Discussion:
Electrostatic actuators to move robots legs...
(too old to reply)
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-12 05:00:38 UTC
Permalink
Artificial muscles propel a robotic leg to walk and jump:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm

quote:
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
Cursitor Doom
2024-09-12 09:45:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-12 10:27:07 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 09:45:30 -0000 (UTC)) it happened Cursitor
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jan Panteltje
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
You could use gravity to fill the tubes up again with fluid when voltage is removed?
Or use an other compressed tube to push fluid into the empty one that has now voltage removed
Building up the voltages takes energy.

But now, as to that mystery
electron orbiting an atomic core, what keeps it going?
Charge attraction,
right distance and speed keeps it in orbit.
you can say an object in space that is at the right distance and speed from a planet is in an eternal fall.
gravity keeps it in orbit
But there is a similarity there,
is this the same force in an other form.
Just a thought experiment
Our Jeroen from CERN man has referred to a paper that has the whole universe filled with fluid
the math seems to work out it says.

Drifting from subject a bit...
There is a lot of fun in fishicks
Jeff Layman
2024-09-12 10:34:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jan Panteltje
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?

Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
--
Jeff
Jeroen Belleman
2024-09-12 12:43:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.

I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.

Jeroen Belleman
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-13 04:49:16 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Jeroen Belleman
2024-09-13 10:14:32 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
CERN is about fundamental, not applied, research. It doesn't spend
trillions either. Its annual budget is about 1.2 billion. It provides
the hardware and infrastructure for high energy physics research.
Many thousands of scientists flock together there to use its facilities.

The results of high energy research may have been a bit disappointing
lately. That's the nature of fundamental research. You don't know if
you'll find something immediately useful.

The real purpose of CERN is to gather and keep an active community
of smart minds in Europe. This produces plenty of spin-offs that
eventually contribute to a dynamic and innovative economy. Money
spent by CERN directly benefits thousands of businesses in all of
its member states and beyond. Many start-ups are created by CERN
alumni or by other enterprising individuals who perceive the
opportunities.

Nations apparently still appreciate CERN. The number of member
states is steadily increasing. The current count is 24, but ten
more are still in the pipeline. Even non-member states get to
cooperate in its projects. Japan, the USA, and until recently
Russia have contributed hugely and eagerly. Most nations of the
world have international cooperation agreements with CERN.

CERN also has a teaching function. Young scientists get to learn
the ropes of research. All this in an international environment
where you get to work with people of all nations and cultures.
That in itself is precious.

Jeroen Belleman
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-13 11:57:04 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:14:32 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
CERN is about fundamental, not applied, research. It doesn't spend
trillions either. Its annual budget is about 1.2 billion.
How many would that feed?


It uses so much power and produces so much CO2 that the glowball temperature now almost reaches the melting point of lead...
At the same time farmers here have their farms killed because they, who FEED the masses, produce a little bit of CO2.
Post by Jeroen Belleman
It provides
the hardware and infrastructure for high energy physics research.
Mostly bomb shelter tunnels for the WW3 US and UK is steering towards
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Many thousands of scientists flock together there to use its facilities.
Ant heaps
Post by Jeroen Belleman
The results of high energy research may have been a bit disappointing
lately. That's the nature of fundamental research. You don't know if
you'll find something immediately useful.
The real purpose of CERN is to gather and keep an active community
of smart minds in Europe.
Job creation for Albert Onestone parrots


<This produces plenty of spin-offs that
Post by Jeroen Belleman
eventually contribute to a dynamic and innovative economy. Money
spent by CERN directly benefits thousands of businesses in all of
its member states and beyond. Many start-ups are created by CERN
alumni or by other enterprising individuals who perceive the
opportunities.
Nations apparently still appreciate CERN. The number of member
states is steadily increasing. The current count is 24, but ten
more are still in the pipeline. Even non-member states get to
cooperate in its projects. Japan, the USA, and until recently
Russia have contributed hugely and eagerly. Most nations of the
world have international cooperation agreements with CERN.
CERN also has a teaching function. Young scientists get to learn
the ropes of research.
Brainwash

