* Posts by John Smith 19

16327 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

Shared, not stirred: GCHQ chief says Europe needs British spies

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Holmes

The issue is what level of tariffs the EU insists on, and..impact..on existing trade.

Because worst case analysis is all UK goods going to the EU are priced out of their markets and the UK retaliates.

Yes I think that would be very childish. Didn't stop Trump putting 25% on steel imports to the US, did it?

This is the sort of scoping exercise David Davies should have done but didn't.

It would have answered the question "How well can the EU really do without the UK to export to?" The answer is "quite well." It would also answer how well the UK could do if it couldn't export anything to the rest of the EU. The answer is "not very well at all."

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Sounds great. I'd vote for that....

Except no would be voting for it, would they?

That's just the sh**storm they'd find themselves in

John Smith 19 Gold badge
FAIL

Still peddling this tripe?

I looked up the GDP of Europe as a whole and the UK, and their respective percentages.

The UK is around $2.619x 10^12, the EU is around $17.1x 10^12.

The to the UK is about 44% and has indeed fallen from its historical 54% high.

The UK exports to Europe an amount about equal to 50% of its GDP.

Now look at it from the EU end.

0.44x2.619/17.1 is 6.73%

0.50x2.619/17.1 is 7.66%

So if the EU lost the UK as a market it would have to find somewhere else to sell 6.73% of its GDP while the UK would have to replaces bout 50% of its' totals export sales.

Still think the EU gives a f**k about the loss of the UK as a market?

It took me about 5 mins work to work this out using Google and Wikipedia.

Now, you were saying?

In huge privacy win, US Supreme Court rules warrant needed to slurp folks' location data

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Gimp

Re: Victory! for now

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance"

Against dictators

Against idiots

Against data fetishists.

Yes, it's a narrow judgement that steers clear of National Security, but it rules that a kind of meta data cannot be slurped willynilly because some cop wants it.

That's a start.

No fandango for you: EU boots UK off Galileo satellite project

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Why would we be happy? We are still stuck in the EU.

Indeed.

You are still awaiting the Rapture of Brexit.

The rest of us will see it as the warmup gusts of the colossal sh**storm that Brexit will be.

No wonder Rees Mogg's Hedge Fund has set up an Irish branch.

With financial services in the UK being 3x the income from actual manufacturing any increase in "friction" with EU business will screw up his earnings quit a bit.

Although with six children Maison Mogg will give up the dish washer* or one of the annual holidays before they give up the Nanny, although I've no idea where said Nanny comes from.

*Regularly voted the household appliance people didn't think they'd find indispensable, but do.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

We could have remained members of the EU *and* had blue passports.

True.

But British politicians (of whatever supposed persuasion) can never have too many complaints to beat the EU with, despite it really having nothing to do with them.

How many of the supposed "EU" issues really originate from the British Home Office?

Quite a few I'd suggest.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Rees Mogg is one of the biggest jokes I have seen in a number of years.

You think he's funny now?

Wait till you see him in government (only you won't. as I expect all devices will be banned as "The Devil's Work (TM)" and if you want to read about it you'll have to learn Latin ("the only language for intelligent intercourse amongst men" as I imagine he would put it).

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

oh , and the Americans went to the moon! and they wernt in the EU

Yes.

They spent $25.4Bn (in 1973 dollars) to send 12 Civil servants on a flags-and-footprints expedition that was dead by the end of 1972, left no lasting infrastructure in space except a few sensors on the Moon, and which could have all been landed by modified versions of the Surveyor craft.

Concorde is estimated to have cost £1.5-2.1Bn in 1976 pounds, carried millions of passengers, flew for 27 years with a perfect safety record and carried about 2.5 million passengers doing so, without anyone wearing a pressure suit to do so (till Air France tried to take off a grossly over weight aircraft and ended up frying 86 German Burghers).

