When Nelson Mandela turned 70 there was quite a bit of coverage in the news here. He was still in jail, so I called Cape Town information, got the number, phoned the jail and left a message ("Happy Birthday!") for him.

The man who answered the phone sounded like he'd been on the phone a lot that day. He was also very careful to take down my name and where I was calling from. I suspect that until the government changed there would have been little point in trying to get a visa to visit South Africa...

...laura

On the other hand, you won't be on the hook for every petty theft that happened in the country that day. You'll make restitution and face penalties appropriate to stealing £10

A breaker trip is hardly a mortal danger.

In many organizations, once you've paid for the device it's free. You have a few guys running around doing a reinstall when the hard drive dies or whatever, but they'll be doing that sort of thing anyway, and they're paid anyway. I don't agree that they magically get more expensive as time goes on. It's not like they are cars which require expensive repairs all the time. At some point a PC will cost more than it's worth to repair, but that's the point you chuck it and get a new one, and even then you can harvest parts as spares. That's why so many companies (and individuals) have XP machines (and why they'll be on Windows 7 in ten years time). It's a crazy waste of money to upgrade when for most people there is no advantage whatsoever.

I did the same, installed Server 2012 on a new server, said WTF? Tried to run with it, had no luck with Hyper-V on 2012. Reformatted with Server 2008 R2, never looked back.

They have really got to dump that shitty Windows 8 interface on professional hardware. Ain't nobody got time for that...

Now Windows 8.1 on my laptop, it makes sense and I'm happy with it. But on a server? Give me a frikken break...

"Invest heavily in spyware for ancient insecure OS, then resist change"

Usually people who just write MicroSoft instead of Micro$oft (or M$) are just showing their age. For the first few years of the company's existence it was Micro-Soft, and most people dropped the dash for MicroSoft. Everyone-hates-dashes...

It's not CHILDish, it's OLDish.

Save your rage for the "M$" people...

And also, pedantically, it's not the first time the world's largest ship (or barge) has been floated; they all have.

What color do you want you sushi to glow tonight?

There, fixed that for you.

I wouldn't bet on it. Sometimes it's the companies that don't give a damn about customer security that are the most deeply concerned about their own.

If only the police were involved...

As for the rest, all we have is a statement from police, not confirmed facts. Their statement shows a few inconsistencies.

You can see if someone is inside without opening the door, and unless/until you know it is not a school vehicle and that the owner does not have permission to plug in, you do not have evidence of a crime in progress. You can be charged with trespassing even if you were only verbally notified that you are no longer welcome.

Police can do a search for evidence when they have reasonable suspicion of a crime, but that search must be related.

No, but it does mean it makes a lot more sense to issue a citation. It's much cheaper and still makes repeat offenses clearly much more trouble and expense than it's worth for the offender.

Meanwhile, you seem to have a serious desire to live in the Dukes of Hazard. The mere fact that something may not work 100% of the time is hardly a reason to stick with something that definitely doesn't work 100% of the time and sometimes results in the death of bystanders.

My suggestions have the advantage that they will not get anyone killed.

Check your math.

The police said that well after I read TFA for one. It's also just what the police said, but I would be embarrassed to be called out for being that incredibly petty too.