British Banks are Banning Cryptocurrency Purchases

It's happened in the US and now it's happening in the UK. Lloyds Banking Group, which runs Halifax, Bank of Scotland, MBNA and, of course, Lloyds, has banned its customers from buying bitcoin with their credit cards. "We do not accept credit card transactions involving the purchase of cryptocurrencies," a Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson told the Guardian. It's thought to be the first UK bank — or rather, banking chain — to block its members from investing in the cryptocurrency. The worry, presumably, is that people will borrow cash and then be saddled with large amounts of debt they cannot pay back due to Bitcoin's fluctuating value.

Bitcoin had a stellar trajectory in 2017, rising from roughly $800 in January to $19,783 in late December. As the value grew, so did the attention of traditional investors and tech-savvy citizens who wanted to make a quick buck. The following month, however, Bitcoin's value cratered. The reasons are unclear, but it was a harsh reminder of the volatility of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin now sits at just under $8,000 and understandably, banks are worried about its customers getting caught up in the craze. We've asked HSBC, Barclays, Santander and First Direct for their current position on credit card-funded Bitcoin transactions.

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Asimov's Nuclear Batteries?

New technology has been developed that uses nuclear waste to generate electricity in a nuclear-powered battery. A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol have grown a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive field, is able to generate a small electrical current. The development could solve some of the problems of nuclear waste, clean electricity generation and battery life.

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British High Energy Laser Weapon Demo Program Held up by Contract Protest

Announcement of a contract award to MBDA to build a laser-directed energy weapon demonstrator for the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been held up by a protest filed by one of the losing bidders.

Thales UK filed the protest after missile-maker MBDA was selected in mid-July for the sought-after contract put up for competition by the MoD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), according to a source familiar with the program.

The grounds for the protest are unknown at this stage.

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British Select Laser Weapon Prototype Maker

Missile maker MBDA has been selected to demonstrate a British capability to field laser-directed weapons, industry sources familiar with the program told Defense News.

The company was selected last week and will be confirmed as the winning bidder in the next few days, so long as there are no protests from rival companies.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman confirmed there will be an announcement ‘soon’ but wouldn’t comment on who had won the work.

A spokesman for the UK arm of MBDA declined to comment on whether it’s bid team, known as UK Dragonfire, had been successful.

MBDA leads a consortium of companies including BAE Systems, Leonardo, Marshall Defence and Aerospace and Qinetiq to develop and build a solid state high power demonstrator weapon as part of the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s directed energy weapons project.

The value of the contract is not known at this stage.

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Stealth Saga #47

FCAS:

Airbus is studying a manned replacement for the Tornado.

F-3:

Japan has started engaging industry on the F-3 fifth generation fighter program.  Rumors are they are seeking a J-20 sized aircraft.

Japan is considering a $40 billion tender for the F-3 in mid-July.

Sixth Generation Fighters:

Russia is considering an unmanned sixth generation fighter. 

The USAF just awarded two $1 billion contracts for the next generation fighter engine as a prelude to its sixth generation fighter efforts (more).

B-21:

The USAF remains adamant the B-21 cost must remain classified.

F-22:

Some beautiful pix of the F-22 in action.

The 23rd F-22 pilot has reached 1,000 flight hours.

The F-22's engineering building was sold by Lockheed to Georgia Tech.

F-35:

The F-35A IOC remains on track, or so sayeth the US Air Force.

The F-35 demonstrated a 8:0 kill ratio against the F-15E in a recent exercise.

There have been no software issues with the Mountain Home AFB deployment of the F-35.

The Pentagon is weighing a replacement ejection seat for the F-35.

In September, a F-35 will demonstrate targeting for a SM-6 ship based SAM.

The Pentagon is seeking to do a smaller 'hybrid' block buy of the F-35 for 292 F-35As, 82 F-35Bs & 36 F-35Cs in three lots.

The USMC is converting a Harrier unit to a F-35B squadron.

