Harriet Harperson -- whom I thought everyone had decided to stop listening to after she said that all-women shortlists were a good thing, except of course in the safe Labour constituency where her husband wanted to (and did) become candidate -- thinks that getting rid of advertisements on piracy sites will magically mean that 1) piracy will vanish, and 2) everyone will pay for music, despite the fact that as we are in a recession they might rather pay for things like housing, heating, food, etc., first. And of course not simply listen to all the music they got while pirating it.
As a partial reference, try Plato, The Republic, 563a. The translation given in Freeman's thesis I referenced above (the previous page) differs somewhat from the copy I have on my shelf, but the tone is similar.
It is not a direct quotation, in fact (not least because it is in English...). The original was a summary by Kenneth John Freeman in 1907 for a Cambridge dissertation, describing Socrates's viewpoint and various texts he did write (although the wording has been changed a little over the years). On the same page here:
""Teenagers" are a new phenomenon, basically only really existing since after WWII, when they started to get more time and money to do what they wanted. (and predominantly in Western cultures). Prior to that, they had to learn to get down to doing a job from an earlier age, in order to help the family, and usually did so without any tantrums."
And for the opposite argument:
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. "
While I agree with you that the current unlimited nonsense is annoying, if the UK regulator stepped in and said "you cannot have 'unlimited' with a fair use policy", we would quickly lose all unlimited deals altogether, with something like 10GB packages being standard. I think, under the circumstances, I would like to have an unknown ceiling somewhere very high to a known ceiling I can hit when I jump.
I have added this on Tim's blog, but I thought I will also say here, as this is a public forum, that I am no longer submitting to, or refereeing articles for, Elsevier journals. It may be the Springer and Wiley are bad as well, and de Gruyter also charges ridiculous prices. But you attack the worst behaving first, and once Elsevier is dead, you turn to Springer and say "do you feel lucky, punk?"
"Cutting cost means cutting quality. No matter how clever people try to get, they never get around this. For science journals this simply means that they are going to go through what newspapers are going through. Peer review will become "fact checking" and will eventually become "outsourced community feedback". There are certainly people who want to put the boot into the Science Citation Index - I bet that's gone within 10 years as well.
As costs approach zero, the old soviet saying "You pretend to pay us and we'll pretend to work" will be proven true in another human field of knowledge."
Oh hai. You posting about things you know nothing about? Scientists submit articles to journals and are not paid a penny for them at the moment, and throughout history, and not for peer review either. So the quality is, and always has been, dreadful, by your argument.
"Why limit yourself to 10 years? Those arguing that the sky is about to fall in seem to be pretty confident about how many minutes we'll be out by 2100, so why not write up a schedule for the next 90 years and revise it in 2060?"
You can guess how many minutes out, 2-3 to quote the article, it will be in 2100. But the whole point of this is incredible accuracy, and saying "well, the number of leap seconds will be about 150" isn't going to cut it.
"You'd think any genuine psychic would be around like a shot to pick up a cheque. I know I would. After all a million dollars would just be the beginning. Any winner would make tens, hundreds millions more hawking books, TV shows, lectures, readings on the basis of winning."
Forget that, just go to a casino. If you even have slight psychic ability (say getting a red/black(/green) call right 53% of the time) you can make a metric fuckton of money out of any casino; although how long before the casino network throws you out is another matter. This goes for any person who claims that he has a "system" for gambling, who isn't a billionaire.
"How you can be extradited in the first place, WITHOUT charge!?"
It's the European Arrest Warrant. It's not extradition per se. It's an obvious corollary to freedom of movement! Since the EU is in some sense one place now, and we have no problem with someone being arrested in Newcastle (or even Glasgow, for a place with a different legal system) for a crime committed in Dover, the idea of a EAW shouldn't be too surprising.
I know the argument that we shouldn't lose sight of our own humanity, etc., but (for example) the Allies did some pretty horrible things in WWII but Amnesty International et al. don't moan about our behaviour then...
I was taught at school that there were three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. In space you only have radiation, which is the slowest.
"Mexico’s military and police are guilty of multiple human right violations in their fight against the cartels, including torture, 39 “disappearances” and 24 extrajudicial killings since 2006,"
"Los Zetas are accused of a string of atrocities, including the execution of an estimated 190 abducted bus passengers in Tamaulipas back in April and the Monterrey casino attack that left more than 50 dead in August."
