Anger over £1bn Centrica profits

"BBC NEWS | Business | Anger over £1bn Centrica profits
Consumer groups have expressed anger as British Gas owner Centrica revealed £5m-per-day profits, after announcing a record price hike on Wednesday. Centrica said the rise was justified and was needed to offset higher costs.

Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive, said: 'This is a business that has got a million shareholders - a lot of pension funds and people have got their savings invested in British Gas shares and we have to look after them'."

Good grief - I've probably got shares in Centrica indirectly via my employers' pension fund but that doesn't justify whacking such a massive increase on prices. For goodness sake, Government, its time to cut out this blatant snouts-in-the-trough crap.

At the end of the day its all Thatcher's fault for selling off the (our) Utilities: how many dipsticks bought into her propaganda about everyone owning shares? Just how much more have your Utility bills gone up compared to the piffling dividends you've received?

BBC NEWS | Business | Anger over £1bn Centrica profits

Pick your weather

The BBC - or is it the Met Office - seem to be having problems predicting the weather recently. Time to go back to the seaweed, folks.

Dad's Army Archive reporting for duty Sir!

"BBC - Archive - Dad's Army - Homepage
On 31 July 1968, viewers of BBC One met a group of elderly soldiers and a 'stupid boy' for the first time. 'Dad's Army' became an instant classic with its gentle humour, nostalgia and pride in the men who gave their all for their country, whatever that all happened to be."

I've always been a big fan of the series and this new archive is well worth a visit. My 65-year-old brother and I still make much use of the phrase "stupid boy".

BBC - Archive - Dad's Army - Homepage

Higher oil price boosts BP profit

"BBC NEWS | Business | Higher oil price boosts BP profit
Oil giant BP has announced a 6% rise in profits for the second quarter of 2008, largely thanks to a sharp rise in the price of oil. Unions are calling for a windfall tax on BP and other oil producers."

Well, instead of giving money to the government, who would surely piss it away in the same regardless manner as they do our taxes, why not get BP to fit thousands of solar heating or electricity generation systems to houses around the UK for free?

BBC NEWS | Business | Higher oil price boosts BP profit

3,000 passports and visas stolen

"BBC NEWS | UK | 3,000 passports and visas stolen
About 3,000 blank passports and visas have been stolen while being transported from Manchester to London. However, the passport service said the stolen documents could not be used by thieves because of their hi-tech embedded chip security features."

Yeah, right - does anyone really believe that?

BBC NEWS | UK | 3,000 passports and visas stolen

2010 Camaro still a gas-guzzler

"GM unveils 'fuel-sipping' Camaro - 2010 Chevrolet Camaro (1) - CNNMoney.com
...when General Motors unveiled the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro Monday afternoon, it was the car's fuel economy numbers that were front and center. V6 versions, which GM expects will be the biggest sellers, are expected to get 26 miles per gallon on the highway. "

Hardly an achievement, guys. What does it return around town? 10mpg?

GM unveils 'fuel-sipping' Camaro - 2010 Chevrolet Camaro (1) - CNNMoney.com

Arctic 'has 90bn barrels of oil'

"BBC NEWS | Business | Arctic 'has 90bn barrels of oil'
According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic holds about 13% of the world's undiscovered oil, 30% of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20% of the undiscovered natural gas liquids. Exploration companies believe the recent rapid ice melt in the Arctic may make it easier to get reserves out of the region."

Its almost as if Nature is saying "go ahead, mankind, seal your own fate even faster".

BBC NEWS | Business | Arctic 'has 90bn barrels of oil'

Fuel duty increase postponed

"BBC NEWS | Politics | Fuel duty increase is postponed
The planned 2p increase in fuel duty this October is to be postponed. This is the second time it has been put back - it was due to be introduced in March, but was delayed for six months because of rising oil prices."

I should think so too - fuel prices have a direct impact on inflation and pay rises, so if he wants to keep any control over the economy, it would have been pretty stupid to put prices up again.

"The price of unleaded petrol has risen 25% over the past year and pressure has been mounting for duty to be cut."

Which really makes you wonder about the official figures for inflation, doesn't it? Diesel has gone up by 36% and that would have a more significant impact on food prices, etc.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Fuel duty increase is postponed

Motocross in the sun

Sunday's Hare and Hounds motocross, hosted by the Northampton Motocycle Club at Wood End near Towcester went very well: good turn out and nice weather too. Pity the wives and GFs of the riders, though, given the amount of cow muck that seemed to be everywhere!

Hello

Hello,
originally uploaded by peter_hasselbom.

Just a nice image.

Multi-camera photography

Fiver's program 'The Shot' (reality competition to find a fashion photographer) this afternoon included a session using a 90-camera setup allegedly to shoot photos for a feature on hair. Not surprisingly, the judges were pretty scathing about all the results - but the equipment was never going to suit the subject. The program would have been far more interesting if it had focussed on the technology and techniques instead of the competitors whinging and moaning about each other. But then I guess that's what reality TV is all about - especially if its American.

Net address fix foxes web users

"BBC NEWS | Technology | Net address fix foxes web users
Many users of the ZoneAlarm firewall have been floored by a fix to the net's addressing system. Those hit found they could not get online after installing a Microsoft patch to close a security loophole.

While it prepared a fix for the fix, [ZoneAlarm authors] Checkpoint advised users to uninstall the Microsoft security update or temporarily lower the firewall settings to 'medium'."

