"Home-alone son blows up bungalow
A couple cut short their holiday after their teenage son telephoned to say he had blown up their house. Sean Davey, 18, of Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk, left a basket of laundry on top of the electric cooker and did not notice the hob had been switched on. A fire spread to a deodorant can which exploded, blowing out the windows and lifting the roof off the bungalow."

Way to go, Sean! Pretty amazing that a single aerosol is so powerful. Makes you wonder if they should be allowed!

BBC NEWS | England | Norfolk | Home-alone son blows up bungalow

"Apple Loses Bid to Unmask Bloggers' Sources
A California appeals court has smacked down Apple's legal assault on bloggers and their sources, finding that the company's efforts to subpoena e-mail received by the publishers of Apple Insider and PowerPage.org runs contrary to federal law, California's reporter's shield law, and the state Constitution. The Sixth District Court of Appeals on Friday roundly rejected Apple's argument that the bloggers weren't acting as journalists when they posted internal document about future Apple products."

Good to see that "freedom of speech" does still mean something in the USA. Or at least parts of it (outside Washington perhaps).

27B Stroke 6 | Apple Loses Bid to Unmask Bloggers' Sources

Technorati tags: Apple shield law bloggers journalists freedom of speech

"Spin between the raindrops
Last spring saw a flood of stories predicting drought and water shortages which never quite seemed to materialise as the doom-laden tones predicted. The preceding winter had been, we were told, 'the fourth driest since records began'.

The country's first drought order - for Sutton and East Surrey Water - starts on Saturday, [yet] current statistics show that May has already dumped more than double the normal amount of rain over England and Wales as a whole. In fact, we are well on course to register the wettest May since 1983, and it may turn out to be one of the half-dozen wettest since records began more than 300 years ago.

With statistics, it is said, you can prove anything. And weather is no exception, making it easy for water companies to define regions and timescales which suit their own agendas.

Philip Eden's (an independent meteorologist) suspicion is that at times the companies talk up the drought in order to distract attention from their own failings, and to persuade domestic consumers into frugality - a measure which helps ensure adequate supplies for the water companies' commercial customers."

Nearly missed this story from last week. You can certainly blame this Government for being so arrogant as to ignore the burden they are placing on utilities and infrastructure as they cram thousands more houses into the South East. But is it really so difficult for the water companies (who after all repeatedly post profits in the billions) to build some pipelines? Even the Romans managed to move water around the place, 2000 years ago.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Spin between the raindrops

Technorati tags: water drought utilities South East England spin statistics

Calderwood Leaves Cobblers
Just received news that Northampton Town manager Colin Calderwood has agreed to become the new manager of Nottingham Forest. Shame really, as Colin put a lot of work into getting us promoted.

NTFC Official website

Technorati tags: Northampton Town Football Club Nottingham Forest The Cobblers Colin Calderwood Soccer manager

"Animals 'devastate' UK songbirds
Grey squirrels and wild cats are 'devastating' Britain's songbird population, a study suggests. Predatory animals are having as much an impact as modern farming practices, the report, commissioned by charity Songbird Survival, indicates."

BBC NEWS | UK | Animals 'devastate' UK songbirds

"UNIQUE RESCUE OPERATION GOES ON....
At 16:45 on local time the group of rescuers has informed, that they have begun descent of Lincoln Hall on a rocky belt and soon hope to be in camp 8300."

After all the hoohah yesterday, resulting from the interview with Sir Edmund Hillary, we now have a developing story of the rescue of a climber from Lorenzo's team who has been presumed dead. He managed to survive the night alone and was found the next day to be showing signs of life by a climber from another team. A large squad of Sherpas, from a number of climbing teams, was assembled and so far they've managed to get Lincoln down to a high camp at 8300m.

It should be noted that some of the Sherpas (who are, after all, far more used to life at high altitiude) did suffer snow blindness and themselves had to be assisted down the mountain - underlining just how dangerious it is at these altitiudes.

