* Posts by allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

6157 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Oct 2015

Microsoft founder Paul Allen reveals world's biggest-ever plane

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

The 'avoiding bad weather' bit makes sense to me. And you can launch at the equator for maximum efficiency.

Also, you could pick up the launcher and payload directly at the assembly site (if they have the runway to do it).

But we'll have to wait and see whether it will fly more than once like one of its predecessors...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: How long before ...

Personal aircraft carrier, including the air wing?

Let's see who gets the best mooring place off the coast of Saint-Tropez then, suckers!

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Hang on...

"Wasn't that plane nuclear-powered?

In the 1960ies, everything was nuclear-powered.

Love bots lecture thrills room full of Reg readers

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: A companion in my old age, if...

Maybe not Trumpcare, but if a future administration really wants to take bread & circuses into the 21st century, this seems highly probable.

Shadow Brokers lay out pitch – and name price – for monthly zero-day subscription service

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Disinformation? Smokescreen? Muddying the waters? Diversion from... what?

Nvidia: Pssst... farmers. Need to get some weeds whacked?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Does it work on triffids?

German robo-pastor preaches the GNU Testament

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Oh, I have just remembered what this reminds me of: the computer confessional in Woody Allen's "Sleeper".

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"... might we at El Reg suggest: ... "St Francis of ASCII" as alternative(s)."

No. Protestants don't do saints.

Pentagon trumpets successful mock-ICBM interception test

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: a senior moment here

"... but since the end of WW2 we're pretty sober when it comes to the nukes."

Hmm, considering the antics of Curtis E. LeMay, I'd say that Dr. Strangelove was closer to the truth than I'm really comfortable with.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: a senior moment here

Duh!

We = The GOOD GuysTM

They = The BAD GuysTM

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Apart from having flashbacks to the 1980ies (didn't they do all that before?), I also have questions.

1. What exactly is an "ICBM target"? Possibly something larger than a re-entry vehicle1) from a MIRV bus? Like maybe a complete nose cone or upper stage?

2. How do we get The Bad GuysTM to put beacons in their kit that provide target acquisition and tracking data for us?

1) Cutest alternative name for "nuclear warhead" ever.

Millimetre wave.. omigerd it's going nowherrr.. Apple, you say?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: I live in a vacuum!

Could you post a schematic of that antenna of yours ? Sounds just like the thing to improve reception at my uncle's.

NORK spy agency blamed for Bangladesh cyberheist, Sony Pictures hack

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Still not convinced

"If I were a comedy fat, evil dictator who executed people with flamethrowers and anti-aircraft guns, I'd want a better pay off than leaking a bit of internal data from some toss-pot movie studio; Wouldn't you?"

If was predominantly rational then probably yes.

However, if I was a spoiled kid who has grown up into an insecure, unstable, paranoid megalomaniac, used to having it my way, and enjoying being the centrepiece of a personality cult that presents me constantly as a never erring demigod... and then someone insults me by making a satirical movie about me and my country - guess how rational my recation would be.

How the Facebook money funnel is shaping British elections

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Facebook

"We're more Huxley than Orwell."

Perfect* mix of both, I'd say.

* As in "worst of both worlds".

IBM marketeers rub out chopper after visit from CEO Ginni

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Hmmm, an Aérospatiale/Eurocopter Dauphin 2...

It was probably a rental from Starspeed.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: I was so hoping for her to demonstrate a new innovation

Hate to tell you - there are helicopters with ejection seats: Kamov Ka-50.

(However, there is also a little comic by André Franquin demonstrating the effect you had in mind, but I couldn't find a linky.)

Raspberry Pi foundation merges with CoderDojo Foundation

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Japanese names

IME not that bad as the translations tended to be a bit long-winded*. YMMV, of course.

* Ah, the joys of a composite language.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Pic looks like a geeky wedding invitation. But no point in wasting resources on overlaps, so yes, sounds reasonable.

US laptops-on-planes ban may extend to flights from ALL nations

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Somewhat off-topic tangent here - I think it's time for a remake of Air Force One; after all it's 20 years old already.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Thought process?

Well, if all the laptops from the passengers on one flight are put together in one container in the cargo hold, it's easier to arrange for several terrorist's laptops to be in close proximity, thereby making it possible to combine several smaller charges into one large, much more efficient one.

Or am I thinking this through from the wrong end here?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: bomb in body

"I'm still waiting for one of them to realize that a bomb small enough to be concealed inside a working laptop battery is also small enough to be put in something like a dildo. Meaning they can conceal the bomb from practically any scanner simply by being kinky enough to conceal it INSIDE themselves."

Wait no longer! In fact, that's already been done in Saudi Arabia by al-Qaeda1) in 20092) in an attempt to kill Saudi Arabia's Deputy Minister of the Interior, Muhammad bin Nayef. The minister was only slightly wounded. The would-be assasin was killed in the attempt. So not really successful as such, but definitely past proof of concept stage.

1), 2) Ah, the good old days, remember?

Your job might be automated within 120 years, AI experts reckon

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Dark days to come

"However, it finds us and our puny affairs to be of no interest to it, and completely ignores us thereafter."

So, for all we know, it might already has happened.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"It was predicted that machines will be able to [...] create a top 40 pop song by 2028, ..."

Now that has got to be wrong.

IMO, we've reached this point about 25 years ago.

BA's 'global IT system failure' was due to 'power surge'

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: "Tirelessly"?

"Teams"? As in "more than one"? After all the RIFs?

Sergey Brin building humanitarian blimp for lifesaving leisure

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Can we just stop with the flying car pipe dreams and be done with it?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

This is basically Cargolifter all over again.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Techn billionaires floating around in giant dirigibles?

