* Posts by Graham Marsden

6899 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Jan 2007

Much of recent global warming actually caused by Sun

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Once again...

... amidst all the "Hah! We were right all along!" gloating from both sides I put in a bid for us simply trying to use the available energy resources *more efficiently* thus reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses/ soot/ other pollutants and extending the lifespan of limited fossil fuel supplies whilst we try to find viable alternatives.

But I doubt anyone will pay attention as usual.

Have hordes of sex workers snubbed the Commonwealth games?

Graham Marsden
Coat

Could this be...

... the reason for the lack of spectators at many events?

They're all too busy being entertained by the thousands of sex workers....

Little Chef in 'I ♥ Charlie' t-shirt outrage

Graham Marsden
WTF?

What about the underage kid I saw...

... wearing a shirt saying "It's not going to lick itself" with an arrow pointing downwards?!

UK energy industry mugs customers

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

No, the point of privatisation of the utilities...

... was to give Maggie a big chunk of money which she could use to buy the next election!

Unfortunately what we now have is oligopoly/ virtual monopoly suppliers who have no interest in *actually* competing with each other (because that will harm their profits) so they make it as hard as possible for the consumer to compare like with like and use all sorts of confusion marketing techniques to baffle people into paying more for their gas, electricity or water than they need to.

Facebook unveils changes to enhance privacy

Graham Marsden
Boffin

About bloody time too...

... but what's the betting that it's so complicated to set up that most people will just go for the default settings?

Software dev turned rogue trader gets jail and €4.9bn fine

Graham Marsden
WTF?

Meanwhile...

... Societe General have been *completely exonerated* by the Court who judged them to be totally blameless in this matter despite what appear to be blatantly inadequate security precautions and a lack of monitoring systems which should have prevented this sort of thing from happening in the first place.

Internet firms welcome CEOP chief's exit

Graham Marsden
WTF?

Since when does...

... thinking that someone can do a better job that self-styled "protector of the children" and empire builder Jim Gamble mean that you are "pro-paedophile"???

He has probably done *more* to bring child protection into disrepute than anyone by pandering to the Tabloid Press and alienating the industry with his arrogant "do it my way or I'll get the media to attack your reputations" bully boy tactics and the sooner he's gone the better.

Hiberno-mooner stalks Google Street View

Graham Marsden
Coat

And a rovin' a rovin' a rovin' I'll go...

... For a pair of brown eyes

Legendary steampunk computer 'should be built' - programmer

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

Ten thousand towers...

... the cyclonic hum of a trillion twisting gears, all air gone earthquake-dark in a mist of oil, in the fractioned heat of intermeshing wheels. Black seamless pavements, uncounted tributary rivulets for the frantic travels of the punched-out lace of data, the ghosts of history loosed in this hot shining necropolis. Paper-thin faces billow like sails, twisting, yawning, tumbling through the empty streets, human faces that are borrowed masks, and lenses for a peering Eye.

- The Difference Engine, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

UK head of online child protection resigns

Graham Marsden
Go

But Won't Someone Think Of...

... The Quango and Jimmy's Empire Building!!!

Go and good riddance!

Project Champion Report misses targets

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

Let's hear it for weasel clauses:

"You have all these rights, apart from when we decide that you don't..."

Iran boasts of Stuxnet 'nuclear spies' arrests

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

Round up...

... the usual suspects...

Pentagon out to 'destroy' Wikileaks, founder says

Graham Marsden
FAIL

@Ian Michael Gumby

No, you are the one who has missed my point.

You brought in the political "left" and "right" which are completely irrelevant to this story and then tried to stop anyone from down-voting your post by implying that, if they did, they were "leftist leading simple thinking".

You may have had a reasonable point, but you blew it by using tactics like these.

Graham Marsden
FAIL

@Ian Michael Gumby

Watch the right-winger try to dismiss anyone who disagrees with him as "leftist leading simple thinking" because obviously no right(!) thinking person would disagree...

