Posts by albaleo

Microsoft's Edge to flush Adobe Flash in Windows 10 Creator’s Update

Re: Not possible to ban smoking in the office?

I've never understood why employees with a nicotine addiction get to use company time to indulge.

Because we're more productive that way. Gee. Is this the Daily Mail?

AI brains take a step closer to understanding speech just like humans

@John Woods

Thanks for the link. I also got a boring score - sightly on the low side. But I found the questions difficult to answer. And as the test progressed, I started to wonder whether what I was imagining was really an 'image'.

The article has a quote from one person:

"When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, she's brunette.But I'm not describing an image I am looking at, I'm remembering features about her, that's the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret."

If he's not describing an image, what is it he's remembering? I'm now confused, but very fascinated.

All aboard the warship that'll make you Sicker

Re: All sounds German to me

the Welsh for "sure" is "sicr"

Which made me doubt my earlier comment that it wasn't Gaelic. But online Scots dictionaries suggest it is Scots. It's used in that well-known line from one of Walter Scott's works:

"He sall walk a mair siccar path, and be a dainty curate"

Re: All sounds German to me

I'm pretty sure it's not Gaelic, but the Scots dialect/language of the time, which, as did English, derived from old Geordie.

Vegans furious as Bank of England admits ‘trace’ of animal fat in £5 notes

would 5,000 be more than the error bars on it...?

I think so. It's a large absolute number, and the bigger the overall population, the narrower the error bars.

What it means is that there at least 5,000 people in the UK who are concerned about this. So probably not one in my neighbourhood, but perhaps ten in my county. (I think I know who they are.)

Google Pixel pwned in 60 seconds

Re: You ban "agile".

You, sir, are a fool.

I've been told that many times.

And probably a youthful one.

Absolutely. Born as recently as 1955.

My point was about making blanket statements. Unit tests are one way to test code. But, like Agile, it can become a mantra rather than a thought out method. (People older than me would probably say horses for courses.) Before implementing unit tests at least ask yourself why you're doing it.

Re: You ban "agile".

"Anyone who doesn't write unit tests is a knave and a fool and should be railroaded out of the building."

Anyone who makes blanket statements like this should be ignored.

(Turtles)

Teen UK hacker pleads guilty after earning $385k from DDoS tool

"but to me it's just wrong"

Like the spelling of your name, laddie. (kidding)

Lord Perth stood the storm, / Seaforth but lukewarm, / Kilsyth and Strathallan not slaw, man ;

And Hamilton pled, / The men were not bred, / For he had no fancy to fa', man :

Apple iMessage URLs ship OS, device, and IP data to sites, dev says

"Isn't there a security rule about not trusting 3rd party content by default etc?"

But doesn't that happen all the time with images, iframes, etc. from third party sites? Genuine question. I don't like the idea of url previews. But is a server generating a preview image not also susceptible to attack in the same way? Does it not just come down to the code that handles the response?

Inside our three-month effort to attend Apple's iPhone 7 launch party

Re: To be banned or not to be banned

"I'm a proud Windows licker"

I hope you were holding it correctly.

To be banned or not to be banned

Not sure what the intent was here. In some ways, Apple is doing the Reg a favour by blacklisting it. It gives you that manly touch. (Hmmm. Is that what I meant?)

Anyway, in support of your struggle against the fruity beast, I have only licked my MacBook Pro twice today.

Japan's Brexit warning casts shadow over Softbank ARM promises

Re: Diplomatic goodbye

"it is the first time ever I feel little sympathy for the poor and the uneducated."

What a horrible comment. I voted to remain, and was surprised at the result. But it made me wake up and try to listen to those who wanted to leave. The reasons are many, but a common thread seems to be a feeling of alienation. Lives are controlled by people far away. The Japanese government has made its opinion fairly clear. It's understandable. Our government needs to address that, but at the same time it can't ignore the feelings expressed in the referendum. A difficult job. And although I've never voted Tory in my life, Theresa May seems the most interesting Prime Minister in my lifetime (Harold McMillan is the first PM I remember). I hope she does well with this task.

