We did not have a good turnup in October but still we ploughed on, examining several interesting subjects.

We listened to Elon Musk explain his ideas on how he wants his employees to act. Elon Musk is reputed to  be the wealthiest man in the world and he has built a large manufacturing base within his short life. He gives a number of instructions to his employees that are somewhat different to what instructions are normally given to employees. Time will tell if any long-term conclusions can be drawn.

We watched a video that showed the development of the Silicon Chip. The Silicon Chip has a fascinating history and is now widely used in most electronic machines. The chip is always in development and is always looking for new code. It is capable of much work that has not yet been thought of. 

We finished by watching a video about the development of the Boeing 787 and the Concorde.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a new plane that has some special features. The majority of its structure is built of composite materials. It is slightly smaller than normal jumbo jets, but it fits into a special niche which will allow it to travel long distances at less expensive rates. Another small but significant difference is that its makeup allows it to have larger windows which every passenger will be pleased with.

The Concorde was a noble concept in engineering unfortunately now confined to museums. It was developed by both the British and French governments and after some years of successful flying, unfortunately a piece of metal on the runway was picked up by a tyre and a fuel tank was ruptured. This led to a terrible crash with the loss of many lives. It was decided to withdraw the plane from service.

The Concorde was loved by passengers. The supersonic technology that made it possible was much loved by the engineering community. Unfortunately, it was a plane that only the wealthy could use, however many problems were overcome in its development and ultimately it was a triumph.   If the crash had not happened, would it still be in service?  


​Neville Gibb

At this month’s Tech Talks we watched and commented on what was virtually an ad from Westinghouse as to how you can now buy a nuclear pack that will power 10000 to 12000 homes and last for 10 years. It appears you simply purchase the pack and insert it into your grid, although it must be more complicated than this. Advertising can gild the lily.

We are purchasing nuclear submarines which must operate on the same principle, except it has been advised they will operate for 30 years without any refuelling.

We then were shown how to operate a machine to convert film into digital. One of the problems that has emerged with modern life is that our family records - slides - homemovies - even vinyl records - have been made redundant by new technology.

I am writing this report from memory battened down in our hotel room waiting for the Japanese Typhoon. I apologise for not giving a full report.

Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we listened to Brian Cox give his explanation of Quantum Mechanics.  I hope that I have his explanation correct.  He stated he was repeating Feynman’s explanation and it was as follows: -
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• Particles are particles and they hop from place to place with a particular probability.
• The probability that a particle will be at one place at one point of time and will be at a different place later is given by a simple rule and depends on mass, time, and distance and these can be calculated.
• An example is accepting an electron will be in one position at one point in time but will be in another position at another point in time and the probability is that it will be in every position in a given area during a specified time.
• In simple terms a particle will move from point A to point B and there is a probability attached.  Remember that Quantum Mechanics is the study of the infinity small.

We also watched a video which showed us new uses of science including how we can fight fire with sound.

We also discussed the use of robots and whether they will always take on human form.

Numbers being low and as one of our attendees had to leave early, we called it a day at 3pm.  If any other U3A members or their friends are interested in attending, we would welcome them.
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Neville Gibb

This month in Tech Talks we reverted to more mundane discussions about just how Technology relates to the world.  

We looked at the list of internet speeds amongst countries in the world and wondered why Australia was so far down the list. 

​We looked at the world’s worst carbon polluters both per capita and actual and again wondered why Australia was so far down the list.

Finally, we brokered the concept of whether it was possible to go cold turkey in the use of coal.

It is worth considering that in the past at various times we have also gone cold turkey on some things. 

We stopped killing whales cold turkey when it was obvious the species was in danger (admittedly with the exception of one country, but the world is working on them). 

We stopped cold turkey the use of certain refrigerants when the danger to the Ozone Layer was obvious.

Could the world do the same with coal?

Neville Gibb

​Neville was unavoidably absent in June, but we soldiered on & discussed Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.

We found there were fifty products under development or licensed in ten countries using six technologies

We discussed the technologies, including light water reactors (current generation three technology), Molten Salt Reactors, High Temperature Gas Reactors and Sodium Fast Reactors.

This later group are generation four reactors and more next decade technology, although they have been in development dating back to the 1950-60s.

