Posts by andy k O'Croydon

Newly discovered millipede earns its name by being the first to walk on one thousand legs

Think like a millipede

"She's got legs up to here!"

Shocking: UK electricity tariffs are among world's most expensive

Re: Electric should be cheaper, gas more expensive

Unless you recycle it in fast burner reactors, which sorts out the energy problem and the nuclear waste problem.

Remember when UK watchdog spent a bunch of cash with Google warning people about ad scams ... on Google?

"...quizzed about economic crime by MPs..."

Shame we don't see more of that happening.

Ex-health secretary said 'vast majority' were 'onside' with GP data grab. Consumer champion Which? reckons 20 million don't even know what it is

Update to my original post. To their credit, NHS Digital did reply quickly to my email. However,it was along the lines of, "No we don't have a list but I'm sure they won't sell your details on," along with a link to a register of previous companies with whom they have shared data.

My experience with this:

Managed to find a link to opt out which was texted to me by my GP after I specifically requested to opt out. Here is the link for the "National" opt out. There's a "Type1" one as well which is a paper form you have to fill in with your GP but i think that's being scrapped in favour of the national one (I'd check that, don't take my word for it).

After this I followed up with some questions to [e-mail] which was the provided enquiry link, firstly to verify that I'd been removed, then these follow-ups:

"

- please could you provide information regarding how the GPDPR programme complies with GDPR legislation, because the sharing of personal data of (effectively) the population of the UK without express permission seems, on the surface (to my limited legal understanding), to be illegal.

- could you provide a list of to whom my data matters; that is to say, a list of the third parties that my data would have been passed onto if I had approved this.

"

They sent back a word doc with links to this page, which does go into how it fits in with GDPR ("it's in the national interest so we don't need your permission (and it's only England, not UK)") and this page. They also said: "For more information, please contact your GP or local authority."

I've resent this question:

"

- please can you provide a specific list of the companies that data will be shared with. This way they can be held accountable if any data goes missing and it will ensure that they are under scrutiny not to sell on any data. It seems that this sort of information is unlikely to be held by my GP or local authority as this is clearly a strategic decision.

"

I'm not expecting a response but I can update anyone if they care.

Brain-computer interface researchers warn of a 'bleak' cyberpunk future – unless we tread carefully

Re: As much as I'm sure this BCI stuff is cool...

I'm of a similar opinion. When I first heard about the idea years ago I thought it would be an awesome way to improve my brain, and I couldn't wait to sign up.

Unlike yourself, I think the people making it are likely to be intelligent, hard-working and fascinated by pushing the boundaries of what's possible. The people I don't trust are the ones who want to make money out of it. The internet seems to be a good analogue of this, built by people looking to connect ideas and share research (yes, maybe not all of them but I'm sure a lot of the engineers on the ground were), but then look what happened when people wanted to start making money off it.

So if this stuff is ever released, I think I'll stick to enhancing my intelligence the old-fashioned way, by learning more (old-skool! Hence icon).

I appreciate as others have stated that for those with limited mobility this could be a life-changer, but I'd be wary about what "diagnostics" and "monitoring" would be done on the sly which the user agreed to as part of a long, unintelligible EULA.

Dog eats UK government's Hydrogen Strategy homework just as summer recess arrives

Re: Where does the hydrogen come from?

Nuclear cogeneration would definitely be a majorly beneficial source, seeing as it can be done concurrently with electricity production.

Related report for those interested - Missing Link to a Liveable Climate: How Hydrogen-Enabled Synthetic Fuels Can Help Deliver the Paris Goals. Pg 55 gives a good indication of the spatial requirements for the predicted amount of energy.

How to keep your enterprise up to date by deploying the very latest malware

Re: Been there - on a Nuclear Power Plant

"...what to do with the waste, and what happens to the waste while we're trying to figure out what to do with it."

You do the same thing as every other kind of waste, you recycle it.

11-year-old graduate announces plans to achieve immortality by 'replacing body parts with mechanical parts'

Re: Just because they called Dr. Frankenstein crazy

When I was growing up and my parents repeatedly played a tape in the car that featured Peter Sarstedt's Where Do You Go To My Lovely, I always took that as a literal interpretation.

