"Greenpeace activists have been taking part in a series of protests across the UK aimed at disrupting sales of four-by-four vehicles."

In their defence, Mark Foster, spokesman for Land Rover stated:
"Most of the vehicles we sell are diesel and the best seller is a Freelander which does 37mpg and its CO2 emissions are just the same as a Mini Cooper".

From their websites:
Freelander TD4 Diesel - 37.2 mpg combined and 205 g/km CO2
Mini Cooper S - 40.9 mpg combined and 166 g/km CO2
...so Mr.Foster isn't far off.

However, lets now compare the current Range Rover (the model featured in the BBC News photo) and a Mini Cooper S and look specifically at their urban figures which, lets face it, is where most Chelsea tractors get used:
Range Rover - from 12.6 mpg (supercharged petrol) to 19.6 mpg (TD6 diesel)
Mini Cooper S manual - 29.1 mpg

Now lets compare weight:
Range Rover - 2570Kg (that's two and a half tonnes)
Mini Cooper S - 1215 kg

I read recently that a child hit by a Chelsea Tractor at 30mph is twice as likely to be killed as by a 'normal' car.

And lastly, their comparative CO2 emissions:
Range Rover - 299 to 376 g/km
Mini Cooper S - 166 g/km

All this data is from the makers' own websites. Not such a rosey story there. You've had to be pretty arrogant (or Jeremy Clarkson) to not be able to accept that Chelsea tractors are pretty unfriendly to the environment.

BBC NEWS | UK | Greenpeace demos at 4x4 dealers

Today's motocross event at Toddington produced a fairly decent crop of images including this one of #56 Pete Chapman, who I have nicknamed Hot Dog.

Just days after my friend Lorenzo nearly met his death near the summit of Everest "a 21-year-old student has climbed into the record books by becoming the youngest Briton to reach the top of the 'seven summits'."

Famous British explorer Ranulph Fiennes was also forced to abandon his attempt on the summit.

BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | Student climbs into record books

An absurd new 'pay-as-you-go' road toll scheme is being proposed by the Government. The plan is intended to reduce the use of cars but, as usual, no suggestion has been made that an alternative to using cars would be provided. And the toll would not penalise gas-guzzling vehicles, unlike the current petrol tax.

Congratulations to Katie, a neighbour's daughter, on the birth of a son, Max.

"An atlas of environmental change compiled by the United Nations reveals some of the dramatic transformations that are occurring to our planet."

Someone make sure Bush gets a copy.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Changing planet revealed in atlas

Bob "**** the address, give us your money" Geldof breaks his promise to announce a new concernt in aid of the starving millions in Africa. "Its absurd ... that people are dying of want in a World of surplus" has says. Meanwhile, security forces behind the G8 summit, being held shortly in Scotland, are bricking themselves at the prospect of big demonstrations against globalisation.

"The Washington Post has confirmed a former deputy chief of the FBI was 'Deep Throat' - the source who leaked secrets during the Watergate scandal.

Vanity Fair magazine had reported Mark Felt admitted being the source whose identity had been secret for decades."

How long before the excellent movie "All The Presidents' Men" is on telly again?

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Watergate's Deep Throat revealed

Saw Star Wars Episode III on Saturday evening at MK's massive ski slope branch of Cineworld. Acting is, in parts, a bit wooden, but it does explain the evolution of the characters of the original three movies, which are still better. This movie is essentially a showcase for special effects, where nearly everything you see is computer generated. In fact the 'human' scenes are very short and act mearly as fillers between chunks of special effects - not at all like the originals, but I guess that's hardly surprsing. I'm afraid that Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side is rather week and not really believable.

My good friend Lorenzo Gariano is shortly to make his final attempt to summit Everest via Tibet. Tragedy struck the team earlier in the month when Slovenian Marko Lihteneker died near the summit. High winds have also delayed their climbing, but so far not a single climber has managed to reach the summit from the South (Nepal) side.

"The BBC has given its controversial new weather map a facelift after complaints it had a south of England bias.

The angle at which viewers see the UK was changed from Saturday morning, but the colours have remained the same."

Good thing too - the first attempt was blatantly biased towards the South. But IMHO its a shame they didn't dump the new design completely and go back to the symbols.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | New BBC weather map gets facelift

The sixth series of 'Big Brother' is shortly to kick off on UK television with the contestants (I prefer to see them as inmates) being forced to live in a house with transparent walls, and hence no privacy.

"...a rival broadcaster is launching a 'public spirited' attack on reality TV by offering £70,000 to Big Brother contestants if they refuse to speak during the 11-week series.

Satellite network UKTV said its prize was an attempt to 'diminish the amount of mindless drivel generated by the deluge of reality TV shows'."

My sentiments exactly.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Transparent house for Big Brother

Photography assignment today at the launch of a new SMS text information request service at Bletchley Park, home of the code breakers during WWII. Visitors send key words to a web bot via SMS message and then visit a website on their return home, or to the classroom, where the system presents information related to the keyword or words they sent.

