Posts by PJI

Re: Why are films not included in this ruling?

Read the film credits rather than rushing out to be first to the bar. Such items are usually noted there.

Buy the way, films tend to be blatantly commercial products, or did you think they are all done gratis, for the public good?

Also, never, ever credit (or discredit) others with the same experience, education (in)ability or ideas as yourself. You may be a clever clogs who spends the whole film remarking upon the product placements. The rest of us just watch the story and a few, without the benefit of your supreme intellect, may be fooled.

Re: An unfortunate accident.

The shooter was damned lucky it was a ricochet and that it went nowhere near, say, one of her eyes. If the ricochet could strike her, it seems probable that she was lucky the direct shot missed her and her husband. As the couple were cycling across a field, how did this clever shooter manage not to see them? I imagine the law there is as clear as in other European countries about responsibility, taking care etc.. Merely being "within the law" is no defence against damage to property or injury to people or live stock. Of course, in the USA, as far as gun fans are concerned, neither other people nor property (apart from the gun) are relevant or important, as shown again and again by careless shooters, householders fearing burglars and the gun lobby after every fresh shooting outrage.

What is it about fans of guns that makes them careless of everyone else?

I do know about guns: I carried one for several years in a job. I have got no time for those who want to play with them anywhere outside a shooting range and not much time for those either.

Re: Much as I dislike Google...

Not sure that being required to remove damaging, out-of-date, libellous or plain wrong information that can destroy someone's career or private life is censorship. What makes you think you have got a right to any information, right or wrong, about anybody, public figure or not?

Meanwhile, Google, being above all reproach, can continue to decide whether or not a picture of a breast is to be censored (directly or via one of its subsidiaries). They can continue to slant apparently neutral search results to favour their desired result.

Well, Google is big business; so of course it is all right.

I am not saying that information about people that may reveal something relevant about their public activities, such as the recent shenanigans of Grant Shaps, should be removed because it is inconvenient, provided it is TRUE.

Re: Harry

Quite. I live in lovely Switzerland. But those not blindly following the SVP and even some of those are distinctly nervous that we will lose some rather useful labour. Just who will staff hospitals, many pharmaceutical, bank and industrial departments? Who will serve us in our rather good restaurants, clean the lavatories and generally wipe our noses and bottoms? Worse still, we shall be back to being trapped on our little patch of Europe, where just as immigrants can not get in, we can not get out. I recall clearly some anguished conversations with, for instance, hotel management staff, lamenting in the pre-treaty days that they could not move to London or Paris to broaden their experience. I recall Swiss waiting in long queues at Heathrow and at Dover, being quizzed about their finances, their return tickets, how long they intended to stay. No fun at all.

My mother, in England, has got a Polish dentist (West of England) and I noticed, last time I was there, a lot of EU citizens making sure services I use are there.

As for the daft claims about immigration: recent figures I saw (not to hand) showed that about half are not from the EU but from Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Were they serious about immigration, that could be stopped over night. But of course, UKIP and eccentric Tories are not intelligent, clear-eyed or serious.

Then should GB pull out, will the return of many of the 2 million expats really be welcomed, replacing youngish, educated workers with ageing, often retired and not so well off, miserable people?

Then again, it is irritating enough for Brits not being in Schengen and so having to show passports when the rest of us do not. Imagine when they are really outside and are trapped on their overcrowded, under-paid little islands. Why would anyone vote to surrender the freedom to live and work anywhere in the the vast area of Europe? Life is about more than business, trade or xenophobia. Business is here to serve us, not the other way around, just as governments and countries are. If we become subservient to them, democracy is dead.

Re: surprise- a translation company doesn't understand IT (@Bassey)

Agree. IT is essential to so many companies. But then so are buildings, chairs, desks, filing cabinets and, still, paper. This does not make a bank a furniture company, nor a paper archive, nor a buildings or office management firm - though the amount of office space and buildings possessed or leased by some companies makes one wonder - sometimes the properties are worth more than the companies apparent business.

We in IT must not overestimate our worth. Firms existed without us, some still do to a large extent and no doubt they will again in the future. Mishandling their IT is a common error, just as it is with buildings or car fleet management (or staff).

