Posts by Nick Kew

Re: A lot of money

Wot, no 4G? And prospect of 5G?

(I grant you Virgin is no alternative, so if Openreach reacheth not then there's a shortage of wired alternatives).

Re: A Good Counter Argument ...

I have always said that the main problem is not being identified as a miscreant, but being mis-identified as a miscreant.

It's happened to me a few times, including one occasion when five intimidating-sized cops turned up at the door. I don't even know what the accusation was on that occasion!

On an earlier occasion I got stopped because - apparently - I looked like someone who had been reported by several women as a sexual attacker. That was facial recognition by a human cop.

These experiences are slightly traumatic, but it never occurred to me to put myself through the far bigger trauma of inviting lawyers into my life.

Re: Blame Canada

The "hard border" may be a reference to it being a bit of a trek. If the link works, here's one I crossed some years ago. There does seem to be something that could be a border fence, but if it existed when I crossed, it was entirely under the snow (the statue was clearly visible, and indeed marked on my map, but I never saw she was mounted on a brick construction).

Re: Vodafone

Vodafone has high street shops. What happens if you walk into one with a customer service issue (as in "it doesn't work"?) That's a genuine question: I've never had need of their customer service.

I had always thought this was an ultimate bottom-line solution if I needed it: O2 and EE staff in shops have always been helpful when asked. Then I tried it with Virgin Media when my cable broadband had failed, and found customer service inspired by Kafka.

A well-trained dog knows where not to go, and that includes anywhere a human might tread.

I've yet to meet the horse that was well-trained in that department. Their (much bigger) stinking piles routinely get left where they're a menace, up to and including literally on the doorstep of where I used to live. And the equine set couldn't give a ****.

Re: Benchmarks and other deceptions

Those lanes may be one place where AI drivers most easily outperform humans.

At least, the substantial minority of human drivers who struggle to reverse in a straight line (let alone round a bend) when you need to get to the nearest passing place.

Re: I'll drink to that

pfft. I was thinking more in terms of what we've collectively learned about the dangers of working as root (and giving root to people). And of the fact that even windows now separates out different users and roles. And even of secondary nonsense like aliasing, overloading or renaming system commands to confuse users, or of nonstandard PATHs and LIBRARY_PATHs, etc.

I doubt that the entire site managed to feature anyone as stupid as its owner.

Agreed. But you're missing the distinction between a monumentally stupid person and an otherwise-normal person doing stupid things in a moment of drunken exuberance. There might be strong competition in the latter category, and a university environment could offer fertile ground.

Re: With pretty well everyone and their dog

Erm, the article says she's reached the supreme court. Not that the case has been heard and they've reached a verdict.

On the face of it, nanny state gone mad. Could there be more to it than we've been told? For example, what if she was drunk and tottering in high heels, and had turned abusive when offered friendly advice? If that were the underlying story then it looks more finely balanced.

Re: Should companies be on the hook for criminal employees' doings?

With that level of "reasonable" precautions, who would work there? I would rapidly take offence at a system designed on the premise that I was guilty of criminal intent and needed to be stopped.

And who will implement such a system? What if they themselves turn rogue? It's people all the way down!

Even highly-classified military stuff is secured against employees only to the extent that they won't *accidentally* leak. An employee deliberately setting out to leak - from a spy to a whistleblower - will more-likely-than-not succeed if they make a serious effort.

Re: And a lot of lawyers are crying

Will that be worth more to shareholders than the article's $2/share extra earnings for Qualcomm?

And how will such a bunch of lawyers let loose affect the forthcoming US election? If they push the buttons and pull strings on all those candidates, they'll surely provoke a big lawsuit or two somewhere to fund their contributions to the candidate who'll support them the most!

Bandits don't wear ski masks any more and rob banks or trains. They wear 3-piece suits and there's always a place for them to hide.

You say that as if something had changed in modern times.

When W S Gilbert said the same back in 1879, he was clear that there was nothing new about it.

Re: is it just me

Just you? I have no idea whether you look like a dildo with wings.

And would that be a human or lupine dildo? Come to think of it, I don't think I'd know what either looks like.

56k? Luxury!

When I got my first modem to connect from home, it was the standard asymmetric 1Kb down (a few bytes up), or an alternative symmetric mode of 256 bytes both up and down. Couldn't afford business-grade high speed connection of 2k.

Re: Anarchist Cookbook

Someone got locked up for merely possessing that as far back as May 2010. Perhaps someone should remind the powers-that-be that within living memory we were at total war with Nazi Germany, yet there were no restrictions on owning or reading Mein Kampf. Once upon a time, Britain stood for freedom.

Re: Why is it...

Surely it goes in cycles? We have a period of thin stories, prompting someone to get an arse into gear and contribute a real corker? There were some great stories when Rebecca first took over the column!

Re: Works both ways

The mother-in-law joke comes from living under the same roof, with no privacy to enjoy your beloved's company.

Easy to forget where the archetype originated, when living as a couple under your in-laws' roof is at least unusual, and counts as official homelessness if you don't at least have your own room.

Re: legal system

Indeed.

In this witness's case, it's not his battle, he's just been co-opted into it. He's presumably just taken a line of least resistance, letting himself be guided by the lawyers.