* Posts by John Brown (no body)

25246 publicly visible posts • joined 21 May 2010

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Can you download it to me – in an envelope with a stamp?

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: obliged to return to the commune of her birth

"Also, accurate sources were not a priority since it could be safely assumed the the original prophecies (that were being fulfilled) were correct. :)"

(yes, I do note the smiley there)

It's always easier to write down the stories and predictions after they happened. It proves the predictions were true!

The time a Commodore CDTV disc proved its worth as something other than a coaster

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Any key

"To be fair though that one makes some sense. It's telling you there's no keyboard, therefore the solution is to plug one in and then hit f1 to continue."

Which was fine for the DIN plug older keyboards, not so much with the PS/2 keyboards. That required a re-boot or power cycle.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Self fixing

"A refusal to consider me for an office role (despite clearly being the most PC proficient person in the company) being the deciding factor for leaving said company."

I'm surprised you didn't become the head of IT. Your experience, for the time period, is exactly how many people ended up running everything IT related, especially in smaller companies.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: hmm

More likely in Cardiff. Too close to the space/time rift.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: BAUD

"I definitely rhyme pure and cure while rhyming pour and poor."

Up here in the grim North of Geordiland, Poor is pronounced more like poo-er, so almost rhymes with pure and cure, not pore or pour.

Tesla Autopilot crash driver may have been eating a bagel at the time, was lucky not to get schmeared on road

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Did he get a ticket?

most purchasers don't give a shit about saving the environment, they are instead helping to stuff the HOV lanes just as full as the regular lanes in the name of "convenience".

Yes, that was the point I was alluding to. EVs are still expensive for most people so the those who can afford them also get to buy the right to use the less congested lane. It's a bit like the congestion/pollution charging zones here in the UK. If you can't afford a decent car or an EV, then you pay a lot more to drive into those zones. I do see the point in reducing pollution and congestions, but the wealthy just see it as a minor cost for the extra convenience while the plebs either can't go there or have to travel cattle class on the bus.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Because most Tesla drivers are not pilots.

That's because automobiles have required a human at the controls for over a hundred years, so "everybody knows that"

For that matter, who ever calls a car an "automobile" these days anyway? I think it must be old 1960's TV and films where I last heard even the diminutive "auto" for a car.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Did he get a ticket?

Ah, someone mentioned upthread about EVs being allowed in HO lanes in man states. I assumed it was one of the carrots to help increase uptake of EVs but now I see the carrot has to be paid for so it's more of a benefit to the better off rather than just a carrot. Capitalism at its best. You have to pay for the benefit but only if you are wealthy enough to qualify :-)

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: You do know it's the 21st century don't you

"With a profession which struggle to recruit and retain talented female colleagues it really is about time we grew up and stopped this kind of crap. Yes I do have a sense of humour but this was not funny and is just another acidic drip which make women feel uncomfortable in our tech communities."

Why would someone so sensitive to Political Correctness and sexist comments make the assumption that "blond/Essex" was about women? There are blond men in Essex as well you know.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: What a complete plonker!

"So Tesla are partly culpable for all these incidents."

There's no mention of anyone else being in the car at the time. His coffee and bagel were beside him so I assume that means they were on the front passenger seat. He states he was looking ahead at the road. The fire truck and police had their emergency lights flashing and were stationary in the High Occupancy Lane.

This raises a couple of questions such as why was he in the high occupancy lane in the first place, I though Tesla cars were supposed to be able to read road signs (am I wrong here? maybe) and if he was looking at the road, how the fuck did he not see high intensity flashing emergency lights directly in front of him, let alone personally realise he was illegally using a High Occupancy lane.

In Hemel Hempstead, cycling is as bad as taking a leak in the middle of the street

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"A lot of the cyclists I seem to meet think they own the road and the pavement. Everybody has to move out of their way, they just don't seem to care and then they play the victim."

This is where most people need to reflect on their own personal bias created by experience. You probably don't even notice all the responsible cyclists because they barely impinge on your awareness.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Oxford has it right

"In two town centre streets, you have to walk bicycles between 1000 and 1800. Outside those hours you can ride down those streets."

Good idea. The same should be the default for bus lanes too. Many places have bus lanes with "active hours", sometimes only in certain directions in mornings and afternoon/evenings, ie in or out of town. Around here, they are all 24/7. Probably because someone said they had to have bus lanes but couldn't be arsed to spend the time and money on where and when they were most needed.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Pedestrianised

"I have no (particular) problem with folks pushing bikes or buggies or tartan shopping trollies around a pedestrianised area, as they are then only moving at pedestrian speeds and, hopefully, watching where they and the equipment in their charge is going."

