Over here in the UK, TiVo has a real battle to get any market share thanks to BSkyB's own PVR - which is endlessly advertised on - BSkyB.
The Sky box is superior in some ways to the current TiVO box in the UK - it has twin tuners and can record Dolby 5:1, but it looses out on the software and build quality.
Unfortunately I think TiVo have pretty much given up on the UK, I haven't seen a print advert in almost a year and the few retailers that are stocking the boxes have them hidden in corners gathering dust.
Could this FINALLY spell the end of the gameboy? Nokia has , especially in Europe, and together with Sega's talent for software, who knows???
Not a chance.
One simple reason.
Nokia handsets don't work in Japan.
That's a huge share of the game-buying population (and perhaps the most dedicated) eliminated from the market.
Japanese developers will be reluctant to cater solely for foreign markets where they can be far less sure their product will appeal to the population. And yes Sega is Japanese but it has always been relatively more successful outside of Japan than inside. Its new multiplatform policy appears to be throwing titles at all consoles in the hope that a few of them stick.
Not to mention, what is Nokia's track record in the gaming industry? Essentially zero. If you were going to make a decision on writing software in a fantastically competitive market, would you go for a foreign company with no history, or Nintendo which utterly dominates hand-held gaming?
I wonder why Nintendo isn't playing a better role in mobiles...
A couple of reasons spring to mind.
Nintendo already make a profitable hand-held games console with a captive market. Clearly the demand exists for the existing product - meeting that demand has to be their first commitment. Adding telephone capabilities would increase the expense, weight and power consumption of Gameboy, which might play badly with the vast bulk of people who just want to play games. Not only that, but it would impact on Nintendo's bottom line - something they can ill-afford in a market where GameCube is only £130.
Secondly, Nintendo is a very conservative company and do not seem to want to take big risks with their products. They do not have experience with communications technologies (see the very slow release of networking on the GameCube). Furthermore, unless they wanted to create a brand new network, they would need to buy in the network technology, the billing services and so on. Working with another company means sharing the revenue and losing considerable control of the Gameboy market.
The Gameboy has a recognition value that other companies would kill to own. Nintendo own it outright - so they're happy. Why share?
And perhaps Nintendo is looking at the bottom line of the communications markets, all of the big service providers seem to be in the toilet; many services are deeply unprofitable - so is it even worth jumping in?
Best wishes,
Mike.
Re:What is it with the Japanese and robots?
on
Skateboarding AIBO
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Seriously, why are the Japanese so obsessed with robots? Whenever there's a new robot toy that has no real practical purpose whatsoever, it's usually the Japanese who come up with it. Why?
Partly its a demonstration of technical supremacy by Japanese companies. Whatever else, AIBO is an amazing technological achievement and Sony want the World to know. Here in the UK, AIBO is heading a large Sony advertising campaign for everything from WEGA, to in-car-stereo to digital cameras.
Another part is that many Japanese cannot have pets - either because of rules in apartments, or that they simply work so long that they cannot care for animals. AIBO fulfills the need for companionship perfectly. He plays when you want to play, he goes to sleep at the touch of a button.
Finally, it seems that the Japanese have a much more ready acceptance of robots as being colleagues, pets or friends. They are willing to welcome them into society, whereas we in the West have been traditionally far more fearful of the implications of such technologies.
Mind you, when I've taken my AIBOs out on University outreach days, its been hard to contain the crush of people wanting to meet the robots - and not just children, adults of all ages are fascinated by them. Dogs and cats on the other hand are much less impressed.
Although I always thought Capcom's 'Strider' was a gorgeous game - time for an update perhaps?
As for 2D games, no scrolling involved, but 'Chu Chu Rocket' - ex of Dreamcast, now on GBA shows that there is still some imagination to be found in video games. Bloody brilliant, get some friends round, have some alcohol, MOUSE MANIA!
Yep, invented by us Brits. Its fortunate that our tanks are quite so well armoured as they spend a lot of time sitting perfectly still having broken down.