This was exactly the issue I found last night on updating a neighbour's machine. And the suggested temporary change to the firewall level definitely works.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Net address fix foxes web users

Road tax increases 'will hit 9m'

"BBC NEWS | Politics | Road tax increase 'will hit 9m'
An estimated nine million motorists will have to pay more road tax under reforms aimed at punishing gas-guzzling vehicles, the government has admitted. Official estimates say vehicle excise duty will rise for 44% of vehicles made since 2001 - by up to £245 for the most polluting ones - but will fall for 33%.

Treasury minister Angela Eagle ... admitted that five of the UK's 30 most popular cars would pay more - the 2.2l diesel Land Rover Freelander, the 1.6l unleaded Toyota Auris, the 2.2l diesel Honda CR-V, the 1.8l unleaded Vauxhall Vectra and the 1.6l unleaded Vauxhall Zafira."

What precisely is the Land Rover Freelander doing in the list of the 30 most popular cars? Why are so many people driving them? Mostly doing the shopping and school run, would be my guess - Chelsea Tractors in other words.

Yet again the Government is raising taxes - presumably to pay for its wars - hiding behind the Green issue.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Road tax increase 'will hit 9m'

Cyclist kills - and gets a fine

"BBC NEWS | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | Death cyclist fine angers family
The family of a 17-year-old girl who died after being hit by a cyclist has described the £2,200 fine handed to the man who hit her as 'laughable'.

A CPS spokesperson said: 'A file of evidence from the police was reviewed by a senior CPS prosecutor and, based on that evidence, it was decided the charge of dangerous cycling was the most appropriate.'"

The defendant would probably have been given a stiffer sentence if he were just walking along. Good luck to the family in their private prosecution.

BBC NEWS | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | Death cyclist fine angers family

moblog

At last - a mobile blog service based in the UK! As well as support for photos and text messages, they have teamed up with another company to allow audio postings too - really neat.

Nothing much there yet, but here's my moblog page.

Ex-MI5 chief attacks 42-day plan

"Ex-MI5 chief attacks 42-day plan
The former head of MI5 has dismissed government plans to extend the time terror suspects can be held to 42 days as not 'workable'.

Lord Goldsmith, who was attorney general when Tony Blair was prime minister, also opposed the plan, saying it risked "giving away the very freedoms that terrorists are trying to take from us'.

He told peers: 'We don't take away freedoms that people, and our ancestors, have fought for without very good cause...'

Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said he would oppose the plans 'root and branch'.

Baroness Neville-Jones said of the 42-days plan: 'It represents yet another attack, on the part of the government, without justification, on fundamental democratic rights and freedoms that have underpinned our society for centuries.'"

I am so relieved that there are some in Government willing to speak out against all this new so-called anti-terror legislation, pressured onto us by the politics of fear. Why is it that Brown and his cronies can't see that every liberty we surrender is considered a victory by the terrorists?

BBC NEWS | Politics | Ex-MI5 chief attacks 42-day plan

Government launches data mash-up

"BBC NEWS | Technology | Government launches data mash-up
The UK government has launched a competition to find innovative ways of using the masses of data it collects."

How about writing a load of it on CDs and posting it to no where? Or copying it onto a laptop and leaving it in a car? Or just leaving it on a train?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Government launches data mash-up

Photos from Granada

Just helped my brother post photos from his trip to Granada, Spain onto a Picasa web album. Used Downloader Pro and BreezeBrowser Pro to create 800-pixel versions, but in retrospect it would have been a lot easier to do the entire process via the Picasa application. Again, I noticed however, Picasa had trouble seeing the folder of images; although there was a tick next to the folder on my D:, it still did not bring in the thumbnails.

Furry humbugs reprieved

"BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Badger cull proposals 'rejected'
The government has decided against a cull of badgers in England to control TB in cattle, the BBC understands."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Badger cull proposals 'rejected'

More on the Noisy gits

The local rag has a front page splash regarding the aforementioned noisy gits. Both the council Environment people and the police were in attendance in force but were afraid to brake up the rave, which was held in a field next to The Globe Inn, as they were concerned that some of the noisy gits in question might fall into the canal. Having had to put up their racket all night, I can only say that would have been the best place for them - together with all their noise-making gear.

Noisy git

A pox on the selfish, disrespectful scum who had an all-night party somewhere in north Leighton Buzzard last night. Not near me, but even with doors and windows closed, I could still hear it. And just where were the police?

10p tax losers 'need more help'

"BBC NEWS | Politics | 10p tax losers 'need more help'
Alistair Darling must do more to help the 1.1m low-income households still losing out as a result of the scrapping of the 10p tax rate, MPs have said. A £2.7bn emergency package announced by the chancellor last month did not go far enough, the cross-party Commons Treasury committee said in a report. The money had not been 'well-targeted', with £2bn going to middle-income workers who had not lost out, it added."

What a mess. Just why exactly did they get rid of the 10% rate? To make it less complicated, wasn't it? This Government really is clueless.

BBC NEWS | Politics | 10p tax losers 'need more help'

Royals 'cost the taxpayer £40m'

"BBC NEWS | UK | Royals 'cost the taxpayer £40m'
The Queen and the Royal Family have cost the taxpayer £40m during the last financial year - up £2m on the previous 12 months, official accounts show. The total is equivalent to 66p per person in the UK - an increase of 4p."

What a bargain! If only all Government departments cost so little to run and yet were able to bring so much income to the country!

BBC NEWS | UK | Royals 'cost the taxpayer £40m'

UK plans big wind power expansion

"BBC NEWS | Politics | UK plans big wind power expansion
Thousands of new wind turbines could be built across the UK over the coming decade as part of a £100bn plan to boost renewable energy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the UK should be a leader in renewable energy. But he warned it would not come from "business as usual" and he called for a national debate on achieving the UK's target of 15% renewable energy by 2020."

