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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
14/11/2010
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06:26
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NEW VERSION TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR MEMBERS WITH SLOW CONNECTIONS TO CONNECT.
Follw this LINK for last version.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Tizer
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Posted - 19/09/2011 : 16:08
Well at least we were able to sell them Rolls Royce engines to put in their Messerschmidts in the 1930s...but perhaps that was a bad move in retrospect!
A very interesting talk on `Start the Week' this morning by a man who has studied and written a book on cybercrime. He says the perpetrators are all men, young and have difficulty relating to and communicating with other people. They will have spent their early years sitting in front of a computer screen instead of playing with other kids. Result? Young men unable to communicate, with a chip on their shoulder and with a great knowledge of computers and software. All it needed was for their parents to talk to them and get them playing with other kids instead of taking the lazy option of sitting them in front of a screen (TV and/or computer).
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 20/09/2011 : 05:21
We listen to the same radio programmes Peter! I was impressed by the talk, it made so much sense. I was also struck by the ingenuity of the crminal gangs who find these younsters and turn them to the 'dark side'. Shades of the Jedi! Actually, this is not as facetious as it seems, the danger is a dichotomy between reality and the cyber world where there are 'victimless crimes'. My late son in law Harry once gave me an insight into the activities of the 'Whte Hats' and 'Black Hats' waging what was in effect a cyber war. This was 15 years ago! How much worse is it now. Did you also pick up what he said about the formation of a fourth arm of the defence services devoted to nothing but defence against cyber attacks and possibly initiating attacks of their own. We are swimming in a very deep and murky pool and have no idea about what is happening below the surface. This is one of the reasons why I argue for less communication and sharing. We don't need to know how clever our defences are, just that they are operating. A good example is the recent programmes on BBC2 on 'The War on Terror'. Wonderful to hear that they are being so successful but how does informing us improve anything? Could it be that the fear engendered by this knowledge makes it easier for reprehensible activities like rendition, black sites and torture to be accepted politically? I have always held that refusal to sink to the methods of the opposition may be short term disadvantage but in the long term ensures we keep the moral high ground. It is this regression into terror tactice which has reinforced fundamentalist protest against the West, they are able to point to our actions and portray us as the great Satan and Crusaders. They may have a point, The stigma of the original Crusades is alive and well after 700 years.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 20/09/2011 : 10:29
"Did you also pick up what he said about the formation of a fourth arm of the defence services devoted to nothing but defence against cyber attacks and possibly initiating attacks of their own."
Yes but I was surprised to hear it was the fifth arm, not fourth - the other four are land, sea, air....and space!Private Eye: 50 years of famous front covers By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine
Something more lighthearted...`Private Eye: 50 years of famous front covers. By Tom de Castella. BBC News Magazine' [LINK]
Edited by - Tizer on 20/09/2011 10:34:09
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Bradders
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Posted - 21/09/2011 : 00:10
20/9/11..... Bradders has resided in the Pasty Republic for 2 years Egsakly....Moi 'andsomes..Oooaaar !
BRADDERS BLUESINGER |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 21/09/2011 : 06:15
And it has not yet seceded as a republic. Slowing down in your old age?
Must have missed that bit Tiz. Did you hear Liza Manningham Buller giving her third Reith Lecture? Well worth listening to. She has cheered me up immensly over the last three weeks. It is quite evident that there are people in the top echelons who actually do read the history and come to what I believe are the right conclusions. Problem is of course that they can only advise, not set policy. It was interesting that she was asked a very pointed question about Iraq but refused to answer because she has yet to give more evidence to the Gibson enquiry. From the trend of her thinking so far, this will not be good news for Tony Blair.
I note that the MET has seen sense and dropped the action against the Guardian using the threat of the Official Secrets Act. Important because if it wasn't for good investigative reporting many of the problems they are going to have to address would not have become public.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Bradders
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Posted - 21/09/2011 : 23:49
quote:
Stanley wrote:
And it has not yet seceded as a republic. Slowing down in your old age?
There are people down here who talk about crossing the Tamar into Devon in terms of "Going to England"....all very light hearted ,of course, but there is something about the place .......
For instance they have a word ...."Direkly"..... It seems to mean the same as "Man~ana" , but without quite the same sense of urgency ,somehow .....!
Edited by - Bradders on 22/09/2011 02:13:23 AM
BRADDERS BLUESINGER |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 22/09/2011 : 04:36
See this LINK for the execution of Troy Davies in Georgia this morning. A very disturbing case. The use of the death penalty by some US states is a disgrace and has long been a stain on US justice. Have a dig into the number of black people as opposed to white who are on death row.
News that Melteaser has made a very generous donation to site expenses. Doc is a happy man! Thanks Maltie, you are a good woman.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Bruff
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Posted - 22/09/2011 : 10:46
The fund for the families of the miners killed last week has reached £100K. Interesting development this as last year, 170 folk were killed at work or someone, somewhere every 2 or 3 days (we won't count the 1000s who die of diseases due to work-related exposure to nastiness). Generally, though no less a tragedy for the families concerned, these merit but a mention in the local press, and further mention when the company who killed the person is fined a few grand - and PM-supported funds generally aren't forthcoming (the families if they are left struggling and reliant on benefits becoming what I think we call 'scroungers' these days overnight).
