On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 12:40:35PM +0000, d wrote:

Not that straightforward I wouldn't have thought. Trains don't suffer
turbulence or bank at 20 degrees. Keeping a lock on must be an interesting
problem.

If the plane is banking, that information could, presumably, be made
available to the fancy satellite doo-dad.

Turbulence? Meh, ignore it. Assume that the pilots (both robotic and
human) will do a good enough job of keeping the plane straight and level
that you'll be able to easily re-acquire the satellite signal before the
connections time out.

Or you could drive the dish using signals from accelerometers and a GPS,
completely isolating it from the avionics and coping with turbulence
too. Modern servos and accelerometers can react *very* quickly (eg in
car suspensions), and the margin of error on GPS - including the huge
vertical error - is still well within the limits needed to point a
dish at a satellite a squillion miles away.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

Languages for which ISO-Latin-$n is not necessary, #1 in a series:

Latin

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2011-09-11, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 08:51:44 on Sun, 11 Sep
2011, Huge remarked:

There was an announcement many months ago that mobile phone coverage
below ground would not be implemented.

Hurrah!

It's a disincentive to use the tube,

Tosh.

Besides, it's not as much of a disincentive as having the crap kicked out
of you by your enraged fellow travellers.

I'd like to see the use of telephones banned altogether on public
transport.

Pathetic.

My first use of a portable phone in 1986 was to arrange rendez-vous (albeit
at an airport) and I use calls and texts to coordinate meeting people off
trains and the online train progress web pages to track where the person I
am meeting is.

Anyway one should be able to use VOIP or UMA to make calls.

On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:13:56 +0100
"R. Mark Clayton" wrote:
My first use of a portable phone in 1986 was to arrange rendez-vous (albeit
at an airport) and I use calls and texts to coordinate meeting people off
trains and the online train progress web pages to track where the person I
am meeting is.

So you're a minicab driver then.

B2003

In message , at 21:06:08 on Tue, 13 Sep
2011, Huge remarked:
The sad, desperate ******s whose lives are so empty they cannot live
without mobile phone services for a few minutes are definitely pathetic.

Alternatively, there's the people whose lives are also so empty and have
such little interaction with others, that they'll never be missed going
"off the grid" for a couple of hours, never have meetings that might be
cancelled or rearranged at short notice, and never have the courtesy to
tell anyone they might be late because of a delay on the train.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:16:43 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
Alternatively, there's the people whose lives are also so empty and have
such little interaction with others, that they'll never be missed going
"off the grid" for a couple of hours, never have meetings that might be

Its only insecure or egotistical types who need to be in touch all the time
because they think they'll be forgotten about or the world will fall apart
without them otherwise. These are generally teenage traits but some people
never grow out of them. At Huge said, its a bit sad.

cancelled or rearranged at short notice, and never have the courtesy to

Any meeting that is cancelled at short notice is obviously not very important
which means the job of the person going to it isn't very important either.

B2003

In message , at 09:42:02 on Wed, 14 Sep
2011, d remarked:

Alternatively, there's the people whose lives are also so empty and have
such little interaction with others, that they'll never be missed going
"off the grid" for a couple of hours, never have meetings that might be

Its only insecure or egotistical types who need to be in touch all the time
because they think they'll be forgotten about or the world will fall apart
without them otherwise. These are generally teenage traits but some people
never grow out of them. At Huge said, its a bit sad.

In today's complex world, being out of touch does make things fall apart
in many people's employment. How often have we moaned about delays on
the railways getting out of hand (after an incident) because managers
can't be contacted to give authority to sort things out?

cancelled or rearranged at short notice, and never have the courtesy to

Any meeting that is cancelled at short notice is obviously not very important
which means the job of the person going to it isn't very important either.

More nonsense I'm afraid. Let's say you are going to a job interview
that's both very important for you, and important for the employer (they
undoubtedly need to find someone for the job). But the person conducting
the interview is stuck on a train[1] that's broken down. They don't know
when they'll be released[2], it's getting late, so they suggest the
interview is postponed until tomorrow.

[1] I heard about someone interviewed for a job the other day whose
interviewer had travelled from East London to Oxford for the purpose.
[2] Three hours seems a typical figure.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:22:28 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In today's complex world, being out of touch does make things fall apart
in many people's employment. How often have we moaned about delays on
the railways getting out of hand (after an incident) because managers
can't be contacted to give authority to sort things out?

If a manager on duty can't be contacted from any significant period of time
via a land line during an incident then he should be sacked for incompetance
and dereliction of duty. End of.

undoubtedly need to find someone for the job). But the person conducting
the interview is stuck on a train[1] that's broken down. They don't know
when they'll be released[2], it's getting late, so they suggest the
interview is postponed until tomorrow.

Thats slightly different. I'm talking about people who pathologically can't
be out of touch or they start getting twitchy and stressed.

B2003

In message , at 11:15:47 on Wed, 14 Sep
2011, d remarked:

In today's complex world, being out of touch does make things fall apart
in many people's employment. How often have we moaned about delays on
the railways getting out of hand (after an incident) because managers
can't be contacted to give authority to sort things out?

If a manager on duty can't be contacted from any significant period of time
via a land line during an incident then he should be sacked for incompetance
and dereliction of duty. End of.

Except we have moved to a world where mobile phones are just as (if not
more) prevalent than landlines.

Thirty years ago, as a manager, it was expected that I had a secretary
whose almost sole function was to make my appointments and know were I
was all the time - so an incoming call could be routed to a nearby
landline. Today, not only has that post been abolished, I'm supposed to
answer my own mobile phone when it rings!

undoubtedly need to find someone for the job). But the person conducting
the interview is stuck on a train[1] that's broken down. They don't know
when they'll be released[2], it's getting late, so they suggest the
interview is postponed until tomorrow.

Thats slightly different. I'm talking about people who pathologically can't
be out of touch or they start getting twitchy and stressed.

That's a different class of people, I was talking about those who are
travelling to meetings. It's one of the few reasons people travel,
surprisingly enough.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 11:24:48 on Wed, 14 Sep
2011, Huge remarked:

In today's complex world, being out of touch does make things fall apart
in many people's employment. How often have we moaned about delays on
the railways getting out of hand (after an incident) because managers
can't be contacted to give authority to sort things out?

Never.

We moan a lot.

Your chain of command is broken.

So your solution is to break it even more by banning mobile phones?
--
Roland Perry

d wrote:

On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:22:28 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In today's complex world, being out of touch does make things fall apart
in many people's employment. How often have we moaned about delays on
the railways getting out of hand (after an incident) because managers
can't be contacted to give authority to sort things out?

If a manager on duty can't be contacted from any significant period of time
via a land line during an incident then he should be sacked for incompetance
and dereliction of duty. End of.

undoubtedly need to find someone for the job). But the person conducting
the interview is stuck on a train[1] that's broken down. They don't know
when they'll be released[2], it's getting late, so they suggest the
interview is postponed until tomorrow.

Thats slightly different. I'm talking about people who pathologically can't
be out of touch or they start getting twitchy and stressed.


This applies mainly to people who are so obsessed with technology that
they think everyone else is equally obsessed. This obsession clouds
their judgement to such an extent that they make up fantasy stories to
justify their petty obsession.

Obviously, I'm speaking in general terms here, and not about anyone in
particular. ;-)