I don't doubt there will be a lot of protests around the country from people not wanting turbines spoiling the view, but you can't have it both ways. But why exactly should we expect our energy bills to go up so much? Who exactly is building these turbine? Where's this £100bn going? Perhaps we're not talking about Government money here at all - perhaps Brown is simply asking the generating companies to spend £100bn of their money?

BBC NEWS | Politics | UK plans big wind power expansion

KMi Roses win again

KMi Roses, my department's 6-a-side cricket team, won their fourth and final group game today, making it four out of four - a record. I think we set another record by getting four wickets too.

getElementById

"XML for PHP developers, Part 2: Advanced XML parsing techniques
The example ... uses the DOM to parse the document and retrieves an element with getElementById. It's necessary to validate the document by setting validateOnParse=true before referring to the ID. According to the DOM standard, this requires a DTD which defines the attribute ID to be of type ID."

What it doesn't tell you is that for getElementById to work under PHP5, the ids in the XML have to start with a letter - its no good having just numbers in the field. Quite why that should be the case I don't know since there's nothing in W3C's documentation to say this should be the case.

XML for PHP developers, Part 2: Advanced XML parsing techniques

DIY Asus Eee PSU

Just finished a prototype field power supply for the Asus Eee notebook computers we are contemplating using for our wireless geology field trips to Scotland later this year. It uses a 7Ah 12v battery plus a 3A variable-voltage regulator set to 9.5v. I spotted the irony in using lead-free solder in a project that uses a lead-acid battery.

Green energy push planned for UK

"BBC NEWS | UK | Green energy push planned for UK
As many as a quarter of British homes could be fitted with solar heating panels under new government plans for a 'green revolution'. Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the new proposals are 'the most ambitious' such strategy that Britain has seen.

The goal is to meet the EU target of 15% of energy from renewables by 2020. But at a time of consumer anger over fuel prices, the plan concedes that green power will cost more."

More? How can it cost more? Its free! Or are New Labour going to tax sunshine now?

It should already be part of the building regulations that all new buildings, domestic or industrial, should have solar water heating. Why not have around 80% of your hot water heating free?

BBC NEWS | UK | Green energy push planned for UK

Who is selling your photos online?

"A man goes to an REM concert. The conditions on the ticket banned taking photographs, but Steve Miller and his wife, who were conveniently seated in the middle of the front row in the Royal Albert Hall in March, noticed that everyone around them was taking photographs and the staff weren't stopping them. So they took some, too - about a dozen nice, bright, clear, good-quality concert photographs. Miller put them up on Flickr, as you do, and thought little more about it.

Then one day in mid-May Alison Clarke, another Flickr user, contacted him to let him know that his photographs were up for sale on eBay."

So the photographer is complaining because someone is selling images he wasn't actually supposed to have taken in the first place?

Being a part-time freelance photographer, I'm all for protection of peoples' rights, but in this particular instance, the photographer was well aware they had broken copyright law themselves in the first place.

Who is selling your photos online? | Technology | The Guardian

New template

Attracted by the idea of a dynamic blogroll, I took the plunge and updated my template to one of the new designs. Not many of those available 'off-the-shelf' were actually much cop, but I'll give Blogspot/Google their due in that they do support the inserting of all manner of HTML and JavaScript code, meaning I could create a pretty close approximation to what I had before.

Having said that, the stylesheets are huge so if you want to do any manual tweaking, you'll need a lot of patience.

Beware of incoming tide

"Beach sign warns of rising tide
A new sign on a Devon beach, which warns the public about the tide coming in, has been described as 'ridiculous' by some local residents. The road-sign style warning notice at Castle Cove in Dartmouth reads 'Beware of incoming tide'. South Hams Council said it had erected the sign on the advice of its insurers and public safety was 'paramount'."

Nanny state again. I think its the council covering its arse that's paramount here.

BBC NEWS | England | Devon | Beach sign warns of rising tide

Cycling cities

"Bristol named first cycling city
Bristol has become England's first "cycling city" in a £100m government scheme aimed at encouraging cycling. The city intends to double the number of cyclists over the next three years with a series of innovations. Sharing the funding will be York, Stoke, Blackpool, Cambridge, Chester, Colchester, Leighton Buzzard, Southend, Shrewsbury, Southport and Woking."

Just so long as Beds County Council planners and the local developers take this as a green light to build the approximately six thousand houses around my home town of Leighton Buzzard. Might sound daft, but this is the sort of justification they've been looking for.

BBC NEWS | England | Bristol | Bristol named first cycling city

MPs demand much more

"MPs demand 22% pay rise as Brown offers public sector 2% - Times Online
The chairmen of the Tory and Labour backbench committes held an unprecedented joint meeting to push for a £13,000 annual salary increase, The Times has learnt.

The MPs, whose salary is £59,095, are also demanding, in addition to the inflation-busting pay increase, an improved petrol allowance. Last year it was cut from 57.7p for the first 20,000 miles to 40p, in line with Inland Revenue rates. The revelation that MPs are seeking such a big increase, within seven months of the general election, is likely to attract widespread criticism at a time when the Chancellor is seeking to limit the public sector to increases of about 2 per cent."

Perhaps they'd like to see a national strike - the kind we got in the 1970s which brought the country to its knees? Coz that's what they'll get!

MPs demand 22% pay rise as Brown offers public sector 2% - Times Online

Consumer inflation 'could top 4%'

"Consumer inflation 'could top 4%'
Rising food and energy prices could push UK consumer inflation above 4% this year, the governor of the Bank of England has warned."

"This year" - who are they kidding? Prices are going up more than 4% a month - some by more than 4% a week.

