Posts by steogede

Silenced Pistol?

What's the point in using a real gun if you don't get the noise. Might as well have used a BB gun - would have been safer.

@owaing

>> I'm not sure about the detail of Swedish legislation, but I'm fairly sure that all couples would be entitled to fertility treatment equally now.

>> The thing being that a gay male couple has plenty of sperm of their own, but nowhere to gestate it. I doubt they provide you with a free surrogate mother as "infertility treatment", but I could be wrong.

I doubt it too. However the great thing about a sperm 'shortage' is that it allows men to leverage the value of their sperm. They could arrange a deal where both women receive fertility treatment and each couple receive a child - this put lesbian couples at an advantage as they (generally) have two uteri. Obviously the women lose out to some degree, as gestating and birthing a child is a lot more work than a wank. On the other hand both women receive the experience of pregnancy and child birth and beside both contributions are equal in the sense that without either there is no child. I'm not sure what would happen in the case of miscarriage which ofcourse happens frequently (though perhaps less so in IVF of healthy fertile women).

Re: Sounds like an interesting relationship

>> But doesn't the phrase "regular ejections of matter every few decades ... caused by occasional interactions between the star and a longtime companion." just cry out for substitution of the word 'ejaculations' instead of 'ejections', and similar throughout?

I think they were left unchanged on purpose, as an 'exercise for the reader'. Heck most of us probably made the substitution without even thinking about it.

Glenfiddich?

>> Now if they had said 50yr Laphroig, and the price was $1000.00 (USD), I might, consider it.

Indeed. If I had £10K to spend on a single scotch purchase, Glenfiddich isn't the distillery that would spring to mind.

BTW I think you'd have difficulty getting a 50yo Laphroaig (particularly for $1000). The oldest Scotch they have bottled was 40yo and the current market would set you back about $3000.

Too right

>> "you can have a guaranteed 2mbps connection with no fair usage crap."

>>

>> There are ISPs that will do that, even outside of LLU areas. You probably won't have heard of

>> them, and you almost certainly won't like the price.

A 2mbps connection with a contention ration of 1:1 is going cost a fortune. Even then that only guarantees a 2mbps connection to the ISP, so if the everyone else is downloading pron at the same time, you probably aren't going to be much better off.

Complaining about the speed of your Internet connection because you live out in the sticks, or you can't get high speeds at peak times is like complaining that traffic is always busy in London - or that you always get stuck in jams on the M25 at 6pm on a Friday.

Also the whole 'up to' thing - clearly shouldn't be allowed. Until the day when ISPs are forced to survey their network speeds and provide useful metrics (and consumers are wise enough to understand them, i.e. cold day in hell), we are going to be stuck with 'up to'. To be honest I think that the 'up to', be much better if (say) PC World were not allowed to say 'up to 50% off all of our laptops' and were instead required to say 'an average reduction of 2.5% across our entire range of laptops'.

Re: what get's me

>> but you can use a laptop hands-free while sitting down, with this 'tablet' you'd have to hold it at all times or lie down/slouch and rest it on your legs...

With the amount of heat modern laptops pump out, you can't really use a laptop on top of you lap these days. . I imagine you could hold it like a book, if it is only 10".

What I want to know is, will it have ARM or Intel processor? Perhaps they will go for both - makes about as much sense as the MacBook Pro's with to graphics chips.

Re: Can anyone help me out hear

I don't really want to turn this thread into a help forum, but I can't resist posting a reply.

IP address which start 169.254 are link-local addresses. They aren't assigned by your neighbours home router or ISP, they are chosen by his PC. It decides on a number, broadcasts it on the local network to see if any one else is already using it, if not it sticks with that address. Typically it will do this if it can't see a DHCP server and it is configured to use an 'automatic address'.

