* Posts by Florida1920

1243 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jan 2011

TalkTalk 'fesses up to MEGA data breach

Florida1920
Alert

A real *news* headline would be

Corporation X Reports It Has Had No Data Breaches

BOFH: The ONE-NINE uptime solution

Florida1920
Pint

Best BOFH in ages

No I mean crashed - as in into the footpath from the 6th floor

Net neutrality secrecy: No one knows what the FCC approved (BUT Google has a good idea)

Florida1920
Headmaster

One thing is certain

ISPs will raise their subscriber rates and blame it on FCC.

Iran hacks America where it hurts: Las Vegas casinos

Florida1920

Headline

Iran Figures Out How To Beat The House

NO ONE is making money from YouTube, even Google – report

Florida1920

Re: Youtube not idiot viewing, article author statement is.

Agree wholeheartedly. I administer a hobbyist forum running phpBB. Many of our members post videos of their projects to YouTube, and we happily embed them in forum posts. YouTube has made a positive contribution to our experience.

That said, Google inflicted doubleclick on the world. That alone makes Google evil IMO.

'Utterly unusable' MS Word dumped by SciFi author Charles Stross

Florida1920

Re: Doubly unusable if he moved the document

"Even if you have Word on your machine, work in .doc format."

An upvote for that alone! .docx is a plague.

MP resigns as security committee chair amid 'cash-for-access' claims

Florida1920
Big Brother

The Cousins are not going to like this

Rifkind said he intends to remain a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee

Get yourself connected: GrovePi+ Starter Kit

Florida1920

Re: @future research - in a similar vane?

You're so vain - Carly Simon

What has happened to awaken all the Grammar Putins lately?

ACLU: Here's a secret – cops are using the FBI's fake cell-tower tech to track crims' phones

Florida1920
Childcatcher

Isn't watching TV punishment enough?

I've always found it hard to believe the UK government has trucks driving around looking for unlicensed TV sets. The idea of even licensing a TV set is pretty hard to grasp, too. Bloke from the UK I used to know told me he gutted the horizontal oscillators out of salvaged sets and got them running on the bench, just to drive the trackers nuts. This would have been in the 60s. Dunno how true that was. Now we need to devise electronic countermeasures to spoof phony cell towers. Reward the hounds with a few more foxes to chase.

HP's great – I prefer it on bacon rather than my printer, though

Florida1920
Pint

Not that this is relevant

But it's Sunday afternoon and I'm bored. One of the most-interesting dining experiences of my life was sitting down to a plate of paella in a back-street restaurant in Madrid, and spying a bottle of American Tabasco sauce on the table. I've had HP sauce too, in the UK and the Bahamas. Good stuff. Your beers and ales are pretty good as well. But I'd rather live in Paris if I could afford it, for esthetic reasons.

Just remember, though, it wasn't your culinary and brewing expertise that let you rule the planet for so long. It was only because you had flags.

HAWKING ALERT: Leave planet Earth, find a new home. Stupid humans

Florida1920

Re: An earlier

At that time, I think another English thinker was most influential for me regarding things stellar.

Sir Roger Penrose?

Florida1920
Mushroom

Not likely

If we lose human aggression, every news site that has a Comments section (include Vulture Central) can shut it down. Now what fun would that be? Go ahead, downvote me and prove I'm right!

Norton Internet Security antivirus update 'borked Internet Explorer'

Florida1920

I don't understand

Users of the world's second best* browser were forced to use alternatives after an overnight update to Norton AntiVirus prevented Internet Explorer from working at all.

What's the problem?

Hellooo, NSA? The US State Department can't kick hackers out of its networks – report

Florida1920
Big Brother

They've hacked the global thermostat

part of large-scale attack against US government systems, with the White House, the US Postal Service, and the National Weather Service all falling prey

Is this why the U.S. is having a record-breaking cold spell right now?

So long, Lenovo, and no thanks for all the super-creepy Superfish

Florida1920
Terminator

Lenovo dead?

I don't think so. The Independent is the only consumer-oriented news source on the first page of a Google search for "lenovo malware." Forbes and CNNMoney have articles, but does the average PC buyer read them? ThinkPads, darlings of the business community, were spared. Even if Bob Bloke reads about the "firestorm," we've all dealt with enough non-techies to know they have a short memory span, and don't understand what such malware does anyway.

