So I only just heard of them. (I'm old).

Anyway they sound like this.
#ws" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Black Veil Brides - In The End

and that's ok.

but they look like this.









I think I'm gay. 

So, if you seen the comments sections on youtube recently ...


░░░░░███████ ]▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄                   Bob is building an army.
▂▄▅█████████▅▄▃▂       ☻/︻╦╤─   This tank & Bob are against Google+
Il███████████████████].  /▌              Copy and Paste this all over
  ◥⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙◤..  / \               YouTube if you are with us



▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀
─▄▀█▀▀█──────▄
█▄▄█▄▄██████▀             ☻/
▀▀█▀▀▀█▀▀                      /▌
─▀▀▀▀▀▀▀                         /\
Bob is building an army
This helicopter & Bob are against Google+
Copy and Paste this all over
 Youtube if you are with us


 
                ☻/                     GIVE US THE OLD YOUTUBE COMMENT SYSTEM
                /▌ ︻╦╤─          NOW! COPY PASTE ALL OVER YOUTUBE, ATTACK!
    ░░░███████ ]▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄   
▂▄▅████████▅▄▃▂
I███████████████████]
◥⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙◤


︻╦╤─    TO VICTORY COMRADES! WE SHALL TAKE BACK THE OLD
    ☻/             COMMENT SECTION FOR MOTHER RUSSIA!
    /▌                              ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─  ︻╦╤─
    / \                              ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─  ︻╦╤─
 /""""""""""""\=======I   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─   ︻╦╤─


══════════════
　　　        ╭╬╮ 　         　　　　　  ◢
 ▁╭▅▆▇□□█▇▆▅▄▃▂▁(╳)█╮ 　Bob is building a army.
    ╰═▃__▁▁▁▁▁∠════▔▔▔　 　   This helicopter with Bob in it is against
        　　╙O   ╙O                               Google+ and the new comment system.                                                               Copy and Paste this on every YouTube                                                                 video that you watch


☻/                 ☻           ONE MORE BOB COMMENT AND THIS FUCKER DIES.
  ▌              ¬-- ▌\
 / \                   / \ 


and so on.

What the hell were google thinking? ascii comments? Hopefully Google will see this and stop forcing its horrid social network on people.

The fat guy below pretty much covers it for me.
#ws" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Francis HATES Google+

Ok, so I want a small tablet so I can read e-mails and the internet etc without sitting at my desk. Also want to be able to watch movies and maybe play the occasional terrible game like chess or cards.

Now I was waiting for the Retina iPad mini to come out. However ... Apple have released upon the earth iOS7. I hate that OS like no other. Its on my iPhone, I can't get it off and it has turned my phone into a psychedelic kid's toy. Its also buggy and keeps crashing my apps. I hate it so much, that I won't be buying an iPad mini after all. Well done Apple, you useless shitbags.

I'm not really locked into Apple as my phone is a work phone, so I can choose to sell my soul to any vendor and get locked into their particular flavour of electronic evil.

Now, I'd love to make an ethical purchase (maybe based on privacy, tax compliance or even litigious prudence), but being as the front runners in this market are Apple, Google, Samsung, Amazon and Microsoft, I'm on a hiding to nothing and will have to give my hard earned wonga to one of the most odious companies on earth. So which ar*eholes to choose?

Below is my thinking, but as always its a thread to let you guys try sway my decision, especially if you own or have used said devices.

We'll start with the iPad mini 2.
As mentioned I didn't get the first one as I was holding off waiting for a retina screen. Yeah, they have the most apps, but quantity isn't a measure of quality. There is so much terrible crap in the app store.

I'd made up my mind and know iOS like the back of my hand, but its so ugly and I hate Jony Ive so very much, that Apple can do one. Also its gonna be expensive compared to the others and I'm not sure its worth it.
Estimated cost: £300

Microsoft Surface Mini
I'll knock this one out of the park quickly too.

The OS is almost as ugly as Apple's new offering. Its neither a laptop nor a tablet. Its heavy to hold for extended periods whilst reading, it doesn't have the x86 processor of its big brother, their app store is nothing to write about and it has been priced by people who don't understand money. Rumour also has it that they might miss the xmas sales and release it in early 2014. MS are a bloody mess right now. I don't want this.
Estimated cost: Over £450

Nexus 7
Ok, so now we are into the serious contenders. Its relatively cheap, They are fast (I used a Nexus 10 and its like greased lightning compared to an iPad), does everything I want.

Well priced, tons of apps, works well. Just, well ... I don't love it. I know its cheap but it kind of feels like it too. I find their take on android a little fussy and things are small and finicky. Maybe I'm just so used to iOS6, but I want something that feels that nice.
Estimated Cost: £150

Kindle Fire HDX 7"
Now, you may be thinking "why have you added this?", but I've added it because it makes a pretty convincing case. Ok, hear me out.

