... and after sufficient time has passed for the training to work its Pavlovian charm, we will not need pr0n at all, because we will all be getting off on pictures of stick men and vases of flowers.
Well, better still, and much easier, why not simply export the cheap electricity? Couldn't they lay a power cable to Scotland and sell their surplus power to Europe? Sure be good for Europe to get some clean, green electricity! A nice export for Iceland too.
Then anyone who want's Iceland's "hydrogen" could simply buy the electricy and generate the hydrogen as they need it.
They wasn't any "installing a GPS transmitter " in his car! The dickwad was driving his company vehicle, a snow plough, which was already fitted with a GPS.
That's not even information from TFA! Just read the teaser... it's in there. No really...
... a snow plow operator, too dumb to know his truck had GPS...
OK, so the cops were told there was a nut-job flashing his privates who drove away in a snow plough. Even cops are bright enough to call the local snow plough company(ies)! It's hardly rocket science!
As it turns out, Smart gave one to Stirling Moss because they thought it would make good press. Stirling (and isn't that a great name for a racing driver) had a play with it and discovered that it handled like shite (that's not the actual words used but is the nub and the gist). He then set about improving it and I believe that Smart now incorporate many of his tweaks and offer the others as upgrades.
Stirling Moss is also a genuinely nice chap and still one the great drivers.
Interestingly, in the UK the various parking authorities have recognised the advantages of such vehicles and allow half price parking in many of the car parks, which is fair as they only take up half a space.
Also, on the stability issue, Stirling Moss has one and loves it. A mate of mine has one and also loves it.
I think it's little too much to ask the government to do something like that efficiently...:)
How about if the Gov. allowed your employer to charge your car during work whilst in the company car park without charging you tax on the perk.
Now look at the current cost of an electric car when the driving is essentially free. This could be the catalyst required to jump-start the electric car business. If more people buy them, the prices will come down and the technology will improve. As a bonus, the more people who decide to have the free ride to work will also not be polluting the towns and cities where they work.
If the Gov. commits to the perk for sufficient years (5 or 10 maybe?) it would be enough to have everyone driving around in electric vehicles for most of their journeys.
During this time, we have to think about how we generate the electricity too, but at least we have moved away from petrol/diesel to start the ball rolling.
There was an MP called Blunkett,
Who'd swan off to Brussels for every junket
The expenses he claimed
Were not his, he was framed
If this gravy train were a boat, he's just sunkett
Once it reaches this critical speed (about 8-1/2 minutes after lift-off), the shuttle launch engines are shut off, and the shuttle separates from the external tank. The tank re-enters the atmosphere and burns up on re-entry. It is the only part of the Shuttle system that cannot be used again.
What I don't understand is why you spend so much money in fuel and oxidiser to get the external tank nearly into orbit, then for the additional cost of presumably not very much (in the scheme of things), let the thing fall back to earth and burn up?
Would it not make more sense to take the tank into orbit and use it for something? It's got to be (at least nearly!) air-tight, why not add it to the Space Station as another module for something? Use it for spare parts - got a leak, hack a suitable sized bit off the old tank and stick it over the hole. Just stack them up in orbit somewhere for raw material to build a interplanetary space ship?
Bradford BNP... from the BBC documentary I got the distinct feeling that they were hoodwinking some people into supporting them by varying the message in their flyers to target existing local unrest. Obviously, as a local, I shall have to bow to your superior knowledge on that one. I was up around Dewsbury myself over the Weekend visiting relatives and the whipping up of social disquiet is doubley (is that a word?) sad in an area that is otherwise so friendly. Mind you, anywhere's going to appear friendly to a soft southerner!
