Posts by Mark 85

SEX: Naughty female stegosauruses offered it on a PLATE

Re: Some questions still remain

They (paleontologists) have found what they claim are fossilized dinosaur eggs that look like big chicken eggs so.. probably were hard shelled. Egg sacs disappear pretty quickly.

Re: Some questions still remain

Wouldn't that require that they be more of an egg sac than hard shelled egg?

Re: Some questions still remain

This leads to a whole new meaning of the concept of "jiggery pokery".

Google: We're not mad, our mobes-in-sky Project Loon is FINE

Google and FB

They both have the same problem and the founder/manager/owner bit. They believe the world sees things the way they do and have similar experiences. Yes, knowledge that can be had from the Internet is fantastic, but if you're at subsistence level with iffy power, your likelihood of rushing out to buy a cell phone is pretty much zilch. The other problem is literacy. It takes a certain amount of education to use technology. Many parts of the world are illiterate.

Let's go a step further... they are successful and there's things in the sky providing 100% world-wide coverage. Now the local politics, and not the "who to bribe type". Given the way things are, using said balloon for your information may very well get you shot, stoned, beheaded, or tossed into a re-education camp.

A noble goal but fraught with problems that can't be solved by launching a balloon or giving someone Facebook.

Technology isn't the answer to every problem like some seem to think. If the population is too poor, too uneducated or in middle of a civil war, then it's a waste of time and money.

EMC dives into Iron Mountain's cloudy backup lair

Ferrous Pile? Steely Peak?

I would hope that the "mountain" isn't magnetic. And also that they've learned to stay away from "activist investors".

Infosec bods can now sniff out the NSA's Quantum Insert hacks

Re: I'm sorry...

There's no legislator in the world smart enough or knowledgeable enough to know what write a law for that. Unless somehow they screwed up law they wanted for counting cigarette packets for tax purposes...

Facebook profits plunge by a fifth as buyouts soak up Zuck's cash

You really have to ask? Rich white guy thinks the rest of the world is like him. That's the simplest explanation.

Singapore's PM personally programmed C++ Suduko-solver

Re: If a political party could choose a programming language...

At least you'd have diversity. Here in the States it would either be Flash or Windows Finger Paint.

Re: Open data

I do believe most countries are headed towards internet censorship. Not just for socially unacceptable things like child porn but also political and prossibly religious. Not just in the already "closed" countries but the supposed bastions of freedom.. the 5-eyes.

Facebook, Google execs cough to their biggest privacy blunders

We agree THX 1138... now back to work.

From where I sit, and knowing that we are the product on FB and Google... I'd say that their business plan is a privacy blunder. Ok.. maybe not a blunder since it's intentional. If Google wants to target me with ads, then fine, target me during a search for a product. Not for days afterward. But that's minor compared to FB and it's active pushing for more info from users and by default, everything being public.

Cash register maker used same password – 166816 – non-stop since 1990

Re: Please explain

I'm not clear on what one would do with that vulnerability and the article isn't giving me a lot of ideas

Ah... that's probably why you're not a "bad guy" then.... After the various break-ins/hijacks in the US in the last few years, if one remoted in, they would own the system.

And since the PW's have been released, expect new break-ins/hijacks in...5...4....3....2....

Love-rat fanboi left bobbing for Apples in tiny Japanese bath

I see....wet stuff.

Maybe it can be dried out, maybe not. I guess they'll be waiting for him and his credit card at the Apple Store for him to buy new stuff.

GoDaddy buys 200,000 domains for $28.1m – that's $140 a piece

Re: The brewery owns all the pubs*

I think you're right on that. But it's all irrelevant since corporate greed is running things. The days of getting a dot com and having fun are over. Pretty sad, if you ask me.

Re: Does this seriously mean telemarketing?

Short answer... it appears that it does mean that.

