Off Topic The "That's interesting"/geek thread

Quite fascinating.

This is the way children are taught to multiply in Japan.

 

NASA's new Nuclear Fission powered Space Engines.

Pretty cool and approaching the stuff of Star Trek.

 

It's coming.....and it's keeping me busy.....thousands of sites to upgrade or build!!

Vodafone switches on 5G network in seven UK cities
By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter

• 3 July 2019

please log in to view this image

5G could be used as a replacement for fixed home broadband as well as offering new services such as virtual reality
Vodafone has become the second UK mobile operator to turn on its 5G network, offering faster speeds and the opportunity for new services.

The network is going live in seven UK cities, including Cardiff, London, Manchester and Glasgow.

Making a success of the service could be crucial to the firm which has seen financial losses and customer complaints in recent years.

5G networks offer more capacity than 4G with speeds up to 100 times faster.

It could also help support new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, robotics, connected cities and self-driving cars.

The three other cities to benefit are Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool.

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

Twelve additional towns and cities will follow later this year - Birkenhead, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Guildford, Newbury, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington and Wolverhampton.

Vodafone is the first UK provider to offer 5G roaming in Germany, Spain and Italy.

Business director of Vodafone UK, Anne Sheehan, said: "5G is a game-changer for the economy and UK businesses. We are committed to helping our customers take advantage of this technology by making it widely available in the UK and through roaming. We want to help UK businesses become global leaders and 5G will play an important role in achieving that aim."

Vodafone is offering three pricing options for SIM only:

• Unlimited Max: £30 per month, giving users unlimited mobile access at speeds as fast as the device and the network will allow.

• Vodafone Unlimited: £26 per month and offering speeds of up to 10 Mbps (megabits per second)

• Vodafone Unlimited Lite: £23 per month and offers speeds of up to 2 Mbps

Tariffs that are structured by data speed are "a first for the UK" said mobile analyst Kester Mann, of research firm CCS Insight.

As such, Vodafone will need to explain this to customers who are "only just beginning to understand the value of megabytes and gigabytes".

The total cost of a 5G Samsung Galaxy S10 and two-year contract is £1,637 ($2,062) for Vodafone's cheapest advertised tariff.

To encourage small businesses to take up 5G services, Vodafone is offering a series of new plans that give business customers access to unlimited data and 5G at the same price as 4G.

• 5G is finally here. So what does it offer?
• EE launches 5G network

Rival Three plans to roll out 5G in August with services from O2 coming in the autumn.

"After a hotly contested battle with Vodafone, EE claimed the honour of switching on the UK's first 5G network, in May 2019. However, the reality is that being first means little to consumers and the initial launches this summer represent only the first few tentative steps in a marathon 5G journey ahead," said Mr Mann.

"The real winners in 5G will only become apparent several years down the line."

The UK has put itself at the top of the leader board with its swift adoption of the technology.

"In 2012, the UK was only the 53rd nation to launch 4G behind places such as Guam, Azerbaijan and Kiribati. Now, with all four networks planning to switch on 5G in 2019 it moves from laggard to leader," said Mr Mann.

All the UK's operators continue to use Huawei's equipment despite controversy surrounding the Chinese telecoms firm. If the UK government decides it is no longer safe to rely on having it as part of the network, the operators would be forced to strip out its kit and replace it

 

Check out the pitch.......some of you may need subtitles!!

BBC Scotland - A View from the Terrace, Series 1, Episode 6, One of the most remarkable places to play football in the world — welcome to Eriskay FC https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p075m7fh

 

please log in to view this image

A short video taken from a boat just north of France, at Tesgo point, it shows Air France Concorde F-BVFA on its LAST ever flight, flying empty too Washington, it's retirement home, Here you can see and hear F-BVFA breaking the sound barrier for it's last time causing a loud double bang from the shock wave created by the aircraft flying at Mach 2.

This is the Air France Concorde reg F-BVFA making that sonic boom in the youtube link

please log in to view this image

And in it's resting place...

please log in to view this image

 

A great read if you remember the excitement of the Apollo Moon landings.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190704-apollo-in-50-numbers-the-technology

 

I was one month old and my dad kept me awake to watch the moon landings so I could say that I saw it.....even though I have no recollection (obviously....)

 

I was slightly older and remember it well.

The disappointment was that it was really difficult to see the live transmissions from the moon on a black and white tv. All dark with many shadows.

Very exciting times. I still would love to be an “Astronaut”.

