Posts by John 98 136 posts • joined 14 Oct 2009
Just not right? You are possibly forgetting that our underfunded education system and poor planning has now left us with a minute skills base. So ther is probably nobody left to do the job here, certainly not in a rush. As to the vote on Brexit, the Leavers need reminding of their lies about cake and eat it etc. A large chunk of the 52% voted for that and not for the hard Brexit the fanatics are pushing. So the Remain vote was the largest and it's the only viable option anyway
Agreed you are carrying some extra engine up, but you've cut the oxidant load by at least 20%. I don't pretend to know much, but it sounds a good trade off. And if you only need one engine instead of three (one stage to orbit), I imagine that's good too (even if said engine is a complex beast).
Every senior civil servant has done his own Brexit assessment - it's a bad idea and implementing a damage limitation scheme will take a decade. All attempts to get the Brexiteers to face the facts have failed. Sir Humphry is feeling a bit demoralised because nobody has a clue how to avert a disaster
And there is more good news, this excellent system will only be needed at ports and Eurostar stations. After hard Brexit, all the airports will be closed and UK airlines won't be flying.
I've just thought, maybe this is the cunning plan to ensure the border force can cope with the demand
Quite true that religion has had its worser moments, but so has atheism if one looks at Stalin, Pol Pot etc. And since different religions disagree, teaching and inspiring different things, you can't blame one for the fault of t'other. And people may say they don't believe anything, but they still have a working assumption. ... Often that God doesn't exist, but then he might ...
What is this rant? If you are so stupid that you need endless reminders to tell you motorways have a speed limit, perhaps you shouldn't be driving. And the limit is there for a reason - 70 is the design speed of the road for a start.
Yes, the EU may catch a cold if the talks go nowhere (one imagines the most likely outcome as any number of lobbies in Europe will insist of this or that) but the only slight problem is that we will have a bad case of flu. Our only negotiating card is "If i commit suicide, you'll have a nasty mess on the floor to clear up".
On the primitive island I live on, chip & pin transactions take a second or two at train stations and major stores. Even mom and pop with dial up usually get an answer pretty quick. EMV is not very difficult (for anyone) and stops a lot of crime - what is the problem over there? Not invented here, blocked by the mafia lobby? Or what?
Generally it takes 30 - 40 years for scientific discovery to become commercial product. Look at gas lighting, electricity (Faraday, Maxwell to Tesla - 3 phase supply - and Edison - light bulb). Semi conductors etc. etc. So the government may be right but we need to persevere for another 10 -15 years. Meantime we are probably building up an expert community both on graphene and other 2d materials.
Sceptics should note UK has a long history of giving up on these things at the wrong moment - APT on the railways is now in service round the world (including here) courtesy of the Italians who got the technology off us for almost nothing.
Generally it takes 30 - 40 years for scientific discovery to become commercial product. Look at gas lighting, electricity (Faraday, Maxwell to Tesla - 3 phase supply - and Edison - light bulb). Semi conductors etc. etc. So the government may be right but we need to persevere for another 10 -15 years. Meantime we are probably building up an expert community both on graphene and other 2d materials.
Sceptics should note UK has a long history of giving up on these things at the wrong moment - APT on the railways is now in service round the world (including here) courtesy of the Italians who got the technology off us for almost nothing.
The Irish government cut a deal with Apple which was and is illegal under Irish law. The executive overstepped the mark and is now being challenged in court. Poor Apple when they are paying no tax anywhere and were probably fully aware that their cosy deal was illegal? Come, sir!
well - maybe. I'm no expert but the Germans have a big say and they are very touchy on government overreach, illegal surveillance etc, (aftermath of Hitler) and European law generally assumes rights apply to everyone, whereas US law is more rights are for citizens only. So you might be better protected in Europe - though it's worth noting in this case (as others on this thread have) that the Irish government was offering to help the FBI get a warrant through the Irish courts.
I was the minion who dished out laptops and phones. In the end you find honest, competent valued people lose them and you have to accept it and plan round that. So I am not surprised or shocked that an outfit the this size has lost 100. I would welcome, though, some reassurance about what data was on them and how well it was protected
Being old enough to remember the Suez Crisis, I can tell you we had already lost our national sovereignty by 1956. Wake up, smell the coffee
If the European Union is undemocratic, some simple research will reveal that the UK government has steadfastly blocked attempts to remedy things, much to the frustration of many in Brussels.
