Geoglyphs' Ramblings

The Awful Poo Lady strikes again

2010-07-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

Gillian McKeith (or someone tweeting as her) went bananas.

In other news, the unaccredited correspondence school she got her PhD from has closed. (Has anybody else's irony meter suddenly evaporated on reading criticism of quackery in the Huffington Post?)

Update: David Naylor sums up the moral from this on how to use social media.

Farewell to Martin Gardner

2010-07-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

One of my all time heroes died, yet I could not find words adequate enough to pay tribute to him. Phil Plait wrote eloquently about his life and influence, as have James Randi and Richard Dawkins. Scientific American, which he wrote for for a quarter of a century also paid tribute with three of his puzzles.

Anthony Barcellos posted a multi-party interview with Martin Gardner. Ben Goldacre also paid tribute, as well as noticing what has changed since Martin started writing about pseudoscience.

P Z Myers paid tribute, as did PodBlack Cat, the Quantum Pontiff, Gathering 4 Gardner, Selva at the Scientific Indian and Evolutionblog.

Reading these, I realise that Martin Gardner had an extraordinary influence through his writings - he taught people about mathematics, skepticism and critical thinking. He showed that joy could be had in exploring mathematics and that there was beauty in it. He was no Gradgrind, but a quiet, shy, gentleman with a love of conjouring.

The influence I can trace in my own life: Science: Good, Bad and Bogus was one of the first works that interested me in skepticism (the other being The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved by Larry Kushe). I looked for more of Martins' books and gathered a collection of his books - mainly columns from Scientific American - over the years. (Somehow, I didn't start reading Scientific American until after his columns ended.)

His explanation of a tic-tac-toe machine that learned was a revelation. (It was an analogue machine, made of matchboxes, other pieces of cardboard and coloured beads.) This sparked an interest in artificial intelligence that, combined with an interest in puzzles, probably interested me in computers to the extent that I make a living programming them.

Martin Gardner taught people all over the world, sparking curiosity and encouraging them to ask questions.

Vale, Martin. You were one of our greatest teachers.

WOOHOO!!!

2009-12-17T12:14:00.000-08:00

Homer Simpson is article of the day on English-language Wikipedia twenty years to the day the first full-length episode was broadcast.

New UK Space Agency

2009-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

The UK will have a new space agency, though the model has yet to be decided.

Why Human Rights Matter

2009-12-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

61 years ago today the United Nations General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Slightly over three years earlier, the Allies had liberated Europe, including the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Belsen, Buchenwald and Dachau.

Nowadays, it's not unusual to hear someone mocking human rights legislation, perhaps agreeing with Gene Hunt that "Human rights are for human beings". Certainly it's sickening to see a criminal who's gamed the system to get off scott-free or with a light sentence, but we must be beware getting rid of something we only miss when it's gone.

Even without genocide there are the horrors of the industrial school system in Ireland (which was seen as a system for reforming children with criminal pasts - only 6% were in the system for that reason), the migration of children to Australia, (many were told their families were dead) and human trafficking, such as that carried out by snakeheads (those who died in the Morcambe Bay disaster had been trafficked.

But the truth is that any one of us has the capacity to behave barbarically - either deliberately out of prejudice, pettiness or unaware as those who thought the industrial schools were doing good. We can all help or harm - try to keep an open mind, understand how society works - both our own and others and try to strengthen transparency, accountability and democracy.

Mental reservation

2009-11-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics."
George Orwell, Politics and the English language

In yesterdays' publication of the Murphy Report there is an interesting phrase: mental reservation

Cardinal Connell explained the concept
of mental reservation to the Commission
in the following way:

Well, the general teaching about mental reservation
is that you are not permitted to tell a lie. On the
other hand, you may be put in a position where
you have to answer, and there may be circumstances
in which you can use an ambiguous expression
realising that the person who you are talking
to will accept an untrue version of whatever it
may be - permitting that to happen, not willing
that it happened, that would be lying. It really
is a matter of trying to deal with extraordinarily
difficult matters that may arise in social relations
where people may ask questions that you simply
cannot answer. Everybody knows that this kind
of thing is liable to happen. So, mental reservation
is, in a sense, a way of answering without lying.
Murphy Report, Part 2, section 58.20

In plain English - lying. I'm not going to argue that nobody should ever lie, we all know there are times when a lie can save someone's life or save them from a beating. What's really disturbing is that this fancy phrase involves lying to yourself about what you're doing - it makes your thinking muddy so that you don't even realise you're lying.

It's a lot like Newspeak. The scary thing
is that is for real - this was a doctrine of the Catholic Church that enabled abuse to happen.

The 64th anniversary

2009-08-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

On 6 August 1945 the US military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing approximately 140,000.

The morality of this has been debated ever since, with one side claiming more lives would be lost in an invasion of Japan. (Why a demonstration in sight of the Japanese mainland wasn't an option puzzles me.)

The debate will probably continue.

Down with this sort of thing

2009-07-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Dermot Ahern has managed to make a holy show of himself. (Now I'll have offended the Dermotologists, who will no doubt accuse me of blasphemy.)

