* Posts by Mark 85

12880 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Nov 2012

China tells local cloud storage vaults to name suspected pirates

Mark 85

So there's a population shortage?

Now couples can have 2 children instead of one... As I recall, the 1 child limit was because the population was getting "out of hand"...

American military sites secured with dud SHA-1 cipher

Mark 85

I hope they do have some good encryption. But then, since Congress has been passing laws left and right, everyone knows it's against the law to force their way in like was done against OPM and certain corporations... oh wait....

US Senate approves CISA cyber-spy-law, axes privacy safeguards

Mark 85

Re: Welcome to 1984.

I quite agree. We're screwed and we didn't even get kissed.

I believe this is another step towards isolationism and some form of totalitarianism. The Constitution has become less than toilet paper, or so it would seem. I would like to think that the isolationism will come from outside the country... our businesses will be padlocked and ran out of any other country on rail and justifiably so since the infinitely wise Congress didn't bother to protect "non-citizens" at least.. When the corporates get hit in the bottom line maybe they might have a chance of turning this around via the "lobby". Or, they'll probably screw us worse and get the rest of the world to join in this steaming pile.

Wishful thinking on my part... At some point, the military should, but won't, rise up to their oath to defend the Constitution. I took that oath 50 years ago and according the papers I signed then, I'm still bound by it. Just really too damn old to head to head with US Army.

This is a sad day indeed.

Dad who shot 'snooping vid drone' out of the sky is cleared of charges

Mark 85

Are they using birdshot when shooting trap? I thought it was a larger size of shot?

Mark 85

I would hope that whatever route he chooses to take will result in the court version of a shotgun blast of rock salt to his butt. What a twit.. demanding payment for his stupidity.

But then again, stranger things have happened here in the States. Consider that much of the cost of a ladder is for liability insurance for the manufacturer because idiots have done dumb things and sued.... and one. Thus all the warning stickers on them also.

Verisign warns new dot-word domains could make internet unstable

Mark 85
Facepalm

theregister.science???

Interesting. Malwarebytes tells me that is a malicious website and has blocked it. Google, DuckDuckGo and others show it as viable but VeriSign and Internic show it as being a non-domain. I hope you guys didn't pay good money for that domain.

Ah.... the confusion and terror of this is running rampant already.

By 2019, vendors will have sucked out your ID along with your cash 5 billion times

Mark 85

Re: extending to medical services as well

For the medical establishment to enforce this is just plain stupid. It presumes that you have hands and that said hands haven't been damaged (cut, burned, etc.) since the first time you scanned them for reference. So smack your hand with a hammer and you probably won't be able to get medical attention.

Balloon-lofted space podule hits 30,000m

Mark 85
Joke

No worries. Just hose out the interior and bring on new "contents". I would suspect that getting qualified pilots for more than one launch would be a problem.

If Amazon can have delivery drones, we want them too, says Walmart

Mark 85

Walmart also wants to test out drones that deliver purchases from the store to a car in its car park,

I believe (after seeing most of the customers as said store) that this so they don't have to push the cart out as they waddle to their car.

Disclaimer: I don't step foot in their stores as I find the crap they sell is sub-par even to most of the junk stuff on Amazon or E-bay. Not all is junk on Amazon or E-bay but a helluva lot is.

Trio nailed in US for smuggling $30m of microchips into Russia

Mark 85
Devil

Re: Swift Justice...

Maybe it was airtight. But then the courts are backed up with all the copyright infringement cases, drug-related cases, and assorted class-actions suits for just about everything under the sun. Hell, I got notified this week that I'm getting a settlement in a class-action suit I never heard of, for something I bought from Symantec 10 years ago. The lawsuit was in the works for close to 6 years.

Icon -----> the devil made me do it and there's no cynic icon.

Bacon can kill: Official

Mark 85

Re: I just want to know

You can still find that type of food. I can't speak for right side of the pond, but there are butcher shops here that buy their animals from farms that only feed grain, no antibiotics, etc. For things like bacon and ham... gently smoked or dry cured in the old method and a lot tastier than the "modern stuff". As for fruits and veggies, there's the organics.

Mark 85

Re: Why single out bacon?

