* Posts by Destroy All Monsters

16005 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Jun 2008

Dark matter: Good news, everyone! We've found ... NOTHING AT ALL

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I think you meant "Just as planned"

(white fluffy cat stroke from a wheelchair-bound diminutive figure)

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Re: Much like the Higgs Boson...

Yes, and this IS odd, which is good.

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Holmes

Re: @ Destroy all monsters

Ah, this would be the name calling and style criticising bit of the "scientific debate". Good to see so many upvotes for this fantastic bit of reasoning.....

Thank you for the expectation that I would have enough time and energy to seriously dissect an ALTERNATE EXPLANATION OF THE MATRIXLIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING in El Reg reader's forum.

People interested in learning more about the (non) controversy are invited to apply Google to the problem but to stay within the bounds of what common sense tells them about the websites they visit. There are also "books".

In particular, the following information may be of help when you encounter Tim The Enchanter and his Electric Staff:

Martin Gardner’s Signs of a Crank

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Headmaster

Re: Electrical model of the universe

There is an electrical model of the universe that doesn't require dark matter.

Unfortunately it resides in crank universe and it firmly intends to stay there. It seems to be pretty much at odds with things that one can see in a telescope. In a positivist science, this is generally a Bad Thing. I won't even mention websites promoting it that look like something out of geocities. I think it's mainly made up by electrical engineers afraid of an Einstein mass/energy tensor letting fly.

Nokia wins UK patent spat: Quick, let's boot HTC One out of Blighty

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Re: This is bloody insane, yet again :-(

This device from Company (a) will do the job that we need it to do, and save us wasting time and funding on developing a whole new branch of radio technology,

...you forget to add "which might be covered by patents held by someone else anyway that no-one is aware of as yet", so why bother developing anything new?

Patents are a trade-inhibiting and pauperizing crock from A to Z.

Infosec bod reports ONGOING ATTACK at RSA securo-confab

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Big Brother

"It's a non-issue"

They would say that, wouldn't they?

"Was it a crypto-anarchist wing of the anti-Monsanto hippies?"

Deploy Roundup! Anyone protesting Monsanto while rooting for what makes Monsanto deserves it.

Cameron pledges public access to list of who REALLY owns firms

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Big Brother

Re: VAT is the answer?

Unless you want to cripple the economy by taxing the street-level grunt, no.

Frank Chodorov, in Out of Step, Devin-Adair, 1962:

First, as to method of collection, taxation falls into two categories, direct and indirect. Indirect taxes are so called because they reach the state by way of private collectors, while direct taxes arrive without by-pass. The former levies are attached to goods and services before they reach the consumer, while the latter are in the main demands upon accumulations of wealth.

...

It is not the size of the yield, nor the certainty of collection, which gives indirect taxation preeminence in the state's scheme of appropriation. Its most commendable quality is that of being surreptitious. It is taking, so to speak, while the victim is not looking. Those who strain themselves to give taxation a moral character are under obligation to explain the state's preoccupation with hiding taxes in the price of goods.

and also:

Taxes of all kinds discourage production. Man works to satisfy his desires, not to support the State. When the results of his labors are taken from him, whether by brigands or organized society, his inclination is to limit his production to the amount he can keep and enjoy. During the war, when the payroll deduction was introduced, workers got to figur­ing their "take home" pay, and to laying off when this net, after taxes, showed no increase comparable to the extra work it would cost; leisure is also a satisfaction. A prize fighter refuses another lucrative engagement because the addi­tional revenue would bring his income for the year into a higher tax bracket. In like manner, every business man must take into consideration, when weighing the risk and the pos­sibility of gain in a new enterprise, the certainty of a tax-offset in the event of success, and too often he is discouraged from going ahead. In all the data on national progress the items that can never be reported are: the volume of business choked off by income taxes, and the size of capital accumula­tions aborted by inheritance taxes.

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Big Brother

Marxist Populism is Big Again: Big, Bad Companies!

What we would LIKE to hear

"We need to know who really owns and controls our politicians. Not just who owns them casually, but who really benefits financially from their existence," Cameron is expected to say at a conference.

But unfortunately not.

"For too long a small minority have hidden their business dealings behind a complicated web of shell companies and this cloak of secrecy has fuelled all manners of questionable practice - and downright illegality."

And we make the "legality" - in particular in order to spend other people's money on various shit, wars as well as ourselves. As the income is not enough, we introduce VAT, income taxes etc. As this is STILL not enough, we need to upgrade constantly which we then sell to the sheeple by claiming that widows and children are being treated unfairly.

Facebook tests sinister CURSOR-TRACKING in hunt for more ad bucks

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Trollface

So what

I am not a Product. At least, not to Facebook.

The Colosseum, Hagia Sophia, Tower of London... and, er, Steve Jobs' GARAGE

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Big Brother

Re: Find the odd thing out

Collectivism and state-worship is a bit strong in this thread.

I think it's time you all started to think about meeting the next 5-year plan's goals because Mr. Mosley will be reactivated SOON the way things are going.

