[Ed P]

There are more types of speed trap than you can shake a stick at. See the drop down ‘Types of Speed Traps’ on this LINK. Beware especially of the ‘grey poles’ Truvelo’ which is shown on the link..

I personally have no issue with speed traps as such except in two cases:

a) Inappropriate speed limits. This works both ways. I’d like to see more 20mph zones around schools etc, but I also think there is a strong case for increasing motorway speeds.

b) When inappropriate speed limits are used for gathering revenue.

 

[Ed P]

I think the CIA box of tricks is in a different category as now they are now in the public domain or worse. How long before the crims start using them?

[Ed P]

What is a shame is that the tech companies will not sign off on fixing the leaks so Wikileaks has not given them to Google et al. LINK

[Ed P]

They tend to be a LOT more strict on the so-called ‘Smart’ average speed sections as it obviously is not a minor incursion when overtaking, but a more deliberate attempt to push the limits. Do a 78 indicated average over a section and the cameras WILL give you a ticket (always assuming the cameras are in service).

[Ed P]

Before you put in too much effort I’d strongly suggest that you check if the Polish language can actually be displayed on a Kindle. Download one of the copyright free Polish classics as an epub and import it into a Kindle.

[Ed P]

Very nice – I wish I did not find the Blender interface so unintuitive compared with the ‘classic’ modelling/rendering interfaces based on Lightwave/Renderman etc.

[Ed P]

I personally find that a good high dpi pad is just as good as a Kindle, better in fact for text books containing illustrations. I’ll concede that Kindles are better in bright sunlight.  However this is all moot for Polish books, as a Kindle is not really much good if the words are all transliterated. It makes reading a real chore if the characters are mere approximations or worse show as black boxes. LINK

[Ed P]

Don’t forget the bog-standard epubs. It is a doddle to put them on a Kindle. However, Kindle may provide problems as I’m not sure if it has a Polish character set.

[Ed P]

Tell him he can also do it on-line using the same  Zxing

 

[Ed P]

Buy her a Fire tablet for her birthday. Keep an eye on Amazon offers, the Fire is quite often in their heavily discounted range.

[Ed P]

While I agree with Richard, you have to be a lot more organised if others do your packing or you will almost certainly get the wrong stuff in each box. This can be disastrous if you have three shipments (an air ship, a sea ship and store.). Air ship is supposed to be for the stuff you will need within days, and store is for things that remain behind – maybe for the next longer term posting. You can guess what can happen – Murphy rules!!!

[Ed P]

“I have no idea how the heck you would use a phone to pay.”

We set up an account, details on the link, then you can use a phone. You can prepay in this way too. I have never tried to  use cash as I did not trust my ability to find the requisite outlet at a place/time that suited me.

[Ed P]

Good article in Ars. Spoiler – Ryzen is OKish but needs to be cheap to make up for its lack of clock speed. Good for someone on a budget, or graphics/multimedia workstation work but not the best on the block for gaming.

[Ed P]

If you are using the Dartford crossing you must pay by midnight on the following day. More or less on-line only so you need a smart phone or pay in advance.(details in link). Quite frankly the Essex/Kent section of the M25 is a pig with respect to timing a journey. I now add on 30 minutes to the expected journey time to give some contingency. The anti-clockwise route is a bit better in that respect, but the speed restrictions are irrational and controlled by some traffic cop with a malicious sense of humour. (the ‘smart’ bit refers to cramming on more cars than the roads were designed to take, and certainly not to the way it is implemented!)

[Ed P]

Good luck – make sure you label each box with its contents, and first on the van is the last off. i.e. kettle & tea/coffee should be last on!

[Ed P]

The secret of painting plastic is put the correct primer on first! Without primer you risk the paint peeling off on its own.

[Ed P]

My comment on Windws 10 comms was somewhat different. If Windows 10 cannot make a connection it will sometimes ‘freeze’ the system until a timeout has expired. The causes are probably some sort of contention between Win10 spyware and certain programs – Acronis and McCrappy are often mentioned.

netsh winsock reset is the ‘solution’ recommended to other caeses where winsock corruption is a suspected cause .

[Ed P]

The medical data of the UK has already been sold off. link

I have now lost the links but at one time it was possible for anyone to peruse (dummy) data at each level of authority. While I was initially outraged at UK health data being sold off to the Yanks, I was less concerned once I had a play with it. I think it would probably be possible to identify individuals in some rare circumstances but only if the individual had a fairly rare (but obvious) complaint or lived in a very isolated area.

[edit] I do not think I have a major disagreement with you on the accumulation of data by the Government. Where you and I differ is on ‘trust’. You appear to believe that deterrence is a sufficient control, whereas I want an independent person of known probity  to hold the access keys – and certainly NOT Government appointed toadies. I want this not so much because I distrust politicians (though any sane person should), but because information is power, and power corrupts. I therefore distrust anyone and everyone associated with the processing or oversight of these systems.

Anyone who has done a night-shift in a computer centre and witnessed the ransacking of HR files that takes place will know why I have such little trust in human nature or sanctions that apply only IF the perpetrator is caught.

[Ed P]

I found the bit on page 14 interesting, but I’m not sure what it means in real-world terms. Does this mean extra bus i/o or does it mean that i/o could screw up cpu performance. I’d love to see a review of (say) Skyrim playing within a VirtualBox vm. Intel i7s eat it up, but I’m not so sure about Ryzen. iwik

[Ed P]

Ah – sorry I misunderstood your comment. I agree, Windows 10 comms is total CARP!

[Author]

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