Posts by teacake

Re: “We are proud of our 2020 election coverage ..."

With the news that Paul Dacre is being lined up to head OFCOM, I wouldn't be relying on enforcement of impartiality or accuracy rules in future.

Re: we'll have all we want and if you don't like it...

Both sides usually go into a negotiation with a clear set of objectives, and then *tell them to the other side*. The UK has spent most of its time arguing with itself about what it wants, and very little time setting out in clear terms to the EU what it proposes, while pretending it is some sort of poker game where the smart player doesn't reveal their hand.

When the UK has put forward proposals, they amount to asking for a privileged relationship without any of the responsibilities such a position would require. Effectively, they are asking the EU to undermine its foundational principles, and the EU cannot agree without seriously - perhaps fatally - damaging the European project.

Therefore, from the EU's point of view, the damage caused by agreeing to what the UK wants is greater than the damage of a no-deal departure, so it's clear where they will end up falling.

Even a minimal deal will require the UK to agree to methods of rule-setting and dispute arbitration, and the more the UK makes itself look untrustworthy (by reneging on treaties, for example) the tighter those rule-setting constraints will be.

The whole problem is compounded by the fact that - perhaps for the first time in history - the UK is going in attempting to negotiate a worse deal than it had before. Every time an offer comes up they realise how bad it is in comparison to the status quo ante and - instead of realising the reality of the situation they have deliberately placed themselves in - they attempt to defy that reality, blame everyone else, pretend there is a better deal to be had, pretend that compromises are not going to be necessary, until they paint themselves so far into a corner that the only way out is by breaking the law.

Re: Beer...

This, totally and completely.

And having got your team working that way, it cuts both ways. You can't in good conscience hang them out to dry when things go wrong. Mistakes are shared and collective.

I did have a somewhat similar situation to the one in the article. In my case, the identity of the team member in question was known to the senior management, and they wanted to dismiss him for something they knew he had done. In that situation, and knowing *why* he had taken the action they were unhappy with, I felt it better to tell them that I took full responsibility, and that if they pressed the issue I would claim the action had been taken under my direct instruction alone. That was enough to stop them. In this instance, though, it wouldn't have helped the team member to know how close they'd come to being dismissed, so I never told him, just quietly changed procedure.

Re: Not surprising

"And they had an armoured personnel carrier parked outside."

Perhaps they were trying to install uninterruptible power supplies and somebody misinterpreted the instruction to go for APC.

Re: The more complex the plumbing...

"I certainly have not heard any difference in speakers since the 1970s."

Me either, but in my case that might be down to all those Thin Lizzy gigs.

"If someone offered you £10k (plus notice period) to leave Capita would you take it? I'd be tempted."

Yeah, me too. Particularly since I already don't work for them, so leaving would be quite a straightforward transition.

In case they're reading, I'd also take £10k to not work for Amazon, and might even be prepared to negotiate down to £5k to not work for BT.

Re: I'm going to need some long-term studies before I eat cultured meat.

"I would guess that sterile protein slurry growing in sterile vats is going to get a lot less antibiotics than a factory farmed chicken."

And when you describe it that way it sounds utterly delicious too. Can't wait.

Re: Sometimes it's fun, though....

It's worth checking how much it costs to upgrade to first class. Sometimes it can cost as little as a tanner.

Re: A CITIZEN'S rights

"Giving those Rights to NON citizens only cheapens their value to those born with them or those who work to legally obtain them."

The value of a right should not exist only by dint of its denial to others. If it does, you don't have a system based on rights, but on discrimination.

Re: User ignore email

Only useful for short announcements, though. No more than, oh, about seven minutes.

Re: CEO in Jail

It helps to put everything in its proper context to think of the fine as the government taking its cut of the proceeds of the scam.

Re: Potentially been falling over for a while

Yeah, I'm paying BT something like a tenner a month for the privilege of them farming a crap service out to an even worse one on Yahoo. Yes I know I should get rid, but I've had it more than two decades and it would take forever to tell all my contacts.

Re: What about BT?

Well done. Are you complaining to BT, the Information Commissioner, or both?

Re: BT POP3

Thanks for that advice, Seajay. I'll put it on my to-do list. ;-)

"And these days, one ought to be able to find discrete transistors cheaply in old junk people are throwing away."

He's already mentioned that reliability is likely to be an issue, and that's without using old components of uncertain provenance and condition.

Re: It might be illuminating ...

"...but we won't let them know the length of your dick, honest.."

Well, not for 50% of you, at any rate.

Re: yep

"I will immediately be opening up an American branch to enable investment in the Altairian Dollar, Flanian Pobble Bead, and Triganic Pu...."

You're going to need a big warehouse to store the ningis, then.

Re: Wish they were here ..

@Nicho "Yeah they could've picked a better example. Talk to the growers and you'll hear consistent stories about how supermarkets are forever putting downward pressure on prices."

But at least the price arrived at is as a result of the grower and the grocer negotiating a price at which they are prepared to exchange the goods. The supermarkets aren't going off trying to get the law changed to force the price down, which is what is happening here.

