What about the image laws
isnt it illegal to take and distribute images of unclothed minors??
Why isnt Google being prosecuted?
Wouldnt you be prosecuted if *you* took that image and posted on the internet?
Posts by Fred 4
74 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Jun 2009
Nipper's naked arse provokes Street View outrage
Venus home to lost cities left by long-dead aliens, says ESA
Friday 25th June 2010 23:54 GMT 
where to now?
from here - there is no place to go -
Mars is too small - even if Solar warming got it to a reasonable temperature, it cant hold a decent atmosphere.
Jupiter... too big, too much gravity. Too much stuff (atmosphere) as well.
One of the moons? maybe - but they are all small too, same problem as Mars, cant hold an atmosphere.
Titan? - it would be the next & last step, in this solar system. However, it is so far out, that Solar warming, and Saturian reflection would not be enough heat. At least not until Sol becomes a red giant - something like 1.5 billion years. I fear it will be a little too late by then.
The only other option would be vary hard. Build a planet. There is the rubble in the astroid belt. Mars, Luna, Phobos, and Deimos. Combined, there might be enough mass to hold decent atmosphere.
But my first observation on this idea is : We cant even plug a leak in an oil well......
So... save this one, or give up.
as National Lampoon so nicely put it :
With all its hopes, Dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
The World continues to deteriorate.
Give up !
You are a Fluke of the universe...
You have no right to be here...
Whether you can hear it or not,
the universe is laughing behind your back...
Deteriorata (http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=Povn1cnfgfw%3D)
Pirates because - if we move, we'll have to watch out for Space Pirates :)
Friday 25th June 2010 21:13 GMT
@Luther
how did the atmospheric pressures get so high, if as is claimed in the article, Venus had water it does not seem to have?
Saying that life may have existed at one time implies, at least to me, a more hospitable (at least proteins) environment than 700+ degree surface temps and 100s(?) of [Earth] atmospheres of pressure at the surface.
If this is the case, how did Venus' atmosphere become the "hell on Venus" that it is today?
Friday 25th June 2010 14:44 GMT 
Well... Lets find out
so... lets grab a few astroids, there is a collection of them floating out there - somewhere between Mars and Jupiter, a few wont be missed, and throw them at Venus.
Stir up dust, and get the atmosphere to cool and rain out the cloud cover. This would likely cool Venus enough to allow rovers to hunt around.
If our rovers dont find anything, then we can send some of the critters from the hydro-thermic vents that eat hydrogen sulfide. In a few thousand eons we might have a habitable second home.
grenade because... there is no mushroom cloud
'Biggest thing in farming for 10,000 years on horizon'
Friday 25th June 2010 21:13 GMT 
err... typo
I initally said :
>I would expect that at/after harvest mulching the parts of the plants we dont use for food might be a partial or complete answer to increasing herbicide and pesticide use.
what I meant to say was :
I would expect that at/after harvest mulching the parts of the plants we dont use for food might be a partial or complete answer to ** decreasing ** herbicide and pesticide use.
evil Steve, 'cause it was his fault, I was laughing too hard about the iPhone connectivity problems when you hold it. :)
Friday 25th June 2010 15:53 GMT 
Crop rotation
personally, I dont use herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers on my grass.
Admittedly Im not trying to eat it :)
But it seems to do well enough. It was there before I bought the property, it is still there 5 years later. It grows, sometimes too fast for my tastes, and I mow it. I do some mulching of the cuttings - mostly recutting the clippings as I make subsequent passes, as the tractor doesnt have a mulching system on it.
Wheat, corn, rice, and rye(?) are at heart grasses. I would expect that at/after harvest mulching the parts of the plants we dont use for food might be a partial or complete answer to increasing herbicide and pesticide use.
Beer - cause what else are all these crops good for :)
Boffins warn on car computer security risk
Friday 14th May 2010 23:00 GMT
Id do it on a new vehicle
with the current usage of the on board telemetry systems by police and insurance co.
Id hack my own car to keep it from being able to record that info - or delete it in case of an air bag deployment.
In the US they are talking about a bigger black box - think airliner style - and Id want to hack that too.
Additionally, while my current vehicle is older (pre 2000), there are still a few things Id like to turn off. And in new cars... the sheer number of stupid things they are installing....
Cant start the car in gear (problematic if you have a stick and a dead battery), auto lock the door when the car moves, auto 'driving lights', etc etc etc
Id LOVE to be able to hack the car and get access to turn these on/off at **MY** choosing.
