* Posts by HFoster

297 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Nov 2007

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Be prepared... to give heathens a badge: UK Scouts open doors to unbelievers

HFoster

What about republicans

Scouts still swear allegiance to the Crown. That's problematic to me.

I don't see the Crown and the nation as one. You can serve your nation without serving the Crown, and vice-versa.

Boffins want toilets to become POWER PLANTS

HFoster
Coat

Re: Capacitors

Oh...

Well, then.

HFoster

Capacitors

It's been a while since I've dealt with them, but I'm pretty sure the dielectric in a capacitor can determine how quickly it discharges. If I remember correctly, USB memory sticks are powered by slow discharging capacitors.

Young model ruthlessly fingers upskirt iPad petshop pervert

HFoster

Re: Gotta love techies

CCTV isn't purposed specifically for sexual exploitation. Upskirt videos are purposed as pornography, and produced without permission of the subject. I don't see how you're making this logical disconnect.

HFoster
Flame

Gotta love techies

Completely ignoring the abuse/exploitation of women's bodies angle to discuss the inadequacies of the perp's "skills" as a voyeur.

US insurer punts 'bestiality' to wide-eyed kiddies, gasp 'mums'

HFoster

Where's Max Branning?

What happened to the GEICO Gecko, voiced by Jake Wood (known to British soap fans as Max Branning off EastEnders)?

One Million Moms should chill out. It's a pig that can drive, use a mobile phone, and would rather play Fruit ninja than make out with a woman.

Google pulls 'racist' Make Me Asian app

HFoster

Re: More PC over-reaction

I think it's both. Making a cheap joke of another ethnicity is tasteless and bigoted. Doing so with the social power and privilege of whiteness behind you is racist, as it makes it an extension of years of institutionalised oppression.

Apple rubbishes rumours of iPhone for the masses

HFoster

I'm no expert, but...

I'm pretty sure market share is at least a small factor in becoming the market leader.

Japanese fanboi builds FrankenPhone from 'bits of iPhone 5'

HFoster

Re: Any phone manufacturers with the headphone slot at the bottom?

The galaxy Nexus has the headphone jack at the bottom.

Still, let's wait and see what Apple actually produce.

Male, female Chinese 'nauts prep for trip to Heaven and back

HFoster
Trollface

Space docking...

Yeah, my depraved mind went there.

Does Britain really need a space port?

HFoster

Re: Ken MacLeod's wet dream

Not as far as I know. Laser launchers rely on powerful lasers (which exist), high density steam propulsion (which exists, and Britain pioneered, albeit differently), and super-light, yet super strong materials to build the vehicle with (some exist already).

It's a more tractable problem than the space elevator, IMO.

HFoster

Ken MacLeod's wet dream

Use Alexandra Palace as a London terminal, reanimate the defunct ship building industry in western Scotland and Ireland as a manufacturing heartland for the space industry, and somebody start working on laser launchers, stat!

Google's 7in tablet stalled for last-minute tweaks

HFoster
Thumb Up

Nice

I just got on the Nexus train this year with my purchase of the Galaxy Nexus. I'm probably due for a tablet upgrade (my first generation Galaxy Tab is still going strong, but ICS seems to be a myth where it's concerned), so a Nexus class tablet sounds brilliant. And it'll cost (hopefully) a lot less than my Galaxy Tab did brand new and unlocked.

Crooks sell skint fanbois potatoes instead of iPhones

HFoster
Facepalm

I bet

I bet these are the types of people who don't shop online for fear of fraud.

Utter, utter plonkers.

US dope farmer in Walmart rattlesnake chomp shock

HFoster

Re: Church of Mamon?

I think that's way, way, waaay deep in the South. In Uncle-Daddy and Aunty-Momma country.

HFoster
Pint

Re: You better stay away from Copperhead Road

"I had a feeling that would come back to bite me..."

*rimshot*

Headbanger plays Star Trek theme on floppy drives

HFoster

LULZ, free to good home!

MrSolidSnake745 does brilliant renditions of the Super Mario theme and This Is Halloween, and even Skrillex. I don't like Skrillex, so I consider his rendition a vast improvement.

Commodore outs Linux-running Amiga Mini desktop

HFoster
Thumb Up

Re: It's the hardware, stupid!

Your custom hardware description was borderline pornographic. In a good way.

By Jove do I want a 22nd* Century Amiga with real Big Thinking hardware design.

*because the Amiga was 21st Century in the 20th.

HFoster

Well that case gives me an idea...

