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4551

Living Room / Re: Dungeons/Zork map - here's an image of it.

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 10:28 PM »

@40hz: Yes, it's "Adventure".
I have the game file in two formats: Adventure.rar and Adventure PC - adv350kb.zip (click on link to download preferred format)
(No malicious items detected)
I also have an Atari version in .arc format.

Contents:
  File               Size      Date                   Attrib.
 * adv.bat         20         1987-12-08 19:18   A  
 * adventur.ctl   22096    1988-04-08 23:00   A  
 * adventur.exe   64512   1988-04-09 17:00   A  
 * adventur.mtx   66196   1988-04-08 23:01   A  
 * readme.txt      3297    1987-12-07 14:42   A  

I haven't tried to run this in Win7-64 Home Premium.

The readme.txt file has:

Spoiler

Hello! Welcome to the Original Adventure!!

Introduction.

Somewhere nearby is colossal cave, where others have found fortunes in
treasure and gold, though it is rumoured that some who enter are never
seen again. Magic is said to work in the cave. This program will be your
eyes and hands.

This program was originally developed by Willie Crowther at Stanford
University Artificial Intelligence Lab, and derives from the roll playing
game "Dungeons and Dragons".  Most of the features of the current program
were added by Don Woods. The current version was done by Bob Supnik. This
version was implemented on the IBM-PC (and compatibles) by Kevin Black.

Command input.

The very rudimentary parser of this program will accept two word commands,
of the verb-nown variety, single words may be used where the meaning is
obvious, for example "NORTH" is sufficient to mean "GO NORTH". The parser
only examines the first four letters of each word you use, any more are
ignored. As with most text adventures commonly used commands can be
abbreviated :

      N  - NORTH       S  - SOUTH       E  - EAST        W  - WEST
      NE -NORTHEAST    NW - NORTHWEST   SE - SOUTHEAST   SW - SOUTHWEST
      U  - UP          D  - DOWN        L  - LOOK        I  - INVENTORY

Descriptions of locations and related commands

The command "LOOK" is useful should you forget where you are or require,
the long description of your location. You are normally only give the long
description of a location the first time, on further visits you are given
a short description which is usually enough to jog your memory as to
where you are. The command "BRIEF" will tell the program to always use
the short descriptions of a location, even on the first visit. The
opposite of "BRIEF" is "VERBOSE".

Game management commands.

Should you wish to quit the program (Control-C is disabled to prevent
'accidents') use the command "QUIT", on exit you will be given your
score and rating! If you wish to know your score during play use the
command "SCORE".

When you look at your watch at four in the morning and decide you would
like to go to bed it would be nice to save the game wouldn't it? Well
you can do this with the "SAVE" command which will prompt you for a file
name. A saved game may be restarted with the command "RESTORE" (or
"RESUME"), this command prompts for the file in which the game was
saved. The save and restore functions use a CRC to check file integrity.

Some online information is available with the commands "HELP" and "INFO".

Message encryption.

The file containing the location descriptions has been encrypted, this
prevents you from spoiling the game for your self by peeking at it! Just
thought I would mention that!

Running the game

The game requires the two files ADVENTUR.CTL and ADVENTUR.MTX to be in the
directory from which you run the game, which you do by entering ADV. If the
program does not find these files it will look for a database file, and
failing to find this will print an error message. Messing around with the
files will prevent the program from running properly.

                                                       Kevin B Black
                                                       December 1987

4552

Living Room / TUNLR.net - "proxying" service ($FREE) - access region-blocked online content.

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 07:20 PM »

Looks like it might be useful. Haven't tried it yet.

http://tunlr.net/
Stream video or music, whenever and wherever you want
Do you want to stream video or audio from U.S.-based on-demand Internet streaming media providers but can't get in on the fun because you're living outside the U.S.? Fear not, you have come to the right place. Tunlr lets you stream content from sites like Hulu, MTV, CBS, ABC, Pandora and more to your Mac or PC. Want to watch HuluPlus on your iPad, AppleTV or XBox 360 even though you're not in the U.S.? Tunlr lets you do this...

http://tunlr.net/news/
...Zattoo offers free (ad supported) access to quite a range of multi-language TV channels, including the popular France 2-4 live, iTV 1-4 live, BBC 1-4 live, Channel4 live and Channel5 live streams.

