Regarding the Colour of the New Zealand Flag...

(Alternative title: The ex-Empiree's New Clothes) #nzflag

Ironically the post WWII British Gov was only too happy (and in a big rush) to "grant" all "their" colonies "independence" cf. http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-uk-government-are-opening-thousands-of-secret-files-to-the-public...

To achieve this the British Gov even had a special mobile hit squad of diplomats to speed up the "transition" and the British exit. Did you ever notice that when the "sun set" on the British Empire, it set WITHOUT the British Marines EVER loosing a single battle? Figure that one out! How is that a retreat?

It all culminated around 1970 when NZ (and others) became victim of combined effect of the Secret UK/US "Atlantic Charter" AND the UK/US manipulation of the Goldstandard... the net effect was the virtual crash of the NZ economy...

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard#Bretton_Woods

Meantime my grandparents quietly had their Irish/Scottish rights of descent "squished" by over eager "ex-colonies" asserting their newly found "sovereignty".

[ The ex-colonies "officials" were (in most cases) re-engineering the British "empire's" original bureaucracy to suit the pro-independence family dynasties that emerged ]

The end of the "British Empire", meant the end of the common currency, the end of border-less global travel, the imposition of ID numbers/travel-documents, the end of free trade, the increase in the ACTUAL income tax rate, and economies becoming centric on super-cities.

[ Ironically the common currency with free internal trade & travel of the US, EU & China (and even Australia) is what powers these economies. ]

If the ex-British colonies were truly smart, then they would have evicted England from the Empire and but kept the Empire. We then would have been had a chance to stand up against the emerging economic super powers and been be in a much better position to augment (and develop) the more vulnerable smaller economies.

So... just maybe... the colour of the flag is not the issue? Maybe the flag's colour is just another cleverly engineered distraction. Maybe the real question is... Who engineered this distraction? (And why?)

The meaning of adb

From: Drew Sullivan 
Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc

"If you are going to get your history correct, then you have to know why Bourne was at Bell Labs. He was trying to build an algol-68 compiler. The project didn't complete in the sence that there is no algol compiler but the tools that he built live on. That is why the Bourne shell has case ... esac, if ... fi, do ... done, These are all from algol-68."

Lastly the the adb was the algol debuger.  The 'a' is for algol!!!! 

I extract the following screen shot from:  Bryan Cantrill's - The Observation Deck

"Views on software from Bryan Cantrill's deck chair"

* https://blogs.oracle.com/bmc/entry/unix_circa_1984 

Basically the "adb" command has built into it the command "$a" for debugging Algol68 stack structures and scopes.

c.f. "abd manual page extract" & "Algol68C and Unix"
After Cambridge, Bourne spent nine years at Bell Labs with the Seventh Edition Unix team. As well as developing the Bourne shell, he ported ALGOL 68C to Unix on the DEC PDP-11-45 and included a special option in his Unix debugger "adb" to obtain a stack backtrace for programs written in ALGOL68C. Here is an extract from the Unix 7th edition adb manual pages:

NAME
      adb - debugger
SYNOPSIS
      adb [-w] [ objfil [ corfil ] ]
[...]
COMMANDS
[...]
       $modifier
             Miscellaneous  commands.   The  available modifiers
             are:
             [...]
             a      ALGOL 68 stack  backtrace.   If  address  is
                    given  then it is taken to be the address of
                    the current frame (instead of r4).  If count
                    is  given  then  only the first count frames
                    are printed.

Dual booting Centos: /boot/boot/grub.conf kernel root=/dev/sda0 VS root=UUID=X-X-X-X-X VS root=/dev/mapper/luks-X-X-X-X-X

I'm adding this to my blog because I'm not sure where else to post technote ...

