Posts by frank ly

Funds flung at 9-inch fan-built Raspberry Pi monitor

At about 0:45

" ... you can take it to the jams ..."

I like raspberry jam.

Facebook fans fuel faggots firestorm

This is disturbing

From the online Oxford English dictionary - http://www.oxforddictionaries.com

1 (usually faggots) British a ball or roll of seasoned chopped liver, baked or fried.

2 (US fagot) a bundle of sticks bound together as fuel, a bundle of iron rods bound together for reheating, welding, and hammering into bars.

The entry in http://www.oed.com does not include 1. above.

I believe this is an example of an 'editor' making a personal and culturally biased judgement. Faggots were low grade wood used by poor people or low grade meat, mixed with herbs and spices to disguise it's nature, again used by poor people. The overall implication is something lowly, not worthy of consideration, so it's easy to understand how the word can be used as an insult term.

It's a long time since I bought, and enjoyed, a carton of 'Mr Brain's Faggots' from the freezer section of my local supermarket. I must go shopping soon :)

Note for visiting Americans: You must not use the word 'pardon' when in England. To do so implies that the person you are speaking to is a serious criminal who has been released from prison on a technicality. It is regarded as very offensive and can cause a violent reaction in most social settings.

Could Doctor Who really bump into human space dwellers?

I think the important thing is to have a regular day(work/play) and night(sleep) cycle or people have all kinds of psychological and medical problems. This cycle has to be regular and close to 24 hours as well. What actual 'time' you want to call it would depend on how often you contact Earth and for what purpose.

Fiery bits of Euro satellite to rain down on Earth this weekend

If a bit lands in my garden ....

... can I keep it?

Google barge erection hypegasm latest - What's in the box?

Just wondering

"... where rich customers can carouse with Google staff."

Why would rich people want to do that?

BETHLEHEM-grade SUPERNOVA possible 'within 50 years'

Re: No three & no kings

"Although the imaginary number ..."

I'm sure that '3' is a real number and also an integer, but it is a little bit odd.

UK.gov forks out £250k to rescue EROTIC novelists and pals from PIRATES

Someone has to say it .....

" ...fights to keep erotic fiction, among other things, out of the hands of copyright pirates."

Aha, the plot for a series of 'bodice-ripper' novels.

Japanese boffins make a splash with bath-based touchscreen

What about bath foam?

And ordinary soap bubbles ..... Just wondering.

Bucket? Check. Toilet plunger? Check. El Reg's 50 years of Doctor Who

Re: Plumbing pedantry

'operative' is an adjective. The word you should use is 'operator'.

(Yes, I know the country is full of signs that say "Our cleaning operatives are working in this area... etc". They are all WRONG!)

TalkTalk to block nuisance calls with no help AT ALL from Huawei

Re: I had a call from TalkTalk

Tesco mobile went through a phase of sending me text messages telling me how wonderful Tesco mobile are. I told them to stop and it took a few angry calls before they slowed down and did stop. Apparently, their marketing department ignore any customer request not to send 'promotional' texts, because they can.

Re: Will they block themselves?

Is there a pre-filtering device that will sit between your phone and the wall socket, then pickup the call and quckly see if it is from a witheld number or from a list of numbers that you have provided it with, then end the call and not pass it on to your phone?

How about someone develops such a device using the popular Raspberry Pi, or similar, to do the work and provide a USB or network interface to control and monitor it from your computer.

You're more likely to get a job if you study 'social' sciences, say fuzzy-studies profs

@ The Quiet One

" ... a worthless diploma from a former Polytechnic dump."

Again, you illustrate his point. Next round please.

Re: says

Your example of the second law of thermodynamics would not be science by consensus; it would be science by diktat. Science by consensus is when things like climate change (or is it global warming?) and the safety of MMR vaccines are determined by newspapers and politicians after gauging public attitudes.

Do+ you+ use+ Google+? Seemingly+ you+ DO+

@RISC OS Re: My fake google plus

I tried to add you but you said I wasn't cool enough. :(

Re: I signed up for it once

One of my Google account names is so obviously fake that an idiot could spot it, but I've had no problems. So, what kind of people are we dealing with here? I'm quite happy with my 2 x 15GB of cloudy storage but not impressed by Google+.

Shy, bashful HUMPBACK DOLPHINS expose themselves to boffins

Re: ok.

Theodore, we already know. There's no need to make it 'official'.

Re: grammar nazi in action - furthermore ...

