Re: Consensus is not science
Yes but Bozo the Clown understood the science of crowds and the power of populism
Posts by BobRocket
222 publicly visible posts • joined 11 Feb 2015
The 'echo chamber' effect misleading people on climate change
Why voice and apps sometimes don't beat an old-fashioned knob
Thursday 28th May 2015 20:56 GMT
Re: The one they NEVER mention
Wrong way round.
My phone app shouldn't gaf about what the current setting is, all it should do is identify that I've walked into a room, that I like it a nice 19C and as long as her phone isn't in the vicinity, set the temp (no extra inteligence rqd in boiler) the decision work is done by my personal computing device, the Belgian in the boiler just follows orders.
Thursday 28th May 2015 20:44 GMT
Luddites
What is wrong with you people, the IOT (or BE) is a boon for techy types, it is ill defined, non-compatible horse manure for sure but we're the target market.
There are plenty of gullible people with sufficient liquidity to buy into this paradigm and they are going to need help analysing, specifying, building, installing, supporting and upgrading this shit.
I can see at least 30 years work that will take me well into a luxury retirement.
This is the gift horse that keeps giving, an all-encompassing solution to everything and nothing, one that gives so much promise but always requires new hardware/software/support.
Belgium Everywhere has the unique intangibility of always being better if you (the target sucker) spend a bit more.
Amazon cloud to BEND TIME, exist in own time zone for 24 hours
Google sells .car, walks away from generic domain names
Milking cow shot dead by police 'while trying to escape'
Tuesday 19th May 2015 08:53 GMT
Shot from on high
Given that the paramilitary force (formerly known as the Police) only have teflon coated armour piercing full metal jacket ammunition these days (for use in future protest control) they need to shoot from a high vantage point so that when they miss (how many shots were fired ?) the bullet doesn't accidentaly kill someone two miles away (thereby starting a major terrorist incident unbeknownst to the cow killing mob).
The cow wasn't shot because it was mad, This is the penalty for upsetting the bureaucracy (DEFRA), it had moved fields without having its passport stamped.
Self-STOPPING cars are A Good Thing, say motor safety bods
Thursday 14th May 2015 11:24 GMT
not the right numbers
How many low speed accidents cause injuries to people/animals (not things) ?
I guess not that many as speed restrictions are usually claimed to be for safety reasons.
I could spend some money on a gizmo to brake the car for me or I could just buy some good insurance to payout when there's an (avoidable) accident, or I could just buy the cheap insurance and pay attention when I'm driving.
I think I'll save my money to spend on something a bit more useful.
Post-pub nosh neckfiller: Cuy Chactado – Deep-fried guinea pig
Mondeo Man turns into mutant electrical beauty: Ford Mondeo Hybrid
Sunday 10th May 2015 01:16 GMT
Styling
It probably looks reminiscent of a Jag/Aston because Ford owned both those brands in the not too distant past.
I have a question about the centre console, does it have two cup holders in the lid that when folded fully back are supposed to be horizontal but because of the upholstery on the back seat are angled at 20 degrees (making them useless). I only ask because I used to have a mondeo, never again.
It wasn't my choice (a company car) but it looked ok on a cursory glance, in use it was bloody awful.
It had a nicely rounded dash that would accelerate any loose objects straight out of the passenger window if it was open and a rev limiter that when it kicked in would lose power until the revs had dropped back below a (very low) limit.
This was a particularly interesting feature to discover halfway through overtaking a big truck, I was glad to get rid of it.
Tesla's battery put in the shade by current and cheaper kit
Thursday 7th May 2015 13:04 GMT
Re: Max Power and kettles
1. The bubbles are comprised of mainly air coming out of solution, these form around the element first and so are heated most and being less dense than the water surrounding them rise to the surface and escape into the atmosphere taking some of the heat with them.
2. In a fully insulated container a heating element of twice the power will boil the water in half the time (all other things being equal). I could boil the same amount of water in one tenth of the time by using a 25kW kettle.
