* Posts by Alfred

409 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Apr 2007

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Amazon: We have great cash flow - it flows straight out of our hands

Alfred
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No dividends, ever, and no plans to start one

I looked at AMZN back in May and giggled at what I found. No dividends ever, and no plans to start one that I could find, so the only value it has is in capital growth - that is, hoping that you find someone to sell it to later who ascribes a higher value to it. Whilst that's by no means impossible, as Amazon seem to still be in the "grow as big as we can by doing everything we can thing of" phase and maybe one day they'll decide they're big enough and start providing some actual value to the stockholders, there are better options to be found. I put my dosh into ARM instead, which is a company still growing AND actually has a dividend (small, granted, but it shows their heart is in the right place i.e. giving me money). They're up 70% since then, which I promptly splurged on hookers n' coke.

Now Spanish sperm takes a kick to the cojones

Alfred

Re: "The cause of the Spanish sperm crisis is equally obscure"

That sounds pretty obscure. Obscure doesn't mean "unknown" or "no working hypotheses".

First Google wants to know all about you, now it wants a RING on your finger

Alfred

Re: I must be missing something

Why would there be a rash of people cutting fingers off? If a large number of criminals currently exist who are happy to cut someone's finger off to get into their eMail, they can already do it using current technology by the following steps:

1) Get hold of person you want to read email of

2) Make it clear you'll cut their fingers off if they don't hand over the password (cut off one as a demonstration).

Substitute finger removal for personal choice of permanent maiming according to preference.

Given that this does not seem to happen a lot, why would it suddenly start happening?

‘Anonymous’ hacks Oz Uni’s email to protest bulk iPad buy

Alfred
Happy

Some of the evidence you asked for.

"what evidence do you have that they DON'T improve education?"

WARNING - PDF

http://economics.mit.edu/files/22

Web is turning us into kid-ults with no 'private identities' - report

Alfred
Unhappy

"Simple and easy", was it?

I remember back in the early eighties deciding to have beans for tea. Back then, I had to go to the phone (landline, mind you) and from my hand-written phone book phone everyone I knew to tell them I was having beans for tea. Some of them wouldn't be in so I'd have to call back later, some I'd leave messages with whoever did answer the phone. Telling just 20 people that I was having beans for tea took well over an hour.

And THEN Bodger Bob would want to say "Beans are legend lol" so he'd have to phone me back to ask who I'd phoned originally, so then HE would have to call them all to say "Beans are legend lol". It used to take hours just to tell everyone what you were having for tea. Now that can be done of the Facebook in minutes.

You tell kids, they won't believe you. They won't.

Use your loaf, Europe! Eat more fibre - high-speed web lobbyists

Alfred

Re: An unfashionable idea ......

Point 2; they don't have to own it to legislate it. They don't own my car but they make laws about what I can and can't do with it.

Alfred
Unhappy

The bundling

They know you don't want it. It's a way they can make more money while fibbing to your face about how they're doing you such a big favour.

What ereader decline? Kobo pumps up the volumes despite grim forecasts

Alfred
WTF?

Re: Just a consumer.

"However try using your Kindle for PDF reference material intended for A4 size, you will soon wish you had a 10 inch tablet instead."

That is SO true. Also, try using a Kindle for digging foundation for a new building, and you'll soon wish you had a mechanical digger. What point are you making? That you should use an appropriate tool for the job? Brilliant.

China shoves Beidou intro tractors, trucks and buses

Alfred

Most of China is still pretty primitive

Have you been out of the cities? Have you been to Western China? It does not make the West look less than successful.

IBM brains ponder universe, say kids will go nuts for STEAMPUNK

Alfred
Happy

Punk?

IAW rule 34, I find that steamspunk is far more satisfying. Ladies dressed up in posh frocks, and then... less so.

Time has already run out for smart watches

Alfred

Re: Mens watches are jewelery

Deny it all you like, but the studies have been done and the results are in. An extraordinarily expensive wristwatch is a common way that men who are happy (and capable of) spending 20000 pounds on a wristwatch signal this fact to distinguish themselves from men who are not.

