* Posts by adnim

2081 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Apr 2007

US judge says University can ignore Christian course credits

adnim

@Richard:Mythjudgment

The university dare because as a university the onus on them is to teach and support fact and not perpetuate nor encourage fairy tale belief systems.

I do agree with you that one religion should not be singled out. This judges ruling and the university of California admission policy should apply the same lack of acceptance to ALL faith based teachings where the fantasy contained within "the book" contradicts established fact and do so without bias.

Perhaps the judge singled out Christians because that was what the case concerned. Should a similar case arise where the teachings of Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Scientology at al are called into question, I hope the university and the judge show the same level of integrity and common sense.

adnim

@AC:1307

"I'm not going to go as far as Richard Dawkins and call it Child Abuse"

I will, religious indoctrination IS child abuse, and I believe this to be fact.

I know this from experience, it took me a long time to shake off the guilt trip and fear that a religious and superstitious Catholic mother programmed into me. Between her and Sunday school my mind was well and truly fucked up. I am fortunate that I have never been afraid to question, can think in a logical manner and have a somewhat rebellious nature. Otherwise I would still be suffering from the mental illness that an irrational belief system instills in a fresh impressionable mind.

Yahoo! knows! where! you! are!

adnim

Who needs Yahoo for this?

email, landine, mobile, even the postal service are adequate ways to let those whom you wish to know where you are, where you are. Why should I tell Yahoo and and all those thrid parties they will likely sell this information to. I could be paranoid but in todays snoop society is it really paranoia?

Dell offers glimpse of monster quad-core laptop

adnim
Joke

Cool.

Does it come with a free Charles Atlas course or wheels?

16-card GPU bangs-per-buck mega shoot out

adnim

Great with news poor with reviews

Don't give up the day job Reg ;-) I use dedicated sites for hardware reviews, I use Reg for my daily dose of IT news. The right tool for the job as my missus always says.

Reg I will happily do professional, real world hardware reviews for your site for a fee which is open to negotiation. You have my email address.

iPhone apps selling like hot cakes

adnim

I find this amusing

If Apple were above board and made it clear about this feature in the marketing literature then I wonder how the hell it sold in the first place. If they didn't, anyone who is smarter than the average sheep will not buy an iPhone now that this information has come to light. Were iPhone purchasers aware that Apple has full control of an unlocked iPhone before they bought into the hype? I am curious if people were that stupid.

Home Office lost CDs on 3,000 workers

adnim

Soon to be common place.

Let me theorise a little....

This is part of a concerted effort to make data loss less and less newsworthy. After a few more lost CD's and mislaid, lost or stolen laptops it won't be news any more, we will all become desensitised to such things and we will barely raise a shrug. News agencies will eventually ignore the data loss stories and report on the latest winner of Big Brother, Pop Idol or some pointless reality show instead. The government wish us the public to be as complacent about data loss as they are about data security. And if they continue to lose data at this rate they will succeed. There is method to this madness.

No I don't believe the above theory at all. Well, I don't believe it being a concerted effort.

VIA heralds end of third-party PC chipset biz

adnim

KT7 Raid

There's a Via chipset on the Abit KT7 RAID mobo in my garage. It was my main PC for a while even had my 1Ghz TBird doing 1.4+Ghz on it. It has been running 24/7 with the occasional reboot for about 5 years now although at 1.1Ghz. It is used as a media/file server. When competition thins in any area it is a sad thing.

Secret of invisibility unravelled by US researchers

adnim

Kill the sound.

As mentioned sound could be used to pin point invisible objects. Now once the sound of any object can be muted as well as that object being rendered invisible, there is a real potential to this technology which more than justifies any outlay in R&D costs.

It could be applied to girl/boy bands and celebrities.

Apple's secret iPhone app blacklist

adnim

@Neoc

I understand now, yes I fell for the misconception. Thanks for pointing it out, education is a fine thing, I might get myself one someday ;-)

I was aware of the truth behind the 10% brain usage assertion. I do feel however that the average consumer only has 10% of the neuronal connections found within the brain of a normal healthy sheep.

adnim
Flame

Owning hardware

So who owns that shiny new iPhone? Well the consumer holds it in their hands and possession is 9/10ths of the law. ROFLMAO.