Great except it would have lost a lot of its heat by the time I have located and rinsed a mug, put in sugar and teabag etc. It seems a 2 to 3 kW uninsulated plastic jug kettle boils water in the right timeframe.
I could change the order of the process but people have been doing it this way for years hence the phrase 'i'll put the kettle on' rather than 'I'll find some cups'.
I could use a lower power element in the current design but it would take too long to boil so if I can't increase the load (due to an external constraint) I will have to redesign the kettle.
3. As the OP points out it is a loading issue. (we're talking 2kW load here)
At the moment there is sufficient extra capacity in generation to let me use any amount of domestic power I like (subject to wiring/fuse constraints), this spare capacity that might never be used costs everybody to keep available.
If it wasn't available then I would soon learn to live within the limitation or provide my own when I want it.
If I never need it then why should I pay for all this infrastructure just in case you do ?
Thursday 7th May 2015 08:32 GMT
Max Power
The 2kW max load is not a problem if all of your domestic devices added together draw less than that.
(this is from the mirror so I won't include the link)
'The average power of a vacuum cleaner on sale in Europe is 1,800 watts. This will have to be halved within the next three years, as the limit of 1,600 watts will be reduced to just 900 watts from September 2017'
Hoovers will still suck.
Restricting the maximum load of a device will force designers to improve efficiency (at least at the enduser point).
Restricting the amount of fuel you can buy for a pound (by punitive taxation) has lead to the increase in mpg of vehicles.
My kettle is rated as 2.5kW, it boils a cup of water reasonably quickly but watch what happens when you turn it on, hot bubbles form around the element, detach and rise to the surface releasing some of their heat on the way up but most of the heat is given up to the atmosphere.
Any water left in the kettle cools quickly due to lack of insulation.
It can't be beyond science to have a 1.25kW kettle boil the same amount of water in a similar timeframe, if you restrict kettle elements then someone will find a way (and make some money in the process)
Neccesity (natural or artificial) is the mother of invention.
FOUND: NASA's stray balloon located in the middle of nowhere
Volkswagen Passat GT 2.0-litre TDI SCR 190 PS 6spd DSG
Thursday 7th May 2015 09:27 GMT
the illusion of choice
So this VW Passat holds up well against the Audi A4, surely the Skoda Octavia can give it a run for its money.
Which one is best ?
They all are because they are the same car with different bonnet badges.
(it is like comparing a VW Sharan with a Seat Alhambra or a Ford Galaxy).
Next you will be extolling the benefits of Daz over Ariel
Twitter boots out classic DOS games, world productivity surges
Tuesday 5th May 2015 17:12 GMT
Available != Usage
Just because something is available does not mean you can make use of it unless you have a license, it is good that these are available as I paid good money for quite a lot of them back in the day (mostly on 5.25).
Cheers Reg for the link, I promise to only play those I paid for (like Wolfenstien)
Windows 10 bombshell: Microsoft to KILL OFF Patch Tuesday
Tuesday 5th May 2015 16:45 GMT
Why wait till Tuesday
Rolling updates/bug fixes seems reasonable to me, once every time period my PC checks in to see if there is an update, it would be nice if Windows asked if I wanted it now or would like it later (they would assume I was always up for it, it would be common decency to ask first).
The bit that worries me is 'as well as pushing other software "innovations,"' (well that and the orphan comma)
As long as I can turn it off I'm happy
Firm with 80 per cent of UK mobile numbers fails to monetise them, sold to O2
Tuesday 5th May 2015 15:36 GMT
Re: I presume consent has been given...
'a very long contract nobody reads'
I love those, just tippex out a clause, insert a new one in your favour (it has to be reasonable) and send it back signed.
If ever they want to enforce a bit that you don't like you can point out that you would also like your clause enforcing.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/24/terms-and-conditions-online-small-print-information
Bonny Scottish post-pub nosh neckfiller: Rumbledethumps
Why OH WHY is economics so bleedin' awful, then?
Sunday 3rd May 2015 17:02 GMT
Re: Election Candidate
'This is a reason that universal free school meals works better than giving poor parents money to pay for their child's school meals'
Do the rules prevent you from declaring your interest in Compass (other private meal [sic] providers available).
