Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Basically he's declaring war on private conversation

"a mathematically-enforced 100-year embargo on the recordings.

I'm not a mathematician, but I'm not aware of any way of accomplishing that."

You could always encrypt the data and not store the key, then spend the next 100 years trying to break it.

but only the fox will reply

Re: Politicians will come into power completely at the mercy of the police and secret police.

"But then she can block things if she really insisted, perhaps we do need to go to the top?"

I was thinking the same thing. After all, it is 'Her' Majesty's Government.

We might want to lay off on the technical terms though - perhaps we can make some kind of Corgi/Shooting analogy to get the point across?

Re: There... completed the assignment and used them all.

Yeah, you gotta love it when someone else doesn't understand the words you use and they make out that you're the stupid one. Love 'em.

Re: Obambulate...

Obambilate - to walk with sheep?

Re: Sesquipedalian Bollocks.

"You had me at bloviating."

Seconded. Although I will accept new words happily if they are presented in the correct spirit. I refer, of course, to a recent posting by one commentard who provided a wonderful set of imagery which included a punishment of 'mild-carping' (to have a wet fish applied to the chops in a not-particularly malicious manner, but enough to get the point across that you had it coming). At least that was how I interpreted it. Lacking a dictionary reference I felt free to apply a little poetic license.

Re: The twits twit

"There will come a time "

You need to catch up with the current state of affairs a little bit here.

Re: Making hay

They do find needles in haystacks, they just keep putting them back in.

What the security services really need is more bodies to keep track of the ne'er-do-wells.

Re: Well it is expected

"1. Attackers were known to the security forces"

You forgot "0. Create circumstances for extremism to flourish'

Re: All beginning to take on a 'Drama Queen' tone...

Considering that we don't have the foggiest idea what 'consciousness' is, how can we know if we create it accidentally in a 'hmm, that's odd' experiment?

""Our AI systems must do what we want them to do," it said."

No, they must NOT do what we DON'T want them to do.

That's much more important imho

Re: The difference...

""That's going to be a real problem, all those people are commie faggots.""

What about the ones who aren't working for Russia?

Re: Oh for goodness sake

"I've already almost stopped noticing the changes in layout"

I wish I could say the same. I've given it a while to try and get used to it but it just isn't happening.

Funny thing about pubs, a few of the locals that I knew in my youth (that I stopped going to once they had their souls ripped out with a re-furb) have had more changes of management than I can count and are looking decidedly ratty these days (and not in a care-worn kind of way).

What those pubs forgot is that when they alienated the 10-15 regular drinkers to attract a more well-heeled clientele, they forgot about the tides of fashion and how quickly they can leave you high and dry. Those regulars (from one particular pub I know about) ended up patronizing another of the local pubs (not quite as nice as the original, but still has that care-worn feel to it). That pub is still going strong.

I'm not so egotistical that I believe I have a say in how the Reg presents itself, or generates it's cash to keep running, nor am I ignorant of the resistance to change that most people feel. I do, however, have experience of how easily a reputation can be lost, never to be recovered, when the hard-core of a site that makes it so vibrant and attractive to visit is alienated to the point where they drift off to other corners of the web.

For all I know getting rid of the current crowd of hooligans would be the best thing that the Reg has ever done - it may get a different set of loyal readers that actually see that adverts (let alone click on them!) - I'm not convinced though.

Re: Oh for goodness sake

@JDX - If people didn't care so much, they wouldn't take the time to complain (in their droves it seems).

If you are advocating that people should care less, then doesn't that have a knock-on effect to the (legendary) loyalties of the El Reg readership?

You know what they say, be careful what you ask for.

Re: Marathon Bar

Although our 'Marathon' was actually called 'Snickers' everywhere else but the UK if I recall - we were the odd one's out there. Not a like for like comparison :)

Re: You tell me,

"The campaign was launched as an online game and offline was added after a short while due to overwhelming feedback and requests."

Ok, you have a point there.

I haven't followed all of the developments intimately, but I have kept my ear to the ground a bit - and what I was hearing was that the offline single player mode had a stronger following than the online ever-changing universe mode did. To me that should have sent a very clear message to Braben.

Also, whilst we are on the subject of Braben, why did anyone think it was a good idea to put him in front of a camera to give an interview? He is a PR disaster!

Re: This was going to be my first

Thanks for pointing out Limit Theory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tPdbLe3zx0

The procedural generation aspect is pretty cool, but I have my doubts around the game itself, mostly due to wanting my space-sim to be an OR experience first and foremost.

This game seems to have quite a bit of mouse/keyboard usage, plus the 3rd person/1st person view doesn't feel like you are politing a spaceship. I think I read somewhere that they were going to put in a static cockpit view, but I haven't seen it yet so cannot comment.

I know the game is, as yet, not optimised - but I am a little concerned about the amount of pop-up that I was seeing in the latest update video (see link above). Nothing would annoy me more than to be taken out of the experience and reminded that it was a game than having objects appear/disappear instantly, rather than a gradual fade in/out with distance.

Still, early days so it will definitely be one to watch on the game premise alone.

Re: I'll stick to the Classic thank you...

I recently played Odyssey 3011 on the xbox 360, and although you kind of run out of steam a bit once everything is upgraded and you can galaxy hop to your hearts content it was fun getting there.

Although once you are full kitted out, it's easier to get around if you are public enemy #1 since the cops only come at you one at a time. It also makes it simpler to make money -just buy as much Narcotics as you can at cheap places (you will never fill the hold). When you run out of money, sell it somewhere expensive and you will suddenly find you have nothing to spend your money on :( It could do with more complex missions etc. but otherwise excellent value and true (in spirit) to the original.

"I saw one guy complaining that it wasn't the same as the X series and that there was nothing to do in the game !!!"

I don't think the X-Series supports the OR yet though does it? I heard that they have implemented a cockpit view, so they are half-way there :)