Posts by Matt Bryant

British armed forces get first new pistol since World War II

Re: madra

"Ooh! a conversation about guns. Let me paint my neck red, get my cock out and start wanking." Better still, you could drop one of those groundless prejudices you have been spoonfed and actually hear from people that actually have shot weapons, rather than just people that hate those that have. For a start, this is one of the ranges I've shot at, not a redneck in sight, but plenty of bankers, several politicians, some civil servants, and even a doctor, but no wanking (maybe that's just some subconcious, Freudian, homo-erotic slip on your part?): http://www.serc.org.uk/

Re: @Matt Bryant...

"....if you go by the MSRP that they charge civilians......" The source in question works at the MoD. Allegedly, etc. I have friends in all types of low places.

Re: I bleive that US army used to allow privatly owned wepons

"......Well, then his a sidearm is a cucumber. Doesn't make it a very effective weapon....." I don't know, if some Marine was to come into the room with a mean look in his eye and a cucumber in his hand I'd sure be leaving fast!

Re: a note on calibres and stuff

"..... the mythical L1A1 SLR. .....FN FAL....." The SLR was NOT the same as an FN FAL. Apart from the SLR being semi-auto only (because the Brass in the '50s worried about the squaddies shooting off all their ammo in a few minutes), it had some unique touches like sand-clearing grooves which helped make it much more reliable than the bog-standard FAL. The Enfield modifications not only made the SLR 2 inches longer but also slightly heavier than the fully-auto FAL, but in the Falklands War the Argentinians made many complaints about their FALs jamming whilst the SLR had no such issues. In short, the SLR was long, heavy, and only went bang once for each pull of the trigger, but the squaddies loved it because it always went bang with very good accuracy every time you pulled the trigger, and would do so after you had tabbed across tundra, desert, or up a mountain. The Aussies in Vietnam moaned about the weight but still prefered it to the M16s the Yanks brought with them. The reason the L85A1 came in for such a bashing was because it was compared to the tried'n'tested "mythical" L1A1 SLR.

Re: G_232

Best of luck!

Re: Meh!

"......but I'm not a big fan of plastic guns....." Don't worry, Gumbers, I hear a lot of the old-timers back in the day refused to take "them new-fangled automatics" over a trusty revolver.....

"....what is the attraction to concealing a weapon?....." Well, it's not as much the concealing it as the carrying it somewhere on your person in the first place. Not many people actually want to walk around with a holster strapped to their leg, most people want a weapon they can drop into a coat pocket or - in the case of women - into a handbag. Of course, doing so automatically makes it "concealed" by definition even if you didn't have a nefarious reason for doing so. It's one of those neat legal tricks the anti-gun lobby came up with to discourage ordinary citizens from protecting themselves.

Re: Re: a note on calibres and stuff

".....Guess those broomhandles wouldn't have seen much desert except in Sergio Leone movies." Ah, you were watching "Joe Kidd" the other night too!

Re: a note on calibres and stuff

".....I'm also slightly surprised that the UK govt didn't go with something from H&K. After all they are owned by the UK Gov's favorite armsdefense company BAe....." Nah, another "triumph" of Blair's was to sell H&K back to the Germans.

Re: Sig Sauer

"I find it odd they didn't adopt the Sig Sauer pistols. They already have some & costs are comparable....." Word from a mate in the know is that the Glock quote worked out £200 cheaper per weapon. Due to the size of the contract that's quite a bit, probably enough to offset the cost of new training manuals, new cleaning regimes, stocking spares, etc. Up until price came into it the Glock was only winning on being lighter, the SIG was matching it in all other measures.

Re: Re: shooting Glock 17 from a UK newbie.

".....to be able to simply own a few hand guns and be allowed use them at a target range...... all i can use now is black powder guns..." Well, not quite. You can still purchase and use a lot of rifles that in many US States you would be refused, and keep them all at home in your approved gun cabinet. And shotguns too. Both a lot more deadly than handguns. For a bit of pistol-shooting it's still possible to nip over to France or Norway and go guest on one of their ranges. But, what the Heck, banning handguns in the UK cut down on guncrime, didn't it? Oh - no it didn't.

Re: Suck my Glock..

".....The trigger insert does not qualify as a real safety in my book......" IIRC, it was blamed for the infamous incident when a cop giving a gun safety briefing to school kids managed to shoot himself with an "unloaded" Glock:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=2442_rmiidY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2442_rmiidY

Re: 9mm?

