My mobile phone number migration has finally completed. I noticed that the old phone was displaying an IMEI message yesterday morning, so I could tell they'd started work. By lunchtime, the 'new' phone was able to send texts and make calls, but wouldn't accept incoming calls and couldn't send MMS messages. This morning, all appears to be OK. So, thanks to O2 and Vodafone.

EU blocks green research and funding
UK drivers are being denied grants to help them buy environmentally-friendly [read 'less environmentally damaging'] cars because of legal wrangling by Brussels. Grants of £700-1000 were supposed to have been made available from 1997, but it was found that they broke EU competition rules. Meanwhile researchers have had the funding for five out of six green transport projects blocked by the EU.

Souce: Emma Rubach, The Big Issue.
Technorati tags: green transport grants

"A church is having to pay £1,300 to replace four 80p light bulbs because of new health and safety laws. The EU's 'working at height' directive meant a full risk assessment had to be carried out and a scaffolding tower brought in to reach the bulbs. Parish priest at St Benet's Minster in Beccles, Suffolk, Father Anthony Sutch, said the job used to cost about £200. He said the money - a sixfold increase - could have been better spent on a few lives somewhere else in the world."

Is this the sort of "benefit" Ted Heath could see for Britain when he originally signed us up for Europe? Well-meaning legislation, perhaps, but obviously proposed by someone who has absolutely no thought, or regard, for the consequences.

BBC NEWS | England | Suffolk | Church pays £1,300 to see light
Technorati tags: EU legislation Brussels

The BBC News website is waving the "unprecedented access" flag this morning with another article on the Tornado Squadron at RAF Coningsby mentioned in last night's 10 O'Clock News broadcast. "Scrambling is an adrenalin-charged sprint - unchanged since the Battle of Britain. The fighters are weapons of last resort - fed by intelligence [hopefully a bit better than that which led to the police shooting of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes] and backed up by a huge counter-terrorism operation on the ground."

BBC NEWS | UK | Stark option in frontline terror fight

Must be a 'slow day' for news today. The lead item on BBC's main news programme this evening is a very sensationalist article about an RAF Tornado squadron tasked with intercepting, escorting and, if necessary, shooting down commercial airliners that appear to be acting suspiciously, presented by veteran reporter Brian Hanrahan. The whole thing was so gung-ho, with lots of dramatic commentary and camera work, I could hardly believe my ears - it sounded more like ITV's dire 'Tonight with Trevor Macdonald'. I quite thought Hanrahan was going to quote Churchill. The presenter made much of the fact that the BBC had been given 'exclusive access', as if that should be important to the viewer. And the same news programme finishes with an article about the latest film from director Ang Lee.

A quick survey of people driving with no lights at all in this morning's thick fog reveals most to be women - some taking kids to school. On the other hand, of those driving with just side lights, most were men. Is road safety not an issue to these people? Does it not matter to them if their vehicles are visible to others?

Highway Code section 201: You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced

Northampton 1 Oxford 0

The Cobblers at last won a home game - and ended an 8-game winning streak by League 2 rivals Oxford United on Friday.

Finally gotten around to arranging to have my mobile phone number transferred from my museum-piece Philips C12 on 02 (was BT Cellnet) to a Nokia 6230 on Vodafone. Half the work is finding the numbers you need to call, then going through the spiel from the old provider to jusitfy why you want to move. In the end the numbers I called were:

02 - 08705 214 000
Vodafone - 08080 945945

I hardly use my mobile to make calls, so I only top up with about £10 every three months - just saying that was enough to make the providers realise that a contract was not for me.

"Network Rail in £4bn revamp plan
Network Rail has announced plans for a £4bn ($7bn) upgrade to railway stations across Britain. The company said it planned to redevelop London's Euston, Victoria and Waterloo stations in partnership with companies from the private sector.

Network Rail, which is responsible for the UK's rail infrastructure, said that 50 larger regional stations were also in need of upgrade work. Developers will be involved in the revamp of hundreds of smaller stations."

Wow - investment in the UK's rail network. Whatever next?

BBC NEWS | Business | Network Rail in £4bn revamp plan

"Fire hits Wallace and Gromit sets
Props and sets from the Wallace and Gromit films are believed to have been destroyed in a warehouse blaze. Fire crews were called to Oscar-winning Aardman Animations' Bristol site, which contained the company's 'entire history', a spokesman said. Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park said it was 'dreadful' for the company but comparatively 'not a big deal'."

Rotten news having just successfully launched their latest movie onto the big screen.

BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | Fire hits Wallace and Gromit sets

You have received a new message

Imperia station
Photo uploaded to flickr 6 Oct '05, 9.11am PST by hockeyshooter

We used buses and trains to get from Poggi to Nice Airport. The train journey was just 10 Euros a piece.

More rain means the Alpine Trail is definately not on the cards. Went instead for a long road walk in the wooded hills. Dinner at the same excellent restaurant down by the sea, to have their unique thin pizza filled with a special soft cheese and topped with Parma ham. Lorezno finally lets us pay for his meal.

A very early start as we set off to visit, near Turin, a contact Lorenzo has made in his search for sponsorship for next year's attempt at the summit of Everest. Unfortunately Lorenzo fills the tank of his diesel car with petrol, so we need a hasty visit to the garage to have the tank emptied. Some very nice scenery, spoilt by almost constant rain.

More rain over night and a very dull-looking morning which prevent another journey into the hills. Instead went to the Valloria, AKA the 'Village of the Painted Doors', where nearly ever door is painted by a different artist in a different style (photo gallery coming soon). Revisited small cafe on beach for lunch in the pooring rain - got to test my next-to-non-existant Italian. Mobile phone battery running flat, so no more Flikr photos for a bit.

Rained over night. Late start after another reasonable night's sleep. Visited Lorenzo's GF's tiny and remote village up in the hills. Hunted for wild mushrooms in the woods, but nearly all had already been picked. Collect huge bag of chestnuts instead. Sandwich lunch on return. Mark and I raided the cupboards back at home base to make a passable pasta dinner. Watched Marathon Man (Dustin Hoffman) on DVD - actually a very good movie, with some exceptional cinematography.

