Posts by Uncle Siggy

Japan's unwanted IT workers dumped in 'forcing-out rooms'

Re: Think Sony has dropped content management.

> Sadly I have to "manage" a technophobe friend's iPod and end up swearing at

> iTunes every time !

That's a worse fate than being sequestered in a forced-out room.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile does this kind of thing to it's customers, except they call the forced-out room a "coverage area".

Re: Wow they are lucky

Sooo...

Is it safe to say that a BSC is a pink slip for unmotivated employees?

I seek new employment within minutes after my boss's beheading here in the US. Only bigger hint that I may not fit is when the next project doesn't have a name.

Davros liable to criticism for huge STRAW DALEK he never built

In a possibly related story, archaeologists have identified The Teletubbies enigmatic vacuum, Noo-noo, as a pre/posthistoric progenitor of the Daleks in an alternate time/space dimension. If you listen carefully to the sucking noises the automaton makes, one can hear the discreet whisper of INGURGITATE, INGURGITATE!

Torvalds frustrated at missing simultaneous release

Re: @JDX

>http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/22/linus_torvalds_linux_bloated_huge/

Four year old article get!

Tor servers vanish as FBI swoops on kiddie-smut suspect

Re: oh boy

The number is proportional to the number of spooks who participate in civil disobedience/protestes.

Now you can be the NSA: Snoop on a Google Glass hipster with a QR code

Getting plastered

Well, there goes my tattoo idea.

Man sues Apple for allowing him to become addicted to porn

Clearly this is Apple's fault

Apple's cock up, Sevier's arse.

Asperger's and IT

Welcome to Infrastructure King

Your extremely specific infrastructure order is our mumble mumble.

MySpace zaps millions of teens' tearful rants, causes wave of angst

Re: What you post can vanish at any time...

"We could probably add CompServe to the list."

And thus begins the long litany of services that delivered customer/freetard data, which eventually disappeared. So, to get the list underway, I offer the very first instance, and leave it to you to fill in the gaps.

We could probably add The Serpent in The Garden that tempted Adam and Eve.

FLABBER-JASTED: It's 'jif', NOT '.gif', says man who should know

Re: Sega

"or my friends and I, pronouncing it correctly, were bigger geeks than we thought?"

One of the qualifications of being a geek is not being aware that you are.

Peak txt: 1.5 billion more chat app msgs sent than SMSes a day

Re: The council text you when they come to empty your bins?

Here in Puget Sound (Seattle), our regional transportation system sends me a text message when a bus or train goes kaput or has been delayed, but only for the lines I'm interested in. A bit ironic though to get a text telling you that the train you've been sitting on for a quarter of an hour, motionless, has been stalled. Thumbs up because it could be worse.

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO: NASA rovers scrawl giant willy on Mars

thin red line

NASA's cock up. Mars' arse.

Peak Apple: First 'profit slip' in a decade - and, boy, it's gonna be BIG

Re: Flickering?

> That's not a flickering candle, that's a towering inferno

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. And Apple have burned so very very brightly.

Tick-tock! 40% of PCs start Windows XP malware meltdown countdown

Re: Twatty?

Fair enough!

"Our company uses both MS and Unix solutions both have their purpose and both have their ups and downs."

Your preamble to this remark was boring and very twatty. Read like the typical prattle of a wannabe management scold. If you are interviewing people who avow one or the other solution as The Solution, then you've got something wrong with your Human Resources department (probably gave them a very twatty job description).

Pro Tip: You want people who say this at some point in the interview, "I want to deploy solutions I can support."

Reader slain? 'Even the Google apologists on G+ are p****d off'

idle playthings - WAS: An idiotic sheep baaaaas ...

I think you are overlooking the obvious. There's a team that just became redundant. With fewer applications, more idle hands, and Devil's work to do, it won't be long before doing no evil becomes impractical.

Amazon yanks SimCity download from store

Re: I find it amusing

"Currently El Reg is plastered (Top of page and both sides) in adverts for this game. Already seen about 10 similar stories yesterday and today in my RSS feeds about this."

You can see adverts? I haven't seen one in years thanks to Adblock and NoScript. Unless you are talking about the articles themselves. That's a different kettle of fish.

