Posts by Alan Fisher

MS Fanboiz....

damn the EU for stopping a already huge company from becoming a monopoly eh?

Same folks who complain about mobile providers locking data tethering etc support MS who do the same

Hmmm

Well I have had relationships with a couple of what can be called, in today's PC parlance, Louder Ladies (or Expressive Ladies) in my time I seem to find that it does not seem to be something they can help.....what exactly are they suposed to do? Shag in a soundproofed basement?

Are they planning to make sex illegal now? sheesh!

Let's clear the AC's up

Right the neighbourhood watch membership reference is facile in the extreme; there is nobody who really support burglary; even someone who often burgles or even dabbles in homestead larceny would object to being themselves burgled.....QED

But let's say in a trial against a Holocaust denier where said mook gets off, the judge turns out to be a prominent natiionalist or member of a nationalist organisation? Conflict

In this case the judge is part of a lobby group which exists not to stop criminality only but to further the interests of large organisations which could be affected by copyright issues (ie are losing money to people not necessarily breaking any law; not directly making reference to TPB here, simply hypothesising) is also a conflict of interests. A judge in any case must be impartial and follow the law as it stands (or follow precident if he/she sees fit) not adapt the law to suit the interests of lobbyists.

In other news....

one the the complaining gamers "Ihazgotzabiggazz", a prominent and vocal gaming blogger almost went outside during the DAY in order to complain, but then changed his mind and opened a new bag of Cheezy Poofs, which he consumed with savage disgust

title edit...

"Mormons require ICANN plugs for face butt hole"

ah well

We HAVE brought this upon ourselves despite what anyone might say. Ok not directly but very much indirectly. The clean energy technology is at least 40 years but it was never developed or taken seriously because of the oil company monopoly and the fact people never bothered to challenge this.....now we have everyone panicking and trying to develop the technology in a hurry when we could have had fully functioning cheap technology years ago, without all of these foreseen problems.

I dispair at the stubborness and shortsightedness of the human race!

@sarah bee

something like founding The Grand Order of Nihilists isn't it? Or is it Proof of nihism?

for all the historical evidence of Jesus et al crowd, read Frank Herbert's Dune as that's what it's all about, a hero who is just a normal (although exceptional) man who is made into Messiah by a downtrodden and persecuted people (sound familiar)? Then his teachings end up corrupted and result in Jihad.....hmmmmm

@AC's

The main reason foreign workers get jobs in the uk or those which were formally uk based, and people from the uk don't seem to be doing the same is simple;

People in the UK tend to not speak a second language.

It's simple, if more UK people who were technically minded bothered to learn foreign languages, companies would not need to go abroad/seek foreigners to do the work AND UK citizens could take advantage of the EU Right to Work thing and get jobs in other countries, non?

Open Letter to the IPFI;

This just about covers my feelings on the matter;

The Pirate Bay Farce, I mean trial‏

From: Alan Fisher (xxxxx.xxxxx@.xxxxcom)

Sent: 03 March 2009 11:53:27

To: euroinfo@ifpi.org

Dear IFPI,

using a variety of sources, including your own website, I follow this debacle with an increasing mixture if interest and wide-mouthed disbelief. I do not download using the site in question but, like all IT professionals, have heard of them and am sure I know a number of people who avail of their services.

I find the IPFI's apparent desperation to bend the legislature in order to ensure they do not lose this trial (let's face it, if you do it does make your organisation a bit suplus to requirements) when it is clear to any other person following the case that there is not a case to be answered.

I can thus far see the following;

1). Håkan Roswall, your chief prosecutor, is playing the emotional aspect, as well as the layman's lack of technical details, up to his projected advantage. This reeks of deperation and is unpleasant to read about. Surely this is not the face your organisation wishes to present to the world? If we are to look to you for our copyright interests, I do not feel encouraged.

2) The Pirate Bay might have, slightly, indirectly, somehow, facilitated someone to provide someone with the possible, likely, potential means to maybe infringe copyright. Why the persuit of these men continues escapes me. Mr Roswall's reasoning again lapses into what I call "Law and Order Mode" or "Hollywood lawyer mode"; I feel he is going to seek the prosecution of knife manufacturers and gun manufacturers next? Afterall, their products are produced with the implicit purpose of the cause of harm are they not? One does not use a gun, or purchase such in order to prop up a shelf now does one? One purchases said firearm in order to discharge it. Therefore the blame is upon those who supply to the demand is it not? They profit from it also, considerably so. By your Organisation's reasoning, this is the path we should take. Can I quote you on that stance?

