Posts by Russell Chapman Esq.

Ticker tape and a binary message: Bank of England's new Alan Turing £50 must be the nerdiest banknote ever

£50 vs the 1000CHF note

I don't know why we make such a big thing about 50 quid notes. In Switzerland 1000CHF notes are pretty common, about £778 equivalent. The big supermarkets accept them without batting an eyelid.

Google's ex-boss tells the US it's time to take the gloves off on autonomous weapons

CaspianReport has just done a well put together video on this very subject. https://youtu.be/iC1ygtfAKZE

The 40-Year-Old Version: ZX81's sleek plastic case shows no sign of middle-aged spread

Computers vs girls

My ZX81 came from WH Smiths back in 81/82. After the ZX81 came an Oric Atmos, it was a revalation to have a proper keyboard. At school we had BBC Acorn and a bit later IBM PC. Then I kinda lost interest for a good few years. Computers could not compete with girls, late teenage years, what do you expect.

With computer brains in short supply, President Biden orders 100-day probe into semiconductor drought

Literal drought could worsen chip drought

Read an article yesterday, somewhere in the business press, that because of a drought in Taiwan, TSMC is having to import water from other parts of the island as it's local reservoir has almost dried up. I had no idea that chip production required so much water. Fewer typhoons have been making landfall in Taiwan, which relies on them to fill up the reservoirs. If the rain shortage continues into this year, we might see TSMC having to suspend operations on the island, along with many other factories, in order for the population to have enough drinking water. There could well be a very serious chip drought, with very serious knock on effects to industries all around the world.

I have a feeling that China is going to be watching the weather forecasts for Taiwan with great interest over the next few months.

Party like it's 2004: Almost a quarter of Windows 10 PCs living with the latest update

I finally upgraded

I bought my laptop in 2013, an HP Envy dv6 with an Intel i7, I was also running Classic Menu on Win 8.1. The last year, the performance was really getting me down but for personal reasons I didn't change to Linux because I use Nik Software with Lightroom a lot. I really don't want to lose them because of what they allow me to do. What to do? I upgraded to a 2TB Samsung Evo SSD, converted the optical drive to use a 1TB HDD and upgraded from 8gb of Ram to 16gb. But still I resisted Windows 10, in fact, I was one of those who read up on and implemented actions to stop my Win 8.1 machine having Win 10 forced upon it. The thought of all that telemetry was my main issue. But then I learnt, MS backdated and forced the same telemety on Win 8.1, an OS with not much life left. So I bit the bullet and upgraded this August

So far? I kept the Classic Start Menu software, definitely not a fan of how MS does menus these days. Things run very smoothly. I also installed Revo Uninstaller to get rid of the crud and bloatware that came with the Win 10 upgrade. Still researching the best way to stop the Win 10 telemetry. My laptop has quite a few more years of life in it. If only Linux had professional quality photography software with support for Nik Collection plug-ins, the only thing stopping me going Linux.

So how do the coronavirus smartphone tracking apps actually work and should you download one to help?

Re: @Martin an gof -- Maybe I have missed the point

Fizzog

That brings back memories. Never use it myself but my grandmother and mother often used it.

Re: Maybe I have missed the point

I bought the hand sanitizer long before the lockdown, at the start of the incubation period of this virus here in the UK, in February. There was no social distancing, lots of shared contact surfaces while out and about. While many were laughing at me for wearing a mask on the Tube, I was helping my family stay as safe as possible, when outside. What precautions were you taking back then, or did you laugh to yourself and mock anyone who looked a bit daft in a mask.

Re: Maybe I have missed the point

Antigen tests if you have the virus at the moment. Antibody testing is to see if you have developed immunity.

The complication with antibody testing is that there is a window, where you have developed immunity but still have some of that virus in your system, which you can still spread, particularly as it is based in the lungs and breathed out.

Nobody has sure data of how big that window is, at the moment. It could be days, or months, nobody knows for sure yet.

So TL:DR. Even with an antibody test to say you have developed immunity, you might still be able to infect others for an as yet unknown period of time.

Re: Maybe I have missed the point

I have no problem with an App being used, its just missing working in conjunction with massive testing of the population. I started following Dr John Campbell on YouTube back in January. Once it was officially an epidemic in China and obviously different epidemiology to SARS back in the 2000's, governments around the world had a window of opportunity to get PPE, antigen testing and contact tracing etc in place weeks ago. That opportunity was wasted because of reactivity rather than proactivity.

I bought P3 level masks and litres of hand sanitizer in February, for me and my family, it was obvious what was going to happen.

