* Posts by Commswonk

1777 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Sep 2015

Hutchison's 3UK and Google push 3.5 GHz on both sides of the pond

Commswonk

Re: 3.5GHz

I am equally baffled about the enthusiasm for ever higher frequencies into the GHz regions. Quite apart from the increasing "line of sight" characteristic there is also the point that for a portable transmitter to generate "x" mW of output power at 3.5 GHz requires a lot more primary power than one generating the same x mW at 800 MHz, and for primary power read "current from a small battery". On top of which the path loss over the same route (not the same as being "line of sight") is greater at 3.5 GHz than at 800 MHz and so on; I cannot be bothered to work it out but an additional loss in the region of 10 - 12 dB seems likely. As the result the maximum distance between cell and phone shrinks alarmingly.

I suppose all this "expansion" is to satisfy the burgeoning demand for mobile data rather than simple phone calls and texts, but I cannot get away from the thought that this "demand" is little more than an addict's craving for their next fix rather than anything really essential.

Soz telcos you're 'low priority' post-Brexit, says leaked gov doc

Commswonk

Re: hmm

...a number of far flung countries consider the UK to be a gateway to the European market. This is largely how Japanese companies see the UK, and if the UK is going to walk away from the EU, then there's no gateway and hence no reason to bother with the UK.

I see the point that you are making and accept that it almost certainly true. It might also have been a major factor in a (admittedly slender) majority voting "leave". Being a citizen of any country (not just the UK) means more than simply being a facilitator for manufacturers based in other countries to enhance their Bottom Line. Citizens (and thus electors) should not have to feel that they are reduced to vassal status just to make sure that global businesses get their way. This is particularly so when so many of them seems to go out of their way to minimising their tax payments to those countries where they graciously set up shop, and possibly have zero hours contracts and the like to make sure that their peasant workforce is kept on its toes. In the interests of balance I accept that bad treatment of employees is not necesarily limited to overseas businesses; plenty of home - grown ones do it as well.

Listening to the noises that came out of the US in the run - up to the Presidential Election this seems to have been a mood to which Donald Trump decided to use for his own ends; whether or not he actually achieves anything remains to be seen.

In the fullness of time we will find that Brexit was either a dreadful mistake or (as I hope) a success. However, expecting people to vote on the basis of the effect their decision might have on foreign - based businesses was and would remain a major error of judgement.

We may find that the electorates in other European countries take similar decisions in the next few months; they aren't there just for the benefit of foreign employers either. Electorates are entitled to decide on what is good for them, not simply good for overseas entities simply thinking about their own corporate benefit.

Openreach reshuffles top brass, brings in BT bods to make biz more independent of BT

Commswonk

Re: Bottom Line...

Just separate Openreach off, other Telecom companies will fill the initial void, working with the new separate Openreach.

"Just"? However Ofcom might wish it to be so I very much doubt if it would be that easy. Like it or not BT has shareholders (with many shares being held by pension funds) and simply hacking Openreach away from its parent would probably have a catastrophic effect.

"Other Telecom companies will fill the initial void". Which "void" would that be, then? Which companies are likely to turn up wanting to compete on the "major network" side of the business, and likewise which companies are going to want to try to become major competitors for rolling out local networks?

Virgin aren't exactly rushing to expand their network which covers both disciplines. I look forward to someone (AC or otherwise) submitting a list on this forum setting out all the companies that are likely to step into the breach.

Having said that BT does seem determined not to even try to cooperate with Ofcom, and it is hard to avoid concluding that corporate foot - dragging is more likely to have negative outcomes than positive ones. At the same time I do wonder if an impasse of this sort is almost inevitable when an organisation that is a plc finds itself having to operate in a market that is controlled by a regulator. IMHO the two concepts (shareholder ownership and a regulator with different goals) are more or less basically incompatible.

I also wonder if a man whose background is in shampoo and a failed cable operator is really the right person for the top job.

