* Posts by Ole Juul

2726 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007

Fancy a jet-powered Sinclair C5?

Ole Juul

Not a lot of varooom

There's a little too much emphasis on the aluminum gas tank and wiring loom connectors for my taste. I found a Youtube video of this thing and it moves along smoothly but I bet it took all morning to get up to that speed. I've seen a simple electric go cart go faster and really burn some rubber. Wasn't this thing electric to begin with? This looks like a downgrade.

Google throws a bone to privacy watchdogs

Ole Juul

Power and Greed

I don't think even 18 minutes is acceptable. They should just be a search engine and stop putting their users at risk under the guise of protecting them. Their old "do no evil" motto does not apply any more because now they've got share holders and money is the bottom line.

The gathering of information about their users is for the purpose of taking advantage of them. At their level , that's what sales and marketing is about. They are in a position of power and they are going to use that position for their own greed. Of course they like to make it sound like it is for other reasons by giving fear mongering examples such as "internet security and enforcement of child protection laws". That is not their job. I don't want to be held hostage by criminals, and I certainly don't want Google to help them do it. I for one won't be happy until they cut the retention of personal data down to system latency.

Experts testify in Congress on behalf of internet gambling industry

Ole Juul

re: No we don't

The quote "We owe it ..." etc. is from Jon Prideaux, the CEO of Asterion Payments. My feeling is that he is not the least concerned with the social issues, one way or the other. The bottom line here is that there is a lot of money to be made, Mr Prideaux was just trying to rustle up business. It is not a matter of wheather gambling is good or bad.

My take on the whole thing is that now the US is being confronted by the World Trade Organisation with not sticking to the rules to which they originally agreed, they simply solve the dilemma by changing their mind on gambling. They don't have a moral position other than the one that works for them at the moment. In other words, whatever works.

Ole Juul

Whatever works

"We owe it to people who have experienced problems with Internet gambling in the past to introduce a regulated environment where the proper protection can be provided to the vulnerable."

Yes, we should give those suckers an oportunity to win back their losses! I just love the kind of logic that comes out when there's talk of dubious ways to make money.

Does anyone know how this story connects with the Antigua situation?

Rwanda fires up Africa's 'biggest' solar plant

Ole Juul

How clean is clean?

"This new installation does not only increase the generation capacity but is also one of the cleanest energy sources."

Looking at a picture of one of these installations, they certainly look clean, but are they really? The panels have to be replaced after some years and they certainly must have cost some "carbon dollars" to produce. The storage batteries are also a definate area of concern. From what I see advertised, the batteries used currently seem to need replacement every few (10-15) years. Now that does not seem "clean" to me.

Photovoltaic plants are generally advertised as producing power at almost eight times the cost that I pay here. That makes me wonder if those costs don't represent some unclean processes.

Fishermen Sea DOS Vietnam

Ole Juul

Funny numbers

There were 1500 tons of cable confiscated. That would be 3 million pounds or roughly 1.4 million kilos. At the quoted price of $13,000 per kilo to lay the cable, that would represent over 18 billion dollars. That is roughly 3,000 times more than the $5.84m they claim the damage will cost to fix. Did they decide to go with the low bidder the second time around?

Paris Hilton released for 'medical reasons'

Ole Juul

House arrest?

3000 feet? Depending on your town, that's about 10 blocks. I've known lots of city people who don't move around further than that for years on end. They could have been on house arrest and not even know it!

Elton John menaces Ukraine

Ole Juul

Maby a different approach?

Perhaps Elton John should offer to put on a concert to aid those suffering from terminal Orthodoxy.

Kids get early start in electronics

Ole Juul

Electronics - my foot

I too was disappointed when I read the article. These kids are just playing with stuff which is made by others. I know most of them couldn't find pin one on an IC, let alone solder a bunch of them together to actually make anything resembling the devices they love so much. Simply using devices, no matter how skilfully, is NOT technology any more than driving a car is mechanics.