Snakes on a Plane meets The Simpsons as airline creates ‘whacker’ to scare reptiles away from parked A380s

Presumably they'll only do this once a year though? (On their hallowed snake skull-cracking day.)

43 years and 14 billion miles later, Voyager 1 still crunching data to reveal secrets of the interstellar medium

So it's powered by nuclear decay but it isn't nuclear technology? Interesting perspective.

Accidentally wiped an app's directory? Hey, just play the 'unscheduled maintenance' card. Now you're a hero

Re: short cuts can be bad for your health

I assumed this was going to end in an error where E was meant to be typed but ER was by accident, by virtue of those letters being adjacent to each other on the keyboard. Another good reason to make your suggested change. (Icon is keyboard related.)

Visual Basic 6 returns: You've been a good developer all year. You have social distanced, you have helped your mom. Here's your reward

Re: Too true

A lot of castles and cathedrals are still standing. So are a couple of pyramids.

Just one in 5 Googlers plan to swerve the office permanently after COVID-19

Googlers?

Shirley they would be Oompa Loompas, to remain consistent with El Reg nomenclature. Or has this been addressed in previous articles?

Don't cross the team tasked with policing the surfing habits of California's teens

Re: Unions... double edged sword.

I'd avoid the DLR then. Personally I like it because you can sit at the front and pretend you're driving. Yes, I am legally classed as an adult. And yes, pretending to drive includes miming a steering wheel, despite being on rails.

Rookie's code couldn't have been so terrible that it made a supermarket spontaneously combust... right?

Re: Typo? Or me being dense?

That's not boring. I'd say it's pretty cool.

We need a 20MW 20,000-GPU-strong machine-learning supercomputer to build EU's planned digital twin of Earth

Re: 20MW

It sounds like the timeline is similar to when the US and Canada are looking to start deploying micro-reactors (not sure on the Russian and Chinese timelines). So a couple of these may also do the trick (typically these are specced around 10MWth, so around 4MWe). The spare heat capacity could also, potentially, drive heat engines to drive the cooling systems, although that's probably looking a bit further forward.

Dutch officials say Donald Trump really did protect his Twitter account with MAGA2020! password

Re: no one has to care what appears on Trump’s Twitter feed ever again

People forget the original meaning of the word twitter, as defined in Roger's Profanisaurus. However, your definition lends itself nicely to referring to the most popular social media channels collectively as twatface.

Google Mail outage: Did you see that error message last night? Why the 'account does not exist' response is a worry

Missed headline opportunity

"Did you see that ludicrous display last night?"

We got it! Japanese space agency confirms its probe has Ryugu asteroid samples

Re: Space dust, 2020, Japanese

It'll be needing its towel then.

It may date back to 1994 but there's no end in sight for the UK's Chief customs system as Brexit rules beckon

Like non-priest's socks

Never buy black socks in a normal shop, they'll shaft you every time.

Did Arthur C. Clarke call it right? Water spotted in Moon's sunlit Clavius crater by NASA telescope

Re: Nuclear waste dump.

Or we could recycle the nuclear waste, use them in fast reactors and power our civilisation. (Obviously this isn't in the same spirit of silly ideas but it might help with the whole energy / climate crisis thing.)

Iran sent threatening pro-Trump emails to American Democrats, Russia close behind, says US intelligence

That's not true

The Turd Sandwich is also a viable candidate.

Home Office seeks Brexit tech boss – but doesn't splash the cash

As with most places that people like to say are shit, I think most of its detractors have never been there.

"But I've been there and it's definitely shit!"

Thank you, hypothetical commentard. I suppose anyone can be biased enough to like any place if that's where all your friends and family live though. Me, I think the post being in Croydon is the only reason to take the job!

Doctor, doctor, I feel like my IoT-enabled vacuum cleaner is spying on me

Re: password 88888888

It wasn't Dark Helmet who had that combination on his luggage, it was President Scroob!

BONG! Lasers crack Big Ben frequency riddle BONG! No idea what to do with this info BONG!

"Its deep bong can be heard whenever a giant 23 adult badger hammer bangs onto the side of the 17.8 skateboarding rhinoceros metal bell, which was cast in 1858."

