* Posts by Dodgy Geezer

1773 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Jul 2007

EU summons a CYBER FORCE into existence

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Cyber...

..is SO 1970s....

Seriously, doesn't anyone wonder about the continuous bureaucratic inventing of things to justify spending out taxes on?

Labour MP pushing to slip 6-hour limit to kill illegal online content into counter-terror bill

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

This is so unworkable,...

...I don't know where to begin.

But I'm sure that it will be another weapon the Police use to terrorise us. Effectively, it provides the Government with a giant moderation power of ALL online discussion - which effectively means ALL DISCUSSION in the UK.

I have fought against thought control in the UK all of my life, and I've never seen it get so close as it is now...

EU court: No, expat Frenchman can't trademark France.com

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Don't...

...upset The Man....!

(Ne pas déranger l'homme, for our French cousins...)

The strife of Brian: Why doomed Intel boss's ex86 may not be the real reason for his hasty exit

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: They could have used the "He said Jehova" excuse instead

It is important not to self-censor your words. Otherwise you will find yourself only thinking what you are told it is acceptable to think...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: They could have used the "He said Jehova" excuse instead

Jerome K Jerome (he of the 'Three Men in a Boat' fame) once described an embarrassing moment in Germany where his English tourist was trying to buy a cushion from a shop run by three girls, using the word "kuss" (kiss) when he should have used the word "kissen" (cushion)

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: They could have used the "He said Jehova" excuse instead

Let's see how mindless the moderation here is. The word you are referring to is [banned – mod edit]

UK.gov outsourcers must prove their 'social value' to win contracts

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Private member's bills

Up vote for being one of the few commentors around to think and research before commenting. We need many more of you...

GDPR forgive us, it's been one month since you were enforced…

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: I don't think many of the opt-in/out menus are legal

...It is meant to be clear, transparent and straightforward....

It IS clear, transparent and straightforward. It's just not EASY.

No one said that it had to be easy....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Don't fret. It is all part of Trumps grand plan

...and burn that Good Clean Coal....

I might mention in passing that the US is the ONLY country in the world that has fully achieved its CO2 reduction target under Koyoto. It has dropped its CO2 output greatly - almost entirely due to fracking for natural gas.

All other countries have failed abysmally. But they still shout about how green they are, and how evil Trump is.

What would you rather, a hypocritical country which shovels vast amounts of taxpayer money into bogus green projects that make the environment worse while polluting everywhere and claiming it's green, or a straight talking country which cuts back on green project spending and manages to pollute much less?

Great news, cask beer fans: UK shortage of CO2 menaces fizzy crap taking up tap space

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Perhaps someone can help me with this.....

...Part of the problem is the way most food-grade CO2 is produced: as a by-product of ammonia production....

When I was at school, ammonia (NH3) was made by fixing the nitorogen from the air using the Haber Process. N2 + 3H2 => 2NH3 (200atm pressure, catalyst hot iron). I can't see any CO2 there at all.

Hydrogen was typically made using Lowes process. H2O + C => CO + H2 (high pressure steam run over hot coal). The CO can be further reacted CO +H2O => CO2 +H2. Perhaps that's where the CO2 is coming from?

It may be associated with ammonia production, but I wouldn't really call that a by-product of ammonia production. More a by-product of a percursor - hydrogen.

Unless, of course, they have a new process nowadays....

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich quits biz after fling with coworker rumbled

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: "The English have the concept of 'gentlemanly behaviour'"

...The mask British wear while actually acting the opposite way?...

It's legal nowadays.... :)

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Staff flings are frowned upon in US corporate tech world

Wow! Four Americans?

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Similar thing at HP

..This kind of policy is not there just to prevent the company from being sued but to try to protect both managers and the managed....

That's just what's wrong with modern life. Too many people trying to protect other people from something that they want to do on the grounds that it could be misused....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Eh?

Sex is by no means the only way someone can have a relationship with someone else. People can simply be good friends.

I assume that American companies would want to ban that too. Otherwise, they are simply saying that the act of sex is the key thing they are uncomfortable about. Which fits with American puritanism....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Staff flings are frowned upon in US corporate tech world

I don't think that the Americans understand these things.

You don't need to 'avoid the appearance of favoritism'. You need to avoid favoritism.

The English have the concept of 'gentlemanly behaviour' - which covers the situation completely. Perhaps the Yanks could try it?

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Eh?

