Posts by launcap

Re: OMG

> I have major history with BT

Likewise. They are, however, better than the foetid devils toenail clippings that are Virgin Media or TalkTalk.

Only just mind, only just..

Re: Ahh, the old days...

> All we had was a NAND gate made from twigs, and two delay lines made from old thermometers.

Or in my case - a shiny *new* 12/75 non-autodial modem. And my parents phone line :-) And the eternal optimism of a 13-year old..

And a selection of fidonet BBS systems that I could get to without incurring huge phone bills. Using my BBC Model B..

Ahh.. The old days were the oldest!

Re: The price of failing to cooperate...

Which brings us on to the electronic prescriptions - the chemist where I pick up my diabetes medication recently informed me that they (and my GP) were going over to (exclusively) electronic prescriptions which may involve the chemist sharing my details and prescriptions with other companies in their group.

I objected.

They said "tough".

I objected

They said "tough - oh and if you want to carry on getting prescriptions from here there is no other option - you can't stay on the current system because we are no longer doing it"

Sadly, none of the chemists available within reach are going to be doing the old-style prescriptions either. So now I have a choice of:

1. Use electronic dispensing and allow my medical details to be shared with the group of companies

2. Don't get prescriptions.

It didn't help that all the people I spoke to, both in the GP and at the chemists, were utterly ignorant of both the DPA and the concept of data security.

Re: Captain of Moonshots?

> Is Google+ less picky?

Don't be silly - he works^w is employed at Google so (of course) their rules don't apply to him,

Re: billions?

> I was one of the many who spent a billion last year...

He says, posting from his luxurious penthouse^W^W cardboard box.. :-)

Re: Lip service..

No - they might get a pat on the head and a 'good boy'.

And then a stick thrown for them to chase.

> Sadly, tabloid readers seem to dictate government :(

Ah - the old "don't want to see a headline in the Daily Fail" mantra. Used by timid, non-conviction politicians(1) everywhere who determine their policies according to what the latest opinion poll says and are more concerned with ensuring re-election rather than doing what they perceive to be right.

Can you spell "tyranny of the commons"?

(1) And even worse - career Civil servants trying to make sure that they don't do anything 'bold'..

Re: @Ivan Not sure what it is

> why some people prefer higher vehicles

And people like me do too - because the psoriatic arthritis makes it a real pain (literally!) to get in and out of a low-slung vehicle.

My FR-V is about as low as I can go (although - the occasional trip in my wifes Morris Minor isn't too bad).

Re: I've already got all of the monitoring of my body I need.

> In theory it is possible to measure pulse, blood pressure, blood

>oxygenation and temperature from the one earbud, or split the functions into a

>pair of buds.

If only it could check blood glucose too.. I'd actually pay good money for a blood glucose monitoring system that didn't involve sticking needles in various body parts on a regular basis :-(

Re: Turtles all the way down

> Instead, it sidles up to you gently, purrs gently, and watches intently

Much like cats then. Pterry was (for all his faults) a man of impeccable taste in pets(1)

RIP.

(1) And indeed was the inspiration of the names of two of our furry overlords(2). One of whom (Kelda) has indeed lived up to her name.

(2) There is no (2).

@Lee D

>"Survey" - Nope.

My line on that is "how much are you going to pay me for my data?" (after all - if they derive value from it it's only fair to recompense me for my time).

That usually gets them to put the phone down quickly. Although one did try to argue that it's my duty to help them improve their service^W^W^Wmake them money..

Re: get yer pitchforks

> It's about time these asses were taught "don't be an ass".

In the old days of Usenet we had a persistent problem with idiots with the attitude of 'online doesn't matter - it isn't real life' and would say things that they would never, ever dare say face-to-face.

Outing them usually had the effect of teaching that, yes - speech is free. But not without consequences..

Re: UV blue

Citizen,

Please report your clone to reprocessing for possession of knowledge above your security clearance grade (for surely you are merely Orange).

Remember: The computer is your friend!

(Ah - Paranoia. One of the few RPGs better(best!) played when not of entirely a sober nature..)

