* Posts by Graham Marsden

6899 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jan 2007

Bitcoin gets a $100 haircut on rollercoaster trading run

Graham Marsden

What word is missing from the following sentence...?

"A ____ and his money are soon parted"

Chemical-dipped TRANSPARENT BRAINS bare all for science

Graham Marsden

Reminds me...

... of those old anti-drugs messages:

This is your brain.

This is your brain on Clarity...!

Boffins propose photon-swapping entanglement experiment on ISS

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Re: Well at least it's almost science

To quote Isaac Asimov: "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

Hard luck lads, todger size DOES matter: Official

Graham Marsden
Coat

Sounds like...

... a load of bollocks to me...

Graham Marsden
Happy

More than a handfull....

.... is where it starts to get really interesting

[Ahem]

Or so I've been told...

New rules to end cries of 'WTF... a £10 online booking fee?'

Graham Marsden
Pirate

"We received an invitation in the post one Monday morn'

"To attend our cousin's wedding in the town where we were born..."

- Cheap Flights by Fascinating Aida.

German ransomware threatens with sick kiddie smut

Graham Marsden
Childcatcher

@fearnothing Re: Very dangerous indeed

"The acts involved in this do specify that intent is a necessary component for it to be a criminal act."

Whilst that is technically true, the fact is that the Police and CPS in cases like this act on the principle of "Presumed guilty unless you can prove your innocence".

Meanwhile all your computer gear, DVDs, CDs, videos, mobile phones, memory sticks and anything else have been confiscated for analysis (which means you'll not see them again for at least six months to a year and they'll often be buggered by the time you do get them back), some "concerned copper" will probably have leaked the story to the press and told your neighbours that you're a suspected kiddy fiddler. and you'll end up with a huge legal bill...

Brit musos now trouser more crumpled fivers from online music than radio

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: Hmmm...

I work from home and had one of these calls saying they were from the PRS and asking if I listened to music whilst I worked.

I replied "Hear that sound...?"

"What sound?"

"Exactly!" and put the phone down.

Graham Marsden
Holmes

Re: Oh

Yes, they have been ever since the advent of the Cassette Tape prompted claims that "Home Taping is Killing Music!"

Lasers capture 3D images from a kilometre away

Graham Marsden
Coat

Looks like...

... The Stig could end up being targetted by this...!

ICANN under fire as Verisign warns of rushed domain-name expansion

Graham Marsden
Pirate

Nice Brand you have there, Squire...

... Be a shame if anything happened to it, know what I mean?

Now all you need to do is sign up to our Protection Package and register twenty domain suffixes just to make sure that it stays pristine...

Veiny green 'scum' meteorite may be first visitor from Mercury

Graham Marsden
Alien

This meteorite...

... will be code-named "Andromeda"...

Boffins probe into moons – and associated rings – 'beyond snow line'

Graham Marsden
Coat

Is that...

... a Monolith I see...?

Orange is the new TalkTalk of the broadband complaints league

Graham Marsden

Just about to leave Orange...

They've decided to "simplify" my mobile charges which means that instead of a call to an Orange number being cheaper than one to another network and my getting free calls to my voicemail etc, *everything* is going to cost 25p a time which means that some things have effectively gone up in price by 500%!

Goodbye, greedy bastards.

Facebook to filter angry comments in site tweak

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

No chronological order

I've just found a big problem with the new system: Comments no longer appear in chronological order.

So if A posts a comment, then B replies, but B's post gets more likes, it gets bumped up above A's post, but C's reply to B might appear below A's...

This makes any discussion style comments virtually incomprehensible.

Bravo Failbook!

Graham Marsden
Coat

@heyrick Re: Commercial Nonsense

Like!

Entire internet credits snapper for taking great pic while actually dead

Graham Marsden
FAIL

"It's illegal, but...

"...the authorities (as so often in copyright cases) are on the side of the offender, not the victim."

So it's ok to be a "Freetard" if you're a big company...?

CERN re-opens 'Animal Shelter for Computer Mice'

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

@A Known Coward - Re: Good one...

Thanks for posting the correction.

Under the Consumer Protection Regulations you can say "If you want you can collect your goods at your expensive and at my convenience, if you don't, I'll keep them, thank you".

Graham Marsden

Re: Good one...

@frank ly

Why throw them away? Under the Unsolicited Goods and Services Act they can be treated as gifts and you could flog them out on eBay :-)

Swedish linguists nix new word after row with Google

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

Reminds me...

