Posts by Hollerithevo

Hubble spies supermassive black hole in surprising spot

Re: Or dark matter is other universes

There is a thought out there that we are indeed in a universethat is one ginormous black hole, and the 'universe' we see and live in and are is simply a holographic surface phenomenon of that black hole.

Trump's axing of cyber czar role has left gaping holes in US defence

Stupidity or cunning?

What serves Trump's interests more? Does this serve the Republicans better than having a cyber-czar? Are they happy but going along, or unhappy and going along, because they seem to have lost the use of their spines and bollocks?

Wipro hands $75m to National Grid US after botched SAP upgrade

SAP, so...

...that was going to work out fine. I just left a company that brought in SAP for expenss and procurement and lordy what a dog's dinner.

But i wondered why 'Indian' had to keep being repeated. What you tryin' to say, El Reg?

Amazon meets the incredible SHRINKING UK taxman

Re: Not seeing a problem, TBH

Mr or Ms Carter, so that's a staggering 0.7% of the Gross National Income? About maybe £14m p.a.? Not all of which goes to Africa?

However, I agree that foreign aid is shockingly mis-used in many cases. Or could it be that this is exactly the point, to buy the loyalty of the despots?

Re: Yammermouth politicians

Services such as roads, street-lighting, hospitals, etc? Clean water, safe electricity, thanks to Government-set standards? Police, firefighters, air ambulance, etc? That sort of thing?

Re: We're the ones to blame

MsKnight, I agree with you and your further comments. Amazon max the legitimate tax breaks they can, then use the global financial system to max the rest. Good books and reportage are coming out about the vast ocean of off-the-books or dark money that all global companies, zillionaires and oligarchs use (these categories sometime overlap) to pay the monomum tax everywhere. Governments such at that int he UK don't penalise them because the power structures are run by the beneficiaries of those who like to do favour for the very rich. But it is almost impossible to be a citizen and consumer without supporting this structure where they pay less so you pay more.

But you can exercise some narrow choice over where you buy, and I haven't bought anything from Amazon in years. I go to independent and smaller companies for books and DVDs and goods, if they seem to me to be better employers. Amazon gets exposed over and over again for its terrible employment practices. I can't support that sor tof employer. It's the same reason I never shop in Walmart. It's mini-ethics, but it's about all that's left to us.

Re: My experience says different

They are doing us a favour because Amazon shifts the tax payment to its employees, who pay 50% in taxes when cashing intheir options? Did you perhaps miss out a word, such as 'not' somewhere?

Click this link and you can get The Register banned in China

Re: Negative influence

Mr or Ms F.A. Nutcase,

They've been prusuing this for a while, but the American Trans-Pacific trade agreemnt was offering the southeast Asian countries an escape route. Now, unfortunately, that choice is gone, and they have very little wiggle-room in negotiations.

The logical consequences, as I see it, is that all the goods and services the USA (and Europe) enjoys from the Pacific East will be offered on very different terms. I dont' think it willb e good for the USA. As with the Roman Empire, if you don't keep your troops, forts and walls in tip-top condition on the frontiers, it doesn't matter if your troops are superior, because the Goths, Alans etc will just keep on coming and a breached permeter is well-nigh impossible to repair.

Dear alt-right morons and other miscreants: Disrupt DEF CON, and the goons will 'ave you

Trolls choose politics

I think the troll mentality is one you are born with. Sociopathic, if you will, or just plain nasty. Then they seek a belief system that will allow them to wreak their choice of havoc, be it Westboro of white supremacist or whatever.

This makes it difficult for groups campaigning for positive change (e.g. end to disability discrimination) to act in any way but Gandhian passivity, lest they be tarred with the same brush.

Basic bigot bait: Build big black broad bots – non-white, female 'droids get all the abuse

Re: A next step?

Fully agree. @people' is too vague. Do epople in the same ethnic groups abuse less or more? Do women trash gynoids about the same as men? More? Less? And twhy not non-English responses -- surely this is exhibiting part of the problem they are studying?

Interesting initial study, but needs a lot more research. And terms such as 'abuse' are subjective. Swearing at a printer is not very admirable behaviour, but one person's frustrated cussing is another person's assault.

Grad sends warning to manager: Be nice to our kit and it'll be nice to you

@Korev

You should be ashamed.

Sorry, Neil Armstrong. Boffins say you may not have been first life-form to set foot on the Moon

Re: Good!

Iron Skies -- I believe Heinlein wrote of this idea first?

PC shipments just rose, thanks to Windows 10

Not payment, just preferential thinking

@Tchou, no one has to give Gartner money -- because they already have the mindset that will give the 'right' analysis. It's the same mindset that leads senior manager to choose capita or Oracle: they already 'know' that they need a big enterprise-level, super-prestige supplier to enhance their own importance, so their eyes go immediately to certain names. They aren't being forced or bribed to go for these big name, they just do, as people feel drinking a top-label bourbon or vodka somehow enhances their worth.

