I guess other countries have similar rules to the UK which is they are only to be used if visibility is less than 100 metres.
If we're talking about mandatory speed limiters on cars, let's also have the speed limited to 40mph whenever the high intensity rear fog lamps are switched on to put a stop to the idiots in over powered cars doing 85mph in the third lane in torrential rain with the fog lamps on.
Given that pollution and climate change is caused by too many human beings burning too much fossil fuel, I would like to suggest that replacing "Nuclear Energy" with "Vasectomy" would be far more appropriate.
The benefits would be far more than just reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Reduced pressure on housing stocks would make home ownership more affordable. The M25 would operate properly at all times of the day not just 03:00. Just two examples.
Before anybody asks, I have just the one child and will not be having any more.
Are you familiar with the term "Fashion victim"? You are obviously what I would call a "Techno victim"! Whilst the computer I am using right now is a Toshiba NB520, 64 bits Atom but otherwise extremely similar to the 32 bit computer my friend owns, both machines are far quicker than the rate at which I can type. When you get your 128 bit tablet what are you going to do with it? Use it or just brag about it?
You think it's wrong to be more than 20 years old? If you were not an Anonymous Coward we would know who to scrap when you reach that age.
A friend of mine recently showed me her old Toshiba netbook. She knew it was practically unusable as it was installed with XP. It has a 32 bit Atom processor.
So, after "I'm not promising anything but let me take a look", it is now running XFCE on Mint and working beautifully again. The original battery was just about dead but it was a very simple matter to purchase a new one through eBay. We could even upgrade the memory, if she chooses to do so.
Seems to me to be such a shame to condemn perfectly good working hardware just because the OS is no longer available in 32 bit, as I sure will eventually happen. We are, after all, a shamefully wasteful species.
The dash clock in my 1991 Honda Civic is still working perfectly. I'm not sure what display technology it uses, it's seven segment like LED clock displays but it's close to white which I don't think we had in LED 27 years ago.
It also dims nicely at night when I put the lights on, as does, somehow, the display on the Pioneer DAB radio I had put in.
If only they still built 'em like they used to....
Ubuntu server running 24/7 on my own hardware in my own house My own domain name IMAP server running on Dovecot
I just use Evolution on Linux Mint/Mate for my email client. It's easy to set up email directories and filters to sort messages automatically. Sometimes it seems a little slow but maybe that's due to this Atom netbook I'm running it on. It "just works" no matter whether I'm at home or away.
I've got a Dual CS505-1 turntable. It also began to randomly run backwards/forwards/not start up at all. I replaced the original capacitors, the cases of which had cracked apparently allowing moisture to contaminate the dielectric, with some new class X capacitors, and it now works perfectly every time. The drive belt was very easy to replace with a new one from an ebay seller.
Another similar problem I had was with a small air compressor. It was failing to start up and popping out the over current safety device. Fitted a new motor capacitor and it's been perfect ever since.
I wholeheartedly agree with this but we really should go further. The phrase "up to" should be illegal in all advertising not just broadband data rates. For example,
This paint "Lasts for up to 7 years" - bullshit, if it peels off the day after that's fine This toothpaste "Removes up to 100% of stains" - bullshit, it doesn't have to do anything.
The term "up to" is over used everywhere and is obviously designed by advertising agencies to confuse the gullible.
Please, let's replace "up to" with "at least" in all advertising then everybody will know where they stand.
My registrar offered to make my personal information private something like 18 months ago, an offer which I immediately accepted. As a result I've had no more scam letters from assholes telling me I owe them money to renew my domain.
Typing a domain name into a computer without proper authority should never ever reveal the name, address and phone number of the owner for the very same reasons that in the UK you can't type the registration number of a car into a computer to obtain the name address and phone number of the owner.
For starters, revoke the driving license of any asshole who is or who has ever been a "person of interest" and all of their known associates. That would give police perfectly valid reason to arrest them if caught driving, and prevent them from hiring white vans and 7.5 ton lorries.
They would be reduced to using stolen vehicles which can easily be detected by ANPRS.
Using toggle switches to load the resulting machine code into the system RAM. I believe the university was teaching 4004 a couple of years before I started my course and they moved to 8080 the year after.
