Posts by Stork

Aviation regulator outlines fixes that will get the 737 MAX flying again

Re: Hmm.

I expect them to rename it, just as Trump suggested. Then the majority who aren't aviation geeks forget.

Virgin Galactic pals up with Rolls-Royce to work on Mach 3 Concorde-style private jet that can carry up to 19 people

Re: Short and sweet.

I think physics is stacked against it, both regarding sound and energy efficiency.

If anything I think commercial aircraft speed has gone down the last decades, ever so slightly. It saves a bit of fuel, and with all the time wasted at the security circus anyway who notes?

I have tried to calculate the door to door average speed from my mum's in DK, with train to the airport, change of plane somewhere (with 1h connection), to here in the Algarve. In several cases it was less than 200km/h. Any private jet could at least double that, all included.

Re: Afterburners

Supercruise IS a cool word!

First rule of Ransomware Club is do not pay the ransom, but it looks like Carlson Wagonlit Travel didn't get the memo

As in: avoid trying in CDG

I did. My wife had such an arrangement and a very good agent in the other end, he got her on the last plane when everything closed due to the Icelandic volcano.

Knowledge such as which airports you can make your connection in is also a thing

USA seeks Moon and Mars nuke power plant designs ready to fly in 2027

Re: Coudn't they have specified...

In Denmark and here in Portugal it is quite normal to have 3 phases on your fuse box. You then distribute the photos to various sockets and appliances, and if you want you can get a 3 phase socket. Good for charging your electric car.

Many cookers in DK are 3 phase (to distribute the load between phases I guess, I am no sparky), and we once had one with a phase and neutral swapped in the socket. Water got boiling in no time, and the oven light was rather blinding as long as it lasted. Sparky got the bill for fixing the oven fan.

UK surveillance laws tightened up as most spying demands to be subject to warrants

Re: Regarding Bury Council and expecting their employees to do what they are paid to do

If they had a reasonable suspicion, perhaps they could get a warrant?

Report: CIA runs secret cyberwar with little oversight after Trump gave the OK, say US government officials

Re: A question

That has nothing to do with the current occupant of the White House then? He does not seem to care about much more than himself and his family.

Cornish drinkers catch a different kind of buzz as pub installs electric fence at bar

Re: Great idea

They are cheating and treat w as a wowel.

Heir-to-Concorde demo model to debut in October

Re: Lost Opportunities

If you still have it, do you by any chance live somewhere rather dry and without salt on the roads?

Cause in the UK and the rest of NW Europe, they were in a hurry to return to their more stable oxidation state.

TomTom bill bomb: Why am I being charged for infotainment? I sold my car last year, rages Reg reader

Re: As I read that

No they don't. I have had several (ok,two) subscriptions where I signed up on the website, but had to email or in one case call to stop automatic renewal.

NASA trusted 'traditional' Boeing to program its Starliner without close supervision... It failed to dock due to bugs

Re: But "bugs" are normal these days

It didn't harm Bill Gates, did it?

Re: So what happened?

I remember asking how Gummer's career did not end there and then. In other places it would have.

Things can't go on like this. You need to get fit for the sake of your health. I'm going to write you a prescription for... an e-bike

Cheap conventional bikes

I don't know about UK, but here in Portugal you can buy a bike for €80, and chances are you will get home on it. That in itself is impressive.

Experience in maintaining working bikes for our guests has taught me that is too cheap, for €120-€160 you can get something that will do 2-4 years without too much hassle. Then the transmission seizes up, due to dust/salt on one of the nearby bridlepaths. And that price is impressive too, really.

I think it sounds like worth trying

I am not particularly unfit but got one to use in the summer here (cycling in 30C requires more dedication than I have). And a trailer for shopping.

It is great fun! You do get some exercise, but all the dull bits like uphill in headwind are less of a hassle.

I hope at least some of the target group see benefit from the scheme.

UK government shakes magic money tree, finds $500m to buy a stake in struggling satellite firm OneWeb

Re: It Could Be Made to Work ???

Great! We can call it LORAN

Germany is helping the UK develop its COVID-19 contact-tracing app, says ambassador

Re: So unnecessary

I could imagine that the development happened in parallel, just guessing? And the Germans did not know exactly what happened in Canada and thought they needed a solution soon, and then there was a budget already...

Any combination of the three will do.

