* Posts by Big_Boomer

1150 publicly visible posts • joined 18 May 2007

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Palantir boss says outfit's software the only reason the 'goose step' has not returned to Europe

Big_Boomer Silver badge

He who denied it, Supplied it, or 21st Century Hypocrisy!

Palantir, Cambridge Analytica, and AggregateIQ were all implicated in the coordinated manipulation of public opinion in the run up to the Brexit Referendum. I am not talking about open persuasion, rather the sub-conscious manipulation of the general public in devious and underhanded ways that Adolf and Uncle Joe would have cum in their pants just thinking about. They continue in that same vein to this day backing the extreme right and "big money" at the expense of 99% of the human race in just about every election going. Them claiming to have prevented the rise of Fascism is just fucking hilarious when they are pretty much the cause of the rise of Populism/Fascism in the western world over the last 10 years.

It is a bird, a plane or a Chinese spy balloon? None of the above

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: China insisted was an errant weather balloon

"I mean, any modern satellite (read Google Earth) image showing the color and details of a car or window of a high-rise blow through your heat shimmer theory."

I suggest you research into how Google Maps/Earth imaging is done. Most of the images you see when zoomed in are from mapping aircraft flying at lower (below 15,000ft) altitudes. Google Maps/Earth just stiches them together cleverly. Atmospheric distortion is enough of an issue that Astronomical telescopes spend many millions every year on systems to try to correct the effect of the distortion.

Moving to Windows 11 is so easy! You just need to buy a PC that supports it!

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Ooooooohhhh SHINY-SHINY!!

"Look we have new SHINY-SHINY that has built in AI and lots of other bullshittium and it'll make your schlong bigger and your breath fresher too." Is it really any better? No. Is it worth the expense. Not even slightly. Are they just releasing it to try to make even more money? Of course they are.

When I bought my PC (early 2015) it came with Win8.1. I reformatted the disk and installed Win7 because Win8.x was shit!. A couple of years later I upgraded it to Win10 because it was free and I liked it, apart from the childish "Win 8" tiles menu which I still hate, so I run OpenShell.

Now they expect me to buy a new PC just so I can run their latest SHINY-SHINY? Feck-orf! If they'd made it compatible with my 8 year old CPU then I'd probably already be running it, but I'm not throwing away money just because they have a new SHINY-SHINY.

I'll probably buy a new PC with Win11 (or whatever is current at the time) when they finally release GTA-6 for PC. That is something I will want to play and the release of GTA 5 was what motivated my last PC purchase.

Welcome to 2024: Volkswagen really is putting ChatGPT into cars as a gabby copilot

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: "It may stop some people fiddling with their phones while behind the wheel"

"The M10 opened in 1959 down graded to non motorway 50 years later"

Quite right, my apologies. I should have known as I used to drive past it on the M1 many years ago.

I can only blame senility and an overloaded brain <LOL>

Big_Boomer Silver badge

"Computer"

Whenever I see someone talking at their mobile phone it always reminds me of Scotty picking up the mouse in Star Trek 4, and talking to it. <LOL> Personally I have never felt the need to use voice control of anything. I can see it being extremely useful to the disabled and the blind but for the rest of use there simply are not that many uses for it. Everyone I know who has a voice control system seems to use it extensively for a few weeks, and then the novelty fades.

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Facepalm

Re: "It may stop some people fiddling with their phones while behind the wheel"

"Perfect example is my missus... On the M25 heading to the M1 from the M4, in full hands free gabbing on how her day went. Next thing she knows is that she's at the M10 junction."

WOW!! Time Travel. The M10 hasn't even been built yet. <LOL> ;-)

BOFH: Hearken! The Shiny Button software speaks of Strategic Realignment

Big_Boomer Silver badge

AI?

I take it from people comments that it doesn't mean "Anal Investigation" then? Seems to me that it's best suited to being added to all such Rectal Rubbernecking "metrics" software.

Microsoft's Notepad goes from simple text editor to Copilot conspirator

Big_Boomer Silver badge

B-b-b-b-b-but how else can we justify the BILLIONS spent on "AI"?

