* Posts by Daniel Johnson

45 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Jan 2011

Emma Watson urges UN to back feminism – trolls threaten to leak her 'nude selfies'

Daniel Johnson

Re: False Flag

Companies like this put up press releases on their own fake news sites, and then rely on "real" news outlets, such as Sky News (and The Register) to regurgitate it, without doing any fact checking.

It's interesting to see the drop in traffic on the various gaming news sites such as Kotaku, since their behind-the-scenes collusion and contempt for their audience was exposed.

Lately, the Register seems to have been running more and more of these "Social Justice" stories. Perhaps they've been inflitrated by a SJW, too?

Daniel Johnson

Probably a political campaign. It's hosted on the same server as a viral marketing comany called Rantic. Instead of pictures of the actress, visitors will probably be treated to a lecture about "the patriarchy" instead.

eBay DROPS DEAD AGAIN - tat bazaar says sorry, scrambles to resurrect site

Daniel Johnson

If you paid an auction house to sell your items, and the auction ended early because of a fire alarm, then all bids would be off.

Three new charges laid against alleged Silk Road kingpin

Daniel Johnson

Re: Dear Diary,

But his journal appears to be written in the past tense, even though he's describing things which are yet to happen. For example, he says "the idea was to create a website", when he hasn't even developed the site yet. Surely he would write "the idea is to create a website".

Premier League wants to PURGE ALL FOOTIE GIFs from social media

Daniel Johnson

Re: Will nobody think of the NETS??

I hope the City of London police crack down on this sort of thing because... Organized crime! Terrorism!

Daniel Johnson

Re: Simpler solution than developing seek-and-destroy software

An even simpler solution: play all matches behind closed doors, so no fans can film the precious goals. And don't let the television cameras in, either. Hermetically sealed copyright -- problem solved.

Orwell chap snaps in Amazon paperback claptrap yap rap

Daniel Johnson

Re: Lower Prices

Hatchette's revenues were up 5% this quarter. Jeff Bezos hoped that the Kindle would take over the book market -- it's in the name of the product and the original instructions to the designers: "act like you're putting every publisher and bookseller out of business". In reality, Kindle has a little under 20% of the US market. Amazon want to force the publishers to lower the price of eBooks so they can compete more effectively with paper versions of the same book.

Meanwhile, Amazon has opened another front with Disney -- they want Disney to subsidize Amazon's loses when Amazon decide to sell their DVDs below cost. Since Disney own the classic Disney characters, the Muppets, Marvel, Indiana Jones, and the daddy of them all, Star Wars, I think Amazon may be punching a bit above their weight this time.

Traffic light vulns leave doors wide open to Italian Job-style hacks

Daniel Johnson

Traffic control - the road to nowhere?

I was surprised at how expensive traffic lights are to install and maintain.

Getting rid of traffic lights increases traffic flow, while reducing accidents:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeryaK22ntw

http://www.equalitystreets.com/

Twitter investors squawk as user growth, income disappoint again

Daniel Johnson
Holmes

Social network not required

Social network usage seems to be moving to mobile devices. I think utimately, this could be bad news for the likes of Facebook, Twitter, et al. Most people already have all of their contacts in their mobile device, so why would they need to add a social network layer on top of that? All they need is a simple way (a button or app) to send and share text messages, pictures, videos, etc. to one or more people in their address book.

Nominet bins Optical Express' appeal against 'It ruined my life' website

Daniel Johnson

If you're thinking of laser surgery, have a look at Ortho-K first (contact lenses worn at night that gradually reshape the eye while you sleep).

Show more Canadian made porn, insists Canadian government

Daniel Johnson

Yukon Ho!

Stephen Fry rewrites computer history again: This time it's serious

Daniel Johnson
Devil

Re: The Reg...

It's takes a lot less than that to wind up Stephen Fry. Tim Shipman once wrote a couple of lines in The Daily Mail that he was at a party which Fry was also attending, while Tweets in Fry's name were being sent. How could this be? he wondered. He did say it might be possible that Fry was Tweeting from the party and he just hadn't seen him.

