* Posts by Danny 2

2212 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Jul 2009

Study finds crayfish treated with antidepressants become more outgoing, adventurous

Danny 2

@hatti

They really do. They come over in the bilge tanks of tankers, infest our streams and eat all of the native wildlife.

I knew a guy who removed them from the burns of south east Scotland for study, and then dinner, who was introduced to me as "one of the world's top experts on crayfish". I asked him how many world experts on crayfish there were, and he smiled and replied, "About 200."

Impressive. I told him I was one of the world's top ten million experts on Windows NT.

Hungover Brits declare full English breakfast the solution to all their ills

Danny 2

Re: I'm an World Class drinker - ask me anything

I'm not proud Werdsmith, I'm not boasting, and I'm not part of a drinking culture. I'm Scottish but I've surpassed my peers.

It's an obvious truism that staying sober is the best hangover prevention, and I respect that. I feel contempt though for people who drink and then complain about their hangover- pick a lane! And then you recommend pseudo cures like high fa,t high protein breakfasts and fizzy juice.

I hate Ronaldo as much as the next man, but when he removed the Coca Cola from his Euro2020 table and recommended water instead then I applauded him for recommending water.

Drinking, like smoking, is a very slow form of suicide. Rational happy people don't do it. But I'm living it and am good at it. I'm not sugar coating it, unlike the many posters here who say daft things like drink carbonated drinks and eat meat. I seriously doubt many of you have drank more than one bottle of 40% proof in a night. I do that without a hangover regularly.

If you ever do then I recommend water. If you ever do then your own body will be insisting on water.

Danny 2

Re: World Class drinker?

I don't drink beer. Beer is fizzy and makes you pee and puke.

Real drinkers, hard drinkers, either drink Polish spirit (80% proof, tastes like bleaugh and a kick in the balls) or Scottish malt which tastes like summer rain as your first love is caressing you.

I would be delighted to outdrink any of you, put you to bed and clear up after. You lot have an unrealistic idea of how much alcohol you can handle and how to cope with that, but I could train you to be less, you know.

I have so many alcohol anecdotes. My 18th birthday was a Burr Brown party, free bar, I had a table full of free drinks in a rainbow. I could drink a rainbow!

I must've been 28, Seel paid me to help a shitty salesman sell their imaging software to a conference, unlimited bar tab and instructed to get everyone drunk. £300 tab. You know that Homer Simpson cartoon where he passed out with his head in the lift doors? That actually happened. My salesman appeared groggily at breakfast the next morning with two bruises on each side of his head. Me? I felt alive - water.

Danny 2

German beer purity laws

I spent an evening drinking German lager on the company tab, must've downed 15, was pished, collapsed in my hotel bed, woke up fresh as a daisy the next morning.

The barman who served me beer the previous evening served me breakfast. I told him I didn't have a hangover, and said that must be down to the German beer purity laws of 1516. He replied, dry, "Yes, it could be that. Or it could be that you chose alcohol free beer all night."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You seemed to be having a great time."

The placebo and nocebo effects strongly affect drunkenness, more than any other factor. If you expect to be drunk, you're drunk. If you expect to be sober, you're wasting alcohol.

Danny 2

Re: Ethnic imbalance

Scots.

Lining your stomach with animal fat is a good preventative in advance of a drinking session, it's not a cure for after.

Fizzy drinks is a sure way to puke after. Irn Bru 1901 is currently on sale, with the same ingredients from 1901 - no aspartame. It's deliciously unhealthy but it's not a hangover cure. It is a great cure for constipation if you drink two bottles and don't mind bright orange jobbies.

Danny 2

I'm an World Class drinker - ask me anything

1) My credentials are in my posting history. I out-drink Belarusians according to the BBC. The last Irish guy who tried to out-drink me puked over my kitchen, burst out in tears, leaving me to clean up and put him to bed. I drink more than Finns. I am increasingly confident against hardened Russians. If any of you want to challenge me, feel free.

