Posts by Intractable Potsherd

Re: Open source? @Mongo

"... these proposals read like the security kids' Xmas wishlist ..."

Yep. If these "terrorists" didn't exist, someone would have to invent them - oh, wait ...

Re: Windows in the wild

I've seen two in the wild - my friend and his wife bought one each (over my reasoned objections), mainly because of the cameras. A year later, both were so heartily pissed off with hanging, random reboots, and ability to do basic tasks (making calls and texts) and receiving emails that they went to iPhones (and so far, they *have* just worked).

Re: typical large company

It seems to me that there will be an upsurge in socialist groups/political parties before long. There is no reason that even Worstall (now gone to a different place) could justify why those at the top of a company should earn orders of magnitude more than the people actually doing the job. The stage is set for dissatisfaction and revolt ... which will not be to the benefit of society. I wouldn't be too disappointed if some board members discovered that payback is a bitch, but the pain for everyone else would be just too much to bear.

Re: It was around before that

I remember seeing a documentary some years ago (?when "Horizon" was still something worth watching) that had identified Treponema pallidum in skeletons from one of the ancient cities around the Med (can't remember if it was Greek, Egyptian or one of the others). The theory was that it had been a benign skin disease that changed its behaviour due to the increased wearing of clothes. I can't find anything online at the moment, so maybe it was rapidly disproved.

This is a common response to e.g. Snowden. Before evidence, you only had a strong suspicion. Now, you can say "I always thought this was the case. Now I can not be called out as paranoid by others".

Evidence is a great thing.

Re: Steve Doper Some perspective

Matt - if I seriously thought that this is anything to do with protecting ordinary citizens, then I'd have a different opinion than I do. The ordinary citizen is not going to benefit from this - in fact, it is going to make things worse. My wife and I recently almost lost the chance to buy a house because of the stupid money-laundering rules and the way it is inconsistently applied (money from parents' savings in another EU country not sufficiently traceable for one mortgage lender to accept it as a deposit*). Going back to the Paris attacks, and as I posted on another thread here over the weekend, the message I've taken from it is that even a well-organised, well-equipped attack which was the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel** killed only a few people relative to the number of potential targets. There is clearly much less to be afraid of than governments would have us believe. If Hollande hadn't been so relatively close to the bombers, I suspect the response would have been much more measured - the little toad is crapping himself that he might have been in the vicinity of a bomb.

* We were not the only ones - people coming to work for the same employer moving to the UK after selling their properties in other countries were not allowed to use the proceeds as a deposit by several lenders.

** Do people actually shoot fish, in barrels or anywhere else?

Re: So? @ h4rm0ny

"Whilst nobody likes paying taxes" - I'm definitely odd on this one. I have no problem paying income tax. In fact, I think the income tax rate is currently too low for anyone earning more than £35k. I think that fixed taxes such a VAT are wrong, since they penalise the low paid more than the well-paid.

I know this runs completely contrary to the current free-market "All tax is theft" vibe, but I don't care!

Re: @LucreLout

"The police are not paid to get shot, and there is no moral or legal requirement for them to do so before firing in good faith": and there is the problem. There is indeed a moral requirement that agents of the State do not kill anyone who is not actively a threat to someone else. The police are (or should be) adequately trained to look and assess first before shooting. Every wrong death, wrong prosecution, wrong conviction is a moral failure of the State to protect the population. Any time a police officer fires a gun, they should be immediately suspended from duty and a criminal investigation commenced - just the same as would happen with anyone else who isn't in the police. "To Serve and Protect" doesn't mean "To Serve our own interest and Protect ourselves". The law should reflect this, but we are getting more and more militarised police - see the recent pictures of the Special Branch Robocop in the Press. They are far more frightening than any criminal/terrorist.

Re: Value

I'd be quite happy for places like St Paul's and other large, generally empty spaces (mostly cathedrals, but also most of the National Trust's portfolio) to be converted into residential accommodation.Churches don't need to be old and huge. Keep one or two exceptional examples, but otherwise make them do something useful. If it is too expensive to convert them, knock them down and build something else. The value to society in general increases, as it adds to the housing stock.

Re: It's pretty obvious

It is my opinion that all the evidence was there, and that it wasn't acted on. So, what was your point about the digital generation?

Re: What is driving this? @ CommanderGalaxian

"As for the Named Person Scheme (whose intent is to pick up on signs of abuse earlier rather than later) - those leading the campaign against it are not Civil Libertarians - they are the usual cluster fuck of anti-vaxers, home schoolers and right wing christian fundamentalist wingnuts."

I am not a leader of No2NP, but I am definitely against the named person scheme. However, I am not an anti-vaxer, or any flavour of Christian (or other sky-fairy-tale). I am very much in favour of home-schooling, though (if I had children, they would be home-schooled). You misrepresent the named person scheme as being about "picking up on child abuse", but it depends what the State thinks child abuse is. The published materials state that a child not having a say about what is on the TV and how their bedroom is decorated, along with not being able to ride a bike by the age of [5 or 7 - can't quite remember] is one about whom concern should be raised. This is far beyond the paedoterror justification you imply (and which is hugely exaggerated anyway).

