Posts by Intractable Potsherd

Re: Sceptical @AC 08:08

"Though I believe that theft is theft and that murder is murder. I realise others do not agree and I am uncomfortable in their world."

Interesting - I *know* that the world isn't that black and white, and that all of us would be uncomfortable in such a world.

I also don't consider the risk of terrorist attacks, either in terms of planning or the minimal loss of life and health to the general population, adequate to justify the amount of wholesale spying on the population by the government of that population. The only excuse that the government can give is that, in actual fact, they are worried that significant numbers of the population are going to revolt at some time in the near future - in which case the government should be changing what it does, not tightening the fist on the dissatisfied.

Re: Private vs State charity

To be fair, there isn't a breakdown in the article about what proportion of the total amount spent is made up by the Gates Foundation's $225m. It might be, and probably is, a small percentage of the total spend* compared with the amount spent by e.g. WHO, which needs funding from countries such as the UK.

*$225m isn't going to go far in a country of around 1.3 billion people.

Taxi drivers have too much power in capital cities

I sincerely dislike taxi drivers (as opposed to private hire drivers), because too many of them think it is their right to gouge the customer. They will fight to maintain their licence to take money like politicians. I was recently ripped off in Glasgow by a taxi driver taking the "scenic" route (if such a phrase can be used about Glasgow), but not as much as the people attending the same conference who must have caught a taxi slightly after me (it turned out we'd been on the same train), who arrived 15 minutes after me and had been charged more than twice my rip-off fare. The private hire vehicle we got (booked by the staff at the venue) was £2.00 and five minutes shorter in similar traffic than my journey there, and I only recognised the streets at the beginning and end of the journey.

It is widely believed in Prague that the extension of the tram service from Dejvicka to the airport has been cut short some distance from the airport due to pressure from the taxi lobby who don't want to lose the tourist scam they currently run. You never see an old taxi in Prague, and many of them are now Skoda Superbs - so not cheap cars. I always tell new visitors to Prague which bus to catch to Dejvicka, and then how to work out how to get to their destination on public transport.

Seriously, is the "protection" offered by licensing working to the consumer advantage, or should it now be abolished?

Dear god, not again!

Are you one of the aliens they were arguing about????

(Just joking - mug shots are no indicator of what a person really looks like. The entire context of the process makes the chances of a glamour shot extremely unlikely, and the requirements of not smiling etc give passport photos a better chance of being flattering.)

Re: Invalid laws?

There seems to be quite a lot of embarrassment at EC level about this Directive, because really it was not within the remit of the EU to make this law (it has nothing to do with free trade and little to do with the security of the EU itself). It was a classic example of "we must do something!" which has, with passing time, been realised to be a complete mess. However, there is a solid rump of people in power who will not give up htis new source of information lightly (just as in every legislature) and Germany will have to made to play ball because it just points up that the Directive is plain wrong and that its supporters are power-grabbing shit-bags.* I still hope the Germans find a way out of it, but I'm not holding my breath.

*That's a technical term.

Re: It's a weebil

... and since I've now got the most awful playground joke in my head because of this discussion, you can have that, too -

There were two fields - in one were cows, and in the other, bulls. Suddenly, there was an earthquake! All the cows were knocked to the ground and thoroughly shaken up. The bulls just rocked back and forth. When the cows got back on their feet, one went to the fence separating the field and said to one of the bulls, "How come you didn't fall over?" The bull replied "It's simple - we bulls wobble but we don't fall down!"

I don't suppose I've got time to get my coat?

Re: What about HOW it is published?

Do you seriously think that many (if any) PhD theses contain defamatory material? It would be a pretty poor supervisor and assessors that allowed that to happen, since evidence of assertions would be needed, and evidence undermines defamation claims.

Re: I also remember

My opinion was formed several years ago by a surgeon who said "Have corneal surgery for your myopia when you see less than 50% of surgeons without glasses". I suspect that the only corrective surgery I'll have is when they swap out my rapidly clouding lenses for new plastic ones.

Re: Deserves it

Yes, because there is nothing worse than a drugs dealer is there? (To be read with sarcastic intonation)

I've lived near known drug dealers. They never caused any problems, whereas men and women* in the same area who were not drug dealers had a police presence several times a year for assaults, theft, criminal damage, TWOC, receiving stolen goods, etc. None of them were actually bad neighbours, but the least of the problems were the dealer and his clientele.

* Some in work and some unemployed. Several households involved.

Re: :::Horse::>Cart

The "dying in agony" can be arranged ...

Re: Bye Bye BitCoin

No criminal law system should put the victim before the accused. The whole point of criminal law is to remove the effect of the crime on the victim to bring some level of predictability into the law. Current moves to bring the victim into sentencing decisions have some small merit, but run contrary to many centuries of established law. If you want the victim to be considered, you need to be arguing for an Anglo-Saxon style, purely private legal system.

Re: right problem, wrong solution

" I suspect Andrew is going down the latter route to try to reverse the tide of popular dislike of IP law by giving more individuals a stake in it."