Generation three reactors are inefficient in the use of uranium ore. They generally use fissile U235 which is only 1% of uranium ore while non fissile U238 is 99%.  Consequently, there is long term nuclear waste to be carefully stored

Generation four reactors are much more efficient, are able to burn nuclear waste from generation three reactors and in some cases transmute U238 to fuel within a reactor, eventually leaving a small amount of very short-term nuclear waste.

Les Rodgers

Due to one Lexar USB Stick looking like another Lexar USB Stick, this month’s Tech Talks almost came to a very early end. I have to apologise, but as usual I can always blame someone else.

Fortunately, Ian Maver came to the rescue and saved the day.    Ian enlightened us with an explanation of electricity.    It is interesting that we can still consider just what is electricity.

We can still reflect on how it is transmitted.  Does it for instance travel along copper wires at a certain speed.

We can speculate just what role electro magnetism has in the connection between the quantum world and the gravitational world.

All these points were raised by Ian in his stirring talk.

At our next Tech Talks we will concentrate on Australia’s Broadband Network amongst other things.

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Neville Gibb

At our meeting on Tuesday 12th April, we followed on from our last month’s meeting.

Ian Maver lectured on the James Webb Telescope and Les Rodgers lectured on Nuclear Fusion.

The James Webb Telescope is an incredibly complicated piece of machinery. It is now situated a long way from Earth and there is no present method of repairing it or recalling it to Earth. It has to work. It has a lot of very precise machines on it.  Les pointed out some of the engineering involved in its functioning. The mirrors at times must be moved and this has to be done with precise measurement.   Machinery is involved.

Les then followed with Nuclear Fusion Reactors, Part 2. 

Les spoke about the reconstruction of the Japanese JT-60U reactor as a result of the “Broader Approach” agreement between the EU and Japan. This agreement was reached after a two-year standoff while the argument proceeded as to whether ITER should be built in Japan or France. France won and the agreement was the payoff to Japan and has already been extended. Physical construction was completed in March 2020 and commissioning has been ongoing since then but was interrupted in March 2021 by the failure of insulation in the connections to the Equilibrium Coil EF1 at 25% full power. Commissioning was expected to recommence in February 2022 but has not done so yet.
This was a major setback and was said to be a failure of quality control of the design and specification of critical components. Finding and correcting these things are what such comprehensive commissioning tests are for. 

​Neville Gibb and Les Rodgers

(If you would like to read Les’s summaries of his powerpoint presentations for both Parts I and II, visit the posts below).

Les Rodgers
March 2022

At our last Tech Talks we were fortunate enough to listen to two separate lectures.

Les Rodgers brought us up to date on the development of Fusion Reactor Technology. Fusion Technology aimed at the production of electricity is rapidly moving towards the so called Holy Grail, where the output is equal to or greater than the electrical input. A surprising number of Fusion Machines already exist, none of them yet producing electricity. However new machines are being built with one prototype aiming to produce electricity by 2024 and a number expecting to in useable amounts  by the end of the decade.
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We also listened to a lecture by Ian Maver on the James Webb Deep Space Telescope. This telescope was only launched in late December but is now in a position to start operating.   Literally, it is parked well off shore so to speak -  way out in space and held rigidly in place by the gravitational forces of three bodies - the sun, the moon and earth.  Such is the nature of physics it will not require any external source of energy to hold it in place. It will sit facing away from the earth and will look deep into the infra-red spectrum in space.

​Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we discussed items of interest and watched a selection of videos:

1. A video from 2007 of Steve Jobs introducing the iphone to the world.  It is worth reflecting on the impact the iphone has had on the world. It is now possible for humans in Africa , in South America - indeed anywhere in the world - to be all doing exactly the same thing at the same time on their mobile phones. And communicating with each other. We can thank Steve Jobs for this. Shortly everyone will have a mobile phone and, as Apple has developed and expanded into one of the largest companies in the world, we have to admit it has changed the world.

2.  A Video explaining the true nature of electricity.  The truth is we are still learning about electricity. It doesn’t always work as we thought it did. It is still very complicated.

3.  A short video showing extremes of climate.  In Canada it can get so cold everything turns to ice. Even boiling water.

At our next meeting we will be brought up to date on Nuclear Fusion and the production of electricity. We will also learn what is occurring with the James Webb telescope.

Neville Gibb

At our meeting held Tuesday 9th Nov we were fortunate to have a Barrel Organ demonstrated to us by Brian Greed.

