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Bernie Vine Send message Joined: 26 May 99 Posts: 9956 Credit: 103,452,613 RAC: 328 |
The Northern Line issue is an electronic failure. So technology is at fault because it fails? Systems such as mass transit need to be designed by "humans" not to have "single point failures", but that is of course expensive, so the "cheaper" design is used and it fails. We are seeing too much reliance on cheaply designed and engineered systems that have single points of failure, Gatwick yesterday, Underground today. Whatever the cause , it was designed and built by humans, they are, and always will be the weak link in the chain. Spend less get a weaker chain |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
Fair point. However, in the past there were weekly traffic circulars. All that had to be done was end running earlier the night before & start later the next morning. Permanent Way crews worked through the night & more often than not finished on schedule. Done for many years in the past & I believe using "cheaper" systems. What changed? After Moorgate in Feb 75, the whole network had "delta track" rolled out without a fuss. Since then many other upgrades & rollouts were completed, more often using "cheap" systems. Of course there were teething problems, but not to the extent we have been seeing for the past few years. Certainly none that shut a whole line down or caused severe delays. |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
Visited that signal box while waiting to be allocated my depot in 74. Nice to see it become a heritage site. That's a fairly important junction as it covers 3 lines - District/Hammersmith & City/Metropolitan & Circle. There have been many incidents when all aspects of the system were fully manned. The system operates on a timetable which allows those destination boards one sees at stations. Ever wondered why there have been times that they are off? That's because there was a serious enough incident that puts the timetable out of action. That has sometimes meant that some trains either had to be cancelled or terminated early to enable the timetable to get back on track. Sometimes those incidents forced train crews to be vigilant, for example, on several occasions, arrived at a semi-automatic signal (junction) & wrong road set, had to contact signalman to inform him of our train number & destination so that he could set the correct road. How will full automation handle timetables out of kilter? Ah, the trains will have sensors with seamless communication with signal box/control centre. :-) Ah but what if incidents like Boeing's AoA sensors occur? Food for thought. Edgware Road Signalman & box to retire |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30930 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
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Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
What would happen if GPS - the Global Positioning System - stopped working?Getting from A to B The American taxpayer puts up the billion-odd dollars a year it takes to keep GPS going, and that's very kind of them. But is it wise for the rest of the world to rely on their continued largesse?Surprised that tRump hasn't jumped on the bandwagon a la NATO demands. :-) |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
The Internet is Information Technology is it not? I've always thought this: 8 bits = 1 byte 1024 bytes - 1 Kb 1024 Kb = 1Mb 1024 Mb = 1Gb 1024 Gb - I Tb 1 terabyte is equal to 1000 gigabytes.. However, in terms of information technology or computer science, 1 TB is 1024 gigabytes.Reporting hiccups? Utopia on the way. :-) |
Mr. Kevvy Send message Joined: 15 May 99 Posts: 3797 Credit: 1,114,826,392 RAC: 3,319 |
The usual terminology to distinguish powers-of-ten from powers-of-two data sizes is "Kib", "MiB", "GiB", "TiB" for power-of-ten versus "KB", "MB", "GB", "TB" for powers-of-two. By that: 1,024 bytes = 1 KB, 1,024 KB = 1 MB, 1,024 MB = 1 GB, 1,024 GB = 1 TB whereas: 1,000 bytes = 1 KiB, 1,000 KiB = 1 MiB, 1,000 MiB = 1 GiB, 1,000 GiB = 1 TiB |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
Knew that but as the article refers to the Internet, isn't that Information Technology, In which case, your first line is correct. Again, standards of reporting dropping. |
ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20996 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20 |
The Internet is Information Technology is it not? That is only understood by the 'techno-geeks' that understand what binary is. To avoid confusion with the base-10 SI units, the binary (base-2) equivalents are specially distinguished as:
1 terabyte is equal to 1000 gigabytes.. However, in terms of information technology or computer science, 1 TB is 1024 gigabytes.Reporting hiccups? There is a silly game played by Marketing to use the (smaller sized) base-10 units so as to inflate the numbers given for whatever technology... Hence, why Market something as 0.9 GiB when you can instead boast of 1 GByte?... That is all very annoying and misleading, especially so for such as disk drives and network connections... All the usual Marketing lies and obfuscation... All in our only one world, Martin [edit] Typo fixed! [/edit] See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30930 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
