Posts by Zimmer
77 posts • joined Tuesday 3rd February 2009 13:16 GMT
Re: Not just Apple----correction
... surely a Typo ? It's a WUNCH of BANKERS...
Re: "shot dead at his house while playing dominoes"
The chip holds the PIN and using the terminal it verifies/authenticates the PIN used. Most terminals are now wireless in Restaurants etc. and are brought to the table so the card does not leave your sight.
Oh, the irony
...... or should that be iorny.. ;)
“An error-correction algrithm was added to help address linguistic and motor errors.
Zotac rival?
Can only see this as a rival to the Zotac Zbox Nano ....
Secret Bunker
Don't forget the Secret Bunker... it's signposted from Nantwich and environs....
Secret Bunker, oh the irony...
..just lying around..
Putting 'stuff' on the web is akin to leaving it lying in the street (much as this post is like me being in a Town Square, standing on a box and shouting this to anyone within earshot).
Putting a book out in front of a store, on the street, (or even displaying the book inside on a shelf) affords the passer-by to read a little of it (or even - shock! horror! - make away with it..).
Attempting to use the medium of the web to sell items that can be copied was always going to end in tears and tantrums. Especially when the business model was going to be based on charging the same for digital content as the hard copy and taking all the profit that would have been made by the retailer, distributor etc and keeping the savings from NOT producing hard copy. .... (which appears as 'greed' to the consumers).
Not sure if there is a solution..Search engines effectively advertise your stuff.. no advertising=less sales...
Deja vu all over again
Similar situation in 2002.. 3 legit copies of Office Pro which would not install on new XP machine.... not used MS Office since.. not missed it.. Not missed MS Win much since 2004, either...
Re: Star Wars is Science FICTION for a reason...
Everything you say is true; but that's not the point. The point is to encourage and to practice methods of analysis in general terms. That way, when something does happen that is outside the knowledge or experience of a scientist, they will have the intellectual methods and ability to deal with it...........
Agreed! Whenever reading Sci-Fi the curious mind will always try to reason whether or not something is possible (and often some of the best of the genre can be discerned in this way) and curious scientific minds are necessary if new things are to be discovered..
But when reading for enjoyment never let impossibilities get in the way of a good yarn :)
After all, it's impossible to say we could drive a car remotely on Mars, isn't it? Oh, wait....
...coming soon, courtesy of the new Snooper's charter....
...I remind all computer users that police do not use (will soon be using!) such a method to impose or enforce fines, so if you are confronted by such a page . . .
...then you can pay the fine either by PayPal, VISA credit or debit card direct to your local constabulary.
Please remember Big Brother has to recoup the £Billions it spent setting up the monitoring in the first place...
Posted in LOHAN's mighty orb launch live NOW
NO VIDEO :(
Vid feed died just as they opened the rusty gate !
Re: They need to be careful out there
I always seemed to manage to not be able to scoop up the ore once the mining laser had cut it... spent a lot of time maneuvering the Cobra , by which time....along came the bad guys...
Lack of memory or File Size?
They may have planned that the camera had sufficient battery and memory card storage for the trip for HD video footage. However , they may have overlooked the small detail regarding the 4.3gig maximum single file size of FAT32.
(I overlooked this last week when recording an event. 40-odd minutes at 640 res was enough to do the trick.. so if they went HD .......)
Re: NASA - missing a trick here !
2000AD suggested lasered ads on the moon, um, about 30 years ago, probably.
God I'm old.
Not OLD enough, evidently.
You are several decades out for those adverts.
Robert Heinlein, The Man Who sold The Moon (1950) , if I recall the short story correctly; (might not have been'lasers', though :) )
Management...
...are now reading El Reg....
Be Afraid, be very afraid....
Not only that..
Just think of the cost (not just in Tippex) of changing every roadsign. Even at a pound a go it must add up to a tidy sum (and you can bet it will cost 100 a go using a friendly Govt. appointed contractor) and therein lies the reason we have not rushed into changing miles for km.
Looking on the bright side, thoae who want a reduction in speed limits could argue for adopting km and leaving all of those signs as they are... (cue J Clarkson brigade downvotes as they fail to see the joke....).
