International RSI awareness day
Today is International RSI awareness day (their site seems to be down at the moment – here is Google’s cache of the page). Repetetive strain injury can be a serious thing, so take care out there at your computers, offices and homes!
pax et bonum
Track with co.mments
Track with del.icio.usVulture funds
Christian aid is trying to raise the profile of so-called “vulture funds” in relation to international debt. The profits these companies are wringing out of the world’s poorest countries seriously reduce the benefits of the commitments rich countries are making.
One way countries lose money is through debt claims from private finance companies – the vulture funds that have recently been much discussed in the news. Vulture funds truly deserve their name, says the agency; they swoop in on the world’s poorest countries in order to make a cynical buck out of their debts.
These companies buy countries’ debt for much less than its value, at a point when the country is in the economic doldrums and the original creditor just wants to escape the situation.
They then try, in various ways, to reclaim much more money when the country is in better shape – sometimes by suing the country.
(From Ekklesia.)
pax et bonum
Calvin and Hobbes indexed
Calvin and Hobbes rule all. Named after a famous theologian and a famous philosopher, this boy and his stuffed toy have now been indexed for future generations to enjoy. Need to find a Spaceman Spiff strip? No trouble! Wondering about those mutant snowmen? Easy peasey! Go, learn, enjoy. 
(Thanks to Alastair for the link.)
pax et bonum
Spying on planets outside the Solar System
NASA scientists have managed to see planets around other stars with enough detail to work out what they’re made of.
NASA pointed its Spitzer Space Telescope at two gas giant exoplanets in the Vulpecula and Pegasus constellations, 370 and 904 trillion miles away, for long enough that detailed measurements of the infrared spectrum of light reflected by the plant could be made.
In a paper published in this week’s Nature, the team based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena report two surprises from the data. First, the snappily named HD 209458b and HD 189733b seem much drier than calculations predicted…
Happily, the second surprise provided an answer to the conundrum. The spectrum from HD 209458b revealed that the water could be being masked by the planet’s upper atmosphere, which is thick with dusts clouds formed from tiny silicate particles similar to sand. Nothing similar to the clouds is present in our solar system.
(From The Register.)
pax et bonum
Vista security
The Register has an excellent summary article about the various security enhancements to Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system (including IE7). It’s essential reading for anyone considering upgrading. The basic message is that it’s a lot better but isn’t nearly as good as MS wants people to think, and could easily have been a lot better. For example:
User Account Control (UAC) is another good idea, because it finally, finally, finally allows the machine’s owner to work from a standard user account [i.e. one without permission to install software etc.], and still perform administrative tasks by supplying admin credentials as needed on a per-action basis. You know, the way Linux has been doing it forever.
This is one way of helping protect a multi-user system from being loaded with malware by users, and for ensuring that any malware on the system runs with reduced privileges. When you are in a user account, and you wish to perform an administrative task, you will be prompted for the required credentials…
UAC is all well and good in theory, but here’s the problem: it’s never going to work.
Shrove Tuesday
Yes, it’s pancake day. To celebrate the seasonal goodness, try this video.
(Thanks to Alastair for the tip.)
pax et bonum
Vista first look
The Register is continuing its review of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista. Their conclusions can’t make comfortable reading for Microsoft.
So, there’s our first look at Vista. It does benefit from a lot of good ideas, many of them Apple’s, of course, but good nevertheless. It simply doesn’t work very well, unfortunately. There are serious problems with execution; it’s not polished; it’s not ready. It should not be on the market, and certainly not for the outrageous prices being charged. Don’t buy it, at least until after the first service pack is out. Don’t pay to be a beta tester.
pax et bonum
Introducing the book
So, you thought computers were hard to understand? Try this
(Thanks to Miss Snark for the tip.)
pax et bonum
A menace to science
Guardian Unlimited has an excellent article by the dependable Ben Goldacre (of Bad Science) about a recent Advertising Standards Authority case. “Dr” Gillian McKeith has “voluntarily” agreed not to call herself a doctor any more in advertisements. The reason? She isn’t a doctor and doesn’t have a PhD. Not, at least, in the usual sense. She bought her degree from a non-accredited US college, and doesn’t have any meaningful scientific qualifications. Indeed, as Goldacre points out, she barely has any meaningful scientific knowledge. And yet she portrays herself as a scientist, with scientifically verified health products. But spurious claims can be dangerous, and are certainly deceptive. She makes a lot of money out of her little “nutrition” empire. Shame it’s all hooey.