While I agree that Lenovo should be subject to the BOFH's cattle prod for this, I think speculation on their imminent plunge off the cliff as a result is greatly exaggerated. And we probably can assume Lenovo will be more careful in the future. They execute incompetent business managers in China. Not that the other PC mfrs will learn from this. Lenovo could, by default, become the laptop source of choice.

Hoping for spy reforms? Jeb Bush, dangerously close to being the next US prez, backs the NSA

Florida1920
Headmaster

we do protect our civil liberties

"we" being operative, meaning the elite class. The other 99% of us, not so much.

BLOOD STAR of the NEANDERTHALS passed close to our Sun

Florida1920

Re: Re. aliens

The time delay from their system to ours would be about right and it wouldn't need to have been a continuous signal just a "Hi there!" to see if they got a response.

More likely it would have been "So long, and eff-you for not sharing the fish."

Florida1920

Is it the FSM?

I swear I see a face in that artist's impression.

Want to find LOVE online? Make sure your name is high up in the alphabet

Florida1920

Re: "Incidentally, women find a man more attractive when they see other women smiling at him "

Women suddenly being interested in someone other women are/were interested in is just about the oldest thing in the book. Don't ask me why exactly it happens but it damn sure does.

And the higher the perceived status of the woman you're with, the greater the interest. Topping the queen has not gone out of fashion.

ATTENTION SETI scientists! It's TOO LATE: ALIENS will ATTACK in 2049

Florida1920
Pirate

And when they arrive

Anonymous will say, "We should have expected them."

Watch: China has made an internet censorship THEME SONG

Florida1920
Mushroom

Meanwhile

They hack our government, infrastructure and commercial sites and spam our forums. A plague on them, I say!

Jeb Bush, the man who may lead the US in 2016, dumps Floridians' private data on the web

Florida1920

Re: Further proof...

What I want to know is why where people sending him their SSN by email?

"It's the governor's office FFS. The governor wouldn't misuse or release my personal information!"

Some of my fellow Americans still trust their government.

Amazing, cool, wow: Humans naturally use POSITIVE words, and that is GOOD

Florida1920

Re: Note to the first three commentards

Yes, because you changed your name by deed poll to Florida 1920 didn't you?

At least you can track my posts and see that I NATURALLY use POSITIVE words, and that IS GOOD.

Florida1920
Pint

Note to the first three commentards

If I had to post as AC I'd be unhappy too. Cheers.

RadioShack lists 1,800 stores facing the axe across America

Florida1920

Times Square

This is serious. The Times Square NY store is listed. You'd think they'd want to keep waving the flag there. Amazingly, I can't find my local store on the list. It's in a good retail location but rarely do I see customers inside as I walk past.

$10,000 Ethernet cable promises BONKERS MP3 audio experience

Florida1920
Paris Hilton

It's more than you think

The price is actually $10,500 US. Before I order, my questions are,

* Do I need two for stereo?

* My iPod doesn't have an RJ-45 thingy. How do I jack it in?

The Interview? Kim Jong-Un, you really shouldn’t have bothered

Florida1920
Facepalm

How bad is this film?

Even iTunes didn't want it. It wound up on Netflix faster than you can say "direct to video."

Anthem, America's second biggest health insurer, HACKED: Millions hit by breach

Florida1920
Pint

Kudos to El Reg

For publishing the names of the affected companies. Scanning Associated Press, Bloomberg and other U.S. news sites, I don't see that information. Despite the site de-design, the Reg is still a go-to place.

Meanwhile, Amy Pascal has been kicked out of the chair at Sony Pix. But not because of the hacks. No, because of what she said in emails about the president and some actress. Corporate hacking will continue to be a growth industry as long as corporations refuse to take responsibility for their reckless handling of private information. Who's next?

Google gets my data, I get search and email and that. Help help, I'm being REPRESSED!

Florida1920

Re: Not so fast

The vast majority of the population Do Not Care about their personal data.

Oh, well, that makes it all right then.

