Posts by Tony 179 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Nov 2007
literally...
TV / Hollywood producers have run out of ideas so are desperately thrashing around to find themes that they can make programmes / movies about. As a result, we see an increasing diet of re-makes, re-runs, re-writes, prequels / sequels and increasingly bizarre plot lines.
To quote Paul Weller, "That's entertainment...."
"An estimated 330,000 people will have access to ContactPoint"
This is a large number of people with access to a database that contains sensitive information. (I make it just over 1% of the adult population?)
It also seems likely that that will be about one adult with access for every child in the database.
"compromised Chip-and-PIN terminals have been found in less than 30 retail outlets throughout the UK"
They don't say say how many they actually checked. The implication of the comment is that there are very few - in fact, what the statement means, is that's all they have found so far, and they don't know if there are any more.
"they enjoy excellent protection under The Banking Code, which means that they will not suffer any financial loss."
Not entirely true; in the US the banks have to cover all loss, but in the UK, they can ask you to prove it wasn't you. Having said that, I can't complain; on the 2 occasions that someone tried it on with my card details, they detected it before I knew - it helps that I don't normally buy £800 worth of leather underware across the Internet!
I believe that the original text was "do you intend to overthrow the Government of the United States by means of armed insurrection" (just a note: the way that the USA was created in the first place?)
It was the wonderfully irascible Gilbert Harding back in the early 60's, having spent many hours waiting for a delayed flight, then a foul trip due to bad weather and yet more delays at immigration that wrote "sole purpose of visit" in large plain text. It appears that he was allowed through.
I've been thinking about some of the comments; leaving your laptop behind and buying one once you are in the US. Call me paranoid, but....
Don't forget that they now insist on having your personal deails before you fly. It would be fairly easy to set-up a check on credit card details. If you then buy a laptop, they will then be alerted to the fact that you have done so (unless you pay cash). Similarly if you pay for any high speed data access.
The fact that you have done this would immediately indicate that here is something going on worth investigating.
Can you imagine an iPod with 2 days worth of tracks with someone screaming "You b******s; leave my files alone"
I can imagine some low level clerk being tasked to listen to the whole thing, then having to go through it again at high and low speeds (backwards even) to check to see if there are any hidden messages.
Gives me a warm glow just thinking about it.
"You don't really have any idea how the chip on passports work, do you"
If you know better, then please explain it - so far, I have heard 3 explanations from "experts" which all contradict each other.
"Lets face it, you don't really know how banking transactions work"
Do you work for a banking system? Have you actually seen how they process their data?
I believe that the chip on the passports is designed to work on much the same lines as the ones on credit cards (with some slight modifications).
The idea then is that the biometric data is held on the chip; then a system is used to read the biometric data and state if the two match or not.
A while ago, some credit cards were stolen and the software on the chips modified so that whatever pin number was input, it would return a "PIN Verified" message. It took less than a day for the modified cards to be out in the wild earning lots of money.
As far as I can see, the passports could be modified in pretty much the same way (slightly more complex, but not much). I'm hoping that whoever has them, intends to put the names of all the government ministers on them - wouldn't that be a hoot.
"What all consulting divisions (SAP's included) seem to fail to grasp is the ability to make a realistic estimate of the effort to do an ERP implementation."
Couldn't agree more. Even now after 10 months work, and we are clearly at least 3 months behind schedule, they are still talking about going live in just over a months time - reality seems to have left the building.
I'm convinced that it is simply the way that they operate - set a date, then work backwards to establish a timetable. When you don't hit the milestones, just ignore them and keep talking about the original date. When it then goes pear shaped, blame it on the customer and charge extra for "fixing" the problems.
Oh, and I've just been told that there are 2 more new consultants coming in tomorrow - forget any plans that I have for any work, I have to be available to help them do whatever it is they are supposed to be doing (no, I haven't actually been told what it is!)
In reality, the people that pay the bill are not going to change over just because the support price has gone up by 5% in a year. If SAP then decide to hike it again by another 5% in say 3 years time, it still won't cause sufficient pain. They could probably slap another 5% every other year for the next 10 years, and all that will likely happen is that people huff and puff, but still stump up the cash.
