* Posts by Alistair

3019 publicly visible posts • joined 18 May 2007

Not for children: Audacity fans drop the f-bomb after privacy agreement changes

Alistair
Windows

Corp takes open source audio software under its umbrella.

Anyone thought about those folks with huge collections of digitized music they've recovered from LP's, cassettes, CDs, DVDs that they've bought?

Anyone thought that those folks when using Audacity to do things to their collected music might be leaking lists of music?

RIAA execs on that corporate board perhaps?

Am I a paranoid nutcase? probably. Am I wrong? perhaps at this moment. Is this something I see coming? hellz yeah.

IBM President and former Red Hat boss Jim Whitehurst quits

Alistair
Windows

Hmmmm.

Um, Paul? Helllllooooo Paul?

Please ensure your ducks are aligned linearly and your contract has been reviewed by a decent lawyer, I'm suspecting you may want one on call.....

BOFH: Oh for Pete’s sake. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself

Alistair

Re: Idiot-Sensitive Glasses

.... I have not one but the 3 treat detecting cats.

Deluded medics fail to show Ohio lawmakers that COVID vaccines magnetise patients

Alistair
Windows

Re: Next up on social media:

If you wanna try the stirring fix for your water you need the magic crystal glass rod from goop, or whichever woo provider is going it this week.

Alistair

magnetic vaccines.

Had a dude at the marina spout that one whilst I was hanging off his binnacle. I just pointed.

FBI paid renegade developer $180k for backdoored AN0M chat app that brought down drug underworld

Alistair
Windows

see what we can do

When we have the back door wedged open?

Loooooook! Many busted criminals!!! Look, look, look, backdoors all over right now!!!!!! Doo eeet!

You have it in one Kabookie

Six years in the making, Vivaldi Mail arrives alongside version 4.0 of the company's browser

Alistair
Windows

Vivaldi/Thunderbird

Okay, had no one ever tried evolution?

Emotet malware self-destructs after cops deliver time-bomb DLL to infected Windows PCs

Alistair
Windows

@ DocSyntax

Why wait several months?

" In late January, Germany and the Netherlands said they had, via Emotet control servers seized in their jurisdictions, released a software update that quarantined Emotet infections on people's PCs, and directed connections from the malware to evidence-gathering systems"

I'm guessing that there was some evidence gathered that will be/was used to charge and or convict some folks for some crimes committed using their infected PCs. But that may just be because I'm slightly paranoid.

Something went wrong but we won't tell you what it is. Now, would you like to take out a premium subscription?

Alistair
Windows

@Franco:

That 404 is AWESUM! Thanks for firing me back to my PET days.

IBM creates a COBOL compiler – for Linux on x86

Alistair
Windows

Re: [Aside] Storage media

I did sysadmin work on an IBM System/36 in college that had 8-inch floppy magazine readers

..... MAPICSII, SYS36, RPGII .....

Dear GOD don't remind me of that mess, it was the 2nd or 3rd installation here in Canuckistan.

Redditor thinks they have a solution to Surface Laptop 3's overheating issues: Elastic bands and USB fans

Alistair
Windows

"The Register contacted Microsoft regarding heat emissions of its hardware, but we have yet to receive a response."

..... publicity folks waiting for corporate surface pro to cool down enough to reply?

Hacking is not a crime – and the media should stop using 'hacker' as a pejorative

Alistair
Windows

Re: Too late

I think Tom Lehrer had a far far better idea about pigeons in parks.

No fair! Space Launch System gets cool stickers even though monster rocket failed test

Alistair
Windows

Re: 2nd Trump term "send off" ?

I'm gonna guess it will happen during the next run of Clinton V Trump presidential competition, where Ivanka will have to engage in turkish oil wrestling with Chelsea on OANN in order to determine which will serve as the next figurehead.

(and yes, even I gagged a bit writing that)

Linus Torvalds labels Super Bowl 'violent version of egg-and-spoon race'

Alistair
Windows

sprots on teebee

all boring.

What you want to watch is junior open league lacrosse.

Makes league hockey players look like wimps.

