Posts by Ron Eve

"Sus" laws

Anyone remember them? Back in the '70's the UK police had the right to stop, search and interrogate anyone on 'suspicion' of anything.

I remember it well as I got stopped, searched and interrogated by six coppers and a policewoman (taking notes, natch) one summers evening, walking through Soho on my way to the theatre. My crime? There were drug dealers in the area (no, really?) and I 'looked like one'. Hmm. Alright I did have long hair, a natty jacket and velvet loons (hey, it was 1974 fer crissakes!) which made me remarkably similar to a lot of 24 year old white males....

Maybe it was because I stepped on the cracks in the pavement, or was wearing a loud shirt... (Constable Savage...)

Control orders are yet another attempt by this government to restrict civil liberties and remove human rights by the back door, to help with the 'war on terrorism' (only a dumb cnut like Bush could come up with that phrase).

Last bid

You can see here!

http://www.youtube.com/v/G92CW-OrdFA

@Maliciously Crafted Packet

Hi Mal,

<heh heh> Nicely written and even WITH the irony it still acted like a stick poked in a cage...

Mr I. M. A. Smugg-Git

;-)

Re: Screwed already...

Nah. Nothing to do with practise. Everything to do with The Eagles new release...

@Vindicated

Oh yeah... That's why the world + dog are staying AWAY from Vista because 'everything just works'. Don't make me laugh!

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2201460/poor-vista-sales-hit-dixons

Business software

"The true number of business users who cannot avoid using Windows is very, very small compared to the number who THINK they cannot avoid using Windows." @Andy

Do you know, I've struggled for years to figure out WHAT this 'business software' is that comprises the majority of software used and I can't. I've been in, oh I don't know, hundreds of company offices and most people seem to use the usual suspects - word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database. All of which have equivalents in all mainstream OS's. Database applications can be built to run on anything. Then there's browser based applications...

I can understand that application software is going to be developed for the majority system in-house but to say that software is 'unavailable' for a particular system is a non sequitur.

(Oh btw, thanks Webster Phreaky, you brightened my day once more :-))

Shazam?

Bit beyond me technically but I would have thought that the easiest way of 'fingerprinting' is to use some kind of clever tagging technology like Shazam does for music <http://www.shazam.com>. As the clip's uploaded it's sampled and if it's tag fits something copyrighted then action is taken.

Maybe I should patent that....

As for the comments about home videos being mistaken for £100m films - errr I don't think so lads...

Reg icons: I think they're getting out of hand.... (although I love the coat and the Paris ones)

@Fluffykins

Oh mate, worth repeating.. .LMBO

I thought the police only went in for Casserole.........

......you know:

Irish Stew in the name of the Law.

Coat

Leaving

Never let the facts....

..get in the way etc,

@Apple laptops dying all the time

With all due respect, unless you can come up with actual data on the returns that can be analysed to show a spike for any particular model, then your comments are hearsay. And to suggest it might be an Apple scam is ridiculous. For any company to do this would be corporate suicide.

Interestingly, I came across a 14" G4 iBook recently that seemed to exhibit this 'sudden death' syndrome. I accidentally discovered that the blank screen was simply the backlight turning off. If (using a bright light) I put it to sleep and re-awoke it would come back to life. Not the most useful information but at least you have a chance of saving your work...

In case you think all the idiots live in California...

... just 2 days ago I witnessed a motorcycle courier on a 250cc Honda, riding up Kings Road, Chelsea holding a phone to his ear... Any riders among you will appreciate the dexterity of this manoeuvre.

Oh and I'm a rider of some 40 years and I've rarely seen anything quite so insane.

It's a shame

The BBC used to have a great reputation for engineering excellence and broadcasting an eclectic range of material in way it could be accessed easily by millions here (in the UK) and overseas.

The problem, as I see it, is that it's fallen foul of political intrigues and infitration by 'managers' with commercial agendas. It's become a hydra-headed organisation with no-one willing (or able?) to truly direct it as it was originally meant to be. A very large part of the blame can be attributed to John "Dalek" Birt, who as Director-General of the Beeb from 1992-2000, apparently acceded to requests by politicians to alter the balance of it's output.

That this strategy was wholeheartedly implemented and appreciated by his political masters can be judged by Birt being made a life peer in 1999. Funny old world, eh?

If you've just sat down with cup of tea you can read more about this twat here (and he's in Wikipedia).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/01/10/do1001.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2005/01/10/ixopinion.html

Ford?

Friend of mine in the car trade told me that Ford stands for 'Fix Or Repair Daily'. Oh wait. That's Windows too, isn't it...?

What does it matter?

Teasing out the salient p(o)ints here (sorry)... It really doesn't matter what units are used as long as we all know what units you're using in a given situation.

So a 'pint of beer' is a recognised and legal (in the UK at least) measure, so when Lazlo the barkeep at my local, slaps down a pint, with a half-inch of foaming head on the bar, I complain about short measure. If you're feeling brave try this exchange when served with a 'short' pint:

"Excuse me barman/miss."

"Yes?"

"Do you reckon you could fit a double scotch in there?" (pointing to pint)

"Why yes I can."