2) Practice makes perfect. Like anything else you have to put in the work, put in the hours.

3) Forget the food, you are just going to puke it up later. If you have to eat then avoid anything, like rice, that will rip up your oesophagus on the way up. Scrambled eggs wasn't a bad suggestion.

4) Water is the only hangover cure. Drink it until you are sick, then drink it some more. We are lucky to live on a blue planet.

My mum sang this as a lullaby to me, gave me childhood nightmares of dying of thirst: Frankie Laine - "Cool Water"

Oh, and drink three cups of coffee a day, supposedly it prevents liver disease. That may explain why I'm still alive.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/22/drinking-coffee-may-cut-risk-of-chronic-liver-disease-study-suggests

John McAfee dead: Antivirus tycoon killed himself in prison after court OK'd extradition, says lawyer

Danny 2

Oblig XKCD obit

Norton MacAfee protection if you're ever attacked by John MacAfee, Peter Norton will come out of retirement to defend you

Plus: https://xkcd.com/463/

Not many of us will get two name-checks there.

Petition instructs Jeff Bezos to buy, eat world's most famous painting

Danny 2

Louvre boast

I touched the Venus de Milo after closing time. I fully expected an alarm and to be arrested, but non. I subsequently suspected the most famous items are replaced with facsimiles to protect against idiots like me, but as far as I know I touched the Venus de Milo. I didn't touch her breasts, I am not a pervert and besides, she is far taller than me even without the plinth. I rubbed her belly.

Michigan Micro Mote works well escargot: Tiny computer makes it into the field strapped to backs of predatory snails

Danny 2

The prophecy is true

It took forty years, but we finally have snail mail.

Deluded medics fail to show Ohio lawmakers that COVID vaccines magnetise patients

Danny 2

Re: Struck off?

" the flu vaccine can cause meningitis"

No, no it can't. It may fail to prevent some meningitis but it never causes it.

Orbex is creeping towards orbit from a UK launchpad, but first there are courts, birds, and billionaires to overcome

Danny 2

Re: objections from Anders Povlsen ... invested a substantial sum in another space port

Povlsen is the biggest private landowner in Scotland (the MoD own more) and the richest citizen here and in Denmark. Got a lot of sympathy when three of his kids were killed in the Sri Lanka bombings. Keen on 'rewilding' his estates with wolves, bears, sabretooth tigers etc.

Not the worst invasive species billionaire but still makes me a wee bit nativist with this space-port shenanigans.

Of all the analytics firms in the world, why is Palantir getting its claws into UK health data?

Danny 2

The Lord Hall defence

"With the benefit of hindsight I don't remember, but I trusted my appointees who failed me, and I made Bashir cry so anyone would have cleared him."

The British establishment has sank into a nadir or corruption not seen since the Rotten Boroughs. The chumocracy has killed hundreds of thousands of citizens yet the lack of accountability is palpable.

When security gets physical: Mossad boss hints at less-than-subtle Stuxnet followup

Danny 2

Re: "Stuxnet wasn't the only spanner in the works"

James Mickens:

Basically, you’re either dealing with Mossad or not-Mossad. If your adversary is not-Mossad, then you’ll probably be fine if you pick a good password and don’t respond to emails from ChEaPestPAiNPi11s@virus-basket.biz.ru. If your adversary is the Mossad, YOU’RE GONNA DIE AND THERE’S NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. The Mossad is not intimidated by the fact that you employ https://. If the Mossad wants your data, they’re going to use a drone to replace your cellphone with a piece of uranium that’s shaped like a cellphone, and when you die of tumors filled with tumors, they’re going to hold a press conference and say “It wasn’t us” as they wear t-shirts that say “IT WAS DEFINITELY US,” and then they’re going to buy all of your stuff at your estate sale so that they can directly look at the photos of your vacation instead of reading your insipid emails about them.