I had a very similar thought. AO is trying to persuade us all that we need his extreme version of IP law (which has never been used, or intended to be used, to protect privacy). I almost choked on my bacon buttie when he referred to the "weakening of copyright"!!!

Re: Its getting a bit silly now

Sorry - I didn't scroll down far enough before making my above comment making a similar point.

Re: That rich dropout only has too much money because he was grossly over paid.

You nearly got an upvote, until that truly, completely, utterly stupid comment about vaccination - then you showed yourself to be a moron.

Merry Christmas, especially to people working on vaccinations!

Re: So?

It isn't as if a researcher isn't quoted in the article as saying "“The safest thing to do is to put a piece of tape on your camera,” is it? Oh, wait ...

Read the whole article before running to your keyboard.

Re: simple idea

Where I live, my mobile is often unable to connect to its home network for more than 24 hours. Thanks for the suggestion, but no thanks. I'm perfectly capable of putting the security measures I want on my phone, thanks.

Re: Parental involvement

This is Puritanism, pure and simple. I don't remember where I first saw it, but the definition of Puritanism as being "that sneaking feeling that somebody, somewhere, just MIGHT be having a good time" seems to describe the lackwits behind all this.

Any society that elevates the rights of children above those of adults is on the steep slope to failure.

Re: "and so been far less of a burden on society"

Been there, done that, nursed the long termers and the Korsakoff's psychosis patients, steered friends through alcoholism. I still despise the insultingly artificially low limit* that, as mentioned before, was pulled out of hat, and the guilt-induction by medical and related staff if anyone admits to going to as many as 25 units a week!!!**

*I have the same opinion about the BMI.

** To be clear, I rarely drink 21 units a month, let alone a week.

Re: whatever next?

Well, my Galaxy Note doesn't make shutter noises when set to silent or vibrate only (using the Sound Profile app). I hate shutter noise (one of the reasons I was glad to see the back of film cameras), regardless of what the subject of the photo is.

Re: UK 2013

To be fair, not just the UK. The "respect" for individual rights has gone too far. More people need to familiarise themselves with John Stuart Mill's harm principle, which is a great amalgamation of individual rights and utilitarianism (despite what the standard texts say).

Re: E-Waste reduction? Not really

I haven't experienced that exactly - all my phones (various makes and models) charge from any of the cables I use, either from a USB hub or a USB adapter plugged into the mains. Using my (probably Samsung supplied) usb cable to a hub worked for my friend's Nokia Lumia (I know - I'm lucky to have a friend so unique!) when we were away recently. However, there is a difference in how some of the phones respond to using the banana plug in the car's 12V socket - some will, but others just don't like it. I don't know if it is the same cause as you identify.

Re: Why Some of These Comments Are Absurd

Surely it's coincidence, Vic ...

Re: Cryptogram

Mine arrived Sunday. Nothing about leaving BT in it. It does say that he has changed the mailing list server:

"Crypto-Gram Has Moved

"The Crypto-Gram mailing list has moved to a new server and new software (Mailman). Most of you won't notice any difference -- except that this month's newsletter should get to you much faster than last month's. However, if you've saved any old subscribe/unsubscribe instructions that involve sending e-mail or visiting http://listserv.modwest.com, those will no longer work.If you want to unsubscribe, the easiest thing is to use the personalized unsubscribe link at the bottom of this e-mail. And you can always find the current instructions here: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-sub.html"

Don't know if that helps.

In what way would total anonymity necessarily lead to anarchy?

Re: Why not just opt out?

My wife wouldn't have a clue what settings are on the internet connection (I am the account holder). I suspect that will be the case in most households. However, given the crushing over-reach that will be a result of this, just let the block stand and wait until you are told by the other adults in the house to sort it out because they can't access some website they like. Then explain why the problem has occurred, and enrol more people to the cause of freedom.

Re: Careless Talk Costs Lives

Since it is difficult to tell what constitutes "careless talk", I prefer not to talk about anything at all when travelling using mass transport. It drives my wife mad, especially when I send her a text advising her that what she is at the side of me talking about is too personal/trivial/important/revealing, and that I would like her to stop talking about it - but it works! I certainly never use the phone when anyone else can hear ... and that includes when I'm at home talking to our mutual friends!

Paranoia is a survival tactic.

Re: On the contrary. @Buzzword

That's another plan. Nonetheless, I'd still publish the technique and all relevant details and sod the bills - there is more to the world than money.

Re: (Non-commercial) parody MUST be protected @ Hoosier

I'm not quite sure what your point is. I simply said that I didn't know they are *still* a group - i.e that they still acted as a concerted entity. I haven't heard from them for years, and this brought them to my attention again, after not hearing of them for years (but there is no reason I would have - their style was never what I was into), and I was mildly surprised that "The Beastie Boys" still have a group identity.

Indeed, my entire point was that they had sufficient recognition for any parody to be successful, back in the day. So have a downvote for lack of reading comprehension.

On the point of artists wanting/not wanting their stuff used in ads, I find myself in two minds - one says that the attitude is incredibly precious, but I hate it when one of my favourite groups allows their music to be used for selling stuff (ELO's "Mr Blue Sky" was my most recent disappointment).