And then watch prices rise and choice narrowed as the homebuild market is eventually extinguished due to uefi non-compliance. It's what monopolies do.

Newbies. My account on mono.org is over 20 years old! Before IP was widespread I used X.25 to connect. It pre-dated a lot of web phenomena and was the first, or nearly first to use forums, diaries, voting, talk/IM ...

A large UK based multi-national org that I've worked for has the exact problem of hosting all its data centres in the USA. The big problem is that there are USA laws that apply that there is no equivalent in the UK/EU and there are contradictory laws where a lawyer would just choose the best jurisdiction. With-holding keys would be an offence under UK law (RIPA) but not under USA law.

e.g. in the UK, Freedom of Information only applies to government entities.

So, If a UK consumer (who knew the data was hosted in the USA) wished to find out information that extends further than a DSIR they could get a US Attorney to do a FOI request at the US host and get information that normally they could not get at an EU host.

not in the UK! carrying a leatherman on your belt is an offence under the 1996 offencive weapons act and these cannot be carried in public. Hard to believe but there are now mandatory sentences in place for carrying a knife (even a leatherman or swiss army knife). I was arrested because I had one in my car toolkit since a car is considered a "public place". Never been in trouble with the police before, it was a random stop & search (which they can do here).

in the UK, the CAP readers are totally standalone and powered by batteries - i.e. need no host computer. Given that i use Linux myself, there was no way I was building in OS restrictions.

The Telegraph on Friday have made accusations that Lord McAlpine's brother (who ran the huge building company) lived close by the care home and had a huge collection of expensive cars (noted by witnesses at the time). There are some theories that this was a simple mix-up by a key journalist/the police and fingered (bad expression) the wrong brother which has now caused the BBC to go into melt-down.

What's odd is that The Telepgraph published another article which seems to downplay the idea that Jimmie was in any way involved.

I wonder whether this is an orchestrated plot to reduce the power of the very-Labour-focussed BBC by the government (Conservative/liberal coalition) which will also play well for Scotland (led by the SNP) that has it's own BBC problems etc

Not so, if an individual does not reveal during their vetting procedure then that individual can be compromised. Usually it's OK to retain clearance if you have affairs or browse goatse.CX so long as its declared during vetting. I imaging that he did not come clean during vetting, hence the dismissal/resignation.

compare and contrast to the MegaUpload case where the US prosecuting legal team are claiming that the digital assets, even if they have copyright of the owner or are confidential, are not the property of the owner if stored on third party systems. interesting times.

it's called CAP, Chip Authentication Programme. I was the designer of the system that used by a big UK bank. It requires a self powered sleeve reader (that looks alike a calulator) and it's an open standard so that all EMV cards can use any branded reader device (they don't tell you that). Some of the readers have a "MENU" button and you can read off the transaction counter etc on your card. A handy way to tell if someone close has been using the card while you're not looking. if you do muck around with your card, be careful. I changed my PIN to be 6 digits on some test gear and ended up having to get a new bank card because the UK ATM network is hard coded to 4 digits. EMV cards support 6 digits.

The modern RAST tests for Cobalt allergy using patches that are (usually) stuck to the patients back for a period of 96 hours.

no - just take a photograph of behind you and then hang it on your front.

TFA is way out. The was a more valuable Roman find of Roman Torcs 3 miles to the west of Stirling in Scotland which netted around £4m which he had a share of £500k

What's interesting is that the Romans didn't last long in Scotland but there are still visible signs of our italian pals from 2000 years ago, such as the Fendoch fort in the Sma Glen north of Crieff and the fort at Braco some 5 miles south of Crieff.

We found some tunic broaches with a metal detector in my parents field a few miles away. Still looking for the pot of Roman gold. There are legends that Fendoch had a large stash of gold but there just legends and no one has ever found them plus metal detecting is illegal on recognised Roman forts which is a bit of a set back!

The BBC are hardly any better. Whilst the BBC for generations has had a good reputation - in Scotland, the BBC are showing themselves to be a state broadcaster and at every opportunity take the unionist cause (which incidently is way off their charter). Over the last year, Scots have been subjected to TV shows about "how good it is to be British" and "why the UK is great for Scotland" which are not shown south of the border.

They have been cutting back coverage of the Scottish referendum for independence and have been accused of dirty tricks and biased reporting in the lead up to the 2014 referendum.

It's incredible since the BBC is also paid for by Scots (though a mandatory tax called the TV Licence). Scotland is hoping to be the first country to become independent without a drop of blood being spilt.

or indeed an uncle-fucker etc, ad nausiem

sounds like a modern day re-run of the supply problems of the Terra Nova Expedition in 1920 that ended up killing Scott and his team on the return journey from the pole.