Axon's blog

Wandsworth council: Stupid and open to prosecution?

2011-08-14T14:09:00.002+01:00

So apparently Wandsworth council have served an eviction notice on a council tenant whose son was allegedly involved in recent rioting. Apart from the idiocy of holding entire families responsible for the actions of one member of said family, they seem to have overlooked the small point that the alleged offender is actually innocent, at the moment. It come down to the old "innocent until proven guilty" idea. We actually have a whole system in this country designed to work out whether people are innocent or guilty of alleged crimes, we call it the courts. The alleged offender has appeared in court, but has not been convicted, the case is ongoing. Now he may or may not be guilty, I've no idea, I wasn't there (I'm sure council leader Ravi Govindia, who welcomed the order wasn't there either), but I think Wandsworth council are on very shaky ground when they start dishing out punishments to people who have been arrested but not convicted. In the broader picture it's a great example of one of the dangers of localism, or devolving powers to local authorises; you get them acting in idiotic and possibly illegal ways like this, possibly opening themselves up to prosecution which is only going to cost local taxpayers money.

Naughty people stealing

2011-08-11T12:32:00.003+01:00

Riots, riots, riots, etc in London this week. I despair of our government who seem to have the attitude that looting and rioting is only happening because people are bad. There are underlying reasons, such as the massive gap between the rich and the poor in our society, and the skewing of benefits and privilege to the have's as opposed to the have-nots. I noticed there weren't too many CEO's out looting (not by smashing windows anyway). That is not to say that social inequality justifies rioting, it doesn't, but it does help explain it. Our senior MPs (that's you Cameron and Milliband) need to have the balls to admit that it is actually possible to come up with an explanation for an event and condemning the event.

Personally, I think the people who were looting should give back the stolen TVs and say sorry, and the matter would be dropped. In this way they could emulate the good example of David Cameron who paid back £680 of unjustified expense claims, and no more was ever said.

Google scholar a bit weird

2011-08-04T13:09:00.016+01:00

Google scholar is a facility set up by Google (surprise!) to catalogue academic works, I've never really used it much as it tends to trawl the web for literally everything, whereas 99% of the time I'm looking for a peer-reviewed paper published in a recognised journal, for which we have the excellent Pubmed from the US National Library of Medicine. But I didn't realise just how Google Scholar works until I came across this paper, "Metadata mega mess in Google Scholar" by Peter Jacso. He concludes that Google Scholar is useless for measuring author metrics due to the way it gathers information about articles. And it is a very interesting and bizarre method, rather than identifying, say, author lists by the tagged author fields, it constructs it's own author list from analysing the article. Jacso provides many example of Google Scholar screwing up this process which would lead to major errors if the results were used to construct bibliographic information about authors.

Here are some errors I found very easily, within a couple of minutes of using Google Scholar. First I tried a search looking for the author name "Treatment". One of the results on the first page is shown on the upper right. Notice that it's highlighted "Treatment" in the phrase "Systemic kainate treatment". Now I'd think that was fair enough, it's obviously picked that out of the main text of the article, but what Google Scholar then does is assume that that "SK Treatment" is an author, and decides that SK Treatment is the second author of the paper! The correct citation (from PubMed) is also shown.

Here's another more worrying example, here the name of the first author has been completely scrubbed to be replaced with "HL Treatment".

And finally, a search of papers authored by "Smith" that were/will be published between the years 2012 and 2050 brings up this last example, "Fine tuning the spectral response of metal insulator composites for specific solar applications", published in the year 2017. It seems that Google scholar can confuse journal volume number with year of publication. Now that's just dumb.

iThinkNot

2010-01-28T11:22:00.009Z

Tablet computers. Am I the only person in the world to notice the massive design flaw in both the iPad and Micorsoft's soon to be released slate PC. They are a pain in the arse to hold. Too big to use with one hand, awkward to hold and press the screen with two hands. No good for putting on a desk or table unless you have a very odd shaped neck.

I have yet to read a newspaper or website article that mentions the elephant in the room of their size and shape. Notice in this video Steve Jobs doesn't actually use the device, just shows screen shots of it on a big screen. And in this video of the Microsoft slate, there's a great bit arounf 55 seconds in, where the presenter realises it's actually difficult to hold.

Incidentally, Jobs states that this will be the greatest internet experience yet, but according the the NY Times, and fitting in with the iphone it won't be able to display flash content. Not quite the rich web that Jobs claims it is.

Not as good as a netbook, but easier to carry. Bigger screen than a smart phone, but harder to carry, and no 3G connectivity.

Of course, I may be proved wrong but I don't think there is a mass market for a device inbetween in size to a netbook and a phone. If I was to have a tablet device, I'd want it massive, so it doubles as a tabletop, like this.

Terrorists defeated at last

2010-01-09T09:54:00.002Z

After the attempted blowing up of an airliner on Christmas day by a Nigerian national from Yemen, new security measures have been introduced to prevent the situation ever getting so far advanced again. Citizens of 14 countries and people taking flights originating or passing through these countries will have extra security checks. The 14 countries are Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria. Now just counting citizens, that is without the citiznes of other countries that are travelling from these countries this amounts to around 629 million people that fall under this new security category. Or to put it another way, a little over 10% of the population of the world. Paranoid anyone?

Now I'm all for preventing terrorism, but by announcing ridiculous, useless measures like this doesn't seem very helpful. I'm no criminal mastermind but I don't think it will take a terrorist very long to work out how to avoid being on a flight that originates of passes through one of the above countries. The flight that the latest attempted bomber was one left from the Netherlands, albeit originating in Nigeria.

Hotels, the good and the bad.

2009-11-24T21:47:00.007Z

Back in September I was in the Washington DC area and needed a hotel for a night, one that was dog-friendly. I ended up staying at the Hotel Monaco, a Kimpton Hotel in Alexandria. The hotel was fabulous, the staff were friendly and helpful, the decor was interesting and stimulating, the place was spotless. They hotel was not only dog friendly, they were dog ecstatic. There were doggie treats and water in the lobby for them, dog leash in the room. And then there was the doggie happy hour. A couple of hours in their courtyard with owners on drinks and many many dogs running about socialising. To add to all of that there were animal print robes in the closet! And it's the first, but hopefully not last, hotel room I've ever been in that had both regular trash and a recycling bins in the room. The room cost $120. I'd say it was worth a lot more.

Then in November I was in Miami Beach, and stayed in the Best Western Atlantic Resort on 41st Street for a few days. I expected a pretty basic hotel as 41st Street is quite a way from the hustle and bustle of South Beach. They don't get more basic or crap. When we checked in a couple were asking if the bar was going to open, as the bar in the hotel was closed. The receptionist suggested trying the poolside bar to which the couple replied they'd already tried there but that was closed. This had the receptionist stumped to which she could only shrug her shoulders. Then we get to the room, I have never stayed in a place with such thin walls, we could hear the conversations of the people clearly next door. The day after the night of being kept awake we asked to change rooms, unfortunately the entire hotel of 160-odd rooms was fully booked that midweek. This had a strong whiff of bullshit about it.

