* Posts by Chris Miller

3547 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Apr 2007

Google Maps gets hit with racist White House listing

Chris Miller
Childcatcher

That reminds me

Long, long ago, (in a galaxy far, far away) I was setting up the first userid/password system for our mainframe. Certain religious elements were concerned that people might use 'naughty' words as their password, even though (in principle) only the individual user would ever know what their password was. I undertook that if they gave me a list of all the words they thought objectionable, I could arrange to screen them out. Never heard any more about it.

Are we looking at the first domain name meme? Neigh

Chris Miller

I'm off to register

trojan.horse

Oracle releases antidote for VENOM vulnerability

Chris Miller

The accompanying pic is of a Burmese Python, so not VENOMous (though probably an agile coder). Lifted from WikiP

You can't put a price on LOVE, says Apple after court's Samsung payout slash

Chris Miller

Another win for the blood-sucking lawyers. Yay!

So why the hell do we bail banks out?

Chris Miller

Re: Why not nationalise all the banks?

There are four ways in which you can spend money.

You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money.

Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the present, but I’m very careful about the cost.

Then, I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch!

Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government. And that’s close to 40% of our national income.

Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

Chris Miller

@Tim

A commercial fixed rate mortgage has to include horrendous penalties for early repayment. Otherwise it becomes a one-way bet - if rates rise, the borrower is quids in; if rates fall, they can just refinance. I don't know how the FNMA and FHLMC manage this problem.

[I suspect you're completely aware of this, Tim - I just thought I should spell it out.]

Chris Miller
Headmaster

Re: gosh

I think you man "systemically".

(Blame autocorrect - I always do.)

Chris Miller

Pensions holidays

A lot of companies were required by HMRC to take pensions holidays, because the taxman thought that businesses were reducing their tax liability by overpaying into the funds.

Chris Miller

@Tim

Could a case not be made that they were trading while insolvent, and that the directors should therefore have unlimited liability for the debts? A friend of mine resigned as Investment Director of a UK insurance company for precisely this reason (it was taken over as a 'rescue', and I don't think the facts ever came out).

I'm not going to join in the cry for hanging and flogging, popularly attractive though it may be, but I think there's too much sheltering behind limited liability. Directors of large companies are very well paid and should assume their share of the risks, just as directors of small businesses have to (by necessity).

What sticks in the craw is the Fred Goodwins driving perfectly good businesses into the ground and then walking away with their pensions and (historic) multi-million pound 'bonuses' intact. If they had the bailiffs around repossessing their Bentleys and their agreeable chateaux in Provence, it might focus a few minds.

Turkey president: Nuts to 4G networks, we're cutting straight to 5G

Chris Miller

I see your 5G

and raise you 6G.

Adjustments will be needed to manage the Macs piling up in your business

Chris Miller

Who pays for this support?

If I'm running a shop that has Windows on the desktop, and a department (usually Marketing, for some inexplicable reason) comes to me and insists they must have Macs (or Linux), my first thought is not a technical one, but a financial one. If I'm going to support them, I'm going to have to replicate many of the costs involved. If I don't support them ("they're Macs, we can support them ourselves"), who's going to be in the line of the shitstorm when something (inevitably, it will be something 'business critical') goes wrong?

My solution - sure you can have a Mac (or a Nexus), but you're connecting to the corporate network through a VPN and running a virtual desktop (which will look and feel an awful lot like Windows). Have a nice day.

Hacker 3D prints device that can crack a combo lock in 30 seconds

Chris Miller

Re: Analog Security

For most people, a lock (or other security system) that is a deterrent is sufficient security - a casual attacker will move on to an easier target. If you own a Picasso, stronger measures may be advisable.

CSI GALAXY: Cause of death = STRANGULATION

Chris Miller

@Grikath

A typical lifespan for a human red blood cell is around 30 days. If you lost the ability to produce new cells, that would be your lifespan too.

Back on topic, if a galaxy stops producing new stars, it will lose all its bright stars within a few million years and all its main sequence stars within a few billion. After that it will be left with only red dwarfs and be a dim ember of its former self.

Chris Miller

Re: 'Ere - he says he's not dead!

If your body stopped being able to produce new cells, you wouldn't die instantly, but you wouldn't be alive very long either.

Scot Nationalists' march on Westminster may be GOOD for UK IT

Chris Miller

Leaving the EU

It doesn't matter "who you talk to", all those in a position to influence the decision, from the EU President downwards, agree that a newly independent Scotland would have to reapply to join the EU (the fact that Salmond's only response was to stick his fingers in his ears and shout "la, la, I'm not listening" doesn't change anything). And since there are several nations in the EU with fissiparous tendencies (Spain, France, Belgium and Italy are obvious examples, but I'm sure there are others) who would not wish to set a precedent, and it only takes one to veto any new entrant ..

Swedish Supreme Court keeps AssangeTM in Little Ecuador

Chris Miller

Rough guess

Say you need 5 plods to guard the embassy (assuming there's more than one entrance/exit). Mounting that guard 24x365 would require 30 bodies plus a few 'chiefs' to manage the 'indians'. Cost of those bodies is over £3 million a year* (not just salary, you need to include all their kit, pensions funding etc).

