* Posts by ewozza

48 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Nov 2012

What do we want? A proper review of IR35! When do we want it? Last year! Bunch of IT contractors protest outside UK Parliament

ewozza

I found a way to beat IR35

I was a UK IT contractor, but I escaped the rat race and started a work from home IT consultancy.

What shocked me is how easy it is - the skills you built as a contractor are almost what you need to run your own business.

You know those contract interviews which used to intimidate you but which are now easy, familiar territory? Very similar to pitching to clients.

But how do you find the clients? That was the problem which stopped me all those years from trying to set out on my own.

My ex sales trainer wife gave me the answer - find local business meet-ups, pitch up in nice clothes, introduce yourself to everyone, ask about their business, ask what they think of mobile apps (or whatever service you plan to offer). If they say "I've been thinking of building an app...", bingo, new client.

Its that simple. You get a lot of knockbacks, but ask enough people and you'll find someone with money who's interested in spending that money on you.

Most of my clients are small startup businesses, not the kind of potential clients agents would normally target. Or they were small startup businesses - a few of them have grown. Their budgets have grown with them, and they stick with the IT person who helped them grow.

Don't try to target big businesses, at least not at first. Big businesses take months or even years to make a decision, and unless you have a lot of cash you can't wait that long, burning time and effort in endless meetings. In any case they won't want to deal with a one man show, unless you have an extraordinary rare skill. Small businesses make fast decisions and frankly they're usually a lot more fun to work with.

I no longer live in the UK, nowadays I live on a tropical beach in Australia. But if I was still based in the UK, this way of doing business is IR35 proof. You do part time piecework for multiple clients, at your own direction, in your own home / office. No different to a self employed plumber or decorator doing small jobs. Anyone who tries to say you're an employee with this method of business is barking.

Five ways Apple can fix the iPhone, but won't

ewozza

Headphone Jack Please

Apple dropping the headphone jack from iPhone 7 is the main reason I still have a 6. I fall asleep listening to music from my phone over the headphone jack, with my phone plugged into the charger. A bluetooth headset would just be another piece of cr@p I would have to keep charged.

How relevant is NoSQL in the enterprise?

ewozza

There was a time before RDBMS

I agree, I remember working with IDMSX network databases, back when computer systems simply weren't powerful enough to support RDBMS on an enterprise scale. NoSQL is just history repeating itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDMS

Happiness economics is bollocks. Oh, UK.gov just adopted it? Er ...

ewozza

Too much of a good thing

A recent study suggested gas fracking is bad, because the fall in energy prices will stimulate the economy too much, and encourage us to use more energy. But if you are not prioritising GDP, and happiness is a priority, you might be more concerned that fracking seems to make some people really upset - so its obviously a bad thing.

FTC nails pin in Bitcoin mining rig maker Butterfly Labs

ewozza

Re: Wolf, wolf I say!!

At least Butterfly won't be lonely in the dock - Bitcoin kit suppliers are notorious for ahem "underperformance".

First iOS, now Android to get fondleslab Office ahead of Windows

ewozza
Stop

Microsoft Office is in Big Doo Doo

If you haven't tried Google Office lately, you should. I recently switched banks, and forgot to update Microsoft 365, which caused my subscription to be suspended temporarily. While I was waiting for Microsoft to sort out my new bank details, I tried Google Office.

I was astounded - as easy, if not easier to user than Microsoft Office, ability to download high quality compatible word or PDF documents, and it was all free. Google does some kind of professional version, but if you just want to edit a few documents, you can function perfectly well with the free version.

Guess what - I cancelled my subscription to Microsoft 365, and I have no plan to reactivate it. I don't see the point of paying the M$ tax, when I can get everything I need for free.

Job for IT generalist ...

ewozza
Go

Be a specialist in a lot of things

You're not a generalist - you're a polymath specialist. Anyone who can learn C# in 2 days, well enough to spot the mistakes, is already good enough to add value to a C# project, and would be a tremendous asset to any IT project.

Obtaining recognition for this ability is just a matter of demonstrating your value to your potential clients.