4553

Living Room / Backup those eBooks - protect your property.

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 03:47 PM »

In 2009 there was the Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle incident.
In 2012 there is the Why Did Amazon Close a Woman’s Account and Delete All Her Kindle Books? incident.

For those with long memories, these two separate and unconnected incidents might be a sharp reminder that what media/ebooks we buy on our Amazon Kindle account is not actually "ours" per se. That's because of DRM (Digital Rights Management). Essentially, it seems that you arguably do not really own anything that you have bought with DRM, and the apparent de facto proof to that argument lies in the above two incidents (QED).

Caveat emptor - "Let the buyer beware".
There have now been two salutary lessons from Amazon: (and they needn't necessarily have both come from Amazon to be lessons - it's just that Amazon obligingly provided those lessons by its actions; they are demonstrations of its real and potential power/reach)
1. The 1984 incident in 2009.
2. The Norwegian account wipe in 2012.

It is generally good advice that, after being tricked once, one should be wary, so that the person cannot trick you again.

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me"

If you waited around twiddling your thumbs (i.e., doing nothing about it) for a third lesson before doing something to independently protect your property from what appears to be ad hoc and legalised theft, then you really would have only yourself to blame if/when it happens to you. That would seem to be self-negligent.

Question: What to do?
Answer: Avoid the risk by taking regular and incremental backups of all the accumulating media on your Kindle starting now:

• Just take a separate, regular, incremental backup copy of all the media on the device, via USB connection to your Kindle.
  
• Or make a regular, incremental backup copy of the contents of the Kindle PC application (if you have it installed) library - typically on C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Kindle.

Thus you will have avoided the risk and got your property backed up and under your control.
You could then always restore the content (copy it back) to the device, if needed.
Question: But what if it then promptly gets deleted, or if Amazon (say) take exception to your taking this precaution and (say) threaten legal action or account deletion?
Answer: Well, I haven't tried it, but you could presumably avoid that risk by taking a further step, based on the advice in this informative and helpful Lifehacker post: How Do I Get Rid of the DRM on My Ebooks and Video?
It gives step-by-step directions for using Calibre and its de-DRMing plugins to sanitize your DRMed eBooks, so that they can be read on most other eBook readers - e.g., (say) the excellent Calibre PC application, or the Kobo and Nook devices, etc.

..."It seems like I could lose it at any time, or lose the ability to view something just because I switched devices. How can I get rid of the DRM so I can keep my own backups?"
...
..."[Since the '1984' incident in 2009 showed] that Amazon could wipe content they didn't have the license for, DRM is increasingly an issue with further reaching implications than simply keeping you from pirating content. Wiping content is one issue—but DRM also usually locks the media to your device or service—which means you often can't transfer your library between different devices."

Well, you can transfer it now, if you take the risk-averse approach outlined above.

4554

Living Room / Selection of (FREE) Microsoft eBooks:

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 02:14 PM »

Selection of FREE Microsoft eBooks: E-Book Gallery for Microsoft Technologies

Summarised:
Large collection of Free Microsoft eBooks for you, including: SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows Phone, Windows 8, Office 365, Office 2010, SQL Server 2012, Azure, and more.

4555

Living Room / Re: Court Rules Mobile Phones Cause Cancer

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 06:53 AM »

Probably no smoke without fire...Italy’s Rotten Judges

4556

Living Room / Dungeons/Zork map - here's an image of it.

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 06:04 AM »

I had never heard of a detailed map for Dungeons/Zork before, but I downloaded what they have here: “An Ancient Piece of Computer Lore in a Place You’d Never Expect” or “Dungeon (Zork) Map in Duplicity”

Very useful map for a great game.