Posted in Eight... Rugged Cameras
Re: Quality?
Canon s95... or its replacement , the new s100, is what you are looking for.
Re: self replicating tinkers toys were frist demonstrated in the late 1950s
......and Babbage designed a difference engine in the 19th century....
Re: Is there a smiley for...
Try this one.... BIG petard...
Nobody mentioned APL yet ?
Ok, I will........
(mine's the one with the special keyboard with the Greek characters on it in the pocket.. ).
Shouldn't that be...
Patent No. 666 ?
.....it's the one with cash in the pockets .
Would that coat be..
....a big mac ?
Posted in Reg Hardware Awards 2011 Winners
Thank You!
Downloading Oolite now ! How did I miss that ?? It's the Acorn Electron all over again......
Posted in Ford unwraps '2013 Mondeo'
...
Apparently a Miller is essentially an Atkinson with a supercharger , to add boost to replace the loss of power experienced in the true Atkinson cycle. In both their cycles( Atkinson and Miller) the compression stroke is effiectively 'shortened' by leaving the inlet valve open longer so that compression occurs later in that phase of upward piston movement....
Posted in Strictly Come Dancing in 3D: the facts
..nor me..
nor anyone with partial/no sight in one eye...
3D cinema has been tried several times... and failed.. will this current iteration (and its TV counterpart ) fare any better ?? *
*(two ?'s , for those reading in 3D ) :)
Been there, done that, still got the fluorescent armbands
We experimented with this in the late sixties and a lot of people made money selling reflective gear for schoolkids who had to go to school in the dark. Have they found the abandonned warehouse with the the leftover stock?? Has Del Boy bought it on the cheap?
The public must be told :)
(On a serious note: there was an increase in road casualties in the mornings....)
MS next move ?
Trusted and signed OS on new hardware, anyone?
Already happenning across the Channel..
....That said, it would spark misery for millions of people in flats as everyone starts putting their washes on at 3 in the morning.......
Washers go on at the night time for cheap rate ..(the ex pats switch on Eastenders repeats on the Freesat so the cockney shouting drowns out the noise of the machines... or else it's down to the Cafe for Karaoke... same result...)
Posted in Ten... Desktop USB 3.0 HDDs
WD worst offenders?
Took a WD Passport drive back the same day when I I found out at home it had some bespoke partition/setup that required a hack or three to 'maybe' turn it into a sraightforward HDD ( and therefore useful for both Linux and Windows use).
I resisted the urge to hack and partition and went straight back...
The store found me a Verbatim from their stock that was not on display.... Hmmm..
Retail Down 8%..
...not surprised since Virgin and Zavvi shops have disappeared from many a High Street.....
Too Late!
They already tax the harvesting of rainwater by rating commercial buildings by their area under the guise of 'drainage'....
Pensions/Annuities
Yes, they have been penalising you women since the 90's in this respect.
The actuarial tables used to calculate the cost of your pensions/annuities showed you lived longer than men and worked(paid in contributions) less. Therefore your Final Salary pensions were comparitively more expensive than men's. (Commutation factors were always higher to reflect this, too, so you got a good deal when commuting pension to a lump sum).
By then women had become more commonplace in the workplace than ever so a greater burden on the Pensions for less contributions than envisaged 20 or 30 years previously.
Net result is the 'need' to take away that privileged position to save money (as always) : a levelling down to the same situation as men wil happen (eventually).
As for Annuities, I reckon it was always more expensive to purchase one for a woman, so that will have to change. (No prizes for guessing that the price of a man's Annuity will go up to compensate and pay for it...)
Pension: probably the most expensive and valuable thing you will ever purchase . Keep an eye on it.. :)
Win for the kids
Today's 'byline' (hover over the cartoon) says it all....
http://www.xkcd.com/
It's his spelling, bless..
A-ha , not A Ba
Posted in 4G interference will knock out Freeview
Winter Hill?
Perhaps this just affects us on the edge of the Winter Hill range. I believe the transmissions from there span Ch 54-62
Anyone know the details for the transmitters in the South of England (eg London). I do not expect them to be affected :(
Football..