Well, if you have good reason to believe the person is over 16 -- for example, if you meet the girl in an over-18 club -- it would form a reasonably solid defence.
"Hell has been scientifically proven not to exist, by the laws of thermodynamics."
Hang on: in order to use thermodynamics, you have to know whether Hell is expanding faster or slower than the speed of souls entering it. If it's slower, the density will increase and Hell will heat up; eventually all Hell will break loose. Alternatively, if its faster, the density will drop and Hell will freeze over.
"...San Francisco's determination to label mobile phones as carcinogenic has brought it into conflict with one of the more powerful lobby groups in America..."
I thought 'the truth' wasn't a particularly powerful lobby group in America (or indeed, many countries).
"Ghioni said his "precise mechanism" would need the "collaboration" of operating system manufacturers such as Microsoft and Apple to log all activities on their systems, according to the automated translation of the report."
And presumably it would also have to make owning an old computer, or owning Linux, illegal? Or force them not to be able to connect to the Internet. Oh, and make reinstalling your operating system illegal. Oh, and proxies.
When did I say that? I said that, like murder, there is no statute of limitations on when criminals can be caught.
"Can it get more retarded? Nobody forces you to buy so what are you lousy lot complaining about?"
Yes, it can get more retarded, as you have demonstrated. The statement that nobody forces you to buy is moronic, because you needed a CRT at the time to use a computer, and saying "well, don't use a computer" is bullshit. Would you say the same thing if the cartel was artificially raising the price of food?
"Seriously, these guys just decided to get together and keep the price up, which is what happens everyday everywhere in all kinds of markets. Like, labor unions? Or maybe check the market price in the ads and adjust accordingly? This opens up the marketplace for competition that decides to actually compete on price. (Except if isn't forbidden by law.) It's that simple."
Of course it isn't, don't be dense. If you are making (for example) CRTs there are maybe half a dozen major players in the world who control such a large portion of the market that they can set prices artificially high. The barriers to entry are high enough that perfect competition cannot exist, hence the need for anti-cartel legislation.
The comparisons with unions are interesting, however, and is the one point you raised in the post that isn't instantly rebutted. I don't have an answer for you as to why unions are OK but cartels are not, except that unions consist of humans and cartels consist of companies, and I think it's reasonable to have different laws for the two. We don't let companies vote in elections, for example.
I don't deny that the bits of the Internet based in Britain are subject to British law. My problem is that Youtube's servers aren't in Britain (as far as I remember), and just because some other part of the parent company is based in Britain doesn't make everything that company does subject to UK law. Or if it does, watch Google just ignore the ruling/pull out of London.
I would rather they fine the people for price fixing than say "well, it's too late now, sod it". Do we do the same thing for murderers who committed their acts a decade ago? The idea is you punish so they think twice about doing it again. But for that to happen, €100m isn't going to be enough...
"Because if you simplify the tax laws and make the rate lower than can be obtained through complex tax practices then more will be paid.
18% of 100 billion is more than 39% of 10 billion.
I believe the concept is also called "stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap"."
Not so simple. Where did the other 90 billion come from, hmm? I didn't know we had a load of raging Tories/Republicans on here. If you want to stop this sort of wide-spread tax avoidance/borderline evasion, it's simple: Bermuda has no taxes at all, so it acts like a fence, aiding and abetting companies to steal from countries and governments. Start treating them as such.
"Newton was also an "astrologist" you prejudiced and offensive motherfucker!"
While we're having a go at other people, Newton was a bit of an astrologer, not much of one, but certainly wouldn't be nowadays. This is like saying people in mediaeval times were stupid because they believed in four elements.
Anyone supporting astrology today is either a liar and a cheat, or fairly ignorant. It's obviously and convincingly of no basis at all.
It's frozen, so in real terms you will indeed be paying less. The rest of the cut is to accommodate the World Service, so actually you should pay slightly lower taxes. (Where's that joke alert icon for the last sentence?)
"I've got 5 micro USB chargers sitting in my drawers, what am I supposed to do with them?"
Freecycle.
I have three places I would like micro-USB chargers, and only two chargers... I'm sure there are other people are like me in that they have fewer chargers than they would like.
