back to article BIG BOOBS banished from Linux kernel

Microsoft has ‘fessed up to inserting the hexadecimal string “0xB16B00B5” in the Linux kernel. Redmond has hung its head in shame because, once you remove the initial zero and x, then squint at the remainder in just the right way, the result is the term “BIG BOOBS”. The offending string is no mere frippery: it is apparently …

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          1. heyrick Silver badge

            Re: Bill Gates is obviously Guilty @ Mad Mike

            "In life people are forced to do far worse things than just have sex, there are far worse crimes that are more disruptive to a man than being forced to have sex." - Yeah, torture. Wrongful imprisonment. Being murdered, especially if done nice and slow.

            But... where was this thread going?

            "As man, I think that a man being raped by a woman IS a very different thing to a woman being raped by a man or a man by a man." - I don't. As a man. Certainly, in many cases males have the controlling hand by generally being larger and stronger, this isn't always the case. Likewise it is probable that female-induced rape may be more pyschologically-based, especially if the perpetrator is in a position of power over the victim. While the actual methods may differ, the end result is one person have sex with another against their wishes - which is pretty much the definition of rape.

            "Women are different, its much more of a violation when they are raped," - bollocks. You refer above to "a man by a man". Trust me, if a man jumped me, I'd feel exceedingly violated. And would I be able to discuss with anybody about being buttf**ked by a stranger? You tell me if this would be "a violation" or just "a minor meh".

      1. Greg J Preece

        @TeeCee - Don't be a twat

        So one person has concluded he's innocent without seeing the evidence, and you've concluded that he's guilty without seeing the evidence, and that makes the other person shameful, a supporter of rape, etc, etc. Don't be a twat. If anyone's closer to how the justice system actually works, it's the other guy...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: @TeeCee - Don't be a twat

          Very eloquently put, sir.

      2. Graham Marsden
        FAIL

        @TeeCee

        "I'll make my mind up once he's been convicted or aquitted in a court of law. As he seems intent on avoiding having to challenge the evidence, I'm leaning towards "guilty as sin" myself."

        Well that's a nice open minded viewpoint you have there. Forget about Presumption of Innocence, let's just assume he's guilty. I can see you're so willing to wait for a verdict...!

      3. heyrick Silver badge
        Stop

        Re: Bill Gates is obviously Guilty

        "Oh bloody hell. Will people knock it off with the "Julian is a good bloke and girls should just be fucking grateful to get it from him." thing."

        I was under the impression that the problem with Assange's supposed rape charge ("supposed" because currently not proven) was because the crimes are said to have happened in Sweden, so why the calls for extradition to the US for a crime that could be tried in Sweden, with jail sentence (if found guilty) likewise in Sweden. In essence, there's no reason for the US to get involved except to throw a tantrum about their dirty secrets being publicised...

        I have no comment about whether or not I believe him guilty or innocent. In my personal opinion, he's a twat who painted a bullseye to his back. It could be a setup, or it could be real. Ask me if I actually care...

      4. kirovs
        FAIL

        Re: Bill Gates is obviously Guilty

        Rape in addition to being under reported is also the most falsified accusation.

        In case you did not know- Mr Assange is not charged with rape anywhere in the world. Please, unless you have actual facts of the contrary shut up.

        I dislkike Assange. I think he is sleazy and unpleasant. But this is no reason to accuse him of rape without knowing the facts.

        BWT shame on you for casting the stone.

        I think you just won my prize for worst post I have ever seen here on theregister.

        1. heyrick Silver badge

          @ kirovs

          "In case you did not know- Mr Assange is not charged with rape anywhere in the world. Please, unless you have actual facts of the contrary shut up."

          Was this in reply to me?

          Quoting Wiki (that wonderful source of reliable information): "The arrest warrant was canceled on 21 August 2010 by one of Stockholm's chief prosecutors, Eva Finne, as the investigation was downgraded to only cover lesser charges, and re-issued by Swedish Director of Prosecution Marianne Ny on 1 September 2010 who considered that the allegations could be classed as rape. It would seem likely that it would require something fairly serious to feel the need to issue a European Arrest Warrant and extradition. While the charges on record don't actually outright state "rape" (unless olaga tvång (unlawful coercion) is how it is described in Sweden), it would seem as if Sweden's Director of Prosecution thinks what happened is close enough to count...

