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User: Alain+Williams

Alain+Williams's activity in the archive.

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  1. 500Mb/s or approx 50MB/s on BT Unveils 1000Mbps Capable G.fast Broadband Rollout For the United Kingdom · · Score: 1

    We are going to need to upgrade all of our servers and network routers!

    I wonder what the latency will be ? (OK: to somewhere close in the UK)

  2. There is a lot of nitrogen about on We May Have Jupiter To Thank For the Nitrogen In Earth's Atmosphere · · Score: 1

    It is the seventh most abundant chemical element by mass in the universe, but most of what was on earth has evaporated away.

  3. Re:"if someone says a curse word against my mother on Pope Francis: There Are Limits To Freedom of Expression · · Score: 1

    People are accepted as prophets, it is a title given by the religious hierarchy. That the $deity does not exist (in any verifiable sense) does not really impact on their role in the religion. You need to be able to understand things as others see them, even if you do not agree with their point of view.

  4. Re:"if someone says a curse word against my mother on Pope Francis: There Are Limits To Freedom of Expression · · Score: 1

    Please learn the definition of the word prophet. It is a person - separate from any deity that they speak for.

  5. RFC 760 on Pope Francis: There Are Limits To Freedom of Expression · · Score: 2

    John Postel wisely said:

    In general, an implementation should be conservative in its sending behavior, and liberal in its receiving behavior.

    The same is true in human discussion. It is (generally) good to limit what you say to what will be acceptable (not overly offend) others, but at the same time accept that people may say things that you do not like. Being gratuitously rude about others and taking offence at trivia is the best way of starting fights.

    That is not to say that there are people & ideas that do not deserve to have fun poked at, especially those that are intolerant of views other than their own or are hypocritical — this is the area that satirical magasines work in ... readers need to understand that and be more tolerant than they might do to others.

    I completely disagree with the pope claiming that religious ideas need special protection. They do not. Their effects on huge numbers of people means that their ideas should be strongly tested, not above criticism. But: given his position, there is little else that he can say.

  6. Re:"if someone says a curse word against my mother on Pope Francis: There Are Limits To Freedom of Expression · · Score: 1

    Oh prophets exist, Muhammad being alive (well, at one point) is a historical fact and can be verified. Proof of the existence of the deity that these prophets speak for is what you should be asking to be shown.

  7. Re:tag the participants for surveilance on Washington DC's Public Library Will Teach People How To Avoid the NSA · · Score: 3, Funny

    All the more reason for these lectures to be delivered all over the country. They can't watch all of us ... Oh, wait :-(

  8. So what should we call him ... on Lawmaker's Facebook Rant Threatens Media For "Unauthorized" Use of His Name · · Score: 1

    in discussion about him or his views ? I have a few suggestions, can you add some more: twat, stupid politician, brain-dead Maryland politician, moron with more money than sense, Voldemort (he who shall not be named), Muppet, Pillock, plonker, Wazzock, Berk, Maggot, arsehole, eejit, git, ....

    Maybe all media should now only refer to him by one of the names above - I wonder what he would say then ?

  9. Re:How do you know they haven't gotten permission? on Canadian Anti-Piracy Firm Caught Infringing Copyright · · Score: 2

    Because usually when that happens there is a footnote acknowledging the original source.

  10. FORTRAN on What Language Will the World Speak In 2115? · · Score: 2

    2015 is only 100 years away, John Backus designed FORTRAN 57 years ago, so it is 1/3 of the way there and still going strong. I suspect that C will still be in use.

    Oh, what do you mean spoken ?

  11. More toys for the men in green suits on War Tech the US, Russia, China and India All Want: Hypersonic Weapons · · Score: 0

    They might like to have them to play with, few of the rest of us do. They are dangerous and expensive.

    If they are really that important: there ought to be an interlock that means that they will only fly if there is a 5 star general strapped on board. If he is willing to give up his life as well as those that the missile will hit - then I will agree that it is important. Not otherwise.

  12. The prosecutors went in ... on Prosecutors Raid LG Offices Over Alleged Vandalism of Samsung Dishwashers · · Score: 1

    Looking for a dish of dirty little secrets, but everything was clean!

    Boom! Boom! :-)

  13. It is too good an accusation to pass up ... on Did North Korea Really Attack Sony? · · Score: 1

    our governments love bogey men, someone who they can point at and make us forget their own faults or to use as an excuse for more spending on the military/spy-agencies/... We have been here before, anyone remember how Saddam was supposed to have WMD (in spite of doubts from Hans Blix), Tony Blair's ''dodgy dossier''. Finding other examples is not hard.

    Time will (probably) tell if it was/wasn't NK - but by then the difference will not make a story.

