* Posts by Ted Treen

1738 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Apr 2007

eBay chief Donahoe sees his package nearly double in size

Ted Treen
Unhappy

Re: The Lefties won't like it

Yes - I think he's overpaid - as I think of many of our "industry leaders", certainly the higher echelons of bankers and virtually all politicos.

I'm not by any means a lefty - some of my work colleagues consider me to be somewhat to the right of Genghis Khan - and I abhor NuLab, Millipede, Ed 'talking' Balls, Harridan Harperson etc. Neither do I have much time for Cameron (Blair Lite) or Clegg...

I'm I suppose an anti-authoritarian (can't be a lefty with that view) who believes in small government, and a libertarian but one who nevertheless thinks that a CEO receiving remuneration which is some 50, 100 or even 500 times what his employees earn is bordering on the obscene.

Please note I use the words "receiving remuneration" carefully, as there's no way on God's Earth that they can be said to earn it...

Ted Treen
Unhappy

Unless...

...you have overwhelming desires to buy a third-world country and appoint yourself "El Presidente for life", I cannot fathom why anyone would be desperate to receive $30Million (£20Million Sterling) per annum.

What in God's name could you want it for? Surely there's only so many yachts/aircraft/Ferraris you could own?

Unless it's for setting up a charitable foundation and doing some good, there must come a point where such wealth actually becomes a problem (security, time to deal with it, the vast army of bean-counters etc).

Maybe I'm just a peasant, but as long as I can pay my way, look after family etc., I'm content. If I were to receive such sums, then once I had a few million in the bank - well, maybe not there in the current circumstances - I'd say "Bugger work", and just enjoy life whilst doing charitable stuff with what I didn't need to keep.

UK's £500m web dole queue project director replaced after JUST 4 months

Ted Treen
Alien

How touching...

Your simple faith that there is in fact, a plan "A"...

Microsoft backs law banning Google Apps from schools

Ted Treen

Re: Gutless, cowardly and low

I think Mr Ballmer has just shown that his business ethics/operations have all the subtlety of an elephant with dysentery.

As have his furniture re-arrangement techniques

BAN SMUT, rage MEPs: Purpose of internet must be EXTERMINATED

Ted Treen
Big Brother

Democracy...

...is a wonderful idea; and I'm all for it.

The establishment, however, will never permit it.

Microsoft about-face: Office 2013 license IS transferable now

Ted Treen
Pint

Re: Dude...

You beat me to it:- but I up voted you anyway.

And sent you a beer!

HP shareholders advised to give chairman Ray Lane the boot

Ted Treen
Thumb Up

Agreed.

Such a statement would indicate due diligence.

Apparently not a speciality of HP's board...

Indian atomic boffins draw up plans for 50,000 TONNE magnet

Ted Treen
Headmaster

Re: Good to know all that aid money is not being wasted, eh?

Very noble - but instead let's reduce the amount of tax filched from our pockets, look after our own elderly, look after our own servicemen and about a zillion other things which the mealy mouthed parasites of Westminster & Whitehall should be doing but which don't fit in with either their egotistical self-aggrandisement or their inveterate nest-feathering...

Want a promotion? Study economics, says HDS economist

Ted Treen
Devil

AC is right.

Looking at the predictions/judgements/assessments of all sorts of 'economists' over the last few years tells me that they all have one thing in common.

And they share that one thing with 'analysts', horoscope writers and seaside fortune-tellers.

That one thing is an almost unerring consistency in their guesswork (for that is all it is) being completely wrong yet at the same time convincing other muppets that their guesswork is worth paying huge amounts of money for.

Even Al Capone, Bugsy Siegel and our very own Kray Brothers were a little more subtle...

US lawmaker blames bicycle breath for global warming gas

Ted Treen
Headmaster

Re: turbo-tastic

"Tax tax just to be pedantic about it."

The UK Gov'ts already doing that:- petrol (gasoline to you 'Merkins) is subject to Duty, and that Duty is then subject to VAT.

Thieving B'stards...

'Brit Bill Gates' was powerless to stop HP's Autonomy acquisition

Ted Treen
Pirate

Didn't HP exercise due diligence prior to purchase?

If they did, then Autonomy's concealing of a $5B 'mis-statement' is simply breathtaking: if they did not, then they should have.

Al in all, it's beginning to look like the 'due diligence' was either overdue or not quite diligent enough.

Texan contends iPod EXPLODED IN HER FACE

Ted Treen
Facepalm

Re: Patent

"...she would patent exploding devices then sue Apple..."