And of course we now have our top-secret weapon - an inflatable tank. If anyone spots one flying over, can we have it back?
Good point, although that assumes the cost of this technology doesn't start hurting the American economy. At some point it has to be asked if these programmes are making Americans safer or if they are great ways of subsidising companies.
The US already spends more on defence than the next 26 countries combined. With the Bush administration saying that they will not allow any country to challenge that superiority things could get VERY expensive VERY fast.
But then I'm talking from a country which is unlikely to be able to work on laser weapons or threaten anyone. The British military can't even stop combat boots melting.
Still, one ray of hope. We can hope that Saddam Hussein is using lots of British military equipment; that'll stop his armies - largely because their boots have become welded to the desert.
No, its definitely not you. He's like Doctor Strangelove's less appealing older brother.
The BBC has The Donald Rumsfeld Library of Quotations - some weird, some funny, some just plain scary. You even get a real British Broadcasting Corporation introduction to some of them!
I just love knowing my licence fee is going to fine causes like this.
Smudges, scratches, contaminants would be unavoidable since we're talking about weapons that are meant for remote deployment to harsh environments.
Remember this is military spending here, normal sensible economics no longer apply. Remember the special air-conditioned hangers for Stealth aircraft?
A lot of incidental damage could be prevented by shipping any weapons in a protective sheath that could be removed when the weapon is either ready to fire or installed on the plane. Doesn't the cruise missile already come in a sealed cannister?
But if anyone is interested I'm planning on putting a bid in to develop nanotechnology mirrors. I've no idea how they would work, or if they're even possible, but they sound really cool. Going on yesterday's story about nanotechnology, I have about as much of a clue as real military researchers.
I think I'm up to squandering a couple of billion USD before unveiling a can of silver spray paint.
In the UK there has been concern over the safety of lightweight diesel trains since the Ladbroke Grove collision which killed 31 people.
A lightweight Thames Turbo train crashed into a high-speed Great Western train, the fuel tank in the Thames Turbo exploded sending fire into the front part of the Great Western train, the front locomotive of which then burned.
One of the recommendations of the Cullen Enquiry into the disaster was that rail companies should look at the safety of diesel trains and either remove the risk entirely, or redesign trains to better withstand a crash. (Although in the case of Ladbroke Grove what could have been done? The trains collided at nearly 200 kph)
Many of our commuter services in London and the big cities are now electrified, but small diesels are used in the regions and across South West England.
The APT Prototype is now in the National Railway Museum at York. As a real gas-guzzler it was killed off by the 1973-74 oil shocks. It really was the end of the 'White Heat of Technology' as it came along about the same time as Concorde - although without the latter's 'success'. But it was exciting to grow up at the time - one of the World's fastest trains, the fastest plane and we even had a space programme!
But back to the APT... A friend was an engineer on the project and said that British Rail had a had no end of trouble with the exhaust...
If it came out the top, it would damage overhead electrical cables, out the side and it tended to set light to the verge, and out the bottom it burned the sleepers on the track.
Eventually they spread the exhausts over the top of the power car and it worked fine - if noisily.
Then they decided to go back to the drawing board and design an electric-powered train. And we all know what happened to that in the cold light of Thatcherism...
My current understanding is that DRM allows signed software or sealed content to specify what software environment it is running in or being played back on. It's based on the ability of the software to trace back and verify the cryptographic digital signatures issued by "certification authorities".
From a technical standpoint, the certification "authorities" could be anybody.
I have a question about this. Who has responsibility for the 'safety' of any certified code? Is it the organisation issuing the certificate, Microsoft or the original author?
I'm guessing its going to be the author - in which case, what requirement is there for the certification people to do a thorough job?
On a related note. Couldn't a malicious program also be given a certificate by a 'rogue' organisation allowing it on to the Palladium platform?
The UK has, in recent years, been a bellweather for survaillance practices worldwide. As an American citizen beginning to see the sort of widespread video survaillance now common to those living in England, I make a simple plea to any UK citizens reading: Do anything within your power to stop this. Write letters, mail threatening powders, strip in front of parliment. (Note: don't mail powder. thats a bad idea) Anything to keep this idea from gaining a foothold. I ask this of you so that you aren't subjected to it, but also so that it doesn't eventually bleed into my country.
