Posts by Ol'Peculier

BOFH: Who us? Sysadmins? Spend time with other departments?

Re: An important role

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

'Nuff said.

BOFH: Selling the boss on a crypto startup

Seems a slight dig at the Reg's style guide now specifying US spelling.

Whatever, it made me snigger.

Everyone back to the office! Why? Because the decision has been made

Without wanting to be pedantic, it's Peculier

</pedantic>

Tropical island paradise ponders tax-free 'Digital Nomad Visa'

Ah, Bali. Basically Magaluf for Ozzies...

Ransomware plows through farm machinery giant AGCO

Well, that's what happens when you start searching for tractor porn...

Do you know what TikTok is? Then you might make a good magistrate, says Ministry of Justice

When I did jury service at Crown Court about 8 years ago, the judge solemnly looked at us all and told us that we must not talk about the case with family or friends, or post about it on MySpace...

Malaysia tweaks copyright law to hit streamers of copyright-infringing content

Just to clarify, I've never tried to take drugs into Malaysia, nor anywhere else for that matter. I've visited a few times, and have friends there, and it's just one of those little cabin announcements that makes me smile.

But going back to the original subject, there's a big street market somewhere in the centre of KL where you can get knock off Rolexes, western football tops, that kind of thing. Right bang centre of this hive of illegal activity is a police station. Go figure...

So what happens if you visit the country with material already loaded onto a tablet or suchlike?

Asking for a friend, obviously...

(it always amuses me that, just as you start your descent into KLIA, they choose to announce possession of illegal drugs carries a mandatory death sentence. Could they not say that before you get on the plane?)

BOFH: What if International Bad Actors designed the vaccine to make us watch more Steven Seagal movies?

And don't blink...

A lightbulb moment comes too late to save a mainframe engineer's blushes

Hotblack Desiato

Hotblack Desiato Will wasn't

He wasn't an estate agent? Well, that comes as a relief...

(and I know DNA asked them first, which I seem to think is even mentioned on their website)

Google's Pixel 6 fingerprint reader is rubbish because of 'enhanced security algorithms'

Re: Hmmm

I've just tried putting mine in Aircraft mode and it unlocked, so it's not phoning home.

I've had a Pixel 6 Pro for just under a week, and have no problems with the fingerprint sensor.

I must admit, I preferred the one on the back of the Pixel 3, but all I do is keep my phone pressed to the screen for a gnats whisker of a second for it to register. Seems to be a lack of patience on the couple of people that have Tweeted about it...

What a clock up: Brit TV-broadband giant Sky fails to pick up weekend's timezone change, fix due by Friday

Re: By the time I noticed it, it was too late to return.

A few years ago I drove US Route 50 from coast to coast, so every now and again we'd pass into a different time zone. What we learnt was to look at the clocks on the big displays outside banks to decide when to change, as some places right next to the time zone may choose which side of the line they wanted to be on.

Was odd driving along and changing the clock on the car in the middle of the afternoon...

Sharing is caring, except when it's your internet connection

Reminds me of a holiday (remember them?) to Sri Lanka about 5 years ago, the Wifi was working at first hotel I stayed at, but there was no on-going connection. So, out of curiosity I logged into the hub - as it was still using the manufacturers default password - reset it and bingo, back up again.

I'd say 3 of the 5 places I stayed at hadn't changed the router password, but it's too nice a country to explore, than spend time trying to explain internet security to the staff on the front desk.

---> because it's Friday and it was surprisingly difficult to find in a couple of smaller towns...

Apple's Safari browser runs the risk of becoming the new Internet Explorer – holding the web back for everyone

Case in point when I was reviewing our sites in Web Vitals was support for .webp - Safari is the only browser that doesn't support it.

Pathetic.

Google Pixel 6, 6 Pro Android 12 smartphone launch marred by shopping cart crashes

Re: Pixel Pha

I had a Pixel 1 and currently use a Pixel 3XL running the Android 12 beta at the moment.

Seems to be coping very well, despite being dropped into a mud volcano once...

Weeks after Red Bee Media's broadcast centre fell over, Channel 4 is still struggling with subtitles

Meanwhile, here in the darkest North, thousands still don't have *any* TV or *not much* radio because of the Bilsdale mast fire...

