Posts by Lars

ESA gets the job of building Europe's secure satcomms network

Re: "relying on disruptive technologies like quantum encryption"

What made you write that rubbish. Niin

Meet Honda's latest electric vehicle: A rideable suitcase

Re: Dignity isn't the only thing at risk

I would recommend "Not just Bikes" for bicycles. It's about how towns are designed, built.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOc8ASeHYNw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aESqrP3hfi8

US Air Force wants $6B to build 2,000 AI-powered drones

Re: When did they become Drones?

Yes that is a god question.

We have unmanned aircraft called drones and also unmanned helicopters called drones and they are so very different but still still called drones.

I actually think it was the unmanned aircraft that were first called drones.

Personally now, I think a drone should be able to hover and move slowly and vertically, land and take off and so forth.

But the drones we now discuss do none of that.

Putting my back into the pocket.

Not about Ukraine

As the USA has no land border to worry about, one has to assume, these "drones" are designed for a very different attack on the USA, (or used by the USA somewhere else).

They would fitt NATO too in certain scenarios.

I don't think there is any good reason to compare these "drones" to the ones used and needed in Ukraine today.

Criminals go full Viking on CloudNordic, wipe all servers and customer data

Re: Where are the backups?

I don't think this article included all information, and the backup part is certainly important.

While I have no experience of clouds I must admit i have assumed a cloud provider always have backups.

Germany to cut Huawei from networks 'irrespective of costs'

Re: Lapdogs

@chololennon

We all know that lapdog number one in Europe is Britain, proudly.

It's called the special relationship that Brits boast about and rely on for good reasons or not.

But I would add that Americans don't have the same view about the Germans or the French as many Brits have and assume are shared with other countries.

"I wonder what kit they'll be "guided" to spend on..."

There is Nokia and Ericsson like before.

Moscow makes a mess on the Moon as Luna 25 probe misses orbit, lands with a thud

Re: "Luna 25, by contrast, tried to make the trip in nine days"

@Pascal Monett

Kleptocracy is the word you were looking for.

Rising labor and component costs lead to UK product and service price hike at IBM

Re: Culprits

And there is that word that a foreign company dear not mention.

TSMC and pals chip in for €10B German fab

Re: Hmm

@codejunky

No doubt, reading the comments.

Re: At least Germany has water

@Charlie Clark

You are clearly thinking of Britain then, one has to assume.

China's great CPU hope – Loongson – may be only four years behind Intel

Re: Tienanmen

@Zolko

What you don't seem to grasp is that should it collapse it would most likely be replaced with something worse.

But Americans seem to have some ability to self heal so I am not all that pessimistic.

@Tuto2

That was a very odd comment, mad in other words.

Vladimir Pentowsky was a Soviet/Russian diplomat, Ambassador, professor in history, politician and writer.

I cannot see him having anything to do with this story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Petrovsky

And about Spark try this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARC

PS. Andy Grove was Hungarian not Russian and escaped to the USA, and while he did work for Intel the history goes behind him.

Deutsche Bahn stands to lose €400M if it has to do Huawei with Chinese kit

Re: Germany's state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn...

@abend0c4

I doubt there is one countrry not suffering from a serious lack of investment in infrastructure but your link referes to the "world competitiveness ranking".

And that you can ponder about here.

https://www.imd.org/centers/wcc/world-competitiveness-center/rankings/world-competitiveness-ranking/

Aspiration to deploy new UK nuclear reactor every year a 'wish', not a plan

Re: Technical marvel, but it's the economics, stupid

@ blackcat

(didn't realise the French did such things!)

Who do you think builds the EPRs in Britain, France, Finland and China then.

Re: Hmm

"Now we have Lynch"-

Not really.

You would need guys like Lynch in government and not guys like Mogg and similar.

And you would need strong unions "with a high percentage of the workforce unionized and involving a tripartite arrangement, where representatives of labour and employers negotiate wages and labour market policy is mediated by the government."

To quote the Wikipedia on the "Nordic model".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

But instead you have an outdated defunct idiotic political system with a two party system and a one party government kept in place with fptp.

And still a class society, the last in western Europe, with an ever growing wealth and income inequality and poverty.

But you will not all get it, apparently.

PS. Labour here doesn't referre to a political party.

Re: Technical marvel, but it's the economics, stupid

@LogicGate

The French have this for electricity production. Nuclear is of course stable.

https://www.rte-france.com/en/eco2mix/power-generation-energy-source

The GB grid here.

https://grid.iamkate.com/

The Swedish plus other Nordic countries and Baltic countries here, sadly with no separation of solar power.

https://www.svk.se/en/national-grid/the-control-room/

The Finnish here:

https://www.fingrid.fi/en/electricity-market/power-system/

Countries are different and that affects the electricity production too.