WiB takes a snarky stance on the USAF stating it has issues testing the F-35 to its full potential in the wargaming setting.

The Brits have the F-35 debuting at the RIAT & Farnborough air shows in the midst of their Brexit meltdown (videos, pictures, more pictures, still more pictures of Typhoons escorting the F-35Bs).

The Brits are bidding to becoming the long term maintenance hub for European F-35s' avionics.

The F-35I was unveiled by Lockheed & Israel.

Israel wants 75 F-35Is & potentially F-35Bs in addition. 

META:

F-22 & F-35 fighter pilots wrote a white paper on how to fight a war with 5th generation fighters circa 2026.

Royal Navy Type 45 Destroyers Have More Problems

Senior defence industry officials revealed during testimony to a parliamentary inquiry on 7 June that the problems with the integrated electric propulsion (IEP) system on the Royal Navy's new Type 45 destroyers are more acute in warm environments such as the Gulf.

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Bell & Boeing Hope to Sell V-22s to Brits

The decline in V-22 Osprey orders from the U.S. military in coming years means the tiltrotor transport’s manufacturers are likely to spend a lot of time wooing foreign military officers at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition May 16-18 at National Harbor, Md. – especially Britain’s new First Sea Lord, Adm. Sir Philip Jones.

Representatives from Bell Helicopter and Boeing Co., which make the V-22 in a 50-50 partnership, will have a V-22 fuselage on display at the Navy League conference. They surely would like to show Sir Philip, who is expected to attend, why they think the Royal Navy needs the new CMV-22B variant Osprey the U.S. Navy is buying for Carrier Onboard Delivery (COD) – hauling cargo and passengers to and from aircraft carriers at sea.

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A Homerian Silurian Arthropod had a Unique Brood Caring Mode

Tiny individuals attached to a new Silurian arthropod suggest a unique mode of brood care

Authors:

Briggs et al

Abstract:

The ∼430-My-old Herefordshire, United Kingdom, Lagerstätte has yielded a diversity of remarkably preserved invertebrates, many of which provide fundamental insights into the evolutionary history and ecology of particular taxa. Here we report a new arthropod with 10 tiny arthropods tethered to its tergites by long individual threads. The head of the host, which is covered by a shield that projects anteriorly, bears a long stout uniramous antenna and a chelate limb followed by two biramous appendages. The trunk comprises 11 segments, all bearing limbs and covered by tergites with long slender lateral spines. A short telson bears long parallel cerci. Our phylogenetic analysis resolves the new arthropod as a stem-group mandibulate. The evidence suggests that the tethered individuals are juveniles and the association represents a complex brooding behavior. Alternative possibilities—that the tethered individuals represent a different epizoic or parasitic arthropod—appear less likely.

Converging on Cryptocurrency #3

Bitcoin:

Is the bitcoin community melting down?  Or it that really just a sensation piece in light of the agreement last week?

In Britain, the FCA is offering to regulate both fintech and cryptocurrencies.

China's Great Firewall may be causing problems for bitcoin.
The European Union is considering a new proposal for how to regulate cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Japan is considering treating bitcoin and other digital currencies as regular coinage.
Could Russia turn around and legalize bitcoin this year?

Bitcoin to the rescue!  In Venezuela?

AltCoin:

These are the top three altcoins for the last three years running.

Two altcoin exchanges get compared.

CRIX.io, another altcoin exchange, has entered into a private beta.

A fintech company in the Barbados launched a blockchain derived digital Barbadian Dollar.

China is considering offering an official cryptocurrency from their central bank.  There are some hints it may not be blockchain derived.

Blockchain:

One federal adviser on bitcoin has stated many uses of the blockchain without bitcoin are misguided.

Even so, the blockchain is growing in importance for financial use.

The blockchain and its implications are being increasingly noted by the FTC.

And even by the WSJ.

Bank of America is seeking 20 more patents based on the blockchain.

