Posts by Kubla Cant

Re: Robot wars?

I've only ever caught the last few minutes of Robot Wars. It looked to me like the warring machines were being guided by fat blokes with remote controls. Was I mistaken, or are there in fact no actual robots involved?

Re: WS_EX_TOPMOST

I hear the next version of UWP brings back CGA graphics compatibility.

Ah, but will it have the authentic on-screen snow when refreshing.

LET

The latest manifestation of EctoplasmECMA Script has introduced a "let" keyword as a fix for the tragically ill-conceived "var". To anyone with experience of early BASIC this is an unfortunate choice, as it indicates variable definition, not assignment. Using "let" more than once on the same variable causes an error. You'd think ECMA could have found a keyword with less history.

Re: "the drug-induced stupor makes it difficult"

strange virtual wolds in your brain

I think it's known as Lincolnshire.

Re: self-employment check

Their house their rules?

Yes, but it seems to be more a case of "We're big, you're small, so we can do whatever we like". When I've been approached about public-sector contracts recently, I've been told "You will have to work through an umbrella company rather than your own limited company". If true, this clearly implies that the public sector is discriminating against small business.

I bet Crapita doesn't have PAYE/NIC deducted at source.

Re: Read more

Progress bars that are just an illusion are my pet hate.

You'll love this then. I worked on an application that did lots of long-running database operations. The thing about those is that there's no real way to monitor progress, so I had to resort to Zeno's progress bar. In the first minute* it gradually increases to 50% done. In the second it goes to 75%. And so on, never actually reaching 100% until the result comes back from the database.

* The actual time for each increment is based on an estimate of the likely total time. It's also a bit more convincing if the initial increment and the progression aren't 50%.

Re: Best traps

The edible doormouse is the European vermin from hell

It's actually illegal to trap your own glis glis (edible dormice) as they're protected. Doesn't make them less of a pest.

Re: I dunno...

@Neil Barnes: In general, I agree with you. But:

- Fridge: requires a thermostat and a little switch to turn the light on. Many fridges now have a frost-free feature that presumably relies on some kind of timer. I don't suppose anyone is perverse enough to be nostalgic about freezer defrosting.

- Heating: requires a thermostat to turn the heating on and off. And a timer.

- Lifts: requires a little control logic and a set of buttons to select a target floor. True only for small buildings. Moving large numbers of people around tall buildings requires logic that controls all the lifts, and sometimes the slightly annoying feature where you select a floor when you arrive in the lobby, so the system can optimise each lift's stops.

Re: When R/C hobby models now come with autoland, these folks are simply pathetic.

You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes. -- JBS Haldane

How about a whale? (With or without a bowl of petunias)..

The whale would get stuck. For it is written: "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a whale to fit down a mine shaft."

(I haven't heard that one for a while - there can't really be any factories still using pre-war machinery).

Want to bet? I know of at least one place where they are still using a punch press that has the manufacturers metal label on the front, stating it was produced in 1931.

Actually, while writing the above, I kept thinking of Whitechapel Bell Foundry, established in 1570 and manufacturing on the same site since 1738 (and now, sadly, facing an uncertain future). They must have some pretty old machinery.

Re: Tape?

"Then, to our dismay, we were confronted by another crisis. Nearly five thousand highly skilled men had been selected to serve the Analyzers and had been given an intensive course at the Technical Training Schools. At the end of seven months, 10 percent of them had had nervous breakdowns and only 40 per cent had qualified the course, 90 percent of them left to become freelance contractors."

Re: Er, there's a better way...

Not, I suspect "better" in the sense of cheaper, easier, simpler or quicker.

Re: overhaul?

If you make a chocolate bar that looks too much like a Cadbury's one, you'll be in trouble.

I think this shows where the problem lies. The Cadbury's trademark applies to a fairly narrow set of products, whereas the HBO one covers "clothing, mugs, drinking glasses, hats, bags, mouse pads and similar tat" *. The HBO trademark applies to a commonly-used sentence on a wide group of products that often carry messages.

If I sell a chocolate bar in purple foil, then it's reasonable to claim that it's counterfeit Cadbury's. If I sell a hat with "Winter is coming" on it, but no knights in armour and women with their tits out **, then it's absurd to suggest I'm passing it off as an HBO hat.

* I suppose it's too much to hope that the registration actually uses the phrase "similar tat".

** I'm afraid my knowledge of Game of Thrones is entirely second-hand.

Re: Maybe they should consider going over to Linux?