Brian has recently built this Barrel organ by hand. He informed us of problems with supply and other things which he overcame by his natural persistence. The Organ has an internal bellows which is manipulated by a crank handle and the notes are produced by air being forced into barrels which produce notes.

All in all, a very enjoyable show and tell.

In the second half we listened to Jeremy Clarkson give muted positive acclaim to a Telstra Electric Car. It could be said that he appeared to be speaking through gritted teeth. Clarkson has always spoken in derogatory terms about Electric cars but in this instance, he claimed to be impressed.

Unfortunately, the car's cost ($160,000) will probably limit the ownership to low numbers.

We then watched a video showing a large nuclear waste dump that exists quite near to Los Angeles. Nuclear waste is a problem that will not go away until some method of recycling spent fuel rods is developed. Surprisingly this miracle is claimed to be possible. Until this happens, we have the problem of where we store the waste. Australia is a large country with its own tectonic plates that do not normally allow earthquakes that could cause the waste to spill and consequently is often mentioned as a possible candidate as a world storage facility.

My contention is that the best solution would be to store the waste at the same site as the nuclear reactor and that the nuclear reactor should be located in the centre of our largest City. This would ensure we made it safe. 

My suggestion did not generate a lot of discussion.
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Neville Gibb

At our next Tech Talks Brian Greed will show off his recently manufactured Barrel Organ. This is a show and tell that deserves a wide audience. Brian has built a fully functional Barrel Organ in his workshop and if regulations permit he may be busking in the main street at Christmas.. He will explain the workings etc to all who attend our next meeting. We look forward to it.
At our last Tech Talks held Tuesday 12th October we covered a range of interests.

We started by watching a report on the expansion of the new Chinese high speed train system. In the past 20 years China has built a completely new high speed rail network that now criss-crosses the country. Some discussion was initiated on my part because I believe that Australia can learn from the example of others. 

We then watched a prediction on 7 new Technologies that will be widespread by 2030. This is only a short time into the future and we can only wait and see if any of the predictions come true. One prediction was that cars will become driverless and pooled. Another was that white collar jobs will be replaced by robots. Another was that phones will become smaller and more powerful to the point where they will be able to be implanted.

We watched documentaries on Henry Ford and Nicolas Tesla. Tesla had a tragic life and suffered from harsh treatment handed out by his jealous competitor Thomas Edison. He died in obscure poverty.  However, in recent times his name has been brought back into public knowledge by the naming of a certain car.

We also watched an educational video on how gold is manufactured in far off space and transported to our planet.

We came back to earth by considering a problem we all share - how do we dispose of our waste?
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In Australia we tend to dispose of our waste by putting it in landfill.  In Malaysia they have developed a portable technology that burns it. All waste no matter what can be disposed of by burning and the claim is that the technology developed in Malaysia produces a cleaner waste than normal and all polluted air is washed clean. Some cities in Europe also burn their waste and use the energy generated to power their electrical needs. They have strict pollution controls which they must adhere to.

It would be in Australia's interests if we began to consider such schemes.
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Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we listened to an interesting lecture by Les where he acquainted us with his response to damage to an amplifier after a power surge.  Les showed us the wiring diagrams involved in electrical circuits and what is required in the theory and practicality of replacement and repair of a complicated piece of equipment.

After that we relaxed by watching two videos relating to Quantum Mechanics and Dark Matter. Quantum Mechanics is the study of the very small which is nevertheless surrounded by large areas of space and not subject to the forces of gravity.  We know Dark matter makes up a large percentage of the universe but we have not yet been able to prove its existence.  Neither of these subjects are part of our normal discourse but are important matters which in time will eventually have to be understood by everyone. By listening to lectures we hope in time we will gradually begin to comprehend.

We finished up by watching a video on the History of the Sydney Opera House.  The Sydney Opera House took a long time to build, was the subject of many Political battles and was often used as a political football. It is, however, an example of both style and substance.  It is undoubtedly a Work of Art that was fortunately not destroyed by the government's desire to finish the job as soon as possible after they dispensed with the services of the Architect.
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Neville Gibb

​At our last Tech Talks we opened with a short video from Jeremy Clarkson where he was shown driving in China and making the prophecy that the UK was doomed.  He emphasised his point by repeating Doomed - Doomed in much the same way as Private Fraser.  He was explaining how China has set up both a rail system and a freeway system that criss-crosses the country which is quite a way ahead of the UK.  Clarkson is loath to ever give praise to any country apart from England, so this was surprising to hear. From what he showed on the video he was only stating the obvious, however.