Dermot Aherns' explanation didn't convince Padraig Reilly who pointed out, quite reasonably, that as there is already a referendum for the Lisbon Treaty this year, why not have the referendum on blasphemy on the same day?

The creators of Father Ted back a challenge and they've parodied opponents to blasphemy before.

Stephen Fry has condemned it too.

From the legal angle: Eoin O'Dell argues it clashes with the Constitution while Pure Hearsay disagrees.

40 years ago today

2009-07-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

At 02:39 UTC 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong opened the hatch on the Eagle lander, began his descent at 02:51. He deployed the Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly and activated a TV camera by pulling on a D-ring. At 02:56 he set his left foot on the surface of the Moon.

That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.

Buzz Aldrin joined him and described the view as

Magnificent desolation.

Alaska Mystery Deepens

2009-07-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin denies rumours of failed attempt to summon Cthulhu for Republican Party presidential campaign in 2012.

An Taoiseach, this is called the Streisand Effect

2009-03-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

From Bath to Cork with Baby Grace responds to Mr. Michael Kennedy TDs objections.

Eoin O'Dell has a comprehensive list of the coverage.

At least BIFFO will have an idea of what the Streisand Effect is.

Pat Kenny - Breaking News

2009-03-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

This from Shane Hegarty on Twitter - Pat Kenny will leave the The Late Late show.

Update:Irish Times also covers it.

BIFFOs defender

2009-03-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

By now, the world, his dog and the cat that owns them both knows about the nude portraits of Brian Cowen.

Eoin O'Dell has written an excellent article on the legal matters involved.

John Waters has commented on the scandal and, not surprisingly, has condemned the paintings.

Waters wrote:
The only amusing thing here is Casby’s deluded belief that he has something to say. His response is typical of a public discourse almost fatally degraded by internet auto-eroticism and an obsession with what is called “comedy”. His works are crude, unfunny, vindictive, without intrinsic content and wholly lacking in artistic merit.

He also wrote:
The internet has reduced public debate to the level of a drunken argument, in which no holds are barred, in which deeply unpleasant people get to voice their ignorant opinions in the ugliest terms, in the name of “free speech”. The idea that we all need “a laugh” has allowed the “joke” to become elevated beyond everything. Nobody may object if others have declared something “funny”.

The internet has little or nothing to do with this story, but John Waters can't resist taking a swipe at it. Disturbingly, he doesn't mention that the Gardai are involved. (Are crime levels so low they can afford to investigate this?)

However, John Waters also says:
What is so important about people being enabled to indulge themselves in nervous spasms triggered by, for example, cultural incongruities, that all other criteria – good taste, decency, human dignity – must be jettisoned? Much of what is now called humour is bullying, picking on an individual or group for a cheap guffaw. Anyone who doesn’t think this hilarious has “no sense of humour” – than which no more serious indictment is possible.

Now bullying is a serious matter - but if putting these paintings into an art gallery is bullying, what is having the artist questioned by police?

Waters looks up to Brian Cowen as a father figure.

He cites John LLoyd:
In his 2004 book What the Media Are Doing to Our Politics , author John Lloyd cited David Steel, the former leader of the British Liberal Party, in his belief that his portrayal in the sketches on Spitting Image destroyed the chances of the then alliance between his party and the Social Democrats replacing the Labour Party as the main party of opposition. Spitting Image invariably showed Steel as the fawning puppet of SDP leader David Owen.

Then continues:
Elaborating on the power of such crude stereotypes, Lloyd wrote: “Once again, choices made by electors were being very substantially altered by media; and because of the nature of the culture which assumed a right to intrude ever more decisively into what had been forbidden territory, not only was nothing being done about it, no serious questions were even being asked about it. Politicians became, in a variety of ways, more and more scorned, and could barely object. The media would not allow it, it had been defined as a joke, millions of people liked it . . . and thus its effects – whatever they are – cannot sensibly be discussed.”

It may seem excessive to credit the squalid affair of the Casby paintings with representing a threat to democracy, but undoubtedly such vacuous interventions are becoming increasingly the norm in a culture valuing far above ideas a propensity for “the craic”.

Spitting Image was immensely popular, but what is John Waters really saying here? Is he accusing the show of being a danger to democracy, and if so, what would he suggest doing about it?

What does this imply for journalists?

Maybe I'm reading too much into what he wrote.

Meanwhile a site selling caracatures of Brian Cowen has stopped selling them.

The overrated is obnoxious

2009-03-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

I've always found Ricky Gervais quite cringe-making and never saw what was so great about The Office - David Brent is just a slightly exaggerated version of Gervais. I see now that he likes cheap stereotypical jokes.

Perhaps in future he could do the following:

Actually look at the rate of depression in areas of high unemployment.
Find out what depression is - it's not a fashionable accessory.

Tabloid sleaze

2009-03-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Graham Linehan has blogged about a particularly nasty piece of tabloid "journalism" that has led to complaints to the Press Complaints Commission.

Copyright takedown notices - an unorthodox use

2009-03-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

Google reveals some interesting uses of takedown notices.

