Posts by Edward Clarke
52 posts • joined Monday 12th November 2007 16:00 GMT
clarke@cilia.org
Auernheimer just got 41 months for doing the same thing. Here's a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weev
Posted in Review: Western Digital Sentinel DX4000
clarke@cilia.org
"I'm torn on rating this device. Western Digital spent the past decade making "My Book" external RAID-0 hard drives. I consider the very creation and sale of these products to be an example of highly unprofessional negligence."
That's probably user error. We use MyBook units for video backup on seven servers here and the VERY FIRST THING that I do is to switch them from Raid-0 to Raid-1. Yes, the 4TB MyBook that I just bought has turned into a 2TB USB disk but so what? With the 6TB units that we are switching to I also convert the drive to GPT And we also turn off that accursed Windows Search on every one of these backup units.
clarke@cilia.org
You people keep dancing around with Oracle and Google and who's worse. The point of law here is whether or not a damned API can be copyrighted. If yes, you can kiss the WINE project goodbye. And who owns the copyright on the kernel API for unix/linux? And the copyright for the API to the C library?
Please God, do not resurrect SCO. Please...
clarke@cilia.org
It looks like they are recommending a censorship board to punish people who disagree with governmental positions and a propaganda board to publicize things that they like. I believe that the Germans may have complete records in their archives from the old East German government on how to set these up. If not, perhaps they can get some pointers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Oh, yeah - the proper term is "attention-whore" not "attention-seeker".
clarke@cilia.org
Chump change by amateurs. For truly wonderful and amazing accounting, you need only go to Hollywood, home of the MPAA. It seems that the actor who played Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi" - the fifteenth highest grossing picture of all time - still isn't getting paid residuals because the picture still isn't profitable.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110912/13500315912/hollywood-accounting-darth-vader-not-getting-paid-because-return-jedi-still-isnt-profitable.shtml
Posted in ScanJet sings number one hit
Re: Anyone got the youtube link?
The Reg player works fine in Chrome for me.
Why protest the UK?
Can someone give me a plausible reason for everyone being angry at the UK? As far as I can tell from the reports in the newspaper, you gave him months of time to avoid extradition. Why aren't these people angry at Sweden rather than the UK?
As for the US extraditing him from Sweden, why not from the UK instead if they really want him? As far as I know, they haven't even asked.
clarke@cilia.org
You KNOW the guy's never going to repeat the offence and the expense of extradition, a trial in the US, following all the legal wrangling in the UK is enormous. Have him give a public apology and drop the case. The fact that you let a UFO enthusiast break into your non-critical internet facing computers may be embarrassing but it's not worth the trouble to prosecute at this point.
On the other hand, Asperger's syndrome by no means makes you a suicidal dimwit as his defense team is claiming. There are many people with this who lead quite successful, happy and independent lives. A sysadmin with an obsession on security and aspergers would be a wonderful employee indeed. Or an accountant with an obsession for numbers?
What about he secure boot?
Doesn't this require a secure boot bios? Am I supposed to replace my motherboard to use this $40 upgrade?
Think BOFH...
Patent applications are text and line drawings in black and white. An unexpected item in an IT budget is probably going to be used for normal internet purposes. As everyone knows, "The Internet Is For Porn".
Ad trolling... maybe not
I suspect that you may be correct and this was an ad troll, but maybe he's onto something. If I want targeted advertisements then perhaps using a separate browser would be useful. I'm not certain about where the data is stored but could you lock up Chrome for instance and set it to forget everything when the browser is closed but use IE9 to do your shopping?
You'd use chrome to search for your porn^w private stuff and IE to shop. The problem is that I'm not sure that the data is segregated enough for this to be effective. Perhaps add another user to your computer and segregate the data that way? Get the benefit (if any) of targeted advertising and keep the benefit of anonymous surfing.
Idiots
If the data on the servers gets wiped then their whole case goes out the window. A criminal case requires a whole different level of evidence from the normal civil case. The words are "beyond a reasonable doubt" - you can't figure any way for him to be innocent. In a civil case, it's more of he probably did it.
If I were on the jury and heard that the government froze the money required to preserve evidence that might have proven the defendant innocent then I'd return an immediate not guilty verdict. You can't put a man in jail (or I can't anyway) unless you're sure they're guilty.
Somebody doesn't know about the wayback machine
The postings are there in all their glory. You can't get rid of data that's been on the internet for any length of time.
Fanbois R Us
You've left off the one thing that the fire has as an eReader and the older Kindles do not. Color.
You'll notice the difference the first time you download a fifty dollar text book ( snort, I'm looking at YOU!) and discover that the publisher has printed the book in light blue on a gray background for all the code examples. To their credit, Amazon did take the book back and refund my money. At that time even the PC version of the Kindle reader didn't support color.
