Posts by Freddie

You think the UK coronavirus outbreak was bad? Just wait till winter: Study shows test-and-trace system is failing

Re: Really?

I think perhaps some sarcasm was missed there pal! Even conspiracy theorists rarely claim that flu is eradicated!

Started from the bottom, now we're near: 16 years on, open-source vector graphics editor Inkscape draws close to v1.0

Re: Perhaps Inkscape is not an engineer's tool

I agree with your styling comments whole-heartedly. However, I find Inkscape's align tools (Ctrl-Shift-A) to be excellent. In fact, it's one of the reasons I use the tool so much.

Apple-Google COVID-19 virus contact-tracing API to bar location-tracking access

Good point. Giving the epidemiologists that dataset will have immense value. If we study this outbreak properly then hopefully we can save many more lives next time around.

UK finds itself almost alone with centralized virus contact-tracing app that probably won't work well, asks for your location, may be illegal

Re: Hanlon's razor

The issue being that their approach (and the approach of herd immunity in general) will have value if we still have to social distance/isolate up until the point where a vaccine is ready. Time will tell; we certainly can't call which approach was better at this stage (and to claim one approach was "right" or "wrong", as they did in the article, shows a laughable level of ignorance).

You should find out what's going on in that neural network. Y'know they're cheating now?

Re: @ James 51

But this isn't correlation, is it?

The asthma caused the medical team to be more attentive

That extra medical attention caused the improved pneumonia outcomes

Therefore, asthma is on the causal pathway, no? A corrolation would be having an inhaler, which is only corrolated with having asthma, rather than causing it, and so is not on the causal pathway, if I understand correctly.

Fresh bit o' Linux to spruce up that ancient Windows Vista box? Why not, we say...

Re: Just spun up a vm with Q4OS

I'm a little confused. Every distro I've ever tried has made it possible to switch desktops - just select the one you want (of those you've installed) from the drop-down menu at login (at least with most of the graphical login managers I've seen).

Is the news here that they've added a script to install another and change which is your default? That doesn't seem earth shattering, especially as newbies are less likely than most to want to switch desktops.

Pssst... wanna participate in a Google DeepMind AI pilot? Be careful

Re: Er what?

I think the op's point it is that the chosen narrative is quite different from what actually happened, and isn't really comparable at all. Breaching privacy != injecting untested drugs into people willy nilly, either ethically or in effect.

Comp sci world shock: Bonn boffin proposes P≠NP proof, preps for prestige, plump prize

Re: Current cryptography assumes P≠NP?!

I think the point was that public-key cryptography is already broken by quantum computing... in theory. So, in theory, PKC is no use anyway. In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice (thanks Yogi).

How many qubits these days?

Re: Well the paper has proved one thing at least

Hey, I'm not big!

Repairable-by-design Fairphone runs out of spare parts

Re: No ethical consumption under capitalism

With regards to food, I agree it can feel like the "ethical" brands are just PR exercises at times, but often looking a little further can yield actually better products (in terms of ethics - I'm not going to argue that the most delicious products aren't often the least ethical...). There IS a range of ethicality (?) out there, but it's hidden amongst the mislead and the misleading.

I don't know much about this phone but surely, given the premise, the creators will do a better job than those that openly don't care about the provenance of the materials/welfare of the workers in the supply chain? Better, while not perfect, is still better.

NHS reply-all meltdown swamped system with half a billion emails

Re: Not Accenture

If it was part of the brief to prevent mails being sent to large numbers of people, and they failed to deliver the brief, then that would suggest a cock-up on their part, no? I know reply-all is an enraging habbit, but usually it's a rare mistake - just not rare enough in 500 million rolls of the dice.

Linus Torvalds won't apply 'sh*t-for-brains stupid patch'

Re: Linus does good work.

I dissagree.

Sure, he doesn't have to be touchy-feely, but he could have made exactly the same point without being offensive. There's nothing wrong with "This is a bad idea because of ..., I will not be accepting this into the kernel".

I feel it's common to confuse straight talking and being offensive in the tech sector. Hell, I've certainly been guilty of it myself. However, it's really important to remember that if we want people to be innovative then they need confidence, and so it's not helpful to knock people's confidence when one of the new ideas that they have turns out to be an awful new idea. My feeling is that there's no place for shaming in any of this.