NATO summit communiqué compares repeat cyberattacks to armed attacks – and stops short of saying 'one-in, all-in' rule will always apply

Danny 2

Re: Dear China,

Why China censors banned Winnie the Pooh

Winnie The Pooh, Winnie The Pooh

Chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff

He's Winnie The Pooh, Winnie The Pooh

Willy, nilly, silly old bear

Eff them, Winnie is a monster, admit it. Tech deployed to torpedo any dissent. Anyone else notice Hisense are sponsoring Euro2020?

Inventor of the graphite anode – key Li-ion battery tech – says he can now charge an electric car in 10 minutes

Danny 2

Re: Solution desperately seeking problem

We're getting to the tipping point or critical mass.

I bought my first home PC for £300 in 1987 at a bankruptcy sale at a factory. That was a lot of money. It was an Amstrad. Battery backup under the screen. 640k, 10mB drive. DOS. Zero connectivity. Utter mugs game. Everyone considered me a mug, even my techie pals. Personal computers are quite popular today, every town has one.

Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think

Overnight car charging is actually a good stop-gap solution to intermittent renewables, the equivalent of a Scottish mountain hydro scheme. I personally can't afford an electric car yet but I know they soon will be dominant. Edinburgh city centre is beginning to ban legacy vehicles.

Danny 2

Solution desperately seeking problem

Charging time really isn't an issue in the UK where the average car spends 80% of the time parked at home, and 16% of the time parked elsewhere.

https://www.racfoundation.org/motoring-faqs/mobility#a5

Car sharing / joint ownership schemes make more environmental sense than developing unnecessary novel charging schemes.

Range really isn't a major problem for most Brits since the average journey is 9 miles or less. Regular long distance drivers could be catered for by battery swapping at garages.

Pakistan's Punjab province tells citizens to get jabbed or have their SIM card blocked

Danny 2

Re: Momento mori

Not at all Mark, I also criticised the unmasked shoppers (mainly white Scots) in the local Co-op. The staff there wear masks but company policy is not to challenge customers who don't. If anything that is even more dangerous as the maskless there are chancers, and the Pakistani shop at least keeps it's door open so better ventilated.

Customers should only be allowed in a shop without a mask if they provide a note from a doctor, and wear a face guard.

Edinburgh cases have risen from 53/100,000 to 183/100,000 in a month because idiots.

Danny 2

Re: Momento mori

I'm hoping that by early next year there will be a 'tweaked' vaccine aimed at the delta variant.

Scottish data in The Lancet today shows the AZ vaccine is only 60% effective against delta, Pfizer is 79% effective. All the manufacturers have stated that they should be able to target variants comparatively quickly, hopefully they are already working on that.

Aye, socialise and you may die. Run and you'll live - at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our freedom day, but they'll never test and trace us!

Danny 2

Momento mori

I had my first jab on Monday, not reluctance just Royal Mail incompetence. My older siblings and cousins have all had both jabs and so have decided it's perfectly safe for them to visit my parents home without masks.

30% of the delta variant deaths in England last week were fully vaccinated people ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57441677 )

I'll not be fully vaccinated until mid October, but even then I'll be wearing a mask and social distancing all winter.

Infection rates are still rising quickly in Scotland, and we still have to wear masks in shops. I put one on to enter a shop run by young Pakistani men only to find they weren't wearing them, so I went elsewhere. I've seen lots of people not wearing masks in the local Coop which plays a message saying not to challenge them because they may be medically exempt. This is nonsense. When I got my vaccine there were several thousand people queuing, and only one person wasn't masked because you had to bring medical proof to do that.

Ex-NSA leaker Reality Winner released from prison early for 'exemplary' behavior

Danny 2

Well done El Reg for both covering the issues she raised and the debacle at The Intercept that led to her incarceration.

Metadata incriminates, who knew? Everyone knew, Intercept, everyone knew.