Before starting my own app business in 2012, I was an IT contractor in London, working the merchant banking circuit. I never had trouble landing the highest paid contracts, despite the fact each role was significantly different to the previous role.

The reason - I never present myself as a generalist, I presented myself as a specialist with a broad range of skills.

When pitching to a client, I work out what they want, and list recent occasions on which I used the skills they require. If I don't have that exact skill, I try to demonstrate the relevance of a similar skill.

When I wanted to move into C++, I was straight up - I said "I don't have a lot of commercial C++ experience, but I've been working hard to learn it. I'm hoping my skills will be useful to you"

Obviously this was a challenge to ask a lot of difficult questions - but I passed.

When interviewing once for Microsoft, they got so desperate to find a question I couldn't answer, they started asking about internal details of SQL Server. I said "come on guys, I haven't seen the sourcecode". I got that contract as well.

Be positive about your approach. Nobody has the exact skills clients need. But you can demonstrate that you will add value to their project, by being confident, by demonstrating your relevant experience, and by demonstrating how you have handled learning new skills in the past.

Eric Worrall (click the link if you want to ask me more questions offline).

Most Americans doubt Big Bang, not too sure about evolution, climate change – survey

ewozza

Re: The takeaway . . .

My point is the models did not predict the pause in surface temperature. It is all very well coming up with excuses after the fact, but I prefer models I trust to get predictions right before they occur.

Since the models did not get this most important metric, surface temperature, correct, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the models are defective.

All the other fields of science listed have the important distinction that their theories make predictions which can be verified with observations.

For example, Charles Darwin used his theory to predict the existence of a moth with a 12 inch tongue - a prediction which was laughed at in its day, but which was borne out by observation, when such a moth was finally discovered.

Only in the field of Climate Science are we expected to accept computer projections as if they are themselves evidence, even when they don't match real world observations.

I used to work in financial modelling. One thing we observed was it was always easier to retrofit models to past price changes, than to predict the future. Claiming models which can't predict the future can tell us anything useful about the future is nonsense.

I don't claim to know more than the entire world's body of climate science. But since I am affected by whatever decisions are made on my behalf, I have the right to demand that they get their science right, before my tax money is spent on mitigation measures which their defective models predict are necessary.

ewozza

Re: The takeaway . . .

I accept the theory of evolution because there is plenty of supporting evidence, such as Darwin's moth - non trivial predictions which have been confirmed by observation.

I do not accept that the world is warming dangerously, because the evidence is that the models on which such assertions are based are deeply flawed.

1. The models did not predict the pause in global warming since the late 90s.

2. The instrumental record shows similar rates of warming to the late 1980s warming, upon which the global warming scare is based.

3. Having a lot of scientists say something is so is not evidence. Every scientific advance has occurred because a scientist or group of scientists proved what everyone believed is wrong.

Until climate scientists produce some models which work, there is no reason to take what they say seriously.

ewozza

The climate facts are not that complex

The climate models are predicting warming which isn't happening. We've released a gigantic amount of CO2 into the atmosphere since the late 90s, and it has done diddly squat to global temperature.

Until climate scientists produce some models which work, and stop calling critics rude names, their discipline deserves the same respect as ESP research or UFOology.

ewozza

Left Wing success stories

...

Still waiting.

ewozza

Climate change? Really?

According to Hans Von Storch, one of the giants of climate research, 98% of climate models cannot be reconciled to observations. In a few years, if the world doesn't start warming, this will rise to 100%. All of the models are running too hot, predicting warming which simply has not happened.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-hans-von-storch-on-problems-with-climate-change-models-a-906721.html

Yet people still run the vicious smear that doubting the theory of anthropogenic climate change, which has an abysmal track record of prediction, is the same as doubting evolution, which has a long history of validated predictions.

Apple says iOS, OS X is immune to Heartbleed SSL bug

ewozza
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Nonsense

Some apple apps have OpenSSL compiled into the app. In addition, many Apple apps communicate with server components on Linux machines. So suggesting iOS is "immune", while probably technically true, isn't the full story.