Enough is enough: It's time to flush Flash back to where it came from – Hell

Florida1920
Pint

There's gold out there

Spent some time looking at artists', architects' and musicians' sites today. Whoa! FLASH FLASH FLASH. Sure, you can step past it, but they paid for that glitter and by gee they want you to see it. There's money to be made reworking those pages, once John Q Public wises up. I won't hold my breath while I drink my beer, though.

Florida1920

YouTube in HTML5, Firefox

This feature was already turned on in Chrome (Windows); I had to enable HTML5 for YouTube in FF 35.01.

https://www.youtube.com/html5

I spend a lot of time on YouTube listening to favorite music, but the videos I watch look just as good in HTML5 as in Flash. There just isn't anything I want to see anymore that requires Flash.

Yahoo!'s Firefox search hook-up pays off as it nicks Google's US clicks

Florida1920
Thumb Down

Not here

Some site crashed Firefox this morning and I had to "Refresh" the installation, which wiped out several mods. The first thing I did when it restarted was revert to the old search-engine scheme. Then I deleted Yahoo and Bing from the list and made DuckDuck Go my default. 'Tis a pity the unwashed masses will settle for whatever gruel is placed in front of them and called steak.

Google boffins PROVE security warnings don't ... LOOK! A funny cat!

Florida1920

Tearful boffins confirm grav wave tsunami NOT caused by Big Bang

Florida1920
Headmaster

In the beginning

The wave began when the World Turtle jumped into the primordial soup.

Teen whiz exposes WhatsApp profile pic privacy blunder bug

Florida1920

Egad, they changed the image to something even more ghastly. El Reg is starting to resemble a 1990s geocities site.

Thanks for the tip. The right custom filter in "Element Hiding Helper" made them all go away.

Florida1920
Facepalm

Could someone please explain

How that 648px × 429px lead image of two logos in any way adds value to the article? This isn't a "redesign," it's a de-design.

'Look into my eyes: You are feeling very worried about the climate ... so worried'

Florida1920

Re: Didn't have to look

Yes, retreating and disappearing glaciers, large sections of Antarctic ice breaking off and floating away -- are all circus tricks.

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/

http://www.skepticalscience.com/Has-Arctic-sea-ice-recovered.htm

Florida1920

Didn't have to look

To know Lewis Page wrote this article. Pidgeon may be a charlatan, but that doesn't change the facts about human-caused CO2 emissions. Lewis, I like your articles about military stuff. Stick to that area.

How's this for customer service: Comcast calls bloke an A**HOLE – and even puts it in print

Florida1920

They can call me anything they like

If it gets me two years of free broadband! My Comcast experiences are mixed. Getting connected in the first place took >1 hour on the phone, getting bounced from customer service (?) to tech support, before finally getting lucky and talking to the only person who knew what to do. It was simple: Add a zed at the end of your account number. On the other hand, when a billing error (tried to double bill me last month) arose, I was able to resolve it through online chat with no hassles.

I live in an "adult" (55 or older) condo complex in Florida, and most of the time Internet access is solid and fast. A couple of brief outages over 2+ years. Sure better than ATT! I'm paying ~$70/mo for an "Up to 50 Mbps" connection, because I spend a lot of time on Netflix (+ VPN) and I want to avoid the unwritten data-cap issue. My basic cable TV fee is a mandatory part of my condo fee, so I overlook the ISP cost.

Comcast has many employees, and training/management issues. But these problems aren't limited to the cable industry; wherever money changes hands, "service" quality is going downhill. Having worked in phone tech support, I think I understand the underlying reasons. Personnel are given tight quotas for average call times, but limited authority or options for solving callers' problems. People charged with retaining unsatisfied customers must also have quotas. The stress level is high, and there's no relief. Disconnect from one call and another one is right there. No time to sit back and catch your breath. It's no excuse, I know, but it speaks loudly about the conditions of labor in a "service economy." The only stuff that trickles down in this economy is stuff you don't want landing on your head.

Facebook kills pic of Mohammed weeks after Zuck's Je suis Charlie!

Florida1920

When in Rome

Do as the Romans. The Facebook corporation is a guest in Turkey. Guests should respect local laws and customs. Religious zealots who choose to remain in countries more tolerant of satire and secularism than their ancestral homes also should respect local laws and customs. Respect is a two-way street.