".....Where and by whom? [citation needed!]....." AFAIK the FN P90 is only used by specialist teams and police units, not as a main sidearm of any NATO partner and not at all in the UK.

Re: Suck my Glock..

".....Why U buy fancy stuff? Standard ball not good enough?" If your life depends on it, and Mundo seems to have believed he was in danger in SA, then you will want the "best" bullet hitting the target. After all, even Hydra-Shok is cheap compared to the value you put on your own life.

"......every shot is a kill shot....." Go back to Counter Strike. In the real World, shot placement is much more of an issue, and the weapon you can bring quickly to bear with the least pre-aim fiddling (such as cocking the slide or thumbing back the hammer or disengaging any safeties) will usually win the argument, especially if you can bring it back to bear for a second shot quickly. In that respect the Glock is excellent, but it is lighter than the SIG and Hi-Power so may suffer more from recoil. With the Desert Eagle your second shot is going to be long after the Glock shooter has put four or five rounds in you.

Re: Desert Eagle? Are you kidding?

"...... it's a gun favored by insecure man children desperately trying to overcompensate for something......" On visits to ranges in the US it used to be almost certain you would find someone swaggering around with one. Nearly every bloke in the place would want to shoot it once, just for the experience, but none but said "compensators" would want to shoot it again. Amusingly, I did note that most women at the range also wanted to shoot "a big one" just as much as the average guy.....

"No idea why it took 2 years to pick the exact gun almost everyone would have suggested...." The British Army already had three versions of the SIG Sauer P226 in use, the L105A1 (standard P226), L106A1 (improved P226) and L117A2 (P229). Needless to say there were many in the Army that were quite happy with the SIG and thought it was better to buy more rather than introducing another pistol, another cleaning routine, more spares, etc. TBH, given the reports of happiness with the SIG, I'm surprised the Glock won unless there was some heavy discounting involved.

The really funny bit is the EU spent lots of UK taxpayers' money giving out thousands of Glocks to the Iraqi police and national army after the invasion at the same time the MoD was still debating the best pistol question.

ANOTHER Huawei partner accused of slipping US tech to Iran

Re: Are you sure your sides are aching from my comment...

"....If those first anti-Shah demonstrations began at his son's death...." They weren't, that's just the way the Islamists want the story to be told. October 1977 was when Khomeini began mobilising his stooges. Opposition to the Shah had been bubbling for years, with probably the first big protests back in 1971 at the celebrations of the founding of the Persian Empire, which were extremely lavish at the same time as many poor Persians were struggling to put sangak on their tables.

".....what would Khomeini's assassination have brought about?...." Khomeini was a unique at that point - the majority of the Shia priesthood with political aspirations had already been killed off or imprisioned, and there was simply no-one that could have stepped into his shoes. Khomeini was not only charsimatic to his followers, but also a very good organiser and good at predicting the reactions and weaknesses of his opponents in both the Shah's administration and the opposition. There was already a government in power, that of PM Bakhtiar, that had removed the Shah before Khomeini even returned from France. All Khomeini did was remove that government and replace it with the figurehead administration of PM Bazargan, a moderate that Khomeini had duped into believing Khomeini would allow a secular and democratic government. Having got rid of Bakhtiar, all Khomeini did was to out-manouvere the ineffectual Bazargan and the rest of the opposition, who were too disparate in thought to oppose him, and force the theocracy down the Iranians' throats.

"......5 to 6 million Iranians demonstrated in Tehran when he returned....." If Khomeini had been killed prior to his return, especially if he'd been killed in Iraq, you may have had "5-6million" (a much quoted figure never verified) angry Iranians, but without anyone to manipulate, guide and focus them they would flounder and fail in the face of more capable Iranian politicians in the opposition. The Shah would almost definitely still have fallen but a more moderate administration, not completely hostile to the West, would probably have replaced his rule.

".....I don't blame him for things he wasn't responsible for." Sorry, but Carter's overall responsibility for the American failure in the lead up to the Revolution, culminating in the bungled handling of the run up to the Iranian Hostage Crisis and subsequent failed rescue, was his responsibility as Prez. As another Roosevelt put it, "speak quietly and carry a big stick" - Carter didn't even do the speaking part, letting Khomeini spread lies about the "Great Satan" without a murmur, and was far too nice to use the stick.

