Posts by Dr. G. Freeman

India connects submarine cable to islands where some still live in the stone age

Re: Speck of land....

Have they discovered fire yet in Wigan ?

Last time I was there at the station waiting for a connecting train, was asked for a light (for cigarettes) that often, began to wonder.

First alligators, then dogs, now Basil Fawlty is trying to standardise social distancing measures

Sadly, here in Aberdeen, people couldn't understand how far one metre was (inside the pub), so we're in Lockdown again.

It's all well and good telling people to stay apart, but when they lack any spatial awareness at all, well, it's easier talking to the pigeons. (who just want to talk about political uprisings- coup, coup)

Boffins baffled as supergiant star just vanishes – either it partially blew itself apart or quietly turned into a black hole

Maybe, and this is just a guess, when it went bang, and became a black hole, the hole then sucked in all the light, and no photons were quick/far enough away to get to our telescope ? Why we didn't see it go bang, You know what it's like when you first wake up, just want to stuff your face.

CERN puts two new atom-smashers on its shopping list. One to make Higgs Bosons, then a next-gen model six times more energetic than the LHC

(Conflict of interest- sometimes work at CERN)

£21 Billion over the next thirty years isn't really that much- I'll probably be playing with my grandkids by the time the Great Big Collider switches on, instead of watching my newborn Son/ portable radioactive napalm generator (delete as applicable) try and work out his universe.

Like has already been said, it's not about the subatomic particle smashing, although its cool, and is part of my career, but its the spin-off stuff from the research that everyone's after/ wants.

We had a lot of data to move around here, so Tim built the world-wide web to deal with it, and looked how that turned out.

So who knows what we'll come up with trying to get the new thing to work, and isn't that the point of it all ? Making stuff that makes life better, while working out the whys of everything- if we didn't we'd still be in caves, with people complaining "don't use that fire thing, it's hot and somebody could get hurt".

NASA to send Perseverance, a new trundle bot, and Ingenuity, the first interplanetary helicopter, to sniff out life on Mars in July

Can I go with it to Mars ?

Meet the dog that's all byte and no bark: Boston Dynamics touts robo-pooch Spot with $75k-a-pop price tag

Think I'll stick with Kereberos the (real) Dog,

Like AC 12.30 ish said "..doesn't have teeth, then there's no point."- proper secure document destruction, Dog ate it. Also works on school homework, although handing the dog in does get some strange looks.

Dog also useful for other things

-Don't need one of those smart doorbells (or any doorbell), as soon as gate opens, wants to lick to death whoever's out there.

-Also impromptu desk/seat warmer, whether you want it warm or not, we had a lengthy discussion over the ownership of the chair this morning. I lost.

-Know my biscuits aren't poisonous (biosafety), as they are snaffled away if within muzzle distance

-Weather monitoring; either not wanting to go outside at the merest hint of rain, or finding the rainfall amount, by jumping into every muddy puddle afterwards

Although, does have problem with battery life, currently on second recharge (sleep) of the day.

Spending watchdog doubts UK is capable of managing Brexit and coronavirus info campaigns at the same time

I doubt very much the government could run two information campaigns at once.

Not because they're incompetent (they are)- either by design or just naturally - but rather, the general population.

We've had, for however long it's been now, the slogan "Stay Home" thrown at us incessantly, and still people of all intellects from World-renown writers (Neil Gaiman),down to the village idiots, and as far down as Prime Ministerial advisers have ignored it- it couldn't have been simpler, even my dog understands it.

So, going by the lowest common denominator, they'd be throwing too much information out there.

Executive Summary- people too thick for two bits of information.

Publishers sue to shut down books-for-all Internet Archive for 'willful digital piracy on an industrial scale'

Re: But what about...

I can see my local public library from my window.

But due to "something" it's been shut for the last twelve weeks,and probably won't be open again, by current estimates, until the day after the heat death of the universe, or as the government call it "phase 3".

Same with all the bookshops- closed until then too,.

Laughing UK health secretary launches COVID-19 Test and Trace programme with glitchy website and no phone app

So, the Track, Isolate, Test for Suspected Unprecedented Pathogen (TITSUP) system has gone live.

Means they can open the pubs now, right ? right ?

Baby Diesel? Little d'Artagnan? There is another child of Musk in the world

Dad's Elon G. Musk

so kids' name is Elonger Musk

Grandkid could be Elonger Still, or Elongest Musk.

