* Posts by Figgus

376 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Feb 2011

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HBO 'sorry' for skewering Dubya

Figgus
Joke

They could put Obama's head up there, but they would need to extricate it from his ass first.

Hitchhiker shot while researching 'Kindness of America'

Figgus

Re: Nice stereotype.

If the 1.5% don't have guns then I am willing not to have a gun either ;-) That sums up the difference between the US and folks in most other Western countries.

I think guns are great equalizers. If nobody had one, then a 5'1" 110lb woman would be at a severe disadvantage to a 6'4" 280lb rapist in hand to hand combat. Give them both guns, and the odds are much less in favor of the rapist. Rapist chosen as an example, pick whatever bad guy you like.

Criminals are smart enough to be wary or just move along when their victims have a chance of fighting back.

Figgus

Re: Gun ownership.

Legalising gun ownership won't undo what was done to them. It won't reduce the number of future victims either; quite the opposite. What's your point?

The numbers seem to disagree with you.

For example, you can carry a gun at 18 in Vermont with no special permit, and you can't even have one in Chicago. I've never heard about the huge amounts of violent crimes in Vermont, but I know for a fact Chicago is a dangerous place. You get the same violent crime comparison even if you go per-capita, so don't bother trying to point out that there are more people in Chicago than in Vermont.

Sure looks like legal ownership DOES reduce the number of victims. Sorry to pollute your opinion with facts.

Figgus

Re: Huh?

Where I live in the US there are plenty of gun-totin' LGBT liberals. Nothing weird about that. What _would_ break the stereotype is if you were a big supporter of the current GOP lineup too!

I'm a supporter of the GOP lineup AND the LGBT crusade. I'm also straight and an atheist.

Why do fiscal responsibility and human rights have to be treated as diametrically opposed viewpoints?

Figgus

Re: Just because of one guy?

Perhaps the alcohol the suspect had imbibed was more to blame than the gun? In most states you are not allowed to carry if you have been drinking.

Figgus

Re: Gun ownership.

For all the anti-gun ownership talk from your side of the pond, my wife is alive and well today because I legally carried a gun and stopped someone committing a crime in their tracks before ANYONE was injured.

I'm glad that the UK is so wonderful without guns, you have every right to do it the way you want to on your side of the pond. However, I'm also glad we don't have to follow your path in the US, and I'm really not sure why you are so offended that an entire country full of people thousands of miles away from you has a different opinion on gun ownership.

Also, the legal gun owners are not the ones causing the problems. As usual, that little bit seems to get overlooked.

Brit judge orders Facebook to rip masks from anonymous cowards

Figgus

Re: I don't know why...

Yeah, that tidbit changed my thinking from "she just needs to grow some skin to be on the interwebz" to "identity fraud".

Seems important, and should have been mentioned in the article.

Google co-founders face FTC antitrust grilling

Figgus

Re: *facedesk*

faceseks?

Kinky.

'Zombie bullets' fly off US shelves after wave of undead attacks

Figgus

I'd have pegged them as Democrats, because they have to live off the brains of others.

Americans stand against UN internet-tax plan

Figgus

Re: @ Werner McGoole

For those arguing how much cheaper NHS is, I would point out that what you pay directly is dwarfed by what you pay in tax dollars.

You need to bear in mind, too, that the US has a substantially larger welfare state. We have generations of people who think the way to get through life is to let the government pay your way.

What works in the UK doesn't necessarily work elsewhere, and if the Americans don't want socialized medicine, that really is THEIR business. Perhaps they can just send all the people who do believe in it over to live in the UK?

EU lurches behind copyright free-for-all landgrab

Figgus

Re: One thing the Americans got right

I was just thinking of something similar. How about a business (I know, evil corporations) plan whereby you can set up an account and charge a small fee for hosting the image with attribution and provide a legal timestamp of when it was submitted. Then there will be no he said/she said situations.

Sorta like what the LoC does, but setting up the creator's info once instead of every time they make a submission?

Vint Cerf: 'COMMUNISTS want to seize the INTERNET'

Figgus

Re: Its Me as well !

OK, which retard downvoted a joke?

Don't worry, nobody downvoted any funny ones.

iLuv Vibro Classic II

Figgus

Re: Anyone know what the connector is for the vibrator unit?

If it's a 2.5mm jack, then it's likely that it can be replaced by most vibrators.

If yours fits in a 2.5mm jack, you need an upgrade!

White AMERICANS will have become MEKON brain-men by 3000AD

Figgus

Re: Very Good News

My first born had to be delivered via C-section. After ~30 hours in labor, they realized he was stuck and his cranium was too large for the opening in the pelvic bone. He was around 33k USD.

My second born was recommended C-section because of the cutting damage after the first. Of course, that one was also ~50k USD, so you might be correct.

