* Posts by censored

244 publicly visible posts • joined 2 May 2007

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Royal Society: Schools should show creationism 'respect'

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Mention Creationism...

in passing, then go on to present the vast amounts of data, evidence and common-sense which shows that evolution is right and true.

Then fail them in their exams if their unable or unwilling to see the creation myth as just a nice story.

Blame game over United Airlines stock crash rumbles on

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Does anyone else find this hilarious?

Share prices and economics are completely arbitary constructs based on the whims and fears of a few shouty men in bad pinstripe suits.

They didn't check the facts, they got scared, they got stung.

Perhaps they're remember this next time they "lose confidence" in something for no good reason and plunge a country or two into recession. Like, ummmm, they just did.

Yes, there was a viable liquid bomb plot

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Of course....

If I wanted to do a bit of damage, a laptop battery and a flammable liquid (oooh, let's say a litre of 70% abv vodka from the duty free) might do the trick.

And that's without me even bothering to read up on things.

The rules are nonsense.

We're all allowed 5 x 100ml bottles of liquid, but not 1 x 500ml bottle? I can't take a fork through security, but the restaurants in departures all hand them out? How much damage, exactly, can one do with Gillette disposable razor blade?

And even now, as you say, I could meet my jihadi friends in the departure lounge and get together a few litres of liquid nastiness, batteries, containers and whatever else I needed.

Google restores Chrome's shine

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They DON'T retain copyright

They only do so to promote the Service.

You have a best-selling novel your wrote in Google Docs? Fine, they want to use that fact to promote Google Docs.

Your YouTube vid is a hit? Well, they can use it on the front page of YouTube or in an ad about YouTube.

The sentence after the one causing all the fuss clearly says:

"This licence is for the SOLE PURPOSE of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services"

Mythbusters RFID episode axed after 'pressure' from credit card firms

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Which is why....

any RFID passport or credit card I'm forced to have will accidentally be placed in a cloth bag and hit several times with a mallet.

Carpetbomb bug tarnishes Google Chrome

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@ Tap The Hive EULA comments...

They're ignoring the next line of the bit they highlight:

"This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services."

In other words, yes you do grant Google the right to use and edit whatever you upload via the browser. But Google may only do so in display and promotional activity around the Browser or whatever you uploaded to. They can use your Blogger homepage to promote Blogger. Or you YouTube video on their YouTube homepage.

Not very scary at all.

Vodafone says termination rate clampdown would hit the poor

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Stop

How do they determine the 'network'?

Will Vodaphone users receiving calls from other Vodaphone users have to pay? Presumably not, because there's no termination fee involved.

But as a consumer, how do I know if a call is from my network as it's now impossible to know what network a number is on? This is why all inclusive minutes are now generally 'any network' rather than the same network plans of the 90s.

If same network calls don't cost to receive, it'll make it incredibly complex and difficult for a consumer to know what their monthly bill will be. If they DO cost to receive, then the consumer is being ripped off. There is no win for this.

And while we're at it, why do Vodafone users pay roaming charges when they roam to Vodaphone in another country? That, surely, is the next place for a price war: roam on Vodaphone anywhere in the EU and we'll treat it as your home country.

Hackintosh maker bites back at Apple

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Ford-Honda analogy

it's not buying a Ford and putting a Honda engine in it, since Ford chassis are proprietary and different enough from Honda chassis to make them incompatible.

Now that Apple hardware is essentially a PC, it's more like building a identical Ford-alike chassis yourself using generic components, then putting a Ford-branded engine in it

Microsoft's Vista push probed by Fair Trade Commission

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I don't get it...

If people want to buy something, why won't MS sell it to them?

Olympic Committee wins gold for foot shooting

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@ AC

"A More Autonimous Tibet That Retains Territorial Integrity, Protection And Governance Of China Without Sacrificing It's Unique Traditions And Heritage NOW!"

Doesn't really work as a slogan, though. Does it?

Google Android just five weeks away?

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Perhaps...

you just need a gmail account in the same way the Jesus Phone requires an iTunes account?

The gmail account is most likely to allow an iGoogle-like customised web experience. And unlike with the hideous user experience of iTunes, you won't be embed to give your credit card details.

US Congress to vote on in-flight mobile ban

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Flame

Can we have a new award...

for most horribly shoe-horned acronym?

And while they're at it, perhaps the US Congress could vote on a bill outlawing bills with titles that are acronyms. Haven't the septics murdered our language enough?!

Nike pulls Air Stab trainers

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70 Stabbing Murders A Year

With the majority centred on large cities. So I'd say we're pretty much on track for a normal year.

Gun-related crime is, of course, down. As is violent crime in general.

Apple's 3G iPhone to launch 11 July

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Go

I already pay...

