* Posts by Herby

3058 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Dec 2007

IT depts under threat as City braces for 20,000 job cuts

Herby

If true, then it is time to....

Hone up on those BOFH skills. You know, how to bribe the beancounter. Curry favor with the boss, or other "necessary" skills. Planting bad stuff on the HR's computer. Webcams for fun (in the right places). Oh, the list goes on.....

(New) dirt-cheap bots attack Hotmail Captchas

Herby

A better solution

Why not have "word problems" and a picture. Like "multiply the left two digit number and right three digit number". Then the 'bot needs to understand a bunch of things. Then also require it on outgoing mail. A "reasonable" limit on the outgoing mail (n per day) could help as well. People with a yahoo! address don't need to send over 100 mails in the span of 5 minutes! The big reason for wanting the account is for the responses, not the outgoing stuff anyway.

Maybe they will have a one-time fee of $1.00 to open an account. Might help. Double it if more are opened in a 24 hour period.

New York lawmakers approve 'Amazon Tax'

Herby

Sales tax rates...

When NY State implements this mess (they will at least TRY to). The people of NY State will have lots of time to think up other ways to capture the goose that lays the golden eggs.

In California, I've seen the tax rate (Sales tax) go from 4% in the early 60's up to its present 8.25%. This is money that goes DIRECTLY to our wonderful government run by the Governator. The big problem is that while the rate has DOUBLED (remember this is the RATE), we don't get twice the government out of it. In fact we probably don't get much more than what the 4% bought us.

So, any way of getting out of paying sales taxes is welcome to many of us. Thankfully I've got relatives in (sales tax free) Oregon who can help out with those "big ticket" items.

For those of you wanting to know: Sales tax was originally supposed to be a replacement for property taxes on the same item. They thought of a rate and figures on how long you would keep it. It was supposed to be an easy replacement. Now our governments (there are lots here in the USA) wants a "piece of the action". Always your "partner" even if you don't want it. (*SIGH*)

Why California? I was down in Carmel (Clint's (make my day) hangout) this weekend and it was a nice 80 degrees, and the beach was wonderful. The weekend before, I was skiing at Lake Tahoe. Enough said!

The missing five-minute Linux manual for morons

Herby

Everybody knows VI is...

...VI. Nothing more. Nothing less. It has been that way since I started using it on a System 3 machine back in the 80's. If you want another editor, feel free to write it and have your fun. VI for all its uglyness (it has lots) seems to work OK. It also has the advantage that it is everywhere. Even on the silly HP/UX box. Yes, it is some junky variant that does some things a little bit differently, but it is VI through and through. As for the Windows people, if you want an editor, go back to EDLIN and cry there. Yes, it was everywhere (still is on XP).

As for editors, my personal favorite was EDT for DEC boxes. It worked quite well, and even was modeless. At least we aren't talking about EMACS which one can genuinely get LOST in. It probably has a mode that figures out your taxes (being April 15 is tomorrow).

Canada.gov blocks sale of space company to US

Herby
Joke

And I thought that Canada was...

...a wholly owned subsidiary of the USA. Now that their dollar is actually worth something.

And they have some silly leaf on the flag. Give me nice wonderful stars and stripes.

Why can't I put TWO icons next to the message, my coat is the one with the Shark on it, not the one with the Flame on it. Oh, well.

IBM wants to get youngsters hooked on Power

Herby

Memo to IBM

Make up a nice form factor compatible motherboard with PCI slots that uses the nice ATX power input connector. Include a reasonable BIOS that will boot a Linux DVD/CD. Sell for prices that are on a par with current x86 stuff.

I'll probably BUY it.

Lots of the 1U servers and desktop towers can be put together with a motherboard like that, if it has all the spigots that normally come with a normal PeeCee motherboard. I'd assume it has a couple of USBs, and a nice VGA port with a built in sound card. Nice additions would be some of those very usable "legacy" ports DE-9 serial and DB-25 parallel. Add in a network port (100BaseT) and you are good to go.

Nice marketing ploy: Include the Linux DVD.

Where do I sign up?