Heart FM's borkfast show – a fine way to start your day

Re: For those outside the UK

Greatest Hits Radio?

Bought out lots of local radio stations, sacked all the staff, closed the offices down (well, the one just up the road from the office closed last month) and produce the minimum content to satisfy OFCOM about regional programming.

EasyJet flight loadsheet snafu caused by software 'code errors' says UK safety agency

Or "Engines Turn or Passengers Swim"

Macintosh Classic II and triceratops skull on auction: One's a dinosaur, the other has three horns on its face

Many many years ago I worked on a project that needed a good high resolution image of the earth. So, bizarrely, we wrote to NASA and they sent back a load of slides and prints that we could use, FOC: including the untethered spacewalk shot.

Is it a bridge? Is it a ferry? No, it's the Newport Transporter

I've actually got a bit of a soft spot for the place, did two terms of a Computer Science degree up there and the night life, as long as you didn't stray "over the borders" was pretty decent.

I wasn't sure where that was going, but I'd consider it a good option than getting off at the northern side, which - at least when I did it - was a tad depressing, to say the least.

'Extraordinary' pigs step in to protect Schiphol airport from marauding geese

Re: Pigs on the Wing

They are. Ask the ATC that were working in 1977 at Heathrow.

Brits open doors for tech-enabled fraudsters because they 'don't want to seem rude'

All in the game...

I think I must be on some kind of blacklist because I don't seem to get them anymore.

It maybe because I've either tried to keep them on the phone for as long as possible, or alternatively saying things like "I've got a terminal illness, I don't need life cover", "my parents were on the plane shot down over the Ukraine so don't need a phone" or a good one when convinced the caller that I was a police officer investigating my violent death related to stock fraud, and why did this number (allegedly from a stockbroker or something similar that I couldn't get rid of) kept calling me.

McDonald's email blunder broadcasts database creds to comedy competition winners

Re: security.txt

Until reading this I wasn't even aware of "security.txt". Then I checked El' Reg and instantly felt a little bit better.

Neither have most of the sites I subsequently looked at, including that of the site owned by the person grumbling about Maccy D's not having one....

Jack Dorsey's side hustle – payments outfit Square – acquires buy now pay later darling Afterpay for $29bn

Certainly with ClearPay if a customer renegades on their repayments, ClearPay takes the hit, not the retailer. Yes, it all adds up to higher fees but at least it's something not to be concerned about if you're flogging stuff.

(I don't work for them, but am working on adding it to our sites)

The UK is running on empty when it comes to electric vehicle charging points

Well, it was waiting for the tanker, I didn't know how long that would take, and I was on my way to a hospital appointment so couldn't hang about.

Last month as it happens, it was getting a delivery. And I limped on to the next one with 0 miles on my dashboard... Was sure I was going to end up needing to get a jerry can from somewhere.

"The issue is not so much the general lack of charging points as there are more chargers than petrol stations already. It is more about the location, quantity, and maintenance of chargers," he told us.

"Most EVs have more range than most people's daily commute, so most charging will be at home for those people who have off-street parking."

Oh lucky you. What about the millions of us that have no off street parking, let alone dedicated spaces? I live in a small block of flats and am actually the only one with a car, but realistically the only way I'm going to be able to string a cable to it is whilst I'm at work, who are at least considering putting a charger in at some point.

For those that live in the town centre that have to fight for space with tourists, daytime works and the likes, then I really don't see what they can do.

Our Friends Electric: A pair of alternative options for getting around town

Re: The door

I remember hearing stories about people pulling into their garages* and realising they couldn't get out, so I don't think it's apocryphal.

*the building next to houses that used to have cars parked in them overnight, rather than the boxes full of junk and chest freezers that have taken over...

The black screen of BIOS borkage haunts Space Shuttle Discovery's new home

Re: Tech/Geek

From my limited experience, I think the exhibitions on the Mall suffer too much from coach loads of kids trying to do every single one of them in the same afternoon.

I just wish there was a better food option other than a McDonalds at the Udvar Hazy Centre though.

The last time I went they had moved the barriers much nearer to the shuttle, so you could walk under the wings, made it much better.

