* Posts by Somerset John

45 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Jul 2009

All pixels go: World's biggest sky-gazing camera gets final sign-off

Somerset John

Re: What about the Northern sky?

It's only the size of a small car and around 3 tons. I wonder how long before they put something similar in orbit. Upgrade for the JWT perhaps?

NASA announcement of MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY imminent: WHAT can it be?

Somerset John

Obviously.....

They found a Galactic Council planning department advisory on a new bypass, in a toilet, in a basement, surrounded by large felines.

Demolition starts Tuesday.

Look ma, no hands! The machines are speaking our language

Somerset John

Re: Will Robinson do what?

Don't know about inspired, both robots were designed by the same man, Robert Kinoshita. Robbie appeared in a couple of LIS episodes, as well as a number of films after FP.

The police are WRONG: Watching YouTube videos is NOT illegal

Somerset John

Given that terrorism is inducing a state of fear or terror in order to further ones own agenda, and the Met seems to be doing everything it can to induce that state in the citizenry of this country, should not the Metropolitan Police now be declared a terrorist organization?

Hollywood star Robin Williams dies of 'suspected suicide' at 63

Somerset John

Not sure what the rules in America are, but over here in U.K. it would probably not be called suicide. It would almost certainly be recognised that Robin Williams taking his own life was a symptom of his mental illness. Regrettably there is still a totally unjustified stigma attached to both mental illness and self termination.

Huge sadness at the passing of a comedic giant, a great actor and a genuinely lovely human being. The world is poorer for his passing.

How practical is an electric car in London?

Somerset John

Re: Dead end.

"The place for electric cars is limited range taxi runs in an urban environment. No one cares about the performance of a taxi. Range is not a problem - no-one gets a taxi to go 300 miles. By staying near the city, charging points can be made available. Get the pollution out of our city centres, and use an ICE for the long range stuff."

I'm guessing you don't know many taxi drivers. They can, with good fortune, get long runs, sometimes hundreds of miles from a single hire. They usually love jobs like that. That is not the main problem with your comment though. A range of about 60 miles is probably useless for a taxi. Without guaranteed access to a rapid charge point, and ability to get a neat maximum charge in a few minutes (say 10 minutes perhaps) leccy will not work for taxis.

MPs blast HMRC for using anti-terrorism laws against whistleblower

Somerset John

It is a truism universally recognised that the first action of a politician or bureaucrap is to ensure s/he will never be held personally to account for anything whatsoever!

Former US POLITICIAN gets 6 years in slammer for FACEBOOK SCAM

Somerset John

Re: Berkman, who had unsuccessfully run for governor as a Republican in 1994

Is there a difference???

Reg man inhales the smooth, non-cancerous, taste of USB nicotine

Somerset John

For some people these E-cigs are a literal lifesaver. My wife was averaging four hospital stays a year due to COPD, asthma and sundry lung infections, mostly due to smoking. Since starting on e-cigs back in February this year only one infection, less severe than usual, and no hospital stays.

As an ex-smoker I don't think e-cigs are good for you, any more than any other addiction is good for you. I do think that e-cigs are much less harmful for the user and much less unpleasant for close spectators.

How much should an ethical phone cost? An extra penny? Or $4bn

Somerset John

Bureauecrap

Why the surprise. 95% of a bureauocrat's job is to justify the further employment of bureauocrats.

TOXIC DOLPHIN SANDWICH on the menu, say hacktivists

Somerset John

Re: Perhaps some reclassification required

Ummm, chavs are Great Apes too! Admittedly mentally challenged, but is that a good reason to feed them to fluffy?

Oh noes! New 'CRISIS DISASTER' at Fukushima! Oh wait, it's nothing. Again

Somerset John
Pint

Re: MRI

"But I cannot say anything good about Windscale's design except maybe, "it was simple and cheap."

A bit like the politicians then.

'Symbolic' Grauniad drive-smash was not just a storage fail

Somerset John
FAIL

Re: thuggery isnt it?

You left out "owner of weapons of mass destruction". Would YOU trust these idiots with nuclear tipped missiles?

Sony sucker-punches Xbox on price, specs, DRM-free gaming

Somerset John

Sony hater!

I have actively avoided any Sony product since their utterly contemptible treatment of their customers over the rootkit fiasco. A couple of later missteps only confirmed to me my choice was right, at the time.

Now they have managed to rehabilitate themselves in my eyes, at least to some extent. Should I upgrade my console (Xbox 360) I will not be staying with Mickeysoft. That doesn't mean I will not watch Sony like a hawk, expecting them to screw up once again, but for now the ban on all things Sony is lifted. Not entirely transferred to the Redmond mafia, but getting close.

