Posts by Jon

Shifty study proclaims Brits a nation of freetards

money to burn

so evreyone that uses filesharing has £25 /day (£750 per month) to spend on movies, music etc.

I wish....

Worldwide GPS may die in 2010, say US gov

@John Smiths note on cell towers & time signals

For truely accurate time you will need to know your position (and i'm not talking about time zones). To work out the EXACT time where you are you must work out how long it took the signal to reach you. You do that by knowing exactly where you are. Yes this could be stored once when the tower is created, but to do this acuratly enough you would probably need to use a GPS based method to site the mast anyway

Chip cooler launches liquid nitro at CPUs

how often

Well the dewar on my microscope looked about the same size and in a room temp (approx 20C) lab I had too fill it twice in an 8 hour work day (although had plenty left at end of day). I would say allowing for expansion and loss during filling it used about 0.5 litre per filling (less in the afternoon if it was still cool). However this was to cool a CCD so was not really generating as much heat as a processor would.

LN2

NEVER EVER EVER put liquid nitrogen in a thermos AND SCREW THE LID ON. Thermos are not perfect and eventually the expanded gas will explode your thermos as the pressure (hence temprature, hence pressure...) increases. Put it in the thermos with the lid loosly balenced on top. This is by far the biggest danger of LN2.

Ln2 is pretty safe I spilled it all over the place cooling a CCD in a microscope at work. It looked remarkably similar to this device a loose plastic T shape dropped into the hole on top. You fill up the dewar while the chip sits in the bottom, DO not put the top in yet otherwise when it vents it will fire the piece of plastic and send it ricchetting around the lab. Also do not let your 14yo work experience "shadow" look down the hole at this point. All of a sudden a whoosh of "steam" shoots out the top as the first amount of LN2 cools the dewar, then it is safe to fill up and drop the cap in but this again just sits somtimes pushing up as the slowly boiling nitrogen vents up past it.

Beeb tech boss seeks to expand TV licence online

Their content

As long as it is opt in I think that people should pay iplayer. I pay a tv license to fund it I don't want otheres to get it for free.

However when I was a student I didn't watch TV but still was treated as a criminal as the previous ocupier of my room had a license, if they start claiming an internet connection as "TV recieving capable" then thsi crosses the line and is unfair as why should people pay for somthing they are not using.

So basically if you watch BBC content then pay for it, not if you don't.

Major law firm drops filesharing threats

@ Bill and AC

AC Never said ignore a court summons just the initial probing mailshots.

I thought that a court summons is sent recorded delivery and you sign to recieve it. If you then fail to turn up its your own fault. Please correct me if i'm wrong however.

eBay fees rejig will still hit casual auctioneers

@Maths

Ture as you wrote it but you forgot the plus C.

Old

8.75% of $25 plus 3.5% of the rest + LISTING FEE

New

8.75% Flat

So you have to find the cross over point on the graph. (somewhere around $40-45 for a $1 fee)

Only using $ as that is the datapoints I have.

Court upholds 'hacking' charge against smut-surfing worker

hacking law?

To all those quibbling about whether it is hacking or not.

The law is probably only known colloquially as "the Hacking law" no doubt the legalize you are all so scared of does not mention "hacking" precisly to stop these kind of nerd circle jerks. It says "exceeding the scope of authorization".

Tesco tills go titsup

Turn it off and on again

So the fault is fixed by rebooting the tills. Surely managers should have tried turning the tills on and off again before closing....

Exam bosses target faster cheat takedowns

fail

QCA fundeamentaly fail to understand the internet. Once out a paper should be dropped. It is most likily be torrented or wikileaks or on a server with no control.

I don't think they mean takedown but block in the way the iwf got wikipedia nuked over that pedoalbum but that still won't stop p2p.

BOFH: Spontaneous Legal Combustion

quite good

If you ignore the "platinum cookie" hidden episode bollocks at the beginning I thought this was quite funny actually and not the doom and gloom others have been portraying it as.

Home Office 'ring of steel' fails the pig plague test

title

1. I think possibly that the internet based budget airlines are better placed than some nations airlines to pass the PNR data to the eborders system as many of them user COTS internet booking software with this facilty built in.

