* Posts by JC_

426 publicly visible posts • joined 9 Mar 2011

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Bio student thrown in the clink for Muamba Twitter rant

JC_

Re: Slippery slope.. @Norfolk

Firstly, it's not only children who harass; in this case, it was done by an adult.

Secondly, it's not only children who are subject to persecution. Gays, blacks, Asians, physically handicapped... the list goes on.

You're clearly being facetious in your second paragraph; it looks like you don't have either the experience or empathy to understand just how vicious people can be and what it can result in.

Think about it: if someone you knew was subject to abuse all day, everyday, would you be happy to do nothing and have nothing done about it? No matter what the consequences?

JC_

Re: Slippery slope..

So if a child was being bullied at school constantly, to the point of suicide, your reaction would be to say "stop being a crybaby"? Or would you acknowledge that verbal abuse can be just as hurtful as being punched and do something about it?

JC_

Re: Slippery slope..

Going with Voltaire is the purist stance, but it ignores the fact that what people say can hurt deeply, especially when it's intended to. Sure, we can say to ignore it, but that may not be so easy for the victim.

No sympathy for this prick, he deserves what he got.

OAP sues Apple for $1m after walking into store's glass door

JC_

Re: @Metavisor

Uncorrected, my eyesight is awful, thanks for asking! But looking with contacts in, those stickers in your picture are definitely below waist level, nowhere near eye level.

JC_

@Metavisor

Stickers placed right at knee-level, huh?

Also, why're the stickers white? Bad choice for contrast or visibility, but perhaps more attractive, and that's what counts.

JC_

Likely explanation: the Reg posted a bullsh1t picture.

Take a look at the store front and think to yourself if clear, unmarked glass might be hard for an 83 year old to see.

Anyone that's used the hockey-puck mouse knows that Apple are well capable of choosing form over function...

Microsoft set to launch Xbox Lite in 2013

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Re: Yay

Are those big bullies at MS holding a gun to your head, forcing you to buy it? Quit whinging and let the market sort it out - game consoles are hardly life & death.

Medieval warming was global – new science contradicts IPCC

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@elderlyblock

"Hello Robinson,I remember CFCs very clearly. I spent a lot of money investing in a CNG fuel system for my car when the Government of NZ told us that this was necessary as petrol emissions were destroying the Ozone layer."

What utter bollocks! People who got CNG tanks installed in their cars did it because it was - at the time - cheaper than petrol. I worked in a petrol station and the punters who filled up with CNG were doing it for no other reason than saving money.

"I do no longer believe anything that Governments say , and that includes Global Warming.

Hell will freeze over before I believe in the alarmist statements that Politicians spout."

It's not just (some) politicians saying this, it's nearly every climate scientist in the world. But hey, it must make you feel good to sound so cynical...

JC_

@Tom Reg

other than nuclear and conservation, we really have no tools available. Nuclear is unpopular with voters, and conservation is unpopular with big companies.

Really? Replacing coal with natural gas does nothing to reduce CO2 emissions?

JC_

Re: @Tarquin ftlb

Tarquin, you're not in the "denier box", you're in the "weasel box" :) You say that you aren't convinced by the already overwhelming evidence, but can't give a reason for this.

The "large number of people" you refer to are the scientists who have the knowledge and have done the research. If their work can't convince you, then there's no hope of any rational way of getting there.

JC_

Re: @Tarquin ftlb

Tarquin, you're arguing like a homeopath. Cherry-picking a study here and there and giving it outsize importance while ignoring the overwhelming majority of studies isn't keeping an open-mind, it's foolishness. "Evidence that doesn't fit the case" is welcome, but don't make the leap that it invalidates the case.

JC_

Re: @Tarquin ftlb

Claiming to still be "open minded" in the face of a mountain of evidence and overwhelming scientific consensus isn't a virtue, it's weaseling out.

Either you accept the evidence, or you state your case for what you believe is the alternative. Any fervour you're picking up on is just irritation at seeing the same old tricks of mis-interpretation and wilful ignorance that get played in the 'debate' over evolution.

I'll repeat myself: every single scientific organisation of stature accepts the theory of AGW. Every single one.