Then the actual room, the bathroom light had an interesting delay system, after flicking the switch the actual light would come on anywhere between immediatley and 15 minutes later. We found one of the electrical sockets in the room that worked. The cleaners really didn't seem to understand the "Do not disturb" signs; twice they came straight into the room when the tag was on the door, once while I was dressing and my wife was in the shower. Then there was the bizarre incident of arriving home late one night to find that the helpful cleaners had removed all the towels and wash cloths, both clean and dirty. Then there was the TV which had about 5 channels it could actually receive. The hallways were dirty and had strange musty smell. A couple of times we needed some minor amenities, a tooth brush and some band aids. The reception's response was to dreamily look through the stock of their small shop and then suggest going somewhere else to buy them. The one amenity they did supply was a safe in the room that we niether requested or needed, but were told only upon checking out that we would have to pay $2/day for the safe. On the final day we need to check out early but our flight wasn't until the evening so we asked the receptionist for a card to access the pool area for the day. She seemed pleased that she could fulfil this request. Of course later when we tried the card of course it didn't work. All of this for the princely sum of $115 (midweek) and $155 weekend. And bearing in mind that 41st Street Miami Beach is a lot more downmarket than the Main Street in Alexandria, VA. As a further comparison the night before we went to the Best Western we stayed in the gorgeous Art Deco Albion Hotel, which was clean, had amenities, staff who were aware they were working in a hotel, was on Lincoln Road, South Beach (in the heart of the action) and cost $80 for a night.

This is the second time this year I have had atrocious service from Best Western. I suggest they change their slogan from "The World's Largest Hotel Chain" the "The World's Shittest Hotel Chain".

It amazes me how companies can run hotels so differently and without any vast difference in price.

Book of the Week

2009-08-14T13:10:00.000+01:00

This weeks book of the week is The Devils's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. It's the true story of a group of 26 Mexicans that crossed the border from Mexico to the US in hope of a better life. 14 survived crossing the Devil's Highway, an area of desert in the far south of Arizona. My fiancee bought me the book a few months ago, recalling how when we were on a roadtrip in Arizona, there was a point where we could see the mountains of Mexico in the distance. Ultimately is not a happy book, but it is an important book that I think fairly describes the situation from the point of view of the Mexicans, their guide, and the border patrol guys.

Several of the Mexicans were from Vera Cruz, in the far south of Mexico, a hot, humid, tropical area. Urrea makes the point that the northern Mexico desert was a foreign to them as anywhere in the USA. This coupled with the guide who got lost and then abandoned them meant they had very little chance. I was also suprised at how expensive the trip was, they each paid thousands of dollars to the people smugglers.

Personally I don't think immigration (illegal or otherwise) is a bad thing. First, it annoys racists and xenophobes which is only a good thing. And it's a way of reducing the inequality across the globe, a discrepancy that not many governments (especially in the First World, surprisingly) are keen to address with much vigour.
And when the book was written,(2004) $57 million was poured into the US economy in the fees paid by Mexican immigrants when sending money back to Mexico. Now that's what I call an economic impact of immigration, volume 26.

Just a finger.

2009-08-09T11:36:00.001+01:00

SNC00153

2009-08-09T02:58:00.001+01:00

SNC00140

2009-08-09T02:57:00.001+01:00

SNC00132

2009-08-09T02:56:00.001+01:00

SNC00112

2009-08-08T20:32:00.001+01:00

Stag

2009-08-08T09:48:00.003+01:00

To celebrate my impending marriage I decided to have a few drinks with some friends. There follows some representative pics.

Sunday Trading

2009-08-03T01:00:00.001+01:00

It must be a while since I've been out and about shopping on Sunday morning. When I was growing up, most stores were shut on a Sunday presumably due to Christians wanting everybody to pray and not shop. Thankfully this got a lot better in 1994 with the Sunday Trading Act. However what I didn't realise is that Sunday trading for large stores is still restricted to 6 hours on a Sunday. This leads to the ridiculous situation of you being able to wander around department stores at 11:30 am but having to wait until noon before the tills open. Stores should be free to open whenever they want, and any reasons for them to be closed should be due to a rational reason, e.g. noise or disruption, not because it might upset a supernatural being that hasn't ever been seen or heard from.

The Keep Sunday Special campaign aims to restrict Sunday opening hours. They have a series of reasons why Sunday trading is bad.

Protecting relationships
They seem to be claiming that working on a Sunday destroys relationships, that the freedom to shop takes the freedom of someone else who has to work. What about the freedom of people that want to work? If you really don't want to work on a Sunday I would suggest not getting a job that requires you to work on a Sunday. Is it that complicated? I mean if I wanted to be a vicar but then refused to work on a Sunday because it's the day of rest, then just maybe, being a vicar is not the occupation for me. They say that it's not just the shopworkers that have to work on a Sunday, it also "police, security, banking, distribution, transport, health and catering staff all have to work when shops are open.". Well personally I'm actually very grateful that the police don't have Sundays off. And I haven't seen many banks open on a Sunday because John Lewis is open for 6 hours. Of course their argument ignores the fact that people and families can actually spend time together while they are out of the house consuming. And not just by having blazing rows in Sainsbury's but by doing other things such as going to the zoo, gallery, theme park, all of which require people to work on a Sunday.

Saving local businesses
Here they argue that by limiting Sunday trading hours of large stores they are benefitting the smaller stores. Now I'm all for preserving small stores, and I also believe along with the Keep Sunday Special camapign that large multinationals are primarily interested in opening longer to make more money rather than from any noble freedom of choice argument. But if you really want to help small businesses don't force other businesses to be shut. Lower the business tax rate, lower business rates on small properties, give tax incentives to companies with low staff numbers. At the end of the day there are certain things that I cannot get in my local store that I can at a large department store.

Respecting Faith
This is the most vacuous of the reasons to limit Sunday opening. When they say 'respecting faith' I read "it's written in the Christian handbook that Sunday is a day of rest, therefore the book must be obeyed". They don't actually mention Christianity, possible because if we really were to respect faith then we wouldn't work from Friday sundown to Saturday night out of respect for the Jewish faith, or on Friday afternoons out of respect for Islam. Or my personal favourite on Uposatha, which are days which fall in line with the new moon, quarter moons, and full moon, out of respect for Buddhism. So when the campaign say "respecting faith" it seems primarily to mean "respect my faith of Christianity not anybody else's".

Getting Rest
I'm all for getting rest and having time off of work, but I want it to be agreed between me and my employer, not forced upon us by a religious doctrine that I don't believe in. "we need one day a week when the pace of life slows down and we can rest and enjoy leisure time with our friends and family.", so apparently the freedom from working on a Sunday doesn't extend to anyone involved in the leisure industry, or the transport network (as I don't actually live next door to all my friends and family). This like the previous point smacks of "this is what I want to do so you must accomodate me no matter what you want to do."

