* Posts by Pompous Git

3087 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Sep 2014

New plastic banknote plans now upsetting environmental campaigners

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: One fairly serious alternative is ...

"I don't know what the Germans drank"
Schnaps, which means a “gulp” in old German, or Brandweinis, a brandy enjoyed warm and in small measures to let the flavor and aroma unfold.

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"Knit bast fibers (linen, hemp, etc.) tend to fall on the delicate side of the care scale along with silks (they don't seem to be as hardy and are more vulnerable to various substances), making their uses in things like T-shirts and undergarments not as affordable."
Well, my understanding is:

- Linen has almost twice the strength of cotton.

- Linen has a crisp handle compared to cotton that has a much softer handle.

- Both fabrics are breathable, hypo allergenic and have a good hand feel.

- Linen has a higher moisture absorbency than cotton and this is one of the keys to the longevity of Linen fabrics.

- Both Linen and Cotton are plant based fibres, produced from cellulose. They are both structurally sound fibres and which ensures that cotton and linen products both retain their shapes.

- Linen is significantly more environment friendly, as it needs less water and far lesser levels of chemicals to thrive.

- Cotton is intrinsically a fine fibre, and that allows it to be able to be woven into a higher thread count fabric. Linen is a much thicker fibre and gets spun and woven into technically a lower thread count fibre. Linen’s intrinsic properties however make it a superior, and durable fabric.

The last point really determines whether you would choose Linen or Cotton fabric for a shirt. You would go with Cotton if you were looking for fineness of fabric and softness. You will on the other hand pick Linen if you were looking for Fabric lustre and longevity of the garment.

Traditionally, linen bedsheets were handed down through a family, something that could hardly be said of even the best quality cotton bedsheets.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: best solution!

"I'm of the opinion that people's religious and moral feelings ought to be respected when they don't coincide with yours or are even quite stupid. That is simply what tolerance means."
Sounds good and up to a point I might even agree with you. Unfortunately, I suspect that there will be objectors to any lubricant you care to name. What then? No banknotes? How about tolerance of adherents to Daesh who appear to want to exterminate anyone who disagrees with their religion/philosophy?

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Re: best solution!

"Most of it [forest] went pre-industrialisation, to build a Navy's-worth of wooden ships, and of course all the other reasons - wood for fuel, wood for house-building, clearing space for inefficient agriculture, ..."
You might be surprised by the amount that went in the Neolithic. It doesn't matter how efficient your agriculture is, it ain't going to happen without clearing the land of forest.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Missing a trick

I gave up the idea when the mass of allergy warnings started to include things such as celery as I then decided reality had exceeded the bounds of satire
Allergy to celery is a common problem for those who grow it. The workers harvesting the crop usually "only" suffer contact dermatitis (rashes, swollen lips and throat and such that you get from excess histamine) but anaphaleptic shock is not unknown.

Personally I can't stand celery or a certain class of celery eaters for that matter.

I committed a bit of food bastardry on a flatmate back in the 70s. He claimed to be allergic to onions and garlic both ingredients being in most dishes I cook. So I put a very tiny amount of onion in a soup and used my newly acquired food processor to blend it and make the onion "undetectable". His immune system detected it and his lips swelled up, face went red etc.

Yes, a lot of food allergy is imaginary, trendy bullshit but that doesn't mean it all is. It's also worth noting that allergy can worsen over time. I used to keep bees and the occasional sting never bothered me at all. Then I started to react to stings: localised swelling/pain/itching that took two weeks to go away. The last time I was stung I was hospitalised for two days.

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Re: Everything is offensive to some people

"Er, no. Almost all biodiesel comes from rapeseed and soy.... Palm Oil really is too valuable to just burn"
45% of palm oil used in Europe in 2014 went to biodiesel, up from 8% in 2010

Biofuels Indonesia for more info

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Re: best solution!

"And the vegetarians soon shut up once they realise their home-cooked meal contains more human flesh in parts per million than banknotes contain tallow, because they were stood sweating and moulting and flaking over it whilst they were cooking."
Does their snot count too, or is that "just bacteria"?

Pompous Git Silver badge

"But you can counter simply asking if they want to go back to wool or linen undergarments, T-shirts, and so on. Because as far as I know, no one's managed to find anything even close to cotton in terms of its desirable qualities."
Hemp and linen are both well-suited to substitute for cotton in all but one respect: cost*. And the "environmental campaigners" don't give a flying fuck for them that can't afford such.

