Agreed! It's even worse than the redecoration of a video rental room at a place I once worked. The room was redone in bright red and orange colours - the 2 lads running it had headaches after a couple of hours.
Posts by DJV
2682 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Aug 2009
Page:
Why do Reg readers deserve the big bucks? Here's why...
Brit kids match 45-year-old fogies' tech skill level by the age of 6
Kiwi satellite earth station recycled – as radio telescope
Microsoft: IE11 for Windows Phone 8.1 is TOO GOOD. So we'll cripple it like Safari
Brits stung for up to £625 when they try to cancel broadband
What's that? A PHP SPECIFICATION? Surely you're joking, Facebook
YES, iPhones ARE getting slower with each new release of iOS
Just TWO climate committee MPs contradict IPCC: The two with SCIENCE degrees
Tuesday 29th July 2014 12:46 GMT 
@Pete 2
"What is really happening is that the government has identified a "thing" that the general public believe in and that they believe it is a bad thing -- one that should be stopped."
I have identified a "thing". It is called the government and, over recent studies, I have determined that it is definitely a bad thing. Question is - can it be stopped?
Hi-tech Fagin couple used Apple scam cash to fly pickpockets to UK
Child diagnosed as allergic to iPad
ISPs 'blindsided' by UK.gov's 'emergency' data retention and investigation powers law
Get ready for LAYOFFS: Nadella's coma-inducing memo, with subtitles
You 'posted' a 'letter' with Outlook... No, NO, that's the MONITOR
Saturday 5th July 2014 11:51 GMT
Re: But these are actually intelligent people ....
At one place I worked we (the programmers) instigated the use of fault sheets where other members of staff could report problems with the programs we were writing. The fault sheets contained boxes to specify which program it was, which screen/page of that program and a large box to describe what the fault was. I remember one coming in with neither of the first 2 filled in and, in the third large box, was written "Funny on screen" - magic!
Farewell Felix Dennis, deal-maker supreme of tech publishing
Daddy, what will you do in the new security wars?
Verizon threatens Netflix in video lag blame game
TrueCrypt hooked to life support in Switzerland: 'It must not die' say pair
Microsoft's NEW OS now runs on HALF of ALL desktop PCs
Gee thanks, Ofcom! BT 'pleased' to hang onto pricing 'freedom' for Openreach fibre product
Job for IT generalist ...
Saturday 17th May 2014 12:22 GMT 
Interesting...
It's interesting how things have changed.
In 1998 I applied for a Java programming job at a "sunrise" company who were building a subscription-based educational web site. In addition to Java (which I had only been playing with for a week or so) my CV mentioned my other skills in C, Pascal, HTML, JavaScript, assembler (on several CPUs), Unix, BTOS/CTOS (yeah, go look them up!), Windows NT and several others. I didn't get the Java job as they looked at what I could do, and instead created and offered me a "Senior Programmer" post instead!
Maybe I was just in the right place at the right time.
DJV
Cloud computing is FAIL and here’s why
Friday 16th May 2014 10:27 GMT 
Agree
"Cloud computing is shite. It takes over everything you’ve got, then farts in your face and runs away giggling."
Couldn't have put it better! I wouldn't trust any of them with my data. I am paranoid when it comes to backups (having been bitten in the past). The irreplaceable stuff is backed up in 6 different places, one of which is not under my roof!
Quick Q: How many FLOPPIES do I need for 16 MILLION image files?
Vinyl-fetish hipsters might just have a point
NHS patient data storm: Govt lords SLAP DOWN privacy protections
Google Glass teardown puts rock-bottom price on hardware
10 PRINT "Happy 50th Birthday, BASIC" : GOTO 10
Thursday 1st May 2014 14:14 GMT
Re: My first program
Some tricks for shop computers I used to employ were:
1) A POKE to the VIC-20 video chip to change the screen width from 22 columns to 23 or 21. This would cause anything on the subsequent lines to be offset left or right by one extra character each line. Really annoying for the shop assistants who couldn't figure out why their program listings were going diagonally down the screen.