          That said, nothing has been actually proven as yet, let it rest with that.

    1. VaalDonkie

      Re: Bill Gates is obviously Guilty

      That's too mainstream

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I am gobsmacked at this serious issue being taken as nothing more than harmless fun!

    Microsoft shouldn't be allowed to get away with just an apology and issuing a patch.

    We need a massive fine to stop Microsoft doing this again and set an important example!

    And we need to shoot the people who were responsible!

    And then shoot the people near the ones who were responsible!

    And then shoot everybody else!

    Only then can we be certain that this issue won't re-occur and possibly offend someone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I am gobsmacked at this serious issue being taken as nothing more than harmless fun!

      Or we could solve the issue another way, rather than shooting all the microsoft employees we could just gather up all the feminazis who were offended and shoot them instead.

      Before I continue I must point out Feminazi's are the feminists who find everything men do to be offensive, and effectively hate anything with a penis or something similar

      Feminists are actually sane women who just want to be treated as equals, rather than looked down on. Feminists can be cool, feminazi's cannot.

      1. Oolons
        Facepalm

        Re: I am gobsmacked at this serious issue being taken as nothing more than harmless fun!

        So by your definition then feminazi is a made up construct that almost certainly exists in your head only?

        1. heyrick Silver badge

          @ Oolons

          "So by your definition then feminazi is a made up construct that almost certainly exists in your head only?"

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminazi - it is a Rush Limbaugh-ism (figures...).

          BTW, how does this not auto-Godwins itself into obscurity?

    2. Stoneshop
      Go

      Re: I am gobsmacked at this serious issue being taken as nothing more than harmless fun!

      You forgot about replacing the people who were replacing the people who were responsible for shooting the people who were or were not responsible with llamas, shooting those as well and replacing them with moose. Or something.

    3. unwarranted triumphalism
      Thumb Up

      Re: I am gobsmacked at this serious issue being taken as nothing more than harmless fun!

      I like your approach to law and order.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Death

  2. Allan George Dyer
    Joke

    Nefarious plan...

    Now that this hex number has been deemed inappropriate, the memory location 2976579765 will go unused on millions of computers worldwide, so...

    1. Hijack location 2976579765 on all computers

    2. Use it for extortion and blackmail

    ...

    Profit!

    Law enforcement will be unable to respond because any investigation will get stopped because of "offensive behaviour".

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Flame

    I actually have the urge to do physical violence to anyone outraged over this. Going through life with Less Teeth is always a good reminder to not be a Total Jerk.

    1. gerryg
      Devil

      I'm sure you won't mind...

      ...fewer

      <---seems have some missing

      1. Toastan Buttar
        Devil

        Re: ...fewer

        What if he punches someone and cracks all their teeth, whilst remaining seated in their sockets?

        "Less teeth"?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Correction

    Brian MacFadden was in Westlife not Boyzone

    Anon for obvious reasons.....

  5. Ben XO

    Whilst I absolutely applaud the elimination of sexism in the software development culture, being "ashamed" of boobs is something feminism often rallies against. Simply saying "boobs" isn't supposed to be offensive to women. Boobs exist. Shrug. (What usually follows at this point is a stream of comments saying "I'm a woman and I thought it was funny": http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/14955.html)

    Now, who's going to use the VM ID 0xFA7D1CC5 ?

    1. Morg

      There's no sexism in the dev culture, most of us geeks would kill to meet a woman who's in IT (and is not ugly of course) and good at it.

      Unfortunate reality is most women are in the fake jobs, such as HR, accounting, sales and whatnot, where actually having a brain is not exactly required.

      Also there are probably quite a few gay coders so bigdiiccs is probably in use somewhere, soon to be defaced.

  6. toadwarrior
    Trollface

    Face it if this sort of behaviour scares off women then its wrong. We need women in IT. Otherwise who will make the sandwiches?

  7. archengel46
    Thumb Up

    ah, Fridays...

    TGIF

  8. Mint Sauce
    Coat

    It's ok..

    ..they've changed it to 55378008

    Ah, school maths lessons, we learned so much.

  9. ACx

    Why the hell cant these damn people stand up for their jokes? What's the point of bothering with an amusing sneaky, then act like discovered catholic paedophiles once the joke is discovered? Spineless cowards.