I wrote this before:
nature is simple,
in the shoot 2 Teslas at each other at supersonic speed experiment at the ZERN racetrack
2 new elementary particles were discovered, the 'Nut' and 'Bolt'.
Further investigation by mamaticians did show chirality in Bolts
It was found there are more right-hand screwed ? Bolts than left hand
so the whole universe must be mainly right-hand bolted together.
Post by Jeroen Belleman
All this in an international environment
Politics
Post by Jeroen Belleman
where you get to work with people of all nations and cultures.
That in itself is precious.
Jeroen Belleman
I have travelled the world and did just that.
Worked at a large accelerator too.
You hd soem allowence to spend some time on your own projects
that made me learn and design a few things I liked that actually worked.
That is a positive thing
Thas the whole place got radioactive contaminated a year or so after I left was alread predicted by me years earlier.
Wil CERN blow up earth creating the wrong particle?
Some time ago there was a fuss about that.
Very possible.
They discovered an FTL particle too, was it you who swapped the coaxas?
Most fishisicks there have no clue about even the equipment they are using.
Jeroen Belleman
2024-09-13 19:07:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:14:32 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
CERN is about fundamental, not applied, research. It doesn't spend
trillions either. Its annual budget is about 1.2 billion.
How many would that feed?
It uses so much power and produces so much CO2 that the glowball temperature now almost reaches the melting point of lead...
At the same time farmers here have their farms killed because they, who FEED the masses, produce a little bit of CO2.
Post by Jeroen Belleman
It provides
the hardware and infrastructure for high energy physics research.
Mostly bomb shelter tunnels for the WW3 US and UK is steering towards
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Many thousands of scientists flock together there to use its facilities.
Ant heaps
Post by Jeroen Belleman
The results of high energy research may have been a bit disappointing
lately. That's the nature of fundamental research. You don't know if
you'll find something immediately useful.
The real purpose of CERN is to gather and keep an active community
of smart minds in Europe.
Job creation for Albert Onestone parrots
<This produces plenty of spin-offs that
Post by Jeroen Belleman
eventually contribute to a dynamic and innovative economy. Money
spent by CERN directly benefits thousands of businesses in all of
its member states and beyond. Many start-ups are created by CERN
alumni or by other enterprising individuals who perceive the
opportunities.
Nations apparently still appreciate CERN. The number of member
states is steadily increasing. The current count is 24, but ten
more are still in the pipeline. Even non-member states get to
cooperate in its projects. Japan, the USA, and until recently
Russia have contributed hugely and eagerly. Most nations of the
world have international cooperation agreements with CERN.
CERN also has a teaching function. Young scientists get to learn
the ropes of research.
Brainwash
nature is simple,
in the shoot 2 Teslas at each other at supersonic speed experiment at the ZERN racetrack
2 new elementary particles were discovered, the 'Nut' and 'Bolt'.
Further investigation by mamaticians did show chirality in Bolts
It was found there are more right-hand screwed ? Bolts than left hand
so the whole universe must be mainly right-hand bolted together.
Post by Jeroen Belleman
All this in an international environment
Politics
Post by Jeroen Belleman
where you get to work with people of all nations and cultures.
That in itself is precious.
Jeroen Belleman
I have travelled the world and did just that.
Worked at a large accelerator too.
You hd soem allowence to spend some time on your own projects
that made me learn and design a few things I liked that actually worked.
That is a positive thing
Thas the whole place got radioactive contaminated a year or so after I left was alread predicted by me years earlier.
Wil CERN blow up earth creating the wrong particle?
Some time ago there was a fuss about that.
Very possible.
They discovered an FTL particle too, was it you who swapped the coaxas?
Most fishisicks there have no clue about even the equipment they are using.
I wasn't involved in that. The neutrinos came from the CNGS
installation, a target in a beam line tangent to the SPS and
sloping downwards into the earth, aimed at Gran Sasso in Italy.
I recall the physicists were greatly embarrased by the precipitous
publication of these obviously faulty results.

Jeroen Belleman
Chris Jones
2024-09-13 10:55:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-13 11:38:48 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
quote in Dutch:
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"

Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)

Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
Jeroen Belleman
2024-09-13 18:40:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.

