* Posts by Sir Runcible Spoon

5770 publicly visible posts • joined 29 May 2007

Troll-hunting cases spike in 2012...but remain high

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: Mam test

"We posts have been discriminated against for too long!"

eh?

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Commentards Beware?

As long as you would realistically be prepared to repeat what you said in front of a copper/judge/mum etc. then you shouldn't have a problem.

Microsoft to Australian government: our kit has no back doors

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Do people have no memories at all?

"They - contrary to some people's beliefs - are not absolute morons."

"They" might not be, as a collective, but a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. It only takes one low level code monkey to slip up and all your eggs are on the floor, never to be stuffed back up the arse of a chicken.

Prince sues 22 music file-sharers for ONE MEEELLION dollars each

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Sir

The calculation of damages.

If one were referring to a single track, the absolute maximum amount that should be entertained by a court of law should be based (imho) on the following..

i) Maximum revenue generated by a single track for the artist, after deductions (X)

ii) Median of X based on number of tracks sold and revenue received (mX)

ii) Total number of cases of unlawful distribution (aka copyright infringement) (Y)

Therefore the maximum damages per party could be described as mX/Y

Obviously this is a simplification, but I can't see that coming to more than about £3.50 in this particular case. Hardly worth the expense of a court case is it?

Google bus protests are Kristallnacht against the rich – tech VC legend

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Blame @ Charles Manning

The only way a guaranteed income could work (without de-motivating) is if the basic requirements for life are fixed in price, and the income matches the requirement for buying aforementioned basics.

Everything else, by definition, would be a luxury and you would have to actually do something in order to obtain it.

Deciding what is a requirement for life is also likely going to cause arguments.

For me, it would be something like, clean water, 2 portions of veg, 1 portion meat, some bread and butter, a warm dry place to sleep, basic clothes/shoes etc.

If I had all of the above without having to do anything for it, I could choose whether or not to contribute to society and my own bank balance in order to afford other things I might consider essential, but not necessary to life.

However, I do see a lot of people consider things like Sky TV to be an essential. I earn good money, but I've given up Sky because it's a money pit - but I see a sky dish* and wacking great flat-screen tv's in many living rooms of people who are supposedly poor.

*the dish is usually on the outside of the house of course, not inside the living room.

No system is perfect, but anything that could simplify the process and reduce the costs to taxpayers is a good thing, as long as the repercussions are thought through.

The phrase 'common-sense' needs to be renamed in the modern era, since it seems to be increasingly rare and unfashionable.

Globe grabbin,’ sphere slammin’, orb-tossin’, pill poppin’... Speedball

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: 3rd best two-player game on the Amiga

OMG Ballblazer on the Atari 800 - absolutely mental fun :D

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: RE: Daley Thompson & joysticks

Which is why I invested in two gamepads when they came out.

Since they had carbon pads for connections, you could rub back and forth over the top with the end of a hairbrush to completely max out the speed bar,

Although pausing to throw a fucking javelin was a much harder prospect :)

Prof Stephen Hawking: 'There are NO black holes' – they're GREY!

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: the cult of science.....

I take it you don't get invited to parties where the hostess' underwear are teleported 3 ft to her left?

/obligatory DA reference

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: Re. grey holes

So, what did we make of World of Warcraft in 1976?

I'm assuming it was along the lines of 'What is it?'

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: How could we have been so stupid?

"coming up with a lot of complex "stupid" theories, which unfortunately a lot of people think are clever theories, because they are so complex."

We all know that 1+1=2, but try proving it sometime.

US govt watchdog slams NSA snooping as illegal, useless against terrorism

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: fears public will hate spies if another 9/11 happens

They don't need to have another 9/11, unless we take their toys away, then you can be sure there will be another one. Make of that what you will.

HOT AIR-FILLED Apple fanbois SHUNNED iPad 2 at Xmas

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: @NumptyScrub Wait a minute...

@AC "That news doesn't fit through El Reg's anti-Apple news filter so presumably has been lost."

I've always found the Reg to be an 'equal anti-arseholes' news provider.

NSA: It's TRUE, we grab 200 MILLION of your text messages A DAY globally

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: @Billy Catriger

I was under the impression that the US Constitution was now just a historical document superceded by the Patriot Act etc. ?

Clink! Terrorist jailed for refusing to tell police his encryption password

Sir Runcible Spoon

That's a good point - if they already had the password (just not used it) then how can they convict him of not giving it to them?

Plotting to blow up the TA deserves jail-time, but let's make it based on something that doesn't call into question the relationship between the police and the people.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: The Golden Thread

"is leaving us open to abuse by a future gov"

It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always get in.

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.

-- Edward Abbey "

Mountain bike mishap man suffers SEVEN WEEK stiffie

Sir Runcible Spoon

Sir

Just, fucking, ouch!

