Posts by Roland6

Re: Justice should include prosecutions

Agree however, with over nine thousand postmasters, there seems to be a larger number who seemingly have not fallen foul of the vagaries of the Horizon system.

I suggest a forensic audit of the system is needed, as suspect there are many thousands more who also had accounting errors but were not picked up for action. Also the police probably need to interview all postmasters about their experiences of Horizon…

Re: Justice should include prosecutions

> They were the only one this has happened to, so it couldn't possibly have been the software.

What gets me is why only a “few” postmasters seem to have suffered from this system error. What were the ones “in the clear” doing differently?

Re: No Justice

That petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/strip-paula-vennells-of-her-cbe

What is a little surprising, is that whilst every news outlet is reporting on the petition, none of them are providing a link to it.

Whilst it can be found by a Google search, I suggest as there seems to be relatively few links to it,and there has been no links in my feeds, that gaining over 1M signatures is highly significant.

Fingers cross she is stripped of her CBE, obviously, for justice to be done, she and other senior managers at the PO should also made to repay their bonuses + inflation…

Re: "the only figure that really matters is hospitalisations"

Suggest reading:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sources-of-surveillance-data-for-influenza-covid-19-and-other-respiratory-viruses/sources-of-surveillance-data-for-influenza-covid-19-and-other-respiratory-viruses

It gives a better insight into the data monitoring, basically it seems there is no community ( general population) monitoring, only review of hospital and doctor data.

It is useful reading the scientific reports about the Chinese monitoring system, which was able to rapidly pick up the Wuhan outbreak of an unknown disease; even though the Chinese authorities might have been slow to communicate to the wider world.

Re: "the only figure that really matters is hospitalisations"

> (oddly, everybody I know who suffered/died has been male)

Same here, although all were active 30~50 yo men. By active I mean they did half marathons, cycle races, etc.

Re: "the only figure that really matters is hospitalisations"

Anxiety is what helped snake oil salespeople sell billions of fake remedies. With even the orange one getting in on the fake remedy act.

Re: It is only Covid if you take a test

> It's near freezing here today - opening the windows may result in personal injury.

Try infra red heaters. Okay best to have the windows baffled so the gales don’t blow straight through but you can be pleasantly warm relatively cheaply.

Re: It is only Covid if you take a test

>” I believe in a positive antigen test, but I do not fully trust a negative antigen test.”

Agree, particularly if you have been vaccinated.

From the research project we got involved in, it can be hit an miss whether you get a positive test or not. First thing in the morning tend to be a good time to get a positive test, as does testing early ie. When you feel you are going down with cold/flu rather than once you have full blown cold. Hence why doing away with easy and cheap/free access to testing kits was a bit daft.

From the couple of times I’ve had Covid, the most pronounced confirming feature was the loss of taste and/metallic taste - Tabasco source on chips was quite nice! Followed by the few weeks of weird energy levels before things finally return to normal.

>” Do "something"? It's not clear what that something should be though.”

The government actually enacting the expert advice and resume waste water monitoring for CoViD and other virus’s of note.

Obviously, this monitoring just becomes like the pollen monitoring, part of the weather forecast, until such time as it shows a storm is approaching and it’s time to batten down.

Re: "the only figure that really matters is hospitalisations"

>” it's expected this will continue into the future as three years of extremely unhealthy lifestyle takes its toll.”

You mean commuting and working in an office is healthy? Becareful, it will be taken up by the “Return to the Office” brigade….

BTW the unhealthy lifestyle was personal choice.

> “some people are still getting a grade three/four* cold.”

The trouble is, here in the UK we have no handle on whether “some” is few or many. Indicators for elsewhere would indicate we are trending towards many, it as we don’t monitor, it can be brushed under the carpet…

Re: Why did everyone get vaccinated?

>” One of the reasons covid mutated so much was down to the leaky 'vaccine'.”

CoViD was merrily mutating before any vaccine existed…

>” Smallpox, polio, mumps, measles, rubella, HPV. Pretty sure these stop you catching and spreading those viruses.”

These virus’s are different to CoViD in that they take longer to establish and reproduce, giving the immune system a chance to neutralise before they do much damage or become infectious. CoViD seems to be more about spreading to another host before the current hosts immune system kicks in.

Re: It is only Covid if you take a test

> A return to lockdown is not a viable option in the UK after partygate.

The ramifications of partygate will cast a long shadow over any future lockdown whether it is caused by CoViD or Disease X…

Re: It is only Covid if you take a test

> "covid is just another bad cold" was the way of thinking.

But this is the way the UK government is thinking. ( I suspect if a couple of Conservative MPs had died from CoViD they would think differently.)

initial CoViD symptoms are very similar to a cold or flu.

Testing is the easiest way to determine whether you have CoViD or not, and done sufficiently early can minimise you infecting others.

