* Posts by Sergie Kaponitovicz

101 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Aug 2008

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EU cloud data can be secretly accessed by US authorities

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Megaphone

Solving a non (OK negligible) problem?

Question: Anyone know (via FOI requests??) how many people have been killed by terrorists in the past 30 years compared to deaths from heart disease, obesity, drugs (booze & alcohol included), suicides, murders, car crashes, manslaughters, fatal five-finger massages ....... ?

Just one attack on the USA since Pearl Harbor and the whole world must dance to their song.

Dear Politicians

PLEASE, Dump all of this 'we will protect you' crap and just let us take our own chances.

"The End"

Quote courtesy of a recent CSI episode on C5USA.

Liverpool cops compulsively snooped footballer's record

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Megaphone

It's wrong - but....

... watch any TV plodumentary (Spin), then read the comments on Inspector Gadget's blog, and you will see a demotivated operation trying to deal with an overwhelming burden of politically correct BS in the face of scumbags, whilst preserving a pension. I condemn their actions in this case but understand why they occurred.

It's not the front line coppers that are at fault. It's the overpaid, self-gratifying Chief Constables and their amazing affrontery at defying the Home Sec's demand of 'No more targets' (aka Just CATCH CRIMS)

Murdoch, The Daily, and life without the web

Sergie Kaponitovicz
FAIL

Whoops

Strike Gates insert Jobs

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pint

Why does everyone hate a successful man/woman/person?

I think that Murdoch has got his strategy "abso-bloody-lutely-right mate".

I have a hell of a lot of bourgeois capitalist respect for the man, but freely admit that in company I'd likely break his nose for being such an arrogant shite. The crap that he sells on Sky is a masterstroke. Never under-estimate the stupidity of your average punter.

BUT Sky News is a much more reliable source than the BBC News (aka propaganda = Gardianista) service. So, for a quid a week - why don't I give it a try?

Ah! I know why not - it's because I do not have an iPad. Why on earth does not Gates shove this on iTunes?!!!!

Sergie Kaponitovicz

They are all at it

I subscribe to many blogs (sad?) and some rune stories 2 weeks later. In the UK press I see printed articles previously seen in the blogosphere days earlier. I would happily pay 20p a day to have a bloody good journo save me the effort by sifting out all of the crap and repitiiiiiiiiiiiiitionionionion.

Enraged wives hand Pakistani polygamist vicious shoeing

Sergie Kaponitovicz

Wife offered FOC

As Les Dawson once said: "Take my wife. Please ..... take her!"

The accused is a masochist.

China announces Skype ban to protect telco revenues

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Unhappy

Who Cares?

Honestly - who should care about Skype?

This is what China does. Live with it - and move on.

There were once 2 truths - you pay taxes and you die.

There are now 3 truths - but in 2 versions:

Version A: you pay even more taxes, the Chinese will be dominant, and you die, or

Version B: you pay even more taxes, Sharia law will be dominant, and you die.

Happy New Year.

Walmart falls in with Washington's war on terror

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Grenade

Bin Laden/Al Quaeda: 10, Western Democracy: 0

The title says it all.

Just ignore the fuckers. The longer we all live in a state of paranoia the longer the terrorists control the game/war/whatever you prefer to call it.

Two fingers (a la Churchill) to BL/AQ and Walmart who are exploiting sub-average IQ punters. You know the ones... the punters that took out sub-prime mortgages invented by Bill Clinton who ultimately created the cess-pit global economy we are all now paying for.

US opts out of carbon trading

Sergie Kaponitovicz

Sanity Rules?

Whatever the spin - CO2 is here to stay. Without it we would not remain here.

I am an (old) scientist - a real one - a scientist that challenges all assertions.

My conclusion is that all carbon/green taxes are an inconvenient con. Inconvenient to you and me, supported by the BBC.

Twitter joke appeal adjourned

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Grenade

Ignoramous

You know nothing about how the legal system works. Anything and everything that the prosecution and defence submit must be revealed to each other, and the court, prior to the trial taking place. The documents supplied in support are called "bundles", and are traditionally wrapped in red tape.

Über-zombie cookies give us the fear

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Blimey!

What's going on? 10/10 intelligent replies? I agree with all of the foregoing. How boring.

Is Gordon the future of HPC?

Sergie Kaponitovicz
FAIL

HPD is not an acronym; it's a TLA

acronym (ˈækrənɪm)

— n

a pronounceable name made up of a series of initial letters or parts of words; for example, UNESCO for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, or RADAR for RAdio Detection And Ranging

HPD is not pronounceable and is thus a TLS (three letter abbreviation) much loved by geeks, middle managers and consultants. I know - I have been all three.