"The US military says it is investigating 'aggressively' after a picture appeared in a British paper showing Saddam Hussein half naked.

The Sun newspaper's [might have guessed] front page image showed the former Iraqi president in a pair of white underpants.

Other pictures showed Saddam Hussein washing his trousers, shuffling around and sleeping."

Obviously the Sun hasn't learnt any lessons from the Mirror/Piers Morgan debacle in terms of angering the locals, and publishes images regardless of the consequences such actions might have on the British troops in-country.

"The US said the photos appeared to breach Geneva Convention rules on the humane treatment of prisoners of war."

Oh, so the US is concerned about the Geneva Convention now, is it? Conveniently forgotten about Camp Xray have you?

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Saddam underwear photo angers US

"Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has admitted for the first time there would be a 'problem' if France votes against the EU constitution.

But he said ... a French 'no' might not kill the treaty."

Oh, come on, get real Jack - its only the French and German governments who really want it.

BBC NEWS | Politics | French no vote 'problem' for UK

"A police constable who reached 159mph on a motorway has been cleared of speeding and dangerous driving.

In reaching his verdict, [District Judge] Mr Morgan noted that two police officers who gave evidence for the prosecution, including West Mercia Police's senior driving instructor, had declined to classify the defendant's driving as dangerous."

159mph. Not dangerous. Mmm, have to remember that.

BBC NEWS | England | Shropshire | 159mph speeding charge Pc cleared

Got some photos of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, today on his visit to the Caldecotte Project in Milton Keynes, which is a centre for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. But do you think I could get any of the national papers to take an interest? No, not a single reply.

After the holiday, what do we think of Austria, and would we go again?
Well, Austria is without doubt one of the nicest countries I have ever visited. It is just amazingly clean: no litter, no vandalism, no grafiti, no yobbos. Britain should certainly be taking a long hard look at the place, because it was pretty depressing to come back home. Lots of stunning scenery, lots of things to see and do. Excellent public transport network. Not too expensive. Food and beer both excellent. Very friendly locals, most of whom have a decent knowledge of English (although I was able to exercise my school German).

Would I go on an all-train holiday again? Probably not - the loss of four whole days getting to and from the final destination was just too much for me and not interesting enough to make it worthwhile.

Given that, and all the problems we had, would I recommend Great Rail Journeys as a holiday vendor? Well, I think I would for several reasons. Firstly, the holiday was pretty good value, since it included pretty much all of every excursion, the guide was very efficient (thanks, Patricia), the hotel was simply outstanding. Unfortuntately we had a fair share of problems along the way, but none were down to Great Rail. The other members of the group were great company and they made me, travelling alone, very welcome - cheers to our team of comedians, singers and the like! I would definately consider travelling to Austrian again, perhaps even to the same town, although maybe at a different time of year, as we found quite a few places were closed.

Friday 13th, as someone mentions; other group members poo-poo it. We shall see. Poor night's sleep - one pillow syndrome again. Get caught by strike of Belgian train staff (turned out to be for a pretty stupid reason too) for two hours just outside Brussels (this is getting to be a habit). Great Tain Journeys reluctant to get coaches layed on for us and another group who happen to be on the same train. Eventually got onto next running communter train, but the closer we get to Brussels Midi, the more people get on. Ended up surrounded by luggage and passengers and very nearly couldn't get off before train goes on to next station. Missed two returning Eurostar trains, but eventually leave about five hours late. Handily miss London rush hour on return; get home about 20:00.

Start of journey home - very long journey. First train much nicer DB express than the Italian train on the way down. Get in to Cologne about 17:00. Meant to go out to get photos of Cologne cathedral but fell asleep. Nice 3-course dinner but the hotel, same as one on journey down, not as good as that in Jenbach, even though its 4-star. Business hotels are so impersonal in comparison to the excellent Jenbacherhof, which is family run.

Last, free day, which I'd already decided was going to be for a long walk up to Achensee lake and back. Best weather of the week. Followed similar route to yesterday, but did find some of what I think must have been one of the map routes, which turned out to be a cycle path (with street lights all the way along - don't think they would have survived if in the UK). Walked up to church at Eben which is highest point on rack railway route, but turned around there and returned. Must have gained at least 1000m altitude - quite a climb. Got back to hotel too early and hence a bit of a wasted afternoon.

Slept like log. Decided to not go on the group's organized trip to Innsbruch. Breakfast at 08:00. Raining lightly again. Tried to find the starts of walks shown on the provided map but none were signposted. Returned to hotel and tried other walks later in day. Managed to find some paths and saw our little rack train whilst having lunch.

Another day almost ruined by the weather. Visit to Krimml waterfall - allegedly the fifth highest in the world - nice too see but very drizzly rain so photos not very good. Then to Zellamsee, but too much time given, especially with the rain. Last town on return to Jenbach was the most interesting. Tyrolean evening entertainment with 6 dancers in national costume. Got roped into a Waltz with another from our group - avoided breaking any more toes, mine or otherwise. Good time was had by all. Went to bed with a cracking headache.

