Capitalism
The Climate Change Business
Before I start on the main body of this exercise, a few words on my background. On leaving school I joined, what at that time was one of the UK’s largest Power Engineering companies. Over [more…]
Technology
Engineering
Radioactivity And The Geiger Counter – Part 4
Three Geiger-Muller tubes. They look a bit like large electrical fuses. These were all made in Russia during the 1970s. The STS-5 is identical to the American SBM-20. It’s probably the most common Geiger tube [more…]
Engineering
Radioactivity And The Geiger Counter – Part 3
Before I get to making a Geiger counter I want to pay a quick visit to the opposite end of the radiation spectrum, all the the way from gamma rays to the shortwave. It’s interesting [more…]
Engineering
Radioactivity And The Geiger Counter – Part 2
At some point in the 1980s a certain Bob Boyd needed to use a lavatory. I suppose that we all do, from time-to-time. And, at some point in the 1800s, someone decided it a very [more…]
Engineering
Radioactivity And The Geiger Counter – Part 1
I would not say that I am afraid of science and technology but I do make an exception in certain areas: nuclear physics being one example. Firstly, it’s very dangerous to play with (duh!). Secondly, [more…]
20th Century
The Early Days of Computing, Part Two
I worked for Sweda Litton designing a POS (Point Of Sale) system for Boots The Chemists. The relevance for my future computing work is that I invented a table driven methodology for controlling POS terminals. [more…]
Arts
The Ovinet
Since the World Wide Web has become a conduit for the streaming of the received ‘wisdom’ of so many sheep, there’s a case for renaming it the Ovinet. The appropriateness (good LibFascist word that) of [more…]
20th Century
The Early Days of Computing, Part One
I started working with computers when computers started. Not quite but my first line of code was written in 1969 and loaded onto an Elliott 905 computer at Elliott Automation, Borehamwood. My last line of [more…]
Science
A day in the life of: SAP Test Manager
I am wary of writing this, as it may be boring, and unusually for me, contains no filth, but thought it may become something like the “Postcards From” articles we all write from time to [more…]