... of when McDonalds threatened to sue the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for including "McJob"!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McJob

Google improves Chrom’s spel checkr

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Dew knot putt...

... awl yore trussed inn spill chequers...

West Virginia seeks Google Glass driving ban

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

@Larry F54

"Where is the war on car traffic?"

A good question. I recall when there was the rail accidents at Potters Bar and people were saying "Ooh, I won't go on trains again", completely failing to realise that there was the equivalent of a Potters Bar *every two days* on the roads!

It's already been proven repeatedly that using a mobile device at the wheel is as dangerous as driving whilst at the legal blood alcohol limit, so, in this country at least, it should already be covered under existing legislation if only we had enough Police on the roads to actually *enforce* those laws...

Furious Stephen Fry blasts 'evil' Reg and 'TW*T' Orlowski

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

@Thomas 4: Re: Umm, I'm not sure how cool I am with this

Why am I waiting for someone to day "But it's just a bit of fun!"

(PS it wasn't much fun from my POV at school either...)

Chinese graves use quick response codes to recall the dead

Graham Marsden
Pirate

I tried one of these...

... but it just downloaded a Zombie Trojan...

Schmidt calls China's attempts to take over internet 'egregious'

Graham Marsden

@AC Re: Are any Reg readers also employees of Google?

There's always BeefTaco, Better Privacy, FlashBlock, Ghostery...

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Re: Are any Reg readers also employees of Google?

I'm not a Google employee and I don't know the answer to your question, but I don't worry either, because I use NoScript and block Google Analytics completely!

Give Google a COLD HARD SLAP - web rivals' plea to Euro watchdog

Graham Marsden

@AC Re: @Graham Marsden

So your argument is "Well every other search engine is also doing it, so that makes it ok"?

Now try going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_online_map_services and see how many of those mapping services are likely to ever get a hit off *any* search engines...

Graham Marsden
Devil

@Dave Dowell

Go to Google.

Put in a town or city name or post code.

What comes up? A bunch of links and, more importantly, a Google map.

There may be other mapping services available, but who's going to look at those when they can just click on the first offering available?

*That* is a clear abuse of Google's power to stifle the competition.

Stop excluding vulnerable Brits from digital agenda - MPs

Graham Marsden
Facepalm

Pensioners! Want to know more about getting online...?

Then visit this Government website...!

Boffin road trip! The Reg presents Geek's Guide to Britain

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

Re: Excellent

Well it lets you get revenge for all those shopping trips where you have to make a choice between the red outfit and the brown one (Who cares? Just pick one!) or trying not to get tripped up by "Does my bum look big in this?" questions.

Young model ruthlessly fingers upskirt iPad petshop pervert

Graham Marsden

If he had done this in England...

... he could have been facing jail time...

Sexual Offences Act 2003 - Paragraph 67

(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both;

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/67

Caught on camera: Fujitsu touts anti-terrorist pulse-taking tech

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Re: So, you can defeat this by being late?

"lets make it so that there are a 100 different things the terrorist has to get right every time in order to not be caught."

Please look up the following words: "False Positive".

How many people might also fall foul of those "100 different things"?

As for "unfounded distrust", perhaps you should look up "diminishing returns" too...

Supreme Court silence seals Thomas-Rasset's file sharing fate

Graham Marsden
Devil

What's next...?

... Are the RIAA and MAFIAA going to try to bring back Debtors' Prisons??

Drones with freakin' CLAWS grab objects like eagles

Graham Marsden
Black Helicopters

Grams...

... Ride of the Valkyrie...!

Boeing outlines fix for 787 batteries

Graham Marsden
Coat

So...

... actually it was just the Magic Blue Smoke (that all electronic equipment has inside) escaping...

Drunk driving: No more dangerous than talking on handsfree mobe

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

@Steve 13 Re: Concentration

"automatic, unconscious competence is the highest level"

Yes, but that is *not* what the majority of road users have. They do things automatically right up until the point that something goes wrong, then they slam on the brakes or swerve or freeze up in panic because their skills are only good enough to let them cope with every day situations.

What they do *not* do is use good observation and planning to see a situation *before* it develops. They're mostly just watching the back of the car in front or giving a casual glance in their mirror if and when they think about it rather than considering what other vehicles may be doing.

Remember that the Driving Test only ensures that someone has the *bare minimum* of skills to be allowed out on the road in charge of a vehicle and once you've passed that Test you will almost never need to demonstrate that your skills are still up to scratch.

Unfortunately when youy couple that with being under the influence of alcohol (even if not above the legal limit) or being distracted by using a mobile phone on the move, what you get is a recipie for disaster...