4557

Living Room / Re: Do Not Track

« Last post by IainB on October 28, 2012, 05:53 AM »

Thought I'd mention this as it seems like it is relevant and could be useful:
I had made a comment recommending HostsMan in a discussion here: Re: Host Editor 7 - Hassle free host editing for Win7-XP

In the Malwarebytes blog, they have two very interesting and related posts about malware avoidance, where there is a risk of getting malware loaded/activated by download links built into (concealed in) deceptive and honest-looking adverts, and how the use of HostsMan could help to mitigate that risk:

• Pick a Download, Any Download!
• Pick A Download… Part 2
  

  The benefits of using HostsMan over AdBlock or AdBlock Plus is that the blacklisted domains which HostsMan prevents you from visiting, also prevents you from accidentally being infected with malware from known exploit sites, the other applications only block ads.

I had switched HostsMan off as it had seemed a tad too paranoid, and was becoming annoying, and I saw a comment on the blog which shows that to be an issue:

davidperriman on October 26, 2012 at 2:36 pm said:
I have HostsMan installed and my criticism is that their database seems to contain an awful lot of sites which appear to be benign. Many’s the time I have tried to download or look at something on the strength of a review or recommendation from a trusted source, magazine, etc. and an error (cannot find server at……) is returned, Sure enough, when I do a search in HostMan’s list, it’s in there (why?) and I have to edit it out manually before I can get to it successfully. Just what is their criterion for inclusion in the list?

Still, the Malwarebytes blog posts are worth a read IMHO.

My reservations about HostMan are that, to use the host files which are available for download, you probably need to have a fair degree of trust in the providers - about whom I frankly know nothing. They could be **AA stooge files for all I know.

4558

Living Room / Re: You like science fiction, don't you? Of course you do!

« Last post by IainB on October 27, 2012, 05:32 AM »

In case anyone is interested, I sent my browser off to the site that @Arizona Hot provided, but it was a decidedly "dodgy" site in Russia - Malwarebytes popped up and said it had:

Successfully blocked access to a potentially malicious website xxx
Type outgoing
Port 61804, Process firefox.exe

From experience of using it to clean nasty things off other peoples' laptops, I place some faith in MWB - it's very good. So I'll not be visiting that site.
WHOIS searches indicated that the server was in Romania, and the site is registered in the Russian Federation.

The experience is probably yet another recommendation for MWB.   

4559

Living Room / Re: Remember to make full drive image backups

« Last post by IainB on October 26, 2012, 02:30 PM »

Just thought it might be useful to make a side note in this discussion thread about the Volume Shadow Copy facility and in particular ShadowExplorer, if you don't have access to Volume Shadow Copies.
In the event that you didn't make a full drive image backup, or had somehow irretrievably lost/deleted something prior to backup, then accessing a VSC might just save your bacon. Not to be relied upon as a standard backup/recovery tool though.

I don't think I had heard of ShadowExplorer before reading of it in the DC Forum:

• Re: Special File Recovery Software
• Re: IDEA: TELL me how many objects I am deleting!
• Re: What are the options for restricting access to applications?

As it says on the ShadowExplorer pages:

ShadowExplorer
Since the Volume Shadow Copy Service is included, and turned on by default, in all editions of Windows Vista/7, why not take advantage of it? All it takes is an additional tool like ShadowExplorer, that can access the shadow storage and make the point-in-time copies accessible to the user.

Features
    * Show available point-in-time copies
    * Browse through Shadow Copies
    * Retrieve versions of files and folders

4560

General Software Discussion / Re: EverDesk stores emails in your normal folders with other docs

« Last post by IainB on October 25, 2012, 11:15 PM »

..doesn't work with Gmail

-Bruce Fraser (October 25, 2012, 10:15 PM)

According to EverDesk's own notes that I read, this is true.
However, I didn't take that to mean that it can't work via IMAP with Gmail, but it seems to be so. I've given up trying to make it work anyway, but have not yet expunged the thing from my disk.

4561

General Software Discussion / Re: EverDesk stores emails in your normal folders with other docs

« Last post by IainB on October 25, 2012, 09:44 PM »

...Being almost serious here, there's an ugly new difference emerging between "scam" and "monetized". A Scam is when you think you get something and it isn't there at all, etc...

-TaoPhoenix (October 25, 2012, 08:57 PM)

Yes. It's all very confuzzling. It would seem simpler to stick to counting how many angels you can get on the head of a pin.