How do they know those dolphins had been swimming blithely, unless they observed them and differentiated them before they discovered them? This is all unsupported assumption.

Microsoft investors advised: Sack the guy searching for Ballmer replacement

Why don't they put a job advert in the press?

It wouldn't cost much and they'd get lots of publicity.

HGST pops out 1TB ultraportable travelstar drive

Just wondering

What's the difference between a 'factlette' and a 'factoid'?

IBM gives up fight to build CIA's $600m secret cloud, hands deal to Amazon

Translation

"in light of the government's recent submissions emphasizing its need to move forward on the contract, IBM has withdrawn its motion." ->

The government told us that we'll have nothing but grief on all future tenders if we don't STFU now.

Virgin Media only puts limited limits on its Unlimited service

Oh FFS!

If they all told the truth, there would be no need for all this argument and legal action. Oh, ....I'm sorry ..... that was a stupid thing to say. We now live in a world where lying by politicians and corporations is standard and required practice.

Anonymity is the enemy of privacy, says RSA grand fromage

An form of words worthy of a politician

“The European Union was built on its citizens' rights, including the right to privacy, a right the EU wishes to see exercised online, whereas the US view tends to be 'privacy is dead' .."

The USA was also built on its citizens rights and over a long time it has mutated into what it is now. What will the European Union mutate into after a few more decades, or less time than that?

DON'T BREW THAT CUPPA! Your kettle could be a SPAMBOT

Re: Nonsense

Hey, stop being sensible and logical.

Fleet of driverless pods to take over Milton Keynes town centre

A hundred of the wee pods

If they're automatic and only £2 to travel in them, they will be full of wee.

Mozilla goes where Google fears to tread with geolocation service

I don't understand this bit.

" ... as the combination of IP address and time of service usage can uniquely identify users."

I'm puzzled as to how this would work or give any additional risk to my privacy. Website operators already know that live in Mytown in England and use VM as an ISP, but that's as far as it goes, I think. When I'm away from home, they know I'm somebody who uses the O2 network but they don't know that I'm the same one who lives in Mytown, unless I don't clear my cookies.

Can anyone propose a 'scenario' that explains the additional risk to my privacy; one that doesn't involve VM or O2 giving out information about me. (I assume they don't do that for anyone except the police and security services.)

Big Content says Pirates of the Caribbean do their worst in Australia

"A local market located ...."

I like that.

(The one with the pocket guide to etymology in the pocket.)

Google rivals GAGGED from exposing ad giant's EU search peace offering

All we are Binging .... is give Yahoo a chance.

(The one with the Google powered phone and fondleslab in the pockets.)

Everything's going to be all white: Google Nexus 5 mobe expected Friday

Re: From a Nexus 4 owner

Get a nice colour matched flip case (on e-bay). That's the first thing I do with every smartphone I've had.

I'll be keeping my Nexus 4 for at least another year since it does all I need/want it to do and more. At about Christmas time or just after, second hand Nexus 4 prices in e-bay should be tempting to many.

LG G Flex: A new cheeky curvy mobe with a 'SELF-HEALING' bottom

Re: Flex is the wrong name

With the advertising slogan, 'Get Bent!'

I am a recovering Superwoman wannabee

It's the first Google Image you get if you search for 'superwoman' (with the results filter set to: nerdgasm)

Intel on Europe: The Internet of Things could SAVE US ALL

What's the annual profit of a typical park?

Apple bats away WiLAN cellular data patents sueball

What about the ones that gave in?

Is there any difference between Apple's use of wireless tech used in mobile devices and the other companies' use of it? If not, then they can consider backing out of the licensing deals because "we were bamboozled by slimy lawyers". Or, maybe I misunderstand how the real world works.

Oz racehorse shod with 3D-printed titanium hoofwear

Re: Neigh sayers

Faye-B-lous punning there. Well done, here's your hat too.

Long time ago? Galaxy far, far away? You ain't seen nothing yet

Re: Just curious

The figure of about 14 billion years is the generally accepted age of the universe. The size is a different thing.

I get puzzled by how the expansion of the universe affects the distance and time taken for that light to reach us. Thirteen billion years ago, the light from that galaxy was produced and started a journey outwards from its source. So, we must now be 13 billion light years away from where that galaxy used to be. But that galaxy was moving away from our present location (and everything else) at the time. So, the cold dead embers of that galaxy must be further away than 13 billion light years by now. So how big is the universe?