I have every sympathy for the poor and uneducated. Whether out of compassion or fear that they'll hang me from a lamppost makes little difference.

Ancient radioactive tree rings could rip up the history books

Re: Does it really matter ?

"No, see them explode into an argument how the omnipotent God has *planted* the evidence."

While I'm sure they will do as you say, it's an odd argument. If God has "planted the evidence", that would suggest he/she wants us to believe the earth is older than 6,000 years. In which case, us rationalists are truly following God's will. Those young earth people may know the truth, but they could be in for a hard time later by defying God's will.

I'm not sure why I wrote this.

Londoner jailed after refusing to unlock his mobile phones

Re: Hmm

"There are 30,000 gun related deaths per year by firearms, and this number is not disputed. U.S. population 324,059,091 as of Wednesday, June 22, 2016.

Do the math: 0.0000925% of the population die from gun related actions each year."

I think you should start again, and do the "math" properly this time.

Don't want to vote for Clinton or Trump? How about this woman who says Wi-Fi melts kids' brains?

Re: Just another distraction.

"Said media including the register."

It would seem so. Suggesting she appeals to anti-vaxxers doesn't quite fit what she said in her Washington Post interview.

"We have a real compelling need for vaccinations. It requires an agency that we can trust to sort through all of those concerns."

The general tone of her position is that the culture of large corporations and lobbying isn't in the public interest. By the way, any reason you didn't include her "anti-GMO" views?

Shocker: Computer science graduate wins a top UK political job

Liam Fox, FFS

See title. Worth repeating.

UK gov says new Home Sec will have powers to ban end-to-end encryption

reasonably practicable

"there will be circumstances where it is reasonably practicable for a company to build in a facility to de-encrypt the contents of communication"

It's a long time since I've seen the word "practicable" used. I learned it as meaning capable of being put into practice. In this context, it doesn't seem to make any sense. What circumstances?

Wannabe Prime Minister Andrea Leadsom thinks all websites should be rated – just like movies

God has spoken to her directly

That was probably Boris whispering in her ear. I hear he has that effect on some people.

Man dies after UK police Taser shooting

Re: Location Location Location

"I wonder if they got the memo and training on where they can and cannot use a taser on a suspect"

Somehow I was expecting you to explain that they can only be used in a council estate.

Why everyone* hates Salesforce's Marc Benioff

Re: Oops. Misread

Sorry. I appear to have misread your post. I will quietly disappear in full embarrassment mode.

Re: As Bob Dylan wrote...

Didn't the Weather Underground take their name from the song?

EU bureaucrats claim credit for making 'illegal online hate speech' even more illegal

Only a dozen comments so far...

It seems to be having an effect already.

Spying on you using fake social media profiles: One Scots council could

Re: So, is entrapment an option?

My new Facebook friend told me that if I falsified X on my application, I could get benefit Y from the West Lothian Council and "totally get away with it".

Getting East Lothian residents to claim benefits from West Lothian Council would be a neat idea, at least for East Lothian Council. I wonder if that was their plan all along.

At the BBC, Agile means 'making it up as we go along'

Re: Agile means making it up...

I make it up every day, but not for that amount of money.

Why we should learn to stop worrying and love legacy – Fujitsu's UK head

Re: Heresy

"Everything should be written in javascript these days, should only work on tablets, and a new version should be released every 3 minutes."

That just about sums up my work this week. I wonder if my wife knows she's married to a modern, digital man. I wonder if she cares. (It's 12:43. What do you think? Too early?)

Read America's insane draft crypto-borking law that no one's willing to admit they wrote

Possessive pronouns also illegal

"[my] economic growth, prosperity, security, stability, and liberty require [your] adherence to the rule of law,"

Triple-murderer prisoner keeps mobile phone in his butt for a week

Worst job I ever had

Give me lobsters and Jayne Mansfield any day.

