* Posts by Graham Dresch

93 publicly visible posts • joined 25 Jun 2007

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Which scientist should be on the new £50 note? El Reg weighs in – and you should vote, too

Graham Dresch

Eric Laithwaite

maglev, linear motor, and for investigating gyroscopes, against the wishes of the Royal Institution

Finally: Historic Eudora email code goes open source

Graham Dresch
Thumb Up

Error Messages

one of the Mac versions ( don't know which) had one of the most memorable error dialogs, when it could not connect to the SMTP server it popped up a box containg the useful message:

Can't do that, don't know why

Discworld fans stake claim to element 117

Graham Dresch

Scientists..

Alexander Borodin - Chemist ( and Composer )

GP records soon wide open again: Just walk into a ‘safe haven’

Graham Dresch
Big Brother

I am opposed to any sharing of my personal data by anybody for any purpose, unless I have given explicit consent.

Opt - out form get it now before somebody notices and has it removed

http://www.drvictoriamuir.co.uk/pdfs/Care%20data%20opt%20out%20form.pdf

LOHAN gets laughing gear round promotional mug

Graham Dresch
Pint

Beverage Containers

These people ( who i have absolutely no connection with ) do an excellent line in custom printed beer containers

http://www.festivalglass.co.uk/

Naked Aussie gets wedged in washing machine

Graham Dresch
Go

Playmobil - or it didn't happen

Long, long time since there was a Playmobil replay,

perfect for friday, unless the BOFH puts in a new year appearance...

Fraudster gets ten years after selling fake 'ionic charge' bomb detectors

Graham Dresch
WTF?

I can't believe...

...that nobody actually tested one !

Whatever else the Romans did for us, they provided this useful advice: Caveat Emptor

Microsoft unwraps sysadmin-friendly Office 365 for biz update

Graham Dresch
FAIL

The Preferred Business Model

One purchase, one license per user

No restriction on transferring licenses between users and machines

Users have total control over where documents are stored, no cloud required

NO SUBSCRIPTION

Are these concepts too difficult for MS to understand ?

Firm-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's tax dodge profit shift? Totally legit

Graham Dresch
WTF?

Why is this so difficult for governments to understand ?

High taxes lead to tax avoidance strategies. All of which are completely legal .the same way high rates of duty lead to increased smuggling.

The only viable long term solution is to cut corporation tax to a level which makes it not worth avoiding.

The big problem this raises for politicians, is that they cannot subsequently raise the tax because they are short of revenue to spend on some vanity project.

Lower taxes benefit everybody.

Ten... alien invasions

Graham Dresch
Facepalm

Just a few errors...

The Alien Invasion episode was Quatermass II, where the aliens descend in aerodynamic capsules and take over the population of a small village 6 miles from Carlisle ( actually Hemel Hempstead )

The only acceptable version of War of the Worlds was the 1953 version by George Pal, the 2005 remake had the wrong story, the wrong location and the wrong cast, I'm still waiting for somebody to film this true to the original book.

How you can describe any remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers magnificientis a huge fail, nothing comes close to the original Don Siegel version.

and some you missed, on the basis of actual invasion by aliens...

Village of the Damned

Plan 9 from Outer space

and... To Serve Man by Damon Knight ( Twiglet Zone 1962 )

'Woz' wants $100,000 for Mac 128K prototype

Graham Dresch

Signatures ?

All 128K and 512k Macs had the signatures inside the case.

Vote now for the WORST movie EVER

Graham Dresch

Clueless ?

How could you have missed this awful meaningless drivel ?

Microsoft de-cloaks Windows 8 push-button lifesaver

Graham Dresch
WTF?

Disk Failure recovery ?

I would like MS to explain how this works in the event of total disk failure on PCs supplied without install disks.

Boffins insert 3D objects into any old photo... realistically

Graham Dresch

Credit where it's due..

This technique was developed by artist David Brinnen in the DAZ 3D Bryce forums over a year ago.

