Posts by I didn't do IT.

Re: Chip respecting limits

Warning: Armchair physics reasoning ahead...

This could be easily circumvented by changing the timestamp of the signals from the transmitter, assuming that's how the chip knows the "time". Even if the chip records the last "time" there was a communication, without the power of the signal, there is nothing for it to run an independent timer to verify that the next signal was transmitted within the timeout period.

Because of this, once the range is known, the transmitter could modify the timestamp to fool the chip into thinking the 100μs have not elapsed...

Unless, of course, the 100μs is how long the signal powers the chip... so that if the chip loses power, it automatically "forgets" the conversation, forcing the timeout.

Re: feeding this back

I actually had the delicious thought of them stuffing printouts of the apology down the lawyers throats.

Wishful thinking, I know...

Re: BBC link

Reports that it has been moved or removed... Not surprising, really.

Re: Dan Brown is going to...

Dag nab it! I thought I was going to be the first with the movie idea!

Though mine is more along the lines of the cards being counterfeited, and the copies substituted for the originals in 5 of the 7's safes... Then the DNSsec system would be "rebooted" under another base server control and no one would realize... UNTIL ITS TOO LATE!

Step 3: Profit!

Re: Why ask?

It also depends on the disposition of the airline crew - people at the desk often tell passengers to ask the crew if a meal will be served on "marginal" flights.

However, those are usually the ones that you don't want to eat what they service; first class or no!

Re: Drinking Straw

The idea is that it is a very fine, narrow field sensor, typically a camera. This (usually) means that it has very good magnification, but can only view a very small patch of ground.

Due to the speeds/time involved, it would not be very useful to survey a large area with one of these...

Err - Logic @ S.T.B

"...your rights do not trump the rights of others. Ever. And vice-versa."

Wouldn't that be, "...your rights do not trump the rights of others. Ever. And the rights of others do not trump your rights." If so, that would imply that either the rights of others, "b", at some point in time trump your rights, "a", or that "a" trumps "b" at some time, unless they are equal at all times.

But, we know that can't be the case. Your (and my) rights are not equal to the rights of others all the time... unless you don't count the "better" people...

Re: Standard Issue

Oakleys are pretty much standard issue if you are expected to be in a "hot" area.

Re: Why Raytheon?

Two terms: Reliability and Embedded Control.

Its that record of reliability engineering that is attractive, as well as experience in embedded control and monitoring. Now, a better question is what's wrong with Honeywell in doing this? No GSA classification for research projects (just construction contracting)?

Mitsubishi would be an obvious choice, if not for the "not made/designed/owned in USA" thinking... but doesn't Raytheon have foreign investment as well?

Like everyone else in the US, the "reasons" for final selection of a government contractor are a collection of mystical and confusing alchemical formulae that obfuscate the fact that government offical A wanted person B who works for contractor C to do it. Whether the reason is kickbacks, preivous working relationship, sleeping with someone's daughter, or who knows what else.

Re: More Flatulance in Humans

Perhaps because we are not ruminating mammals? We only have one stomach, after all...

Re: Hollow Earth Theory

Yep, according to a professor on the Beeb, if the trophy were solid (18K) gold, the volume would dictate a mass of 70kg, instead of the 6.175 stipulated.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/10301713.stm

Re: The Other OTHER (White) Steve...

And lo, as it was foretold, Steve, at the Trials of Job(s), had come full circle, to be completely Balmer(s).

Re: Mechanical

Well son of a gun.

That is pretty clever. Now, I wonder hard it is to mess it up by putting the batteries in too quickly and bending one of the tabs?

However, if not a tab and rather a layer of metallic connector on rigid substrate, then how would the ends hold tension on the battery to hold it in place? You couldn't just have the ends the exact size of the battery - notice the mouse (from page above) has one end of the batteries concealed in the case - that means the batteries must have been inserted at an angle, with one end or the other "springy".

Perhaps a spring on the inner side of the connector, so its not exposed? If that's not part of the patent I hereby claim first publishing rights! ;)

Re: What happened to predecesor?

Its OK - we have nets now.

Re: Eagle and Millenium Falcon

Yep, the absolutely coolest vessels across science fiction are... cargo carriers. Millenium Falcon was a freighter, and Eagle... well... Transporter pretty much sums that up.

Which means that NASA's forage into gaming will really take off with a game remake of Space Truckers.

Re: tweets not the explosives

You do realize that if you buy ...[Self censored to keep from having this post deleted]... or any combination of over 3000 common household products, foods, or consumer items. That's for a simple grocery store - [American mass retail chain] would be considered a terrorist wonderland of bomb making materials.

Since they can't control the products (cutting into retail business, mind), they must control the information - "sorry guv, too dumb here to ken yur talking about"... but obviously if you buy a product from secret column A and one from secret column B, you are a clever terrorist that must be watched... instead of some poor shmoe picking up Mother's spring gardening trifles when you pop out for some toiletries.

Isn't it in England now where certain brands of plant food are now banned due to concerns about people getting high off of it?

Re: Actually existed

Unlike a similar single person (even with the trinity) based, wide spread faith (loosely) headquartered in Rome, its my understanding that Islamics still have documents written *by* the person in original handwritting, and not just letters and "eye-witness" accounts written hundreds of years after the singular person's "death".