I was screwed over by Cisco managers who enforced India's caste hierarchy on me in US HQ, claims engineer

Re: How did they learn he was Dalit?

Brahmins are supposed to be vegetarians

Re: How did they learn he was Dalit?

True. Cristiano Ronaldo was found on billboards in India as he was famous, of aspirational skin tone and features and hair colour didn't look out of place

Re: How did they learn he was Dalit?

A friend and I had a similar game many years ago while on interrail: guess nationality before you hear people. I think we were at 70-80%, clothes, complexion and body language told a lot.

One does not simply repurpose an entire internet constellation for sat-nav, but UK might have a go anyway

You must get different websites than me. The Telegraph seems to be a Boris fanzine, Mail is not terribly critical, but it does appear that the Times is not impressed all the time

Brit police's use of facial-recognition tech is lawful, no need to question us, cops' lawyer tells Court of Appeal

Re: So now

Innocent unless found Irish!

After huffing and puffing for years, US senators unveil law to blow the encryption house down with police backdoors

Re: So once the Government gets its way....

Please correct me, but I seem to remember the Thatcher-era tories never got much more than 40% of the vote.

After 84 years, Japan's Olympus shutters its camera biz, flogs it to private equity – smartphones are just too good

Re: Nah

More FF on aps-c. That's possible with Nikon's mirrorless, not with Canon's.

Re: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

My OM-2 was my least favourite camera. It several times got some sort of electronic error where the shutter opened and - that was it.

I gave up and bought a Nikon FA

It depends what the pro is shooting. For many purposes, a 5 year old high end body is still just fine. Some pros rarely leave the studio.

It is a pity there has been so poor integration with smartphones though. To be it would be obvious to use the GPS on the phone via Bluetooth, and do integration with Instagram or similar.

Re: Nah

If it is Leica you just may get money for them. The faux SLR's (I assume you mean high end mirrorless) have quite good AF these days. Thom Hogan shoots sport with some.

If you don't care about being behind the curve, pick up a slightly older model DSLR and you get a lot for your money. I have done basketball with mine and it copes well.

The advantage of mirrorless is less weight and bulk. You can even pick up an Olympus OM-D on firesale + lenses and be happy for years.

Re: Nah

I would not write Nikon off - their move to high end mirrorless seems much more clued up than Canon's. You can use the same lenses on both APS-C and full frame to start with.

Panasonic seems to target video with a bit of still in m4/3, Fujifilm is struggling in spite of good products, and Pentax is to all effects not there. Leica will probably go on because, well, it is a different business.

The problem is that the total market for interchangeable lens cameras has been in serious decline for years, and all makes have plenty of old but still very capable models in shops and at online dealers. For APS-C, you don't find a much better sensor than what is in my 5 year old Nikon D5300. AF is not bad either. If you need to improve in quality, get better glass (the kit lens is even decent) or a tripod.

And as pointed out, the quality from phones is for many Good Enough, and it is much easier to share the pictures.

To read more detailed comments, try www.bythom.com

Things that make you go foom: Destruction derby as NASA and SpaceX test rocket components to failure

Re: Hot LOX

This reminds me of a good story: Hardened steel tend to go brittle at higher temperatures than mild (aka carbon) steel. Some burglars therefore brought a styrofoam box and dry ice, and packed it around the troublesome lock parts and then gave it a whack with a hammer - worked a treat.

My metallurgy teacher thought it was nice someone had listened.

Re: Hot LOX

One would hope they had tested material samples, incl joints, in the region around expected operating temperature.

I did that sort of stuff using liquid nitrogen, even if we only really went down to -80C or so. Glass transition temperature of polymers if you want to know.

Apple to keep Intel at Arm's length: macOS shifts from x86 to homegrown common CPU arch, will run iOS apps

Re: Plenty have tried this whole mainstream ARM thing before, and all of them have failed

It is called second mover advantage. It is the second mouse that gets the cheese.

Australia's Lion brewery hit by second cyber attack as nation staggers under suspected Chinese digital assault

Re: If China has nothing to hide...

Oh yes, and how is the Russian interference report coming along?

A memo from the distant future... June 2022: The boss decides working from home isn't the new normal after all

Don't discount the value of leaving your workplace.

My wife and I run a tourism rental and live in the property too. It is very hard to switch off and relax, you can always see what you should be doing.

During the spring we had a month where we did not touch work email during the weekend - we would have gone bonkers otherwise. I think there is a reason most societies through history spent time on religious activities.

