Posts by Killing Time

Russian-trained spy whale spooks Norwegian fishermen

Re: Jones?

Then it wasn't fish he was trying to score...

Eggheads confirm it's not a bug – the universe really is expanding 9% faster than expected

Re: Simplest for you?

'No the simplest is velocity as wave surfing over resonant electric field.'

Presumably you will be putting this theorem up for peer review and publishing? Or is it someone else's idea hence the AC posting.

Does it make some kind of prediction which is testable? If not, it is just so much conjecture and dismiss-able as presumably it is you doing in the later post regarding entanglement. I know there is a lot of time and effort being put into testing that, not so much into this theory to my knowledge.

Wannacry-slayer Marcus Hutchins pleads guilty to two counts of banking malware creation

Re: So now he has admitted to creating nasty malware.

'there is always Prozac'

I wouldn't know. Is that what your doctor proscribes you to while away the lonely hours under your bridge?

Re: So now he has admitted to creating nasty malware.

'and just like that, nothing you say has any credibility.'

Well that's a fascinating observation AC. At best demonstrating your naivety, at worst your stupidity.

Has it passed you by the relationship between Anonymous Coward and credibility?

Re: So now he has admitted to creating nasty malware.

"He has made a full and free confession"

House arrest is a long way from imprisoned, virtual or not.

Free as in not coerced, probably due to the fact that they didn't need to after that schoolboy error on the phone.

He has admitted being a naughty boy, here he has a chance to get out from under it with some dignity.

Re: So now he has admitted to creating nasty malware.

Well everybody lies so that's no biggie.

Let's see, imagine he was the source of wannacry, it did get out of hand and he panicked. Publicly claiming to have found the kill switch is an odd thing to do in a panic situation, activating it quietly and keeping your head down seems the more likely choice.

He has made a full and free confession (no doubt as he was bang to rights) he will no longer be wasting the courts system time, I suspect they will go pretty easy on him.

London's Metropolitan Police arrest Julian Assange

Re: Popcorn time!

But we do know the facts -

Fact - He was released on bail by a UK court and chose of his own volition not to appear in court to answer the charges.

Fact - He chose of his own volition to reside in the Ecuadorean embassy for seven years and by his general behaviour alienate his hosts to the extent that they withdrew their offer of citizenship and asylum.

What isn't a fact or a reasonable assumption is that he wouldn't get a fair trial. If that was a reasonable assumption then every criminal brought before the court would have an infallible defence.

It's the courts role to decide which actions or beliefs are reasonable and which are not.

Assange understands that even if you don't, he jumped bail as he knows deep down that defence might work in the court of general opinion, those with little concept of the fundamentals of the justice system, those who are easily led and convinced of grand conspiracy or even those who were just to dumb to question why he felt he was so special, but it wouldn't work in front of educated, legally trained professionals.

Re: "Justice"

Yeah but despite all the reams of personal opinion none of us is an arbiter of justice and that includes you.

Meanwhile, someone the nation actually employs to make that judgement says -

Assange's behaviour was "the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest"

But never mind, I'm sure the public support of Pammy Anderson and Diane Abbott will make the judge question himself and reconsider his view.

Personally I'm a little peeved he wasn't thrown in the back of the Black Maria like most common criminals who resist arrest.

How do you sing 'We're jamming and we hope you like jamming, too' in Russian? Kremlin's sat-nav spoofing revealed

Re: Jam and spoof

@hammarbtyp

Yeah but it's not all about deep ocean is it? You have to come into port and that is where depth and position is critical. I would posit there is a higher amount of traffic in coastal waters.

Your lorry driver analogy is pretty derisory of professional navigators in terms of ability and capability. Day sailors and Gin Palace drivers maybe and if they wish to ignore depth data then more fool them.

Re: Jam and spoof

'if there was a choice between GPS inaccuracy and depth data, most navigators would believe their GPS over other data'

Really?? So they would ignore the data they couldn't verify by the mark one eyeball in favour of blindly following GPS data they potentially could roughly and quickly validate?

Done much marine navigation have you?

100MW bit barn farm in Ireland faces planning appeal from – yep – same guy who helped sink Apple's application

Re: Electricity

As the article points towards a major gas supply to the development I strongly suspect the inclusion of a gas fired cogen in the plans somewhere.

