you have top grades in that area, no doubt about it.

Boffin debunks Bush's climate claims

Impossible to believe

Personally I cannot believe a word that that maniac says. Dubya has lied about everything in his life, from his time in the Air Force - studiously staying out of Vietnam and even out of the cockpit he was supposed to be in, to WMDs and so-called ties between Iraq and Al Qeida.

This man is delusional and belongs in an institute under the care of proper medical personnel, not in the position of the leader of the most powerful military force in the world.

Dutch boffins tout green petri-dish synthetic meat

It's all part of the plan . .

. . to prepare for the arrival of our noodly overlords from another planet. Actually, these so-called scientists are hardly of scientific origin, nor are they Dutch. They are bio-reformers from mu Ara b, currently posing as humans via Internet chat rooms - but nobody has ever seen them.

This report heralds the coming of the Fryers, who will throw this artificial product into great vats of boiling oil in order to serve as starters when the Rulers arrive.

Hey, it's as good a reason as any to throw a party, right ?

;-)

Bill Gates nicks Larry Ellison's health center

"The last thing this planet needs is more people"

Well it seems to me that we're already doing a bang-up job in keeping the numbers down - by simply ignoring Darfur, for example (one of many, actually).

Microsoft still just re-Surfacing Windows

Sorry ? Whassat you say ?

"the ability to merge home, office, and vehicle will greatly improve their quality of life"

What workaholic on crack decided it was a Good Thing to "merge" work and home in their vehicle ? That might be a good idea for those who cannot live without their job and work 18 hours a day, but for the rest of us, work is something to be kept as far away from home as possible.

And a car is for driving. You guys with chauffeurs have a different set of problems than we do, but you're the minority.

Leave my home and personal life alone !

Belgian army faces hairy caterpillar horde

Goodness me, flamethrowers in the Ardennes !

They're going to burn the blighters off the trees ? Doesn't that mean that the trees will catch fire ? Or are they in pairs because one has the flamethrower and the other has the water reservoir ? Or are they doing this Vietnam-style, calling in the jets to blanket the area in napalm ? Should we retreat to our basements until the all-clear sounds ?

I think we should be told.

Personal numbers must carry cost warning, says regulator

Gotta love the excuse

"Ofcom would have helped if . . " he had paid the India-based call center instead of sending a memo, and including a board member on top of that. What cheek !

"Officer, help me !"

"Sorry ma'am, you have to dial 911 first".

Yeah, that sounds like a great excuse. Keep up the good work, Ofcom, you're being more appreciated every day.

Spam King arrested in Seattle

Hang him !

No need to waste more time with him then with his spam. I delete the results of his activities in a few seconds, I suggest we should delete him with the same speed.

Brocade and Mercury rain cash on SEC to settle charges

Without admitting guilt ?

Nice try guys, but since you are paying, you're guilty. Because if you were innocent, you would go to court.

And I'll even say you might be innocent of what you are accused of, but by covering up and throwing the blanket over the proceedings, you're just signaling that you are guilty of something, anything, and you know it.

So you prefer to pay before the truth hits the media and we find out just exactly what kind of scumbags you really are.

You're not fooling me.

Google ducks angry authors

I beg your pardon ?

"the wisdom of crowds"

Say what ? Crowds, wisdom, Wikipedia ? Somebody had better tell the kid that Wiki has bombed. Even some of the former founders have declared that Wikipedia will never be totally reliable - unless you're interested in learning Klingon, of course.

As for me, I'll take a library over a snob-edited website any day. In a library, I know that books are organized by someone who spent years learning just what organization is and how it's done, not like that travesty of an encyclopedia where true experts are trounced by losers whose only merit is to have more time to comment on the site.

There is a long way to go before crowds have wisdom, and given the state of American education at this time, I won't be holding my breath waiting for it.

World fails to implode during Gates-Jobs gagfest

Well there's an explanation

It couldn't be technological armageddon, these guys have seen too much water flow between them.

In short,they're old, and getting tired. Gates is no longer the frontpiece for Microsoft, and Jobs is used to being the untouchable god. Lets not ruffle any feathers uselessly, hmmm ?

Epson adds to Stylus series

I'm fed up with these things

I am tired of printers and everything to do with them. I have had a number of Epson printers, none of which have ever lasted more than 18 months - and I don't even print a page every week ! One of them (Stylus 800) broke down the day a page was badly loaded - from that day on it refused to load anything.

