* Posts by Karl Dane

9 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Apr 2007

He's coming for your floppy: Linus Torvalds is killing off support for legacy disk drive tech

Karl Dane
Paris Hilton

I nearly choked...

the first time I learned that, in South Africa, everybody referred to the 3.5" variety as 'stiffies'.

You've seen things people wouldn't believe – so tell us your programming horrors

Karl Dane

my $is_valid_email_address = $email_address =~ /@/;

WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg

Karl Dane

Ear's looking at you, kid.

New Star Wars movie plot details leak, violate common sense and laws of physics

Karl Dane

Today's nicely-relevant xkcd: http://xkcd.com/1397/

Beeb's Carla Bruni coverage hits rock bottom

Karl Dane

Reminds me of

an unusual BBC recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/carrotsglazedwithcum_80467.shtml

Merchants and punters cry foul over Verified by Visa

Karl Dane

Two-way authentication

It should be noted that two-way authentication _is_ available, at least with VbyV; you can setup a passphrase that VbyV must display to you, which proves (for a given value of 'prove') that the iframe or popup is actually being presented by VbyV rather than a phisher.

Better than nothing, certainly.

The 'blem wit' error messages

Karl Dane

Printer on fire?

I learned my favourite error message when I first started messing around with linux (about 12 years ago now, I guess.)

I was trying to use my linux box to act as a networked printer server for my parallel port epson. However, the first time it ran out of ink, the lpr daemon reported:

"Unknown error. (Printer on fire?)"

You should have seen the speed with which I ran across the room to ensure this wasn't the case.

KD

Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's

Karl Dane
Unhappy

An embuggerance indeed

Mr.Pratchett has been a significant part of my life since I was 12, (I am now 32), and I have often (selfishly) thought that it would be the end of an era when he finally stops writing. I have never met the man, but nonetheless I am embarrassingly well-versed in his works; I will too easily re-read one of his books rather than start a new one by another author.

When I started my contracting career, it only made sense to name my company (rince.net) after one of his most prominent characters; the weaselly and cowardly 'Rincewind'.

Here's to hoping I'll still be reading new Pratchett material when I'm 64.

KD

I've got some sawdust: can I call it chocolate?

Karl Dane

There's a wonderful Pratchett quote...

...as follows:

" Wienrich and Boettcher were, naturally, foreigners, and according to Ankh-Morpork's Guild of Confectioners they did not understand the peculiarities of the city's tastebuds.

Ankh-Morpork people, said the Guild, were hearty, no-nonsense folk who did not want chocolate that was stuffed with cocoa liquor, and were certainly not like effete la-di-dah foreigners who wanted cream in everything. In fact they actually preferred chocolate made mostly from milk, sugar, suet, hooves, lips, miscellaneous squeezings, rat droppings, plaster, flies, tallow, bits of tree, hair, lint, spiders and powdered cocoa husks. This meant that according to the food standards of the great chocolate centres in Borogravia and Quirm, Ankh-Morpork chocolate was formally classed as 'cheese' and only escaped, through being the wrong colour, being defined as 'tile grout'.

Stolen and lightly edited (due to laziness, and a general reluctance to dig out my copy of The Thief Of Time, find the quote, and type it out) from livejournal here: http://meddler-inc.livejournal.com/

KD