Posts by Jemma

Fukushima on Thursday: Prospects starting to look good

Again with the NO

The epicenter was less than 200 miles away from the Fuku' site - given that solid rock is a good conductor of the various types of earthquake wave, and yes there are more than one, the difference between the two are negligible.

Ummm, I am really beginning to wonder if you have that organ that is commonly known as a brain... listen carefully for I shall say this only once...

Earthquakes and Tsunami's ARE two separate ecological geological incidents. They can be related - this is true, and in this case they happen to be. But if you have a 'quake on a landlocked fault line - you dont have a Tsunami. You have an earthquake. The same follows, you can have a Tsunami without a directly associated earthquake (I am not even going to start on about nuee ardente and pyroclastic flows, both of which can have the same effect as a Tsunami, plus 600F gas clouds).

I have not addressed the point magnitude because it is actually irrelevant to the situation. True the earthquake scrammed the reactors (and you should be bloody grateful it did by the way) but the subsequent problems have been caused by non critical cooling issues, which in turn have generally been caused, so it appears, by the results of the tsunami - for example, the inability to refuel the diesel generator sets in the first instance - which itself has helped make the problems worse since the systems that would have maintained cooling have now themselves been damaged by heat and explosions/fires.

I say again... if the earthquake had been on land - at the same distance from the reactors as has been the case with the underwater event we actually have - there is a good chance that the reactors would have remained managable and the situation would have been a short term blip, that we didnt and the situation is as it is now.

Umm... again with the NO

The two are not similar, other than the fact they involve two nuclear plants...

Chernobyl - RMBK type - graphite moderated reactor - already at the time known to be problematic in certain situational envelopes (look up K-19 and associated articles) - especially so when it was basically running without any form of containment bar the building it was in.. which was to all intents and purposes built from second hand Wartburgs.

Also this was a new, not well understood installation. More to the point the top of the reactor was open to air - thats right - no pressure vessel. Reactor go bang - gases and smoke/steam vent direct to atmosphere

Fukushima - BWR type - water moderated, graphite controlled reactor - well understood, well built, well maintained and hardened against 5.4 mag earthquakes. Full primary pressure vessel, multistage failover and emergency control systems.

If you look carefully at the pictures of the damaged buildings at Fuku' you will notice that the damage has a cut off that is very regular - because the buildings were designed that way - hydrogen rises, hydrogen goes bang very readily with air/oxygen (a common mixture when zircalloy overheats) - design the upper outside building to shatter (like a fireworks factory) and the pressure will be directed away from areas you want to be protected like the primary pressure vessel.

Pictures of damage that look similar to the naked eye dont mean that the damage in the two instances is the same - thats why photoanalysts get paid alot of money by the militaries, because those pictures need to be interpreted properly.

Fukushima doesnt look pretty - but then neither would most places after what happened - the issue with nuclear plants and the like is that most of the great unwashed dont have a clue what can happen and what is dangerous and what isnt...

I'll bet you were one of those wondering if the thing would go up like a nuclear bomb.... *sigh* to answer that, No, it cant - a nuclear bomb requires enrichment of 95% and a specially designed implosion trigger - nuclear reactors work at either unenriched (CANDU) or levels of at most 7-8%.

Maybe some of you people should spend a little time doing research before you howl armageddon - go wikifiddle and keep out of the way of people whos nickname isnt '85'...

@ V3

Earthquake @ 9.0 magnitude scale = approximate 485 megatonne equivalent nuclear blast(s)

If you had bothered to do any research you would find that the Fukushima site was designed to survive a 5.4 magnitude earthquake - this was orders of magnitude higher on its own - add to that the tsunami damage to the facilities as well as the backbone infrastructure...

As regards the point principle magnitude (which is irrelevant anyway, since it was the tsunami that did for the plants) - having studied geology but not having detailed information about the rock formations and the like in the area I dont know, but it is unlikely to be much less than the magnitude at the strike/shear point on the fault, since the two places are quite close together.

Note on water bombing - why do you think they use sodding great catalinas and B-26 and the like as water bombers? because water is unguided and doesnt stay in a convenient lump like your average civilian-maiming multiple munition weapon - add to that the difficulties of keeping a chopper on station when its all up weight is changing, and the fact its carrying what is effectively a bucket on a string (which is itself affected by directional, windage and other forces), and I would like to see you manage better...

Now, listen carefully children, cos this is the important bit...

1. These reactors are the oldest type of BWR currently in service. More modern variants, and more modern reactor systems have been developed since these were installed (1971 onwards)

2. They Scrammed sucessfully, and maintained power and residual cooling for a decent period after, the failure was due in part to the tsunami having taken so much infrastructure out that the plants were unable to get supplies of diesel fuel and other requirements.

2a. IF THERE HAD BEEN NO TSUNAMI THERE WOULD MOST LIKELY NOT HAVE BEEN THE CASCADE PROBLEMS we now see at the plants... Alot of the major problems caused in the plants can be tracked back to the results of the Tsunami event, not so much to the earthquake itself.

3. The radioactivity released is to an extent more than Three Mile Island - that only became a 'disaster' because of gormless media hype and over-reporting. It looks as if this is going to happen again - not least because of the medias bright idea to talk to talking heads, who themselves are having to educated guess the situation because they dont have access to the data.

4. Chernobyl II cannot happen with these reactors - it is impossible - it is, as the chaps at monty python would say "a dead radioactive parrot'. The reactors in Japan are of a different design, have protective systems that werent welded together from secondhand Wartburgs and have not suffered a total core meltdown - not to even mention the fact that the Chernobyl reactor was in an active condition (ie it was supercritical) when that accident happened. The Japanese reactors were not, having scrammed, which means the heat within the system is of magnitudes lower than with the Chernobyl site - which was operating (under test) at the time of the disaster.

5. "It is unlikely that Nuclear power has a future" - umm, again with the No. Thorium reactors are just beginning to be actively developed and will probably be what is used in future installations. Small scale nuclear systems have also been trialed for several years - the smaller a reactor the easier it is to make and the safer it can be made. More to the point, when people stop wasting energy, then so much energy will not be needed. Then and only then will nuclear plants be either superceded or be extraneous to requirements.

6. "Nuclear plants are dirty and polluting and dangerous" aka the gormless ill-educated greenpeaceatard plainchant winge... The only difference between a coal/gas plant and a nuclear plant is that if you so feel the urge you can go visit and look at nuclear waste - coal & gas plants puke out tonnes and tonnes of pollution all over the world, but because you cant see it and (more importantly) the media dont orgasmically splatter it all over the internet every five minutes people seem to have the concept that coal/gas plants are all snuggly with mother nature.

Not to mention the fact that people that are nowhere near places at risk from even minimal radioactive contamination are now crapping themselves because the media is feeding them with worst possible situations based on the guesswork of the functionally illiterate & the vaguely remembered plots of 1970's disaster movies.

It is true that Nuclear power creates waste - but the difference is that it can be seen and quantified and to an extent controlled - not so much with other forms of energy. When the Thorium based systems come online even this will be reduced substantially.

Im not number one fan of Lewis Page it has to be said - but of all the different reports and the like I have read, the ones on this site are the least liable to win the "oops-there-wasnt-really-a-meltdown" award for journalistic excellence.

Fukushima situation as of Wednesday

I said this before, but it bears saying again....

::For the attention of Greenpeacetards and those people whose idea of research is somewhere to the left of guesswork...

Fact 1 : The systems in the Japanese reactors are 40 years old.

Fact 2 : They pre-date 3 Mile Island, so they have aux systems that run on external power - either electrical power or diesel aux generators are fitted.

