Posts by Charles 9 16605 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
But that victory was probably Pyrrhic as in the time between 1394 being adopted and USB3 being adopted, most of the pertinent patents have already expired, meaning it was adopted as low-hanging fruit more than anything.
HEVC probably won a Pyrrhic victory as well, as I see plenty of HEVC but little about VP9.
As for AV1, I'll believe it when the mainstream media adopts it AND it survives challenges from potential submarine patents.
"I think you'll find the manufacturers would beg to differ."
I beg to differ on your beg to differ because if what you said was true, then electronics companies would abandon H.265 for Google's unencumbered VP9. Sure, companies complain about costs. It's business prudence to reduce costs, but it's ALSO business prudence to know when to shell out when it comes to bang for the buck.
"So what happens when the 9th Wonder of the World, Quantum Computers, become a viable reality? If they work as per the writing on the box, encryption will be a thing of the past (or so I am led to believe). Will that not far cup the TLAs, terry wrists and our secret messages?"
What makes you think a working quantum computer doesn't already exist (it probably resides in Utah concealed and fueled by the data center there)? Isn't that why post-quantum encryption is being developed and why quantum cryptography (put the same weapon to your use) is being worked on as well?
"The answer is "Call a locksmith, " who you will have on speed dial, since you're clearly terrified of just about everything. You're not Jacqui Smith (the former UK Home Secretary) are you?"
Nope. Locksmith doesn't operate at night, and he won't come to my neighborhood anyway, especially at night.
They'll just IGNORE the Constitution. It's just ink on a page if you have the power. What will you do then? Stand alone against nukes? Remember, no government can stand for long against an opposition of sufficient power. That's why coups can still work.
Hah. Call me when the latest WoW and Overwatch can run natively on Linux (this is important as no console runs WoW yet it makes a killing with prescriptions, and Overwatch separates by platform). And no, WINE is not an option due to the standing warning from Blizzard about banning WINE users (and TTBOMK, this hasn't been withdrawn as of yet).
Except there needs to be a justification for an amount that high. Usually, huge judgments only come as the result of deaths directly attributable to the wrongful action or class action suits with lots of defendants.
Now, the dream decision would be for Microsoft to be compelled to openly release its source code for Windows 7, but even I know that no action on Microsoft's part could legally compel them at this stage. Any such attempt can and would be appealed, and we're aware of the conditions up top in the SCOTUS.
But mothers-in-law don't operate 24/7 without sleep. This does, and more and more insurance companies are demanding it or spiking your premiums because you're a risky driver. IOW, you bend over or get labeled a threat. And because this affects bottom lines, this will soon get passed along to all other auto insurance companies as they won't want to get undercut (and don't count on a maverick because they'll soon find that the increased pool of drivers will likely increase their liabilities).
And before you say that carburetors are good enough for everyone, the main reason they went away is fuel efficiency. As carbs are completely mechanical, they're stuck being REactive, so they don't respond well to rapidly-changing conditions which makes your engine suffer. Thus the move to fuel injectors which can be controlled more carefully.
"For the price of some gutless underspecced shitbox shopping car fresh out of the showroom you can buy some pretty decent 3-4 year old motors that are still pretty mint."
Trouble is, you can't be sure of that. Knowing they're about to trade their cars in, many drivers stop taking care of them and run them into the ground before trading them in, figuring the showroom won't know the real real condition of the car until after the sale's closed. Don't forget that one major reason for trading in a car, other than to trade up, is to replace a heap.
"Swedish prosecutors would not guarantee Assange would be spared hypothetical extradition to the US because it would be prejudicing an application that had not even been made."
Sure they could. Doesn't their standing law prohibit extraditions for (a) political reasons or (b) potential capital offenses, of which espionage counts in the US?
Without proper justification (and Assange isn't), the UK would risk retaliation from the rest of South America since they tend to act as a bloc to strengthen their own trade negotiating powers. And since Guyana (a Commonwealth country) is in South America, things can get complicated.
"Admittedly they do have consular services, to help their citizens who get into trouble. But, they do not hide you from the police. If a Brit gets arrested abroad, the U.K. embassy will help them get a lawyer, and help their family to get money to them. Maybe make the odd visit, and try to ensure they get decently treated."
They WILL if they don't agree with the host country's policies. It's called Political Asylum. That's what Assange is exploiting right now (Otherwise, why hasn't anyone just stormed the embassy?). It's a historic and well-known policy. Made for such famous scenes as the egress from the US Embassy during the Fall of Saigon. OK, common crimes is one thing, but if the crime is politically motivated, then those same consular services can step in. And because of the give-and-take, defying political asylum can be grounds for severing diplomatic relations.
