* Posts by Rattus Rattus

1068 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Oct 2009

Twitter trolls are destroying democracy, warn eggheads

Rattus Rattus

Re: Penny Arcade GIFT

Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, yes. However, I think there are more factors at work in this case. In particular the simple fact that politicians mostly ARE despised, usually for very good reasons, and in fact DESERVE the vast majority of the abuse they receive.

Also, "abuse" is not the same thing as "trolling" and any halfway talented troll would not have to resort to abuse to provoke a reaction.

Rattus Rattus

Re: "It's not like you can vote partly for one person and partly for another"

Well, actually...

Preferential voting allows you to do exactly this, so long as you are willing to slightly prefer one candidate over another.

Dark matter? More like diet matter: Super-light axions may solve universe's mass riddle

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Re: 1922 or 1977?

@Mage: Nope, it's colour. The strong nuclear force has three types of "charge" which physicists have chosen to refer to as "colour" charge: +/- red, +/- green, and +/- blue.

Windows 10 market share stalls after free upgrade offer ends

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@Doctor Syntax

"I think he was suggesting that if you want to play games doing so on a console would cost you less than upgrading a Windows PC to do it there."

But then you'd be playing shitty console games on a shitty console. This does not fit the original use case.

For me, games are the only reason I still run Windows at all. Too many of them just don't work quite right under WINE, or don't work at all.

Rattus Rattus

Re: "Games? The appropriate graphics cards can cost more than an Xbox One or PS4."

If you're suggesting I buy a console to play games on, you can just fuck right off.

What should the Red Arrows' new aircraft be?

Rattus Rattus

Let's have something different

Buy a batch of second hand MIG-29s - nicely acrobatic and something you don't see too often at western air shows.

nbn™ says nobody needs gigabit internet, trumpets XG-Fast at 8Gbps anyway

Rattus Rattus

Re: 100Mbps plans are not delivering reliable 100Mbps connections

I have a 50Mbps plan on FTTP (not nbn though, Telstra's own fibre) and when all my neighbours turn on Netflix in the evenings I'm lucky to get 5Mbps with massive latency. There's absolutely no point to paying for higher speed tiers until ISPs put their hands in their pockets and upgrade their backhaul to where it should be.

Without new anti-robot laws, humanity is doomed, MPs told

Rattus Rattus

"or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm"

This part of Asimov's Three Laws is really poorly thought through. Humans do things to harm themselves in tiny ways many times a day, it's part of normal human life. A robot operating under the Three Laws would not differentiate between these things and more substantial harms. So, hope you like your precisely-portioned vegan diet and enforced daily exercise, along with any other lifestyle changes a robot could decide was necessary to keep you as healthy as you could possibly be. And remember, "a robot must obey the orders it is given by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law," so it's not going to be listening to any attempts to command it to allow you that bacon sarnie and a pint.

DARPA does a podcast

Rattus Rattus

Re: Just what is it they do, again?

Coke. They do mountains and mountains of coke.

Windows 10 backlash: Which? demands compo for forced upgrades

Rattus Rattus

Re: "Could of"

Modern usage? Perhaps. Accepted usage? Absolutely not.

Daddy, what's 'P2P file sharing'?

Rattus Rattus

So they reported that...

..."The 13-to-15 age group does not only feel the strongest about music – particularly new music – but also strongly believes that artists should be rewarded for their creativity – and that stealing is wrong".

Did they happen to ask whether these 13-to-15 year olds considered piracy to be stealing? Or are they (incorrectly) trying to pretend that they are the same thing?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

'What this video game needs is actual footage of real gruesome deaths'

Rattus Rattus

Re: To do anything else would be dishonest

Perhaps it takes on that shape after being squeezed into the Citroen? Not a lot of room in there.

Rattus Rattus

“To do anything else would be dishonest" says PETA's Harriet Barclay

Best listen to them, PETA know all about dishonesty. They're experts.

Microsoft's maps lost Melbourne because it used bad Wikipedia data

Rattus Rattus

..."try to direct you towards the Lone Star state when you got directions to Wrigley Field!"

Or when you tried to visit Elwood Blues at home?

NBN HFC scaled down to stave off financial disaster

Rattus Rattus

In other words...

...after factoring in the costs of running power to all the nodes that wouldn't have needed it otherwise, as well as the higher maintenance overheads, it would have been cheaper to simply run FTTP after all? Well colour me astonished. Who could have predicted that? Apart from all the thousands of IT professionals who DID predict it, that is.

