Posts by Phil O'Sophical

Re: Great Britain

"The rest of the world is holding us back" is the rhetoric of the likes of Putin and Kim.

Really? I can't imagine either of them admitting anyone holds them back. It's not what I said, anyway.

If what you said were even half-way true, our economy would be overtaking that of the EU nations, rather than lagging behind. In reality, we have a brain-drain, and many research establishments are in dire financial straits directly because of brexit.

In reality it's only 18 months since Brexit, far too soon to see the actual effects of such a huge change. During that we've had a pandemic, an energy crisis due to Putin, and yet all the doomsday predictions haven't come true. Financial staff are actually moving to the UK, nuclear fusion companies are setting up here (staying on track for the article), etc.

I've never seen any country leave a major political grouping and be instantly successful, it usually takes 10-20 years to even catch up, so no surprises there. If you think leavers excepted anything else it just reinforces that fact that you don't really understand Brexit.

Re: Blown electronics ?

I have a Huawei USB-A charger that can deliver 9v to a phone that agrees via a handshake, this isn't a problem unique to USB-C

Re: Cool...

Some of us had an Amiga with the floppy drive clicking every couple of seconds.

So, does the emulator support Drive Music?

> "executive opinion survey".

Hmm, so a bit like those polls we get in El Reg from time to time?

Because they work from home as a video editor / CAD engineer / software repackager / audio engineer and need to shift hundreds of GBs of data daily?

So, pay for a business broadband service, like you would if you worked in an office.

Declaring your home as your office and then expecting to get a professional service for domestic prices is hardly reasonable.

Re: One day they will look at their daughters killed by the Moral Police...

Unfortunately the USA is rapidly moving from being a modern secular state to becoming a fundamentalist Christian theocracy.

How do you define the worth of someone who answers telephone calls and redirects them (serious question)?

Ultimately, it boils down to how much you have to pay to recruit enough staff able to do the job.

xkcd

https://xkcd.com/865

Re: Clueless users

British postal addresses are particularly variable and therefore difficult.

Postcode and house number is all you need, the rest is just redundant window dressing. Often better to ignore it anyway, people who live just across the parish or county boundary from a more desirable address often use the "wrong" town/county name because it sounds more upmarket.

Re: Doesn't make sense

Westray to Papa Westray?

Re: Way Back...

graphs out of the VAX system which were invaluable to some of the users.

Maps of Colossal Cave?

Re: I can understand...

Those selling junk that is insecure and unmaintained will not be in business for long.

Little in recent history suggests that is true. They'll just rebrand, hiding behind shell corporations, and continue to sell their tat directly via Alibaba and eBay.

Re: She was a good one

think about two words: President Boris

Or President Tony? President Harry (or Meghan?!)

Let's just stick with King Charles, please!

Re: Will this actually help ?

It's not just pay. If you have more experience than the job warrants they'll assume you're only doing it until you find a better one and then you'll leave. Few companies want employees like that.

Re: Archaic systems

In the UK, and possibly in other places, banks have a legal obligation to act on written instructions from their customers. In the past they had to deal with these scribbled on scrap paper, or perhaps on soiled napkins after a late night gambling and drinking session. Cheques were introduced as a way to make sure that written instructions were clear and legible. For as long as the legal obligation exists I'd expect some form of cheque-like documents to remain.

Re: Trussed Up

Start at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cheeses

Re: Remote development

I remember getting a demo of early Olivetti active badges in the late 1980s. Neat idea. Your login sessions followed you from room to room, and in the pre-cellphone era they were hooked up to the PABX and would route a call made to your number to the nearest phone.

There was an article in a French motoring magazine where they interviewed various gendarmerie officers, and few of them knew the exact rules. Most thought that it was a legal requirement, although you're quite correct that the law in France merely requires that the vehicle lights must operate correctly, and you can be fined if you cannot make them do so. It's a rather ambiguous rule.

Re: VBA macros, see icon

People opening random documents with no concern for their contents is what allows things to happen. In this case Office is just a tool, which can be [ab]used. It's the tool who opens the attachment that's the real problem.

Re: It is a very simple idea

To copy the live removable disc directly to another removable disc would require two separate removable drives, which clearly weren't available, probably for cost reasons.

Re: We come in peace ...

If the instructions we send are anything like those for flat-pack furniture I hate to think what the results would be like.

Re: Photocopier challange

the instructions on how to use the parking brake were on page 200!

A few years ago my wife got a new mobile phone. Not even what we'd now call a smartphone, although it could do email & basic browsing (remember WAP?) on its tiny screen.

She bought it primarily to be able to make phone calls, the instructions for doing that were on page 80 of the manual, after all the info about choosing ringtones, etc.

They certainly seem to enable plenty of steam venting from the ears.

Re: Masochism

You did not need a calculator or a ready reckoner (anyone remember those?)

I still have an old copy of Newnes "Everything Within" probably from the early 1930s. It has £sd ready-reckoner tables in the back. Fascinating reading in many ways, such as the chapters entitled "Careers for Boys" and "Careers for Girls"...