Since July 7th, 2024, a new era of road safety has begun in the UK with the roll out of Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) systems in all new cars. This EU regulation, though not mandatory in the UK itself, is being adopted by many manufacturers due to production standardisation. While EU law has no legal force in the UK, it is hard to imagine many manufacturers making an exemption for Britain. ISA promises a significant reduction in speeding violations and accidents, but how will it affect everyday drivers? ISA is a technology that uses a combination of GPS satellite data and cameras to detect the current speed limit. It then provides feedback to the driver through visual or audio alerts, or even gentle adjustments to the vehicle's acceleration, nudging them to slow down if exceeding the limit. For most drivers, ISA will likely be a subtle but welcome change. If the driver is being a little too keen, the ISA system must notify them that the limit has been exceeded but, according to the European Road Safety Charter "not to restrict his / her possibility to act in any moment during driving. The driver is always in control and can easily override the ISA system." There are four options available to manufacturers according to the regulations. The first two, a cascaded acoustic or vibrating warning, do not intervene, while the latter two, haptic feedback through the acceleration pedal and a speed limiter, will. The European Commission noted, "Even in the case of speed control function, where the car speed will be automatically gently reduced, the system can be smoothly overridden by the driver by pressing the accelerator pedal a little bit deeper." Visual or audio warnings can serve as helpful reminders, especially on unfamiliar roads. However, some may find it intrusive, particularly those who rely on feeling the car's speed. Studies show ISA can significantly decrease speeding violations, leading to fewer accidents and fatalities. With calmer traffic flow, ISA can create a safer environment for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. There are questions to consider.- Driver Override: Drivers are able to temporarily override the system. While not mandatory in all models, some ISA systems may have a more aggressive override function, raising concerns about driver control. System Accuracy: Reliance on GPS and cameras raises questions about accuracy, especially in areas with unclear signage or temporary limits. Fitting new vehicles with ISA also raises questions about the system being used to enforce road pricing in the future. What do you think? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
I was contacted in the week by Moira of the Dartford Township Choir She writes:- "The good news for lovers of song is that DTC along with Breathe Harmony (Guys & St Thomas NHS choir), MyCool Singers, (also including some locals) and the professionals, Mike King Collective will be performing in a special 10 year anniversary celebration in London. What could be better than a sunny afternoon on the South Bank, a relaxing meal followed by an evening of joyous singing. The venue is a beautiful, well hidden Baroque former church (good acoustics) concert hall in Westminster. The music is mostly soul but with some surprises and the proceeds go to charity". You can book tickets for this event by clicking here.
Hiram Maxim (1840-1916) is best known for the invention of the automatic machine gun, the spring mouse trap and the fire sprinkler, along with the first heavier than air aircraft - The Maxim Flyer, which took to the air - albeit briefly - in 1894, nine years before the Wright Brothers. The experimental steam powered aeroplane accidentally took off during ground testing in Baldwyn’s Park, Bexley – it flew for an estimated 281 metres at a height of 1.4 metres, according to contemporary accounts. You can read more about the story here. Suffice to say that Maxim realised that his design of flying machine was dynamically unstable, and not viable for any longer flights. He abandoned the project shortly thereafter, leaving the Wright Brothers to gain the fame and fortune that went with the first viable aerodynamic flying vehicle. As well as being a skilled engineer and inventor, Hiram Maxim was a very shrewd businessman, and I think he realised that his own flying machine was an engineering dead end, and he decided to stop throwing good money after bad, and work on other projects instead. Maxim was already a very wealthy man, and did not really need the flying machine to be a financial success at all. However, he also developed the inhaler in the photos above. Click on either photo to see a larger version. The inhaler, known as the ‘Pipe of Peace’. It was used to treat throat and chest problems such as bronchitis. Soothing vapours from water warmed with a few drops of 'Dirigo', made from Maxim’s own recipe, which consisted of a mixture of liquid menthol and wintergreen oil, could be delivered right to the back of the throat via a long, swan-necked glass tube. In this set, the drug is made by John Morgan Richards and Sons Ltd. As word of the effectiveness of Maxim’s invention spread, demand grew and eventually hundreds of thousands were sold in the early 1900s. Hiram Maxim was an excellent inventor, engineer and very canny businessman. He realised that his main product - the Maxim machine gun was a weapon of war, and was giving him a negative public image; by diversifying into medicines, this would contribute to a far pleasanter and more positive personal reputation. In his autobiography of 1915, Hiram Maxim wrote:- "I think it was about the year 1900 that I had a very severe attack of bronchitis. First, we had the family physician; then he called in two experts on throat troubles; but they did me no good. They recommended, however, that I should go to Bournemouth and put myself under the treatment of a noted specialist. It was a failure. I returned to London and consulted the greatest specialist on throat troubles in England, and a few days later he sent me about half a ton of stoneware bottles containing mineral water. I took some of the water and followed the treatment for a time without the least effect. I was then recommended to go to Mont Dore, where they have strong and hot mineral springs and there are many doctors who make a speciality of treating bronchitis. I submitted to a very long system of steaming and boiling and taking the waters with no effect. I next learned that at Royat, not far distant, there was an English physician who was supposed to be the greatest expert on throat troubles in France. After he had been working on me about three weeks he said: "There remains only one thing for you to do, and that is to go to Nice and go through a system of treatment at Vos' Inhalatorium." I spent the next winter at Nice and was much gratified to find that I was greatly benefited by the treatment. It was very long and very severe. Every day I had to inhale an hour at a time; but the bronchitis had disappeared completely by the beginning of April, when I returned to England. However, with the cold and foggy weather of the next autumn the trouble returned as bad as ever; so again I went to Nice and went under the treatment. While there I heard a great deal of discussion regarding throat troubles—generally in the