Canada prostitution laws pulverised: politicians apoplectic

Graham Marsden
Thumb Up

Bravo Canada!

It is high time that every country recognised that "Women's Rights" *INCLUDES* the right of a woman to decide *for herself* what she does with her body and to enjoy the same protections from violence and crime that everyone else does!

Ofcom imposes new rules on silent callers

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

"a phone number the callee can use to opt out of future calls"

At what rate? Is it 0800 or 0870 or perhaps a premium rate number?

Why not simply "press 0 if you don' t want us to call you again"???

Trucker pulled with DVD and laptop on dashboard

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

"professional drivers"?

Getting paid to drive a taxi, white van, truck or anything else does *NOT* make someone a "professional driver"!

As you mention, those who think of themselves as "professional drivers" are often extremely *bad* drivers because they think they know it all and probably think they have right of way over everything else on the road too which makes them very dangerous.

Flying gyrocopter jump-jeep gets $3m from DARPA

Graham Marsden
Terminator

"Transformer TX"?

I can hear a couple of companies of Trademark Lawyers firing up their word processors...

US demands right to snoop the world

Graham Marsden
Stop

"necessary and proportionate"...

... does not mean "you've got it, we want it, so hand it over!"

Video vigilante site emerges from legal battles

Graham Marsden
Stop

Obligatory Red Dwarf Quote...

... Vote Fascist for a Third Glorious Decade of Total Law Enforcement!

Be a Government Informer.

Betray Your Family & Friends.

Fabulous Prizes to be Won!

HABITABLE ALIEN WORLD discovered 20 light-years away!

Graham Marsden
Coat

M-class sun....

But not an M-class planet...?

Miliband retains Labour line on DNA and CCTV

Graham Marsden
FAIL

"Too casual"?

So what you really mean is "next time we won't go for the laid back, force legislation through Parliament technique, we'll just get the Jackboots out and kick in a few front doors."

("But don't worry, if you've got nothing to hide...)

Facial recognition tech could hit plod smartphones

Graham Marsden
Happy

Ok,I object to this on Civil Liberties grounds...

... but it would be incredibly useful for people like me who find it extremely hard to remember names and faces, next time I see someone, a quick zap with the camera and it can pop up their name and other details to save me having to say "Sorry, I can't remember who you are"!

Smile (for the camera!)

Kindle users finally get to pay for games

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

"lack of international support"

This is due to the long running playground spat between Hasbro and Mattel. Hasbro have the rights for the game in the USA and Canada, Mattel have the rights for the rest of the world and they cannot agree to play nicely together...

Sex Party proposes new classification system for Oz

Graham Marsden

Ok, but...

Ok, it's good that ASP are challenging the nonsensical puritanical mores of their country, but I find it disappointing that they "express its opposition to violence in all its forms, " with the seeming implication that consensual (but extreme) BDSM videos are the same as non-consensual, violent sexual acts because they say "A category of Non Violent Erotica would include all sexually explicit material between consenting adults that is free from depictions of violence, sexual violence, sexualised violence, coercion, sexually assaultive language."

Perhaps they're trying a "small steps" technique to slowly push back the barriers without the sort of resistance that a "legalise it all" campaign could cause, but they seem to be risking codifying another set of barriers which would be harder to get rid of because "Well, the ASP lobbied for these laws!"

It's also disappointing that they cite "a 2005 Eros summary of all recent research studies into the effects of violent media on children" when they are talking about *adult* material designed for people who are obviously *not* children and should know the difference between right and wrong and consent and non-consent.

BTW I do have to question why it was necessary to include a quote (presumably for "balance") from Vivienne Pattson the director of soi-disant Mediawatch-UK.

This organisation is just the old Mary Whitehouse brigade under a new name trotting out the tired old rhetoric of "porn is wrong because it objectifies women" as if the women who take part in it (what about the men?) are, presumably, mentally or emotionally deficient and cannot understand for themselves what they are doing without Ms Pattson and friends telling them "no, we don't like this, so you shouldn't do it".