Calling Texans for Science

2009-03-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Texas Freedom Network on a depressing attack on science education.

The New York Times has some background.

Sam Ogden of Skepchick has a lot of detail and plans of what to do.

Storey time

2009-02-13T10:03:00.000-08:00

Mervyn Storey is getting all hot under the collar about an exhibition about evolution:

However, North Antrim MLA Mervyn Storey has called for a creationist exhibition to be run alongside which explains the origin of life according to a literal reading of the Genesis account in the Bible.

“All I’m saying is that there should be a balance because there are other views out there,” Mr Storey said.

“There are people who have a different view to Darwin on creation.”

There are indeed other views, such as the traditional creation myth of the Igluik to pick just one:

Long ago a great catastrophe caused the world's supporting pillars to collapse and destroy the earth. Two men emerged full-grown from hummocks of earth. They married each other, and one became heavy with child. The other man sang a magic song, which caused the pregnant man's penis to divide, he then became a woman and gave birth to a girl child.

Hang on, that probably won't make Mervyn happy as:

It features two men marrying.
One of them has a sex change (performed by the other).
Magic is used.
The now woman gives birth (which probably confuses the hell out of Mervyn).

Oh my, 'tis enough to give the poor wee lamb a case of the fantods!

All of this would be too racy for Mervyn, who is a member of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, founded by none other than Ian Paisley.

I haven't asked either Mervyn or Ian, but I suspect they would give a resounding "No!!!" to an exhibition featuring that!

Of course, he wants to promote a literal interpretation of Genesis only.

But more of Mervyns' objections:

Mr Storey, himself a proponent of creationism, said that he was entitled to express his views on the subject.

“I believe in creationism and intelligent design, I don’t believe in the theory of evolution”, he said.

Mr Storey also said that a failure by the museum to reflect the views of “other people” could raise the possibility that a legal challenge may be launched under equality legislation.

He's certainly entitled to his views and to express them, but he wants to make the museum run an exhibition promoting his literalist interpretation of Genesis, which is taking it too far.

What's stopping him running his own exhibition in a hall?

He's done this kind of thing before with the Causeway Creation Campaign.

Sadly, he's a chairman of an educational committee.

Todays birthdays

2009-02-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Today is both the double centenary birthday of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.

Orac has an excellent article on evolution and medicine, while Seed magazine has a fine collection of articles.

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States, led his country during the American Civil War and is an inspiration to many, including President Barack Obama, who chose to announce his candidacy for president in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield Illinois, where Lincoln made his "House Divided" speech.

Some sites to see

2009-01-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

Leah Ceccarelli wrote an excellent piece on manufactroversy at Science Progress.

Over at Doc. Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge, there is disheartening news about the Texas State Board of Education. Those responsible can only say one thing.

Carnival of the Elitist Bastards most recently hosted by Submitted to a Candid World.

I'm not surprised who I turned out to be...

2008-09-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

Which CSI character are you? Your Result: You are Gil Grissom GRISSOM You are wise and knowledgeable. You are quietly passionate, but shy away from intimacy. You have a love for literature and obscure facts, and find humor in the little things. Many people find you strange, but you couldnt care less. There arent very many people who know you really well, and you like it better that way. You spend much of your time alone, doing the things you love rather than wasting it with people that dont understand you. You respect everyone, and can see people for who they are, without judging them. Overall, you are compassionate, introverted, extremely intelligent, and somewhat of an outcast.
You are Sara Sidle
You are Greg Sanders
You are Catherine Willows
You are Warrick Brown
You are Nick Stokes
Which CSI character are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

September 11th

2008-09-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Orac blogs about his experience of 9/11 as well as a video clip from that day.

Some thoughtful blogs

2008-09-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Maman Poulet points out A very thoughtful blog entry by Shane Hegarty. Particularly interesting is the discussion in the comments.

More Chrome issues

2008-09-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

Google will drop part of the Chrome licence after concerns about the licence were aired.

The key issue is the licences section about intellectual property - not everyone wants to surrender their intellectual property rights - in fact some people can't due to the terms that they work under.

There are also concerns about how much memory is used. It uses more memory than Firefox 3.01, but roughly the same amount of processor time. Like Internext Explorer 8, Chrome's designed for upcoming hardware - not everybody has that or can afford it.

Is the Chrome falling off?

2008-09-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

Google has released the Chrome browser this week with much hype.

One security flaw was noted because the browser uses Apple Safari WebKit, which has a known vulnerability.

TapTheHive is disturbed by the EULA

Cuiling off...

2008-08-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

Roughly a month after its launch, Cuil isn't living up to the hype - Pluggd.in notes the falling share of searches performed using Cuil, which is not surprising, given problems present on the launchday of a search engine hyped as the "Google killer".

Another of their claims doesn't seem to stand up to scrutiny either!

It isn't even on Craggy Island...

2008-08-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

Some things are so surreal as to not only be beyond parody, but reality itself.

