Pretty much the only sensible reporting I’ve seen on the recent terror attacks
in London and Glasgow has come from The Register: firstly, secondly. That second link is an article by a bomb-disposal technician, who, having pointed out precisely why this last weekend’s attempted car-bombings were hilariously rubbish, goes on to note that the UK survived tons of explosives raining down on it every night for six years
during World War II.
Our parents and grandparents stood that kind of punishment, not to mention four times as many military dead, and got on with life. Sad though it is to confirm the oldsters’ world view, by comparison our generation - our generation’s journalists, anyway - seem a bit lacking in backbone.
Well, quite. Massive press overreaction aside, the only really scary thing about this whole episode is that some of the suspects were working as NHS doctors. If they are the culprits, that means that people who can’t successfully burn out a car full of petrol, a basic skill of the lowliest twoccer, are getting jobs as neurosurgeons. Now that is terrifying.
0 comments 2007-07-03 14:00 Categories: Politics, Rage
The main road through my village, the A62, has a new claim to fame: it’s the fourth most dangerous in the UK, according to the entertainingly-monikered EuroRAP (that’s the European Road Assessment Program, and, sadly, nothing to do with 2Unlimited). We also enjoy the dubious distinction of being the worst performer in the top fifteen or so British death-trap tarmac strips compared with the previous monitoring period, having got a whole 63% more lethal over the past couple of years. To top it off, our main group of victims is composed of hapless pedestrians and cyclists, rather than the idiots behind the steering wheels doing the crashing; this is hardly surprising, as much of the road in question is built-up, 30 mph, and frequented by impatient tailgaters and the sort of drivers who slow right down for the four or five Gatsos on the route before blazing off at 20 over the limit.
I’ve just started going out on my old bike again, in an attempt to get back into some sort of shape, and I was concentrating on improving my time over a section of the road in question. I think I’ll revise my route.
1 comment 2007-06-25 20:24 Categories: Rage
Take a look at this slide-show about ugly animals, which suggests that people are only motivated to help save cute and fluffy endangered species, and are utterly indifferent to the fate of the slightly peculiar looking ones, citing the Aye-Aye as an example. I disagree. Perhaps I’m abnormal, but I think those chaps are extremely cute, in their own weird way; the same goes for the Slender Loris they mention on the last page, a magnificently odd creature indeed, but in no way unpleasant to look at. They are even more endearing in person. When at London Zoo I always visit the Aye-Aye in his special “Madagascan-time” darkroom house, and I am eagerly awaiting the reinstatement of the various Lorises when the ZSL finishes doing whatever it is they’re doing to make the small-mammals section more habitable.
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1 comment 2007-03-05 19:30 Categories: Rage, Science & Maths
Point 4 in this rather daft article made me swear out loud, specifically this sentence:
Two divided by three makes 0.666 recurring (allegedly - actually it makes 0.6666666667).
What on earth are they teaching in hack school nowadays?
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3 comments 2007-02-23 11:27 Categories: Geek Stuff, Rage, Science & Maths
I just acquired a new smartphone, with all the bells and whistles, including WiFi capablility, and upon trying to connect to my office network I discovered a particularly stupid piece of GUI design: it is impossible to paste a network key into the wireless key input box. You are forced to type it in manually. If, like me, you have a stupidly long and meaningless 63 character key for security and paranoia purposes, this is rather a pain. In combination with the fact that the input is completely replaced by asterisks it’s borderline impossible. After about four attempts to input my key manually, I gave up and formulated an alternative solution.
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2 comments 2007-02-08 11:54 Categories: Computers, Geek Stuff, Rage
That’s not a hybrid. This is a hybrid.
Were I an eccentric and murderously insane multi-billionaire, I’d acquire an Oshkosh HEMTT A3, fill it with biodiesel, and use it to hunt down the Hummers I’ve seen driving around town lately, in order to crush those pathetic, fuel-incontinent symbols of insecurity by driving over them repeatedly with my gigantic carbon-neutral monster truck.
Luckily for the Hummer-drivers of Huddersfield, I’m currently neither homicidally crazy nor fantastically rich. But it’s only a matter of time, my friends, only a matter of time.
0 comments 2007-01-25 15:55 Categories: Geek Stuff, Rage
Further to my update the other day, I’ve just received a full reply from my MP regarding my letter about the unscientific codswallop being peddled to kids in UK state school science lessons.
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0 comments 2007-01-09 14:04 Categories: Politics, Rage, Science & Maths
I heard back from my MP in reply to my letter about the cryptocreationist nonsense being peddled to kids in UK state schools that got me all worked up last November: she’s written about it to Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Education and Skills. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll reply to any one specific query, but hopefully other people’s MPs are asking similar questions, which might bring the issue to his attention and get something said or maybe even done about it.
0 comments 2007-01-03 15:28 Categories: Politics, Rage, Science & Maths
Whilst we’re on the subject of pestering politicians, I’m pleased to see that the government seems to be trying to make it easier for us to try to knock them back in line, online, by “signing” petitions at:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/.
I’m less overwhelmed with glee that the most popular petition so far is for repealing the ban on fox-hunting, as if our elected representatives haven’t wasted enough time and effort on the dratted thing already.
The second most popular is a petition against the proposed introduction of ID cards. Everyone who isn’t John Reid should sign it. ID card legislation is an even more stupid waste of time and money than both fox-hunting and the ban thereof combined, and it’s considerably more dangerous to boot.
0 comments 2006-11-28 13:10 Categories: Politics, Rage
First time I’ve ever done that, with the exception of a couple of organised pro-forma postcard things.
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6 comments 2006-11-27 13:07 Categories: Politics, Rage, Science & Maths