Incorrect. One, under the Vienna Convention, a diplomatic pouch can ONLY be used for official diplomatic communications. Anything that doesn't conform to that specification can be considered suspect and NOT allowed the immunity. IOW, the UK can say they're "taking the mick", search the box and be proved right if there's anything in it other than official diplomatic documentation. And it's highly unlikely the Ecuadoran embassy would be keeping enough official diplomatic documentation at any one time to require a box big enough to house a human; SOP would be to ship the documents more often: in smaller, more manageable sizes.
Two, the UK doesn't adopt the entire Vienna Convention verbatim. What they obey is the Diplomatic Privileges Act, 1964, and that act specifically grants the UK the power to override and revoke a diplomatic privilege (it's in section 3).
PS. This ALSO means the UK can deny Assange status as a diplomatic courier. Under the DPA, the UK holds final say over matters within its borders.
"They are not there to circumvent the judicial system of their host country."
It is if it is in the interests of diplomatic relations. It's part of the give-and-take. If the host country decides to just barge in, then the guest's safety (diplomatic or otherwise) cannot be guaranteed, meaning the most likely course is to sever relations, meaning there is no more communication between the countries. Basically, if an embassy cannot protect its own citizens, it cannot protect the diplomats, either: part and parcel.
"If the US really do want him, they don't have a statute of limitations on espionage - if that were the charge."
Thing is, espionage is a potential capital crime (remember, it was espionage that did in the Rosenbergs), so both the UK and Sweden are under legal obligation to NOT extradite a person to a country where a potential capital crime awaits. So it cannot be done OFFICIALLY.
What Assange keeps claiming is that the US will do it UNOFFICIALLY through Extraordinary Rendition (or simply chuck International Law out the window and stage an "accident").
"Some countries have managed this very successfully."
Can you name some that are big enough to matter? I bet you the ones that SEEM that way are simply working deeper behind the scenes using things like family connections and favors that use degrees of separation to hide the details.
Remember, at the extreme, if they REALLY don't like the government, they can just covertly fund a coup. After all, in the final analysis, laws are just ink on a page.
"There is NO reason whatsoever for Government collected data, as in census or electoral roll etc to be made public"
Except as a check against the government itself. It's basically a no-win situation. If you let the government hide data, they can exploit it against you with no recourse. But open it up, and others will do the same. Your personal information MUST be shared in order to do anything of note, but that very information can be used against you. It's all a matter of trust, and if you're in DTA mode, you're basically out of the loop of civilization, meaning you're hiding in that cabin in the forest subsisting on bugs. After all, anyone can backstab you at any time, and they don't even need to know your name to do it. So how far are you willing to take it?
"Except, of course, that in a country where the laws are written by corporations, that has a snowball's chance of happening."
ALL laws tend to be written by the rich barring a crisis, and it is the rich who have the best ability to get laws changed to their favor by financing changeovers. And no, Europe is not immune, just resistant for now.
Sounds a bit difficult to put into practice, though. After all, a lot of that data is a matter of public record. The rest...well, how would people conduct business otherwise, especially when identity is critical to the transaction?
Because there are those (like home users) where such a setup may not be advised or possible (take me, I have a noip.me DDNS subscription, but I wouldn't dare the noip.me setup internally). There are also pure intranets (no external connections) where it would nonetheless be prudent to keep a DNS hierarchy set up, in which case it would help to have a placeholder TLD just in case (and by using an invalid one, it won't resolve from the outside).
I actually use .int myself, for the same reason, with the additional catch that it's three letters. The fact it can also be easily confused with a common shorthand for integers makes me think it's an unlikely TLD to be registered.
PS. Only NOW do I learn that .int is indeed reserved. Good news is that it's intended for true international agencies and that the application process is incredibly strict. End result: I probably haven't stepped on anyone's toes in the process. I'll change the internal TLD later.
"Those groups found no voice on the left, and so began to move toward the Right to find any representation at all; they aren't all crazy racists or insane xenophobes, they simply want to smash a system that has no place for them. They view all of politics as corrupt because they see Blair making millions consulting for fascistic Arab dictators, or Clinton grooming his wife and then daughter for a dynastic coronation (just as the Bush family have been doing on the Right), and see that despite all the promises that were made, they ended up shut out of the system while the guys making the promises have made a fortune. They feel ripped off, and quite rightly."
And yet they're still voting instead of engaging in uprisings and mass demonstrations actually threatening to topple the order that has ignored them. Could it be because for all their wrath, no one has any idea how to actually FIX a system that seems based on human nature?
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