Valve gives Oculus Rift a whirl with SteamVR mode

Sir Runcible Spoon

Running out of time?

If OR don't get their skates on and release a retail headset soon they won't be enjoying anything like the time in the market as the main player.

Considering the buzz these headsets are creating there are bound to be others around sooner rather than later.

Woman whipped gun from vagina in SPACE ALIEN spat, reports Officer Zook

Sir Runcible Spoon

@Abacus

"... if she sat on my face and told me she loved me."

And life would be fine?

Sir Runcible Spoon
Thumb Up

Re: Never Mind The Bollocks

Well played :)

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Bloody Click-bait

I think I'd rather be Rick-rolled 100 times in a row myself.

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: Pork holster

After she took the gun out James Bond would have quipped

"Been shooting fish in barrel?"

Only more suave.

Twitter: It's JUST LIKE Elder Scrolls (no it's not)

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Life sucks

"you have to do this pointless boring activity called 'work' for 8 hrs a day,"

Show me a sand-box game that doesn't have grind.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Larry

I was disappointed at not seeing Thing on a Spring, that music is instantly in my head the moment someone says 'spring' or 'thing' but oddly not 'on a'. I'm having an odd day,

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: Take solace Mr Dabbs...

Forty men, strangely alliterate for a forty a day man.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Twitter is a game

I've never played twitter. I heard a review from my wife once and she said it was mostly people telling the world that they'd had a shit and that it stank, and then loads of other people would come on and say 'me too - and mine was full of peanuts'.

I'm not sure I get the point, but these are apparently the same people that used to take the piss out of me for playing computer games such as Elite, or LCP (tough MF who went green and took ages to die!).

Life is a funny old place.

Block The Pirate Bay? Arrr, me hearties, new P2P client could sink that plan

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Dear PM, please make torrent clients illegal in the UK

@AC If you think 'plod' would say anything other than 'eh?' or 'what?' or 'where's the tea?' then you have a much higher estimation of their technical know-how than I ever will.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Necessity

The powers that be either don't know, care or were ever aware that the internet was designed with the concept of being able to route around problems built in to it, and everyone who makes it what it is also has that mindset.

The internet elevated whack-a-mole to intergalactic proportions it seems, and stole Barbara Striesands knickers at the same time.

Earth cops first asteroid impact of 2014

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Let them come

Hmm, checklist required...

1. Interplanetary craft capable of travelling vast distances and sustaining life in the process

Check.

2. Desire to visit new worlds, conquer and pillage to hearts content

Check

3. Vastly superior technology base than the target species

Check

4. Inability to understand that non-homeworld fauna could be inimical to our species

Check

Yep, looks like we're ok.

Haswell micro: Intel’s Next Unit of Computing desktop PC

Sir Runcible Spoon

re:Freesat

I've been looking at building a htpc with freeview and it's gets pretty awkward once you start juggling with being able to add a hdd for timeshifting/recording etc.

I priced up a decent spec box, using a fanless case, 4Tb hdd, dual freeview hd mPCIe etc. and it came back at around £900,

This can come down by about £300 if I scrimp and save in certain areas, but that's still a lot of money. I've decided to stick with my NAS for now and ordered a dual usb freeview tuner for an old laptop and stuck OpenOLEC on it - I will need to up the internal hdd from 80Gb to something useable, say a 1Tb, and I've got pretty much the same functionality for about £80 extra.

Pirate Bay ties up in Peru

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Re: Prize

A Few Good Men

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0007468/quotes

I googled it.

Security guru Bruce Schneier to leave employer BT

Sir Runcible Spoon

Leaving BT

Coming from one who left BT because of Phorm, I'd be surprised if this was down to Bruce's comments.

Bruce has always taken a pragmatic approach to comments that involve BT, everyone knows he was working for them and had to toe the line up to a point - but, BUT - he would always make a personal comment about this stuff in general and you could usually take what he says to the bank.

I have no idea what kind of NDA he might still be under after leaving BT, but I am *really* looking forward to hearing from him.

If you're reading this Bruce, have a great Christmas, and get busy writing!! (Any old pseudonym will do!)

Creepy US spy agency flings WORLD SLURPING OCTOPUS into orbit

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: I bet I could find an example of hateful propaganda that used kittens.

I like the cat pic, but I was expecting something more along the lines of spider-pig

Submerged Navy submarine successfully launches drone from missile tubes

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: SF seems plausible

They could come in handy close to shore, to see where your seal team is etc. and ensure you are in the right zone for extraction, or to check the lay of the land before deployment without surfacing.

