* Posts by Graham Marsden

6899 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jan 2007

Deprivation Britain: 1930s all over again? Codswallop!

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

@Tim Worstall - Re: @The Axe - The reality

> Fine to argue about the portion of increased supply/demand in it, but necessary to acknowledge that part of it is increase in supply.

Well, duh! Yes, more people are using food banks because more food banks are now available. They couldn't use them if they weren't there, could they?!

However you appear to be implying that it is the food banks themselves which are driving that demand, rather than the actions of Iain Duncan Smith and his merry (expenses paid) men and women who are forcing Job Centres to deny people benefits (which they are perfectly entitled to) to a level *well* above even that of the Thatcherite era.

Graham Marsden

Oh, well *that's* alright, then...

Rather than address the actual issue, TW decides it's much easier to engage in another round of his favourite hobby of Leftie-Bashing instead because that allows him to aim at a set of goalposts which are more to his liking as he triumphantly proves the Grauniad wrong.

Well, bravo, Tim! Congratulations! You've managed to completely ignore the problem, but you can pat yourself on the back secure in the knowledge that you've done good according to your (and Nigel's) political lights whilst carefully avoiding mentioning how, for instance, Nigel's plans would actually mean a whole lot of people would end up worse off whilst those at the top of the income pile would get even richer.

Graham Marsden

@The Axe - Re: The reality

> your use of the term Bedroom Tax shows your political leanings

And your use of the term Spare Room Subsidy reveals yours, as does your claim that the Trussel Trust is "marketing" food banks. Why not go the whole hog and repeat the claim that more people are using food banks simply because they've heard from them and they're available, not out of desperation because they can't afford to buy food?

And, if we needed any more evidence, you go for a lovely bit of victim blaming by claiming that people's own fault that they get in debt for spending more than they earn because clearly it's much better for people to be forced out of their homes into unavailable and non-existent smaller properies by this pernicious piece of legislation since it means they can no longer pay the rent on the place they live and private landlords are not interested in cutting the rents to a fair market rate.

Bravo!

Chum's house burnt down? Facebook mulls 'DISLIKE' button for that

Graham Marsden
WTF?

"dislike button as a way to criticize others...

“Thats not socially very valuable or good for the community"

ITYM not very valuable for all our paid advertising content masquerading as status updates etc which, otherwise, people would be able to express their dislike of...

Lawmakers should grab red pen and let it RIPA on snoops law – experts

Graham Marsden
Holmes

What???

A law produced by a Control-Freak Government that was vaguely worded and ill-defined which is being abused in ways that go well beyond its original remit simply because it's convenient?

No, tell me it isn't so!!!

Parliament face-sit-in to spark mass debate on UK's stiff smut stance

Graham Marsden
Childcatcher

@Powernumpty - Re: Shop door

> If I saw a bunch of seven year old's hovering outside the door I'd be concerned.

Ah, so, once again, *we* and the Government should be responsible for the upbringing of *your* children. All computers should have default-on filters, all ISPs should block this stuff unless we ask to be allowed to see it.

Forget Parental Responsibility, if your children get to see bad things like this, it's obviously our fault, not yours.

Graham Marsden

@P.Lee - Re: @Raumkraut

> I'd guess this is just an industry lobby.

Then you'd guess wrong. I know some of the people who will be there, members of groups such as the Sexual Freedom Coalition, Feminists Against Censorship and Backlash (the group that campaigned against the Extreme Porn laws and which has now broadened its remit).

This law and similar ones do nothing to prevent dangerous or abusive behaviour in pornography, because very often such things are actually in the purview of the "mainstream" porn industry rather than the sort of niche material which those who will be affected by this law produce and the "mainstream" industry has no interest in objecting to this law since it simply removes competition for their fare.

Rolling the ATTACK DICE in King of Tokyo

Graham Marsden

Ameritrash...

King of Tokyo is ok, provided you're only playing with a few people, say a maximum of four.

The problem comes when you start adding more monsters/ players because, almost inevitably as with such games, someone is going to get knocked out early on and then spends the next twenty minutes or half an hour as a spectator whilst everyone else is having fun.

There are plenty of "Euro" style games out there where you all get to play until the end, some suggestions are Carcassonne, Stone Age, Fresco, Discworld: Ankh Morpork and Ticket to Ride.

Nothing illegal to see here: Tribunal says TEMPORA spying is OK

Graham Marsden
Black Helicopters

Re: Thank goodness!!!!

Of course not! All you need to do is ensure that your laws are so broadly defined that anything you want the Security Services to do can be deemed to be legal and your tame court will happily rubber-stamp their actions.

Whitehall at war: Govt’s webocrats trash vital digital VAT site

Graham Marsden
Alert

Cui bono?