Dealing with the pandemic by drinking and swearing? Boffins say you're not alone

Danny 2

Bar none

I want to outlive my parents but I don't want to live to their age so my drinking isn't a problem, for me at least. Frankly I think I have a moral claim to a refund on all the punitive taxes I've paid on cigarettes and alcohol because I won't be a burden to the state in my dotage. If you want me to drink less then legalise cannabis, I drank 75% less in the Netherlands. Keep your laws off my body. If you want to class me as an addict then fine, give me a free prescription for whisky but stop the finger wagging judgemental exploitation.

As for swearing, watch this video at 5m30 seconds. A wee angelic lass drinking in an Aberdeen bar is asked what she thinks of Trump. Swearing is not rude in Scotland.

I made a point of swearing in French for a French lover and she slapped me hard. I said, "What? I always swear and you just laugh."

"Swearing is funny in English, in French it is just rude."

"But you love Brel and Gainsbourg and they swear all the time."

"You are no Brel or Gainsbourg."

UK tells UN that nation-states should retaliate against cyber badness with no warning

Danny 2

Okay Boomer

In the 70s and 80s we were raised expecting the four minute warning, which was the length of time between a Russian missile firing being detected and the ICBM reaching western Europe. And we came close to that many more times than we realised. Still enough time for a cup of tea or bad sex.

Cyber attacks aren't quite as scary. You can have a kettle on a UPS and shag until the food runs out.

Whatever you've been doing during lockdown, you better stop it right now

Danny 2

Re: Eau d'Office

I worked in a 'Cisco kid' where the sysadmin brought in a durian fruit fresh from Indonesia and cut it open. The odour was remarkable. I liked it, and it tasted lovely. The rest of the two floor building evacuated.

You can buy frozen durian fruit from most Chinese stores, it doesn't smell when it is frozen. Don't leave fish to go bad days later, leave frozen durian.

Hate to break it to you, but football's not coming home if this AI pundit is to be believed

Danny 2

Yes Sir, I Can Boogie

Basing the prediction on 20 years of data ignores the fact Scotland haven't qualified in 20 years. I expect Scotland will beat Czechia on Monday, before drawing with England then losing to Croatia.

Steve Clarke is quite the manager, he took lowly Kilmarnock to third only for them to be relegated when he left. Alex Ferguson won the European Cup with Aberdeen. Shankly, Stein, Busby - machines will never be able to account for those individual contributions. Plus we have the best tournament song.

I only talk football because it lubricated access back when I was a field service engineer.

Fastly 'fesses up to breaking the internet with an 'an undiscovered software bug' triggered by a customer

Danny 2

Re: If queasy, take it easy and just check to make sure it is nothing to do with you.

"Do you know what you introduced and were doing on the internet "

When did you last see your father / grandfather backups?

Australian cops, FBI created backdoored chat app, told crims it was secure – then snooped on 9,000 users' plots

Danny 2

One bad Apple

iOS15 has a 'private relay' feature that strips out IP addresses from web browsing. Whether it is secure or not it'll be a popular feature. Except in China, Belarus, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Egypt, Uganda and the Philippines. Exactly the nations where activists require most protection from state surveillance.

US tech companies doing Beijing's bidding in exchange for market share is at least as big a risk as using Chinese tech domestically.

Uncle Sam recovers 63.7 of 75 Bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid to ransomware crew

Danny 2

News websites down (off topic)

The Atlantic and NYT sites are down. I thought it may be a transatlantic issue but the BBC just reported it's affecting British and Australian sites too.

Just when everyone thought things might be looking up, Dido Harding admits interest in top job at NHS England

Danny 2

Re: Not to self

Well, it's NHS England so the rest of the UK should be fine. If you fall ill in England don't head to a hospital, get on a train to Scotland.

Test and Trace started a bit of a mess here too, but our nurses and health care workers got a 4% raise and a covid bonus rather the 1% rise/real terms cut in England.

US nuclear weapon bunker security secrets spill from online flashcards since 2013

Danny 2

Re: Can't help wondering

I use a free Proton Mail account. About two months ago I was spamming all my contacts because I was on a roll and had important information. None of my emails arrived, and they weren't in my outbox either.

