* Posts by Danny 2

2212 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Jul 2009

He's only gone and done it. Ex-Register vulture elected to board of .uk registry

Danny 2

Proton Me

Damn, I should have copyrighted Kudos to Kieran. And banned anyone from calling me a large Scotch.

I hope Kieran doesn't mind this fan advert for a free service. ProtonMail.ch, now Proton.ME to save 'leckie, has a new range of fairly impressive features on Proton Drive.

Proton Drive offers you the privacy of offline storage and the convenience and reliability of cloud storage.

All files are protected with end-to-end encryption

File metadata is also end-to-end encrypted, including file names, extensions, create/modify dates, etc.

Digital signatures allow you to check the authenticity and integrity of files

And like all Proton services, Proton Drive is open source, independently audited, and Swiss-based.

It's like Toblerone for your computer, CERN for your concerns.

Biden's Privacy Shield 2.0 order may not satisfy Europe

Danny 2

Kudos Anonymous

I see Iranian state TV news was hacked. That was a very, very, very good thing to do. I think you say 'props'.

I've slagged Anonymous in the past for good reasons, but I always said they sometimes did the right thing in the right way. This is one of those times.

UK politico proposes site for prototype nuclear fusion plant

Danny 2

Hot gas

Sky TV news had an energy crisis special this morning with financial and energy expert pundits. If it's repeated it is worth watching.

One guy said he asked Truss about a story that the UK is considering buying hundreds of billions of pounds of Norwegian gas. This would provide stability and security despite the record high price, and despite the money being borrowed at high rates. She didn't deny it. He speculated what the markets would make of that record expenditure, and pointed out the UK is the only European nation not asking industry to lower energy usage.

If that pans out then there'll be no money for anything else, nothing carbon free.

JRM said he'd be happy to have fracking in his back garden, so presumably we can use his back garden to store nuclear waste.

BT will back down in face of non-stop protests, says union

Danny 2

DIY NHS

The lack of 999 operators will be negated by the lack of nurses when they strike. The lack of social care workers (now earning more in Aldi and Lidls) is already causing a 'bed blockage' meaning you now die in a queue of ambulances outside A&E.

I'm overdue a heart attack so wish for a pre-emptive stent or four. Failing that, does anyone have a good design for a DIY self-deployed defibrillator?

Steganography alert: Backdoor spyware stashed in Microsoft logo

Danny 2

Re: It's a genuine threat

Remember, you can't call the Tory party conference a 'war' on the poor. It's a special fiscal operation.

Danny 2
Joke

It's a genuine threat

I clicked on a photo of the Prime Minister and my nephew lost his mortgage, my benefits were cut and the Bank of England was scammed out of £65 billion.

XKCD is coming back to London on November the 7th.

Bank of England puts cloud analytics on todo list after seeing off market collapse

Danny 2

Moaning Scot again

Liz said the big thing about the package was The Energy Price Guarantee, and financially it is, it's just so badly targetted.

I've pointed out before here that it's unfair and irrational that my rich sister gets it once for hr home in London, and again for her holiday home in Scotland.

It also seems obvious that London or Brighton are much warmer than say Edinburgh or Thurso and so require far less electricity to stay warm.

It's wasteful and unfair, and they had time to think about this.

Fixing an upside-down USB plug: A case of supporting the insupportable

Danny 2

Re: Upside down 3.5" floppies

@aerogems

No one would want to steal it.

I did tech support in a very rich area when I was driving a beat-up old Micra. The line of cars, Mercedes and Beamers, I was parked between were all scratched / keyed but mine was spared. I initially found that hilarious, class war, until I realised I was being pitied by vandals. Then I was questioned by police which delayed me so long I got a parking ticket. Class war again, back on the losing side.

Danny 2

Upside down 3.5" floppies

I have expressed my love of USB-C as it works either way now my eyesight is failing. I was not aware that pushing hard enough would cure that problem, if only to cause a greater problem. The W95 is just the cherry on the cake but raises further questions - who installed W95 on a new PC and why?