Another group that are against Sunday trading are the Lord's Day Observance Society. As they say,
"It is actually immoral not to keep the Sabbath Day - it is part of God's moral law which also forbids idolatry, theft and murder."
That's all very well and good if your a Christian. I'm not, so it's not immoral to me to work or shop on a Sunday. I also think God's moral laws are a bit dubious, I'm all for the no theft and no murder, but I also try to avoid things such as revenge and genocide which this God fella seems to like.

Unsurprisingly Day One also seem to be Creationists, that bunch of unthinking, dogmatic people that cannot cope with the fact that the Bible, a book written over many hundreds of years by many different people who mostly weren't first hand witnesses the the events they describe, may not actually be a word for word accurate description of the universe. Even the Church of England accept the the Book of Genesis is not a historical record of events.

Of course, aswell as the nutty religious argument there is the trade unions argument of working on a Sunday. But that's a different issue, and I have to got out now. But it does boil down to if you don't want to work on a certain day, then a job that needs people to work that day may not be appropriate.

Technology no, but at last excellent novel comedy

2009-08-02T08:03:00.001+01:00

Well after being wowed by spb shell, the mobile phone interface I've had to delete it from the phone. Something not quite right with it I think. The phone was getting incredibly hot when it was running and the battery started to run down like you would not believe. Unless you can believe that it would run down in about 4 hours without any use of the phone. In that case you would believe. Deleted spb shell and had no more battery problems. Oh well, give them a bit more time to iron out the bugs.
UPDATE Dec 2009. New version of spb shell installed on phone, works like a dream, no battery problems and even better interface now.

And now for the good. I am a big fan of Radio 4 comedy. Some of it makes you want to tear your ears off to stop the excruciating awfulness, but some of it is the most fantastic funny stuff ever to be created. More in the latter than the former are things like Ed Reardon's Week, The League of Gentlemen, The Now Show, The News Quiz, Count Arthur Strong, Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive, and That Mitchell and Webb Sound. Add to that list the new show, Bigipedia. It's a radio version of a spoof website (trust me the format sounds weird but it works) not entirely unlike Wikipedia. There's even a section for kids called Bigikids (renamed from Kiddipedia due to a misunderstanding).

Cartman the Plant

2009-08-01T20:49:00.003+01:00

Testing an application called Shozu on my phone. It lets you post videos and photos directly from the phone to the blog. Seems to work except there's no preview picture of the video which would be nice. It's a video of my plant, Cartman.

Piss Take of the Week

2009-07-20T19:41:00.005+01:00

This weeks Piss Take of the Week is an advert on the homepage of Capital One, the credit card comapany. How I laughed and laughed. The sad thing is though some people will take them up on their offer.

Good technology, bad technology

2009-07-18T07:56:00.008+01:00

First the good. Downloaded a new interface for my Samsung Omnia, it's called SPB mobile shell and it is good. Icons are big, touch sensitivity is good, and it's very customisable. Currently using the free trial but it's $30 to buy, which I'm seriously considering as it's very well designed. I especially like the 3D carousel thingymajig.

And then the bad. Oyster cards are rubbish. The oyster card system is fantastic, never need to buy tickets with auto topup, works all over the capital, reasonably priced. The only probably is the actual Oyster cards, which seem to be made using ShitChips(tm), I'm on my third one since October as they chips keep failing. At this rate I will get through around 127 Oyster cards in my lifetime. That can't be good for the polar bears surely.

And then the also bad. One of the things that drives me insane (I've been having issues recently) is the multitude of different music playing software on desktops and mobile devices, and the fact that they are all slightly not compatible. I load some music onto my Omnia to find out the Touch Player application won't play wma or aac files, whereas the Windows Media Player on the device won't play aac files. So I have to mess about converting my scattered music all to mp3. Which takes times as I've only just discovered that iTunes which I use on the desktop defaults to encoding things in aac which is bugger all use to anybody. Which then means iTunes helpfully duplicates all my music in the library. Anyway, according to the BBC the latest update to the iTunes prevents any device that is not an iphone/ipod being recognised by iTunes. Well-fucking-done Apple, that's really helpful. Why not just get iTunes to store stuff in Betamax format. The sooner Apple and Windows start creating compatible players the better, people will then be free to use whatever player they want without being tied to what format there music is already in. And don't come at me with it's easy to convert files, it takes bloody ages and it takes forever to reorganise the files afterwards. Rant over.

Bastard of the Week

2009-07-18T07:01:00.004+01:00

This week's award goes to Greg Bartlett,a sheriff in Morgan County, Alabama. Greg was jailed for one day in January earlier this year for being in contempt of court, for failing to comply with a previous court ruling of 2001. The 2001 ruling stated that Greg must serve "a nutritionally adequate diet" to inmates. Well the apparently that was too much to do for the sheriff. It also enabled Greg to take advantage of a ridiculous law in Alabama that any money not spent on prisoner food can be kept as personal income by the sheriff. Greg made around $200000 out of this by withholding food from prisoners. Now, I haven't got my law degree yet but I can see that a system that rewards starving people under your care with cash might be prone to abuse. Therefore I sentence the Alabama judicial system to 2 days in prison for being worse than Greg Bartlett.

NY Times take
CNN's take

Genocide: good or bad?

2009-07-11T11:23:00.006+01:00

Got an interesting letter the other day from a retirment fund I'm in. Unfortunatley it's practically worthless but hey ho, it's in dollars, so who knows what dollars will be worth compared to pounds in forty years time. It's was informing me of an upcoming meeting I'm eligible to vote in, two motions. One to elect a new board, and the second is,

"procedures to prevent holding investments in companies that, in the judgement of the board, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights".

Now the board recommends that the shareholders vote against this proposal, who advise,

"if adopted, this proposal would limit investments by the Fund, that would be lawful under the laws of the United States." Yes, quite, I think that not investing in companies supporting genocide would limit investments opportunities.

But it is a tricky decision. Do I invest only in companies not involved in genocide and risk having a slightly smaller retirement fund, or do I invest in companies contributing to "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.". It's a toughie. I voted for the proposal. And I'd have voted for the proposal even if my part of the fund wasn't small.

The problem with scientific meetings.

2009-07-09T20:23:00.008+01:00

An interesting editorial in Nature about blogging from scientific conferences, and the potential problems. Scientific meetings are great, they allow you to meet face to face the people actually doing the research that you read about every week in the journals, and they let you catch up on what the rest of the world is doing research-wise in your field. But there is a dilemma when it comes to what actual material to present. Do you present you latest, greatest (but unpublished) data and risk people at the conference copying it and scooping you? Or do you present already recently published work which can’t be scooped, but is not quite as exciting as it’s already been published? Obviously a balance is needed.

