Posts by Morely Dotes 939 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Apr 2007
"The McD coffee was unbeleivably, third-degree burns hot"
You're right, I don't believe it. Boiling water/coffee is 212 degrees F or 100 C. Third-degree burns consist of charred skin and flesh, and would have to be caused by something considerably hotter, in the general neighborhood of 450F or more.
And placing a styrofoam cup of coffee between one's thighs *is* Darwin Award material.
Dont' you have some cards to punch or something?
ISPs are not common carriers, in spite of their repeated attempts in the USA to claim such status when complaints are made to them about abusive customers.
Common carrier status requires extremely difficult paperwork, *and* is heavily regulated by the government (less so than pre-Reagan, of course; wouldn't want to hobble the ability of the common carriers to soak the public, er, turn a "reasonable profit").
ISPs in the USA are protected under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, however (just about the only positive feature of that law) - *until* they start exercising editorial publishing power.
That's the beauty of creating a "Cyberwarfare HQ." Assign the useless drones to CWHQ, and put the *real* cyberwarriors in many distributed locations, such as old missile silos.
I've been to Barksdale, BTW. For anything less massive than a tank, it has all the usefulness of a mango plantation in the Northwest Territories, but without the excellent ground-transportation infrastructure. You can tell when you cross the State line between Mississippi and Louisiana with your eyes closed - the potholes in Louisiana's part of the Interstate Highway System can swallow 60-foot semis.
I am my own web host, genius. So is IBM. So is AT&T. So is Verizon. So is ... well, pick a business, almost any business, with an Internet-savvy CIO.
It's already damned hard to get in contact with anyone who can do something about a zombie server at a large corporation. You want to make it impossible.
This is one of the most idiotic ideas I've ever seen come down the pike.
And one last thing to yet another anonymous coward: SPAM (in all caps) is a trademark owned by Hormel Corporation. You violated International law by posting it without proper attribution. Spam (in mixed or all-lower case) is junk email. Why don't you learn WTF you're posting about?
"This thing must be heavily compressing the HD to get 2 hours on a DVD the max bitrate on a DVD is something like 10Mbit (equating to an hour for single sided DVD)"
You must be thinking of uncompressed data. I routinely record standard-definition DVDs with 6 hours of playable content, plus menus.
"why is it everyone is so afraid of a relatively small number of extremists"
Probably because the extremists we fear are also the ones in the seats of power in Washington, DC, and London.
I fear for my nation's future because I see extremists using religion and (self-generated) terror to dismantle the freedoms guaranteed to American and British citizens, and previously upheld at great cost to our Services.
Southern Baptist, Muslim, CoE... It's all the same to me. And they can all go to Hell. I just wish they'd stop trying to take freedom to Hell with them.
"Why not just install Vista you could even use J# then"
No, you couldn't. Vista doesn't work reliably even now on the Dell "high-end" desktop my employer forced me to accept. I still use XP on an allegedly less-powerful machine to get my job done (and Linux to do anything important).
Well, let me correct that. You could probably use the J# CD as a beer coaster. Vista, OTOH, is as useful as teats on a Triumph.
Only a fool uses C# or J# or any other Microsoft-only development platform; the handwriting is on the wall. If you can't see it, pull your head out of Steve Ballmer's arse and look around.
"Method and Device for Preventing Competition From and Innovation by Marketplace Peers"
Describes a method for compiling a warchest of "software patents" and deploying them as ammunition in lawsuits against technological competitors.
Seriously, wasn't the patent system intended to *encourage* innovation?
It's time to bring back drawing and quartering for whichever moron or morons decided to permit patents of software.
"The push is behind plans, given the green light by the BBC Trust this month, to serve advertising to international users of its web content. That move alone is predicted to bring in £70m per year."
Clearly these people have never heard of the hosts file. Thanks to hosts, I surf without the likes of Doubleclick (and a vast swathe of other Internet parasites) ever invading my systems.
"3 probably averts the catastrophe of becoming commoditised, where it might simply be the nameless pipe provider"
"3" is not a name, it is a number. Ask Number 9 about that, if you can get onto the island (and back off it again).
