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User: dizzyduck

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Comments · 76

  1. Re:Galileo is a weapon of war against the USA on Galileo Sends Its First Signals · · Score: 2, Informative

    Don't be ridiculous. It would be the height of folly to base our infrastructure and security on the "promises" of the US. Perhaps in past it would be conceivable that we rely upon GPS, but in the Bush era, such actions are reckless.

    The Iraq fiasco has shown Europe that the US cannot be trusted, nor relied upon. Therefore we must build our own network of satellites.

    It's like the Cold War all over again.

  2. Re:Too bad you can't opt out of BBC News on BBC to Provide Extensive RSS · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What about Channel 4 News? They go into much deeper into issues of the day than any other newcast, and press guests when they don't answer the question asked (i.e. doing a Blair).

    As for papers, have you ever read the Independent? The story on the front page is actually a story. They don't publish stories about David Beckham's latest haircut, and the don't publish idle celebrity gossip (in fact, no mention was made of the Blunkett affair until it transpired that he may have used his powers inappropriately). Admittedly, sometimes they can be a bit heavy with the anti-Bush sentiment, but I think they are the most impartial of the dailies.

  3. Re:UKIP Victory! on Google Maps, Local Expand To UK · · Score: 1

    He's an impostor! The British are supposed to be the ones that like us over there!

    Not so much anymore.
  4. Re:Let's just hope on Open Office 2.0 Beta Candidate Released · · Score: 2, Informative

    The OO.o equation editor syntax is amazing, but it's useless for all but the most simplest of documents until they get the equations properly aligned. Manually aligning fives pages of equations is no fun, I can assure you.

    Oh well, back to MathType and Word.

  5. Re:What we need more (from a member of OOo Marketi on Splashscreen for OpenOffice.org 2.0 Wanted · · Score: 1

    AFAIK, the product is called OpenOffice.org; IIRC this is because "Open Office" isn't a trademakable name (but I could be wrong). They asked people not to refer to it as "Open Office" a while back.

  6. Re:i was thinking about them today... on Blunkett Backs Down on UK ID Cards · · Score: 1

    Yes but to use a cheque in Britain you have to show a card from your bank that is basically a replacement for a ID card.

    It's called a cheque guarantee card; when paying by cheque in stores you need to produce it to "guarantee" that the cheque will be paid. It's perfectly possible to use cheques without a cheque guarantee card (e.g. mail order). The card isn't really an ID card at all - it's your debit (or if you prefer, ATM) card.

  7. Re:Too small on Smart Cars Coming to Canada and U.S. · · Score: 1

    And also it doesn't have cupholders for the giant Slurpees that you lot consume.
    It's something we sip on during our 1000 km road trips. Do you have those where you live? Without the need for a passport?

    Water?

  8. BBC Radio 5 Live on Cornell Hosts Third-Party Presidential Debates · · Score: 2, Informative

    It might be broadcast on Radio 5 Live's Up all night programme. The Presidential and Vice Presidential debates were broadcast at least.

  9. Re:Super FASTER Dual-Layer DVD Writing on Super-Fast Dual-Layer DVD Writing · · Score: 1

    The Plextor 712SA is a SATA variant of the (IDE) 712A. I think MSI do a SATA optical drive too.

  10. Some TLDs allow you to withold your details on Shielding Domain Registration Info? · · Score: 2, Informative
    Nominet (administrators of the .uk TLD) allow individuals to withold their personal details from WHOIS via the Registrants Online interface. The only visible information is your name.
    Registrant's Address:

    THE REGISTRANT IS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS ELECTED TO
    HAVE THEIR ADDRESS OMITTED FROM THE WHOIS DATABASE
  11. Re:If you haven't already... on Replace NAT Box with Commercial Broadband Router? · · Score: 1

    I have the 3C857 referenced and it seems to work fine with BitTorrent (upwards of 200 connections).

  12. Re:stick with what you've got on Replace NAT Box with Commercial Broadband Router? · · Score: 1

    I have the said "router". It works fine with Linux. The web-based adminstration interface works perfectly.

  13. Re:Gentoo. on Gentoo Linux 2004.2: What You See Is What You Get · · Score: 1

    Also, Portage is the single best software management I've ever encountered, bar none...though occasionally, user error means you wait awhile for packages to become stable.

    Hmmmm...USE flags are great, but I wouldn't say Portage is the best package management system; it doesn't even have reverse dependency checking!

  14. Re:Too much like MS? on Gnome 2.8 RC1 Released · · Score: 1

    One must learn to drive a car, ride a bike, row a boat, swim, operate power tools, et cetera. Why should one not have to learn to use a computer?

    If the user interface of a computer could be designed so that it were not necessary to learn how to use a computer, why should that not be done? Why can there not be a DE for power users, and another DE for everybody else?

    Let me rephrase your question: Why should one have to learn how to use a computer?

  15. Re:Don't mind me if I'm wrong on Cherry Announces Linux keyboard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We already have these. They're called "function keys." Why people refuse to use them is totally beyond me.

    Suppose I assign F12 to Play/Pause. I'm working in OO.org and I want to pause my music to take a call. Whoops! F12 is already used in OO.org to toggle numbering. The function keys are context sensitive, and as such are totally unsuitable for use as global hotkeys.

