So the perpetrator of the bomb hoax who tried to stop Madonna’s concerts from going ahead this week turns out to be a Dutch priest. The astonishing thing was that he used his home phone to call in the threat. He’s either an idiot or perhaps he thought God would screen his number from the authorities. And it seems likely that he will get off lightly. If I were the judge, I’d throw the book at him. I have no problem in the priest saying that he disapproves of Madonna’s act, but trying to stop other people from seeing it by using a bomb threat is not right.
Year: 2006
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And Another Thing…
…about Windows Vista. OK, so we are still working with pre-release software, but there are five pieces of hardware in my system that the hardware manufacturers have so far failed to even produce beta device drivers for. And I’m not confident that in some cases they ever will.Then there’s Creative Technology, which is in a class of its own. The hardware may be fine, but the software is dreadful. We are now just four months away from Microsoft releasing Vista, and yet the beta drivers for Creative’s products (when they exist, which is not usually) are a huge steaming pile of ordure. This is nothing new as far as Creative is concerned, it’s always had a shocking reputation for its inability to write decent software and release it on time. Just a quick visit to its discussion forum for Windows Vista shows that. My experience with Creative’s beta drivers for my Audigy 2 soundcard is mixed. After a BSOD and some other error messages, the soundcard limped into action. But the 5.1 surround sound is still just stereo, and many features of the hardware just don’t work. Ah, the joys of beta software. -
Non-Intuitive Design
So Microsoft has released a version of its Windows Vista operating system that is getting close to what the final version will be. Vista RC1 (Release Candidate 1) became available this week. Well, you know me, of course I downloaded it and installed it on a couple of the computers at home. So, what do I think?Well, it’s pretty, I have to say that, but it behaves in different ways to Windows XP, and sometimes that bites me. Take, for example, the act of upgrading the device drivers and application software for my webcam. The first part of the installation proceeded swimmingly, then I was told the system needed to restart in order to complete the installation. Fine, but when it restarted, I saw this:
OK, I thought, I’ll click, and sure enough, I saw the setup program had been blocked. But even though there was an "enable" button (which I assume would "unblock" the program and let it run to completion), it was greyed out, and I couldn’t unblock the program. I tried several things to unblock the program, but nothing worked, and the device drivers remained uninstalled…After tearing out my hair on this, I googled and found the solution on a blog written by Vista developers. It turns out that I’d been bitten by poor user interface design.The balloon does not make it clear that the user needs to right-click on the icon to see a menu where it is possible to unblock the startup programs. Just clicking on the icon (as the balloon suggests) leads to the dialogue box where it is not possible to unblock the programs.Sigh. If I have to google in order to learn how to use software, then I would contend that it ain’t intuitive… -
Sharpening The Image
Google Earth has at last got around to using high resolution images in its coverage of The Netherlands – and what a difference it makes! No longer is our house just a fuzzy brown blob, but it can be clearly seen, as can the pond in the garden. Google Earth is a terrific application, and being used in mashups in a huge variety of ways. -
Seeing The Whole Symphony
A nice little illustration using a snippet of Beethoven’s Ninth to show how little we experience of the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum.(hat tip to Improbable Research) -
Dropping Knowledge
Tomorrow sees the start of an event: Dropping Knowledge. Billed as112 of the world’s most compelling thinkers, artists, writers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers and humanitarians from around the world will come together in Berlin, Germany, as guests of dropping knowledge.Seated around the worlds largest table in historic Bebelplatz square, these inspiring individuals, renowned for their lasting creative or social contribution, will engage with 100 questions out of the thousands donated to dropping knowledge by the international public.Hmm. I’m just an old cynic, but this seems to be more of a media event than anything else. The "one minute video" on the home page of the Dropping Knowledge web site crystallises all my misgivings. A slick, oleaginous piece of puffery that makes me want to reach for the sick bucket within 10 seconds. And who on earth came up with that awful name: Dropping Knowledge? Plop. -
Grimm Fairy Tale
Lucy Mangan writes an excellent piece in today’s Guardian on the strange story of Natascha Kampusch. I think she’s right, there is something about the story that makes it feel like a medieval folk tale, an archetype collected and retold by the Brothers Grimm. -
Tone Deaf
The main event in British politics is, of course, the "will he, won’t he" stepping down of Tony Blair and the question of who will succeed him.
It’s a really unedifying spectacle watching the Blair and Brown camps plunging in the knives. Mind you, the key players don’t seem to be emerging with too much dignity either. And I confess I have a lot of sympathy for Rachel’s view that Blair is likely to be brought down in the end by people’s laughter rather than their anger at his misjudgements. Hopefully they’ll get rid of his coterie at the same time, particularly the idiots behind that fatuous memo. An appearance on Blue Peter? Beau Bo D’Or has the perfect comment on that idea…
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He’s Cross, But I’m Livid
I mentioned the bad naming skills of a restaurateur in Mumbai recently. Banterist now has a post on his blog that includes a photograph of the offending restaurant.
And I am angry and appalled, I tell you. Not about the name, which merely serves to draw attention to the bad judgement of the restaurateur. But look again at that photograph – the bloody apostrophe is in the wrong place. Damn you, it should read Hitler’s Cross, not Hitlers’ Cross. Hitler may be cross, but I’m absolutely livid. Where is Lynne Truss when you need her?
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Sign Of The Times
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has a new report on the state of the world’s population out today: A Passage To Hope – about women and international migration. I call it a sign of the times for two reasons. The first is that it is good to see the information spotlight being put on to migrant women, who often seem to be invisible as far as international policymakers are concerned. And second, as well as being available in traditional format, the report is available in a hyperlinked format for easy reading directly via the web.(hat tip to A Fistful of Euros for the link) -
Lucky Dip
One web site I keep an eye on is The Online Books Page – a web site that lists the titles of online books that have been added to an index maintained at the University of Pennsylvania. The index contains over 25,000 books so far.