I for one actually want control over the products and software I use. I want to determine what it does, what is run, where it may or may not connect and what it does or doesn't download and install.

I must say the more that hardware and software systems come under the control of the manufacturer the more OSS should become the norm for the wise user. Jump on the iPhone sheeple, conform, consume, obey.

Flame me by all means, after all you really need to defend that purchase don't you? Why did you buy it again? Because it offers something you cannot live without, or because it looks good and makes you feel cool when you whip it out at the pub/restaurant? Rhetorical question, I am sure lots of excuses can be bandied about concerning the essential, can't live without it iPhone.

Flame cos i's flame baiting, come on and bite posers ;-)

Kiwi cops hunt teenage serial burglar with head of Robbie Coltrane

adnim

Artist impression

or are they illegal under New Zealand law too?

I cannot believe that any official is this dumb, have you made this story up Reg?

/me shakes head in disbelief

Crimeware grifters scamming naive phishers

adnim

So few.

I would have thought that considering how easy it is to clone a valid site that ALL of these kind of kits would have backdoors. After all if a scammer is unable to replicate a target website and needs tools to do such a thing, he/she/it is unlikely to notice code that sends the data elsewhere.

Sometimes I hate being honest, I could be rich instead. Yes I know riches wouldn't make me happy, but it would be a nice diversion until I got bored with it.

Man buys $1,000 worth of iPhone pixels by accident

adnim

Doesn't work

The "BUY APP" button on the image within the news item doesn't work when I click on it... Do I have to go to the Apple iPhone web site?

BT slams bandwidth brakes on all subscribers

adnim

@AC:well done BT!

Yup that's excellent news. BT throttle illegal p2p file sharing by indiscriminately throttling ALL p2p traffic.

Now by the same logic let's throttle or stop completely all protocols that allow for the dissemination of illegal material... We should start with http and ftp then move on to NNTP, POP and IMAP protocols and completely disregard any legitimate use of these protocols.

BT do not traffic shape to protect copyright holders from illegal file sharers. BT traffic shape to save themselves money, and maximise profit.

I can only guess you do not use p2p at all for any reason. And because of that it is fine that it is throttled regardless of content. Hats off to your "I'm alright Jack" attitude, just what we need, solidarity of consumers in the face of piss taking corporations.

Hard 'core'? Birmingham City Council's net filtering

adnim

Don't do it at work.

"If it's not illegal, is it really any business of an employer what an employee gets up to in their spare time?"

Off site, away from the work place, no. At work using the facilities, computer systems, network, bandwidth, yes.

To restrict access to one site of a particular type as in the case of religious sites whilst allowing access to other more mainstream site of the same type is wrong. If a user can access a Christian site, then users should also be able to access a Satanist site, Hindu site, Muslim site, even the Scientology site etc.

Despite having full control of the network, proxy server and all logging/monitoring during my last employ, I personally never abused the systems. I had to enforce security policy, so it was only fair I led by example. I used to have a quiet word in the ear of those employees who did abuse their Internet access though. A nice little chat was in my experience always enough to stop the downloading of porn during break times and to enforce policy. No need for official warnings and other such bollocks. I found that those users who did abuse the freedom of Internet access they were given did behave after one of my informal chats and they knew that their every Internet access was logged. I also made sure they understood that I wouldn't allow them to take the piss.

Thailand bans GTA after video game style murder

adnim

The truth is..

GTA IV is a tutorial, he obviously failed his training.

My training period is almost over having completed all the GTA series, Soldier of Fortune I & II, Postal and a host of other CBT gaming titles I am almost fully prepared, I just need to find a stray dog, a can of petrol and a cigarette lighter to complete my arsenal.

Nvidia waves goodbye to chipsets?

adnim

Surely missed

What a shame, they made the best, fastest, most reliable, most stable chipsets. A joy to use and one never ever had to worry about data integrity. I will shed many tears, in fact I am pondering the point of life without Nvidia chipsets.

Black hats attack gaping DNS hole

adnim

Clara

1. 195.8.69.7 (resolver1.uk.clara.net) appears to have GOOD source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

2. 80.168.69.20 (resolver3.clara.net) appears to have GREAT source port randomness and GREAT transaction ID randomness.