Call me cynical, but I have to wonder which of the big out-sourcing companies like ATOS, G4S or Serco have their eye on this being outsourced and have offered someone a million quid "Directorship"...?

Oi, UK.gov. WHERE'S THE DETAIL on your Google Tax?

Graham Marsden
Holmes

" the move was likely a pre-election sop to voters"

No? Really...?!

Gosh, I NEVER would have guessed...

Boffins unearth the ultimate antique art - 500,000 years old

Graham Marsden

Re: Porn sure has improved over the millenia.

> Though Unk was a big hit at parties with his collection of shells.

Until the Tribal Elders, spurred on after a campaign by the Daily News Rock (Prop: Murr Dok) outlawed this shell art as it was corrupting the minds of youngsters, proven after a series of incidents involving the new discovery of fire (resulting from the excessive rubbing of sticks)

Snowden files show NSA's AURORAGOLD pwned 70% of world's mobe networks

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

@chris lively

Oh, but they *weren't* doing wrong! After all, as they said: "NSA collects only those communications that it is authorized by law to collect in response to valid foreign intelligence and counterintelligence requirements..."

Of course the fact is that the laws their actions were authorised under were so broad and sweeping and the "valid foreign intelligence and counterintelligence requirements" so far-reaching that they had virtual carte blanche to do what the hell they liked.

What a pity: Rollout of hated UK smart meters delayed again

Graham Marsden

@codejunky - Re: Meanwhile....

> I expect metered must be cheaper for someone somewhere but I dont know them.

Hello, I'm Graham, pleased to meet you.

I own a 3 bed house, but live here on my own. Were I to be charged by the old system I'd be paying a hell of a lot more for water and sewerage than I do.

Magnifico! Galileo satellite nudged back into correct orbit

Graham Marsden
Coat

Let me go!

Bismillah, NO! We will not let you go...

Bloke, 36, in the cooler for leaking ex's topless pics on Facebook

Graham Marsden
WTF?

@P.Lee - Re: Good, good

> Entering into a legally-binding agreement to "forsake all others until death us do part"- provides an indication of how highly your partner esteems you and dramatically reduces the risk of you being abused.

Oh certainly! After all, marriage is a definite guarantee that you (female *or* male) will not be the victim of domestic abuse, isn't it?

And "legally binding"? Sorry, have the Divorce Laws passed you by?

Brit smut slingers shafted by UK censors' stiff new stance

Graham Marsden

@A Non e-Mouse - Re: WTF

Yes, people have died from strangulation and breath-play going wrong. But that sort of thing was happening long before the advent of the internet. Meanwhile, of course, many more people die crossing the road or from smoking or alcohol related causes. Should we ban imagery of these too?

This is the same nonsense that gave us the Extreme Pornography legislation and which may soon give us an extension of that law which will ban "rape porn" whereby pictures of anything that *looks* non-consensual could get you arrested and thrown in jail!

PS as for female ejaculation, despite it being clinically proven that female ejaculate is *not* urine, it's obviously still too icky for The Powers That Be who don't want us to see it because they don't like it.

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Hooray for our Morality Police...

...protecting us from ourselves because we're so weak minded and ethically bankrupt that we simply cannot be trusted to see naughty stuff for fear that it will cause us to do something bad...

... Next up: Cameron introduces the Junior Anti-Sex League...

MEPs want 'unbiased search', whatever that is – they're not sure either

Graham Marsden
WTF?

"Fortunately for Joe Consumer"...?

How exactly is Joe Consumer "fortunate" if a search engine has the ability to clandestinely and covertly bias results in favour of one provider/ supplier/ business/ information source at the expense of others?

Google claim that they're doing their best with their algorithm updates to stop people gaming their way to the top of the results page, yet we have to take it on trust that they are applying the same criteria equally to all the results because there is no independent verification of their impartiality.

FBI warns of disk NUKE malware after Sony Pictures megahack

Graham Marsden
Childcatcher

"undisguised sponsoring of terrorism, as well as an act of war"

I can see the Norks are learning from Western Governments. Now they just have to include drug dealers and paedophiles to complete the set.

Knockoff knockdown: Euro cops shutter 300 'counterfeit' domains

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

an "educational" page about copyright crime.

Which, boys and girls, we all know funds terrorism and drug dealers and sex trafficking and child porn and...

UK national mobile roaming: A stupid idea that'll never work

Graham Marsden
Megaphone

" one in seven voice calls attempted on commuter train routes failed"

I think most of us would be happier if that was one in one voice calls on commuter trains failed!

Shouty icon for the "I'm ON THE TRAIN" idiots...

While the web stares at cat pics, the glue of the internet is being shifted from US govt control

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

Here comes the new boss...