Fact 3 : The aux cooling failover procedure didn't - hardly surprising considering large scale diesel engines don't like a mouth full of sea water and assorted houses turned into matchwood, ditto with cooling water intakes. Even train sized diesel engines have to be blown through and vented before they are started to make sure there is not water in the cylinders... if there is, and you start the engine - say goodbye to it - bent cranks and valves and god knows what else will result. Not to mention these engines had a limited fuel supply.

The primary safety systems WORKED, so please stop wingeing, because if they hadnt - half of America (depending on the wind direction, and assuming containment failed) would be enjoying luminous cow-tipping as the new national pastime. The 'shake sensors' worked perfectly - I don't want to think about what would have happened in a place that doesn't have these systems in place.

All the reactors scrammed successfully - they all shut down - its the auxiliary systems that failed to maintain cooling after the event, so as such the reactors, and remember these things are 40 years old, older than alot of houses - hospitals and other buildings.

Not to mention the fact that after being hit by a massive earthquake (with the equivalent energy of 485 megatonnes) - they got a faceful of saltwater - a 20ft wave travelling at upwards of 15-30mph - full of debris - a situation that 40 years ago was not being designed into buildings - and even now is something we havent learned to control, and you begin to realise that these things performed far over their survival envelopes. Bear in mind that the majority of the scrammed reactors are still safe.

As to the nuclear power plainchant wingeing - 99.99999999% of the time nuclear power is safe and clean. It is cleaner, albeit more expensive, than virtually all other forms of energy. The ones that are cleaner have a power/area ratio that is massively poorer - bar liquid salt solar towers.. that cant really be built in temperate zones since their output would be so variable and would need some sort of backups anyway. This is assuming that the much safer Thorium based reactors don't come on stream as they are expected to..

In all the accidents that are well known the problems have either been human error, design faults (that in newer kit have been solved to a large extent) or a bloody great earthquake plus a side order of tsunami suburb salad...

I'd like you to think for a second - as to what would happen to a nuclear rich country like France if the same thing happened there - an 8.9 quake in the middle of the channel and then a tsunami (of probably a lesser extent).... a moderate hydrogen explosion really isnt in it, in that situation.

Do we need to use so much electricity - no we don't - converting all bulbs to LED - as I have done at home saves at least 80% of the lighting power requirement - yes, the bulbs are more expensive... but on the other hand they last longer. It takes electrical power to make petrol for example - so why don't we stop buggering about with Prii - and the government to fit sump/transmission heaters to all vehicles on the road and all new production... a 1995 Renault Safrane 2.2 Auto without heating 21/22mpg average for short journeys... plug the car in for 30/45 minutes before a journey 26.1mpg... which will probably improve if I fit a transmission heater as well, AD4 transmissions don't like the cold, which increases transmission losses and therefore further lowers efficiency. Oh yeah, and even running both of those for 45 minutes costs you less than 4p - depending on your energy prices. It saves you a lot more at the pump.

There are all sorts of things we can do - but half of us don't know that we can do it - we look at the cost of LED bulbs and cringe - but we don't realise that these bulbs last much longer (some of the ones I have are still working after 3 years!). Its possible to get assistance to fit up solar systems, both PV/PH, to your home, and make money exporting money back to the grid...

Get a free examination of your home or company premises - and look into assistance for the required changes.

The local police station in my town - has a great big efficiency indicator on the wall - yet all the bulbs in the lights are conventional, energy wasting bulbs. The police complain about their problems with money... swapping over the bulbs alone (that are generally always on) saves around 80% of lighting energy use... less 'lectric, more money to spend on sitting waiting for speeders...

As a closing argument - it says a lot when an ex director of a environmental organisation on the scale of greenpeace - is happy to sit on TV and admit to the fact that the safest type of power generation and that which most supports the environment... is Nuclear Power.

P.S. Is it just me, or isnt it humerous to listen to the US media yapping about the 'nuclear armageddon that isnt' without pointing out the fact that the last time Japan had a nuclear problem it involved 2 hot-rodded B29's....

Sixth Japanese nuclear reactor loses cooling

...sigh...

Fact 1 : The systems in the Japanese reactors are 40 years old

Fact 2 : They pre-date 3 Mile Island, so they have aux systems that run on external power - either electrical power or diesel aux generators are fitted.

Fact 3 : The aux cooling failover procedure didnt - hardly surprising considering large scale diesel engines dont like a mouth full of sea water and assorted houses turned into matchwood, ditto with cooling water intakes. Even train sized diesel engines have to be blown through and vented before they are started to make sure there is not water in the cylinders... if there is, and you start the engine - say goodbye to it - bent cranks and valves and god knows what else will result.

The primary safety systems WORKED, so please stop wingeing, because if they hadnt - half of America (depending on the wind direction, and assuming containment failed) would be enjoying luminous cow-tipping as the new national pastime. The 'shake sensors' worked perfectly - I don't want to think about what would have happened in a place that doesn't have these systems in place.

All the reactors scrammed sucessfully - they all shut down - its the auxiliary systems that failed to maintain cooling after the event, so as such the reactors, and remember these things are 40 years old, older than alot of houses - hospitals and other buildings.

Not to mention the fact that after being hit by a massive earthquake - they got a faceful of saltwater - a 20ft wave travelling at upwards of 15-30mph - full of debris - a situation that 40 years ago was not being designed into buildings - and even now is something we havent learned to control, and you begin to realise that these things performed far over their survival envelopes. Bear in mind that many of the scrammed reactors are still safe.

As to the nuclear power plainchant wingeing - 99.99999999% of the time nuclear power is safe and clean. It is cleaner, albeit more expensive, than virtually all other forms of energy. The ones that are cleaner have a power/area ratio that is massively poorer - bar liquid salt solar towers.. that cant really be built in temperate zones since their output would be so variable and would need some sort of backups anyway. This is assuming that the much safer Thorium based reactors don't come on stream as they are expected to..

In all the accidents that are well known the problems have either been human error, design faults (that in newer kit have been solved to a large extent) or a bloody great earthquake plus a side order of tsunami suburb salad...

I'd like you to think for a second - as to what would happen to a nuclear rich country like France if the same thing happened there - an 8.9 quake in the middle of the channel and then a tsunami (of probably a lesser extent).... a moderate hydrogen explosion really isnt in it, in that situation.

Do we need to use so much electricity - no we don't - converting all bulbs to LED - as I have done at home saves at least 80% of the lighting power requirement - yes, the bulbs are more expensive... but on the other hand they last longer. It takes electrical power to make petrol for example - so why don't we stop buggering about with Prii - and the government to fit sump/transmission heaters to all vehicles on the road and all new production... a 1995 Renault Safrane 2.2 Auto without heating 21/22mpg average for short journeys... plug the car in for 30/45 minutes before a journey 26.1mpg... which will probably improve if I fit a transmission heater as well, AD4 transmissions don't like the cold, which increases transmission losses and therefore further lowers efficiency. Oh yeah, and even running both of those for 45 minutes costs you less than 4p - depending on your energy prices. It saves you a lot more at the pump.

There are all sorts of things we can do - but half of us don't know that we can do it - we look at the cost of LED bulbs and cringe - but we don't realise that these bulbs last much longer (some of the ones I have are still working after 3 years!). Its possible to get assistance to fit up solar systems, both PV/PH, to your home, and make money exporting money back to the grid...

Get a free examination of your home or company premises - and look into assistance for the required changes.

The local police station in my town - has a great big efficiency indicator on the wall - yet all the bulbs in the lights are conventional, energy wasting bulbs. The police complain about their problems with money... swapping over the bulbs alone (that are generally always on) saves around 80% of lighting energy use... less 'lectric, more money to spend on sitting waiting for speeders...

As a closing argument - it says a lot when an ex director of a environmental organisation on the scale of greenpeace - is happy to sit on TV and admit to the fact that the safest type of power generation and that which most supports the environment... is Nuclear Power.

Eurofighter Typhoon: It's EVEN WORSE than we thought

I think I am going to cry...

