Okay, my heart went into fibrillation when I read this...
It's hard enough to drive a modern car, let alone a light aircraft. Trust me - I'm a student pilot.
Secondly - what kind of driving test are yuo going to have: the JAA (Europaean FAA) have a 45-hour syllabus for their PPL (H)[0]. Are all these wannabee pilots going to take this kind of syllabus? Or are we going to let hoards of "Wannabees" lose on our airspace?
Thirdly - what about emergencies? Imagine this - you're an amateur private pilot, spluttering along at 300ft above your office above London. Your engine quits. You have three seconds to recover, if you do nothing.
Crash. Your life, plus tens or hundreds on the ground.
Fourthly - Airspace. Most of the airspace over the City of London and other major metropolitan areas is Class "A" or "B" - and rightly so. the numer of heavy jet movements over this small an area is high enough as it is - without the menace of thousands of little "flies" buzzing around his engines. Can ATC Cope? I think not.
Classes "A" and "B" are only open to IFR Traffic - Instrument Flight Rules. This is a VERY demanding skill - 50 hour course, and constant refresher tests. It's okay for Capain Speaking in his Scruggs Wonderplane with dual autopilot, radar altimeter, etc. J. Random PPL holder wouldn't hack it.
Fifthly (and last), where are all these choppers going to be parked during the day? Realistically, you would be looking at a LARGE area for these things to land (Dispel all those images of flying betwixt the skyscrapers, I'm not scraping you off the walls.
How would you feel about converting Central (or Hyde in London) Park into a large Helipad?
I don't want to turn this into a boringrant - so here are my Ideas:
1. Issue a sub-ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) licence, say 20 hours, with self-certification to HGV medical standards, similar to the (hopefully) forthcoming CAA NPPL.
2. Create special Entry/Exit lanes to aa specially developed airfield for these kinds of aircraft. Devoted Public Transport liks go no end to helping place this away from the built up areas.
3. Have specialised ATC to cover this - and to make it easy, keep inbound traffic at 500ft and outbound traffic at 1000ft (say). This keeps it pretty much 2D.
4. Identifying - most aircraft are fitted with a Transponder - a device which shows a specific code on the Controllers radar screen (selectable on a device in the cockpit). How about making these devices compulsory, and individual - akin to a licence plate.
I'm 15, and I attend a fairly well-off public (in the rest of the world, that's private) school. It has 1400 students from 3 to 19, each paying about £7000 (about $11200). Every year, the headmaster (principal) gets about 15.6 MILLION dollars. He's just spent about $5m on a new art, design and technology centre. That gives you some idea about what I'm talking about here.
The school spent $2.4m paying A. C. Cowboy to put network sockets in every (and I mean EVERY) room in the school, even the non-tech. rooms. This was designed to give us access to the school net.
Now, to use this school net, we all had to sign usage agreements or something. This basically said we couldn't do anything. For instance, one student was caught with some mp3's, to listen to while he was working. He was threatened with suspension.
(Our school also has an idiotic policy where if you're caught selling cakes, you get the same punishment as someone selling stolen mobile phones - and we've had both)
The point I'm trying to make here, is that it's not just the teachers that need to know what the technology can be used for, but the policy makes need to understand that there is no need to be totalitarian in their stance. For instance, when I tried to access a site for my Chemistry SC1 (coursework), it was barred. I asked our mini-Himmler of an "ICT Consultant" why, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know, don't care" was his reply.
Also, some friends and I have tried to connect some machines in one (more understanding, more computer-literate) technology teacher, by means of a Linux server. We have to watch out, for we suspect that if the headmaster found out, we'd be in serious doo-doo. Unrestricted access to the Internet, illegal connection to the school net (not allowed - no bringing in your own laptops!). Oh dear.
It seems to me that some schools spend all that money (total $9.6m) just so it looks good on the prospectus!
Also, is it worth it? The box sitting on the wall opposite where I have Biology was used to experiment on the combustibility of network connector box plastic, by the look of it. The others have been broken, cracked, had chemicals spilt on them, had wires removed from the inside by bored students, etc.. You can tell which room you are in by the graffiti on the boxes on the wall. This has all been done by CLEVER STUDENTS while the teachers LOOK ON! They, by the look of it, don't have a clue wht to do with them.
Let us go back, about 2000 years back, to be precise...
During the rule of the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, Rome was prospering. He had just bumped off Pompey, and conquered Gaul. So on the whole he was doing pretty good.
Now along comes Brutus et al, and they kill him. A bit of a problem on the ol' conquering front, being dead.
