* Posts by Graham Marsden

6899 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jan 2007

I tried to buy a satellite and all I got was this lousy $67,000

Graham Marsden
Coat

I can do you a very good price...

... on a second hand space shuttle, only one owner...

Ever had to register to buy online - and been PELTED with SPAM?

Graham Marsden

Fortunately I own my own domain, so any time I register with a company like Fred Bloggs and co. I put my e-mail address down as fred.bloggs.co.uk@mydomain which means that I can always tell where someone got my e-mail address from and then create a custom filter to file their stuff straight into the junk mail folder :-)

Official science: High heels make you sexy

Graham Marsden
Trollface

Re: Really?????

Yeah, but heels don't work in isolation.

The University of Portsmouth could have researched the negative sex-appeal involved in poor choices of clothing, make-up or the lack of intelligence by going down Guildhall Walk or South Parade on a Friday night...!

Yes, hundreds upon hundreds of websites CAN all be wrong

Graham Marsden
Happy

Obligatory XKCD cartoon...

http://xkcd.com/386/

China turns the screws on netizens with real-name registration plans

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Re: Paranoia strikes again

Well, yes.

Anything that challenges the power base of an entrenched minority who know that they can only remain in charge by making sure the peasants are kept under control is a threat which must be dealt with.

And the same goes in China...

New York takes 2,100 pervs offline, gets gaming support

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

So let's see...

"Under New York State’s Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) law, convicted sex offenders must register all of their e-mail addresses, screen names, and other Internet identifiers with the state. That information is then made available to certain websites so they can purge potential predators from their online worlds"

Right, so that's *potential* predators even though "According to the Division of Criminal Justice Services, New York State has more than 34,000 registered sex offenders: 13,260 are level 1 registered offenders (lowest risk of repeat offense); 12,342 are level 2 registered offenders (moderate risk of repeat offense); 8,596 are level 3 registered sex offenders (high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety exists)."

That's about 40% who are lowest risk and only 25% who are "high risk" and "a threat to public safety", but rather than educate people ("Parents often do not realize that gaming consoles have these capabilities, or that parental controls exist for these systems") far better to consider anyone (even those who have only been convicted of taking a piss in public or teens who have had consensual but underage sex) should be thought of as a potential child molestor and banned from playing online games!

Facebook tests feature to let strangers pay to message you

Graham Marsden
WTF?

'the message is probably "important" '

To quote the BS that American TV presenters come out with when the commercials are due: "This comment continues after these important messages..."

Bullshit, *I* decide what is important, not Facebook!

UK.gov stalks jobless online to axe work refuseniks' benefits

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

"We don't see why you wouldn't want to [let advisors track you]...

"...After all, if you've got nothing to hide..." they added, socco voce...

MIT boffins demonstrate NEW form of magnetism

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: Herbertsmithite (named after its discoverer)

Not forgetting the mineral that was discovered near the town of Cummington...

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

End of days: Possessed POWERPOINT predicts Mayan Apocalypse

Graham Marsden
Mushroom

No Boom today...

... Boom tomorrow. There's always a Boom tomorrow

- Susan Ivanova

TSA agrees to review of perv scanner radiation risks

Graham Marsden
FAIL

Once again...

... it's time for this clip of Adam Savage who went through a body scanner with two 12" industrial razorblades on him....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3yaqq9Jjb4

After Sandy Hook, Senator calls for violent video game probe

Graham Marsden
FAIL

How many people...

... have been killed by a video game...?

GRAIL orbiters make DEATH DIVE into lunar mountain

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

Moon Dive?

Doesn't have the same ring to it (or effect) as "Sun Dive"!

Senator threatens FAA with legislation over in-flight fondleslabbing

Graham Marsden

Re: Interference vs. Distraction

Ok, I don't work in the industry, but a thought that comes to mind is to load a plane with *every* damn piece of electronic equipment they can think of that someone might carry and put sensors around to detect and record all the possible frequencies which they might kick out.

Then "play back" that recording in a test plane using signal generators, starting off with it stationary and see if there's *any* result. If not, then try a low speed taxi test, then high speed taxi test etc until eventually you carry out a simulated landing approach at eg 5000 feet such that if anything goes wrong you've still got time to switch the recording off and re-establish control.

If, after all that, you still get no result, try it with other planes. If still no result, I'd think you've got safety certification.

Top-secret US spaceplane sets off on another classified mission

Graham Marsden
Pirate

Re: Its a fair bet its off to pick up whatever North Korea launched yesterday

And then land in a secret base hidden in an extinct volcano...?

MPs: 'Chilling' new libel law will CENSOR THE TRUTH online

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

@auburnman Re: One tiny little country

"As I understand it you always have the right to not have photos of you published"

No, you do *not* have the right not to have photos of you published. You can only object to a photograph if, once published, it is defamatory and the publisher cannot provide a reasonable defence for why it doesn't defame you.

