Posts by Martin-73

City isn't keen on 5,000 erratic, traffic-jam-causing GM robo-cars on its streets

Re: Alternative strategies

Yes, for Lunatic... they shouldn't be on the public road, period. I see your point about losing the ability to drive, but hopefully the tech will be fit for purpose WHEN that unfortunate day happens to you. Right now, it is not fit for purpose, and extremely dangerous

Consolidation looms for UK broadband providers

Re: Yeah but...

Indeed Toob are doing the infrastructure way ahead of their 'go live' date. Not sure quite why

BOFH: You want presentation layer, but we're physical layer

Re: Thank you Simon

Yes the spelling on this site has become atrocious

Re: Mac Problems are easily dealt with

I've found apple devices extremely difficult to use, especially iOS, but even macbooks and imacs are .... quirky as all hell, swapping control for cmd, for example, refusing to learn words in autocorrect, refusing to talk to each other , the list goes on

BT CEO orders staff: Back to the office or risk 'disciplinary action'

Yes my uncle took BT's retirement package just after the thef...err privatization by the thatcher, he'd been working for them since they were the Telephones dept of the GPO in the mid 60s, straight from school. Got a really nice lump sum, plus so much per year of service.

China discovers unknown mineral on the moon, names it Changesite-(Y)

Re: Curly -- or Straight?

Indeed, a good Cornish Pasty is a delight... a poor one, an absolute disgrace, there IS NO middle ground. Hope you satisfied your craving

Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

If your shower is at 1.2K, twist the knob slightly, which will turn it to somewhat hotter than the surface of the sun.

Re: Curly -- or Straight?

I thought the anti-pasty was made by Ginsters

Chemical plant taken offline by the best one of all: C₈H₁₀N₄O₂

Re: Orange Squash

Not to do with computers, but equally expensive at the time (early 80s) we had a VCR destroyed by a cassette from our local video rental place. The previous renter had managed to spill orange squash into the cassette... it physically tore the heads off the machine. To add insult to injury, the video store threatened to charge US for the damage to their precious tape. Fortunately my mother had a solicitor... they ended up paying for the repairs

Re: Sugary soft drinks ...

Yep, i only drink diet drinks around my pc, and indeed in the works van. Spills can be cleaned up easily

Halfords slapped on wrist for breaching email marketing laws

it was a glitch, bought stuff today and got asked, i said no. no fight

Yes it was, and interesting, i had to buy oil the other day and was also surprised at the lack of email address demand. Maybe the message DID get thru despite the paltry fine (bad publicity?)

Re: One of those places

oof, that's a bit rich

Re: One of those places

Halfords are the only retailer that routinely asks for your email address in face to face sales, that i regularly encounter. Sure, there are others... but halfords always sticks in my memory, i suspect because they're agressive about asking

Re: One of those places

Indeed.... they ask for mine, i tell them no, if they push, and say 'it's just for the email receipt' they get [e-mail] ... because i once gave them my address, took a stern email to a supposedly private address within their corporate monolith to get my address removed (simply marking it do not send spam' wasn't acceptable to me)

Amazon drivers unionize after AI sends them on 'impossible' routes

Re: Just like IR35?

But they are, so is the idiot uber india spambot that thinks my name is Khan

On a minor personal note, Waze is also good at doing this as an individual satellite navigation app... 'my AI says this route is equally fast'

The AI doesn't note that one route is a dual carriageway (2 lanes in each direction, with a central barrier/median) and the other is a 5'6" wide farm track with tractors coming the other way....

Xcel smart thermostat users lose their cool after power company locks them out

One wonders, is there a constitutional way for the US to FORCE texarse to secede from the union? Kinda 'you can't quit, you're fired'.... or even better, give it to mexico

Re: "I'll let my badly-insulated apartment reach 82ºF (28ºC) but there are no people"

of course i can't, anything about 14C is unhealthily hot

Re: Wait, what?

Also from the UK, which is WHERE THE REGISTER IS FROM. Why they use antiquated units is beyond me, doesn't the reg have its own unit system? May i suggest 'deci-texashouseholds' ?

