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* Posts by James Pickett

1180 posts • joined Monday 23rd April 2007 13:12 GMT

James Pickett

Spooky

Only two days ago, I was expressing the wonder* that we hadn't had a lost CD/HD/laptop/memory stick lately, and here it is!

*Only verbally, I'm afraid. Should have done it in Ladbrokes, but I don't suppose I'd have got very long odds...

James Pickett
Happy

Deterrent

May I suggest they use them to fly past the Taliban with large posters of naked women? That should disorientate them...

James Pickett

Progress

"a true 'leap ahead' in lethality".

Oh, goody.

James Pickett

Blame

So the two guys responsible have now left? I wonder who was responsible before then..?

James Pickett

Grrr!

"It asked eBay et al to shut down the dodgy auctions"

And did they?

James Pickett

Quick

"Following the crash, authorities in California banned rail workers form using mobile phones while on duty"

It didn't occur to them before, I suppose...

James Pickett

Hazardous

IIRC, borrowing money when there's a safety net is frowned on by the banks, who regard it as a 'moral hazard'. I haven't heard that term much lately, now the boot is on the other foot...

Full marks to Byrne, though. Being silenced just proves he was right. So much for the Land of the Free!

James Pickett

Goons

Can somebody please remind me what is the use of a pistol-packing neanderthal in a pressurised cabin at 30,000 feet against someone with a block of semtex (or even some binary liquids) and a death-wish?

James Pickett

Back to the future

So much for progress. The Enfield electric car had a 40-mile range in 1974 and was surprisingly nippy. Better looking too...

http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/wordpress/?page_id=148

James Pickett

Job$

1 in 3 dollars = 1 in 5 laptops? They're still overpriced, I see...

James Pickett

Er...

"There is no indication that the theft was motivated by a desire to obtain the data, nor that the data has been exploited maliciously in any way"

In a separate incident, involving the theft of money, a spokesman said that there was no indication that it would be exploited or used to buy things...

James Pickett

Real scareware

I shall sit up and take notice after they've nailed the guys responsible for XP Antivirus...

James Pickett
Happy

Caring

>When you say "I could care less," it is supposed to be spoken in a voice dripping with sarcasm, to convey the exact opposite meaning

Sarcasm and irony? In America? Who knew?

James Pickett

@AC (aren't they all!)

"some people go nuts about creationists because they are frightened of being held accountable to a higher power for their actions"

Not really. I'd much rather be nice* to people on the 'do as you would be done by' principle, than because I thought I was going to be punished if I wasn't. As for an afterlife, I certainly don't want to be surrounded for eternity by fundamentalists of any description. All the virgins will have gone by time I get there, anyway...

*For you, I'll make an exception.

James Pickett

Help!

As if being reminded of Blaine wasn't bad enough, I've now got the phrase 'twatdangling away' in my head, to the tune of Paul Simon's 'Slipsliding away'. Have mercy and send me a shirt...

James Pickett

Fussy

I'd love a T-shirt, but only if it's got a picture of the old twatdangler himself, taken during the few seconds that he was actually inverted.

I'd still like to know what happened to the advertised catheter, too...

James Pickett

Ego trip

"based in California"

Nuff said.

James Pickett

Gordon Brown's fault

IIRC, he withheld part (or possibly all) of the UK's contribution, which was earmarked for testing. Oops!

James Pickett
Gates Horns

Recommended

So, does Dell recommend Vista or XP? I think we should be told.

My pet hate is the 'xxx recommends [insert current MS product here]' puff - are we really expected to believe that it means something?

James Pickett

Sniff...

""because it was likely to encourage irresponsible drinking"

So drinking is only responsible if you've got your underwear in place?

I wonder what Sir Les Patterson would say? :-)

James Pickett

That's all right, then

"statement about the product"

which will tell us exactly what it's for, naturally.

Pigs all lined up and ready for take-off...

James Pickett

Progress?

Not unlike the Honda Insight, which manages a mere 84mpg, but is faster and rather better looking (and has been around for 8 years)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight

Making a tubular frame from carbon fibre is a solution no-one asked for, IMHO. Aluminium tubing is easy to form, easy to mend, easy to recycle and not much heavier.

I have a nice, lively 500cc engine in my motorbike, but it would be slug in a car...

James Pickett
Go

@gulfie

"I'm hoping Private Eye will pick up the baton as well"

They have. Latest issue, p.26

James Pickett
Go

@aimee

"countermeasures"

Good idea. After all, if it's not illegal for them...

James Pickett

Oh yeah?

"the world's most resilient economy"

Snigger... (in the style of Muttley)

I'd use a smiley icon, but I realise we'll end up picking up the same pieces. So good to have a special relationship...

James Pickett
Gates Horns

M$

>the term 'clear commitment' should be read 'dragged kicking and screaming'

Couldn't have put it better myself. I'm intrigued that they now offer ODF compatibility (i.e. it will work with Open/Star Office's own established and ISO-approved format) so who now needs OOXML?

In any case, schools should be teaching principles, not how to use a particular suite of software. Who's going to be using any of the current versions of MS Office in ten years' time? With a bit of luck, few people will be using MS anything!

