Posts by Tim Roberts 1

I'll probably be hammered from both sides for this but here goes.

I was a relatively early user of macs, with the encouragement of my Dad, owning a Mac Plus back in the day..

Over the years, in several iterations I graduated up to a Power PC G5 in about 2005.

This machine served me well. and eventually died a natural death. In 2019, I went over to PC, mainly on a cost/benefit basis, but also because the "closed shop" was starting to irritate me for the software I was interested in.

I have never owned an iPhone, and never will as I'm a very basic user - just for calls when I need to, so a cheap android one does me well.

The software for my win10 PC is serving me well in my interests of ham radio, electronics and photography. Stand alone, single purchase software for these is imho vastly better than what was available for my old mac.

Will I be upgrading to win11 anytime soon? Not on your nelly! I have it on a work laptop and frankly it's a piece of crap.

I have a w10 PC at home that is not compatible with w11.

I also have a w11 laptop that I use for work.

Frankly, if I thought it was worth the effort and cost, I'd change the laptop to w10.

Imo, w11 is a pain in the arse - it does nothing for my "productivity" and offers little to nil in "must have's"

As for edge .... Jeeze, don't get me started.....

This article is worth a read. Obviously about Australian WFH, but applies elsewhere I imagine.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-27/work-from-home-employees-incurring-more-costs/103155246

I don't claim to be any sort of Windows expert as I've only migrated over from mac's in the last 2 years - mainly a cost/benefit exercise if anyone cares.

So, my home PC runs win 10, and I'm gradually getting the hang of how to do things, and am able to work out all issues given a bit of time. When I do system updates, I get told that win 11 won't work on it.

My work laptop ( I own it but take it to work each day) is win 11. Really I see no advantage in win 11 for what I do.

Some text - I use Libre office, some internet - I use duckducgo, some email - I use thunderbird, some PDF, I use adobe, some photos - I use various bits of software depending on what I'm trying to do, but happy to use GIMP, some audio/video - I use Audacity and VLC.

Yeah yeah, I'm a boring old fart but win 11 is just not worth the upgrade effort for my home pc, and won't be unless it dies in the arse and I'm forced to upgrade.

Point is, I suspect I'm not alone.

I don't count myself as an expert by any measure, but I do have a win 10 desktop for home and a win 11 laptop for work - yeah yeah the old one died, and was not worth repairing.

I see absolutely no advantage to upgrading my 10 machine, and will resist the temptation until something that cannot be replace finally bites the dust. No, I'm not a fan of win 11.

Michael who??

Who is Michael Dell? ...... for that matter who/what is Dell?

with apologies to Monty Python

" ..... up to clearly includes the number zero ...." (or some such in a skit about pills that allow one to sleep with up to 1000 women per week)

I'll post before the detractors

Even getting there is an amazing achievement, so I hope the coulda/shoulda/woulda naysayers out there really have a good look at what was achieved compared to what was not achieved. There is nothing here on earth that is comparable to a mission to mars - no not even a mission to the ocean depths as there will be a cable to pull you back up.

Getting to mars is a success, not landing is a disappointment.

nice to see ....

that NBN (Telstra in another coat) is deciding who needs what - the reality is that the current LNP government hobbled the NBN for political purposes ( note I did not say political gain, as I believe there will be none for them).

Thanks Scabbot, Turdball et.al. for sending Aus down an inferior internet path. No I won't be fucking voting for you in the future.

"The horizontal access ...."

Last time I taught this stuff it was called an axis.... Oh well I must be getting old or not keeping up with new terminology (or both)

this is the essence ...

of international tax dodging by multinatiobnals. And I point no finger at Google because they are not alone.

this one looks good - silent as well

http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/14/anti-drone-rifle-shoots-down-uavs-with-radio-waves/

to all the naysayers ....

Yes, the original mission did not go as planned - hey we are talking an extremely hostile environment in space.

The mission in my estimation was a success - but of course there will be the obese lounge lizard with a drone who coulda' - woulda' - shoulda' done it better if he'd been asked.

This kind of mission was the stuff of dreams in my boyhood and I'm stoked that I've been alive to see it happen.

Cut the mission operators some slack and if you think you can do better/cheaper then give Kickstarter a try!

As my old Dad would have said - " Well done that man"

My 2c worth - keep the change naysayers.

Roos

Several commentators have mentioned some of the issues here:

- The most critical time is at dusk when your own driving vision is close to it's worst

- some people believe that they hop into the road because headlights give them an illuminated path

- Red kangaroos - the biggest? - weigh in at close to 100kg ~ 200lb

- many can hop at over 25kph ~14mph and for short distances at 70kph ~ 45mph

- they can hop sideways as part of their path

- they seem to appear out of nowhere, so good luck with detecting something off to the side and deciding that it will hop in front of the car.

