Posts by Terry 6

Fair point. Though both are unacceptable. But real life shops don't use my random comments to try to push items at me.

Re: Not Just Amazon

....if you are creative with ssh and creating logins and using X11's capability via the DISPLAY environment variable, you can write a script (I have) that will ssh into a different user, run Firefox entirely from that user's context, and then turn off plugins and have the entire cache, cookies, and history DELETED ON EXIT....

Which is fine and dandy for a subset of uber-techie El reg commentards.

Re: Anecdotal evidence

Yes, I've heard of too many of these experiences to be sceptical.

Re: Get a grip

You could say the same about drug dealers and whores.

And then only certain big chains.

Most people would though. Because not many are quite that aggressive with their selling. It would be an "Open All Hours" level of selling.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Open+All+Hours+Show+Episodes&&view=detail&mid=87E1948C592F67807C7187E1948C592F67807C71&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DOpen%2BAll%2BHours%2BShow%2BEpisodes%26FORM%3DVDMHRS

For any who don't know of it.

Personally I find I'm still fascinated by the way that Amazon/Google etc. algorithms seem to segue from what you were interested in to what it assumes you must be interested in, even though that is a totally different thing that happens to have some key words in common. And of course, in the case of Google's search, may well be ( usually is) just the opposite. Searches for "How do I get rid of X" will throw up endless suggestions about how to obtain the bloody thing, but nothing about how to get shut of it.

How about if you go into a shop and remark "shocking weather today isn't it". Then are confronted by a stream of sales staff touting umbrellas, rain coats, waterproofing sprays and holidays in the sun. When all you went in to the shop for was a pint of milk?

Re: The problem is with American English

Yes. But the issue isn't the tables ( though factors of 12 another matter). It's rote learning for all, with high stakes testing.

Some kids will learn the tables with a different approach. Including supporting them with a tables square and getting them to recite individual multiplications as they discover them- rather than in a listed sequence. Or teaching them half the table and its mirror, rather than chanting through from 1x2 to 10x10 ( or 12x12- sigh!).

Some will even learn better by learning fewer then calculating from smaller multiples to bigger ones. Remembering them by usage rather than recital. It's the government mandated rote-learning-then-fail-a-test, come what may approach that is the issue.

OTOH a site where self-centred egotists roost is probably the ideal location for him. And if he kills this golden egg laying goose, so be it.

Re: know the unknowable

I didn't say it did. "Intended audience". Who do you intend your well polished words for? Is it for a specific segment, or for wider consumption? What is your intended outcome? What do you need to achieve?

Re: know the unknowable

@yetanotheraoc

It depends which was your intended audience. Your responsibility as a communicator is to consider your audience. And if you need to address both you need to consider how to manage this too.

Re: The problem is with American English

I can explain one part of it. Our educational system- or rather the people who ultimately fund and control it- for at least a generation, has been deeply influenced by American Behaviourist theories of Education. The assumption that everything can be taught by breaking it down into independent blocks of information and learnt accordingly. It's an attractive approach for people who think everything can be tested and measured in modules, with progress being linear and independent of other components*. Whereas Cognitive approaches to teaching and learning tend to be much more messy and much harder to measure or explain to the lay person. Politicians want to be seen promoting something simple and familiar (" traditional"). Which is why rote teaching multiplication tables all the way to 12x12 is now mandated in a country that is mostly using base 10. And the kids are already taught how to partition numbers so can easily manage to multiply numbers >10. It is also why testing of the tables is mandated- even though making learning tables by rote a high stakes test item actually makes teaching them less successful for a significant number of kids- especially, of course the ones who are less good at decontextualised list learning.

*e.g. Teaching reading by breaking words into sounds (Phonics) and putting them back together again, without referring to the meaning or context. Easy to teach, easy to measure, profitable for publishers,attractive for politicians because it appears simple and obvious- but wrong. That just isn't what we do when we read. It's helpful, but that's all.

Re: Orwellian nightmare

Which English accent?

Re: Orwellian nightmare

" t referring to people with a particular range of skin colours using the n-word is completely fine and will have no effect on societal attitudes."

Black people sometimes use the N word in their conversation. But in a context that is well understood ( and I assume ironic). Jews likewise will use words and phrases about ourselves that would be deeply racist if used by non-Jews in a different context- and acceptance of some words can even change, as people think it through more. As with Spurs' supporters.. And also using mildly dismissive terms about other nations is probably wrong, but hardly anything to bother about where these nations are on an equal footing. Rosbif, Frog, Kraut etc

Re: Thing is the new …errr

Or to put that another way. Thin for what purpose? What is the use case for a thinner laptop?

Re: Too early.

Takes me about 10 minutes to full wake up after a little mid-day snooze. I guess autonomous vehicles won't be for me.

Re: Bah!

..or gun shots.

Re: It's a paradigm shift

urban ones are easier (IMHO) as better line of sight, decent junctions, road markings, proper lighting, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings etc.

Not in bloody Barnet they aren't. Bendy roads with concealed side turnings, random street furniture obscuring the view of the road, including concrete bollards and iron bell shaped thingies on the corners*. Tight turns into roads that suddenly narrow. Mini roundabouts that barely leave enough space to get round them. Cars parked on both sides of narrow roads.