Re: I knew Carter wasn't sitting on his hands.

".....Brzezinski wanted to control the revolution and increasingly suggested military action to prevent Ayatollah Khomeini from coming to power, while Vance wanted to come to terms with the new Islamic Republic of Iran....." OK, concentrate real hard - Brzezinski was National Security Adviser, Vance was Sec of State, Carter was the President, which one was not only the boss but the one supposed to make final decisions? No-one was sitting on Carter's hands, he was just such a bad president he didn't know he should have been using them to slap his staff into shape and get on with the job. Carter was a nice guy, and probably not too shabby a politician and diplomat, but about the only good thing about Carter as President is that he just about guaranteed Ronald Reagan's election.

Re: Re: Aha So that's the way Christianity works.

"......You probably would have included Nixon for his bold use of napalm....." Nope, I simply chose a list that had direct dealings with the whole Middle East issue in one form or another. And Nixon was neither the original approver of napalm or the prez in office when it was first used, that "honour" goes to Roosevelt. I also included Roosevelt as I know it will make a died-in-the-wool Libtard like yourself rotate like a top at the idea of having to bitch about a Liberal icon like Roosevelt.

"..... If Hitler and Stalin (Eastern Orthodox) had called themselves Christians, you'd disqualify....." No, I have no problem with either of them calling themselves Christian as I have no ties to that religion. You're doing that assumption thing again.

".....If you denominate yourself Christian....." I don't so your barking up the wrong tree. As usual. I'm agnostic. Sorry, not even a follower of the Great Spaghetti Monster.

".....Would any other president on your list have gone public like Carter did?" Carter's naive handling of a Playboy interview doesn't exactly get him off the hook for his rediculously naive handling of foreign policy. But Obambi is even worse - he actually grew up in a Muslim country and learned all about the implacable nature of Islam. He was right in that stroking their egos in the Cairo speech by saying what great accomplishments Islam had made (ignoring that they were all off the back of Greek, Persian and Roman achievments), but he was way wrong in thinking this would somehow make them malleable to his will. It was like patting a rabid dog on the head and saying "good boy, great teeth" after it had spent several hundred years savaging everyone within reach, including other dogs.

Re: Are you sure your sides are aching from my comment...

".....And I also agree with you that the ocean is wet." Ah, but you are assuming I would believe so, seeing as I am certain I have not posted that the ocean is indeed wet. You should always confirm rather than making assumptions, otherwise you fall into the Carter trap of thinking "hey, seems reasonable to me, why would anyone else think otherwise?". In this case I agree the ocean is wet. Unless Chuck Norris says it is not.

Re: Re: Are you sure your sides are aching from my comment...

".....France would not do that without American approval...." Nope, the Fwench were going through one of their regular periods of doing anything to prove the independence of France, regardless of whether it was in France's actual interest or not. You also have to understand that France had suffered much worse than the US from the 1973 Oil Embargo, to such a point that the Giscard goverment had implemented the massive nuke power station building projects to ensure at least electrical power in the event of another Arabic spasm. The DSG was all for ejecting Khomeini, and certain more right-wing members of the French Giscard government even conspired with Tehran and looked at assassinating Khomeini in return for political favours (it's mentioned in the Wiki article I linked to earlier). The Carter administration was not included in those discussions. When the Shah wouldn't concede the French what they wanted (allegedly preference for French arms sales and oil companies) they left Khomeini to his own devices.

".....but because it wasn't Christian to do so. So Christian-based democracy was responsible for the Sharia-based theocracy in Iran...." I think you'll find Roosevelt, Truman (who nuked Japan), Eisenhower, Reagan, Bush Snr and Bush Jnr, and even Bill Clinton, were all Christians presidents, yet not as given to sitting on their hands as badly as Carter. Clinton may have been a bit late getting the message, but when he did he was ready to swing the hammer. It was not being Christian that was Carter's problem, it was his obtuse belief that non-Western people would behave, act and hold the same values of equality and rights as Western people, despite the decades (centuries in Europe's case) of evidence of how that just didn't work in the Middle East.

"....According to MB interfering in the Iranian Revolution was a slam dunk and there was no chance of 'unintended consequences'....." No, it would have taken considerable thought and energy, but Carter didn't even try. The actual Revolution was largely the work of non-Islamic progressives that had no intention of instituting the theocracy that Iran became - if Carter had simply put some energy into cultivating that democratic, secular vision, maybe the people of Iran could have been saved the years of oppression that followed. No slam dunk, but just sitting back made it far too easy for Khomeini and co.

