Just remember the 'ID Card/NIR' is nothing to do with party politics; it's been the pet project of the civil service ever since they had their toy taken away from them by Churchill's govt. c.1952 (the Wilcock's case).
It's all about the vain pursuit of power for the sake of bureaucratic nirvana---total efficiency. If that happens to also tend towards total control, well, in these uncertain times so much the better.
Totally pwned---if that appeals just bend over and take it; after all, anything for a quiet life.
In fact the VBS is a layer on top of the CRB system. Anyone applying for VBS registration will have their application run through the CRB system.
Unfortunately, the VBS has set out very woolly guidelines as to how it will make decisions. In principle applications will go through 'on the nod' unless there is any 'cause for concern' about an individual's behaviour.
That 'cause for concern' may include hearsay, formal complaints that have been dismissed by a professional body, informal complaints that have been dismissed, etc. In all cases the VB board are free to make their own decision based on their assessment of 'the balance of probabilities'(!).
It hopefully doesn't take too much imagination, or experience of bureaucratic processes, to see that the 'precautionary principle' is likely to make itself felt, i.e. 'Can we afford to take the risk of being wrong on this case?'.
Yes, people will be able to appeal a negative response, but in the meantime they will be hung out to dry and forbidden from taking up a new post, maybe suspended from their current job, and will somehow have to argue that 'on the balance of probabilities' they are in fact trustworthy and suitable for the job.
This outfit are going to have they say so over the careers and livelihood's of near on half the working population---the imperial possibilities are simply stupendous.
Meanwhile the vast majority of abuse of vulnerable people takes place not in the workplace but in the home, by family members and 'friends' of the person being abused.
For pity's sake, can we start another format/category seeing as the 'netbook' has clearly been embraced, extended, and extinguished?
Something maybe like the old HP Jornada 720; plenty of connectivity, but as generic as possible, and as cheap as is consonant with a half decent keyboard and screen; AND no OS---we get to choose, you see!
Something for nerds, geeks, and people who are just a little bit interested in computers as functional, customizable, tools. Is that too much to ask? [don't answer that---I'll just get my coat instead]
...'Acme' phones---after that ubiquitous purveyor of all things needful (especially needful to coyotes in pursuit of roadrunners).
Anyway, generic handsets where the user can pick and choose what OS they want to use. This would probably rule out some more proprietary phone OSs, but, hey ho, small loss.
It's a lie wrapped up in a half truth. As I understand it EU passports, and presumably all passports, are supposed to meet a new international standard which involves storing biometric details in the passport chip, i.e. your photograph and, in due course, your fingerprints, plus all the data that is already printed in the passport. That's it. Anything 'extra' has been slipped in under the pretext of fulfilling those basic requirements.
The Govt. plan to get us onto the Identity Register by compelling us to supply lots of extra information when we apply for a passport, though there is no requirement for this information for the passport itself.
Assuming the whole scheme doesn't collapse under the weight of its own incompetence, or that it doesn't get the bullet from a new administration, there is always this option; at the bottom of your postcard, etc. :
'Absolutely not ISA registered in order to retain self-respect and personal integrity.'
Along time ago my student flatmates and I came to the unanimous conclusion that at least 90% of everything is crap. The web has done nothing to disillusion me of our profound rightness.
If things are anything like they are at my place of work then most of the reason for these stats are that MS have knobbled IE's 'default search engine' settings. Suddenly I find my default default search is through 'Bing'! Where did that come from? I didn't ask for it, and it's a bugger to change, at least for most people who don't/won't go ferreting around on the web and in their settings to 'fix' it.
Surely the whole philosophical and ethical point of GNU/Linux and OSS generally is to be able to operate free of the Windows world and Microsoft hegemony. Those who seem to want Linux/OSS to be the next 'Windows', i.e. replace it, are missing the point as far as I'm concerned. Let M'soft, and all those content to use Windows, go their own sweet way. There is no reason for those who are not in thrall to that world to take any notice of them, unless they are being chased by the legal fraternity of course---bastards.
Mwhahahahahahahha, I, for one, welcome the continuing attempts of my puny earthling overlords to own me---body, mind and soul. It will only make my ultimate and inevitable victory over them all the sweeter.
Adair
Dreams are free, or £20 billion, but who's counting? →#
HM Civil Service have wanted 'ID Cards' for years. They were trying to persude the last Tory govt. to bring them in, and have probably been trying to have them reinstated pretty much ever since they were abolished in that famous case (memory outage), back in the late forties.
Modern tech. just makes the whole concept (wet dream), of sexy streamlined all embracing efficiency intolerably attractive to the civil service mind, not to mention the political front of house and the commercial parasites and scavengers that feed off the whole pile.
Forget conspiracy theories (though I'm sure there are a few that could be fished out), go for the 'cock up' theory of government first time every time, then and only then look for darker motivations.
Don't copy the code (clearly that would be illegal!), but you can't keep a good, or obvious, idea down once the means of implementing it are readily available and accessible. Write the code, then release it in to the wild so anyone can do what they like with it. Apple can sue who they like, but in the end they've got a business to run and better things to do than take on the rest of the world.
