Posts by Matt 21

British bloke accused of extorting victims for 'Dark Overlord' hacker crew finally gets his free trip* to America

Allegedly....

Comet 67-P farted just as Rosetta probe flew through the gas plume

Re: Theories

Should it start with "THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS. WE KNOW THAT YOU CAN HEAR US EARTHMEN. OUR RETALIATION WILL BE SLOW, BUT NONETHELESS EFFECTIVE. IT WILL MEAN THE ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION OF LIFE ON EARTH. IT WILL BE USELESS FOR YOU TO RESIST, FOR WE HAVE DISCOVERED THE SECRET OF REVERSING MATTER, AS YOU HAVE JUST WITNESSED. ONE OF YOU WILL BE UNDER OUR CONTROL. YOU BE INSTRUMENTAL IN AVENGING THE MYSTERONS. OUR FIRST ACT OF RETALIATION WILL BE TO ASSASSINATE YOUR WORLD PRESIDENT. "

ZX Spectrum reboot firm slapped with £52k court costs repayment order

I don't wish to spoil the party but the BBC micro is better than both of them.

By the way, my Dad is bigger than yours! So, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Matt LeBlanc handed £1.5m to front next two series of Top Gear

Re: Still Undecided

I agree with you djack's comment about C4 picking up F1 from the BBC.

However, I disagree with comments about EJ. I can't think of any insightful comment he's ever made. He tends to brown nose and mostly talks rubbish. He's quite happy to tell you X is Y when you can see on the screen for yourself that X isn't Y. Quite frankly he's a waste of space.

DC and Ben Edwards work quite well together... not legendary talent as they don't play off each other as well as Murrey and James Hunt did but you can't always have that.

Mind you I think I'll give yp on it once Sky get all the coverage... or start watching it in French for free.

Re: EJ

EJ should have intelligent comments to make based on his experience in F1 but that's not what comes across. He does manage to get the big interviews but never manages to ask the right questions and he always sucks up to Bernie and never puts him under pressure.

Isn't the Irish expression a "gob shite"?

Retired Philae lander slouches on Comet 67P

Re: Where's the Trickle Down?

Oh come on, you don't need to go to those extremes! Everyone knows the best way to find something is to buy another one. I lost my camera, I looked "everywhere" and after a few months finally bought a new one. The next day I found my lost camera......

Hollywood offers Daniel Craig $150m to (slash wrists) play James Bond

Re: All right then.

You say that as if there was something wrong with the Milk Tray man :-)

Dropping 1,000 cats from 32km: How practical is that?

Re: Anyone that can

All too true.

I was wondering, as an aside, whether growing a field of catnip to the side of a valuable target would be the equivalent of missile toppling.....

Boffins switch on pinchfist incandescent bulb

Re: 'ere we go

"Go"

Well, I have some sympathy when you consider the CFL ones we were first given as alternatives. The light was poor and they didn't last well.

They improved quite a lot bu I wasn't really happy until the latest LED ones came along. Now the light is of a better quality, they use less 'leccy and seem to last well. In fact they last so well that the last light I put up didn't have a bulb it was just an all-in-one LED.

The Register's entirely serious New Year's resolutions for 2016

Re: Careful

Indeed. I'll happily put up with a few jokes that drop flat as they hit the wrong side of sexism (for example) in return for many that don't.

On the other hand a more PC approach will see me move on, which may or may not concern you.

Aroused Lycra-clad cyclist prompts Manchester cop dragnet

Re: Nips?

To my beloved down voter: I don't think you understand the seriousness of such an offense.

There's a grown woman, bra-less, soaking wet blouse, nips out and there were teenage boys around... I was outraged...... well in my theoretical example I was anyway.......

Re: Nips?

You spot said young woman with rain soaked blouse, so you take a photo to help the cops and then you get into trouble!

Double standards as you say!!!!!