I am fed up with printers that cost nothing and don't last, whereas ink costs as much ounce for ounce as the engagement ring I bought for my wife.

I want a printer that is expensive - to the tune of €1200 or more, and that lasts a lifetime. I also want ink that costs €3 a refill.

And while I'm at it, I also want my flying car.

I think my next printer will be laser. I'm done with sodding ink.

MIT eggheads build 'human-robot relationships'

Robots will be useful when

They can do our chores for us. Turning on a light is not a chore, washing the dishes is. We have dishwashers, but we don't have the robot that takes the dirty dishes from the table and puts them in the dishwasher.

I understand the need to build small steps at a time, and this might be one of them, but it has no use in everyday life. It might have a use as a prop in some Hollywood film about a crazy inventor and the tribulations of his life, but what we everyday humans need is an intelligent tool that can vacuum where needed, mow the lawn when necessary, take out the garbage and walk the dog - preferably without needing to be told to do it.

In the mean time, I can handle the lighting myself, thank you very much.

Gov. resists ID card scrutiny

What use are Gateways anyway ?

Given the dismal rate of success of UK Government IT projects, it seems that either the Gateways are not of any use, or they are kept secret so as to deliberately ignore any negative comments.

In either case, public scrutiny would certainly change the process for the better, especially since real bad issues could be pointed out by competent people that are neutral as far as office politics are concerned.

Finally, I don't see why it is a bad thing for the press to have a field day with issues concerning a project. If the project is not good, it doesn't deserve to be put into action. If it is good, there will be nothing to have a field day with.

Seems fair to me.

US cities in Web 2.0 battle against graffiti

US prisons

"in the States the authorities are more willing to hand out bird"

Yes they are, because prisons are run by private organizations who then profit from cheap labor that they can sell. Add to that the pretext of "social reintegration" and you have the perfect business plan - except that you need a ready supply of free arms to put to work.

It's capitalism at its best, or would that rather be its worst ?

Google Maps hits the streets

Catching up ? Nonsense !

Don't be ridiculous, Google is certainly not catching up. Google has just taken the virtual tour to the next level - one where script kiddies will soon have fun devising amusing pranks and getting them displayed for the world to see.

The new vulnerabilities that this tool can spawn will be breathtaking, and the graffiti is going to be awesome.

I, for one, welcome the mayhem this evolution will bring.

;-)

EU defence agency wants open skies for flying robots

Sorry, but what civilian activity can possibly justify UAVs ?

They've lost me there - I really see absolutely no possible legal use for a UAV in civilian activity. A UAV has only one possible civilian use at this time - snooping. I realize that there are some officials that cannot help but dream of legally-backed Tom peeping on the private life of that leggy blond next door, but in truth that is morally wrong and they know it, hence this new excuse. Besides, if the use of UAVs became commonplace, methinks the bad guys wouldn't then have much trouble kitting up one of their own to spy on the goverment. How would one tell the difference ? I suppose they're all black anyway. Are we going to invent a UAV-detector, or will this be the start of anti-UAV UAVs ? A UAV weapons race, is that what we want ? That said, it'll probably happen anyway. Mankind simply cannot avoid a good chance to build something destructive.

Unless UAVs can become parcel carriers, there is simply nothing outside of a police state that can possibly justify these new SkyNet appendages. Ban them from our skies, I say.

Online games turn British man into hero

So he was an amateur ?

Yes what he did was foolish. Yes he paid a rather high price for it. Yes, he should have probably contented himself with just stopping a bit farther down and calling the cops while keeping an eye on the situation.

Yet he did try to help. And he most probably knew that there was a gun involved. I'll be d a m n e d if I call a guy who does his best to do the right thing an idiot.

I couldn't care less that he wasn't a pro, if everyone ALWAYS stood up against crime, whatever the odds, the criminals would soon learn that they simply cannot win.

Yes, it is certainly foolish to throw oneself bare-handed against someone with a firearm, but when nobody does anything you get girls gang-raped in trains packed with people.

This guy reacted against impossible odds, which earns immense respect from me, and he survived, which makes him lucky and earns even more respect. He showed those criminals that they just can't expect everything to go as planned, and more importantly, he showed those criminals that they cannot count on the guards being the only people involved in the heist. That probably unnerved them enough to foil their escape, and that is a good thing.

The sum total is that he did a Good Deed, and one worthy of praise. Yes it was idiotic, foolish, almost certain death was involved, but he tried. It is all the people who never try that make our society dangerous.

