Evandale turns back wheels of time to host National Penny-Farthing Championships

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Grant
Darwin NT

In any case it has been known for a long time radiation can alter bits of memory devices

In which case can I strongly suggest that you invest in a tin foil hat to protect yourself from further degradation.

?
It's true.
Most single bit errors are the result of Background Radiation, the largest source of that being Cosmic Radiation. Hence the development of ECC DRAM

Electrical or magnetic interference inside a computer system can cause a single bit of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) to spontaneously flip to the opposite state. It was initially thought that this was mainly due to alpha particles emitted by contaminants in chip packaging material, but research has shown that the majority of one-off soft errors in DRAM chips occur as a result of background radiation, chiefly neutrons from cosmic ray secondaries, which may change the contents of one or more memory cells or interfere with the circuitry used to read or write to them.[2] Hence, the error rates increase rapidly with rising altitude; for example, compared to the sea level, the rate of neutron flux is 3.5 times higher at 1.5 km and 300 times higher at 10–12 km (the cruising altitude of commercial airplanes).[3] As a result, systems operating at high altitudes require special provision for reliability.
ECC memory, problem background.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Cosmic rays in themselves are not responsible for many computer malfunctions upon the earths surface.

No they are not. It would be a very small number, as was pointed out in the article.

I'll increase the order to two tinfoil hats :-))

The fact is cosmic rays can and do cause bit flips, and the greater the density of the memory modules the greater the likely hood of them occurring, so smarmy insulting comments about things that are established facts don't serve any purpose.

Apart from the incorrect heading (forces beyond our solar system), and the implication in the first paragraph that such errors may be more common than they probably are, I can't see any drivel in the article linked to.
No need for derision nor tinfoil hats.

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Grant
Darwin NT

My mother's doctor's office, just a couple miles from our house, burned down a couple weeks ago. Her doctor is the bearded man talking in the video link.

I don't watch the local news on tv, but we get the paper every day, so I'm surprised I missed the story, but in hindsight I do think I remember seeing something about a fire at a St. Matthews(Louisville neighborhood) doctor's office, but didn't put two and two together or read the story.

http://www.wave3.com/story/34407861/doctors-office-destroyed-by-fire-near-st-matthews

Very sad for that to have happened.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Guess the U.S.A. is not the ONLY Country with "walkers" with their whole head in their cell phone....
New traffic lights are visible even if you're slumped over your cell phone

BODEGRAVEN, THE NETHERLANDS (Fox 32 News) - The Dutch town of Bodegraven is trying to make sure cell phone users don't get killed walking across the street.

The town has installed special lights that are embedded in the pavement at the curbs. Green means go, and red means stop. The lights are easily visible if you're slumped over a cell phone.

Click link above for article & photos.

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Having seen a young lady in "full phone mode" tread in a pile of dog ***t, then an empty chip wrapped before falling down a step I doubt that some will either see or take notice of such LEDs :-(

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Having seen a young lady in "full phone mode" tread in a pile of dog ***t, then an empty chip wrapped before falling down a step I doubt that some will either see or take notice of such LEDs :-(

If it saves even 1 persons life, it's worth it.

A lot of money to save one person, that's supposed to be an adult, from their own stupidity.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Having seen a young lady in "full phone mode" tread in a pile of dog ***t, then an empty chip wrapped before falling down a step I doubt that some will either see or take notice of such LEDs :-(

If it saves even 1 persons life, it's worth it.

A lot of money to save one person, that's supposed to be an adult, from their own stupidity.

Look at it from the drivers perspective.
Even if it is the idiots fault that they stepped in front of your moving vehicle, you are still going to have a lot of unwanted hassle.

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Look at it from the drivers perspective.
Even if it is the idiots fault that they stepped in front of your moving vehicle, you are still going to have a lot of unwanted hassle.

Yep.
And unfortunately even with these new lights, people will still not notice them.
Better to spend that money on something that will result in even greater numbers of people not being injured, and on drivers not being subjected to feeling guilty over something they were unable to avoid.