Re: I smell a shill - "lack of training may have been the bigger cause"

So training and the time for it is free?

The strength of MS, much as I dislike it, is that even we haters know it and can use it with no training or with the help of a colleague for those awkward cases, with lots of MS documentation on their and other sites.

Linux still shows the gaps. It is still not as complete or consistent as full, genuine UNIX systems of yore. Please do not waste your time arguing. I have decades of experience with both, including a couple of years when I persisted with Linux email in a largish firm, despite the laughable integration with other applications and the workarounds to display common attachment formats. I am using it now for very large, enterprise applications, in a very large financial environment. But for day to day, non-technical or specialised users or office systems (email, calendars, word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, reports, etc), who have not got time at work to work out the simple, daily tasks and work management, Linux as yet does not cut it in comparison with Windows. Large firms have got thousands of employees, with scores of people leaving and joining every day. They need systems that are familiar and easy for most people without expensive training, special set-up, complicated update and security management and expensive, inhouse experts to manage the routine office management.

Personally, I prefer Solaris, OSX, BSd, almost any *ix to most versions of Linux. All this time and effort and the Linux cracks still show. It will be ready for the desktop when it fulfils the user requirements as easily as MS seems to do, with no more effort and knowledge than Windows seems to require of its users and administrators. Licences may be expensive. But so are human specialists and their time, plus much software required on Linux platforms is ported, professional, licensed software - so still cost.

If you believe otherwise, you have not worked in or managed informatics in a company employing more than a dozen or so people who are not all technicians with time to set up and administer their tools instead of working for the company.

Re: Funny People.

If you are from the country that seems to think giving 45% of its population no proper health cover and bankrupting many of the rest who do pay insurance, or refusing them insurance for illnesses that may require private insurers to pay up, or has a lower longevity and higher infant mortality than almost any European country, including GB, then I think you are not in a position to comment.

Another thing to remember: the press, Wiki and similar need to be treated with scepticism as reliable sources of information.

One can always find bad examples. Odd how seldom the same seekers look for good ones. Interesting that the bad examples are sufficiently egregious that they get reported. The good ones are so normal that nobody remarks upon them.

Must make maximum profit for shareholders, really, you believe that?

Clearly shareholders do not, or no companies would even pretend to support "charity" or "the community". Senior staff would not accept bonuses in addition to handsome pay and expenses, particularly in the financial world where these people are distinguished by general failure, negligence and refusal to take the responsibility for which they are paid.

As for applicable law: I would remind you that that varies with each country. Register readers seem to have a tendency to conflate British and American law and ignore countries that may be richer, bigger and equally or better educated, such as Germany, France and Italy (that with all its problems has got more real industry than modern GB).

Of course, no government trusts you and I to pay taxes according to our conscience. So it is baffling that they, directly or indirectly, expect the people running firms to arrange for those firms to do so. But then, it is curious that companies, that have not got votes, seem to outweigh the electorate.

As for those supporters of current, international, business practices: believe me. These are, for the most part, not deserving underdogs needing your supine support.

Re: Handy hint no. 37

I forgot that one. Set -u can be very useful, especially when you forgot to define $LS and the wild card evaluates to rm or some such. :)

@Terry 6: Re: "must try harder"

Living abroad, I am not sure what a drop in centre is. It sounds like some sort of social or health support place. But surely, if one is really at significant medical risk, one is at liberty to inform staff oneself, with them being under a duty of confidentiality.

It seems to me that there are several risks with health and other private data being release by the NHS or any other body, e.g.

o Simple right to privacy. e.g. An astoundingly high number of people have genuine mental health problems, including schizophrenia and other difficult ones, that they manage to control with medical and psychological help, usually managing to lead normal, productive lives under the most difficult of conditions most of the time. Imagine if the wrong people got hold of such a person's medical history how they could destroy that person's life, not necessarily with any ill intent.

o the temptation for cash-strapped or just greedy authorities to give ever more under ever easier conditions in return for support and sponsorship by big Pharma or any other commercial entity. People "in authority" have a strong tendency to forget that they are neither better than others nor infallible.

o an increasingly intrusive government using it for "security" or "anti-abuse" or whatever purposes to track people, gain possibly useful information on people, innocent or not.

o insurers for, say, cars private health life insurance or lenders of a mortgage or loan, claiming or getting access. Look at the frequent mistakes by credit agencies now and the devastating effects that can have. Health and other personal data is far more open to abuse and mistakes.

o employers, potential landlords, employment agencies, journalists etc. getting access, legally or illegally (not hard, as the number of newspaper scandals, corrupt policemen and civil servants shows in recent "leaks").

