Posts by Eclectic Man 3172 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Jun 2010
What do they mean 'retain'? After Mrs Thatcher ensured that as much IT and IT services were outsourced to UK and often foreign companies (EDS, Lockheed, IBM etc.) there was a distinct lack of technologically excellent civil servants who actually had to know how to compile a Unix kernel and get it working. 'Retain' implies they had employees with that competence initially and somehow lost it.
I worked on an unsuccessful e-Borders bid. The client changed the requirements list regularly, insisted that "UK RESTRICTED" meant data that could not be sent overseas to our American colleagues, even though the NATO definition of "UK RESTRICTED" at the time was purely for foreigners to understand the data belonged to the UK. The requirements were mostly ok, but whenever they changed them they would re-number all of them, so the amount of re-working the documentation was enormous. They were also not that good about specifying security that could actually be delivered (I.e., was technically or physically possible).
My real concern from the article was the reference that none of the Department's major IT procurements were expected to produce a usable IT system.
Sadly the money really belongs to those on whom the money would have been spent, rather than the taxpayers, it should have belonged to 'baby Peter'*, Victoria Climbie*, the Social care 'system', the probation services, child protection and children homes etc. etc. etc., and everyone who needed support from the state.
*Both killed in childhood despite repeated warnings to Social Services of the dangers they were in
I head about this on a Radio 4 program. Another example was where some 'revenge deep fake porn' used a lady's face, on a body committing various unsavoury pornographic acts, and associated it with her actual name. She was naturally very distressed by this when she found out.
In the UK and EU, I suspect that such deefakery would be in breach of data protection legislation as processing personal information (in this case an identifiable face and name) so as to cause great distress to the individual is unlawful. Anyone form Pincent Mason law firm still posting on el Reg (they used to be quite a regular feature) who can offer an opinion (for free, I cannot afford your fees right now).
One of the issues is that metabolic processes generate heat (a lot of the energy you use moving muscles generates heat, which is why we shiver when we are too cold). So the microbes turning your sweat into electricity will generate even more heat, making you sweat more leading to eventually either more sweat than the microbes can metabolise, or you reaching a peak of sweating which you cannot exceed. So it may be like running or exercising wearing a, well, sweatshirt.
When I'm out running I'm not sure I want to be wearing clothes that generate their own heat. And if it is indoor exercise, surely it would be better to have an exercise bike or rowing machine that worked as a generator to recharge batteries rather than rely on metabolising sweat?
About 7 per year, it seems, so quite a lot in the expected lifetime of a Dyson sphere. See this article from New Scientist:
"The researchers estimated this by calculating the expected velocities of interstellar visitors and working out how long they should remain in our solar system. They found that the large majority should travel up to 100 kilometres per second, indicating they originate from the main plane of the Milky Way.
But a small portion – 0.03 per cent, or three objects per century – could have velocities of more than 530 kilometres per second, meaning they originated from outside our galaxy’s disc, perhaps even from another galaxy.
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2271307-seven-alien-space-rocks-should-pass-through-our-solar-system-each-year/#ixzz6pJBRTHlb"
There'll be another one along shortly, but they might be moving a bit sharpish:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2271307-seven-alien-space-rocks-should-pass-through-our-solar-system-each-year/
"an average of 6.9 interstellar objects around the size of ‘Oumuamua – at least 100 metres across – should pass within 1 astronomical unit (the Earth-sun distance) of the sun every year.
The researchers estimated this by calculating the expected velocities of interstellar visitors and working out how long they should remain in our solar system. They found that the large majority should travel up to 100 kilometres per second, indicating they originate from the main plane of the Milky Way.
But a small portion – 0.03 per cent, or three objects per century – could have velocities of more than 530 kilometres per second, meaning they originated from outside our galaxy’s disc, perhaps even from another galaxy."