Late rise after passable night's sleep - must be getting used to the bells. A few mosquito bites. Second visit to the Orchid Trail above Cervo; visited the church, which is still undergoing restoration, then lunch in the same cafe I've been to on each visit now, watching some of the airshow over the coast. Lorenzo's girlfriend cooked a seafood dinner, which I was unable to do justice to.

You have received a new message

Looking at the Med
Photo uploaded to flickr 1 Oct '05, 1.32pm PST by hockeyshooter

...from the Orchid Trail above Cervo.

You have received a new message

Palm tree
Photo uploaded to flickr 1 Oct '05, 1.28pm PST by hockeyshooter

...in coastal town of Imperia.

Spent most of the day in the coastal town of Imperia. Explored the old town and harbour and walked back up the hill to Poggi. Went with Lorenzo's girl friend to a 'fixed menu' restaurant in an old water mill - many and varied dishes including wild boar salami. Avoided the snails, though. Plenty of outstanding local white wine.

You have received a new message

Imperia
Photo uploaded to flickr 30 Sep '05, 3.59pm PST by hockeyshooter

Sadly this good weather did not last and we had rain over the last three days.

You have received a new message

Cloisters
Photo uploaded to flickr 30 Sep '05, 3.57pm PST by hockeyshooter

Imperia.

You have received a new message

Cat
Photo uploaded to flickr 30 Sep '05, 12.03pm PST by hockeyshooter

You can't go anywhere in Italy without encountering cats.

You have received a new message

View from the roof...
Photo uploaded to flickr 30 Sep '05, 7.56am PST by hockeyshooter

...of the house we were staying in in the tiny village of Poggi, just up from Imperia.

Worrying start to our Italian holiday as the half-hourly bus to Luton Airport fails to appear - twice (thanks for nothing, Arriva). Fortunately were able to get a lift instead. easyJet flight was ok (I don't like flying) and although takeoff was 1/2 hour late, made up some time during flight. Dinner at the very nice restaurant in Cervezza above Poggi - mostly sea food. Poor night's sleep, mostly due to the two nearby churches chiming on the half hour.

Another pathetic performance from the Cobblers gave Cheltenham three points at Northampton today. Although we had a good percentage of the possession in the first half, we were never much of a threat, and the second half, where most of the time we were 1-2 down, was even worse. Methinks the days of manager Colin Calderwood must be numbered.

Capital punishment claim 'absurd'
The home secretary has described as 'absurd' claims the shooting of [innocent Brazilian] Jean Charles de Menezes amounted to a form of 'capital punishment'. Labour's Ann Cryer said MPs had voted against capital punishment and been unaware of 'a policy under certain circumstances deliberately to kill'.

But Charles Clarke said, in replying to those comments on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think that comparison is completely absurd... The shoot to kill policy simply does not exist - there is no such thing.'"

That's strange because I was sure the MET commissioner confirmed, on television, that such a policy did exist and that it had been suspended as a result of the shooting.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Capital punishment claim 'absurd'

Suspicious behaviour on the tube
A London underground station was evacuated and part of a main east-west line closed in a security alert on Thursday, three weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 people on the transport network, police said. This Reuters story was written while the police were detaining me [Guardian writer David Mery] in Southwark tube station and the bomb squad was checking my rucksack. When they were through, the two explosive specialists walked out of the tube station smiling and commenting: 'Nice laptop.' The officers offered apologies on behalf of the Metropolitan police. Then they arrested me..."

Its worth reading the whole of this article, especially if you're one of the sheep that keep bleeting "if you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem?". All the guy was doing was going home from work. It goes to show how much our civil liberties have already been eroded in the wake of Iraq and the London bombings - just think how much more they would be if Home Secretary Charles Clarke had a free reign?

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Suspicious behaviour on the tube

"...a survey by Lawrence & Giles found that, of the 15 terabytes of data that made up the estimated 800 million pages of the publicly indexable Web in February 1999, only 6 terabytes (40%) contained useful text after removing HTML tags, comments, and white space."

Proof, if it were ever needed, that most of what's on the web really is junk.

Articles: Metadata and the World Wide Web

Do search engines represent an invasion of your privacy? Do you know if the company you use to run your web searches store the information you enter, or the URLs of the pages you choose to visit, together with your IP address, so they can build up a profile of what you're interested in? Supposing you conduct a number of searches, using the computer in your office, to get information about a particular debilitating disease, say MS or AIDS. The fact that you've done those searches could well be of interest, and value, to your employer, or your life insurance company. Is there anything to prevent the search company from selling that information on? And what about search companies that are hosted in other countries? Are those companies obliged to pass on the terms and/or results of your searches to the Government of those countries?

Do you ever read the small print on your favoured search engine's website? Perhaps you might like to do so now?
Technorati tags: search engines privacy civil liberty

"Passengers saw landing drama unfold on TV
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The airliner circled Southern California for hours, crippled by a faulty landing gear, while inside its cabin 140 passengers watched their own life-and-death drama unfolding on live television.

While satellite TV sets aboard JetBlue Flight 292 were tuned to news broadcasts, some passengers cried. Others tried to telephone relatives and one woman sent a text message to her mother in Florida attempting to comfort her in the event she died. 'It was very weird. It would've been so much calmer without the televisions', Pia Varma of Los Angeles said after the plane skidded to a safe landing Wednesday evening in a stream of sparks and burning tires. No one was hurt."

The nose gear had come down with the wheels locked at 90 degrees to their proper position, so when the A320 Airbus finally touched down, the tyres were instantly shredded and the poor thing scraped along on metal. Scary stuff - but it goes to show how well built modern jets are - and how good the crew are at dealing with problems. I'm off to Italy next week - and I don't like flying one little bit!

CNN.com - Passengers saw landing drama unfold on TV - Sep 22, 2005

"Cow dung for the climate
A model biogas project is creating a win-win situation for rural Nepalese, the industrialised world and the atmosphere. The scheme recently won the renowned Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy and is already being replicated in some Asian and African countries.