NASA mulls restoring Saturn V to service as SLS delays and costs mount

If it wasn't today, would take this seriously, as why not use what they already have ?

Thought it would be a good start anyway, even as a proof of concept.

Whoa, someone actually texted you in 2020? Oh, nvm, it's just Boris Johnson, telling you to stay the f**k at home

Re: "It's not clear why progress on this faltered"

About 1214 in England, 1235 in Scotland, before parliaments were formed.

Grab a towel and pour yourself a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster because The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is 42

Re: fun facts

As a fellow Dundonian, (Who managed to escape North), the only time I knew of cricket was when one of my learned colleagues in the great learning establishment Whitfield High, acquired a cricket bat for our continued disagreements with, well every other school in the area.

More leathering Willo than "leather on willow".

Didn't stop me writing my Higher English report on Hitch-hikers'.

BOFH: Here he comes, all wide-eyed with the boundless optimism of youth. He is me, 30 years ago... what to do?

I been called cynical since my teens too, usual response is " No, I'm a realist, if I was cynical, I'd be a lot worse."

Roses are red, Chocolate is Brown, I expect nothing, and I'm still let down.

Starship bloopers: Watch Elon Musk's Mars ferry prototype explode on the pad during liquid nitrogen test

Good they're getting the bugs out of the system now, rather than when they've got fleshy things in it.

I'd be worried if things like this weren't happening- on or off camera.

BOFH: Gosh, IPv5? Why didn't I think of that? Say, how do you like the new windows in here? Take a look. Closer...

Trying not to in case my chair is wired, could tear something muscley

If you're struggling to keep new year resolutions, try NGTS-10b, a mere 1,000 LY away. One year is just 18 hrs

This must be the place where recruiters go for those people with five years experience of things launched last year.

Will Police Scotland use real-time discrimination-happy face-recog tech? Senior cop tells us: We won't... for now

Re: All wee neds look the same

Ah yes, remember when I went for an interview for Strathclyde Police as it was then, and was asked if I was a Catholic or Protestant Mormon.

Didn't get the job.

And if you turn to your left, you can see the walls of Amazon Web Services' vast server farm. And next to it, a gift shop and visitor center

I'm looking forward to the day Amazon decide to have physical stores where you can buy their products off the shelf, or even just pick orders up without having to deal with the delivery companies.

I can but dream...

Clunk, whirr, buzz, whine. Shared office space can be a riot and sounds like one too

There's a annoying hum here in the lab office.

sadly can't fix it as it's coming from one of the undergrads.

BOFH: You brought nothing to the party but a six-pack of regret

Re: 'You brought nothing to the party but a six pack of regret?'

So that isn't "hair of the dog" then ?

Hate speech row: Fine or jail anyone who calls people boffins, geeks or eggheads, psychology nerd demands

My official job title is "Nuclear Resonance Geek"

So, do I have to change it now ?

Hit one up on Insta, would you? Her Maj is after a social media manager

You're paid in Her Majesty's Selfies.

BOFH: I'd like introduce you to a groovy little web log I call 'That's Boss'

According to my timesheet, it's classified as "Work."

UK political parties fall over themselves to win tech contractor vote by pledging to review IR35

RE: Smoke and Mirrors

"The current tax system is not fit for purpose"

yes, we're still paying for the Napoleonic war in 1799 (Income tax) , maybe time to rethink things.

Space-wrecks: Elon's prototype Moon ferry Starship blows its top during fuel tank test

TSB Test, Sometimes Barely.

No wonder cops are so keen on Ring – they can slurp your doorbell footage with few limits, US senators complain

Re: Jump to the not to distant future

They walk past my flat all the time as there's the coffee shop downstairs, must be one of the safest places in Aberdeen with all the visits.

Astroboffins baffled as Curiosity rover takes larger gasps of oxygen in Martian summers

Re: Easy option

We wouldn't understand the answer

What could go wrong? Redmond researchers release a blabbering bot trained on Reddit chats

"After all most of us seem to be actual humans...."

*Sob.*.. thank you....

That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said about me.

FYI, we're now in the timeline where Facebook decides who is and isn't a politician on its 2bn-plus-person network

Can I sue Facebook for Slander if it thinks I'm a politician ?

Uncle Sam demands summary judgment on Snowden memoir: We're not saying it's true, but no one should read it

Re: You cannot get the toothpaste back in the tube

It's already out in ebook form, got it a month ago (date of publication) off Russian library site.

