Oh, I have just learned that Windows Live Spaces has been updated to allow direct embedding of videos within posts. Standby for more YouTube traffic over the internet…
Let’s see if this works… Here’s a direct embed of Twee Vaders…
Yay!
Year: 2007
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Wot War On Terror?
Not Saussure draws our attention to a speech made by Sir Ken MacDonald, the UK’s Director of Public Prosecutions, in which he said:“London is not a battlefield. Those innocents who were murdered on July 7 2005 were not victims of war. And the men who killed them were not, as in their vanity they claimed on their ludicrous videos, ’soldiers’. They were deluded, narcissistic inadequates. They were criminals. They were fantasists. We need to be very clear about this. On the streets of London, there is no such thing as a ‘war on terror’, just as there can be no such thing as a ‘war on drugs’.Absolutely. Read the rest. -
Blogging the Future
Diamond Geezer has started an interesting series of posts over at his blog. It started a few days ago with this one, which had today’s date on it. The subsequent posts follow the progress of Diamond Geezer as he’s trapped in the Tube. It’s shaping up to be a riveting read… -
Two Fathers
Gelert, over at An Experiment In Normailty, adds his thoughts on the UK adoption row. Worth reading. He mentions the interview on BBC Radio with the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, yesterday. I didn’t hear it, but there’s a telling comment on it in the piece today by the Guardian’s religious affairs correspondent:…it is uncomfortable for the archbishops, as anyone who heard the Ugandan-born Archbishop of York equivocating on the Today programme, as he tried to explain why being "in conscience unwelcoming to gays" was entirely different from in conscience discriminating against black people, will have appreciated.Well, quite. A clear example of cognitive dissonance, I would have thought. The article also clarified for me why I thought that Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor seemed uncomfortable in the interview I saw a couple of days ago with him laying out the party line. It seems as though one of the factors playing out here is politics in the Catholic hierarchy, in particular, who gets to succeed the Cardinal when he retires later this year. I suppose one shouldn’t really be surprised that the Catholic hierarchy is stuffed with venal politics just like every other aspect of human life, but still, the hypocrisy does take my breath away at times.Update: This article is a shortened form of the piece that Stephen Bates wrote for the Guardian’s Comment Is Free section. The full version is here, and is definitely worth a read.There’s also an article in today’s Guardian about the Rev. Martin Reynolds, who, together with his (male) partner, has been fostering a boy for the past 15 years. The boy has two fathers, which brings us neatly full circle to the song in the link that Gelert refers to: Twee Vaders. It’s nice to end on a positive note. -
Following Orders
As you might imagine, the kerfuffle in the UK over Catholic adoption agencies wanting an exemption in the law so that they do not have to consider gay couples as prospective adopters of children does not make me feel kindly disposed towards the Catholic hierarchy. And now, perhaps predictably enough, the Anglicans are closing ranks with the Catholics.
And, as usual, Ophelia, over at ButterfliesAndWheels, casts some light through the gloom.
Frankly, it seems to me that the Catholic adoption agencies are swirling in a cesspit of their own making.* They do not appear to recognise that the overriding factor here is the well-being of the children, instead they prefer to focus on their particular cherries that have been plucked from a set of ancient tales by multiple authors. If they do feel obliged to close their agencies, rather than consider all couples as prospective adopters on their own merits, then so be it. Apparently, they only fulfilled 4% of the 2,900 adoptions in the UK last year anyway, and that gap should be able to be filled.
And I cannot pass without a comment on Ruth Kelly, Minister for Women and Equality. As she is also Roman Catholic, and a member of Opus Dei, one could be forgiven for thinking that the phrase "conflict of interest" might well pass through one’s mind as a particular danger in her case.