All the usual Marketing lies and obfuscation... A bug is a feature as described by the marketing department. |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
I bet that Boeing is beginning to hate that fact. :-)All the usual Marketing lies and obfuscation... |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30930 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-used-google-location-data-find-accused-bank-robber-he-n1086836 Security footage showed the man holding a cellphone to his ear just before the robbery, a detail that led police to attempt a surveillance technique that is growing in popularity among American law enforcement agencies. |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
Ain't technology grand. :-( Just noticed the fall donation thread & seen my green star disappeared, oops. Clicked donate & entered info - card failed. ??? Problem with new card? Never mind, got a good memory for numbers. Entered old card details (expires 01/20) donation accepted, Confirmation no 496701. New card received last week & unlike the previous one which started from 02/17 expires 01/20, it started from 11/19 & expires 01/23. Before anyone mentions it, no I didn't get the details mixed up. :-) Just off the phone to bank who stated that card should work as it's valid on their system. Who to believe? The bank or my eyes? UCB definitely rejected new but accepted the old. Will find out later when shopping. Preparing for some embarrassment as old card destroyed. :-( That was fast. :-) |
ML1 Send message Joined: 25 Nov 01 Posts: 20996 Credit: 7,508,002 RAC: 20 |
Ain't technology grand. :-( Before being enabled for online use or for any 'touch/contactless' payments, some banks now require you to physically use a new card in an ATM or for some chip + pin purchase whereby you validate your new card by physically using your pin with it. Hope you've not lost too much time with the card swap! Good luck! Martin See new freedom: Mageia Linux Take a look for yourself: Linux Format The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3) |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
Before being enabled for online use or for any 'touch/contactless' payments, some banks now require you to physically use a new card in an ATM or for some chip + pin purchase whereby you validate your new card by physically using your pin with it.That is what actually happened. My mistake was that with all cards previously, they all came with a new pin. This one didn't as pin is the same unless one requests a new one. So it's my mistake. Learn something new every day. :-) |
Wiggo Send message Joined: 24 Jan 00 Posts: 36366 Credit: 261,360,520 RAC: 489 |
Yes I found out a few months ago that my new card required an eftpos transaction using its debit facility and physically inserting the card into the machine and then typing in the pin to get it to work for the 1st time. Cheers. |
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
Hope you've not lost too much time with the card swap!Stop jinxing me. :-) Red faced not once, not twice but 3 times today. Called bank. nothing wrong with account, no issues seen so far on card. Tried once more, got a printout, went to bank, it failed on their machines. Faulty card, so they've ordered me a new one. :-) New card destroyed. Got to give the bank credit. They were pretty good. By the time I removed the card from their counter machine, new one had been ordered. I normally destroy old one as soon as replacement received, thank gawd I didn't this time around. :-) |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30930 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
https://slate.com/technology/2019/11/priest-rabbi-robot-walk-into-bar-religion-technology.html Frank Teller is the ambitious pastor of a Texas megachurch so successful that many of its members live in “intentional communities†owned by the church. The church uses customer service chatbots to manage basic community requests. But Teller doesn’t like it when a bot recommends “reflection and mindfulness†in response to his granddaughter’s request for prayer. He wants David and Mark to design a custom A.I. that incorporates conservative evangelical language and priorities: “We need A.I.s that share our values.†|
Sirius B Send message Joined: 26 Dec 00 Posts: 24906 Credit: 3,081,182 RAC: 7 |
The latest update hasn't deleted the data, but it has changed its location and rendered it impossible to find.Oh dear |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30930 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
The latest update hasn't deleted the data, but it has changed its location and rendered it impossible to find.Oh dear Oh, My, not just M$ |
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