I actually think that kids nowadays (TM) are less technologically inclined than they used to be. Most of them are looking at the front of the TV and have no idea what's inside. The more "tech savy" of them talk about "mods", which means making little changes to things which they've purchaced. Yes, there are lots of smart kids, just like there always have been, but I think that less of them are technologists. Actually making something, is out of the question. When it comes to electronics, if you want to know how to etch a printed circuit board, it's probably better to ask grandpa.

So what's in a URL? The Reg URL?

Ole Juul

Show where you're comming from

it gives an international flavour.

Besides... dot com is for sissies.

Ole Juul

keep co.uk ... you'll be glad you did

From Canada.

You're right, the dot com is sooo American. I love the

British character of this site even though it is clearly

including the intenational view. The BBC is seen as

both international AND British, you too can be both.

Keep the character. As time goes by, the net will need

these distinguishing ideosyncracies. You wouldn't change

the spelling of Worchester would you?

Substitute teacher's conviction for porn popups set aside

Ole Juul

So who *is* guilty?

There seems to be no argument about the crime, ie. "four counts of risk or injury to a minor". Well then, if Amero isn't responsible, then who is? Shouldn't they be taking this further in order to preserve their credibility? Perhaps the providers of the software, the person who chose the software, or the authors of the OS in question perhaps. I honestly don't know. If there really was such a serious crime, then why aren't they trying to find out where the blame lies? Normally, you'd want to avoid "serious" crimes in the future.

Personally, I don't think it's a big deal, but the prosecuters seemed to think it was. Now that they are found to have the wrong culprit, it is suddenly not important anymore? This is crazy.

Pirate Bay founders host paedophilia site

Ole Juul

Reality is confusing

I'm glad to see that there are at least some level heads posting here. There seems to be a kind of witch hunt mentality these days. Certainly, there is a lot of bad stuff on the net. Particularly when it comes to violence. One can see outright fascist sites which don't get a lot of press. Pictures of people getting mamed, children included, don't seem to raise an eyebrow either. Reality is really confusing when it comes to these things.

I also note that no one appears to have checked out the actual site being discussed here. Well I just did, and let me say that it is pretty "soft core". The reason that Dagens Nyheter came out with the story is obviously because it will get people going. To me the site looks like a little sensible philosophy mixed with an imature, or misguided, understanding of children and society. It is all text, and there is nothing which a child is likely to even have the patience to read, so I don't thing that there is a direct danger to children. The question is, does it promote or encourage unacceptable, or illegal behavior? That's a really hard call. Perhaps it's better to let these people discuss their situation so as to maby help them figure it out.

Zero-day sales not 'fair' - to researchers

Ole Juul

Isn't there a moral problem here?

There's something fishy about this way of making money. Could one actually sell a method to perpetuate a crime? Worse, if something was to happen, and it was found out that this researcher hadn't devulged what he knew, could he not be held, at least partially, liable? IANAL, but I think that in some situations it would be a crime to not devulge information about a "vulnerability". If for example, you knew someone could get hurt and you didn't warn them when you had the chance, you could probably be held legally negligent. Perhaps this particular case could even be called extortion. If this business practice isn't actually illegal, then isn't there at least a moral problem here?

I can think of other situations where a similar business plan would most likely be illegal. A doctor, for example, telling a patient that he knows of something very bad which is likely to happen to you, and then demanding a large sum of money to tell you what it is. If the doctor actualy has this information, could he not be in trouble if he didn't tell you?

Mozilla quashes Firefox JavaScript peril

Ole Juul

Choose remote execution ... or text only.

The problem is that, by definition, we're inviting remote execution of code. When you click on a page you want that page to initiate programs on your computer such an image viewer, a sound file player, you name it. That's what we call a browser nowadays. You can decide not to do those things automatically, but you end up with a text browser where you have to do it all manualy.

To avoid malitious code, try something like LINKS. If you're just looking for information, it's *really* fast, and lots of fun.

Germany declares hacking tools 'verboten'

Ole Juul

Text editors too?

The most insidious hacking tool of all is,

of course, the lowly text editor. In fact, that

is how I managed to "hack" into this list.

