Posts by John 62
792 posts • joined Monday 15th June 2009 12:53 GMT
Re: What about the religious nutheads?
Much of the population of the South USA (particularly hillbillies*) is descended from Scots-Irish emigrants.
* Hillbillies - fans of King William III of the United Kingdom and Prince of Orange.
Re: Titanium
Titanium is an elemental metal.
Sorry. Just wanted to clear up that point of fact. Titanium, like most metals can be alloyed with something else to give it different properties and I see no reason why a bicycle cannot be made from titanium or titanium alloy. Anyway, I care not for the downhill crazies dodging trees. I'm sticking to the road!
Posted in On the hunt for a new ampere
Size difference
There are several things going on here.
i) the Irish government has generally been pretty good at running a balanced budget (the recent austerity measures being due to taking on massive debt all at once to pay for nationalising banks and guaranteeing deposits) so paying for a few new road signs wouldn't be a big deal
ii) Ireland is pretty small compared to the UK
iii) it could have been a move to differentiate RoI from NI (though at least Ireland still drives on the correct side of the road)
iv) arguably the Irish system of distances in km and speed limits in mph was barmy and needed to be changed one way or the other.
v) why change the signs? they don't really cause the UK any problems. So long as they are consistent, who cares? There are lots of other things to worry about.
We can look at Harryhausen's work now and spot the join immediately and notice the jerky animation, but Harryhausen's genius was giving his models an uncanny spark of life that's very rare in any special effects.
Arguably only a few of PIXAR's efforts come close.
But then, like PIXAR films taking as long as they take, Harryhausen was given 2 years or more for work on a film.
Posted in Movie review: Star Trek Into Darkness
I'll watch it anyway
This is my problem! I will just watch it anyway. Star Trek 2009 was a good film, a little too Galaxy quest for me, but hey, Galaxy Quest was a pretty good film, too.
The bigger issue is that they're rehashing the original, for no reason. Putting Federation insignia into the uniform material is cool and all, but why can't we imagine the future any more? What would be wrong with going to the 25th century? And maybe having a few strong female characters?
Star Trek got off to a really shaky start. Roddenberry had a vision for the future, but hadn't fleshed out the universe for it. I mean, they never really got the Star Dates sorted out. Why shoehorn continuity where there was none? Leave it be and move on!
"I can only presume this has been done deliberately to annoy me."
That's why I upvoted NomNomNom's post :)
sigh
The anti-Eadon posters cause me much more mental anguish than Eadon himself. Indeed, I think I read an anti-Eadon post before I even read one of Eadon's own posts. Why must he be referenced in the first comment? If you have to respond to him, at least wait until he makes an appearance.
what, no mention of Project NERVA? Substantially more feasible than Orion.
Spoonerism or Bowdlerism
I thought a Spoonerism was some sort of political philosophy thing.
Cheshire SKA Scene
Cool! I wouldn't have thought Jodrell Bank would be the headquarters of the UK ska scene! Any recommendations of clubs in the area that get good bands in?
Re: Doom... doom
Too late!
Anyway. The UK has a complex economy and probably needs a complex answer to the crisis that requires extra spending in some areas and cutbacks in others
Re: John Maynard Keynes
Austerity Britain? We're just playing at austerity. Just across the Irish Sea, they're doing if for real (and giving us cheap burgers because the horses bought during the boom were too expensive to stable!). It's so bad in Ireland, the unions there are saying the British weren't as bad as the EU (I'm pro-British in Northern Ireland, but I can't excuse some of the nasty stuff that was done to the Irish over hundreds of years).
We have good relations with many countries outside the UK where we already sell a lot and could sell even more than we currently do: the Commonwealth.
Re: Good budget I thought
I was going to upvote until I saw you recommended ripping planning to shreds. Certainly there probably needs to be a lot of reform, granted some greenfields are not necessary or should be reviewd, but unsuitable builds can't be allowed (unless the developer will foot the bill for the extra services needed - water, roads, electricity, sewage, schools, etc). Plus, building controls should probably go up to ensure high standards and to safeguard purchasers/builders' customers.
Cost to build needs to be reduced. Architects, builders, builders' merchants, insurance companies (and even building control) all need to improve the efficiency of UK house building. Houses take far too long to build in the UK, are far too inefficient and sometimes the insurers will run scared of perfectly good houses that are of 'non-standard' construction. Yes, some of it is the market. Some people want their brick semi a certain way because that's what's familiar, but if the price was half and the heating bill was a quarter, fashions would soon change.
Posted in BlackBerry CEO: iPhone past its prime
"From Thorsten Heins's point of view..."
Proper nouns take apostrophe s for the genitive, even if they end in s, z or x, because that's how they're pronounced, like Heinses. If the uneducated write "Jesus' Love" that doesn't make it right.
Re: Conversely
A major local newspaper once used photos of mine from a blog in a "kick a man when he's down" piece about a guy I grew up with, without bothering to obtain permission, despite me putting a copyright claimer in one of the blog posts. I'm sure if someone reproduced their work they'd be up in arms, though no-one would want to with the quality of writing on display.