Maybe I have missed the point

If I'm going to use an app, I want it to tell me who to avoid, I don't want to know I have been in contact with an infected one after the fact. Secondly, the only way to know who to avoid via app is if we are mass antigen testing the population, getting the info into a database which can be accessed in real-time, which here in the UK is not happening. So correct me if I'm wrong but these apps will at best be able to tell you if you have already come into contact with one of the few who have actually been tested and positive for the virus, which is a bit late in my book. Am I wrong?

Ransomware scumbags leak Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX documents after contractor refuses to pay

Re: Anti-mortar system?

Not going to say where, when or why. But watching some lads play football in a walled in school yard and mortars whistling overhead, being fired by both sides. If you are in that situation cowardice really doesn't work, you have to get on with it.

From Amanda Holden to petrol-filled water guns: It has been a weird week for 5G

The mental breakdown of society

All the institutions people used to trust no longer really work for most people and hence in times of crisis quickly lose any trust they did have. Added to this the huge complexity of the world, there used to be big ideas about how to make change, today at best, all governments are able to do is try and manage outcomes.

Many people are no longer really coping, they either make themselves go numb and simply try to get through each day or they become very angry using anything to vent their frustration at the sense of hopelessness in their lives, hence the 5G thing.

I think this quote is quite apt: ‘Confused by chaos, infantilised by ignorance, refugees from complexity flee to fanaticism and dogma.’

We're number two! Microsoft's Edge browser slips past Firefox in latest set of NetMarketShare figures

Chrome? No thanks.

I use Brave and donate a third of the BAT tokens I earn each month to El Reg.

IT services sector faces armageddon as COVID-19 lockdown forces project cancellations – analysts

With the world in lockdown.

From the 3rd paragraph. Who expected to read that in their lifetime? It is funny how we humans adjust to the new normal and continue, when things really are not normal at all. I'm just wondering how long it will be till there is civil unrest, with huge numbers signing on for Universal Credit, and many more not able to get through because the system can't handle the load, I wonder how long large numbers of people will be able to go without money to buy food.

Budget 2020 in tech: UK.gov splashes cash on broadband and R&D while trying to limit impact of COVID-19 outbreak

Borrowing from yourself

As long as a country borrows in its own currency from its own central bank, the level of debt is not important, as long as inflation doesn't go up too much. There are no indications that inflation will be a problem given the current global economic situation. The UK government can essentially borrow from the central bank for free. That debt can also be canceled by the central bank after it has served its purpose. If you own the currency, you need never be in debt to yourself.

Why can't passport biometrics see through my cunning disguise?

Passport barriers at Stansted

Depending on time of year and time of day, there is a golden half hour where the sunlight floods through the windows and blinds the cameras of the automatic passport readers. Because the machines are blinded by the light and can't see your face, you then have to pass along to the manual check, when I know the sun is in the right position, I go through the line, skip the machines and go straight to manual check. Saves time.

2019 set to be the worst year yet for smartphone market as lack of worthy upgrades dents demand

My reason why....

My LG G3, which I bought in 2014 is giving up. The screen is on the way out, will cost as much to put in a new screen as buy another G3. Solution, just bought an LG G6 for £120, new factory sealed old stock (2017 model), 2 year warranty. To be honest the G3 had all the features I needed, so the G6 for me, will be quite an upgrade. I see no reason to ever buy a new model phone ever again. Linux icon, cuz I'm cheap but I will spend to get things they way I want them, not how others say I should want them.

This isn't Boeing to end well: Plane maker to scrap some physical cert tests, use computer simulations instead

Name for the new Boeing software testing environment?

FaaS: Failure as a Service

CaaS: Crash as a Service

EaaS: Errors as a Service

I'm sure others can think of better names

Motion detectors: say hello, wave goodbye and… flushhhhhh

I hate airport toilets.

I don't know if it is only Stansted, but unless you sit perfectly still while doing the 2, it will flush, giving your balls a rinse at the same time. To add insult to injury, what is it about modern toilet design for public use toilets which means the tip of my you know what is touching the inside of the bowl. Are toilet designers dick defficient? Nothing worse than feeling the cold touch to the tip as you sit down and wondering how much bacteria is in the loo.

All's fair in love and war when tech treats you like an infant

Your article and this video I found today

Infantilism of tech, the nanny state because society no longer tries to do better, the rise of narcissism. To be honest it is all breaking down. Have just seen a very interesting video by Sam Vaknin and Richard Grannon, https://youtu.be/-8Sri0Fq0DQ

Fun fact: GPS uses 10 bits to store the week. That means it runs out... oh heck – April 6, 2019

GPS and Cash Machines

Cash Machines use GPS to make sure they are not being stolen and can lock themselves if they think they are not in the right location. I wonder if, in older machines it is even possible to update GPS firmware? Anybody have any ideas/info about this

Canadians moot methods to embiggen moose monument and make Mac great again

Different approach

This is basically a school playground game of my dad is bigger than your dad. I reckon the game should be upped and the winner will be the side which can steal the othe side's moose, all on video, and then hurling said losing side's moose into the lava lake of Erte Ale

The Large Hadron Collider is small beer. Give us billions more for bigger kit, say boffins

Re: Dark matter/energy question

My profile here is not anonymous, I ask questions in my own name.