Backhanders... [adjusts tinfoil bowler] Governments tend to want more power, ostensibly to make it easier to run the country, help the people, etc. ID Cards gives them more power, and it is the the power that they crave. I could be convinced that they think that it will benefit society, but this crowd have not done anything recently (if at all!) that would indicate they have anything other than eyes on their own security of tenure. A political party (these days) is trying to get in, and stay in, power, otherwise they wouldn't argue against the current government when in opposition, and swap sides and argue for the very same things once elected! They didn't train the troups they sent to Iraq because it could have cause political trouble while they were pretending to listen to people's objections to the war putting the troops in extra danger for political ends. Unforgivable!
Billions... From a BBC article The £3bn cost of ID cards.... There is a lot of money wasted of fraud (and elsewhere [cough]expenses[cough]) and there's no way that the Government is going to manage to bring this project in on time and within budget!
If it managed to stop the fraud then I could be convinced that it would pay for itself. So the question is "will ID cards stop fraud?" and my (perhaps weak!) argument is that I don't think it will. I'm happy to admit that it may reduce fraud for a while, but unless the rules governing the use of ID Cards are incredibly draconian (eg ID checked all the time when doing anything and everything) it simply will not stop it. I'd like to bet that fake UK ID cards will arrive before everyone in the UK gets the real ones.
I agree that it is worth something to catch crooks, but I'd say that the 3+bn UKP could be better spent on the existing Police force and achieve a far better return on the investment.
This is all kind of old now, but I shall reply anyway.
The aims of the ID card from memory are: to cut down on fraud, to cut down on identity theft, to cut down on fraudulent benefit claims, to stop illegal immigrants accessing the welfare state
That is what the Government have said the aims are. I do not believe that it will cut down on any of the above in any real terms. In any such battle, the criminals may be termporarily thwarted but they will rally round and find some new way to exploit the ID card in their favour.
I don't find it credible that people join a political party without having a clue what it's policies are.
Oh boy! Did you not watch the BBC documentary on the BNP in Yorkshire? Frankly it scares me that these people are allowed to breed [joking], but they are out there. I'm not aware of what the BNP policies are, but I thought it was something about repatriation and closing the borders to new immigrants. The current Labour government has limits on new arrivals which is only different by degrees. Someone who joins a racist party, who knows it is a racist party, is a racist, but as I mentioned above, I believe there are people who do not see the BNP as racist, and there are most certainly people who vote for a party without knowing what their policies are!
Data mining
I know information can be found out at the moment, but as you say, if one wishes to fall off the radar one could decide to do so. Once we have an ID card based system, this becomes far more difficult.
I hope you're right, I really do. Its just that I get the feeling that the Goverment are NOT trying (again!) to introduce ID cards for our benefit and at this point in time I'd rather they didn't force it through, costing us billions of tax pounds into the bargin!
What you are proposing is doing without something now, that has benefits now
Whilst I would have to admit to not liking the idea of ID Cards from a privacy/liberty standpoint, I'm also puzzled as to what the benefits are supposed to be for me personally or for society in general. It perfectly obvious what's in it for the Government!
Also, using the BNP as an example was probably not so great, because of the racism involved, but it is worth noting that they have been making reasonable inroads in some areas of the country and attracting people who are not necessarily racists. If there are people who currently support the BNP who are not racists (and I believe there are) then are they not just another political party with some unpleasant members (not unlike some of the other parties!).
As it happens, I really don't like what the racists overtones of the BNP manifesto, but I'm quite uncomfortable about not letting them speak because I believe in freedom of speach. It's not really a "Freedom of Speach" issue unless you disagree with what is being said!
A different example from a few years back. A friend of mine was signed up to the CND by some university mate for a laugh. He got some magazines sent to him. Nothing to worry about. It was pointed out to him that being a member of the CND might preclude him ever getting a job in certain circles - the MOD, for example, would frown somewhat on CND membership - and it then took him 6 months to get his name removed from the membership.
ID Cards will probably start with something useful like Name, Address, Gender, Age. I believe I have heard that they want your religion for some reason. How difficult is it going to be to add more personal information at a later date. Social Group, Political leanings or sexuality for example. At some point it is going to become apparent that by some clever data mining you will be able to identify a small section of the community who are dangerous for some reason and they will be rounded up.