...and knowing the logicality and common sense of patent legislation in Texas courts, she'd almost certainly win!

Sergey Brin emasculated after HORROR smartphone disaster

Ted Treen
Trollface

Re: New Balls Please

Equally, she might have had a lucky escape if he finds a gizmo more interesting than a human being..

Chinese Army: US hacks us so much, I'm amazed you can read this

Ted Treen
Headmaster

Hardly surprising...

PRC hacking US - cyberterrorism.

US hacking PRC - Fighting for democracy & freedom.

As predictable as a Hollywood sequel.

Personally, I love democracy & freedom - or at least the thought of it - but it'll never happen: the establishment would never permit it.

Moscow's speed cameras 'knackered' by MYSTERY malware

Ted Treen
Headmaster

Plank in thine own eye?

If they don't know the difference between license (verb) and licence (noun) they shouldn't be correcting others...

Outsourcing your own job much more common than first thought

Ted Treen
Coat

Re: "I think this guy was a genius "

Nay, Nay and thrice Nay!

Ted Treen
Boffin

Re: ummmm @ casaloco 27/02/13 04:15 GMT

"Let's hire some management consultants!"

Consultant. Someone who knows 48 positions for making love - but doesn't know any girls...

Judge bins Apple's plea to slash $368m FaceTime patent damages

Ted Treen
Flame

It's all getting too much...

Some patent lawsuits are no doubt valid:- Goliath shouldn't steal from David - OR vice versa.

Others are purely trolling and without any merit - judgements in the good ol' Lone Star State being particularly suspect.

Unfortunately the rest of us are heartily sick of these as many appear to be a variant of playground squabbles and if all of the time and cash thrown in their direction was instead invested in R&D, we could have more competition and improving products, whether it's Samsung, Apple, Microsoft or even old MacDonald producing them.

Innovators must have protection from the rapacious sharks, but Patent Lawyers are usually the most rapacious and shark-like. There must be a better way.

iPhones, 'droids go to WAR: US soldiers invade TOP-SECRET cloud

Ted Treen
Unhappy

But...

What happens when the ungodly just stroll/amble into a US base, 'cos the grunts are all playing 'Angry Birds' or similar..?

North Korean citizens told: Socialist haircuts are a thing... go get some

Ted Treen
Pint

Re: @psyx (13:18)

"I might as well argue that anyone Rightist stamps around in jackboots, taking money from poor people."

Of course we wouldn't - they don't have any to take. We'd take it from the middle/upper middle classes.

Ted Treen
Coat

Re: I wish! (Homer 1 - 14:07)

"... Baldies are manly men with testosterone fuelled, manly shaped appendages..."

---according to a rumour (unverified) spread by baldies.

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

Ted Treen
Pint

Re: Why not?

Pure genius.

You should not AC yourself:- had I thought of that line, I'd want to flaunt it.

Shame I can only send one virtual beer...

No mobile signal? Blame hippies and their eco-friendly walls

Ted Treen
Headmaster

Re: @ Boltar

Standard use of English:-

"..."Except when it's the foil-lined plasterboard or polystyrene that seems to be cropping up..."

The descriptive 'foil-lined' refers to BOTH plasterboard AND polystyrene.

i.e.

"..."Except when it's the foil-lined plasterboard or foil-lined polystyrene that seems to be cropping up..."

OK?

Cheap iPhone mini 'makes sense' for world domination

Ted Treen
Boffin

Re: Almost amusing...

"...eventually Apple will become just a phone and they will have to play accordingly..."

Around the same time that BMW or Porsche become just another rep mobile, maybe?

Ted Treen
Facepalm

Almost amusing...

Everyone so far is commenting as if this were an incontrovertible fact. Please read the article.

It's the 'reasoning' (guesswork) of an analyst (Mystic Meg II).

These analysts have all the track record of a seaside fortune teller - except some dumbo thinks they're worth paying a hell of a lot.

Review: Britain's 4G smartphones

Ted Treen
Trollface

Re: 4G scanning

Marketing departments think?

BBC's new bosses - the lawyers - strike out Savile probe testimony

Ted Treen
Thumb Up

Re: But Andrew, I thought you liked lawyers...

"As for the fines, they should be paid by the people in charge, not the "licence payer"."

Can we expand on that one:-

Fines imposed on banks - split between the board in proportion to their pay.

Ditto fines on NHS bodies - split between management (same proportions)

Also fines on councils - ditto and ditto.