Well, if Mark Zuckerberg reads the Register, you may want to hone your sales pitch:
https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/ceos/mark-zuckerberg-net-worth/
$100,000,000,000
Of course, Jeff Bezos may also be a reader:
https://www.theverge.com/22264856/jeff-bezos-worth-amazon-founder-ceo-193-billion-dollars
Or even Bill Gates:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/012715/5-richest-people-world.asp
Although I must say, from bitter personal experience, starting to build something, and actually finishing it are two very different things.
Hang on a minute. On reading my above posting, I realise that I've seen lots of pictures on APOD* of stars emitting vast, high energy, high speed (respectable % of c velocity) 'jets' of matter. Our telescopes are as yet unable to resolve the starship and lightsail being propelled by those jets. Maybe the jets are evidence of interstellar travel and so of intelligent technically advanced life elsewhere in the galaxy / universe?
Thinks ... Nahh, don't be silly.
*Astronomy Picture of the Day, from https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
"Any civilisation that requires even a meaningful percentage of a stars output will most likely be spread across multiple systems already and I struggle to think of any possible reason for that much usable power in just one place."
Well, if we want to use the 'gigantic space laser' method to propel a reasonably sized spaceship to another solar system then that amount of energy might come in handy.
"It's possible for humanity to build a Dyson sphere today"
How? You claim that a DS would use up most of the non-stellar mass in the solar system. Would that involve somehow mining Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune into oblivion (if not then they would have a significant gravitational effect on the constructed sphere). The amount of energy involved in just getting a small robot lander onto the surface of Mars to dig up some rocks is very significant compared to the amount of Mars rock that will actually be moved.
There are various versions of 'Dyson sphere' :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
I don't think that many would use up as much mass as you suggest. If one did require most of the non-stellar mass of the solar system then we would never be able to make it. In any case, Oumuamua type objects arriving from another solar system would still be a threat.
As far as we know the only intelligent life needs free oxygen, O2, in an atmosphere. This was created by the very generous supply of cyanobacteria which produce this toxic gas as a bye-product of photosynthesis. O2 will readily combine with anything available, like Iron (this is where all those iron oxide deposits came from) so free oxygen in an atmosphere is highly indicative of some form of life.
The first gas to look for in our search for extra-solar intelligent life is therefore O2, followed by industrial pollutants such as lead vapour: you get that from smelting metals, but I don't know if it can be detected yet. Humanity has been smelting metals for over 6000 years, so the opportunity for discovery would be slightly longer than for say, atmospheric Chloro-Fluoro-carbons (< 100 years).
The construction of a Dyson sphere would certainly be an incredible feat of engineering, but so too would be the system protecting it from all those inconvenient comets, asteroids, Kuiper belt objects and extra-solar oumouamoua type objects that just happen to fall into the local star's gravity well.
OK, so you could use some of the energy from the star to try to protect the structure of the sphere from physical impacts of large bodies, but meteor showers, and the fireball meteorite that fell on England recently would tax even the best space defence system to detect. Then there would be the ripple effects on the structure of the larger planets' to consider (there are gravitation reasons why Saturn's rings have gaps in them; why is the asteroid belt a ring of rubble and not a proper planet?).
No offence to the great Freeman Dyson but I reckon that constructing a Dyson sphere is difficult but keeping one in working order for even a enough time to recoup the investment is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
One of the intuitive difficulties in comparing the strengths of Gravity with the other three forces is that with the three electro-magnetic, electro-Weak force and strong force, the field lines along which those forces act can get bent, whereas with gravity it is not thought that gets bent. (Physicists help me out here, please.) So whilst I can hold a paperclip off the ground easily if it is attached to a magnet, I have to get the magnet really close to the paperclip to get it to leap off the ground onto the magnet.