Disgraceful scandal

2008-08-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday blogged a week ago on what should be a major scandal - a victim of trafficking for sexual exploitation has been charged with failing to produce a passport or other form of identification.

Firstly, this charge is unjust and an act of such incredible stupidity that it beggars belief.

Secondly, why the hell isn't this a major news item? Are the Olympics so important that this grotesque, bizarre travesty of justice doesn't get mentioned?

Yarr!!!!

2008-08-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Talk like a pirate day is on September 19th - yarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bank decides password is pants...

2008-08-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

A LLoyds TSB customer had his telephone banking password unexpectedly changed.

Farewell, Ronnie

2008-08-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ronnie Drew has died, leaving Barney McKenna as the sole surviving member of The Dubliners.

Fintan O'Toole has written a good piece about him. There's also an editorial.

Farewell, Ronnie!

Chiropractors versus Simon Singh

2008-08-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

Simon Singh is being sued for libel over an article (with references added by gimpy) he wrote for the Guardian. (The original article has been removed from the Guardian website - a cached copy can be found here thanks to Svetlana. Unity at Ministry of Truth has provided even more annotation in Can you libel Woo?)

Jack of Kent is following it from a legal angle. Holford Watch has an incredibly comprehensive list article with links to bloggers covering it.

Hopefully the lawsuit will fail and Simon will be vindicated.

Ceremonies today and Sunday

2008-08-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

A ceremony begins in a few minutes in Omagh, which has proved controversial. Some have objected to the wording of a new memorial, which reworded a reference in an earlier memorial to the dead who were 'murdered by a dissident republican terrorist car bomb'.

Two ceremonies are to be held, the second on Sunday at which some clergy who didn't originally plan to attend will now do so.

On dealing with the unspeakable

2008-08-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

I have noticed online that supporters of the self-proclaimed 32 County Sovereignty Movement as well as supporters of Michael McKevitt have whined that the Real Irish Republican Army is being "framed" for the Omagh bombing. They blame everyone bar their "heroes". They nauseate me.

How to deal with these despicable cranks if I encounter them in person, handing out leaflets on the street?

Don't stoop to their level - if anger rises, stuff fists in pockets.
Don't give them the satisfaction of listening to their conspiracies - walk on.
Above all else, strive to be better than them - their "heroes" committed an atrocity in self-righteous anger, so avoid acting in self-righteous anger as much as humanly possible.

It's not easy, but it's something to aim for.

Consider a photograph

2008-08-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

You've probably seen this photo many times before: in the foreground a father with his daughter perched on his shoulders, both looking at the camera.

The background is a street in a town - it stretches off into the distance with cars parked at the side of the road, a row of cars stopped at a junction. In the middle distance on the left can be seen a street, possibly Drumragh Avenue.

People can be seen walking down the street on the left hand side of the photo, while on the right some are about to cross the street while others walk along the pavement. Someone hurries across, partly obscured by a car, while a man in a flat cap also crosses the street.

The car on the right is a red Vauxhall Cavalier, its licence plate clearly visible. Minutes later, the car became shrapnel, the bomb it carried detonating at approximately 15:10.

Three telephone warnings were made:

"There's a bomb, courthouse, Omagh, main street, 500 lb (230 kg), explosion 30 minutes." - to Ulster Television at 14:32.
"Bomb, Omagh town, 15 minutes" - again to UTV, one minute later.
The Coleraine office of the Samaritans was also rung, giving the location of the bomb as on "main street", 200 yards (180m) from the courthouse.

The bomb was, in fact, 400m from the courthouse - apparently the perpetrators couldn't park there, so they parked further away and gave vague, inaccurate, indeed contradictory warnings.

The courthouse is at the junction of High Street, Georges' Street and John Street - the bomb was placed on Market Street. The third of the warnings above place the bomb at the junction of High Street, Market Street and Scarffe's Entry. Even though it gave a location that was closer than the others, the actual location was about twice as far from the courthouse as claimed.

But the perpetrators's mistakes cost others their lives, many survivors their health and caused much heartbreak.

The criminal investigation into the bombing has foundered - the police in Northern Ireland have been criticised for ignoring intelligence that a bombing was imminent and other aspects of handling the case. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garda_S%C3%ADoch%C3%A1na have managed to make an investigation that eventually led Michael McKevitt, leader of the organisation responsible for the bombing, being convicted of directing terrorism. That is something, at least.

A row has erupted over the wording on the memorial and there are two memorial services which there have been arguments over.

It's now half-an-hour to the tenth anniversarary of this atrocity. I hope that the relatives taking the civil case get some measure of justice - it'll be won't bring back those murdered, nor will it heal the scars, physical and mental, or the heartbreak of survivors. It will be something, no matter how small.

War, blood, oil

2008-08-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

I don't claim to understand the current war between Georgia and Russia - I know that the area has been under Russian control since the 1860s, but I don't know what motives drive the current war or even who to believe about who started it.

Thousands are suffering, mainly civilians.

The war could force the price of natural gas up, along with the price of oil. Russia may come out stronger economically because of this.

