Posts by tygrus.au 48 posts • joined 12 May 2011
They need to combine techniques and multiple systems over larger areas for redundancy and increased AI. At least 4 sensors: Daylight vision, IR, LIDAR & GPS. If just 1 of these systems can see a possible danger then assume this as being correct. If a system has unreliable readings that don't match expectations then slow down, proceed with caution depending on the limits of the other sensors. If there are conditions or objects obscuring the view of the sensor then don't assume everything is perfect. Don't take the sky or lane lines for granted. Watch the driver at all times, if they stop paying attention then alert and slow down until the driver reacts correctly. This is a driver assist system not an autopilot.
I would shorten the desktop and Start menu shortcuts to be like "MS Word 2000" for more than 20 years. Keeping the "MS" as the start keeps them sorted together as a group. Microsoft are including non-Office apps & services so dropped the "Office", nothing special.
"USMT is intended for administrators who are performing large-scale automated deployments. If you are only migrating the user states of a few computers, you can use PCmover Express. PCmover Express is a tool created by Microsoft's partner, Laplink." from the Microsoft URL above.
USMT is not designed for home users and Laplink will try to upsell from the free to the Pro for $$.
If you fear security then the government should demand access to code & hardware for analysis. ASIO (or military + security company) to analyse the code & hardware for security risks or intentional backdoors. Verify the compiled files of the company with what was compiled by ASIO so no changes can be secret after initial approval. Can we charge the supplier for part of the costs involved (eg. 1% or $5 per device)? Would other suppliers be subject to the same rules?
I like the versioning methods where they add new features and replace old methods while leaving the old code still workable but depreciated. You then have atleast a year (prefer 2 to 3 years) to recode what is deprecated before the next major release drops the old deprecated code and starts the cycle again. Removing the old at the same time as adding new features/methods is fraught with danger. Much better having an overlap where code can be run with 2 compilers that can check the output.
Agile can be used for two cases:
1) inhouse development;
2) some ongoing development & support of existing installation (customer asks for features and you have a short contract-develop-deliver-accept cycle).
Otherwise, they don't know what they need, they don't know what they're getting, nobody knows the costs and we all fight when we don't agree with the results.
Firstly, I'd like to send my condolence to the Johnson family. Katherine's achievements should never be forgotten by us.
I think they were called "data processing systems" not mainframes when the 7090 was released and earlier. The systems were made of cabinets and frames holding modules. Telephone system also had equipment mounted in frames so the phrase "main frame" was in prior use, but not the modern definition applied to computers after the mid-1960's. My mother worked in a data processing department as a computer operator in the 1960's and early 70's of MLC insurance company in Australia.
Quoted from an answer by "mgkrebbs":
"The term became more widely adopted, in particular for the large central computer used by a company as distinguished from smaller computers which began to appear in the 1960s. It is not terribly surprising that the earliest source quoted by the Oxford English Dictionary for mainframe is a 1964 glossary from Honeywell, then a producer (among other things) of smaller computers and soon minicomputers."
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/28290/origin-of-the-word-mainframe
Users are paying for 2x hardware. The likelihood of failure is so high they add the potential repair/replacement costs in the upfront price so it's still profitable after 2 years of potential warranty claims. Most premium phones sell with a 50% premium which is slowly reduced over the first 12 months.
This strange 10X version is not replacing the current Windows 10 for desktops and normal notebooks.
Windows 10X is probably for tablets and bargain basement rubbish that readers of this site won't be buying.
Stick with the non-X Windows 10 if you're running old Win32 / winforms and apps that do something worthwhile.
Mercury Mail server with Pegasus Mail client blocks the usual web code execution and many other good features but also has a few limitations. The good and the bad as you found with others. Microsoft make it hard for others to use their API's which also heavily change over time (calendar sync, contacts & lists). Free options are nice but they need $$/time from somewhere to add features and keep it up-to-date. As time goes by, the bar for entry is raised higher and higher. Big corp/gov need to invest in open source to meet their needs. Hopefully it will also meet our needs and they make it available to the rest of us. Shareware and asking for donations really struggle getting money from users. A lot of the $$ to Microsoft go to lawyers and marketing.
If there's 1 sensor or 1 computer or any other 'single' in the system then you have no redundancy and no guarantee of reliability.
