* Posts by Graham Marsden

6899 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jan 2007

Articles with no comments

Graham Marsden
FAIL

Oh look...

.... another Lewis Page Opinion Piece (this time about energy bills) with no opportunity for us to post comments.

One could almost get the feeling that he doesn't like his opinions being questioned...

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

It seems...

... that Lewis Page is having an attack of the Orlowskis who used to be notorious for getting El Reg to publish his opinion pieces but refusing to let anyone comment on them (or moderating and even editing the comments himself!)

Hold on a mo: Brits blow £56m a year on the blower to gov minions

Graham Marsden

@Benjamin 4

Perhaps because not everyone *has* a fixed line phone these days.

If you can get a pay as you go mobile for a tenner (or less) why do you want to pay line rental every month? If you get a bundle of free minutes, why pay a land-line connection charge?

Several people I know have ditched their land-lines because it's cheaper to use a mobile.

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@Matt Bryant - Re: dogged David Pollard Hospital and prison telephones

Maybe it's your inability to do any research that leaves you unfamiliar with the cost of phoning people in hospital, but it costs 49p a minute to call someone on their bedside phone between 8am and 6pm and 39p per minute at other times.

Calling out requires that first you buy a Hospedia Card (non-refundable, of course, unless you can pay with a credit or debit card) for a minimum of £3.50 and then pay 20p connection charge per call and 10p per minute thereafter.

Now if you actually compared that to the cost of most phone calls people make these days, I think you would consider that the words "somewhat excessive" would not be inaccurate.

Oh and, PS, you might be interested (well, if it fitted in with your parocial attitudes, that is) that Hospedia took over from Patientline after getting £30m of debt written off, sacking support staff (so if you have a problem you have to phone a premium rate support line!) and getting NHS Trusts to pay for updating system even though existing contracts have years to run.

But, hell, let's just bleed the sheeple white, it's what we've always done...

Confirmed: Driverless cars to hit actual British roads by end of year

Graham Marsden
Flame

Re: They've been on the road for years

What about BMWs?

Oh, sorry, it was Driverless, not Brainless...!

ACLU warns of mass tracking of US drivers by government spycams

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Re: Money maker

The last Labour Government had the same idea. They wanted ANPR cameras at every major junction in the country and they'd time how long it took for you to get from one to another.

If you got there quicker than their official figures, bingo, automatic speeding ticket!

The facts on Trident 'cuts': What the Lib Dems want is disarmament

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Star Wars [...] deliberately designed to bankrupt the USSR

Was it really? Or was that just a post-facto justification for what turned out to be a colossal waste of money inspired by Reagan letting a couple of sci-fi authors propose an unworkable scheme?

I know which my money would be on...

JPL wants to fire a laser at MARS!

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

Re: Bitchin'

Also obligatory...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNEBLXgWhtM

Pirate Bay bod and pals bag $100k to craft NSA-proof mobe yammer app

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

"You absolutely are not allowed to discuss or plan to break the law, behind closed doors or not."

ORLY?

Developer 1: Ok, we need to think what a hacker would do to try to perform a remote SQL injection into our system.

Developer 2: That's illegal, I'm calling the Police!

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Re: re: safe for whom? Anyone involved in illegal activities?

... says the Anonymous Coward...!

But you and Tapeador seem to think that we should throw away the fundamental Right of Presumed Innocent Unless Proven Guilty and instead go for "We don't know that you're *not* guilty, so we'll monitor everything you do and everything you say and everyone you talk to and everything you read *just in case* you might be planning on doing something which we think is bad!"

Double-plus Ungood!

Giant human-powered quadricopter wins $250,000 Sikorsky Prize

Graham Marsden

@Chris Glen-smith

I'd guess that the rear wheel is there to act a bit like a flywheel.

If you've ever tried riding a cheap exercise bike (one that just has pedals and a turnscrew to provide resistance) you'll have found that it's nothing like riding a real bike because as soon as you stop pedalling, all momentum is lost.

With the rear wheel, even if the rider relaxes for a moment, the rotational energy of the rear wheel keeps things going.

US Congress proposal: National Park will be FOUND ON MOON

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

So what happens...

... when Salvage 1 gets there and starts bringing bits back to flog off?

Sina's self-censorship scheme swamped with spam, not rumours

Graham Marsden
Coat

"Rumours...

