Posts by Rampant Spaniel

How do you drive a supercomputer round a Formula 1 track?

Re: Funny Story

Ah, I just remember hearing that they were a really good source for Ferrari parts having unknowingly outsourced their own part production to Renault.

Re: Funny Story

I didn't know Ferrari made camper vans ;-)

Re: Oooh, you lucky bugger

They were. CFD is extremely useful but like many things in life it shouldn't be your only tool. Even wind tunnels let teams down, a few teams in the past couple of years have had issues with their wind tunnel results not being reflected by the results of parts on the cars.

Only 1 in 5 Americans believe in pure evolution – and that's an upswing

Re: Churches don't really believe in God

Thats just proof even god isn't immune from Lawyers and elf safety.

Re: @COG (was: I believe ...)

but you swines only seem to import wensleydale with cranberries in it, and cheddar should not be rubbery! :-) Cheese should also never be 'squirty'. Most of it is just being used to different tastes and some good natured jesting. American turkey gravy is awesome (i.e. making a rue with turkey juices and adding milk) but I haven't found a brown gravy like bisto.

Salad cream, spring onion and Tuna sandwiches rock!

Re: Slight confusion here

The UN (chap 18 of the universal declaration of human rights), the USA (1st amendment), the EU (EU convention on human rights article 9) all suggest otherwise, but it does vary considerably country to country.

Should there be a right to believe in a god is a fair question. Stating there is no right doesn't reflect the ideals many countries have enshrined in their constitution or laws. Going on population numbers alone I would say that at least half the people in the world do face some restriction on what they believe though.

Re: Slight confusion here

I should add that it occurs to me that there are not hordes of scientists running around Africa beheading people who don't believe in science. Although the whole Pluto \ planet thing got close.

Re: Slight confusion here

Assuming they aren't affecting anyone else, i.e. refusing their kid's blood donations \ medical treatment, encouraging people to explode themselves, marrying 8 year olds or other such extreme examples, whats the harm with what someone believes. If a bunch of people want to get together, sing songs, believe in a supernatural being and follow a belief system that normally encourages fairly decent behavior I don't have a huge problem with that. It's not screwing with anyone elses life.

Now should they decide I HAVE to share their beliefs, then there's an issue. Certain religions (or corruptions of religions if you prefer) do worry me though.

Re: Slight confusion here

The Native Hawaiians have a similar theory on their creation. I don't have a huge issue with creationism being taught alongside evolution, even it being given equal credence and the kids being left to decide for themselves. I do object strongly to being told I must be tolerant of religions and yet be told that religions do not have to be tolerant of any other ideas.

Talk to any scientist about scientific fact, they normally will tell you that a scientific fact is the best current explanation that has been proven and not yet disproved. An explanation that best fits the facts, but not something that they would stake their life on being true, at least for the most part. Ask someone religious about the existence of god etc, normally their belief is 100%, unquestioning. One to me seems more reasonable, but I am more than happy to accept another persons right to believe in god without being ridiculed, I just want the same courtesy extended to not believing in god.

I got in so much trouble at school because I did not believe in god. Apparently it was mandatory, at least to believe in the god they wanted me to. I don't believe I helped myself too much by suggesting their god seemed to be a bit of a cnut and loved to take credit but never responsibility. I don't think it will harm children to allow them to understand different viewpoints, but you cannot force kids to believe something, nor should you abuse your position to promote one answer over another. I cannot prove the existence of god, nor disprove the existence of god. I know what I believe, my kids can make up their own minds. I would rather schools allowed that to happen and brought up a generation of kids that could make a choice rather than be unable to think. There does seem to be a theme with religions not liking education and thinking though.

Re: @COG (was: I believe ...)

Whilst I know my views may be unpopular but as an ex pat exiled to life on the side of a volcano I can attest to the quality of some American beer. The mass produced stuff is absolute fosters but there are quite a few small to medium sized outfits like Dogfish head \ Maui Brewing Company et al who produce some quite tasty beverages.