French language. Mr. Vos became very much interested in my case, perhaps more so on account of the comic sketches that I made for him, some of which greatly amused the Russian Grand Dukes who were his patients. At any rate I made a point of learning all that could be learned about the treatment of bronchitis before I left Nice, and the next season, when the trouble commenced again, I bought some glass tubing and made a few glass inhalers myself. By making a mouthpiece of such a shape that the vapours were introduced directly into the throat instead of medicating the inside of the mouth I found that my simple device was much more effective than the very elaborate machinery of Mr. Vos. When I became fully satisfied that my apparatus would ward off bronchitis, I gave a few away, and they all did very well indeed. The next move was to get two hundred of them made by a glass-blower, and these I also gave away, with splendid results. This created a demand, and I placed the sale of the instruments with the eminent firm of John Morgan Richards and Sons, of London, since which time hundreds of thousands have been sold and have given entire satisfaction. A short time ago, while returning from the seaside, I found myself in a first-class compartment with a distinguished-looking gentleman. He asked me if I were not Sir Hiram Maxim, and upon telling him that I was he gave me his own name, which I recognised as being one of the most eminent of the Harley Street physicians. He said: "I have tried your inhaling apparatus with very good results; it is a splendid thing; I recommend it to all my patients who have throat troubles. You have prevented an immense amount of suffering in the world and you ought to be very proud of it." This is the way that one of the greatest physicians in the world looked at the subject, but some of my friends not altogether unconnected with the gun business have told me that I have ruined my reputation absolutely by making a medical inhaler, and a scientific friend has written me deploring the fact that one so eminent in science as myself should descend to "prostituting my talents on quack nostrums." However, this little inhaler enables me to live all winter in England and large numbers are now being sold all over the world. So I think I shall be able to withstand the disgrace of having brought out such an invention. From the foregoing it will be seen that it is a very creditable thing to invent a killing machine, and nothing less than a disgrace to invent an apparatus to prevent human suffering. It is a curious and interesting fact that one of the gentlemen who has ridiculed me the most recommends these inhalers to his friends and always takes one with him when travelling. While at Nice I learned that the inhalants could be taken very much stronger if a small quantity of cocaine were used, but as cocaine was regarded as a poison, it was not expedient to use it. I spent my boyhood in the State of Maine, where there is a little plant which, although it is used for flavouring confectionery, really benumbs the mouth and throat just as cocaine does, only in a less degree. By mixing a small quantity of the oil of this plant with pine essence, the vapours may be inhaled very strong without producing coughing, and this little discovery is one of the things that has made the inhalers such a remarkable success. I suppose I shall have to stand the disgrace which is said to be sufficiently great to wipe out all the credit that I might have had for inventing killing machines".
Pretty much anyone who works in an office, runs their own business, or who works with figures to any extent will be familiar with using a computer spreadsheet – most commonly Microsoft Excel. Many will curse at them from time to time, but would also find working with numbers far more difficult without a spreadsheet. It was not always the case. The term “Spreadsheet” has been in use for several hundred years; originally. In the realm of accounting jargon a "spread sheet" or spreadsheet was, and is a large sheet of paper with columns and rows that organises data about transactions for a business person to examine. It spreads or shows all of the costs, income, taxes, and other related data on a single sheet of paper for a manager to examine when making a decision. The problem with this is that if a value on the sheet changes – for example if the rate of tax was to increase, then the business person had to erase the related values in the relevant column, manually recalculate the new value, and write it onto the sheet – this could be a complex and time consuming business. Accountants and business owners would spend frustrating hours wrestling with figures in this way. In the early 1960’s several electronic versions of spreadsheets were created, which needed to be run on complex (for the time) and hugely expensive mainframe computers. Forty five years ago this week, the first spreadsheet application was published in the UK for use on a personal computer, and it became the first “killer app” – a piece of software so powerful and groundbreaking that many businesses bought a computer just to be able to run it. The program was called Visicalc, and it is debatably the single most important piece of software for business ever written. In 1979, personal computing was very much in its infancy; outside of large companies and universities, computers were really only used by hobbyists and engineers who wanted to learn about the new technology, and how to program. The Apple II had just been released in the USA, which was arguably the first computer for home use that did not require a high level of technical expertise to run. It was a perfect storm –the first widely available and (relatively) easy to use personal computer, along with an incredibly powerful spreadsheet program in Visicalc. Consequently both flew off the shelves; business people bought an Apple II purely to run Visicalc, which greatly pleased Apple, and ultimately led to their giant size and influence nowadays, and without a doubt it led to the adoption of computers in many companies that had previously done without. Once Visicalc became available for the then new IBM 5150 personal computer (what we now refer to as the PC mark one) the future was assured. By this time many other software companies had produced their own versions of an electronic spreadsheet – often with more functions, and Visicalc fell by the wayside. The creators of Visicalc had made one decision which benefitted many in the long run, but led to the demise of their own product – they did not patent or copyright it. What I find fascinating is that whilst most software has changed beyond recognition over the years, the computer spreadsheet has stayed pretty much the same. For proof of this, you can read the original Visicalc instruction manual online by clicking here. If you were to time travel a Visicalc user from 1979 and put them in front of a Windows PC running Microsoft Excel now, they would find that the basic operation was exactly the same, albeit with many more functions and options. The principle has not changed at all.
The end video this week is a short promotional film about Erith Yacht Club. All comments and feedback as usual to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
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