All of Blighty's attack submarines are out of action – report

Commswonk

Re: Diesel Electric

Noise problems aside the "electric" capabilities of a submarine really are piss - poor compared to a nuclear powered vessel. Unless something dramatic has happened by way of development their speed when submerged and running on batteries is inadequate and their endurance running thus equally poor. In addition I don't think any serious opposition would have any real difficulty finding a submarine running at snorkel depth to recharge the batteries.

And in 2017 if a submarine spends most of its time running surfaced then it probably didn't need to have a submersible capability in the first place.

Commswonk

This also means letting BAE Systemized Cockup Corp to the wall and buying all equipment from the open international markets.

Quite so; see how well the F35 procurement is going. And IIRC there has been a hold up in the Fleet Auxiliaries being built in South Korea.

BAE - bashing is all very well but is there any evidence that the current (alleged) problems with the submarine fleet is attributable to them?

More tech companies join anti-Trump battle, but why did some pay for his inauguration?

Commswonk

Who's the hypocrit?

Never mind Corporate America funding the Inauguration, given The Donald's clearly expressed determination to drain the swamp of American politics in Washington why was he accepting donations in the first place, thus allowing the swamp to be topped up? Or will he claim "that he didn't know"?

Cardiff researchers get £250k to monitor Brexit hate crime on Twitter

Commswonk

Re: Free speech

I thought we lived in a free country where we have free speech.

You do realise that you have just committed a thoughtcrime, don't you?

I denounce you as being doubleplusungood.

Commswonk

Why limit it to Twitter?

Some of the stuff uttered by "Remainers" about "Leavers" in a public forum (e.g. politicians on television) is pretty unpleasant - patronising at the very least. A more common accusation is that (by definition) all "Leavers" are racist, and I would have thought that saying that would qualify as a hate crime.

As "hate", like beauty, seems to be in the eye of the beholder it might be fun to report them for it. It wouldn't stop them in the "House" of course because (sadly) they would do it under the cloak of parliamentary priviledge.

In the interests of balance I would expect "Leavers" to be equally accountable for what they say and how they say it, but I'm not conscious of their being quite so unpleasant about the Remainers, at least not in public.

Blighty watchdog Ofcom has a butcher's hook, clocks spectrum for 5G

Commswonk

Re: Ofcom has identified

Also above 2.6GHz is really only femto cells...

Has anyone done any decent research to detemine the effectiveness of trying to use frequencies that need "G" as a multiplier? Even allowing for the use of femto - cells building penetration is going to be a problem, along with the fact that as frequency increases refraction & reflection losses increase markedly along with increased attenuation by anything in the path. SHF is not known for being "line of sight" without good reason.

I would also expect that making a transmitter that can develop "useful" levels of power in a cellphone will also result in increased current consumption from the battery, with a corresponding reduction in useful battery life between charges.

Sports Direct hacked last year, and still hasn't told its staff of data breach

Commswonk

Ah Yes...

Sports Direct; a perfect example of EU membership being "good for British business".

Cut off: Big government IT wallets snap shut on BT's fingers

Commswonk

Re: "bankrupt"

As a personal example, I'm forced to have a BT phone line that I never actually use, for the sake of a pitiful 3 - 5 Mb/s ADSL connection (on a good day), and for the privilege of merely "renting the line", making exactly no calls ever, and receiving a trickle of data off the Internet, I'm expected to pay over £50 a month. Last year that same service cost me £40. Three years ago it cost just over £30.

Are you completely sure about those figures; you seem to be paying more for your ADSL than I do for VDSL (FTTC) which is giving me a speed faster than yours by a factor of 10.

They never based pricing on what would give a reasonable return, but on what they thought the customer would pay.

ISTR that BT made the same mistake over 20 years ago when the contract it had with the BBC for television circuits around the country was up for renewal. I didn't see the figures but IIRC Energis (remember them?) undercut them by some large margin. Mind you I don't think that ended particularly well...

