* Posts by knightred

25 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jan 2012

After baffling Falcon 9 rocket explosion, SpaceX screams: Hands off our probe!

knightred

So it's no government oversight or regulation except for rockets?

Seems mighty suspicious a group of Republicans would ask for the US Government to interfere with a private business.

And just a question, will they also approve the spending budget for NASA? Or just the spending for the Air Force's newest space laser platform?

Also, what does the FAA have to say at all in this matter? "Umm we find the aircraft was unsuitable for flight because the wings could not provide enough lift."

VXers pass stolen card data over DNS

knightred

what a cool problem.

The way I see the problem as pointed out already, everybody uses a card to buy things, and a shop must check if the card will give them money before selling things. So without instant credit check a shop would be frauded out of business and with a queued delay nobody would shop there. <blah blah> therefore you can't explicitly stop DNS... but it seems a POS device should probably really only ever need to lookup one domain. I can see why that's slightly less than desirable, but does it really need to lookup xyz.com, no all it needs is primarycardprocessor.com and possibly secondarycardprocessor.com.

I have lost my train. I think the solution is to use some form of payment that would be transferable from person to person without relying on the Internet. Perhaps there could be different types that would represent different values? I don't know we'd have to think about it.

Going on a date, and it's just the two of you? How ... quaint. OkCupid's setting up threesomes

knightred

Re: To answer your question about demisexuals

You know thank you for the explanation. I mean seriously. Like there's recently many new orientations and sexual states and frankly I find it's uncouth to ask in person what the hell the person is/means.

Cartoon brings proper tech-talk to telly

knightred

actually it's just on now it's the Bobert upgrade one. here's a clip of the upgrade release commercial in the style of Apple:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1blXLI9bJo

"It isn't just the perfect blend of software and hardware. It's lifeware." I can't find a full episode it's season 4 ep 12 "The Upgrade" but it's a good poke at apple. Although I just saw a Microsoft store yesterday, maybe it's a jab at all tech firms.

Only a CNUT would hold back the waves of the sharing economy

knightred
Coat

Re: You can buy a chainsaw for that.

I logged a bit as a teen in NorCal, there are actually two brands of chainsaws Stihl and Husquvarna. Brand loyalty is king in the logging world, although you generally follow the lead faller's choice.

And as in tech contracting, you do your sharpening and routine maintenance when you arrive at a job site, because land owners like to see you there doing something for at least 2 hours before paying 500 to 1000$.

Ha, that's another business where it pays to hire a licensed, insured, and bonded operator for a job, sure Joe down the street can cut down a tree, but a proper faller can also miss your house, car, garage, etc at least 99% of the time. They can also drop a tree exactly where you swore to hell they told you to stand. Remember to always make sure the axe is sharp and the gas and oil cans are full when you are carrying their gear, oh and never drop their saw, unless of course you're running for your life.

The jacket has my childhood wonder and innocence lost in it.

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

knightred

Re: Oculus Rift-

I was too haha. I am always amused by turning the classic quotes... especially with the innuendo applicable.

MYSTERY PARTICLE BLASTS from Ceres strike NASA probe Dawn

knightred
Black Helicopters

And yet NOBODY has spoken the truth about this new data

That this is yet another NASA/Muslim conspiracy to make American's believe there are other "worlds" in the solar system aside from the only New World, America. In order to get more grant money for Climate Change research and to promote the soon to be announced movie: "The Cerian". I mean the proof is right there Ceres/Syria! I must inform my NRA government representative and my local AM talk show host immediately, through telepathy, as every other method is monitored by the MIB!

Man given positive pregnancy test in an Apple Watch box

knightred
Pint

Jesus is it Friday already?

Every bit is hilarious! His tattoo, hair (where it is and isn't), their bedroom, the reveal, and finally the crying.

I'm not entirely sure why men are expected to cry over their newborns or get excited over watches. I'm led to believe both are standard.

People always joke that men cry over the loss of freedom and money, but that realization doesn't really sink in until about 6 months after birth. Sometime in the middle of the night, when you realize all the whiskey is gone and then you kick some unbelievably stout and likely pointy toy. Or it's a Saturday and you realize your household is paying a minimum wage salary for undeniably the best sunrise alarm clock available.

