@ShaggyDoggy
"too many coppers on the database"
Nonsense.
It will only apply to those who have to go *looking* for a prostitute and pay for sex.
Not those who've got most of the better looking local hookers on speed dial ready to work for free.
16327 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009
Can't remember if it was ACPO or one of the things they were running (what was effectively the national riot squad during the UK miners strike in 1984) but they were described as have "As much legal standing as a stamp club."
Most stamp clubs however do not issue (or expect to have followed) guidelines on DNA retention following arrest.
"that is the theory anyway, though shareholders in public companies stand to loose a lot of money from bad/overpriced management, "
You might like to keep in mind that most share (or stock holders) are *pension* funds run by a rather similar group to the companies they invest in.
The idea of "stewardship" is pretty much meaningless. They will rarely *vote* despite probably between them owning 90% of any major publicly quoted company. CEO's and Boards have to have been *extremely* bad (profits down, *massive* losses, market share in the toilet) before they will take *any* action.
Sometime in the late 70's or early 80's managers and Directors or VP's started getting the idea they *owned* the company (they are normally its highest paid *employees* and *part* owners) and pension funds *let* them.
The share and stock holders are (in *theory* ) the checks and balance of Board excess.
They have not been doing their job.
Thumbs up for your post, not the results.
We cut R&D (Risky, no short term return) Profits UP.
We cut pension contributions. Profits UP.
We cut low price meals. Profits UP.
We cut out all dining facilities (except that little one for senior management). Profits UP.
We out outsourced nearly everything to someone else. Profits UP.
My bonus. Way UP.
In the race to the bottom, we *are* the leaders.
What. You mean part of a businesses objectives is to remain *in* business?
Guess I'll just have to petition the government for some (corporate) welfare.
Why should I suffer for the mistakes of.
Oh...
I would not be too surprised at this. With the production run complete aircraft companies will normally recycle the jigs and fixtures one way or another unless they had either a solid expectation of more orders or specific funding from the customer to "Keep the production line open". Note that Advanced Projects was geared to prototypes (1-3 off) and small productions runs. 32 was probably a pretty big order (possibly the biggest) for *any* of their vehicles.
I'd guess it would depend on how big a spares package they ordered with the original aircraft.
I'm surprised about the documentation. I'd expect all the operations and service manuals would exist (either on paper or microfilm) and I would have expected the drawings to go to a secure archive. NB It's a myth NASA lost the plans for the Saturn V. While the hardware to make the hardware might be long gone I'd be *very* surprised that any major organization would let that kind of IP go so easily.
"Pulsejet/Ramjet/Scramjet hybrid could be interesting"
Only 2 groups of people would think so.
1) Those with a grant application to test one.
2) Those who have no idea of how much research has been done on these systems since the late 1950s. Something like " History of Ramjet and Scramjet Propulsion Development
for U.S. Navy Missile" might be a good start.
Hint. After better than 6 decades on system development *none* has been deployed.
And this time it would be different because.
I'd quite forgotten about Ignition.
It should be the first port of call for any armchair propellant chemist who thinks they've thought up a new super duper propellant combo.
Some of the most insanely dangerous chemicals ever conceived (and then manufactured in bulk) by human kind.
I'd never really thought that concrete, sand, or an Asbestos safety blanket could be used as a fuel till I read it.
It's been a while but I think the only well known one it misses out was the development of "Astrolite" because it was developed elsewhere. That would be an epic saga, if anyone is still alive from that time.
Required reading for any Dr Evil wannabes who want their missiles to have a little more zip in them.
Merkin CMA litigation disclaimer. This stuff is *really* dangerous and should only be handled by properly trained and authorized personnel, probably on a government contract with lots of free medical. Freedom from hideous burns, scars and limb loss is neither guaranteed nor implied .
This is your first, last and only warning.
I think Lewis is suffering a "senior moment."
One of the *stated* reasons the SR71 programme was finally shut down was the *logistics* of it to support the plane itself.
People forget that JP7 needed a bunch of tank farms around the world to gas up the plane on the ground but also some *tanker* aircraft to load it up once it had done its run and the tank leaks had stopped.
The Pentagon *really* does not like non standard fuels, hence standardizing everything it can on one fuel (JP8 ?) for tanks, aircraft, stoves and heaters (if you could use it as toothpaste they probably would mandate it for that as well).
"by a considerable margin, the highest specific impulse of any chemical motor."
Not strictly true but most people don't want an exhaust of Hydrofluoric Acid.
Boiling point (and keeping it *below* BP) is a big issue but equally up there is the *very* poor density. LH2 is about 70Kg/m^3 while jet fuel is around 700-720 Kg. Even given H2's higher energy level per Kg you still need a monster tank.