Area 51 drug test victim crashes flying car

Herby

Area 51? More like area 5150!!

California has all types (look it has me!). This guy is a little bit off the wall. Been watching way to many movies.

Google data centers snub Africa, Oz, and anything near Wyoming

Herby

Wyoming??

I understand Wyoming. Look the state is 1/2 the population of San Jose (California).

They have house numbers that measure distances in 100ths of miles. My brother is on 690 XXXX road, which is 6.9 miles from the "main road". Still a ways from the "city" (small bump in the road).

Then again, the outback of OZ is "wide open!" and Africa needs OLPC to get any computers. Maybe "Google knows best"!?!

BOFH: Lift laughs

Herby

You need the proper references for actors

"I need to go to Radio Shack and get some rosin core solder"

---Used Cars, 1980

It has a few BOFH moments.

World Bank chief: Ethanol cars run on human misery

Herby

No good deed goes unpunished...

It is the law of unintended consequences. Usually governments invent "good deeds" and we go from there.

Oh, goody. E85. Now what was the price of that corn tortilla?

Never mind!

No sense of humour? Avoid Bootnotes

Herby

Look, every paper needs its comics!

Every reasonable paper (even such things as _The Wall Street Journal_) have comics. They are part of life. We all need comedy relief from the drudge of daily life. What is life but to live it! In the beginning, one of the primary reasons for my reading of ElReg was to get a weekly dose of BOFH. Now actually, I find out things quicker than the local paper for lots of IT related things. There is always a mixture of stories that the public hears, and the mix here is one of the best as it relates to IT things. So, keep up the comedy relief, and when there is a knock-down drag-out fight between Naomi Campbell, and Paris Hilton, supply the pictures. Who cares about the IT angle. To quote a movie: "All jocks think about is sports, but all nerds think about is sex".

Happy Friday to all.

Al Gore dodges inconvenient green-tech questions

Herby

Simple Solution

No Press, No Fee. Thanks.

US will sky spy-sat to eye spy-sats

Herby

I sense a James Bond movie here

Why? I don't know, but there is a plot in this. Ground based zapper of space based zapper/looker?

Do I get something for this? Will I meet Daniel Craig? Will Q section build something? .....

Phishers offer credit card discounts to prospective marks

Herby

Simple solution?

NO HTML email. NONE! If you want something, send the link in plain text, and then use it. It becomes VERY obvious then there is a problem.

EBAY, PayPal are you listening?

Oh, address me by name. It always helps.

Undesclosed Recipients: To the bin!

Spam filtering services throttle Gmail to fight spammers

Herby

Outbound filters...

Wait for a while, then if detected as "bad", bounce back and request confirmation. The confirmation may be as simple as "what is your city" which you answered when you setup the account. Then the mail goes out. Anything that causes interaction on the outbound side will help.

As a note:

Spam exists because it works. People are (somehow) making money doing it. If we, by any means, make it less profitable it WILL go away. Any bit helps in this task.

Making SMTP die and come back with safeguards might do the trick! (we wish!)

American ISPs already sharing data with outside ad firms

Herby

If they did this to the postal mail...

Everyone would be VERY upset. It might go like this:

Oh, we are from a nice company and are going to open your mail to see what you do. We will then send you ads based on what you send and receive. Oh, and we are going to open the packages from UPS and FedEx to see what you order, and target ads there as well. By the way, the price of a stamp is going up.

What needs to be done is classify ISPs as common carriers. They can't do anything with the contents of the stuff they send without a court order.

Microsoft preaches togetherness for online security

Herby

Microsoft Security??

Another oxymoron! Enough said.

Maybe if they got rid of internet explorer and its nasty hooks back and forth in the operating system it might help.

E-passport security flaw allows remote ID of nationality

Herby
Black Helicopters

At least US passports do the "right thing"

And have built in shielding.

Me? A properly placed hammer blow ought to work nicely. Probably not too detectable until you attempt to 'read' the information. Then "ooops, it doesn't work!".

Are they circling yet?

HP launches Linux-loaded Eee PC rival

Herby

I noticed one thing...

