The Walrus

The Times website is going to charge money...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:02:22 +0100

The Times website is going to charge money if you want to read it. I read this for nothing, in the Guardian.

I have already pointed out that removal of Murdoch's biased reportage will improve the quality of Google News no end. Why? Let the Times tell you...

We keep investing in journalism, we believe that's what our readers want. We're not dumbing down, we're dumbing up.

Dumbing up? I rest my case.

Comments

Celebrating!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:23:12 +0100

I just found out that the notorious clone of Mrs Thatcher, the utterly revolting money-grubber Blair is no longer in contention for the post of European Council president. Perhaps now he will start work on peace in the Middle East, or at least stop taking the pay for it.

Comments

You can't believe the Telegraph...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:18:46 +0100

They have this fine picture of a lenticular cloud, here...

Underneath, the text says...

Sometimes likened to UFOs, lenticular clouds are usually created by gravity waves.

No, they are not. They are created by variations in the speed, density, temperature and humidity of the atmosphere, influenced by the shape of the surrounding landscape. What they are talking about are orographic clouds.

Gravity waves are a physical phenomenon that can be detected, and are nothing to do with clouds. I found a good explanation by Googling.

I feel better for getting that off my chest.

Comments

Annoying Amazon

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:47:23 +0100

I find them really useful when I'm selling special Lego sets like Cybermaster.

So I was cross today when I had an email from them saying some nonsense about how they were having some sort of Christmas toy sale, and I didn't fit their criteria in some unspecified way. They just took the listing down, and I have no idea why.

Oh well, back to eBay with it...

Comments

It's silly of me, but...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:21:54 +0100

I just can't seem to stop myself commenting on those idiotic, automatically posted Spam blogs.

Update: I had an example link here, but Rampage has heroically deleted the blog. Hurrah!

Comments

Cobblers...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:08:54 +0100

"Project Camelot" is probably the biggest load of silly nonsense I have read in absolutely ages. It's such nonsense I can't be bothered to cut and paste a link. If you have time to waste, find it for yourself, if you want to read tripe...

Comments

I had to laugh...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:35:29 +0100

Rupert Murdoch is threatening to stop all his publications appearing in Google News. That will raise the quality of Google News. The bias in his rags does this Australian dinosaur no favours.

Comments

Strangeness on eBay

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:04:14 +0100

I was about to list some of my old computer science books on eBay, but they wanted me to list them with free postage. I have asked for that in the Post Office before now, but they just laughed.

Presumably the idea is that I will include the postage in my starting price, and then eBay can charge their percentage final value fee on the postage as well as the item. Greedy.

Anyway, I have listed the books on Amazon instead. Their charges are fair, and visible when you list the item.

Comments

A planet I visited today.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:22:32 +0100

I'm building up to an intellectually stimulating post, by playing a little Spore in between putting stuff on eBay. As you may be able to see, I just terraformed this place to T1 for its inhabitants, and plonked a monolith in their town. Then I gave them some crop circles to look at, and will now wait to see if they are nice guys when they evolve...

Comments

Beware of this one!

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:06:39 +0100

This scam looks quite realistic, and could potentially be VERY nasty indeed. The clickable link goes to somewhere in Russia, that will attempt to run a PHP program on your computer.

Avoid!

Comments

I'm keeping this simple for Alan.

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:23:16 +0100

I'm going to keep it simple because Alan Johnson has problems understanding science, evidence, truth, and above all he seems to have enormous difficulty understanding classifications. Or perhaps he is being bullied into doing stupid things by somebody who wants to "send a message" to us. Anyway, here we have a nice simple example...

A zoo decides to classify its animals, like this...

A Dreadfully dangerous animals that will kill you if they get the chance
B Fairly dangerous animals that might be able to give you a painful bite
C Tame animals that you could keep as household pets

The zoo has a lion. It's quite obviously extremely dangerous, and they put it in group A. Pretty sensible, really. They also have a few skunks. These don't hunt to to kill, and will only bite you if you really annoy them. They also happen to be able to spray you with an awful smell. Are you with me so far, Alan? For the benefit of those who like fluffy pets, the zoo has a pussy cat. It can bite and scratch a bit but can not sensibly be described as dangerous. The zoo lets children stroke it, but has a notice on the wall saying it might bite and scratch if they abuse it.

Now I'm pretty sure you can all, except possibly Alan and Gordon, see what I am getting at here. For Gordon and Alan, this is a metaphor for what you are doing with cannabis.