I've been there three times, and could happily visit more often. I was a bit annoyed once when I asked a tour guide if there was anything about Sir George Cayley there and he said he didn't know who that was (there is a small bit about him on the smaller version on the Mall, FWIW)

There is an observation tower that you can visit that gives great views of planes landing and taking off from Dulles as well.

Bug at payments processor WorldPay swipes £2k+ per ride ticket from Brighton Pier revellers

The question is...

I used WorldPay's payment gateway from 2004 until about 4 years ago and the only question I have is "how?"

Way back when, they were pretty good that as an authorised integrator I got a small % of all transactions through all the sites I built that used them. Maybe this is their way of clawing some of that back?

BOFH: Oh for Pete’s sake. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself

Re: huh

I came here to say exactly the same thing but you beat me to it. Have a pan-galactic Gargle Blaster on me.

British minister claims technology makes maritime cannibalism obsolete

Bet?

Do you think that when he joined the House of Lords, somebody bet him that he'd never be able to shoehorn "R v Dudley and Stephens" into a debate?

Roger Waters tells Facebook CEO to Zuck off after 'huge' song rights request

Re: Plagiarised...

Also known as Roger Waters first solo album...

Money...

Well if he doesn't need the money, can he reduce his concert ticket prices? Cost me a fair bit to see him in Glasgow a couple of years ago as I figured it might be his tour so got a decent seat.

Then he goes and announces an American tour...

$28m scores mystery bidder right to breathe same air as Amazon kingpin Jeff Bezos in Blue Origin flight

I don't think they could get the launcher and capsule to look more like a penis even if they tried...

Orbex is creeping towards orbit from a UK launchpad, but first there are courts, birds, and billionaires to overcome

Best of luck, although you do owe me a new keyboard due to the line ""I got lucky in finding the only billionaire on the planet who doesn't want to build a space rocket!"

Pre-orders open for the Mini PET 40/80, the closest thing to Commodore's classic around

I learnt to type on a PET 2001 that my secondary school had - the decals had rubbed off the keyboard so you had to either know where things were or stab away until you got the desired effect.

Happy times!

Global Fastly outage takes down many on the wibbly web – but El Reg remains standing

Re: implications and questions

Amazon seemed down to me for a short period. That one I don't get, as they happily sell access to their own CDN, so why don't they themselves us it?

Photographer seeks $12m in copyright damages over claims Capcom ripped off her snaps in Resident Evil 4 art

The old excuse:

But it's on the internet - it must be free!*

*not...

Congestion or a Christmas cock-up? A Register reader throws himself under the bus

The solution hit him like a comet from the sky...

AWS Free Tier, where's your spending limit? 'I thought I deleted everything but I have been charged $200'

We use AWS for a few things, and at one point I was running a MSSQL database with them which I've since removed all trace of. On our monthly bill there is still a charge of about $1.50 itemised to this service.

It's such a small amount I can't be arsed to chase it but I wonder how many others are billed the same thing for ghost processes?

43 years and 14 billion miles later, Voyager 1 still crunching data to reveal secrets of the interstellar medium

Progress...

So we can get a signal from a satellite that is 43 years old, and 14 billion miles away, yet I struggled to get Radio 2 on my car stereo when I ventured into the sticks last week.

That's progress for you.

File this next to Mars bars under 'things that should not be deep-fried': Marks & Spencer's Colin the Caterpillar

Hate to say it but they are a bit late to the fryer, there was a chippy with branches on the Yorkshire Coast that did it a week or so ago.

I also noticed a mention of Mars Bars on the menu here as well. Next time I go to that plaice I'll ask how many they've sole-d...

33 'unsustainably loss-making' Dixons Travel outlets set to be shuttered affecting 400 staff

I'd forgotten to bring a powerbank with me, so when I got to Manchester airport I looked into how much I could pick one up from the Dixons shop at the terminal. Oh wow...

Now I know these places have a captive market, but even so...

Google proposes Logica data language for building more manageable SQL code

Maybe it's just me, or it's a bad example, but the sample shown looks far quicker and easier to understand as SQL than Logica?

Sadly, the catastrophic impact with Apophis asteroid isn't going to happen in 2068

we would be able to sit in Los Angeles and read a dinner menu at a restaurant in New York,”

Bloody flat-earthers at it again...