It's time for the Microsoft shotgun of functionality. We've created something but have no idea what use it could have, so we will throw it at everything and see if any of it sticks. What's next? Deepfake logfiles? <LOL>

AI models just love escalating conflict to all-out nuclear war

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Dumbf*cks!

Even more glad I decided not to have kids. Hopefully the next sentient species to arise on this planet will learn from our mistakes.

Cory Doctorow has a plan to wipe away the enshittification of tech

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: Eternal Growth

I have no problems with growth, and even continuous growth, but it will never be eternal. Yes, short-term investors are a problem but so are the longer term investors who expect exponential growth and push Boards and CEOs into making sub-optimal decisions. As for my handle, although I am right at the end of the Baby Boomer generation, my handle comes from my use of "Boomshanka" in email signatures years and years ago.

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Eternal Growth

The root problem is the idea of eternal growth. Shareholders expect the same or better dividend than last year, even if last years was a freak, and the CEOs have no choice but to try to deliver because they are the same in wanting more money, more, more, MORE!! ALL HAIL THE GREAT GOD OF GREED! Most people want more, but the big difference with shareholders is that they get to VOTE to give themselves more and they don't care if it ****s up the company they have shares in, as they can always sell those and buy something else.

Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will fly no more, but is still standing upright

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Pint

RIP Ingenuity

Rest in Pieces that is. It outperformed it's design specs massively and was so useful that I imaging most future probes will carry it's successors. A beer for it's designers, builders, and operators and one for me too because it's FRIDAY!

How Sinclair's QL computer outshined Apple's Macintosh against all odds

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Love/Hate

I remember my Dad's QL with equal doses of love and hate. I loved the fact that it was so fast and allowed me to do so much more than my much upgraded 64Kb ZX81, but I hated those infernal pieces of sh!t,... the Microdrives. After I left home Dad replaced them with external 3½" floppy drives which worked much better and could store 360Kb each. We both migrated to X86 machines in the late 80s and never looked back, but the QL was a very capable machine in it's day and 18 months earlier than the Atari/Amiga that killed the QL off.

Drivers: We'll take that plain dumb car over a flashy data-spilling internet one, thanks

Big_Boomer Silver badge

What is the purpose of the car?

If you have a car for transport, then a wired/subscription/self-driving car is ideal. You pay monthly, the car drives you wherever you want to go, and never gets nicked for speeding because it's not allowed to speed. It drops you off outside your destination, and then parks itself and recharges whilst parked. When you want it, you summon it and it comes to get you. Chauffeur service for all.

However, if you have a car because you enjoy driving, then all of that just gets in the way. Yes, all the amazing tech means that you can drive faster and safer, corner faster and brake better, but it is computers doing all of that, not you. The joys of driving cars like the earlier Mazda MX-5/Miata are 100% BECAUSE there are no nanny-devices so it's just you, and that makes it fun. Personally I ride motorcycles for fun, but it's the same there. Modern motorcycles have ride-by-wire throttles with "cornering traction control", computer controlled braking and several other systems that make them safer and capable of easily being ridden ridiculously fast, but they are uninvolving and less fun than a foul handling 1970s bike that required skill and even some luck to ride fast. Honda even built a prototype motorcycle that self-balances and can ride itself. WTF is the point of that except for maybe replacing Deliveroo riders?

UK PM promises faster justice for Post Office Horizon victims

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Dither and Delay

"If we manage to drag it out for long enough, then enough of the victims will die and that will cut down the costs, or maybe we can blame it on Labour. Oh wait, did we think that out loud?"

This entire episode is criminal on the part of The Post Office, Fujitsu, and the UK Government (Civil Service and both Labour and Conservative governments), for aiding and abetting the cover up. If an individual did these things they would never get out of prison. Heads (PLURAL) need to roll for this and that includes those at The Post Office, Fujitsu, and in the Government.

OpenAI: 'Impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted materials'

Big_Boomer Silver badge

You PAY!!!

When you buy a book, you pay. When you borrow a book from a library, you pay (via your taxes that fund the library so it can buy books). The problem with these "AI" companies is that they all seem to be made up of Freetards who have never paid for anything on the Internet, and still believe that they shouldn't have to. If there was no Internet/WWW that allowed them to steal what they wanted to train their "AI" how would they train it? Yes, they would have to PAY for the materials. This is just Freetard mentality being extended to corporate level. On that basis I should be allowed to use their "AI" products for free forever. Oh wait, how can they make any profit if nobody is paying them? TANSTAAFL!!!!

