Posts by Bernard M. Orwell

Furthermore, that building appears to be owned by the crown estates, which is a firm operated on behalf of the Government...

Occam's Razor

I've said this before, and I'll no doubt have to say it again, but those of you who like to cite Occam's Razor, either in favour of or against "conspiracy theories" (or simply theories, as I like to call them) are getting it wrong.

Occam's Razor cannot be used to analyse complex social or mechanical interactions where the work of humankind is involved, only for natural processes. Worse, its original use (alleged to be by one "Friar William of Ockham") was to PROVE the existence of God. (well, surely the simplest explanation for all this incredibly compex nature is that God made it?!)

It's not exactly a scientific tool, is it?

Personally, I prefer "When you have eliminated the impossible, what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

Citations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam's_razor

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html

Promoting Homosexuality......

This week only, buy one and get one free!

Hedgehogs....

...why can't they share?

Brilliant article. Very well written.

*waves his pipe agreeably*

wait...

"keeping the UK at the forefront of international science and tackling some of the most significant challenges facing society such as meeting our future energy needs..."

Energy needs! Good!

"...monitoring and understanding climate change..."

That'll be useful for the forthcoming debates and actions, surely? Nice.

"...and global security."

Wait.. ..What? How?

First, a question....

Why did the authorities not simply phone the schools in question and ask if there were any issues?

Secondly, Mass Panic Occurs After War of Worlds Broadcast - Not exactly true, you know. In fact, there is almost no evidence that any mass panic occured at all. The Coopers Field Police Department record that they had a couple of calls that night that were listed as 'pranks'. As a precaution, they attended the alleged 'landing site' and arrested a number of drunken teenagers.

This idea of "Thousands pouring into the streets in panic" is a media-driven myth, as newspapers wanted to discredit radio as much as possible. Kind of like how our modern media like to blame the interwebs for rioting and so forth.

http://bigthink.com/ideas/24685

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1994/did-the-1938-radio-broadcast-of-the-war-of-the-worlds-lead-to-mass-hysteria

Out of Court Settlement....

Is it me, or does this process of "Out of Court Settlement" strike anyone else as fundamentally wrong?

Surely, this amounts to little more than bribing the plaintiff into withdrawing their accusation?

Plaintiff: "M'lud, this man defamed me in print! I demand justice!"

Judge: "I see! Present your evidence then."

Accused: "Psst! Plaintiff! Here, have some cash..."

Plaintiff: "M'lud, I was wrong, nothing bad has happened here!"

At this point the judge should surely be looking at "Perverting the cause of justice" or, at the very least, "wasting the courts time" (contempt).

How is that rich people/companies can simply BUY their way out of trouble?

Hidden Agenda?

Is it not possible that the "clampdown" on social media post riots is actually nothing to do with the riots, other than using it as a fine excuse to advance a political agenda?

We've heard Cameron & cronies spout loudly on the subjects of "controlling social media" and "not letting SILLY human rights get in the way of JUSTICE.".

I see social engineering going on here and it bespeaks an agenda of control, or, at the very least, a fine and dandy excuse for continuing with the IMP program at GCHQ.

Again, our freedoms are being chipped away at and the populist voice of the nation is backing it with tacit agreement as they express their knee-jerk reactions.

Proactivity

Using the word proactive in sentence to illustrate...

"The witch-hunts could be considered a proactive policy."

Snort of Derision!

I work all day in a physical role, I do more than my share of housework and childcare (ie, washing, ironing, household cleaning, gardening, DIY, all the daytime running around of children. I weigh about 15st and stand at 6'2", so not svelte, but I don't think of myself as 'fat' per se.

The wife does the shopping and cooking. She weighs around 18st and is 5'7".

How does your sexist theory jibe with that then?

Seriously, how long are we expected to swallow the "poor women who can do no wrong" bull?

grr.

Gold? What Gold?

"Fort Knox (which is a large Army base as well as housing just over 5,000 tons of federal gold).."

Can we get a citation on this?

It appears that there may be far less or even no gold at all in Fort Knox. No audit has been carried out there since 1930 as the Federal Bank has refused all such inspections including a personal attempt by Pres. Nixon himself.

The same is true of the Federal Reserve.

It is also worth understanding at this point that the "Federal Bank" and "Federal Reserve" are not branches of the US Treasury or even subject to governmental oversight; they are in fact private corporations with about as much to do with government as "Federal Express" is, the only difference being that the Reserve can print their own money.

Furthermore, it's been a long, long time since money represented any form of material wealth and instead represents debt. When I last looked, 1 in 7 dollars represented debt rather than product or wealth (ie, for every dollar in circulation there are $7 that are held "virtually" as debts) and that ratio was rapidly growing...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5989271.ece

http://www.eutimes.net/2011/05/russia-says-imf-chief-jailed-for-discovering-all-us-gold-is-gone/

So let me get this straight...

...If you are caused less than $5000 worth of damages, you can't sue for any recompense?

