* Posts by gloucester

46 publicly visible posts • joined 2 May 2012

No longer a planet and left out in the cold, Pluto, it turns out, may have had hot beginnings

gloucester

Re: It'll be a planet again

If I understand correctly (an increasingly rare event these days), 'the moon' was a product of the earth clearing its orbit. Or a failed attempt of same by a suddenly former possibly planet.

We beg, implore and beseech thee. Stop reusing the same damn password everywhere

gloucester

Re: In other news....

@AndyNom

Perhaps just change providers next year. Probably won't solve the password thing but may save you a bit as they seem to always shaft us on renewal (which reminds me...).

US government upends critical spying case with new denial

gloucester

Pond logic Logic pond

So US gov says we've got a big database but it's ok coz we were looking for foreigners, and we've got it now so we can search what we want. (Unless they lose this case possibly.)

Was the latest UK line not that, well yes obviously we have this big database, but it doesn't really count unless we bother to search it?

Glad IANAL.

Digital version of Universal Credit still pricey, wobbly, failing to deliver – MPs

gloucester

Re: Er dont they already have a system they could use

Yes, but Verify is the new thing don't y'know (or a quarter-ish thereof in this case).

Ever wondered why the universe only has black holes in S or XXXL? No? Boffins have an answer

gloucester
Meh

Rare?

Did I read that wrong or was the implication not that the middle-sized ones were merely considerably harder to detect, rather than provably rare?

Boy, 12, gets €100k bill from Google after confusing Adwords with Adsense

gloucester

Re: Technically....

According to the beeb, the kid used his own account that his parents had set him up for savings.

200TB proof cracks puzzler

gloucester
Pint

@Timmay

Less than one probably by the time I get back from the pub.

Sometimes it comes back again.

Vinyl LPs to top 3 million sales in Blighty this year

gloucester

Soup?

"... by miso aficionados like Jack White."

I was previously unaware he appreciated soy-based flavourings so much.

Or did you mean muso?

Health Secretary promises NHS £4.2bn to go 'digital'

gloucester

Astral projection app?

"By 2020, 25 per cent of all patients with long-term conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer will be able to monitor their health remotely, said Hunt."

Now I can see how ones health might be monitored remotely by others, but for someone to montor their own health remotely surely needs some kind of astral projection app (or seriously trippy medication).

Seems about as likely as nothing going at all wrong with young Berkley'sJeremy's latest utterances.

New Horizons: Pluto? Been there, done that – now for something 6.4 billion km away

gloucester

Not much of a difference?

"Thursday's burn changed the probe's speed by about 10 meters per second, and by the time the fourth is finished the probe will be going an extra 57 meters per second in the right direction.

That's not much, considering the probe is travelling at 52,304 kilometers per hour, or 0.4846 per cent of the maximum velocity of a sheep in a vacuum. Even so, its next trip will take four years and the probe will flash past 2014 MU69 on New Year's Day 2019, about the time most of us are getting over our hangovers."

57m/s may not be much, but it may be the difference between reaching the target and being about four and a half days late.

Hurrah! Doctor Who brings us a bootstrap paradox treat in Before the Flood

gloucester

Seen before?

So, the doctor knows he can/should kill the dementor<del-w>fisher king because he knows he's already done it? Is that it?

Safe harbour ruling: RELAX, Facebook and Google will be FINE!

gloucester
Stop

How Long?

"With today’s verdict it is clear that these transfers were in breach of the fundamental right to data protection," added Albrecht. "It is now up to the Commission and the Irish data protection commissioner to immediately move to prevent any further data transfers to the US in the framework of Safe Harbor.”

Not precisely Jan Philipp, if I understand the judge correctly; the higher court (I think there was another in between somewhere) indicated that "safe harbour" shouldn't be used as reason not to consider potential breaches, so the Irish DPC should now consider such potential abuse (and perhaps prevent further transfers as part of any remedy). Not quite so cut and dried.