Adair
Re: Is there a way to completely screw with phorm yet???? →#
The only thing I know of which comes close is the 'TrackMeNot' plugin for Firefox, which sends out bogus and randomly generated web searches (at a user defined frequency), thus effectively hiding your own genuine searches in a morass of plausible crap.
Owning rifles and shotguns, especially beyond the city limits, I can handle that. But handguns? 'I've got it for defense'--- they whine their self serving, blind bullshit. Handguns have one purpose out on the street or in the home and that's to provide a convenient way to kill people. You might just as well all walk round with a sword on your hip---gentlemen once did---or a club in your hand (don't go getting the wrong idea now). Does it reduce crime? Does it, hell! Just makes the killing easier; any brain dead fool can pull a trigger (probably kill the wrong person though---nerves).
The 'right to bear arms' does nothing for your safety, except maybe in your dreams. Does it make things worse, well that's harder to say; as others have said it's people who kill people, guns just make the job easier and less up close and personal. I've been out in the hills with a .22 and a .303 for rabbits and deer, it's no big deal. But try concealing one of those down your trousers, or in your sock. You'll look like a dick head for sure, and they're a bugger to draw quickly.
'As, on average, labour becomes more productive then for each hour of work there are more things made, meaning more things to share around. Rising productivity is thus the secret to rising living standards.'
What this statement completely ignores is that 90% of everything we make is crap. Okay, the 90% is an arbitrary grab out of thin air, but probably pretty close to the truth. Just think about it. Hardly anything we make, relative to the totality of production, is actually needed. Everything we make that is not actually needful for a good existence is not contributing to well being or wealth in any objective manner; subjective maybe, but we could get along quite happily without that kind of stuff.
Upshot: in our present system 'labour' is largely concerned with making a tiny minority inordinately wealthy relative to the rest of us. 'Productivity' is an illusion because most people are not engaged in making something we actually need. Work for them is about keeping occupied and paying the rent, perfectly honourable pursuits, but let's not kid ourselves they are being 'productive' in any morally or objectively meaningful sense of the word.
Time the open source coders got hacking so we can all become our own ISPs and ad hoc connection nodes. The Govt. might just as well say, 'We want to tax conversation. Oh, and by the way, we want to listen to everything you say as well---for your own good, you understand'.
All this entirely misses the fact that the traditional 12V connector plug (and the socket for that matter), is one of the most useless bits of design out there (leading to all sorts of problems with premature and accidental withdrawal). Any sensible redesign of this connection would be most welcome.
Can one legitimately say: 'kick... arse', without appearing to be one? Especially in an explicitly American context surely the only credible possibility is, 'kick... ass'!
Funny---I haven't had a single spam msge. today. Okay all the filters are running, but at least half a dozen usually slip through, but today, not one. And yesterday there were less than usual. Either I'm winning, or maybe the outfit who have my name got taken down. :-D
Meanwhile, somewhere else on the planet an earthquake dislodges the face of a mountainside which duly blocks the mouth of the estuary below, creating a dam. Certain species of wading birds move elsewhere while other creatures die out in that locality, but in due course other species replace them as a new ecosystem establishes itself. That's life folks; if anyone wants to call it environmental destruction, feel free, but I'd rather have that than try to deal with the destruction caused by radioactive isotopes loose in the wild with a half life of 10s nay, 100s of thousands of years.
This style of lawmaking seems far less about Britain, a sovereign state and parliamentary democracy, and far more about 'Britain PLC' (TM). The executive are the board of directors and we are the grateful employees who do what we're told lest we get 'the sack' (get fined, have our ID cards turned off, etc.).
Perhaps it would be no bad thing if 'Britain PLC' (TM) does get flushed down the economic toilet. Loads of us, including me probably, would squeal like hell for a while, but loads of us would probably also wake up and actually make sure things changed for the better... until next time.
Just for the record: theologically* speaking a 'miracle' is a 'sign' of God's nature and involvement in human affairs. NO 'supernatural' SFX are required, though neither are they ruled out. One persons's miracle can be someone else's mundane/banal bit of 'nothing to see here'---it's all a matter of perception or, if you prefer, willingness to see beyond the mundane to the underlying reality.
All credit to the plane's designers. the pilot and crew. The there are all the other factors that add to everyone in this instance getting out alive to wake up to a new day and the rest of their lives. Bit of a bummer if you get run over by a bus the next day though!
If I ran my household the way the Govt. and the money boys/girls have run the national economy I'd be out on the street with a massive debt on my head, and deservedly so. People and economies can only live on debt so far, then sooner or later, if they don't wake up and smell the proverbial they reap the consequences of their stupidity/naivety/greed----take your pick.
When we've officially got a licence to drive planet earth I might be interested in doing something 'out there'. Until then the our 'Titanic' is speeding towards the icebergs, some of the passengers are gazing at the stars, others are wondering whether the room they booked for their wallet was a bit of an extravagance, and the folk in steerage are hoping they can break out and if they can't take over the bridge at least stand a fair chance in the race for the lifeboats...!
