Posts by A.N Other
232 posts • joined Wednesday 3rd December 2008 13:06 GMT
If a rhino is a horse designed by committee
then any IT System designed by the NHS will always be a complete disaster.
The system used by your HMO would never have worked if designed for/by the NHS as there'd be so many people insisting on their input it would become just another bloated waste of tax payers money.
Not a completely stupid idea...
... even if the implementation would turn it into a complete disaster.
I used to be a BloodRunner, and a common shout was to transport patient notes from one hostpital to another. Usually when Granny had been discharged from one of the "Cottage Hospitals", then had a relapse and was then taken to the ED of the main Hospital.
Valuable time could (potentially) be saved if said notes were accessible online.
Re: What goes around...
"Manning up for his crimes"?
People have had lesser sentences for rape or murder than he was being threatened with!
How naive...
and how ironic that you posted as AC.
Interesting, however...
I think the reason most people "pirate" stuff is that they don't see it as hurting the recording artist. The view does seem to be that the artist gets so little from each legal download it doesn't really matter. Maybe if the record labels paid the artist significantly more (or perhaps was more honest in detailing how much does get paid - maybe something akin to the food labelling where there's a breakdown of ingredient - 5% to the artist, 5% packaging etc etc).
Another reason people do download illegally is simply because it is free - if they had to pay for it, then they simply wouldn't download. It's a bit like the argument that fake Gucci handbags take sales from Gucci themselves. The reality is, of course, that someone who pays£25 for a knock-off knows it's fake and would *never* pay £1500 for the genuine article. And the same applies to illegal downloads, they download stuff they'd never otherwise pay their hard-earned for simply because it is free.
Don't see the point in archiving something as essentually useless as the argos web-site. Want to save it for prosperity? Stick a dead tree copy in the back of the cupboard where no-one will find it. No-one will be interested in the online copy once/if/when argos ceases trading anyway.
Might be different if they sold own brand goods only available through their web-site, but they just sell stuff you can get anywhere.
Complete waste of time. Guess someone has too much free time on their hands and needs to justify the continued existence of the their job...
Came back across Salisbury Plain late one night on the bike, must have been some sort of Moth orgy going on could hardly see through the visor from bug splatters and my bike jacket was more yellow than black.
Was like riding through the windows star field screen saver - pitch black to either side and all these moths light up by the headlight streaking towards me.
Dread to think what riding through a plague of these buggers would be like...
Well done that man!
A testiment to both the technology and robustness of his prosthetic and one seriously hard as nails grunt.
Hydrogen Bombs...
Chemistry teacher at my school was fond of making them - fill a ballon with hydrogen, attach a fuse, light and release.
Better send for the police, he was obviously training the next generation of terrorists.
An idea for funding for a unique research paper...
Was this idiot dropped on his head as a baby? Did he have surgery to remove 90% of his brain or does he, in fact, share a genetic condition in common with all politicians?
Enquiring minds wish to know.
Wasn't aware of this particular social nicetie, but would automatically remove my hand from my pocket when greeting someone anyway.
But then USAians do seem a little less formal in their greetings then those of us on this side of the pond and I wouldn't neccessarily assume they were being disrespectful if they didn't.
I have neither (although I do have an Android phone) and assuming someone has bought a load of apps for their device - either Apple or 'Droid - can't see anyone being too quick to switch sides.
Seems to me that once someone has made that initial purchase they are "stuck" for life.
WTF???
Are they stupid or just in the pocket of HMG? Oh, wait they are - obviously been told "vote for us or lose your funding..."
Re: Live in purgatory.......
An App for 13 yo girls, but no-one else...
Re: A Very Good Thing Indeed.
Looks at ariel photo and thinks "...nuke the entire site from orbit. It's The Only Way To Be Sure."
'nuff said...
It's been my experience, going back as far as the 80s, that women in IT are generally judged on their merits and not discriminated against because of their gender. If women do have a problem being under-represented at higher levels, then it is their own fault. As has been previously mentioned, there are few women even entering IT. They cannot complain about too few women at the top when they are under represented at all levels.