Another good sleep; brecky at a very lazy 09:00. Steam rack railway trip to join short boat cruise on Achensee Lake which is above Jenbach. Big lunch, for a change, in the two hours before the boat back. Quite a lot of sunshine but then heavy snowfall as we waited for boat. Back to hotel by 17:00.

Slept well. Up at 07:30 for breakfast. Sun came out, so set off for the station early to make the most of it. Got photos of our double-headed, steam-powered train preparing for our trip to Mayerhofen. Again many places appear to be closed as we are in transition period between skiiing and summer holiday periods. Went swimming again on return. Excellent evening meal again, followed by quiz with people from both Great Rail Journeys' groups. Our table came out joint 4th or 5th.

Much more civilised 07:45 rise. All-day coach excursion to villages Alpbach, Kufstein and Rattenburg. Stayed a little too long I thought in each: I'm not one for window shopping. Went for a swim in the hotel pool just before dinner and managed to kick a step in bare feet on the way in. Thought that I'd broken a toe. Another excellent 4-course dinner. Joined other members of our group after.

06:00 wakeup call to kick off the second leg of our voyage: two very long trips ahead of us, but their expresses do travel very fast. DB (German national railways) train from Cologne to Munich then a rather scruffy (BR sort of level) Italian train from their to final destination of Jenbach in Austria. Lots of rain: weren't able to see anything of Munich during the 40-minute stopover. Arrived Jenbach just before 17:00 - very nice village from initial impressions, but very steep up to hotel (didn't get this impression from the aerial photo map we'd been sent). Most rooms have balconies. Four course dinner: melon and ham starter, courgette soup, veal escalope, ice cream. More comfortable bed.

First day of my Great Rail Journeys holiday to the Austrian Tyrol
Eurostar train breaks down 3 miles outside Brussels Midi station. First engine sent to rescue us doesn't have the right coupling. Have to wait for another Eurostar to push us in. Three hour delay in total. Delayed our connection to Cologne - had just 10 minutes to jump onto the next Thuraya train and had to hunt for seats the length of the train. Ended up in First Class. Got to Cologne way after normal evening meal time so had to settle for something thrown together - but they did a pretty good job considering. Room was very hot overnight, even though it wasn't particularly hot outside - had to use a fan. As seems to be typical of European hotels, only one pillow, plus bed typically hard.

Election Impressions 2
Blair's 'New' Labour has been a party of constant meddling. There doesn't appear to be a single aspect of life that hasn't been given the 'league tables' treatment. This is particularly true in education and health, where hardly a week goes by when some statistic isn't trumpted or lambasted in the media.

Election Impressions
The first of a series of postings I'll make regarding the forthcoming elections here in the UK.

We were lied to - yes, lied to - in the PM's justification for war. There never were any WMDs and I'm certain the vast majority of the intelligence community knew this. But Blair couldn't just say "we're going to war for a regime change in Iraq" because he knew that would be illegal. So instead he gets his chief spin doctor to collude with some intelligence flunky (or not) to come up with the famous '45 minute' speech which all along he must have known was complete BS. Consequently I can't trust the man - he put his relationship with Bush (which in my view isn't worth a damn) before the beliefs of his country.

"Veteran former Labour MP defects
Long-time Labour backbencher Brian Sedgemore has defected to the Lib Dems. Mr Sedgemore, who is standing down at the election after 22 years as Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, was known as a maverick backbencher.

He has accused Tony Blair of 'stomach turning lies' and said he wanted to give him a 'bloody nose' at the polls.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly warned that people moving from Labour to the Lib Dems were allowing the Tories to 'walk in through the back door'."

More power to the man, I say. If more MPs had spoken their mind, instead of toeing the party line as spouted by Campbell and his spin cronies, perhaps the UK wouldn't have taken part in the Second Great Bush Crusade (gulf war)? Perhaps the policies and laws in force now would more accurately reflect what the electorate had expect of Blair's Labour when they first elected him?

"She said Mr Sedgemore had been 'completely ill at ease with New Labour for a very long time'."

Ditto a big chunk of the electorate.


BBC NEWS | Election 2005 | Election 2005 | Veteran former Labour MP defects

The threat to UK motocross (in fact all field-based motorsports) continues as DEFRA proves that they come come out with annoying legislation just as good at that spouted by Brussels:

"Our rulers out-Brussels the EU
Out of the blue, the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) has told farmers they will not qualify for an EU farm payment if they allow their land to be used for motor sports.

As a result, hundreds of events are being cancelled because farmers, unsurprisingly, are withdrawing permission for their fields to be used."

Telegraph | Opinion | Home front | Our rulers out-Brussels the EU

Northampton MCC held a race today at a very dusty Farm House Farm, Crick. Looks like we're in for a drought this year.

Ah, nothing like nostalgia, is there? On Channel'4 100 Greatest Kids TV Shows, they've just shown a clip of 'White Horses', which came to British screens from Yugoslavia. As poor as my memory is, I can still remember the theme tune (have recently downloaded an MP3 of it), but what surprised me was it was shown in 1968 - when I was only four!