I don't think I've even walked a mile at work never mind run, maybe around corridors with some paper in my hand avoiding work. I've cycled to work on 24 hour callout, breathless and sweaty implies dedication.

"You've put the disk in upside down. I'm going to have to take it back to my lab to fix it." Saved a week of stupid fault calls.

OK, Google: Why are you still pointing women at fake abortion clinics?

Danny 2

Re: Sing it with him!

If American Christians believe a fetus is a person then surely the fetus has the right to guns. Stick a wee Glock up there and they can defend themselves against doctors.

Some twin fetuses will devour/absorb their twin - surely they should face the death penalty when they emerge. Why does the right to life end at the vagina?

IVF discards millions of fetuses, mass feticide, so those parents should face war crime trials.

Off topic, please rate this song from 1 to 5 as suitable for work: Foetus - Sick Man

Danny 2

Re: re: sufficient reason to kill someone

@Cliffwilliams44

Report the "crime" immediately, go to the hospital

The inverted commas around crime suggest you don't consider rape to be a crime. It is. There are numerous reasons woman can't react immediately to any pregnancy, from not realising they are pregnant to, in extrimis, Elisabeth Fritzl.

Danny 2

Feminism remains hopelessly wed to the idea that woman are oppressed and will have their lives ruined by having babies and they need lots of help to stop it.

Some US states are conflating a fertilised cell as a human being that can be murdered. I suggest you look at the process of IVF where any infertile couple wanting a child have to discard hundreds of viable babies, effectively mass murder.

Lawmakers v. The Scientific Realities of Human Reproduction

Astroboffins present fresh evidence of moving liquid water on Mars

Danny 2

Re: Water, water, everywhere,

"The chances of anyone going to Mars

Are a million to one" he said

"The chances of anyone going to Mars

Are a million to one, but still they come!"

How CIA betrayed informants with shoddy front websites built for covert comms

Danny 2

"more than two dozen sources died in China in 2011 and 2012"

I'd assumed this article was about the late eighties, early nineties.

I can explain why MI5/GCHQ were negligent in the first decade of this century, they were solely focussed on British peace protesters like me.

Arm founder says the UK has no chance of tech sovereignty

Danny 2

New EU sancions on Russia

Apparently white goods can't be exported to Russia because their army is stripping the chips out of them to use in missiles. Sounds implausible but it would explain how many Russian missiles go astray.

Instead of the expense of setting up a wafer fab maybe the UK could just foreign fridges and washing machines to strip them of chips. Although given the current exchange rate building a wafer fab could prove cheaper.

Scientists overjoyed after DART smashes into asteroid Dimorphos, contact lost

Danny 2

170!

I'm impressed by the aim and I had a 170 finish at darts when I was 12. If you don't know darts that is like a hole in one in golf, or England beating Germany in football.

NSA super-leaker Edward Snowden granted Russian citizenship

Danny 2

I believe that the Russian Empire has always drawn cannon fodder from the ethnic minorities and the poorer regions.
It's maybe of interest that one of the ethnic minorities being targetted for conscription are Crimean Tartars. This Muslim population used to be the majority in Crimea before many of them were, let's say, redirected.

I'm still annoyed and scared that I am considered 'fighting age'. My fighting age was 6 to 33, I'm barely walking age now. Fit a machine gun on zimmer frame or wheelchair and maybe then.

Darth Vader voice actor James Earl Jones allows AI to take over the role

Danny 2

What did I just say?

I found a 25 year old video of me and a foreign lass talking to camera. I couldn't understand a single word I said while she was perfectly clear. So I agree with the open source comment, although maybe Robert Carlyle of Ewan McGregor would be more believable voices for me. Hell, Kelly MacDonald would be an improvement.

Girls Who Code books 'banned' in some US classrooms

Danny 2

Illiterates

They misspelt the word 'mum', and don't understand the word 'liberty'.

