Guilty Pleasures
Does anyone else play old arcade racer music when driving to work?
288 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Feb 2010
Enter your house yes, through any means necessary no.
For instance they arent (yet) allowed to request/demand the keys to everyones house, in case they later need to pop in, with or without a warrant.
Whether the proposal is for a global decryption key, or decryption keys specific to each encrypted channel , the fact remains that if a 3rd party (be that the police, your local neighbourhood pedophile, facebook, a foreign state, criminals, your mom etc) has access to decrypt your data, then its no longer safe (because we encrypt to stay safe). If one of those 3rd parties has access then they potentially all do.
The takeaway from this should be that the different aparatus that we accept to limit our freedoms in return for greater safety (the police, the justice system, local regulations) must themselves be kept in check in order that they dont exceed their mandates (which they recently have gone to great lengths to do).
As someone who has recently returned to base, I can offer an additional insight - when you are traveling around you do indeed start to realize and find the annoying, stupid and ridiculous sides to the natives.. the real eye opener however is when you return home... and suddenly you see your "own" people for what they really are as well.
Travel opens the mind and removes prejudices and enables you to spot the assholes and the plain annoying everywhere. And then you cant un-see them. Of course the next step is some very careful searching of your own soul in front of a mirror :)
a share in a company is just that, a share (although usually a very small share).
The value of such a share, is not just the pile of "whatever" it is sitting on today, but also the expected amount of "whatever" that the company will be expected to find/produce/develop/earn tomorrow, the day after, and years from now. It also includes such things and "stuff" that it owes other companies and banks.
Financial Analysts try to predict what people (individual investors, funds, traders, etc) will be willing to pay at a given point in the future (a financial analyst predicting the current share price wouldn't be much use), given what they know of the size of the current pile, and the expected growth/shrinkage of that pile. And also what kind of crazy is in the head of the market traders at that point in history (are they pessimistic or optimistic about the future - will a fall in shareprice cause lots of people wanting to buy, because they think they will make more money when the shareprice jumps up again, or will more people want to sell than buy, because most of them thinks that this is it, the shareprice will be heading south for years based on such things as the direction of the economy, joining or leaving trade blocks, competing technologies, etc).
However, people with their many reasons for buying and selling shares don't always behave the way that the analysts predict, and sometimes the underlying assumptions that the analysts calculate from are also wrong. (In fact, any individual investor who reads up on current value and future value and decides that a share will likely be worth more or less in a months time than it is now, are themselves an analyst).
In this case, we knew the size of the pile from a few months ago, and financial analysts thought they had a rough idea as to how much the pile had grown since then. turns out, they were very close in guessing. Meanwhile however, investors had gone ahead and assumed that the pile was actually even bigger. And they (the market) had been buying and selling shares under the assumption that it would be bigger (some thought it would be less, some thought it would be more, and averaged out they thought bigger than it turned out to be).
When it turned out that the analysts were roughly on the ball, but that the market price (set by the sellers and buyers of said share) had been a bit too optimistic, the share price "self-corrected" to be in line with what the actual value of a share was (this "self-correcting" is what the market does - its what makes prices go up and down). You could argue that the "actual" value of the share was always correct - as it always had and always will include assumptions of the future, but I digress.
That is the (very simplified) reason why the shareprice went down, despite the company roughly meeting analysts predictions.
I guess maybe he didn't want to go full sub-sub culture in the press release?
on the other hand, I do prefer the C64C myself... and that black one is certainly good looking.. I do have a spare C64c lying around... that would (presumably?) fit into it...
They originally came out in the 90s in Japan, and were there called Pocket-Monsters (and still are, but in the "west" they are known as Pokemon).
They are a cardgame+videogame+cartoon+toys franchise, and is centered around the notion of a world where pokemon-trainers go out into the world to capture wild pokemon - you then use them to battle other pokemon trainers in leagues (so your now domesticated/enslaved pokemon form part of your stable of fighters).
