Winding Down
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology, science and other news
by Alan Lenton
27 October 2024
Well, I'm finally back. You were probably wondering why I vanished suddenly. The reason was fairly simple - there was a problem with a cataract operation, and I became blind in one eye. There followed an interregnum of a year involving some 13 eyedrops a day, and much falling over. The latter was because you need two eyes for depth vision and the local council's pavements are somewhat irregular.
But now, thanks to the nice people at the Moorfields Hospital outstation in Ealing (that's in London, lefthand side as you look at the map), I have two functioning eyes. That's better than it was, especially now that the cataracts are gone.
This week's edition is just a short one to get back on track; after this I’ll be publishing every two weeks. First we look why it is that Roman concrete lasts in excess of 2,000 (yes, two thousand) years as opposed to the version used in schools in the UK that only lasts 20 years. Next, we take a look at some rather unusual weather in the UK on 10 October, and finally a fantastic piece about how the US gulf coastal city of Galveston is planning to cope with the next big storm.
This week's quote is from Mark Twain, and the scanner section covers a selection of funny failed headlines, 3D printed housing, local councils and computers, recycling copper wiring, manufacturers downgrading devices after you've bought them, and finally a bank glitch that zero-ed out customers' bank balances.
Enjoy!
Alan Lenton
Concrete:
We finally know how ancient Roman concrete was able to last thousands of years.
The Romans were pretty hot builders of useful things, like aqueducts, jetties and, of course, roads. They built these things some two thousand years ago and a lot of them are still standing and providing services. Quite recently an international team of researchers, led by MIT in the USA, took a closer look. It seems the answer lies in the lime - or at least the way it was prepared and used!
A closer look at the stuff revealed not only was the lime treated differently to modern methods, but there are small chunks of lime scattered within the matrix. When the concrete starts to crack, the cracks travel to the lime chunks and the next time it rains the lime and the water interact, gluing the crack together and stopping it from spreading.
Sadly, the Romans didn't build schools when they invaded and took over England, so we are stuck with schools that have roofs made of concrete that only lasts 20 years, instead of 2,000!
Incidentally, it's also better eco-wise, because you don't have to keep replacing the stuff every 20, or so, years...
https://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-how-ancient-roman-concrete-was-able-to-last-thousands-of-years
Ooops!
I see that earlier this month (10 October, to be precise) that when the inhabitants of this island checked their weather on the BBC website or app they discovered that there would be 13,508 mile-an-hour winds in London, and that the low in Nottingham would be 404 degrees Centigrade...
It was, of course, a glitch of some unspecified sort. My personal theory, though, is that they were trying to use AI to make forecasts!
https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/10/bbc_weather_error_predicts_lows/
Galveston’s Texas-Size plan to stop the next big storm
Warning: long article, but well worth the read! I always knew that Texans like to think big, but even I was stunned at the US$34 billion plan to protect the coast that they have come up with. Galveston is home to numerous refineries and the adjacent coasts are highly populated. To give you some idea, the September 1900 storm flooded the city with a 16-foot surge, killing an estimated 8,000 people!
You have to read the piece to understand what happens and what they are doing about it. Highly recommended.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/galveston-texas-plan-stop-next-big-storm-hurricane-ike-180984487/
Quote of the Week:
"A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."
Mark Twain US author (1835–1910)
Scanner:
Epic headline fails
https://boingboing.net/2024/08/23/from-iraqi-head-seeks-arms-to-kids-make-nutritious-snacks-epic-headline-fails.html
3D-printed affordable housing of the future will be recyclable
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/future-affordable-housing-3d-printed-recyclable/
Local councils struggle with ill-fitting software despite spending billions with suppliers
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/local_council_tech_struggles/
Recycling old copper wires could be worth billions for telcos
https://go.reg.cx/tdml/3ad4/6685e5ff/38f012a3/4d2t
FTC urged to stop tech makers downgrading devices after you've bought them
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/06/consumer_ftc_software_tethering/
Bank of America app glitch zeroes out people's balances
https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/02/bank_of_america_outage/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=top-article
Footnote:
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
27 October 2024
Alan Lenton is a retired on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist (among other things), the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/winding/index.html.
If you have any questions or comments about the articles on my web site, click here to send me email.