Country A should not recognize any patents from any company located in Country B, so long as Country B does not have reasonable patent law. China completely ignores western patents in their country, so theirs should be ignored here.
"While the idea sounds interesting, El Reg has concerns. Bluescreening is bad enough at the desk, but slightly more serious when you’re flinging a couple of tons of car down the freeway."
1) "Given that the full database file is downloadable from hundreds of sites there is only one internally rational action," WikiLeaks said
Erm... can the London looters use this defence? "Everyone else was nicking stuff, so I did too."
2) '...a contention WikiLeaks argues demonstrates technical ineptitude on the part of the paper.
"It is false that the passphrase was temporary or was ever described as such. That is not how PGP files work. Ask any expert," said the leaker organisation.'
For this I assume that WikiLeaks did tell them that it was temporary. If The Guardian has to ask an expert to find out that what Wikileaks told it is wrong, it's not really negligence to believe Wikileaks. (I personally don't think you need to ask an expert, but anyway...)
"PS: Does this woman have a Google+ account, seeing that she has no apparent surname."
I believe it's Knowles or something like it, although I've never seen it written down. Your comment could also be applied to Kylie, Ant and Dec, Elvis, Elizabeth II, etc.
"...and with the case descending to the ridiculous level of citing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as prior art for tablet computers..."
Why is it ridiculous? Apple says it has a patent on the *design* of a tablet, not on anything mechanical. There are numerous examples of tablets in science fiction film/TV, all looking very similar to the iPad. Therefore there is prior art, with the use of the word "art" being entirely justified in this case!
Register
549 posts • joined Monday 19th November 2007 23:11 GMT
Page:
Posted Wednesday 22nd February 2012 19:09 GMT
DavCrav
Slightly confused → #
In Labour targets Tories' Google problem
Harriet Harperson -- whom I thought everyone had decided to stop listening to after she said that all-women shortlists were a good thing, except of course in the safe Labour constituency where her husband wanted to (and did) become candidate -- thinks that getting rid of advertisements on piracy sites will magically mean that 1) piracy will vanish, and 2) everyone will pay for music, despite the fact that as we are in a recession they might rather pay for things like housing, heating, food, etc., first. And of course not simply listen to all the music they got while pirating it.
Citation needed.
Posted Tuesday 14th February 2012 10:52 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Tesco offers broadband for LESS THAN THE PRICE OF A PINT
At least it's publicly limited unlimited, rather than privately limited unlimited but publicly unlimited unlimited.
Posted Monday 13th February 2012 13:55 GMT
DavCrav
It depends... → #
In Megastar personalities are intellectual property in draft law
on whether earlier you mentioned it once but you think you got away with it.
Posted Sunday 12th February 2012 12:42 GMT
DavCrav
Mea culpa: addendum → #
In IT guy answers daughter's Facebook rant by shooting her laptop
As a partial reference, try Plato, The Republic, 563a. The translation given in Freeman's thesis I referenced above (the previous page) differs somewhat from the copy I have on my shelf, but the tone is similar.
Posted Sunday 12th February 2012 12:36 GMT
DavCrav
Mea culpa → #
In IT guy answers daughter's Facebook rant by shooting her laptop
It is not a direct quotation, in fact (not least because it is in English...). The original was a summary by Kenneth John Freeman in 1907 for a Cambridge dissertation, describing Socrates's viewpoint and various texts he did write (although the wording has been changed a little over the years). On the same page here:
http://www.archive.org/stream/schoolsofhellasa008878mbp#page/n105/mode/2up/search/indictment
the author remarks that a similar change came over children in the late-nineteenth century.
Posted Saturday 11th February 2012 11:47 GMT
DavCrav
@Tony S → #
In IT guy answers daughter's Facebook rant by shooting her laptop
""Teenagers" are a new phenomenon, basically only really existing since after WWII, when they started to get more time and money to do what they wanted. (and predominantly in Western cultures). Prior to that, they had to learn to get down to doing a job from an earlier age, in order to help the family, and usually did so without any tantrums."
And for the opposite argument:
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. "
Socrates
Posted Wednesday 8th February 2012 12:44 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Hong Kongers protest over end to all-you-can-eat tariffs
While I agree with you that the current unlimited nonsense is annoying, if the UK regulator stepped in and said "you cannot have 'unlimited' with a fair use policy", we would quickly lose all unlimited deals altogether, with something like 10GB packages being standard. I think, under the circumstances, I would like to have an unknown ceiling somewhere very high to a known ceiling I can hit when I jump.