  14. Latecy ? on US Internet Offers 10Gbps Fiber In Minneapolis · · Score: 1

    Ie what is the ping round trip time to the ISP's router ? With an interactive protocol/application round trip time is as important as bandwidth.

  15. Re:You want a family friendly internet? on BT, Sky, and Virgin Enforce UK Porn Blocks By Hijacking Browsers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ".. other content inappropriate for children"

    Curiously they do not block web sites of places like http://www.catholic.org/, https://www.churchofengland.org/, http://www.jewfaq.org/index.shtml, http://www.islamreligion.com/ ... all purveyors of ideas that really screw kids up: make them feel guilty of normal feelings, make them do strange things, ... If they insist on a banned list it would be good to see this sort of site added.

  16. Wrong target ... on 'Citizenfour' Producers Sued Over Edward Snowden Leaks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    those being taken to court are those who have committed crimes that have been exposed by Edward Snowden; ie members of the NSA, high ranking officials in the USA government, ... These are the very people who will not be prosecuted, they have many friends in high places who will keep then free. Many of these friends want to protect them so that they, in turn, will be protected when their crimes become noticed.

  17. Can I have some ... on Amazon "Suppresses" Book With Too Many Hyphens · · Score: 1

    of what Melania G (the Amazon/Kindle exec) is smoking -- it must be really good stuff!

  18. Back pockets not secure on RFID-Blocking Blazer and Jeans Could Stop Wireless Identity Theft · · Score: 2

    keeping a wallet in a back pocket is a silly thing to do anyway - easy for (physical) pick pockets to lift stuff from there.

  19. It is not high enough to see 340 miles on Army To Launch Spy Blimp Over Maryland · · Score: 1

    How far you can see depends on how high you are. At 10,000 feet the distance to the horizon is 122 miles, so 380 miles is over 2.5 the distance to the horizon. As for the word ''everything'' - what does that mean ? When they are that far away what they can see will be limited.

    I think that someone is trying to bamboozle the senators who will be voting the funding for this.

  20. Re:US Government to Microsoft on Microsoft To US Gov't: the World's Servers Are Not Yours For the Taking · · Score: 1

    Exactly - I was wondering if this is all for show ... convince us Europeans that our data on servers in Dublin is safe from prying eyes in the USA. Once we stop worrying then it will be business as usual, but the heat will be off from the USA. Unfortunately: once suspicions have been raised, those who really care will not forget, so welcome to private pictures of cute pussies and of illicit love letters, but the stuff that they really wanted will, often, be located elsewhere.

  21. They need to update their web site on Samsung's Open Source Group Is Growing, Hiring Developers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I needed to replace my printer recently, I looked around for something that would work with CentOS 6 and the price of ink per page was reasonable. I was looking at a Samsung one - no mention of Linux; by the time that they replied to an email (10 days later) I had bought an HP multi function printer. So: they lost a sale because they could not be bothered to document what they had done.

    The HP web site was excellent, each model of printer and what was supported by a wide variety of Linux distros. Unfortunately: I could not make it work, the support people said that it was a s/ware fault and then refused to do anything about it: https://answers.launchpad.net/hplip/+question/255970

    I sent the HP printer back and then bought a Brother printer - no problem, worked once I downloaded the driver.

  22. Re:Muslim Men on UK Authorities Launching Massive Child Abuse Database · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aisha went to live with Muhammad at the age of 9 or 10. A paedophile by today's standards. Was it that unusual in the 7th century ? I do not know. Beware trying to judge peoples in other times or places by your own morals.

  23. Re:What about long-term data integrity? on How Intel and Micron May Finally Kill the Hard Disk Drive · · Score: 0

    No, you do not have to write large amounts of data to break the drive - you can break it by causing one block to fail - an important block. On a file system one of those heavy write blocks will be: the super block, the index to the free list, the transaction log; in a database it is going to be parts of the index. All these blocks will have writes many more times than most of the file/file-system. These blocks are also the really important ones. Damage one of these and you don't lose data, but you lose the ability to access it.

  24. Re:Where do you fill up? on Multiple Manufacturers Push Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars, But Can They Catch Tesla? · · Score: 1

    If one were to buy one of these, how would one proceed to fill up? Would it be a viable transportation option for a road trip?

    Chickens and eggs; no_demand/not_viable to build hydrogen filling stations until there are enough cars -- people will not buy cars that might leave then stranded far from a hydrogen filling station. The (interim) solution has got to be dual fuel - a car that can run on either hydrogen or petrol. I don't see this as impossible, both burn a fluid to generate heat. If there are tax incentives on hydrogen (ie no/little fuel tax) then the number of these things will grow.

    Petrol: note to those in the USA: I mean whatyou call 'gas'.

  25. Re:Laser fence on Congress Suggests Moat, Electronic Fence To Protect White House · · Score: 1

    That is why they need the moat - somewhere for the sharks to live in!