So stop with the sheep mentality already !

Creationists open biblical history museum

Hey Danny !

I simply cannot resist pointing out that you studiously ignore Pope Jean-Paul II's words.

Let me re-quote from above : <<Pope John Paul II said, and I quote, "Any other teaching about the origin and make-up of the universe is alien to the intentions of the Bible, which does not wish to teach how heaven was made but how one goes to heaven.">>

So, Danny, any comment ? Or are you simply going to continue ignoring this declaration from your infallible spiritual leader, just like you ignore education and science as a whole ?

Any port in a storm: the display tech battle

Connectors

As a consumer, all I see here is yet another connector specification.

Frankly, I'm fed up with all this hackneyed hot air concerning something that could have been a lot more simple. I understand that technology changes, but given that the basic signals don't, why do I have to be confused by all these different models ?

HDMI, DVI, DPCP, good Heavens people, get your game together !

Let me be clear on one thing : as said above, VGA works fine. And if I want top quality, then RCA jacks are the solution.

The rest is just there for the media industry to lock me down with arbitrary restrictions that have nothing to do with my rights and everything to do with their monopoly. I don't want anything to do with it.

Florida battles rats the size of cats

Why want a pet like that ? Easy.

In a country that has people with pets like crocodiles (or alligators, who cares ?), white tigers, panthers, pythons, tarantulas, you name it, frankly having a rodent as pet seems pretty low-key to me - even if it is cat-sized.

I suspect the New York sewer rats have something to say about size as well. I look forward to the inevitable claims and counter-claims.

:-)

Oz cops cuff Darth Vader on his 30th birthday

"possessing an unregistered firearm"

A thousand pardons, guv'nor, but that should be "possessing an unregistered replica of a fictional weapon that does not yet exist", shouldn't it ?

I mean really, the only way to harm someone with a blaster these days is to bludgeon them over the head with it, right ?

Doesn't that put it in the same category as a . . . baseball bat ?

Never mind, too much sun down there - and the hole in the ozone layer must be widening again.

Attack of the terror casinos, volume 2

What's that again ?

Futarchy ? You mean relying on a bunch of medically-proven stoogie-smoking sickoes to wager on what will be best, and then use THAT as basis for law ?

Does this guy have a Wiki ? Is that where this junk comes from ?

I have another original society model : STFUchy - it's where those who have nothing interesting to say actually keep their mouths shut until they do.

Unfortunately, mine will never be tried. Fortunately, his won't either.

Internet users unfazed by spam: study

"be able to distinguish spam"

Well I do believe it's pretty simple to distinguish spam from a legitimate mail - the only thing you need to do is know how to write.

The spam is the stuff that cannot possibly be grammatically or orthographically correct - not to mention that they use the exact same subject for 100 mails before changing.

Strange spoofing technique evades anti-phishing filters

They can spoof to their heart's content

I will never be taken by such spoofing, for I have a method that is unbeatable as far as security is concerned : I don't use IE, I don't have a Paypal account, and I know that banks NEVER, EVER ask people to log on and input their password with a friendly link.

Personally, if my bank deems there is a problem with my online account, I expect them to block it immediately, and send me a snail mail describing the problem and the steps to go back to a functional state. If my bank doesn't do that, and actually sends me a mail, I'll be on the market for a new bank the next day.

What is it with people who think everything can be solved with a URL ? Can't they pick up a phone from time to time ?

Microsoft too busy to name Linux patents

administrative overhead my eye

Man, if it costs them too much to list their own patents - which, curiously enough, they managed nonetheless to count to very exact number - I would think it is high time that MS devote a bit of money to develop a better patent tracking system.

Seems that developing a new OS that has broken all records in file deletion speeds (in a bad way) really did take the monkey out of MS bank accounts.

Greek cops to paintball rioting fans

Amen to that

Bring in the firepower ! I'd love to see that thing in a clip on YouTube or Joost. And I'd love even more for those thugs that mistake sports for Fight Club to get plastered by paintballs from head to toe.

It's high time somebody cracks down hard on the troublemakers that are making our sporting encounters the equivalent of political summits for police forces. A game of anything should just be a game, with spectators coming to cheer and leaving either happy or disappointed, but in peace.

For sure, accidents are dreadful, but it's easy to keep track of the one or two people hit by police. Does anyone have the stats on the number of "innocent bystanders" molested by the thugs who just want to hit somebody ? Anyone care to think that they might have preferred just going home normally ?