(BTW, I am not saying that all liquor is the same: Plymouth gin is not on the same level as that sickly junk Bombay Sapphire, the bubblegum of gins, and this is Plymouth mark II I speak of, not even the original nectar.)

Mastercard goes TITSUP in US, UK: There are some things money can't buy – like uptime

Re: Cash is King

I am moving more and more to cash, but in my loval Tescos I keep the card because I've been short-changed so much with cash that I don't rust them with a 10p piece nowadays. Just my local one. Other Tescos lovely.

FBI for the Apple guy: Bloke accused of stealing robo-car tech

Actually

discreet. 'Discrete' is clearly separated and, as it were, stand-alone itme (e.g. discrete units of time).

Also, if you are going off to a new job and want to nobble stuff, why wait until two days before you leave? You space it out. We once had a developer who (as was discovered) took a chunk of code at a time, buried in other documents, over four or five months. Admittedly, he didn't try to walk out with gear under his arm. Even we would ahve noticed that.

Call your MEP! Wikipedia blacks out for European YouTube vote

How nice of you...

...to lend a hand.

Re: This is worrying as a censorship tool

AC answering MiguelC: this was an exceedingly unhelpful response. Either put in the work to explain the wrongness, or STFU.

British info watchdog slaps Midlands firm with £4,500 fine. Next time, register

Geez - CCTV

They're int he CCTV biz and thought they could fly under the radar? With GDPR on the horizon?!?

As far as the gender pay gap in Britain goes, IBM could do much worse

Re: At the risk of being branded misogynst...

Did female graduates quit the rat-race because children and a rich hubby were better life options, or because they had tepid to lousy experiences in the workplace and decided that the traditional route was easier. One can slip into the rut fairly painlessly.

I don't see why it is a downer on women who want to marry someone richer than them. We all want to be richer than we are. If you seek a good, abundant life, it would have to be super true love to marry a pauper. OTOH, my wife married me and my salary was chump-change compared to hers, so is the general assumption of the A.C. (based on what source, we do not know) that women like richer spouses merely the norm of behaviour, and thus my beloved is a black swan, or was the A.C. talking a crock, based on misogyny?

UK.gov is not being advised by Google. Repeat. It is not being advised by Google

He's not being paid?

He's doing this for the Gov't for free? And he would work against the organisation that is actually paying his salary? Big companies such as Google don't lend out high-priced help out of love for humanity.

Facebook quietly kills its Aquila autonomous internet drone program

A bit of a shame

Only because I thought it an elegant aircraft.

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

anglican.

Soem American bought (from memory) anglican.com or anglican.org way back in the 1990s. The Church of England had to work with him (through gritted teeth), as he would not give it up. He wasn't earned big bucks off the church, but he was clearly enjoying yanking their chain. Yes, they should have had the wisdom to grab the word, but this was the 1990s.

Trainee techie ran away and hid after screwing up a job, literally

Re: Basic mechanical ability

My dad taught me all the basics: hammering, sawing, etc by hand, then graduating to power tools (very chuffed when iused the big circular saw for the first time), and also felling a tree with an axe, splitting logs, fishing, survival know-how (it was Canada), and all those skills that make life easier when you grow up. The fact that I was his daughter didn't stop the flow of life-skills, and it gave me an appetite for more. Dad, I can strip down and re-build an engine now! I salute you in Valhalla.

Sadly, my mother wasn't much of a cook...

Norwegian tourist board says it can't a-fjord the bad publicity from 'Land of Chlamydia' posters

Re: Norwegian History

And 118 years later, look at their proud achievements!

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich quits biz after fling with coworker rumbled

Re: Eh?

But it wasn't outside the workplace. Not to start with, and I suspect perhaps for some time durign the affair (those supply rooms...). I have worked for a boss who was shagging ateam mate and since it was quietly known, and we also saw said shagee getting preferential treatment, being let off the hook, going on amazing businss trips as 'support', yeah, I can see why companies frown on this sort of thing, because the rest of the team were demotivated and fed up. It lasted about six weeks, and suddenly the shagee was gone. A bit of tough career choice, as it turned out.

Accountants HATE them: Microsoft's Xbox harnesses blockchain to pay games publishers

Sledgehammer, meet knut

I agree with Dr Who: they go from Excel and PDFs to a blockchain? A nice little invoicing package wouldn't have done the job? a payment gateway?

Microsoft shoves US govt IT contract where ICE throws kids: Out of sight in a chain-link cage

English? Realy?

Is this snark or do you believe this to be true?

Re: Progressivism Pumping Powerful Memes.

@Geoffrey W: why do you think the downvotes are from snowflakes? Monster's truth is indeed his (hers). It's not Platonic Truth.

Donald Trump trumped as US Senate votes to reinstate ZTE ban

Why would they?

"China, which has a history of having little regard for either"

Why would any country not the USA care about American jobs or American national security? Trump has raged against Canadian dairy traiffs as unfair to American farmers - why would Canadians care more about American farmers than their own? Ditto with China. You only look after another country if it serves yourself.