In our case, the cost of purchase / installation has already exceeded the original quoted price (which I said was wrong anyway) by 25% - it will be almost 45% over budget by the time we go live. They said they would provide 4 consultants to get it up and running; I've just provided access for the 24th consultant. Oh and they said it would be live the first week of August - Not a chance as we are at least 3 months behind schedule. I'm betting it won't happen until Jan 09 and even that is a long shot.
They've been working on it now for 10 months and they still cannot demonstrate it working fully from one end to the other - bits in between are OK but not all of it. And whereas it was all supposed to happen in one go, several months ago they started talking about "phase 1" / "phase 2" / "phase 3". Got to make sure those consultants have plenty of work in the future.
If you buy SAP, you had better make sure that you have a full chequebook - and be prepared to write out some very large numbers.
"I don't know a great deal about SAP but I was under the impression it was a tad more than just an RDBMS"
It depends on your point of view. SAP can use Oracle and MSSQL as the DB engine so you could say that it is not actually a RDBMS. It does allow you to tie in all of the different aspects of a business that previously required different software packages which is why it's generally referred to as ERP software.
The point that AJ was making (I think) was that the comment from SAP was nonsense - "comparisons between SAP and Oracle and SAP and Microsoft" - it's bit like comparing a kick in the nuts and a punch in the eye to a kick in the nuts and a punch on the nose.
@ amanfrommars
You use SAP!?
NOW, I begin to understand......
"And what will you do if they "try" it?"
Good question.
I was brought up to believe in obeying the law; I would never have thought about doing something that would be wrong and the thought of having a criminal record was repugnant to me.
In the 60's, 70's & 80's I watched protesters fighting with the police and couldn't help but feel they were wrong. However, I am beginning to wonder if I need to reconsider my views - perhaps there are occasions when the risk to oneself is the lesser problem and it becomes necessary to actively resist an injustice.
Time to start brushing up on my protest chants!
Supposing they did introduce this measure - do you think that this will improve speed through the airports or not?
I certainly cannot see anyway in which this will provide any greater level of security against terrorists. It will waste our time, money, resources and allow the government to criminalise ordinary people. The concept of using falsified fingerprints has been known and options available since the 60's.
Then when they lose the data, any old Tom Dick or Harry can use it to steal your identity - because the government will say that the data cannot possibly be wrong, or in any way leaked, you will suddenly become a criminal overnight.
I am going to change my name by deed poll to "Mr Cynical".
I wonder if in a year's time, they will try to change the law to allow themselves to remain in power past the 5 year limit?
A term for a rather pleasant drink - however can also be used as a slang term to "foil someone's plans" or in certain parts of the country to kill fish.
As an aside, unless the law in the UK has changed, it is illegal to distill alcohol for consumption (without a licence), but not if you want to use it for other purposes - such as a cleaning agent, a solvent or as a fuel.
I vaguely remember that there was a chap some 20/30 years ago that had quite a nice sized still that he used to produce methanol - and ran a number of vehicles on it quite successfully. They used to show pictures of him in the local press everytime that the C&E popped round to make sure he wasn't actually imbibing the product. (He may well have used it as part of a process to create a biodiesel type product).
The next time you go out at night, look up at the sky and take a really good look. Assuming that it's not cloudy, and the light pollution doesn't spoil it, you should see a sight that has fascinated men for millenia.
What are they - what's happening there. These are the questions that we want to know the answers to.
For those that say robot craft or telescopes are enough, I would say do you just read the catalogues in the travel shop, or do you actually want to go to the places that you read about?
Yes, there are problems that need solving here on Earth and I wouldn't deny that these have to be dealt with. But the universe is a wonderful, wondrous place and we should be trying to push ourselves to explore as much as we can.
Should we put more men on the moon? Of course we should, and why aren't they there now?
The average human being is a curious creature - it wants answers (even if sometimes it doesn't know how to frame the questions). Going to the moon is simply another step that began when Australopithecus climbed down out of a tree and stood upright to see how that would work out.
Providing we don't destroy ourselves, I sincerely hope that in the future, humans will be exploring all of our solar system; perhaps some day not too far in the future, people will be visiting other suns to see what is there.
