"England 'addicted to sex and TV'
England is a nation of 'overweight, alcopop-swilling, sex-and-celebrity obsessed television addicts', according to a travel guide. The latest edition of the Rough Guide to England also warns potential visitors that the hearts of many towns 'consist of identikit retail zones'. But it praises the nation of 'animal loving, tea-drinking charity donors who thrive on irony and Radio 4'. Tourist body Enjoy England has criticised the book as 'unhelpful'."

But exactly right, I'd say.

BBC NEWS | UK | England 'addicted to sex and TV'

"Fossil-Fuel Platform Runs on Renewable Energy
Royal Dutch Shell has begun pumping natural gas from its wind- and solar-powered Cutter micro-platform, sited on a marginal-production gas field underneath the southern North Sea.

The unmanned platform is supported by a monopost, which is based on offshore wind-turbine designs. Powered by a pair of small wind turbines and a pair of solar panels, the platform measures eight meters square. The use of renewable energy generation equipment not only provides green power, but reduces the cost of providing a subsea cable to power the platforms. The platform’s US$143 million fabrication cost alone is around 40% of that of traditional platforms."

A little ironic, don't you think?

Green Car Congress | Fossil-Fuel Platform Runs on Renewable Energy

Technorati tags: solar power wind power renewable energy gas platform

"Car makers 'failing' on climate
European car makers are defaulting on a vital target to tackle climate change, according to an environmental group. Their efforts to boost fuel efficiency are falling "far short" of a commitment made to the European Union in 1998, Transport & Environment says.

Every week Radio Times carries a number of car adverts and fuel economy is never a factor. Quite often the vehicles actually shown can't manage any more than 20mpg whilst driving in town and some, little more than 30mpg on motorways. Car adverts should be forced to carry a big warning of how polluting they are, perhaps using a banding system as adopted on light bulbs. And the most polluting cars - often with massive engines and far more power than anyone realistically needs on Britain's roads - simply should be banned from sale.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Car makers 'failing' on climate


Technorati tags: fuel efficiency cars pollution advertising

A cruical three points for Northampton yesterday as they beat Stockport County at Sixfields to keep them second in the League 2 table. Credit to County, though, as they kept going until the final whistle. Good sized away crowd, too.

"'Woods and homes' green belt call
More agricultural and green belt land should be reforested or turned into housing, a new report suggests. A change in land use is proposed in the study Land Economy by the free market think-tank the Adam Smith Institute. Mischa Balen, the author, said modern farming techniques turned land into monocultural wastelands that did not provide proper habitats for animals."

We hear only two days ago that the UK is relying more and more in imports such that by 16 April, we go into "ecologial debt" and now we get these idiots suggesting we plough up some of what little agricultural land to build yet more houses.

BBC NEWS | UK | 'Woods and homes' green belt call

"Britain 'needs more gas power'
The UK will need more gas-fired power stations soon to avert widespread power shortages, a group of MPs has warned. The Commons Environmental Audit Committee said the UK could not rely solely on plans for a new batch of nuclear power stations. Its chairman, Conservative MP Tim Yeo, says 'more gas fired power stations will be needed by 2016 to keep the lights on'."

Unless you hadn't noticed, Tim, we're running out of gas and are now having to import loads of it from the former Soviet republics. Making us even more reliant on these imports, the continuity of supply of which is less than certain, is just plain stupid.

Why the Government needs to take so long to think about our enegery shortage ,I don't know. We knew we'd start running out of gas around now at least 10 years ago - if they'd have gotten their act together, new nuclear stations would already be on line.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Britain 'needs more gas power'

Technorati tags: gas power stations nuclear supply energy electricity Government

"White House admits Iraq WMD report false
President Bush's claim three years ago that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq was based on U.S. intelligence that was later proved false, the White House acknowledged today.

Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan vigorously denied suggestions that Bush was making claims that had been debunked when he said two small trailers seized in Iraq were mobile biological laboratories. Bush declared in a May 2003 television interview, 'We have found the weapons of mass destruction.' The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was cited at the time as supporting evidence for the decision to go to war.

The Washington Post reported today that experts on a Pentagon-sponsored mission who examined the trailers concluded that they had nothing to do with biological weapons and sent their findings to Washington in a classified report on May 27, 2003. One day later, the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency publicly issued an assessment saying the opposite — that U.S. officials were confident that the trailers were used to produce biological weapons. The assessment said the mobile facilities represented 'the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program.' On May 29, 2003, the president repeated the claims from the public intelligence report."

In other words, the heads of the two US intelligence agencies ignored the findings of their own military's mission.

mparent7777: White House admits Iraq WMD report false

Technorati tags: White House WMD Iraq Bush CIA DIA

Indymedia photographer arrested by armed officers
On Saturday 18th March photographer and serial Indymedia contributor Alan Lodge (aka 'Tash') was arrested after taking photos of armed police in public. Tash denied the charge of wilfully obstructing a police officer at Nottingham Magistrates Court on Monday March 27. Defending solicitor Paul Dhami told the court: "The officers took exception to his presence, and one took it upon himself to physically impede Tash and then arrested him." The arrest came only weeks after Nottingham police issued guidelines to their officers reminding them to respect journalists' rights.

The NUJ has taken up the guy's case. Apparent these guidelines have susequently been accepted by other UK forces, including the MET.

UK Indymedia - Indymedia photographer arrested by armed officers

Technorati tags: photographer arrested police guidelines

Heard of another example of political correctness BS this morning: a visiting football fan attending a game at the MK Dons stadium was told he wouldn't be able to bring his flag into the ground because he didn't have a certificate proving it was flame-proof.

