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"godwottery:" English slang, first usage noted around 1930, at Oxford.
I used the term here in its sense of using affected, archaic, or pretentious, language [^].
yrs, Bill
"We live in a world ruled by fictions: mass merchandising, advertising, politics as advertising, instant translation of science, technology, into popular imagery, increasing blur of identity in realms of consumer goods, preempting any free, original, imaginative, response to experience by the television screen. We live in an enormous novel. For a writer it's less necessary to invent a novel's fictional content: fiction's already there. A writer's task is to invent a reality." J. G. Ballard, 1974
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Dear Ms. Bankwife,
May I call you "Betty" ?
I am so sorry i cannot vote you a five, for your very generous offer !
Also, I regret to inform you that I have just received an e-mail from the Swiss Bank telling me I am overdrawn by 1000 Euros, and that they are contacting Interpol, because: they cannot analyze exactly how this overdraft occurred, and, evidently, suspect me of being a hacker.
So, I may, like Julian Assange, hole up in an Embassy. I think I'll seek refuge in the Kazakhstan Embassy, because I really love the great travel movie that the Kazakh journalist, Borat Sagdiyev, made, "Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," showing just how wonderful the Kazakh people are, compared with most of my fellow Americans.
So, again, Betty, thanks, for your kindness.
yrs, Bill
"We live in a world ruled by fictions: mass merchandising, advertising, politics as advertising, instant translation of science, technology, into popular imagery, increasing blur of identity in realms of consumer goods, preempting any free, original, imaginative, response to experience by the television screen. We live in an enormous novel. For a writer it's less necessary to invent a novel's fictional content: fiction's already there. A writer's task is to invent a reality." J. G. Ballard, 1974
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TLDR
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Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise!
====================================
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Few days back, I read about RFID applications, but very common like human tracking, inventory management etc. Just wondering what can be done with this technology which is really exciting and newer.
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RFID chips could be implanted in babies when they're born. Authorities everywhere are drooling at the idea.
[/tinfoilhat]
I'm still waiting for the "automatic checkout" at the supermarket. Scanning bar-codes is too slow. They promised us this half a decade ago and they still haven't delivered.
So that's not really new, and not super exiting either.. but useful.
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It's a matter of cost - printing a bar code on every product costs next to nothing, RFID devices are a lot more expensive, even in bulk. And don't forget that they would have to be implanted in the packaging for everything: even a 33p sweetie would need it's own chip. Until the price drops to less than 1p each, you won't see them embedded in all consumer units. Some UK traded units do (or did - I'm a little out of touch with the industry these days) have RFID tags - notably the re-usable fresh produce trays in supermarkets because the cost can be amortised over the life of the tray, rather than each product.
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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OriginalGriff wrote: 33p sweetie
This is the Netherlands. You can only buy a bag of 10 or so at the cost of 20 or so.
Besides, they'd just pass the extra cost on to the customers, as always. And of course the savings from not needing so many employees to work the cash registers are not passed on to the customers.
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The trouble is that you end up needing to pay about the same - if you don't need till staff, you need more (more expensive) security people to make sure that people like you and I aren't robbing them blind.
And I don't know about the Netherlands, but the "operator-less" tills we have in the UK are a PITA - and need staff to supervise them to fix the bad scans, age restricted products, etc. Every time I use one, I'm just glad Tesco doesn't sell sledgehammers, or I'd be arrested for criminal damage... 
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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I have yet to see a security guy.. but whatever. I don't even care whether it's feasible or not. That's their problem. They promised it.
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They promised us jetpacks, and robot maids as well.
Mine have yet to be delivered... 
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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And flying cars by 2000. And a space colony. And a moon base. And a cure for cancer. A cure for old age even.
Instead we got mobile phones that kept shrinking and then started growing again.
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harold aptroot wrote: A cure for old age even.
There has always been a cure for old age[^]
harold aptroot wrote: mobile phones that kept shrinking and then started growing again.
I know what you mean: iPhone7[^]
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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OriginalGriff wrote: There has always been a cure for old age
True,
"... bacon's not the only thing
That's cured by hanging from a string." - Hugh Kingsmill[^]
All that is necessary for Evil to succeed is for Good Folks to keep voting for their Party. - Cornelius Thirp
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OriginalGriff wrote: doesn't sell sledgehammers
But Home Depot does, and they have self-checkout.
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That may be one reason why I don't go there... 
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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OriginalGriff wrote: And don't forget that they would have to be implanted in the packaging for everything
Or a potato.
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That's going to be a real PITA when you come to jelly beans at the Pick'n'Mix...
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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For der Joden!
(Or whichever religion/caste/sect is being pounded on by our nice, civilised governments du jour)
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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It's a matter of cost (as already mentioned), but also limitations in the technology. Different materials can reflect or absorb the signal. This causes a lot of problems; especially for automatic checkout situations.
Some large retailers like Walmart had some high hopes for RFID when RFID was the hype. Unfortunately, they didn't have an understanding of the requirements or limitations of the technology. For example, they had a ridiculous expectation that a pallet of any material could have a 100% read rate at 100 ft/minute if my memory serves me. There are things you can do to assist in the read accuracy such as air gaps (in and out of the container), spacing, label placement, reflectors, et al., but its difficult and expensive to manage and test.
Inventory management or asset management is a good fit. You could put an RFID tag inside a computer and place readers to cover what you need. That would allow you to define areas where the computer is allowed to go. Not physically obviously, but as an additional level of security. Whether the expense is worth it depends on how many areas you're going to manage. Basically you'd assign antennas at every portal you needed to track. And the number of readers required would be based on that and distance since the cabling can only be so functionally long.