Religiously speaking... two. But is the one that has a armed military that will kill non-believers (if you eat pork, you're a non-believer). The other won't. So I agree with Ivan: one that's dead set against it.

Mark 85

If you're being serious, I have to ask: Living in denial or FantasyLand? Have you considered all the chemicals (and the scale required) needed by these factories? How about the waste from these factories? I'm not so sure the world would be more Utopia like with meat from a petri tank (a dish is just too small).

Mark 85

Re: Yeah, OK. Think of it like poker.

Looks like Lewis and Tim are gone..... sad day indeed.

Mark 85

One can find the same type of sausages in the States. Maybe not always at the big box supermarket but at the local butcher's shop. Yes, they're still around. Five minutes with a phone book or search engine of choice will locate them quickly.

There is a big difference in taste and texture between the Jimmy Dean stuff and sausages from the butcher.

Mark 85

@Whiskers -- Re: Life is fatal

I suspect the WHO is just being a gravy train in this instance (carcinogenic gravy of course; I'm sure all food is carcinogenic if you try hard enough).

This is the "problem"... Who paid for the studies? Who benefits from the studies? Is it some profit motive or some hidden agenda?

There's a lot of studies being carried out and reported on. The problem is following the money and finding out the "why are they being conducted". I suspect that this is a hidden agenda series of studies and not profit based.

'Cancer-causing bacon would put a real dampner on processed pig sales'

Mark 85

Re: A life without bacon

No... not a bigot or assuming ill-will at all. I know a lot of folks with varied backgrounds and I embrace them. I also know that there's certain places in the world, if I walked down the street eating a bacon sarnie, I'm dead.

The problem is the extremists in those groups. The world seems to be in appeasement mode. If you're a radical, the UN and many governments will bend over backwards to appease you. We, the population, are expected to go along with this... if not willingly, we will be forced to, or so it seems.

Mark 85

Re: A life without bacon

I'm sure everyone will welcome the news from the utterly reliable and credible WHO on the dangers of bacon and other processed meats.

I daresay you're right... Muslims, Jews, and Vegans will certainly. The rest of us... not so much. Oh.. I forgot one more group.. the whiney group that follows every celeb because they speak the gospel truth. If one of them picks up on this, bacon may well be doomed. Look at the vaccination BS spouted by a certain no-brain celeb as an example.

Mark 85

Re: Feinstein

Well said and a good analysis in my opinion. Have an upvote.

The problem in the US is that the electorate listens to the "leaders" who really are leaders but the one's who get the most money and the best strategists money can buy at election time. The general electorate is more absorbed by the latest shiny or celeb than trying to figure out who's a real leader and who isn't.

The dumbing down process that started in the late 60's is working the way the government has planned....

Web giants, Sir Tim slam Europe's net neutrality rules on eve of vote

Mark 85

Re: People who want to be politicians should not politicians.

That applies all over, particularly here in the States as well as the EU. My theory is that anyone who wants to run for office, should not be allowed to. Seems that for all almost all of them, their lust for power and ego-feeding far and away exceeds their brain power.

No, seriously, NASA will fly a probe through Saturn's moon plumes

Mark 85

Those aren't water jets... They preparing to fire the engines and move to another system where they won't be bothered by the likes of us.

Feds in America very excited about new global privacy alert system

Mark 85

Re: The new "alert" system will let regulators...

I'm a Yank...

Privacy might be dead but not because "most" people want it that way. Politicians have told people repeatedly that it's about "terrorists". Such corporates as Google and MS and others have told people repeatedly that it's about "improving the user experience.

As for everything else.. those folks get sound like they've been paying too much attention to Faux News and not reading other sources (both conservative and liberal since there's no un-biased news).

The old saying about telling a lie often enough and vehemently enough and soon people believe it as the truth, applies here.

Yes, we citizens are mushrooms. Our government keeps us in the dark and feeds us bullshit.

Mostly Harmless: Google Project Zero man's verdict on Windows 10

Mark 85

@ Si1

UAC is less of a security feature and more of a button to absolve MS of any responsibility if the program you're running messes your system.

