Posts by MichaelBirks
36 posts • joined Wednesday 11th November 2009 22:35 GMT
Wow, I'm impressed
Seriously. 50+ posts and not a single aspertame rant.
+1 to El Reg commenters.
We actually had an MP (Former MP?) here in NZ 'musing out loud' about Coca Cola putting something in the drinks to make them so addictive.
It was Sue Kedgley, a well known campaigner against the food and beverage industry, but still.
The missing reference.
A page and a half of comments from literate tech-types and no one's commented on the obvious fact that Sita wants to orchestrate a Rendezvous with Rama.
Probably in his Garden, wherein he shall be Revealed.
Apologies to Sir Arthur, and to Gentry Lee.
As opposed to a 'scan to evernote' app?
Like the recent moleskin pad/app combination, for instance.
Or, for that matter those cheap pads that copy as JPG straight to your SD card.
Posted in ACTA can't get its act together
Re: Kiwis can remember
There would be a lot of people who could see the current NZ administration doing so gleefully, given the dim view of our honourable parliamentarians that they hold.
You might very well do that,
But I couldn't possibly comment.
Posted in Ten... freeware gems for new PCs
Re: File managers?
Heh. I actually paid for WIndows Commander before the rename.
The UI's a little dated looking now, but I still love it in terms of functionality.
Re: Well there goes Tattooine
Not if the two suns form in place, with the rest of the system forming around them.
The way I read it, it was the inward migration of the large mass object that swept the system.
Similarly, any bodies outside the sweep of the long elipse as the Jovian migrated inward shouldn't have been too badly affected. Too cold, in all likelihood, to be habitable, of course.
Someone's not updating their stock database in the SQL, are they?
That sounds like the time (ahem, theoretical possibility) someone forgot to add the WHERE clause to an UPDATE statement.
Re: It applies not just in the UK
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.
Spectral Analysis
I wonder if any sufficiently sensitive cameras recorded the trail well enough to get a measure of what was ablating from the rock.
Or is it just the Ni2/O2 mix of the plasma shield?
Posted in Molesworth and the New Latin
Re: Re: WTH?
Ah. My bad, then. I thought it was just written in the 'modern' style where teachers aren't allowed to correct for spelling of grammar in case they stifle the little chav's creativity.
Proper Uses for PDFs
@Ralph.
And you seem to be using PDFs properly. That kind of "human-readable" use is what they're good for. I used to use them similarly in the digital printing industry.
What they're _Not_ useful for is transmitting information that you might like to be _machine_ readable, like maps that you might want to import into a GIS or mash-up with other data.
And other places.
Don't forget Parliament.
Speaker Smiley got Gareth'd about that during Question Time the other week.
Trigger events
@Shane - the way it's written, the ISPs, like TC, sit on their hands until they get an official complaint from the rights holder (MPAA or studio) about a specific IP address (and, presumably, time)
They assume the Rights Holder is correct in all particulars and pass on the complaint to the user.
Unless Torvalds starts being a dick, you're not going to attract a complaint for Lunix distros or TED videos.
Resaonable expectation
I'm pretty sure that there an out along the lines of there being a 'reasonable expectation that this is the legitimate price'.
'Free' product, especially major purchases, wouldn't meet that expectation, particularly if the site weren't making some big song and dance about the 'bargins'.
Posted in One help desk API to unite them all
Darkness!
And in the Darkness, bind them.
If it wasn't for you meddling elves, and your stupid Hobbits!
Posted in UK census data is safe
Re: Chief Sub
Despite the face that they've posted equal reports about the various denials from LulSec?
Posted in UK census data is safe
Official Government Denial
Given that this is an Official Government Denial, does that mean the denied events actually happened?
"Look, the Government's denying it - it must be True!"
Posted in 3D-printed bikini goes on sale
BitTorrent
A whole new industry to jump on the 'piracy is theft' bandwagon.
They are the Robot Pirates?
Made from metal from their heads to their privates?
http://youtu.be/-XLgpReEkLc
Shaking it like a sword with a dead guy on it.
Yay for mod_rewrite
See title
Posted in Paramount buries Dune remake
First Three Books only.
Dune was Dune,
"Children of Dune" was Dune Messiah in part 1 and Children of Dune in 2 & 3, with an unaccounted for ageing of the children for added hawtness.
God Emperor wasn't touched. Thankfully.
Re: First rule of a cyberpunk
You're quoting from the original 'Johnny Mnemonic' the inspiration for a movie with the same name starring a pre-matrix Keanu Reeves.
"If they think you're crude, go technical; If they think you're technical, go crude. I'm a very technical boy."
Yay @GreatDismal
And other stuff gets swept under the carpet.
One imagines a sort of conveyor in the floor and walls that takes what one administration sweeps under the rug, and positions it ready to fall out of the woodwork under the next administration.
Posted in Cable lays plan for graduate tax
A Graduate Swap?
This is exactly what happens here.
NZ Varsity Grads leave the country, often to the UK, to avoid paying their student loans.
Or at least earn at three times the rate and pay it off sooner.
World Cup?
That doesn't start until next year in New Zealand, right?
It's Google
It's already being tracked.
"It's what we do."
::EvilGoogle Logo::/::SaintGoogle Logo: YMMV.
Posted in Senators to NASA: Get your ass to Mars
Re: Forget Mars get your ass to Europa
"All these worlds are yours - except Europa.
Attempt no landings there."
I can't believe no-one's bothered:
"Don't you think she looks tired?"
Posted in BOFH: The PFY Chronicles
To quote that other bastion of English bastardy...
The BOFH is _Probably_ Dead, Long Live the BOFH!
eBooks done more or less right?
Baen Webscriptions and CD Libraries.
Posted in Spam filters stuff Canadian Beaver
re: 1337 Tr4pz0r's
I have much loathing for this comment. An entire Kingdom of Loathing, in fact.
A new euphimism
"So I says to her 'Get your coat, you've pulled', and we end up at her's."
"Ah, Master, your Kwok-fu was strong."
Posted in Arise, Sir Peter of Middle Earth
Pete makes films till the money runs out.
(or even after, according to rumours about Kong)
Bad Taste, Braindead (in the rebel colonies, 'Dead Alive'), Meet the Feebles, The Frighteners were Pete's Pre-Rings masterpieces.
'The One with the Sheep'? I think you are thinking of 2007's "Black Sheep"? That was Jonathan King, not Pete. On the other hand, there was a big Weta involvement, so, close enough, I suppose.
@Anonymous John
And stop their war of nerves with Earth?
Are you the man who can stop them, a man whom fate has made indestructible?
Flames because they're Scarlet. And Black, of course.
Posted in Kiwis slap 'vacant' sign on Paris Hilton
Long time coming
What gets me is how long it's taken to come to the appropriate legal attention. These placeholder billboards have been around Wellington for years.
