Posts by Allan George Dyer

But the UK re-used the aluminium in pre-fab housing. OK, so the US didn't have a desperate housing shortage, but just dumping them seems like a criminal waste.

Re: Microsoft was different

"I bought OS/2 in 1994 to avoid Windows, how many of you did?"

Well, me, for one. Later I bought NT4 (because it supported Traditional and Simplified Chinese - which was a crock because you had to reboot to swap between them) and Office 2000. The point is, I moved to Word not because it was a better wordprocessor, WordPerfect 5.1 was all the wordprocessor I needed, but because users at other companies only knew what to do with .doc.

"why get something illegally if you don't like it?"

Many small shops round here were selling no-brand PCs with *cough* "free" pre-installed Microsoft software, not using it would require some technical know-how. Of course, Microsoft didn't approve of the piracy, but it did cement their dominant mindshare position.

Basically, it is difficult for an individual consumer to go against a monopoly. That's why it's useful to have a strong government agency to stand for everyone's best interests.

No need, the NSA does the job well enough.

Re: At the end of the day...

"...does it stop your mum or girlfriend from easily looking at stuff on your phone?"

No. Obligatory xkcd:

http://www.xkcd.org/341/

And even someone clueless about tech can think, "hey, there's an encryption app, must be something juicy on here. Maybe I can ask a friendly geek to crack it".

Re: Home ADSL OK in NW6

Fine in HK too, so yeah, pretty localised.

I'm guessing:

A: Dave Chandler's girlfriend is wondering where her tampons have gone

B: Dave's going to be in trouble when she finds out

Re: says:

I'm using one from a Tandon 286 on my home PC. I prefer the positive feel of the old keyboards, you really know when you've pressed a key, and the weight keeps them from sliding around the desk. The kids say it's too much exercise. It's really easy to avoid the PS2/DIN converter by wiring in an old mouse cable.

Re: molecular death...

Useful for what? For criminal cases, the focus is on establishing when the crime occured, so the possibility that the victim's mitochondria were still working hours after the murderer left seems irrelevant. For biochemical research, whether the organism is "alive" is less important than understanding the relevance of your experiment to the normal processes. Even cryonics (which, to me, just seems like a method for scamming dying rich people) is interested in "information-theoretic death", not molecular death.

Take an interest in local affairs...

All you have to do is go down to the local council offices in Alpha Centuri and fill in the Voter Registration Form.

Re: Cue

So why are masks of the current Prime Minister so popular for Guys?

Re: Typical bullshit

Obligatory XKCD:

http://xkcd.com/908/

Re: This is just stupid

"scan everything in and out of your fridge, and thus only ever buying things that had compatible bar codes"

"Run down to the butcher, we've run out of zebra meat again!"

Re: Party etiquette

@dan1980 - wait untill you've tasted the stuff before deciding, it can be described as an "acquired taste" or "regional delicacy".

Re: If you really want to know ...

@Mike Bell: I would hesitate to describe an explanation that invokes "vast numbers of 'universes'" as in any way parsimonious.

Re: Not so fast

So, Indolent Wretch, you are happy with the way Facebook and Google use your data, many other people (also with technical knowledge) are not. It is fair to say there is a range of sensitivity to this among the technical community, and each person makes their own decisions based on their sensitivity and the perceived risk. The non-technical majority are denied that choice by their ignorance, and they probably have just the same range of sensitivity as us. The data-slurping companies are exploiting that ignorance, and asymmetric information is acknowledged as detrimental to efficient markets.

"secure" WiFi, "greynet"? Re: It depends.

Keep it simple: 1) Mandate VPN connections for all External access; 2) Define WiFi as External.

magical phrase, "Please transfer this call to your supervisor"

Doesn't work around here, apparently all the call centres have no supervisor present, and they are not contactable, at all, in any way. I no longer know what "supervisor" means.

Re: Dib dib dib

I joined cubs in 1971, and it wasn't used then.

I think it went out with Wolf Cubs, and the old-style salute (two fingers on each hand in a V, held to the sides of the head - wolf ears, right. I wonder why they dropped that one…)