Telephone boxes have never made a profit and presumably make even less now. And they are slowly but surely being withdrawn; a few near us must have cost more to empty of cash than was actually in them. Having said that BT had to provide them as a public service for emergency use but the ascendency of the mobile phone rendered them ever less necessary, and continues to do so. Yes we did / still do have to subsidise them, but it does no harm to think of that as some sort of insurance policy to guarantee being able to get help in an emergency.

Virtual monopoly on UK cell towers and TV masts up for sale

Commswonk

Re: Actual broadcast has a lot of advantages.

I think I concur with most of your post, but...

Most will probably have 100Mb/s available, maybe even faster if a true FTTP roll-out starts.

But at what cost? Will people on pensions be able to afford it? There always concerns being expressed that people are not setting aside enough for their retirement, and more or less having to find multiple 10s of ££ per month might be seen as a backward step. At least having bought a television and a licence watching is currently is free apart from the cost of the electricity.

Commswonk

Re: Actual broadcast has a lot of advantages.

It's a bit of an ask but I believe it's well within our abilities. IPTV could take over from broadcast TV without much of a struggle.

Which abilities, precisely? And struggle for whom?

In our road there are 19 homes; at a rough guess three are probably 5 or 6 that are unliklely to have any internet connection because the residents are elderly. I accept that over a long enough time the proportion of homes without internet will diminish as those who adopted it in their youth or middle age grow ever older and the current elderly move over to, er, cloud storage. Any homes that still decide they don't want the internet, or not at a great speed anyway will find themselves unable to watch television in the postulated Brave New World.

And what about all the homes with indifferent speeds available, with no obvious means of getting anything faster? Or those where the current speed is enough for current needs but insufficient for television watching?

I am not an internet speed freak but surely planning television over the internet with no "conventional transmission" available is a bad attack of trying to run before we've even fully mastered walking.

At the moment big transmitters on big masts get into parts of the country that the internet does not, at least with sufficient bandwidth so "without much of a struggle" sounds wildly optimistic. And of course it could also mean that watching television actually becomes more expensive; my data limit is currently far in excess of my actual usage, and I suspect the same will be true of many others. But if we had to watch television by internet that might no longer be true, with additional costs ratcheting up while we watch...

Commswonk

Re: Fire sale of fully sweated asset?

...the availability of an alternate distribution channel, that has a lot of advantages over broadcast, mean that the broadcast network is intrinsically devalued forever; people are more attracted to the convenience of on-demand content than they are to "broadcast quality" and the content providers can control how the adverts are targeted...

Unfortunately I suspect that you may be right. At the same time I would argue that broadcast by big transmitters on big masts has a lot of advantages over the internet, no contention being a big one. How well would the internet work if everyone was using it to watch television?

There is a case that because "some people are more attracted to the convenience of on-demand content" their views are being seen as hip and trendy while the others can go and screw themselves for the simple reason that they aren't. And I refuse to be classified as some sort off oddball simply because "broadcast quality" is something I happen to care about.

And I wonder how many of those consuming television by internet are actually licence payers...

Phishing: Another thing we can blame on Brexit

Commswonk

Oh perleees...

Phishing volume peaked mid-year due to the influence of major global events, such as Brexit, and a spike in virtual web server compromises.

And the evidence for this assertion is what exactly.

Correlation is not causation, as any fule kno.

Sage Business School founder imprisoned – but you wouldn't know it

Commswonk

Are you *sure* about that?

lawyers appointed by HPE carried out a dawn raid on his Leicester home

Sorry but that simply doesn't sound right. If HPE were a party to any court action I cannot see lawyers appointed by them being allowed to mount a raid; even the Court Judgement used the word "search".

If a Court mandated a search surely it would be carried out by people appointed by the Court

BBC and Snap. But, why?

Commswonk

Re: JFC!

"Can we have a *retch* icon, please?"

New keyboard first, please.

Why? Because the article lacked a "retch icon" to warn me (and probably others) of the horrors that followed.

Commswonk

"Can we have a *retch* icon, please?"

New keyboard first, please.

Why? Because we need a retch icon as a warning...