Re: 2001 still does it for me
The Matrix Reloaded actually had really interesting themes, far more so than the Matrix. Sadly Reloaded was nowhere near as well made and overstretched the graphical effects abilities of the time just a tad too far (and the temple orgy? why? Was that supposed to be the missing Seitch orgy scene from Dune?). Revolutions sits unwatched on my shelf.
Re: Primer, of course...
No, by Cube, he means the ITV programme starring Philip Schofield and the body (in there for the dads)
Re: No love for Dune?
I've read the book at least 3 times now and I really do love it, but last time I noticed the death of Paul's first son largely because Herbert skipped over the whole thing so quickly. Herbert himself must have realised he'd bitten off more than he could chew and must have had to cut stuff out or rush it. The Harkonnen takeover and subsequent Fremen rebellion seem glossed over. If the book needs to be interpreted for the screen as a mini-series, then I submit that the book itself should also have been split up so the second half could have been expanded. The only other book I've read from the series is the sequel, Dune Messiah, and Herbert must have thought the first book was too long, since Messiah was so short in comparison and I don't know whether it was a bit poor because it was too short, or just because it wasn't that good.
/if you reverse the colours of the icon you get blue eyes.
Re: Two I consider modern Sci-Fi classics
I was never much of a fan of eating prawns and District 9 confirmed my belief that prawns should not be eaten.
Serenity
Can't stop the signal
/mine's the brown one
Re: Missing option...
Oh dear. You really should watch the review of First Contact by the guy who did the crazy Star Wars Ep 1 review. Generations and First Contact were so bad I haven't bothered with Insurrection and Nemesis yet. I would definitely watch them, but I wouldn't go out of my way for them. The Original Series crew films were far better than the series, though.
flyout menus
I thought the flyout menus were win95-style. Though Windows XP probably does the best version of the Windows 2000 theme (Win7's is pretty darn good, too).
Posted in Intel, Apple forging chip-baking deal?
Re: iPhone / iPod only
Yep, right since the 4004. However, your examples aren't great. Intel sold off XScale to Marvell (just as the smartphone processor market was taking off) and amd64 is a set of instructions, not silicon design, which they licensed begrudgingly from AMD because of the success of Opteron embarrassing their Itanium business. But AMD is likely licensing far more IP from Intel.
Re: @NomNomNom
The game is too good. I can't have it installed or I end up playing for hours every day.
Also, it may have Sid's name on it, but it is generally regarded as Brian Reynolds's game. Which is no bad thing.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri = SMAC, which is very addictive. Need I say more????
why do people look at their phones once an hour?
People use their phones as timepieces.
Posted in Review: Sony Vaio Duo 11 Ultrabook
Why is everyone "ohhh I loose the stylus"?
Loose your styluses! Let them run free! Sony steals them from their mothers and breeds them in dirty factory farms.
Anyway, people are always losing pens. Jerry Seinfeld has hours of material on losing pens.
Posted in Review: Sony Vaio Duo 11 Ultrabook
A slither of buttons?
A sliver, surely!
Or are you comparing Sony or the owners of these machines to snakes?
Posted in Apple files 'iWatch' patent application
I think people are giving the iWatch too much hype. The concept is merely for an iPhone/Pad companion device. You'll be able to show pretty pictures (accessorize!), get updates (walking directions/bus times/passbook/texts/caller id/etc) and control the music player. It could potentially also be used for games, but this is a companion device that could prove to be useful, like an Apple TV, not a core product.
Re: Psychlos
The Bible is copyrighted so that people can't publish their own New International Version that changes important bits from the widely accepted New International Version. Handily, for an organisation like Biblica (owner of the NIV copyright), there are changes in standard English and improvements in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic scholarship so they can publish an updated version every few years, effectively extending the copyright. Copyright is not evil. All the open source licenses uses copyright. Bibles are relatively cheap in the UK and the Gideons and others will even give you one for free. But who uses books? Just read it all for free on BibleGateway.com! Google will even take you to the reference you want in seconds.
I was at a gig recently (can't remember if it was The Once or Karine Polewart - both recommended though) where the band did a song about the only audience member being the bar man!
trackpad right-click
"There are still a few Chromebook idiosyncrasies knocking about, though, like a right-click of the trackpad seldom actually doing anything. If you want to open a context menu to create a folder, change the desktop wallpaper or correct a misspelling in Docs, it’s a two-fingered click on the trackpad you need. Right-clicking only works if you are using a USB mouse."
As a MacBook owner, I would contend that this is the ONE TRUE way. Though, with tap to click and tap-n-drag disabled by default on Apple's trackpads, it's a wonder anyone would want to use them, I always find myself wondering why the trackpad won't respond to taps when I log out or when I'm in the Apple store.
Re: never did understand Warhammer
It's surprisingly good fun and different people can find different aspects they like.
Personally I like the stories more than the wargaming (not least due to cost and my lack of ability at painting) but I went to Games Day and Golden Demon 1996 in the NIA and found it to be (almost) one of the friendliest groups of people I've ever been in (silly staffer wouldn't let me and my mates see the Black Library film!) I used to devour all the stories in the Codices and White Dwarf and loved the artwork. I even knew a lot of the 2nd edition rules off by heart for a while! Maybe that's weird, but who would want to fling birds at fortified pigs?