Helpdesk/Service Desk Recommendations

ewozza

Live Project - https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/live-project/id808101896

Surrender your crypto keys or you're off to chokey, says Australia

ewozza
ewozza
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Missing the target...

I'm an Abbott supporter, but this is a stupid idea.

Criminals can easily circumvent this law using steganography - concealing a hidden message inside another message.

So they could surrender the "fake" keys, without compromising their real message.

Blighty teen boffin builds nuclear reactor INSIDE CLASSROOM

ewozza
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There's quite a story behind this... :-)

Electrostatic inertial confinement fusion is one of the great maybe / almost stories of nuclear fusion. It works - well enough so it is used in neutron particle beam generators (useful for say detecting concealed nuclear weapons in a cargo container), but nobody has ever quite figured out how to extract power from it.

The problem is it leaks too much energy - as the particles violently change direction, upon approaching one of the electrodes, or actually strike the electrodes, they emit high energy photons - x-rays and suchlike - which very efficiently carry energy out of the system. So you have to keep topping up the energy in the plasma, to keep it hot enough for nuclear fusion to occur, with far more energy than the nuclear fusion process actually generates.

Having said that, Robert Bussard, one of the giants of 20th century nuclear physics, claimed he had found a way to overcome this issue, and was attempting to raise finance for a full scale test device, until his unfortunate death from cancer. If he was right, the world came very close to a viable nuclear fusion system.

Maybe Jamie will take up Bussard's work, and find the final key to the puzzle - will discover the secret of limitless zero carbon energy.

Is the government's NBN policy changing your vote? Greens Senator Scott Ludlam thinks so

ewozza
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Green baggage

I'd rather vote LDP - http://www.ldp.org.au/

Freedom without all the baggage - the greens believe in a lot of cr@p, such as unworkable renewable energy, and high taxes.

Even "the oceans will boil" green fanatic James Hansen, in between being arrested, issued an open letter which says nuclear power is the way to go, if you want to reduce CO2 - that renewables won't work.

Don't be shy, we know you've got .NET code. Why not run it on our Linux cloud – Red Hat

ewozza
Meh

Mono on Linux is easy

Is being arrogant really more important than keeping your clients happy?

Obviously you try to steer clients to using tech you prefer, for good reasons, but if they insist on .NET, then .NET on Linux is IMO better than .NET on M$.

Setting up a .NET environment on Linux is a straightforward compile - easy for someone familiar with Linux to do. Of course, you also have to be familiar with IIS / .NET application packages to make the .NET code work ;-).

Eric Worrall

ewozza
Meh

Re: Why downgrade?

Don't be a snob :-). I prefer Linux / PHP as a backend server for my apps, for security and simplicity, but sometimes clients have legacy code, or maybe they just plain want to run a .NET component. In these situations, .NET on Linux is IMO a better solution than .NET on M$.

Eric Worrall

ewozza
Holmes

C# / .NET on Linux is easy

It is not difficult to install a Mono / c# environment on Linux. I did this for a client who had a ASP.NET component they wanted to run on Linux / Amazon EC2.

There are a few gotchas. You have to be careful with compilation dependencies if you want SSL support, while building the Mono environment, and you have to check which language features are supported on Mono (some of the .NET 4 stuff was not well supported, last time I used this).

Obviously code which has a strong dependency on explicit Windows components won't work, without refactoring.

Otherwise it works OOTB.

Eric Worrall

Passenger jet grounded by two-hour insect attack

ewozza

Re: Balancing Imbalance

Wasps in every crack or cavity, most of the world's deadly snakes and spiders, even ticks which can paralyse and kill you with their venom, tiny thumbnail size irukandji jellyfish which can't be seen or felt whose sting is fatal, great white sharks cruising the waters, a risk of nasty tropical fevers every time one of the plentiful mossies bites you, the risk of meeting a crocodile on your next bush walk, but hey, its home :-)

ewozza
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Wasps here in Queensland are an absolute pest. I've even found the beginning of small wasps nests in the plastic cavities of clothes pegs. They're very fast, and a total nuisance if you don't euthanise them with a good squirt of outdoor surface spray.