Thus it is demonstrated that 3 is already a nameless pipe provider.
"how do you think the US took down the relatively modern well designed Serbian Air Defence System when they bombed the Chinese Embassy back in the days of the Clinton Administration"
I don't recall that bombing, but anyone can tell you how to take out an AAD system: destroy the radar. And how do you destroy the radar? You fire a conventional missile that seeks out and explodes on the radar dish. It doesn't even need an especially large conventional warhead to do that.
Duh.
For reference, see the AGM-88 HARM (high-speed antiradiation missile) http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/agm-88.htm
HP could have saved themselves some trouble (and money) if they simply offered their hardware with no software pre-installed whatsoever. Of course, then they'd lose out on the kickbacks they get from the inferior software publishers, who pay PC OEMs to pre-install crapware.
'"We contracted with a company to come up with a very cool, cutting-edge name that really reflects what we're trying to do - which is mobilize the internet," said Gude'
Well, then they have failed to convey that message. What they *have* conveyed is that XOHM is meaningless, promises nothing, has no content, and no value.
Good job, that.
"Other witnesses criticised eBay for not co-operating with retail investigators as they do with police."
Bugger retail investigators. The police have the force of law behind them, and follow specific procedures which, should they deviate, may subject the investigator to legal consequences of their own.
"Retail investigators" are unregulated cowboys out to make a name for themselves with their employers; they have no oversight by law enforcement, no consequences for violating the privacy and other rights of their "suspects," and no motivation to restrain themselves from abusing their position.
eBay is correct to refuse cooperation with retail investigators, both morally (as explained above) and legally, as eBay might suffer the consequences of revealing their customers' information to an unauthorized third party.
The entire software-patent idiocy will lead to a single vendor for each type of product (operating system, file system, email client, etc.) in the end, if the concept of software patents is not throw into the cesspool with the rest of the stupid ideas of the past.
I give it no more than a decade before we have either no software patents, or a government-mandated monopoly for each product type in each nation. The latter will, of course, lead to a situation in which Microsoft Windows US Edition cannot be installed in Japan under penalty of law, and it will be illegal to send email from Brazil to France, for instance.
"In case you missed it, Nobel prize winner James Watson recently got himself into a bit of trouble after claiming that black people are less intelligent than white people."
Abaolutely false! What he said was that African and Caucasian intelligences are *different*.
People who print the trash like the quotation above are demonstrating that *their* intelligence is somewhat inferior to that of, say, a Yorkshire Terrier. As proof of this, I charge you to cite even one instance in which a Yorkie printed a very clear and obvious misquote of a renowned scientist.
'Petaluma police Lt. John Edwards said "he could not discuss Shaun's case", but disputed Rude's accuracy claim. He countered: "GPS works on satellite signals, so you have a delay of some type. Is it a couple-second delay? A 30-second delay?".
A thirty-second delay would indicate a satellite at a distance of roughly 4,464,000 km from the car in question. The Moon orbits Earth at a distance of 372,000 km, corresponding to a signal lag of 2.5 seconds.
GPS satellites are in low Earth orbit ("LEO"), well under 1,000 km altitude. The signal delay - which is how GPS works, by comparing signal delay among 2 or more satellites - could never be more than 3 one-thousandths of a second. that's 0.003 seconds.
Thus, this police lieutenant demonstrates that he has absolutely no grasp of how GPS - and, by extension, Radar - works. Furthermore, he doesn't know how distant the Moon is, nor does he appear to be qualified to supervise people who use Radar speed guns - or GPS tracking units. His best option would have been to keep shtum and not reveal his abysmal ignorance, but he seems to be too stupid to do even that.
I'm sure NASA and European Space Agency *wish* they could put a cloud of satellites around Earth at a distance of 4 million km. Fact is, they can't, not without bankrupting the entire Western world.
Facebook is as necessary to human life as space shuttles are to giant squid.
