* Posts by Alan Firminger

508 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Aug 2008

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Cameron cocks up UK's defences - and betrays Afghan troops

Alan Firminger

No

Port Stanley was attacked by laser spot seeking bombs, dropped by Harriers. The laser was operated by squaddies on an overlooking hill.

I think that was the first angry use of effective guidance. I never discovered if the laser was ground based for technical or strategic reasons. Probably both.

Top cyber crime cop lied under oath, says judge

Alan Firminger

No

How fiercely and how often depends on pigmentation.

Futuristic Judge Dredd smartguns issued to 101st Airborne

Alan Firminger

The numbers suggest that it would be issued to one man in each rifle squad of eight.

In the days of the Lee-Enfield the British Army patrol comprised eight rifles and two Bren . The firepower was in the Bren.

From this distance that looks a much better idea. War is unpredictable, one weapon with one specialist user is too vulnerable.

'We Want Two' Navy carrier plan pondered by Cabinet

Alan Firminger

Stop planning for the last war but one

The competitor you refer to is China. I doubt that we could compete.

Doctors' appointment system goes tits up

Alan Firminger

Why ?

Why is there a centralized system to arrange a private appointment between me and my doctor ?

Hackers hijack internet voting system in Washington DC

Alan Firminger

I blame ANSI

'cos they omitted getch() from stdio.h .

Alan Firminger

It should not take that long

If there are unexpected holes in an interpreted application then the host is at fault. All design should accept only valid entry from an approved source.

This started thirty years ago with demonstration that buffer overflow accessed the system. Since then authors have continued to get things to just work when they show it to the moneybags. Except Microsoft, of course, who give all the appearance of doing it on purpose.

Youth jailed for not handing over encryption password

Alan Firminger
Grenade

The government

The government has the power of the monarch, it is HMG . That cannot be limited.

Republic now.

Alan Firminger

Boasting

A similar post that could be read as a terrorist threat is before the courts now.

Alan Firminger

Dangerous

I recall a history long before DNA was ubiquitous. There was a serious crime in a small wood, i think a woman was raped and murdered. A local man had been seen leaving the wood. He was tried and gave no defence, so a guilty verdict then. Several years later the true culprit was found. The original guy was freed, he was gently asked why he did not defend himself. He replied : In the wood I masturbated. Moral : Make No Assumptions.

Now the police know this. They may well be concealing what they know for sure, via credit card payments and interception of traffic. The only way I could have indecent images on my machine without the plod knowing is if I put them there locally because they have access to traffic data and can intercept and decrypt any RSA . If they know for sure what the disc carries then they are demonstrating again that they would rather conceal their omniscient powers so they can do it again, and again.

Legendary steampunk computer 'should be built' - programmer

Alan Firminger

/0

Powered mechanical calculators from the 1930s, as seen in The Small Back Room, survived.

I ask what was the instruction set. Simulators at noon.

Crash grounds RAF Eurofighters - for Battle of Britain Day!

Alan Firminger

Have to speak truth

The Eurofighter was, and is, not about defending UK airspace.

It was conceived as proof of concept to lead the UK aircraft industry into the glorious uplands of active stabilization of non stable airframes. No airline would buy an unproven technology, but an airforce will. The best bet was the air superiority fighter.

This got lost upon the way when the British government, as always and of course, acting with the mentality of the average taxpayer chose to share with our fellow Europeans.

The dream is still there except that the UK is out of contention. Expect Airbus to announce a series of executive jets, all, with high fuel efficiency and low cost. All deltas. Then a series of passenger airliners. And BAE might pick up a bit of the work as a contractor.

Microsoft hopes divi rise will buy off investors

Alan Firminger

Question

What is the difference between a company that rewards investors out of its capital and a Ponzi scheme ?

UK passes buck on Europe's cookie law with copy-paste proposal

Alan Firminger

Always look on the bright side

The wish for European uniformity will lead to judges clarifying laws. These will be different across the Union. Conformity will come when, and if, an individual takes an invasion of privacy case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Trident delay by the Coalition: Cunning plan, or bad idea?

Alan Firminger

Only two left standing

The US won the cold war by raising the cost of preparing for conflict. The SU was broke and capitulated.

Now it is our turn to feel the economic heat. It may well be game over for this minor power adrift off north west Europe.

The final round for the world economic military championship will be US v China.

Alan Firminger

An observation and a question

Margaret Thatcher repeatedly told us that nukes delivered 40 years, as of then, of peace in Europe. Since then not quite accurate but we have never fought the Soviet Union or Russia. On that logic we should give a dozen nukes to Hamas and Arab israeli peace would be assured.

Now where do we go after assessing the risks to us.