  16. Re:More special keys? on Cherry Announces Linux keyboard · · Score: 1

    I use the hotkeys on my Microsoft Internet Keyboard (I like the key action). They control Muine (music player); Back is mapped to Previous Track, Forward to Next Track, and Stop to Play/Pause (wierd scheme, I know). Much easier than changing to the player and clicking the relevant button.

    I prefer to use dedicated hotkeys rather than reassigning arbitrary keys on my keyboard.

  17. Re:Picture on Cherry Announces Linux keyboard · · Score: 1

    L-shaped enter keys are standard on all UK (and European?) keyboards, including my current Microsoft Internet keyboard. I don't know why though.

  18. Re:Ugly font rendering on KDE 3.3 Officially Released · · Score: 1

    I'm merely speculating here, but I've read that curved letters need to be ever so slightly larger so that the eye percieves them to be of the same height as the surrounding (non-curved) characters. I don't know whether it's true though.

    Maybe some typographer can clue us in.

  19. Re:Yaay KDE! Yay Debian! on KDE 3.3 Officially Released · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Works For Me (TM)

    boo@duck:~$ sudo apt-get install -st unstable kdebase
    Reading Package Lists... Done
    Building Dependency Tree... Done
    The following extra packages will be installed:
    kappfinder kate kdebase-kio-plugins kdepasswd kdeprint kdesktop kfind
    khelpcenter kicker klipper kmenuedit konqueror konqueror-nsplugins konsole
    kpager kpersonalizer ksmserver ksplash ksysguard ksysguardd ktip kwin
    libkonq4
    Suggested packages:
    kate-plugins konq-speaker mtools efax hylafax-client mgetty-fax
    kicker-applets konq-plugins
    Recommended packages:
    kregexpeditor kdm xfonts-konsole
    The following NEW packages will be installed:
    kappfinder kate kdebase kdebase-kio-plugins kdepasswd kdeprint kdesktop
    kfind khelpcenter kicker klipper kmenuedit konqueror konqueror-nsplugins
    konsole kpager kpersonalizer ksmserver ksplash ksysguard ksysguardd ktip
    kwin libkonq4
    0 upgraded, 24 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    1 not fully installed or removed.
    Inst kappfinder (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kate (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kdebase-kio-plugins (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst libkonq4 (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kdepasswd (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kdeprint (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kdesktop (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kfind (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst khelpcenter (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kicker (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst klipper (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kmenuedit (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst konqueror-nsplugins (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst konqueror (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst konsole (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kpager (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kpersonalizer (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst ksmserver (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst ksplash (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst ksysguardd (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst ksysguard (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst ktip (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kwin (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Inst kdebase (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf lm-sensors (2.8.7-4 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kappfinder (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kate (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kdebase-kio-plugins (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf libkonq4 (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kdepasswd (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kdeprint (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kdesktop (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kfind (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf khelpcenter (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kicker (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf klipper (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kmenuedit (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf konqueror-nsplugins (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf konqueror (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf konsole (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kpager (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kpersonalizer (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf ksmserver (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf ksplash (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf ksysguardd (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf ksysguard (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf ktip (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kwin (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
    Conf kdebase (4:3.3.0-1 Debian:unstable)
  20. Re:Not too sure about this.... on Writing Software for Worldwide Distribution Proves Difficult · · Score: 1

    I don't read about (insert shithole little country here) fighting against (another shithole country) because I don't care. Small countries will continue to fight each other for power forever, there's nothing we can do to stop that short of bombing the fuck out of them all. So why should I keep up on it?

    Just to know what's going in the world? To be informed? So you can decide which potential President (I'm assuming you're from the US) has the best foreign policy?

  21. Re:But the British can't use spell/grammar checker on Writing Software for Worldwide Distribution Proves Difficult · · Score: 1
    You can't make a judgement on British spelling and grammar from an article in The Grauniad; it's renowned for being riddled with (spelling and grammar) mistakes.

    They've even been known to mispell their own name from time to time (hence the nickname The Grauniad).

  22. Re:Anyone converted it to something Linux-friendly on Privacy Concerns Moving Into The Mainstream · · Score: 2, Informative

    mplayer, with the Codecs package will play it. Use mplayer -playlist http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/radioseq/analysi s.ram

    Though I don't see what's wrong with Realplayer 8. I have it installed and I don't find it intrusive in any way.

  23. Re:I'm sorry. on The File Sharing Database · · Score: 1
    Totally. I've bought CDs by bands whose tracks I've downloaded from P2P. I could've downloaded the whole album (in perfect quality) on my 600k cable connection, but I didn't. I also go to see my favourite bands play.

    However, the only reason I paid for those CDs was because the bands were signed to relatively small labels. I wouldn't have paid if it were from a huge conglomerate. I suppose part of this because of their unfair practices wrt the artists and their vandalism of London.

    I found it particularly funny that the record labels were slapped with anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), introduced by the Labour government primarily to deal with trouble-makers on the streets.

  24. Re:No way i would post to this on The File Sharing Database · · Score: 1

    Two words: PR disaster

  25. Re:Isn't this illegal? on The File Sharing Database · · Score: 1
    Maybe. But I don't think that going after a downloader-purchaser would be very good PR for the IFPI/RIAA/BFI/MPAA.

    The industry groups may be stupid, but they not that dumb. Or are they?