Technique video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&v=aNRH9ttwH3w

Bryce Forum: ( may require registration to see the images)

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=150913&highlight=hdr+continum

El Reg in email address blunder

Graham Dresch
FAIL

Simon's Revenge

( BOFH episode 15 )

Booze giant's Facebook tie-up sparks ad concerns

Graham Dresch
Pint

Who appointed Alcohol Concern as Nanny ?

It's well past time that this self appointed 'charity'? was muzzled, they have no official status and seem to be the worst kind of interfering do - gooding organisation.

If they want to make policy, I suggest they provide candidates for the next general election.

Mines a pint, and Alcohol Concern can FOAD.

Greyhound spatters Nashville with semen

Graham Dresch
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Still no pictures

send somebody down to the Playmobil division to wake the operators up

( you could always borrow a cattle prod from the PFY ),

we are overdue for a Friday Reconstruction

MPs probe science behind bogus gov booze guidelines

Graham Dresch
Pint

Units are nonsense

“Those limits were really plucked out of the air. They were not based on any firm evidence at all. It was a sort of intelligent guess by a committee,”

Source:

Richard Smith, a member of the Royal College of Physicians working party that produced the guidelines.

Time to stop nannying and have another pint ( or six )

ESA to launch suborbital test spaceplane in 2013

Graham Dresch
Joke

Lifting Bodies ?

When do they plan to start work on Zero-X ?

Maximum fine raised to £2m for telcos that don't cough up network data

Graham Dresch

Mobiles

Can we now expect accurate and detailed information about every base station ?

Apple 'spaceship' awaits landing clearance in Cupertino

Graham Dresch
Thumb Up

The correct way to design a building

Adequate car parking spaces for all the staff, should be a mandatory requirement for all planning applications is the UK

Gadgets give granny disease to kids

Graham Dresch
WTF?

Protests in the street ?

Are we about to see street protests between placard - waving supporters of The Arthritis Defense League and the European League Against Rheumatism

Yuri Gagarin in triumphant return to London

Graham Dresch
Thumb Up

Superb

Much better than the recent crop of crap "statues" that have appeared in London.

Can we have this as a permanent fixture on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square

Intel: 'PC makers took the light out of Light Peak'

Graham Dresch
Happy

I want one

as a low cost, faster alternative to optical FC

Latvian film fan pops cap in loud popcorn eater

Graham Dresch
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Terpsichorean Muse

The owner of the Cheese shop go shot as well.

DEC: The best of systems, the worst of systems

Graham Dresch

11/70 ?

The PDP-11/60 may have been pants, I never saw one, but the PDP-11/70 was absolutely superb.

What I remember of the DG Nova was the moulding around the front panel which made it look like it belonged in Space 1999, and the awful Dasher terminal that was the console.

Apple tightens screws on hardware hackers

Graham Dresch

Not only Apple...

IBM exclusively used TORX with a centre pin on many of their products, tools for these were also initially hard to obtain.

Apple Mac App Store to go live January

Graham Dresch
Thumb Down

Bad idea

I consider the whole App Store concept to be a really bad idea.

The only kind of apps that I want :

have no restriction where they are sold, and who sells them ( or provides them free )

do not require approval of any kind,

can be installed from physical media without any kind of DRM.

do not require a network connection and run entirely on a local machine.

Microsoft unveils 'do not track' option for IE9

Graham Dresch
FAIL

Still the wrong approach

This is still completely the wrong approach, any form of tracking must be on an explicit opt - in basis only.

Protecting privacy is far more important than advertiser's desire for profit, if they consider this data so desirable, I expect to be paid for it.

Punishment for unauthorised tracking should be swift and unforgettable, appointing the PFY as consultant on sanctions should be the first step.

BOFH: Pain fear games

Graham Dresch
Pint

Clearly time for a new Boss...

this one is far too aware of what has been happening, and WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE !

Hacker unshackles Kinect from Xbox

Graham Dresch

So why do people think this product is something new ?

http://www.i4u.com/9526/gomonkey-minority-report-user-interface-without-gloves

Invented already in 2006 by Gomonkey and Sun

PARIS HAS LANDED!!! Epic supra-atmos flight ends

Graham Dresch
Thumb Up

Reconstruction

Whatever the outcome, we deserve a full Playmobil reconstruction.

