Posts by Snafu 2

Tickle my balls, stroke my button and blow the fluff from my crack

I find a nail file with a hooky end (for cleaning under fingernails) perfect for this job

Mooreslaw: Chopping up chips for the future

Re: Guy Kewney

Oh I wasn't bemoaning the lack of ancedotes, simply the lack of a mention alongside JS

"[...] challenging times for business IT journalists, precious few of whom had any computing qualifications but all happened to be in their early 20s - with the exception of The Guardian’s legendary Jack Schofield, who has been in his late 50s for the last 30 years."

Has Guy Kewney been forgotton already?

RIP Guy

Dubai splurges on 700hp, 217mph Lamborghini police cruiser

Re: Shame it has roofmount lights, spoils the lines.

Heh! My first thought :)

The Interceptor's a muscle car. Good durability, fine for reasonable (!) speed in a straight line

The latest gen of Lambos are still speed-orientated & more flimsy, but they also have 4WD (I haven't checked this particular model) & a heck of a lot more accel

Also the MM Interceptor had a manually operated supercharger. I'm fairly sure (from memory) that at least some Lambo's have this accoutrement, & if so it would be electronically controlled. So more precise useage = better power delivery = better chance of catching perps (& not being killed in the process, or at least not through raw speed itself)

Re: 911

AFAICR if they're factory tuned it's for endurance, not speed. When you take into account the amount of kit a 'standard' British cop car has to carry - deployable hazard warning signs, extra radio gear + batteries, etc, etc - it's not surprising the suspension may look 'lowered'

Maybe in the 'old' days (pre-1985 or so) there were special 'interceptor' units that were factory-tuned, but now there's just what we're given, plus garage mech knowhow

There /are/ special 'interceptor' patrol units around the UK, but their cars aren't any different from the factory models (above adjustments notwithstanding)

El Reg goes Top Gear! Hmm...

However, the idea has some merit. Dubai, therefore little rain & long straight roads (mostly - the Lambo's not expected to go anywhere else shirley) plus a driver (excessiive) speed problem on the aforementioned roads

NP with fuel allowance, but what do they do with perps once they've been pulled over? Wait a couple of hours while the local equivalent of paddy-wagon arrives, or shoot/chop their hands off on the spot? Unkless they're princes of course (the most likely perps), in which case they may get a stiff talking-to

LOHAN must suck juice while mounted on rigid rod - but HOW?

Not sure of the details, but surely the titanium rod can be used as a conductor?

Bioshock Infinite, Devil May Cry, SimCity

Re: I miss space combat.

There's also Egosoft's latest; only online download unfortunately, but X lives on!

Amazon accused of remotely wiping punter's Kindle

The linked post in Corey's blog has now been updated to say that apparently the Kindle was already broken

Now pay attention, 007: James Bond's Q re-booted

Re: "Old Q"

Not only that, but the Major was 'the Armourer' who insisted on the change from the Beretta to the Walther; Q came along shortly afterwards, & dealt with the gadgets, not just the guns

Bruce Willis didn't Buy Hard: His girls can't inherit his iTunes

Re: Apple Schmapple

"What Apple got right, was the UI on the iPod - beyond that I cant give them any credit, since the software required on your PC is attrocious."

To be fair, a PC is/was designed to do a lot of things, sometimes simultaneously. An Ipod is/was designed to do only 1 thing: play media. Obviously the UI (& underlying OS) will have some differences

I don't disagree with your general point though: Itunes is terrible in UI, OS interface & general usability for those not using it on a mobile device (ie synching it with a server or similar). I hope it dies an ugly but quick death (painful would be an add-on option, payable for $ at your locall Appstore(TM))

Samsung: We can't find any child labour at our Chinese contractor

Re: Vote with your wallet

You'll be hard-pressed to find almost any 'western' electronic device not using some chinese part. Fridge, TV (of course), batttery charger for your mobile.. oops, mobile itself.. etc etc

Re: Let's be clear.