It is calculated that gas generated from cattle dung in rural Nepal has lit around 140,000 kitchens, saving 400,000 tonnes of firewood, 800,000 litres of kerosene and preventing 600,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from escaping into the atmosphere."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Cow dung for the climate
Technorati tags: biofuel climate renewable energy

"Aviation 'huge threat to CO2 aim'
If the rapid growth in air travel is not curbed UK households and businesses will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero, a report has warned. The action is needed if the government aim of reducing emissions by 60% before 2050 is to be met, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research argues. It says ignoring aviation has led to a 'serious underestimation' of what is needed to combat climate change. Ministers say UK air passenger numbers will rise from 180m to 475m by 2030."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Aviation 'huge threat to CO2 aim'
Technorati tags: aviation fuel environment climate change

Strange, don't you think, that petrol prices are going down today when at the same time, oil has reached another price-per-barrel record?

"Killer 'triple burp' of methane caused massive global warming
Open University researchers have uncovered startling new evidence about an extreme period of a sudden, fatal dose of global warming some 180 million years ago during the time of the dinosaurs. The scientists' findings could provide vital clues about climate change happening today and in the future. The OU Department of Earth Sciences team, PhD student Dave Kemp and supervisors Drs. Angela Coe and Anthony Cohen, along with Dr. Lorenz Schwark of the University of Cologne, discovered evidence suggesting that vast amounts of methane gas were released to the atmosphere in three massive 'methane burps' or pulses. The research done by The Open University scientists is published in full by Nature magazine on 15 September 2005."

OU News Releases | Methane burp
Technorati tags: methane global warming environment

"Google unveils blog search site
Google has unveiled a website that lets people search web journals or blogs. The database behind the search site will index all weblogs not just the ones published on the Google-owned blog writing site Blogger."

There are already some search engines, or at least index or tag searches (like Technorati) specifically aimed at blogs, but this tool may well take over.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google unveils blog search site

"How To Speed Up Firefox
Here's something for broadband people that will really speed Firefox up..."

I've not found Firefox particularly slow myself, but obviously some people have, and the suggested changes are easy to make.

How To Speed Up Firefox

"German minister raps car industry
German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin has condemned his country's carmakers for making 'gas-guzzlers' that no-one wants to buy. Speaking to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Mr Trittin urged carmakers to produce more fuel-saving cars. In the past, the member of the environmentalist Green Party has pressed car companies to adopt stricter environmental standards. His comments came as German luxury car firm Porsche announced record sales."

Well said, that man, but I am surprised he can say "no-one wants to buy" and "Porsche" in the same speech since there is a waiting list for the new Boxster. Instead, why not target Mercedes for making 5.5-litre cars that return as little as 19.1 mpg overall, and just 12.2mpg in city driving (figures from Mercedes own website)?

BBC NEWS | Business | German minister raps car industry

"Petrol fuels rise in UK inflation
Rising petrol prices drove inflation higher in August, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have shown. UK consumer price index (CPI) inflation rose to 2.4% in August from 2.3% in July, the highest level since current records [meaning the current way they make up this figure] began eight years ago. It is the second month running that inflation has been higher than the 2% target set by the government."

Strange that petrol at all my local stations has gone up around 4% in just one week, and yet the official inflation figure only goes up 0.1% in a month. Considering pretty much everything we buy is delivered using petrol, that doesn't really stand up, does it?

BBC NEWS | Business | Petrol fuels rise in UK inflation

I'd not heard of this before. Just goes to show quite a few Americans don't share Bush gung-ho attitude.



Photo above shows "Santa Monica beach, just up from the posh, affluent Malibu (where, incidentally, you can get a great Caesar salad ..... in the McDonalds!! :)) I was quite amazed that they were allowed to do this. ... hundreds of crosses, covering a large part of the beach. Each cross represents one American life lost in Iraq. Another plaque tells you, 'if we were to acknowledge the number of Iraqi deaths, the crosses would fill this entire beach'. There's a coffin draped in the stars 'n' stripes, which a couple people 'stand guard' over, while a woman stands there, reading out their names." Frances Foot

"Debt insurance being 'mis-sold'
Payment protection insurance is available on credit cards and loans
Banks and insurers have been accused by Citizens Advice of mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI). PPI is designed to help people repay personal loans or credit card debt if they fall ill or lose their jobs. But charity Citizens Advice said PPI is expensive, often sold to people who do not need it and regularly excludes common reasons for making a claim. The charity is to lodge a "super complaint" with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over the £5bn industry.

Citizens Advice said that 85% of its clients who had claimed on one of the policies had been unsuccessful, despite the industry claiming that just 15% of claims are turned down."

Breakfast News this morning featured a woman who had been sold PPI by her bank on a loan she was given because she'd just been made redundant. A year or so later, when she comes to claim because she has fallen ill, the bank says she can't claim because she is unemployed. So they knowingly mis-sold the insurance in the first place. And people wonder how the high street banks make their billions of pounds of profit.

BBC NEWS | Business | Debt insurance being 'mis-sold'

Not at all sure I want to bother going to see the Cobblers play away to Rushden the week after next. In fact I have to consider whether I want to even go to home games, unless changes are made to the team. Its a 62 mile round trip on top of what I've already paid, to be rewarded with such a pathetic performance [Northampton 1 - Bury 1]. Bringing Eric Sabin on in the second have could have made a lot of difference, brought a bit more enthusiasm back into the team, but we go and sell him [to Oxford - where he scored in his debut game] just as Calderwood realises we're not scoring enough goals.

"Sydney premiere for Gromit movie
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the first feature-length movie starring cartoon heroes Wallace and Gromit, received its world premiere on Sunday in Sydney."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Sydney premiere for Gromit movie

The trailer is well worth watching but be prepared to laugh out loud.

"Autumn drought fears prompt talks
All residents are urged to continue saving water during the autumn
The prospect of low autumn rainfall has led to talks between four water firms and West Sussex County Council. Drought has tightened its grip on the whole of the South - and particularly in Kent and Sussex - after 10 consecutive months of low rainfall."