Anyone taking bets on how long the Irish DPC will take to make such consideration?

Online pizza order saves woman and children from knife-wielding kidnapper

gloucester

Re: Pizza saves lives

@thecowking: thanks, now I've got that b****y theme song stuck in my head.

iPhone case uses phone's OWN SIGNAL to charge it (forever, presumably)

gloucester

30% of 30% is?

@Ed: Surely that 30% recoup could only be re-applied to itself, not the whole initial 100% charge, so 30% of 30% is 9%, 30% of a further 9% is 2.7%, etc. The total tending to c. 142.857% (i.e. 42 odd % increase in charge time).

I suspect though the harvesting isn't that efficient, so the 30% quoted is the overall increase, so efficiency of 23 odd percent. Still high but perpetual motion (or kittehz) it isn't.

So how should we tax these BASTARD COMPANIES, then?

gloucester

Re: Individual taxes

Make that "All taxes are paid by human beings eventually" Tim and I'd agree.

SUPERVOLCANIC MAGMA reservoir BUBBLING under Yellowstone Park

gloucester

Re: But how many Titanics would it fill?

If my calculations are correct that would be the entirety of the USA under about sixteen feet nine inches, so c. 5100mm. Not that it would be so evenly spread of course.

Boris Johnson backs trade union campaign to ungag civil servants

gloucester

Ministers still so

I believe that ministers of HMG, including Mad Frankie, are still such until the leader of a new government goes for tea with HM in May, they are just no longer members (of parliament, because it has been disolved).

Jailed Brit con phishes prison, gets bail

gloucester

According to Chambers harbour is transitive when giving but not when taking, which would make the lawyer's phrasing unusual but syntactically correct.

harbour 4 intrans to take shelter.

ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon herebeorg from here army + beorg protection.

Part of CAP IT system may be scrapped after digital fail – MPs

gloucester
Joke

Digital Savings

So, 350M wasted last time, 154M wasted this time.

That's a 196 million saving that the Cabinet Office can claim as a Digi-success then!

(Unless they rack up more EU fines this go of course.)

Health & Safety is the responsibility of Connor's long-suffering girlfriend

gloucester

@Mike Smith:

Since your options A-D as listed include their predecessor already, E would be logically equivalent to D, unless you are repeating actions, in which case presumably because:

A - multiple handlers required for nested code;

B - you're riled, hence more expletives;

C - the development partner is doubly responsible, plus deniability defence: "after the initial accident I thought a second go might act as CPR your honour".

Quantum computers have failed. So now for the science

gloucester

Re: 4 pages ?!

Sticking Print/ between the .co.uk/ and the year works too:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Print/2015/03/09/quantum_computers_fail/

I'd still rather have the button back though.

The Shock of the New: The Register redesign update 4

gloucester

Re: Time posted, not elapsed time please.

Agree. You get the proper times back by disabling Javascript though (currently).

gloucester

Re: Still no Print link?

@Joseph Eoff: have an up-vote.

Putting: Print/ in the URL before the 2014 (or 2015 as soon to be) also seems to do the trick FWIW.

E.g. http://www.theregister.co.uk/Print/2014/12/19/the_register_redesign_update_4/

Careful - your helmet might get squashed by a Volvo

gloucester

Re: What a stupid fucking idea....

"The odd thing is that many motorists seem to have difficulty seeing cyclists who do have lights, even though they can spot hundreds without lights."

Round here (semi-rural) it sems to be de-rigeur to wear (rear) lights, but *blinking* perhaps two at different heights, preferably differently phased for maximum confusion of depth perception: oh, what's that, oh it's a lorry turning the bend half a mile away, of **** is it a cycle at 100 yards, no 10! *swerve*.

It's actually worse when they're bright ones, 'cause then retina non-adaption means the (usually also darkly attired) cyclists disappear completely every so often.

