Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Year: 2005

  • Cryptonomicon

    Kieran Healey over at Crooked Timber is finding that reading Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon is a hard slog. He’s got 100 pages in, and with another 800 pages to go is wondering whether he should bother.
     
    He’s not the only one. I managed to reach page 296 before I gave up in sheer boredom tinged with irritation at the smug writing. I notice that most of the people who commented on Kieran’s entry were also of the opinion that it’s just a bad book. Usually they claimed that his other books, e.g. Snow Crash were much better. Well, I did at least finish Snow Crash, but I can’t remember a single thing about it now. I don’t think that’s the mark of a great novel – it’s usually the mark of disposable summer reading.

  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

    Three data points illustrating religious attitudes towards homosexuals:
     
    Data Point 1 (the good): Methodist leaders vote to bless gay couples. "In stark contrast to the Anglican communion, which is tearing itself apart over its attitude towards homosexuality, the annual Methodist conference voted unanimously to continue its "pilgrimage of faith" towards gay people".
     
    Data Point 2 (the bad): Bromley council to ban gay ceremonies. "Councillors were quoted in local newspapers making comments widely criticised as homophobic. One was reported to have said: ‘Gay marriages are immoral and undermine family values in society’."
     
    Data Point 3 (the ugly): Stabbings at Jerusalem Gay March. A religious protester stabbed three people taking part in a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. 
     

  • Ladybird Books on Computers

    Ooooh! I remember Ladybird books! they were wonderful – in a bizarre sort of way. Now someone has scanned two versions of the Ladybird book of Computers and put them on the web to delight all lovers of serious camp (and computers, naturally).
     
    Golly.
     
    (hat tip to Boing Boing)

  • How to Fold a T-Shirt

    I saw this video about a year ago on the Internet, but reading this article in The Guardian this week reminds me to try this way to fold a T-Shirt… I think this belongs under the "Performing Arts" category – don’t you?

  • Another Reason To Celebrate Today

    The Spanish parliament has voted in favour of allowing gay couples to marry and adopt children. When the law comes into effect in a month’s time, Spain will become the third European country after the Netherlands and Belgium to legalise same-sex marriage.
     
    Excellent news! And if Martin and I decide to move to sunnier climes when we’re getting old and doddery, then now at least we know that our marriage will continue to be recognised in Spain…
     
    Update: Extracts from Prime Minister Zapatero’s speech are here, translated by Rex Wockner. An amazing speech.

  • Another Anniversary

    One Hundred years ago today, Albert Einstein published "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" ("Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper") – the third of four articles published in 1905 that together comprise the Annus Mirabilis Papers. This article laid the foundation of Special Relativity.

  • NationMaster

    One of the great things about the Internet is just how much reference data is being put on line these days. Organisations such as the OECD, the UN, governments, industry bodies – the list goes on and on.
     
    The downside is just how much data there is out there, and tracking down information from that mass of data is increasingly time-consuming. But I came across what looks to be a very useful site: NationMaster. The organisation behind the site has compiled data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD. The site has easy to use tools to provide comparisons between nations, using over 4,600 different statistics.
     
    It’s a terrific resource, and one which will be up alongside Wikipedia in my bookmarks.

  • First Anniversary

    I see, with a shock of surprise, that today marks the first anniversary of my retirement. The year has dashed past so quickly. And I thought that I would have all the time in the world to do all the things that I’d put on hold while I was working. Yet, I seem to be busier than ever, and there are still loads of things that I haven’t got around to. I could swear that time is speeding up. Shades of Alice and the Red Queen.

  • Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

    Now this is pretty scary research. I can understand the possible application, but it’s also hardly surprising that it’s drawn reactions from animal rights groups.
     
    And going to the news story, I see that plans to test this on humans should be ready within the year. Er, any volunteers out there?

  • Elsevier and the Arms Trade

    Up until today, when I thought of Elsevier, I associated the name with books, in particular scientific journals and publications. However, Tom Stafford points out that the Reed-Elsevier Group also includes Spearhead Exhibitions Ltd. Amongst the variety of exhibitions that it is responsible for is something nasty in the woodshed: the DSEi arms fair – the largest arms fair in the world.
     
    As Tom points out, organising international arms fairs seems totally at odds with Reed-Elsevier’s expressed aim to play ‘a positive role in our local and global communities’ (2003’s ‘Reed Elsevier Cares’ programme).

  • I am a Statistic

    MIT are running a survey of weblogging at the moment. I went and filled out their survey…
     Take the MIT Weblog Survey

  • Charles Clarke: Newspeak Supremo

    I see the UK government had less than a stunning success in the debate in the Commons over ID cards last night. Although they won the debate to continue with the proposals, their majority was halved.
     
    But the highlight in the debate was Charles Clarke saying: "I argue the ID card system is a bulwark against the surveillance society, the Big Brother society, and not a further contribution to it".
     
    Er, say what? That is as perfect expression of Orwellian Newspeak as I think I’ve heard in recent times. And in case you think it was a slip of the tongue, Clarke has obviously been saving this up, as reported by Chicken Yoghurt.

