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* Posts by Christoph

1060 posts • joined Monday 24th December 2007 19:20 GMT

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Christoph

Re: The sorry state of ISP competition.

"maybe five big time players"

There are still some small and responsive ones around. Merula, ICUK, Andrews & Arnold, Wizards, various others.

Christoph
Devil

But our policy says it doesn't happen

"Our contracts with these companies require strict compliance with state and federal laws and regulations"

Well, that's all right then. As long as the policy is OK then the dead bodies obviously don't count.

Christoph
Happy

Susan Kare

"The experts Samsung objects to include Susan Kare"

It might not be a good idea to annoy someone whose brother Jordin works with giant lasers :)

Christoph

Re: Not Good :(

The Douglas Adams method - if you can calculate exactly how unlikely it is for the quantum computer to work, you will have one

Christoph

Re: It’s quantum computing: of course there’s a paradox

A most ingenious paradox!

Christoph

Re: Roman GPS?

The Greeks were first with AskApollo at Delphi

Christoph
Holmes

Re: Look at the Wookie!

Trouble is that using a botnet is very illegal - you're using other people's computers without their permission.

Yes, it's a good way to attack your enemies, and if they thought they could get away with it then I wouldn't put it past them for a moment.

But if they can't be absolutely certain of getting away with it then it's too big a risk - they would be in very serious trouble indeed if it got out.

Though of course they might be that stupid.

Christoph

"Scarecrow"

They missed the chance to call it "Worzel Gummidge"?

Christoph

Re: Overly complicated

If the rockets are underneath you have to get the rover down from the top of the rocket after landing, and there's various things that could go wrong. Apparently the sky-crane worked out as more reliable.

Christoph

Why not stick with the good old furlong / firkin / fortnight system?

Christoph

How did they hit that many?

Mistaken anti-virus hits usually only knock out one program that happened to trigger a new signature. How did they manage to hit that many? Or was it one core windows component that all of them used?

Christoph

The NHS is, what, the third biggest employer on the planet? And they can't get volume discounts?

Christoph

Re: So my question is

Yes, if the content is blocked then presumably the only way Google can index it is if they specifically let googlebot through.

So are they complaining that Google is indexing stuff that they deliberately allowed Google to see so that it could be indexed? If they only wanted the text indexed then it would be trivial to let that through and block the images.

Christoph

Re: What guarantees do we have...

The police claim that the information isn't stored.

If they do not, once the things are widespread, promptly start pushing for the information to be permanently stored then they will be breaking with every tradition of police behaviour for the last several decades.

Christoph

This is new?

The traffic sensing bit is ancient - they had those black rubber bars across the road to sense traffic movement near junctions decades ago.

Christoph

Security problems

How much will it cost to upgrade security for every single military and business and private site that relies on a fence for security?

In fact how can they be upgraded? Anywhere with extensive grounds will have people dropping in for a look. Anywhere with a back garden will have burglars dropping in.

Christoph
Alien

Dead, no

Undead - has been for years

Christoph

Haircut vouchers?

Just how many haircuts do they expect one person to need? Or do they expect you to spend all day in a spa?

If they offered something that might possibly classify as useful it might be worth looking at it.

But presumably the people who developed it think haircuts and spa days really are what Londoners are all desperate for. At least the Londoners who think it's a good idea to take a bike onto a tube.

Christoph

Microsoft, here to help you

You seem to be banging your head on the keyboard. Do you need any help with that?

Christoph

They have to have trains

Obviously they will have to include a hi-tech train system serving the whole city.

There is no way that the kind of people who like building stuff like this will miss the chance of having a full-scale working train set to play with.

Christoph

Map for the web

"What about a map for the web?"

Presumably he doesn't follow xkcd

Christoph

Cloud, noun: Somewhere it's all blurred and you can't find your data.

Christoph
Pirate

How to stop piracy

They are massively worried about piracy, so they are going to make it more difficult and expensive to play legitimately bought content?

Christoph
Joke

Kamera

Will LOHAN be equipped with a "Kamera"?

And will it be called "LOHAN Behold"?

Christoph

What happens to border crossing?

If they put massive restrictions on the border with Canada then what happens to the people wanting to flee north over the border for a better life, away from the crumbling economy of their own country?

Christoph

Can you challenge a foreign patent?

What happens when a US company has a 'patent' that was granted without any proper investigation for patentability or for prior art, and tries to enforce it in the UK? Can the UK court challenge the validity of the US patent?

