They now no longer say NI !!
they say "Ekki, Ekki, Ekki!!"
I'll get me coat
Posts by Michael H.F. Wilkinson
4255 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Apr 2007
Page:
Will News of the Screws reappear as Sunday.co.uk?
Parmo v poutine: The ultimate post-pub nosh deathmatch
Monday 11th July 2011 10:11 GMT 
Kroket bitterbal and frikandel
Just a typo there, the German frikadel (meat ball) is very different from the Dutch frikandel (sausage of the CMOT Dibbler type).
BTW a bitterbal is just a kroket but smaller, and round rather than cylindrical. They are usually served at cocktail parties and receptions. The correct etiquette after biting one is to say "Eeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuh" with your hand in front of your mouth.
Thumbs up to "savoury napalm"
Terrafugia flying car gets road-safety exemptions
Who'll keep taking Windows Tablets in the iPad era?
Friday 1st July 2011 15:02 GMT 
"I can't see Redmond buggering it up this time, but you never know."
I can.
Really, even with my eyes shut.
This is not simply MS bashing, I simply have an undying faith in the ability of people anywhere (and that includes myself) to get things terribly wrong in ways we never could imagine. This is a kind of inverse creativity embodied in Bergholt Stuttley (or Bloody Stupid) Johnson on the Discworld.
However, MS might get it beautifully right.
Insider says doom looms at RIM
Do we really want 100Gig Ethernet?
Ballmer leaves investors speechless in Seattle
Magnificent Moon mountain sunrise caught on camera
History's first papal tweet launches Vatican website
Blow to the head makes people feel good about religion
Wednesday 29th June 2011 08:46 GMT
Still a candidate for an IgNobel prize
You know, research that first makes you laugh, and then makes you think.
I could well imagine that church-going people get more help from their surroundings, from those who practice what they preach, and apparently understood the bible better than certain raving fundamentalists. I remember attending the wedding of friends of ours in the US, and after the exchange of vows, the congregation was asked to rise and promise they would do all they could to make this marriage work. I thought that very touching. That is a practical side of Christianity (and many other faiths) that is very valuable. I did get some puzzled looks from some church-goers when I told them I was an atheist. I almost felt they wondered how that could happen to such an apparently nice man, and anyway, where were my horns and cloven hooves?
The researchers should check whether there aren't stronger correlations between well-being and the degree of care or conversely social isolation of those with brain trauma.
Gambling companies must be extra careful with personal data
Proper scientists: Old folk should drink more, not less
US Navy invents 'Zero-Power Autonomous' ocean probe
Hackers pierce network with jerry-rigged mouse
Tuesday 28th June 2011 09:21 GMT
Actually
Jury-rigged comes from for "injury-rigged", a phrase used for any lash-up of remnants of masts spars and sails allowing a ship to creep forward after damage. Jerry rigged seems derived from the same. However, this mouse is hardly a crudely made (though it is improvised), it is pretty cunning.
Boffins take REMOTE CONTROL of HUMAN HAND
'Robots can save America', says Obama
NATO site hacked
Violin tunes up for billion dollar flash gig
Monday 27th June 2011 08:39 GMT 
Larry Ellison might brush up on zoology
The cheetah comparison might just mean blisteringly fast, but no good in the long run. This might actually be a good description of current SSDs, when compared to spinning disks.
Race horses only cover short to medium distances at high speed. All servers should really aim to be camels: excellent average speed in the long run, heavy load capacity, don't break down under extremely difficult circumstances.
Besides, turtles live much longer than cheetahs, and the latter have previously nearly gone extinct.
Woman dies of heart attack at own funeral
So, how many rhinos does a tram weigh?
Fridge-sized war raygun for US bombers gets $40m
Friday 24th June 2011 07:26 GMT
You do wonder
whether really thick blocks of cooled, highly polished, solid aluminium would do (can reach 95% reflectivity, going up to 99% in infrared). They might last long enough to do serious damage.
Now that would be a cool set-up.
Having said that, scattering by dust and vapour droplets (clouds, steam) hinder lasers, though infrared is much less affected.
Women's gaydar (for men) improves when ovulating
Top500 founders talk big
MeeGo and the Great Betrayal Myths of tech history
US plan to hold EU passenger data for 15 yrs 'unlawful'
Wednesday 22nd June 2011 15:49 GMT
I have said it before and will say it again
Adding hay does not make finding needles easier. Indiscriminately adding data (especially when including fingerprints) concerning ALL passengers to a database which is intended for analysis of crimes will lead to a disproportionate number of false positives, as anyone with any knowledge of pattern recognition should know.
I suggest we follow Brazil, and take the finger prints of ALL US passengers visiting our shores (and not with fancy scanners, use ink!!)
BTW, HOLLAND is not an EU member; The Netherlands is. Calling Groningen where I live Holland is like saying Glasgow is in England.
Sputnik retro PC puts bureau back on the desktop
Tilera throws gauntlet at Intel's feet
The KILLER MUTANT FUNGUS in YOUR DISHWASHER
WTF are... connected appliances?
Tuesday 21st June 2011 10:54 GMT 
Share and enjoy!
This stuff always reminds me of Sirius Cybernetics' GPP feature (Genuine People Personality, thank you, Douglas Adams). As I told one "ambient intelligence" guru at a conference, I don't want chatty (and smug) doors, fridges that order beer for me (and thus have access to my bank account!!) and least of all a Nutrimatic Machine (which, despite its intelligence, only makes cups filled with a liquid which is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea). A system that automatically puts on "my favourite" music when I get home is likely to get a reprogramming it will never forget (with a very large ax) if it gets it wrong (yet again).
</rant>
Oz alkie gets hammered on hospital hand sanitiser
30,000 Shreks besmirch BeautifulPeople
Kindle Store awash with auto-generated crap 'books'
Apple iMac 27in
Friday 17th June 2011 14:16 GMT
Expensive?
My first PC (386 @ 25MHz with a (then) staggering 4MB of RAM, 1MB of video RAM, 88MB SCSI hard disk cost something like 5000 euros in todays money.
Will still be going for a PC upgrade rather than a Mac now. For that price I can get a compute beast with latest NVidia board and HUGE memory and a pretty serious 27" monitor. Not for gaming, but GPU accelerated volume rendering and analysis. We are getting more and more macs in our institute though. A lot of people like them.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