Chernobyl cover-up: Giant shield rolled over nuclear reactor remains

Molten Salt Reactors

For those of you interested, there is a UK design in Molten Salt Reactors which, unlike the LFTR, uses existing nuclear qualified parts and doesn't involve pumping radioactive salt through heat exchangers. It also uses heat storage which would justify deployment of renewable energy sources by acting as a backup reactor. Currently would run off spent nuclear fuel, although in the long term could be developed for thorium.

http://www.moltexenergy.com/

If The Register made reality music TV, this is what it would look like

I''d be interested in them scrutinising Will Smith's claim that he never made a whack jam.

Science Museum maths gallery to offer the perfect pint

Where did the first transatlantic flight stop?

Queen guitarist Brian May releases virtual reality viewer

Re: 360° badger sett simulator

I hope this is something he's seriously considered before rushing Headlong into it.

To be honest I was expecting to see more Innuendos by this point.

Boffins blow up water with LASERS, to watch explosions in slow-mo

For some reason it made me think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP0H_a7Ihtk

Banning computers makes students do better on exams – MIT

Re: Take notes

Me too. It's also a lot easier to draw a free-body diagram (or indeed any diagram) by hand.

Lonely bloke in chem suit fuels Mars orbiter

Oy!

Easy on the Croydon slurs, people.

How to feed and raise a Wikipedia robo-editor

Text-reading robot

Surely that should have been a picture of Johnny 5. Although I suppose WALL-E looks similar enough.

Brit 'naut Tim Peake tucks into space bacon sarnie

re: culinary sophistication

No-one else on the planet seems to appreciate it.

Trial halted as Kartoon defence attorney arrested after warrant discovery

Works on contingency?

No, money down!

Boffins: Large Hadron Collider NOW movin', we're getting down and crush groovin'

Re: Freud a GoGo

That's because the engineer there has his hat hard on.

Sorry, I meant his hat hard on... I said it again!

UK spaceport, phase two: Now where do we PUT the bleeding thing?

Re: Where to put it?

I'd put it under a swimming pool, the lid of which will slowly retract whenever it needs to be launched.

(Brains) >>

NO ONE is making money from YouTube, even Google – report

"Babylon 5's a big pile of shit!"

I got the joke, even if no-one else did.

IBM: OK, Watson, you've won Jeopardy. Now, CURE CANCER

Sounds like Watson can read even faster than Johnny Five.

Closest i could find ---->

Patch looks like Microsoft FAIL, quacks like FAIL, is actually quite good

Re: Vista?

"Stop stealing my rat's arses!"

How many arses does your rat have?

Urine a goldmine for fuel-cell materials: boffins

Re: BACK TO THE FUTURE, PT 2

Of course, that would have actually been at the end of the first Back to the Future film. Your point still stands.

HIDDEN OCEAN of LIVING SOUP found on Enceladus, moon of Saturn

A beautiful photo of Enceladus

I'd like to buy the whole of the Cassini team a beer for their continuing brilliance but to furnish them with the amount of alcohol they deserve would leave me brassic, and them too drunk to continue working.

Lego is the TOOL OF SATAN, thunders Polish priest

Pledge of chastity, choirboys...

...explains how he's still getting his Lego-ver.

Stop skiving: Computers can SEE THROUGH your FAKE PAIN

"Local football will never be the same again..."

Seeing as FIFA refuse to use computers to determine whether or not a goal has been scored, I don't think this development will have much of an impact on footy.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Friday is Pi Day

Tributes

"Pi has inspired other tributes as well, including iPhone apps, a feature film, T-shirts, and one pizza joint in San Francisco and a chain of them based in St Louis – and, of course, there's the Raspberry Pi."

Not forgetting the Big Muff Pi and associated spin-offs.

Minecraft developer kills Kickstarted Minecraft movie

Re: Idiot film-makers

Hey! Doom was awesome!

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

Re: Balls to that!

Yowser! Apart from that alarming revelation, it would be quicker to use something like 06060606 because then you could use 2 fingers.

Cannabis can CURE CANCER - cheaply and without getting you high

I've never bought my weed off a pimp, nor crack off anyone.

Is NASA planning to send LAVA LAMPS to Jupiter?

Some might say...

...that this is a completely pointless waste of time. I am not one of these people. Have one of these.