The usual, informal, solution to land grabs of this kind is for objecting organisations and individuals to give the traditional two fingered salute, the requisite "F*ck you", and get on with with doing their own thing with their own material.
Google's ploy in the end relies on sufficient sheep just obediently doing what they are told; but the reality is: 'Who the hell is Google?' They are just another commercial entity, that's all, and just like the 'barons' anywhere they can be faced down.
Up the revolution! We have nothing to lose but our copy rights.
@ I smell FAIL -- it's actually 'mortality screening' (note the 't' in 'mort'). It's a shame really it wasn't 'morality sceening', it would have chimed so well with our cynicism and night terrors about this Govt. Perhaps next time.
You may be right, but I am aware that this has long been a sore point. People who have made THEIR data available (both for free and for a fee), both here and overseas (there's a good US based Linux app.---called 'XTide' from memory), have had to withdraw their UK tide info. because they got threatened by the UK Govt.
AFAIK this is a blanket ban on publishing tidal data for the UK (and tidal data relevant to overseas British territories), unless it is sourced from the official Govt. tables; and so also paid for.
Just in case you think we're are immune from this kind of silliness by virtue of having a moat between ourselves and the rest of Europe: the movements of the tides round UK shores are copyright of the UK Hydrographic Office and the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office. In other words, if you have the temerity to publish this data, derived from your own research and mathematical effort, said copyright holder will (and do), send the boys round to sort you out.
Somehow, as a child, I never thought of the phases of the moon and the movement of the world's oceans as 'belonging' to anyone! Shows just how wrong you can be (sigh).
>Have any of you actually tried to use it for anything important?
Yes, as a matter of fact: a long DTP effort including pics and tables, etc.; glossy publication---there's a couple of copies hanging out in the National Library now. OpenOffice was fine, no problems.
> Didn't think so.
Just shows how much you know, AC, ;-)
> Besides, how is MS giving cheap software to education a BAD THING? Or, at least a worse thing that indoctrinating them with OSS/Linux instead?
It's got nothing to do with 'indoctrinating them with OSS/Linux instead'---indoctrination is MS' game---it's simply about freedom to work and live without being enslaved by corporate vampires.
What god? the god of abrham/ibrahim who tried to kill his son? did you vote for bush?'
I rest my case---bile and ignorance. And we wonder why peace between Georgia and Russia, Palestine and Israel... is so hard to find!
It's not 'religion' v. 'sane rationality'---there are fools and rogues on both sides. It's people vs. people when their fears, hatreds, arrogance, ignorance, and greed overpower any willingness to listen, to show humility, to trust, to have hope, and (the biggy) to 'love' the people they hate and fear (note 'the people', not what they do). Where ever people start to do that good things start to happen; whether they profess a faith in 'god' or not.
--
Personally I wish that 'faith schools' in this country were forced to take all comers and simply teach the 'national curriculum', regardless of faith, simply on the basis of locality, if they wish to receive state funding. If they want to teach their faith and pick and choose who they will take, they should jolly well fund themselves, and take their chances in the rough and tumble of life.
Clearly bigotry is alive and well on the godless side of the fence just as much as it is over here on the godly side; presumably love is over there too but it's hard to tell through the hail of bile and ignorance that's flying both ways.
BTW, I'm with the judge on this one.
Mine'll be the holey one---from all the flaming darts!
I'm with the `CoBOL is a fine language for what it's used for' and related views. When I did my COBOL training back in the 80s writing a payroll program was one of the exercises. Sounds to me like there's plenty of BS and smoke being used to blind the bean counters, let alone the Governator. After all there's folk's beer money at stake!
Just going with it, for a moment... what happened to the good old autogyro? Cheap, not very fast, v. low take off and landing distances. The only thing really needed is the very clever software to navigate and control the whole package to keep `Joe/Jane Moron's' hands off the controls!
Okay, we haven't seen the actual proposals yet, but going on past form get set for another ludicrous bit of political grandstanding: trading on fear, and based on whatever wish-list happens to have floated to the top of the pile. It will, of course, increase the oppression of ordinary Joe and Jane public trying to go about their ordinary lives, do practically nothing to increase their security, and have virtually no impact at all on professional criminals, be they 'terrorists' or any other flavour; while at the same time be a black-hole for tax payer's money, and basically be useless by any rational and objective measure.
The humbug and cant coming from the Government over this issue (and other related ones, e.g `ID cards'), is sickening to say the least. Blatant emotional manipulation based on distortions, half truths, and outright lies. The only message such behaviour gives is that their reputations, incomes, and holding on to power matter more to them than truth, justice, and service to the nation. The concepts of 'wisdom' and 'humility' seem utterly alien to these people once they are in office. Presumably they become frightened of upsetting the power and the money that got them there.
Oh well. At least we can still vote them out. I'm sure the next lot will be different, until they're not. Perhaps we do indeed get the government we deserve, i.e. they are simply a reflection of our society as a whole. Now there's a scary thought!
...some people really are gagging for their fifteen minutes.