I like my ISP, not cheap, not throttled either. No apparent port blocking. Local call rate support. Just in case anyone wants to jump ship from any Phormised ISP.

No I am not a Clara employee ;-)

NASA spies liquid in Titanic lake

adnim

What a shame

they didn't notice this before invading Iraq. It would have saved a few bob and quite a few lives.

EA preps video game PCs

adnim

Useless

A £400 PC will not run the latest games at maximum quality and a decent resolution. Will the marketing literature state that for optimal performance please set game quality to low/medium or lower your screen resolution to 800x600? I don't think so. How many will EA con with this bullshit?

And I can imagine the kind of components they will stuff into the cheapo case fitted with a generic 350W PSU. They will want to make a profit, most likely a big one, so I can imagine it will consist of components to the value of £300-£350. These PC's will be a joke to the serious gamer.

Comcast plays New York anti-porn game

adnim

Stop it all

Shutdown usenet. Stop all p2p, close all file sharing sites, disband all postal services from all nations.Shutdown Fed-Ex, UPS et al. Stop all email services. Stop all file transfer on IRC and block all ftp traffic and maybe just maybe a noticeable impact may be made on the distribution of child porn. Finally set up CCTV in all public places and look for people exchanging brown paper bags or envelopes. Even with these measures child pornographers will still find a way to disseminate their images.

Is it really impossible to track down those who post to newsgroups, other than those who hijack wifi or use unmonitored Internet cafes? Surely it would be better to let child pornographers post away and try to find them, rather than forcing this kind of activity further underground.

Microsoft to kill Windows with 'web-centric' Midori?

adnim

Microsoft to kill Windows...

Didn't they do that with Vista already?

I don't fully understand the concept here, so please be a little forgiving, and by all means point out my errors.

Microsoft expect us to trust them with all our computing now? A net-centric operating system which you have to be connected to ms servers to use. All ones actions within the OS monitored and logged. Well not for me thanks. This is a hackers dream, ms code has be owned by hackers from day one, how do they expect to secure this scenario?

“It’s also about driving change in business models through advertising, subscriptions, and online transactions. Software plus services is a huge opportunity for us to deliver new value on the desktop and the server to all of our customers.”

Change may be required for more efficient and secure ways of utilising computers, but this to me is nonsense. A change for the worse, where more control is removed from the user and given to the supplier. All your data and actions traveling over networks for any third party to sniff at. With ms and partners doing what the hell they wish with that data. How does this make for a trusted computing platform? As for value, I bought XP a long time ago, along with Office 2003 they have served me well, and will likely continue to do so for some time. That is value, although I didn't think so at the time. Now open source, which I use on my laptops, that's real value. I think the value they are thinking of is the value this business model has to their shareholders.

Advertising and subscription are the fees for using this technology, well I don't do adverts EVER and I certainly won't contribute to ms coffers every month. For me this is a big fail, and I sincerely hope if it does go ahead it heralds the end of ms.

Given a choice of running my enterprise (If I was responsible for one) between the MS head in the clouds idea of sharing all my actions with them or keeping my business actions and data within the corporate LAN. Guess which I would choose.

I wonder if anyone will take this seriously and if so why? Not rhetorical questions, I may have overlooked something, something that will be of actual benefit and value to the end user.

More dodgy phone-ins cost BBC £400,000

adnim

@Decard

You are in essence correct. But what is also true is that there are no rules, there are no laws, that is until one gets caught. I have never bought a TV licence. I never will.

My partner pays for the TV licence, she does so because I refuse to pay for recycled material or programing I don't watch. OK about 10% of TV broadcast is of interest to me, but I don't get an option to pay 10% of the fee.

I wonder if I could charge the BBC rent for passing their signals through my house?

Like so much else, choice is an illusion.

adnim

The training failed...

"The BBC briefly suspended all phone-in competitions, and trained 19,000 staff in how not to swindle viewers and abuse trust."