If your laptop connects through his router fine and there is no problem at BT's end. The problem either lies with his PC or his router configuration (though this is less likely). Perhaps he typed his wifi key wrong and it can't connect to the router to get a DHCP response (typing a wifi key wrong won't always report an error). Perhaps his router's security settings are setup to only allow access from certain MAC addresses and his isn't recognised (for whatever reason). Perhaps he is running Windows (particulary Vista) and his winsock catalog or TCP stack has been corrupted (http://forums.techguy.org/networking/805788-ip-keeps-defaulting-169-address.html). Or ofcourse, it could be a hardware fault, probably with the PC's network interface rather than the router. There are numerous points of failure on a home LAN - I wouldn't put my money on any single one of the above, as they are all fairly likely - you might even be lucky and have multiple problems -one thing that can be ruled out is BT's side of the network, if you truly managed to connect via his router.

With regards to O2, it seems the problem passed my iPhone by.

Re: Genius

Just sounds like they are closing a tax loophole if you ask me.

>> Errr..... wont it just happen less as a result? Net effect kick out foreigners who actually contribute whilst still allowing underpaid non tax paying fruitpickers who could quite happily be source from our own 'unwilling to work' benefits claimants.

You think we need more non-doms earning £100,000s and fewer seasonal minimum wage fruit pickers?

Similar Low Standards

>> A spokesman for BT told the paper: “This is not about customer service, as the service in our operations around the globe is of very similar standards."

Yep, it's shit everywhere, no matter which continent they are on.

It's not even August

I thought she was going to wait until Fall?

RE: @Slow witted wanker doser

I find grep and awk very useful on my iPhone.

@Adnim

>> Anyone who has tried running GTA IV on anything less than a 2.4Ghz Quad core, 4Mb ram, HD4870/GTX 285 system will understand why I find this funny.

I have tried playing GTA IV on a machine with a massively lower spec than that, an XBox 360; apart from the RAM of course - I cant remember the last time I saw a computer with only 512 KB RAM (i.e. 4 Megabits), even my A500 came (upgraded) with 1 MB. I don't see why the iPhone couldn't support a 'GTA' game, if the Nintendo DS can, except ofcourse they would need Apple approval (then again, doesn't app. store in OS3 have an age classification system). There are plenty of GTA clones out.

Ofcourse, the video is 100% fake. Even without watching it I can say that with absolute certainty.

@adam 52

>> "Metal cutlery that is not spoon or fork must not be carried outdoors"

>>

>> The legislation also bans pointed objects, so you can't have a fork either.

>>

I think they have to be 'sharply pointed' not just pointed, so knitting needles and pens would be alright, pencils probably would. They don't have to be metal as the OP said, a plastic knife isn't sharply pointed, but it is a bladed article. Also, it doesn't need to be 'outdoors', just a public place, (i.e. anywhere the public have access to), including most offices - you best make sure you have a good reason for those safety scissors in your desk draw.

>> "Banning online knife sales, and presumably the sale of all sharp implements"

>>

>> Again the legislation bans blades, not sharp objects. So it's illegal to carry a blunt blade, even plastic safety scissors (that's the CPS view, confirmed by the courts) unless it's a screwdriver (the courts have exempted screwdrivers).

I didn't realise that screwdrivers were exempted, they make pretty good stabbing weapons (little resistance after penetration). Certainly if they were adapted for use as a weapon i.e. sharpened, that would make them an offensive weapon - which a knife isn't necessarily.

If it were classified today...

It would be a U (or maybe a PG for the fake blood), unless it were a computer game - then it would be an 18 (or more likely refused) as it contains a scene with exposed breasts.

Re: I'm confused

>> So when they say that Win7 will be a 'full pack for the price of an upgrade' do they actually mean

>> a _full_ retail box edition of the software (sans an easily getable internet browser) for the

>> normal price of an upgrade retail box? So if I've already got an XP license then I can dual boot

>> Win7 and XP because I've got two licenses if I buy the "EU upgrade"?

>>

>> Or is there some Redmond flim-flam going on and it'll be a restricted license in some way?

Exactly they biggest difference between an 'Upgrade' and 'Full Retail' is the licence. I suspect this will be an upgrade licensed version, which can only be installed from scratch. Not that it makes much difference, I don't think anyone in their right mind would attempt to upgrade an installed Windows system - surely better to do a fresh install.

RE: @WhatWasThat

>> Given that the human body only contains one liver, I doubt the donor will be doing anything bar decomposing!

