Posts by JimmyPage

Back in the 80s

this got discussed when I was studying at Uni - as a theoretical possibility. We were just waiting for the technology to catch up.

Of course it does raise the possibility that this has already been done elsewhere in the Universe, and *we* are the result ?

Serious question

is it cheaper for a company to spend money paying tax, or lobbying politicians,

Maybe the tax avoidance we are seeing is evidence our politicians aren't grasping enough ?

Nigel Kneale would be proud ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Sex_Olympics

In the future, society is divided between 'low-drives' that equate with the labouring classes and 'hi-drives' who control the government and media. The low-drives are controlled by a constant broadcast of pornography that the hi-drives are convinced will pacify them, though one hi-drive, Nat Mender (Tony Vogel), believes that the media should be used to educate the low-drives. After the accidental death of a protester during the Sex Olympics gets a massive audience response, the Co-ordinator Ugo Priest (Leonard Rossiter) decides to commission a new programme. In The Live Life Show, Nat Mender, his partner Deanie (Suzanne Neve) and their daughter Keten (Lesley Roach) are stranded on a remote Scottish island while the low-drive audience watches. Mender's former colleague, Lasar Opie (Brian Cox), realising that “something got to happen”, decides to spice up the show by introducing a psychopath, Grels (George Murcell) to the island. When Grels goes on a murderous rampage, Ugo Priest is horrified when the audience reacts with laughter to the slaughter and The Live Life Show is deemed a triumph.

Horizon - 1970s stylee

I was aged 9 or 10, and learned enough about quarks and particle physics to scare the bejesus out of my science teacher at school (who just about knew about photons).

I knew about strangness and charm, and the weird up and down nature of spin.

Where did I learn so much.

The Saturday afternoon repeat of Horizon.

The next week, I learned about the role Lucy played in redefining our ideas of the timescale of human evolution - being much older than we previously thought. By then I learned not to discuss this at school.

Nowadays, it's hard to tell if "Moments of Wonder" is parodying BBC science, or actually just a summary.

Anyone remember the bid for the Olympics ?

Where they "forgot" to add VAT ?

sounds like the basis

for a re-imagining of "Whacky Races". 21st century stylee

"If the cables *eventuate* - ffs !

eventuate !!!!!

Let's hope it gets used

(we can all think of abuses)

for making websites more accessible for partially sighted people, who might just benefit from tactile feedback.

So, so so pathetic

Instead of tempting other countries to come here, why not get this country to innovate and expand.

To me this is chickens coming home to roost, and an acid comment on the past 15 years.

Have to mention Birmingham

who spunked £2,000,000 (yes, million) on writing a custom website which is in effect, a CMS system.

Apparently "there's nothing quite like it on the market" was the justification for not using FOSS.

If you goto Birmingham city councils website I'm sure you'll agree. There really is nothing like it on earth.

Slightly misleading title

(not that it diminishes the arrogance of Samsung)

I doubt the ad was "inserted" into the video stream. More like the users picture (i.e. film) was minimised, and the TVs picture (the ad(s)) was maximised. Although I would be curious to know if the TV managed to pause the film. I know HDMI is full duplex, so in theory a TV could tell a media player to pause.

I know my LG TV can switch my TiVo on.

"Flash sales"

the 'net equivalent of a pop-up shop ?

Something traders in the East End have been doing for years - with suitcases and genuine Rolex watches ...

Bags ? BAGS ?

For about 3 years now, MrsJP and I have used 2 folding crates we keep in the car. Usually one is enough. Unfold, put in trolley, and fill with goods. Get to checkout. Remove delicate items manually, then unend the crate onto the belt.

Total loading time <30s.

Then put crate back in trolley, and fill as operator scans. Be prepared to wait while you do this - you can pack faster than they can scan.

Job done.

Occasionally 2 crates are used for a big shop. Or, if you want to use the self service tills, it's 2nd crate on packing area, and transfer from trolley to crate (scanning as you go).

Still weirdly minority behaviour, from what I see, despite the fact my Mum was doing it 25 years ago.

Plausible deniability ?

I hope the next product under development allows for *two* unlock codes. One for you, and one for the security services - like a TrueCrypt hidden volume.

Begs the question ..

How much of this stuff is already going on. Maybe not in a military context, but a political one.

Those Daily Mail comments. Are they genuine, or Tory party shills. Or Labour party activists ?

Those BBC HYS posters. Are they really what they say they are. Or plants to give the appearance of public dissent/support (delete as applicable) ?

Story priority ?

Slightly surprised that El Reg hasn't had a byline on this story about missing data

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31037879

over 18 hours after I first saw it on the Beeb.

Was hoping for a more forensic analysis, particularly around whether the data was encrypted. That is encrypted as El Reg readers understand it, not just an Excel spreadsheet with a password

Pot noodle ...

in Ben Eltons "Gasping" (which I saw with Hugh Laurie and Bernard Hill :) ) there's a piece of dialogue where the Ad agency boss (Hill) explains to the misbred young executive (Laurie) the concept of a Pot Noodle in marketing ...

"When it was first released, the market share of other snacks did not decrease .... the Pot Noodle made money where there was none before."

It may or may not be true, but it does stray into the Apple/Smartphone question upthread.

So what other products have been "pot noodles" ?

With UK.gov still wedded to IE6

what was the point of this article ?

So the developers ..

Who will see their Windows 8.0/8.1 apps binned can join the developers that saw their 7.5/7.8 apps binned, who had joined those developers that saw their 6.5 apps binned.

No wonder no one writes apps for Windows Phone.

Does no one remember Heavens Gate ?

ISTR it being a Bazza running gag in Film79, Film80, Film81 ....

All modern cars look the same ...

interesting the design is strongly reminiscent of the space shuttle. Is that because that's what they started with, or that's what they ended up with ?

Either way, big thumbs up on this one.

eBay - s'OK

that's it really