It's time for humanity to embrace SEX ROBOTS. For, uh, science, of course

Rattus Rattus

Re: Why should I have a say in your sex life?

"The spread of amoral behaviour"? One reply to that: fuck right off.

Rattus Rattus

Question 4 - how about an option for "Human prostitution isn't 'an issue' and the busybodies who vilify sex workers and their clients are a bunch of morons who ought to be excluded from the gene pool. Oh yeah, and sexbots are even less 'an issue'."?

Forget Khan and Klingons, Star Trek's greatest trick was simply surviving

Rattus Rattus

Re: The Future is pretty close to what it used to be...

I'm not sure what kind of bizarro future world you come from, but over here light switches and cold water taps are still pretty common.

The Day Netflix Blocked My VPN is the world's new most-hated show

Rattus Rattus

The abridged form of the announcement:

"Netflix are working hard to increase piracy levels around the world."

GCHQ: We can't track crims any more thanks to Snowden

Rattus Rattus

Re: Can they not use their powers for good?

The only thing wrong with it is the suggestion that GCHQ could ever redeem themselves.

Rattus Rattus

Re: How to eliminate drug lords

Of course you can leave him there! Or do you think you're the world police, just like America?

Skype to become 'Star Trek' style real-time translator, says Redmond

Rattus Rattus

So kind of like Google Translate's conversation mode on my phone, except three years later and less accurate? Okay, got it.

Oculus boss: True virtual reality is 'a decade or two' away

Rattus Rattus

A couple decades for just an improved pair of glasses? Pssh, not trying remotely hard enough. I won't be satisfied until we have a full-sensorium direct neural interface.

JJ Abrams and Star Wars: I've got a bad feeling about this

Rattus Rattus

However...

Episode VII is being co-written by Lawrence Kasdan. If he brings as much talent to the script as he did when writing The Empire Strikes Back, I am cautiously optimistic about the end result.

How Google's Android Silver could become 'Wintel for phones'

Rattus Rattus

Sounds good to me. The biggest problem with Android on non Nexus branded devices is the layer of shite the manufacturer splatters over the top of vanilla Android. It has never improved a phone, only made them worse as well as caused delays in updating due to the need to test that each update doesn't break their shovelware. If a manufacturer wants to "differentiate" themselves, they should do it by making better hardware.

Denmark dynamited by cunning American Minecraft vandals

Rattus Rattus

"Gamers being what they are"

I think you meant "Assholes being what they are". Plenty of gamers are polite, respectful, and wouldn't dream of vandalism like that. Unfortunately there are also a large number of ignorant, childish wankers who delight in ruining stuff for other people.

SpaceX wins court injunction to block US Air Force buying Russian rockets

Rattus Rattus

Every time a government spokesman...

...says the phrase "national security", he needs to be kicked in the balls. Twice if he is using that phrase as an excuse for upholding the status quo in any arena.

Discovery time for 200m WONDER MATERIALS shaved from 4 MILLENNIA... to 4 years

Rattus Rattus

Re: So, on the horizon

We already have transparent aluminium. It is also known as artificial sapphire. It is just a particular crystal arrangement of aluminium oxide.

Audio fans, prepare yourself for the Second Coming ... of Blu-ray

Rattus Rattus

"...format can’t be ripped..."

Hahahahaha, hohohohoho, *snigger*...

Whoever made that claim has just thrown down a gauntlet which will be taken up by a great many, er, "content transfer specialists"

Boffins propose brainwave privacy standard

Rattus Rattus

They could call it...

...the Tinfoil Standard.

Brawling neighbours challenge 'quiet' cul-de-sac myth

Rattus Rattus

Re: Cat Crap.... grrr.

Could do with similar laws where I live. In fact, given all the native wildlife that cats mercilessly destroy, it should be a criminal offence to allow your cat out of the house without being on a leash. Cats in Australia are nothing more than an invasive pest species.

Plod foils drone drug drop down under

Rattus Rattus

"Arrested and charged the man"

Why did they not arrest and charge both?

Is the government's NBN policy changing your vote? Greens Senator Scott Ludlam thinks so

Rattus Rattus

Hasn't changed my vote, exactly...

I have been voting Green for many years already. They're the largest party not riddled with obvious corruption or just plain openly evil. I would still put the Sex Party and (if they had a presence in my state) the Pirate Party ahead of the Greens, but both Labor and Coalition are always way down low on my ballot, only just barely ahead of the raving loony religious parties like Family First.