This would provide a reliable backup to the renewables/ grid connection.

Holy sh*tsnacks! Danger zone! Edinburgh Uni's Archer 2 super 'puter will cost a cool £79m

Re: *sploosh*

LANA!☝️

Champagne corks undocked as SpaceX brings the Crew Dragon back to Earth

Re: Well done, SpaceX ...

'The RD250 was once described as "expressly designed to power-wheelie learners[1] into roadside furniture"..)'

A mate of mine had to be the first in the area to own one when they were first released. He picked a brand new one from the dealer then dropped and wrote it off at the first roundabout he came to.

Re: Well done!

@iamanidiot

Granted, but along with the body of past experience I think it's reasonable to assume Space X have put some testing time into this and no two days are the same in terms of shear winds.

Only time will tell.

Re: Well done!

'Am not sure why (at this time) 3 people downvoted you though ?'

Perhaps because parachutes are one of the most mature technologies in landing heavy loads from height. The technology not only works reliably on Earth, it demonstrably works on other planets and moons.

Re: Well done, SpaceX ...

I'm not sure GPS would be the limiting factor regarding landing accuracy. Ships and planes managed to navigate pretty accurately without it.

I would have thought it was more the control / thruster technology along with the limited meteorology.

Upper atmosphere winds can now be measured, modelled in real time and fed back to the craft prior to entry

Doubtless the 60s and 70s capability was pretty crude to non existent by todays standards.

Re: Congratulations

'Excession was my favourite book, and Ethics Gradient my favourite name.'

As the pickup job involves a lot of hanging around, 'Beats Working' could be a contender.

Top choice of novel by the way.

You've been dying to know. Here's the answer: The Milky Way tips the cosmic scales at '1.5tr' times mass of the Sun

Re: Does this Oort Cloud look big on me?

'Where did it all come from, and where is it going to go?'

A single point and away from each other apparently.....

Musk is in contempt of court, screams SEC after Tesla boss brags about car production rates

Re: "Rant"

There is much to admire about Musk and his successes but equally there is a significant risk that these achievements and escalating personal wealth lead to overconfidence.

I suspect there are few people he would view as peers and if he sees himself as a disruptor, probably that view may extend to some aspects of business regulation. If this is the case he could feel justified in his comments.

Outside of your peers moderating your behaviour there is public opinion and there is the law.

With few peers and public opinion so fickle and shallow there is only application of the law likely to have any influence on him.

I doubt a monetary fine will make much difference to him however legal action and subsequent restrictions will put a serious crimp in his ability to reach his stated goals and ambitions.

Hopefully this will teach him to wind his neck in, grow up and understand that with great power comes great responsibility.

Banking in 2019: Sure, we'd recommend TSB's online, mobe banking say cowed customers

Personally

It was not being swayed by the public outcry, the extension of the five percent interest deal on the current account and the absolutely zero impact on my banking throughout the incident that retained my business.

That will remain the case until either I find a better deal or they have an issue that affects me.

Simples.....

Opportunity's mission is over, but InSight almost ready for a driller thriller below Martian surface

Re: this will be interesting

Yes I had seen that Wiki entry but then sumised that NASA had probably also factored in data from their other, and possibly the European orbiting radar assets to get the best possible overview of the landing site soil layer.

I just didn't bother typing it ... Cheers again.

Re: this will be interesting

@Iglethal

It seems the landing site was selected using data from the MRO which has ground penetrating radar so you could expect NASA to have a good indication of soil granularity and depth. As you say, baring hitting a rock its not a complete shot in the dark.

Highly informative. cheers

Bad news for WannaCry slayer Marcus Hutchins: Judge rules being young, hungover, and in a strange land doesn't obviate evidence

Re: "while talking to an unnamed associate over a recorded prison telephone line"

Schoolboy error....

Well the hangover defence failed, Aspergers diagnosis next?

NASA pops titanium tea cosy over Martian InSight probe instrument

Topple over?

'The shape is aerodynamic to ensure any passing wind presses the instrument towards the planet's surface so it won't topple over.'

I was under the impression the density of the atmosphere was so low that despite potentially high velocity it's force would be pretty negligible. I would have thought the winds cooling effect would have been a greater issue.

