Posts by lIsRT
188 posts • joined Tuesday 13th May 2008 11:47 GMT
"five-by-five-foot"
If it's meant to contain a human, I'd have used something three-dimensional myself.
.corn
One can hope it will either be http://www.ncga.com/ or http://www.corn.org/ who get it.
Posted in Boeing backs biofuel boffinry
It nearly happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_X-6
Isn't most education paid from the state budgets?
Out of interest, how do you manage system-wide settings?
I'm able to keep most of my settings in my home directory, but have ended up with far too many customisations sitting in /etc/, which I've occasionally forgotten about when formatting the non-/home/ partition at re-install time.
An especially attractive option in the UK, ever since I got my own place, I've been able to ignore the increasingly stern begging letters from TVL.
Posted in TomTom axes 10% of workforce
oh well
I actually liked using their car navigation kits; I would have bought one by now, if it was possible to load new maps onto the thing without having to run Windows or OSX.
Looks like the company might be circling the porcelain at the moment, so I doubt it's worth choosing one of theirs no matter what they do...
Full Circle
Heh, needing a proxy or some sort of other work-around to pay for music...
That put a smile on my face.
Narks? Only a problem if there are more than 20. 20 big ones.
Weren't they the villains from the Bananaman cartoons?
Nasty, but I don't think they caused him any serious problems.
possibly
I'd guess that those buddies have been a bit more careful with their proxy use - which is probably why they haven't been picked up at this time.
Of course, it all depends on whether or not they've been so careful about casual chat amongst themselves; I guess we'll find out soon.
That's no moon!
These look like some sort of RCS, using water as the reaction mass...
Posted in TSA to revise nudie scanner software
The possible responses scare me more than the threat.
Maybe it's because any competent terrorist now realises that the only practical way to conceal a bomb is not under clothing, but under skin (and preferably some fat/muscle layers too).
Sort of like that fat bloke the Joker got to in the last Batman movie.
All you need is a friendly surgeon.
Should be interesting to see how they respond.
X-rays, ultrasound? - too slow and/or dangerous.
Stitches == no fly? - horrifically discriminatory.
No fatties on the aircraft? - this would actually have a pleasant unintended consequence, but probably wouldn't stop a smaller bomb that could still do some damage.
really?
If it was as easy as that, why don't they just release the emails themselves, but under the banner of "Anonymous"?
Oh...
I am really not sure how serious I am here.
Good idea - they can ban addiction while they're at it.
Posted in Cleaning up the Bitcoin act
deflation is nice
One of the points is to have a currency which does not permit inflation.
There are only a finite number of bitcoins which can be created, ever.
(Assuming it all works as planned of course.)
This would have the effect of rewarding savers and punishing borrowers; it's a matter of opinion whether this would be a good thing or not, I would say it is.
Phew.
Ordered a vertex from Amazon, fortunately it hadn't shipped, just cancelled it right now.
I suppose not.
OK, deleting might be an overreaction (I suspect this might not even be possible for some of the default Windows fonts); but, if you care about having unambiguous information in your browser's address bar (or anywhere else), then make sure to use a suitable font.
Trebuchet seems to be an acceptable compromise, it's not too serif-y, but at least the l isn't just a vertical line.
Hilarity.
I love this (no sarcasm whatsoever), just for the comedy that may ensue.
For example, why register a .xxx domain when sooner or later someone will be offering .fuck ones?
Or, imagine the Corn Farmers Association of <Wherever> decide to register .corn (squint at it, and imagine what happens when you start to need glasses).
No, you're not stupid, but many MANY font designers are.
If:
Ian
and:
lan
look the same on your system, delete whichever font you're currently using.
Sometimes serifs are there for a reason.
Own up.
Who else thought tabs (abbreviation of tablets? - I suppose I could be wrong here too) and pills were the same thing up until now?
But, but, but...
...I thought we were *meant* to make sure that, where possible, our code never actually needs root^H^H^H^Hadmin privileges!
Seriously though, Google's "customers" are the users - not the owners. What else do you expect?
Posted in Bitcoin slump follows senators’ threats
addendum
Incidentally, to previous contributors: If you are sure the value of bitcoins will eventually crash, shouldn't you profit from it by figuring out a way to short-sell them?
From what you say, it's a sure thing.
Posted in Dam Busters dog dubbed 'Digger'
(mis)quoted from The Office
Well, it was racist, but that was back before racism was bad, so it was OK.
Posted in Bitcoin slump follows senators’ threats
hmm
I'm thinking about buying some, just an experiment - a non-inflatable currency sounds like a really nice thing to have, and if it gains traction *might* prevent the central banks and governments fucking with our money.
(Economy in a slump? - Print more money. - Didn't work? - Do it again lol!)
As long as no-one holds more than they can shrug off the loss of (unlike Falkvinge...) there should be no catastrophe.
Spending them seems to be a bit of a convoluted process e.g. on spendbitcoins.com (not tried it, so caveat emptor) you first create a shopping cart with an affiliate, buy a gift card from them, and spend that.
Looks like "loopholes" like this will be the main route for bitcoins into the real economy until/unless they get too big for the main retailers to shun.
