Posts by Vinyl-Junkie

Take-off crash 'n' burn didn't kill the Concorde, it was just too bloody expensive to maintain

Re: "Noisy" Concorde

Indeed; those who complain about Concorde's noise are almost certainly too young to remember "proper" jet engines, as opposed to today's fanjets. The BAC 1-11, Boeing 707, DC-8 and VC-10 were all way louder than Concorde, especially as you got further away from the runway, as Concorde had a very aggressive climb profile, which minimised the noise footprint if you were more than a mile from the end of the runway.

Until 2013 it was still possible to appreciate just how noisy the VC-10 was. I was standing in Port Meadow in Oxford, approximately 12 miles from Brize Norton, listening to a VC-10 doing circuits; it was possible to hear it clearly through every stage of the circuit!

Re: Supre Cruise

Supercruise simply means the ability to sustain supersonic flight without afterburner.

Re: Surprise Sighting

The Filton Concorde was flown in; there's footage of the landing here, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4UHTiMJqpM

The barged Concorde was en-route to The Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Scotland.

Supersonic flight

"although its characteristic sonic boom was no longer heard above populated areas by the 1990s in the wake of complaints from those whose windows had been shattered."

Concorde was never allowed to fly supersonic over land during its commercial operating career. On transatlantic flights the aircraft would fly subsonic over land before transitioning to supersonic mode over the Bristol Channel. Whilst the boom was audible, and occasionally loud enough to rattle windows in North Devon and North Cornwall, it certainly was never loud enough to shatter windows. The only damage that was attributed directly to repeated sonic booms from Concorde was the loosening of the pointing between slates on some roofs.

That's no moon... er, that's an asteroid. And it'll be your next and final home, spacefarer

Re: The Heinlein story

That would be this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky

How 'parasitic' Google's 'We're journalists!' court defence was stamped into oblivion

Re: I may be misunderstanding the process but...

@ArrZarr

Thanks for that; the article explains the process and why I get similar results on different search engines; they are all implementing variations of the "featured snippets" code.

Re: I may be misunderstanding the process but...

Thanks but I'm still not sure how that is different from Bing & DDG; which appear to do something very similar.

I may be misunderstanding the process but...

...isn't where Wikipedia appears down to Wikipedia's search optimisation rather than Google? I've just run the same search through Google, Bing & DuckDuckGo and Wikipedia was the top hit on two of them, and second on the third (Bing).

Virgin spaceplane makes maiden rocket-powered flight

Re: Hello Concorde!

Tell me about it! I had the opportunity (and the money) to fly Concorde on multiple occasions when it used to do its "supersonic lunches over the Bay of Biscay" trips from RAF Fairford during the (Royal (depending on year)) International Air Tattoo. I never took advantage of this as I wanted to watch the military stuff (including lots of former Soviet stuff in those days). I told myself that when BA decided to retire Concorde that they would retire it gracefully with plenty of charter flights to give all those who wanted it an experience of Mach 2. It never occurred to me that the chairman would have a fit of pique and pull the whole fleet practically overnight.

As you so rightly say, a regret I will take with me to my grave.

2 + 2 = 4, er, 4.1, no, 4.3... Nvidia's Titan V GPUs spit out 'wrong answers' in scientific simulations

Re: but the Borg never said "I."

"I am Locutus of Borg"

I rest my case....

Re: we out in the field

Indeed; build identical 100 PCs from the same image, 99 will work fine and the last one will be a never-ending source of problems.

For all we know, aliens could be as careless with space junk as us

Oh look....

....I've found an exo-moon!

Wait, that's no moon....

Apple's new 'spaceship' HQ brings the pane for unobservant workers

Re: The Resurrection is under way

"an AI building management system that starts killing people"

There's certainly an X-Files episode with that premise S1 Ep 7

UK's Just Eat faces probe after woman tweets chat-up texts from 'delivery guy'

Re: Who decides

Who decides if and how they will contact you regarding the order? [The restaurant]

Who decides if they will retain your data for future orders? [The restaurant]

So the relationship is, as my friend thinks, that of data controller to data controller. JE have made it clear that your data will be passed to a third-party, who will be responsible for that COPY of your data (which in fact probably isn't retained for longer than necessary to process the order but in theory it could be). Just Eat continue to be responsible for their copy of your data (which includes many additional details not supplied to the restaurant such as stored payment details) because they need it to process further orders from you, quite possibly from other restaurants. The key item is that you have made a legal contract with the restaurant and not with JE, and that JE tell you that the restaurant can choose how to use the personal data they are supplied with.