2) Running a simple loop to copy the CBM-64 ROM into the underlying RAM, a POKE or two to keep it there, then a few more POKEs to change the SYNTAX ERROR text (now in RAM) to something far less pleasant. Then I'd stand back to watch kids (usually) cause an error and ask their unsuspecting parent what that meant!
3) Enter a short program into a Spectrum that changed the screen to 2 shades of blue, print "COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2", "64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BYTES FREE" and "READY" with a loop to flash a cursor. That got lots of people confused! I once even convinced someone that a Spectrum had had a CBM-64 ROM installed in it by mistake!
Google adds a sense of history to Street View with archive footage
Wednesday 23rd April 2014 19:02 GMT
Fuzz!
They've also re-run the algorithm that fuzzes out car number plates and faces. It's managed to completely obscure my number plate on the 2008 photo (originally one letter could just be made out), several bricks on the wall beside my front door (nowhere near the house number) and a bit of the tree in the neighbour across the road's garden! It HASN'T however, fuzzed out the face of one my cats sitting on the doorstep - maybe it decided the cat's face was fuzzy enough!
Murdoch says Microsoft needs 'big clean out'
BuzzGasm: 9 Incredible Things You Never Knew About PLIERS!
Learn about Microsoft Cloud OS
Worlds that could support LIFE found among 715 new planets
Samsung flings sueball at Dyson for 'intolerable' IP copycat claim
Steelie Neelie: ICANN think of more 'credible' rules for internet. (Cough *NSA* cough)
Jean Michel Jarre: Je voudrais un MUSIC TAX sur VOTRE MOBE
Do you wear specs? Google Glass offers YOU amazing live HD video
Android VPN redirect vuln now spotted lurking in Kitkat 4.4
Tuesday 28th January 2014 13:40 GMT
Indeed, and it's why many programmers like me were shitting themselves in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" system was proposed. That's the one that was going to require millions of lines of computer code that had to work properly the first time an invading missile was detected coming over the horizon (and not go bananas when a pigeon shat on a detector).
Sony on the ropes after Moody's downgrade to junk
NASA's Opportunity rover celebrates 10 years on Mars with a FILTHY selfie
Friday 24th January 2014 14:03 GMT
Re: Where's the obligatory post to 695?
Here you go: http://xkcd.com/695/
You could have done it yourself, you know!
Walking while texting can – OUCH! – end badly, say boffins
UK.gov recruiting 400 crack CompSci experts to go into teaching
Thursday 23rd January 2014 13:57 GMT
Re: By Gove! I think he's got it!
Yeah, but, remember, this is Michael Gove you are talking about. Most teachers hate him and the crap he normally spits out. He just got lucky this time around when pulling random ideas out of a hat (though I'm sure he'll find some way of cocking the whole thing up before too long).
Bing Maps COCKUP: Oracle UK HQ is 'Elvis Impersonators' joint
And the winner of the most reliable disk drive award is ...
Amazon patents caches for physical goods
Tales from an expert witness: Prior art and patent trolls
Virgin Media spanked by ad watchdog over 'in your neighbourhood' fibs
Murdoch EYEBALLS Twitter with $25m buyout of news aggregator Storyful
Microsoft yanks Surface 2 DIM SCREEN of DEATH fix in update snafu
Thursday 19th December 2013 21:15 GMT
Re: And....
I'm still using a Microsoft Internet Keyboard Pro (about 13 years old). The hand rest is now almost completely smooth. It usually gets ripped to pieces once every 3 or 4 years to extract the shite* that's accumulated under the keys ;)
* Well, not exactly shite, probably more like bits of sandwich, biscuit crumbs and half a ton of cat fur...
That keyboard was obviously one of the few decent things they ever made (unlike Vista, Win 8, ME and a host of other old truck).