Re: Socialize? With nerds?

Even if your work colleagues are not close friends, there is still a place for aquaintances. As moderately extrovert, I certainly feel better if I have had small pleasant chitchats than if I have not.

I also think it is easier to bounce ideas off others informally if you meet face to face.

Re: It could work out if love comes from two sides

I think commuting started with industrialisation, the workers commuted by foot to the dark, satanic mills. As did a few paper pushers.

The incumbent President of the United States of America ran now-banned Facebook ads loaded with Nazi references

Re: I didn't know of the triangle badges in the prison camps

As usual, working on one axis only is too simple.

Take a look at https://www.politicalcompass.org

Economically, Germany in the 30es was fairly centrist (as in role between the state and private sector) and a lot of policies were what Keynes (who's ideas were since abused) would have agreed to - public works to get the economy going. This is of course ignoring the ban on jewish activities and ownership.

But had Hitler and Stalin avoided economic issues they would probably have found a lot to agree on regarding the importance of a strong and firm leadership.

Re: @Version 1.0

No, Hillary didn't play it well. She still got the most votes, though.

Re: They actually have a plan...

I hope you are right about all counts, but on the first the Economist's modelling gives the tweeter-in-chief something like 15-20% chance of winning. That is unlikely but possible to me.

Re: "you see them *everywhere*"

On its own perhaps not, but this is not on its own. The red triangle is the primary evidence, the rest supports.

Health Sec Hancock says UK will use Apple-Google API for virus contact-tracing app after all (even though Apple were right rotters)

Re: iTunes more important than pandemic?

Was it specified which winter? I had a colleague who spent three years on a project that should go live by August.

Please stop beating!

Thanks, the World

Splunk to junk masters and slaves once a committee figures out replacements

Re: Relaxed of Tunbridge Wells

Isn't it already too late then - think of all the references to women you are not allowed to make anymore?

I can imagine master/slave being at least annoying beyond the professionally offended.

Re: Proximity and stuff

Realistically, slavery has f*cked up generations after. Apart from general social inheritance and direct race discrimination, I am convinced that slavery messed up large parts of the black populations family structures. Role models matter.

Has anyone got black friends/colleagues they could ask?

I have the idea that the majority of commentards (incl. yours truly) are relatively low in melanine. How about asking someone who is not? Like, when used in terms like blacklist, does it bother or do you not think about it?

Re: When STONITH falls

I am reminded of the (alleged) exchange in a South African court a few decades back:

- how come you call yourselves black when you are actually brown?

- how come you call yourselves white when you are actually pink?

Perhaps we should use pigmentally gifted/challenged? In any case, the cultural background is more interesting and not necessarily identical to ethnicity.

Back to the discussion, I think it is right to find substitutes for the more crass cases such as master/slave. I do have sufficient empathy to realise how someone who knows their ancestors were enslaved could be at least reminded of it all the time. There are other cases where I would't bother (pot, kettle, black).

Couple wrongly arrested over Gatwick Airport drone debacle score £200k payout from cops

The legal beagles scored almost 75%?

Or does that include court charges?

You could feel envious at the lawyers, but I knew one who changed to IT: he was fed up with everyone always being so upset in his old profession.

Someone got so fed up with GE fridge DRM – yes, fridge DRM – they made a whole website on how to bypass it

Boats?

Really? Boats is for sure one of the things I want to be able to fix.

Or do they have something different in mind? Mine is small and with sail.

Oh crap: UK's digital overlords moot new rules to help telcos lay fibre in sewer pipes

In Denmark water and sewers are I think 120cm down, to prevent freezing. Of course, winters these days are not what they used to be...

Smart fridges are cool, but after a few short years you could be stuck with a big frosty brick in the kitchen

Fridges have not been bad, in seven rental houses and our own home I think we have had two replacements and one repair the last ten years.

Smart TVs are bothering me at the moment, we have 3 or 4 LGs that keep the satellite programming but looses the terrestrial programming when you put it on standby.

And the law insists we have Portuguese TV, and we are getting guests who are likely to Cara.

US Air Force wants to pit AI-powered drone against its dogfighting hotshots in battle of the skies next year

Re: Which aircraft will the meat pilot use?

Wasn't one of the main problem of the F35 compared to A10 (and AFAIR even F16) limited time over target? Oh, and it needs so much service it rarely get off the ground in the first place?

Please correct me!