Suppose Osama bin Laden, or someone with similar power and intent, assembled $250M out of drugs, oil and donations. Provide this as $100k credit cards from the Cayman Islands. Assemble a dedicated team to infiltrate the defence industry and military of a suitable country, Pakistan is an obvious choice but all humans have failings so it could be anywhere, even here. By gentle friendship and help find the people with knowledge and power over manufacture, storage and codes. Lead the targets through happiness to whatever is their weakness, but addiction is very powerful. Effectiverly, buy a nuke. Perhaps replace it with a dummy. A dozen individuals will retire to chateaux in the hills. And the primed nuke is stuffed into a container for delivery to a warehouse in East London for July 2012.

Now the question is, after the bang what should be the actions of the civilised nations ?

Nikon points D7000 camera at high-end enthusiasts

Alan Firminger

Good

There's one thing I bang on about, and that's shutter lag.

Nikon quote it, may this set a trend.

And it is 0.052 seconds, which is good ( that's why they quote it ).

UK.gov finally pulls plug on National Programme for IT

Alan Firminger

Rejoice rejoice

Hurrah

US raygun jumbo jet fails to beam down test missile

Alan Firminger
Joke

Anti anti missile

Best to supply a hundred dummies running with each missile. These start with the missile and are released above the atmosphere. Each is a radar reflector, as fitted at the top of all good yachts.

Monster Afghan spy airship to feature quad drinking straws

Alan Firminger

Puzzle

Why the problem shedding lift. Surely pump some helium from one bag to another so that the source deflates and the destination increases internal pressure. That would not be expensive on energy.

Nigerian man gets 12 years for $1.3m 419 scam

Alan Firminger

Incarcerate to protect the public

Dangerous theory, I'm glad the court didn't buy it.

New super-Flash chips to run on SiOx, not graphite

Alan Firminger

But surely ...

... a smaller switch requires proportionately less energy.

US undergrads crash NASA satellite into Arctic

Alan Firminger

Why ?

All satellites that do not have controlled re-entry built in could be designed to fragment so that nothing gets to earth. Include a plug of semtex if necessary.

Hardware hackers defeat quantum crypto

Alan Firminger

Researchers, scientists

Congratulations, no boffins.

Wikileaks publishes secret CIA memo

Alan Firminger

BUDA'S WAGON

I recommend to anyone who doubts that the US exports terrorism to read BUDA'S WAGON by Mike Davis published by Virgo. This book demonstrates that the old question, "What is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter ?", was ignored in the reckless desire to be effective.

Every freedom fighter uses terrorist tactics, that is terrorism. And every uniformed army opposing them gets corrupted to the same standard. What was the battle of Falluja if it wasn't terrorism. And, top marks to the to the British army who responded to the murder of six redcaps by doing nothing.

In posing the dilemma what planet are they on ?

NHS trust tags mentally ill offenders

Alan Firminger

Nasty illiberal

But probably a good way forward. The hospital was pr aware as it provided an approving patient.

A tag is better than a lock.

What we need is a way of tracking severe sex offenders in car. Such technology would have prevented all the nasty news stories of the last twenty years.

Energy-saving LEDs 'will not save energy', say boffins

Alan Firminger

They are a con

Spotlight downlighters I mean. It has been fashion driven by the visual excitement of spotlighting the new polished wood flooring. And the result is what it says on the tin - spots of light !

Initially led will replace spotlights cos that is how they are made now. Ultimately solid state science will produce a decent panel light, then we are in business.

Microsoft Windows glider crashes

Alan Firminger

Spin

Since when did Microsoft take a team of smart guys and girls and build things from scratch. They bought or copied most things that they sell, starting with MS-DOS through Windows and all the more recent specialist company purchases.

DARPA orders VTOL robots for 'covert payload placement'

Alan Firminger

But control is only electronics

Since commercial jets fly by satnav and model a/c fly by a kid with a box, there is no problem with either. It would be surprising if one of these modes were not provided.

119 iPad apps for admins, coders, and geeks

Alan Firminger

Password generator

Does the iPad have a true random number generator ?

Google experimenting with spy drones, says German maker

Alan Firminger

Height

Generally airspace below 3000 feet is open for all users, But that assumes on board eyeballs and intelligence to avoid collisions. There is plenty of sky so airborne vehicles are mostly safe.

Without a pilot the drone will have to stay below 500 feet. So the promises of no intrusion depend on the optical resolution that may, or will, be fitted.

Treasury considers Coins replacement

Alan Firminger

Watch and learn

This is a first test for our new coal gov. We will see if they are as nutty as New Labour were about big computer based projects.

Judge trounces Register.com in Baidu.com hijacking case

Alan Firminger

refer back

There was the article describing the competition based on corporate gullibility. The voice on the 'phone only has to sound convincing.

Leicester City councillors eye up iPad to save £90k a year

Alan Firminger

Laptop or iPad

They will certainly want to see a whole A4 page. There is a lot of geography in council business, most presented A4 portrait.

An iPad is so much easier to access. Committees can be crowded round a table.

And an iPad is not expensive.

Alan Firminger
Grenade

Slightly off beam

It is more complicated than the analysis above.

Probably the repro method is offset litho. Probably a van scurries round delivering papers twice a week.