Technorati tags: political+correctness football soccer flag MK Dons

MK Scaffolding Collapse, 11 April 2006

MK Scaffolding Collapse, 11 April 2006
Photo uploaded to flickr 11 Apr '06, 3.43pm BST PST by hockeyshooter

Three people were seriously injured today when fifteen stories of scaffolding collapsed at a new accommodation and hotel construction site in central Milton Keynes, England. Emergency services arrived at the scene within minutes of the collapse and at least two of the injured were lifted out by air ambulance. Up to 200 workers are currently employed on the site but by good fortune, many were on their lunch break when the incident occurred. Other than the three evacuated to hospital, a number of others were treated at the scene for minor injuries. All surrounding streets were quickly cordoned off by police in case of further collapse. Both infra red cameras and tracker dogs were employed in the search for survivors but officials have stated that all those at the scene have now been accounted for. The emergency services will now work with the Health and Safety Executive to investigate the cause.

MK Scaffolding Collapse, 11 April 2006

MK Scaffolding Collapse, 11 April 2006
Photo uploaded to flickr 11 Apr '06, 3.43pm BST PST by hockeyshooter

Picked up on a call from a picture agency today regarding what was described as a "serious incident" in Central Milton Keynes, the city where I work. Grabbed camera and laptop and rushed to the scene to get photos for the media. Fired off about half a dozen to the daily papers and some to the BBC too - we'll just have to see if any get picked up.

BBC News | Workers hurt in scaffolding collapse


Technorati tags: scaffolding collapse building construction Milton Keynes

Here's an enterprising chap who has written a PHP script that uses Google Maps' API to give you latitude and longitude data from UK postcode:

Eurig Llwyd Jones | Finding Latitude and Longitude of a Postcode

Might be useful for geotagging images in Flickr, as I sometimes do. I've now created a page that does just this.

Technorati tags: postcode Google Map geotagging

Northampton vs Rochdale

After a pretty decent performance in the first half, leaving us with a 2-0 lead, the Cobblers threw it all away in the second with very sloppy play allowing Rochdale to equalise. If Northampton do get promoted, and stick with the team we have now, we're not going to last long in League 1.

"Hunt for real life 'were-rabbit'
Sharp-shooters have been brought in to defend allotment patches in Northumberland suffering from a real-life 'curse of the were-rabbit'. The ravenous giant rabbit, named after the famed Wallace and Gromit character, is reported to have ripped up dozens of prize-winning leeks and turnips."

Now, if this story had come up on 1st April...

BBC NEWS | England | Tyne | Hunt for real life 'were-rabbit'

"Apple makes Macs run Windows XP
Apple has released software that lets users run Microsoft's operating system on its computers that use Intel chips."

So, what's the point of paying over the odds for a Mac now? Is this the second part of the beginning of the end for Apple computers (the first being the switch to Intel CPUs)? I reckon so.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple makes Macs run Windows XP
Apple | Macs Do Windows, Too

Technorati tags: Microsoft Windows XP Apple Intel Mac

Continuing my comments on the DVD of Batman Begins, I bought the two disc version and the second disc, containing lots of material on how the movie came about, is actually very impressive. Most extras discs are pretty disappointing, but this is really good stuff. It reveals that they rented Cardington hangars, which are only a few miles from where I live, for 10 months to build a big chunk of Gotham City.

Just received a couple of new DVDs.

The first is the movie of Robert Harris' outstand novel Enigma. It sticks mostly to the original with the exception of the ending, but the movie is let down by wooden acting and direction that almost guarentees a snoozing audience. No wonder it didn't do well at the box office. Conclusion: not worth bothering with.


The second movie is Batman Begins, with Christian Bale making an excellent caped crusader. I saw this at the cinema soon after it was release and was very impressed: the best Batman movie since the first one, where Jack Nicholson did such an outstanding job as Gotham's resident baddy. Conclusion: thoroughly recommended.

"Wind power 'ahead of predictions'
Onshore wind farms will provide about 5% of Britain's electricity by 2010, according to the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA). In a new report, it says turbines are being installed faster than predicted. If this is correct, onshore wind farms will take the government halfway to its target of generating 10% of electricity from renewable sources by 2010."

That's good news - but a shame that the target is only 10% of the country's energy needs.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Wind power 'ahead of predictions'

"Tories demand action on housing
Conservative leader David Cameron has demanded urgent action to tackle what he calls the growing gap between rich and poor due to high property prices. He warned of 'a growing inequality at the heart of British life' because the property ladder was beyond young people from less well-off families. He called for more housebuilding to provide an adequate provision."

We aleady have New Labour wanting to concrete over most of the South East of England, regardless of the consequences, now the Tories want to do the same. If Labour would have exercised some common sense when house prices started to go through the roof, and increased interest rates to control and limit the growth, this situation would not exist. Instead of which, they just let prices run away. Was this, perhaps, because a good number of them own several houses and would therefore benefit from their rise in value?

BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories demand action on housing

The weather stayed clear (even had a little sunshine) for today's motocross trials in the Great Brickhill woods. Hosted by the Berkhampstead club, this was the annual John Kinkead memorial trial.

Northampton vs Notts County

The Cobblers were looking for a top-three spot after today's League 2 game against Notts County, and they got it even having had captain Sean Dyche sent off for a careless and dangerous tackle in the second half. Jason Lee scored his first for Northampton in the first half but Josh Low, returning from a long period on the injury list, sealed the three points late in the second.

"Judges Overturn Bush Bid to Ease Pollution Rules
WASHINGTON, March 17 — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned a clean-air regulation issued by the Bush administration that would have let many power plants, refineries and factories avoid installing costly new pollution controls to help offset any increased emissions caused by repairs and replacements of equipment.

Ruling in favor of a coalition of states and environmental advocacy groups, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the 'plain language' of the law required a stricter approach. The court has primary jurisdiction in challenges to federal regulations.

'This is an enormous victory over the concerted efforts by the Bush administration to dismantle the Clean Air Act,' Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, whose office led the opposition from the states, said in an interview."