Umm.. more like 'We've ignored the evidece of.. just like everyone else in our busiiness (& others)'

..except of course for the evidence that doesn't even get to the witchunters (oops, evidence-finders) due to the large wads of cash appearing in assorted ways in the evidence-finders' pockets.. or EFs going 'missing' or arrested

Firefox, Opera allow crooks to hide an entire phish site in a link

A couple of points ( apologies for not reading all comments so far)

>It negates the need to find somewhere to secrete your malicious page, and once shortened using a >service such as TinyURL, the URI can be reduced to a small URL perfect for passing around social >networks, online chats and email. Crooks would still need to set up a server to receive data from victims, however.

Does this affect TinyURL's 'Preview link' option? If so, it sounds like a genuine worry; if not, the 'preview' has ben available for a number of years, so les of a worry unless someone has come up with a genuinely new attack vector

>Google’s Chrome browser blocks redirection to data URIs, and other browsers have limits on the volume >of data that can be packed into URIs. Klevjer created a 26KB attack page that failed to load in Internet >Explorer, but worked on both Firefox and Opera.

WHICH VERSION(s)? El Reg should know better than to post a story like this without giving at least some essential details in the main blurb

Caveat: I've played with some code (including HTML) 15 or so years ago but I am not in any way a programmer, developer or web designer; those jobs I pass to someone who can do them properly (or at all)

Watchdog probes rules for naughty mobe fondling on flights

Re: The real reason

'...you know where to put the cork!'

US deploys robot submarine armada against Iranian mines

Re: So scared

If they are mine dropping, that's a lot less to laugh about. They _can_ effectivley close off this channel, which means huge consequenses for international shipping..

Damn! Can't find the edit button: should read 'Team America - World Police Yaayy!!"

Hmm..

[need a 'quote' mechanism in the comments!]

"By Iain Thomson in San Francisco

Posted in Hardware, 14th July 2012 00:29 GMT

"The US is deploying a fleet of robotic submarine mine clearers to the Middle East to counter threats by Iran that it will close off the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil supplies travel."

OK

The Sea Fox submersibles, [...] units are 1.3 meters long and weigh about 43kg, with an operating depth of 300 meters.[blah] The Sea Fox goes after mines in a kamikaze mission

"One downside of the Sea Fox is that the destruction of target mines also destroys the submersible, and at around $100,000 a unit it's an expensive way to clear obstacles. While this is not as expensive as seeing a warship or supertanker holed and sunk, with Iran claiming it has thousands of mines ready to deploy the final bill for any conflict could be high."

So there's a potential x000 X x000 cash escalation (notwithstanding manufacturing times & testing, remote detonation (underwater or surface) for the failed drones/devices in case of that 0.0001% chance of the failed drone picking up on (say) a fishing ship hull, etc..IIRC this is one of the most heavily-trafficed waterways, along with the Panama Canal & the English Channel, in the world

"The US has refitted one of their older warships, USS Ponce, to act as an Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) for the Sea Fox fleet and it has joined eight minesweepers and a fleet of MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters in the Gulf. The US now has several carrier groups in the region and dispatched a squadron of F-22 stealth fighters there in April."

Team America - Yay!!

"Closing the Strait of Hormuz is such an easy job for the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces," he said. "It's actually a basic capability of the navy." ®

MRDA

Lewis, if you're not busy writing a 'go-go' article to accompany this, as many of your detractors are likeky to suspect, I'd really appreciate some sort of balanced 'you can all f-off' response to this drivel

Door creaks and girl farts: computing in the real world

Re: Some plusses:

Plus only a few USB sticks come with read-only switches..