One ad-free day: Three UK to block adverts across network in June

Re: move will "revolutionise" mobile advertising

@cornz1: Doesn't this remove the only common revenue stream for the websites you use? Would you pay for an ad free version? Personally, I'd like to know how much they'd have to charge (for an ad free version) to break even as if it isn't too high I'd really value this (and it would encourage me to use the site I'd paid for, etc.).

Google DeepMind cyber-brain cracks tough AI challenge: Beating a top Go board-game player

Re: analogy for Warfare

I learnt the same playing total annihilation in the 90's, plus TA has AI *and* killer robots.

Re: Very Impressive

Won't the interesting point be when we achieve, in software, equal intelligence and flexibility to the human mind, but realise that it's still just "clever programming"? I can't wait for that press conference.

Astounding: We're about to stick a probe in orbit of a COMET

Re: "Rosetta craft screams 6 billion km through space to reach its cosmic prey"

Or DOES it? WooooOOOOooooOOOOoooo.....

Virgin Media keeps mum as punters fume at crippled web access

Re: Business as usual...

I had experience with fast.co.uk in the past and they were excellent. Knowledgeable, polite, quick, would call back, etc. . If you don't mind a little more expense I'd thoroughly recommend them. I'm with VM at the moment and I'm just counting the minutes until my contract expires.

Hungry boffins turn 3D printer into snack maker

Mmmmmm.....

...Turkey paste.

Net TV to consign Net Neutrality debate to dustbin of history. Why?

I don't see the problem

If we want to download more we pay more. Sounds pretty simple. It's alright though because I'm on an unlimited plan. What's that you say? ISP's have been actively trying to deceive consumers and now all of their bullshit doesn't make sense?

For sale: Dr No's Scottish bunker complex

Don't you mean...

Been there, viewed it. It's rubbish. Going back in a week and a bit for better site survey, but not because it's good or anything, you'd hate it.

eBay shill bidder gets £5,000 fine

yes

mileage turned back.

Hornby opens part-time visitor centre

and I do my time on the catwalk

I doubt your R/C F1 car is a faithful physical copy. Could the above poster not claim that as the accuracy of the object produced by hornby is so poor it can no longer be considered a physical copy?

Sorry. Just wanted some right said fred.

The Reg guide to Linux, part 3

(untitled)

I do agree with you to a certain degree, but it's a damn sight easier for the article to say "copy and paste this into a terminal ..." than "click menu item one, click menu item two. On the dialogue that opens, select the 'I'm bored now' tab". Horses for courses.

Watch bandit IDed by own mobe snap

But

He looks like such a nice chap!

Thousands of 'sexsomniacs' suffering in silence, say profs

I

wish.

Google open codec wins OSI love after patent shield rethink

+1

Except that elementary number theory, as nailed by the greeks, has plenty of algorithms. Yes, you could do them a different way, but other ways are more complicated and less intuitive, and why re-invent the Euclid's algorithm? It's exactly the same case as video decoding, AFAICS.

The enemy of my enemy...

is my firend.

Nokia debuts four cheapo phones

A new market?

Phone for being near thieving coppers. Nice.

Intel answers Microsoft's Linux 'noise' with MeeGo show

@AC 14:38

Aww Cute! Another user who's clearly not used linux in the last decade. I'm not saying meego's the dog's, but really, wipe the spittle off the monitor and go outside in the sun.

Artificial 'black hole' generator fashioned out of circuit boards

But

So lots of mirrors and a tiny spec of black paint then? See the "power tower" on wikipedia:

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

Job done.

Europe exposes new data share deal with US

Re: Reciprocal

I'm not sure, but by the tone of the post I THINK he means to say

Yes. In the sense that no.

German bank robbers in Italian Job moment

It was

right absolute nonsense, won it?

Hackers crack Ubisoft always-online DRM controls

Femail equiv.

You want to kick someone IN THE OVARIES?! That's some nimble footwork.

Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx stalks PC and Mac converts

I don't understand...

Are you saying canonical shouldn't bother as there's already a competitor which is much more expensive and doesn't contribute to the pool of code that all linux's share?