Coding is more important than Shakespeare, says VC living in self-contained universe

I agree. The article seems to refer to little in VK's essay. Where did he say that coding is more important than Shakespeare? He stresses a knowledge of statistics more than coding. What I took from his essay is that the content of liberal arts courses are stuck in the past and need an update to meet the originally intended goals:

"The most important things for a general, non-professional or vocational education are critical thinking and problem-solving skills, familiarity with logic and the scientific process, and the ability to use these in forming opinions, discourse, and in making decisions. Other general skills that are also important include — but are not limited to — interpersonal skills and communication skills ."

Leak – UN says Assange detention 'unlawful'

Re: We make our own prisons

"Because the Swedish government has no power to offer such a guarantee to Ecuador or anyone else. An extradition request (should one be forthcoming, and should JA reach Sweden) would be dealt with by the independent legal system on its merits - the law (rightly) makes no provision for the Executive to meddle in individual cases."

Are you sure about that? In the case of the UK, extradition request from the USA need to be approved by the Secretary of State. So presumably a guarantee not to entertain such a request can be provided. If Sweden is different, then that is perhaps their own problem. I'm no fan of Assange, but surely it's in everyone's interest that you can't be extradited to one country only to be arbitrarily extradited to a third.

Manchester 'wins' £10m to test talking bus stops

Re: Douglas Adams

Or one from Salford?

the f***ing bus is f***ing late / you f***ing wait you f***ing wait /you're f***ing lost and f***ing found / stuck in f***ing chicken town

Dell computers bundled with backdoor that blurts hardware fingerprint to websites

Re: Genuine Question

Not sure, but I think the web page is making a jsonp call. I think that requires support/complicity on the server side.

TV broadcast vans drive ESA from Perth

Re: Disappointed.

Just for you...

http://www.perthelectrical.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2013-06-19-14.16.44.jpg

Most developers have never seen a successful project

Re: Needs just a tweak.

"Perhaps software needs to learn a page or two from other industries."

Yes, but perhaps gardening rather than heavy engineering industries.

Einstein's brain to be picked by satellites

Re: Wait. What the ....

"No, the science works all by itself, without any need of assistance from anyone (except mother nature)."

Perhaps this is a semantic matter, but by all definitions I'm aware of, science is very much in the human realm. We can crudely define it as "our understanding of the natural world". Nature works all by itself; science is encumbered by us fleshy things with our microscopes, rulers, hormones, and correlation formulae.

Sorry to nark on. My original post was meant to be jocular. I absolutely agree with Christoph's description of science, but I also believe it is an idealized notion. Robert Grant above used the phrase "science mission statement", and I understand his concerns about how it is proselytised. My own view is that what separates (should separate?) science from religion and other non-rational beliefs is ignorance. The religious believe they know everything; scientists are certain they know very little. But finding out just a little bit more is the motivation.

Re: Wait. What the ....

"You are confusing science and scientists."

I don't think so. I was responding to the statement, "that's how science works", not "that is science". I think it *works* through the actions of scientists.

Re: Wait. What the ....

"And that's how science works."

Are you sure?

Science that can be easily verified: We'd better test this theory to an inch of its life because we'll look like fools if we're wrong.

Science that can't be easily verified: We'll test this theory a bit, and if the results look dodgy, we'll adjust the data, tweak the models, and call anyone who doubts us a denier. After all, we know we're right.

Man goes to collect stolen-car court docs found in stolen car in stolen car

Re: will go far in this world...

@rtb61

It might just be cheaper to give him his own car.

Beard transplants up 600% for men 'lacking length elsewhere'

Correlation thingy

'However facial hair grows more "when a man has not had sex for a while".'

Is that not because during those periods there's less reason to shave?

Web ad tried to make my iPhone spaff a premium-rate text, says snapper

Re: Weird..

"has managed to find a way to make the phone think the link has been clicked, with a bit of Javascript or something"

That part seems surprisingly easy. There is a Javascript click() command that can be applied to a DOM element. I discovered this recently when trying to implement an export-to-local-file function in a web application. The code I borrowed to do this used the click() function, and I wondered at the time about possible devious uses.

Scotsman cools PC with IRN-BRU, dubs it the 'Aye Mac'

No more refunds on glass bottle returns

It's commercial viability may have taken a knock by Barr's recent decision to end 30p refunds when returning glass bottles.

