* Posts by Miek

1574 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jun 2009

Media groups propose anti-piracy 'code of practice' for UK search

Miek
Trollface

"Coporate whores are saying that sharing is bad. Is that what you say to your two year old when he refuses to share his toys?" -- I think each child is required to have a valid license for each toy they wish to play with.

Met Office cuts off Linux users with new weather widgets

Miek
Linux

I just look out of the window to see what the weather is doing

Try a 'shroom before ruling on chill pills, boffin tells gov

Miek
Trollface

@ YTXT again

Do you have any sources other than the NHS website that you base your opinions on ?

Miek
Pint

Good point Sir!

Miek

Last one before I go ...

Wow, just read the Telegraph's Demonisation of Richard Branson ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9036404/Sketch-Sir-Richard-Bransons-war-on-drug-laws.html

Comparing Decriminalising Cannabis to Decriminalising Murder.

Miek

You know what? For once I would love to see a positive drugs news story ...

Miek

@YTXT

Trolling FAIL

"Crucially, this exploratory study was not a clinical trial or an examination of the effect psilocybin has on people with depression. Therefore, it is not possible to say from this research whether psilocybin could have benefits for people with depression. Also, importantly, the possible harms of using this drug, either in the short or long term have not been studied here.”

Can't wait for the clinical trials to start so we can see ... oh wait, the underlying point is that the Government isn't listening and is unlikely to /*allow*/ such a trial, hence the theme of the comments.

Another point is that the excerpt of your rant that I have highlighted seems to say "Nah nah, you've not really proved anything in your experiments" whereas any tenuous link to alcohol possibly being good for you or trials on mice* that show how damaging cannabis is to humans and such is accepted and proffered by the government as if it were an absolute truth. I will hunt down examples if you require it.

* I know that some mammals have immune systems and other life systems that give a good indication of what effects may occur in humans and that as they have vastly shorter life spans; it is easier to get an impression of what long term effects may be.

Miek
Boffin

@JimmyPage

I completely agree with your point, but, isn't the Food/Air thing 'Physical Dependence' rather than a Physical Addiction as such?.

Miek
Coat

I see what you did there

Miek

Would that be considered a "Heroic Dose" ?

When can we get a Bill Hicks icon ?

Miek
Meh

"Those who call for legalisation are often those who want their little habit legalising so they don't have to feel so bad about it." -- Not entirely, it's more about the ignorant people who believe that Drugs=Bad and therefore Drug Users = Criminals. I would contend that this amounts to persecution although it is not illegal to persecute someone for doing something that is considered illegal or holding a belief that is considered illegal.

"Just because that's the way it is doesn't make it right?".

The fact that the Home Office and other MPs will not discuss this issue in an adult manner, won't listen to arguments other than their own, ignores scientific recommendations and evidence; indicates an alternative agenda. The politicians keep saying that they don't want to "send a message" that drug use is acceptable, instead they are perfectly happy to fire-fight the black markets and cartels in order to maintain this policy.

Miek
Coat

Don't forget to wash it down with some Cabernet Sauvignon.

DWP's Work Programme IT already broken at launch

Miek
Meh

"Quick and Cheap?" -- No wonder it isn't working. Sometimes the cheap and dirty approach is not always best, you get what you pay for and the time you invest in a project.

Quad-core Samsung Galaxy S III set for April launch

Miek

Phwoar! I'd even get one if it were a little chubbier for extra battery.

Miek
Thumb Up

mmmmm yummy.

"Do u think 1.5-1.6GHz quadcore is too much for phone?" -- Absolutely not, no!

Scalextric restarts space race with Star Wars craft

Miek

The Endor set looks far too cheap to retail at £70 shirley.

HUD's up! Ubuntu creates menu-free GUI

Miek
Coat

@Nathanial Wapcaplet

"Saboteurs" -- worth knowing ;)

Miek

"but I don't have to worry about it as I don't use Unity." -- What about when support for your version runs out and you need to upgrade ?

Miek
Linux

So? How do you browse the complete list of options? Oh, you can't and that is the point many have made here.

Miek
FAIL

This idea is the most ridiculous thing that Ubuntu has come up with yet. Will be moving on from the disgrace Ubuntu has become.

There are so many problems with this approach, ultimately, my question is "What's wrong with using menus?" It seems to work quite well.

Was looking at Mint linux, but they seem geared up towards Gnome3 and KDE4; might have to look a bit harder.

Windows 8 hardware rules 'derail user-friendly Linux'

Miek
Linux

"Instead, I've committed myself in future to seeking out tech that is not pre-tainted^Winstalled with Microsoft tat." -- Good plan and to be fair, I have never reclaimed my wasted money for Windows either.

Miek
Linux

@ C 2

a bit like the "So you sank my battleship" sony debacle.

Miek
Linux

Alistair, I would recommend Cedega for running games under Linux. It worked rather well, but I eventually bought a console for dedicated gaming and watching blu-rays. I rarely boot into XP anymore and when I do it takes an age before it stop making popping sounds a display irritating pop ups in the notification area.

Miek
Linux

To be fair Bob, I don't give a flying F... about market share; I just want to use Linux and that's what this story is really about; locking 'Open Source Advocates' out of the hardware that they purchase.

B.T.W not all Linux users are Kidddies, unlike the Windows Wizard Jockeys out there. Anyone can click "Next, Next, Next, Finish".

Miek
Linux

"I have 4 devices with Linux installed for which Windows tax was paid. I'm not proud of that fact."

Have you tried obtaining a refund for the unused software, I believe you are entitled to do so within a reasonable* amount of time.

* Entirely based on the suppliers idea of reasonable.

Miek
Linux

@ Craiggy

Just to add to that Craiggy, I know for a fact that the whole of the Maths department at Oxford Uni are on Ubuntu too.