This puts me in mind of a wonderful treatise proving that tomato juice is the most poisonous substance on the planet. One piece of evidence cited for this 'fact' was that fish die when put into a bowl of tomato juice.
Now, if I can just interest you in this bottle of snake oil I happen to have...
NZ has been here before; and the immediate answer is the same one---just use less. A hell of a lot of electricity use is absolutely non-essential, but of course we don't tend to think about that until suddenly we bump up against the fact that supply is not unlimited.
Same in this country really...
Frankly the Kiwi's power supplies are a lot more secure, long term, than ours are, and being reminded of the limits will do them no harm. Just wait for the wailing when the same thing starts to happen here.
Samsung UN55B8000 55" LED TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
LG Electronics 42LH30 42" LCD TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
Samsung UN55B8500 55" LED TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
Sony BRAVIA KDL-40EX400 40" LCD TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
Samsung UN40B6000 40" LED TV (Widescreen, 1920x1080, HDTV)
60 posts • joined Wednesday 23rd January 2008 15:15 GMT
Page:
Adair
Hugely disappointed... → #
Posted Thursday 11th March 2010 21:43 GMT
In Koobface gang refresh botnet to beat takedown
..to find on second reading that the firm concerned is not called 'Knobface'.
Adair
Totally pwned → #
Posted Wednesday 10th March 2010 23:36 GMT
In Government spends £11k on ID card 'branding'
Just remember the 'ID Card/NIR' is nothing to do with party politics; it's been the pet project of the civil service ever since they had their toy taken away from them by Churchill's govt. c.1952 (the Wilcock's case).
It's all about the vain pursuit of power for the sake of bureaucratic nirvana---total efficiency. If that happens to also tend towards total control, well, in these uncertain times so much the better.
Totally pwned---if that appeals just bend over and take it; after all, anything for a quiet life.
Adair
It's worse than you think → #
Posted Tuesday 26th January 2010 00:53 GMT
In Government expects £277m from vetting scheme
@ 'VBS is more than that'
In fact the VBS is a layer on top of the CRB system. Anyone applying for VBS registration will have their application run through the CRB system.
Unfortunately, the VBS has set out very woolly guidelines as to how it will make decisions. In principle applications will go through 'on the nod' unless there is any 'cause for concern' about an individual's behaviour.
That 'cause for concern' may include hearsay, formal complaints that have been dismissed by a professional body, informal complaints that have been dismissed, etc. In all cases the VB board are free to make their own decision based on their assessment of 'the balance of probabilities'(!).
It hopefully doesn't take too much imagination, or experience of bureaucratic processes, to see that the 'precautionary principle' is likely to make itself felt, i.e. 'Can we afford to take the risk of being wrong on this case?'.
Yes, people will be able to appeal a negative response, but in the meantime they will be hung out to dry and forbidden from taking up a new post, maybe suspended from their current job, and will somehow have to argue that 'on the balance of probabilities' they are in fact trustworthy and suitable for the job.
This outfit are going to have they say so over the careers and livelihood's of near on half the working population---the imperial possibilities are simply stupendous.
Meanwhile the vast majority of abuse of vulnerable people takes place not in the workplace but in the home, by family members and 'friends' of the person being abused.
Adair
No, no, no... → #
Posted Monday 23rd November 2009 13:54 GMT
In Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2
For pity's sake, can we start another format/category seeing as the 'netbook' has clearly been embraced, extended, and extinguished?
Something maybe like the old HP Jornada 720; plenty of connectivity, but as generic as possible, and as cheap as is consonant with a half decent keyboard and screen; AND no OS---we get to choose, you see!
Something for nerds, geeks, and people who are just a little bit interested in computers as functional, customizable, tools. Is that too much to ask? [don't answer that---I'll just get my coat instead]
Adair
I vote for.. → #
Posted Tuesday 10th November 2009 16:31 GMT
In Samsung to offer open Android alternative
...'Acme' phones---after that ubiquitous purveyor of all things needful (especially needful to coyotes in pursuit of roadrunners).
Anyway, generic handsets where the user can pick and choose what OS they want to use. This would probably rule out some more proprietary phone OSs, but, hey ho, small loss.
Adair
Hide a lie with a bit of truth → #
Posted Tuesday 27th October 2009 16:29 GMT
In ID Card scheme banking on 28 million volunteers
@Biometric Passports by Richard Wharram
It's a lie wrapped up in a half truth. As I understand it EU passports, and presumably all passports, are supposed to meet a new international standard which involves storing biometric details in the passport chip, i.e. your photograph and, in due course, your fingerprints, plus all the data that is already printed in the passport. That's it. Anything 'extra' has been slipped in under the pretext of fulfilling those basic requirements.
The Govt. plan to get us onto the Identity Register by compelling us to supply lots of extra information when we apply for a passport, though there is no requirement for this information for the passport itself.
Adair
Take back the moral highground... → #
Posted Tuesday 27th October 2009 15:42 GMT
In Home Office: El Reg may be right on vetting figures
Assuming the whole scheme doesn't collapse under the weight of its own incompetence, or that it doesn't get the bullet from a new administration, there is always this option; at the bottom of your postcard, etc. :
'Absolutely not ISA registered in order to retain self-respect and personal integrity.'
