* Posts by Michael

32 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Oct 2007

Government rejects Lords' surveillance criticism

Michael
Thumb Up

Spot on

'...over-surveillance was breaking the trust between Government and the people, and that intrusion into people's privacy risked undermining democracy itself.'

Spot on.

So many databases used to spy on innocent citizens under the pretext of defending us against terrorists.

Outgoing info chief predicts data collection downturn

Michael

Less data

"The outgoing information commissioner has predicted that government will reverse the trend to collect more personal data."

They have actually been reducing the amount of data that they hold for some time. Leaving it on lap-tops, CDs, hard drives etc.......

Police union leader calls for 'killer games' sales ban

Michael
Joke

My own research

My own research shows that it is probable that almost every killer in recent history has shopped in a supermarket and, at one time or another, has been in a motor vehicle. These must be banned immediately as a sensible precaution.

I totally agree that GTA should also be banned. One of the most boring games I have ever witnessed....

Microsoft's IE regulatory date with fate extended

Michael
Happy

Tradition?

"Gazelle offers the prospect of secure browsing but at the expense of speed and performance."

That is a break with tradition! Usually it is insecure browsing with the expense of speed and performance.

Microsoft unveils 'lightweight' Office for Web

Michael
Joke

Cloud

Does it work or is it simply vapourware

Speed cams ditched in Wiltshire

Michael
Coat

Michael

To keep traffic speed down why don't we simply get someone to walk in front of each vehicle with a red flag to warn of the vehicle's approach? That would make the roads safer.

Or, do as has been done here in Cambridge, put in so many traffic lights that unless you have a Typhoon fighter there is no chance of reaching walking pace before the next set of lights stops you.

To be fair to the Council they haven't done that everywhere (yet). In other places roads have been turned into crazy golf courses with the addition of various obstacles lumps, bumps, chicanes, posts etc .

Dawkins' atheist ad campaign hits fundraising target

Michael

@Gavin

As you say, belief in God does not prove his existence. It is a matter of faith. Dawkins has faith that God (probably) does not exist while others have faith that he does.

Mother Teresa spent 50 years in the Calcutta slums in the belief that God existed and that he had told her to work there. This enriched her life and the lives of those that she helped.

Dawkins faith would never lead him to do that. His faith leads him to fear that God might exist and thus have some impact in his life which he might not like.

His professed lack of belief of the existence of God brings him fear and selfishness.

Michael

Sad case

I'm reminded of the story of an American evangelist in the late 1800s who was challenged by an atheist to a debate to discuss whether or not God existed. The evangelist agreed on the proviso that the atheist brought with him twenty people whose lives, and the lives of those around them had been transformed and improved by their disbelief in God. The athiest declined.

Interesting to see from the slogan that Dawkins is afraid that their might be a God, not that there might not be one.

Furthermore, he equates the existence of God with a lack of personal enjoyment of his life.

Dawkins' atheism simply expresses fear and selfishness.

Ambulance Service not patient enough for Vista

Michael
Joke

Upgrades

Readers may also be interested that I am not planning to upgrade to Vista either.

ITV gets adverts into video

Michael
Flame

Not enough ads!

Can I just say that there are simply not enough ads for comparison websites being shown.

Perhaps we need a few sites to compare the comparison websites?

Michael
Stop

Try using the "off" switch

ITV realise that the viewers don't want advertisements and so their answer is to insert them into the programme contents, the so-called "empty spaces". With ads already taking up to 18 minutes per hour the "off" switch is being used in my house with increasing frequency. The empty spaces seem to be between the ears of the ITV directors.

Navy sonar dolphin 'massacre' - the facts

Michael
Flame

Its obviously the Navy

Nobody else has sonar - except for every small boat on the water.

UK is not a surveillance society, MPs claim

Michael
Unhappy

minimum data, held for the minumum time

I think what they mean is that the only copy of the data was on the two CDs.

RSPCA calls for dog chipping

Michael
Coat

dog chipping?

If the problem is not with the dog but with the owners then why not chip the owners and have a database for them instead? Come to think of it we could include everybody in the country. If you wanted to prove who you were you could just get yourself scanned.

I'm sure Fujitsu has a few rooms full of tip top chaps ready for a database challenge.

Mine's the houndstooth one

Dixons admits 'it's even worse than you thought'

Michael
Alien

Good riddance and Doctor Who

I once bought faulty goods from DSG. Not their fault but their responsibility. I never did get satisfaction and have made a point since of buying from companies who do care about their customers.

When Doctor Who was brought back, 'The Now Show' on R4 asked the audience what new monsters they thought that the Doctor would face and what threat they would present to him. 'The Dixons teen army of Saturday workers' was one suggested monster. And what threat would they present? 'I don't know sir, but I can ask the manager.'

Alien? Customer servis is alien to DSG.

Heathrow 777 crash: Siberian cold to blame?

Michael
Paris Hilton

Huh?

If the fuel freezes at -47°C and the minimum recorded fuel temperature was -34°C then the fuel did not freeze over Siberia. So frozen fuel is not the problem unless the air temperature at Heathrow was a little colder than our boys at the Met Office are telling us.....

Paris, because she *is* hotter than Siberia. (well a little anyway)

Windows XP SP3 leaps into the tubes

Michael
Heart

New computer required?

