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User: Curmudgeonlyoldbloke

Curmudgeonlyoldbloke's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 619

  1. Re:Transparent Bonnet on Land Rover Demos "Transparent Hood" · · Score: 1
  2. Re:Ah, "unlimited"... right. (*cough*) on How Do You Backup 20TB of Data? · · Score: 1

    Then why do they call it "unlimited?"

    Because they're selling to you.

    It's not up to the consumer to know if a company's business plan is sustainable or not.

    It is, if you want that company and your data to be still there in X months time.

    Claiming unlimited usage and then having a cap is just false advertising.

    If that's illegal where you live, call them on it. If not, move somewhere with decent consumer protection legislation.

  3. Re:Taking exception to a statement in the summary on EU Plastic Bag Debate Highlights a Wider Global Problem · · Score: 1

    IIRC, the research which found plastic bags will last for "hundreds of years" was in fact looking at plastic bottles.

    That's my recollection too, in my case gained from here (about 10 minutes in):

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03b2zbk

    (That plays in the UK, but I've no idea if it'll work in whatever corner of the planet you're in)

    Specifically it's referring to Polyethylene Terepthalate (are you old enough to remember Terylene? If so, that's the stuff. If not, good for you).

  4. Re:Test Drive Again -- With A Video Camera on NY Times' Broder Responds To Tesla's Elon Musk · · Score: 1

    Exactly this.

    Given Tesla's previous unsuccessful attempt to sue Top Gear in the UK, I'm amazed that in 2013 we seem to be witnessing a slanging match "I was doing X speed / No you were doing Y". Surely anyone reviewing a electric car (actually, any car) would have a GPS not connected to the car with them and be able to provide full logs on request?

    Also, wouldn't anyone driving a Tesla for the first time and seeing the range display reading an unexpectedly low value take a a picture of it with their phone?

  5. Re:CEO Switchout on Tesla Motors Battles the New York Times · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's a bit more "he said / she said" in this followup article:

    http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/the-charges-are-flying-over-a-test-of-teslas-charging-network/?ref=johnmbroder

    including links to Elon Musk's "detour" claims, and the NYT journo's rebuttal.

  6. Tax as in beer on Richard Stallman's Solution To 'Too Big To Fail' · · Score: 1

    It's already done in Europe on beer producers:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Beer_Duty

    It works very well in the UK.

  7. Thanks Slashdot! on OpenStreetMap Hits One Million Registered Users · · Score: 1

    A quick look here:

    http://resultmaps.neis-one.org/newestosm.php

    Suggests roughly twice as many new mappers (at least in the UK) during the last 24 hours than would be normal.

  8. Re:Clearly it should be 911 on ITU To Choose Emergency Line For Mobiles: 911, or 112? · · Score: 1

    The Chileans would certainly remember, if they didn't write their dates the "wrong way around".

  9. Re:Game Theory? LOL... on Climate Treaty Negotiators Are Taking the Wrong Approach, Say Game Theorists · · Score: 1

    I'm planning on watching this BBC Documentary this weekend; it looks like the first segment discusses game theory.

    Perhaps not quite up there with some of Adam Curtis' other stuff (e.g. Pandora's Box), but definitely well worth watching.

  10. Re:Yogurt does the same thing on Gut Bacteria Cocktail May End Need for Fecal Transplants · · Score: 1

    So the country's doing just fine, right?

  11. Re:Hard Facts on TomTom Flames OpenStreetMap · · Score: 1

    When TomTom puts their name on the front of the box, it's TomTom's problem (and, in the users' minds, their fault).

  12. More like on Europe's Largest IT Company To Ban Internal Email · · Score: 1

    "Europe's Largest IT Company tries to get some decent PR after all the recent bad publicity"

  13. No such thing as bad publicity! on Atlas Takes Heat For Melting Glacier Claim · · Score: 1

    OK, maybe some of the recent publicity for Rupert's media outlets hasn't exactly been 100% positive, but at least this'll sell some books.