There is the collecting aspect (got to catch them all - complete the set), and the exploring aspect (a recurring theme is that there are pokemon out there that have never been seen before, so think "brave explorers looking to expand the limits of human knowledge" kind of thing. The cartoon obsiously expanded on that with drama and more complex relationships between the characters/pokemon (they are sentient beings)
As it came out in the 90s, a lot of 30 somethings grew up with it, and are now presented with the idea that this thing which hit all their pleasure centers when they were young (adventure! excitement! challenge! responsibility! collecting! playing! etc!) is now real, and they can actually catch pokemon on their way to work. In fact, 25 to 35 somethings seem to actually be the largest demographic of players.
In case I made that sound like I dissprove of it, I certainly do not - I got a pikachu in a hatched egg the other day :) (In the new Pokemon Go game you find pokemon eggs, which you hatch by walking (the game records how far you have walked while trying to hatch eggs).
Oh, and in case you have missed the various articles floating about the internet, the new Pokemon Go game is an AR game (Agumented Reality - a game overlaid over the real world, very similar to geocaching) - it basically takes the "capture wild pokemon" concept, and overlays it onto a "google maps" like mapping system along with GPS tracking, so you have to walk around parks etc to try to find and catch pokemon, which you can then train up and then use to battle other pokemon trainers in "Gyms" (which are locations in the real world which if you are close to physically, you can visit in the game itself)
"It is not there to bring recognition of comparatively minor Western workplace issues..."
-It has a different focus in different areas of the world, and doesn't even mean the same to every person in the same country.. it was started off in the US by socialists specifically to acknowledge "western workplace issues" (a womens union strike if memory serves), was especially big in the soviet bloc and now has multiple meanings across the world (womens suffrage, general celebration of women (like mothers day), highlighting issues that affect women, in-equality, reproductive rights, etc).
There is no need to define what it is or isn't, I think that horse bolted a long time ago.
"Incidentally, there is also an International Men's Day, on November 19 each year. No one seems to complain about this, however."
Sigh.. yes, there is an international mens day, and yes there is a lot of complaining about the fact that it exists (19th of November last year the guardian ran exactly 1 article highlighting that it was in fact international mens day, and questioning the need for it, as women obviously have it so much worse, and we need to solve all their problems before we can acknowledge that any other exist - to be fair it was an opinion piece, but that was the only piece they ran). The comment section didn't exactly cover the guardianistas in glory either.
Anyway, yesterday was international womens day, and like many others I took the time to read up on and consider issues that uniquely affect women and girls in our society. I managed this without mentioning international mens day once. Maybe next year you will manage to do the same.
They will learn, adapt and in time drive those roads better than either of us ever could.
I like driving, but I am rather excitedly looking forward to the day when I can leave the driving to an AI (of sorts).. going to see a mate, hang out, have a few beers, get in car, be driven home. awesome.
Go to a concert - no parking; thats ok - get off in front of gig - car goes and parks itself further away (maybe in a designated parking area just outside city) where there are actually parking spaces, comes and picks me up once the gig is over.
I just hope the tech matures before I'm too old to appreciate it :D
I agree, the idea of having laws around that you won't be arrested/prosecuted for breaking, unless someone takes a dislike to you, or someone needs to get to you for other related reasons, which also happen to fall under it, is not consistent with a democratic society.
If the law isn't being used, or used only as not-intended, simply remove it.
If it WAS used very sparingly to targed other problems (such as closing down the use of domestic dwellings for hotels) then specific laws targeting that problem should be brought in.
Is this really that hard? This seems like exactly the sort of thing parliament exists to do?
With the huge amounts of outdated laws and regulations in the UK I think a new rule should be put in place: no NEW parliament should be allowed to pass any laws until they had had a week of repealing old useless laws first.
Current list of browsers affected, for those who don't like to read sources :)
Internet Explorer Security advisory
Chrome on Mac OS Patch available now
Chrome on Android
Safari on Mac OS Patch expected next week
Safari on iOS Patch expected next week
Stock Android Browser
Blackberry Browser
Opera on Mac OS
Opera on Linux
up to date as per 2015-03-05
I must remember that one if I ever commit a crime and go up before a judge..
"Solicitor, could you please inform the judge that I did sell several tonns of substance_x/speeding/wanton murder* before december 2014, but since I was arrested I have no longer been commiting any crime(s) and everything should therefore now be fine.. and I should be released at once, yes? :)"
It is worth pointing out that these are only hypothetical examples, and I have in fact never done any of these things, you know, in case there is now some sort of (now legal) dragnet operation in place on these forums...
