Posts by Esskay
506 posts • joined Tuesday 9th August 2011 10:52 GMT
"Police arrived when an assault was reported"
"After lengthy investigation, talking to witnesses and reviewing good CCTV footage, it was confirmed that there was no assault."
All that jedi training finally paid off.
Re: It's £399
Banker? Pah! I'm helping out the *Prince* of Nigeria! Already paid the admin fee, just waiting for those millions to come through...
Re: "Approve proposals that more locals love"
Yeah, the price has become pretty outrageous, but on a dollar-per-clogged-artery basis it's actually quite good value.
Haven't tried The Sultan's Table, but will now!
Re: XBox One == Creepy Snooping Apparatus
"From the FBI's persepctive, people who are sat at home playing video games with their mates are not of interest."
Unless the game or movie they're watching is pirated.
Why so happy?
For once an exclamation mark after every word would have made the headline less ambiguous...
"Approve proposals that more locals love"
Hmmm.... Marrickville...
1. Victoria Yeeros expansion onto every corner
2. Subsidise costs of said yeeros
3.???
4. Profit
Re: There is more to this story?
Or if he used an ACME Sleep Grenade to sneak past any guards...
Re: That well
Judging from the time stamps, I'm guessing Lester's post came in a tad late...
Re: @Chris Lively
Cars and walking have a purpose other than killing. To compare walking to gun ownership because "some people get hurt walking" misses the issue entirely. If anything, the comparison demonstrates how tenuous the similarities between guns and cars/walking really are. (not to mention that in the example you gave, walking is a passive action - it's akin to banning people from going into office buildings because of 9/11).
Even if, as some people claim, a car is a "weapon", as it can be used to murder, it requires premeditation to get in the car, start it up, put it in gear, release handbrake, drive out of driveway, into street, then navigate to wherever I want to kill someone. It's not a case of pulling a trigger, and the intended purpose of a car is not to kill - so even if I *wanted* to, I still quite possibly couldn't kill anyone with it. What's more, despite the number of cars in the world (billions) the number of intentional killings using them is miniscule.
Lastly, a car doesn't always kill. I've had car accidents where both cars were written off, and no-one was injured. In fact the number of accidents involving no injuries is much higher than the accidents that do result in injuries - I've not heard of someone taking a bullet in the head and not sustaining any injuries, but will happily stand corrected.
Using a gun for suicide requires no thought - pick up gun, pull trigger. Like it or not, people make decisions that they regret later, and suicides that require more time/thought result in less chance of people going through with it. It's why they have councillors at popular bridge jumping spots - not to "fix" the issues people have, but to at least give them time to think. If you make someone go to a lot of effort to kill themselves, they're at least going to have to give the issue more thought - a gun removes that second chance.
"how much should society give up to make it safer for one person?"
^Exactly. You've hit the nail on the head with this question. Why should we be happy with people blowing their own brains out, either intentionally or unintentionally, simply so that a few paranoid types can "feel a sense of security"? If safety is measured as the likelihood of being killed or injured by a weapon, then guns need to be controlled. Why should society be happy for shootings to be commonplace when it's only being done to placate the few who are so insecure so as to need a placebo for their issues? With effective gun control, society gives up nothing. With the way things are, many people are at risk of injury so that one person can have the illusion of safety.
The "uses" of a gun are limited to killing - that's their sole purpose. They can be used to intimidate, but only because they're designed to kill. They give a sense of security, but only because they're designed to kill. Recreation is the only other use, and using a gun for recreation doesn't require it to be loaded/kept at home.
The gun? yes. A small, plastic contraption.
The bullets? no.
At 30,000ft a fart would be more deadly.
I love that people assume a "criminal" has a big label over them identifying them as such, as though they're born "criminals". Whay happens when your wife/daughter/son gets shot dead by someone else's wife/daughter/son because they thought they saw a criminal? or felt threatened? or panicked? or because your wife/daughter/son *is* a "criminal" (care to define the term?) because, like it or not, every "criminal" is *someone's* wife/husband/daughter/son/father/mother.
If everyone should be allowed to carry guns, then yes, the criminals have them. But no-one can identify their intentions, nor take them away from the criminals. It has a wolf-in-sheeps-clothing effect. Trying to identify and shoot a "criminal" when everyone is waving their guns about in a panic is not something I'd want on my conscience.
