* Posts by Austin Chamberlain

28 publicly visible posts • joined 31 Aug 2007

Google nukes Norks

Austin Chamberlain

Diet ...

So he ate shark's fin soup four times a week, sushi once a week and dog soup* on Sundays. Does that mean that even the Dear Leader is only eating six times a week, in solidarity with his starving compatriots?

* Eating dog is quite rare in Korea, according to a non-scientific poll of the three Koreans I know. Two (from Seoul) said "Ew! No!", and one (from the countryside) said "Yeah, so?"

NASA explores 'Curiosity' for nuclear-powered Mars rover

Austin Chamberlain
Happy

@oxo

We send our names to Mars so that when the next Tunguska meteorite wipes us all out, leaving nothing but cockroaches and New Labour apparatchiks (but I repeat myself), there will be some trace of intelligent life left in our solar system.

Have a nice day! :D

BNP DDoS 'mega-assault' not actually mega in the least

Austin Chamberlain
Stop

@Gareth

Yes, the BNP are racist swine, but is it a proscribed organisation? Is it a banned party? No, it's a legitimate political party.

FFS, forget the bloody BNP. I loathe them, you loathe them, all reasonable people loathe them. NONETHELESS, it's the principle of the thing that so important, and that principle seems to sail over the heads of everyone. If, today, you can deny one group service because of their political views, tomorrow it could be YOUR party.

Austin Chamberlain

@Andy, @Gareth

You're right, of course. It's the right of a private company to do as they like. It's the broader support for suppressing political parties that gets to me. I'm not from around here, so it's an outsider's perspective, but I really don't like the "I don't like what they say, so lets stop them saying it" attitude.

It annoys me that I have to defend the BNP while doing it, but, as Voltaire said "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

Freedom of political speech

"We understand that the matter of whether the BNP's website breaks the hosting firm's terms and conditions is under review."

If that's the case, then the hosting firm will *surely* also decline to host a website for Labour, Conservative, SWP or any other party.

I think the BNP are a bunch of mindless thugs*, but how on earth did we get to the state where a legitimate political party can be denied service because people don't like their policies? Freedom of speech is an absolute - or how long until another party is added to the Forbidden Parties Register? (yes I know libel and "fire in a crowded theatre" and so on and so forth on limiting freedom of speech. That's clearly not the case here, so stop trying to muddy the issue).

* The fact that such a disclaimer is necessary shows how far the rot has gone.

'Della': Dell's very special site for women

Austin Chamberlain

Wat

Ten quid says Della is removed by Dell in less than two weeks. I thought it was a parody site at first!

Top British boffin: Time to ditch the climate consensus

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

I wish all the mentalists would f**k off

and leave the adults to handle the matter - ie, work out IF there is a problem (it mostly looks like there is), how big the problem is, and how (or whether!) we should go about fixing OR mitigating the problem.

At the moment you've got lunatics on both sides who have various hysterical views - some greenies who believe that unless we revert to the Stone Age NOW, we'll all die and take all life on earth with us, and some lunatics on the right who think that using up all fossil fuels NOW to drive their landships around is a good idea.

Lights out, Britons told - we're running out of power

Austin Chamberlain
Happy

Re: Scotland or UK?

It's "we" when Scotland needs Scottish banks bailed out, and "you English" at all other times ... :D

(it's ok, I'm not from the UK, I'm allowed to say things like that)

Georgia withdraws from South Ossetia Eurovision

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

Re: The Russian entry is about 'Mother Russia'

The Russian entry is also written by an Estonian, directed by a Georgian, and sung by a Ukrainian. In Ukrainian.

The idea may be to push unity in the CIS, and plenty of Russians are complaining about the nationality of various people, but it's still a reasonable gesture.

Once again, FFS, blame them for things they actually have done wrong.

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

Actually ...

... the TV station that is hosting Eurovision said it was nothing to do with them, and that it was the Eurovision organisers who complained. Blame Russia for the things they actually do, rather than everything that comes up ...

ID and Passport Service brings in ad men

Austin Chamberlain
Stop

WTF?

What earthly reason could the IPS have for needing an ad service? The services they offer are compulsory - passports are required for international travel, and ID cards are required for the NuLab surveillance state.

The only possible output for this ad agency is crude propaganda to win people over to ID cards. What a waste of money!

Facebook hits back at Italian ban

Austin Chamberlain
Flame

Berlusconi needs to fuck right off

He already has a stranglehold on one country, and is using that to cement his power.

He made a really creepy comment about that poor woman in a coma - "She's still capable of bearing children". Seriously, that's the creepiest thing I've ever heard in that context. The man is not just a buffoon, he's evil.

Humvee with frikkin laser on it takes out killer robot

Austin Chamberlain

Re: Are they planning for a civil war?

Not so! Practically every modern army uses UAVs now. The Predator/Reaper etc killbots are in the news, but rest assured that Russia and China have their own.