Now, this understandably causes a bit of civil unrest. (and I'll get to the point in a minute..) Mark Anthony, Caesar's adopted son, takes a bit of objection to a bunch of upstarts going and killing his father, so he stirs up the public a bit. They soon are after the conspirator's blood.
When they are safely in exile (the conspirators, not Anthony), he and Octavius, and Lepidus form the second Triumvirate (three men). They take control, and are soon no better on the evil dictator front than Caesar.
Now isn't this like the AOL-Sun-Netscape Triune wanting to kill Microsoft? Let's do a little comparison...
AOL NETSCAPE SUN | MICROSOFT
ANTHONY OCTAVIUS LEPIDUS | CONSPIRATORS
There we go. And we mustn't forget the end of the second Triumvirate, they all got jealous of each other, and ended up with Ant and Octavius killing Lepidus, and Ant killing Octo.
(I apologise for any historical errors in the text...I'm kinda winging it a bit until my End of Year exams.)
There is one small kid in my school, he's only in the year below me, but we can use him as an arm rest.
Now I'm responible for our school website, running on a Debian box (or it was then). So there I am, mucking around with the internals of this box (literally, with a soldering iron on the modem) when this bloke comes up to me and starts mouthing off about how good he is at hacking.
Now he shows me a document he "supposedly" lifted from an MI5 server over here in the UK. Like hell he did, because it was from is dad's buisness, but I couldn't be bothered to tell him that.
Now he has to take the p*** because he can't outsmart me.
Over here in good old Blighty our Combined Cadet Force (a lot of children dressed up in uniform and made to do drill, just like the real RAF/Army/Navy) already use Linux to run our web server (I can't remember the URL). Even though we also use it to track the rounds (bullets to you and me) and weapons (mainly Lee-Enfield.22 riles) on the range, you can hardly call it a 'killer app'.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, my heart went into fibrillation when I read this...
It's hard enough to drive a modern car, let alone a light aircraft. Trust me - I'm a student pilot.
Secondly - what kind of driving test are yuo going to have: the JAA (Europaean FAA) have a 45-hour syllabus for their PPL (H)[0]. Are all these wannabee pilots going to take this kind of syllabus? Or are we going to let hoards of "Wannabees" lose on our airspace?
Thirdly - what about emergencies? Imagine this - you're an amateur private pilot, spluttering along at 300ft above your office above London. Your engine quits. You have three seconds to recover, if you do nothing.
Crash. Your life, plus tens or hundreds on the ground.
Fourthly - Airspace. Most of the airspace over the City of London and other major metropolitan areas is Class "A" or "B" - and rightly so. the numer of heavy jet movements over this small an area is high enough as it is - without the menace of thousands of little "flies" buzzing around his engines. Can ATC Cope? I think not.
Classes "A" and "B" are only open to IFR Traffic - Instrument Flight Rules. This is a VERY demanding skill - 50 hour course, and constant refresher tests. It's okay for Capain Speaking in his Scruggs Wonderplane with dual autopilot, radar altimeter, etc. J. Random PPL holder wouldn't hack it.
Fifthly (and last), where are all these choppers going to be parked during the day? Realistically, you would be looking at a LARGE area for these things to land (Dispel all those images of flying betwixt the skyscrapers, I'm not scraping you off the walls.
How would you feel about converting Central (or Hyde in London) Park into a large Helipad?
I don't want to turn this into a boringrant - so here are my Ideas:
1. Issue a sub-ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) licence, say 20 hours, with self-certification to HGV medical standards, similar to the (hopefully) forthcoming CAA NPPL.
2. Create special Entry/Exit lanes to aa specially developed airfield for these kinds of aircraft. Devoted Public Transport liks go no end to helping place this away from the built up areas.
3. Have specialised ATC to cover this - and to make it easy, keep inbound traffic at 500ft and outbound traffic at 1000ft (say). This keeps it pretty much 2D.
4. Identifying - most aircraft are fitted with a Transponder - a device which shows a specific code on the Controllers radar screen (selectable on a device in the cockpit). How about making these devices compulsory, and individual - akin to a licence plate.
[0]Private Pilots Licence.
Just my 1.6p.
I'm 15, and I attend a fairly well-off public (in the rest of the world, that's private) school. It has 1400 students from 3 to 19, each paying about £7000 (about $11200). Every year, the headmaster (principal) gets about 15.6 MILLION dollars. He's just spent about $5m on a new art, design and technology centre. That gives you some idea about what I'm talking about here.