... same as the old boss...

Feds dig up law from 1789 to demand Apple, Google decrypt smartphones, slabs

Graham Marsden
Alert

"necessary or appropriate"

These words suggest that this Act was not intended to give any particular court or jurisdiction carte blanche to do anything they damn well please.

UK.gov mulls three-point turn on three-point turn thanks to satnav. Weeeeeeee. THUD

Graham Marsden

Meanwhile...

... to make motorcycling "safer", in order to qualify for a full and unrestricted motorcycle licence, you need to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops and take several tests, despite the fact that two thirds of accidents involving motorbikes and other vehicles in urban settings have been shown to be the fault of the other vehicle and very often a "Right of Way Violation" where, for example, a car has pulled out of a junction into the path of the bike.

For some reason, though, the idea of limiting the size of cars that new drivers can use, let alone requiring them to take more tests has been resisted by TPTB...

Graham Marsden
Happy

@Will Godfrey - Re: Stupid Idea

Good, but not quite as good as my friend who had some idiot try to make him back his camper van half a mile back down a lane because said idiot didn't want to reverse back to the passing place he'd just ignored.

My friend's response was "I've got a toilet and a bed in here, I'm not going anywhere..." :-)

Graham Marsden

"there's no time limit on the test"

Oh, but there has to be, because Testers' time is expensive and the more people you can shoe-horn into a day's worth of testing, the more cuts to the number of Testers you can make...

Evil US web giants shield terrorists? Evil spies in net freedom crush plot?

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

But... but...

... I have had it on *good* authority (well, he thinks he's a good authority on the subject) that the only way to make us safe from terrorism is to make the haystack even bigger so we can get *more* information about everyone!

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

Re: Faulty reasoning

> you have had to close someone's account 7 times for "terrorism", at what point should that information should be passed along?

Yes, after all, you never know when someone is *actually* planning to blow up Robin Hood Airport...

Blade Runner sequel might actually be good. Harrison Ford is in it

Graham Marsden

@Jess - Re: "Surely Harrison Ford is now too old...

"...to play a character with an engineered short life-span?"

> Did he have a short lifespan?

> Rachael didn't.

Yes she did, in all versions of the film which didn't have the Happy Ending forcibly bolted onto the end of the film by the Studio who thought the original ending was too bleak (probably according to their Focus Groups...)

Graham Marsden

@Bob Vistakin

Ridley Scott said a couple of years ago that he thought Deckard was a replicant.

Graham Marsden
Unhappy

@AC "Even though the two follow up books weren't by PKD

"...I'm fairly sure they will be better than the story than will be knocked up for this film."

I tried reading "Blade Runner 2" by KW Jeter, which tried to square the circle between the original PKD book and the film and failed utterly.

If that is better than this film, stay *well* clear!!!

Rosetta science team thinks Philae might come to life in the spring

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

Shirts???

Scientists - "We've just landed a probe on a comet!"

Media - "Yeah, whatever. Have you seen the *shirt* that guy is wearing?!"

NASA 'nauts have a go on Star Trek replicator IN SPAAAAACE (sort of)

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

@stuartnz - Re: Did someone say tea?

I'm sure it will produce something we can all Share and Enjoy!

EU-Canada airline passenger data-sharing is not a done deal

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

@AC - Re: “There is no proof that...

> You and I will never know. That's why you and I have no say in what goes on with the data

Maybe not, but our elected representatives should know what is being done in our names and if *they* aren't convinced by the smoke and mirrors from the Security Services, we can be pretty certain that we should not simply bend over and take it.

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

“There is no proof that...

"...the mass collection and storage of air passenger data helps in combating terrorism, as some claim"

Hear bloody hear!

At least *someone* gets it!

NSA SOURCE CODE LEAK: Information slurp tools to appear online

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

"release some of its data analysis tools"

Pardon my cynicism, but exactly *what* is this supposed to prove?

They're not going to release their *actual* current state-of-the-snooping-art tools, are they? So what is this? Something that they may have used 20 years ago? Something that is now probably completely obsolete, I don't doubt.

This is spin, pure and simple, they're saying "Look, look at this! Be impressed! See, we're being open and honest and you should not pay any attention to the man behind the curtain...

MI6 oversight report on Lee Rigby murder: US web giants offer 'safe haven for terrorism'

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

"could have supplied intelligence which could have saved Rigby"

Note the two uses of the word "could". Not "would", just "could".

Well so could have MI5 not deciding that the killers were not a "major threat" despite knowing about them since 2010, but, of course, anything that can be parlayed into an excuse to monitor and track us even more is just a really good thing as far as the Security Services are concerned...

Two driverless cars stuffed with passengers are ABOUT TO CRASH - who should take the hit?