What benefit will come from this - I can't tell you. But when the Phoenecians built their first reed boats, did they guess that this would lead to modern civilisation? We have come a long way in just the last 3 centuries - imagine what wonders we might see if it were possible to travel to the future.
Many cultures claim the wisdom "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." For us, that first step was taken a long time ago, and our journey is not just a thousand miles or even a thousand years. We have taken many steps, and there are many more to come. I for one can't wait.
Look at the Implicit Networks website - does that say to you, "genuine, upstanding, professional company" or does it conjure up an image of someone trying it on?
I vaguely remember a similar case about 6/7 years ago - someone set-up a company and was trying to persuade a court that they were the owners of a patent that someone else was supposed to be infringing. I think that the people concerned dissappeared owing millions in unpaid legal fees after failing to win their case.
"This is to protect the individuals from the companies/corporations that hold data..."
Consider this scenario: You are about to get in your car. You are not drunk or otherwise under the influence, show no signs of fatigure or being in any other way incapable of safely driving home. A policeman sees you and takes you car keys off you on the grounds that he has suspicions that you may be involved in an accident on the way that could lead to loss of life.
That is effectively the situation being proposed by the ICO. It adds very little to the security of the data on individuals.
It does however give power to civil servants to intrude; it also sets a precedent; and most law is based upon precedent. It says that the government has the right to do whatever it chooses, whenever it chooses and is not accountable in any way to the people that elected it. And that is most definitely what this is all about.
"there may be a risk of non-compliance even though there are not yet grounds for suspicion,"
Guilty until proven innocent. If you can't prove your innocence? Then you you are going to be offered a spell in Butlitz along with all of the other dangerous people, such as free thinkers, political opponents, liberals, artists.
That strange hum is the sound of various martyrs to freedom turning in their graves... or is just the black helico.........
"I'm still confused as to why so many companies choose SAP, especially after the Levi debacle"
Simple: the people that make the decisions to buy it are not the ones that have to implement it - they believe that it is just sufficient for them to say "get this installed" for it to happen. Generally, they have a limited understanding of technology and are quite happy to believe the promises of the sales people, whilst ignoring the warnings of their own people.
It is a common human frailty - how people do you know that have told you that a "man down the pub" told them it was perfectly simple to do "X" which you know is neither simple, cheap or wise?
"... doesn't SAP offer more of a solutions package than it does a particular product"
It depends on your viewpoint.
The consultants will all tell you that it is a "solution" rather than a product - but I would describe it as a product that offers potential solutions. It can give you certain benefits, but they are not definite - and whatever it is, you WILL pay for it.
I think that we can now change the old adage: there are only 3 things in life that are guaranteed; Death, Taxes, and that a SAP implementation will cost a lot more money than they tell you (and take longer!).
I was a school governor for a number of years.
It was quite common for someone at the LEA to leave (retire, take "early retirement", whatever) and then receive a lump sum plus set payments towards their pension fund if they qualified.
Generally, they would then be back work in the same job 3 months later, but titled as a "consultant". The reason being, the pay all comes from different budgets - they save the money from the pay budget as it comes from a different pot of money to cover people leaving. They get then get paid from yet another pot of money set aside for paying consultants.
Each year, the local government body has to submit a lengthy plan for a budget to central government using a very complex formula that is set out based on various criteria. If they don't make use of all of a budget they lose it - so they do everything they can to ensure they spend every penny that they can, which is why there is always a panic in Feb / March as they suddenly try to get rid of any surplus cash.
What a system! Even amanfrommars wouldn't be able to make sense of it!
We agreed to buy a new system through BT. It's been one of the worst projects that I've been involved with.
Their sales person ordered the wrong equipment, forgot to order some other parts and supplied the wrong number of licences for the number of handsets. In addition, having agreed to do it through a finance option, in turns out that they expect us to pay for in a lump sum on the quartely bill as well.
When I tried to sort it all out, they then insisted on having several meetings to discuss the situation; they still haven't got it sorted out and they made more errors on the next installation.
I tried to call them last week; and as none of the staff could access the details, they couldn't really even discuss the matter as they had no way of checking anything - when they did access the system, it was agreed that we were correct, but I was then asked to pay the bill "to keep the paperwork straight" and they would credit us later!