The books themselves are a real mixture, some are real gems and others are, well, either dull or frankly bizarre.
Take the titles posted on the 5th September 2006, for example. There are complete online versions of some serious biology texts (e.g. Genomes, published in 2002). Then there are two books (Mental Chemistry and The Master Key System), both written by Charles F. Haanel in (I think) the 1920s. Mental Chemistry is unwittingly hilarious for its often pompous and overblown rhetoric, but with The Master Key System we cross over into woo-woo land starting at the third paragraph of the introduction:
Humanity ardently seeks "The Truth" and explores every avenue to it. In this process it has produced a special literature, which ranges the whole gamut of thought from the trivial to the sublime – up from Divination, through all the Philosophies, to the final lofty Truth of "The Master Key".
The "Master Key" is here given to the world as a means of tapping the great Cosmic Intelligence and attracting from it that which corresponds to the ambitions, and aspirations of each reader.
I also love the way the Psi Tek web site introduces the book:
The Master Key System is simply one of the finest studies in personal power, metaphysics, and prosperity consciousness ever written.
Covering everything from how to create abundance and wealth to how to get healthy, Charles F Haanel leaves no stone unturned. With precision, he elucidates on each topic with logic and rigor that not only leaves you feeling good, but also thinking good. The book was banned by the Church in 1933 and has been hidden away for decades.
Rumor has it that while he was attending Harvard University, Bill Gates discovered and read The Master Key System. It was this book that inspired Bill Gates to drop out of the University and pursue his dream of "a computer on every desktop." You probably know the results. . .
I just love that "Rumor has it…" touch, don’t you? And why the Church (er, which one?) would want to ban this pile of old codswallop is simply one of life’s great mysteries…
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Dr. Roselli Is Not Sheep Enemy #1
EmptyPockets pens a fascinating and illuminating post about the real research being done by Dr. Roselli. He was prompted to do so by the tripe being spouted by PETA. Political Correctness has a lot to answer for. -
Cloud On The Horizon
According to this report in The Guardian today, President Ahmadinejad has called for a purge of liberal and secular academics in Iran’s universities. Terrific, just what we need, more evidence that life in Iran is becoming more theocratic than ever. However, according to Professor Sadegh Zibakalam, a political scientist at Tehran university: "Ahmadinejad is a populist trying to create a charismatic image for himself. These comments are aimed at those who voted for him and perhaps designed to divert attention from Iran’s economic problems. They don’t mean there is an orchestrated plot against more liberal lecturers."I sincerely hope those don’t turn out to be a case of famous last words. -
Cold Cabbage
I’ve suddenly noticed an increase in folks arriving at my blog via referrals from Dr. John Crippen’s excellent NHS Blog Doctor. I’ve just discovered why: apparently a Dutch woman mentioned to him the folk remedy of using cold cabbage as a cure for mastitis. The good doctor hadn’t come across this before and wondered whether I had come across it in my time here.Um, sorry, I’ve led a sheltered life as far as the mysteries of the female body are concerned. I recall being in a meeting at work discussing the renovation of the office, and seeing marked on the plan a room labelled the milk expressing room. I didn’t have a clue what it meant and so asked. All the women looked at me as though I was mad (clueless, perhaps, but not, I think, mad). At least some of the other men had the graciousness to admit that they didn’t know either, and were glad that I’d asked… I at least had the excuse that I’m gay and don’t have intimate knowledge of the workings of the female body; I dunno what their excuse was.Oh, and I see that some of the commenters on Dr. Crippen’s site have confirmed that indeed cold cabbage is a viable remedy for helping with mastitis. Glad we cleared that up. -
It’s A Boy!
Well, whoopie-doo! But why do I get the feeling that girl babies are still seen as having less worth than boy babies, even in countries that are technologically very advanced. Must be the Nunberg Error again. Echidne has noticed the same thing. Same old, same old… -
Terrorists Don’t Use Personal Lubricants
Neil Gaiman points out that the US Government’s Transport Security Administration, while banning things such as toothpaste, shampoo and lip gel, allow airline passengers to carry personal lubricants such as KY Jelly. Well, that’s a relief, then. Clearly, terrorists don’t use such stuff. -
The Marathon Monks
Some human beings are capable of quite extraordinary feats. Here’s one such example: the Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei. Me, I get winded running to the corner of the road. I also don’t carry a cord of death. -
Bait and Switch
Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, quite rightly questions the assertions by Bruce Hood that ‘the battle by scientists against "irrational" beliefs such as creationism is ultimately futile’ because magical and supernatural beliefs are hardwired into our brains from birth, and that religions are therefore tapping into a powerful psychological force.While it’s quite possible that the need for religion is hardwired, professor Hood’s experiments actually seem to be showing the effect of something else, namely sentiment, not religious belief. A classic case, as Ophelia points out, of "bait and switch". On this showing, the professor will have to do better than this if he is to demonstrate that he is doing good science rather than fatuous comparisons.. -
Renewing The Kitchen
Work started today on putting in a new kitchen in the farmhouse. The old kitchen was a classic example of 1970s chic, but not to our taste. It was also designed for the previous owner, who was a much shorter person than either of us. So the work surfaces are too low, and we kept on banging our heads on the cooker hood. Not to mention that it was an electric cooker, and we both much prefer cooking by gas. This is how it was…
This is the result of the day’s work by the builders…
We’re taking the opportunity to raise the height of the ceiling at the same time, so the old ceiling has now gone as well…
We’re also changing out the hot water and central heating systems, so at the moment there’s no hot water for the shower… Hopefully that will be back in action in a few days…
Geoff Coupe's Blog 