* Met police current budget £3.7bn pa for 37,000 pairs of boots on the ground.

Lies, damn lies and election polls: Why GE2015 pundits fluffed the numbers so badly

Chris Miller

3% margin of error

Is correct for each individual poll, but if you take a 'poll of polls' average of 9 (allegedly) independent polls, you should be able to get a result with 95% confidence of being within 1%. The fact that the poll of polls was still badly wrong strongly suggests that some kind of systematic error is taking place. Indeed, one pollster (Survation) have already apologised, because their poll on the day before the election gave almost the correct result, but they suppressed it because they thought it must be wrong, as it didn't agree with everyone else!

It's not the case that 'First Past The Post' renders opinion polls irrelevant, they just require to be applied with care (under the assumption that any swing will be roughly consistent at a national level).

So what would the economic effect of leaving the EU be?

Chris Miller

Re: Hmmm

Why do eurofanatics always feel compelled to adopt such a sneering, superior tone and refer to anyone who disagrees about the virtues of the EU as a "little englander (sic)"? FWIW I've worked in 15 EU countries, speak fluent French and can get by in a few other languages and manage "hello" and "thank you" in most of them (even Hungarian :). I imagine Tim could say the same, or even more so.

I'm sure there are quite a few racists and fruitcakes who are members of UKIP, just as there are in Labour and the SNP and practically every political party. But it would do your cause a lot more good if you could achieve a rational argument, rather than resort to name-calling.

Chris Miller

There are valid arguments for remaining in the EU, however "it may be corrupt and incompetent, but at least it has given us 6 decades of peace" is not one of them. The idea that it is only the presence of 30,000 fonctionnaires in the Berlaymont that prevents the Bundeswehr panzers once again rolling down the Champs Élysées is ludicrous. I suspect the presence of 50,000 US and UK (and French) troops along the Rhine may have had more to do with it.

Chris Miller

The economic argument has always been the minor one, possibly a few basis points either way. As Tim points out, the real threat to any economy is politicians doing stupid things. At least outside the EU, we have democratic process that allows us to get rid of politicians who do this. How do I get rid of stupid fonctionnaires in Brussels who decide these matters for the EU?

Going up hills past blokes with coke-bottle legs: The Smart E-bike

Chris Miller

It's 200W added to the power you're supplying yourself, so 400W flat out.

Chris Miller

Re: Electric Moped

He means a motorbike licence.

Facebook echo chamber: Or, the British media and the election

Chris Miller

Many Labour spokespeople are (unconsciously?) echoing the words of Bertolt Brecht's The Solution:

After the uprising of the 17th June

The Secretary of the Writers Union

Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee

Stating that the people

Had forfeited the confidence of the government

And could win it back only

By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier

In that case for the government

To dissolve the people

And elect another?

Italian ISS trekkie sips first zero-G cup of espresso in SPAAAACE

Chris Miller

Re: Next is to have Earl Grey tea...

Don't forget to specify 'Hot' for the benefit of USians who might want to adulterate it with ice.

Bruce Schneier's Data and Goliath – solution or part of the problem?

Chris Miller

Re: Someone didn't do their research

Culturally, Germany* is a Protestant Western country. Just because the majority of the current populace don't identify themselves as Christian, doesn't change that.

* Actually, Germany has been a nation for less than 150 years, and individual Länder differ significantly. Bavaria is (arguably) culturally Catholic, for example.

Meet the man who inspired Elon Musk’s fear of the robot uprising

Chris Miller

Re: Some seriously flawed thinking there...

I agree. On the virtual happiness problem, this was tackled in a rather good 'Golden Age' novel by James Gunn: The Joy Makers (and latterly in The Matrix, of course). But, I actually think many people would rush to plug into a completely flawless VR world that could grant their every wish - look how much time folks already spend playing computer games that are far less immersive,

Boeing 787 software bug can shut down planes' generators IN FLIGHT

Chris Miller

Even worse, the pilots had bang seats, but the rest of the crew did not.

Chris Miller

Not just planes

A few years ago I was on a brand new TGV returning from Strasbourg. Suddenly we started to slow down and coasted to a halt. We sat there for about 20 minutes and then all the lights and aircon went out. Five minutes later the power came back on and we resumed our journey without incident.

I always assumed the SNCF helpdesk asked: "Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?".

Eco-loons hack Thirty Meter Telescope website to help the 'natives'

Chris Miller
Facepalm

What do ecoloons and ISIS have in common?

They're both seeking to return the world to a mythical 7th century state of paradise.

EMC's curate's egg sees revenues waiting for new product take-offs

Chris Miller
Headmaster

A pedant writes:

The point of the 'Curate's egg' joke is that it's impossible to have a bad egg that's 'good in parts' - a bad egg is entirely inedible. So the analogy should really only be used to describe situations where one thing going wrong causes the whole to fail.

Here endeth the lesson.