Intel is testing a fantasy sports game based on the blockchain.

Crime:

The Phone Hacking Group has supposedly been making fake bomb threats in exchange for bitcoin.

Another group hacked a Hollywood hospital and is demanding 9,000 bitcoin...or else.

Folks who have been going to Swiss strip clubs have been getting blackmail letters stating to pay up in bitcoin or else.

Butterfly Labs has been shutdown by the FTC for fraud.

New cryptocurrency exchange cryptopolis is being called a scam.

META:

Do banks really see bitcoin (and cryptocurrencies) as a threat?

Is bitcoin a threat to China!?!  Think capital controls.

Immigration to Roman London

Identifying migrants in Roman London using lead and strontium stable isotopes

Authors:

Shaw et al

Abstract:

The ancient settlement of Londinium (London) has long been characterized as a major commercial and bureaucratic centre of the Roman province of Britain (Britannia). Primary source information indicates that people were drawn to the city from around the Empire. Mortuary and archaeological material evidence also attest to its cosmopolitan nature and have long been used to characterize the people who are buried in Londinium and identify where they may have originated. Within the past decade, researchers have successfully applied isotopic analyses of strontium and oxygen to human remains from various settlements in Roman Britain in order to identify the migrant status of the inhabitants. Recent studies have highlighted the utility of lead isotopes for examining past mobility, particularly for the Roman period. The aim of this project, therefore, was to apply lead and strontium isotope analyses to dental enamel samples from twenty individuals excavated from Londinium. The results suggest that the geographic origins of the population of Roman London varied, comprising individuals local to Londinium and Britannia, but also from further afield in the Empire, including Rome. The findings from this study are a valuable addition to the growing stable isotope dataset that is helping to characterize the nature of migration in Roman Britain, and this has broader implications for interpreting the relationship of migration and identity in the province.

British Queen Elizabeth Class Carriers can Host Almost 1,000 Royal Marines

BRITAIN’S new aircraft carriers will house more amphibious assault forces than ever before, a minister has said.

HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, both to be based in Portsmouth, will take over the role of deploying amphibious forces to war zones when HMS Ocean is decommissioned in 2018.

Defence procurement minister Philip Dunne said each ship would house a force of 900 marines and aviation personnel – 210 more than Ocean – on top of their ship’s company.

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Comparing the Barremian/Aptian Cretaceous Ecologies of the Jehol and Wealden Biotas

A comparison of Barremian–early Aptian vertebrate assemblages from the Jehol Group, north-east China and the Wealden Group, southern Britain: the value of microvertebrate studies in adverse preservational settings

Author:

Sweetman

Abstract:

Vertebrates are a highly significant component of the Jehol Biota of northern Hebei, western Liaoning, and southeastern Inner Mongolia. Furthermore, Jehol vertebrate fossils from these areas are remarkable for their abundance and diversity, and for their taphonomy which has resulted in the preservation of large numbers of complete skeletons and of soft tissues including the feathers of birds and nonavian dinosaurs. In contrast, and also for taphonomic reasons, skeletons are extremely rare in the approximately coeval (Barremian–earliest Aptian) Lower Cretaceous Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight, southern England, UK. However, collection of isolated macro-remains over a period of almost 200 years has demonstrated that the Wealden Group, and in particular the Barremian Wessex Formation, contains Europe’s most diverse dinosaur assemblage. This assemblage, until the relatively recent discovery of China’s feathered nonavian dinosaurs and birds, appeared to be of comparable diversity to that of the Jehol Biota. Isolation of microvertebrate remains in an ongoing study commenced in 2002 has demonstrated that not only is the Wealden Group dinosaur assemblage more diverse than apparent from macro-remains and that it includes birds but also that it includes a high diversity of other aquatic, amphibious and terrestrial vertebrates. It is, therefore, now possible to make meaningful comparisons between the Jehol Biota and that of the Wealden Group of the Isle of Wight. Similarities and marked differences are apparent that reflect geographical separation, palaeoenvironmental factors and the remarkably small outcrop area available for the Wealden Group.