The unthinking commentator at the start of these comments is clearly not in IT nor indeed very well informed, or they would be aware that modern computing techniques can readily combine and analyse disparate data to produce great detail. Of course, one thing those techniques can not do is ensure that the user draws the right conclusions or behaves morally and correctly.

Great Britain is a weird land: people protested long and loudly at the very idea of Identity cards, even simple, basic ones, while being quite happy to use passports, copies of bank statements and utility bills to provide the proof of identity needed for banking, car hire or just to buy a drink or cigarettes. They tolerate the greatest density of private and state cameras and officials filming them with wearable cameras, while the same people object to the public filming them or their buildings and transport.

And now, it is awful how many let themselves be persuaded to allow use of personal data by bodies shown to be unable to manage it and others shown to be compulsive misusers of it because, just like the minorities in the USSR or Nazi Germany or McCarthyite USA, they've got nothing to hide.

Re: And the alternative is ?

I did specify the first couple of C editions, up until the first ISO release or thereabouts. I did review some C written in the latest variant, recently and was a bit saddened at its bloat. Nevertheless, the older stuff still works and much of the new is not necessary nor often needed and some definite improvements are present.

In comparison with Java or C++, C is still lean and keen, with a practically useful core such that the K & R (plus sets, I like sets) still stays in one's head with quick man page references sufficing for the fine details of library calls.

As I said, for higher level stuff, I am almost sold on Python (>=2.6, probably < 3.0).

Re: truth in storage

Ignorance, naivety or just blind prejudice and mendacity seem to be the rule in this comments section.

I suspect even most non-technical buyers must be aware that the essential computer software (e.g. operating system, file system, management software, application libraries) take up space. I seem to recall Apple even brings this to people's attention, such as when giving advice about the IOS 8 update.

What is all this nonsense about Android (some) hardware being OK because one can insert external storage? So a Samsung ad. claiming 32 GB of storage is all right, even though it does not warn of the available storage, because you can spend more money on a SD card (but be sure to buy a top quality one)? If you buy a mini when you want a six seater car, is that all right because you can attach a trailer? Or perhaps you buy a four seater car and imagine that it will carry four passengers and not know it needs a driver.

Ever bought, say, a 256 GB SSD drive and noted that, with NOTHING of yours on it, the available space is several GB less (with the Samsung drive I have got, it is 249.2 GB) than the quoted 256 GB? Perhaps I should pretend ignorance and make a claim against Samsung.

So, how would you quote capacity? A table of numbers against each past, present and possible future OS and and app sizes?

I note that Samsung also quotes just "storage" size, e.g. 16 and 32 GB for the Galaxy, no mention of size available to the user.

Are these complainants saying that they were silly enough to buy a mobile telephone without finding out, e.g. from the seller, a little, basic detail such as what that capacity means? If they are sufficiently aware to understand how many hours of music or films or whatever the capacity represents, then I suspect that they also knew that the device needs system and application space. On what basis did they decide to get 16GB rather than 32 or 64? Just price or did they ask the salesman (or search the internet) for some practical advice and details?

No, this is just another set of litigious Americans thinking they've found a short cut to some easy money from a very rich, very successful firm.

Re: Foodbanks

Ever occurred to you that sinking into poverty and unemployment do not require that your car vanishes nor that it takes a long time? I suspect that some of these people are hanging on to their cars as a means of transport (most of UK transport is rubbish and expensive, making a car a cheaper option in a society where cheap supermarkets and housing require transport to reach them) and perhaps in the hope that they will find some work before having to, USA style, sell off all their possessions along with their dignity.

Trading in a good car for a cheap, small, second hand one is usually a bad move as the replacement will be less reliable and cost more to maintain. However, let's punish them when they are down. They must be criminals or incompetent, which is more or less the same.

creative as we want?