It will b hard to top Concorde. It won't be hard to top Apollo, if it's done sensibly.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Leaving the golf club doesn't..entitle you to a rebate on all the previous membership fees

Nice analogy which all those Daily Heil readers should get.

But of course the rest of the Leave voters will be asking "What's a golf club?"

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Yup..due to rules that the UK rammed through on behalf of the USA to keep China out of Gallileo.

I'm starting to see why in Chinese the UK is referred to as America's "Running dog."

Y'know, the kind that even though it's been kicked a few times, starved and whacked over the head with an iron bar by its master, still comes up and rubs itself against them, hoping for some show of love and affection.

Truly a "special" relationship.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

That just puts the problem over to a future generation,

Fu**ing genius plan.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

And farming?

No, that would be the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Boards "Impact Assesment."

Best case scenario. HMG replaces the CAP payments entirely from its own pocket.

Worst case scenario. Pig farmers do OK. Arable, Cattle, Sheep, Dairy all f**ked.

So much for saving money to spend on the NHS.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

To codejunky and shademeister

Thank you so very much for giving me so many opportunities to down vote you.

Only the young can have such unwavering faith in so utterly a delusional course of action.

I note one of didn't even vote to Leave. Such depth of feeling as well !

I wonder if you'll remain in the UK and live through the consequences of the Brexit you so champion.

That is if you're even in the UK now.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

"The Tory party..interested in clinging to power by appeasing their internal factions"

You're a bit new to British politics, aren't you?

This is all Brexit has ever been about.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

If there's any potential for good news in the whole mess, it's probably him.

But he won't survive Brexit.

An old line from "Bad boys" comes to mind.

"The politics of the situation demand someone has to go down."

And since May and Davies are (allegedly) in the driving seat they will get it right in the neck* from the likes of Johnson, Gove and Rees-Mogg.

*What you might call "A Stab in the Dark," although not to be confused with the TV show of that name.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

"according to brexitters,..EU..shit show.., and yet 27..states can unanimously agree things

like this within a few minutes"

Funny how that works.

You'd think somehow there was a problem with the British political system, not the EU's.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Cameron never needed Merkel's permission to fix perverse UK rules

This smells like more of the handiwork of The Home Office, the UK's designated "Centre for Evil"

Once again blaming someone else for their s**t.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

Suck it up, princess.

Nice.

They asked for Brexit.

They got Brexit.

Now they can own it.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
WTF?

I think the UK should build its own system

Wow.

Suggested by someone with absolutely no idea what a global navigation system costs or build and/or launch.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Secondly, if there is no hard border between NI and RoI --> no hard border between UK and EU

Dammit man there you go again with your facts and your carefully thought out chain of logical arguments.

But Brexitieers are "Taking Back Control." (C Linton Kwesi Crosby 2017)

That's what Boris told them in the debate (repeatedly).

So it must be true.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

They effectively believed..UK would..opt out of..movement,..paying fees,..still continue to trade

When you put it like that it really does sound completely f**king delusional, does it not?

You really would have to believe in unicorns and moonbeams to beleive such contradictory ideas at the same time.

John Smith 19 Gold badge

"..Not stupid but ignorant."... Ok, that's your opinion.

No it's not.

He engaged with them. They quoted "facts" which were simply wrong. When told they were wrong they fell back on their "opinion."

If ignorance is "Lacking knowledge" (look it up) then their ignorance (people he's talked to, not every Leave voter) is a fact.

Can you not tell the difference between ignorance, stupidity, facts and opinions?

That would make you a pretty typical Leave voter.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

if live in Con stronghold but prefer a different party, live in Lab safe seat but hate Lab etc, etc

Vote for the runner up, regardless of your actual views.

In the UK, under whoever-the-f**k-turn-up-on-the-day tactical voting is the only way to have a chance of dumping the incumbent.

Maybe.

John Smith 19 Gold badge

"It was the "taking back control" meme that resonated with them."

Well that's what they paid Linton Cosbie the big bucks for.