The issue of blogging in the context of scientific conferences has arisen as it’s now easier than ever to report in real time, detailed information from conferences to the rest of the world. Currently most conferences I go to prohibit photography in the main conference halls, I always presumed to protect the data of those presenting. But with blogging it easy to tap out a few lines which distill a presentation into a few essential points and results and transmit it immediately around the world, or even put it on the web! The arguments in favour of banning photography and blogging are that if the presented work can be instantly transmitted around the world it, it then discourages people from presenting cutting edge, as yet unpublished work, which would lead to a conference full of work that everybody has already seen before when it was published. This is a valid argument, but I don’t think strong enough to justify the banning of blogging.

For my own work I take what seems to be a common sense view of not presenting anything I’m not completely happy with people seeing. In practice this means I usually present a mixture of published data, unpublished novel stuff that is not going to rock the world (and therefore not be scooped), and stuff that is close to publication so it doesn’t matter if people see it a few months beforehand.

Now Nature takes the stance that blogging at conferences is a good thing, and I’m inclined to agree. It’s no good presenting your data to a conference with several thousand people (or in the case of the Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference, several tens of thousands of people) and complaining that people are reading it, and using the information for their own research. Just takes a bit of common sense really.

Of course one option would be to make material submitted to conferences peer-reviewed, so it is in effect 'published' and can't be scooped. But I'm not volunteering to review twenty thousand abstracts each year. Plus I like the idea that the conference provides a forum for preliminary results. Which is why you should always be suspicious when you see a bold, conlcusion-laden science story in the papers that's based purely on work presented at a conference, as reported recently on Ben Goldacre's blog.

Vitamin C is a chemical, someone should tell the Scientologists

2009-06-30T20:14:00.019+01:00

I came across this product the other day, EmergenC. It's a vitamin C supplement, with a clever play on words to suggest that in emergency situations you should take it (sarcasm). Now it's well known in the rational world that vitamins are vital for life, and it's also well known that there is an urban myth that taking vitamin C can cure/alleviate colds/flu/and boost the immune system (personally I wouldn't want my immune system boosted, what if it led to to autoimmune disorders!). A lot of this is in part to Linus Pauling who, although winning a Nobel prize for chemistry on the nature of chemical bonds, seems to have gone a bit strange in his old age; he adviced massive doses of vitamin C (e.g. over 600 times the recommend daily allowance) could cure all sort of things, here's a few more details from the excellent Quackwatch website.

Back to EmergenC. It comes in 1000 mg pills. The RDA of vitamin C is around 60 mg, so these are not small doses in each pill. The EmergenC website looks a bit amateurish to me (mind you, who am I to talk!) which got me having a bit of a look around it. I especially like the fact that "Vitamin C has too many benefits to list on the homepage!". That's the trouble with the internet, there's just not enough room to write as many sentences as you'd like. So to find out in more detail the benefits of this supplement I went to the FAQs. I was expecting some links to references that demonstrate the curative properties of the supplement but unfortunately there was just the usual vague blurb about it boosting your immune system and giving you more energy. They recommend taking 2 to 4 packets a day, remember the RDA is around 60 mg, and the website recommends 2000 mg to 4000 mg a day.

So I tried to find out what company was actually selling the stuff. According to their website you can order the pills by making cheques out to "F Calcioli" at Wealden House in East Grinstead. Now Wealden House didn't sound like a factory or distribution centre to me to I Googled it. Here it is. There a few things going on there but the one that caught my eye was the Wealden House Life Improvement Centre. It looks like some sort of self-help place. In the small print at the bottom of the page appears this "SCIENTOLOGY, DIANETICS, L. RON HUBBARD, LIFE IMPROVEMENT and PURIFICATION RUNDOWN are trademarks and service marks owned by Religious Technology Center and are used with its permission. Services relating to Scientology religious philosophy are delivered throughout the world exclusively by licensees of the Church of Scientology International with the permission of Religious Technology Centre, holder of the SCIENTOLOGY and DIANETICS trademarks.". Now I have a low opinion of Scientology, it seems to me like a cult that preys on people in vunerable situations purely for the finacial gain of Scientology. Hell Ron Hubbard, the founder even talked about starting a religion in order to make money. But that's just my opinion, what do I know? Anyway according to this page the executive director of the Life Improvement Centre is a Lizzy Calcioli, possibly related to the F Calcioli selling the supplement pills? Now according to the font of all knowledge,wikipedia a Lizzy Calcioli is the daughter of David Gaiman, who was a "prominent British member of the Church of Scientology". One of Gaiman's business ventures was to set up G&G Foods, you've guessed it, a vitamin-selling company.

So what has all this got to do with anything? Scientology is very into 'purification' regimes. Getting rid of those bad chemicals in your body, (please file under "health fads that are bollocks"). The best way to detox is to stop ingesting toxins, not taking magic supplements. As Edzard Ernst, the Professor of Complimentary Medicine at the University of Exeter says says

"we already have a number of organs that detoxify the body. They're called the liver and kidneys, and they're pretty good at it."

Anyway one of the things offered at the Wealden House Life Improvement Centre is a Purification Program.

"The Purification Rundown® addresses the accumulation of drugs, medicines and other chemical residues in the body. It uses a regime of exercise, sauna time and vitamins and minerals to detoxify your body."

So I'm just confused as to how this sort of 'purification' is compatible with ingesting unnaturally massive doses of the chemically-synthesised ascorbic acid (also known as vitamin C). I wonder what the profit margin of a bottle of EmergencC that retails for £12.99 for 36 doses?

Times a changing

2009-06-26T20:02:00.005+01:00

Stumbled across this article in the Daily Telegraph the other day which picked up on something I wrote about a while back ,(not picked up from this blog I presume as I think there's only me and my cat reading this, and I don't even have a cat.) It's about the segregated proms in Montgomery County, Georgia. And progress happens, apparently next year the white and black students will be having an integrated, single prom! Good. I wonder whether the shame of publicity has prompted this, after all, if some nobody in North London knows about it then maybe that means lots of people know about it.

Americans prove Confederations Cup Ain't Worth Shit

2009-06-25T09:59:00.005+01:00

In some of the most definitive sports research ever undertaken the United States yesterday proved beyond all reasonable doubt that the Confederations Cup ain't worth shit. The cup, contested between the winners of all six continental championships, the current World Cup holders, and the host of the 2010 World Cup, has been held several times to give the upcoming World Cup host country something to do. The US, fielding their best team who have been in training for the occasion for over 12 months, defeated by two goals the Spanish under-elevens B team. Suspicions that the competition was simply a wankfest for promotors with little in they way of football were raised when South Africa with home advantage managed to get to the semi-finals by beating footballing powerhouse New Zealand, drawing 0-0 with the Iraqi team and losing to Spain 2-0. Further evidence for the worthlessness of the competition was demonstrated merely by the inclusion of New Zealand, whose greatest footballing triumph to date is being knocked out of the World Cup first round 27 years ago.