Hawking: Aliens are out there, likely to be Bad News
Monday 26th April 2010 15:37 GMT 
Indistinguishable
if a civilization exists which can travel the stars - a quote of Arthur C Clark comes to mind.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
any civilization capable of interstellar travel, will own one or more magic devices. We will have no effective defense if they desire to colonize Earth.
Why would they want too?
While there are innumerable stars 'out there', so far, of the planetary systems we know of ( just a very few admittedly) we have found only 1 (other than our own) which resides in the habitable zone around it's star. It may well be that planets such as ours - reasonable gravity, reasonable temperature, reasonable atmosphere (not consisting of sulfuric acid for example) are few and far between.
Imagine we figure out interstellar travel.
We travel to some star system, and find a planet that is habitable (by our own standards) what do you think will happen?
1 - we will carefully examine it looking for existing life/intelligence avoiding all possible contamination. Then and only then upon finding no existing life we colonize this planet
2 - assuming there are no civilizations. we immediately start building habitable structures and start colonizing.
3 - given that there is a civilization at some level of development, that we immediately start to colonize AND either wipe them out or push them into reservations (as was done in the US to the native population).
Why should we expect anything different from any other civilization contacting us here??
Real-time ad targeting violates privacy, say US pressure groups
DIMENSIONAL PORTAL INCURSION AT THE LHC!
Dell bars Win 7 refunds from Linux lovers
Thursday 18th March 2010 15:11 GMT 
Not only Dell
I have access to an employee price reduction program with HP, through the deal my employer made with HP. I want to play with a Hackintosh, so I looked at an HP desktop that meats the needed hardware requirements. But of course there is no option to purchase the desktop without an OS (windows only).
BEFORE - I spent my money I tried to get an answer from HP about returning the license, even going so far as to offer to purchase a second hard drive, and returning the original one - unused.
They also refused to confirm a refund would be made available, and even if one was, they refused to quote a value of the refund.
I think a call to DOJ (in the US) and its equal else where might be in order.
The EULA *does* indeed say - if you dont agree to these terms return the software (license) to the place of purchase for refund or credit.
Whatever happened to the email app?
Rubber Duck banned from txt
Friday 29th January 2010 20:11 GMT
@ @ replies
> can't use it to contact your daughter who's in a car with her friends
and she (and her friends) cant be talking and texting while driving.
depending on the device, you can track her (at least the phone's) location.
and if I might ask - how did you do this before cell phones?
> can't use your phone when you're a passenger in a car
not an entirely bad thing - as I said - what a concept -- you might actually have to talk to the other people in the car with you!!!
>can't use your phone when you're in a cab trying to find out directions to your mate's place
true - but you could easily ask the cabbie to pull over while you do so.
>can't use in-car kits to call ahead to let people know you're runnning late
yes you can - if you are late a few extra seconds wont matter - pull over and call.
>can't use it on the train to let people know when to pick you up from the station
last I looked trains had a schedule - which you know (or friend can look up) before hand.
something like :'.... Tommy, the train get in at Whoster at 10:45am... see you there! Bye"
>.. and it doesn't fix the problem where idiots sat at the traffic lights are too busy texting to realise that the cars ahead have moved on and the lights are changing back to red.
true - but then a good shot on their rear bumper usually wakes them up ; )
>You obviously move in well-heeled circles if 99% of the phones you encounter are GPS enabled.
you sir are wrong (at least in the states) - ALL - cell phones as of 1999(?) are required to have GPS or similar location aware devices -- FOR EMERGENCY SERVICE location.
So.... while the phone may not have GPS enabled in such a manner that you (the user) can access it - it *IS* there, and it *IS* on as long as the phone is on.
>In my lowly circles being in a car with driver driving, account manager on phone to confirm latest offers, deployment manager on phone to customer to inform of delayed ETA is not unusually but can necessary.
and how did this work before cell phones?
with an auto shut off-- if you are delayed (you made an appointment, right?) you are likely stuck/stopped in traffic, and likely going slower than 10 mph/16kph. You can always pull over for 30 seconds and make the call.
Thursday 28th January 2010 01:03 GMT 
I dont understand...
all (or at least 99%) of all cell phones (and other mobile devices) have GPS (or something similar).