Now, whether you want to live your life, and your family's lives by rules scrawled out by some guy baked by sun and lack of water in the desert who he says he spoke with God (and force your neighbors to do the same), well... that's ultimately your personal decision

I remember a radio preacher (religion irrelevant) who talked about forcing someone to read a book. "No one can ever make you do anything, its ultimately your choice. If someone hands you a book and says - read it, you can say - no. If they hold a gun to your head, you might start thinking... Its not a really large book... It wouldn't take that long to read it... But it is still your choice to do so."

You still have control over your life, and THAT'S what makes extremists of any religion wake up in cold sweats at night.

Re: Millstones

Actually, nope, not at all. It's YOUR neck the puritans want the millstone around, friend Bobbles31.

Banning it all, in any form, is thier ultimate goal. How else to shield everyone's all-to-vulnerable-to-temptation soul, eh? We will worry about tightening THAT standard even more when we want to burn the next group of "heretics".

Re: Reaction of dark laser

The destructive force of a laser is in the intense and rapid increase in deltaT (temperature change), causing the material the laser is interacting with to melt and/or vaporise.

A dark laser, logically, must then affect deltaT in the exact opposite way, causing the object to undergo a dramatic freezing.

Of course, logic can completely ride roughshod over good science. :)

Re: Kareoke investor

That's It! You have found the The Next Big Thing to distract the Masses - a combination of X-Factor and Dragon's Den!

Simon is available for contract now...

Re: fewer... people? Business != Intelligence

The problem is, as long as they espouse running any government agency like a "business", they will fail.

Businesses don't want "highly trained, highly compensated, smarter people", they want low paid cogs that will advance our base of knowledge in an trickle amount that can be easily absorbed by the system. You have only to look at your government's performance the past few decades (the civil servant jobsworths - never mind any elected official) to see this in "action".

Military entities and agencies that support military operations (intelligence is one of them) should not - CAN NOT - run this way effectively. Military management != Business management.

<rant> The Intelligence field is changing; both what we consider valid intel and where it can be found. Luckily, however, eventually it all comes down to people. Cutting out experienced analysts that know how other people in different cultures, societies, and cults think is a step backwards. Either cut existing IT ranks to get the intelligent IT people that I AGREE are needed, or train the existing ones up to where they need to be. If they can't be, it shouldn't matter who their contractor is/was or who they are related to or know - better to have a nephew out and looking for another job than to have servicemen/women killed due to incompetence. Or because some penny-pinching upper management with a six figure salary didn't keep or clean out the right resources. </rant>

Re: Sense of Entitlement

The Sense of Entitlement you speak of is highlighted by the leadership of the company, who are paid to lead by example. If they get 6%, everyone should get 6%.

If they want to run it like a communist stalag, then run it like one. If the lowest pay increase is 2% (even if it is less than inflation - there are very few jobs that get pay raises that keep up with, let alone outpace, inflation), then EVERYONE should get the same pay raise percentage. Bonuses should be based on % of pay, not set monetary amounts - and if it is calculated for taxes, benefits, etc, then it better damn well be calculated for retirement!

Re: Destructed Data

I thought that all the data was put onto a few hard drives and destroyed in front of auditors? Apparently, this was only England's data? So, only 600GB recorded IN ENGLAND? Or was that the WHOLE OF THE BRITISH ISLES?

If it was, in fact, the ONLY COPY of ALL THE DATA collected by Google, how could there be any data to deliver to other countries?

Something is not right in Denmark (and Italy, and Germany, and ...)

Re: Guided missile response system

Surely with all this heat generated (including from ambient microwave radiation we are bombarded with all the time) this heat might be stored for just such an occasion?

Most missile systems (the missile itself, usually) don't do well when bombarded with concentrated IR radiation, and at a certain point and beyond you burn out the detector. ;)

Re: Seriously?

Here, let me put your comments in reference:

"Microsoft games Microsoft to promote Microsoft. No sh!t. Stop bitching and try harder if your product or service can't keep up with one of the largest online computer software multinationals on the planet that pays to be your default choice. There's more than one operating system/browser/office suite."

There, fixed that for you.

Re: Reg Comments Club Pitch-In

... or perhaps start up a series of Page 4* girls for El Reg, with hers as the lead items? I'm sure we could all pitch in to get her 30 quid back that way, eh?

* Yes, I know its "Page 3 girls", but this isn't just some ratty rag mag, its EL REG! ;)

Re: Absence of ID

The problem really isn't the ID card itself; there are many good reasons to have a way of verifying who you are and your legal ability to buy alcohol, drive, etc. The problem was the NIR behind it that contained EVERY LITTLE PIECE OF INFORMATION ABOUT YOU, WHAT YOU DID, WHERE YOU WENT, etc. and fined you if you didn't keep Nanny up to date.

If they revamped the Driver's License/Permit to be a valid passport substitute, not many would complain... as long as there wasn't a database behind it tracking you with information it didn't need to know. Fingerprints required? Fine - BUT KEEP THEM IN THE CARD and NOT IN YOUR DATABASE. Ensure that the encryption ON THE CARD is secure enough to dissuade "casual" forgeries (governmental forgeries are beyond our scope, here).

Having ANY CURRENCY based system TIED TO YOUR IDENTITY DOCUMENT is FAIL, FAIL, three times FAIL. Having any tie-in of governmental ID with your money is begging (Nay, truly GAGGING!) for automated monitoring and "control"; immediate violation of privacy and immediate proof that government doesn't trust it own electorate.

If it has gotten to the point where the government doesn't trust The People, then The People have no need to trust the government, either.