* Posts by Oldfogey

309 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Jan 2008

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Rhino horn price spike drives record poaching

Oldfogey

Fake Rhino Horn

Back to earlier posts, it should not be too difficult to produce a synthetic imitation powdered rhino horn that will pass basic tests. Feed this into the black market in large quantities, and eventually the price will drop. poaching will become uneconomic, and practically vanish.

Verizon retreats on ‘convenience fee’ for online bill payment

Oldfogey
Thumb Down

Bt has sent me an email to say that they will no longer be giving me a discount for having electronic billing. Tomorrow I will go online and switch back to dead tree mode - which is more convenient for me anyway.

Capita signs £560m deal with BBC

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

After a certain amount of hassle when I first moved to this address, I wrote a firm, though polite, letter to them pointing out that I do not watch TV, do not have a TV aerial, and do not have any other equipment used for receiving broadcast proposals.

I asked for an aknowledgment of my letter, and received one.

I now hear from them every few years politley asking if my circumstances have changed. If they save sent a paid postage envelope, I inform them that I still do not watch broadcast TV. If no envelope, their letter goes in the bin.

If they get stroppier, then so can I.

For the avoidance of doubt, you DO NOT need a licence merely to own equipment, only to use it to receive broadcast programmes, whether to watch or record.

And they do not have the right to enter your house without a warrant.

eBay slurps Hunch to match ads with shoppers

Oldfogey
Pint

Hunch = Guess

Well it can't be worse than ebays current ad selection system - it seems to be determined to push the last half dozen things I bought.

Hint; I've already bought them. I'm only going to buy another if its a beer.

Smart meters blamed for Wi-Fi, garage opener interference

Oldfogey
Holmes

The Inference of Interference

Now, if the "Smart" Meter can interfer with other wireless devices, then perhaps the reverse is also true. Maybe if you keep opening the garage, the bill goes down?

Just a stray thought, trying to eliminate the impossible.

Digital UK names date for end of analogue TV era

Oldfogey

Licence

You have never needed a licence to have "equipment capable of receiving a signal". This is an old myth, not helped by the misleading manner in which the "you do not have a licence and we're sending the boys round" letters were phrased.

You only need a licence if you actually recive live broadcast pictures, either to watch or record.

Check the Licensing website.

Of course, if you do not have a digital receiver it will be much easier to deny that you watch live TV!

UK punters happy to pay £3 to top up e-wallets

Oldfogey

Lidl

Funny thing, Lidl here in Wales take credit cards - but not those in England.

Attention metal thieves: Buy BT, get 75 MILLION miles of copper

Oldfogey
Happy

So don't have the dead trees

Ring BT directory department, nad tell them you don't want any more directories. Then do the same to Yellow Pages.

I did this a few years ago and have had neither since, though I have seen them sitting on everybody's doorstep. And that is why I did not want them, as it sends a signal to the burglars.

EU recording copyright extension 'will cost €1bn'

Oldfogey

Breaking a Contract

Copyright, like all other forms of IP, is a deal made between the creator of the item and society generally. The purpose of this deal is to enable the creator to benefit financially from their work, this encouraging them to create.

The deal was clear; you have 50 years to make your money and after that society recieves the rights for general use.

That deal has now been retrospectively changed, and I consider this not acceptable. Any extension should only be applied to new works.

Frankly I see no moral reason to respect the further 20 years, and very little to respect the first 50 either, in view of the attitudes shown by this legalised theft.

Toshiba: Europeans to get specs-less 3D TV by year's end

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

Nope.

So you'll pay a fortune for a shiny new giant screen with 3d, HD, surround sound and a built in popcorn maker.

And the programmes will still be the same old rubbish.

I haven't had one for decades, and this will make no difference.

I shall shortly be going away for a couple of weeks, and there will be a telly. I expect this to confirm my usual experience that I watch it a bit for a few days, and then start to forget that it's there.

The black helicopters will be round to check that I really don't have one.

