* Posts by Uncle Slacky

2131 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Sep 2008

Mars, bringer of WAR: Quatermass and the Pit

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Joke

Re: "rather phallic Martian pod"

EJACULATE! EJACULATE!

Ubuntu boss: I want to make a Linux hybrid mobe SO GIVE ME $32m

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Linux

Re: PC

Maybe not Gnome 2, but MATE could be a possibility.

Only 1 in 5 Americans believe in pure evolution – and that's an upswing

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Let there be.....Ignorance?

"Living things" smaller than cells exist , you know - viruses, for example.

In any case, evolution occurs in existing living things - it has nothing to say about creation.

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
FAIL

Re: Let there be.....Ignorance?

I refer you to "29+ evidences for macroevolution": http://talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/

Ex-prez Carter: 'America has no functioning democracy' with PRISM

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
FAIL

Not your father's FISA

FISA's role was greatly expanded and made dramatically more covert with the PATRIOT Act. The original FISA was brought in as a a result of the Church Committee's report on the criminal activities of the CIA & NSA, and was an honest attempt to oversee them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_committee

Carter was dealt a shitty hand, post-Watergate, oil crisis, stagflation and Iran. Few people could have been re-elected in those circumstances. Still, in terms of standards of living and income inequality, we've not had it so good since his time. See for example:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/09/04/opinion/04reich-graphic.html

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Joke

Malaise Forever!

"He's history's greatest monster!"

Curiosity team: Massive collision may have killed Red Planet

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Alert

Re: Maybe it was just one impact

The silly season has arrived, is all.

1953: How Quatermass switched Britons from TV royalty to TV sci-fi

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: "hard for many Britain’s to fill in"

"Gotten" originates in (old) English, so it's really only returning from the colonies.

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Headmaster

"hard for many Britain’s to fill in"

Britain's what?

Or do you mean "Britons"?

The facts on Trident 'cuts': What the Lib Dems want is disarmament

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: A terrible article

I'm pretty sure that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the UK as a whole is (theoretically) committed to gradual disarmament, with complete disarmament as the final goal.

PRISM scandal: Brit spooks operated within the law, say politicos

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

To paraphrase the Daily Show...

We're not shocked that you did it, but we're shocked that you didn't have to break the law to do it.

Radiohead's Thom Yorke pulls his own music off Spotify

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Mushroom

And nothing of value was lost...

US Congress proposal: National Park will be FOUND ON MOON

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Boffin

Re: I assume

"Does a non-functioning spacecraft sitting on the lunar surface somehow constitute an activity?"

You could argue that the laser ranging reflectors left behind by Apollo missions, still in regular use to monitor changes in the Earth-Moon distance, constitute part of an activity.

Germans brew up a right Sh*tstorm

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: Belles locques

ISTR the standard verb for "to telephone" is "telefonieren", so I'm surprised that the noun would be so (officially) different.

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Here's the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/03/shitstorm-german-dictionary-angela-merkel

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

No, it's a "forceful" modifier, i.e. "a really fucking good storm" might be an English translation of "Scheisssturm". No actual shit need be involved.

The Graun article also pointed out that Germans tend to use scatological terms where Anglos would use sexual ones for the same purpose.

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: Does anyone know....

For anyone who doesn't get the reference:

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/Mongolian-Hordes-technique.html

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

According to the Graun article about this the other day, the prefix "Scheiss-" is a positive modifier, so a Scheisssturm would mean "a really good storm", the opposite of the intention.

I'm willing to be corrected, as I failed German O-level in 1985...

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: Ausgezeignet!

Gesundheit!

Tickle my balls, stroke my button and blow the fluff from my crack

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

GEM without a mouse?

The article seems to imply that you were using GEM before ever using a mouse. If so, that must have been fun.

I managed to use WFWG 3.11 for a couple of years without a mouse, though (my boss was too tight to buy one) so I suppose it could be done.

Hanslope Park: Home of Britain’s ‘real-life Q division’

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

LinkedIn & other social media

Interesting that they're presumably allowed to mention where they work. In the early days of social media (when FriendsReunited was the new thing) we (working at a certain aerospace company with close ties to the MoD) were warned not to mention our employer publicly on such sites.

I notice that nowadays LinkedIn offers me several company-themed communities to join, based on my links to my ex-colleagues, so presumably that policy has changed.

Amusingly, I heard recently that the company intranet had started its own internal social network. This was several years after the unofficial one (based on newsgroups that had existed under the radar for some time) had been closed down for fear of creating an (uncontrollable) subculture (i.e., employees sharing news that had only been released to certain parts of the company at certain times). Other Imscers (I'm sure there must be some around here) will know to what I am referring...

Americans attempt to throw off oppressive, unresponsive rulers on 4th of July

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Black Helicopters

Re: Yesterday was more important

Also the 25th anniversary of Iran Air flight 655 being shot down by the USS Vincennes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

30 years on: Remembering the Memotech MTX 500

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

Weird Science?

Wot, no mention of its starring role therein?

Live or let dial - phones ain’t what they used to be

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: Dials of WTF handsets

Makes perfect sense - for right-handed people, anyway.

WarGames IMSAI machine for sale (again)

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: WOPR: Today, ze home - Tomorrow...

You mean "Die Welt", shirley?