But this difference is just the societal averson to, and media amplification of, multiple, yet rare, fatalities (cf car and train crashes - 3 a day every day at least dead in the former, a few every blue moon in the latter).
Risk is one of the most widely used yet least understood concepts around.
Richard Broughton
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 23/09/2011 : 05:45
I agree Richard. One of the main shifts I see these days in generations reared in peacetime is their reduced capacity for managing risk. My attitude to death is seen by many as callous. This struck me last night when listening to the account of a woman whose father was killed during bombing at West Bromwich. The interviewer was surprised at her seeming lack of surprise that nobody actually mentioned the death, she explained that it was an everyday occurence, no use agonising about it, the business of survival was more important. Compare this with sprays that kill '99% 0f known germs'. Things have definitely changed and perhaps not for the better.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
cloghopper
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Posted - 23/09/2011 : 08:31
What attracted my attention today (again) is the increasing innacuracy and sloppiness of BBC reporting. An interesting article today about an SAS war diary that has come to light. A side item about a British POW and a German general. The POW they say was captured in FRANCE in October 1943; when from the rest of the piece it is fairly obvious he must have been captured in Italy.
cheers,
cloggy
Dyslexics untie |
Bruff
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Posted - 23/09/2011 : 15:14
Interesting reports of experiments by European physicists which apparently show neutrinos arriving at a destination some distance away before they were sent. The physicists are due to report their findings today at a CERN seminar. The finding, which is the result of about 15,000 experiments, has a 6-sigma significance, which would seem to give the results some validity for now. The researchers are understandably nervous though, as this appears a finding of epoch-making proportions questioning such fundamentals as cause and effect. They are keen for other groups to test the research and find a problem somewhere, the researchers being confident they have eliminated the chance of a simple glitch. Good approach this. As Einstein said, no amount of experiments will prove him right, but just one will prove him wrong. Which is why a scientist will never make the claim of their science explaining everything (this is left to the religious), rather they'll just present one with the evidence such as it is.
This sort of stuff makes science worth doing. The suggestion that what we posit, and what we understand, is wrong or at least not complete. I love this aspect of physics me, particle physics, quantum stuff. Disappear up my own fundament trying make sense of it, but it's just fascinating stuff.
I have a book by the Oxford physicist David Deutsch 'The Fabric of Reality' and it's the best thing I've ever read. There are about four brilliant ideas and insights on every page and his prose is magnificent. It is extremely thought provoking and boy does it take some thought, but this man really is a Master of the Universe. Everybody should try and wade through this book. It's fantastic.
Richard Broughton
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 24/09/2011 : 06:42
Richard, I once had a conversation with me old mate Newton Pickles about my understanding of quantum theory, particularly the effect on the strength of materials at the molecular level. Not only was he interested but grasped the fundamentals of what I was saying. I remember being very impressed by how open he was to new ideas. We should try to be the same. Love the neutrino story and I've posted on Tizer's Science thread.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 24/09/2011 : 12:18
Cloggy, after a first career in scientific research I've spent the last 20 years in science journalism, editing and publishing. My English is far from perfect, especially in speech, but I strive to be clear, precise, accurate and unambiguous in my professional writing. Unfortunately I've seen the use of the English language decline dramatically over that 20 years, even among scientists and in the respected newspapers, magazines and journals. One of the last outposts of good written English is `The Economist' (perhaps also Private Eye but I haven't looked at it from that perspective!). What worries me most is the creation and propagation of inaccuracies, especially in technical writing - I often see confusion of east and west, for example, although that's geographical error rather than misuse of the language.
Bradders, I seem to recall a story about a coach full of holidaymakers in Cornwall who, each evening, would ask their Cornish driver if he could tell them where they would go the next day. He always replied "Drekly". At the end of the week they said they had enjoyed the holiday but it was a shame they never got to see Drekly.
Edited by - Tizer on 24/09/2011 12:29:08
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Bradders
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Posted - 25/09/2011 : 03:44
"Drekly" is a wonderful Cornish adaption.....
Incidentally the "greeting " between locals in Wadebridge is always "Geddon"......
.......What's that about ?
It always sounds to me like "Well....you don't say !"
(this should now be on "Dialect " , I know ....sorry folks ! )
Edited by - Bradders on 25/09/2011 03:48:54 AM
BRADDERS BLUESINGER |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 25/09/2011 : 05:52
Brad, related to "Get away with you!" I suspect. As for the village of Drekly, there is a road sign in Holland frequently seen on roundabouts. It points to 'Anderes Richtingen' and means roughly 'All other routes'. There is an apochryphal story about a foregner who decided to go there as he thought it was a town. But like Mornington Crescent!
I think you all know that I love words and nurture the elderly. I often deliberately use archaic or obscure words on the site and in my BET articles because I believe that others like them as well. I still trasure David's reaction to tergivisate! Another cropped up on QI last night,'interrobang'. Used to be quite popular 50 years ago but not many people recognise it now. See this LINK.
I see Mr Putin's plan to regain the presidency of Russia is on track. Say what you like about him he is a competent operator!
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
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