"....You need to do better than that....." Khomeini's preachings, including his vision of an Islamic theocracy, had been distributed throughout the Iraqi Shia population, which Saddam had riddled with spies. But even more damning than the Saddam link was that Khomeini's manic views were even reported on in the West. Khomeini's book was published in 1970 and copies were available in Islamic bookshops in Europe (especially London) by the mid-'70s. If that was not enough, Berkeley professor Hamid Algar was very knowledgeable about it (later doing an English translation) having met Khomeini in Paris, and Algar gave four lectures in English on the subject in London long before Khomeini made his move in Iran, these being published as the book "Roots of The Islamic Revolution in Iran" in 1979. At the time MI5 were watching all parties at the Islamic Institute at which Algar gave his lectures in London, and sharing their intelligence with the FBI and CIA, so it is almost certain that the contents of Algar's detailed lectures on Khomeini would have reached Langley via MI5 even if they were not aware of Khomeini's book already. The question is whether the information reached Carter's desk.

".....Hey, your Tourettes is getting better...." Sadly, the visual impairment of those chips on your shoulder does not seem to have lessened.

Re: Re: Are you sure your sides are aching from my comment...

".....from that ginormous bong hit you took....." Unlike you I am not a druggie.

"..... THE SHAH NEEDED NO HELP GOING DOWN THE PLUGHOLE....." Too true, but a bit of diplomatic effort/bribery of many of the more moderate elements of the groups that finally toppled him would have defused the Revolution into a more controlled hand-over to democracy without Khomeini and his fellow loons getting involved. Putting two in Khomeini's chest and one in his head whilst he languished in France would also probably have been a good idea, especially as it could have been painted as any number of Khomeini's enemies doing a little delousing. But Carter wasn't for "getting involved".

"......Unadulterated HUMBUG, Sir. You should be arguing with Ebenezer Scrooge....." Oh dear, time to add to your reading list. So as not to overload you too much, here is Wikipedia's summarization:

".....In early 1970, Khomeini gave a series of lectures in Najaf on Islamic government, later published as a book titled variously Islamic Government or Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist (Hokumat-e Islami : Velayat-e faqih). This was his most famous and influential work, and laid out his ideas on governance (at that time)..... A modified form of this wilayat al-faqih system was adopted after Khomeini and his followers took power, and Khomeini was the Islamic Republic's first "Guardian" or Supreme Leader. In the meantime, however, Khomeini was careful not to publicize his ideas for clerical rule outside of his Islamic network of opposition to the Shah which he worked to build and strengthen over the next decade....." So it is clear Khomeini had both the intention of forcing a Sharia-based theocracy on Iran long before his return from exile, and that he tried to hide it from - amongst others - the Fwench and American governments. There is, however, reason to believe that when Saddam kicked Khomeini out of Najaf for agitating the local Shias, Saddam gave the CIA information on Khomeini's plans, which begs the question of how much did Carter not know and how much did he ignore?

".....You must have meant that you finally agree with ME!....." I am only agreeing in that you are now agreeing with me.

".....You should have worked for Enron or Goldman Sachs...." Well, I have contracted for one of those companies.

"......Your dimestore su knowledge....." Really? Well, seeing as I don't seem to have any trouble in exposing the shortfalls in your knowledge, and debunking your many frothing arguments with ease, I would have to suggest your knowledge is sub-flea market, verging on bankrupt. More extra schooling for you!

Re: You're toast and you don't even know which side you're buttered on.

"......The US cares very much for the taxes owing on 25% to 49% of Aramco's profits....." Oh my sides are aching after that one! You're seriously going to pretend that the US based their foreign policy on a few million tax dollars!?!?!? Yeah, I think we'll just file that reply under "desperate".

".... The Shah had been falling before Carter was inaugurated in 1977...." And Carter sat on his hands for two years and let the Shah go down the plughole. Concentrate now, it's the maths bit; 1979 - 1977 = 2 years.......

".....Really, is there a dime's worth of difference?...." Yes, your version did not reveal the ineptitude of the Fwench in thinking they could manipulate Khomeini, and the fact that Khomeini took care to keep his intent to force an Islamic theocracy on Iran. In fact, the warning signs were there, Khomeini had made several lectures to Islamic audiences and even written a book on it, but the Fwench (and the Carter administration) were too busy to bother looking into what Khomeini was actually all about.