"Increasing household energy bills were also a significant factor, along with the rising cost of books, stationery and foreign holidays. However, this rise in the cost of leisure and recreation was offset by a fall in the price of DVDs, according to the ONS."

Oh, that's all right then - if I can't afford to buy food, I'll start eating DVDs instead.

BBC NEWS | Business | Consumer inflation 'could top 4%'

Cookies

Currently having problems deleting cookies set using PHP.

I have a need to set them on one server and to be read by scripts in another server. To do so, I need to apply the top level domain when I set the cookies, otherwise I can't read them when the visitor moves subdomains. But for some reason, I cannot delete the cookie from the other server, even if the domain is specified in exactly the same way.

Perhaps its a security feature and therefore just not possible to do?

Wakeboarding

Attended the European Cable Wakeboard Tour today as it visited Willen Lake in Milton Keynes for three days. Managed to get some decent shots despite the sun not wanting to stay out for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Click the image to visit the gallery.

UK to press ahead with EU Treaty

"UK to press ahead with EU Treaty
The British government is expected to continue ratifying the EU Treaty despite its rejection by Irish voters. The British government says the Bill to ratify the treaty will continue its progression through Parliament.

A 'No' vote by Ireland could spell the end for the treaty - as it must be ratified by all 27 EU member states.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: 'On 1 June Baroness Ashton made clear in the House of Lords that we will have the 3rd reading of the Bill to ratify the treaty on 18 June. It's the intention of this government to complete the legislation programme that it's begun on the Lisbon Treaty."

Regardless of how stupid and pointless it might ultimately turn out to be. Brown can't possibly back down on anything, can he?

BBC NEWS | Politics | UK to press ahead with EU Treaty

Irish minister says EU vote lost

"Irish minister says EU vote lost
Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern says substantial vote tallies across the country show the European Union Lisbon reform treaty has been rejected. Tallies are not official, but Mr Ahern says it is clear the No vote is ahead in a vast majority of constituencies."

I guess the British Government can be happy they didn't waste money on a referendum now.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Irish minister says EU vote lost

Photo competition

This evening saw the awards presentation for the first annual Walton High photographic competition, with first second and third prizes awarded in Under 16s and Over 16s categories, plus a rather smart trophy for the overall photographer of the year. The quality of all of the finalists' images were very impressive and you certainly couldn't tell which photos had been submitted by the younger group of students.

Competition Home

Photo competition

This evening saw the judging of all 198 entries to the 2008 OU Camera Club annual photographic competition. I didn't win anything myself, but did have one photo shortlisted in the Architecture gallery. As Chairman, it was good to see so many images entered - I had been concerned that we wouldn't get enough. Thanks to the visiting judge Derek Larkin from the Wellingborough Camera Club.

Brown under fire

"BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown under fire over 42-day plan
David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of making 'so many concessions' in his bid to win the terror detention limit vote the legislation was now 'unworkable'. Mr Brown accused Mr Cameron of leading 'opposition for opposition's sake'."

Legislation for legislation's sake, Gordon?

"It would only be used with the support of the director of public prosecutions, the backing of Parliament in a vote, with judicial safeguards and only for a temporary period."

And how, exactly, would Parliament be able to vote without knowing the facts behind the case - which the Police and Security Services would almost certainly not want known?

"Home Secretary Jacqui Smith confirmed that suspects held beyond 28 days but then released without charge would be eligible for an "ex gratia" compensation payment."

I suppose the Police might be tempted to charge the suspect with something like littering just to avoid paying the compensation.

"Jonathan Evans, head of MI5, said the organisation was not best placed to advise because it was not responsible for prosecutions or criminal investigations."

If MI5 were at all in support of this, there's no way he would have made a statement like this.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown under fire over 42-day plan

Broadband in MK

"Fibre, copper and aluminium
What I didn't pack was any aluminium cable, which would have been useful in Milton Keynes yesterday. The city's telephone network, built in the seventies when the price of copper was sky-high, has an awful lot of aluminium in it, which makes it pretty useless in terms of delivering broadband.

So Milton Keynes, a new town, is trapped in the 20th Century when it comes to the high-speed internet - which is why the fixed Wimax network we were there to cover is an attractive option for some residents with no other way of getting broadband."

Rory [Cellan-Jones] is absolutely spot on - a good part of MK is wired with aluminium cabling, meaning it simply cannot take high-data-rate ADSL signals.

BBC NEWS | dot.life | A blog about technology from BBC News | Fibre, copper and aluminium

See also the web pages of the Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group

Technorati tags: ADSL broadband internet

MI5 chief clarifies 42-day stance

"MI5 chief clarifies 42-day stance
The head of the security service MI5 has clarified its position on government plans to seek powers to detain terror suspects for 42 days. Following controversy over MI5's failure to back the plans, Jonathan Evans said MI5 was not the appropriate body to advise on detention limits."

Or he could have stuck his head in the sand and shouted "LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING". But then that's Gordon's Brown's line.

BBC NEWS | Politics | MI5 chief clarifies 42-day stance

3G iPhone

"Apple announces cheaper 3G iPhone
Apple has unveiled a second generation of its iPhone, with support for faster 3G wireless networks. The new device(s) were launched by Apple boss Steve Jobs who said the phone would be 'more affordable' for consumers, starting at $199 (£100)."

Pity the poor suckers who bought the first version for $599 and are still stuck in the contract they were forced to sign up to just to own one.

"The iPhone was first launched last year and was criticised for its support for slower 2G networks only. Mr Jobs said the 3G iPhone was 'three times faster' downloading content over a mobile network compared to the original device."