How long will industries survive with the fuels that support them going up in price? I don't know. I don't know how far away peak oil is, but the rising cost of energy makes it more expensive to send raw materials to be processed to make what we live from.

I hope this doesn't cause a worldwide recession.

I have been assimilated!

2008-08-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've wondered about twitter, then thought it wasn't of any interest. I looked at www.twit.ie and Twitter search and saw that a couple of friends were on twitter and that space news could be gotten from it. I eventually decided to sign up to see what it's like, if I can get something out of it.

Here's my link.

Some people have no sense of humour...

2008-08-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

It's a few years old, but this proves that some have no sense of humour (or irony).

It's a bit Father Ted

2008-08-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

From dochara.com:

It is interesting to note that while 90% of people stated
that they were Catholic in the 2006 census, a Europoll
conducted several months earlier found that just 72%
of people believe there is a God. Which appears to
suggest there are a good many Catholics in Ireland
who don't believe in God.

To quote a friend:

That would be an ecumenical matter!

When thugs win

2008-08-07T05:17:00.000-07:00

Jeff Atwood blogged about bloggers who quit because of harassment - by coincidence, one of those who was involved in the harassment of Kathy Sierra was interviewed in an article in the New York Times. As Justin says - what sick /b/tards.

It doesn't take long to find some of the sickening comments that made Kathy Sierra leave - they nauseate me, though not as much as the jerk who made them. One of the people interviewed talked of exploiting the insecurities of a "blowhard" (basically anyone they don't like) to get "laughs and lulz" - someone who I wouldn't want to meet on a street in broad daylight, let alone in a dark alleyway.

One comment on Coding Horror said:
I never really understood how that whole Kathy Sierra thing got started. I mean, she must've said something to piss these people off, but I have no idea what that might've been -- any ideas?

The person who said that just doesn't get it: you don't have to piss someone off - they take a dislike to you for no good reason - maybe they have a chip on their shoulder, maybe they rationalise their thuggery by claiming it in the name of an ideology (and don't benefit those they claim to fight on behalf of), maybe they're a bored jackass - ultimately they pick one someone for no good reason.

That's the frightening thing - you might do nothing wrong, yet one of these thugs think you "deserve it" and make life hell for you.

You're not getting it!!!

2008-08-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

Jeff Atwood blogs about a practice that goes against security best practices - as does Jivlain. After all, email often contains personal information - it is also where most of us get forgotten passwords (e.g. Wikipedia) sent to. It's a social network antipattern - some services spam your contacts after getting the list.

Even if the site in question has the best intentions in the world, someone who compromises their security will see email passwords of their users.

Sites like this aren't going to get my password!

What alternatives are there? How about using existing APIs:
Google contact API
Yahoo contact API
Windows Live contacts API

Twitter haiku

2008-08-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

Twitter puzzles me
short messages - cryptic text
message not fit in it!

Needle in a virtual haystack

2008-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

A friend gave me an excellent example of this last week: try looking up the details of the branch of a famous hotel in the French capital - it'll be drowned out by "information" about a certain pointless celebrity...

John Waters take III

2008-03-22T13:53:00.001-07:00

News just in - a John Waters joke has been sighted!!

John Waters take II

2008-03-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Public Inquiry quotes John Waters on David Beckham. Now, while I think that questioning someones' psychological balance is a cheap trick, I think that John Waters is showing tremendous arrogance - he thinks that he alone can explain David Beckhams' behaviour.

John Waters versus bloggers

2008-03-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

John Waters has a thing against bloggers. Chalk it down summarised his comments, as has Daragh O Brien.

Sarah Carey also covers some of John Waters sweeping comments.

Now to add my own cúpla pingin - John Waters has long had a habit of making sweeping statements about other topics, so why am I not surprised when he does the same about bloggers? I don't think that all bloggers are brilliant intellectual or literary rolemodels any more than all journalists are, but John Waters really takes the biscuit from what I've seen. Yes, there is rubbish online, but it's a medium, not a newspaper - you can pick and choose what to read.

GPS and navigation accidents

2008-01-17T11:42:00.001-08:00

I'm a fan of GPS, but I know that they can sometimes give inaccurate readings. Fortunately, I haven't had anything as scary as this happen to me, but I know that there are limits to how accurate they are.

For instance, one source of limited accuracy is shortly after a receiver is switched on, as it aquires satellites - it can take up to several minutes to aquire enough (at least 3 for just latitude and longitude, at least 4 if you want elevation too).

Another issue is visibility of the sky - I remember being in Lower Abbey Street, Dublin and noting that my trackpath, taken literally, had me wandering north, through some stone walls. This was due to much of the sky being blocked, some signals probably reflecting off buildings and possible diffraction of the satellite signals by the edges or corners of buildings.

Tree coverage can also cause problems with accuracy.

High accuracy is possible if you can get EGNOS or WAAS satellites on your receiver - that can get accuracy below ten metres, but most of the time ten metres is what you usually get.

O the irony!!!

2007-11-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Renault has been accused of having confidential information about McLarens's car. Will the next spying scandal involve someone spying on Renault? ;-)

The president of Renault has commented briefly on Fernando Alonso returning - the comments are cryptic because nothing is certain.

