* Posts by BioPeek

29 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Sep 2012

Maggie Thatcher: The Iron Lady who saved us from drab Post Office mobes

BioPeek
Facepalm

Re: Why Thatcher joined the Conservatives

>Yep exactly , so how about you open a can of STFU

I'd love to open a can of STFU, truly, but you see thanks to Maggie and her political descendants the last British manufacturer has gone: asset stripped, patents sold, plant and machinery exported and the work force on unemployment benefits.

D'Oh!

BioPeek
Boffin

Re: What's more depressing...

No. Most of us never met her. You are sooooooooo right. We've just had to live with the consequences of her.

Shurley shome mishtake?

BioPeek
Alien

Why Thatcher joined the Conservatives

The Observer: The New Review; 23/11/2012; pg15:

Nina Baldwin (1925 - 2012) Obit. Interview with Roger Baldwin:

"She was on fire-watch with Margaret Thatcher towards the end of the war and recalled asking her why she wanted to go into the Conservatives when they were much more intelligent in the Labour Party -- Thatcher said it was easier to get on in the Conservatives."

So, there you have it. We ended up with a PM who was only interested in her ambition.

Likewise Tony Blair became an MP based upon a single vote cast at his constituency selection committee (41-40 IIRC).

Food for thought....

BioPeek
FAIL

OMG!

> don't see why I should subsidize miners working a pointless job. Still, 30 years later, they're still on the news >moaning about how Thatcher ruined their lives

We're subsidising the banks. We're going to be subsidising them for a lot longer than 30 years to keep those fat cats.

The mines kep a very healthy mining tools industry going -- an industry that exported all ovet the world because British Coal (as was) spent bundles and bundles on R&D, all of which eventually led to exports of mining machinery, techniques and expertise.

>Get a new job, start a business, move towns, do something productive, but stop whinging about the only >PM who had the balls to stand up to you.

What world do you live in? Start what kind of buisness? There's been no real nvestment in training and education for decades. F.E. colleges no longer teach anything that isn't government approved -- funding is dependeant on the teaching being government approved; H.E. is just about in the same boat. Innovative and creative thinking isn't something you create from a spreadsheet mentality.

Start a business? How? Credit and investment has been cut off due to the need to recapitalise the banks; all that so-called quantative easing wasn't to make investment easier, it was to stop the banks from defaulting on their own debts.

Thatcher didn't stand up to the unions [on the picket lines] it was the ordinary bobbies [taken from off their beats]. An ironic collorary would be that the Police Federation is arguably the strongest union in the UK and there is no politician strong enough to take it on.

As for:

1. Fought to liberate the Falklands.

It was a war brought about by her government's stupidity. Goodness knows what the future is going to bring now that her political descendants have neutered this country's armed forces. Oh, btw, I am an ex-squaddy, so I think I might be better qualified than most commentards on this issue.

2. Crushed the unions, who were really asking for a whooping throughout the 70s.

Really? So the owners and management of companies of that era are entirely without any balme or fault?

Sheesh!

BioPeek
WTF?

Re: is this the same

>It can't be helped if the then private companies like BT were too fucking stupid to invest in research -it's not the >government's job to invest in industry research surely - it's the bloody companies ??

BT spent fortunes on research! System X for example predated its privatisation by many a year. After privatisation and to this day it spends peanuts in comparison.

Got to love the FWs who prefer ideology to history.

Scottish SF master Iain M Banks reveals he has less than a year to live

BioPeek
Unhappy

B*gger!

Am amazing writer and a very funy guy in real life. Once had the pleasure of a couple of hours in his company. Mr Banks has a savant, earthy mode of expression, which makes my own seem quite sponge-like in comparison lol. His writings reflect his tangental thoughts, his punkish sense of fun and the ability to hold contradictory opinions peacefully. Here's hoping that this year isn't his last.

Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2

BioPeek
Facepalm

Re: At £700 a pop...

>>>Would I buy one at the price, yes, if I was convinced that it could replace a Thinkpad. I would need to use one on a real world scenario for at least a month in order to make a serious decision.....

GASP!

Hang your head in shame!

Nothing can replace a Thinkpad... except another Thinkpad.

Watchdog warns UK.gov not to create 'them and us' digital divide

BioPeek
Flame

Twits or Tw@ts, or both?

Can we have a referendum, please?

Furious Stephen Fry blasts 'evil' Reg and 'TW*T' Orlowski

BioPeek
Facepalm

Re: He's very good...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fry%27s_Planet_Word

Actuall, his series was superficial and not all that accurate. It was as dumbed down as a fox with a dunce's hat on.

US taxman joins UK politicoes on hunt for Amazon cash

BioPeek
Devil

Re: Groan...

In NZ they have a flat rate tax -- NO ALLOWANCES.

From memory, people got around this by having trust funds. It was amusing to be asked if I wanted to pay my rent in cash, via an envelope into the landlord's hand or via cheque to the trust fund... no prizes for guessing whic was cheaper.

Simplfy the taxation system and you will increase tax yield because it removes the (deliberate) inherent complexities and thus remove the wriggle room to find the loopholes.

The poor pay more tax as a proprotion of income -- direct and indirect taxes -- than the rich. Remove VAT "trading" options from companies, caused by the perverse fiddling of who did what, when and with whom in regard to perceived value added to goods and services. Change this to a fixed small rate applicable and payable to all the stages of the circulation and collection cycles. The rich use their VAT registration (their companies and businesses) to acquire goods and services and offset and transfer their liabilities to the end-payer (the real tax payer, those who are PAYE tax payers). Companies negotiate with HMRC about their taxes, particulalry VAT! Something Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Bloggs cannot.