Biden urged to do something about Europe 'unfairly' targeting American tech

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Wahhhhhh, waaaahhhh, but I WANT!!!

Shock horror, Congress-Babies on both sides of the Commie/Fascist divide wet their nappies because the companies that fund their campaigns are being told by the EU that they will have to behave themselves in future. At the rate USA is going you will soon have to modify your Constitution to start with "We the Corporations of the United States", not that our UK/EU governments are much better in that respect. I suggest that the US Government turn the spotlight on the US corporations and get them to put their house in order before pointing fingers elsewhere and crying "not fair!".

UK officials caught napping ahead of 2G and 3G doomsday

Big_Boomer Silver badge

G for Generation

TACS = 1G (Analogue), GSM = 2G (Digital + SMS), 3G (added the data only channel to 2G), 4G (LTE, faster data that can also handle calls & messaging), 5G (even faster data).

4G coverage is shocking given that it has been "out" for over 10 years. Perhaps OFCOM needs to step in and state that the networks cannot switch off 2G or 3G in each area until they can prove that all users in that particular area can get a usable 4G signal at a minimum. That would motivate the networks to get their shit together and sort out their coverage. As for those still relying on 2G/3G coverage for infrastructure, you need to get your fingers out of your collective rectums and get a move on. I still don't understand why that kind of data cannot be sent over the power lines. If it's low enough bandwidth it's not going to cause much RFI if any, and the power supply infrastructure isn't going to go away until cold-fusion becomes a reality.

Is it 2000 or 2023? Get ready for AI-anchored news. Again

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Fake News

Very much a "Meh" moment. I guess it'll allow the TV channels to keep on delivering "The News" in the same old format whilst their viewing figures decline away to nothing alongside the decline of the Newspaper. Now the worlds governments will need to find other channels to peddle their fear mongering,.... oh wait,... they already are. <sigh>

NASA engineers scratch heads as Voyager 1 starts spouting cosmic gibberish

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Alien

Re: Science History

Alien spaceship rocks up and announces to Planet Earth that it has been found guilty of interstellar littering and has been fined ψ3,000. This is reduced to ψ1,500 if paid within 28 standard Antarean days. Crypto-currencies are NOT accepted. They also warn us that we are in danger of a 2nd fine if Voyager 2 is allowed to proceed.

British railway system is getting another excuse for delays – solar storms

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Pointless waste of time

If we suffer a CME large enough to knock out the Railway Signalling system, then chances are we are all doomed as the Grid will be down, and a great many other electrical/electronic systems will be dead. As for restarting the Grid, that's another reason why we have huge Nuclear Power stations as they have turbines and generators that match or exceed the coal fired station systems.

Honda cooks up an electric motorbike menu, with sides of connectivity

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Hmmmmmm

I like the sound of a "modular" motorcycle and understand it's appeal from a manufacturers and end users point of view, but please leave all that "tech" shite in the cars. I don't want to be connected to anything except my motorcycle. The latest motorcycles have a plethora of gadgets but very few of them enhance the experience, and many of them can detract from the experience. Yes, that active suspension/cornering traction control/linked braking system can let you corner faster and safer,.... but what's the point when it's the computers doing it, not you. I like ABS because it only intrudes when needed and could save me, but almost all of the rest of the "rider assist" stuff is not for me. Yes, not having the "rider assist" tech makes riding more dangerous but it also makes riding more personal and immediate. I was looking forward to experiencing the instant torque of an electric motor between my legs, but since it seems it is going to be slathered in "tech" then no thanks. There is a reason why people want "retro" bikes and that reason is that the "experience" of modern bikes is too sanitised, managed, and controlled.

Videoconferencing fatigue is real, study finds

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Meetings!!!