I watch it ever so often as well.. last week in fact :)
however, what is funny on film isn't necessarily funny in real life.. I just calculated how many of my tax-years they have wasted... needless to say I would be long dead before the 1st % was paid...
I wonder how high we will need to make the gallows for this one?
Positive: Blade runner is based on a book (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), which has a sequel (Blade Runner 2 The Edge of Human). As such they might not venture too far into Jar-Jar-Binks territory
Negative: The 2nd book isn't as good as the first (although still ok). Also, there is no guarantee they will follow the 2nd book / no guarantee that even if they follow the 2nd book it still won't be shit.
Negative 2: there are 4 books in total - there's a chance disney will buy the whole franchise after the 4th movie (12th movie if Peter Jackson is brought in to direct) and then release a golden stream of meh for decades to come.
Staying Positive :)
I remember one of my favorite pieces of music being when you died and got to type in your name... awesome music on that screen.
there is an online 'radio station' that plays c64 music and c64 remixes.. I think I am off to listen to some now :)
http://www.slayradio.org
(not affiliated with myself in any way, beyong that of being an appreciative listener :)
A USB SATA Harddrive Dock to be precise...
Not sure if it is related or not, could totally be just a coincidence.. I can see that it's now running USB/VID_0000&PID_0000\xxxx though...
although the dock seems to actually have 2 USB controllers, as only the hard drive portion has decided to become an "unknown device"... - "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"
The "generic hub" USB\VID_058F&PID_6254 seems to be happily chugging along (Probably why I can still see the SD card reader part of device)...
If someone has knowingly put out software/drivers that they were aware would brick hardware, and may have done so on purpose, then I guess I'll be joining the class action lawsuit when it gets started?
I have another docking station somewhere.. not sure what chips are in it though... might not plug it into any windows machines until I know they won't try to break it...
Not that I doubt that the UK has more than 5 million radio listeners that would tune into their mobile IP radios 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, but I seem to remember from my early days of trying to understand TCP/IP that there is a 'broadcast' option as well.. that is, all computers on a network can listen in on the same transmission without needing packets addressed specifically to them?
"I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. "
I believe that it's insane to suggest anything else.
-I see where you are going with your statement; that we shouldnt fall over ourselves to compliment actions that are common sense and expected, but sometimes the obvious must be vocalised.
Especially if there are people who don't think its insane 'to suggest othervise', if no one challenges your views you don't think about them, you take them for granted.
MPEG2 is 'good enough' for any purpose you might want, as long as you don't mind the size of your video. In fact, raw prores is all you would need if you had an infinite amount of storage.
The main developments are getting the video smaller (in terms of bytes), within the confines of a) visual quality and b) processing power available for decoding.
You can't successfully use a video codec that is more process intensive to decode than the kit that you use to play it on. if H264 had existed around the time of the video CD it couldn't have been used (outside of research labs/supercomputers) because no one would have the processing power to decode it in realtime (as long as it was a normal resolution anyway..)
* There are also better/more advanced techniques for coding/compressing video data, its not all data processing capability related.
For hardware companies with relevant video patents this might make sense if it bascially zeroes out anyway, but they (hardware+patent comp) woudln't want their non-patent competitors to get the use of the codec for free, after they had developed the necessary technology behind it - also, research institutees like the ones mentioned in the article won't sell devices using the licensed codec and as such would probably not like to see their research work and patent valued at 0 (no idea if fraunhofer is involved in this round, but most people know of them from the mp3 days, so good as an example)
"We understand 16-bit FLAC is equivalent to CD-quality and much better than the lossy MP3 files we’re all used to. You can get better-than-CD quality with 24-bit audio and DVD-Audio uses this with a 96kHz or 192kHz sample rate, both giving many more samples per second than 16-bit FLAC at 44.1kHz."
Almost right and then just wrong - 16bit/44.1Khz FLAC file isnt' the equivalent to "CD-Quality", it is them _same_ as "CD Quality".
Better than CD quality?