Christoph

Re: X-Rays

Might be vulnerable to the kind of X-rays they scan baggage with, but I would hope that medical X-rays give a *lot* less exposure.

Christoph
Holmes

What law is he using?

If he's taking legal action, what kind of law is he basing it on? Surely the Japanese don't have a law making it compulsory to co-operate with stalkers.

Christoph

Re: 'Get a life, you sad wanker.'

The verdict could fit in 8 characters, the 5th being a space.

Christoph
Joke

So are they still watching?

Are they now waiting for the massive UURRRP after it swallowed that lot?

Christoph
Pirate

Same old story

"Rupert Murdoch is "not fit" to run a multinational corporation"

Almost exactly what they once said about Robert Maxwell - not that it kept him down for long.

Christoph

Was there a warning message?

It being the US, they can hardly complain about the kid's actions unless there was a large warning message saying "Do not urinate on this computer"

Christoph

How much beauty?

Did they measure the actual value of excited beauty, in millihelens?

Christoph

Re: Got to be a fishing site

Except for the banks which make it easy to change your address details. So the notices of suspicious activity get sent to the fake address that the bloke draining your bank account changed it to.

Christoph

Making people worried about giving sensitive information to the police is merely gibberingly insane.

Making people worried about giving sensitive information to their doctors, and the doctors worried about collecting such information, goes rather beyond that.

Christoph

Re: Well, isn't that nice to see....?

"the most repressed nation in the world"

Please tell that to North Korea and to Uzbekistan.

Christoph
Joke

Who was in the list?

Was Mike Hunt included?

Christoph

Fear of Death?

Put them in fear of death by making them think they're dying. Something like maybe pouring water over their face so they think they're drowning?

Once of course that you are certain that they are guilty, and not someone picked up by chance and actually innocent.

But then of course no civilised society would really do anything like that.

Christoph
Happy

Lots of money to be made?

Anyone thinking of investing might want to listen to this first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAotLlISkaM

Christoph

Re: WHOA READ BETWEEN THE LINES THERE!

"That's hardly into serious crime territory, which makes me wonder what sort of offenses they really intend to use it for."

Anyone convicted ot littering will be sent to sit on the Group W bench.

Christoph

Re: Please...

I am saying that in the current climate, extreme anti-women sentiments are likely to emerge from the US. There seems to be a lot of encouragement for such views in some Republican circles.

That is in no way stating that everyone in the US has such sentiments. Many of my friends in the US are appalled and horrified by them.

Apart from anything else that would imply that all women in the US have such sentiments! (Although as far as I can make out from this side of the pond a startling though still small number do.)

Combating such views is not likely to be helped by denying that they exist and that a large number of people hold them.

Christoph

Re: Please...

Having lots of attacks originate from America does not mean all Americans agree with the attacks. But there have been many moves in the US to attack women's rights (mostly originating from extreme Republicans). For instance repealing equal pay laws:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/18/scott-walker-equal-pay-repeal_n_1434886.html

"Also, if you're going to make comments like the last para, cite sources."

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/03/12/442637/georgia-rep-compares-women-to-animals/

Christoph

"which did not mean that all or indeed any of the miscreants were necessarily located Stateside."

Well quite. I mean, who would expect those wonderful Yanks to treat vulnerable women as easy victims to be viciously attacked? I expect there's several microseconds go by when the rednecks aren't thinking anything like that.

After all this is the country that's home to such civilised ideas as forcing women whose foetus has died to carry the corpse around inside them until it emerges 'naturally'.

Christoph
Facepalm

That's sorted then

We've got lots and lots of problems? No worries - just issue a statement that the problems have been solved or don't matter.

You surely don't expect us to actually do anything about them do you?

Christoph

Re: Hmm, I wonder what the fundamental particle of rabid control-freakery is called?

The Bliaron

Christoph

Re: Where did the charge go?

It's behind you!

Christoph

Imagine my surprise

"Gov open data policy disorganised and costly"

Have you heard whether the Pope is still Catholic?

Christoph
FAIL

Hey, great idea

"The state can automatically withdraw the amount from his or her bank account.”

What could possibly go wrong?

Don't people ever learn that "quick and easy" computer solutions to complex problems tend to have lots and lots of unintended consequences?

Christoph

What about the local beer?

They produce a local light ("Hell") beer. What's going to happen to that?

Yes, it does exist. I have a photo of a bottle of "Fucking Hell".

Christoph

Re: Planetary melting pot opens up new market opportunity

And have they thought about accepting Blxplrght as their personal saviour?

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