James Pickett
Happy

Electric charge

"At $0.08/KWh"

Can I run an extension lead from your house, please..?

James Pickett

Curate's egg

Well, it's your site...

I quite like being able to hide the ads, but where *did* those new icons come from?! We still need Ballmer, IMO, but perhaps he's just not important enough...

James Pickett

Improvement

"fetchingly encased"

Thankfully. The previous ones were hideous, especially the freestanding upright desktop version. American styling is weird.

James Pickett

Longevity

Kodak produced a camera with an OLED screen in 2003, but although the screen was well received (much better viewing angle than LCD, for instance) nobody else copied it, AFAIK, which leads me to wonder what the life is like. Not sure I'd want to spend £500 to find out...

James Pickett

Dear God

"Reiss will return to his regular job as Professor of Science Education"

You couldn't make it up! It's like something from the Middle Ages...

Still, I'm glad the Royal Society has finally seen sense, although why they gave the job to a priest in the first place remains a mystery.

James Pickett

Gander sauce

"it did not want staff to be hindered in any way"

And how does taking a photograph do that? Or were they posing..?

James Pickett

Zoom-zoom

That battery seems a bit small for a 150hp motor! I make that 114kW, which would drain a 16kWh battery in about 8 minutes, so to get that 40 mile range, you would have to be doing 300mph...

James Pickett
Happy

PR bunnies

"Phorm's PR agency Citigate Dewe Rogerson"

Time to have a pop at them, perhaps. Suggest that they might be aiding and abetting a criminal act and see how good a rabbit impression they manage...

James Pickett

Phail

"the government believes future Phorm deployments could be legal"

They keep saying that, but it's not the *future* activity that's under discussion - it's the past, illegal, deployments we'd like some action on!

We need someone to snoop on them without permission...

James Pickett
Happy

BS

Effort beyond the call of duty, IMO. I'd have sent it straight to Pseuds' Corner.

James Pickett

@ElFatBob

"constant repetition of these random events .. only compounded the impossibility"

Not sure I follow. Repeating something doesn't normally reduce the chances of an event, however improbable. Also, the Universe is a big place, and it's not a zillion-to-one chance that you ended up in one of those corners where life evolved, because if it hadn't, nobody would.

James Pickett
Happy

Names

"Ubunto Linux"

That's the Tesco version, presumably. Just as well they didn't choose Tescuntu...

James Pickett
Thumb Down

Er...

"creationism should be examined in school science classes as a legitimate point of view"

Why are 'points of view' being discussed in Science classes?

Evolution is a theory, while creationism is a hypothesis. Unfortunately, only creationists do not know the difference...

James Pickett
Happy

@Gary

"I can't believe the collective lack of intelligence on this comment board"

Nor the absence of tact.

James Pickett

Boffins

(Who've never run further than the car-park in the rain) seem to have overlooked the thought that he might just have run out of puff, so extrapolating for the last 20m might be a tad hypothetical...

James Pickett
Thumb Down

Gander sauce

"a historical loss which I do not believe will ultimately compromise the safety and security of those who work for us"

Ah, the old 'historical loss' excuse. I look forward to seeing that rolled out if/when everyone else in the Home Office's employ loses their personal details...

James Pickett
Thumb Down

Spin

"it took legal advice"

But it (BT) won't say from whom, so it's worthless. Where's Judge John Deed when you need him..?

James Pickett
Happy

Consolation

"cramming us through an interdimensional portal into a hostile universe"

I didn't think this one was exactly friendly! Probably a price worth paying, though, if it takes all the Creationists with it...

James Pickett

FUD

"operation at low inlet pressure"

Which also commonly occurs when they fuel begins to run out! Seems more likely to me, especially as:

a) it gets warmer near the ground, and

b) what are the chances of the pumps on both sides of the plane having the same problem at the same moment?

I still think Gordon Brown's posse brought it down with their mobile phone jammers...

James Pickett

Bogus

"L Ron Hubbard"

That'll be the old fraud who once stated that a good way to make a fortune would be to start a religion. Seems he was right, although I'm sure that never features in the Scientology literature...

James Pickett
Happy

Loss

The difference is that Nintendo makes a profit on the Wii, and always has done.

James Pickett

Reliable

Back to paper and pencil, then. I've never understood why that was so difficult - you can still use electro-mechanical counting to speed things up. ATM's seem to have that technology cracked - they've certainly never given me too many notes...

James Pickett

Downloads

“penalise the good guys, not the bad guys”

Sound very plausible, especially where the US Ass.es are concerned. Mind you, I can't see the ISP's doing this for free, and eMusic is very good value.

Anyway, aren't these the same ISP's who were complaining about the BBC's iPlayer eating all their bandwidth?

James Pickett
Stop

Abuse

> "high chances of abuse, torture, rape and drug abuse" in US prisons.

So this counts as extraordinary rendition, no? I thought we didn't do that...

As for : "louting around on my hard earned taxes", I think the US will be sending us the bill, and our government will be stupid enough to pay it.