If I cannot I must ask why, should you be successful in this prosecution, why not? If the precendent applies for one, surely it must apply across the board? Will you be seeking manufacturers of recordable CD/DVD media next? They supply the means to copy the products of your members afterall. How about ripping/burning software? The list does go on so I would most humbly request the answers to the following questions;

1). Do the views Mr Roswall expressed in the media comply with those of the IFPI?

2). Does the IFPI, should they obtain a judgement in their favour in this case intend to expand the list of people they seek to prosecute?

3). Would the IFPI advocate full application of the precendent Mr Roswall seems to be putting forward?

4). Does this potential precendent meet with the aims of the IPFI as an organisation?

5). How far does the 'net' the IFPI wishes to cast go? What other activities will be classified as potential copyright infringements in the future?

6). Is providing the means an actual crime?

thank you in advance and I look forward to recieving a promt and well-considered response.

Regards

@sarah bee

Oooh Miss Bee, you ARE sharp today! lol

I am very well-scented thank you; well most of the time anyway......ah...I think...errrr

I do prefer dogs too (though my current one is nuttier than a squirrel's poo) I find them much more entertaining and amusing than cats could ever be!

But no, I see no one species as the better one lol as you said very well earlier on, it's an evolutionary thing; dogs we have as pets are subservient and do not much thinking because they see their owners as the alpha male/female and therefore indisputably in charge (a left over from their wolf days)....I'll be honest, dog being happy to have you in charge is much, much better than dog who wants to be in charge...the papers are full of them....

The Charges

Will soon be changed to ;

"Acting in an Un-American way"

"Using technologificificationment to further the cause of global terrorism"

"being smart and answering back"

"maybe being in the same room/house/town/city/country/planet as that where an illegal activity took place"

In a way I do feel for the Big Bucks Inc. folks though because if this case collapses, the gravy train is off the rails and burning in a ditch for ever and ever; everyone knows this case will change things for good and the companies want to keep on making insane amounts of cash but will they?

Cancer

"Cancer is the disease of regrets and extreme sadness" I can't remember who said that but have a look on wikipedia or ask someone on your friends list about it ;)

there has been a corrolation between a number of c ancer cases and self distructive (although passively so) behaviour.....not universally accepted of course but these things never are

typical politician

he is hardly likely to say "oh bugger you got me" and admit that's what they doing now are they...not yet anyway.....

this is just rattle throwing as he knows that the educated and clever people (the minority....intellectuals..see the pattern emerging?) will listen to that 'evil woman' while the plebs who read the papers will continue to swallow the "foreigners, terrorists, druggies, liberals and peados" rhetoric of their favourite former chip wrapper

whether or not

you're a freetard, don't you find it worrying that the Swedish police were pressured by the US Govt on what is, in essence a CIVIL MATTER? I find it scary that the Big Boys Inc. are able to influence politics in this way.......

As a matter of high principle (ie US Govt keep their snouts out of other people's sovereign laws and judiciary) I hope the members of Big Boys Inc. lose!

And yes, as mentioned this move is scare all freetards away...just like they did with Napster....and Limewire...and.....oh what do you mean it made it woooooorse??

Give the man an icecream!

Well.....not exactly earth-shattering but at last someone "important" talking actual common sense instead of blaming Pugh, Pugh and Barney Mcgrue or whoever else happens to spring to mind.....blame those who are actually at fault; the parents!

At last!

In order

for the anarchy which will blossom around 2015 to take place and for chaos to spread like any form of fire at all (why does wildfire get all the press?) there must first be something to oppose.

Things will get worse before they get better, it's unfortunate but true.

But when it does happen think of this; you let it happen. You sat and read articles; you complained on El Reg but what else did you do? Gathered to march and demonstrate no matter the consequences? or did you wait for the next story to complain about, and the next, and the next and then....no more ability to complain......the reason things like this can happen in Britain is obvious; British people complain a lot, and understandably so in many case, but are very slow to actually do anything about. Sitting in a chair complaining never solved anything.

I no longer live in the UK (thank [insert deity name]) and intend to move further away than I currently do so I shall make no stand as I live there not but if i did, there are ways to resist which are listened to and do not involve violence

errrm

what's the big deal? The only people seriously worried should be the underage or heavy drinkers surely? Also, ID to open bank accounts? Been doing that for years, same with any form of credit agreement.....