Unbelievably vast quasar cluster forces universe-sized rethink

Somerset John
WTF?

Group...........what group?

What makes this a group?

4 billion light years is a significant fraction of the size of the entire known universe. Given that Quasars are active galactic nuclei (I assume this is the case on current evidence) there are likely millions, if not billions, of them. 73 is a pretty insignificant number compared to the total, so insignificant that whatever common characteristic leads observers to consider them a group may be no more than coincidence.

I would not be terribly surprised if this went the way of the FTL neutrino.

Übertroll firm bags DRM patent for 3D printing

Somerset John

Hmmm, can I patent a method by which a letter box will examine a letter to see if the recipient is allowed to read it?

Christian footie match ends in almighty brawl

Somerset John
IT Angle

The religion of peace!

Oh, wait, no. Thats the other one.

NASA working on faster-than-light drive capable of WARP TEN

Somerset John

Re: "Scientifiction"?

First used by Hugo Guernsback, after whome the Hugo award is named.

No guarantee on the spelling though.

Key evidence in Assange case dissolves

Somerset John

Re: The smoking gun..

I'm sorry, I was under the impression that Assange's dispute with the Swedish authorities was his fear, real or imaginary, of the said authorities extraditing him to the USA to face federal charges.

Ultimate bacon sarnie scrap starts to sizzle

Somerset John
Thumb Up

Only soft southern jessies would polute bacon with a wholemeal bap.!

The true art of the bacon buttie of the round persuasion demands a proper Lancashire oven bottom, thick sliced back bacon (with NO added water) topped with a fried egg.

Barnes & Noble Nooks bound for Blighty

Somerset John
Big Brother

Re: Nook Color vs Nexus 7

Not sure if this is the reason, but how much duty, if any, does your government add to the price?http://www.reghardware.com/Design/graphics/icons/comment/big_brother_32.png

Ape sanctuary seeks funds for armed Robo Bonobo

Somerset John
Big Brother

Oh dear no, this is completely unacceptable, to the religious right at least.

I am sure the powers that be of the Merkins would far rather support the male dominated warlike chimps than the rather more peaceful and co-operative Bonobo's.

So, what IS the worst film ever made?

Somerset John

So many to choose from.

Rather disappointingly there are so many bad films out there I can't think of one which is trancendentally bad, head and shoulders above the rest. Possibly the nearest is that Nick Cage film "Knowing", with the ridiculously trite Adam and Eve ending.

Pope Benedict in .XXX pro-Islam cybersquat drama

Somerset John
Devil

Re: Which is the more disturbing thought?

For hardcore papal porn try googling Bill Donohue. (Other search engines exist)

Citrix drops Rush Limbaugh over 'slutgate' slurs

Somerset John
Pint

About time too!

So one of Americas' top ChristoFaschist Liars for Jesus is finally getting a bit of payback. I suppose it's too much to expect him loosing his radio show, unfortunately.

Lovefilm dumps Flash, BLINDS Linux fans with Silverlight

Somerset John
Linux

What's the problem?

Simple answer........ If LoveFilm insist on silverlight then they should provide a free copy of windoze to all their subscribers.

Although I can't really see all the Linux bods downgrading their operating systems just for a few overpriced films!

Man sues boss for 'condemning him to eternal damnation'

Somerset John
Headmaster

Number of the Beast-No it aint.

I do wish these sky fairy merchants would occasionally get their facts right. The NOB is not, as explained by the erudite Mr Stephen Fry, 666. More like 620 or thereabouts, though my memory fails to extract the definitive result.

Not sure if this minor inaccuracy deserves sacking though.

Porn found in Osama bin Laden compound

Somerset John
Headmaster

Pedantic b'strd!

Might I just make the point that 38 minutes is more of an (surprisingly efficient for the yanks) assault than a siege; they generally take a bit longer!

Feds indict poker sites, seize domains

Somerset John
Unhappy

Puritain rule.

This poisonous piece of legislation was, if I remember correctly, a rider added to some piece of legislation to do with harbours. The puritanical god-botherers knew they had no chance of slipping it through on its own merit, even with WB backing it in god's name. Now they want to extend their grasp to the rest of the world, imposing their ridiculous law on every country.

Get working Obama, this needs taking down.

London man gets 5 years for YouTube terror videos

Somerset John
IT Angle

Yanks commenting on Brit justice?

Wasn't someone in USA just given 25 years for a not entirely dissimilar set of offenses?

Civil servants touted ID cards to friends, family as flop loomed

Somerset John
FAIL

HOW many in favour?

Would this (economical with the truth) idiot care to enlighten us with how many of the "many in favour" there really are?