I understand that there's a large handfull of paranoia in here, and I've no idea what the odds are of it coming true, but the head-in-the-sand mentality of those who are pushing us towards what feels like the edge of a cliff whilst denying that this is even a possibility somewhat scares me!
Indeed, the doomsayers on one side trying to tell us that the Government are going to come and steal our children if we get ID cards, and the "if you've done nothing wrong you've nothing to fear" Daily Mail readers on the other.
As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
My argument is that legislation changes. New laws are being added to the pile all the time, and often after some tradegy as a knee jerk reaction. I can envisage the creation of a new law that could make me a criminal in the future due to something I might call a hobby now, and remember that this is only thinking about how general circumstances may change that could affect me. This doesn't address the tin-foil hat ideas of the Government actively seeking to destroy me for religious/ethnic/political/whatever reasons.
Think it doesn't happen
- look at Zimbabwe!
- Look at our great and good Government trying to dig up dirt on a Paddington Crash Victim to discredit her
- On the "done nothing wrong" side, what about the people locked up in Guantanamo Bay with no trial? Granted, many of them may well be involved with terrorism, but I bet there are a few innocents locked up there who have "done nothing wrong...".
Also, if it's going to be so damn useful to all of us, why are they talking about making it mandatory? Surely if there's going to be such a huge benefit to us having one we're all going to be falling over ourselves to get one!
From my perspective I see it as a very costly exercise in, at the very least, risking my future liberty for no personal gain. There is nothing in it for me except the thought that it might just turn out, in fifty/hundred years, that the people alive then look back at this event as the point where they were sold out to Big Brother by a bunch of do-gooders.
I just hope Blunkett has the foresight to have the cards made with rounded corners, because I hope that will save him a lot of discomfort when they get shoved where the sun don't shine!
What about all the countries that *DO* have an ID card? Do the Germans still use their ID card to track down Jews or anybody else?
You are somewhat missing the point. I do not think (or at least hope!) that our government would turn on us (or more importantly, me!) in such a manner. What we (some of the Anti-ID Card people) are trying to point out, is that it makes it possible! I suppose the Jews in Germany didn't think they were going to be rounded up when they got the 'J' stamp (I don't actually know, but one assumes they might have made a stand earlier if they had!). Small steps that all, in isolation, seem perfectly sensible can end up providing the government with too much power (or at least the opportunity to exercise too much power) over the populace.
We don't know what new laws are going to be forced through - I'm not a fan of fox hunting, but if you were a born-and-bred fox hunting type you are about to become an outlaw, and then what are they going to ban - fishing probably!
The other side of the coin, is that it really isn't going to help the ordinary citizens to have one of these cards. It's not going to stop crime, or terrorists, or ID theft and it IS going to cost a huge (or indeed *hugh*) amount of money to setup and administer.
Well, maybe what makes the weather models inaccurate is the grid size of the simulations.
... and...
The only real way to test would be to run the new cluster and the older system with the same data and see what data is outputted.
WA WA OOOPS!
First chap was correct. It's the grid size that is all important. eg run SETI@HOME on a crusty old 486 or run it on a shiney 4GHz modern monster and the result is the same. Same with weather models. You'd get the same result, only faster.
But change the grid size so that you double the amount of data points and you get a more accurate forecast. Scale the grid size so it takes the same amount of time to make a forecast as it used to so you maximise the accuracy in the available time.
Assemble the reactor in orbit and take the dangerous component parts up in small, safely wrapped up, loads. If we lose a shuttle (or whatever else we might actually get to work) we don't lose the whole thing, and whatever falls back to earth has a very minimal impact.
Similarly, send a smaller, unmanned, space station to orbit mars with a bunch of supplies. Then send the space craft so we have some backup capabilities safely in orbit when we get there.