I think the law should also be clarified and people made aware that mobility scooters usually have two speed settings, the lower being walking pace, and should also be enforced in pedestrian areas.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Could be worse

"If at that point they decide to veer into your path and get squished the fault would be theirs no (albeit the onus would be on you to prove the fault was theirs)? How is that any different to what I'm saying happens on a bike?"

It's not different at all. It's up to you slow or stop so as to not kill or injure someone.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Could be worse

"You miss my point, I have slowed down, I have blasted a 110db air horn at them if they veer into my path whilst I'm going past them then it's unavoidable as far as I'm concerned and therefore it's entirely down to them and I have the video evidence to prove it."

You think? Now do that in a car when a pedestrian is in the road and doesn't get out of your way. Pedestrians *always* have right of way. If you hit one and could have avoided it, it's your fault.

Using your logic, it's ok for me to drive through cyclists riding two or three abreast because I sounded my cars horn and they refused to move out of the way.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Banning Cyclists

"Therefore unless explicitly allowed there would not be a need to ban them, just enforce the existing law."

Sometimes, it's because enforcing the existing law, especially if it's being flouted on a regular basis, becomes very expensive and may require lots of concrete evidence. Eg the specific law banning the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving. The punishments is an on the spot fine and points on your driving licence unless you choose to try and defend it at court. Prior to that law, existing law already covered it but required a court case every time at much higher cost plus a police officer taking time off from front line duties to attend court as a witness for the prosecution.

This pedestrian zone ban is probably a by-law that can be enforced by a police officer, a PCSO or Council Enforcement Officer by issuing a ticket on the spot.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Banning Cyclists

"It isn't so hard to step down and wheel the thing through the crowd."

Some of the "lycra louts" are using those "racing pedals" or whatever they are called where you have to wear special shoes just to be able to ride the bike. The big cleat in the sole of the shoe engages the pedal but look like a bitch to walk in. I seems that once on the bike, getting off and walking is just too inconvenient for them.

Luckily, most cyclists are not twats.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: At werdsmith.

"So nice of you to encourage violence against cyclists."

He was encouraging violence against twats cycling dangerously in places they are specifically prohibited from cycling at all, not cyclists in general.

Encouraging violence of any kind, for any reason probably isn't a good idea, but assuming that because you once had a cycling accident that had similar results to what he was advocating does not mean he meant you specifically or, for that matter, any normal, sensible, law-abiding cyclist.

Oops, wait, yeah, we did hand over photos for King's Cross facial-recog CCTV, cops admit

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Funny enough....

"So the police hand over facial recognition pics to "the developer" who - completely coincidentally - just happens to be building new offices for Google?"

The same developer currently renting offices to Google, as well as building a new one.

Stalking cheap Chinese GPS child trackers is as easy as 123... 456 – because that's the default password on 600k+ of these gizmos

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Kite Mark?

No, it means "China Export". "Close Enough" would be a huge improvement.

Auditors bemoan time it takes for privatised RAF pilot training to produce combat-ready aviators

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Has there ever, in the entire history of the world...

"Very few companies, for instance, don't outsource their office cleaning."

If you are big enough that you need and have an HR department and a Facilities Management team, why wouldn't you just employ your own cleaners? Employees generally do a better job than contractors and get paid more.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"Problem with that is that nine hours experience wasn't really enough when up against a battle-hardened veteran in an ME109. The untrained pilots died."

That was an issue on both sides though.

Now it's Terrance Dicks' turn to regenerate: Golden-age Doctor Who mainstay dies aged 84

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Hand brake

...and yet all the Tardis (Tardi??) seem to do it. Is River Song the only one who can drive a Tardis properly or is she the only who dislikes the noise?

Yahoo! customers! wake! up! to! borked! email! (Yes! people! still! actually! use! it!)

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: "FFS!"

"Changing your e-mail provider just because your current one is old, is about as senseless as replacing your 6-month old smartphone because a newer model's been released."

I agree, that would incredibly stup....oh...look.....new shiny!!!

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Guilty Secret

The "built-in snark" is! why! most! of! are! still! here!

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Guilty Secret

"basically 2 years of credit monitoring unless you can document actual harm."