I say cover the rioters in paint and, if they still move, bash them with truncheons until they don't move any more.

It's high time we get our games back.

Microsoft releases security tool for Office 2003

The next step

I'm now eagerly awaiting for the inevitable patch that corrects a vulnerability in the MOICE tool. Either that, or the revelation that a virus has been found in the wild that takes advantage of MOICE crashing to insert itself into the code.

After all, it wouldn't be realistic to suppose that they've managed to program a simple tool without another buffer overflow vulnerability, now would it ?

China will head for the moon this year

Metal forest in the making

Another GPS network in the making ? So the EU is going to try to add one, China will want its own, meaning that India will not suffer to not have one, and Russia just might get into the ball as well. Meaning we're going to have at least 3 different GPS networks, maybe as much as 5, all with incompatible signals and competing frequencies.

Why, oh why does Humanity absolutely have to go and make a mess of everything it does ?

On the other hand, add a few more networks and Global Warming will be a thing of the past. We'll have Global Shading instead. Good thing too, because of all the rocket launches made to put those things up there in the first place, we'll probably add another degree Celsius to the average temperature (not that the average means anything, but hey, I'm not a climatologist).

Cars could run on aluminium, say US boffins

Just a hop away

I love the idea of just hopping over to my neighborhood nuclear plant to recycle my aluminum waste.

I'm sure the ecologists are going to love it too.

Microsoft squares up to Google with $6bn buy

MS has done no good for the industry

Well I don't particularly like MS, but I have to say that such an attitude is not really realistic.

Remember the days in DOS when, to get to a help screen, you had to know that this app expected Shift-?, this other one wanted F8 and this word processor only reacted on Alt-H ?

With Microsoft, we got everyone under F1, and I am rather grateful for that. Microsoft put a fair amount of time and effort in evaluating how many sub-levels a menu could have before the options became useless, on how consistency should be implemented in the UI and on how the colors used had varying significations in varying countries.

Of course, all this good work was in the old days of Windows 3.x and 95. Nowadays MS has forgotten its own documentation on the subjects mentioned.

But even if your grandpa is senile and has Alzheimer's, you don't go blaming him for it, now do you ?

MS was useful in its time. Its time has passed and now it should be put to rest.

Pascal.

Don't let Windows Indexing Service know too much

Count me in

I'm part of the apparently "small minority" that considers that a good Windows in one with a minimum of services. I have always disabled the indexing service on every PC I work on.

Personally, I see no interest in having a search utility when you know where your files are. It's a little thing called organization. There are people that need to look it up.

Schoolboy scammer caught again

Catch me if you can

Seems he missed the plot point of that film : the guy _didn't_ get caught for a loooong while - whereas he got caught pretty quick. Time to change films, slick. Try something more like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Oh, forgot : you've got to be lucky to pull it off. Well, looks like you're actually going to have to work your ass off like the rest of us.

Wikipedia bot-swarm foretells snooker result

I love the fact that . .

you've been mailed by a Wikizealot and told to "update your information". Ah, but I feel a serious case of Reality Conflict coming down here : the article is accurate in its description, therefor it has no need to be updated. And outside of Wikiland, Truth is NOT determined by consensus, but by FACTS.

I understand that that last word does not exist in the Wiktionary, what a pity for the Wikinuts.

Cerf seeks acolytes to carry the ICANN torch

I must have missed something

"Your views and perspectives won't be heard unless you participate"

Seems to me that even some participants have had theirs views and perspectives not heard. It seems that ICANN even has great difficulty in respecting its own internal charter. Finally, it seems to me that the head of ICANN mistakes his position and that of Louis XIV.

Not really an environment I'm begging to work in.

Eighties throwback worm spreads via memory sticks

Whatever the Windows equivalent is

Sorry my learned friend, but you obviously work on an OS with far greater security capabilities than Windows, and you're on top of it too. Windows simply does not have the equivalent functionality. It expects (and often demands) that you be root to do almost anything - including start your browser.

Glastonbury data all at See

We don't want to be known as a spam company

BZZZZZZTT !

Too late buddy, you just blew that chance.

RFID mirror automatically insults your fashion sense

Might actually be useful

Given how badly I see people dressed every day, it might just be a good thing for these walking fashion horrors (some of which certainly follow fashion a bit too closely) to have some guidance in some cases.

