Posts by Triggerfish

Top 10 tech essentials for the festival season

Re: 10 things to get stolen during the festival season

Unfortunately I have to agree with that never leave anything in your tent you would care about if it was stolen.

British boffin tells Obama's science advisor: You're wrong on climate change

Re: Global Warming?

I have to say Climate Change for me is about climate change. You seem to be describing Anthropomorphic Climate Change. Its establishing this that seems to be what the major hoo hah is always about.

Greenpeace rejoices after getting huge renewable powerplant cancelled

Re: FFS El Reg

There's a difference between a modest inkling and full knowledge. I'm quite willing to admit I don't have full knowledge of some of the subject the register covers, that's where the Reg can be quite good because it can be quite varied, it opens me to things I quite inclined to find interesting. I'd love to say I was a polymath but more likely for a lot of the subjects I'm a dilettante.

Likewise I do look elsewhere, the Rio Xingu dam project is quite a good example of some of the problems hydroelectric can cause for example habitat loss that causes species extinction. The Mekong Hydroelectric dam project as well, and as environmental as my leanings might be against loss of fisheries and biodiversity I have been to areas like Laos and Issan and can see why at the same time for people there they could be quite life changing.

But these things are a massive subject they can cover so many varied things ranging from societal impact, water rights, international politics, etc etc.

Its actually I think quite hard to find that balance point which can give a best result, this is a problem you can see a lot of the time, for example diving (which I enjoy) can damage reefs maybe its best we don't, but then again what happens if we don't do the locals who would really like to feed their families have to go back to using cyanide and dynamite again to catch fish. That's maybe a simplified example. A Hydroelectric dam well that is really complicated, I think it would be good to see a balanced piece.

As you say this is a tech and science site and most of the readers do have the brains and sense of logical thought to assess facts, that's my point of my comments the Reg is doing a disservice by not being a tech and science based site with articles like this (playmobil, bootnotes, Bulgarian airbags etc not included).

Re: FFS El Reg

There's just short of a billion websites online, and you want this one to conform to how you think it should be?

*No I don't even care if I don't agree with all the articles. In fact that's a good thing, maybe even they will show me I am wrong.

Problem for me is when its cherry picking research to push a opinion I tend to lose respect for the writer.

Theres good and bad things about Hydroelectric, it would be nice to see a balanced piece or a reasoned arguement for the writers opnion though.

Would it not be a more sensible approach to either go and "join" one that does fit your view of what a good tech web site should be (could be a dull, dull place if you're in full agreement with the articles and editorials - a bit like the Guardian). OR you could found your own web site? If it's good, doesn't parrot government's received wisdom on all matters, and is suitably sparky I'll come and read it.

*well I do read other websites and the Reg does do some good articles and I like the general air of flippancy, this however is the comments section so I feel free to comment how I like.

I have to admit I usually just avoid articles written by Lewis now since they don't tend to be very good, its like reading jeremy kyle.

FFS El Reg

You know what I'd be far more impressed if you could write an article that actually looks at both sides.

El Reg purports itself as a site that follows science and technology, you jump on trick cyclists and other scientific studies that completly fail to use decent methedology, and use bad science to promote an agenda, and then you write stupid bits of demagoguery like this.

There should be articles in this very site, with headlines like

"Journalist distorts truth and presents half facts to further agenda"

Then the article will start "Just like the tabloids you despise, Lewis Page a author with online site the register is a perfect example of the failure to report science properly in an effort to obscure facts to further opinion etc etc"

Admiteddly it will probably go meta.

I don't mind you giving your opinion but back it up properly, show me why the cons of building a dam still are better than the cons of not building one.

Convince me with facts. Most readers on here probably like them, most probably spent years doing STEM type subjects and tend to like that sort of thing.

YOu are getting to the point where I start to assume now that whatever you right is bullshit and I should aim for the reciprocal heading of your opinion for something thats more correct that may not alway be correct btw, but thats the point you are getting to now finding your right is sometimes like that feeling you get when you read the daily mail and finding yourself agreeing with something, you assume it can't be so because of the source.

Its not to hard is it El Reg can we have some proper scientists and techy types or just decent writers writing who can produce a reasoned debate rather than complete opinionated bollocks?

Fed-up bloke takes email spammers to court – and wins piles of cash

Re: Hmmm

Well according to glassdoor a couple of his employees think he is.

TOADOCALYPSE NOW: Madagascar faces down amphibious assault

Re: Did you forget the <irony> tag?

THe Snakes are struggling, but apparently the Spiders are fighting back.