A heartfelt plea and I wish I could be more encouraging, but the UK is rapidly turning into a deeply illiberal society. The present government feels that it has to have hard-right 'law and order' policies as that is traditionally where the Labour Party has been seen as vulnerable. Despite the fact that the Conservative Party is in a horrible mess and shows no sign of recovery, the government continues to follow the same path.
We've had two Home Secretaries since Labour's election in 1997, both Jack Straw and David Blunkett have relished conflict with Labour's traditional allies and pushed through a whole raft of unpleasant legislation on issues like immigration and surveillance. Since 11th September, they have been using the fight against terrorism as the main excuse.
Currently the government is 'consulting' (code name for softening up public opinion) on smart ID cards - so called 'entitlement cards', or Blunkettcards. They will be 'voluntary' but if you don't have one, you won't be entitled to vote, receive health care and might not be eligible for certain benefits. The smokescreen is that nothing has been decided, but no one in the government seems to be willing to argue against them.
As for this proposal, I doubt if primary legislation would even be needed. The government already has the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). A huge grab-bag of Orwellian legislation that allows the intelligence agencies to intercept communications on the say-so of the Home Secretary (*NOT* a judge).
Earlier this summer the government proposed extending the scope of RIPA to allow pretty much any local or national government employee to request surveillance data. It backed down following a revolt, but only as far as saying the proposals would be redrafted. Bearing in mind the amount of legislation already passing through the Commons, it is highly unlikely that it could have found time to legislate in the current Parliament. But that could all be solved since a new session begins in November and I expect a new set of amendments to RIPA will be announced.
And don't have much faith in the representatives, Labour has a 170+ seat MAJORITY, yet its backbenchers are gutless. I had a long and entirely fruitless 'discussion' with my MP over RIPA and it was quite clear that she neither knew about, or understood the implications of the proposals. The government is very much of the opinion that 'if you aren't doing anything wrong, what have you got to fear?'
If it comes up before the Commons, they'll vote for it.
And the Conservative opposition are just as bad.
I expect we'll be told that this is a significant British invention that will help ambulances speed to accidents and remove traffic congestion from our cities; nothing sinister at all and anyone who doubts the government line is 'an intellectual pygmy' (David Blunkett, Home Secretary referring to Simon Hughes, spokesman for the Liberal Democrats). Why its so powerful that it is destined to win billions of Pounds worth of export orders!
It's in the nation's economic interest to see that it goes ahead - just so that our 'friends and allies' in the World such as Saudi Arabia and China can benefit from faster ambulances and no traffic congestion!
(Sorry, slight outbreak of cynicism there - another thing the government doesn't like)
I have been wondering what the so-called 'Special Relationship' between the US and the UK is all about. Clearly the US gives us military intelligence and a seat with the big powers and we give you all our repressive legislation. Neither Dubya nor the World's most embarrassing sidekick seem to mind.
Anyone know how liberal Iceland is on these things? I think I could just about tolerate those long, cold Nordic nights in exchange for a little less Big Brother.
My own problem with the life hypothesis is that we are pretty clueless about the chemistry that goes on in the Venusian atmosphere. It is quite possible that some chemical process that we haven't considered is influencing the balance of the atmosphere.
Whilst on Earth carbonyl sulphide might be made by biological processes, it is quite possible that the high temperature and pressure of the lower Venusian atmosphere is generating the chemicals without biological intervention.
It's interesting, but I'm quite literally not holding my breath.
Let me get this straight -- now that we've found conclusive (?) evidence of another planet that most likely wouldn't support life, this increases the chance of finding intelligent life in outer space. Makes sense.
:)
Computer models show that large outer planets such as those in our own Solar System helped clear up the early Solar System.
We believe the planets were accreted from billions of small objects that were hurtling around the Sun. When the planets had condensed there were millions - if not billions left over, all of which could crash into a planet.