Note the article is translated from Russian.

7 VERSHIN

More from the BBC:
"An Australian man believed to have died as he descended Mount Everest has been found alive. Lincoln Hall, 50, was presumed to have died on Thursday when he was left behind by his Sherpas after he started hallucinating and refusing to move."

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | 'Dead' Everest climber 'is alive'

Technorati tags: Everest rescue Sherpa

"Google and Dell in software deal
Computer giant Dell and internet search engine Google have reached a deal to install a version of Google software on Dell at factory level. The Dell computers will contain Google software including several personal computer applications, a Google toolbar and a co-branded homepage."

Just so long as people have the option of removing it without screwing up the machine. I certainly do not like the idea of Google Desktop, which searches all files on your computer (including your emails) and stores the indexes on Google's machines.

BBC NEWS | Business | Google and Dell in software deal

"The ethics of climbing Everest
The triumph of mountaineer Mark Inglis, who last week became the first double amputee to climb Everest, has been soured by the news he left a dying climber to his fate. ...as the saying goes, 'circumstances alter cases' and it is not clear whether New Zealander Mark Inglis, a double amputee, and the 39 other climbers in his group committed a moral wrong by abandoning the expiring David Sharpe on Everest."

I think its an absolute disgrace that the media (or anyone for that matter) should single out Mark for blame or responsibility for David's tragic death. So far he is one of the very few climbers who have spoken of what actually happened.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | The ethics of climbing Everest

Technorati tags:Everest amputee climber

Wireless networking experiments

Wireless networking experiments
Photo uploaded to flickr 25 May '06, 8.53pm BST PST by hockeyshooter

Our wireless networking experiments for the OU geology course SXR339 made excellent progress today as we established connections between laptops via WRT54G routers with a D-Link DCS-900 IP camera thrown in for good measure. With the addition of a couple of 14db-gain directional flat panel aerials, we were able to send 8fps video and 35Mb files over approx 1.2km. All this gear is available off-the-shelf. Sadly the Nikon P2 wireless-equipped camera refused to cooperate, but this may well have been down to its Mac address not being accepted by the Freifunk software in the routers.

Deaths on Everest
"Mount Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary said Wednesday he was shocked that dozens of climbers left a British mountaineer to die during their own attempts on the world's tallest peak. 'Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain,' Hillary was quoted as saying in an interview with New Zealand Press Association. 'I think the whole attitude toward climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top.'"

I find all this very sad. I hope no one's on that mountain who doesn't realise what a risk it is to climb above 8000m. Its tragic that people are dying up there, I'll admit, but people should be realistic as to what's possible. If you're hanging on to life yourself, as well as a rope, you can't just pick someone up, sling them over your shoulder and carry them down. People did stop to help, people did provide oxygen; sadly there was nothing that could be done.


Hillary Blasts Climbers Who Left Dying Man
Climber Was Left To die
Debate rages over Everest dilemma

Technorati tags: Everest Hillary mountain

River Ouzel

River Ouzel
Photo uploaded to flickr 24 May '06, 3.00pm BST PST by hockeyshooter

Its on days like this that you wish you'd taken a better camera with you. Providing you don't blow them up beyond about half size, these recent shots from my Nokia 6230 phone are pretty respectable. But these skies are crying out for a polarizing filter!

Lorenzo summits Everest
Heard that at around 05:00 local time today my Italian friend Lorenzo Gariano reached the summit of the world's highest mountain via Tibet and the North Ridge. Photo shows a view looking down at the world from 8848m, which Lorenzo wasn't able to send until a few days later - the PDA which we set up for transferring the images was left at BC and its battery went flat!