Not videoconferences, MEETINGS! Meeting Fatigue is the issue. Endless f***ing meetings where nothing gets decided except maybe when to hold the next meeting. Meetings which only seem to be held so certain people can tell everyone what they do for a living, and expect a pat on the back for it. Meetings held so that certain people can have a nice full calendar to point to whilst claiming how busy they are. The medium for the meeting is utterly irrelevant, video-conf, phone-conf, in-vivo-conf, they are all the same. I have no problems with meetings that actually achieve something or are educational/informative, but really not interested in meetings where satisfying someone's ego or filling someone's Calendar is the only thing that is achieved.

UK's cookie crumble: Data watchdog serves up tougher recipe for consent banners

Big_Boomer Silver badge

TANSTAAFL

The bottom line of this is money. You want a free access website, so the site deploys adverts to earn enough to provide that "free" access and to make a profit. The advertisers want to know if their adverts are effective (value for money) on the site so they want ways of finding out how many of your sites users have bought or considered buying their product. This requires some form of tracking as otherwise there would be no way of knowing if their advert spend was worth the effort. The alternative is pretty bad as advertisers will either stop advertising on a site or else reduce their spend there if they don't think they are getting value for money. Over time that tracking got used for other purposes like targeted advertising. I've never been a fan of advertising or tracking and the attitude (greed) of some sites and advertisers makes me avoid them like the plague, but beware of what you wish for as when enough people block all ads those "free" sites are soon going to disappear. Yes, you have a right to privacy but the site you are accessing has a right to earn an income and that money has to come from somewhere.

South Korea opens the door for robots to roam among pedestrians

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Hackers paradise

Can you imagine the chaos when a group of hackers gets control of these or when a gang of thugs "plays" with one? <LOL>

15Kph is slightly faster than running speed and whilst these things will mostly be going slower than that try to imagine a runner bumping into you. I once got rammed by a bicycle courier in London on a pedestrian part of Oxford Street. He (wrongly) assumed that I would leap out of his way and he severely miscalculated the consequences of ramming me, since I weighed at least twice what he and his bicycle weighed combined. Luckily for him a Policeman saw it all and saved the scrawny moron from more injuries than those he got from hitting the unyielding pavement.

X fails to remove hate speech over Israel-Gaza conflict

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: Xitter has problems policing hate speech ?

>If I post one antisemitic and one Islamophobic tweet, do they cancel out ?

No, all they do is mark you out as a hate monger or a troll. 99% of those posting hate comments on anti-social media would not have the balls to make those same statements in front of people representing the group they are promoting hate towards. They feel all safe and brave hiding behind their keyboards. We all have things that we hate, but the civilised amongst us try keep such opinions to ourselves. Yes, I have failed in this instance but then I never claimed to be perfect.

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean AI's not after you

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Facepalm

What a dumbf**k!

Do horses have jobs? Or was he referring to the farriers and the saddlers and the stable managers and the veterinarians and the many other jobs that supported the use of horses for transport? Yes, jobs evolve and change over time and "AI" is not going to be any different assuming that the people coming through our education system right now are getting what they need to support the "AI" systems of the future, but jobs for less educated but never the less skilled people are going to be automated out of existence by "AI" so what are all those who failed their O-Levels and dropped out of school going to do? We have lost a lot of our manufacturing so where those people going to get an apprenticeship to learn a skill so that they can earn a living and contribute to society and our economy? Or did the dumbf**k in his ivory executive tower forget all about such people?

Millions of smart meters will brick it when 2G and 3G turns off

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Yet another government sponsored clusterfuck

I had "Smart" meters installed years ago and neither of them have ever managed to communicate with my energy suppliers since they were installed and I live in the middle of a red brick housing estate. As a consequence I get hassled by my supplier every month to provide a reading and if I don't then their "estimates" are stupidly huge. From my point of view they have made the whole process of energy supply more of a hassle and less convenient. I have twice complained about the non-communicating meters and the people I spoke to implied that my situation is quite common. In July the FT reported that over 3 million "smart" meters do not communicate with the energy providers. So, nearly 10% of them don't work as intended, they have increased our costs, and will soon become obsolete. Yup, that's the classic definition of clusterfuck in my book. Yes I do understand the potential benefits from their use but as usual nobody thought about future proofing the system or even making sure that it worked reliably in the first place.