@ whoever - The original tempest/typhoon was great - when its tail wasnt dropping off and squishing cows - and when it wasnt winter and the engine had to be left running overnight (all night every night) because if you tried to start it cold the oil would just sit and grin while the Napier Sabre bent itself more out of shape than an el reg commentard...

Its all academic since if we are lucky all these things are going to be used for is a cheap target scoring drone for idiot politicians - and to pretty up Duxford Air Show once a year.. assuming they are fit to fly...

If we arent lucky, they are going to be cheesed (like creamed only it takes longer) by the fighters of the Chinese AF when they invade europe.

More to the point - it doesnt matter what you are flying - at all - if the other guy gets the jump on you and hits you while you are daydreaming/researching rule 34 as it relates to your ex and her dog... you will still BURN and DIE...

I dont know how much it would cost, but I am sure its possible to go down the local engineering shop with some old plans and get us a nice airforce with the pocket change in the kitty...

How, I hear you ask

Its perfectly simple - the purpose of the planes hasnt changed - just how they are powered and all the electronical kit.. so why not just go back, build uprated & updated ducted-fan/turboprop versions of old stalwarts as the tempest/typhoon - spitfire/seafire - beaufort or B-25 for ground attack/bombing...

See, its all very well hollering that speed is of the essence and manueverability and all that - but its been proved that all you need to do is get the jump and you, or they, still win 80% of the time.

So why spend shed loads of money on speed, when its a white elephant?

Then you have people saying - but if you are flying something thats top speed is 500-550mph (a speed that Griffon spitfires, with a bored-out merlin could just about manage 60 years ago) against something that can do mach 2.25 - remember viffing, that trick the harrier could play?

newsflash - everything low and slow, that will set your bald spot on fire if you are standing too close when it starts up can do the same trick... drop flaps/wheels, back throttle to just above stall, watch flyboy barrel past you looking bewildered, and then shoot him.. It was done in Vietnam/Korea for heavens sake with biplanes dropping grenades out the door. A German WWII ace almost got court martialled because the same thing happened in tests with one of the first Me262.

Its all irrelevant anyway, because its numbers that matter these days, and we don't have them.

What should be done is one person who has the authority to make the decision cans the whole program - the jets are taken to bits, and those bits recycled into a new autonomic flight/fight system - that way we don't lose the value we've spent but we get something that can fight way beyond the envelop that is currently possible (as has been stated before, fighting could be so much more fighty, if it wasnt for the requirement to bring the fleshies back in one piece) - and (assuming they dont use Windows CE Embedded) wont be looking at ramblers on the Cairngorms from below on a more or less regular basis...

I don't think there is any thing to be gained wingeing about Typhoon any more - because there is nothing anyone can do to change or cancel it. The government cannot back out, because it would be political suicide on a scale yet seen (even compared to their efforts now), the air force don't want to back out, because then they *will* be asking to borrow Duxfords planes (or the Confedarate AF, at probably half the price) so the only way is to stop now, and make something from the mess of the typhoon project, by moving the thing forward as a remote piloted fighter/munitions platform.

Yes, that does seem like more expense, but if its done properly, at the right price and properly overseen - then we will have a fighter/fighter bomber that is more capable and alot more future proof...

Or we could just be sensible - and buy a few boatloads of patriots and the like and be done with it - after all - I am sure there is some African country with a friendly (if politically dubious) government that we haven't palmed our overpriced military crap on somewhere ... after all, turning a load of rifle armed tribesmen into Whiskas with the Typhoon should be well within its capabilities...

Oh wait - its hot and sunny in Africa *sigh* and jets dont like to go out when its hot and sunny (can a harrier *get* sunburn...?)

NASA's Glory climate-data sat crashes into Pacific on launch

ok...

Who's turn is it to call the Wildfire Alert this time...?

Probably a case of explosive bolts that didnt - but if you see any green/purple flecks - you're probably already dead...

Have a nice day ya'all...

Egyptian bloke dubs sprog 'Facebook'

...on balance...

Probably not - the only thing thats changed after all is the government, shes still female, so she'll still have all the usual abuses and lack of rights to deal with - and we are assuming that Mubarak is gone for good, and history shows us that things out there can take unusual turns... if Mubarak, or more likely Mubarak sympathizers get back into power...

Hmm.. and then theres your fundamentalist Muslims who hate anything to do with the west.. and think women are there to be owned/raped/hanged/shot every time there is an R in the month... so theres a double whammy for this poor girl again...

Its not really any different, or any more wise, that a person in Prague in Feb 1968 calling their kid Dubcek or calling them Facebook now.... it puts both the kid and the family in danger because it outs them as supporters of Dubcek or the revolution movement in Egypt respectively... and we know what happened in Prague.

And, then we have Libya - who decided it was a great idea to loose Mirage II fighter/bombers on their own people, who's to say they wont sort out their own little uprising and then send their militia over to Egypt - Facebook; meet AK-47...

...note to future therapist...

Monkey Dust, saying it so I dont have to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp5YIk49EOM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WXM_qCJFBg

I feel so so sorry for that kid

Five Reasons to be cheerful about Nokia-Microsoft

...see, it can do tricks...

My favourite phones of all I have owned - a HTC 8500 running 6.1 and a E75 running Symbian - both over 6 years old.

No others have really come close, even with all the bells and whistles.

EPOC/Symbian is still a viable smartphone OS as has been proved by the N8-00 which, surprise surprise, is running Symbian. Microsoft are well known for nicking other peoples software (its how they started if we are brutally honest) and personally I think they would be stupid not to leverage the EPOC IP - even if its only to look at why symbian phones tend to have such better battery life and run so much better on less meaty hardware...

I suppose you havent bothered to go look at all the different pieces of software you can use to skin, modify, adjust and update both WinMo and Symbian... no I thought not, muppetboi

For example - Rinku Iconbar & PointUI on both touch and non touch screen winmo devices - skins the WinMo experience. Smarttoolkit, gives you a windows 9x/XP style customisable start bar to the point you dont even have to leave the home screen to get most tasks done - and ooh look, they're free.. or you could go to xda-developers, find your handset, run hardspl (equiv of rooting in 'droid) and put a whole new rom on it... in less than 3 hours start to finish.

If I want to - using Smarttoolkit - I can even reboot my 8500 phone, from the homescreen, in the grand total of 5 keypresses. Takes me less than 2 seconds.

There are/were numerous people skinning symbian - not to mention various freeware, or cheap apps to provide functionality improvements - most of which cover the bitching and whining about how symbian is out of date and so on ad nauseous (which is what people like you make me feel when I have to explain things for the 15th time).

You just have to take maybe a sunday having a look on the net and finding the SW that works for you with whatever device you have and you are away.

In fact - I have spent about 4 hours today getting my 2006 HTC 8500 back up and working - and have found some new apps that even I didn't know about for it... pretty much any phone will work for you if you take the time to learn it, and then take the time to go find things that deal with the problems you just cant live with - you can be guaranteed someone else will have had the same issue. And guess what, they're mostly free.

Symbians biggest problem wasn't so much its UI or its abilities (it can still do things even now that WinPrat 7 cant manage) - it was the fact that at every turn it was lambasted by reviewers because they didn't have the time or the inclination to do their jobs and learn how to use the symbian OS/UI (or spent most of the time playing with WinMo/Android/idiotOS eyecandy and didnt have the time, or were distracted by the shiny pretty colours)...

I'm beginning to think that like there is a driving test to see if you can get a BMW M5 round a bend without tree-hugging - there should be a test for people so they show a certain level of aptitude before being allowed behind the wheel of a smartphone, and you, sadly, seem to be the epitome of the 'sorry sir, I regret to inform you that you have failed' fraternity.

...you are missing the point...