Apple, HTC trim phone forecasts as markets tank

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

Trimphone?

Blimey, when I saw the title I thought somebody had revived the old Trimphone!

As for upgrades - I am now on my third phone. The first was an analogue brick. Then a Phillips Savvy (C12) - nice phone, still popular, now some sort of Nokia with all the lettering on the case rubbed off that I picked up for a couple of quid.

I make phone calls. Tried surfing on one of those smartphone gadgets, and just can't be bothered working with such a small screen. Oh, and I have never had a contract. Keeps me anonymouse.

LOHAN team buried under ballockets

Oldfogey
Holmes

Wing problem

If there is going to be air at the launch altitude, there is not going to be a lot, and it is not going to provide a great deal of steerage, even at top speed.

Yet, at the same time, you want wings for descent control and range.

Concurrently, if they are not going to provide steerage, they are going to provide drag, thus reducing the final altitude.

Folding wings are clearly too complex and liable to failure.

So why not a flexible wing, like a hang glider, with either rigid or inflatable structural beams. ( I like the inflatable idea).

The wing sits inside the rocket casing until max height, then a small explosion, or the inflation of the tubes, blows off a casing and the wing deploys.

Elementary, my dear Watson.

Hot bodies get super-slippery when wet

Oldfogey
Boffin

Stingray

I presume Stingray used the cavitation effect to let it travel at several hundred mph? And maybe used red-hot Sting Missiles so they could go even faster, thus giving the Terrorfish no time to escape.

"Anything can happen in the next half hour."

Science fiction beams up into the British Library

Oldfogey
Pint

I know that mob..

so don't pay to go into events - go straight to the nearest pub afterward and buy them a drink - a pint or a good single malt is always appreciated.

The BBC struggles with concept of 'tech bubble'

Oldfogey
Badgers

How to spot a Bubble.

As soon as the pundits start saying it isn't a bubble, and explaining why this time it really is different, then you know that the bubble is well under inflation.

It's the oldest working Seagate drive in the UK

Oldfogey
Coat

10Mb just for one PC?

The first server I installed was an Apricot with a 40Mb hard disk, with a dozen workstaions, later increased to 20.

The thing is these were all thin clients without floppies, so all software, user data, and the local email system, were all stored on the server, as was the only printer connection.

Say that to the kids who are system managers today and they'll look at you like an Old Fogey!

Min's the one with the thin ethernet crimp tool in the pocket.

Your census data will be kept secret - except from MI5, police, courts etc

Oldfogey
Flame

Date for completion?

There is a major source of error in the data, in that it is suppose to be completed as at 27 March, but I know of a lot of people who have taken the instruction on the front to "Act Now" literally, and have already returned their forms

More bad data will arise from people like me who will enter inaccurate information for security reasons. For instance I will not state my correct date of birth, because this is so often all banks want as security information.

They do not need this information for statistical purposes, "age last birthday" would meet their needs perfectly well

Given the number of people who will fillit in wrongly or not at all, the data is clearly going to be terminally useless; have a look on Google for how they adjust for inacuracy - basically they guess how wrong the data might be!

Sweden postpones EU data retention directive, faces court, fines

Oldfogey
Thumb Up

So what's the problem?

If the regulation is quoted correctly,

"the data retained by ISPs and phone companies will be made available only to national authorities in specific cases and in accordance with national law"

So just pass the "National Law" that the data is required to be retained, but cannot be accessed by anyone in any circumstances.

Simples!

Prepping the great Windows 7 migration

Oldfogey

User uses are not my uses

Yes, Ubuntu would do what they want, though it would cause chaos when the kids and grandkids got on the machine and tried to install their CBeebies type applications.

My uses are different - in particular I need to edit data on an MSAccess database, run Autoroute, run Birdguides v8, run a tidal predictor, Astronomy simulator, and several others.

Wine? Too much fiddling about - and surely better to run the real thing than an emulator? And no, dual boot is not an answer if you want to run things simultaneously.

