* Posts by Dodgy Geezer

1773 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Jul 2007

Apple hauled into US Supreme Court over, no, not ebooks, patents, staff wages, keyboards... but its App Store

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Get them on the standing....

...do not have legal standing to bring the case because they are not the ones being forced to pay the commission; it's the app developers, and they did not buy anything directly from Apple....

And of course the app developers aren't going to ruin their careers and income by doing anything to upset Apple...

Senior judge: Put AI in charge of reviewing social media evidence

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...AI Judge "10 years imprisonment"...

Surely that should be 42?

National ID cards might not mean much when up against incompetence of the UK Home Office

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Actually, it would still have happened. The main cause was trying to follow Climate Change Insulation Directives from the EU.

It would just have happened to fewer people, and more of them would have been white...

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Re: Why they really want ID cards

...Just guessing but if you are a VIP member of the 1% it must really grind your gears having to go through the "take your belt and shoes off and get in the machine" thing like everyone else...

If you're a VIP member of the 1%, what are you doing at a public airport getting into a commercial airliner?

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Re: Of course National ID cards are the answer

Could they solve Climate Change?

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Why is ANYTHING needed?

...The lack of an identity card has, arguably, caused severe problems for tens of thousands of people who were invited to move decades ago to the UK...

The problem was that the government had destroyed all records of these people coming over here. If they had kept those records there would have been no problem.

If the government kept its paperwork in decent order and used it as appropriate there would be no need of a central database. People are already recognized in lots of ways - these could be used where appropriate. For nationality, what's wrong with using the Passport database to start with? That will cover 83% of people - https://lightwater.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/ok-so-how-many-uk-citizens-have-a-passport/

What's all the C Plus Fuss? Bjarne Stroustrup warns of dangerous future plans for his C++

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Re: Actually, there's more...

It's of interest to know why the Wasa was top heavy, and what happened at the investigation afterwards.

Gustavus Adolphus wanted a big tall ship for fighting, so the shipwrights designed one according to his specs. During the build the designer died, so it was finished off by another, and at that stage was found to be obviously unstable.

But because the king wanted it, no one dared say anything. The ship was completed, launched, fitted out, and capsized on the maiden voyage when she encountered her first gust of wind. The king raved, and set up an inquiry to blame the sailors, the captain - anyone but himself. Eventually they settled on blaming the dead designer, and God....

Drones Bill said to be ready for world+dog's crayons 'this summer'

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Re: Exemption from Article 94A (the 400 foot rule)

...the Model Flying Associations will collectively apply for an exemption from Article 94A to allow their members to continue operating model aircraft below 7Kg above 400ft as they do under the current ANO....

So.... only club members? If you aren't a member of a club your flying is limited?

This is very like people claiming that hitting golf balls is dangerous, so people wil only be allowed to drive a golf ball 400ft - but golf club members can drive further.

The average amateur can drive a ball about 600ft. 400 ft is a good height for small models, but it will be regularly exceeded by thermal soarers. or slope soarers on a good day...

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Does anyone else worry about this?

...We understand that industry bodies expect the bill to be skeletal, in policy terms, with the precise details filled in at a later date by secondary legislation and binding guidance from regulators....

'Secondary legislation' means Orders in Council, which means directives from Ministers, which actually means whatever their department wants to do.

Binding Guidance from Regulators is similar.

This means that suddenly a new hobbyist area can be closed down on the whim of a few uneected officials. Haven't we had enough with sugar being banned?

Sir, you've been using Kaspersky Lab antivirus. Please come with us, sir

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Re: Я невиновен, товарищ!

I have a bridge I would like to sell you. It's a government asset, but NSA has approved the sale....

Oh, and NSA also point out that we have to have some more wars in the Middle East, because one of the leaders there is directly threatening the US. His identity is a secret from you, because you're not entitled to that piece of information. You are, however, entitled to pay for the war...

... Aaaand that's a fifth Brit Army Watchkeeper drone to crash in Wales

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Re: Location, location, location

Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu is only 85 characters.

In Thai, Bangkok is often called Krung Thep Maka Nakhon, or just Krung Thep. However, the full name is “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.”

