@Dunstan Vavasour

> Which has more deterrent effect?

> a) "Will they nuke us sir?" "No, they won't so long as we don't nuke them."; or

> b) "Will they nuke us sir?" "They didn't rule it out."

Option a has more deterrent effect, I image those conversations might continue as follows:

a) "Will they nuke us sir?", "No, they won't so long as we don't nuke them."

"OK, well we'd better not nuke them then".

OR

b) "Will they nuke us sir?" "They didn't rule it out."

"Well, then we'd better make sure we nuke them first."

Operating Systems

"The script looks for various vulnerabilities specific to the visiting OS"

Does this mean that non-Microsoft Operating Systems are also affected?

Truly revolutionary!

"This is the start of a revolution for the way ships are powered"

Wind powered ships? Well I never! What will they think of next?

crystal gripping new age hippie bulshit

"was most likely infected while participating in a drumming session in the village hall in Smailholm"

I bet there were pamphlets advertising the drumming session, filled with nonsense about the wonderful healing power of drumming...

call me a cynic...

but i wonder how much Asus paid to get their little toy to the top of the list?

Old phones...

...they're still the best.

My first phone was a Nokia 2110, I didn't like it all that much - too heavy (it was a good self defence weapon on the streets of Johannesburg though). Later I upgraded to a 6110 (not the newer 6110 Navigator) which was quite a nice phone - although the screen went haywire after a few years. The best phone ever made though was the Nokia 3330 - I was rather upset when I lost that one (after more than 4 years of excellent service, it just disappeared one drunken night). Nowadays I use a 3510i which would be a wonderful phone if not for the polyphonic ringtones and annoying orange lights on sides.

This is stupid

I already have enough USB sticks. I don't want to have to buy a new one each time I buy music. I'd much rather just download music.

Besides, the main attraction of physical media such as CD, DVD or vinyl is that it has some sort of permanence. You don't have the risk of accidentally erasing your music (unless you physically damage the disc).

Also, the article doesn't mention whether these USB stick releases will be DRMed. Sony rootkit anyone?

Only 12 beers a month?!

If I was the bloke that stole the laptop, I'd hold out for a better deal. Perhaps their competitors might be willing to offer 12 beers a day...

@Cormac

Have another look at those shadows.

The shadows in The Hague around the topless sunbather all point to the north, indicating that the picture was probably taken sometime in the afternoon (and if you look around you'll see several other topless sunbathers on nearby roofs).

The shadows at Scheveningen all point to the west, so that picture was taken early in the morning, which would explain the deserted beach.

pukka

pukka comes from the Hindi word pakkā, which means cooked, ripe or mature.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pukka

first rule

surely the first rule must be "you do not talk about Reg Club", or perhaps "you do not blog about Reg Club".

Acid trip

"If you've ever wondered what it's like to trip on acid"

I'm sure it would be cheaper and a lot more fun (if somewhat less legal) to just drop a tab of acid.

I suppose this does have the advantage that you could "trip" for half an hour during your lunch break and then go back to work without any adverse effects, but that's not "what it's like to trip on acid".

@b166er

"I know this is lazy, but isn there a way to tell firefox to ignore certain sites?"

it's called Adblock Plus

;)

£20 more?!

"just £20 more than the same machine with Vista inside."

Somehow that doesn't sound right. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop is available from the redhat.com for US$80 for the basic option. According to google's currency converter that is equivalent to about £40.

Looks like it's more expensive to buy a machine with Linux preinstalled than just buying a machine with windows and installing Linux yourself.

RE: "nasty withdrawal symptom"

strange, i've never experienced this withdrawal symptom and I've gone without many times (often for up to 3-4 months, once for 2 years).

Rock'n'Roll

"Public health consideration needs to be given to preventing music icons promoting health-damaging behaviour among their emulators and fans. Stars could do more to actively promote positive health messages, but these need to be backed up by example."

Utter bollocks!

Surely it wouldn't be rock'n'roll without the all the sex, drugs, alcohol and "health-damaging" behaviour?

@guess what

Even if less water evaporates from plants, an increase in average global temperature would most likely lead to more evaporation of ground and sea water, so a decrease in rain clouds seems unlikely.

geology?

On the moon? Surely the word geology only makes sense in reference to Earth.

What about calling it lunology instead?

remind me

... not to take my laptop with me next time I go to Germany.

Ozervize I might end up in ze prison cell, ja.

fix it in software...

"It seems slightly ironic that a software solution (virtualisation) may play the largest part in solving what is essentially a hardware problem."

reminds me of the old lightbulb joke:

How many hardware engineers does it take to change a light bulb?

None. "We'll fix it in software."

why?

I don't quite understand why people have a problem with eating cats or dogs but don't think twice about that nice tender piece of veal or lamb.

I'm quite willing to eat any animal -- mammal, reptile, bird, fish, crustacean, insect, it doesn't matter. As long as it is properly prepared, any meat can be quite tasty.

(I would even eat human if it was on the menu...)

how secure is secure?

"Personal data along with the full details of vulnerabilities will be held on a separate and secure system."

I imagine every black hat between here and Timbuktu will want a crack at finding out just how secure that separate system really is...

RE: Breaking Rank and Files

could amanfromMars please send me some of whatever he's been smoking?

splitters!

As chairsquirrel of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Squirrels I would like to take this opportunity to warn Herr Mittelbaum that we shall be avenging the death of our brother Brian. As soon as we've dealt with the SLF and the SLM that is....

throw away the key too

"Lets hope he sends her right back to jail, where she should be."

agreed, and lets also hope someone then "loses" the key...

usb stick

hmm, given that virii and trojans can be distributed on usb sticks (or cd's for that matter) do they also count as hacking tools?

what about The Internet?

Newton?

All respect to prof. De Gennes, but surely calling him a modern day Isaac Newton is a bit excessive. After all, ground breaking work on liquid crystals is not quite the same as inventing Calculus and developing a model of force and motion that dominated scientific thinking for over 200 years!

jailbird

hehe, this gives new meaning to the term jailbird

call the CIA

That's clearly an image of Osama Bin Laden.

C2H4OH

ethanol, particularly in its many diluted, drinkable forms is clearly the greatest invention/discover ever.

Douglas Adams?

"You can put data in and get a piece of music out. It's as simple as that."

Sounds a lot like "Anthem" from "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"

and feet?

OK, but how long is 10ft? about 3m?

why give up the gun?

It doesn't make sense. Surely a gangster with a machine gun would be able to help himself to as many PCs and Xboxes as he wants, without having to give up the machine gun. I thought that's why criminals have guns in the first place?