However, getting hold of testing kits isn’t easy, similarly no longer having the app and being able to report positive tests to the NHS, and so opening yourself to a possible follow up phone call, downgrades the seriousness of CoViD.

Re: "Cost and maintenance are also an issue"

I agree, however, moving all the control out of the kerb side post, means the kerb side post can be very simple and thus is less of a hazard and more easily replaced when knocked over by errant vehicles…

Additionally, I’m sure BT could simply put a 5G cell in the cabinet and declare their initiative a success !

Re: "Cost and maintenance are also an issue"

However, all those EV chargers will need internet connectivity, so using the green cabinet as a management hub for a bunch of EV chargers might have a purpose.

Re: "Cost and maintenance are also an issue"

> practical implementation strategy.

That’s “market forces”…

Re: #LostForScience

> So.. did it end up buried in the ice when Norway migrated north, then once it got bored, retreated south again? Or could it have been..

I suspect given the difference we in the UK have seen with the movement of the Gulf Stream, the explanation (for comparatively recent changes) could be as simple as changes in the air streams.

Given how much we don’t know about the earths climate, I don’t expect current climate models to be accurate or perfect. However, the general trend is what matters: they predicted CO2 levels would increase, and they have etc. So the instruments are telling us things are changing and changing rapidly into uncharted waters…

Re: Nope - another myth.

> But Antarctica is pretty much where it's always been as continents don't tend to wander much

Depends on timescales…

According to the various hypothesis’s the crust is largely stable until some event causes it to “rapidly” move (remember the crust is floating on magma - a liquid). As to what event(s) might have caused this in the past and may do so in the future seems to be a matter of debate…

But because the crust can move, it means we can not assume Greenland for example has always been at the latitude (in relation the axis of the earths rotation and orbit around the sun) it is today.

Re: forests are great CO2 sinks

>is not going to make climate magically more stable at temperatures that are convenient for humanity

That is the real crux of the problem; our “advanced society” and us humans need the climate to be within a particular stable range with predictable seasons, which it would seem we are rapidly moving away from…

It doesn’t take that many unseasonal storms to destroy crops and our food supply…

Re: Population reduction

> grandchildren of the rich will enjoy mostly empty planet all for themselves.

Until they discover they don’t have the knowledge and skills to build shelter, produce food etc. …

Re: Microsoft: “26 Drive Letters Ought To Be Enough For Anybody”

And convention insists A and B are reserved for removable/ floppy drives, hence why the first hard drive is C.D was for the CD. Thus you had 22 drives to play with.

Re: Themes must live forever.

Rules are meant to be broken…

> Use the server version.

That would be Server 2003 64bit in Workstation mode aka Windows XP Professional X64 Edition.

Re: Italic vs Roman full stops

> only one reason why it never took off.

I think another was that it was a language that really needed to be taught; I remember many of my fellow undergrads struggling to come to terms with the language.

Pascal was a walk in the park and as the success of Turbo Pascal demonstrated, was easily assimilated by hobbyists and those who had only previously encountered Basic;

I suspect MS Visual Basic owes much to Pascal.

Re: Then And Now

Additonally, there was no guarantee software written for a machine from one vendor would work on another machine from the same vendor; Unix (and C) really was revolutionary, as was the entire concept of “open systems” ( with either a lower case or capital “O” and “S”).

Re: Think of the Grid!

> As a quick example, Sizewell B expected life to 2035 could be extended to 2055 ...

Okay Sizewell B is the only one of the five currently operating nuclear power station's not listed as being due for closure by/in 2028, however, it is listed as being due for closure 2035. Depending on whether you want to mislead or not, I suggest it should not be included in the (initial) list of power stations operating in and beyond 2035.

Yes, EDF are expecting it to be granted a 20 year extension; I also anticipate given the situation, attempts will be made to extend the operating lives of the other currently operating reactors. These however, are distractions from the real issue - the UK isn’t in a situation to turn off its fossil fuel power stations and switch to nuclear, within the next 20 years….

Re: Think of the Grid!

> For that price it must be so old that it's carbon footprint must be awful

For EVs to make any real difference, they will need to last just as long and with most of them still using the factory installed batteries, motors and dashboard instruments…

Re: Think of the Grid!

> We import quite a bit of electricity

On average 5%…

If we are to decommission our fossil fuel power stations that needs to go to 50~80%…

Hence why numbers don’t add up.

Re: Think of the Grid!

Nuclear?

With all of our existing nuclear due to be shutdown by 2028, will need some good luck to have Hinckley Point B, Bradwell B and Sizewell C up and running at full capacity by 2035; these being expected to generate circa 18% of the UKs current electricity demand….

Looks like the numbers are not going to add up…

Re: It's not that we don't need 6G.

If you need the higher data rates, you really need to be using something other than a phone as your router, plus you need to look at the details of your mobile contract as that will typically have a speed cap.