JC_

@Tom 13

You're problem here is that science has NEVER, EVER depended upon "recognized authority" and has instead relied upon PUBLISHED, REVIEWABLE THEORIES and DATA. The AWG warmmongers have never provided latter and incessantly demand that we recognize the former.

Is this deliberate misinterpretation? I said: "AGW is supported by every recognised relevant scientific authority". These are the scientific institutions and the scientists who are climate science professionals, the people who publish and review.

Re-read the post, you've gone off on quite a shouty tangent.

JC_

@Tarquin ftlb

In the middle ages the vast majority of people believed with all their hearts that the world was flat and you could fall off the edge if you travelled far enough. Later, when we learned to understand the science properly

It's not about the "vast majority of people" but what the vast majority of climate scientists believe.

Life is not the X factor, something is not right or wrong just because the most people vote for it, and you can't decide huge issues affecting people all round the world by a head count.

These aren't just 'people' who are agreeing, they're climate scientists, FFS.

The burden on EITHER side is to provide conclusive or substantive EVIDENCE of their case.

There aren't two equal sides to this. AGW is supported by every recognised relevant scientific authority. The 'denialists' have no such credibility. There are two 'sides' in the same way that the theory of evolution is opposed by the intelligent design side. Or the theory of gravity opposed by those who believe in intelligent falling...

JC_

@AC

Given the overwhelming consensus supporting the theory of AGW and the catastrophe it presents, the burden of proof for the hypothesis that "it doesn't matter and everything will be fine if we keep doing what we're doing" is on the deniers.

David Mitchell sums this up rather well.

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@phuzz

It's not a conspiracy theory to point out that the owners of Koch Industries - refiners and distributors of petroleum products - have a huge self-interest in denying AGW and that that's exactly what they're doing.

You think these guys are just "making mistakes"? Jesus wept...

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Re: Business as usual.

Humanity will change to deal with whatever is the reality"

Holy shit, that's self-centred. AGW doesn't stand for Anthropocentric Global Warming; there's a lot more to the planet than people.

JC_

Re: El Reg Scepticism

"extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof and should be met with a healthy amount of sceptisism"

I'd agree with that. Claims that nothing unusual is going on and we don't need to do anything about it and everything will just work out fine should be treated with extreme skepticism.

There's pretty much a scientific consensus about AGW. On the other 'side', you'll find charming people like the Koch brothers and an assortment of contrarians. Who's more believable?

Windows Phone left on launchpad by Angry Birds in spaaace

JC_

Re: Available for...

Out for Playbook but not WP? Ouch.

JC_

Language?

Has it got anything to do with the difficulty of porting the physics engine? WP8 will (supposedly) allow native c++ apps.

iPhone 5 gets a 5in screen

JC_
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Re: i really hope not

Not sure why you're getting the downvotes. A phone has to pass the pocket-test (IMHO) or it's really a tablet pretending to be a phone.

JC_
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Re: A little bigger is bettter

The 3.7" screen on my HTC Desire is great, wouldn't want to go any smaller. 4" would be even better if the bezel was thin enough to result in no overall size increase; iPhones are rather slab-like, so maybe that's possible?

iPad subsidies axed for Microsoft S&M fanbois

JC_

Re: Yup...

Using the company mobile phone is okay, I guess, but the bank account? That seems a bit too intrusive. How far did RBS go? Did they insist on mortgages etc. only coming from them?

BT fibre-to-the-cabinet rollout penetrates 73 more exchanges

JC_
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Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

We've got it in our small office. 30 down, 7 up. The OpenReach (Huawei) modem works just fine with our Juniper router. No problems, well worth the small price increase over ADSL2, our up speed is now as fast as the down speed used to be.

Nokia Money shot: Mobile banking service axed

JC_
Happy

@DrXym

Nokia have blogged that they're fixing this (i.e. adding offline driving directions).

http://blog.maps.nokia.com/top-story/get-ahead-with-the-upcoming-update-to-nokia-drive-for-your-nokia-lumia#more-18832

Top Brit authors turn flamethrowers on barmy IPO

JC_
FAIL

Re: Garbage ...