".... For the Saudis, Matt, the US economy was and is the only game in town. Or on the planet....." Oh, so you finally agree that getting the Saudis playing the stock market was a good idea? Oh, no, you're agreeing without actually saying you agree and that I was right. Plenty of other dictators have lived lavishly and not played the stock market, such as Kim Jong-il. Tell you what, before you dribble anymore, why don't you go read this article at the BBC on Qatar and how their Emir realised being bestest buds with America was the only way to keep their monarchy going (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20890765)?

Class dismissed!

Re: No buttery here, Sir

<Sigh> How easily you forget. "....Aramco is the largest as far as tangible assets go....." The US administration didn't care as much about those assets (which didn't even belong to the US government but to private investors) as it did about ensnaring the Saudis in the US-dominated global economy and keeping the oil flowing.

".....Why would they be focused on getting rid of the Shah?...." Let's just saying Carter's handwringer mindset meant he was happy to let the Shah fall without having to get his hands dirty, but then realized there were worst outcomes than the Shah.

".....The best plan was to let Khomeini travel back to Tehran unmolested and pray that he hated communism more than he hated the West. There's the answer to the Fwench Connection." Wrong. The Fwench had massively invested in Iraq, they had zero interest in putting an enemy in power right next door. Remember, it was Saddam Hussein that told Khomeini to get out of Iraq. They'd only let Khomeini stay in Paris as a misguided attempt to curry favour with Iranians not already pro-American, they had no intention of actually letting him take power in Iran. Khomeini's desire to create an Islamic theocracy was unknown to the French, they simply thought that he would increase French influence in the new Iran. Instead, Khomeini used his Islamist base to take control after the Shah had been chased out by more moderate groups. The Iran-Iraq War saw the end of French influence in Iraq and gained them none in Iran. Having stuffed their chances with the Israelis and lost influence in Syria, the French found themselves without a buddy in the Mid East.

Meanwhile, worried that the Arab nations were falling under Soviet control, the US redoubled their efforts to keep the Saudis tied to the US. After all, they reasoned, Saudi princes busy driving Ferraris are unlikely to support a revolution, either Islamic or Communist.

Kill that Java plugin now! New 0-day exploit running wild online

Re: can't resist

Damn, that's the second asdf post I've upvoted in 24 hours - what is the World coming to!?!?

Israel taps teens to become 'interceptors' in cyberwarfare

Re: "It was not immediately clear, however...

"Im sure you are quite capable of using Wikipedia....." But you seem unable to, which begs the question have you even bothered to ever read anything about the whole Middle East situation, or just gone on what you have been told is The Truth?

".....I leave filling pages with lame sounding crap to you....." RICHTO, every post you make in every forum is complete crap, as evidenced by the response you get from other posters.

"....There is overwhelming evidence that this is not the case....." The survey you link to proves nothing of the sort, it's just an opinion piece on a survey of a small group and does not reflect the Israeli governement's views, the laws of Israel, or even the general population's opinions. Simple straight comparison - an Israeli Muslim Arab can, by law, be a citizen and vote in Israel, they can even be elected as members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, but NO Jew can have the same rights under the laws of the PNA, Hamas, or any number of Arab governments. You are just too blinkered by hate to see those simple facts.

Since you are so concerned with opinion pieces, it's my opinion that you should stop wating bandwidth and go learn something.

Re: Re: "It was not immediately clear, however...

LOL, another case of "I know I'm right 'cos so many people told me so, so don't pop my bubble by asking me to actually show evidence for my beliefs".

"You are a very poor appologist for an apatheid and terrorist state....." I thought you were the one blindly defending the Fakeistinians? As I have already pointed out, Israel has Arab Muslim citizens (and Christian and Druze ones) with equal rights that can vote and own land, and are not threatened with ejection. But in the PNA (and Jordan) it is illegal to sell land to Jews, for Jews to even own land, Jews cannot gain citizenship, and all Jews in the West Bank are threatened with expulsion. Rights for Jews in many Islamic states are very strictly limited and Jews are often victimised even in so-called "moderate" Islamic states such as Malaysia. Want to rethink that little rant?

