Posts by paulf

Re: A moral obligation

Wollacotts? +1 for them!

Re: Oh well

@doublelayer "will wreck the muscle memory that can be key to advanced fingering techniques"

Upvoted primarily because my mind seems to be in the gutter this morning.

Re: The senior manager wearing a mob cap and apron

Friday afternoon biscuit sounds like an euphemism!

Re: Vodafone's London HQ also a NIMBY?

The added benefit of that is there'd be no need to install heating for the meat bags on the top floor, especially when Barry in reception decides to stream something from Youtube, in HD, over 3G.

Re: I have it on good authority ..

+100 for the Spitting Image video ("Santa Claus Is On The Dole"), which I don't remember from the first time around. That made me all misty eyed for the days of decent telly satire - it was a sad day when Spitting Image was snuffed out. Shesh - even the self satirising politics of today still needs the weekly kick up the arse that Spitting Image used to dish out.

On a slightly related note it reminded me of one of my favourite Spitting Image songs: Spitting Image - The Christmas Singles although for some reason that version has edited one of the best bits which was:

#Take Every Christmas Single; Take every Record back; Load them onto an Aeroplane; and dump them on Iraq# (it was televised in 1990 I think)

Now it makes lyrical reference to Milton Keynes instead of Iraq despite still having the footage of Saddam Hussein getting a vinyl deluge. Perhaps Saddam lived in Milton Kenyes because he had a particular love of round-a-bouts and the grid system?

Re: Smaller company attempting a hostile takeover?

FTA: "We have already received inquiries from several HP shareholders and are encouraged by their interest in our offer,” Visentin added." And now Xerox have released the names of all of them:

Mr Carl Icahn

Mr Karl Bicahn

Mr IMNT Cicahn

The Streisand Effect

"El Reg is not completely sure how that works, or if [Andy Wigmore has] heard of the Streisand Effect."

The first rule of The Streisand Effect is everyone knows about The Streisand Effect.

Re: Sing after me ....... "Money makes <etc>

It's funny you should mention WeWork. I was about to ask if Softbank were involved in all these funding rounds since they seem to like investing massive amounts of cash in money furnaces(tm) like WeWork (or at least companies where it's not clear how they will get their RoI after an eye watering take over premium).

According to this Softbank weren't involved in the Magic Leap fund raisings. Imagine being such obvious vapour ware that even Softbank aren't interested!

Re: Not the consumer's problem, surely

Neither of my cards charge an annual fee. Direct Debit pays off the balance in full each month automagically.

Replacements aren't difficult to sort providing you have the means to call your card issuer (i.e. a working phone and signal) and you're at home as they usually insist on sending the new one to the card holder's registered address because security and all that. Then. as @katrinab notes, what do you do in the mean time? If you're used to using a credit card for absolutely everything it becomes a significantly more fucking difficult world to navigate if you're suddenly using those paper rectangles with the intricate art to pay for things again!

Coughs: "Take the F from way? But, there's no F in way!"

Editors notes: "F in way" becomes a homonym for the phrasing "Effing Way" i.e. there's no fucking way [you could do that thing].

Re: Website Update

They'd probably just swap Vodafone for EE because Marketing.

I recall my dad rented a small farm house cottage in Cornwall some years ago. Despite being 1986 the whole house still had it's BS546 round pin sockets. This limited the number of things that could be plugged in due to the lack of adaptors to convert to square pin sockets. To put this in context the current BS1363 square pin plug system was introduced in 1947 so this house was monstrously out of date.

Slightly off topic but recalled partly due to your comment, and partly because I'm partial to a pint of Korev too.

Re: Yes, but ..

Even if you look at, what I assume, they meant: they connect a subscriber line to FTTP every 26 seconds, I'm still not convinced it's that impressive.

Once every 26 seconds -> 1.2million per year.

There are 27.6 million households in the UK as of 2018.