I'm not sure how much this whole anti-id-for-anything attitude reflects the same as the Daily Fail crowd but to me it's no biggie really is it?

I mean, if you want to be paranoid about Big Brother consider; there are CCTV cameras pretty much everywhere so if Large Male Sibling wishes to know what you are doing then then Senior Male Fellow Offspring already knows........there've been ID cards in Spain for years

ahem

"he demanded three dozen out of date Cornish pasties to complete his look"

I know, I know but someone had to say it!

Cue the next Malware/Virus attack

just you wait, a malware, virus attack which fills your harddrive with obscene material or at least directs you browser to a hosting site and....well the rest is stripy overalls and so forth....try and prove it isn't yours, Deviant!

well

"a blow to businesses when times are hard"

well businesses have been giving us blows whether times are hard or not. About time business realised that we workers are their biggest assets and it's time to treat us like humans, not cattle.

I've had a "more than acceptable" number of days off sick in the last 6 months due to totally unavoidable circumstances; severe tooth infection, being knocked off my bike by a 4-wheeled fool and gastoenteritis....I was evn taken to a disciplinary for it, until I challenged their right to do that, the disciplinary was suddenly dropped.

But how can companies think they can do that and get away with it? To threaten to fire someone because they've been ill "more often than is allowed"? Like that's something one can control!

My 10 cents

Why don't people pour R&D money into the whole automated driving on motorway/freeway thing? Think of the accidents which wouldn't happen, the money it would save.....

then people could talk on the phone as much as they liked!

until the day this is a possibility, then yes, no mobile use while driving! I've nearly been knocked off my bicycle by idiots yapping on the mobile (flaunting current laws) and paying no attention to the road.....makes me feel that enforcing the law should not be voluntary here!

@Watashi

You actually have it spot on, Wikipedia has the potential to be a prime example of Life imitating Art......as a social experiment it is a good one...everyone knows it's inaccurate (often wildly) but no-one stops using it because it's so so much easier to wiki something than trawl through your local library or through hundreds of possible hits on google.....

and I'll be honest, it is handy for niche interest areas or little known topics; I've spent hours on there reliving childhood memories on comic books and tv shows from my yoof...

also an opinion of mine (uncited) is that most history is biased, based upon belief and opinion anyway, didn't Caesar say "History is written by the Victors"? Or did someone else say that but he won and took the credit?

If ever

you needed proof of a NeoCon Conspiracy or NWO "taking over the world" theory, this is it.....the US supports Israel no matter what they do...why?

Book of Revelations provides an interesting insight; it talks about God being angered by the excesses of the Israelites; their neighbours massing to drive them from the land and being pushed to the sea. Only the White Dragon and Yellow Eagle (ideas anyone?) will side with them and in the end all the races of Man will be embroiled....

is this in the process of happening or are some people making sure it does?

It also mentions the war in Iraq (something about the "Cradle of Man" - city of Ur in modern-day Iraq - and Babylon - also in Iraq) as the precursor to this amageddon-type scenario...

or Obama would end the war in Iraq and thus the war against the Arab, the Christian-Republican Crusade, Bush's lot are making that as difficult as possible, if not impossible for him to do

@aplhaxion

Well said and, to the most part I agree with you but, and here is a the big but(t), science must also admit what it does not know in order to progress, you see. To say something is a definate work of the imagination of a sub-set of persons is to do what monothesistic religions have done for millenia, surely? We already know that there elements of the human mind we do not yet understand (I think we never will, one cannot figure out what a hammer does by using another hammer) and there is the possibility that the mind can do things as yet unclassified? I'm not going to go into all the particulars and possibilities themselves now because this is neither the time nor the place but why can they not exist? Other forms of energy we have not yet measured, quantum effects and influences? Who knows what the mind if capable of percieving? The issue here is that there have been plenty of observations of phenomena science cannot explain but these observations have been largely ignored because not enough maths is involved or because there are no machines which can measure said things.

Now the scientific brain does tend to reject that which occurs beyond the sphere of science or anything which sounds 'fanciful' which strikes me as odd because the foundations of science were built by people who were, in their time, considered to be, to say the least, a bit wierd. Now I am not trying to convince anyone or change the opinions of anyone, merely to see if people can accept that there are things they do no know. No wild-haired prophet am I, giving you answers. No, I'm just asking questions, just like everyone else. If you reject these or choose to insult those who ask them, more fool you really.

Personally i feel that one day things such as ghosts, psychic phenomenon and other 'paranormal' activity will be scientifically explainable and the whitecoats will triumphantly tell the world what many of us have suspected for some time already but such is the way of the world; nothing exists until science proves it does.

It's about time!

I enjoy Sir Terence's novels immensely, no-one else manages such amusing satire quite like he does....Michael Moore perhaps but maybe he learned from Sir T? We also have him to thank for some of the best works of Neil Gaiman, among others; truly he is the John Peel of the Literary world (he even looks a bit like him now lol)

I also met him at a book signing many moons ago and was amazed by the way he dealt with his fans. The signing was due to end at 12 o'clock I think but the queue was huge and it was clear that not everybody would get even into the shop by that time, me among them. I was ready for disappointment then at five past, someone came out and told us that he was going to stay until he'd seen us all and bugger the schedule (I later spoke to his events manager who was in a fluster about in his words "that stubborn old bugger", they had to reschedule signings a lot it seemed as he made quite a habit of it!). I even asked terry about it when my turn came and he said that his fans bought his books and made him famous so the least he could do was see all of them when turned up to see him! I wonder how many other famous figures would do that? He saw every last person too, and had time for a quick chat with each one, a true gent in every sense!

an honour well deserved and let's ignore the fick trolls who are just trying to stir up an argument eh?

Well.....

sometimes I wonder about why we allow these people to have research money.....I'll bet some of the white powder goes walkies too....hmmmm

coking up innocent bees....that's sick people. What's next? Ants on acid? Humming birds on heroine? Termites on te 'eerb? If i gave blow to my dog to see how it affected his behaviour, I'd be justifiably locked up!

basically

you're telling me that a lot of the legacy apps I paid for would not work on Vista?? So I would have to wait for "compatible versions" to come out and pay for them again?? Why?

If I shelled out a few grand on apps I use just fine now, why should microscoffed tell me that I need to ditch my (admittedly) old rig to pay out not only for a new one but also to be unable to use my apps because they don't want me to anymore?

ridiculous!

Bioterror eh?

So all the big contributors to the GOP; GSK and their ilk will of course not benefit at all from this eh?

@AC 11/12 21:44

I can see why you AC'd if you were going to be abusive but never mind, you're entitled to your opinions....I suggest you do some research on GSK and some other pharma companies...besides these are examples I consider relevent and merely highlight a very relevent point; why has research taken so long to be done? In the last 40 years, there has only been massive technological development quite recently..

anyway, thanks for your constructive comments, so politely expressed, you're a star!

Oil though....hmmmm....we only start to work on developing technologies when it's already starting to run out, how clever of us eh?

Price of bills and so forth these days...the problems in the world, where the oil is located and a global crash began by rocketing oil prices wouldn't have anything to do with that now would it?

Silly boy

@IR

Hey mate, I'm not THAT old!! I'm only in my 30's and there seem to have been less allergies then too.....

I see the Dark Ages comparison but we're only talking about 20 or so years ago here.....that's what I meant..

It's like "Disorders" (usually the last or close to last letter of a fancy acronym); we had none of those when I were a nipper either, now we've got so many, I've lost count. Now any loony overactive child is ADHD and given loads of drugs...good thing?

and yes there is a point, I was with a girl years ago and I am of excellent cleanliness, she was borderline OCD (there's one); guess who had more allergies and got ill more often? No I!

@AC Today 10:16am

Mate, if that happened to me I'd think I was having a weird dream or was on candid camera or some shuch show!! Then I'd probably enjoy it for a time, people looking at me wondering why I was on a poster and then walking around like a normal person and looking slightly scruffy when I'm obviously famous, if I'm on a billboard.....

it'd be too good a head-fking opportunity to waste!!!

@AC

I'd personally love to hear a bhangra take on the Imperial March and I wonder how they' do Yoda-Ji! Lol

Huzzah and double huzzah!

The Victorian age is dead, says you? Ha! Says I that it indeed is alive and well, sir! Ladies and gentlemen of all classes and backgrounds may now rejoice (well not rejoice as this is unseemly) and go back to being sober and sensible after our decades of excess and depravity!! All praise to the good lady smith and her cohorts for their vigilence (Beware! Be Vigilent! Behave!) and good taste! Time to hack of the David statue's unmentionable and all those obscence lady parts of those vile Greek statues! All that supposed 'art' showing vulgar images of a...a...ahem..intimate..nature of parts of the body which are best left hidden!

This is a fine beginning! Let us welcome the new Victorian age!