If staff need training not to rip off customers, what kind of staff are they employing? I walked out of my last job as a laptop engineer because my employer was over charging customers for labour hours and charging for the replacement of parts that weren't. Looking back now, I should have collected evidence and grassed the bastard up. A conflict of morality and conditioning, where my conditioning won out stopped me. I guess we all dislike what we are or what we have become at some point, at least those with a conscience do.

Plods say it's OK for them give out your DNA

adnim

Revenue stream

I can only presume there is a charge for access to these profiles. So all the denials regarding the use of DNA profiles for anything other than the detection of perpetrators of crime is like most of what our wonderful caring, sharing government spout... bullshit. Two years is too long to wait for a change of government in this country, too much damage to our rights, freedoms and civil liberties can be wrought during this time. We need a general election now. Although I do despair that any future government will just build upon these abuses.

It's official: The Home Office is listening

adnim

Inference..

This is illegal wrt official secrets? Well one learns something everyday. What one has to remember is that we are very much victims of a do as we say not do as we do style of governance here in the UK. Double standards have always existed from way before the days of doffing our cap as a sign of respect to our "superiors". The defenders of our morality have been doing whatever they desire behind closed doors from time immemorial. These days the actions are more blatant, with the catch phrase "it's for you own good" as a defence. Double standards will continue whilst one class of society puts itself above others and those others sheepishly allow it.

Alcoholic Malaysian shrews cast doubt on UK booze panic

adnim

Confirms my theory

That small furry animals are far more civilised than humans, given that just like drunken humans they urinate in public places. However, at least these lucky fellows don't get greeted with a police baton, banged up and have their DNA stolen on the meander home.

Exploit code targets Mac OS X, iTunes, Java, Winzip...

adnim

I was wondering when this would happen

Most people would automatically trust a dialogue box that prompted a user to download and install updates to <insert name of trusted software here>. Much software has an autoupdate option these days, and in most cases it is enabled by default. This exploit along with spoofing could be modified to subvert any auto update process. Time for end to end encrypted updating via VPN in transport mode using signed and hashed files with the client initiating the connection?

Once cracking was the realm of intelligent and smart people, people unlike me, who knew the systems and protocols involved inside out. As a novice security researcher I have welcomed the arrival of tools like Backtrack and KCpentrix. I read the code and learn, hopefully I will one day consider myself smart. Unfortunately the arrival of these tools has also allowed anyone who can use a GUI to become a cracker. They have dumbed down cracking, just has MS have dumbed down PC use so that any retard can troll forums and spam newsgroups. Now any retard can own your PC.

I have always with the exception of Firefox and Avast manually updated software via download from the developers website. I have never trusted auto update functions, paranoia? It would seem not. Perhaps it is now time to to manually update Firefox and my AV signatures too. In my last position, I never allowed auto updating of anything, I would download and test the update/patch and if satisfied I would then deploy. It did create more work for myself and I would occasionally have to work late to catch up but I was sure that update was legitimate and would not break any of the client machines.

As a footnote, one should also be concerned about Firefox addons. It has come to my attention that binary libraries can be included in the XPI archive and the code can do anything with the machine that the current user has rights to do. I have not come across a malicious Firefox addon yet, although this doesn't mean they don't exist.... Be careful out there

adnim

@AC:OpenOffice

Open Source: The point to me is that I know what the ingredients of an open source software solution is. If it contains poison, I can see it, If it wants to phone home and tell the developers the nature of porn I view, I am aware of it. If there is a back door I can see it. If it is broke or does not work on my particular set up I can attempt to fix it. Open source software is reviewed by many independent developers with differing agendas. I trust the content of open source software because of this independent peer review, this does not mean that it is free of vulnerabilities, bugs or flaws. Just free of bullshit lies and deceit.

Screwgle™ - Google's new ad revenue model

adnim

@AC:wake up adnim

I dislike football intensely, I can think of a few things more boring and tedious, but not many. Golf, tennis, darts and snooker come to mind. I would need paying to watch any of them, so I don't care. Of course everyone who loves football should suffer just so that I don't have to see any or hear about it.

And I no I shan't wake up, I prefer it it in my deluded dreamy utopia, void of advertising, void of greed and void of footballer egos.

Like I said, I didn't think about it, and will continue not to do so ;-)

adnim

I have a dream....