That would be a problem for the 2 seconds it would take to pass a law that voids any such restrictions.

Regardless of whether this is fair or not (and I'm not saying it is), it's refreshing to hear discussion about copyright being made more limited, rather than extended again and again and again...

JC_
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Re: I don't know if it's the same in the UK

Indeed, the only changes to the text are minor layout modifications (so page & line number references are no longer the same). Replace the practise questions & answers in the back, give the teacher the new edition for free and all then the students have no choice but to buy it.

Top Gun 2: It's happening - and the choice of star is stirring controversy

JC_

Re: Matt Bryant

Hard-core Republicans loathe Hillary Clinton and love Rush Limbaugh. Absolutely baffling, but then again, rationality hasn't been the strong suit of Republicans since Nixon.

ISP Be admits crippling iPlayer demand burst its pipes

JC_

Re: Errm...

Noticed it at the weekend when trying to watch the rugby, but loading just the BBC news front page took five minutes. Be needs to sort its act out.

JC_
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Re: re: idiots

Right on! The internet is for trolling!

Microsoft tripped up by Blighty's techie skills gap

JC_

Re-read the Article

He's not complaining about the problems MS has recruiting, but the problems small IT firms have.

"Microsoft is a household name so we don't struggle to recruit, but we are at the tip of 30,000 IT companies and we're dependent on them for our revenue. They employ 300,000 people compared to our 3,000."

Doesn't seem unreasonable given that 80% of the people we interviewed for a programming job at our small ISV were dreadful.

Intel pushes Ivy Bridge out a little further

JC_

Only a 'Tick'

Ivy Bridge is only a tick (die-shrink) not a new architecture (tock), so while it'll be slightly faster and use somewhat less power, it's not a massive change, certainly nothing compared to the step up that Sandy Bridge represented.

A good deal on a Sandy Bridge laptop today is still gonna be a good deal in six months. Sandy Bridge is plenty fast enough for 99% what people do now.

Motorola 'Intel inside' Android 4.0 phone spied on web

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@Giles

Looking at the benchmarks, Medfield seems promising:

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/01/intel-medfield-benchmarks/?q4226239=1

Mobile PowerPC? Okay, go ahead and fab some and see what you can come up with. It should be easier to do better than those losers at Intel, right?

Ultra-high resolution laptop, tablet screens to revive display biz

JC_

Can't Wait Either

But keep in mind that no matter how high the dpi of newsprint is, it'll still bleed and have a lower 'effective' resolution.

And that iPhone resolution would be excessive at any distance beyond arms length. Looking at your 40" telly from 5 metres, 1080p / 1440p / 2160p are all indistinguishable.

Toshiba 14in USB LCD Mobile Monitor

JC_

Hotel TV?

Carry a HDMI cable and plug it into the hotel room TV? Or get a laptop with a bigger screen?

Samsung Series 7 Chonos 15.6in Core i7 notebook

JC_
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20/15 Vision Here

...and that was the same for me. A 17" laptop at 1920x1200 was always a bit too small, and 1920x1080 on a 15.6" even worse. The extra pixels are great for all the windows in Visual Studio, but reading the text becomes a struggle!

1600x900 seems pretty good to me, especially with that thin bezel making the laptop look the overall size of a 14 incher.

Windows Phone 8 to get NFC, HD and Skype

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@Graham Wilson

Putting a couple of thousand characters of meta-data in the filename seems like a really bad idea, regardless of what the limit is. If you going to that kind of extreme, you might as well include the entire text of the book in the filename, too.

Eurocom Panther 2.0 Core i7, SLI notebook

JC_

Is there much difference between running multiple SSDs in RAID 0 and just one big SSD by itself? Aren't bigger SSDs faster because the controller can read & write to more chips simultaneously, which is basically the same thing as RAID 0 across multiple smaller drives?

Redmond campaigns for gay marriage rights

JC_
Mushroom

Here's the difference, SoulReaper: regulation is there to prevent the child from dying in the first place.

Yeah, even with regulation, terrible things like children dying do happen, but there's a hell of a lot more incentive to prevent this with rules, inspections and laws than there ever would be with trying to sue after the deed is done.