And the dipstick that is Prescott, deputy Prime Minister, still wants to build hundreds of thousands of houses in the South East.

BBC NEWS | England | Autumn drought fears prompt talks

Pants performance by England last night in the World Cup qualifier away to Northern Ireland. Rooney being an idiot again, lucky to not get sent off.

I completely missed the freestyle competition on Sunday, but young Lee Stone put on a little show of his own in the afternoon, having won the title of UK Champion.

Technorati tags: freestyle jetski photos

Just blogging this as its a brilliant site:
The Rocking Vicar

Willen Lake, just up the road from me in Milton Keynes, is hosting Round 6 of the UK National Jetski Championships this weekend and I was there this afternoon to get some shots. Weather was warm but sunshine unreliable, which certain affected the results. Will be back there tomorrow, where six of the UK's top freestyle riders will be performing.

Technorati tags: jetski photos

"Bolton thumbs nose at UN Millennium Goals
In his first official act as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton has already fulfilled his critics’ worst fears by delivering what many say may be a fatal blow to the United Nations World Summit.

Emblematic of the changes made was Bolton’s deletion of the phrase 'respect for nature' from the statement’s enumeration of core values and principles like human dignity and equality.

Also dropped from the U.S. version are commitments to uphold the International Criminal Court and the Kyoto Protocol, as well as any talk of nuclear disarmament by the world’s five nuclear powers. Bolton’s document eliminates the use of the word 'disarmament' and all references to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would ban any nation from testing nuclear weapons."

Now, why am I not in the least bit surprised by this?

People's Weekly World Newspaper Online - Bolton thumbs nose at UN Millennium Goals

Welwyn vs Northampton

The Cobblers were very lucky to go away from Friday evening's match with a point, having been reduced to 10 men by a somewhat strange refereeing decision. Northampton scored first with the Welwyn goalie mishandling the ball, which just rolled into the net behind him. Welwyn equalised about midway through the second half. The Cobblers are now down to a single striker in Scott Mcgleish, having lost Eric Sabin to Oxford United, and with Andy Kirk currently on the injury list.

"UK, China in cleaner power plan
Britain and the EU will next week announce plans to hand China the technology for a power station designed to combat climate change. The coal plant will capture its own emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and bury them in porous rock measures underground."

Interesting story. This is exactly the kind of technology-sharing Bush was so recently hailing as a 'breakthrough' - except without all the hoo-ha and flag-waving - we just got on and did it.

BBC NEWS | UK | UK, China in cleaner power plan
Technorati tags:environment carbon sequestration technology sharing

Just made a movie from an 1999 DV recording of ice hockey in Milton Keynes, digitised from a Sony TRV900 using Movie Maker 2 on my HP nx6110 laptop and encoded to .3GP using some shareware thingy for playback on mobile phones. The file is 428Kb, at just over a minute long. Sorry that its rather loud!

http://www.hockeyphotos.com/icehockey.3gp

Just to outline how absurd some of the legislation brought in during the current Government's term has got, here's a story I heard today regarding 'health and safety'. A local company was contracted to install some blinds at a detention centre for asylum seekers. Having completed part of the job, they were contacted by a 'health and safety' officer, who said "you've installed these blinds using PoziDrive screws". "So", the installer replies, "what's the problem?" Mr.H&S replies "the inmates might remove them and use them as weapons". So, would you sooner be attacked by someone with a screwdriver, or a set of window blinds? Lets think - which would make a handier weapon...?

"Energy price rise for six million
The company's domestic electricity charges are going up by seven percent and its gas charges are rising by 12%. Powergen announced the increases - adding £52 a year to a typical 'dual fuel' bill - in July, blaming large rises in the wholesale price of energy. British Gas has previously warned that its gas prices may rise too by a further 15% in the coming months."

Of course your bills will only go up if you use the same amount of energy as you are using now. I you use this as an incentive to use less energy, you'll save money.

Will the chancellor choose to ignore these price hikes for his next calculation of inflation, I wonder? Everything seems to be going up at least 12% and yet inflation gets reported as only about 2%. Now why is that, I wonder? Is it just to con the public, to make them think the chancellor and the government are doing a good job? Or is there a more sinister reason - related to the fact that interest paid on the billions people have invested in National Savings is derrived from the official figure for inflation...?

BBC NEWS | Business | Energy price rise for six million
Technorati tags: domestic energy price rises

"House prices down again in August
House prices fell again in August, with the interest rate cut at the start of the month appearing to do little to revive the marketplace, figures show. The average cost of a property in England and Wales fell by 0.1% in August, according to property website Hometrack. Prices fell by 0.2% in July.

'House prices have failed to respond to the recent interest rate cut and continue their stagnating negative trend, which has now gone on for well over a year,' said Hometrack's housing economist John Wriglesworth. 'While transactions have picked up a little this month, a further reduction in new buyers and a further increase in supply suggests no prospect of price rises in the near future.'"

Could it be, I wonder, because houses are too expensive?

BBC NEWS | Business | House prices down again in August

"Creative wins MP3 player patent
One of Apple's main rivals, Creative Technology, has been awarded a patent for the interface used on many digital music players. Creative said the patent applied to its players, as well as some competing products such as the Apple's iPod and iPod mini."

This sounds like another one of those patents awarded by some judge who doesn't understand the concept or the technology. At the end of the day, its a patent on such a blatantly obvious concept that its pretty hard to think of any other way of doing this. Its basically a patent on the idea of a menu each for 'artist', followed by 'album', followed by 'track'. Isn't that the way CD players have worked since they were invented - years before MP3 was even thought of?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Creative wins MP3 player patent

After today's 3-2 victory over Boston United, Northampton coach Colin Colderwood paid "tribute to effort, commitment and determination". Were you actually watching the same game as us, Colin? We very nearly lost that game, we sat back so much. Why is it we always do that? Goal difference can count, you know. We should be burying these teams.