If the NHS had sat down, formed an OS development team, taken a base Linux distro, and gone on to build their own bespoke system on top of it they could by now be sitting on a highly developed, relatively very secure and stable OS that they would be in control of and that would offer a common platform for the whole NHS to work with.

Sounds good.

But back in the real world, they'd outsource the development to Monster IT Inc, extend the scope to refactoring the world, and end up with a bill of £100bn for a "free" operating system. By the time it was delivered (if it ever was), everyone would have installed XP.

Re: estimated net "benefit" of £5.7bn by 2020

like utilita witch...

What kind of witch is Utilita? A Wicked Witch or a Good Witch?

Re: "How do you license something.............."

AFAIK Microsoft do not charge a license fee for devices with screens under seven inches.

Sounds like a good way to acquire cheap Windows server licenses, for those that want them. After all, it's a server, so a titchy screen should do.

Re: Actually curious...

I suppose an ISP's business model is selling connectivity to punters at a lower price than the next ISP. Service enhancements that don't directly improve the offer to consumers are just a cost. It seems to be a very competitive business, so there probably isn't much margin available for this kind of thing.

If a brand new train, running a fixed route on a dead end line with no other trains, needs a driver in order to carry passengers, how on earth are driverless cars even a thing?

Costs and benefits. The Mail Rail tourist route can only derive a small benefit from driverless operation, so the cost of implementing it isn't justified.

Driverless trains are not uncommon. The DLR has been one since 1987. The Victoria Line, constructed in the 1960s, has drivers, but the trains are automatic.

Re: More I think about this..

How about this for a plausible explanation:

Salesman looks at picture of document, then swipes to see if there's another page. Instead of more loan document pages, he gets Mrs Gautreaux in the bath. He decides to tease the Pastor by handing the phone back with the nudie shot on show. Gautreaux doesn't see the joke. Either through vindictiveness or to deflect his wife's wrath, he sends the pictures to the swinger site and lays the blame on Thomas. Mrs Pastor is now even madder. Escalation via lawyer ensues. Million-dollar law suit results.

Re: Who cares?

@gazthejourno Best post of the day! I wish I could upvote it more.

Re: Online => shipping...

In other words, they'll only ship to the card holder.

In my experience, this is rare and becoming rarer. Most deliveries are made during working hours, so buyers tend to have deliveries sent to their work address or to the home of a friend or relative who's in all day.

Re: Enter == submit

web coders today don't think about things like that so they default the selected button to the [SUBMIT] button

Probably the result of oversight or ignorance. I'm fairly sure that both <input type="submit"> and <input type="button"> result in a default button. The more recent <button /> tag doesn't.

Re: Silly people

Veganism is about all animals, not just the cute ones.

Cockroaches? Mosquitoes? Krill? Protozoa? Obviously you wouldn't want to eat them, but what would be your response to banknotes lubricated with protozoa?

Re: No big deal

Given that people eat bread coated with re-cycled piss (Urea)

Piss may contain urea, but I don't think it's an economical source. I believe urea was one of the first organic compounds to be synthesised. Perhaps they should have chosen a name that doesn't advertise the urinary connection.

Re: Yep

The distance from the North Pole to the Equator via Paris was originally defined as 10,000 km. Then it [the metre] was based on a standard pole, then on the wavelength of a particular type of light.

Those who are old enough to have learned Imperial units at school will be delighted to discover that the metre was at one time defined in terms of the rod, pole or perch.

The rod or perch or pole is a surveyors tool and unit of length equal to 5 1⁄2 yards, 16 1⁄2 feet, 1⁄320 of a statute mile or one-fourth of a surveyor's chain. The rod is useful as a unit of length because whole number multiples of it can equal one acre of square measure.

Re: Moto G4 plus

I bought a Moto G4 Plus 16GB from Amazon for £199 from Amazon in August. It looks like it's still available at that price. It's a decent phone, from a brand I've heard of, with a full English version of Android. When I plug in the charger at the end of the day it's usually showing more than 50% battery charge left.

In what way is the Blu Vivo better value at £229?

Re: I wonder what would happen if...

What would happen if people stopped voting for the same old same old parties and stared thinking about what these people are doing with the power they are given and vote for someone else.

Hmm. Substitute "same old same old candidates" in that sentence and we know what happens: Trump.

Re: Calling our bluff, are you?

BT is a government agency

That's funny, I'm sure I recall something about a BT privatisation. Have they re-nationalised it on the quiet?