The World Wide Web was just one of his pet projects that grew out of
proportion. Its original aim was to make documentation more easily
accessible. At the time, if you weren't in meetings, on distribution
lists, or if you didn't know the right people, it was very hard to find
information.

CERN was fertile ground for such a development. The infrastructure was
there. There were computers everywhere. There were several kinds of
networks to interconnect them. There was a lot of documentation, but
it was hard to find and hard to maintain. The web addressed all that.
Personally, I think it's a shame it mimicked a commonly used text
formatting software of that era: SGML. Oh well.

Of course, it helps that CERN management decided to release the web
software into the public domain. I invite you to imagine what it would
have been like if Micro$soft, IBM or Apple had come up with it. You
wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, I'm sure, if you could even
afford it. In fact, Apple had something like it at the time, proprietary
of course. It didn't survive, because.

Jeroen Belleman
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-14 05:55:41 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:55 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
Post by Jeroen Belleman
The World Wide Web was just one of his pet projects that grew out of
proportion. Its original aim was to make documentation more easily
accessible. At the time, if you weren't in meetings, on distribution
lists, or if you didn't know the right people, it was very hard to find
information.
CERN was fertile ground for such a development. The infrastructure was
there. There were computers everywhere. There were several kinds of
networks to interconnect them. There was a lot of documentation, but
it was hard to find and hard to maintain. The web addressed all that.
Personally, I think it's a shame it mimicked a commonly used text
formatting software of that era: SGML. Oh well.
Of course, it helps that CERN management decided to release the web
software into the public domain. I invite you to imagine what it would
have been like if Micro$soft, IBM or Apple had come up with it. You
wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, I'm sure, if you could even
afford it. In fact, Apple had something like it at the time, proprietary
of course. It didn't survive, because.
I dunno, I had windows 3.1 with trumpet winsock for the web...
Those were the days Billy The Gates stated 'internet was nothing much'

Before the internet I was online via viditel here:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viditel
I used it,
1200 Bd rx 75 Bd tx via the phone line.
There were several 'goups', I followed the CP/M user group for example.

The French had Minitel:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel

So not so much new in html... :-)
Cursitor Doom
2024-09-14 13:17:45 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:55 +0200) it happened Jeroen
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2024/09/240909113111.htm
Post by Jan Panteltje
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those
  used to make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a
  black electrode made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting
useful power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged
comb near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb
against some material to give it the charge to attract the paper?
Where does the voltage come from which is applied to the bag
electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it
in another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with
something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met
zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die
het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij
consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland
was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to
december 1990 So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary
particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for
enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments, but
it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations. It
died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about
hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
Post by Jeroen Belleman
The World Wide Web was just one of his pet projects that grew out of
proportion. Its original aim was to make documentation more easily
accessible. At the time, if you weren't in meetings, on distribution
lists, or if you didn't know the right people, it was very hard to find
information.
CERN was fertile ground for such a development. The infrastructure was
there. There were computers everywhere. There were several kinds of
networks to interconnect them. There was a lot of documentation, but it
was hard to find and hard to maintain. The web addressed all that.
Personally, I think it's a shame it mimicked a commonly used text
formatting software of that era: SGML. Oh well.
Of course, it helps that CERN management decided to release the web
software into the public domain. I invite you to imagine what it would
have been like if Micro$soft, IBM or Apple had come up with it. You
wouldn't have liked it nearly as much, I'm sure, if you could even
afford it. In fact, Apple had something like it at the time, proprietary
of course. It didn't survive, because.
I dunno, I had windows 3.1 with trumpet winsock for the web...
Those were the days Billy The Gates stated 'internet was nothing much'
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viditel
I used it,
1200 Bd rx 75 Bd tx via the phone line.
There were several 'goups', I followed the CP/M user group for example.
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel
So not so much new in html... :-)
Anyone remember JANET?
Liz Tuddenham
2024-09-14 17:46:34 UTC
Permalink
Cursitor Doom <***@notformail.com> wrote:

[...]
Post by Cursitor Doom
Anyone remember JANET?
I never used it myself, but a friend at the OU in Milton Keynes used to
show me printout from discussions she had been having on JANET.
--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk
Cursitor Doom
2024-09-14 19:20:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by Liz Tuddenham
[...]
Post by Cursitor Doom
Anyone remember JANET?
I never used it myself, but a friend at the OU in Milton Keynes used to
show me printout from discussions she had been having on JANET.
Yes, it was very dry and desperately dull for the most part. But that was
about all that was on Usenet when I first got online to bring wisdom where
formerly there was but ignorance - and all pre-WWW.
john larkin
2024-09-15 02:49:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by Liz Tuddenham
[...]
Post by Cursitor Doom
Anyone remember JANET?
I never used it myself, but a friend at the OU in Milton Keynes used to
show me printout from discussions she had been having on JANET.
I've been to Milton Keynes, working in an old cow barn to design a
tomographic atom probe.

The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
Jeff Layman
2024-09-15 07:13:15 UTC
Permalink
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park. It's
more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for the
activities at Station X in the early 40s.

It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
--
Jeff
Cursitor Doom
2024-09-15 09:58:47 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park. It's
more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for the
activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
Liz Tuddenham
2024-09-15 10:21:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park. It's
more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for the
activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
The first time I vsited BP musem I was absolutely fascinated by the
equipment and the expertise of the volunteers who were restoring it. A
few years later I visited again - where was everything? The place had
become an overpriced, ovehyped, funfair with photographs of the
equipment but hardly any equipment and few, if any, knowledgeable
guides.

Then I discovered the National Museum of Computing at the far end of the
car park. That was where all the equipment and volunteers had gone when
they were kicked out by the coporate types who took over BP. I arrived
just as they were about to close, but no matter; they switched the
equipment back on and gave me a personal mini-tour in the time
available.

I have been back since and viewed it at leisure, with time to chat to
the volunteers. Forget about visiting Bletchley Park, it's rubbish, go
to the National Museum of Computing instead and have a fantastic and
informative experience with people who know what they are talking about.
--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-15 11:00:13 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Sun, 15 Sep 2024 11:21:52 +0100) it happened
Post by Liz Tuddenham
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park. It's
more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for the
activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
The first time I vsited BP musem I was absolutely fascinated by the
equipment and the expertise of the volunteers who were restoring it. A
few years later I visited again - where was everything? The place had
become an overpriced, ovehyped, funfair with photographs of the
equipment but hardly any equipment and few, if any, knowledgeable
guides.
Then I discovered the National Museum of Computing at the far end of the
car park. That was where all the equipment and volunteers had gone when
they were kicked out by the coporate types who took over BP. I arrived
just as they were about to close, but no matter; they switched the
equipment back on and gave me a personal mini-tour in the time
available.
I have been back since and viewed it at leisure, with time to chat to
the volunteers. Forget about visiting Bletchley Park, it's rubbish, go
to the National Museum of Computing instead and have a fantastic and
informative experience with people who know what they are talking about.
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
As quantum computing threats loom, Microsoft updates its core crypto library
Two algorithms added so far, two more planned in the coming months.
https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/microsoft-adds-quantum-resistant-algorithms-to-its-core-crypto-library/
The updates were made last week to SymCrypt, a core cryptographic code library for handing cryptographic functions in
Windows and Linux.
Jeff Layman
2024-09-15 10:38:53 UTC
Permalink
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park. It's
more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for the
activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on two
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
--
Jeff
Nick Hayward
2024-09-15 17:12:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park.
It's more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for
the activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on twos
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
Astounding brain power those guys had. What is it about the English that
makes them such amazing thinkers? They're not so great when it comes to
building things affordably and efficiently, but as conceptualists, they're
simply unbeatable.
Jeff Layman
2024-09-15 18:10:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Nick Hayward
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park.
It's more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for
the activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on twos
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
Astounding brain power those guys had. What is it about the English that
makes them such amazing thinkers? They're not so great when it comes to
building things affordably and efficiently, but as conceptualists, they're
simply unbeatable.
Brits (not just the English!) have always been good at problem solving.
We are good at research, but not so much at development (which is where
the money is made!). It's remarkable that at Bletchley Park three of the
greatest problem-solvers were there at the same time. Turing for his
work on Enigma, Bill Tutte for his work on Lorenz, and Tommy Flowers for
computing hardware and software (it's not well known that he paid with
money out of his own pocket for the construction of Colossus, as the
management there did not believe in it and would not pay for it).
--
Jeff
john larkin
2024-09-15 19:21:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Nick Hayward
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park.
It's more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for
the activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on twos
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
Astounding brain power those guys had. What is it about the English that
makes them such amazing thinkers? They're not so great when it comes to
building things affordably and efficiently, but as conceptualists, they're
simply unbeatable.
Brits (not just the English!) have always been good at problem solving.
We are good at research, but not so much at development (which is where
the money is made!). It's remarkable that at Bletchley Park three of the
greatest problem-solvers were there at the same time. Turing for his
work on Enigma, Bill Tutte for his work on Lorenz, and Tommy Flowers for
computing hardware and software (it's not well known that he paid with
money out of his own pocket for the construction of Colossus, as the
management there did not believe in it and would not pay for it).
The brits pioneered radar, which arguably won WWII.