Bought a second D-Link DBT-120 via eBay to use with my HP nx6110 laptop (also bought via eBay) and have spent nearly all of today trying, and so far failing, to get it to work under XP Home SP2. On the other hand, plugged it into my at-least-5-year-old Apple G3 Powerbook, with OS X 10.3, and its working and browsing the files on my Nokia 6230 mobile phone in less than five minutes. Bluetooth support was supposed to have been improved by SP2 - obviously a new definition of the word 'improved' with which I am not familiar...

Technorati tags: bluetooth dongle windows.xp

"Action demanded on Menezes probe
An inquiry into the leak of findings about the death of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes has been demanded."

This is pathetic. If there's anything that deserves an inquiry its the killing itself, not a stupid leak to the media. For goodness sake, Clarke, get a grip.

BBC NEWS | UK | Action demanded on Menezes probe

"US states bypass Bush to tackle greenhouse gas emissions
America's north-eastern states are on the brink of a declaration of environmental independence with the introduction of mandatory controls on greenhouse gas emissions of the kind rejected by the Bush administration."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US states bypass Bush to tackle greenhouse gas emissions

And...

"9 States in Plan to Cut Emissions by Power Plants
Officials in New York and eight other Northeastern states have come to a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020, according to a confidential draft proposal."

9 States in Plan to Cut Emissions by Power Plants - New York Times

Further indications that the 'Texan village idiot' is now more widely ignored in his own country when it comes to actually doing something about the environment.
Technorati tags: greenhouse emissions environment

Northampton vs QPR, Carling Cup, 23 August 2005

Northampton Town played QPR in the first round of the Carling Cup last night and to the amazement of the 4500-strong crowd managed to beat them 3-0. Goals from Andy Kirk (defensive error) and Scott McGleish (overhead kick) were followed by a penalty from Eric Sabin shortly before full time. Mark Bunn had his first full game in goal for the Cobblers and did a very credible job.

There's more to inkjet printer cartridge recycling than meets the eye. Printer manufacturers make big money out of these little things - where the ink costs around £1000 a litre, more than the most expensive vintage champagne - so they don't like other companies refilling their cartridges and selling them at half the price (or less). In response, Epson fit little chips to them, and you'll find, if you look into sending cartridges off for recycling, that they often won't accept Epson cartridges and as a result, more plastic goes into landfill.

And to make matters worse, recent EU legislation called the "waste electrical and electronic equipment directive" has been incorrectly interpreted by the UK Government which might mean a massive rise in the price of recycled/refilled cartridges.

"£150m printer ink refill industry 'under threat'
"Prices of printer ink and toner cartridges will rise by £10 to £50 and the industry that recycles them will be wiped out because of the way the Government has chosen to apply a new EU law, ministers have been told. Industry sources are likening the Government's handling of the EU waste electrical and electronic equipment directive, which comes in next year, to the "fridge fiasco". In that case the Department of Trade and Industry inadvertently closed down an industry that sent refurbished fridges to Africa. The companies say the Government's interpretation of a new EU law will force them to close and mean an extra 20,000 tons of waste going to landfill each year. They have accused the Department of Trade and Industry of being too influenced by the big printer manufacturers which make huge profits by selling printers cheaply and cartridges at relatively high prices. This practice was criticised in a report by the Office of Fair Trading last year.

The point at issue is whether an ink cartridge is a "consumable", like a piece of bread in a toaster or a bus ticket, or a piece of waste electrical equipment, which the European directive requires to be recycled or re-used. When the directive was passing through the European Parliament last year, MEPs inserted last-minute changes which they thought prevented manufacturers from inserting chips to prevent ink and toner cartridges from being refilled and re-used. The DTI is considering how to turn this EU legislation into British law by the middle of next year. It has told industry that it takes the view that printer cartridges are consumables and not covered by the new directive."


Charles Clover, Environment Editor, Daily Telegraph, 26/05/2003
Technorati tags: inkjet cartridge recycling

"'Piano Man' discharged from care
The so-called Piano Man found wandering in April has been released from hospital after his condition improved.

On Monday the German foreign ministry confirmed the 20-year-old man, who has not been named, was from Bavaria and had flown home on Saturday. It was reported that health and social workers said they were 'stunned' when he proceeded to give them a virtuoso performance. However, newspaper reports now suggest he was only able to play one note continuously."

Perhaps thats just journalists doing some of their typical "build 'em up then shoot 'em down" nonsense?

BBC NEWS | England | Kent | 'Piano Man' discharged from care

Shots from Sunday's Luton and District MCC motocross meeting at Old Park Farm, Toddington are now up on my sports photos website.

Have a butchers at my neighbour's photo website: | Terrography.com | Glenelg Galleries |

Sunset

Sunset
Photo uploaded to flickr 19 Aug '05, 8.14pm PST by hockeyshooter

An impressive sunset this evening, captured by my Nokia 6230.

One of the ink cartridges in my HP 2510 all-in-one inkjet has finally run out (that's lasted a good few months - much longer than the Epson I was using before). Inside the box of the replacement is an envelope I can use to post the used one back to HP for recycling. For all I know they might just refill it and resell it - not that I'd have anything against that since it would be better to reuse rather than recycle it. But its post paid, airmail, to France - not exactly environmentally-friendly, methinks, to fly it to France. So its going to get put in a recycle bin next time I go to Staples instead.
Technorati Tags: inkjet cartridge recycling

The first episode of a new eight-part series aimed at reducing the waste we produce in our homes was aired this evening. They must have found the most wasteful family in the country - among other crimes against the environment there were regularly committing was having their heating on all the time, with the thermostat set to 28 deg.C! The family were wasting about £10000 a year on energy and food.

BBC - Homes - TV and radio - No Waste Like Home

Excellent spoof site on one of the UK Government's recent attempts to panic the great unwashed:

"Welcome to the Preparing for Emergencies website
In an effort to worry the public and convince them to vote for us again next year, and because George Bush asked us to, this website includes the common sense advice found in the Preparing for Emergencies booklet, and information on what the government is doing to protect the country as a whole. (Hint: we're praying really, really hard.) National editions of the booklet will be available here when we can be arsed to get translators to put them into your crazy moon languages."