William Shatner confirms Devon town actually prostitute free

Sorry (started posting 0042 BST) I know I'm gonna be downvoted for this

I wacthed all of this episode in the XT format (so an extra 10-15 mins) & I foud Bill's performance execrable :( Ham acting, yes; self-parody, yes; but he came across as drunk (poss true - dunno) and/or stoned to me :(

I've seen him before in other shows & his performance was excellent, with just the right touches of above to make it work. For me this above shows his timing is going.. not generally a serious problem with (known) actors but very serious when combined with self-parody & comedy :(

If he's stil as good as I hope he is he should let up on the

serious

or

not

so serious

pauses a

bit - he's overdoing them more than necessary for self-parody

Humph (Humphrey Lyttelton) worked this very well in ISIHAC due to his obvious age (including frequently 'falling asleep'), but it doesn't work so well on TV or nowadays even on radio :(

(Forget the materiel; that's mostly provided by scriptwriters & autocue anyway, another thing I may vent my splen* upon later)

*splen - a much maligned version of spleen. It isn't used much nowadays due to the invention of spelling checkers. Due to this it tends to be much nastier, as it's fighting for survival!

Apple desperate to prevent nightmare scenario of iPad in Iranian hands

Re: An old saying

I think that's the wrong way around..

Vatican subtly shifts its position on The Blues Brothers

Re: Brilliant film

Not Rocky Horror or Tommy (although I'm not sure the later qualifies as 'musical' - billed as 'rock opera')? There's one other I can remember but can't bring the name to mind..

Anyway, I'd put BB at the top of my list for 'Most re-watched film' anytime..

Machine translation cracks 18th century occult cipher

It's not difficult. A cypher transforms by means of substitution (at its most basic level); a code OTOH transforms by means of a key. Without the key a code is .. ahem.. indecipherable

'AHLIdN' may transform to 'London' by means of a cypher, & this is crackable by brute force &/or mathematcs; however 'AHLIdN' may transform to 'Send the bread rolls on Tuesday' or 'Harden the bomb shelters - we're going to attack in June' depending upon the code key used.. & is therefore uncrackable by the same methods.

Obviously repetitions of similar messages or concepts will give an insight into the coded message (cf enigma et al at Bletchley, although strictly speaking that too was a cypher), but without the key the absolute text remains unclear

I suppose you could call all slang a code of sorts: 'I'm just going up these apples' doesn't have any connotation of what the principal is actually doing, but most Londoners would recognise Cockney Rhyming Slang for what it is & what it describes..

Typo-squatting domains can harvest corporate emails

>This has been an issue since 1988 or earlier. I

Try 1944 or earlier - it's the method used to break Enigma & similar

>it also demonstrates that the extra text stuffed into every corporate email message admonishing recipients that if they weren't the intended recipient they have to report the receipt and delete the message... are a waste of time.

Yup - on both sides, in many different ways. But I won't open that can of worms (hah!) here, just acknowledge that it exists..

Bond 23 back on track for 2012

blah

"Paris - might be able to play the bad girl?"

Nah - she can't do an English accent

Brave new Boris-bikers banjaxed by broken boxes

O1

[quote] Best thing London can do is write-off everything Serco has done for them, and contract a firm which prioritizes their clients, and not their bottom-lines.[/quote]

ROFL! Not only is this the UK, but this is /London!/ Haven't you heard of real life?

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

O1

Try the X-series of games, by Egosoft

Judge Dredd returns to the silver screen

S'right

<pops beercan>

Phone bugging scandal reignited as NotW suspends reporter

Letters or digits

Graun & El Reg are not the only ones; Private Eye has been sporadically reporting this (& other questions) for several years now

Ten free apps to install on every new PC

Wrong.

Foxit

The latest version of Foxit is 3.21

Fat cat fanbois' obscene dream bling

Battery

What do you do when the battery no longer holds its charge on your £1.93M Jesusphone?

Guy Kewney dies at 63

A good friend and an excellent journalist will be sorely missed

RIP Guy

:((

BT could face criminal case over Phorm trials

a title is required

"Criminal investigations are solely a matter for the CPS and OFT, and Government is strictly forbidden from interfering in the judicial process. The Government can neither initiate nor suspend such investigations. "

HA! Bet that came as a shock to BAe then, didn't it? (NOT)

NASA's Spirit rover stuck for good

wrhyrwthwhj

How would it be harder - no wate (or other freezable vapour), remember?