One day advertising will be illegal except via a handful of free publications that are only available on request. A hand full of dedicated websites would supply advertisements and consumer reviews for products. There would be no advertising of any kind anywhere else, this includes billboards, sponsored sport and sponsored TV programs. Wouldn't it be wonderful, a world where a product, sport or TV program survived and thrived on it's merits alone? I can imagine a football teams paying to be televised and players earning a decent living wage instead of a kings ransom.

Like I said it is a dream, and I am sure many holes could be poked in my dream, I could likely find quite a few too if thought about it. I guess I am just one of a very small minority that finds all advertising invasive.

As for Google, this is what happens with monopolies. It doesn't have to... Greed is a wholly human trait. One which for some, sorry I actually mean many, is too difficult to resist.

US nuke missile crew falls asleep on the job

adnim

@TheBloke:What's the problem

I agree entirely. However I would be worried if they were dexterous somnambulists.

Cheque-red flag for Max Mosley

adnim

Excellent result

Congratulations on your victory Max.

Lets hope we see less invasions into the private lives of public figures with this ruling. Not because I particularly care about the privacy of celebrities, I am just sick to death of hearing about the lives of what are mostly vacuous non-entities in the media.

"reasonable expectation of privacy". I feel the judge should have said "absolute expectation of privacy".

"the Claimant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to sexual activities (albeit unconventional) carried on between consenting adults on private property. I found that there was no evidence that the gathering on 28 March 2008 was intended to be an enactment of Nazi behaviour or adoption of any of its attitudes...."

So what if it was? He is still entitled to privacy. Consenting adults in a fantasy role play situation should not have to justify their behaviour. Patient and nurse, teacher and pupil or Nazi and prisoner. I don't see a problem.

"...Nor was it in fact. I see no genuine basis at all for the suggestion that the participants mocked the victims of the Holocaust."

Even if they did, again this a private fantasy role play situation between consenting adults, so what? To me is it sad and somewhat sick to mock victims of any kind of horror, but in private, who's business is it?

S&M is something I do not participate in, I'm sure I never will. Nor do I engage in role play with my partner... boring ain't I? But I am liberal enough not to condemn others and presume that such behaviour is a blot on their character.

If S&M and or role play floats your boat then float away my friends, just be on the look out for hidden cameras fist I mean first ;-)

Seeing as the NOTW normally prints a shite feast for the feeble minded I wonder how it would have reported the story if he was into scat?

Firefox sweeps away carpet bombing bug

adnim

@here we go again

Just Firefox, not sacking windows because you are sick and tired of windows updates too?

Yes, it has taken sometime to get this update out, maybe they were testing to ensure it didn't break anything else or introduce even more insecurity. Something Microsoft don't seem to give a shit about. Of course they could just be recovering from the hangover caused by the celebrations after version 3 release. Or, if they are anything like me they are just bone idle.

Pope apologises for Apple's MobileMe sins

adnim

Yup funny story..

But not as funny as the comments. I prefer to call it the bollox phone, because it is bollox and one could also say the term applies to all religious deities.

Blasphemy is a matter of opinion as far as a god is concerned. The OED definition of the word is partially invalid, and it should have its definition rewritten. Of the few things that are genuinely sacred and sacrosanct, life, truth, freedom of choice and honesty come to mind. Things that most if not all religions seem to blissfully piss all over.

Apple swipes £121 for 'free' MobileMe trial

adnim

Laughable

that consumers will supply credit or debit card details for a free trial. Would the words fraud and theft be too strong to describe this "free" trial?

It's much safer to tar all corporates and big businesses with the same brush, the one dipped in the tin with "thieves and scoundrels" printed on the label. If we as consumers were not so blinded by the advertising machinery and prone to sheep like behaviour we could pretty much determine our own terms for services and goods. I accept I live in a dream utopia where the consumer is in control, and not a world where the word consumer is synonymous with the term cattle to the slaughter.

BT breaks up families

adnim

Pedant in the midst.

As opposed to fat balding gorillas. Is not BT's home hub actually a router, and how easy is this new one to root?

If I may be so bold as to suggest, it really must have been not so much a "long old day" as a slow old day at The Register for this item to be considered newsworthy :-)

Unpatched Windows PCs own3d in less than four minutes

adnim

About right.