I was rather reminded of this. If Brin starts to hold board meetings in his blimp, I'd be somewhat worried if I was one of the members.

British prime minister slams Facebook and pals for votes

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Dear prime minister...

"But do we want to live like the old East Germany?"

Not really... even considering that the GDR had one or two things that weren't half bad.

Ironically, never, not even in their wildest and wettest dreams, would the Stasi have dared to dream of today's possibilities re mass surveillance.

Microsoft court victory prompts call for data-grabbing regime

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: RE: But what harm came from releasing pictures of bomb fragments?

"Err on the side of caution, not sales."

Not corporate policy. Sorry.

US citizens complain their names were used for FCC robo-comments

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Sue?

Yes, who is she?

Three Nigerians sentenced to 235 years in prison for online scamming

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: I like the US style......

And for how long will they actually stay behind bars?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Not just the Nigerian's Anymore

"... it clearly comes from someone who doesn't know how things work in England."

Some low level clerk at Whitehall?

IBM asks contractors to take a pay cut

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Bewildered

"How is this going to help those companies that are a customer of IBM?"

If I may point out the fallacy you seem to be commiting: whatever reasoning is behind IBM's actions, the needs of IBM's customers are not part of it in any way. You ask how this is going to help customers? The answer is: Not at all. You ask how management can ignore the fact that they need customers (and preferrable satisfied customers) in order to generate revenue and stay in business? Well... the best answer I can offer is that it's some sort of self-induced schizophrenia. You know, like in most cults. Oh, and it looks good in a PowerPoint presentation.

----------

"Some factual information for you. Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?"

"How much?" said Arthur.

"None at all," said Mr. Prosser.

Windows 10 love to see PC market grow again. Future iPhone to be clear. Elvis to re-appear

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Elvis isn't dead...

That's actually a very entertaining movie.

The revolution will not be televised: How Lucas modernised audio in film

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Can I just say that the revolution will be televised. And have corporate sponsors.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"Star Wars (the first one when it was just Start Wars) [...] The sound system was terrific and the screen was huge and bright. When after the titles a huge spaceship flew over I almost ducked only to be amazed by the vastly bigger cruiser chasing it that just seemed to impossibly grow and grow till it filled the screen and the roar of the engines from the rear speakers hit."

This. I was almost twelve, and it was just fantastic.

'President Zuck' fundraiser opens for business

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Bah!

"Cthulhu's Aquatic Anus, do we really have to recapitulate the 1900-1930 period before we remember why we said "never again"?"

It certainly looks like it a little bit more each day.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: The Just What We Need

"And if he does run, what on earth would he be offering the US population?"

Free Facebook for everyone!

Hang on...

'Do not tell Elon': Ex-SpaceX man claims firm cut corners on NASA part tests

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Differing cultures

The right way, the wrong way and the weasel way?

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Yep...

Wer schreibt, der bleibt.

Pirates hack was a hoax, says Disney boss

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"Then what if a pirate watches a pirated pirate film?"

Metapirate?

Astroboffins spot a new type of galaxy bursting with stars

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"My God! It's full of stars!"

Sysadmin finds insecure printer, remotely prints 'Fix Me!' notice

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Its a fun pastime

"I have a picture of Ainsley Harriott and a network printing app for my android phone for just these occasions."

Obligatory: Can't Smeg, Won't Smeg.*

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

* Fast-forward to 3:50 to avoid the trailer show.

Juno's first data causing boffins to rewrite the text books on Jupiter

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Sadly no black monolith found

Duh, we have to find the sentinel on the Moon first!

Life is... pushing all the right buttons on the wrong remote control

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
Pint

The ATCSNWT household has a labelmaker* and yes, anything like new remotes, power supplies and whatnot get labelled and sometimes even colour coded. And the manuals are filed away in box files. Which in turn are neatly labelled as well. No, the labelmaker doesn't have a label saying "labelmaker" on it. I'm not crazy, my parents had me tested. Life's short hard and then you die; when I want to watch a DVD I want to watch a DVD, not play 'hunt for the right remote'.

* Okay, four. Not including labels that go in the printer. Stuff like tools with wooden handles get branded with an old soldering iron. Heat shrink tubing plus a permanent marking pen is excellent for marking tools like spanners as your own. The heat gun isn't labelled, but the generic toolbox it's stored in is. Stop sniggering at the back.

PAH! Four decades of Star Wars: No lightsabers, no palm-sized video calls

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: beginning / middle / end

Oh Simon, why do you always have to be so linear.

8 out of 10 cats fear statistics – AI doesn't have this problem

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

"It is true that the equations become more complex but, as a non-mathematician, you can simply accept that the statisticians know what they are doing and use the tool without having to follow what the equations mean."

Trust me, I know what I'm doing. Here, hold my beer while I do this.

Yeah, great pitch, but nope. Unless you know how the raw data was collected and how it was processed, any statistic has to be taken with a ton of salt. And if we are talking potentially lethal applications* there has to be accountability. So show me the data. And what you've done to it.

* Not much harm in Siri sending me to the wrong restaurant. Two tonnes of metal, glass and plastic hurtling down the high street in the wrong direction at full speed, however...

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: When is a car not a car?

Depends on, amongst other things, how you define "vehicle".

If I define it as "something I can use to get myself from A to B", toys are not vehicles.

If I define it as "some sort of box with wheels", a Matchbox toy is a vehicle; just like my trolley case or the IKEA thingy the rubber plant in the living room sits on.

Tricky.

allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

Re: Without statistics, there can be no self-driving cars, no Siri and no Google.

It's settled, then.

Statistics must die.