So, was it really the Commies that caused the early 20th Century inequality collapse?

Re: Not so much public ownership but public wealth creation

I'm not sure that the 30s private housing boom is relevant to the council house building activity. Over 1 million council houses were built in the inter war years. That's not a small event.

Regarding the NHS, I don't think there was anything simple about the nationalisation of existing facilities. Not sure what data would suffice. My parents said it was the biggest change in society in their lives (and they'd just lived through a war). Before they used to get treatment for free, and handed in rabbits for the doctor once or twice a year.

I picked up on council housing and the NHS, but I think there were other publicly financed investments in the 20th century that may have had an impact on wealth. Road building, education, electrification, gas grid, ports authorities, whatever. My image of this is that it increased steadily in the early part of the 20th century, and accelerated after WW2. I can wave my hands like any economist and say this was the cause of reduced wealth inequality. I'm hoping you can do better.

Not so much public ownership but public wealth creation

Tim, you mention public ownership, control, and planning, and I'd probably agree with you that those alone don't cause reductions in wealth inequality. But is public spending on wealth creating projects not a different matter. From the 1920s through the 1970s, there was large investment in council housing. After 1947, there was also large investment in the health service. In addition to employment, these also brought wealth to large numbers. A decent home, parents who aren't too sick to work, etc. Taking ownership of the car industry seemed quite different from these other projects. They weren't handing out cheap cars to everyone.

PALE, MALE AND STALE: Apple reveals it has just ONE black exec

83 wimps

This tells me Apple has 83 executives who agreed to tick a box classifying themselves as one of Asian, Black, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American, or White. Or did someone tick the box for them, as my local education official offered to do for my kids until I told her she'd better not.

Why is that idiot Osbo continuing with austerity when we know it doesn't work?

Re: Spending money

I'm not sure what you mean by "going into the economy". What difference does it make if money is spent by private contractors or multi-cultural lesbian single mother awareness campaigners? Isn't the point that as long as they spend the money, the economy grows? I can understand that you might prefer better roads to increased awareness, but is that not just a matter of personal taste? Others might prefer better pizzas. (So why not just increase welfare benefits for that matter?) These are honest questions. This economics stuff hurts my head.

Scot Nationalists' march on Westminster may be GOOD for UK IT

Re: Nukes

And as they are so opposed to it, they should also be completely removed from any bidding process to build anything

What does "they" refer to in your comment? The SNP, those who voted for the SNP, or anyone in Scotland including engineering companies who couldn't give a toss about the SNP. Your comment smells of xenophobia, whether intended or not.

Bonny Scottish post-pub nosh neckfiller: Rumbledethumps

Re: best cabbage-based "neck filler"

"but Kansai style is an acceptable substitute"

Don't let my wife (an Osaka lass) hear you say that. Hiroshima style is forbidden in this house.

I suggest you use those pointy sweetheart cabbages instead of white cabbage. And chop it really fine. Adding some dashi (fish stock) to the batter helps. Bacon is good, as are shrimps, as is bacon and shrimps.

Why should I learn by ORAL tradition? Where's the DOCUMENTATION?

Re: Sorry if it's an obvious question, but...

It always amuses me that so much effort can go into software development without any of the developers bothering to make notes on how to use their own software.

We can rationalize that. I have a client who, when asked if we should make some user documentation, said that if users can't understand the interface, they certainly won't understand the documentation. I've since tried to live by that principle.

Apple's Tim Cook and Salesforce's Marc Benioff DECLARE WAR on anti-gay Indiana

Re: Pehaps

"Most businesses are conducted for the purpose of earning money, however, and will not concern themselves with the sexual orientation of their customers as long as the latter pay promptly."

But they may well concern themselves with any vociferous campaign along the lines of, "they serve gays".

Woman caught on CCTV performing drunken BJ blew right to privacy

Being for the benefit of Mr Kite

The celebrated Mrs K

Performs her feats on Saturdays

Behind the gate

Vince Cable opens hipster-friendly London tech creche

a uniquely British solution

"a uniquely British solution"

Otherwise known as a cock up.