..that would be 'pitches' , Association Football is played on a 'pitch'....
Posted in Vintage flying car offered at auction
Almost a flying car...
It had the engine for it. The cars that inspired Fleming were built by Count Louis Zborowsky using Mercedes Aero engines..
No. 1 had a 23 litre Maybach 6 cyl and was chain driven!!...
:)
Harry Harrison
Anything , really... In our hands, the stars, Stainless Steel Rat etc etc.. Robert Heinlein, too. Revolt in 2010 (hmm could be he was a year out.... :) ).
Wot about us Pensioners??
Pensions are taxed, funnily enough. Lump the NI into income tax and pensioners have no way of negotiating with an 'employer' for a compensatory wage increase from the 'employer's ' NI contribution . So the government's aim is to get the pensioners to take a significant pay cut ?
40 odd years ago it was realised that the ordinary worker would not voluntarily save for a pension in retirement so Final Salary (and Government top up ) schemes were introduced.
When the good times showed notional surpluses in the schemes in the 80's and 90's the employers managed to convince the governments of the day to give them various means to leech them away. (Actuarial valuations based on spot market prices being just one...)
Result? When the bad times came along the funds showed alarming deficits and were/are deemed 'too expensive ' for you lackeys, so it's back to square one for the workers.
rant over... :( (until my pension gets clobbered for more tax!)
Disability Discrimination Act, now in Equality Act 2010
People not being able see theirTV prog properly when transmitted in 3D (only one eye, or poor 3D vision due to lazy eye etc....) could be another (unwanted) hurdle for the broadcasters regarding the above Act.
Say NO 2 3D ... catchy, eh ?
re CVT.
I did not remember correctly .. Continuously Variable Transmission....
RE CVT
Constant Velocity Transmission... roughly, a system of gear structures that rotate at a constant speed but alter shape to give a higher/lower ratio to match the power input and resistance. (from what I remember of the DAF system that consisted of cone like structures). Thus no 'actual' swapping of cogs.
Posted in Census threatens spies' cover
Universal Exports
So, with the revelation of a postcode we may find out where the real offices of UE are situated... :)
Call me old fashioned, but..
Crazy suggestion, I know, but why not put all this info on that paper stuff and lock it away in heavy filing cabinets in a locked cellar? Access restricted to asking security for a key , presenting credentials and signing for it.
An effective way to to stop data trawling and it would take a truck to remove the data, never mind the effort of copying... and how many people really NEED to see that kind of data in an instant?
Overpayment caveat
Depending upon how your bank considers additional payments.... in my case they made them future payments which went into a separate 'account' rabbit hole and reduced the principal sum by absolutely nothing.
Out come (if left unchecked) would have been paying off the mortgage early (when the amount of additional payments equalled the amount of payments agreed to mortgage term) but not reducing interest payments at all...
Solved this by taking a payment holiday until the future payments 'account' reduced to nil. That money was NOT accruing interest for me, nor reducing interest on the principal of the loan.
Contact bank and find out HOW to pay part of the principal sum, if what you want is to reduce a mortgage . It is not often achieved by simple overpayment...
Posted in DHS airport spooks stalk star hacker
Deplane..Countdown
If deplane (however awful a word it is) is good enough for Suzi Dent and Rachel (Phwoar!)* Riley, then it is good enough for El Reg comments...
*I hope the moderatrix has the weekend off... and DEPLANE is still an awful word
The Marching Morons
Anyone else old enough to remember C M Kornbluth's 'The Marching Morons' ???
The solution to overpopulation was sending people to the colonies on Mars (except they never left Earth, just transported to a desert region ........)
Posted in Our PARIS becomes GLOBAL MEDIA SENSATION
BBC Slideshow
...and (finally) a credit (obliquely) for El Reg on a slideshow of pics on the BBC News site....
Obvious tax dodge
Advanced civilization binds unwanted CO2 into rock and hurls it into space to amass many Carbon Credits :)
The Prune tune
Now that dates you (and me)....
Rock Star ?Credit ?
Credit for photo : CU Boulder? it most definitely must be Friday ...
