Re: In Italy, you should not take photos of railroads and stations...
AFAIK there's still a 1942 - wartime - law forbidding it.
As Italy LOST that war, why aren't those regulations null and void?
Posts by Peter Simpson 1
1443 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
Photographer hassled by Port of Tyne for filming a sign on a wall
Confirmed: IBM slurps up Bruce Schneier with Resilient purchase
Toaster cooks network and burns 'expert' user's credibility to a crisp
Verizon only cares about fiber, lets copper nets lapse into ruin – gripes
Friday 26th February 2016 12:26 GMT
Verizon sees no future for the copper plant, and, except for the fact that they are legally required to maintain it, wish it would disappear. So, it's not being maintained. Verizon will claim it doesn't have enough money, time or people to keep it in working order, and that it is degrading.
I know, because they played this little game in my suburban town of 15000 people, filed for permission to abandon their copper plant (which was granted by the state Public Utilities Commission) and informed me that my copper line would be disconnected come March. I was advised to schedule an installation date for fiber (which, not coincidentally, can deliver the high profit FIOS multimedia and networking services). So, with no option to keep copper, I now have fiber. Which, needless to say, does not work if the power goes out.
Let me hasten to add, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the copper plant in Holliston, Massachusetts. Except that it cannot provide broadband services. Since I moved in 35 years ago, we have had zero problems with our copper landline. It has been as reliable as one would expect, given the careful system design from Bell Labs.
It's all about money and competing with Comcast, at least in the high population density areas. The rest of you are "F"'ed.
My devil-possessed smartphone tried to emasculate me
Friday 26th February 2016 12:11 GMT
Re: As for the RAZR..
The first Nokia I had (circa 1995) was endowed with absolutely brilliant firmware. Its UI was perfectly tuned to the way I wanted to do things. The menus were logically arranged, so that the function I was most likely to want to do was the one on the main button. It was a joy to use.
The second Nokia I bought had menus designed by a chimpanzee. It was not a joy to use, it was crap. Worked well, but the menu system was similar in design to that of a Chinese microwave. Obviously, the chap (or group) who had designed the firmware for the first phone had asked for too much of a salary increase, and had been sacked.
Barking spider prompts Spanish clan shoot-out
Lonely bloke in chem suit fuels Mars orbiter
IT boss gets 30 months of porridge for trashing ex-employer's servers
'Kalamazoo killer' gave Uber rides in between shooting six dead
Tuesday 23rd February 2016 12:04 GMT
Re: We have reached out to the police...
'reached out'
I also despise that phrase. It seems to be one of the current popular ones in "organization speak". Companies, HR departments and concerned groups seem to be doing quite a lot of "reaching out" lately. I hope they don't strain anything.
The phrase seems to be meant to evoke personal concern, when, in fact, there is none.
// no 'fingers holding nose' icon available
MIT boffins' code scans your health claims, tunes plans for bosses
Brits unveil 'revolutionary' hydrogen-powered car
US software biz fined $28 million for bribing Chinese buyers with free vacations, gifts
Philae comet lander officially dead
When asked 'What's a .CNT file?' there's a polite way to answer
Friday 12th February 2016 15:07 GMT 
Linux
Friends called me because they'd picked up a (multiple, actually) virus on their PC.
I told them I could reinstall the OS, save all their stuff, but that it would probably happen again.
OR, I said, I can install Linux. Don't panic, I said, it's not that different, and I will keep your old HDD, so if it doesn't work out, you'll have lost nothing. And, I continued, Linux is much less susceptible to all those viruses out there.
They went with Linux for 5 years, then scraped up enough to buy a Mac.
Silent Nork satellite tumbling in orbit
Official UN panel findings on embassy-squatter released. Assange: I'm 'vindicated'
US taxmen borked in computer cockup riddle
Thursday 4th February 2016 18:38 GMT
Re: Assuming you're serious...
Dammit, John, I'm an engineer, not a tax accountant!
I did not know that. I do know that I am required to make quarterly estimated tax payments, but that's a separate issue (too much income from investments or something).
Thanks for the info. And yes, it must be a huge loan...interest free.
Thursday 4th February 2016 16:05 GMT
Re: Assuming you're serious...
...you're constantly paying estimated tax bills. That only happens here if HMRC are actively pursuing you for suspected evasion.
Ahh! You see, that's (one) difference between you and us. IRS ASSUMES you're evading and acts accordingly.
Well, that, and you can't know what your tax will be until all your annual income and deductions have been determined. IRS also doesn't want to get to the end of the year and find that you don't have enough money to pay your taxes. The rule here is that IRS gets their money first, before anyone else can touch it.
// wish I was kidding
Thursday 4th February 2016 12:25 GMT
Re: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
What I never understand about US taxes is all this talk of "refunds". Why are so many people overpaying in the first place??
Assuming you're serious -- it's because the tax rate varies by your annual income and you're allowed to deduct certain expenses before the tax is calculated. A prorated part of your estimated tax is withheld from your weekly/biweekly/monthly paycheck. At the end of the year, all your deductions (unpredictable things like mileage, business and medical expenses) are deducted, any profits from investments are added (but these may be taxed at a different rate, depending on how long you've held the investments) and the actual tax due is calculated on the total.
So, you never know exactly how much tax you owe until the year's over, but you must pay an estimated tax (based on what you earned last year) during the year. Whatever's extra, you get back. Without interest, natch. If you've erroneously underpaid, you owe the difference, with interest, of course.
// death and taxes, and I'm not too sure about death
// ask Cratchitt, he knows
When customers try to be programmers: 'I want this CHANGED TO A ZERO ASAP'
Wednesday 3rd February 2016 15:33 GMT
Re: What are the odds?
Good idea.
