Posts by Stephen R
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Hard News: The Web, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
...and Windows XP comes off life support soon too
http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/04/technology/security/atm-windows-xp/
An estimated 95% of American bank ATMs run on Windows XP, and Microsoft is killing off tech support for that operating system on April 8. That means Microsoft will no longer issue security updates to patch holes in Windows XP, leaving those ATMs exposed to new kinds of cyberattacks.
I wonder how many ATMs in NZ use WinXP...
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Hard News: Poor Choices, in reply to Jack Cottrell,
Thank you Jack. I am glad to have read that article.
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Speaker: TPP: Error Correction, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
and we must regularly remind ourselves of
just how excellent the US Justice System can beThat's one of the reasons that the idea of privately run prisons make me queasy. The other is the lobbying of governments by private prisons to increase sentences.
It should never be the case that we lock people up just so businesses can make more profits.
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Speaker: TPP: Error Correction, in reply to Bart Janssen,
I have no doubt that given an excuse like the TPP that National would disband pharmac in second.
That's not my fear. I think they know that Pharmac is generally well regarded by New Zealanders. What could screw Pharmac is rules requiring "Openness" of their criteria for funding, in their negotiations with Big Pharma, and allowing big pharma to appeal funding decision criteria.
That would cripple Pharmacs ability to pressure pharmaceutical companies to get a better price, while not actually disbanding it.
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Hard News: Unscripted Drama, in reply to Kumara Republic,
It's pretty telling that for the first time, the Sevens has not played to a full house
A friend who watches these things (I don't) said that instead of selling out on the first day as usual, the website crapped itself and people couldn't buy tickets, and his theory was that people who couldn't get tickets failed to notice that there were still tickets available until it reached the point where they'd failed to organise with their friends to go as a group, and that going as a group is a lot of the point.
It's also possible that a bunch of people figured out that if you didn't buy tickets to the sevens you could still dress up in costume and hang out in the bars in town, so they didn't bother.
I dunno, but I hadn't seen anyone else mention the website crash (I can't even find a link saying it happened).
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Hard News: Growing up in public, in reply to izogi,
Something I really disliked about living in Melbourne, and what I saw of Sydney when there, was the frequency with which Police commonly roam the streets in intimidating gangs of 4 or more.
In Paris the cops tended to roam in packs of 8 *vans* with about 6 cops in each van. When they're getting ready for a demonstration (which seems to happen every time we visit) it's more like packs of 20 vans. (They might have been Gendarmes - There needs to be a guidebook to the plumage and feeding habits of European cops.)
In Barcelona, the cops not only rove in packs of half a dozen vans, but during the General Strike riot they fanned out in packs with one cop at the back with a rifle, and one with baton+shield facing behind them to make sure they didn't get ambushed.
We have a long way to go before we're that bad.
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Capture: Laneway 2014 + Lorde, in reply to Lilith __,
Which does rather make the reviewer look like even more of a twatcock.
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Some friends of mine recently went to Jordan, and relate the tale of the Bedouin who after the organised activities of the tour day, took them back to their tent to meet their wives and see their satellite internet connection, to prove that they were modern, not backward...
I think they thought they had a role to play for the tourists.
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Hard News: Lowering the Stakes, in reply to Matthew Poole,
The only place in NZ I can find that's carrying any MIPS helmets is Burke's Cycles, and they only have a single POC model.
Strolling past iRide in Thorndon on Saturday, and I saw a couple in the window. Went in and had a look and seemed to be two different models in a range of sizes.
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Hard News: Lowering the Stakes, in reply to BenWilson,
The idea of a WOF for bicycles is interesting, but I don’t think it would fly. It would make cycling considerably more costly, and they’d be giving tickets to children all the time. Way to kill cycling off.
There's at least one bike shop in Wellington that runs bike-maintenance courses. I'm not sure if they're free or not (I've yet to try one, since I've only just started biking again) but I think that's a better way to get people on safer bikes - teach them how to tell what their bike needs.