Um. Seems to me that you take creativity too lightly. We can be so, as much as we want. But few of us are really, originally or even cleverly creative in a way makes our work desirable or useful to others. That skill, just like the ability to design and make a fine piece of furniture or even just to improve a washing machine to make it better value, longer lasting, more efficient and easier should be encouraged and rewarded. If it goes on being desirable or useful over the years, the rewards should keep coming. I suspect that the original length of a copyright was to approximate to the expected life of the creator.

Up until Victorian times, copyright was unenforceable internationally. The young USA was among the worst offenders - the China of its time. Charles Dickens was rather bitter about it as it was his living and cost him dear. Why should anyone expect to sponge off the ability of others?

Re: You are a coward and you are wrong!

You know, it is certainly true that Swiss "business men" did not behave all that honourably, and worse. However, Switzerland as a country did not so badly, considering that it was totally surrounded by Germany and its allies or conquered territory. I do not know if you have ever left you island. Had you done so, you may have been surprised that international borders, even between enemy countries, are rarely completely sealed and impossible just to wander over away from roads and habitation.

You may be unaware that London banks too have had a bit of a problem with Nazi Gold in the last couple of decades, as did some American banks. Plucky little Britain hosted (still does some might say), some lovely little Nazi types who openly indulged their taste for mob action and exploited friends and contacts in the not always very fussy establishment. Just look at old copies of the Mail, Express. America was busy turning a blind eye except to the market for oil and materiel right up to and even, some say, after they finally decided, half way through, which side their best interests were lay.

You may have noticed that such genial pursuits as anti-semitism are doing quite nicely in good old Blighty even now, or even especially now, since Moslem immigrants are so much more admired than EU ones.

At least Switzerland is paying compensation and, if you think you have got relatives affected, there is some vast website (no, not got the link - G-gl- it) where you can seek their names and start your claim.

The Bern museum is doing the right thing and has made clear its reservations, what it will accept and what it will do if accepted works are claimed in the future. Your cheap shot is ignorant and your historical memory of a belligerent teenager is what is keeping half the world in an unhappy, murderous state today.

Re: sudo without a password?

While, admittedly, UNIX is my expertise and living, I do not recall the user's individual login, sole on the machine or not, being the super user login. I at least do not login in as root.

sudo is there by default. sudo, in its basic manifestation, expects the user to enter his password to use it. If the user declines the Apple urging to set a password, just as on any other UNIX or Linux system, the best he gets is the need to type "sudo" or just tick the installation confirmation box. One could complain that this is a useability bug - should users be required, by the user set-up process, to specify a password of some minimum complexity if they want to enable sudo ("admin" account?). Does any other UNIX or UNIX-like system do so?

Further, perhaps the default should restrict the commands allowed to sudo. Those who know what they are doing can change the configuration file or su(1) to root. A separate, administrator login will provide a thinking delay. But it may still be password-less and, being a nuisance, result in the average user being more lackadaisical about installing security updates when prompted.

In any case, I come across even professional computer users who, having bought an Apple system, are unaware that it is BSD UNIX and has got a full, UNIX shell command line interface and so, also, never type "sudo". I am sure that 99% of users hardly ever start the terminal emulator. But of course, the bug, if such there is, is still there for the malicious and able withe access.

Re: "and others are critical of Apple's changes."

>>but resting control a<<

That's a much more peaceful image than "wresting" control, so much less effort and possible pain.

@Khaptain

I have spent most of my working life outside GB, with a couple of short returns (never again). I've worked in the Far East, Australasia, very short stint in USA, bit longer in Middle East and now happily in central/Southern Europe (depending upon how you look at it). I speak or spoke the language in all except the Middle East.

The fact is, in most countries, to get to know established locals properly, on a personal basis is difficult. They've got their lives, friends, families established. They take for granted what to you is new and unknown, to the extent that it never occurs to them that you can not or do not know. Fellow foreigners who have overcome the initial hurdles, found out how and where to find accommodation at the normal price and where to shop for the sorts of things that expats. need but locals grew up with; what tax advisers, lawyers, banks understand and can, for a reasonable charge, help one to manage assets or liabilities, or writing a will and so on for two different legal and tax regimes, registering with local authorities (even if it is necessary or not) and so on; these people are invaluable. Things like getting medical help at 2 in the morning - where is the hospital? Should I call the GP? Have I got a GP who speaks enough English or whatever language I know? Just had a minor accident in the car - do I have to report it? (In some places, no one will do repairs without a police report).