Trump's overhaul of Section 230 stalls, Biden may just throw the web legal shield on the bonfire anyway

Alistair
Windows

Sect. 230, Devin, Tucker C, Donald, the lame duck and Ijit Pai

Its a damn shame that we've lost so much of the Goons and Monty Python. That cast would make a *spectacular* comedy movie, based in perhaps, lower Moronia in the late 1500's or so.

Presidential Medal of Freedom circa 2020 will like *never* be seen at auction as it will have a negative value.

Suckers for punishment, we added a crawler transporter to our Saturn V

Alistair
Windows

Re: Uh...

Remember Meccano?

I was lucky enough to both inherit my eldest cousin's set, and have a dad that had wanted stacks of it as a kid himself. I had four extra large kits of it, two of which came in flat wooden fold out cases. Fiddly it was, and awkward, but the crane I built with it could actually lift and move things without tipping over, or snapping off a part along the way. I strongly suspect it fed my engineering mentality later in my teen years. Along with the model and rc aircraft I built and flew.

Atlantic City auctions off chance to hit Big Red Button and make grotesque Trump Plaza casino go boom

Alistair
Windows

The Question of the Day for this

Considering the number of "You're fired" moments from 2016 to 2020, has any of the fired placed a bid? Or perhaps any ex partners (of any sort)?

Subway email weirdness: Suspicion grows over apparent Trickbot trojan delivery campaign

Alistair
Windows

Can I have the phootlong phish phillay.

Phishing email delivered via commercial services. There are *layers* of upfcuk in this misfire.

Meantime, the phishers are just after yer bacon.

Glastonbury hippy shop Hemp in Avalon rapped for spouting 'plandemic' pseudoscience

Alistair
Windows

Re: overwhelming evidence ?

"Back in March the WHO told us that masks were ineffective"

One has to note when making this statement that WHO included the phrase "because non professionals will usually play with the mask, increasing their risk of exposure"

You made this comment yourself, but chose to separate it from the WHO advise. I absolutely recall the WHO announcement.

"Danish study showing they don't do much"

Was based on an incredibly small, non professionally, non controlled study. Its crap science. THATS why its banned.

I might be a mask zealot, but having two relatives who have been part of the medical community for over 50 years I know that they DO INDEED help. No mask will be perfect in our current situation, but *anything* that prevents your fetid exhalations from splattering someone around you will help slow down the spread of this disease.

As to lockdowns, well, I think we're open to debate about how best to manage to reduce our social interactions when a substantial portion of the population (at least in my neck of the woods) can't seem to understand the idea that large pools of people indoors yelling, shouting and singing makes for uncontrolled outbreaks of the infection.

Personally I'm thinking handcuffs and radiators, but I'm a prick that way.

Overload: A one-way ticket to a madman's situation

Alistair
Windows

Re: I meant to do that!

I've accomplished the same thing. I just keep emails forever.

Someone got so fed up with GE fridge DRM – yes, fridge DRM – they made a whole website on how to bypass it

Alistair

Re: Land of the Free

I'm no expert but I reckon most soldiers like to be lead-free.

.... well.. .the functional ones ususally are....

Forget BYOD, this is BYOVM: Ransomware tries to evade antivirus by hiding in a virtual machine on infected systems

Alistair
Windows

Re: Turning the tables

I've just been on these fora too long. Oddly, much of what aMfM posts is comprehensible to me. Weird, off the wall, disturbing even, but comprehensible.

CFOs are crossing fingers and hoping a second wave of COVID-19 does not appear, says Gartner

Alistair
Windows

Re: If the CFO's are worried

Bob, M'dear;

I'm sorry your world is being shattered with all the incidents of Mr. Donald demonstrating his utter inability to cope with this simple, basic flu like event that will simply dissapear in April. One point you've missed here is that quite simply, the cost cutting, efficiencies and minimalism that has pervaded accounting for the last ooooh, 60 years or so has removed the old world standard in which hospitals always had 25% more beds on hand than they required. Simply put, since we've not seen a disease quite so communicable since we've been /sarc poisoning /sarc our children with MMR and DPT vaccines, the accountants (sadly from your concern about $$ I have to assume you are one) have slaughtered our ability to properly accomodate YOUR BLOCK CAP REQUESTS!!!!