The law is an ass.

@Jemma

Wake and get a grip on the real world!

I doubt that the police, lacking magical psychic powers, can simply look at someone and say "Ooh, look, a L/G/B/T Pagan! I'm scared of that 'cos I haz a phobia! Let's ATTACK it!".

Get real.

What ARE you doing in a science journal anyway?

Lessons from History

For everyone who is saying that the correct course of action is to obey the law without question or go to prison for your 'anarchist tendancies', I would advise a long course on social history and politics. Take a look at the list of things that wouldn't have happened if not for groups of people or even strong-willed individuals standing up for what they believed was right, regardless of the law.

Rosa Parks would be turning in her grave, and everyone in the US would still be living under British rule. at the very least.

Skiddies still?

Not bad for a bunch of script kiddies.

IQ around 134...

...and I *like* IE.

Well...

...I don't know about you lot but there's not ONE person on that show I'd want to work for or with. They are, to a person, vacuous, greedy, selfish, treacherous, vapid, narccisitic pieces of slime without a single good idea between them. There's no way I'd hire one of them to do more than mop a floor.

And as for the man himself, Sugar, he's got to be the most throughly despicable and cynical human being I've ever had the misfortune to come across. He's clearly ignorant of modern employment methods, business standards and laws (Anyone remember when he revealed he didn't know what an SLA was in the last series?), nor has he ever produced a decent product (Anyone wanna buy an amstrad *anything*??) and as for firing people during the *interview process*.... dear god.

They all deserve each other thoroughly, but they are terrible examples of humanity as a whole.

I don't know who to slap first...!

I'll just go with Hieronymous above, I think...

A Darwin Award, because surely it must be his fault somehow? He was asking for it? She was upset enough to plan and carry this out so he must've done something?

You effin' moron.

That's the same reasoning that rapists use when they say "She was dressed provocatively, m'lud! Asking for it!", or for those morons who think chucking acid in womens faces is acceptable in order to defend their honour!

You then suggest that she was upset enough to prepare for this vicious criminal assault. If she did plan it out (and we have no evidence that she did, I hasten to add) then it's WORSE, not BETTER. Thats pre-meditation, not a "crime of passion".

And then you go on to say (and this defies belief) "Problem is, he still should be able to reproduce through sperm extraction, if not by orgasm." Now, wait a second, lets assume he was unfaithful.. ..are you seriously suggesting that being sterilised/castrated is a fitting punishment for that?! Thats the thinking of a sociopath. Get help.

Now, @AC 12:15. You are just unbelieveable. I'll just facepalm at your inability to wield either reason or the English language and assume you are some sort of poorly educated bucket of slugs who thinks that the world owes her some respec' somehow whilst giving no respec' to anyone else 'cos you donhaffa,a'igh?* Off to daytime TV audience-land with you.

*use of language & spelling is intentionally ironic. You can find irony in a dictionary. You can find a dictionary (its a type of book) in a library.

@MB

It's a trap, and you wandered in like the lackwit you are.

Let me begin with your response to my trolling of you....

"you didn't add anything, just resorted to childish insults! And you know what they say about those that fall back on insults knowing they've lost the argument...."

Now, bearing in mind that you said that, allow me to post some selected quotes from your other posts in this self-same thread...

"they desperately want to be fantasy freedom fighter heroes rather than just the dull, boring bunch of wannabes they are."

"I hardly think that even a substandard troll is capable of believing this."

"...you're talking out of your rectum. At least you are a resounding success as an example of monumetal fail predicated by a blinkered outlook and a lack of knowledge."

"...you really need to loosen up the tinfoil hat and double up on your meds."

"Mrs Bryant saw the pic and said; "Pfft! I bet she's a minger, otherwise why would she be wearing a mask?"

"...knowing the negative correllation between good-looking girls and those that know anything about IT..."

"Asking "Would you like fries with that?" is not exactly important work."

"So how exactly have you challenged them, intelectually or otherwise? By hiding in your Mum's basement and defacing webistes? Ooh, so such skillz, such intellectual artistry - not!"

" You really need to go back to school and start history from scratch."

"Unfortunately, dogged is merely offering the standard response of the Anon supporter - he can't argue ('cos he hasn't got a clue about the real issues or how to debate them), so he won't argue, just post pics he thinks are funny'n'cool, just for the lulz. He goes away thinking he is clever, the rest of the World + dog just think he's a tragic waste of bandwidth."

"Hey, dogged, is this you?

http://twstheunagency.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/child_with_computer.jpg

BTW, really admire your ability to clearly articulate your views, you add so little to the discussion."

"Would you like to try a second go at posting something of value? Go on, it will be hard, but think of it as all part of growing up."

In answer to that last part; Yes, yes I would. I'd like to present you with the "Hoisted by my own petard" award. Falling back on your own insults seems to be something you do in a lot of threads, I imagine that means you accept you've lost them all.