I saw an article in a local newspaper here, and while the $500 price tag is for the box with Linux, the price for one with Vista was $600. Maybe they can sell more without the Microsoft TAX!

I don't know if they added anything to make it Vista OK, but $100 sounds about right for a Microsoft License.

Microsoft discloses 14,000 pages of coding secrets

Herby
Joke

Just remember where "hungarian notation" came from!

You might call THAT a coding secret, which may explain why Vista works "so well"

Naomi Campbell banned from BA flights

Herby

IT Angle for baggage?

Why don't these people simply put RFID tags on the bags. Of course I always make sure that my bags have the nice destination airport tag firmly attached to them BEFORE they leave my sight. This usually helps things along.

He says not having lost a bag in recent years.

EU sets cellphone users loose in aircraft

Herby

Sections of the plane:

Used to be Smoking/Non-smoking.

Now:

Phone/no-phone

Small crying children/"Adults"

Fat People/Thin people

Weak Bladder/Strong Bladder

Blowhard talker/Quiet Person

Ugly member of opposite sex/Drop dead beautiful super model

Now if I could get all my options correct (*SIGH*)

Yahoo! to Microsoft: No surrender!

Herby

Yahoos! proper reply to Microsoft

Should be in the same vein as McAuliffe's to the Germans in WW2.

One word is sufficient!

Microsoft gives XP an extra two years to live (kinda)

Herby

A way to dispose of XP

Just call it windows vista lite, and be done with it.

Third time lucky? Google seeks open access in white spaces

Herby

It isn't "white space"!!

It is actually real spectrum, with REAL uses.

The problem with the various "white space" goodies is that in their zeal to function, they WILL interfere with existing broadcast devices. Just because the transmitter can't hear the conflicting unit doesn't mean that a 3rd party won't hear both the real transmitter, and the interfering (white space) transmitter. The whole object of these devices is RANGE so they want to be heard. This means that they will cause interference. There are MANY unlicensed bands to use, the broadcast "white space" isn't one of them. The current use of the UHF tv spectrum (470-700MHz) is getting more crowded because they just sold off the 700-800 MHz part (USA channels 55-69). Given that the channel allocations vary all over our wonderful country, the "white space" devices have NO IDEA where to place their signal in the 230 MHz of bandwidth.

It isn't going to work. Go to 2.4GHz!!

Aussie laser-pointer dazzle attacks on airliners: Bad

Herby

At times these devices are EVIL

A couple of points:

If the pilot can see the ground (airport/runway), then the idiot with the laser pointer can "see" him.

The pointers do spread out a bit, but not that much. The "aimer" (idiot on ground) usually uses a reflection on the windscreen to aim.

While driving on the freeway a couple of years ago (at night!) I had one of these pointed at me. It was VERY distracting, especially since you really don't know what it is, and it is very unexpected).

Everyone should try to drive into the blinding setting sun to have a similar effect. You end up lowering visors, putting up hands, moving papers, anything to get it out of the way. Now do that while landing a plane. Oh wait you weren't told about it in advance.

Counter measures (zapping back) might cure the problem (permanently!).

Oh, another thing, the wavelength (green) is where the eye is most sensitive (so we can tell different vegetation apart from the tasty animals we used to hunt).

Coming up: the fingerprint-grabbing keylogger

Herby

"Are you listening"?

Probably not. It seems they never will!

How an app called WarmTouch nailed a grenade-stockpiling cyber extortionist

Herby

What happens when they apply it to ElReg's stories?

This could get VERY interesting. Have the program scan ALL the stories and catagorize the authors. It might make interesting reading.

The Facebook Initiative – Bill Gates's greatest invention

Herby

Microsoft buying Sun??

Why not buy the ACTUAL Sun? Charge everyone royalties for having sunlight? Isn't that pretty close to what Microsoft is doing now?

You want a sunny day, Microsoft will get you one for a silly fee of $1,000,000 or so. Winter in the northern hemisphere on July 30? No problem, get your governments together and for a small fee (your GNP/10 sounds about right) We'll do it for you. There might be a small delay in releasing "Winter 2.0", but 6 months isn't too bad.

Sounds like a winner!

