Re: Me!
No you're not.
Posts by Spartacus
55 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Mar 2010
Who's who: 12th Doctor has been chosen, will meet you on Sunday night
Moderatrix kisses the Reg goodbye
ANU plasma thruster gets research boost
Living, biological raygun produced in lab
Student geeks build Rubik’s cube solving bot
Tru unveils iPad local rate data-pricing for UK, US and Oz
Twitter vs Beeb in superinjunction nark shindy
Bloke drives with knees while manipulating two mobes
New Mac scareware variant installs without password
Media, industry and cops baffled as Qld Police return hack’s iPad
Boffins develop liquid crystal solid-state raygun turret
Arcam FMJ BDP100 Blu-ray Disc player
Tuesday 3rd May 2011 09:37 GMT
"this scribbler knows nothing about Greek, and not enough about English"
Strictly the translation of 'hoi polloi' from Greek is 'the majority'.
But as an adopted loanword 'hoi polloi' does not have a translation, as it IS an English word, it is NOT two English words. Its meaning is 'the people' as rabble also means 'the people'. Hence if you are to use the rabble, you should also use the hoi polloi.
see also Alcohol, a loanword from the Arabic 'al-kuhl' where 'al' translates directly as 'the'.
SF fire dept lost computer password during massive blaze
Calling all readers: Want some new icons?
Dell flings Froyo tablet at Brits
A fifth of Europeans can't work out how much a TV costs
Hasselblad H4D-40 Stainless Steel 40Mp camera
Monday 11th April 2011 09:21 GMT 
White balance isn't always perfect
I'm shocked that someone would use that court yard, for a white balance demonstration, what with the bottle green glass roof.. Whenever I walk in there its sooo green I instantly feel seasick. admitadly the brain is a funny thing and after ten minutes all feels fine, until that is you walk outside..
White Balance? Come off it!
Panasonic TX-L37DT30 37in 3D LED backlit TV
Apple Digital AV Adapter
MythBusters: Savage and Hyneman detonate truthiness
Wednesday 6th April 2011 08:28 GMT
IF they can't sort out the concave mirror focal point...
I call them Idiots... How embarrassing for Obama..
Every time (I believe its three times now) they have tried this with flat glass mirrors, whereas the original myth used metal which CAN be curved very easily into slight dish shapes, giving a specific focal distance, they dont all have to be the same either, just that each soldier needs to know his distance and maintain it.
What are they doing wrong? well they are failing to focus, all they do is use 1000 flat mirrors pointing 1000 incident rays, like a mirrorball.. whereas a single concave mirror will focus a billion 'rays' (ie every bit of light) into a point the genius is in the curve. they really should look at the "Bang goes the theory" Mirror Clip on youtube to see what a 2m mirror can do.
UK's Reaper flying hunter-killer fleet 'to double'
Tuesday 5th April 2011 12:51 GMT
Wager Accepted..
The whole life costs of the watchkeeper are likely to be higher than the reaper, with no reasonable explanation, just like the initial costs, and as for easier to fly, well not likely, people need jobs! But this is acceptable as the purchasing descision is really a political decision.
Multimillion pound contracts are always political issues, and as a national decision you don't look at the cost you look at how much money is being exported. spending £15 million in the UK with only £1 going abroad is far preferable politically than spending £10 million abroad. exporting money in large chunks devalues our economy spending more money here increases our national spending and hence gdp, and increases the value of our economy.
Not forgetting that money spent and earned here goes around and around and keeps getting skimmed by taxes here so in the end it all goes back to where it started, but as it went around in circles it was someones wgaes, someones bonus and someones taxes.. all part of our gdp. the faster the money goeas around the more times it can be counted. Where as when that money goes abroad that is it game over.
The key factor that Lewis really should be writing about is where the money goes, because if the the powers that be decide to spend more with a company with British in the name but in reality said company is just a front for a US arms behemoth, and the money is really just being loaded on a ship and sailed away then the powers that be have really fucked up, and will be deserving of whatever comes their way.
Keeping British workers employed by British defence budgets is not such a bad thing. Even if it 'looks' like a more expensive aircraft on paper.
Wager placed. 1 Pint icon seems apt.
Artificial leaf produces electricity through photosynthesis
Monday 4th April 2011 14:53 GMT
Typos & Journalistic Errors.
Shall we take that quote from the original source:
"The key to this breakthrough is Nocera's recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Right now, Nocera's leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial leaf much higher in the future. "
(http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-03/acs-dot031811.php#)
Note the lack of the word electrolyse, since in this case it is wrong. The word that should have been used is 'Photolsye' since the energy is being provided in the form of photons not electrons. So this is NOT electrolysis, no matter what the article states.
The general reaction of photosynthetic photolysis can be given as:
[H2X] + [2 photons] --> [2e-] + [2H+] + [X]
The chemical nature of "X" depends on the type of reaction. Both H2O and H2S are photolysed in Nature.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photodissociation#Photolysis_in_photosynthesis)
Whilst you are correct that a catalyst is not required to electrolyse water, This is not electrolysis.
It is also true that with very high levels of photons you can get Photodissociation of water without a catalyst but you are talking about the levels of light produced by say a Carbon Dioxide Laser. where two photons may simultainiously enter a reaction (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photodissociation#Multiple_photon_dissociation)
But where the level of light/photons is such that only one photon will enter the reaction at any time a catalyst MUST be used. And in this case a catalyst was used!