The situation is not as it was 15 years ago, whilst I do miss the Black Sheep Brewery (sitting with a cold pint or 2 with your feet in the river catching crayfish and watching the cricket is golden) there are at least some quality alternatives available on this side of the globe. Now salad cream, gravy and cheese, that is another matter entirely!

Feeling HORNY? RHINOCEROS INCEST project underway at Cincinnati Zoo

Re: Mankind

Ok so taking some corn plants and selectively breeding them for kernel sweetness or size is comparable to engineering a corn plant (which can absorb formaldehyde naturally) to withstand large quantities of a herbicide which partially degrades to formaldehyde?

I am not anti gmo, i think gm papaya is a great example of gmo done sensibly. Not all gm applications are as wise. I would be ok with GM corn \ soy etc should it be independantly proven that the product is safe and just as nutritious and that the use of the herbicides \ pesticides and fertiliser has no impact on the surrounding ecosystem (soil, water supply and run off to the ocean). Right now the situation is not entirely clear. Lots of studies funded by people with vested interests on both sides. As for why I am not satisfied, what I hear from gmo companies is that their farmers are only using them chemicals in the approved manner 'as it says on the label'. Many of our local wells here are still contaminated from previous farmers who were just doing what it said on the label. I am not unswayable, but unfortunately the is a lack of credibility (to some extent from both sides) so I will err on the side of caution.

The fact companies are lobbying so hard to avoid having to label gm products does worry me. Whats to hide? I just want to be able to make an informed choice. Others can then be free to make their own choices either way.

Re: Mankind

Sorry just for clarification, are you comparing the evolution of wheat by deliberate and accidental breeding and selection to inserting genes to allow a tolerance to large quantities of herbicides and pesticides?

Re: Dave says...

*Unless you happen to be an MP in which case we assume you must be doing 'research' so carry on and here are some other search terms we blocked ....

Burger-rage horse dumps on McDonald's: Rider saddled with fat fine

Re: @Shagbag

At which point it was re-branded "enriched, decontaminated, textually enhanced beef" and buying recommenced. Or perhaps I'm just a little too cynical.

Re: Does anyone know

Who was whining?? I merely stated an observation. I apologize for not ordering as much as your obsesness does.

Re: Does anyone know

I haven't a clue as to why, perhaps someone fell over and was crushed under their harley once and there was a lawsuit. I was refused service at a drive though on my bike (just wanted a drink as it was a hot day). Odd but not a problem, other companies don't have an issue with it.

UK parliament presses for pardon for Alan Turing

I am in no way trying to airbrush history, I just believe that we should exonerate those convicted, especially those still alive. I also argued it was wrong to change the name of the dog in the remake of Dambusters, we shouldn't pretend things didn't happen, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and make them right. Especially if there are still people affected by it alive, as there are.

As for sandals and trees, it seems it reminds them of their leader's defeats in Africa and Russia.

So we should never apologise for or fix anything? How about to the people who are still alive with criminal records due to this 'law'. Turing was just one man convicted. There are more that are still alive. I agree it shouldn't be an exercise in 'white guilt' but we shouldn't leave people living with a criminal conviction for this.

How about we do something constructive like look at how we deal with repealing laws and part of that could include the automatic exoneration under certain circumstances?

Re: Turing is a national hero ... but I don't agree

I agree with your sentiment about the PR value of this, hence it being a pardon for one person and not an exoneration for everyone convicted.

It does however bring up an interesting point, should we not do it just because their motives are questionable (if that were the case they would never do anything, oh wait... ). I think that it would be a priority to consider those people living with a criminal conviction for an unjust law. If their action redressed that then I think it would be less of a token gesture.

He and everyone, dead or alive, convicted under section 11 for homosexual activity needs a full exoneration and apology.