Yes you only have one liver, but you don't need a whole one - and I believe they generally they will regenerate. It is possible be be a living donor by giving someone some of yours. Take a look at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/20/live_liver_transplants/

Embarrassing

>> Even the RIAA seemed a bit embarrassed at the size of the settlement - its potted statement welcomed the verdict but said it had always wished to settle the case for less cash, and was still willing to do so.

This just goes to show how draconian the laws (which the RIAA lobied for) are. They *should* be embarrased of themselves, as should the US Government. No wonder people voted for the Pirate Party in Sweden. If it were election time in the US, a Pirate Party could get enourmous support off the back of a news story like this.

@David Webb also

>> It will only be effective if it is also illegal to purchase said games for under-age people. Its currently illegal to purchase booze/fags for under age drinkers/smokers, but its not uncommon for a 40 year old mother to buy GTA for her 12 year old kid.

No it isn't, it is illegal to buy booze and fags *on behalf* of someone under 18, it isn't illegal to buy booze *for* someone under 18 (not sure about fags). If I, as a person over 18, buy some booze and then choose to share or give it to someone under 18, then no offence has been committed except possible if they are under 5 (the legal drinking age in the UK) or under 18* and on licensed premises (16 for beer, wine or cider with a meal).

I quite like the keyboard

If it works anything like the blackberry pearl 8100 keyboard. The great thing about the query half keyboard is that is works very well with predictive text (for english at least), I find you get much fewer wrong suggestions than you do with a traditional numeric keypad - probably as much to do with the fact that it is a qwerty layout as it is due to the fact that there are fewer letters per key.

Re: Searching for emails

>> don't know whether it's because i'm using IMAP, but spotlight only seems to search email titles. Pretty lame, if you ask me.

Have you set it download emails or just headers, if it is the former and it is still only searching headers, then that is a bit lame.

>> Plus, some sort of preview in the search results is necessary, as otherwise checking each result by opening and closing Maill every time is a right ballsache.

I can see how that would be a problem.

With regard to cut-n-paste, I really don't see the point without a global clipboard to allow cut-n-paste between applications. I don't think I will be upgrading anytime soon.

What is the point.

Going to all this work to raise less than 2p per day, per household. Is the government really that cash strapped (well, okay, I suppose they are).

I would mind so much if it wasn't just 2 m/bit adsl - I'd be quite happy to pay for something that had a little future proof ability. As Lan ser said, £50 a year investment for 10gbps - heck for 10mbps - sounds much better.

Yes it is a stealth tax, but only because you wouldn't notice it if they weren't shouting about it at the top of their voices.

Re: To make this illegal...

>> ... will simply require any politician to point out that child porn is being untraceably distributed via VPN

Or say that it is being used by terrorists - afterall it is isn't a big leap to go from calling them 'pirates', to calling them 'terrorists'.

Re:I'm everything a lot of Reg commenters hate it would seem hate

>> I earn a triple figure salary.

You earn hundreds of pounds a year?

RE: Update V Delete, @Havin_it

>> Better to update surely? If delete, then the very next update might put the number back as a new one.

Even better it could retain a unique one-way hash of the number (not entirely sure if that is technically possible, but it should be) and delete the actual number itself.

I little more complex but hardly 4 weeks worth of work, 4ms perhaps.

@Waggers

That is just what I was about to say. All she said is that the two classes are equal. Although, re-reading it it does say that a teacher said something(?) bad about a class - and the cover support worker likened the second class to the first - so by inference, she did say something bad about the class. Still, hardly a sackable offence.

The best bit, IMHO is that she is being accused of "potentially bringing the school into disrepute" - when clearly the only people bringing the school into disrepute are those who suspended her - thus turning this into a newsworthy* event.

*debatable

Give it a few years

And the Chinese Government will be coming to us for advice.

idiot.

>> If you know you have had your DNA taken and it is on a database then you will think twice about committing burglary for a living."

Yep, I'm sure that is exactly what through the typical smack addicted burglar's head just before putting someone's window in.

Having said that I, I do know one person who had their house broken into and the culprit was found and successfully prosecuted, with the help of DNA evidence. But that was a pretty unusual case as the police treated it fairly seriously, because every single thing in the house was stolen. Usually they wouldn't deem a burglary to be worth the expense of dusting for prints.