Cambridge chap's todger topiary gets the chop

Graham Dresch

Idiots

Time to plant a nice crop of mushrooms instead, may I suggest Phallus Impudicans ?

WD Livewire four-port powerline Ethernet adaptor

Graham Dresch

75% too high

The score of 75% for these is way too high, no more than 5% because of Windows -only setup software.

@AC 12:39 it is possible to couple signals between two separate networks using purely magnetic coupling, no wireless telegraphy involved.

Ethernet storage protocol choices

Graham Dresch

FC all the way

Ethernet - based and iSCSI still are nowhere near FC in terms of performance. For high - end storage, cost is not the most important factor.

BT Tower to open for first time in 29 years

Graham Dresch
WTF?

No problem in Berlin...

...visiting the local equivalent, the Fernsehturm.

Turn up without needing to make an appointment, pay the entry fee, 9.5 euros, submit to a cursory bag search.

Why can't we do this in the UK ?

UK.gov pledges licence fee 'rethink' over heavy catch-up use

Graham Dresch

Rethink ?

The only 'Rethink' required is to accept that the licence fee can no longer be justified.

The argument that 'we have some of the best tv and broadcasting in the world' is utter nonsense,

The licence fee has been revealed as just another tax which is clearly being rejected by an increasing number of people.

The rules on licences cannot be any clearer: if you watch online, you do not need a licence.

what is unclear about that ?

Cybercrime police's budget slashed by 30%

Graham Dresch
FAIL

Failed to Prosecute BT

This self - serving unit should be closed as 'not fit for purpose'.

Their first action should have been to descend on the parts of BT responsible for the Phorm outrage, arrest everybody concerned and prosecute the lot.

Approaching space object 'artificial, not asteroid' says NASA

Graham Dresch

Miscalculation of scale

See The Hitchhikers Guide...

The G'Gugvuntt and Vl'hurg fleet, due to a terrible miscalculation of scale ended up being swallowed by a small dog.

Otherwise it's probably Rama

EC plans stronger data protection and copyright laws

Graham Dresch

First on the list

First on the list of actions:

Scrapping all country specific restrictions on subscription TV, including satellite as well as online.

BOFH: Forgive and forget

Graham Dresch
Pint

He's Baaaack

Somehow I always knew the BOFH wasn't dead

Brussels to rule on cheap pub football sat decoders

Graham Dresch
Stop

Single Market

There is no case to answer, the single market must apply equally to all goods and services, football 'rights holders' are getting as greedy and obnoxious as the content industries

Pinhead Mac Trojan sticks it to fanbois

Graham Dresch
WTF?

They still don't

Macs still don't get self installing viruses or any other kind of nastiness that is so common on Windows.

The only way to get malware of any kind on a Mac is to manually install it, and enter your Admin password.

I have no sympathy for idiot users, but Macs are still inherently secure.

Volcanic Eyjafjallajökull dirt-splurt space snap

Graham Dresch
Coat

Now I need a new password

Curse you all for publicising this volcano, i thought "Eyjafjallaokull" was such a good password

Weak passwords stored in browsers make hackers happy

Graham Dresch
FAIL

Idiots

Quote: "one in ten used a pet's name. The name of a pet might easily be obtained by browsing on an intended target's social networking profile."

If anybody actually needs a reason to completely avoid the disaster - waiting - to - happen that is social networking, this is it.

Brown's website as mad as he is

Graham Dresch

When

So when is Linda Lovelace Day ?

UK.gov invests £4.3m in cyber-scam crackdown team

Graham Dresch
Unhappy

Another...

Another pointless, headline - grabbing waste of money initiative by Brown and his gang of idiots

Climategate witchhunt fingers scientist

Graham Dresch

Denier ?

I would rather be called a denier than a collaborator

Bloated Office 2010 kicks dirt in face of old computers

Graham Dresch
WTF?

Pointless

Every version since Office 2000 has been a pointless, expensive, resource - hogging disaster. There is nothing in the new version that makes it even a desirable upgrade, certainly not a 'must have'

Is Mandy right to cut science funding?

Graham Dresch

What to cut

Lets double science funding and cut Mandelson ( into hundreds of pieces )

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