When they talk about switching of navigation beacons I get very uneasy. Satellite navigation systems are a great convenience, but I wouldn't want to climb onto an aircraft where it was the only means of navigation, even if there were multiple redundant systems.

I spent a short while working on a Canadian oil tanker in the 1990s, and remember seeing the cadets going out onto the roof of the bridge with sextants, stellar navigation being a compulsory subject. And while there was a GPS system on the bridge which was used, the captain had charts of the area through which he was navigating out on the bridge as well.

I guess my concern isn't that the satellite navigation systems will fail, but that there will always be more to the art of navigation than a satellite based system can offer.

"New UK transport minister Rosie Winterton stopped short of that, but she did take a tough stance towards the commission, at least for UK consumption."

That is the problem, we get tough statements to Parliament then back down in private EU meetings. Galileo is an unnecessary waste of EU taxpayers funds - the EU bureaucrats want their own toy (as part of the United States of Europe that they are desparately trying to build at present). When the private sector realised that the project's business case did not stack up they refused to sign up to the terms required as part of an EU PPP deal. Now the EU think that they can simply fund it out of public funds. That does not change the flawed nature of its business case.

For more information on the devious tactics being used to fund this white elephant see:

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2007/07/it-cant-be-accidental.html

Sadly, I suspect the government will push through road-pricing so that road users will have to buy Galileo-supporting equipment to fund the system.

I might definitely know of a Very Private Dating Agency in Space/CyberSpace, which has every Intention of Utilising Galileo's Positioning Satellites to CoOrdinate Earthed HyperRadioProActive CyberIntelAIgents Actions....... with the Satellite Network beaming Instruction/Script, not on Position, but about Destination. ....... for a Consummation of Love in Passions Shared Passionately/Freely.

I don't think you would have any Problem in an Offering of such a Charming Service........ for QuITe Reasonably, IT is Targeted for BetaTesting from the Top Down, so that Idle Wealth can be Energised to Generate Future Invention/Script 42 Follow.

And you should be made Aware of the Power that Creates in that Predeliction/Desire........ although, in order not to mislead, IT is something more likely, Attained.

.....but what would that matter, when the question is irrelevent?

More anon........meanwhile, for all you spooky analyst, Bletchley Boffin Control types out there, this parses well, in any language ...... In the Beginning..was Imagination and it's True...... John Risen in AIMagical Mystery Turing?

A Right ViXXXXen of a Question, ma Cherie.:-) in Native Apache Territory.

Does anyone ever understand anything this fruitcake says, or is it in code and I am just being dumb or something?

And what's with his Shift Key? Is a flea using it as a trampoline or something?

I'm sure the government wont mind pouring vast amounts of public money in to Galileo once they realise they can get it all back again via the only real use for the greater accuracy of the system - road pricing.

They'll of course charge us the up front costs for the mandatory black boxes to go in to cars, in the same way as they are charging us to pay for interrogation and fingerprinting for ID cards. Then just think of the revenue from every mile travelled, every minute stuck in road works, and the fines from every mile per hour over some arbitrary limit, even in country lanes and on motorways at 4am.

By people saying there was no point in reinventing the wheel? Windows works fine, why screw with another OS?

Looks like any country that depends on US military technology for anything is opening themselves up to a ton of potential issues. Build all the nav systems you want as they are not as accurate as a good old map and compass and will not be the dominate navigation system for decades.

Clive,

I've been copying and studying his posts since they started and I believe that I'm beginning to see a pattern. There are usually at least three 'threads' in each post and one of these threads is always present. The second is related to the article in question and the third is apparently random (but may have its own hidden meaning, see below).

I believe that the 'always present' thread is a form of decryption key for the 'random' thread and that when I've cracked this, then a great mystery will be revealed to me. I will of course share this with you all when I feel that the time is right.