Northampton Town managed to scrape back into the playoffs with a 1-0 win over Lincoln today at Sixfields. Another not very impressive performance, I must say, and to be honest, I can't see us winning any playoff games even if we do stay in contention.

"Muslims sue US over border stop
Five American Muslims detained for more than six hours at the Canadian border have filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security.

The plaintiffs want an injunction that would bar the government from such detentions in the future..."

Like that's ever going to happen while Bush is in the White House. Welcome to the Land Of The Free.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Muslims sue US over border stop

Looking at getting a replacement for my aging, but still working, Philips mobile phone and specifically wanting one that has a GPS (Global Positioning System) facility and be able to send a GPS fix via an SMS message. Pretty specialized, I admit, but accurate positioning is becoming more common in hand-held devices so service providers can provide directions to shops and stuff. One possible candidate is the Motorola E1000, but trying to get a definitive answer from yer average shop assistant as to whether my needs are possible is akin to getting blood from a stone. Visited at least five shops in MK Shopping Centre today - most didn't have the phone at all, one or two could offer it but had no idea about GPS facility, and one said "not possible", which I'm not sure I believe.

"Making a science out of applied idiocy
The research paper was clearly the work of experts. It had a long, baffling title and its authors were familiar with key topics such as 'simulated annealing' and 'flexible modalities'".

This really cracks me up because its such an accurate reflection of what a modern academic paper looks like, ie: complete and total BS!

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Making a science out of applied idiocy

"Hit sketch show Little Britain has cemented its status as one of the UK's favourite programmes with two prizes at the Bafta TV Awards in London."

Ah, judges with taste...

"In other awards ... 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here won best entertainment show."

...or perhaps not?

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Little Britain wins Bafta double

This afternoon's episode of Enterprise finds Captain Archer showing a considerable lack of ethics in choosing to create a symbian (symbiotic organism) in order to grow tissue the dcotor needs to heel an important cast member (sorry - crew member), then happily consigning it to die when it comes to extracting the required tissue. Captain Kirk would be spinning in his grave - although technically he hasn't been born yet.

Dipsticks at the BBC up to their old (stupid) tricks again. This evening's Doctor Who is the first of a two-parter and ends on a cliffhanger. So what do they do? Leave the audience in suspence until next week? No, they show trailers of part 2. Idiots.

BBC2 presenter Dan Cruickshank currently getting decidedly over-excited as he strokes a chair from the Bauhaus Museum of Design, Berlin, in his acclaimed series Around the World in 80 Treasures.

Just heard that BPPA book Five Thousand Days (which bears my name in a membership list, but sadly none of my work) has gone on to sell over 5000 copies and is in reprint.

"Journalists in Nepal, one of the world's poorest and most backward nations, are going hi-tech to sidestep tight censorship imposed after last month's royal coup."

More confirmation that we have a new oppressive regime in the making.

"King Gyanendra seized power on Feb. 1 ... banned media criticism of his move, which he said was aimed at ending a nine-year Maoist revolt that has killed 11,000 people and shattered the tourism and aid-dependent economy."

Whilst I might sympathise with his aims (of stopping the Maoists from ruining the country) he's certainly not going to win any international favours with his approach.

Reuters.com | Nepali reporters take democracy fight to cyberspace

"Health experts have begun to destroy samples of a potentially lethal flu strain sent to laboratories around the world by a US testing organisation.

The samples are of Asian flu, which killed between one and four million people in 1957 but disappeared by 1968."

Just what in ghod's name was this US company thinking? "OK, we've found no weapons of mass distruction, so we'll post some around the world." Some samples were sent to Saudi Arabia - isn't that just down the road from Iraq, alleged home of terrorists?

"The virus - technically known as H2N2 - was classified as Biological Safety Level 2, meaning that it was not considered particularly dangerous."

Killed a few million - not particularly dangerous...? What are you guys on over there?

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Labs race to destroy deadly virus

Thanks go to Lewis, one of our department's IT support personnel, for pointing out why a recent aquisition from eBay, a Certance (Seagate to you and me) Travan tape drive, wouldn't work in my machine. I'd attached it to the same bus as the machine's hard disk - and the machine didn't like it one little bit. Of course, if I'd taken the time to download and read the manual, or even just the single-page installation sheet, I'd have known that.

Now I just need to buy a copy of that latest version of Dantz' excellent Retrospect tape backup software. At under 70 quid, this software has always been the best, IMHO, in that it offers 'proper' incremental backups.

Lorenzo and team have finally reached Everest Base Camp (north) at 5200m and we received another message from him this morning. The satellite phone messages unfortunately are getting cut off - don't know if its down to a weak signal or weak batteries. I hope it keeps working when he gets higher - its almost 1000m higher at Advance Base Camp and of course the three camps they will have to establish on the North Col will be quite a bit higher still.

Into the quarter finals, at long last, of the OU's 6-a-side footy tournament. Games delayed by lots of rain - although I don't doubt there'll still be a water shortage later in the year...

"Eight US newspapers and the Associated Press agency have thrown their support behind three bloggers sued by Apple."