The problem as I see it is that Do Not Call list is patently ignored or subverted. The callers are using number and IP spoofing, even TOR to hide themselves. Obviously it's still big business or it wouldn't be done and the marketers wouldn't be going to such great efforts to hide themselves.

Republicans in sneaky bid to reauthorize Patriot Act spying until 2020

Re: probably a lost cause

Ah... good plan.. the enemy of my enemy is my brother. Then when it's over, what do you do with your former ally?

Re: Please dox these senators @RedneckMother

True. And they won't dox their supporters. Now their detractors are probably fair game....

Hmm... a quick check via search engine reveals that the Vegas Bookmakers are not giving odds on the reauthorization.

Good news! Your job's not going to the Philippines

Re: Mostly call centers....?

Valid point... I guess I'll just keep saying "Feck off" and giving them a blast from air horn. Oh... I do talk softly until the air horn. I want them to turn the volume up on their headset.

Mostly call centers....?

So does this mean that the phone calls from the Computer Service Department telling me I have a virus on my computer will be by a person with either a Bulgarian or a Vietnamese accent? I guess I better learn how to say "Feck off" in Bulgarian and Vietnamese now in addition to Pakistani and Hindi.

Edit: Hmm.... good for me. I didn't bring up Bulgarian Airbags... oh wait...

When the Schmidt hits The Man: Look what the NSA made Google do

Re: "Randomly watching and surveilling what's going over the internet...

Oh but they don't invade privacy and surveil you... according to them, they just take the information you freely give them and process it. Er.... hmmm... conundrum.

Hey, El Reg... can we get a dictionary of Googlespeak? After the Google guy at the RSA conference pointed out that words don't mean what we think they do, we need to have them defined and maybe translate what Schmidt said.

FBI alert: Get these motherf'king hackers off this motherf'king plane

Ah... Paranoia running rampant again...

Ok. maybe not real paranoia but the attempt to instill paranoia into the traveling public. And why? Is this theatre where they can say "oh.. everyone is feeling warm and safe"? or control? I suspect both... they'll make you feel a bit paranoid, then warm and safe... all the while controlling your very thought processes. DHS caught on real fast with the "no jokes" rule at the security checkpoints and their theatre of water bottles, strip searching babies and old people, etc. Checking through is rather somber affair and how can one not feel safe with steely eyed contractors keeping a watchful eye on everyone...?

I think the FBI knows which aircraft are insecure. I also suspect that there's some fair amount of discussion going on behind the scenes with aircraft companies and probably the carriers. It's obvious that there's much more going on than being revealed just because a bulletin was issued.

Which, upon introspection, makes wonder about the timing... the Patriot Act is coming up for renewal. Is this part of the effort to get the public to demand it's approval?

Ah.. Washington, the seat of power games and money games.... power and control.

Fed-up Colorado man takes 9mm PISTOL to vexing Dell PC

I guess no one outside of America is jealous that we can shoot our computers.

Or Mother-in-laws.

Your forgot the chant. Now try it....

Got a big day planned in 15 billion years? You need this clock

Twilight Zone....

I think we've arrived. Pick one but you have hear it in your head with Rod Serling's voice....

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone.

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call "The Twilight Zone".

from: http://grail.cba.csuohio.edu/~somos/twizone.html

Throwing money at bug bounties won't beat zero-day dark markets

Re: Captialism asks, why not both?

That will work right up to the point that you double-cross the wrong people. Once that happens you'll probably be wearing concrete overshoes and sleeping with the fishes. Or something equally not nice. Some of these darksiders such as certain Russian groups, really take offense to losing money.

Something's missing in our universe: Boffins look into the SUPERVOID

Since what we see from earth is a mix of the history of the universe as far as time goes... the light we see from something 2 million light years away left there 2 million years ago... I'm puzzled by this. As they look deeper into space and find things like this void.. that's how it was, not how it is. Right? Can they extrapolate what "was" to what "is"? I'm trying to make some sense of this... A void 1.x billion light-years across means what they're seeing is a younger version on the farside than the nearside (to us). So..... what does it really all mean?