After fears that Europe's space scope was toast, its first images look mighty fine

Calling it "dark" is a very honest way to express we don't know.

Euclid

There is a very recent video about it on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SOLoPxlXJA

Euclid Just Opened Its Eyes, and This Is What It Saw

(note: the words terrifying or shocking is not in the title - a good sign)

NASA mistakenly severs communication to Voyager 2

Re: What's 2 degrees away from Earth?

It's exactly 2 degrees out of 360 degrees at any distance.

Re: Off topic

Baud rates and pictures, anybody who remembers Bullitt and how modern that was then.

Florida man accused of hoarding America's secrets faces fresh charges

Anybody here

From across the pond, who also believe Trump won the election and not Biden.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's pop artifact stash now heads to a museum

Aviation

Is what comes to my mind regarding his later life, he got quite a collection of airplanes.

Thames Water to datacenters: Cut water use or we will

Re: someone please explain

@jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid

""and turned back into drinking water again"

I wonder if that is actually true.

Some countries are more lucky, of course, for instance the Nordic countries use very clean water from lakes and rivers (not sure about Denmark) and than that water is made even cleaner. Waste water is then cleaned before it's let into the Baltic

Could Britain be that different.

Re: Beware apologist Commentards

@AC

"using clean drinking water to cool and flush bogs: Stupidity."

Why would a water company provide anything but clean drinkable water. You seem to assume it's cheaper or easier to deliver both types of water.

I don't think it took anytime at all to accidentally mix that water.

But I could imagine there are countries where that could be true, but I don't think Britain is quite there yet, then again two taps instead of one is still so popular.

Re: someone please explain

@anothercynic

"they can barely afford their debt payments." Yes but looking at the bright side, they can still pay good dividends.

PS: You wrote "district heating is still a thing", it's not going away, quite the opposite, for good reasons and I suppose you agree.

Re: Usual rip off

@Missing Semicolon

Where I live we have water meters because we pay according to use, like with electricity.

It's not a very complicated meter at all, no internet connection yet.

PS. We never needed cars before either.

Nobody in charge

Reading these comments of water companies dumping shit in rivers and the sea to their owners delight makes me wonder if anybody is in charge.

One would think, and I am sure there are examples in many countries where the governments won't allow things like that at all.

And then one AC writes "be afraid", that is silly, rather do something about it, for a change.

£214m effort to modernize SAP ERP in UK govt systems marked Code Red

Re: It's a laudable idea, handled by a bunch of bumbling gasbags

Yes, that would be normal, but then again those department could also have their own IT departments and this had been done long ago, perhaps.

ESA sees satellite-based air traffic monitoring on near horizon

Re: Is this a breach of ESA's rules ...

@UCAP

ESA is cooperating with the USA since a long time in fields like

Space science

Human spaceflight

Satellite navigation

Meteorology

Earth science/ Earth observation (other than meteorology)

Space exploration.

https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Washington_Office/Cooperation_with_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Agency

Always on the Horizon, UK must wait for megabucks EU science deal

Re: becoming a global science superpower

@Justthefacts

After the war countries like Germany, Japan and also Italy had to stat rebuilding the industry from scratch.

Meanwhile Britain fell a sleep content with an outdated industry and political system believing that once world leading is for ever world leading.

And there is more to it. It's all conserved in a guy like Mogg and similar.

Re: And the haemorrhaging continues

@Justthefacts

"Commission don’t answer to anybody".

That was a lot of rubbish. I must recommend this as it's the EU made easy for Brits by Radoslaw Sikorski.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI54yarKz_o&t=561s

Re: And the haemorrhaging continues

@Justthefacts

What has the Blue Brain project to do with Horizon.

" EPFL’s Blue Brain Project is a Swiss brain research Initiative led by Founder and Director Professor Henry Markram."

The Blue Brain Project (BBP) is supported and funded by the Swiss Government and distributed by the governing board of the two Swiss Federal Institutes (ETHZ and EPFL), with around $22 million per year.".

Re: The ECJ (and to a lesser extent ECHR) are the issue

@LogicGate

No that would not be fair, an Italian car for all 27 different member state judges.

Re: The ECJ (and to a lesser extent ECHR) are the issue

@LogicGate

As you ask, I have started to use RCS on my Amdroid and it has this "damned" feature of "suddenly" doing a word full capital due to something you did without noticing it.

RCS stands for Rich Communication Service, and is fine when you learn to use it. It's also possible there is an Emacs feeling to it, though.

Re: Good old Brexit

"I'm sure some media outlets have been able to spin this".

Sadly just read the header - "UK must wait" when it should read - "UK wants to wait".

Re: The ECJ (and to a lesser extent ECHR) are the issue

So unfair, but I guess not many countries wanting to trade with the UK have members in say the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom perhaps.

