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User: Bloke+down+the+pub

Bloke+down+the+pub's activity in the archive.

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Comments · 1,778

  1. Re:Write your congressman on RIM Wins Ground in Patent War · · Score: 1

    Questioning doesn't necessarily mean in court. It could mean about their job performance, i.e. as a preliminary step to firing the useless fuckwads.

  2. Re:I'm confused... on RIM Settles Long-Standing Blackberry Claim · · Score: 1
    NTP has patents at least as valid as any other software patent on the market today.
    Sorry, can you clarify whether that statement was supposed to be in support of NTP or against them?
  3. Re:Astounding on Laptops Required for Freshmen · · Score: 1
    Through the ancient and hallowed technology known as 'feet', students and faculty will be able to seamlessly move from classes to dorm rooms
    I hope that while moving they use the tried and tested technology of the human eyeball Mk I to watch where they're going instead of down at the sc69696 qqq.qaqQAQAQA
    ... no carrier.
  4. Frost Prose on Laptops Required for Freshmen · · Score: 1

    A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. Half the world is composed of those who have something to say but can't; the other half is of those who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

  5. Re:1 reason vista will suck on Why Vista Won't Suck · · Score: 1

    Best to leave it on, unless you like looking at goatse, tubgirl, eel soup etc.

  6. Re:Power failure? on Unlock Your Doors With a Knock Code · · Score: 1

    The back door uses a normal metal key, which is buried in the second plantpot from the left.

  7. Re:Which came first? on Viruses May be the Precursors of All Life · · Score: 1
    if most people were given the opportunity to see a "live" virus under the microscope, they'd say it's alive. They don't give a crap that viruses don't carry on the life processes
    They decided that things like respiration and protein sythesis weren't their core value-adding business, so they outsourced them.
  8. Re:Consenting Adults at 16? on Cell Phone Tracking In the UK · · Score: 1

    A sly shag isn't the same as committing premeditated murder. That's leaving aside the fact that in one case the underage person is the victim and in the other the perpetrator. Maybe you should go shopping at www.senseofperspective.com - I hear they do a special first time offer for bleeding-heart liberals.

  9. Re:Is the lack of drivers... on Breaking Down Barriers to Linux Desktop Adoption · · Score: 1
    Windows autoinstalls prepackaged drivers
    Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, and if it's the latter then there's not a lot you can do about it. I have never been able to send a fax from XP pro. Install refuses to see files even though they're there. If you hit ignore often enough it installs, but then setup silently fails.

    And from looking at google groups, I'm not the only one.
  10. Re:Ironic... on Da Vinci Code Author Sued · · Score: 1
    Indeed. Dan Brown is one of the hackiest hack writers whose work I've had the misfortune to read.
    He should stick to the flying stuff with B52s and all that. I don't like the ones with the exoskeleton suit much.

    Er, wait...

  11. Re:Fictional Worlds on Da Vinci Code Author Sued · · Score: 1

    But the world is revealed through those stories; the readers' knowledge of it comes mainly from the stories, whether that's footnotes, dialogue or digressions. I don't think the line is anywhere near as clearcut as you say it is.

  12. Re:Don't be distracted on Ruling May Impact Google Book Search Case · · Score: 1
    Professional writers, painters, musicians, etc., deserve to be compensated for their efforts. Copyright can be used to defend the little guy against the big bully. Therefore, copyright can stay.
    There are millions of people who recieve compensation for their work every day without controlling a monopoly over their output.
    Indeed. And if their powers of logic are anything like yours, that work will probably involve a polyester uniform and a plastic nametag.
  13. Re:Consenting Adults at 16? on Cell Phone Tracking In the UK · · Score: 1
    we will charge ever-younger criminals (now as young as 13 or 14) "as adults" for their crimes, while they don't enjoy any of the privileges afforded to "adults."
    If you can do the crime, you can do the time.
  14. Re:Old news... on Cell Phone Tracking In the UK · · Score: 1
    On the good side, someone I know used it repeatedly to determine the location of his wife's handbag after it (and the phone inside) was stolen. I guess he had permission from his wife, though the thief obviously didn't consent.
    The way things are going in the UK, I'm surprised he didn't get fined for breaking the data protection act and have to compensate the thief for violating his right to privacy.
  15. Re:Easy to decide... on How Do You Decide Which Framework to Use? · · Score: 1

    In the boss zone, knowing what something is is not a prerequisite for having an opinion about it. He may have overheard someone else, or read about it in an inflight magazine. Always remember that mauve has the most RAM.