Spot on!! This totally absolves MS of any responsibility. This allows every idiot who thinks they have a clue to totally screw up their system and then make that call to one of us. I'm getting old and cranky and want to tell users (and friends and relatives) "you screwed it up.... you unscrew it."

You own the software, Feds tell Apple: you can unlock it

Mark 85

What a mess... I guess the Feds have possession of the phone in question? Then what they're asking Apple to do is unlock the door. If this goes through, then all software companies will be forced to unlock any device* the Feds wish. Bad precedent... very bad. Which would/could lead to forcing encryption with a back door. Which may effectively kill tech in the US. If there's a backdoor, others will find it and use it.

If the Feds don't have possession of the phone, they are asking Apple to unlock the door and bring everything out of the room and hand it to them. Not a good precedent either.

It would seem that if they have possession, then they also have the owner/user of the phone. He/she should be in contempt if they refuse to unlock the phone. In which case, refusing and being held in contempt is an excuse for the court and government to hold him/her forever or until they do unlock it.

What a flustertruck of epic proportions. It would serve the government right if the tech companies moved their headquarters overseas somewhere and re-incorporated as their tax money would go with them and to the place they moved. Uncle Sam wouldn't be able to grab any of it.

*Not just phones... PC's, hard drives, basically everything.

TalkTalk attack: 'No legal obligation to encrypt customer bank details', says chief

Mark 85

Re: No Legal Obligation To Shut My Front Door

Exactly. Not locking the front door, leave the car unlocked, or leaving a pile of cash on the front porch.. no legal requirement to keep it secure. However, that doesn't make you a victim when it's robbed. It makes you an idiot if you always do, or merely careless if you forgot.

Clearly, this company is managed by idiots. If I were a customer, I'd be killing my account and changing banks (move the money just in case the crooks got the account numbers) and whatever else it took.

We applied to Google's €150m journalism fund – here's what we sent in

Mark 85

Re: El Reg 'Premium'

In other topics along the line of Ad-blockers and advertising, we have asked. Deaf ears, I think.

Mark 85
Thumb Up

Re: Into the Apple Zone maybe...?

I forgot to do this on my post above. It was Friday night afterall. I meant to add the "thumbs up" icon... as in "good for you!" The world needs more shit-disturbers.

Mark 85

Into the Apple Zone maybe...?

I suspect that you might end up on the same "no comment, no response EVER" list that Apple has.

Joining the illuminati? Just how bright can a smart bulb really be?

Mark 85

Re: OMG the $10 a month subscription service

Only clueless morons who believe the IoT hype

Seem as if you can include the Motley Fool in that group:

http://www.fool.co.uk/special-offer/death-of-the-internet-oct-2015

Indeed they have. That author seems particularly hyped over the dollar/pound signs being waved in front of him and not the tech itself... greedy little bastard egging on other greedy little bastards who have no clue.

Mark 85

@DougS -- Re: cart before horse

Light bulbs with microphones to listen for the doorbell....my god, did someone actually think that could ever possibly be useful? I wish I knew what venture capitalist funded this company,

This is useful if you are deaf. However, the existing systems are less expensive and don't require a smartphone, etc. So why bother with these bulbs...?

El Reg revisits Battle of Agincourt on 600th anniversary

Mark 85
Devil

But the horses didn't have webbed feet.... Maybe they should have waited until the weather was better.. like that ever happens.

Hackers pop grease monkeys' laptops to disable Audi airbags

Mark 85

Re: Maybe it's time...

I noted the possibility of the innocents getting killed. It is a conundrum. And yes, that fashion model should be taken out of the gene pool. To me, it's amazing how some people manage to live as long as they do....

Mark 85

Maybe it's time...

Maybe it's time to remove the airbags and allow Darwin to have free reign again... There's still the question though of innocent drivers/passengers being killed however. For every upside, there's a downside.

Just musing on a Friday waiting for beer o'clock.

Boffins: Comet Lovejoy is a cosmic booze cruise spewing alcohol across the Solar System

Mark 85
Coat

"as much alcohol as in at least 500 bottles of wine every second during its peak activity,"

So let's do the math... roughly 10% (depending on white or red wine so 10% is a rough average) so that is 50 bottles of pure alcohol or 500 bottles of alcohol and all the water and flavors.