2. What the problem may be in this case is that although the data may have been collected at the time, it may only be checked against the watchlist and dissappear into some poorly mapped database (if kept at all) that only administrators would be able to search by flight as looking for fluey flights was not a requirement for the outsourced GUI for the chumps at gov office to use who will never have seen a command line let alone put together a select request.

ASBO woman cuffed over raucous rumpy-pumpy

gagging order

Judging by other articles on this site I'm sure theres someone that can recommend a good ball gag.

Pirate Bay guilty verdict: Now what?

@Alan Mckenzie

"You make an "internet license" obligatory, much as a TV license is, and divide the money collected amongst the composers, performers, film makers etc."

You are not speaking for me. I DO NOT WANT this. Why should my money go to fund the coke habbit of the next Brittney Spears or X-factor publicity whore. I will pay for the music I like by paying for it, no be forced to pay for stuff that makes me regret the modern world.

UK's visa fingerprint system fails

Leaving

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4987415/All-travel-plans-to-be-tracked-by-Government.html

Actually yes. Currently if you leave comercially (ferry, plane etc.) your journey is tracked and logged for 10 years and by 2012 even if you swim the channel to escape air strip one you need to tell "them" or be interned as a terroist.

I'll take the pirate ship to anywhere.

IPCC U-turn on Tomlinson CCTV

Go easy on IPCC

I actually think the head of the ipcc did quite a good interview. He was open and actually answered the questions put to him by the channel 4 reporter. He obviously believed at the time that there were no cctv, perhaps he meant non state run cctv.

If the public and media keep reacting like this evreytime someone is wrong in all good faith then is it any wonder politicians never answer any questions and there are jobs in "media training" that is basically teaching how to lie.

Also to the point about him apearing drunk perhaps in the early stages of a heart attack and his brain was lacking proper blood flow he may appear agressive & confused.

BBC goes live... over Wi-Fi

license

You do not need a license if its not live. So iplayer is exempt (at the moment) I would have no trouble if they made you need a license for iplayer as us license payers pay for that content you want. However I do think if you don't view live bbc or iplayer on your PC the bbc are entitled to nothing even if you watch 4od.

Also wit hregard to battery power devices being excempt. False: They are different in that wherever you watch them you are covered by the persons licenses not where you are, but a license is still needed somewhere.

Microsoft cries netbook victory against Linux

Lockin

I would have loved a quick booting, long battery life, cheap linux eeePC, however one of the main considerations was to run my memorymap 3d mapping and walk planning software on it while sat in a tent. Unfortunatly this software only runs on windows. So I had to get a windows one.

That is why MS worries so much about obtaining an over 90% market share. They need to ensure developers never see market sense in developing drivers/software for linux. As soon as a windows competitor gets say a 10% market share it may be econmically viable for a software house to build two versions. Then it is a slippery slope as a wave of people itching to leave the horrible buggy world of windoze but are locked in by apps or drivers finally can.

Busted! Conficker's tell-tale heart uncovered

Arpil fools

At least we now know one thing it will do April 1st. Fix this fingerprint. Unless thats what security experts want and this is just a fools joke on the botnet owner to get them to do something expected on April 1.

Ofcom insists on emergency roaming

Some ruin it for all

I imagine the "hoax" calls described were from people that could only call 999 so wanted the operater to let their wife know they would be late for tea or some other rubbish. If you look at the trivalities people call 999 it amazes me. Like when we had the snow the other week, local radio were urging us to only call 999 for real emergencies. I thought that is what it was for anyway.

What I don't understand is why don't other networks let you use their masts for a small surcharge and warn you before (similar to what they annoyingly do for 0800 number). That way people wouldn't call 999 to know what they are missing on eastenders as it is the only contact.

Chinese crackers create counterfeit iTunes racket

Stolen

I thought itunes gifts cards had to be activated at the till before they would work. This is what they say on the stands selling them anyway. Otherwise you could just shoplift a small card very easily in a store; equivilent to the shop putting £50 notes on a stand by the door.

Or has it just been revelead that this is just smoke and mirrors to stop people just picking them up at five finger discount and they are activated all along.

and btw let's do the time warp again!

