Re: Wot no SPF?
"SPF obviously isn't easy to implement !"
It's really easy, See:
https://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/safety/content/technologies/senderid/wizard/
3511 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jan 2013
"And massively more complex to manage"
Actually it's somewhat easier to install and manage than this solution - it pretty much just works and is ready to go once installed.
"- and more expensive if you aren't on Technet."
That is true, it's about £900 with 5 CALS. TechNet no longer exists by the way - it's MSDN only now.
"Exchange Server 2012, unlike previous versions doesn't contain a SPAM and virus filter"
There is no such product.
If you mean Exchange 2013 then that's not correct:
See https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj150481(v=exchg.150).aspx
Microsoft do recommend that you use a cloud based service for more advanced protection though.
"Anyone using Truecrypt on windows obviously doesn't care about security that much anyway."
Yep, hence why enterprises tend to use BitLocker configured to best practices with a TPM and Secure Boot. No one that cared about security would want to use a product without commercial support.
"I believe to "do cloud right" you need to be able to exit from your vender and you need to have a DR capability hosted by another vender. It's not easy and I haven't seen it done (or managed to convince any customer it's worth doing) but I'll keep expressing the opinion."
It's relatively easy these days: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/10/microsoft_tries_to_paint_vmware_azure_with_disaster_recover_detour/
"That is what you actually pay for when buying cloud. You pay for the assumption that you have paid for the mainframe of the 21st century - an infrastructure that does not fail"
Not in public cloud you don't. Availability is stated at 99.9% if you are lucky.
You should design your applications to be resilient. See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn251004.aspx for some guidelines.
Who is going to buy Blackberrys that are based on Android?
A major reason people historically bought Blackberrys was security and whilst Blackberry 10 hasn't been great (over 80 vulnerabilities so far), Android is probably the most insecure of the current generation mobile OSs, well behind IOS and Windows Phone - which is the clear security leader by vulnerability count.
This is the one of the last few bubbles from Blackberry as they sink towards the bottom of the ocean imo.
"If Volkswagen alters the engine management software to make the cars run cleaner, then fuel economy and the cars' speed will be affected, and owners aren't going to be happy about that."
So everyone will ignore the recall. Happy days for VW....
"If you feel that the problems don't start until people are scouring rubbish tips for food, then you are part of the problem."
The welfare state should be a safety net, not a hammock. If you cant be bothered to support yourself, I don't see why tax payers should have to subsidise your lifestyle any more than the bare minimum to keep you housed and fed - not necessarily in comfort. Don't like not being able to afford Sky TV, trips to the pub and 40 fags a day? Not my problem.
"Very easy to find a cursory google search revealed that in 2013-14 3.7 million children were living in poverty:"
Only if you go by the measure introduced by Labour in 2010 - which defines a child as being poor when it lives in a household with an income below 60% of the UK's average. That's hardly starvation level when you look at incomes globally.
Ian Duncan Smith has already pointed out that this Labour invention is deeply flawed and plans to scrap it.
"That's why debt under the austere balance-the-books Conservatives has now almost TRIPLED to £1,300,000,000."
The debt under the Conservatives has barely grown at all - to suggest it could triple in 4 months is clearly baloney. The markets know keeping out a Labour government is good economic news - hence why the FTSE was up 2.3% and Sterling up 1.5% against the Dollar when they won.
The previous coalition inherited a massive budget deficit and a declining economy from the previous socialist regime - and have rapidly reversed both trends. Of course it takes a while to reverse the profligacy of 3 previous governments and costs money to get rid of the million useless employees that they hired. You can't instantly turn off the money tap when you take over power.
If Labour were in power we would by their own admission be in a much worse budget position as they would not have cut spending.
"because it's floating it won't make an iota of difference to the sea-level"
"Antarctic sea ice reaches new record maximum - seems to suggest that the Antarctic ice-cap isn't going to melt any time soon."
SEA ICE - see your point #1 above. Which is seasonal. Meanwhile the Ice sheets on land in general ARE melting and this is accelerating - particularly in Greenland and the Antarctic.
You might want to watch this film:
https://chasingice.com/
"Evidence of warming is not evidence of AGW."
Not by itself, but there IS overwhelming observable and historical evidence - for instance we can prove that most of growth in the CO2 levels in the atmosphere comes from fossil fuels, we can prove that CO2 is a green house gas, we can predict the effects of that CO2, and we can provide historical correlation between CO2 and the temperature record for the last 800,000 years or so from ice cores, etc., etc.
That Global Warming is happening and that man is at least a substantial cause is in zero credible scientific doubt - and hasn't been for at least a decade.
"You are aware that the Earth has been recovering from a rather cold period for the last 150 years?"
No - do tell us more?
"Didn't most of that that one degree rise occur over an entire century when warming was to be expected? "
Nope. Or at least not unless you allowed for AGW.
"So 200 years needed before the dreaded 2 degrees (invented figure by an economist) is reached?"
Even if that was true (which it isn't - we are looking near certain to reach level of rise by the end of this century) - does that somehow make it OK?! We are still talking about an unavoidable sea level rise of 6 metres or maybe much more over the long term.
"In physics if you do an experiment and some of the results appear to be wrong, you would normally eliminate them".