 

Jodrell Bank gains Unesco World Heritage status

• 7 hours ago

please log in to view this image

The Lovell Telescope forms the centrepiece of the Jodrell Bank site
Jodrell Bank Observatory has been declared a Unesco World Heritage Site.

It has been at the forefront of astronomical research since its inception in 1945 and tracked US and Russian craft during the space race.

The site in Cheshire is part of the University of Manchester. It is dominated by the landmark Lovell Telescope.

It joins the ancient Iraqi city of Babylon and other locations that have been added to the prestigious list.

please log in to view this image

Soviet cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky (left), who went on three space flights, met Jodrell Bank founder Sir Bernard Lovell in 1967
The UN World Heritage Committee is meeting in Azerbaijan until 10 July to decide on the latest sites to be given the honour - awarded to areas considered to be important for the whole of humanity, which will be protected by international treaties.

Scientific research began at Jodrell Bank Observatory in 1945 when the physicist Sir Bernard Lovell came to the University of Manchester.

The site pioneered the then new science of radio astronomy, which used radio waves instead of visible light to understand the universe.

please log in to view this image

Jodrell Bank Observatory

please log in to view this image

The Lovell Telescope was almost not completed as its construction ran over budget

• The Lovell Telescope, which was the world's largest telescope when it was completed in 1957, is now the third largest
• Jodrell Bank was on standby as the UK's early warning system against any potential nuclear attack during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
• The Lovell Telescope tracked the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon in 1966, printing the first picture from the lunar surface
• It is so sensitive that mobile phone use on the site is normally forbidden and the staff microwave oven is shielded by a metal box to prevent interference
• The site featured in BBC's Stargazing Live series, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who

please log in to view this image

The site's new accolade marks the end of a decade-long bid to gain World Heritage status, following a 2010 application to be included on the UK's nominations shortlist.

Professor Teresa Anderson, director of the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, said: "This is wonderful news and a great day in the history of Jodrell Bank.

"It honours the pioneering work of Sir Bernard Lovell and the early scientists here, together with the world-leading research that continues to this day."

Skip Twitter post by @_TeresaAnderson
"); background-position: 16px 13px; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); border-radius: 4px; font-weight: initial; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; visibility: visible; display: block; position: static; transform: rotate(0deg); max-width: 100%; width: 500px; min-width: 220px;">

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

Prof Teresa Anderson@_TeresaAnderson


So.... that's it! We did it!@jodrellbank is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site....
Nearly 10 years after @ProfTimOB & I began the process, it was a privilege to hear the gavel come down on the decision. Huge thanks to everyone who helped us along the way.

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

722
9:50 AM - Jul 7, 2019

205 people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy


Report
End of Twitter post by @_TeresaAnderson

A University of Manchester spokeswoman said the observatory fulfilled the judges' criteria, which included being "a masterpiece of human creative genius", due to its scientific achievements.

please log in to view this image

Image copyrightUNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
Image captionSir Bernard Lovell (centre) and his researchers were among the pioneers of radio astronomy
Jodrell Bank also hosts the headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array, an international project to create the world's largest radio telescope by linking thousands of dishes and receivers across Africa and Australia.

You may also like:

• Total solar eclipse hits South America
• Electric cars 'will not solve transport problem'
• Nasa to fly drone helicopter on Saturn moon

The observatory is among 32 sites in the UK - including Stonehenge and the Giant's Causeway - to receive World Heritage status and joins a list of 1,100 sites worldwide.

More than 185,000 people visit Jodrell Bank annually.

please log in to view this image

Image Copyright @ProfBrianCox@PROFBRIANCOX
Report
In 2018, the University of Manchester was granted £12.1m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £4m from the government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport for a new discovery centre at the observatory.

Heritage Minister Rebecca Pow said: "The research completed here has transformed our understanding of the universe and it is right that this is recognised.

"Today's announcement will make sure that this remarkable site will continue to inspire young scientists and astronomers all over the world

 

Amazing!

Been there. Seen it. Studied Physics there.

But I did not expect such an accolade!

Thanks for posting!