    1. Tom 7

      Like discovered catholic paedophiles?

      So MS is moving to a different parish?

  10. Swoop
    Happy

    58008618

    OK, hands up who just fished that dusty old calculator out of their drawer and typed in 58008618 for old time's sake. (I did!)

    1. auburnman
      Thumb Up

      Re: 58008618

      [hand up]

      You forgot to mention turning it upside down and snickering.

      1. jake Silver badge

        Again (was: Re: 58008618)

        Grow up, people.

        Honestly, the mind boggles.

    2. JeevesMkII
      Coat

      Re: 58008618

      Unfortunately, the Linux kernel is now 55378008.

  11. waxy41
    WTF?

    Doesn't this happen everywhere!?

    A company I used to work for had a few lovely Boolean variables in their code, like bolLocks and bolLocking to mention two.

    If it wasn't for these little childish moments I think the monotony of our tasks would have got the better of us!

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Doesn't this happen everywhere!?

      Yup. Worked on a weapons system that had a signal Watch Dog For Test that allowed you to adjust the hardware watchdog so you could develop the system or perform system testing without it continually resetting. WD4T certainly helped everything go smoothly :)

      That said, there was also an occasion where all the drawings, documentation and front panels had to be changed because there was an indicator for Wheels On Ground. Perhaps lost productivity of these changes caused by these people who do no productive work is the real reason everything has gone to shit recently?

    2. Stoneshop
      Go

      Re: Doesn't this happen everywhere!?

      One of the PDP11 operating systems (forgot which one exactly) had the error mnemonic IE.NFW for "No route to host", with the error code 69.

      Ah. Searching for those terms I find it was RSX-11, the exact message was "IE.NFW -69 Path lost to partner", and the perpetrator none other than Dave Cutler.

    3. Kubla Cant

      Re: Doesn't this happen everywhere!?

      Hungarian naming! The only one that ought to be allowed is intThisAnnoying.

      If it weren't for the severity of their other crimes, Hungarian naming alone would be enough to condemn Microsoft. Especially when a lazy developer changes a parameter type without bothering to rename it.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    International Computers Limited

    I used to work for the erstwhile supplier of mainframes to the government. Various plays on the company's name were to be found in all sorts of unlikely places: TEST.ICL being a favourite. FARC.ICL and ILLOG.ICL being others.

    Anon, obviously.

  13. This post has been deleted by its author

  14. Big_Boomer Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Rampant Stupidity

    The IT world is rampant with innuendo and smut, whether intended or otherwise.

    FAQs are used to great hilarity in many IT environments where people advise each other to go FAQ themselves.

    Worldwide code contains almost as many characters as the legendary large number of chimpanzees could bash out in a large amount of time so somewhere in all that code will be the phrase "get a life you sad prudish assholes" which has obviously been explicitly entered for all those who were offended by 0xB16B00B5.

    1. Stoneshop
      Headmaster

      Re: Rampant Stupidity

      The IT world is rampant with innuendo and smut, whether intended or otherwise.

      Fixed that for you.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Better than the alternative

    Speaking as a female and owner of a fine pair of boobs... I'd prefer software to have B16B00B5 rather than a small dictionary......

    X eyes anyone? Strange how real eyes are oval in the other direction.......

  16. CADmonkey
    Paris Hilton

    Type '69' into a calculator and turn it upside down...

    It looks like a certain sexual act.

    Down with this sort of thing!

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      Re: Type '69' into a calculator and turn it upside down...

      Oh, I just did... still looks like 69 to me :-(

  17. CADmonkey
    Headmaster

    Where will it end?

    And what are they going to call Copper Nanotubes?

  18. IonU
    Go

    Virtual PC mac

    After finding out you could set the Mac address of virtual PCs, our DHCP has a lease to the mac 000f0c0ff000.

  19. A J Stiles

    More hex rudeness

    5296383 decimal.

    1. jake Silver badge

      Re: More hex rudeness

      One of the rudest: 11011345

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What about Oracle ... does Java still use 0xCAFEBABE?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    B0110C5

    ..obviously.

  22. itzman

    B16D1C5 will replace it

    nm

  23. Sarev
    Joke

    How do you write "GROWSOME" in hex...?

    As above.

  24. The BigYin

    0xCAFEBABE

    Will this also be banned?

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