£35 a month to O2 so a lock-in contract doesn't bother me and isn't what I'd get on any other phone.

So, for £100 I think I'm a convert.

100,000 sign for BT Fon wi-fi love-in

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Is there a way...?

To set routers to allocate a small share of bandwidth for free and open access? I'd happily share my connection, provided some bastard didn't start a load of torrents and lock me out.

Heaviest Virgin Media downloaders face new daytime go-slow

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Stop

So basically...

Anyone who uses bittorrent, iPlayer, or any other video service can't get their advertised speeds for most of the time?

I don't mind traffic-shaping in the evenings (I have uTorrent set to lower it's speed anyway so I can do other things), but if an ISP can't handle speeds for all customers mid-afternoon on a Wednesday there's something wrong.

Your personal data just got permanently cached at the US border

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Flame

There's a difference...

...between searching your notebook, papers and luggage. These do not contain everything you've said and done, things you've thought, ideas you've had, secret affairs, kinky porn you've browsed, every friend and colleague you've got and their full details.

They don't even need to be on the laptop. Once they've looked at your web history, they know your Google name, Facebook login, the clubs you're a member of, the Calendar you synch to.... etc etc

There is more information about you in your laptop today than has ever been collected about you by a state in history.

Why have Radiohead broken copyright activists' hearts?

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@AC

"But you're still stuck in this way of thinking that music has some inherent value attached to it."

Only in the same way that a house has a value, because someone designed it, took time and skill to build it, you need somewhere to live, and had a preference for the look and location of the house you chose to live in above the cheaper and inferior houses you could have bought.

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Stop

Stick to the analysis...

...and leave out the record review. A music critic you aren't.

On topic, clearly it was a marketing exercise. Who would ever think otherwise? Even new bands playing in the back of pubs only give away their music as a marketing exercise, so that the fans they build up will one day buy their albums, and more importantly pay to see them play Wembley and wear their t-shirts, as there's more profit in that these days.

I see nothing wrong with downloading In Rainbows for nothing, since they were clearly happy for people to do that. I would also have paid for it, if that was the way to get it.

The new business model is not in free music. It can't and it shouldn't be. It's in making that music accessible, maybe it's the NIN model of giving some but not all away. Maybe it's the Coldplay model of giving the singles away and selling the album. Maybe it's the Radiohead way of scrapping labels, then selling an album for £3. But then, who'd pay for the promotion and the stadium-filling video and flashing lights audiences demand?

I suspect the future is, in fact, with record labels selling music online and in record shops and the minority getting it for free. Like they have since the dawn of cassette.

MP launches ten minute rule bill on in-UK roaming

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Forget in-UK roaming

The real question is why a Vodaphone UK customer who goes abroad and connects to Vodaphone has to pay high roaming costs?

I'm betting for the benefit of share prices and dividends, the companies like to present their worldwide status. So why not for the benefit of customers?

O2: We didn't know we were capping 3G data speeds

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Stop

@ Martin

I agree. My comment was more to point out the idiocy of the staff. Somehow rolling out a much faster speed limits everyone on 3.5G and 3G to something around GPRS?!

I can only assume it's like putting in a new pipe in your bathroom. You have to turn off all the taps, or the whole plumbing system will leak...

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Oh yeah and...

Another CS person told me it was due to the roll-out of 3.5G, so some customers might not get full speed on it yet.

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Unhappy

CS and Tech Staff don't know...

O2 Select has little idea what I was on about, then came back from speaking to the tech department to tell me that they don't cap the speeds and it's impossible for them to do so!

Can 1,000 fans replace the music business?

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It doesn't add up...

I know a lot of fantastic musicians in my local music scene. Some of them are in the best bands I've ever heard.

How do they get the 1000 fans, without marketing, management, advertising etc? It's all well and good puttin gout singles/iTunes releases (indeed, some of them do) and it's even better if it's the best record of the year. But unless you get radio play, no-one knows it exists. And you only get that with an army of pluggers, with people who have contacts. Which means even if record companies stop being the conduit for releases, they'll still exist as entities with money to spend on promotion.

Without it, a musician is just one of a million with undiscoverable myspace pages.

I have enough trouble following my own local scene, it's impossible to discover the best band I've never heard in Leeds, Glasgow, Reykjavik or Moscow! Someone has to get the word out and tell me about them, and those people will never, ever do it for nothing.

Ofcom hits green on in-flight calling

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Price

I wouldn't worry. At a couple of quid a minute, few people will bother.

How many passengers use existing satellite telephone systems?

CBI calls for major overhaul to UK tax

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Hypocrites

Not that the likes of Tesco pay much in the way of tax in the first place...

eBay boycott results in mixed feedback

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What's the problem??