* I'm not too sure if cotton really is cheaper. I have a hemp shirt that's at least 15 years old and still little sign of wear. My cotton shirts OTOH need the collar reversing after less than 5.

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Re: Everything is offensive to some people

"palm oil is in so many of our food products these days."
Not to mention diesel fuel since it's now mandated that it include biofuel.

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Re: One fairly serious alternative is ...

"Ghee.

I used it as bar oil on one of my saws once"

Next time I run out of chain oil, I'll just pop into the kitchen and clarify some butter then. Butt not in the winter...

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"What about cottonseed oil"
Cotton has the highest requirement for pesticide inputs. Wool = animal exploitation. Flax isn't hemp (cannabis is kewl, right?). Can't for the life of me think what they'd object to about sunflower and safflower but I'm sure they will. It's in their nature (so to speak).

Robo-AI jobs doomsday may, er... not actually happen, say boffins

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@ Tim Seventh (was Re: Displaced not redundant)

It may not have occurred to you, but the wealth whereof we squeak is concentrated where there's maximum automation/cheap energy. I would suggest that if we assist the third world to achieve similar levels of automation/cheap energy, they will no longer be so badly off. Of course The Green Blob is vehemently opposed to this happening.

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Paris Hilton

Re: How about the jobs that those robots create ?

"No, you route them into a loop. If Robot A can service Robot B and Robot B can service Robot A (or at some point in the chain, the robot or robots can circle back to service the first robot in the loop)"
But if all these fembots are busy servicing each other, how do they find the time to service paying clients? Or am I missing something?

Paris because there's no icon for Anita...

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Re: Displaced not redundant

"that's not true though, most people have double glazing, central heating, kitchens full of gadgets they never use, 3 TVs, mobile phones for everyone, tablets, games consoles, fridge freezers, dishwashers even."
Had a tenant whose rent was subsidised by the government, therefore low income. Moved out after 12 months and left behind two full skips of tat.
"The cost of housing hasn't fallen though, this is due to lack of permissions to build and the lack of automation in the building process (these together add up to restrictive practises and keep the price high)."
Here in Oz and probably UKLand as well, the high cost of housing is more due to high cost of land. The cost of land is maintained by Planning Schemes designed to do just that because that's what keeps the land taxes and rates bringing in the moolah for more government.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Displaced not redundant

"Probllem there is that the cost of living hasn't fallen as quickly as the average wage, plus inflation affects the cost of living harder than the average wage. End result, cheaper goods are STILL out of reach for people locked into pittance jobs that pay EVEN LESS."
Er... when I were a lad, the poor were poorer. Working class today have a standard of living only achieved by the middle class in the 1950s.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Displaced not redundant

"The cost of a mini in 1960 was about 1/5th of a house

The cost of the equivalent today is about 1/22nd (and it is more reliable and cheaper to run)"

I take it then the new ones don't have Lucas electrics...

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"over the past hundred years farming jobs didn't go away, but one or two guys can do the work of dozens. With ratios like that, the idea of farm hand as a separate job from farm manager has all but evaporated."
The percentage of the population involved in farming has declined from over 50% to around 1%. And there's a shortage of farmhands. My neighbour (apple orchardist and beef cattle) told me he's selling up. Neither of his sons are interested in taking over.

'Windows 10 destroyed our data!' Microsoft hauled into US court

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Re: Uh what?

"I learnt very quickly that when you create a set of backup disks just after doing the 10 update, it would wipe out windows.old (or wherever the recovery data was kept) as a part of the process."
Aaaah, so that's why my rollback to w7 didn't succeed then.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: You can EULA if you want to..

"you are bound by the EULA which basically takes away any rights to have an OS that works or will maintain your data safely"
That's certainly not true under Australian consumer law. Legal rights cannot be abrogated by a contract.

"Products must be of acceptable quality, that is: [be] safe, lasting, with no faults, look acceptable and do all the things someone would normally expect them to do."
Emphasis mine.

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"If you need a new computer and can't get Windows 7, install Ubuntu or another Linux OS."
That's not a particularly useful suggestion if the software you need to run will only run under Windows. Ditto for hardware for which there are no *nix drivers.

I often recommend people purchase Dell refurbs that come with Win7.