Yes, we know that Steve, that's why no one could understand why you launched a 2G phone the first time.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple announces cheaper 3G iPhone

Technorati tags: Apple iPhone 3G

6-a-Side Cricket

My department's cricket team won - just - their first match in the annual six-a-side cricket tournament today. Neil (pictured) merrily knocked the ball around the ground.

Manchester C-charge plans backed

"Manchester C-charge plans backed
The government has approved a peak-time congestion charging scheme for drivers entering and leaving Manchester."

All Labour MPs in the Manchester area can now expect to loose their seats at the next election - if they weren't already.

BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | Manchester C-charge plans backed

Network Rail Big Bonuses

"Bonuses of £55m at Network Rail
Rail infrastructure firm Network Rail has said staff will receive total bonuses of £55m, as it announced annual pre-tax profit of £1.6bn for 2007-08. Chief executive Iain Coucher will get a reward of £305,581."

You'll want to remember this next time your train is delayed an hour because there's a leaf on the line.

BBC NEWS | Business | Bonuses of £55m at Network Rail

Wireless cows

Time again for more wireless network tests before we (well not me personally) head north to Kindrogan in Scotland to support another disabled student on their SXR339 summer school. As usual, we head for a field in Wolverton and for a good hour or so are ignored by a herd of cows. Their inqusitive nature eventually got the better of them though and they mosied on over to investigate.

Yahoo 'sabotaged' Microsoft deal

"A billionaire Yahoo shareholder has claimed the Yahoo board deliberately 'sabotaged' Microsoft's bid to buy the internet company. Investor Carl Icahn claimed the board went to "inordinate lengths" to prevent the $47.5bn (£24bn) merger deal with Microsoft going ahead."

Maybe they thought a takeover by Microsoft wasn't a good thing and didn't want it to go ahead? If so, what's wrong with a company's directors acting they way they want?

BBC NEWS | Business | Yahoo 'sabotaged' Microsoft deal

Chinooks still in their shed

"The Ministry of Defence has been accused of a "gold standard cock-up" over eight helicopters which have cost £422m but have yet to fly for the RAF.

Mr Leigh, NAO, strongly condemning the MoD's handling of the whole affair, saying: 'The Ministry of Defence's programme to make airworthy the eight Chinook Mk3 helicopters, which it acquired in 2001 for special operations work, has been a gold standard cock-up. Nearly seven years since they were delivered, the Chinook Mk3s are still languishing in climate-controlled hangers - despite the fact that they are desperately needed on operations in Afghanistan.'"

Only a government can waste money on this scale. Anyone with half a brain would send dodgy goods back to the suppliers. British Government says, "its all right, will shove 'em in a hanger for seven years in the hope no one will notice".

BBC NEWS | UK | MoD accused of Chinook 'cock-up'

Technorati tags: military helicopter Chiook government incompetent money waste

We've made it on to the BBC News website too.

After much effort and long days (and quite a few long nights), The Open University now has a presence in iTunes U - one of the first non-US Universities to be added to the educational part of the iTunes system.

The politics of fear

Rarely a day passes without President Bush forcibly reminding the American people of the dangers posed by terrorists and the need for a permanant war on terror.

OK, so its an old article, but substitute Gordon Brown for President Bush and its still just as relevant today.

The politics of fear | Comment is free

I get so sick of Facebook pages not loading. Seems to happen most often in the evenings here in the UK, presumably because the USA has just woken up and Facebook's servers can't cope with the load. Get it sorted!

Our webCEF project meeting went very well in Helsinki, Finland. Weather was wonderful. Shame I hate flying so much!

Shifting The Paradigm Gears

The Luminous Landscape seems to think that its inevitable that still and video cameras will merge. There are already a number of cameras that can shoot very high quality images at very high frame rates - up to 100fps. But I have to wonder if there really is a need for such high resolution. Unless you're going to be blowing your images up to beyond A3, you simply don't need more than around 8Mpixels. I think its another advance driven by the manufacturers rather than the market.

A broke leg at the football finals on Sunday resulted in an encounter with the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance - an Augusta A109, for the anoraks out there.



The ability to zoom the image in this post proves that its possible to use external JavaScript with blogger. Just remember that if your blog is popular, you will get a lot of hits on the hosting where your JavaScript (and in this case, image) are coming from.

Sadly the OU Vets were beaten by Kingfisher Titans in their cup final this afternoon. But overall they did have a very good season, finishing second in their league.

OU Reserves today beat Impressions 2-1 to win the Knockout Cup final, making it a double as they also won Division 2 of the MKSL.

Got confused by the track files that the ATP Photofinder produces. The KML files that it can export (on request) to the camera's SD card do not contain date/timestamps, so cannot be used to manually geotag your images using other software (should you want to do that). Instead, you have to connect the device itself via its USB-2 port to your computer - you then get access to Magellen .log format files that contain all the GPS data - which you can then convert to GPX format (or whatever) using utilities like GPS Utility.

More on the ATP Photofinder:
We bought ours from easydevices.co.uk for about £80, together with a card reader which you need if you want to tag images on Compact Flash cards. The USB socket on the ATP reader is mini-USB2, so you need to use the included dongle in order to connect most USB card readers.

The ATP does the job, but there are shortcomings:

1. the battery life can be pretty dire. I managed to record about an hour's track with a pair of new alkaline AAAs from Superdrug, but there wasn't enough juice when I got back to geotag the files. I thoroughly recommend the use of top-brand batteries, like Duracell, or get yourself some high capacity NiMHs from the likes of play.com

2. the display is extremely difficult to see. In order to save power, the backlight goes off about about five seconds. If you've taken a lot of photos, the geotagging process can take a long time and without the display on, you have no idea that its still working.

3. time for GPS acquisition from cold is very long - you have to wait a good five minutes before the device will start logging your position.