Windows Mobile 5/6.xx was a very good very powerful operating system for smartphones - it was developed, it was stable, and it was well liked, despite what the iFanbois say. You only have to look at xda-developers and people still developing new ROMs for phones that are 6 years old...

WinMo 7 is powerful, yes - but they tried to follow the iPhone route, and in the process alienated the very core of people who were very happy with their WinMo 6/6.1/6.5 phones - who could overclock them to their hearts content (HTC Startrek - 200mhz stock, to 263mhz clocked for example- a 32% increase) and mix and match different elements of different suppliers to their hearts content...

Then you have Symbian - a UI designed around a power sipping OS core - that could give a 200mhz phone a standby time of days, when the same phone running win mobile would maybe make a day if you were nice to it. It would have flown on something like the 1Ghz Snapdragon... and to be fair, all this twaddle about 'usability'... if you cant use a new phone os adequately within 2 weeks you have no right to own a smartphone...

I think this might actually be the nail in the coffin for iOS - because I suspect that engineers are going to ripping the symbian OS to pieces and looking very carefully at how the EPOC IP and core modules etc can be shoehorned or modified/ported to work with WinMo 7 - and if that can be done.... a smartphone that can last 6 days reasonable usage on a single charge...? We'll be back to the halcyon days of the E75 and the 9300i - phones that could do practically anything you asked of them, but didnt need their own personal private powerstation with which to do it..

On that alone iPhone will be dead in the water - since it has no real differentiations between it and any of the other options... even the chinese KIRF phone manufacturers have just written a UI overlay over MTK so theirs looks like the iPhone OS...

If Microsoft & Nokia play their cards right I suspect the following will happen..,

1. Symbian and the EPOC core will be ripped apart and examined minutely

2. The results of this examination will be ported to WinMo7 with an intent to increasing battery life, possibly to the extent of multiple days with normal use..

3. WinMo 7 will be the flagship line for smartphones

4. The EPOC/Symbian system will be updated - possibly using something like HTCs sense as a new IU overlay - after all the ability of the OS core was never an issue, it was the symbian UI that was hopelessly fragmented.

5. Renamed and refitted Symbian as was will be what powers intermediate/low level touchscreen and QWERTY/keypad smartphones

6. WinMo 6.5 updated and refreshed for the market that is now referred to as 'dumbphones'

The results of this:-

WinMo7 phones with massively extended battery life - even with ridiculously powerful processors and media abilities etc.

EPOC phones with as good/better battery life - decent processors - up to date UI (sense or a version of the 'tiles' system on WinMo7).

WinMo 6 phones (under a different name)- probably non touchscreen - or QWERTY phones - with a slimmed down Sense or Tiles or other new UI - cheap processors, fair media ability - for the people who want a more simple phone that can occasionally do 'the smartphone'. Its entirely possible to run windows 6.5 + Sense UI + email & media on a 300-350mhz processor.

... its even entirely possible even now to sync your WinMo handset with your Google mail/calendar/contacts... Google havent been advertising that now have they...

Given attractive and innovative handset designs (updated Nokia E75 anyone?) and proper software testing - this Microkia ecosystem could give both iOS (top end) and Android (medium to low end) a good run for their money...

Apple suppliers: Child labor, bribery, suicides

...fanbois coming down, three jerks at two ten...

You know it doesn't really matter at the end of the day - the facts speak for themselves - $280 all in for parts to make an whyPhone 4 - and we get to pay between $700 and £800 for the privilege of owning one...

Yet you can buy an android handset that can do as much and more for £250...

Is any of this getting through to you lot of Fanbois yet? Apple are, have always been, and will always be profiteers working on your gullibility to sell overpriced tat - I wouldn't put it past them to install catch nets on buildings on the basis that falling humans tend to splat - and be working behind the scenes on suicide booths ala futurama, but which only allow you certain apple specified ways of topping yourself and charge you into the bargain for the privilege...

Oh wait, thats Orange mobile customer support...

When apple use their record profits to pay their workers in China *directly* a decent living wage @ decent hours, with decent housing and medical etc built in to the contracts, then there'll be one less in the myriad of reasons why I wouldn't touch an iPhone with someone else's bargepole.

Ironic isn't it - Apple sets up medical care - and it was Apple and their shoddy attention to detail that made them ill in the first place - and whats the betting that the n-hexane poisoning was treated as a 'pre-existing condition' and therefore wasn't covered..

ooooh, then theres dead peasants insurance, you can be Apple wont have missed that one either...

Steve Jobs could be the lord god almighty himself and I still wouldn't buy anything with an apple label on it, nor will my family, nor will my families families families family... not while I still draw breath.. hmm, I could put a clause in my will, any member who buys an apple product will be disowned and disinherited on the spot...

getting the hint yet Fanbois?

Everything Everywhere dips toe in retail waters

...more like...

Arrogant Clueless Talentless Theiving Lying A-holes...

And that doesnt even come close to what I think of them at the moment. They're right at the top of my revenge pending list right now, even above the child abuser I know who managed to leg it before the US police arrived - having infected his kid with HPV...

Its a shame companies dont have graves - because I'd borg/freeze/brain in a bowl myself - just so I lived long enough to dance on it... however long it took

Facebook flick up for 8 Oscars, King's Speech for 12

The names Sorkin...

... Aaron "I managed to make a total financial meltdown boring" Sorkin...

There is a reason why authors write books and journalists write 2000 word articles - and this berk is the walking talking advert for it... He even manages to make Dan Brown look talented...

As to the pompous little twerps who came up with a$$book, thy time will come... give it 15 years and at least one of them will be found dead, hanging by his nuts, wearing a gannex mac and suspenders... and re-runs of the Social Network will move across the face of AppleTV. To misquote Churchill "Never in the field of human gullibility, has so much been nicked from so many, by so few..."

The less said about the royal family the better - I have the horrible suspicion we're getting a good news wedding in April to skillfully (I use the word advisedly) disguise the fact that ole Tin Lizzie & Lord Percy are retiring - lumbering us with King Poof the 1st & the kings consort Lady Park'yer'bawls.

True its not the first time that we've had a rumpstuffer at Caer Paravel - but at least the others weren't so damned obvious about it...

Are disk drives beginning to spin down?

umm... there is something to this methinks...

I have two laptops at home - one running windows 7 and the other ubuntu 10.x.x. They both have hard drives surprisingly enough..

I spend more time now using the net from my X10 Mini Pro than I do the laptops and its a rare thing that I pick either of the laptops up until I need to do something like writing or printing a letter - and to be honest, with a little fiddling the phone could probably do that too.

The phone uses solid state memory (up to 32GB) so it doesnt use a hard drive - which I therefore wont buy, either directly or as a part of the unit concerned...

As to the Cloud - NO THANKS - there is no fscking way I am putting personal information on someone elses servers - not ever. Not my ideas, not my letters, nothing. True, I cant stop google and the like creating metadata and holding search data and the like, but I left a$$book because the privacy thing there was a joke, and I dont feel like keeping in contact with people I hated 20 years ago, because I will probably hate them now just as much...

There will always be a market for personal storage - always - because anyone with half an ounce of sense wants to keep their private data private - and the only way to do that is private personal storage...

And thats not even bringing in the subject of data backup...

If the big HDD companies dont get their act together and start creating their own flash/SSD foundaries and the like (assuming there is still time) they will end up following the formats they made their money on into the dim and distant past...

Man killed by own cock

...Calling Robert Rankin...

"...All hail Sate-Hen..."

/gets coat

Apple refuses frozen iPhone repair

... revenge is a dish best served cold...

And its very cold in Jobs!

or

Fashion led gullibility - £750

Getting shafted on the warranty - Priceless...

or

“With the new eyePhone, you can watch, listen, ignore your friends, stalk your ex, download porno on a crowded bus, even check your email while getting hit by a train. All with the new eyePhone. From Mom...”

