* Posts by some vaguely opinionated bloke

129 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jan 2010

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Quantum crypto boffins in successful backdoor sniff

some vaguely opinionated bloke

IANAQP

If you intercept the data stream, it gets modified.

(I am not a quantum physicist) but one of the bits that I think I do vaguely understand is that you cannot reconstruct the key without observing what it currently is - and by doing that, you change parts of it. Your reconstruction thus has a percentage of errors and if this percentage of errors is above what might be caused by signal losses etc, the victim should be able to work out that it's been intercepted.

The bit I don't currently understand is how Bob's key sent to Bill can be used by Bill without Bill's observance of the key causing errors. For now, that may just have to stay a mindf*ck.

Garage worker prangs £200k Ferrari

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Go

As the daily driver of ...

a classic (i.e. pre-BMW) Mini, I would like to point out that I always move over towards the kerb when a motorcycle is behind me on the road, to give them clear sight of the road ahead and room to pass should they choose to.

I also keep checking my mirrors to make sure I know exactly where they are.

Finally, if they do decide to pass, I speed up a little and recklessly pull into their path. It's all in preparation for getting an Audi one day.

OK, joke over. On a more serious note, my Mini-based unannounced manoeuvres are often due to other road users underestimating:

a) the speed at which I'm travelling, even when well under the posted limit

b) the distance between my car and theirs

particularly when they are pulling out of junctions or changing lanes - also typical bad spots for motorcyclists, I believe.

Perhaps that's one reason why I can wholeheartedly concur with your list of "causers of near misses", though I've never had a Ferrari do it. Yet...

NZ spider objects to Canadian's todger

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

what about...

... the pronunciation of "prounounced"?

Is it "prow-nownced" or "proo-noonced"?

(before you bite back, Ididn't use the grammar nazi icon, it's Friday, I found your post interesting and informative and the typo amusing)

Bill Gates backs ball-busting ultrasound

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Headmaster

sperm != semen

... else vasectomised chaps would effectively be castrated.

Back to the books, m'laddo...

Voting chaos in not-fit-for-purpose electoral system

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Troll

Phew

"These same Wbankers are CONVERSATIVES!!!!"

Thanks for clarifying that - for a moment there I thought they were Conservatives...

Feel.me up for grabs in dot-me domain auction

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

Surprised no-one mentioned...

... ani.me...

Google drops cash on soothsayers

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Black Helicopters

Either that, or...

... they'll be stealing Hari Seldon's crown...

(go look him up)

Sharing bank PINs leaves consumers at risk

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Headmaster

Alternatives

"And if banks don’t want disabled people to share PINs with carers, they ought to come up with an alternative [like, for example, chip and signature cards, freely available on request, assuming you can justify it to your bank], or be held to account under disability discrimination laws," Anderson adds.

There. fixed it for him.

Apax buys control of Sophos for $830m

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Coat

St Botulph's Town?

"Over recent years the firm has looked to international sales to maintain its growth, moving the hub of its marketing operation from Oxford to Boston in a bid to meet these objectives."

How did moving from Oxfordshire to Lincolnshire meet those objectives?

Yes, that's it, the one with a picture of the Stump on the sleeve...

McKinnon's mum fights for civil liberties in parliamentary run

some vaguely opinionated bloke

er...

"across to Marxist-Leninism where the state can make it up as is goes along"

Isn't that what we effectively have now?

Blokes spend 11 months in shed

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

I had one shed, and was thinking of getting another.

Yours,

Arthur Jackson.

Asteroids the source of Earth's water, NASA suggests

some vaguely opinionated bloke

orbits?

Imagine heading for Mars (orbiting the Sun at a different rate and distance to both ourselves and the asteroids) via an asteroid.

It would be like going to Glasgow when conditions to do so were more favourable than heading straight to where Newcastle is once every 686-odd days, then waiting for Newcastle to come round to where you'd prefer it to be?

Astroboffin says 'black holes murder galaxies'

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

I'm more worried about...

... that "rouge" black hole you mentioned...

US gov cries foul on MPAA piracy claims

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Pirate

Statute of Anne

Section 4 allows redress if a book or books are deemed (by any of quite a list of people) to be priced too high.

If that bit had stayed in subsequent Acts, we might have avoided some of the issues we have now...

Google and friends back bid to block warrantless email search

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Stop

"what's in this envelope?"

"They've... claimed that the unidentified user has no expectation that his emails are private because Yahoo has the technical ability to access them."

