Posts by John Smith 19

Re: Gets my vote

"That's either Jacques Cousteau on a kazoo, or the next winner of the X-Factor!"

Are you sure the first precludes it from being the second?

Re: Forgive me if I'm wrong...

Look up the word "oligopoly"

Re: is it really surprising?

"Just to be sure the rest of the world gets the point, thelatest weaponry is used when convenient conflicts arise, either directly or by an ally."

I like to think of it as the "Tony Stark" approach.

Re: Most Americans also claim to follow one deity or another.

"Doesn't make any religion a scientific fact.

I weep for my country."

But (as Winston Churchill observed) Americans will always do the right thing.

After they've done everything else.

IOW. The times are a changing.

Re: @John Latham -- The death of curiosity

"We'll only realize that the terrorists have ACTUALLY won after it's too late. As it is, the West, especially the English-speaking part, is on the sliding slope when it comes to science and technology"

Freedom is the right to be uncomfortable.

Re: You'll fit right in

" I found myself looking at a row of little Swastikas and pictures of Adolf Hitler - I thought the philatelist's shop could have chosen it's window display more carefully."

F'nar, f'nar.

I had not realized Germany had repealed the law on Nazi symbols and memorabilia. Tricky given the swastika is a sacred symbol to IIRC 3 religions.

Their press release implies that they will not be needing another test and are ready to move straight to launching the constellation on 2 F9 flights as scheduled. *no* reflight needed.

IOW $10m back to the bank account. Kerching and pints all around*

*Provided their insurer sees things their way of course.

Re: @Destroy All Monsters - "humans limited forever"

"Assuming you have a means of generating the vast amount of energy required."

Generating the energy required is left as an exercise for the student.

Re: Complaints about patents

"I am very disappointed to see so many of you complaining about patents. Why, if it weren't for the patent system, we would all be substantially worse off, as one AO has so recently pointed out. A case in point. Just tonight, I set about dealing with a stubborn splinter that had become lodged in my hand after a day of cutting branches. I decided to query Google to see what the state of the art in wood sliver removal technology might be. It showed to me the following two patents:

1. http://www.google.com/patents/US4570613, A method of removing splinters and the like from the human body,

2. http://www.google.com/patents/US5334195, A method and article for removing splinters where a disposable lancet is used to pierce the patient's skin

Think, all of you patent nay-sayers, how, if were not for the system of patents currently in force, such discoveries as the above might never seen the light of day. Reflect, ye doubters, that it is not only just but fitting that the holders of these patents, these discoverers, should be rewarded for their contributions to the welfare of all mankind."

Nice troll.

Re: Is Inspector Cluso now in charge of the NSA?

" when they had an in house system that could have prevented 9/11."

But it was invented by civil servants.

How could it *possibly* be better than something bought from a "reputable" government con-tractor?*

I'd view *all* such claims as very dubious. How much is this based on searching *all* the data trails based on the MO of the attackers. Once you *know* it's going to be multiple high jackings and crashing into buildings by foreign nationals how much of the data space is eliminated?

Now how about "We *believe* there will be an imminent large scale attack on this country by foreign nationals who may (or may not) be in this country" and watch the data space explode.

*Who probably got it originally off of either a university post grad thesis or some *other* government development project at a knock down price.

Re: Public vs. Private

"Personally, I think it's right that public bodies should suffer greater penalties than private. "

Why?

"public bodies" don't loose data. *people* loose data. Either by being *personally* careless, incompetent or stupid or by following *policies* which are lax, carelessly thought out or just plain dumb. IOW thought up by *people* who were being any (and possibly all) of the above.

I agree public bodies *demand* data and proceed to treat it as *their* data.

But blaming "public bodies" is like "computer says no." It's responsibility avoiding BS.

"Managers," "Directors," "COOs," "CEOs" want their big piles of cash. Let them take the weight or defend *themselves* if the poo hits the fan.

"A country where is is the norm for bin police to go through your rubbish, where 'anzeigen' is ingrained, in that if you cut your grass on late in the evening, put washing out on a Sunday, have a small barbecue on you balcony at the wrong time, allow you dog to bark after nine at night (true) there will always be someone who reports you the the authorities."

This is the abuse of petty authority.

Now which is the department responsible for the abuse of *major* authority?

Re: Starting to think 'Person of Interest' here...

Again this is not about "communications content " but communications "data".

Its the URL of *every web page you view

It's the header of every email you send. From/to/subject/when

It's the same for SMS + where you were when you sent *or* received it.

It's your whole phone bill *regardless* of how long the call was.

It's all this in *real* time.

Should you wish to *properly* afraid.

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/reports/communications-data-bill%E2%80%93aka-the-snoopers-charter

Re: Manned spaceflight

"Believe it when I see it."

I guess you didn't happen to notice the roughly $11Bn NASA spent over a decade on CxP or as it was (unofficially known) Constellation. Shrubs contribution to the exploration space which resulted in *one* flight of a 5 segment Shuttle SRB (5th being a dummy) and a dummy 2nd stage after about 11 years, along with a chunk of what is now the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle.

Still it kept a whole bunch of Mormons happy and the Utah Senator happy until SLS started running and they could start working on yet another solid rocket booster.