Hats and coats.

Re: The ECJ (and to a lesser extent ECHR) are the issue

Every member state has a SEAT on The ECJ.

Microsoft’s Dublin DC power plant gets the, er, green light

Re: Potentially greener?

@Jellied Eel

I am all for green energy including nuclear but why such a weeping voice in your comment.

Vattenfall is a large energy company owned by the Swedish state active in many European countries. Why would they start building something if the numbers prowe it's not worth it.

And I am sure they have the right to skip it too without braking any promises.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vattenfall

Re: Potentially greener?

@Lurko

You mention Denmark as low carbon but that is not quite true. Right now they get 75% of electricity from wind but the rest 25% they get from thermal power which is worse than in other Nordic countries and they also mostly have to import.

You find the Nordic grid here and it also includes Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

https://www.svk.se/en/national-grid/the-control-room/

Re: Potentially greener?

"It's strange given Bill Gates has been promoting SMRs that they don't propose using those".

The SMRs are simply not quite here yet even if a few installations are coming up within a few years.

Obscure internet boutique Amazon sues EU for calling it a Very Large Online Platform

Re: Fairness

Zalando is European but indeed small in comparison to most of the rest in that list.

Alibaba AliExpress

Amazon Store

Apple AppStore

Booking.com

Facebook

Google Play

Google Maps

Google Shopping

Instagram

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Snapchat

TikTok

Twitter

Wikipedia

YouTube

Zalando

Brits negotiating draft deal to rejoin EU's $100B blockbuster science programme

Re: Citation please ?

@codejunky

The EU is in that list referred to by Wikipedia. The British GDP (PPP) is apparently below the EU average.

Surprising, not so sure.

You find the list here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

I suggest you start to listen better to how your countrymen speak about Britain, there is a lot to be amused about at times.

Re: Citation please ?

@codejunky

"one of the richest countries in the world,"

Yes no doubt but then again what about the people.

GDP (PPP) 2023 estimate per capita $56,471 (28th in the world)

Behind for instance Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Iceland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, France, European Union.

GDP (nominal) 2023 estimate per capita $46,371 (22nd in the world)

Behind for instance Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Germany.

(both smaller and bigger countries in Europe)-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom

I have no need to downplay the importance of Britain, but I wonder if there is in the world a people more prone to over estimate themselves like the English.

Words by Nick Clegg a long time ago about some of his countrymen come to my mind - "..a misplaced sense of superiority, sustained by delusions of grandeur".

I don't think it's a good attitude for improving the reality.

Re: seeing the way they have punished the UK for wanting to leave

@AC

If you cannot spot the "border" in this sentence, try again, or perhaps you think it disappeared just like that, and fully unrelated to the agreement.

"he multi-party agreement committed the parties to "use any influence they may have" to bring about the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms within two years of the referendums approving the agreement. The process of normalisation committed the British government to the reduction in the number and role of its armed forces in Northern Ireland "to levels compatible with a normal peaceful society". This included the removal of security installations and the removal of special emergency powers in Northern Ireland. The Irish government committed to a "wide-ranging review" of its Offences against the State legislation. ".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Agreement

Re: Never forget that the original had the emphasis on "my"

@EvilDrSmith

Dosn't matter now at all but we find this text here (https://fullfact.org/europe/was-eu-referendum-advisory/).

"Start with the law

The referendum was not legally binding. There’s no one source that can prove this statement true (although here’s a respectable one). That follows from the fact that the European Union Referendum Act 2015 didn’t say anything about implementing the result of the vote. It just provided that there should be one.

In other countries, referendums are often legally binding—for example, because the vote is on whether to amend the constitution. The UK, famously, doesn’t have a codified constitution.

A UK referendum will only have the force of law if the Act setting it up says so. In practical terms this would mean someone would be able to go to court to make the government implement the result. The Alternative Vote referendum in 2011, for example, was legally binding in this way.".

So according to my understanding it was not legally binding.

Re: seeing the way they have punished the UK for wanting to leave

@AC

"False. There is no reference to the border in the GFA.".

Not false just your stupidity not to grasp it.

Re: Some balance?

@Steve Button

That was a lot of rubbish.

@catkin

"Swiss entities CAN participate in most Horizon Europe calls. Funding is provided by the Swiss government as long as Switzerland is not associated to the programme."

https://www.euresearch.ch/en/horizon-europe/more-horizon-europe/status-of-switzerland-in-horizon-europe-367.html

I suggest you get a mirror and remember the - "break international law if only in a british way".

Europe's Euclid telescope launches to figure out dark energy, the universe, and everything

The way to do things

Enabling Euclid has involved 3500 people in 21 countries from more than 300 institutions and 80 companies according to the video.

Well done ESA & Co.