In face, fines imposed on ALL public and corporate bodies - make those running the show pay from their own pockets: with no 'bonuses' or pay rises permitted to cover the cost of fines.

I think they'd start behaving a little better then...

Ted Treen
Big Brother

Re: Spoken like a true raving nutter

@cocknee

I don't really think you could have done more to back up LarsG if you tried:-

He has an opinion different to yours, and he may be somewhat less left than you - you say "...right wing nutters like you LarsG..."

You go on to say "...you condemn anything that doesn't serve up your jaundiced, paranoid twisted view of the world as left-wing-bias..."

Your name-calling and insulting anyone who has the temerity to hold a viewpoint different to yours is moderate, thoughtful and sensible, is it? It does have all the hallmarks of the Left's tendency to hurl mud at all opponents.

If you query unlimited immigration - the Left says "You're a racist".

If you don't want to be in the EU - the Left says "You're a little Englander living in the 1950's"

And many other examples too numerous to mention... although I WOULD refer to the true socialist ideals of those such as Blair & Mandelson, both of whom have property/properties and bank balances which show they're true followers of Kier Hardie...

You allude to LarsG (who only repeatedly the widely held viewpoint that the BBC is middle-class left biased) being "..put in a padded cell"

More Joe Stalin than Libertarian, perhaps.

I will not insult you - or even call you names - but writing as a sixty-something year old, who is a postgraduate of the University of Life & Reality, I sincerely hope your views mature somewhat in the coming years...

Inevitably this will be very down voted, as anything vaguely political on El Reg is generally judged from the viewpoint of the Students' Union bar during a meeting held by Danny Cohn Bendit & Tariq Ali - neither of whom have grown up in the years since they first came to public attention.

Clarkson: 'I WILL find and KILL the spammers who hacked me'

Ted Treen

Re: I don't mind being compared by age...

@My earlier post - 20/02 @16:53

Lots of downvotes - the loyal employees of Minitrue must be commenting...

Ted Treen
Big Brother

Re: I don't mind being compared by age...

You're absolutely spot on.

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" is not a phrase which trips easily off a leftie's tongue.

You're much more likely to get the shrill hectoring tones of Harridan Harman denouncing you as some sort of *ist, the slayer of babies & the fount of all the world's travails instead.

Classic leftie style: If you can't beat 'em, sling loads of crap and see how much sticks.

It's really rather frightening how often that a lie or inaccuracy is repeated a few times and then becomes effectively an incontrovertible fact - Are you listening, BBC, Grauniad, Citizen Toynbee, inter alia?

Oklahoma cops rake ashes of 'spontaneous combustion' victim

Ted Treen
Big Brother

Re: SHC = I don't know

So how can we ensure around 650 instances of SHC in the Palace of Westminster?

C'mon, you know it makes sense...

Foxconn: Our hiring freeze has nothing to do with iPhone 5

Ted Treen
Devil

Re: Yawn...

No new clichés.

Both Parnell and Leach will still be spitting anti-Apple invective for years to come.

Regarding the stuff regularly based upon the ramblings of some third-rate analyst somewhere, as SimB stated "That's not what the numbers are saying". If only I had a tenner for every time some richard-headed analyst has spouted pure drivel and subsequently proved to be 100% inaccurate, I'd be able to retire.

Journalists pandering to the anti-Apple mob are not doing themselves, their employers or their readers any favours.

Baby-boulder bowling burglar breaks Boulder Apple Store's $100k glass door

Ted Treen
Happy

Re: If that was me . . .

...but then there would have to be an office chair in amongst the broken glass, not a rock.

Ted Treen
Coat

It depends...

...the sentence could be "Off with their Coxes, and put them in the care of Granny Smith"...

I think my need for my coat is probably greater than yours, James.

Ted Treen
Pint

Re: Alternative title

An illiterate alliterate.

I like it.

Have a beer - a beautiful brew bodaciously benefits...

Ted Treen
Boffin

Re: Read into that comment what you will.

Yes, I'm a Mac user, but Microsoft "pure evil"?

Might I refer you to Hanlon's razor? - ""Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

Spanish cops cuff 11 for €1m-a-year ransomware scam

Ted Treen
Pirate

@AC 14/02/13 13:24

I would agree on the whole that many of the criminals about whom we read do appear to be very "intellectually challenged".

Unfortunately that doesn't mean ALL the ungodly are cretinous morons:- I'm sure there must be very smart crims out there - we just haven't read of their exploits 'cos they're too smart to be apprehended or even discovered.