Dump the "dividend paid" and "commercial loan" tax exemptions and loopholes for shareholders and companies -- its become a way of fiddling income and should be treated the same as salaries and wages. A single flat rate system is the fairest and most easily administered.

In short, the only people/entities who suffer will be accountants and management consultancy companies (Goldman Sack's, et al anyone?).

OEMs and sellers must pay refunds on software faults - OFT

BioPeek
Devil

Oh dear!

That's just about every single software company shafted then.

Whoops!

Microsoft Surface popped open, poked, prodded

BioPeek
Coat

Re: Am I missing something?

Umm... Perhaps they could have used flash cards to identify the colours?

Oh wait, Steve Jobs banned flash.... mustn't upset the fanbois....

It's already off the peg. All right!

UK.gov tries to close site giving home addresses of badger cull figures

BioPeek
Devil

Re: Prediction.

>The mess they make of the fields tearing up grassland currently reduces our grazing capacity by 20-25% which in turn allows us to graze fewer sheep (and we are not high density or intensity by any means). Scale that up to people who rely on the income for their livelihood and the problem becomes apparent.

And now we have an answer that I understand and can believe.

Brock is a natutal rotavator... therefore:

"Get orf my land!"

Apple: Blue-shirts can fix iOS Maps in their spare time

BioPeek
Facepalm

Location Errors

Excuse me, but I'm here. I'm here!

Oregon farmer devoured by own hogs

BioPeek
IT Angle

Re: Don't stand still in a pig enclosure

My grandfather kept pigs. He never went into the sty without a huge board, to act as a shield, in front of legs and alway had a very large stick in his hand.

He said pigs aren't dumb, they know where they're headed. Out of all the animals on his farm, I was not never allowed near pigs on my own. Even the sheepdogs kept well clear.

NASA releases stunning image of our universe's distant past

BioPeek
Childcatcher

Re: Yes, feeling very small!

Bboggled, bedazzled, bamboozled by the impossibilities of trying to comprehend that.

Small, small, small! Doesn't even cover our little spec of space.

iPhone 5 sales curbed by lack of smashable screens – report

BioPeek
Paris Hilton

Re: Take it easy Dick

>...no, you can't have any of my organs.

Now would you say that to Paris?

BioPeek
Meh

Re: God save us from scratches

Actually, not being part of the Apple core thing, I must give kudos where it is due to the assistant in that store. The sale had been made, yet went the extra mile to make sure the kid's phone screen was looked after. Usually in the UK you buy a screen protector and it's FOff time so the assistant can go back to lounging around.

And the kid putting it in the phone in the case -- without being told by a parent! Fme! can I adopt that kid, obviously cares about mum and dad's dwindling wallet stuffing.

Agree it must have been a pain to watch but give them both credit doing the right thing!

Berkeley Lab proposes 4D clock

BioPeek
Go

I want one before Apple sue them for having curved corners on time!

Or should that be Swiss Railways?

Fans revolt over Amazon 'adware' in Ubuntu desktop search results

BioPeek

>>…if a user clicks the item and purchases it, it will generate affiliate revenue that we can invest...

>>...These are not ads because they are not paid placement...

>Wow, his bullshit rationalization meter is pegging!

Wow! has anyone mentioned this "innovation" to Richard Stallman?

Have be a pint whilst I wait for the popcorn icon.http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/pint_32.png

BioPeek
Linux

Diddums

>I guess this will be another thing Windows can't do for Linux users to crow about...

Oh dear! You mean you can't (or don't know how to) configure a disk/file system properly?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/linux_32.png

BioPeek
Thumb Up

Re: Ubuntu...

>'ll get thumbs down for this, but using a separate /home and root partitions on the hard drive helps when you want to swap distributions to see which suits.

Don't put yourself down. Sensible people do use separate parts for things: /home /var /opt etc.

Versatiltiy is the nature of Linux. WTF would you want to keep your data on the same part as software, settings, logs etc.?

Thumbs up from me!

BioPeek
Pint

Re: Big deal....

My thoughts exactly!

Eric Schmidt: Ha ha, NO Google maps app for iPhone 5

BioPeek

Re: Just Pissed

>Not sure what my response to Apple is yet, but I am deleting all Google software from my iPhone. Going to try out some other options. Tired of being the battering ram. Open to suggestions to bring home the message to Apple.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to....

BioPeek

Re: It is a popularity contest

>Well you might be half right, but what about all those girls buying it? Is it phallic, or what is their reason?!

Curved corners?

iPhone 5 Lightning cables sticking in USB ports

BioPeek
Paris Hilton

Re: Usual Apple bashing

>It was probably the female sockets that are to blame.

There's nothing wrong with our Paris's socket!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/paris_hilton_32.png

Want a Leica camera from Jony Ive? There CAN BE ONLY ONE

BioPeek
FAIL

Re: Leica digicams.

> Leica lenses (the really good bit)

ROFLMA

Obviously Carl Ziess, Nikon, Canon, Sigma, Tokina, Tamron et al should all shut up shop immediately.

What's hard about maing a good prme lens...?

Sky ruled OK to hold broadcast licence without Murdoch at helm

BioPeek
Holmes

The IT Crowd: Douglas: Conrad Black, the first rich person to go to prison in over 300 years.

And sure as hell the British establishment will never allow it to happen again.

Who queues for an iPhone 5? Protesters, hipsters and the jobless

BioPeek
Paris Hilton

Re: Lattes

Umm... surely that should be

two "jugs" of hot milk.

Paris because her jugs look like the milk in her's is always piping hot!