The National Museum of Computing (TNMoC) and the Feranti Argus 500 Nuclear Reactor Computer

A Feranti Argus 500 Computer

Was at The National Museum of Computing on Saturday for the special Supporters Meeting.

This is the Feranti Argus 500 computer used to control the entire AGR power station at Dungeness. It was being used from inception in 1969 right up to 2021 when they finally closed it down. For sensors and control of everything in the station, even the fine manipulation of control rods to optimise power output.

It was fun rebooting the machine from the panel switches and paper tape reader. A real insight into how a CPU works at grass roots level. Even phones work identically, except scaled up by a billion times.

The only reason they didn't upgrade to modern computer systems is because it just worked.

They were running out of spares though. But the station was shut down sooner than that 'fortunately'. (Feranti went bust in the early 90's as a direct result of a state and private sector fraud and grafting. )

There are still 2 machines running in Heysham power stations today. Which will shut down in a couple of years too. We all know that government of all party's has failed signally to prepare for this.

TNMoC are hoping to get the machines donated for museum spares so they can keep theirs running. The museum's basic operating principle is not to display a machine unless it can be run live. If you're a computing fan, there is no better place to spend a day than TNMoC.

Let us see if we can help source these spares when they become available.


	Marconi TAC - Transistorised Automatic Computer

The museum also runs a TAC computer which used to power the prior generation of Magnox reactors, this one direct from the Wylfa power station on Anglesey. This was purely for monitoring sensors though to help block any positive feedback event loops from a catastrophic failure.

A Dialogue on the UK's Accession to the United States (UKEXIT)

A Dialogue on the UK's Accession to the United States Executive Summary This initiative seeks to foster a formal dialogue regarding the potential accession of the countries of the United Kingdom , to the United States , as individual states. Being English the main focus is for the country of England to accede. The original intent was to ask the government to lead on it through a petition leading to the question coming before the House of Commons. This was crushed out of hand by the committee leading petitions, which was not a surprise. Simply put, this petition is asking the government to start a conversation about the benefits of leaving the UK and joining the United States. Let us call the initiative UKEXIT (yukezit) The objective is to evaluate the benefits to citizens and stakeholders, encouraging a constructive discourse on the political, economic, and social implications of such a union. If Wales , Northern Ireland , Scotland , or England were to leave the Unit...

The 450 Volt Truth: From Orwell to Obedience

A Complete Thread on Dystopia, Milgram, and Breaking the Agentic State - Why People Act Irrationally and Often Violently When a Tribal Social Structure and Its Hierarchy Are Brought Under Serious Scrutiny This is a tricky topic. Please read the Obedience Glossary of Terms before proceeding Executive Summary This piece was written from a long conversation with Grok. I had to interrogate the AI quite a bit. And was astonished at how it produced such intelligence. I've included the most pertinent parts. Do not be fooled into thinking this is just another Orwell analysis. That is just setting the scene well. For what comes later on the agentic state and how power uses it to control the masses. It may not have all the answers. It might wrong. A lot of it is very hard to believe is happening. But it still seems to fit the bizarre world of system wide dissonance we all live and partake in today, better than all the alternatives. So deserves your continued attention. By all means make yo...

Government & Tax Death Toll

I'm going to show you how government and taxation causes more excess death than any other factor, even global wars and pandemics. It is and always has been the biggest genocide of all. And its deliberate. Government doesn’t just fail to save lives — it takes them, at scale. 2–6 million globally 200K–400K in the U.S. 50K–80K in the UK Every year. Every tax. Every regulation. Cumulatively since 1970 government and tax killed between 160 and 300 million people across the globe More than all 20th century wars and genocides combined (260M) In the U.S. ten times more than all U.S. combat deaths in history (10 * 1.2M) In the UK equivalent to 1 in 15 of all deaths And the nations with more regulations and a higher tax to GDP ratio such as the UK and US, tend to kill more of their own citizens per capita. The poorest nations have a better record than the richest. All this excess death is rooted in the institutions of taxation - the theft of private property, by force, against your fr...

North Stoke Life

Search This Blog