I wager every father has cried over that, but I haven't seen those films. Probably because all the cameras now have cracked lens/screens or slobbered up microphones.

British killer robot takes out two Britons in Syria strike

knightred

Re: Victims?

I'm entirely confused by this idea that a British or American citizen has the right to a trial while fighting for ISIL or Al Queda. Your country's constitution and laws do not follow you outside of your country. An American isn't entitled to a jury trial or a lawyer in the UK because of the US Constitution (although you do get something similar because of UK law). Why then is a fighter in Syria/Iraq entitled to a jury trial in country of origin?

I understand the anger/confusion, it seems so many Americans and British assume that the government will decide to have you whacked by a drone the second you arrive for your vacation in Calais. If it was political dissenters getting executed on holiday, I could see an outrage. However, it's people who joined up to go to play war and then they get killed actively participating, I can't even see the "slippery slope" arguement in killing active combatants. I can see the "slippery slope" in the statement "if we don't kill them over there now, they'll kill us here tomorrow". But it seems so many politicians in every country have used that "ooooohhh the terrorist's will get ya" line so much I can't understand who they think they are kidding.

Wait, what? TrueCrypt 'decrypted' by FBI to nail doc-stealing sysadmin

knightred

Re: yes

Look it's been ages, but a dictionary attack is where you use a list of "words" to test a password.

So, if you use a common phrase or quote, it might be in a dictionary list. But, a meaningless phrase would not be in a dictionary list. And comparing every combination of words in the Oxford Dictionary as a phrase of length x with an unknown number of punctuation or spaces defeats the concept of a dictionary attack.

so where "One small step!" is likely attackable by dictionary, "step small 1.!" wouldn't be. Your program would have to test every word with every combination of space/punctuation plus number/case subs.

It’s DEJA VU: Customer forgets to tell us about essential feature AGAIN

knightred

Re: Soiled underwear

Ha! You know I can almost always find ghirardelli chips even like the 60% cacao on deep discount sale because they simply don't sell in local supermarkets. I don't eat sweets anymore, but the old lady she won't eat other chocolate. Oh I forgot sometimes we get the macy's bon-bons from an uncle in Seattle, I forget the name.

I'd like to believe Hershey's is on a downward spiral, but Ghirardelli and the Seattle company and numerous small manufactures have made much better chocolates sometimes even longer than Hershey. But the market is saturated, it's like saying Coke (or Pepsi) is the premier cola in the US... you can't base a claim of quality on sales quantities. Hershey chocolate is all made in Mexico now anyway, nothing at all is made in America, they actually repackage some of the Mexican chocolate in Hershey, PA for the "locally produced" standards to apply.

There was a Frontline on PBS about how the company treats foreign students as near slave labor repackaging the candies. Well to be fair it isn't slave labor, but the company houses and feeds you and takes it out of your wages.... You know like they used to run coal mines with payments on company chits that only a company store took as money.

Post-pub nosh neckfiller: Southern biscuits and gravy

knightred

Yup, the gravy is deceptive, you need to make it runnier than you think, as it will start stiffening up once it is off the heat. And it's proper to just be sausage, flour for a roux (thickener), and milk and pepper. Although I'll be honest adding some hard cheese might be a good addition. I've used bacon and mushrooms in the gravy too, it's a nice surprise.

Also, I prefer drop biscuits to the round pressed type you use the same recipe except you mix with a fork until just barely together and scoop out small barely held together heaps onto the sheet, bake the same.

That way they are crumbly and airy. Then you crumble the biscuit, put an overeasy or maybe poached egg on it, top with gravy and serve with a slice of bacon.

For the naysayers, when the gravy is correctly done it's not greasy or sickening. Next you'll claim to not like gumbo because it starts with 1/4 cup of lard and 1/4 cup of flour (or 1/2c each depending on how I feel) too and turns out looking disgustingly brown and chunky.