Because it's an almost totally original concept, not relying at all on hyperdrives or laser canons. Maybe the producers got some ideas from "Stargate" which preceded it by three years. Because it's suitable for everybody. Because it's based on something that we can all participate in, the SETI project.
I'm wondering if and hoping that there will be a sequel in 2024.
6502 processor and, if I remember, 1k of RAM. I bought it as a kit when I was a student at university and soldered it together in my room.
Unfortunately one of the RAM chips I think, died. A few years ago I donated it to the Museum of Computing in Swindon, complete with the original mailing package.
My next computer was the BBC B, then I moved on to PCs with a 386 SX.
My father told me afterwards that the air raid sirens in the UK all had their own power supply with a relay, all controlled by cables from a switch in the police station which seems reasonable.
Soon after we moved into a new home together, maybe 25 years ago, at around midnight one night, some jokers managed to break into the building housing the local air raid siren. All they needed to do was use a length of wood to jam the relay contacts together and everybody was on the phone to the emergency services to confirm whether or not the Russian nuclear bombers were heading this way!
Two days ago I was at a launch party for the 2017 Honda Civic. There was a 1st generation Civic from 1978, my own 1991 4th generation Civic, and several subsequent generation Civics, all in the Honda showroom arrayed around the new model.
What worries me is that so much on the new model has gone automatic. It's got a radar set in the front bumper to measure distance to the vehicle in front. It can be set to automatically speed control itself to maintain safe distance from the vehicle in front. It's got blind spot warning devices. It's got an automatic parking brake. It's got a camera that it's claimed is able to read and interpret road signs for itself so that the car knows what the speed limit is, and can be set to automatically keep its speed down to the limit.
It worries me as a driver that so much safety related functionality is being integrated into new cars that drivers of cars are going to be dangerously de-skilled. If, for example, a student driver learned to drive and passed their driving test in a 2017 manual transmission Civic, even though qualified they would have little of the skills needed to drive a 1991 Civic or any other car produced over, say, the subsequent 20 years. Specifically would they for example be able to perform a hill start, which is part of the British driving test and as well as the usual observations before moving off requires the ability to operate a manual hand brake simultaneously with the clutch and gas pedal? I doubt it.
I don't know if they still make netbooks but I bought an NB520 (using it with Linux Mint Mate right now) several years ago and I think it's a superb little computer.
With a 10" screen it fits inside a hotel room safe.
I'm told that Toshiba doesn't put in any of the hardware white/black list crap so when I received a Virgin Superhub I was able to swap the WiFi card for a dual band Intel one that supports the 5GHz WiFi band.
It's easy to get at the innards - just take out two screws from the base and the cover comes off to give easy access to hard drive, memory and WiFi card.
The SD card slot "Just Works".
The only thing I can't seem to get to work is bluetooth, but it's easy to plug into the USB.
Overall, I'm really happy with this computer and strongly suggest that the brand should be considered.
that I can think of, is the so-called "security questions" that will "help you recover if you forget your password"! Questions like, mother's maiden name, town where you were born, your first school, your first car etc. etc.
How bloody stupid can these idiots possibly get? If I wanted to hack somebody's account I'd head straight for the genealogy sites!
I DO NOT loose passcodes, nor can I remember them, because I use an encrypted passcode wallet and every passcode in there is long and completely random. When some idiot has written mandatory security questions into a site that I need to use, every answer is a complete lie which I then have to enter into the free text field of my passcode wallet. So for me these questions are not a security risk just a damn nuisance.
A good suggestion I heard lately is that we should hunt these arseholes down, along with any other scammers and parasites trying to trick hard working people out of their money, and terrorists, put them at the bottom of a nice deep salt or phosphate mine, and enrol them on therapeutic drugs trials for the rest of their miserable lives. That way they can pay back some of the misery they have brought on society.
Slashdot Mirror
Rear fog lamps.
I guess other countries have similar rules to the UK which is they are only to be used if visibility is less than 100 metres.
If we're talking about mandatory speed limiters on cars, let's also have the speed limited to 40mph whenever the high intensity rear fog lamps are switched on to put a stop to the idiots in over powered cars doing 85mph in the third lane in torrential rain with the fog lamps on.
