Posts by F MacIllFhinnein 13 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Mar 2008
Not just anti-M$: anti-Apple, too, if you consider the unholy mess that is iTunes with its inconsistent behaviour and user-unfriendly interface. Then there's the nonsense of locking in users to this poor excuse for software, and claiming the right to interfere with customers that prefer to use alternative products, by screwing up software settings.
The trouble is that once the alien DNA is introduced to an ecosystem, it takes millions of years to breed it out again - if that ever happens. The wild Atlantic salmon DNA has been disturbed effectively for all time by allowing farmed salmon to escape. As has been pointed out elsewhere, introducing a different strain can upset a whole ecosystem, resulting in native species being endangered or driven to extinction. Look at the introduction of ruff to Loch Lomond by anglers using them as livebait: now the powan or "freshwater herring", which was perfectly adapted to the environment, needs human measures to preserve it - a species that has existed in and that has been perfectly adapted to that environment since the last Ice Age. The laissez-faire approach to introducing alien DNA is irresponsible and doesn't necessarily result in any improvement.
Maybe the $6 million would be better spent on ECT, if the best they can come up with is "high spatial resolution" for "at a distance". On a happier note, perhaps the sludge of US officialdom's prose will make their contractors come up with something useful instead of military hardware.
I gave up economics long ago - at about the time that Thatcher was squandering oil money on a campaign against UK industry. As someone pointed out, the Norwegians weren't so stupid.
Back to the point: the origin of "robot" in English is usually ascribed to the Czech word "robota".
..whose management took a pension holiday (i.e. stopped employers' contributions) during the stock market's good times despite the protests of the unions. Now, there are worries about whether the BBC Pension Fund can pay out, and the final-salary scheme (the more recent, miserly one - not the good one that was stopped many years ago) has been closed to new entrants. Of course, the 375 BBC managers earning over £100,000 a year see that as only a concern for others - you know, the little people that make informative or entertaining programmes, report on lies about Iraq, support programme-making, etc.
You're lucky: I've been complaining since late October. Still, in December I had one day (Hogmanay) with a 2MBps+ speed. On every other date that I tested that month it has been lower than 2kBps. And yes, I've jumped through the hoops, connected to the test socket, tried another router (which they insist on calling a modem), and so on and so forth.
They're cute enough to write "We do not have any liability of any sort (including liability for negligence) for the acts or omissions of other service providers, or for faults in or failures of their networks and equipment" - although, of course MinusNet is owned by BT. As for trying to get them to have a BT engineer sent out - you might as well ask for them to organise a well-oiled stag night in Tehran.
It's getting so bad that I've even considered going back to the successors of Cabletel. What was wrong with a publicly-owned PSTN run for the benefit of the public, in the first place?
Thank goodness my work doesn't depend on the alleged broadband link - unlike my wife's. :-(
Tempted to put an "IT?" icon, since PlusNet doesn't seem to understand applying even the simplest of technology to benefit customers.
The Republic of Cyprus to blame for Turkey's illegal occupation of its soil? Surely not! It made me think that it really was becoming a Middle East in Europe, when I saw it - the natives can object however they want, but settlements will keep being built and the mother country will keep planting its citizens there to ensure that, eventually, Cypriots are outnumbered in their own country. This is, of course, Europe's most militarised country. What is amazing is some EU politicians actually want to allow Turkey to join the EU.
If you imagine that unions in the UK are really so powerful, then the first part of your name is well deserved: this is the only country in Western Europe that denies its employees the right to withdraw labour. It's noticeable that executive snouts in the twin troughs of subsidies funded from taxation and bonuses funded by shareholders are never at risk, whereas the workforce making the products profitably (as pointed out above) are the ones to lose their income. It doesn't look like a successful way of ensuring a vibrant economy anywhere - even for the fat-cats themselves, who seem to be too busy diverting income from their potential customers to think of the future.
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