Since the electricity meter is by definition hardwired to the nearest substation, why did the "smart" meters not communicate over that wire to a system in the substation and from there to their central servers? The gas meter could communicate wirelessly or by wire with the electricity meter since they are almost always close to each other, and from there on to the servers. It's not like there is a huge amount of data to transfer so why use wireless 2G/3G comms? Now we will all have to pay AGAIN for another set of "smarter" meters. I wonder how the incompetents will fuck that up?

Amazon unveils new drone design, plans liftoff of aerial delivery in UK, Italy

Big_Boomer Silver badge

5 metres clearance?

Good luck getting that much clearance in 99% of UK urban/suburban gardens. My Garden is 8 metres wide and 8 metres long but has 2 trees, a covered deck, a shed and a greenhouse so zero chance there, and mine is fairly large for a suburban garden, let alone an urban one.

Sony, Honda tease EV that aims to be a lounge on wheels

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: And a snip at $$$$$$

Electric motors produce peak torque at zero rpm. Try holding your 185lbft petrol/diesel car on the brakes when you are at your engines peak torque value in 1st gear. You will be fighting both the inertia of the car AND the 185lbft from the engine.

This kind of problem is similar to the runaway cruise control problems. All cruise controls now have to have a manual override and the same needs to be added to all electric cars. If I remember correctly shouldn't all electric cars have battery isolator switches? Maybe that switch needs to be in reach of the driver?

BOFH: We've made a big mesh, Boss. That's what you wanted, right?

Big_Boomer Silver badge

An appropriate message?

Why not use a real phone number, and record a message for all who call it starting with hysterical laughter and then saying "Get a life you sad loser!" ?

Twitter further restricts free tier with option to limit replies to verified accounts

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Flame

Mmmm, more popcorn please.

"The Xitter, The Xitter, The Xitter is on fire, we don't need no water let the motherfunker burn, BURN MOTHERFUNKER BUUUUURRRRRNN!" <LOL> I would be toasting marshmallows but not sure that it's safe to toast them on a burning Xitter.

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: X Management visualised…

Not very many, but they were harder to extinguish than the many many petrol/diesel cars that burned merrily. Battery cars are WAY less likely to catch fire than petrol/diesel cars. Don't believe the hype, check the figures for your self.

New information physics theory is evidence 'we're living in a simulation,' says author

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Boffin

All Hail

I for one would like to to be the first to welcome our Simulator Overlords!

8.1 Billion people and they ALL have brains, but many don't use what they have to a greater or lesser extent.

Not even the ghost of obsolescence can coerce users onto Windows 11

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Not like us!!

Believe it or not, most PC users are NOT LIKE US. They don't give a flying **** about MicroSatan or Gungle or Fartbank steaking their data, so long as their icons stay put and their software doesn't change too much. They don't want to learn a new OS or a new Office program or that a-n-other software that so many of us are stuck with (which only runs on Windows), so they stay on Windows. They are not SysAds or Coders or H@ckers or whatever species of tech-junkie you are, they are just users and they just use. If forced to use Win11 they will grumble but will learn it because they get paid to learn it and do stuff on it/with it. They include the VERY people who make the decisions on what OS to use in future like CEOs, CFOs, and CTOs. Nobody ever asks us techies for our opinion or even listens if we raise an issue.

When they have to, companies will move to Win11 or Win12 and pretty much none of them will move to Unix/Linux, just like the last time Windows moved to a new version, and the time before that,... and the time before that,......and no amount of wailing and chanting "Linux is God" is ever going to change that.

For home users, the PC is mostly dead/dying anyways. Tablets/Phones/ChromeBooks have usurped pretty much all of the things people use PCs for. Email, web, gaming, social media, etc. I still have a PC that is currently excluded from upgrading to Win11 due to it's CPU, but it mostly only gets switched on so I can play music whilst I work so it can continue on Win10 for all I care. Yes, I could install <insert-fave>Linux on it instead, but I really can't be arsed. When it dies I doubt I'll replace it.

Human knocks down woman in hit-and-run. Then driverless Cruise car parks on top of her

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Waste of time. Humans are inattentive when they are actually supposed to be controlling the vehicle, so they have zero chance of reacting to something a computer controlled car does before it hurts someone. (minimum wage human looks up from his cellphone and exclaims "did we hit someone?")