Had the honour of meeting him at a book signing last year. Very sad to hear this.
One of the greatest of the modern science fiction authors. He will be sadly missed. Hope his last days are filled with as much happiness as his books have given to us.
Re: The only
Oh come on!! Down voted twice?
I'm a cat lover, but even I can appreciate the books "101 uses of a dead cat" etc. Post isn't worth an up vote, but neither is it worth a down vote.
Re: GPS
While he isn't completely wrong, neither is he completely right.
Problem is, he is sufficiently wrong to sound like a complete tosser to anyone who has an inkling of how whatever it is works, while (due to his self-proclaimed position as a "techie") passing off the same not actually correct information as "fact" to the general public - who deserve a better explaination of "how stuff works".
As long as they don't force the requirement on people, then I'm ok with it. If they do make it compulsory, then it's sayonara, iTunes. Not that it will affect me much, as I haven't bought anything from them in a very long time.
Also get P'd off with google's continual prompting for me to link a mobile number to my gmail account. If I've said NO once, I must have said it a thousand times. And don't get me started on their continual prompting to upgrade IE to Chrome, grrrrrrr....
A new upskirt defense?
I was just trying to photo match her knickers so I can buy them for my wife, your honour!!!
Re: Bring a megalith party
I so want to downvote this for being so bad, I just can't quite bring myself to do it...
There are some great ones available straight out of the box - seen both a fixed wing and rotor for less than £100. Still think the Lego one is the bee's knees.
I can understand wanting to restrict these devices in built up areas, apart from the privacy issue, I would not want one dropping on my head when some numpty loses control of it. But outside of built-up/urban areas I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed.
Def on my xmas list either to buy or build at some point.
Who needs substance when you have hyperbole? Perhaps he has a classical education, skilled in the arts of rhetoric - in modern terms, a complete bull-shit artist...
Re: American organisation offended by breathing
Would it have been ok if it was a sheep?
As ever, only the lawyers win...
Last man standing...
I still say the way to settle this is a via Celebrity Death Match with the heads of both firms in the ring.
Re: What was more shocking was
It was horrible, horrible I tell you!! Someone SMOKING a cigar before 9pm!!!
Won't someone PLEASE think of the kiddies!!
Just waiting for the greens to start a campain to end drilling on Mars....
It does seem that in prosecutions in the US, the maximum penalty is sought when there is little or no "evidence" in an attempt to get a guilty plea and so avoid a failed prosecution. The "guilty" party will cop to a lesser plea rather than go to jail for 30years for jaywalking.
I believe in the UK, that sentences are either set by statute or at the discretion of the presiding Judge and not by the prosecution (ie the DPP).
It would seem sentences are political in the US and have nothing to do with justice.
Posted in Boffins develop microwave weed-zapper
Re: ...but is it cheaper than a robot lawnmower?
Also at just the right height to zap moles...
Posted in Boffins develop microwave weed-zapper
Can of petrol and a match...
Alternatively, a butane powered mini flame thrower - £12.99 from Lidl back in the summer.
You also used to be able to buy paraffin flame throwers back in the day before elf & safety...
(Icon for obvious reasons)
Seem to recall the Japanese have some sort of powered "granny" lifter.
Come across similar in a photo sharing/review site. You'd post a photo and people could review it - trouble is, you'd get people posting a wonderful review of something you knew was iffy (having posted it in the hope of receiving constructive critism) and then expecting you to post an equally effusive review of their (usually) mediocre photo.
If you dared post a less than flattering review, then suddenly you'd get a host of negative comments about your images. Made a harsh (yet accurate) review of some Italian's photo and from then on every image I posted was slagged off from the same bunch - all with Italian sounding user names.
Problem with these sites are that people "endorse" someone else in the hope of receiving an endorsement in return, therefore making the whole thing completely worthless.
Oh, and it's not "BEST TWEET EVER", it's "BEST TWEET EVA!!111!!!"
Re: Failure?
Maybe it *was* just a washing machine?