From: kernel-2.6.32-504.3.1 To kernel-2.6.32-504.3.3

The nearest I report I found to my problem was:
* [SOLVED] LVM on Luks cannot find device

I dual boot linux/Centos.  x86_64 on one partition, and i686
Basically back in Dec 2014 I upgraded my kernel on one of my partition

However "something" then cleaned up all my  "x86_64" kernels and modules...
It was manifested with the message "cannot load module.dep"

FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.32.431.23.3.el6.x86_64/modules: No such file or directory.

The fix is to reinstall the missing kernel... IF you can boot.

This is made a little tricky when one partition is strictly i686 and the other is x86_64... I ended up booting into single user, doing a rpm install --ignorearch on i686, then manually mounting the x86_64 copying all the x86_64 kernel files (rpm -ql kernel)  from the i686 partition...

Interestingly this whole process is a bit of a time bomb, because the problem only manifested itself 6 weeks after previous kernel upgrade.  So I am not sure what "update" cleaning out all the previous kernel and modules...

Alternatively you may be abel to an easier solution by running the "recovery shell" or booting from a recovery disk/USBDrive.

Goodluck
N

ps.  If you know what is "cleaning up" the old kernels (esp. kernels on that partitions RPM database, then let me know)  Cheers.

A bit of fun with Jabberwocky, classes, mixins, python and method resolution order (MRO)

I was trying to figure out and demonstrate python's Member Resolution Order... In particular, pay attention to the output from __str__...

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

class BeastBase(dict):
  def __init__(self, **characteristics):
    super(BeastBase, self).__init__(**characteristics)

  def __str__(self):
    return "; ".join(["%s=%r"%item for item in super(BeastBase, self).iteritems()])

class Mixin(object): pass

class BitingMixin(Mixin):
  def __init__(self, jaws=2, teeth_per_mouth=32, **characteristics):
    self.jaws=jaws
    self.teeth_per_mouth=teeth_per_mouth
    super(BitingMixin, self).__init__(**characteristics)

  def bite(self):
    print "Bite: jaws=%s, teeth=%s"%(self.jaws, self.teeth_per_mouth*self.jaws/2)

  def __str__(self):
    return "Jawed: %s; %s"%(self.jaws, super(BitingMixin, self).__str__())

class JawedBeast(BeastBase, BitingMixin): pass

class ClawingMixin(Mixin):
  def __init__(self, feet=4, toes_per_foot=3, **characteristics):
    self.feet=feet
    self.toes_per_foot=toes_per_foot
    super(ClawingMixin, self).__init__(**characteristics)

  def catch(self):
    print "Catch: feet=%s, toes=%s"%(self.feet, self.toes_per_foot*self.feet)

  def __str__(self):
    return "Claws: %s; %s"%(self.toes_per_foot*self.feet, super(ClawingMixin, self).__str__())

class ClawedBeast(BeastBase, ClawingMixin): pass

class FlamingMixin(Mixin):
  def __init__(self, eyes=6, flames_per_eye=1, **characteristics):
    self.eyes=eyes
    self.flames_per_eye=flames_per_eye
    super(FlamingMixin, self).__init__(**characteristics)

  def flame(self):
    print "Flames:", self.eyes*self.flames_per_eye

  def __str__(self):
    return "Eyes: %s, Flames: %s; %s"%(self.eyes, self.eyes*self.flames_per_eye, super(FlamingMixin, self).__str__())

class FlamedBeast(FlamingMixin, BeastBase): pass

class WhifflingMixin(Mixin):
  def whiffle(self): print "Whiffle...."
  def __str__(self): return "Whiffling... "+super(WhifflingMixin, self).__str__()

class WhifflingBeast(WhifflingMixin, BeastBase): pass

class BurblingMixin(Mixin):
  def burble(self): print "Burble...."
  def __str__(self): return "Burbling... "+super(BurblingMixin, self).__str__()

class BurblingBeast(BurblingMixin, BeastBase): pass

class Jabberwocky(BitingMixin, ClawingMixin, FlamingMixin, WhifflingMixin, BurblingMixin, BeastBase):
  def __init__(self, **characteristics):
    super(Jabberwocky, self).__init__(**characteristics)

  def __str__(self):
    return "JabberWocky: "+super(Jabberwocky, self).__str__()+" ... Beware! "

if __name__ == "__main__":

# Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
  jabberwocky1=Jabberwocky(personality="Friendly", consideration="Temperamental", eyes=5, flames_per_eye=3)
  print jabberwocky1

# Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
# The frumious Bandersnatch!