Posted Saturday 28th January 2012 11:51 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Boffin's blog blast births boycott of publisher Elsevier
I have added this on Tim's blog, but I thought I will also say here, as this is a public forum, that I am no longer submitting to, or refereeing articles for, Elsevier journals. It may be the Springer and Wiley are bad as well, and de Gruyter also charges ridiculous prices. But you attack the worst behaving first, and once Elsevier is dead, you turn to Springer and say "do you feel lucky, punk?"
Posted Saturday 28th January 2012 11:01 GMT
DavCrav
Moron alert → #
In Boffin's blog blast births boycott of publisher Elsevier
"Cutting cost means cutting quality. No matter how clever people try to get, they never get around this. For science journals this simply means that they are going to go through what newspapers are going through. Peer review will become "fact checking" and will eventually become "outsourced community feedback". There are certainly people who want to put the boot into the Science Citation Index - I bet that's gone within 10 years as well.
As costs approach zero, the old soviet saying "You pretend to pay us and we'll pretend to work" will be proven true in another human field of knowledge."
Oh hai. You posting about things you know nothing about? Scientists submit articles to journals and are not paid a penny for them at the moment, and throughout history, and not for peer review either. So the quality is, and always has been, dreadful, by your argument.
Posted Friday 27th January 2012 18:07 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Apple: Yes there are horrendous accidents, but we CARE
"Unfortunately it is actually aluminum, us Brits misspell it, not the Septics in this instance."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Etymology
It's a lot more complicated than it might first seem...
Posted Sunday 22nd January 2012 14:52 GMT
DavCrav
Minutes, not seconds → #
In Hold on a sec - leap seconds granted a last-minute reprieve
"Why limit yourself to 10 years? Those arguing that the sky is about to fall in seem to be pretty confident about how many minutes we'll be out by 2100, so why not write up a schedule for the next 90 years and revise it in 2060?"
You can guess how many minutes out, 2-3 to quote the article, it will be in 2100. But the whole point of this is incredible accuracy, and saying "well, the number of leap seconds will be about 150" isn't going to cut it.
Posted Friday 6th January 2012 14:53 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Amazon says soz for foisting mag sub onto Kindle-touchers
Or that it wasn't free and a computer glitch made the e-mail come out with $0.00 on it.
Posted Thursday 22nd December 2011 00:43 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Ofcom maps out what 'psychics' are allowed to do on TV
"You'd think any genuine psychic would be around like a shot to pick up a cheque. I know I would. After all a million dollars would just be the beginning. Any winner would make tens, hundreds millions more hawking books, TV shows, lectures, readings on the basis of winning."
Forget that, just go to a casino. If you even have slight psychic ability (say getting a red/black(/green) call right 53% of the time) you can make a metric fuckton of money out of any casino; although how long before the casino network throws you out is another matter. This goes for any person who claims that he has a "system" for gambling, who isn't a billionaire.
Posted Friday 16th December 2011 17:53 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Assange™ wins Supreme Court extradition appeal bid
"How you can be extradited in the first place, WITHOUT charge!?"
It's the European Arrest Warrant. It's not extradition per se. It's an obvious corollary to freedom of movement! Since the EU is in some sense one place now, and we have no problem with someone being arrested in Newcastle (or even Glasgow, for a place with a different legal system) for a crime committed in Dover, the idea of a EAW shouldn't be too surprising.
Posted Friday 25th November 2011 17:11 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Bloke claims ex swiped his sperm to make twins
"This is going to get messy..."
Not nearly as messy as the lead-up to it was, if he's telling the truth!
Posted Friday 25th November 2011 12:22 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Bloke claims ex swiped his sperm to make twins
"But he maintained that the clinic had signed consent forms from Pressil, and called the lawsuit disingenuous and suspect."
Then present them. If they are signed with "Michael Mouse", start lubing up for a fucking.
Posted Saturday 19th November 2011 20:18 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Pickles plans curry colleges to halt Indian immigration
"So you think the owners of Bangladeshi restaurants are going to hire non Bangladeshi employees to cook ?"