All papers do not all go to all members. But many go to council officers, the press, local MPs, the public with a long term interest in a subject and a heap for the public at meetings.

So if they are going paperless then everyone will have to follow. Sounds like a good idea because with so much material almost all users will prefer to access a council archive than store a hundredweight and a half of paper.

They will have to print one copy of all papers for the few who demand it, and they will get photocopies. And a copy of all minutes to be signed by the chair.

The public in the gallery at meetings who won't be able to follow the arguments is a bit of a problem. They will find a solution to this.

Social-engineering contest reveals secret BP info

Alan Firminger

Not

Not if the company is vigorous with policy, encouragement and training. Why don't companies do the same thing ?

UK supermarket starts contactless payments

Alan Firminger

It is all PR

Pin was essential for security. Now it isn't.

Armed with exploits, ATM hacker hits the jackpot

Alan Firminger

Yes

A couple of years ago I crashed an ATM. I watched it reboot DOS . it kept my card.

'Eternal' sun-plane still aloft after 7 days, aiming for 14

Alan Firminger

Its systemic

Violence correlates with sunshine .

I can understand why.

Ten Essential... Budget Compact Cameras

Alan Firminger

I agree

I support the contributors who argue that pixel numbers are not important. I have owned a 5 MP camera for five years and pixels have never been a problem. Resolution is excellent, certainly better than old fashioned silver film.

15 MP is adequate for a B3 print, that is a Guardian double spread, at 150 dots per inch. Does an amateur needs this ?

Miniature Apple display spotted in the wild

Alan Firminger

Error

Someone should explain why the label, which is essential for the story, is missing in the upper picture.

It is a prank.

Mega new climate science: 'Runaway' effect exaggerated

Alan Firminger

Find the facts on CO2

I am sceptic of all scientists because they all select their facts, and thus their conclusions, to suit their paymasters. No exception here unless proved otherwise. Preconceptions rule.

The theory is that our CO2 raises earth temperature a bit which releases stored CO2 from the oceans, providing runaway.

So why is the increased sea acidity from CO2 absorption threatening the survival of some corals ? The gas concentration in the sea cannot increase and decrease.

'Huge airships to carry freight starting 10 years from now'

Alan Firminger

It will never happen

There is a major flaw in the idea of a massive fragile object loose in the air.

Today is placid. Look out of the window and imagine an artificial cloud delicately passing by.

The forces on large buildings are significant, requiring a lot of steel for security. Multiply the slab side by a hundred and calculate the structure needed for security in all weathers.

Consider the stresses when we get a force 7.

Recall pictures of British Airways fleet on the parked at Heathrow recently. What will happen if a fleet of airships is grounded for any reason, which may be technical, financial or HR .

Hithertoo proposers explain that the machines will steer round storms. If only it were that easy. The machines have to reach their destinations and they have to come to earth. Is it proposed that at each stop there will be hangars for every one that might need it.

Hangers are called that because they were first erected so that blimps could hang safely in all weathers. Here are two at Cardington, note the scale.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Cardington,+Bedford,+United+Kingdom&sll=52.492815,-0.898132&sspn=0.809391,2.661438&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cardington,+Bedford,+United+Kingdom&ll=52.109016,-0.421665&spn=0.003189,0.010396&t=h&z=17

Russian spy ring bust uncovers tech toolkit

Alan Firminger

Thanks

Are her friends part of the story ? Seven out of eight have Russian type names.

'Biggest thing in farming for 10,000 years on horizon'

Alan Firminger

no nutrients ?

Grazing animals prosper. Ask a cow, or a horse.

Leica M9 rangefinder camera

Alan Firminger

Super, quibble, quibble, price comparison

I would imagine that this has a nearly instant shutter response. So why ignore this. A specimen of someone jumping in the air would demonstrate the point.

Why are the high resolution specimens 2800 x 1600 px ? That is probably half scale of the images delivered. If Reg is concerned about an overfull server then fewer specimens could be given.

In 1950, when a postage stamp or a bus ride cost the equivalent of 1 p , a Leica smuggled in from Germany cost £ 125 in the shop with an f 3.5 Elmar. An f 2.0 would set you back £ 150 , or twelve weeks average wage. So this is about equivalent in price.

Terror data handover seriously flawed

Alan Firminger

Lawks

The perpose of legislation is to permit and to control the actions of government.

Every government that gets itself in a hole will use whatever tools are available. An excellent example is the use of anti-terrorist legislation to grab Iceland's money. That is the system. So legislators must be precise.

Police complaints body gets a kicking for FOI law-breaking

Alan Firminger

But

the Independant Police Complaints Commision is what it says on the tin - independant. It is not a part of the police. That said there are a lot of ex coppers who work there.

GCHQ: The uncensored story of Britain's most secret intelligence agency

Alan Firminger

We know

Christopher Andrew's tome on MI5 is a transparent whitewash. Don't expect revelations.

Alan Firminger

But

Why the modesty ?

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