Preparing for Emergencies - Homepage

Having forked out $40 for Missing Sync from Mark/Space to get my iCal calendar synchronised with my Outlook 2002 calendar at home, I found that synchronisation was impossible via Bluetooth. A quick Google search threw up the following solution:

Missing Sync - Bluetooth troubles
About a week ago, I got myself a new toy running Windows Mobile 2003. Since Microsoft decided the current standards in PIM synchronisation weren’t good enough for them, and came up with the ActiveSync protocol stack which, of course, is only available for Microsoft Windows, I had to go out and buy a software product to get this done on my Mac. I chose Markspace’s Missing Sync. I had a lot of trouble getting bluetooth synchronisation to work. I paired my phone with my Mac, and hit 'connect via Bluetooth' in the PDA’s ActiveSync utility, but then it would just say 'Opening Port' and hang there forever. On my Mac, I could see the device get connected, but that was just about it."


Although Michel is using 10.4 the same solution applies to 10.3 - its just that you have to use a separate application called "Bluetooth Serial Utility" in order to make the changes to the Bluetooth 'serial' port from modem to RS-232.

Michel's Exhaust | Missing Sync - Bluetooth troubles
Technorati Tags: iCal outlook iPAQ calendar

Clematis

Clematis
Photo uploaded to flickr 17 Aug '05, 1.34pm PST by hockeyshooter

We've not had much success with clematis on the front of our house (which faces West). These plants have been in a good five years or so, but this is the most flowers we've had at any one time. I do water them regularly. Maybe the rather sandy soil is not right for them?

"Minister backs A-level standards
The government has defended A-level examinations against claims that it is becoming easier to achieve good grades. Education minister Lord Adonis told BBC Radio 4's Today programme standards had been maintained and brighter students were now being 'stretched' further. Last year's pass A-level rate was 96%, but this is expected to rise to 97% when 265,000 students receive their results on Thursday."

By 2008, everyone will pass. So there will be no point in setting the exams. And no point in studying for two years. So sixth formers might as well just take two years off and we give them the A levels anyway.

BBC NEWS | Education | Minister backs A-level standards

"Leak disputes Menezes death story
Leaked documents appear to contradict the official account of how police mistook a Brazilian man for a suicide bomber and shot him. The documents, from the probe into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes and leaked to ITV news, suggest the he was restrained before shot by officers [I think we already knew this]. The documents, including witness statements, also suggest Mr de Menezes did not hurdle the barrier at Stockwell tube station, as first reports previously suggested, and was not wearing a padded jacket that could have concealed a bomb. The latest documents suggest Mr de Menezes had walked into Stockwell Tube station, picked up a free newspaper, walked through ticket barriers, had started to run when he saw a train arriving and was sitting down in a train when he was shot."

What's the betting that not one police officer will be prosecuted over this? But I do think the MET commissioner should resign, as all along he has condoned the officers' actions.

BBC NEWS | UK | Leak disputes Menezes death story

My very-nearly-new HP nx6110 laptop arrived today and I've been setting it up. I've not owned an XP machine before and frankly would rather have 2000, but that's what the machine came with. Setting up has been quite a long procedure, and you get the feeling the software is trying just that little too hard to be helpful. Got the wireless networking to work, although entering the encryption key is a bit of a pain, plus I had to find its Mac address (which isn't printed anywhere) to enter into the Netgear router.

The machine is very nicely made, well put together and easy to use, although the mouse buttons seem a little cheap with too much movement. I also disabled the 'tap' feature on the mousepad as it was way too sensitive - I really must get a USB mouse for it. It has a multi-format flash card reader which seems to take everything other than the most common type - compact flash - which is, of course, what I use. But my old PCMCIA adaptor works, plus there is a firewire socket too, so with the right cable (4-pin to 6-pin) I should be able to plug my Canon EOS1D straight into it.

Next job is to up the RAM to at least 768Mb, perhaps even 2Gb if I can find a couple of 1Gb modules at a realistic price.

"Drought Threatens Crops and Shuts River in Midwest
CHICAGO, Aug. 14 - Rick and Rhonda Richards drove two and a half hours last Monday from Nashville to Metropolis, Ill., to hit the slot machines there, only to find that Harrah's riverboat casino had closed two nights before for the most unexpected of reasons: low water levels on the Ohio River. A drought ravaging parts of the Midwest this summer had left the boat nearly on the river bottom, making it difficult to board and disembark.

As the worst drought since 1988 has deepened across parts of the Midwest, low-water levels are doing more than just inconveniencing gamblers. They are turning parts of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers into virtual sandbars, causing towboats and barges to run aground and delaying shipments of petroleum products, coal, chemicals, agricultural goods and road-paving materials.

The delays are threatening construction projects throughout the region, and the higher transportation costs could ultimately make this year's harvest of corn and other crops too expensive for some international markets, commodity analysts and barge-shipping officials said.

Meanwhile, crops have suffered in the relentless sun. In its report on Friday, the Agriculture Department said it expected corn yields to be lower this year in 29 of 33 corn states, with the largest decreases in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. Soybean yields are also lower than last year, especially in Illinois and Missouri."

So the reason Bush gives for not signing the Kyoto Protocol is that it "might harm the economy". Surely environmental change is already doing just that?

Drought Threatens Crops and Shuts River in Midwest - New York Times

"US trade gap widens as oil soars
The US trade deficit widened by 6.1% in June to $58.8bn (£32.5bn), as the soaring cost of oil boosted imports to the world's biggest economy."

But instead of saying "lets all try to use less oil" Bush will continue to show his complete contempt for the environment (even that of his own country) by drilling extra wells in places like the Alaskan national parks. You're the reason, Mr.President, that oil prices are so high in the first place - you've made the world, and especially the Middle East, less stable.

BBC NEWS | Business | US trade gap widens as oil soars

"Actress Barbara Bel Geddes, best known for her role playing Miss Ellie in TV soap opera Dallas, has died at her home in Maine aged 82."

We used to watch Dallas almost religiously, although not quite to the extent that Terry Wogan used to go on about it on the radio.

BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | Barbara Bel Geddes: Your tributes

Audioscrobbler is still not working, after at least a week of their system not accepting data from music players like iTunes. The website has been redesigned and the URL has become last.fm, but there's nothing on the (extremely slow) front page to indicate that the client software needs to be reconfigured. The project now smacks of commercialism.

"A European Sahara?
The great desert has leaped over the Med. Is climate change to blame—or man and his works?"

Another excellent article from Newsweek portraying a worrying future for much of Europe.

A European Sahara? - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com

Technorati Tags: environment climate Europe heatwave

"House prices too high - Prescott
John Prescott said the price of houses in Britain is too high except for people already on the property ladder. The deputy prime minister was speaking as he unveiled the next stage of his plan for £60,000 starter homes."

Tell us (non-home owners) something we don't know. We've been simply priced out of owning a house. But if the government had stepped in sooner, to control the runaway prices, we wouldn't have this situation. Was there any reason why they didn't? Perhaps there was an election coming up?

BBC NEWS | Politics | House prices too high - Prescott

"Discovery returns safely to Earth
The crew of the shuttle Discovery has touched down successfully in California after the first mission since 2003's Columbia disaster. Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base at around 1312 BST (0512 PST; 1212 GMT) after bad weather forced a change to the intended Florida landing site."

Welcome home, folks. Surprised me that they chose a night-time landing.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Discovery returns safely to Earth

Can't say that I was particularly impressed with The Cobblers' performance against Lincoln City in their first League Two game on Saturday. That was a long way to drive to see the team throw away a lead yet again - I was hoping that we had left tactics like that behind us. Credit is due to Lincoln as we completely dominated the first half and the first 10 minues or so of the second. We went 0-1 up but they didn't give up. Their equaliser was one of those silly, scrappy goal mouth efforts which we always conceed because none of our defenders seem capable of any control of the ball when they try to clear it.

First home game is against Boston on Tuesday night - I expect a big improvement - and a win.

"Ethics issue for citizen snappers
Budding amateur photographers and citizen journalists should not be tempted to become star stalkers says the founder of an amateur photo agency. Kyle MacRae, whose agency Scoopt represents mobile snappers so they get paid for their work, said there are serious ethical issues at stake."

Its good that someone has finally seen that members of the public should be represented by an agency when they submit their images.

"Following the London bomb attacks and Asian tsunami, news outlets have been keen to exploit mobile snaps and video."

'Exploit' being the operative word here.

"Such hazy snaps usually taken by amateurs who witness events before they hit the headlines are proving valuable to traditional news organisations."

For 'valuable' read 'free'.

"Although Mr MacRae is passionate about the potential impact witness or citizen journalists can have in changing what becomes newsworthy, he said that should not mean people go out deliberately searching for that elusive scoop. This week, the Chartered Institute of Journalists also warned news organisations against actively encouraging people to do that, adding that people should be paid for their contributions too."

Finally.

"'The BBC News site does not anticipate paying for these contributions,' said editor Pete Clifton. 'My feeling is that the vast majority of people simply want to join in our newsgathering process and nobody has been talking in terms of making money when contacting us. If people can make money then good luck to them.'"

Well, I think that's pretty sad. And exploitative. As I've said on here before, I'm certain that if people read the small print, they'd think twice about submitting.

Having said all that - you should read the full terms and conditions on the Scoopt website. Not for the feint of heart.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Ethics issue for citizen snappers

"Art prankster sprays Israeli wall
Secretive 'guerrilla' artist Banksy has decorated Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. The nine paintings were created on the Palestinian side of the barrier. One depicts a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side."

Superb.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Art prankster sprays Israeli wall

"NYPD clarifies bomb disclosures
New York police insist they were right to release details of the bombs that killed 56 people in London, even though they had not been vetted by UK police. Deputy NYPD commissioner Paul Browne said commissioner Raymond Kelly was right to include details of the devices in a briefing for security experts. But Mr Browne said he regretted making an erroneous statement saying the details had been cleared by the Met."

No apologies, then, for any affect you might have had on the investigations and prosecutions in this country?

BBC NEWS | UK | NYPD clarifies bomb disclosures

The unofficial website of The Sweeney is back on the streets, so loosen your tie, pour yourself a scotch and tell yer bird to shut it.

This is one website I am very glad to see back on the web.

THE SWEENEY - Unofficial Web Site | back on the streets

Technorati tags: classic.british.tv

"Vicar stunned by sermon surfers
Thousands of people have downloaded a Suffolk vicar's sermons after he posted them on the internet last month. The Rev Leonard Payne, Vicar of St Nicholas' Church in Wrentham, said the response had been overwhelming after he posted them on the Apple iTune store."

This is, of course, podcasting.

BBC NEWS | England | Suffolk | Vicar stunned by sermon surfers

"Galloway praises Iraq 'martyrs'
MP George Galloway is being accused of putting UK troops at risk after calling insurgents in Iraq 'martyrs'. During a tour of the Middle East, Mr Galloway spoke of 'poor Iraqis' using the most basic weapons to write the names of their towns 'in the stars'. Any loss of civilian life is profoundly wrong, says the party, but it blames the US-UK coalition for turning Iraq into a war zone by their invasion. Mr Galloway claimed the insurgents were ordinary Iraqis defending their country against 'foreign invaders'."

Sorry, George, but these insurgents show absolutely no respect for the lives of the their own countrymen, having killed thousands in attacks that plainly show no regard for life whatsoever. If they think they are following their faith by such actions, they are very misguided. But as for the comment by Falkirk MP Mr Joyce that "...British troops at greater risk..." I think that's tosh.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Galloway praises Iraq 'martyrs'

"London bombs 'set off by mobiles'
The bombs that killed 56 people in London on 7 July were probably detonated using mobile phones [used as alarm clocks], New York police officials have said. They were made in Leeds from household chemicals like hair bleach and stored in a powerful refrigerator, they said. Commissioner Ray Kelly was briefing New York security industry bosses on information given to NYPD officers monitoring the investigation in London. Scotland Yard has refused to comment on the US claims. The NYPD said UK authorities were happy for them to release details."

