Posts by Vic

Re: Flirting with Linux Mint

First thing I saw was that there are 3 different versions of it, and that was enough to repel me - I'd be bound to pick the wrong one

As long as you can choose between 32-bit and 64-bit, you'll be just fine[1]. Converting between the versions after installation is trivial - it's all the same software from the same repositories, just with different options chosen. And you can re-make those choices as often as you like...

Vic.

[1] Even if you choose your word-size incorrectly, you can re-install the right one later without losing your stuff just by saving the /home directory.

Re: Bootnote

Top right of the page in the red bar.

Look up. Right up. If you squint, you might just about make out the joke...

Vic.

Re: Wrong info

NO, you're not! As noted in the end of the linked article: "for some reason, the fix was not applied to Nexus devices"

Besides - if the attacker is sufficiently-motivated and has physical access to a device, that which has been fixed can be un-fixed...

Vic.

Re: I wonder...

spotted something before I did (like "YOU'RE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!")

That's going to get really annoying during an extended overtaking manoeuvre...

Vic.

Re: The supersonic Lightning II, as it will be known in RAF service,

they're sullying the name Lightning

Check the specs - the Lightning flies faster[1] and higher than the Lightning 2. The later[2] aircraft could not intercept the older one...

Vic.

[1] Much!

[2] By six and a half decades...

they are not there to have a good time.

A mate of mine spent a little while in HMP Winchester a few years back. He had a fully-kitted music studio to himself - no-one else seemed to want to use it.

He was gutted when they moved him to Ford...

Vic.

There is no Latin plural. 'Referendum' means 'that which is to be referred'. It has no plural.

Errr - are you sure?

It's been a few years since I studied Latin, and I have had a few beers tonight, but I can see no reason to discount a plural gerund in this case, even if the gerund is often used in a non-countable context.

If you can correct me, I'd be happy to learn something new...

Vic.

Re: I'm with Sanditz, there.

Sony (who call it iLink... go figure)

It was worse than that.

I was a Sony employee at the time. Word came down from On High that it was to be called i.Link (including the dot) and nothing else - we were not permitted to let on to the world at large that it was 1394.

I had to write a rebuttal to a ZDNet article years ago that claimed i.Link was a new audio codec - they seemed to have become confused about i.Link and ATRAC. I had to word it very carefully - emphasising that it was a network, not a codec, but without mentioning FireWire anywhere in my piece :-)

Vic.

Re: Sounds like a transputer

It didn't take off at the time

It did take off at the time - many units were sold.

And even after the Transputer name ceased to be used, the cores were still selling - as the ST20, which powers a significant portion[1] of the digital TV decoder market.

Disclosure: I used to work there...

Vic.

[1] At one point, the ST20 had almost 100% of the European decoder market. But then the competition came along :-)

Unfortunately for the Lib Dems, they were blamed for the unpopular Tory policies

No, I don't think so.

They made a personal pledge before the coalition. They then did a complete 180 and ignored that pledge. And when called on it, they apologised - not for breaking their word, but for making the pledge in the first place.

Tuition fees was quite an important policy for many of us - but more important was the breach in faith that occurred as soon as they got a hint of power.

Vic.

I mean reliable and repeatable right, not right every now and then by accident

These geostationary launches are unlikely ever to be repeatedly reusable - they are working on the very limit of fuel availability. Expect crashes on return.

Getting the payloaaad aloft is the main goal; getting the first stage back is profit...

Vic.

Re: Born out by experience

there simply aren't enough good developers available.

There are loads of good developers available.

That their CVs aren't getting to your desk implies at least one of the following :-

• Your positions are not sufficiently appealing as advertised.
• Your filtering mechanism is discarding the CVs you want and passing the ones you don't.

The latter does seem to correlate rather strongly with using recruitment agencies...

Vic.

Re: Why LIGO Is a Scam

Twat.

Vic.

Re: Irony

sign up for free with Hurricane Electric or SixXS and get yourself a free /64 to play with - followed by the free /48 so you can play with address layout / VLAN's in IPv6.

SixXS is no longer allocating subnets. There was a stroppy email about it a few weeks back - it's an attmept to force people to badger their ISPs to support IPv6 natively.

El Reg should have done the IPv6 change long ago

I'd rather El Reg concentrate on getting HTTPS working...

Vic.

Re: Haven't we been here before?

just not clear what is really "new" here

It's got a new hat </smithers>

Vic.

Re: HTTPS requires domain names, not IP addresses

At least this gets rid of the problem of apps sending encrypted or obfuscated data to unknown IP addresses

Tell me you're not serious...

Vic.

Re: Safe spaces for vapers needed

Your life should end with whatever celebration you can still enjoy

Some years ago, a mate of mone was on a terminal ward.

The guys there decided it would be a laugh to modify their drugs charts - e.g. adding "Gin and Tonic". After all, what could they do to them?>

The medical staff saw the funny side, and these chaps all got their bevvies. I've no idea who paid for it...

VIc.

Re: Guns don't kill people....

He could have just as easily blocked the exits and set the joint on fire.

If he'd set a joint on fire, he'd probably have been far too mellowed-out to harm anyone...

Vic.

Re: "revenue from any taxes levied...

Hunger does not equal low blood sugar levels;

OK, here's a claim for which I can't be arsed to provide any substantiation, but I'm sure a bit of research can back it up.

Most people don't drink enough liquids. And they get thirsty as a result. And they cannot distinguish that feeling from "hungry"[1], so they eat food.

So when a fat person starts talking about "water retention", that's actually exactly what it isn't.

Vic.

[1] Cetaceans suffer this far more than humans; they need a fresh-water supply despite, for most of them, spending their lives in seawater. Thus their entire water supply is obtained through their food, and they have no distinction whatsoever between "hungry" and "thirsty". Playing a hose into a dolphin's mouth at a dolphinarium - whilst potentially quite endearing - is actually messing with their diet...

Re: this may actually be useful in a cloud-component world

In a world where you have no integration but components on the cloud plugged together by people who can manage projects and understand business and technology.

This world does not exist - and never will.

There's always integration - it's just not always as abvious in some cases. And if it's not obvioous, guess what happens? And when it gets forgotten, guess what happens?

Vic.

can I even get one at all as a non-Brit?

Yes, but there are restrictions on what you can do with it.

For example. Bob Geldof was given a KBE - which, if he were British, would make him Sir Bob. But as he is an Irish cirtizen, it doesn't; he is Bob Geldof KBE. Not that that stops anyone calling him "Sir Bob", of course...

Vic.

Re: I've used the BA boarding pass app

Which raises the question why you spent money on a smartphone?

Because it does a whole load of things that I want to use from time to time.

And when I choose to do those things - I've got battery left to do so, because I haven't wasted it all doing numpty nonsense that didn't interest me.

Simple, huh?

Vic.

Re: Patient? What patient?

Any ideas on how that could be fixed??? (perhaps BOFH style?)

My solutions always involve diesel...

Vic.

Re: Maybe...

"Gravity"? The movie

Yeah, that went pretty wrong...

Vic.

Re: Management

Often the real problem is the various PHBs deciding what constitute good code.

s/deciding/caring/

Vic.