The core technologies of microwave radar were the cavity magnetron,
the klystron LO, the crystal diode mixer, and waveguide technology.
Brits get credit for three.

The MIT RadLab and Bell Labs did the heavy lifting to develop radar.
Bill Sloman
2024-09-16 08:03:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by john larkin
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Nick Hayward
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park.
It's more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for
the activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on twos
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
Astounding brain power those guys had. What is it about the English that
makes them such amazing thinkers? They're not so great when it comes to
building things affordably and efficiently, but as conceptualists, they're
simply unbeatable.
Brits (not just the English!) have always been good at problem solving.
We are good at research, but not so much at development (which is where
the money is made!). It's remarkable that at Bletchley Park three of the
greatest problem-solvers were there at the same time. Turing for his
work on Enigma, Bill Tutte for his work on Lorenz, and Tommy Flowers for
computing hardware and software (it's not well known that he paid with
money out of his own pocket for the construction of Colossus, as the
management there did not believe in it and would not pay for it).
The brits pioneered radar, which arguably won WWII.
The core technologies of microwave radar were the cavity magnetron,
the klystron LO, the crystal diode mixer, and waveguide technology.
Brits get credit for three.
The MIT RadLab and Bell Labs did the heavy lifting to develop radar.
The MIT Radlab did the heavy lifting on the proximity fuse.

The UK had a working log-wave radar system in place and working when the
war broke out - neither the MIT Radlab or Bell labs had anything to do
with that.

Airborne centimeter radar (the H2S system) was developed at EMI Central
Research and killed their ace engineer - Alan Dower Blumlein - in 1942,
when a test flight crashed.

The UK did a lot of the heavy lifting on that system too.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
john larkin
2024-09-15 19:11:39 UTC
Permalink
On Sun, 15 Sep 2024 17:12:00 -0000 (UTC), Nick Hayward
Post by Nick Hayward
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park.
It's more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for
the activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on twos
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
Astounding brain power those guys had. What is it about the English that
makes them such amazing thinkers? They're not so great when it comes to
building things affordably and efficiently, but as conceptualists, they're
simply unbeatable.
I have noticed that some countries (the USA and the UK especially)
have lots of quirkly small electronics companies that do difficult and
fun stuff. France and Germany have a few.
Bill Sloman
2024-09-16 07:54:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Nick Hayward
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by john larkin
The best thing about MK is that it's close to Oxford.
I really must disagree. The best thing about MK is Bletchley Park.
It's more than possible that none of us would be here if it wasn't for
the activities at Station X in the early 40s.
It's perhaps interesting to surmise that if what went on at Bletchley
Park hadn't been kept secret until the mid 70s, perhaps the new town
envisioned in the 60s would have been called "Bletchley" in honour and
recognition of what it had done to hasten the end of World War II.
They've made a museum out of it and it's *very* well worth a visit.
I visited at the end of November 2009, when it had just opened and the
huts were still in a pretty rough state. It was a good time to go as it
was a very cold day and there were few visitors. I was lucky on twos
counts. Firstly, we were shown round by Jean Valentine (who worked there
during the war and had appeared on numerous "Station X" documentaries.
She was one of those who entered the various settings onto the Bombe
machine, and then phoned the possible decryption code to the hut where
Turing worked. It was more-or-less next door, but she had no idea where
it was, not even if it was at Bletchley Park!). Secondly, I was able to
chat to Tony Sale for a while, as there was nobody else around. He, of
course, was the driving force behind rebuilding Colossus. He had spoken
with Tommy Flowers, who designed and built the original, and helped Sale
with the rebuild as almost all the original documentation had been
destroyed on Churchill's orders
Astounding brain power those guys had. What is it about the English that
makes them such amazing thinkers? They're not so great when it comes to
building things affordably and efficiently, but as conceptualists, they're
simply unbeatable.
No nation has a monopoly on brain power. Bletchley Park did pull in an
interesting mix of academic and practical skills - Alan Turing was
primarily an academic, though he was also good with hardware.