Did this series do heuvos rancheros yet? I always felt that's the tex-mex version of biscuits and gravy. The cuban variation is even more similar as they drown it in black beans.

Disaster-gawping cam drones to be blasted out of the sky in California

knightred
Black Helicopters

Actually we should be careful about this

Look, it's well and nice to say shoot them down, but we need to know what the hell will constitute an "emergency situation". Say filming the police during a demonstration? This is the sort of law that would need really careful wording, but we all know it'll be worded such that "only a terrorist would video emergency services or police response to make their attack plans!". I'm all for stopping people getting in the way or endangering other lives through nonsense, but I think we need to consider seriously hastily crafted and loosely worded legislation.

Also, I see no reason they can't shoot shotguns, I mean you'd want to use a number 6 bird load. All you'd be aiming to damage are the propellers, they seem fairly fragile and numerous. Personally, while waterfowl hunting I've been "peppered" with returning pellets from my own shot, it's like a medium rain at the hardest.

Pan Am Games: Link to our website without permission and we'll sue

knightred

I was just watching the diving competition from the PanAm games and thought... you know Canada is about the furthest from the rest of the "pan am" as could be possible... I mean there's 2 North American States, numerous South American States and and like half a dozen Middle American States, how does the US or Canada win any sort of right to hold considering the travel costs they are placing on the rest?

(edit) hmm, googles says Mexico is part of North America, so there are 3, I guess I culturally put them to Central America being they speak Spanish like most of the rest of the Americas, I know some speak Portuguese and there are German speaking sects all over the Americas for various reasons.

Quid-A-Day Nosh Posse taunted with sausage sarnie snap

knightred

But have you tried dehydrated milk?

Look this is the one key question I ask when somebody tells me how they've survived on food subsidies. Have you drank dehydrated milk? Seriously, I think it's a true sign of poorness to have stomached this. I've eaten a damn many things, but the worst was milk dust in water.

I like the comment about "if I shoot a deer does it count" heh I lived without power or water (it was a mile away to an artesian well)... I read a lot of books, chopped a lot of firewood and ate a lot of meat. Because when you're already living outside the system there's not much to stop you from trapping and hunting animals outside the season. But does that count? No. If you live in the city, you're screwed, there's no garden. There's no deer or rabbit or quail or duck or bass or catfish to take.

But in the "city" you don't have the opportunity to "hunt for your food" you can barely grow a herb garden... the entire setup is against you with the concrete and all, in reality you should move to the country and grow a garden... surely you can find a job that you can do for some money. But people don't like to move, even when they clearly should.

I don't know, I'm ranting... you want to feel truly poor? don't eat for three days. Walk two miles every day. Then finally eat half a pound of government peanut butter with crackers and drink dehydrated milk. Then go another two days without food while still walking two miles a day.

And this all explains why my pantry is overflowing with canned vegetables, flour, salt, sugar, canned fruit, a freezer full of meat, a stupendous array of spices and dried chili, it's enough food for 6 months to a year... because apparently if you grow up with "food insecurity" it breaks your mind. You will always stockpile food. I never realized I was even affected until I saw a PBS program about food insecurity and I looked around.

US states vow to fight Google after the FTC meekly rolls over

knightred

love the definitions in the subpoena

Reading that subpoena, I enjoyed how they define "RECORDS", especially having microfiche and microfilm next to computer disks, laser disks and recordings... I also forgot that a corporation is a "person" so they have to define "PERSON" to include "association of persons".

It's amazing to think that a programmer given a document like this would build exactly what you asked.

A lawyer given this document would give you nothing at all, pointing out that they all their their records are on clay tablets and can only be viewed by a cabal of magician/scholars during a lunar eclipse so are not required to produce and, to cap it off, counter sue for violations of the Protection of Religious Institutions of the Correct Kinds act of ought 8.

'If you see a stylus, they BLEW it' – Steve Jobs. REMEMBER, Apple?

knightred

Re: Who wants Handwriting Recognition anyway?

A thumbprint good sir! Harrumph harrumph! Why should we positively prove ourselves to receive a package? I mean next you'd want a bank to enforce positive proof of identity before authorizing a loan check? That wouldn't due at all for the bottom line. Where will this madness end?