Does anyone produce mini ITX PPC motherboards? Because sod buying the full unit when you could potentially build your own PPC-powered mini Amiga clone, whack AmigaOS4 on it and have fun.

Apple lands slide-to-unlock patent blow on Motorola

HFoster

All About Android

I saw something about this on All About Android (a TWiT Network weekly video podcast), and it sounded a lot more like Apple were out to patent the use of a sliding GUI element to transition from one state to another, not merely unlocking. Is this the case, or were they only granted an injunction based on slide to unlock?

I still believe there are far too many lawyers involved in the tech industry, making it an utter abomination for engineers everywhere.

Nude lady recreates Star Wars tauntaun scene in dead horse

HFoster

Eh?

I could understand if it had been a matter of survival, like the Taun Taun scene in Empire, but just for a modelling portfolio? Could've mocked it up with a rug and some theatrical goo.

Shock movie upset - Daniel Craig still James Bond 007

HFoster

@me n u

You've never read any of the books, have you? Dalton and Craig hit closer to the spot with the brutal, heartless and sometimes vengeful aspects of the character. I grew up with Moore, and enjoyed those films, but they aged terribly and marked Bond as high camp. I like that this incarnation of the franchise tends more towards story and character development than the old, "we're-stuck-for-an-idea-so-we'll-change-location-to-Jamaica-for-no-good-reason," approach.

Women's gaydar (for men) improves when ovulating

HFoster
Meh

title

Everyone's on a sliding-scale continuum of sexuality, with the minority of the species at the hard extremes. And it doesn't matter, except to people who feel threatened by homosexual activity.

So why study whether or not women can spot gay men from photographs, and when this phenomenon is most prominent?

HFoster
Flame

Bleedin' Psychologists...

This is a pretty fucking irrelevant study. If they'd done the same with Jews there'd be uproar, but gay men are apparently fair game still.

Apple pilfers rips off student's rejected iPhone app

HFoster

The smart thing to have done

I think maybe the smart thing to have done at Apple would have been to offer him a job on the spot and brought him into the fold sharpish. Then, whatever the origins of iOS5's Wi-Fi Sync, they wouldn't have another shit-stain against them from Hughs being pissed, and they could boast that when they see talent, they try to get them into the fold to bring fresh blood, etc, etc to Apple.

It would save a lot of hassle, IMO.

Germans completely humourless: Official

HFoster

Hmm, I live in Germany

I'll tell you what, when I'm out with Germans, pissing, shitting, farting and fucking are *just* as key to their humour as mine (I'm English).

As with any nation, some people are dour cunts who seem to think smiling sincerely will somehow put a crack in their face, and others are lively, and full of wit and conviviality.

That said, I live in Munich. Tight arsed bastard Central.

'Dodgy Android apps are breaking our phones' - Motorola

HFoster
Thumb Down

70% of returns

70% of smartphone returns are due to users not being clever enough to remove the app that's eating battery and CPU, and support not having the wherewithall to suggest it.

Planet with British weather found 20 light years away

HFoster

BNP?

Never mind the BNP - there are plenty of other crazies to worry about: Xenophobic religious and political groups; their xenophilic counterparts; opportunists who'd probably befriend them long enough to rip them off, screw them over and probably start a fight we couldn't win...

Aliens are probably better off staying away and switching to tight-band communication. We're far too mental/dangerous to be let out of our box.

Bin Laden's porn stash: Too good to be true?

HFoster

Mrs bin Laden

I'm pretty sure I heard something about ObL having a teenaged wife? Like, the kind of young where, had they married in the EU or USA, it would be illegal.

But then, how much of that is true. He's been a decade-long lammist, he's not exactly gonna be on This Morning with Philip & Fern (which makes it easy to make up bollocks about him).

Elite coder readies £15 programming gadget for schools

HFoster

29 here

Admittedly, I was late to the party, so I had Frontier Elite II on the Amiga. Oh, the homework that never got done due to that game...

I reckon Raspberry Pi should look into getting backing from a media organ, possibly the BBC, like Acorn back in the 80s.

Watchdog sniffs Rihanna's 'gently thrusting buttocks'

HFoster

Pah!

If it offends you, turn the fucking telly off. Fucking drones.

The best sci-fi film never made: Also-rans take a bow

HFoster

Stallone movie

There was already that ghastly Sylvester Stallone vehicle. Maybe it should be done properly though...

HFoster

I wish I'd been paying attention

It's a damn shame Ken MacLeod hasn't gotten a look in here. His Fall revolution series and Engines of Light series are amazing reads. Also, his space opera "Newton's Wake" is one of the finest examples of the genre I have ever read.

