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Listed below are comments made by Kurisu between Monday, 11th May 2009 and Monday, 30th November 2009.

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Taking it to the max 2:10pm on 30 Nov 2009 I love Tavish Scott's explanation of his party's policy. Democracy's so good we named our party after it... except during a recession, when it should be suspended altogether.

I can't believe that he seriously believes that a general election is a good way to gauge support for independence. His own party acknowledges that the first-past-the-post system is corrupt, and the 2007 Scottish election constituency results show the uphill battle the SNP has to fight against the system, never mind the other parties - the SNP gained more constituency votes than Labour but the latter ended up with a majority of constituency seats.

Not only that, but because an SNP vote is unlikely to bring about a change of government at a UK level, it is likely that those who would support independence would vote for another party in an election that cannot possibly bring about the election of a pro-independence party.

As for the proposals themselves, I don't think the Calman proposals will resolve anything in the long run, nor will Devolution Max. There needs to be equality between Scotland and the other parts of the UK. Independence is one option. Equal powers for devolved parliaments in Scotland, England, Wales and NI (and constitutionally guaranteeing those powers) is another option that would kill independence stone dead. It's almost a surprise that small mindedness in the unionist parties prevented Calman from considering it.
Is your Wifi secure? 11:59pm on 30 Oct 2009 Sorry, but the whole film looks staged. The email account that is being logged into uses HTTPS by default, which prevents the interception of credentials by programs like Wireshark in the way that is shown in the film. Either the actor took the deliberate step of using the email service without encryption, or the whole thing was a hoax.

The other problem I have with the film is its focus on WiFi access points. Even if the access point was 'secure' and implemented features such as wireless isolation (stopping computers from seeing each other on the network), your data would still be transmitted over the internet in plain text.

If you're entering passwords and/or transferring sensitive information over the internet, *always* check that the site uses HTTPS and always check that the site certificate is valid (to avoid man-in-the-middle attacks), whether or not you're using WiFi.
Improvements to BBC Local Radio online 3:38pm on 20 Aug 2009 AAC streaming is great news. It beggars belief that both streaming formats offered by the BBC at the moment are proprietary. Will it apply to Radio Scotland though, which at the moment doesn't even have a WMA stream?

I'm also curious about whether the choice of AAC for internet streaming has an element of future-proofing in it, given that DAB+ uses a modified version of this format.
Radio With Pictures 4:33pm on 17 Jun 2009 You're going to have a hard time convincing the majority of people that 'radio with pictures' is anything other than television.

What would be more useful would be metadata accompanying the radio stream. Current song and artist are obvious ones. Hyperlinks and phone numbers - if I'm listening on my computer or a mobile phone, it would be nice to be able to click these directly rather than having to listen to the audio and type them out manually.
Calman speaks 2:53pm on 15 Jun 2009 I'm not convinced that Calman's maths skills. I've still to work out why the first recommendation made by the report is numbered 2.1, and then there's this corker:

"Scotland now has two Parliaments the Scottish Parliament as well as the UK Parliament. And of course it has the European Parliament too."

That makes three, then?

And this man is making recommendations on Scotland's financial future.
Apple - angering the fans? 2:24pm on 09 Jun 2009 O2 is a victim of its own success here. There was a huge amount of hype around the iPhone and iPhone 3G when they were launched, and a lot of coverage in the media that just didn't happen for any other phone. A lot of iPhones were sold because O2 essentially had free advertising. The spotlight was on them when the message was good and it's still on them now that the message is bad.

The problem is the exclusivity contract between Apple and O2, which means that voting with your feet means choosing another handset. Current iPhone owners are also locked in - O2 refuse to unlock iPhones for use with other carriers at the end of a contract, which is against OFCOM recommendations and not the case for any other handset that they offer.

A major UK online retailer sells the iPhone 3G SIM-free and unlocked. They are expensive, but they can be used with any carrier and are not subject to O2's terms and conditions. Hopefully the new model will also be available through this channel.
Favouring reform 6:53pm on 26 May 2009 Very clever of Mr Cameron. By creating the illusion of reform, he will put back real reform by decades. We are about to miss a great opportunity.
Australia's underwhelming capital 2:18pm on 18 May 2009 Actually I find the comparison between Canberra and London to be quite apt. Here in Scotland, cities tend to have a very distinct city centre, so when I visited London for the first time I had to be told, don't think of London as a city, think of it as a country with no space between the towns.

Canberra is the same (except that there is lots of space and not a lot of people), and so it challenges the preconceptions of visitors. The problem people seem to be having with Canberra is that they go to the city centre and there's not a great deal there, which is because there are equally large 'town centres' spread around the city. It might not be a great plan for a visitor, but it's beneficial to those that actually live there.

In fact the only thing I'd say about it is that it's not an easy city to walk around because of how spread out it is, and the population density is too low to support a comprehensive public transport system.

#17 - your comment about the roads made me laugh. My cousin, who lives in Canberra, claims that Canberra has the best roads in the country, and consequently the worst drivers in the country.
Away with the Honourable Member 2:25pm on 11 May 2009
"But twas not ever thus. It was George Reid, as presiding officer, who concluded - after endless adverse publicity - that maximum disclosure was the best policy.

"So there is no intrinsic virtue at Holyrood. The reforms had to be argued, imposed - and implemented."

I don't know, Brian, I think the second sentence disproves the first. George Reid was a part of the parliament and took the bull by the horns. The rules didn't have to be handed down from anywhere (e.g. Westminster).

Contrast to the Speaker of the Commons, Michael Martin, who from what I've read had his snout as deep in the trough as anybody else.
Honourable no more? 2:16pm on 11 May 2009
"The elections to the European Parliament are for an institution few voters know or care much about. Voting is done using a system of proportional representation which maximises the chances of smaller parties."

That's an unfair, 'Westminster' way of characterising things. According to the the Wikipedia page on the D'Hondt method (and with an accompanying citation), "This system is less proportional than the other popular divisor method, Sainte-Laguë, because D'Hondt slightly favors large parties and coalitions over scattered small parties. [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

A fairer characterisation would be to say that the Westminster system of first-past-the-post maximises the chances of the largest parties.

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