Radio 4 and Dr K on programming languages: Full of Java Kool-Aid

Chris Miller

Indeed

And that's because you are required to pay in order to watch BBC telly in the UK, whereas radio is free.

Grandmaster FLUSH: Chess champ booted for allegedly cheating with iPod app in the loo

Chris Miller

Re: I'm confused (yet again)

Thanks Martin. I'm now less confused!

Chris Miller

I'm confused (yet again)

Is there a chess program for a smartphone that would be able to beat a grandmaster? (I doubt it.) So was someone sending him suggested moves? (Which might not even have required the use of a chess computer.)

Kia Soul EV: Nifty Korean 'leccy hatchback has heart and Seoul

Chris Miller

So, it costs twice as much as a basic Kia Soul and I can drive it for 90 miles before parking it up for 10 hours to recharge - great, where do I sign?

The Walton kids are ABSURDLY wealthy – and you're benefitting

Chris Miller

As usual, I like the Warren Buffett approach

I want to leave my kids enough money so that they can do anything; but not so much that they can do nothing.

Silence is golden: Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp is 100 today

Chris Miller

I'm with Blackadder

Captain Blackadder (having watched Baldrick's Chaplin impersonation): Yes... take down a telegram, Bob. To Mr. Charlie Chaplin, Sennet Studios, Hollywood, California. Congrats stop. Have found only person in world less funny than you stop. Name Baldrick stop. Signed E. Blackadder stop. Oh, and put a P.S.: please, please, please stop.

Daddy Dyson keeps it in the family and hoovers up son’s energy biz

Chris Miller

Jake has inherited approximately 50 per cent of James Dyson's genetics

One is reminded of George Bernard Shaw's response to an offer to father a child with a beautiful actress: "But what if he were to have your brains and my beauty?"

Eyes on the prize: Ten 23-24-inch monitors for under £150

Chris Miller

New Year's resolution

Aren't there any 1920x1200 monitors around? Or are they much more expensive because they can't use an HD telly screen?

Oh, hi there, SKYNET: US military wants self-enhancing software that will outlive its creators

Chris Miller

I suspect some (many?) banks are today running COBOL programs that are over 50 years old, and I wouldn't bet against more than a few of them still being around in 50 years' time.

Instead of public sector non-jobbery, Martha, how about creating real entrepreneurs?

Chris Miller

Re: @hplasm: Just remember, in the 1980s

European deep coal mining was doomed by the development of efficient shipping that allowed much cheaper surface-mined coal to be imported. No doubt the end of the UK mining industry was accelerated by the pig-headed stupidity of Scargill, but if anyone wants to claim that Thatcher was responsible, they would need to account for the fact that (e.g.) all the German deep mines closed at roughly the same time.

I believe the only deep mines still operating in Europe are in Poland, and if anyone wanted to work down a pit for Polish rates of pay and to Polish safety standards, we could probably reopen deep mines in the UK.

Much the same argument applies to dockers - doomed by the invention of the container, only the timing had an element of political choice.

Drill, baby, drill: HIDDEN glaciers ON MARS hold 150bn cubic metres of precious frozen WATER

Chris Miller

When is a billion not a billion?

US (and UK) billion = 109

(Continental) European billion = 1012

The European (and, up to around 1964, the UK) word for a US billion is milliard.

Barry Obama declares national emergency over foreign hackers

Chris Miller
Joke

This is an April Fool, isn't it?

The best ones are those you're not quite sure about :)

Robot Overlords: Tween babysitting fodder with no in-jokes for the adults

Chris Miller

Re: @Chris

Yes - they made two out of three and then cancelled the last one. According to WikiP, Disney have the film rights and a project that''s been 'under development' for decades (but they'd probably set it in Iowa).

Chris Miller

Sounds like a slightly dumbed-down Tripods (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Forum chat is like Clarkson punching you repeatedly in the face

Chris Miller

Re: Good riddance, I say

Although Clarkson sold the majority stake in the company that made Top Gear to BBC Worldwide, I'm pretty sure he kept a significant stake (?14% rings a bell), which must be worth a few million quid a year in repeat fees.

I disagree with most of your post (why do people think Clarkson is his TV persona - do you think Ricky Gervais resembles David Brent IRL?), but May is the only one of the trio with a substantial hinterland. He's done lengthy interviews for BBC Radio 3 (Essential Classics and Private Passions) on his interests in renaissance lute music and Stockhausen - he did a music degree before going into journalism.

Chris Miller

How Internet chat works

According to Scientific American.

Bye bye, booth babes. IT security catwalk RSA nixes sexy outfits

Chris Miller

Obligatory Dilbert

Everything is insecure and will be forever says Cisco CTO

Chris Miller
Joke

Re: Security is easy

Reg readers read and understood things before commenting or up/downvoting

You forgot the joke icon again!

Chris Miller

Re: Security is easy

Oh dear, Ollie - 2 downvotes already. You should really have used the 'Joke Alert' icon, for the benefit of those not familiar with 3514 (issued 1 April, 2003).