I've had run-ins with the security services so Occam's Razor. It took me a day or two to read the Proton Mail terms of service. 150 emails a day at most, and I'd hit that limit by noon. Not the security services, I was a victim of my own verbosity.

I catch up with my first love via email, but yet she doesn't seem to receive what I write. She explained, "Well I read the first one then I just delete the next ones."

I cancelled my internet partly to save money but mostly to lessen my addiction.

Danny 2

Put your foot in your mouth and then shoot yourself in your foot with a nuke

UK Trident submarines can berth at a few ports, plus a dozen or so offshore "X berths". All at risk from enemy attack or domestic accident. Nearly two decades ago the government ordered the Royal Navy to draw up emergency plans to quell local fears at each location, which of course led to panic and anger.

By then I was a well kent peace protester, albeit accidentally, and I attended the Skye Broadford bay RN public briefing. It was a crowded hall with folding chairs and by the time I arrived late the seats were full and scores of people were standing. The police and the RN were obviously waiting for me to do something, which sounds delusional but they escorted me to one one empty seat in the middle. All the navy bods looked directly at me as they were spraffing their PR spiel. I was just there to hear what was said, I said nothing, I did nothing. I hadn't planned to, and I didn't have to. The crowd got angrier on their own.

To begin with the RN put up a map showing a five mile radius around Broadford bay X Berth from which everyone would be given anti-radiation tablets and evacuated to the local hospital in the event of an accident.

One local asked, "How will we know?"

"The police will drive around announcing it on loud speaker"

"What about the deaf folk?"

"Err..."

"I've a question. You said you'd remove casualties to the hospital outside the danger zone. Have ye no looked at yer map the hospital is inside yer red circle?"

"Errr..."

Much fuming and gnashing of teeth, nearly an unplanned riot.

Apparently the PR exercise went even worse at other X berth locations where locals had found out the history of numerous previous accidents that had led local police to say they would not participate in any clean-up.

Google employee helped UK government switch from disastrous COVID-19 strategy, according to Dominic Cummings

Danny 2

Re: Hang on

Hi EM,

I was warning folk here about the pandemic on the fourth of February because of the word 'novel'. Back then I ordered filter material from China to make my own face masks as you couldn't buy them at the time. I followed the science and realised it is almost exclusively an airborne disease, and handwashing / surface cleaning is theatrics, I predicted 200,000 Brits would die but I never expected a working vaccine so quickly, it was nice to be wrong on that. I was downvoted most of the time. More recently I criticised the CDC and WHO and was downvoted, yet they've released their own 'mea culpa' reports now.

Cummings said anyone from the top 1% of competent people would have done better than Boris, and I think you'd have to select from the bottom 1% of competent people to have worse leadership. And Boris is still blighting Blighty. Keeping India on the travel list because he wanted to travel there for a trade deal. Dido not tracking or tracing passengers from India.

It's not a matter of a public inquiry kicking the can down the road, there should be police arrests of top politicians for corporate manslaughter.

Man found dead inside model dinosaur after climbing in to retrieve phone

Danny 2

The Obsessive Life and Mysterious Death of the Fisherman Who Discovered The Loch Ness Monster

https://narratively.com/the-obsessive-life-and-mysterious-death-of-the-fisherman-who-discovered-the-loch-ness-monster/

The Aberdeen Press and Journal, in its headline on May 23, christened the mysterious creature the “Loch Ness ‘Monster’” — which would become its enduring name. And the newspaper’s report, along with others in the Scottish press, noted something else. Sandy Gray had not only seen the Loch Ness Monster: He was going to attempt to catch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgbhEjrhnLM

Seen enough to eye you

But I've seen to much to try you

It's always weirdness while you

Dig it much too much to fry you

The weirdness flows between us

Anyone can tell to see us

Freak scene just can't believe us

Why can't it just be cool and free us?