The libertarian concept of sue-to-make-it-right is just comical, much like libertarians. No, that's not an ad hominem attack, it's just a fact. Anyone that believes in Ayn Rand and libertarianism has a lot of growing up to do.

How, for instance, are the birds that die from an oil-spill supposed to go to court to sue for compensation? Or is that not important because no human was directly harmed?

And how exactly are private arbitrators going to enforce their decisions if not with "violence"? But even worse, this is privatised violence, where he who can summon the most violence decides what is right. If you don't like that, who are you gonna appeal to? Welcome to Somalia.

Debating with libertarians is like debating with flat-earthers and creationists - you guys are a fanatics out of touch with reality.

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@SoulReaper

Yeah, and by that logic we don't need food regulations because people whose children die from eating adulterated baby food can have everything made right by a private arbitrator.

Regulations and laws are 'violence'? Man, you Howard Roark wannabees have a deep victim-complexes. Aren't you supposed to be iron-willed, lantern-jawed, railroad-building lights to the world? Harden up!

JC_
Mushroom

@David D. Hagood

Your idea of marriage is a contract, right? Okay, when it comes to deciding what a contract is, who can make it and how it's enforced, who or what is ultimately responsible for that? It's the state. So how can the state NOT be involved?

You Paulistas can't write a paragraph without contradicting yourselves...

I can understand the appeal of libertarianism to intelligent but misanthropic 15-year old boys because it explains to them what's wrong with the world and why they don't get along with it, but it's pathetic* in anyone else.

*that's pathetic in the sense of "causing or invoking pity"; I feel sorry for you.

CW lets slip Nokia Lumia 900 UK launch date

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Nice There's a Choice

Business black, cyan or orange. There must be a bit of demand for it - most protective cases aren't black, after all - and it's a cheap & easy way to differentiate from the competition.

Microsoft injects Windows 7 mojo into server biz

JC_
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The marketing at Microsoft needs a shakeup because they're incompetent. Here's an example:

In NZ around xmas a TV channel was showing ads for the animated movie 'Coraline' that they were about to broadcast. Anyway, the ad shows a shortened trailer which starts off sweet, a cute little girl enters a dreamland, it all looks nice but slowly starts looking a bit suspect... all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a grown-up character whips out a needle to *SEW BUTTONS ON THE LITTLE GIRLS EYES*. At that moment the TV voice-over breaks in with: "brought to you by Microsoft".

Unbelievable, I don't know if it was passive-aggressive or intentional, but if I was at Microsoft I would have ripped the TV agent's balls off. They paid to have people associate them (on some level) with sewing buttons on little girls eyes, when we all know they don't do anything worse than stomp on puppies ;) So, if a few of these incompetents get the sack, it won't be overdue. Pour encourager les autres.

Phages: The powerful new bio-ammo in superbug war

JC_

"supermarket science tabloid Nature"

New Scientist?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21350-totally-drugresistant-tb-at-large-in-india.html

Microsoft aims at VMware with System Center 2012

JC_

If You Want if all for Free

Then it's probably not too worrying to MS (or any other company) who gets your business. If you're happy with ESXi, then that's swell, stick with it.

OCZ refunds punter for dud drive shortly after El Reg steps in

JC_

Amazon

A Corsair drive we bought died a few months after purchase; a quick contact with Amazon's customer support and a new (properly new, not refurbished) drive arrived first thing the next morning. Can't imagine OCZ jerking around Amazon like they did this lady.

DIY virtual machines: Rigging up at home

JC_

SSD?

This is a key element, right? On our whitebox ESXi server (Vostro 460, 8GB, i5-2500) all is good until multiple VMs access the same HDD, say when applying updates, then it can slow right down to a crawl.

Nexenta trashes Win8 Storage Spaces

JC_
WTF?

RTFA

No, only a quorum of drives needs to be connected for the space to be accessible. Yes, drives can be removed. The system will rebuild/reallocate appropriately. It is redundant (as long as more than one disk is in the system).

Christ almighty, don't you think that MS might have considered all this already?

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