"....I don't need to post any evidence...." Well, actually you do or everyone will assume - quite rightly - that you can't support your statements with any facts, and that they are just dearly-held propaganda masquerading as a reason to hate.

".....the general aspects of what happened and continues to happen in Israel are widely known and even more widely documented....." If they're so widely documented then why can't you demonstrate the truth of what you claim? I have no problems providing evidence, it is you that is floundering around and repeating unsubstantiated bile as fact.

Sorry if it blows a big hole in your faith, beliefs or whatever you want to call them, but if you want to repeat such statements then you'd better be ready to defend them. This is not like Malaysia, where you can just outlaw any counter-thought.

Re: Re: "It was not immediately clear, however...

"You are now contradicting your own previous claim...." How? Simply because you want it to be so doesn't make it so. Maybe if you could supply some form of reasoning to go with your claim it might help, but I suspect supplying any form of argument that hasn't been spoonfed to you is just asking a bit too much.

".....Getting your lies mixed up?....." Ooh, now I'm a liar just because you said so? Be a lot more convincing if you could back that up. On the other hand, you are supplying copious evidence of your naïveté and general lack of reading.

".....It doesnt match your imagination very closely...." Wow, what a detailed and eloquent riposte, just shuddering under the weight of evidence supplied - NOT! I suggest you get an adult to help you out, less you embarrass yourself even more.

UK armed forces could be 'fatally compromised’ by cyber attack

Re: Re:The right evidence?@Matt Bryant

"MY experience was that of sending off US SF forces and NATO forces to scrounge up 9mm ammunition from supply and signal units in Afghanistan....." I have to sympathise, but also point out the budgets for the MoD to buy said ammo was set by politicians, and then even more constrained by the politicians wanting to give jobs tied to their constituents and not those of their political opponents. It's proably not any consolation, but in 1998 when the UK outlawed handguns I had to surrender a fully-working Browning Hi-Power to be destroyed, one which had not fired more than a few hundred rounds since it was manufactured in WW2, plus a considerable amount of matching ammunition that I no longer had a need for. At the time I did ask if I could donate it to the Paras but was told I could not. As a final example of political bungling, please note that the same 1998 Act means the MoD is (finally) buying Austrian-made Glocks to replace the Brownings you were probably scrounging ammo for, having killed the UK companies that could have made a competing weapon.

Re:Re: The right evidence?@Matt Bryant

".....The MoD are consulted by the pols, and had they declared that they couldn't fight the war, and that they'd go public about the kit if one were launched, then the pols would have had to have slunk off and found something different to do....." The MoD told Thatcher that they didn't have the kit to kick the Argentinians out of the Falklands, she decided to disagree. The press at the time was full of stories about who in the forces was short of what, but I don't remember anyone getting fired as you insist they would have. Maybe because it's all just male bovine manure.

".....I do apologise to other readers for having to spell out the fucking obvious for Matt....." Don't worry, anyone that has to suffer your attempts at wit will be used to you apologizing and mis-stating the obvious with alarming regularity.

".....why not give us the benefit of your deep expertise and wisdom in this field?" I fear I'd have to use far too many long words for somone of your limited abilities to comprehend. Might be best if you left the conversation to the adults.

Re: The right evidence?

"......The MoD are the same people that launched two separate wars of choice....." FAIL! The MoD has never launched any wars, they're launched by politicians, usually the same ones that castrate the MoD's budgets and lead to shortages in kit. And how did those politicians get in charge? Well, they were voted for by numpties like you.

'Doomsday' asteroid Apophis more massive than first thought

Re: Re: Friday 13th

".....land hits = bad

ocean hits = very bad

shallow sea hits = very very bad...."

Has anyone looked at the chances of it hitting the Moon and playing a bit of inter-planetary billiards? A collison with the Moon could lead to much bigger problems for the Earth than a direct hit by Apophis alone.

Re: Wait, this may be a good thing...

"......good riddance to a state that cannot stop spending what it doesn't have." In that case, can't we send up Bruce to divert it into the Med, aiming for just off Athens?

Re: Friday 13th

"...... It'll do a damn site more than "sandblast" the west coast of the US , the debris will wipe out the entire continent and will fuck up the world climate for decades......" Cool, could you just repeat that a bit louder as I have a few spots left to sell in my bunker complex.....