ISO puts OOXML announcement on ice

Herby

Always a version 2.0

They could modify OOXML to be ODF at version 2.0

Lots of "standards" have morfed in wildly different ways over the years. Then get the same people to "ratify" the mess.

First permitted in-flight mobile call made

Herby

They have gone this far...

Why not just implant a call phone equivalent into everyone (for a fee). It would be biological powered (no need for a battery), and then it could read your mind so you don't need to talk.

It could also be used in place of a fingerprint to identify you for those going through the new terminal at LHR.

Step right up and we'll install one for you.

T5 opening turns into Airplane 3.0

Herby

Airport "security"

Why, why, why don't they have a "security" device that is like one of those moving walkways. It shuffles you through, and if you need more "inspection", you bet pushed into the reject pile. Forget all those metal detectors, and stuff. If they can do it on assembly lines, why not at an airport.

Of course, they could treat every human like baggage and wrap it all up and put it on the carousel only to get lost. Reminds me of a sequence in one of the Airplane movies.

And I'm flying tomorrow.

MPAA copyright punch up knocks out TorrentSpy

Herby

A solution?

Make the torrent itself an index?

Source out the "query" and then have all your peers respond with pointers to the information you want.

No central "authority" to shut down, so the Ass's can't go after it.

Of course, there is the "small matter of programming" that needs to be done, but once it is, look out! Then ComCast and Bell Canada will need to do lots to stop the peer-to-peer sharing.

Its a jungle out there....

Mozilla plugs 10 security holes in Firefox

Herby

Re: Multiple Browsers

While I prefer FF, it is a VERY sad fact of life that some things require IE. In my case, I an required to use this ugly application called Kronos. It is all in Java, and needs to be pacified with IE. Then there are some web pages that only seem to render well in IE as well (IBM's ClearQuest).

Yes, all of these things are stupid for insisting on IE. Me, I grin and bear it.

Bell Canada chokes BitTorrent traffic on someone else's ISP

Herby

Yes, this looks bad, but...

It appears that they are only "throttling" the traffic, not stopping it dead in its tracks and slapping it in the face like ComCast!

Then again I'm not connected to them, so I could be wrong!

But it is still BAD! I suspect that the BitTorrent people will make up a work around, and the Bell Canada people will have a harder time.

Keyboard PC design recalls Amiga era

Herby

What isn't shown...

In the picture is the b*** ugly power module you need. Can't someone get this right. If we are getting a "zero..." goodie, I don't want any other junk. Just a power cord that plugs into the wall. Until then, don't bother me. If I want a screen-less laptop, I'll just yank the screen off the hinges and continue. It has all the ports anyway.

Where is one of those EEEPCs when you need one. Much nicer, cheaper, and comes loaded with the right operating system.

Cue the picture of the model...

Boeing faces jumbo problem over US aerial raygun fleet

Herby
Joke

Easy solution...

Just get a WHOLE bunch of battery operated laser pointers, wrap them up with a rubber band, and fly them on a Piper Cub. Wouldn't that do the trick?

I remember when some idiot pointed one at me while driving on the freeway. It REALLY annoyed me.

Spyware 'scammer' sued over PC pop-up invasion

Herby
Coat

Washington state needs to go after ALL virus writers

Including the one who is located in their state that supplies the biggest virus of all: Windows!

Mine is the one that is shaped like a flag with four colors.

Vista SP1 customers get free support

Herby

Irony of the moment??

"Under the plan customers can email a special SP1 support address or use online chat.". What happens if Vista is so broken that you can't email, or online chat?

...Keyboard not connected, press F1 to continue....

Of course, you could phone for support, but you might as well have a recording when they ask the same questions over and over again (see older post).

Good luck to all.

Yes! It's the handgun camcorder!

Herby

But no sound recording?

What happens when it records an "accidental" shooting, like in a cockpit of an airplane. I can hear it now:

"Hey Clyde, look at this neat gun I can have."

"You shouldn't play with that <bang> thing. Too late, never mind".

"How do we hide this from the bosses....."

Another star is born. See the Darwin award in living color!