Its very satifying to hear stories like this - proving that many Americans do actually care about the envionment, even if their own government clearly don't.

Judges Overturn Bush Bid to Ease Pollution Rules - New York Times

Technorati tags: Bush clean air act environment pollution

The Chancellor's £35-a-year increase in the road tax for the most-polluting cars (aimed at 4x4 Chelsea Tractors, but in theory hitting lots of other vehicles just as much) seems pretty pathetic given £35 probably wouldn't buy a single tank-ful of fuel for one of these machines. The fact that you see dozens of these beasts tearing up and down the motorways indicates that saving money is not something their drivers ever consider. Here's some examples of what cars are in what bands.

Chuffed that two of my photos won 1st and 2nd place in the motion/action category of the annual Open University Camera Club competition last night. There were around 150 entries and judging went on till nearly 11pm and the judge seemed pretty impressed with the overall quality of the photos.

"French MPs vote to open up iTunes
The French parliament has backed plans to give consumers more choice over music downloads from the internet. MPs backed a draft law to force Apple, Sony and Microsoft to share their proprietary copy-protection systems by 296 to 193 votes. The aim is to ensure that digital music can be played on any player, regardless of its format or source. The French bill says that proprietary copy-protection technologies must not block interoperability between different systems."

Not law yet, but its coming.

BBC NEWS | Technology | French MPs vote to open up iTunes

Dell and Apple are phasing out PCMCIA card slots (sometimes called PC cards, or cardbus cards) in favour a new format that is not backwards-compatible. Whilst most modern laptops feature the sort of things that you once needed to buy cards for (eg: modems, firewire interfaces, etc). there are quite a few people continuing to use specialised cards (eg: 3G/GPRS wireless modems) that will not work in new laptops.

Technorati tags: PCMCIA cardbus

"The secret agent
Lying to customers, faked signatures, false passports and dodgy deals with developers. An undercover investigation reveals the secret world of estate agents' dirty tricks. Faking documents is something of a habit in the St John's Wood office, where Emma Clarke worked undercover in the lettings department. I was shocked when she played me her secret footage which showed staff cutting, pasting and gluing signatures onto contracts. They call it 'chop chop'. Then after a while, when the owner is utterly desperate to sell, they make up false offers well below the original valuation so the owner reduces the price. The manager called it "price reduction hour" and "vendor care" - everyone else calls it lying."

Proof - if it were needed - that estate agents are amongst the lowest forms of life.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | The secret agent

A brief extract of Bill's wild ramblings - and a link to his blog, where you'll find a whole lot more...

"Cosmic Jam is released today, and I am twirling round the capital like a sycamore leaf caught in a tumble dryer, which could happen if the laundromat employee was momentarily enraptured by sunlight shimmering off a dew-laden spiders web, allowing leaf ingress to the machines."

Bill Bailey's blog

Sunday's NMCC motocross near Long Buckby proved an interesting new course I'd never been to. Quite twisty with a few decent jumps.

Was laughing so much watching Bill Bailey: Part Troll on Channel 4 last night (again) I could hardly see the tv.

Reading vs Wolves

Reading ran out of puff and showed a weak defense to Wolves who equalised in the second half to leave the Championship game 1-1 at full time. Got very close to having photos published - one in Sunday's News of the World is almost identical to one I submitted and was taken only a fraction of a second earlier or later. Again the Vodefone Mobile Connect card gave problems with sending images via email - the SMTP server connection gives a timeout.

Forced to go to Tesco supermarket today instead of my normal Waitrose as the carpark que was backed up to the road. And what a mistake: Tescos is a soulless, hateful place. They seem very reluctant to indicate the country of origin on their fruit and vegetables. The till staff issue plastic bags like confetti. Quality does not appear to be a factor. Never again.

Looking for an English user manual for a Sony Camcorder? Here's the link:

Sony : Service and Support : United Kingdom : FAQs, Manuals, Drivers & Download

Luton MCC's first motocross of the year was held today at their Toddington course. Impressed with the Canon 1D battery performance (for a change) as it managed nearly 500 frames, in very cold weather, without conking out.

Just found this little article hidden away on the BBC News website - it hasn't been mentioned once on the TV news:

"Alaska hit by 'massive' oil spill
An oil spill discovered at Prudhoe Bay field is the largest ever on Alaska's North Slope region, US officials say. They estimate that up to 267,000 gallons (one million litres) of crude leaked from a corroded transit pipeline at the state's northern tip. The spill was detected on 2 March and plugged. Local environmentalists have described it as 'a catastrophe'."

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Alaska hit by 'massive' oil spill

Another example of the absurd rules and regulations that are strangling this country:

"School is 'unable to plaster cut'
A parent has spoken of his anger after his wife had to go to their daughter's school to put a plaster on when staff said they were not allowed to. Julie Scott, 38, was called by staff at Uphill Primary School near Weston-super-Mare, after her daughter Emily, 9, cut her finger. The school said strict guidelines meant they were not allowed to give plasters."

BBC NEWS | England | Somerset | School is 'unable to plaster cut'

"Downing Street sees the eco light
It only took one person to change a light bulb over the famous black door at Number 10 Downing Street, but the new bulb could save even more energy. The new low-energy bulb is all part of an environmentally-friendly campaign going on inside Number 10 and Chequers, the prime minister's country residence."

Nice to see the PM setting an example.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Downing Street sees the eco light

Here's a link to Rowan Langley's "Renewable Energy generators' Journal". There's photos on there of the kit he's installed at home.

Renewable Energy generators' Journal

"Power from the people
The energy minister is doing it. David Cameron's doing it. People are blogging it. Is DIY power generation going to be the next big thing? Solar panels and miniature wind turbines could soon become an officially-promoted part of the urban landscape."

The equipment is still pretty expensive, but I would predict that within 10 years, the housebuilding regulations may well include a requirement for some degree of home power generation. Personally, I like the idea of solar-powered air conditioning.