Sidestepping any actual rational thought process and going straight to the emotions.

That's what I call "A master Banjo player."

John Smith 19 Gold badge
FAIL

If not doing something because it was "inconvenient" was the ciriteria for Brexit..

The UK would not be bothering to leave in the first place.

Since it's going to be a ballsachingly massive PITA.

So I think Davies pinning his faith on applying that argument to the EU downgrading UK access to "Guest" login status was wishful thinking at best.

Bit like every other part of the UK's Brexit "Negotiations"

What's the UK going to do? Threaten to Nuke Brussels?

Really?

Why the 'feudal' tech monopolies run rings around competition watchdogs

John Smith 19 Gold badge

""I don't know how my valuable my personal data is today, "

This.

Google, Facebook and whole governments seem to think it's their data.

It's our data.

In a fair society the individual sets the access level to their data and the price (and there should be a price, because that's the only thing that stops governments wanting everything, all the time).

Skynet for the win? AI hunts down secret testing of nuclear bombs

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

"That saves a lot of skilled labour that's hard to obtain, and justifies a few more bunkers."

Yes, that sounds about the size of it.

A lot of tedious data entry otherwise.

Of maybe just proving that where there's a research grant going begging someone will write a proposal that fits it like a glove.

Shiny new Capita boss to UK.gov: I know you are but what am I?

John Smith 19 Gold badge
FAIL

Why does this still happen? Simple. Because British voters are cheap, gullible and stupid.

The are told (by governments) that outsourcers will save the government money.

The government are told this by the outsourcer's.

Maybe the governments should study WTF they do and work out where the real costs are?

Fraudster admits she was OPM dealer: Leaked US govt staff files used to bag cash, car loans

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

This gift will keep on giving.

For a long time.

Not to mention all the folk who applied for security clearance in there.

No problem with finding mothers maiden name either.

Strip Capita of defence IT contract unless things improve – Brit MPs

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

"notorious (but highly profitable) IT outsourcing bungler Capita"

FTFY.

AI military upstart attacked by Russian malware, Twitter fires up TensorFlow, and more

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Happy

Which Royal family would that be?

All of them I should think.

The emails I get often come from a "Prince Somebody or other."

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

"AI..suffers from a lack of diversity. Opening a lab in Ghana will provide more opportunities"

Wot, no love for Nigeria?

It is one of the most advanced African nations, with a vast army of IT literate people at its disposal*

*Many of them members of the Royal family.

Wires, chips, and LEDs: US trade bigwigs detail Chinese kit that's going to cost a lot more

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Hey, America. We make most of your s**t at Chinese prices, which your companies sell

At US prices.

Want to bitch about pricing.

Do so at a stockholders meeting.

In California.

DeepMind Health told to explain business model, relationship to Google

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Well those seem like fine sentiments but....

Will it be a case of "We hear what you're saying and we implement this ASAP"

And by "As soon as possible" they mean "never."

Why don't people trust Google and FB backed AI work using patient data?

Because they've demonstrated they can't be trusted of course.

It's not an irrational prejudice against AI research. It's a very rational prejudice based on the SOP of the companies involved.

Tech firms, come to Blighty! Everything is brill! Brexit schmexit, Galileo schmalileo

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

"and was always seen as a beachead into the continent for US or Asian firms"

Not for much longer.

Relax. It's OK, folks, the US government isn't going to try to take back control of the internet

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Ted Cruz. Texas Senator. Fomer Presidential Candidate.

And (IMHO) massive f**kwit.

Well overdue for a tap or two from the clue stick .

... Aaaand that's a fifth Brit Army Watchkeeper drone to crash in Wales

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Coat

Re: or just flatten Wales? so there's nothing to bump into. It might be quicker.

It'll certainly be cheaper.

NASA finds more stuff suggesting Mars could have hosted life, maybe

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Now if Methane deposits exist in slushy water ice IE Chathrates....

That means you now have a viable supply of fuel for large scale industrial use.