'Leccy-starved Reg hack: 'How I survive on 1.5kW'

Re: 1500 Watts? Colour me impressed

".....It'll be very nice to be able to go to the corner shop, hand over my meter key and them give me money ....." Not when the rebates disappear.

Re: Gas Fridge?

http://www.camperlands.co.uk/dometic-combicool-rc-2200.html

This is how Greenpeace want EVERYONE to live.

Instead of thinking "how can I improve the leccy supply in my house", they want us all foraging for donkey dung to use on the hearth and using hand-powered washing machines. There is no technical reason why every house in Europe could have as much electricity as it wants.

Re: Re: I think the problem is...

So that's what a Spaniard on a hook posts like.

Integrator-reseller 2e2 'broke banking covenant', hits credit buffers

Re: They ate Morse?

".....Their customers can be picked up for nothing when they go out of business." I assume the 2e2 CRM system, along with all the details of all the deals that have made when and which kit is coming up for refresh, might be of value to another reseller.

They ate Morse?

Looks like they're dying of food poisoning then. I'm not sure how the reseller could be "broken up and sold" unless they mean split off from the main group and sold, but which other reseller has the cash to buy in the current market?

'Physical pressure' from Iran’s cyber cops killed blogger

Re: report calls for

"I'm under no illusions that many, many atrocities DO take place in Iran, and are sanctioned and encouraged by the state....." Yet you somehow think this is a superior performance to the UK's authorities. Let's see - the Iranians are accused of offing 30,000 opponents in custody during their "clean-up" after Khomeini came to power, let's see if you can find even a dozen similar cases in the UK in the same period, shall we?

"....but no person was held responsible for their actions....." But the matter was thoroughly investigated, and probably much more openly (and definitely more openly criticised) than any Iranian investigation. No person was found responsible as the killing of Menezes was an unfortunate result of a catalogue of minor and unintentional errors, and incomplete and incorrect intelligence, brought about by the circumstances and the pressure put on the Police to avoid another Tube bombing. Even Cressida Dick, the Gold CO in the operations room during the shooting, therefore the officer with ultimate responsibility, was cleared and promoted less than a year later, something that would not have occured if she had had a "black mark" on her career. The actual undercover and specialist coppers involved in the shooting really did believe they had a suicide bomber on their hands and had to kill him before he detonated a bomb, in line with the Operation Kratos "shoot-to-kill" guidelines. The difference with the Iranian matter is the killing in custody of opponents of the regime is a frequent happening, and the only reason there is any investigation/cover-up at all is because Beheshti's online presence meant he was not as easy to disappear as the average unfortunate Iranian.

".....When someone cannot rebut an argument I make and instead descends to snide remarks or personal attacks...." LOL! Your rediculous "argument" was completely debunked, the added joke was an insult meaning to imply you weren't actually as completely clueless as you made out, just that drugs may have affected your judgement and coloured your perception of the Police.

".....that's one indicator that what I said is reasonably correct." Obviously I was wrong - you are that completely clueless.

Re: report calls for

"Actually in Iran, a country that teh western world derides for it's backwardness on civil rights, police who tortured and killed a suspect are being held to account ....." Blimey, are you drinking the concentrated koolaid? I suggest you go do a little reading, start here to get an idea of the scale of oppression since the Revoltion in Iran: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini#Suppression_of_enemies_and_opposition)

".....In the UK, I have yet to hear of any police charged with abuse of power when they shot the Brazilian electrician....." Your faux outrage would be a lot more convincing if you could at least remember Charles de Menezes's name. Again, more reading for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes

"The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) launched two investigations, Stockwell 1 and Stockwell 2. Stockwell 1, the findings of which were initially kept secret, concluded that none of the officers would face disciplinary charges. Stockwell 2 strongly criticised the police command structure and communications to the public, bringing pressure on the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair to resign. In July 2006, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the officers, although a corporate criminal prosecution of the Metropolitan Police was brought under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. This alleged that the police service had failed in its duty of care to Menezes. After lodging a not guilty plea, on 1 November 2007 the service was found guilty and was fined, although the jury added that the operational commander on the day, Cressida Dick, bore "no personal culpability". On 22 September 2008 an inquest was opened. The coroner, Sir Michael Wright, told the jury that they could not return a verdict of unlawful killing based on the evidence, and on 12 December 2008, they returned an open verdict."

".....are routinely used for minor pot busts....." Ah, I think I see the probable cause of your "righteous" indignation.