"The type of wind turbine that Mr Cameron is reported to be seeking is the D400 StealthGen, produced by the Nottingham-based Eclectic Energy, and costing £2,200 plus another £400 for installation."

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Power from the people

Chris in the Grotte di Toirano

Chris in the Grotte di Toirano
Photo uploaded to flickr 5 Mar '06, 5.38pm PST by hockeyshooter

Lorenzo and I visited these very impressive gaves near Toirano. What can I say - very impressive, and well worth a visit if you're at all interested in geology. See their own website for information.

Cat inspects satellite hardware

Cat inspects satellite hardware
Photo uploaded to flickr 5 Mar '06, 5.44pm PST by hockeyshooter

Very friendly and apparently technically-minded cat at the agritourismo I was staying in in Poggi. This is the kit Lorenzo will be taking with him to send photos from Tibet and Everest - everest.open.ac.uk

Coast near Imperia in windy weather

Coast near Imperia in windy weather
Photo uploaded to flickr 5 Mar '06, 2.55pm PST by hockeyshooter

We've had some very windy weather (lasted three days) all along the coast. I took lots of photos of the sea battering the harbour walls.

Cat in Cervo

Cat in Cervo
Photo uploaded to flickr 4 Mar '06, 1.57pm PST by hockeyshooter

You can't go to Italy without getting at least one photo of a cat. This lazy example watched us eat lunch at a bar in the square in front of Cervo's famous church, which is still undergoing restoration.

Almond blossom

Almond blossom
Photo uploaded to flickr 3 Mar '06, 12.52pm PST by hockeyshooter

A morning walk up the hill from Poggi and the almond trees are in blossom. Lorenzo's second presentation on his Everest expedition is this evening.

You have received a new message

Another sunny day in Imperia
Photo uploaded to flickr 2 Mar '06, 12.01pm PST by hockeyshooter

Lunch at a little cafe near the harbour where the opening sequences of The Bourne Identity were shot.

Ligurian coast from motorway

Ligurian coast
Photo uploaded to flickr 1 Mar '06, 4.38pm PST by hockeyshooter

Well, here I am in Liguria (Italy) for the fourth time - just can't get enough of the place. Flew over with my friend's parents and sister who were by coincidence on the same easyjet flight from Luton to Nice, plus a bunch of English kids on an exchange with a school in Bordighera.

The excellent BBC TV time-travelling cop series 'Life on Mars' finished this evening - but a new series is planned for next year.

Here's a review of Canon's answer to the Nikon P1/2/3 digital compact camera with wireless. Not sure if its available in the UK yet.

"Canon Powershot SD430 - IXUS Wireless
Canon today [25 Oct 2005] announced their first wireless digicam, the Powershot SD430 ( IXUS wireless in Europe). It's a wireless version of the 5MP SD450. It's similar in it's wireless capabilities to the recently announced Nikon P1 and P2. Wireless transfer of images within a home or office to a suitably equiped printer of PC is possible."

Canon SD430 Wireless

Its also listed on dpreview.com:
Canon PowerShot SD430 Wireless digital camera specifications

Reading vs Preston

Beautiful sunny day, but biting cold wind for this Championship game of Reading vs Preston North End. All the action in the first half with one goal a-piece in the first 10 minutes then a game-winner from substitute Leroy Lita, brought on to replace Dave Kitson after his collision with the Preston keeper left him motionless on the ground. Hope you're ok now, Dave.

I couldn't get these Greasemonkey scripts to allow me to geotag my images in Flickr (I think they've been broken by the 1.5 release of Firefox), so I wrote my own script to take the text MultiMap spits out and convert it to text I could immediately paste into the 'tags' box on the Flickr page.

Technorati tags: geotag geotagging convert MultiMap Flickr

"Councils lose plants to drought
The continuing drought in the South East has led Southern Water to ask 11 Kent and Sussex councils to reconsider planting schemes for 2006. Brighton council has cancelled 500 City in Bloom baskets and troughs. Two will remain at the town hall for weddings. Crawley council has said it is taking the same action. Reservoirs which would normally be more than 90% full in February are less than 40% full after more than a year of drought conditions in the region. Rainfall for January in the South East was about 25% of the average level. Southern Water has said the region is facing the worst drought in 100 years. The Environment Agency has said the South East is facing "a major drought"."

And yet the likes of Prescott still want thousands more homes built in the South East. Ludicrious.

BBC NEWS | England | Councils lose plants to drought

Having found over the last couple of days that the Nikon P2 we bought turns out to be pretty naff in low light (its ISO setting only goes up to 400 and as soon as you zoom the lens any, its maximum aperture drops to a not-very-helpful f5.2), I was interested to read the following on Digital Photography Review:

"Perhaps the most exciting element of the COOLPIX P3 and P4, however, is the inclusion of Nikon’s innovative VR (Vibration Reduction) capability. Originally developed for Nikon SLRs, lens shift VR capability is available in two modes that compensate for camera movement to realize a shooting experience akin to shooting at shutter speeds three stops faster."

Note, though, that only the P3 offers the wireless networking that attracted me to the P1/2 in the first place - quite why the P4 doesn't have it as well, I don't know.

Nikon Coolpix P3 and P4: Digital Photography Review

"Your source for information regarding US Patent 6,985,875

A patent was awarded to a photographer on Jan 10, 2006 that could limit the way photographers capture, display and sell their photographs."

Note this Patent is registered in the USA and therefore won't affect photographers working outside that country. The patent could affect any events photographer (or even events organisers, according to the letter he has started sending out to photographers) who list photos on their site marked up with names or vehicle/bib numbers, combined with a search facility. If you're wondering why you hadn't heard of it before now, he submitted the Patent application in 1999 and its only just been granted.