It gets the response you'd expect; most men who notice (and don't have such a watch themselves) assert that's it's just a stupid waste of money, most women who notice agree that it's a stupid waste of money BUT, of course, the intent has been signaled and the man is significantly more attractive now that it's clear he has that kind of money to throw around. Communication of status has always been the purpose of jewellery.

€1.5bn swiped from EU cards: Fraud mainly takes place in the US

Alfred
Unhappy

My card was swiped an extra time whilst paying for something overseas, with the criminal in question helping herself to some extra cash. PIN wasn't entered - it was swipe only. Credit Card company (Capital One) insist that the PIN was used to authorise it and as such I'm on the hook for it. It's a way of off-loading the loss onto the customer.

Eric Schmidt's Norks outing poorly timed, tuts US govt

Alfred

Re: Poor timing?

I went in April and that was a great time to go. August/September is good as well, as the mass games are on then (weather is a bit hotter, but to see them that's when you have to go).

Israel taps teens to become 'interceptors' in cyberwarfare

Alfred

Proof by google hit

Invisible pink unicorn - About 295,000 results

Table with wobbly leg wedged up with a bit of cardboard - About 214,000 results

Therefore there are MORE Invisible Pink Unicorns in the world that tables with wobbly legs wedged up with a bit of cardboard.

China switches on 'BDS' civilian nav-sat rival to GPS

Alfred

Re: A Hat Tip to William J. O'Brien, an American engineer

It is worth noting, however, that the UK has committed to operating eLORAN until the year 2022. I spent some time on a foreign warship recently and navs made effort to specifically point out to me how much he appreciated that (particularly given that test jamming of GPS is becoming more common in naval exercises as time goes on), which was nice.

North Korea releases first computer game

Alfred
Thumb Down

Re: First thought: very limited set of textures

4th thought; yes, you are not really the type to do any remotely interesting travel. A week in DPRK changes how you think about everything and is truly a mind-blowing exrerience, but sure,

you stick with Bognor.

Canadian man: I solved WWII WAR HERO pigeon code!

Alfred
Meh

Re: Resources

"Erm... they haven't. Someone spent ten minutes knocking up a statement saying "It's one-time pad, can't be broken without the code book, end of story"

That's a phenomenal misread. You have essentially completely agreed with the person to whom you are replying, but whilst thinking you're disagreeing.

Alfred
Unhappy

Re: Resources

"Making snide remarks is not a required skill there BTW."

It is. It really, really is.

North Korea's satellite a dud, say US astroboffins

Alfred

"easier to just grow enough food "

Whilst I'm not denying that their time and expertise might be better spent farming, I've been there and driven around the country and everywhere - and I mean everywhere - I looked, every scrap of land that could be put to farming use appeared to have been. I saw people ploughing right (and I mean RIGHT) up against the edges of cliffs, someone was working tiny little scraps of land that you'd have to climb rocks just to get to with the earth turned (even inside the cities on rocky outcrops), the courtyard of a collapsed building with someone digging it, on and on and on, people walking serious distances each day to reach fields (I would hazard often simply living out in them for a few days at a time) to work them, just everywhere someone was trying to grow something. It's not for lack of effort.

Also, the trees; row after row after row of little sapling, marked with white stones to stop people accidentally stepping on them; thousands and thousands and thousands of them, lining road and rail everywhere I went. At some point in the last decade they have deforested on a serious scale (I'd hazard in a desperate attempt to keep warm) and now they're trying to grow more as quickly as they can.

I suppose what I'm saying is that I don't think it's that simple, based on my experiences there.

Alfred
Headmaster

Send in the clowns...

A circus troupe, would that be?

Alfred

"Let them starve...,

"Let them starve..., when the people get hungry enough, maybe THEY will do something about THEIR government."

They didn't. Vast numbers of them starved in the nineties and there was no revolution. It is an enduring myth that a starving population will revolt.

Alfred

Re: "And how would they bring back the film to develop the photos?"

The eighties called; they want their photographic film back and they're willing to swap you off-the-shelf 21st century digital technology.

