* Posts by TheKeffster

16 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Mar 2011

TalkTalk posts 3% sales drop, says Openreach should walk the WalkWalk

TheKeffster

I don't get what the fuss is about with these chuggers and sales wallahs that hang around supermarkets, shopping centres and whatnot. They are the walking equivalent of stress balls you can be as passive aggressive as you like with.

A stern look in their eye and a menacing growl of "Piss off" tends to make them retreat as fast as they can. Try it, trust me it's the most passive aggressive way of bringing a little light relief to your day that you can do.

The same process works with sales people who call on the phone. Just say "Get lost" and put the phone down. Maybe don't do this at work though...

The last post: Building your own mail server, part 2

TheKeffster

Re: Problem with running your own mail server now is the big 3 do not trust your email by default

> I have a server set up in a dedicated hosting centre as well, as we send

> out newsletters to around 1500 people a week, and again largely no problems,

> nor indeed with the various welcome messages when people sign up to that site.

It's quite likely the address space or IP address you use is set as trusted. You can very roughly check how reliable the big guys trust your mail server by using SenderBase at http://www.senderbase.org/ as a good (But not definitive) guide.

> If what you're suggesting is true, how would anyone ever be

> able to launch a new service that requires verification of users'

> email addresses?

Or for that matter, any plain mail server? Simple answer is you can't, at least not with the emails shooting straight into the spam folder by default. It really is a bad problem. And for some bizarre reason, using certain mail server software exacerbates the problem for no good reason. For example if Outlook/Hotmail sees email from an IP address they haven't sent mail from before and sent through the Zimbra Groupware server, it won't even make it into the spam folder!!

TheKeffster

Problem with running your own mail server now is the big 3 do not trust your email by default

Try setting your mail server up on a dedicated server using a functional IP address (I.E. not one that is sat in the "Residential use" only blacklists belonging to Spamhaus).

Set up your mail server, insuring your DKIM and SPF records are correctly set up and your using properly signed certificates for TLS and try sending an innocent text based email to Yahoo, Gmail or Outlook/Hotmail. It's an absolute guarantee that if they have never seen mail coming from that address before, your email will go straight to the junk folder and will continue to do so for a very long time until they decide (At their own schedule) you are playing nice.

Trying to solve this problem is an absolute nightmare for a lot of people.

Ericsson and Kodiak in Europe WALKIE-TALKIE-style push-to-talk push

TheKeffster

The british army do not use "Affirmative" and "Negative".

The British army do not use the words "Affirmative" and "Negative" on the net (Radio network). I know this because I am a soldier. We just say "Yes" and "No" like everybody else.

Also while I can't comment on police and other foreign forces, the commander and sniper team example in the article is not realistic as it fails to include the opening call (Who is speaking and to whom the message is intended for) which would almost certainly be the bit of the message that is affected by latency. In the British army at least we do not just come up on the net and shout "Don't shoot" as it's likely to cause more confusion.

British armed forces get first new pistol since World War II

TheKeffster
WTF?

We have had a new pistol for a while...

The author may not have noticed, but due to an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) notice, we have had the SIG P226 in service for a considerable while now, they are now in service in enough numbers I haven't seen a Browning in quite some time!!

But it may have already been mentioned...

Euro NCAP to mandate auto-braking in new-car test

TheKeffster
Stop

I'm not entirely sure I trust such a system. Could you imagine it glitching on the motorway and throwing the anchors on...

Friends fooled by Facebook Timeline 'removal tool' scams

TheKeffster
Thumb Up

Wait, wait, wait....this is a GOOD thing!

If enough of the sheeple get burnt by this, Facebook may wake up and realize that actually, timeline is pretty pump and people hate it, so much so that even those who converted their profiles are even turning to malware in their desperation to get rid of it!

Those of us that don't sit in the stupid category can only benefit from this!

Epic net outage in Africa as FOUR undersea cables chopped

TheKeffster
Trollface

Well it should be a quiet month in the inbox then with the lads from Lagos cut off!

Go Daddy boycott threat for backing hated anti-piracy law

TheKeffster
FAIL

Quickest backpedal ever

It seems they now no longer support SOPA. My my, it seems money talks...

Quickest backpedal ever?

Assange loses High Court appeal against extradition to Sweden

TheKeffster
Stop

More room to appeal???? Which will no doubt drag the whole thing out further still!

Just hurry up and get him extradited so the fun can begin. It will be entertaining watching the arrogant and highly deluded buffoon go for a spin around the plug hole before he disappears into it.

Somewhere I hope Bradley Manning is reading about it and feeling just a little bit less hard done by...