Branson, Gates, Jobs and Trump don't seem the need to give 'feedback' to people who buy off them...

Trial for T5 mandatory biometrics kicks off at Heathrow

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Finding the most expensive solution....

As you say, if passport and boarding card are checked at both security and the gate, there is no problem. But passports aren't always checked at security. This is only a loophole with online check-in, but it's still a big one. Cheap, easy solution? Boarding passes are only valid when shown with photo ID. At EVERY stage.

At Gatwick, everyone is photographed as they enter security. Before you get to the gate, you show your boarding card and the photo stored for that card is checked. Also a quick and relatively easy check, but pointless since I'm supposedly carrying the gold-standard of ID.

Parent power pulls Woolworth's 'Lolita' kiddies' bed

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Be warned!

Searching in Wikipedia for "lolita" is allowed. Searching in Google might be frowned upon.

Clarkson's 'steal my ID' stunt backfires

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Happy

Public Info

Thoroughly deserves, but still, it's still nothing that's secret... and, of course, if he didn't sign the DD form he'll get the money back.

Mind you, why did his bank not send him the standard "A new DD has been set up, if this is wrong tell us now" letter that you're supposed to get?

US switches off the incandescent lightbulb

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Not that bad...

I've never replaced a CFL bulb. I got my first about 8 years ago.

Also, the more recent (and I have to say, pricier) ones are full brightness immediately.

There is rumoured to be a dimmable bulb available somewhere in the world, but not it seems in the EU.

N95 struggles to find itself

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Unhappy

GPS that doesn't tell you where you are?

What, exactly, is the point of that?

Lucky that Google Maps runs faster, with much better maps. The downside is that you can't pre-install the whole of the UK for Google, so you end up downloading more data and needing a permanent data connection.

Bought some uranium ore? You'll need the anal douche, then

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Eh?

I don't get it? Why does Amazon.com sell a variety of anal douches? I always knew our septic cousins were a little strange...

New taskforce to discuss why more people aren't turning to digital

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No New Benefits

Unlike TV, most people who listen to the radio are loyal to one or two stations. They get up to Wogan and listen to The Archers. Or they stick with the music station that plays what they want.

So ultimately, there's no benefit to more channels. People don't hop around and they like what they've got. So why should they buy digital?

For the other people, who might be more techy or be avid radio listeners, the sound quality on DAB is crap. Only the big stations are passible. Chill, Gaydar and The Core all appear to be broadcast at 96kbps Mono MP2 (yes - mpTWO).

Nintendo sounds Wii-free Xmas warning

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Go

Currently available from...

amazon.de (easy enough to work out the German), and are apparently piled high in hypermarkets just the other side of the Channel.

Stock up on Christmas booze while you're over there!

Google funds hold Firefox fate (for sure)

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Adblock

Firefox has what, 100 million downloads? Adblock Plus has had 2.5 million.

Simple arithmetic shows Adblock is not quite a big enough threat.... yet...

GMail shakes IMAP out of coma

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Happy

Good news...

About to try it out, but hopefully it'll solve the annoying webmail quirk of all the messages you've dealt with via POP3 being still 'unread' on the web interface.

Plus it should sort the Gmail-specific quirk of all your Sent Items being downloaded to your POP3 inbox, too...

Airbus delivers first A380

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Environmentally friendly...!

Of course, when they say the aircraft is the most environmentally friendly available, they use "emissions per passenger". And how many passengers do they count? Ah, yes... that'll be the 800+ that no-one is accommodating...

Hackers hit back at iPhone update

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The EU??

It's illegal for a phone company to stop you unlocking your phone to go to another network.

Where is the EU in punishing Apple?

Come celebrate the web...

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Yes but...

...I've looked all over YouTube and I can't find it

2012 Olympics logo debuts to whalesong

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If you squint...

...it looks like a fat man with an afro (on the right) squatting to give 'hand relief' to a thinner man on the left.

University moves to hush Facebook criticism

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Legitimate Protest??

A group called "Keele University Mis-administration" would be fair criticism and a place to share legitimate, democratic concerns. That is freedom of speech.

A group called "XXX is a twat" is offensive, derogatory and potentially sladerous/libelous (depending on content).

US states press MySpace to give up sex offender data

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Am I missing something?

Last time I looked, myspace had millions of users who weren't children.

Why should offenders be banned from using a site that may or may not bring them into more contact with children than a trip to Sainsbury?

Disappointed Glastonbury fans spammed by rival festival

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Not what it seems...

Only the people who didn't buy tickets got this email. So it couldn't possibly have been a tick box on the ticket purchasing page - as anyone who got there would have tickets!

See have messed up big-time...

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