* Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

5770 publicly visible posts • joined 29 May 2007

US 5th graders have a pop at paper plane record

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "look forward to further attempts to push the envelope."

I saw that and immediately thought "surely that should be 'fly the envelope'" ?

Don't tell the Cabinet Office: HMRC is building its own online ID system

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "..will yield £1bn in extra tax revenue.."

I'm often amazed at the low sums involved in corruption. I mean, I'm sure it all adds up and everything, but the amounts are peanuts for corporations.

User group spawns home lab how-to community

Sir Runcible Spoon
Thumb Up

Re: Community Effort

You've convinced me.

I'll document my lab build when I get to doing it. Unfortunately that is currently a lower priority than about 50 other things I have on my list - and none of them are much fun :( God I'm depressed, here I am...etc.

Microsoft and Hewlett Packard Enterprise salute EU flag, blast Brexiteers

Sir Runcible Spoon
Mushroom

Re: So what?

Personally I think leaving the EU will present the UK with enormous challenges, but I also happen to think that this country has, at it's core, a real tough center. When the chips are down are when Brits are at their best. Make life too easy and we end up with what we have today, an apathetic bunch of ill-bred TV addicts that just want to get pissed and think that doing *anything* is too much like hard work.

I vote leave, simply because it's the only voice we have. So many unpopular (or even illegal) policies have been shoved down our throats in recent years no matter what the general public thinks/wants.

It's time to bloody their* noses and let them know we aren't beaten and downtrodden masses, yet. If we vote to stay then we haven't even made a stand (we could still all lose our freedoms to the mega-corps anyway even if we vote leave, but it might make them think twice and maybe back off a bit).

Another thing that's been pretty obvious, is the absolute fucking desperation of the vote remain rhetoric (which isn't to say the Brexit campaigners are fighting without a few low blows too) but the sheer scale and perniciousness of the remain campaign tactics would probably make me vote to leave anyway just on principle - I hate people *telling* me what to do, rather than convincing me.

The cut'n'paste fear tactics are getting so blatant even the x-factor crowd seem to be sensing something is a bit fishy.

Vote leave: It might not make a difference in the long run, but if you don't it's probably the last most important thing you will ever get to vote on otherwise. In the end, once the mega-corps take over with their TTIP frog-boiling tactics, you will be lucky if you get to choose which brand of toothpaste to buy.

*Mega-corps/IMF/Rothschilds/1%'s etc. (whoever holds all the debt anyhow)

US work visas for international tech talent? 'If Donald Trump is elected all bets are off'

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: “It's very bad for business, [..] unfair for our workers. We should end it.”

"And then I see SOME (ok, a few) of the H1b hires. Solid talent, solid skills. Just wish we had more American candidates like them. . "

For years I thought about getting a job in the US, just needed to convince my wife (who isn't overly fond of the stereotyped American personae).

Since the introduction of all the security theater at the airports I haven't even wanted to go there for a holiday, let alone to work (I even had plans for a West-East bike trip prepared).

There are still lots of things I would like to see and do in America, but the negative side of things keeps me from making any solid plans in that direction and I don't see that changing any time soon :(

Spying on you using fake social media profiles: One Scots council could

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: and people ask why I'm not on any (anti-)social media site?

Joanna Lumley? Cool.

I want to hear that message now.

Big Pharma wrote EU anti-vaping diktat, claims Tory ex-MEP

Sir Runcible Spoon
Thumb Up

Hurrah!

For the House of Lords, our last bastion of defense against the encroachment of big business.

No wonder the Powers That Be want rid of it.

Non-police orgs merrily accessed PNC without authority, says HMIC

Sir Runcible Spoon
Black Helicopters

Re: Three body problem

How to find out who owns the PNC:

Who has the right to turn it off*?

*If you have the power to destroy a thing, you control a thing.

A cracked window on the International Space Station? That's not good

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Cracked windscreen

"It's only 205 miles away, at times, but you have to be quick if you want to catch it. If you wait too long it could be several thousand miles away."

FBI director claims that videoing police is causing crime uptick

Sir Runcible Spoon
Facepalm

Re: Just do what they did in the UK

Citation required. Good luck.

Woman charged with blowing AU$4.6m overdraft on 'a lot of handbags'

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

What am I missing?

"<snip> make withdrawals "on numerous occasions that totalled $4,653,333.02" between July 2014 and April 2015."

"Although fraud cops began an investigation into the matter in 2012, it wasn't until March this year that an arrest warrant was issued"

So, the cops knew that she had access to this money two years before she did? I'm confused.