BT's ball-juggling routine can only go on so long

Commswonk

Re: Ofcom really needs to pull off the warm cosy, copper Duvet.

And your point is what exactly?

Commswonk

Re: Ofcom really needs to pull off the warm cosy, copper Duvet.

You could always head to Vivaciti.net. Line rental is £11.40 inc VAT, per month, not £18.99 on a one month rolling contract.

Indeed I could, but having looked at the Vivaciti website the total monthly rental is pennies different from what I pay to BT; call charges may be cheaper - I will admit I haven't looked at the detail of those. And even then they are trying to tell me I could get "up to 80 Mb/s" when I know perfectly well that the fastest I have ever seen here was i.r.o. 51 MB/s with something like 44 Mb/s being more common.

So I will return with the counter - accusation that you are moaning about BT for the sake of it! :)

Commswonk

Re: Ofcom really needs to pull off the warm cosy, copper Duvet.

Force FTTP for all new installs more than 125m* "as the crow flies" / 250m by cable.

Is that (a) force BT to provide it to the exclusion of FTTC (or even plain old ADSL), (b) force BT to offer it as an option to the customer, or (c) force the customer to have FTTP with all the attendant additional costs whether they want the additional speed it offers or not?

Given that there is clear evidence of consumer resistance to the additonal cost of FTTC neither (a) nor (c) (which in fact are the same thing) would make economic sense. How are you going to explain to potential customers that they have to have FTTP even if its performance greatly exceeds their requirements?

I am not disputing that FTTP is the better "technical" solution, but that fact is in and of itself not enough; if the price is too high then potential customers will not be prepared to accept it. B/B and 'phone costs at Castle Commswonk are about to rise again and knowing what we pay for FTTC (and not many phone calls!) I cannot see many people queuing up for FTTP.

Yeah OK; what about businesses in "remote" locations? I can see that they might have a need for the higher speeds but I cannot see residential customers taking kindly to the idea that they too have to have FTTP just so they can provide economies of scale to BT and thus subsidise those businesses.

So please explain; where will the money for this ambitious plan come from?

HMS Queen Elizabeth is delayed, Ministry of Defence confesses

Commswonk

Re: The French

There was talk of a joint carrier project last decade, but I don't think it was ever likely to get off the ground.

If anyone was thinking of getting a carrier off the ground I'm not entirely surprised that the idea came to nought. In fact I'm more than a little relieved that it didn't.

Commswonk

Re: The French

The last part being the kicker in that the UK has, for no obvious reason, a policy of no nuclear surface ships.

I thought the reason (or one of them) was quite well known; surface ships are often used for "flying the flag" in other parts of the world. (SSBNs are not!) Those other parts of the world (even friendly or even "allied" ones) often have objections to nuclear powered vessels arriving in their ports so rather than have a situation whereby a UK warship is denied entry to a port because it is nuclear powered the UK sticks with conventional propulsion systems.

There was an occasion a few years ago when one of the UK's nuclear subs had to enter port in Gibraltar following either a mishap or some fault and the Gibraltarians were very unhappy about it.

We need to talk about Granny: She's way more likely to fall for phishing

Commswonk

Re: Generational difference

Whereas, these days getting an email saying you have a parking violation is all too plausible. Electronic car parking systems and deliberately confusing parking signs means we can all trip up and catch a fine. And some of these notifications may come to your email address or phone.

I'm not sure that it is all that plausible, because it would require someone to be able to get my email address or 'phone number solely from my vehicle registration number. The DVLA might well give them my address, but nothing more. Yes, we might all accidentally infringe some parking regulation or restriction but that is still a long way from someone being able to email or telephone me about it.

Mind you, I don't have the occasion to use "electronic" parking systems.

Dido queen of carnage steps down from TalkTalk

Commswonk

Radio 4 News...

Just heard on Radio 4's World at One that TalkTalk's share price has gone up 8% following the announcement of DH's departure..

Potential "employers" might like to take note, think again and abandon the idea.

