Comment Re:Morons (Score 2) 163
If only we could use this against the Daily Mail website.
It's filled with things that could be deemed porn.
Comment The same town (Score 1) 304
Well, the same town. But considering this Town is London, that still means a 30 mile journey..
Submission + - The 61 Countries Most Vulnerable To An Internet Shutdown (forbes.com)
Sparrowvsrevolution writes: In the wake of Syria’s 52-hour digital blackout last week, the networking firm Renesys performed an analysis of which countries are most susceptible to an Internet shutdown, based simply on how many distinct entities control the connections between the country’s networks and those of the outside world. It found that for 61 countries and territories, just one or two Internet service providers maintain all external connections–a situation that could make possible a quick cutoff from the world with a well-placed government order or physical attack.
Another 72 countries have between three and ten providers that link to the outside world, a situation that makes a cutoff harder but by no means impossible. Egypt managed to black out its Internet last year despite having seven ISPs with external connections, though it took several days for it to track down and cut off all seven.
Another 72 countries have between three and ten providers that link to the outside world, a situation that makes a cutoff harder but by no means impossible. Egypt managed to black out its Internet last year despite having seven ISPs with external connections, though it took several days for it to track down and cut off all seven.
Submission + - Vatican unveils Pope's Twitter account @pontifex (bbc.co.uk)
Big Hairy Ian writes: The Pope is to begin sending Twitter messages using the handle @pontifex as his personal account, the Vatican said.
A spokesman said Pope Benedict XVI wanted to "reach out to everyone" with tweets translated into eight languages.
The first tweet from his account, whose name means both pontiff and builder of bridges, is expected on 12 December.
Last year, the Pope sent his first tweet last year from a Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal.
"We are going to get a spiritual message. The Pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no-one is going to be putting words into the Pope's mouth," Greg Burke, senior media advisor to the Vatican said.
"He will tweet what he wants to tweet," he added, though the leader of the world's 1.2 billion or so Roman Catholics is expected to sign off, rather than write, each individual tweet himself.
A spokesman said Pope Benedict XVI wanted to "reach out to everyone" with tweets translated into eight languages.
The first tweet from his account, whose name means both pontiff and builder of bridges, is expected on 12 December.
Last year, the Pope sent his first tweet last year from a Vatican account to launch the Holy See's news information portal.
"We are going to get a spiritual message. The Pope is not going to be walking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no-one is going to be putting words into the Pope's mouth," Greg Burke, senior media advisor to the Vatican said.
"He will tweet what he wants to tweet," he added, though the leader of the world's 1.2 billion or so Roman Catholics is expected to sign off, rather than write, each individual tweet himself.
Submission + - UK Governement mandate the teaching of evolution as scientific fact (bbc.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: There is a sotory on the BBC website that the Governement has put an extra clause in a funding bill to ensure that any new "free schools" (independant schools run by groups of parents or organisations but publically funded) must teach evolution rather than creationism or potentially lose their funding
The new rules state that from 2013, all free schools in England must teach evolution as a "comprehensive and coherent scientific theory".
The move follows scientists's concerns that free schools run by creationists might avoid teaching evolution.
Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, said it was "delighted".
Sir Paul told BBC News the previous rules on free schools and the teaching of evolution versus creationism had been "not tight enough".
The new rules state that from 2013, all free schools in England must teach evolution as a "comprehensive and coherent scientific theory".
The move follows scientists's concerns that free schools run by creationists might avoid teaching evolution.
Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, said it was "delighted".
Sir Paul told BBC News the previous rules on free schools and the teaching of evolution versus creationism had been "not tight enough".
Comment Re:tax minimisation (Score 1) 331
Depends on one's definition of fair. If all multi-national companies in the UK paid the tax they are supposed to*, the UK deficit would vanish. That in turn means benefits for the poor wouldn't need to be cut, nor a squeeze on the health care system, education, investment in science wouldn't need to be reduced. Hey, and maybe everyone could pay fewer taxes if everyone paid what they ought to.
*: By this I mean the corporation tax based on their profit margin as reported to their investors and their regional sales.
Comment Really? (Score 1) 513
It seems rather unlikely to me that if you committed a crime you would volunteer into giving your DNA in this sort of style. Was it a full match or just based on a few key metrics, which seems the most common form of testing? It could be family of him, for instance.
Comment Re:wow... (Score 1) 74
Judging from AT&T reception, that's certainly where their mobile masts are placed.
Zing!
Comment Single Double Summer Time (Score 1) 475
In the UK there is DST as well but there have been some rumblings to introduce Single Double Summer Time (SDST) (yes, it's a stupid name). This would shift the entire time to be GMT+2 though all the year. It would deprive people in the north of Scotland of a few hours of daylight in the morning, which seems to be the main opposition. For the rest of us it would mean fewer traffic accidents. But ho hum, as long as the farmers are happy.
Comment Re:Is anyone really surprised by this? (Score 1) 89
Well, no one should be surprised by this. No one will be surprised to learn that the banning of TPB has made no significant difference to the amount of traffic to it. The BPI like the RIAA sees every download as lost revenue, where the real link is that the most prolific downloaders tend to be the most frequent purchasers of media as well. The biggest impact on reduction of illegal downloading has been the introduction of legal services such as iTunes, Amazon MP3 store, etc..
Of course, posting this here is just preaching to the choir.
Comment Re:Don't watch it (Score 3, Funny) 515
"Your honor, I object!"
"Why?"
"Because it's devastating to my case!"
Comment Re:offensive (Score 3, Informative) 60
Note to mods: the above is a reference to famous sci-fi Starship Troopers.
Would you like to know more?
Comment Re:Anonymity (Score 1) 341
There's a problem with that theory of yours. People on facebook tend to have their real names on their accounts, so the stupid/offensive things people say on there can be traced back to them very easily.
The thing is that people say both stupid and offensive things all of the time, but if you actually say them to another person, there won't be a paper-trail of it, nor does it have a potential audience of millions. As an example all of the people who say "my boss is a dick", only to have that shared by a colleague who has their boss as a facebook friend. Whoops. You'd probably say that to that colleague to their face, who might agree with it, but neither would say it to your boss' face.
Comment Re:Attack against Microsoft (Score 2) 343
[..] they suspect a member of the radical Penguinite cult [..]
Not those splitters again!?
-- The Penguin's Front of Linux
Submission + - Galaxy Tabs don't infringe Apple design patents, German court backtracks (computerworlduk.com)
Qedward writes: Apple could be on the verge of losing the bans on sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab it has won in German courts. If the Düsseldorf lower regional court were to rule now, Samsung would be unlikely to be found infringing on Apple's design rights, which would overturn earlier rulings that halted sales of Galaxy tablets, a court spokesman said yesterday.
Apple is after a permanent sales ban on the Galaxy 7.7, 8.9, 10.1, 10.1N and 10.1V in Germany because it claims Samsung infringes on its design rights, said Andreas Vitek, spokesman for the lower regional court of Düsseldorf. But during a hearing Judge Johanna Brückner-Hofmann said that if she had to review the case now, Samsung would not be likely to be found infringing Apple's rights, Vitek said.
Apple is after a permanent sales ban on the Galaxy 7.7, 8.9, 10.1, 10.1N and 10.1V in Germany because it claims Samsung infringes on its design rights, said Andreas Vitek, spokesman for the lower regional court of Düsseldorf. But during a hearing Judge Johanna Brückner-Hofmann said that if she had to review the case now, Samsung would not be likely to be found infringing Apple's rights, Vitek said.