We're going on a vuln hunt. We're going catch a big one: Researchers find Windows bugs dominate – but fixes are fast

Alistair
Windows

Re: Howabout a breakdown of OS vs Browser bugs maybe?

Bowser would likely bark a lot when the malware showed up........

/me ducks

SpaceX's Elon Musk high on success after counting '420' Starlinks in orbit and Frosty the Starship survives cryo test

Alistair
Windows

Re: This may be a really obvious question.

I certainly plan on trying it out when out on the water -- I haven't dug into it but it would be a wonderful addition to the boat.

Animal crossing? Nah! Farmyard frolics, courtesy of Novell and pals

Alistair
Windows

Re: Agricultural College

and I wonder what Tom would have said or sung about the times we are now existing in

The Old Dope Pedlar

I Got It From Agnes

We Will All Go Together When We Go

Be Prepared

As they were, I think they cover the ground

RHEL pusher Paul Cormier appointed CEO to lead Red Hat into the IBM era

Alistair
Windows

For the record, I joined RH on Oct 8 2018.

It was not good news that IBM had put out to buy them a few days later.

I'm still here, watching closely. I like what I see so far. I'm reasonably confident that I will not end up in something like GDF, which I had the misfortune to experience. (yes I spent time at 3600 Steeles after being outsourced there).

Real-time tragedy: Dumb deletion leaves librarian red-faced and fails to nix teenage kicks on the school network

Alistair
Windows

MUDs

Oddly -- there are still quite a few about.

/me hides since he might still have a character or two on one or three of them....

For the past five years, every FBI secret spy court request to snoop on Americans has sucked, says watchdog

Alistair
Windows

One has to wonder

Just how thrilled JEH is these days. I mean, you KNOW he would be pounding a desk somewhere screaming BackDoors!!! NOW!!!

One has to keep in mind that the US was initially populated by folks with a peculiarly strict reglious bent. It seems that is still a long way from wearing off despite years and immigration. As to the hypocracy of that group of peculiarly bent folks, well, I'm sure there are entire history texts that cover the issue. You just won't find those texts anywhere near an american school.

Remember that clinical trial, promoted by President Trump, of a possible COVID-19 cure? So, so, so many questions...

Alistair

No, its his nephew or perhaps the result of a long alcohol soaked meeting between Bob and aMfM.

World's smallest violin to be played for opportunistic sellers banned from eBay and Amazon for price gouging

Alistair
Windows

Re: You have to laugh

Apparently here in Canuckistan sex toy sales are up 135%.

Hows that for getting it right?

Google reveals the wheels almost literally fell off one of its cloudy server racks

Alistair
Windows

Re: A couple of degrees...

@corestore, that quality was laid off and forcibly retired in the late 80's and early 90's. Sadly.

In case you want to flee this wretched Earth, 139 minor planets were spotted at the outer reaches of our Solar System. Just an FYI...

Alistair
Windows

TNOs = puppeteer's hive colony

Parked and watching closely, ready to depart the instant we figure them out.

Broken lab equipment led boffins to solve a 58-year-old physics problem by mistake

Alistair
Windows

Re: Not really

@Helpful John:

well... you and that camel you rode in on too!

Microsoft, Google, Slack, Zoom et al struggling to deal with a spike in remote tools thanks to coronavirus

Alistair
Windows

Remotee for the last few years

Both with my current and previous employer.

Good VPN, Good ISP, and tuned WiFi. And I get to make decent coffee instead of the crap one gets in most offices.

BlueJeans has been fine for quite some time. My boss is in Italy, and most things in his neck of the woods are calm. My team is all over the planet, from NZ, Italy, France, Germany US, Canada and Czech Republic. We're all remotees.

Nice to see the sports industry finally getting their heads out of their butts. NBA, NHL suspended. Hullo football? Junos cancelled and dozens of conferences in Japan, China, Taiwan and several in Malaysia off the lists.