Oh and yes, Wombats can also be a problem despite their stature - in a previous life I drove small buses and hit a wombat one evening. The bus was un-driveable - buggered the steering and the wombat didn't make it either. Mostly however, wombats are significantly less common that roos.

good

Couldn't have happened to a nicer cunch of bunts.

only one suitable comment

you reap what you sow

just a question

Is a kid who really made a bomb likely to show it to his teacher? The second teacher, the school and the police have just shown themselves up to be a bunch of idiots.

deserves a limerick

An unlucky fellow named Rod

thought he'd been punished by God

struck by lightning twice

is not really nice

but at least he's a cheerful sod

I wonder if Laura is also known as Ida (sorry)

A west Yorkshire lass name of Ida

was terrible 'fraid of the spider

in the 'nanas some seen

made miss Ida scream

at the thought of a spider inside 'er

a botched landing?

That's pretty harsh from someone who has probably only ever tried to park a car.

I've said this a few times ....

.....and let me say it again. Fuck you USA ...... You do not own me, the world or even New Zealand.

I have no view on his guilt or innocence but I do have a definite view on US agencies pursuing him in New Zealand.

Again - FUCK OFF !

no FTTN?

well colour me fucked!!

never used megaupload ...

... and I'm not a fan of "piracy" sites but the US really fucked up in their pursuit of Kim Dotcom. You think you own the world? Wrong. You think you have jurisdiction in every nation on Earth? Wrong. You think you own the internet? Theoretically you do but it is becoming increasingly obvious that this won't always be the case - in fact probably really isn't the case now.

reel to reel

I remember my parents angst when they lent their reel to reel to a "friend" who snapped off the little wings that held the reels in place on one side of the machine.

Basically the machine was buggered despite my Dad's best efforts to replace the wings with pins through carefully drilled holes.

As for applying my schlong to aforementioned machine..... sorry I was a bit too young.

I agree!

"Geoblocking content should be banned under international trade treaties, according to the Internet Society of Australia"

No argument here in my home.....

Is the the internet INTERnational - NETwork_( yes I admit I'm probably wrong with n my interpretation) really there to give individuals access to "stuff"

Companies that use geoolocking are scum because they use my (your) location to determine price.

here's the rub .

I, who doesn't need it (live in the western suburbs of Brisbane) and have very good adsl connection with mostly very good VOIP, will get NBN before one of my friends who lives 40km from me - in the sticks as they say - and relies on mobile phone for his internet at home. My sister in Launceston and friends in Hobart tell me the same story so I'm sure this is echoed around oz.

WTF! The NBN has been bastardised by Turnbull et.al. and they should be pilloried at the next election. A world class system reduced to a deploy-where-it-pays system.

Do not ...

turn off or unplug your computer , it will turn off automatically ---- installing update 1 of 1

said Hockey ...

Said Hockey " I've worked out a way"

"to get Netflix - the fuckers - to pay"

"I'll charge GST"

" 'Twill bring BILLIONS to me"

"Hey Tony .... now what do you say?"

Personally, ....

I would be totally confused by the similarity between the circle and the rectangle. I hope Cisco appeals because of the ultra-rounded corners of their rectangle in the CSIRO logo.

reminds me of a limerick

It has long been a passion of mine

a new value for pi to assign

I'd fix it at three

'cos it's easier you see

than 3.14159

Sadly I cannot claim authorship of this one but I'll drink to the person who did.

you can't necessarily see everything

So personally I'm happy that the code is being inspected by others and pleased that Google is paying to get the bugs fixed.

worth more or "worth more"

Facebook may be worth more in dollar terms, and I accept that dollar worth is the king these days, but I posit that Portugal has far more to offer residents, travellers and visitors than any social media can. Visit Portugal and post your selfies, but remember that facebook is not the real Portugal and the real Portugal probably doesn't give a flying fuck about facebook (yet)

Sadly ...

The treatment of Turing by UK establishment was appalling and well below what he deserved but yes, this document should stay in the UK, preferably at the Bletchley Park museum.

Yep Central Australia .....

People who have not actually been there have no idea about isolation, keeping safe, extreme heat etc etc.

A truly amazing place - not one that I personally enjoy, but well worth a visit next time you are in oz.

Oh by the way if you break down, don't leave your vehicle (at least you'll be able to drink the radiator water if you get really desperate) ..... you did remember that sat phone didn't you?