Tommy Flowers was a telephone system engineer before he went to
Bletchley Park. In the early 190's Britain did have its back to the
wall, and some of the social prejudice that separated upper-class
English academics from middle-class engineers did get repressed (for a
while).

People from the colonies also got accepted. William S. Butement - the
inventor of the proximity fuse - came from New Zealand. He was my boss
for it bit - around 1970 - and I suspect that he would not have been a
good choice to get the proximity fuse to work, which is a job the
Americans took on.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney
Jeroen Belleman
2024-09-14 17:50:35 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:55 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
The article says he was at CERN from June to December 1980, and again
from 1984 to 1993 or so.

Jeroen Belleman
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-15 05:51:47 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Sat, 14 Sep 2024 19:50:35 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
Post by Jeroen Belleman
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
The article says he was at CERN from June to December 1980, and again
from 1984 to 1993 or so.
AH! I missed that one
john larkin
2024-09-14 18:21:32 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:55 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
Fastbus was an even stranger version of CAMAC.

We used to sell CAMAC modules and crates but passed on Fastbus, went
to VME instead.

There are still a couple of people making CAMAC, I think. VME is
still a sizable market.
Jeroen Belleman
2024-09-14 19:49:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by john larkin
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:55 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
Fastbus was an even stranger version of CAMAC.
We used to sell CAMAC modules and crates but passed on Fastbus, went
to VME instead.
There are still a couple of people making CAMAC, I think. VME is
still a sizable market.
Good decision. Fastbus was a monster. It wasn't all that fast
either, depite being all ECL. Near the end of the 1980s, physicists
had understood that too, and they embarked on the design of another
monster: The Scalable Coherent Interconnect, or SCI. Thankfully,
that never went anywhere, as far as I can tell. I left that department
around that time and concentrated on accelerator instrumentation
instead.

