Luxury!

I still remember 1200 baud...

Re: Latency

Better latent than never...

Re: @The First Dave

If someone is that deranged - temporarily or otherwise, you have absolutely no idea whether or not there is a direct threat to your life or that of your wife.

And you don't risk your wife's life - or even your own - to fulfil some ultra-liberal touch-feely agenda. You can't value your wife greatly, if you do!

Re: Never mind fires

"nonsence" is also simply wrong.

"Nonsense" isn't, however...

Re: I'm not one to post general abuse...

"What if slagging off a politician or a judge becomes a "hate crime"? :("

Like the student who got dragged in for telling a plod that his horse was gay? They already do it whenever they like, Dio...

Re: pics...

The pics were posted: it's just that being invisible pics of invisible objects, they're easy to overlook...

Re: So why'd these employees wanna leave

You bait well.

Evidently you're a master...

@Eddie

"* Ant and Dec don't count"

Oh yes they do - all the way up to 11 (well, 10 1/2 actually) - if they keep their hands in their pockets

To Dr_N

Correct, but they've probably been stirred up (as much as they're capable of being stirred) by one of Murdoch's comics...

Re: I suppose...

Thanks AC - it's a right I frequently exercise on the inter webs and in the press.

I just wish I could do it in person...

with several feet of hemp...

or something with a very pointy end...

or an AK...

Because they're worth it.

Re: I for one welcoe our space dolphin overlords!

Marketeers have opposable thumbs?

Re: Depends...

No it isn't immaterial:- If there were any intelligible signals received from a star system, our reply would need to be aimed at where that system would be at the time our reply reached it.

Depends...

...upon how far away it is. If it's say 1,000 light years away, then all we would hear is any radio noise emitted from where it was 1,000 years ago. We would only see its star as it was - and where it was - 1,000 years ago.

We would have to study it for some time and - if possible, calculate where it is now and point a radio telescope all along the track from its observed position (where it was 1,000 years ago) to where it is calculated to be and hope that in the intervening time any inhabitants had developed the technology to send radio signals in a recognisable way, and they would still be 1,000 years advanced from when they transmitted. Any reply would give an effective response time of 2,000 years between transmit & receive response assuming we pointed our response in the right direction.

Of course, if it's a near neighbour, say 20 - 30 light years away, then the signal/response time might be only 40 - 60 years...

Well...

Half-busty perhaps - I believe Amazons were reputed to have removed the right one, as it apparently impeded the drawing of the bow-string...

Probably better (and safer) sticking with wenches who are less war-like...

Re: The chances of anything coming from Mars

"...speculate about intelligent dinosaurs..."

I wouldn't say John Prescott was acutally 'intelligent'...

Re: Strewth,

Lars,

Buy a dedicated slide scanner from eBay. If its software is missing/out of date etc., use VueScan (versions for Mac, Windoiws and Linux) which supports most scanners - new & old!.

http://www.hamrick.com

I use VueScan with my Nikon Coolscan and it's superior to the Nikon software the scanner came with. - I have no connection, other than a very satisfied user.

I've been using Macs & Photoshop for over 20 years now, but I STILL shoot on Fujichrome with my two Nikon F4s bodies and the F801s I picked up for £20 a few months ago...

I bought my Coolscan V new some years ago, and wouldn't part with it.

Re: Gotta get that maps dig in, right?

El Reg aka Trollfests'R'Us, innit?

@danR2

"...an OS cloned off an almost 50 year-old OS..."

In much the same way that next year's offerings from Ferrari, Porsche, Bentley & Rolls-Royce are powered by a clone of a 129 year-old power plant?**

Pure sophistry^ old lad - and you (should) know it.

**1884: British engineer Edward Butler constructed the first petrol (gasoline) internal combustion engine. Butler invented the spark plug, magneto, coil ignition and spray jet carburetor, and was the first to use the word petrol.

^Pure sophistry:- a more polite and restrained way of saying "Utter bollocks"

Re: "le Plod"?

Pas excitement, mon brave...

Le Plod would be an affectionate-ish commonly used name.

Les Flics is (or at least, was) rather more insulting, more like the old "The Pigs" or "The Filth".

i was advised this some years ago by a delightful young lady from Aix-en-Provence who was very shocked to hear me use the aforementioned froggie colloquialism...

Re: Strange but amazing

LarsG, you're a very naughty boy.

But I forgive you, 'cos it did brighten up an otherwise dull back-to-work day.

So I'm sending you a (virtual) beer.