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2012/08/spiders-keep-cane-toad-numbers-in-check/

Rap chap tapped for $3 BEELLION: Apple buys Dr Dre's Beats

They will sell though

They will sell a lot of people want that bass from their headphones. I'm not saying its right its just the way it is. I can compare the Bose earphones a work colleague has and likes enough he went and bought another pair to replace the old ones with my soundmagic E10s (yes they are cheap but not bad) which delivers a bit more range. I prefer the sound from the E10s my colleague wants it to have boom.

Police at the door? Hit the PANIC button to erase your RAM

Re: RE: Semtex

Can't remember which one, but I seem to remember they had that on a William Gibson novel, it was part of the acceptable risks of being on a cracking industrial espionage team.

Boeing CEO says no more 'moonshots' after 787 Dreamliner ordeal

303

Guys you may want to look at Rebirth by Propellerhead Software, it emulates a 303, 808 and 909 and its free now. Well worth a look.

US authorities name five Chinese military hackers wanted for espionage

@Vociferous

Didn't France look at suing the countries who run Echelon back in 2000 accusing them of using it for financial gain, mainly to do with the awarding of some aircraft manufacturing contracts.

Hardly sounds like it was national security.

Anyway what do you define as national security? Semantically I am pretty sure I could argue making the country number 1 economically is absolutely vital to the security of the country.

Singapore decides 'three strikes' laws are too intrusive

Re: re. " ... Singapore’s context ..."

AFAIK the laws against long hair was introduced due to hippies it gave customs an excuse to turn them away at the borders, (although I think it was also enforced if you were a gov worker - long hair was associated with the drug culture and they are very much against that sort of thing).

The gum was because they thought it was a real litter problem.

Ugh! This DUNKABLE wearable tech is REPELLENT

Re: Memories

Dunno about the Lung damage.

But I would have thought it would not be that widely used anyway since you'd only be using it for commercial type diving at very deep depths such as saturation dives.

Re: Memories - Liquid air

They are still talking about it for diving. They do however use the tech in some hospitals for premature babies and such due to something like their lungs aren't properly formed/ able to take in air in atmosphere yet.

eidt:I see Capt daft has beaten me to the comment about medical uses.

Tata says USA rejecting HALF of Indians' work visa requests

Re: Xenophobes rule..

I cant help wonder if this sort of thinking is to do with share dividends.

Short term, hire cheap crappy staff for the next few financial years each April profits look nice so share dividends are high bonuses all round for the board etc. Ten years down the line doesn't really matter does it if your policies fuck up a company for those ten years you get your cash and then bugger off.

Re: Cheap Labour through the back door.

I think some issues comes about from the indian version of "face" that you come across in a lot of SEA cultures as well and can also cause similar problems.

Its a weird thing and even having been there a while can sometimes catch you out.

From what I understand you can explain something to an employee and ask them if they understand your instructions. They may actually say that they understand because they do not want you to loose face by looking like you are inadequate at explain your requirements to them. So you'll get a nod and then they will just muddle on through.

It can be frustrating and lead to odd situations one of my old bosses built a factory in Pakistan and it needed gas burners in it (to dry cotton), no one thought to point out that no gas supply pipes had been fitted before the foundations and factory floor was laid because it would have made someone above look bad.

My current employer is talking about some work in SEA, (very forthright type A personality). The culture clash could drive them mad.

Spam, a lot of it: Bubble tea is the Seoul of wit

Re: Those Sun Pillows look brilliant!

I too think those sun pillows look excellent.

Also you still see a lot of that graphic design style in Eastern Asia today.

'No, I CAN'T write code myself,' admits woman in charge of teaching our kids to code

There just isn't enough time in the day

to upvote every cynical comment on here about meddling CEO and board level numpties.

Virgin Media's flaky broadband network turns Bolton off

Re: Find the fault or restore the service

I worked in support years ago for a EPOS software company on their unix based system, find a fault fix it properly.

It wasn't particularly liked internally though, the support companies salesman kept trying to move our customer across to their NT based software and one of the selling points they use is SLA's, the NT guys took loads of calls and then fixed them really quick with a reboot so the SLA looks great and the staff look busy to the management even though a lot of the fault calls would be from the same customer as the problem would just keep recurring.

Meanwhile us sitting there a lot of the day reading the papers was not seen as being busy to the managers and our SLA's were poor because we took considerably fewer calls and after a quick fix would then be on the phone a while really sorting the problem out.

Funnily enough the customer always refused to move.