  • Oh Dearie Me…

     
    The driver who a) has a truck this size and b) invests in a set of these is clearly beyond the pale. Equivalent to carrying a large sign saying "I am a stupid prick".
     
    Avoid at all cost.

  • Happy Coincidences

    Data Point 1: This week marks the 36th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York – generally considered as a spark for the gay rights movement that gathered pace in the 1970s, both in the US and elsewhere.
     
    Data Point 2: The Canadian parliament yesterday approved the bill to legalise same-sex marriage. Canada therefore joins The Netherlands and Belgium as the third country to do so, with Spain expected later this year.

  • Freedom From Torture – Bush’s Empty Rhetoric

     
    "On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold….On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor."
    Pot – Kettle – Black.
     
    Bush is beyond contempt.

  • UK Proposal For ID Cards

    Great fun in the UK at the moment over the government’s attempts to introduce ID cards. Particularly with the LSE (London School of Economics) having published a report that warns on the first page:
    "There was an overwhelming view expressed by stakeholders involved in this Report that the proposals are too complex, technically unsafe, overly prescriptive and lack a foundation of public trust and confidence."
    Pretty damning stuff – and it gets worse from there on. It will be interesting to see if these proposals turn out to be Blair’s equivalent of Thatcher’s Poll Tax.
    I particularly liked Steve Bell’s cartoon commenting on the proposals…

  • What Is It About North America?

    Following on from the recent survey of Americans that demonstrated the triumph of Faith over Reason, we now appear to have a similar phenomenon emerging in Canada.

    A recent survey reveals that 32% of Canadians who have read the Da Vinci code believe that the theories outlined in the novel are true – particularly that a holy bloodline exists and that this secret has been protected through the ages by a dedicated secret society.

    Perhaps it’s time to put on the tin foil hat – there are obviously aliens beaming this stuff down to the western world and softening our brains…

    P.S. I’m proud to note that I still haven’t succumbed to reading the Da Vinci code… 

  • A New Interface For Calculators

    New Scientist this week has a story about a novel interface for calculators. The demonstration movie is particularly striking. I assume that it will work out-of-the-box on Tablet PCs.

    I think that indeed this interface is more "natural" for those of us who do not use calculators all day and every day. Practitioners have presumably already made the necessary learning to adapt to the calculator interface. For more infrequent users (e.g. me), this new interface would really help – and it ties right back into how I learned mathematics with pen and paper.

    A good interface should disappear when you’re using it – it should never, ever, get in the way. That’s one of the reasons why I hated with a passion the old Reverse Polish interfaces on the original HP calculators, and why I still end up with wrong answers on today’s calculators – the interface is fighting with what I learned with pen and paper.

    I’ve downloaded the software, and am trying it out on my PC, which has a graphics tablet. If this works, then I’ll be able to consign the Windows Calculator application to the dustbin of history…

    P.S. I simply adore the title of the web page at the University of Swansea.

  • Myst V On The Way

    I’ve never understood the attraction of "shoot-em-up" games such as Doom or Halo. I much prefer the more cerebral attractions of puzzle-solving games. And the one that really caught my attention when it first came on the scene in 1993 was Myst.

    Its success (over 12 million copies sold) has spawned a number of sequels, and I’m delighted that later this year Myst V: End of Ages is expected to be released.

    The sequels have been a bit of a mixed bunch, both technically and conceptually. The biggest deviation came with Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. It introduced the first use of a 3D gaming engine – Plasma – (in place of the pre-rendered still shots of the earlier games), as well as a physics engine – Havok – for interacting with "physical" objects in the game. For me, this led to a high degree of frustration, because physical dexterity with a mouse is not my forte. I mean, trying to nudge baskets in a waterfall pool using the mouse or the keyboard is just no fun at all – damn those bloody fireflies – why couldn’t I just feel my way through the caves???

    But secondly, the biggest downside of Uru for me was the introduction of a new character, Yeesha, the daughter of Atrus.

    Yeesha specialised in spouting pretentious new age crap: full of sickly sentiment and third-rate moralising. Yes, the game itself is very pretty (a couple of moments – like the thunderstorm in the Garden Age, and the sunrise in the Desert Age are worth the price of admission), and the puzzles (apart from the dreadful interface) are relatively straightforward – but I found it tough going to have to listen to Yeesha’s interminable drivel while retrieving the four pillars, let me tell you… Aaaarghh!!!!

    So, the bad news about Myst V is: sheee’s baaack!!! Yep, Yeesha’s going to be in it, along with a new character, Esher, an elderly male archivist. The good news is that the game designer, Rand Miller, has alluded to the possibility of having to choose between them at the end – and the player’s decision affects the outcome of the game. Oh, jolly good, because my choice is going to be for the elderly male archivist – there is no way I would want to spend any more time in the tiresome company of that damned Yeesha. In fact, I might almost wish for a big gun to blast her away with…

     

  • Weight Watcher’s Recipe Cards

    Mining the same vein as the Gallery of Regrettable Food is Wendy McClure’s site devoted to her collection of Weight Watcher’s Recipe Cards. They are said to date from 1974, but I suspect, like apparently much of the food illustrated in them, they have been recycled from a much earlier incarnation…