I think the idea is "if you don't, you don't have a cook".
Posted Tuesday 15th November 2011 23:41 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Beheaded man wasn't one of us, say anti-drug cartel bloggers
I know the argument that we shouldn't lose sight of our own humanity, etc., but (for example) the Allies did some pretty horrible things in WWII but Amnesty International et al. don't moan about our behaviour then...
Posted Tuesday 15th November 2011 23:41 GMT → #
DavCrav
In NASA working on nuclear rocket for manned Mars trips
I was taught at school that there were three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. In space you only have radiation, which is the slowest.
Posted Tuesday 15th November 2011 12:49 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Beheaded man wasn't one of us, say anti-drug cartel bloggers
"Mexico’s military and police are guilty of multiple human right violations in their fight against the cartels, including torture, 39 “disappearances” and 24 extrajudicial killings since 2006,"
"Los Zetas are accused of a string of atrocities, including the execution of an estimated 190 abducted bus passengers in Tamaulipas back in April and the Monterrey casino attack that left more than 50 dead in August."
Do animals have human rights?
Posted Monday 14th November 2011 14:56 GMT
DavCrav
I thought it was something like that → #
In Ex-councillor jailed for grooming blackmailer posing as teen
Well, if you have good reason to believe the person is over 16 -- for example, if you meet the girl in an over-18 club -- it would form a reasonably solid defence.
Posted Wednesday 9th November 2011 15:53 GMT → #
DavCrav
In 'Indestructible' Moto Defy telly ad banned
"They could have dropped it from 3 feet high. Eggs will survive that."
Vids or it didn't happen.
Posted Monday 7th November 2011 23:32 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Colossal dead black neo-sphere approaching Earth
"And they're only interested in starfaring civilisations; we're quite safe."
*Now* you're glad NASA canned the space shuttle...
Posted Saturday 5th November 2011 00:25 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Vatican mulls God particle, calls for appointment of antichrist
"Hell has been scientifically proven not to exist, by the laws of thermodynamics."
Hang on: in order to use thermodynamics, you have to know whether Hell is expanding faster or slower than the speed of souls entering it. If it's slower, the density will increase and Hell will heat up; eventually all Hell will break loose. Alternatively, if its faster, the density will drop and Hell will freeze over.
Posted Wednesday 2nd November 2011 16:02 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Catholic Bishops: 'Would you mind not bringing guns to church?'
Or, an armed society is one where minor mental instabilities result in mass murder.
Posted Sunday 30th October 2011 15:25 GMT → #
DavCrav
In CTIA wins battle over cancer labelling on phones
"...San Francisco's determination to label mobile phones as carcinogenic has brought it into conflict with one of the more powerful lobby groups in America..."
I thought 'the truth' wasn't a particularly powerful lobby group in America (or indeed, many countries).
Posted Friday 28th October 2011 09:51 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Details of all internet traffic should be logged – MEP
"Ghioni said his "precise mechanism" would need the "collaboration" of operating system manufacturers such as Microsoft and Apple to log all activities on their systems, according to the automated translation of the report."
And presumably it would also have to make owning an old computer, or owning Linux, illegal? Or force them not to be able to connect to the Internet. Oh, and make reinstalling your operating system illegal. Oh, and proxies.
FAIL for obvious reasons.
Posted Wednesday 26th October 2011 18:53 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Avira anti-virus labels itself as spyware
First they came for the applications, and I didn't speak out.
Then they came for the Windows file, and I didn't speak out.
Then they came for themselves, and I didn't have a fucking clue what was going on.
Posted Wednesday 26th October 2011 15:43 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Job-seeking university bods panic over incriminating online info
It doesn't seem to have affected me, as I just got a job two hours ago. Whoo hoo!
Posted Tuesday 25th October 2011 10:55 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Google dumps + from Boolean search tool
"I own computers with keyboards+mice and netbooks with keyboards+trackpads, I have no intention of getting a tablet."
Don't you mean you own computers with "keyboards" "mice"?
Posted Thursday 20th October 2011 15:29 GMT
DavCrav
@DAM → #
In This just in: Brussels shatters CRT cartel
"Price fixing" = "Murder"
When did I say that? I said that, like murder, there is no statute of limitations on when criminals can be caught.
"Can it get more retarded? Nobody forces you to buy so what are you lousy lot complaining about?"