This hero probe will smash into an asteroid to see if we can deflect future killer rocks

Danny 2

Re: Asteroid banks and hits 8Ball Earth into the Corner pocket Ouch

Mike Tyson says, "Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face."

I did not know Tyson was a military scholar.

Kein Operationsplan reicht mit einiger Sicherheit über das erste Zusammentreffen mit der feindlichen Hauptmacht hinaus. ~ Helmuth von Moltke, 1871

No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces.

Danny 2

Re: I don't wanna clooose my eeeeeyes...

I lost all my marbles aged five, never any good at that game.. I heroically volunteer to be sent up to the next comet with a hammer and a chisel.

Maybe of small interest but I didn't realise Oort was a Dutch name. I've been pronouncing it as Ooh ooh Oort it's magic - it's actually pronounced Ort. It's the sort of error that you don't want to make with Professor Brian Cox.

Iran blocks Whatsapp, Instagram as citizens protest death of Mahsa Amini

Danny 2

Tehranical wrecks

I'm sure I'd told this before, but apropos.

I dated a beautiful, successful Iranian émigré. She said she was going back to visit her family and I said I'd go with her. I've seen on TV it is a beautiful country and I'd get to meet her parents. "You can't come, they'll kill you."

"Your parents will kill me? I admit I never really like meeting parents but that is the best excuse ever."

"No, silly, my parents would love you. The mullahs would kill you, and me too because we are not married."

I look forward to the day the theocracy falls and Iranian women get to safely flaunt their fancy clothes, painted nails etc at football matches.

Amazon accused of singling out, harassing union organizers

Danny 2

The Commons

It was awkward meeting my first love decades later as we'd trod different paths. I was an engineer, then activist, she was a scientist then small business owner. Not much in common until we discovered we both loathed Amazon. Why do you hate them? Workers rights, terms and conditions. Why do you hate them? Unfair business rates and taxes. Oh! The enemy of my enemy turned out to be my first love.

The years were worth the wait. JWST gives us an amazing view of Neptune's rings

Danny 2

Re: A cloud in a kilt

Oh, I've read it, even listened to the Radio 4 series, but now my eyesight is poor so I can't reread it. I'm grateful for you lot filling in the potholes in my memory. To be honest I think that was one of the many pre-existing ideas that Adams righteously recycled.

I think I mentioned I've been a bit poorly lately, like death's door poorly without the strength to knock (why don't they have a doorbell?) and last week was feeling self pity. I watched Frozen Planet 2 and fell asleep to Wonders of the Universe by Brian Cox, like being hugged by my mum and cuddled by my first love at the same time. They should play that constantly on hospital radio.

Danny 2

A cloud in a kilt

I was asked on an American forum what my favourite present was, I replied the ISS. I had an app on my phone that alerted me when it was overhead and would show me it's cameras of where I live. Except I live in Scotland so I only ever saw the topside of the cloud above me.

Somebody smart once said that an intelligent species on a world with a dense atmosphere might not realise space exists and so would never think to explore it. Even in Scotland we see the sky sometimes, just never when the ISS is overhead. I deleted the app. I'm curious if the James Webb space telescope can see my home town on a day like this.

Queen's shooting star was actually meteor, not SpaceX junk

Danny 2

Re: "Are a million to one" he said

I saw some shooting stars last night

I wished on them but they were only satellites

It's wrong to wish on space hardware

I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care

~ New England

US accident investigators want alcohol breathalyzers in all new vehicles

Danny 2

Re: Sounds like it could be

I assure you that is true for me, I guess everyone is different. I can't take cocaine for example, even a wee bit makes me pass out and piss myself which has ruined a few parties. I thought folk were malicious but apparently in a small number of folk it mixes with blood alcohol to create a potentially fatal drug. It bemuses me that other folk get violent or sleepy on alcohol.

If it worries you I don't drive drunk, except one time when a diabetic pal was dying on new years day, and I consider drunk/drug driving to be murder.