Please note, these are rhetorical questions and do not require you to answer. You can go back to living under your bridge now. Alternatively, you can continue spouting your nonsense and we'll continue downvoting you and pointing out your hypocracy. Perhaps eventually you'll learn you're never right, judging by the standards of your peers.

Equality spelled out for them....

"The judgment goes against the grain of the common sense approach to equality which the UK government wants to see."

Errrr....what?

By establishing that prices for a service (in this case insurance) cannot be altered based on the basis of gender it goes against not only common-sense but the "equality that the government wants to see"? WTF? I assume I don't need to point out to my fellow commentators how ridiculous that statement is?

Pricing based on gender is inequality at work. The insurance companies may well be able to statistically prove that women are "better risks than men", but I wouldn't expect them to do similar analysis on ethnic minorities!

Why are insurance companies allowed this luxury anyway? Why can't the price of stocks and shares, another risk, change depending on the gender of the buyer? Oh. Wait. Thats discrimination, isn't it?

The only factors in determining someone's insurance premium should be how long they've been driving, the specifications of the vehicle and whether the driver has a record of accidents.

@AC Lulz

You insensitive, blinkered nob.

How about someone who has been homeless, under none of the circumstances you describe (albeit in the UK, not your precious USA) telling you that your observations are wrong? Yeah, thats right, one right here fella.

Rampant capitalism causes homelessness because some people are always going to end up trashed by your "live the dream" system.

Don't believe me?

Well, try going and chatting with some homeless yourself sometime and hear their stories, or better still, if you have the nerve, go and spend a month on the streets yourself.

You'll swiftly change your tune.

Double Standards

"... reportedly sophisticated denial of service attacks...."

You mean, because it's (ahem) patriots then its a sophisated cyber-attack and not a bunch of "script kiddies" in this case?

VM Delivers for me. For a change.

I've been with VM since their inception. Indeed, they took over my account from NTL who had previously obtained it from CableTel, the first cable provider in our area.

Now, VM have NOT been perfect over the years and I did indeed have a few issues with the superhub when upgrading from their 20mb to their 50mb service, but that all seems to be resolved now.

When I purchased the 50mb upgrade I asked about traffic shaping, FUP and port throttling policies and was assured by VM that they didn't apply any such policies to their "premium" services; the 50mb and 100mb lines. I took that initially with a pinch of salt, but I have to be honest for the last few months I've had a sterling service from them delivering precisely what I'm paying for.

I get a steady 48mb d/l and a solid 5mb u/l speed (Sometimes thats as high as 10mb) and see almost no throttling whatsoever day or night.

Given that the 50mb line costs a mere £5 more than the 20/30 line and seems to remove their bandwidth management I think its worth every penny.

Oh god. I'm sounding like a shill.

(But, its still good!)

Resouce Based Economics..

There are queues of people, unemployed, willing to work.

There are resources that can be gathered.

There are products that people want.

There are factories standing empty that can convert resources to products, given labour.

What prevents us bringing these things together to create wealth? Globalism, debt and bankruptcy. These are concepts that mean nothing other than the meaning they have assigned to themselves, in the same way that making money has become about moving money around, creating the very debt and debt-structures that drive down our living standards day by day.

All we have to do is stop using these concepts, walk over to the factory, tear down the "bankrupt" signs and start work. To not do so because concepts and words stop us is insanity.

For more information on resource based economics look up the "Zeitgeist Movement".

Hang on a moment....

"Cleary's mum told Sun Ryan was agoraphobic and has a history of mental illness"

And....

"there are fears that Cleary could face extradition to face charges in the US."

I think there's a pattern forming here, no?

America. Fuck, no.

AC 12:01

You forgot your Troll Icon.

Tax Cuts? REALLY?!

So, those of you who are suggesting that benefits be cut or that fraud should be investigated more vigourously because you're "Paying for the lazy scroungers lifestyles...

...surely you're not labouring under the delusion that your taxes will actually be lowered by a commensurate amount once these cuts and investigations are made?

No. That saving will go right back into the system paying the national debt, or some expenses claim, or nuclear weapons, or overseas conflicts, or industrial/commercial subsidies......

You know, given the choice, I think I'll opt for paying the small debts of the poor than the large ones created by the rich.

Hold on there.....

You gave this retro, minimalists, storyless, sidescrolling bag of doggy-do 85% and yet you gave LA Noire 80%.

Methinks that El. Reg should stay the hell away from reviewing games when they clearly have no idea.

Well, well...

I assume that IMG and other 'screw manning' cohorts will now just shut the hell up as their OWN judiciary system has finally decided that his treatment was WRONG all along as many of us argued.

Oh wait, I see IMG suggesting that it woud've been easier to just have him shot in the first place.

Y'know, I am suspecting IMG of being a terrist as he is clearly so staunchly opposed to the American judicial system. Perhaps someone should go round and shoot him now?

Fail. 'cos you did.

(I won't end this post with 'America? Fuck no!' because, slow in coming as it was, the US might finally have done something in keeping with their stated standards. Maybe.