On the other hand, BT are a customer of ours - and we do quite a bit for them. There was a small problem with one particular job from just over 3 months ago. When they queried the problem, our staff had all of the relevant data to hand, could identify the source of all parts and even the names of the people involved. Unfortunately, because the information on their system didn't match the information on ours (theirs was missing key data), they wouldn't pay the bill. So we now have to re-submit all of the paperwork and wait another couple of months whilst they check all of the data again.
It's great when you are really big company and can just make all the small comanies pay for your mistakes.
To quote Robert Heinlein (one of the more right wing American writers);
"There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous people".
A gun of any type can sit quite peacefully in a drawer and not harm a single person; then it is picked up by a 6 year boy kid who shoots his 4 year sister.
The boy is dangerous because he has not developed the capacity to understand the consequences of his actions and therefore cannot be held responsible.
His parents are dangerous because they believe their right to keep a weapon where a child can get at it, is more important than their moral obligation to keep the children safe.
There are dangerous people who believe that it is more important to ensure that everyone be allowed to own a weapon, even if there is no evidence that they are mentally capable of the responsibilty.
Quite simply, it will go one way or the other; either as a society we will solve the problem. or we will fail to, and therefore eventually kill ourselves off. (Survival of the fittest in action.)
Mines the one with the built in kevlar plates and BFG9000 in the pocket.
"everyone who actually remembers using this operating system is long gone"
Actually no - I still have a copy (although I don't actually use it) and I remember it like it was yesterday.
I also still have a box in the attic with about 300 copies of DOS 3.2 on 5.25 inch floppies. I bought them at an auction back in the early '90s, because I wanted the power leads, IDE cables etc and they were all bundled together.
I only finally disposed of my trusty Amstrad 1512 a couple of years ago; it was left in the garage and the roof leaked all over it. I used it to set-up a database app using a product called First Choice back in the mid 80's - I did it as a favour for someone and I know that they are still using it, because they called me a year ago as they had crashed the system and wanted me to help get it running again.
Happy days
Check out iSuf44 - "wood off wood" - it's close enough I think.
Are we heading back to the good old Victorian days, when people put little covers on the legs of their pianos so then they would not arouse men's lustful thoughts?
I've always been a suspicious of those cricketers who spend so much time with linseed oil and their "favourite bat"!
Call me Mr. Cynical, but I fail to see how the proposed measures will bring about a cultural change. In order for change to take place, the individuals concerned have to first accept that there is a need to change - and I can guarantee that not one of the ministers, or senior civil servants actually believes that this includes them.
I also find it somewhat bizarre that Mr O'Donnell thinks that there is a risk that people will lose trust in the Government - perhaps someone should point out that he is a bit behind the rest of us.
""Yes we have lots of data on individuals," he protested to reporters. "And that is, for individuals, good.""
Did anyone think to ask him to justify that statement - the only thing that I can think of to describe it as good, is that when we all find our ID's have been stolen, it will be obvious where the leak came from.
It may be that there are issues with the security policies; in most cases, you can always find areas to improve.
However, the biggest single issue is not in the policies themselves, but in the implemention, management and monitoring. If senior managers do not enforce the polices that they have signed up to, then the policy is worthless. If they do not monitor to ensure that policies are known and adhered to, then the policy is of no value. (Don't tell the staff about the security policy for resasons of security - seen that happen before)
On an aside.....
Did anyone see the interview with Bill Gates at Redmond on the Beeb? He and Fiona Bruce left the building to walk around the gardens, then when they wanted to get back in, Bill found he had left his swipe card in his office. Whilst he stood there puzzling about what he could do, Fiona hit the button to open the disabled entrance, which opened to let them in without any security validation!
<joke)Look for terry to start recruiting amongst the disabled community</joke>
"6 years to get a cup of tea from the OU!!!!!!!!!!!! "
Hah! I like the cut of your jib young sir! Hoist by my own petard.
Nowadays of course, the courses are marked electronically - difficult to get the flavour right when it is only travelling at 21 K bps! 8-)
On a serious note, the OU have a web site, Open Learn; http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/
You can see material from some of the courses - if you feel that you missed out, it's a good way to see if you would be able to handle the study / work / homelife balancing act.