Should I go on?

Italian bloke sneezes out .22 bullet

... in fact ...

All calibres can be silenced - its more a matter of the gun concerned - silencing a single shot weapon is more effective because in an automatic the bolt is open a substantial amount of the time the weapon is firing - which means escaping gases, which means escaping sound.

As to the .22 its not much of a round as far as muzzle velocity is concerned, nor stopping power. There are ways to make it more lethal however - but the guy was still lucky - there was a case of a 16 year old girl who was accidentally shot by her brother - it hit her directly through the eye, the one place a .22 could easily kill.

If you want to make a mess of a person, and make sure that other people aren't harmed then the Glazer round is your friend, its design is such that the round does maximum damage without going through the body.

The problem with silenced weapons is that of muzzle velocity - the more quiet, the less muzzle velocity. Given that a silenced round at range tends to tumble they are only accurate at close range, hence a silenced weapon generally being used at close or point blank ranges.

US Navy's electric plane-thrower successfully launches an F-18

...So I tell the cabinet, that you're trusting in radar and praying to God, is that right?...

It wasnt a resounding victory in any sense of the word ... both of our front line fighters were outclassed on introduction and that doesnt include the Fw 190 being introduced soon after... Machine guns vs Cannon - vacuum carburettors vs mechanical metered fuel injection - we even lost out as regards radar fitted aircraft - even radar equipped bf110's were being phased in on the heels of the BoB...

Our sole advantage was Chain Home and the associated Chain Home Low - and even with these we only won because of bad tactics by the enemy - most notably the locking of the Bf 109E/F/G fighters to close formation on the bombers... which negated almost all of their advantages over the Spitfire/Hurricane (the less said about the Defiant the better).

It was dumb luck that won us the Battle of Britain - dumb luck and a fat morphine addled polymath whose sole qualification for being a fighter general was the fact he used to fly stringbags (and his understanding of tactics reinforce this).

If the BEF lost us the Battle of France using pitiful WWI tactics - Goering lost the BoB for the very same reason.. and personally I'm grateful to him, because all things being equal - he is the one we have to thank...

Black Buck & the Second VC

From what I can tell from my reading and knowledge of the matter no-one really knows what effect these missions had. All that can be agreed upon was that they were a great technical feat - but like the Doolittle Raid - it depends if you think that the psychological effects were worth the matériel risk.

It also assumes that the Argentinians had planned to use those airfields - and given the relative positions and their effective strength I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't even considered it. Remember, we aren't talking about a air force that has 2000+ front line fighters and 1000+ bombers in its arsenal (aka Luftwaffe) for which it would make sense to put a percentage right on the front line. The Argentinian AF was small although its aircraft for the time were effective and up to date. In that situation it makes no sense to put a small number of planes on the islands, for a tiny strategic/tactical gain, balanced against the risk of loss of a high percentage of your available airframes and more importantly trained experten.

If we are honest, and I know I going to get flak for this, the British plan for the recovery of the islands could have been put together by the management of British Leyland. It had no backup plan - and this cost lives when the Argentinians were lucky or clever enough to wipe out the helicopters that were crucial to the plan... gained two poor sods posthumous VC's (yes, thats TWO, not just 'H' Jones - wonder if you can tell why the other one didnt get in the news...). If our army was as good as people claimed and still claim there wouldn't be VC's and MC's walking about - because they wouldn't have had to take stupid risks - above and beyond that they take on a regular basis - to get the job done.

We could have had three carriers - the recently decommissioned one could easily have been re-engined and re-equipped at probably less than half the price of one of the new ones. If the Italians can do it for heavens sake (see the conte di cavour class - which were so comprehensively rebuilt they were effectively completely new ships), then I am sure we can do it. Even the guy who was in command of Ark Royal III (Illustrious) seemed bewildered as to why it was being dropped on the interview...

And there is another point about this orgasmic idea for electric plane throwers - we are probably going to buy them off the shelf from the US (and we'll get the crappy *export* version into the bargain)... which means if the 'special relationship' turns Hollyoaks on us - we are going to have two useless hunks of floating metal, because without spares the systems are useless.

You know it would probably be more economical all round to put some old American carriers back into action and pay the US for them on a lease basis - with a maintenance clause in the contract on the states side... after all, all we are doing is spending money to build something to carry American planes carrying American weapons and avionics - launched by American equipment... I'm sure someone can see the common thread here...

Its wonderful that this new tech works, it has all sorts of different applications (maglev train systems, spaceplane groundboost launcher, and some other more outlandish ideas) - don't get me wrong - but its just not the bargain we are being told it is - even with the *special relationship*.

Article deleted

... I always prefer two strokes...

...More bang for your buck....

mines the one with the GEBE catalogue in the pocket..

*icon=apposite

Google revives ‘network computer’ with dual-OS assault on MS

... methinks we have been here before, BOFH ...

http://bofh.ntk.net/BOFH/1998/bastard98-04.php

Judge puts Assange behind bars ahead of extradition hearing

....The common desk drawer....

... A boon to the copper in a hurry....

Im just waiting for everything between 1990 - 2003, then I predict it'll be time to reap the whirlwind..

*mines the one with AMNW badge number 177 in the pocket!

Evenin' all.

ASSANGE ARRESTED in London - in court later today

Read this... and be afraid...

http://213.251.145.96/cable/1979/08/79TEHRAN8980.html

If this is the arrogance of our allies and their level of stupidity who needs enemies...

Up the Parthians!!

I wonder if Obama knows his Persian history, if he doesnt I suggest he learns it and fast... because thats who the US will be fighting if they go into Iran and I'd run 8 to 1 on the Persians personally.

On the Assange front - yay - they've done the second stupidest thing they could have done (the most stupid the bit where he has a heart attack in his cell... expect that in about three weeks...)

If the collective governments had any sense (and I know thats an oxymoron) they would have left him alone and ignored him until he died forgotten at the age of 87 in Bruge (and trust me, the highlight of Bruge is dying there). Wailing about the things he's released and chasing him halfway round the globe has done nothing more than make sure that everyone on the planet (to a bored yak herder halfway up kilimanjaro) knows whats going on...

I dont think we've heard even the half of what wikileaks has gotten hold of - the stuff released so far is bait for the trap, which the govts have jumped into with both feet flailing.You know - if I was him - I would have set up a simple payload program - with a time release - so that if the PHB's get a hold of him or more probably if he stabs himself accidentally in pottery class - it waits a certain amount of time and then releases the *really* nasty stuff.

Kudos on the Goebbels quote, very very apt sadly...

Rape Insurance is a wonderful idea - I wonder if they got the suggestion from Discworld by any chance (thieves guild) - Do you get a nice parker pen just for enquiring...?

New RAF transport plane is 'Euro-w*nking makework project'

...who the hell cares anyway...

Since the next big war is going to be with China and they will kick us in the b***ocks so hard that the people they're attached to will probably make orbit.

Its immateriel (see what I did there?) what we buy and from whom - if it comes to a proper war the situation is as follows..

America: dead in the water, mortgaged to the hilt.. no help there then

France: enough said

Germany: swamped

Russia: most of their kit above the size of a machine gun is more rust than bodywork and more filler than either...

GB: given that this will happen probably outside of the next 20 years (i hope) the best we'll be able to throw at them by then will be the dusted off Duxford collection... and I'll tell you now I am not going to be the poor sod who ends up with the 1 1/2 strutter thanks all the same.

It matters not a jot or a tittle what we buy, if they put up 30 to our 1 we are dead meat...

Oh, and in case anyone wants to mention that we won the last lot... be reminded that we only won the battle of Britain because a fat morphine addict was in charge of the other side and they could build big enough petrol tanks into their fighters... if anyone won that war it was the Russians, not the west, and even thats debatable given the fact that Herr "oooh look, another chance for tactical fsck up... woo hoo" Hitler was in charge.

