Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Can't see the gray area here

"if they are considered reasonable"

If they restrict the use of knowledge gained from the previous employer then that's reasonable. Saying someone can't work for a living in the field in which he is qualified is not reasonable.

However, if the contract stated that they would continue to be paid a retainer for 6 months after they finished so they wouldn't work for a competitor, then that would be fair.

Re: More socially needier?

"Don't forget to email corrections@thereg if you spot any errors."

As long as that is an AND instead of an INSTEAD OF, we wouldn't want to deprive anyone from lambasting you in public would we? :)

Re: So england won

"Nevilles commentary"

Was that the guy that said everything with the same rhythm and intonation no-matter what he said? The bloke that made me want to throw the remote into the TV? That one?

Mind you, it got me wondering if they would ever transmit multiple sound channels, one of the crowd, one of the commentators etc. (or a choice of commentators) then you could switch the wankers off and just watch the game but keep the crowd response. That would be nice.

And another thing, why don't you get closer pictures of the game whilst the ball is in play anymore? I used to watch football and you'd feel part of the game, now you might as well be watching someone play FIFA 2013 or something.

Re: No matter how hard you try

It *can* be dull, it isn't always so. Like boxing, motoGP etc. etc.

Even IT isn't dull *all* the time :)

I only ever really watch football during the World cup and there have definitely been some good games so far.

Re: chief privacy officer at...

I suppose in the world in which he circulates advertising yourself a top scumbag is a plus.

Re: will ignore the do-not-track mechanism in browsers including Internet Explorer

Does anyone maintain a useful list of ad-related url's that I add to my hosts.txt file to null0 them?

Re: Research a necessary prerequisite

"quite adequately dressed"

iirc Einstein had many sets of identical clothing so that he didn't have to spend any thought on what to wear. So whilst he may have expended a modicum of thought on the 'set' of clothes chosen, he did so so that he could safely ignore the subject forever more. I suppose Einstein was just a progressive Boffin in that sense, but he still wasn't interested.

Re: @Bob & garden shed

" He even induced arts students to voluntarily attend theoretical physics lectures, an awesone achievment."

I used to train ISP sales staff on what the internet was and what they should (and shouldn't) be selling as a product.

I managed to convert two of them into support engineers such was their interest in the detail - does that count? :)

Re: The socks have it

Whilst the Pyke should obviously be used to measure true Boffinry and the deciPyke for everyday Boffins, the milliPyke should be retained for those with a hint of Boffinry but are, at heart, fairly normal and can dress themselves without attracting undue attention..

"I reckon I must have measured at least 3 milli-Pykes today when I came up with that method of transferring tomatoes across the canteen with a catapult and quad-copter combo"

There should also be a negative scale, perhaps with an inverse logarithmic correlation - we could call it a Bimboid perhaps?

Re: A boffin is ...

oops, wrong thread.

Definitely like that last description though - makes peoples eyes glaze and being marked as a Boffin by normals.

They must certainly have a shed to 'potter in' over the weekend, so that they can 'knock something up' like a new form a jet engine or something (as in "Monday morning at the lab: Mr Boffin- Hey Gerald, come and have a look at this doobrey I knocked up over the weekend and see what you think"). What follows will probably a complete catastrophe of business sense (if they are British) and eventually some shark from the US will see it's potential, buy it and apply some solid business sense to it to start the next revolution in the application of science.

I think it's mostly about attitude.

If someone is really really clever and has lots of degrees and *knows* everything in the text books they are not a boffin, unless..

they think outside the box, aren't afraid of looking stupid and have a healthy disrespect for 'form before content'.

They can be a lot of different things, but 'normal' isn't one of them. That's essential.

Re: Loon Nice article ...

"if he had turned back at the first refusal (France) then he could have made it back to Russia on the fuel they had left."

Ok, I didn't realise that.

"Forced down is a very emotive term"

Agreed. Not intentionally used to add drama but re-reading my post it does imply the use of fighters etc. due to common parlance.

"I think it was more of a case they wanted to make it clear to Snowjob and his supporters that he would not be allowed to just bolt for cover"

I think we'll have to agree to differ on that one. Speculating as to what might or might not have happened if Snowden had been found on the plane is just that, speculation. You might be correct, it's certainly not impossible for their motives to be as you describe (especially if they *knew* he wasn't on the plane) but if he was there I think the scenario would have played out quite differently - but that's my opinion.

Re: Typical.

Well, if we're making a list I'd like to add

Obambi

Snowjob

Re: Nice article ...

"Something all the tin hatters on here might bear in mind."

I seem to recall something about a flight being forced down because they thought Snowden was onboard. That suggests to me that they were just not quick enough off the mark, rather than not trying.

I also think that "Tin hatters" might end up being less and less of a derogatory remark as time goes by.

Re: Manchester @ h4rm0ny

I would find an AI more intelligent if it started asking the questions instead of just responding.

My personal on-screen favourite AI has to be Jarvis from Iron Man, nicely sarcastic with a comic sense of timing.