Keep on knockin' off the Free World
Posts by Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face
473 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
You Wreck Me, Spotify: Tom Petty, Neil Young publisher launches $1.6bn copyright sueball
Jeremy Clarkson and Co. rise to top for Great British Bake Off replacements
Google says it would have a two-word answer for Feds seeking Yahoo!-style email backdoor
Idiot flies drone alongside Flybe jet landing at Newquay Airport
UK's climate change dept abolished, but 'smart meters and all our policies strong as ever'
Trump? Terror? Turkey? Whoa, there's a Tentacool in that Bush...
Boris Johnson 'NIGHTMARE'
Tesla whacks guardrail in Montana, driver blames autopilot
While I agree with everything that's been said here about personal responsibility, one has to wonder whether all this "safety" tech in cars is actually making them less safe. Every day on the motorways I see people looking down at their mobile phones, veering and then correcting. It causes no end of near and actual rear-end shunts. If people already take such risks without the widespread use of lane assist and automatic braking, imagine what they'll do when it becomes ubiquitous.
414,949 D-Link cameras, IoT devices can be hijacked over the net
Chilcot's IT spend: Tighter wallet than most public sector bods
Bloke 'lobbed molotov cocktails' at Street View car because Google was 'watching him'
'Digital influencers' must disclose paid-for content, says new guidance
Brexit: More cash for mobile operators or consumers? Pick one
Re: UK legislation
"The House of Lords is unelected, the Euro parliament is elected"
Not that old chestnut. The House of Lords is an unelected revising chamber. They scrutinise legislation. The European Parliament is an elected rubber stamping organisation designed only so that people can still convince themselves they live under a democratically accountable system. They are the only parliament anywhere in the world which cannot propose legislation. They simply nod through the wishes of the unelected Commission, whose sole purpose is to further the European vision.
Vote "in", for an end to democracy and the rule of law. And cheaper mobile phone calls abroad.
Wales gives anti-vaping Blockleiters a Big Red Panic Button
Don’t let the Barmy Brexiteers wreck #digital #europe
Cast your mind back to 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed by six nations. It consisted of nothing more than an elaborate front page, a signature page, and (due to "technical difficulties") a whole wad of blank paper.
Almost 50 years later the European Constitution was signed. It was a solemn and impressive ceremony at the heart of Ancient Rome. All that remained was for the people of Europe to approve the pact which was made in their name. The Dutch and the French, however, deigned to disagree, voting the whole thing down in their respective referendums.
Regardless, the project pushed on, and was quietly repackaged, much of the text lifted word-for-word into the Lisbon treaty. This time it was billed as a "tidying up exercise". No need to bother the proles with a vote on the subject. Except for Ireland, who voted the "wrong" way, and were told to vote again.
If you happen to be one of the 42% of people who bothered to vote for your MEP, you might find some comfort in the fact that the people who ride roughshod over the parliamentary democracy and court system of the UK are subject to some democratic oversight. But this is an illusion. The appointed EU Commission are bound by EU rules to represent "the project", not their respective nations. MEPs cannot instigate legislation. Their function is provide a fig leaf of democracy to the whole sham. The legislation they do get to scrutinize, they invariably nod through.
There are lots of reasons to leave. The crippling of the economies of Greece, Italy, Spain. The parachuting in of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats into the highest seats of power in Greece and Ireland to pull the levers of power. The appropriation of Cypriots' savings. The hounding to an early grave of a market trader who dared to use traditional weights and measures. The unelected Jean-Claude Junker pontificating on what would happen if the Austrians voted for the wrong candidate in their recent election. The breaking of their own rules in granting bailouts. The ridiculous blue flags on everything that has been built with "EU" (ie YOUR) money. The control-freak legal system that thinks that unless something is regulated it cannot be permitted.
I could go on, but I fear you might guess which way I'm voting.