4. the KML track files that the device creates are not correctly date-stamped. Given the device has such a large storage capacity, you can end up with a lot of track files in the device (which you can then copy to your SD card), but they are all datestamped 1st Jan 2007.

I think the GPS accuracy issue is common to all small, portable GPS devices - they've never going to work that well in built-up environments since the receivers all require a clear view of the sky to operate properly.

So, although it might be a clever product, I'm afraid the "user experience" leaves a bit to be desired.

Here's a gallery of photos I geotagged using the ATP Photofinder. Picasa does a much better job of handling geotagged photos than Flickr, helped by the use of Google Maps, of course.

Technorati tags: GPS ATP Photofinder review opinion geotagging

Trevor with the ATP Photofinder,
originally uploaded by hockeyshooter.

This clever little device performs two functions. Firstly it records a track of GPS locations, saved every 5 seconds to a KML-format file.

Secondly, and much more clever, is that you can take an SD card from a digital camera, and it will geotag (correctly, in the EXIF header) with the location the photo was taken at the time it was taken.

Like the little Garmin units, it runs off two AAA batteries with an expected life of about 8 hours. Takes quite a while to acquire the GPS signal.

Its quite well built, feels robust, the SD slot and mini-USB2 slot are behind a little rubber flap and the battery cover is a tight fit. Controls are minimal (just three buttons) and there is a tiny LCD display - but this is extremely difficult to read in bright light.

Overall, its an excellent idea and very useful for doing site surveys and the like.

Blacklisted

"Workers accused of theft or damage could soon find themselves blacklisted on a register to be shared among employers. It will be good for profits but campaigners say innocent people could find it impossible to get another job."

How can this be legal? Blacklisted even if an accusation is never proved? This must rate as one of the most serious abuses of civil liberties I've ever read about. Get yourself on this list and you might never work again.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Bust-up with the boss?

Mirror Blog

Have installed the Facebook application Mirror Blog to see if/how it can share postings between my Facebook account and my Blogger blog. I tend to post stuff to Facebook more than my blog these days, which is why my Blogger postings have gotten a bit thin on the ground.

The T189 course team, plus myself (not officially on the course team), pose with their OU Teaching Award.

Sunday's motocross at Long Buckby. Damp and misty, but at least it didn't rain. Click for a full gallery.

OU Reserves did very well to beat Loughton Reserves 4-1 in their Supplementary Cup game today. Lougton's keeper, at least until the end of regular time, had a cracking game. I have switched back to my Canon 1D as Fixation's service on my 1D Mk.IIn hasn't helped a jot. Click the thumbnail for a full gallery.

This morning's snow is in contrast to the weather I've just come from in Italy.

Late rise on my last day. Bit of rushing around town with Lorenzo before shops close, then back to the seafront cafe (the one with the waitresses - remember?) for lunch before grabbing the Genoa to Nice coach for the airport. Long wait for the outgoing easyjet flight, then we're off. However, just a few minutes into the flight and we hit some severe turbulence, which one of the cabin staff described as "the worse I've experience in nine years with easyjet". And you'll remember that I don't like flying.

Lounging and reading until afternoon, then got down to some web page construction for Lorenzo's new range of ethical trekking holidays in the Himalayas. More of a challenge without a tabbed plain text editor and no Photoshop. Late dinner at the excellent seafront restaurant near the Poggi road that serves wonderful, thin cheese-filled pizza (sorry - can't remember its name), followed by a tiramisu so good it should be illegal.

Visited the Olio Carli bottling plant and museum in Imperia. Very detailed, plus a guide book and audio guide available in English (handy for me being so crap at Italian). Thence to Villa Grock, which is still closed undergoing restoration. Lunch at another seafront cafe. Siesta and reading in the afternoon. Then a visit to our friend Titziana, who runs an Agritourismo in Poggi. Dinner at Lorenzo's; received email relief that I haven't upset aforementioned beautiful girl with my Facebook invite.

Lots of reading and generally lounging about today. Dinner at Lorenzo's Mum's in Diano Marina: aubergines, artichokes and asparagus.

Early rise to join an Italian Alpine Club walk up in the hills, although Lorenzo and I actually took a slightly different route. Lots of brilliant sunshine and I think this is when I managed to get sunburned. Eventually met at the summit with dozens of other walkers taking part in some regional "get out and enjoy the countryside" thing. Back to Imperia (temperature has now risen to about 22C in town) for lunch at the nice little seafront cafe near the road up to Poggi to indulge in some first class people - or rather waitress - watching. Read in the afternoon, then snack dinner for a change. Later spent a good few hours uploading a few images to Flickr, then fiddling with Facebook, where I accidentally asked a very beautiful friend of mine out on a date - you do have to be careful what you click!

Builders arrived at 07:40 this morning. Set off around 11:00 to the Giardino Esotioco Pallanca (Pallance Exotic Gardens) near Bordighera - a massive cacti collection arranged on a steep hill looking down onto the Med. Took over 100 photos, mostly with my new Canon 100mm macro lens (glad I took it). Pizza slice lunch at a seafront cafe to the North of Imperia, reading and rest in the afternoon, then dinner at Lorenzo's.

Builders arrived outside my flat at 08:00 so no lie-in for me. Lorenzo getting hassles by the Italian equivalent of the DLVA with his old Alpha Romeo Spider. Lunch on his roof in brilliant sunshine - temperature must be at least 17C. We then went for a strenuous (for me) walk up from Cervezo in the hills. Dinner with a couple of Lorenzo's friends (the girl being the spitting image of actress Clare Danes) in a very nice restaurant - I had gnocchini (which I can just about pronounce properly now) with mushrooms in a white sauce - superb!