Graham Marsden

Re: collision detection systems can't currently see around corners

> speed where it knows it can stop within half the distance it can see

Exactly.

All(? Many? Most?) of these "Ethical Dilemmas" come down to people who don't a) understand safe driving principles or b) understand how such principles would be programed into self-driving cars or c) both.

Perhaps they should be required to sign up to their local RoSPA/ IAM/ Bikesafe/ equivalent so they can actually *learn* about sensible road use before commenting.

There again, I think the same should go for most drivers and a lot of bikers too...

All ABOARD! Furious Facebook bus drivers join Teamsters union

Graham Marsden

@Queasy Rider - Re: To not sound stupid, read article before posting

> gas is cheap, NOT

ORLY?!

Try living over here in the UK where "gas" (ie petrol) currently costs around £1.20 (=$1.88) per litre and tell us again how "expensive" it is!

Our system handles £130bn and it's BUST. Want the job of fixing it? Apply to UK.gov

Graham Marsden

Re: Cheapskates

Count yourself lucky you're not an unemployed IT specialist, otherwise you could have been dumped on it as part of Workfare and been told "Do this for us for free or we sanction your benefits..."

World leaders rubber-stamp tax recoup effort at G20 gabfest

Graham Marsden
Unhappy

@AC - FTFY

The politicians whose rich mates are benefitting from this are not going to make *that* much of an effort to actually do anything about it because they'll get a "million quid a year for nominally working 24 hours" directorship promised to them...

When androids dream of baseball fields

Graham Marsden
Alert

Re: Not sure playing rounders is required....

Yebbut I don't think they'd want one of those machines in a short skirt and white panties...

Ha ha, fooled you! Shares tumble over G4S fake website profit warning

Graham Marsden

Follow the money...

... just look for who sold the stock short before the announcement and turned a tidy profit...

How many digital commissioners does it take to change a lightbulb? 13!

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: 13? No way !

You forgot the comprehensive lightbulb installation risk assessment...

Bible THUMP: Good Book beats Darwin to most influential tome title

Graham Marsden
Alert

"contains principles and guidelines to be a good person”

So does Grimms' Fairytales, but at least the authors admit that it was all made up...

Sky: We're no longer calling ourselves British. Yep. And Broadcasting can do one, too

Graham Marsden
Unhappy

@ukgnome - Re: So does this mean

> That I will be getting a lower price..

Not while they can sell you a "package" which contains all the channels *apart* from the "Premium" ones which make them the most money and which you have to pay through the nose for because they've spent huge amounts making sure that they have a monopoly on new films and sports and...

Is your kid ADDICTED to web porn? Twitter? Hint: Don't blame the internet

Graham Marsden

@JDX

> kids are likely to stumble across pretty extreme stuff right off the bat

Fine, so what do we do? Forbid them from having computers? Ban them from seeing it? Try to block it?

Or maybe we need to *educate* children about these matters *before* they come across it and teach them that porn != sex and that there are things called "relationships" which are important with things like treating others with respect that need to be learned...

Graham Marsden

@FlatSpot -Re: "I also don't see any involvement of the internet"

> They should be "locked in" until 18, end of..

Yes, that will solve the problem of child abuse because when they hit 18 they're no longer children, so it's not child abuse any more!

Brilliant idea!!

Abused adults? Oh, that's not an issue, they're adults now, they should have to deal with that themselves...

If only 0.006% care about BLOOD-SOAKED METAL ... why are we spending all this cash?

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@Brenda McViking - Re: Would you care enough to pay more for ...

> Workfare was designed to give people work experience so they can come off the dole

Riiiight...

Except when, as in the case mentioned, companies can lay off workers (who they would have had to pay) and then get those workers back *FOR FREE*, something has gone wrong.

That's why IDS and his mates (with the collusion of the Labour Party!) had to rush through a retro-active change in the law to stop them having to pay compensation to people who had been forced to work for nothing at Poundland and similar places.

If "workfare" actually ensured that people were paid the minimum wage (let alone a Living Wage") I wouldn't have a problem with it, but that isn't what IDS wants because it doesn't fit with the "benefits blame" culture he is fostering.

I have also been on the Dole but, fortunately, before such nonsense as this came about. Now I work and pay taxes, however I do not begrudge the proportion of that money that goes to help those who need the Safety Net of benefits.

As for "This is part of the government acting to ensure that you don't get it both ways at the taxpayers expense, which, as a taxpayer, has my full support" I bet you're one of the people who believe what they read in the Daily Mail or other such august purveyors of "the truth" and think that 27% of the total claimed in benefits is fraudulent, instead of the the actual figure which is around *ONE* percent

(And, of course, it's a tiny fraction of the money lost through tax evasion and avoidance by big corporations...)