If we leave, we have no idea (nor negotiating cards, btw) what trade deals we will get with either US or EU. It is a leap in the dark. Watch Boris when the Yanks tell us to sign up for Schengen or starve
This is before the other stuff - 3 million odd British living in Europe, Scots wanting independence, pound already fallen 10%,
The government collecting this data may be (even though the US investigation suggests not) a necessary evil, but even then it should be out in the open, as limited as possible and tightly controlled by judges - not bureaucrats or politicians.
The mere fact it exists, especially given the governments dire record on IT projects, means it will be misused by politicians and staff who are political fanatics, paedophiles, identity thieves, spies or terrorists (or have been blackmailed or bribed by same). It will also inevitably be hacked or tampered with ...
The condescending, nanny knows best, attempts by our politicians to have us ignore these obvious risks is deeply depressing and disturbing.
This is, of course, a good argument against Brexit - Brussels will probably torpedo this assault on our liberty, which our spineless parliament proposes to rubber-stamp.
When applied to the military, it meant not buying equipment for anything (it neatly answered the charge of preparing for the last war). Squaddy solution No.1 - nick it off the Yanks.
Where I worked (a nameless multinational) it meant not preparing for anything - any problem, however predictable, was greeted by the same panic. The firm has since been taken over ...
Management jargon of the worst kind, but great for the consultants who get hired with the money that should have been spent on decent kit.
The bottom line is that the European equivalent of the Supreme Court has ruled that the current systems breach folks' constitutional rights in Europe. Any agreement, whether the European and US executive branches or the companies like it or not, has to address that issue to succeed.
If the US government is saying the entire planet is, however, under American law, perhaps they should give about another seven billion people citizenship and a vote.
And the companies - their lawyers must have seen this coming years ago and they did nothing. I guess a billion dollars a day in fines will concentrate minds wonderfully on a restructure to cover the situation. Not very difficult, European subsidiary owns servers in Europe ...
Sounds like sensible (and long overdue) overhaul needed because they have no idea of who is inputting data nor of who is copying and extracting it. In such a large outfit there must be staff open to bribery or blackmail. So what exactly have the Russians, Chinese, ISIS and the Mafia walked off with (or maybe inserted, deleted, changed)? If the incompetence is really so great, one need hardly bother with conspiracy theories to get seriously worried...
I have worked in a polling station and yes, they are linked. However, it needs a court order (which can only be given if there is reasonable suspicion of fraud) to get the linking paper unsealed and everybody involved is personally responsible if anything naughty comes to light. After that, you are not searching a database, you are trawling through a mound of paper. Obviously there is the "What if Hitler gets in?" issue but, on t'other hand, it does mean there is evidence to lock people up for fraud.
It won't only be be Uncle Sam demanding a backdoor - there will soon be 200+ plus other governments saying use of same software without their backdoor too is illegal. Then, soon after, it will be illegal to use it with any other government's backdoor open. Happy travelling ....
Apple tried messing with a European court a year or two back and finally realised they were getting themselves into very deep, brown, sticky stuff. One doubts the court would consider your T & Cs valid. Just maybe if your client is a sophisticated, international organisation, but not with the average consumer. Try the same stunt on a US court, and see how far you get.
One imagines that the Chinese have used all this data to quietly log in to a multitude of systems using the accounts of users with little technical knowledge, or concern for security, with easliy guessed passwords. They may well have reams of other background information, plus of course the abilty to cause chaos whenever they wish. And an amusing thought, they may have known for quite a while all about what the NSA and CIA have been up to round the world. Maybe more than Snowdon? And maybe been allowing some misleading "hacks" into their own systems for good measure?
Let's hear it for the little guy, who faces unfair competition from multi-nationals paying no tax anywhere. There is an argument for ensuring these companies pay tax, since government is unfortunately a necessary evil and has to be paid for.
One can look at their global profits (a number they have reasons for declaring and maximising) and tax them on a percentage thereof, the percentage of global sales in your country. Seems to me a treaty along such lines would give each government a fair share and the multinational pays taxes like everyone else. The actual rate - and permissible write offs for R & D etc. - on its home share would be a matter for each government, while the company can of course simply stop business in a state which sets a stupid rate.
Or so the "experts" used to say in the twenties - they would only encourage reckless driving. Every safety improvement on cars draws a lunatic response. Furthermore, why shouldn't cars have a black box - aren't the rest of us entitled to know whether a potentially lethal piece of kit was being operated safely in a public space?
The examiner in effect considers whether he would find it frustrating following somebody so slow. Obviously though, there is a problem if a sign is missing - perhaps another argument for having a camera on board so you can appeal the verdict. BTW, on the examiner's own test to get the job, you need to drive as fast as is safely and legally possible. So, on the motorway 65= Fail, 75= Fail, unless the tester agrees the conditions require it.
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