Danny 2

Re: Sounds like it could be

I fully agree and am kind of an expert in this field. To anyone horrified, most of this occurred in a field only risking rabbits*.

Most dangerous was acid. My mate said, "I don't know how you are doing this!" which alarmed me because I thought he was doing it.

2nd most dangerous was ecstasy. Everything is fine and then another wave hits and cars don't handle waves well.

3rd most dangerous was cannabis, the combination of paranoia and sleepiness are just not conducive to motorways.

Least dangerous was alcohol. I have a high alcohol tolerance though, two drinks under as in it takes me two drinks to be sober.

In the seventies I refused to get into my dad's car after a wedding reception because he'd been drinking. Everyone drove drunk then. In the nineties I bought a breathalyser that told me I was perfectly sober when I patently was not, I felt ripped off but kept it in case of future legal action.

I've had a lot of bad traffic accidents, legendary bad traffic accidents, all of them stone cold sober, all my fault. The one that terrified me into slow, sensible driving was not my fault at all. The woman in front of me veered into oncoming traffic and down a hill. Cars and lorries piling into each other behind me and in front of me, mayhem. My car in the middle untouched, the police praised me for my driving and I should have got that in writing.

When my dad was teaching me to drive he told me to ignore other drivers and assume they were all trying to kill me, as long as I didn't hit the car in front of me because that would affect his insurance.

*no rabbits were harmed in these experiments.

Firefox 105 is here, and it's faster and more memory-frugal

Danny 2

Hubert,

I strongly recommend not gouging your eyes out. My eyesight is going and there is no update for that, yet.

I've had to enlarge all the text now that all print is small print, which is fine for horizontal tabs but leaves no room for vertical tabs.

Help the aged, one time they were just like you

Coding, fixing bugs and developing GNU

SWIFT to trial blockchain – but not for its core payment service

Danny 2

No prestige in SWIFT

The word is honestly banned in SWIFT "because everything we do is prestigious". On your first day you get a huge internal phone directory, and a slightly smaller list of banned and approved words or phrases.

I don't think anyone gets a bonus in SWIFT, instead they give you a colossal salary. I'm not sure if they have shareholders except for banks.

SWIFT isn't just the inter-bank messaging, it also has comparatively small side projects. I worked on Bills of Lading, the documents that facilitate transported goods, and I can readily see why blockchain would prove useful in situations like that.

Keeping printers quiet broke disk drives, thanks to very fuzzy logic

Danny 2

Re: Carpets are nothing compared to tobacco smoke.

In the early nineties a council employed me partly to fix their seventies VDUs which kept breaking down, having to be chucked out. I took the back off one and inside it was a thick fur of sticky soot. I couldn't see the electronics at all so had to use a vacuum cleaner, and that was enough to get it working. That was enough to get 95% of them working. The IT director was so impressed that he allowed me to buy an oscilloscope, a function generator and a very expensive DVM - none of which I really needed, i just badly wanted them. In truth though the office vacuum cleaner was the essential tool.

It kind of put me off smoking, at least indoors at work. I'd often show the inside of the VDUs to office workers to encourage them to smoke outdoors, or quit.

I also realised these old beasts were chucking out radiation, so I sprayed the inside of the plastic back panels with conductive paint which I'd ground internally. Nobody asked me to do that, I was just a people person.

Former Reg vulture takes on Nominet – by running for board seat

Danny 2

Kudos Kieren

When I was a teenager my ambition was to go to Europe to work on electronics standards committees. My less boring mates aspired to be musicians, footballers, tennis players but like them I was not good enough to achieve my goal. I mean, I did work in Europe eventually but never got let near a standard.

Amazon 'punishes' sellers who dare offer lower prices on other marketplaces

Danny 2

Re: Earwormed again

I can maybe distract your brain from the worm, but first I have to feed it. The best ever football headline in Scotland was "Super Cali went ballistic, Celtic are atrocious", after Inverness Caledonian Thistle thrashed Celtic.

