Ditto

You have to hope no one is daft enough to try!

Tequila.

Aha! That's an extremely valid point. Given @Koldov quoted accident rate per mile, what's the autonomous equivalent? I think it would be interesting to compare accidents and deaths separately. I haven't researched this much at all, but I have seen suggestions that self driving have a higher rate of low speed accidents but perhaps the opposite is true of high speed and potential fatal accidents. For me, the biggest challenge with autonomous during is two-fold and shouldn't be ignored or underestimated, and that's social acceptance. The second aspect is autonomous driving mixing with human drivers. I can imagine if all vehicles were autonomously driven, all synched in to a GPS system we could, have cars driving at up to 100 mph and just a few feet apart. Trouble with that is when things go wrong, it's going to be spectacularly wrong. Even allowing normal distances, I could see far more vehicles on roads being massively more efficient in a synchronised world. But how do you get to that point?

I ended up ordering the Bambu Lab A1 soon after my OP. It just arrived which is a surprise as there was a glitch on payment, but I am pleased as delivery in time was a worry. I'll report back how well it works in the New Year!

My eldest son has a basic Malyan 3D printer, can't remember the exact model but has a 15cm square build plate and magnetic print sheet. Apart from a few bits of maintenance it is still working well - must be 3.5 years now. Younger son has got increasingly into 3D printingso is looking for his own model. He's selected the Bambu Lab A1 3D printer. Not the mini and not the colour, but I understand that can be added later. For under £300, it looks to me to be a great choice, so hopefully an easy purchase. Just before I do, any comments on that 3D printer or recommendations that I should also consider at a similar price point.

I'm thinking of adding this to our (OH and me) to our viewing list - is it as violent as the trailer suggests?

I have had exactly those thoughts for a while. Can you bring this in to a procurement process? Maybe, but be very, very careful... -TBF, perfectly - I doubt it, but....

Excellent! I think I said in the third post or thereabout I'd wait for Josh's update from @bringmoredata - thanks Josh, another excellent article. Interesting times once again. And so reassuring to see my quick analysis was just about on the button!

I broadly agree, but it can be a design 'bug' where even if software does ABC as designed, if ABC is a bugged design, it's the same outcome for the end user.

Understood, but I'm told statistically 6 out of 7 dwarves aren't happy

Just on this point, I called my eldest sibling out recently for what I perceived as racism, he corrected his statement and then I called him out for sexism. He then grumbled that you can't say anything any more and then inanely (or it could be argued insanely) said it's like you can't say short people can't get a job stacking shelves (the fact that elves is in that word is purely coincidence). I pointed out that as far as I am aware, he is fine with that as there isn't a law in England the prohibits heightism. I don't necessarily believe that is the case globally though. Apologies for the thread deviation, but I need to air that.

My really quick analysis graphically, and this a count of schools, not related to number of pupils. This needs more work, so lots of caveats, but referring to https://bringmoredata.blogspot.com/, the Spring 2024 showed SIMS at 49%. If my figures are anywhere near right, that's a big drop and suggests an acceleration from SIMS. Bromcom and Arbor appear to be growing still, but Arbor performing very strongly.

I think I'll wait for @bringmoredata to do his always excellent analysis and then comment - although there is a bit of me that might mean I take a first hand look!

Not sure if I am missing something, but aren't attendance codes DfE defined? So, unless these are non census reportable attendances, would you then need a mapping of your custom codes to the DfE ones?

Wallace?!

Given recent news stories about many universities are struggling, I suspect there is a lot more of this to come. My eldest is due to go on an engineering degree next year, and he is well aware the course's actual cost is much higher than he will pay, whilst other degree courses with less resource demands effectively subsidise his. Given how high the fees are now, plus accommodation/general living almost doubling the expense, he'd (we) would be seriously compromised on accessing this level of education purely on affordability if variable fees were brought in. As someone that went to university and got paid (grant), things have changed beyond recognition. With the increasing number of people going to uni since my days, I do wonder what alternative models exists. For me, I'd like to see the apprentice schemes go further. I also think we need to value (poorly named) 'vocational skills and certification' for what they are, rather than trying to give them 'academic' equivalences. For me, there are so many young adults that benefit from degree and other higher education and that is an investment in the future on the country. I do wonder if a direct taxation on corporations beyond a certain size, those that benefit from employing the graduates, could be used to directly fund all higher education. It's probably a bit too revolutionary to go far as an idea, but it is clear the current model is heading badly in the wrong direction.

Now you're just being picky - oh and there is a "." missing from the ellipsis

Absolutely agree. I recently found out that a long time friend loves the program too - and admits there is no interest in the fishing, just the great show the pair put on. I think I have watched them all from Series 1, but then as a kid I did go fishing. They've even fished the same stretch of the quirky River Mole that starts in West Sussex and meanders through Surrey joining the River Thames at Hampton Court Palace that I did.

I don't disagree, but even a basic level of service has disappeared from so many corporations. E.g. My brother need to speak to his Co-op bank. Nearest brach about 20 miles away - opening hours Mon-Fri 9:00 5:00pm. Try to contact by phone - website quotes Lines are open 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday. However, I've got a feeling the weekend service is over stated - regardless, when you ring, you got in to a queue and even after an hour, no answer. I'm trying to access my mortgage with Barclays - online registration isn't working. I've discovered there is a 'local Barclays' nearby, just a few miles awat. It's in a community centre and states "There are no counter or cash services here"! Opening hours are stated as Monday 10.00 am-3.00 pm; Tuesday Closed; Wednesday Closed; Thursday 10.00 am-3.00 pm; Friday 10.00 am-3.00 pm; Saturday Closed; Sunday Closed; Online support? Mon to Fri 9.00am to 5.00pm; Sat to Sun Closed; I did manage to get through once - problem solved - No! You know the appropriate chocolate tea pot phrase. Excuse the language, but FFS, that's insane! Many people are working those hours and it can be hard to make a call and then it can go unanswered. And in case anyone is interested: Co-op bank profits 2023 - £71.4m; Barclays - well they are struggling compared to the previous year - just £6.5 billion - and in long hand form that's £6,500,000,000.00

Interesting. What happens when AI gets so smart it works in tandem with the student so that it's impossible to spot? The whole AI thing in society has a long way to go. One thing I hope businesses learn over time is how darn good a well trained human worker can be for customer services and brand reputation. My endlessly repeating experience of corporate services, including with AS (Artificial stupid!) bots, is that we have moved backwards in the last decade, not forwards. In many ways this replicates the sheep like behaviour of organisations uncontrolled export of call centres overseas. They are some good examples of that, but I've seen so many poorly implemented examples, including with a company I worked with - well I just wish companies were smarter and truly focussed on good customer service.

@Danp, sorry I couln't find a copy of my old files that dealt with this - I do recall it could be a single setting that kick it in to life. Did you manage to crack the problem?

Probably worth pointing out the above is NSFW, but at least it doesn't have the liver peck!

They probably will and if they don't I can only see them losing customers at speed only a little behind ESS. I'm abandoning them for all TV and ISP as soon as contract is up. All because the 'puck' is useless and adverts oppressive to the point I watch very little recorded sport anymore. I here many comment it is because of the takeover by Comcast. I don't know, but my plan is back to BT/EE, even though it's more expensive by a fair bit - or was when I last looked.

Google Streamer (previously known as Chromecast) is an alternative to Amazon Firestick that you might consider.

What a mess - the legal people and going to have yet another Merry Xmas!