Kids' TV show Rainbow in homosexual agenda shocker

This may well be something I made up by my understanding is that the BBC bought "The Magic Roundabout" from the French but couldn't afford to get it translated. So, they just made up stories and voices to go with the action.

As I say, this may be something I just made up... or not :-)

NHS IT projects worth £5bn at 'high risk' of failure, warns HSCIC

Re: Define "failure"

Well Mr Smooth, I don't think it works like that.

You ask me to build you a car with square wheels and I've heard you don't like me saying it's a stupid idea or poking into your business to find out if it'll fit in. So I get on and build you a car with square wheels.

Not really fair if I get punished because it's not a successful project is it?

Bringing discipline to development, without causing pain

Re: meaningless buzzword soup

To paraphrase somebody else, there's no "I" in team but there is a "me".

Ubuntu Wily gaggle builds 15.10 beta beachhead

Re: "No Dibble or Grub"

I thought Cuthbert was the only one who was ever missing from the song.... in an episode when he was on holiday.... or has my memory failed me?

Heigh ho, oh no! Politically correct panto dumps Snow White’s dwarfs

Re: Oh for FFS...

Oh, come on, making jokes about retarded dwarfs... it's not big and it's not clever.

Boom boom!

Spaniard trousers €60,000 bank error, proceeds directly to jail

Re: Not worth it

The point where it seems workable is about 21:30 tonight after a beer or two... suddenly the plan seems a lot clearer and I'm sure a few mates will want to join me in this infallible endeavor....

Prof Hawking cracks riddle of black holes – which may be portals to other universes

Re: Have you ever lost anything you wanted back

There must be an element of quantum entanglement too. Haven't you noticed that if you lose something, say a camera, the only way to find it is to buy a new one? Within a day of giving up and buying a new one the old one is found.

Therefore the two object must be entangled somehow.

Spanish TV journo leaves subordinates cowering after verbal shoeings

Re: "In response, CLMTV said: ..."

Too much......... I'm lost for words.

Paper driving licence death day: DVLA website is still TITSUP

Re: I don't know why you're all complaining...

and his mates will be along shortly with some statistics to prove it. Plus those complaining really need to understand that they have to keep up with the times and that going electronic will save the country a lot of money.

In the next stage of the role out you'll be able to request the code via Facebook.

Heroic German rozzers rescue innocent lamb from sordid brothel

Re: breaking news : european dna

Well to be fair there's no direct mention of anything which implies the sheep did anything more than stand in the corner with its eyes closed. Anyway, this brings me to my poem:

Mary had a little lamb,

she also had a bear.

I've often seen her little lamb

but I've never seen her bare.

Unless of course you pay her, in this case.......

Then it's more like:

Jack and Jill went up the hill, to fetch a pale of water.

Jack gave Jill half a crown

and Jack got what he was after.

I'll be here all week, so you can just be thankful that it's already Friday :-)

City of birth? Why password questions are a terrible idea

Re: easy to remermber? really?

Surly the problem here, even if you can remember the "unique" answer you gave, or even the "unique" question you asked, is that once it's compromised it's compromised everywhere.

So, the only real solution is to give a different answer on each site which works like this and then record them somewhere... oh hang on a mo, if that's compromised we're back to the same problem....

Google Maps gets hit with racist White House listing

Re: Wonder

Or perhaps we could combine them for those of us from the West Country: Them their sat-navs ?

Hypervisor indecisive? Today's contenders from yesterday's Hipsters

Re: ICL VME

Thanks for the info and for spotting the incorrect use of their!

I quite liked VME at the time. CAFS was also an interesting innovation for its time.

ICL VME

I'm not certain of the precise timeline but ICLs VME grew out of something else which started in the 60s, I think. I don't know who got their first but it looked pretty close between IBM and what became ICL.

Google’s plan for WORLD DOMINATION takes shape. And it begins with a patent

Re: I'm impressed.

Great, another patent on the bleeding obvious........