On the rather flimsy assumption that each household is equally difficult to connect to fibre, and discounting business premises:

27.6 / 1.2 = 23 years to do everyone at the current rate. That's not accurate since some premises already have connection to Openretch FTTP or Vermin Media but it gives a good indication that "Every 26 seconds" is a much better soundbite than "It'll take us at least another 15 years to get everyone connected to fibre"

Re: Charge or just swap the batteries?

Personally I'm not convinced about OLE for road lorries. We get enough problems on the railways when a faulty Pantograph or misaligned contact wire leads to the whole lot being torn down at 125mph and taking a day or more for the whole mangled mess to be reinstated (with full closure to traffic to allow the required track possession). The railway system uses a single pantograph with the rails being used as the neutral return whereas the linked story video shows two separate pantographs on the lorry - presumably one live and one neutral - to account for the return path. That makes it even more prone to failure. There's a very good reason why the railways use a single phase supply!

Plus the railway is a closed environment so easier to keep people away from the overhead wires. People on roads aren't used to bare electric cables so close to the tarmac and I can see plenty of electrocutions.

Re: The Thrill Is Gone

I'm still using my old iPhone 4S for my other number*. It runs iOS 7.1.2. fine, so isn't hobbled by the mess that was iOS 8, and is still in decent condition despite the occasional drop (from my PoV the 4S was the high water mark in iPhone build quality). It only uses WiFi, because it's on a super cheap plan with no data, and that's normally turned off. Frankly the only reason I'd replace it is the miserable battery life but it's good enough for my purposes, and in fairness it is 8 years old and on its original battery.

* The "burner" number that is given to companies who insist on having my phone number to plaster across the address label of my deliveries then spam me with texts. They don't get my main number.

Re: Apple software quality seems to be definitely dropping...

I think you mean ex-Boeing PHBs.

Re: Steve Jobs

I can imagine that, as a Dev at Apple, the risk of Jobs showing up at YOUR desk to have a screaming tantrum discuss a problematic bug he'd identified, then bursting into tears agreeing to review your fix personally while offering constructive feedback certainly kept you focused on making sure things worked. Telling department heads that any major bugs will mean they'll be picking up their bollocks with a dustpan and brush held personally accountable probably also focused minds.

I guess a visit from "Call me Tim" just doesn't carry the same, ahem, motivational gravitas.

Facebook: STOP STEALING...

our customers data business model.

Re: The guys...

One of my friends used to work for a company that contracted for the sewage side of things at one of the water companies in England. He used to have regular vaccinations (and I think tests) for things like Hepatitis (plus others) due to the risk of infection from being so close to sewage. He was glad to get away from that crap.

Re: 4G Old Hat

It's interesting to note that this will be a single network that all MNOs can access (presumably including their associated MVNOs). Is this the MNOs testing the water on a being able to form a single infrastructure mobile network through a full merger of Cornerstone (Voda+O2) with MBNL (EE + Three)?

Re: Tobacco smoke

Apologies as a little off thread. When I find myself doing my weekend thing of playing trains (UK) it's interesting to note the older locos* having an ashtray built into the desk next to the driver's seat. Usually the hinged flip upside down to empty type. I can't help speculating that if not included already they were mandated by the union!

*Diesel locos of course. Steam locos have their ash pan tray under the firebox!

Re: Unsure?

It's more than just TW passing customer information to the charlatans at Homeserve. I get them from my current water company, and the previous one before I moved.

Worth noting that anything that looks water company related, but is really spam from Homserve, is marked "Marketing information enclosed" somewhere on the envelope. Just scribble over your address, write "Return to sender not known" and pop in the nearest post box. Let them deal with their own shite. It's never caused a problem back to my water company. Alternatively I open it, and fill the reply paid envelope with a selection of the take away, taxi and estate agent leaflets I get through the door and send it to them. See how they like getting some of my junk mail!

Re: Worth a visit

I completely agree - the safety case and risk assessment must have been a nightmare to write so it is a credit to all involved. Even if I was able to rest my chin on my knees while going around. (I jest!)