Which is 169 characters....

Citation needed: Europe claims Kaspersky wares 'confirmed as malicious'

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There is no point commenting here...

We know that Kapersky is not an arm of Russian State. So do the EU funcionaris and politicians.

But our rulers have determined that we need an enemy. An enemy will justify more taxes, more government spend and provide a useful excuse to shut any opposition up.

I don't know what our rulers are planning. But this recent toning down on the Middle East and rise of concern about Russia sugests to me that we are about to swap Bogeymen, now that the Syrian war seems settled...

..."At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge, which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible."....

1984, Orwell

Brit drone biz Sensat notches up 29km remote-control flight

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I see that...

...the comments are full of people pointing out that this sort of thing is routine for aeromodellers, and has been for some time. Do you remember the Richard May autonomous glider flight to Lundy several years ago?

http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46297/1/IJUSEng%20-%20Glider%20for%20Cross-Channel%20Flight.pdf

They did the first Channel crossing by an unmanned radio controlled aircraft in 1954, This sort of thing is no longer news, no matter how many press releases are sent out by proud project managers....

Computer Misuse Act charge against British judge thrown out

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Re: Try again

...after a rejected comment (???)...

Yes. There is something odd happening with moderatioo - over the last week....

Shock: Google advises UK peers against more legislation

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1 thumb down ...

Lord Archer? Is that you?

Sorry to have woken you up....

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First question...

...Google advises UK peers against more legislation...

Did Google check if they were awake first?

Internet luminaries urge EU to kill off automated copyright filter proposal

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Cut back copyright times....

If the IP lawyers insist on having tight application of copyright legislation, let them have it for the 7 years (extensible to another 7) that was originally proposed when copyright was invented.

At the moment pretty much ALL information is owned by somebody - you often can't find out who - and using anything historical opens you to legal threat....

Scammers ahoy! International police operation harpoons 74 email whaling suspects

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Re: I'm not so sure...

Double post, because the first one was reported as 'Deleted by Moderator'. Post left up so that moderators can check it out, and find out what on earth is going on...??

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I'm not so sure...

...It remains to be seen how many of the arrests were of the instigators of any fraud rather than money mules who just handle the cash and who are thus relatively easy pickings. But it does look as though law enforcement is at last getting to grips with the issue....

Moticed the issue - certainly. Getting to grips with it - I'm not so sure.

The big bosses don't ever do anything illegal - they just take their cut. And they are well connected to the local politicians and police, so they know about investigations as soon as they happen...

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Can anyone see a contradiction here?

...It remains to be seen how many of the arrests were of the instigators of any fraud rather than money mules who just handle the cash and who are thus relatively easy pickings. But it does look as though law enforcement is at last getting to grips with the issue....

NOTICED the issue, yes. "Getting to grips" with it, in the sense of catching the king-pins - I'm not so sure.

Usually the big boss does nothing illegal himself, just taking a well-laundered cut. And bribes all the local politicians/police so that he is well aware of any investigation of this kind.....

Youth crime falls as kids stay inside to play Grand Theft Auto instead of going out to steal cars

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Physical crime is down...

..Youth crime falls as kids stay inside to play Grand Theft Auto instead of going out to steal cars....

...but computer crime goes up....

Apple: No currency mining for you in our App Store thank you

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...In addition, Apple has expanded its prohibition on unnecessarily expending resources, draining the battery...

Are there not valid reasons for giving Li-ion batteries charge-discharge cycles?

So net neutrality has officially expired. Now what do we do?

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Re: Slightly off topic, but...

I don't give a monkeys about the adds. But I would be willing to pay for no throttling/barring....

UK digital secretary throws cold water over bid for laws on kids' use of social media

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Re: ...so ban kids from having smartphones

Banning something immediately makes it ultra-cool for kids...

Every bloody gadget in the house is ringing. Thanks, EE

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Re: in time any internet device with audio in and audio out will work

I'll have what that toaster's having...

ICO smites Bible Society, well fines it £100k...

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Obligatory Bible quotes...

...

Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

...