Is Twitter actually making money?

@ dutchoven

5 years ago Suppose I think exactly the same of newfangled RSS

Yep and before RSS was invented, conventions were just a dream. No-one had organised one because it was too difficult.

If I needed to update a group of people with conference times, I would have * asked them to look at a notice board in the lobby. That way they don't need to turn on anything, aren't limited to areas of web access, don't have yet another RSS feed url to remember but can still access the information where they need it.

Different people prefer different methods.

Arms biz glovepuppets Parliamentary kit probe

choppers

Remember the choppers we could not use beacuse the Yanks would not give us passcodes to change the software to work in Britain. Somtimes it pays to have control over your own tech.

Michelin strikes key 'e-wheel' deal

Safe!

Is having independant drive to left and right wheels safe? What happens when one motor breaks as all things do, it will drive you into the crash barrier 70mph?

Networked radar barrage balloons pass milestone

I AM HERE

Why no just design them to look like large flashing arrors with "I am Here" painted on. It's very nice of the americans to show enermy forces, sorry insurgents, exactly were to deploy a suicide lorry or similar.

What did you do on Emergency Services day?

911 (Aparently numbers are not a title)

I heard that 911 actually is connected to 999 in this country now due to all the kids that only watch american tripe on tv. Aparently they asked a bunch of school kids the emergency number and the majority said 911 not even 999.

I was also told on a first aid course that 112 activates "satalite technology" in your mobile phone to get a gps location for you and give coverage anywhere. Since the main thing on a FAW course nowadays is how to call an ambulance you'd think they'd get it right. It just allows them to triangulate your position from a mobile masts and connect to any TERESTRIAL network. It doesn't magically fit you 5110 with a GPS reciever or iridium technology.

Satellites crash over Siberia: Iridium bird destroyed

@ Mark Wills

On the odd chance you are not a troll and actually just have an inquizative mind, inertia is based on mass not weight. All objects will have a mass. Also to be in orbit they still experience gravity from earth its just they are falling at the same rate they are going round, so it is like HHGTG flying, falling but failing to hit the ground.

Wacky Jacqui Smith says whole country crusading against CCTV

The Tories and wacki's tax affairs

I don't understand why Cameron is trying to get her sacked through tax affairs etc. She is the best thing to happen for the Tories in 30 years. Her and Brown are focing me to vote tory next election mainly due to her ineptitude and inabilty to use scientific evidence over her own misconceptions she peddles as "common sense".

Teen accused of 'sinister' Facebook sex extortion plot

dilution of Sex offenders register

Of course with people going on the list for sending their boyfriend a picture of themsleves with no clothes on., then this real pervert will not really show up as much as he should.

Yes! It's the cardboard PC!

hmmmm

"Ooh, four... I mean five... I mean fire! "

BT puts the 'free' back into 'freephone'

Re: Re: The catch

@AC I think what Richard Neill meant by "free minutes" is "minutes I have already payed for and usually go to waste at the end of the month as I do not use them all" or "inclusive minutes". I think most people know these are not free and companies usually do just call them inclusive.

Fake parking tickets lead unwary to malware

@AC11:45

That is what I was thinking the scam would be. But that is too traceable, better unnoticable malware to keep stealing over many weeks and larger amounts than a parking fine,..

MP wants Welsh text on ID cards

Braille

I want speaking cards for the blind, if they can't do that then they need to scrap them.

Street View vehicle kills Bambi

mmmmm vension

I would have been in the next car out there to pick up the warm corpse.

14-year-old charged with impersonating Chicago PD

Irony or bloody stupidity

With a conviction for impersonating a police officer he will not be able to live out his dream of becoming a policeman.

Extreme porn law goes live - are you ready?

Am I not permitted to have an emotional reaction?

You are permitted to it but it should not be used in scientific study or forming laws.

The problem with group think (from Mainstreammedia mainly) is that the emotional side far outways the logical side.

We have done a complete 180 on the logical scientific method built up over the last 500 years and gone back to superstitions, hunchs and "it feels right" so must be true.

We are emotional creatures so we shouldn't get rid of it all together but letting emotion lead to histeria will only lead to trouble.