You could put a wider base on the instrument to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible but hey, what do I know, an aerodynamic dome shape works for all eventualities and they are the boffins after all...

Musk shows off the latest power plant for Starship, replaces Tesla CFO with a millennial

'As someone in a similar role I can tell you that appointing someone this inexperienced is often a red flag for potential fraud.'

While I'm impressed with the level of comentards El Reg attracts these days I don't see that a lack of direct experience is necessarily a red flag. It does depend on the integrity of the personality.

It could equally be said that the greater the experience the more the likelihood of knowing the systemic weaknesses which lead to fraud.

Theoretically that is what oversight and audit are there to eliminate. If that is in place, risk of fraud shouldn't be unduly elevated.

NASA's Opportunity rover celebrates 15 years on Mars – by staying as dead as a doornail

Re: Re By the way, an RTG is not a nuclear reactor in the sense I believe you are infering.

'Especially if it landed somewhere deep in the ocean.'

Actually that could be the best possible scenario. A relatively soft landing which may protect its physical integrity and would result in it eventually ending up as far from a population as possible.

Surely a far better outcome than coming in to a high speed impact and smearing itself across a landmass. To me, that scenario doesn't bear thinking about...

You can plan the launch to try to ensure the downrange area is relatively clear however there is still the possibility that the launch failure may be such that it could only reach a rapidly decaying orbit and then the result would be like Russian roulette.

That's why they don't launch this material into space without exploring every other option.

Re: Why solar

'concerned about the dangers of a failed launch dumping a live nuclear reactor back on earth'

Yes, that is the principal concern in selecting the power source.

Opportunity was at the limit of the power to weight ratio where solar was feasible. The last rover, having more mass and greater scientific capability was only feasible using a nuclear power source.

By the way, an RTG is not a nuclear reactor in the sense I believe you are infering.

Q. China just landed on its far side, the US woz there 50 years ago – now Europe wants to mine it? A. It's the Moon

And what did the documentary say about the risk of getting the nuclear waste there?

What was their assessment of the probability of smearing the waste across an ocean or landmass in the event of a launcher failure?

There are documentaries and there are documentaries.....

But you are right with your self declared attempt at wit.

What can mankind do to make an object such as the Moon worse? It has no atmosphere to screw up, it has no seas to poison, it has no ecology to unbalance and if you wait a few months, an incoming meteor will do more physical damage than mining and drilling would do over decades.

Let's think logically, not emotionally and not put barrier's in place where none are needed.

Yes, you can remotely hack factory, building site cranes. Wait, what?

Re: Hardly surprising

Conventionally, assessment of risk is

Likelihood X Potential Harm equals Risk

Potential Harm doesn't change only the likelihood can be changed in risk reduction.

Yes, the scenario you describe could result in the crane moving. But what is the likelihood of a miscreant being in the right place with the right gear and the motivation to do it? By most measures there are far more probable risks to spend time and effort resolving than this, such as someone breaking in and stealing a transmitter. I would argue that has a higher likelihood therefore you put your resources here rather than to an extremely low probability event. I would put your scenario at the same probability as a 'welded' control contactor or relay and they are at a level of acceptable risk.

At some point you have to set acceptable risk or you would never do anything.

Re: Hardly surprising

Is this view based on direct knowledge or as it reads, just supposition?

I have direct knowledge of one current manufacturers approach, which in a nutshell, is highly proprietary protocol with a specific frequency / ID code combination individually configured between Transmitter and Receiver, low power so that effective range is no more than a few tens of meters ( close proximity line of sight) and default action is DO NOTHING unless a specific valid command is received in every decoded packet.

This appears to address your points, is already widely installed and has been for a couple of decades.

Re: Not good

'Though you would hope that the controller itself would prevent some of the dangers as part of its functional safety management.'

They do, though you wouldn't know that if you just accept the so called report at face value. I do wonder what purpose 'reports' such as this hope to achieve other than FUD.

It would be interesting to know what the report author is offering by way of mitigation, what are they charging or how are they 'monetising' the results of their 'analysis'. To my knowledge they are not in the business of producing the equipment so are not pushing a particular product. Perhaps they are just somehow cashing in on the ignorance of people without the technical knowledge to make a rational risk assessment of this particular 'vulnerability' ( if I could reduce the font to sufficiently emphasise my assessment, you would barely make it out!).