Luke 12:2

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Re: How is this helpful?

...So the the cardholders are paying the fine for something which potentially injured them, and which wasn't their fault....

This is the case for all commercial organisations.

Any such organisation provides services in return for money. The money either comes in from the customers, or, frequently nowadays, from taxpayers. When it is hit with a fine, that just means the customers get less value for their money.

Even if we are talking about a highly competitive multi-company environment, hitting one company with a fine will make it less competitive, and hence less of a danger to its competitors. So they can raise prices a bit more.

Fines work against individual people. They are pointless against companies, and especially pointless against government organisations.

PETA calls for fish friendly Swedish street signage

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Smoke me a Kipper....

...PETA has asked Mayor of Stockholm, Karin Wanngård, to maybe change a street name to something a bit more fish-friendly....

...I'll be back for breakfast!

British egg producers saddened by Google salad emoji update

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Re: More inclusive?

... I am not a racist...

Saying that is probably racist these days.

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Re: More inclusive?

Heinz Salad cream, Shirley?

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Essential quote here:

...Then there was the opposite school. There was Mr. Edward Carpenter, who thought we should in a very short time return to Nature, and live simply and slowly as the animals do. And Edward Carpenter was followed by James Pickie, D.D. (of Pocohontas College), who said that men were immensely improved by grazing, or taking their food slowly and continuously, after the manner of cows. And he said that he had, with the most encouraging results, turned city men out on all fours in a field covered with veal cutlets. Then Tolstoy and the Humanitarians said that the world was growing more merciful, and therefore no one would ever desire to kill. And Mr. Mick not only became a vegetarian, but at length declared vegetarianism doomed ("shedding," as he called it finely, "the green blood of the silent animals"), and predicted that men in a better age would live on[Pg 17] nothing but salt. And then came the pamphlet from Oregon (where the thing was tried), the pamphlet called "Why should Salt suffer?" and there was more trouble....

G K Chesterton: The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904)

In defence of online ads: The 'net ain't free and you ain't paying

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To ad, or not to vert...

..Me, I'd rather pay a few quid to get content I can trust. Failing that, I'll put up with the adverts...

I'd rather it was all free, and as a result there was far less of it, and what there was was crap.

You see, in the dim and distant days before the 1980s, I used to go to libraries and educate myself about things. That meant that, in conversation, I knew things and the rest of my friends didn't.

Sometimes I wondered why they never seemed to hang around for long......?

But now, EVERYBODY has an opinion dredged up from the net. A wrong opinion, but they come fully supported with biased evidence and inaccurate data, and it takes me AGES to explain where they are wrong. And only then do they bugger off...

It was easier in teh old days...

Hmmm, we can already seize your stuff, so why can't we shoot down your drone, officials mull

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Just as well everyone's talking about drones...

...cos my model boats are also capable of being naughty.

You could deliver a good briefcase full of cocaine to a shore from an off-shore boat with no difficulty. And a model sub with a shaped charge in front could pop a good-sized hole in a destroyer hull if it were parked in a harbour somewhere. Probably need several to sink it - but that's not much more expensive...

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Re: I would have done a full rant, but why waste the effort.

..Dropping a grenade sounds kind of impractical.You'd have to work out a mechanism for it to drop the grenade and pull the pin....

Nope. Easy.

1 - Grenade strapped to base of drone with operating spring lever against body of drone.

2 - Just before launch, pull pin out. Lever is now held by body of drone.

3 - Fly over target. Operate release mechanism which cuts strap.

4 - Grenade falls. Spring lever releases. 7 secs later it goes bang.

WannaCry reverse-engineer Marcus Hutchins hit with fresh charges

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Re: Some poeple accept their duty

..If anyone thinks a jury is a good idea, remember, this country voted for brexit...

If anyone, especially AC, would prefer critical decisions affecting people's lives to be taken by corrupt faceless officials rather than a selection of citizens, let them remember Greece and Italy....

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Re: 93-98% conviction rate

...Sure, but are they really going to take people to court that they don't think did it?...

What kind of planet do you live on? One where it's still 1950?