@Network 67 Re: This Study Is Biased

"Given how much more visible a creature in sunshine is likely to be than a creature in the shadow, it would make sense that those creatures who were less effective at distinguishing between the two WOULD GET EATEN AND NOT REPRODUCE."

"That presupposes that a predatory creature had already evolved sight for hunting. However it would be an evolutionary pressure on the predated species. "

It would be entirely possible to evolve sight in order to avoid a predator which hunts you by other means, for example scent.

There would of course be any number of uses for primitive sight/light/heat sensitivity prior to its refinement to a level where it would be useful in predation. To help a creature orient itself, to navigate, to avoid getting damaged in direct sunlight, to find a suitable location to reproduce, for example.

@AC 07:08

"Is there anyone who will rush out and buy it, just to see the rubber shark at the end of the film?"

Dunno. If your appreciation of a film is based solely on the quality of the effects, I've got this copy of Transformers over here you can have.

Re: Apple doesnt effect the landscape?

I think there's a certain amount of talking at cross-purposes here, Trevor. What you're describing is in effect the influence that Apple devices SHOULD currently have on business computing. What the others are describing is the effect they actually have, which is to skew the provision and support of IT in a manner out of all proportion to their actual use or importance.

I suspect there's any number of of people here who know only too well how unimportant their day-to-day work of providing and supporting systems is regarded as being the moment one of their senior management goes (paraphrasing) "Yes, yes, disaster recovery and security are all very well, but what about my shiny new iPhone?"

Re: Arkell v Pressdram 1971

"You want to start a lawyering fight with a law firm? I think they might have a slight advantage there. Even if your arguments are infinitely better, they can still make the case drag on for a decade and cost you several times your lifetime earnings."

But that's the whole point, isn't it? The last thing they want is to end up actually having to argue one of these cases in court. Their whole business model is predicated on the threat of legal action, if they have to follow through and end up losing a case or (worse) end up with a ruling against certain of their practices, it could blow them out of the water.

Re: This is why Doctor Who exists...

"I'm not sad enough to remember what the story was called."

The Visitation, as I'm sure about 20 oher people who are sad enough will have pointed out by the time this comment is posted.

Re: An there was me thinking that...

"He was just an actor, playing a role. I'm sure it's just what he wanted as well.

Even in death he can't help but be a parody."

So, 50 down-votes so far. Allow me to be number 51.

Re: And if that wasn't bad enough...

"Fox cancelled Firefly."

It still hurts. It still hurts.

Re: You know,

"For anyone interested, if you get irritated with Mary coming along and punching you if you swear, you can find her in the curiously Spanish-named El Vinos, and kill her. It doesn't help anything, of course, since she comes back a minute or two later, but it still gives a certain thrill to those as nerdy as I."

> Fuck Mary.

> Mary is not amused. (Punch)

Ah, Valhalla, happy days.

Re: This technology is absolute bollocks

When Barclays tried to foist one of these cards on me last year, replacing my debit card with a contactless one, it was quite difficult to reject. Nobody seemed to understand my concern, and the half dozen people I had to go through all said "Well, you don't have to use it if you don't want to..."

In the end the only alternative they could offer was the Debit card they give to customers they don't quite trust, which has to have every transaction verified by the bank before it will authorise. I suppose there's a sort of symmetry there - I don't trust them, so they don't trust me. Thanks a lot, Barclays.

Oh, Apple, you kidders

"...we would never knowingly abuse someone else’s trademarks."

Apart from when selling music, of course...

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

Misread that...

"You are obviously a gynaecologist abusing your position of trust"

At first glance, I read that as "position of thrust."

Re: Ambient + Letter Box...

"The Ambient light feature is appealing; but when the picture does not match the screen's aspect ratio, the usual blank bands would disassociate the effect."

I'd have expected that problem too, but from experience it really isn't a problem. There's a bezel round the edge as well, which doesn't cause a problem either. It would seem that the Ambilight effect is not dependent on being so close to the image as all that.

Two down, 100ish to go

@Paul L. Daniels

"Good News... the episodes are coming back to us anyhow..."

One has to assume, since you're not providing this link on April 1st yourself, that you didn't notice the publishing date on that article.

@Zack Mollusc

It was the start of the colour era. They assumed nobody would be interested in them there old-fashioned black and white programmes any more.

@AC 08:41

"But "Irrumatio" would be even more appropriate, it seems."

I do wish I hadn't Googled that term at work.

@AC 15/9/11 09:24GMT

"I still have a VHS copy of episode IV recorded from the telly. It has half an episode of 'blockbusters' at the start and adverts for that carpet you could throw ketchup on and just scrape it off with a butter knife."

Would that be Flotex 21?

@We want Zarbies

"Yay! +1 for someone else who remembers those. Mind you, you're giving your age away a bit, but I suppose only to those who are old enough to remember the Zarbis!"

If you really were old enough to remember, you'd remember that the plural of Zarbi is Zarbi.

/pedant.

@Don't they, by George?

I think the specific point would be that they don't have public IP addresses and have no presence on the internet, so could only be addressed via asking the BT router to do it.