Dell refurbs

My ASUS Zenbook was a factory refurb. I paid $AU700 when they were still selling for $AU1,300.

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"This is why my windows 8.1 installation is on a 60gb SSD that I make sure to constantly keep at only around 2gb of free space.

Have fun background downloading Windows 10 onto that, Microsoft."

You haven't thought this through very well. All MS has to do is delete a few of your "unnecessary" files before the DL.

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"Most of you complain about how bad Microsoft is then you keep using it and not save a BACKUP. Seems a few screws short in my book. Looks like most of you are trying to blame MICROSOFT for you not beeing educated enough to be using a PC."
You're obviously a noob. And a fuckwit...

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Linux

I'm just so glad I'm retired

That's the prime requirement for being expected to support friends and family.
Actually, demand for my support has declined since retirement. First, I only provided support for WinXP and Win7. Then following the GWX fiasco, I demonstrated Cinnamon Mint on various friends' PCs. All were more than happy with Mint and none have needed support since.

Also made a habit of lending my Mac Mini to people considering upgrading their hardware. Most changed from Win to OSX and needed no subsequent support from me. I'm a lazy fucker at heart :-)

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: About time too

Pirate versions are better, always have been...
Not so. Many prate versions of software contain code you definitely don't want running on your system. Conversely, until WinXP MS software wasn't copy-protected. Heck, you could purchase an upgrade version of Word 6 for example, and so long as you had a file called word.exe on your system, run the upgrade. Word.exe could just be a text file renamed to word.exe.

As for movies, I just "pirate" my legitimate version with DVD Fab to remove the unwanted crap :-)

Pompous Git Silver badge

exactly what has that got to do with my original post?
FWIW that was aimed at several other posters here rather than your good self. Reinstalling w7 is not necessarily all that easy.

And yes, I think you've been lucky. Clients can be maddeningly obtuse. One I had set up to backup her data automatically decided to purchase a new machine. To "make the transfer quicker", she deleted all the backed up data. There must have been maybe 100 MB of data on the several gigabyte hdd! Unfortunately the outlook.pst file was unrecoverable.

I'm just so glad I'm retired.

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Discussed this with...

... a colleague/friend/relative [delete whichever is inapplicable] and a couple of things came up.

While ASUS obtained permission to put the CoA/PK on the power adapter of my Zenbook, disconnecting it is most likely a breach of the MS EULA. Further, when I used my OEM w7 DVD in conjunction with the ASUS supplied PK I was definitely in breach of the MS EULA. I imagine the data recovery business in question might very well play things by the book. A missing CoA or restore media means a whole new OS is required and I seem to recall w7 licences being very difficult to purchase recently.

The problem with w10 I had was also experienced by my friend. He solved the persistent "you appear to have a graphics problem" by installing the correct driver from AMD. Needless to say, on the first mandatory "upgrade" from MS, the problem reappeared as MS appear to disapprove of correctly working video drivers.

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I've done hundreds of windows upgrades and have NEVER lost access to the old data. It stores it in windows.old.
While what you say is undoubtedly veridical, it marks you out as a bit of an amateur. I've been using Windows since Win 286 and there's one thing I learnt very early on. Upgrading Windows is vastly inferior to a clean install.

You can't reinstall the previous Windows version if you lack install media and the Product Key. The PK is on the power adapter for my Zenbook and it's not beyond the realms of possibility to leave such plugged into an hotel wall on the opposite end of the planet. Or for wear and tear to obliterate the PK (overzealous office cleaners).

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win 10 update stores old user profiles and windoze folders in windows.old with an option to rollback
So I take it you've never seen:

"...refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer, on a network, or on a different computer on your home network. Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet or home network, and then try again. If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location."

Oddly, Linux can see and copy the files, but not Windows. Nor can you delete the folder in Windows. When Windows fucks up, it does so big-time. BTW, none of the suggested fixes on the interwebs worked for me.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Except that doesn't work

Rollback didn't work on my main desktop machine. Had to reinstall because w10 didn't work. Still, I must say I'm grateful to MS for the opportunity to install and enjoy Cinnamon Mint :-)

Microsoft wants screaming Windows fans, not just users

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: I rather like Windows 10.

"Media Centre does still run on Windows 10"
No, it doesn't. MS removed WMC from w10. There is a hacked version you can DL that will run on w10, but I somehow don't think that would meet with MS's approval. And there couldn't possibly be any danger in DLing a hacked component from the Interwebs now could there?