Dead Steve Jobs 'made Tim Cook sue Samsung' from beyond the grave

Ted Treen
Thumb Up

Well I never...

"like the pair of firms would be better off burying the blunt hatchet and getting on with making mobes in peace"

That's got to be one of the most sensible statements I've seen on El Reg - from either journo OR commenter - regarding this whole patentfest...

3 Brits banged up for £300k VAT scam

Ted Treen
Flame

Re: We're all in it together

Starbucks complied with the law. The fault lies with the incompetents who make the law.

Vodafone's deal was almost certainly illegal - and was the acceptance of an offer made by Hartnett after Vodafone had bought him a lunch or two.

City sugar daddies mulling £10bn bid for EE, say sources

Ted Treen
Thumb Up

@Ledswinger 07/02/13 12:55

" Clearly bankers don't learn until you break their fingers, so maybe that's where we'd better start."

Excellent idea: and if they're still not sufficiently penitent then we continue on to other appendages/body parts...

Apple serves up 25 BEEELLIONTH iTunes download

Ted Treen
Boffin

Re: 14,000 years of Coldplay

I'm told there are no lifts in hell: once there, there ain't no getting out.

Unless you're like me, and consider the (maritally) obligatory trip to ASDA/TESCO/Sainsbury's/IKEA to be hell..

Michael Dell to buy himself on Monday?

Ted Treen
Pint

Re: Wall street is dangerous

@jonfr -

Couldn't agree with you more. Michael Dell has gone up in my esteem (and I'm a long-term Mac user).

Anyone who tells the vampires & parasites (commonly known as bankers, analysts etc.) to go screw themselves deserves many beers for that alone.

More power to his elbow and I sincerely hope it all works out well for him.

Samsung mocks Apple lawsuit in SuperBowl teaser ad

Ted Treen
FAIL

Re: Stupid is as stupid does...

@AlbertH

It must be terrific to be so intellectually superior that you can make such sweeping generalisations AND a) think you're smart and b) to expect anyone with an IQ greater than their shoe size to believe you and even praise you for it.

"Stupid is as stupid does" indeed.

Plunging BT sales hit every branch of the biz on way down

Ted Treen
Boffin

Re: Fiber? - Not necessarily

"...rolling out lots of fibre would mean they lose money..."

Not if they flogged the copper cable which was replaced by the fibre - factor that income in, and the picture doesn't look anywhere near so bleak.

Ted Treen
Big Brother

Re: Speak as you find...

"...BT illegally intercepted the communications of thousands of their customers..."

Yes, I know it doesn't make it right and all OK, but that was rapidly dealt with.

However, such illegal shenanigans continue under the auspices of Google, Facebook inter alia and even Her Maj's Gov, courtesy of GCHQ.

Using the interwebs makes it damn difficult to remain private, without a whole load of effort.

Ted Treen
Thumb Up

Speak as you find...

I've had BT broadband on my Mac for well over 8 years.

My normal speed varies between 8Mb and 11Mb downstream. I'm on an "up to16Mb" deal, but I'm around 1 mile from the exchange, and my small estate is served by aluminium cables strung from poles!

I can only recall one temporary outage during that time and I'm happy with the speed I get, considering the infrastructure. I'm in a small-ish village some 7 miles outside Wolverhampton, and we're not in the current Infinity schedules unfortunately. Neither do we have any cable in the village.

All in all, I've had a pretty trouble-free time with BT so far (touch wood).

I don't work for BT, and can only speak as I've found. No doubt there will be a rash of down votes from those who dislike anything which doesn't back up their prejudices.

New York Times probes China's Premier, gets hacked by Chinese

Ted Treen
Devil

"The Chinese foreign ministry dismissed allegations of state collusion to reporters in Beijing."

Might I be the first to paraphrase the delightful Miss Rice-Davies and comment "They would say that, wouldn't they?"?

So: 6,500 Win 8 laptops later, how are BT's field engineers coping?

Ted Treen
Joke

Re: @mutatedwombat

ODC?

That's CDO (in alphabetical order as it should be!)

Naked intruder cracks one off in Florida rampage drama

Ted Treen
Mushroom

Re: @loads - Argument for gun ownership

If you want a valid argument for gun ownership by the law-abiding population, all you need to do is look at the Palace of Westminster.

There's around 650 damn good reasons why we should be armed...

Ted Treen
Unhappy

Re: @The First Dave

Re my comment Monday 28 Jan 13:48,

Two downvotes.

Guess that's two Guardianistas who don't put much value on their wife...