​We then watched the American TV personality Jay Leno show off some of his car collection. Leno has used his success in the Media to indulge his passion for cars and has quite a collection.

Leno test drove a 2020 Electric Ford Focus and gave it good marks. This is a car that is available to the public and should be available in Australia in the future.

He then demonstrated his 1909 Baker Electric by taking it out on the roads around his house. This electric car had a range of 100 miles and had the look of a genuine horseless carriage but nevertheless worked quite well and was popular in its day. It did not survive the development of the internal combustion manufacturing industry.

​He also demonstrated a genuine hybrid car from 1900 that worked by using an internal combustion engine to drive an electric motor that provided the power to drive the car. Much the same as a modern diesel electric train engine works. But this was in 1900. This was an expensive car and not many were made.  Nevertheless, it worked well and he explained not much restoration work was required on the mechanical parts.

We finished up by showing a documentary that was made in 1964 where Arthur C Clarke predicted what would happen in the future. We then jumped ahead to his message to the world just before he died where he opened by saying that he had completed 89 revolutions of the Sun. We all indulge in space travel and he predicted it will become quite common in the future.
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Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we were informed as to how Les Rogers set up his garage off grid without having to run a power connection. 

Les acquainted us with the various systems which can be installed to the point where he can run electrical drills etc.

After that we watched a video explaining how problems have arisen in one of the very tall new buildings in Shanghai China. This building is spectacular to look at, but tenants find it difficult to rent as a lot of space in the building is not habitable. Only half the building is tenanted.

The video did show how much development has taken place in Shanghai over the past 30 years.
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To lighten the mood, we watched a video about the bridges on the Thames in London.
 
Neville Gibb

The next Tech Talks will be held on Tuesday 13th July at 2 PM. 

We will discuss amongst other things Living off the Grid.

If anyone has a talking point they would like discussed, perhaps a controversial subject that has been in the news lately, please bring it to the meeting.

Or, if you have a particular engineering project or passion you would like to share with others please do not hesitate to come forward.

We are always happy for informed discussion to take place no matter how unlikely the subject.

Neville Gibb

At our last Tech Talks we watched a video from the early 50's showing the first Transistors. These Transistors replaced vacuum tubes used in radios, telecommunication early computers and made certain predictions about the size of computers.  We also looked at a video made in 1968 which predicted what the modern home would look like in the year 2020. Effectively it got nothing right. Life changes so quickly and so completely even the brightest minds cannot predict the future.
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We then watched a video informing us as to what 5G is and what it will do. Basically, 5G will make communication between computers more efficient but there will be more towers required.
We finished up watching a documentary about Sir Isaac Newton - one of the fathers of modern science. It is interesting to note that at one point in his life Isaac had to endure a complete lock down in Cambridge when a bout of Plague was raging in southern England. 
 
Neville Gibb

Quantum theory is a revolutionary advancement in science that emerged in the early twentieth century. It is a mathematical theory able to explain the unexpected behaviour of subatomic particles, eg the phenomenon of entanglement. In the late twentieth century it was discovered that quantum theory applies not only to atoms and molecules, but to bits and logic operations in a computer. This realization has brought about a revolution in the science and technology of information processing, making possible new kinds of computing.

Our current computers perform calculations and process information using methods which date back to Turing and von Neumann. In this model, all information is reducible to bits, which can take the values of either 0 or 1. All processing can be performed via simple logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, XOR, XNOR, NAND, NOR) acting on one or two bits at a time. At any point in its computation, a classical computer’s state is entirely determined by the states of all its bits, so that a computer with n bits can exist in one of 2^n possible states, ranging from 00…0 to 11…1

The power of the quantum computer is in its much richer range of states. A quantum computer also has bits — but instead of 0 and 1, its quantum bits, or qubits, can represent a 0, 1, or linear combination of both, which is a property known as superposition. A quantum computer takes advantage of a special kind of superposition that allows for exponentially many logical states at once, all the states from (00…0 to 11…1). This is a powerful feat, and no classical computer can achieve it.

