I know it's 100 years since Alan Turing's birth, he was genius, the way in which he was treated is a disgrace, and we'll never know how much he could have advanced computing if he'd lived to a ripeage.
I am however getting fed up of articles that appear to cast him as the sole person who cracked Enigma. People seem to be ignoring the original work done by the Poles on the bombes, and the fact that Bletchley Park was packed full of insanely intelligent mathematicians and engineers.
Sure, but have you called them up and told them that. It's much more fun to go out of your way to say that you'll never contemplate using them because of their obnoxious advert.
Oh no, they don't tag things onto bills in the UK, they just plough ahead and write new legislation while ignoring experts, the industry and most importantly, public opinion. Politicians over here don't give a shit about how stupid their legislation makes them - you could stick a red rosette on a pig and it would get elected in Birmingham. Likewise, you could stick a blue rosette on a fox (the one you hunt, not the one you eye up in the pub) in my constituency and it'd get elected.
You're thinking of Selective Availability, which degraded precision giving errors of up to 100m, not 1,000m. As others said it was done to prevent foreign military from using the full capabilities of GPS,
As a bit of an anecdote, I remember my uncle complaining of how his GPS was inaccurate compared to the previous day whilest laying marks for some dinghy racing. I made a quip about the Americans probably bombing some country. That evening the news was full of pictures of Tomahawks being fired into Afganistan. I became a bit more careful making facetious comments that day.
Not that I know of. Though I kind of trust my mum's opinion about them being a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Besides I've heard (through a concrete floor no less) him roaring at his missus - one gem I remember:
M: You owe me for that broken [console] controller. F: I didn't touch it M: You distracted me, you know what happens when you distract me (obviously he smashed it up when he got distracted from a game and died)
I'd assume* that anyone so gullible as to fall for a Nigerian scam isn't going to realise that the money will be obtained illegally. The reason I'd included "greedy and unethical" is because I vaguely remembered a story about a lawyer suing a bank over a cheque he sent to scammers. It turns out it was this story which didn't involve 419 scams.
* Though we all know what assumptions are the brother ^H^H^H^H^H mother of.
They found my neighbours* - a couple whom my mother (a psychologist) took one look at and said "adult mental health" - and they thought they'd won £450,000 in the lottery. It's a funny story.
They knocked on my door and asked if they could use my computer to register with the bank as they couldn't register on their phone. The first red flag was that URL he typed in sounded incredibly long, but not reason enough to say anything. Anyhow, when he was done, they mentioned they were looking forward to getting a laptop & television like mine as they'd just come into some money, $450,000 to be precise.
I was too dumbstruck to say anything, so called a mate and started the conversation with "you're going to laugh, but it's not funny", he wasn't helpful so I called my mum as she's had plenty of experience dealing with people like this. My main concern was that they'd think I was making fun of them when I told them, or that they'd want to shoot the messenger - they'd already started spending the money mentally.
The next morning I knocked on their door and told them that my computer flagged that I'd visited a dodgy site - they one he went to - and that before they do anything they should talk to their bank, thus absolving me of not telling them the previous evening. And that was the end of it, so I though.
However, they told the police - fair enough. They also told the scammer - they'd got a call from him after entering their details - and told him they knew it was a scam and that they'd informed the police - fair enough.
Then, about a week later, I bumped into them and they showed me an email they'd received. it read:
I am the man sent to kill you. I have been watching your house for two days. I will be paid £1,200 for this job, but if you pay *me* half I will not kill you.
So they tell the police again, they also tell the council who then have to send out a risk assessment team to determine whether they have to be moved.
In short, there are always people that will fall for these scams, and they tend to be the lowest common denominator, or just greedy and unethical. However there's always a cost, even if you catch the scam before any money changes hands.
* These are the same people who asked if they could use some of my weed killer (enough for 400 sq m) and used it neat on their garden (20 sq m)
They'll do anything to avoid paying tax. It's the main reason why their economy is so fucked.
Example: A mate of mine is an RYA (Royal Yachting Association) Instructor, and has been asked to run a course down in Greece, so he has to book some accomodation - decides on a nice 4 star hotel. After he booked, he was called up and told that if he paid in cash it would be half price. There they are complaining of austerity measures, whilst not paying tax.
Just shy of 1,000 civil servants... were disciplined...
WTF, how about sacking these people, they clearly can't be trusted in their position. Better still, make it a criminal offence (if it isn't already) and charge them.
I worked for the Ordnance Survey in Southampton after Uni. During training we were shown examples of where people had altered maps (someone wrote "HI" in land tiles in the North Sea, and a building was labled "Kate's cradle of filth"). It was explained to us that all work was logged. If caught we would be sacked. If we'd already left, we'd be chased up under the Official Secrets Act.