However, any of those wandering close to a gas giant could be gobbled up.
Alternatively, it could be slung shot into the inner Solar System where it would form a comet and eventually evaporate in the heat of the Sun, or crash into one of the planets.
Or it could be thrown outwards, either to form one of the objects in the Oort Cloud, or even ejected from the Solar System entirely.
If we look at the planets, we see a very intense period of bombardment shortly after their creation, after which the cratering rate drops off extremely rapidly as the supply of material rapidly dries up.
A system without large outer planets is more likely to have residual material wandering around for longer, which could influence the rate of development of life on suitable planets.
Could we name it Hercules? (Okay its already a constellation, but not a very prominent one).
According to Greek legend his final labour for King Eurystheus was to travel to Hades, a cold, dark, miserable place, and bring back Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld.
You're quite right about the relatively steep geothermal gradient on Earth - about 15 Celsius per kilometre on average. The Earth seems generate most of its heat in the outer layers of the Crust and upper Mantle where uranium and potassium 40 are concentrated in silicates.
Keep going down and the models suggest that the rate of increase slows quite markedly - but temperatures continue to rise all the way to the centre.
On Pluto we wouldn't have concentrations of radio isotopes in the outer layers. They would have sunk to the centre along with all the rock. Whilst they would continue to generate heat, they would be fighting the enormous pressure of the overlying ice. So it is quite possible that you would find solid ice even at elevated temperatures, which would preclude life.
But I guess we'll not know until we send a spaceprobe past Pluto. If we see signs of crustal remodelling in recent times, or if we can pick up any sign of a magnetic field then the chances of liquid water must be pretty high.
Also, do european versions of gamecube, xbox, etc come with scart connectors? (my dvd player does)
Out of the box the GameCube and the XBox come with composite cables only. The GameCube also comes with a composite -> SCART converter.
Nintendo and Microsoft produce their own SCART cables which you have to buy separately for £15-20 apiece. No one seems to know why, but the Nintendo SCART cable is like gold dust in the UK. There are 3rd party cables for each console, but I've heard nothing good about any of them.
For some reason GAME also carry the HDTV cables for XBox - but AFAIK no HDTV-compatible sets are sold in the UK...
Studies of the outer bodies of the Solar System suggests that they are rich in organic (in the chemical sense) compounds. It isn't just water ice out there - but ammonia and methane ice and more complex molecules.
Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites show that very complicated organic molecules were present in the very early period of the Solar System - so there is no reason to believe that Pluto would not have had its share.
Provided it remained partially molten for long enough, there would have been dilute solutions of all these chemicals slopping round.
And you can form more complicated compounds such as amino acids without lightning - ultraviolet light and heat can do the same job.
The question is, is Pluto still partially molten? it wouldn't have much of the radioactives that heat the inner planets - we can see the larger moons of the outer planets have frozen solid and they aren't much smaller.
The alternative is that Pluto's relationship with Charon pumps tidal energy into the planet - as in Europa and Io. Now these are smaller bodies by far, so the energy would always be much less than those moons - but would anyone like to suggest if tides could keep Pluto warm?
You won't get far with the stuff from the pharmacy - between 2 and 10% H2O2. The rocket uses neat hydrogen peroxide which is nasty stuff.
The British Black Arrow satellite launcher used kerosene and hydrogen peroxide in its first two stages. It made for a very compact rocket which didn't require the complexity of cryogenic fuels.
If you're ever in London you can see the sole remaining Black Arrow at the Science Museum. It's not quite as impressive as NASA's Saturn V, but its a pretty cool rocket nonetheless.
How do you know this? If you look an arial photo of Giza you will find that the two largest pyramids could be made much larger if you addmaterial to two of their sides. It just happens to be the two sides that don't line up with the others.
You could always add material, but the Egyptians never did. The ground was leveled and incised for the first tier of blocks in advance of any construction.
This also seems to be the case at Dahshur with the red and bent pyramids. One of those has places where you can see several layers of internal stone and it appears to me that they stones were layered over an existing pyramid and not horizontally as shown in most books on the subject.
