Entries Tagged 'UK' ↓

Using high powered lights, scientists at the University of Cardiff have developed a way of reading ancient texts and writings without having to touch or unroll the item.Many of the most ancient writings, like some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, are unreadable. Not because or the language they were written in, or because of fading inks, but because the simple act of attempting to unroll or open the document would destroy it. With this method, many previously unreadable documents are now able to be read.

The scientists call their machine the synchrotron. The process works much like an X-Ray where the high intensity light illuminates the text within the document. Then a computer virtually “unrolls” the document. Allowing the text to be read.

Via BBC: ‘Super-scope’ to see hidden texts

You know how you always wonder if those letters you send through the post are really going to get there? Or you wonder why sometimes it takes 2 days for a letter you sent to get to it’s destination, and other times it takes a week? Even when the destinations are in the same town! Well, I have the answer, bad postal workers.

From our pals over in the UK comes a story about a very bad postal worker. This guy stockpiled over 16,000 letters in his apartment. Over a three month period, he didn’t deliver any of the mail. instead, he took it back to his apartment and stacked it up. He even opened some of the mail looking for cash. When the police finally caught him, they ended up needing a 7 ton truck to remove all of the accumulated mail from his apartment.

So the next time you send in that critical mortgage check or car payment, make sure you follow up and check to see if it actually got there.

Via Nothing To Do With Arbroath: Postman kept 16,000 letters piled up at home

Found this very strange looking picture of a building that is being torn down in London. It seems that due to the unique way in which the building was built, the most efficient way to tear it down is to start at the bottom. Meanwhile, the building is pretty amazing looking.

Via GizModo: Building Demolished from the Ground Up Looks Better than New

Teachers are demanding that sites like RateMyTeacher and YouTube be shutdown. The Professional Association of Teachers claims that they only want to ban the sites in an effort to stop Cyberbullying of teachers. But as many people have pointed out, banning specific sites would not stop cyberbullying. Sites like RateMyTeacher have been under attack by teachers unions from the beginning. The idea that students could rate their professors in an environment that is not controlled by the school has never been welcomed by the education industry.
RateMyteacher is a great tool for students, especially those in college, who are trying to decide which professors to take. I certainly could have used it during my college days. Unfortunately, it can also be used by disgruntled students as a place to attack professors they don’t like. But that doesn’t diminish the usefulness of the site.

Via TecDirt: UK Teachers Union Demands YouTube And RateMyTeacher Be Shut Down

In a blow for privacy advocates in England, the helmet cameras that were previously only being used in only in limited trials are now going nationwide. So all of the Police officers will now be sporting a camera attached to their heads. Again, why is the UK so obsessed with putting cameras on everything and everywhere? I can sort of see the usefulness of this, but it would seem to me that information overload would begin reducing the effectiveness of having cameras everywhere.

Via Engadet: England’s helmet camera initiative to go countrywide

Cellular news bring us an interesting bunch of statistics about how many phones are lost or damaged in the UK every year. It seems that the biggest cause of phone damage, was being dropped in the toilet. 850,000 phones a year are lost to toilets in the UK. The second highest number was 315,000 phones left in taxis. Followed by 225,000 left on buses. So that means that UK residents are more likely to drop their phones into the toilet, than they are to leave them in buses or taxis!

Cellular News: Brits Drop 850,000 Phones Down the Toilet - Each Year
Via Gizmodo: 855,000 Phones Dropped in UK Toilets Yearly

It seems that James Chadwick, the discoverer of the neutron, sent detailed plans for building a nuclear reactor to the royal archives for safekeeping in 1940. Those plans were lost, and have remained sealed until recently when they were opened to mark the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the neutron. James sent them to royal archives because he felt that it would be irresponsible to publish them during WW2. There they remained until their rediscovery during a cataloging effort currently underway.
The most interesting thing about this news, is that the first nuclear reactor was built in 1951. A full 11 years after the work done by James in the UK. Makes you wonder what might have happened if his work hadn’t been lost.

Check out the story at BBC News: Nuclear reactor secrets revealed

What is it with the UK and cameras? They have lip reading cameras, scolding cameras and now traffic warden cameras. It seems that scourge of littering and other “anti-social” behaviour is so prevalent, that traffic wardens are now being given the right to issue fines for “anti-social behaviour.”

In order to back up the fines in court, traffic wardens are being issued head mounted cameras much like the cameras on police cruisers. So now when you are in England, not only are the cameras on every street corner watching and recording you, but so are all the traffic wardens. Can littering seriously be that much of a problem?

Via Manchester Evening News: ‘Super wardens’ go on patrol

The Home office of the UK is interested in creating a software system to read lips through the many surveillance cameras that blanket the UK. The UK already has the most extensive and intrusive system of surveillance cameras in the world. It is estimated that the total number of surveillance cameras in the UK is around 4 million. That is roughly 1 camera for every 14 people who live in the UK. Recently work was begun on upgrading many of those cameras to include speakers that will scold or shout at you if you break a law. Such as littering or jaywalking.
Now a British research team at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England is working on a computer system that will be able to lip read. The idea being, that not only suspicious behavior can be monitored through the cameras, but also suspicious speech.
While I could see a system like this being very useful in crime prevention, I’m not sure I would like it if the US was deploying the same type of thing here. It seems like this type of thing would be too much of a temptation for unscrupulous politicians. The potential for abuse here is very high. Of course, it is equally high for the current system that records everything on camera.

Electronic design article: Lip-Reading Technology Knows What You Said

Wikipedia article on the use of surveillance cameras around the world: Closed-circuit television