Given it's orbiting time, that is some well-aged vino.

Icon --> Checking for a corkscrew.

American robocallers to be shamed in public lists

Mark 85

Same here in the States. Seems they call you, roll your number as the caller for the next call. I really think the Telcos need a good lashing of fines also since it's VOIP and they have the logs and know who it is. Or at least where they're calling from.

Mark 85

Then can we hang them in the town square? Or is hanging too good for them? (as they used to say in the old cowboy movies).

Snowden, Schrems, safe harbor ... it's time to rethink privacy policies, says FTC commish

Mark 85

What other decision could they have expected? Or didn't they know the case was happening?

It's really hard to listen to others when you have your head up your corporate bottom... make that bottom line... either works for me. As long as their profits, bonuses, and the shareholders leave you alone, why worry... right?

Tardy TalkTalk advertised for a new infosec officer 1 week ago

Mark 85

Experian = cheapest

Experian != best

Mark 85
Meh

Clean things up... Well their email says they have taken all measures to make their website secure again. For some value of "secure" and "again" (like it was previously????). Meh.....

Bacon as deadly as cigarettes and asbestos

Mark 85
Coat

Re: Just don't eat too much of any thing

So he didn't get to ask: "Eh.. what's up doc?"

Mark 85

Re: typically 15-20 years longer in bacon-eating countries.

It's been pointed out repeatedly that if aspirin were invented today, it would never, ever be allowed on the market. It kills monkeys and comes up as toxic on most tests.

Mark 85
Trollface

Re: re-reporting the daily mail?

Least likely Daily Mail headline: "Pork gives you cancer, Muslims and Jews were right all along"

Ah... I think you're onto something. WHO is part of the UN so this a Muslim/Jew bit of conspiracy to convert the rest of the world.

Mark 85

Re: Wouldn't be worth it...

I quite agree. According to California, WHO, and others, everything will kill you. Since no one gets out of this life alive, I'm headed for a mid-day bacon sarnie. bon appetite.

CISA latest: Law urging tech giants to share your info with the Feds shows no sign of stopping

Mark 85
Black Helicopters

Re: America is now actively hostile to EU data residentsy

Uh.. not just toward the EU citizens but also it's own. I've nothing to hide (other than banking detail and the usual personal data that's really no one's business) and I'm scared witless about this trend.

Shopping mall CCTV gear commandeered to blast websites offline

Mark 85

Re: Proliferation

And when the IoUT acquires AI, we're doomed. I wish I knew if I was joking on this .....

UK/China cyber security deal: National security attacks still OK, it seems

Mark 85

Intellectual Property...

I note that this is not defined.. so it could be code, movies, business plans, etc. or maybe just the company cafeteria lunch menu. But strangely, with both the US and UK agreements I've not read anything about employee data... I'm thinking OPM here amongst others. Even at what is covered (what ever the undefined term IP covers) I'm not believing that either side will respect it.

Google's YouTube Red deal: Sign, or we'll make you disappear

Mark 85

Re: Go ahead, Google...

Or.... the others might start following along with $$$ (or Euro or Pound) signs in their eyes. There does seem to be a lot "follow the leader" going on out there.

Citrix: CEO exit plans accelerated, results take a turn.... for the better

Mark 85

Re: The Journey is the reward

But for some, no matter how much they make, it's never enough... <raises eyebrow and looks at Elliot Management, Bill Gates, Steve Job).

Is China dumping smartphones on world+dog?

Mark 85

Re: "moves those emissions to China"

Therein is a big problem with the internationals. They move their (I'll use steel production) from a place with good emission's standards to a place with low standards. The emissions produced offshore are higher for making a ton of steel than onshore. Yet, the Green types proclaim a victory for the onshore crowd. Sorry, the emitted crap still goes into the atmosphere of this big blue ball.

I'm not a Green, nor a denier or supporter of climate change. But... the logic of what they are doing totally escapes me.

Lancashire Police warn of malware email impersonation scam

Mark 85

Is it just affecting those around Lancashire?

If so, that would mean it's highly targeted, I would think. I kind of doubt the local plod a file of all the locals email addy's. Makes me wonder where/how the miscreants got such a geographically targeted mailing list.