Austin Chamberlain

What's wrong with "soldiers"?

On the naming of people who kill the Queen's enemies, "soldiers" does the job .... well, then I suppose the whiny marines, sailors and airmen (and airwomen) would complain.

What about "servicemen"? Ah ... and "servicewomen".

*sigh* Ok, warfighters it is ...

Chinese spy scare sours Australia's plans for nationwide broadband

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

@David, re: Nordic companies

Don't be so sure about the worthiness of Nordic countries/companies - see the attempts by the Swedish security services to monitor ALL communications in/crossing Sweden, or Finland's anti-child-pron measures, which make the IWF look feeble and transparent.

The control-und-surveillance madness, it has gone global.

Attack of the quarter-ton, 'fridge-sized' killer jellyfish

Austin Chamberlain
Happy

Not that different ...

"When jellyfish populations run wild," the NSF jellyboffins warn, "they may jam thousands of square miles with their pulsing, gelatinous bodies."

Replace "jellyfish" with "people", and you have the average Saturday night on High Street ...

Max Planck Institute punts 'hot, young housewives'

Austin Chamberlain
Happy

Illustrated ... devices?

Phwoar! Sounds like they went from bad to worse!

Why the IWF was right to ban a Wikipedia page

Austin Chamberlain
Stop

Still the wrong decision

If this is an indecent image, why is no-one facing gaol for it? Either it's child abuse and the perpetrators should be on trial, or it's a slightly tasteless rock band image and should be ignored. This spotty, wishy-washy, banned-on-Wikipedia-but-not-on-Amazon (because they'll sue us) approach is just pandering to the easily outraged and wasting valuable time that could be spent on things that actually cause harm.

Personally, I'm more worried about the people who are complaining here; if the first thing they think of when they see a picture of a naked child is "SEX!!!", then surely the problem is with them, not with the picture?

Social workers sacked over Gary Glitter email

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

Not to sound too Daily Fail, but ...

... some social workers send a silly, somewhat tasteless picture by council email, and are sacked ...

... while other social workers who let a child under their care DIE are merely told off.

Maybe we need the management transferred to Haringey - they'd line up the Baby P caseworkers against the wall.

Magazine faces legal action for bowing to legal action

Austin Chamberlain
Thumb Up

And a good thing too ...

... the way libel laws are abused in the UK. The way that people with deep pockets can make news stories disappear by waving around lawyers is a bit of a problem. The US has recognised this, and hopefully the Lords will start to make changes here.

Blockbuster: DVD to Blu-ray shift slower than VHS to DVD

Austin Chamberlain
Stop

It's hardly surprising

The advantages of DVD over VHS as a storage medium are many - smaller size, more resistant to damage and wear, vastly improved access (fast forward, skipping scenes, going to a specific point). The advantage of Blu-ray over DVD is ... er, well, it looks a bit prettier. And you'll have to buy an expensive new player.

McCain: Keep Shuttle flying, don't trust Russia

Austin Chamberlain
IT Angle

Re: McCain is right on this IMHO

I don't really want to stray too far from Space (and IT) into politics, but all of the arguments against Russia invading Georgia could be applied to Kosovo. As always, it's a case of "do as I say, not as I do".

And Russia certainly has the requisite oil and gas - AND controls the pipelines from Central Asia, apart from the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline. Russia has the ability to maintain the gas flow for years to come.

Free passports for WWII generation hit 500,000

Austin Chamberlain
Unhappy

Being careful

Maybe the Home Office was worried that someone who fought against fascism for real would have something to say about being forced to pay for a biometric internal passport. It would be a bit of a PR nightmare to have an resisting war veteran pensioner tasered into submission to get his fingerprints ...

Russians withdraw Lake Baikal record claim

Austin Chamberlain
Thumb Down

@Roger D. Parish

"Russians admitting failure? Priceless!"

Yes, because government officials in the UK (and the US, etc etc) are renowned for admitting failure.

Bebo users to summon superhuman alien pop-fancier invasion

Austin Chamberlain
Alien

Dear God

Humanity as represented by Bebo users? Our answer will be as a meteorite accelerated to 0.5c (thrown by our new, super-strong alien overlords).

Bus-spotting paedo terror bust: Shock CCTV image

Austin Chamberlain
Happy

I know that station ...

Since I live just across the road. I remember this incident!

And on a serious note, the next time I see a dodgy Reg staffer taking pictures at the station, I'll shop him to the coppers ...

Heavyweight physics prof weighs into climate/energy scrap

Austin Chamberlain

A rare bit of rationality ...

If only the various interest groups, companies, government bodies and politicians could be forced to handle things in such a rational manner.

Russia plans 2025 Moonbase, 2035 Mars shot

Austin Chamberlain

Re: Naughty Russians

Actually, the first flag on the moon was Soviet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2

And the flag on the North Pole was just a stunt. Russia is going through international organizations to make their claim:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_the_Arctic