HTC Desire S Android smartphone

HFoster

Yes

Yes, the battery can be changed. It slides out the bottom, over the SIM and microSD slots.

HFoster
Thumb Up

Had mine nearly a week

Gotta say, it's significantly faster and smoother than my Hero, which ran Cyanogenmod 6. I'm digging the skinnable GUI, and very pleased with how fast it is as an internet access point (still a bit rubbish with some Web2.0 sites, but I think that's a mobile infrastructure issue, rather than the actual handset).

I think Google have hidden a little parlor trick in Android 2.3 which forces recovery of apps and wallpapers from your previous device. I don't know how it updated phone to phone, rather than updating with the stuff from my Galaxy Tab (maybe some kind of flag differentiating phones from tablets/other devices?), but I am impressed, if a little concerned at the potential for abuse.

All in all, money well spent.

Also, mine (bought SIM-less from Amazon) came with an 8GB microSD in the slot. I switched it out for 16GB, but if your network of choice skimps, microSD isn't so expensive anymore, I guess...

HFoster

Soon come

I pre-ordered one a few weeks ago. Amazone wrote to me yesterday to let me know my phone will be with me by Monday. Shame I won't be home to collect it! Hope I get back to my place in time to get to the DHL pickup!

If anyone opts to buy this phone from Amazon, they recommend a 16GB microSD card ("users who bought this..." blah blah). I bit, because, well, I had a few quid burning a hole in my pocket.

Calling all readers: Want some new icons?

HFoster

Kettle of fuckery

As suggested by Sarah Bee and seconded by me on the story of the Asian sex-orcist story from last year.

NASA funds commercial Shuttle-replacement spaceships

HFoster
FAIL

And...

Still no SSTO spaceplanes.

Blighty's official Space Agency starts up on 1 April

HFoster

And...

This arse-about-face attitude differs from modern British politics how, exactly?

HFoster

NASA's link

NASA's link to the erstwhile BNSC now directs to what appears to be the homepage of UKSA: http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency

Teens who listen to music a lot are at high risk of depression

HFoster

Oh, give it a rest!

A load of middle class toss, if you ask me. Classical music makes you smarter, more mentally healthy... Please! Don't get me wrong, it has its artistic merits, but I feel that the arguments that listening to classical music makes you somehow a better person is nothing more than divisive, classist, elitist hot air.

Lindsay Lohan ditches her surname

HFoster
Pint

Mmmm... Recursion...

Please enjoy this beer on me.

HFoster

LINDSAY

Let go INto DeScent for later ground AcquirY

Samsung intros 'skinnier than iPad 2' tablets

HFoster

Maybe

But that's what the good people at XDA, et al, are for :-)

Interwebs stunned by musical atrocity

HFoster

Thing is...

Every generation says that, but the fact of the matter is, we're all prone to rose tinting our youth. My mum often bangs on about songs from her day having good lyrics. I pointed out Toots & The Maytals "Bam Bam". Conversation over.

I know for a fact that, in among all the screw-faced Jungle I listened to as a teen, was more than a few cheesily bad songs.

Asus Eee Pad Slider

HFoster
Pint

As an Android Fanboi, I'd like to be the first to

Buy you a beer. You make excellent points all around.

It's a shame mobile Linux hasn't fared better in the marketplace. However, you've re-fired my interest in Linuxing things that didn't come Linuxed out of the box.

That's another beer for you!

HFoster

Oh dear, I think I've turned into an actual Android Fanboi

I don't give a proverbial about the price, I just want one. Actually, two.

Mind you, if you can root it and either replace Android with the OS of your choosing (some work may be required), or dual boot boot it, the cat will have to make a new noise, as this will be its meow!

iDect iHome Android phone

HFoster
WTF?

I...

I like Android. A lot. I just can't see the benefit in a smart housephone.

I'm either missing something, or this is a crackbaby of an idea.

Dim Brits think TARDIS IS REAL

HFoster

title

I just saw a tweet from Channel 4 News reporting that the state of Oregon had issued a warning to citizens regarding the possibility of a tsunami.

They had to mention that Oregon was in the USA. I can't think of there being another Oregon (just checked Wikipedia, and while there are several Oregons, there is only one state named Oregon. All the other Oregons are towns in various other states).

I need a drink.

Facebook to share home addresses, phone numbers

HFoster

Word.

When I joined Facebook a couple years ago, one of my first thoughts was, "who the FUCK would put their home address and phone number on a social network?"

I didn't realise the answer would be "millions of people worldwide."

You can't blame Zuckerberg for this one. This is straight up dumb-fuckery.

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