Ultrabooks: objects of desire but just too darn expensive

Figgus

Re: I have never understood that attitude.

Just because your eyes are a tad soft doesn't mean the rest of ours are. I have a 12" mini that does 1366x768 and the lack of resolution is one of my primary gripes about it.

1 in 6 Windows PCs naked as a jaybird online

Figgus
Facepalm

One in six Windows PCs worldwide are hooked up to the internet with no basic security software, according to a study by McAfee.

An additional 1 in 6 is even worse off, relying on a McAfee product for protection.

Microsoft will fiddle with prices as euro burns, UK biz fears

Figgus

Re: Quote in Euros

Back then the base currency was the other continent-wide currency that will never break up: the US dollar.

I dunno, we're trying our damnedest to kill the dollar right now... We just keep printing more and and more of them, physically and electronically.

Figgus

Re: "pretty brave to bet against a Greek default right now."

And don't forget, we the taxpayer are not bailing out Greece, we are bailing out the banksters who colluded with Goldman Sachs in lending far more to Greece than was sensible for either banksters or Greece (and getting paid megadosh up front for that lending).

Agreed 100%, and also there should be no bailout of any kind. Let the banks eat the losses, that is the only way to reign in the stupidity.

US mayor and son charged with hacking into opposition site

Figgus

Re: You've GOT to be trolling.

Or if you're not trolling, perhaps you meant "The normally apathetic middle class in the US has woken up since 2008 and is taking more of an interest in their government than ever before, and generally they are against handouts and subsidies to the rich (staples of the Republican election machine)."

Are you one of these doorknobs who thinks that tax breaks somehow are some form of spending "cost"? If so, I'm coming by your house, because if I don't steal your TV it will effectively "cost" me $500.

But hey, if you want to talk about everyone paying their "fair share" how about a flat tax so the 49% who currently pay nothing (or get money back for not working) can pay the same rate as those awful rich people who are plainly getting off scott free?

Figgus

You've GOT to be trolling.

The only people Democrats help is themselves by pandering. While the fundamentalist conservatives are bad, the fact is that without financial freedom ALL other freedoms suffer. The Democrats abhor financial freedom, as a dependent population can be counted on to keep them in power. Most intelligent Americans can do basic math, and can see the Democrat financial "plan" is nothing more than smoke and mirrors just to motivate their voter base: who are also incapable of math.

That said, there is a lot of fear among Dems so I am not surprised to see one pull this stunt. The normally apathetic middle class in the US has woken up since 2008 and is taking more of an interest in their government than ever before, and generally they are against handouts and subsidies (staples of the Democrat election process). The political advertising and media machinery have gotten ever more creative lately trying to prevent another 2010 landslide upheaval in Congress. Roque probably isn't the first politician to do this, but he might be the first one to get caught.

How to keep your money safe if the euro implodes

Figgus

Re: ?

"Essentially their socialist form of government has utterly and completely failed."

The "form of government" is a parliamentary republic and the president and parliament of the 3rd Republic has been right wing and centre right more often than it has been left wing. You should probably have stuck with your first sentence

Right wing and center... for GREECE, the people who nearly revolted at some austerity measures that were 100% necessary. "Right wing" for Greece = left wing pretty much everywhere else! One can only imagine how bad their liberals are in the scheme of things...

The EU told them it was either no more handouts or no more bailouts, and the voting population of Greece walked away from the table in protest. Any country that dependent on handouts leans pretty far to the left in general.

Volvo claims V40 is first car with an airbag for pedestrians

Figgus

Re: Where's the fuse?

You'd rather have a smashed hood AND windscreen rather than just a Hood and replacement Airbag? ie probably cheaper

Actually it is cheaper to replace a windshield than a "normal" interior airbag. How much more do you suppose this custom exterior airbag will cost to replace?

Ballmer says 500 MILLION 'users' to 'have' Windows 8 in 2013

Figgus

Re: Is it just me....

Exactly what I have been thinking. Seriously, look at the link.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/metro+sexual

Apple's trial experts are 'slavish fanbois who believe in magic'

Figgus
Joke

Re: Lost all faith...

Oh ye of little faith, Microsoft is doing their absolute best to ensure that 201x is the year of the Linux desktop after all!

Why can't ICANN just 'get s**t done', ask dot-brand hopefuls

Figgus

ICANN't

n/t

Diablo III

Figgus

Re: DRM infestation for casual muppets

"But, ah, the old 'no consequences' line because you can now change builds without re-rolling."

I think he meant "no consequences" because the choices you make really do not matter. There are just a couple choices per key, and not hundreds of combos like there were in D2. WoW is doing the same thing, going from complex and vibrant talent trees to 6 choices of 3 selections each. Woo for variety!!?

