* Posts by mjones52

10 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Feb 2013

Mosquitoes, Comets and Vampires: The de Havilland Museum

mjones52

With no slight to the writers this is one of the few sites I know where one might learn more from the comments than from the article - a great added value.

My thanks to both the writer, the commenters, and the museum makers for helping to preserve the truth beyond nostalgia of the many contributions - the designers and their many craft that both pioneered the field and bore the operational brunt of the war.

Looking back it's easy to see the Spit, P51, B17, while eliding the Mosquito, Hurricane, Lancaster, B-24, for example. It ought not be a popularity contest but a balanced appraisal of how it all fit together. The popular histories that make it into schoolbooks focus on the easy sexy, ignoring the realities, glossing the facts, doing disservice to all.

This museum and the others help keep the balance, as do those who pass on the memories. Thanks.

The right time to drink coffee

mjones52

Re: Personally,

I've found it's better to drink coffee while one is awake.

NSA tactics no better than a CYBERCRIME GANG, says infosec'er

mjones52

Re: Finding terrorists

Well, sorta kinda.

"They" (several TLAs) were given information which could have been pursued by standard criminal investigation procedures including specific warrants by a regular judge.

I'd venture to say that apart from some specifics of sources and methods, there is nothing in real anti-terrorist efforts that could not, and in my opinion should not, be handled by normal police investigation.

As someone pointed out a while ago (I read it elsewhere but I wouldn't be surprised if someone here made the same point) a lot of what the national intel shops are getting up to is a consequence of their main mission gone missing with the fall of the Soviets - all that wonderful assemblage of skills and tools searching for a new purpose in life. Politicos for whatever grab-bag of reasons agreed, so that rather than re-apportion funds they approved unnecessary re-focus of the agencies. So now we have the wars on drugs and terror and copyright infringement and online gambling; oh, and throw in a big helping of snooping on businesses in other countries.

ECHR rejects free speech plea over offensive online comments

mjones52

Re: Actually, there are rules in the US as well

Actually, no.

You're allowed to say anything - unless mute or muted, how could that be prevented?

It's just that saying some things carries legal consequences. I don't mean to seem overly pedantic, but I think it an important distinction - even if we all carry the appropriate caveat in our minds I think it more important to state the situation clearly (or as clearly as I'm able, at the moment.)

I understand the the human rights court said the case didn't violate human rights; I understand saying some things carry liabilities - shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre being the classic example in 1st Amendment classes.

The problem I see is the lash of the politically correct driven by liability exposure as delineated by lawyers, to the extent that all too many universities in the U.S. now have "free-speech" zones for which one has to make an appointment and often have that 'free speech' vetted beforehand. To me that's as much chilling effect and hypocrisy as the recent surveillance revelations are; both are inimical to any notion of free expression.

A point of having a free mind is having the right to express oneself. What the powers want to negate through restrictions of expression is directed at their desire - their intent - for captive minds in the general populace.

Penguins, prepare to get SPACED OUT: Ubuntu 13.10's Mir has docked

mjones52

Nice, if it works.

I spend most time on the desktop, have a laptop that gets occasional use. For those with many devices I can see the attraction of having an interface that automagically configures itself to a given device.

I'm not happy about no nVidia blob, possible license issues, fractioning of developer base. Lack of a good driver for my video card may cause me to switch to another distro after five years with Ubuntu.

As an aside, after making a few adjustments I have no gripe with Unity; on my widescreens having a thin column where a click brings up often-used accessories and utilities is something I find very useful. What I do dislike is the general dumbing down of the controls readily available to the user. Oh, and I haven't had cause to even look at any .conf file in years, X or otherwise.

Science fiction titan Frederik Pohl dies, aged 93

mjones52

My approach to SF was a haphazard one. I was introduced by the village librarian through the anthology "The Omnibus of Science Fiction" in 1958. I was hooked. A short while later I found one of Mr. Pohl's books; he held another of the lines, and reeled me in evermore. Thank you, sir.

The great ones that built SF are gone, never to be equaled, a loss to all, inspiration for those who've carried on and built anew.

Reg readers tumesce as they get their tongues round 'podule'

mjones52

podule as a collective noun

First thing that came to mind was a podule of pustules. Aaaargh. Is there a good brain soap?

NASA-backed fusion engine could cut Mars trip down to 30 days

mjones52

Re: Vaporware

Yes, vaporware for now, I'll be interested to see how they do, how much progress they might make with this.

Failure not to be reviled; failure at the very least hints at what to do right. Worst case, as with Edison and his quest for a filament for light bulb, plod along by eliminating all the stuff that doesn't work. Best case, the light bulb goes on, Eureka!, build it right the next time. Wash, rinse, repeat. It's how it's done. Nowadays we can do more things with computer-aided simulations, but it still comes down to bending metal and throwing a switch.

Interesting re shock absorbers. Sounds worth a try.

For getting some electricity back, exterior line the exhaust cone with coil - magnetohydrodynamics or somesuch, no?

Initial juice for outer Solar system and backup and other stuff, just use a standard fission reactor, but do keep the solar panels. Biggest initial penalty is getting the heavy parts off planet; the rest is far lighter re-supply. And if water from asteroids and Moon becomes available, even better.

Opera joins Google/Apple in-crowd with shift to WebKit and Chromium

mjones52

Re: Yes, but...

Being able to have Opera identify or masquerade as Firefox or IE can sometimes help with that; I haven't had to use it lately but in the 'oughts' it came in handy.

Official: America now a nation of broadband whingers

mjones52

reason to whine

Living in a city of ~70k I've got two choices for 'broadband' - aDSL from AT&T or cable from Time Warner. Satellite can be done, but it's pricey and there are issue with latency and signal degradation due to weather and number of current users in area. (The latter condition applies to cable as well, of course.)

So, I can pay the telco ~$25/month for "up to" 3 down, up not given, if committing to a one year contract that includes voice services (price not given.) Or I can pay Time Warner ~39/month for 7 down, half up.

Speed tests show 10-14 down, and as high as 1 up; in real life down speed varies, usually it's around 1-3, and upload around a half.

Some competition, eh? In some states it's illegal for cities to offer their citizens municipal broadband. Most places, only one cable company is allowed. While the ISP biz units might not be flush, the parent companies are having record profits. Since many companies now supply content, the situation won't improve until the Internet connection is separated out as a public utility such as water or electricity. So yeah, we whine.