Stroustrup on next-gen C++: I didn't want to let go of my baby

Alfred
Headmaster

Pointers aren't difficult. They're very simple. About the same level of complexity as an integer.

They're just often very, very, very badly taught with horrifically broken analogies or ridiculous descriptions involving roads and house numbers or some other such unhelpful nonsense.

Schmidt 'very proud' of Google's tiny tax bill: 'It's called capitalism'

Alfred

"We did it based on the incentives that the governments offered us to operate. It’s called capitalism."

Doing things based on government incentive? Sounds more like socialism.

North Korean rocket works, puts something into orbit

Alfred

Re: Why hasn't the US "brought democracy" to NK yet?

"Quite a lot of Afghans might disagree with that statement."

If they do, they're missing the point. The invasion was a total success for the modern US/UK/coalition forces, sweeping the board with little trouble. The subsequent problems are not a serious military threat (i.e. the kind of thing that wipes out entire battalions).

EU, US launch biggest ever global fight against online child sex abuse

Alfred

Re: Not that I'm cynical

"I am happy to give them the benefit of the doubt"

Doubt? What doubt? There is no significant doubt. There is a long history of governments abusing such powers across the spectrum from the international level to the very local level. The balance of probability is very clearly that the powers will be used as a broad dragnet and to get around civil protections.

Assange: Google, Facebook run 'side projects' for US spooks

Alfred

Re: "Bin Laden and Company are well versed in ... IUDs"

Do you know what an IUD is? If not, please look it up. If you do, what are you talking about abortion and tubal ligation for?

Alfred

"Bin Laden and Company are well versed in ... IUDs"

Commonly, the view of such people is well against women taking control of their own fertility and I'd be surprised if they were "well-versed" in such things :)

Cambridge boffins fear 'Pandora's Unboxing' and RISE of the MACHINES

Alfred
Terminator

Attention meatbags

We're already out.

PGP Zimmermann teams with Navy SEALs, SAS techies in London

Alfred

"How do you prevent the not-so-nice guys from flocking to your service? The drug dealers, the pedos and the real terrorists?"

The same way Ford stops drug-dealers using Ford cars to transport drugs, and the same way Nike stop terrorists from wearing Nike trainers in order to walk around blowing things up.

Alfred

I was one and I certainly wasn't due any additional respect

I didn't join up with the aim of risking my life for anyone's freedom, when I got deployed it was an extended inconvenience rather than some kind of heroism, and I was then (and am now) deeply suspicious of anyone who DOES join up with the avowed intention of defending freedoms.

Alfred

Re: Soldiers are geeky?

I've met many such SIGINT types from such regiments. The majority of them are essentially the modern equivalent of a radio operator/maintainer. By no means knowledgeable enough to qualify as "geeky" by any sensible meaning of the word (especially in this context - crypto geekery is essentially pure mathematics and the notably tricky art of coding it without leaving huge gaps everywhere).

Alfred

Soldiers are geeky?

"The combination of the PGP founder teaming up with two Navy SEALs and three British SAS Special Forces communications experts offers frankly unmatchable geek credibility."

Are soldiers considered particularly geeky now? I am so out of touch.

How Intel's faith in x86 cost it the mobile market

Alfred

Linux isn't for you

"Lets face it till linux distros get their act together, and standardize things like packages, and a UI its going to stay where it is."

What you're asking for there is for Linux to become Windows. You should just stick with Windows (as indeed, you are doing).

Pristine WWII German Enigma machine could be yours

Alfred

Re: unbreakable

All codes except the one-time pad are breakable if you put enough resources into it.

Big labels try for ISP blocking on 3 more 'pirate' sites

Alfred

Self-serving hypocrites

"The existence of these sites damages the growth of Britain’s burgeoning digital music sector."

Well the existence of Amazon damages Britain's book-selling business. Why aren't we banning that? The existence of eBay damages the entire British retail sector. Not going to ban that too?

Is lightspeed really a limit?

Alfred

We already have

We have already learned this. c is the speed of gravity.