# The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
  jabberwocky1.bite()
  jabberwocky1.catch()

# And as in uffish thought he stood,
# The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
  jabberwocky1.flame()

# Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
  jabberwocky1.whiffle()
# And burbled as it came!
  jabberwocky1.burble()  

Output:
JabberWocky: Jawed: 2; Claws: 12; Eyes: 5, Flames: 15; Whiffling... Burbling... consideration='Temperamental'; personality='Friendly' ... Beware!
Bite: jaws=2, teeth=32
Catch: feet=4, toes=12
Flames: 15
Whiffle....
Burble....
 

A brief history of Air Traffic Control and on-line Aircraft Tracking Systems...

Today's loss of flight MH370 got me wꜵndering the internet briefly investigating how Aircraft Tracking/Control systems have changed over the years.

• 1958 - Semi-Automatic Ground Environment - The prototype was an IBM 4020 Military Computer
  "SAGE—Air Force project 416L—became the pattern for at least twenty-five other major military command-control systems… These were the so-called “Big L” systems [and] included 425L, the NORAD system; 438L, the Air Force Intelligence Data Handling System; and 474L, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS). … Project 465L, the SAC Control System (SACCS) [with] over a million lines, reached four times the size of the SAGE code and consumed 1,400 man-years of programming; SDC invented a major computer language, JOVIAL, specifically for this project." 
• http://www.computermuseum.li/Testpage/IBM-SAGE-computer.htm
• 1958 - Algol58/JOVIAL created.
• 1961- AN/FSQ-31V ‎ - SAGE Solid State Computer was a planned military computer central for deployment to Super Combat Centers in nuclear bunkers
• 1968 - ALGOL 68 Final Report^r0 Presented at Munich Meeting

• 1980 - re: 1968 ... The best we could do was to send with it a minority report, stating our considered view that, "... as a tool for the reliable creation of sophisticated programs, the language [ALGOL 68] was a failure." [...] - C. A. R. Hoare  Oct 1980

• 2002 - Air Traffic Control dependent on 1970s software until 2011
  "The IBM mainframe-based Flight Data Processing System (FDPS) based at West Drayton, near Heathrow, crashed twice in 2002, causing major disruption to air traffic and delays for thousands of passengers."
• 2004 - Failed air traffic control system dates back to 70s
• 2007 - DDC-I Announces Industry's First Quick-Turn, Low-Cost JOVIAL-to-C Conversion Service
• 2011 - The futurist: The US’ new air traffic control system
• 2011 - FAA Remains Quiet on Eram Budget Overruns, Delay
• 2013 - How UK air traffic control system was caught asleep on the job
• 2012-2025 "Next Generation Air Transportation System"
• ... estimates that by 2018, NextGen will reduce aviation fuel consumption by 1.4 billion gallons, reduce emissions by 14 million tons and save $23 billion in costs.^[5] Each mile in the air costs an airline about $0.10-$0.15 per seat in operating expenses like flight crew and fuel.^[6] 

¢ My commentary: Algol68 should have been adopted and replaced Algol60, but [IMHO] instead Algol68 was shot down by a vocal minority.  Sure, I would love to own and drive a 1961 E-type Jaguar, but it would be better with airbags and a GPS.  So the 1968 Security, Efficiency, Type-safety, Standardization and Internationalization offered by Algol68 (which predates C11 well by over 40 years!) should have been leveraged in 1968! Algol68 is kind of like a 1961 E-type Jaguar, but with seat-belts, air-bags, a roll-bar, traction-control and modern tyres! ¢

BTW:  As a wonderful example of today's "crowd-sourcing": Do you regularly have aircraft pass (or cross paths) over your home/community? but you live in the "middle-of-every-where"... How about becoming part of "flight-aware" and to help track aircraft?  If your location is "desirable", then you may get a free [ADS-B] to put on your roof... Here is the current coverage map: http://flightaware.com/adsb/coverage.