If some cartoon maker comes along and paints the pussy cat black with a white stripe along its back, only Pepe Le Pew is going to believe it is a skunk. It is in class C, no matter how you paint it. Got me?

And, by the way, Gordon, only morons believe that skunks are lethal. Sure, they're pretty stinky, but I don't think a skunk ever killed anyone.

Comments

The fuss about tags.

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:43:27 +0100

I'm a bit baffled, I must confess, at the fury that has broken out here. On occasion, I have pointed out to people that they have forgotten to separate their tags with commas, resulting in a huge tag that will never, ever, match anything else in the universe. So a five word, fifty character limit on tags seems quite sensible to me. The message telling me about this had a huge list of long tags I had used, and to be honest, none of them were actually written for the main purpose a tag should have.

Which is...

In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an internet bookmark, digital image, or computer file). This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. Tags are chosen informally and personally by the item's creator or by its viewer, depending on the system.

Thanks to Wikipedia.

In fact, I was only bothered at all by the loss of a couple of them, the one which said "09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0" which has great sentimental value, and the one which said "Mind you don't step in the Griffin".

I can still find all the posts I have made about politicians eyes by searching on "eyes". So what remains is still a tag system, and the blog servers now hold considerably less inappropriate cruft. So probably searches will be a lot faster too, and that is good.

Update: see! They have noticed the fuss, and have an answer.

Comments

Mad eyes, part 94.

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:44:06 +0100

It is clear now that Alan Johnson wants to be our next mad eyed prime minister. We already know that he does not believe in science, or actual truth, or evidence, preferring rather the views of the "one-eyed Scottish idiot" (© Jeremy Clarkson) who has been told by his god that something called skunk has actually killed people. His complexion tells us he thinks alcohol is a vitamin, don't you think?

Well, I don't think we need all these politicians. Ever since 1958, I have believed that it would be a good idea to get a committee of proper scientists to run the world. How could it be any worse, apart from anything else?

Comments

Nice helpful comment...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:06:38 +0100

Here, you could have seen a comment I left on a spammer's blog page, but blog.co.uk have sensibly deleted the blogger who did it. May they rot in the bit-bucket!

Comments

Government sacks scientist for telling the truth.

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:24:11 +0100

The BBC version naturally makes more sense than the Daily Mail version.

All we need to know about the Daily Fail's reporting is the biased and incorrect headline "Sacked: Drug tsar who claimed Ecstasy, cannabis and LSD are less harmful than alcohol". He was not a "tsar"; that is the title of the person the government employs to carry on the "War on Drugs". He did not "claim" anything. He showed it, using science. And alcohol is much more harmful than those other things.

That is what makes this so awful. The useless Jacqui Smith deliberately ignored proper scientific evidence because it didn't fit in with the stupid view that alcohol and tobacco are safe. And now we have Alan Johnson, who sacks scientists because their results don't fit in with what he tells us must be true.

We are expected to believe people who have been fiddling their expenses, telling us lies to get us into wars, and other things they have kept hidden, and not believe scientists. Well I am not falling for that rubbish, Johnson, as I am not stupid. No doubt, I will be shipped off to the re-education centre soon enough...

Comments

Remind me, why should I obey the law?

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:28:51 +0100

After all, our government ignores it, time after time, quite blatantly. Take for example the Phorm scandal, where BT spied on its customers. The government was told quite clearly to make BT stop doing this, but of course, the government was already planning to do it as well, so they ignored the law. And they are still ignoring it, in spite of the final warning.

Today, telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said: "Ensuring digital privacy is a key for building trust in the internet. I therefore call on the UK authorities to change their national laws to ensure that British citizens fully benefit from the safeguards set out in EU law concerning confidentiality of electronic communications."

Europe tries to protect us from the Stalinists, but what was the response?

The Home Office, which is responsible for RIPA, said: "We are firmly committed to protecting users' privacy and data.

"We are considering the Commission's letter and will respond in due course."

I have looked for acrostics in this message, but can't find them. All I can see is a total contempt on the part of our elected government for European law, wherever it attempts to stop their move towards a totalitarian police state.

So, tell me, clearly, why I can't pick and choose which laws I obey and which I just ignore?

Comments

Might this be too good to be true?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:58:30 +0100

A recent message...

