Viewing profile — stoneman24

To paraphrase Monty Python “supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony" (or authority based on a self declaration) In t…

I think the main idea for starship is fully reusable ( which falcon 9 isn’t) and much larger capacity (both volume and mass). Driving down the cost of getting mass to orbit. I goog…

There’s also “the ruum” by Arthur Porges[0]. We got as part of English class in high school, a long time ago. Try not to read the Wikipedia as it might spoil the short story, there…

Not sure but one section of the book relates to the establishment of a polity where compute was the underpinnings of the society. Given the current build out of compute in the real…

An interesting science fiction book is Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross. A major structural core of the book is how different colonies trade and the finance models across interste…

I still have my iPhone mini 12, in the desperate hope that it can last until Apple have another outbreak of common sense and decide that a mini iPhone has a place in the market. Ba…

I wonder how it evolved into the modern British slang of “git”. To quote Wikipedia [0] “modern British English slang, a git (/ɡɪt/) is a term of insult used to describe someone—usu…

The author Terry Pratchett had some of best error messages in his Discworld novels. The Hex computer could produce the following ++?????++ Out of Cheese Error. Redo From Start. +++…

And that’s before we look at whether the participants form a quorate group (sufficient people are present to make a valid choice). Then we could consider whether all participants h…

For me, not so much a decrease in quality but more of an evolution as the landscape of sentient beings expands. The paired covids in the last book, were a great addition. Don’t nor…

If the wells have been throttled back or stopped. There can be issues when production is reduced (or even worse stopped), restarting & resuming the previous production rates can be…

We did the poem in secondary school as well. While we didn’t have the acting skills of your teacher, we deconstructed and reviewed each line and it really had a powerful impact on …

Just reacting to the headline (not a telegraph reader). While initially the idea of energy security and base load power is attractive, having worked (as a contractor, long ago) on …

If you can get a cheap electric overnight home charging tariff in the UK, then the electric cost is lower. Mid week, I charged 43kWh for the cost of £3.04 (7p per kWh). My home cha…

I suppose butterflies would do for volatile storage but you really need long term memory, such as twig and clay tablet. What was good enough for the Sumerian’s is good enough for m…

Thanks for reminding me, I last saw some of those when visiting Harris in the Outer Hebrides. “The Hearach” malt is pretty good.

While an interesting history, the actual truth is that the haggis is a small mammal which lives in the highlands. While they can be hunted (from St Andrews Day to Burns night), mos…

I wonder if the executives have realised this

If I remember correctly, the visa free travel (esta) asks about arrests as part of the information. Even if you were never charged, never trialled, declared innocent at trial. I wo…

There was recently a crisis in older publicly constructed buildings in the UK that were built [0].The aerated concrete had a limited lifespan especially if it was damaged and had c…

A Merry Christmas to everyone !

Do you if there has been any work how lasers affect other animals and insects? Am I being catastrophically pessimistic to think that in addition to swatting insects as it moves for…

My dilemma as a student in Glasgow (a long time) at the start of term when I had some money, Fish supper or deep fried Pizza & chips. With the mandatory bottle of Irn Bru. Deliciou…

I would really like to send this article out to all the developers in my small company (only 120+ people, about 40 dev & test) but the political path has been chosen and the new sh…

Yep, I’m sitting on the same fence. We can all see the circular deals in the high tech sector which has been the recent engine of the stock market. It’s all uncertainty, everywhere…