The Germans (or Chinese) had thought of that. The button, which is located on, and sits proud of, the mating surface, fits into a carefully crafted recess in the door itself, meaning that the cover would need to fit into the space between the button and the recess, in order for the door to close.
I haven't crafted the custom cover yet :-)
I'm puzzled that someone even thought an on-off switch was necessary on a refrigerator. At least, they put it high enough so that inquisitive little fingers couldn't reach it.
Wednesday 3rd February 2016 13:53 GMT
Re: What are the odds?
CSB:
I have a Bosch refrigerator. It's very nice. However, it does have one feature which I have never before seen on a refrigerator: an on/off button. We installed the refrig, and were surprised to see that the light didn't come on when we opened it. Read the manual, found the button (at the top, near the hinge, marked with the circle-with-a-short-line power symbol), pushed it, and all was well.
Fast forward now, to the day we came back after a long weekend. Cleaners had been in and one of them had thought it a good idea to press the power button, thereby turning off the refrigerator. They do a good job cleaning, but frequently do something random like this. Luckily, it had only been off for 24 hours and things had not thawed.
There is now a prominent label next to the power switch: "DO NOT PRESS THIS BUTTON".
'Dodgy Type-C USB cable fried my laptop!'
How many Surface power cords are a fire risk? 2.25 million in the US alone
Wednesday 3rd February 2016 20:17 GMT
Oh, balderdash!
I have extension cables in my garage that have seen abuse no human would survive, and they work just fine. No visible damage at all, and they're 20 years old.
Of course, they're made with many fine copper wires in each conductor and have neoprene insulation, as opposed to cheap thermoplastic and ten strands of heavier gauge copper-tin alloy wire per conductor.
You get what you pay for.
(or not) When I was a kid, we had these things called "telephones", made by a company named Western Electric. The part you talked into was connected by something called a cord. Constantly twisted, never replaced and always worked. It is perfectly possible to make a cable that will last almost forever.
For sale: One 236-bed nuclear bunker
Hackers mirror 250GB of NASA files on the web
Dutch cops train anti-drone eagle squadron
State Department finds 22 classified emails in Hillary’s server, denies wrongdoing
El Reg nips down to the Hewlett You Inn?
Hillary Clinton kept top-secret SIGINT emails on her home email server
Monday 1st February 2016 12:34 GMT
Re: It proves again that Hillarity is a liar and can't be trusted
@Dan Paul
I'm assuming there should be "sarcasm" tags around that post. Hillary is no better and no worse than any other politician. I'd give her a B- or a C+ as Sec of State. GWB flunked out. Reagan slept through class. Obama "didn't work up to his potential", as they used to say about me on my report cards.
None of them were as bad as Nixon. And he served no time.
BOFH: In-depth IT training needs a single-malt distillery
You've seen things people wouldn't believe – so tell us your programming horrors
Berlin takes down ‘for sale’ sign over top Nazi’s love nest
Come on kids, let's go play in the abandoned nuclear power station
US rapper slams Earth is Round conspiracy in Twitter marathon
Four Boys' Own style World War Two heroes to fire your imagination
Apple's Tim Cook rocks up at Vatican - one week after Schmidt
BOFH: I want no memory of this pointless conversation. Alcohol please
Boeing just about gives up on the 747
Friday 22nd January 2016 14:50 GMT
Re: 747 memories
Last minute business trip to Israel (board's not working, we need to complete testing -- send the engineer!).
Boston to JFK at 4:30pm , on a shuttle, get off the shuttle, run to the gate and the gate agent says "you're the last one, and closes the door behind me. I hurry down the jetway, get on the 747, and am treated to the following:
- an absolutely full plane. one seat open, the middle one, in the middle.
- my seat is right next to a very attractive young lady... (WIN!)
- ...who, I notice, is reading her Bible (not so much win)
- FA is trying to get a woman to take her seat ("I'm not sitting there!")
- Behind the FA is an older Orthodox gentleman, wide brim hat, earlocks and all, who's trying to pray in the aisle
I swear, it was like a scene out of Airplane.
Having worked the entire day, I believe I curled up in my seat, put in a pair of earplugs, and attempted to sleep. I don't remember much more. I spent about 40 hrs in Israel, the board passed the testing without my help, and I got upgraded to Business on the Lufthansa flight back to Boston (a bit surreal, boarding a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt from Israel, though).
The really weird part -- I had no trouble entering Israel, but spent 30 minutes being interviewed about why I had been there and what I was doing when trying to leave. Apparently, this step is dispensed with if one brings an "invitation letter", but my trip had been so sudden that this detail had been omitted.
Friday 22nd January 2016 12:38 GMT
Other museums worth a visit if you're in the area:
- Pima Air and Space, Tucson,Arizona (take the bus tour of The Boneyard if you can)
- Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Annex, Chantilly VA ($15 parking, free admission, SR-71 in the lobby)
- USAF Museum, Dayton OH (free admission - three huge hangars full of good stuff)
- The Museum of Flight, Boeing, Seattle WA (they have a Connie waiting for restoration)
How to help a user who can't find the Start button or the keyboard?
It's not just you: Massive Comcast outage blows Bay Area offline
Ad-clicking bots predicted to rip US$7.2 billion from Mad Men
Adblock Plus blocked from attending ad industry talkfest
Tuesday 19th January 2016 12:52 GMT 
It's even a problem on store sites!
Go to a website to order things. Immediate popup asking me if I want to save 10% by subscribing to their newsletter. Or...online chat popup -- in the first 15 seconds I'm on the site.
I'm going there to order light bulbs, because my local home center doesn't have them.
Light bulbs is all they sell.
No, I don't want your light bulb newsletter. Just take my order and send it to me.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