Hello,

Greetings Sirm // From the Desk of Mr. Pascal Gorkoffi, Jr.
Auditing Department in (FINANCIAL BANK TOGO)
Lome- Togo ; West Africa .
----------------------------------------------------

Good Day,

In a brief introduction: My name is Mr. Pascal Gorkoffi Jr, I am the head of auditing and accounting section in (FINANCIAL BANK TOGO) in West Africa . With due respect and regard, I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end.

During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to our (LATE CUSTOMER) who died on 20th December 2006 in the car crash that happened in northern part of TOGO.

From the information that our bank has gotten so far, the Car crash killed her with the entire family and Up till now, no other relation has been identified.

The person that she used as her next of kin was her son who died along side with the family..

Although personally, I keep this information secret within myself to enable the whole plans and idea be profitable and successful during the time of execution.

The said amount was (USD$6 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY).

I thereby contact you, to:

(1) Assist me in the transfer of the said fund into your account since you are a foreigner.

(2) Confirm your direct telephone and Fax for our communication.

Meanwhile, all the arrangement to put claim over this fund, as the benefice next of kin to the deceased, as well as getting the required approval and transferring this money to a foreign account, has been put in place.

I will reply directives and needed information to you, as soon as you indicate your interest and willingness to assist me, and also benefit your self with this great business opportunity.

I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. On smooth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitled to taking 40% from the total sum as gratification in helping me,

While 10% will be set aside to taking care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone bills, while 50% will be for me.

Please, I advise you again to keep this as a "top secret" as I am still in service with the bank and intend to retire from service after I conclude this deal with you.

For your information i want you to reply me back through this email for security reasons. (contactspascalgorkoffijr@yahoo.fr). I am anxiously waiting to hear from you as soon as possible for further information.

Thanks for your understanding.

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Pascal Gorkoffi Jr,

Ooh, I've never seen anything like this before...

Comments

Well done, the Terminator!

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:47:37 +0100

Arnie has not been getting much help form his state legislature, apparently, and got a bit naughty about it.

I remember being told off for doing the same thing on Prestel, a while ago...

Comments

Told you so, part 94.

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:26:15 +0100

"Well, that about wraps it up for God."

Comments

They must have used a microscope...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:09:09 +0200

A freebie in the Independent tomorrow, apparently... something small, but very poisonous...

The artist got the wierd eyes right, but has exagerated the size of the brain.

Comments

Hand made furniture for Christmas?

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:20:07 +0200

And why not? One of my brothers has just put some of his new pieces on eBay...

For instance, this spice rack...

Comments

Why is the Post Office in a mess?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:09:26 +0200

Now I have no idea whether Adam Crozier was any use at all when running the Football Association, or even whether he did anything much there to get his pay. But here is what Wikipedia says about his work in the Post Office...

In November 2007, the Daily Telegraph reported that he had received a 26% pay increase in base pay, taking out £1,256,000 in 2007. His achievements in this year included shrinking the workforce by 45,000, and closing 4,600 post offices, with another 2,500 to follow. The goal of this reduction in workforce and in retail outlets was to increase profitability of the corporation (which had made a profit of £537m in 2004/5, dropping to around £300 million in 2005/6, dropping to £233 million in 2006/7, to the point where the corporation was running a £10 million/annum trading deficit in 2007).

In 2008, the BBC reported that Royal Mail's trading position had worsened dramatically to an annual loss of £279 million a year in financial 2007. Crozier's remuneration almost tripled to £3 million.

And here he is, looking smug...

Now this is the man the Telegraph says has been in hiding for the last month or so.

I can not be the only person around who thinks that putting 45,000 more people on the dole (which must cost us about £140,000,000 a year) and closing 4,600 post offices (which must seriously inconvenience about half the potential customers in the country, and force them to pay out for longer journeys) are not exactly achievements. Oh, but he got a great bonus for it, so all is well.

And, what a surprise! A seriously undermanned Post Office with nowhere near enough offices for customers to post things in makes less money. But it's all for the best, in this best of all possible worlds, because he now gets £3,000,000 a year. So that's alright then.

Comments

Tired of handbag spam?

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:45:55 +0200

This is the web site they are promoting, and it just happens to have a comment page...

handbag them

Comments

The handbag spammer.