Partly right, and thanks for putting me right. The Bent Pyramid was the first attempt at a geometrically true pyramid and the workers used tilting layers for the lower courses. These may have helped contribute to the instability which caused the sudden change of angle further up. At this point the builders moved to horizontal layers of stone which became the norm for all subsequent pyramids.
The Bent Pyramid is also the only major pyramid to retain almost all of its fine casing stones. Where this has been removed or collapsed you can see through the casing stones into the much more disorganised core.
so can anyone explain to me how the egyptians managed to build these pyramids if they were constantly pissed??? i can barely walk after 8 pints never mind haul stone blocks...
Ancient Egyptian beer isn't very much like modern beer. It was made from stale bread and sometimes dates and is very low in alcohol.
There was a similar division in medieval Europe between weak beer and strong beer. Weak beer was the drink of choice during the day (again because water was so impure), whilst strong beer was for relaxation. And the quantities consumed in the Middle Ages were vast, six or seven pints of beer every day for men and women and a couple of pints for children!
Slashdot Mirror
Over here in the UK, TiVo has a real battle to get any market share thanks to BSkyB's own PVR - which is endlessly advertised on - BSkyB.
The Sky box is superior in some ways to the current TiVO box in the UK - it has twin tuners and can record Dolby 5:1, but it looses out on the software and build quality.
Unfortunately I think TiVo have pretty much given up on the UK, I haven't seen a print advert in almost a year and the few retailers that are stocking the boxes have them hidden in corners gathering dust.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Not a chance.
One simple reason.
Nokia handsets don't work in Japan.
That's a huge share of the game-buying population (and perhaps the most dedicated) eliminated from the market.
Japanese developers will be reluctant to cater solely for foreign markets where they can be far less sure their product will appeal to the population. And yes Sega is Japanese but it has always been relatively more successful outside of Japan than inside. Its new multiplatform policy appears to be throwing titles at all consoles in the hope that a few of them stick.
Not to mention, what is Nokia's track record in the gaming industry? Essentially zero. If you were going to make a decision on writing software in a fantastically competitive market, would you go for a foreign company with no history, or Nintendo which utterly dominates hand-held gaming?
No competition.
Best wishes,
Mike.
A couple of reasons spring to mind.
Nintendo already make a profitable hand-held games console with a captive market. Clearly the demand exists for the existing product - meeting that demand has to be their first commitment. Adding telephone capabilities would increase the expense, weight and power consumption of Gameboy, which might play badly with the vast bulk of people who just want to play games. Not only that, but it would impact on Nintendo's bottom line - something they can ill-afford in a market where GameCube is only £130.
Secondly, Nintendo is a very conservative company and do not seem to want to take big risks with their products. They do not have experience with communications technologies (see the very slow release of networking on the GameCube). Furthermore, unless they wanted to create a brand new network, they would need to buy in the network technology, the billing services and so on. Working with another company means sharing the revenue and losing considerable control of the Gameboy market.
The Gameboy has a recognition value that other companies would kill to own. Nintendo own it outright - so they're happy. Why share?
And perhaps Nintendo is looking at the bottom line of the communications markets, all of the big service providers seem to be in the toilet; many services are deeply unprofitable - so is it even worth jumping in?
Best wishes,
Mike.
Seriously, why are the Japanese so obsessed with robots? Whenever there's a new robot toy that has no real practical purpose whatsoever, it's usually the Japanese who come up with it. Why?
Partly its a demonstration of technical supremacy by Japanese companies. Whatever else, AIBO is an amazing technological achievement and Sony want the World to know. Here in the UK, AIBO is heading a large Sony advertising campaign for everything from WEGA, to in-car-stereo to digital cameras.
Another part is that many Japanese cannot have pets - either because of rules in apartments, or that they simply work so long that they cannot care for animals. AIBO fulfills the need for companionship perfectly. He plays when you want to play, he goes to sleep at the touch of a button.