"Well fill the f*cker up then!"

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, that I get 'shorted' all the time...

Oh I get it, Bob

... to keep it authentic it has be secret, then the artist isn't a success, doesn't make enough money from their art to live, dies in penury and squalor, then is 'discovered' and made legitimately famous after death! Brilliant!

What a twat.

Yadda yadda

Probably quite enough comments (about everything!) here but as another biker I think I can safely say they couldn't have been doing 179MPH. The speeds earlier in the film in no way relate to scenery/other vehicles passing by. And the guy was a total cnut for overtaking on double whites.

Oh, and on my Triumph TT600 (yes I bought one..) you can switch between KPH and MPH at the push of a button.

Years ago I had a gixxer 750. According to the clock I managed 165MPH. According to the summons I was "pulling away from a police vehicle doing 140MPH..." Funny thing happened though. I was nicked at the same time as someone else in a Ferrari Testarossa ("Are you two racing?" "What me sir? No Sir". I let his expensive lawyers go to court first. Turned out the police cars speed recording equipment wasn't calibrated beyond 120MPH, so that's the speed we were done for. Oh, £300 and a 3 month ban since you ask.

@Webster Phreaky II

<sigh>

Are you old enough to be allowed out on your own? You're clearly not of school age given the appalling grammar and spelling. Oh wait, maybe you just didn't pay attention in class. Yes that's it. So busy shouting your own miserable misinformed opinions you neglected to learn a few basic rules and facts.

Personally I think you should be taken outside and pelted with your own shit.

Gravesend...<gasp>

Funny how the mere mention of my old home town (born and lived for 17 years) makes me shiver... For a laugh I looked up Ebbsfleet in Wikipedia (yes yes I know) as I'd never heard of it. Turns out Gravesham (oh how we laughed at the change!) council got up in arms, as Dartford wanted the new station to be called Dartford International - even though Ebbsfleet is much closer to Gravesend.

Gravesend... such an a*rsehole of a place that it even has a village called Thong under it...

(Sorry about that. I feel much better now)

@Next time...

"When dealing with small country members, you should drop the vitriol and go for the most appropriate tone: Pity."

I'm a cnut remember.... :-)

(oh wait. I'm only half Welsh)

"It's on our website"

I've witnessed this many times. ISP's posting changes on their home page and expecting everyone to read it regularly. Then dealing with the inevitable flood of complaints.

I've never really understood why they can't email changes to everyone who has an email account with themselves... Oh wait. That would assume they care about customers...

Sentencing: UK v US

('celebutards' - fabulous!)

For a comparison in sentencing (this is really for our US readers) for a similar offence in the UK, check this story (btw, the M1 is a 'freeway'):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/6404339.stm

And this is what happens to barely-teens drink drivers:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1384983,00.html

No chance of this happening in the US of A anytime soon I guess...

How much?

Yes something seriously awry with their figures. 32 metric tons - or about 1.29 million ounces. Lets see... even at a <cough> street price of $100 (no way!) per ounce that's still only $129m. Where do they get $2.2bn?

Oh maybe they're talking about 'cut' cocaine, which, if stepped on with 1.29m ounces of Mannitol would double the takings to still 'only' $258m.

I wonder how you'd go about buying 32 tons of baby laxative...? :-)

Definitely need to change their dealer...

More Marketing Madness

Anyone remember Consignia?

What part of this poll does ICTSIS not understand?

>A telecoms consumer protection agency - one per cent

>A new way to pay for things using a telephone account - 26 per cent

>A new form of prepay phone account - 23 per cent

>None of these - four per cent

>Don't know - 46 per cent

Seems pretty damn clear to me..

>On Tuesday, ICTSIS spokesman Rob Dwight said: "The name change is >going ahead in October. The NOC know that.

>"No disrespect to YouGov, but with these polls you get the answer to the >carefully worded question you're looking for." He added that the >PhonePayPlus monicker will not stand alone, but be backed with a tagline >something like "the regulator for the premium rate industry".

Getting the answer to a 'carefully worded question' seems like that's what's supposed to happen isn't it? Otherwise you could just make up any old shit and say it fits with your perspective. Oh wait. That's called marketing, isn't it?

Ah, hang on. It's going to be backed with that memorable tagline. So that's alright then.

Re: UK TV Licence

"In the UK, one is NOT legally obliged to pay for a TV license **IF** one does NOT watch television *programmes* !!"

Nope.

You are required to buy a licence if you own "any apparatus capable of *receiving* broadcasts". Should you then not choose to watch them, that's your prerogative. You don't need one if you possess a DVD/video player (not recorder).

Back to the topic: I hope this gets stuck to the R.I.Ass of A good and proper. However, I suspect their weasly lawyers will find a back door somewhere...

Poison

It's not always possible to determine the long term effects on the environment by the introduction of man-made products. Very often the benefits outweigh the risks. DDT is, in fact, a case in point. This report should enlighten a few people.

http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.442/healthissue_detail.asp

I think cigarettes have always been viewed with suspicion and regrettably asbestos-related cancers took decades to appear. (Of course the asbestos companies didn't help their case by refuting the connection initially). As for laser printers... or maybe you mean the carbon toner inside....

