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Interesting! We discussed similar ideas in $prevjob, good to see one hitting production globally.
RIPE Atlas probes form the backbone of the RIPE Atlas infrastructure. Volunteers all over the world host these small hardware devices that actively measure Internet connectivity through ping, traceroute, DNS, SSL/TLS, NTP and HTTP measurements. This data is collected and aggregated by the RIPE NCC, which makes the data publicly available. Network operators, engineers, researchers and even home users have used this data for a wide range of purposes, from investigating network outages to DNS anycasting to testing IPv6 connectivity. Anyone can apply to host a RIPE Atlas probe. If your application is successful (based on your location), we will ship you a probe free of charge. Hosts simply need to plug their probe into their home (or other) network. Probes are USB-powered and are connected to an Ethernet port on the host’s router or switch. They then automatically and continuously perform active measurements about the Internet’s connectivity, and this data is sent to the RIPE NCC, where it is aggregated and made publicly available. We also use this data to create several Internet maps and data visualisations. [….] The hardware of the first and second generation probes is a Lantronix XPort Pro module with custom powering and housing built around it. The third generation probe is a modified TP-Link wireless router (model TL-MR 3020) with a small USB thumb drive in it, but this probe does not support WiFi.
(via irldexter)(tags: via:irldexter ripe ncc probing active-monitoring networking ping traceroute dns testing http ipv6 anycast hardware devices isps)
“BBC English” was invented by a small team in the 1920s & 30s
Excellent twitter thread:
Today we speak of “BBC English” as a standard form of the language, but this form had to be invented by a small team in the 1920s & 30s. 1/ It turned out even within the upper-class London accent that became the basis for BBC English, many words had competing pronunciations. 2/ Thus in 1926, the BBC’s first managing director John Reith established an “Advisory Committee on Spoken English” to sort things out. 3/ The committee was chaired by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, and also included American essayist Logan Pearsall Smith, 4/ novelist Rose Macaulay, lexicographer (and 4th OED editor) C.T. Onions, art critic Kenneth Clark, journalist Alistair Cooke, 5/ ghost story writer Lady Cynthia Asquith, and evolutionary biologist and eugenicist Julian Huxley. 6/ The 20-person committee held fierce debates, and pronunciations now considered standard were often decided by just a few votes.
(tags: bbc language english history rp received-pronunciation pronunciation john-reith)