First up, they've used some seriously good components. The Nexus 7 above has a 1.5Ghz processor from Qualcomm. This new Kindle has the new Qualcomm snapdragon quad-core 2.2 Ghz processor in it. Its got a 1900x1080 screen like the nexus (retina quality), it has dual speakers unlike the others, faster wifi, 2Gb of Ram like the Nexus, 16Gb-64Gb of hard drive space. Its as good as anything else from a hardware perspective. Amazon really want people to buy them. They are shipping them at cost in the hope you then buy into their particular environment. And again, for me, that kinda makes sense. They have Amazon Prime which is 500,000 books, they own Lovefilm so I can subscribe to movies and they have a reasonable app store now. My mum owns the older one and I was stunned by just how good it is. If I have to be locked into anyone's store, theirs is the most useful.
I know the kindle is for pensioners with poor eyesight, but unless I see some pretty convincing counter-arguments from you guys, I think that's going to be the one.
Estimated cost: £150 (£160 without adverts) - I'd be getting the without ads version (obviously).

If there is something out there I have not thought of, feel free to suggest that too.

Finally, NASA is silenced.

www.nasa.gov
^This I love.


It is hard not to gloat when one's fiercest adversary is on its knees. May it stay that way a while longer.

How long does it take to apply and receive a B1/B2 Visa for the US?

I'm a member of the British Empire and have no beef with the Queen.

So Virgin are banging the drum again to get some more publicity for their airline by pretending they will be doing space flights soon.

#" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">BBC News Virgin spaceship passes technical milestone
I love the bit where he says "I know it looks like a computer game". Apologising for the quality of the mock up is really poor show.

Full Story

Also, I have to say, the earth looks pretty flat at 69,000 feet.

I also like the way this aircraft is able to fly unlike any other and "shuttlecock" its way back to the ground. By shuttlecock, do they mean fall? Because they aren't using the word fly or glide.
It looks to me like they are pretending that the model gets into a low speed stall and rather than enter a spin or pick up huge amounts of speed on decent (remember how thing the air is up there) somehow this aircraft behaves like a leaf and gently floats.

Apparently they are telling us that now paying passenger is next year. Interesting because they said that this time last year, and the year before. In fact every year since they missed their original deadline in 2007.

this was meant to be a 3 year project starting in 2004. What an abhorrent scam.

A new restaurant has opened in the town I work.

This is good because I'm really bored of eating in the same few places all the time. And the best bit is this restaurant is really good. It is literally the best food you can buy in a 5 mile radius of the office. Its a kind of smokehouse that does all kinds or burgers and ribs and chicken things with sauces and spicy rices and wedges and ... I'm getting excited again. I need to calm down.

Today I ordered a flame grilled burger. They handmade the meat patty and daubed homemade barbeque sauce on it. Then open flame-grilled it and put a side order of 'feisty rice' next to it. I had a (glass) bottle of coca cola and proceeded to push the succulent and meaty burger down my neck.

So there is the pleasure ... where is the pain?

Well unfortunately, this restaurant is a halal restaurant. I know the cow from my burger was killed in an unnecessarily cruel way to fulfil religious dogma. It had its throat slit and whilst still alive was hung upside down by its back legs whilst the blood slowly ran out. I never eat in halal places normally, I deliberately avoid them but it was new and work people out-voted me.

So I sat there eating my adrenaline burger. The fear and agony had flushed all kinds of hormones into the meat ... and it tasted so good. I want to eat there again. Why can't they cook their yummy food and offer a non-barbaric menu for civilised people? 

I don't normally play any computer games but I have been in the office a lot recently so I can test iPad and iPhone apps on iPad1, 2 , 3 ,4, on different iPhones etc.
All the guys have different versions of these things in the office so we swap for testing. And I noticed that they were all getting updates from a Simpsons game called Tapped Out.



So I downloaded it to see what it was about.

And its pretty addictive building your own Springfield. Well made game. Looks awesome. Is fun.

Buuuuuuutttttttttt ... it's made by EA. and they have decided to be a dick about it. Certain buildings and items require you to buy things with the in game currency (donuts) and stuff is really fucking expensive. It ruins the game. I mean this is a phone app, and yet you can buy 2400 donuts for £70. Who spends £70 to progress in a phone app game?

It should be investigated. there should be a limit on how much in game revenue you can charge an individual in an app game.



Th*rk you EA! 

I clicked on Space Cowgirls weblink and it took me to Troll kingdom. We'll ignore the fact they they are using vBulletin which is way better than what we have.

They also have enormous avatars. I want bigger avatars. Ours are titchy. In fact the entire theme is rubbish IMO. I know someone did it for free but they aren't here any more and I don't like it.

Look at these.
http://www.trollkingdom.net/forum/showthread.php?143803-I-miss-Gagh-King-Gagh-The-First-Of-Norway

I'm doing an open water swim tomorrow. I paid £36 for me and a young lady to do the race.