Having young children helps, if they are at the local schools. Otherwise, one can live for years without making close friendships with a local, not through anyone's fault.

Going into the average bank for advice about how to transfer foreign creditworthiness may work in the centre of Zurich or Brussels. In most banks, the staff will hardly be better informed than you.

It's all very well to be snooty about other expats., no doubt they are at least as snooty about you. But if in a new land, where the language (including American) is not yours, where customs and laws differ from yours, all help should be seized with gratitude. Americans are classic examples: they seem to speak almost the same language - except it has, apart from grammatical and vocabulary differences - different idioms, references, background and semantics - full of false friends (linguistically). Their culture is to be overwhelmingly smiley, "you're my soulmate", "you must come to dinner/come for picnic/borrow my spare car"..... Sadly, see them a couple of days later they've probably almost forgotten who you are - not rudeness, just the culture - easy in - easy out.

No, if you want to know how to insure your 15 year old sports car (in a place where insurers will not touch a car over 10 years old) or a tax adviser who speaks some of your language and can handle your assets spread across two or three countries or a bank that will handle regular transfers abroad at a lower charge than the amount being transferred, or how to get tickets to that event or which beaches to avoid - fellow foreigners are your friends. If you need to find a kindergarten that will have patience with your child who has not yet learnt the local language (I know of children who, in reaction to unsympathetic handling, started to actively refuse to speak the local language), you need someone who understands the problem and has overcome it.

Over time, you should become localised, though you will always be a foreigner; if you marry a local, it may happen a bit quicker, a bit more thoroughly, your language skills should become much better. But you will always be a foreigner and even if you no longer need help, at least until the funeral arrangements come, you can help others.

I have come across expatriates who never learn the language. In Asian countries this can be very, very difficult and the disparities between the foreigner¨s way of life and that of even a prosperous local are radically different. Even in Europe, if you work for a large, international firm, if the working language is English and your spouse is English speaking and you work long hours, you will find it very hard to learn much more than how to ask for a glass of beer, even if you take lessons. Francophone areas should be easier, as most Britons, for example, do some French at school and, in my experience, it is rare to meet a foreigner in Geneva who can not cope fairly well and often much better than that, in French. German seems to be less common. Arabic, Chinese languages - rare (I can speak a Chinese language; but my job required it).

I believe many so-called democracies do require their citizens to vote e.g. Australia and some in Europe. Given the apathy of so many I understand it. There is nothing to stop one giving in a spoilt vote.

Re: have an upvote

and Tavener, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Orff, Bruch, Faure, Smyth, Glass, Shostakovich, ….

Re: How decisions bite you on the ass

Be careful. Asses kick and bite back.

Re: Only a decade or so ago...

yes, I had Nokias like that. Great, simple 'phones. The bits seemed to stay together ever less well over time. But the most annoying thing was that dust and fluff soon got behind the screen and could not be removed.

Re: Privacy

It seems to me that he is clearly right. He uses "I" as an example and I can only agree. The very examples here of how people misread or misrepresent the article to have a spiteful go at a judge show the danger.

Journalists are not special. They are not under special obligation and have no extra rights to blab your affairs willy nilly. We should all.

We have all got a right to private opinions. How far would you take the denial of privacy? Or is your prurient interest of overriding g importance even when it does not concern illegality?

To publish it should be shown to be true and relevant to the public interest or with the agreement of the subject.

Re: US Coffee

it was just last year, or perhaps early this, that a survey discovered that, in the whole of Great Britain, Starbucks made the worst and weakest coffee (at the highest price too, I dare say). Why on earth would anyone with taste buds go there, or to any European branch of an American chain? Even the British are capable of making proper coffee with a bit of effort.

Now, how: if time, bring water to a simmer, just below boiling, in a saucepan, then sprinkle one tablespoon of coffee (fresh ground) per person on top. Simmer, not boil, for a couple of minutes, sink the grounds with a spoon and then pour, drink - no milk, blend or sugar to taste, tap water to wash it down, ambulance on standby. I did read somewhere that Norwegians prefer coffee this way and suffer accordingly, is that true?