Re: Dark matter/energy question

Be that as it may. Questions are integral to who we are. If we can't bounce questions around, what is the point of having a brain...

Re: Dark matter/energy question

Forgive my ignorance but am trying to learn. The fluctuations are balanced, does that mean there are also negative fluctuations in the quantum field?

Re: Dark matter/energy question

Thanks for all the feedback, much appreciated. Not sure why I got 3 thumbs down though, was just asking a question. I think it was Susskind who said, we probably understand about 50% of how things work, the only problem is we dont know which 50%

Dark matter/energy question

Have wondered about this and what popped into my simple mind was virtual particles. The quantum field is constantly fluctuating and causes elementary particles to pop into and out of existence very briefly. My question is this, measured out over universe, what is the average mass of these virtual particles at any given time, could they account for the 'missing' mass of the universe? Because they only exist for very short periods of time before anihilating, rinse and repeat across the universe, could that be an explanation for why we can't find dark matter and energy, because although the mass exists, you really would have to be in the right time and place to see and measure it before it disappeared and popped up elsewhere. Just a thought, but am interested if anybody has any thoughts and if I'm wrong, help me understand.

Germany has a problem with the entire point of Amazon's daft Dash buttons – and bans them

I'm not Germany's greatest fan but....

The country has some good things going for it, apart from my German ex-wife. They seem to want to genuinely protect consumers and take the work/life balance seriously. But everything is so ordered it is stifling, I guess we Brits all have a modicum of desire to bend rules and play the system to our personal advantage. Best wishes to them in taking on Amazon. Love the autobahn, the Weisswurstäquator and words like autoarschkrampe which describe perfectly a situation that very nearly went badly wrong. Don't live there but travel through it often enough. If you have a sweet tooth and you're near Heidelberg, do stop, the place has the most amazing cakes. I can not recommend marrying a German.

What happens when a Royal Navy warship sees a NATO task force headed straight for it? A crash course in Morse

Re: Vomit inducing

I've experienced F10, steady 8,regularly gusting 10 on a 15 metre boat. We were sailing across to Belgium, Reefed in but still exceeding hull speed down the waves, thankfully we were not in a following sea, would hate to broach. Lifelines on, the 3 of us taking turns sitting up in the bow, water-proofs on, waves breaking over, that was a hell of a ride.

Re: Vomit inducing

All fun and games. When you get back on land and walking on terra firma feels plain weird ;)

Vomit inducing

I find a sea state 2-3 more nauseating than a 7 to 10. Something about a loose 2m sea swell when there is almost no wind that really gets me

Sorry, Mr Zuckerberg isn't in London that day. Or that one. Nope. I'd give up if I were you

If there were a GDPR case against FB, a case would already be in the legal system. They know how to play the rules

It would only be a few days till he changed his availability and might help cure a few FB users of their addiction. It is a price worth paying to get things done

Block FB until he becomes available. Governments aren't going to lose much in the way of tax by doing so.

Take my advice: The only safe ID is a fake ID

Re: Silly first name.

Portmanteau, a wonderful word. Still remember my mother dealing with a rather large man who was being less than gentlemanly, she told him he was carrying an oversized portmanteau

Re: Silly first name.

I'm a sassanach too. It was a term used by the Highland clans about anybody, including the Lowland clans who lived further south. I'm clan Hamilton and Paterson on my mother's side.

Super Micro China super spy chip super scandal: US Homeland Security, UK spies back Amazon, Apple denials

Bloomberg is a rigerous news organization

Which leads to the conclusion the story is true, or they were duped, and if duped, by whom.

Send up a satellite to zap space junk if you want Earth's orbit to be clean, say boffins

Re: If they can build it, someone will weaponize it.

Which would create more space debris. Not the best of ideas. Better to nudge them into a decaying orbit.

If they can build it, someone will weaponize it.

Can imagine, if this can be made to work, it would be quite useful for knocking enemy sats out of their correct orbit.

Why are sat-nav walking directions always so hopeless?

Re: never seems to taste the same?