National Chip Week
Will wonders never cease – this week is National Chip Week. For USAians and other uncultured types, this means chips – fingers of potato cut thick and deep fried to luscious soft crispiness. Not crisps (thin slices of potato packaged cold in plastic bags). Not fries (thin slivers reconstituted from powder). Chips. Ah, the joys of my youth, walking to the chippie of a Saturday evening to buy a paper package of sausage and chips, walking home eating them piping hot. Mmmmmm. 
(Thanks to Maggi for alerting me to this splendid celebration.)
pax et bonum
Adam's birthday
Adam turned five a few days ago, and I’ve put a few photos up in our family album. He’s had a really good few days – snow on his birthday really helped!
pax et bonum
Government and consultants
The UK Government’s spending on “consultants” is huge and rising, reports The Register:
In the last three years, the amount of public money going to big firms like PriceWaterhouseCoopers, has risen by a third to £2.8bn annually.
What’s most worrying is that, apparently, no one has any idea on what all this money has actually achieved! It’s just “consultancy”. Surely, if we’re spending nearly 3 billion pounds a year on something, we should be getting some fairly impressive and quantifiable benefits for it.
pax et bonum
Snow
Yes, we’ve got snow! Many people might not understand our excitement, but it’s not that common round here. Anne has pictures.
pax et bonum
UK ePassports still unlikely
The Register is discussing the recent NAO report into the UK experiment in electronic passports. While saying that the project is still on budget and on time (remarkable in itself for a government IT project), the NAO points out that the project itself is in a bad state. One headline example is that the chips being placed into the passports (which are supposed to last for 10 years) are being warranted by the manufacturer for only 2 years. And even then, the warranty only covers the manufacture of the chips themselves – a failure anywhere else in the passport’s electronics isn’t covered. Which makes a reminder by the NAO rather reassuring.
The NAO report tells us something The Register‘s been pointing out for some time: “An ePassport remains a valid travel document even if the electronic chip fails.”
That’s right – even if the chip’s broken, you can still legally travel using the passport – this is an ICAO requirement. Of course, the immigration services will try and get you to get it mended, but all they can do is given you a letter asking that you do so. And lest you be tempted to post your passport back to the IPS so that you can get a new one, be aware that you’ll be expected to pay for it yourself unless the chip manufacturer assumes responsibility (which I think we can take as fairly unlikely).
pax et bonum
Daylight saving time
The Register reports that confusion is set to reign in the USA (and by extension anyone who does business with them) at during March. Apparently, the USA has decided the start Daylight Savings Time three weeks earlier (and to end it one week later). Previously, most countries have been more or less in sync but, for a few weeks, our clocks will be an hour out. Lots of automated systems (like banks and airlines) will get the time wrong, which could cause problems. Caveat emptor!
pax et bonum
Cartoon advertising and terrorism
I’m sure we’ve all heard the amusing story this week about the neon advertising signs in Boston that the city authorities mistook for terrorist bombs (even blowing one up, just to be safe). Well the story continues to develop, with two of the marketers responsible now being charged with criminal offences. What makes this sad but revealing is that one of these two is a Belorussian citizen who’s applying for asylum in the USA. If he’s convicted or enters a plea bargain, he’ll be deported. Only by winning totally or having the state drop its case can he avoid the penalties that brought him to the “Land of the Free” in the first place (usually, asylum seekers are fleeing imprisonment, torture or death).
The really daft thing is that the mistake here was made by the Boston authorities – these signs had been placed in ten cities around the USA weeks earlier, and only in Boston did this over-reaction happen. Is the USA really that paranoid these days?
Here, because the state feels embarrassed, it is taking legal action against someone who, in all likelihood, had no intention of creating a hoax bomb scare. He was merely doing an advertising job that he was paid to do. This outcome probably never occurred to him. And in a knee-jerk reaction, state and local authorities are exacting what could be a heavy price over a misunderstanding…
The trend that this shows in American thinking resembles McCarthyism, only stupider. The government has ceased with even the formality of asking questions, instead deciding to take the most punitive route possible before undertaking a half-hearted search for truth.
(From The Register.)
pax et bonum