There are very good reasons why 'Company Scrip' was outlawed.
The reasoning seems to that poor people are poor because they are feckless, lazy and stupid and as such can't be allowed to make their own decisions or given the opportunity to learn from their own mistakes, the outcome from that line of thinking is to transfer the benefits (both cash and economic) from the poor person to the large corporate.
As the large corporates take the lions share of any public benefits just who are the scroungers here ?
Benefit levels are set at subsistance levels not because that is all the country can afford but so that large corporates can extract as much profit per employee as possible, demonising the poor helps the cause which is idealogical and not based on any reality. (low benefit levels stops everybody getting rich)
Free markets aren't rubbish – in fact, they solve our rubbish woes
Thursday 30th April 2015 00:07 GMT
Re: Recycling
'The main problems I have with recycling are....'
The only problem I have is why the **** am I doing it, I don't surface mount all the components on a circiut board when I want a new PC I pay someone else to do it, someone who knows what they are doing.
I don't do my own open heart surgery either, or paint lines on the road.
I pay a specialist to do the tasks I don't want to do or can't do, this is how the modern economy works.
If everybody was completely self sufficient there would be no trade and no economy.
Wednesday 29th April 2015 09:28 GMT
We already pay
The deposit on the (soon to be) trash is in the form of my council tax, it is economically worth someone to come and collect the stuff from my house and take it to a central depot (that would be the binman)
Once at the central depot the trash should be specifically sorted into stuff worth money now and sold immediately, the rest should be roughly sorted into similar types, logged and dumped in specific areas of landfill.
The piles of (currently) worthless stuff would accumulate until at some point someone can see a profit in extracting it and that pile would disappear.
Landfill should be seen as temporary storage and not final resting place.
Councils could sell the potential future value of piles of stuff for money today which would pay towards its collection and storage today.
The more stuff the council collected today the greater the potential future value of the piles will be.
Perhaps councils should be collecting the trash more frequently whilst lowering my council tax bill rather than the reverse situation as it currently stands.
UK's annual PCB waste = 81 HMS Belfasts, says National Physical Lab
Wednesday 29th April 2015 08:54 GMT
Dumping stuff in landfill
is not really a problem, this stuff currently has no commercial value and would cost a fortune to reprocess into raw materials so dumping it for now is fine by me.
They should sort the stuff before dumping though and dump in identifiable areas.
In the future some of this stuff will be worth digging out and reusing and if we know where it is concentrated then landfill is not a dumping ground but long term storage of natural resources.
Google it onna Google phone onna GOOGLE NETWORK. MVNO plan imminent
NatWest and RBS' mobile banking apps go TITSUP
Tuesday 21st April 2015 11:25 GMT
Fallback
Most merchants have manual fallback vouchers that can be used with cards that have raised numbers to take payment, failing that (where a card is for 'Electronic use only') they can extend the credit for an agreed time period (typically 24hrs) which will give you time to source alternative payment method.
Having a (temporary) liquidity crisis is not neccesarily a barrier to gaining goods although you may be required to navigate a different path (Shock/Horror).
'Granola-eating tree hugger' takes plunge, becomes IoT upstart
Radio 4 and Dr K on programming languages: Full of Java Kool-Aid
Tuesday 14th April 2015 21:37 GMT
Late to the party as usual
Interpreted languages like Basic were great to get started, the program usually halted at the first error and you only had to debug one error at a time.
Compiled languages were harder at the start, even a small program would generate screenfuls of compiler errors (most of which would disappear after fixing the first) but they gave you compactness and speed.
Horses for courses.
Anybody mentioned Pascal and Delphi, dBase and Clipper ?
As for R4 (it used to be my fav radio service) it seems that everytime I turn it on there is a desperate need to bring in the 'Womens' angle irrespective of the programme content.
