There's some hard choices to be made
It's like Family Guy: Ok guys, who would you rather do: Margaret Becket or an incontinent horse, but the horse has been dead for six hours.
Posts by Willington
86 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Feb 2011
MP headshot sex rating site: Gentlemen prefer Tories
Bin Laden's porn stash: Too good to be true?
Ten... fantasy gadgets you wish you owned
UK.gov would pay to have benefit claimants' tattoos erased
Slack bank practice creates opportunity for phone phishing scams
Thursday 5th May 2011 21:38 GMT
Nat West
Nat West don't get it either. I recently asked an operator who had phoned me to provide me with a couple of specific characters from my security string to prove his identity and he promptly hung up. I phoned Nat West to tell them of a potential phishing scam and they told me that their credit department had been trying to contact me. Bloody amateurs.
I also had some debt collection agency contact me by letter asking me to phone them which I did. The operator then asked me to confirm my name and address which I did because it was already on the letter they had sent me. They then asked for my date of birth and couldn't understand why I refused to give it to them. They refused to talk to me which, to be honest, is absolutely the best result I could have asked for. We are now at an impasse. If they can't prove to me who they are (considering it is a company who I have never had any dealings with so they can't) and I won't prove to them who I am (because I think they are phishing) and they won't talk to me unless I do then there's sod all they can do to recover any money that they feel I may owe them except take me to court for it and I've already explained to them that this is what I would prefer them to do (they seem hesitant to do this for some reason as did the three other debt collection agencies that tried to recover this alleged debt).
For the record, I don't owe them anything, it relates to a situation with 3 and their absolutely godawful "customer services" that they should have rectified 5 years ago but didn't, but it's a novel situation and one which I'm more than happy to experiment with.
DARPA, NASA look to spawn STARSHIP enterprise
Thursday 5th May 2011 12:48 GMT
@Mystic Megabyte
As population is one of the biggest problems we face and it is the elephant in the room that nobody will discuss (because population control doesn't really win a lot of votes, especially among Catholics) then it would seem to me that these people are spending money on solving problems here on Earth.
The Sun will die in 5 billion years, the Earth in less time than that. If we don't spend some money now then we'll have less time than we do already to solve this issue and before you know it the end of the world will be a week on Tuesday and we'll still be stuck here.
I'm not a dreamer, I'm a realist with children who I hope will have children who I hope will have children who...
Vote now for the best sci-fi film never made
Obama to pop down to Endeavour launch
Doctor Who's Elisabeth Sladen dies at 63
Death threats against 'worst song ever' YouTube teen
The best sci-fi film never made: Also-rans take a bow
Tuesday 19th April 2011 11:50 GMT
Ooh
Only 3 Banks novels in this list which leaves at least 4 others (from what I remember in the comments) in contention for the top 50. What will you do after the final vote is cast? Are you going to stump up some cash for the winning movie to be made? No? Oh well... maybe someone with the influence to make it happen will get to see the results, you never know.
Pope says gravity proves technology can't supplant God
Monday 18th April 2011 15:24 GMT
@Copsewood
Bollocks. We are all thinking people who self-analyse constantly. If I feel that I'm doing something wrong then I stop doing it whereas Catholics tend to accept that they do wrong, confess it, then do it again. The confession absolves them of guilt and assures them a place in Heaven but it doesn't stop them being cunts. Your assertion that I have to go into church to acknowledge my own failings (or as you call it "sin") is complete and utter bollocks. The church does not have the monopoly on morality and it actually offends me to hear this kind of crap from a bunch of pederasts.
So, what's the best sci-fi film never made?
Mummy, mummy, there's a nuclear monster!
Tuesday 12th April 2011 14:56 GMT
Re: AC 14:08 GMT
I read the article you linked to and I can't see any deaths. Any speculation about the "One worker [who] suffered from significant exposure during 'vent work,' and was transported to an offsite center" would be just that - speculation. The 17 people who were exposed to radioactive material to their faces weren't even taken to hospital because there was no need. 2 policemen exposed were decontaminated, again no mention of hospital. Firemen who were exposed are under investigation, no mention of hospital or any subsequent health risk again.
The only measurable health consequences I can see are a couple of months sitting down for the guy with broken legs which can hardly be attributable to radiation (unless the particles were especially large). The 2 people who were suddenly 'taken ill' were more likely to have been suffering from shock due to all the scaremongering rather than anything radiation-linked.
So who was it you were saying had the agenda?
Steven Moffat promises 'darker' Doctor Who
Tuesday 5th April 2011 14:06 GMT
Re: Meg C
Blink was a superb episode but I thought the angels were the weakest thing about it. A bit silly really, quantum entities who turn to stone when you look at them? They wouldn't survive me with a bag full of amphetamines, a torch strapped to my head and a sledgehammer for more than a few minutes. The excellent thing about Blink was the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff which was some of the best time travel related SF I'd seen on TV for ages.
The follow up was too silly for words. It seemed to me that the writers, knowing how popular Blink had been, had tried to cash in on it's success but missed the point entirely.
