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vonzepp's comments

vonzepp | 2 years ago | on: Confocal microscopy

The do alright. Never thought to asked them although their collection is mostly brass this one's mostly plywood.

vonzepp | 2 years ago | on: Confocal microscopy

Used to work in the Oxford lab that developed some of the earliest confocal microscopes. I had one of the early Oxford instruments mentioned under my table. Always wondered why it didn't find it's way to a museum. Science historical artifacts aren't a huge field of history yet I guess and items only a few decades old aren't that exciting to the average person. Technology becomes ancient faster than anything else.

vonzepp | 2 years ago | on: A history of Ireland in 100 goodbyes

Lovely idea of a list. But not definitive. My village song also talks of leaving in the morning. Leaving Ireland was the natural state for 150 years.

vonzepp | 2 years ago | on: How fast should you accelerate your kid in math?

You do however spend probably 8 hrs working on it, read hackernews on latest tech, probably better than you were 5 years ago. Now imagine your marketing department saying they went to a computer summer camp once in the 90s and therefore think you should rewrite the tech stack in perl.

vonzepp | 2 years ago | on: How fast should you accelerate your kid in math?

Education is an odd profession. Where people feel because they have had an education they are qualified to determine best practice. It is as if having an operation makes one feel as they understand the best practice in heart surgery. Teachers spend years studying teaching practice, always read the research on best practices, spend all day working in education settings. Yet people often dismiss their methods and demand change based on often misremembered anecdotes of their own youth over half a century beforehand and pride in their children. I wouldn't be shocked if a vast majority of parents thought their kids were above average, which isn't a bad thing, but sometimes professionals know what they are doing.

vonzepp | 2 years ago | on: The dangers of tea drinking in nineteenth century Ireland

Accepting anything offered to you on the first offer is a bit rude. Basically, you are a guest of someone and shouldn't be a burden on them. They have to prove to you that you are not a burden, and then once that is clear you don't feel bad being served. Then your tea comes with cake, ham sandwiches and biscuit which is beyond the scope of the initial drink you were offered.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Did the Music Business Just Kill the Vinyl Revival?

It is not all about the technology. Someone comes over to your home, they don't get to browser your CV flac collection, and talk about it. Log into Spotify and presented with a world of choice, it's harder to choose. Go to your collection, flick through the records discover favourites you haven't listened to in ages. putting a record on is a ritual, demanding attention, flicking through files is just for diverting attention. The best tech doesn't mean the best product.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Is it time to retire the .gb top level domain?

The monarch would be sovereign, but he/she/they would execute their powers through different elected assemblies in different parts of the Kingdom. The two assemblies would have no influence over each other. Not sure the monarch has really executed its powers over government since ousting Lord Melbourne in the 1830s. So it really is just about tradition and pageantry.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Is it time to retire the .gb top level domain?

It is not quite at the pleasure of His Majesty's Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. It is defined in law that if there are grounds to believe it would pass they would be required to hold a border poll. This could be decided in court, as in if say opinion polling was at 70% and nationalist parts were winning 70% of the votes, and the Secretary of State refused to hold the poll. They could be brought to court and a judge could rule the secretary has no grounds to refuse.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Is it time to retire the .gb top level domain?

True,but they were colonies that were under the British Empire, rather than being made part of the UK, that slowly gained dominion status granted self-governance that eventually came full governance. The United Kingdom was formed around 1707, between England and Scotland. Ireland was joined in 1801. Ireland left the United Kingdom in 1921 coming a dominion until becoming a republic and cutting all ties to the monarchy.

My scenario doesn't abolish the United Kingdom, it abolishes it as a country, not as an entity. Which would be either largely symbolic, or something closer to the EU in design

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Is it time to retire the .gb top level domain?

One option in the future is the that United Kingdom refers to the monarchy not the government. If Scotland became Independent, they could retain the monarchy. So you could argue the kingdoms are united, but different governments "serve" the monarch in different countries. This would require England and Wales to come up with a new name for their new country unless Wales also asked for independence.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Is it time to retire the .gb top level domain?

When Ireland voted for independence, it was officially part of the UK. The UK as a whole would have voted against independence for Ireland. Does that mean under democratic rules Ireland was not allowed for it to be separated from the main country? We'd be better off asking why unionist don't want to join rather than telling them they have no choice.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: Is it time to retire the .gb top level domain?

Indeed, but someone from NI can also join the Irish Olympic team. I guess the use of GB rather than UK is a way of addressing that sensitive question by not including NI as default in one team.

vonzepp | 3 years ago | on: NASA – Artemis I Liftoff

Government's role is more than just launching rockets at the lowest price point. People deride pork barrel politics and contracts going all over America, but supporting communities is part of the mandate of a government. NASA funding is also partially possible, as politicians can say it is supporting jobs. If they couldn't justify it like that, NASA funding would be a lot less.
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