Labour MP experiences nasty video shock horror

Ok, I'll make up a title. How about 'Gone with the Wind'? What? Is that gone? OK, Te

So what 'sports' videos do you think would only be available in sex shops? Perhaps some ManU vs Milwall game where one of the closeups clearly shows (to someone who can lipread) a player swearing? Or a full-contact Asian fighting match where anything up to (and possibly including) death may be shown (cf Enter the Dragon, Steven Seagal et al)? Or something in between?

Similar thoughts apply to music & their accompanying videos. 'Gangsta' culture & their lyrics STM to apply to everything from the late 80s, with a proportionate increase in violent crime rate - 'dangerous' dogs*, knife crime, gun crime, gang culture are all on the rise in the cities & to an extent in rural areas as well

No I don't have an answer, but I /suspect/ (/not/ believe) that in this case the BBFC is a correct move

*There are no dangerous dogs, just dangerous owners. Potential owners of a fighting dog breed should check the parents of the puppy with extreme care - puppy farms exist so you can 'look hard'.

Fighting dog ownres should have their heads examined (or preferably crushed); the breeders who sold those dogs to them sh&$£&$&

<NO CONNECTION>

Supersonic stealth jumpjet in first hover-system flight test

Why do I need another title? I'm an Earl, donchaknow!

> I'm impressed that if it's got significant forward speed,

It won't have

> that the lid didn't get wrenched off as it got exposde to the airflow.

& this is one of the significant tactical disadvantages. The Harrier has the ability to significantly change vector in midflight /at almost any speed/, thus adding considerably to its combat advantages (vis. Falklands). This thing, whilst (maybe) able to do VTOL/VSTOL won't be able to make use of that capability in combat except in very limited circumstances - thus less useful (don't think simply dogfights, also missile & other groundfire avoidance)

A Deadlock Holiday

why a title?

No, just tartan

BOFH: Made of win

Who said anything about sharing?

Boss on podium, PFY & BOFH in (free) bar - what could be better?

UK jails schizophrenic for refusal to decrypt files

@ventilator 23:40 That's fine but..

it's the police's job to /arrest/; it's the court's job to /prove/

Thus the police's job will naturally result in <an amount> of failures WRT convictions

In no way am I condoning the police's behaviour in this, but remember that it is their job to detain (arrest) someone who has broken <the arresting officer's interpretation off> the law in this country

IMV the bile in this session of comments should be more readily directed at the judge or the person who directed the doctors to put the poor chap in a) gaol folowed by b) mental home, for something he was only /suspected/ of doing

WRT your mention of PACE & its contradiction in RIPA: well put; although I can't think of an example OTTOMH I expect one exists (or will do soon) :(

A slight correction..

Anonymous Coward

@No Problem → #

Posted Tuesday 24th November 2009 13:21 GMT

"He had traces of an explosive on him (nearly double what is normally discounted)"

So did the Birmingham Six,

Umm.. no - the Birmingham Six (& IIRC the Guildford Four, along with others) were convicted on forensic evidence that was subsequently found to be bad science - check your Private Eye back issues

[...]

He has a right to privacy and to not self incriminate,

Umm... not any longer, under the RIPA & slightly earlier Acts (unfortunately IMO)

You protest an awful lot, citizen, and you hide behind the AC name, it appears that you wish us to look at him and not at you. I strongly suspect your laptop contains evidence of your crime, and well, you sound very very interested in the issue.

PAPERS CITIZEN! GIVE ME THEM NOW!

<wry grin>

Hard drives cop flak from .50 cal incendiary round

There must be a message here or I wouldn't have wasted my time typing this.. oh!

Are you a scrriptwriter for Mythbusters?

The Twitter storm that saved freedom of speech

@Jimmy 1

"Please vote for your local Raving Loony candidate. Honestly, you won't be able to tell the difference."

Of course you will! An MRL MP would have far more integrity, honesty & self-affacement than the shower we're having to put up with ATM! :(