Trump's ZTE deal challenged by Senate

Where is Big John? Where is Bom.Bob?

When there's a tricky Trump issue that's hard to argue away as libtards bleating while Trump saves America, our two friends are often very scarce.

Re: C'mon, everybody knows that the real theat to nationals security is...

Hey! We are Canadians: FEAR US, eh?

Done and dusted? Vast storm gobbles NASA's long-lived Mars robot

Re: Bring It Home

Actually very moving.

I invest meaning to inanimate objects, because they provide meaning.

Dems push Ryan to vote to help save America's net neutrality measures

Re: 86% of Americans agree with *THEM*? Since *WHEN*?

Strane as it is for me to say, I believe, @Big John is correct when he says the paymasters have been, up until now, Google, facebook and the other big corporations. The change will mean other big corporations will control the tubes. It won't be socialism, as our dear @Bom.Bob fears, but plutocracy as usual, but with different owners.

Tech rookie put decimal point in wrong place, cost insurer zillions

Re: Lira?

@AC - the destruction of the north -- Thatcher's scythe fo destruction over northern England has been likened to the Norman onslaught. That first one crushed the north for centuries, and it was only the Industrial Revolution that made the northern counties fourish again. How long will Thatcher's blight last?

PETA calls for fish friendly Swedish street signage

Re: PETA vs. aboriginal heritage... I'll get the popcorn...

"Fish are Fingers Street" ?

WannaCry reverse-engineer Marcus Hutchins hit with fresh charges

Some poeple accept their duty

I have a very high-earning US friend who got called for jury duty. Months and months later, went back to work, as he got a murder trial. He said he did is as it was his duty as a citizen. He could have got out of it, but he didn't try.

Do you really think smart people should avoid jury duty? Juries have lasted over 1000 years in England because they get justice done. Not 100% but if I were up in court, I'd want a jury trial.

Microsoft commits: We're buying GitHub for $7.5 beeeeeeellion

Re: Time

@Mr Boyle,

What TF? Did you just come here so you could use that word?

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

Re: "Oops. Alert the Moderatrix - The coders need whipping"

Come back, Moderatrix, we love you.

Foolish foodies duped into thinking Greggs salads are posh nosh

Have always liked Greggs

Their chicken salad sarnie has seen me through many a lunch. Ditto pies.

Re: Greggs the pie shop

We have a butcher, an baker and a greengrocer. Of course, I live in an achingly hip part of London and the butcher is organic and the bakery French.

Those internet trends? It's bad news if you're not Amazon, basically

Re: amazon search

I search Amazon to suss out a product and see the ratings (which more and more are paid-for, so one proceeds with caution) and then buy it elsewhere.

And you have two weeks

Cancer? Don't like the prices from your current provider? You ahve two weeks to shop around, as that this the outside limit the NHS put on as 'must be seen by'.

Of course, a new provider will say 'pre-exisitng condition, no thanks'.

Meet the real spin doctors: Scientists tell H2O to chill out so they can separate isomers

Re: Ice cold and refreshing: H2OMG!

@Nimby, sadly, this is almost a certainty. Watch the fridges of your local up-market health store soon.

Chief EU negotiator tells UK to let souped-up data adequacy dream die

Re: The more I listen to the EU...

@msknight, you say the EU says 'we'll trade with you...on the terms we negoitate', but we *were* the EU. We negotiated these things, and from a position of strength. But no more.

BCC is hard, OK? Quite a lot of orgs blurted your email addresses in GDPR mailouts

Networking!

I like the idea of all the freelancers meeting up for drinks or coffee. Comparing notes, deciding that strength lies in solidarity, etc.

Trump’s new ZTE tweet trumps old ZTE tweets that trumped his first ZTE tweet

Re: da drumpf! da drumpf!

@ooFie, why do you thing they were negative trade agreements? When has the USA ever given away anything? All the trade agreements very much favour the USA side. And the one for Asia Pacific was also to cut the rug out from China and give the USA trade dominance in that arena. But now, of course, China is steamrolling its great Road (literally and metaphorically) through South east Asia, is threatening Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan etc in the South China Sea and generally sweeping the board.

Re: "Everyone is allowed to make a mistake"

@Milton, I agree with you, but can we stop dragging in the 3million popular vote? That is .08% of the population. It is not statistically significant and, because it's not how Presidents are voted in, pointless to bring up.

An interesting take

@eldakka, it's an interesting proposition, but I think having someone come in and smash things means that the legacy will be a country full of broken institutions, broken people, and broken faith. I was not keen on Mrs Clinton, but I would rather an experienced captain in charge of the bridge than an experienced passenger.

Church of England will commune with God for you via Amazon's Echo

Re: 42

@wolfetone, don't worry, we are all without sin.

Swiss sausage sizzler 4.0 hits 200 bangers per hour

Re: Competition?

Only a brat.