To acquire the certificate below, you first have to acquire the certificate above. Why? Because “A” level Maths is an essential prerequisite for successful completion of an undergraduate degree in an engineering or science subject.
Keys come in many forms nowadays. Were one to have asked “the man in the street” in April 1919 what came to mind when the word “key” was mentioned he would have thought about a metal object that opens doors, or cabinets, or boxes. Or safes. Today in April 2019 the word “key” can be used to describe non material object such as a password. Today, “the man in the street” knows that if a computer requires a password to operate it and that password is lost or is unknown, then the computer is as inaccessible as a key safe without the key. Unless of course you are a “cracksman” or a “hacker”.
On the subject of computers, I have owned a PC since 1990. My first was a second hand Compaq Deskpro 386 20MHz with a 300MB hard drive and 16MB of RAM. It ran on DOS – which was running with “Deskview” to enable a degree of multi-tasking; dBbase was the database, Lotus 123 was the spreadsheet and WordPerfect 5 was the word processor. Originally – this was before the internet – I did not use the boot up option of a password. This because it was a single user machine and I saw no point. However, the experience of another caused me to adopt a password. What happened was this:
A man had a computer. Like me he did not opt for a password guarded boot-up. One day he and his wife were entertaining a couple of friends. These friends had a teenage son. At some point the teenager must have slipped away and went into the room which had the computer and switched it on. The teenager switched the computer on and had a look at what the man used the machine for. The teenager then switched it off, and left the room; but not before restarting it again and interrupting the boot sequence to set up a password. The teenager then switched the computer off again and left the room and thence the house – without informing anybody what he had done.
At some point after the couple had left, the man switched on his computer and when presented with the task of entering the password could not! Thinking the computer had a problem he took it to a computer repairer who asked him; “What is the password?” The man replied he did not know! The computer repairer told him that clearly someone had set up the machine to accept a password. The result was that the couple asked their friends and the teenager owned up to his prank and volunteered the password. On hearing this apocryphal take, I set up a password. One that I use to this day.
Today there is a phrase, “Lost the plot”. Many would seek to ascribe it to the activities of what I think in the future will be called the Remianer Parliament. Together, the House of Fools (aka The Commons) and the House of Cronies (aka The Lords) have made a dog’s breakfast of Brexit.
In his blog-post today (http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87210), Doctor North asserts that our rulers gave up on governing the UK as an independent state and decided to subcontract the overall governance to what was the European Community, which became the European Economic Community before finally evolving into the European Union.
If any further evidence was needed, herewith text from Article 50(3) of the European Council Decision last week:
“…the United Kingdom shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and shall refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union’s objectives, in particular when participating in the decision-making processes of the Union…”
It goes on:
“….This extension excludes any re-opening of the Withdrawal Agreement. Any unilateral commitment, statement or other act by the United Kingdom should be compatible with the letter and the spirit of the Withdrawal Agreement, and must not hamper its implementation. Such an extension cannot be used to start negotiations on the future relationship….”
Which is why I call this an instrument of surrender!
Remember, when Sir Edward Grey saw the text of Austria’s ultimatum to Serbia in 1914 which insisted that Austrian police be involved in overseeing Serbia’s investigation into the assassination he commented: “This is the most monstrous document ever served by a sovereign state upon another sovereign state.”
It is a jolly good thing he’s now longer around to read the above!
Witnessing as we all have the débâcle these salaried idiots have made of Brexit so far, one can only assume they are not up to the job of running an independent state.
Of the many characters history will record of this time, Nigel Paul Farage will figure prominently. With justification as it is he – far more than Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson or Gisela Gschaider (widow of the late Derek Scott) – who brought about the referendum result on Midsummer’s Day 2016.
At that time Mr Farage was the leader of UKIP. UKIP being the acronym for “United Kingdom Independence Party”. Another figure history should record is Doctor Alan Sked, UKIP’s first leader and the man who came up with the name UKIP. This because the name so excellently summed up precisely what the party’s objective was! Of course, Mr Farage is now the leader of the Brexit Party which cannot really be described as a party as it lacks the one thing that a political party MUST have: Members! Instead it has subscribers. Of course, those of us who have been in UKIP some time and know Mr Farage realise that this is Mr Farage’s favoured structure. Basically, the Brexit Party could be called the Nigel Farage Fan Club!
Sadly, the efforts of Mr Farage and the thousands of fellow Britons who assisted him in securing the referendum result, FAILED to take into account one important thing: that the ability of self governance appears to have been lost! This is evidenced by the behaviour post Midsummer’s Day 2016 by the members of the Remianer Parliament, the House of Fools and the House of Cronies.
There is a saying, “History repeats itself.” And here is the saddest of all ironies:
In the 1950s and the 1960s the UK gave independence to a number of African “colonies”. These colonies were offered the continuance of British administration – the aim being to allow the new native government to “get up to speed” in an orderly way and not find themselves independent without any experience of governance. The African leaders rejected this offer and history recorded the results. Now it seems that in a curious way, British leaders are about to do the same thing!
As Alice said: “Curiouser and curiouser!”
Speaking the Truth unto the Nation