I only eat bacon when I go home. Not even worth looking for it in Europe. Lidl sold something it called British bacon. As an experiment, bought a pack as it did look like bacon, was terrible all the gunk which came out of it. Dumped it in the loo. Dumped before eating, not after.

Boiling water from the espresso machine

In a cafe or hotel, put teabag in cup and ask them to fill it from the espresso machine. Saves a ton of hassle trying to explain how the water should be boiling when they pour it on the tea. Works anywhere they have proper espresso machine and know how to make a decent coffee

Re: never seems to taste the same?

Get pretty much boiling water from the espresso machine. Does the trick

Re: As you might expect...

I haven't lived in the UK for a long time now. Always bring back a box of Yorkshire Gold Tea when I visit family. If I want a cup of tea in a bar. I take my own teabag and ask them to put it in the cup and use the hot water from the espresso machine to fill it. They look at you a bit odd but it works

IBM memo to staff: Our CEO Ginni is visiting so please 'act normally!'

Another indication of....

IBM going into a death spiral. In 5 years, IBM as we know it, will not exist

My PC is on fire! Can you back it up really, really fast?

Re: I recall even my mum (a bit like Dilmom) telling me a fire story

I'm guessing you are from a younger generation than me. Way back when, we had specific teachers for chemistry, physics and biology, each a specialist in their own field and they all loved the experimental lessons. Two lessons of each field of science a week, one theory, the other, getting hands dirty in the labs. It was all about the adventure of discovery, doing stuff that wouldn't always be in the exam paper but was fascinating to learn. This was high school back then, 11-18 year olds being presented with stuff that could blow your mind, or kill it, as per the cyanide gas demonstration. Yes, the gas is colourless but we were transfixed watching the experiment, knowing the gas could wreak so much harm, it was like watching silent death, we were in awe, so when the extraction chamber broke down it was frightening yet exhilarating to escape at the same time.

Re: I recall even my mum (a bit like Dilmom) telling me a fire story

Not a fire story, a cyanide gas story. High school in the 80's, chemistry teacher decided to demonstrate how cyanide gas is produced, mixed the appropriate ingredients in the gas extraction chamber and we were advised to stand back, during the experiment, the chamber decided to break down and was partially open to the rest of the lab. Cue very urgent shouts from teacher to 'get the fuck out as fast as possible'. As the chamber was near the door we rather ungracefully exited via the windows. If the lab had not been on the ground floor, I reckon it could have turned into a pretty nasty situation.

Another quarter, another record-breaking Tesla loss: Let's take a question from YouTube, eh, Mr Musk?

Re: It's not that old a company. So much turnover. So much cash on hand. So *little* profit?

I used the word 'think' because I 'hope' investors have done their research and understand the complexities of the market. If not however, then I am happy to conceed to your use of the word 'hope'

Re: Targets

Exactly. I reckon Tesla will sell the brand name. Nobody will want to take on the debt when they already have competing technology

Re: It's not that old a company. So much turnover. So much cash on hand. So *little* profit?

Tesla share price today is based on expected earnings in the future, the P/E ratio. What that means is many shareholders of Tesla stock today, expect to see Tesla earn a lot of money in the future. If the shareholders lose faith in Tesla's ability to make money in the future, the share price will collapse. Share prices are not based so much on what a company is doing now, but what investors think it will do in the future.

Respect to Musk but...

Elon Musk got the EV market kickstarted, he will always be remembered for that, and I have a lot of respect for the guy, he is a visionary when it comes to new products. But. He tried to over-automate production, the likes of VW and Toyota are on the cutting edge of mass production using automation, however they have the experience to know which jobs are better served by human hands. I do quite a bit of work for a company which designs and produces automated production lines for car companies, customers include, VW Group, Kia, Jaguar/Land Rover. Unfortunately, Tesla doesnt have long term experience with mass production, it is still very much in a learning process. In the meantime, the big auto makers, who have been doing a ton of research into EV's, are getting ready to launch their own vehicles, the difference being, they have the mass production experience, the economies of scale and already profitable businesses and, will, in my opinion, eat Tesla's car business for breakfast.

I would also be closely watching the Chinese EV makers, they have been experimenting with electric taxis and buses in the big cities and are getting ready to hit the international market big time in the next couple of years.

In the middle of all this is the minnow, Tesla. Forget the cars, their build quality is similar to that of Kia 10 years ago, Tesla will probably licence its car name to one of the big car makers. Part of the problem arises from a person being a visionary running a company of growing complexity. They are too focused on the ideas and big changes, but have little grasp of the detail needed to make a company of growing complexity, work. SpaceX however, that is very hard engineering and is the future I see for Tesla, in this way Musk can focus on one big product and make it work beautifully. The car business is a different kettle of fish, not suited to his psychology.