Now, the wee lassie in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang grew up to be a peace protestor, and hates to talk about the film. I became a peace protestor at the same time, followed by my mum.

My mum wanted a smart phone and I told her not to because then the police could track her but her reply floored me. "I'd quite like the police being able to track me in case I wander off."

The very old trust the police more than they trust themselves and so I got her a phone, an Echo and a Dot, and me too for the free phone calls until I couldn't afford internet. It's not like I say anything interesting now as my posts here prove.

I tried to buy my dad a smartwatch but he thought they were all too ugly, he was happy with his fake Rolex from Hong Kong.

My cousin in law's brother killed himself partly due to the appalling working conditions in Amazon and I tried to organise a family boycott, but even his brother felt it too convenient.

My family is defeated, I am beat, am my mum is binge-watching "Vikings" on Prime. I salute you who carry on the resistance and hope you know that every tyrant, every empire, falls.

China discovers unknown mineral on the moon, names it Changesite-(Y)

Danny 2

Re: Curly -- or Straight?

I ate sixteen pasta today - or sixteen pieces of pasta, I never learned Latin. Is it like Lego? The conch shell ones. I can tell you now that if you can count the pasta on your plate then it's not enough to fill you, no matter how well you improvise a sauce.

I hate the nouveau pauvre boasting about having a choice between heating or eating. I resent those rich sods on Universal Credit who still have teeth and glasses.

I confess I have saved a huge strategic reserve of pasta I was saving that for the apocalypse, but that is now.

Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II – Britain's first high-tech monarch

Danny 2

My night in a royal palace

I'm sorry for spamming the thread but I just remembered I spent two days and a night in a royal palace, Glamis, back when the Queen mum was a thing. How many of you plebs have slept in a royal palace? Aye, I thought not.

It was on BBC Countryfile last night, iPlayer now, apparently one of Liz's favourite childhood places.

It was horrible, far worse than a night in the cells. Draughty, freezing, damp and you couldn't start a fire in the fireplace let alone burn the place down even if there had been fuel. That much money and acreage and they didn't have any firewood?

I was pals with the gardener, and the gardens were horrible ornamental guff, which I mentioned to my pal but he was 'only following orders'. Aye. He took my advice and quit to move to the Scilly Isles, which sounds to me to be some sort of Elven tropical paradise.

The Queen was a masochist. Apparently her personal bagpiper would have to play for her at 9am every morning regardless of where she was. In a palace, up a hill, 9am bagpipes. I'm a proud Scot, and I like Scottish bagpipes every decade or so, but never at 9am.

Danny 2

Re: History

It was the English songwriter Julian Cope who was in a group named Queen Elizabeth and popularised the term 'Fuckingham Palace scum'.

I can't get back to my Edinburgh flat today due to road closures and full public transport due to the brainwashed Palace scum viewing her 'lying in state', ie staring at a coffin. I hope they are keeping her body refrigerated because it's going to be rank by the time they fly it to London - they could have put her on the Megabus from Aberdeen and she'd be there by now.

I'm glad to see the red masthead flying again.

My English nephew just returned my Leonard Cohen CDs after a year, which include the song Treaty, unplayed. He couldn't find a CD player to play them on. He is a DJ, thousands of pounds of kit, not one CD player which underlines I am a remnant of a past civilisation.

Every monarch was a hi-tech monarch because they could always afford it.

Danny 2
Pirate

Fun with flags

I'm gonna set your flag on fire! That's from the Dixie Cups version of Iko Iko, one of the best songs.

My first job was with an American bluechip chip maker, the factory had three flagpoles in front which was just pretentious. Stars and Stripes, Union Flag and a Saltire. The chemical company opposite us had a bigger pole but only flew their company logo, no fun.

