Posts by David

Re: Is it just me...

"either that she's an idiot and she left it open to public viewing"

It seems to be a comment left by her on her colleague's status update, so if anything it would be her colleague's privacy settings which are to blame.

"Hardly anyone in the Highlands"

Don't be misled by the map - if you look at the report you'll see they only mapped along a few roads in the Highlands.

"only major thoroughfares in city centres are covered"

Not true for Glasgow, anyway: I live in a suburban cul-de-sac of 16 houses which is fully covered on Street View. Looks like I was out when they visited...

Of course ducks are gay

Have they never seen Queer Duck?

http://www.sho.com/site/queerduck/home.do

Possible next step

"I'm sorry, I've forgotten my password"

"Oh no you haven't"

"Oh yes I have"

etc

Hope they've updated the spillchucker

cos judging from the pic, Microsoft's spelling is pretty rudamentary.

Not the first time...

A similar thing happened with the "Ronnie Hazlehurst co-wrote S Club 7's 'Reach'" prank (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/03/wikipedia_obituary_cut_and_paste/) i.e. it reappeared on the Wikipedia page with the gullible obit writers cited as sources...

@ Ash

"These drivers are TOTALLY at fault, need hanging out to dry, and should be found guilty of causing death through criminal negligence."

What, posthumously?

Re: Helping thieves

Perhaps, but there is at least a paper trail of who asked for the information.

"the UK's roads extend around 233,000 miles"

Surely they're not intending on covering *every* mile of road? I was expecting them only to cover urban areas (though as they've been spotted in some pretty small Highland towns maybe not).

"Nearby" borders

How often do New Yorkers drive to Mexico?

Paper diaries

"staff use of quaint diaries containing actual written words would be reviewed."

Quite right. The NHS should replace them with something costing 100 times as much and allowing staff to lose a million times more information at once.

Anyone trying to contact Gordon...

Don't bother with his constituency website at

http://www.gordonbrownmp.co.uk

either, as that just gives me a 403 error.

Perhaps I'm missing something...

...but is there any reason why the whole shipment couldn't have been sent by email?

@ Tony

"Why does the law see it as perfectly safe and reasonable to transport thousands of commuters in those conditions at speeds approaching 100MPH every day on one of the busiest rail lines in the country, but take a dim view of someone carrying a dozen people in similar circumstances in a volvo travelling at 20MPH on a back road in Wales?"

Because there are thousands of road accidents every day (many involving back roads in Wales...), whereas trains almost never crash (and where they do, I doubt it makes much difference if you're standing or sitting). And the family were from London - were they really going to stay at 20mph all the way home?

@ Andy

"Try taking pictures of my kids for sexual gratification and while you're on the floor catching my boot you can think about who's getting harmed..."

I think you're missing the point. Even if I was taking photos for sexual gratification (and I don't know how you would determine that), it isn't illegal. So why harrass everyone who has a camera in public and is within 100 yards of kids?

"Comedy lovers hoping to get their hands on tickets"

Why, did the problem not affect the hundreds of non-comedy shows on the Fringe?

@ the ACs upset they weren't asked for ID before they got on a plane

Why do you think that it would help security? It's not as if your name can be checked against a list of people who have said they plan to hijack the next plane they board.

The main reason airlines ask for ID is economic, not security. They want to make sure your e-ticket hasn't been resold.

@ Clive

Some schools were a bit slower at tidying up their radioactive stockpile:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7268037.stm

@ ash

The number is normally noted down, so in theory ballot papers could be linked up to names on the register in order to investigate allegations of criminal goings-on. But in this case I think the data is "which parties people told the Tories they would be voting for" rather than who they actually voted for.

"Escape goat"

...was one of my favourite Jade Goodyisms, just slightly behind her belief in East Angular being a foreign 'oliday destination

@ fag-munching AC

"If some of the people I've lied to about giving up smoking (parents) were to check my office on streetview, it would be pretty obvious that it was me still."

Mmm, yeah. Or they could just go to your office. IMHO all this is doing is enabling people to see something which was in the public domain in the first place, but without having to get off your butt. It's not as if it's searchable by people's names.

Male lesbians...

...certainly exist. I have met a gay man who came from Lesbos.

Bollox legal advice

"In the UK, data protection law allows the taking of photographs in public places without the permission of people who will appear in the photo, but that does not apply for photos for commercial purposes. For those, subjects should be notified."

Utter nonsense - have a look around a news site and ask yourself how many people in the photos would have had their permission sought.

@ 300 extra coppers

"a few injuries and deaths / year on average due to terrorism"

Yep, that's what confuses me too. As far as I know, there was only one terrorism-related death in Britain last year - and that was the rubbish suicide bomber at Glasgow Airport.

I think there were zero deaths in 2006.

In 2005 there were the July 7th bombings (and the de Menezes shooting I suppose), but even those numbers are the equivalent to what - a week's worth of road accidents?

@ Ted Treen

This is Scotland we're talking about - not some uncivilised country which imprisons people for not paying their Council Tax.

And Labour don't have much to do with our criminal justice system these days.

Falklands?

"Back when we were prepping ourselves for the invasion of the falkland islands, the MoD lost a laptop then as well. This one also contained vital information, THE invasion plans!"

Er...I didn't think we were the ones who invaded the Falklands, were we?

And I think anyone using a "laptop" in 1982 would probably have risked injury.

@AC

"That would seem unlikely, given that they're on every cheque you hand out."

And companies typically give out their bank details to their customers - have the look at the back of a utility bill for example, and then wonder why BT etc aren't scared of having their accounts cleared out by fraudsters.