Contract killer: Certified PDFs can be secretly tampered with during the signing process, boffins find

Danny 2

It's slightly perturbing that SNHS hasn't offered me a vaccine while all my peers have had their second jab. Maybe my doctors are telling me to eff off and die, but more likely I've slipped down a crack in the IT system and it makes me wonder how many of the supposedly "vaccine reluctant" have simply been misplaced or forgotten.

Do you expect me to talk? Yes, Mr Bond, I expect you to reply: 10k Brits targeted on LinkedIn by Chinese, Russian spies

Danny 2

operating with unefarious intent

Less than twenty years ago otherwise intelligent engineers would post their full CVs on publicly searchable websites, or their recruitment agents would. They'd list their military projects in detail that they'd worked on - many of which were unknown otherwise - their contact details, and of course hobbies and interests.

As apolitical pacifists we couldn't do anything useful with that information, but we'd send them the odd anonymous email letting them know they'd let their guard down to a dangerous degree. We never threatened anyone but presumably scared them into better IT security. Real life equivalent of a bug tester, or how the SAS try to break into nuclear sites to test their defences while stupid amateurs actually do fairly easily.

I labelled the tactic 'tag terrorism', as in if I was a terrorist then you or maybe a lot of people would be dead. Just so they knew. Tag, you are shit. Tag is a graffiti term for signing your nom de plume, and we'd do that in supposedly highly secure places.

It amazes me that Banksy "works of art" sell for millions when anyone could just copy them, yet apart from his Palestinian work mine were far more dangerous. I don't grudge him it, he is mocking and exploiting the amazingly stupid art market,

City of London Police warn against using ‘open science’ site Sci-Hub

Danny 2

Re: Elsevier raided by PIPCU

Two early-twentish English guys were hitting on my fiancee in an Amsterdam club, so we decided to have fun with them. I out-drank them, and she out-smoked them. They were in a bad way quickly, boasting and defenceless. They worked for Elsevier. What do you do there? Their 'Evil guffaw'. "We are not legally allowed to tell you but just say we monitor what everyone else does on the internet."

GCHQ, I'm 100% sure. At the time I worked alongside folk who'd introduce themselves as from French Intelligence or British Intelligence or numerous other nations so I got to know the type, albeit sober.

Obviously this is an anonymous anecdote but my advice is to treat Elsevier employees with extreme caution.

So it appears some of you really don't want us to use the word 'hacker' when we really mean 'criminal'

Danny 2

Re: Piers Morgan is dead~ish

I'll miss you most Jake. Actually I won't, as I'll still read here and upvote you until my account times out.

Danny 2

Piers Morgan is dead~ish

Stormed off GMB, throwing away his bully-pulpit like the tantrum baby he is.

He was sacked by the Daily Mirror for faking photographs of British Army abuse in Iraq. I used to post on a media analysis website that supported him because they knew that while the photos were faked the abuse was real. I was the only peace activist there and I still didn't support that stance ("But he is a dick, an absolute dick")

41,000 press complaints today make my downvotes here look respectable. I think I'll find a new forum to spraff on. Good luck and courage to all the regulars here.

Google's ex-boss tells the US it's time to take the gloves off on autonomous weapons

Danny 2

Re: Can be banned

I didn't put forward an argument, just a pertinent historical fact. It was the precursor to the Geneva Conventions which established the principles that not everything you can do is justified by war and even war has rules.

Danny 2

Can be banned

Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868

In 1863, the Russian Army had perfected a fulminating musketball that could explode when it hit a hard target and was designed to blow up powder magazines or ammunition wagons. In 1867, they perfected an improved explosive musketball that would detonate on any impact after being fired, even soft targets like people or animals. Predicting the disastrous effect of such a discovery on diplomatic relations with their neighbors, Russia decided to negotiate a ban on the development, creation, and use of such weapons before a grisly arms race commenced.

Mobile World Congress seemingly serious about in-person Barcelona event in June, shares safety plan

Danny 2

McAfee to offload enterprise business for $4bn, focus on consumer security

Danny 2

Re: Quantity over quality?