A lot of money to save one person, that's supposed to be an adult, from their own stupidity.

Maybe, but firstly you can't put a price on someones life

Yes you can.
It's done all the time. Governments only have so much money and they have to allocate it between all the projects that require doing. Unfortunately the projects are almost limitless, the money is very much limited. Spend that money to save people too stupid to look out for their own safety, or use it on roads, or bike paths to make them safer for all the people that use them. Or buildings, parks, water & power infrastructure. Plenty of things it could be used for, that would be of much greater benefit.

It doesn't matter how much money you spend, even if you had an unlimited amount of money. Money is limited, stupidity is not.
Better to spend money where it will provide the greatest benefit for the greatest number. Yes, there will be times where it' necessary to spend more money on fewer people, but it makes no sense at all to spend money on something that is completely preventable by people being responsible for their own safety.

Or even cheaper, just switch off all the town centre WiFi hot spots, no signal, no smartphone, no problem!!

Phones and tablets not being able to send or receive data while they are moving would not only be the cheapest fix, it would also have the greatest benefit.

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Grant
Darwin NT

In days of yore:

The Anglo Saxons were quite clear about the monetary value you could place on a life: compensation for a fatality was set at 200 shillings for a freeman, and 1200 shillings for a nobleman.

This has probably increased somewhat with inflation.



Actually most transport authorities, and many others, do use "life costs" in risk evaluation, last time I looked the range was 2-20 million (GBP) for a single life per year

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Never underestimate the power of stupidity. It just gets removed from the gene pool one accident at a time.

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Walking while looking at the phone is also a problem in my work place. People stair at their phones as they walk the corridors. They move slowly, and meander left and right oblivious to everything around them. It is difficult to get around them. My wife's ex-husband was killed by a texting driver. I do wish people would do what I do. Walk/drive to your intended location, then pull out the phone. I know that is against human nature, but no matter what my phone does, I will not touch it until I am in a stable location. Ever.

Steve

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Warning, addicted to SETI crunching!
Crunching as a member of GPU Users Group.
GPUUG Website

, plus since I have 3 titanium screws in My left leg, cremation might be a problem...

Don't know about the USA but i've got a titanium rod and screws in my left leg / hip + i had plates & screws holding my right knee together before i said " fu#k it" and had the leg amputated and i don't have any problems with getting life insurance and the premiums ain't heavily loaded either .
You can ask Chris S , Darth Beaver and Uli , they have seen copy's of my x - rays to confirm the metalwork .
I'm not going to divolge on a "public" website about how much i'm coverd for or how much i pay but i promise you it's a damn sight more than $1500 or even £ 1500 i will say the yearly premium is less than that amount . I've got family that live in the states and they tell me the insurance situation is different in the USA but not that much on what you can get cover for .

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Life is what you make of it :-)

When i'm good i'm very good , but when i'm bad i'm shi#eloads better ;-) In't I " buttercups " p.m.s.l at authoritie !!;-)

It is a generational problem more than anything else, but when it is pointed out we get the BHL brigade complaining that we are denigrating the younger generation!

hate hate hate, is that all you have anymore?

And it isn't a generational problem. It is an issue between those who have lives and those who have no life. If you don't have a life then you don't have to be on a computer, er smart phone checking out your life 24/7/365.

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plus since I have 3 titanium screws in My left leg, cremation might be a problem...

No issue at all; pacemakers, radiation producing implants, silicone* implants, those are issues.

*saline is fine.

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WTF?
Forums & web site are being very contrary at present.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Well Dr Clyde & Mr Jekyll do make a fetching couple :-)

Oscar from outer space?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Seven earth sized plants discovers around a single star. Talk about a crowded neighborhood.

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The New Yorker dated 27th Feb 2017.

Today is 23rd Feb 2017.

Evidence of time travel?

No, just an attempt at buzz

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