* Posts by Rattus Rattus

1068 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Oct 2009

MAD Students Union bars 'racist' ZOMBIE PHYSICISTS

Rattus Rattus

Obligatory XKCD reference:

http://xkcd.com/397/

US opts out of carbon trading

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Hear

bloody hear!

Rattus Rattus

I'd say

all the non-productive consumers really are a large part of the problem. I wouldn't say they're the poor, though. It's more the lawyers, marketers, PR, politicians, around 50% of accountants and 90% of economists, and similar non-productive or minimally-productive positions that ought to be eliminated.

Not violently, though, they should be taught an honest trade and rehabilitated back into society.

World's largest pilot union shuns full-body scanners

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"in exchange for possibly detecting"

That's not the exchange they're making. "Homeland Security" (what a misnomer) know there's an infinitesimally tiny chance of someone actually trying to smuggle a bomb through the checkpoint and an even smaller chance they wouldn't already have been detected prior to the scan.

The point of the security theatre business is to keep people afraid that they might actually be necessary, thereby ensuring a continued stream of business and to provide excuses for any demands they care to make. If people are scared enough they'll submit to anything, goes the thinking.

I, too, would opt for the pat-down instead. I'd probably pepper it with comments like "Yeah, that's good," "Squeeze a bit harder right there" and "Can you teach my wife how to do that?" Might as well make it as uncomfortable for them as for me.

RockMelt browser slithers onto interwebs

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Users "haven’t prioritised [security] concerns"

They ARE Facetards. Surely that's your explanation right there in a nutshell?

3 starts killing off 2G coverage

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Seems to be SOP for Vodafone

Their 3G coverage is just as patchy down here in Australia too. In a few too many areas, including right where I work, I have to use 2G to get any kind of reliable signal. When my contract is up in a couple of months I think it'll be time to look at a new service provider.

Nexus One to get Gingerbread OS?

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Venerable?

A phone that's been out less than a year is venerable? What's a year-and-a-half old phone considered? Doddering?

Most people, most techies even, don't buy a new phone every three months even if tech media people do. Seems to me the Nexus One is still one of the most powerful phones on the market even if it's no longer THE most powerful.

All that aside, I look forward eagerly to Gingerbread, I can't wait to see what it brings to my phone.

Firefox 4 Android beta gets stomach stapled

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I've tried the new beta

and found it still too big and slow,as well as rendering pages somewhat ugly. I've already uninstalled it, which is a shame really as I have been waiting to put Adblock plus on my phone. I actually really like the default Webkit-based browser and wouldn't see a need for mobile Firefox at all if it were not for all the damn advertising. It's slowly driving me insane given I've become used to an ad-free web on the desktop.

Google's 'Instant' search engine goes mobile

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"but wouldn’t it be great..."

No. No, it wouldn't.

Android phone sales up 1,309%

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Nonsense

The hardware in current top-end Android phones is comparable to, and in some cases slightly better than, the iPhone 4. The 3GS, of course, is now some distance back in the pack.

Microsoft nails Silverlight's future to Windows Phones

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Heart

If MS are betting Silverlight's future on the success of Windows Phone 7...

then dare we hope WP7's impending failure will be the final nail in Silverlight's coffin? Two birds with one stone?

419ers threaten terrorism charges

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@ David 45

It was PT Barnum who said there's a sucker born every minute.

On another note, if these chaps should ever happen to be caught, will this not add a charge of attempting to impersonate a federal agent to the list?

Google Nexus Two 'lands November 8'

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Samsung?

Why not HTC? Their build quality is light years ahead of Samsung's - just compare the Nexus one and the Desire to the Galaxy S.

Phone 7: Another Vista or another XP?

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Ah, you misunderstand me good sir

I didn't mean to imply using a VM was the fail. I meant to imply, well, actually to state outright, that .NET itself is the big steaming pile of fail, just as it is on Windows too.

Rattus Rattus

Re: "for our corporate users"

I've often wondered what I'd do if my work tried to give me a phone. Guaranteed, it'd be something shitty like a Windows phone.

I couldn't stand having something like this as my only phone, and I wouldn't want to carry two phones. I think I'd have to divert calls on that number over to my personal mobile and leave the work phone switched off, in a drawer somewhere.

Rattus Rattus
FAIL

3rd party framework is .NET?

Wow, that's another big ol' pile of fail right there.

Jobs dubs Google's 'open' Android speak 'disingenuous'

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Android already covers both ends, and the middle too

There are cheap-as-chips low-end phones running Android, and at the other end there are the Nexus One, HTC Desire, HTC Desire HD, Samsung Galaxy S, etc - all of which are considerably better than the iPhone 3GS and some of which are better than the iPhone 4. I've even seen video of Android running on an iPhone, although I have no guarantees of the vid's authenticity.

Use whatever phone you want and whatever OS you want, just remember Android already has the whole spectrum covered.

YouTube clasps naked dancer to bosom

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Nudity =/= pornography

Which is, in fact, what YouTube are saying.

On the other hand - "No it's not a grumble flick, guv, it's art. Nude performance art."

Vatican confirms Simpsons as Catholics

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Troll

That's because

we all know Jeebus uses CP/M.

Facebook leaked users' real names with advertisers, suit says

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Thumb Up

"That's funny," says the advertiser,

"I don't remember putting an ad on some site called Two Girls One Cup."

Hands on with Windows Phone 7

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So...

Microsoft have re-invented widgets and given them a new name?

Distressed cock whipped out of wheelie bin

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The Daily Mail is over that way -->

n/t

Little Chef in 'I ♥ Charlie' t-shirt outrage

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I'm seeing the term "Wallah"

popping up more and more lately. Has there been a trend towards saying this ironically that I've missed, or are there really that many people who don't realise it's "Voila"?