At least twice a week wee boys would race up to the flag poles on their BMXs and try to steal the flags by cutting the cord with their pen-knives, and our janitor would rush out to scare them off. It was hilarious to watch, like Benny Hill without the undressed women. Consistently they went for the American flag first, then the Scottish flag, the British flag was always safe - I dunno why. Nowadays a sixty something man wouldn't chase after a gang of armed kids for something as silly as a flag.

Now that Charles is king can we go back to the red masthead? Life is depressing enough.

Ah, the fields are crying out it's jubilee

We sold ourselves for love but now we're free

I'm so sorry for that ghost I made you be

Only one of us was real and that was me

I heard the snake was baffled by his sin

He shed his scales to find the snake within

But born again is born without a skin

The poison enters into everything

Danny 2

Re: Only one Queen

To be fair to Liz, she did acknowledge Freddy Mercury. In her skit with Paddington they both tapped out "We Will Rock You" on their teacups. And to be fair to Freddy, his death wasn't untimely, it's a miracle he lived so long. I had a pal that gay and reckless, didn't live that long.

The mad British public are sacrificing tons of flowers - or is it tonnes - and I really don't get the link between death and flower sacrifice. My dad hated having flowers in the house due to his hayfever and when he died we had to stick them in buckets due to a lack of vases. Chocolates, he would have wanted chocolates.

Flower sacrifice seems disrespectfully paltry for a Queen. We should at least bury her various heads of state with her. Fire some corgis from cannons.

Danny 2

Re: The Lost Postie

"Picking up outgoing mail is also a part of that job."

Oh aye Jake. After the local fraternity boys smashed my mail box with a baseball bat from a passing Chevy, the mailman would often stop by to ask if I had outgoing mail. Knowing you, you have checked and that is maybe part of their job in the UK today, but trust me, it just doesn't happen.

We still have a few letter boxes, albeit in Scotland we blew a fair few up for having EIIR on them. I hasten to add not me personally, I'd use a chisel.

There's nothing sadder than a self-hating colonist monarchist. Marry, shag or kill - Elizabeth, Diana or Meghan?

Danny 2

Re: The Lost Postie

"It's the national anthem of the United Kingdom"

Well, maybe if you haven't been to Hampden or Murrayfield. It's the English anthem, and your Union Flag is the butcher's apron.

I chose Hamilton because it exemplifies the blight of the English monarchy on other 'home nations'. Nearby Larkhall has right, white and blue curbs and public railings. In Blantyre some idiot walked along two football pitches to deck me for wearing a French international top because it looked a wee bit like a Rangers top.

My first flat was served by two ice-cream vans, one whose jingle played The Sash and one who played L'Internationale. Desperate for cigarettes one day I went to the wrong van and was then shunned by my neighbours. My only allegiance was nicotine.

You have no idea how confused Dutch people are by British reactions to murals of Willem van Oranje. FTP graffiti here does not refer to File Transfer Protocol, and a lot of FTQ graffiti is going to have to be changed to FTK. Your royal family is expensive throughout the UK, but it carries a far heavier price in Scotland.

Danny 2

The Lost Postie

I met my postman today and asked when they were on strike. "It was meant to be today but it's been cancelled out of respect for the Queen passing."

I asked why he didn't have any letters. "We weren't given any, nobody anticipated this."

So why are you walking the streets? "It's my job."

I wish I was joking but this is national insanity. Royal Mail workers wandering the streets in a daze without any mail to deliver. 2022.

I remember the good old seventies when cigarette packs were marked "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen", although I suspect Princess Margaret had a hand in that, now they deface the packs with depressing messages and photos. If you went to a cinema in Hamilton you were expected to stand for the English National Anthem, and if you didn't you'd be beaten up.

Danny 2

Re: Not my Queen

I love my mum and I daily joke about her, and me, dying. It's the best approach. I didn't know the Queen was dying yesterday morning. I can tell you how ugly mob mourning can become, you are proving it.