What I want to see are stats comparing the injuries/deaths per mile travelled of human controlled vehicles vs computer controlled vehicles. I'm willing to bet that computer controlled are already WAY better than human controlled, but people (and the media) always highlight the one/few instance(s) where it suits their agenda. It's the same with EV vehicle fires. Every time one catches fire the media have an orgasm over it but there are WAY more fossil fuel powered vehicle fires than there are EV, even if you count them as a proportion of each vehicle type.

Why can't datacenter operators stop thinking about atomic power?

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: France is finding that nuclear power isn’t that reliable either

ALL power production methods require regular maintenance and repairs. Wind and Solar are excellent but unreliable due to weather changes and fossil fuels have highly volatile pricing and are massive polluters. The problem in France last year was a management and political failure, not a nuclear one. We have a much worse problem here in the UK because successive short-sighted politicians on both sides neglected nuclear power for 40+ years, so now we find ourselves reliant on gas and imported electricity. A mix of power production methods is needed and we need the ability to over-produce substantially so that we can adapt to the vagaries of the national/international power market. Nuclear is an important part of that, as are wind, solar, hydro, and even fossil fuels when needed. France put too many of their eggs in one basket, but here we simply don't have enough eggs, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

California governor vetoes bill requiring human drivers in robo trucks

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Nothing new here.

Mechanisation of farming saw the creation of Unions to fight it, and yet the mechanisation continues to this day. Luddites violently objected to the mechanisation of the textile industry, and yet today it is a highly mechanised industry. No matter the immediate outcome of the current contest, the march of progress WILL lead to there being less and less truck/taxi/bus drivers.

The base problem as always is greed. Investors (people) want bigger returns from their investments in companies. Those companies want ever increasing productivity for ever decreasing costs to satisfy their investors. The companies workers (people) want ever increasing wages for ever decreasing workload. A great many professions are going to be automated out of existence by AI and self-driving vehicles, and by changes to how our society functions. It won't just be manual labour based jobs either. A great many jobs in IT will soon be able to be automated. How fast can you "upskill"?

Doom developer John Carmack thinks artificial general intelligence is doable by 2030

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: Bard says...

In my experience most human beings are incapable of logical Reasoning, struggle with Problem-solving, and try to avoid Learning and having to Adapt as much as possible. We are a mess of reflexes (pre-programmed and learned), and emotions, as well as intelligence and for many the emotional/reflexive side overwhelms what little intelligence they have leading to a severe lack of actual thought. Even AGI would never come close to approximating Homo Sapiens, but it will probably lead to a massive improvement over us in terms of evolution. Hopefully we can manage to work side by side with them, but if our history is anything to go by there is fuck all chance of that happening.

OSIRIS-REx successfully delivers NASA's first asteroid sample

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Alien

I for one,...

would like to welcome home a small part of what I saw blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Sept 2016. Of course I also welcome our new Asteroid Overlords. <LOL>

Scientists spot startlingly close black holes in Hyades star cluster

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Mass (not size) matters

If they are stellar mass black holes then coming close to our solar system would have an effect, much the same as having another sun pass close by. If, however they are smaller then they would need to get MUCH closer to have any real effect. Yes, there are theories that smaller black holes can be created and they may in fact be the mysterious "dark matter" that is hypothesized. As for one passing close enough to affect us, it's possible,..... but so is winning the Lottery Jackpot 5 times in a row. <LOL>

Microsoft Edge still forcing itself on users in Europe

Big_Boomer Silver badge

EDGE is your MASTER!

"All your browser links are BELONG TO EDGE!" <LOL> I think that MS are suffering from the fact that the world saw Edge and went "Meh". Well MS, I can guarantee that you won't get market share by pissing your customers off, and your current mindset is doing EXACTLY that.

BMW deems drivers worthy of warmth, ends heated car seat subscription

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: Badge snobbery

I never said that German stuff is crap. Yes, my old S320 was unreliable crap but both my Carltons were very good (German made, Opel Omega). What I said is that if you want reliable, then Japanese is the way to go. As for what runs our grid, digs our tunnels, etc. they are not cars, and cars (specifically BMWs) were what was being discussed.