Finally, it seems that the Japanese have a much more ready acceptance of robots as being colleagues, pets or friends. They are willing to welcome them into society, whereas we in the West have been traditionally far more fearful of the implications of such technologies.
Mind you, when I've taken my AIBOs out on University outreach days, its been hard to contain the crush of people wanting to meet the robots - and not just children, adults of all ages are fascinated by them. Dogs and cats on the other hand are much less impressed.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Although I always thought Capcom's 'Strider' was a gorgeous game - time for an update perhaps?
As for 2D games, no scrolling involved, but 'Chu Chu Rocket' - ex of Dreamcast, now on GBA shows that there is still some imagination to be found in video games. Bloody brilliant, get some friends round, have some alcohol, MOUSE MANIA!
Best wishes,
Mike.
Yep, invented by us Brits. Its fortunate that our tanks are quite so well armoured as they spend a lot of time sitting perfectly still having broken down.
And of course we now have our top-secret weapon - an inflatable tank. If anyone spots one flying over, can we have it back?
The US already spends more on defence than the next 26 countries combined. With the Bush administration saying that they will not allow any country to challenge that superiority things could get VERY expensive VERY fast.
But then I'm talking from a country which is unlikely to be able to work on laser weapons or threaten anyone. The British military can't even stop combat boots melting.
Still, one ray of hope. We can hope that Saddam Hussein is using lots of British military equipment; that'll stop his armies - largely because their boots have become welded to the desert.
Best wishes,
Mike.
The BBC has The Donald Rumsfeld Library of Quotations - some weird, some funny, some just plain scary. You even get a real British Broadcasting Corporation introduction to some of them!
I just love knowing my licence fee is going to fine causes like this.
Enjoy!
Mike.
Remember this is military spending here, normal sensible economics no longer apply. Remember the special air-conditioned hangers for Stealth aircraft?
A lot of incidental damage could be prevented by shipping any weapons in a protective sheath that could be removed when the weapon is either ready to fire or installed on the plane. Doesn't the cruise missile already come in a sealed cannister?
But if anyone is interested I'm planning on putting a bid in to develop nanotechnology mirrors. I've no idea how they would work, or if they're even possible, but they sound really cool. Going on yesterday's story about nanotechnology, I have about as much of a clue as real military researchers.
I think I'm up to squandering a couple of billion USD before unveiling a can of silver spray paint.
Best wishes,
Mike.
I believe they actually used a platinum alloy, which has much higher protection against re-entry temperatures than chromium.
Still I have no doubt the Soviet missile scientists knew what they were doing, so it might be a viable protection.
Best wishes,
Mike.
With Tony Blair co-starring as Mini Me?
My god it's all starting to make sense!
Best wishes,
Mike.
In the UK there has been concern over the safety of lightweight diesel trains since the Ladbroke Grove collision which killed 31 people.
A lightweight Thames Turbo train crashed into a high-speed Great Western train, the fuel tank in the Thames Turbo exploded sending fire into the front part of the Great Western train, the front locomotive of which then burned.
One of the recommendations of the Cullen Enquiry into the disaster was that rail companies should look at the safety of diesel trains and either remove the risk entirely, or redesign trains to better withstand a crash. (Although in the case of Ladbroke Grove what could have been done? The trains collided at nearly 200 kph)
Many of our commuter services in London and the big cities are now electrified, but small diesels are used in the regions and across South West England.
Best wishes,
Mike.
But back to the APT... A friend was an engineer on the project and said that British Rail had a had no end of trouble with the exhaust...
If it came out the top, it would damage overhead electrical cables, out the side and it tended to set light to the verge, and out the bottom it burned the sleepers on the track.
Eventually they spread the exhausts over the top of the power car and it worked fine - if noisily.
Then they decided to go back to the drawing board and design an electric-powered train. And we all know what happened to that in the cold light of Thatcherism...
Lots of APT stuff here.
Best wishes,
Mike.
From a technical standpoint, the certification "authorities" could be anybody.
I have a question about this. Who has responsibility for the 'safety' of any certified code? Is it the organisation issuing the certificate, Microsoft or the original author?