Oldfogey

What do you mean XP is dead?

Every month or two somebody asks if their old machine can get on the internet, as they would like to try this new fangled e-mail surfing thing that their grandchildren say they need to be on.

The machine is generally something like a PII that has been sitting in a corner for ages, maybe doing a bit of word processing. It's running 95/98/ME.

They don't know whether they really want the internet, so aren't prepared to spend much money.

So, a bit more cheap RAM, a modem (they won't sign up to broadband at this stage) and a copy of XP so that they can get anti-virus.

Works fine, and they usually end up on broadband before long when the photos start to arrive.

They don't need 7, and see no reason to pay for it.

Personally I run 3 off on XP (one just built), one laptop on ME (mainly as an ereader, never goes on net) and a Ubuntu to play with (useless for my purposes).

Obama to overhaul heinous US patent system

Oldfogey
Pint

Feeling crusty

If accused of breaching the patent on the crustless sandwich, just cut off all but one corner, announce this is a new invention to provide a firm handle by which to hold the sandwich, and re-patent.

Goes well with a pint.

Crime UK site gets 400m hits, drives down property values

Oldfogey
Pint

See here for alternative site

For all those people who have been talking about the "nocked up in an evening" site - you can find it here;

http://www.crimesearch.co.uk/

Now you can criticise it (in the correct pedantic meaning of the word) on the basis of a certain amount of information.

Give the man a pint.

O2 tries to explain its new prudish nature

Oldfogey
Big Brother

PAYG Phone - so PAYG Card?

I wonder whether they would accept one of those pre-payment "credit cards" - that you can get at any age?

Government defends need for census

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

Who to prosecute?

A while back I asked the local Electoral Register who would be prosecuted if no electoral roll form was returned from this address.

It goes about like this;

"The Householder".

"So who is that - what is the legal definition?"

"The person who owns the house, or pays the rent."

"The house is jointly owned - and for that matter next door is rented jointly by 5 students"

"Oh. I'll get back to you"

Never did.

The Census has very similar rules, and would find it impossible to prosecute in such circumstances.

I shall fill much of it in, but I will lie about much personal information, particularly date of birth (my bank uses that as a security check). As for the race question, if you read it carefully you are mixed, like almost ecverybody in the country.

Japan plans space debris fishing trip

Oldfogey
Alien

Got it backwards!

1. Most debris moves in the same direction - so orbit the catcher in the same direction, just a little faster or slower (alternately) so th impact is normally failry slow.

2. The net is metallic, and charged so that most debris will tend to stick.

3. The catcher has a limited life before it has too much junk to operate and is re-entered to burn up. Thus it can afford to carry a good fuel supply, and IT dodges the Satellites, not vice-versa.

4. It could perhaps carry more than one net - when one is overloaded, or developed too many holes, dump it into burn up and carry on with the next net.

5. Before going to burn-up, could it link up with the ISS, so they can recover anything valuable first?

Don't let the aliens nick our historic artifacts.

Gov will spend £400k to destroy ID card data

Oldfogey
Flame

Really worrying........

What is really worrying about most of the posts is that people on this site are assumed to know a bit about computers - but obviously have no first idea about what is necessary to DESTROY data, thouroughly, permanently, and demonstrably.

Some of these people could be in charge of systems with sensitive data on, and they would just throw the discs in a heap and bash them with a hammer!

I just hope they neve get in charge of any of my data.

Amazon buys Lovefilm

Oldfogey
Coat

Payment??

What nobody seems to notice is that Lovefilm, like all these services, demands a continuing authority on your credit or debit card.

Unlike a Direct Debit, this means you are totally at the firms mercy. Cancel the contract and the money still keeps going out? Your bank will not, and cannot help, even if you cancel the card it makes no difference.

With a DD you tell the bank the payment should not have been made, and they haver, by law, to refund it immediately (though they try to pretend not).