Mint 15 freshens Ubuntu's bad bits

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
FAIL

Mint is "young"?

Dunno where you got that idea - it's been around since 2006 - pretty old in Linux terms.

Latest Firefox boosts video chat, 3D graphics, JavaScript performance

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Headmaster

"twice as slow"?

What's wrong with "half as fast"?

Telly psychics fail to foresee £12k fine for peddling nonsense

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

It's the Simon Singh case you're thinking of...

'Briefly, Singh was sued by the British Chiropractic Association over an article in the Guardian in which he criticised chiropractors for claiming they can treat children's colic, sleeping and feeding problems, ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying, by manipulation of the spine. He said these interventions were "bogus", with "not a jot of evidence".'

( from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/17/bad-science-chiropractors )

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Thumb Down

You sunk my battleship!

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: Vindication

I do better than that - I use ROT 13. Just to be really secure, I use it twice.

Norks taunt, yank Yanks' crank over PRISM: US is 'rights abuse kingpin'

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
FAIL

Re: It depends how you define rights abuses

Yeah, because "we're better than North Korea" is such a high bar for comparison...

Bjarne Again: Hallelujah for C++

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: If God had meant us to use C++

If it can't be done in FORTRAN, it's not worth doing.

When to say those three little words: 'I am quitting'

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: The only way to get a pay rise...

How did said "rise" correspond to the rise in the cost of living at the time, however?

For me, a "rise" has to be above the rate of inflation to count as a genuine increase.

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

The only way to get a pay rise...

...is to change jobs, as any fule kno.

At #guardiancoffee, we can now taste the future through a PRISM!

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Happy

Facts schmacts...

You can use them to prove anything that's even remotely true!

Girls, beer and C++: How to choose the right Comp-Sci degree for you

Uncle Slacky Silver badge

Re: Pascal

I can see that Pascal would be handy in Delphi development (not that I've done a lot of that lately). Turbo Pascal was great, though.

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: Alternatively ditch comp sci all together

It makes sense, in a way, as the apostrophe could be said to replace the letters "ematic"...but it's a somewhat unconventional usage!

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: No you choose your degree at 13

The best programmer I ever met started as a 16-year-old school-leaver on a YTS scheme - he's now MD of the company (Careervision - hiya Jase!).

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Thumb Up

Agree on pre-degree IT exams

Even in the 80s we were recommended not to bother with "computer science" O and A-levels - they only seemed to consist of binary arithmetic anyway. Maths/Further Maths is definitely the way to go. The Oxford SMP O-level syllabus was particularly good for this, as it put a lot of stress on matrix operations.

I considered doing Cybernetics at Reading (this was in pre-Kevin Warwick days) as the department had a nice mad-scientist vibe going on (but promised to be too much like hard work - long hours of practicals and open-book exams).

My elder daughter seems set on computer science, though in France. I was very happy to hear that C is still being taught.

Most of my programming was self-taught anyway (since ZX BASIC on the Speccy) with the exception of Fortran 77 at uni (standard for Physics degrees back then). I can still knock out the occasional Excel VBA macro, proving that one can write Fortran in any language...

Reg hack prepares to live off wondergloop Soylent

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

Potatoes & milk?

ISTR that it's possible to live indefinitely off potatoes and the occasional bit of milk - presumably that would be easier and cheaper to manage than this concoction?

CRINGE! Home Office wants to know whether your boss BEATS YOU

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Alert

Could be worse

It could be "capital" punishment...

Confidence in US Congress sinks to lowest level ever recorded

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

Re: ...and what's worse...

"The folks in uniform don't get to choose where they go what their mission will be."

They *could* choose not to join up...

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

Re: @ Tikimon

"You can't find a party with any MPs that has taken a stance against unprovoked aggressive war, the supreme international crime."

To be fair, the Greens *do* have one MP. In a blind test of party manifestoes in the 2010 election, theirs came out on top, too.

NSA: 'Dozens of attacks' prevented by snooping

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: Déjà vu

NSA, I'll buy that rock!

PRISM snitch claims NSA hacked Chinese targets since 2009

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Headmaster

Re: Yeah, but no but yeah

Wow - using *both* "your" and "you're" incorrectly in the same message! Impressive!

1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Devil

IRS registration required...

...is what puts me off most self-publishing sites. Any advice on avoiding the need for this and still being able to publish - self or otherwise - would be welcome!

No IRS icon, but close enough...

PM Cameron calls for modern, programmable computers! (We think)

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Flame

Making web pages...

...if his definition of "coding" is the same as that of Rory Cellan-Jones:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17726085

Forget phones, PRISM plan shows internet firms give NSA everything

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Stop

Re: Any terrorist not a total retard will use a VPN

But, as someone pointed out a while back, the smarter terrorists make bombs that actually work, and kill themselves in the process. This leaves only the dumb ones behind who can't blow things up, so it's a kind of self-limiting thing.

Interview: Steve Jackson, role-playing game titan

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Thumb Up

Re: IF a$ = "W" THEN GOTO 210

I also tried turning one of the books (Island of the Lizard King?) into a BASIC program on the Speccy - as I recall, I ran out of line numbers...

Who wants a 'robot companion'? Look no further than Intel Labs

Uncle Slacky Silver badge
Mushroom

Re: "...a social robot companion..."

DON'T DATE ROBOTS!!!!!!