Adair
Hold EVERYTHING! → #
Posted Monday 24th August 2009 10:00 GMT
In Microsoft goes Darwinian with evolutionary tree patent
God has just turned up. He's claiming prior art on a whole load of stuff, and He wants His money!
Adair
Student wisdom → #
Posted Friday 7th August 2009 20:12 GMT
In Martha Lane-Fox: No broadband, no citizenship
Along time ago my student flatmates and I came to the unanimous conclusion that at least 90% of everything is crap. The web has done nothing to disillusion me of our profound rightness.
Adair
Agreed → #
Posted Thursday 9th July 2009 23:06 GMT
In Toshiba's TG01 smartphone turns Orange
(comment is in the title)
Adair
Redmond knows best. → #
Posted Saturday 6th June 2009 11:08 GMT
In Bing passes Yahoo! in Google runner-up stakes
If things are anything like they are at my place of work then most of the reason for these stats are that MS have knobbled IE's 'default search engine' settings. Suddenly I find my default default search is through 'Bing'! Where did that come from? I didn't ask for it, and it's a bugger to change, at least for most people who don't/won't go ferreting around on the web and in their settings to 'fix' it.
The only appropriate word I think is: 'Bastards!'
Adair
Go your own way... → #
Posted Thursday 26th February 2009 13:26 GMT
In Microsoft trades goodwill for TomTom Linux satisfaction
Surely the whole philosophical and ethical point of GNU/Linux and OSS generally is to be able to operate free of the Windows world and Microsoft hegemony. Those who seem to want Linux/OSS to be the next 'Windows', i.e. replace it, are missing the point as far as I'm concerned. Let M'soft, and all those content to use Windows, go their own sweet way. There is no reason for those who are not in thrall to that world to take any notice of them, unless they are being chased by the legal fraternity of course---bastards.
Adair
That's entertainment. → #
Posted Wednesday 25th February 2009 16:20 GMT
In UK kiddies cop a righteous tasering
The Tazers used by the NZ Police are fitted with a video camera and bi-directional microphone. No doubt this is the Youtube version.
Adair
An emphemeral distraction to my grand master plan. → #
Posted Monday 23rd February 2009 14:01 GMT
In Father of ID cards moots compulsory passports instead
Mwhahahahahahahha, I, for one, welcome the continuing attempts of my puny earthling overlords to own me---body, mind and soul. It will only make my ultimate and inevitable victory over them all the sweeter.
Adair
Dreams are free, or £20 billion, but who's counting? → #
Posted Friday 20th February 2009 14:58 GMT
In Ruling: Gov reports into ID scheme must be disclosed
HM Civil Service have wanted 'ID Cards' for years. They were trying to persude the last Tory govt. to bring them in, and have probably been trying to have them reinstated pretty much ever since they were abolished in that famous case (memory outage), back in the late forties.
Modern tech. just makes the whole concept (wet dream), of sexy streamlined all embracing efficiency intolerably attractive to the civil service mind, not to mention the political front of house and the commercial parasites and scavengers that feed off the whole pile.
Forget conspiracy theories (though I'm sure there are a few that could be fished out), go for the 'cock up' theory of government first time every time, then and only then look for darker motivations.
[we really do need a steaming pile of poo icon]
Adair
Just open source it... → #
Posted Wednesday 11th February 2009 22:11 GMT
In Google axed Android multitouch at Apple's request?
Don't copy the code (clearly that would be illegal!), but you can't keep a good, or obvious, idea down once the means of implementing it are readily available and accessible. Write the code, then release it in to the wild so anyone can do what they like with it. Apple can sue who they like, but in the end they've got a business to run and better things to do than take on the rest of the world.
Adair
Re: Is there a way to completely screw with phorm yet???? → #
Posted Tuesday 10th February 2009 23:15 GMT
In Phorm: BT system 'most definitely' online by end of 2009
@ Lionel Bowden
The only thing I know of which comes close is the 'TrackMeNot' plugin for Firefox, which sends out bogus and randomly generated web searches (at a user defined frequency), thus effectively hiding your own genuine searches in a morass of plausible crap.
Adair
Something to hold onto in your pocket → #
Posted Monday 9th February 2009 06:53 GMT
In Brits 'a bunch of yellow bastards', says irate Yank
Owning rifles and shotguns, especially beyond the city limits, I can handle that. But handguns? 'I've got it for defense'--- they whine their self serving, blind bullshit. Handguns have one purpose out on the street or in the home and that's to provide a convenient way to kill people. You might just as well all walk round with a sword on your hip---gentlemen once did---or a club in your hand (don't go getting the wrong idea now). Does it reduce crime? Does it, hell! Just makes the killing easier; any brain dead fool can pull a trigger (probably kill the wrong person though---nerves).
The 'right to bear arms' does nothing for your safety, except maybe in your dreams. Does it make things worse, well that's harder to say; as others have said it's people who kill people, guns just make the job easier and less up close and personal. I've been out in the hills with a .22 and a .303 for rabbits and deer, it's no big deal. But try concealing one of those down your trousers, or in your sock. You'll look like a dick head for sure, and they're a bugger to draw quickly.