Given that our best bets as allies are either a country that legs it at the soonest opportunity, or one that puts more bullets into its own side than it ever does the enemy... I think the chances of us coming out on top are pretty much zero...

So it makes very little difference what we buy and where from... if The Great Steve ever cancels the iPhone contracts....

We're doomed...

To misquote

"You're all invited to a mass slaughter, General Melchett wants to move his Drinks Cabinet 6 inches closer to Beijing..."

Hacker unshackles Kinect from Xbox

relevant... yes actually..

Apple are very relevant in this situation - since its probably as a result of their 'sucess' with closed software and hardware that MS have jumped on the bandwagon and in the process helped kneecap what is an already failing business.

Apple laptops and desktop machines are good if expensive - but then you get what you pay for generally in that department of the empire of jobs...

I make no bones that I am not a fan of apple products so far as their phones are concerned. They are overpriced, over-controlled, underfunctional pieces of equipment built in sweatshops...

The problem apple will have, and sooner rather than later, is that the only reason people buy those phones is they are the new craze... once the market is saturated, what are they gonna do next?

Its the same problem MS face now - there are viable alternatives to all their products pretty much - at half the price - so all MS can do is retrench which is what this 'protect the IP at all costs' is about - but it also means, that when life throws them an easy win, all they can see is something that threatens them because thats all they have been conditioned to see

so yes, Apple is relevant to this discussion because I think there is a good chance that all this toothgrinding at MS is as a direct result of their thinking that a wall garden mentality is what is making the iTwerp 4 a success... its just that its the current fashion, nothing more...

A fleet in being approach is never a wise one, and its my opinion that MS are very very close to falling into that position, a position that it is very hard to get out of once you are in it...

Microsoft is dead... long live Microsoft...

And this is why Ballmer is getting out now...

Microsoft are on the way out because they are more interested in their IP than they are making profits.

This guy should be getting money from the company, not being pilloried by them. In days past MS would have employed this guy at a nice salary and put him to developing new applications for the Kinect... but not these days.

The more people can use the kinect the bigger the market. The 'hacking' of it means the market for it has maybe become an order of magnitude larger, which is only good for MS.

MS and Apple are two companies who are staring death in the face, because they are essentially one trick ponies. MS sells software that now has valid competition in all markets and is a lost cause in alot of them

Apple has massively overpriced hardware and software... and now want to control software for laptops and desktop systems using an 'app market' - I used to work in Mac support and I know for a fact that the only reason new computers were bought was because of the bundles sold with them (they were jawdroppingly expensive otherwise). A mobile phone for almost £850 which breaks, loses signal, *still* doesnt do what other competitiors were doing 5 years before, not to mention is sold at a mark up of almost 200%... and its distinction is a UI that was copied for other systems within 3 months of it hitting the market...

Microsoft is a dead company walking... just a shame it cost us so much money in the interim.

Did UK.gov break the law with its child database?

...all that needs to be said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_3I0MiAP8

"... I'm gonna take the lights down, and change the mood...."

Child porn victims seek multimillion-dollar payouts

...enuff said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvsoVdvtZC4&feature=related

Watch and learn, pay attention to the lyrics....

I've said it before and I'll say it again - kids sexuality isnt miraculously switched on the day they pass our legal age of consent, and we ignore that at our peril..

As to this 'Amy' character ... lost wages... um no... the fact she is a talentless nobody (which going after such payments implies) does not automatically follow on from the fact she was abused and I know this from personal experience of being an 'abuse victim'.

So stop with the easy targets of paedogeddon (thank you!) - and start going after people who do real harm... like BP executives for example... or the chinese/north korean governments maybe.. O I forgot, they can fight back...

Its been proven that some people are getting done for kiddie fiddling that have nothing to do with it, because others have spiked their computers... there was even a court case on it... so why all this palaver?

And as for supply and demand... its the same as with hard drugs... make it illegal and they will search it out... not to mention that you are putting kids sexuality in the crosshairs of people who might have aimed their unpleasantness somewhere else, because no-one else will return a childs growing sexuality *but* a criminal. And yes, children have a sexuality as much as an adult does (more of one in many cases, thanks to deranged parents and churches and religions and the like). The longer we dont accept this, the more there will be abuse..

I know of at least one case where a teacher had her career destroyed when the girl she was seeing admitted to the court that she, a 15 year old girl, was the one who instigated the relationship by wearing the teacher down for months until the teacher gave in... and that they would be together after the trial... did the judge do the sensible thing and punish the 'child' for what she had done... of course not... paedogeddon was called down on the earth and the teacher went to prison... I love the law...not

MoD braced for painful weight-loss surgery next week

...will take hits but nothing important...

mainly because they have nothing important to hit any more? the SA80 still doesnt work more than twice out of three, and the rest of the kit is not up to much..

To correct a certain stripling - BAe systems were arguably the most successful managers of the leviathan which was at times British Leyland, Rover, Austin-Rover etc. They presided over the period of the hook up with Honda and the still popular R8 cars - it was only when BMW got hold of the company - did the business equivalent of kicking Honda in the happy sacks - and presiding over some of the most stupid business decisions known to mankind that things really finally started to go to hell in a handbasket. The 'four horsemen of the apocalypse' that followed on after BMW had shredded the business and nicked all the worthwhile IP had little other option than to watch the remains of the company wither - but even then there was some worthy tin coming out of the doors.

The RAF was always going to get hammered - simply because its been in the news as the one spending more than its means for so long and so often the politicians really dont have any other option than to be seen to be clobbering them, Irony is that it would probably have been a better plan to merge the 'air forces' - so we keep a navy and army, but have planes that can do a multitude of roles depending on the weapons and avionics fit for a given mission.

A commonality of airframes would be a better idea than trying to keep 3 - 4 different systems running when really their job can be done with one type of aircraft and different fit-outs. true it means you get a plane that needs to be land and carrier capable, which adds complexity to an extent - but its less complexity than the systems required to run, maintain and support two airframe sets and their spare parts which are essentially doing the same job.

Im still not sure about the navy side of things - it strikes me that all these vaunted 'big ships' with their planes and helicopters and the like - are slow, greedy on fuel, and should it come to a showdown with someone like china pointless anyway since they will be prime targets within the first 30 minutes...

How about 6 mega submarines? expensive and complex, but possible, Think a vessel with nuclear power but running a breeder reactor so it can manufacture its own fuel. think a vessel with separate hangars and systems for maybe 6 F-18 fighters with their assorted load outs and parts etc and a railgun type catapult. think combined gun and missile armament, along with decent sensor suites.

One of those alone is a combination of every single possible requirement - and in the long run it would still work out cheaper to maintain than all of the different hulls, engines, and other kit that is used now in the different classes of vessel in the navy. plus the bigger something is, the less easy it is to destroy it.

Ironically it might save money to spend alot more at one given time, in order to get savings down the road - but the chances of the government at the moment getting that...?

Cameron to spend £1bn+ on cyber security

utter utter f£$kwits!

Oooh look, we cant afford to pay child support or disability benefit for people with terminal disease (yes, that would be me)... but we can spend £1bn on IT security for people who think that the password 'passwordn+1 where n = years in quango" is pushing the boat out a little too far vis a vis their intelligence requirements...

We cant even have the entire houses of parliament dragged out and shot (so far as I know treason is still a capital offense, and if what this shower is doing isnt treason I'll have my hat done rare with a pepper sauce)- because the military cant afford the bullets - and all the farmers who used to have shotguns (that havent been nicked by angry cabbies) cant afford the licenses...

You know, I might be wrong but getting 30% of the vote of the 10% of the voters who actually voted, its generally not known as a majority on Planet Reality.

Can someone please tell me how this idiotic retards got into power... I'd love to know...