Start of my fifth holiday to Liguria, Italy. easyjet flight out mostly OK (I don't like flying), but quite turbulent flying into Nice. The #99 bus from airport to Nice Ville train station (4 Euros) very straightforward and convenient. Got a train ticket (I asked in French) direct to Imperia, but had to wait for over an hour as most trains stop at Ventimiglia on the way. Rush hour in Nice does seem to involve much of a rush! Had dinner at Primo Piano pizza restaurant in Imperia.

Mashups workshop,
originally uploaded by hockeyshooter.

Following Tony's demonstrations with Yahoo Pipes (which I had briefly looked at before but got nowhere with) I had another play this evening and produced http://tinyurl.com/2axs6y which puts all places mentioned in the last 50 news stories from my department's website onto a Yahoo Map. I wanted to go a bit further and use Google Maps instead, but its just too slow loading in all the data.

Bush speech hails Iraq 'victory'

"Bush speech hails Iraq 'victory'
Overthrowing Saddam Hussein was 'the right decision', US President George W Bush said in a speech to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. He said the world was a safer place because the US had acted. Mr Bush spoke as anti-war protests were held in several US cities amid mounting opposition to the war and its costs.

In his speech, Mr Bush dismissed what he called 'exaggerated estimates' of the war's price tag. 'The costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq,' he said."

Costs? Is that the extent of the 'cost' of this conflict to you? How many billions of US Dollars you've wasted?

How many sons and daughters have been sacrificed to give you your 'victory'?

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Bush speech hails Iraq 'victory'

UK consumer inflation hits 2.5%

"UK consumer inflation hits 2.5%
UK consumer inflation reached its highest level in nine months last month, due to a new method for calculating energy bills. The Office for National Statistics said the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) hit 2.5% on an annual basis in February, up from 2.2% in January."

I really don't know where they get figures like this. The petrol I buy has gone up by more than this in two days. Our Council Tax has gone up by 4.3%.

BBC NEWS | Business | UK consumer inflation hits 2.5%

Build, delivered and installed a new PC for my Brother yesterday. Opted for XP Home as I didn't fancy supporting Vista. He'd been out and bought a Lexmark X3470 all-in-one inkjet printer from Tesco. Plugged the printer into one of the rear USB ports, started the machine up, but it got stuck during the boot process and wouldn't even start the memory test. Considered it just a fluke, perhaps because I hadn't installed the software yet, so I unplugged it (which immediately allowed the machine to boot OK), went into Windows and installed the drivers. That's a long process being an all-in-one device since it comes with some imaging software. Plugged the printer in again and all seemed to be fine - printed a photo from and tested its scan function and all worked.

I shut the machine down and left them to it, but they rang me a bit later to say that again the machine wouldn't boot. On removing the USB cable, all was fine. So just what's going on here? How is the printer stopping the computer from booting? The only instances I've known issues like this is USB-powered devices, like webcams, taking too much power from a USB port. But the printer is mains powered, so that shouldn't be the case here.

The computer is built around a Gigabyte GA-8IK1100 motherboard housing an Intel 3GHz Prescott processor and 1Gb RAM in two sticks running Windows XP Home.

EU leaders meet on CO2

"EU leaders meeting for their spring summit in Brussels are poised to agree on a timetable for cutting greenhouse gas emissions."

And HM the Queen is opening Heathrow's new Terminal 5 today - just to underline our government's obvious commitment to reducing CO2 emissions...

"But a UK proposal to cut sales tax on 'green' goods is unlikely to succeed. The idea put forward by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown would cover such products as low-energy light bulbs.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said some countries did not agree with the idea which he described as 'a very sensitive issue'. He said the question was whether or not lowering VAT was the best solution for promoting environmentally friendly goods. 'We have some doubts,' he added.

Mr Barroso went on to say that he did not want to dismiss the importance of positive discrimination for such products, but alternatives such as rebates might be more suitable."

So instead of taking the easy solution - just lowering the price - you prefer a complicated and no doubt expensive rebate system, almost certainly open to abuse? How typical of the European Parliament - simple or obvious is never the answer.

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | EU set to agree emission cut plan

Safety camera?

Safety camera?,
originally uploaded by hockeyshooter.

Bedfordshire Police "safety" camera positioned 20 yards from a national speed limit sign, on the exit from a village, with no houses - or people - for the next 1/2 mile. Tell me this isn't just for raising revenue.

HTML over Flash

Ever been in the situation where you want to put some HTML on top of Flash movie? You’ve cursed the designers for using Flash, and stated that it is impossible? If that’s the case, I’ll advise you to reconsider.

The solution to the problem is actually very easy...

Easy - and it works, too.

How to put an HTML element on top of a Flash movie - Robert’s talk - Web development and Internet trends

Blind rocker Healey dies aged 41

"Blind rocker Healey dies aged 41
Blind Canadian rock musician Jeff Healey has died in a Toronto hospital aged 41 from a rare form of cancer, his publicist has said. Healey, famed for playing his electric guitar flat on his lap, died of retinoblastoma which claimed his sight when he was a one-year-old-child."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Blind rocker Healey dies aged 41

This has come as quite a shock. I was privileged to have met Jeff and the band in London whilst I was in the biz. Despite loosing his sight so early in life, he was a demon axe-man, playing with a unique style as you'll see if you watch the Patrick Swayze movie 'Roadhouse'. Their version of the George Harrison/Beatles track 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' is truly superb.

Bought yet another domain today - chrisvalentine.name - hadn't even heard of the top level domain .name before this morning but apparently it became available in January 2002. So I was quite surprised that my name was still available. I've got it pointing at this blog at the moment - doubt I'll do anything clever with it.