At home I have two PCs for playing games, One with XP SP2 on and one with XP SP1 on to play the games that didn't work after installing SP2. Will I need another computer to run games that won't work after installing SP3?

No - I'm not going to risk installing it.

Is the earth getting warmer, or cooler?

Michael
Linux

Familiar story?

Anybody remember the predicted effects of global nuclear war? One theory was that we would all freeze in a nuclear winter caused by dust in the atmosphere blocking out the sun. Or, we were all going to die because the ozone layer would be destroyed and we would all fry. My personal theory was that we were all going to die because where we had been standing was now an irradiated hole in the ground. But then what do I know?

Well, I know that the scientists thought for a long time that the earth was flat and that Gordon will use climate change as an excuse to raise taxes.

Penguin because they don't pay tax (yet).

BT: 'We did not let anyone down over Phorm... it was not illegal'

Michael
Thumb Up

We spied on 36,000 customers using the internet, admits BT

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=556068&in_page_id=1770

Apple sued over 'inflated' iMac claims

Michael
Coat

Really?

So, the model was introduced in August 2007 with screens so bad that it took 8 months for one user to spot it?

Just popping out to buy a teletype............

Phorm agrees to independent inspection of data pimping code

Michael
Happy

Cold calling by BT

I was cold called by BT last night (although I'm on whatever list that says I don't want to be called). Caller wanted to know if I'd like to switch to BT. I told the caller that I wouldn't because of the Phorm issue and pointed him to El Reg. Hit them in the £££££.

Home Sec: British rings to be tightened against intrusion

Michael
Pirate

Are our borders insecure?

Yes.

All the checks take place at airports. We regularly sail from the east cost to Belgium and Holland. There are no checks at either departure or arrival.

Pirate, coz it would be easy to bring anything or anyone into the UK anytime.

Dear ISP, I am not a target market

Michael

Missing the point?

Surely if your ISP is passing data to other companies this would be illegal under the Data Protection Act as in some cases at least his would constitute personal data - the whole point is to build up personal browsing history? A few legal cases might go a long way to discredit the idea.

Adblocking any resulting ads would get around the problem of unwanted tosh arriving at your computer - but why not ask your ISP to block the spam which they are sending to you unsolicited and which could count towards your monthly download quota - or raise your quota and pay part of your electricity bill to cover your administrative costs.

Ultimately, if the companies whose ads were targeted were to learn that nobody liked receiving their advertisements at that it reflected badly on them, then the whole scheme would last a long about as an ice cream in a microwave.

Windows better off closed, says Microsoft

Michael
Happy

Can't give it away?

"Hilf said "most of the knowledgeable people" are actually asking not to be given the source code for Windows"

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! play pots-and-kettles 2.0

Michael

Hurrah!

Jolly nice chaps those people at Microsoft! They just want to give us "a better rival to Google". How nice of them. I don't believe for a moment that their bid for Yahoo has anything to do with their failure to produce their own rival to Google. I can see no link whatever to Google's profits and the lack of consumer interest in Microsoft's latest versions of Windows or Office.

Euro lawyers see tortuous road ahead for Microsoft's Yahoo! bid

Michael

Euro lawyers see tortuous road ahead for Microsoft's Yahoo! bid

Should read Euro lawyers see gravy train ahead working for/against Microsoft's Yahoo! bid

Cameron blames Labour naivety for NHS IT woes

Michael
Flame

Am I missing something?

I really don't see why a doctor in Aberdeen needs access to my medical data if I'm knocked down by a bus in London. If I have a medical condition which might affect my treatment I could always wear a bracelet or carry a card like diabetics sometimes do - which could include the address of my GP who currently keeps my records.

Why not scrap this pointless IT scheme and employ some doctors in casualty and someone who can keep hospitals clean?

NHS frets over Brits' genitalia

Michael

Will Gordon promise us a referendum on this issue?

I think that we deserve to be told.

In the mean time I'm just popping out for my constitutional.........

Darling plays wait and see on HMRC disc loss

Michael

no information or intelligence that the data has fallen into wrong hands

I beg to differ. The data is in the wrong hands. It is being handled by HMRC.

New Jersey scraps death penalty

Michael

The purpose of the death penalty

The purpose of the death penalty was to uphold the value of human life. Your life would be forfeit if you deliberately took the life of another human being.

The death penalty would therefore be inappropriate, say for people who just lost vast quantities of personal data, or made promises about refereda which they subsequently broke, or presided over an education system whose standards were dropping faster than a fireman on a pole (which of course they can't do anymore because it might result in a legal action). Nor would the death penalty be appropriate just because your hospital was killing people because you weren't keeping it clean. Nor would it be appropriate to apply the penalty just because your department had no idea how many illegal immigrants there are in the country (apart from the ones that you had employed yourself) The list is endless. Health and safety Nazis, Christmas killjoys, Not-allowed-to-photograph-your-own-child morons, PC dead brains etc etc. It would be entirely inappropriate to execute any of them.

But wouldn't it be nice if they were simply removed from their jobs? A bit like putting them out of our misery.

Michael

Michael, Cambridge

'Had not deterred murder'. Is that why is called the ''death penalty' not the 'death deterrent'?

Bin charging back on as Brown gets dizzy

Michael
Happy

Rubbish Mail

I'm not going to pay to have my junk mail dumped by the local council, I'm going to post it all back to the sender. If we all did this the Royal Mail or whatever its called this week will be out of the red by the weekend.