I certainly hope this can be turned around to bite Apple in their constitution-busting ass.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple bloggers get press support

"Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway is among ITV programmes being disrupted by strike action" - no loss there then.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Strike action hits ITV programmes

These guys a just hockey mad!

Beer League Hockey: "Canadian Everest Expedition Takes Hockey to New Heights"

We received another message from my Italian mountaineer friend Lorenzo Gariano today. He and his team, who are intending to climb Everest via the north col in late May, are trapped in Katmandu, indirectly due to action by Maoist guerillas. The city's bus drivers are refusing to take them to Base Camp without armed escort.

List to his audio blog, or subscribe to his PodCast via the Everest Audio Blog website.

"Actor Christopher Eccleston has quit as Doctor Who after just one episode of the new series has been screened, the BBC has confirmed."

Says he doesn't want to be typecast, apparently. Perhaps he's just after more money. But if not, I reckon its ruined his chances of ever working for the BBC again.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Eccleston quits Doctor Who role

Pretty serious news for Sony in the US.

"Sony has been told to pay $90.7m (£48m) in damages and stop selling PlayStation consoles in the United States after losing a patent infringement lawsuit."

BBC NEWS | Business | Sony faces $90.7m patent damages

A note to all the dipsticks I noticed driving to work today in the fog, either with no lights at all or just side lights. Quoting the Highway Code:

You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 211).

This isn't just sensible advice, its the law (Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations act 1989).

A very important six points for Northampton Town from the Easter weekend's two games: 0-1 away against Wycombe Wanderers and 2-0 home against Shrewsbury. Combined with a loss by a team above us, it moves the Cobblers back into the playoff zone.

First exposure to quad bikes today, at a race hosted by the Cotswold Enduro Club at Whaddon near Milton Keynes. Very dull day so was trying to use some fill flash. I say 'trying' advisedly because I was struggling against Canon's somewhat naff E-TTL flash metering system which is, to coin a phrase, complete pants.

The new series of Doctor Who. One word. Brilliant!

Except - what do we have at the end? Yes, dipstick announcer talking over the new credits and music. SHUT UP!

Lexar, maker of premium-quality flash memory cards for digital cameras, have just won a whopping $465.4 off Toshiba for violation of intellectual copyright on their flash controller chips. Apparently this could be the biggest IP verdict in California legal history.

Lexar win $465.4 million against Toshiba: Digital Photography Review

More of the truth behind the Blair governments' actions over Iraq oozes out, casting a cloud over the so-called 'independant' enquiries held to date that apparently exhonorated the PM and his cabinet.

"I cannot in conscience go along with advice - within the Office or to the public or Parliament - which asserts the legitimacy of military action without such a resolution, particularly since an unlawful use of force on such a scale amounts to the crime of aggression; nor can I agree with such action in circumstances which are so detrimental to the international order and the rule of law." states deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office, Elizabeth Wilmshurst who resigned in March 2003, soon after the war started.

If it wasn't for the fact that most Tories actually backed the government in going to war, I reckon Labour's chances of winning the next election would be just about zero. And its for that reason that they won't be making too much of an issue out of this. More's the pity.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Wilmshurst resignation letter

Slightly old news, but as "Chelsea tractors" are one of my pet hates, it amused me to come across these articles:

"Campaigners against so-called Chelsea Tractors are calling for the London congestion charge to be raised to £20 for gas-guzzling cars. Hundreds of members of Greenpeace and the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s are hitting Goodge street today [26th Feb] to lobby Londoners on the new proposal, while the groups have hung a huge banner across Marylebone High street that says: 'CHARGE 4x4s £20'."

"Huge backing for 4x4 C-charge rise By Mark Prigg Science Correspondent, Evening Standard.

More than eight out of 10 Londoners are in favour of a higher congestion charge for four-by-four vehicles, a report claims today. The poll of more than 5,000 people - questioned at random at Tube stations - strengthens calls to penalise drivers of the most environmentally unsound cars."

Very impressed with my LazerPod that I bought through Ebay for a fiver less than Play.com. If you've never seen one, or heard of it (I hadn't), its being touted as the modern equivalent of the lava lamp. Very well made from highly polished aluminium, it comes with a choice of two domes or you can use it, as I do, projecting directly onto the ceiling. Can run off three AA batteries but also comes with a mains adaptor. The lighting effects are made using a combination of lasers and LEDs.

Congratulations to the BBC for bringing Robert Harris' superb book Archangel to the small screen in a two part series that finished last night. Daniel Craig was very well cast in the role of historian Fluke Kelso on the trail of Stalin's missing secret notebook.
The programme was slightly spoilt by the inclusion, at the end of the first episode, of significant trailers for the second: surely if people are going to watch the first half, they'll watch the second anyway, without having to be told what's going to happen?

My home county of Bedfordshire has won the bid to host what will become, by the end of the century, the largest aquarium in the world. The Nirah Project (yes, its an acronym) will be four times the size of the successful Eden Project and be designed by the same team. Stewartby's old brick pits beat off competition from Monmouthshire in South Wales and Liverpool.