I just went to the site to see what time my race starts tomorrow. Its normally full of pictures of people swimming and cycling and all that other triathlon stuff. But today ... it looks like this.

http://www.f3events.co.uk/
The music is kindy of catchy but that's not helpful. Stupid talented Muslims! 

Now I don't know what time to get there.

An Olympic swimmer is going to be racing with us.

Just a little light reading for those interested. A Rowbotham advert or two.

Click for full size.

There has been a huge surge of companies telling us to share everything. Share your photos, share your tweets, share on facebook, share experiences, share virtual gifts.



It seems companies are desperate for us to share our things with everyone ... but not their things. DRM is fiercely fought over. They don't want us sharing music, or films, or games. They don't want to share a damn thing with us. But want us to give away all our content, information and possessions.

I hate sharing. As a kid I never shared anything. Who would look after my toys better than me? It makes me instantly adverse to 'sharing' on the advice of these companies. I'd happily share a song with someone. That costs me nothing. But oh no. Don't share music, that's stealing! But when I pick up the bill they are happy for me to share a coke.

Sharing is about getting you to give something away. And that benefits these companies as you either pay twice or provide content they can sell.

Its about time people woke up to what sharing is about. Its getting you to give permission to have people take your assets. Companies don't do it. Neither should you. So f**k you Zuckerberg! 

Does anyone have a moderate view on sharing or is it a 21st century evil?

I kind of wanted to do this thread for a while, and its part of the reason I wanted a super secret forum ... but I went to the doctors today anyway so here is the thread.

As many of you will know, I'm not a big advocate of drugs. If I have a headache, so be it. Stomach ache, that's life. I never self medicate.

As you may or may not know, I have a pretty important interview coming up in the next couple of weeks. And I suspect because its important, I'm going to be nervous. Nervous to the point that it will damage my chances, being as the job is mostly public speaking - which actually bothers me a lot less.

Anyway knowing this, for the first time in my life, I decided to cheat by taking performance enhancing drugs. I can't keep letting good opportunities disappear down the toilet. Ultimately it is ruining my life. So I'm going to take propranolol. As a one off, to try to get the job I want.



Now I didn't get them from some dodgy site on the internet. I just went to the doctor, told her why I wanted them and she prescribed them for me. It was kind of easy. She said lots of people use them, but was surprised that I would ask her and even know the name of the drug. I tried not to go into a rant about steroids. They aren't too dissimilar in structure from steroids. They bind with receptors like steroids do, but they block adrenaline and other chemicals associated with fight or flight. You can't elevate your heart rate through fear, no sweaty palms, shaking, forgetting stuff, wobbly voice or anything else. These things make you as cool as a cucumber.

They are used by musicians, surgeons (stops shaky hands), sports stars, and public speakers.

So I guess the thread could ask any of the following questions

1) Have you used beta-blockers to combat 'performance anxiety'?
2) Do you think this is unethical?
3) Are you surprised how easily I got these incredibly powerful drugs from a doctor?
4) Do you think this is just everyday crap and not even worth a thread about?

Additional: I need to test them. Because my resting heart rate is under 50 (I exercise a lot), the doctor is worried that my heart rate may be lowered further and be a bit dangerous. So I need to test it before the interview in a situation where I would be scared some time in the next couple of weeks.

5) How should I get scared? Bungy jump? Dive with sharks? My sister suggested cage fighting but she's a bitch. I need to be frightened, not harmed or made sick.

Ok, so there is a theory called Ringworld which is about a giant ring that encircles its star. I'll do a thread on it later maybe.

In the mean time ... Ringworld has its own puzzle. A puzzle I completed in 16:33. 

The Ringworld puzzle



No photoshopping! 

'Virtual Lolita' aims to trap chatroom paedophiles

So 'scientists' have come up with a chatroom bot that's job is to hunt for and weed out paedophiles on the internet. My first thought was "Oh Jesus no, they'll find me" but then my second thought was "Who is funding these idiots?".

I have several problems with this.

• Its entrapment. It won't stand in court. Its a total waste of time
• I'll doubt its very convincing. I've talked to ALICE before and that bitch couldn't wrap her head around fetching me a sammich
• If I met a paedobot in a chatroom, I'd want to groom it. Bear with me here. I'd want to see how it works. Deliberately trying things to see how it responds. What does it do if I ask it to suck Sir Thorkington? Does it encourage me if I pretend to lose interest? Is it interested in Harry Styles or Justin Bieber? Would it agree to meet me? Would it allow me to chat with it on a different medium - say IRC? Would it meet me tomorrow for some more grooming? What is it wearing right now? Will it send me pictures of itself? Will other kids try to protect it from me?

I just don't see the value of such a thing. If you are going to create a bot that can pass a Turing test, get it to do something good like running a call centre or providing customer service. Something that makes money.

Being as no computer has ever passed a Turing test, I suspect these are just another bunch of scientist schysters with their greedy paws all over government grant money in the name of 'research'.