Technorati tags:Everest Lorenzo Gariano summit Tibet North Ridge

Canon EOS1D sensor cleaning

Canon EOS1D sensor cleaning
Photo uploaded to flickr 20 May '06, 12.35pm BST PST by hockeyshooter

I've uploaded a couple of photos from today's sensor cleaning. I started with a quick (but gentle) squirt of Ghiant compressed air, then using a wide nylon bristled brush I bought from a local art shop for a couple of quid, having spraying the bristles vigorously with the air (to statically charge them) I wiped the sensor across a couple of times. Finally, another gentle squirt of air and hey, presto - one clean sensor. And all for a fraction of the price of conventional digital SLR cleaning kits.

Ghiant Air-Power from 7dayshop.com

Technorati tags: CanonEOS1D sensor cleaning nylon brush canned air Ghiant

"Lib Dems plan a £2,000 road tax
The owners of cars which generate the most pollution would face annual road taxes of £2,000 under Liberal Democrat plans to tackle climate change. The figure - 10 times the current rate - would cover high-end cars such as BMW's 7 series, Bentley Continentals and the four-by-four Porsche Cayenne."

Now we're talking. Brown's last road tax hike was a complete waste of time.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems plan a £2,000 road tax

PM Tony pre-empts his own government energy policy review by stating, last night at a CBI dinner, that nuclear energy was "back on the agenda with a vengeance" (isn't that just the sequel to the movie "Back on the Agenda", probably staring Bruce Willis?). He is quite rightly concerned at the UK massive over-reliance on imported gas to generate a good 40% of our electricity, and that our ageing nuclear plants (currently spitting out around 20% of our collective watts) will nearly all be retired over the next 20 years.

Just so long as he realises that the time for action is right now - there's no point having reviews and discussions if you're then going to sit on the status quo for the next 10 years before actually doing anything.

BBC News | Politics | Blair backs nuclear power plans

Technorati tags: Blair nuclear energy energy policy energy review

The Ban The Bulb: Campaign Aims...
1. To increase the use of energy-efficient light bulbs.
2. To encourage the taxing and phasing out of incandescent light bulbs.
3. To propose a time limit for the replacement of light fittings requiring the use of incandescent light bulbs and for altering the shopping habits of consumers.
4. To include environmental costs in the prices consumers pay for their light bulbs and to reward those who switch to using less polluting light bulbs.

We've replaced most of the incandescent bulbs in our house with flourescent enegy savers, many of which came from our electricity provider. The few remaining will be replaced eventually.

Ban The Bulb

Technorati tags: energy efficiency light bulbs ban the bulb

Covered my first cricket match of the season today; this was in the fourth division of the Morrant Four County League.

"Firm fined for chocolate tin size
A biscuit firm has been fined because its Giant Chocolate Fingers were being sold in tins that were too big. Trading standards in Cambridgeshire took action against St Albans-based Burton's Foods because the biscuits only filled two-thirds of the tin. The firm is one of the first to be prosecuted under laws designed to clamp down on the use of too much packaging. It admitted breaching regulations and applying a false trade description and was fined £7,000 by magistrates."

Lets hope there are many more prosecutions like this. The amount of materials wasted on packaging, quite often non-biodegradable, is disgraceful.

BBC NEWS | England | Cambridgeshire | Firm fined for chocolate tin size

"HD-ready" is a con. Especially when it comes to integrated televisions - those with a built-in freeview receivers. According to the BBC, terrestrial high definition broadcasts (other than the recently announced London trials) will not start until the switchover from analog to digital has happened. But no current (generally available in the UK) freeview hardware supports the compression format - quite possibly H.264 - that will be required for HD transmissions, which require significantly more bandwidth.

A new HD compatible digital receiver will be required if and when the HD service is rolled out nationally. For Freeview this is not likely to occur for years yet as there is not enough space available on the current spectrum to provide such broadcasts. This may change come the completion of digital switchover in 2012, however OFCOM will be responsible for determining who gets the extra spectrum space and for what services.

In the meantime the latest information relating to the BBC's plans for HD television can be viewed on the following site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/digital/tv/hdtv.shtml

See the BBC's press release about their HD broadcasts of the World Cup and Wimbledon. And ITV is participating as well.