Make it a requirement - as part of the firmware/hardware of the phone.
if ((current phone speed > 10mph) or (current phone speed > 16kph)) & (call destination # emergency) then
disable phone *
else
enable phone
end if
* disable phone = no incoming calls -> voice mail, or texts. Also no outgoing calls or texts.
there is even an iPhone app that does this - although I think the speed is only 5 mph (8 kph).
This resolves - nearly all issues with (moving) phone use. For the last moving phone use : walking while texting/talking - Darwin steps in here, and resolves this issue - and very narrowly - those unfit to talk and walk - dont do so for very long.
- cant call or text while driving, unless traffic is literally stopped
- cant call or text while on public transit, removing the issue of having to listen some trailer park 3 toothed idiot's daily soap opera of a life; while trying to get to/from work.
- people on the other end cant hear the phone bounce off the nearest wall it is thrown against, by some person properly feed up with any of the above scenarios.
The only down side (if you can call it that), it that passengers in a private vehicle will have too - OMG - actually talk to each other!!!!
Outrageous new means of megastar demise spotted
GSHP: The green tech even carbon sceptics will like
Monday 14th December 2009 18:51 GMT 
Economical??
I looked into this idea as an add on to my existing home.
$25,000 (USD)
that is not economical - especially not as a one time cost.
let do some maths (I know they are hard).
Propane (the fuel for my heating system) is roughly $2.70/gal
Electricity (hot water in my home is heated this way) is $0.07/kwh (delivered and taxed)
I use around 400gal propane a year = $1080
I use around 5000kwh a year (entire house) = $350
total $1430/year
so - *IF* - GCHP zeroed all my utility costs (it wont) it will take roughly 17.5 years to pay back.
if we assume a more reasonable (and more likely) reduction of 50% in utility usage then the above payback becomes 35 years.
Current - govt incentive programs give me $2000 towards such a system. That reduces payback costs to 16 years 1 mon at complete utility replacement, and 32 years 2 months for 50%.
This of course does not take into consideration any interest that accrues during the payoff period for the GCHP (loan from the bank), nor any lost increase in value if instead the $25,000 was invested.
Hubble probes deepest universe
Wednesday 9th December 2009 16:55 GMT 
one more
excerpt: From Deteriorata - National Lampoon
You are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not
The universe is laughing behind your back.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore;
It will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth:
The birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan
And let not the sands of time
Get in your lunch.
Hire people with hooks.
For a good time call 606-4311;
Ask for "Ken."
Take heart amid the deepening gloom
That your dog is finally getting enough cheese.
And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot
It could only be worse in Milwaukee.
You are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not
The universe is laughing behind your back.
Therefore, make peace with your god
Whatever you conceive him to be---
Hairy thunderer, or cosmic muffin.
With all its hopes, dreams, promises and urban renewal
The world continues to deteriorate.
GIVE UP!
Mars rover faces icy death
OMG US states to ban txting + driving
Thursday 1st October 2009 23:25 GMT 
the simplest solution
No law - at least as pertains to drivers -
New law :
All cellphones and other related texting/phone call capable devices - MUST NOT FUNCTION for incoming or outgoing service - with the exception of the local emergency service(s), if the device is moving more than (name a reasonable slow speed - I use 10 mph) .
This allows walkers, joggers, and grid locked drivers to make and manage phone calls, texting sessions etc. -- However once the phone starts moving faster (ie the user is driving) - existing calls are disconnected, and no new call can be stared or received.
All of these devices already have either GPS or equivalent capabilities so determining the current travel speed is not an issue.
I biggest objection I hear from people I propose this Idea to is : what about passengers?
my answer is: shag them -
(in the US at least) as a passenger you not allowed to drink alcohol (in the vehicle - open bottle laws) even if the driver is not drinking. On public transport - well that just makes an already bad experience just a little bit better without having to listen 95 different idiots on the phone.
Flames - cause I expect to get a few.
US city demands FaceSpaceGooHoo log-ins from job seekers
MS names ship date for free security suite
NASA working on 'open rotor' green (but loud) jets
Friday 12th June 2009 14:53 GMT 
How about...
a retractable (define in your own meaning) cowling over the blades??
the cowling extends covering the blades - hence reducing noise - during landing and take off. Then retracts during flight to improve efficiency.
The cowl might be able to be some lightweight plastic so that there are not huge weight penalties for carrying the cowl around, and possibly less worry that if the cowl breaks the fans blades would not be heavily damaged (?).
black helicopters - what else would need to be silent :)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