Colonel who slammed Afghan HQ PowerPoint culture is fired

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

On full pension?

Read the title - and good luck to him.

Virgin Media to warn malware-infected customers

Sergie Kaponitovicz
FAIL

So what's your complaint?

You will get more invoiceable work, won't you?

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pint

About Bloody Time!

But this does not go far enough. The sending of spam is abuse of the service agreement, and it makes no difference if it's deliberate or down to having an infected PC, IMHO. The letter should demand remedial action within 7 days, or termination of account. To allow for holidays etc. such letters to be sent Recorded Delivery.

As far as VM flogging additional services - why not? There is an identified need. Hands up the first ElReg reader who would refuse a £20 'drink' for fixing a problem.

Dawn raids catch 9 for massive iPhone 'fraud'

Sergie Kaponitovicz

So that's ~£1m each for how long in pokey?

Might not be a bad trade-off.

If they were smart enough to do this in the first place, they may have been smart enough to launder and squirrel away the money. The fact they were caught obviously demonstrates that they are not Einsteins however.

Still, I can see them offering Get Rich Quick bizops on eBay, whilst serving Her Majesty's pleasure.

Or maybe I can be the sole publisher with resale rights exclusively limited to Lagos?

Disney sued for spying on kids with 'zombie cookies'

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Big Brother

Better Privacy add-on + Firefox

Half an answer: The BetterPrivacy add-on for Firefox does a good job of removing these nasty files, but so far I haven't found a way to block them without blocking all cookies, some of which may be needed for full functionality of a visited site. Also some sol files are desirable (e.g. Skype settings), so this add-on does require some thought in how it is configured.

Short passwords 'hopelessly inadequate', say boffins

Sergie Kaponitovicz

Probably preaching to the converted.....

.... but here goes.

Question:

How do you compose a long, and hard to brute-force, password for a particular website?

The Free Method

Answer:

1. Open up a simple word processor. Enter:

2. User Name: All symbols, e.g. (~(("}` Make this as long as the website allows.

3. Password. Think of something unique that associates you with that website (=memorable). Let's take online banking with Southern Sand Bank plc as an example.

Your own personal memory might be "I opened my account with Southern Sand Bank when we lived in Milton Keynes. It was in 1990; it's now bust". That translates into "IomawSSwwliMK.Iwi1990;i'snb"

Save the text file, then copy and paste the relevant strings into the registration page. Keep the txt file safe - job done.

The paid for, but cheap and convenient method:

Install 1Password (was Mac only, but now also Windows beta). Just use it straight out of the box. It's brilliant, and NO, I do not work for the company, and NO, I am not an affilliate!

Buxom buttocks bolster Beemer bonnet

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Badgers

Still there!

As at 15:12 BST the ad is still live. Amazing.

Badgers because there is no beaver

Alleged pirate fingered for filming film at Harrow flicks

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Down

Local rag The Harrow Times was first to report this story yesterday. ®

And you, desperate hack, were the second.

EC consults on low take-up of e-commerce

Sergie Kaponitovicz

What's more is that we pay these unelected pricks.

"Nuf said.

Cashpoint mugger flashes distractionary chesticles

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

You're a devious bugger .....

.... and I like your thinking!

Caretaker faces jail for putting abuse images on boss's laptop

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Grenade

Who said it was supplied by the employer?

When they went to PC World and paid for one out of their own pocket maybe?

UK.gov sticks to IE 6 cos it's more 'cost effective', innit

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Go

@ bitmat animal

Possibly the most sensible post so far.

It is true to say that many other browsers work fine with .gov.uk sites (such as HMRC); it's also true to say many other browsers don't. But I comment as a 'customer' not an internal user.

I am totally in favour of the ConLib Govt making as many savings that make sense, and if the implication is that keeping IE6 is for internal intranet usage only, carry on.

Smart meters pose hacker kill-switch risk, warn boffins

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Alert

Daily Wail story

A Pound to a pinch of shit that this is in the Daily Wail within 3 days.

Microsoft patches Freetard-by-design bug

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Jobs Halo

Re: My other computer is a Mac, I'll have you know.

"My other computer is a Mac, I'll have you know".

Ditto ....... X4.

I use W7 on my sole Windows box (as it's the closest to OSX yet), and it's still crap. e.g. hover the mouse over an option — and before you know it the fucking option launches — before I have even had the chance to see what my choices might have been!