There is some uncertainty about whether the fuel issues in Brazil will be looked at in more detail.

Criticising the National Secular Society

2007-10-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sunny has criticised the NSS and done so again. Terry Sanderson, president of the NSS has replied.

Down to the wire in Brazil

2007-10-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well, what can I say, but this was the most exciting season I've seen for a long time. Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were all in the running for it, separated by only a few points. When Kimi won, he was only one point ahead of Lewis and Fernando!!

Lewis is clearly the most talented driver to come along in a long time - several records in his first Formula 1 season and coming within a hairs' breadth of the championship.

Why didn't he get the drivers' championship? McLaren should have been more careful in Shanghai - Bridgestone advised McLaren to order him to make a pit stop, because they were worried about tyre wear - McLaren refused, thus leading to Lewis beaching in the gravel trap.

No matter, Lewis Hamilton has had a great first season in Formula 1 and I'm sure he'll have many more.

Although Ferrari have won the constructors' championship, BMW Sauber have made it to second place - gradually improving on their previous positions and shaking off the "driving school" nickname.

DART delays

2007-10-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

I like travelling by train, but one mystery still baffles me. How do people end up driving trucks or other vehicles into bridges? Recently, I visited my mother and due to a bridgestrike further up the line, DARTs were reversing direction at the station I was going to leave from. I mean, how difficult is it to figure out if a large vehicle fits under a bridge??

Formula 1 spying scandal

2007-09-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

The details of the spying scandal seem to be causing some controversy. Ron Dennis claims to have alerted the FIA, yet Max Mosley disputes this.

As a result, Ferrari will win the constructors' championship, as BMW Sauber doesn't have enough points to catch up with them.

However, no matter how this turns out, after the Belgian Grand Prix, it looks like it could be Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen who becomes World Champion in 2007.

Belated memories

2007-09-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

I should have written more than I did in my last entry - after all, the date in question was the sixth anniversary of one of the most devastating events of recent years. A rant about a delayed novel doesn't seem appropriate now.

On the other hand, I couldn't think of writing anything adequate to the task. The consequences of that day still affect the world - no telling when the last echo of a historical event dies out - it could be said any historical event echoes through the history of humanity.

What do I remember of that day?

I was working in my alma mater, had returned from lunch between 1:46pm and 2:03pm. A colleague had a radio on in his office, with the News at One still on - odd, because it usually ended at 1:45pm. He told me the news and I listened in his office, keeping one eye on the door for my boss. There was a sense of unreality - I believed these terrible events had happened, but somehow I felt disconnected from my surroundings. The news continued - we didn't have a TV in the lab, so I didn't see the footage of the attacks until I went home. I remember telling a couple of colleagues in an agitated manner about the attacks - I don't think it sank in - maybe they thought it was a light aircraft I was talking about, maybe they had something already on their minds.

Needless to say, news websites were overloaded.

I got home and Mum had already seen the attacks on TV. That night and for some weeks after RTE 1 radio didn't broadcast repeats of their usual shows late at night - they broadcast programmes from a New York radio station.

There was tremendous confusion in the aftermath of the attacks - there were rumours that as many as eight airliners had been hijacked and reports of a car bomb outside the State Department in Washington DC - these were broadcast by news networks as confused and desperate as any of us for news.

A friend and his wife were on holiday at the time of the attacks - I didn't know for quite a while whether they had been on the hijacked airliners - fortunately they hadn't, though they had been in flight when the attacks occurred. The first they knew of the attacks was when they landed at their destination.

A colleague was at a conference in Italy at the time of the attacks - he said how everyone was desvastated.

On the Friday of that week, a national day of mourning was declared here in Ireland - workplaces closed.

I was like a frightened child - I kept saying to myself "why?". Although I'm well aware of humanities' capacity for barbarism, such as the Holocaust, the massacres in Rwanda, the massacres in the Former Yugoslavia and other atrocities, somehow I still manage to be appalled. Maybe I still have some futile hope that we will learn better, that somehow we will stumble into a better future, that some day we will be better people - that atrocities will be some day a thing of the past, to be remembered and avoided, but never to be repeated.

Maybe this is why I didn't blog that day - I feared that I'd draw too much from the well of melancholy that is the depression I'm being treated for.

Exit Music delayed?

2007-09-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

I may have imagined it, but the release date for Ian Rankins' latest novel, Exit Music, was the 6th of September, but most of the bookshops in Dublin (and one in Dun Laoighre) didn't have it that day.

Was there a shortage of copies of the book or were deliveries just delayed? Can anybody answer this?

Maybe I should get Inspector Rebus (retired) onto the case, assuming that he can be persuaded away from the mean wynds of Aul' Reeky, even in his retirement...

Garda Turban ruling

2007-08-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

A member of the Garda Reserve has been told he cannot wear his turban while at work. This has led to controversy.