A Network Analysis-based Approach to the Romano-British Transport System

The seeds of commerce: A network analysis-based approach to the Romano-British transport system

Authors:

Orengo et al

Abstract:

Communication routes are an important subject in the study of the human past. They allowed interactions between communities and the dispersal of goods and ideas. Their study, therefore, can shed light on the way in which communities inhabited the landscape, related to each other and were affected by macro-regional trends. Many methods, such as archaeomorphological analysis and Least Cost Route modelling (LCR), have been devised and are routinely employed for the reconstruction of ancient routes. Their analysis in terms of communication, trade or historical significance, however, has usually been left unexplored. This is probably due to the connected nature of routes, which form communication networks: these are shaped by interconnected nodes and extend over territories surpassing the regional scale in such a way that even a change in a single node or link can affect the whole network. Consequently, the partial reconstruction of communication networks provided by the aforementioned methods does not usually allow a holistic analysis. In this paper the relatively well understood British Roman road network is employed to explore the analytical possibilities offered by a combination of Social Network Analysis, Spatial Network Analysis and spatial interpolation-based distribution analysis. The British road network has been reconstructed using published data but also a variation of LCR in which cost surfaces are derived from cultural data obtained from large-scale cultural inventories. The distribution of introduced food plants during the Roman period serve as an excellent proxy for the study of trade along the network and its historical consequences. This multi-period archaeobotanical dataset has some evident advantages to other types of material remains: archaeobotanical remains are not reused as, for example, amphorae and, accordingly, they reflect a distribution pattern based on consumption or commerce. Some of them are imported (as they cannot be produced locally) and, consequently, their distribution would be applied through usage of the main routes.

The results suggest a continuous inflow of exotics but highlight their changing transport routes, their differential access and the particular weight of certain nodal sites in the development of this commerce with direct impact on urbanisation and the overall economy of Britannia. The Roman road network acted as a major factor in the distribution of sites, their political and economic importance and their permanence or disappearance as global economic trends changed over time.

1 Undershaft, London, Britain

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Academic Bun Fight! Upper Triassic Cotham Marble is NOT Evidence of a Mass Extinction

That was NOT a sign!

COMMENT TO IBARRA ET AL. MICROFACIES OF THE COTHAM MARBLE: A TUBESTONE MICROBIALITE FROM THE UPPER TRIASSIC, SOUTHWESTERN U.K

Authors:

Mayall et al

Abstract:

Ibarra et al. (2014) have presented an interesting paper on the Cotham Marble, an enigmatic microbialite from the Rhaetian Penarth Group of SW England, and an iconic piece of British stratigraphy. They have re-interpreted some aspects of our earlier work (Wright and Mayall 1981) in which we tried to be amongst the first researchers to apply an ethological approach to decipher an ancient microbial texture. That paper (Wright and Mayall 1981) was restricted editorially with respect to its content requiring a second one to illustrate the microbial microtextures we felt were critical to understanding the morphogenesis of the limestone (Mayall and Wright 1981). In addition to challenging previously published work, Ibarra et al. (2014) use the Cotham Marble to identify evidence for the late Triassic mass extinction event, thus substantially broadening the importance of this unit for the wider readership. However we would like to take this opportunity to question a number of their conclusions, in particular using the Cotham Marble as an indicator of a mass extinction event and the role of Microtubus communis in forming the Cotham Marble.

Yes, it is!

MICROFACIES OF THE COTHAM MARBLE: A TUBESTONE CARBONATE MICROBIALITE FROM THE UPPER TRIASSIC SOUTHWESTERN U.K.: A REPLY

Authors:

Ibarra et al

Abstract:

Mayall and Wright question interpretations in our microfacies analysis of the Cotham Marble microbialites (Ibarra et al. 2014) in which we primarily highlight previously overlooked aspects of Cotham Marble microbialite formation. They are specifically unconvinced about the Cotham Marble’s potential relevance to the end-Triassic mass extinction and our interpretation that Microtubus is not integral to the formation of the dendrolitic microbialite phases. Here we address Mayall and Wright’s comments under the same headings in which they present them.