If you duplicate sensor/computer/network then you add redundancy but how do you determine which is correct and reliable with only 2?
With triple redundancy you assume only 1 will fail at a time so the other two agree and you assume the third has failed and to be ignored. Hopefully only 1 fails at a time. The other problem with triple redundancy is if they continue flying with 1 broken because they think 2 is enough.
Can GPS and other sensors be used to model the suspect flight parameters and verify it's suspect value? Sensor says I'm pitching up with a stalling speed but GPS and airspeed (nose) says I'm level flight (also cup of water is level flat in plastic cup) with sufficient speed that stalling is very unlikely. Auto-pilot/MCAS panic button = alert authorities of rouge pilot in the hope that it's a computer fault not pilot trying to crash the plane. Is it better to rely on a person or a computer? If in doubt, let the pilot take control who has responsibility for the plane. Warn and help the pilot but don't let the sensor/computer faults crash planes.
Some computer systems remind me of a toddler: immature, stubborn, repetitive, illogical, hard to calm down...
Me: What do you mean you want "the pink one", this IS pink!
Toddler: I want the other pink one!
Me: If you wore it yesterday, it's in the wash
Toddler: But I want the pink one!
Me: It's in the wash, how about this pink shirt
Toddler: I want the other pink one!
Me: I give up, I'll get the one from yesterday with the ice cream stain on it.
Outside the kernel, Linux has great advantages by enabling many to experiment and customise applications and implementations.
Inside the kernel and it's critical to limit the possible damage caused by too many cooks. To stop the loudest idiot in the room you need someone to be louder up the front with a megaphone. Other open software project leaders have crumbled under the weight of communication, expectations and too many loud idiots. I would like to know if there is anyone else ready for any succession plan? Can anyone replace Linus?
I congratulate Linus for surviving this long and keeping the project curtailed into the finely groomed animal it is today. Linux may have not replaced Windows as the default desktop/notebook OS but Linux is still on more devices. Smart phones are mostly android based and now outnumber desktops/notebooks. Now it's all about app portability (eg. web based) and cloud hosted services (mostly Linux).
So EU treats UK businesses that try to have offices and trade in the EU as the walking dead after Halloween. No web domain, no trade across UK-EU borders, no UK government approved agreements, no end in sight. They can't seem to make Brexit alive (finish the job), nor can they kill it off (stay in the EU). Brexit is holding up the whole supply chain in both directions as business on both sides can't rely on supply or pricing from each other. Trade conditions, tariffs and taxes affect price of A which also affects B that then affects price of C. They can't sign contracts because they don't know the price and they don't know if they will have the inputs or be able to move the final product across borders. It's a nightmare that many want to wake up from.
HP board supporting the purchasing of companies like Autonomy for multiples of their value and then later writing off the losses. Now the people (different or same) in the same positions as those who lost the money pay themselves bonuses and fire the workers that earn the company far more than they are paid. Stop burning money on bad decisions and you would be able to keep your workers. There was a court case regarding who knew what, a possible lack of due diligence or did Autonomy cook the books. Those CEO's etc. are paid the big bucks to know what they are doing and don't trust everything you are told.
MSL from reliable and geographically stable locations is closer to 1.5cm for 11years (+/-0.2) to start of 2019 (trend of 1.36mm/yr). Fort Denison (Sydney, Australia) is barely moving compared to places built on sinking mud/sand (like Jakarta which has huge buildings on soft ground which they pumped the water from under their feet so it sinks more). Did they tell you they calibrated the satellite results by adjusting sensor output by upto 75cm (early in orbit) and data is readjusted for drifting times&locations. How can they say these Jason satellites are more accurate than other sources to measure mm changes. Some physical data from Pacific Islands are garbage because sensors have lost backup battery capacity and only work during hours of sufficient sunlight. A NZ study found Pacific Islands were on average, not shrinking https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02954-1.
Antarctic sea ice coverage returned to 1979 level in the last few weeks.
ELP sell a record player that uses laser beams instead of a needle to convert the grooves to sound. No prices listed now but years ago they were about 12K to 19k USD depending on model/options chosen. Very small quantity ever made/sold to such a niche market. If they had an order for 100 or more, then the price should come down a lot.