I can imagine that from now on, Germans

will be limited to using cut and paste. <g>

Antigua calls for pirates to return to Caribbean

Ole Juul

Will it be different this time?

Although I don't have any personal desire for free software or music, I think Richard Neill got it right when he said an offshore ip haven is the way to go.

Certainly I hope Antigua does well here, but I'm afraid that they will be squashed. The US can, and will, do whatever it wants. Anyone can be found to have weapons of mass destruction and the press can be manipilated. They will do whatever it takes. So what can you do? Will it be different this time?

I dream that Antigua will become an IP haven and that this will lead to better laws. Perhaps even bring down the RIAA a notch or two. Could this be the new home of the Pirate Bay? Could the RIAA end up fighting on line gambling? There are many interesting possibilities.

Indian dealers are squealers over Microsoft piracy raids

Ole Juul

What learning curve?

What's all this stuff about a learning curve to use linux? I'm sitting here with an average computer running linux and all I did was stick in a live CD and wait for it to boot. I tried different versions and when I liked what I saw, then I clicked on "install". That's was it!

I didn't have to answer a bunch of cryptic questions about product code or stuff like that which I don't fully understand. It just worked. Perfect for old farts like me.

Unless you choose a unix like version, I can't for the life of me imagine what you would need to know that is so different from MS-windows. If I want more/new software, all I do is click on the name and it happens... no questions asked. I know that's different ... but is it difficult?

I've tried a bunch of distributions and settled on Kubuntu. If you can download, or get hold of, a CD and figure out how to boot from it, you're on the air. Even if you are familiar with MS-win, linux has got to be easier.

Things were different in the old days, but I figured it was time to see what the kids were up to these days.

Ole Juul

Linux anyone?

Did anyone else think this was funny?

"For us this is just a sewa (selfless act) that we are offering to our customers."

You gotta love it. Actually, many other companies would consider themselves lucky to be getting that kind of distribution... even for a better product. <g>

GPL to undermine Microsoft's Novell deal?

Ole Juul

This story isn't finished yet

Eben Moglen is saying that the SUSE vouchers Microsoft is distributing have no expiration date.

When GPLv3 comes out and someone redeems a voucher. MS becomes a linux distributor and the picture will be different. Probably the best place to read legal details on that is www.groklaw.net

I love the way this is going... can't wait for the next episode.

How Google translates without understanding

Ole Juul

Translation is a hack

When I was ten, I moved to a different culture and eventually became fluent in both languages. After a while I noticed that when I was asked to translate from one language to the other ... I didn't! I simply said whatever it was in the other language.

With computers, it will always just be a hack. Until a computer can understand thoughts and feelings, it won't be able to express them in any language.

As others have said, there is so much culture involved. Sometimes I think that translation is a myth and the best you can do is to find common experiences.

Souvenir coin sparked nano spy alert

Ole Juul

If only they had a second quarter

They could have called someone to ask.

Russian teacher fined for MS piracy

Ole Juul

Could be productive

I feel much better now that the teacher is not going to jail, but the writer suggests that this whole affair might be "pointless and counterproductive". I agree that it is probably pointless, but there seems to be a growing understanding in Russia that this sort of thing could be avoided by using open source software. Depending on your point of view, that could certainly be seen as very productive.

US Trade Representative tests his verbal jujitsu out on the WTO

Ole Juul

Old story

Qoute:

Americans detest all lies except lies spoken

in public or printed lies. - Ed Howe

Canada announces monster solar plant

Ole Juul

What does "renewable" mean?

I hear solar panels need to be renewed every few years.

346 hectares of panels is sure a lot of plastic to replace.

Maby that's why the company is charging 46 cents

per KWatt... 7 times more than what I'm paying now!

Brilliant idea.

--- Ole

Japanese actress caught in sheep 'poodle' scam

Ole Juul

Thousands of Brits ...

Yep, a bit of Googling will show

where the story came from.

Have a look at this bit of sleuthing:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=263447

Nice try though!