ANd as a result of all the other major breaches, pretty much the entire US population should have a lifetimes supply of free credit monitoring. The problem is, those freebies don't start when you want them to so you end up with three or four "free" credit monitoring service overlapping. Is a free year of credit monitoring of any value when you already have that from another breach?

Bus pass or bus ass? Hackers peeved about public transport claim to have reverse engineered ticket app for free rides

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: British buses are embarrassing

"(The UK exception is London, where the Oystercard actually works pretty well. Do any other big UK cities have something similar? The only one I go to these days in Glasgow, which doesn't.)"

Back when I was a kid, the new county of Tyne & Wear was invented. Part of that was the creation of the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive. All the local council bus services were transferred to it's control. Then the Tyne & Wear Metro system was built. Everything was intergrated, including the cross-Tyne Ferry. You could buy a ticket from anywhere to anywhere and change as required between bus, metro and ferry and the price was based on the zone boundaries crossed. Buses were generally timed to match with the Metro light rail system, especially at the main interchanges. It worked really well and prices were pretty reasonable. Then they privatised the buses and over a period of a few years, the buses no longer matched the Metro station arrival/departure times, the buses were dirty, the prices went up and the bus tickets and Metro tickets were no longer interchangeable.

In recent years, they have come up with the new and wonderful idea of inventing integrated combination tickets which let you travel on the buses and the the Metro. Whoop-de-doo.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Free buses

"Either the people who user the bus pay for their use, or everyone (regardless of if they use buses or not) pay for the buses via their taxes."

Or option C), good, clean, free public transports pays for itself by bringing people, business and money into the town because it's a "public" service designed for the "public" to use and benefit from.

Oh, and since you ask, yes the sky is pink on my planet.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Free public transport in the UK?

"partly because fares seem to be based on "zones" rather than distance."

And notice how the zone maps always seem to be very carefully designed such that the vast majority of journies will cross a zone boundary. Locally, it's possible to take a 50p journey inside a zone, get off at the boundary, walk 2 mins to the next stop and pay another 50p to complete the journey because all single zone fares are 50p. Staying on the bus and crossing the zone boundary to do it in one trip is £3.50, so if you have the time and don't mind the inconvenience, you save £2.50. And that's still a lot cheaper than a day return, day pass, or week pass. It's even cheaper than the month pass, but not by enough to bother with.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Still too expensive

"break down on the way and you'll be stuck waiting for a replacement to turn up and take you onwards (they won't generally let you off)"

Isn't that kidnapping? It's not like a train where getting off might be onto a live line on operator owned property.

Raspberry Pi head honcho Eben Upton talks thermals, stores and who's buying the kit

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Coat

Re: "Availability of several products pushed out to 2026"

"To be fair, if you actually end up with any working submarines in 30 years, that's still a step up on many other military procurement projects around the world."

If not, they may eventually be referred to as the Nimrod class.

The top three attributes for getting injured on e-scooters? Having no helmet, being drunk or drugged, oddly enough

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"but scooters get me a few miles quickly and largely along empty pavements."

I do hope you are talking about a fully manual, free-wheeling scooter. The powered ones are illegal to use on UK pavements and roads. You can only use them on private land (assuming you own the land or have the owners permission to be there.)

Google security crew sheds light on long-running super-stealthy iOS spyware operation

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Entire populations: State sponsored?

Agreed. If this was the US, they'd be targetting everyone.

Yeah, yeah, PCs are dead? Ask Texan Mick and his Dell empire if that's the case

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"Even a low spec PC these days comes with enough CPU power and RAM to run most of the common business software."

True. I've also seen the expected lifespan grow over the last decade or so. Most of our big customers were buying desktops with a 3 year on-site warranty because that was the replacement cycle. It went up to four years. Then 5 years. Most modern kit still seem to become less reliable after 5 years so most places seem to be still replacing on the 5 year cycle and paying for on-site warranty for the same period. Others will replace only some after 5 years and store the old kit. The old kit is then used to replace failed old kit so those departments who don't need new shiny will keep using old kit for 6, 7 even 8 years without any sort of warranty/maintenance cover.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Win-10-nic driving SALES? Only because 7 support and IT people unreasonably ...

"Eventually PCs with Linux cost as much as PCs with Windows and it is only for commercial, not technical, reasons."

They subsidise the cost of the laptop by filling it up with paid-for crapware. You can't do that on a *nix build.

I'd be surprised if the bigger players are paying as much as $50 per OEM licence.

