Posts by MrT

How about...

...Bernard Cribbins returns at the head of an army of android Wombles who quickly defeat the Daleks and recycle them into a new professional-grade kitchen range for Madame Cholet...

Turbos...

...is yours the Rover Coupe? Always liked them, but the 2.0T also did fine work in the 800, as I recall. A guy I worked with had the non-turbo 800 in the early 90's, when he took his regular steer of to become a hill-climb car (he had an MG Metro that had been seen to by the Leeds MG Centre - bored to 1400, high-lift rockers, Kent cam, various ancillaries and a big carb, for about 120bhp - mental revving off the end of the tacho and smelled like it was running on neat GTX).

There's a guy over in Germany who has a (IIRC) Mk4 1.8 Golf making over 1, 000bhp. Fitted with the 4x4 system, possibly one of those base models that UK never sees. Watching him out-drag all and sundry is amusing - worth a YouTube search or two. He says it's okay as a regular drive, since it's road legal ane not some sort of track-day special.

"independent ecosystem"...

Samsung are not far off - their Hub is quite slick and they have an app store already. There are a few issues with it though - their version control is a bit patchy, and some apps are almost impossible to update, such as Photo Editor on an SGS2 - I keep seeing an error when trying to update this built-in app on my wife's phone.

It seems like a good effort but not yet ready to replace Play. It's also not consistent across current handsets - GS3/Note 2 seems to be the cut-off there, at least from what I see on various models from friends and colleagues.

I remember...

...the reaction of the sales bloke in Game when I asked for a copy of Postal 2 - "Nasty!" ... brilliant game though ;-)

PP3...

... I had an old HP LED calculator - wedge shape, clicky buttons like an Oric 1 IIRC - that took 6xAAA, but worked just as well with a PP3 wired up across the first and last contact and fixed with black insulation tape on the top behind the screen. A bit cheaper to power than finding the right cells.

I later replaced it with the powerhouse that was the original Casio fx-82 ... and remember the cold flush of jealously when later beaten by fx-100 users on the "1++1=========(etc...)" race to 100.

Re: Obligatory Bill Hicks quote...

Not my quote, but Bill Hicks. I don't think that defence spending is a waste of time, having at least had armed forces experience in Cold War West Germany in the 80's. I quoted it to balance out everyone who wants a moonbase yesterday, who like me watched the first manned moon missions and thought it the start of something exciting. That quote is the opposite end of the scale, both unattainable or unacceptable. But the sentiment is right, just the current balance is wrong - we're spending too much on one thing and not enough on the other.

"Cowell, Walsh et al"

True - including Stock, Aitken and Waterman before X-Factor. Although the Hitman and Her didn't seem anything like as bad at the time, it was another step on the record-company-infomercial TV ladder. Maybe not quite as cynical as Cowell, and some of the SAW stable have become established in their own way (Rick Astley, Kylie Minogue, etc).

"But...

...I haven't updated the maps and on my 3-billion year out-of-date set it shows a river crossing by ferry right at that point..."

Email from Garmin:

"Dear M. Rover, Thank you for your enquiry regarding updating the maps for region: MARS ALL REGIONS. The price for the one-off set is US$154million, this being the total for the Mars Global Surveyor mission divided by the number of active users in your area. I am sure you will agree that this is a fair way of pricing this update and I look forward to receiving your order soon. We recommend using fibre broadband for the download as it is a large map set and at your current connection speed it would take approximately 365sols to complete..."

"Trademark", "patent", "copyright" and "intellectual property"

...sounds like a great renaming of the stations in a new version of Monopoly. What else? Go straight to court? Freemium parking?

Tethering looks different...

... not just because of the change in quantity of data. When a phone is used as a router (wired or WiFi hotspot) the packets don't terminate at the handset. If the teleco decided to check on tethering from your phone, they could use the src and dst in the packet headers to figure out if you had hooked up a tablet or laptop. Many high-end handsets also use different APNs for tethered data (especially subsidised ones) so the traffic is sent by a different connection.

Most companies turn a blind eye to occasional use but would be able to provide valid reasons for blocking users if they overdo it.

When I were a kid...

... use of four-be-two, pram wheels, string for the steering and a big hill as engine were all it took for automotive entertainment.

Crank handle was available, on my dad's Austin A35...

386DX...