Cue an essay from Fry about how Shipman was a boil on Satan's anus, etc. etc. Fry is also the man who has an argument at a funeral -- with the brother of the deceased (and then slags them off on Twitter, for good measure).

MP 'shocked' at failures 'at the top' of the BBC over epic DMI tech fail

Daniel Johnson

Re: An MP was shocked

"Hodge's stock position" is tiny, tiny, tiny (and if you mention it, she'll threaten to sue).

Facebook debunks Princeton's STUDY OF DOOM in epic comeback

Daniel Johnson

Re: "and there mediocre professors"

"Like the professors who (attempted) to teach you written English?"

It's probably just a typo. I don't think you need to go to university to know the difference between there and their. I didn't (although I imagine you did).

Daniel Johnson

It's American thing. They also say "wait up", "grabbed up", etc.

Vile Twitter trolls thrown in the cooler for rape abuse tweet spree

Daniel Johnson
Stop

Re: It's trolls.

Unlike these charming feminists, you mean?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2KPeMcYsuc

Daniel Johnson
Facepalm

Re: Rule No. 1

"No, you shouldn't have to defend yourself but since you do then at least spend as much time telling people not to commit crimes "

Should I learn self defense before or after I travel to the inner city to tell people not to commit crime? And when do you plan on travelling to the real world?

Daniel Johnson
Happy

Re: Rule No. 1

"Victim blaming, fantastic."

If a stranger was being abusive to me on Twitter, I'd click the "block" button. Much easier than calling the police, constantly going on national media thereby increasing the number of trolls I was attracting, and constantly monitoring Twitter from morning to night for more rape "threats".

But then, as a male, I tend to think about things in a logical manner, rather than throwing my hands up in the air and crying "I'm a victim, I'm a victim! Somebody help me!".

Margaret Hodge, PAC are scaring off new biz: Treasury source

Daniel Johnson

Re: "without contributing to its upkeep"

UK companies do it too. For example, Tescos, Top Shop, and, hilariously, The Guardian newspaper.

Daniel Johnson
Stop

Zero tax is the answer

Corporation tax raises £40 billion per year. There are 2.4 million unemployed. The average wage is £25k.

£40 billion could be better used by companies employing 1.6 million people at £25k a year. Or ALL 2.4 million unemployed at £16k a year. And don't give me that crap that British people don't want to work -- not long ago there were only 1 million unemployed, so there are AT LEAST 1.4 million who want to work but either can't find a job or would be worse off if they took one.

Having zero corporation tax would attract foreign companies to set up their headquarters in London. It would also put domestic companies on an equal footing with large multi-nationals. And save time/money spent preparing accounts doing more productive things, like running a business.

So many people on this thread think more tax is the answer to everything. Ten years ago government spending was 35% of the economy. Now it's over 50%. Are we really better off for it?! Were we really living in Dickensian conditions under Blair's harsh 35% of GDP spending reigme? Remember, for every job the government creates, you lose two in the private sector.

Parents can hide abortion, contraception advice from kids, thanks to BT's SEX-ED web block

Daniel Johnson

Re: So...

Surely it gives the parent with a lack of IT skills a false sense of security?

Kids can simply install a browser extension, gaining full acess to blocked websites, surf in a private session, and uninstall the browser extension when they're finished. No trace of what they've been up to on the local PC.

UK.gov's web filtering mission creep: Now it plans to block 'extremist' websites

Daniel Johnson

Re: Well

The Daily Mail may campaign for web filtering but that doesn't mean the readers are in favour of it. Check the comments section on the Mail's website; the vast majority seem to be against web filtering.

Facebook Frankenphoto morgue will store your cold, dead selfies FOREVER

Daniel Johnson
Joke

(untitled)

If only Zuckerberg had thought to add a checkbox when he first programmed Facebook:

"[x] Delete post after 30 days?"

Brit and Danish boffins propose NSA-proof crypto for cloud computing

Daniel Johnson
Paris Hilton

Political Correctness Gone Mad

"As The Register understands the system, this might also be useful in cloud-based collaboration, since it would protect Average Joe's data against the rest of the world, including Average Joe's boss, if it so happened that her machine were compromised."