  14. Re:Those wire harnesses on How Volunteers Rebuilt WW2 Computers · · Score: 1

    Clearly where the designers of my old Peugeot got their ideas from.

  15. Re:more details on Hundreds of Bank Account Details Left In London Pub · · Score: 1

    Probably because the ICO waited until the Silly Season before releasing the press release so that it got picked up by the news media. I doubt that any actual "investigative reporting" was involved.

  16. Daily Mail on World Health Organization Says Mobile Phones May Cause Cancer · · Score: 1

    In a complicated world, it's nice that we can trust part of the media to divide all the inanimate objects in the world into those that cause or cure cancer:

    http://thedailymailoncologicalontologyproject.wordpress.com/

  17. Re:They should be doing even more on Wal-Mart Tests Online Grocery Delivery · · Score: 1

    ...and TFA states that Walmart are trialling in San Jose which (a) is very urban, (b) is smaller than Seattle, and (c) had a fairly crap choice of supermarkets the last time that I was there.

  18. Re:Just another stupid Eurosceptic on Europe Plans To Ban Petrol Cars From Cities By 2050 · · Score: 1

    A lot of Tories are against the EU, his rant is snide dig at supposed EU regulations

    Actually he's a Liberal Democrat, so instead it's a shameless attempt to ingratiate himself with the Daily Mail.

  19. Re:Just a fluff piece for National Geographic. Sha on Researchers Find Possible Atlantis Location · · Score: 2

    Damn right - and in exceptionally poor taste as well.

    How can someone who's first thought on hearing of the disaster in Japan is to release a tsunami-related press release for a TV show live with themselves?

  20. Re:Software with hard coded DST change values. on UK Government Wants to Spring Ahead Two Hours · · Score: 1

    According to Wikipedia, that's exactly 347 people mildly inconvenienced. Somehow I doubt that Larry Ellison is losing too much sleep.

  21. Re:To add some context on TiVo To Brick All Remaining UK PVRs On June 1 · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately "covered themselves legally" implies "not a bunch of crooks", whether they're doing something that you like or not.

    There are already consumer protection laws in the UK that protect people from misselling. You already have an extended period in which to cancel contracts going forward. These days you have extra protection if you buy online ("distance selling"). Even advertising standards (though enforced by the industry) are surprisingly strictly enforced.

    However, if you're signing a contract (which according to an earlier poster gives either side 30 days right to cancel) and you don't read that contract, and you complain AFTER 9 YEARS that a clause in that contract that you didn't notice, you're a muppet.

    Do you really think that they should be obliged to provide a service essentially forever? Would you think it reasonable that someone who bought a telegraph machine in the 1800s would still be able to use it now, despite there being more sensible ways of doing the same thing? Off-the shelf PVRs with Freeview / Freesat EPGs are cheap as chips. Sure, that service won't last forever (like analogue TV it'll be replaced by something else at some point in the future) but it's something that does all your existing box does and more, for no monthly fee. What's not to like?

  22. Re:To add some context on TiVo To Brick All Remaining UK PVRs On June 1 · · Score: 1

    Feel free - it's your money you'd be spending.

  23. Re:To add some context on TiVo To Brick All Remaining UK PVRs On June 1 · · Score: 1

    And since (according to the link from the summary) they haven't been charging at all since last year, there's not much to complain about then, is there?

  24. Re:Hardcoded idiocy on Facebook-Direct Phones — and Facebook Right On the SIM · · Score: 1

    Marketing? Like the difference between a squirrel and a rat?

  25. Re:To add some context on TiVo To Brick All Remaining UK PVRs On June 1 · · Score: 1

    You may have seen the words "lifetime subscription" in there, but what did the rest of the contract actually say? That's the important bit, not just the bit you remember from the advertising blurb. It's a bit like "unlimited broadband" in that respect. If you really think that you've got a legal case, engage messrs Sue, Grabbit, and Runne.