No, you would repeat the measurement and see if the "appearance" was consistent, and if it was then try and find out why.
"climate science, the technique seems to be to change the data to what you think it should probably be"
The raw data is available and demonstrates much the same trends, regardless of if you agree with the methodology of subsequent changes.
"never understood why we are sinking so many resources into trying to reverse a planet-wide natural cycle "
What is happening at the moment certainly isn't natural unless you consider the actions of man in that category - and the difference is the time scale - over tens of thousands of years, humans and other species can potentially adapt with relatively little cost and disruption. If the same changes happen in a matter of decades, the impact is likely much more significant.
"So Vogon, you put your faith in adjusted records rather than actual raw data."
Sure do, as anyone with a basic understanding of statistics would know that multiple records are often meaningless without being baselined or homogenised. The raw data and the reasons for adjustments are generally a matter of public record. A good example is here: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/FAQ.html#q216
"No, it wasn't."
It's significantly more likely that it was than it wasn't
"Even NASA was forced to admit that there was only a 38% chance of it having been the hottest. Less than 50%, in other words. Error bars, dear boy, error bars."
NASA published the probabilities of error on day 1 with the initial claims. What the 38% actually means is stated here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/23/sorry-skeptics-nasa-and-noaa-were-right-about-the-2014-temperature-record/
"2014 was the hottest year on record. Not with absolute certainty — just with enough of it for an imperfect world."
"Actually look it up. Another big misconception."
I currently work for a client in the energy industry. It's the main reason why no one wants to build nuclear plants without ridiculously large government subsidies. See for instance "The total cost of cleaning up the UK's 17 nuclear sites is "around £70bn", the NAO says. " :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31725365
"most of the spent fuel can be used again...and again."
After reprocessing that that also eventually turns pretty much everything in the process into nuclear waste.
"A few tons of waste stuck deep down a hole"
It's not that easy - or cheap - to contain waste in a geologically stable environment for 100,000 + years. See http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/jan/30/nuclear-waste-cumbria-copeland-allerdale
"Nuclear waste is tiny almost negligible compared to other ways."
It really isn't - The UK inventory as of 2013 is 1770 cubic Metres of High Level Waste, and 95,600 cubic Metres of Intermediate Level Waste. Pretty much the entire reactor building and containment, and processing facilities also become nuclear waste at the end of their useful life. Hence the vast costs. See http://www.nda.gov.uk/ukinventory/the-2013-inventory/2013-uk-data/
"Because it seems to me that it is actually coming from the Right Wing (be it the Right of Labour or from the Tories or their supporters and tame media)"
Not from the Tories. They have been quite explicit in how much of a danger Corbyn represents to the UK, and that he is to be considered a genuine threat.
"If you want to be truly Green then Nuclear is the only way to go. Nuclear is fine as long as you apply two main rules."
You forgot 3) allow for the costs of dealing with the vast amounts of highly radioactive nuclear waste that will stay that way for the next 100,000 years or so!
"it was Tony Blair and - especially - Gordon Brown who did the most damage to the NHS in my lifetime."
Yep - they privatised 10 times the value of NHS services that the Conservatives ever did - mostly via financially crippling "PFI" contracts. And created hundreds of thousands of useless non jobs - particularly in Labour heartlands of course...
Top Banana. My £3 investment will be repaid many times over in lower taxes if it as seems likely, it makes Labour unelectable.
"Some Conservatives wish they had a real Conservative as leader."
Nah - with no credible opposition you would hope that they will restrain the temptation to over do it. The last budget was a great example of moderate conservatism - even including things that Labour were proposing! Overall a Conservative government tends to be better for the country, as evidenced by stock market declines whenever Labour win.
"In the United States, under federal aviation acts, property owners DO own airspace rights up to 500 feet above their land "
Nope, it just says that navigable airspace starts at 500+ feet. There is no defined height of private ownership. The US court system's record for ownership is 83 feet above a property (United States vs Causby)
"AV companies can't do this because they know they have no future in Linux/BSD."
Really? You must have missed the many recent Android Malware infestations including the latest Pin locker ones!
Seeing as competing Open Source OS distributions generally have far more known vulnerabilities that on average take longer to patch (more days at risk) than with Windows - if Linux ever made it over 2% market share on the desktop then I'm sure such scanners would be essential.
"Also, they found American baseball to be pretty fun and have adopted the game as well"
They also sell used "Scratch and Sniff" underwear in vending machines as fun: http://imgur.com/gallery/RZHEfwh
So I'm not sure Japan being the prime example of adoption of your national sport is particularly a good thing...
"Maybe that enormo-slab stylus wasn't such a hot idea?"
It's working well for Microsoft - which is likely the issue here - the Apple product is largely a rip off of Surface - but costs more for a less powerful product and without the enterprise management tools that Microsoft delivers and without the enterprise support from the likes of Dell and HP that Surface has. This will be a niche product for rich Apple fans.
"I hear staffing of the Windows 10 mobile team at Microsoft has been slashed by 50%."
Nope, it's actually been massively increased:
""In early to mid July...a lot more attention will be shifted from this [Windows 10 desktop] to that [Windows 10 Mobile],” Sullivan added."
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2937711/expect-windows-10-mobile-to-improve-significantly-in-july-microsoft-exec-says.html