Yes, it can get more retarded, as you have demonstrated. The statement that nobody forces you to buy is moronic, because you needed a CRT at the time to use a computer, and saying "well, don't use a computer" is bullshit. Would you say the same thing if the cartel was artificially raising the price of food?
"Seriously, these guys just decided to get together and keep the price up, which is what happens everyday everywhere in all kinds of markets. Like, labor unions? Or maybe check the market price in the ads and adjust accordingly? This opens up the marketplace for competition that decides to actually compete on price. (Except if isn't forbidden by law.) It's that simple."
Of course it isn't, don't be dense. If you are making (for example) CRTs there are maybe half a dozen major players in the world who control such a large portion of the market that they can set prices artificially high. The barriers to entry are high enough that perfect competition cannot exist, hence the need for anti-cartel legislation.
The comparisons with unions are interesting, however, and is the one point you raised in the post that isn't instantly rebutted. I don't have an answer for you as to why unions are OK but cartels are not, except that unions consist of humans and cartels consist of companies, and I think it's reasonable to have different laws for the two. We don't let companies vote in elections, for example.
Posted Thursday 20th October 2011 11:44 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Libel reform vows to slay anonymous trolls
I don't deny that the bits of the Internet based in Britain are subject to British law. My problem is that Youtube's servers aren't in Britain (as far as I remember), and just because some other part of the parent company is based in Britain doesn't make everything that company does subject to UK law. Or if it does, watch Google just ignore the ruling/pull out of London.
Posted Thursday 20th October 2011 11:42 GMT
DavCrav
Better than not → #
In This just in: Brussels shatters CRT cartel
I would rather they fine the people for price fixing than say "well, it's too late now, sod it". Do we do the same thing for murderers who committed their acts a decade ago? The idea is you punish so they think twice about doing it again. But for that to happen, €100m isn't going to be enough...
Posted Wednesday 19th October 2011 14:56 GMT
DavCrav
Internet not British → #
In Libel reform vows to slay anonymous trolls
They do know that the Internet isn't British, right? And Youtube will tell them to feck off?
Posted Tuesday 18th October 2011 13:52 GMT
DavCrav
Drinkifying snacks → #
In Man 'drinks 2 pizzas' before skidding off road
Thinking about pizzas being turned into a drink... Already been thought of:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2011/01/03
FAIL because of the following quotation from PepsiCo:
“We see the emerging opportunity to ‘snackify’ beverages and ‘drinkify’ snacks as the next frontier in food and beverage convenience,”
Posted Saturday 15th October 2011 18:03 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Iranian TV claims royals ordered Ofcom to ban it
"Claiming to be a victim is always the first resort of the scoundrel"
Unfortunately it is often the first resort of the victim as well, sometimes making it difficult to tell the difference. Not in this case though.
Posted Friday 14th October 2011 09:46 GMT → #
DavCrav
In IRS audits Google for funneling profits to Ireland
"Because if you simplify the tax laws and make the rate lower than can be obtained through complex tax practices then more will be paid.
18% of 100 billion is more than 39% of 10 billion.
I believe the concept is also called "stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap"."
Not so simple. Where did the other 90 billion come from, hmm? I didn't know we had a load of raging Tories/Republicans on here. If you want to stop this sort of wide-spread tax avoidance/borderline evasion, it's simple: Bermuda has no taxes at all, so it acts like a fence, aiding and abetting companies to steal from countries and governments. Start treating them as such.
Posted Saturday 8th October 2011 10:29 GMT
DavCrav
You are the idiot → #
In Chaos feared after Unix time-zone database is nuked
"Newton was also an "astrologist" you prejudiced and offensive motherfucker!"
While we're having a go at other people, Newton was a bit of an astrologer, not much of one, but certainly wouldn't be nowadays. This is like saying people in mediaeval times were stupid because they believed in four elements.
Anyone supporting astrology today is either a liar and a cheat, or fairly ignorant. It's obviously and convincingly of no basis at all.
Posted Thursday 6th October 2011 16:36 GMT → #
DavCrav
In BBC One and bureaucracy spared in Auntie cuts
It's frozen, so in real terms you will indeed be paying less. The rest of the cut is to accommodate the World Service, so actually you should pay slightly lower taxes. (Where's that joke alert icon for the last sentence?)