Jean Michel Jarre: Je voudrais un MUSIC TAX sur VOTRE MOBE

JMG you owe me some cash matey

you see I think all musicians should subsidise my phone and other media players. Without them these musicians would not have got the global reach they have got so not having access to a global market and therefore not being able to make the sales they make that has made them so rich.

Apple marks '1984' anniversary with iPhone-produced un-commercial

Even without reading the article if it claims an iphone cameras (or any phone camera for that matter) better than all compact cameras bar one I can tell you its wrong.

Elderly Bletchley Park volunteer sacked for showing Colossus exhibit to visitors

That was not nice

That was unpleasant viewing.

Its dumb to get rid of the knowledgeable old guys who are genuinely enthusiastic about what they show anyway, they're usually the best tour guides, and hell if its a charity then surely them working for free is a good thing?

But to do it like that to the guy says you have to be a complete fucking wanker as well.

Good news: 'password' is no longer the #1 sesame opener, now it's '123456'

Re: It's not just about websites though is it?

I agree I used to work at a place that really had to take their security quite seriously, including hiring pen testers for the network. If at some point someone managed to get past the array of firewalls and the security team, my passwords being changed every 28 days is probably irrelevant.

Your squirty insecticides make bumblebees SHRINK, warn boffins

Re: could be shrinking

But the article says being big (or at least for them big) is more efficient, so if they are shrinking there's got to be a factor that causing it.

So its possible pesticides could be the reason and its worth investigating since bees are rather important. Unless you are suggestion some rapid evolution but if that was the case surely the bees would be becoming more successful due to shrinkage?

Never mind bungled Universal Credit rollout, Maude wants UK to be 'most digital' gov by 2015

Re: Can someone give a ... reason

So giving them a faster throughput to your cash, its a bit like the fine version of contactless cards, making it faster and easier to line their pockets.

Nearly 1 in 5 of UK's Xmas gifts were bought online... not that it helped

High street is dying thanks to councils and the shops themselves.

Business rates and costs to rent mean on the high street everything is the larger stores and so everything is homogeneous even between rival stores, so there's really a limited choice of things to get as gifts or even inspire ideas.

Councils have killed the high street with absurd parking costs or parking restrictions (this really stood out going back to see parents this year and finding my local town centre has become a wasteland whilst a little way away were parking has been provided with plenty of spaces and cheap another town is doing well (people park and spend a day just browsing if its only a couple of quid to park they are less likely to do so if its 10-15 quid, this increases footfall and means that the chances of people buying stuff is higher).

The stores see it as a great time to fiddle their prices and get themselves an extra percentage.

People are becoming pissed of with the commercialism of the whole thing.

People are reluctant to buy things that in the stores are going to be discounted two days later in a sale.

Mosquitoes, Comets and Vampires: The de Havilland Museum

Re: The Mossie and tech versus numbers

There's a rather good book on the battle of Caen, (written by a English participant but who interviewed soldiers from both side and civilians caught in the middle*). Which reflects some of that it mentions that allied tactics against the Tigers was 3 Sherman/ Churchills v 1 Tiger and expect to lose 1 or 2 of the tanks before getting the kill.

interestingly the book also has photos of tanks from both sides absolutely covered in furniture, boxes and other assorted stuff in a early effort to defeat shaped charge warheads.

*And very sorry because i cant remember the author.

Re: Mosquito

I've been at an airshow when a Vulcan did a low slow flypast, loud is not really a good enough description, its more like a thunder that permeates throughout, a bit like standing near a big waterfall but caused by a sodding huge set of jet engines..

And now for

some music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWXQUhBsUVM

:)

and don't lie, you know you want to make the flying goggles with your hands like you did when you were a kid.

Re: The Mossie

Ta for the comment, I never knew some of the stuff you made in your reply it's good to learn something new.

The Mossie

Nice to read that.

I always thought that as fantastic a plane as the spitfire its press always overshadowed the other planes of our WWII RAF.

The mosquito was frankly an amazing plane Goering hated them* after they took a celebration speech of air during a daytime raid over Berlin on the radio transmitting tower, (I'm pretty sure after it was repaired the RAF promptly did the same thing again). I'll agree with the comment in the article it was arguably the best plane of WWII

I have to add that I always thought we should tip our hat to the old hurricane as well for being such a workhorse and backbone of our defence in in the battle of Britain etc as well.

*Quote from Goering after this happened. "In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked."

Mandela memorial. Yup, let's SNAP A SELFIE, say grinning Obama, Cameron

Re: Context is everything....

"Those who plan, and implement acts of violence deliberately designed to maim and kill civilians are terrorists"

So isn't that just about every government and military force at some point then?