MacAfee and Dell are a perfect cowboy match. I've been rewatching the comedy programme Silicon Valley, and only in it's final episode does it even touch upon how bat shit crazy MacAfee is. It blows my mind that people will still buy a product branded with his name.

SolarWinds just keeps getting worse: New strain of backdoor malware found in probe

Danny 2

a public malware repository

They are changing the guard at Buckingham Palace

Christopher Robin went down on Alice

They've great big parties inside the grounds.

"I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds,"

Says Harry.

"We love to have agents provocateurs in the party, because they always propose the most revolutionary motions." - Louise Michel , 8th March, Internationale Women's Day

University of the Highlands and Islands shuts down campuses as it deals with 'ongoing cyber incident'

Danny 2

The He Brides

It's good to learn that some of their sites are still open. Sabhal Mòr Ostaig isn't just the national Gaelic college, it's main cultural hub for the south of Skye. And though it wasn't internet connected last time I was there it is apparently the main internet hub too - in my day I had to drive to the Broadford laundromat and try to concentrate over washing machines. Same goes for Lews College in Stornoway. It's the whole community, not just students, who rely on these places. Best wishes to the techies there.

The 40-Year-Old Version: ZX81's sleek plastic case shows no sign of middle-aged spread

Danny 2
Danny 2

The past is a foreign country...

they code things differently there.

I got a ZX80 in retrospect, but my first computer was the 16k Spectrum. I didn't want it, I wanted a record player and a guitar but my dad wanted me to have a career in computing.

I thought at least I could buy some games for it to compete with my richer friends who had Ataris, but my dad wouldn't allow me any games until he could open the manual randomly and ask me to recite and explain the page. It was a huge flipping manual, including mathematical functions years ahead of my school course work.

I was writing my own games before I was allowed to buy one. I never knew there was a machine code book so my games weren't impressive. I found out how difficult the Turing Test is, I "developed" a diary/organiser, I did my first hardware upgrade. Nothing as impressive as most of your reminisces, but enough to trap me into 'the career'.

I still think I would have made a better rock star. (Ironically decades later I turned down a testing job at RockStar).

While Reg readers know the difference between a true hacker and cyber-crook, for everyone else, hacking means illegal activity

Danny 2

In a state of flux

I'm a former CNE and MCSE, but before that I was a paper electrical, electronic and software engineer. I don't care if I'm considered a hacker in the court of public opinion, unless it's a jury trial. "In my defence, let me start by explaining the word to you morons"...

Five words that have changed meaning over time

Flux

Original meaning: Diarrhoea or dysentry

What happens when cancel culture meets Adolf Hitler pareidolia? Amazon decides it needs a new app icon

Danny 2

Re: Pareidolia is evolutionary essential

Thank you Tom, I rate Sparks but never followed them so that was nice. Have an irrelevant anecdote in return.

I've assembled and disassembled three lawnmowers for my parents since lockdown. One parent has been diagnosed with dementia, and the other hasn't, been diagnosed. Their lawn is so small that scissors would be easier. But they have an Amazon account and aren't afraid to use it.

I lived in a country cottage with an untameable wild garden that broke both me and my lawnmower. I just wanted somewhere to lie down in the few hours of sun we get here, so I carved out a me shaped hole in the long grass much to my neighbours amusement.

I used to chuck in sheep from the neighbouring field in to help civilise the grass. I considered taking down the fence but then the cows would get in too.

Prime suspect: Amazon India apologises for offensive scenes in political thriller

Danny 2

Good Omens

India is descending into a third world country like the USA.

An online petition that erroneously requested Netflix cancel Good Omens had reportedly received more than 20,000 signatures from people objecting to the show's content, perhaps unaware that the show was actually on Amazon and had already been released in full. The petition, posted as part of a "Return to Order" campaign by a US religious organization, criticizes the show's irreverent treatment of topics relating to satanism and the devil, and the use of a female voice for God.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens_(TV_series)#Petition_for_cancellation

OMG! Thank god they haven't heard of American Gods.