Adair
Incompetence, perfidy, and farce... → #
Posted Saturday 7th February 2009 19:32 GMT
In UK gov unleashes
biometricIDs...what more could we ask for!
Adair
90% of everything we make is crap → #
Posted Monday 2nd February 2009 05:52 GMT
In The pan-European Office for the Ecodesign of everything
'As, on average, labour becomes more productive then for each hour of work there are more things made, meaning more things to share around. Rising productivity is thus the secret to rising living standards.'
What this statement completely ignores is that 90% of everything we make is crap. Okay, the 90% is an arbitrary grab out of thin air, but probably pretty close to the truth. Just think about it. Hardly anything we make, relative to the totality of production, is actually needed. Everything we make that is not actually needful for a good existence is not contributing to well being or wealth in any objective manner; subjective maybe, but we could get along quite happily without that kind of stuff.
Upshot: in our present system 'labour' is largely concerned with making a tiny minority inordinately wealthy relative to the rest of us. 'Productivity' is an illusion because most people are not engaged in making something we actually need. Work for them is about keeping occupied and paying the rent, perfectly honourable pursuits, but let's not kid ourselves they are being 'productive' in any morally or objectively meaningful sense of the word.
Adair
Freedom! → #
Posted Thursday 29th January 2009 18:46 GMT
In Digital Britain: A tax, a quango and ISP snooping
Time the open source coders got hacking so we can all become our own ISPs and ad hoc connection nodes. The Govt. might just as well say, 'We want to tax conversation. Oh, and by the way, we want to listen to everything you say as well---for your own good, you understand'.
Maybe I should get my coat, but then again...
Adair
But what a way to go... → #
Posted Thursday 29th January 2009 16:31 GMT
In EU funds Antipodes-in-90-mins rocketliner concept
...to heaven or to hell,
when those good old LOX tanks blow.
Whatever that lot are smoking I hope they're having fun.
Adair
Fail → #
Posted Wednesday 28th January 2009 21:14 GMT
In Apple scores 'power connector' patent
All this entirely misses the fact that the traditional 12V connector plug (and the socket for that matter), is one of the most useless bits of design out there (leading to all sorts of problems with premature and accidental withdrawal). Any sensible redesign of this connection would be most welcome.
Adair
Sparks → #
Posted Wednesday 28th January 2009 20:06 GMT
In F1 chiefs ready post-prang battery safety scheme
When do we get a no holds barred battery/fuel cell powered F1?
Adair
Pedant → #
Posted Tuesday 27th January 2009 18:15 GMT
In Humvee with frikkin laser on it takes out killer robot
Can one legitimately say: 'kick... arse', without appearing to be one? Especially in an explicitly American context surely the only credible possibility is, 'kick... ass'!
Mines the one... oh, I've forgotten what. Sorry.
Adair
What's going on? → #
Posted Monday 26th January 2009 21:15 GMT
In Spam volumes increase to pre-McColo takedown levels
Funny---I haven't had a single spam msge. today. Okay all the filters are running, but at least half a dozen usually slip through, but today, not one. And yesterday there were less than usual. Either I'm winning, or maybe the outfit who have my name got taken down. :-D
Adair
Change is gonna come → #
Posted Monday 26th January 2009 21:15 GMT
In Gov announces Severn tide-energy scheme shortlist
Meanwhile, somewhere else on the planet an earthquake dislodges the face of a mountainside which duly blocks the mouth of the estuary below, creating a dam. Certain species of wading birds move elsewhere while other creatures die out in that locality, but in due course other species replace them as a new ecosystem establishes itself. That's life folks; if anyone wants to call it environmental destruction, feel free, but I'd rather have that than try to deal with the destruction caused by radioactive isotopes loose in the wild with a half life of 10s nay, 100s of thousands of years.
Adair
Flushed away → #
Posted Friday 23rd January 2009 15:06 GMT
In Chaotic Coroners and Justice Bill reels into view
This style of lawmaking seems far less about Britain, a sovereign state and parliamentary democracy, and far more about 'Britain PLC' (TM). The executive are the board of directors and we are the grateful employees who do what we're told lest we get 'the sack' (get fined, have our ID cards turned off, etc.).
Perhaps it would be no bad thing if 'Britain PLC' (TM) does get flushed down the economic toilet. Loads of us, including me probably, would squeal like hell for a while, but loads of us would probably also wake up and actually make sure things changed for the better... until next time.
Adair
Very stylish.. → #
Posted Sunday 18th January 2009 05:52 GMT
In LG shows off quad-band GSM watchphone
...welcome to the future---in 1973.
Adair
What's a miracle? → #
Posted Saturday 17th January 2009 20:16 GMT
In 'Miracle' plane crash was no miracle
Just for the record: theologically* speaking a 'miracle' is a 'sign' of God's nature and involvement in human affairs. NO 'supernatural' SFX are required, though neither are they ruled out. One persons's miracle can be someone else's mundane/banal bit of 'nothing to see here'---it's all a matter of perception or, if you prefer, willingness to see beyond the mundane to the underlying reality.