4562

Living Room / Re: You like science fiction, don't you? Of course you do!

« Last post by IainB on October 25, 2012, 07:14 PM »

...Do you want to know the address of the site (and the moral ambiguities of and viral dangers of it's offerings)...?

-Arizona Hot (October 25, 2012, 09:25 AM)

Yes please - the URL would do fine. Ta.
I am always interested in looking at websites offering books to download.If it looks like a dodgy site, then I won't usually access it beyond the initial exploration.

4563

General Software Discussion / Re: EverDesk stores emails in your normal folders with other docs

« Last post by IainB on October 25, 2012, 06:57 PM »

I've gotten to the point that I don't even look at GAOTD b/c of the crazy restrictions.  Decided to look into this until I saw this comment.

-wraith808 (October 25, 2012, 11:37 AM)

^ + 1 from me. GAOTDs as a general rule seem to be mostly scams. This EverDesk one is apparently no exception to that rule.

4564

Living Room / Re: Selling Something? Go to Jail! That's copyright infringement... :-/

« Last post by IainB on October 24, 2012, 11:03 PM »

As the DemandProgress.org puts it:

"You've been owned!"

4565

Living Room / Re: DOTCOM saga - updates

« Last post by IainB on October 24, 2012, 04:45 AM »

@40hz: I am sorry to say that the cynic in me regards what you have said as likely to be the inevitable reality.
I usually tell my cynic to stop trying to predict outcomes and just wait and see how events unfold over time. Unfortunately, after waiting and seeing, the predictions are usually shown to be pretty much correct. Apparently, the cynic can sometimes foretell the future. There is nothing mysterious in this. It can seem a dull grey reality.
The implication is that non-cynics might be existing is in a more pleasant - though sometimes frightening because not fully understood - world of fuzzy, warm illusion.

But is there nothing we can do to alter our fates?
H.G.Wells had an interesting approach, and one that I have tested to some success. He considered us as "Prisoned From The Cradle To The Grave". In his "The History of Mr.Polly" he described what we could do to escape:

from Chapter 9 - The Potwell Inn
"But when a man has once broken through the paper walls of everyday circumstance, those unsubstantial walls that hold so many of us securely prisoned from the cradle to the grave, he has made a discovery.  If the world does not please you, you can change it.  Determine to alter it at any price, and you can change it altogether.  You may change it to something sinister and angry, to something appalling, but it may be you will change it to something brighter, something more agreeable, and at the worst something much more interesting.  There is only one sort of man who is absolutely to blame for his own misery, and that is the man who finds life dull and dreary.  There are no circumstances in the world that determined action cannot alter, unless, perhaps, they are the walls of a prison cell, and even those will dissolve and change, I am told, into the infirmary compartment, at any rate, for the man who can fast with resolution."

4566

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CLIPBOARD HELP+SPELL LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - v2.23.01 - Nov 22, 2013

« Last post by IainB on October 24, 2012, 02:59 AM »

Occasionally, image clips taken by OneNote are lost and just an obscure code remains in the database.

Can you elaborate?

-mouser (October 23, 2012, 09:41 PM)

OK, sorry for the delay. I was wrong - or not entirely correct - about what was happening, and it is not a new thing. I have seen it occasionally before, but I think I had not noticed two instances in close succession before. This is the first time I have made some effort to study what is going on.

It took some time to do an investigation of the images and the "code" records in the CHS database. It was a bit confusing as I have been taking a lot of successive image clips with the OneNote clipping tool, but I have made some discovery, and the good news is that:

• (a) every such clip has been saved correctly in the OneNote Unfiled Notes section (so there is an auditable trail).
• (b) after comparing each image in OneNote with each image in the CHS database (that was tedious!), I have verified that every such clip has been saved correctly in the CHS database.
• (c) the CHS database has had nothing deleted, but has some extra records though (obscure n-digit codes).