Covered a local footy game for a change today. Made quite a difference not having a few thousand fans behind me - could actually hear the players swearing at each other. The work's team won 3-2 (credit, where its due to MK City who pulled two back from 3-0 down); the OU are promoted.

Covered Oxford vs Leyton Orient today, while Northampton were away to Grimsby. The two matches were to affect that last automatic promotion place, but as Oxford lost 2-3, they get relegated to the Conference for the first time in over 40 years. I can't think they'll be there long, though, as they have a big stadium and therefore plenty of income.

Intrigued by a review of Larry Bond's latest thriller due to this quote in US Amazon's review "...a muster of trite maritime stereotypes with seabags full of childish personality conflicts..." Misread that as teabags.

Books: Larry Bond - Dangerous Ground

A big "well done" to Northampton for securing promotion to League 1 for next season after a 1-0 win over Chester. To be fair, Chester did actually dominate the game for about 20 minutes and I quite though the Cobblers were going to have a mare and throw it away. Scott McGleish scored (again) and that turned the game around. Town had at least three more chances denied them in the second half by Chester keeper Chris MacKenzie.

Meanwhile, Torquay did us a favour by beating Carlisle who are now equal in points to the Cobblers. Providing we win away to Grimsby (who only managed a draw against Macclesfield) next Saturday, and Carlisle don't win either of their two remaining games, Northampton could still win the League trophy.

Not posted a joke before - here goes...

"A blind man enters a lesbian bar by mistake. He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a drink. After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, 'Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?'

The bar immediately falls absolutely quiet. In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, 'Before you tell that joke, sir, I think it is just fair - given that you are blind that you should know five things:

1 - The bartender is a blonde girl.
2 - The bouncer is a blonde girl.
3 - I'm a 6 foot tall, 220 lb blonde woman with a black belt in karate.
4 - The woman sitting next to me is blonde and is a professional weight lifter.
5 - The lady to your right is a blonde and is a professional wrestler.

Now think about it seriously, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?'

The blind man thinks for a second, shakes his head, and declares 'Nah. Not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times'."

Purloined from The SimplyDV Bulletin Board

"Warnings over USB memory sticks
Smart phones, iPods and USB memory sticks are posing a real risk for businesses, warn security experts. Just over half of companies take no steps to secure data held on these devices, found a UK government-backed security survey. Recently, US military secrets were found in USB sticks on sale outside Agram airbase in Afghanistan.

Matt Fisher, spokesman for Centennial Software, said USB sticks could also become an attack vector for viruses and other malicious programs largely because they are swapped between many different computers. 'Everyone expects a virus to come through the [e-mail] gateway,' he said, 'No one expects them to come in on a USB stick.'"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Warnings over USB memory sticks
Technorati tags: USB memory stick security virus

"Clarke attacks 'distorting' media
Charles Clarke has accused the UK media of perpetuating 'myths' that his law and order agenda is an attack on human rights and civil liberties. The home secretary says a 'pernicious and even dangerous poison' exists in the British press.

Mr Clarke used his speech to the LSE to attack the press for using expressions once reserved for tyrants to describe the legitimate policies of democratic governments. He said using terms such as 'police state' or 'hijacking democracy' or 'destroying the rule of law' to describe modern democratic politicians is causing the truth to be thrown out the window."

Well, is it coincidence that one of the first things a repressive regime or police state does is to silence the media?

BBC NEWS | Politics | Clarke attacks 'distorting' media

St.Michael's church yard

St.Michael's church yard
Photo uploaded to flickr 24 Apr '06, 2.45pm BST PST by hockeyshooter

The church yard looks great at the moment with a number of trees in full blossom, with birds twittering like crazy in their highest branches.

You have received a new message

A massive turnout from the Cobblers fans (at least 3000) today at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford. Promotion chasers Northampton received another three points with their 3-1 win over a somewhat outclassed Oxford United.

"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.