Hmm..... I guess that's why I'm not an astronomer or a quantum theory type.

Google guru: Android doesn't have malware, it has Potentially Harmful Applications™ instead

Re: Delusional

They may be very well writing it down and emailing it. This article scratches the surface on how they are changing words and concept definitions to their own ends. This, given the nature of US law and lawyers, will change the landscape if they can pull it off. So, maybe they have learned something. It's like calling a Ponzi Scheme a "wonderful investment opportunity". We know what it is. They know what it is. The lawyers will fight it out.

So what does Google call their activities?

I see some "we do it, it's ok; someone else does it, it's bad" things here.

White House cyber-general says US must be able to cyber-nuke the worst of the cyber-worst

Re: Bad guys, good guys

That would be fluoride, not fluorine. However, I think in this case it's two things... inbreeding in our political types and also the American Ethos of "When in doubt, use a bigger hammer".

Re: Well that's all right then ...

You forgot the "War on Sanity". The politicians are winning and Sanity is losing. So.. SUCCESS!!!! They won one!!!!

MAD is back....

This may be intended as a good thing and it might work (slim chance at best) to at least slow down the amount of state sponsored activity. Two things bother me with this.... no definition of what would trigger such a response. Another SONY type attack? And there's the "leaving the ordinary criminals alone" message...

Yay, we're all European (Irish) now on Twitter (except Americans)

Re: You're damned either way

Didn't know of that case but that falls under the rest of what I said... to wit: And yes, just because you're not breaking a local law doesn't mean that the John Law of your home country can't arrest you for breaking your home country's laws. Stupid, I know, but it's the way they've worked in most countries for a long time.

They broke US law while abroad and got nailed for it. LDS in the post after yours made the same observation.

Re: You're damned either way

Having sex with a child in Thailand will get you locked up for years in America.

I think the case your talking about was about an abuser who, when the law started closing in on him, he fled the country. Eventually he was found in Thailand by the Thai police.

And yes, just because you're not breaking a local law doesn't mean that the John Law of your home country can't arrest you for breaking your home country's laws. Stupid, I know, but it's the way they've worked in most countries for a long time.

Re: Rules? What rules?

I think this is much ado over nothing in that nothing has changed except some "legal" (for some value of "legal") data gathering. The Five-Eyes will get what they want when they want it. Depending on the court, their activities might or might not be presented to the court. There's also the stance that if they don't present it, the data slurp never happened, in the eyes of the court.

I would presume that there's no such thing as a secure internet. You post something, you buy something, anyone can find it if they have the inclination. There's good guys and bad guys and sometimes it's just a shade of gray.

Japan showcases really, really fast … whoa, WTF was that?!

It would be great...

proposing a high-speed link between America's capital and New York City. Were that to happen it would reduce current travel time from about four hours to under an hour

But given the nature of the US politics, etc. there's a couple of problems:

1) Land costs would be out of this world. The east coast is heavily built up and there's a lot of prime real estate on anything approaching a direct route from DC to New York.

2) Every politician would immediately start squabbling over where it would run, who would be in charge, and adding stops, etc. for pork barrel projects.

3) This same group would also mire it down in "safety regs" and testing and making sure the public couldn't wander onto the roadway/track.

4) Oh yes environmental impact statements including any wetlands, etc. And the added impact of additional power generation.

4) Depending on who got the various contracts, cost overruns would be horrendous.

5) Lastly, the trip might take an hour but Homeland Security would want to be involved so add at least 1 hour or more for "security screening".

If the damn bureaucrats and politicians could see fit to keep the lawyers out of it and their own selfish interests out, it might just have a chance.

VAMPIRE SQUID romps stun scientists: Unique sex lives revealed

Re: I had to look twice...