Re: It does seem rather wonderful

> Whereas IT skills covers everything from [long list that I agree with]

And (equally important) the ability to problem-solve rather than just regurgitate facts that you have memorised but don't understand..

Re: The next step?

>You'll need to move Hadrian's wall a long way north

Make the bits between the Antonine Wall and Hadrians Wall their own country :-). The highlanders would be happy (would keep the lowland Scots out), the southern Sassenachs would be happy (gets rid of those damn Labour-loving northeners) and the only losers are...

Simples!

Re: erm

> it looks a bit penisy

More like some form of Gallente ship. Does it come with drones and good armour?

Re: Backwards compatibility

> It's quite likely that z/OS is still capable of running binary code written twice as long ago..

In the mid-90's I was working on TPF code (on an S/370) that was orginally written in the 60s...

Re: One born every minute

> You have to unplug the cable from time to time to empty them out.

Like in the old token-ring days - sometimes a token would get a bit crufty and you had to unplug the cable to let it fall out so that it could be replaced..

>Yosemite networking is still a pig

And appears to be largely incompatible with Active Directory (to the extend that new machines are having to have AdmitMac installed on them because the built-in AD bind wither fails to work or, if it does bind, then fails to authenticate).

Mavericks worked fine so it's not a case that our AD is broken..

Re: A workable solution

>Currently for £150 you can get yourself a no-name Chinese tablet

Or (as I did recently) a Linx 10 (1GB RAM, 32GB built-in with MicroSD socket, HDMI out) tablet from Sainsburys for £129.

Has an Intel processor, runs proper Windows 8.1

Only fly in the ointment - trying to upgrade to Windows 10 Tech preview had... issues. So back on W8.1 now.

It's never going to be my main machine but is a reasonable little unit.

>Two bottles in sixteen hours wouldn't make you an alcoholic

Depends on the size of the bottles.. (clutches Melchizedek of Mrs' Miggins Finest EyeBlinder)

Re: Bye-bye

> 1985-1988, when the company was actually doing OK

Didn't stop their built products being crap - we bought 3 things

1. mains-bourne intercoms (kept dying - store manager protested that they were not meant to be on all the time, thus kind of missing the point of intercoms). Eventually got our money back.

2. Ghetto-blaster - first the main board went (replaced). Then it went again (replaced). Then the tape decks stopped working (motor replaced). Then the radio tuning stopped working (the bit-of-string tuning had disintegrated). By that point we'd go so sick of it that we then binned it.

3. A Sony-Walkman clone (tape obviously) - numerous problems with it eating tapes, motor incredibly variable in speed despite fresh batteries. Replaced twice, same problems with repacements. Binned

After that I decided that they would never get any monet from me again..

Re: Demonised

> Ooh, another old-timer!

Likewise. From the mid-90's to mid 2000's. Which was then I finally got tired of talking to script-reading drones at support rather than the previous techies. And went to a proper ISP (idnet)

I picked them because they had a FAQ about how to do dial-on-demand[1] in my 0.99pl15 linux slackware box and also full instructions on how to set up a mail server..

Kids today eh? They just don't know how lucky they are!

[1] On my speeeeeeeedy Zoom 14.4k internal modem. Which got eventually replaced by 33K modem, then by BT Home Highway on ISDN (they had an all-you-could-eat package which allowed 2 channels to be bonded thus giving a stonking 128K), then by DSL.

> Inability to use the verb "lie" correctly.

Inability to use the past tence correctly

As in "I payed" or "I slayed" rather than "I paid" or "I slew".

Maybe I should read a better class of self-published[1] stuff. If that isn't an oxymoron.

[1] Occurs in books from established, reasonably well-respected publishers too!

Re: Muppets

>BBC newsroom employs

Very few people with an understanding of IT or technology. Especially in the preparation of news items.

--------------

Dear BBC,

Please be aware that using the word 'cyber' in front of anything vaguely Internet or computer-related just makes you look like a bunch of sensationalist, ignorant buffoons. Please cease forthwith.

Yours,

Someone with a vague Clue about such things.

PS: And lets not revisit the cracker/hacker confusion either. Or the fact that cracking someone Twitter account is hardly a l33t skill...