Early CPU's never had a FP unit and would still be called a CPU core when counting. Would you call the FPU of an early Atom processor a full FPU? The Atom CPU core is far less powerful than their normal desktop but everyone accepts the differences. To misquote Humpty Dumpty from 'Alice in wonderland', “..it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less". 8 CPU cores with some shared FPU resources performing better than an Intel Atom but less than a modern Intel Core i7. Buyer beware.
Arbitrarily adding vitamins to drinks and foods is increasing our risk of overdose, adverse side-effects and toxic damage. Drug store (pharmacy etc.) advertising piles of vitamins can be very dangerous to your health. The great thing for them is: the more we take of excessive additives, the more feel bad, the more we think that more additives will help us, the more we buy. Whole foods with minimal processing is best. Avoid added sugar, avoid artificial sweeteners.
The software for Linux tries to minimise changes to the software interfaces so that if software "A v2.0" is said to work with software "B v3.x" then both try to keep backward compatibility until they bring out "A v3.0" and "B v4.0".
1) You can change the internal functions but you can't change the existing interface (the command names or outputs seen by other programs/users).
2) You can add new features but don't break or remove old features (first do no harm).
3) If you want to make major changes then you fork the code tree into a new major version release.
Because the software interface doesn't change then other software that relies on it doesn't break unintentionally.
The problem with Microsoft is that they break all 3 rules listed above. Microsoft remove and half replace features with no care. Microsoft products often have more features broken than fixed each release. They rip out the old GUI dialog and then have this new "user-friendly" process that requires more clicks or has half the functions because it was left unfinished before release. There are too many dependencies where different MS products/components can break each other. Instead of making new 64bit versions of the OS components with new names, they: repurposed the old names; renamed 32bit components so 32bit compatibility was not certain; and made a headache for everyone (only new 64bit SW should have required recompile instead they made 32bit need new installers).
My first computer had Borland Sprint 1.0, Printmaster Plus and GWBASIC. School assignments were completed with that plus: a 3 volume encyclopedia, Osbourne science books, School Project packs (poster folded up to half A4 from the newsagent); stencils; dictionary; thesaurus; cardboard and coloured pencils.
I can use more features than most but overall productivity has decreased over time as they change and bloat the software.
Less than 20% (AMA doctors or public vote ?) think the MyHR system will improve patient outcomes
About two-thirds think it's a definite waste of time.
https://www.doctorportal.com.au/mjainsight/2018/25/my-health-record-on-a-path-to-nowhere/
There are so many limitations, lack of functionality, risks and impact to performance that the system is doomed to fail no matter how many people you sign up. Six years and ten clinical safety reviews later and we still have a long list of recommendations yet to be actioned or completed. Six years and no peer-reviewed research papers have been published that use a control trial and the implementation to show patient care improvements compared to the costs & risks.
BTW, Look up git in Wiktionary, the free dictionary:
"Git is a term of insult with origins in British English denoting an unpleasant, silly, incompetent, annoying, senile, elderly or childish person. As a mild oath it is roughly on a par with prat and marginally less pejorative than berk. Typically a good-natured admonition with a strong implication of familiarity, git is more severe than twit or idiot but less severe than wanker, arsehole or twat when offence is intended.
Linus Torvalds actually named the VCS system "Git". Maybe it was what he thought of most of the contributors sending him bug riddled Linux code (the first use of Git).
The name still seems just as appropriate for Microsoft and it's programming users.
While a sample of 1 event from each patient maybe able to be anonymised, full history from all patients quickly becomes much easier to re-identify. You can scramble the DOB but if you have access to other patient records (a health provider or private health insurer in Australia) then they become easier to match. If you convert DOB to an age at time of attendance/treatment event then with the full history of health events you can narrow down the DOB. Google et. al. can guess a family who have been sick (the keywords you've been using for searches, map searches). Facebook et. al. data can be used if you've been posting about yourself or others you have been sick or injured. It may not be open slather but some companies can potentially utilise the data available.
The ethical way is to let clients & users know the external parties who have access and potential use of their data. Not just a generic warning but to be more specific and log the access. And allow uses to block access until specifically asked to grant access prior to data being shared.