I guess I'm one of the few people on the planet who haven't seen most of the reality shows. I watched a couple of times a few years ago. Choked. Gagged. Realized I wasted some time and never turned them on again.

I had to look twice...

to make sure this wasn't a Lester Haines article.

I do find it interesting that someone's getting paid to study the sex lives of vampire squids. Will there be a new reality show in the offing?

That's right: FBI agents can't pretend to be ISP repairmen to search homes without a warrant

Re: Time was not on FBI's side

Hmm...."running out of time"? There's usually a judge on call in a given area for search warrants just for time sensitive situations.

Top US Democrats cry death to Comcast-Time Warner hyper-gobble

Only 6 signed the letter...

That says a lot about the rest of them. Can we bulldoze Washington and start over...? Please?

RSA supremo rips 'failed' security industry a new backdoor, warns of 'super-mega hack'

Re: Bit rich ...

Well.. he would know, wouldn't he.

Dead Steve Jobs' wage-fixing pact in Silicon Valley was news to us, claim Apple directors

I guess we'll never know who knew then...

... unless they can find a way to re-animate Jobs and question him. Obviously there wasn't a BCC or CC on the emails.

BEND OVER, boy! Twitter lockdown to give trolls and bullies a good LICKING

Cruel and Unusual Punishment here....

Force naughty Twitter users to read and comment on all tweets from a specific user (Kim Kardashian or Justin Bieber) until they learn their lesson

Please, no. Not that. Anything but that... I'll leave quietly and I'll be good... promise.

UN: E-waste's 42 million tonnes represents 'valuable' (and ‘toxic’) urban mine

Re: Yes, Scare Tactics with everything recycling related

Dan, go back 20-30 years. Remember the "get plastic bags and save a tree" campaigns they ran? Now it's back to "use paper bags because the plastic ones don't decompose". The Greens really have no clue of which they speak. It's pure emotionalism and logic goes out the window.

This whole thing about e-waste is interesting and seems to be fraught with scare tactics. I see they're lumping different appliances including vacuum cleaners and laundry appliances into the mix. By the time, say a washer is stripped of the steel and motor, which they do, there's not much left in the way of electronic componentry. Even toasters are now tossed into the scrap metal pile for melting down and re-use.

Given what they're calling "e-waste", it looks to me like they're trying to inflate the numbers....

Re: "11.8 million tonnes from washing machines"

Compared to anything else, I would think that a lump of concrete in an old washing machine is a relatively minor issue.

Apple Watch shipments: Pick a number, double it. Hey, it worked for them

Re: 10K for a watch

I'll assume this is a package deal in that you can't get to the castle without the bridge and the bridge only goes to the castle. Hmm... I'll by the bridge and charge a toll to get to the castle then PROFIT!!!!!

Nork hackers no pantomime villains, but a hugely unpredictable menace

You raise many valid points. Even physical defence is harder than offence... thus the basis for the MAD philosophy of the Cold War era.

I find it interesting that the likes of NSA, GCHQ, et al, are not assisting our critical infrastructure in testing. Penetration testing seems to be the bailiwick of private firms and I would think they don't have the tools of the big 5. Rogue states are a problem just like the rogue terrorist... unpredictable in when and where they will strike. OTOH, I can see why the big 5 are not doing this since there's so damn many companies that would need to be tested.

Lapider les corneilles! French Patriot Act faces growing opposition

Re: Lowest Denominator, not even "common"

If so it could make privacy protections in the EU a race to the bottom.

Indeed it already is. What I see is "legalizing" what's already being done. The cases making the media were/are, at least from the media reports, variations of old-fashioned police work. They get a tip (usually an FB post) on someone and then investigate.

I would think that if they want these invasive acts to be approved by the general public, a bit of PR would be involved. Such as, we found via the data collection..... But they don't.

Flying giant octopus menaces New York

A surreptitious SpaceX test maybe?

It missed the barge... err... firetruck... completely.