Just Eat can ask a restaurant to delete a Just Eat's customer data or change it.. Only an individual can request changes to, or deletion, of their data (all or in part) and then only if it is inaccurate. This will change under GPDR, and under GPDR JE will have to make it clearer about who is responsible for the data. However as the law stands I can ask JE to delete my inaccurate data. However if they are not directly responsible for the maintenance of data by the third-party, and everything on their website suggests they think they are not (and that was presumably written by lawyers with a very good understanding of data protection) then I think they would be telling me that I need to contact the restaurant directly rather than JE asking them to change the data.

My friend thinks that the balance here is a fine one, and thinks that it would take a test case to establish a precedent (which probably won't happen as GPDR closes up a lot of the ambiguities that have plagued the DPA); however her opinion is that there is sufficient wiggle room in the relationship for JE to be able to successfully argue that they are not the data controller for the restricted copy of the data supplied to the restaurant under the act as it stands.

On the subject as a whole, she thinks that JE will not be brought to book in any case, as even if it were proven that they were the data controller, the Terms and Conditions imposed on restaurants that sign up with JE contain sufficient strictures on compliance with the handling of personal data that they would be judged to have shown due diligence. Again this may well change under GPDR; I merely asked her how she thought the position stands at the moment.

Re: Some of our local restaurants don't do deliveries at all

Using Just Eat wouldn't help there; JE do not deliver or arrange delivery from restaurants that don't have a delivery service of their own.

Re: I'm failing to see how this is Just Eat's fault

Having run this past a barrister friend of mine she is of the opinion that JE is not the data controller in this instance, either under the existing or forthcoming data protection acts. The key here is (according to her) that in order to be a data processor an organisation has to be processing the data on behalf of the data controller, not for their own ends. Once JE has handed the data over to the restaurant the restaurant is processing the data for its own ends (the supply and delivery of food) rather than for JE's benefit. Indeed she said that a good lawyer could probably prove the case that JE is the data processor for multiple organisations who are the data controllers, because of one key sentence: "legal contract for the supply and purchase of Products is between you and the Restaurant that you place your Order with".

At best there are two data controllers (the restaurant and JE) in this relationship, not a controller and a processor.

Re: I'm failing to see how this is Just Eat's fault

@ Loyal Commenter

Each business that stores any personal data should have has its own data controller, even ones as small as takeaways. JE clearly state that they will pass your details, including name and contact number, to the third-party for the purpose described: "the Restaurant may use your information to provide you with status updates or other information regarding your Order by e-mail, telephone, mobile or mobile messaging (e.g. SMS, MMS etc.). "

Once the data is passed from JE to the restaurant the care of that data becomes the restaurant's problem, not JEs. This does not change with GPDR.

I'm failing to see how this is Just Eat's fault

Just Eat pass all of your details, including address and phone number, to the restaurant you order from (and they tell you that they do this) so that in the event of query on either order or delivery the restaurant can ring you for clarification.

Whilst I agree that JE response to the complaint falls way short of what it should have been, they are right in that the complaint really needs to be made to the restaurant rather than themselves.

Russia claims it repelled home-grown drone swarm in Syria

The officer was Arthur "Bomber" Harris, at least according to J.E. Morpurgo's biography of Barnes Wallis. This led to a lasting distrust of "boffins" on Harris' part and goes a long way to explaining why the RAF resisted Wallis' designs for so long.

Re They don't need landing wheels for a suicide mission

My first thoughts too; I was instantly reminded of the Japanese kamikaze piloted bombs of World War II which also lacked landing wheels, because they would never be required to make one.

See picture here

Elon Musk lowers his mighty erection for test firing: Falcon Heavy preps for maiden voyage

Anyone who has ever played KSP...

"The Falcon Heavy is essentially three SpaceX Falcon-9 rockets strapped together with a small booster on top. While the rockets themselves are reliable, the airframe of this combined booster has had to be designed and engineered to handle the mechanical stresses involved and the payload weight."

The "design a reliable rocket then strap x number of them together" is a tried and tested strategy in KSP. Unfortunately it is often quite a lot more complicated than it sounds and the end result often looks remarkably similar to the icon.

Equally unfortunately in RL there is no "Revert" option...