Clutching at its Perl 6, developer community ponders language name with less baggage

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"PERiL"

Does that come with special PERiL-sensitive sunglasses to hide the bugs?

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: doesn't matter who hates it...

"That said, this new language currently known as perl 6 should no way be named perl, that's idiotic. It's really not even close to the same language"

I was thinking maybe they could call it SWINE. Super Wide Information Notation Edition. They could cast some Perlisms into the front end.

Zapped from the Play store: Another developer gets no sense from Google, appeals to the public

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Maybe Google won't tell him why his app was "in violation"

So they need to train the AI to spit out the data points, ie show it's workings out.

Army Watchkeeper drone flopped into tree because crew were gazing backwards

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Starglider was better!

And not forgetting that it only works with a remote network connection so "important" live updates can be delivered as soon as possible, either completely changing the entire UI or, worse, leaving the UI almost but not quite exactly the same, just the up and down buttons have been swapped due to user request (but not the request of the users who actually use it)

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"And no commenter has mentioned putting Royal Artillery troops in charge of a drone - the thing probably crashed because they saw a nice howitzer somewhere."

No one seems to have noticed that the RA guys were trainees, or at least under instruction since the article states they were under the supervision of Thales contractors. What were the "supervisors" doing?

UK.gov: Huge mobile masts coming to a grassy hill near you soon

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Proposal to mobile telcos.

"Oh, and my callsign starts G1 but I'm not posting it in full on a public forum."

No, you just broadcast it in the clear every time you go on air :-)

(Although I can see you might not want to link your posting ID with a traceable, identifiable call sign)

Are US border cops secretly secreting GPS trackers on vehicles without a warrant? EFF lawyers want to know

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Some questions...

"3. is a bit of a grey area, they might (and probably will) argue the tracker was not a "gift" as such. otoh,"

It would be a "benefit in kind" and therefore subject to income tax. This means the IRS will get involved. You really don't want the IRS coming after you for unpaid tax.

Signed

Mr A. Capone.

Bloke who claimed he invented Bitcoin must hand over $5bn of e-dosh in court case. He can't. He's waiting for a time traveler to arrive

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Alien

Re: Time

"And he's correct, everyone and everything is travelling in time. Admittedly only forwards in time, and at a fixed rate, but we are travelling in time."

That may well be true, from your puny human perspective....

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Happy

Re: Who is more crazy?

"It didn't happen, but it's not time travel."

I think you might mean it didn't not happen yet. It's due to happen next January, so you can't just say it didn't happen in the past about a future event yet to occur.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

"it was supposedly a currency but was predominantly used by fraudsters to steal money from others"

This does actually raise a valid and pertinent point. Does anyone actually *use* Bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency), or is it just miners sitting on their stash waiting interminably for the "strike price" to reach the magic number and extortionists trying out new ways to stay hidden?

Microsoft's only gone and published the exFAT spec, now supports popping it in the Linux kernel

John Brown (no body) Silver badge
Gimp

Re: The existing name of GIMP doesn't imply BDSM

"Odd. Yesterday's article made it quite clear that people were objecting to "gimp" because it meant something to do with disability. Now you are stating that it is offensive because it means something to do with something other than disability."

Yes, it is odd. I don't think I've heard gimp used as a reference to disability for at least 30 years. And even then it was rarely used in a derogatory way. Phrases along the lines of "I have a gimpy leg/he has a gimpy leg" was about the extent of the historic usage that I can recall.

These days, the word gimp, to me at least, immediately brings to mind the icon ------------------>

Either way, it's not a great choice of name for a great graphics editor.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson moves to shut Parliament

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: So, to sum up. . .

Could the downvoters please define "ample" as a precise value. Please use SI units and show your workings out. Thanks.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: The optics don't look good

"He didn't face a general election as leader of his party, therefore standing to be prime minister."

The first part of that is true, the second, not so much. The party leader of a party which has a majority and can form of government usually becomes the PM, but that's not the law, or even a rule. It's another of those "gentleman's agreements".

GIMP open source image editor forked to fix 'problematic' name

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Eh?

"so free speech MUST always means allowing anyone to risk being offensive."

The operative word there being "risk". But what RacerX said was "Free speech means I can insult anyone and any group I choose" which is a very different interpretation on what free speech is or is not.

John Brown (no body) Silver badge

Re: Eh?

"It's like MongoDB -- how did they ever think that was OK?"

They were fans of Ming the Merciless?

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