Its basically yet another example of just how stupid Patents can be when applied to bloody obvious ideas.

Your source for information regarding US Patent 6,985,875

"Smoke ban 'threatens environment'
As campaigners cheer a total smoking ban, there are fears sending smokers outside will lead to a huge increase in greenhouse gas-emitting patio heaters. Labour MP Stephen Pound said when he visited Ireland recently - where a smoking ban is already in force - pub gardens were 'covered' in the heaters. Britain's greenhouse gas emissions are already up by 380,000 tonnes a year due to such devices, it is claimed."

These things are a disgrace and should be banned. What a disgusting waste of energy.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Smoke ban 'threatens environment'

"Blackouts 'threaten UK Olympics'
The London Olympics in 2012 are likely to be hit by electricity blackouts, according to a poll of energy experts. Three-quarters of the respondents to a survey organised by the energy company Mitsui Babcock identified blackouts as a 'serious concern'."

Not that the Olympics have got anything to do with our energy polices, but I guess they have to pick something that might just make our Government get off their collective backsides and actually do something.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Blackouts 'threaten UK Olympics'

"Malicious worm aims to bite Apple
Mac users are being warned to be on the lookout for what is being called one of the first viruses for Apple computers. The malicious program, known as Leap-A, tries to spread via Apple's iChat instant messaging program. The worm disguises itself as images of Apple's forthcoming version of its operating system, called Leopard, and plunders buddy lists if installed.

'The important piece of advice for any iChat users running OS X 10.4 is not to accept file transfers, even if they come from someone on a buddy list,' said Kevin Hogan, Symantec security response manager. Symantec said Leap-A was a level 1 threat on its ranking system - the lowest level. Computer security firms McAfee and F-Secure also said it posed little threat."

Wonder if Apple's switch to Intel will make any difference to their susceptability to hackers...?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Malicious worm aims to bite Apple

"Legal case against US on climate
US conservation groups have begun a new legal case aimed at forcing government action on climate change. They have filed a petition with the UN arguing that Waterton-Glacier Peace Park, a protected area, is being damaged by rising temperatures. Similar actions have been lodged over sites in the Himalayas and Andes."

Further embarrasement for the Bush administration? Or perhaps the guy simply doesn't care? New Orleans disappeared under water and he didn't seem to be bothered about that. Is he going to react the same way when the whole of Florida does the same?

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Legal case against US on climate

US attacks UN Guantanamo report
The White House has savaged a UN report demanding the immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp calling it "a discredit to the UN".

Well, isn't that a surprise?

"The US has dismissed most of the allegations as 'largely without merit', saying the five investigators never actually visited Guantanamo Bay and that detainees are treated humanely."

Then why did you refuse access to the detainees?

"The United Nations should be making serious investigations across the world, and there are many instances in which they do when it comes to human rights. This was not one of them," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

There was a time that there was no need to investigate human rights abuses in the USA.

"And I think it's a discredit to the UN when a team like this goes about rushing to report something when they haven't even looked into the facts, all they've done is look at the allegations."

Do you deny that you have imprisoned people for years without charge or trial? I think the allegations are pretty damning on their own.

The report ends by demanding that the UN be granted full and unrestricted access to the camp's facilities, including private interviews with detainees.

Can we expect the US administration to ever grant such access to anyone?

Guitmo is a disgrace to the Constitution and to the people. The US will never again be able to point the finger at any other country in the world on the issue of human rights while it exists, and while Bush and co are in power.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US attacks UN Guantanamo report

I've used Analog for webserver log file analysis since the year dot, but how come it is still such pain to configure? The help files are just as naff now as they were 10 years ago. Trying to get Analog to properly recognise your log files, or spit out reports the way you want them, is very much like automated telephone help lines.

Have found that Windows XP SP2's firewall can throw a spanner into the works when transferring images over wireless from the Nikon P2. You need to create a couple of 'exceptions' on ports TCP 15740 and UDP 5353.

"Nuisance call system 'is working'
The watchdog who polices the system designed to prevent nuisance calls has dismissed claims Information Commissioner Richard Thomas is not doing enough to stop firms flouting the rules.

In an interview with the BBC News website, Mr Thomas brushed off the press criticism, saying: 'Telephone Preference Service is working incredibly well. Not enough people know they can register their details with the Telephone Preference Service but the numbers have gone up quite dramatically in recent years. If your name is on there then there is a dramatic reduction - almost elimination - of marketing calls.'"

What they don't tell you about TPS is that it can't stop calls from outside the UK and companies that just want you to answer a survey.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Nuisance call system 'is working'

Given Home Secretary Charles Clarke's failure to persuade the British Public that he needs to increase the time people can be kept in custardy without charge, and that we all really do need ID cards, it looks like the government has decided they should get someone else to try to pull the wool over our eyes. Step up one Prime-Minister-to-be (allegedy), Chancellor Gordon Brown.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Wake up to terror threat - Brown

Covered my first motocross event of the year today at Woodend near Towcester, run by the Northampton Motor Cycle Club.

NMCC, Woodend - 12 February 2006

Watford's Vicarage Road

Watford hammered Coventry 4-0 in today's Championship game at Vicarage Road. Its a slightly unusual venue to photograph at since with the front terraces slightly below pitch level, photographers are only allowed around a very small part of the field. I did manage to get some pretty decent shots, however, including the first goal going in - sadly none were published (again).

Very useful website if you're looking at IP cameras - that is webcams that have built-in webserver or image server:

IP Camera Reviews, Articles, News, Forums, Discussion and more

Crocuses

Crocuses
Photo uploaded to flickr 10 Feb '06, 4.35pm PST by hockeyshooter

I took some more test images today with the new Nikon Coolpix P2 digital camera. These were using the 2M pixel setting with the compression level set to 'standard': this noticeably takes the edge off the sharpness when you view the original image, but if you're only going to use them on the web (and are therefore likely to sharpen them) that won't matter.