Basically at short distances gravitational effects are much weaker than the other forces, until you get to the exceptionally high density objects like neutron stars. At enormous distances (galactic or observable universe scale) gravity dominates, but electro-magnetism can orient particles. See, for example:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200617.html
"Explanation: What role do magnetic fields play in interstellar physics? Analyses of observations by ESA's Planck satellite of emission by small magnetically-aligned dust grains reveal previously unknown magnetic field structures in our Milky Way Galaxy -- as shown by the curvy lines in the featured full-sky image. The dark red shows the plane of the Milky Way, where the concentration of dust is the highest. The huge arches above the plane are likely remnants of past explosive events from our Galaxy's core, conceptually similar to magnetic loop-like structures seen in our Sun's atmosphere. The curvy streamlines align with interstellar filaments of neutral hydrogen gas and provide tantalizing evidence that magnetic fields may supplement gravity in not only in shaping the interstellar medium, but in forming stars. How magnetism affected our Galaxy's evolution will likely remain a topic of research for years to come."
"I wonder why Microsoft does not become the first large computing supply company to actually give a very rough percentage of user accounts affected? Think of the kudos they would acquire through transparency."
Transparency, Microsoft? You must be kidding.
There is a more serious issue with such transparency. If every customer is affected it is fairly easy to tell and will probably be public knowledge as per the Garmin outage last year for fitness data (reported on el Reg amongst other news media). If only some are affected then there may be client confidentiality issues with telling their competitors that some services are unavailable and therefore some organisations are at a serious disadvantage competing for work or just delivering it.
Years ago I went to Scotland with a couple of friends on a walking holiday. Mountain climbing in the day, football Euro championships in the evenings.
We were climbing Slioch in the cloudy weather and reached a sort of small escarpment / ridge. I realised that it would appear on the map as being more than 10m high there would be an obvious contour line. Sure enough there it was on the the good old OS map*. Orienting myself I stuck my left arm out and pointed saying "The path should be somewhere over there."
There was a break in the cloud and I was pointing directly at the path to the summit. :o)
Ohh, hang on, you meant a different sort of cloud, didn't you?
As you were.
I'll get my coat, its an all weather anorak.
*Nothing beats knowing how to use a map and compass for navigating in cloud.
Not that I am particular fan of it, but surely existing Nominet members could easily set up a Facebook group to discuss things?*
*I am not actually on Facebook, so please forgive my ignorance if I'm making a fool of myself (wouldn't be the first time).
When the Romans sacked the greek town of Corinth, the place burnt with such ferocity that the fire melted not only the large amount of bronze, but also the gold and silver which ran in the gutters and mixed. Items made of 'Corinthian Bronze' were highly prized for their gold and silver content.
Had the Corinthians owned an example of this mechanism, it would not have survived the fire.
There was a European captain of a sailing ship in the Pacific who lost his compass, and had to admit to his hired, Polynesian crew that he was lost and could not navigate them to the destination, or any other island. They asked him where they were going, he told them and the crew set off.
A few days later they arrived precisely at the island destination. The European was amazed. "How did you know where it was?" The crew were confused "It's always been there."
They knew how to navigate by the waves in the sea, the birds and clouds in the air, local currents and all manner of 'non technological' means. They still learn this today:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation
But the bean counters report to 'The Management' who made the decisions (based on advice from the Techies and the Bean Counters).
And so the recursion continues - until 'The Management' realises that they are in charge and can blame whomsoever they choose, provided the shareholders don't get uppity and blame them. But if they are senior enough, 'The Management' will doubtless get jobs elsewhere with their chums, and their merry-go-round will continue.
"Such a situation would particularly hit the stereotypical "garden shed boffin" as they'd have no way of monetising anything they developed."
Sadly even 'great' inventors can lose out on their first invention.
Trevor Bayliss made virtually nothing from his clockwork radio (designed so that people with intermittent electricity supply could still listen to announcements).
(Sir) James Dyson made nothing out of the revolutionary 'ball barrow'.
The inventor of an amazing heat-resistant paint called 'starlight' and demonstrated on BBC's Tomorrow's World program* was so concerned that he'd be ripped off that he died without licensing it. The recipe is held by surviving members of the family, but are still too scared of being ripped off to market it.
