Slogan
I'd walk a mile to shoot a camel!
/apologies to the young 'uns and non-smokers.
Posts by Figgus
376 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Feb 2011
Farting death camels must die to save the world!
US bill would make concealing data breaches a crime
Yanks officially recognise the word 'boffin'
Thursday 26th May 2011 21:56 GMT
Re: Its no wonder America is falling behind in education...
Actually, the numbers you give are more a result of the welfare state than anything else. Most "students" see little point in struggling to learn or better themselves when they are planning on getting a gubmint check for the rest of their lives.
Until the merikans reverse their handout mentality, those scores will continue to plummet. Even requiring a diploma or GED for things like social assistance (or even getting a drivers license) would dramatically change the educational landscape.
New Mac scareware variant installs without password
Ballmer: Time up for 'stuck in the past' Microsoft CEO?
Nothing to lose but your desktop PCs
Canadian kid uses supercomputing to cure cystic fibrosis
Wednesday 11th May 2011 15:40 GMT
@The Anti-Corporation types
"So which large pharmacom will steal the idea, patent the results, and make a tidy profit out of exploiting misery?"
Yeah, much better if those companies didn't even exist and NOBODY made medicine at all. In fact, I bet that most of what you own comes from those evil corporations. Even worse, if you have a retirement plan I bet YOU are part of those faceless entities of evil!!!
You anti-corporate types are silly.
California Do-Not-Track web privacy law moves forward
Pakistani IT admin leaks bin Laden raid on Twitter
Monday 2nd May 2011 20:59 GMT
Re: Obama was happy to announce the news
Sadly, you are likely correct. It certainly didn't hurt his chances, even though the mechanisms that actually GOT Bin Laden were put in place by GW, not the Messiah himself. The Pres is a real trooper tho, and he won't let silly things like facts keep him from taking credit for someone else's decisions.
Interestingly, he still blames GW for all his own failures, but he is really quick to lay claim to the Bushie's victories.
Apple bags iCloud.com domain for $4.5m, says report
US Senate weighs in on phone tracking
Wednesday 27th April 2011 22:25 GMT 
Not their effing job!!!
This is as fracking stupid as the baseball/steroid inquisitions Congress made. It's not their job, but it got them good press so the politicians were all over it. There is no way Congress needs to have any say in Major League Baseball or in the runnings of a specific company.
If they were passing a law banning steroids or smartphones, then they should be getting info to make sure the law is just and proper. Crap like this is just grandstanding, though, when the 800lb gorilla in the room is the economy, not what stupid rights the sheeple are forfeiting to Lord Jobs and his crew just to have an iShiny.
Microsoft lobby will turn Google into Microsoft
Monday 25th April 2011 18:51 GMT
Re: Not at all.
"If you don't lock your door, that does not amount to permission to walk inside and take pictures of your daughter in the shower, and then show them to everyone else."
However, if your daughter is showering in the front yard where the visible band of the radio spectrum isn't prevented from hitting the street, you've lost that expectation of privacy. Why should unsecured wireless spectrum be any different?
Obama to pop down to Endeavour launch
SF fire dept lost computer password during massive blaze
Wednesday 20th April 2011 21:29 GMT
Relevance for firefighting?
Being in the Emergency Services IT biz myself, I can tell you the Battalion Chiefs use the GPS to track rig locations in the larger fires (think high-rise buildings or sprawling factories), and the people in 911 dispatch do a much better job when the locations show up on their computers. Plus, electronic dispatch to 20 units is a lot better than all the radio traffic it replaces while having the added bonus of timestamping for insurance and investigation purposes.
Do they need a computer to put out a fire? Of course not. But, like any other tool, it can make the job a LOT easier.
iPhone 4 SURVIVES plunge from plane
Nokia launches new corporate font
Thursday 24th March 2011 19:51 GMT
Fontzi
[i]"Some might see the 's' representing the curves the female body, while some might see it as a skirt, just like Marilyn [Monroe]'s", muses one artist.[/i]
Or we might see it as just another crappy font with no meaning whatsoever since we are artsy-fartsy turds.
Or, even more likely, most of us will never buy another Nokia with Win7 and thus will NEVER see the font at all.
Apple bashes 'gay cure' app
AOL waves goodbye to 900 staffers
Saturday 12th March 2011 02:00 GMT
Re: Tax Cuts?
Tax hikes certainly don't create jobs either, because neither paying people to stay home and procreate nor government jobs add to the GDP.
Back on topic, AOL wasn't owned by this tool, so it isn't HIS money getting invested. However, faulting him for downsizing a sinking ship is ludicrous. You think he should have kept all those jobs on and put the other 4000 jobs at risk trying to maintain an untenable course?
Typical Democrat, can't see your finger because your nose is in the way.
Apple security update leaves iPhone 3G users unprotected
Saturday 12th March 2011 01:58 GMT
RE: Re: Less than 24 months
Since a compromised phone could cause network issues (per Verizon, mimicked in the excuse book of other telcos), then Apple should be interested in appeasing the carrier by keeping their devices patched. In your example, Vodafone would doubtless prefer the patching take place and they actually bought the phone from Apple in the first place (so they could give it to you).
At least, I'd think it would work this way on the West side of the pond because of all the carriers being in bed with the manufacturers...
Japanese earthquake sparks nuclear emergency
Saturday 12th March 2011 00:11 GMT 
The wonders of 70's design?
[i]According to Reuters, a spokesman for the World Nuclear Association – a nuclear industry trade group – told them that "we understand this situation is under control," after a battery-powered backup system was brought online and began pumping cooling water back into the affected reactor.
A source familiar with battery-power backup cooling systems, however, told the NYT that such systems typically have enough juice for only about four hours of operation. Should a consistent source of power not be restored by that point, the cooling water would boil away, and a fuel-rod meltdown would likely occur.[/i]
If only they had a nearby nuclear power plant to get power from, they wouldn't have to rely on batteries to run the coolant pumps.
SGI buys back spun-out Japanese unit
ECJ gender ruling 'could throw insurance into turmoil'
Apple under siege: Antitrust probes and product delays ...
Steve Jobs clarifies 'Subscription Gate' confusion with more confusion
Wednesday 23rd February 2011 17:30 GMT
Golden Egg Goose? It's what's for dinner!
Applications are part of what make the iPad/iPhone appealing. All those developers coding stuff for Apple was really helping them to move units, it was a selling point!
It's not hard to predict what will happen when those applications vanish from the iThing ecosystem and crop up on Android. It seems like someone at Apple was very shortsighted and chose a short term revenue burst over long term viability.
I hope they enjoy their goose dinner!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