After some investigation, what seems to have been happening is this:

• Step 1: Take an image clip with the OneNote clipping tool.
• Step 2: CHS makes a capture "ping".
• Step 3: A OneNote message pops up from the systray confirming that a clip capture has been made.
• Step 4: The image is saved correctly in two places: one in the OneNote Unfiled Notes section and the other in the CHS database.
• Step 5: After taking the clip, and before taking any other clips, I go to an existing .png file in my usual Screenshots folder, open it in irfanview.
• Step 6: I paste the image (from the Clipboard) into the file, overwriting the image in RAM.
• Step 7: Sometimes I adjust the file in irfanview.
• Step 8: The image in irfanview is then saved as a new file name which is similar to the opened file name, in the Screenshots folder.

Usually, this works just fine.
Sometimes, something different happens in step 6: when the paste is made, the paste occurs OK, but a CHS capture "ping" occurs as the paste is made.
If I then (say) paste the contents of the Clipboard again into the image in Irfanview, overwriting the image last pasted, a strange n-digit code is pasted, as for example: (is this hex?)

 



These were also saved as text clips in the CHS database (that must be why the extra capture "ping").
Notice the formatting in these images.
Here's a picture of the CHS clip record of the last image above, as it appears in the CHS database Memo and Grid.



This then seems to be repeatable, a bit like a chain reaction.
I don't understand it. Something is triggering this. I wonder whether this is necessarily a CHS problem per se, or maybe (say) something being triggered in irfanview as a pseudo "Copy" command by a field in the Clipboard.(?)    

What is a discovery (for me) is that you can take a text clip and paste it as an image into irfanview.
(Though it apparently loses any formatting.)



I hadn't realised this before now. It has possibilities!    

4567

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CLIPBOARD HELP+SPELL LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - v2.23.01 - Nov 22, 2013

« Last post by IainB on October 23, 2012, 08:48 PM »

Paste template: Works fine.
This seems to be working fine for me. I have not been able to repeat/capture the occasional odd behaviour on paste that I reported (in another thread) with it in OneNote. Very nice. Thanks.    

OneNote image clips are lost and replaced by a code: (Intermittent.) Database error?
Occasionally, image clips taken by OneNote are lost and just an obscure code remains in the database.
In the example below, all the images you see were OneNote clips, and two of them have disappeared. I have seen this as an intermittent error before, but had not come across 2 in close succession, so thought this might be worthwhile capturing. It's not easily repeatable.

4568

Living Room / Re: DOTCOM saga - updates

« Last post by IainB on October 23, 2012, 05:50 AM »

In the US, the EFF having become involved, there are moves afoot to have access to the currently sealed US seizure warrant for the Dotcom servers.
However, one suspects that the authorities and judiciary are likely to be in lockstep and, as in all cases where there may be something the State wishes to hide (and this certainly appears to be one of those mysterious cases), the hard light of scrutiny might be the very last thing the State wishes to have shine on the sealed seizure warrant.
EFF Files Motion To Have Court Release Seizure Warrant In Megaupload Case

4569

Living Room / Re: Court Rules Mobile Phones Cause Cancer

« Last post by IainB on October 23, 2012, 01:45 AM »

An Italian court sentenced scientists to jail time for not having a functioning crystal ball ahead of the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila.

-Deozaan (October 23, 2012, 01:09 AM)

Those frauds got what they deserved.
History books show what happens to soothsaysers, fortune tellers, high priests and the like if they misinterpret (say) the pattern of spilled-out entrails of some unfortunate lamb that has just had its stomach cut open and been disembowelled all over the temple floor. No different today.

What the heck are these guys being paid for if they can't come up with the goods?

4570

Living Room / Re: Internet freedoms restrained - SOPA/PIPA/OPEN/ACTA/CETA/PrECISE-related updates

« Last post by IainB on October 23, 2012, 01:33 AM »

Censorship!
I followed a link to this very cogent talk by Rowan Atkinson:
He's spot-on when he talks about different examples of speech crime, for example, "The storms that surround twitter and facebook comment".
Well worth the 9 minutes it will take to listen to this, IMHO.

If you want it, I copied the auto-generated YouTube transcript, and cleaned it up. Here it is:

Spoiler

My starting point when it comes to the consideration of any issue relating to free speech is my passionate belief that the second most precious thing in life is the right to express yourself freely.
The most precious thing in life, I think, is food in your mouth, and the third most precious is the roof over your head.
But a fixture for me in the number two slot is free expression, just below the need to sustain life itself.
That is because I have enjoyed free expression in this country all my professional life and fully expect to continue to do so.