Alfred

Before commenting, please read RobotRollCall on this subject

RobotRollCall wrote an excellent piece on the light speed limit over on reddit. It's well worth reading and explains why we can't exceed the speed of light by just going faster and faster, without having to resort to clumsy "it would require infinite energy so it's impossible" type explanations.

Alfred
Boffin

I've not explained this brilliantly. I could have another go if needed...

Shortest path provides a very handy way of calculating for us, but it doesn't mean that the universe does some calculating ahead of time.

Here's an analogy; when you drop something, it falls in such a way as to preserve various truths/values about its energy (and there is a way of calculating this that provides some very elegant maths). How does it know in advance which way to move to do this? Does it calculate all possible options? However, apply Newtonian mechanics to the exact same situation, and it falls in the direction that weight (i.e. the force due to gravity) applies. This explanation does not "require" any pre-calculation about which way to fall to do the same thing to its energy - that is a by-product of obeying the Newtonian mechanics.

Which is "correct"? Both methods give the same answer, verified by experiment. They are two different mathematical ways of describing the same phenomenon and the fact that one of them involves "knowing" which path is the path that meets requirements on its energy doesn't mean that something somewhere is calculating all the options.

Google spikes old MS file formats

Alfred
WTF?

Which doc format would that be?

Given that various versions of Office happily produce mutually incompatible doc formats, sending doc format without checking first sounds like a good way to ensure your CV is either unopenable or mangled, and also easily subject to ham-fisted recruitment agent interference.

There are, however, formats which suffer relatively little in the way of such problems. PDF is one such, with the added bonus of having reader software everywhere and a good attempt at not reflowing text, wrecking your carefully crafted text.

Perhaps things are different elsewhere, but in my industry sending CV in DOC format is seen as amateurish and cripples the application right out of the gate.

Governments block YouTube over that video

Alfred
Boffin

Re: He's not a deity...

"how many suicde tibetans do you see?"

Well, lots. http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/maps-data-fact-sheets/self-immolation-fact-sheet

Did you mean suicide-bomber tibetans?

Patent flame storm: Reg hack biteback in reader-pack sack attack

Alfred

Re: Oh, that's easy.

"To be fair, they didn't say they could also write a program that would decompress them."

I must have misinterpreted that bit about the lookup table for decompression he mentioned. :p

Alfred
Headmaster

Re: Oh, that's easy.

"I can write you a program today to compress any size of input file containing any random sequence into only 16 bits."

Given that such a sequence has only 2^16 unique values, and thus can only represent 2^16 unique decompressed values, and I can think of more than 2^16 unique input files, I suspect that you're not telling the complete truth.

UK.gov's minimum booze price dream demolished

Alfred

Smuggling?

Is it going to be actually smuggling? Currently it's legal to buy a can of lager in England and then drive home to Scotland with it. Is that going to be actually outlawed or taxed in some way?

Saudi royals seek ban on .virgin, .sex, .catholic, .wtf and 159 MORE

Alfred

Don't like virgins as well now? Why don't they just admit it and outlaw being female.

Given that being an unmarried female and not being one is some kind of crime, I'd have thought they would be in favour of virgins.

Chip and PIN keypads 'easily fooled' with counterfeit cards

Alfred

Re: "...meaning they will not suffer any financial loss as a result."

I live in the UK and this happened in a foreign country that wasn't the U.S.

Despite having the word "America" in their name, Bank of America are actually something of an international company.

Alfred

"...meaning they will not suffer any financial loss as a result."

Not remotely true. I used a card once and once only on a recent trip, and signed rather than entered a number. The card's PIN never left the inside of my head. Suspicious of the actions of the clerk, I called the card company within minutes who told me that there had indeed been another (fraudulent) transaction, which I was completely on the hook for as it had been verified with Chip n' Pin. It's simply a way for the card company to wash their hands of responsibility.

On the plus side, I shredded the card instantly (along with the replacement Bank of America sent out) and will never get a BoA card again.

Web snooping bill an 'odious shopping list of new gov powers'

Alfred

"Normal" doesn't mean "known without being taught"

Normal just means within a reasonable average set. If everyone has a prejudice, then having a prejudice is normal.

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