Re: Man Utd??

"Manchester United’s apparently the most favoured footie team among the people that don't actually live anywhere near the UK, let alone Manchester."

there, fixed that for you...

Transubstantiation

> The main objection to the game is that "the player controlled the destiny of Lord Hanuman while in reality the believers put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities". Accordingly, "controlling and manipulating Lord Hanuman with a joystick/button/keyboard/mouse" - including wielding the deity's "Mighty Mace" to inflict righteous damage on adversaries - constitutes "denigration".

That's interesting, here was I thinking that the game involved controlling a computer game character *based on* Lord Hanuman - when in reality players are actually controlling the real Lord Hanuman. Wow, the PS2 is even more powerful than I can have imagined.

So if the god in the game told players what to do and they blindly followed it, that would be alright?

Interesting choice of word

"Theoretical".

>> That figure represents about $9 million in theoretical sales — emphasis on the theoretical.

Is that theoretical in the sense the theory or evolution? the theory gravity? or is it theoretical in the sense that Star Trek style teleporters are theoretically possible? Fantasy is probably the word that I would use.

Perhaps a better measure would be the amount in theoretical fines - I'm not sure what the standard fine is for a single game download - but in the US a single music track can set you back anywhere from $750 to $150,000. That works out at a theoretical fine of between $135 million and $27 billion.

What I always find odd is that the fines in the US are supposed to reflect the fact that the person didn't only download the file, but they also facilitated othera in downloading the file. Ofcourse on a P2P system such as bit torrent some people will mostly seed, and others will mostly leech - in this system input = output + overheads, so on average (if you ignore the overheads) each person who downloads file is only effectively only sharing it with one other - seeders obviously share more copies of the file and leachers effectively prevent the file from being shared (perhaps that is what the RIAA should do, pay people to leech files).

>> The game maker claims in the Bloomberg piece that the pirated version of Sims 3 is a "buggy, pre-final build" with half the world missing.

So pretty much the same as any other release from EA?

re: Summer Kiss of Death

Exactly what I was going to say - hopefully she won't have the same effect on The Unit as that was only really a bit part (not true of course, we all know it is Fox's fault, not Summer's). Although is a bit of a vixen (sorry) so maybe she is to blame.

I can't believe Fox resurected Futurama for six measely episodes.

As for the comments about us knowing what happens next, that isn't entirely true. That is what happened in an "earlier future", it doesn't necessarily have to repeat itself in this timeline. Also, we don't know what happened in Sarah Connor's future - John probably jumped forward a good ten years.

Re: Do it backwards

>> For some time now I've been using pre-paid/freepost envelopes to send nice messages, gifts, or random junk to companies and organisations around the UK.

I frequently get annoyed by 'Domain Registry of America' letters (and other such letters), which are mocked up to look like an invoice. Presumably they hope that will land on the desk of some unknowing finance goon who'll just pay it thinking it is valid, even though it says, in tiny writing, "this is not an invoice". Invariably they will include an addressed, non-postage paid envelope.

I'm sure I can't be the only one who can't resist placing the return slip and a cheque sized piece of paper (with the wording "this is not a cheque" written on it) in the envelope and returning without a stamp - so that they have the choice of paying the postage and fine, or possibly missing out on a cheque.

My solution

If the bank can charge you £50 for going a couple of quid over your agreed overdraft (in the UK atleast), I don't see why the couple in question shouldn't be able to charge a 1 percent handling fee.

I can't decide whether they did the right thing or not. Personally I wouldn't be able to sleep at night but I don't agree with the statement that they are stealing from other customers. If the bank were to mistakenly make an unwise investment, are companies that they invest in stealing from the bank? This won't affect customers unless it is a very small bank, it will come out of any profit, which will first affect the share holders. It might mean that in future they will need to offer worse rates, but the customers can just go elsewhere for the most part - there aren't many banks (especially these days), but there are more than one.

BTW, I can't see that they would have been able to have withdrawn much of this as cash (notice that the amount taken is undisclosed).