Click MH370 for an example of this flightaware's tracking of MH370.

Update: My best guess as to where MH370 is... On a "great circle" west of Kuda Huvadhoo (in the Maldives).

Was Algol ever used for “mainstream” programming?

¢ I rather liked this answer on Stackoverflow, so I am reproducing it here ¢
 
Algol58 seems to have been the most successful in terms of important applications.

From Wikipedia:

JOVIAL is an acronym for “Jules Own Version of the International Algorithmic Language.” The “International Algorithmic Language” was a name originally proposed for ALGOL 58. It was developed to compose software for the electronics of military aircraft by Jules Schwartz in 1959.

Then:

Notable systems using JOVIAL include the Milstar Communications Satellite, Advanced Cruise Missile, B-52, B-1B, B-2 bombers, C-130, C-141, and C-17 transport aircraft, F-111, F-15, F-16 (prior to Block 50), and F-117 fighter aircraft, LANTIRN, U-2 aircraft, E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, Navy Aegis cruisers, Army Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, F100, F117, and F119 jet engines, the NORAD air defense & control system (Hughes HME-5118ME system) and RL-10 rocket engines. Airborne radar systems with embedded JOVIAL software include the APG-70, APG-71 and APG-73

ALGOL 68 was used in part of DRA for the same purpose. cf. Wikipedia:

The ”’Defence Research Agency”’ (normally known as ”’DRA”’), was an executive agency of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) from April 1991 until April 1995. At the time the DRA was Britain’s largest science and technology organisation.

DRA’s Algol68 compiler was finally open-sourced in April 1999 and is now available for linux for download from sourceforge. (However an interpreter for “Algol68g” is easier to use).

ICL’s Algol68 was/is S3 – It was developed by the UK company International Computers Limited (ICL) for its 2900 Series mainframes. It is a system programming language based on ALGOL 68 but with data types and operators aligned to those offered by the 2900 Series. It was the implementation language of the operating system VME.

There are (at least) two other British operating systems – Flex and Cambridge_CAP_computer – written in Algol68 variants. And also 1 Soviet OS: Эльбрус-1 (Elbrus-1), but I have yet to find any of their source code. (If anyone can find and distribute to this source code please let me know)

BTW: I believe that VME is still running – in production – as a Linux/Unixware guest VM. Mostly at Commonwealth of Nations Custom/Immigration services.
Also over the same period the USSR was using Algol68, c.f. history link. Algol68 is used in Russian telephone exchanges. And Algol58 was used in the Russian “Buran/Буран” Space Shuttle landing system.

ALGOL68 was internationalized in 1968. I suspect there are other Algol projects in other countries. esp in German, in Dutch Japanese and Chinese but I have no details.

If you want to actually tryout Algol68 and/or contribute your code, check out Rosettacode’s ALGOL 68 repository, then as a class project try one of the “Tasks not implemented“.

enjoy!

Déjà vu: SMIL-2.0 vs Algol-68

SMIL-2.0: The example assume video and audio media that are recorded to be in exact sync with one another:

<par dur="indefinite">
  <img id="foo" end="click" .../>
  <video id="bar" begin="foo.endEvent" .../>
  <audio id="copy" begin="foo.end" .../>
</par>

Algol-68: An example of a parallel-clause which synchronizes eating and speaking:

PROC VOID eat, speak; SEMA mouth = LEVEL 1;
   PAR BEGIN
       DO
           DOWN mouth;
           eat;
           UP mouth
       OD, 
       DO
           DOWN mouth;
           speak;
           UP mouth
       OD
   END.

...

• plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose 

• c.f. golang: On Go (published 2009 November 15)