SeeSaw shut down

TheKeffster

Writing on the wall a long time ago

The writing was on the wall a long time ago, even well before the 11th hour buyout. Dwindling content was the biggest sign, to the point where last week the site was so empty of it the average visitor would have thought there was a technical error. "Latest content" panels empty and category after category coming up as "Nothing found".

Inside 'Operation Black Tulip': DigiNotar hack analysed

TheKeffster
WTF?

Does not expect?

"Vasco does not expect that the DigiNotar security incident will have a significant impact on the company’s future revenue or business plans,"

The arrogance from these people continues to astound me.

But surely I am not the only one thinking that if I where in the market for a SSL product, this is now the very last company I would approach?

Chic USB drive leads double life as personal vibrator

TheKeffster

Re: Price...

> So, vibrators are a bit more expensive that Max OS Lion.

Yes but a vibrator is actually, y'know, useful...

Dropbox snuffs open code that bypassed file-sharing controls

TheKeffster
WTF?

A replacement for torrents? Errr...no actually!

Who in their right mind would think that this could be a successful replacement or alternative for Bittorrent as suggested by that Hacker News article? A piece of software designed around a propriety system under the control of a single entity that is being used against their ToS??? Uhhh yeah that will make a great alternative!

Cobalt-barrel machine guns could fire full auto Hollywood style

TheKeffster

@ Anonymous Coward

"There are plenty of reasons to fire more than 3 rounds in a burst, and us English with the L85A2 trust our soldiers to choose when to use each fire mode, rather than restricting them to burst fire."

Actually no they don't. I AM a soldier in the British Army and automatic mode on the L85 is restricted in use unless your in very specific scenarios and even then you are trained to keep your bursts to approximately 3 rounds or less to prevent recoil climb. The M16A4 was an example I gave because that specific generation model appeared long after the L85 was designed and thus incorporated more enlightened thinking and also offers a way to limit the recoil. The original M16 had full auto too. I absolutely promise you by the time you have fired about 6 rounds from the L85 your rifle is pointing a good deal higher than where you aimed and will only continue to climb.

"Also they claim to have fired the weapon at 1100 degrees, so assuming this was done using a hand portable prototype, I assume they've overcome any other heat build up issues in the breach."

That's all fine and well if they have machined a NEW weapon or re-engineered an existing weapon for the barrel. However it's not a case of simply fitting the new barrels to existing weapons as the machining tolerances are not designed for constant fire. Plus I absolutely guarantee you put a round into the breach at 1100 degrees and it WILL cook off (Regardless of whether or not it's an open or closed bolt weapon). And with the current SDSR in place, I highly doubt we will be swapping our weapons out anytime soon.

All this is aside from the fact that automatic fire in an individual weapon is rarely used because apart from being up and close and personal, it's not effective. Single aimed shots are better. As for support weapons, well in a real contact you would simply never get the opportunity to fire at the weapons full cyclic rate. Ever. Even if the weapon is mounted or bipod based.

I'm not saying they are a bad thing, not having to carry and swap out a second barrel would be a great thing (And I speak from the heart having been an LMG gunner in Afghanistan) but there is no way that they would lead to any military switching its training or operating policy to one where you can blaze away (Or "hosepipe" as we refer to it. Imagine the rounds from the barrel as a stream of water from a hose).

TheKeffster
Boffin

Your missing several other problems

Firstly, I am a soldier so I know what I am talking about.

Cobalt barrels or not, you will never be able to blaze away in full auto like they do in Hollywood for long periods of time until they sort out the recoil issue.

Firstly the assault rifle and similar. Firing on full automatic incurs a lot of recoil. So much so that by the time you have loosed off about three rounds, the recoil has made your rifle climb away from the point of aim and the rest of the rounds are useless. This is why a number of weapons such as the M16A4 and so on do not have a fully automatic mode. They have a three round burst capability as it's generally these three rounds that do anything.

It becomes a bit more useful when you consider supported weapons, or weapons that have a bipod, tripod or fixed mounting, as the recoil from these is generally supported by the ground or mounting. However while it may allow you to fire slightly longer bursts of fire, blazing through 500 rounds in one sitting still isn't going to happen. The reasons are long and complex but basically the barrel is not the only thing to heat up and simply put the gas plugs, tray feeds and even ammunition itself probably could not handle the heat build up within the breach.

Add to the fact the already mentioned factors such as ammunition conservation, not to mention preventing identification of your firing position and you can see why it's unlikely. The only benefits the cobalt barrel offers is the welcome advantage of not having to carry a second barrel or have to get the thing off after every 800 rounds (Which doesn't actually happen in a real contact, you fire until the damn thing is about to melt or you have a lull in the contact).