Although much of my content is novels, I bought the Kindle to carry around computer texts. No matter how heavy they get, they will still be more portable than the two inch thick MySQL book. Windows books are often thicker and heavier. When they become obsolete, I can archive them or a simple delete will work - no hauling a hundred pounds of paper to the curb when a new OS comes out.
Doesn't anybody check their facts anymore?
"It's the size of a nuclear aircraft carrier.".
USS Gerald R Ford is 333 meters long by 41 meters wide. The asteroid is 400 meters in diameter. There's a big difference between a 333 meter long needle and a 400 meter sphere.
Oh yeah?
Bhopal, India.
Stuxnet.
The enormous chemical complex called "chemical alley" downwind from NYC in New Jersey.
Do you think it's better protected than the control center for military drones that was infected with a key logger a couple of weeks ago?
Posted in Amazon intros $199 movie Kindle
The IT angle is colour
The best improvement from my point of view is the colour display. When I bought my current Kindle, I had intended to use it to replace my IT bookshelf so that I could carry it around with me. Nobody enjoys carrying around that five centimeter thick MySQL book. This worked well until I got to replacing my Snort manual.
The e-book was a conversion of their printed manual... with absolutely lovely blue on grey program listings. With suitable adjustment to the black/white Kindle, I could just make out that there was some kind of text on the big grey blob where the listings were supposed to be. Couldn't read it though. It was also unreadable on the PC version of the Kindle. Amazon refunded the price of the book with no questions asked. I also complained to the publisher - who said "sorry, bye.".
So the colour feature is important for e-reader library support as well as entertainment. The journals and magazines that I get can now be moved over to the new Kindle. This is going to save me a fuck-off (new UK term) amount of shelf space and even more importantly a fuck-off amount of weight.
As for movies - there's a two meter section of blank wall available in my office for a nice led display of useful size. Connect that to an eight core Xeon server and you have a useful entertainment system. I could claim that it was to replace flip-charts or something. The new Kindle is more on the lines of one of those tiny "keep the kids happy" portable DVD players.
You left out the best part - the cheap lock
The lock used on those panels uses a key that can be obtained from many office supply outfits since it's used on mini-bars and filing cabinets. THE SAME KEY IS USED FOR EVERY DAMNED MACHINE!!!
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/hotel-minibar-keys-open-diebold-voting-machines
No no no no no... FFS NO!
If you ran the exhaust from an RC32/60 into my vacuum pump, I'd beat you to death with a cricket bat. See the rocket motor instructions:
NOTE: Perform RMS-RC motor cleanup as soon as possible after motor firing. Propellant and delay residues become difficult to remove 24 hours after motor firing. These residues can lead to corrosion of the metal parts
Put a safety interlock on that valve; valve open, firing circuit open. Throw the steel outer pipe away as it's unnecessary and heavy. Use a rectangular plywood box for the outer shell with thick expanded foam insulation between it and the vacuum chamber. Since the rocket engine is only 32mm in diameter, use s piece of four inch (100mm) copper pipe for the chamber. Braze the vacuum exhaust line into the side of the pipe.
You're going to need a second line into the chamber for your temperature sensor and the two ignition wires. I would suggest using half inch (1cm) copper pipe for this. Make it a short piece with a female threaded pipe fitting on the end. Use a second short piece with a male fitting leading to an expansion fitting to 3/4 inch pipe. Plug the 3/4 fitting where it narrows with a piece of balsa wood drilled with holes just big enough to take the wires. Fill the rest of the fitting with Apiezon vacuum wax. This will give you a reusable high vacuum sensor port at a not too horrible expense. If you use teflon insulated wires you should be able to heat the fitting up enough to melt the wax with no problems.
http://www.2spi.com/catalog/vac/apiezon/apiezon-waxes-data-sheet.php
Final safety thought - be SURE that it's IMPOSSIBLE for pressure to build up inside the dry ice chamber. Big holes that can't possibly ice up. You might use vacuum grease at the top seal as well as rubber (silicone is better).
Posted in iPhone 4 prototype journo off the hook
Keep laughing
"Sucks for him. He stole the phone. Shouldn't have stole the phone."
Posted in Fujitsu relieves Ballmer's iPad pressure
Tablet computers versus iPAD/Phone
I was about to purchase an Apple iPAD as a birthday present for my wife. I went down to the Apple store with $1000 in my pocket last week and took a careful look at it. There's no denying that it's a nice piece of hardware with a wonderful human interface. As with the Mac it uses a variant of BSD for the operating system. But.... Is it a computer?
No.