Frankly, the purpose of "scoial networking" sites has been obvious to me since ICQ was new. Anyone who is so thick that they don't know that "Web 2.0" is about selling *you* as a product to advertisers... Well, they shouldn't be allowed out of the Home without adult supervision.
So, to sumamrize: MS buys Facebook; who f-ing cares?
"You like a fast Internet connection for downloading MP3s of music you have no intention of purchasing."
Bugger you, asswipe. Bugger you with a hedgehog on a stick.
I have a 15 Mbps connection that I use to RUN MY BUSINESS - a web hosting and email business.
I oppose the morons who want to put an end to P2P, because P2P is the best way to distribute *legally free* software, such as Ubuntu. It's also a convenient wayt to distribute software updates, such as the Blizzard downloader for World of Warcraft patches.
My business exists *soley* because I am able to get a reasonably-priced, stable, fast fiber-optic Internet connection. You and the rest of the RIAA's paid Luddites would put me out of business simply to make it easier for you to scrape in huge windfall profits from the crap you pretend is music.
I purchased a small computer part on 20 September. With shipping, the amount was about US$13. I paid by bank money order and the seller marked it "paid" on 22 September.
I have not received the item. The seller claims it was "shipped and returned." eBay has not addressed the dispute which I opened on 22 October.
If I have not received satisfaction by 22 November, I shall file a claim against the money order (with the bank) for fraud, and report eBay to the State Attorney General for conspiracy to commit postal fraud. they can out the seller, or not; I don't care.
It is illegal under Washington law to "induce a computer user to download software by falsely claiming the software is necessary for security purposes," according to Senior Counsel Paula Selis of the Washington State Attorney General's office.
As a general rule, automatic updates are configured to download *only* patches required for security, or to correct known functional flaws.
It would be interesting to ask Microsoft which way they decided to categorize the two "forced" installations. I fail to see how Desktop Search - or, for that matter, Windows Genuine Advantage - can be classified as security enhancements.
"I'm not sure they can do that any longer without facing an armed revolt."
I doubt that wooden pitchforks and rakes would make for a very long revolt against even the relatively poor-quality tanks, AK-47s, and machine guns fielded by the Communist forces against the Chinese citizens already.
Or has the world forgotten 3-4 June, 1989?
http://www.bearpit.net/lofiversion/index.php/t655.html
First, Anonymous Coward: The IP you gave is only one of many.
Now, how to protect your network:
deny from 81.95.144.0/22
This will cover only the IP block discussed, however. You need to block all of AS41173, so include:
deny from 81.95.156.0/22
This should be done at the BGP level if at all possible. Otherwise, implement it at the highest level firewall under your control.
For more information, see http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/evidence.lasso?rokso_id=ROK7465
"by default, Internet Explorer blocks ActiveX controls."
I think you mean that IE 7 blocks ActiveX controls by default. Earlier version of IE will merrily execute this carefully-designed core flaw in the Microsoft virus-farm stable.
Yet another reason that IE should be unbundeld from the OS - by force of law, if that's what it takes.
I doubt that I'll ever play the game, but if the Nanny State wants to keep me from having it, I damn well *WILL* go buy it now.
I didn't spend 23 years in the Army (11 of them in the Mech Infantry) to be told that I am not permitted to view gore and violence.
Bugger the censors (preferably with a hedgehog on a stick)!
and if it has scenes of Paris Hilton nude, I definitely won't play it. But I will DAMN sure own a copy!
You can remove Media Player and Messenger from the list of programs accessible to the user. You can *NOT* actually uninstall them. The "Add or Remove Programs" will tell you that you have done so, but it's telling you a porky. The applications are still on the hard drive, still accessible to malware, and still integrated into the (poor excuse for an) OS.
And in Vista it's even worse.
"An IFrame contained in the tainted ads pointed to malicious code hosted on a server located in the Netherlands that has a history of attacking honeypot machines maintained by Symantec."
A glaringly obvious question: Why have the legal authorities in the Netherlands not arrested that server's operator?
Oh, wait, it's neither the UK nor the US, and he's not providing links to copyrighted shite, so the plods can't be buggered to get off their arses, can they?