Whether it was all a threat, I don't know. But I certainly didn't risk finding out. Neither did any of my friends.
Heathrow airport with 1300 flights per day is just 30km away.
Plus, if runways 27L/R are being used, then Heathrow traffic will be flying it's downwind leg towards The City at about 200kts (50s from Olympic stadium). During peak periods, they missile crew will have to keep track of an aircraft heading directly for them at 200kts every 45s.
That's exactly the problem. We know not to take the seriously. It's just that those self righteous idiots in Westminster only listen to what these buffoons come out with.
I was a great fan of Ikea (sofa, bed, wardrobe, shelves) until I went there last time to get some more Ivar (modular pine) shelves. They've now decided to make the shelves with seriously ugly plastic fittings at the end, instead of the discrete fittings they previously had.
Their reasoning is apparently to keep costs down, however they're going to start losing customers as they make everything cheaper & cheaper. I've got a bit of disposable income and I'm willing to spend a little more on something if I like it. I've looked elsewhere for natural modular pine shelving, and am going to spend more with a competitor.
I suppose I'm not the market they're going for, but if/when I have kids, Ikea probably won't be my first port of call when looking for furniture, whereas when I was growing up a great deal of my furniture came from them.
Just out of interest, does this only apply to copyrighted goods (books, CDs, DVDs etc.) or to everything (cars, etc.)? Can BMW sue me if I decide to import a German 7 Series into the US with the sole intent of selling it for a profit?
Sure, there's the minefield of dealing with import duties, but that's not what this guy is being sued over.
I'm starting to believe that Hollywood really doesn't want to make money. After all, why else do they not want to put their films on the UK version of Netflix, when they're available on the US version? In the hope that we'll buy them on DVD instead? Good luck with that one.
Slashdot Mirror
I know it's 100 years since Alan Turing's birth, he was genius, the way in which he was treated is a disgrace, and we'll never know how much he could have advanced computing if he'd lived to a ripeage.
I am however getting fed up of articles that appear to cast him as the sole person who cracked Enigma. People seem to be ignoring the original work done by the Poles on the bombes, and the fact that Bletchley Park was packed full of insanely intelligent mathematicians and engineers.
Sure, but have you called them up and told them that. It's much more fun to go out of your way to say that you'll never contemplate using them because of their obnoxious advert.
Oh no, they don't tag things onto bills in the UK, they just plough ahead and write new legislation while ignoring experts, the industry and most importantly, public opinion. Politicians over here don't give a shit about how stupid their legislation makes them - you could stick a red rosette on a pig and it would get elected in Birmingham. Likewise, you could stick a blue rosette on a fox (the one you hunt, not the one you eye up in the pub) in my constituency and it'd get elected.
You're thinking of Selective Availability, which degraded precision giving errors of up to 100m, not 1,000m. As others said it was done to prevent foreign military from using the full capabilities of GPS,
As a bit of an anecdote, I remember my uncle complaining of how his GPS was inaccurate compared to the previous day whilest laying marks for some dinghy racing. I made a quip about the Americans probably bombing some country. That evening the news was full of pictures of Tomahawks being fired into Afganistan. I became a bit more careful making facetious comments that day.
Sweet Jesus, have ACs never heard of smart phones? I despair.
Typo, it was $450,000, bah I just noticed that I got the dollars mixed up. The email threat was in pounds however as it had been personalised.
Not that I know of. Though I kind of trust my mum's opinion about them being a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Besides I've heard (through a concrete floor no less) him roaring at his missus - one gem I remember:
M: You owe me for that broken [console] controller.
F: I didn't touch it
M: You distracted me, you know what happens when you distract me (obviously he smashed it up when he got distracted from a game and died)
Reading comprehension fail, not surprising really for an AC:
.. asked if they could use my computer to register with the bank as they couldn't register on their phone
They check their email on their phone, but couldn't access the site using a mobile browser.
I'd assume* that anyone so gullible as to fall for a Nigerian scam isn't going to realise that the money will be obtained illegally. The reason I'd included "greedy and unethical" is because I vaguely remembered a story about a lawyer suing a bank over a cheque he sent to scammers. It turns out it was this story which didn't involve 419 scams.
* Though we all know what assumptions are the brother ^H^H^H^H^H mother of.
They found my neighbours* - a couple whom my mother (a psychologist) took one look at and said "adult mental health" - and they thought they'd won £450,000 in the lottery. It's a funny story.