England just not windy enough for wind farms, admits renewables boss
Brexit: UK gov would probably lay out tax plans in post-'leave' vote emergency budget
'Acts of war in a combat zone are not covered by your laptop warranty'
IBM says no, non, nein to Brexit
My point is that the European Union has become the tool by which an unsavory and unelected cabal assimilate complicit nations into an anti-democratic dystopian protection racket. In his days off from fighting court cases involving sex with hotel cleaners, DSK is a leading light in the "enlightened" one-world currency/government movement.
Thunderbird is GO: Mozilla prepares to jettison mail client
Not being a big fan of cloudy services, I've found the combined address book, enhanced calendar and mail functionality of Thunderbird to be all I need to organise my life. One central profile gets synchronised across 2 android phones, 3 house phones and another PC. Works very well (although I wish they'd fix the vcard formatting/integration).
Mystery Kindle update will block readers from books after Wednesday
Facebook is no charity, and the ‘free’ in Free Basics comes at a price
Day 2: Millions of HSBC customers still locked out of online banking
SpaceX makes rocket science look easy: Falcon 9 passes tests
Library web filtering removes info access for vulnerable, says shushing collective
Kids' TV show Rainbow in homosexual agenda shocker
Re: Interesting theology from this 'pastor'
That's not what a rainbow is. It's what a rainbow is made of. Otherwise you and I would be nothing but bags of chemicals and water, possessing a meaningless existence within a meaningless universe. Were this true, you wouldn't be posting your thoughts here.
Electrician cuts wrong wire and downs 25,000 square foot data centre
GCHQ Christmas Card asks YOU the questions
How to solve a Rubik's Cube in five seconds
Rooting and modding a Windows Phone is now child's play
The next update I'm planning on my Windows phone is to strap it to a nice big chunk of wood and cut it in half with a circular saw. Then I'll take it into CarWarePhoneHouse and see if they'll send it back to the manufacturers for fault investigation.
With any luck they'll tell me they're not replacing it.
Nuisance call blocking firms fined £170,000 ... for making nuisance calls
My gripe...
Signed up for Millets mailing list using millets@mydomain to get a free voucher.
Ticked the "do not pass on my email address.." box.
Unsubscribed about a year ago.
Millets get bought out by JD Sports about six months ago.
JD Sports mail me at millets@mydomain at 1am this morning blathering on about their Black Friday deals.
Who owns space? Looking at the US asteroid-mining act
Speaking in Tech: Anonymous’s ‘total war’ on ISIS – how effective can it be?
Pope instructs followers to put the iPhone away during dinner
The only GOOD DRONE is a DEAD DRONE. Y'hear me, scumbags?!
Recently witnessed this first hand. An eight year old with a bow and arrow downed a drone that had been hovering over his family's group of tents and deliberately winding them all up.
Pretty hilarious really, the reaction of the operator when he flounced over to pick up his wounded toy was probably more childish than the eight year old.
WIN a 6TB Western Digital Black hard drive with El Reg
Hunted TV Series - How did they.. how would you...
NASA announcement of MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY imminent: WHAT can it be?
Uber is killing off iconic black cabs, warns Zac Goldsmith
I always found the distinction between Hackney Carriages and Private Hire pretty bizarre. Maybe it's time to simplify and deregulate the sector, rather than implementing new rules for the internet era. If the purpose of regulation is primarily the protection of the public, then it's rapidly becoming pointless, as there's enough information in the public domain for people to make an informed choice for themselves.
Ashley Madison invites red-faced cheats to bolt stable door for free
Toyota recalls 625,000 hybrids: Software bug kills engines dead with THERMAL OVERLOAD
Bitcoin fixes a Greek problem – but not the Greek debt problem
Smart meters set to cost Blighty as much as replacing Trident
Control the language, control the debate...
If they were being honest, these meters would be called "we screwed up generation capacity by replacing coal power stations with useless environmentally unfriendly turbines so now need to control demand by turning off your power when we feel like it - meters".
Unfortunately the marketing people got there first.