'the government now appears to be keen to revise a draft law which has led politician Francesco Caruso to remark: "This is Italy, not Burma."'
Ah, good, that's sorted, then. In Italy, the law will be enforced haphazardly and with Keystone Kops levels of competence, while in Burma, the law is enforced ruthlessly and competently.
Surely that is what Francesco meant to say, i it not?
"Come on Reg, you can do better than broadcasting blatant lies, you guys are supposed to be on OUR side, not theirs!"
El Reg is on the side of whoever pays for advertising. Last I looked, that wasn't the consumer.
Trust no one. Particularly do not trust those who pretend to be your friends, but take money from yoru enemies.
"SCMDM will offer capabilities such as locking or disabling handsets which have been reported stolen, wiping data, and controlling functions such as the camera, or the ability for users to install their own applications."
Let's see, what features there will interest Verizon, or Orange?
Locking handsets. Disabling the installation of users' apps which they didn't buy from the Telco.
And possibly activating the camera remotely to produce "evidence" of terrorist activities, should the customer be stupid enough to resist the orders issued by the Telco.
I've been having weird DNS issues trying to access UK Web sites all day - first the Beeb, then El Reg, and now TV-LINKS.co.uk turns up missing:
10/19/07 16:46:48 dns tv-links.co.uk
No data of requested type
(Host doesn't exist - try Dig for MX record)
Has the Department of Homeland Supremacy decided that you blokes can't be trusted, or is the .uk top-level DNS server losing its marbles?
This is why anyone operating an Internet forum should have it hosted outside their own country, if they expect any controversial topics to be discussed.
For example, at Castle-Anthrax.us, I could simply tell a UK judge to go bugger himself if he demanded the real names of my users, but it would be much harder (and more expensive) to ignore an order from a US court.
There is nothing that compels you to use a server located in the UK if you are using a .uk domain.
"How long does an IE user have to wait for a fix?"
Assuming the flaw is addressed at all, it will be exploited the day after Patch Tuesday, and not fixed until the following month's Patch Tuesday.
Or it may just never be fixed, like so many long-standing IE flaws. Google for "unpatched IE flaw" and you'll get almost 41,000 hits. substitute "firefox" for "IE" and add "-IE" and you'll get 5,800. "unpatched opera flaw -IE" gets you 6,420 hits.
Some really basic and deceptive statistical analysis thus shows that Internet Explorer is 700% more dangerous than Firefox and 638% more dangerous than Opera.
And running at least the US and UK.
However... "Terrorists, said Frattini, seek new technology, could deploy bioterrorism with devastating effect, "
Aside from the fractured English there (is the writer really Welsh, and named Gumby?), all the terrorists need do is order a load of chicken from the St. Hubert restaurant chain in Quebec. That stuff is boring to the point of deadly. A bout of salmonella might add some interest to it.
The entire debacle was caused by human error. The solution is to simply eliminate the humans from the control system (and knowing the level of management skill of our DHS oligarchs, this will be implemented as "eliminate the humans," with consequences involving the inevitable end of Mankind).
I, for one, welcome the arrival or our robotic overlords...
Snipers use rifle scopes, as a rule. So your sniper is using a 10-power scope to try to pick off the laer operator from, say, 1000 meters - and gets a kilowatt in the face, concentrated into an even tighter-than-usual beam by his scope.
Even a very small hole drilled completely through the head is going to be a problem...
"just wish other pubic bodies followed suit"
Funniest typo all week!
There are a number of places on the Internet where Joe Public can buy LED lighting for the home. The initial high cost of the "bulbs" is offset by much lower energy costs, and much longer bulb life; but it means I can't change over every bulb in my home at one time. I still have 2 to 4 incandescents someplace in the house, and everything else is either flourescent tubes or compact flourescents, so over time I can replace them with LEDs, but since they last so much longer than incandescents (and also cost as much as LEDs), I fear it will be several years before everything is LED.