On a serious note, I've always wondered why a bank takes a thumbprint to cash a check, BUT doesn't take any finger print at all to grant a loan, just your country's Unique Identifier Number and mother's maiden name and the shoddiest of pay stubs you can print out yourself from Word to show your income.

Regarding packages, Washington Irving has received most of them at my house.

Scrooges rejoice! Beancounters find formula for perfect Xmas party

knightred

What the sam hell is cracker pulling?

I rarely post, but I'm so culturally confused by this idea of "cracker pulling" I had to post to ask what the hell is going on at these parties?

I seriously thought the story was about the number of crackers a host should provide for a Christmas party. A scientific study, I'm quite sure some miser office manager was hoping would definitely tell them whether to buy 2 or 3 boxes of crackers, saving the company a staggering $1.50 this year!

'Don't hate on me for my job!' Googlers caught up in SF rent protest ruckus

knightred

Re: San Francisco is a city of rich white people...

Holy crap that's Hilarious! White people run all the unions I've seen, the meth producers I've seen in reality or tv have been white and oddly in their 50's, the destruction of neighborhoods is generally by white developers... crime rates and violence are skewed to non-white for many reasons. From personal experience I believe a white person, especially female, can often get off or reduced to misdemeanor where I suspect a person of a different hue or gender may have issues.

This is america we love Mandela but can't recall what he was about (wasn't it Morgan Freeman helping that white guy win a football game).

Also, Detroit didn't "kick out the whites" like you suggest, they left. Everybody that could left. Detroit is now America again, you've no one but yourself and friends (or community), no work but what you can make, it's pure freedom. Detroit is true American Freedom.

iPad classes for DOGS offered in New York

knightred
Thumb Up

Winning

I would say rather this sounds like somebody who knows everything about ipad dog owners in New York City.

However, I agree I was terribly surprised this wasn't satire.

Also, I don't think you can just "give a child a fucking iPad to entertain themselves" either. You should in fact interact with children as well as your pets. hahahaha

Obama weighs in on NSA surveillance imbroglio

knightred
Meh

HA! Good to know Congress can work together.

See when I heard Obama's statement that this was something passed continuously since 2006 by the US Elected officials I thought jesus so they can work together? Good to see party lines don't matter when it's eroding privacy.

On a note, once in a bar arguement I went to the car for my copy of the US Constitution & Bill of Rights (I ordered a box load for about 1.50 each online)... privacy is not guaranteed only the right to unwarranted searches. In my mind collecting data on any US citizen's calls the who/when/where is unwarranted searching, but privacy is simply not explicitly covered. One might suggest the Framer's failed to recognize a distinction between their private belongings and their privacy. Dunno maybe they thought a person's location and hearsay information was simply public knowledge.

I'd like to know if we as the public in the form of the Justice System can make use of this data in tracking the location and whereabouts of any individual involved in a criminal case or suspected criminal case. Such as seeing what congressional members make use of scandalous clubs or bathrooms. ha!

Fancy some mobile filth? New logo tells you when not to bother

knightred

actually... why not a MSRB rating system

Why not have a system like video games, movies, and comics have? I agree at 13 I was anxiously waiting as LINE BY LINE a naked woman's jpg appeared on my screen from an IRC download. However, most legit porn sites have no problem limiting underage access. It's not in their interest to have ppl without credit cards view their site. First, free views take BW and the idea of free views is to have eventual (in 5 minutes) credit card information pass the gateway. Tubesites even not withstanding, they want CC passes now as well.

So why not have a simple MSRB system for websites. Maybe a simple meta tag that says "porn" then the parental controls on the computer can say block / not-block. You will be right to say "what about non-compliant sites"... but you'll get a vast majority, money is king in porn and without a CC there's no reason for you to view a porn site! There's always IRC anyway and if my kids are smart enough and want to get porn, then well you know it's a good learning lesson in bypassing security, however moderate that security is. I mean you always start out picking locks on the bathroom or closet door with that screwdriver/push button hole in the center of the knob.