Kevin Myers was interviewed on radio, claiming that adapting the uniform so Sikhs could wear a turban was an example of "multiculturalism" which had "failed" in the UK. He didn't elaborate on what he meant, but took it as read that people understood what he said. (Isn't it amazing how many people assume that once the dread word "multiculturalism" is used against their opponents, that they've won, no matter how vague they have been?)

Others claimed that the turban shouldn't be allowed on the grounds that it would somehow be a violation of secularism - this argument claims that this religious item of wear is a violation of separation of church and state. However, this is just one interpretation of secularism.

If secularism is that the state stays as neutral as possible in matters of religion, then it should treat all members of the Garda Reserve (or candidates for same) equally. To ask a Sikh man to give up wearing a turban is to ask him to either not practice his faith or to not work for the Garda Reserve. It is an act of indirect discrimination - rather than having a direct ban on someone of a given religion, it bans a practice - wearing a turban - that is essential to being a practicing Sikh man. This is against my understanding of secularism.

Fintan O'Toole recently wrote a column, saying that we should have a more secular society (I agree) but that he leans towards not allowing a turban as part of a uniform (this is one place where I disagree).

The turban doesn't prevent someone from carrying out their job, doesn't conceal the identity of the person in question (unlike the bizarre comparison some have made with the Burqua). Therefore, in the name of a more equal society, we must accept the turban, otherwise we exclude some people who are qualified for the job.

Discrimination must not be part of society, especially government institutions.

Is this dingbat day?

2007-08-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

After posting about Sam Harris, I read on Pharyngula that Fred Phelps is going to picket funerals of those killed in the recent bridge disaster.

I know there's just under 4 and a half hours left of today, but I'm wondering how many dingbats I'll encounter in that time...

Sam Harris isn't making friends, fortunately

2007-08-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

I once browsed Sam Harris' book, The End of Faith, in Waterstones' of Dawson Street. I wasn't impressed, seeing as he he advocated "conversational intolerance", which seemed to be just challenging religious claims at every opportunity. (Granted, I find challenging most views in conversation difficult, being rather introverted, but this approach seems to be just counterproductive - a good way to get a reputation as argumentative.)

One of the other things I noticed was a particular hostility to Islam in his book - "atheism for neocons" was what occurred to me.

Apparently, I missed his apologia of "limited" use of torture in the book, which he has also advocated in an article, In Defence of Torture in which he invokes the ticking time bomb scenario to justify torture. The scenario was used by some French to justify the use of torture in Algeria - it frequently featured in 24 as a plot device, but in the most recent series was cut back. Bob Cochran, co-creator of the show, admits that the ticking timebomb scenario occurs rarely if at all in real life, though it occurs regularly in the show.

In the article, he says "While many people have objected, on emotional grounds, to my defense of torture, no one has pointed out a flaw in my argument". Curiously, this comes a few paragraphs after some very emotive examples of atrocities clearly chosen to manipulate the reader into supporting his view. Apparently the victims of torture are just "collateral damage".

Rafi Aamer analyses the flaws in Harris' arguments in quite some detail - it's well worth reading.

Apart from being a neocon apologist for torture, Sam Harris has defended pseudoscience.

I agree that Harris is a dingbat, but worse, an advocate of torture.

Big Brother isn't just a game show...

2007-07-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Antoin O'Lachtnain recently pointed out some of the more disturbing aspects of the Programme for Government.

Update on last blogging...

2007-07-12T11:21:00.001-07:00

Seems I'm not the only atheist who has problems with Dawkins.

I'm an atheist but...

2007-07-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

... am I the only atheist who finds Richard Dawkins embarrasing at times? Simon Hattenstone famously wrote "The strange thing about reading his latest book, A Devil's Chaplain, is that I agree with virtually everything he says, but find myself wanting to smack him for his intolerance."

I'm in a different situation - I find myself disagreeing with Dawkins when he rants about religion - yes, rants - I find that someone who can write so intelligently about evolution suddenly seems to take a nose-dive in the intelligence stakes when writing about religion. He notoriously compared religious education to child abuse - Dawkins cited the example of a woman who was molested by her priest, but who was more traumatised by the idea of a friend, a Protestant, who died young ending up in Hell. It sounds like this woman was brought up in an atmosphere very different to the one I was brought up in. When I started school - in the 1970s - religious education was very different from this - I remember one song that was popular with the pupils - "Love's like a telephone". None of this hellfilre and damnation, but Dawkins doesn't distinguish between moderate religious beliefs and those of fanatics.

Horrible Software Design

2007-07-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've just spotted an interesting entry at Good Math, Bad Math about some truly horrible software design.

Beware of wishful headlines

2007-07-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

The news about the iPhone Nano is just a rumour after all.

Another one bites the dust...

2007-07-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

The much-ballyhooed Orbo device from Steorn failed to work at the demonstration at the Kinetica Museum. Orac has blogged on the attempts at explanation by Steorns' CEO.

The device was first mentioned in a full-page advertisement in The Economist in August 2006. Various media outlets mentioned it - such claims usually get mentioned every few years. However, there is a long history of such machines, and none of them has stood up to a test.

Over the past decade or two, the term "perpetual motion" has been replaced by "over unity device", but the story remains the same.