Quoting the Times Education Supplement:
"When the UK's Nirah Project opens by the end of the decade, some 2 million tourists are expected to wander around the lakes, lagoons and rivers housed in twin living-rainforest domes.

Its creators estimate it could take up to three days for a person to completely get to grips with the site, which will dwarf the Eden Project."

The Project's website (minimal at time of blogging)
BBC News Article from last year, before the bid was approved

Pretty miserable day of motocross up at Crick in Northamptonshire today - compensated for somewhat by the excellent Wheatsheaf pub in Crick village. The weather just would not improve.

"...industry lobbyists in the US have resisted moves to certify that timber is legitimately produced. And the leaked State Department memo shows that the US government will refuse to sign up to the Blair initiative."

Just how much more contempt can the US government show for the environment? They really don't give a shit about this planet, so long as they can make money out of it.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | US blocks forest protection plan

Spring has definately arrived, here at my place of gainful employment. But it comes with another warning on the environment, as two locations in Scotland report record high night-time temperatures for March, one for 50 years and another for 80 years.

"HARARE, Zimbabwe - A woman testified that she paid a popular local musician to fly four mermaids from London to Harare to help her recover a stolen car and cash.

Businesswoman Magrate Mapfumo said she paid $5,000 to fly the invisible mermaids to Harare on the advice of musician Edna Chizema, who is on trial for theft by false pretenses..."

Firstly, I wasn't aware that London was a particular popular venue for mermaids. And secondly, I thought they always had to fly cargo because of the water than they need to be kept in.

Yahoo! News - Woman Paid Invisible 'Mermaids' Airfare

"Explaining why Hitachi's Emiew used wheels instead of feet, Toshihiko Horiuchi, from Hitachi's Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, said: 'We aimed to create a robot that could live and co-exist with people.'"

Don't these people ever watch Doctor Who? Don't they realise the reason why the Darleks never conquored Earth was because they ran on wheels - and hence couldn't get up stairs? Sony's and Honda's walking robots are going to kick yo' silicon butt - and that's not a reference to Bridget Neilson.


BBC NEWS | Technology | Hitachi unveils 'fastest robot'

What is in Nescafe instant Cappuccino that makes it frothy when you mix it? Doesn't mention Sodium Bicarbonate on the box...

Read this morning that the US Congress has voted (albeit narrowly) to allow oil exploitation in Alaska's Artic Refuge. The current government's contempt for the environment continues.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Senate backs Alaska oil drilling

An incredible revelation:

"A German historian has claimed in a new book presented on Monday that Nazi scientists successfully tested a tactical nuclear weapon in the last months of World War II."

Doesn't sound like German historians are convinced of this story. I don't doubt that there will be a TV programme on this subject soon

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Hitler 'tested small atom bomb'

TV programme on ITV1 right now echos my concern that the new system intended, at least by the credit card companies, to reduce or eliminate credit card fraud called 'chip and pin' is not as safe as they'd like you to believe. A commentator rightly states that this is the first time that at a location other than a bank, you are expected to put not only your card into a machine but also your PIN number. How do you know that the machine you are putting your card into is legitimate? Once a criminal has read both your magnetic strip (or the little gold chip) and had your PIN number, they can take cash directly off your account using a counterfeit card loaded with that data.

"Software giant Microsoft thinks IPTV - Internet Protocol TV - is the future of television, and it sits neatly with its vision of the 'connected entertainment experience'."

Well I guess they would - they're not making any money out of television at the moment and therefore would be behind any technology that would enable them to do so. As I've said before on this blog, the Internet is not the place for TV signals.

BBC NEWS | Technology | TV's future down the phone line

This is the little chap who's been nicking bird food from our garden recently. We reckon he's a 'left over' from when a previous neighbour kept rabbits - hence rabbit food which was stored in the garage.

Our department's 6-a-side footy team start the season with two wins from two games, beating The Reelers 2-0 on Thursday and Toxsix 1-0 today.

This is precisely why I think Apple's move to Unix for its operating system was a bad move. Under OS9, it was pretty obvious what 90% of the files dotted around your hard disk did and if something went wrong or clashed, you knew where to look to sort things out. Under OS-X, that's no longer the case, as this article highlights:

"Mac OS X has a well-deserved reputation for being reliable. But, when things do go wrong, you may have to traverse some huge potholes to get to the solution. In many cases, even seasoned troubleshooters abandon any attempt to find the true cause of a symptom, ultimately just hoping to get the problem fixed without understanding why the fix worked.

Why is this? The major reason is quite simple: Mac OS X is a very complicated collection of software. The main /System folder alone is over 1 GB and includes thousands of files. Making matters worse, very few people (maybe no one) have even a clue what most of these files actually do. And Apple does not offer much help."

MacFixIt - mac.column.ted: The Trouble with Troubleshooting Mac OS X

Got a funny smell coming from your shiny new G5? Read on...

"Left my beautiful new 17 inch cordless G5 sleeping while I went out for an errand. Two to three hours later, others in house smelled something electrical burning in room where computer was sleeping. Called fire department..."

