* Posts by graeme leggett

2467 publicly visible posts • joined 6 Oct 2007

So, was it really the Commies that caused the early 20th Century inequality collapse?

graeme leggett Silver badge

Distribution of Reparations is interesting.

As an example, the design of a small pre-war German 2-stroke motorcycle was given over to the UK, US, and USSR

As a result we got the BSA Bantam, Harley-Davison Hummer, and Minsk M1.

On the other hand the VW Beetle was not taken in reparation but production used to rebuild (West) German industry.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Correlation?

Britain had a reasonable manufacturing industry pre-war. Just not big enough for the demands of total war. And war brought specialisation - an aero-industry turned entirely to combat aircraft with no thought to civilian/transport until the end is in sight.

Ditto the vehicle industry (Leyland, Rover, Morris Vauxhall) turned over to armoured vehicles.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: The growth

I'll add to that the "ability" of the war to produce managers of men and material (materiel) and the recognition of their merit.

Their is also a supply of resources produced at the nation's expense made available at discount.

Eg post war air travel in ex-military DC3s (technically C47s). Aircraft designs built on work began during the war. Britain's temporary lead in jets.

US trade watchdog deep-sixes patent infringement claim against Microsoft

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Lawyers: Failure is success!

Best I could do at short notice.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-phone-sales-are-hitting-new-highs-but-market-share-falls-in-europe/

From about a year ago puts Windows phones at 15% in Italy. No doubt caveats apply in the actual data.

Indian State shuts off mobile internet to stop rumours fuelling riots

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: voting age in India is 18 not 25

In the UK, you can stand for election to parish, district, city/county council, or for parliament by age of 18.

So still a democratic gap in restricting candidacy until 25

graeme leggett Silver badge

the voting age for.... forthcoming elections is 25

World's biggest democracy still working at that 'universal suffrage' thing? The age of majority in India is 18.

Uber pulls up to the bumper, plonks Jeep hackers into driving seat

graeme leggett Silver badge

So the grand plan for Uber is

Develop a new business where people can be drivers for hire, competing with established taxis etc

Use money from same to develop driverless cars

Deploy driverless cars thereby putting drivers for hire out of business?

NCA arrests six Lizard Squad users after gaming firms, retailers targeted

graeme leggett Silver badge

To be fair the cops didn't actually specify IT skills.

And let's not denigrate the dexterity required to alter the orientation of recombined meat products for the benefit of gastronomes....

Google watchers react furiously to ad flinger’s competition case defence

graeme leggett Silver badge

IF found to be in the wrong, google/abc.xyz would probably be happy with a fine and vague promises to be better citizens of the globe in future.

What they wouldn't -even in absence of a fine - like is agreeing to some clearly defined mechanisms for de-favouring their own services, and the burden having to keep records showing that internal meetings/emails/contracts/projects were compliant with the new 'rules'.

Another chance to win a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive

graeme leggett Silver badge

im terrible with caption competitions

But I will just say the first connection in my mind was with Sarah-Jane in the Planet of Spiders.

I'll be off now, mines the one with the Target novelization in the pocket.

Legal eagles accuse Labour of data law breach over party purge

graeme leggett Silver badge

I think some of them may have been a bit well known eg if it was someone like comedian/commentator Mark Steele. Though not my cup of tea, quite astute when I've heard him on radio etc. He's left wing but not excessively so for the Labour party.

Glaring flaw in Apple car hype-gasm: The iGiant likes to make money

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: In car info tainment

And a power outlet. Perhaps that could move with the times and be a bit more sophisticated than a repurposed cigarette lighter.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: "an iPad glued to a dashboard"

We've had mobile phones with satnav as well as satnav and we are still having to buy things to stick these to windscreen/dashboard because car manufacturers don't build in somewhere to put them.

And integration with devices for power/audio is still confused. Example of latest Honda CRV - two usb ports in centre console - both can take memory stick/m3 stick one can connect to an ipod. Neither can supply enough power to recharge. If you wanted to play CDs you needed to buy the most expensive option where it comes with satnav.

graeme leggett Silver badge

A Ferrari is not "expensive car", it is an eye-wateringly expensive car for the average car buyer.

There may be some who are passionate about Apple products but car enthusiasts struck me as more so. And the latter also seem to more into customization than might be possible in an Apple environment.