All credit to the plane's designers. the pilot and crew. The there are all the other factors that add to everyone in this instance getting out alive to wake up to a new day and the rest of their lives. Bit of a bummer if you get run over by a bus the next day though!
* I'll dare to speak for Christian theology.
Adair
@JoeK → #
Posted Friday 16th January 2009 14:59 GMT
In CPW's Dunstone admits 'dread' over state of the economy
If I ran my household the way the Govt. and the money boys/girls have run the national economy I'd be out on the street with a massive debt on my head, and deservedly so. People and economies can only live on debt so far, then sooner or later, if they don't wake up and smell the proverbial they reap the consequences of their stupidity/naivety/greed----take your pick.
That's when the whining begins.
Adair
re: Deluded → #
Posted Monday 12th January 2009 15:20 GMT
In Is the UK.gov IT gravy train heading for the buffers?
I took 'suppliers who are flexible' to mean 'giving up jam now in order to receive jam later', but maybe I'm deluded.
Adair
CC-NoGoogle → #
Posted Thursday 1st January 2009 23:42 GMT
In Is Google's culture grab unstoppable?
Time for a Creative-Commons licence that specifically excludes Google from having any 'rights' over the work?
Adair
Hey, dude, where's my lifeboat? → #
Posted Thursday 1st January 2009 11:31 GMT
In Columbia disaster 'not survivable', NASA concludes
When we've officially got a licence to drive planet earth I might be interested in doing something 'out there'. Until then the our 'Titanic' is speeding towards the icebergs, some of the passengers are gazing at the stars, others are wondering whether the room they booked for their wallet was a bit of an extravagance, and the folk in steerage are hoping they can break out and if they can't take over the bridge at least stand a fair chance in the race for the lifeboats...!
Hey, where the fsck are the lifeboats!
Adair
Where is Magna Carta? Did she die in vain? → #
Posted Wednesday 31st December 2008 22:54 GMT
In Is Google's culture grab unstoppable?
The usual, informal, solution to land grabs of this kind is for objecting organisations and individuals to give the traditional two fingered salute, the requisite "F*ck you", and get on with with doing their own thing with their own material.
Google's ploy in the end relies on sufficient sheep just obediently doing what they are told; but the reality is: 'Who the hell is Google?' They are just another commercial entity, that's all, and just like the 'barons' anywhere they can be faced down.
Up the revolution! We have nothing to lose but our copy rights.
Adair
How rumours start... → #
Posted Tuesday 23rd December 2008 20:45 GMT
In Home Office death list 'stops ID fraud'
@ I smell FAIL -- it's actually 'mortality screening' (note the 't' in 'mort'). It's a shame really it wasn't 'morality sceening', it would have chimed so well with our cynicism and night terrors about this Govt. Perhaps next time.
Adair
'Legitimate protest'... → #
Posted Wednesday 5th November 2008 16:15 GMT
In Nasty Toryboy bloggers ate my politics, claims Blears
...yes, I wonder who decides what that is?
Adair
Re: Tidal Info. → #
Posted Wednesday 5th November 2008 12:18 GMT
In Berlin bans handy iPhone metro app
@ AC
You may be right, but I am aware that this has long been a sore point. People who have made THEIR data available (both for free and for a fee), both here and overseas (there's a good US based Linux app.---called 'XTide' from memory), have had to withdraw their UK tide info. because they got threatened by the UK Govt.
AFAIK this is a blanket ban on publishing tidal data for the UK (and tidal data relevant to overseas British territories), unless it is sourced from the official Govt. tables; and so also paid for.
Adair
The tide comes in, the tide goes out,... → #
Posted Tuesday 4th November 2008 19:10 GMT
In Berlin bans handy iPhone metro app
Just in case you think we're are immune from this kind of silliness by virtue of having a moat between ourselves and the rest of Europe: the movements of the tides round UK shores are copyright of the UK Hydrographic Office and the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationary Office. In other words, if you have the temerity to publish this data, derived from your own research and mathematical effort, said copyright holder will (and do), send the boys round to sort you out.
Somehow, as a child, I never thought of the phases of the moon and the movement of the world's oceans as 'belonging' to anyone! Shows just how wrong you can be (sigh).
Adair
@Open office is crap. → #
Posted Wednesday 17th September 2008 12:24 GMT
In Microsoft makes another play for UK schools
>Have any of you actually tried to use it for anything important?
Yes, as a matter of fact: a long DTP effort including pics and tables, etc.; glossy publication---there's a couple of copies hanging out in the National Library now. OpenOffice was fine, no problems.
> Didn't think so.
Just shows how much you know, AC, ;-)
> Besides, how is MS giving cheap software to education a BAD THING? Or, at least a worse thing that indoctrinating them with OSS/Linux instead?
It's got nothing to do with 'indoctrinating them with OSS/Linux instead'---indoctrination is MS' game---it's simply about freedom to work and live without being enslaved by corporate vampires.