BTW Martin were the winners of the original competition for the high altitude high speed aircraft that Lockheed built. They pitched H2. It proved totally unworkable although the fuel pump flies to this day as the core of the P&W RL10 rocket engine.
Mostly with earlier generations of drone partly derived from their Kremer prize winning man powered aircraft.
As for the first flight altitude these things are both big and *floppy* IIRC it took *days* to reach cruising height so you want to prove most features out at an altitude where (if you have to do something) the launch/test/land/fix/re-test cycle per item is not measured in weeks.
Long duration drones already exist. AFAIK they were developed in Australia or NZ for long term (but fairly cheap) weather observation but at relatively low altitude they'd be way too vulnerable to ground fire.
Welcome to U2 2.0, with meatsack removed.
"The only good news is that the EU has such a mass that it takes almost the length of a presidency to gather momentum."
I would not rely on EU sluggishness. Remember the history of the passing of the EU Data Retention Directive (M. Blair's little passing gift to the rest of Europe).
I wonder do politicians who talk about morals sound equally dumb in *all* parts of Europe? I could sort of imagine one in say Germany *possibly* pulling it off but really, France, Italy or Great Britain?
A natural earth bound event which isn't a nuclear explosion generates an antimatter pulse.
It *might* be worthwhile re-opening any unexplained satellite failures below 1000Km (roughly the inner Van Allen radiation belt) to see if any of their electronics could have been cooked by this.
Note however that satellites in orbit get a fair radiation battering as they pass through the South Atlantic Anomaly due to the weakening of the Earth's magnetic field.
"have it withstand the massive force it undergoes,"
The standard is 3g. If you want to know if you could take a Shuttle flight, take a modern roller coaster.
" pull off a 100% sucess rate"
That would exclude the 14 astronauts killed on 2 flights due to the STS failure modes being somewhat unforgiving.
It wasn't easy. It could have been better and could have been improved over time. But it kept all of the stakeholders in the aerospace business and Congress mostly happy (BTW that does not include the American public. No one expected them to *want* to go into space).
"In fact it's hard to find a single shuttle mission that has gone off according to the ideal of the project for a fast-turnaround, reusable, reliable and versatile vehicle."
In fact studies *do* exist of (AIAA-1995-3527) Shuttle launches. It's not *quite* as bad as you think (but it's not outstanding). During 1981-2000 of 204 launch attempts, 50 went off on schedule , 111 were "scrubbed", 17 were < 1 week late, 13 < 1 month late and 13 > 1 month late.
At a price of roughly $1m a day. Each scrub was costed at $616k.
Lowlights of this was the "Summer of Hydrogen" (5/30/90-10/6/90) roughly a 100 days due to a Hydrogen leak in the airtight engine compartment (so instead of a little flame you'd get a confined explosion, like the difference between a firecracker on your palm and wrapping your hand around it). It seems LN2 (BP roughly 4x that of LH2 and 10x LH2's viscosity) which is what the engine makers used to leak test it, makes a poor substitute for LH2.
That said it *could* have been a lot better either in design or during upgrades (especially given the money NASA spent on designing but not *installing* various upgrades). Even so it did manage on time take off c25% of the time and gave the US a new very high efficiency LH2 rocket engine of *known* performance. That's a *very* useful bit of hardware to have *provided* you want to build another LH2 fueled RLV, as they're just too dam expensive to expend.
Are they f***king joking?
No way to identify maliciously (for cash, spite or giggles) updated/added/deleted records
No way to identify incompetently (half trained PFY) updated/added/deleted records
On *any* of these systems.
Now I'm *fairly* certain that any of the usual suspects who bid for what is in effect CSA 2.0 would have put this in as an option-at-extra-cost.
But what about the *other* systems, some of which *probably* predate the orgy of outsourcing and CCT that started in 1979
What's their excuse? Frankly this should be a boiler plate clause in *any* government IT contract (of *any* government, not just the UK) handling personal data.
I sense an FoI request. Something along the lines of
1) How many systems in your department hold "sensitive" data (as defined inthe DPA).
2) How many of them have audit trail capability?
3) How many of those with audit trail capability are switched on?
4) If not, why not?
5)How many of your staff could read the audit trail output and use it to correct errors?
That accidents happen is a reality. No audit trail is *no* accident. It's not like not having a burglar alarm. It's like having a house with *no* locks on any doors and posting a list of your valuables on the notice board in the unemployment office with your address and when you're out.
Fanbois out in force. Seems there have been a sense of humor bypasses.
A little bit of background.