Brit film board proposed as overlord of online pr0nz age checks

Re: All of you have the wrong attitude

Better make sure the health insurance covers RSI then...

At Christmas, do you give peas a chance? Go cold turkey? What is the perfect festive feast?

Re: Trust me, you haven't lived until .....

Not sure if this is it but this certainly looks like something I need to try; maybe for our Sunday roast rather than Christmas though!

I do not understand...

...all the comments about turkey being dry and tasteless; if it is you're doing it wrong!

Buy a free range turkey from a local supplier; this will have loads of flavour.

As for moistness

1) Under no circumstances use a frozen turkey

2) Don't truss the turkey again once you've stuffed it, just leave it

3) Roast it upside down for the first hour, then turn it right way up.

4) Baste it often

5) Rest the turkey for at least 20 minutes when it's done.

OK so here goes...

We normally feed not only our immediate family but also various neighbours who would otherwise be on their own (either as couples or individuals). As my mum has grown more fragile (she's now over 80) I have taken over the cooking duties, but the basic fare has not changed much:

Starter - Raymond Blanc's Tartare of Marinated Wild Salmon with Cucumber Salad (http://www.hub-uk.com/foodpages33/1617.htm)

Main - Roast turkey, boiled ham, roast belly pork Italian style. pigs in blankets (all locally sourced); roast potatoes, pureed garlic parsnip, sautéed sprouts.

Interstitial - Chardonnay sorbet (clears the palate and revives the appetite)

Dessert - Traditional Christmas Pudding (made by mum a couple of weeks ago) and chocolate & chestnut roulard

Then it's push back from the table, and nibble on cheese, biscuits, nuts, dates etc. ANd keep the port circulating freely!

For us Christmas lunch is normally on the table around 1.30; we are usually still sat round talking, nibbling and drinking at 5.30...

Whatever you have I hope it is enjoyable, peaceful and stress-free.

Happy Christmas to all!

Give 1,000 monkeys typewriters, they'll write Shakespeare. Give them robot arms, and wait – they actually did that?

I think this improbable...

"Ford, there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet..."

Wheels are literally falling off the MoD thanks to lack of cash

As a Defender owner...

...I am wondering how it is possible to maintain one so badly that the wheels fall off!

Jupiter flashes pulsating southern pole, boffins understandably baffled

It's the planetary version..

...of one of those flashing yellow warning lights you see on roadworks.

The hyperspace bypass is now under construction...

The UK's super duper 1,000mph car is being tested in Cornwall

Re: Love them

"Car, noun - a self-propelled road vehicle designed to carry passengers"

Really? So what's the word that describes single-seater racing vehicles then? I always thought it was "car, however on your definition they fail on two counts; they're not road vehicles and they're not designed to carry passengers...

Go on IBMers, tell us what you really think

IBM

Implausible Business Model?

Well the lack of morals is pretty much par for the course in megacorps these days. The lack of morale, however... :)

(@mako23: Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Please replace the sword, says owner of now-hollow stone

@Toc-H-Lamp

Are you related to this bloke?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKIWjnEPNY&t=87s

Three words: Synthetic gene circuit. Self-assembling bacteria build pressure sensor

Re: Perhaps...

@muscleguy

Fairly sure you missed the "Portal" references in John G Imrie and my posts... :)

Perhaps...

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should"

Perhaps they prefer a different motto: "We do what we must, because we can"

Home Sec Amber Rudd: Yeah, I don't understand encryption. So what?

Re: No one at the ICO has a Comp-Sci Degree...Says it all.

Sorry, but I don't understand your point. The ICO deals with the enforcement of the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act, and will deal with the GPDR when it is enshrined in UK law. The ICO asks questions like "did you encrypt the data to an adequate degree?" or possibly "can you prove you encrypted the data?", or "why have you not responded to a single FOI within the statutory time frame?". It is not particularly concerned with the technological aspects of data protection, more with the processes put in place by organisations to comply with the DPA (especially if breaches occur) and the FoI (especially if a public body fails to respond within the statutory time frame).

Given that the ICO is an organisation whose remit is to monitor and enforce process, how would a computer science degree help achieve this remit?

EasyJet: We'll have electric airliners within the next decade

Re: Just a thought.

That was my thought - the solution to drastically reducing car emissions was hybrid technology; could something similar not be made to work for aircraft? Have one (or two for safety/balance) small jet engines (say 20% size and 10% emissions of a standard airliner engine) whose primary purpose is to drive generators that provide power to the ducted fan engines, including batteries if necessary/optimal.