Now, let the El Reg Fanboi antibodies loose in the soup of plasma-rich anti Apple Mac vitriol (most of whom seem to be staffers) telling me I am wrong to claim that W7 still does not come close to OS X (10.4, 10.5 or 10.6).

BTW: Whatever happened to Freakey?

ISPs agree to cheaper contract buyouts

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Alert

Re: Why Pay?

Interesting suggestion! Would this not also work with VM cable?

Viagra spam shop live on Twitter for a month

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Flame

Copywriting correction

Amend: "This is blatant promotion of pharmacy sites that are normally advertised via email spam, in order to sell Viagra et al." .......

....... Make that: "This is blatant promotion of pharmacy sites that are normally advertised via email spam, in order to sell FAKE Viagra et al THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO KILL GULLIBLE PUNTERS." A SpamCop search of the URLs in conventional penis-pill spam takes you to a Chinese ISP 99.9% of the time.

The vermin that promote fake drugs, produced by slave child labourers, are no better than the scumbags that destroy lives with heroin and cocaine.

You may have noticed I feel quite strongly about this, and I condemn Twitter's management for such dereliction of duty. Apologies to all who were hoping for a more light-hearted response.

Cops' quango to come under freedom of information laws

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Megaphone

Much a I approve this...

.... was it debated in Parliament, or is this yet another ministerial rubber stamp (invented by Liebour) job? In other words, another pre-election gimmick? Such as the £billions investments announced in the past days for projects in Liebour marginals?

BT hijacks business browsers

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Grenade

They are no better on the phones either

I had a hugely irritating call to a TPS registered (non BT) business line.

I insisted on being connected to a supervisor/manager in the Indian call centre. I eventually spoke with a Rajesh Sharma who is on 0870 7766775, and made my feelings very plain.

He told me that they bought-in the database! If true, so much for due diligence.

I suggest that anyone who has been buggered about by this crass stupidity / flagrant breach of UK Laws calls that number and lodges a complaint. I know it's a broadband/ISP issue, not phones, but the hassle value should really strike home.

Orange days from major tariff refresh

Sergie Kaponitovicz

T-Mobile 2

Jst gt txt fm TM.

Sorry, I will start again...

I received a text message from TMobile this afternoon. It is now cheaper for me to call just about anywhere in the world EXCEPT THE UK on my mobile.

Hang out the flags! How great is that?

Pirates of the Caribbean say 'narrr' to Bulgarian airbags

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pirate

Examination Room V0.1 (alpha)

Full schematics here

http://www.4guysfromviewpoint.com/uploadedimages/mammogram.jpg

'Health and safety killjoys' kill cheese-rolling race

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pint

Fucking Bollox 2 the Lot of Them

E-nuff is e-nuff.

These are our lives. If we participate and kill ourselves - so be it.

If we participate, kill a spectator, and survive, c'est la vie. The spectator made a free choice to be there. Shit happens.

Where's the Rolling Cheese piccy?

Vulcan kept airborne by £400k refuel

Sergie Kaponitovicz

Re: slight error

Ivan, I'll take your word for it, but it certainly looked like re-heat/afterburners!

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Several memories...

... spring to mind. Here are 2:

1. I was an RAF Cadet on Summer Camp at RAF Finningley in S.Yorks during the 1960s. We were enjoying our annual air experience flights in Chipmunk trainers, and our waiting room was an out-building. Suddenly there was an almighty bang, and we all rushed to the windows, only to watch a Vulcan literally blow itself apart. The undercarriage collapsed, the cockpit section hit the ground, and the aircrew scarpered across the airfield faster than a whippet with sulphuric acid applied to its testicles!

One year later we were at RAF White Waltham. There on the table, in the air experience waiting room, was a Restricted document that described what had gone wrong with the Vulcan we had seen destroyed. It turned out that something like 19 different faults occurred simultaneously, and that had it only been 18, all would have been well, due to fail-safe double redundancies being built in. The actual number of faults was almost certainly not 19, but you get my drift?

2. I was on duty as a medic (RAMC) at RAF Greenham Common when it was still a USAF base, and a military airshow was being held there. On the Monday following the weekend displays, the aircraft departed and each pilot was determined to show off to the maximum.

The Vulcan took off, circuited the airfield, and stood on its tail with full re-heat right over the top of our field hospital. The ceiling came down. Awesome power, and awesome mess!

Google profits from UK.gov's climate change quango rivalry

Sergie Kaponitovicz

I am not gobsmacked

In fact, I have noticed a cynical and significant waste of taxpayers' money on increased gov.uk advertising in the run up to the next general election — bollocks to the public finances — ve vill shtay in ze bunker! Und ver ist your ID card?