Miek
Coat

Of course I read your post and noted the models you mentioned, you simply seem to have missed the joke. I probably should have used the Troll icon to make things a little clearer for you.

"There's also the point, which will no doubt strike many here as risible but which is of considerable force nonetheless, that not everyone has the luxury of buying whichever machine is at the top of this month's list of acceptable hothouses in which Linux can be made to thrive" -- I quite agree, although, do you just buy any 'ol piece of junk just because it is cheap? Do you read reviews?

" I'd never have bought an HP laptop in the first place, except that it was the only thing I could afford at the time." -- HP laptops are usually more expensive than say an Asus or Acer, which usually play rather well with Ubuntu and are reasonable budget laptops.

Hmmm, which icon should I use?

Miek
Flame

My guess would be that this is down to the hardware not correctly being identified which has happened to me on rather cheap inferior products; are you using a Dell?

Miek
Linux

"Not one problem even with the dongle." -- seconded, other than signal strengths.

Miek
Linux

I have a real job and I need Linux in order to do my job!

Mouse drivers, pah! You big 'ol FUDdy-Duddy.

The reason people cling to XP is that it generally does not run like a bag of crisps on their new hardware.

Windows Phone to overtake iOS in 2015

Miek
Linux

Those stats look a bit odd to me, can IOS be doing that badly? Surely when the next iPad and iPhone are released the IOS curve will go through the roof?

Google to join Wednesday's anti-SOPA protest

Miek

No, it replaces the page content with the blackout bit, simply click stop before this happens.

Miek

Or just click your stop button before the Ajax kicks in and provides the "Black out" ;)

McDonald's punters offered sex in exchange for Chicken McNuggets

Miek

HERE you go ...

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=67521

Japanese boffins fear virus nicked spacecraft blueprints

Miek
FAIL

I guess they are running Windoze. FAIL for obvious reasons.

Virgin Media takes itself in hand after punter-package tickle whoopsie

Miek

" I wonder why they are allowed to use the term "unlimited" to advertise this rubbish?" -- I believe the Advertising Standards Agency is incapable of correctly operating and interpreting a Dictionary.

Miek
FAIL

For me, customer services simply cannot help. My 50Mb service degrades to roughly under 30Kbps downstream and 3-5Mb upstream. Every time I call, they insist on sending an engineer and each time the engineer places an attenuator on the line, which fixes the problem for about a week then it starts failing again.

There are currently three -6DB attenuators in-line on my cable, apparently I am "too close" to my green box; which I feel is absolute bollocks.

I end up spending more money on phone calls to customer services which the £10 or £15 refund barely covers.

Miek
Coat

Don't worry, I can send you some screen-shots of my VM broadband speeds just to cheer you up ;)

Miek
Meh

"Some 50Mb/s customers will see an initial rise to 100Mb/s before moving up to the full whack 120Mb/s, the telco spokespersons added."

I wonder if iPlayer will still hang and need to buffer constantly?

Murdoch slams White House over SOPA in Twitter row

Miek
Linux

"He got out-lobbied and he's crying like a little girl who didn't get the dolly she wanted for Xmas."

Yep, and if a crook like Murdoch is all-for SOPA, then I am all-against this act.

Bomb threat lobbed at Finnish anti-piracy squad

Miek
Coat

Yep and the Anon crowd aren't much better either

Billions of potentially populated planets in the galaxy

Miek
Coat

"The physics of chemistry is universal. There's no other element that has even half the versatility for building complex molecules that Carbon does." -- or at least you hope it does

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19429-laws-of-physics-may-change-across-the-universe.html

Davos report: Cyber-attack risk to global stability is real

Miek

"Cyber-attacks - from sabotage to espionage - come in at number four of the risks most likely to materialise"

Um, these HAVE materialised and are ongoing ....

Virgin Media to push out nimble new broadband speeds

Miek

"The smokin' hot broadband speeds were enough to prompt praise from UK prime minister David Cameron"

He obviously is not a Virgin Media subscriber.

"As long as you avoid the throttling your achievable speed is actually very, very close to the maximum speed of the connection you are paying for" -- actually, I am getting roughly half of what I am paying for and there is no throttling going on other than their "traffic shaping" which is NOT "network throttling" according to VM.

Opera's new store beams HTML5 apps into tellies

Miek

Would certainly consider an Opera interface over an Ubunty Unity interface

Ubuntu Linux shop reveals 'TV for human beings'

Miek
Linux

"Press the big 'Play' button and up pops an error message so cryptic you have to Google it,"

Sounds more like a BSOD to me

Sony: PS3 sales ahead of target

Miek

I wonder ow many consoles they sell will be existing PS3 customers that have a buggered Blu-Ray drive ? I personally have to dismantle my PS3 every two months to clean the Blu-Ray lens.

Google promises 0.001 of revenue to free the slaves

Miek

sorry, was that 0.1 or 0.001 % ?

Android malware victims offered free WinPhones by MS

Miek
Linux

"Can't believe how many are so anti MSm purely for the sake of it."

Simply not true, many of here will have very good reasons for their contempt of $MS

"The comments here merely expose the anti ms brigade for what they are. At least have the nerve to try a product before you slate it."

I personally had a go with the on-line windows phone 7 trial () and was suitably un-impressed. It was more the fact that I spent 5-10 minutes clearing up all the coffee on my screen, phone and desk after giving winphoney a whirl ;)

Miek
Linux

Speaking of the RPC marvel ... if you want to prevent the RPC service from working properly simply change your hostname once you have completed the OOBE (Out of box experience) and it completely drats it ;) Just an FYI.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884564 (Problem not confined to disk management but all RPC functionality)