How can a company demand a 'code of ethics'?

That would certainly not make sense to an English Gentleman....

Nintendo Labo: After a day spent fiddling with flaps, you may be ready to, er, Lego

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

How does this differ...

...Labo joins a host of build-and-play toys already on the market...

...from the model boats, planes, trainsets and Meccano which were standard fare in the 1950s and 1960s, and which you had to put together before you could play with them?

A case of re-inventing the Wheel, methinks....

Brit reseller Aria PC's appeal against HMRC VAT fraud finding gets under way

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Interesting points to consider - #47:

a) Mr Justice Roth said: “If you think of a witness who is not giving truthful evidence, you can, on that basis, say you don’t find them convincing....

b) HMRC refused to do this, saying that it had a duty of confidentiality to “the taxpayer” (ie, its opponent, Aria) and told us we would have to make a formal legal application to see it, saying that ATL had refused permission for it to be handed over. When our barrister, Greg Callus of 5RB, turned up, Aria Taheri readily agreed to show us copies of both his own brief’s skeleton and HMRC’s....

Have YOU had your breakfast pint? Boffins confirm cheeky daily tipple is good for you

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

...More than 80 previous studies have found that risk follows a J-Curve, where moderate consumption rewards drinkers with a lower risk ...

So, incidentally, does the risk from ionising radiation. A small but 'greater than safety limits' amount appears to be good for you. Plants raised in a zero-radiation environment grow significantly worse than those in a radiation environment.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the embarrassing statistical 'glitch' of smokers surviving illnesses better than non-smokers was associated with such a curve.

Of course, the anti-activists are never going to admit this....

Skynet for the win? AI hunts down secret testing of nuclear bombs

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Science fiction is rapidly becoming reality

...One day, we will be hunted down for wrongthink....

One day?

http://theconversation.com/reminder-you-could-be-sacked-for-tweeting-entirely-personal-things-36042

NASA eggheads draw up blueprints for spotting, surviving asteroid hits

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Much like all our jobs, then....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Grammar Nazi...

carried about 20 to 30 times more energy than what was released by the first atomic bombs.

carried about 20 to 30 times more energy than that which was released by the first atomic bombs.

TFTFY...

'Moore's Revenge' is upon us and will make the world weird

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Best Intelligent Household sketch EVER.....

Dave Allen

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: easy pickings

There's a lot of DNA in excreta....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: How long chips remain cheap remains to be seen

Why is it that Democrats do all the polluting, then?

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: How long chips remain cheap remains to be seen

...[A strong labor union or two, as well as some noisy environmental wacko groups, might actually do them some good... I hate to admit]...

Such groups don't last long in a country where the penalty for causing a fuss (also known as state sabotage or disagreeing with the Dear Leader) is execution...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Article misses a critical point

...OK, how about "Don't Trust Anything"?...

Sorry. What we meant was 'A better alternative that actually allows you to get things done.....'

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Article misses a critical point

...I think the ideal of the strong independent thinker is long gone....

No, I'm still here. But getting very tired....

Shared, not stirred: GCHQ chief says Europe needs British spies

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Still peddling this tripe?

...I saw a good infographic about exposure to brexit (worse case)...

If you haven't noticed by now that ALL the predictions about economic effects have been wrong so far, and that they are ALL made by people who have an interest - either pro or anti - so are going to be biased, then I suggest that you start to learn rapidly...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Barnier bombastic bullshit

...They just don't believe that immolation is the best approach for dealing with it....

Then they're gluttons for punishment. People have been trying to improve the EU for many years. Every time, it just gets worse. The facade of democracy has long gone, and been replaced by Commission punishment - look at Greece and Italy and Ireland and Hungary. The Euro cannot function and is held up by constant rule-breaking. The trading bloc is protectionist, and becoming sclerotic.

And there is NO interest in addressing these problems at all. That's why leaving is the last option open. We don't want to be there when the ship sinks...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

...British Intel is superb, the US love it, it's always after it...

...and it's readily available for sale to the highest bidders. Who, just recently, have been Clinton and the Democratic party.....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Still peddling this tripe?

Given that internal protectionist trade stifles innovation, while world-wide trade encourages it, I suspect that the EU would MUCH rather be in the UK's position of finding new markets in the real world rather than having to support the French and Easten European inefficient agricultural economies....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Cmon

The EU is falling apart politically. I can't see how anyone can deny that without having both eyes tightly shut and singing 'La-La-La loudly...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Coup

...If you want to see England (not the UK any longer) led by President Farage, locked in a civil war against Generalissimo Corbyn, then that might be the way to do it....