The law was wrong, it was repealed because it was wrong, so why are the convictions valid? This would take next to no time to remedy, just do it. How can we hold ourselves up to the rest of the world as paragons of human rights and criticize other countries when we have people with a criminal record because of where they like to park their bike.

UK discovers Huawei UK staff auditing Huawei kit: Govt orders probe

Re: General Principles

To be fair we all but know those vulnerabilities exist in all mainstream kit. The US and Canada already admitted sending the Ruskies some doctored SCADA software. Admittedly it was doctored to make stuff go kaboom, but if we have not been sending them dodgy kit for decades it begs the question, why not?

Seriously, somebody asked them to audit their own gear??

That gear will have intentional and unintentional vulnerabilities, just like cisco, juniper, ericsson etc. They might not be blatant backdoors, but that kit will have more back doors than Harewood house. It's not the gear we have been flogging China for years hasn't. Why should we expect them to have higher standards than ourselves.

Ex-prez Carter: 'America has no functioning democracy' with PRISM

Re: Irony?

Ah yes, in the same way the Japanese conduct 'scientific whaling' ? :-)

Irony?

The US submarine named after Carter is alledged to be used by the NSA for 'listening' to undersea cables.

The facts on Trident 'cuts': What the Lib Dems want is disarmament

Given the amount of money pissed up the wall we should welcome something that will actually put some of the money in workers pockets.

It pains me greatly yo admit it, but it would seem for once they have done the right thing and at least looked at what different options will cost. I do not think we are in a situation where we want to be without a nuclear option, at least not yet (hopefully one day).

Compared to all the twatting around over the aircraft carrier(s), that launch mechanism, what planes they will have and if we are going to timeshare with the french, actually sitting down and making an informed decision is preferable. Ok the cost is likely to at least double before we get the subs but that would apply to each option anyway. The only other vaguely sensible option could be a pan european designed sub and missile package but after the eurofighter that doesn't smell too good.

Man sues Apple for allowing him to become addicted to porn

I'm sure sueing Apple and getting so much publicity won't impact his chances of finding love in the future ;-) Isn't this termed 'doing a mosley'.

Why does it always seem to be lawyers who start these insane suits. This is just further proof that ambulance chasing vampires need the chickenwire treatment.

I have the highest respect for the Constitution of the United States, but it sorely lacks some amendedments pertaining to our responsibilities. Any sane legal system would throw this out and sue him for wasting the courts time. If ever there were an example of malicious and baseless litigation this is it. Is a car company responsible for you speeding or getting a parking ticket? Send him off to a Chinese reeducation camp.

Screw it, says NSA leaker Snowden: I'm applying for asylum in Russia

Could snowdon not sail to south america? this would avoid airspace issues, surely onenof those countries has a frigate they can send?

JPL wants to fire a laser at MARS!

Firing lasers at another planet, what couldnpossibly go wrong? :)

Just out of curiosity, why do we need to know that distance with such accuracy, especially given that it will vary anyway? I'm not trying to piss on their chips but this unlikely to be cheap. Are they going to normalise the distance, i.e. sealevel on earth to 'sealevel' on mars or core to core, and measuee asbrhe planets are closest? I'm all for science for sciences sake, just curious.

Microsoft biz heads slash makes Ballmer look like dead STEVE JOBS

Re: In the process of this discussion

Yeah where is he? It's been vaguely sane lately! Did the puncture repair kit for Rachel arrive?

Europe: OK, we'll 'backload' carbon emissions - but we'd better not lose big biz

Re: Climate change??

Current thinking is that there are a variety of factors involved which dictate the severity and duration of different phases. One of the most significant factors (at least in theory as nothing is proven) is plate tectonics. Solar intensity, atmospheric composition and deviations in the earths spin alledgedly also play significant parts.

We really don't know for sure. What we do know is that it is highly unlikely to be a single factor. Immediately stopping all co2 release and starting a huge co2 scrubbing scheme would not stop climate change, it may affect it but actually stopping climate change is unlikely to be possible.

