Posts by Kernel

"Fancy fibre network with redundant links between two nodes. Unfortunately they were laid in the same ducting, so links not redundant when someone else trenches the street without checking what's in the ground..."

In the past I've worked with a transport system which had full protection at the optical layer - on two different wavelengths of the same DWDM system ie., not even different fibres in the same cable sheath which, if carefully chosen to be on opposite sides of the central strength member, can give a small measure of protection, but on the same fibre pair.

Re: Have you ever breathed halon?

Aah, memories of following my refrigeration engineer father around as a nipper and the heady aroma of Freon12 that's escaped through a small gap at the end of a red hot, glowing copper pipe - nothing clears the sinuses quite the same, unless it's the hydrogen sulphide gas that was used as a refrigerant in 1950's era domestic fridges.

Re: Brexiteers jump ship

"To switch idiom; Capt May has hit the iceberg but continues to order full steam ahead"

Which is the correct form of action IMHO - i) much less water gets through the hole if there's a bloody great lump of ice securely wedged in it and, ii) with all that ice available it's got to be gin and tonics all 'round, hasn't it?

Re: The only way to use an Italian automated petrol station is to use an Italian

"Last two times I had to use them I ended up getting help from the locals. The menus and the whole process is utterly counterintuitive."

Quite unlike their automated ticket machines at railway stations then - being a non-Italian speaker, it only took me two or three ticket purchases before I found myself regularly assisting Italians to buy tickets.

Re: Invasion?

"The Normans invaded in 1066. And won. So what exactly is 'foreign' and 'british' anyway?"

Not to mention the very successful Saxon immigration somewhat earlier.

Re: Fgs

"Maybe the commonwealth can chip in....?"

Maybe we might have ........... if you'd remembered the Commonwealth all those years ago when you were soooo keen to jump into Europe and disavow all knowledge of those of us in distant parts of the world.

So for now, feel free to suck it it up and suffer.

Re: Stupid... Just stupid...

"It will take them decades and tens of Billions to make it work. If not more."

Either that or they will be available on Alibaba next year at one million each for order quantities in excess of 1000.

Re: @Glad and Done ... Making the same mistake the Banks did.

"....................... normally getting up to speed with all the different processes and working models takes longer than two years. "

Yes - reminds me of a manager I worked for many years ago in a civil service department. His theory was that if trainees spent five years working in each specific technical area, at the end of it they would be be able to choose the area they wished to specialize in - the only problem was that there were eight technical specialities and at the time the organization limited you to a maximum of 40 years working for them.

"Overseas GST = level playing field for local businesses (ar at least a more level playing field)."

No, to level the playing field local businesses need to borrow a large bulldozer and get stuck in.

My own experience was a local business in NZ quoting me $400 for a few parts for my Maytag washing machine.

Actual price I paid to purchase on-line from some random retailer in Texas - NZ$86, including shipping and currency conversion charges on my credit card.

Adding 15% GST to my original purchase still doesn't bring it anywhere near $400.

Re: One possible use

"The problem with super pure water is that it eats your boiler tubes (which is why it is called hungry water)."

I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I seem to remember reading that drinking too much distilled water will do much the same to your bones - something to do with dissolved calcium in body fluids being at equilibrium with that in bone.

Re: It'll Never Happen

"They already have all the auto aids to reduce crew so no real saving in cutting 10 people."

There is if it's watch keeping officers you're cutting, just leaving a team manager and a few semi-skilled labourers on board.

Re: "The severity of this breach "merited" a fine of £80,000"

"Fuck that. Hammer the bastards."

Yep - and since it's obviously not a large or wealthy practice, let's fine 'em enough kill the practice completely - after all, it's not as if their patients won't be able to find another doctor, or even do without medical care at all.