Nokia C6 smartphone

X10 Mini Pro

Yeah, I already have this phone and the only niggle with it is that the screen can be a litle weird at times.

The keyboard on that is pretty good for its size. Personally I would go for android every time over symbian. Im not that impressed with Nokia any more

The last Nokia phone I had was the E70 - which was great, until they decided they couldnt be bothered to support it - which makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Stuxnet worm can reinfect PCs even after disinfection

...um, I've got a really bad feeling about this...

So lets recap...

We have:

A semi immortal worn specifically designed to infect and control industrial systems

The American government

Iranian Nuclear Plants....

To quote the immortal Mel Brookes...

"Oh shit, there goes the planet..."

Gucci Hazmat = ON

Nuclear merchant ships could open up Arctic routes for real

umm... what does this red flashing light mean...?

The problem that everyone has missed so far as I can tell is the human one. Many container ships are crewed by people who have enough training to press the right button at the right time - any further than that and they are about as much use as the average PC World support engineer...

Reactor systems arent all that complicated - when they are working well - their inherant problem is that when they go wrong, they tend to cause cock-ups of epic proportions... and some bloke whos training has been "push that button when the boat does this" is not going to have the first clue about sorting the problem out before half of Harwich is propelled into low earth orbit (not a great loss to the world methinks, but people are so litigious when half their family is wiped out)

I heard tell that there was a relatively well thought out system that could use thorium as a power source instead of the more commonly used plutonium etc. Those reactors are more expensive but they dont tend to wipe out all life within a 50 mile radius when some idiot decides the reactor feed fail indicator is something to do with the stereo system..

The inherant problem with nuclear power and general transportation is simple. Its the reason why putting something like a jet engine or a nuclear reactor in a Fiat Punto is not going to happen... the human issue. If you forget to top up the oil in your ICE car... you get a munched engine... if you fill up the reactor with tap water and it gets clogged with limescale... the resulting explosion could take a sizeable chunk out of whatever overpriced commuter village you happen to live in.

As to the somalia issue, I dont think there is any point in running that sort of vessel out by there - water temperature is higher, you dont need stupid amounts of power to take 65,000 tonnes through an ice field at 15 knots. Even if pirates did get on board a nuclear vessel its very doubtful they'd be able to slap on a few charges to make the equivalent of a nuclear bomb using the implosion principle - they'd need more expertise than is available down the local souk...

I concur with alot of people on here that its a bad idea - but I think its a bad idea simply because it relies on average people to run the ships if the running cost isnt going to be astronomical... and average joe and a nuclear reactor is a really really bad idea.... houston we have a problem is not going to be even close...

Crash grounds RAF Eurofighters - for Battle of Britain Day!

Ad nauseum

The griffon spitfires with a few modifications could probably do the job of an all weather interceptor today. There'd need to be some re-engineering but at least you could get spare parts for the damn thing fairly simple, just go down the nearest machine shop...

Either that or buy a veyron - reverse engineer that W12 - and stuff it in a replica airframe with a few hardpoints - it'd do the same job pretty much with over-the-horizon weaponary - might actually do it better...

But the point is not - what the eurocrapheap typhoon can do or what it cant (and talk about asking for trouble calling it that, tails that fall off anyone, or detonating engines ringin'a'bell??). All the army are screaming for is helicopters - so why dont we go down and get some - stop whining about it - cancel the fighter and get some decent choppers

its not because of money, power, influence or anything else. Its the natural failing of boys who like big powerful toys... they have small powerless other things. If someone was in charge of all this that just sat down and said - do we have what we need? no why not? because of so and so, who was in charge? him over there... right mate you're sacked we'd not be having an english presence on the ground thats called such because said ground is covered in chunks of englishmen.

If a load of old grannies can build a wellington in 23hrs from start to finish, most of whom left school at 14 or younger... and we nowadays cant manage to get something in the air in 23 YEARS there has to be a frell-up somewhere down the line...

For heavens sake will someone get their finger out of wherever its been shoved before it causes us some really serious problems?

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

... bang for the buck...

You know, its struck me as interesting that no one has made the obvious point in all this.

The government of every single country in the world is paying through the nose for something that is entirely and utterly useless.

Before you howl, I'll explain. Imagine you are back in 1880 and you are a UK government minister. Someone comes up to you and says this is a contract to build a battleship - please sign it. You sign it. You just spent god knows how much money on something that was never ever used. Not once. Never. Ever.

All of this is specious garbage. It doesnt matter what we buy because whatever we buy its worthless unless there is a war which no one wants anyway, and the way things we are we'll be dead anyway... and dont quote me the 'mutually assured destruction' or 'deterrant' crap because to quote blackadder "there was a slight problem with the plan.." "what was that?" "It was bollocks!"

ironically Lewis Page himself is just as specious, not meaning to be nasty. Since all I ever see his name on is articles whinging about the armed farces he's a part, admittedly a fairly remote part, but a part of the whole idiotic system.

The best part of all is that if we didnt spend all this money on weapons because of retard politicians and ass-protecting self interested executives... we'd be spending money on decent schools, decent healthcare and generally a better standard of life - and there would be less idiotic tossers getting into politics and arms procurement than there are now (because most of the non-rich intelligent people in our current education get sick and tired of it aged about 8 and sod off to trade cocaine futures down the park - and that was me, hold the potential goldman sachs employee part) and there would be less chance of the probable/possible/imaginary wars we are stocking up for now... All the people, all the time - everyone would be able to fulfil their potential instead of the world relying for government on the sort of chinless wazzocks who act as if they have the gene pool of an inbred dalmatian.

case in point is Labour right now - im waiting with baited breath for the first "better Ed, than Red" headline...

Road test: putting the iPad to work

...road test... which road?

And there was me thinking you meant driving an Austin Allegro (another useless slab of why did they bother) over it a few times and seeing if it worked afterwards... I'm disappointed...

Or you could have left it on the roof of a Morris Marina and dropped a piano on it...

Or theres always caravans and wrecking balls...

All in the pursuit of scientific curiosity of course...

I love the Stevepad... honest... really *sounds of scuffle, off camera gunshot*..... in other news...

Police spent tens of thousands on failed BitTorrent probe

Another waste of money...

That sank without trace....

Mines the Souwester with the Navy code book in the pocket.

Paul Allen launches patent broadside on world+dog

.... Who cares....?

We're still going to end up paying three times the going rate whoever owns the sodding patent...

Colonel who slammed Afghan HQ PowerPoint culture is fired

... cunning indeed ...

He realised they were on a hiding to nothing - somewhat belatedly - and got out before the whole lot fell down around his ears... good for him.

If even the rank and file are getting the hell out of it and telling it like it is do you think theres a chance of the PHB's listening now?

No, I thought not, I thought not....

You can half imagine it...

Obama: "You know me Blackie, Not a man to change my mind..."

Blackadder, Jr III "No Sir, we'd noticed that..."

*icon because it probably bears a strong resemblance to 'nameless-2 star-general'

Orange gives the green light

... the futures bright - the futures stupid thieving clueless gits with a major attitude problem...

Thats all I am going to say on the subject

Trojan-ridden warning system implicated in Spanair crash

Looks like I was right....

....I mean what idiot tries to take off with the flaps and lift slats retracted....

This is not computer error - its human retarditis

The airline should just admit it screwed up and stop blaming other people.

...Sorry, not buying this at all...

This is ridiculous - not only does the plane have its own self redundancy in its control systems the pilots should have gone through preflights and such. Not to mention the ground crews.

I'd be very interested to find out what the suspected cause of this crash is - because I get the feeling its something utterly stupid - and the PHB's are blaming anything they can get their hands on because they would be covered in lawsuits if it came out.