Disclaimer; I am not a TalkTalk shareholder.

Commswonk

Three Thoughts...

My first reaction was Ding Dong the witch is dead.

Then I read and focus more on my activities in public service and thought "let's head for the hills"

Then I read Dido has been a tireless, energetic and effective force for good from the day she joined TalkTalk. As a result of her leadership and total commitment to all of us who work here and our customers, she has helped transform TalkTalk into a much stronger business. She leaves with our thanks and very best wishes for the future and thought "there simply isn't a sick - bag big enough".

Human memory, or the lack of it, is the biggest security bug on the 'net

Commswonk

Re: Bad humans ?

Human memory, or the lack of it, is the biggest security bug on the 'net

I suggest that it's much, much wider than that. Humans ignore simple laws like "don't use your mobile phone whilst driving"; perhaps they think that they won't get caught (unfortunately quite likely true) but in any event accidents happen to other people, not them.

Human stupidity, more like, as per Einstein's well known thought on the subject. The vulnerabilities of IT systems are publicised ad nauseam so there has to be something more than "memory" to account for people failing to take simple basic steps to protect themselves.

Parliamentary Trump-off? Pro-Donald petition passes 100k signatures

Commswonk

Re: When the resistance tunrs out to be the Empire...

I suspect that you meant to write I very much doubt that it will exceed the will of the self - appointed intelligent people of this country.

Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

Commswonk

Re: Immigrants

Immigrants are easy to exploit.

Quite; once upon a time they were called "slaves". If the matter wasn't so serious it would be funny to recall that the US had a civil war to rid itself of slavery (other factors may also have been in play) and having abolished slavery in the south it is now the north that is so heavily dependent on them.

Perhaps calling them "Slave Visas" might awaken people to the truth. For the avoidance of doubt it seems likely that the UK is just as guilty, if not in the IT field as much as the vegetable one. Of course being in the EU makes visas unnecesary, but that's a totaly separate argument...

UK Cybersecurity: Permanent job salaries growing faster than contractor pay rises

Commswonk

Currency query

If this is a UK story why are there Dollar Bills in the picture at the top?

Commswonk

Re: Why are IT salaries in the UK so low compared to the US?

Loyalty to organisations is not a valued currency.

In other words any loyalty shown to an organisation is highly unlikely to be reciprocated. Those who have yet to learn this should do so as a matter of urgency.

Trump signs 'no privacy for non-Americans' order – what does that mean for rest of us?

Commswonk

Re: One week in ..

Commswonk, this isn't the Telegraph.

Oh <deity>, isn't it? Where am I?

I will stick to the argument that such comments about Theresa May are at best juvenile, adding nothing meaningful to the overall discussion. In the interests of balance I cannot bear the idea of Jeremy Corbyn being PM, but I would not describe him in the way that some seem happy to describe TM, or MT for that matter.

Too many "Anonymous Cowards" around these days; you are Jeremy Corbyn and I claim the £5 prize.

Commswonk

Re: Trump has become more deranged

...put your head between your legs, and kiss your arse goodbye.

Are you by any chance another Fascinating Aida fan?

Commswonk
Thumb Down

Re: One week in ..

Theresa 'May of the Dead" has flown over to be beside Trump .. presumably his golden aurora makes her putrid rotting flesh look alive.

Thank you for your major contribution to a serious topic about how international relations look likely to develop. Really informative, but not in the way you probably intended.

Commswonk

More immediately...

But the Trump Administration has been nothing if not erratic and has repeatedly shown it is willing to tear up existing agreements and protocols.

What possible incentive is there for anyone to even think of negotiating any sort of agreement with the US (= Trump) if he is so willing to renege on existing agreements? I can all too easily see some sort of agreement being reached and signed only for it to be torn up before the return flight has landed. Never was the old adage of counting your fingers after a handshake more pertinent.

Ultimately the US will be the greatest loser because nobody will want to trade with it. Yes we will all lose to some extent, but the US will find itself morally isolated.