The British Vision of Warfare in 2035

Future British military operations will require more stand-off or remotely-operated weapons to counter a spread of advanced technologies among its enemies that will make today's conflicts appear "relatively simple" by comparison, according to a Ministry of Defence research paper.

“The proliferation of technology and advanced weapons systems will provide many more states with effective anti-access and area denial capabilities that will impact on operations in every environment," says the MoD in its Future Operating Environment 2035 document.

This will demand the "innovative use" of cyber, precision and stand-off weapons, it says, "as well as stealth, layered defence and automated systems".

“Operations conducted thus far will look relatively simple compared to some of those required in the future operating environment of 2035."

As technological advances make high-altitude airspace more accessible, this is “blurring further the distinction between air and space”. Although there is presently no agreement on how far airspace extends vertically, it is typically considered that it is as high as aircraft can fly. Future aircraft will be able to reach ever higher altitudes, adding "ambiguity" to these borders, it says, potentially provoking confrontation.

“These technologies may stretch our ability to police international airspace and defend our sovereign territory from the air,” it adds.

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British Desparately Want P-8 Poseidons to Hunt Russian Subs

With Russian subs and bombers nosing around the British Isles while the Islamic State massacres Parisians just two hours by train from London, the British Defense Ministry is besieged from both sides. The new Strategic Defense Review aims not only to rebuild the UK military after 2010’s cuts but to make it capable of confronting both nation-state and terrorist threats, said UK Secretary of State for Defense Michael Fallon.

“Clearly, it had a galvanizing effect,” Fallon said of the Paris attacks, inspiring Parliament to reverse a 2013 decision and authorize British airstrikes inside Syria.

But the Russians are pretty galvanizing too, Fallon made clear in his remarks this morning to the Atlantic Council. In particular, ever since the UK retired its Nimrod reconnaissance planes, it can’t properly track Russian submarines, whose activity in the Atlantic has only increased. That leaves the Royal Navy nervous about the safety of its sea-based deterrent, a small fleet of Vanguard nuclear-missile submarines (SSBNs).

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Britain Issues RFP for Laser Weapon Demonstrator

The LDEW demonstrator, for which an invitation to tender has just been issued, is intended to inform future capability-planning decisions

A land-based hardware demonstration will be followed by sea-based testing

UK plans to build and test a tactical laser weapon prototype have taken a step forward with the release of an invitation to tender (ITT) to industry.

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Britain, European Union Discussing Technicalities of Brexit

A European official says British Prime Minister David Cameron and European Council President Donald Tusk will meet Sunday night to discuss the technicalities of the process needed if the U.K. decides to exit the bloc in the next couple of years.

Following an EU summit on Turkey and the refugee crisis on Sunday afternoon, Cameron and Tusk will meet for pre-arranged talks to work out details of a so-called Brexit.

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HMS Ocean Helicopter Carrier to Decommission in 2018

Britain’s Royal Navy is to decommission its only helicopter assault carrier and hand the task over to one of the new aircraft carriers being built by BAE Systems.

Plans to scrap HMS Ocean in 2018 were part of the strategic defence and security review (SDSR) unveiled Nov 23. The decision to axe the Royal Navy’s flagship only became known when it was briefly mentioned by defence minister Earl Howe in the House of Lords.

The ship, currently the largest in the Royal Navy, only completed a £65 million (US$97.8 million) refit last year.

The Royal Navy denied the warship was being axed earlier than planned.

“HMS Ocean will not decommission early and will continue in service as planned well into this Parliament. As part of the SDSR process, the decision was taken not to extend her and to decommission her in 2018, in line with her 20-year life span,” the navy said in a statement.

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