What we really should be doing is finding out more about what is occuring, implement 'low hanging fruit' schemes that buy us time and look at ways we can mitigate the effects of warming \ cooling. It may be something we have to live with even if we go swampy to the max.

Is any of this actually being used to pay for real research into the validity of climate change. Actual unbiased, non industry funded, non politically motivated science by actual scientists rather than statisticians?

Personally my hunch is that there is a natural cycle that we 'may' be having some impact on. The problem is that most of the researchers seem to be doing a great job of discrediting themselves (climategate). The thing is I recognise that my opinion is a hunch, there seem to be a lot of people very certain of the answer based on very little evidence. The reason actual evidence is hard to come by is we cannot have 6 different earths under different conditions and watch them through a few climatic cycles to see. We have to look at lots of smaller systems and try and build a bigger picture, the problem there being the probability of assumptions affecting the outcome.

It really isn't a simple situation. I think it would be wise to invest significantly in advancing our power generation, cheaper and cleaner nuclear, nuclear reprocessing, nuclear fusion, renewables where they are genuinely financially viable etc. Thats just long term common sense, there will be a point where fossil fuel pricing makes them prohibitive and it would be nice if we had the answers to sell people. There is also the possibility that we may have to change the way we live, we may be making the planet a less hositable place for us to live. Whilst I'm not about to chain myself to a tree I recognise it is a possibility and something we need an answer to. The carbon trading scheme is absolute mountain oysters. The sooner we turn off the loons in the EU the better. Europe is struggling with competitiveness, with recovering from a fairly significant financial disaster which highlighted a lot of weaknesses in some countries economy. Adding a significant tax on business at this time whilst you smugly collect a taxpayer funded huge salary is almost as dispicable as my spelling. Wrong answer, wrong time and does little to actually address the problem. Get a real answer and you will get real support.

Star Wars missile intercept fails for fifth year running

Re: Use the force

Like the 'Israeli' missile shield? To be fair they seem to be using the opposite tacticans suggesting it works better than in does.

You could be right, I certainly don't trust all I'm told. However I believe the Russians would be watching the tests and could potentially cry foul.

Re: Use the force

Simples, just 'leak' a design for an innertial guidance system to the norks which has a transponder built in and suddenly the system stands a chance of working. Alternatively we can continue to spend beeelllions more on it in the hope it will work.

I agree that this would be very important if it were to work, but there must be some limit on the spending, at least where you go lets wait 5-10 years and see if technology improves enough to make it more likely to work. It's a decent idea, it was sensible to try, but shouldn't we be seeing better results by now?

UK Post Office admits false accusations after computer system cockup

Re: This is just getting ....

A friend had money stopped from his wages to pay child support, for his kid that he lived with. He was still married and living with his wife and his daughter. God only know where they got the idea he needed to pay child support. Not that the Mrs ever saw any of the payments either. You think when everyones address matched it might have caused an alarm to go off. When they were finally believed they were told no refund was possible. Last time I dared ask it was in the hands of a solicitor.

The problem with large systems, especially ones are that genuinely abused, is that people just assume they cannot make a mistake. When they do make a mistake it's a monsterous ball ache to ever be believed and forget restitution or compensation, especially with the guberment.

Re: New Weasel Words

Well said. Yes the prosecution was for fraud but under the circumstances etc..

The response from the PO defies belief. The correct response is a humble and sincere apology, assisting not only in making whole those affected but ensuring they get free legal assistance to attempt to clear their names and significant compensation and support. This is not a time to listen to your in house ambulance chasers. You haven't just cost people a bit of money, you have in some cases created a situation that was impossible to deal with and that wrecked their lives. The very least you can do is sort that out and pay for it out of your huge pension fund \ bonus pot. The chief exec of royal fail has (ms greene) had nearly a million in bonuses alone over the past two years on top of a salary of nearly half a million a year, can we say clawback? There is no way this should be paid for by staff or consumers.