Collapsing Society

2009-06-16T08:17:00.009+01:00

This month’s book of the week is “Collapse” by Jared Diamond. He seems like a pretty smart chap, he is a Professor of Physiology at UCLA, a writer of popular anthropological books, a Professor of Geography at UCLA, and an environmentalist with particular experience with the highlands of New Guinea. Not sure if he has any hobbies but they must be brief. I first came across him a couple of years ago when a friend lent me “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, an account of why some civilizations became more technologically advanced than others. This sort-of-sequel deals with why some civilizations collapse, and why some don’t. Most of the chapters present details about a particular society, so I was intrigued that the first case study was of present day Montana. Not the first place one thinks of when thinking about collapsed civilizations. But he chose it to highlight the conflicting interests of the people living, working, and visiting the area, and how these conflicts need to be resolved or at least accommodated to ensure that Montana remains an uncollapsed civilization. Other chapters deal with Easter Island, the Anasazi of the US South West, Mayans in Central America, Vikings in Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, people of the New Guinea Highlands, Japan, Rwanda, China, Australia, and the contrasting situations in Haiti and the Dominican Republic which share the island of Hispaniola.

Mining in Montana: I learnt about a method of extracting gold from low-grade ore (around 1 ounce of gold for every 50 tons of ore) known as cyanide heap-leaching. How can anyone come across the name “cyanide heap-leaching” and think that this would be a sensible thing to do in the wilderness. And as its name suggests, it’s not the most environmentally-friendly process. The ore is put in a big pile in a lined container and sprayed with cyanide which is drained off into a nearby pond where the gold can be extracted. The cyanide, now with dissolved toxic metals is then disposed off seemingly by throwing it somewhere.

Easter Island. No more giant palm trees. The Chilean wine palm is the biggest palm tree in the world, growing up to 65 feet tall with trunks three feet in diameter. On Easter Island once existed an even bigger palm, the Easter Island Palm (Paschalococos disperta) which is estimated to have trunk diameters of around seven feet. Unfortunately for world diversity and the civilization of the Easter Islanders they were all chopped down. One of the reasons of the collapse of Easter Island society is believed to be deforestation, this leads to lack of wood for fuel, loss of topsoil for crops, loss of boat-building material which could be used to escape or return to the island with supplies, and loss of great big rollers for transporting stone statues around to impress people, which was an integral part of Easter Island society. In the book Diamond, and his students, raise the obvious questions of why did the Easter Islanders cut down all the trees that were so vital to the survival of their society? In a mirror to our own environmental concerns for the whole planet he asks, “What did the Easter Islander who cut down the last palm tree say while he was doing it?…did he shout “Jobs not trees!”, or “Technology will solve our problems, never fear, we’ll find a substitute for wood”, or “We don’t have proof that their aren’t palms somewhere else on Easter, we need more research..””.

The Anasazi, this name refers to the people that inhabited the South West United States whose society and cities collapsed between around 1100 to the 1400s. In the book is a picture of an Anasazi house (black and white photo), compare it to this picture that I took last year whilst on a road trip in the area (colour photo), it looks the same. I was probably wandering around an Anasazi house and didn’t even know it!

While discussing the problems facing Australia, in particular agriculture and sheep farming there is the account of Britain’s influence on Australia. He describes the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, in which the Governor-General Sir John Kerr (appointed by the Queen and usually held to be a ceremonial role) dismissed Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam. This is particularly bizarre as Australia gained independence from Britain in 1901.

And finally a point of particular interest to me, working in a lab and doing controlled experiments, he raises the important consideration when studying a subject such as anthropology or ecology; namely the near impossibility of performing controlled experiments to reach solid conclusions. As he dryly puts it, I hope with a slight sliver of humour, “It’s usually neither feasible, legal, nor ethical to gain knowledge about birds by experimentally exterminating or manipulating their populations at one site while maintaining their populations at another site as unmanipulated controls. I have had to use different methods.”

All in all a fascinating book with some great lessons for our own society. Number one being that deforestation is bad and is only can hurt everyone in the long run.

Bastard RMT and Bastard Britain

2009-06-10T18:42:00.007+01:00

It's summer in London, this can only mean two things; it's raining and there's a tube strike.

Now the rain is not fun but I don't blame the tube's main union, the RMT, for that. I do blame them for the strike though and it seems from my viewpoint that the strike is shite. Going to the TFL website I find a long statement by the management about why they cannot agree with the RMT. Issues such as the RMT demanding a 5% pay rise, and a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies. Now, to me both of these demands seem unreasonable but I am prepared to accept that maybe the TFL management are not the most unbiased of sources in this particular dispute. So I goes to the RMT website where they are strangely reticent about providing details of the dispute. Eventually I find a statement with vague references to bullying and unacceptable offers, but little else. So, in my view, RMT 0, TFL 1 this round. On the bright side because of the strike I walked to and from work today which made a change (45 minutes each way, 200 calories burnt (or about 2/3 of a Snickers bar)).

And in other news, an article in the Guardian, and in a few other places about Britain's wonderful adherence to the rule of law, justice, and the philosophy of "innocent until proven guilty". It's the case (in the loosest sense of the word) of one Mahmoud Abu Rideh. Arrested in 2001 and held in Belmarsh prison, which has served as Britain's very own Guantanamo, and Broadmoor, a high security mental institution. Since 2005 he has been release but is been subject to a 'Control Order'. The control order means that he would be commiting a criminal offence if he does any of the following heinous acts; Spending more than 12 hours a day outside of his home, failing to phone a monitoring company three times a day, having a visitor in his home who is not been previously approved by the Home Office or installing an internet connection in his home. Mahmoud has never been charged with a crime, has never been to trial for any offence. What he does know is that the security services have evidence that he is a terrorist. Evidence that is so secret that he is not allowed to see what it is, so he has no chance of defending himself. Now I have no idea whether Mahmoud is a terrorist or not, I figured that that was what courts were for, to look at evidence and determine if someone is guilty but apparently not in this day and age. A bloke from the goverment can claim that they have secret evidence against you and this is enough for the State to destroy your life. Thankfully (hmmm) the European Court of Human Rights have determined that not having access to the evidence against you is a violation of his rights to a fair trial, no shit Sherlock. And in the near future the Law Lords in England are going to decide whether they also agree. One can only hope that they do and sometime in the future some dignity and human rights are extended to Mahmoud.

Idiot politician (and she's a woman)

2009-06-07T21:22:00.004+01:00

I recently came across Caroline Flint, a recently resigned minister who is seems to be having a bit of strop. In particular she seems to have a chip on her shoulder about Gordon Brown not liking women in the government, despite blatant evidence and endorsements to the contrary, e.g. Oona King. From her comments as reported in the Guardian, I think it's best for the government and for women in general in politics that she goes away. She is quoted in the article as saying "You've only got to look and see at where women are in cabinet and where they aren't, and they aren't in positions of power, they aren't running spending departments. There's only Yvette [Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions] now who's actually running a spending department."