I dream of a mirror screaming like a pig when some bloated tub tries on that midriff-baring apple-green tank top and a beige miniskirt. With black, thigh-level cowboy boots.

Come to think of it, I think such equipment should be mandatory for upcoming and on-their-way-out pop stars. Eh, Britney ?

HP faces lawsuit by three News.com reporters

A few measely million is hardly enough

Companies like HP that rake in billions per week need very hefty fines in order to think twice about a given behavior. I think fines should be determined a bit differently for corporate entities. They should be determined in terms of days of revenue.

Snoop on people with unethical methods ? That's ten days of revenue. Make shady deals with underhand payments to impose a monopoly in some country ? That's a hundred days of revenue. Or something.

Take the case of petroleum companies and their supertankers. Catch a supertanker gassing off in open sea and the company gets a fine of . . . several hundred thousand dollars. Heck, it costs them more to stop the boat for a day ! Tell them that an illegal gas-off will cost them a week of revenue and you'll have the supertankers lining up for proper ecological treatment of waste.

We have to go away from the fixed monetary amount - some companies can die, while the behemoths will just write it down in the losses column and move on, changing nothing in their behavoir.

A just system will see each company punished to an amount that will be equally important - little companies will take a hit as severe as big ones compared to their budget, but not more.

Virgin Airlines drops in-flight 9/11 conspiracy movie

Swarming from the woodwork

The conspiracy theorists are out in force, so, just for balance, here's another point of view : http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons

IBM claims self-assembling chip leap

Self-assembling, eh ?

And the next step will obviously be self-programming, followed by self-awareness, and then we'll have a major issue on our hands.

I think I'd prefer lizard overlords to robot ones - robots have no emotions to appeal to.

Pascal.

ClearSpeed finds PCIe floating point booster

And ?

I'll only be interested when it supports raytracing under Quake IV and you can hook up two of 'em in SLI.

Boffins to UK.gov: Don't muck around with science teaching

Always the same

Politicians make a lot of noise (or not so much) about education, but actually teaching people to think would interfere much too strongly with their reelection chances, so it's all talk and as little act as possible.

Dumbing down the whole process is obviously the option reserved for when too many people start realizing just how little is actually done. When that happens, it is time to appear to do something while actually not doing anything constructive, such as help people decide how to forge an opinion based on fact.

It's hopeless anyway, so just order another beer and make sure your taxes are properly paid.

Researchers, spooks favour satnav-based road pricing

Why spoof ?

Seems to me that the good old protector of privacy - tinfoil - is once again the agent of choice. Just wrap that government-issued spy machine in a tender cocoon of tinfoil and your car will never be recorded as moving again.

ISPA to members: play fair on fair use

as long as the small print says

Bollocks ! If I buy a contract saying UNLIMITED, then you'd better not have the gall to limit me or I'll come and discuss the matter with a baseball bat and we'll review the definition of the word "unlimited".

I simply do not comprehend how a Trade Practices organization can possibly fail to react to such a blatant violation of contract. ISPs are not an insurance company, for Heaven's sake !

Even in England there must be a notion that a contract is a binding agreement, and I vaguely remember from my (few) hours of legal studies that a proper contract must be entirely clear for each party, with no hidden clauses, else the contract is void.

Why is there no lawyer to step up and take these jokers to court over such an easily identifiable injustice ?

Peter Gabriel takes sledgehammer to music downloads (again)

I object !

"mainstream casual music consumers" are by no means the least likely to object to ads. I am among the most casual of music consumers : since the RIAA has explained that everybody is a thief, I have no longer listened to any music I do not already have, unless by accident.

Well even so, I absolutely refuse to have what time I have left for music spliced up to leave 10% of it to an ad. For Heaven's sake, I see ads on TV and on billboards all day, hear them on the radio when I tune in to the news, some games are hitching a ride onto the ad bandwagon (without even lowering the price of the games), and now you want to put ads in my music as well ?

When will this stop ? When we get ad space on coffins ?

ENOUGH ALREADY ! Leave the ads to the TV, billboards, magazines and radio, they're encroaching enough as is.

Pascal.

OLPC bumps prices, adds Windows capability

I've got an inkling . . .

"Naked, raw, unashamed capitalism (free market economics) is the only hope left for Africa"

I've got the sinking feeling that naked, raw capitalism is what put Africa where it is in the first place.

Somehow, I can't see Africa getting out of anything as long as us industrialized countries (the ones harboring the multinational monopolies) keep our capitalistic fingers in their pie.