I'm guessing its going to be the author - in which case, what requirement is there for the certification people to do a thorough job?
On a related note. Couldn't a malicious program also be given a certificate by a 'rogue' organisation allowing it on to the Palladium platform?
Thanks for any information.
Best wishes,
Mike.
I sure hope not. After all, that's just a figure of speech.
So that explains all those blackouts!
Best wishes,
Mike.
A heartfelt plea and I wish I could be more encouraging, but the UK is rapidly turning into a deeply illiberal society. The present government feels that it has to have hard-right 'law and order' policies as that is traditionally where the Labour Party has been seen as vulnerable. Despite the fact that the Conservative Party is in a horrible mess and shows no sign of recovery, the government continues to follow the same path.
We've had two Home Secretaries since Labour's election in 1997, both Jack Straw and David Blunkett have relished conflict with Labour's traditional allies and pushed through a whole raft of unpleasant legislation on issues like immigration and surveillance. Since 11th September, they have been using the fight against terrorism as the main excuse.
Currently the government is 'consulting' (code name for softening up public opinion) on smart ID cards - so called 'entitlement cards', or Blunkettcards. They will be 'voluntary' but if you don't have one, you won't be entitled to vote, receive health care and might not be eligible for certain benefits. The smokescreen is that nothing has been decided, but no one in the government seems to be willing to argue against them.
As for this proposal, I doubt if primary legislation would even be needed. The government already has the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). A huge grab-bag of Orwellian legislation that allows the intelligence agencies to intercept communications on the say-so of the Home Secretary (*NOT* a judge).
Earlier this summer the government proposed extending the scope of RIPA to allow pretty much any local or national government employee to request surveillance data. It backed down following a revolt, but only as far as saying the proposals would be redrafted. Bearing in mind the amount of legislation already passing through the Commons, it is highly unlikely that it could have found time to legislate in the current Parliament. But that could all be solved since a new session begins in November and I expect a new set of amendments to RIPA will be announced.
And don't have much faith in the representatives, Labour has a 170+ seat MAJORITY, yet its backbenchers are gutless. I had a long and entirely fruitless 'discussion' with my MP over RIPA and it was quite clear that she neither knew about, or understood the implications of the proposals. The government is very much of the opinion that 'if you aren't doing anything wrong, what have you got to fear?'
If it comes up before the Commons, they'll vote for it.
And the Conservative opposition are just as bad.
I expect we'll be told that this is a significant British invention that will help ambulances speed to accidents and remove traffic congestion from our cities; nothing sinister at all and anyone who doubts the government line is 'an intellectual pygmy' (David Blunkett, Home Secretary referring to Simon Hughes, spokesman for the Liberal Democrats). Why its so powerful that it is destined to win billions of Pounds worth of export orders!
It's in the nation's economic interest to see that it goes ahead - just so that our 'friends and allies' in the World such as Saudi Arabia and China can benefit from faster ambulances and no traffic congestion!
(Sorry, slight outbreak of cynicism there - another thing the government doesn't like)
I have been wondering what the so-called 'Special Relationship' between the US and the UK is all about. Clearly the US gives us military intelligence and a seat with the big powers and we give you all our repressive legislation. Neither Dubya nor the World's most embarrassing sidekick seem to mind.
Anyone know how liberal Iceland is on these things? I think I could just about tolerate those long, cold Nordic nights in exchange for a little less Big Brother.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Whilst on Earth carbonyl sulphide might be made by biological processes, it is quite possible that the high temperature and pressure of the lower Venusian atmosphere is generating the chemicals without biological intervention.
It's interesting, but I'm quite literally not holding my breath.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Computer models show that large outer planets such as those in our own Solar System helped clear up the early Solar System.
We believe the planets were accreted from billions of small objects that were hurtling around the Sun. When the planets had condensed there were millions - if not billions left over, all of which could crash into a planet.
However, any of those wandering close to a gas giant could be gobbled up.
Alternatively, it could be slung shot into the inner Solar System where it would form a comet and eventually evaporate in the heat of the Sun, or crash into one of the planets.