'No representation without taxation!' urges venerable tech VC

ewozza
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New Barbarian Manifesto

I first saw "No Representation without Taxation" in "The New Barbarian Manifesto", a book written over a decade ago by a London School of Economics Professor.

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Barbarian-Manifesto-Information/dp/0749435054

His point was very simple. If the number of voters consuming government money outnumber the people providing government money, then Democracy will fail. Consumers of government money have no stake in the productive side of the economy, they will simply vote themselves more and more benefits, regardless of the damage to economic productivity.

As a solution, he suggest the future might embrace altered forms of democracy, such as no representation without taxation.

Very interesting book, it was written over a decade ago, yet it hasn't aged - it could have been written yesterday.

China shutters Windows ‘rival’ Red Flag Linux

ewozza
WTF?

Why doesn't China adopt Android OS? Android OS is open source, has bazillions of apps, and a large, loyal following in PRC, and can and has been adapted for desktop use. It should be a no brainer.

Unmanned, autonomous ROBOT TRUCK CONVOY 'drives though town'

ewozza
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The trucks navigate via GPS - OMG, supply trains for any enemy clever enough to push the on switch on a GPS spoofer.

Even Iran has GPS subversion technology these days...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/15/us_spy_drone_gps_spoofing/

Tell us we're all doomed, MPs beg climate scientists

ewozza
Childcatcher

A convient crisis

A crisis, even an imaginary crisis, makes politics easy. People will put up with overpriced food, with poor roads, with bad housing, with high electricity charges, with political incompetence, even with a little corruption, if they think their sacrifice means something - if they think their politicians are doing a good job of addressing the crisis.

If politicians admit the climate crisis isn't a big deal, people will hold them to account for their failings - so they are as likely to let go of this cornucopia of false virtue as they are to let go of their parliamentary expenses.

Eurocops want to build remote car-stopper, shared sensor network

ewozza
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Waste of effort

There is already a small, portable (even hand held) device which can stop a car. So even aside from the moral dimension, this EU research effort is an utter waste of time and money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_pumped_flux_compression_generator

UK.gov recruiting 400 crack CompSci experts to go into teaching

ewozza
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Waste of time

I've been an IT professional for over 20 years. This scheme is a waste of time.

The reason - most people find software development mind numbingly boring. The money or societal need simply isn't enough reason to be an IT professional - you have to love what you do, to be any good at it.

Programming is a gift, a calling, a mental illness, it takes an unusual mindset to find joy in it - kindof like oddballs who spend time creating intricate model train sets. If you don't have that strange psychological aberration, you will never be any good at software.

By all means expose the young darlings to a little IT - until you try it, you can't know whether it is for you. But don't force the poor kids to study a course which most of them will find unendurably tedious.

Because if you force kids to suffer through a course like that, their response will be to disrupt class - anything to relieve the pain. And the few kids who enjoy the course and find their calling will be denied a proper education, by the many who want to do anything other than sit still and have to listen to an IT teacher.

Gay hero super-boffin Turing 'may have been murdered by MI5'

ewozza
Headmaster

Perhaps a Soviet Double Agent ordered Turing's Death

If MI5 was seriously considering assassinating Turing, perhaps a high level Soviet agent made the final decision - Turing was more a threat to the Soviets than to the UK.

Self-destructing selfies? Not so fast! Snapchat now offers one-time Replay

ewozza
Megaphone

I created TxtGone - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/txtgone/id722557310 - for a client, it allows you to send selfies which only last a few seconds before self destructing. No replay feature in TxtGone :-).

How much did NSA pay to put a backdoor in RSA crypto? Try $10m – report

ewozza
Holmes

Perhaps, and this is only speculation, the $10 million went directly to whoever made the decision to use the flawed algorithm - RSA bosses might not have known anything about it.

If you want an IT job you'll need more than a degree, say top techies

ewozza
Pint

Write a mobile app

Easiest way to get an IT job, especially if you don't have much verifiable experience, is to write and publish a few mobile apps - iPhone and if possible Android.