The school spent $2.4m paying A. C. Cowboy to put network sockets in every (and I mean EVERY) room in the school, even the non-tech. rooms. This was designed to give us access to the school net.
Now, to use this school net, we all had to sign usage agreements or something. This basically said we couldn't do anything. For instance, one student was caught with some mp3's, to listen to while he was working. He was threatened with suspension.
(Our school also has an idiotic policy where if you're caught selling cakes, you get the same punishment as someone selling stolen mobile phones - and we've had both)
The point I'm trying to make here, is that it's not just the teachers that need to know what the technology can be used for, but the policy makes need to understand that there is no need to be totalitarian in their stance. For instance, when I tried to access a site for my Chemistry SC1 (coursework), it was barred. I asked our mini-Himmler of an "ICT Consultant" why, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know, don't care" was his reply.
Also, some friends and I have tried to connect some machines in one (more understanding, more computer-literate) technology teacher, by means of a Linux server. We have to watch out, for we suspect that if the headmaster found out, we'd be in serious doo-doo. Unrestricted access to the Internet, illegal connection to the school net (not allowed - no bringing in your own laptops!). Oh dear.
It seems to me that some schools spend all that money (total $9.6m) just so it looks good on the prospectus!
Also, is it worth it? The box sitting on the wall opposite where I have Biology was used to experiment on the combustibility of network connector box plastic, by the look of it. The others have been broken, cracked, had chemicals spilt on them, had wires removed from the inside by bored students, etc.. You can tell which room you are in by the graffiti on the boxes on the wall. This has all been done by CLEVER STUDENTS while the teachers LOOK ON! They, by the look of it, don't have a clue wht to do with them.
Just my 1.25p.
Anthony Octavius Lepidus == A O L == AOL the Conspirators!!!
...and I completely missed this!
DOH!
Any ideas for Netscape?
submissions to me at goochieboy@hotmal.com.
Let us go back, about 2000 years back, to be precise...
During the rule of the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, Rome was prospering. He had just bumped off Pompey, and conquered Gaul. So on the whole he was doing pretty good.
Now along comes Brutus et al, and they kill him. A bit of a problem on the ol' conquering front, being dead.
Now, this understandably causes a bit of civil unrest. (and I'll get to the point in a minute..) Mark Anthony, Caesar's adopted son, takes a bit of objection to a bunch of upstarts going and killing his father, so he stirs up the public a bit. They soon are after the conspirator's blood.
When they are safely in exile (the conspirators, not Anthony), he and Octavius, and Lepidus form the second Triumvirate (three men). They take control, and are soon no better on the evil dictator front than Caesar.
Now isn't this like the AOL-Sun-Netscape Triune wanting to kill Microsoft? Let's do a little comparison...
AOL NETSCAPE SUN | MICROSOFT
ANTHONY OCTAVIUS LEPIDUS | CONSPIRATORS
There we go. And we mustn't forget the end of the second Triumvirate, they all got jealous of each other, and ended up with Ant and Octavius killing Lepidus, and Ant killing Octo.
(I apologise for any historical errors in the text...I'm kinda winging it a bit until my End of Year exams.)
The ironic thing is, that post lost me Moderator Access. Let that be a warning to you, kiddies!
*mutter*
Damnit, one of those things could run my school's *entire* network!
That thing KICKS ASS!
...or at least I nkow someone who has - here in the UK.
This happened to me.
There is one small kid in my school, he's only in the year below me, but we can use him as an arm rest.
Now I'm responible for our school website, running on a Debian box (or it was then). So there I am, mucking around with the internals of this box (literally, with a soldering iron on the modem) when this bloke comes up to me and starts mouthing off about how good he is at hacking.
Now he shows me a document he "supposedly" lifted from an MI5 server over here in the UK. Like hell he did, because it was from is dad's buisness, but I couldn't be bothered to tell him that.
Now he has to take the p*** because he can't outsmart me.
#ABSOLOUTE ROLLOCKS!
/home !
Are you *TRYING* to start a flame war?
Go $: cd
Isn't all technology Cool and completely Useless?
The subject says it all :-(
Over here in good old Blighty our Combined Cadet Force (a lot of children dressed up in uniform and made to do drill, just like the real RAF/Army/Navy) already use Linux to run our web server (I can't remember the URL). Even though we also use it to track the rounds (bullets to you and me) and weapons (mainly Lee-Enfield .22 riles) on the range, you can hardly call it a 'killer app'.
It would be a better idea to offer it on all the computers, as everyone in my family (including an 8-year old kid) uses Linux for everything.