The quantum superpositions most useful for quantum computation, are entangled. Entangled states are states of the whole computer that do not correspond to any assignment of digital or analog states of the individual qubits. A quantum computer is therefore significantly more powerful than any classical computer.

The IBM Quantum Composer provides a hands-on opportunity to experiment with operations on a real quantum computing processor. A field guide contains a series of topics to allow experiments to be constructed, run in simulation, and executed on real quantum processors available through IBM Cloud®.

The true challenge of quantum physics is in ideas that are counterintuitive to day-to-day experiences in the physical world, which of course are constrained by classical physics. To comprehend the quantum world, a new intuition for a set of simple but different (and often surprising) laws needs to be built.

There is no single simple physical principle from which these conclusions follow. The best that can be done is to distil quantum mechanics down to a few mathematical laws, from which all the observed behaviour of quantum particles (and qubits in a quantum computer) can be deduced and predicted.

Les Rodgers
April 2021

At our last session we watched several videos. One of particular interest was a documentary on the construction of the Snowy Mountain Authority Those of us of a certain age grew up when this large construction project was in full force and was well publicised in the newspapers of the time. There were many familiar images shown of dams, turbines, tunnels etc being built which we could all remember.  Certain veterans of the scheme were able to bring us their own particular reminiscences.

We also saw a video of a new form of propulsion which may be the answer to long term space travel.

Our next session is on Tuesday 13th April. We will be discussing Quantum Computers and Hydrogen Fuel Cells.

​Neville Gibb

Are you reasonably Tech Savvy; interested in technological developments and keen to continue developing your knowledge base? Then the Tech Talks group may be of interest. 

​Tech Talks (previously Tech Savvy Talks) has a new timeslot  - the second Tuesday of the month from 2 to 4 pm.  The first meeting for 2021 is scheduled in the U3A meeting room on Tuesday 9 March at 2 pm. 
 
Neville Gibb 0428 858 688

Are you using technology to increase output in your household economy during Covid?  In the last post Les Rodgers described a technology related project he has underway - an automatic drip-fed hydroponic system in his frost resistant shed.  Les is growing two varieties of tomato plants under high powered variable led grow lights in an effort to improve upon his total crop last year (three tomatoes) after the predators had finished, including birds, fruit fly and other nameless invaders.
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Asked for an update, Les reports that ‘Progress on the tomato front has been limited largely due to the lack of warmth in my shed. There are two controls on the light for different colored leds. One promotes vegetative growth and the coloured one stimulates the production of flowers. I want short plants, so I have 3 or 4 in one pot. The light is pretty intense which leads to short plants. The coloured light has caused such small plants to form flower buds already. I have also taken the opportunity to raise some seedlings. I recently increased the number of hours of light per day.’

​With the lockdown, there appears to an extremely large amount of traffic on the mobile network. My mobile phone for example is on the Telstra network. I have noticed the download speed from late morning until 11 pm is about 1mb/s  more or less. While my son was at my place recently bringing some medical supplies I asked him to check his download speed on the Optus network. It was 15 mb/s compared to Telstra’s 1 mb/s. Early in the morning Telstra was 40 plus mb/s  so clearly the network is suffering from heavy congestion during the hours of about 9.00 am to 11.00 pm. I wonder how others are faring particularly Aldi users who actually use part of the Telstra network.
 
Email using the Outlook client with Microsoft 365 has also been giving me a lot of synchronization problems resulting in errors and low speed with incoming traffic. This is happening mostly in the afternoon. An improvement resulted from deleting all unnecessary unread received emails. The system tries to synchronize these every time emails are being received.  Outlook seems to be the only email client that does that. So open or delete all unread emails.

Les Rodgers

Heard recently from Les ... 

"I decided to bring technology to bear on my tomatoes this year. My total crop last year was three tomatoes after the predators had finished, including birds, fruit fly and other nameless invaders. This year I am adopting an automatic drip fed hydroponic system in my shed, under high powered variable led grow lights. Hopefully the fruit fly won’t know about my shed and the birds and others are excluded. I also have a head start as my shed is frost resistant.  I have two varieties, one a green tomato which is eaten green and another more conventional red one."

If you have a project, however big or small - involving using technology during the Co-vid break, feel free to send it to me - bevlee47@gmail.com and I'll post it for others to read.

​Bev Lee