 

Earliest modern human found outside Africa

please log in to view this image

Image copyright Katerina Harvati, Eberhard Karls Uni Tüb
Image caption Apidima 1 (shown here in a reconstruction) has all the characteristics of a modern human skull
Researchers have found the earliest example of our species (modern humans) outside Africa.
A skull unearthed in Greece has been dated to 210,000 years ago, at a time when Europe was occupied by the Neanderthals.
The sensational discovery adds to evidence of an earlier migration of people from Africa that left no trace in the DNA of people alive today.
The findings are published in the journal Nature.
Researchers uncovered two significant fossils in Apidima Cave in Greece in the 1970s.
One was very distorted and the other incomplete, however, and it took computed tomography scanning and uranium-series dating to unravel their secrets.
The more complete skull appears to be a Neanderthal. But the other shows clear characteristics, such as a rounded back to the skull, diagnostic of modern humans.
Modern humans left Africa much earlier
What's more, the Neanderthal skull was younger.
"Now our scenario was that there was an early modern group in Greece by 210,000 years ago, perhaps related to comparable populations in the Levant, but it was subsequently replaced by a Neanderthal population (represented by Apidima 2) by about 170,000 years ago," said co-author Prof Chris Stringer, from London's Natural History Museum.

please log in to view this image

Image caption Apidima 2 appears to be a Neanderthal and is later than the modern human skull
People living outside Africa today trace their ancestry to a migration that left the continent 60,000 years ago.
As these modern humans expanded across Eurasia, they largely replaced other species they encountered, such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans.
But this wasn't the first migration of modern humans (Homo sapiens) from Africa.
Homo sapiens fossils from Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel were dated in the 1990s to between 90,000 and 125,000 years ago.
These were viewed as anomalies - a brief foray outside our African homeland that came to very little.
However, in recent years, we've come to understand that our species ranged outside Africa even earlier and further than we'd previously believed.
In the last few years, palaeontologists have discovered modern human fossils from Daoxian and Zhirendong in China dating to between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago.
DNA studies have turned up signs of early interbreeding between African humans and Neanderthals. Evidence from German Neanderthals shows that mixing occurred between 219,000 and 460,000 years ago, although it's not clear if Homo sapiens was involved, or another early African group.

 

This article on the early Homo Sapiens made me smile as it is very much in line with the introduction in this book which I am currently reading.

please log in to view this image

The book "sub-title" is great and I would not be surprised if towards the end of the book there is a paragraph on the R's.

I can't recommend this book as I have not yet finished it, so I am justifyng the reason not to post on the "Review" thread ... but I know that is damn good!

 

Anyone been to Changi airport in Singapore?

You can use a slide to go through a checkpoint in Singapore's Changi Airport. Seriously. - Culture - Mashable SEA https://sea.mashable.com/culture/49...kpoint-in-singapores-changi-airport-seriously

 

had my duty free confiscated there last year

 

Half a million sign up to raid Area 51 and 'see them aliens'
Conspiracy theorists say the US government is hiding aliens and UFOs from them - now they are determined to find the evidence.
Saturday 13 July 2019 05:38, UK

Half a million people have signed up to "storm" a US military base that conspiracy theorists say holds alien technology.

The event is called Storm Area 51: They Can't Stop All Of Us and says: "We will all meet up at the Area 51 Alien Center tourist attraction and coordinate our entry.

"If we naruto run, we can move faster than their bullets. Let's see them aliens."

Naruto run is the unique running style of Naruto Uzumaki, the star of the Japanese anime series Naruto who sprints with his arms stretched behind him.

The event, set for 20 September, is likely a joke. Its creator is best-known for posting memes and streaming content on Twitch, a live streaming platform for gamers, according to comicbook.com.

According to US media, the Air Force is aware of the Facebook post but is not commenting further.

Area 51 is about 150 miles from Las Vegas, it is not open to the public and is under 24-hour surveillance.

The remote 4,000-square-mile patch of desert was first used for the development of U2 spy planes in the 1950s.

That programme finished after the U2 was put into service around 1956 and the base has since been used for testing other military aircraft.

please log in to view this image

Image:In 1996 the highway near Area 51 was named after the numerous claims of UFO sightings that have made it famous

please log in to view this image

Image:Anyone who shows up should be more worried about the desert than the guards
But conspiracy theorists say the site has also been used to store remains of crashed UFOs and other alien technology.

The US government's official line is that what happens at Area 51 is classified for the purpose of national security.

But that and the fact that they only acknowledged the base's existence in 2013 has only fuelled the speculation.

Peter Merlin, a US aerospace historian who has written extensively about Area 51, told NBC News that the facility is "strictly a place for testing and evaluating aircraft and associated weapons systems".

He also said that anyone who shows up on 20 September may find themselves more at risk from the unforgiving desert terrain rather than the bullets of those who guard the facility.

"The security guards could just sit back and wait," he said. "They don't have to do anything if they don't want to. The desert will take care of these people."

 

A slightly long, but great read on how the “Black Box” recorder was invented.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49012771

 

That has actually blown my mind and gonna try to show my little ‘uns who struggle with maths

 

Is that something they’ve inherited from their dad?