You may suggest it - but you do realize that:

i) There are other search sites than Google that are used by many people

ii) There are tools that allow individuals to search for stuff on the internet without using search sites such a Google - not that many years ago they were the only way to find stuff on the internet. Not as quick, because basically you are sending out your own robots to crawl through sites on your behalf which takes time to do, but at least the results are comparatively free of ads and only you know what you searched for. Google (or duckduckgo, if you prefer) "Archie", "Gopher", "Veronica" and "Jughead" for some early examples.

"On my first adult visit to Belgium I was standing at the pub urinal disposing of the unwanted bits of about 12 pints of trappist ale and was surprised at the constant flow of not only the processed ale but the number of women behind me on the way to the sit-down. They seem quite happy with mixed sex toilets there."

Encountered the same at a beer festival here in NZ some years ago - with the enhancement that some of the women concerned were happy to pass comment on the beer was being drained from as they walked past - nobody of either sex seemed to consider it a problem.

Re: That's good, but...

"Then there's computing. Colossus was years ahead of everyone else, and yet where is the British computer industry today?"

Arguably one of the most important light bulb moments leading to modern computing was down to Lyons and their extensive chain of tea shops.

They realized that computers could not only work on straight maths problems, but could also be used to assist with solving business problems, like how do you bake and distribute fresh cakes and scones nationally, on a daily basis, with minimum wastage and lost orders.

The Leo series of computers they designed and built to work on this and Lyon's other general business processes (payroll, accounting, etc) were quite innovative for their time and it's unfortunate that the initial lead this gave the UK in commercial computing was never followed up with adequate government encouragement.

Re: Not quite correct.

"But that's not important. The really important question is: what colour should this invention "The Wheel" be?"

And do people want it to be nasally fitted?

Re: selling stuff for a profitable price was actually quite good

"Personally I'd not buy anything Nokia is selling. I bet not only are "batteries not included" but IP and brands aren't either (except as licences!)." (sic)

I believe that's called a 'continuing revenue stream".

It seems to me that if you can sell the results of your research to someone else who is prepared to take on the risks of manufacture, deployment, support and marketing while you continue to get a return on the research effort that you paid for up front, then that's a very good thing.

Re: Nationalisation by the back door?

"Oh, dear. Nationalisation of telecoms company, is it? If it's like the old General Post Office, peeps can look forward to a 6 month wait before being judged worthy by Nokia of getting a party-line installed. "

WTF?? - have you got even the remotest idea of what Nokia actually does as a business?

Re: Lamarr, Lucky to be alive

"The bags or condoms have not ruptured and consequences of an overdose..."

Or, as a previously unmentioned alternative, PC Plod have got it wrong again and there are no drugs.

Re: Worst argument ever

"...an hitman..."

How tasteful!'

Indeed - it should be 'hitperson' now days.

Re: "The main problems..."

" The voyeur will not even know the address where the camera is located. "

Our kids now have kids of their own so this only affects me indirectly - but I won't be suggesting to them that the monitors are not sending back enough information about the AP they're connected to, router public IP address, etc., for this to be a safe assumption.

"If she has a prescription, was given too many, and somebody is in need of a painkiller, I guess it is not illegal to help out, even if you charge for the favor ..."

I suspect your guess would be wrong in most countries - it's generally illegal to be in possession of prescription drugs with someone else's name on the package. Definitely a way to attract attention at border crossings.

Re: Gravy/Chips issues.

"Biscuits and gravy being a prime example of something we'd have difficulty even understanding over here without visual aids."

Never over fed the cat, then?

Re: Unwarranted Trumpanzee

"Ridin a bike is a crime as afar as I'm concerned."

In that case, although I don't work for Tesla (or Musk in any shape or form) and I don't live in the US, I'm more than happy to put up my hand and say "I'm a bicycle criminal" for most of my work commutes.

"It is only USA which has the grand idiocy of everyone driving in any lane at any speed they please and overtaking on both sides. "

Perfectly legal to overtake on either side in NZ as well where there is more than one marked lane - the crucial point being that the lanes must be marked as separate lanes, not just a single lane that is wide enough to squeeze through on the left.