Microsoft shunts top exec Julie Larson-Green sideways to make way for Stephen Elop

Rattus Rattus

Re: So it's her fault

@localzuc - I refer you to the correspondence in the matter of Arkell v. Pressdram.

HARD ONES: Three new PC games that are BLOODY DIFFICULT

Rattus Rattus

Another one for the list

Pity there is no mention of Long Live The Queen, a fiendishly difficult game something along the lines of the old game Princess Maker, except much better. Rather than explain it poorly myself, I will let Rock Paper Shotgun's excellent review describe it in detail: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/10/long-live-the-queen-review/

Rattus Rattus

Re: Kerbal Space Program

Oh hell yes. Love that game. It was a terrible sensation to discover that my otherwise-successful first manned mission to Laythe had too wimpy a lander, and the brothers Kerman could not make orbit to dock with their return booster. I eventually managed to rescue them with a second, robotically-piloted lander, after they had been stranded for a year of game time, and safely return them to Kerbin. As a side note, aerobraking through Jool's atmosphere into a capture orbit is nothing short of spectacular.

On the other hoof, it is a tremendous feeling of accomplishment when you finally make your first successful orbital rendezvous and docking.

Britain's costliest mistake? Lord Stern defends his climate maths

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"...because rulers of a democratic state work on behalf of the electorate"

Hohohoho

Hahahaha

Heeheeheehee

Oh, that was a good one.

Harvard kid, 20, emailed uni bomb threat via Tor to avoid final exam, says FBI

Rattus Rattus

Re: Hmmm?

A mistake many people make, including the faculty.

ABC finally brings iView to Android

Rattus Rattus

"This app is compatible with all of your devices"

Both phone and tablet, downloading right now. :D

About time!

Turnbull's NBN is startup-land's litmus test

Rattus Rattus

Is anyone surprised...

...That Turnbull completely ignored the petition? Listening to the public is not something the Coalition are known for. Nor is investing in infrastructure.

Cassini spots MEGA-METHANE SEAS on the north pole of Titan

Rattus Rattus

Re: Star Citizen

Saturn itself would be a better bet, given CIG have already made many statements about refuelling at gas giants.

'Mixed tech' NBN needs a super-sized HFC net

Rattus Rattus

What a mess

Leave it to the Libs to completely fuck up an infrastructure project as per usual. Not that Labor do particularly well with infrastructure either, mind you, they are just slightly less catastrophically bad.

I am so glad I am already on FTTP, I don't think I will ever move house again.

Rattus Rattus

Re: sucks

If you think Conroy (spit) is a socialist, you have a very skewed view of the world.

Los Angeles' weather is just like Mordor, says Brit climate prof

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@teapot9999

OMG, who gives a shit? So the university spent a couple of bucks on something light hearted to help validate the effectiveness of their models. Don't be such a miserable old git. Are you an accountant by trade, perhaps?

Rattus Rattus

@Vociferous

Really? I mean, Tehanu was enjoyable but I always thought the best of the series was A Wizard of Earthsea, followed by The Tombs of Atuan.

It's true, the START MENU is coming BACK to Windows 8, hiss sources

Rattus Rattus

Will these updates...

...remove that FUCKING "Charms Bar" and put all the settings in the ONE GODDAMN PLACE?

If not, then there is still zero chance of me ever installing Windows 8.

Rattus Rattus

Re: @Roland6

"unless a major player decides to make a move and endorses a particular OS platform"

Such as Valve and their Steambox?

God knows, gaming is the only "killer app" that has kept me tied to Windows for the last few years. Once I can game on Linux more easily than it currently is to wrestle with WINE, I won't be installing another Microsoft OS again.

Aussie boffins can detect orbiting SPACE JUNK using rock gods' radiation

Rattus Rattus

Re: Debris

It's called "Kessler Syndrome" or "Kessler Effect", described in 1978 by NASA scientist Donald Kessler.

Julie Larson-Green: Yes, MICROSOFT is going to KILL WINDOWS

Rattus Rattus

Re: Why Windows is doomed.

Yeah, under the hood Windows 8 sounds like a bit of an improvement over Windows 7. Unfortunately they've lumbered it with that shitty, annoying, hard to use fucking interface, which is why I am sticking with 7 regardless of the underlying improvements.

If this doesn't terrify you... Google's computers OUTWIT their humans

Rattus Rattus

Hahahaha! I nearly choked to death on my sandwich reading that.