Adair
@Tim Blair, re We're ALL dead in the long run. → #
Posted Friday 15th August 2008 11:39 GMT
In US judge says University can ignore Christian course credits
' "over here on the godly side"
What god? the god of abrham/ibrahim who tried to kill his son? did you vote for bush?'
I rest my case---bile and ignorance. And we wonder why peace between Georgia and Russia, Palestine and Israel... is so hard to find!
It's not 'religion' v. 'sane rationality'---there are fools and rogues on both sides. It's people vs. people when their fears, hatreds, arrogance, ignorance, and greed overpower any willingness to listen, to show humility, to trust, to have hope, and (the biggy) to 'love' the people they hate and fear (note 'the people', not what they do). Where ever people start to do that good things start to happen; whether they profess a faith in 'god' or not.
--
Personally I wish that 'faith schools' in this country were forced to take all comers and simply teach the 'national curriculum', regardless of faith, simply on the basis of locality, if they wish to receive state funding. If they want to teach their faith and pick and choose who they will take, they should jolly well fund themselves, and take their chances in the rough and tumble of life.
Adair
We're ALL dead in the long run. → #
Posted Thursday 14th August 2008 20:22 GMT
In US judge says University can ignore Christian course credits
Clearly bigotry is alive and well on the godless side of the fence just as much as it is over here on the godly side; presumably love is over there too but it's hard to tell through the hail of bile and ignorance that's flying both ways.
BTW, I'm with the judge on this one.
Mine'll be the holey one---from all the flaming darts!
Adair
Money for old code. → #
Posted Thursday 14th August 2008 20:14 GMT
In COBOL thwarts California's Governator
I'm with the `CoBOL is a fine language for what it's used for' and related views. When I did my COBOL training back in the 80s writing a payroll program was one of the exercises. Sounds to me like there's plenty of BS and smoke being used to blind the bean counters, let alone the Governator. After all there's folk's beer money at stake!
Adair
Flying round in circles → #
Posted Monday 4th August 2008 13:37 GMT
In Why flying cars are better than electric ones
Just going with it, for a moment... what happened to the good old autogyro? Cheap, not very fast, v. low take off and landing distances. The only thing really needed is the very clever software to navigate and control the whole package to keep `Joe/Jane Moron's' hands off the controls!
Adair
Just give us all our own personal `watcher'... → #
Posted Tuesday 15th July 2008 15:59 GMT
In Info commissioner says comms database is leap too far
Okay, we haven't seen the actual proposals yet, but going on past form get set for another ludicrous bit of political grandstanding: trading on fear, and based on whatever wish-list happens to have floated to the top of the pile. It will, of course, increase the oppression of ordinary Joe and Jane public trying to go about their ordinary lives, do practically nothing to increase their security, and have virtually no impact at all on professional criminals, be they 'terrorists' or any other flavour; while at the same time be a black-hole for tax payer's money, and basically be useless by any rational and objective measure.
Adair
Humbug and cant → #
Posted Monday 30th June 2008 08:49 GMT
In Gordo's DNA database claims branded 'ridiculous'
The humbug and cant coming from the Government over this issue (and other related ones, e.g `ID cards'), is sickening to say the least. Blatant emotional manipulation based on distortions, half truths, and outright lies. The only message such behaviour gives is that their reputations, incomes, and holding on to power matter more to them than truth, justice, and service to the nation. The concepts of 'wisdom' and 'humility' seem utterly alien to these people once they are in office. Presumably they become frightened of upsetting the power and the money that got them there.
Oh well. At least we can still vote them out. I'm sure the next lot will be different, until they're not. Perhaps we do indeed get the government we deserve, i.e. they are simply a reflection of our society as a whole. Now there's a scary thought!
Adair
Everyone knows... → #
Posted Thursday 26th June 2008 19:06 GMT
In Trojan heralds OS X's 'new phase of exposure to malware'
Vegemite's the best.
Adair
15 minutes of fame → #
Posted Thursday 12th June 2008 13:05 GMT
In God makes you stupid, researchers claim
...some people really are gagging for their fifteen minutes.
This puts me in mind of a wonderful treatise proving that tomato juice is the most poisonous substance on the planet. One piece of evidence cited for this 'fact' was that fish die when put into a bowl of tomato juice.
Now, if I can just interest you in this bottle of snake oil I happen to have...
Adair
'Land of the free' → #
Posted Tuesday 10th June 2008 20:33 GMT
In US bars ID refuseniks from planes - but not ID losers
'Double-speak' is, I think, the appropriate description.
Mine's the one covered in arrows, with 666-3457-4829 printed on the back.
Adair
Nothing new under the sun... → #
Posted Tuesday 10th June 2008 12:22 GMT
In NZ hydropower drought could see leccy rationing
NZ has been here before; and the immediate answer is the same one---just use less. A hell of a lot of electricity use is absolutely non-essential, but of course we don't tend to think about that until suddenly we bump up against the fact that supply is not unlimited.
Same in this country really...
Frankly the Kiwi's power supplies are a lot more secure, long term, than ours are, and being reminded of the limits will do them no harm. Just wait for the wailing when the same thing starts to happen here.
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