Perhaps that meta tag is already there and it's just in the developers hand to implement with enough shout up.

BIGGEST DDoS in history FAILS to slash interweb arteries

knightred
Devil

Re: Here's How It Should Have Been Done

that's great on your own machines. However, upstream providers still send the data through to it, being paid on the 95th they will happily fill your pipe since trash traffic is still paid traffic. It's why Cloud Flare had to turn off their exchanges. My basic understanding, from living with a netadmin, is you have to black hole the receiving IPs. That has to propagate upstream so eventually all traffic to that IP is simply discarded.

But then it's funny because spamhaus is in it for the money and they will be seriously out a bit now. bw ain't free even in an attack, but maybe they can renegotiate for a bulk rate on the month. I expect they will be back to extorting small and independent ISPs with their delisting fee. Also, I wonder why nobody has put a price tag on the attack?

Seattle drinking den bans Google Glass geeks

knightred
Stop

ahh the 5 Point is an awesome place!

I used to go there for food when i worked at a DC in the westin. That bar needs no free publicity, it's a 24 hour dive bar that's been in a great location since like the 30's or something and always full of people even between 1 (or 2) and 6 when they can't sell alcohol. It also had decent enough cheap food. drink prices are high, but all of seattle is 5 buck a beer. Check the map it's next to Seattle Center.

I would like to remind everybody though that Redmond WA and Seattle WA are not in fact the same place, and I would doubt an MS staffer would degrade themselves to go in. But, 5 point is next to the Fisher building and like what 5 blocks from the Westin building so you're more likely to find a linux admin or technician eating on the eating side... and honestly you're a lot more likely to find disreputable characters and serious drinkers on the bar side. All the wait staff have attitude and they do have a bouncer like almost every bar in seattle. They get a lot of tourist though, so they need to explain the rules that locals would consider obvious. Every place has their own little rules and no photos is pretty obvious in this bar, i mean unless you're a tourist.

How can family sysadmins make a safe internet playground for kids?

knightred

This are wonderful suggestions

First, my kids are 3 and 1 and I'm in the "adult" business. I've asked other folk in the business and they've all replied "Ha they're too young to use a computer". It's a great fear for me, what they'll see since I know what horrible things I see every day. I hadn't even thought about the ps3 or the ipods for internet access since at home it only makes sense for me to use a real computer. I had figured on simply creating user accounts and using a simple firewall on the machine. I've only one working computer in the house, there's other's that're just off and a heap of netbooks and laptops that may still work, but are beneath me. I felt perhaps I'd try the honesty approach, but thinking about it. I saw my first grainy naked chick at 12 on mIRC and at 13 I smoked my first joint. But I turned out fine, the honesty approach works but it occurs that perhaps between 0 and 12 years perhaps you need some sort of lockdown. And aye you're kids will go to their friends or whatever but as said before in your space you should do what you can.

So My plan is apparently to keep up on this stuff, cuz if anything it's opened my eyes to needing a dummy router in front of my ISP's modem. And it is also clear to encourage outdoor (non-internet or tv based) activities to offer a balance. I personally hope my kids are better coders than I am and I also hope they still know how to start a fire with two sticks and a shoelace as well as knowing what herodotus' said of the giant ants and Marathon. And I know this can only be achieved with a balanced approach to internet access and barriers for them to overcome.

Maybe that's what we all hope with lock downs is that they beat us, but again only after the language and understanding are available to the kids for us parents to be able to explain what is going on and why it's likely not (just guessing) appropriate. I just hope this obvious conversation is sometime a decade later and not 3 years off. It's as if the fabled "birds and bees" conversation has turned to a "god help me never post online" conversation or worse "it's actually just milk" and explaining how that happened to occur and why women aren't to be treated as we've just seen.

And like that dude above said about getting a sip of scotch above when he was 8, what if it was a shot peach schnapps. Don't get me wrong I'm an alcoholic and the son of an alcoholic; it's not the actual alcohol that's the problem, but how you behave drinking. I saw how to be a happy drunk and how to be a mean drunk. I guess my point is nurture not nature is key.