If no-one is allowed, then the simple act of carrying one *makes someone* a criminal - and thus they're liable to be charged without ever having used it, the moment someone sees them with it. Will they be able to perpetrate a crime with it? Possibly. But the risk of them shooting someone dead is lowered, since they know they're not going to have to shoot first "just in case". Most cases where guns are used as a threat aren't intended to result in death - they're robberies, break and enters, etc. The goal isn't shooting someone dead, so anything to reduce the risk of someone pulling a trigger will be beneficial for everyone's wife/daughter/son - and if that safety comes at the price of a few posessions, then so be it.
Assuming your plastic AK doesn't shatter immediately, you'll end up with a pile of molten plastic after a few rounds. Cost is irrelevant, the design of the AK takes the material into account - there's a reason guns aren't usually made out of plastic.
Ultimately, for $1000 of plastic you're better off making a simple object that won't go wrong - a slingshot or knife would be better for a 1 use object, I would imagine.
In terms of concealability, a sharpened toothbrush would be more effective, not to mention cheaper and have a similar range to the liberator.
"He seems to have no understanding of this world"
I had to laugh at that.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner appears to be in some confusion as to the value of her opinion relative to that of Prof. Hawking.
Can't call it Commodore 64
How about Rear Admiral 64?
Apparently rear admiral is a higher rank anyway...
Really though, not having any electronic knowledge is not really an issue for the sorts of people that this sort of item appeals to - when your idea is something that a large portion of your target market would consider to be a neat little project they could achieve with a similar amount of money in spare time (popping a raspberry pi into a c64 case or similar), the business case begins to make rather less sense...
@Flawless101
And don't forget camera shake - apparently all soldiers can only focus on an object for about half a second before spinning around wildly and shaking their head about.
Re: Battlefield 3/4 - Star Wars ???
This is EA. They've probably already found a way to set the game in 1942. (less reskinning to do!)
Re: @TeeCee(was: "...or be outed as the kind of person who would torrent porn.")
The resolution has increased dramatically since then; you won't even notice the pixels!
The IRS...
Now it's Prenda Law's turn to prove their innocence.... I get the feeling the IRS was thrown in there to make them squirm, the real pain is still coming.
Re: I don't see the point
I believe that to the target market, the ability to mutter the phrase "why don't you come back to my place and I'll show you my flying car" is of greater value than the carplane itself, and well worth the ridiculous cost/contrived design.
Personally I don't see the appeal of a car that makes going around corners unneccesary.
Re: I'm rather looking forward to this
I don't mind the idea either - however I've not yet seen any confirmation that this will be ad-free, just that there will be "premium content" on 50 channels for 1.99. (happy to stand corrected)
Re: Almost as embarassing as...
I remember when Eadon put effort into his Windows-bashing.
I'd have expected something along the lines of "Poor bathroom design, but it could have been worse - at least they didn't have Windows!"
Re: CEILING TILE CONTROL LAW
LOUD NOISES
Sounds daft...
but assuming it'll be 1080p (which the latest phones support, so no compatibility issues, plus on a 21" monitor it's plenty of pixels) and assuming "double the cost of a regular monitor" = double a cheap 21" (not twice their top-o'-the-line model, so ~ $400-$500 AU), and assuming it supports USB on the go (or whatever it's called, where it'll recognise mass storage devices) I can see it functioning very well as a cheap backup media player, for the kids or whatnot.
Sure, there's a lot of assumptions^^ up there (esp. price), but if they're serious about sales, it has the potential to carve a niche for itself.
As an owner of the first two seasons on blu-ray...
I Like the way he's approaching this, but at the same time, I can't help but feel his perspective is still from the 90's.
If I hadn't downloaded the first season illegally, I'd never have believed it was worth spending $60AUD on the BluRay. Sure, they may have got a few dollars if I had an Apple device, and I used iTunes, and I decided to purchase the episodes - but assuming a price of about $3 per episode, and the fact that Apple takes their Lion's (hurr hurr hurr) share of the price, the people actually responsible for making the series wouldn't see anywhere near the amount of money that they are. And since I'd already paid for it once on iTunes, I'd hardly pay for it again on BluRay.