Re: "fully fight the special battle against self-immolations"

You missed out "Fascist hyena".

Collected thoughts of Chairman Mao - circa 1966

Re: Religion itself is rarely the problem:- more of a problem is Organised religion.

"...the US is a christian state, or Egypt is a muslim state, and they VERY MUCH want to encroach upon everyone..."

As I said earlier, that's the ORGANISED religious authorities - who all too frequently have about as much to do with true religion as Blair & Mandelson & Co. have to do with socialism.

I am no adherent to any specific creed - neither could I claim in all honesty to be a follower of any of the three main parties in our parliament.

I can't really think offhand of any authoritative body - in almost any field - which hasn't become self-serving and corrupt.

Re: My karma just ran over my dogma

Religion itself is rarely the problem:- more of a problem is Organised religion.

In (too) many cases, the religious authorities have become every bit as megalomanic, venal and hypocritical as the secular authorities - and frequently in cahoots with them - preservation of self and self's status being their primary concern, usually achieved through the subjugation of their adherents or followers.

Looking at religion itself, a doctrine which basically exhorts care for your fellow man and praises lack of selfishness does not seem to deserve the diatribes of invective heaped upon it by many of the anti-God brigade. Certainly, complaint against the entrenched organisations is both acceptable and unfortunately, frequently valid. I still cannot see why some commenters are so violent in both their manner of speech and their suggested eradication of what to many, is a deeply personal, private and even altruistic way of life.

If you don't believe, fine: that's your choice. Is it really necessary though to insult and denigrate those who do believe, but do not encroach upon you in any way?

Re: I just don't see the butt hurt? @ Darryl

"..Maybe some people just don't like it. Ever thought about that?.."

Yup:- there are lots of things I don't like - but I don't lapse into a diatribe of spittle-laden invective in the manner of a 10yr old...

Re: Ooooh metro or apple... so close.

"...a small apple symbol on the back of a chinese made phone with appalling employee H&S records..."

As opposed to the small 'Samsung' symbol on the back of a chinese made phone with appalling employee H&S records.

Re: I just don't see the butt hurt?

That's because most of the spittle-flecked invective is little more than the Pavlovian rantings of the pre-pubescent Leach Fan Club...

Re: For a second, I thought this was one of those antique code articles!!

I think you mean "fewer happy people"...

"less happy people" would suggest they've had bits removed.

Oh! Hang on - it's PyongYang. Maybe you're right after all...

Re: I'm going to register...

Nice one, Sir.

But shouldn't they be compulsory as well as free for the aforementioned parasites?

Fixed it.

"...it's an American site, they are obsessed with nudity."

There, that's closer.

<------------

(Hic)

Re: Apples reality distortion field in action @derp 17/12/12 18:20

"...Heavily subsidized carrier deals helped Apple set its new Chinese sales record, it’s been suggested, with strong demand for discounted iPhone 5 handsets offsetting low traffic in the company’s own stores..."

Q. And how does this differ from the UK where the vast majority of upmarket phones are carrier subsidised on 2-yr deals?

A. It doesn't at all.

It is a mere "suggestion" - (note: suggestion, not confirmed as fact, possibly merely an idea in the author's mind) which the troll here implies is factual.

Meanwhile, in the UK, it's been suggested that acting as a Leach acolyte will get you out of short trousers more quickly and make doing your homework less of a chore...

@JaitcH 17/12/12 22:25

"..they obviously recognise who the competition is, especially since Samsung outsold Apple..."

Proton outsold Aston Martin last year.

Proving what, exactly?

Re: Police preform proper investigation shocker!

I would agree totally, but I must add the rider that it's BAD work to publicise your methods and explain where the ungodly goofed, 'cos that means 2013's ungodly probably won't make the same slip...

Re: Why the subtitle? @AC 14/12 17:35

Spot-on. One of this Christmas's wise men.

Re: Why would anyone in China want an Apple ...

"...iThingies ... as common as dirt..."

So are Leach acolytes. trolls & anti-apple moaners.

Re: Sir Runcible Spoon

What he said!

Re: What's with the Apple fixation? @AC 15:20

"...while Google is not perfect at least it does not try to pretend it is..."

Is that why it's still pushing the "Don't be evil" crap, and denying deliberate harvesting of private network data, inter alia?

PS

The plural which escapes you is "companies".

@Ledswinger

"Just a few sub editors who probably deserve it, I'd guess."..

Undoubtedly, but I'm sure there are other equally (at least) deserving cases within El Reg's hallowed portals...

It's fairly clear...

"thought" didn't come into it.