"Sweden aims for oil-free economy
Sweden says it aims to completely wean itself off oil within 15 years - without building new nuclear plants. The attempt is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, car manufacturers, farmers and others. The country aims to replace all fossil fuels with renewables before climate change damages economies and growing oil scarcity leads to price rises."

That's a fantastic ambition. I do wish Blair was as forward-thinking as this.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Sweden aims for oil-free economy

Testing wireless network with laptops

Testing wireless network with laptops
Photo uploaded to flickr 8 Feb '06, 5.20pm PST by hockeyshooter

This is the test setup for our stand-alone wireless network, albeit without the aerials. Consists of: HP nx6110 running XP Home and Wirecast streaming server software on right, Linksys WRT54G wireless router in centre, sealed lead-acid battery that it will run off in the background, Apple G3 Powerbook on left running QuickTime player tuned into webcast. Photo taken with the new Nikon P2 and transferred over the same wireless network - didn't appear to impact on video streaming at all.

It didn't take much effort getting the P2 to transfer the images immediately after taking them, but I did find that I had to disable XP's built-in firewall. Turning the resolution on the camera down to 2M pixels reduced the transmission time to about a second. With no aerials connected to the WRT it was impossible to tell how much range the camera will have.

Note that wireless image transfer will only work with Windows XP or OS X 10.3 or later. With earlier Windows, you have to use USB or a card reader. Under 2000, you don't need to install any drivers - just set the USB setting to 'Mass Storage'.


Technorati tags: wireless digital camera image transfer 802.11 Nikon Coolpix P2

Nikon Coopix P2

Nikon Coopix P2
Photo uploaded to flickr 8 Feb '06, 10.47am PST by hockeyshooter

This (rather naff) shot illustrates just how small this camera is. The P1 and P2 (the P1 offers higher resolution) are currently the only cameras that offer built-in 802.11 wireless image transfer. Hopefully I can get it working with our stand-alone experimental network.

Extremely impressed by the performance of A J Purdy and Royal Mail Special Delivery. A Nikon Coolpix P2 (which is almost unique in having built-in 802.11 wireless support) and Sandisk Extreme II 1Gb SD card that I only ordered at 16:20 yesterday afternoon by FAX arrived at 10:30 this morning. And their price was pretty much the cheapest I could find in the UK.

35mm film

expo
Photo uploaded to flickr 28 Jan '06, 11.10am PST by Luca R

This is a photo from the Liguria group on flickr. I love the design.

Sorry to hear that Reading were knocked out of the FA Cup in their fourth round replay at Birmingham this evening. Crystal Palace lost too.

Northampton played host to Rushden and Diamonds on Saturday and chalked up another win. Rushden had a goal controversially disallowed for offside. Following Wycombe's recent loss, the top three teams in League 2 are now all on 54 points with the Cobblers on 53.

Didn't realise just how dim it is on a football pitch for evening games until last night. Was covering Northampton vs Wycombe - both current contenders for promotion to League 1 - at Sixfields stadium and I had the 1D up to its highest speed of 3200 ISO and even with the lens wide open on f2.8 I was only getting 1/200 over some areas of the pitch.

Discovered an anomaly with radio buttons and JavaScript yesterday. Should you create a form that contains just a single radio button rather than a set (as might happen is the form is built dynamically using PHP), a JavaScript array of the radio button will be of undefined length, even though it contains 1 element. You can avoid generating a JavaScript error by first testing to see if the length is 'undefined', thus:

The JavaScript:

function checkForm(form) {
  if (typeof form.radioButton.length!="undefined") {
    // there must be more than one button
    var flag=0;
    for (i=0; i< form.radioButton.length; i++) {
      if (form.radioButton[i].checked) flag=1;
    }
    if (flag) return true;
  } else {
    // there's only one button - so can test directly
    if (form.radioButton.checked) {
      return true;
    }
  }
  alert ('You must check a radio button');
  return false
}

The HTML:
<FORM ACTION='somewhere.php' METHOD='post'>
<INPUT TYPE='radio' NAME='radioButton' VALUE='1'>
<!-- if there were to be more buttons, they would appear here -->
<INPUT TYPE='submit' ONCLICK='return checkForm(this.form);'>
</FORM>
Technorati tags: JavaScript form validation radio buttons

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CF sleeve for iPAQ
Photo uploaded to flickr 30 Jan '06, 10.41am PST by hockeyshooter

For Lorenzo's next mission to Everest, I've finally gotten hold of an expansion sleeve for my HP h5550 iPAQ to enable reading from a CF card - has an extra battery too. Came from BMSoftware here in the UK. From the scratches on the back, it looks second hand - I guess they're no longer made. No idea what the life of its second battery is going to be like; Lorenzo will have a 12v solar panel with him anyway for charging the satellite phone.

"ID cards are of 'limited value'
ID cards would be of 'limited value' against terror and would not have prevented the London attacks in July, says the reviewer of anti-terror laws, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile. He said he had changed his mind on identity cards, which he had previously backed: 'I can't think of many terrorist incidents, in fact I can think of very few... that ID cards would have brought to an earlier end,' he told GMTV."

Time to bury this daft idea, Home Secretary.

BBC NEWS | Politics | ID cards are of 'limited value'

Today's FA Cup game of Reading vs Birmingham was nearly a disaster. Got stuck in traffic on the M1, then on the M4 at the Reading exit. All official parking by then full. Got to the ground about 5 minutes into the game. Fortunately didn't miss anything. Goals were both down the far end and I couldn't see the ball through traffic, but got one celebration shot at least. Laptop was a little flakey again - doesn't seem to like Reading's wireless network, even though I don't use it.

The teams seemed pretty evenly matched, so the 1-1 final score was no susprise. Birmingham chose to make three substitutions in one go, taking Heskey off which seemed a little odd. Reading were missing Kitson with a hamstring problem and I think with him, they'd have won.

