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Following up two of this year's themes... road/air vehicles...and alternative options for baseload energy...
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.'Coding' is currently in the news, with a push to have more young people learn coding to empower them to create sites, programs and apps. Another form of coding, and code breaking, became an imperative during World War II, when Dr Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park in the UK sought to understand and break Germany’s 'enigma' code and developed a machine to counter it. We watched the excellent movie 'The Imitation Game' which follows the story of mathematician, cryptanalyst, war hero and pioneer of modern-day computing Turing as he and his team sought to break the Enigma Code. All considered ‘The Imitation Game’ worth viewing - it is available on loan from the Benalla Library.
Items raised by this month’s Rustik discussion group included Facetime (Les); a 256 USB flash drive which connects to standard USB and phones (Terry); the NBN (Peter) and the interconnector to South Australia (Len). Facetime, which is used by a number of U3A Benalla members, can only be used between two Macs of one form or another. Either WIFI or the mobile network can be used but using the mobile network would incur a charge depending on how long the call was and the users plan and how much data was left on the plan. For example, a one-hour call would use approximately 150 MB of data. If the call triggered the need for more data capacity then worst case for Telstra, $10 would be required for 1GB. This compares with $60 being required for a mobile voice call for one hour. Skype, Duo or Messenger would give similar results. WIFI is generally of much greater capacity and 150 MB would not impact it very much if at all and would be virtually free. Regarding the interconnector to South Australia, many of us envisage lattice steel towers with wires on them which might fall over in the wind. Actually, there are 180 kilometres of two high voltage DC cables from Red Cliffs in Victoria to Berri in South Australia, very securely buried in the ground and completely safe from all the bad weather that could be thrown at them. (Note - for more reading about the interconnector, check out the Len's links on the Murraylink high voltage direct current electricity transmission link here.) Bev Lee & Les Rodgers 'Coding' is currently in the news, with a push to have more young people learn how to code to empower them to create sites, programs and apps. Our July session considered an earlier period in which coding - and code breaking - became an imperative, the period in which the impact of the coding based 'enigma' machine and the development of a machine to counter this by Dr Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park during World War II. Instead of a talk we watched the movie 'The Imitation Game' based on the Enigma machine and Dr Alan Turing's involvement with it. We all felt it was worth viewing, It is available on loan from the Benalla Library. Some reading: 'The Enigma Machine - How Alan Turing Helped to Break the Unbreakable Nazi Code'. |
About 'Tech Talks'Are you reasonably tech savvy; interested in technological developments and keen to continue developing your knowledge base? Then the ‘Tech Talks’ discussion group may be of interest. Monthly sessions include viewing of topical ‘TED Talks’; presentations on topics of interest by class members or guest speakers; shared news of developments across a range of technologies. Topics discussed include developments in science as well as technology.
We hope to attract more interest by having guest speakers. Please note that wide ranging discussion of topics is encouraged. Meeting times2nd Tuesday of month
2pm to 4pm U3A Meeting Room 2 FacilitatorNeville Gibb 0428 858 688
LinksArchives'Tech Savvy Talkers' reports/photos from the Rustik then Northo discussion sessions to end 2019.
Resources from Ian McLeod's 'Making the Most of the Internet' course which preceded Tech Savvy:
MMI webpage Ian's Blog Links and references Categories
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April 2024
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