The iPAD is programmable and usable as a computer in the same fashion that a Sony PS3 is. You have to jail-break it to run your own programs. Your only source for programming is to buy from Apple. The iPAD is a glorified, much enhanced Nintendo DSi.
Tablet computers, even if they run some version of Windows, are not locked into a one manufacturer support base. I can buy from Microsoft, Adobe or even Apple and there is some competition involved. If I get tired of Win/7, I can upgrade to Linux (probably). This is a computer that does what I want it to do, not a proprietary controller that does what some faceless marketing group thinks I want done.
For my wife, this may be enough. The thousand dollars is still in my pocket while I try to decide. I suppose that the Apple fans will be all over me for this posting, but in this case Windows 7 really is better.
What about the data breach fine?
What about the fine? Are these lawyers still on the hook for the half a million pound fine for data security lapses?
And across the pond in Norway
They're investigating Sony. "Norway to probe Sony's PS3 Linux 'downgrade'"
Get the popcorn and watch the entertainment.
Are you kidding???
A wild boar in Spain stands a meter tall and weighs between 50 and 150 kilograms. If you don't hit it perfectly and are not in a tree stand then it's going to come over tear you into small bloody pieces.
A boar isn't some meek mild little herbivore. Google images for boar spear and note that every one has a cross-piece to keep the boar from pushing right up the spear so that it can eat your face.
Plugins and DNS Block lists
There are plugins for both Firefox and Chrome that are intended to prevent inadvertent visits to Stephens Media newspaper sites and other Righthaven clients. There is also a DNS block list and a very good site that explains what small hosting companies (like me) must do to avoid such lawsuits.
http://righthavenvictims.blogspot.com/p/avoid-righthaven-lawsuit.html
http://claytonecramer.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-make-you-dont-accidental-visit.html
Posted in Do the Webminimum
Also install Usermin and GPL Virtualmin
Usermin is a client (versus BOFH) tool to let users do their own customization. It's useful to add at the same time you install Webmin. Usermin requires port 20000 to be open to your users. Virtualmin is a BOFH plugin to Webmin that is used to configure virtual hosts on a web server. I usually install it at the same time as Webmin and Usermin.
Posted in 'Steve Jobs' switches to Android
US Problem....
"AT&T is a US problem."
It surely is. Their network is awful - customers with iPhones have to go up to the front of my bank and stand next to the window to get a signal while other phones just work. This is going to translate into the opinion that "Apple phones suck" with customers in this area. The problem for Apple is that the people who live around here are venture capitalists and investment bankers who work on Wall Street.
Steve Jobs can give presentations showing that his phone is magnificent but when the guy gets home and his wife tells him that she missed an important call because her iPhone didn't work...
Pictures?
Do a google image search on "Epic Boobs". I can't believe she's 15 in those photos.
Bawdy jokes? Hell no, it's more likely stunned silence.
Sorry, I need my money more than Microsoft does
"Microsoft is hoping that biz customers who are shifting to Windows 7 will opt for a total “refresh cycle” and upgrade their MS Office suite at the same time."
I did. I'm now using OpenOffice on all of my machines instead of the Office 2003 that we were using before. Why should I continue to pay hundreds of dollars to upgrade every time someone in Redmond decides that they need more money? Screw that! It works well enough now.
Posted in 'Racist' job ad sparks investigation
Is all racism negative?
Is all racism negative? You decide:
Help Wanted!
New Museum of Swedish Doorknobs and Beauty seeking bright, young Swedish woman to polish our knobs. Must be blond so as to avoid clashing with our decor. Should have huge... tracts of land.
Apply within.
Posted in Irate Aussies go after US website
If you read the aborigine article ---
From the aboriginal article header:
"This article was written entirely by Australian aborigines who are satirizing racists in Australia in the same way that Sacha Baron Cohen, a jew, uses the character Borat to satirize anti-semitism. So this article is completely 100% not racist at all. "
BGP?
The article says it uses border gateway protocol. This has nothing to do with URLs or DNS as the unit will block routing to specific IP addresses without consulting a name server. A proxy server outside of the blocking router should bypass the filter completely. A VPN will do the same thing.
Or am I missing something here?
Paint balls - bah!
Here's how real men/women/kids do it:
http://www.punkinchunkin.com/main.htm
You'll note that the 2009 winner fired a four kilogram pumpkin a distance of one and a quarter kilometers. It's a heck of a long drive for me, but someday I'm going to go to this contest. I seem to recall that current distance limitations are due to rules against freezing the pumpkin solid and having the pumpkin disintegrate when it hits the mach barrier.
Be careful what you wish for...
There are two possibilities here. The meters are wrong - in which case the customers have a case. The utility has tested the meters and says they're working correctly. The second possibility is that the old meters were incorrect. In this case, I would say that the utility company has a right to collect for prior monies due.