... "It is the latter that the Communist Party has been leaning on social media companies in the Middle Kingdom to stamp out as they are believed to disrupt social order"

Listening to rumours is treasonous, Citizen! - Your friend, The Computer.

Mine's the Ultraviolet Security Clearance one...

US gov SMASHES UP TVs and MICE to nuke tiny malware outbreak

Graham Marsden
Devil

I think the BofH would have loved the job (and the excuse to upgrade all the systems in Mission Control...!)

France's 'three strikes' anti-piracy law shot down

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Re: @ Daniel B. - Nice.

Obligatory link...

http://www.techfleece.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/piracy-vs-official-movies.jpg

Put up your ... err ... hand for free vasectomy streamed online

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

Lights! Camera! Action!

... and Cut!

'Banner year' for patent lawsuits: Number of cases, awards both up

Graham Marsden
Devil

Wrong title...

... ITYM "Banner Year for Patent Lawyers"!

Texas teen jailed for four months over sarcastic Facebook comment

Graham Marsden
Holmes

Re: Deserves it

Yes, because America is *so* much safer now this dangerous terrorist is behind bars...!

Gotcha: Oz Greens squeeze web snoop law confession

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

@Voland's right hand - Re: Spying is not the only answer

You forgot Option C - None of the above!

IT design: You're not data, you're a human being

Graham Marsden
Devil

Metrics and me...

Build in as many trackers as you like, I'll use NoScript and Ghostery and DoNotTrack and Adblock Plus and Flashblock and Ref Control and Beef Taco and any other software I like because I don't want someone looking over my shoulder every time I go browsing on the web!

EU crackdown will see tougher sentences for stupid cyber-badhats

Graham Marsden
Holmes

And what about...

... the tougher sentences for those in big institutions (corporate or governmental) who manage to leave laptops on the train or fail to secure data so it can be hacked by skiddies?

[Tumbleweed...]

ULTRASONIC BOLLOCK BLASTERS help Hawkmoth battle The Bat

Graham Marsden
Coat

@Gray Ham - Re: Known this for years ...

Or the bats have taken one look and thought "Jeez, if those are the moth's balls, how big is the bloody moth?!"

(Badoom-Tish!)

FRBs and variable forces: a big week for astronomy

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Re: The laws of physics do NOT change in different places.

Time for one of my favourite quotes:

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...' - Isaac Asimov

Patriot hacker 'The Jester' attacks nations offering Snowden help

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

taken down [...] Ecuadorian tourism site

Wow! I can hear the world quaking in its boots...

IT bloke inadvertently broadcasts smut on vast public screen

Graham Marsden
Happy

Pictures...

... or, at least, Playmobil!

Boston U claims LED patent, files against tech giants

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

Statute of Limitations...?

There should be a limit to the time after the filing of a patent that the holder has a right to lodge a claim infringement.

Or are Boston U really saying "We didn't know that our patent was being infringed for the last decade"?

Decade to 2010 was hottest, wettest: WMO

Graham Marsden
Pint

Where's that...

... popcorn icon...?

Bolivian president's jet grounded so officials can look for Snowden

Graham Marsden

@Rampant Spaniel - Re: More to come?

You must be going senile, there were no Nazi leaders, it was just Ron Vibbentrop, Heinrich Bimmler and that nice Mr Hilter...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKgHUrKZiXA&list=PL0Q2hnZCmpGEI2q3I13gfAE2zcJJrpyA6&index=14

El Reg encounters mObi: R2-D2 for retailers

Graham Marsden
Coat

Can you show me where the baked beans are?

By your command!

Rest your head against a train window, hear VOICES in your SKULL

Graham Marsden
Mushroom

Are you bored...?

No, I'm TRYING TO GET SOME FUCKING SLEEP and the LAST THING I NEED is SOME STUPID PRICK THINKING THIS IS GOOD TIME TO TRY TO SELL ME SOME SHIT!

Bigger than Twitter: Opera releases rebuilt Chromium-based browser

Graham Marsden
Meh

Re: Opera's adherance to standards broke sites...

"seems like I'll be a Firefox user"

Be careful before you say that, v22.0 of Firefox appears to have broken cut and paste! (It's very hit and miss as to whether it works or not)

I've also had an instance of a Captcha repeatedly telling me that I didn't enter any data in the box (when, obviously, I did), so something certainly seems to have screwed up somewhere...