The attitude seems to be that if they can't see the payments/benefits directly, they don't exist. Nevermind the exposure that piracy gives a show (I highly doubt that without the internet, Game Of Thrones would be anywhere near as successful as it has been).
Many of the people on facebook talking up the show are the ones who have pirated it (his use of facebook to try and tackle the issue seems to confirm this too) and the fact remains that it's their freetard ways that have created the "first world problem" of having a really successful show (that some people aren't paying for) in the first place. Until they address the speed and convenience advantage that digital downloads *SHOULD* have over other methods, I can't see them ever supplanting torrents.
Simple solution
If anyone starts querying why the science budget is so high, just tell them you can't explain it because it's irreducibly complex.
Should pretty much guarantee funding.
How to make your game sound like empty, rehashed dross:
Put the word "Tycoon" after it. Once rollercoaster and Railroad came out, most of what followed was a fairly poor variation on an unimaginative formula.
Presumably
Anything already covered by the Bible would be considered duplicitous and therefore ineligible for funding?
This scam...
sounds a lot like what most westerners would call first dates... Although I guess in this instance the girl isn't interested in anything past the first date. But to a desperate mobile gaming nerd, a date in return for paying for a meal presumably doesn't sound like too much of a raw deal compared to most other scams.
"CISPA is dead for now"
The lobbying equivalent of "Reserve not met".
Either RIAA/MPAA have to lift their bids or the Senate has to be a bit more realistic about how many yachts this bill will buy them.
Re: bets
But they're based of out an old soviet nuclear bunker.
A *nuclear* *bunker*.
That makes my company's data safe, right?
...right?
Re: low price of HFCS compared to... what, exactly?
So you think the cartel will suddenly stop price fixing when government regulation is removed?!
There's no doubt the government makes decisions in the interest of the people lining their pockets, but at least there's a modicum of accountability if people make enough noise. Without that regulation in place, the cartels will be able to do whatever they want, and set prices as high as they want - thanks to the TEA party.
Traced back to China...
...and that seemed like a convenient place to stop looking.
Re: Lazy Fat Americans.
Whilst the US's average intake of sugar being through the roof is no doubt contributing to obesity, it's got nothing to do with HFCS, GMO, or any other TLA's - glucose is glucose, and that's what makes you fat.
Other contributing factors might be:
- A complete lack of interest shown by most inhabitants to do any form of excercise
-A lack of nutritional education
-A diet incredibly high in processed foods, and extremely high sodium and fat content in foods.
-The low cost of aforementioned processed, high fat, high sugar foods and beverages, relegating them to the food of the lower classes (who make up most of the population)
Ironically, nationwide healthcare might actually give some people a wakeup call before it's too late - a low cost, regular check up can let people know how much damage they're doing *before* they need a quadruple heart bypass, or end up being found dead on the bog after trying to pass last night's big mac meal.
Is there a limit on number of businesses?
"If you have a business you can have $10m business, $1m of which can be in remote sales over the internet, and you're exempt."
What's to stop me from setting up a bunch of (for example) IT companies under one website? Company A deals with HDD sales, Company B sells processors, Company C sells peripherals, etc. and each one has less than $1m in "remote sales".
It's a bit of effort, but if people like the prices... plus it means that if one company goes over $1m in sales, the other areas aren't affected by the tax, and my website's prices still "seem" low.
Posted in 787 battery fix approved
"overheated and produced lots of smoke"
Where I live fireplaces aren't allowed, unless they're pre-existing. Perhaps I can justify adding one by explaining that they're actually just "near-fireplaces"?
I add newspaper, and a few small sticks, throw a match in and watch as the paper and sticks overheat and produce lots of smoke. Then I add some bigger sticks which overheat and produce lots of smoke, followed by a large log, which gradually overheats and produces lots of smoke.
I'll need a chimney of course, but that's just so I can perform an "emergency venting procedure".
"Despite their high profile and burdensome expense, however, newer renewable technologies (wind, solar and biofuel) are still not making any significant impact as they don't produce very much energy."
I don't really see how this is a surprise - newer technologies are usually more expensive than mature ones, until they themselves mature.