I'm confused. Is Average Joe meant to be a woman (strange name for a lady) or is his boss meant to be a woman?

Paris, because I'm sure she's a woman (I was going to say 'lady' but I've seen the video).

Star Wars revival secret: This isn't the celluloid you're looking for

Daniel Johnson

Re: waste of time

"The Phantom Menace" was shot on film and looks far better than the other two prequels, both of which were shot digitally.

People who think digital compares to film could watch "Alien" and "Prometheus" on Blu-ray, both by the same director Ridley Scott.

"Alien" was shot 35 years ago on film (35mm, in anamorphic, which results in resolution loss due to lens distortion). "Prometheus" was shot three years ago on the highest-resolution currently available digital cameras (the Red Epic 5k).

People say "Prometheus" looked great. Well, the wide shots are CGI creations and I guess they look good, if you like that sort of thing (I always skipped cut scenes in video games). But compare the interior shots of the crews inside the spaceship. You might be surprised how great "Alien" looks, even just scenes of the actors talking. "Prometheus" on the other hand, looks as bland as its story.

Climate change even worse than you thought: It causes war and murder

Daniel Johnson
FAIL

Re: WALOOB

You probably shouldn't rely on Peter Gleick for your climate science updates.

"On February 20, 2012, Gleick announced he was responsible for the unauthorized distribution of documents from The Heartland Institute in mid-February. Gleick claimed he had received "an anonymous document in the mail describing what appeared to be details of the Heartland Institute's climate program strategy", and in trying to verify the authenticity of the document, had "solicited and received additional materials directly from the Heartland Institute under someone else's name""

Facebook testing $100 fee to mail Mark Zuckerberg

Daniel Johnson

Re: What did you expect?

I set up a Facebook account for my cat a few weeks ago (in case I need to login to the site for any reason, not because I'm mental).

Apparently, my cat also has more friends on Facebook than he thinks. He gets emails about it everyday.

Wind, solar could provide 99.9% of ALL POWER by 2030

Daniel Johnson

Re: Bullshit

Hockey sticks!

Daniel Johnson

Re: So who told you that fossil is not subsidized

I've read that the US gets the largest share of their oil from Canada. Apparently, they could drill their own oil and be self-sufficient -- they choose not to due to environmental concerns.

You could say that the green lobby has forced to the US to go overseas for its energy supply. Or to put it another way, Green Peace is to blame for the Iraq War.

China is big in Africa. However, instead of using the threat of arms, they build stuff for the locals in exchange for exploiting their natural resources.

UK climate expert warns of 3-5 degree warmer world by 2100

Daniel Johnson

Shirley

If CO2 causes global warming, why has the globe not got any warmer since 1998 even though emissions have increased every year since then?

CO2 emissions hit a new record this year. Meanwhile, the global temperature dropped this year and the year before.

Microsoft tightens the scroos in search battle

Daniel Johnson
Unhappy

Re: Interesting...

If you're using a price comparison site to find the best price, and instead of the best price, the site shows the links it is being compensated for, then the site does not fulfill the function of a price comparison site.

It is rather an advertising site masquerading as a price comparison site.

Speaker Bercow's loquacious wife finally silenced - On Twitter

Daniel Johnson
Devil

In the US during the election, several loony-lefty Obama supporting celebrities claimed to have been hacked after posting ill-advised comments about Republicans/men/white men/anyone-who-disagrees-with-them.

Easier than accepting responsibility for your actions and apologising...

Google Reader caches Tweets which are latter deleted. All of Silly Sally's musings are still there.

ALIEN DETECTION was SUPPRESSED by the BBC - top boffin

Daniel Johnson

The real season the BBC didn't want Professor Brain Cox pointing his big antenna at that planet is because it's clearly the home world of Jimmy Saville.

All those people who thought David Icke was mental when he banged on about shape-shifting aliens in high places are looking very silly now. Very silly indeed.

Sony KD-84X9005 84in ultra-HD TV review

Daniel Johnson

Avengers Assemble

...was shot on the Alexa, at around 2k, so showing it on a 4k screen means enlarging the picture by about four times.