They first promoted the NBN to be the enabler for uses which had higher data use: business eg. Work from home; education including live & pre-recorded videos; video calls; streaming services; everyone in the house with their multiple devices sharing the internet; games. They offered higher speeds and unlimited download plans. It's ridiculous that now they persecute people for using the NBN plans as advertised. A remote school is not going to pay for 50 microwave services so that each staff & student computer has a dedicated service: the school pays for 1 and expects it to cater for the whole school. From what I heard from ISP's (including old cable, ADSL) around the time of the introduction of Netflix to Australia, user GB/month quickly doubled and now has tripled with major impact to congestion during evening peaks. Microsoft and other updates grow 30% pa. Advert supported content, http and https based services (eg. Cloud & remote hosted) all increase GB/month. There is a lot less simple static pages being accessed and even emails use html and images to bloat our download usage.
C4 is a very effective explosive. Maybe C/4HANA is a bomb waiting to explode. I like to avoid any so called "solution" which requires years worth of work and Millions of dollars to customise & implement.
I don't mind having configuration options and using existing functionality the way you want it, should take <3months to decide and test. No programmer required for 90% of functionality.
What percentage of functionality would you leave to programmers? 5%, maximum 10%
If it requires more than this then the original product was not a "solution".
The drone manufacturers need to be charged the cost of testing some of the drones and how they impact planes and helicopters. Aircraft manufacturers pay to test bird strikes.
Guidelines need to be created and tested. These guidelines then need to be a part of pilot training (on paper or with a simulator?).
I would assume the best practice would be for the helicopter to increase altitude. Maybe these drones need an automatic drop from the sky when plane/helicopter is detected within ##m. Or for drones to obey a generic "drop from the sky" signal that is sent from the aircraft.
Intel had started work on the 64bit extension to x86 when AMD was talking with Microsoft about x86-64 support. Microsoft made it clear to Intel, MS would only support 1 x86-64 version and AMD was going to be first to market and win out. Intel was already in conflict with AMD over newer extensions (SSE etc) and threats of anti-trust lawsuits in the EU. Intel chose to take the easy road and cut a deal with AMD for cross-licensing between them. With a few minor changes to the core, changes to the decoders and microcode Intel got all but a few instructions completely compatible (I remember their was a early bug where Intel CPU didn't quiet match the AMD behaviour). Intel copy & pasted AMD ISA, find&replace AMD64 with IM64T and Intel regained market domination starting with the Core 2 series.
Updates in them and of themselves are not the problem but why does Microsoft have a habit of "First break it and then we might get around to finishing the fixing later". Why do they delete and re-write code of products aiming for big changes then leave it looking like unfinished Uni projects prior to release? They should adopt the doctors' oath of "First, do no harm". A lot of the Linux community are more careful and acknowledge the benefits of keeping backwards compatibility and leave beta testing for beta releases not production releases. If Linus was in charge of Microsoft could you imagine the verbal spray each engineer would get if they continued the same poor MS coding behaviour.
They should focus their efforts on software to read the PDP11 and convert it to another platform and language. Create a PDP11 simulator to allow testing the old software against the new software running in a newer VM that is sent the same signal combinations to compare outputs. Test behaviour when equipment fails, sensors fail (wrong or missing readings) and human errors. Create tools to assist system design and rule making so it's easier to develop, maintain and migrate in the future.
If the panel price was steady in US$ then the AU$ to US$ change over last few years makes a big difference to the AU$ price. If the exchange rate changes in favour of the US$ worth more then our panel prices will go up again.
They should also have had a system of reducing rebates over time and reviewed annually. The install rebate should be based on a % of total cost and a max $. So if the real price falls below the expected price the rebate reduces based on the % of the total. Less artificial incentive as the cost comes down.
Also the state subsidises install & feed in tariff. These should also have been set to reduce over time. For an install at the start of the scheme they would get 60c/kwh (NSW leg.) for the first 12months, then 50c, 40c .. down to 20c after 4 years. That way the panels cost can be paid back early but once over the hump the over-the-top 60c/kwh is not still being paid like money for nothing that the rest of us pay for. After a year or two of the scheme, new installs have a reduced starting and residual price with no guaranteed price after 8 years. They promised too much and didn't act quick enough. They made it too attractive for low value installs that everyone else has to pay for. I'd hate to think how many I have seen that are shaded for part of the day and don't meet expectations.
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