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Re: Find the odd thing out

Of course, of course. But the "spoils of war" are even worse. Like GWB's self-financing Iraq war.

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Paris Hilton

So what's wrong about that?

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Big Brother

Find the odd thing out

The Colosseum: Built by govnm't on taxpayers' expense to amuse and awe them

Hagia Sophia: Built by govnm't on taxpayers' expense to control and awe them

Tower of London: Built by govnm't on taxpayers' expense as its cozy home and torture cellar

Steve Jobs' Garage: Generates taxpayers' expense and actual things people want!

Twitter duped us, coupon-clippers claim

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Flame

Lawyers, Leeches, IP advocates and other disgusting things

"I can't get the cut that God himself entitled me to have... WAAAHHAAAAMBULANCE!"

Twitter, ARM voted on to Java steering committee

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Windows

Re: Yep, that's what is needed...

Young lad! I have stories to tell....

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Re: A year is not enough

People are actually also using Windows and x86 and even Linux and C.

Your Face When cockwomble encounters industry standard.

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Gimp

The company that admits no wrongdoing

> Goldman Sachs

LOL WHAT.

Microsoft investors advised: Sack the guy searching for Ballmer replacement

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Greek quantitative easing!

Easy now!

Salesforce's data-center design: 'Go for web scale, and build it out of s**t!'

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This shall be called the "Nostromo" approach.

Nothing to do with Conrad, everything with Ridley.

I want to see repairmen on the lower decks!

Ohh! The PRECIOUS! Give it to uss. We WANTS it: Shiny iThings coming in 2014

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To me it sounds like the spin you get when your Pratt&Whitney turbine has just accidentally hoovered up someone from the flight deck.

CUT ENGINES! CUT!!

Anonymity is the enemy of privacy, says RSA grand fromage

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Headmaster

RSA Royale with Cheese

Btw, it is "Grand Fromage" in french.

"Grande" sounds spanish. Nobody likes the Spanish Inquisition.

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Terminator

"Drone Signature Strikes" in your neighborhood? SOON!

Precrime here.

We have detected suspicious behaviour in your immediate future.

Step away from the keyboard and show your hands. We have the permission to use deadly force!

Big Content says Pirates of the Caribbean do their worst in Australia

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Re: As a friend said to me...

Deal with it, AC.

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Re: "In Australia it's legal to sell region-free DVD players"

There will be tax hikes long before that. As this means no jobs, expect a government-provided one in a canned goods factory or something.

Growth, what's that? Storage firms tighten belts as revenues flatline

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Trollface

This is superland: expect an upwards trend on profits!

Apparently the continuous QE3 monetary inflation effort is not strong enough to get us out of the perma-depression. There are rumors to go Weimar for real now:

The Fed has worked for decades to suppress inflation, but economists, including Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Fed starting next year, have long argued that a little inflation is particularly valuable when the economy is weak. Rising prices help companies increase profits; rising wages help borrowers repay debts. Inflation also encourages people and businesses to borrow money and spend it more quickly.

Fasten your seatbelt, this economy is going places. I suspect disk drives will be manufactured, bought by government and carted directly to the landfill.

Mac OS X Mavericks 'upgrade' ruins iWorks

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"Everything dies, Mr Mulder!"

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Re: Wait, people use iWork?

"actually a folder with multiple files inside, abstracted into a single object by OSX"

Actually that is very good file format in systems which have no internal structure to "files", but it should really behave like a single "package" (like the OpenOffice files, which are actually jar files, which are actually zip files of a file tree)

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Trollface

Re: I am an Apple fan...

> Actually, it was a computer. Just a computer.

gb2 The Telegraph

Cameron on EU data protection rules rewrite: 'Hold it so we get it right'

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Holmes

It's still large, have a look:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52012PC0011:fr:NOT

119 pages, 47384 words.

Changes to such high-level documents happen all the time. I hear a big change was a hush-hush removal of something about cloud computing, which happened after a USUK delegation was seen hogging the lobby...

Apart from that, companies better have good lawyers if this is translated into national laws. Apparently sometimes it might be very unclear whether one would or would not compliant with the law.

I am a recovering Superwoman wannabee

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And upwards both ways!

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Re: And how is The Register helping women in IT?!

> tits

> overtly sexual

Welcome to Catholicism.

Is it barge? Is it a data center? Mystery FLOATING 'Google thing'

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Re: Where is Bond when we need him?

Not enough fluffy cats.

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Re: quickly migrate large amounts of compute resources

One container full of harddisks would be enough for that. or not?

Coding: 'suitable for exceptionally dull weirdos'

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Re: algorithm != algebra

.. that never wants to be employed/employable, yeah.

Which is why "professionals" are complaining about "muh jobs are being outsourced" as "locally written stuff" falls over at the next sneeze.

Your paperbag, sir. Please code your way out of it.

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Re: Coding's an essential life skill

> .Net has a wonderful toolbox for developers to use to get sites working.