Perhaps include a Mars Lander with the Space Station, then we can just build a craft to get from Earth to Mars and back without having to make the thing able to take off or land!
I suspect that if the segway went more that a piddly 10 Mph people might have actually warmed up to the idea despite how dorky it looks (people got used to wearing bicycle helmets, right?
There's a guy in Surbiton who has one. I've seen him buzzing about on it a couple of times and it looks really neat! It they were a bunch cheaper I could see myself getting one!
Mind you, a mate purchased one of those Brompton Folding Bicycles a while back (train cancelations at Waterloo, so he got the bike and cycled home!) and it's excellent! Probably a better bet than the Segway, and already a bunch cheaper too!
Slashdot Mirror
Then anyone who want's Iceland's "hydrogen" could simply buy the electricy and generate the hydrogen as they need it.
They wasn't any "installing a GPS transmitter " in his car! The dickwad was driving his company vehicle, a snow plough, which was already fitted with a GPS.
That's not even information from TFA! Just read the teaser ... it's in there. No really ...
OK, so the cops were told there was a nut-job flashing his privates who drove away in a snow plough. Even cops are bright enough to call the local snow plough company(ies)! It's hardly rocket science!
OK .. so let's all unbunch our panties ...
Stirling Moss is also a genuinely nice chap and still one the great drivers.
Also, on the stability issue, Stirling Moss has one and loves it. A mate of mine has one and also loves it.
How about if the Gov. allowed your employer to charge your car during work whilst in the company car park without charging you tax on the perk.
Now look at the current cost of an electric car when the driving is essentially free. This could be the catalyst required to jump-start the electric car business. If more people buy them, the prices will come down and the technology will improve. As a bonus, the more people who decide to have the free ride to work will also not be polluting the towns and cities where they work.
If the Gov. commits to the perk for sufficient years (5 or 10 maybe?) it would be enough to have everyone driving around in electric vehicles for most of their journeys.
During this time, we have to think about how we generate the electricity too, but at least we have moved away from petrol/diesel to start the ball rolling.
Who'd swan off to Brussels for every junket
The expenses he claimed
Were not his, he was framed
If this gravy train were a boat, he's just sunkett
I thank you!
What I don't understand is why you spend so much money in fuel and oxidiser to get the external tank nearly into orbit, then for the additional cost of presumably not very much (in the scheme of things), let the thing fall back to earth and burn up?
Would it not make more sense to take the tank into orbit and use it for something? It's got to be (at least nearly!) air-tight, why not add it to the Space Station as another module for something? Use it for spare parts - got a leak, hack a suitable sized bit off the old tank and stick it over the hole. Just stack them up in orbit somewhere for raw material to build a interplanetary space ship?
Well it's nice to know you're not the tops at everything eh!
You drive so slow, you could drive Miss Daisy.
er .. Darth And-the-whole-world-darths-with-you?
Now, tell me more about this eating Leia to which you allude ...
Now, if he'd said meating ...
Bradford BNP ... from the BBC documentary I got the distinct feeling that they were hoodwinking some people into supporting them by varying the message in their flyers to target existing local unrest. Obviously, as a local, I shall have to bow to your superior knowledge on that one. I was up around Dewsbury myself over the Weekend visiting relatives and the whipping up of social disquiet is doubley (is that a word?) sad in an area that is otherwise so friendly. Mind you, anywhere's going to appear friendly to a soft southerner!
Backhanders ... [adjusts tinfoil bowler] Governments tend to want more power, ostensibly to make it easier to run the country, help the people, etc. ID Cards gives them more power, and it is the the power that they crave. I could be convinced that they think that it will benefit society, but this crowd have not done anything recently (if at all!) that would indicate they have anything other than eyes on their own security of tenure. A political party (these days) is trying to get in, and stay in, power, otherwise they wouldn't argue against the current government when in opposition, and swap sides and argue for the very same things once elected! They didn't train the troups they sent to Iraq because it could have cause political trouble while they were pretending to listen to people's objections to the war putting the troops in extra danger for political ends. Unforgivable!