Personally I suspect it highly unlikely to be arrested for whatever laws exist to contain free expression because of the undoubtedly privileged position that is afforded to those of a high public profile.
So my concerns are less for myself and more for those more vulnerable because of their lower profile, like the man arrested in Oxford for calling a police horse "gay", or the teenager arrested for calling the church of scientology a cult, or the cafe owner arrested for displaying passages from the bible on a TV screen.
When I heard of some of these more ludicrous offenses and charges, I remembered that I had been here before in a fictional context.

I once did a show called "Not The Nine O'clock News", some years ago, and we did a sketch where Griff Rhys Jones played constable Savage, a manifestly racist police officer, to whom I as his station commander is giving a dressing-down for arresting a black man on a whole string of ridiculous trumped-up and ludicrous charges.
The charges for which constable Savage arrested Mr.  Winston Kodogo of fifty-five Mercer Road were these:
"walking on the cracks in the pavement; walking in a loud shirt in a built-up area during the hours of darkness;" and one of my favourites "walking around all over the place."
He was also arrested for "urinating in a public convenience and looking at me in a funny way".

Who would've thought that we would end up with a law that would allow life to imitate art so exactly?
I read somewhere a defender of the status quo claiming that the fact that the gay horse case was dropped after the arrested man refused to pay the fine, and that the scientology case was also dropped at some point during the court process was proof that the law was working well, ignoring the fact that the only reason these cases were dropped was because of the publicity that they had attracted.
The police sensed that ridicule was just around the corner, and withdrew their actions.
But what about the thousands of other cases that did not enjoy the oxygen of publicity, that weren't quite ludicrous enough to attract media attention?
Even for those actions that were withdrawn, people were arrested, Questioned, taken to court, and then released.

You know that isn't the law working properly.
That is censoriousness of the most intimidating kind, guaranteed to have, as Lord Deere says, the chilling effect on free expression and free protest.
Parliament's joint committee on human rights summarized, as you may know, this whole issue very well by saying:

"While arresting a protester for using threatening or abusive speech may, depending on the circumstances be a proportionate response, we do not think that language or behaviour that is mainly insulting should ever be criminalized in this way."

The clear problem with the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such.
Criticism is easily construed as insult by certain parties, ridicule easily construed as insult, sarcasm, unfavourable comparison, merely stating an alternative point of view to the orthodoxy can be interpreted as insult, and because so many things can be interpreted as insult, it is hardly surprising that so many things have been, as the examples I talked about earlier show.

Although the law under discussion has been on the statute book for over twenty-five years, it is indicative of a culture that has taken hold of the programs of successive governments that with the reasonable and well-intentioned ambition to contain obnoxious elements in society, has created a society of an extraordinarily authoritarian and controlling nature That is what you might call the new intolerance, a new but intense desire to gag uncomfortable voices of dissent.

"I am not intolerant" say many people - say many, softly-spoken highly-educated, liberal-minded people - "I am only intolerant of intolerance", and people tend to nod sagely and say "Oh yes, wise words, wise words", and yet if you think about this supposedly inarguable statement for longer than five seconds, you realize that all that is advocating is the replacement of one kind of intolerance with another, which to me doesn't represent any kind of progress at all.

Underlying prejudices, injustices or resentments are not addressed by arresting people.
They are addressed by the issues being aired, argued and dealt with, preferably outside the legal process.
For me, the best way to increase society's resistance to insulting or offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it.
As with childhood diseases, you can better resist those germs to which you have been exposed.
We need to build our immunity to taking offence, so that we can deal with the issues that perfectly justified criticism can raise.
Our priority should be to deal with the message, not the messenger.

As president Obama said in an address to the United Nations only a month or so ago,

"Laudable efforts to restrict speech can become a tool to silence critics or oppress minorities.
The strongest weapon against hateful speech is not repression, it is more speech."