I get the social weeping about these things, but the idea is to *slow the spread* down so that we don't end up with hospitals all over the world having to decide who lives and who dies.

Russia-backed crew's latest malware has discerning taste – when screening visitors to poisoned watering holes

Alistair
Windows

Re: "the C&C [command-and-control] server replies with a piece of JavaScript code"

@Cuddles:

Are flash updates ever more than scantily clad?

Latest bendy phone effort from coke empire spinoff Escobar Inc is a tinfoil-plated Samsung Galaxy Fold 'scam'

Alistair
Windows

I....

*sigh*

There are moments in m life where I have no option but to make that face, raise an eyebrow, sigh, shake my head and walk away.

Escobar Inc. That would be one of those moments.

The Reg produces exhibit A1: A UK court IT system running Windows XP

Alistair
Windows

Re: Shocking!

@AC re TRU64

Umm..... I can think of 5 ... possibly 7 telcos here in NA that still have fairly large TRU64 deployments.... mind you, they're caught in the 'have to test the living crap out of the replacement' territory on those too.

BOFH: Here he comes, all wide-eyed with the boundless optimism of youth. He is me, 30 years ago... what to do?

Alistair
Windows

There is no icon

or emoji that covers this article. It is quite comprehensive and covers IT to a Tee.

Uber takes a downer as ride-sharing app service crashes

Alistair

I forsee an up lyfting experience

for many uber cx's. It could also be a tarmac taxi'ing event.

Biggest benefit in this domicile is that the SO won't be able to order lunch for her 'team' at work and thus save me $80 or so in waffle fees.

As Australia is gripped by bog roll shortage, tabloid says: Here, fill your dunny with us

Alistair
Windows

Re: Wash your hands as if

I hear experience in that statement.

Alistair
Windows

Re: Nice marketing move, though

Considering some of the shite shit wipe I've run into in commercial bathrooms, That proceedure is required for some of the tissue thin sandpaper relatives that are labelled 'toilet paper' in public washrooms.

GCHQ's infosec arm has 3 simple tips to secure those insecure smart home gadgets

Alistair
Windows

Re: Updates

@Cynic_999

Used to own a certain wireless sound system did we?

Is that a typo? Oh, it's not a typo. Ampere really is touting an 80-core 64-bit 7nm Arm server processor dubbed Altra

Alistair
Windows

to hell with crysis, I want one to run my NetBSD firewall.

Hey, fatso. If you're standing desk-curious, the VariDesk Pro Plus won't break the bank

Alistair
Windows

Re: Back pain caused by standing

Standing in one place causing lower back pain can be indicative of plantar issues, and trust me, foot problems now mean wheelchair in the future. I strongly suggest a consult with a podiatrist.

Never thought we'd write this headline: Under Siege Steven Seagal is not Above The Law, must fork out $314,000 after boosting crypto-coin biz

Alistair
Windows

Well, assumption is the mother of all fuckups.

(yes, its sad that I can connect that)

BOFH: Gosh, IPv5? Why didn't I think of that? Say, how do you like the new windows in here? Take a look. Closer...

Alistair
Windows

Volvo

Having owned a 245D at one time, I can only imagine adding concrete would possibly have it sinking through most road surfaces that currently exist. It was dense enough to start with. However it would make a rather solid stopping surface.

Spider-eyed Lite version of Huawei flagship flies out before actual P40 launch event

Alistair
Windows

Re: Camera Envy

@macjules:

Kids bought me a good old fashioned safety razor for the last solstice fesitval gift giving chaos. No, no we don't need the $65 12 pack of 5blade cartridges. The $14 pack of 100 blades will do just fine thanks.

Going Dutch: The Bakker Elkhuizen UltraBoard 950 Wireless... because looks aren't everything

Alistair
Windows

Re: "as your mum once told me"

upvoted for trackball use. Need more trackball users.

All that Samsung users found on UK website after weird Find my Mobile push notification was... other people's details

Alistair
Windows

All three samsung phones in this household got that notification here in Canuckistan.

None of us have "samsung" accounts of any sort.