No, I'm not going nuts - that really was an earthquake I felt at about 00:58 this morning.

Chuffed to bits to finally find a web reference to a movie that's been at the back of my mind for a while. I could only remember that it starred Charles Dance and had something to do with the London Underground or some kind of air raid shelter. Via wikipedia, I managed to find this page on the movie, which was called Hidden City, was the directorial debut of Stephen Poliakoff, was made by Channel 4 TV and released in 1998 (which did surprise me as I thought it was about 10 years before that). It appears that it may have only even been shown once on TV and has never been made available on either VHS or DVD in the UK.

KMi and Greensand Trust

KMi and Greensand Trust,
originally uploaded by hockeyshooter.

A small group from my office did some voluntary environmental work for the Greensand Trust yesterday, moving and assembling a boardwalk (or rather part of, since its probably a week's work to do the whole thing).

Regulations flatten pancake race

"Regulations flatten pancake race
A traditional pancake race has fallen flat after it was cancelled due to health and safety regulations. Every year, children and choristers take part in the Shrove Tuesday race in Ripon, North Yorkshire. The event was revived 10 years ago and is usually started by the ringing of Ripon Cathedral's ancient Pancake Bell. But this year's event has been shelved, with organisers blaming the mountain of risk assessments that must be carried out before children can take part."

We have got to stop all this health-and-safety, nanny-state, political-correctness crap that is ruining the traditions of this country.

BBC NEWS | England | North Yorkshire | Regulations flatten pancake race

"EU 'should ban inefficient cars'

The EU should ban the sale of cars that do under 35 miles to the gallon, the ex-chairman of oil giant Shell says. Sir Mark Moody-Stuart told BBC News the motor industry would adapt to cope with stricter environmental rules.

The UK Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders opposes the idea, saying drivers of the most polluting cars pay extra through road tax and petrol duty. But Sir Mark said this simply let rich people avoid taking responsibility for tackling climate change."

I agree with this proposal entirely. The motor industry has gotten fat off the freedom to pollute and its about time they woke up and smelt the smog. The continuing trend for bigger cars with bigger engines, more power and absurd top speeds has got to stop.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | EU 'should ban inefficient cars'

...and went on to cover a Northampton Motocycle Club enduro event at Whaddon in the afternoon.

Braved a bone-chilling wind to cover OU Vets' 5-0 defeat of Lee Transport at Leon School this morning.

Took some photos at an Aikido training and grading session this evening in a church. Light levels pretty low but flash was just too harsh so I took most without on ISO 1600. Lots of motion blur, as you'd expect, but some decent shots at least.

Sky News demonstrates it cutting edge research abilities this evening, announcing the death of TV presenter and British 'institution' Jeremy Beadle by showing The Sun's web page. Nice to know they really pull out all the stops when it comes to finding the facts behind a story...

OU Firsts won through to the semi finals of the Berks and Bucks Intermediate Cup with a 1-0 win against 9-man Belmont today.

Built a new computer this week. Couldn't find a machine with a close enough spec so I bought a bunch of parts from overclockers.co.uk who I have used in the past (and recommend).

I went for:

• Antec NSK 6580 Super Midi Tower case with 430W Earth Watts power supply
  
• Abit IP35 motherboard
  
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.40GHz processor
  
• 2GB of Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2 RAM
  
  ...and most importantly, since this was to be a machine specifically for gaming:
  
• Leadtek GeForce 8800 GT 256MB GDDR3
  

Together with a 250Gb SATA HD and SATA DVD writer, the total was just under £640 - saving I reckon only about £40 over a pre-built machine.

It took about an hour to put the hardware together, an hour to format the HD, an hour to install Windows XP Home, then another hour to do about 96 Windows updates.

"Japan PM forces navy bill through
The Japanese government has invoked a rarely-used power to force through a controversial naval bill. The ruling party used its lower house majority to override opposition lawmakers, who had voted down the bill in the upper house hours earlier. It was the first such move in more than 50 years, and followed months of deadlock over the proposed legislation.

The bill will allow Japanese ships to resume a refuelling mission supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan. The deployment, which Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda says is vital to Japan's standing in the international community, could now be resumed as early as next month. But the opposition argues it violates the post-war pacifist constitution and lacks a mandate from the United Nations."

Sad, isn't it, that Japan feels it has to suck up to the Bush administration, and show tacit support for its illegal war in Iraq, in order to improve its "standing in the international community". I would suggest that not supporting them would do exactly that.

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Japan PM forces navy bill through

Krispy Kreme boss to step down

"Krispy Kreme boss to step down
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts boss Daryl Brewster has resigned for personal reasons after less than two years on the job. His decision to step down comes as efforts to turn around the struggling snack food chain have stalled".

Perhaps the fact their doughnuts are ten times more expensive than supermarket brand doughnuts sold in the same stores is the reason no one is buying them?

BBC NEWS | Business | Krispy Kreme boss to step down

Darling 'seeks energy cost talks'
Chancellor Alistair Darling has asked to meet with energy regulator Ofgem to discuss last week's gas and electricity price rises by Npower, a report says. In a letter to Ofgem, obtained by the Times, Mr Darling is said to want to review the reasons behind the price hikes and their implications. Npower, which has increased average gas prices by 17.2% and electricity by 12.7%, expects rivals to follow suit.

Perhaps he's concerned because such big rises draw attention to what a load of tosh the Government's official inflation figure is?

BBC NEWS | Business | Darling 'seeks energy cost talks'

OU Reserves team gave Fenny Lock a 7-1 pasting in an away game at Rickly Park in Bletchley today.