And that's the essence of my thesis - more speech.
If we want a robust society, we need more robust dialogue and that must include the right to insult, or to offend.
and as - even if - as Lord Deere says, you know, the freedom to be inoffensive is no freedom at all.

The repeal of this word in this clause will be only a small step, but it will I hope be a critical one in what should be a longer term project to pause, and slowly rewind the creeping culture of censoriousness.
It is a small skirmish in the battle, in my opinion, to deal with what Sir Salmon Rushdie refers to as "the outrage industry".
Self-appointed arbiters of the public good, encouraging media-stoked outrage to which the police feel under terrible pressure to react.
A newspaper rings up Scotland Yard.  Someone has said something slightly insulting on twitter about someone who we think a national treasure.
What are you going to do about it?
The police panic and they scrabble around and then grasp the most inappropriate lifeline of all, section five of the Public Order Act, that thing where you can arrest anybody for saying anything that might be construed by anyone else as insulting.
You know they don't seem to need a real victim, they need only to make the judgment that somebody could have been offended if they had heard or read what has been said.
The most ludicrous degrees of latitude.

The storms that surround twitter and facebook comment have raised some fascinating issues about free speech which we haven't really yet come to terms with.
Firstly, that we all have to take responsibility for what we say - which is quite a good lesson to learn - but secondly, we've learnt how appallingly prickly and intolerant society has become of even the mildest adverse comment.
The law should not be aiding and abetting this new intolerance.
Free speech can only suffer if the law prevents us from dealing with its consequences.
I offer my wholehearted support to the reform section five campaign.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)

4571

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Pledge: VH website

« Last post by IainB on October 22, 2012, 05:39 PM »

I have a Holden Commodore - not a VH though. Is a VTK, I think. It has quite a lot of onboard computerisation, so maybe this project is about hacking onboard computerised control systems.   

4572

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on October 22, 2012, 05:10 PM »

Apropos of Jimmy Saville...

The British Space Program is a right shambles.

4573

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Pledge: VH website

« Last post by IainB on October 22, 2012, 03:59 PM »

Top secret experimental strange ... project idea.
Details to be revealed later..

-mouser (October 22, 2012, 10:37 AM)

Well hell, I can borrow that wording!
I too, pledge a top secret experimental strange project idea!
Details may never be revealed. It will barely even be functional! However I promise it will do something other than sit there!
 

-TaoPhoenix (October 22, 2012, 03:13 PM)

_____________________________________
Meanwhile, from the DOIS (Department of Incomplete Software Development) comes news that their latest development project for a CRIS (Customer Relationship Infuriation System) is being released as just a front-end GUI which does nothing very much as they have not yet thought about the design for the CRIS product itself. They are currently considering embodying facets of Amazon and PayPal excellent CRIS into the yet-to-be-designed product.

4574

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on October 21, 2012, 05:24 PM »

Hinduism...
...The fearsome goddess Durga also brandishes a trishula in one of her seven hands.

-Edvard (October 20, 2012, 10:57 PM)

Seems to be a (relatively) recent addition, though:
http://www.outlookin.../article.aspx?220045
[/quote]
Yes, it's apparently a new "absorption" into the Hindu religio-political ideology.

"Hinduism has survived because of its dynamism, its ability to adopt from everywhere and then make it its own."

How interesting! I suspect that this adaptability would probably be true of most surviving religio-political ideologies. A good example would be the Christian Nicene Creed (belief in the The Holy Trinity) apparently invented in about 300 A.D. to prevent a split in the Church. Mohammed (pbuh) later - circa 630 A.D. - decreed this to be a double-whammy blasphemy, as it divided the indivisible One God into three parts, one of which - Jesus, "The Son" - was a human being (just a prophet).

4575

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by IainB on October 21, 2012, 05:07 PM »

I'm only as sharp as a marble, Iain. What does that pic mean? : (

-TaoPhoenix (October 21, 2012, 11:30 AM)

Sorry about that. The joke was sent to me by a friend in the UK and you would not necessarily "see" the joke at all if you hadn't been up to speed with the UK's Jimmy Saville revelations.
It's quite a clever combined current-affairs-type + political joke, but arguably a bit cruel towards Blair.