Several months ago out of curiosity I setup Windows XP SP1 as fresh install on VMware using a Debian host, XP was configured with a static IP set up in the DMZ. An Agobot variant owned its ass so quickly I actually laughed. I rarely ever find anything funny, as in funny ha ha, about using a Microsoft OS.

Credit where it is due though, XP SP3 after so many years of patching, fixing and updating has now reached such a level of stability, reliability and possible security (I don't use IE, Windows mediaplayer or messenger). That I find it a pleasure to use. I still wouldn't leave it open to the Internet though. In fact I don't leave anything open to the Internet 'cept my Honeynet.

The Top Ten 3G iPhone beaters

adnim

For the sake of my ego,

it is important that I am smarter than my mobile phone. I have a Nokia 6170 and I just about out smart it.

US retailers start pushing $20 Ubuntu

adnim
Thumb Up

Fair enough,

more exposure, a nice box and a paper manual. I download and find my own support from forums and the such like. But any approach that exposes open source systems to those that are not even aware of an alternative to the closed and tightly controlled software/spyware that m$ punts is a good thing, a very good thing.

NebuAd plays cat and mouse with data pimping opt-out

adnim

Cards meet table

Well, as far as I am concerned ANY entity dealing with the general public that does not wholly and truthfully divulge what its modus operandi is, is being deceitful and covert and as such, should not be trusted.

If an entity does not explicitly set forth its function and purpose, and does not clearly expose those actions which allow it to achieve that function and purpose, in plain language that can easily be understood, in wording that is not open to misinterpretation or ambiguity, are hiding something that they are ashamed of or embarrassed about. Or they are hiding something that is just plain illegal, or immoral.

I am cynical, I am very mistrusting of large organisations. But it is not paranoia, life experience has taught me they really are trying to screw me over.

Google penetrates fake sex world with Lively

adnim

I clicked the link..

Saw the big eyed, childishly cute in a fugly sort of way avatars, read the words "invite all your friends". Huh, I don't have any, at least none who are so socially challenged as to need such a space to express themselves. I then read the T&C's and closed my browser. Another 10 minutes of real life wasted.

Judge grants Viacom 12TB of YouTube user records

adnim

Sending the data.

Fax as suggested seems a little to convenient, perhaps Morse code would be better suited, manually transmitted of course.

Google plays musical chairs with affiliate ad networks

adnim

I don't care.

all your bases will be blocked.

Xandros buys Linspire, says bruised ex-CEO

adnim

Lindows

After m$ fucked them over for using the above name, they seemed to have disappeared and were never heard of. I would not have bent over so easily. The potential was there, hopefully Ubuntu may succeed where Linspire failed.

Judge points laser dazzler man towards prison

adnim

Dumb

One could understand shining a laser at a flying pig to avoid capture whilst on the run. But just for a lark, "to see if it would reach". And from home, his bedroom in fact. What a retard.

Still 4 months is a steep sentence, and just what kind of education is this lad going to get inside?

Leeds thieves target Ford Focus chips

adnim

Even if this did work,

it would be so much effort for such little reward.

I guess my after market head unit keeps my Focus safe... I live not too far from Leeds, but far enough for it to be pleasant ;)

US woman sues over exploding thong

adnim

roflmao

Ah, V-String = open crotch panties.

/me stifles school boy like snigger.

"Her lawyer, Jason Buccat, said that the injury caused by the flying v-string will affect his client for "the rest of her life"." I take it she is blind in one eye now then, and not exaggerating in the hope of a big payout.

Perhaps Victoria's Secret will be instructed to stitch a warning label and disclaimer along the lines of, "VS will not be held liable for any actions which my cause more than your partner to catch an eyeful" on future panties.

I will resist the usual stereotyping of Americans relating to their size and the over stretching of flimsy garments.

Glastonbury Festival forecast: very windy, hopes Orange

adnim

It sucks,

was wonderful in the 80's and early 90's. I never went in the 70's so cannot comment on this time. Should be called Orangeville fest now or Orangebury. And you can blame the commercialisation and advertising for the fence jumpers not to mention the pop culture that turned it to shite.