I think that she would be well advised to reflect on the political circumstances of Charles E. Wilson in the Truman administration. He was the CEO of General Motors, before he was tapped to enter the Truman Administration as US Secretary of Defense. He was asked if, as Secretary of Defense, he could make a decision (in his role as Secretary) that would be adverse to the interests of General Motors. Wilson answered affirmatively but added that he could not conceive of such a situation "because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa." It was quite rightly pointed out to him that in his role as US Secretary of Defense, his task was to do what was right for the country, and not for General Motors.
Similarly, Ruth Kelly should take a decision that is right for the children and the country, and not for her particular religion. I await with interest to see the outcome.
I see also that Martin Newland, in a Comment is Free piece in The Guardian, argues that "in opposing the new law on gay rights and adoption, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor is simply doing his job".
That’s as may be, but I will run the risk of invoking Godwin’s law by saying that in a very real sense he could also be said to be following orders. I watched an interview on BBC yesterday wherein the Cardinal was clearly uncomfortable about what he had to say, but nevertheless stated the party line.
When it boils down, then what the Catholic agencies are doing is wanting to turn their backs on people who could help rebuild children’s lives. They can claim conscience all they like, but their conscience, in my view is wanting. Steve Bell points out what, in all honesty, I think lies at its heart.
*With acknowledgements for that lovely phrase to Sir James Anderton, the former Chief Constable of Manchester.
Update: Oh-ho! Is Cherie the real Eminence Grise here? Can’t say I’d be surprised.
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Home Projects
I’ve recently come across MAKE magazine, which certainly seems to have an eclectic range of hobbies covered, with some interesting projects. Take this one, for example. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be attempting it. Step 3 might be a tad problematical for me. -
A Woodland Home
This puts me in mind of a Hobbit house. It looks quite cozy, and is probably well suited to a country that is likely to have an increasing chance of gales. I’m writing this while there’s a couple of workmen up on the roof of the farmhouse checking for any loose or damaged tiles as a result of last week’s storm. The woodland house won’t have that problem… -
RNA or LSD?
The Cornell Mushroom Blog draws our attention to a short film made in 1971 that attempts to visualise the actions of ribosomal RNA in a cell. Bizarre, truly bizarre, but such a product of the time. These days, we use computer animation, and forego the funky music… Perhaps we’ve lost our innocence as well… -
WTF?
Er, this has to be a joke, right? This person cannot be serious, surely? If it is straight up (as it were), then there are some seriously deluded people out there… There’s a web site, which has left me scratching my head. Is this a parody, or what?Update: The video has been pulled from YouTube, but interestingly it has also gone from the LoveGodsWay web site, leaving a "Removed Due To Abuse" message in its place. Ironic, really, the video itself was the abuse… Oh, but you can still read the lyrics over at Blast Off!Update 2: I’m told the video has now appeared on MySpace… Let’s see if we can get linked to it…Enjoy! – If that’s the right term…Update 3: You’re too late – it’s now been pulled from MySpace as well… -
Metadata Woes
As some of you might be aware, I’ve been on a search to find the ideal way of managing my library of digital photos for quite some time. Alas, nothing seems to quite fit the bill.
Well, recently, I tried out, and subsequently bought, a copy of IDimager Personal. I thought it was pretty good, even though it is an application in its own right (for me, the ideal library should be built into the operating system and file system, rather like PixVue [Note: PixVue is no longer available, I’m afraid]). In its current incarnation, IDimager supports both IPTC IIM version 4 and IPTC Core, which means that it covers both legacy and emerging metadata standards. Having both was a factor in the decision to buy it, rather than continue to stick with PixVue, which really only supports the IPTC IIM metadata elements with a little nod towards XMP.
However, the 600lb gorilla has now entered the fray, with Photo Info. Like PixVue, Microsoft’s Photo Info extends the operating system and the file system to add support for image metadata. And like PixVue, it really only implements the IPTC IIM version 4 legacy metadata elements, although, like PixVue, it does also copy them across to XMP equivalents. And while it does (unlike PixVue) support the “Location” metadata element, it does not (like PixVue) support the Creator Contact Info metadata fields of IPTC Core.