Bigotry posted by your Facebook account? Use this, Mister UKIP MP wannabe: 'I was hacked'
Wednesday 8th April 2015 21:36 GMT
Re: As you (and we) tippie toe round the libel laws
'Not sure there is any way of dealing with the fact UKIP is stuffed to the gunnals with nutters.'
What, other than comparing the ratio of nutters in other parties for example.
Whilst I might agree with the phrase 'stuffed to the gunnals with nutters' could apply to UKIP it doesn't preclude other (name(set(all)).party from also being 'stuffed to the gunnals with nutters'.
In fact you could surmise that because UKIP is indeed 'stuffed to the gunnals with nutters' that all parties are similarly afflicted in their membership/followers.
Friday 3rd April 2015 10:12 GMT
Like all politicians
He is a spineless twunk.
What is wrong with standing up and saying 'yes, I posted that and I am right' and letting the electorate judge whether he is worthy of being their representative ?
The perception is that politicians have to be so clean as to be sterile in opinions and actions, blandness is a virtue, not a one is worth voting for as they are all the same.
Why are we shocked that (prospective) representatives live and behave just like everyone else. I would rather they just got out there and said what they believed rather than what they would like us to believe.
Instead of public sector non-jobbery, Martha, how about creating real entrepreneurs?
Wednesday 8th April 2015 21:13 GMT
Whilst 2 Jags
would never enter my definition of Digital CZar, he did promote stuff like MySociety which gave us WriteToThem and TheyWorkForYou which was very open sourcery digital inclusion.
FixMyStreet is brilliant.
This is exportable technology.
I have no idea what Martha is doing or trying to achieve but she is participating in the economy, satisfying demand at price.
How demand and price discovery work in Marthas world is anybodys guess
Marvell: We don't want to pay this $1.5bn patent bill because, cripes, it's way too much
Wednesday 8th April 2015 20:47 GMT
Fair result
20% of Marvell profit on the final sales seems reasonable, Marvell could probably have cut a better deal with Carnegie Mellon if they had licenced the patents when they were first used as the success of these products was not then assured.
9 years of back licensing should be repaid over a 9 year period starting now.
Presumably after 2012 the product was properly licenced or was no longer offered for sale.
Take a deep breath, Apple: Europe snaps on gloves for vigorous iTunes stream pat-down
You want disruption? Try this: Uber office raided again, staff cuffed
Friday 3rd April 2015 09:43 GMT
A little bit cloudy...
with a physical presence.
I don't understand the reasoning for having a bricks and mortar presence in these countries when it seems to me that all the action takes place in the cloud.
The drivers and passengers obviously have to be in-country but the booking, tracking and charging mechanism could be anywhere. (ie. outside of unfriendly fire).
Is this what Windows XP's death throes look like?
Atmel stoops to an 'all-time low' in Internet of Things battle
Honda CR-V: SUV-lite that’s also light on the pocket
Tuesday 31st March 2015 18:51 GMT
They all look the same
If you took the bonnet and tail badges off you woould be hard put to tell the difference between this, Kia, Hyundai, Ford etc. (this the case with most cars these days, alot of them are the same car different badge)
I prefer the old HRV, it had part-time 4WD, was a bit under powered with a 1.6 petrol which made it into a higher tax bracket and the fuel consumption was pitiful at around 32mpg but it looked a whole lot better.
The thing about a Honda is it drives effortlessly, I've got an old prelude (2nd gen, 4 wheel steering and flip up headlights which are so cool), it is of course a death trap with pillars like pencils and no crumple zones, you crash it you die but it is sheer joy to drive.
It's not the fastest 'sports' coupe in the world but I can drive for seven hours without stopping and get out without feeling tired and only needing a wee.
As an aside, what's with the mpg/L100 fuel consumption figures, in the UK we measure road distance in miles and buy fuel in litres so the proper terminology should be miles per litre.
40mpg = ~11.3l/100km and should be written 8.83 mpl (or about 13 pence per mile in the UK)
Dutch Transport Inspectorate raid Uber's Amsterdam office
Force your hand: Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display
Thursday 26th March 2015 11:15 GMT
Re: Looks ok but...
