Posts by Zog_but_not_the_first

"A particularly annoying turd known as “winsock” "

Ha! I'm with you there. Have a pint on me.

Infotainment?

When you're driving a car - and if you're looking at the dash one assumes you are - info is OK, but I'm not sure about "tainment".

The price of failing to cooperate...

May be your life.

"In January El Reg revealed that hundreds of thousands of NHS patients who opted out of having their details shared with private companies under the controversial Care.data scheme would not be invited to a number of cancer-related screenings."

Did I miss something? Have we really arrived at such a low point?

Maps, what maps?

I loved the farmer interviewed on Radio Four this morning opining that "a five year old with a crayon" could make a better job of the maps.

But

What colour is the dress?

I think not

I am a great admirer of Musk and his "can do" attitude but he's dead wrong on this. I'm (almost) comfortable with the pilotless plane, since an aircraft follows a well-charted route with little or no deviation, except under closely controlled conditions. Plus, the air traffic control all but eliminates the risk of mid-air collision.

I can also see how a driverless car manoeuvring the grid-planned highways and streets of US cities would probably do well. BUT, I've just come home from driving around a town whose layout was probably fixed in the 11C according to a ragbag of mediaeval property rights, local drainage problems and stubbornly unmovable tree stumps (until the coming of steam power anyway). I'd like to see one driverless car manage the trip, regularly, let alone a (what's the collective noun - Johnny Cab?) collection of them.

There is still a great deal to be done on the training of human drivers and, going against my normal democratic tendencies, I believe a minority of people shouldn't be allowed to drive (based on the way they do drive. But that's another discussion.

Who's phone?

With my desktop and laptop I have the (probably illusory) feeling that I'm in control of the device. I decide what's installed; manually thank you Adobe etc., set up the security, decide what accesses the 'net and so on.

When I got my first smartphone I quickly decided that it wasn't my phone. Apps would update themselves, and let's not get started on the "permissions" debacle.

So, I decided against undertaking any financial transaction on the phone, other than buying some minor tat on eBay.

I haven't changed that view.

Two become one?

Not in this number base.

For God's sake!

Don't let Iain Duncan Smith see this.

Obligatory Simpson's retrospective

Hmmmmm, Pi...... {drool}

Always best with one of these >>>>>>>>>>>

Clarkson?

Punched the server?

So little vision

"She defines Junk DNA as any that does not encode for protein, i.e 98 per cent of it."

Only in three dimensions...

Enquiring minds...

So, nothing more to say on the (ahem) insertables?

Picture the scene

Civil servant tables the Minister's latest requested modifications

Contractor {sharp intake of breath} "That'll be an extra mate".

Repeat until Doomsday.

“Get your privacy policy down to one page in a language that everybody understands"

And NO hypertext links. We know lawyers love matryoshka-style documents.

We are all a little poorer today

Says it all really.

I expect he'll give Death his hardest time since he encountered Bill and Ted.

Gone too soon

There was a lot more wit and wisdom in the man I think.

I enjoyed reading this but it felt as distant as an Edwardian summer (not that I was there, you understand).

Hey!

Us corporations paid good money for those tax laws.

In the name of humanity

These aren't the droids you're looking for.

Bravewhat?

Ya can take our lives, but ye'll never take our fr.....

Oh! Hang on.

I can't pronounce it...

... but I can eat it.

I've enjoyed this during my travels in the Czech Republic. Yum, yum

Interesting reading

That was a fascinating read. I hope that said trials get underway to demonstrate or otherwise the efficacy of the approach.

As someone who has lost family and friends to cancer I really, really, hope that valuable medicines aren't being side-lined in the pursuit of profit.

Money, it's a crime...

"But, as Buffett notes, while that money doesn't “belong” to the insurance company, the profits to be made from investing it do"

So, like a bank then. Except that the bank has the added "benefit" of being able to create more dosh out of nothing by the fractional reserve mechanism.

There is an argument that the profits made out of "investing premiums" could be used to cut said premiums, and I guess that you're hinting at this in your section on competitiveness in the insurance industry.

I used to think that money was "broken" but I'm beginning to see it as being transmogrified (love that word!) into a device increasingly for exercising power in the interest of a minority.

T'was ever thus, I suppose.

Honestly

Can't. See. The. Point.

Xenon-powered thrusters...

A phrase from my sci-fi childhood become real.

Tingles up the back of the neck.

World Enterprises Corporation, anyone?

The search engine that fell to earth.

Time to join the Devon police force?

For a moment I read that as "The Totnes police at BeautifulPeople.com have reportedly..."

Puzzled?

That cock doesn't seem to be on the level.

Isn't that a chicken he's holding?

Coat >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Why the rant Tim?

I've never knowingly read any of Morozov's stuff (my Portuguese is a bit rusty), but the article referenced doesn't seem to be very contentious.

A few comments on how Silicon Valley tends to oversell tech solutions to problems, and some cautionary advice on how information can have a different value to different groups, depending on what they (can) do with it.

Did I miss something?

Won't get fooled again?

Sell "priority packet streams" with motherhood concepts like safety, health etc. Get everyone on board then use them for corporate enrichment. Plus ça change etc.

Brilliant!

Ya canna change the laws of physics.

Random Jottings

I'm too much of a "bear of little brain" to get my head around the issues involved with the Greek and larger European position but I can manage some random thoughts:

1. The bankers will be involved somewhere along the line.

2. There are powerful interests who want to see the European project fail (see 1., divide and conquer etc.)

3. Currency union before tax harmonisation never made much sense to me.

4. I travelled to Brussels on the first day of the euro. I was absolutely amazed at how smoothly the whole transformation of individual national currencies had been achieved (yes, I know there will be some small exceptions). I was astonished at the logistics of transporting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of hard currency into position ready for the "go". I was disappointed, but not surprised, not to see any appreciation of this planning and execution in the UK press.

Sigh!

I'm afraid it all boils down to this.

Stop!

Reminding me that I'm getting old.

That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight...

Start with something simple

You could write the Daily Mail using robots. Actually, you could do it with little more than basic organic matter.

He's dead, Jim

RIP