Dubya: I introduced PRISM and I think it's pretty swell

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

"designed to protect America"

I'm pretty sure that that was what the KGB and the Stasi et al thought they were doing for their countries...

Apple 'iWatch' trademark filing hints Cook's make-or-break moment looms

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

Re: Dick Tracy!!

"Six-two and even, over and out"

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

Can I trademark...

... iDontgiveafuck?

'The Apprentice' is a load of old codswallop, says biz prof

Graham Marsden
Happy

BBC "reality" TV show The Apprentice is totally rubbish

You could have put the full stop after "rubbish" and not bothered with the rest of the article!

Feds charge man in $1m 'Dr Evil' scam to blackmail Mitt Romney

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@AC Re: Actually...the non-issue (IMO) is exactly what Obama wanted..

Oh dear. In case you hadn't noticed, Atlas Shrugged is *FICTION*!!!

It's easy when writing fiction to get things happen the way you want them to because it's not what we call "real".

Facebook slurped phone numbers says Norton

Graham Marsden
Happy

@Aoyagi Aichou - Re: And my friends wonder...

Looks at Ghostery, NoScript, Adblock Plus...

... Yep!

Schwarzenegger says 'I'll be back' for Terminator 5 reboot

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

"Spaceballs 2:

"The Search for More Money"

German engineers demo ROBOT APE

Graham Marsden
Happy

Can I just say....

... Oook!

Graham Marsden
Coat

Re: i

iAgree

Obama says US won't scramble jets or twist arms for Snowden

Graham Marsden
Devil

"part of an international community and they should be abiding by international law"

Paging Mr Pott and Mr Kettle-Black...

UK sitting on top of at least 50 years of shale gas – report

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Note these words...

"The UK is sitting on a cheap energy economic revolution comparable to the heyday of North Sea Oil, the British Geological Survey suggests.

"The Survey’s estimate of the potential gas reserves of the Bowland–Hodder shale formation - finally published today – indicate that using today’s technology, the rocks should yield 1,329 TCF (trillion cubic feet) or 37.7 TCM (37,631 BCM, or billion cubic metres) of gas."

There's a lot of conditional words there...

Privacy activists sue FBI for access to facial recognition records

Graham Marsden

@Don Jefe - Re: It's the great leveler

It's a glitch with El Reg's comments system that I've seen in the past where, for some reason, it adds line-breaks instead of doing word wrapping.

Osbo jacks up spending on spooks to keep us safe from TERROR

Graham Marsden
Flame

Re: "fully within a legal framework"

"Do they operate in accordance with the law?"

They don't worry about it. Any time there's a problem, they'll just retroactively change it...

PayPal and SETI aim to go galactic with off-planet currency system

Graham Marsden
Alien

People of Earth, your attention please....

Paypal have just blocked our account after one of our transactions was queried.

Our invasion fleet will be arriving from hyperspace shortly....

Boffins create tabletop ANTIMATTER GUN

Graham Marsden
Coat

Obligatory...

... When will these be available to mount on fricken' sharks?

UK telcos chuck another £1m at online child abuse watchdog

Graham Marsden
WTF?

"opt out of viewing smut"

You mean as opposed to the requirement that some people want that you would have to contact your broadband provider and actively opt-in by saying "yes, please let me view the smut"?

Graham Marsden
Childcatcher

The answer is, of course, "I can't tell you what it is, but I know it when I see it..."

BBC-featured call centre slapped with hefty fine for unwanted calls

Graham Marsden
Trollface

Re: Best way to get rid of them

I can't find a link at the moment, but there's a clip (probably on youtube) of someone who responds to a cold caller by playing sound clips from Family Guy's Peter Griffin...

Drug gang hacks into Belgian seaport, cops seize TONNE of smack

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@AC "drug-addled Libertarian posts" was Re: Free marketeers ahoy

I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't take drugs. I have no interest in the recreational use of substances that alter my perception etc and I am most certainly not "drug addled" in any way.

But if someone else wants to take these substances, why should they not be allowed to? More people die from tobacco related illnesses and accidents caused by drunk drivers than from illegal drugs. Legal drugs would, as has been pointed out many a time, allow the control of quality *and* permit Governments to raise tax on them, rather than pissing away huge amounts of money trying, as they have been for the last several decades to win an unwinnable "war on drugs".