I think the trend of dumbing down games to keep the mouthbreathers playing is a sad one, because I remember when gaming took some thought and dare I say "skill".

Figgus

Re: Geez..easily pleased or what?

They do it because it makes the reviewers go gaga over them, apparently.

$US38 share price values Facebook at US$104b

Figgus

Re: LOL

The tax money is the real issue here. If it wasn't for that, the idea would be to avoid the shoddy investment banks. However, since the money is guaranteed by the gub'mint, the risk can be taken with no fear for the loss.

Unless you mean pension funds, which shouldn't be insured for $100k anyhow.

Inside the Skynet ghost town built by bunker-based boffins

Figgus

Re: @AC 15 May 16:22GMT: Brumley was spouting semi-crap

[i]o Communications: bullshit. Unless you've got data-carrying capability from Point A to Point B, where Point A and Point B are places anybody actually cares sending data to and from, you've got nothing to sell to communications companies. Comm companies aren't going to pay to establish links to/from Robot Town unless there's a significant market there.

[/i]

True, unless you start thinking of large dish arrays or testing of point to point communications (microcells and such)...

Figgus
FAIL

Re: @ laird cummings

Yeah, because the best way to hide is to be the only surface dwelling people in an empty town monitored 24/7 by hundreds of underground technicians. Certainly the traffickers would go completely unnoticed.

To be honest, I don't know if I should flame you or feel sorry for you. You should definitely keep to your pretentious, small-minded life and leave real thinking to the big boys

Why GM slammed the brakes on its $10m Facebook ads

Figgus
Stop

@SavageNation

"JPM that go caught betting and losing 2 Billion dollars to keep BETTING unsuspecting hardworking people's retirement and savings (mutual funds and 401k),"

Investing is betting, PERIOD. You risk your money in hopes that you will have more at the end.

Nice rant and all, but I'm pretty sure you don't really understand economics that well.

That said, YES Facebook is a fools buy, it's an inflated pop stock with no sustainable business model.

Only global poverty can save the planet, insists WWF - and the ESA!

Figgus

Re: How would you save mankind.

How about making the people at the lower end of the spectrum more effective, so that perhaps they can do more than convert O2 into CO2 and pop out sprogs to further drain the economy and the environment?

Every time I see some halfwit "TAX THE RICH" basher like yourself it amazes me that you won't hold everyone else to the same standards of accountability. At least the rich and corporations are producing something other than more unmotivated uneducated consumers of global resources.

With regards to food, the USA currently pays farmers not to farm. Seems rather silly when there is a food shortage, no?

At least the assertion about nuke plants is spot on.

Figgus

Re: 38 years ?

"38 years ? for goodness sake, does anyone imagine that our politicians will not have destroyed our world and its so-called economy in that timespan ? and even if they haven't, uncontrolled human procreation will probably do the trick very nicely. Get real, everyone ; this culture is doomed."

The problems are one and the same, the politicians subsidizing procreation is ruining the economy and the environment all at once. I see people daily who have 5+ kids just to get the government checks. Stop paying for it, and it will stop happening... at least on this side of the pond.

Mozilla and Google blast IE-only Windows on ARM

Figgus
Facepalm

Re: Short memories

"The EU will never allow it or has The Register forgotten about the Browser choice issue with XP?"

Yeah, I'm sure that in 15 years Microsoft will be found at fault and pay a small fine to the EU to make amends.

Of course, by then the damage will be done and Microsoft's monopoly will be firmly cemented in place again...

'Geek' image scares women away from tech industry

Figgus

Re: Some women should not apply to IT jobs.

Misogynistic?

Are you going to claim that some women don't use their gender to their advantage whenever possible? (Some, not all)

If it is fair to say that some men are sexist pigs (and some are), then it is also fair to say that women (some not all) play to that to get what they want.

Indiana cops arrest violent 6-year-old

Figgus
Facepalm

Re: people just don't arrest a six-year-old

"Look at it this way, we know beating a dog is an ineffective way of training it so why do you expect it to work any better with a child?"

I challenge you to train EITHER of them if the dog/child doesn't think YOU are the one in charge. If the dog thinks it is in charge, you'll get bitten and if the kid thinks it, you'll get ignored.

Figgus

Re: The good old days when a quick smak fixed 99% of the se problems.

Yeah, arrest him and put him in juvie because CAGING animals never makes them more violent.

Wait, what? Seems like the whole bit about comparing kids to dogs is kinda silly now, doesn't it?

'Apple will coast, and then decelerate' says Forrester CEO

Figgus

@Mike Moyle

You've been doing work on iPhones/iPads for over 20 years?

I have a question: where did you park your time machine?