Working out the details would take more aircraft engineering skills than I have but I can't see why a solution based on that premise couldn't be operational in less than 10 years.

Terry Pratchett's unfinished works flattened by steamroller

Re: When there's no more magic left it's time to stop.

Raising Steam is one of my favourites; I think it's easily one of his best. Just because the social parody is more pronounced and the one-liners less prevalent doesn't make it more laboured or any less of a book.

In later years Sir PTerry became more and more angry about social injustice and inequality, capitalism and the rape of former nationalised industries for profit. This was evident to anyone who met him at a signing or convention. This anger translated into his work; he used the Discworld to hold up a mirror to our own so we could see the absurdity of the theories that underpin the modern banking system (Making Money), the idiocy of privatised public services (the clacks in Going Postal), and the stupidity of religious and racial intolerance (Thud & Snuff).

Raising Steam was both a chance to bring the railway revolution to the Discworld (something he'd been wanting to do for years) and to take a satirical look at fundamentalism. As far as I'm concerned he did both with considerable panache.

IDE drives

I have all my old IDE drives (at least those of 80Gb or more) and a couple of IDE external caddies. I use the old drives as removable backup.

I would imagine that if this drive contained actual PTerry writings (as opposed to being a purely symbolic gesture), they were the last external backups of his work, everything else already having been wiped.

Are Asimov's laws enough to stop AI stomping humanity?

Re: 0th

"If an AI decided that humanity needed to be saved from itself, might it decide that murdering a hundred million climate change deniers to halt their drag on progress was an acceptable price to pay for ensuring that seven billion people had a better opportunity for life, health and happiness"

Why stop there? An AI might well decide that the future of humanity as a whole might best be served by reducing the Earth's population by something between 50 and 95 percent...

Scary news: Asteroid may pass Earth by just 6,880km in October

Re: it will have been pointless anyway

My, aren't you a cheery soul!

Footfall...

..just sayin'

The ultimate full English breakfast – have your SAY

if you like hot, molten rock as part of your breakfast...

...then you are clearly a troll!

Re: Nobody has mentioned toast....

Borrocks! Loads of places to get a proper cooked breakfast in London, you just need to know where to look.

One of my local curry houses....

As many (former) residents of the Indian sub-continent, and their descendants, eat neither the flesh of the pig nor of the cow/bull, it can be safely assumed that "meat" equates to lamb. Such labelling is certainly not uncommon in my part of the UK.

Re: Proper Full English

Plumb tomatoes? I prefer my breakfast unleaded thanks!

Personally...

...my ultimate home cooked Full English (usually pre-beer festival for its absorbent qualities!) consists of:

Two sausages, one pork and herb and one pork (local butchers, 85% meat), grilled

Two rashers of smoked back bacon, grilled until they're safe, but not much more (also locally reared and cured)

Two lambs kidneys, butterflied and cleaned, grilled

Two slices of large black pudding, or half a small pudding sliced, grilled

Heinz baked beans

Two grilled tomatoes

Around 250g of closed cup mushrooms, thickly sliced and fried in olive oil

1 large flat mushroom, grilled

Fried egg (over-easy as our Colonial friends put it)

Thick slice of bread, cut from a loaf and neither toasted, buttered nor fried (put on the plate first and with the beans poured over)

Worcestershire sauce on the beans, no other sauces

If I happen to have any left over potatoes in the fridge I'll slice them and fry them with the mushrooms

Icon because of what usually follows starting about two hours afterwards and for the rest of the day!

Cassini captures pieces of Saturn’s rings

Re: precise measurement of the length of the Saturnian day continues to elude us

Tea is at 3.40pm and will be taken in the pavilion. As any fule know....

Jodie Who-ttaker? The Doctor is in

Re: An attempt to be relevant

I'd say it was working with Bonnie Langford; the episodes McCoy did with Sophie Aldred were way better than the Lanford ones.

So theoretically a time lord could sleep with themselves

Indeed, hence John Simms' marvellous line "Is this inappropriate?" in the last episode.

NASA flies plane through Earthly shadow of Kuiper Belt object

Re: Steady on, chaps

It whizzed:

"The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whizz"

So although its motion relative to Earth is slow (by astronomical standards) it's still "whizzing" from a galactic perspective.