By far, the biggest risk with equipment such as this is 'operator error' and it always will be.

Sadly, operator assessment and training funds may be disproportionately redirected to resolve this non issue. The cynic in me thinks the motivation is just the search for the next Millennium Bug and the business opportunities it created.

Dutch boyband hopes to reverse Brexit through the power of music

Re: Why not?

'Suppose it turns out to be really not much of a big deal after all. Except for re EU which declines into insignificance and te profits of a few European (not British) companies that take a nosedive?'

While your positive metal attitude would be commendable in a lot of situations, really, this is not one of them. In fact, it appears borderline delusional where you think that the loss of an economy and population of 66 Million from a far larger economy currently driven by a population of 742 Million would result in their demise and commercial decline.

I don't doubt you are educated, youthful,non racist and believe you have made a rational assessment. I just think you are naive.

I don't suppose my point above would make any difference to your positive and sunny outlook because you have rationalised our exit as resulting in the EU's demise.

If it were a game of poker I would love to be playing with you because you are on full tilt, sadly its not and I don't want to be part of your 'all in' strategy. When I go all in there are multiple outs, in this case, the probability is low to non existent on hitting the miracle card you are hoping for.

British Pubs

'Anyway, now we have five lads, aged 22-25, apparently wanting to tour British pubs to spread their message'

I just have this mental image of 'Bob's Country Bunker' and that being the kindest outcome...

Boffins don't give a sh!t, slap Trump's face on a turd in science journal

@Jtom

Yes,in line with the subject matter a lot of the comments on this thread are purile. What that has to do with our politics I have no idea.

It doesn't take a European to point that out. West or East.

You need a far better command of the language to avoid your trolling attempt being so obvious.

I'm willing to bet you probably had 'must do better' on your school report.

Re: Pareidolia

Very good point and a reasonable defence. It's arguable who the arrangement of pixels resembles if you really want to get down to it.

Here's 2018 in a nutshell for you... Russian super robot turns out to be man in robot suit

Re: Nothing new here.

'The Diddy Men all had convincing sounding names such as: Dicky Mint, Sid Short and Hamish McDiddy, and they danced around and sang in chipmunk style voices. But it eventually came to light that it was all a clever conspiracy perpetrated on the nation's school kids and that the "Diddy Men" were actually just children dressed up.'

I am gobsmacked! You have just confirmed my long held suspicion.

So they weren't real after all!

I remember them so clearly and was totally taken in by their names, dancing, singing and dressing up. Tell me, when did it 'eventually come to light' for you?

As a six year old it was about twenty seconds after seeing them my suspicions were aroused, how about you?

Re: How desperate are you folks getting?

"When you run out of arguments, you make a fool of your opponent."

Who is the 'opponent' here? The article is just highlighting the volte face of a broadcaster you might reasonably expect to check it's fact prior to transmission.

A little touchy aren't we?

Ecuador says 'yes' to Assange 'freedom' deal, but Julian says 'nyet'

Re: Sunday Morning Herald column

The author claims to have been a previous Assange critic, however I don't see the article revealing any new info which may have swayed her claimed previously held opinion. Or anything which adds to the public debate for that matter.

Its just a rehash of all that has gone before including the fallacies being perpetuated surrounding the legal position of the Swedish charges, and the bizarre expectation that the Swedish authorities should have come to London to interview their suspect.

It strikes me as an opinion piece just to fill column inches. Neither here no there.

That's the thing about opinions, they can change like the wind for some people but unfailingly they are like arseholes, everyone has got one....

Re: Bigger "balls" than you!

@menasco

There is a mechanism in written English where you start a new paragraph when you are making a new point. It helps the reader understand where you are going with your argument.

You may want to try it sometime, though having trudged through your post, personally I don't think it would have helped.

Space policy boffin: Blighty can't just ctrl-C, ctrl-V plans for Galileo into its Brexit satellite

Re: Politics has changed. The world has changed.

Errr... Its an aspiration...It's a straight right at the ERG...

She was handed a busted flush, compounded it by gambling on a snap election to gain a mandate and ended up hamstrung by the vagaries of the Great British electorate....