If not, a Bialetti coffee pot is good.

Where: N. Africa, France (be choosy) or Italy. Switzerland can be good. Avoid Germany as it seems to be the place that taught Americans, except the Americans forgot to add coffee to the water.

Re: Not much to go wrong with a tablet

Going by MacBooks, I should say more like at least seven years. Mine is still going strong so it may be longer. iPads with mo moving disc cylinders and no hey air should last even longer. People do seem to be content with them without feeling the need to replace them. I have not got one, yet.

Re: which is why...

script owned by root? Who cares who is the owner. Most utilities are owned by root. It's who is running them unless they are set UID. I think that has not been possible on shell scripts for a very long time and even Perl has some defences against this.

Of course if the user, working as root manages to do something silly, well, he or she can do that anyway without this possible problem.

Re: What does Andrew Paterson think Glass does?

>>Am I going to start having to worry about the Data Protection Act when I'm using my Android phone too?

Depends on under what circumstances you are using it. Recording conversations without consent is already dodgy under some circumstances. Even photographs can be troublesome, e.g. over someone's garden gate, other peoples' children, women sunbathing. You may have noticed that many employers are very funny about recordings and photography, even of the pot plants at work with your mobile telephone camera.

Anyway, sheer respect for other people should tell you that randomly collecting anything about them without their agreement and knowledge is at least impolite and at worst prurient voyeurism and inflicting your valuation of their privacy and discretion on others.

Re: lifestyle choice. really? always?

plus, I assume that anyone thinking that withdrawing support enables everyone to find work that pays enough to live, if any at all, has been living in the happy daydreams of a ten year old, whose parents are both employed and never lost their jobs through their own firm, their employers going bankrupt, or sacking them because the firm wants to save money or even must to cut real costs or ….

Please, grow up a little.

Re: There's a fundamental flaw in this article and it's a big one.

Non-state firms/business are very dangerous collectors. They treat it as their property to trade or provide as suits or required. They charge or make it difficult to know or correct what they have.

Worse, as governments at all levels pass off more and more functions to the private sector, that sector has got your data about health, police matters whether guilty or prosecuted or not, about your travel, your work and school records, the tiff with your neighbour, the acrimonious divorce and civil action, the tittle tattle on the internet about your family, how much wine you order and your odd interest in weapons or war history or militant feminism. Or that time you were warned about noise from a late party. Or you missed a payment when on holiday and forgot or you wrote a snotty complaint.

One day you or your child or wife go for a job or a charity activity and some jobsworth pays a checking company for a view of you. They put two and two together and come up with five.

Oh dear, whatever went wrong? Why do police make so many enquiries at my door? Why are my children being asked at school if I drink much?

No. Information is power and a weapon. Private companies are further beyond control even than governments, especially multiple nationals. Do you really trust SERCO or their rivals. Why would you trust an USA Google who has been forced to bow to USA and China governments and has shown a cavalier disregard for data about you all ready?

Re: But no network shares

The whole point of this operating system is that the computer is just an interface to data and programmes stored on the network, in the Cloud if you like.

Personally, I always thought, still think, this is a daft way to work unless you work only at home with a good internet connection or in restaurants, offices or schools with such (and free). As soon as you are not in that, usually, urban situation the whole model collapses, quite apart from questions of privacy, response time and supplier stability. So, as I saw when accompanying a friend away from home, rather quickly the machine becomes just a dead weight of no practical use, on which you can not even install software of your choice as it is supposed to be supplied, maintained and admired across the ether.

Even my mobile telephone (iphone in my case, whatever you like in yours) has got the ability to run locally installed programmes even with no internet or telecomms access e.g. camera, Solitaire, notes, Filemaker, music, books, locally installed maps, e.g. Tomtom, Peakfinder and more.

So now film buffs can store copies of films locally on Chromebooks, subject to the usual space constraints. Hmm. Next it will be full office programmes, then development suites …. MS will abandon its net version of Office. Google fans will prate about how wonderful is the new functionality and the rest of us will be surprised only that it ever happened at all.

What a wonderful world.