Snowden: US and Israel did create Stuxnet attack code

A history of introducing dodgy technology to the soviets?

That would be Windows Vista? To be fair I'm sure the Japanese sent them far worse, Canon Imagebrowser Ex springs to mind.

Hanslope Park: Home of Britain’s ‘real-life Q division’

I wonder if this place made the famous wifi spy rock?

Going lo-tech to avoid NSA snooping? Unlucky - they read snailmail too

Re: hmm ...

The senders address is very frequently on the front of American mail, just a cultural difference :-)

As for the marketers mentioned above, I found stuffing the return paid envelopes they send full of free newspapers or taping them to a shoebox with a rock or two in it benefits the post office and your sanity greatly. Our postie loves it, she says the shoeboxes make usps about 40 bucks each in postage that the junk mailers have to pay. Not sure if this is legal in the UK though.

ULTRASONIC BOLLOCK BLASTERS help Hawkmoth battle The Bat

Re: Nutsong

If you can get anyone to buy a recording of a moth having a tommy tank I will be impressed! Get it on itunes and see how many sales you get.

Germans brew up a right Sh*tstorm

Didn't English evolve from a Germanic language anyway? So this is just it coming full circle :-)

I worked for a while with someone who spoke fluent Urdu and it they would be talking to a friend on the phone and every so often an 'English' word or phrase would be used like VISA card or taxi or 'dirty weekend' which had me cracking up. Languages are evolving, especially in a multicultural environment. Hawaiian has many borrowed words (a practice some people dislike, Japan was recently in the news re this) where they are roughly phonetically translated. As with anything there are people who frown on the practice, most kupuna dole out a slap to the head for using borrowed words, but in an illiterative language they are often quicker to use.

Olympus trio escape jail but firm fined £4.6 MEEELION

Too rich and too well connected, they know too much about what others are up to. Not a shock but a travesty.

French snooping as deep as PRISM: Le Monde

Not exactly a shock. You spy on my back and I'll spy on yours and there is less of a constitutional issue. Amusing how the countries that were all indignant about the US spying on them all have their own little operations. I don't condone it, but even the folks without tinfoil hats have pretty much concluded that everything was monitored by someone.

Modern-day Frankenstein invents CURE for BEHEADING

Re: Is it April 1st?

Head transplants, or more specifically this research, is not nonsense. It is part of a larger field of research. In isolation the research has limited use, but work is progressing in finding answers to all the issues involved with spinal repair and the associated proceedures that would benefit from it. Consider if this research hasn't been done and we did find a method for repairing spinal damage (which even a jaded old cynic like myself believes will happen and within my lifetime), we would then need to do this research anyway.

The days of one smart feller sitting down with a pen and fixing an entire problem are mostly long gone. Most problems are solved by being broken into smaller problems, each being worked on by different researchers. Hopefully they are all sucessful and the cumulative efforts solve several large problems.

This team deserves credit, they took on a project that could have ended their careers just by suggesting they do the research. Hi I want to do head transplants usually sets of the nutter alarms, and we all know how public opinion responds to stuff like this. Not only were they crazy enough to try but it looks like they have figured out an important part of a bigger problem.

Re: Spinal repairs

iirc when communication between the brain and body is severed you end up with a significantly shorter lifespan for many reasons. It's great they are looking at this as many people, even with the ability to repair spinal cord damage (which we don't realistically have as a surgical option yet) will not help everyone. At least now, when our ability to fully repair cord damage becomes an option we will have the rest of the knowledge we need to help people.