Sounds like another unauthorised leak to me. If Scotland Yard wanted this information made public, I hardly think they'd be using the NYPD as their press agents.

BBC NEWS | UK | London bombs 'set off by mobiles'

Green credentials

Green credentials
Photo uploaded to flickr 4 Aug '05, 9.16am PST by hockeyshooter

I've just taken a set of photos to illustrate some of the steps we've taken to make our household a little more respectful to the environment. I also drive a small car, with a small engine, and car share.


Technorati tags: green.credentials

"Bad to the Last Drop
IT'S summertime, and odds are that at some point during your day you'll reach for a nice cold bottle of water.

Bottled water is undeniably more fashionable and portable than tap water. The practice of carrying a small bottle, pioneered by supermodels, has become commonplace."

Here's someone who agrees with me that bottled water is illogical (since hardly anyone can tell the difference between it and tap water), environmentally damaging (with all the transport, refrigeration and waste plastic bottles going into landfill) and insulting (to the millions of people in the world who don't have drinkable tap water - or even any taps at all).

"Clean water could be provided to everyone on earth for an outlay of $1.7 billion a year beyond current spending on water projects, according to the International Water Management Institute. Improving sanitation, which is just as important, would cost a further $9.3 billion per year. This is less than a quarter of global annual spending on bottled water."

Bad to the Last Drop - New York Times

An interesting site on sustainability at a domestic level in action in a house in Oxford, England.

The Yellow House

"Sustainable Energy from Greenhouse Gases
Coal Mine Methane (CMM), a hazardous waste escaping to atmosphere from abandoned coalmines, has a Global Warming Potential ('GWP') 23 times greater than carbon dioxide. In the UK, this gas, seeping into the air from up to 1,000 abandoned mines, is estimated to contribute as much as 13 mtpa of carbon dioxide equivalent to the atmosphere. The capture and use of this potent greenhouse gas as a sustainable energy resource, whether from landfill sites or abandoned coalmines, not only reduces emissions by a factor of 87% but also substitutes for imported fossil fuel.

There are seven CMM capture projects in operation in the UK generating about 30 MW and these benefit the environment by capturing emissions equivalent to the removal of around 310,000 cars from the roads. Capturing CMM and converting it to electricity saves 9 times more CO2 per KWh generated than wind power. The largest plant in Europe, built by Alkane and its power generation partner Scottish & Southern, at Wheldale, Yorkshire produces enough power to supply 10,000 homes."

I guess this is one of those technologies that Bush's new global warming consortium could 'trade', especially to China who have lots of very large coal mines.

Geological Society | Abstracts | Sustainable Energy from Greenhouse Gases

Technorati tags: sustainable energy methane coal

"...the Google of VoIP looks like it might be Skype, which was almost sold last week to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $3 billion."

Now, let me guess: will VoIP get easier and/or cheaper under Murdoch? Or not? Mmm.

PBS | I, Cringely . July 28, 2005 - Skyped

I might be a fairly heavy blogger (at least by some standards) but I don't think I can manage staying up for 24-hours. Is enough going to be happening in peoples' lives for them to be able to blog once an hour for all that time? I guess we'll see.

In trying to get a particular web project to pass WAI Level 'A' accessibility standard, I have indirectly found that the DOCTYPE declaration line I have been using in all my pages since the year dot was actually complete. I was using:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

...whereas I should have been using:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

It only makes a difference in IE under Windows - no other browser cares! Quite why W3C's own validator didn't pick up on this I don't know.

Technorati Tags: html standards validation doctype

"Sidestepping Senate, Bush sends Bolton to U.N.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush plucked his long-stalled nomination of John Bolton for U.N. ambassador out of the hands of the Senate on Monday, naming the controversial nominee to the post through a recess appointment. 'His mission is now to help the U.N. reform itself to renew its founding promises for the 21st century,' Bush told reporters."

His mission is to do your bidding at the U.N. Mr.President - the USA is no longer represented at the U.N. - George W. Bush is.

CNN.com - Sidestepping Senate, Bush sends Bolton to U.N. - Aug 1, 2005

Wildlife observations

Wildlife observations
Photo uploaded to flickr 11 Jul '05, 12.15pm PST by hockeyshooter

On my way to lunch today I saw a large flock of house martins gathering on a roof and coming back from lunch they have all disappeared - so I think they must have chosen today (nice, clear weather, not too hot) to migrate. Also making their first appearance are comma butterflies on our buddlia bushes.

"Wakeboarding debugged
OK, so it’s taken me two years to get up on a wakeboard. What the heck. Mind you, I don’t actually try this very often, but I had a great opportunity last week, and a fine instructor named Andres spotted the ‘bug’ in seconds"

A big up to Marc for taking up this amazing sport.

"One blog created 'every second'
The blogosphere is continuing to grow, with a weblog created every second, according to blog trackers Technorati. In its latest State of the Blogosphere report, it said the number of blogs it was tracking now stood at more than 14.2m blogs, up from 7.8m in March."

But many of these blogs wil be inactive. People set one up, make a few postings, then run out of ideas. The number of active blogs is much lower.

BBC NEWS | Technology | One blog created 'every second'

"Last journey for aircraft carrier
One of the navy's three aircraft carriers sailed into Portsmouth for the last time on Monday before retiring after 25 years of service. Critics have raised concerns that her retirement has left the navy with only one aircraft carrier, HMS Illustrious, while HMS Ark Royal undergoes a refit. Strike carrier HMS Illustrious will take over from Invincible as the service's flagship at a ceremony off Portsmouth on Thursday.

HMS Invincible is being taken out of service six months early - a move that critics have said is to fund the ongoing military presence in Iraq. The crew will be given new postings and the vessel will be handed over to the MoD's Disposal and Reserve Ships Organisation where it will be mothballed until it is sold in 2010. The vessel had a £64m refit in 2001 and acted as the Royal Navy's flagship in last week's International Fleet Review."

That's just four years ago. £64m for four years. £16m a year. Why didn't it remain in service until 2010? Perhaps we just can't afford it now?

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | Last journey for aircraft carrier