All the media are reporting Charles is King. That is factually incorrect tonight. A parliamentary committee has to approve the ascension, a committee which includes Jeremy Corbyn.

I don't like or respect Prince Charles, I'd much prefer Princess Anne. It'd be much cheaper to keep a Queen. Think about it, all the Queen's Counsel will have to rebrand as King's Counsel on their stationary, plus you'd have to change your national anthem etc.

Danny 2

Re: Not my Queen

Jake, you're not even British or stupid! I don't deserve your public downvote, yet. I mean I could try to.

This is the place and the time, despite the red banner turning black like every English newspaper. I wasn't rude to the woman, I have recently learned a great deal of sorrow for the recently bereaved.

My grandfather in the 1930s chased the Duke and Duchess of somewhere down his home street shouting and swearing at them while the rest of his town waved flags and cheered.

Lizzie came to my home town once, famous only for punks, and she asked our queen Plastique, "What do you do?" Plastique blew a bubblegum gum bubble in her face. That's what she did.

£85 million in the tax-payers royal fund last year, special laws to exclude the royals. I know she was a nice old granny but two days ago she held total executive power in the UK in between PMs. Prince Andrew was her favourite son.

There was a reason Americans fought for their independence from King George the Turd, you may wish to remember under Charles the Turd. Imagine the Kardashians were the US head of state.

Danny 2

Re: Not my Queen

Surprised at you JB.

I remember the hysteria - no better word for it - when Princess Diana died. It quickly turned from mass grief to mass hatred for the Queen. I had no idea what was going on in the mob, maybe you did.

I was driving home on a country road and a stopped car beeped at me, so I reversed to check if they were okay. Th driver cursed at me crudely, the gist being it was a minute silence for Diana and I shouldn't have been driving. "Well maybe you shouldn't have been beeping!"

My mum saw me smirking earlier and she knew how to wipe that smile off my face, "Queen Camilla."

It's third rate soap opera at premium rates and to hell with anyone the least bit interested in it.

Danny 2

Not my Queen

I didn't respect her, loathed 'the Firm', was cracking wise about her ill-health this morning. I've several great songs and jokes and anecdotes.

But, she was a few folk's grandmother so I'll shut up and button my lip. You don't have to respect the dead to respect the dead.

Brain-inspired chips promise ultra-efficient AI, so why aren’t they everywhere?

Danny 2

I, for one, have given up on puns

Please tell me you lot have thought through the implications. You scared Stephen Hawking and he wasn't scared by black holes.

If you are going to train them then start them on the Iain M Banks Culture novels. Oppenheimer regretted too late.

Boffins build microphone safety kit to detect eavesdroppers

Danny 2

Re: If there's a hardware switch, where's the problem ?

SWIFT had a hardware solution to microphones, and various other security risks. Clippers. Basic, but effective, they castrate their computers at the door. Nobody dared ask, "But what if I need a microphone?" lest they used the clippers on you.

CERN draws up shutdown plans to save energy

Danny 2

CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research

I am smart enough to have designed a computer board as a teenager that CERN bought.

I am stupid enough that I never once wondered what CERN stood for.

My brain seems to be heavily air-gapped, I'm hoping the smart side is encrypted because I've not been taking backups. Maybe posting here is my backup.

Bye bye BoJo: Liz Truss named new UK prime minister

Danny 2

Re: I want to be Prime Minister!

"been on any good ferries lately?"

No, not for years. Certainly not since Westminster allowed P&O to sack all the competent British staff and hire foreigners on a pittance.

The Scottish government just froze public and private rent increases though, so how is it for you - lived in any good homeless hostels recently?

Newport Wafer Fab sale to Chinese company held up again by UK.gov's probe

Danny 2

The UK can't afford chip shops

£2.10 for a £0.70 chip roll, honestly, how are our school children supposed to get fat now? We are nouveau pauvre.

It's a sad state of affairs when the republic of Ireland has more wafer fabs than Britain.. Luckily our new PM is pledged to good relations with Ireland.