Posts by Trigonoceps occipitalis

Re: Just place a whole lot of them in a circle

Oops! I mean £350 million per week.

Re: SmartThings for pets

At one time it was common "knowledge" that dog food adverts included a high pitched tone to attract Rover's attention. To be beyond human hearing it would have been far above the TV speakers capability. I suppose some clever heterodyne mixing could work, by accident or design?

Re: The WOPR was right

"Very much a "we'll all go down together" situation. Not Israel, everybody."

.

And we will all go together when we go.

What a comforting fact that is to know.

Universal bereavement,

An inspiring achievement,

Yes, we all will go together when we go.

.

Tom Lehrer

Re: What I really want to know

HAL, what could possibly go wrong?

Re: Of course

Get in line in that processional,

Step into that small confessional.

There the guy who's got religion'll

Tell you if your sin's original.

If it is, try playin' it safer,

Drink the wine and chew the wafer,

Two, four, six, eight,

Time to transubstantiate!

Tom Lehrer (Vatican Rag)

Re: As used by Government Ministers in the UK

(only problem is that they're a fortnightly publication)

That's nearly two prime ministers!

(Note for El Reg Standards Bureau.)

"to pay moderate staff adequately"

I think they are nouning a verb.

"to pay moderator staff adequately" ?

Re: increased positioning accuracy is deemed to be worth the cost

... this location requirement is obviously based on a commercial decision.

FTFY

"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all

yourself."

Groucho Marx

Re: "only about 15 percent of people use strong and unique passwords"

You have eight fingers and two thumbs. I don't know of a finger print authentication needing more than one print out side immigration or seriously secure factories or offices. You have nine spares, just cut the used digit off to prevent a mistake. It will also be an incentive to take more care of your biometrics.

Re: Jesus Christ

In the case of the power of a car, the fee for the upgrade could be considered as a warranty against the greater probability of something breaking due to use of the increased horsepower. Similarly the extra cost of an extended range Tesla is a sensible hedge against early battery failure.

However, an extra charge for fitted capabilities that have no bearing on reliability is just an excuse to milk the buyer.

Re: 10 to the power 24 (which would be a yottabyte).

The download will never work. I'll fall foul of the 2K38 bug.

Re: "the UK remains open to association"

About six months after the referendum was held I went to a lecture by an emeritus professor of hard sums at Cambridge University. His particular subject was post election analysis of who voted how. Of course his work fed into swingometers and the like but he was a serious statistician.

He said that at first sight there were the by then well know biases: brexiteers were more likely to be northern, older, less well educated, lower waged etc. None of this held up under rigorous statistical analysis.

There was only one factor that was in any way a significant predictor of how someone voted. If you answered yes to "Do you support the return of capital punishment?" you were more likely to vote leave.

Make of that what you will.

(Copy of a previous post.)

Re: Need more than coders

If you want to go to the Australian Outback drive a Land Rover - if you want to come back drive a Toyota!

Trees! The huge mistake was getting onto the beach.

(Tips hat to DA.)

Re: metallic core of a failed protoplanet

Oops!

six and seven

Perhaps Next Year

will indeed be the year of Linux on the desktop.

Re: Good!

"Paying them just proves it's worth their time"

That's what I said.

Re: Just realised I DO care about the US spelling, after-all

"...could care less..."

This is a translation of "couldn't care less."

By using American-English (every day more of an oxymoron) the meaning of the comment is made ambiguous. Does Victor Laudorum mean he cares and others care less, or is he saying that he does not care at all?

Re: Required Milton quote

I'll give you my stapler when you pry it from my cold, dead hands,

Re: But where's the "Merkel"

Quisling

He was a Norwegian.

Re: If a mistake is bad enough ...

He meant "slip".

"Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war."

Mark Antony in Act 3, Scene 1, line 273 of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Re: Poof, gone

Self Driving Car

In a few years when I get my Tesla "Autopilot" will be perfected. No doubt regulation will lag the real world and I will need to be ready to take back control (in a good way). Now, there is a large screen that could present adverts and, to make sure I am awake, require me to press the "OK" box occasionally.

You heard it here first and I am so, so sorry.

Re: Request denied!

If I could I would pay for Starlink terminals to be dropped by balloon all over Iran (and Myanmar, N Korea etc.) I would also drop many automatic decoy terminals to make electronic surveillance more difficult. The only problem remaining is getting the majority to believe, or at least consider, the "propaganda" from the Great Satan and his friends.

Re: Buy from the Mfr

Because some see the shiny and the headline £(not very much) cost per month and think "why not?" Then they factor in the "free" replacement in two or three years and, because they can't or won't do the sums, nor think about the real effect of the lock-in, they sign up. Sometimes I fear for humanity.

Years ago my daughter was going to university (history, I console myself that it is at least a literate, traditional subject) and wanted a mobile telephone. The only explanation that got through was pointing out that about every fourth shop was a 'phone shop and who else was paying the rent if not her?

Re: Clueless users

"Postcode and house number is all you need, the rest is just redundant window dressing."

That was true right up to the time, several years ago, when a new development used the same numbers as many houses in my Post Code area. It has caused untold problems because most believe this wrong information and use the default address offered by the address finder. It is a real problem and landed me with a £700 unauthorized overdraft (thank you waterboard) when the tenants changed in a house down the road.

I consulted the Post Office and the idea that solely a UK Post Code and house number uniquely identify an address has been wrong for a long time.

Re: Oh - the irony

Ding-a-ding-ding-ding

Re: HR message to all staff

When I started as a project manager (far too long ago) I was given advice about IBM. The company, then, had the reputation for not firing people. "Get into their office" was the advice. If the IBMer was not bringing profit he (they were all hes then) slowly lost working place privileges, if the office was in the end of the corridor by the toilets you knew he was an employee of little influence.

Re: One of those places

I find "bill.gates@ms.com" is usually accepted. I suppose I should update that address to the chairman of Halfords.

It's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stop at the end.

Douglas Adams

Re: for balance

"One person in millions is not a trend."

You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick, and they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them and three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in, singing a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said fifty people a day walking in singin' a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. And friends, they may think it's a movement!

Alice’s Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie

Re: Oh phew

Map Factor Navigator

(No affiliation etc.)

Re: make 'em yourself if you're smart enough

I'll see your Cuban and raise you a Falkland Islander.

"If a Bennie can't fix it, it aint broke!"

Re: AI? Really?

When ever I see "AI" I think "spreadsheet". I can remember the impact they made, hours to analyze the data rather than weeks using a blackboard, chalk and fairly basic arithmetic techniques.

In this case the hard lifting has been done searching out the DNA mutations. Perhaps AI and machine learning are a bit more sophisticated but I so want the terms relegated to actual use of learning and intelligence.

Surely hitting the infotainment hardware with a five dollar wrench would suffice?

Re: Approach

The best choice currently, to map structures is an Amazon Roomba.

FTFY

Re: Chorizo

Well, someone had to trotter them all out.

Re: There's a sucker born . . .

Nostalgia aint what it used to be!

"The point of building such facilities was to learn from them, and mistakes / errors / failures are part of the learning exercise."

It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you’re attempting can’t be done.

Sir Terry Pratchet

Re: Obligatory reference...

What's that in linguine?

Re: Net zero in home automation

"For those people who did buy the extended warranty, what happens when they phone up in a couple of years to say it has stopped working?"

It is a life time warranty. When the kit stops working it is self evident that the life time is over.