El Reg Redesign - leave your comment here.

gloucester
Unhappy

Better without Javascript, but still worse than before

Well I've moved the main site from allowed to forbidden in NoScript and that helps (no stupid menu pop-ups in articles, and actual article post times on the front page rather than '1 day ago'), but still way way too much white everywhere, plus the massive pic at the top of every article.

Tried AdBlocking the social crap buttons to prevent accidental clickage, which removed the twit, FB and G+ icons but left the coloured circles they sit upon; the ex-twit and ex-G+ circles still seem to be active links unfortunately, though not the FB one.

Please roll this back.

GOD particle MAY NOT BE GOD particle: Scientists in shock claim

gloucester

Re: Science marches on then stubs its TOE

@MacroRodent: ' Shouldn't you in this case take the simpler theory, the one with less "epicycles"? '

I agree, they should apply Occam's Quasar.

(I know, I know, but it would be a source of high-energy beams.)

Trickle-down economics works: SpaceShipTwo is a prime example

gloucester
Go

Re: Space isn't orbit

To extend ~Sparticus's argument, if SS2 works, could someone not triple-deck the piggy-backing concept?

Normal flight -> upper atmos/sub-orbital -> hop to orbit

To mangle a Pratchett line, it'd be pigs all the way, erm, up.

New GCHQ spymaster: US tech giants are 'command and control networks for terror'

gloucester

Re: Surveil?!?

According to Chambers, survey and surveillance come from different latin via french roots.

survey: 14c: from French surveoir, from Latin videre to see.

surveillance: 19c: French, from veiller, from Latin vigilare to watch.

Kill off SSL 3.0 NOW: HTTPS savaged by vicious POODLE

gloucester

Re: From ISC

Win 7 Firefox ESR 24.8.1 Not vulnerable.

IE10 didn't get poodle or terrier.

Just TWO climate committee MPs contradict IPCC: The two with SCIENCE degrees

gloucester

Re: The heat is on?

To maintain a stable average over fifteen years some of those fifteen years must have been rather colder than the hottest ones. That does not mean that the average over this fifteen years is not hotter than a period of fifteen years starting say 65 or 165 years previously though.

That the CO2 input has increased without a linear increase in temperature out may indicate there are additional factors to consider; there are probably very many, and effort should be (and I believe is being) put into investigating what and how important they might be.

Given however that:

a) temperatures seem likely to increase further (from whatever cause),

then perhaps corresponding effort needs to be put into:

b) quantifying the resultant effects,

and if these are significantly negative,

c) considering whether prevention is (still) possible,

and if that is unlikely/costly/would take too long anyway,

d) how to mitigate the damaging effects.

My problem with "the GCC debate" is that I see far too much bickering from all sides about a) and b), a one-sided response about c) that seems unlikely to stop most of b) anyway, and next to dick-all about d). *sigh*

Oh and if we do d) and a) doesn't happen, so what, we're at least likely to have some nice sea defences to walk on, or whizzy water distribution tech, or have kept some peeps in work in the meantime, or ...

No such luck: Apple, Samsung say peace talks are off – way off

gloucester

Re: And the winners are...

@Vic: You've not factored in the stress caused by knowing each day that once you get up you'll have to choose which one to drive.

Feature-phones aren't dead, Moto – oldsters still need them

gloucester

Re: It's not just the oldies who like this sort of thing.

"Ever tried using a touchscreen outdoors in the middle of a hailstorm, or while riding a horse?"

Do the no-texting-while-driving laws apply to riders on a public road?

Europe's shock Google privacy ruling: The end of history? Don't be daft

gloucester

"Mr. Gonzalez has won this ruling for Google to remove the links to him"

Isn't the ruling merely saying that he can take them back to a lower court or agency (Spanish Data Protection Agency in this case) to re-assess?

I think his claim against the paper hosting the story being linked to had already been rejected, as may still happen with his against Google.

Look out, bankers! It's Lily Cole and her (Brit taxpayer-funded) WISH-PRINTING ATM

gloucester
Stop

What?