There is one institution noticeable by its absence - The Open University.
As a student of the OU myself, I have found that many people seem to think that it is an easy option. In fact, the courses at the OU are as rigorous as any other and you have to study whilst doing normal work. You also need to have more motivation to stick at it than students at most other places.
There was a case a few years ago of a student in the RN trying to complete an exam whilst the ship was under attack by the Iragi air force. Show me a student from Oxford that could that! Even the northern unis don't have exams interrupted by air assault - Wimps!
I'm just waiting for the results of my last course - 6 years to get a PG Dip - next year, I should start my research project for my Masters degree. (I could do with some suggestions for a theme).
When I first started reading the article, I thought that the writer (John Ozimek) was being a bit harsh about the writer of the Casey Report and of the author, Ms Casey herself. However, I have actually downloaded the article and started to read it (all 120 pages!!) and I have to say, I have a great deal of sympathy for Mr Ozimek's views.
The report has to be described as suspect at best. Much of it is based upon the statistics produced by specific questionnaires with questions that were contentious at best. These were filled in following a variety of meetings about crime in local areas - those attending would almost certainly be there because they were experiencing crime issues. Further, only about 10% of those attending the events actually completed the questionnaire. By any method of analysing statistics, the results would be skewed and probably of limited benefit.
The report also makes a number of assumptions, again using the statistics as justification. In many cases, text from certain responses are included at key points and this is clearly an effort to justify recommendations when the statistics could be used to come to different conclusions.
I note that Ms Casey makes a point of referring to "deprived areas" and the work being done to counter problems - however, she does not state that these are mainly urban aras in predominantly Labour voting areas. There are many equally deprived rural areas, but these are conveniently ignored.
Much of the report is designed to present the current policies in this field as being correct. Where there is a failure, she asserts that the policy is still correct but is not being fully applied, usually blaming this on the police, magistrates or local councils.
In all, this is a dismal report of no real value. No doubt, considerable public funds were expended in an attempt to provide "evidence" that the government is doing its job, and that the public are simply not sensible enough to realise this. The recommendations are yet more attacks on individual liberties, but with the usual spin that this is all for "the public good".
If Ms Casey were in charge, I doubt that either Mr Ozimek or I would be allowed to voice our opinions of her work.
"We could not anticipate a determined thief who was prepared to force open a filing cabinet and locked drawers"
I have to ask if these spokespeople actually think about what they are going to say before they open their mouths.
I wish that I could say it is funny - but even my (very broad) sense of humour is starting to fail me.
I note that there is an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act due to become law later this year that will make it a serious offence for anyone who "intentionally or recklessly discloses information or repeatedly and negligently allows exposure of personal information". (infosecurity May 2008)
I wonder if this will apply to the government or just to the poor schmuck that they set up to take the fall?
Perhaps its about time we brought back the (old) second verse of the National Anthem?
"Confound their politics
Frustrate their knavish tricks
On thee our hopes we fix
God Save Us All"
Icon: Where's Guido when you need him?
"People who are employed in the security industry, and particularly in a senior position where documents are marked as above secret aren't that daft"
Call me cynical, but yes they are. I've had to work with civil servants (from several departments) and some of them you have to question how they manage to get their shoes the right way around on their feet.
On one occasion, a couple visited my place of work on a fact finding mission. (i.e. they came for a free lunch) and I found it almost impossible to discuss the technical issues with them. Quite bluntly, a couple of children from the local primary school would have been better prepared.
Having said that, I can't blame anyone who finds the timing suspicious. And yes again, they are that devious
I note that Ofcom are currently investigating an ITV broadcaster (Martin Brundle). Apparenty, he used a word (pikeys) in the broadcast before the start of the Canadian Grand Prix that 7 people found offensive and wrote to complain about.
Yet they don't seem to be too concerned about issues that relate to the potential massive loss of privacy of th entire population, despite a very large number of complaints and calls by MPs to do something. Why is this?
Helicopter icon because I expect that having used the offensive word in this comment, I will soon ........
"in a real work environment if someone melted down like that, there would be a mass exodus from the room"
Possibly not; people don't always react normally when an unusual situation occurs. It is quite normal for people to simply stand and watch - next time you pass an accident look at the number of people stood around. Or watch the news for an "incident" - same thing.