Re: Alternative Hypothesis

"Great if you live in Knightsbridge but our local Kebab, Chiaken and Corner shops dont deal in cards less than a tenner if, at all."

Good grief - the UK must be more of a benighted banking backwater than I've ever imagined!

In NZ even a stall at a weekend morning farmer's market is risking a significant loss of sales if they don't offer card payment.

Re: Effects on Humans & Animals?

" Quick answer unlikely at the suggested frequencies. I'd worry more about queasiness and disorientation for anything using magnetic resonance at the kind of power that would need to work at distance."

The trouble is that the 'side effects' won't be identified by those with any degree of technical knowledge, but by the sort of person who gets sick from a WiFi signal coming from three houses down the road - any attempts by reputable boffins to point out that the 'victim' isn't at risk will be dismissed as a $ConspiracyTheoryOfChoice coverup, because some random nutter on the internet obviously knows far more about it than anyone who's actually studied the subject in depth..

Re: Pigeons on trains

"How do you know the pigeon was deliberately choosing a particular stop, rather than wandering onto the train knowing that often there's food to be found on the floor, especially under seats? "

A couple of reasons: i), it was under the seat opposite me and it wasn't wandering around looking for food, it was just standing there, and ii), it's wife and kids were waiting to meet it.

Re: So it all hinges on exams

"...how useful and representative for real life subjects like computing."

Indeed - how much better it would be for IT jobs to eventually go to people who learnt by looking up canned solutions on-line, rather than figuring it out for themselves like some of the students will be doing.

Oh, wait - we already have this - it's called off-shoring.

The teaching system for the current set of students has been deliberately compromised, and I think the correct decision has been made to make the outcome as fair as possible to those whom, for whatever reason, will/can not take advantage of that fact - it's not an ideal solution, but I think it's not the worst they could come up with.

Also, note the following:

"Exam regulator Ofqual announced that non-exam assessment will not count to the final mark in GCSE computer science in 2018 or 2019.

This solution only applies to two years of course intake ie., the compromised coursework requirements will be replaced and then all is back to normal.

Re: Reaction!

" (otherwise who would have salt at the dinner table - a tasty mix of poisonous gas and explosive metal eh?)"

Or, just as bad, mix highly reactive (and toxic under the right conditions) gaseous oxygen with H2O, a substance which is known to facilitate many corrosive reactions - and what's even more reprehensible, allow these two substances to freely mix inside a living organism.

I don't know about 'intelligent design' - more like thoughtless and down-right dangerous design if you ask me.

Re: Apple and Google could build this in

"There would be nothing stopping the phone from holding an unlimited number of certificates, so you could easily switch between them if you traveled a lot and wanted to get the best rate in each location."

Nothing technical stopping this, but I suspect the service providers might have a few alternative ideas on the subject.

Re: Still somone else's computer

"tl;dr: running servers (file servers, mail servers, web servers, whatever servers) is superficially easy. Doing it in a safe, sustainable, secure way is absolutely not and it very often *is* the best idea to pay someone else who does it at scale to do it for you."

All very true - but you need to ensure the person you are paying to do it for you actually does a better job of it than you would as well.

I don't see any point in paying someone to cockup a task on my behalf when I'm quite capable of doing so for myself at a fraction of the price.

Re: Don't drive into a raging wildfire...

"Finland is not a real country."

I really do hope that you just forgot the joke icon with this one - it's not only a real country but they're currently in the process of celebrating 100 years of independence.

I also have quite a number of colleagues who would dispute your statement.

Re: Peasants..

"No need to buy an iPhone. Just buy a Nokia. They all (even the old ones) get monthly security updates ...."

Yep, based on November's patching schedule I'd expect to see these latest patches on both our Nokias at home (a 6 and an 8) within a week or so.

Re: Ar**

"If you think you can guide thousands of metres of cable to just the right point on the seabed, you're welcome to try."

IIRC the current record, held by Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (now Nokia Submarine Networks) for repairing a cable is at a depth of 10km - and there's not too many places deeper than that.