colinbritton

the fate of ophelia rock version existeeeee

Reporting in from Black Hat 2025, where the sun is scorching and the security stakes are even hotter. Our very own @colinbritton is on the ground (and somehow not melting) repping Devicie as part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). He’s teaming up with the Microsoft Security ecosystem to show how Devicie brings scalable, secure endpoint management to life with automation that makes Microsoft Intune work for teams. Come say hi if you're tired of micromanaging endpoints and scripts.

AI-native. Intune-automated. Built for the modern MSP. Two sharp pieces from @richfree to dig into: 1) How Devicie automates Intune + scales secure endpoints 2) The rise of AI-native tools redefining managed services “These tools aren’t just automated. They’re designed to think.” Shoutout to our COO @colinbritton for driving the vision. Read both: • Devicie Aims to Automate Intune, by @ChannelholicSMB channelholic.news/p/devicie-aims… • AI-Native Approaches to AI-Era Managed Services, by @ChannelholicSMB channelholic.news/p/ai-native-ap…

🎙️ Anna Griffin, CMO at Commvault & Colin Britton, COO at Devicie provide insight into regaining control over your security posture and accelerating operational outcomes. 🎧 Tune in Spotify rebrand.ly/ddb9s36 or Apple rebrand.ly/17w81zk

@GioFedericoIII @AmtrakNECAlerts Nobody knows anything at NYP also

@AmtrakNECAlerts 30 minutes stopped just outside NYC on train 2253. Power issues? Other Amtrak and Metro North trains are moving past us. Another in a long line of problems. What is going on?

@MCCCANM AA A330 from LHR a number of years ago. After initial climb we stopped climbing, turned south to channel. The pilot, ex-RAF, explained flaps stuck. Then spent 4 hours burning fuel as he flew around all of the bases he had flown from in the UK at 10k feet. Then return to LHR.

“Fuel Dumping” is an emergency procedure. Something has gone wrong, the plane needs to land soon but it’s far too heavy The flight plan balances fuel requirements w/ maximum landing weight (which can be significantly lower than max takeoff weight); as long as you fly it, you’ll burn the fuel & be well under the maximum on arrival. In an emergency shortly after takeoff, though, that’s not viable. Your options are: • Fly circles for hours on end, burning the fuel (likely w/ landing gear & flaps extended to create extra drag, demanding a higher fuel burn rate from the engines) (The difference between max takeoff & max landing weight on the 737 is around 30k lbs…that may take 4+ hours to burn off) • Accept an overweight landing & possibly damage the airplane (more on this in a minute) • Dump the extra fuel overboard, getting under max weight (fuel is pumped out quickly; in 15 minutes or less you should be good to go) In an urgent situation, overweight landings are acceptable, but fuel dumping is the preferred choice. The little bit of extra time it takes to dump fuel is a trade off that’s considered worthwhile, as it mitigates the potential safety issues of landing severely overweight Of course, there are scenarios where you wouldn’t wait to dump fuel. An uncontrolled fire in the cabin, for example. In cases like these, all other considerations go out the window & you don’t care if the airplane is damaged on landing…because it’s that or a known loss of life. You may start dumping immediately & continue until on short final (but you’ll stop before landing – don’t want to come to a stop w/fuel pouring out of the wings) For all other fuel dumping, airports have specific areas of airspace set aside to accomplish it. These are over unpopulated areas & avoid water sources to prevent possible contamination They also have specific altitudes which you’ll try to climb above, if the emergency allows it. As long as you get about 6,000’ or more above the ground, any fuel dumped will dissipate long before it reaches the ground. On being forced out of the nozzles, the fuel is essentially aerosolized. From there, it begins evaporating & is completely gone before gravity can pull it down. It would be difficult to find any trace…it just fades into the background gases of the atmosphere The exit ports for fuel dumping on equipped aircraft are located on the wings, away from the engines (maybe your emergency is an engine fire…probably don’t want to dump fuel near that) (Fun side-note…only a few bolts hold the engine onto the wing pylon. The bolts will melt & fail at a certain temperature, which it will do before it starts to become a serious threat to igniting the fuel in the wings…it will essentially separate & sacrifice itself by burning itself off of the wing. These engineers are pretty damn clever! On takeoff, we don’t rush to put out a fire…we control the airplane first & “let it burn” until we’re in a safe place to handle it) Not all airplanes can dump fuel, though; it’s mostly a widebody thing, for jets like the 787 or A350. For many narrowbody jets, like the 737, there are no fuel dump valves In these cases, overweight landings are acceptable. Since the difference between max takeoff weight & max landing weight is much smaller on these jets (30k lbs on the 737 vs ≈160k on a KC-10), the probability of damage is smaller. A post-flight inspection will be required, but extensive damage isn’t common…really, any damage is not common In any event, if you look out your window & see fuel being dumped, it’s not time to panic (panic isn’t helpful anytime, really)…something is going on, yes, but a decision has already been made & you’ll be landing soon, just not where you planned to. The pilots will fill you in when they get a spare moment

@Hughes_Matt @flightradar24 Great news I will be watching!!