Mediawatch are not amenable to reason and, unlike Backlash, they have no interest in engaging in sensible discussion with anyone who disagrees with their position.

Daily Mail savages Data Protection Act over stolen dog

Graham Marsden

"potentially some caring person is out of pocket"

Unfortunately that's what happens if you receive stolen goods. It doesn't matter whether you bought them in good faith, you have no legitimate title to them.

School caretaker jailed for fitting up colleague

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

Presumption of innocence...?

Not for the poor bastard who had his name spread all over the papers so the lynch mob started sharpening their scythes and lighting flaming torches.

This is just another example of why the accused should be allowed anonymity in cases like this. You can bet that even now he's been acquitted, there are still idiots who will be saying "well, there's no smoke without fire" (even if the fire was set by someone else...) and refusing to have anything to do with him.

Graham Marsden

@The Indomitable Gall

But it doesn't *matter* whether the guy is a paedophile or not, it's simply possessing (oh, sorry, isn't that "making", since he "made" the images by downloading them, didn't he?) which is enough to get you branded as a witch, err, sorry, paedophile...

Fraunhofer boffins develop 'Titanium foam' endoskeletal implants

Graham Marsden
Coat

Yeah, but..

... this is only measly titanium, not Adamantium!

Universities warn Willetts on science cuts

Graham Marsden
Go

I'll support those cuts...

... and ones to the Armed Forces and Civil Service etc *PROVIDED* you start at the *TOP*.

We are definitely in the position of "Too many Chiefs" whose main job is to warm seats and shuffle lots of paperwork (usually in the form of "reports") to make it look as if they are indispensible which the poor bloody infantry (or equivalent) are trying to do more and more with less and less and new recruits are harder and harder to get because the resources are just not there to support them and train them to do the jobs that are desperately required.

Google cools data center with bottom of Baltic Sea

Graham Marsden
Flame

"Tekeli-li...!

"Tekeli-li...!"

(Flames because it's the best way of getting rid of them!)

IE captain flees Microsoft for Google

Graham Marsden
WTF?

'I want to do good'???

Going from Microsoft (who got so big for their boots that they thought they could tell the world what to do) to Google (who are getting so big for their boots that they think they can tell the world what to think)...?

Has anyone else's Irony Detector just gone into meltdown?

Bill would let feds block pirate websites worldwide

Graham Marsden
Big Brother

So once again...

... the Yanks decide that *they* own the internet and they can enforce their arbitrary standards (and the wishes of media companies who make big contributions to certain lawmakers' campaigns!) on the rest of the world.

The Land of the "free to do only the things that we like..."

Police issue lettuce e-fit

Graham Marsden
Coat

Have the Police made enquiries at El Reg's offices?

It could be John Lettice...

Check Point kills scareware-style pop-up campaign

Graham Marsden
FAIL

"After listening to consumer feedback, we realised that...

"... we screwed up massively so we'd better eat some humble pie before everyone switches to other products!"

Taxman rejects 'lie detector' tech

Graham Marsden

@Lawyers

The problem is that if you are being sued you have to waste time and effort and money hiring lawyers, compiling a defence etc.

Even if (or when) you win, you're not guaranteed to get your costs back, so you still lose out :-(

Graham Marsden
FAIL

Nemesysco [..] threatened to sue the journal for libel

Whilst providing evidence that their system did work at a level "better than chance", of course.

What? They didn't show any evidence?

But surely they must have *tested* the thing under controlled conditions before making their claims that it would reliably "detect lies"...???

ZoneAlarm slammed for scarewarey marketing

Graham Marsden
Flame

I wasted ten minutes of my life...

... checking to ensure that my system hadn't been compromised by a malware product masquerading as a "legitimate" warning before finding out that even though I hadn't been infected it wasn't a legitimate warning at all.

'Unicorn' captured in remote Laos mountain forests

Graham Marsden
Coat

Now that's...

... "scary"!

