Posts by wolfetone

I thought that, but then with the comment about the closure of the Indian call centre I thought they meant they were self serving their own customers. I didn't consider that they could be outsourcing their support to their own customers.

Re: Clarity required

"Hey Wolfie, when you say you've decided to "go on" YouPorn is that as a star performer, whether single or with others, or merely as a viewer?"

Tried. I failed the auditions for Fake Taxi.

No one told me you actually had to own a cabbies license.

"Is that Varoufakis' book? Might be an interesting read, but isn't he talking about the Euro and the EU - and the problems with them? Rather than Bitcoin. And I don't see how Bitcoin is the dollar even makes sense.

Also, there's an IT angle. Varoufakis used to be chief economist for Valve."

The very same.

For the most part it is generally about the EU. But it's the formation of the EU and economic impacts behind the formation which are interesting, and enforce what I was getting at before.

The "bitcoin is the next dollar" is in reference to the Nixon Shock which occured in the 70's. In very simplistic terms, the dollar isn't backed by anything. Just good will and faith of other countries. After WW2, the Bretton Woods system pegged the dollar against gold, but once gold values started to rise the USA were still forced to sell it at $35. Nixon pulled the dollar away from gold. Since then the dollar, really, hasn't been backed by anything tangible, the same as every other currency in the world. So when people bemoan bitcoin for being worthless or a bubble, they don't understand how their own currencies work. Every currency in the world is a fiat currency, faith based.

If someone in the UK decided that America wasn't strong economically as they thought they should be, they'd "sell" their dollars. This devalues the dollar, as everyone else see's that and thinks "crikey, the dollar must be on it's arse. Best sell what I have". The dollar slumps due to this contagion of the weakening of the faith in the currency.

At the very core of the matter, all currency is worthless. If both you and I decided that a bottlecap is worth a bottle of beer, I could pay you a bottlecap and get a beer back. People outside of our agreement would see that and think the bottlecap is worthless and you're stupid for selling it. But to us its a currency. That's what has happened all over history. From the swapping of hides for food through to brass coins instead of hides.

To finish, the book is very, very good. Hard to understand sometimes so may need another read. But I must say, as someone who voted to remain in the EU, I'm half glad the UK is leaving now. That'll make sense when you read the book.

Indeed.

If the volunteers threw in £200 each, they could've wined and dined the heads of the NHS and pushed this through. Alas, their mistake was to believe that those who manage the NHS are doing it for the good of the organisation, and not for the good of 3rd party contractors who want to make a few quid off the back of a publically funded body.

Roll on the next general election, and get these shower of bastards away from the NHS.

Indeed.

However, if you're unlucky enough to have a VPS hosted by Linode, you don't become the wiseman. You become the beta tester.

"You haven't got your mailbox held on spinning rust, have you?"

Of course. In spinning rust I trust.

Re: WTF???

In one version of the report, I think from The Guardian, it was disclosed as the victim suffered stab wounds around the genitals.

Re: Not like Carillion at all.......

If there's profit to be made, it should be held in the private sector.

If there's a debt and a bail out is needed, then that should be held by the public sector.

Simpleton.

Re: And that's why...

"But I haven’t wasted a second of MY time. Only the time my employer is paying for anyway. If they want to send me off on a wild goose chase, that’s up to them, it’s their money."

That all depends on the way you look at it.

If you're a 20 year old developer, fresh out of school, that is the sort of mindset they have. It's all about the money.

When you get older, your priorities change. Would you rather work longer effectively repeating your work for the sake of an extra few quid, or would you rather it was done properly and agreed so you could go home at a respectable time and put your child to bed?

There's no right answer to it, and I'd agree with both statements. However, right now, I would only agree with the latter. My 20 year old self though would've agreed with you.

Life is far too short to treat any gobshite boss's demands as wasting their money. It's wasting your time, and you only have a finite amount of it.

"Google employ coders? I thought they just sat around all day drinking poncy coffees like Q whilst rifling through your NHS Heath Data records."

