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* Posts by lawman

24 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Dec 2009

Xmas actually accelerates Dixons sales drop

lawman

overstocks

Just popped into the catalogue clearance warehouse in Corby that is used by Agros to dump stuff they can't clear. It was rammed full of flat screen TVs, TV set top boxes, hard disc recorders, pallets and pallets of the stuff. I know they buy this stuff by the shipload and have probably made their money, but it wouldn't help them if it got out that there are places like this where you can buy a big flatscreen TV (probably stock from 2 Christmasses ago) at about £300.

I mean if people found out that you can buy goods this cheaply from a warehouse they wouldn't need to go into Currys or Comet. It's pot luck, sometimes there's loads, other times nothing, but you can always pick up a handfull of alkaline batteries at 19p each. I use loads in my guitars and effects pedal and resent paying £3 a go, so one less reason to shop in the High Street or retail park. Ten years ago I made the prediction to friends that one day there will only be jobs in call centres, warehouses and for white van men. It's coming true.

Other comments on here point at old stock being a problem. It is. Old stock did for Woolworths and it will be the death of HMV and Waterstones, Argos and the big sheds.

I spent 20 years in retail. The secret of good retailing is not good selling, it's good buying. Buying twice as much as you need in order to get a good price may work for fast moving, high repeat sale products, but most people don't go shopping for a big ticket item like a laptop or computeror flatscreen TV every year. Piling it high and selling it cheap has diminishing returns and the outcome is always the same. You drown in unsold stock.

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Post Office wins contract to take snaps of foreigners

lawman
Unhappy

Another use

Another use for all those ID card booths that clog up Post Offices across the land. The gummint may have killed ID Cards for now, but the beast still slumbers

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We need IT to stop NHS flushing away cash - ex-Health Sec

lawman

Surely

Surely the answer is to give the IT contract to Tesco? They did all this work over 30 years ago.

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How digital audio ate itself and the music industry

lawman
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paying for breakages

The contract between the record company and the artist still contains clauses that the artists pay for any product broken in transit. The companies also insist that artists pay towards the R&D on CDs.

The first is a throwback to bakelite 78s, the second a blatant rip-off.

The record companies ALL deserve to die. Horribly. They got fat and greedy in the boom years, then lazy and complacent. They paid over the odds for back catalogue, then shamelessly exploit it. (yes I do mean you T***la M**wn). They buy old songs then force wannabees to sing them on TV talent shows, then flog the dross to grannies and pre-teens.

Die. Soon.

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Punters go postal with erratic Royal Mail site

lawman
FAIL

Still down

My firm has been trying to buy stamps online all week. Finally today we thought we'd cracked it, only for the website to reject our credit card.

Not fit for purpose.

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Vote now for the best sci-fi film never made

lawman
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I'm glad

that my choice "Legacy of Heorot" by Niven, Barnes & Pournelle" is unlikely to be made into a film. Having witnessed the travesty that is Starship Troopers I can't imagine what Hollywood would do to screw up such a good story.

I mean- the whole point about Starship Troopers is that Heinlein was questioning the way our democracy works, about how the right to vote is a right to be earned. The whole war against the bugs is just the backdrop. And Voerhoeven made a film about the backdrop. Doh!

Every time I reread the book I'm amazed that Heinlein wrote the book to be read by teenagers. He'd been putting out books featuring teenage heroes for about ten years but his publisher turned it down. He took it to another publisher who released it to the mainstream sci-fi market and the rest is history. Without the success of Starship Troopers there would have been no "Stranger in a Strange Land" (which kind of influenced Bowie's film "The Man Who Fell To Earth") and my life would have been poorer for it.

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Humanity's stored data measured in CDs to the Moon

lawman

How many

How many millifortnights did it take to work that out?

I think we need to be told

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UK.gov shreds last ID scheme hard drives

lawman

And another thing

The ID scheme was to make use of the drivers license renewal booths that clog up our local Post office and take three tills permanently out of action.

Can we have the tills back please? It's bloody cold when the queue's out the door

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lawman
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No ID = no advice

Sorry but we insist that you prove who you are and where you live. I want to be sure that you are indeed the John Smith who wants to make a will, sell or buy a house, get divorced, get access to his children, get probate on his rich dead mother, etc etc.

How would you like it if you walked in ten minutes later to find that some imposter stole your identity and sold your house?

Of course you can always do it all yourself for free. We may be able to dig you out of the brown stuff if you screw up, but only if you provide two forms of id.

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Gov will spend £400k to destroy ID card data

lawman
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that might get rid of the data but...

What about the photo booths that have been set up in all the main Post Offices. A friend was employed setting these up for the DVLA. Phase one was for renewing photo driving licences. Phase two was for the roll out of ID cards.

Destroying the data is simple

But as long as the hardware exists the plan can always be revived

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End of the line for ID cards

lawman
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Looked in your local Post Office lately?

The Heath Robinson type photo booth that is blocking access to two of the counters in my town's main Post Office has two uses.

The first is so you can get your photo driving licence renewed/replaced.

A friend of my was involved in developing the software.

This was only Phase 1

Phase 2 is/was for ID cards.

As long as the kit is still in place, any government can reintroduce ID cards at any time

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BBC workers lose £240k of tech gear in two years

lawman
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Theft upon theft

You assume that the licence fee is justifiable. It's not. By it's very existence thefts of this magnitude can be excused away as being a fraction of the budget etc.

