ne supra crepidam
Tim B-L...is there anything he's not an expert on?
643 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Aug 2008
NASA blew up one bunch of astronauts because they said "Hey, we don't know why those seals are burning through, but we got away with it before...Go at throttle up!" Learning nothing, they said "Hey, those tiles always get hit by foam at supersonic speed, but we got away with it before..." (and blew up another bunch). Russia has a fault and gets the crew safely back to earth, but the BBC comments There is already much discussion about the current state of Russian industry and its ability to maintain the standards of yesteryear.
Within a few hours I found that Bluetooth was erratic, and the Samsung Gear app, for example, crashes on startup. But that's to be expected with a new platform release...
The great thing about writing software is that customers actually expect trouble and will even blame themselves when it goes wrong. Maybe some day we'll have to produce the quality expected of the automobile industry, but let's make hay while there's sun.
Within a few hours I found the steering was erratic, and the engine, for example, crashes on startup. But that's to be expected with a new platform release...
I sympathise with FTDI regarding "clones", but you're right about their "bit bang" mode and reluctance to admit it. The erratum (version 1.0) which you mention is dated November 2010, but they admitted the fault in an email to us in November 2008: The uneven pulse width is due to a flaw in the clock synchronization (sic) between the usb and output stage. Knowing that the device didn't work as described would have saved my designing to use it in that way and several more hours investigation to discover that it was their fault, not mine.
An interesting radar. Have you considered how weak the return signal would be?
Srong enough that it was used from Earth in the 1960s to measure the rotation rates of Mercury and of Venus. See, for example, here, which describes the use of radar at 430MHz.
Plus, by the time it got back, the original radar would probably have been replaced by a newer model.
No, the signal returns in a few minutes.
Interplanetary: (adjective) between planets.
"...does anyone open their browser and type in سرچانجن.com (or whatever) instead of typing the western script equivalent?"
Does anyone spend their life writing in those squiggly characters that just look weird to you? Yes they do. There's a whole world of foreign, squiggly-character writers out there, beyond your horizon. It was even there before the Latin alphabet existed. You just don't see it, because you live in your limited version of the internet with your limited character set. Get a life.
Amazon is convenient for small quantities of electronic development items. But their Chinese traders (despite being VAT-registered in the UK) often struggle to produce a valid VAT invoice or receipt. They may omit their registration number or the figures quoted just don't make sense.
Amazon claims to act only as broker. It's not clear that this has yet been tested in court. (They collect your cash, but claim that any problems are between you and the seller). If the cash receiver were liable to pay the VAT, they'd likely tighten up very quickly.
It's worth remembering that HM Customs and Excise (responsible for VAT) was basically shut down and forced to merge with the Inland Revenue following their "billions" in deliberate losses and subsequent crookery (lying) in court. See, for example, Panorama "Nothing To Declare" 23rd March 2005.
Hence the new name "HM Revenue and Customs".
Have they changed? It seems unlikely.
My Linux server updates when I decide that's appropriate. Will Microsoft's custom Linux do the same?
At present, Microsoft updates my Windows server, without warning*, when it feels like it. This can take up to 20 minutes and has twice disabled all its web sites until I discovered that, searched for and applied a solution, provided not by Microsoft but by other customers saying "Try this". Updates have also discarded my shortcut keys for standard programs (like Notepad) and caused other mischief with no warnings or options.
If that's Microsoft's vision for IoT, which might control my heating, check for fires, allow me to open the garage door (and maybe the front door), I don't want it.
*There may be a subtle notice, which Microsoft describes as "Heads up" (apparently an American insult which means something like "pay attention, idiots"). This notice indicates that the PC will be restarted, whether I like it or not.
Most people (in the UK and the US) budget so badly that they could never pay up-front for the lastest tech-toy they "must" have.
So, as long as payment is "tomorrow" and not "today", they'll go for it. Few have even the schoolboy maths to work out compound interest, so one "deal" looks much the same as another. If there's any decision, it's based on trinkets like "free fake leather carrying case".
Don't worry. It keeps prices down for the rest of us.
From Digital Signal Processing by Steven W Smith, chapter 3:
When electronics got around to inventing digital techniques, the preferred names had already been snatched up by the medical community nearly a century before. Digitalize and digitalization mean to administer the heart stimulant digitalis.
We must always consider new ideas. (Whether there's anything new about Agile is moot). But, 2,500 years on, real progress still comes more often from persistence and hard work.
Had a house sale complete today, so would like to move some funds, but...
Well, I look on the bright side: at least they claim to be "ethical". And perhaps they are (if you overlook the occasional drug-taking and procurement of rent boys by senior management).
"...societally unacceptable...for a large commercial aircraft to be missing and for the world not to know with certainty what became of..."
As a kid, I would wander from home, maybe climb a tree or two. I recall once for a thrill making my way across a railway bridge (on the outside). If I'd never made it home I doubt that the world would be much different now. I quite like the notion that there are still places you could disappear and never be found, somewhere still neglected by Amber Rudd, GCHQ and the CIA. If you step outside your home or fly across an ocean, there's a risk. It would be useful to know what happened, but that's a long way from insisting that we monitor every inch of the planet (unless you're a company looking to sell numerous radar and other systems to satisfy those who can't handle uncertainty).
You can still sleep soundly at night...Particles with an energy level greater than 10 EeV, and typically arriving from beyond the Milky Way, tend to hit Earth at a rate of one per square kilometre per year.
That's no consolation if you happen to be standing there at the time. I think 10EeV is about 2J?