Soot almost as bad as CO2 for global warming

Herby
Coat

And maybe a volcano or two

Krakatoa and Mt. St. Helens to name a few. Then again, didn't those block out the sun and cause a longer winter? And there was the "nuclear winter" problem when atomic weapons were more "common". Maybe I've mixed it up a bit, or the "scientists" are wrong? No, couldn't be wrong, that would mean Al Gore was wrong, and we know he is NEVER ("I invented the internet") wrong.

Just walking out the door.....

US government cools on Real ID threats

Herby

I am reminded of a New Hampshire license plate

That says: "Live Free or Die" (it is the state motto). Being as they are one of the renegade states, they might have something. Me, I'm in California, and might see what microwave ovens do to the nasty chip they might put in.

Many options!

DOJ blesses XM/Sirius marriage

Herby

If they merge they should give up ONE of the two groups of channels

So that another competitor can come along. Otherwise, it just won't work. Fine if they want to "merge" but let someone else in the door. It seems only fair.

Than again, local radio is MUCH better (after you throw out the HD [not high definition] crap).

Crystal sets rejoice!

X Prize comes to earth

Herby
Joke

Hasn't this already been done?

Back in the "Stone Age" our friend and buddy, Fred Flintstone, had a very fuel efficient vehicle. It ran on foot power so it was VERY fuel efficient (not to mention it may have helped fight obesity).

So, does Hanna-Barbera get the prize??

BOFH: Impatience

Herby

Yes, we all need one, but...

As everyone knows every BOFH started out life as a PFY at one time or another. Therein lies a problem. Yes, we need one, but if they get too much knowledge, the castle coup takes place at some time. It happens when the PFY gets the BOFH (or the pretender to BOFHdom) relieved at some time.

Yes, I was a PFY at one time (it was the 60's). Then I became a BOFH, and then relieved. Changing of bosses, did me in.

SIIA slaps lawsuits on eight eBay Adobe sellers

Herby

Isn't this poor Register form?

Shouldn't the "Software & Information Industry Association" be "Software & Information Industry Ass."?

Of course my feelings about the scumbags selling pirated software are another thing, but I digress.

Supremes reject Microsoft's Novell request

Herby

Microsoft standards....

Why don't these guys do a standard on Cobol. Then make changes. They might finally get the fight they deserve!

Oh, well. Wishful thinking.

How big an eco-hazard is IT equipment?

Herby

Zero power standby...

Long ago in a galaxy far far away (well, not really that far!) a company called Apple Computer used a small battery to allow the power-on button on the keyboard to function. On other machines, they actually had a device called an on-off switch that switched on and off (the horror) the mains. Now we have the new ATX power supplies used in many PC's that have a standby voltage generated that is there to turn on the rest of the power supply. In fact if you want to turn on one of these, you need to add a jumper from the standby lead to the power-on lead to make it work outside of a computer environment.

All in all, charging a capacitor makes lots of sense. The biggest problem: What to do if it isn't charged?

Other standby follies: I had a nice large Sony TV set. Its "standby" power was used to power the remote control stuff enabling it to power on. On several occasions, my locally supplied power went from normal (120volts) to "mood lighting" (about 70 volts, long story). When this happened, the standby supply couldn't do its trick, but I could press the power button on the TV set. Then with lots of straining, the TV would come on and actually function. I suspect that the normal power supply (actually a large resistor from the mains (line) voltage) just fed a regulator, and the design was such that it worked. Those days (about 5 of them, I guess) all the street lights were out (they were arc lights that couldn't strike), but the Christmas lights were all at "low intensity", and it was an eeerie feeling (as I said mood lighting). I can only surmise that we emitted less CO2 that day.

Russian serfs paid $3 a day to break CAPTCHAs

Herby

Another idea/solution

How about increasing the delay (log scale) for subsequent "attacks" (signups) fro the same IP address. While it won't reduce the number (directly), it WILL make it more difficult.

The lowly $3 per day people won't get much done after a while!

Yes, I know about shared IP addresses, but after week, reset the time.

XP daddy: go incremental on design

Herby
Joke

XP??

Haven't you upgraded to Vista yet?