*A raw egg was painted with it, and then subjected to the heat from a blowtorch live on air. After about a minute of heating the egg was broken open and shown to be completely raw.
Apgoosoft Corp is now applying to patent Pythagoras' Theorem, claiming that the ability to make right angled triangles makes the creation of previously patented rectangles(TM) too easy and it should receive a royalty from all manufacturers of rectangular objects or anything which contains a right angle. The US Patent and Trademarks Office has yet to comment...
It should be, except the US patent office granted a patent on Basmati rice:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jun/25/anthonybrowne.theobserver
"The battle over who controls the world's food supplies has escalated dramatically with the Indian government launching a legal challenge in the United States against an American company which has been granted a patent on the world-renowned basmati rice.
It is thought to be the first time a government in a developing country has challenged an attempt by a US company to patent - and thus control the production of - staple food and crops in what campaigners dub the 'rush for green gold'.
Basmati rice, sought-after for its fragrant taste, was developed by Indian farmers over hundreds of years, but the Texan company RiceTec obtained a patent for a cross-breed with American long-grain rice."
AlthoughI believe that was overturned after due consideration.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210313.html
"Explanation: What's the sound of one laser zapping? There's no need to consult a Zen master to find out, just listen to the first acoustic recording of laser shots on Mars. On Perseverance mission sol 12 (March 2) the SuperCam instrument atop the rover's mast zapped a rock dubbed Ma'az 30 times from a range of about 3.1 meters. Its microphone recorded the soft staccato popping sounds of the rapid series of SuperCam laser zaps. Shockwaves created in the thin martian atmosphere as bits of rock are vaporized by the laser shots make the popping sounds, sounds that offer clues to the physical structure of the target. This SuperCam close-up of the Ma'az target region is 6 centimeters (2.3 inches) across. Ma'az means Mars in the Navajo language."
Thanks for the ex[planation. He was working in a purpose built secure environment, which had to be approved by the relevant HMG agency, so not practical to move the facility. His condition was being treated, and once he had a pacemaker he was ok. My point was that if you are temporarily so unwell that you cannot use the emergency exit in an emergency then you should not really be at work (as this potentially puts yourself and other people at unreasonable risk).
Along with the warning icons available to warn for Trolls, pedants and jokes, maybe there should be one for total lunacy:
There was a military site, when the Internet had just been invented, that had an internal network connected to the 'outside' via a firewall (just the one, it was before dual homing and DMZs). There was also a connection to the outside world bypassing the firewall "in case the firewall breaks".
He was, and is greatly missed. He was the person I asked when I did not know what to do (and so did quite a lot of other people). He had the knack of being a calm voice of reason and pragmatism when others were panicking. Good sense of humour and knew all the best pubs in London. Many were the times when we had a meeting in London, and afterwards he would usher us all past several perfectly respectable ale houses to the obscure one down some alley that did the best beer or cider in the locality. He once put in an expenses claim for two people for a lunch of six pints of beer and a lump of cheese!
When he had his pacemaker he was ok to be in the office.
Feeling quite sad now.
RIP Stewart.
You have to consider that you might be on the toilet when the alarm sounds, so it is not just your normal desk location that matters. In any case he would clearly have struggled to descend the many flights of stairs from the 4th floor (there were no 'stair chairs' available as far as I know).
I use the past tense because he died suddenly, while on holiday abroad, about 5 years ago.
I used auto-belay devices at the climbing wall, they are ok, but you need to ensure the harness is properly used or you'll fund yourself descending by free-fall.
(I'm curious for the reasons for the downvotes of my post above, but I guess they will remain a mystery.)
I asked a friend of mine who worked in supporting physical infrastructure for a tech company. His assessment is interesting:
"...they seem to have stacked a number of UPS / generator containers right up tight to the building (give away is the chiller radiator on the outside). You would normally place these some distance from the build.......as they are a serious fire risk!!!!!! Either diesel or chance of combustable fumes from the batteries"
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