GoDaddy in doghouse over puppy-flogging Super Bowl ad

Florida1920

Re: This is going to annoy Americans

They all appear to be gun-toting, flag waving right-wing facists of varying hues.

Sounds like UKIP.

Florida1920

I appreciate this article

I've been around long enough to have watched ever Super Bowl there ever was. And never have. Without this article I'd never have known about the ad Go Daddy aren't going to run. Hey, wait a minute......

YouTube flushes Flash for future flicks

Florida1920
Devil

Re: p0wned

I get it now. This thread and the one below it about a typo, are thinly disguised attempts to derange NSA-GCHQ monitoring. Let me lend a hand.

Note to NSA-GCHQ: Are you closely watching pr0n sites? All that moaning and groaning isn't really an act, you know. It's secret code. You have to watch/listen several times at high volume to catch it.

Wonder how often our minders get p0wned by pr0n in the course of their duties?

NASA greenlights SpaceX and Boeing to carry crew to ISS in 2017

Florida1920

Re: Still a long way to go

Now I have to imagine the future of space travel involving checked baggage fees, early boarding fees, cash-only fees for the bar cart, etc. I'll probably get felt up by a TSA screener as well :/

Just wait until you see the inside of a Budget Suites capsule!

Humanity can defeat SkyNet with BOOKS, says IT think tank

Florida1920
Headmaster

Metropolis

Man vs Machine. This will ultimately come down to class warfare, as Fritz Lang clearly understood.

Oh, and that was Charlie Chaplain Chaplin in Modern Times.

Wall St wolves tear chunk off Microsoft: There goes $30bn!

Florida1920
Mushroom

That does it!

No free Windows 10 upgrades for Wall Street!

INTERNET of STUFF: Google to replace old Dropcams for $0.00

Florida1920
Facepalm

Re: "Rather than making old cams redundant trash..."

If the old cameras aren't compatible with the new back end the old cameras ARE redundant trash! That Google is handing out new ones doesn't change that.

Cubans defy government's home internet ban with secret home-made network

Florida1920

Re: Unfortunately,

Have you tried bouncing the signal off intervening buildings?

Florida1920

Re: A matter of time

You know, of course, that Americans can get in with little effort, right? You fly in from Mexico, Belize, or some other country that has direct flights to Havana, and get a paper visa, so your passport isn't stamped. I almost went as a journalist in the 90s, which would have been legit, but a temporary interruption of Internet access spoiled it. Since I moved to Florida I've met several Americans who routinely visit to get cigars or whatever else is on offer. I'd like to tour the island and see the birds and the city of Matanzas, but I'm too old to take chances with our State Dept. (I'm the guy who gets a ticket for 7 mph over the speed limit when everyone else is doing >10 over!)

Florida1920

A matter of time

It's only "a matter of time" for just about anything you can think of. Regarding open Internet access in Cuba, think "glacial." A thawing of relations doesn't mean the U.S. won't stop trying to influence Cuban politics. Radio and Television Marti are still going strong; a communist nation less than 100 miles from the U.S., that has outlasted 9 presidential administrations is an embarrassment of a high order. Drug-cartel-co-opted "democracies," si, commie nations, no.

It's a funny business. Here in Florida, a huge sugar and real-estate cartel run by ex-patriate Cubans thwarts Everglades restoration and wields almost unbeatable power in state politics. If Cuba suddenly changed course, and was able to export sugar to the U.S. again, what would become of them? You see, it isn't in every American's interest for Cuba to become what our political talking heads claim to desire.

A little impotent meddling (nothing's changed in >50 years!) keeps the ex-pat Cuban community at bay, but success would benefit the residents of Cuba more than the citizens of the U.S. "Operation Iraqi Freedom" tells you more than you need to know about American altruism.

If the U.S. truly wanted to oust the Castro regime it easily could have done so after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when no nation on earth could have come to Cuba's aid.

Obama is talking a good spiel, and maybe he really means what he says. How much he can accomplish is another story. There are too many people in power, in Cuba and the U.S., for whom status quo is profitable, to expect much change in the short term.