PARIS unveils impressive box

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Glamorous Assistant

I trust you're getting him a skimpy sequinned dress for launch day?

Research links laptops to 'toasted skin syndrome'

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Quick preventative:

Rest it on a big hardback book, something with the same dimensions as a Dungeons and Dragons manual. (Shut up! My Mum says I'm cool!)

Trucker pulled with DVD and laptop on dashboard

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re "clip over your steering wheel"

That's part of the point. It's meant for use only when parked.

F1 2010

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Reversing the decline of F1 sims

I reckon the reason for the decline is games have all done a fine job of simulating the boring parts of a race - pit stops, going round and round and round the track - and failed to put in more of what people really look for in motor sports: the crashes! Put in obstacles and have cars smashing themselves to bits on them all around you as you drive, make sure the crashes are spectacular and I for one would find these games way more fun.

US demands right to snoop the world

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And they still wibble on and on about Pearl Harbour

How long is it going to be before they stop going on about 11/9/2001? (Please note, date in sensible format rather than US format)

I expect them still to be using the WTC as justification for demands in a hundred years time.

Samsung backs Windows Phone 7 for the duration

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@BarryB

While I'm quite happy with my Android phone and plan on sticking with Android for the foreseeable future, I must agree with your points. More competition in the mobile space can only benefit everybody, and this is one arena where it looks like Microsoft won't be able to leverage their desktop monopoly to squeeze out competitors.

Google shocks world with unthreaded Gmail

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@DZ-Jay

Yep, that's how gmail does it too.

US consumers don't want web-enabled toasters

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"A watched pot never boils"

That's a damn lie! It does boil - it just takes a little longer.

(with thanks to Paul McDermott)

Dead Rising 2

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Alert

@Andrew Bailey

If you have a love of good zombie flicks, check out [REC] if you haven't already seen it. One of the best zombie movies I've encountered.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/

Coming soon: Mark Zuckerberg the comic-book hero

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Oh, FFS

Can we stop feeding that Zuckwit's ego?

Sharp outs little'n'large e-mag tablets

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As the nun said to the vicar?

n/t

Google whacks Spanish TV station in court

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Whack-a-mole

Quite honestly - so effin' what? Holding a copyright comes with responsibilities as well as rights. You have to police your own copyrights, and if that's too difficult and/or expensive, then maybe it's not worth keeping the copyright. Or at least not keeping it for the whole eternity-plus-a-billion-years that copyrights last these days.

Indiana judges dismiss girl's nipple exposure appeal

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Tits or GTF...

Oh. As you were, then.

ID fraudsters sell stolen Aus house

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Thumb Up

"Or in Australia about 230years ago ?"

I See What You Did There.

Microsoft: IE9 will never run on Windows XP

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Megaphone

USB-to-serial adapters

are complete shite. Where I work, there are a bunch of research scientists who need to connect their laptops to various elderly (sorry, apparently I mean *legacy*) measurement devices, and of course none of the laptops we're allowed to buy have serial ports. I have to light black candles and sacrifice chickens to dark gods to get those bloody USB-to-serial adapters to kind-of, maybe work, some of the time, if the wind's favourable.

Naked woman demands cab ride to Michigan

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Captain West noted Gille "appeared to be intoxicated"

Really? I wonder what gave it away?

Reg hack celebrates happy event

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Awww...

He's a widdle cutie. And his mum looks just like Sarah Jessica Parker.

Drummers: Looking for a throbbing BumChum?

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Coat

Heard about the band that was two hours late getting on stage?

The lead singer had locked his keys in the car and it took them that long to get the drummer out.

Boffins explain greatest ever free kick

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@AC 12:34

"Simple" does not equate to "Easy"

Jobs takes swing at Google over Android activations

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Y'know, I don't mind a computer in my living room...

What I really don't want is iTunes in my living room.

Viewsonic intros £350 7in Android tablet

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I'm glad to see

that some decent Android based tablets are finally starting to appear, but ye gods! The price! People who want an Android tablet are not the same as the ones who buy iPads. We won't pay fashion-statement prices. When something like this costs half of what they're currently asking or less, I'd buy one. The price they're asking today? Not a chance.

Underweight passport pic left traveller stuck in Amsterdam

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Keeping them OUT?

Have you looked around your local streets?

IT engineer fights spider with improvised flamethrower

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In Australia

the usual response is "Just wave your hat at it, it'll go away" when dealing with redbacks and similar critters. If it's not venomous enough to kill you quickly with (nearly) no hope of survival (eg stonefish, blue-ringed octopus, irukandji) it's not worth worrying about.

Boffins baffled by mysterious Martian crater

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This crater looks a lot younger than Mars' moons

It's floor is fairly smooth with only a few new craters in it. Phobos and Deimos are a lot more cratered than that, I think they've been up there a lot longer than this crater has existed.

Boffin-botherer's LHC doomsday case thrown out on appeal

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Boffin

Already in nature

We already get a 24-hour collision sequence in the upper atmosphere every day, with much higher collision energies. What makes the LHC's collisions special is that they're happening inside some stupendously expensive detectors so we can watch up close, as it were.

Energy-saving LEDs 'will not save energy', say boffins

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Pint

Is anyone yet working

on a Beer Emitting Diode?

Samsung gives sneak peak of iPad basher

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Finally!

This is the kind of tablet I've been waiting for since the iPad was announced - basically a Nexus One writ large. I can't believe it's taken manufacturers so long to realise nobody's going to buy and Android 1.5 or 1.6 device. Now to find out what they're going to charge for it - no I am not willing to pay iPad-style prices.