A catalyst is not inert in a reaction, it provides a middle phase of a reaction, in this case that middle phase is after one photon is absorbed, the second photon completes the reaction and returns the catalyst. Water dissociation is not possible with just one photon.
So going back to equations the overall excluding the catalyst should be as follows:
2[H2O] + 4[photons] --> [Photolysis Eq] --> 2[H2] + [O2] --> [Fuel Cell Eq] --> 2[H2O] + 4[e-]
Giving the key result: photons in electrons out.
Lindsay Lohan ditches her surname
Nikon D7000 DSLR camera
Average Brit has three mysterious keys
EA blocks user from game after alleged forum outburst
Dim Brits think TARDIS IS REAL
Texting teenager plunges to his death
Boffins hope for dimensional portal event at LHC by 2013!
Special Ops satellite-bitchslapping hydrogen strato cruiser flies
Flashy fists fly as OCZ and DDRdrive row over SSD performance
Friday 14th January 2011 12:55 GMT
Looking at the graphs...
"you can't use an X1 dragster on the open road but you can use a Ferrari Vertex 2 EX. ®"
I'd say this was the wrong way around. its the Vertex 2 EX that starts out fast and after 7mins falls away whilst the X1 sustains for the duration. And as a result I'd say that OCZ are agreeing, but still pointing out that theirs is the fastest.
Thunderstorms found to squirt antimatter into space
Google dispenses first jackpot award to security bug hunter
Friday 14th January 2011 10:29 GMT
Applaud Google for trying but...
$3,133.7 is peanuts compared to what proper vulnerabilities could fetch on the open market. just be glad this guy has morals and is not an 'American Capitalist'.
Google really should consider $31,337 as a small price to keep themselves out of the media storm that would ensue following exploit. It also starts to get into the realms proper fees for security consultants, so perhaps people could make a living from exploit hunting. rather than just the hobbiest collective.
Feds subpoena Twitter for info on WikiLeaks backer
Tuesday 11th January 2011 13:01 GMT
Mr Gumby, you are seriously in need. MkII
Oh Im sorry has me extended reading confused you. Twitter managed to get the subpoena unsealed because it actually IS that of an MP. If it were someone pretending to be the queen the subpoena would have remained sealed, and none of us would know about it.
The subpoenea was not restricted to the identity, and is for ALL the data of an MP, hence twitters ability/actions to request unsealing of the subpeona and allow a legal protest. My point is that the protest may be more than legal and could/should be a diplomatic issue.
does that make it more clear? Do I get it yet?
Monday 10th January 2011 10:43 GMT 
Diplomatic/Parlimentary Privilege
Surely there is potential for a bit of a diplomatic storm over this one. Whilst a lot of twitter is public the Private messaging system is just that, private. It could comntain private missives from constiuants to their MP, and hence could be subject to Privilege in Iceland, So should the US honor this? in my opinion if privilege exists in Icelend then diplomatically the US should honour it. as to whether they will or not time will tell.
Body of murdered cyberwar expert found in landfill
'Operation eMule' feds bust duo with 500+ eBay, PayPal accounts
Thursday 6th January 2011 09:56 GMT
Verified by visa
is a complete waste of time.. and too easy to scam. afterall the verified box only appears after you have keyed in your card number... so it offers no protection of the number at all. and I never remeber the stupid codes for it, so have to reset it every time... which is far too easy!
and if the scammer is operating a man in the middle style scam then you dont see vbyv you see an identical passthrough so they can take you vbyv password too.
The authentication process must be independant of whichever website that you might be using and email or mobile app as suggested above is the best way to do that.
Courtney Love in court over 'Boudoir Queen' Twitter bitchfight
Famous 'Silhouette' Flash illusion unravelled
Wednesday 22nd December 2010 16:33 GMT
Proof...
if it were needed that eyes see only wavelengths (as three discreet bands defined by the three types of cones in the retina - RGB wavelengths only) and the brain sees colour. In reality colour just does not exist. as a result its assumed that everyones perception of colour is actually different, but as only you see your perception it is impossible to know for sure!
Senior Guardian hacks turn on Assange
Bummed-out users give anti-virus bloatware the boot
Gawker tech boss admits site security was crap
Monday 20th December 2010 10:58 GMT
security woes
Thats what wikileaks is for, Publish the correspondance.
anyhoo a job that is not done properly is not worth doing. If you are asked to build a house you should always start with the foundations, you do not just build a house on the bare ground. I have to say its your fail, for just doing "what you are told" not what everyone (including those people whose data is at risk) expects of you. If you are going to do systems work do it properly.
Google Cr-48: Inside the Chrome OS 'unstable isotope'
Wednesday 15th December 2010 09:13 GMT
Are we ready for a NOT-DOS?
What is a file system without files? more to the point are we ready for one? well maybe a six year old or my granny would be fine with that, but am I?
Do we need to know what is going on in our machines OS? do we need to access OS files? could we do anything with an OS file once we have accessed it? how long before we have an encrypted OS?
I certainly do not see an end to my documents and my pictures and my music and my other stuff.. but perhaps we really dont need to access the OS or program files anymore...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