Fukushima one week on: Situation 'stable', says IAEA
Fukushima on Thursday: Prospects starting to look good
Exhibition to applaud videogames as art
Monday 21st February 2011 14:36 GMT 
Amiga?
Most other platforms and consoles are covered but we seem to be missing the Amiga. Obviously anything produced on an Amiga can't be art. This possibly must include "You Are The One" by Andy Warhol and Babylon 5 but I only wanted to vote for Alien Breed 3D with its (at the time) stunning use of graphics!
Radiohead goes out on a limb with 'newspaper album'
Monday 21st February 2011 14:02 GMT
Re: (untitled) - Mechman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_By_Little
It's interesting that one of the tracks on The King of Limbs is called "Little by Little".
I think the "experimental" tag comes from their music rather than any gimmicks, after all, people have been giving music away for years before there was any such thing as torrents. Remember Komakino by Joy Division?
Radiohead surprises fans with early online album release
Monday 21st February 2011 11:23 GMT
Very nice but worrying
I hated every Radiohead album since OK Computer on the first listen only to have it grow on me over the next few listens until I could appreciate them properly. This one however I loved on first listen which is worrying, it goes against the flow.
Most of my mates hated it but they've not heard Radiohead since The Bends/OK Computer. Their loss I reckon.
I also thought £30 for the boxed Vinyl/CD/Artwork was a good deal. I paid £40 for In Rainbows and the quality of the package was superb. Though I'm a little worried by the oxo-degradable plastic cover. Do I have to seal it in a vacuum to stop it rotting (or possibly soak it in Bovril)?
Sarkozy: Microsoft represents all that is great about France
Sex offenders will get a review – after 15 years
Thursday 17th February 2011 13:29 GMT
Re: Willington, I don't agree.
I'm not sure that you don't agree. You mention a 15 year old daughter having a sexual relationship. I don't see anything to worry about there either. If you had said "a 15 year old daughter who had been groomed from the age of 8 by a 23 year old man" then I would have a concern, but you didn't so I don't.
Wednesday 16th February 2011 21:05 GMT
Let's complicate things
"Release criminals when they can show they're unlikely to do it again."
This could apply to any crime and has nothing to do with statistics, it needs to be on an individual basis, something like the Three Strikes system which is ok I suppose but you are also suggesting that sex offenders are only allowed one strike.
"For most criminals, they *aren't* likely to do it again (reoffending rates are around 2 in 5). For sex offenders, they *are*."
I can't validate your figure (and note with interest that you didn't mention the reoffending rate for sex offenders to allow me to make a comparison) but I'll agree for the sake of argument that sex offenders reoffend more often (not that I agree that they do, we're just pretending) but unless the reoffending rate for sex offenders is 100% then there is still a need for an appeal system.
"That's my main criticism of the woolly thinking that "it's a mental illness, so it's not the person's fault, so they don't deserve punishment"."
People who were sexually abused as children have a greater tendency to abuse children on reaching adulthood. Is it their fault they were abused as children? Should we put abused children on the register too just in case?
"Prison has three roles: punishment, rehabilitation and protection of the public. If you're not safe to be let out, I don't care how long a sentence you've served."
Though I agree with the sentiment of this, who decides if you're safe to be let out? Obviously it's the parole board but let's imagine that a fortnight ago a reoffending sex offender made the headlines for eight days (in the Daily Mail of course) and the media is baying for the blood of the officials who *let this happen*. Who really decides?
It's not a simple subject.
Wednesday 16th February 2011 17:09 GMT 
Won't somebody think of the children?
No matter what you think about paedophiles or sex offenders, let's not forget the fact that we are just fcking animals, no different from monkeys or dolphins (both of which have been documented to perform rapes). It's animal instinct which our society has, to some degree, managed to supress but it's still animal instinct. Did someone up there say "mental illness which cannot be cured"? Is hysteria a mental illness too Alan 6? Get some therapy!
All of that aside though, paedophiles make me sick. I would personally want to torture and kill anyone who abused my children in that way as, I imagine, would any parent. But if we all lived life like that it would be absolute chaos and the strong would kill the weak, the rich would kill the poor and there would be no more society so I, like most other people, live by the law.
But the real issue here is that if we have crimes in this country that cannot be forgiven by society then the next step is either a) drug addicts, thieves, people who don't take their library books back on time will all eventually suffer the same fate and be branded a criminal for life or b) we bring back the death penalty! I don't want to see either of these futures.
Joy Division get the Playmobil treatment
Microsoft finally says adios to Autorun
Home Office crime maps go to street-level detail
Tuesday 1st February 2011 10:17 GMT
Anarchy in the UK
When I got past the internal server errors and the blank screens that claimed to be "done" I finally got: "Sorry, we couldn't find a policing area that matched your search."
"Deputy Chief Constable Neil Rhodes, speaking for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the service would "help to build community involvement in policing"."
I see what Neil Rhodes means, I guess the community needs to police itself as no other bugger seems to be doing it.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