@ukgnome: blue uniforms?
Typical Ultramarine arrogance! There are many other chapters, each with its own armour colouring and regalia. One for each primarch (and several more created since the Heresy) .
Lewis, when was/were your article(s) published?
I think I've got a few White Dwarves from years ago.
Anyway, Space Marine is a bit generic, which was why I thought they came up with the name Adeptus Astartes. Plus, the surgical modifications was mostly the Emperor's children when they went heretical.
I've been reading the Horus Heresy series on and off because I don't have any friends who wargame and what I really want is a computer game that simulates all the rules, dice-rolling, cards and templates. The Horus Heresy novels have been a reasonably good read for trashy sci-fi, but they killed about 5 primarchs within a few pages in one book, I didn't think much of Horus's descent into chaos and there has been precious little seen of the Emperor in the first 7 books. The best one by far is Legion.
This Space Marine trademark thing seems like the Horus Heresy books: the Imperium is simply the Imperium, it may protect from Chaos, but it is not inherently good
mobile networks getting into positioning?
they already have: it's called Assisted GPS
Re: Persuasive Arguments
It was mooted in these forums previously, that F-35Bs could take off and land on cheap merchant ships (or at least modified merchant ships). So that rather negates the need of multi billion pound carriers.
Though taking that argument, if they chose "cats and traps" they wouldn't have needed any type of F-35 and could use F-18s/Rafales instead.
Re: No puppets?
He'll be spinning if it's crap, but not for the lack of puppets. Gerry Anderson is on record as saying that the only reason he used 'supermarionation' was because it allowed him to realise his vision and that he would have used CGI at the time if it was available.
circular trackpad?!?!?
who thought a circular trackpad would be a good idea?
Re: You don't need a new language for this
Exactly, if your code needs comments, consider re-writing it.
Anyway, this type of translation could be done along with the code-tidy macros. (sometimes I wonder how people who use visual studio can get their code so badly formatted when it does it for you when you type the closing brace)
Posted in The Oric-1 is 30
Re: I really wanted to read this article...
I did read the article. Full of interesting information and definitely worth reading, but sadly I must agree with JS Greenwood on the quality of the prose.
Re: another apocalypse in making
The Spicy Curry is delicious. Add a couple of slices of buttered toast or a bagel and you have a goodly main meal.
The only problem is they are horribly expensive compared to packet noodles or pasta'n'sauce, even at B&M bargains (unless they are on offer), unless you don't have saucepans or bowls/plates.
Re: Where does it say in the bible
Paul's letter to the Romans (Romans 13) and Jeremiah's letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29) are both relevant.
Paul knew very well how thuggish the authorities could be (as detailed in Luke's account of the Acts of the Apostles), but he still recognised the need for a civil society to have well-paid administrators.
Anyway, back to today. 1) the EU tax laws are meant to be so that one country can't tax companies punitively, just for being located in another EU jurisdiction. 2) I'm actually glad to see a Labour politician acting on principle, accepting a little less tax money for the perceived greater good of governments elsewhere, though of course the economy of the Netherlands is big enough (unlike Ireland's) to not be too disadvantaged by having a little less money due to accounting tricks.
Re: @frank ly "Ninja Accountants" It is interesting that the shear scale of this kind......
"Fox's", because it is a proper noun.
Re: Paid Product placement and El Reg
Surely Dave 126 should have a gold star by now!
emerging markets
Obviously there is a lot of growth potential for Apple to sell iPads to africa, Brazil, Vietnam, etc, but that misses the point of how Apple has defined emerging markets since they introduced the iPod. Apple doesn't see emerging markets as Laos, Tajikistan, Bolivia, etc, Apple defines emerging markets by the type of device. MP3 players were an emerging market, smartphones were an emerging market, tablets were an emerging market. Why sell cheap low margin goods to poor countries, when you can wait for them to develop to be rich enough to buy your high margin goods? The risk with this strategy, though, is that very few companies can consistently create and/or dominate emerging markets.
They should hire the chinese guy!
Re: squaring the (vicious) circle
There are two approaches to rationing parking (which needs to be rationed as it is usually a limited resource):
i) some councils don't charge for on-street parking (but do for large car parks), but limit parking to one hour or half an hour with no return for a set time (then fine, clamp, tow offenders).
ii) charge a little bit for on-street parking and allow someone to park for as long as they are willing to pay.
Rationing on-street parking is a good thing because it prevents people hogging spaces preventing people parking who just want to pop into a shop.
Can we forget all this nonsense for a bit?
I hope they find and convict whoever killed Mr Faull.
Re: "We're talking audio with something like four to 16 times better fidelity."
I don't know about the 16 number, maybe it's to do with sampling rate or noise floor, but the 4 times number probably has to do with the 4kHz bandwidth of most phone calls, which sound crap because most ears actually have a bandwidth about 4 times as much.