Given that pollution and climate change is caused by too many human beings burning too much fossil fuel, I would like to suggest that replacing "Nuclear Energy" with "Vasectomy" would be far more appropriate.
The benefits would be far more than just reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Reduced pressure on housing stocks would make home ownership more affordable. The M25 would operate properly at all times of the day not just 03:00. Just two examples.
Before anybody asks, I have just the one child and will not be having any more.
Are you familiar with the term "Fashion victim"? You are obviously what I would call a "Techno victim"! Whilst the computer I am using right now is a Toshiba NB520, 64 bits Atom but otherwise extremely similar to the 32 bit computer my friend owns, both machines are far quicker than the rate at which I can type. When you get your 128 bit tablet what are you going to do with it? Use it or just brag about it?
You think it's wrong to be more than 20 years old? If you were not an Anonymous Coward we would know who to scrap when you reach that age.
A friend of mine recently showed me her old Toshiba netbook. She knew it was practically unusable as it was installed with XP. It has a 32 bit Atom processor.
So, after "I'm not promising anything but let me take a look", it is now running XFCE on Mint and working beautifully again. The original battery was just about dead but it was a very simple matter to purchase a new one through eBay. We could even upgrade the memory, if she chooses to do so.
Seems to me to be such a shame to condemn perfectly good working hardware just because the OS is no longer available in 32 bit, as I sure will eventually happen. We are, after all, a shamefully wasteful species.
The dash clock in my 1991 Honda Civic is still working perfectly. I'm not sure what display technology it uses, it's seven segment like LED clock displays but it's close to white which I don't think we had in LED 27 years ago.
It also dims nicely at night when I put the lights on, as does, somehow, the display on the Pioneer DAB radio I had put in.
If only they still built 'em like they used to....
Ubuntu server running 24/7 on my own hardware in my own house
My own domain name
IMAP server running on Dovecot
I just use Evolution on Linux Mint/Mate for my email client. It's easy to set up email directories and filters to sort messages automatically. Sometimes it seems a little slow but maybe that's due to this Atom netbook I'm running it on. It "just works" no matter whether I'm at home or away.
I've got a Dual CS505-1 turntable. It also began to randomly run backwards/forwards/not start up at all. I replaced the original capacitors, the cases of which had cracked apparently allowing moisture to contaminate the dielectric, with some new class X capacitors, and it now works perfectly every time. The drive belt was very easy to replace with a new one from an ebay seller.
Another similar problem I had was with a small air compressor. It was failing to start up and popping out the over current safety device. Fitted a new motor capacitor and it's been perfect ever since.
I wholeheartedly agree with this but we really should go further. The phrase "up to" should be illegal in all advertising not just broadband data rates. For example,
This paint "Lasts for up to 7 years" - bullshit, if it peels off the day after that's fine
This toothpaste "Removes up to 100% of stains" - bullshit, it doesn't have to do anything.
The term "up to" is over used everywhere and is obviously designed by advertising agencies to confuse the gullible.
Please, let's replace "up to" with "at least" in all advertising then everybody will know where they stand.
No, it'll be concentrated Malic acid.
My registrar offered to make my personal information private something like 18 months ago, an offer which I immediately accepted. As a result I've had no more scam letters from assholes telling me I owe them money to renew my domain.
Typing a domain name into a computer without proper authority should never ever reveal the name, address and phone number of the owner for the very same reasons that in the UK you can't type the registration number of a car into a computer to obtain the name address and phone number of the owner.
Added to my postfix header checks
Gone!
I'd love to know how to permanently delete an account, or has it been made possible since the last time I tried?
The other possibility I thought of is to create a throwaway email address, divert FB to it then throw it away.
For starters, revoke the driving license of any asshole who is or who has ever been a "person of interest" and all of their known associates. That would give police perfectly valid reason to arrest them if caught driving, and prevent them from hiring white vans and 7.5 ton lorries.
They would be reduced to using stolen vehicles which can easily be detected by ANPRS.
Using toggle switches to load the resulting machine code into the system RAM.
I believe the university was teaching 4004 a couple of years before I started my course and they moved to 8080 the year after.
Because it's an almost totally original concept, not relying at all on hyperdrives or laser canons. Maybe the producers got some ideas from "Stargate" which preceded it by three years.
Because it's suitable for everybody.