And undoubtedly China, being both massive and developing, have the biggest bearing on CO2 production of any individual country - particularly since they still burn copious amounts of coal.
What would be interesting to see is how much CO2 China produces today compared to 1990....
Re: what happens...
If they're sending Big Brother contestants, the I for one would love to see this play out, regardless of how pointless and unnecessary an axe in each Mars House (the proper engineering term) actually is.
Re: Is this really that cutting edge?
"As it stands though it feels like the same kind of "genius" that would create coathangers with inbuilt clocks and a combined tyre iron/back scrubber"
So... I'd be able to keep the hanger in my car in case I get a flat tyre, hang my after-work dinner clothes on it, give myself a quick scrub after work and not have to worry about being late? How much money do I need to throw at you and in which direction do I throw it?
@ LarsG Re: You are obviously not a parent.
Yes, because all parents have a smartphone for their two year olds. "Those of a differing opinion must not have children" is an equally sweeping statement, that you don't see the irony is of concern.
The term pacify is entirely appropriate for the concept of giving your phone to your kid to keep them quiet and occupied. The length of time involved doesn't affect the definition of the term.
I concur with the rest of your post though - the devs must be at least partially aware of the issue, the risk of loss of advertisers is (sadly) presumably enough of a deterrent to cause them to turn a blind eye - even the need to enter a password before making a transaction (something I imagine Apple could do at an OS level) would be enough to prevent unwanted purchases...
Re: damn percentages again!
A longer bow has ne'er been drawn.
I honestly hope you had that information at hand, and didn't spend hours trawling the net for it.
I suppose 9/11 was a Samsung cover-up too?
"with full gold dressing for the rear section"
And people thought their Aluminium bodied phones got scratched easily...
Symptom or disease?
Whilst the people coming up with ways to hook children into accidentally/unknowingly clicking on ads are amongst the lowest of the low, and deserve to burn in hell along with lawyers and politicians, surely of equal/greater concern is the parent who gives their latest shiny to their two year old in an attempt to "pacify" them? Not to mention that even from the perspective of a two year old the iPhone/iPad must be completely simplistic and fairly boring - no tactile buttons, no smash-proof surfaces, and once covered in slobber won't even work properly...
Setec Astronomy
The number of theories for why phones have to be turned off demonstrates the quoted pilot's view that "Commercial aviation is a breeding ground of bad information"... And in many cases the airlines have only themselves to blame.
Even if my home was "always on"
There's no guarantee that the servers would be, as evidenced by Simcity.
I've put about 3 hours into SimCity in the last month, mainly because every time I go to play I think - what if the server cuts out halfway through? What if I play for 2 hours and the server doesn't sync, losing my save (it's happened before)? Once they've got my money there's no incentive for them to maintain the quality of the experience, and anyone so motivated by penny counting as to require always on is probably not going to be concerned about server issues after a sale is made.
Even if Adam Orth's views "do not reflect those of Microsoft's", I find it unlikely that his attitude won't pervade his decisions at the company. Legally Microsoft might felt as though they've clawed their way out, but IANAL, and I care nought for their "legal" position.
Surely at some point
The person writing must have sat back, looked at the story and thought "maybe I need to tone it down *just* a little"...
Why sail around the world?
Everyone knows it's flat, you don't need to prove it.
Foolish "Foolishness" Foolishness
The "missing link" header is inaccurate, if only because the primates being described are contemporaries of humans - it's akin to a foolish creationist thinking that evolution means we evolved from gorillas (when, in fact, we share a relatively recent common ancestor).
However in terms of vocalisations humans appear to be far and above anything yet discovered or heard in primates, so the observations of this species of primate, and their apparently advanced communications could well serve as a contemporary "link" between ourselves and primates that has been "missing" from research so far.
I'd say the use of the term is sneaky, but the assumption from the reader is that the term is used in the well-worn context of evolution, to the exclusion of all others - a foolish assumption to make.
Or, since we're on the Reg, it could be someone having a bit of fun with daily mail-esque headline fibbery.
NASA need to follow the Air Force's lead
Just rename a mountain on Mars "Northkorea" and tell the Pentagon they want to send a laser-wielding robot there.