Ins0mnia bug means malicious iOS apps WILL NEVER DIE

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: limited support

So 4 years back - doesn't sound too bad.

I think my experience was coloured by iphone 3G which only got support to 2011 (roughly 3 years from launch)

graeme leggett Silver badge

limited support

"out to all devices capable of running the current version"

And if your device doesn't support the current version?

Although Apple has greater control over the hardware /software I was under the impression that in the past it was a swift to leave older kit unsupported as quickly as any disposable android device seller.

Perhaps actual data shows a different story.

FireEye intern VXer pleads guilty for Darkode droid RAT ruse

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: admin known as Sp3cal1st

Thanks. Interesting because if you want to be more obscure on the net you need a username that has nothing to do with you or your likes or activities...

...while at he same time being memorable?

graeme leggett Silver badge

admin known as Sp3cal1st

Not "Sp3c1al1st"? A typo, or deliberate move in name choice by the admin?

The Raspberry Pi is succeeding in ways its makers almost imagined

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Made My Day

My son liked the demonstration of the giant clock in the pi Minecraft, and we moved on to altering the code to use different blocks and then using code to build a wall but that was as far as we got.

It would be easier I think if wed had a setup whereby we altered the code on a laptop and ran that code on the Pi into the TV rather than swapping between progs on the Pi. Easier to point to code and what it's doing.

graeme leggett Silver badge

I'm waiting

For my son to come up with a project that a Pi (or similar) can be used on.

He tends to ask me to help him with more 'old-fashioned' problems, eg making Concorde-ish wing shape in Lego.

He's got access to How It Works magazine and publications from Maker and NoStarch Press so plenty of chances for inspiration to spark.

It may not of course, but he's got the opportunity and that's what Pi etc are for - making opportunities possible.

Ebuyer MD Carlisle exits following board level bust up

graeme leggett Silver badge

"because it was more than six months old - even though I could demonstrate that the fault was present since new."

I'm guessing there attitude was that you'd had plenty of time to discover fault, and had therefore "accepted" in a legal frame "the goods"

Bit of a bugger that. Hypothetical case - I was to buy a gizmo (reduced because new model out) that promised it could interface with an iphone. I'm planning on getting an iphone when phone contract renews in 7 months. Use gizmo for 7 months, get iPhone, plug it in and find connector is broken. Ok , you've gotten half a years use in that case but what if you'd stashed it away as someone's birthday present...

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: The man was a loon

Agree with you. Why start a business to compete with conventional shops and then having seen how well they (aren't) doing try the same.

The point of a shop is to see something you want, buy it there and then and take it home. Need network cable in a hurry? go to maplins or a big supermarket or what have you, swallow your pride and pay what they ask. Got time on your side? Buy online.

With a shop comes needing to hold stock there which isn't available to your warehouse operation unless you want to courier from there to the buyer otherwise of country. Shops have leases, rates, insurance, utilities bills, staff. All short to mid term commitments with extensive setup costs. Why bother with all that if its not your natural area. Want to make your presence known? Advertise more. Shift more stock? Have a sale. Probably be cheaper in long run.

FBI collars exec who allegedly tried to nick secrets of game fronted by babe Kate Upton

graeme leggett Silver badge

description

"Fronted" is the right word.

But even without Ms Upton the advertising of these games really deserves a new onscreen qualifier along the lines of "nothing like actual game play".

Aviva phone hacker jailed for 18 months over revenge attack

graeme leggett Silver badge

room for subtle revenge?

Perhaps Aviva could have words with fellow members of British insurance industry.

Imagine his surprise upon coming out of prison to find a whole new car insurance category created just for him - don't touch with a bargepole.

Riffing on an idea in one of the Red Dwarf books - in Rimmers better-than -life world someone who crossed him would never be able to buy a certain brand of baked beans ever again.

Perhaps the AIpocalypse isn't imminent – if Google Translate is anything to go by, that is

graeme leggett Silver badge

on pratchett punning

Uberwald translates roughly as "over forest"

Transylvania roughly translates as "across/over forest"

So while he might have been riffing off Moravia, that would at a deeper level.

(Plus there's all those vampires and werewolves.)

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Machine translation is always good for a giggle!

Sounds like the butcher made an ass of himself so your brother didn't.

And good of him to do so.

NHS site defaced with screed protesting Syrian conflict

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: I'm not sure what is worse...