I will never, ever, give a card authorization other than for a single payment to anybody.

So I just have to keep getting DVD's out of the local library. (Only £1.00 for a week). And its in my pocket.

Eyeball camera zooms into focus

Oldfogey

To see or not to see.....

Low-res artificial retinas have already been successfully trialled - Good enough to read very large print.

The human brain is very versatile at interpreting visual input. Fit somebody with prism glasses that make everything look upside down, and they will soon reprogram to see the world normally.

A suitable non-freezing liquid? How about alcohol?

Lane Fox promises sub-£100 PCs

Oldfogey

These People

The sort of people you are talking about here are like my mother in law, in her 80's and widowed.

"£100 down and £9 a month - you game?"

"No. What would I use it for, even if I could learn to use it?"

In fact she has a perfectly good PC, printer, and scanner from when her husband died. I cancelled the broadband once I had dealt with the estate, and set up a PAYG dial-up. She turns it on occasionally to use a little program I have put on that makes it act like a photocopyier, and a couple of times I have talked her through receiving and printing an e-mail when I needed to get a document to her urgently.

And that's it. Anything else she needs on line I do for her (selling off bits and pieces on ebay for instance). I can't tutor her, living 200 miles away, and the local first step course is in the evening, when she is in bed by 9:00, plus a taxi would be £15 each way.

As for telephone support, forget it. They would never have the patience.

There is no way she is ever going to use that machine, ut on the other hand she is not exactly without access to the net, via me - so what's the big problem?

Space boffins save BT's satellite station for Mars missions

Oldfogey
Thumb Up

An amazing structure.

"Arthur" (Goonhilly 1) is a quite astonishing piece of engineering.

Telstar was not in geostationary orbit, and crossed the sky in less than 20 minutes, so the dish had to be turned at quite a speed to stay on target. But they didn't turn the dish - they turned the WHOLE BUILDING!

As a result G1 was refurbished many times, and kept in use long after satellites were geostationary, because if another dish failed it could be quickly aligned anywhere in the sky as a backup.

I am glad to see it will continue to be used. The picture just doen't give you any idea of how huge it is.

Visa approves wireless payment chip

Oldfogey
Coat

Re:Re: pickpocketing

And how do you propose to avoid this technology?

Before long all bank debit and credit cards will have it built in, no choice, no option to disable, and no way of proving to your bnk that you didn't use it.

Cash anyone? My wallet's here somewhere.

Dixons warns of tough Christmas

Oldfogey
FAIL

Just once in a while .............

Whenever I want some components (never systems) I check PCWorld online, and everyso often they have a bargain - perhaps mainly because I don't need cutting edge - usually in optical or hard drives.

So I order it, go in, pick it up from the rack near the door, go to the display and change it for what I actually ordered, go and pay.

And if the checkout jockey suggests I need a £20 3 year warranty for the £15 item I have just bought, I just say "thanks, but I'm not that dim".

Of course their Tech Guys are always good for a laugh if they've got a customer;

"My computers running slow!"

" Well you need a bigger hard disk and more memory"

Unfortunately the majority of the population have no idea what they are doing with a computer beyond using it - and that goes for a lot of the kids as well.

Once-in-a-lifetime gag tops Fringe quip list

Oldfogey
Headmaster

Re; Re: Re: Errrrr......

Pedant?

No, not quite the word I'd use. I think it would be more precise, more accurate, more relevant, to use the term "nitpicker".

Oldfogey
Joke

Popular holiday

That holiday of a lifetime sounds like the one I got for my mother-in-law; personally I thought it was a pretty good swap.

Boom Boom!

America's top model fights off 'pervert' at Star Wars convention

Oldfogey
Pirate

Not wise to cause trouble at SF Cons.....

Some years back I was at an SF Worldcon in England. A bunch (about 20) of drunken football fans thought they could find some entertainment by hassling the nerds (and several attractive women in costumes).