Hmmm, so there are/were no women in power. Except for the Home Secretary who was until earlier this week a woman in arguably the third most powerful position in the government. And there are no women running spending departments, except those (such as Yvette Cooper) who are running spending departments. With intellect like this I think Gordon should sack the entire cabinet, and possibly the rest of the party too.

And in other news, it was a busy weekend last weekend. I flew to the US to propose to the girl I love. And she said yes, so that was nice.

Racism and other prejudices

2009-05-27T18:31:00.008+01:00

Recently have been reading a few articles that have brought up the subject of racism so I'd thought I'd share some of the gems. First up, an article on the NY Times about the the county of Montgomery in Georgia, USA which apparently has not one but two high school proms every year. How's that for indulgence? Make sure you pick the right one though, one is for whites and one is for blacks. There is no rule barring people of any race from either prom, but pressure can be applied is various ways to ensure that there is no prom mixing. A very bizarre situation, especially considering that the high school in question is apparently a well-rounded and racially fully integrated place.

And then in the New York Review of Books, an article about the attitude of Abraham Lincoln on race. Although he was against slavery, it was more from an economic viewpoint and not so much as treating African-Americans as equal to white Americans. The article contained this fantastic part referring to the Declaration of Independence which Lincoln often referred to when pushing the anti-slavery position.

"The "man" referred to in "all men are created equal" was homo politicus, the person capable of self-government, which in the eighteenth century excluded women, slaves, blacks and other "inferior races", children, and the insane."

And then there is this, which although the case it describes is abhorrent, I cannot fail to smirk. It's an article about the 40th birthday of Sesame Street. And how the good state of Mississippi responded to this new program,

"An integrated program aimed at impressionable children was too much for the good people of Mississippi. The state's comission for educational television banned the show in May 1970."

The state reversed its decision within the month thankfully. I think when an organization is banning (albeit temporarily) such a aggresively political show such as Sesame Street, then I think they have lost the argument.

And finally on the subject of idiotic intolerance, on the news today was the story about California upholding the ban on gay marriage. Now apparently this doesn't mean too much legally (prepared to be proved wrong though), as gay civil partnerships are still legal, and the gay marriages that have already been performed are still valid. But what drew my attention was the standard anti-gay marriage twat being interviewd on the TV stating that marriage between two gay people was unnatural. And saying this whilst wearing a polyester top. I have never understood the argument against homosexuality that it is "unnatural". Neither is polystyrene, but somehow the protests are never so enthusiastic for this banning this packing material. Just where did the anti-gay squad get this unnatural strawman from? Of course there's also the point that of homosexuality is observed in the animal kingdom. Why don't they just admit that it's not because they don't like "unnatural" things, it seems more that either they don't like the idea physically, or that they don't like the idea because it is forbidden in their book, which, unfortunately for them, is their book, which is not the book of most of the people in the world, and who are are not obligated to take as law.

Book launch and more wonders of technology

2009-05-23T12:23:00.006+01:00

Went to my first ever book launch the other day, it was excellent, I shall go to more. Not only was there wine and snacks but the author spoke for a bit about the book which was better than all the wine put together. The book was "America's Backyard: The United States and Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to the War on Terror" by Grace Livingstone, (declaration of interest, she's a very good friend of a friend). Haven't read it yet (it's gone on the pile) but first impressions are excellent, covers American military and political interventions in latin American from the 1800s up to and including George W Bush.

On the technology front came across a fantastic program called GRemote which runs on my mobile phone. Uses bluetooth technology to convert the touchscreen phone into a remote control for my laptop. It's amazing. Here's a brief video of its functions in action. I think it's a great idea, it lets me listen to music or watch DVDs on my computer from the comfort of my bed. And I'm sure it won't be long before the software gets even more advanced. I particularly like the fact that it lets you physically move the phone (accelerometer innit innit) to control stuff on the desktop. Now just need to develop very accurate, tiny accelerometers that fit on your finger tip and we can all be swishing windows and pictures areound by waving are arms, just like in Minority Report. I can't wait! But I will.

Tourist

2009-05-08T18:46:00.004+01:00

Well it's been a busy few weeks. Most of the time was spent showing a very good friend around London and the South East. A few highlights were the Camden Crawl, Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London, and deepest darkest Bedfordshire.

Camden Crawl, a music festival, surprisingly held in Camden. The basic philosophy is up and coming (and a few bigger) bands playing in small venues around Camden, mostly small pubs. Saw a quite a few acts, most of which I obviously can't remember. Daisy, Kitty, and Lewis (maybe the names are in a different order) were very good, playing 1940/50s-style rockabilly with more passion than a container ship full of passion fruits. Madness played around Camden, we managed to be walking past the Dublin Castle when their open top bus (Madness World Tour of Camden) pulled up. The band dashed inside, closely followed by several million fans, played a couple of songs and then dashed off. They finished off the day with an open air gig from the top of said bus in Inverness Street in the heart of Camden. There are some videos of the Madness gig on the BBC Radio 6 website, can't find the links at the moment, but they are there.

Some of the more traditional touristy things we did were wandering about central London, Soho, Trafalgar Square, Westminster (not the one in Maryland), Picadilly Circus, the South Bank, Tower of London, and Hampton Court Palace. Never been inside the house, well palace I guess, at Hampton Court before. It's a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. Well worth a visit. Also went to see a Quantum Cloud, a bizarre but interesting sculpture in the Thames at North Greenwich (just east of the Millennium Dome, which I refuse to call the O2 centre, except for just then).

Also had a good look at the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park (or is it Kensington Gardens, I forget where one ends and the other starts). Anyway, it's by far my favourite memorial/statue/non-building tall thingy in London. Very spectacular.

Further afield we went to Canterbury cathederal, which was a lot bigger than I remember it being as a child. It's hard to imagine just how impressive to the folk it must have been when it was built nearly a thousand years ago. Literally further afield went rambling in Bedfordshire, picked a random country walk from a book on walks and walked it. Spent rather slightly longer rambling than we meant to (several hours more) as we only had the vague map in the book and got a bit lost. To be fair though the book did say take the ordanance survey map of the are with you.

Went to Brick Lane and Spitalfields markets, again, just like Canterbury cathederal, a lot bigger than I remember them. Possibly my eyes are shrinking with old age wich would naturally make things look bigger.

And finally, as a testament to the deeply religious nature of London, we noticed very many nuns out and about. Obviously out for there traditional Sunday jog.

Technological advancement and recycling

2009-04-17T10:21:00.005+01:00

Now once again I am just gobsmacked by technology that works. Came across a little mobile phone application called Qik, from Qik.com. Apparently it's been out a few months but nobody bothered to inform me. And it's amazing. Start the application and it starts the phone's video camera. Press one more button and it streams the video live on the web, and also records it and stores it for you. This would be so useful in case you observed a crime going on, such as a protester being beaten by the police who subsequently forced you to hand over the phone, but leaving the video on the web for all to see. I think you can also hook it up to automatically post videos to YouTube aswell. Below is a live video of the lab's poorly compressor. Except it's not live now, but it was at the time.

