Geddy Lee Guardian Interview

Guardian article on Geddy Lee and Rush greatest songs:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/dec/24/geddy-lee-on-rush-greatest-songs

Book read: The People vs Tech by Jamie Bartlett

A thought provoking read about where technology is taking us.   It sees the weakening and collapse of democracy unless we can do something about technology being used to control and influence people:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39403470-the-people-vs-tech

Film: Moneyball directed by Bennett Miller

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/

Film: Johnny English Strikes Again Directed by David Kerr

For once a film seen just after release date!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6921996/

A new era? HMS Queen Elisabeth F-35 landing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-45687169/hms-queen-elizabeth-fighter-jets-take-off-and-land-for-first-time

HMS Endeavour Found

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/captain-cooks-hms-endeavour-found-off-the-coast-of-rhode-island/

Biohacking article

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/21/extreme-biohacking-tech-guru-who-spent-250000-trying-to-live-for-ever-serge-faguet

The quandry of philanthropy

The Besoz philanthropy plans, maybe better spent on conditions and wages at Amazon fulfillment centres?:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45520594

The lost decade

Great article on the banking crisis, and how the wider population has paid for the recklessness of an under regulated industry

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/The_lost_decade

Proms

Jess Gillam at the Proms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45461916

Jacqueline Pearce Dies

Jacqueline Pearce of Blakes 7 fame has died.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/sep/04/jacqueline-pearce-obituary

Book read: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6667514-the-checklist-manifesto

The Carriers

A long read about the Navy's new carriers:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/UK_aircraft_carriers

Film: Mission Impossible - Fallout Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4912910/

Film: The Hudsucker Proxy Directed by the Coen brothers

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110074/

Book read: The National Debt by Martin Slater

Not the most promising of titles, I got this book on the strength of a couple of reviews and my passing interest in British economics.

It presents a "how we got to now" analysis of British history told through the national debt.  Each major historical moment is analyzed (typically wars or times of trouble) and the debt we built up is presented.

It is written really clearly and explains some technicalities very well.

Android article

Great article on how Google are closing sourcing strategic parts of Android to keep the competitive moat high:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-on-android-controlling-open-source-by-any-means-necessary/

Antartic Survey Ship

Video of launch here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-44834768/attenborough-launches-boaty-mcboatface-polar-ship

Filesystem article

Good article on file systems history:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2008/03/past-present-future-file-systems/

Film: All Is Lost Directed by J C Chandor

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2017038/

Book read: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I watched the recent film and kept hearing that the book was great so I gave it a go - a very different story to the book, more detailed and more cultural references, a really good read:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9969571-ready-player-one

Cisco sell off beleagured SPVSS (aka NDS)

Finally it's happened Cisco's 4 years of mismanagement of the SPVSS business unit is at an end.

Permira are buying it back at a knock down price.

Here's the sanitized press release

https://investor.cisco.com/investor-relations/news-and-events/news/news-details/2018/Permira-Funds-to-Acquire-Ciscos-Service-Provider-Video-Software-Solutions-Business/default.aspx

And from one of the people who mis-managed and rode on the back of it:

https://blogs.cisco.com/news/service-provider-news

All sounds like a great plan that they always intended - but in reality a disastourous acquisition that destroyed the existing business...

Book read: Being Mortal by Atual Gawande

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20696006-being-mortal

Book read: Better - A surgeons notes on perfomance by Atul Gawande

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/213233.Better

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ benchmarks

Interesting benchmarks on the upgraded Model B+

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=raspberrypi-3-bplus&num=1

It's interesting to see what benchmark tools they use

BBC Caroline Wyatt

 Interesting article on Caroline Wyatt a former BBC correspondent with MS:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/caroline_wyatt_multiple_sclerosis

Cisco campus 2015

An article from 2015, but a little tour of the Cisco campus.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/secret-places-at-ciscos-headquarters-2015-10

It looks glorious, but it's a dystopia - there is a large gap between how things are and how things are portrayed.

It does feel like a lot of money wasted, a "300 strong" disaster relief team doing work for free, feels like excessive advertising - more good could be done by donating money when disaster strikes!

Nuclear propulsion

Interesting history of nuclear propulsion in missiles:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/best-bad-idea-ever-why-putins-nuclear-powered-missile-is-possible-and-awful/

Film: The Dark Knight Rises directed by Christopher Nolan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/?ref_=tt_rec_tti

Film: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_8

Film: Batman Begins directed by Christopher Nolan

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/

Film: Charlie Wilsons War Directed by Mike Nichols

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472062/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

A rewatch of a film from 2007!