Rothera traffic now appearing on @flightradar24 for you all to enjoy.

@DJSnM Dualit

Our kettle failed on Christmas Day, 3 years old, and that was a warranty replacement because the original had started leaking. American kettles just aren’t built for the level of tea making I’m accustomed to. Anyone know a brand that’ll last decades?

@BoziTatarevic Cascadia Motion have had a similar product for a while. Derived from parent company BorgWarner tech

The eCrate from GKN seems like a pretty fascinating package for EV conversions or small volume EV projects. 113kW (150hp) kit starts at around $5,300. 185kW (250hp) kit starts at around $10,600. 400V systems. The base 113kW kit clocks in at around 140 pounds.

@Hughes_Matt How many flight movements a week do you have?

Basler OOU on the apron framed nicely by the icebergs loitering about near the runway.

@Hughes_Matt Bringing ADSB to the Antarctic would be a cool project to work on. How is internet access? Do you have Starlink or similar?

@colinbritton Not at the moment and whilst ADSB coverage is sparse at the moment, it is increasing. I think things might look quite different even within the next couple of years.

And they're off! Two of our Twin Otters are flying to Rothera today following a positive weather outlook, with BL just airborne. We'll be heading down on the Dash tomorrow. It's a long ~7-hour crossing for our Twin Otters today.

@Hughes_Matt Been tracking the Otters down from Canada. Besides range what else determined the stops?

No flying for our Twin Otters today due to strong headwinds and a nasty weather front moving into Rothera. Dash arrives in Punta Arenas tomorrow and we’ll try to go in on Thursday if the weather’s good. In the meantime it’s lots of walks and coffee.

@alanisnking @carsandbids

NON-EMERGENCY ALERT: I now work for @carsandbids! My main job is driving cars and making videos about them, whether they're brand new or being auctioned on the website. I'll post all the relevant links in a thread. Cars & Bids even got me these nice headshots to announce it!

@alanisnking @BBC_TopGear Ummmm

Top Gear asked me to go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, stay up all night, and write about my declining physical and mental state as the hours went on. You can read about it in the August 2023 issue of the magazine, which is likely on the shelf at your local bookstore

@vincenzolandino @ValtteriBottas @DenverBeerCo Hey, mostly true story. He is living his best life! The week-long gravel race program in Steamboat had a number of races. VB competed in both the fancy dress gravel hill climb AND the 100 mile feature race. He won the costume contest and finished 20th in the main event.

Valtteri Bottas: international treasure. While F1 takes a break, Valtteri conquers a 140-mile gravel hill climb in Colorado dressed as Duffman. He wins his team's weight in beer and donates it to all the spectators and competitors. Cheers to that! 🍻

@BoziTatarevic @hicks37 How did no one post "jack man is jacked"

One of the unique things that @hicks37 does is slide under the fueler as he comes to the left side and not wait for the fueler to unplug like the other changers do which saves them time on tire changes. Peyton also keeps his feet back to leave space for this move.

@CarGuyDad People suck

Charging station experiences been interesting. One Tesla guy was shocked that an F150 was an EV. Another pulled in and looked at me like I didn’t belong there. This Kona person just parked and didn’t plug in; spot conveniently located & walking is hard. Ahole.

@CarGuyDad Boston has terrible public charging infrastructure. I had a Rivian up there and had to pay for premium parking and charging. But as a product the Rivian and EV's in general are addictive.

…I may be becoming an EV convert. The instant torque is amazing and addictive. “Refueling” costs are much lower, even at public chargers. And gawddamn are these things are fast. Full reviews, with pros/cons, and reality, soon. Next week is back to Land Cruiser/Bronco.

After a long break, I started to take cars for review. Last week I spent w/ GV60. This week, Lightning. Bath amazing in their own way. I’ve figured out charging solutions. But what’s more interesting is that…

@CarGuyDad Anytime you want to take something, you know where the keys are!

@colinbritton Yes. But… I mean, if your cars need to be driven, I know a guy. 😂

Very, very cool. It will sell for a lot more than late model Focus RS, and I’d rather have the Focus. 🤷‍♂️