"Dynamics" is the shotgun wedding of 2 *grossly* disparate products. 1 written in Fargo in the US, the other in Denmark. One effective but fairly closed, the other multilingual (when you're a small software house in a small country you had better make it *very* easy to change countries) and highly customizable.
Both were bought *primarily * for their customer base (1 in the US, 1 in Europe), rather like MS's purchase of Foxpro (anyone tried getting hold of it lately)? The Danish company supplied 3 ERP type systems. The other 2 appeared to have been euthanised.
AFAIK the main thing they had in common was their European HO's were both in Scandinavia. Those of you who've seen the movie Fargo might guess why.
Full disclosure. I worked for both of the predecessor companies (but I never met anyone from Great Plains as they did it all by telecon from Norway) and later worked for a reseller who'd taken up the MS product. Potential customer reaction to the latter was *underwhelming*.
Funny how MS does not do quite so well when customers have a choice.
Either
Adults (of either gender) having a relationship with a minor (as defined in their jurisdiction), of *either* gender, which leads to sex is a *crime* usually called statutory rape, and the children *are* being molested.
or
it's not.
Gender of both parties is *irrelevant*.
BTW the pictures will likely count as mfg, storage and distribution of CP.
"If this took place in Spain."
I'd be *very* careful on that assumption.
I remember reading something similar about the Netherlands (the European country which has the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe IIRC, unlike the UK, which has one of the highest).
It applied to 12 year olds having sex with *other* 12 year olds, *not* adults. 11 won't get you 99 (as some wag quipped) but you'll likely see the inside of a Dutch prison for quite a while. The Netherlands inmate population might be more forgiving than there UK counterpart, but I wouldn't like to test that theory.
This (2 children going beyond the "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" stage) seems to me a *much* more plausible situation that arises farily often IRL. There is "consent" and (in *principle*) both participants have equal levels of maturity. While certainly of concern (well it should be of *some* concern to parents who give a dam about their children s development) they don't seem to think it should be treated as a criminal offense.
A very adult attitude toward managing emerging sexuality.*
*IANAL and I happened to recall the information on the Netherlands. It's not a subject I make a study of.
But can you get with your Nectar card?
Seriously this certainly looks like De ja vue all over again.
The probable next move would be that with Microsoft finally having a market leader it can copy and use it's financial muscle against it will start to "innovate" (as in copy/acquire the better features of its competitors and incorporate them into itself).
I'm well aware that only parliament can repeal laws.
However senior UK Police officers have a *very* close relationship with the senior civil servants of the Ministry of Justice and can certainly *influence* their advice to the relevant Minister and hence the parties in office.
Weather or not they *will* do so is another matter.
It's got a server farm (*nothing* like the one Google's got and probably not even up to Amazon's operation)
It's got a load of bandwidth connected to those servers (but see Google and Amazon comparison above)
But the "smart" money reckons it's worth $50Bn. I'd guess that's in Walmart and GM or Ford territory.
The 90's are back.
And big "smart" investors are throwing stupid money into companies with massive capitalization-to-earnings ratios.
Anyone know how many of those 90's companies are still in business?
"Yes, if you want to go a bit police-state you can record who was talking to who and when. "
You're behind the ball in the EU. Look up the EU Data Retention Directive, supposedly drafted in reply to the Barcelona train bombings. A little gift from Tony Blair's government (drafted when the UK had the chair) to the EU forever.
Smile because I'm agreeing with you but possibly informing you as well, not because I like the way this situation is going.
"If this can display an A4 document whch can be read with ease without scrolling around the page then I am interested.
Having all my technical books in PDF format and easier to hold and read than a 1600+ page book is my first requirement."
This is pretty much my core requirement as well. I don't like to be tethered to a wire to do so, hence my query about battery life (with the screen switched on of course).
So 10 hrs playing (presumably normal def) movies to 6.5-7 Hrs in HD to (essentially) who-cares-you'll-never-be-far-enough-away-from-a-charger-for-it-to-matter.
Actually this does not sound too bad although I'd hoped for a bit more with the adaptive back lighting. Depends how many gadgets they disabled to get that figure.
By fusing the output data from the various sensors (ecompass, accelerometer, barometer) and a map you could in *principle* implement a poor man's inertial navigation system. While the GPS satellite network does not have holes as such reception is not perfect. I think that's why something like this suite is used in the US armies land warrior programme. GPS fades badly when you're running through a cave.
BTW I don't think *anyone* is up themselves enough to release the "Fondleslab," although you might get "The Slab (TM)."
Someone did release a pen computer called the Dynabook (late 80s, early 90s).
It was pants.