Hotel front-of-house were outclassed, and those of us fans who were about weren't going to do much better, so we called Con (not hotel) security.

Security came down the stairs, about a dozen guys all well over 6 foot, plus 2 young ladies who would actually have been the dangerous ones. We parted and let them through. The troublemakers started to look a bit less certain, but stood their ground.

What really got rid of them (without trouble) was when security parted to let through 8 BIG guys, all in full Viking costume and weapons, straight from a demonstration.

Never cause trouble at a Con.

Hackers spoof car warning system

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

Missing the point

In Spain, it is a common technique for criminals to pull alongside your car and indicate that you have got a problem. When you stop to look, you are mugged.

Bear in mind that in the open country or on a motorway it is quite usual to be in close proximity to the same vehicle for miles.

So you are driving along, and the dash indicates a loss of pressure. Do you ignore it until it gets bad enough to feel, or do you pull in at the next parking place and check it out?

And yes, there is probably far more wireless connection in your car than you think. The wireless chip is very cheap, copper wire is increasingly expensive and requires more labour to install. My 12 year old Peugeot has a wireless connection from the ignition key to the engine management system, and you can bet a new car has lots more.

YOUR car will be part of Skynet.

Terrafugia Transition flying car redesign - first analysis

Oldfogey
Thumb Up

Caravan?

Can it tow a caravan?

When FLYING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that WOULD be cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Voting reform finally on the agenda

Oldfogey

Electoral roll

It is an offense for the head of the household not to complete the registration form for the electoral roll. This is from the actual wording on the form, and this accurately reflects the Act.

I rang my local Electoral officer, and asked who, legally, was the head of the household - who would they prosecute?

He had no idea, as there is no such person defined in law!

On another point, AV, as proposed in the UK, would not allow your vote to be given to someone of whom you disaprove.

If your chosen first candidate is eliminated, your vote is transferred to your second choice. You do not have to place all the candidates in number order, so any candidate you would not wish to represent you (whether BNP or Communist) would simply fail to receive a vote from you at any stage of the counting.

My coat is the one with the "Head of the Household" badge; I borrowed it from my wife.

OFT won't block BBC's über set top box

Oldfogey
Pint

@ not digital broadcaasting

Or any sort of broadcasting - so no licence required to watch it.

100% legal freeloading; I like it.

Cheers!

Facebook convenes privacy 'crisis' meeting

Oldfogey
Pint

Lies, Damn lies, and login details.

When I first looked at FB (just to see what the fuss was about) I didn't like what I saw on the privacy side, so didn't join.

Later I needed to be on in order toaccess some information that was on there, so i did what I always do in such cases;

False Name

Address - Head Office of the firm involved

and their phone No.

Date of birth - 1 Jan 1900

Sex - flip a coin, or in the odd case where it is a text field, YES.

and so on

and so on.

Surely everybody does this?

Everywhere?

But it is true that I drink bheer.

Drifting zombiesat could disrupt TV programming

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

@TV?

Nope, haven't watched it for 30 or more years, except when away on holiday; sort of a booster shot to keep me innoculated against it.

Still watch DVD's - Fireball XL5 not too long ago.

Black helicopters from TV Licensing

UK regulator wants register of all premium-rate firms

Oldfogey
Big Brother

Phonepay plus?

It's a bad idea for the regulator to sound like a dodgy example of the sort of company it is trying to regulate!

TPS has worked perfectly for me - no more calls after about 2 months for the database to be circulated.

When people have told me it doesn't work, it has always turned out that they have signed up not with the real TPS, but with one of the "industry run" services, which claim to stop unwanted calls, but are actually just harvesting data.

Make sure you are with the real service.

DoH puts brakes on Summary Care Record

Oldfogey
Thumb Down

Opt out rate?

I was visiting my 83 yr old mother-in-law recently, and the leaflet about the SCR arrived.

She read through it, asked me a few questions, then said "I don't trust them. Can I get out of this?"