"I cannot speak for your friend's sign cutter. Perhaps he needs to talk to the supplier?"
WTF's that going to achieve? My transparency scanner (Canon FS2710) was purchased back in the days of w2k. When I upgraded to wxp, Canon ignored requests for help to get the scanner running. I solved the issue, but never succeeded with w7. Do you really think my friend talking to the supplier of his hardware is an adequate substitute for cutting signs for his clients? Many hardware sellers much prefer you to go to another manufacturer for a replacement device than purchase your loyalty with updated drivers for new OSs.

Drugs likewise, so we have something in common ;-)

"I really don't understand the anger this subject raises. It's just an operating system, dude!"

I don't think I am angry. Back when MS started the GWX fiasco I was. All of my Internet bandwidth used up downloading redundant copies of w10. But that was what led me to try Cinnamon Mint and the joys of a really first class OS. Being told we should get with it and just suck up problems such as I had doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

My problem with w10 on the one machine I installed it was being nagged every few minutes with the message "You appear to have a graphics problem". A friend with the same adapter (HD7700 series) DL'd a working driver from AMD only to have it replaced with the original buggy driver by MS update. An OS that forces replacement of working parts with non-working parts is pretty useless to me.

I did contemplate at the time replacing the video adapter, but when I went looking for the HCL on MS's website, there wasn't one. What was I supposed to do? Buy video adapters at random and hope for the best?

No, w10 is not just an OS. It's MS saying: Your Internet bandwidth and computer are belong to us. Well I say fuck 'em. No they don't.

FWIW since you're new around here, I was a MS Certified Solution Provider back in the 90s before I retired.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: I rather like Windows 10.

"More advanced needs require additional applications, all of which run on Windows 10 or the Server equivalents, also with no drama."
Oh really? How about wanting to still watch television? W10 removed Windows Media Centre and the application that came with the capture card won't work on w10. How about my mate's advanced need for his sign-cutter to work? That won't work on w10.

"Choose your own OS, and your own applications, for your own requirements. And then extend the same courtesy to others."
MS forcing w10 on users, using up precious bandwidth without permission, is allowing the user choice? What drugs are you on?

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Uhm, right.... suuure.

"As they have shown a complete lack of understanding on customer needs, that's whats resulted in many of us closing the windows and moving to Linux or devices based on other OS's."
Wish I could upvote that more...

Federal Police toss nbn™ under a bus over leaks to Senator

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Re: Better for democracy

"Why have they not followed through and identified the appropriate personnel for dismissal?"
Actually I find it quite heartwarming. It's that time-honoured Australian virtue: mateship.

Court smacks Telstra over wholesale pricing

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Re: ACCC power

"why can't the same price control apply to our electricity supply ?"
The telecoms companies operate nationally and subject to federal government controls while the electricity suppliers are state-based and mainly subject to state government controls.

Florida Man can't pause cycle on Samsung 'exploding' washing machine lawsuit

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Re: Violently disassembling themselves ?

That's not self-disassembly! That's what you do to washing machines caught downloading vacuum-cleaner pron from the interwebs...

Dishwasher has directory traversal bug

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"It is becoming harder and harder to find the damned powder in boxes by itself."

So why bother?

1. Place dirty dishes in dishwasher as usual (grime, goo and all).

2. Add about three drops of regular dish soap to your dishwasher's detergent cup.

3. Fill the cup 2/3 of the way with baking soda.

4. Add salt until the cup is nearly full. This is to suppress foaming.*

Run your dishwasher as normal.

* When my dishwasher foams there's nothing I can do but wait for her to calm down. But then I find her immensely more sexually attractive than the average dishwasher.

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"My dish washer is connected to the internet. Me !!!"
My dishwasher connects to the Internet too. SWMBO! :-)

DNA-bothering eggheads brew beer you were literally born to like

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"2,100 pints at a pint a day (for health benefits) is over 5 and a half years. So what is the shelf life going to be?"
Depends. Most commercial beers are pasteurised and contain "preservatives". Their shelf-life is less than 12 months. Some beer I made somewhat more than 5 years ago is still drinking fine, but then I don't pasteurise or add "preservatives" (other than hops).