Re: Long overdue

I've had my time as a contractor, and I don't ever want to go back to it. The endless hassle of book-keeping, saving receipts/invoices, expenses claims for the tax returns every year - no thank you! It felt as if I was doing the same amount of work for the the Inland Revenue (as it was then) as I was for the work I was actually doing (and enjoying).

Contractors are barmy* to my mind - I'll stick with being an employee and have PAYG for an easier and more enjoyable life!

*In a good way - you are braver folk than I am, obviously :-)

Re: The people voted this Tory government into power @Sir Alien

Quite correct. The problem here is the snivel serpents in the Home Office. Every single person who becomes Home Secretary starts singing the same tune, and I *really* doubt that there is such hard evidence that "They" are out to get us that it immediately makes them think of this solution every time. The Sir Humphreys have their own agenda which always comes down to "we need everything on everybody". These people need identifying - the traditional reasons for their protected identity no longer apply, and it is more dangerous to freedom to allow them to keep their (effective) anonymity.

Re: If memory serves

"Pocket" = "Bag in clothes". I know that there are items of clothing with pockets big enough for an iPad, and will easily accommodate an iPhone. Even allowing for a uniform (I've never been in an Apple store, so I don't know what geniuses wear), a gilet, jacket or coat would give ample smuggling opportunities. So, presumably, the same search requirements apply to pockets too? If not, why not?

Downvote for misuse of the word "socialist".

Re: Hmmmmmm!

Yes, it is very tempting, but I'm hanging on to my Galaxy Note 1 until someone else comes up with a phone with a pen (I have no interest in getting a later Note). None of the digital pens on the market seem to have the same precision, and seem to need Bluetooth turned on - something I try to avoid.

Nope - default should be "Reply". It is much easier to realise that you left someone off the list and send a group reply later than to "recall" a message sent to the wrong people.

Re: "this is about the third or fourth time they've tried to get the snooper's charter in as law"

"I think it's time the Senior Civil Servants should start to be identified. They seem to be remarkably reluctant to step into the limelight."

^^ This. I was thinking much the same just last night - the snivel serpents are at the back of this, pushing their own agenda. There needs to be some light shed on the bastards, and a large amount of spring-cleaning to rid the Home Office of the people-haters that have taken root there.

Re: Trek: The unrebooted series! @ Tony Paulazzo

"Think back to the first episode of TNG and DS9. Would anyone have subscribed to keep those on air?"

I was thinking the same question the other day - CBS Action is rerunning DS9 from the beginning and watching "Emissary" made me remember thinking "Oh, perhaps it will get better" after seeing it when the series first aired (and then wondering how long I was going to keep punishing myself after watching "Move Along Home" and "Dramatis Personae"!) My impressions of the first few TNG were the same - "Encounter at Farpoint" was just about the worst introductory episode of anything I have ever seen. Who could have anticipated the dark plotlines and solid storytelling that were to come, especially in DS9?

Re: "We're not sophisticated consumers," @fuzzie

"Even Google delivers varied results depending on whether you're using your regular PC/account/location."

Yep - one of the most irritating things about Google is this. There also seems to be time differential as well - same search term, same location but several weeks later - different results.

Thalidomide isn't recommended for leprosy (Hansen's Disease): http://www.who.int/lep/research/thalidomide/en/

Re: who is the bundler?

That is exactly the question I came here to raise. I have been baffled for years about how the American system of bundling a controversial measure in a completely unrelated but sure-to-pass Bill. I now find the EU dies the same, and want to know how it can be stopped.

Three people must have heard a "woosh" as they hit the downvote button.

@Afernie

Regarding Lee Rigby: less than ten years ago, his death wouldn't have been classed as terrorism, but the work of a couple of thugs with an excuse. If we applied the same principle now (not the one the police and government want us to use), then there have been no acts of terrorism, compared to five unlawful deaths by the paramilitary police force we have had forced on us.

Re: "However it is no longer proportionate to commit officers to a permanent presence"

@ Ian Michael Gumby: "... for raping those two girls."

Where I come from, the assumption is that a person is innocent unless proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. What is it where you come from?

Assange is wanted to face trial on an *allegation* of rape that needs to be proved by the prosecution.

Re: No

You threw me there - to me "skinny tyres" are tall and thin (2CV tyres are the skinniest I know). What you are referring to are "rubber bands" in my world :-)

One of the things I look forward to is automated lorries *not* having to overtake each other (at least, not so often). My thoughts regarding lorry drivers who take miles to crawl past another truck on a busy dual carriageway are not entirely pleasant ...

If the difference in speed is only 1-2mph, why overtake?

Re: Standards

"Shooting the Playmonaut" - is this a new euphemism I haven't seen before?

Enquiring minds, etc.