That is very deep in the Gravity Well of the Microsoft Dark Star. Stay away, you won't have enough delta-vee to ever get out again. It's for Volksgrenadiere not afraid to give up their soul, not for education.

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> Less programmers higher wages.

"I hear you wanna have plogam written? Me can do for cheap money."

It's not like we are not already at the point where local development is actually far too expensive for the demands of the customer.

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Facepalm

Re: I've said it before

Starting with programming isn't going to teach this, rather the opposite, it teaches to try, try and try again until the damn thing compiles and runs.

> 2013

> Using a language that needs a compiler

Even on the JVM, you get the "groovysh" interpreter.

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Trollface

Re: Fixed

In Walking Dead, Carly the Journalist couldn't even correctly put the AAA cells into a portable radio. Then she got killed in a most gruesome way.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

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Childcatcher

Re: algorithm != algebra

But does it have to be coding in at least two programming languages? Not necessarily at school.

Correct. LISP should be enough for anyone.

Ofcom: By 2017, even BUMPKINS will have superfast broadband

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Paris Hilton

Re: Filling the colum inches with inanity?

Jesus Christ Don, are you working in Brussels?

What is "institutionalized Icahnism", why are "bucks" free and why do you "dilute long-term value" by not redirecting scare resources to your preferred project? Maybe people want a (subsidized?) Wal-Mart nearby instead.

Hey, I'm not against having broadband everywhere, but this is just made-up political justifications. Broadband rollout happens as an economy builds up its capital structure. The capital structure is not built up by pushing broadband (even if the EC says that this is so).

So kick the arse of the current monopolist until it softens up so that the offer can be extended. If that means BT can no longer honour pension payouts, so be it.

I bet once the broadband is there, you will see protests against "the wholesale destruction of local shops" followed by french-style regulation, but I digress...

Study: Arctic warming at 'stunning' rate – highest temps in 44,000 years

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Childcatcher

Re: greenies are wrong about almost everything

The price of electricty is a red herring when we are killing this planet for our kids and grand-kids. Let em suffer if I can get 10% off my bills. How short-sighted &fucking selfish.

Unfortunately, economics is the only heuristic you have. And your kids & grand-kids will suffer anyway (UK debt = 90% of GDP, probably optimistic; enjoy paying it down. No, it will NOT be paid down by "the rich".).

You should feel free to give your money to green energy initiatives (government-mandated or not) of your choice, but don't diss "cheap". Paying "more" now might well make the difference between "energy" and "energy and a bike" later.

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Trollface

Re: Ship of fools

Well, the "future space travellers" sure won't be of the tribe of green hippies trying to harvest renewables and discussing whether their anarcho-syndicalist commune can manage to set up another windmill directly besides the dirt field.

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Re: Oh My God !!!!!!!!!

Don't you mean Death and Tax Increases?

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Re: greenies are wrong about almost everything

The fact remains that most households Electrics/ PC / LCD TVs could & can be run on 12V, these days

Contentless bullshit. You can run an aircraft carrier on 12V.

Space, digitisation and storage. Astronomy Legacy Project has it all

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Re: Journalism FAIL

Excellent, thank you.

Sorry for the grumpiness and waldorfstatlerisms, just having a bad dayweekmonthyear.

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Headmaster

Journalism FAIL

It estimates the archive should contain at least 40 undiscovered novae – but the images are fragile and analogue, and their data is difficult to access.

In this case the opposite of "digital" ins NOT "analogue". From where does this 100% stupid vocabulary originate? Let me guess: it's because you can have an "analog signal" and a "digital signal" (better described as a "symbol-based signal"), amirtite?

You may call the image "based on chemical substrate" or "based on bulk material" or "not digitized", but "analogue" it ain't.

Come to think of it, it is "quantized", photographic grain and all that. Still not digital.

Hate data fees but love your HD slab? Here's a better way to pay for bytes

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This is why the Net Neutrality idea is a problem: The consumer won't get the movie.

Their business is to provide connectivity and not worry about what goes over that connection.

QoS aspects are part and parcel of connectivity. Pretending this isn't so does not help.

Please, PLEASE, Skype... Don't kill our apps and headsets, plead devs

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Pint

Re: What they need is more...

But what guarantee is there that that won't be dropped and made incompatible in future releases of Windows?

Regime Uncertainty is what will bring us out of the Great Recession! Ask any politician.

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FAIL

Hah!

It was dead far earlier.

And I don't mean "mercilessly tortured by eBay in a damp cellar".

Why it even exists and hasn't been replaced by something that works and actually makes sense will forever be one of the mysteries of the Internet.

Play Elite, Pitfall right now: Web TIME PORTAL opens to vintage games, apps

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Holmes

Re: David Braben's supposed to be quite litigious, isn't he?

If anyone wants to feed the lawyer's fat for shite like that, feel free.

Really, these are all of interest only for the nostalgic value to those who played them back then.

Running them in the emulator makes you realize that memories are cheating and they are all horrid crud.

It's like "ancient gnostic manuscripts". They don't reveal hidden knowledge or anything.