Posts by Mark 85

I keep hoping for someone to ask one of these ad-idiots how is "relevant" defined? Seems like it's buy something and then get hit with a zillion ads for the same damn product. Or is "relevant" have something to do with singing, dancing, blinking ads that take up half the screen or better?

Disclaimer: I do run a heavy HOSTS file and also Adblock. I've never clicked on an ad to buy something. I ignore the "ad" links in a Google search. Periodically, I drop the shields (except for 3rd party cookies just see if anything has changed. Nope. Same silly, irritating, bandwidth hogging shit.

And these ad clowns wonder why.....

Re: Explanation for failing instuments?

You never played D&D then? The correct response is.. "Ok... we got the <treasure/weapon/etc>.". Dungeon Masters can be devious.

Re: It may not suck

Perhaps he will. Dyson does make some air movement devices that are replacements for room fans. Some even have air warmers in them. So I suppose if one is a fan of hot air, they'll get an automatic acceptance?

Re: Have they finished the aircraft carriers yet?

Not quite that simple as adding catapults and arrestor hooks. They would need a different propulsion system to generate the steam needed for the cats to work..

Re: I know that feeling

From personal experience (almost exclusively being part of the latter group) addressing such questions to members of the former group can be a severely career limiting move. It's less asking stupid questions than asking awkward ones...

And for <$DEITY> sake, never, ever tell the head marketing/sales droid to "not make promises that engineering can't keep". Seems they love to surprise engineering types in meetings with customers about some product that a) may be impossible to design and build*, b) can be designed and built but not in the timeframe they want or the budget.

*My favorite was a rather complex piece of electronic equipment and with only one control: the Wonderful knob because everyone wants more "wonderful" and "oh.. it only turns one way which will be to increase the wonderful".

Zuck can get the cards back my making Facebook the ONLY source of key social stuff, forcing a "Walking on the Sun" decision.

No. Actually the users can start talking face-to-face or use a telephone and even email to communicate. But, given the nature of the those using FB, they wouldn't get as much perceived attention from "friends" who are actually total strangers.

Re: What's wrong with coffee

On the bright side, reports of late indicate that coffee is a great source of anti-oxidants. Which is a bonus as without coffee, I'm a dead man walking.

I got a dollar that says being open sourced wouldn't have changed a thing. I'm betting that the original contract and specifications will tell the tale along with a paper trail of emails requesting things that were not in the specs or contract.

This is way too common in the IT world. Those writing the specs usually haven't a clue what all needs to be spec'd out which is "everything". For some reason, they write the specs for X and Y, but they think the contractor will know that Z needs to be included.

Re: Two sets of rules (again)

The old saying still applies... "When in doubt, follow the money.".

Re: Got that backward do you?

The outage comes at a particularly inopportune time for Level 3, which earlier this week officially announced it had agreed to a $34bn acquisition by US telecom giant CenturyLink.

^^^ I think that's what this in the article stated. CenturyLink is buying Level3. Although the previous article (http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2016/10/31/centurylink_set_to_merge_with_tierone_provider_level_3_for_34bn/) indicates that it's a "merger".

Hmm.... I guess Level3 is just giving their customers a taste of the future with CenturyLink?

Re: Pictures ...

Err.. no... not enough eye bleach or mind bleach available to cleanse something like that.

However, this is El Reg and Playmobil would work.

Re:@Ian Michael Gumby @Mark85 @Marketing Hack ... This article doesn't tell some important points.

See... I said it was going to get interesting. This campaign season has been probably the all time worst that I recall although I'm sure one or two other might have rivaled it (maybe Tricky Dicky's re-election?). The media is being manipulated by both parties and the public sees the resulting steaming pile.

The press has reported that Holder made the statement about the Hatch Act. Reid is running off the mouth over Trumps alleged Russian Connection which the FBI is saying "nope.. no connection". We, in IT, have seen Comey's antics over surveillance and hacking into computers and phones.

The sad part in all this is that, we the people, are being manipulated by it all.

Sidenote: I do wish there were term limits on Congress. The ones that have been around forever are a big part of the problem with US government.

Re: Fridges

Rumor has it that the lightbulbs and toasters joined forces.

Re: Ah... so...

Probably down the food chain.. maybe near the bottom of it for starters. Then the Manager who decided NOT to set up a better backup system" will come up with the brilliant idea to outsource and offshore to <cough> "keep this from ever happening again". <cough> Then will follow a lot of redundancies.

Re: go for it

Not sufficient - client will simply move to another ISP

Not here in the States they won't. The ISP's have pretty much a monopoly based on geography. The only real way to change ISP is to move.. sometimes several hundred miles away.

I've heard the fallback plan is Chuck Norris.

Re: Why not just use the original exploits...

Why not indeed, except that also violates almost every country's computer misuse laws. Seems the bad guys can get away with it, but the good guys can't and sure as hell don't see the manufacturers jumping up and telling everyone "we'll fix those holes immediately".

Re: Well, no one ever said crooks had to be smart...

Personally, I wish they were all like him. The prisons might be packed but the internet world would be a safer place.

True, but... Viagra.. Penis Enlargers, Car Insurance...... We need that stuff!!!!

Re: US prices?

They had to rise. Apples revenue and profit dropped on few products being sold. Can't rake in less cash now, can we? So if you can't sell more product, raise the prices on what you can sell....

Re: Missed opportunity

I think it depends... "pull out" in some places is an acceptable but unreliable form of birth control. Nice play on words by BBC I thought.

Re: Vine who?

Interesting mix of images and concepts. Icarus was ancient Greek while the setting for the painting is Medieval. I had not seen this one before. Thanks for posting it.

Many years ago, we had an engineer who thought he was a god.. major deity variety not minor. After a year of putting up with his crap, the rest of our department (just one of many in engineering) decided to give something back. There's a group of fatty oils that can have dye added to produce interesting results. In chickens (what it was developed for) it colored the yolks of the eggs for tracking purposes in research. In humans, it gets urinated out in full color. So... we got the red, green, and the blue. Early one Monday, the red goes into the lad's coffee cup. A hour so later, a terrible scream is emitted from the restroom.. the lad is pissing red. A few weeks later, he pissed green and then later still blue. At some point in time, he got the point and became less of a jackass.

Re: New Star Wars antagonist...

I think this deserves a whole movie instead of just a character... "Raders of the Lost Bras".

Re: A10 the Meccano airplane

The A10 and also various TOW vehicles were designed for that particular theatre of operation. The expectation was that a massive amount of Russian armor would be leading the attack and NATO needed something to absorb the brunt of the attack and also take out as much of the Russian armor as they could. The main battle tanks, etc. would then move in and deal what was left of the Russian Army.

A strange thing happened though... the A10 was more effective and combat worthy than they expected.

Re: Handicapped

That was actually proposed back in the early stages of the Space Race. Amputees save weight, food supplies (allegedly) and who needs legs in space. The plus was the design of spacesuits. This did get picked or maybe actually the thought was planted by various Science Fiction writers. NASA and most governments couldn't bring themselves to do it as the "heroes" needed to be male, white, tall, handsome, cleft-chinned, fighter or at least test pilots, etc... The Image was everything. Maybe it still is.