They knocked on my door and asked if they could use my computer to register with the bank as they couldn't register on their phone. The first red flag was that URL he typed in sounded incredibly long, but not reason enough to say anything. Anyhow, when he was done, they mentioned they were looking forward to getting a laptop & television like mine as they'd just come into some money, $450,000 to be precise.
I was too dumbstruck to say anything, so called a mate and started the conversation with "you're going to laugh, but it's not funny", he wasn't helpful so I called my mum as she's had plenty of experience dealing with people like this. My main concern was that they'd think I was making fun of them when I told them, or that they'd want to shoot the messenger - they'd already started spending the money mentally.
The next morning I knocked on their door and told them that my computer flagged that I'd visited a dodgy site - they one he went to - and that before they do anything they should talk to their bank, thus absolving me of not telling them the previous evening. And that was the end of it, so I though.
However, they told the police - fair enough. They also told the scammer - they'd got a call from him after entering their details - and told him they knew it was a scam and that they'd informed the police - fair enough.
Then, about a week later, I bumped into them and they showed me an email they'd received. it read:
I am the man sent to kill you. I have been watching your house for two days. I will be paid £1,200 for this job, but if you pay *me* half I will not kill you.
So they tell the police again, they also tell the council who then have to send out a risk assessment team to determine whether they have to be moved.
In short, there are always people that will fall for these scams, and they tend to be the lowest common denominator, or just greedy and unethical. However there's always a cost, even if you catch the scam before any money changes hands.
* These are the same people who asked if they could use some of my weed killer (enough for 400 sq m) and used it neat on their garden (20 sq m)
They'll do anything to avoid paying tax. It's the main reason why their economy is so fucked.
Example: A mate of mine is an RYA (Royal Yachting Association) Instructor, and has been asked to run a course down in Greece, so he has to book some accomodation - decides on a nice 4 star hotel. After he booked, he was called up and told that if he paid in cash it would be half price. There they are complaining of austerity measures, whilst not paying tax.
Nothing like it. Second world at worst
What, it's communist?
Where did you find that? I tried Google Map Maker (which I didn't even know existed) to no avail.
Just shy of 1,000 civil servants ... were disciplined ...
WTF, how about sacking these people, they clearly can't be trusted in their position. Better still, make it a criminal offence (if it isn't already) and charge them.
I worked for the Ordnance Survey in Southampton after Uni. During training we were shown examples of where people had altered maps (someone wrote "HI" in land tiles in the North Sea, and a building was labled "Kate's cradle of filth"). It was explained to us that all work was logged. If caught we would be sacked. If we'd already left, we'd be chased up under the Official Secrets Act.
Whether it was all a threat, I don't know. But I certainly didn't risk finding out. Neither did any of my friends.
They're working off the basis that "Die Hard with a Vengeance" was a documentary about liquid binary explosives.
Heathrow airport with 1300 flights per day is just 30km away.
Plus, if runways 27L/R are being used, then Heathrow traffic will be flying it's downwind leg towards The City at about 200kts (50s from Olympic stadium).
During peak periods, they missile crew will have to keep track of an aircraft heading directly for them at 200kts every 45s.
I think the problem is that they're thinking of the children.
Mod +Infinity
If you say "Steve Jobs" three times to a mirror he appears and smashes your Android phone.
I bet there are people who have read this and wish there was an interesting (-1) mod!
That's exactly the problem. We know not to take the seriously. It's just that those self righteous idiots in Westminster only listen to what these buffoons come out with.
The dead people...
Sources please.
I was a great fan of Ikea (sofa, bed, wardrobe, shelves) until I went there last time to get some more Ivar (modular pine) shelves. They've now decided to make the shelves with seriously ugly plastic fittings at the end, instead of the discrete fittings they previously had.
Their reasoning is apparently to keep costs down, however they're going to start losing customers as they make everything cheaper & cheaper. I've got a bit of disposable income and I'm willing to spend a little more on something if I like it. I've looked elsewhere for natural modular pine shelving, and am going to spend more with a competitor.
I suppose I'm not the market they're going for, but if/when I have kids, Ikea probably won't be my first port of call when looking for furniture, whereas when I was growing up a great deal of my furniture came from them.
Just out of interest, does this only apply to copyrighted goods (books, CDs, DVDs etc.) or to everything (cars, etc.)? Can BMW sue me if I decide to import a German 7 Series into the US with the sole intent of selling it for a profit?
Sure, there's the minefield of dealing with import duties, but that's not what this guy is being sued over.
Exactly, according to them they couldn't make a profit from revenues of almost 1 billion USD (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
I'm starting to believe that Hollywood really doesn't want to make money. After all, why else do they not want to put their films on the UK version of Netflix, when they're available on the US version? In the hope that we'll buy them on DVD instead? Good luck with that one.