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Re: Almost Interesting

"Tasmanian blue cheeses are among the best cheeses I've ever tried"

Not so long ago, a neighbour shared the last of her cheese that had won Best of Show at the Sydney Royal with her friends. It was a Roquefort-style sheep's milk cheese. My preference is for Camembert or Brie but this was mind-blowingly good!

"French Judge Herve Mons said he was impressed by the overall quality of Australian blue cheese on display, and by [her] cheese in particular."

Yes, we do know how to eat well, though this was not so when we arrived in the 1960s. We have a lot to thank the Greeks, Italians, Germans, Poles, Vietnamese etc for. It has been a privilege to live in a successful multicultural society. Sadly most of our politicians are doing their best to create a somewhat more divided society. So it goes...

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Almost Interesting

"Try the Antipodes.

They have two varieties of cheese Tasty and Sharp."

Lying cunt!

Tasmanian cheese

Joe and Tonia make the best cheeses I have ever tasted. Joe's family has been making cheese since the 14thC.

After London attack, UK gov lays into Facebook, Google for not killing extremist terror pages

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the road to hell is paved with good...

...inventions. FTFY.

Computers, nuclear power, DDT, bird- and bat-mincers...

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Re: It's slippery sloop at best

... and Tom the cabin boy smiled and said nothing.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: Distraction tactics - attack is the best form of defence

Try to look further back than your own adolescence. In fact, try looking back over the past 4,000 years of history.
Some of us have and it's incredibly rare to be killed by a terrorist. The big killers, particularly over the last 100 years have been governments executing their own citizens. The ratio is well over 1000:1.

'Clearance sale' shows Apple's iPad is over. It's done

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Re: Education PC seller says Apple is no good in that market

THIS (gently shakes said iPad) is NOT a computer.

OED defines computer as "A calculating-machine; esp. an automatic electronic device for performing mathematical or logical operations; freq. with defining word prefixed, as analogue, digital, electronic computer"

So presumably incapable of performing mathematical and logic operations. Maybe he was channelling John Sculley and mistaking the iPad for a bottle of Pepsi :-)

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Unhappy

Actually

I hope the era of the iPad comes to an end ASAP. The main purpose of owning one appearing to be to obscure what's happening on stage from those unfortunate enough to be behind the wankers holding them above their heads!

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Re: If you wish hard enough - it might come true

Pull your head out of your backside and visit some actual schools and universities, then bask in the glow of illuminated Apple logos.
In the dim and distant maybe. Two decades ago, UTas was awash with Macs. A decade ago, there were more PC labs than Mac labs and if you wanted to get some work done, the Mac labs were the place to get it done. Hardly any in use versus queues in the PC labs.

Good news, everyone! Two pints a day keep heart problems at bay

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Re: No moral reason

On the other hand "oaked" wines always have a bitter kick in the throat.
That's because you're committing infanticide. The tannin from oaking is not there to add a bitter taste, it's there as a preservative while the wine matures. Over time, the tannin deposits itself in the bottom of the bottle and when that's (almost) complete, the wine is at its peak.

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Re: Moral: Life is a terminal disease.

you will only get half your mother's genes anyway
Rather more than half actually. You're forgetting about mitochondrial DNA which comes exclusively from your mother.

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Re: Two whole pints?!

There are many good reasons for drinking, and one has just entered my head

A toast:

Here's to the perfect girl,

I couldn't ask for more.

She's deaf 'n dumb, oversexed,

and owns a liquor store.

Pompous Git Silver badge

Re: This is correlative not causative.

I don't drink wine much because most of it is bitter stuff. Gold medals are usually a warning sign IMHO.
Actually, very little wine is bitter; Amarone is deliberately bitter, but most wine is made from other grapes. If the white you're drinking is bitter, it's likely oxidised because of a faulty closure.

Gold medals are awarded for the best in class at wine shows. They are not intended to be an absolute guide. There are ever so many different classes at any given wine show, so it's possible to obtain a gold medal merely by being the only wine entered into a particular class. It's also possible for a bronze medal winner in one class to be ever so much better than a gold medal winner in a different class.

Basically, the medal system is a marketing tool unless you can be bothered to understand which class the particular wine was awarded its gong. Far better IMHO to have a good working relationship with your supplier. Mine allows me to drink two bottles from a case and if I don't like the wine, return the case for a full refund. His "sales droids" also know my tastes and phone me when a favourite is about to cease to be available. The discount on the last few dozen tends to be 50% or more. I do love those "sales droids" ;-)