US court backs FCC decision to let SpaceX fly Starlink sats at lower altitudes

Re: Not really an item for the US courts

it's ok, the Chinese will shoot it down in revenge for Huawei's ban :)

Nooo, it's me who has an obsessive hatred of the sociopath :)

Google Play to ban Android VPN apps from interfering with ads

Re: Sideload

Yup, came here to say this, just download the APK and Robert's your Mother's Brother

BOFH and the case of the disappearing teaspoons

Re: you owe me

LPL could crack the new key in LESS than the lifetime of the universe... video is 2.20 long

Re: Clockwork BOFH...

the damage to the vehicle!!! you monster

hmm, not able to disable it?

In a time before calculators, going the extra mile at work sometimes didn't add up

Re: Bank Accounts

To the downvoter, i understand they probably shouldn't be displayed as a pub sign, but definitely should not be removed and destroyed

Re: Bank Accounts

Landline phone here has a rotary dial. And a recall button that tells the PABX i want to transfer the call., and i'm "ONLY" 49

Re: Who bothers to memorise numbers in the age of mobile phones?

Also those of us who may have to dial it onto other people's mobiles :)

Re: Bank Accounts

Except for the local idiot who had a LOAD of signs made up with his new number, and thousands of flyers too... changed the code from 0703 to 10703... because it said to put a 1 in front of the area code...

Re: Bank Accounts

The signs aren't really offensive tho, just historical interesting things

Re: Bank Accounts

Absolutely, see my further comment, me, no drunk post while angry. Have a beer, i'm abstaining for a bit

Re: Bank Accounts

I could have withdrawn the comment, but no, i'll leave it there as a reminder to others not to post drunk and still salty about brexit :) downvotes taken on the chin :)

Re: Bank Accounts

british brexitism in one, beachamp=beecham

Re: Bank Accounts

Sir, if it's adjuatable what is it just able to do... [wilkins] it's not JUST ABLE TO DO ANYTHING' ... jennings: then what is it useful for... sir.... [fellow boarding school victim] thanks for the flashback, and the chalked carburetter

Re: Bank Accounts

probably not appropriate per our new stupid american can't spell overlords

Re: Bank Accounts

My god, same time, same shit, you were that guy i hated (embley park, 1989).... and yet local codes were still a thing... thanks for the memory

Re: Bank Accounts

Problem here is that Brutish telecon actually employ them to thick accent at genuine customers

Re: Bank Accounts

OH ONE if outside london....

Nichelle Nichols' ashes set for trek to the stars

Re: What is this alum of which you speak?

Ewww, no. just NO...

Universal Unix tool AWK gets Unicode support

Re: Aptly named "Git"

No clue... oof. one would have thought Ron's predilection for calling Harry a GIT in harry potter and the deadly server or whatever... would have resonated somewhat with the now 20 somethings

Aptly named "Git"

C>N|K

Mouse hiding in cable tray cheesed off its bemused user

Re: Not heard of PS2 ports being taken out

From an electrical POV it was because the power for the PS/2 port was very limited (sometimes thru the keyboard controller chip) and hot swapping would instantly connect the capacitor in the connected device across the power rails, looking to the chip like a dead short, for a few ms. Many chipsets didn't handle that well, the most common was to simply power down the port and refuse to work till rebooted

Scientists use supercritical carbon dioxide to power the grid

Re: Degrees F

Indeed! Fahrenheit in a context where science is expected reeks of bovine excrement, especially in a UK publication

You may SUPPOSE that, but articles like this (no offence to the author) often do stuff like this to 'big up' the 'new technology'

If there are errors as basic as this, then the entire article is not worth the screen real estate, imnsho

Elon Musk 'buying Manchester United' football club

Re: re: 420 hahaha

you were born in the 20th month? Woah, that's some strong weed :)

Supply chain worries heat up again as China shuts down factories to cool its citizens

Indeed, republicans and democrats are just the far right and the really ludicrously far right (not in that order) of American politics. Libertarians make republicans look kind

Virgin Orbit trims losses, eyes two final launches for the year

Re: Purpose

They'd be able to save money by not bothering with oxygen or shielding for the rich idiots

Google fined $42.5m over misleading Android location settings in Australia

Re: Cost of doing business

Ah, found the accountant

AI laser probe for prostate cancer enters clinical trials

UGH again

The register is a UK publication, please flag the foreign "national cancer institute" as 'of a foreign nation'