How to evade the NSA: OpSec guide for journalists also used by terrorists

Sir Runcible Spoon
Meh

Re: a bloke in the pub told me that...

..it was the Judean Peoples' Front.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Black Helicopters

Re: Technology is a tool

Every authoritarian government creates their own demise.

By treating everyday citizens as terrorists they are pushing those people into becoming terrorists. And then...Sparticus.

Cops deploy StingRay anti-terror tech against $50 chicken-wing thief

Sir Runcible Spoon
Trollface

Are you trying to suggest that only black people eat fried chicken?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Wrong subhead IMHO

I don't think it was a breach of law as the cops sought, and obtained, a court order. Whether that should have been granted is the real focus of the article.

Your mother has a smooth forehead, Klingon language lovers roar at Paramount

Sir Runcible Spoon

Reality check

In a world where we are all destined to die and nothing we do really matters one way or another, why bother pissing on someone else's fireworks? It's not like they're harming anyone.

Get a life :)

RIP Prince: You were the soundtrack of my youth

Sir Runcible Spoon

Sounds like a case of Grandma's slippers to me.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Reality TV Stars

I don't know, I love watching Geordie Shore - if only for Scotty T's amazing one liners :)

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I've

I've always thought of him as the US version of David Bowie.

How IT are you? Find out now in our HILARIOUS quiz!

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I went to university down in Brighton...

I don't need to be an actor to spook them. I just answer them honestly*.

*A bit like that guy who was asked to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth**

*"What, not THE Arthur Dent? Hahahahahahahahahahaha"

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: Last question should have been...

Is this like "How do you do?"

Which should never be answered with anything related to your health, either good or bad.

Eg.

Q-How do you do?

A-Fine thanks.

Bzzzt wrong!

Q-How do you do?

A-How do you do.

Q-No, How do *you* do?

A-No, How do you *do*.

etc.

...profitzzz.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: 'Ow Yorkshire?

"Is a 'Mexican' like a 'Brazilian' but with a bit more burning sensation?"

OMG - I spewed out of my front bottom...and it buuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnssssss!

'I hacked Facebook – and found someone had beaten me to it'

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Cert logs?

I suppose their IPS might be configured to white-list specific URL's in the cert exchange - access to other URL's could then be flagged.

Seems a long-winded way of doing it rather than issuing certs for each site, but I've heard rich people are often the tightest :)

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I'm not quite buying the "previous security researcher" story

What you said was the first thing that crossed my mind, but then I'm paid to be paranoid :)

Without any actual evidence, we will have to accept the scripted answer. Who knows, it might even be right.

'Impossible' EmDrive flying saucer thruster may herald new theory of inertia

Sir Runcible Spoon
Headmaster

Re: (zealouts also said)

"7) 640k ought to be enough for anybody"

When I think about it, I think it should.

Observe, now that we have loads more memory to play with there is a lot of inefficient programming.

MS Word on Win3.1 for WG runs faster on a 486-DX than MS Word does on Win7 on a Core-i7-920 with 16GB RAM.

Now, if he had said "640k *is* enough for anybody" - then that clearly isn't the case :)

Sir Runcible Spoon
Headmaster

Re: The real universe doesnt care

The Earth isn't round, it's an oblate spheroid :)

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: question

From what I read, the wavelength is so long that it is smaller than the smallest 'unit' of conservation of momentum.

So if it takes 10 sillybits to move mass the smallest amount possible (let's call it a moviebit), and this drive generates only 5 sillybits - apparently the Universe is obliged to still move the object one moviebit (even though the EM drive has only paid for 1/2 a moviebit*)

*It's nice to know the Universe doesn't deal in small change :)

One of the questions being asked is if they will still get the same output from *even less* energy :)

Apparently this theory is holding up due to its prediction that if the shape of the drive is different, the thrust would be generated in the opposite direction - I recall reading that this would explain some of the results being observed!

FREE ENERGY! Woot.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Impossible EmDrive Thruster

Just enough time for another bath then...pass the rubber ducky first mate.

FBI's Tor pedo torpedoes torpedoed by United States judge

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: A legal work around?

Back in '98 I and two colleagues were building new desktops with FreeBSD (over the wire from Sun hosting servers :)

Each time one of us started the build process, one of the others' borked. Turns out all three machines were shipped with NIC's that had identical MAC addresses.

What are the odds of that eh?

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

"Surely pedophiles are people who like to walk?"

Pedant.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: A legal work around?

It is possible to spoof a MAC address.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Dear Ferals

"He's a judge, not an IT guy. Heck, he probably has to call his niece when his iPhone acts up."