Emergency Services Network to be hit by delays, warn MPs

Commswonk

Re: Going underground

There's an interesting thing in the official report into 7/7, where they talk about how emergency services were able to use their Airwave TETRA radios on London Underground's TETRA network.

Have you got a link to that report? I ask because just because the "technology" is identical there is no guarantee that a terminal from one system will function on another. There is a whole host of bits of software that have to exist in common. Firstly both systems have to share the same Switched Management Infrastructure (SWMI) and both have to have the same Mobile Network Code (MNC) and the Talkgroup data (GSSIs) has to be programmed into both and the individual terminals have to have their ISSIs programmed into both.

It is most definitely not a simple case of turning up with e TETRA radio and switching on "plug and play" style. So a link to the report please!

If it all did indeed work it was only as a result of a lot of prior planning, not happenstance.

Commswonk

Re: Well what a surprise...

Although given that many users will arrive in a vehicle which is parked just outside the building it does provide an *option* that AFAIK you cannot replicate with 4G.

If they can remember how to set it up. My experience was that unless you spent your time using (playing with!) the equipment it was be all too easy to forget some vital part of its operation. A/k/a/ Training Fade; there were regular phone calls "how do I...", along with "why..."

Airwave (TETRA) started with a specification; from that equipment that met the specification was designed and manufactured. If you start with an existing design built to an existing specification the leeway for making it do something (somethings, plural more like) not in the original spec is greatly limited.

I sincerely hope that EE are not trying that approach; if they are then I expect an epic fail.

Commswonk

Re: Well what a surprise...

No - but the capacity of TETRA radios to act as relays at least makes ad hoc 'into this shielded area' links possible. Try that with 4G...

When you say "relay" I assume that you mean Gateway Mode in TETRA - speak. Terminals designed for permanent installation in a vehicle can operate in Gateway, but portable terminals can not. Useful in some circumstances certainly, but not really suitable for coverage in a permanently occupied building. And again IIRC the portable terminals using the Gateway have to be in Direct Mode, which brings another level of complication (or even 2!) into the equation. ISTR trying to use Gateway once but the call set - up time was unacceptably long for reasons that I did not investigate.

Commswonk

Re: Well what a surprise...

I believe that the TETRA spectrum has already been sold to another user (MoD, IIRC) for other use...

I have a vague recollection* that the bit of spectrum in question "belongs" to the MOD anyway, and that it is on long term loan for Police (etc) use. I daresay the loan could be extended without too much trouble...

* Or it could be my memory playing tricks. :(

Commswonk

Re: Well what a surprise...

Airwave/Tetra - the basic network is ok(ish), coverage is a bit iffy inside some buildings, there are many buildings we are in all the time whilst working where there is zero coverage.

Things may have moved on since I retired, but it is worth pointing out that as originally specified Airwave wasn't required to work indoors. Obviously there will be some indoor coverage, but that will just be because the building in question is close enough to a cell site for the signal to be strong enough both ways.

Subterranean coverage by radio is and always was problematic, although it became markedly less so when someone developed leaky feeders and cell enhancers; there is no basis nowadays for treating it as in any way "too difficult". Expensive, perhaps, but that isn't the same as "difficult".

I know that there used to be concerns about the ambulance services (and possibly the F & R Services) having trouble moving quantities of data about because as originally conceived that data was piggy - backed on the Control Time Slot of the 4 slot model, as well as it having to manage all the background requirements of the Voice Services. Normal speech "flow control" and all sorts of interesting stuff such as Neighbour Cell Data and cell handovers more or less has to come first so packing in much "data" must be a challenge. Perhaps the system has been redesigned to put data on to a "normal" time slot since I hung up my screwdriver and the like.

As someone else has commented the band 380 - 400 MHz is much better suited to providing coverage that other frequencies that are higher by a factor or 2, 5, or any other number you care to think of. I wonder if there are penalties in the EE contract to force them to pay to extend the life of TETRA / Airwave when (rather then if) the much vaunted ESN fails to materialise on time... if at all.

And if not, why not?