Billions ... From a BBC article The £3bn cost of ID cards .... There is a lot of money wasted of fraud (and elsewhere [cough]expenses[cough]) and there's no way that the Government is going to manage to bring this project in on time and within budget!
If it managed to stop the fraud then I could be convinced that it would pay for itself. So the question is "will ID cards stop fraud?" and my (perhaps weak!) argument is that I don't think it will. I'm happy to admit that it may reduce fraud for a while, but unless the rules governing the use of ID Cards are incredibly draconian (eg ID checked all the time when doing anything and everything) it simply will not stop it. I'd like to bet that fake UK ID cards will arrive before everyone in the UK gets the real ones.
I agree that it is worth something to catch crooks, but I'd say that the 3+bn UKP could be better spent on the existing Police force and achieve a far better return on the investment.
The aims of the ID card from memory are: to cut down on fraud, to cut down on identity theft, to cut down on fraudulent benefit claims, to stop illegal immigrants accessing the welfare state
That is what the Government have said the aims are. I do not believe that it will cut down on any of the above in any real terms. In any such battle, the criminals may be termporarily thwarted but they will rally round and find some new way to exploit the ID card in their favour.
I don't find it credible that people join a political party without having a clue what it's policies are.
Oh boy! Did you not watch the BBC documentary on the BNP in Yorkshire? Frankly it scares me that these people are allowed to breed [joking], but they are out there. I'm not aware of what the BNP policies are, but I thought it was something about repatriation and closing the borders to new immigrants. The current Labour government has limits on new arrivals which is only different by degrees. Someone who joins a racist party, who knows it is a racist party, is a racist, but as I mentioned above, I believe there are people who do not see the BNP as racist, and there are most certainly people who vote for a party without knowing what their policies are!
Data mining
I know information can be found out at the moment, but as you say, if one wishes to fall off the radar one could decide to do so. Once we have an ID card based system, this becomes far more difficult.
I hope you're right, I really do. Its just that I get the feeling that the Goverment are NOT trying (again!) to introduce ID cards for our benefit and at this point in time I'd rather they didn't force it through, costing us billions of tax pounds into the bargin!
Whilst I would have to admit to not liking the idea of ID Cards from a privacy/liberty standpoint, I'm also puzzled as to what the benefits are supposed to be for me personally or for society in general. It perfectly obvious what's in it for the Government!
Also, using the BNP as an example was probably not so great, because of the racism involved, but it is worth noting that they have been making reasonable inroads in some areas of the country and attracting people who are not necessarily racists. If there are people who currently support the BNP who are not racists (and I believe there are) then are they not just another political party with some unpleasant members (not unlike some of the other parties!).
As it happens, I really don't like what the racists overtones of the BNP manifesto, but I'm quite uncomfortable about not letting them speak because I believe in freedom of speach. It's not really a "Freedom of Speach" issue unless you disagree with what is being said!
A different example from a few years back. A friend of mine was signed up to the CND by some university mate for a laugh. He got some magazines sent to him. Nothing to worry about. It was pointed out to him that being a member of the CND might preclude him ever getting a job in certain circles - the MOD, for example, would frown somewhat on CND membership - and it then took him 6 months to get his name removed from the membership.
ID Cards will probably start with something useful like Name, Address, Gender, Age. I believe I have heard that they want your religion for some reason. How difficult is it going to be to add more personal information at a later date. Social Group, Political leanings or sexuality for example. At some point it is going to become apparent that by some clever data mining you will be able to identify a small section of the community who are dangerous for some reason and they will be rounded up.
I understand that there's a large handfull of paranoia in here, and I've no idea what the odds are of it coming true, but the head-in-the-sand mentality of those who are pushing us towards what feels like the edge of a cliff whilst denying that this is even a possibility somewhat scares me!