You've basically stated that he is a judge who isn't qualified to judge (when it involves IT).

How innocent people 'of no security interest' are mere keystrokes away in UK's spy databases

Sir Runcible Spoon
Facepalm

Re: Nothing to hide

"Three people (and counting) don't understand the troll icon."

Just running with a theme, no misunderstanding required.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Nothing to hide

If you don't understand, you don't know enough to fear.

Ignorance is bliss.

Security is safety.

Overlords are always benevolent.

US government sued by activists looking for backdoor smoking gun

Sir Runcible Spoon

The tone changes quite a bit from one section to the next doesn't it?

And as you say, an impressive lurk if it's the same person :)

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Make it hard for the Gov't to protect us, and less difficult for thieves to take our identity

Yeah, the post on 10th July 2008 is a doozer in the current context :)

Sir Runcible Spoon
Flame

Re: Make it hard for the Gov't to protect us, and less difficult for thieves to take our identity

Once in a blue moon I come across a post I wish I could upvote a thousand times.

You have introduced me to the reverse of this concept.

All this stuff going on behind closed doors - no oversight - secret courts, secret orders, public treated as the enemy - no accountability - numerous abuses of power etc. ad nauseam and your response to the freedom of every person you know being jeopardized amounts to:

"Yeah, but it makes us safer dunnit"

You Sir, are an ignorant twat and a prime example of why we are in this fucking mess.

Kent Police handed domestic abuse victim's data to alleged abuser – a Kent cop

Sir Runcible Spoon

Sir

I hate the way these things are reported...'Kent Police gave...'

No. Someone working for Kend Police, an actual person (an individual if you like - passed this information on.

What were they thinking?

US anti-encryption law is so 'braindead' it will outlaw file compression

Sir Runcible Spoon
WTF?

Re: "Math cannot frustrate court orders"

"Nor, clearly, did you, or you might know how to do a bit of basic research."

Wow, who stole the jam out of your doughnut?

Sir Runcible Spoon
Paris Hilton

Sir

Does any of this have an impact on actual codes rather than ciphers?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: "Math cannot frustrate court orders"

"use small words and things like 2+2."

Have you ever read the proof that 1+1=2?

I couldn't follow it - way beyond me.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: An analogy perchance??

"Or maybe it's like demanding that Ma must be able to turn her delicious apple pie back into a couple of Granny Smiths and a block of Jus-Rol"

That's do-able - they just have to pass a new motion!

Ad slinger Phorm ceases trading

Sir Runcible Spoon

Considering all the timings of Phorm etc. I always wondered if it played any part in Snowden's subsequent actions.

This is the reason why whistleblowers are supposed to be protected by law, so that others are encouraged to do the same (no idea if Snowden was even aware of Phorm btw).

However, any action to suppress whistleblowers is, by default, authoritarian and totally insidious - it should be killed with fire - stamped on, and then consigned to the abyssal depths of the Atlantic.

Line by line, how the US anti-encryption bill will kill our privacy, security

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: The government [of USA] can lead by example...

"Why did the chicken use weak encryption?"

Because it wanted someone to use it's back door?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Evil one time pad

Ah, I think I see your disconnect here.

In reality, the encrypted message does not 'contain' the decoy message as such. You are creating a fake translation matrix that you apply to your encrypted message to make it look like the decoy message when it's processed.

Does that help?

Actually, thinking about it, couldn't this process be used to fake evidence if someone refuses to reveal their passwords? It might be limited to creating incriminating evidence rather then magically conjuring up actual useful data (which is still hidden by the encryption) - but who is going to argue that the prosecution has 'incorrectly' decrypted the file? The only way to prove that their information was fake would be to produce the *real* key, and hence reveal the real data.

Oh dear.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

" they are completely diluted."

To what degree? 10%? 5%?

Grab your Hammer pants – it's the '90s again: Facebook brings Virtual Reality back

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: InstaFacebookTwittergram does it again!

People said that about the PC, the mobile phone, the internet etc. etc.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: REX HAS SEEN YOU

Or even Elite

Bay Area man forced out of his $400 box home

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: It's Good...

That was me.

When I saw the first Harry Potter film and I saw his living conditions, I thought "lucky bastard - he's got a door - and a LIGHT!'

Although to be fair, his door was lockable from the outside, so I can't really grumble. But then again, he was living there rent free - my Mum was charging me £120 month!

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: fire hazard

"including the ability to get out fast *in the event of a fire*"

Surely if the room is smaller it would allow for a quicker evacuation?

Perhaps I should sue my Mum for renting me the space under the stairs for £120 month - no lights and just a curtain for privacy.