And that's different to the [insert local postal service here] because?

Woman finds Romanian living in shed

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

Shirley...

She'd then need to change her name to Arthur Jackson?

Don't blame Willy the Mailboy for software security flaws

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Stop

Legalese

"Developer warrants that the software shall not contain any code that does not support a software requirement and weakens the security of the application..."

So the developer warrants that:

- all of the code is there only to support the specific [lol] requirements, and if there is any code which does not support a requirement, then that non-supporting code does not weaken the security of the application.

Rather than:

- whether or not any of the code actually fulfils the requirements, absolutely none of the code weakens the security of the application

Two very different things...

Manchester's on fire for ID cards, claims ID minister

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Go

Indeed...

... and every month, when income tax and NI is taken from my gross pay, I'm proving who I am - and that's done with no more than my National Insurance Number.

Unless of course, HMRC/DWP would like to admit they don't really know whether they've been collecting tax and NI from the right person for the past 17 years...

Microsoft flaunts cross-platform gaming goodies

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Thumb Up

No,

... it isn't just you, though my game of preference tends to be Sudoku.

To those considering throne-based-gaming, using your boxers as a phone hammock whilst, er, "tidying up" only works well if you remember to de-hammock said phone once finished.

Hull Daily Mail pulls porncoder comments

some vaguely opinionated bloke
FAIL

"An [sic] partnership"

... as the page title doth say...

And at the end of said article:

"A protest at the Mail's coverage over the issue discussed online failed to materialise yesterday."

... because we deleted it...

Vulcan kept airborne by £400k refuel

some vaguely opinionated bloke

Yes, it did...

... make a hell of a racket although it was felt, rather than heard.

A Tornado was first to try it that day. Set off a few car alarms in the car parks. Then the Vulcan did the same, and set the rest of them off.

(witnessed as a young Air Cadet @ RAF Finningley Air show)

Another favourite story an old flyboy type once told me was the Vulcan and the 2 Buccaneers taking on those cheeky US Top Gun chaps in the desert - and winning - by the Vulcan flying at 100ft, with a Buccaneer under each wing at 50ft.

The Top Gunners were pootling around at height looking for the Buccaneers, and didn't spot them as they were 'neath the Vulcan - which they were not classing as a threat. The target was bombed by them most successfully, the first warning of the Buccaneers being from ground spotters - by which time it was too late for the F15s to defend.

Would like to think it's true...

Apple prepping 'Explicit' App Store?

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

Questionable content

"an Apple rep... provided details on what was deemed objectionable, including women or *men in bikinis*"

DoH splurges £2.72m on Adwords

some vaguely opinionated bloke
WTF?

Timely action?

"The department... estimates that 10,000 more people have got early access to care as a result of its Act FAST campaign"

"Oh noes, face has fallen on one side... Must get on Google and search for "stroke" to see what to do next... oops, safe search is off..."

New cig peril: Third-hand smoke coats puffers in poison

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Joke

Don't forget...

Dihydrogen Monoxide...

some vaguely opinionated bloke

James I

(or James VI for those north of the border) got there first, but decided the duty raised was much better than the duty of care.

some vaguely opinionated bloke

auf wikipedia...

so your salt intake may vary, but:

"Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants (Solanaceae)"

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

Several species are cultivated, including three globally important food crops:

* Tomato, S. lycopersicum

* Potato, S. tuberosum

* Eggplant, S. melongena

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

Conficker outbreak infects Leeds NHS servers

some vaguely opinionated bloke
WTF?

Does anyone else think...

... that memo is just one or two steps away from being the body of a 419 email?

The "IT boss" in question is either employed for the "boss" part of his title rather than the "IT" part - or Leeds PCT employees are famous amongst their IT department for being blithering simpletons with no computer literacy between them.

T-Mobile to revamp tariffs

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Alert

Sort of...

T'missus got a letter from T-Mobile today, stating that the "My Faves" tariff (unlimited calls to 5 numbers) at £25/month was being pulled halfway through her 24 month contract, and she was being moved on to Flext 60 at £60 a month, but there was no option for unlimited landline calls and no option to take any other current tariff.

Contract was cancelled shortly after the postman left the street, along with many other customers according to the customer services staff...

Germans unveil robots 'controlled by chaos itself'

some vaguely opinionated bloke
Welcome

I for one...

... welcome our new, small, chaotically driven robot overlords, which have so far been taught to run away from tigers and not get stuck in crevices.

S'cool. Very cool.

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