It takes people in different ways.
A friend of mine worked for the IR in a main office - she was asked to spend some time on the front desk. Second day, a man walked in and because he couldn't get what he wanted, he dragged the monitor (CRT) off her desk and started to throw stuff around. Not one person moved. I was called to go and get her later to make sure she got home OK and she was alright. But the next day 5 other staff didn't turn up as they were suffering PTSD.
@Mono Ape ; "Partitions cannot be just pulled apart with your bare hands - have a go."
Depends on how old they areand how well they are put together. We moved offices recently and the old partitions fell over without anyone touching them; only held up by the paper and staples!
I too was a bit sceptical about if it was faked - however, the quality of the picture that I see doesn't allow me to know for certain if there are cables attached or not. I've seen plenty of places where the monitor was attached without the screws being tightened up so that doesn't surprise me either. As for there being CRT monitors, there are very many places that have yet to replace these.
Although the immediate reaction is to laugh (and it is a perfectly normal human reaction), I don't find it too funny - I've had to deal with people that suffered stress related breakdowns and one where the person had a major chemical imbalance that needed regular medication, but had forgotten to take it.
It can be quite frightening for people that are not used to seeing someone lose it so badly. It's also quite difficult to know the best way to deal with it - and it can also cause problems for those staff that witness such an event. OK in those cultures that naturally talk about these sorts of things, but not so easy when your lip has to be stiff, don't cher know.
"There but for the grace of God..."
I was a school governor and previously had been a volunteer youth worker. I also provided transport facilities for disabled. As a result, I used to get vetted by the CRB on a fairly regular basis - none of the agencies would talk to each other and the police got fed up of seeing my name appear on the applications.
So from that point of view, it might be a good thing.
However, I would not be happy about the cost - a tax on volunteering. They say that they will waive the fee, but we've heard this before. There have been previous occasions where the fee had to be paid and then reclaimed. There have also been occasions when the criteria for getting fees waived were so complex, no-one was able to qualify.
OK, I can afford the fee - but why should I? I currently travel to perform a much needed civic task once a month and it costs me just under £20 each time - for which I get all the tea I can drink and biscuits I can eat in 90 minutes, but I will never get a penny of my travel costs back.
Also from previous experience, the CRB checks were a joke. Often they would take months, and on more than one occasion, they lost the paperwork and the application should have had to be re-submitted. Instead they allowed it after a simple phone call. One teacher at the school was working whist waiting for the check to come back for almost 7 months.
And of course, it's yet more public money to be spent on something that probably won't achieve it's main goal and may well fail before it is even completed. And of course, what will happen if they make a mistake. A colleague had to give up voluntary work; his surname was similar to a minor criminal and as a result, the CRB failed his application. He gave up trying to get it corrected - it wasn't worth the effort.
Perhaps it would make more sense if the politicos stopped trying to find new things to "fix" and sorted out some of the more important issues first.
I think that I'm setting myself up to be flamed....
I accept that having a method of control (when used properly) is better than not having one. However...
The point that I wanted to make is that as far as security goes, it is not appropriate to say that one system or method is better than another without a full definition of the specifics.
To use an analogy - years ago, the law changed to enforce the fitting and wearing of seat belts in a car. At the beginning, people were regularly told by salesmen that a given car was more secure because it had the seat belts. In reality, that was only true for the people inside, if the seat belts were actually used. If not, they were of no value and the security of the car was no greater than any other. (it was not any more secure for rear seat passengers until the law changed again, and it was no safer for anyone outside of the car).
Equally, there are many urban legends (and a few factual stories) about people that suffered greater injury from the seat belt than would have been the case if they had not be using it. Presumably because the seatbelt was designed for an "average" person, and the person using it was outside of the sepcified range.
(And of course, we could add to that, the fitting of seatbelts does not prevent someone from breaking into a car so in fact it doesn't increase "security".)
When describing security, it is necessary to explain what is being secured, against what and how. The only truly inherently secure system is one that never actually gets built. (and I'm not even sure about that!)
I'm sorry, but I don't believe that statement to be even close to being accurate.