Downsides are you need an unlimited mobile data plan to keep streaming video, but I have that (weekends and evening only mind you). And when I say live, it seems to take about a minute for the buffering to sort itself out, but a minute behind isn't too bad.

And now onto recycling. Hooray for Sainsbury's lemonade, the bottled is made from 100% recycled material. And the bottle and cap are recyclable! Unfortunately the plastic label which is superglued to the bottle is not recyclable. Sort of makes it all a bit pointless really.

Mind book, iphone, smoothies.

2009-04-11T09:15:00.008+01:00

First up, picture of the week, from an article entitled "I hate my iphone" in the New York Times. It made me laugh.

Next up, finished reading "A Mind of it's own" by Cordelia Fine. It's a pop psychology book about how you're not really in control of your own mind with great chapter titles such as "The Vain Brain", "The Deluded Brain", "The Bigoted Brain".
It was quite interesting but it was made a bit dry by the way she presents the arguments. There are many many case studies of experiments demonstrating her points, which puts the book somewhere between a popular science book and a broad scientific review. However I did learn about the bizarre condition Cotard's delusion. A sense of detachment of a person's self from their body arises. In it's most severe forms the person will actually believe that they are dead, despite the contrary evidence that is presented to them which will be explained away as not strong enough or irrelevent to the issue. Very strange.

And finally tonight, the sad news that Innocent Smoothies who make some of the best smoothies available (made with fruit not frutcose corn syrup!) have sold out to Coca Cola. Innocent smoothies have prided themselves on their ethical outlook to commerce. Not any more I guess. A statement on their website basically says they are selling a 10 to 20% stake to Coca Cola although they are not selling out to Coca Cola and this in no way affects their ethical worldview. This would be the same Coca Cola that has been researched by Mark Thomas and detailed in his book "Belching Out the Devil". Read it to find out all about the murder and intimidation of trade unionists in Colombia. The use of child labour to harvest sugar cane in El Salvador and many more examples that a normal human being wouldn't put in the ethical capitalsim category. I think I'll be having a few less Innocent Smoothies from now on.

Bug identified!

2009-04-06T14:13:00.005+01:00

Well thanks to the wonders of the internet, and some clever insect spotters I'm now pretty sure that the giant thing seen in Miami is a Fig Sphinx Moth (Pachylia ficus). A real Fig Sphinx Moth is the top picture, the creature I saw is below. Thanks to the posters at BugGuide.Net for working it out. I didn't realise that moths could get quite so meaty.

Also I, only been running this blog for a few weeks but I find out that a friend in Miami has also recently started a blog, In Room 421. It's looks a bit more arty than mine, she's cultured you know.

Weekend on tropical island paradise

2009-04-05T21:10:00.002+01:00

Spent the weekend visiting family on the Isle of Sheppey, a place not dissimilar from Miami, they both have swamps. Nice to relax but £22 for a return trip of 50-odd miles is a bit of a rip off. Then back to London, quick couple of pints in a new pub. Not a new pub per-se but a pub I've never been to before, and it turns out to be one of those rare beasts - a Holloway pub that isn't shit. The Quays, a big Irish pub, quite nice.

On a more depressing note, was reading about the author James Patterson in The Observer. I read a couple of his books when I was younger, they weren't bad but were a bit trashy. Some have been turned into films, "Along Came A Spider" and "Kiss The Girls", I think. This is what the journalist reported about his writing technique.

"...since 1996, when he published a novel called Miracle on the 17th Green with a golfing buddy, he has done it by finding collaborators to help him fill in the blanks. He comes up with the plot, they write the sentences, he reviews draft after draft. To hear Patterson tell it, he simply has too many ideas to write them all up himself, so he enlists an army of co-writers. He resists the word "factory", of course, or "formula"."

Ho hum.

The Miami Trip, part II

2009-04-04T08:07:00.008+01:00

Am back from Miami. It was a fabulous trip but very tiring, lots of work and lots of socialising. The weather was perfect, around 25 degrees C with reasonably high humidity, rained once but only in that Miami 'torrential rain for 20 mins then back to sunshine' way. Whilst there worked on a new paper on BK channels which will be sent off very soon hopefully, figures and tables all done and just some text to tidy up. All the pics are here.

On the first morning there woke up completely jet-lagged and foggy to find the worlds largest insect on the front door. It was the size of a small bird, about 3 inches long. Had solid wings (so probably not a cicada which tend to have clear wings). It flew around for a bit then flew off. My old boss, a resident of Florida for nearly 40 years had never seen anything like it. I shall have to do some investigation. It could well have been some foreign invader off a boat from the tropics somewhere.

One of the highlights of the trip was Ultra Music Festival, a massive 2-day concert featuring over 250 dance and techno acts. Only managed to go for one day b ut that was awesome enough. The Prodigy were mind-blowing. Other good bits were Moby who somehow does quite bland stuff on (some) albums but does a thumwumping high energy live set. Also Above and Beyond were good to chill to. There some pics of the event starting here. And Ultra 2009 is a few bits of video from the event.

Also, went to South Pointe Park. This was had closed down when I left Miami last time for a 18(?) month refurbishment. It had only been open a few days when I was in town this time. They haven't done a bad job, they kept lots of grass, made it a big bigger, done some landscaping. Not sure why it took so long though. It does look a bit pristine but I guess this will grow out with time making it a bit more natural. Here's some pics.

Managed to see lots of friends, did the bar tours of some of my old haunts.
The Abbey, a fantastic little brew pub that is a must for any visitor to convince them that not all American beer is Budweiser crap. They brew there own IPA, stout, and a few others. Plus the clientele are usually intelligent and interesting.

Club Deuce, another classic South Beach bar, down, dirty, and with happy hours that seem to go on forever. The last time I was in Club Deuce I accidentally caught myself on fire. The moral being don't keep a load of rechargable batteries and electrically conducting coins in the same pocket.

The Abraxas Lounge is a newish (last few years) addition to the great places to go. Over 150 different bottled beers, a few taps, comfy sofas, sometimes live music, and great bar staff. And also the nearest bar to the place I was staying.

Tap Tap is a great little Haitian restaurant, that does the best mojitos in the world using Barbancourt rum. And the decor is amazing, bright murals cover every wall. Something most people I've met do't know about Miami is that it has a very large Haitian population. Haiti is in a state, by far the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere it has suffered from brutal dictators, US-enforced regime change and desperate poverty. Haitians also have a raw deal obtaining refugee status, a legal requirement under the UN charter of Human Rights (if I remember rightly) that is available to Cubans, Nicaraguans, Somalis and many others.

Waxy O'Connors, the quintissential fake Irish pub to be found in resorts and near convention centers all over the country. Saying that it's actually quite nice, lots of wood, Guinness, and U2 (well nothing's ever perfect).

