Don't Look Up

I thought it was a good cutting satirical parody of a broken American society and how it will contribute to the destruction of the planet. 

They covered a lot of issues. 

• The ratings based Media (thinly disguised Fox and Friends). 
• Laura Ingraham - Fox News (played by Cate Blanchett). 
• Cancel Culture. 
• Celebrity Worship. 
• Unregulated free-market Capitalism 
• Ad-Hominem character assassinations. 
• The corrupt Executive branch of the US Government. 
• Conspiracy theorists. 
• Tump (played by Meryl Streep). 
• Misinformation. 
• Zuckerberg/Bezos/Cook/Musk (All played by Peter Isherwood). 
• Corporate power, control and exploitation. 
• Wealth disparity. 
• Fake News. 
• Materialism. 
• Social Media empires. 
• Partisan Identity Politics. 
• Republican rallies. 
• Anti-Science. 
• Apathy about the future of the planet. 

Religion seemed to come out of it only slightly damaged but only because of it’s total irrelevance. 

The only thing that was a bit far fetched was when the Republicans at the rally realised they’d been lied to by their president... That stretched credibility a little too much. 

Much better than the Idiocracy documentary of 2006 and far more poignant. 

This is definitely an important film designed to make people feel uncomfortable. 

I suspect in 50 years time, we'll look back at this movie and face-palm in shame.

Greta will love it.

How to accurately measure the Speed of Light

(in your own kitchen).

Equipment.

• The whites of 4 eggs.
• 1 large diner plate
• 1 ruler
• 1 Microwave oven

Procedure

1. Remove the glass turntable from the microwave oven.

2. Put the plate upside down on the floor of the oven so it covers the rotation mechanism.

3. Spread the egg whites evenly over the glass turntable.

4. Put the turntable on top of the upside down plate.

5. Turn the microwave oven on.

6. As soon as you see white patches appearing in the egg whites, turn the microwave oven off.

7. measure the distance between the centres of two adjacent white patches.

Calculation

The white patches show the maxima and minima of the electromagnetic sine wave generated by the magnetron in the microwave.

The distance measured is half of one wavelength. It should be a smidge over 6cm (about 61mm)

Therefore, the wavelength is about 12.2cm (122mm). or 0.122 Metres.

Now look at the label on the back of the Microwave oven to find out the frequency of the Magnetron. This should be about 2.45GHz,

The frequency is the number of oscillations per second (2,450,000,000 Hz)

In one second 2.45 billion waves will be produced.

If we know how long a single wave is, and how many are produced per second, we can calculate the distance the wave will travel in one second.

If you multiply 2.45 billion by 0.122 Metres you get 298,900,000 m/S

The actual speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s

Our measurement was accurate to about 0.3%

Conclusion

We just measured the Speed of Light, accurate to 0.3% with a ruler.

Manufacturer: There are no user maintainable parts inside:

Me: Hold my Beer....

Government Corruption could be used for good.

After the fiasco in the British Government over the last week , I feel I have a better understanding of how British Politics works.

On the plus side, I see a solution to the problem of Climate Change.

I've learned that If you want new Government policy or new legislation to be implemented, you need to bribe a politician to vote in favour of your desired outcome.

It seems this can be done for as little as £100,000 per Tory MP. That's a fraction of the cost of a single wind turbine.

If the Environmentalists could start a GoFundMe Campaign to raise just £5M we could Bribe... Er Lobby 50 of our elected representatives to implement a strong, effective and mandatory environmental policy.

The British Government is the best Government money can buy.

 
I've just had a very interesting interaction with some scammers.

Yesterday, I got a call from an Alton phone number (01420 394006).

I guy with a thick Asian accent wanted to talk to me about reducing my company Corporation Tax liability by claiming for R&D Tax credits.

He knew a fair amount about my company but only info you can get from the Companies House web site.

I advised him my company does not meet any of the criteria for R&D Tax Credits, but he was very insistent that he gets a consultant to call me back the following day.

Meanwhile, I got an Email from a guy called Michael Cash from Square Finance Ltd. explaining what R&D Tax Credits are. There was also a link to their wizzy hi-tech Website www.square-finance.com.

Today the Consultant called me back, he sounded very much like the first guy who called.

He started off with some very aggressive sales pitch on how they can reduce my tax liability.

I know a little about these credits and stopped him by explaining in great detail why my company does not meet any of the four HMRC criteria for R&D Tax Credits and that to attempt to claim this credit would be Tax Fraud.

Things got a little uncomfortable after that. When I mentioned the word "Scam", there was an uncomfortable laugh and insurances they were a legitimate Tax Advisory Service.

Well, he decided that they would start the claim process anyway and was sending the forms. All I needed to do was sign the authorisation form and send it back to him and they would initiate the claim process.

I've now got the forms.

Obviously, this whole interaction is covered in red flags, alarm bells and "Do Not Enter" signs.

So I did a little digging.

Firstly, the Website domain name is registered with NAMECHEAP INC

The Registrant has an address in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The head office of Square Finance Ltd is 435 London Rd, Sheffield (Picture below). They have 1 director Aneesa Baz.

(Update: As I write, Michael Cash has just called, asking me to sign the forms immediately and send them back to him.)

435 London Rd, Sheffield is also the address of a taxi company, Edge Car Hire with one employee, Zafeer Abdul. (https://edgecarhire.com/contacts/)

It's also the address of Medqon Ltd, (https://medicoreports.com/) A medical reporting company with one employee, Dr Balal Ahmad who according to Companies House is an Electronics Engineer.

Dr Ahmad also runs a company called: Intellectual Bunch Ltd who's head office is... You guessed it 435 London Rd Sheffield.

Dr Ahmad also runs Tiny Ox Consulting Ltd registered at 130 Old Street, London.

BUT, they have Job vacancies on a Pakistani Jobs Website for unmarried Software engineers in Lahore, Pakistan.

I have to get back to Michael Cash, Aneesa, Zafeer or Dr Ahmad Today.

How should I play this?

• Do I string him along and play games with him?
• Do I Confront him with all the evidence that he is a scammer?
• Do I block him?
• Report him to the authorities. (I have home addresses and mobile phone numbers)?

Suggestions please.

Here's a picture of the Head Offices at 435 London Rd Sheffield.