Having more people to check a piece of code makes sense; and the more people working on it, the greater chance of finding mistakes; but only if all of the people working on it understand the actual issues. If they don't, then it doesn't matter in the slightest how many people work on a particular piece of code.
"i've never filled in a census and never will "
The responsibility for filling in the form is that of the "head of the household" - it's quite possible that you have never been in that position at the time of the census as it only takes place every 10 years. However, the penalties for failing to complete the form are quite severe - it can lead to a custodial sentence (and not just "you're nicked chum!")
As it happens, I was selected a while back to take part in a different National statistical process - I now get someone coming round to see me every year to check on what has happened in my life - it's a 45 - 50 minute survey. Apparently, this will now happen every year until I croke (if I move house, they will come looking for me). So when the government statistics turn out to be total garbage, you can blame me as I am not even close to being Mr Average.
"most native cornish were illiterate anyway, communicating with various grunts and pointing"
No, those are the people from outside of the county that have been moved here because their local councils have issued them more than 25 ASBO's and have given up trying to work with them.
Or they are the emmits that clog up the roads with their caravans as they search for a shop that sells "genuine Devon cream teas" (hint; not a typing error)
Or they are the surfing wannabees that can't afford to go to a beach where you don't have to wear 5 layers of neoprene to protect you against the cold.
Or they are Janners that didn't want to pay the parking fees at Drake's Circus and got lost looking for a parking space out of town.
I did ask the local council about levels of literacy amongst native Cornish; they said that they will get back to me drekkly.
Yes the data "could" be used to investigate crime; it "could" be used to detect crime; it "could" be used to prosecute crime; it "could" even be used to protect the public. However, they don't have the resources to investigate, detect & prosecute criminal activity with existing level of information; would adding more data make the job easier or more difficult?
Call me cynical, but I think it more likely that the government will simply trawl through the data and end up with stats that have little to do with the original purpose of the project. But of course, they will have lots of lovely information on who you call and where you surf, so they could sell that information to marketing companies. This could be quite a significant revenue stream in the future.
It would also require the telcos to allocate more resources for storage of the information; and who is going to pay for the additonal resources required? Ulitimately, it will be the customer (i.e. you and I).
Most of this sort of additional law is nothing to do with making life better for the public or easier for the authorities; it's about certain public servants being seen to be "doing something".
Sorry, this one wasn't from a web site, but an old history book. The 32 pounder was a very effective weapon and was the main stay of the ship of the line from the late 1700's. I imagine the tests done were from a ship at anchor with spring lines to stabilise it although I can't say for certain.
However, you are also correct in saying that a lot of fighting was done at much closer range; hence Nelson's comment that "no captain can do very wrong if he lay his ship along side that of the enemy". In many cases they were just blasting away until someone had had enough - and the descriptions of the fighting and the devastation afterwards are truly horrific - it makes some of the modern slash movies look like the teletubbies.
Note also that the limit of a country's jurisdiction around the coast was established by how far away a ship could sail without being pounded to bits by a shore based battery.
"If only Charles Babbage had stressed the military applications of his machine"
I believe he did - the plan was to produce exactly the types of tables for use by Army & Naval artillery that you suggested. I can't remember what the reason given was, but apparantly, the LOTA decided it wasn't for them.
I note that by the early 1900's when the Dreadnoughts were being built, Jackie Fisher, then First Sea Lord was appalled by the performance of naval gunnery - less than 10% accuracy. A hundred years earlier, the 32 pounder (firing round shot from an unrifled barrel) could hit a 3 yard target at a distance of 3 miles 90% of the time.
If I'm not mistaken, the original plan for the colossii built at Bletchly Park were to produce similar tables - that was also rejected by the military.
As I say, plus ca change.
When they building the device, there were a number of articles that made the comment that 19th century engineering couldn't produce the device - not true. There were numerous examples of other devices that were created to the same or better levels of tolerances. the manufacturing processes of the day were more than capable of building it.
The main problem was the government of the day; my understanding is that they originally offered money to develop the device, then changed their minds about what they wanted it to do. After modifying the designs, they then changed their minds again, and again and........ eventually, they just withdrew the funding.
Plus ca change?
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