Wood --> charcoal kick started the Industrial Revolution

Coal --> Coke pushed it further and harder (and still does).

Methane could be the key to large scale human settlement.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Yes. Quatermass and the pit, I think. Very frightening.

Yes, the idea of Mars being inhabited by insects who'd re-engineered the precursors of Homo Sapiens, including hard wired remote control into the sub conscious mind.

One of the few examples I've ever seen of what a really advanced technology would look like.

Security execs must prep for post-Brexit cyber challenges – report

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

So after a couple of decades of the warm embrace of the wonderful unicorn and moonbeams

You're misunderstanding was predictable.

That's what Leave voters thought holds the EU together.

But IRL it's held together by laws and treaties.

You're timeline is also mistaken. The UK entered the EEC in 1975, making anyone who lived through a the UK not being a member of a European Union in their late 40's at least.

You mention of a 20 year EU is (I presume) the Treaty of Masstrict, when 4 of 12 countries has a referendum (I count East and West Germany as one country). 3 of those were binding, only Italy's was advisory (like the UK Brexit was).

Neither Margaret Thatcher, nor here successor John Major deemed a referendum necessary and both had the absolute majority (unlike May) to do exactly what they wanted.

So you didn't get one because two of the UK's most Euro sceptic PM's didn't think you needed it.

This has never been about the UK population.It's always been about keeping the Conservative Party together and killing off UKIP. A fact you will begin to understand as the consequences for the UK economy become clear.

Unless of course you aren't a UK citizen, or have dual nationality. In which case you'll probably run to whatever bolt hole you've got prepared.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

At least that's how I see it, common sense should prevail.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

If this "common sense" of which you speak had prevailed the situation would not exist in the first place.

This is one of those "People are smart" arguments.

But as Tommy Lee Jones observed "A person is smart. People are dumb panicy animals"

I'd also add "gullible."

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

But, but

<gollum>

We wants it

We needs it

We must have hard data Brexit

</gollum>

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Re: If they want to change the rules they can do the work Because they voted for it.

Indeed.

By a margin of 13 to 12.

Which is normally within the statistical noise.

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

So, you'd be someone else who doesn't understand the EU is held together by treaties and laws.

TBH I think quite few of the Leave voters think it's held together by Moonbeams & Unicorns.*

*Yes that does sound quite delusionally fu**witted to me, but that doesn't stop it being true. :-(.

Kepler finds three Earth-sized exoplanets, but they're too hot to handle

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

And still no messages from the stars....

Again this helps provide actual data for the Drake Equation (discounting the fact the search method does skew things in favor of gas giants).

So thumbs up for that.

Although the Fermi Paradox remains as paradoxical as ever.

Now all we need is the FTL/deep hibernation transport system to go there.

UK comms firm Gradwell quits cloud land after 'strategic review'

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Well let's see 20 years and £7.34m in turnover.

I'm a bit under whelemed by that sort of business performance.

Brit drone biz Sensat notches up 29km remote-control flight

John Smith 19 Gold badge
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Indeed. It's the ability to do it *legally*

Which (IANL) seems to be quite a big step forward.

This would also be quite an enabler for landing and take off of the REL Skylon concept.

Astroboffins trace mysterious noise from hard rock in space

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Thumb Up

Kind of like the spinning pulsar "light houses" but on a nano scale

But with enough of them working together you get something you can see across 100s of LY.

Impressive detective work. Thumbs up.

Sadly not really viable as a new way to make GHz radio signals.

Drinks are on Cohesity, which has been handed $250m from investors

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Unhappy

Now, if only I knew what that all *meant*

Oh hum.

Russia appears to be 'live testing' cyber attacks – Former UK spy boss Robert Hannigan

John Smith 19 Gold badge
Gimp

"State of cyberwar with Russia" --> Must slurp every email/text/phone call in UK

Because....

Security.

Once a data fetishist, always a data fetishist.