Thai man reportedly dies clutching his scorched iPhone 4S

Re: It's all about the money

I can assure you the electrical standards in the average Thai house fall somewhat short of British standards.

Not sure about sticking your finger in a socket much either, still have a couple of small burn scars from touching a live socket by mistake - that was in the UK.

Antidote for poisonous Aussie Red-Back Spider venom DOESN'T WORK

Re: Sort of related

Wait till one walks across your bare foot when your standing in the bathroom, good job I was going to the toilet cos I widdled myself anyway.

Sort of related

For those wondering what spider and similar bites might feel like some with rich descriptions.

I recommend the Arachnoboard bite reports,

Giant Asian centipedes.archive

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/archive/index.php/t-254.html

Just about everything else.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/forumdisplay.php?16-Bite-Reports

Blighty promises £49m to get more British yoof into engineering careers

Re: The status of Engineers.

Its quite a surprise abroad when you tell someone you are an engineer they actually treat you with some sort of respect.

Over here, say you're an engineer and they may just think you fit washing machines, for all the devaluing the name has got in this country.

You're more likely to get a job if you study 'social' sciences, say fuzzy-studies profs

Re: Psychology is a nice, easy subject

No it won't be, but are you seriously telling me that what every psychology student does? Because that's not true.

Re: Pschology

I disagree as well, where I studied had a large psychology dept, and a large engineering dept. Engineers could keep up/ grasp concepts in psychology discussions far more than the reverse.

There's absolutely no way that psychology is as hard as an engineering degree for a student both in complexity and sheer workload, the excuse of we have to do a lot of extra reading which is why we get more free time and do less lesson time trotted out by social sciences is crap as well.

Fleet of driverless pods to take over Milton Keynes town centre

I have this vision

Of little egg like pods zooming around like some 60s sci fi.

And I like it.

Only a merciful BULLET can really save a RHINO, say Texas hunters

Double hunt

We double hunt, we set up an auction to hunt the whomever wants to shoot the Rhino so much that they pays the astronomical fee.

After all

1. "There is no hunting like the hunting of man"

2. If they care about conservation enough to pay all that money, I'm sure they'll understand when we tell them how much extra we raised on the price of their head.

Reg reader's nipper takes felt pens to Vulture 2

Re: Bah!

Yes Stevie but the thing that gets us trying these things in the first place is having some soul, so spray away, its cool and it'll make the kids day.

Terminator-style robot busts leg in martial arts demo mishap

Re: Robot out-performed by pensioner. We're safe for a while yet...

It still is taught as a martial art here and there, but I agree its taught by a lot of people now who don't have a clue to its origin and just see it as some low impact excercise.

Feline OVERLORDS ditch camera-toting human servants, film selfie vids

Re: Where does one find these energetic, adventurous cats?

Our cat used to do something similar each summer with Magpies, except it would let them taunt it.

The birds would get close each day, and then near the end of the summer there'd be a smug cat and a lot of magpie feathers everywhere.

Cannabis can CURE CANCER - cheaply and without getting you high

Re: Cost effective .....

"They will make a synthetic version of the active ingredient if it is useful as a medicine. That way there would be no risk of junkies stealing things to get their next fix."

Actually they've tried synthetic versions before with AIDS patients to stimulate appetite, they tended to wipe the patients out, make them feel ill etc and be no way near as effective as the herbal variety.

Also Junkies stealing..your talking shite

Let police track you through your mobe - it's for your OWN GOOD

Re: For me it;s simple

Except I'm not happy to and I don't, as far as I'm concerned its none of their business.

With the possible exception of turning on locations for the odd time I use the phone as a sat nav.

I don't have any problems tbh with the gov tracking my location for emergency calls, we just need to make sure that the rules are drafted properly with no leeway to allow other concerns to get their sticky fingers in.

Island-hopping Beardy Branson: I'm dodging rain, not taxes

Re: Rain, my arse

Its a lot of rain, over a shortish usually predictable amount of time, and if its anywhere like the rest of the tropics its warm.

Royal Mail FAIL as web brokerage Hargreaves Lansdown struggles with investor demand

Re: "loss-making postal service"?

Have there not been accusations though that they can claim tax credits for all of the previous years of loss, so effectively not having to pay tax on any profits for several coming years?

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/National/article1323972.ece

NASA's Jupiter probe wakes up after unexpected snooze

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DItgw1mU9Us

Turkish TV presenter canned for flashing too much cleavage

Re: Cultural

139 people (killjoys?) rather than zillions.