WRT54G

WRT54G
Photo uploaded to flickr 23 Jan '06, 11.39am PST by hockeyshooter

If you ever wanted to know how much current a Linksys WRT54G uses, for example if you want to run one in the middle of nowhere off a battery and/or a solar panel, it appears to be around 280mA.

Technorati tags: WRT54G Linksys wireless router current consumption

"Time to return the Arctic favour
These days the Arctic, and to a large extent the Antarctic, has become a playground for the wealthy holidaymaker. They play out a heroic charade which bears little or no resemblance to the real explorers of yesteryear.

It is all meaningless nonsense and is still viewed by the real heroes of the Arctic, the Inuit, with bemused and bewildered amusement. So often travellers to the Arctic rely on the Arctic peoples to help, guide or share their expertise with them. Yet, when they return to their after dinner talks and ego-fanning book launches, the very people that allowed them their indulgence are hardly mentioned or even acknowledged.

The Inuit voice is almost inaudible on the world stage and one cannot help but wonder if anyone even knows they exist.

Glenn Morris (author) is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and has travelled extensively in the Arctic. His most recent expedition, Greenland by the Polar Sea, looked at the impact of climate change on the Inuit people."

The amount of ice lost in just the last 25 years is frightening.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Time to return the Arctic favour

"TV's 'sleep' button stands accused
Britons waste the equivalent of around two power stations' worth of electricity each year by leaving TV sets and other gadgets on standby. Last June Environment Minister Elliot Morley, responding to an MP's question, revealed that electrical equipment in sleep mode used roughly 7TWh of energy and emitted around 800,000 tonnes of carbon. The government is currently reviewing the options of how to keep the UK's lights on in the future, at the same time as reducing the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere.

Norman Baker favours a 'polluter pays' approach to the standby problem: 'In the end, there has to be costs in the form of manufacturers paying something to recognize the damage they are causing. Some of these standby modes for televisions use two-thirds of the electricity that it would if it were on. I think some people think that standby is a tiny red dot that has no impact at all.'

The Energy Saving Trust's survey found that one-in-seven people questioned thought putting devices on standby was actually more energy-efficient than switching them on and off. The MTP's Matthew Armishaw clears up any confusion: 'That is largely a myth. There may have been some issues with very old electronic components, but it is certainly not the case with today's consumer electronic goods.'"

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | TV's 'sleep' button stands accused
Technorati tags: electricity power waste standby

Looks like my descision to dump Minolta for Canon has now been fully vindicated:

"Konica Minolta Announces Withdrawal Plan for Camera Business and Photo Business
In camera business, we have expanded picture-taking opportunities by developing innovative technologies such as the world's first autofocus cameras. In 1962, our camera, well-accepted for its high reliability, boarded on the US's first manned spaceship 'Friendship 7.' Also, ever since introduction of the world’s first body-integral autofocus SLR camera, Maxxum/Dynax series, in 1985, SLR cameras have become more popular among picture-takers, and we have succeeded in selling 16 million units of interchangeable lenses since then.

However, in today’s era of digital cameras, where image sensor technologies such as CCD is indispensable, it became difficult to timely provide competitive products even with our top optical, mechanical and electronics technologies."

No kidding - it took years for Minolta to get around to launching a digital SLR, by which time most of their (high-end) lens range had become hopeless out-of-date.

Konica Minolta withdraw from camera business: Digital Photography Review

Northampton vs Macclesfield

5-0 is not the sort of result you expect to see from a Northampton home game. And again, results from games of the teams above us helped us - only Leyton Orient won.

Even scarier and more invasive than ID cards:

"Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey
From 2006 Britain, is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years. Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years."

Unfortunately you need an account on the Independant website to read any more of the article.

Independent Online Edition > Transport

"ID cards 'should be compulsory'
The Lord Chancellor has said ID cards should be made compulsory if introduced in the UK. Lord Falconer told the BBC that the only way to get full benefit from the scheme was for people without a passport to carry one."

My Mum is 86. She has no valid passport. She hardly ever leaves the house. Is she going to be made to fork out for one of these things? Same with the thousands around the country who live in care homes.

There's no proof that these cards will be any safer than existing cards that use the same technologies - like credit cards. Millions of pounds are still lost to credit card fraud each year - I doubt it will take more than a couple of months for someone to either forge a card or hack into the database.

Blair and co: You can stuff your ID cards where the sun don't shine.

BBC NEWS | UK | ID cards 'should be compulsory'

"Tax plan for greener light bulbs
The government is considering an extra tax on energy inefficient light bulbs.
Costlier compact fluorescent bulbs use a fifth of the energy of Victorian- style incandescent ones, those with a filament, and last much longer."

At last, some positive action from the Government. Don't stop there - plastic bag tax next.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Tax plan for greener light bulbs
Technorati tags: light bulb tax energy efficiency

"Apple addresses iTunes concerns
Apple has made changes to its iTunes music software in response to complaints that it abused user privacy. The row blew up over a new iTunes feature that recommended other tracks users might like to buy. An investigation by bloggers found that the recommendation system used unique identifiers for each user in a way that could compromise privacy."

Well done, Apple, for listening - but make sure you've leaned a lesson from this mistake.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple addresses iTunes concerns

CD-R lifetimes not what you thought
"...expert physicist Kurt Gerecke that works for IBM Deutschland has warned users not to use CD-R's for long term backups. His advice is that if you don’t want to keep backing up the same discs every few years use magnetic tape backup instead. Kurt went on to say that unlike pressed CD’s, burnt CD-R’s lifetime is much shorter with lifetime ranging from just 2 to 5 years depending on the quality of the disc."

I've got tens of thousands of photos on CD-R, some from film (for which I still have the negs and could therefore re-scan them) and some from digital SLR (for which there are not originals).