Or it could be thrown outwards, either to form one of the objects in the Oort Cloud, or even ejected from the Solar System entirely.
If we look at the planets, we see a very intense period of bombardment shortly after their creation, after which the cratering rate drops off extremely rapidly as the supply of material rapidly dries up.
A system without large outer planets is more likely to have residual material wandering around for longer, which could influence the rate of development of life on suitable planets.
Best wishes,
Mike.
According to Greek legend his final labour for King Eurystheus was to travel to Hades, a cold, dark, miserable place, and bring back Cerberus, guardian of the Underworld.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Keep going down and the models suggest that the rate of increase slows quite markedly - but temperatures continue to rise all the way to the centre.
On Pluto we wouldn't have concentrations of radio isotopes in the outer layers. They would have sunk to the centre along with all the rock. Whilst they would continue to generate heat, they would be fighting the enormous pressure of the overlying ice. So it is quite possible that you would find solid ice even at elevated temperatures, which would preclude life.
But I guess we'll not know until we send a spaceprobe past Pluto. If we see signs of crustal remodelling in recent times, or if we can pick up any sign of a magnetic field then the chances of liquid water must be pretty high.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Out of the box the GameCube and the XBox come with composite cables only. The GameCube also comes with a composite -> SCART converter.
Nintendo and Microsoft produce their own SCART cables which you have to buy separately for £15-20 apiece. No one seems to know why, but the Nintendo SCART cable is like gold dust in the UK. There are 3rd party cables for each console, but I've heard nothing good about any of them.
For some reason GAME also carry the HDTV cables for XBox - but AFAIK no HDTV-compatible sets are sold in the UK...
Best wishes,
Mike.
Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites show that very complicated organic molecules were present in the very early period of the Solar System - so there is no reason to believe that Pluto would not have had its share.
Provided it remained partially molten for long enough, there would have been dilute solutions of all these chemicals slopping round.
And you can form more complicated compounds such as amino acids without lightning - ultraviolet light and heat can do the same job.
The question is, is Pluto still partially molten? it wouldn't have much of the radioactives that heat the inner planets - we can see the larger moons of the outer planets have frozen solid and they aren't much smaller.
The alternative is that Pluto's relationship with Charon pumps tidal energy into the planet - as in Europa and Io. Now these are smaller bodies by far, so the energy would always be much less than those moons - but would anyone like to suggest if tides could keep Pluto warm?
Best wishes,
Mike.
The British Black Arrow satellite launcher used kerosene and hydrogen peroxide in its first two stages. It made for a very compact rocket which didn't require the complexity of cryogenic fuels.
Details and photos here
If you're ever in London you can see the sole remaining Black Arrow at the Science Museum. It's not quite as impressive as NASA's Saturn V, but its a pretty cool rocket nonetheless.
Best wishes,
Mike.
You could always add material, but the Egyptians never did. The ground was leveled and incised for the first tier of blocks in advance of any construction.
This also seems to be the case at Dahshur with the red and bent pyramids. One of those has places where you can see several layers of internal stone and it appears to me that they stones were layered over an existing pyramid and not horizontally as shown in most books on the subject.
Partly right, and thanks for putting me right. The Bent Pyramid was the first attempt at a geometrically true pyramid and the workers used tilting layers for the lower courses. These may have helped contribute to the instability which caused the sudden change of angle further up. At this point the builders moved to horizontal layers of stone which became the norm for all subsequent pyramids.
The Bent Pyramid is also the only major pyramid to retain almost all of its fine casing stones. Where this has been removed or collapsed you can see through the casing stones into the much more disorganised core.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Ancient Egyptian beer isn't very much like modern beer. It was made from stale bread and sometimes dates and is very low in alcohol.
There was a similar division in medieval Europe between weak beer and strong beer. Weak beer was the drink of choice during the day (again because water was so impure), whilst strong beer was for relaxation. And the quantities consumed in the Middle Ages were vast, six or seven pints of beer every day for men and women and a couple of pints for children!
Best wishes,
Mike.