The REALLY frightening prospect is that Ed Balls gets the leadership after Bully Brown loses in the Spring. Jonah Gord is a pussycat compared to Balls. But Al-Beeba will support him, at our expense. And the ACPO will diligently pursue all soft-targets in order to meet performance demands thus ensuring maximum bonus and pensions. It will take years for an alternative administration to undo all of the harm, and what scares me is that after one 5 yr term (assuming an overall majority), progress will have been too slow and painful, so that Nu-Stazi get back in.

Castleford locals storm Tickle Cock bridge

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Unhappy

Shame the council caved in...

... Banksy could have done a fantastic graffito.

(Graffiti = plural)

Carbon trade phish scam disrupts exchanges

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Just for once...

.... I am on the side of the e-vermin. Anything that exposes the man-made CO2 Climate Change mantra being hi-jacked by politicians to raise 'green taxes' as a load of bollocks, gets my support.

Next from Apple: The Pocket iPad

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Brilliant

Sent from my iMac G5 desktop - which I love - but the iPad is a joke. See, not all fanboiz are zealots!

There's a good article in the Torygraph as well:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7092013/Why-I-dont-want-an-Apple-iPad.html

Compulsory perv scanners upset everyone

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pint

Let's prove the scum have not turned us...

.... into quivering wrecks, afraid of our own shadows.

Let's get a group together on a heapo-cheapo flight to anywhere, hire a coach, and all arrive at check in with no baggage, wearing swimsuits (stay legal!), and with the slogan ........

....... please submit your suggestions!

Trouser-bomb clown attacks - how much should we laugh?

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Terrific piece

I salute you (although I may outrank you).

Ex-RAMC

Offline Gmail kisses up to attachments - at last

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Stop

Why the fuss?

Gmail has allowed POP + SMTP access since day 1. Just set up an account in the default email client. Simples!!

WTF is this country called America?

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Alert

The Canadian is correct, if totally illiterate!

There is a continent called N America, but no country called America.

From experience, "Canajuns" get very touchy about this!

It also raises the question: how does "God Bless America" when it does not exist?

ID fraud prevention week fights UK's fastest growing crime

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Alert

The e-vermin ARE sending a message

From my IT manager:

These are all currently being blocked by the spamwall but performance is

degrading slowly due to the fact that we are currently getting about 8,000

per hour which added to everything else today is giving us a spectacular

rejection rate. The SpamWall is currnenty handling about 11,000 messages

per hour of which 97 % are garbage.

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Alert

Are the e-vermin sending a message?

In the past 90 mins I have received 5 emails from 'HMRC' with the subject line "Notice of Undereported Income", and the usual suspicious-looking link.

When reported via SpamCop all 5 had come from different far east or east Europe ISPs (what a surprise).

Let's be honest, the cybercrooks are clever, and it would not be beyond belief that this assault is a 2 fingers in the air job: "catch us if you can".

Canada laid bare on Street View

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Totally changed my mind....

....yesterday, when bored and decided to play around with GoogleEarth.

Previously I had been very dubious about this venture, but after looking for

1. Where I was born

2. Where I was raised

3. Where my grandparents lived

4. Where I was a choirboy

5. Where we later moved

6. Where my wife and I created our first born

I was able to find the lot! I now think it's brilliant.

I even got a shot of what was the grocers that my mum (and I, pre-school age) would visit in Wimbledon, which is now converted into a residence.

Saved an awful lot of time and travel costs!

It turns out that nostalgia IS what it used to be.

MyConservatives website collapses at launch

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

Great 404 Error page.

Love it!

Trucker prangs rig while cracking one off

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pint

There is an IT angle!

Blimey Lester, a Haynes article all about a hard drive. Congratulations!

Tomorrow's World comes back to the future

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Thumb Up

@ James Sherwood

James,

Thank you for posting this article.

Like many others, I have fond memories of this programme.

And for younger viewers, the host, Raymond Baxter, was a WW2 fighter pilot

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

Snow Leopard forces silent Flash downgrade

Sergie Kaponitovicz
Pint

My Golden Rule...

..is never upgrade any OS to Vx.0; my livelihood depends upon a smooth running Mac/PC network. Once again, I am proven right.

I love early adopters, they take the pain out of my life.

On a different note, but still on-topic, the article by Tim Anderson - W7 v OS10.6 - is one of the best reviews I have ever read. Unbiased to the extreme. Bravo!

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