CD-R's lifetime not as long as you think - CD Freaks.com

Having spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon getting soaked shooting photos of Reading vs Coventry, I thought it would be a good idea to look into getting a proper rain cape. I noticed that very few of the other photographers were using the 'real thing', but I now realise why.

Cameras Underwater list the Ewa-Marine C-500 at just shy of £80 each - which by anyone's reckoning is a lot of money for a bit of clear plastic and some velco.




Using this as a basic design, I thought about making my own. I took two A4-sized clear ring binder sleeves, cut off most of the edges and joined them together with ordinary clear sticky tape. It just happens that they are just big enough to go over the hood for my 300/2.8 so I don't even need to use Velco to attach it. Its not exactly robust, but given how cheap it was (pennies) if it gets torn or too creased, I just bin it and make another.

Technorati tags: DIY rain cape waterproof SLR camera

Reading vs Coventry, Championship

Was at Reading's rather spiffy Madejski stadium today. Wasn't much fun covering this game in the rain: must get myself a proper rain hood - which even many of the other pros didn't appear to have.

Following on from my iTunes post below, to those who ask "what's all the fuss about", what should we expect next? An email saying "we notice you have just listened to 'Angels' by Robbie Williams, but from our records we find that you have not bought that track from the iTunes Music Store. To save you time and effort, we have charged the cost of the track to your registered credit card account. Thank you for using this service".

"Snooping fears plague new iTunes
Apple has been criticised over a new version of its iTunes program that can keep track of a user's listening habits. The latest update includes a feature that recommends tracks similar to the music being played via iTunes.

Soon after the update was released, blogger Marc Garrett wrote a journal entry about MiniStore and the data it passes back to Apple. Further work by other bloggers such as Kirk McElhearn found that the data being sent back to Apple to make the recommendations included artist, title, genre as well as unique identifiers for a computer and iTunes account."

I'm not happy about this at all. I don't mind sending data about what I'm listening too - I use Audioscrobbler, now lastFM, but I effectively do so anonymously. iTunes ties this data directly to me via the account that I use to buy tunes via the built-in shop. I've paid for this music - I don't expect to be targeted by more advertising.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Snooping fears plague new iTunes

Technorati tags: iTunes spyware adware MiniStore

Robin Cousings at BETT 2006

BETT 2006, Olympia, London
Photo uploaded to flickr 11 Jan '06, 8.44pm PST by hockeyshooter

I was in London today to take photos at the first Making The News competition at London's Olympic exhibition hall. Robin Cousins, MBE, was doing a great job of presenting the prizes - makes a change to have a celeb that's so cooperative.

Blogging takes another step with this "post your own news site" which is interestingly hosted in Canada.

NowPublic is a site where you can publish news about events you care about. It's easy and let's face it, you are more interesting than your television. You can use NowPublic to share your photos and videos, get coverage of news you care about, and read news that you won't see anywhere else.

The owners of the site emailed me in response to a photo I'd posted on Flickr suggesting I upload it to illustrate a story on Tony Blair.

Developing New Stories | The News is NowPublic.com

Received my new home phone today - another item bought on eBay (its very addictive, you know). Its a BT Relate SMS, which means not only does it use Caller Display to show who's calling you (provided you have entered their number into its phone book) but you can also use it to send and receive text messages. And it doesn't require a SIM card to do this either - messages are billed straight to your normal BT home account (receiving messages is free). Neat. One thing about the phone that did come as a surprise however was its requirement for 4 AA batteries: I guess if you're going to spend the time filling up a 100-number memory, you don't want to loose it all by unplugging it.

Watched the first episode of time-travelling cop show Life On Mars last night and was extremely impressed. It is very well cast (John Simm, from the equally superb State of Play) and acted, and they have gone to enormous effort recreating 1970s London. What a contrast to the vacuous offering from Channel 4 at the same time: Celebrity Big Brother.

Went haring down town today to catch a train to London, only to find that it now costs £5 to park your car on a Saturday. Five pounds. In change. Exact change. Who carries five quid in change in their pocket these days? And why are they charging for parking in the first place? That's a whole quarter of my train fare again. Doesn't exactly encourage you to use the train, does it? In fact unless you're going at least fifty miles or so, its probably cheaper to drive. And what exactly do you get for your five pounds? I guess it must go to pay the dozens of armed guards that will be keeping an eye on your motor in your absence - not, coz there aren't any guards at all.

Crystal Palace vs Northamton Town, FA Cup 3rd Round

My first go at shooting professional football, at Selhurt Park about an hour before kickoff - I got there early! Palace won 4-1, including two rather dubious penalties, so the Cobblers are now out of the FA Cup and free to concentrate on their promotion drive (well, you've got to find a positive in everything, haven't you?).

Spotted what I at first thought was a song thrush on a fence post in our garden this morning, only to realise it was actually a kestrel. I raced to get my camera out but I couldn't get it to focus fast enough - it was very dark and I was trying to shoot through double glazing. As soon as I had it in the frame it suddenly swooped down after a bluetit on our peanut feeder, and they both flew some incredible aerobatics as the poor wee thing tried to escape - which I think it did. A few weeks back I'd seen a lot of blackbird feathers on the lawn so I'm guessing the kestrel had visited before and managed to make a kill. Whilst I'm thrilled to see a kestrel in the garden, I'd rather he not eat our song birds, which are rare enough as it is!

"Trial bid to stop belching cattle
Aberdeen scientists are carrying out commercial trials on a feed additive which they hope will stop cows from producing large amounts of methane.

Cattle are capable of producing 500 litres of the potent greenhouse gas every day, mostly through belching. Researchers at the Rowett Research Institute have found a way of cutting back on the methane produced by ruminants like sheep and cows."

How about a Rennie, about a foot square?

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Trial bid to stop belching cattle