Global Internet Access

There appears to be a rash of billionaires announcing support for the idea of a global satellite-based internet service, for example: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/197711-elon-musk-unveils-new-plan-to-circle-to-earth-in-satellites-for-fast-low-latency-internet

I would wager that if we have had good affordable internet in our first-world abodes, the wealthy would not be so inclined to think of such schemes. Like as like not, for a new third-party to compete on the ground is practically impossible due to legal red tape and so the space option becomes the most practical, in spite of being a bit inefficient. It's easy to imagine the Elon Musks of the world venting frustration about lack of coverage or simply being unable to cancel Comcast without losing sanity...

Of course, when the time comes, the legacy telcos will complain about unfair competition from these upstarts and will campaign for government hand-outs to help modernise their networks; something which they should already be doing instead of accumulating profit and giving the money to their directors and shareholders.

It will be curious to see what happens. Ideally, the telcos will see the light; otherwise, I won't lose any sleep as their networks decay into obsolescence.

Fox news Christian terrorists

Christian terrorist Jeanine Pirro, calling for a jihad/crusade to mass murder other people because other places which have tried mass murder worked out great.

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/12/7533159/fox-news-pirro-rant

I'm all for free speech except when it's threats, advocating violence or inciting violence.

Unlike the fox gaffe earlier this week, this is not funny.

#FoxNewsFacts

Oh, how editing standards at The Guardian has fallen.

The Guardian posted this article, entitled: Women, beware this PUA army of sleazebags, saddos and weirdos by Hadley Freeman

"They’re sci-fi saddos; they’re World of Warcraft weirdos"

As someone who enjoys sci-fi and whose name is in the credits for more than one WoW game, this is inappropriate offensive mischaracterization. Some people are jerks because that is simply what they are and it has nothing to do with what fiction genre they enjoy or what computer games they have played.
I guess The Guardian is becoming just another sleazy tabloid with ineffective editors.

#TheGuardian

Originally posted at Facebook

The right tool for the job...

I've just thought of a great analogy for something:

Imagine that a team has an OKR:

• Objective: Secure a piece of wood to another piece of wood.
• Key Results:
  1. Select a suitable fastener.
  2. Select a suitable tool.
  3. Fasten the pieces of wood together.

---

The team chooses a good wood screw.
The team chooses a good electric screwdriver.

The two items are designed to work together.

---

The team puts the wood screw into the hole.
The team then proceeds to use the electric screwdriver as a hammer,
hammering the screw into the hole.
Bits of the electric screwdriver shatter. The head of the screw is mangled.

OKR objective and key results achieved.

---

Now imagine that someone needs to fix this, afterwards.

W the hell is "Cyberinfrastructure"(aka I expected better from the IEEE Computer Society Magazine)

We live in a strange era of "tubes", "Engrish" and "Yet Another Invented Word Misusing Word Stems".

What is the subject of my wrath? Quite simple really.... The use of the prefix "cyber-" to mean "The Inter-Network".

Cyber-this... Cyber-that... What a load of rubbish. It is diluting the real meaning of Cybernetics, which is the science of feedback and control engineering.

And this rubbish word "Cyberinfrastructure", as seen at the top of page 40 of the January 2009 edition of the IEEE Computer Society magazine "Computer", is a case of a few people wanting to sound "smarter" by abusing a word used in science and engineering.

To me, they have just made themselves sound less educated.
Instead of the abomnation "cyberinfrastructure", why not use "network infrastructure" or "data grid".

Bah!

You may choose to blame my rant on the fact that I have a degree in Cybernetics.