Patient choice - choice may be limited to Hobson's but at least with comments as on GP surgery reviews, you'll get an idea if the receptionist will be pleasant or if the wait to be seen is so long that you'll be forced to read Peoples Friend' having exhausted the leaflets and donated issues of lifestyle magazines.

(genuine situation - ENT at local hospital waiting area had years worth of caravan reviews. By the time I was seen, I was on the point of ordering a towbar for my car.)

Net neutrality: How to spot an arts graduate in a tech debate

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Proof

5. Repeat with other sources of video and alternate VPN providers

6. Repeat at different times of day over a period of days

But most importantly

0. Estimate what limits of detection of throttling are and what level constitutes throttling etc. I.e. construct your hypothesis (and the procedure for handling data including removing potential outliers) before you process the data.

Web Summit looks at new homes ... this time with sun and decent Wi-Fi

graeme leggett Silver badge

SPF50 in sunnier climes

Always advisable whether you're a milk-white redheaded denizen of the fluorescent illuminated server room or a swarthier why-don't-you-come--out-to-our-Spanish-villa exec.

UV is no respecter of job position.

BT commences trials of copper-to-the-home G.fast broadband tech

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: I'm skeptical

"It's achievable - all it requires is politicians and monopoly regulators to grow a few teeth!"

You omitted the investment of large amounts of money.

Now this can come from "the market" which means someone will wax fat on the loans eg pension companies (good?) or the "bankers" (bad?)

Or it comes from openreach's own return on income. In which it will take longer - unless they put prices up...?

The good burghers of Palo Alto are entirely insane

graeme leggett Silver badge

Not a squashed Gerrymander?

graeme leggett Silver badge

I'm sure that were any council to buy some land and then declare it buildable on, that someone else (a land owner or developer probably) would complain that they were being diddled out of something. And quite likely they would have an argument that it was some sort of abuse of privilege.

And I wouldn't be surprised if having created more buildable land, council found it had to be sold "at market price" with the effect of inflating its cost such that only a developer creating 'executive housing' would be able to buy and Thu having little ameliorating effect on housing affordability.

This example council could create a lot of land for building at once. Which ought to depress price and let other developers in. But would it be enough that lower priced housing occurred,or would it all get bought up for executive homes with garages for two cars and a hanky-sized garden?

Add in the complaints about over development by owners of existing housing nearby, and who would want to be a councillor, or housing officer.

'Unexpected item in baggage area' assigned to rubbish area

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Hate the things

At that point you are supposed to timidly draw the youngling's attention to your predicament as if it's your fault that the till is rubbish.

I admire your courage in walking away. I tell the automaton (till not staff) what a piece of rubbish it is thereby warning the next person in queue a) pick another one b) I'm going a bit odd as I age.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: strange....

In the UK ratio of staff to selfscan is from 1 to 4 (local mid size Morrisons) up to 1 to 16 (Tesco 'Extra')

With bagging issues, staff member comes over. Peeks quickly in bag to check you haven'tshoved a frozen chicken in under guise of a tin of soup, puts keyfob on machine and types in pin. They return to sentry position only to have to walk back straight away because scales can't detect change of weight due to greetings card.

Its not surprising that waiting in a queue with only the front cover of a TV listings magazine to look at for 5 minutes in order to get a human operator could be preferable.

graeme leggett Silver badge

At Morrison's, if you separate the plastic bags before starting scanning so your goods can be packed quickly - the scales complain and the assistant has to override the 'error'

If you start scanning, the bloody bags won't separate as you try and cram goods in, the scales complain and the assistant etc

I find it easier to pile everything up on bagging area and then pack after paying. Even if it's embarrassing with the next shopper breathing down your neck.

Win8 inventory glut? Yep, it's all Microsoft's fault, says HP

graeme leggett Silver badge

graeme@the-leggetts.org.uk

If HP rebranded the stock as "Windows 10 pre-pre-install".

It would convert a load of stock they didn't sell last period, into inventory expansion for the coming year

profit! Or something

Enjoy vaping while you still can, warns Public Health England

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Saving 5M lives...

What's the strain on the nation of 5M souls dying prematurely?

NHS intervention to keep them alive a bit longer, the need to support families now a bread-winner is gone, loss of income because a family member became a carer.

Personally, I think tax income from tobacco is something a nation ought to believe it can afford to lose over time as usage decreases.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Why should they ban them?