As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
My argument is that legislation changes. New laws are being added to the pile all the time, and often after some tradegy as a knee jerk reaction. I can envisage the creation of a new law that could make me a criminal in the future due to something I might call a hobby now, and remember that this is only thinking about how general circumstances may change that could affect me. This doesn't address the tin-foil hat ideas of the Government actively seeking to destroy me for religious/ethnic/political/whatever reasons.
Think it doesn't happen ...".
- look at Zimbabwe!
- Look at our great and good Government trying to dig up dirt on a Paddington Crash Victim to discredit her
- On the "done nothing wrong" side, what about the people locked up in Guantanamo Bay with no trial? Granted, many of them may well be involved with terrorism, but I bet there are a few innocents locked up there who have "done nothing wrong
Also, if it's going to be so damn useful to all of us, why are they talking about making it mandatory? Surely if there's going to be such a huge benefit to us having one we're all going to be falling over ourselves to get one!
From my perspective I see it as a very costly exercise in, at the very least, risking my future liberty for no personal gain. There is nothing in it for me except the thought that it might just turn out, in fifty/hundred years, that the people alive then look back at this event as the point where they were sold out to Big Brother by a bunch of do-gooders.
I just hope Blunkett has the foresight to have the cards made with rounded corners, because I hope that will save him a lot of discomfort when they get shoved where the sun don't shine!
What about all the countries that *DO* have an ID card? Do the Germans still use their ID card to track down Jews or anybody else?
You are somewhat missing the point. I do not think (or at least hope!) that our government would turn on us (or more importantly, me!) in such a manner. What we (some of the Anti-ID Card people) are trying to point out, is that it makes it possible! I suppose the Jews in Germany didn't think they were going to be rounded up when they got the 'J' stamp (I don't actually know, but one assumes they might have made a stand earlier if they had!). Small steps that all, in isolation, seem perfectly sensible can end up providing the government with too much power (or at least the opportunity to exercise too much power) over the populace.
We don't know what new laws are going to be forced through - I'm not a fan of fox hunting, but if you were a born-and-bred fox hunting type you are about to become an outlaw, and then what are they going to ban - fishing probably!
The other side of the coin, is that it really isn't going to help the ordinary citizens to have one of these cards. It's not going to stop crime, or terrorists, or ID theft and it IS going to cost a huge (or indeed *hugh*) amount of money to setup and administer.
[adjusts tin-foil hat]
The Thatcher Script
The only real way to test would be to run the new cluster and the older system with the same data and see what data is outputted.
WA WA OOOPS!
First chap was correct. It's the grid size that is all important. eg run SETI@HOME on a crusty old 486 or run it on a shiney 4GHz modern monster and the result is the same. Same with weather models. You'd get the same result, only faster.
But change the grid size so that you double the amount of data points and you get a more accurate forecast. Scale the grid size so it takes the same amount of time to make a forecast as it used to so you maximise the accuracy in the available time.
New NECs at The Met Office
Similarly, send a smaller, unmanned, space station to orbit mars with a bunch of supplies. Then send the space craft so we have some backup capabilities safely in orbit when we get there.
Perhaps include a Mars Lander with the Space Station, then we can just build a craft to get from Earth to Mars and back without having to make the thing able to take off or land!
Little steps!
Hmmm. If I was asked, I think I would suggest that maybe it freezes.
I'll have the soup please.
So you'll be wanting a Popeye then?
There's a guy in Surbiton who has one. I've seen him buzzing about on it a couple of times and it looks really neat! It they were a bunch cheaper I could see myself getting one!
Mind you, a mate purchased one of those Brompton Folding Bicycles a while back (train cancelations at Waterloo, so he got the bike and cycled home!) and it's excellent! Probably a better bet than the Segway, and already a bunch cheaper too!
Something truly unique that only a few people have done before ... er ... DOH!