24bit audio - yes, this can increase the resolution of a recording and in theory allow for greater musical fidelity. Difficult to tell the difference in practice, but yes, at least its there (as long as its all the way from the studio master at least).
96Khz or 192khz? - 44.1 Khz is a higher 'resolution' already than my (and your) ears can hear. At 96khz and with the right equipment you are either tormening your dog or delighting him with bits of your music that you will never hear.
Silly Sono :)
"Can anyone with a 3 year old Android phone say the same?"
Well yes, not that a sample of 1 either way proves anything much... My HTC Sensation from 2011 still works perfectly, runs all my applications without any aparent slowdown (despite obviously being updated from their state in 2011)... Changed the battery a few months ago to give myself more juice as the old battery was getting on a bit (back cover off, change battery, back cover on, simples :)).. now it still has power left when I go to bed late at night without any charging during the daytime :)
Also has a micro-SD slot so have upgraded the storage a few times.. currently running on 32GB :)
Eventually of course applications such as facebook will be resource heavy enough (with all the improvements, bah humbug!) that I will want a phone with more cores and higher clock rates, but I figure this should do me for another 1.5 - 2 years or so :)
edit: I was of course referring to my 'droid phone still working for more than 3 years.. I doubt I'll be installing iOS8 on it or accessing facetime anytime soon :)
I finally decided yesterday to set up the PI B my gf got me for my birthday... loving the device... one of the first things I did in Raspbian (after failing to find the wifi setup wizard in the 'start menu' - it was on the desktop all along, was trying to play a youtube video to see if it could pull it off.. no success... means I got to play around with other areas of it though :)
maybe its time to give catvideos another go :D
I don't want to come across all shouting "luxury!", but have you ever tried to plug in a PS/2 plug? or an older DIN6?
USB has (unless you try to put it in sideways or a tall plug into a wide socket) 2 ways of plugging in; sunny side up or down... you don't even really have to do much looking and aligning.. if it doesn't go in you just flip it over and boom - connected.
What really annoys me is that I have probably spent more time reading about this new reversable USB malackey than I have spent flipping USB plugs over.
Which means that so far; reversible USB plugs have wasted more of my time than non-reversible ones have :(
I'd rather have everything in one place to be honest... realistically, if they move messaging off-app then I guess I'll do without it for a while, use skype in stead and see if it fills the same purpose in terms of keeping in touch with family and friends, maybe come back later on if I find that I am losing out by not installing the separate messenger app :/
I'm socialy/workflow-y invested enough in facebook that I'll care about this change.. but not very much.
"Fine Sounds’ brands will now use DTS technology to provide its Play-Fi wireless streaming capability. Music sources, such as internet radio stations and music streaming sources, DLNA media servers and a listener’s own devices can stream music over standard Wi-Fi, using the DTS/Fine Sounds tech mashup, to speakers throughout a house."
wow... sounds amazing... truly revolutionary... never been done before.. *cough* squeezebox *cough*
Indeed.. there are of course open source software that can read the open standard, but they are 2 different things.
Its actually quite sad that by its very existence an 'Open Standard' indicates that there is such a thing as a 'closed' standard... how can it be a standard is only a few know what it is/how it works?
I think the word you are looking for here is 'extend'... as in 'extending the format until only MS software can read it' :)
This is something which usually forms part of microsofts fall back strategy and which will be in everyones interest to fight against.
For those that didn't pay much attention in the 80s, 90's and nagthies, the microsoft fallback strategy is:
1. Embrace (java, html, and now ODF)
2. Extend (extra bits added in which only microsoft software can save/read.. still compatible with other software (for a given value) mind you)
3. Extinguish (leverage the extra extended bits to hinder/disadvantage/make life difficult for/destroy the competition)
oh, what do you know.. there's a wikipedia article :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish
""hacking" seems to be in the list of categories that are filtered. What the fuck? How is information about hardware and software considered so harmful that it cannot touch the minds of our precious little children?
Where will the next generation of hackers come from? In 15 years, will we find that 99% of CS graduates only know how to prod .NET or Java?"