Posted Wednesday 5th October 2011 06:27 GMT
DavCrav
Freecycle! → #
In Apple outs iPhone micro USB adaptor
"I've got 5 micro USB chargers sitting in my drawers, what am I supposed to do with them?"
Freecycle.
I have three places I would like micro-USB chargers, and only two chargers... I'm sure there are other people are like me in that they have fewer chargers than they would like.
Posted Thursday 29th September 2011 12:01 GMT
DavCrav
One rule for them? → #
In Does Gove’s webmail policy breach Data Protection Act too?
I can't help but remember an earlier El Reg story about university professors having their webmail raided if there's university business in it...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/28/ico_publishes_guide_to_university_research_disclosure/
Arguably this is 50,000 times more important than some professors gossiping to each other, so WTF?
Posted Thursday 29th September 2011 09:13 GMT
DavCrav
Quid pro quo on patents → #
In China's patent EXPLOSION could leave West behind
Country A should not recognize any patents from any company located in Country B, so long as Country B does not have reasonable patent law. China completely ignores western patents in their country, so theirs should be ignored here.
Posted Monday 26th September 2011 13:51 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Red Hat engineer renews attack on Windows 8-certified secure boot
Well, I want a Linux laptop. Find one (that isn't incredibly expensive). Your choice just got massively reduced.
Posted Wednesday 21st September 2011 19:43 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Windows 8 secure boot would 'exclude' Linux
"You Linux fanbois are almost as bad as apple fanbois
Hint: There are many many many open source unix alternatives to linux"
All of which are not Microsoft, so would be banned also. So what's the difference?
Posted Tuesday 20th September 2011 09:14 GMT
DavCrav
I built a chair in my 20s, people still pay me now to sit in it → #
In EU recording copyright extension 'will cost €1bn'
Oh no wait, they don't.
Posted Thursday 15th September 2011 08:42 GMT → #
DavCrav
In Microsoft demos creepy car stalking system
"While the idea sounds interesting, El Reg has concerns. Bluescreening is bad enough at the desk, but slightly more serious when you’re flinging a couple of tons of car down the freeway."
Then have it run Linux; no problem.
Posted Friday 2nd September 2011 17:10 GMT
DavCrav
Two points: → #
In WikiLeaks releases full searchable US secret cable files
1) "Given that the full database file is downloadable from hundreds of sites there is only one internally rational action," WikiLeaks said
Erm... can the London looters use this defence? "Everyone else was nicking stuff, so I did too."
2) '...a contention WikiLeaks argues demonstrates technical ineptitude on the part of the paper.
"It is false that the passphrase was temporary or was ever described as such. That is not how PGP files work. Ask any expert," said the leaker organisation.'
For this I assume that WikiLeaks did tell them that it was temporary. If The Guardian has to ask an expert to find out that what Wikileaks told it is wrong, it's not really negligence to believe Wikileaks. (I personally don't think you need to ask an expert, but anyway...)
Posted Wednesday 31st August 2011 21:56 GMT
DavCrav
NO → #
In Apple vs. Samsung: next round today
"But remember, you need to swear more and use MORE CAPS and exclamation marks."
YOU DON'T NEED MORE CAPS TO BE A TROLL. MANY TROLLS ARE EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE WITHOUT CAPTIAL LETTERS!!!!!111
(Clearly I'm not a troll, as I used an apostrophe...)
Posted Tuesday 30th August 2011 13:29 GMT
DavCrav
Like... → #
In Beyonce's belly: Most important thing ever, on Twitter
"PS: Does this woman have a Google+ account, seeing that she has no apparent surname."
I believe it's Knowles or something like it, although I've never seen it written down. Your comment could also be applied to Kylie, Ant and Dec, Elvis, Elizabeth II, etc.
Posted Monday 29th August 2011 17:10 GMT
DavCrav
Why ridiculous? → #
In Apple vs. Samsung: next round today
"...and with the case descending to the ridiculous level of citing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as prior art for tablet computers..."
Why is it ridiculous? Apple says it has a patent on the *design* of a tablet, not on anything mechanical. There are numerous examples of tablets in science fiction film/TV, all looking very similar to the iPad. Therefore there is prior art, with the use of the word "art" being entirely justified in this case!
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