Like henchan, I'm wondering what the Reg will call them - containing, or ending in, "tard" is probably required, but "bitcointard" doesn't really trip off the tongue that well. Oh well, I guess we'll find out soon.
me too
Bought (and RMAd) a monitor from them at least 5 or 6 years ago, and got an odd (as in, addressed to my real name) work-from-home spam yesterday.
abc and/or 123
Groan.
"concerns that the flying Ironsides might swoop down and feast on the evidence"
Better than not finding it and having it finished off by the local crows, rodents, maggots, etc.
Priorities
"He was ordered to pay a £1,050 fine, £1,160 towards prosecution costs, and a £15 victims’ surcharge."
The State gets 47.19%, the lawyers get 52.13%, and the victims (note plural) get 0.67%.
See icon.
Posted in Stealth-cam software snaps laptop looter
remember this?
Similar situation, with a desktop:
http://www.grisby.org/burglar.html
Read the article please.
"The co-ordinator of the speed watch group, Vincent Humphries, tended to agree. The 61-year-old told the court: "It's not every day you see something like that. I was laughing. It didn't offend me at all.""
Like a serious reply to a sarcastic question...
It goes straight through, without any effect, and comes out the other side.
This could work, but probably not in the way he's thinking.
Successfully impersonate (underage) girl.
Play for free.
boring
Putting a line in the code like:
while(isObstacle()) laser_power++;
would be more impressive.
(requiring better lasers and a Mr. Fusion style power source, obviously)
all of the above
I suppose there are multiple reasons for whatever action is carried out in response to a crime, ideally it should satisfy all of the following:
1. personal deterrence (i.e. discouraging the perpetrator committing the crime again)
2. preventing recidivism (making it *impossible* to commit the crime again, distinct from point 1)
3. deterrence by example (i.e. discouraging everyone who finds out about it from committing the same crime)
4. restitution/compensation (all damage done in committing the crime is repaired, all losses are returned, where not possible, alternatives such as financial compensation would be indicated)
(probably more, but that'll do for now)
Prison would:
probably be OK for 1
2, temporarily (or not, if there are computers for prisoners to use in prisons)
3 - yes, probably
4 - definitely not - it would be the opposite, as it puts everyone's taxes up slightly
It would be good if judges had to show that any sentence satisfied all these criteria, although that's likely impossible.
Posted in Reg ed rattles the Red-Headed League
disappointing week
A good FoTW should include more spelling mistakes than that, I only spotted "naritives" and "carfully" - any others I missed?
advert
I suppose a small proportion of the many who saw this in the Metro today will be reading about Tor and similar programs now.
Don't worry.
Microsoft are still committed to supporting Skype on Unix platforms - based on rumours from inside the company, Skype for Xenix is just around the corner.
Please no.
I remember liking hotmail.
Maybe now I'll see if the people behind Ekiga have figured out how to make it work for people who use routers.
Proxy Required
Based on what some other news sites are saying, it looks like it will be US only.
multiples
Could we have multiple icons per post?
Sometimes more than one would be apt.
abc and/or 123
"What she is inferring is that services like Skype must be carried, gratis, by the ISP and said ISP must continue to support more and more bandwidth hungry sites and services, for next to diddly squat in returns."
Good grief.
Trying to fully express what I think of that post would probably result in an incoherent rant leading to justified moderation.
I do not expect my ISP to "carry Skype gratis".
I do not expect them to "support more and more bandwidth hungry sites and services".
I do not expect them to do all this "for next to diddly squat in returns".
I expect them to allow me to use the Skype program (and others) to send and receive up to 50GB of data packets in exchange for giving them £19.99 plus VAT per month.
If an inferior ISP lets its marketroids write the publicised terms and conditions (which can only be profitable with underhand tactics like throttling certain types of packet and imposing secret caps on the amount of data transferred), then they deserve whatever Neelie can throw at them.
Hopefully it will drive customers to those businesses who are actually honest about what they can deliver.
Like John Glenn, but the other way round.
They did send John Glenn up, ostensibly "to study the effects of space flight on the elderly"; presumably we'll eventually have to know how it affects children too.
Posted in H2O water-powered shower radio
slightly off-topic
I'm wondering how much the electric bills would go down if I figured out how to hook up several of these little turbines to the cold water inlet and a wall socket and then just kept the taps running...
Posted in Red Dwarf to blast off on new adventure
oh dear
Yet more.
It lost its way after series 6, icon says it all.
Posted in SCO trading suspended in US
abc and/or 123
I think there are people who have bought SCO shares just for the hell of it - buy one, frame certificate, put on wall.
The fees would probably be several (hundred?) times the cost of the actual share though.
Posted in Anonymous hacks Sony PS3 sites
abc and/or 123
"Anonymous" f**kwits (can I say that on El Reg?)"
Regrettably, you can; I believe the correct word is "fuckwits".
abc and/or 123
Probably "for legal reasons".
It's already happening.
(for lower limbs)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4522136
Posted in WTF is... 3D printing
but, the price of the cartridges will be the killer
Sometime in the next few decades, the people who brought us the "You wouldn't download a car." anti-piracy advert are going to look very, very silly.*
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* Well, a bit more than they already did.