Shocked, I tell you. BT to write off £530m over 'improper' Italian accounts practices

Commswonk

Re: *orders caffè latte*

You forgot the <pedant> </pedant> tags.

See me.

Britain collects new naval tanker a mere 18 months late

Commswonk

Re: Fiber optic?

TEMPEST is for reading the emissions from a computer monitor.

That is so much of an over - simplification it is better described as false; it is the prevention of any part and all parts of a communications system from generating compromising emanations that a hostile power could detect and use to their advantage. Using fibre optics as transmission paths between different parts of a system can be a major contribution to TEMPEST accreditation; they are also also EMP - proof and RF proof which can be another major bonus if the overall environment has high - power radio transmitters in near proximity.

If it was just "computer monitors" then large TEMPEST - compliant installations wouldn't need TEMPEST rated filters on their AC supplies.

Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(codename)

Commswonk

Re: Maggy what have we done...

@Hans1

Don't you just love "freedom of bullshit" ?

As a general rule, yes, but you are abusing the priviledge.

Perhaps you would like to reverse the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest while you are at it. History happened; deal with it.

On second thoughts we should simply shout "Nurse! Nurse!" and make sure you take your medication.

Commswonk

Re: Maggy what have we done...

@Hans 1...

Imagine the mess you see at Nortern Ireland border with Ireland and Gibraltar border with Spain .... all for the sake of .... BS.

The Falklands are not British, you know that, I know that .... Gibraltar and Northern Ireland are NOT British, same thing, really ...

And come to think about it Spain has refused to return Ceuta and Melilla to Morocco. And how come exactly that Spanish is the predominant language in South America, with Brazil's Portuguese being a notable exception?

And I assume that you would be happy to see Israel wiped off the map.

History is littered with the events that brought all the above and much more about. You may or may not like bits of history, but you do not have the right to unwrite them.

Lord of the Dance set to deliver high kicks at Trump’s big ball

Commswonk

Re: Other theories are available

When dancing only, the legs/feet move.

I can't find it on line to provide a link but did anyone else on here see Richard Stilgoe & Peter Skellern perform "Michael Flatfeet"? It was a laugh - until - you - cry send - up of Riverdance during which they explained that they danced that way "because their arms had been decommissioned".

As they stated "they were careful where they said that".

Japan's terrifying techno-toilets will be made foreigner friendly, vow makers

Commswonk

Re: So ...

Once again... where's the multiple upvote button?

Flight 666 lands safely in HEL on Friday the 13th

Commswonk

Re: Hmm...

Looking at some of the foregoing I would have thought that ortographobia might have presented a serious risk.

The really funny thing is that an on - line search revealed a "definition" that was grammatically incorrect. Oh the joy...

Promising compsci student sold key-logger, infects 16,000 machines, pleads guilty, faces jail

Commswonk

Re: How is a keylogger illegal?

"If the guy lived in a free country he'd be fine."

And what free country would that be?

The person who made the rather silly original statement appears not to have realised that in this mythical "free country" the 16,000 victims would be at liberty to turn up on sentencing day with some nice warm tar and some bin liners full of feathers, or perhaps cricket / baseball bats.

Thinking about it, we could dispense with all the legal niceties and tar and feather anyone who seriously pisses us off with no fear of the law taking us to task.

Bliss.

Commswonk

Re: The headline seems to imply that he personally infected 16,000 machines.

The headline includes the words sold keylogger.

Perhaps you missed this bit in the article: Shames sold his keylogger to over 3,000 users who, in turn, used it to infect over 16,000 victim computers.

Your "car" analogy would be more convincing if you could supply some legitimate reason why Joe Public should have access to keylogging software with the ability to slip past antivirus software unnoticed.

BT installs phone 'spam filter', says it'll strain out mass cold-callers

Commswonk

Re: Free as part of Line Rental? Thought not.

This sounds like complaining about BT doing nothing about the problem, and now complaining that it is doing something about it.

Some people are never happy, and I suspect that you might be one of them.