Re Which town was that?

<"all British men here in my town refuse to leave as 'The chicks are just so damn easy'."

I'm visiting the US in a couple of months.

Which town was that?>

Anytown, USA

:-)

Re: Apple's market share

Hello?

"IDC's preliminary estimate for worldwide PC shipments during 07Q2 is 58.8 million (http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS20789807). So "the record-breaking Mac" has "continued to amaze" you by achieving a 3% market share."

Err... Perhaps you should read the article again... but in case the facts are too tiresome for you to revisit...

" Apple shipped a record 1.76m Macs, an increase of 33 per cent, while iPod continued its dominance of the MP3 landscape with 9.81m units, growing 21 per cent."

To me that reads 'Apple broke it's own sales record by selling 1.76m etc etc'. There is NO comment on market share anywhere in the post.

In any event, at a time when PC (as in Personal Computer) sales are starting to flatline a sales increase of 33 per cent is something I think most manufacturers would be very happy with.

And of course let's not get into the breakdown of 'worldwide shipments' including 'PC' cash registers and the like etc...

Percentages

"doesn't add up to 100%" Nor will it ever - just shows any single person may use several search engines on one computer, hence, I mostly use Google but sometimes Yahoo or Ask... Gotta be careful with doing simple arithmetic on percentages.

Also: Microsoft 88 per cent, Google 87 per cent, and Yahoo! 65 per cent. MS comes shipped as the default on most PC's as it's part of the ubiquitous Windows OS. To Google or Yahoo! requires conscious effort on the part of the user. So that 87 per cent is pretty remarkable (and 1 per cent behind the leader is hardly trailing...)

Another view

Great to see everyone using the power of the internet to hunt down the 'missing' pic.

http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/Home/Nachrichten/Bayern/Artikel,Ausschnitt-zu-sexy:-Fahrer-stoppt-Stadtbus_arid,993971_regid,2_puid,2_pageid,4289.html

It would indeed make a fine episode of 'On the Buses'. Half the comments here wouldn't go amiss in the script!

Wot no fanboys?

Interesting.

Second time today I've read a Mac-related article on El Reg which has several comments by folk who seem to expect loads of Apple fanboys to flame the comments. But flames there are none...

Is it because Mac users really couldn't give a toss what these mostly illiterate and ill-educated losers think?

(And please note the spelling - 'lose' which means 'to be deprived' and not 'loose' - which means 'not tight or firm')

Bracing myself...

You read it here first

And in other news today:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/07/19/toshiba_japan_recalls_batteries/

There will always be failures. There will always be death. There will always be taxes.

And sometimes the way these things are handled is less than satisfactory. Shit happens.

And people with problems will ALWAYS be more vocal than those without. If you're happy, you get on with your life.

It wouldn't be a very interesting read if 95% of the comments were about how happy people were.

Engage brain before opening mouth

Creating an effective explosion is easy. Ask any schoolboy reasonably well versed in physics and chemistry (oh wait, is that still a possibility in the UK?). In my school (back in the '60's since you ask) it was something of a rite of passage for some one to occasionally blow manhole covers up into the air or drawers across the chem lab. These muppets clearly didn't have a clue, as so many others here have indicated. (Yes, check the youtube links).

That they're incompetent dipshits is neither here nor there. They achieved critical mass with the hysterical press and talking-head authorities sounding off, with minimal investigation or evidence, about how hundreds of lives 'could' have been at risk. The point here, as others have said, it that it's irrational comments like this that really help no one. No one's denying that there could have been serious injury or loss of life but the extent would have been far less than the 72 point headlines would have you believe.

Any loss of life due to these murderous attackers (I can't call them terrorists - they're murderers, they kill innocent people) is, of course, intolerable, but losing our liberty and democracy because the State deems it necessary 'to prevent terrorism' is equally, if not more so.

All those CCTV cameras that the authorities so proudly commented on, didn't PREVENT the incidents, nor any other incident to my knowledge. Only useful after the event, no denying their use then, but we keep being told that more surveillance will PREVENT attacks and criminality.

Didn't stop the killers of Jamie Bulger either...

Anagrams for Britney Spears?

...such as:

Barren Yet Piss

Betrayers Nips

Bare Entry Piss

Dogs of war

and all that to scratch a living....

Just listen to that sustain..

"Hello Cleveland!!"

Smoke and mirrors

"The one period where I was forced to use a mac, it crashed on me a couple of times a week. (The kind of crashes where you have to yank out the powercord to use your machine again.)"

Per-lease! How old are you? 12? If a car broke down twice a week wouldn't you suspect maybe it needed FIXING.

Anyway, as pointed out elsewhere, they changed the rules so that you had to interact (read: let the hack happen) when it was fairly obvious it was going to be too difficult (note: I'm not saying impossible).

The Mac OS is without doubt more secure than Windows. The fact that there are no viruses or trojans for Macs is nothing to do with how many (or few) of them there are in the world. I bet there's more than a few dickwad hackers out there who'd love to rub dirt into smug Mac users faces by creating a virus or trojan, but just can't 'hack' it! (sorry)