So I printed off the form (she's not that hot on the web yet, but I have hopes), she signed it and I dropped it off at the doctors.

Now shes telling everybody in her area, and with the contacts she has, and their contacts, and so on, I supect they will get opt-outs from about half of the surgery.

If this is at all typical, the whole thing will be useless anyway.

Oh, and it dowsn't cover Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland anyway.

Steve Jobs and governator tout transplant reform

Oldfogey
Pirate

Liver long and prosper

If I die (and I have my hopes about medical developments), then anyone who needs it is welcome to any bits and bobs they can use.

Jobs needs my liver? Fine.

Gates needs my kidneys? No prob.

Schwarzeneger needs my brain? Only a small improvement, but OK.

But if you start assuming a right to them, then I will opt out immediately. My bits, my decision.

And I don't carry a donor card. Why not? Because here in the UK, and I think also in the USA, they are meaningless; they will not touch my cadaver, whatever I have said, written, or registered with the Government, until they have clearance from my next of kin. There is no point in carrying a card - it will make no difference to what happens on the day.

I believe..... the headbone conected to the neck bone, the neck bone connected to the back bone....

BBC confirms death of 6Music, slashes online budget by a quarter

Oldfogey
Coat

It's FREE, so i shouldn't comment!!!!!

The trouble is that BBC radio, which is what this is largely about, is a free service, and it is dificult to criticise something you get for free.

Do I hear cries of "But you pay for it in your license fee"?

No I don't, because I don't have a license - because I don't have a TV.

So thanks to the rest of you for providing a free service for me - including the occasional bit of TV through the iplayer (mainly Doctor Who).

Of course I can usually only get Longwave here, which just leaves me with the exzcitement of Radio 4. Still, theres always Spotify.

No, pocket radios don't work here.

IPS in cunning 'get an ID card, get crucified' scheme

Oldfogey
Alert

?PROVE Identity?

Just looking at the ad for this on ebay, where it says that an ID card "will help to prove your identity".

So it doesn't actually prove it then?

Will a service pack for Windows 7 rock up anytime soon?

Oldfogey
Pint

XP still not dead?

Of course XP isn't dead yet - and neither are 95, 98, or ME from what I see around, whatever MS might like.

Casual users who do a bit of email, write the odd letter, or surf occasionally for a weather report or something, find they have no need whatsoever to upgrade, and will only do do if their machines die in a thoroughly terminal manner.

They are still using dial-up as well, because they only go on line for a few minutes a week.

Techies tend to forget the vast mass of users out there who have no interest in the latest kit, if what they have does what they need.

The icon is what I usually get for fixing their machines.

UK.gov may abolish edited electoral roll

Oldfogey

So who fills it in?

I was feeling like causing trouble when the last roll form came in, so I rang the local registration officer with the following question;

"It says on the form that the Householder is legally responsible for filling in the form, and can be prosecuted for failing to do so. This property is inhabited by myself and my wife, and is jointly owned. Which of us is the Householder? It has to be one or the other, there is only space for one signature, so who do you prosecute?"

There has been, and will be, no answer to this question, as there is no legal definition of Householder that works in these circumstances.

By the way, tick the box and junk mail slowly and steadily declines.

Reg icon, for the Electoral Reg

Delta hacked my email, says passenger rights chief

Oldfogey
Black Helicopters

Lost & Corrupted Data?

But naturally she was able to recover the data from a backup, so there was no actual loss, as such.

And nobody keeps critical data on an online email service, so no problem there.

So why am I not surprised that an airline might hack into files illegally, rather than risk having to treat passengers like human beings and actually provide the service that they have paid for?

Do they use planes or black helicopters?

Super 'sun-hot' plasma rocket in fullbore bench test triumph

Oldfogey
Alien

What I do understand is....

That although flipping 180 may be tricky, it's onviously far from impossible, as every space mission to date has used it, except perhaps the non-stopping ones.

Aliens, of course, can remove inertia, so don't have all these problems.

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