Haxis of evil: Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are 'continuous threat' to UK, say spies

Are we the Goodies or the Baddies ?

That lithium-ion battery in your phone or car? It has just won three chemists the Nobel Prize

Re: Isn't Chemistry, Physics?

There's not a gap, sometimes we use physics stuff, sometimes use chemistry stuff. Mostly depends if the atoms are connected to each other or not. (stuff refers to equations, theories, et al.)

I work in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, the machine itself is in the chemistry department, while I'm paid (poorly) by the physics department.

So we're going back to the Moon: NASA triggers countdown by firing up spacecraft production

If they need any test subjects for extraterrestrial living, I'm in.

Don't want to live on this planet anymore, the natives are annoying me.

First water world exoplanet spotted – and thankfully no sign of Kevin Costner, rejoice!

Re: "by studying the star’s spectrum with algorithms"

From what I've heard*, team are hoping to develop program commercially to finding data "needles in haystacks", so are being vague on details for IP reasons.

*friends with someone who used to be on project, but left.

Geo-boffins drill into dino-killing asteroid crater, discover extinction involves bad smells, chilly weather, no broadband internet...

Shetland has Broadband.

Gets it from the Faroes.

OK it maxes out at 7mb, but it's broadband

Raspberry Pi head honcho Eben Upton talks thermals, stores and who's buying the kit

Re: Watch you back Eben.

I use a Pi3 as my day to day desktop at work for the last couple of years. No complaints from me, but the others in the lab moan as its not microsoft and so are confused by it.

Gov flings £10m to help businesses get Brexit-ready with, um... information packs

Be nice to have a leaflet to know what to do when Brexit happens.

Do we paint the windows white, build a shelter under the stairs, and put a bag over our heads, or what ?

Uncle Sam is asking Americans if they could refrain from slapping guns on their drones

So, if I read this right, can't arm bears ?

Take it sharks with lasers is right out then ?

Brits are sitting on a time bomb of 40m old electronic devices that ought to be recycled

Re: But remember folks...

I find giving any data storage a hydrofluoric acid bath until they resemble a soup is usually secure enough

Dry patch? Have you considered peppering your flirts with emojis?

Re: Proof that emojis don't work

My condolences for being in my hometown.

Would be better if they offered English classes to some of the locals, especially those of the bohemian suburbs of Menzieshill and Whitfield whose accents could fail a test of English as a foreign language.

Astroboffins have spied the largest star that has gone supernova and it's breaking all the rules

Re: Soup

As wise man knows he knows nothing.

Quick question, what the Hull? City khazi is a top UK tourist destination

Re: Pedant's corner

Who's there ?

Look at me. Look at me. I'm the El Capitan now: Cray to build US govt's $600m cray-cray exascale nuke app super

Obvious question- can it run Crysis ?

Summer vacations put an end to rampant desktop crimewave

I have always found it odd that people in the lab would often ask to borrow my pen (or in one case snatch it out of my hand mid-writing), rather than get one out of the box of over 500 we have that were given as freebies to be given out- where I had got the pen from in the first place.

Found out that it was they weren't sure the freebie pens worked, and wouldn't test them to see, but rather wait until I'd "broken them in" and just steal them

Incognito mode won't stop smut sites sharing your pervy preferences with Facebook, Google and, er, Oracle

Between this and the IoT nappy thing yesterday, is there anything left that they don't monitor ?

Bulb smart meters in England wake up from comas miraculously speaking fluent Welsh

I'm not allowed to speak Welsh,

one mispronunciation and you get a Lovecraftian horror, who won't leave the break room, even if you ask nicely.

Don't know how this connects to smart meters, another unspeakably evil thing that drives me mad looking at it

Scientist, war hero and gay icon Alan Turing is new face of the £50 note

The last time I got a £50 it was green.

BOFH: On a sunny day like this one, the concrete dries so much more quickly

Re: Informal poll on whether you've ever had to do something like this

What's the option for knocking up/off an auditor ?

(She's knocked up, and knocked off being an auditor ?)

Introducing 'freedom gas' – a bit like the 2003 deep-fried potato variety, only even worse for you

Re: Can someone tell me how.....

I'll ask my colleague, who has skills at biological weapons; probably have to pay him in food for his husky

Nick's knack at Novichok gives his dog a bone.