Also, in the 12 miles between work and home, almost all of the green traffic signals have been converted to LEDs. I would say that about one-third of them are faulty, in that portions of the light are dark, or flicker. This does not inspire confidence in the manufacturer, but at least the light still works even when it's partly faulty, unlike the 100-watt incandescents they have replaced.
'We've asked Fasthosts why the passwords were not encrypted in the first place. It said: "Historically, Internet companies have rarely encrypted passwords to aid customer service."'
I've been using the Internet since 1992. I have *NEVER* before encountered an ISP that did NOT encrypt passwords. In fact, anyone installing a Linux-based server (or, in fact, even a Windows-based server, oxymoronic though that seems) would find that passwords are encrypted *BY DEFAULT* and that it takes a significant amount of effort to disable that encryption.
My advice, as a professional consultant, would be for any remaining Fasthosts customers to run for the nearest exit - terminate all business connections with this apparently incompetent ISP, destroy any data you may have hosted on their servers, and move to a *real* ISP.
"most of the alt.binaries groups really only have an illegitimate purpose."
OReally? So I suppose the various governments of the world should lock up everyone employed in manufacturing or transporting explosives, firearms, armored fighting vehicles, military aircraft, kitchen knives, flammable liquids (like kerosene, petrol, and aviation fuel), volatile solvents, rat poison, nitrogen fertilizer, plastics, cell phones, radio transmitters and receivers, copper wire, wet- and dry-cell batteries, and every other trapping of civilisation.
This may come as a shock to you, StinkyFinger, but legitimate purposes for various and sundry things are *not* limited to what your subcretinous alleged intelligence can imagine.
In other words, the fact that you're too stupid to think of a legitimate purpose does not prevent that purpose from springing into existence - as they all have, most of them before you were old enough to soil your nappies.
Now go back and report to your owners at the RIAA that you have failed, once again, to make thinking people stop thinking.
Here at $DAY_JOB we routinely use tapes for 2 years or more; replacing them "every few months" only happens if "few" is "more than 24."
On the other hand, I'd be pleased to use an ejectable hard disk instead. The problem is that hard drives are considerably more sensitive to physical shock and temperature/humidity changes than tapes, and for security it is absolutely vital that last night's backup goes off-site to the vault (in another city, in fact). That way, in the event of a disaster which destroys our file servers, the backups won't be involved in the same disaster (if it's bad enough to destroy our servers *and* the vault that's some 50 miles down the road, we're not likely to be worried about restoring the data until a new civilization has evolved).
And the price of the drive is unconscionably high. I remember the old Mac floppy drives with a motorized ejection mechanism; they were a bit pricey, but nothing like $1400 per drive, even allowing for inflation.
So, IMHO, this system is for the well-heeled geek to use for a home backup system - NOT a professional data-housing operation.
"The firm apologised and says its fix means the same disaster cannot happen again."
I'm sure that FH customers will be ecstatic to know that FH will be bringing them *new* disasters, rather than simply recycling the old ones.
This is a perfect example of why I run my own servers.
Trust no one. Keep your laser handy. The Computer is your friend.
I've no idea what "Freeview" means, but I do know that the only things I watch on broadcast TV are news items.
If it's not good enough to make it onto DVD, it's not worth putting on my screen.
A live broadcast of Paris Hilton getting caned in Singapore might be an exception, but that would probably be made available as streaming MPEG4 over the Internet anyhow.
"A more effective way would be to stop selling weapons and military equipment to China."
You are, of course, aware that China manufactures their own weapons (the Chinese knock-off of the AK-47 is still in production) and military equipment.
And one wonders what Nike, Goggle, Yahoo, or any other company could "loose" in China. Perhaps they might loosen up the Ultimate Nanny State's stranglehold on public morality?
Personally, with all of the recent news about dangerous products made in China, I've been boycotting Chinese products as much as practical out of sheer self-preservation instinct. I don't find that a government that openly oppresses its people is any more abhorrent than a government that pretends to be a democracy but oppresses its people through the use of surreptitious violations of the established rights of those people, and the US and UK both are guilty of that.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