It's tempting to poke holes, it's easy to do so, but we have so much we don't know and work like this, however impractical it may seem, is very important as it forms part of a bigger picture and as we slowly fill in the gaps we begin to be able to beat previously insurmountable problems. I remember talking with professors at college maybe 15 years ago and they were sure we couldn't beat AIDS or Diabetes. As it stands we are damn close to a practical cure for AIDS, we have a workable treatment for AIDS and we can actually cure type 2 Diabetes. I'm sure my grandkids will laugh at how primitive things were in 'our day', but it's very reassuring to know we have people batshit crazy enough to take on something as potentially unpopular and possibly career ending as head transplants, yet talented enough to make progress. How many of our soldiers who fell victims of ied's could use this treatment?

Feds charge man in $1m 'Dr Evil' scam to blackmail Mitt Romney

Re: Rand's grasp of human nature was uncanny

Ah so nice to see the TPers have changed their thoughts on abortion and gay rights, or were they just unaware that Rand supported abortion and gay rights? ;) Don't tell me they just watched Atlas Shrugged and jumped on objectivism without actually understanding the philosophy?

Rand's ideals were the product of her youth and the affect of the October revolution on her life. I really cannot say that I would think much differently had I grown up under the same circumstances. That would not make me (or her) entirely right though. Some parts of Ayn's thinking do make sense, they are rooted roughly in sense, that capitalism recognizes individual rights whereas socialism frequently overlooks them (her actual thoughts were more frank), however they fail to truly take into the double edged sword of human nature. In capitalism man's natural greed is a driving force, but it also prohibits natural safeguards such as not destroying a resource for future generations. Having truly unregulated capitalism is great until it goes to shit. Which it will because we have evolved over time to have a healthy greed \ self preservation instinct, we as a whole will naturally opt to have more now rather than make a choice which fosters sustainability.

Rand's basic concepts around privatizing nearly everything and removing any kind of social assistance or insurance programs would actually result in recreating the situation that she experienced in her youth. It would result in greater disparity in wealth than we have even now, which would result in unrest which over time would result in regime change.

Rand was clever, I in no way think she was unintelligent (bordering on crazy perhaps, maybe fanatical is a better term), but I think she was a product of her experiences like all of us. There are things we can learn from her thoughts, but blinding accepting a partial interpretation of them because you think you will pay less tax is short sighted. We absolutely do have to respect individuals rights more, we certainly have to hold public officials to better account for their actions and mistakes. Viewing any kind of charity as almost a crime, viewing any kind of social insurance program as an abomination and unnatural (capitalism does not view insurance as unnatural, they view it as a source of profit) frankly begins to remove the reasons we live together as society. The very reason is strength in numbers, shared burden, mutual protection etc.

Watching Tea party folks stand up and advocate an ideology they do not seem to understand and effectively supporting things like abortion, gay rights, a considerably smaller military, the end of agricultural assistance, the end of fema etc. Remember Rand said she thought homosexuality was disgusting, but said she would fight for laws to prevent any kind of discrimination privately or publicly against people based on who they loved. This is one area certain people forget, you have to be able to find a way to support things you do not agree with if opposing them means contravening your core beliefs.

US State Department coughs up $630k for Facebook Likes

Re: Blocking

I agree, although using them for a real life game of angry birds has potential. I'll get started on the 15 ft tall slingshot if you can round up some uncivil servants. Bonus points for getting them in the volcano.

Re: Sue the dimwit for fiduciary mismanagment, or bust her on Grand Larceny charges!

Crazy isn't it.

For the record she would likely also be excluded from access to public housing and some other benefits if convicted. This really does need to go to trial. People cannot waste taxes without there being any recourse. The Hawaii super ferry was a prime example. At least that served a tangible purpose even if it was done in the worst manner possible. The problem is we have virtually no recourse.

Bolivian president's jet grounded so officials can look for Snowden

Re: @Rampant Spaniel - More to come?

Thanks! About twice as funny as I remember it.

Re: More to come?

I'm sure theres a comedy sketch in that secret hideout \ retirement home one. Wasn't there a python sketch about a bunch of Nazi leaders in a brighton b&b or am I going senile?