The dossier references a BIS study that found that "

eight out of 17 EC did not have a charging cut-off device and therefore did not meet the requirements of BS EN 62133:2013"

which is nearly half.

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: TL;DR

Nicotine patches (supposedly) help people come off smoking. They are regulated as a medicinal product. And made by big pharma.

If nicotine vaping was regulated, would the pharma companies or tobacco companies come out on top?

What's the betting one or more pharma companies have plans to produce if regulation progresses.

YouTube bloggers told to slap 'advert' stickers on their vid posts

graeme leggett Silver badge

Photo choice

UK issue and you pick a scattering of greenbacks!

Piles of used tenners surely? As in a Guy Richie film.

#Loadsamoney

Amazon UK conditions 'exhausting', claims union

graeme leggett Silver badge

I'll guess that since you need gaps between shelving/racking that would explain part of it.

If you allow 4x width of "shelf" for space, the whole shebang is 36 inches high. Rather better than an escape tunnel out of a Stalag but with that at least there is the prospect of crossing the Alps to freedom.

Hey, folks. Meet the economics 'genius' behind Jeremy Corbyn

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: Godwin's Law - Economics variant

Didn't the restructuring of the German war reparations, the return of the Ruhr industrial region to German control, and large loans from the US do a lot of the work for stabilizing/recovery from hyperinflation. (Dawes plan)

And the Republic didn't have much say in that.

graeme leggett Silver badge

interesting on Murphy's education

"He is rather proud of claiming that he ignored his university economics lectures because they were obviously all neo-liberal-inspired. So he worked the whole lot out on his own, from first principles"

Now I've nothing wrong with the truly gifted who can see the essence of the matter and how it all fits together. But equally there is many a slip betwixt cup and lip. I know how a carburettor works, thermodynamic theory and the Gas laws (Boyle etc) but you don't want me programming your car's engine management system...

Boss hands dunce's cap to chap who turned off disk monitor

graeme leggett Silver badge

Disappointed

It was a metaphorical cap. I was liking the mental image of the person who cocked up wearing a papercone on his head in the company of their fellow workers.

Possibly more effective than a formal tete a tete with manager or black mark in their personnel file.

Digital doping might make you a Tour de Virtual cycling champion

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: FFS

Precision is another factor. At .1 of a kilometre displayed you might only be 50m difference between measured distance. Eg 50.05 km vs 50.10 km measured displayed as 50.0 and 50.1 though equally it could be 49.96 vs 50.15 km giving. 200 m diff.

Definitely a case of more data required to eliminate rogue results and start estimating actual size of issue.

IT jargon is absolutely REAMED with sexual double-entendres

graeme leggett Silver badge

I look back to earlier times when you could say 5¼ floppy and 3½ stiffy with a straight face.(almost)

Try taking modern students through a course on computing history. Just be careful how you phrase an offer for them to handle the artefacts.

Ofcom coverage map: 7/10 – must try harder next time

graeme leggett Silver badge

map caption

Though Noel Coward put the words "very flat, Norfolk" into one of his plays, its only the western part that is Fens. The rest is gently rolling land (with a terminal moraine running across it) and substantial number of watercourses and lakes (The Broads).

And I suspect some of locals don't care for masts in some parts of the natural environment. Though we do have many many church towers (famously round) they could hang their antennas on.

China laments 'wild guesses and malicious slurs' on state hacking

graeme leggett Silver badge

"USA is allowed to spy in the name of freedom and democracy but China isn't allowed to."

Well I can quite understand that China would want to protect its freedom and espionage would be one measure it could use. But not buying that it's in the name of democracy as others understand the term.

Labour Party website DDoS'd by ruly democratic mob

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: I'd like to know..

the rolling stock is not so easy. That at the moment is owned by franchisees (TOCs) or companies that lease stock to franchisees. It would take while to bring that into public ownership if desired.

What's the situation with the freight train operators. Are they vampires feasting on the public purse, or just quietly getting by with little/no subsidy?

Cheers, Bill Gates. Who wouldn't want drinking water made from POO?

graeme leggett Silver badge

Re: One little problem

From skimming the presentation, the idea is to process the waste and stop it ( more specifically the pathogens in it) from going into the water supply hence there is less bad water and more good(-ish) water to drink or use on crops.