The UK police have just been shown to have been SUPPRESSING evidence in rape cases which clearly showed that the defendant was innocent. They are clearly interested in a conviction - of anyone. Even someone they know is clearly innocent. Do you think the US police are any different?

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Re: What is it...

Surely all he has to do to get off is address the jury in a plummy voice and remind them of Queen Lizzie....

Major shareholder: BT CEO Gavin Patterson should step down

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And look.....

...One of BT's top investors has reportedly called for the firm's chief exec Gavin Patterson to step down,...

...he just has.....

Britain's new F-35s arrive in UK as US.gov auditor sounds reliability warning klaxon

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Re: What will happen during a war?

...Your questions are academic until you decide who is supposed to be attacking us. (Of course we are far too civilized and kindly to start any wars)....

France, of course!! Who else is our historic enemy?

(OK, Scotland has a habit of attacking from the North every time we have a fight in the South with the Frogs. So we will need a few to defend Carlisle. When the SNP get their own nuclear strike force it will be a whole new ball game ..)

Oddly enough, when a Tesla accelerates at a barrier, someone dies: Autopilot report lands

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Re: When will we learn? It's all about the money again.

I remember the Brits being the first to have a jet airliner flying - the Comet, which set the standards for all the jet aircraft which came after it.

Unfortunately, being first means that you are the first to run into new problems that no one else has encountered. In the Comet's case it was metal fatigue (not well understood at the time) due to constant pressure/depresurising cycles. The aircraft which came second learnt a lot from the Comet...

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Re: These are all valid questions

HumoUr and quips are how the Brits deal with disaster and tragedy. Worked very well during the Blitz...

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...It's just steering automation, not HAL-9000....

At least one HAL 9000 was even more antagonstic towards humans than the Tesla code is....

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Re: Playing Elon's advocate here..

..Do road deaths and injuries decrease when they are being used? It's an important question to ask because if the answer is yes then we should support their use and development even when there are mistakes or accidents....

In theory, yes. Fully automated transport systems should be much safer than individual humen controlled ones.

In practice, getting there will involve experimentation, and the risk, not only of individual disasters. but of occasional major ones. Until the engineers have the process well optimised.

Take a look at the history of rail travel. It's pretty safe (although not 100%) BECAUSE of the accidents in the past...

RoboCop-ter: Boffins build drone to pinpoint brutal thugs in crowds

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Can this system ...

,,,be adapted to identify Italians who might be thinking about voting against the EU?

(signed)

The EU Commission

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Re: I'm wondering

Spanking a Monkey....

Antarctic ice shelf melt 'lowest ever recorded, global warming is not eroding it'

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Re: Lest we forget

...Weren't there some climate change 'scientists' recently stuck in the ice down there?

Why, so there were. Here is a quick preview of their discussions. H/T to freetheCO2 on the Spectator…

Chris Turney discovers he is stuck in Antarctic ice…

IoT CloudPets in the doghouse after damning security audit: Now Amazon bans sales

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Re: It's an irregular verb

What you have just illustrated is (if the concept makes sense, which it doesn't) an 'irregular NOUN'.

Oh, for the 1930s, and decent grammar teaching...

An irregular verb would be something like:

I educate my children by connecting them to the Internet via their toys every day

You follow the latest toy trends without considering safety

He is a disgraceful parent who supports child molesters...

Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

Re: It's an irregular verb

What you have just illustrated is (if the concept makes sense, which it doesn't) an 'irregular NOUN'.

Oh, for the 1930s, and decent grammar teaching...

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Re: Mixed Feelings

..Opera? Pretty much dead.....

Runs fine for me.

Crappy IoT on the high seas: Holes punched in hull of maritime security

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Re: Plain text rudder commands is not a problem in itself

The crew has to do something during the months it takes to between China and Europe and back again.

I would be amazed if they didn't have lots of video games on board. And I guess they would plug into the ship's network to gain internet access and play multi-user games.

And so I wouldn't be surprised to find that you could connect over a gaming link to a ship on the high seas, and from there into the rest of the network. I don't suppose the Filipino crew and officers have ever had any maritime IT Security training....