Sounds great. I'd vote for that....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: It does not matter what GCHQ think..."to leave their cozy little club"

...Are you suggesting the EU should invade to try and bring the UK back in line? Well it's a thought I suppose....

Didn't work too well the last two times they tried.

The way the dynamic works on the Continent is that the Germans hate the French, want to invade them, and can't see why the Brits don't join in on their side.

Perhaps we ought to. So long as the Germans get Alsace/Lorraine, Paris and the Riviera for their towels, I guess that they would be happy to let us have Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy and the Loire Valley. We'll want Calais back, of course...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Barnier bombastic bullshit

You missed out Italexit. Plus the Hungary/Poland/Visegard countries...

I'm curious as to why so many members want to leave this wonderful organisation. Do tell...!

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Barnier bombastic bullshit

Good Lord!!!

An informed and accurate comment, and it gets voted UP? Reg readers will never cease to surprise me...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Barnier bombastic bullshit

...The above is not a comment about Brexit being a good or a bad thing....

That's the way it's been interpreted, though.

You have to remember that, for a Remainer, ANYTHING European is perfect. That includes European politicians.

This is not because they're stupid. It's a cognitive dissonance thing. They HAVE to believe that the EU is a success, which means working hard to avoid any criticism of it whatsoever. Psycologists have found that providing accurate information actually strengthened misperceptions among the subjects most strongly committed to error.

It's all documented here: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~nyhan/nyhan-reifler.pdf

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: The EU does not need NOR want anything to do with 5 Eyes

...or I think you will have a massive diplomatic problem with an entity 10 times greater than the UK....

....who we've beaten twice in a World War already.....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: EU Partnership - Fleming needs a history lesson

...With friends like the folk in Cheltenham, who needs enemies?...

The folk in Cheltenham do. Without enemies, they have no job.

That's why they're trying hard to create some....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: French satellite businesses

What if you leave because the hotel is about to fall down?

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

..GCHQ chief says Europe needs British spies..

British spies need jobs. Ever since the Berlin Wall came down they have been short of a justification for existence.

Priceless: The cost to BT for bothering you with spam? 1.5 UK pence per email

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

...if I've deemed that I don't want to pay for my phone line/fibre, does that mean I don't need to?..

Quite correct. You have total control in this matter. If you don't want to pay for a phone line, then you don't need to.

However, BT then do not have to provide you with one.

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

You have a business connection with them. That means that they are within their rights to send you business communications, which includes informing you of services - ie marketing.

If you opt out of this, however, they would be committing an offence if they continued to send you marketing...

JURI's out, Euro copyright votes in: Whoa, did the EU just 'break the internet'?

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

....The globalists took a pasting in the Brexit and 2016 US elections, the lost because they could not control the narrative on the internet. ...

Interesting. They control the narrative on the media totally but that didn't seem to help them. All that happened was that people became deeply suspicious of everything they said...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Did the EU just 'break the internet'?

Er... probably not. To do that it would need to mess up TCP/IP, or the DNS system.

Causing problems for hyperlinks would damage the 'World-Wide Web', however. I had hoped that a technical crew such as El Reg would appreciate the difference....

Tesla fingers former Gigafactory hand as alleged blueprint-leaking sabotage mastermind

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: Batteries in cars

...This is because 90% of the time, an electric car owner, charging at home, doesn't NEED to be charging it at specific times - (s)he simply needs it to average enough charge to handle the daily commute over the course of a week - if it happens not to get charge on a windless night, but then gets a charge instead the following windy/bright evening then that's fine....

if it doesn't charge on a windless night, then you don't go to work in the morning. Welcome to the Green world of unreliable inefficiency....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

...There are plenty of other cheap sources of renewable electricity available other than just wind and solar. But even without those, when was the last time an entire day didn't have the wind blowing and didn't see any sun somewhere within 1000km from you?...

Er. no. Cheap, yes. 'Renewable', no.

It is common for the whole of Europe to have still periods of several days duration. And the last time there wasn't any sun within 621 miles of me was last night....

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

24 people seem to think that you can get solar power at night and wind power when the wind isn't blowing.

Or alternatively they REALLY don't like you pointing this out.....

Verizon promises to stop selling its subscribers' location data... for now

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Same here....