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:24:40 +0200

This is who is hiding behind the IP address 123.161.77.87

inetnum: 123.160.0.0 - 123.163.255.255
netname: CHINANET-HA
descr: CHINANET henan province network
descr: China Telecom
descr: No.31,jingrong street
descr: Beijing 100032
country: CN
admin-c: HZ149-AP
tech-c: HZ149-AP
status: ALLOCATED PORTABLE
remarks: Henan Telecom Corporation hostmaster
mnt-by: APNIC-HM
mnt-lower: MAINT-CHINANET-HA
mnt-routes: MAINT-CHINANET-HA
remarks: -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
remarks: This object can only be updated by APNIC hostmasters.
remarks: To update this object, please contact APNIC
remarks: hostmasters and include your organisation's account
remarks: name in the subject line.
remarks: -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-++-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
changed: hm-changed@apnic.net 20070228
source: APNIC

person: Hongbiao Zhang
nic-hdl: HZ149-AP
e-mail: ip@hntele.com
address: 97# Zhongyuan Street, Zhengzhou City, China
phone: +86 371 65310018
fax-no: +86 371 65310015
country: CN
changed: zhb@hntele.com 20060511
mnt-by: MAINT-CHINANET-HA
source: APNIC

Of course, it would be morally wrong for any of us to use this information against the spammer, so please don't do it.

Update: the IP address changes, but the info above remains the same. I have emailed them a thank you note for the secrets they sold me.

Comments

Amy Winehouse's dad warns MPs....

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:25:34 +0200

Amy Winehouse's dad warns MPs alcohol can lead to heroin and cocaine. My thanks to the Daily Mirror for this fascinating insight.

Only a few months ago, the government was given some advice about drug policy by a team of scientists, and immediately announced they knew much better, thank you very much, and did the opposite. Well, they were only scientists...

But now that a cab driver has spoken (over his shoulder, I assume) to them, they will immediately rush into some kind of knee jerk legislation, and raise the price of Rioja to protect me from heroin and cocaine.

And Call-me-dave Cameron will leap on the bandwagon and announce something even more draconian after even less thought.

Or am I getting a tad cynical?

This song is "Heroin and Hashish" sung by Stelios Perpiniadis, ages ago in Greece.

Comments

Don't click "Raj Rajaratnam, Founder of Galleon Hedge Fund Arrested"

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:13:21 +0200

The person or machine who keeps posting these things puts up what appears to be a link to a video. It is not. It is a link to a page that will attempt to infect your computer.

To see if a page has come from this source, check the user profile. If it says John Walker, female, 30 NY, it's dangerous and should be reported.

Comments

Guardian reading spider shock horror...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:59:43 +0200

One of my brothers (damn fine people!) sent me the link to this fascinating story, which appears far more likely than some of the fake stuff that has been planted in the press lately.

Comments

Phishing warning.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:30:13 +0200

If you get this one, don't click the link. It would install something nasty on your computer.

Attention!

On October 16, 2009 server upgrade will take place. Due to this the system may be offline for approximately half an hour.
The changes will concern security, reliability and performance of mail service and the system as a whole.
For compatibility of your browsers and mail clients with upgraded server software you should run SSl certificates update procedure.
This procedure is quite simple. All you have to do is just to click the link provided, to save the patch file and then to run it from your computer location. That's all.
...

I have not included the link, as there are those who would click it and blame me...

Comments

The Tory pension theft was incompetent...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:58:41 +0200

When I heard that George (Bum Nose) Osborne was going to force people to work an extra year, paying extra tax and extra national insurance, before they could have the pension they had paid for, I was jolly cross.

Then I found out he was either lying or stupid. The Guardian says that he was unable even to understand the figures he got from the "think tank" that provided them.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the shadow chancellor's proposed saving, outlined at the Conservative party conference this week, would take five years longer than estimated and fall £3bn short.

They told him the figures, and he didn't understand, or was too stupid, and made policy out of nowhere (certainly not some sort of democratic process) that was idiotic. His "conference" loved it, but then, they'd love a baboon, if its bottom was blue enough.

These are your Tory overlords. Are you stupid enough to vote for them?

Comments

Get your library to lend you this book!

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:09:30 +0200

I was going to write more about this wonderful book, and maybe I will later...

From memories of a childhood blessed with an acute awareness of the wonders of nature to a present day crusade to save our world, Gardening the Earth - Gateways to a Sustainable Future, is a work in which eminent botanist Professor Stephen Blackmore, Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), tackles the complex issue of climate change head-on.

In this frank, but highly readable book, Prof. Blackmore strips away the mystique and complexity that often shrouds the subject of climate change. No longer is it a topic exclusively for scientists and politicians to debate. Prof. Blackmore has thrown climate change into the public arena and his book puts the responsibility for conserving our planet well and truly in our hands.

Comments