There really are far worse political players in the frame who could balls it up even more. Give her a break!

Re: Strangely in the last week or so....

'Brexit is a divorce ... during the divorce proceedings we've behaved terribly - who on earth would take the current batch of politicians (both sides) back into their house and try and rebuild a relationship?'

If Brexit is a divorce then it ain't done until the decree is granted, despite our behaviour.

Current batch of politicians ? Infighting Tories and fence sitting Labour? They are disposable and will be gone when this debacle pans out. The concern and worry is who will be in the hot seat whichever way this turns out....

NASA's Mars probe InSight really has Mars in sight: It beams back first pic after touchdown

Re: Wind

And before any of you enthusiasts calls ' Polar Lander' or 'Schiaparelli', they were believed to be caused by mistakes not omissions... Just saying...

Re: Wind

'I'm reasonably sure the rocket scientists thought of this, but those solar panels look a bit lightweight and flimsy.'

I'm trying to imagine the scenario where the rocket scientists factored in the hypersonic atmospheric entry then deceleration to soft landing and forgot to beef up the solar panel support structure.

Nahh I've got nothing....

Shocker: UK smart meter rollout is crap, late and £500m over budget

Re: OK, but why ....

Be careful around those batteries, mind they don't short out on your tin foil hat.....

Re: OK, but why ....

@Veti

'Talk instead about the decision to put the rollout in the hands of the retailers, '

That was possibly driven by the fact that the retailers stand to gain by the introduction.

Access to consumption data in close to real time reduces their financial risk. Allowing them to balance their finances over a shorter period than a three monthly meter reading cycle ( probably closer to five months by the time they collate all the manual readings).

It surprised me they didn't farm the work out to the DNO ( The company that handles the final connection to the home/business). Historically they held responsibility for the metering as they hold responsibility up to the 'supply tails' into your consumer unit. Collectively, they must have wanted too much to implement the change.

Regarding the protocols? Yeah what a f@*k up.

Blighty: We spent £1bn on Galileo and all we got was this lousy T-shirt

Re: Well, who'd have thought it?

@ ITfarmer

'If you love the EU so much bugger off and live there .. I have for over 10 years. At least I know what Europeans think of the UK.'

Is it possible your perception of your neighbours feelings towards the UK may not be general but far more personal?

Re: UK contributions

Not to mention them being a willing market for our products and services. Take a look around Greece and it's islands. Every other vehicle is from a German manufacturer. The Greek bailout didn't come without conditions.

It is a fact of life that in any negotiation there will always be a stronger and a weaker party.

If both parties were equal then there would be no requirement for negotiation as both parties can just walk away on an equal footing.

Sadly in the majority of cases, upon failing to get exactly what they want, the weaker party generally resorts to claiming victimisation with suggestions of punishment, bullying, arrogance or calls for respect from the other party. It really is a last ditch strategy, an emotional response that means nothing in the real world. The fact that it is regularly called by the Brexiteers is just a reflection of how strategically clueless they are.

Reality is hard, the gap between what you want and what you get is wide, no amount of name calling will change that.

Negotiation relies on some form of leverage. When you haven't got anything the other party wants, which it can’t easily replace elsewhere, you are screwed.

We have three choices -

a. We accept the deal May is given.

b. We stop the process, try to salvage our dignity and resume trying to democratically influence the EU more towards the UK’s point of view.

c. We walk away, take the huge hit, stop whining like babies, and spend the next few decades being the bitch of multiple trading blocs while we try to set up favourable deals with them.

That is the way we can exercise our right to self determination….

@AC

The referendum was a simple question, do we want to leave the EU. The Leave campaign was wholly based around, and sold to Joe Public, on our ability to negotiate a way out which would be beneficial to the UK, because if we couldn't reach a favourable deal we would just walk away.

Despite this fantasy, at least those clowns understand reality enough to grasp the fact that a so called 'clean break' is the worst possible option. Any other deal we may be able to strike with other trading blocks we will be the far weaker party, with no leverage and they will see how we treat trading partners. We will 'eventually' get deals which reflect our behaviour.

Is it naivety or just intellectually challenging for you to understand this?

I don't believe you speak for the entirety of the leave voters, at least the ones I speak to grasp the basic facts of the situation.