That's Virgin Health you're on about, isn't it?

Re: Very selective actions...

It's the thin end of the wedge. We can already see how anti terror laws in the UK (as an example) are being used for petty non-terror related incidents. Now we're entering a phase where "hate speech" should be banned. But what is hate speech? Where is the list stating those crimes?

In my opinion free speech works both ways. There is a freedom to make statements to what you hold true to yourself and statements you feel are fact, but there should also be the freedom to argue against that. Freedom of speech allows the freedom to insult and be insulted, it allows the freedom of expression of a point and the anhialation of a point. If we're suddenly going to stop and prevent nasty things from being said we are losing our freedom of speech no matter what it is for. In this case, we lose the freedom of speech to educate and inform others why such a point is wrong.

If someone says something hateful, we lose the freedom to take them to task over it, to show others who might be inclined to such a belief or way of thinking that this isn't the right way to think and these are the reasons why. Banning completely is akin to smaking a child for pointing at someone fat in the street without the explanation as to why it was wrong.

Re: Fidget spinners?

"Since the dawn of time humanity has always had a strange curiosity with orifices, from early caveman and their flint dildos (who said they were for creating fire?) to the current craze of fidget spinners. If it fits it goes."

Fun fact: The electric vibrator (motorised dildo) was invented 100 years before the electric toothbrush.

Re: Let's just hope that...

"I think that mechanism is "teenagers" . The outcry is just from a couple of parents who noticed."

Don't be an idiot all your life. The outcry was universal.

Re: 1234

"There again maybe he can't count that high so maybe try 1212."

You dummy.

He obviously uses 0000.

The phrase "I've nothing to hide" is a pacifier to those who willingly allow their data to be used by people they can't see. They don't value it because they, themselves, haven't paid for it and they don't personally see a monetary value to it. They don't understand how the data is used, where its used, what it's used for. If they did they'd be more selective with what they share.

Case in point: I was buying something from Cath Kidston for my sister over Christmas. The lady behind the counter asked me for a postcode, I gave her the first 3 letters of it, she then asked for an email address. I then asked why, and she said it was for market research and to see if I was a returning customer. I declined to give her anything more than the first 3 letters. She said OK. But it wasn't until I asked was I told what my information was being collected for. I told this story to my wife, and she said "Oh I don't care I just give them the information. You're too paranoid".

Re: He may regret waiting

"OK, I'm confused. I thought it was generally accepted now that Wikileaks had selectively leaked information to damage the Democrat campaign and and held onto stuff that might have damaged the Trump/Republican campaign. In which case wouldn't they be rather pleased with him?"

Do you think Trump is the type of guy to remember these things with people who helped him to the top?

There is that. But there is a caveat with that.

Those who have the degree, yes they will end up with a £60k debt but it opens the door to higher paying jobs than those on apprenticeships. Right now I've no degree, I've a HND which I haven't topped up, and I'm at my salary ceiling. If I had a degree I could move up the ladder again. But time, money, life, all things that get in the way of doing that.

"Barbarella makes more sense viewed in the context of Italian horror movies. Think colourful lighting and buxom women in sheer clothing."

Is there any other way to think?

Re: yes, but

It can go further.

Plod: "Mr.Terrorist, it says here quite clearly you accessed terroristheaven.com 100 times."

Mr.Terrorist: "Actually you'll find that's just a request to access the website, not an actual visit to them."

"Safety full stop" would begin by not buying them at all.

Re: Don't know if I'm alone on this, but I'm of the opinion

You're not alone. I think the same thing.

The reality is, like I've said before, parents don't know what their kids are up to but they don't want to know either. If something then happens then it's someone else's fault, not the parent's fault. We have already seen this in cases where parents are moaning about their child racking up £2,000 on the household credit card "without their knowledge" and it's the game maker's/Apple/Googles fault. It isn't the fault of the parent that they let their child play with something they don't understand nor supervise.