Employers know your CV is a pack of lies, but if your iPhone app impresses them, you'll get the job.

Backup software for HDD and Cloud

ewozza
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rsync

Install rsync, then backup to Google Drive, Drop Box, whatever you want. On my mac I've installed rsync for backing up project files, makes life simple.

FACE IT: attempts to get Oz kids into IT jobs are FAILING

ewozza
Angel

Old IT vs New IT

Being an IT drone in an office is how most people see IT - and they rightly see it as a seriously unattractive career. But there is more to IT than this.

There are a growing number of IT people who work from home, on their own time, helping clients, cutting code for clients who matter. Who treat IT as a craft rather than a profession. Next week I'm moving to a tropical beach - in this modern age of Skype and high speed internet, there is no need for me to ever personally meet most of my clients. The few I do travel to meet are worth the trip.

And the best part - I'm more productive now than I ever was doing 9-5, doing more interesting work, enjoying life, spending more time with my wife and daughter, working the hours I want to work, on my terms.

Life is good.

Next time you think about that tropical beach, think about what you would to do pay for the lifestyle. If waiting tables or taking shifts in the local night owl doesn't grab you as a good career choice, you might want to give a little thought to learning some IT skills.

http://www.desirableapps.com

Coding: 'suitable for exceptionally dull weirdos'

ewozza
Angel

Prostitution may have been the first profession, but software development will be the last. When they don't need us anymore, the machines will be thinking for themselves, and the age of employment shall be well and truly over.

Everyone should be *exposed* to software development - if someone has the knack, its a wonderful skill - it gives you a level of empowerment and control over the electronic toys in our life which few others achieve

But very few people will be drawn to coding - if you don't have the "dull weirdo" mindset, it just won't interest you.

Which is rather a shame, because in a few years, there may be precious little else to do, if you want to earn a living.

We live in an age where cars can drive themselves, where CNC metal working machines have replaced entire teams of skilled craftsmen, where rules engines diagnose disease with inhuman skill, where every profession is slowly being encroached by artificial intelligence.

In a few years, the blessed things will even start to have *ideas* - so what will you do then, ideas man?

Coding skill is a hedge against a future of unemployment - but only for those who love to code.

Atomic clocks come to your wrist

ewozza
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Lousy watch, great clock

This should have been sold as an alarm clock, or a pocket watch, not a wrist watch...

Curiosity keeps on trucking despite government shutdown

ewozza
Pint

Americans should feel a sense of relief that their horendous government deficit and growing accumulated debts in excess of $16 TRILLION are taking a breather.

Silicon daddy: Moore's Law about to be repealed, but don't blame physics

ewozza
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Human Brain 1000000x more powerful than a computer

The computation power of the human brain - at least a million times more powerful than any desktop computer, running on a fraction of the energy per computation operation - shows that computers can be improved by at least six orders of magnitude, without even trying.

This decade will see a serious rampup of efforts to reverse engineer the brain. Such efforts should produce a spectacular array of computing improvements, more than enough to keep Moore's Law alive and kicking.

As to people who think that only a brain can produce brain like computation - if all else fails, that is exactly what will happen. The next generation of computers may need nutrient solution as well as electricity.

Why Teflon Ballmer had to go: He couldn't shift crud from Windows 8, Surface

ewozza
Mushroom

Windows 8 - why I left Windows

Well not entirely, but I'm sooo glad I never had to deal with building surface apps. The horror stories from my mates who are still within the clutches of Redmond make me more than happy with my decision.

Nowdays I create mobile apps - for Apple and Android. A much happier place to be!

http://www.desirableapps.com

Upgraded 3D printed rifle shoots 14 times before breaking

ewozza
Thumb Up

There is smoke

There is a tiny puff of smoke, which is visible with some of the shots, consistent with the ammo. Modern ammunition uses "smokeless" powder, so called because it doesn't emit much smoke - nowhere near as much as black powder.

I think the video is real - the guy certainly didn't try to hide the defects with the gun, such as the dodgy firing mechanism. When I was a kid I build a couple of Saturday Night Specials in my grandpa's machine shop (since destroyed - I just wanted to see if it could be done), my Grandpa was a WW2 munitions machinist, so he showed me some of his skills. The gun design is IMO plausible.