Spanish fascist decries Franco Eurovision slur

Somerset John
Pint

How Embarrassing?

Errrrr........Being Criff Litchard

Amazon Kindle 3 e-book reader

Somerset John
Thumb Up

Transferring files to a Kindle

Just connect via supplied USB cable, the kindle is then treated as a detachable hard drive. Then it's just drag & drop. (Into the kindle's document folder.)

Ed Vaizey takes charge of Digital Economy Act

Somerset John
FAIL

Bet there is no change.

They should tear up the DEA and start again, without the input from mandy's good friends.

Not that there is much chance of that happening.

Norks 'have answer to humanity's greatest problem'

Somerset John
Thumb Up

Fusion reactors are (fairly) easy to build.

Would it in any way spoil this story if I pointed out that nuclear fusion is actually fairly easy to achieve, and several people have built working fusion devices. And I don't mean bombs. Agreed, there is currently no possibility of these reactors producing any useful power, but they do produce considerable quantities of neutrons and, if I remember correctly, a number have been built just for that purpose. Therer is also a thriving amateur "tabletop fusion" network. These people are not building multi ton Tokamak reactors but small, literally tabletop devices which really do fuse hydrogen, as proven by the production of the aforementioned neutrons.

Steve Jobs and governator tout transplant reform

Somerset John

Future transplants

So how long before stem cell research, now back on the agenda thanks to Obama, nano technology and a few other breakthroughs mean we can grow new organs, instead of having to wait for some unfortunate to die.

NASA flying car engineer shoots down Reg coverage

Somerset John
Gates Halo

Visionary

Well, I guess it was time someone stepped up to the plate and supplanted Paul Moller as Pie, sorry, Car in the sky visionary.

ID cards: the first year report

Somerset John
Big Brother

Why encourage the idiots.

Given the abysmal level of competence shown by other quangos, why on earth would any sane person want to give the bureaucraps more powers to annoy, control and manipulate us. I will not carry a card. I will not pay for a card.

Internet and journos fertilise scrotum-ripping drug panic

Somerset John

Reality check!

Errrrrr.......Is the LSD actually necessary?

UK.gov may abolish edited electoral roll

Somerset John

Too late MinionZero

The god botherers monetized your soul centuries ago, where do you think the bureaucraps got the idea.

Google: We avoid hiring too many smart people...

Somerset John

I don't agree

Sorry, I cannot agree with the last bit of this article.

Amazon really screwed up over this issue, no argument there. But their promise not to do it again is fine.

The point that someone can order them to delete stuff is crap. If the order, from whatever source, is a valid legal order then Amazon is not deleting material, the originator of the order is, using Amazon as a facilitator. If such an order is not a valid legal order, and Amazon carries it out, then it's open season on Amazon, they have a duty, in my opinion, to protect their client base.

Vampires not good role models for Catholics, declares Vatican

Somerset John

church morality?

So Ratty and his minions condemn fictitious morally challenged creatures like vampires yet will not condemn real morally challenged creatures, i.e. pedophile priests!

If anyone is interested I recommend "The Intelligence Squared Debate" originally on BBC World, now can be found on UTube. Fascinating debate on the church's morality.

Music industry cooks UK government's piracy stats

Somerset John
Grenade

More lying liars

For the benefit of the (rest of) the human race, could all posters preface the names of any member of parliament, any representative of any recording medium or any pundit using statistics with the technical term "The liar" on the grounds that if they are any of the above, or are using statistics, they will in fact be lying.

Celebs join call for official Turing apology

Somerset John

Why bother

I'm probably in a majority of one here, but I'd rather have the, possibly hypocritical, persecutors of Turing outed. Especially if any of them turned out subsequently to be, errr, what's the current PC term here, alternately sexual perhaps. After all, if Turing can have his situation changed posthumously, why can't those who, with the benefit of lots of hindsight, have their honours removed and their entries in "Who's Who" rewritten to reflect their inhumanity to their fellow man.

McAfee false-positive glitch fells PCs worldwide

Somerset John

McAffee carp

Like the previous poster I remember Dr Solomon's. McAffee bought it out with the sole intention of removing it from the market. I've never touched any of their software since.

I used to use AVG until I ran into a few (admittedly minor) problems with it. Switched to a product called Avira. Like AVG it's free for the home user. Never had a problem with its auto update, don't have a problem with its nag screen (this only appears once a day, not every time you switch the machine on) and it has provided me with completely adequate protection. If you're a home user I'd recommend having a test run with it.

(Disclaimer....I don't work for them, don't know anyone who does work for them, don't have shares in them, etc.)