Because it's based on something that we can all participate in, the SETI project.
I'm wondering if and hoping that there will be a sequel in 2024.
6502 processor and, if I remember, 1k of RAM. I bought it as a kit when I was a student at university and soldered it together in my room.
Unfortunately one of the RAM chips I think, died. A few years ago I donated it to the Museum of Computing in Swindon, complete with the original mailing package.
My next computer was the BBC B, then I moved on to PCs with a 386 SX.
My father told me afterwards that the air raid sirens in the UK all had their own power supply with a relay, all controlled by cables from a switch in the police station which seems reasonable.
Soon after we moved into a new home together, maybe 25 years ago, at around midnight one night, some jokers managed to break into the building housing the local air raid siren. All they needed to do was use a length of wood to jam the relay contacts together and everybody was on the phone to the emergency services to confirm whether or not the Russian nuclear bombers were heading this way!
by James Oliver Curwood.
I'd never heard of JOC but I'm thoroughly enjoying his book. Unexpected twists and turns.
Excellent book. I read it years ago. Still have my copy somewhere. Must read it again sometime.
Two days ago I was at a launch party for the 2017 Honda Civic. There was a 1st generation Civic from 1978, my own 1991 4th generation Civic, and several subsequent generation Civics, all in the Honda showroom arrayed around the new model.
What worries me is that so much on the new model has gone automatic. It's got a radar set in the front bumper to measure distance to the vehicle in front. It can be set to automatically speed control itself to maintain safe distance from the vehicle in front. It's got blind spot warning devices. It's got an automatic parking brake. It's got a camera that it's claimed is able to read and interpret road signs for itself so that the car knows what the speed limit is, and can be set to automatically keep its speed down to the limit.
It worries me as a driver that so much safety related functionality is being integrated into new cars that drivers of cars are going to be dangerously de-skilled. If, for example, a student driver learned to drive and passed their driving test in a 2017 manual transmission Civic, even though qualified they would have little of the skills needed to drive a 1991 Civic or any other car produced over, say, the subsequent 20 years. Specifically would they for example be able to perform a hill start, which is part of the British driving test and as well as the usual observations before moving off requires the ability to operate a manual hand brake simultaneously with the clutch and gas pedal? I doubt it.
A forecast of a comet, meteor shower or solar/lunar eclipse, is often just as good as a BBC weather forecast of unbroken cloud.
followed by The Sea Wolf, both by Jack London.
I started picking up out of copyright publications to read on holiday, using the free books app and enjoyed these immensely.
Trump is another word for a fart.
I just tried searching the online phone book for Trump in London. Unsurprisingly it says there isn't one!
I don't know if they still make netbooks but I bought an NB520 (using it with Linux Mint Mate right now) several years ago and I think it's a superb little computer.
With a 10" screen it fits inside a hotel room safe.
I'm told that Toshiba doesn't put in any of the hardware white/black list crap so when I received a Virgin Superhub I was able to swap the WiFi card for a dual band Intel one that supports the 5GHz WiFi band.
It's easy to get at the innards - just take out two screws from the base and the cover comes off to give easy access to hard drive, memory and WiFi card.
The SD card slot "Just Works".
The only thing I can't seem to get to work is bluetooth, but it's easy to plug into the USB.
Overall, I'm really happy with this computer and strongly suggest that the brand should be considered.
that I can think of, is the so-called "security questions" that will "help you recover if you forget your password"! Questions like, mother's maiden name, town where you were born, your first school, your first car etc. etc.
How bloody stupid can these idiots possibly get? If I wanted to hack somebody's account I'd head straight for the genealogy sites!
I DO NOT loose passcodes, nor can I remember them, because I use an encrypted passcode wallet and every passcode in there is long and completely random. When some idiot has written mandatory security questions into a site that I need to use, every answer is a complete lie which I then have to enter into the free text field of my passcode wallet. So for me these questions are not a security risk just a damn nuisance.
A good suggestion I heard lately is that we should hunt these arseholes down, along with any other scammers and parasites trying to trick hard working people out of their money, and terrorists, put them at the bottom of a nice deep salt or phosphate mine, and enrol them on therapeutic drugs trials for the rest of their miserable lives. That way they can pay back some of the misery they have brought on society.