Microsoft roasted for Office 2010 standards FAIL

I think

he was referring to the fact that this new standard annoyed foss fans as it merely duplicated the functionality of odf. It would have been much more straight forward for the foss community if MS had simply adopted odf but MS said that odf lacked features it wanted. Believe who you like on the mis/match of features of odf/ooxml.

Getting drunk the night before has no effect on exam results

(untitled)

"Controlled, authoritative research studies play a vital role in the formulation of laws and policies"

unless, of course, the research contradicts what the guberment has decided is true.

'Go veggie to save the planet' UN, EU plans debunked

title

"Can't we have really unbiased studies, PLEASE, to at least know as best as we can what is actually going on, in a fair way?"

Empirical evidence, in all politicised debates reported on by the media, suggests not. Sorry.

Facebook gives you the clap: Official

tut tut.

These deviants. Any excuse to involve a biohazard suit.

Foreign Office changes tourist advice after Israeli inquiry

Presumably

so that they don't get flagged up as Israelis when they enter an Arab country as a prominent Hamas member is visiting. It seems hard to believe it wasn't them considering they're refusing to deny it.

Ex-Sun boss punts Apple-Microsoft-world 'tried to sue me' missive

@blod

So you're saying that because the companies are rich and powerful enough to boss around a central government (I'm assuming here that we accept that a lot of the measures in place to keep big companies big were 'encouraged' by big business in the first place. If you disagree then we can amicably part ways here) and make a mockery of the legal system then the central government and the legal system are to blame? What do you think would happen if they weren't there? Would it not be true that the big businesses would become so powerful that they took the role of any sort of government, without all that pretending to care about people.

Israeli raid scrubbed after errant Facebook post

I happen to dissagree.

Even in this country (uk) the media is far too pro Isreal. At most there's a one sentence mention of the military op which prompted the retaliatory rocket launch which scared a child and surprised three cats in an Isreali town.

I don't support the military strikes of Hamas on Isreali citizens but a quick tally of casualties in virtually any time period (within the last 20 years) shows how laughable it is to call such attempted genocide a war.

@Mike JVX

Wow.

Oddly, just because the murdering *astards aren't pointing their weapons at us doesn't mean I approve of them. While I agree that what the military wing of Hamas is doing is wrong I believe that the mass murder perpetrated by the IDF is also a very bad thing. On a much larger scale. While the "media shows are Palestinian kids in hospitals without mentioning that hamas were using said kids for propaganda purposes by putting them in the line of fire", it's hard not to as those crafty Hamas keep sneaking civilians into major cities/schools/hospitals! Damn them! The current leadership of Israel are taking the hard line because they're murdering, land-grabbing ****s.

Given that it's actually Israel who've broken all of the recent cease fires, Israel forces its youth to take part in aggressive military operations and also commits crimes against humanity how do you justify your support? I just hope you're a troll.

'We're on a virtual walk out of Africa', futurologist tells Intel partners

@OK, I wasn't there

I'd say it's more like we have a whole heap of hamburgers and we're trying to make a cow.

Hero corduroy overpowers US school gunman

Bloody diana ross!

That is all.

Open source - the once and future dream

Socialism

From what I understand, no. I agree about your assessment of the USSR, however, private companies, even in a democracy, are not under the control of the public.

US sorority girls in booze-fuelled orgy of violence

Thankfully...

I suspect the video games paragraph was more than a little tongue-in-cheek. Also, I disagree, you should see the speed and accuracy with which I sweep for mines after a few ;)

Too fat to fly: Kevin Smith and OpenOffice

There's a program you're forgetting

|OOo| > |abiwork| > |antiword|.

Everything I use fits nicely on my 4GB ssd, thanks. If it were a main machine, or I was sharing it with someone who wasn't as happy to nerd around as much the space might get a bit restrictive, however.

Fugitive VoIP hacker admits 10 million minute spree

Fraud

Because they'd rather do nothing and get paid through the nose for it.

Airships can defeat roadside bombers, says ex-US officer

But then...

a busy shop/house would suffice.

Spanish town to reward good drivers

Did you read the article?

They're giving out the fines from the previous year. If there are no fines there's little reward. So what they're actually encouraging is what disgruntled yank proposes, provocation!

This actually sounds like a good idea. I didn't think governments were supposed to have those!