'Keyboard is backlit'
Ah, very cunning but for a thousand quid I'd want a YTS kid to stand behind me with a torch in one hand and my coffee in the other :)
Cooler I think would be to have backlit LCD keys so you could have any character you like displayed, you could charge probably another £200 for that feature (gimmick).
Thursday 26th March 2015 10:39 GMT
Looks ok but...
it's just another laptop.
It's quite sleek, I'm sure the fashionistas will be drooling all over it (hopefully it is at least IP52).
I don't like black keys though as I can't find the one I want when I'm typing in low light.
£1000 seems quite pricey but what do I know, all my computers come from the tip.
Guardian: 'Oil reserves will soon be worth NOTHING!' (A bit like their stock tips, really)
Monday 23rd March 2015 11:43 GMT
Re: The oil tide is ebbing...made up graphs
March 2014
EIA expects global consumption to grow 1.2 million bbl/d in 2014
EIA expects non-OPEC liquids production to grow by 1.8 million bbl/d in 2014
EIA expects OPEC crude oil production to fall by 0.5 million bbl/d in 2014
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/archives/mar14.pdf
March 2015
EIA estimates that global consumption grew by 0.9 million bbl/d in 2014
EIA estimates that non-OPEC production grew by 2.2 million bbl/d in 2014
EIA estimates that OPEC crude oil production averaged 30.1 million bbl/d in 2014, unchanged from the previous year.
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/pdf/steo_full.pdf
So they overestimated consumption and underestimated production. (rose tinted outlook)
Monday 23rd March 2015 09:24 GMT
Re: The oil tide is ebbing
The bit on the right hand side of the graph is 'made up', the reality once we get there may or may not look like that.
I don't know how they predict future consumption but I believe they will use economic forecasts from the World Bank, IMF, Fed etc., these forecasts have been somewhat over optimistic in the recent past and there is no reason not to believe that they are still projecting future growth that will not occur.
The big oil co.s can hemorrhage money for much longer than anyone but it hurts, they know that some small fry will fall by the wayside cutting overall production and thus allowing the price to rise (demand will never fall to zero), the problem they have is that as soon as the price starts to rise the frackers will be back.
There is a price point that frackers currently can't make money at but big oil can, this price is falling.
Sunday 22nd March 2015 21:11 GMT
Re: The oil tide is ebbing
'There's a limit to how cheap oil can become'
yes, and there used to be a limit as to how cheap money could become, and then we got ZIRP, and now we have NIRP.
Apparently commodities can also have negative value, it costs me less to grow 1000 acres of rape than not growing anything at all (I still make a loss, I just decide upon the lesser loss)
If you lose money at a slower rate than your competitors are you winning or losing ?
Sunday 22nd March 2015 20:50 GMT
Re: The oil tide is ebbing
'Their assets will be purchased at a steep discount'
No they won't, big energy like big banks are TBTF, the banks have financed them and the Fed will print to keep them afloat and they will pump.
They need revenue not illiquid assets, everyone has illiquid assets but nobody (least of all the banks) can accept the true value, oil in the ground is worth shit but the future notional value of that oil (>$80) has already been spent.
If you can make this months payment then when the price turns you will be in clover, even if you have to sell this months production at a small loss, you are still in business and the price must rise eventually.
Sunday 22nd March 2015 20:06 GMT 
The oil tide is ebbing
If you still have money in oil then I feel for you but it is only going to get worse.
Demand for oil (along with demand for everything) is cratering and this is spurring massive oversupply, these oil co.s are leveraged to the hilt, they have to pump to produce the cash flow to service their debt.
As the price falls (bizzarely) they will pump faster, oil in the ground is no good, cash in hand (to meet the next payment) is king.
The US oil lake will be full by the end of May and without anywhere else to store it, it will be dumped on the market, $10 for WTI is starting to look optimistic.
If you have to pump 10 times as much oil to make the payment then that is what you will do.
It appears that the industry is cashing out, last ones through the door will be employees and their pensions (someone has to pay in the end).
Coat cuz we will all need one.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