Modern avionics systems have at least three different computer control circuits built into them which are self monitoring - not to mention other safeguards - I find it hard to believe that a groundside computer running windows of all things would be responsible for the *entire* maintenance and troubleshooting of an airlines fleet...

Fail is just piling up in this one..

Electric mass-driver catapults to beat Royal Navy cuts?

In response

I suggest you read your history - the British empire was already well on the way to unraveling before 1900 - the only problem was generally that nobody really noticed because they were too busy playing canasta. I mention the various revolts in India for example - not to mention the disaster that was Afghanistan 1842 (and who says history doesn't repeat itself). You can almost imagine

Elphinstone "I'm not a man to make up my mind ..."

Blackadder "yes, we've noticed that..."

And there, what a nice boy, you've saved me my old breath. While it is true we did have a large navy - the majority of the capital units were outdated pre-dreadnoughts (so no change there then) alot of which could just about manage 15 knots on a good day against a Kaiserliche Marine that was all new vessels, most of which were equal or better than their comparative units in the RN. Oh and should I mention that 3 of our cruisers were taken out in the space of 20 minutes by one submarine.. a unit in which the RN was severely lacking - and what they did have were generally petrol/electric boats that were more of danger to their crew than anything else bar the odd haddock, not to mention that some of those cruisers in outlying areas still were rigged for sail no less and alot of them were stuck in the back end of nowhere and as such utterly useless. And I probably should keep quiet about the part where in the one decent sea battle in the whole war at least two of our ships spontaneously exploded because of bad design (a design carried over into HMS Hood that did its own firework impression 20 years later)- and the German battlecruiser Seydlitz took 21 main calibre hits, one torpedo hit and several secondary battery hits - took on 5000 tonnes of water and yet still managed to get home under her own power. Made my point yet?

The sole reason we were able to hold some semblance of world power was that navy and I suggest you have a look at the naval treaties of 1922 to find out what happened to it afterwards. Spurious, Curious and Outrageous anyone?...

The Chinese would be more than happy to invade both Europe and Russia should they be pushed to that point - while they have some resources that we need, we have some that they need. If a trade war develops they are in a much better position than we are should it turn 'hot' - and by we I mean the whole of Europe and to a lesser extent Russia. Last time I looked the British isles was part of Europe. To be frank the Chinese already own alot of our manufacturing base either through direct takeovers (MG/Rover) or background investment. The fact that the other communist power has collapsed has made them more dangerous not less - and the way their economy is growing plus the fact that the communist government there is still very militaristic and very much in control means they have both the resources and the underlying will to squish us like a bug should they so wish.

It can be argued that the US have already invaded - since most of our 'defense' is at their beck and call anyway or was - why do you think so many air force bases shut down in the last 10-20 years - thats right - the Americans didn't need them since there wasn't a cold war any more and we couldn't afford to run them.

And no, I am not a pacifist, but neither am I an idiot... a good commander knows when to commit forces and how to withdraw them when they know they are being wasted. As it stands the only way Europe could hope to win a war against china is if the USA assisted and we collectively went more into hock with them and I honestly doubt, considering the way the PHB's are sniping at each other since the 2008 crisis that there will be any chance of that - at least within a timeframe that might have an effect. It makes not a jot of difference if your plane is better than the ones attacking you, if there is one of you and 30 of them, you are going to lose - a lesson learned in Russia circa 1942.

...and repeat, ad nauseum

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It makes little difference what we do - if the US dont invade us the chinese will and whatever crates the RAF/RN end up flying makes not a jot of difference.

We havent been a world power since arguably before the 1900s - its unlikely that we will be again any time soon. We've sold off most of our manufacturing infrastructure to a mixture of the chinese and the US anyway...

To quote Terry Pratchett -

Let others boast of martial dash

For we have boldly fought with cash

We own all your helmets, we own all your shoes

We own all your generals - touch us and you'll lose.

The trouble is it will be other people singing that at us - assuming that we can understand them and they can understand english humour (and it hasnt been burnt for being anti-communist etc).

If all the money that is spent bitching and whining alone about what the military are going to able to do was used constructively on projects to enhance life other than destroy it at least we might have a nice life up until whoever it happens to be invades us and impales dead babies on sticks...

Because whatever else you think you can believe this - if there is some sort of global conflict in the near future the chances of these sceptred isles being anything more than a smoking crater with old crusties wandering the countryside telling trees "this ere used to be the ci-ty of Lon Don" is about equal with the chance of Reichsfuhrer David von Cameron having a sex change...

And as for Trident? not so much a white elephant as a borderline psychotic Elasmotherium is sitting in the corner of my room mommy....

We are not in that league, however much we may want to be, and we still havent learned the lessons of the war we 'won'. Our transport infrastructure is old and falling apart, we dont have enough housing... we are fighting a war on drugs & on terror that are a national disgrace... and we wanna build some nuclear submarines so we can go play in the swimming pool with the big boys... *sigh*

ISS spacewalkers tackle failed cooling pump

...Russian components, American components...

... All built in Taiwan... *smack*

I mean seriously - if all the had to do to the thing was put a little effort in why did they have to faff around with another space walk?

More to the point it sounds as if there are substantial areas on this space station that don't have effective secondary systems in place...

I have a thought... why not send all the shuttles up one more time after a multidock has been built and use them as space only transports... mining on the moon and all sorts of other missions could be carried out easily - add a water splitter powered by solar energy and you have almost unlimited cheap fuel from martian ice - add a solar accumulator and you can super refine metals...

why isnt this station being used more effectively?

Wikileaks falls out with human rights groups

Tell you what....

How about the governmental f***wits didn't take us into afghanistan in the first place??!

The one place even Alexander the Great sensibly left alone and has floored 4 different world empires at least...

If there wasnt an 'Afghan campaign' then there wouldnt be a need to release all these documents saying what a load of lying government tripe is getting soldiers killed needlessly.

Its common knowledge that the 9/11 fiasco can be laid at Saudi Arabias door - whether it was supported openly or as a 'dont ask, dont tell' project by the PHB's out there is really the only question now... so tell me again why we are bashing Iraq (formerly the *only* secular muslim state in the area & a former US ally) and Afghanistan (cuddly fundamentalists to their friends, rabid death to anyone else) for something they had nothing to do with - having conveniently given the personages involved more than enough time to leg it - sorta like all those members of the bin laden family that were spirited out of the USA immediately post 9/11?

I think its brilliant what Wikileaks are doing and to be honest - if you are stupid/greedy/whatever (delete as applicable) enough to take US/UK money to spy on your own people in a place where the Geneva Convention's only use would be as nice soft toilet paper - you deserve whatever you get if you are found out.

You can bet if Afghan spies were found in the US they wouldnt be sent home with a nice cup of coffee and a hug, so why are we whining that its any different vice versa.

Publish and be damned, my friend, publish and be damned!

Upgraded iPads, iPhone, and Apple TV reported

....saving my poor ole fingers...

& letting others tell the story...

http://futuramaepisode.org/episode-3-attack-of-the-killer-app/

The case for the prosecution rests, your jobsness

Apple iPhone exec falls on sword

...reminds me of that scene in Serenity... but shouldnt it have been Jobs?

Where that guy gets a samurai sword through the important bits...

But if I remember isnt the 'buck stops here' guy the CEO?

Apple: overpriced crap for underbrained idiots...

Or the famous....

Think... How?

Elon Musk plans new Mars rockets bigger than Saturn Vs

@ tim

@ Tim - given that whoever wrote those scrolls would know how much of a given item could be obtained at the time for a given monetary value - similar value translations have been found in other situations ... although its a given that translations are always imperfect..

On the multiengined thing - I should imagine since it was a fuel flow problem that caused the russians so much issue, and they were working on systems based on the mechanical fuel injection found in DB603 engines and the V-2, that modern systems will have no problems with a multi-motor array..

Good luck to them..