* Posts by Norman R

4 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Mar 2012

Mysterious metadata monster swamped Google’s blobs and crashed its cloud

Norman R

Was it a 1202 program alarm?

GitHub to replace master with main across its services

Norman R

Weren't we here 17 years ago?

Where - https://www.theregister.com/2003/11/26/la_officials_call_for_end/ - a Los Angeles purchasing officer wanted all master / slave terminology removed from equipment.

I immediately emailed the L.A. Office of Affirmative Action Compliance pointing out that there are many people who for religious or secular reasons find the concept of angels equally abhorrent, so could they please rename their city. Still waiting.

Computer Chess: Geek, gaming and retro-tech movie of the year

Norman R

Ahhh! That takes me back. The big box in two of the pictures is a Cromemco System Three which was the best engineered machine of it day. Pity it's not connected to anything - not even the mains.

I've got one in my attic, but wouldn't dare switch it on now unless the fire brigade were already en-route. Linear PSU featuring huge transformer, diode bridge rectifier, feeding into flower pot sized electrolytics that might go off like hand-grenades

UPDATE: GAGA team hunts down grass-smoking ROBOT

Norman R

Passive markers.

A set of round posts with vertical bar codes. Or QR codes. Rotating sensor that knows the angle it's at with respect to mower front. Simple triangulation if 3 or more posts can be seen. And you'll also know which way the mower is pointing.

Codes could even contain info about the posts position. I.e. Sequence in perimiter, NE Corner, etc.