MacFixIt - iMac G5 power supply problems

"France is in the grip of a one-day general strike, just as Paris hosts a team of inspectors from the International Olympic Committee."

Good timing, French Unions - I guess you're expecting sympathy for your actions? Just hope that some nit from the English bid doesn't say "well, that would never happen on London's Underground".

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Paris strike hits Olympic visit

"BT is starting its push into television with plans to offer TV over broadband."

Aaagh, for goodness sake, why? What possible reason do they have for this? Why clog up the Internet with media that is quite adequately being transmitted by existing means? Why reinvent the wheel?

"It also sees delivering TV over broadband as a way of getting high-definition (HD) content to people sooner than they will be able to get it through conventional, regular broadcasts."

Just how the hell are you going to deliver HDTV over broadband? You can't even deliver current broadcast quality, full screen, full motion video over the highest ADSL speed now.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband set to revolutionise TV

"Bubba To Be Saved

He could have survived two world wars and Prohibition. He also could have been dinner. Bubba is a 22-pound leviathan of a lobster pulled from the waters off Nantucket, Massachusetts, and shipped to a Pittsburgh fish market.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Wholey a letter asking him to work with the group to release Bubba back in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine.

Another group calling itself People For Eating Tasty Animals reportedly offered Wholey a hefty price for the lobster. At Tuesday's price of $14.98 a pound, Bubba would retail for about $350."


Only in America. But I guess no lawyers have gotten involved - at least not yet.

CNN.com - 'Bubba', 22-pound lobster, to be saved

Well, that's a turn up for the books:

"Star Trek campaign 'raises $3m'

A campaign to save Star Trek spin-off show Enterprise says it has received a $3m (£1.6m) donation from anonymous figures in the space flight industry."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Star Trek campaign 'raises $3m'

Another uninspired performance from Northampton Town ended in a very surprsing result this evening. With just 2 minutes of regular time left, Danny Crow chipped the Yeovil goalie to equalise the game at 1-1. I must admit that I'd already left the game but managed to see it as I headed back to the car. The Cobblers were deeply affected by the loss of Scott McGleish who was forced to leave the game early on with a shoulder injury.

Another education story that I missed earlier in the month.

"Lesson cameras training teachers.

Head teacher Philip Harte (St George's comprehensive school in Salford) can monitor teachers via the camera. [He] only has to click a button or move a joystick and the classroom is his.

Whatever he wants to see, he can - the teacher's facial expression, even the writing in a pupil's exercise book."

What's wrong with getting of his arse and going in to the classroom, like our headteachers did when I were a lad? Why the hell does money have to be wasted on technology? Absurd. Perhaps its to get the kids used to living in a police state, with Big Brother constantly monitoring their every move, as they will experience when they leave school?


BBC NEWS | Education | Lesson cameras training teachers

"Ofsted has once again highlighted concerns about pupil behaviour. A fifth of England's secondary schools believe they have a problem with 'gang culture', an Ofsted report suggests."

Is it any wonder after the government has continually erroded teachers' ability to apply discipline? Its all about league tables and statisics these days - there's no apparent concern, at least from ministers, of how 'good' a school really is; about how much the kids are really learning; of what the teachers think.

BBC NEWS | Education | Schools 'in fear of gang culture'

Mark Joseph's 'Lady Lady' slips from the carts after just a single week, mostly due to the pathetic efforts of label 14th Floor Records to actually get the CDs to the shops. People have been queing to buy the single having heard it numerous times on radio, but there's none to be had.

Perhaps they'll make a better job of the second re-release of Mark's album 'Scream' which carries an extra track: a cover of 'Volcano' by Damien Rice.

Perhaps, finally, something is going to be done about the exhorbitant prices the likes of HP, Epson, Canon, etc charge for inkjet printer cartridges. The ink costs more than vintage champagne and a couple of replacement carts can cost more than a new printer - that comes with a pair of carts! How can that even be legal?

A US woman is suing Hewlett Packard (HP), saying its printer ink cartridges are secretly programmed to expire on a certain date.

"'The smart chip is dually engineered to prematurely register ink depletion and to render a cartridge unusable through the use of a built-in expiration date that is not revealed to the consumer,' the suit said."

BBC NEWS | Technology | US woman sues over ink cartridges

Received three of the smallest energy efficient light bulbs I've ever seen today. These are of the 'spiral' type and at a mere 11w give out the equivalent of a normal tungsten 60w bulb. They are quite lightweight too, so one's gone in an Anglepoise, one in a bedside light and the last in the porch. They came from BuyLightsDirect which I'd never heard of but found via a Google search. I ordered a pack of three for a mere £9.99 including VAT and postage (I paid using my new PayPal account), which is way cheaper than anyone else (they've since changed the offer to six bulbs for £15). Nearly all our fittings are now equipped with energy efficient bulbs, and we've also just signed up to have our 18-year-old gas back boiler replaced by a 90% efficient condensing boiler.