Jeroen Belleman
Joe Gwinn
2024-09-15 22:41:55 UTC
Permalink
On Sat, 14 Sep 2024 21:49:39 +0200, Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by john larkin
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:40:55 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:55:09 +1000) it happened Chris Jones
Post by Chris Jones
Post by Jan Panteltje
On a sunny day (Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:02 +0200) it happened Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeroen Belleman
Post by Jeff Layman
Post by Cursitor Doom
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
  "
  The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to
  make ice cubes.
  About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
  made of a conductive material.
  Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the
electrodes,
  they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
  ...
  "
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
How do little pieces of paper defy gravity when you put a charged comb
near them? Isn't the energy supplied by rubbing the comb against some
material to give it the charge to attract the paper? Where does the
voltage come from which is applied to the bag electrodes?
Didn't we discuss something like this not too long ago, or was it in
another NG?
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_motor>
That was right here in s.e.d in July. And no, thermodynamics, or
rather conservation of energy is not violated. It never is.
I don't think that they can get useful amounts of work out of these
things. The Science Daily article is useless, as always, and I did
not bother to read the paper.
Jeroen Belleman
At least they made something that works,
unlike the trillions spend at CERN that never do anything for anybody.
I would cancel all funding to CERN if they did not come up with something revolutionary and practical useful in a year.
He who does not want to see is practically blind.
Kicad and web browsers are quite useful, even if the physics is of no
interest to you.
html was invented long ago by somebody from CERN
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
" Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee (Londen, 8 juni 1955) is samen met zijn toenmalig manager, de Belg Robert Cailliau,
de bedenker en grondlegger van de technologie en het protocol, die het world wide web of wereldwijde web, afgekort tot www,
mogelijk maakten. Hieraan werkte hij toen hij consultant-software-engineer in dienst bij het CERN in Zwitserland was,
van juni tot en met december 1990"
Timothy John (Tim) Berners-Lee only worked at CERN from june to december 1990
So basicaly nothing to do with CERN or elementary particles etc.
There is old html server code I had somewhere from a CERN website that I once used.
Modern browsers are hopelessly bloated with other stuff, mostly for enabling more advertizing :-)
Without CERN he likely would have invented it anyways, maybe earlier :-)
I think Berners-Lee spent more time at CERN than that. He was a software
engineer involved in data acquisition software for physics experiments.
We were in the same department. I've been in meetings with him present.
This was in the 1980s. We were young. The subject at the time was
FastBus software libraries. FastBus was used in the LEP experiments,
but it was expensive and cumbersome and never lived up to expectations.
It died with the end of LEP.
Here is the English wikipedia site, more info, says the same thing about hiistime at CERN though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
You can correct stuff on wikipedia if you want.
Fastbus was an even stranger version of CAMAC.
We used to sell CAMAC modules and crates but passed on Fastbus, went
to VME instead.
There are still a couple of people making CAMAC, I think. VME is
still a sizable market.
Good decision. Fastbus was a monster. It wasn't all that fast
either, depite being all ECL. Near the end of the 1980s, physicists
had understood that too, and they embarked on the design of another
monster: The Scalable Coherent Interconnect, or SCI. Thankfully,
that never went anywhere, as far as I can tell. I left that department
around that time and concentrated on accelerator instrumentation
instead.
Jeroen Belleman
And SCI begat IEEE 896 FutureBus (FB), which also failed in the
market, but had a very useful side effect:

The FB Working Group collected all the then approaches to backplane
bus design and put them into a common framework, which revealed the
gaps, overlaps and missing use cases. This informed all subsequent
bus designs.

FB is mentioned in The Art of Electronics, 3rd edition.

Joe Gwinn
Jasen Betts
2024-09-18 05:33:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by Cursitor Doom
Post by Jan Panteltje
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode
made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
How does that not violate thermodynamics? You seem to be getting useful
power from zero energy.
as the actuator moves the capcitance increases, and thus the stored electrical
energy (Q^2/2C) decreases.
--
Jasen.
🇺🇦 Слава Україні
john larkin
2024-09-13 19:56:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan Panteltje
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
Science Daily is such nonsense.

"To date, all the machines they have built -- whether for factories or
elsewhere -- have had one thing in common: they are powered by motors,
a technology that is already 200 years old."

People "invent" some gadget that is orders of magnitude away from
being useful, and press release it as a breakthrough, and it gets
breathlessly published.
Jan Panteltje
2024-09-14 05:56:00 UTC
Permalink
On a sunny day (Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:56:01 -0700) it happened john larkin
Post by john larkin
Post by Jan Panteltje
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/09/240909113111.htm
"
The actuators are oil-filled plastic bags, similar to those used to make ice cubes.
About half of each bag is coated on either side with a black electrode made of a conductive material.
Buchner explains that "as soon as we apply a voltage to the electrodes,
they are attracted to each other due to static electricity.
...
"
And press the fluid out....
So electrostatic actuators!
Science Daily is such nonsense.
"To date, all the machines they have built -- whether for factories or
elsewhere -- have had one thing in common: they are powered by motors,
a technology that is already 200 years old."
People "invent" some gadget that is orders of magnitude away from
being useful, and press release it as a breakthrough, and it gets
breathlessly published.
Sound like US F35
and people fall for it and buy it too, (often forced with US gun to head).
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