*Put there to stop drivers going on to the pavement as they turn. Because the turn is so narrow and tight that cars are in danger of a collision with vehicles coming the other way- especially if it's a bus or something.

Re: It's a paradigm shift

A great chunk of that applies to suburban roads too. Which car reverses to the one place in a narrow road where there aren't cars parked on both sides of the road? How do they negotiate potholes big enough to break a car's suspension. etc.

Re: Bah!

".....is risible. As is the idea I would need to own (and maintain) the thing."

I was with you till that point. A car isn't, though, just a personal taxi. It is also a store for items needed while out and about. Our reusable shopping bags. Work resources.Travel cots (when at the parenting/grandparenting stages of life) And so on.

Or on the demographics. Tesla drivers will, I'd hazard a guess, be a fair bit older than the mean, a hell of a lot wealthier and accordingly, have significantly more money invested in their vehicles. I'd hazard another guess that there won't be many high mileage long distance drivers among them. They'll either be driving a desk when not in their Tesla or being ferried to the airport for international travel.

Re: Home Automation is the Future (cont)...

Yep. I have a Hive. It sort of came with the British Gas boiler installation. It's useful to control the heating from my phone. And I only just discovered that it even has other internetty things. Nice to have a record of my fuel use, too, but I won't be too bothered if that part ceases to work. Because the Hive will still control the heating. And to be honest BG Centrica is probably as safe a bet as you'll get. If only because of the regulatory and political searchlights on them.

Re: Open Standards

should never be bought, however cheap it is.

Like any other form of gambling* the boundary is how much you can afford to lose ( emotionally as well as financially). If your IoT kit becomes a fancy door stop in a year or so's time and you can just shrug and get on with life, then go for it ( though the environmental impact is another kettle of ball games).

If you are going to suffer, don't do it.

*I seldom waste money on gambling. And then only tiny sums. because it hurts me to throw money at bookmakers and other such parasites. A quid on the Grand National every couple of years and a tenner at a casino once in a decade. That I can cope with.

Re: Netflix is over

There's at least one scene where Roger Moore's Bond drags a protesting woman into the sauna. It's definitely a bit rapey.

Re: Twitter's job is to be Twitter – not to make people rich

The historical difference seems to be the new need for maximisation of profits. A business that makes enough money to pay its expenses and give its owners/shareholders a nice fat income is no longer considered adequate, at least not if institutional buyers take an interest. The institutions will buy any company which has a share value that is potentially underachieving. Then ratchet up that share value by any short term means it can. Long term strength or even the existence of the company has no relevance if its assets can be milked. It is the slash-and-burn approach to business.

It's not so much about "too scared" it's that rational people use rational means and look for rational explanations, which may be nuanced. The flat Earth/conspiracy nut jobs and the like have no need to behave in that way. They are impervious to such trivialities as evidence and logic. And psychologically a strongly held, confident opinion will be more powerful than a rational "on balance" one. We see this with vaccine reluctance. The rational arguments that vaccines are massively much safer than the virus and have been extensively tested and billions of people have used them doesn't convince some people nearly as much as being told confidently that the vaccine is an evil ploy by the politicians and those terrible big pharmers ( why's there no tractor icon?) to put them under mind control.

Re: Twitter's job is to be Twitter – not to make people rich

At least part of which is that to grow, even to the point of survival, the money bags have to be brought in. Beancounters and professional investors. And all they see is money. That's assuming that there was genuine altruism to start with. I'm pretty sure that Amazon always had a game plan beyond flogging cheap books. And Gates' Microsoft was always about commoditising tech. Anyone think Apple was different?

Re: Same old trick?

Both

Re: Twitter - the pinnacle of soundbite crap

Twitter allows "threads", a chain of sequential Tweets. So there's no such limit really. Long rants, and even well thought through arguments can and do exist there. Sadly writing isn't the same as reading. When I did twitter it was hard not to notice that as a thread progressed the number of people interacting ("likes" etc) diminished. It would appear that for many people reading a single Tweet represented a major effort. Following a thread to its conclusion was just too far beyond them.

Re: It's scams all the way down

All money is imaginary really. But it's backed by big banks and nations. That banks create money isn't sufficiently well understood by the public. One of the major scams works by telling people that their money is at risk and has to be moved to a new secure account. It works partly because people think their money physically exists as a big pile of cash in a vault.

In fact it only exists as numbers in a ledger. Banks hold cash to meet day to day withdrawals and legal requirements. But they can create money as a multiple of that cash simply by loaning it as a credit- it's just numbers. It's why run on a bank is such a disaster. Suddenly they have to find actual cash to give to desperate customers. But the cash isn't there. It doesn't exist.

Re: So it's not just me.

In that sense it's like the difference between being a bookmaker and a mug punter. The Turf Accountant is betting on most of the Mug Punters losing. With odds adjusted to make sure they do OK themselves. The odds aren't about the chance of the individual Mug Punter's selection winning. They're a measure of the bookmakers' risk exposure.

Re: Grifters all the way down

Nah. You don't need blockchain for that either. Most scammers seem to get by perfectly well without it.

It just makes the job more efficient. The benefits of modern technology innit.