...my 25MHz one did sterling effort using MathCAD to calculate our iterative thermal comfort calculations based on Fenger's work - 387 co-pro kept each change in the data down to less than a minute to recalculate, and there were IIRC 4 or 5 variables changed per page. Roughly the same time as the dept 486SX-33, again IIRC. Good machine.

Pump and dump...

... but not in the traditional "micro" sense of the term...

Icahn plz haz all ur applz etc.

Ran like a dog...

... went down like a lead balloon

... be blunt and make some very cutting remarks

Curious turns of phrase all ;-)

Probably took the photo...

... with a $5m solid gold iPad. Loudly.

And...

... "Making the most of the micro" wasn't a 1983 cookery show - but my mum only found that out after taping an episode... ;-)

Pioneer probes also provided some earlier data...

... McKibben at al noted that the boundary layer pulses in response to the solar minimum/maximum by as much as 150AU, (paper here). Also, we're observing that the sun is about to go through a magnetic inversion. The heliopause might catch up and pass Voyager again.

The press reporting seems to expect something definitive, like a 'wall' in space, but that's a silly analogy - it's more like a sponge that soaks and dries out, with occasional big squeezes when it all lines up together. Voyager is just taking another wash on the edge of the solar system basin... nothing like a wall.

:-)

"Zen...

...set course and speed: Cygnus Alpha, time distort 12"

"Unable to comply. All speeds above time distort 4 are only available if you upgrade your Liberator account from Standard to Gold. Please provide a valid credit card number to authorise this transaction."

Some still do...

...like on custom ipads for yacht owning CEOs, but admittedly they are not in common use...

Re: Sam Smith's

Dales side of North Yorkshire is soft water - like in Ripon, Masham, etc. Even if parts were in t'West Riding before '74 tha knows...

Masham, 'cos Black Sheep is better ;-)

Good job too...

...because if it were a snake pit full of actual kittens instead of just pictures... ;-)

Not just the pre-teens...

...lying about their age then?! I'd suggest some could set their age to 13-18, but there's probably a reason or two why that might not be a good idea...

Set a friends list called 'All friends', put everyone in it and make that the default view. Also avoids static adverts and other auto-generated crap...

For Firefox at least...

...it's not even hidden - there's a button on the Options>Security tab to show saved passwords, right under the option to use a Master Password. IIRC its been there for a few years. I think the issue here is more about the form in which the passwords are saved - e.g. if they can be grabbed remotely or accessed via another computer.

12v adapters...

... are probably the cause of it - I bought a few for several cars and was careful to pick ones that had good reviews in that respect - not had a problem with Belkin single USB, Griffin twin USB, or even a generic brand twin from Amazon marketplace (last one is not in a DAB-equipped car though). However, some just put out so much RF noise that they can even overwhelm FM, or put out a really loud hiss. My commute takes me right past a TV mast, which will also do it for FM and DAB over about 300m radius.

And for the advert...

...Kevster goes into the spray-tan booth and comes out vaguely plaid.

Re: Corrections Policy

Correct as ever, FA, but ... I don't see that link on the mobile web view... either I'm being blind again ;-) or it needs adding to m.theregister.co.uk stories... for the benefit of those using mobile browsers like on phones, ipads etc

I hardly ever use a desktop browser to read ElReg these days, (though used to access on nothing else), which is one of the reasons most of my posts don't have any subject icons (I never post as AC, but that's probably the only time a mobile browser user would get an icon) - maybe the OP is unaware of the "Send Corrections" link, or equally just doesn't see it on their screen...

Did both...

...2.4 and 5 Ghz - staff used the 'a' band, students and guests on 'b'. That job was in 2003, so we only bothered with laptop access, nothing much else hooked up back then ;-). It was my own network too, the contractor was hired in to sort out the wrinkles. Turned out to be dune-sized, but sorted out once the AP manufacturer realised their APs couldn't do 802.1x as promised. Airopeek traces used to convince them of that...

The Gateshead job was a day demonstration of the kit back about 4 years ago. Thanks for the recommendations - when my current place tackles site-wide WiFi I'll point my Network Manager in that direction. One of the benefits of being a bit of an old git is the promotions to senior management, but it does mean I have to give up being a fiddler and let younger and more up to date folks take over the day to day stuff.

"Not...

...my Rodin!!!!" Life stinks...

Image search...

...Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea...