* Posts by Charlie

20 publicly visible posts • joined 1 Aug 2008

Blighty's black honeybee comes in from the cold

Charlie
Happy

British natives...

lazy and aggressive.

Ha

Nokia Life Tools help Indian farmers get one

Charlie
Paris Hilton

@McFlurry

Not all transactions are based on the "I'm screwing you coz I'm getting screwed myself model".

Most transactions end with both parties walking away satisfied. If they didn't there would be a lot less commerce in the world.

Giving the producers more information means they are less likely to get screwed by the agents, not more likely.

Paris, coz all this thinking makes me tired

Workplace dispute laws change today

Charlie
Paris Hilton

28 days hols a year

Does that include the bank holidays?

I've been on 20 days for a long time and think maybe I've been short changed on hols for some time. Any chance of a retrospective claim?

Paris coz I'm feeling entitled to some more leisure time

Obama reverses Dubya's tailpipe emissions

Charlie

good use of the bailout money

spend it all in legal fees trying to avoid making more efficient vehicles.

$400m US space interceptor deal inked

Charlie
Unhappy

@CrisWilson

Did you read my comment?

I'm supporting boost phase over midphase interception.

I'm not suggesting that missile interception is worse than letting them land and go off.

Having said that, detonating atom bombs is a form of disarmament.

Charlie
Unhappy

Has anyone thought about

all that weapons grade plutonium falling back into our atmosphere and burning up?

I can't really think of a better way of polluting enormous tracts of Earth with a total biocide. It probably won't even be in recoverable chunks.

Obviously the alternative (a nuclear explosion in a city) isn't much better but at least with boost phase interception the missile debris lands back on the country that launched it.

Here's an idea, how about diplomacy, soft power and deterrence as a means to prevent a rogue state launch?

Hoon: Not building überdatabase would be terrorist licence to kill

Charlie
Paris Hilton

What a load of arse

It's almost complete bullsh1t to say that the biggest civil liberty of all is not to be killed by a terrorist.

What about free speech, privacy, right to assemble, right to worship, peacful protest, voting, trial by jury, etc?

Hoon is a complete goon who seems to be vindicating all the notions that power crazed governments almost cannot be stopped once they get started on the tools of control bandwagon.

For the most part, good old-fashioned police/intelligence work busts these terror conspiracies. Tipoffs, tailing, eavesdropping and so forth. Once they are nicked their laptops and mobile phones generally give up all the evidence of who they have been in contact with. Very few of these guys are 'professional' terrorists and don't have the field craft or concentration to cover their tracks.

Given the use of anti terror law to freeze Icelandic bank assets there is no doubt that this mega database will eventually be put to use against benefit fraud and parking fines.

Remember, authority figures never admit errors and if you aren't for them then you must be against them!

Paris because I think I'd be happier living there.

Judge Dredd smartshell shotguns to hit Iraq in '09

Charlie
Black Helicopters

Dredd always said what he was doing.

The occasional cry of 'Boot knife!' was always a good end to a bit of hand to hand combat.

I own personal favourite was Dredd's exposition accompanied by the sound effect.

'Bike Cannon!' 'BUDDA BUDDA'

UK border facial scan tests hit by errors and breakdowns

Charlie

Strange

I've been using the IRIS system at Heathrow for a few years now and never had a problem.

It works really well and there is a great satisfaction in getting off a red eye flight at six in the morning, seeing a massive queue at passport control and just breezing through the glass box of IRIS so I can then go and wait two hours for my bags.

I'm largely opposed to all of the ID schemes as proposed but do see the need for good security at airports and using technology to make the airport experience a bit more manageable. Clearly in Manchester they can't get it right.

Bozos

UK minister looks for delete key on user generated content

Charlie

Everyone's had a good old moan about it, the question is?

Who's going to vote in the next election?

Coventry fans blue over 'hackable' cashless payment system

Charlie

Up the Arse

I have an Arsenal season ticket and I can't carry it in the same wallet as my Oyster card because of the clash.

However there is currently no option to load the season ticket with cash to buy stuff.

I suppose the main risk from cloning is having too many people inside the stadium and also some sort of touting fiasco but I assume that the same card can't be used to get into the stadium twice on the same day so a ticket-only scam has limited possibilities.

At the Amsterdam Arena where Ajax play they have a cashless food and drink concession system in which you buy a pre-paid card from a vending machine. You can use the card to buy stuff and it's all very quick because no cash changes hands. You can re-charge the card with more money if you are a regular and if you aren't then you end up with a nice little souvenir.

Also if you don't spend all you credit before you go the club trouser the surplus.

Yes, there was a viable liquid bomb plot

Charlie
Thumb Up

Good article

Thanks for the information. I've been largely confused by this whole issue and you've managed to simplify it and explain something that previously was so sensitive that only the jury were allowed to know the full details.

I also agree with your analysis that a fair judicial system and following the rule of law is one of the best defences against 'terror'.

Brit trio convicted for liquid bomb terror plot

Charlie

@ caffeine addict

"Christ on a bike I'm sick of this country..."

Well do something about it then!

Instead of complaining on a forum of like minded people you can -

Lobby your MP - tell him/her that you will be actively campaigning against them.

Join one of the many lobby groups that are active in this area e.g. Amnesty or Liberty.

OR

Stop moaning about 'this country' as if it is something that you are not part of. Society is a collection of individuals.

OR

F*ck off somewhere else so we don't have to listen to your whining. Trains, planes and boats leave every hour.

Nuke-nobbling US laser jumbo fires test beams

Charlie

Curtis LeMay would be proud

Huge fleets of giant jet aircraft flying racetracks on the edge of international airspace 24 hours a day waiting for the attack order.

No wonder Boeing are bullish. It gives the 747 assembly line a new lease of life in the Airbus 380 era and it's a meaty military contract that will last indefinitely.

I think that this technology will eventually be overtaken by clouds of stealthy one-shot drones. Cheaper, easier to maintain and largely risk free.

Lag log leaks - Home Office contractor loses entire prison population

Charlie
Unhappy

It's about time these sorts of errors were criminally accountable

Perhaps the threat of some jail time would make some of the suits pay attention to things like encryption and physical security.

It works with Health and Safety legislation and posting false company accounts is a criminal offence so why not negligent loss of private data?

Teachers give toilet CCTV top marks

Charlie

I used to work at an FE college in the MIS dept

and my experience with the teachers is that they are somewhat confused in what they want.

example : our funding was completely dependant on the data we sent to the funding agency. Basic stuff like how many people on a given course, pass rates at exam time, and critically attendance.

Unfortunately trying to make teachers record attendance is such a hot potato that they once tried to threaten me with union action when I told one that it was her legal responsibility to record attendance in her class. Not just for the data upon which our funding is dependant but also for Health and Safety regs. Should the building catch fire how will we know who is still in the classroom or not?

Sadly they were terrified because many of them had almost nil attendance at their classes due to (amongst other regions) the shabby teaching methods, pointless courses and zero discipline. Therefore if this became apparent the course would be rightly closed down and the funds directed to a more appropriate outcome.

So the logic was:

I don't do my job properly (engage students with interesting content) so it is not in my interest to do my job properly (take a register) in case people find out that I don't do my job properly (engage students with interesting content) therefore I will continue to not do my job properly (not take a register) and if I'm challenged to do my job properly I'll get the union in to protect my right to not do my job properly.

Govt persuades two people to share worst job in IT

Charlie
Unhappy

typical dopey govt fools

Get seduced by computer salesmen who charge big bucks for hardware that will be obsolete before it's delivered and software that tries to be all things to all people and therefore never gets finished.

They would be much better off just setting standards for the data and letting individual entities and groups of entities go out and buy hardware and software themselves.

There would be dozens of smal and large businesses supplying software solutions for things like prescription management and transfer (e.g. between a GPs desk and the local pharmacy) and as long as the standards are adhered and a copy of each transaction is recorded centrally then the NHS executive can stil have a massive database for its analysis. Note: the system doesn't rely on the massive centralised entity. The massive centralised entity just gobbles up a copy of every transaction and record.

Laptops cost £300 now. When the contracts were signed by whichever idiot minister was in charge at the time they were probably signing up to a 486 in every office at the bargain cost ot £1000 each.

What a bunch of monkeys. Sack them all.

Snoop more, share less - Home Office spurns EU advice

Charlie
Joke

Sooner or later

the government is going to realise that the world is so dangerous and hostile that only way to keep us all safe is to have us all locked up and killed because the alternative is just too horrible to contemplate.

Old ships' logs show temporary global warming in 1730s

Charlie

How about a look at the temp data

of all the submaring fleets over the last 60 years. A much more detailed model would be available.

Greens: Abandon economic growth to beat CO2 offshoring

Charlie
Unhappy

It looks like we are going to have to vote for nukes whilst holding our noses

Trends in energy use are upwards, fossil fuels are in limited supply and are largely in politically volatile regions of the world. Prohibitive costs will reduce consumption to some extent.

We may have to take on the nuclear option to keep the lights on. Shell have estimated that best efficiency could reduce demand by 50% but that will cost a lot to roll out and has a huge human dimension. Prof Mackay's analysis tells us that relying on renewables demands we give up enormous quantities of our land area to even make a dent in our emissions. It will also mean a huge investment in infrastructure.

It pains me to say it but I think new atom power stations on the sites of the old ones is probably the 'best' solution. The sites exist so local opposition is a vote for redundancy, the grid already exists there too. We just need to sort out the hazmat by-product problem. Probably by sending it all to China.

Gah!