New nuke could POWER WORLD UNTIL 2083

Graham Marsden
Paris Hilton

"Silly name"??

You'd prefer some ridiculously contrived acronym?

EU mulls almost-anonymisation of folks' data to cut biz some slack

Graham Marsden
WTF?

"allows the same individual...

"...to be assigned the same pseudonym across various data sets."

So if the pseudonym is compromised in one data set, then all the other data sets are compromised to.

Not exactly anonymous at all, then...

Ten serious sci-fi films for the sentient fan

Graham Marsden

Re: Moon

Whilst Moon was interesting to begin with and had excellent visuals (apart from people moving like they were in 1g when they were on the moon in 1/6th of a g!), IMO it explained itself too quickly and then ended in a fairly commonplace manner after a potentially good start.

[Possible spoilers in the next couple of paragraphs...]

I felt there could have been a lot more done with the "paranoia" aspect of "is this real or not" scenario and GERTY being helpful by giving Bell the password struck me as a convenient plot device which, given that it wouldn't answer his questions previously, didn't seem credible.

Also one thing that I didn't follow was that (presumably) the girl he hallucinates at the start is supposed to be the one who is now 15, but how did he know what she looked like as he wouldn't have had memories of her?

A nice idea, but flawed execution.

Google's Wi-Fi sniffing to result in $7 million fine

Graham Marsden
Devil

You have to wonder...

... how much the lobbying they undoubtedly engaged in cost in comparison to the fine...

Congratulations, copyright infringers: You are the five per cent

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

@Captain Underpants and moiety - Re: OK, case study....

Thanks guys! It was the techfleece one I was thinking of, but the XKCD one is equally valid!

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Remember, Kids: Home Taping is Killing Music...!

Ah, I recall those warnings from when I was at school in the 1970s and the Music Industry was decrying the creation of the compact cassette and the tape-to-tape recorder which let you get a copy of the album your mate bought.

So if all *that* piracy was "Killing Music", how come the same people and the same industry were whining about the same thing when the CD burner came along and then the DVD burner and now Torrent sites?

Frankly if this alleged 5% is such a threat to the profitability of their industry (and not just their bonuses), they really need to look at their business models a bit more closely.

Or they could just stop gouging their customers for stupidly (and unjustifiably) high prices for crap content laden with DRM and piracy warnings and offer a decent product at a reasonable price.

Graham Marsden

Re: OK, case study....

"Today, you buy a DVD, to find there are adverts for other stuff, including other films, that you CANNOT skip over!!!"

I'm sure there was an XKCD or similar which made exactly this point, but I can't find it.

Can anyone point me to a link?

Viv Reding attacks 'scaremongers' opposing her draft Data Protection bill

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

I think...

... some people rather missed the point of my last comment.

Lobbying is *ANYONE* being able to have a say on what their government does, be it by contacting their MP, getting up a petition or whatever.

If as "Obviously!" wanted, *all* such lobbying was banned, we would have an even less representative government than we do now!

Graham Marsden
Boffin

"Reding is trying to protect us from the evil corporates who would screw us left and right if allowed too"

You mean as opposed to the evil governments who, if they couldn't be lobbied by anyone, would screw us left and right *even more* than they do right now?

Chaos Theory causes password entry pandemonium

Graham Marsden
Pirate

Re: Correct Horse Battery Staple

"Bacon is so much better than anchovies."

But it's *STILL* going to make you die early according to current news reports...!

The DIY spy-in-the-sky: From kites to octocopters

Graham Marsden

Time Team...

... used a rather nice Delta-winged drone with a camera in a recent episode to do shots which they'd normally have used a much more expensive helicopter for.

It actually gave pretty good results.

Canuck rumps resist Street View arsebusters

Graham Marsden
Devil

Google have developed new Arse pixellating software...

... Apparently the Palace of Westminster has now been pixellated...!

SimCity 3000

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

I picked up a copy of this...

... in a charity shop for a quid last year and it's fun to just spend an evening building up Grahamville (hell, if Sheldon can have Sheldonopolis...!) and seeing, for instance, how much you can boost property values in an area by getting rid of noisome neighbours and building lots of parks and planting trees :-)

Google to offer 'same-day delivery' Amazon Prime killer - report

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Same goes for the high street. Why do they open at 9am and close at 5.30pm?

Perhaps because people don't *want* to work all day and all night? Perhaps because the stores can't afford to employ the extra staff and pay for the extra lighting and heating that opening late would involve?

Perhaps people have *lives* they want to enjoy...