- I suspect that the next generation of hackers will come from the abusive households* that partially and/or arbitrarily blocks access to the internet? There is no greater motivator than being told you can't do something :) I imagine any teenager who was effectively told that there are pictures of naked people on the internet, but that they will only be able to look at them if they learn a fair bit about VPN, DNS and ISP filters would very soon be at the local library with their nose in a book reading about networks :)
*If you decide and filter what information/material members of your household are allowed or not allowed to see, read or learn then how can that not be an abusive household? Do you cut out articles from the newspaper you don't want them to see as well? Sit in on any meeting they have with their friends in case any of them has any forbidden knowledge? On a more pragmatic level; An 8 year old will likely not go looking for porn as they have no interest in it, whereas a 14 year old won't be scarred for life at the sight of boobies** :) Or the sight of a swear word on a page for that matter :S
**and if they go looking for tubgirl or lemonparty they will learn very quickly that there are a lot of very different people in this world..
"Cycling through a red traffic light is against the law but I see a majority of cyclists doing it. For some reason they think the highway code does not apply to them."
As both a cyclist and a motorist I mostly agree with you.. (I don't know if its the majority that jump red lights)... when cyclists jump red lights (even if it is 'safe' to do so) it creates the idea that they don't follow traffic rules and are somehow different to the other parts of the traffic. As a cyclist I disslike it when they do as it just re-inforces the idea that if you are on a bike you don't really follow the traffic rules and it generates animosity between cyclists and other members of traffic. When I'm driving I disslike it as I don't know what they are going to do next.. sverve into another lane without indicating? I'm afraid I could hit and hurt someone :(
I don't jump red lights on my bike (or in my car), and usually if I am standing at a junction (with my bike) other cyclicts won't jump either if I get there first.. but every so often I will see someone standing at the front, waiting; not for the lights to change, but for the road to empty so they can pedal across while it is still red. I don't think its the majority, BUT.. I cycle on a fairly busy road, so less chance of 'safe' jumps and I probably don't see as many as I would if I was on 'empty' roads.. but it certainly is enough to be a 'thing'.
Long way of saying that there are cyclists that don't like cyclists that jump red lights either :(
The solution is very simple: red means stop, yellow means get ready (at least on driving tests), green means go :)
edit: forgot to quote post.
they should make another memory schtick... one that is incompatible with all previous ones and come in a different form factor. the lack of industry takeup and high pricing will ensure success and riches.
Or they could make it so that their various hardware platforms could interact and become more than the sum of their parts, and then make sure that the functionality was never used... the hidden potential would be a market differentiator and drive sales for sure.
Or they could yet again take an industry standard, improve it in un-measurable and only known to themselves ways, make sure its changed enough to be incompatible with everything else, sprinkle some DRM on it and then sit back and watch the hordes of customers walk past.
or they could start stealing underpants.
either way; its profits ahead.
Indeed they do charge a premium price, the fact that it is all set in rules and added to the meter before the journey has even begun makes all the difference I am sure... unless you are paying by card obviously, in which case you get to pay a little bit more than EXACTLY what the meter says... from the lovely TFL webpage itself:
Taxi fares:
Extra charges
Extra charges must be added on the meter at the start of the journey. There are no extra charges for luggage, additional passengers or carrying of assistance dogs.
Telephone and online bookings
There is an extra charge of up to £2 if the taxi is booked by phone or online. When booking a taxi, other charges may also apply and terms and conditions may vary so please check when you book.
Heathrow Airport
There is an extra charge of £2.80 for journeys that start from Heathrow Airport ranks.
Christmas and New Year
There is an extra charge of £4 for journeys made between 20:00 on 24 December and 06:00 on 27 December and between 20:00 on 31 December and 06:00 on 2 January 2015.
Bank cards
Some taxis accept credit or debit cards and there is a maximum charge of £1 or 10% of the metered fare, whichever is higher.
*******************
I'm not sure quite how they add "£1 or 10% of the metered fare, whichever is higher" for using bank cards, if extra charges "must be added on the meter at the start of the journey", but I'm sure I am not supposed to ask :)
here's another link.. seems london cabbies change their pricing based on the clock, not if it is raining or not :)
http://www.londonblacktaxis.net/faretariiff.htm