The BBC only exists in its current form because of the guaranteed income from the licence fee. They don't have to make any decent programmes or compete in the market place like the other "for profit" firms.

Abolish the licence fee and let the BBC compete on a level playing field. Then we'll see if their grossly overpaid senior staff are worth it. Then we'll see if their sending hundreds of staff to the Olympics, World Cup or Glastonbury contribute to the profitability of the company. Then we'll see if the scandalous abuse and waste of resources that is currently tolerated because it is only a fraction of the budget has an effect on their bottom line.

You cannot justify theft of laptops on the basis that it's just a fraction of a bigger theft.

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Parliament misled over Climategate report, says MP

lawman
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Show me some actual science that proves the ice caps are not melting

If it was given to you then you'd only deny it.

AGW is a religion. And people believe what they want to believe.

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Avro Vulcan - The Owners' Workshop Manual

lawman
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Yeh but no but

I recall sitting on top of a mountain above Maesteg in South Wales back in the 70s and looking down on a Vulcan as it weaved its way down the valley. It must have been flying at under 1000 feet.

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Giddens, Lawson argue quite sensibly on climate change

lawman
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It's about the subsidy

"DONG Energy, (who happen to run a bunch of fossil fuel power stations, which isn't usually mentioned) seems to be building more turbine fields in various countries."

This is all about collecting a big fat subsidy from the taxpayer.

Our local windfarm is idle most of the time. Best estimate is that it's running at 7% of capacity.

It's not a windfarm. It's a subsidy farm.

If governments are stupid enough to buy into wind power, and then give firms huge subsidies to build these monstrosities, then of course firms like DONG will build them.

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World Cup in your pocket: iPhone vuvuzelas

lawman
Stop

In out in out shake it all about

My son had the app on his phone on Saturday evening. Shaking the phone up and down causes the phone to sound like a bee fart.

He took the phone with new app to the pub and said that by the end of the night at least half a dozen of his mates had the app.

I predict that this craze will not last until the end of the World Cup.

One of my neighbour's kids has a real one. I want to wrap it round his neck. In a kind and neighbourly fashion you understand.

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Ofcom refuses to bend over smut TV link-links

lawman
FAIL

Double Epic Fail

Double epic fail for Ofcom. First of all why are they wasting their time and our money on this?

Why do they make totally arbitrary judgements on supposedly hardcore content when we have the BBFC R18 guidelines? Why do they pick on the "adult" channels but allow films like 9Songs to be shown uncut on the movie channels?

It's totally inconsistent.

The second reason why they fail is that most of the "complaints" are made by rival broadcasters.

Ofcom must go. It's a bloated bureaucracy that serves no useful purpose.

The 900 channels are all grouped together. Any person can change the settings on their skybox to block access to them. Surely if you don't want to watch this stuff then don't go there.

This whole saga reminds me of the spinster who called the police to report that she could see a naked man from her bedroon window. The plod arrived and looked out. "I can't see any naked man madam" he said. "Ah but you can if you stand on that chair" she replied.

Ofcom should be disbanded asap

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DVLA deals £300m card-style licence contract

lawman
Stop

Already in Post Offices

The machinery is already installed in some Post offices and will be rolled out to the others later this year. A friend is working on the project and he tells me that phase2 involves the Border Agency, so this is the way ID cards are going to be implemented

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Tories put ID cards, Contactpoint on manifesto hit list

lawman
Big Brother

Scrap ID cards? No chance

"Conservative government would do: for instance, they would scrap ID cards,"

Not a chance unfortunately. The equipment's being installed in Post Offices as we speak.

Other posters have said that no government will give up any powers without a fight. I agree.

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Northerners give up ID cards for Lent figures suggest

lawman

From the horse's mouth

Spoke to an IT field tester recently. The DVLA's new "get your licence at the Post Office" goes live at about 150 Post Offices soon.

Phase 2 is for the Borders Agency.

It's not going away.

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UK ID card project descends into muddle

lawman

Coming to a post office near you

Next year the DVLA will unveil its renew your photo licence here booth in Post Offices. This is phase one of the drive to get everyone to have an ID card despite what the gummint says. The Tories will continue with it as its just as much in their interests to know all about us as it is with Liebour. Phase two of the scheme will involve fingerprint collection.

So now you can get your ID card while you wait in line to buy a stamp.

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Liverpool declares itself an ID-free zone

lawman
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Get your ID when you cash your giro

The equipment is being installed in Post offices now. DVLA get your licence here machines. Phase two will take fingerprints.

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Copenhagen forest-saving plans to create 'carbon refugees'

lawman

How many limos????

Anthony Watts reports that the delegates for the Copenhagen AGW slutfest have ordered over 1200 limos to carry them around.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/07/december-7th-2009-a-day-that-will-live-in-hypocrisy/#more-13815

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Manchester journo gets first ID card - late

lawman

ID cards coming soon to your local Post office

A software developer friend of mine told me that he's currently working at various Post Offices around the country. Very soon you will be able to go in to your local Post Office, have your photo taken etc and receive your photo driving licence there and then.

Phase two of the programme will enable you to have your fingerprints scanned.

ID cards are still happening despite what the government may say. It's being introduced by subterfuge.

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