Re: Building entry log

It would be illegal, in England & Wales at least, as it would breach paragraph 14 (2) (f) of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005:

(f)emergency doors must not be so locked or fastened that they cannot be easily and immediately opened by any person who may require to use them in an emergency;

but that wasn't the point I was making.

My point was that Manglement are quite happy to use the access control system (like ours and the one mentioned by the AC OP) to log how many hours people spend in the office for their own nefarious purposes. What they won't do is use the access control system for good purposes e.g. checking how many people have successfully evacuated the building in an emergency. This can be achieved by placing badge readers at each Assembly point for people to confirm they have left the building and have made it to the specified muster location.

Fire Wardens counting people out isn't that helpful if they don't know how many have been counted IN, in the first place. This is where the access control system comes in as it does know not just HOW many but also WHO!

Re: Make it like owning a vehicle

Cyclists should have knife licences? and dog licences?

Re: A tale as old as time

I can remember at university (late 1990s - Electronics) we had document scanners in the Library but they could only be accessed through a Mac. I felt like such a N00b when I had to ask the Library media assistant how the merry fuck I get my floppy disk back out of this ruddy Apple thing. Having failed to find the mechanical eject button that was so popular on the networked Windows machines I was about to grab a screwdriver from my bag to resolve the problem directly, and with extreme prejudice...

I guess I wasn't the only one as when I got a MacBook Pro in 2010 (old skool with optical drive!) it included an eject button on the keyboard and dragging the CD icon turns the trash icon on the dock into a big eject button.

@ Jamie Jones "Your Router: Our health check shows you're using one of our latest routers and its firmware is up to date"

So ShitShit are quite open about having back door access to your router such that it reveals details like Model number+revision and Firmware version. Great if you want to find out whether it's been patched to close whatever security holes were in the previous Firmware version I suppose. Also "firmware is up to date" gives false reassurance if the last firmware update was 2 years ago. <Slow hand clap>

Re: That was nice

So it seems, but there are still companies that assume consent by default, and require multiple clicks to opt-out (local world news websites in the UK are a good, but only one, example). There are other sites, usually ones that just have an "I Accept" footer banner, as mentioned further up by the OP) where you have to rummage around in the site's "privacy" policy to find out what cookies they place and then visit multiple websites to opt-out of that particular ad-slinger's cookies - usually by identifying yourself and asking them nicely not to track you.

The guidelines are simple: Consent must be clearly and freely given, and must be opt-in. Unfortunately there are many many websites that still think this doesn't apply to them and it'll take the administration of a few mega-fines to shift mindsets....

They're also an incredibly useful way to debug things as honest appraisals like that provoke you to think it all through again. This often, at least for me, leads to an "Oh, Bugger!" moment and swift identification of the SNAFU.

Re: "VC cash furnace"

It depends where the VCs raise their money from, as to who is ultimately fuelling the VC cash furnaces.

I'd wonder how much money VCs raise from pension funds. If the money they raise is lavished on enriching people like Neumann at WeWork, Uber Bro Kalanick and the like, with the VCs skimming off massive fees for their hard work, while the Pension fund managers are also well remunerated generally regardless of performance; then surely there is only one big loser in all of this? Us minions as our retirement benefits are reduced thanks to these jokers spunking our pension fund cash up the wall. Some might cynically refer to it as Trickle Up Economics (TM).

Yeah I know, conspiracy theorist with an armour plated tin foil hat marked "Muggins".

Re: When I last needed a paper receipt

I think if someone tried to yank my bag off me I'd have dealt with them as I would any mugger and deck them use reasonable force to curtail their attack. That SD would then be explaining to the police why they have attacked me and actually have my possessions. They'd also be facing a civil claim for any damage caused to my possessions. As mentioned by other commentards above, SDs have very few powers, and attempts to detain, obstruct, assault and search won't go down well in court.

Re: Is it just me?

And it'll keep happening for as long as charismatic Buzzword Bingo champion Gimboids persuade gullible and greedy financiers with those dangerous words, "This time it'll be different".