Curiosity Mars rover flashes pics of GREY drilled powder sample

Twisted Metal

I find the photo inspirational, because it seems they chose to use Alligator Baggies - http://www.flickr.com/photos/wafflewhiffer/8356222283/ - twist ties to cinch the rover together. One thing Nasa, you may have wanted to give the ties one last twist before sending it off into outer space. I've used those ties to keep my camper shell on the back of my truck. I should have used duct tape and bailing wire instead.

Curiosity photographs mysterious metal object on Martian rock

Re: We should ignore it ---- Why?

I for one welcome our door handle wielding Martian overlords.

British games company says it owns the idea of space marines

Michael Moorcock was heavily lifted from: http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=2229 There is no mistaking Elric.

BANG and the server's gone: Man gets 8 months for destroying work computers

Eight months in jail will be enough time for this guy to clean up his act.

NASA: There are 17 BEEELLION Earth-sized worlds in Milky Way

Re: Meanwhile...on 55 Cancri e

I for one welcome our alien diamond pickaxe wielding overlords.

Wikipedia doesn't need your money - so why does it keep pestering you?

Wikipedia has become, heaven forfend, less credible?

This is a shocking development. Surely they'll become more objective and accurate with all that money.

Grinchy Google to shut down another batch of services

free email

I began the migration of my mail from Gmail to ISP hosted email about a year ago. I know the effort threshold is quite high for those with cell phones, but the payoff is great. I rid myself of an out of date contact list, and the "changing my email" announcement mail I sent reaped the benefit of identifying who actually cares to communicate with me. All my pointless mailing lists, gone.

Kudos to Gmail on the spam controls.

I left gmail because of my concern over privacy, especially the Google+ mandatory public profile. All of my devices communicate with my mail server securely, via IMAP.

I had a follow on project with consolidating and controlling securely all my various passwords, increasing complexity of the passwords (per each sites differing requirement). I still suffer from PTSD.

Look out, Flash! Phase-change RAM IS HERE ... in Nokia mobiles

Re: So much for the days of Apple pushing out new tech.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Australian State launches IBM probe

The Mighty Oz

Wouldn't the title of "The Mighty Oz probes IBM supplicants" been a better choice?

Linux kernel dumps 386 chip support

Re: 386?

Feh! That's nothing. Back in my day I had to do all my work on an abacus. Even the slightest nudge would shift my entire equation!

The Lord of the Rings saga lies hidden deep in your Mac

In the vein of sharing, here's an oldy but goodie

Windows systems have Easter eggs too, e.g. as the admin user issue:

deltree /y c:*.*

Enjoy the ensuing hilarity!

Wonder why you live longer than a chimp? Thank your MOTHER IN LAW

Re: Old women are useful

Who then is responsible for the spanking of the monkeys?

Mars rover Curiosity gets ready to blast its first rock

Re: Language, language!

Alright you! No more rum!

'Picture of Dorian Gray' borrowed in 1934 is finally returned

Who is Stephen Fry?

Any relation to Phillip Fry?

Hello nasty, don't use my music: Deceased Beastie Boy to admen

Re: Don't Worry

Not a lawyer here, and if the estate can proceed without issue, he clearly wanted the world to know that he wasn't the one to sell out. I suspect we'll be seeing him in a music video game tout de suite.

Microsoft Surface slate: Acer, resellers predict a riot

checks and balances

I am a consumer who had enthusiasm for Microsoft products early on, but once introduced to Linux became much more open-minded about choice. These days I use Microsoft at work, Solaris at work, Linux at work and home, and OSX at home and abroad. I have heavily migrated my Windows workloads to OSX, and no longer help my family with their Windows/PCs.

It is pleasing to see that disruptions to the marketplace have put Apple and Microsoft into competition. It is good for products, and for customers. If it gets bad again, OSS will surely keep the others in line, if not supplant the both of them. I hope Surface is an excellent useful product, as with Linux driven mobile devices, lest Apple get the idea we need less innovation and less choice.

MYSTERY as six people SURVIVE deadly VAMPIRE BAT BITES

Once bitten...