So, to summarise the story so far… Photo Info is a step ahead of PixVue, but it is not as complete a metadata editor as IDimager. Still, it is free, and it simply extends the operating system and file system rather than being a separate application like IDimager. So, I thought, perhaps it’s worth looking into.
Alas, after a few minutes of trying it out, Photo Info started throwing up error messages. When I tried to open certain image files, I’d get
“A file system I/O error occurred. Please check that files are not locked and that you have appropriate permissions in the folder”I also noticed that even though I would select a single file, when this error occurred, then Photo Info would report that I have “1,414 of 2,304 files selected”, which is clearly nonsense.
A bit of further investigation revealed that the files that were causing the errors were files that had been edited using IDimager. Other files that had had their metadata edited with other applications (e.g. PixVue) could be handled by Photo Info without problems. So, I thought, it looks fairly clearcut to me, there is some interaction going on between Photo Info and IDimager.
Ah, but who’s at fault? I’m already getting the usual finger-pointing going on (IDimager’s developer says it must be a problem with Photo Info). I await further developments with interest.
Damn, but I hate software when it doesn’t work…
Update: Another user reports that Photo Info apparently does odd things with EXIF metadata:
“the MS Photo Info Tool appears to do some questionable things with the EXIF data when it writes it. After changing the EXIF date on a test picture, I compared the updated EXIF data with the original EXIF data using exiftool. The file that the MS Tool updated was missing a bunch of fields, and exiftool said that the maker notes were not where they should be. So, if it can’t write the data correctly, it wouldn’t surprise me if it can’t read it correctly either. My recollection is that idImager moves the maker notes and updates the offset to point to the new location … If the MS Tool is not following the spec’s, it probably isn’t looking for the offset pointer to tell it where the maker notes are. That would make the file look corrupted even though it’s not.So, bottom line: I’d bet the bug is in MS Photo Info Tool, not idImager”.Update 2: I’ve been in contact with Mike Tedesco, who is a Technical Evangelist with Microsoft for the Pro Photo Community. Apparently he’s working with the Photo Info development team to investigate the issues. I’ve sent him my error report and sample files. We’ll see what happens.
Update 3 (13 September 2007): I’ve been in touch with Robert Wlodarczyk of Microsoft, and he identified an issue with the way IDimager writes XMP metadata. The developer of IDimager agrees that this is the problem, and it will be fixed. Microsoft’s Windows Imaging Component (used by Photo Info and Vista) is much stricter that other metadata tools in common use, and it picked up the error.
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Le Grand Content
A meditation on the meaning of life. This reminds me somewhat of Ivor Cutler, at least as he would have been, had he been German… -
Not Suitable for Children…
…or those of a nervous disposition. I would advise you to think very carefully before you inflict this upon them. I’m still shuddering from the very thought. Meanwhile, Twisty is in fine form as she comments on another inappropriate choice for children. -
Interesting Hobbies
It’s a good thing that I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I want to as it is, or I might be tempted to take up a new hobby. Like this one. On second thoughts, I don’t think so. -
Robot Solves The Cube
Here’s someone else who can solve Rubik’s Cube in record time. It’s a robot. As if I didn’t feel useless enough. -
Easy Targets
Well, of course, editing the film makes it easy to remove those who gave the right answers, but even so, this remains pretty depressing. We’re all doomed, I tell you. -
Denying Denial
A statement, signed by more than one hundred Iranians, deploring "that the denial of these unspeakable crimes has become a propaganda tool that the Islamic Republic of Iran is using to further its own agendas", and condemning the Holocaust(-denial) conference organized by the Iranian government last month. Scroll down for the English translation.(hat tip to Normblog) -
More Stormy Weather Ahead