HP CEO Whitman: We've built the PC that GOD wants

Re: Futility

See icon

Microsoft boffins test rival 'Google Glass' geek goggles, say insiders

Re: Another SciFi sighting

That pizza company is amazing, in an admirable but scary way.

The nosepad stalks .....

.... they need to be twisted through 90 degrees. Or does someone already have a patent on that more comfortable arrangement?

ICANN approves Arabic, Russian and Chinese global domain spaces

The language of the Internet is universal and is the language of TC/IP protocols and the like. This is universally understood by the equipment that forms the internet. What us puny humans actually send over the internet is a minor consideration.

BBC to spaff £18 MILLION of licence fee cash... on BIG DATA

A wonderful idea ....

... because the BBC have such a good track record with new and long term 'high technology' projects.

DMI, Socrates, ..... maybe some that we didn't hear about.

Brit PM raps Facebook for allowing GORY beheading vids

@AC 18:01

Newspapers read the letters before they publish them, otherwise they'd be full of rude/obscene/complaining letters. Newspaper websites have moderators who read the letters and also have 'flag lists' so they can home in on known 'trouble makers'. Facebook open a channel that lets their users post content that is not seen by any Facebook staff before it appears on the website. That is the big and legally recognised difference.

Having said that, I'd reward users who flagged seriously damaging content with some kind of brownie point system. Maybe extra Farmville crops, or whatever. (I may have got that wrong, I don't use Facebook.)

Google pulls all Android apps linked to adware badness THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED

@All of you. Re: Was this written by a 14 year old?

I'm wondering about the viability (and advisability) of outsourcing the proofreading and correction of El Reg articles to the commentardiat. There would need to be some parameter tweaking by the official Reg staff and some heavy initial scoring, along with an algorithm for determining which commentards were given the tasks, etc. You know what would be needed ......

Grammatically correct responses would be appreciated.

HUMANS all come FROM AFRICA: HERPES does not lie

re. a lifelong affliction

This makes me wonder if there's such a thing as a viriphage. Or are viruses too simple to be worth using in this way by another 'lifeform'?

Baldness fix from foreskin follicles

re. circumcised foreskins

I was going to say that it wasn't the foreskins that were circumcised....... then I realised that it actually was. This is what happens when you get too logical and analytical before breakfast.

Volvo: Need a new car battery? Replace the doors and roof

Facts and figures?

What is the energy storage density per kilogram and per litre compared to LIon batteries and what is the likely cost comparison? I can't imagine that this would be cheaper than making an equivalent increase in the volume of an existing battery design.

Also, if it's that good, why not replace the entire battery with a lump made form this 'super capacitor' material? I wonder what it's stored energy loss rate is.......... etc.

Snap-happy blogger babe posts catcalling blokes' mugshots online

@Khaptain Re: It must get really, really boring

If you were walking down the street where you live, where your 'community' is, the place you call home; then imagine someone called out to you, "Hey cute buns, nice ass you got there, wanna come and sit on my dick?"

I'm sure you'd have a little 'secretly pleased' smile on your face and be happy that you were still attractive enough to induce sexual desire in a man. Remember, it's a compliment.

Mark Shuttleworth labels Mir opponents 'the Open Source Tea Party'

Their next new development is being kept secret ....

... but it will be called 'Pravda'.

Microsoft pulls Win 8.1 RT code which upgraded Surface 'slabs into BRICKS

"Microsft pulls Win 8.1 RT update ..."

That should be, "Microshaft pulls ......."

The web needs globally backed, verifiable security standards – says Huawei

Re: Verifyable and open standards

I think that all the mathematics that underpins encryption is public domain knowledge. So, if anyone tries to claim IP rights on a particular implementation then everyone else can easily develop a different implementation with the same end result.

Apple's top bean counter: New spaceship HQ won't emit 'one atom of carbon'

CFO says "There won't be one atom of carbon emitted ...."

You'd think, in these modern times, that people who are capable of reaching that position would make a small effort to understand the basic operating principles of the real world. I was dumbfounded when I read that and actually spent time trying to figure out what he might have been trying to say.

FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS: Microsoft faces prising XP from Big Biz

Re: Win 2000 is still out there

" ...Oh and you get wobbly windows which look cool. ..."

In case any Windows waifs are worried by that, it should be pointed out that 'wobbly windows' arrive via a third party eye candy application. They are not part of any usual Linux distro.

I have MINT set up to look like XP, with pop-out toolbars at the top and sides of the screen, and they're better than the XP toolbars were. It's great. (I don't have any eye candy though. I despise eye candy.)