I suppose you also think its true with the new Victims Hero that if someone murders someone with a 'loving mother who is emotinally distraught' they should get a harsher punishment than the person who murders the prostitute who's family had disowened them and has noone to ply their case to the court^HHH papers.

@Warhelmet - fruit loops

Maybe if there were less people like you around people would not have to be "in the closet" on BDSM and you would realise the vast majority are safe, sane and consensual.

Hell I was playing last weekend and the only complaints I got were the bruises didn't come out well enough. I'm a SMer and it only works if the sub is pleased, so you can add me to the other side of the fruit loop* baseket.

PS I fully admit I am loopy

Jimbo Wales ends death by Wikipedia

Merge nightmare

So for breaking news many people will be editing an out of date copy with no lock on how many editing?

Scotland's porn laws: Can we talk about this like grown-ups?

@kenny

"Doesn't the UK have better issues to put these resources to instead of telling us what kind of porn we can look at it"

No not since most of the real policies are controlled by brussles that is why uk.gov have to tinker.

US teen clocks up 14,528 text messages

sms is more polite

I hate the telephone. As one comdian put it its like someone coming up to your desk and going "talk to me, talk to me, talk to me, talk to me" until you pay them attention right there and then. At least with a text it can be read in the receivers own time. Of course if you get a reply straight back then it is easier to call them up than continue texting each other (asuming both free calls and texts)

*of course mobiles (and our damn IP phones at work) actaully have this ringtone

Brit porn filter censors 13 years of net history

Honest

What gets me the most is that they hide the fact they are doing it. If they came up with a page like web{non}sense saying "Blocked: kiddie pr0n - Click here to if you think this is wrongly labelled" that would at least solve some the problem*. The fact that they just give a 404 or whatever happens is wrong.

*Of course does nothing for the fact that consenting adults should be able to do anything that does not harm others, and the heavy handed and ham fisted way in which sites whole sites get lablled in the first place.

How you pay for tomorrow's scares, today

Global warming and increased piracy

How does global warming cause eathquakes?

Take a hammer to your hard drive, shrieks Which?

THERMITE!!!

That is all.

Tories pledge high speed broadband for all in 10 years

@Seven_Spades

Bullsh*t

When I lived in the center of Guildford I was on BE getting 10-12 of the 20meg. Then I moved up to just 1.5miles to the north to stouton still a suburb of Guildford but our exchange changed to worplesdon so am now stuck on crappy upto 2mb Tiscali that is slower than dial up in the evening and only lets us watch 1/2hr of iplayer a day. :(

Be Broadband doubles down on ADSL to catch cable

<title>

The sooner the scots bugger off and become independant the sooner we can get broadband to every home in the UNITED kingdom as we don't have to worry about those 100miles up the glen.

Hands-free kits make drivers even more dangerous

Who were they talking to on the phone

The article states that people dominated the phone conversation, but were they talking to a driving researcher, a boring sod with no social skills so the driver had to dominate. Or perhaps a psycologist, who just sits their listening anyway.

HP cancels Christmas in the UK and Éire

huh

I really wouldn't mind. I see xmas party (lunch in our case) as a bonus not a right. I give them 37.5 hours of my time a week and evrey month they put money in my bank account, that's the deal we have come to, we both know what we get.

Zoo's polar bear breeding plan scuppered by girl-on-girl

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

If I lived in the arctic I'd certainly want wooly underware to keep my pecker from freezing.

Government finally names the day for porn ban

Scotland

Ha to those that think you are safe in scotland, Ha they are implementating somthing even more draconian adding a non consensual clause (even simulated) which means and form of B/D is out.

Social workers sacked over Gary Glitter email

Need a laugh

People in difficult jobs develop a darker sense of humour than those that do bugger all, sit in an office and read the daily mail all day.

People appreciate jokes about the area they work in and need a chance to destress.

My view is if it was just forwarding a joke from else where as some reports i heard say then fair enough, they should be alowed a pressure valve. (imagine spending all day looking at the darkest side of humanity)

However as other reports say they added real pics of the children they work with, that is a misuse of their position and the firing is fair.