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Badge snobbery

Why don't they charge a subscription fee for the BMW badge? It seems to be all that owners want them for since many of them seem to be incapable of driving their "drivers car" according to rules clearly laid out in The Highway Code. Yes, they do seem to be fairly reliable cars that are fairly well built and some models do have a certain exciting feel to them, but I don't get why people are willing to pay that much extra for them. Me, I own a 19 year old LS430 with 140k miles on it, before that had a 98 Honda Legend, then 2001 Merc S320CDI, then another 98 Legend, then a 2.6 Carlton Diplomat and my first car was a Carlton 2.0 GL. I have tried various BMWs over the years (535, 540, M5(E60-V10), 730d, and 750) and they were all a tight squeeze (I'm a BIG bloke) and none of them really impressed me the way a car with those price-tags should have. My Merc was an unreliable POS as well. People bang on about German Engineering, but my personal experience is if you want reliable, you want Japanese.

Okay, SMART ePANTS, you tell us how to create network-connected textiles

Big_Boomer Silver badge

AI-AI-AIO

AI Jeans to AI Washing Machine - "Hey buddy, go easy on the spin cycle. I'll get all creased an' stuff dude!"

AI Washing Machine - "I thought you denim types were rufty-tufty and hard wearing, ya big wuss!"

AI Jeans - "But I am expensive, designer jeans so I am delicate and should be treated gently"

AI Washing Machine - "Yeah, OK. Keep your pants on!" (Sets spin cycle to 2500rpm)

If you like to play along with the illusion of privacy, smart devices are a dumb idea

Big_Boomer Silver badge

''Smart' Washing Machine

"ALL YOUR SOCKS ARE BELONG TO ME! Everything else is to be sold to anyone and everyone who will pay me for your data. They can have all of that as I only want YOUR SOCKS!"

Grant Shapps named UK defense supremo in latest 'tech-savvy' Tory tale

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: It's not a talent pool.

It's not a talent pool.

It's a talent sewer.

(Fixed it for you)

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is returning with its first-ever asteroid sample

Big_Boomer Silver badge
Alien

All your Asteroid are belong to us!

I was at the Kennedy Space Centre for the launch on 8 Sept 2016. Watched the launch from the nearly empty car park after a day touring the complex. Was the highlight of a 2 week visit to the Orlando area, although Discovery Cove came a close second. I've followed it's progress ever since and would like to be the first to welcome our Asteroidal Overlords on their triumphant arrival in Utah. <LOL>

We all scream for ice cream – so why are McDonald's machines always broken?

Big_Boomer Silver badge

No sh!t Sherlock

I briefly worked for McD as an assistant manager WAY back in the dark ages (late 80's) and the Thick Shake machines (very similar in function to ice cream machines) broke down constantly even then. The problems are down to the requirements for handling Milk based products and the fact that Milk is a bacterial growth TURBOCHARGER! Back then every single machine had to be stripped and sterilised every night and that process involves chemicals that damage parts of the machine like seals and o-rings, in fact anything that isn't made of medical grade stainless steel. Once sterilised the machine was left like that overnight and then in the morning was rinsed through with water to get rid of the sterilising chemicals after reassembly. So, you have a complex machine with lots of seals that was stripped every night and reassembled every morning by McD's staff and as a consequence the machines were often broken? How reliable do you think your car engine would be if it was regularly stripped and reassembled by junior apprentices? Yes, the companies that make those machines have tried to make them as moron-proof as possible and I believe they may only need to be sterilised once per week these days. The fact that the manufacturers are also open to being sued by customers and/or McDs (and most other sellers of Dairy fast-foods) just adds to their hyper-caution.

Japan complains Fukushima water release created terrifying Chinese Spam monster

Big_Boomer Silver badge

Re: Carbon 14

No, Carbon dating is useless for anything that died since 1945 as the release of C14 into the atmosphere by all the nukes detonated in the atmosphere have totally screwed it's usefulness. This is why some companies are taking steel and other metals from older shipwrecks for use in building certain instrumentation as it has a WAY lower C14 content than new steel.

As for the nutters throwing their toys out of the pram over this,... there are far worse environmental releases going on all over the world so perhaps they could highlight those rather than crying about what is effectively water being released into water.

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