Some, such as Paul Story, have blogged in support of Steorn. Paul Story himself says he bases his belief on how much of a risk the company is taking on being wrong. This was incredibly naive of him - many people have taken huge risks and lost much - think of tulip mania. Mr. Story also is a member of the Steorn Private Development Club, and though he claims that he has an open mind, he lets his excitement slip with comments on how the technology will change humanity. Unfortunately, it looks like Paul Story has invested emotionally as well as financially and this may skew his views.

Professor Eric Ash is quoted on tech.blorge.com as saying that "I believe that Mr McCarthy is truly convinced of the validity of his invention. It is, in my view, a case of prolonged self deception." - in other words, McCarthy was honest, but fooled himself. Paul Story still believes.

This sickens me

2007-03-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

A death threat was made against Kathy Sierra. Some sick fool thought it was funny - in fact it's so serious she's cancelled an appearance at a conference due to safety concerns, suspended her blog and there's a police investigation.

Can anyone with a functioning brain explain how a death threat is funny? (Those who came up with the threat naturally don't fit into the category.)

Kathy goes into disturbing details of the threat - the language and the image that came with the threat is truly nauseating.

Scobelizer is protesting by not blogging for a week.

How did things get so bad that a woman is fear for her own safety?

Techmeme has more discussions.

Science Fiction geekiness ahead!!

2007-03-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Orac has an interesting list of SF works and I thought I'd add my few cents. (Hey, we use Euros now!) Ones I've read are in boldface:

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien. Classic fantasy by Tolkien, a skilled linguist.

The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov. An influential classic from the 1940s.

Dune, Frank Herbert An unusual book - mixture of epic science-fiction, some not entirely convincing ecology and carboard cutout villains make it something of a curates' egg.

Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

Neuromancer, William Gibson. Influential cyberpunk classic, though there are places where the writing shows some clunkiness.

Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke Strange books about Clarkes' favourite theme - stagnation or progress (in the form of spacetravel). More fantasy than science fiction, given an odd treatment of evolution.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dicks' classic work on "What is a human?". Admittedly weak in some aspects - the background seems a little odd given the history of a partial nuclear exchange and the rareness of animals - surely such scarcity of animals would be a sign of a deeply damaged and possibly inhospitable ecosystem?

The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley Arthurian legend retold in terms of the decline of Celtic paganism and the triumph of Christianity. An odd book, given that her sympathy seems to be with Morgana and some of the things that Morgana did, but maybe she's trying to be ambivalent at the same time.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury My first Bradbury novel and probably my last - the sickly feyness repels me and I'm not sure how the group of rebels at the end memorising books are supposed to achieve anything. The luddism seems misplaced - while Bradbury is condemning dumbing down, it's a product of human culture, not machines.

The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe. Orac and I are going to have to disagree on this - it's a science-fantasy classic, IMHO.

A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr..

The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov. This is a bit stronger in characterisation of Elijah Bailey than many of the protagonists of his works.

Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras

Cities in Flight, James Blish

The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett Pratchetts fans aren't going to like this: I found this book leaden and plodding. His sense of humous just doesn't mesh with mine.

Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison

Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison

The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester Odd book that has a quasi-Freudian explanation of the killers' motives. Somewhat dated.

Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany.

Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey

Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson.

The Forever War, Joe Haldeman

Gateway, Frederik Pohl

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. My type of humour!!!

I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice.

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin

Little, Big, John Crowley

Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick Classic alternate history novel.

Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement

More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon

The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith

On the Beach, Nevil Shute

Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke First encounter with an artifact.

Ringworld, Larry Niven

Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys

The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien Classic tragic fantasy

Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner

The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester Classic revenge fiction.

Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein

Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock

The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks.

Timescape, Gregory Benford

To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer - I remember starting this book, but quickly lost interest, so I can't claim I've read the whole thing.

Bad news for Ninas' friends

2006-11-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

Today I picked up a copy of Decembers' Linux Magazine and, while waiting for a lab to be free for a helpdesk seminar discovered that Hans Reiser of ReiserFS fame has been charged with his wifes' murder (Kernel Programmer suspected of Murder). Nina Reiser has disappeared and he was charged on October 12th.

By coincidence, OpenSuSE decided at the end of September to switch to ext3 as the default filing system for technical reasons - problems with scalability being one.
http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/09/27/suse-102-ditching-reiserfs-as-it-default-fs/#more-988

Obviously, I don't follow kernel development as closely as others, otherwise I'd have known about the murder charge as well as OpenSuse ditching ReiserFS.

Nina Reiser has been missing since September 3rd and some of her friends have a website asking the public for information:
http://www.ninareiser.com/

It looks like a circumstantial case will be brought:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/12/BAG61LNLN21.DTL&hw=Nina+Reiser&sn=007&sc=462

Moving... with the news

2006-11-08T12:40:00.000-08:00

I've decided to try blogger.com to see how it compares with livejournal.

The big news is Donald Rumsfeld has resigned!!! Hopefully Karl Rove, Dubya will be next, but we can only hope...