IWF took down over 31,000 child sexual abuse URLs in 2014

Re: I was wrong.

Good point.

It comes down to the government needing to be seen doing something, this is something and with today's advert we can now see that they're doing something.

Bigotry posted by your Facebook account? Use this, Mister UKIP MP wannabe: 'I was hacked'

Bad joke at that

Two men have been in the desert for a week or two. They found a bit of water but no food. They're now reduced to crawling as they are so weak from lack of food. One says to the other

"Look, look, there's a bush and it's growing bacon! We're saved."

The other replies

"Watch out mate it's a ham-bush."

I'm here most days........

Power, internet access knackered in London after exploding kit burps fire into capital's streets

Re: Life is just not fair is it!

Last time I was in Cornwall the only way I could get a mobile signal (in the area where we were staying) was to stand a yard or two in the sea at low tide with my arm in the air.... which suited me perfectly for a holiday.

Sony snags Spotify for streaming music to Playstation gamers

Hyperbole

"The software can also be controlled remotely using a smartphone app linked to Spotify, allowing the user to pause, skip forward on track lists, or even pick a new song without interrupting gameplay."

Doesn't sound likely does it? There I am driving around Spa at top speed and somehow my smartphone allows me to change the music track without interrupting my "gameplay". How does that work then? I suspect the reality is that the track can be changed by smartphone and anyone who chooses to do so will probably pause the game during the operation.

I suppose it doesn't sound quite so "cool" when put like that!

Euro ministers ditch plan to ban roaming charges

Re: I'm guessing

The article says this came from the council of ministers (telecom reps) and not MEPs. MEPs had said they support getting rid of roaming charges (according to the article).

So it looks like ordinary MPs (ours included) were lobbied and bribed to keep roaming charges.

Privacy? What privacy? EU's draft law on your data is useless, say digital rights orgs

Re: good for goose

While I agree with the principle I'm not sure why you're talking about MEPs. This "mangling" was done by the Council of Ministers, in other words, our government and members of other governments.

In this case our (UK) government seems only too keen to do whatever it can to remove any rights from us.

Samsung's spying smart TVs don't encrypt voice recordings sent over the internet – new claim

Re: Hollywood is responsible....

Don't tell him, Pike!

Beam me up, Scotty, And VAPORIZE me in the process

Re: So what happens...

Great for the environment too. Even if you can recycle what you've destroyed you're still throwing away the energy needed to turn it into something useful.

EU-turn: Greenpeace pressure WON'T mean axing of Chief Scientist

Re: too much influence in one person?

and that's the problem isn't it? How can one person really represent all scientific thought on a subject? Perhaps in rare cases on a particularly specialised subject but in general it seems unlikely.

We are also in danger of falling into the trap of assuming that all "scientific" thought is infallible whereas the evidence is that this is not the case.

There are often European societies representing bodies of scientists in a particular field, so surly it would be better to just consult them. This can then be balanced with opinions from other sources as appropriate.

The weirdly-synched life of the Google Nest household

Re: Connections

I'm with you, I just can't see the point. It does rather have the feel of a solution looking for a problem.

Cambridge boffins and Boeing fly first hybrid airplane over British skies

Re: Take off energy...

Or a large elastic band?

Re: Can you clairfy

Isn't that a bit inefficient? I mean converting the energy from petrol to electricity instead of just using it to propel the plane.

It's hard to see where the gains are coming from in general unless the battery is fully charged from the mains before take off. In which case the 30% figure might be the petrol saved due to the electric energy doing the work during take off. I wonder how quickly the 30% drops if the flight is over 100 miles, for example.

Perhaps the next step will be having retractable "wind mills" to recover energy when the plane descends... a kind of regenerative braking for the air!

Solar-powered bra maker suffers 20,000 TITSUPs all at once

Re: Sorry for the bother?