This is out of hand now: Apple attempts to trademark the LEAF

Graham Marsden
WTF?

Re: Prior Art, with rounded corners too!

But what about one third of the Adidas Logo?

http://www.hdwallpapersarena.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/adidas-logo.jpg

New York invites designers to invent Future of Phone Booths

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@jake - "What's wrong with rotary dial telephones?"

Please press 1 for the answer to your question...

EU, US launch biggest ever global fight against online child sex abuse

Graham Marsden

@AC "as long as there is a market for the images...

"... new abuse will continue to create new images."

Nonsense.

These images were being created by perpetrators long before they had any possible "market" for them and even if we could shut down every possible method of distributing them now, the creation of new images and, much more importantly, the abuse would still be happening.

The images do not cause abuse, it is the abuse which causes the images and *that* is the problem that we really need to deal with.

Of course when a whole new category of "abusive images" is suddenly created as happened when the Blair Regime decided to redefine "child pornography" as images of anyone under 18 instead of anyone under 16 (the legal age of consent in the UK!), it doesn't help matters in the slightest...

Motörheadphönes Motörizer rock 'phones review

Graham Marsden
Coat

Bingo!

Sorry, was just checking the number of song/ band references in the piece... ;-)

Ouya gaming project announces console giveaway

Graham Marsden
Coat

Ouya?

Isn't that the sound that Billy Bunter made when he was caned...?

Sex offender wins case against Facebook vigilantism

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Re: Yes but

Try looking at the "Bloody Code" from the 17th Century where all sorts of crimes (such as stealing property worth more than 12 pence) attracted the death penalty because that would "act as a deterrent".

Obviously this sentencing strategy worked so well so we still use it today...

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

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" - George Satayana

Graham Marsden
Boffin

IIRC the UK Police know where something over 97% of all convicted sex offenders live, so if a related crime happens anywhere near them they know there will be a knock on the door.

In the USA where they have Megan's Law, I believe around 30% of convicted sex offencers have absconded or failed to register a change of address with the appropriate authorities because this law does not even give them the *chance* of trying to rebuild their lives.

Facebook vigilantism benefits nobody.

Crooks inject malicious Java applet into FOREX trading website

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: For a moment

No worries, mate, she'll be alright...

Japan Airlines to serve KFC on Christmas flights

Graham Marsden
WTF?

Down here we have Ken's Fried Chicken which makes me even less inclined to sample its wares than the KFC near the gym I go to.

Oh and that KFC wafts the smell of grease and fat through the air, presumably to make people think "Gosh, I'm hungry, I could really do with some Chicken Marinated With Salt, Sodium Phosphate, and Monosodium Glutamate. Seasoned With: Maltodextrin, Salt, Bleached Wheat Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Monosodium Glutamate, Spice, Palm Oil, Natural Flavor, Garlic Powder, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Wheat, Salt), Chicken Fat, Chicken Broth, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Extractives of Turmeric, Dehydrated Carrot, Onion Powder, and Not More Than 2% Each of Calcium Silicate and Silicon Dioxide Added As Anticaking Agents"!

Staples to offer in-store full color 3D printing service

Graham Marsden

Re: This is a handy service for all sections of the community to use!

A paper ball gag is going to end up in a soggy mess very quickly!

And bulldog clips are so tacky, too...

You should buy a decent rubber ball gag and set of nipple clamps from a supplier of affordable leather products which would be much more suitable and effective :-)

PM demands media clean-up, not keen on doing much himself

Graham Marsden
Alert

The press have had their chance...

I am in no way in favour of legislation that removes freedom of expression, but there need to be some way of enforcing the attendant *responsibility* that comes along with it, especially in the big media.

We've seen too many examples of the press printing blatant falsehoods and unsubstantiated stories and then, when they're called in front of their tame lapdog, the PCC (run by newspaper editors for newspaper editors) they say "it's just a difference of editorial opinion" and the PCC says "Right ho, no problem, see you down the pub for a few beers later".

We need a truly independent regulator to replace the PCC which has the teeth to force papers to behave or face fines and even imprisonment to stop them ruining innocent people's lives in a cavalier manner simply so they can sell more copy.

Leveson tells media to set up independent regulator or bow to Ofcom

Graham Marsden
Holmes

Re: Why?

@Geoff332

"Either that, or it's against their self-interest to understand the difference and they are deliberately mis-representing the issue."

Which do you think it is?!

Ten badass brainy computers from science fiction

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

What about...

... the Difference Engine from Gibson and Sterling's book of the same name?

A self-aware *mechanical* computer!

Graham Marsden
Coat

Re: Hitchhiker Guide to The Galaxy

@RodB

Unfortunately your memory is failing:

Slartibartfast: I was most upset to hear of its destruction.

Arthur: *You* were upset?

Slartibartfast: Five minutes later and it wouldn't have mattered so much. Shocking cock up. The mice were furious.

Arthur: Mice?

Badges for Commentards

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: Didn't I make 100 posts in a year?