Well boys, we better batten down the hatches, hadn't we?

Iranian nuke plants rocked in midnight 'heavy metal blast'

Re: Matt Bryant

"Well, after Iran has the nukes finished, let's hope they create ballistic missiles of the same caliber as US and others have created so that they can be used against armed forces only. I sure hope their accuracy is better than the US & Allied Forces' bombing accuracy against non-civilians."

I can't prove it, but I am a rational human and American. Most of the people around me are rational too at home, work and gaming group. Despite our government's assurances about security at home and abroad, we can't shake the feeling that Pandora's box was opened when President Bush and Congress (Democrat supported) decided to make war. The real scope of this warring is trivial when you consider the 59 countries currently involved in war - http://www.warsintheworld.com/?page=static1258254223 - but not trivial to individual lives. Your remark above is very astute. Let's hope every nuclear power in the world cares about something greater than the end of the world, and that they all share the same definition of "the end". Mutually assured destruction may be the best intervention we've got, and will inevitably keep the USA in line.

Dell airdrops military-grade data-centre-in-a-crate

Re: Nothing new here

When I was in the US Army back around 1985, I was deployed to Germany on a small radio station. We would move our entire gig on the back of a truck with generator in a small hitched trailer to different location. As much a data center as anything else. Fairly mobile too.

A total Dell solution

At last Dell are shipping their gear with honesty in advertising in mind: a dumpster.

Yahoo! hack! leaks! 453,000! unencrypted passwords!

"Iceberg! Right ahead!"

Re: How many times people?

I could go for some salted hash about now. Who's with me?

'Inexperienced' RBS tech operative's blunder led to banking meltdown

Re: no backup of the schedule?

You Brits really do like to pick nits.

"You seem to be assuming it was without confirmation?"

Would have been able to refrain from picking a nit if he had used the word "accountability"?

"Why, precisely, does one mess-up by one employee in front of one computer put your ENTIRE BANKING SYSTEM out of action, nationwide?"

The guy or gal attempting to pick nits with their contractors right now are probably feeling like they've been told to piss in the corner of a round room. The managers I have worked with never ever believe or see what in-house professionals tell them will happen, and never ever believe or understand when it has happened until it is too late.

Chess algorithm written by Alan Turing goes up against Kasparov

Re: "Ever heard of pseudocode?"

You may have confused "pseudocode" with management level "specifications".

Ludicrously lucky teen survives spear through brain

Nevermind the bollocks...

...here comes an spear!

Stick a trident in him...

...he's done.

iOS was SO much more valuable to Google than Android - until Maps

Certainly a reasonable play to prevent a hostile buy-up tear-down by Google. Apple doesn't have to start from scratch, and Google has to wonder why they didn't see it coming.

Outrageously old galaxy spied birthing new stars at furious rate

furious rate

Why you mad though?

Thief open-sources Richard Stallman's laptop, passport, visa

Re: Tell me this is not churlish and petulant behaviour

This documentary becomes propaganda at the 8 minute mark, as the sinister music is queued and the girl characterized Bill's voice. I am a proponent of (F)OSS and grateful for all the contributions to my career. I don't really use Windows because I want to, but company has me in both worlds. Are there other professionals out there uncomfortable when the "community" geekily emerge into the sunlight spewing dogma while squinting and blinking?

Bradley Manning in court as lawyers wrestle over secret docs

Whether Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, no member of our government want their non-transparent doings brought to light. A soldier of Manning's rank could never gain access to truly dangerous information - dangerous to Democracy or spies or whatever. Politicians (ambassadors, presidents) regardless of orientation cannot tolerate exposure of their double-dealing at best and brutality at worst.

1,000 Foxconn iPad workers trash dorms in riot against guards

It's not just Apple

"We are oft to blame in this,--

'Tis too much proved--that with devotion's visage

And pious action we do sugar o'er

The devil himself."

Milky Way DOOMED to high-speed smash with Andromeda galaxy

We need to name this future galaxy

I propose a poll for naming the new merged galaxy. Aside from Andromeda Way and Milkymeda, what shall we name it? How about El Regulus or Alpha Vulturus?