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Hi WajihAhmed,
I think they could be quite useful at home: for example, helping you know the name of the person you awoke sleeping next to, without the embarrassment of having to actually ask them.
Or, helping you remember your own name, when you wake up in a place you believe you've never been in before.
yrs, Bill
"We live in a world ruled by fictions: mass merchandising, advertising, politics as advertising, instant translation of science, technology, into popular imagery, increasing blur of identity in realms of consumer goods, preempting any free, original, imaginative, response to experience by the television screen. We live in an enormous novel. For a writer it's less necessary to invent a novel's fictional content: fiction's already there. A writer's task is to invent a reality." J. G. Ballard, 1974
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BillWoodruff wrote: Or, helping you remember your own name, when you wake up in a place you believe you've never been in before
Seriously, I hadn't thought about it,what an idea!!!
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Thank God I'll no longer have to write all this down on my arms. Honestly, the cost in Biro's is crippling me.
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I hate RFID tags.
Or maybe it's just the people who haven't got a clue how to use them.
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WajihAhmed wrote: Just wondering what can be done with this technology which is really exciting and newer.
"Newer" than what?
Why?
I somehow doubt that you'll "find" a new killer-app in the Lounge.
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You need some excitement? I was thinking of planting them in Grizzly Bears to track there movement but need someone to plant them on the bear.  How fast can you run?
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One problem is that the price of receiver installation is relatively steep, so it only makes sense when you have lots of tags.
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I use it to track the tin foil hats I sell. (They never suspect it!)
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One thing I have noticed about the latest 4.2.x updates is they have tweaked the camera app significantly.
They now have a new rotary on-screen setting thing, but most annoying of all is they have binned the post capture thumbnail.
The thumbnail that used to appear gave you a quick access straight to the image in the gallery, to then access the share/delete/etc. type actions.
Now, I have to back out the camera app to the home screen, select the gallery, then select the gallery folder containing the photo, then select the photo. It just kinda sucks now.
So, surely they can't think this is an improvement, or am I missing something?
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I've been using this[^] alternative on my Nexus 7 (V1) with much success.
/ravi
modified 9 Dec '12 - 11:46.
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That app is just a launcher. I don't see how that would help on my nexus....
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My apologies - all this while I thought it offered more functionality than the stock camera app. 
/ravi
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According to this[^] review, swiping the screen after taking a picture seems to take you to the captured image in the gallery.
/ravi
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Just tried swiping and yes it does! I never thought of swiping it... 
Cheers,
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Phew. I think I just redeemed myself - somewhat.
/ravi
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You sure did.....
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British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore has died, aged 89, his friends and colleagues have said.
A huge man in so many ways. He will be missed.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H
OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre
I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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Astronomy has never been my thing but if it was, there could have been no finer, better teacher or practitioner than Sir Patrick. His voice was to astronomy what Bill MacLaren's was to rugby; you heard it and knew the authority of his knowledge and his enthusiasm. He looked utterly eccentric and his monacle seemed to place him in a bygone age.
![Rose | [Rose]](/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
"I do not have to forgive my enemies, I have had them all shot." — Ramón Maria Narváez (1800-68).
"I don't need to shoot my enemies, I don't have any." - Me (2012).
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No more Johnny Morris, and now no more Patrick Moore.
Still, we've got hordes of TV "presenters" who not only don't have a bloody clue what they're talking about, but also have no enthusiasm for the subjects they present, so all's well, no?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Still, we've got hordes of TV "presenters" who haven't been arrested for kiddy-fiddling yet
FTFY
====================================
Transvestites - Roberts in Disguise!
====================================
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A deeply unpleasant man too; xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic. He campaigned for racism for quite a long time and believed the BBC was destroyed by admitting women.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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So, not all bad then.
---------------------------------
I will never again mention that I was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel. Dalek Dave
CCC Link[ ^]
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When I met him back at the end of the seventies (one of my degrees is Astronomy) he struck me as being an extremely knowledgeable and pleasant man. Very easy going and easy to talk to. He happily answered all of my idiot questions in great and enthusiastic detail (his accuracy for off-the-cuff answers was amazing).
I ended up writing thousands of lines of code (in FORTRAN) in my own time to assist the college Astronomy department as a result of his inspiration and infectious enthusiasm; and thereby started my long career in IT.
Back when he was born and brought up the views you negatively describe (as if he was a recent celebrity) were the norm. In his own way he was honest and a gentleman; two qualities sadly lacking in today's politically correct world.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits.
- Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most.
- I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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Is it too early to say he fingered me when I was a kid?
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Not at all, good timing I'd say.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Drink. Get drunk. Fall over - P O'H
OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre
I cannot live by bread alone. Bacon and ketchup are needed as well. - Trollslayer
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often *students*, for heaven's sake - Terry Pratchett
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It was a sad day yesterday, his programmes were a big reason I got interested in science at school.
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Neither of these have auto update functionality. Every few days I log in and I get that damned annoying pop up from Flash saying it needs to update. It then goes to open Internet Explorer and takes me to a page where I can download the latest version of Flash.
There's 2 things wrong with this. 1. Why does it open IE instead of my default browser? 2. Why the hell should I have to manually download the update considering older versions of Flash would just download it without opening a browser?
VirtualBox has never had the option of being able to auto update either. In fact, it's so bad, it opens a message box with a none clickable hyperlink to the EXE file on their server.  I actually have to COPY AND PASTE the hyperlink from the message box into a browser. WTF.
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Lloyd Atkinson wrote: VirtualBox has never had the option of being able to auto update either.
But it's free and a good product so I can live with that.
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