When the lights went out: My 'leccy-induced, bog floor crawling HORROR

Sir Runcible Spoon

Power Generation

"Alistair Dabbs is a freelance technology tart, juggling IT journalism, editorial training and digital publishing. He wonders whether gravity – not the Sandra Bullock film, the big mass planety attracty thing – could be the future of free power generation"

If there is any possibility of sending mass upwards on a laser after reducing its' mass temporarily (not sure if it's actually possible, but I can imagine it so it might be) you could then let it drop and run the dynamo.

Rinse and repeat as long as the energy in vs. out match up.

'Best known female architect' angrily defends gigantic vagina

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Compensating for something?

I forgot 'Wizards sleeve'

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: Compensating for something?

aka Welly Top

NSA-busting secure, open, router seeks cash and code from crowd

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: screw the tor side

Yeah, an embedded SIM option would be nice too

XBOX ONE owners rage as HDMI SNAFU 'judders' Brit and Euro tellies

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Tellies can handle 60Hz input

I have a copy of Sid Meier's Pirates on my xbox360 profile which, in order to play, I haveto remove the hdmi and plug in my old scart connector because it only plays at 50Hz !

Boffins baffled after Sun fails to fry satellites

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: JFK @ Maharg

I had a look through that site and it doesn't even mention the final head-shot.

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: so the Russian skeptics seem to be right ?

Is it possible that there is some middle ground?

I've always been a firm believer in the fact that our local star contributed pretty much 100% of our heat, but I'm also concerned that the increased amount of Co2 etc. could magnify it's effect?

A reduction in the sun-cycle would then correspond with a leveling off of heat increase, but when the cycle switches back up a gear we could be heading for trouble?

It's hard to get straight info on this, it's like JFK. Information about the security service guy possibly accidentally making the final headshot that killed him is widely known (backed up by the secret service falsifying evidence and losing the rest) - but movies still get made that only mention Oswald.

Facts are easy to come by, working out how they are linked is manipulated to hell and it's hard to work it out for yourself if you aren't a scientist.

Reg man inhales the smooth, non-cancerous, taste of USB nicotine

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: One point that is often conveniently forgotten ...

Hey Jake, how do you know there was nicotine in the vapour?

When I used one to give up (13 years ago now) I ended up making my own refills from glycerol because the cartridges were so damned expensive (even the ones without nicotine).

I don't think I was mixing it right either coz I got a couple of wicked headaches from it - it was all a bit trial and error back then.

LG: You can stop hiding from your scary SPY TELLY quite soon now

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: Relevant advertising

It won't be long before they have secret embedded 3g networking

Sir Runcible Spoon
Mushroom

Re: 'httpd logs have a full record of every single one of those POST operations'

Even if LG weren't listening to the data stream, GCHQ and NSA are, so they now have even more dirt data to peruse - from stuff that shouldn't even be visible on the network. Bastards

BOFH: Resistance is futile - we're missing BEER O'CLOCK

Sir Runcible Spoon

He dug it himself

is redundant, just re-iterating the 'pitfalls' made that perfectly clear :)

I had my Friday lunch-time drink last night, so I can't be late today.

Prime Minister David Cameron in Twitter gaffe

Sir Runcible Spoon
Coat

Re: I think i May need help

Your graphics card will render this agency pointless.

Qatar whips covers off giant footballing vagina

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Stadium like a vagina?

Only fitting really since it will be full of cocks.

Oculus: 'Terrifying' virtual reality gaming 'will change the world', WE SWEAR IT

Sir Runcible Spoon

Sir

I wasn't really suggesting that I build the switch panel according to the cockpit layout, just that I would build the switch panel so I could find the switches for particular functions easily and group them according to my logic rather than the portrayed cockpit

Brit ISPs ordered to add more movie-streaming websites to block list

Sir Runcible Spoon

Re: At some point, in the not too distant future

" ..someone will realise that blocking freetards access simply makes the freetard more determined to find pirateble material."

I think the end result will be people just not bothering full stop.

I know I don't buy anywhere near as much these days, and I download almost nothing. Once upon a time I bought around 5 DVD's a month on average, and because I was interested in stuff I would download some stuff that was hard to find.

The correlation (for me at least) is fairly direct. Piss me off, I download less, but I also buy less. Disenfranchised I think they call it. Saving a shed load of money is what I call it.

Bitcoin mining rig firm claims $3m revenue in just FOUR DAYS

Sir Runcible Spoon

Sir

I may be a bit out of touch, but wouldn't it be cheaper for the miners to invest in multiplexing cheaper rigs together to number crunch?

Didn't someone mananage to do this with a bunch of PS3's a while back? Admittedly it would be more costly power-wise, but you could probably more than offset the cost with the increased processing ability.

I'm prepared for a rapid re-assessment of my knowledge (just don't shoot me in the face)

Curriculum Vitae - must rage

Sir Runcible Spoon
Joke

Sir

I find the hardest part of writing a CV is getting to smell of cologne, but making a nice shade of peach always helps I find.