Ted Nugent fined for failing to kill bear

Figgus

Re: sigh

I said Obama, not democrats. Obama does a lot of things I can support (opposing CISPA for example) but overall I think he has done more harm than good.

Of course, my original post was actually a reply to the first poster. Telling anyone to STFU is pretty childish, so I was simply making his point in reverse back to him.

PS. Not everyone who dislikes Obama liked W.

Figgus

By the same token, Obama needs to STFU and stick to appearing with Jimmy Fallon. We'd all be better off.

Can Windows 8 bag Microsoft 20 more years at the top?

Figgus

"Microsoft have much more serious competition now - most corporates do not want Linux / Unix desktops - but OS X - why not?"

I think Linux has been heard enough at the upper management level that resistance is eroding. Part of the reservation was the fact that Linux looked a kludge until recently, part was the worry about retraining and reteaching users (new Windows is going to do that anyway), and part of it was uncertainty about reliability and such... Nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft products.

However, business is now looking hard at every expense, and Linux has been proven time and again on servers and small devices, I would bet with the massive rework that is Win8 and beyond there is a bit of a migration at long last.

Figgus

Re: @ShelUser

Well, enjoy rebuilding those custom bridges and rewriting those custom scripts when MS arbitrarily changes everything around again in Office2015.

Version stability for corporates was a large part of their success, and I don't think a 3 year upgrade cycle on the OS and all associated software will sit too well in the corporate world. You know, the vast majority of businesses who didn't have a network and infrastructure until they bought a bunch of XP machines and who don't view IT as a moving target...

Like it or not, MS preferred business model is at odds with what most beancounters (and IT bods) want in an OS in that environment.

Major science fiction publisher to zap DRM

Figgus
Facepalm

Re: I will buy more of their Hardcopy because of this decision

"Rules, regulations and technology that can or do interfere with the availability of knowledge are among the most despicable things on earth. The 1% wants the 99% to be an unknowing, unquestioning "Idiocracy" and they cannot be allowed to win. DRM is only one front against the 1% that must be conquered."

I'm pretty sure the 99% had the ability to legally buy and view the ebooks even with the DRM. Perhaps you need to cut back on the Kool-aid?

Tablets are the future of the PC, says researcher

Figgus

@Some Beggar

It is rather difficult to do that when a laptop is in the way.

Crytek: Schemes to strike second-hand games biz 'awesome'

Figgus
Flame

Re: I'm sorry

I dunno about everyone else's reaction, but this singular piece of the market thinks Crytek can pound all their future releases up their collective asses.

Uni plagiarism site buckles under crush of last-minute essays

Figgus

Re: Appallingly bad design?

"Unless you're talking about a creative writing assignment, that's a stupid and inefficient use of their time and abilities."

That last part would cover quite a bit of college coursework, actually, and nearly everything from high schools.

Microsoft unveils Windows 8 'release preview' for June

Figgus

@Criminny Rickets

I'm with you. Luckily it seems Mint is a decent replacement for Windows on my non-gaming machines.

Now if only (almost) all games weren't dependent on DirectX I could do away with Windows in my house completely.

Note: Windows in a vm or wine is still windows and still counts as such, in my opinion.

Figgus

Re: Look forward

"What features does Win8 give you as an office worker that Win7 doesn't?"

For that matter, what features did 7 give me that XP did not?

Since we have <4GB of RAM and no SSD in all our machines, the answer is "nothing but more headaches".

Figgus
Flame

Re: @ShelLuser

"The main difference though is that Win7 also increases where functionality is concerned."

I was actually just ranting today that in our environment 7 is a step BACKWARDS from XP. Sure, it allows for >4GB of RAM and the use of SSD, but we don't use much of that. However, from my perspective it is harder to administer, everything from the more hidden "all users" desktop to the repeated erasing of the default gateway to the fact that you have to set up a printer first as admin before your users can install it to the default IPv6 to the crappy Bing addons needing to be disabled in every profile in the newer craptacular IE to the clunky sign-on screens you get in a domain.

7 is GREAT for home use, but positively sucks compared to XP in our domain. Maybe I'll grow fonder of it in time or if we stopped being a mixed mode XP/7 2k3/2k8 shop or if they bother to send me for some training on it, but in the interim it's been nothing more than a (very pretty) pain in the arse that's inflicted on us my XP's retirement and clueless managerial users who swear that shinier is better (even after Office 2010 beat some of that out of them to the point that they were clamoring for 2003 back).

I'm putting on my asbestos underwear for the incoming flames/downvotes/"yore dooin it RONG" posts.

'Attitudes to robot sex will change'

Figgus

Re: What could possibly go wrong?

Ironically, the Futurama episode about Robosexuality was just on last night... I thought their take on the religious aspect of it was quite appropriate.

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