Ted's Hideaway is a fantastic divey locals bar managed by the warm and cuddly Bob Mac. An excellent place to lie low on a Sunday and drink away your sorrows. And they have a pool table!

All in all a very productive trip, got the vast majority of the paper done, got to see former workmates and beach buddies and some fantastic music. Time for a rest, except back in London there's a million and one experiments to do.

The Miami Trip

2009-03-25T16:03:00.003Z

Well I arrived late Monday afternoon to a gloriously sunny Miami, temperature around 24 degrees C, and plenty of humidity. Highlights of the flight over were seeing lots of pack ice off the coast of Newfoundland, a couple of aircraft carriers somewhere in New England, and the New York City skyline in the distance whilst flying down the East Coast. In Miami, bumped into an friend who declared me the whitest person he'd ever seen. I'll have to spend a bit of time in the sun whilst here.

South Beach has changed every so slightly, a few new stores, a few new buildings, and apparently a new park which I've yet to see. Sampled the local hospitality of The Abbey, Club Deuce, and Abraxas.

Miami

2009-03-22T16:48:00.002Z

Off back to Miami tomorrow for ten days. Will be finishing off a paper from my old lab, seeing some friends, and also stopping by Ultra, the festival/concert that ends the Winter Music Conference. Been for the last few years, it's a lovely event, around 250 acts over 11 stages and 2 days. Prodigy are one of the big acts this year. Should be good! Ultra Music Festival

Enjoy

2009-03-22T12:47:00.002Z

Went to see the play "Enjoy" by Alan Bennett on Friday It was officially good. The lead roles were played by Alison Steadman who ain't half bad at the acting game and David Troughton. As expected it featured the Grim North and has some fantastic one-liners, none of which I can obviously remember. The basic premise is of an elderly couple living in one of the last row houses in Leeds that is due to be demolished, the couple are to be rehoused in new flats, with vinyl flooring! The way of life is to be changed for good, which some modern folks believe will be a tragic loss. The solution is to observe and record the everyday lives of everyday folk so that it may be preserved for good. Quite literally.

Just Say No to Bonuses

2009-03-20T13:04:00.004Z

This is fantastic news from the US. Congress have voted overwhelmingly, 328 to 93, to allow employees of companies that have been given more than $5 billion dollars in government handouts to keep their bonuses. With the brilliant caveat that bonuses awarded in 2009 will be subject to 90% federal income tax. This is my kind of socialism, it makes me smile and smile and smile. Now I don't actually get too worked up about executives receiving millions in bonuses, compared to the turnover (mainly negative these days) of the comapnies the bonuses are a pittance. And I don't think the government should be dictating salary levels to private companies. And it's no good preventing the handout of bonuses if they are a contractual requirement. However, I do think you must be some sort of shit to accept massive bonuses when in reality you should be fired for being incompetent. There is some questions about the legality of the (partially) retroactive tax but apparently it does not set a prescident. So good nes all around. Lets hope Gordon Brown can pick up some socialist tips from across the pond.

Pub Quiz

2009-03-20T08:55:00.004Z

Victory is ours! Last night was in the Old Eagle, and although not winning the quiz we did finish in the top few teams, earning the cash reward of eight (yes 8!) whole pounds. The only let down of the night was that my suggestion for a team name was vetoed by the rest of the team, I thought "Free Fritzl" was very topical.

History of Modern Britain

2009-03-18T13:10:00.004Z

Just finished reading Andrew Marr's "A History of Modern Britain". I've read a few history books about Britain but they tend to cover year zero to the present so by the time I get to the 20th century my brain is already full up. This however remedies this by starting around 1945, and going up to the present. This is an ideal situation, as again by the end of the book my brain is gettting full up, but I can remember lots of the last 10 years anyway. It's quite a good read, it fills in a lot of the details for me of politics from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s of which I've only really heard snippets of. If you are looking for a history of modern Britain from around 1945 then this is the book for you.

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-18T12:52:00.007Z

Yesterday was St. Patrick's day, and to celebrate the fact that the pubs are all jammed with people and filled with Guinness-branded tat I went to the pub. Here are some of the sights (but not sounds) I saw.St Patrick's Day

Free online music library

2009-03-17T12:02:00.005Z

This is a good find. Download the legal peer to peer software called Spotify, type in your favourite artist, song, and album and listen to the streaming music. There are infrequent commercials which aren't annoying, although sneakily the commericial is paused if you mute the player. It also looks pretty sylish, you can set up playlists of songs, and it has some genre-based radio stations built in. One thing you can't do unlike a similar US-based service is select new artists you might like based on your play history. Maybe one day.

It's available here, Spotify

New ipod Shuffle

2009-03-13T12:55:00.004Z

Now I've never had an mp3 player, currently I use my phone to occasionally listen to music and it seemed pointless to carry around two devices that do the same thing, although admittedly the music player on my phone isn't brilliant. However I think I may change my mind after seeing the new ipod shuffle. It's tiny enough to clip to clothing, it has no buttons, and 4 GB of memory. Apparently the buttons are on the headphone wire. And it has some voice menu thingy for skipping through menus. And it's not a bad price, around $80, £57 I think.

Technology gives me a warm glow

2009-03-12T19:24:00.004Z

This is bloody brilliant. I am in the pub and have discovered I can access the internet even if there is no wireless connection around. I simply turn on the bluetooth on my phone, my laptop finds it automatically and voila, laptop to phone to phone network to internet all with very little clicking.

So tonight I went to the Landseer, an atypical pub in holloway as it's a bit middle class*. It has very nice Timothy Taylor Landlord on hand pump and a friendly pub cat (or it may have been just a local cat in for a drink). I did see a person riding a motorbike/moped (I wasn't that observant) with a crash helmet that had furry tiger ears and tail attached. So that's good, there seems to be a feline theme to tonight.

*Holloway is a lovely place. In particular this evening I've noticed a lot of animal lovers**, and also people embracing the European alfresco socialising culture***.

**A disproportionate number of bull terrriers.

***Groups on the pavement swigging Special Brew.

Music so nice.

2009-03-11T16:09:00.005Z

Been listening to the album Behind The Sun by Chicane, and dammit I like it. First came across them as part of a remix by called Honey by Tiesto. They are chilled with a sprinkling of dance, and a bit of melancholy. What more could you ask for to lift you spirits on a Wednesday afternoon?

Here's a sample on You Tube, Chicane

2009-03-10T17:26:00.002Z

It's working! I can control the universe!

2009-03-10T17:13:00.003Z

Trying to create an infinity loop whilst in the pub. Tonight's drink of choice is a Guinness, and tonight's pub of choice is Quinns. Tonight's post of choice is this one.

2009-03-10T13:22:00.003Z

Oooh you can add pictures! I took this picture, I reckon it would make a lovely desktop background for someone.

Testing

2009-03-10T12:41:00.000Z

Testing, one, two, testing. Is it on? The light's on.