Parents back legal ban of violent vidgames sales to kids

Graham Marsden
FAIL

Again you don't get it.

You ask "Why is it a good idea to allow shops to sell adult rated games to kids?" when what you should be asking is "Why is it a good idea to have a law forbidding shops to sell adult rated games to kids?" with the concommitant legal penalties etc that such a law would include.

And pardon me if I don't waste my time addressing your silly "murder should be legal" Straw Man argument.

Graham Marsden
Boffin

You're right, you don't get it.

The point is that the ESA wants parents to be *responsible* for what their children do and buy and play, not the State or the retail industry.

Craigslist: no plans to revive adult ads in US

Graham Marsden
FAIL

So...

... the world is now safe for Mom's Apple Pie.

School worker jailed for abuse images

Graham Marsden
Boffin

Think you've run out of arguments...

... that's why you're running away from this one with a desperate grab for the Burden of Proof Fallacy (not to mention a pathetic attempt to imply that because I disagree with you, I must have kiddie porn on my hard drive).

It is not up to me to come up with a "better term" for "making" here, it's up to you to demonstrate that this is actually "making" something, a term which I think most people would generally accept to imply "creating an original work", ie in this case actually taking photographs of a child, which is clearly not what is happening.

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@What would you call it?

If I download a Linux distro, am I "making" Linux? I don't think so, I think I'm downloading it.

What would you call it?

Graham Marsden
Thumb Down

"and making"?

I, in no way, support or condone kiddie porn or the abuse of children etc,, but did he actually take any photos himself, or is this the BS of "downloading a picture or video is classed as 'making' it"?

Robot footballers 'will beat Human Race first eleven by 2050'

Graham Marsden
Terminator

Ah, but...

... then you start equipping them with lasers and guided missiles and directed EMP weapons... ;-)

Harry Potter theme park magically swallows big visitors

Graham Marsden
Coat

They should have read Discworld...

... then they would have known that almost all Wizards come in the "oversized" category!

(Who owns this robe with "Born to Rune" on the back...?)

Transport Dept's answer to embarrassing, cancelled IT projects?

Graham Marsden
Flame

You've got to love the hypocrisy...

"Mister Speaker! Our Government started large numbers of unworkable, irrelevant or downright misguided IT projects most of which have gone massively overbudget without showing any usable results. Would the current Government like to comment on how we are now accusing *them* of wasting public money by cancelling them?"

Action gamers make better drivers, soldiers, surgeons

Graham Marsden
Boffin

@Adam West

I notice you don't mention the *cars* which tailgate motorcyclists like me at a distance so close that I first thought there was something wrong with my top box when I looked in my mirrors, only then to realise that there was a 4x4 sitting about ten feet from my rear wheel!

Nor do you mention the classic SMIDSY (Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You) as a motorist pulls out of a junction because they don't see the motorbike coming.

The DFTs own research states "Of the total cases, 681 (38%) involve ROWVs [Right of Way Violations]. However, less than 20% of these involve a motorcyclist who rated as either fully or partly to blame for the accident."

"the most common failure of other drivers in motorcycle accidents is a failure in the continuity of their observation of the road scene. Over 65% of ROWV accidents where the motorcyclist is not regarded as to blame involve a driver who somehow fails to see a motorcyclist who should be in clear view, and, indeed, frequently is in view to witnesses or other road users in the area."

It concludes:

"The main conclusions of our research are as follows:

"• A way must be found of targeting the other parties who so frequently cause motorcycle collisions. Drivers have to be made aware of the numerous ways that they can fail to perceive a motorcycle in the typical ROWV accidents that are most frequently not the fault of the rider involved. Our results suggest that interventions should be focused on (but not exclusively confined to) older drivers."

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme5/indepthstudyofmotorcycleacc.pdf

So before you start slagging off bikers, I suggest you consider the log in your own eye!

Microsoft shields Russia's refuseniks from police harassment

Graham Marsden
Gates Horns

Of course...

... what's good for Microsoft is good for the whole world...