I watched "Avengers" on DVD and it looked a little soft to me even on that format.

French gov 'plans to hand Google €1bn tax bill' - report

Daniel Johnson

Re: Tax Rates

"A quick look at the two countries that have practised this approach most closely - UK & US - and their Gini coefficients over that period reveals the theory to be a crock of shit."

Under Reagan the US had massive job growth. Now, the labour participation rate under Obama hasn't been lower since the last year of Jimmy Carter.

Obama recently redefined full time employment, lowering the required hours to just 30 a week. He's moved unprecedented numbers of people out of the labour pool.

Daniel Johnson

Re: WTF, is this a Communist Party gathering?

People have been brainwashed into thinking government knows best and does best, and that the failing schools and dirty hospitals are all due to too little money, and if only the rich paid their fair share everything would be okay.

Labour doubled the NHS budget with little noticeable result (except GP pay packets got thicker and their hours got smaller).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ

Daniel Johnson

Re: Tax Rates

None of the tax you pay is spent on infrastructure or "services".

All income tax in the UK is paid back out in welfare benefits - i.e. the UK gov. spends more on welfare than it takes in income tax.

Therefore, all the other taxes (mostly paid by business) pay for all the infrastructure and "services".

Basically, everyone who works pays all their taxes to support those who don't.

And the "evil" 1% pay 25% of all income tax, while the top 10% pay half of all income tax.

Firefox 13 now available for download

Daniel Johnson

Marge, why won't it work properly?

Just upgraded Firefox - was on version 10.something. Got the white screen of death on first attempt to run it.

Most plug-ins have disappeared with the upgrade, except for a couple of PHP debuggers. Any that were temporarily disabled to try and get the browser to run correctly are gone.

Bookmarks are all gone, along with Live Feeds and the Homer Simpson theme.

Quick YouTube test: uses around 50% of CPU (including plug-in container), whereas Opera (for example) is about 20% for the same video.

UK student faces extradition to US after piracy case ruling

Daniel Johnson

Don't forget the NDAA - Obama can now have the military arrest anybody, anywhere in the world, for any reason (including US citizens in the USA) and detain them indefinitely without trial or access to a lawyer.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ndaa detention without trial

X-Men Origins: Wolverine pirate caged

Daniel Johnson
Big Brother

Thought Crime

I don't think this man should have been imprisoned or fined. I don't think anything should have happened to him.

He uploaded a film he bought to a file sharing website. There was no profit motive on his part as far as I can tell.

The real "criminals" are the bootleggers who sold him the DVD in the first place. And I say "criminals" because copyright theft should be a civil matter.

Glasgow cammer not thrown in slammer

Daniel Johnson
Paris Hilton

Dragon's Den

A few years ago, I remember someone demonstrating an invention on Dragon's Den that prevented filming cinema screens. They didn't get an investment from the "Dragons" -- if I remember correctly they couldn't see a use for it. I thought at the time the inventors should try approaching the Hollywood studios for a licensing deal.

Paris, because she knows all about filming in the dark.

LimeWire settles with record labels, to pay $105m for copyright hurt

Daniel Johnson

Supermarkets

Re: Cazzo Enorme/Zavvi & HMV - I think their problems are more to due with supermarkets selling CDs/DVDs at or below cost price. These lines are not a supermarket's primary business, so they can treat them as a loss leader.

Ironically, when I worked in retail, it was impossible for us to compete with shops like HMV, WHSmiths, etc which sold videos at a retail price that was lower than our wholesale price. Now bigger fish like Tescos have come along.

Single complaint sparks police raid and total ban on rental movie

Daniel Johnson
Big Brother

BBFC

The police would probably send it to the BBFC:

"The BBFC measures and researches seized material to check whether they are classified works and, if so, whether they are identical or different to the classified version we have in our archive."

"...a Certificate of Evidence will be drawn up... signed by an Officer of the BBFC who has been authorised by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to do so."

Source: http://www.bbfc.co.uk/law/seized-media-requests