* Posts by allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

6157 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Oct 2015

Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Outer Limits

[insert over-used slogan about voyage, destination here] - the more you know, the more you realize what you don't know - but that's what keeps it interesting!

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Analogies

one of my pet peeves, useless analogies. Although there are analogies, that have an almost Zen-like quality about them.

Which makes me think: is there something like a digital analogy?

Tor Messenger beta debuts, promises unlogged Jabber for all

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Paranoia

Well, as my old friend Henry used to say, even paranoids can have real enemies. So the question is: are you paranoid enough?

Why was the modem down? Let us count the ways. And phone lines

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
Pint

1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Acoustic Coupler Modem surfs the net

Okay, this is from 2009, so maybe you've already seen it - still a good start for the weekend:

1964 Livermore Data Systems Model A Acoustic Coupler Modem

I have suggested it elsewhere (BoingBoing) before: we should start calling this sort of stuff 'Transistorpunk'.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Luxury

We had to solder our own acoustic couplers from a Radio Shack kit and a pair of old headphones.

Open data not a replacement for FOI - Shadow digital minister

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"An Independent Commission on Freedom of Information is currently gathering information for a 10-year review of the Act. The introduction of charges have already been flouted as a way of making the act less expensive.

All the panel of the Independent Commission are on record as being hostile to the Act, including former Labour Cabinet Office minister Jack Straw."

See how it's done, children?

"In his biography Blair wrote of Freedom of Information. "Three harmless words. I look at those words as I write them, and feel like shaking my head till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop."" I do actually like the last three sentences in that paragraph.

UK finance sector: IT security testing 'becoming close to mandatory'

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Guess she shouldn't have skived off all those meetings... thats 50 points off from Jellyfish house, and NO puddings for a fortnight!

Yamaha unleashes motorcycling robot

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: training wheels / stabilizers

Ecomobile / Monotracer has been on my wish list for years, but so far, alas...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Just imagine....

Yeah, well - why should our robots feel better than we...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
Pint

Re: It's an Evel Knievel Stunt Bike!

Now THAT takes me way, way back on Memory Lane... have a pint...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: training wheels / stabilizers

Check this out:

Peraves MonoTracer

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
Thumb Up

Re: Feet?

"This is a very clever attack on Honda, who also make bikes, and robots, but don't do anything as exciting as a robot riding a bike. Disclaimer - I ride a Yamaha :)"

Mine's the battered XRV 750 over there... but when you're right, you're right! Have an upvote! (No pint though, don't drink and drive! I mean, you'd spill most of it anyway...)

NSA can keep illegally spying on Americans into November

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Make sense of this for me, will yer?

You've read that book by Robert Ludlum, haven't you?

European Parliament votes to grant Snowden protection from US

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Well, it's a start

and I hope the MEPs who voted for this will follow through.

Cops use terror powers to lift BBC man's laptop after ISIS interview

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
Pint

Re: Give me liberty or...

"And I know that I am quite a bit freer than any of you Europeans who gave up freedom long ago for the false security of conformity."

Good one, have a pint! Really, it's the way you tell 'em...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

@ Dan Paul:

You just can't stop digging, can you?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Pity they didn't shoot him

This just for context, emphasis by me: "On 23 May 1940 Mosley, who was then mostly focused on negotiated peace advocacy, was interned under Defence Regulation 18B along with most active fascists in Britain. [...] His wife Diana Mitford was also interned, shortly after the birth of their son Max; they lived together for most of the war in a house in the grounds of Holloway prison. [...]

The Mosleys were released in November 1943, when Mosley was suffering with phlebitis, and spent the rest of the war under house arrest. On his release from prison he stayed with his sister-in-law Pamela Mitford, followed shortly by a stay at the Shaven Crown Hotel in Shipton-under-Wychwood. He then purchased Crux Easton House, near Newbury, with Diana. He and his wife were the subject of much media attention. The war ended what remained of Mosley's political reputation." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Mosley (sorry for that)

"Pity they didn't shoot him" Aren't we bloodthirsty today... On what grounds would they have shot him? Wartime Britain wasn't like Nazi Germany.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Kiddies!

"Worth remember that the tactic du jour was highly targeted surveillance, rather than the endless fishing trips they seem to so enjoy these days.

Now that you mention it - it does come across as a bit uninspired and lazy... what to do, what to do... Oh yes, let's thow EVEN MORE money at them!

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: bullying ...

"Can you imagine what would have happened during WWII to a journalist who published an interview with a member of the SS?

Someone from the British Free Corps perhaps? They didn't stop interviewing Mosley, AFAIK.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: hopelessly incompetent approach

What do you think are the odds that the laptop in question is taken to the basement and smashed to bits? This is an established modus operandi for UK security services, isn't it?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Bad times

Well, shepherds use dogs

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/We-re-from-the-F-B-I-going-from-house-to-house-making-sure-that-everyon-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Posters_i9168764_.htm

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Fuck that. I'm not scared.

This. Exactly this. I'm not scared by terrorists, on principle, because that's what they want.

Hell, it's far more likely - by orders of magnitude - I get killed on my daily commute on the motorway by an outsourced, underpaid, overworked and sleep deprived lorry driver in an accident. That's the 'sleepers' you must watch for.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: why post anonymously

That's 'cause he is like that annoying reedy kid that always hides behind the big bully on the playground.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Works for me

boltar, is that you again?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Kiddies!

Yeah, I remember that. 1982, Rotten Row, watched the parade the day before the blast, was in the Science Museum on the day of the blast. Could have been the other way round.

