Posts by ED Stroudley

Skynet

This is presumably a result of the launch of the third PFI funded (at an eye watering and continuing cost from Paradigm) Skynet satellite last week and a desire to train sky jockeys in the UK rather than at Creech in Arizona. It might also signal some turf warring between the Army and the Air Force about which uniform the sky jockeys wear before they can play with this latest military toy.

Desperately needed in Afghanistan because there is only one Grim Reaper in the skies there trying to do the work of the Nimrods which they can't do because they can't refuel to stay on station and are waiting to be replaced because their replacement is four years late and squillions over budget. etc.,... and the re-fueeling tankers orders haven't been placed yet because the PFI funding has collpased because the monoline insureers credit has gone down the toilet, so it's carry on using the 42 year old VC 10's and Tri-Star tankers for the meanwhile etc.,

But Gatekeeper AKA out of date Israeli cobbled up jobby has some fantastic new features , now if it isn't cloudy or raining and we have got a downlink working with Skynet, you just train this gadget here and youget a superb picture ....oooops I'll try that again....etc

Rat smelling time ....

Hazel Blears loses lap top ... impossible to believe she even knew how to switch it on, never mind access any data of any use/importance.

So does that mean

that the orange envelope with the spoof "spook" files I left on he 6.47 to Waterloo last week ,which didn't contain any "TOP SECRET" information is illegal ?

Keep off the Grass

"Is a 4inch deep cable going to be safe from 6 inch long spade or fork?"

= Standard procedure for telephone utilities in US of A subbubs

Post war Scientific and social revolution

When Sparks was developing his exotic electronic sandwiches over 20 states in the US forbade mixed (inter racial) marriages by law with jail terms for transgressors.

A position unchanged until 1967 when the State of Virginia was overuled by the Supreme Court in 1967 (Loving Virginia) in the case of Mrs Loving who also died lied last week.

By then the little village of Langley ,VA. had enthusiastically supported and harnessed the power and utility of Spark's pioneering design and methods of doping germanium.

Tattoo

The most satsifactory solution is for everyone to have a tattoo on the left arm. (Forehead) With some form of encoding eg First digit 1 = Muslim 2 = Jew etc.,

So obvious, surprised no-one has done it before.

Spanish practices

"BAA is not even a British company - 85% of it (or there abouts) is owned by Ferrovial - a Spanish company."

Corect ...up to a point Lord Copper. Ferrovial is a PRIVATE company owned by a family who have a fine pedigree going back to supporting Mr Franco. Anti Union, in hock uip to the eyeballs.

Ferrovial was started in 1952, under the times of Fascist Dictaor Franco , and it grew to prominence under Franco’s dictatorial government.The founder, Rafael del Pino, became one of the richest men in the world, with an estimated fortune of $5bn. He was very close to the regime and benefited from the state corporatist nature of the Spanish economy during the Franco years, is inconceivable that he could have achieved that wealth without the closest collaboration with the projects of the regime.

The company has undertaken work in Libya and reputedly a great deal in Chile under Pinochet.

The company owns 95% of UK construction group Amey and has a 50% stake in Bristol airport and owns Belfast City airport.

Nowadays Ferrovial is headed by del Pino’s son and namesake Rafael del Pino y Calvo-Sotelo (Born 1958) The family funds a powerful " charitable foundation "(Rafael Del Pino Foundation) dedicated to spreading the Spanish language and an intense right wing free market philosophy .

They will have no hesitation in embracing a policy of fingerprinting - probably tattooing a number is more their style.

Anon Coward

On a signal to noise ratio AC comes out pretty high where e'er he posts.

"The Taliban are demanding the phone service be shut down simply to show they can tweak the tail of the crusaders."

The whole story based on a word in the BBC's ear who have kindly circulated the message with the desired effect on the audience both within the country and in a watching world.

You don't need a mobile to get the word out when the BBC are so much more effective.

COAL LIQUID/GAS

Ari Geertsema, Professor Center for Applied Energy Research, University of Kentucky spoke about "Barriers and Opportunities Relating to Production of Coal Liquids and Environmental Issues"at the Richard G. Lugar-Purdue Summit on Energy Security on 29th Aug 2006 and the delightful Amy Myers Jaffe touched on the subject.

Sasoil USA is no slam dunk. Cost are horrendous to build and run - OK on a war footing, maybe.

The energy required to run the plants is high , so that ESKOM , who are running out of coal to generate electricity and running rolling blackouts throughout SA won't supply SASOIL and they (like a lot of deep mines for minerals) are currently stopped - with a massive national economic effect.

The bottom line iseems to be , that if we want to meet the demand curve we need (globally) to burn more coal - and it will be a brave politicians who say we will cut off your electricity rather than allow coal burn plants.