Just shoot the lawyers
Job done,,,
While I am all up for space exploration and scientific research for its own sake, in this current economic climate and with the ever widening wealth/health gap in the US, can these expenditures really be justified?
Posted in Smear campaign
Reminds me of the days when the first thing I had to do in the morning was to upend the keyboard and give it a good shake to remove the bits of rollie and beard left from the nightshift operator (an aging hippy, who despite being white, lived in St Pauls, Bristol in the 80s).
Finger marks on the screen have always been a problem, have had to grin and bear it more often than I'd like when some muppet jabbed their finger at the screen to emphasise some point leaving greasy finger marks on the screen.
All used for a game of bar billiards created by the gods?
If there is no suggestion that these companies are breaking the law, then why the big fuss?
Unless it's to hide the complete and utter incompetence of both HMRC and a sucession of Chancellors who have allowed these loop holes to be exploited (legally) by these multi-nationals?
If anyone should be up before the Public Accounts Committe, it is the current (and indeed past) Chancellor of the Exchequer and the head of HMRC. This is a bit like blaming the fox for raiding the hen house when the farmer left the doors wide open.
Posted in Chinese e-cars to turn London cabs green
Re: EuroNCAP first
I was side-swiped by some muppet while on my Kawasaki z650 - the petrol tank ruptured due to the impact (the front end was pretty much ripped off) and I can tell you that 3.5 gallons of petrol makes for a nice bon-fire. But it didn't explode, just burnt hot enough to turn the carbs (alloy) to slag and partially melt the Akront Ally rear wheel. All traces of paint and plastic were completely burnt away, leaving just bare metal.
Fortunately, I was thrown clear and landed about 30ft away (although bystanders dragged the burning bike clear of the car as they didn't at first see me and thought I was trapped under the wreck).
So these Hollywood movies where the car always explodes in a ball of flame are just for show - the reality is much less exciting.
(icon for obvious reasons)
We really should stop calling China a "Communist Sate", they're more Capitalist than Communist. The way they treat their workers in mass factories and the concentration of wealth within an "upper class" is reminiscent of Britain during it's industrial revolution.
Which, if you think about it, is pretty much what China is experiencing. Just hope they don't start to copy Britain's Imperialistic tendencies as well...
Oh F.F.S!!!
Just put the heads of both companies in a locked room with a baseball bat and declare whoever's left standing the winner. This is getting beyond a joke.
What could possibly go wrong?
Was going to say "if it ain't broke don't fix it", but...
It's been put there to test our faith...
My sister has a netbook (ASUS/ACER - something like that), she mainly uses it for email and web browsing at home. The only "local processing" she does is to store the images from her digital camera. As long as it has a usb connection to allow uploading of the images it would suit her needs.
Not everyone wants/needs anything more than that.
I think people seem to be forgetting how much of a team effort this was - "all" he had to do was step out of the capsule. Without a huge team of engineers backing him none of this would have been possible.
So yes, big congrats to him for the new records, but also huge congrats to the support team and the engineers who designed and built the space suit and the capsule.
Jealous much?
She produced an image which was good enough to be used by a mega-corp in an advertising campaign. Said mega-corp (and here it really doesn't matter who) used the image for commercial purposes against her wishes and she is sueing them for damages as a result.
If you were good enough to produce an image to be used in such a way and it was used without your permission you too would be pissed. And this is happening to photographers, both amateur and professional, far too often.
Hope she does "make a packet from them using a picture of her green eye".
"Note, however, that System Builder editions have different licensing terms than mainstream editions of Windows 8. Most notably, once installed, Windows 8 System Builder licenses cannot be transferred to another computer."
That pretty much screws people who build their own PCs. Can see a good market in second hand copies of WinXP developing...
I'd be the first to admit, my business skill are shite - I'm a code monkey at heart.
But at a guess, I'd say I'd be just as good as Ballmer at running Microsoft into the ground. I'd quite happily ruin Microsoft for 1/2 of what he's getting.
So if a new Captain of the Titanic is required, just let me know and I'll start packing my bags...