@Will Godfrey

I always remember ?&FE4E=&7F

It would freeze the computer by setting all the interrupts and the only thing to do then was hit Break (which would do a power-on memory wipe) or switch off and back on again. Either would wipe the memory but it was so much more elegant that *FX 200,3 :-)

Bradley Manning to speak in public for first time in two years

Graham Marsden
Flame

Re: Waterboarding? Suicide missions?

Hell, why bother with waterboarding, suicide missions or firing squads? Why don't you just burn him at the stake and be done with it!!!

Data cops: Facebook privacy plans must be 'modified'

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Re: Baaa baaa baaa!

http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacy.asp

Their One Year Mission: To boldly find the effects of null G on humans

Graham Marsden
Coat

Just don't...

... get a nickname like Fruit Loops...

Cambridge boffins fear 'Pandora's Unboxing' and RISE of the MACHINES

Graham Marsden

[Broadcast Eclear, sent 1346768792.1]

xHuman Race

oGSV Slightly Perturbed [Location unknown, but presumably monitoring]

If you're out there, do us a favour...

Graham Marsden
Pirate

Re: Or equally likely

ITYM "Scans Lolcats, Youtube comments pages, assorted pro/ anti Apple flame wars, Facebook Memes and so on and gives up in disgust...!"

Asteroid miners hunt for platinum, leave all common sense in glovebox

Graham Marsden
Coat

This isn't going to work...

... until someone invents the Cobra Mk III.

Right on, Commander!

WANTED: Actual HELPFUL info on price-comparison websites

Graham Marsden

Re: I have used lots of price comparison sites

@AC - Unfortunately some companies don't pay any attention to MPS and TPS or they're calling from outside the UK and so can stick two fingers up to them.

As for e-mails, I own my domain, so if I give Fred Bloggs & Co an e-mail address I put fredbloggs.com@... as the address and if I start getting spam to that name I know who has been careless with my details (and can be blocked from future contact!)

South Korean convicted for tweeting Pyongyang propaganda

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

@jeremy 3 - Re: Have I broken the law too?

"The airport dude in the UK and this fella in Korea should've been locked up, not because the law is right, but because they are stupid and ignorant."

Balderdash! The people who are stupid and ignorant are the ones passing these ridiculous laws and those trying to apply them.

Google Adwords scammer charged premium to call NHS Direct

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

Re: How is this a scam?

It's a scam like the companies who offer "services" which charge you for reclaiming PPI or for obtaining an EHIC are scams, they are attempting to obtain money by deception.

Graham Marsden
FAIL

Re: Personally

Ah, yes, I can see lots of people phoning up their phone provider saying "Please can I access 09xxx numbers, I'm really not doing it for the sex lines, of course..."

Texan schoolgirl expelled for refusing to wear RFID tag

Graham Marsden
Black Helicopters

WTF???

Ok, I may not agree with her religious beliefs, but I sure as hell agree with this being a gross invasion of privacy verging on Official Stalking!

If I had a kid at that school I'd be standing right alongside them objecting to this and probably outside the gates handing out leaflets too.

PS And what's to stop students swapping ID tags either through mischief or malice??

PPS " in some cases for toilet breaks, and it allows the school to track their every movement throughout the day" - I'm sure there's a pun there somewhere...!!

'Rare for tech not to be involved in child abuse cases'

Graham Marsden
Boffin

"You can avoid so many uncomfortable truths with that mantra."

And you can ruin so many lives and introduce so many unnecesary and unworkable laws by ignoring it.

Facebook starts going encrypted by default in North America

Graham Marsden
WTF?

"the UK's spooks claim...

"...they have no interest in what it said, only in who talks to who"

And we all believe them, don't we, boys and girls...!

(And shouldn't that be "whom"?!)

Do you know a chimp who's feeling doleful? Mid-life crisis, probably

Graham Marsden
Coat

I have an Orang-Utan here...

... who just wants to say "Oook!!"

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: RE: "50-year-old men ... absconding with waitresses"

I'm 47, I've already got the motorbike, now all I need to do is find the waitress..

NASA suggests robotic return to the Moon

Graham Marsden
Happy

Re: Target...

"Schroedinger basin" where there may or may not be a cat...

Restaurateur jailed for customer sex profile revenge plan

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

Re: Customer from hell. . .

"Customer from hell"? For asking that they leave olives out of the meal and then behing unhappy with the staff's attitude? Do the words "Customer Service" not mean anything to you??

Author of '80s classic The Hobbit didn't know game was a hit

Graham Marsden
Coffee/keyboard

@rurwin

You have just caused me to laugh helplessly for about the last five minutes!!

:-)

Reefer madness blasts pot machine maker's stock sky high

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

"legalizing the stuff actually cuts demand"

And that's all we *really* need to know to stop the stupid waste of time, money and resources on the nonsensical and unwinnable "War on Drugs" that too many grandstanding politicians have forced on us!