What I don't remember is police armed to the teeth standing on every other street corner, odd that...

UK ministers, not judges, to sign off on Brit spies' surveillance

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Once again...

"...it's clear that the principle of separation of powers isn't understand by those in power"

No, quite the contrary, they understand it too well... that's why they'd like to get rid of it...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: I wonder if Theresa May has any outfits with Mandarin collars?

Can't really answer that.

But I am pretty sure that she has "a little list"...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: following this logic

Worked fine in the USSR and the GDR, should work fine in the UK!

Smartphone boutique OnePlus reveals another model you can’t get

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Heh...

china phone...

Channel Islands firm touts all-in-one secure comms app

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Needs a bit more cowbell..

As far as I know, Bristol is moved on a regular basis. But it is possible I have been misinformed. That aside, I agree with you, putting yourself outside the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom can't work like that.

"Pryvate from Criptyque" - they should have used the "detunnelizer" on their marketing people first, that is the perfect name for a perfume.

We're getting kick-ass at seeing through walls using just Wi-Fi – MIT

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

OMG

Somebody please tell me that doesn't mean Noel Edmonds has a point?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/06/electrosmog_is_earths_biggest_problem_says_noel_edmonds/

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: What about the perverts?

Won't someone think of the children!

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Good indicator that the residents are away on holiday: WiFi router is switched off...

Insurance companies must start buying security companies

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"The Insurance industry encompasses a very odd paradox: it wouldn’t exist without risk, yet does everything in its power to remove any risks for its policy-holders. Insurers only make money if they don’t pay out, and they won’t pay out if they can keep you from doing any of the things they’ve identified as risky."

"We’re already seeing how the drive to autonomous vehicles will be spearheaded by insurers, simply because - on current evidence - a self-driving car gets into at least an order of magnitude fewer accidents than a human-operated automobile."

Well... if any risk is truly and completely removed, there is no need to buy insurance anymore. I can't see the insurers invalidate their own business model. The trick is

a) to lower the risks to a sort of break-even point where the risk of 'something bad happening' is still high enough to be an incentive to buy insurance - but low enough in terms of 'times something bad happens' and 'size of damage' so that the odd payout doesn't cripple the insurer (also, there are insurance companies that sell insurance to insurance companies)

b) understanding the risks involved, i.e. how likely it is something will happen, how large will the damage done be, etc. Insurance companies usually have the experts they need for that, including the mathematicians. For example, companies selling life insurance have a pretty good read on life expectancies.

All these factors (plus some others, like running costs and ROI-targets, etc.) eventually determine the price the customer has to pay.

There is a market for insuring 'cyber risks' (whatever that means). Insurance companies will want to tap that market. So they will buy or rent the expertise they need. (Trivial, really.) They will not invalidate their business model (which has been working for a couple of centuries by now), they will merely adapt it.

Northrop wins $55bn contract for next-gen bomber – as America says bye-bye to B-52

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Timeline

"The first prototypes of the new bomber won’t take to the skies until 2025 at the earliest, and is unlikely to be operational for years after that.

20 EUR say:

- rollout of mock-up: 2027

- first prototype in the air: 2030

- start of deployment: 2035

- first sighting of chinese dead ringer: 2023

... any takers?

Raspberry Pi grows the pie with new deal allowing custom recipes

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: A jukebox version would be nice.

The device formerly known as Raspberry...

I can't help it, every time I hear 'raspberry' I think of this

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

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: The ignorant leading the blind

If that is your opinion, why do you post it anonymously? Does not compute...

ICO 'making enquiries' into bizarre shopper data spill at M&S

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"If it comes out of a machine, it ain't random." [citation needed]

IBM splashing $2bn on Weather Company – reports

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: I suppose....

IBM was always good at selling solutions to customers who didn't even knew they had a problem.

Next logical step: remake of 'Groundhog Day', starring Watson as weatherman Phil.

Xiaomi preps Linux laptops for the post Christmas sales rush

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

So...

this year = year of the linux desktop,

next year = year of the linux laptop?

UK.gov plans to legislate on smut filters after EU net neutrality ruling

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

2 thoughts

1

Paraphrasing Mark Twain: Censoring is telling a grown man he can't have a steak because a baby can't chew it.

2

Quick! Download ALL the porn!

Aussies' distinctive Strine down to drunk forefathers

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
Pint

Australia, we love you

There is NO rule six!

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Two words: Shirley Bassey

We suck? No, James Dyson. It is you who suck – Bosch and Siemens

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

'Govt will not pass laws to ban encryption' – Baroness Shields

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Just a little bit of history repeating?

Sounds a lot like "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten." to me.

Berlin 1961 (A Freudian slip if ever there was one)

Propellerheads - History Repeating

Flickering screens turn Microsoft Surface Books into Microsoft Surface paperweights

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: How much?

True, but if you offset it against what you can save on drugs that way ...

Cisco: The day of PCs is passing, cloud storage will dominate by 2019

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

You can have my data

when you pry it from my cold, dead harddrive.

Just as Mage said (see above) - not really all that new...

DEFCON 1 to DEFCON GONE: One of NORAD's spy blimps goes missing

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Australia on the very brink of cyber-geddon, says ex-spook

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Cyber maturity

I must confess ignorance of the term, had to use the search engine of my choice.

At first I thought this had something to do with how old their CDC mainframes were.

GCHQ to pore over blueprints of Chinese built Brit nuke plants

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"A truly international field - no Britons involved"

- David Coleman