PHWOAR! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, Prime Minister

ewozza
Facepalm

The porn filtering proposal is a disaster for Britain.

If only smart people can jack off while viewing porn, stupid people might have to settle for having sex - which might lead to lots more stupid people.

Asperger's and IT

ewozza

Interviewing an Aspergers

Aaron Milne, please send me an email, so I have your contact details, just in case I ever need someone with your gifts - I also provide IT services in Brisbane - I develop mobile apps. You can reach me via http://www.desirableapps.com

Back when I had a normal job, I used to help interview candidates.

One interview I will never forget was with someone who almost certainly had Aspergers.

He said wildly inappropriate things in the interview - talking in detail about what he didn't like about his current job (rule of interviews - you *never* do that - keep it positive!). He was completely factual and honest with his answers, but he didn't notice any non verbal queues, and answered every question in the technical interview perfectly.

After the interview, one of my fellow interviewers said "that was weird". I said "I think he has Aspergers". The others asked "what is that?". I said "Its a high functioning form of Autism. He will never be good at managing people. You would never put him in front of a client. But what he gets in return is a superhuman ability to concentrate, to solve problems. He would be perfect to track down your software stability issues, he will track them down, and solve them.".

I recommended they hire - a recommendation which was sadly overruled.

FIVE DAY tech job interviews on trial at Oz telco Telstra

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Bonkers

5 days of interviews isn't a job application process, its a consultancy assignment. I'd hand them an invoice at the end of the week.

Climate shocker: Carry on as we are until 2050, planet will be fine

ewozza
Pint

Free Markets Reduce Emissions

America is the only major country which has substantially reduced emissions - the shale gas revolution has reduced coal use. Overall American energy use has risen, but coal emits far more CO2 for a given amount of energy than gas, so the switch to gas has led to an overall reduction.

"Green" Europe on the other hand has failed to reign in emissions. Through a combination of perverse incentives, irrational opposition to shale gas, and post Fukishima panic, Europe has substantially increased emissions of CO2.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/05/americas-falling-carbon-dioxide-emissions

Given how close scientists are to breakeven nuclear fusion, Thorium fission, and other breakthrough technologies, it is doubtful we will be using carbon intensive energy in 20 years, let alone 50 years (at least not on the same scale as today).

But there's a catch - only rich societies can afford to experiment, to try new things. Any environmental legislation which harms economic growth is likely to cause emissions to rise, just as they have risen in restrictive, legislation happy Europe.

Which qualifications are worthwhile?

ewozza
Go

None

I don't have any IT qualifications, and have never felt any need to get them.

I was hired by a bank when I was 20 on the basis of an aptitude test - they were having trouble finding the right people, so they widened the net. Since then I've worked freelance for governments, merchant banks, power companies, Microsoft Corporation - none of them even asked about my qualifications.

I currently build phone apps for a living, working from home. Give it a try - its much more fun than being a suit.

Humans becoming steadily STUPIDER, says brainiac boffin

ewozza
Trollface

Previous Research

Here is some previous research into this pressing problem.

http://ia700402.us.archive.org/2/items/decadeofprogress00inte/decadeofprogress00inte.pdf

Oz lays plans to cover possible US met sat gap

ewozza
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Cheap Satellite Launch

Rather than launching traditional expensive satellites, isn't it time countries dusted off old plans for launching small, cheap satellites, which could be replaced easily?

For example, Gerald Bull's HARP based supergun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Bull

Although Bull's project had a colourful and tragic end, with Bull himself being assassinated in his apartment in Belgium, the fact is his technology worked - he successfully launched small payloads into suborbital trajectories, and had a clear engineering path to creating a simple space launcher capable of pushing payloads into orbit at a fraction of the cost of traditional launches.

That way countries wouldn't be stuck with trying to fund expensive launch programmes at times of national financial distress - they could simply push whatever they needed into orbit, for thousands rather than millions of dollars, as and when they needed.