The people bringing this law suite may be shooting themselves in the foot - with a cannon.
Here's the solution
Eat them.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/636315
Why should I use MS Office?
I'm trying to find a reason to use MS Office and am having a hard time. Openoffice seems to provide all of the features that I need with support for the older versions of MS Office documents. What features do the new 2008 MS offerings have that are worth the difference in price (free vs. $$$)?
Don't get me wrong, I really like the new Windows 7 and plan to upgrade all my desktop machines to it. I just don't see any return on investment for an Office Suite upgrade or outright purchase for a couple of machines that don't have it already. The ability to run on a Mac is nice also since that's what my wife uses at school.
He gets extra credit...
For being a male Republican politician who's cheating with a female instead of a rent-boy.
Waste time on the internet?
This absolutely begs for a photoshop contest. You could set up an entire thug gang with some creative editing. "The Axbridge Axemen!" "The Maesteg Marauders" "The Killin Killers"
Sports too? Religion? News?
American and Australian Football, Socker ( rest of world Football), Hockey - all televised programs should be shown after 9PM so the children won't be exposed to the terrible violence. We won't even mention Rugby.
While we're at it, there shouldn't be any news programs viewable before 9PM. Might see violence or some horrible accident and inflict emotional trauma on "the children". Christian religious programming is unsuitable for prime time. Can't get much more violent than crucifying someone.
Most of these "for the children" rules are total crap.
Your recipes aren't going to work...
Baking in Boulder is a pain in the arse. You're over a mile ( 1655 meters ) up from sea level. See if you can dig up "Pie In The Sky - Baking at High Altitudes" by Susan Purdy (ISBN 0-06-052258-5). The techniques in there may help you with your pudding.
Seem to be back up
As of 7 EST Sprint/Cogent seem to be back up with 40ms latency. Somebody blinked.
Posted in Mobile blocking tech for trains
Civilization Saved!
"Now if they could only find a way to automatically silence the children running up and down the aisle then technology would surely have solved the problems of civilisation."
Two words: "Ball Gag".
Another "Youtube" demo of RFID security... or lack thereof
This one shows a guy walking up behind a woman and scanning her AmEx card with an eight dollar RFID scanner that he got on ebay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmajlKJlT3U
It captured enough data to go online and make purchases. Some of the comments say that you could never get away with this because people would get suspicious if someone waves a wand around your rear end. To which I say - put it in a briefcase or purse and scan from within a crowded bus, elevator or subway.
KNOL is full of spam
They've put this system up but aren't policing it. Do a search for "hair" and see all the spam that turns up. If I want spam then I'll look in my junk mailbox rather than download it from Google.
Posted in Ex-Googlers reinvent web search
It has problems with "Dr."
If you type in Jonathan Grattage it returns the naughty pictures. If you type in
Dr. Jonathan Grattage then it fails - says the load is too high.
Posted in Microsoft pledges to fight Vista 'myths'
Vista is better than XP?
Ha! Vista came installed on my Dell Dimension E521 with 1GB of RAM. It was unusable due to lack of memory until I added another 2GB (3GB total) of real RAM. At this point I tried Windows XP/64 on a second disk. My applications ran a lot faster under XP/64. So I went out and paid $130 for an OEM version of XP/32 - and that runs faster still.
If Vista or Win/7 needs better hardware than an AMD 3800+, Nvidia 7600, 3GB of RAM and an Audigy sound card then you can roll it up and sit on it. I'm not buying new hardware until something critical fails on this setup.
Posted in Intel says 'no' to Windows Vista
via OEM or free?
My Dell came with Vista installed. I paid $110 for an OEM copy of XP/Pro and installed that instead. The second drive has XP/64 Pro on it. Vista just runs too slowly to be useful - on a machine with 2GB of ram, Athlon X2 3800+ CPU and Nvidia GeForce 7600 display adapter.
Sounds like a business opportunity
It might be profitable to run a secure proxy server in a central data center. Encrypt the communications between the customer and the proxy, Put the proxy right in (or near) one of the network backbone interconnect nodes. This wouldn't necessarily be an anonymizing proxy, it'd just be one that wouldn't inject advertisements.
Maybe call it "www.nofookingadds.com"?
Paris, because she has higher moral standards than most marketeers.
Posted in Comcast accuses FCC of impotence
Did they just lose their CDA immunity?
If they're censoring their network by removing Bittorrent, doesn't this make them responsible for all content that does go over the network? SPAM, kiddie porn, all that other naughty stuff can now be blamed on Comcast.
Repurpose the scanners
Simply claim that the purpose of the scanners is to find smuggled livestock such as endangered birds or mammals. The fact that it turns up people as well is simply a coincidence.