Buying a petabyte of storage for YOURSELF? First, you'll need a fridge

Re: The rights man, the rights

".....but my local copy will still be good in a year." True, but how much of it do you actually go back and watch even once? I'm continually rooting through my Sky box to delete content the family or I have recorded and then watched and forgotten about. On the shelves I have 200+ DVDs purchased and the majority only watched once, despite my conviction at purchase that the films concerned were so good I'd be watching them regularly.

But I do have a couple of TBs of unique family pics and videos I do want to keep "forever", which are backed up to tape and to a cloud host. I don't necessarily need lots of fast spinning rust in my man-cave, but I still do need some storage somewhere.

John McAfee the Belize spymaster uncovers 'ricin, terrorist plots'

Re: I salute you, righteous fruitcake o7

"I thought the SAS was busy training and arming Syrian Rebels (aka al Qaeda supporters)". Well, not the Syrians (cough*Qatar*cough*Saudi*cough), but the Turks are a bit miffed as they think that MI6 may have been the link that put London-based Iraqi Kurds in bed with Israel's Mossad prior to the invasion of Iraq. No, if I was looking for SAS at the moment, apart from Waziristan, I'd be looking just north of Kenya and the ongoing operations against Al-Shabaab. The SAS also exercise often in Kenya as well as Belize, indeed there was a SAS unit exercising in Kenya when the Falklands War kicked off. Of course, there might also be the SAS Mountain Troop hiding down in the Falklands right now, just in case Emperess Kirchener the Nutty decides she really needs to distract her people from the chronically crap Argentine economy and tries to invade the Falklands again.....

Re: Re: I salute you, righteous fruitcake o7

"No doubt the likes of the Met, SIS, HMG will find all this BS totally believable...." Not really. Whilst Hezbollah has a large and willing presence in the Shia communities in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, it doesn't have the same in Belize. Also, as Belize has a co-defence treaty with the UK, it also has British forces bases and is used by the SAS for jungle training, so not exactly the place you'd want to ship Abdul the Suicide Bomber through if you're looking to go unnoticed. Hezbollah has been implicated in drugs and cigarette smuggling in Latin America, and has a vocal ally in Chavez's Venezuela, but that's been known and documented for quite a while, so any massive organisation avoiding detection is unlikely.

We do have the simple but sad truth that people trying to escape the Lebanon for a better future in the US has been happening every day for years. Not every Lebanese is a member of Hezbollah, indeed the majority of those seeking a better life in the US are from the Lebanese Christian minority. Some do try and cross the border via people smugglers in Mexico, aided by corrupt Mexican officials, so it's not beyond reason that a similar ring could exist in Belize. It's just the ricin and Hezbollah waffle is a bit too much.

Nvidia fixes hole that turns PCs into remote-control toys for hackers

Re: Confused

"Don't quite get why video card drivers need to have access to any networking capability what-so ever." So they can automatically look for updates. A lot of games issues are caused by out of date drivers, and most users are too clueless or too scared to download and install updates manually.

Microsoft burgled, only the APPLE iPADS stolen - cops confirm

Re: Nothing, they just thought it was cool to be seen with one !

If you read the article;

"....Microsoft reported the crime to the police on 2 January but believes the electronics were stolen between 19 and 26 December....."

Looks like the iPads weren't that cool seeing as no-one noticed they had gone for up to fourteen days.

First rigid airship since the Hindenburg enters trials

Re: Nothing heroic or disaterous

".....Operation Market Garden was not a complete failure....." True, but that one bridge too far left a lot of paras stuck in the brown stuff with very little option for extraction. I'm not sure a blimp would have made much difference, it would present too big a target, but helicopters would definitely have allowed extraction if they had've been developed at the time. I think Lewis's contention that an airship or airships would allow a large ground force to be extracted better than existing means is debatable. It might have a point with a longer range insertion of heavy kit, but only at considerable risk to the heavy kit in that a blimp makes an awfully easy target to shoot down, even with conventional artillery.

Dad hires online assassins to slay game-obsessed son

Re: Should have played EVE Online

".....completely free of charge......" We'll, it's not like he created a game account in a girl's name, created an avatar with enormous boobs, then entered the forums and chat rooms asking for "help from any brave, manly warriors in dealing with a ganking clan", and implying such help might be rewarded with sexual favours, that kind of thing just wouldn't work with the average, socially-inept, male gamer.....