As we all pick up the pieces after last week’s storm, it probably comes as little comfort to learn that, with global warming, such storms are likely to become more common. That’s according to a new report about to be published.I think that majority opinion in the UK is about to accept that global warming is real and a threat. The reason is less to do with authoritative reports, and rather more to do with the fact that a media figure, whom they all instinctively trust, has been on the telly in the last week with, not one, but three programmes saying that, basically, we’re all screwed. Yup, no less a figure than Sir David Attenborough has announced, in those grave tones of his, that "climate change is the biggest threat facing our planet". So it must be true.Now that the experiment is over, I can now remove the climate modelling client from my computer and switch it off when I’m not using it. There, that’s my bit to reduce my carbon footprint. -
The Monkey Puzzle Tree
Back in May 2005, I blogged about my cunning plan to get a Wollemi Pine tree for the garden, since Martin wouldn’t countenance my having a Monkey Puzzle tree (which is what I really wanted) anywhere in a garden of his. Unfortunately, Wollemi Pines are too expensive to get.However, in light of my getting Dutch citizenship, Martin has relented and presented me with a young specimen of Araucaria araucana. I’m going to have to choose its spot in the garden with some care, though. It can’t be too obvious, and it’s going to have to grow very slowly indeed so as not to offend Martin’s aesthetics… -
I Am A Strange Loop
On my hunt for other books written by Douglas R. Hofstadter, I think I’ve struck gold. There’s a book scheduled to be published in April this year that sounds as though it’s a "must-have": I Am A Strange Loop. The synopsis says:This is Douglas R Hofstadter’s long-awaited return to the themes of "Godel", "Escher", "Bach" – an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity. Why do we say "I"? Can thought arise out of matter? By "thought" we mean not mere calculation, the manipulation of algorithms and patterns according to fixed rules, but something deeper: experience, self-awareness, consciousness. "I Am a Strange Loop" argues that the key to understanding the level on which consciousness operates is the feedback loop. After introducing the reader to simple feedback systems like a flush toilet, the ever-popular thermostat and his own experiments with a video camera pointed at its own monitor, he Hofstadter turns to the idea of "strange loops" – feedback loops, which exist on two levels of meaning, a theory, which Kurt Godel employed in the mathematical statements constructed for his famous "Incompleteness Theorem". Like Godel’s logical statements, the brain also exists on at least two levels: a deterministic level of atoms and neurons, and a higher level of large mental structures we call symbols. One of these symbols, perhaps the central one which relates to all others in our minds, is the strange loop we call "I". By the time we reach adulthood, Hofstadter writes, "I" is an endless hall of mirrors, encompassing everything that has ever happened to us, vast numbers of counterfactual replays of important episodes in our lives, invented memories and expectations. But is it real? And if so, what does it consist of? Douglas Hofstadter’s first book-length essay on a scientific subject since "Godel", "Escher", "Bach", "I Am a Strange Loop" is a journey to the cutting edge of ideas about consciousness – a bold and provocative argument that is informed by the author’s unique verbal whimsy and eye for the telling example. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter’s many readers have been waiting for.Ooh, yes, I’m definitely getting this for the library… Aad, I think this might be one for you as well… -
Masters of Deception
Following on from mentioning the book The Mind’s I in the last post, I was curious to see whether Douglas R. Hofstadter had published anything else recently. A quick scan on Amazon threw up a rather promising-sounding candidate: Masters of Deception, a book profiling the work of over fifteen optical illusion artists (Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Salvador Dalí, Sandro Del Prete, Jos De Mey, M.C. Escher, Robert Gonsalves, Matheau Haemakers, Ken Knowlton, Vik Muniz, Scott Kim, Guido Moretti, Istvan Orosz, John Pugh, Oscar Reutersvärd, Roger Shepard, Dick Termes, Rex Whistler).However, although the work is listed bearing Hofstadter’s name, it turns out that he only provided the preface. The actual author is Al Seckel.Still, there’s a web site associated with the book that is worth checking out, since as Seckel says, some of the work featured in the book actually requires movement to appreciate the full impact.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 