I for one welcome our new supercranially-enhanced felinequoid overlords.

Did a date calculation bug just cost hard-up Co-op Bank £110m?

gloucester
Pint

Post?

Could be the post room.

"Ok guys it's beer-of-clock, we'll send these on Monday."

Amazon wants me to WEAR NAPPIES?! But I'm a 40-something MAN

gloucester

Re: I find that nappies

Or, if you bother to read the second definition that a 5 second dictionary search brings up:

staunch2 verb (staunches, staunched, staunching) to stop the flow of (something, such as blood from a wound, information, gossip, etc).

ETYMOLOGY: 13c: from French estanchier.

Whitehall and Microsoft negotiate NHS Windows XP hacker survival plan

gloucester
Meh

Wide open?

"The Reg found that PCs at hospitals, GPs and trusts across Great Britain will miss the early April deadline and therefore be wide open to attack."

If all million plus boxes are fully patched and security fixed currently then come April they will become increasingly open to attack by new exploits. If some significant number aren't currently fully patched anyway, then the increased level of opening could be arguable.

Suddenly going in April from safe to "wide open", no.

Tell us we're all doomed, MPs beg climate scientists

gloucester
Pirate

Lower effects of aerosols

From the article linked to by Nicholas Lewis:

"In particular, between since the Fourth Assessment Report of 2007 (AR4) and AR5, there has been a major reduction in the IPCC’s best estimate of how strong the effect – the ‘forcing’ – of atmospheric pollution (aerosols) is."

Does this mean that "Cloud Ships" won't work?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/5987229/Cloud-ship-scheme-to-deflect-the-suns-rays-is-favourite-to-cut-global-warming.html

Shame. I liked that idea. Guess we'll have to paint all rooves white instead.

Pirate icon just in case the ships ever get built anyway.

London Underground cleaners to refuse fingerprint clock-on

gloucester

Re: Privatisation...

Since these workers are on London Living wage of 8-quid-odd an hour, at 35 hours a week how do you reach a £45K salary pray?

And as the article states, they aren't striking, just not using the new scanners. Whatever the other merits of the case that action doesn't seem inappropriate.

Ad man: Mozilla 'radicals' and 'extremists' want to wreck internet economy

gloucester

Re: No Cookies Please, We're British

First thing I do with a new browser is unset acceptance of third-party cookies. I've never had that stop me ordering anything on line. (NoScript has when the site calls in things that aren't actually on the calling page for card validation, but that is different; annoying, but different.)

WE CAN still be BETTER than Germany on broadband, says Ofcom

gloucester
FAIL

A DCMS spokesman told us that his department's plans wouldn't be affected by the budget cut as it hadn't "developed any future broadband plans on the assumption that [the €9.2bn CEF funding] would go ahead"

Is it going to develop some plans now that it isn't going ahead?

SpaceX satellite burns up on re-entry after Falcon FAIL

gloucester
Joke

Re-entry

"... and I can't say as I can be described as having 'entered it' at any point."

You weren't born?

Renewables good for 80 per cent of US demand by 2050

gloucester

Re: $$$

Actually I think the gotcha may be the 'direct' cost bit. I.e. once the indirect costs of replacing the grid and adding storage of some form are factored out, the other costs become comparable? Not managed to wade far enough through the PDFs to find that though.

How politicians could end droughts forever But they don't want to

gloucester

Re: And once you have desalinated this water at sea level ...

Just perhaps this *is* something that Wind Power, which otherwise has supply/demand issues, might be good for? I think one of the other posts had it that running the desalination plant would only amount to c. 0.3% of electricity load, so minimal affect at smoothing generation peaks. When not taken out of the rivers, water currently comes from groundwater (by definition down), or reservoirs (often up); couldn't peak wind pump water from ground to hill-side, while on windless days the desalination plant re-fed the groundwater? The figures still might not work out right of course.