Better than saying "sorry for any inconvenience caused" as if it might not upset most people. It's honest and slightly charming... makes a nice change.

Plus I always liked Paddington... mmmmm I fancy a marmalade sandwich now.

EU breaks 'legally binding' lobbying register promise

Re: The EU has been captured.

I think you mean hypercritical. Sometimes it seems our press would have us believe that all evils have their source in the EU.

GERONTIC 'Ghost ship' prowled the undersea cables of the 1940s

Re: NUMA

Given the location I wonder instead if McGarrett's mum is hiding on it.

Or perhaps Nine Wilde and Chase are fighting another megalomaniac to find a clue to Atlantis's sister island which was left on the ship by a the relics of the Nazi spy system just after the 2nd world war.......

What a pity: Rollout of hated UK smart meters delayed again

Yes

but with this solution they can cut off individuals remotely and say that they've exceeded "fair use" at a time of "short supply".

Surly that's got to be the reasoning behind this. If they turn off whole areas there'll be an outcry but if they turn off 90% and push the message that it's because they use too much everyone will turn on each other and the government can walk free.

Perhaps drop a few stories in the press about certain people running too many Christmas lights, or outdoor swimming pool heaters etc. then encourage us to watch our neighbours and then start using the SMART meters to switch some of us off if necessary.

Anything to distract us from asking questions about the government failing to address the real problem.

It's BLOCK FRIDAY: Britain in GREED-crazed bargain bonanza mob frenzy riot MELTDOWN

Re: I'll embrace Black Friday...

America: Barbarism to hedonism in one generation without an intervening period of civilisation.

Megaupload overlord Kim Dotcom: The US has radicalised me!

Re: AC I assume this was their intention all along...

Well obviously we're all guilty of anything the US charges us with so yes.

In fact, let's save them some money and agree to fund our own flights to a jail of their choosing where we should pay them rent for our prison cell.

UK.gov biz dept: Youth apprentice? Get a degree while you're hired

Re: this takes me back to the 70s

The biggest difference I'd say is that today the government is keen to make almost anything a "degree" course so they can say they've achieved an increase in the number of people with degrees.

It was also interesting to see IBM's name mentioned as I was told they're currently in a global recruitment freeze period.

Boffins find Jackie Chan's SUPERCOP is good for something

Re: Does the RIAA know about this?

Might not putting it on your roof count as a public performance?

Forget the climate: Fatties are a much bigger problem - study

Re: They aren't a problem; they're a solution!

So we need to eat more????

Ahh, I've got it, we need to die having eaten more curry in order that the methane count is high and we need to collect the boiled off water to solve the water problem too.

Perhaps we could keep our lardy bodies hooked up to some kind of dream machine so we could be grown more efficiently.......

Blackpool hotel 'fines' couple £100 for crap TripAdvisor review

Re: Boohoo

While in this case it may be that the hotel is not a nice place to stay the whole principal of these reviews is at the very least unfair in my opinion. In fact I'd go as far to say that these kind of review sites are fast becoming useless.

As a business you often have no come back (although some sites do allow it) and if you do reply it can look like you're making excuses. Some complaints aren't even from people who've used your product or service. Some people get their friends to post bad reviews for fun or for other reasons.

Some examples I've seen:

"I didn't like the colour of product X I bought". Well it's advertised as that colour so what did you expect?

"The TV I bought doesn't fit in my room". Well it's advertised with its dimensions......

etc. etc.

Even positive reviews don't help because they often seem to be biased by devotees or reviews which sound suspiciously like they've been written by people working for the people providing the product or service.

Spotting the genuine reviews among the dross is taking longer and longer to the point where sometimes I just give up.

Of course there are some funny ones along the way, like Veet for men and the "big ships" ones.

There it is! Philae comet lander found in existing Rosetta PICS

Re: Should have included some buttered toast on the feet

Yes, but after millennia they breed and change into almost human form..... then get to live with a hologram and what passes for a human.....