From TeleText I find that Mark Joseph's single 'Lady Lady' entered the singles chart today at number 36, so he's achieved his fourth top 40 single. Way to go, that man.

As a dedicated Red Dwarf fan, I really must buy myself a Smeg fridge (when I've won the lottery of course - make sure you're sitting down when you read the price. "The Smeg FAB28VS is a classic 50s style refrigerator packed with 21st century cooling technology."

Pretty sickened by Northampton's performance in their home game against Southend United today. Absurd decisions by the referee didn't help, but it was sheer naff defending that turned our 1-0 lead into a 1-2 defeat. All credit to Southend for keeping the pressure on and improving their game in the second half.

"Star Trek fans have taken out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times in an attempt to persuade TV executives not to scrap Star Trek: Enterprise." I thought this show had already been scrapped some months ago. Its not universally liked by fans, but I think its ok - T'Pol certainly makes it worth watching in my book.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio | Star Trek fans fight to save show

Shiny new CIA big cheese Porter Goss has made a statement on Iraq and terror:

"Insurgents could go on to build transnational cells ... Unrest in Iraq is providing Islamist militants with training and contacts which could be used in new attacks abroad ... the conflict had become a 'cause for extremists'". Yes, that makes sense to me - the militants are no doubt getting a lot of support, and simpathy from outside Iraq.

"It was only a matter of time ... before militant groups like the al-Qaeda network attempted to use weapons of mass destruction". Hang on a minute, now where did that come from? Exactly what WMDs are we talking about here? The ones that don't exist? Or is this just more propaganda to keep the US populace hiding under their beds, perpetuating the climate of fear that got Bush re-elected. Ooooh, scary.

The BBC report says Correspondents say the committee has decided to subject US foreign intelligence to new scrutiny in the hope of avoiding mistakes committed before the war on Iraq. Mistakes like invading a country to persue weapons that didn't exist, or to capture/disrupt terrorists that weren't there either?

It seems pretty obvious to me that the invasion of Iraq in no way made the region, or the world, a safer place and Porter Goss' testimony, somewhat indirectly, supports that sentiment.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | CIA links terror threat to Iraq

Prime Minister Tony Blair stopped off at the Open University today for an interview for Channel 5 News. He took some time to visit our new science building, and I had a word with him on the way there. He noticed I was using a rather old camera (a 6-year-old Kodak DC265) and I told him that it was steam-powered.

More photos here

Neighbour Mark Joseph could hardly wish for more exposure for his new single 'Lady Lady' which was released yesterday. Over the last two days its been played on the two most popular radio programs in the UK, those being Terry Wogan's morning slot and Drive Time (both Radio 2). Its about time Mark got a top 10 hit.

Travelled to Oxford's Kassam Stadium today to see Northampton FC take a much-needed (if we want to stand any chance of promotion) win in pretty dire conditions. A first half, that can only be described as pants, gave way to what turned out to be quite an entertaining game, entertainment value having been added to considerably by the officiating, which can only be described as a joke. Whatever - we won 1-2 which moved us up a place in the League Two table.

My brain having only just recovered from the immense G-forces applied to it by Paul's driving, we then proceed to evening scoff at a very busy TGI Friday's in Northampton.

During the space race, NASA spent millions developing a pen that would work in zero gravity, so that it would write in any orientation. The Russians on the other hand used a pencil. The moral of the story is that technology isn't always the solution.

Photocopiers and identity theft
Apparently many large, industrial photocopiers these days contain hard disks to which the scan of your original is stored before being printed in essentially the same manner as a laser printer. This makes it easier to do back-to-back printing. But users of these machines are often forgetting to (or are unable to) wipe these disks before the machines are swapped out for a newer model. So, think twice before copying your bank or credit card statements when submitting your travel expenses.

"I have seen cases where machines have come in for reconditioning and gone out to a new customer without the hard disc being cleared. The new customer has been able to print out documents," said Trevor Joseph from Sharp.

Computer Weekly | Businesses warned of photocopier data risk

"Ratings show how green cars are.
Cars will be rated via their CO2 emissions. A new scheme is being launched to tell drivers and car buyers how environmentally-friendly vehicles are."

Sorry, but no cars are "environmentally-friendly" - even electric cars use electricity produced from the burning of fossil fuels. This legislation is just more window dressing. These ratings need to be tied to severe financial penalties for those who drive the most polluting vehicles. In fact, I believe the government should go so far as to ban the sale of vehicles with unnecessarily large and polluting engines - they are simply unnecessary on our roads.

BBC NEWS | UK | Ratings show how green cars are

Tuesday, and its time to head home again. Managed to fit in another walk in Bordighera in the morning. Still snow along the autostrada in France - none in Italy.

EasyJet pretty much on time, but the flight was extremely turbulent due to strong head winds - the aircraft was being thrown all over the place. I hate flying.

A mere £2.80 gets me a bus for the 15 miles from Luton to Leighton, but the journey takes nearly and hour and twenty minutes. A Taxi for the last mile or so is £4.00. The flights from Luton to Nice were £33 - how do they manage that?