  16. Re:It's a good thing... on Yahoo! Bans "Allah" in Screen Names · · Score: 1
    I'm not sure I understand you.
    It would appear that I'm just one item on a long, long list.
    Nowhere have I implied there are several - indeed, my point was that I'd be surprised if there were several separate restaurants out there all named "McDonalds".
    So the one in Paris near the Arc de Trimphe is the same as the one in at Detroit airport? They look pretty separate to me, even though I admit there is a resemblance. Are they like connected by tunnels or something?

    That's assumiing that you can class them as restaurants anyway - the definition I use involves serving food. Whooosh, by the way.

  17. Re:Excuse me... on Help Break Original Enigma Messages · · Score: 1
    You'd think they could just ask the Germans for the cleartext.
    You think they'll still have them? You might have a point if the Germans were a procedure-obsessed bunch of unthinking bureaucrats who keep copies of everything in triplicate.
  18. Re:Wasn't the enigma cracked? on Help Break Original Enigma Messages · · Score: 1

    Ich bin ein German, du insensitiv Klodd!

  19. Re:Error on Help Break Original Enigma Messages · · Score: 1
    an unusually large number of Ls in the input.
    Maybe the Germans were planning to invade Wales?
  20. Re:Verus older versions of Windows? on Linux On Older Hardware · · Score: 1

    I have a laptop of similar spec and X works at least as smoothly as win98 on it. That's redhat 7.1 (my first tryout with linux) or knoppix running from the CD.

  21. Re:It's Obvious on U.S. IT Hiring Increases Despite Outsourcing · · Score: 1
    The way you are currently trying to "lead the world" is by declaring that you have 20-year patent monopolies on everything made by man under the sun
    Not true. They've even patented naturally occurring things (such as some medicinal plants).

    As to the restriction to subsolar articles, surely it's only a matter of time before someone patents alpha Ursa Minoris and charges everyone from the Phoenicians onwards a royalty for using "a method of using a distant light source, located on or close to the projection of the axis of a rotating body to determine position or direction upon said body...".

  22. Re:It's all about perception on Tech Makes Working Harder · · Score: 1
    Well, the figures certainly support your view.

    A recent survey revealed that some people thought subjective or opinion based research was probably inaccurate in roughly 59% of cases and downright misleading in another 11%, or thereabouts.

  23. Re:What they mean to say is.... on UK Government Confiscates Firefox CDs · · Score: 1

    You have a point, at least partly. But on the other hand, people may not have the time, expertise, fast reliable internet connection yada yada to obtain it for themselves. Telling someon a recipe doesn't make them a cook.

    You could equally argue that a restaurant exploits people by charging more than the cost of the ingredients.

    In either case, nobody forces you to buy, but likewise nobody forbids[1] a bit of DIY if you're capable of it.

    [1] not until trusted computing becomes the norm, anyway.

  24. Re:Geographic Preferences Honored by Recruiters on What Do You Want in a Job Website? · · Score: 1

    Think that's bad? What if you live in a small country where you're within reasonable reach (at least for contract work) of around 20 or so other ones?

    And you're only allowed to specify 10 - which you have to do individually because there are no grouped or generic options.

    And you have to specify for each fucking one individually whether you are able to work in it. This despite the fact that you've already filled in that you are a citizen of a country which is a member of a confederation that entitles you to work in any other country which is also a member. I won't go on about how piss-poor the search is, or the amount of meaningless twaddle you have to input to register.

    Welcome to the clusterfuck that is monster.be - students of IT in general, and website design and HCI in particular could learn a lot by studying this site. In the same way that army officers study the charge of the light brigade and civil engineers study the tacoma narrows bridge.

  25. Re:It's Obvious on U.S. IT Hiring Increases Despite Outsourcing · · Score: 1

    The only thing you're inventive about is English grammar.