Many people have "children whose futures they would like to see secured after their own demise". They don't get paid for seventy years after their death for work they did when alive, though. Why should "artists" be any different?

Re: Compare and contrast @Vimes

"Transfer tens of thousands of pounds out of the country for example, when this is clearly outside the normal pattern established by the customer."

Yet this is often the case when, for instance, parent in country A lends/gives the deposit for a house to his/her child in country B. This is perforce going to happen rarely, and (I would say without any real evidence) far more often than fraudulent/dodgy transactions. It happened to us recently when my father-in-law gave us a fair chunk of the deposit for a new house - I'm not sure what scrutiny he came under in his EU country (given that he has quite a high position in the IT dept of a bank), but we almost lost the house due to the mortgage lender here in the UK refusing to accept the money because it came from a foreign source.* Their argument was that since the money came from a savings account in another country, there was no audit trail and they could not possibly accept it under the money laundering rules. I have since heard from other people from overseas that some other lenders are equally averse to foreign money, even when the audit trail is clear (property sold in France/Holland/Brazil - proceeds not acceptable).

*A very quick change to the mortgage on my rented-out house in the UK, and the pleasure of telling the first Building Society (Skipton, if anyone is interested) to FOAD, sorted it out in less than ten days with a different lender.

"Similarly with travel arrangements if you try and fly to Turkey then this could equally be a red flag given what's happening in Syria."

Lots of people go to Turkey every year for holidays. Some will go for the first time (like my mum last year for a friend's wedding).** Are you saying that it is proportionate and necessary that all these should be flagged and queried?

** Oh heck - money from abroad, first trip to Turkey - now some Iranians have just moved in next door to my mum ... we're on a watch-list, aren't we?? [The metadata problem again]

Re: I was also a patient

Just like most hospitals then - though some manage not to have any centres of excellence. (Not generally digging at the staff here - though don't get me on the topic of modern nurse training - just the attitude of managers who want to silo everything, and never try anything new).

Re: The car identifying it is being tested is NOT the cheat

Excellent comment! It is a shame it is on p3 of comments, and so very few will read it. Maybe El Reg writers will pick up on it and do a further article.

Re: MVNOs

"Consumers don't make their decisions based on broadband speed or network coverage or service reliability or customer service - just price ..."

I would like to have the option to buy my mobile services based on these things (well, except broadband speed - generally pointless on a mobile device), but the race-to-the-bottom denies it to me. Where is the company that will give me good coverage, especially at home, AND good customer service (that being said, I'm one of the people who is very happy with Orange/EE customer service)?

However, I think you are wrong about network coverage, because if that were true all the mobile companies have to do is have coverage in one town* in the country, and everyone in the rest of the country would still have a mobile.

*I know - it does seem that London is that town, and the rest of us only get coverage when the wind is blowing in the right direction.

@ LDS

" So you mean if someone is in an US blacklist, he or she should allowed to fly to US if leaving from France in a French plane? ... Or do you mean outside the US we are free to copy US films, music, software, etc. etc. and US companies can't do anything about it abroad?"

The issues you mention are governed by international agreements, such that there is reciprocity*. There is no such international agreement in place here, so your examples fall flat.

* Well, in the sense that the USA gets its way everywhere, and screw everyone else.

Re: brings to mind

I've always had some trouble with that saying. Why would rats remain on a sinking ship? What is so wrong with getting off a non-functional floating device? Are all the human survivors from sinkings analogous to rats?

I have no liking for this venal, lying tosser, and I'm glad to see him going (though I'm sorry for the fact he will inflict more shit on the already beleaguered Assies), but the saying just seems odd.

Re: Asimov's Laws

By coincidence, I started re-reading Asimov's "I, Robot" (the real one with the collection of short stories threaded together as Susan Calvin's memoirs, not anything related to the execrable film of the same name) last night. It has been a long time since I last read it, and I've got a lot more education in relevant areas since the last time. Two things struck me fairly quickly: a) "harm" needs a lot of definition (leading to the Zeroth Law, of course), and b) they are cautionary tales. Asimov seemed to be saying that there is no effective way of controlling autonomous machines because they are, well, autonomous!

At AC with the joke about reliability - essentially, you are recycling jokes about Skoda from 30 years ago (okay - there was virtually no marketing, and the design was a matter of taste). They weren't true, either, though some people were stupid enough to believe them. I've always been of the opinion that they were put around by the bigger manufacturers so that the easily swayed wouldn't realise just how good they were.

Declaration: Yes, I've owned Skodas and Dysons. Generally a very satisfied customer, but no other link with the companies.

Re: £1m per trust for storing paper @Jonathan

Spot on, sir! The great thing with paper records is that, even in the event that security has failed, there is only so much information that can be taken. Electronic records have the weakness that, when security fails, the amount of information that can be spaffed is ... well, 800+ people's HIV status might be the snowflake on top of the bit of iceberg above the water-line. There is security in slowness of access.